Parliament to be recalled re: Taliban in Afghanistan

[1andrew1]

Some good analysis by Sky News on who's to blame for this bad scenario. I was interested to see the point about NATO leaders and whether the rest of NATO could have continued in the country without US backing.

The finger of blame can be pointed in many directions:

• at Donald Trump for negotiating a bad deal with the Taliban last year;

• at Joe Biden for the secretive and sudden way in which he pulled US troops out;

• at Boris Johnson, Jens Stoltenberg and other NATO leaders for failing to agree a framework to keep forces in the country, even without American support;

• at President Ashraf Ghani for isolating much of his country and alienating provinces and local leaders;

• and at Afghan forces, who after years of training and mentoring, and equipped with trillions of dollars of high-tech equipment, seemingly gave up with little fight.

The truth, I'm afraid, is always far more nuanced in these situations, as much as our natural instinct wants a single fall guy. And this isn't a one-off.

https://news.sky.com/story/afghanist...tions-12382625

[mrmistoffelees]

Originally Posted by Mick

Some really heartbreaking footage of Afghan civilians at a Kabul Airport, trying to stop a U.S Military jet from taking off so they can all climb aboard.

Meanwhile, Wall Street Journal is not holding off any punches this morning:

Yep, I've got Sky news on in the background. As you say, heartbreaking.

IMHO Whilst Biden should be aportioned the majority of the blame here (As he could of changed position) Trump can't be allowed to escape completely guilt free. Both have used the withdrawal as an attempt to secure victory in elections (Biden in the upcoming mid terms) NATO (inc UK) have showed that it's follow the US.

My worst fear is that the NATO organisations are allowed to leave. Then, the crackdown begins.

[noel43]

Originally Posted by 1andrew1

Some good analysis by Sky News on who's to blame for this bad scenario. I was interested to see the point about NATO leaders and whether the rest of NATO could have continued in the country without US backing.


https://news.sky.com/story/afghanist...tions-12382625

What about who started this Bush and Blair. Blair has made a fortune out of this.

[mrmistoffelees]

Originally Posted by noel43

What about who started this Bush and Blair. Blair has made a fortune out of this.

Right now, what's more important ? Bush & Blair being held accountable? Or, the imminent humanitarian crisis ?

[Carth]

Hindsight and the blame game . . the media are on a roll again

What of the future?

Will civil contractors be falling over themselves chasing the £millions to be earned rebuilding Afghanistan infrastructure?

Will Doctors & Nurses be heading there in droves to tend the sick?

Will airlines be confident of scheduling flights in & out?

I know that I wouldn't go anywhere near the place

[noel43]

Originally Posted by mrmistoffelees

Right now, what's more important ? Bush & Blair being held accountable? Or, the imminent humanitarian crisis ?

People being made accountable aswell

[mrmistoffelees]

Originally Posted by noel43

People being made accountable aswell

I asked you which is more important ?

[noel43]

Originally Posted by mrmistoffelees

I asked you which is more important ?

Both

Humanity comes before accountability. Nearly everyone is to blame, so it’s no good every country pointing at the other. It’s a joint disaster. But the U.S will be the one every one is looking at.

[TheDaddy]

Originally Posted by noel43

We shouldn't have been there in the first place. Most of the brit
Population didn't want this war. Tony Blair wanted to sit at the top table with the big boys. Tony's wife said I would never let my son join the army while he was sending out lads to fight.

I think the population was fine with Afghanistan, not that we had a choice if we wanted to stay in NATO

[papa smurf]

Just to recap on what Joe said......

https://www.express.co.uk/news/world...l-video-latest

[1andrew1]

Originally Posted by jfman

I’m going to guess not many. Ultimately the burden will fall on Iran, we will keep sanctions on them and be completely unsurprised when these people and their children grow up to hate us.

Ben Wallace also refuses to predict how many asylum seekers will arrive in UK after 41,000 settled last time Taliban was in control

https://news.sky.com/story/afghanist...force-12382060

[jfman]

Originally Posted by mrmistoffelees

I asked you which is more important ?

Which is more achievable?

While we can find billions in “defence” expenditure to go on these sojourns into far flung lands at the behest of the USA we suddenly become “an island of limited resources” when it comes to humanitarian aid.

Interesting article on how the Taliban took over the provinces (behind a paywall, but you may be able to read it using "private browsing" or an Incognito tab on Chrome.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world...lapse-taliban/

KABUL — The spectacular collapse of Afghanistan’s military that allowed Taliban fighters to walk into the Afghan capital Sunday despite 20 years of training and billions of dollars in American aid began with a series of deals brokered in rural villages between the militant group and some of the Afghan government’s lowest-ranking officials.


The deals, initially offered early last year, were often described by Afghan officials as cease-fires, but Taliban leaders were in fact offering money in exchange for government forces to hand over their weapons, according to an Afghan officer and a U.S. official.


Over the next year and a half, the meetings advanced to the district level and then rapidly on to provincial capitals, culminating in a breathtaking series of negotiated surrenders by government forces, according to interviews with more than a dozen Afghan officers, police, special operations troops and other soldiers.


Within a little more than a week, Taliban fighters overran more than a dozen provincial capitals and entered Kabul with no resistance, triggering the departure of Afghanistan’s president and the collapse of his government. Afghan security forces in the districts ringing Kabul and in the city itself simply melted away. By nightfall, police checkpoints were left abandoned and the militants roamed the streets freely.

The pace of the military collapse has stunned many American officials and other foreign observers, forcing the U.S. government to dramatically accelerate efforts to remove personnel from its embassy in Kabul.


The Taliban capitalized on the uncertainty caused by the February 2020 agreement reached in Doha, Qatar, between the militant group and the United States calling for a full American withdrawal from Afghanistan.

Some Afghan forces realized they would soon no longer be able to count on American air power and other crucial battlefield support and grew receptive to the Taliban’s approaches.
“Some just wanted the money,” an Afghan special forces officer said of those who first agreed to meet with the Taliban. But others saw the U.S. commitment to a full withdrawal as an “assurance” that the militants would return to power in Afghanistan and wanted to secure their place on the winning side, he said. The officer spoke on the condition of anonymity because he, like others in this report, was not authorized to disclose information to the press.


The Doha agreement, designed to bring an end to the war in Afghanistan, instead left many Afghan forces demoralized, bringing into stark relief the corrupt impulses of many Afghan officials and their tenuous loyalty to the country’s central government. Some police officers complained that they had not been paid in six months or more.

BREAKING: U.S President Joe Biden to return to Washington DC, from Camp David and will deliver an address at 8:45pm UK time from the White House regarding the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan.