Was the war in Afghanistan lost when it turned into a woke crusade?

@justanothername Actually that is one big cliche and largely racist. Much like people in the west assuming people in African countries all live in mud huts. The reason religious extremism has any power in the country is because the west postered and bankrolled it.

Afghanistan was on it's way to being a vary modern and progressive place until they dared pick the wrong side in the cold war.

Ukraine is also a case of American meddling and going sideways.

@PicturesOfABetterTomorrow The point I was making is that despite extensive training from US military The whole of the Afghan army basically laid down and got rolled by the incoming Taliban forces who then picked up all the brand new US military hardware.

Compare that with Ukraine who are out numbered and out gunned by Russian forces. Only basic on-site military training and yet they are fighting as their lives depend on it and have NO desire to lay down to the Russian invaders.

So NO, I’m not racist. Just comparing fighting mindsets of two different countries. Or the lack there of of fight mind set in one country.

@justanothername There is a reason for that. In 20 years the US was never able to establish control over even 50% of the country.

Second reason is colonies are dependant by design. The "new Afghanistan" was never intended to stand on it's own. It was designed to be dependent on the US.


Oh and nothing they got was brand new. It was all old surplus offloaded to the Afghans. That claim made in the media was just patently false.

For example the Hercules C-130 planes they got were from 1974.


Ironically they are no longer outgunned with all the equipment they have captured. But all the tensions that erupted there were the direct result of American intentions to colonize Europe via NATO.

Even The Atlantic accidentally said the quiet part out loud.

George Kennan predicted this being the result of NATO expansion in the 90s when Yeltsin the Drunk was still running things.



You were presenting things according to stereotypes and the Afghan stereotype (intentional or not) is decidedly racist.

It has fuck all to do with not having a fighting spirit. Afghanistan is the graveyard of empires for a reason.

@PicturesOfABetterTomorrow I agree that Afghanistan is the graveyard of empires.

@justanothername What happened to the American colony in Afghanistan was never going to work out any other way and it has nothing to do with a will to fight. Not everyone is willing to pull a last stand for a foreign occupier.

@PicturesOfABetterTomorrow It’s also wrong to expect a tribal culture with a history that goes back to the beginning of time to be able to “convert” to a Democratic government. But the US probably overlooked that small mater at the start.

@PicturesOfABetterTomorrow Their Hercules might have been old although they looked much newer than Vietnam war era. The Humvees they got were near new or at least what I saw on the news was brand new Humvees.

@justanothername No, the humvees and the blackhawks were 90s era junk. All of it is surplus the US army didn't want to pay to warehouse. The claim it was modern in the media was a complete lie.

The only "new" equipment were a couple of turbo prop CAS planes based on Korean war era designs.

And you should also know most news outlets use stock footage that could be from anywhere. When you look into it there was only a handful of pieces of kit that were any newer than the grunge era.

And with no ability to maintain the equipment it is totally irrelevant.

@PicturesOfABetterTomorrow You are correct about most of this, the equipment we left behind was because we didn't want to pay to bring worn out old crap home, it would have cost more than it was worth, the good stuff was destroyed, pulled out a long time ago or was never there to begin with. The only things that were mostly new was the guns we equipped the Afghan Army with and a few turboprops and helicopters we didn't want. Notwithstanding the fact that nothing we left behind is capable of reaching our shores, the Afghani just want to be left alone, many towns don't even have running water or electricity and they like it that way...

@spjennifer Yep. And everyone does this. Hands off their surplus crap to whoever is the newest imperial project. That is how thousands of East German SKS rifles fell off a truck in Croatia in the 90s.

@PicturesOfABetterTomorrow What I saw wasn’t stock footage and the Humvees weren’t old junk junk although they were painted. Normally when our news posts a photo it will either state that it’s a stock photo. This was actual video from a journalist.

@justanothername And just how much do you think it would cost to bring home each one of those obsolete Humvees by ship? The Humvee is being replaced by the JTLV and it's not like the Taliban are going to drive them across the Pacific and attack us with them now is it?

@spjennifer about the same amount it cost to get them there in the first place. Im not worried about the Taliban attacking the US. The just went shopping care of the US government prior to taking over Afghanistan and sending it back to the dark ages.

@justanothername Have you ever been to Afghanistan?

@spjennifer Can’t say it’s on my bucket list at this stage. I’ve been to a few North African countries though. We have played against them in sport a few times.

@justanothername Wouldn't be on my bucket list either but I've spent almost 4 years in total there since January of 2002, those Hummers won't last long without parts and maintenance and the Taliban won't treat them well.

@spjennifer That would be very true and I don’t expect the US will be giving the Taliban any mechanical support to help keep them operational.

@spjennifer to be honest, the Taliban don’t really have any interest in looking after anything other than their own tribal and political interests. They are certainly not open to letting any young women get any education of any sort.

@justanothername Indeed true, a lot of it is restarting the poppy fields which we cut down a lot of that supply of cash for them, won't take the war lords long to get them back up and growing again. The Taliban are against the warlords but they mostly stay away from them for fear of being killed, those guys don't fuck around.