Prematurely abandoning Bagram airport is a huge Biden error

@Oberon1 Our tactical equipment has been slated for the ANA this whole time - this is pretty standard when you're trying to leave a proxy force in place. We did it in Iraq, Soviets did it in Afghanistan, etc.

Our fighting forces have been gone for a long time now - what people are asking for would have required a full-scale reinvasion.

@QuixoticSoul It is an indefensible disaster, that brought unspeakable tragedy, and destroyed any standing this country had left as a trustworthy ally or occupier for that matter. There is absolutely no defense for the complete absence of common sense in this fiasco.
If Jake Sullivan is telling the truth, at least damage control is making some surprisingly good headway, but that is no thanks to Biden's handlers.

@Oberon1 What standing? We've got the biggest stick on the planet - that is all the standing we've ever had or needed. If you're talking about some idea that Americans were the good guys, only absolute morons ever believed that.

Attempting to prop up the ANA was a normal course of events in these circumstances, we were always going to do it, and I don't understand why you're whining about that. Yes, sometimes it backfires - that's why isis were rolling around in humvees - but nevertheless, that's just what you do. We've been arming that ANA for twenty years - and now the Taliban gets the spoils. Well, that's how it goes.

Don't overdramatize, leaving Afghanistan was always going to be messy without the ANA - we'll get American citizens out, and tens of thousands of Afghans too.

Who exactly evaluated the ANA? Vetted the alleged Afghan president? Where is he anyways? @QuixoticSoul

@QuixoticSoul Prop up a non existent force? Brilliant! The spooks knew exactly what was going to happen when we bugged out. I bet most of the soldiers knew too. It doesn't take twenty years to check a backbone. You can't defend any of this, or anything else Biden's handlers have done home and abroad for that matter.

@jackjjackson Ghani? Democracy, of course 🤣

It didn't help that we kneecapped him diplomatically last year, but he certainly played his little facade to the end.

The ANA has always been perceived as unreliable, but there were no credible alternatives. Even pessimistic estimates had them holding out until after the 31st, though.

When dominoes started falling we had two crappy choices - work with the Taliban to facilitate our evacuation, or stage a full-invasion of Kabul with tens of thousands of soldiers and heavy equipment to fight the Taliban. So far, it looks like the admin made the best of two bad choices, but we'll see.

@Oberon1 Oh it existed all right - until it didn't. We've had a skeleton force in Afghanistan for years, the ANA has been doing all the work for some time.

From what's come out, the spooks were off by a couple of weeks on their worst case scenarios, expecting full collapse just after we leave - not before.

@QuixoticSoul It is a policy disaster plain and simple. We weren't even clear with our allies much less friendly Afghanis. In this kind of scenario, troops are supposed to be the last to leave. Period. All I will give you is, if Sullivan is telling the truth, we are doing a damn good job of cleaning up Biden Inc's mess under the current circumstances. In spite of the trampled babies, beatings, firefights, and murdered women, etc etc........

@Oberon1 It's not like us leaving was a secret, and we've been flying these evacuation flight since July. Sounds to me like we were quite clear - with everyone. The entire world knew we were leaving - back in Feb of last year.

Our troops will be the last to leave as it is.

Now they will be. They had been sent home and there were no enough remaining to get American citizens out safely much less our Afghan supports. It seems as though we are going to screw our Afghan supporters although I sure hope not. @QuixoticSoul

@jackjjackson I agree with the English Parliament. Poor Joe has to be shown the way to the white house door if he is out in the garden. I don't believe he is competent enough to called evil a good part of the time. On the other hand that sure was an evil sounding snicker he gave CBS after hearing about the poll concerning Americans opinions on his competence for the presidency.

@jackjjackson They were always going to be the last to leave. But yes, for the last few years, we've had a skeleton crew in Afghanistan, and the ANA did the heavy lifting. It's been a very long time since we've had enough troops or equipment there to secure or control Kabul.

Thousands of Afghans did get out, but I'm guessing lots will be left behind.

@Oberon1 The British parliament are making fools of themselves, arguing that we should stay in Afghanistan forever because they know full well they're irrelevant - and won't have to.

We sent 6K back in the last week to safely get American citizens out a d it does appear we won’t get all of our Afghan supporters out. @QuixoticSoul

Darned right they are not relevant .. to anything. @QuixoticSoul

@QuixoticSoul Biden's handlers managed the un-assing of Afghanistan's plains quite contemptibly! It is as sure as shootin! This is one the propagandists can't spin, and the apologists can't shrug off. The Taliban was invisible until they were practically given RSVP invitations by virtue of our sudden and reckless bug out. It definitely did not have to be this shit show, and we didn't have to arm them to the tune of 80 billion dollars worth of toys.

@Oberon1 What sudden and reckless bugout - the plan was set in Feb '20, if anything the bugout is months late.

And the Taliban weren't invisible, they've been winning for years, which is why we negotiated with them in the first place.

It was always going to be precisely this sort of shitshow, which is why some of us knew this was a stupid-ass adventure twenty years ago.

@jackjjackson They gave an awful lot of blood and treasure to be deemed irrelevant, don't you think?

@Oberon1 Without the US, there is no ISAF, ultimately that is what the British are mad about. Anyone else can disappear, and nothing will change. But when we leave, that's the game.

But the funny thing is that they're being awfully brave and promising to stay in Afghanistan forever knowing full well they don't actually have a say in when the dance ends.

@QuixoticSoul They weren't winning. We were just tired of an endless occupation. We shouldn't have spent more than a year there to begin with, but we needed to practice a kind of brutal disinfection of the place. Now Biden Inc is taking orders from the Taliban. (Of course I remember cheering for them when they were the Mujahedeen!) I heard they were taking down MIGs with slings! I wonder if things would be different if we had dealt squarely with the "freedom fighters"......the Mujahedeen! The universe works in mysterious ways. It might have led to a nuclear exchange with Russia for all we know. After some introspection, I realize that I am being a little hasty and rambunctious with my arm chair tactical science lectures. It's a shit show. It's a shame. Of course I blame the people who put Biden in the white house, because I don't agree with anything he has done. Of course I say these things because I don't agree with those people I keep calling "leftists" and I get all my information from sources that lean my political direction. Of course I'm going to play arm chair general with a rightward slant because I am a right leaning person! I don't apologize for that, but I will admit to talking a bit too tough considering the sacrifices that have been made in that graveyard of empires for the last twenty years.

@Oberon1 They outlasted us, which was always their plan. That's the Taliban's MO. It's been obvious that they were winning for many years now.

Our "brutal disinfection" didn't amount to much, tbh.

Yup, complete waste of our time. Left wing, right wing - this a rare situation where both sides ultimately agree on the basics - Trump forced our surrender, and Biden went through with it. Frankly, both were right, even if various details could have been better thought out.

@QuixoticSoul Don't bogard that joint

@QuixoticSoul Ahh....good stopping point, and no subconjunctival hemorrhage this time. I actually gave myself a bad one the other day getting all worked up over something I had no control over! 😆

@sunsporter1649 *BOGART. If you're going to use a cliché, at least spell it correctly, Einstein.

@RedBaron Shh, he'll try to ask about your "core principals".