U.S. leaves its last Afghan base, effectively ending operations

**Neverna** · 11-08-2021, 03:37 PM

Originally Posted by panama hat

Right, that as well. Muslim first, tribal and then maybe Afghan - though nationhood may be a alien concept to them

When the Taliban governed Afghanistan, they called their country the "Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan". Afghanistan and governing it (and governing it well, in their view) seems to be their goal.

**OhOh** · 11-08-2021, 04:47 PM

Originally Posted by lom

hat is a much more nuanced explanation of the situation than your indianpundit could ever produce

Different backgrounds, slants, information and views are to be expected.

However, I suggest their conclusions are quite similar.

Better to have a number of opinions, surely.

**OhOh** · 11-08-2021, 04:58 PM

Originally Posted by HermantheGerman

There is no substance, but a lot of blahh blahh blahh

Thank you for your opinion of the post.

The clarity of your detailed opinion of it's contents is once again, outstanding.

**panama hat** · 11-08-2021, 05:39 PM

Originally Posted by Neverna

When the Taliban governed Afghanistan, they called their country the "Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan". Afghanistan and governing it (and governing it well, in their view) seems to be their goal.

Tah muchly

Originally Posted by OhOh

The clarity of your detailed opinion of it's contents is once again, outstanding.

Here's something that was never said in relation to you

**harrybarracuda** · 12-08-2021, 03:11 PM

The Taliban completed its overhaul of the provincial capital of Kunduz in Northern Afghanistan on Wednesday as an entire Afghan Army corps surrendered a military base, The Washington Post reported.

Taliban had overrun most of Kunduz over the past weekend but Afghan forces were holding on to the military base. By taking the city, Taliban has now asserted control over nine of the country’s 34 provincial capitals.

Videos and satellite images from the Kunduz airbase confirmed that the Taliban militants have taken control of the facility. A Taliban spokesperson also tweeted a video of the alleged surrender on Wednesday.

Clashes between the Taliban and Afghan forces have escalated as foreign troops prepare to withdraw from the country by the end of August. More than 1,000 people have been killed in Afghanistan in the last month, the BBC reported, citing the United Nations.

Meanwhile, the Afghanistan government sacked the country’s Army chief Wali Mohammad Ahmadzai, the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday. Haibatullah Alizai replaced Ahmadzai, who had been appointed only in June. Alizai has a task at hand with the Taliban making rapid advances through the country.

Unidentified United States officials told The Washington Post on Wednesday that the Taliban might seize Afghanistan’s Capital Kabul within three months.

Taliban takes ninth Afghan provincial capital Kunduz, government replaces army chief

**bsnub** · 12-08-2021, 04:06 PM

Originally Posted by harrybarracuda

an entire Afghan Army corps surrendered a military base

What a bunch of pathetic cowards.

**harrybarracuda** · 12-08-2021, 05:45 PM

Originally Posted by bsnub

What a bunch of pathetic cowards.

The only useful forces they've got are the "Special Forces" which I don't think are that special.

They are worn out, hungry and thirsty and complaining that the talitubbies can rotate their troops and rest them while they are at it pretty well 24/7.

Three months is probably optimistic. You don't need to be a psychic to predict that what will happen as the talitubbies make more inroads is that the Afghans will withdraw everything to protect Kabul. Then when they start getting hammered there, they'll withdraw to protect the Green Zone.

Then when they are battered into submission, the current government will flee to Dubai or Qatar with their loot leaving the talitubbies to take complete control.

There are talks going on in Doha at the moment involving the talitubbies, Russians, Chinkies, US and Pakistan, but you can't believe a word the talitubbies say.

As of now the US has nothing more to lose by pulling out. The Russians, Chinese and Pakistanis, on the other hand, have a major headache.

**bsnub** · 12-08-2021, 05:55 PM

Originally Posted by harrybarracuda

The only useful forces they've got are the "Special Forces" which I don't think are that special.

They were special at one time. Very well-equipped and trained.

Originally Posted by harrybarracuda

They are worn out, hungry and thirsty and complaining that the talitubbies can rotate their troops and rest them while they are at it pretty well 24/7.

It was only a matter of time before attrition wore that force down. They have no fresh recruits coming in and no way to rotate out exhausted soldiers. Sad deal really.

Originally Posted by harrybarracuda

The Russians, Chinese and Pakistanis, on the other hand, have a major headache.

Now that there is real leadership in the White House, I think this was the realization. The Taliban can destabilize the entire region.

**harrybarracuda** · 12-08-2021, 05:57 PM

Three months may be optimistic.

KABUL: The Taliban have taken the strategic Afghan city of Ghazni just 150 kilometres from Kabul, a senior lawmaker and the insurgents said Thursday.
The city -- the 10th provincial capital to fall to the insurgents in a week -- lies along the major Kabul-Kandahar highway, effectively serving as a gateway between the capital and militant strongholds in the south.
"The Taliban took control of the key areas of the city -- the governor's office, the police headquarters and the prison," Nasir Ahmad Faqiri, head of the provincial council, told AFP.
He added that fighting continued in parts of the city but that the provincial capital was largely in the insurgents' hands.
The Taliban also confirmed capturing the city, according to a statement posted by the insurgency's spokesman on social media.
The Afghan conflict has escalated dramatically since May, when US-led forces began the final stage of a troop withdrawal due to end later this month following a 20-year occupation.
The loss of the Ghazni will likely pile more pressure on the country's already overstretched airforce, needed to bolster Afghanistan's scattered security forces who have increasingly been cut off from reinforcements by road.
In less than a week the insurgents have seized 10 provincial capitals and have now encircled the biggest city in the north, the traditional anti-Taliban bastion of Mazar-i-Sharif.
Fighting was also raging in Kandahar and Lashkar Gar -- pro-Taliban heartlands in the south -- as well as Herat in the west.
Late Wednesday, the Taliban claimed to have overrun the heavily fortified jail in Kandahar, saying it was "completely conquered after a long siege" and that "hundreds of prisoners were released and taken to safety".
The Taliban frequently target prisons to release incarcerated fighters and replenish their ranks.
The loss of the jail is a further ominous sign for the country's second city, which has been besieged for weeks by the Taliban.
The city was once the stronghold of the Taliban -- whose forces coalesced in the eponymously named province in the early 1990s -- and its capture would serve as both a massive tactical and psychological victory for the militants.

Taliban move closer to capital after taking Ghazni city

**bsnub** · 12-08-2021, 06:03 PM

^

It fell...

Taliban take Ghazni city on road to Afghan capital

Taliban take Ghazni city on road to Afghan capital | Reuters

**cyrille** · 12-08-2021, 06:20 PM

Originally Posted by bsnub

What a bunch of pathetic cowards.

Snubby, wtf does this utter fiasco say about your lot?

I mean, you're highly critical of every other party at every opportunity - how about some humility regarding the serial failures of your lot over the last seventy years?

Do you think there will ever be an exit plan once your boys have had their fun with the shocking and awesome fireworks?

**HuangLao** · 12-08-2021, 06:35 PM

False and imaginary concerns and commiserations for Afghanistan [or anywhere else] are quite amusing to observe.

**bsnub** · 12-08-2021, 06:49 PM

Originally Posted by cyrille

Snubby, wtf does this utter fiasco say about your lot?

It says that the military industrial complex that Eisenhower warned about has taken control of a lot of the politicians of the US.

Originally Posted by cyrille

how about some humility regarding the serial failures of your lot over the last seventy years?

My lot? Seems you Brits were right alongside in most of those cases. Funny how you claim to be outside of it all.

**cyrille** · 12-08-2021, 06:54 PM

Name a single Brit on here who's half as much of a cheerleader for military intervention as you are?

**bsnub** · 12-08-2021, 07:03 PM

Originally Posted by cyrille

Name a single Brit is there on here

What is that gibberish?

Originally Posted by cyrille

who's half as much of a cheerleader for military intervention as you are?

I just comment that a well-equipped army corps dropped their rifles and surrendered just like the frogs, and you are all over my shit suddenly. WTF?

I opposed these interventions

**cyrille** · 12-08-2021, 08:08 PM

Originally Posted by bsnub

What is that gibberish?

Fair cop.

Originally Posted by bsnub

I opposed these interventions

You seem really comfortable scoffing at the shit shows that inevitably follow, though.

If I'm 'all over your shit suddenly' then maybe I just judge case by case?

ao doesn't like that either.

In a sense you're more of a flag waver than slick.

There's an obvious 70 year history of American blundering overseas, yet you alone are still farting through the bugle of interventionism.

Maybe the US should just stick it all up its bunghole?

**bsnub** · 12-08-2021, 08:18 PM

Originally Posted by cyrille

In a sense you're more of a flag waver than slick.

That is just pathetic and a low blow.

Originally Posted by cyrille

There's an obvious 70 year history of American blundering overseas, yet you alone are still farting through the bugle of interventionism.

You refuse to acknowledge that the UK was directly side by side in many of those conflicts.

Anyway goodnight.

**cyrille** · 12-08-2021, 08:23 PM

Originally Posted by bsnub

You refuse to acknowledge that the UK was directly side by side in many of those conflicts.

My apologies for not making my point clear about you still being the forum's major sabre rattler - even at the third attempt.

Have a good one.

**OhOh** · 13-08-2021, 12:08 AM

Taliban take Herat and Kandahar as Afghan forces retreat

Issued on: 12/08/2021 - 10:57

"The Taliban took over Herat, Afghanistan's third-largest city, on Thursday and seized another district capital just 150 kilometres (95 miles) from Kabul. According to information obtained by FRANCE 24, the city of Kandahar has also fallen to the militants.

A senior security source from Herat told AFP that government forces and administration officials had retreated to an army barracks outside the city.

"We had to leave the city in order to prevent further destruction," he said.

A Taliban spokesman, however, tweeted "soldiers laid down their arms and joined the Mujahideen".
An AFP correspondent had earlier filmed the Taliban flag flying over the police headquarters in Herat, while the insurgents tweeted "the enemy fled... Dozens of military vehicles, weapons and ammunition fell into the hands of the Mujahideen".

Further details of the Taliban's presence in the city were not immediately available, but it has been under siege for weeks.

Herat -- about 150 kilometres from the Iranian border -- is home to veteran warlord Ismail Khan, who for weeks has been rallying his forces to make a stand against the Taliban.

Earlier, the interior ministry confirmed the fall of Ghazni, which lies along the major Kabul-Kandahar highway and serves as a gateway between the capital and militant strongholds in the south.

"The enemy took control," spokesman Mirwais Stanikzai said in a message to media, adding later the city's governor had been arrested by Afghan security forces.

Pro-Taliban Twitter feeds showed a video of him being escorted out of Ghazni by Taliban fighters and sent on his way in a convoy, prompting speculation in the capital that the government was angered with how easily the provincial administration capitulated.

As security forces retreated across the country, Kabul handed a proposal to Taliban negotiators in Qatar offering a power-sharing deal in return for an end to the fighting, according to a member of the government's team in Doha who asked not to be named.

A second negotiator, Ghulam Farooq Majroh, said the Taliban had been given an offer about a "government of peace" without providing more specifics.

Authorities in Kabul have now effectively lost most of northern and western Afghanistan and are left holding a scattered archipelago of contested cities also dangerously at risk.

'No leverage'

The conflict has escalated dramatically since May, when US-led forces began the final stage of a troop withdrawal due to end later this month following a 20-year occupation.

The loss of Ghazni piles more pressure on the country's already overstretched airforce, needed to bolster Afghanistan's dispersed security forces who have increasingly been cut off from reinforcements by road.

Pro-Taliban social media accounts also boasted of the vast spoils of war their fighters had recovered in recent days, posting photos of armoured vehicles, heavy weapons, and even a drone seized by the insurgents at abandoned Afghan military bases.

Besides Herat, the insurgents have taken 10 of Afghanistan's 34 provincial capitals in less than a week and encircled the biggest city in the north, the traditional anti-Taliban bastion of Mazar-i-Sharif.

Fighting was also raging in Kandahar and Lashkar Gah -- pro-Taliban heartlands in the south.

An official in Lashkar Gah said Taliban fighters were inching closer to government positions after a massive car bomb badly damaged the city's police headquarters Wednesday evening.

Prison raids

The blast forced local police to retreat to the governor's office, while around 40 of their colleagues and one senior commander surrendered to the Taliban.

And in Kandahar, the Taliban said they had overrun the heavily fortified jail, saying "hundreds of prisoners were released and taken to safety".

The Taliban frequently target prisons to release incarcerated fighters and replenish their ranks.

The loss of the prison is a further ominous sign for the country's second city, which has been besieged for weeks by the Taliban.

Kandahar was once the stronghold of the Taliban -- whose forces coalesced in the eponymously named province in the early 1990s -- and its capture would serve as both a tactical and psychological victory for the militants.

Hundreds of thousands have been displaced by the fighting that has enveloped the country.
In recent days, Kabul has been swamped by the displaced, who have begun camping out in parks and other public spaces, sparking a fresh humanitarian crisis in the already overtaxed capital.

In Washington, defence officials appeared to be grappling with the spiralling situation but insisted that Afghan security forces were still holding their ground.

"What we're seeing, a deteriorating security situation, we've been nothing but candid about that," Pentagon spokesman John Kirby told reporters Wednesday.

"But there are places and there are times, including today, where Afghan forces in the field are putting up a fight."

Taliban take Herat and much of Kandahar as Afghan forces retreat

The Taliban Kunduz Traffic Cop!

Originally Posted by bsnub

Very well-equipped and trained.

Originally Posted by bsnub

The Taliban can destabilize the entire region.

ameristan has certainly been doing that for decades.

Once upon a time it was tropical jungles. It appears dysfunctional European countries and mountainous deserts countries are now on the same list.

Taliban poised to capture Afghan cities of Herat, Kandahar

"Al Jazeera reported a government source saying it had offered the Taliban a share in power, as long as the violence comes to a halt.

Afghan government spokespeople were not immediately available for comment and it was not clear to what extent the reported offer differed from terms already discussed at stalled talks in Qatar.

Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid said he was unaware of any such offer but ruled out sharing power.

"We won't accept any offer like this because we don’t want to be partner with the Kabul administration. We neither stay nor work for a single day with it," he said."

Taliban poised to capture Afghan cities of Herat, Kandahar | Reuters

**Joe 90** · 13-08-2021, 07:14 AM

A battalion of British Paras are going back in...

**sabang** · 13-08-2021, 07:25 AM

Yeh, and yanks. They're probably their for diplomatic protection, but I don't think it is a good idea. Now that you've broken your agreement, you've given every excuse for the Tali to break theirs...

**panama hat** · 13-08-2021, 07:32 AM

Originally Posted by Joe 90

A battalion of British Paras are going back in...

Originally Posted by sabang

and yanks. They're probably their for diplomatic protection

Evacuation so they don't end up like in Vietnam - makes sense as they're not going to stay nor engage except if they're attacked in doing this. Same with the Brits and others - makes total sense and isn't breaking any agreements . . . not that the Taliban stick to agreements anyway

**sabang** · 13-08-2021, 07:48 AM

so they don't end up like in Vietnam

Bit late for that.

not that the USA stick to agreements anyway

FTFY

**panama hat** · 13-08-2021, 11:07 AM

Originally Posted by sabang

you've given every excuse for the Tali to break theirs

Originally Posted by panama hat

not that the Taliban stick to agreements anyway

Originally Posted by sabang

not that the USA stick to agreements anyway

Yea, you're trying far too hard but when you white-knight groups like the Taliban you've lost the plot

Originally Posted by sabang

Bit late for that.

Bit late for not having the same thing happen like in Vietnam in regards to evacuation? Umm . . . ok - this should be good.

**sabang** · 13-08-2021, 11:27 AM

No, I think scurrying off in the dead of night and not even telling your allies is a much more honorable debacle. To say nothing of those homecoming parades...

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