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

Originally Posted by sabang

You lot shoulda listened to me, and scarpered out of ghan years ago- with some pride left.

Shouldn't have gone in there in the first place.

Originally Posted by OhOh

Fallujah 2015 template revisited.

Fallujah is, strangely enough, not in Afghanistan.

What are you wittering on about now?

Originally Posted by bsnub

Get on Twitter. The Afghan special forces are fucking shit up.

Not for very long snubby.

Surely even you don't think the Afghan forces can hold off the talitubbies?

Originally Posted by harrybarracuda

Fallujah is, strangely enough, not in Afghanistan.

I understood where he was going.

Try google

Originally Posted by sabang

You lot shoulda listened to me, and scarpered out of ghan years ago- with some pride left.

No difference, the Taleban would have done the same

Originally Posted by sabang

I'm not convinced they can take Kabul and immediate surrounds by force,

Uh huh.

Powerful blasts and gunfire rock Afghanistan capital Kabul

Given the Afghan forces proclivity for slipping into their pajamas and fucking off, the only thing that can stop them is drone strikes, but we know how you feel about those, don't we?

Originally Posted by harrybarracuda

Surely even you don't think the Afghan forces can hold off the talitubbies?

No I think it is only a matter of time before Kabul falls, but I hope they send as many Taliban to Allah as they can.

When the green zone falls, the government falls. Not that's it got much sway outside the capital right now anyway.

Four people have been killed after militants attacked the home of the Afghan defence minister.

Bismillah Khan Mohammadi was not at home on Tuesday as gunmen detonated a car bomb and fired shots near Kabul's heavily fortified Green Zone.

Gunmen attack home of Afghan defence minister in Kabul - BBC News

Which is why the Tali just continue to mop up ground, I suppose.

Originally Posted by OhOh

There doesn't appear to be any discussions on any gov't formation between the two factions.

Why would they bother when they know they will end up with complete control?

They don't even value their own lives, let alone anyone elses.

The Taliban offers single, uneducated men a job.

That’s why they will never be defeated.

Dubya and his fellow GodSquader and R. Slicker Blair just couldn’t face up to that straightforward truth.

Oh and by the way, the only way out of the morass is via education, particularly in the use of English.

It's what intelligent, outward looking people in the region crave, yet it's constantly derided on forums peopled by a small but very vocal minority of complete and utter morons.

People, somewhat ironically, from similar working backgrounds to the Taliban recruits.

It's called stupidity, and it knows no national boundaries.

Originally Posted by cyrille

The Taliban offers single, uneducated men a job.

That’s why they will never be defeated.

Dubya and his fellow GodSquader and R. Slicker Blair just couldn’t face up to that straightforward truth.

I think it's more than that. It offers disenfranchised men a belief system and a sense of meaning so powerful that they are indoctrinated to believe dying for the cause makes living almost meaningless.

I've seen this first hand. It's quite disturbing watching someone beg to be martyred.

I don't doubt that, but a square meal and shelter is the starting point imo.

Originally Posted by harrybarracuda

Try shutting the fuck up.

Originally Posted by harrybarracuda

Last edited by harrybarracuda; Today at 08:47 PM.

Nice to see, that you decided on an adult answer.

Taliban seizes custom posts, draining key Afghan income source

KABUL (Bloomberg): The Taliban has seized key customs posts and is collecting import duties on goods entering Afghanistan, a Ministry of Finance official said, cutting off a key revenue source for President Ashraf Ghani’s beleaguered government.


The ministry collected only 4.6 billion Afghanis ($58 million) in duties last month compared with 7.3 billion Afghanis in June from all 30 customs posts located on borders, cities and airports, ministry spokesman Mohammad Rafi Tabe said by phone. Most losses were at international border crossings where the Taliban took more than 2.7 billion Afghanis, he said.


The militant group has been making rapid advances across the country as U.S. and NATO troops head home, with a final exit slated for Aug. 31. Over the last month they have gained control of at least eight of 14 customs posts along Afghanistan’s borders with Iran, Pakistan, Turkmenistan and Tajikistan, Tabe said.


Import duties account for about half of Afghanistan’s total domestic revenues, which were estimated at about 216.5 billion Afghanis this year, Tabe said. The U.S. and other international donors also provide around 236 billion Afghanis annually to help the aid-dependent country finance its military expenses.


Afghan Defense Ministry spokesman Fawad Aman vowed the government would retake the customs posts by using “full force” against the Taliban on the ground and in the air. A Pentagon watchdog warned last month the country would suffer serious financial losses if the customs posts stayed out of government control.


“The Taliban’s occupation of key border crossings could deny potentially significant levels of customs revenue to the Afghan government, further inhibiting its ability to generate sufficient domestic revenues,” the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction, said in a July 30 report.


Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahed confirmed control of the customs posts, adding that the group has reduced most duties by as much as 40% to boost trade. Afghanistan mostly imports food items, construction material and fuel, according to Tabe.


The militant group has dramatically expanded their hold on Afghan territory in recent months — controlling half of the country’s 419 districts — and is now putting military pressure on the provincial capitals, General Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said on July 22. Afghan security forces are consolidating around Kabul and provincial capitals as Taliban fighters attempt to isolate those population centers, he added.


Tabe said the seized border posts include Islam Qala, Torghundi and Abu Nasr Farahi in the west; Spin Boldak in the south; Dand-e-Patan in the east; and Sher Khan Bandar, Ay Khanum and Ishkashim in the north and northeast.


https://thefrontierpost.com/taliban-...income-source/

That's an actual fact

Originally Posted by sabang

Yeh, it's called the Beltway.

Good one

Originally Posted by sabang

.
Well, either that or stick with centuries of tradition and continue their neverending wars. Foreigners best stay out of it.

No. We must help the girls and women in Afganishtan. And in every other place. We do have the power if we choose to use it. "Centuries of tradition" sounds like a hate word to me

I see you are with the traditional "we can't do anything about Afganishtan British Russians and Americans tried and failed" but that's fake. US/UK/Europeans secured better future to million girls there and that alone is worth the cost.

Originally Posted by DC101

No. We must help the girls and women in Afganishtan. And in every other place. We do have the power if we choose to use it. "Centuries of tradition" sounds like a hate word to me

I see you are with the traditional "we can't do anything about Afganishtan British Russians and Americans tried and failed" but that's fake. US/UK/Europeans secured better future to million girls there and that alone is worth the cost.

How is it fake?

What exactly did any of these three occupations achieve in the long run?

Fuck all, that's what.

At enormous expense in both money and lives.