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

(Not so much facts telling as from some of my fan club, but perhaps it's worse of reading (even if from MSM):

Nearly 20 years of war, 10 days to fall: Afghanistan, by the numbers
The United States has spent an estimated $2,261,000,000,000, or more than $2 trillion, on the war effort.
20 Aug 2021

President Biden struck a defiant tone as he defended the withdrawal of American troops after the Taliban’s lightning fast takeover of Afghanistan. “I stand squarely behind my decision,” the president told the nation in a televised address from the White House on Monday.

Still, Biden acknowledged the “gut-wrenching” images emerging from the country where the United States has fought its longest foreign war. “After 20 years, I’ve learned the hard way that there was never a good time to withdraw U.S. forces,” he said.

Here is a close look at the cost in lives, dollars and resources spent in Afghanistan over the last two decades.

2001
This is the year the United States launched the war in Afghanistan. Operation Enduring Freedom began Oct. 7, 2001, as part of President George W. Bush’s wider war against terrorism after the 9/11 attacks.

2014
The year the war officially ended. On Dec. 28, U.S. and NATO military officials held a ceremony at their headquarters in Afghanistan’s capital, Kabul, to mark the occasion. President Barack Obama, in a statement announcing a troop drawdown, called it “a milestone for our country” and said the United States was now safer and more secure.

19
The number of years U.S. troops have been in Afghanistan, making it America’s longest military engagement. Thousands of U.S. and NATO troops remained on the ground after 2014 in smaller numbers, after passing security responsibility of the country to Afghan national forces. Foreign troops have since helped train and assist the Afghan security forces and institutions.

5,200
That’s the number of U.S. military troops still in Kabul as of Thursday, according to a Pentagon news briefing. The Biden administration said this past weekend that it was sending additional troops to Afghanistan to help partially evacuate the U.S. Embassy and ensure a safe withdrawal from the country.

4
The number of U.S. presidents who have presided over the Afghan war.

800,000
The number of American service members who have served in Afghanistan since October 2001, according to the Defense Department.

The shocking speed of the Taliban’s advance: A visual timeline

2,352
The number of U.S. military members who have died in Afghanistan as of this month, per the Defense Department. The U.S. Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction, SIGAR, puts this figure slightly higher, at 2,443 dead.

20,000
The number of American service members who have been wounded in the war effort, per the Defense Department. SIGAR puts this figure at 20,666.

66,000
The estimated number of Afghan military and national police killed in the conflict, according to a report calculating the costs of the war by Brown University’s Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs from April, though there is uncertainty about the true number.

47,245
The number of Afghan civilians killed, per Brown University’s Costs of War project. In the first half of 2021 alone, there were 1,659 Afghan civilians killed and 3,524 wounded — a 47 percent increase compared with the same period last year — the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan reported.

The Afghanistan Papers: A secret history of the war

51
The number of countries including NATO and partner nations that have fought in the Afghanistan war.

1,144
The number of allied service members, including from other NATO member states, who have died in Afghanistan as of April, according to Brown University.

444
The number of humanitarian aid workers killed in the conflict as of April, per Brown.

75
The number of journalists and media workers killed in the country between 2001 and this year, per the Committee to Protect Journalists.

51,191
The estimated number of anti-government opposition fighters in Afghanistan killed, though an exact figure has never been released, per Brown.

2,977
Men, women and children killed in the 9/11 attacks, according to the National September 11 Memorial Museum.

2,261,000,000,000
The total ongoing cost to the United States of the Afghan war is more than $2 trillion, per Brown, which includes operations in both Afghanistan and Pakistan. It includes some reconstruction costs but not future obligations toward lifetime care for American veterans or future interest payments on money borrowed to fund the war. A 2021 report by SIGAR, citing the Defense Department, said the United States had spent some $837 billion on warfighting alone.

145,000,000,000
The amount the United States has provided to implement reconstruction programs in Afghanistan since 2002 is more than $145 billion, according to SIGAR. The funds are used for a range of projects including to build the Afghan National Security Forces, promote good governance and engage in counternarcotics efforts.

300,000
The number of Afghan military personnel trained by the United States to date. “We trained and equipped an Afghan military force of some 300,000 strong — incredibly well equipped — a force larger in size than the militaries of many of our NATO allies,” Biden said in an address to the nation Aug. 16, 2021.

2,500,000
The current number of registered Afghan refugees who have fled the country. The real number may be much higher, according to the U.N. refugee agency, UNHCR. As of July 2021, Afghans are the second-largest refugee population in the world, UNHCR said. Iran and Pakistan host nearly 90 percent of displaced Afghans.

270,000
An estimate of the number of Afghans internally displaced since the start of 2021, forced to leave their homes and relocate within their own country due to violence and insecurity. UNHCR puts the total uprooted internally at over 3.5 million people.

169
That’s where Afghanistan, one of the poorest countries in the world, falls among 189 countries ranked in the Human Development Index, published by the United Nations Development Program. Afghanistan has an average life expectancy of 64 years, and some 56 percent of its population live in poverty, according to the index.

3,700,000
The number of children in Afghanistan who are out of school, 60 percent of whom are girls, according to UNICEF.

62
That’s the percentage of Americans who said this week that the war in Afghanistan was not worth fighting, according to an opinion poll from the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, conducted Aug. 12-16. When the war began in 2001, some 88 percent of Americans supported military action, according to a Gallup poll at the time.

10
The number of days it took for the Taliban to assume power of the government after massive gains across the country. The Taliban seized its first provincial capital — Zaranj in Nimruz province, on the border with Iran — on Aug. 6. Just days later, by Aug. 15, the Taliban were poised to take control of Kabul.

Read more:

Opinion: Condoleezza Rice: The Afghan people didn’t choose the Taliban. They fought and died alongside us.

Afghanistan’s military collapse: Illicit deals and mass desertions

Taliban shifts focus to governing, but protests and empty coffers pose challenges

See with pictures:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world...r-key-numbers/

I'm amazed that some people in high office actually seem to be genuinely surprised at the speed of the fall.

I had absolutely no doubt at all that the whole thing would be a cake left out in the rain after a fortnight.

It was all about the guns and rockets from the start. Take them out of the equation and...

Originally Posted by cyrille

I'm amazed that some people in high office actually seem to be genuinely surprised at the speed of the fall.

Perhaps it was a ruse.

Well the talitubbies certainly have a sense of humour.

Originally Posted by cyrille

It was all about the guns and rockets from the start. Take them out of the equation and...

I'd say it was all about the US military, irrespective of their number . . . the Afghan military relied on them

An interesting lessons learn't piece from the Guardian:

Even the crisis in Afghanistan can’t break the spell of Britain’s delusional foreign policy | Owen Jones | The Guardian

^ Excellent article. British- or at least English- Parliamentarians are delusional.

Originally Posted by panama hat

Still an amazing statistic that the Russians were in Afghanistan half the amount of time and ran away with 15.000 deaths,

Relatively little is known about the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan in 1979-89. The pro-Soviet regime of Barkak Karmal received a loan of $ 800 million, and the combat losses, according to official Russian statements, amounted to 13,310 dead and 35,478 wounded soldiers.

Many captured Russian soldiers were tortured by the Mujahideen, but the Russians bombed insurgent cities and villages. The total cost of the war was not disclosed, according to the CIA it was about $ 115 billion. 451 aircraft were destroyed, of which 333 helicopters, 147 tanks, 1,314 armored personnel carriers, 433 cannons and 11,369 other vehicles.

If we subtract the unknown value of the destroyed armament, we get an estimated damage of around $ 200 billion (war cost + loan). However, the Soviet Union left the country in a fairly orderly manner, and the pro-Soviet government of Babrak Karmal (President 1979-86) and after him Muhammad Najibullah (1986-96, executed in Kabul by the Taliban) ruled for a very long time even after the departure of the defeated occupying army.

15.000 dead and Klondyke talks about how much money the Soviet Union saved, as compared to the US who lost 3.000

I guess the Soviet Union was close to bankrupt and their citizens' lives are cheap. Russians.

In the last few days, there have been reports of armed Afghani resistance against the Taliban.


Anti-Taliban fighters claim victories as first stirrings of armed resistance emerge
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world...270_story.html


Resistance fighters drive Taliban from 3 districts in the mountains north of Kabul.
The Taliban faced the first armed challenge from former Afghan soldiers and villagers in the mountains north of Kabul.
Resistance fighters drive Taliban from 3 districts in the mountains north of Kabul. - The New York Times


Afghan resistance fighters take back territory from Taliban
A high-ranking former Afghan government official said Friday that resistance fighters — mainly made of about 300 battle-ready mujahideen members and commanders linked to the Northern Alliance — wrestled three districts in the northeastern Baghlan province out of Taliban control on Friday, killing upwards of 36 Taliban fighters and wounding dozens more.Afghan resistance fighters take back territory from Taliban


And a call for more arms from western countries


The mujahideen resistance to the Taliban begins now. But we need help.
.. we know that our military forces and logistics will not be sufficient. They will be rapidly depleted unless our friends in the West can find a way to supply us without delay.
...we need more weapons, more ammunition and more supplies.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opini...ahmad-massoud/

Originally Posted by Neverna

...we need more weapons, more ammunition and more supplies.

...first step back to the swamp of warlords...better they should steal the stuff the US left behind...

unless our friends in the West can find a way to supply us without delay.
...we need more weapons, more ammunition and more supplies.

Originally Posted by panama hat

I guess the Soviet Union

Not only having day nightmares with klondick but also with soviet dead soldiers...

The Soviets did not need for their war the vassals armies, they had had so many of their own from the then Soviet ...stan republics.

And interestingly, many of these ...stan armies were again fighting this time against the same enemy, however, under another flag. And under another hard currency...

Actually, it was not the "same" enemy. That time the enemy were Mujahedeens, now they were Talibanees...

Originally Posted by panama hat

I'd say it was all about the US military, irrespective of their number . . . the Afghan military relied on them

That’s what I meant by ‘guns and rockets’.

$2,261,000,000,000, two trillion, two hundred and sixty one billion... for nothing. That figure is just staggering.

When we invaded Afghanistan there were about 22 million people living there. I wonder how Afghanistan would have changed if we had just handed each one of those medieval bandits about $100,000!

Originally Posted by cyrille

That’s what I meant by ‘guns and rockets’.

Right, sorry.

Originally Posted by tomcat

...not exactly for nothing...those US tax dollars bought us:

a) new weaponry field-tests
b) huge profits for US "defense" companies
c) huge profits for US contractor companies
d) improved medical techniques/medications for the horribly maimed
e) inspiration for several episodes of "Homeland"
f) a deeper understanding of national humiliation

Cynical but with grains of truth. Many profited from these twenty years

Originally Posted by tomcat

f) a deeper understanding of national humiliation

Of course if this was happening under baldy orange cunto's watch, the GOP and Fox et al would be saying what a courageous decision and magnificent approach it all was and how it is all the Afghan government's fault.

Australia Evacuates More Than 300 Overnight From Afghanistan - PM


MELBOURNE (Reuters) - Australia ran four flights into Kabul, Afghanistan, on Saturday night, evacuating more than 300 people, including Australians, Afghan visa holders, New Zealanders, U.S. and British citizens, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said on Sunday.

The news came after the United States and Germany told their citizens in Afghanistan to avoid travelling to Kabul airport, citing security risks as thousands tried to flee almost a week after Taliban Islamists took control.


"We will continue to run those flights, working together with our partners and our allies," Morrison told the Australian Broadcasting Corp (ABC) Insiders program on Sunday.


"We are uplifting not just Australians and Afghan visa holders for Australia, but those from the United Kingdom, the United States and New Zealand."

The Australian government has now evacuated more than 550 people from Kabul since Aug. 18, including Australians and Afghan visa holders.


Last week, about 8,000 people were flown from Afghanistan on flights organised by the United States, United Kingdom and European Union countries.


The first flight to bring evacuees from Kabul to Australia landed in Perth on Friday night, bringing Australians, Afghan visa holders and family members, including women and children, Foreign Affairs Minister Marise Payne said.


She said the efforts have been hampered by Taliban violence.


"There are people in their thousands, as you've seen, crowding around the entrances to the airport," she said according to a transcript of a news conference on Saturday published on the ministry's website.


"And there have been, unfortunately, injuries as well. And, we have had to address some of those amongst our passenger cohorts too. It is dangerous."

Australia Evacuates More Than 300 Overnight From Afghanistan - PM | World News | US News

Four Remaining Thais in Afghanistan Are Evacuated to Qatar and Kuwait

BANGKOK (NNT) - Thailand’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has revealed that the four remaining Thais in Kabul, Afghanistan, have been evacuated to Qatar and Kuwait.


Ministry spokesman Tanee Sangrat said on 21 August hat the embassy in Islamabad, Pakistan, coordinated, with the embassy in Qatar’s Doha and Kuwait, to contact and evacuate the four Thais. The last of the group arrived in Doha on 20 August.


He said, as far as they knew, there are no Thais left in Afghanistan. However, any Thais who need help in Afghanistan can contact the Royal Thai Embassy in Islamabad via (+92)-315-900-9949 or Consular Affairs Department via (+66)-02-572-8442.


Meanwhile, Immigration Bureau deputy chief Pol Maj Gen Archayon Kraithong said it will be difficult for Afghan people to evacuate to Thailand because Afghanistan does not have any commercial flights to the country. The Afghans must depart from Egypt and must also be checked before entry.

National News Bureau Of Thailand

Four Remaining Thais in Afghanistan Are Evacuated to Qatar and Kuwait

Soon to be repatriated.



Possibly with a large ingested diamond.

Originally Posted by Edmond

Soon to be repatriated.

...so, the massage parlor's closed then...