http://www.marinecorpstimes.com/art...ssion-Afghanistan-after-13-years?sf33018480=1 Mission accomplished (finally)?
Nope. Mission abandoned. I have tremendous respect for the marines and soldiers who fought in Afghanistan. Barack is screwing the pooch in Afghanistan just like he screwed the pooch in Iraq.
The pooch had pulled a train by the time Obama got into office. Hell, the futility of the ME war is what helped to get Obama elected to begin with.
After what's happened in Syria and Iraq, and with the Taliban swearing loyalty to ISIS, you'd think Obama would think. "Hey, if not leaving a stabilizing force contributed to Iraq's rapid descent into chaos and being conquered by an outside group of jihadists, then maybe the same thing will happen in Afghanistan if I continue to withdraw all the troops." But no. Not much chance of that happening.
I dont give a shit. Bring our troops home. Those parts of the world had 5000 years to develop into a better system. But clearly they won't. America needs to not care about the world anymore.
We've been meddling over there long enough. You do know how the Taliban came into power? We GAVE them weapons in the 70s and 80s to fight our battle with Saddam, then they turned to enslave their own people. Until the Taliban, female doctors outnumbered the men. Thanks, Reagan!
Two points: Most of the mess in the ME is shit of our own making. Weapons we provided. Insurgents we trained/disillusioned/killed relatives of/blew up home villages belonging to. Our former leaders staged a war to enrich profiteers in their own inner circles. No other reason. 2nd point: we are in no way "abandoning" the middle east by leaving Afghanistan. I happen to know from a close relative in the Marine Taxi Service AKA US Navy, there are imminent moves I can't say anything about. But they aren't toward home.
I love how right forge is still ignoring the fact that the Iraqis told us to leave because they didn't want us there.
We didn't arm the Taliban, and they didn't even exist until Clinton's second term. Reagan armed the mujahideen, who drove out the Soviets. Many years later the mujahideen were overthrown by the Taliban, who came in from Waziristan (a region in Pakistan) and were backed by elements of Pakistan's ISI (intelligence service). To overthrow the Taliban after 9/11, we again worked with the old mujahideen who were still fighting them. We also didn't back Saddam in the 1970's because he was an Arab socialist who sided with the Soviet Union, similar to Nasser in Egypt or Hafez al-Assad in Syria. He used Soviet equipment, not American.
In the 80s, Soldier of Fortune magazine had a thing where you could contribute a dollar for a bullet to be sent to the Mujahideen. "Kill a Commie for Mommy!"
Heck, I used to have a sidebar link that said "Pop a Pali for Pizza - send free pizzas to the Israeli Defense Forces", and I sent them quite a few. They have a Facebook page that shows units getting special pizza deliveries from all over the world. Pizza IDF link
Cool! I would do it if they sent a pic back to me of a hot female IDF chowing down on my sausage with extra sauce! Now you've done it...off to google IDF chicks!
These are not wholly distinct groups completely isolated and disparate. They are countrymen, tribesmen and mountain fighters, trained by years of invasion into hard spine defenders. Their names and alliances shift with every new day which is why we had a fuck of a time picking an army out of them.
Those women can't be for real. They have to be hand-picked to recruit guys into the IDF. That said I'd discharge my high-capacity magazine gun into their clearing barrels anytime! I'd run my cleaning rod through their dirty chambers once a day and twice on Sunday! Okay, Saturday to accommodate their beliefs. I'd fly my Cobra into their inverted-Y approach with a quickness! I'd fire my heat-seeking OKAY! You get the drift I guess.
If I recall correctly Afghanistan was the furthest marines have ever operated as combat units from the ocean