Afghanistan war: Taliban capture city of Kunduz

[muriel_volestrangler]

Source: BBC

The Taliban have captured the key northern Afghan city of Kunduz after fierce fighting with government forces.

A local official told the BBC all but the city's airport had fallen to the militant group.

Chaotic scenes have been reported inside Kunduz, with buildings and shops ablaze. The Taliban's flag has been seen raised in the city centre.
...
There are reports that another northern city, Sar-e-Pul, has also been captured, although this is yet to be independently confirmed.

Read more: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-58135148

[bearsfootball516]

1. Feel awful for the citizens.

It's hard to fathom that we were there for 20 years, lost hundreds of lives, spent trillions of dollars, and made essentially no progress or inroads.

[Glorfindel]

2. The conclusion is inescapable: This is precisely what

the majority of Afghans want. Otherwise, the Taliban would cease to exist.

[sanatanadharma]

3. As is the inescapable conclusion that the majority of Americans want...

As is the inescapable conclusion that the majority of Americans want NRA violence in the streets of America and children bleeding out in their schools.

When armed killers come to your community, desires that they not do so, do not stop the war lords from winning. Apparently 20 years of shooting back is also a failed means of ending war.

If the USA had not invaded Iraq and spent half of that money in Afghanistan, the nation could have autobahns, schools, valuable-minerals mines, factories, running water, sewers, etc and the Afghans would be rejecting the Taliban.

And don't anyone go all 2nd amendment on me.
If the majority of Americans wanted, the amendment would be modified or eliminated, just as seen in the prohibition amendment and repeal.

[samsingh]

5. we don't support the white supremists and the trumpists

yet they exist and with a few things happening since 2016 staged attempted takeover of our country. That happened in what i used to think was a stable Democracy.

It doesn't take much to promote hate and stupidity anywhere in the world

[maxsolomon]

7. "Cease to exist"? That's quite the assertion.

Afghans are Sunni, Shiite, Pashtun, Hazara, Tajik, Uzbek, Turkmen.

When you read quotes by Afghans facing Taliban takeover of their towns, they're uniformly terrified.

The Taliban are a fundamentalist Sunni Pashtun militia, poised halfway between a religious movement and an extortionist gang. They are based in Pakistan's NW Territories, and receive at least tacit support from Pakistan's ISI.

You should revisit your conclusions.

[RussBLib]

17. I understand there are over 200k Afghan soldiers

and it's estimated 50k Taliban. Yet, there seems almost no resistance to the Taliban from the military. The Taliban just marches in and takes over. WTF? I understand that the US was also paying the salaries of the Afghan soldiers. I wonder if that is going to continue: unlikely. The Taliban may be an extreme criminal and terrorist group, but they base their "religion" on Islam, however misconstrued it may be (or not).

This Afghan nation is still in the throes of Islam, as are many in the region, and in my humble opinion, as long as that persists, they will have much misery.

[JI7]

14. Nope, most want the Americans to stay there

The fact is their military needs to be willing to die to save the others.

Maybe it's their lack of positive shared history and how most afghans have mostly been about day to day survival which is why the government forces are running away rather than give their life to save the country .

[samsingh]

4. me too.

[DallasNE]

9. Incredible That In 20 Years

That we couldn't develop a fighting force that could maintain control. Did we not develop an air force? Ground forces are tougher because the foot soldiers are in the army for the paycheck so they will not be an effective fighting force - something we should have learned from Vietnam and Iraq. Failure was a foregone conclusion given the poorly crafted plan for the occupation of Afghanistan.

[cstanleytech]

12. The problem was the extreme ignorance and arrogance by many people (mostly Republican) that

thought that the people would welcome us with open arms if we stayed there long enough after kicking the Taliban out.

[EX500rider]

15. "Did we not develop an air force?"

The issue is as soon as they learn a valuable skill like pilot or airplane mechanic they tend to leave for another more modern and peaceful country with better pay.

[McKim]

11. But some sectors made money!

But some sectors made money and for them it's the bottom line.

[Dopers_Greed]

6. Biden will ultimately be blamed

For the country falling to the Taliban

Fux News is already pumping the talking point that Trump achieved peace in the Middle East, and now Biden's blown it.

[yaesu]

10. As long as fascist corporate organizations back putin's GOP there will be an all fronts war

against Biden and our Democracy. I don't see us winning that war unless we rid ourselves of the fascist threat.

[maxsolomon]

8. Accelerating losses.

Kunduz is a big city: 375K.

Wiki: "Ethnic Pashtuns comprise the largest segment, followed by Uzbeks, Tajiks, Arabs and a few others. Kunduz is the capital of a highly diverse province that includes significant populations of Pashtuns, Tajiks, Uzbeks, Karluks, Hazaras, Arabs, Moghols, Balochis and Turkmens."

The refugee crisis is going to be massive.

[Evolve Dammit]

13. What's it been; three weeks? Tragic but predictable. Brits, Ruskis and US against tribes. nt

[Shanti Shanti Shanti]

16. Vietnamization II, didnt work then, wont work now, it will all fall, goodbye Saigon

Last edited Mon Aug 9, 2021, 02:49 PM - Edit history (1)