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there was an agreement to get out by May 1 but Biden is waffling

we've been there for almost 20 years

if and when we do get out - and if the Taliban then takes over -

it will be one of the greatest American failures ever - on a par with Vietnam




https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/26/u...gtype=Homepage

Prolly shouldn't have invaded Afghanistan, bombed the crap out of it, killed thousands and hooked up with a bunch of murderers, rapists, thieves, and brigands like the Northern Alliance to go against a bunch of theocratic monsters like the Taliban to begin with eh? All about reaping and sowing.
Hopefully the current administration learns from it.

no evening news footage of battles and soldiers missing legs loaded onto choppers

it will largely be forgotten except for academic discussion during our lifetimes

nevermind the media coverage, just look at the casualty comparisons, we recently went over a full year without a single death due to combat

Nope the Drug War or Covid or Education or the Penal System or coming up Illegal Immigration which relates to the first one

Oh my answer is never

Wait, what? We're still in Afghanistan ?

Afghani opium poppy production by hectares cultivated per year. Invasion was 2001, and the crops have been good ever since.

US lost control of the cocaine trade, had to look for alternatives to fund secret activities.

Worked in Iraq

I've read varying opinions about that 2001 anomaly that suggest it's not really a true number. And that really still doesn't change the larger story imo either.

It was my understanding that the Taliban had urged farmers to stop cultivating it, and one of the 9/11 conspiracy theories is that this helped to motivate it.
For various reasons I think that narrative has tons of problems, but I'd be interested in reading more there. If the number isn't true then that actually fits better than the 9/11 conspiracy idea where everything somehow all came together in October 2001 for the US to go in there and restore production.
So it fits as a 9/11 red-herring, basically.

The robber barons will never let you leave

It's been years since I read a bunch about that. But one of the stories that made the most sense to me(I do remember it was something that kinda stuck out to me--because it was pretty different than the standard narrative that seems to be everywhere) was basically along the lines that there just weren't any real assets on the ground at that point to verify/and what few inspector types that were around were being blocked from the actual areas where they could get good estimates etc. mostly to further the charade that they were actually doing something about it.

After almost 20 years now, do we know what hit the Pentagon?

20 years and probably still wouldn't be able to talk about it here. I don't think there is anything definitive though. I'd guess nothing.

When it's really the only cash crop you have, and one that pays so we'll, it's hard to stop growing it. We had an attache from the FBI who worked in the CJTF180 TOC with us, whose sole focus was the poppy stuff...it's an impossible issue.

There really is no alternative for many of the farmers.

I thought Syria is the forgotten war nobody wants to talk about with no more media coverage.

there are many, wikipedia maintains a list of active military conflict, most of them are quite minor in scope but a good way to win a bet at a bar is ask people how many active military engagements are currently happening and whatever they say bet the over

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_o...rmed_conflicts

one thing i've noticed throughout much of the third world is they'll have literal armed bunkers casually dispersed throughout the country and this is for good reason

even stable places like egypt, you'll be seeing machine gun nests any time you pass a government building on the road

remember when I was at the red sea people were saying you shouldn't take a boat too far out on your own because pirates and various insurgent groups were based on the other side and always looking for captives to ransom

Nice list. There are too many forgotten wars.

I've been in Egypt too. They have a long history, the Muslim brotherhood has it's root there imo. And the location is in the centre, and it's no coincidence that they were a world leading nation once. I think they still play a major role in religon and politics in middle east. Anyways they are surrounded by everyone. Jerusalem to the left, Saudi Arabia underneath and Syria and Iran to the right. Syria btw was once a world superpower nation just as Egypt was. Of course the police is armed there and they have bunkers. Most of the third world has armed forces because someone messed with them imo. Or they messed with someone else. Look at Mexico where the police is heavily armed. I have never seen such armed forces as in mexico. And that is police that is carrying those huge automatic weapons. Of course most of them are working for the cartel. In India they are barely armed. The police uses rifles that are decades old. Honestly it looks like a bayonette or pirates rifle what they have, lol. Like something out of a museum.

Yes and the hostage business is big at sea. I watched a doc about this. I wouldn't go near a coast with a boat in Africa, southeast Asia, or the Carribean. Or at least be prepared and avoid the hotspots. They literraly have pirates that take you for ransom.

Egypt is considered a MENA country-- (middle east north africa) which idk when exactly this acronym became common use.
Technically it's just north African, but because they're culturally in line with the Islamic middle east, they're lumped together. Not sure why Somalia is making it onto a mena list though. Nobody considers Somalia middle east or north African; it's east Africa.

Thank you. Afghanistan is too much of a hotspot to ever fully withdraw imo or I've heard. Of course they could but they don't want to. Too much power struggle over there and the US wants piece of the cake.

If it isn't the opium then it's the natural gas pipelines, and if it isn't either of those then it's something else-- like containing Russia/China. Or all three. Whatever it is, it isn't because they're trying to keep Americans safe from the Taliban-- that would be ridiculous.

What exactly is the US getting a piece of?

The Grand Chessboard

Regarding the landmass of Eurasia as the center of global power, Brzezinski sets out to formulate a Eurasian geostrategy for the United States. In particular, he writes that no Eurasian challenger should emerge that can dominate Eurasia and thus also challenge U.S. global pre-eminence.

Much of Brzezinski's analysis is concerned with geostrategy in Central Asia, focusing on the exercise of power on the Eurasian landmass in a post-Soviet environment. In his chapter dedicated to what he refers to as the "Eurasian Balkans," he uses Halford J. Mackinder's Heartland Theory.

Afghanistan is like E5.

America made the Taliban, remember they created the taliban by financing and training Bin Laden, and Isis, so it would be double ridicolous.

Yes and Russia cant have E5.