About 8,000 US troops are deploying to secure evacuations from Kabul

[Jarhead0331]

I heard Jen Psaki state at a press conference that there 11,000 people in Afghanistan who "self identify" as American, what ever the hell that means.

[steve58]

In its budget request for fiscal year 2022, the White House included $3.3 billion for Afghan security forces to be paid out via the Department of Defense's Afghanistan Security Forces Fund.

That money would flow to the Afghan National Army, Afghan National Police, Afghan Air Force and the Afghan Special Security Forces, entities that put up little resistance as the Taliban swept across the country in just a few days.

https://www.foxbusiness.com/politics/afghanistan-withdrawal-biden-more-spending-reconstruction

What Afghan National Army?
What Afghan National Police?
What Afghan Air Force?
What Afghan Special Security Forces?

I don't believe these entities exist anymore.  Just more US dollars to flow into the Taliban coffers.  Talk about aiding and abetting the enemy >:(

[Anguille]

In its budget request for fiscal year 2022, the White House included $3.3 billion for Afghan security forces to be paid out via the Department of Defense's Afghanistan Security Forces Fund.

That money would flow to the Afghan National Army, Afghan National Police, Afghan Air Force and the Afghan Special Security Forces, entities that put up little resistance as the Taliban swept across the country in just a few days.

https://www.foxbusiness.com/politics/afghanistan-withdrawal-biden-more-spending-reconstruction

What Afghan National Army?
What Afghan National Police?
What Afghan Air Force?
What Afghan Special Security Forces?

I don't believe these entities exist anymore.  Just more US dollars to flow into the Taliban coffers.  Talk about aiding and abetting the enemy >:(

I am pretty sure this was in the budget before the campaign of the Talibans to take over the country.

[Gusington]

The number of Americans I saw quoted on CNN was ~15,000, which I still thought was high.

[Sir Slash]

Exactly what Steve said. America could've stayed in Afghanistan another 20 years as long as the Money Spigot stayed on. With it gone, the government went as well. The Afghans were never going to support a centralized, federal government with a standing National Army. The place is still predominantly tribal with ethnic and cultural ties being the glue that holds people together there. A Representative Democracy? Please, they have no desire to become that. That doesn't mean they don't care about themselves, or their future.

The Taliban should not celebrate too soon. The country they ruled over back in 2001 is a very different place today. Then almost no one had electricity, now almost the entire country has it as well as the Internet and cell phones. If Biden's statement is accurate, there are only about 75,000 Taliban fighters, and considering Kabul alone has around 5 million people living there, if they can't provide jobs and keep the lights and water on, then it may be the Taliban who collapse next and more quickly than the late Federal Government did. More likely is another long-running Afghan Civil War with the people suffering the most, as always.  :hide:

[MOS:96B2P]

In the news:

This week, the Taliban is encouraging women to return to work and girls to go back to school, where headscarves are being handed out, according to The Associated Press. But a damning photo shows a woman in district Taloqan, Takhar province, lying in a pool of blood as her parents and others crouch around her, a pitcher on the ground nearby. She was shot and killed for going out without a burqa.

[steve58]

So that's where the "Afghan Airforce" went.

Hundreds of Afghan soldiers have fled over the border to Uzbekistan with dozens of US military aircraft and helicopters.  Think the Uzbekistanis will give'em (the aircraft) back?

[GDS_Starfury]

In its budget request for fiscal year 2022, the White House included $3.3 billion for Afghan security forces to be paid out via the Department of Defense's Afghanistan Security Forces Fund.

That money would flow to the Afghan National Army, Afghan National Police, Afghan Air Force and the Afghan Special Security Forces, entities that put up little resistance as the Taliban swept across the country in just a few days.

https://www.foxbusiness.com/politics/afghanistan-withdrawal-biden-more-spending-reconstruction

my understanding is that there is no more money going to afghanistan.

What Afghan National Army?
What Afghan National Police?
What Afghan Air Force?
What Afghan Special Security Forces?

I don't believe these entities exist anymore.  Just more US dollars to flow into the Taliban coffers.  Talk about aiding and abetting the enemy >:(

I am pretty sure this was in the budget before the campaign of the Talibans to take over the country.

pretty sure the money has been cut off.

[GDS_Starfury]

So that's where the "Afghan Airforce" went.

Hundreds of Afghan soldiers have fled over the border to Uzbekistan with dozens of US military aircraft and helicopters.  Think the Uzbekistanis will give'em (the aircraft) back?

its almost all russian stuff anyway so theyll probably keep it.

[Gusington]

Hard to believe, and a crazy ironic story in the midst of all this, but it looks like the Sea Knight/Chinook in Saigon and Kabul...really is the same machine:

https://warisboring.com/from-saigon-to-kabul-the-tragically-ironic-tale-of-the-little-sea-knight-that-could/?fbclid=IwAR3kQ8Wn8xajuMH27kUT6AtbhFH7UU9qqBjPUG8oMgWY_Txr0YHM1G4EH3M

[Sir Slash]

 :o :o :o

[Gusington]

I couldn't believe it either!

[Silent Disapproval Robot]

The opening line is a bit insulting, isn't it?  Especially in light of what the Brits, Frenchies, and Germanz are doing to get their people out of this clusterfuck.

[al_infierno]

The opening line is a bit insulting, isn't it?  Especially in light of what the Brits, Frenchies, and Germanz are doing to get their people out of this clusterfuck.

I assumed they were referring to local allies, like the Afghan president and military, but you're right that it's not particularly well phrased (and clearly written by an American  )

[MOS:96B2P]

From the BBC:

The Taliban have stepped up their search for people who worked for NATO forces or the previous Afghan government, a document prepared for the UN has warned.  It said the militants have been going door-to-door to find targets and threaten their family members.  The hardline Islamist group has tried to reassure Afghans since seizing power promising there would be "no revenge".  But there are growing fears of a gap between what they say and what they do.[/i]