Afghan fighting - the latest reports.

[Poppycock]

19-years later is not rushed & is certainly not early

Could NATO really stay without US support?

https://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2020-10-21/nato-chief-rules-out-rushed-early-exit-from-afghanistan

 

[Stonker]

CDS General Sir Nick sticking his nose in where it's not needed:

Old Nick is a great man, look at the way he transformed the British Army in a mere two years. You could learn a lot from a fella like that.

https://www.arrse.co.uk/community/threads/gen-nick-carter-a-year-in-post-as-cgs-give-us-a-progress-update.243291/

 

[Caecilius]

19-years later is not rushed & is certainly not early

Could NATO really stay without US support?

https://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2020-10-21/nato-chief-rules-out-rushed-early-exit-from-afghanistan

No chance. The NATO mission is totally reliant on US support.

 

[Stonker]

NATO is totally reliant on [the] US.

. . . is the fact of it, irrespective of time, mission or theatre.

 

[CH512O]

No chance. The NATO mission is totally reliant on US support.

Anything south of Kabul is US and US only. Ignore the fact Romanians, Italians, Germans including Brits and other "we are doing our bit" countries, they are doing a token effort.
Most of the internal flights for instance to get from Kabul, KAF, Herat are US C130's....once they go then you aint going anywhere. I think the Australians may still be flying one around but UK stopped ages ago.

 

[Poppycock]

No chance. The NATO mission is totally reliant on US support.

Thanks for confirming what I thought and for giving short summary to what others have kindly detailed on here

That now leaves me wondering what was going on today:

• Our def sec Wallace being backed to the hilt by US def sec Esper
• Our CDS Gen Carter meeting with Afghan foreign minister in Kabul
• Sec Gen Stoltenberg declaring that NATO isn't leaving Kabul anytime soon

I can only conclude there's a coordinated revolt against Trump's declared intention to get all US troops home by Christmas, essentially a NATO / Mil Ind Complex coup against the US President as we approach a very dirty US election.

Given what I see as Trump's significant support base & the popularity of his policies over there, will there be a "US fighting latest reports" thread getting started in a month's time? i.e. a possible un-Civil War in the US

If so, I predict Antifa will get an idea of what the first day of the Somme felt like for the Accrington Pals battalion

​

 

[Poppycock]

I can only conclude there's a coordinated revolt against Trump's declared intention to get all US troops home by Christmas, essentially a NATO / Mil Ind Complex coup against the US President as we approach a very dirty US election.

Well fancy that! As I was typing my US election coup prediction the ever so trust worthy FBI was laying out its "election security" plans in a no questions allowed press conference!

 

[Caecilius]

Trump's declared intention to get all US troops home by Christmas

I think it's an attempt to reassure Afghan partners. It's not really possible to get all the US troops out in that time even if POTUS actually followed up on his random tweet.

 

[CH512O]

Having contacts to people close "to the frontline" it would be hard to vacate bases by Xmas. Certainly downsizing which to be fair has been talked about when i was out there to the point they built the new perimeter with T-Walls ($$$$$$$$$$) and then cancelled it! And the Dollars is not an exaggeration!
TCN Contractors are making their way back home after very long stints due to lockdown more than their usual deployed lengths and only having one-way tickets. No recruiting is happening at the moment as shown on some FB US Contractor groups. To be fair i dont think Trump cares too much about NATO shouldering the Mission, as much as he bangs on about 2% GDP...which in some cases he has a point. Everything hinges though on the US election whether the withdrawal continues or kind of slows down a bit!

 

[cityloyal]

Having contacts to people close "to the frontline" it would be hard to vacate bases by Xmas. Certainly downsizing which to be fair has been talked about when i was out there to the point they built the new perimeter with T-Walls ($$$$$$$$$$) and then cancelled it! And the Dollars is not an exaggeration!
TCN Contractors are making their way back home after very long stints due to lockdown more than their usual deployed lengths and only having one-way tickets. No recruiting is happening at the moment as shown on some FB US Contractor groups. To be fair i dont think Trump cares too much about NATO shouldering the Mission, as much as he bangs on about 2% GDP...which in some cases he has a point. Everything hinges though on the US election whether the withdrawal continues or kind of slows down a bit!

I work for an INGO out here and funding from US state/gov is drying up - everyone is in limbo and most are packing up. We have two guys flying out at the end of the month (US funded program) and they don't know if they will be coming back as any extension is up in the air (their tickets have been booked one way).

The US election will make very little difference in the long run. The Afghans may be able to squeeze another couple of months out of the US but nothing more than that. Biden wants to get the US out of there as much as Trump wants to.

Time for the Afghans to get on with it - problem is, they don't have either the capacity or willingness to do so. The intra-Afghan talks already seem like a dead duck. Things are going to get a whole lot worse for your average Afghan I reckon. And the increasingly desperate rhetoric from the Afghan gov indicates they think the same.

 

[Stonker]

Time for the Afghans to get on with it - problem is, they don't have either the capacity or willingness to do so. . . . . . . increasingly desperate rhetoric from the Afghan gov indicates they think the same.

Hmmm. Will(ingness) - if they had the will, they'd have committed to building capacity a long time ago (US and others have been in AFG nearly 20 years, FFS).

It's a fair bet then, that they're not so much a Government, more the latest set of self-seekers who have wangled themselves into making like one. By definition a bad thing, and ultimately doomed when the foreign money dries up, just like the succession of greedy freaks who made up the US-backed government(s) of South Vietnam, in my days of teenage innocence.

 

[Poppycock]

I've not cross checked it yet but this sounds highly likely to have happened

After reading of the Taliban prison / tunnel escape, I spent nighttime hours on stag on Bastion airfield watching all round for a tunnel exit

Taliban 'Great Escape' in April 2011 - 360m long tunnel, 400+ escapees:

Taliban reveal details of daring Kandahar prison escape

A Taliban spokesman tells the BBC how hundreds of inmates managed to escape one of Afghanistan's biggest prisons for the second time in just three years.

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[Poppycock]

This is getting more surreal by the tweet...

There was a one off report of US air support to the Taliban c.March this year but now it turns out they have their own dedicated US drone support team

I found this from Dec 2019: US / Taliban coordination in their common battle against Daesh:

 

[Stonker]

This is getting more surreal by the tweet...

There was a one off report of US air support to the Taliban c.March this year but now it turns out they have their own dedicated US drone support team

The enemy of my enemy is my friend.

Obviously . . . ​

 

[Caecilius]

This is getting more surreal by the tweet...

There was a one off report of US air support to the Taliban c.March this year but now it turns out they have their own dedicated US drone support team

It's a good idea when you think about it. The Taleban are taking the fight to ISIS-K so it makes sense for the US to provide fires to help them get the job done.

 

[Poppycock]

It's a good idea when you think about it. The Taleban are taking the fight to ISIS-K so it makes sense for the US to provide fires to help them get the job done.

Yep. I did actually suggest it 2 or 3yrs ago (Taliban & ANDSF combine efforts to combat Daesh)

My 'surreal' comment is about the shit we're being fed by the New York Times and the like - trying to convince us that Russia's paying the Taliban, resurgent al Qaeda, etc, etc

I can't tell you how relieved I am at those bullshit media narratives finally falling apart - soon everyone will see the light

 

[Caecilius]

My 'surreal' comment is about the shit we're being fed by the New York Times and the like - trying to convince us that Russia's paying the Taliban

Unfortunately they may not be entirely wrong. I'd certainly be interested to know how much Iranian money is heading to the Taleban.

Things are extremely complex in Afghanistan at the moment.

 

[CH512O]

Unfortunately they may not be entirely wrong. I'd certainly be interested to know how much Iranian money is heading to the Taleban.

Things are extremely complex in Afghanistan at the moment.

So funny to find Iranian sourced grease in a Contractors maintenance shed servicing equipment on a US/NATO base! Some may seem this to be trivial but at the time caused a whole heap of trouble!

 

[par avion]

After reading of the Taliban prison / tunnel escape, I spent nighttime hours on stag on Bastion airfield watching all round for a tunnel exit

Did you get suspicious when the Taliban prisoners were trying to bribe you with Red Cross rations and indented for a 'vaulting horse'. All that singing and chanting in their huts to disguise the sound of digging and the sudden interest in having a vegtable garden must have been combat indicators.

 

[Poppycock]

Reports of another Blackhawk crash, in Zabul this time:

No more reports of the claimed complete destruction of an ANA base in Zabul yesterday, manned by 150 lives. Maybe it didn't happen, or maybe were just not being told **** all

I've not cross checked it yet but this sounds highly likely to have happened

After reading of the Taliban prison / tunnel escape, I spent nighttime hours on stag on Bastion airfield watching all round for a tunnel exit

Taliban 'Great Escape' in April 2011 - 360m long tunnel, 400+ escapees:

Taliban reveal details of daring Kandahar prison escape

A Taliban spokesman tells the BBC how hundreds of inmates managed to escape one of Afghanistan's biggest prisons for the second time in just three years.

www.bbc.co.uk

Did you get suspicious when the Taliban prisoners were trying to bribe you with Red Cross rations

Nah, I was too busy getting fat off NATO bribes of choc cake & ice-cream to care. I was in no doubt our dedicated commander's 24/7 monitoring of the high tech ground sensors & barrage balloon mounted cameras had our backs covered anyway

Things are extremely complex in Afghanistan at the moment.

Has Abdul Rasul Sayyaf been put on a one way flight to Guantanamo yet? There's a rumour going round he help Khalid Sheikh Mohammed plan 9/11...