Originally Posted by
Easy Street
Just imagine for a second that Austin and Milley both understood what was happening in Afghanistan, and convinced Biden to see it. Why would he have done anything different? The speed of the Afghan government's collapse was the clearest possible illustration of the futility of the US strategy and vindicated Biden's decision at a stroke.
Why was the collapse such a surprise you wonder?
Why did our Intelligence Services and Military Leadership not see this coming?
Could it be the Senior Commanders believed their own ..... errrrrrr.....propaganda? Bull**** is the word I was going to use but as it is acceptable in my Lounge....I thought it might not conform to commonly held Mess Standards.
We announce a pull out and slink off from Bagram in the middle of the night without telling.our Afghan Allies.....you reckon that might. have signaled something to them about how this was going to play out in the end?
If we could not play straight with them on that.....what else would. we not play straight with them.
I remember when the American Congress cut off support to t he Vietnamese who were engaged in fierce combat with their northern brothers and how that all turned out.
You reckon the Afghans may have read some books about that and saw what might happen to them....and Bagram proved it was happening to them.