Implode, how can it possibly implode - didn't you know? It's all been a complete success.

Property Afghanistan | Best way to buy and sell property in Afghanistan

History shows that more casualties occur after the war than in it. Many more head trauma victims survive in recent wars.

I suppose that, when the final pull-out comes, our troops will leave along roads lined with cheering Taliban, waving paper Union Jacks and singing "Wull ye no come back agin" and "Old Lang Syne.

Wouldn't put money on it, though.

Many more victims full stop survive, not just head victims.

And Gov'ts took a while to catch up, even though it was only
30 years since the Falklands which showed which was casualties
were going.

Do you think Cameron repeated George W Bush's "Mission Accomplished" gaffe from Iraq for a reason? Why use the exact same phrase? Bizarre thing to say. Why not "Let's get out before it gets any worse". Least he might have got some votes next time around for being honest.

"WTF are we here ?".......................would be better but a tad unlikely.

"Let's get out before it gets any worse"

If they had followed through on the initial successes of 2001
and not taken the eye off the ball for Iraq, the mission would
have been achieved and they wouldn't have to get out before
it got worse.

The whole thing was a CF from the 2nd or 3rd year in.

you'd have thought we'd have learnt from the First, Second & Third Afghan Wars - the place is not worth fighting over

Mission is the Afghan farmers are already planting next years poppy seeds.

Afghanistan: where the poppies blow | Editorial | Comment is free | The Guardian

GypsyMagpie

It was only the Beeb that used the phrase "mission accomplished" - DC, having been 'fed' the phrase just used the words separately in a much longer response. The BBC was, as usual, being casual with the truth!!


He's still stupid to have used the words though.

Cameron is absolutely right ---- Mission Accomplished.

The 'Mission' being to withdraw all troops before the next election. That is what it is all about. That is what it is always about.

Criminals, the lot of them.

Not so sure - I'm in for £10. Sounds like a good political ploy on their part, especially as they can be [like so many Afghanis, it seems] utterly 2-faced. Then, having persuaded every brain-dead moron around that they are really good chaps ... "B A N G"

Why not score a few cheap points, with no conviction whatsoever, just to enhance your position come the next (your own) takeover of power (again)?

500N wrote:

Spot on brother, spot on. :ok::ok: We had the Taliban, and Al Qaeda, on the run but gave up the chase when our focus shifted to Iraq.

rgb

IF the Politicians had only allowed the military to prosecute the mission
that they had for not much longer - 2002 to 2003, then I think they would
have more than achieved it.

A bit like a Bridge too Far in WWII, you can have 90% but that 10% can
come back to bite you on the arse and that 10% in Afghanistan grew and
grew to become what it was by 2005 and onwards.


Re 2001, if the US Generals had reacted quicker and sent in what was
requested when Osama was in the mountains, just think how different
everything would / could have turned out.

Yep, just in time to make those they couldnt touch in SDSR 2010 due to herrick redundant.

500N wrote:

If you're referring to Tora Bora the troops there at the time had OBL & Co. trapped and defeated. OBL's radio transmissions were tapped and he was heard to apologize for having his forces defeated and urged them to retreat.

The problem wasn't with coalition forces but with whom they gave the task of having AQ surrender to: a local Afghan militia commander. It is thought that this militiaman allowed OBL & Remnants to escape across the border into the Federally Administered Tribal Areas by paying off the Pakistani border guards on the other side of the border.

In all fairness, however, it also didn't help the allied cause when the requested mines weren't airdropped which, had they been deployed, might well have prevented Osama bin Liner & Co. from escaping.

'Dalton Fury' - former 1st SFOD-D commander at Tora Bora -
wrote that bin Laden escaped into Pakistan on or around December 16, 2001. Fury gives three reasons for why he believes bin Laden was able to escape: (1) the US mistakenly thought that Pakistan was effectively guarding the border area, (2) NATO allies refused to allow the use of air-dropped GATOR mines which would have helped seal bin Laden and his forces inside the Tora Bora area, and (3) over-reliance on native Afghan military forces as the main force deployed against bin Laden and his fighters. Fury states that, as it was Ramadan, the Afghan forces would usually leave the battlefield in the evenings to break their day-long fasts. He suggested this allowed the al-Qaeda forces a chance to regroup, reposition, or escape

Question is what were the politicians and other quasi military groups defined by initials saying ?

Eliminating OBL then would have been a disaster for many organisations reliant on funding from Washington.

Sadly not

MoD

Thoughts with the family especially at this time of year.

Pensions, it's a cost cutting procedure.

Get rid of the agreed legacy pensions, replace with sub-standard pi$$ take pensions that new recruits sign up to.

:ugh::ugh::ugh:

Yes, if we're talking about the original post 9/11 task, it was completely and quickly achieved. Unfortunately mission creep, or rather mission leap then set in.