Many of the retrospectives on the campaign identify the 'original sin' as Rumsfeld's direction to exclude the Taliban from the Bonn process and therefore any role in the governance of Afghanistan after 2001. Essentially, an enemy was needed after al-Qaeda melted away and the Taliban was going to be it. Since that seems to have been acknowledged as a mistake, on the basis that we should have compromised at the moment of maximum strength, one has to wonder what purpose would be served by the West refusing to deal with them now that the tables are turned, unless we are planning to mount a 20-year insurgency to defeat them by force (unlikely). If the welfare of Afghans and prevention of a refugee crisis is important to us then a deal offering recognition in return for unfettered distribution of aid would presumably be under consideration. Alternatively we could howl impotently about the barbarity of the regime while doing nothing to alleviate the suffering of Afghan people. There's no ethically pure answer.

https://www.nationalreview.com/corne...t-biden-doing/

Lets go deep, Biden is working on drafts of his letter of resignation. Meanwhile Harris is picking out new China for the White House.

You heard it first (today at least) here.

Problem is, do you honestly think Kamala will be an improvement?

Unless there are Afghan Air Force pilots who could be `persuaded' to help - I would love to see a member of the Taliban attempt to fly a Tucano.
Or even better, a Blackhawk.
Bit trickier than driving a Humvee.

Well, they've found a willing Hip pilot...

I don't have a horse in this race so nothing against mrs. Harris, I just find it amusing that "Kamala" as a finnish word means "horrible".

Will they be surprised when he lands in Ubekistan

I was more in thinking drones and the odd hellfire

Screwed that one up.

https://www.militarytimes.com/flashp...kabul-airport/

Nah, but it would follow the narrative prior to the election that he’d walk out the back door allowing her to run for election as the incumbent.

Much better than Forrest Trump, at least.

Willingness no doubt increased by smiling friends in back, all toting AKs.
R/e Hellfires - wasn't aware they could be launched from ground platforms?

Drones fly

Ahhh - I see - true.
But if a NASA test pilot found flying a civilian version of the Predator challenging:
https://www.flyingmag.com/pilot-repo...ying-predator/
...then I suspect our talib friends would find that or the larger more sophisticated Reaper near impossible.
Automatic weapons, RPGs, Humvees, Landcruisers, tanks etc... sure.
But air assets of any kind?
Any pilots would likely be press-ganged at gunpoint I would have thought.
https://www.npr.org/2021/08/21/10300...-pilots-safety

https://warriormaven.com/land/army-f...llfire-missile

A little out of their league at the current time, however, never underestimate their creativity.

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/a...line-zbh5llhn8

Britain extends deadline for RAF mercy flights amid growing fears of Isis suicide attacks at airport

Britain will step up the mass evacuation of British and Afghan citizens from Afghanistan today under plans to fly up to 6,000 people out of the country this week.

The Times has been told that the military has extended the deadline for the last RAF evacuation flight from tomorrow to Friday or Saturday in an attempt to help more people.

Dominic Raab, the foreign secretary, and Ben Wallace, the defence secretary, both made the case for extending the August 31 deadline directly to their US counterparts over the weekend.

The evacuation programme has also been significantly expanded as new cases come to light, with the total number of people eligible to enter Britain rising from 6,000 last week to more than 12,000…..

The Ministry of Defence said yesterday that 5,725 people had been evacuated, including 3,100 Afghan citizens. Government sources said that between 5,000 and 6,000 people who are eligible to come to Britain remain in Afghanistan.

Although the RAF hopes to fly as many as 2,000 people out a day, ministers fear that hundreds if not thousands will be left behind.

“The goalposts have moved, the military challenge has grown significantly,” one government source said. “But we’re doing everything we can. Visas that were taking days to process are now taking minutes, people are getting to the airport, the flights are taking off.”….

The RAF succeeded in flying 1,721 people out of the country in 24 hours over the weekend, the highest total to date, involving eight flights.

Ministers were told last week that the last RAF flight would leave tomorrow to allow the military time to get out before August 31. This has now been extended until Friday or Saturday.

“The original deadline was too gold-plated,” an official said. “They’re now looking at the last evacuation flight leaving 72 to 96 hours before the US withdrawal.”…..

It was reported by the German military that a firefight broke out at Kabul airport’s north gate early today between Afghan security forces and unknown attackers.

The military said in a tweet that one Afghan security officer was killed and another three were wounded in the incident. It added that US and German forces also got involved, and that there were no injuries to German soldiers.

The German military did not reveal any further information and it is not known who the attackers were….

One Taliban commander told The Times that its fighters had a duty to maintain security at Kabul airport and prevent an Isis attack. He said: “There is a security risk and Isis can attack anytime. Our men are checking every individual and vehicle, we don’t mean to create trouble for the Afghan people.”

Details fir each nation in the report.

https://samchui.com/2021/08/22/count...escue-flights/

KABUL RESCUE FLIGHTS BY 13 COUNTRIES

Since the fall of Kabul, Afghanistan to the Taliban forces on 15th August, the world has joined together to rescue their nationals and Afghans. We have compiled a list of ten countries that are flying day and night, in very difficult conditions, to rescue as many people as possible.

Please note the below list of countries is not complete or exhaustive. There are some countries we did not cover in this post. (The Netherlands, Czech Republic, Denmark etc)….


https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....09d10d792.jpeg

Reports on the news today that the Americans have left behind 45 Blackhawks, 2000 military vehicles, arms and presumably electronic devices, intel etc.
I suspect the next 6 months will be using drones to take out this equipment to prevent it falling into Russian hands.
I dread to think what a Humvee convoy fully armed could do in an allied ambush concidering the damage they have done with very little to date.

Anyone know what the viability (could have been) of all the other countries standing fast and denying the Taliban Afghanistan without American support?
Seems like no one else had a stomach for more either?