Just checked some newsfeeds, and have seen the opinion that the US trained local troops in the same way as their own: with air support.
This, again, reminded the person who reported it of Vietnam. And it’s something we could pin on the trainers, I guess.
The Taliban now have Kabul under siege. The U.S. and some Nato allies have surged
troops back into the country to evacuate foreign nationals and Afghan government nationals who would be liquidated if they fall into Taliban control.
One can foresee a “55 days at Peking” scenario where we can’t stay, but, also can’t
leave~
Yep, it was a repeat of South Vietnam where the US military trained the local army to fight like Americans do, without considering the local army simply wouldn’t have the resources, let alone be able to pay its troops.
As a result, most soldiers will choose to go protect their families, and screw the dumbass officers who don’t know what it’s like to be a grunt.
Yep.
Listening to this happen almost real time on the morning radio is so jarring. There was a quote in our paper from a 26-year-old local (Afghani) female activist that breaks the heart. I can’t find it but to paraphrase, she said she felt like her and others working to advance women’s rights these past decades were like birds whose whole life is spent building a nest only to see it needlessly destroyed by something out of their control. 
True - it never fully went away. And there were areas which basically practiced Taliban-like rule anyway. The country is vast, and remote.
But, for places like Kabul there was some semblance of normalcy for awhile.
I dunno - it’s a game of “would you rather” where neither answer is really a “winner”.
TIRED: “No more forever wars! Trump will bring our troops home!”
WIRED: “Why did Biden betray Afghanistan? Tonight on Fox & Friends, the shocking connection with Hunter’s laptop!”
At least the Soviet puppet, Najibullah, managed to stay in power for two years after the withdrawal so he must have had somewhat better local support than the US puppets.
Let’s never forget that Clinton also bombed Sudan’s largest pharmaceutical factory.
Not to mention how other corporate media outlets will gloss over America’s loss of another war.
No mention virtually anywhere, of course, of how many tax dollars our longest war fed to military contractors and such (I often think that was actually the main point of such a “war”).
Reporting now that Kabul airport is under fire.
Bad news for some people who would have expected to leave.
ETA
US embassy telling people to stay put.
No! For that to be the case I would have to see evidence that the main person pushing for these wars was directly invested in the major military contractor profiting from them! /s / 
Yeah, juuuust long enough that a generation grew up expecting one thing out of life and now ending up with the exact opposite. Hey ladies, you got an education - and now you can’t leave the house without a male relative escort (and too bad all your male relatives just got executed by the Taliban…). They not only get to live under awful conditions, but they’re completely unprepared for it, too.
Yeah. I’ve been wondering, if the invading forces had allowed more women into the military training they did, if they would have been more well-situated to resist this…I know nothing about warfare, and am not a huge fan of militarization, but giving the members of society with the most to lose the tools and training to fight their oppressors seems like a good idea.
No reason to worry, those women will be “offered” to marry one of the taliban warriors…
