Afghan soldiers surrendering.
Yaroslav Trofimov, in the Wall Street Journal, explains that Biden withdrew the air support too soon that is essential for the supply and defense of the US-style Afghan military we created and trained.
You can’t defeat superior numbers of less effectively armed troops unless you can keep the food, water, ammunition, and medical supplies coming in, and unless you can clobber human wave attack with air support. Take that support away and you lose.
This spectacular failure stemmed from built-in flaws of the Afghan military compounded by strategic blundering of the government of Afghan President Ashraf Ghani. The Taliban, meanwhile, took advantage of the U.S.-sponsored peace talks to deceive Kabul about their intentions as they prepared and executed a lighting offensive.
The Afghan army fighting alongside American troops was molded to match the way the Americans operate. The U.S. military, the world’s most advanced, relies heavily on combining ground operations with air power, using aircraft to resupply outposts, strike targets, ferry the wounded, and collect reconnaissance and intelligence.
In the wake of President Biden’s withdrawal decision, the U.S. pulled its air support, intelligence and contractors servicing Afghanistan’s planes and helicopters. That meant the Afghan military simply couldn’t operate anymore. The same happened with another failed American effort, the South Vietnamese army in the 1970s, said retired Lt. Gen. Daniel Bolger, who commanded the U.S.-led coalition’s mission to train Afghan forces in 2011-2013.
“There is always a tendency to use the model you know, which is your own model,” said Gen. Bolger, who now teaches history at North Carolina State University. “When you build an army like that, and it’s meant to be a partner with a sophisticated force like the Americans, you can’t pull the Americans out all of a sudden, because then they lose the day-to-day assistance that they need,” he said.
T. Shaw
15 August 2021 is the 50th anniversary of Nixon’s famously closing the gold window [taking the US and World off the gold standard] and pronouncing 90 days of wage/price controls. See how that worked for you, Spanky.
Chinese Joe and his imbeciles are repeating the same fiscal/monetary policy mistakes of the 1960’s – huge budget deficits and Fed money printing – and adding years of near-zero interest rates. When the stagflations hits it will be so, so totally unexpected
Similarly in 1974-1974, the Post-Watergate Vietcongress stopped shipments to South Vietnam of needed military supplies and refused to uphold the 1973 Paris Peace Accords, allowing South Vietnam, Republic of, to fall almost as quickly as is falling Chinese Joe’s Afghanistan.
And, to get her done, they stole the 2020 elections.
Mike-SMO
I do love getting a bill (charges) from my bank for the “work” of holding my cash. With the gov policies, they aren’t making any profit from loaning the cash out to others. Except, of course, from the “credit cards”. “Spending the savings” is as much of a deadend plan as “soaking the rich”.
More, “gimme! gimme!”.
Glypto Dropem
Wht did Afghanistan fall so quickly? OEF was doomed from the start by not letting the military loose to actually win it. Ask Marcus Luttrell about the stupid pussy-ass rules of engagement. God forbid there be collateral damage in order to kill all the jihadi scum.
Boligat
If we aren’t willing to take, and hold, territory indefinitely, we will never again ‘win’ another war. Better that we never start in the first place. If we get hit, just send over a nuke or two and to *&%# with the collateral damage. Use ICBMs, no need to endanger air crews.
If we pull a Rome vs. Carthage, THEN we could win.
Nori
The “Biden administration” withdrew air support.
ALL AIR SUPPORT. Nothing gets in,nothing gets out.
Utter betrayal,in every way. We get to watch in real time how horrific it gets.
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