Afghanistan - 2021 Taliban offensive
Afghanistan - 2021 Taliban offensive
A military offensive by the Taliban and allied militant groups against the government of Afghanistan and its allies began on 1 May 2021, together with the withdrawal of most U.S. and allied troops from Afghanistan.
In the first three months of the offensive the Taliban made significant advances in the countryside, increasing the number of districts it controlled from 73 to 223, progressively isolating urban centres. Starting on 6 August, the Taliban captured thirty-three of Afghanistan's thirty-four provincial capitals and by 10 August, the Taliban controlled 65% of the country's area.
The offensive is noted for the rapid territorial gains of the Taliban, as well as its domestic and international ramifications. On 10 August, U.S. officials estimated that the Afghan capital, Kabul, could fall to the Taliban within 30 to 90 days. On 15 August, the Associated Press reported that the Taliban had reached and captured Kabul; thus, the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan's government fell. The Taliban said that they were awaiting a transfer of power. On 15 August, following the seizure of the capital, the Taliban occupied the Presidential Palace after the incumbent President Ashraf Ghani fled the country.
In the first three months of the offensive the Taliban made significant advances in the countryside, increasing the number of districts it controlled from 73 to 223, progressively isolating urban centres. Starting on 6 August, the Taliban captured thirty-three of Afghanistan's thirty-four provincial capitals and by 10 August, the Taliban controlled 65% of the country's area.
The offensive is noted for the rapid territorial gains of the Taliban, as well as its domestic and international ramifications. On 10 August, U.S. officials estimated that the Afghan capital, Kabul, could fall to the Taliban within 30 to 90 days. On 15 August, the Associated Press reported that the Taliban had reached and captured Kabul; thus, the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan's government fell. The Taliban said that they were awaiting a transfer of power. On 15 August, following the seizure of the capital, the Taliban occupied the Presidential Palace after the incumbent President Ashraf Ghani fled the country.
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Re: Afghanistan
Hopefully the UK goverment has understood the need to maintain military capability - ie the low number of available military transport aircraft is now affecting our ability to support the evacuations of British Citizens and allies from Afghanistan ...
Capability can be lost at the tip of a ben and then takes decades to get back ..
Capability can be lost at the tip of a ben and then takes decades to get back ..
Re: Afghanistan - 2021 Taliban offensive
Sad news really, a lot the people invading the airport appear to be young men, i assume some must have worked for the Afghan security services. We definitely need more transport Airframes, and a increase in our armed forces manning ASAP.
Re: Afghanistan - 2021 Taliban offensive
This withdrawal was a disaster. So much disorganisation and chaos wasn't seen from fall of Saigon. Nazi Germany in late April 1945 wasn't this disorganised.
Fortune favors brave sir, said Carrot cheerfully.
What's her position about heavily armed, well prepared and overmanned armies?
Oh, noone's ever heard of Fortune favoring them, sir.
According to General Tacticus, it's because they favor themselves…
What's her position about heavily armed, well prepared and overmanned armies?
Oh, noone's ever heard of Fortune favoring them, sir.
According to General Tacticus, it's because they favor themselves…
Re: Afghanistan - 2021 Taliban offensive
That's what happens when the apparatus of the state collapses and the President flees the country, the average person on the street isn't going to stand up when the Government folds like a stack of cards.
It sure is a **** show, but the Afghan Govt have had twenty years to get their shit together and they clearly haven't. The fault doesn't entirely lie with the US administration.
It sure is a **** show, but the Afghan Govt have had twenty years to get their shit together and they clearly haven't. The fault doesn't entirely lie with the US administration.
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Re: Afghanistan - 2021 Taliban offensive
Agreed. Nearly 20 years of training and equipment put into the ANA and armed forces. All to capitulate.Defiance wrote:That's what happens when the apparatus of the state collapses and the President flees the country, the average person on the street isn't going to stand up when the Government folds like a stack of cards.
It sure is a **** show, but the Afghan Govt have had twenty years to get their shit together and they clearly haven't. The fault doesn't entirely lie with the US administration.
I've seen reports that much of the ANA manning was fraudulent, ghost soldiers purely to extort pay from the government. Maybe, maybe not.
Re: Afghanistan - 2021 Taliban offensive
I do think you're all rather missing the point here. The strategic mistake was ever to think that neocon nation-building was a viable proposition for such a tribal Islamic 'state'. The whole history of the region tells of the impossibility of this task. Plus it's, relatively speaking, the backyard of China, Pakistan, Iran etc who are always going to want some substantial input into what happens there.
By all means, pursue and deal with Al Qaeda there, which AIUI was the original mission. But once that was accomplished (2005? But whenever) the pull-out should have happened. Delaying the inevitable was not a clever idea and has of course ended in the present melee. The full details of the secret deal that Trump negotiated with the Taliban don't seem to be in the public domain yet but the deal was the hot potato that ended up in Biden's lap. Could the endgame have been better managed - very possibly yes, but I'm not quite sure how.
By all means, pursue and deal with Al Qaeda there, which AIUI was the original mission. But once that was accomplished (2005? But whenever) the pull-out should have happened. Delaying the inevitable was not a clever idea and has of course ended in the present melee. The full details of the secret deal that Trump negotiated with the Taliban don't seem to be in the public domain yet but the deal was the hot potato that ended up in Biden's lap. Could the endgame have been better managed - very possibly yes, but I'm not quite sure how.
Re: Afghanistan - 2021 Taliban offensive
They shouldn’t be in this position but there doing a great job
International defence & security
As the tragedy in Afghanistan unfolds this report from Deutsche Welle effectively reminds us that international organisations (be it NATO, EU etc.) are merely instruments of foreign policy with national capitals responsible for both successes and failures.
https://www.dw.com/en/taliban-surge-in- ... a-58881129Taliban surge in Afghanistan: EU and NATO in state of shock
Re: International defence & security
Remind me what the EU has to do with the invasion of Afghanistan
Seriously. This is a desaster of *US* foreign policy. It's just all the transatlantic shills trying to deflect the blame because they're worried that this fiasco 6 months after the Trump, 2 months after Biden announced the US is back might be too stigmatising to repair.
Just like the media is desperately ignoring the fact that despite Democrats holding Congress, Senate and White House, the stimulus bill will benefit the same superrich as trumps tax cuts and of course climate change didn't even get a look in.
Americna Empire™ in it's death rows?
Seriously. This is a desaster of *US* foreign policy. It's just all the transatlantic shills trying to deflect the blame because they're worried that this fiasco 6 months after the Trump, 2 months after Biden announced the US is back might be too stigmatising to repair.
Just like the media is desperately ignoring the fact that despite Democrats holding Congress, Senate and White House, the stimulus bill will benefit the same superrich as trumps tax cuts and of course climate change didn't even get a look in.
Americna Empire™ in it's death rows?
Re: Afghanistan - 2021 Taliban offensive
https://www.politico.eu/article/g7-agre ... e-taliban/G7 agrees to ‘road map’ for dealing with the Taliban
But European leaders couldn’t convince the U.S. to stay and continue evacuations beyond August 31.
Re: International defence & security
https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-paci ... 021-08-24/In the future, Wallace said that while Britain prefers the United States as a military ally, it may look to form alliances with other countries for specific operations.
"It may actually be more in our interest to join with other partners and we must have a force that is much more able to be interoperable as opposed to dependent," he said.
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Re: International defence & security
Well we can only believe this if the UK halts its cuts of key strategic assets that would allow us to become a framework nation for such a interoperability and reduced US dependence (along with a substantive uplift in defence spending, on top of the recently announced £4billion per year). Others on here will be better informed of which cuts we'd want to reverse, but I'd imagine it would be AWACS, C130 etcJ. Tattersall wrote:https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-paci ... 021-08-24/In the future, Wallace said that while Britain prefers the United States as a military ally, it may look to form alliances with other countries for specific operations.
"It may actually be more in our interest to join with other partners and we must have a force that is much more able to be interoperable as opposed to dependent," he said.
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Re: International defence & security
Topic merged with Afghanistan - 2021 Taliban offensiveJ. Tattersall wrote:As the tragedy in Afghanistan unfolds this report from Deutsche Welle effectively reminds us that international organisations (be it NATO, EU etc.) are merely instruments of foreign policy with national capitals responsible for both successes and failures.https://www.dw.com/en/taliban-surge-in- ... a-58881129Taliban surge in Afghanistan: EU and NATO in state of shock
Re: Afghanistan - 2021 Taliban offensive
Things deteriorating in Kabul
https://news.sky.com/story/afghanistan- ... s-12391238
Two explosions have taken place outside Kabul airport amid the evacuations of thousands of people from Western nations, officials have said.
Sky News chief correspondent Stuart Ramsay said his sources had told him the explosion was caused by a suicide bomber blowing himself up in a canalway.
He added: "We're not certain on the number of casualties, we have to assume a number of civilians, but initial reports suggest to us that American soldiers, not British soldiers but American soldiers have been injured."
https://news.sky.com/story/afghanistan- ... s-12391238
Two explosions have taken place outside Kabul airport amid the evacuations of thousands of people from Western nations, officials have said.
Sky News chief correspondent Stuart Ramsay said his sources had told him the explosion was caused by a suicide bomber blowing himself up in a canalway.
He added: "We're not certain on the number of casualties, we have to assume a number of civilians, but initial reports suggest to us that American soldiers, not British soldiers but American soldiers have been injured."
Re: Afghanistan - 2021 Taliban offensive
12 US dead & hundreds of Afghan casualties. This is going to be a disaster.
Re: Afghanistan - 2021 Taliban offensive
https://rusi.org/explore-our-research/p ... g-pakistanAfter Triumph in Afghanistan, Foreboding for Pakistan
Tim Willasey-Wilsey
25 August 2021
Pakistan will spend many years regretting its success in Afghanistan. A genuinely inclusive government in Kabul would have been a far better outcome for all concerned.
The first worry is that the Pashtuns of the Afghan Taliban will, after a few years in power, find common cause with their Pashtun kinsmen in Pakistan.
There are politicians in Pakistan who openly espouse the idea of ditching what they regard as an imported quasi-colonial ‘Western democracy’ in favour of something more consistent with local culture and the Islamic faith.
the future possibility (however remote) that a Taliban-type government could come to power in Pakistan emphasises the question of the fate of Pakistan’s large arsenal of nuclear warheads falling into the hands of people who despise everything about Western values.