The Afghanistan and Pakistan Thread

[Dame]

To the Glorious Bastards who spent time and money.

A US House Foreign Affairs Committee press release said committee chairman Michael McCaul "applauds the passage of the bill to refund money spent by veterans, and others during the Afghanistan evacuation."

Bill to Refund US Citizens Aiding Afghan Evacuees Makes Progress in House | TOLOnews

 

[amlove21]

I won't post the link here, but there is a video of an s/vest dropping in the middle of a very large get together. 54 killed in initial reporting out of Pak.

 

[Devildoc]

I won't post the link here, but there is a video of an s/vest dropping in the middle of a very large get together. 54 killed in initial reporting out of Pak.

Apparently some of the pro-Tali didn't think a lot of those other aren't pro-Tali enough, and some factions are screwing with each other and innocents are merely getting in the way.

 

[Marauder06]

Someone must be a threat to the HQN. Or no longer report for tasking by the ISI.

 

[AWP]

Just so I'm clear: A foreign government spent three decades building up multiple terrorist organizations for a neighboring war. With the war over, those groups probably stopped receiving money and support because they are no longer needed. One of these groups decides to clack off a suicide bomb in a crowded area, killing many and of course the PK gov't has the shock.

Huh. That's like a kid killing both parents and then asking the judge for leniency because he's an orphan.

If something happened at a mosque this Friday, I would not be surprised.

 

[Marauder06]

Just so I'm clear: A foreign government spent three decades building up multiple terrorist organizations for a neighboring war. With the war over, those groups probably stopped receiving money and support because they are no longer needed. One of these groups decides to clack off a suicide bomb in a crowded area, killing many and of course the PK gov't has the shock.

Huh. That's like a kid killing both parents and then asking the judge for leniency because he's an orphan.

If something happened at a mosque this Friday, I would not be surprised.

There’s an ethnically homogenous, religiously-motivated, warlike minority that makes up almost all of the entire northwest of your country. They never wanted to be part of your country and don’t really consider themselves part of it now. They don’t like:

1) you
2) government
3) your government

…and you give them weapons, money, self-governance and political support?

Bold move, Cotten.

 

[ThunderHorse]

There’s an ethnically homogenous, religiously-motivated, warlike minority that makes up almost all of the entire northwest of your country. They never wanted to be part of your country and don’t really consider themselves part of it now. They don’t like:

1) you
2) government
3) your government

…and you give them weapons, money, self-governance and political support?

Bold move, Cotten.

Sounds like our government, except we're importing lots of MAMs and not arming them...but they can find the stuff they need.

 

[Marauder06]

Sounds like our government, except we're importing lots of MAMs and not arming them...but they can find the stuff they need.

…and we are letting them become police officers too now, apparently.

 

[“The Old Man”]

…and we are letting them become police officers too now, apparently.

Yeah, Illinois Governor is out of his mind! I have LEO friends across the river there. Who aren't happy about it at all.
My understanding has been that. You must be a citizen and a non-criminal to possess firearms. DACA illegals are neither

 

[Devildoc]

There’s an ethnically homogenous, religiously-motivated, warlike minority that makes up almost all of the entire northwest of your country. They never wanted to be part of your country and don’t really consider themselves part of it now. They don’t like:

1) you
2) government
3) your government

…and you give them weapons, money, self-governance and political support?

Bold move, Cotten.

There was a time the northwest wasn't so bad. Not anymore. Pak and ISI built this monster, now they are reaping the consequences. I think it's a matter of time it spreads throughout the country, like World War Z, but I think the government is trying hard to water it down or at least contain it. They are in a pickle: half of the country thinks they are too ideological/pro-Tali and the other half thinks they aren't hard line enough.

 

[Gunz]

The Taliban say the bombing is meant to drive Islamists apart. Hahahaha, that's really funny considering 1300+ years of infighting between sects, tribes, families. They love killing each other. The IDF's taken advantage of it since 1948...before that the Irgun, the Haganah. One the main reasons Israel still exists.

It's not going to change. Ever.

 

[Box]

Whats the old saying, "a Pashtun is only at peace when he is at war"

 

[AWP]

I thought about my post above and a similar scenario triggered the 1842 Retreat from Kabul. (There's some irony...). The Brits stopped paying the Pashtuns for safe passage of the army's supplies and whatever. They'd bribed the Afghans into "peace" and when the money ran out?

 

[Gunz]

Pashtuns? Mercenary? Rejecting foreign occupiers? Unheard of, sir!

 

[Marauder06]

I thought about my post above and a similar scenario triggered the 1842 Retreat from Kabul. (There's some irony...). The Brits stopped paying the Pashtuns for safe passage of the army's supplies and whatever. They'd bribed the Afghans into "peace" and when the money ran out?

“Better bought than fought.”

Fortunately for all of us, they live in a place that doesn’t have anything we really need.

 

[Devildoc]

I thought about my post above and a similar scenario triggered the 1842 Retreat from Kabul. (There's some irony...). The Brits stopped paying the Pashtuns for safe passage of the army's supplies and whatever. They'd bribed the Afghans into "peace" and when the money ran out?

That was an epic event.

Afghanistan is the model of "don't want none, don't start none." But other countries just can't mind their own business and have to learn the hard way. I get AQ and UBL and all, but we could have achieved better results with TF-11/64 and all the other secret squirrel TFs and agencies and without committing 500,000 troops for nation building and democracy.

 

[Gunz]

That was an epic event.

Afghanistan is the model of "don't want none, don't start none." But other countries just can't mind their own business and have to learn the hard way. I get AQ and UBL and all, but we could have achieved better results with TF-11/64 and all the other secret squirrel TFs and agencies and without committing 500,000 troops for nation building and democracy.

Exactly. Bring in all the assets you need to hunt down and kill all the assholes who had anything to do with 9/11...and leave. Fuck state building, civic action, drug interdiction and all the other expansive mission-creep side-shows. Save all that war industry money to bribe or pay or train only the Afghans who can help you achieve that goal...and give finger to the rest.

Bush's trust in Musharraf was a bad idea. Rumsfeld was a bad idea. The detour in Iraq was a bad idea. It's just too easy to find bad ideas. I remember reading a brief from the Council on Foreign Relations, back in the early years of OEF, about a thing called The New Beginnings Program. This was something that was cooked up by people on meth at the UN and sold to Karzai: We're gonna disarm hundreds of thousands of Afghan militiamen...and offer them job training. A massive gun-turn-in initiative to people to whom a firearm is a sacred part of their anatomy?

Kooky stuff.

 

[AWP]

Exactly. Bring in all the assets you need to hunt down and kill all the assholes who had anything to do with 9/11...and leave. Fuck state building, civic action, drug interdiction and all the other expansive mission-creep side-shows. Save all that war industry money to bribe or pay or train only the Afghans who can help you achieve that goal...and give finger to the rest.

Bush's trust in Musharraf was a bad idea. Rumsfeld was a bad idea. The detour in Iraq was a bad idea. It's just too easy to find bad ideas. I remember reading a brief from the Council on Foreign Relations, back in the early years of OEF, about a thing called The New Beginnings Program. This was something that was cooked up by people on meth at the UN and sold to Karzai: We're gonna disarm hundreds of thousands of Afghan militiamen...and offer them job training. A massive gun-turn-in initiative to people to whom a firearm is a sacred part of their anatomy?

Kooky stuff.

Hey everyone, look at the Marine trying to provoke me into a pages long rant.

Not today, Sir, not today.

 

[Gunz]

Hey everyone, look at the Marine trying to provoke me into a pages long rant.

Not today, Sir, not today.

Goddam, I tried. One of these days we’re gonna exorcise the rest of those fumes from that Bagram cess pit of your tortured soul…and either set you free…

…or offer job retraining as an outboard motor technician.

 

[Marauder06]

Hey everyone, look at the Marine trying to provoke me into a pages long rant.

Not today, Sir, not today.

I don’t know, bro. I mean do you think you even have enough time on the ground to offer a meaningful perspective ? ;)