What are your feelings as the Taliban reclaim Afghanistan after 20 years of US involvement?

We have not won a war since WW2. This government has backed out of finishing the job for years. I'm a Vietnam vet we lost 54000 + vets.For nothing ... We lost in Korea we have now lost in Afghanistan . This is bullshit. Our government just wants to kill us. God help us.

I can't say I am surprised to see this happen, we still have not learned from history. That geographical area has been at war throughout history and it is a no win situation for anyone who gets involved. I do believe the abrupt withdrawal was a disservice to the civilians who wanted our help and support and a slap in the face of my military brothers and sister who served in theater, shed blood, sweat and tears. What does this say about the many who did not come home? I kneel at the cross for each one and stand in support of the families who lost a loved one in this war.

To my brothers and sisters who served in Afghanistan, I support you, stand beside, in front of and behind you in full respect of everything you have done. If you ever need to vent, hear a voice of support or shed tears in a nonjudgmental atmosphere, I am here for all of you.

We are 0-2 on wars waged from DC. If Mattie had the authorizations he asked for we would have been out of the region years ago.
The battles were won by superior military strength and strategy, while the war was lost theough bureaucracy and politics.

I have said it in various forms across this forum: this is a result of failed American diplomatic policy, which resulted in failed military policy.

In both Afghanistan and Iraq, for some truly bizarre reason, America decided to use the military for diplomacy and nation building. It is not our job, not what we are built for. The mission of the Department of Defense is to fight and win our nation's wars. And, if you look at *just* that mission, we inarguably succeeded in both Iraq and Afghanistan.

The problem is that we did not win the peace. Which is hardly surprising - it is not our mission. It is the State Department's mission.

What *should* have happened is one of two things. Either 1) Send DoD in to blow it all to hell, root out every terrorist and kill or capture them, and leave the glowing embers of what remains to the State Department to rebuild / re-fashion / nation-build; or 2) Send in the DoD to blow half of it to hell, occupy the rest, and institute martial law. Then, slowly, VERY slowly, relinquish Command and Control to State, who will then slowly relinquish Command and Control to trusted local nationals who have been groomed and trained for DECADES.

We can kill, maim, capture, and blow shit up. We are great at it. We can take land, occupy, and defend it. We are pretty damned good at it. We can hunt down and root out bad guys. We are very good at it. What we cannot do is teach diplomacy, governance, and Constitution-writing, because not only is TEACHING those things not our damned job, we don't even do them ourselves.

And so, we have the failed "experiment" in Afghanistan. I only did one tour there (2015), and I knew when I left that we were either going to be there for at least 50 MORE years, or the nation would fail when we left - whatever year that ended up being. I knew that back in 2015. For the life of me, I cannot understand why Trump and Biden didn't understand that in 2020 and 2021.

was it time to get out? Yes. But, then again, it had been time to get out for 19 years.



How do I feel about it? As a (retired) military guy I am sad and frustrated. Sad for the Afghan people who we promised a brighter future to, and who are seeing that bright future fade away. People hear the tale of Pandora's box, how she opened the box and all of the woes were spread out onto the world, how the last thing to come out of the box was hope. They think that hope is a silver lining - that all of these other things are bad, but hey, we have hope now that things can be better. But that is not the story of Pandora's box. Hope came out last because it was the most insidious and most dangerous. All of those Afghan people got to experience hope - and now.... Well, the crushing of that hope is all the more painful.

I am frustrated because I spent time there (and more in Iraq) doing a completely pointless mission. I knew then it was pointless, and I have my proof now. After 20 years, what did we accomplish? Not a damned thing. Is there a stable government? Or at least a friendly one? Have we removed the Taliban from power? Have we brought Afghanistan forward into the new millennium? Have we improved human rights? No, no, no, no, and only marginally, but not for long. What was the point?

As an American citizen, I am downright pissed off. How much taxpayer money was wasted (yes, wasted) over there? How many American lives were wasted (yes, wasted) over there? How much time and effort that could have been better spent strengthening allies, researching green energy, weakening enemies, standing up to international bullies, doing something about human rights in China, Malaysia, Sudan, Iran, or any number of other places? Where would America be right now with all of that time, money, and human capital back?

The idea that "this always was going to happen" is an absolute fallacy. Like many here, I served in Afghanistan and Iraq for several tours. While its true that the previous two Presidents talked about removing our troops, the plan to do a 100% withdrawal of all support within an extremely short timeframe (and while completely telegraphing it to the Taliban) was never a plan that was suggested by any advisers or previous administrations. The current administration decided on this horrible COA for whatever reason (I honestly don't know why but perhaps President Biden simply got bad advice from someone). However, I know for a fact that both GEN Miller (who I have met/spoken with and know to be a true expert on Afghanistan) and GEN Milley both briefed President Biden not to do it this way. Our partners in the Afghan government which we helped establish felt abandoned in addition to them being told that (in contradiction to previous plans), no support would be given or left behind once we left. This was the worst way we could have done this. In addition to throwing tens of thousands who assisted us under the bus (to include their families), we have now almost guaranteed the creation of a new terror state. Those of us in before 9/11 understand what Afghanistan was like under Taliban rule--a safe haven for Al Qaeda and other extremist ideologies--and now we have just made that a reality again. This isn't about politics, it's about what is right and wrong, and what this current administration has done is absolutely wrong in my opinion.

I know it doesnt help any of our anger, grief, sense of betrayal, etc. but the guys over at Long War Journal did a podcast yesterday regarding the fall. They documented how every single president is to blame for this crap, as are many of the top brass. https://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2021/08/ep-55-afghanistan-falls.php

GW Bush did right to deploy special forces to Afghanistan to go after bin Laden and Al Qaeda, but in hindsight it was a mistake to keep US boots on the ground there to support a prolonged and ultimately futile nation-building exercise that added hundreds of billions to the national debt and brought about the death or maiming of thousands of young American patriots, while enriching contractors and corrupt Afghan officials. So I don't blame Biden for withdrawing US ground forces from that godforsaken country. But it seems likely now that thousands of Afghans who supported coalition forces as interpreters or in other ways will be left behind and many will probably be brutally murdered by vindictive Taliban supporters -- and their blood will be on Biden's hands, as he will be ultimately responsible for failure to evacuate all such people. His trying to pin the blame on Trump for the debacle was bush league.

Update: it also seems likely that a considerable number of US citizens are trapped and will be left behind after Biden's self-imposed Aug. 31 deadline for withdrawal. What will become of them is hard to say.

No definitive answers to how we got here. Proud of the men and women who sacrifice so much.

I think that our leaders have mirrored Vietnam with their running the war from Washington. I myself are getting tired of them wasting our sons and daughters for a purely political war.

This Administration is destroying this country! The man is a disgrace.