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

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.

I cant speak for anyone but I am grateful it's over. Bring our troops home to their families for supper again, it is what it is.No more IEDs, ambushes or Afghan government corruption. The American industrial war machine has handed too many invoices for payment that will affect democracy for many years to come. Let's learn from this and regret the outcome less as time goes by. I am a veteran of the USA and I stand with you in spirit and in conflict. Do not give in to despair and destroy the camaraderie we built for generations in bravery and valorous service. We cannot change everything, but we can change somethings! Let's lead the charge of being proud with discipline and dignity!

It was one inevitable that this would happen it's another Vietnam war where we could have been helping those stateside instead of funding the Afghanistan army billions of dollars

I did not serve in Afghanistan so I have no personal comments. From a national security standpoint, this is a disaster. Why would any country trust us? We don't know how to use force to destroy the enemy, and we don't have the patience to do occupation and nation building. We should have left after defeating the Taliban in 2001. Instead of having an orderly rear deployment, it looks like a rout. To all those that served in Afghanistan, you did your duty...