Posted on Aug 16, 2021
What are your feelings as the Taliban reclaim Afghanistan after 20 years of US involvement?
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I can't say I'm surprised that this is all happening. Right now I'm just sad and frustrated.
Posted in these groups: 
Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) - Afghanistan
Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) - Afghanistan
Posted 3 y ago
Responses: 536
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Wheeew… I don’t know battles. I’m angry about this, however it is completely out of anyone’s control. Why do we have to fight this? We’re supposed to be done. Just why? One of my boys deployed already and I’m worried. Proud of him but I’m worried
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We should of never been there except to exterminate, But instead, we stayed and dumped Tons of Cash and equipment into a Country of which - as always now gives all that aid, and Equipment to yet another enemy of the United States, This is no - difference in Alcida we trained them, to fight Russia Boarders, then they used our own equipment back on America and Americans, in 9-11, Now what do you think with all this new equipment left over there and cash, will happen once again, Yet they wish us to transport them ALL, to America LOL, America is not the Dumping ground for the Worlds Refuse
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You always ask the question. "How does that make you feel?" You wouldn't understand...
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I want to preface this by apologizing for what is essentially going to be a stream on consciousness. It will not be as well organized as I would like. Sorry about that. That said, here is my two cents:
I have heard a lot of people talking about this the past few days. Many blame current or past administrations for the collapse of the Afghan government this week. Some blame the actions of the CIA in the 80s when we funded and facilitated the Mujahedeen to fight against the Soviets in the Afghan war for the rise of Taliban. There is talk about this being the inevitable product of US imperialism and late stage capitalism. And people pontificate on and on about who is to blame without fully understanding the history or recognizing how complicated it is/was. There is little to no nuance in any of the reasoning.
I want to start by dispelling some myths about the Taliban. First and foremost: the Taliban of today is not same as the Mujahedeen of the 80s. In the 80s there was much division and infighting within the Mujahedeen. This infighting continued over the past 40 years and up until today. These groups are not monoliths, just as Americans are not. Eventually the Taliban of the 90s rose to prominence, but there were still groups that resisted them in Afghanistan then and continue to do so up to this very moment. Many of you may have heard of the Northern Resistance. Some of you who served there may have known individuals who truly supported more progressive values, equality for women, and wanted a representative form of government there. The situation on the ground in Afghanistan has been and will always be fluid. Given that the Taliban leadership changes so frequently and is largely decentralized, there is no good way to characterize them, their specific beliefs, nor predict the tactics they will use to enforce whatever the rules happen to be at the time. Some local leaders may be brutal, others not as much. These things change with space and time.
Another myth about the Taliban I want to address is that they are some hostile outside invading force. This is just not true. Sure, there are foreign fighters among their ranks, but for the most part the Taliban is comprised of Afghan nationals... or from tribes along the border of Afghanistan and Pakistan. One of the takeaways I have had over the past few days is that in order for the Taliban to have taken over so quickly, with such little being reported about major battles and resistance, is that this must be what many in Afghanistan want. I know that is hard for some of us to hear, but what other conclusion can be drawn?
We all know what we would do if some hostile force invaded us. We have seen resistance movements on the left and right side of the our political arena clash in our streets over various things these past few years. Whether you look at the the actions of BLM activists, Antifa, 3 percenters, or even the insurrectionists of January 6th... what you don't see is a lack of passion. You see a willingness to stand up and fight. To march. To vote. To act. And perhaps that passion is happening there also... But I haven't really seen it. So, I am left with this feeling that this might be the will of their people. Maybe they are just acquiescing so as to avoid the sort of conflict that generation after generation of Afghans have been born into... Perhaps we didn't really win the hearts and minds of the people there... Perhaps they are merely tired of being collateral damage. It is so hard to say. It is probably all of those things and more because as I stated previously, these people are not a monolith.
A few more things I want you all to really hear. We served to protect our country and one another. We were able to do amazing things and help build infrastructure there. We fought some people doing horrific things and made positive impacts on the lives of some of the most marginalized and oppressed people in that country. We helped each other stay somewhat sane in insane situations and come home safely. And yes, we lost friends. Friends we will remember to the end of our days. Friends who were and are closer to us than perhaps members of our own families.
So what was it all for? Was it worth it? I don't really know. I don't think any of us can really know that. We can't know what would have happened if we never went. We also can't know what would happen if we continued to stay there for another 20 years or even longer. The fate of that nation rested squarely on the shoulders of the Afghan people now.
I do have some hope that things will be better than they were prior to the war given that UNICEF has been asked to stay and so far the Taliban seems to be allowing US forces to pull out and evacuate our allies without interference. I am hopeful that those now in power will embrace negotiations and allow those who wish to leave to do so in peace. I also hope that countries around the world allow in refugees who do not wish to live under Taliban rule. We need to be prepared to accept those refugees as well.
In the end, the one thing I think we can say we did accomplished was to show the world that if you mess with our country, it will cost you dearly. As Medal of Honor recipient SSG David Bellavia said "We've seen war. We don't want war. But if you want war with the United States of America, there's one thing I can promise you, so help me God: someone else will raise your sons and daughters."
So that's it. That is where my head is at right now. Nothing is solved. It is a confusing mess it will take a long time to unpack this all. If you are angry, you are probably right to be so. If you are thankful that our troops are coming home and that another generation won't have to fight this war, you are probably right to be so. If you don't know how to feel about it all yet... I am right there with you. But, what we don't do... is we won't crap on each other for feeling any sort of way about it right now. We are going to do what soldiers do and look out for one another. We will support one another. We will try and keep each other as sane and as safe as we can.
I have heard a lot of people talking about this the past few days. Many blame current or past administrations for the collapse of the Afghan government this week. Some blame the actions of the CIA in the 80s when we funded and facilitated the Mujahedeen to fight against the Soviets in the Afghan war for the rise of Taliban. There is talk about this being the inevitable product of US imperialism and late stage capitalism. And people pontificate on and on about who is to blame without fully understanding the history or recognizing how complicated it is/was. There is little to no nuance in any of the reasoning.
I want to start by dispelling some myths about the Taliban. First and foremost: the Taliban of today is not same as the Mujahedeen of the 80s. In the 80s there was much division and infighting within the Mujahedeen. This infighting continued over the past 40 years and up until today. These groups are not monoliths, just as Americans are not. Eventually the Taliban of the 90s rose to prominence, but there were still groups that resisted them in Afghanistan then and continue to do so up to this very moment. Many of you may have heard of the Northern Resistance. Some of you who served there may have known individuals who truly supported more progressive values, equality for women, and wanted a representative form of government there. The situation on the ground in Afghanistan has been and will always be fluid. Given that the Taliban leadership changes so frequently and is largely decentralized, there is no good way to characterize them, their specific beliefs, nor predict the tactics they will use to enforce whatever the rules happen to be at the time. Some local leaders may be brutal, others not as much. These things change with space and time.
Another myth about the Taliban I want to address is that they are some hostile outside invading force. This is just not true. Sure, there are foreign fighters among their ranks, but for the most part the Taliban is comprised of Afghan nationals... or from tribes along the border of Afghanistan and Pakistan. One of the takeaways I have had over the past few days is that in order for the Taliban to have taken over so quickly, with such little being reported about major battles and resistance, is that this must be what many in Afghanistan want. I know that is hard for some of us to hear, but what other conclusion can be drawn?
We all know what we would do if some hostile force invaded us. We have seen resistance movements on the left and right side of the our political arena clash in our streets over various things these past few years. Whether you look at the the actions of BLM activists, Antifa, 3 percenters, or even the insurrectionists of January 6th... what you don't see is a lack of passion. You see a willingness to stand up and fight. To march. To vote. To act. And perhaps that passion is happening there also... But I haven't really seen it. So, I am left with this feeling that this might be the will of their people. Maybe they are just acquiescing so as to avoid the sort of conflict that generation after generation of Afghans have been born into... Perhaps we didn't really win the hearts and minds of the people there... Perhaps they are merely tired of being collateral damage. It is so hard to say. It is probably all of those things and more because as I stated previously, these people are not a monolith.
A few more things I want you all to really hear. We served to protect our country and one another. We were able to do amazing things and help build infrastructure there. We fought some people doing horrific things and made positive impacts on the lives of some of the most marginalized and oppressed people in that country. We helped each other stay somewhat sane in insane situations and come home safely. And yes, we lost friends. Friends we will remember to the end of our days. Friends who were and are closer to us than perhaps members of our own families.
So what was it all for? Was it worth it? I don't really know. I don't think any of us can really know that. We can't know what would have happened if we never went. We also can't know what would happen if we continued to stay there for another 20 years or even longer. The fate of that nation rested squarely on the shoulders of the Afghan people now.
I do have some hope that things will be better than they were prior to the war given that UNICEF has been asked to stay and so far the Taliban seems to be allowing US forces to pull out and evacuate our allies without interference. I am hopeful that those now in power will embrace negotiations and allow those who wish to leave to do so in peace. I also hope that countries around the world allow in refugees who do not wish to live under Taliban rule. We need to be prepared to accept those refugees as well.
In the end, the one thing I think we can say we did accomplished was to show the world that if you mess with our country, it will cost you dearly. As Medal of Honor recipient SSG David Bellavia said "We've seen war. We don't want war. But if you want war with the United States of America, there's one thing I can promise you, so help me God: someone else will raise your sons and daughters."
So that's it. That is where my head is at right now. Nothing is solved. It is a confusing mess it will take a long time to unpack this all. If you are angry, you are probably right to be so. If you are thankful that our troops are coming home and that another generation won't have to fight this war, you are probably right to be so. If you don't know how to feel about it all yet... I am right there with you. But, what we don't do... is we won't crap on each other for feeling any sort of way about it right now. We are going to do what soldiers do and look out for one another. We will support one another. We will try and keep each other as sane and as safe as we can.
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We can only trust our families and brothers and sisters in arms, past and present. I will strongly discourag any young American from enlisting in our services. CINC will rot in hell with the cavemen.
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Regime change and nation building is a bad mission. Particularly when their is no viable/credible and acceptable internal opposition. Calling Afghanistan a nation is a joke. It is a geographic area that offers little and has a fractious population that none of the surrounding nations want anything to do with. The only thing that unites them is foreign soldiers on their soil.
The mission should never have started. In the eyes of the population, we went from "liberators" to occupiers in a matter of minutes.
That said, once we committed we were obligated to complete the course. How can any opposition to a bad international look at our record in the middle-East and trust that we are in it until victory. A year out from any election anyone who has helped us should be getting on the next Plane, Copter, Boat, automobile, or beast of transportation and be heading for the border with their loved ones at top speed.
I love our troops. I'm proud of them. But our national civilian leadership in times of war hasn't been worth spit since WWII.
The mission should never have started. In the eyes of the population, we went from "liberators" to occupiers in a matter of minutes.
That said, once we committed we were obligated to complete the course. How can any opposition to a bad international look at our record in the middle-East and trust that we are in it until victory. A year out from any election anyone who has helped us should be getting on the next Plane, Copter, Boat, automobile, or beast of transportation and be heading for the border with their loved ones at top speed.
I love our troops. I'm proud of them. But our national civilian leadership in times of war hasn't been worth spit since WWII.
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My boyfriend was there for 8 months. There are only 8 surviving people from his unit including him. One of the guys from his unit committed suicide yesterday because of all this. I never had someone completely break down in my arms before. I couldn't imagine what most veterans are feeling like right now. I feel your anger and betrayal. My stepdad raised me for the last 13 years and he is also a veteran. I never know what to do during PTSD episodes. I try to not make it about me, but when I feel helpless because he's not taking my help, it bothers me. But how can I ever expect someone to know how to react to something so sacrificial when I've never had to endure it myself?
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My feelings are the same. We had to see this coming. Unfortunate for the people though...
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After losing many friends to this war, fighting the Taliban, Fighting them myself and seeing things and doing things, that I can never unsee or undo, This outrages me. I was all for pulling out in phases. But pulling out as fast as we did, leaving all that we left there, is not good. it just brings back so many bad memories that I can't get out of my head. I will be okay though. Just remember, this is temporary, and all of us will be okay! I feel bad for the Afghan people there. Hopefully the Taliban will get creamed and wont be an organization soon.
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20 years there was 18 years too many. If we're going to compare Kabul to Saigon then over the next 20 years we can look forward to an Afghanistan with a thriving capitalist economy such as the one we see in Vietnam today. War is messy and this one was never going to have a happy ending with ticker tape parades. I support President Biden's decisions and pray for a safe return home so we can regroup for the coming hot war against China.
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