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

I am angry and upset. We spent a lot, as a nation, fighting the Taliban over the last 20 year. Lives, money, resources, time, etc. This can never be measured against the horrible way that Afghanistan has fallen back under Taliban control. We must be forever indebted to those who answered the country's call and made the ultimate sacrifice and other sacrifices. Hopefully, the nation will remember these sacrifices for many, many years to come.
It seems like the politicians made decisions either without or disregarding the input of the commanders on the ground. It seems like the majority of people we were trying to help, didn't want to help themselves, they only wanted us to protect and save them. Look at how fast the Afghan president left the country, and the speed with which the Taliban took over. How many weapons, vehicles, and how much ammunition fell into their hands? They not only took over, but strengthened their positions from before American involvement.
This country needs to think long and hard before it becomes reinvolved in this area. We also need to do a much better job of evacuating Americans and our allies from Afghanistan.

I am disappointed with the operation to withdraw our troops and support from Afghanistan. On one hand I do believe that the U.S. needed to depart the country. After 20 years, a trillion dollars, and many American lives it was time to leave. However, the departure should have been a military operation that was planned to the last piece of equipment. Should NOT have been a cut and run endeavor. What we are seeing now is the very opposite of a professional military maneuver. This has damaged the U.S. status on the world stage and will take many years to recover from.

As for our Afghanistan allies, we have a responsibility to honor our committments to them. We promised them a better life in the States if they assisted us during the campaign. They kept faith with us, they assisted us, they taught us, and in some cases they protected us from damger. We need to evacuate them and their families under force of arms if necessay. However, we do not need to evacuate every Afghan in the country. That is NOT our responsibility; and I don't think that the majority of personnel on flights should be men - they should be women and children. The men need to stay and fight for their country and their freedom.

The is my opinion reflecting 1 year of deployment as a U.S. Army LTC and 12 years as a U.S contractor working with Afghan military forces.

First, I cannot be more proud of all our Servicemembers who served in the Region. Second, a withdrawal from the AOR was an objection of both the Current and the Previous Administration. Conclusion, we were getting out, one way or the other.

Now, the differences. The Previous Administration would have had a plan that would have been better than the implemented plan of the Current Administration. The Previous Administration would likely have Not put up with the Taliban doing Anything like what it's doing now.

Now to say something you might not like: It's possible that the Current Administration was slow-rolled by the Military Leadership. At that point, the POTUS (or advisors to the POTUS, who would adopt the advice) would just say "Just do it!" We need to understand that when the POTUS gives an order, we comply. The POTUS will see the consequences at the next election (or even the next Mid-Terms).

it was a scam. Crooks in Congress were making billions. The Taliban survived because no one was chasing them. Worse than Vietnam for just plain stealing.

I'm mad as hell! There must be many resignations or people fired for incompetence!

Personally, I believe that Biden Harris and Sec, of Defense, should be tried for treason under Atr 3 Sec 3 of the US Constitution and The joint chiefs tried for deletion of duty.

I think like a lot of us who served in Afghanistan, we are asking ourselves "what was the point?" And I believe we have every right to feel that way, especially in the light of the sacrifices we've made, injuries we've endured, and those we lost. After my initial feelings of anger and betrayal, I had to ask myself "what did you expect the outcome to be in Afghanistan?" As any student of history knows, Afghanistan is known as the graveyard of empires; campaigns from Alexander of Macedonia to the unstoppable British empire to the technologically advanced Soviet Union all failed in their attempts to colonize/stabilize/modernize Afghanistan. As Servicemembers, we don't set foreign policy, we enforce it. If any of you are feeling especially aggrieved, I would say contact your elected officials and have your say. If you are especially determined to make a tangible difference, run for office, or seek positions in government that would benefit from your experience and perspectives as a Veteran. So long as foreign policy is conducted from a self-sealing bubble, and commanders on the ground are forced to send up positive sitrep regarding the status of partner forces' training status, what we see now will only happen again the next time. And there will be a next time.

It is an abomination many times more horrible than Benghazi, where State Department bureaucrats, technocrats and politicians put their wrongheaded ideas above and beyond the professional military planners and leaders who knew better. The Biden administration abandoned the logistical and military infrastructure, did not anticipate or prepare for the worst case scenario and are responsible for all the death and destruction already perpetrated by our enemies and those yet to come. Until all Islamists are dead or no longer have the means and will to kill us, we must defend ourselves by all means necessary. Gitmo is a small piece to the big puzzle of how we win the Global War On Terror (GWOT). It must be revitalized and filled up. Geneva conventions allow the incarceration of even lawful combatant POWs without charge or trial "until the end of hostilities." Hooah!

I've just been depressed and feeling disenfranchised. That what my unit did, what my team did was for nothing. Being in tradoc with days blending together and under manned strength, I can't even see behavior health to talk it out. By the time I'm home I only got the strength to get my child dinner and be ready for school the next day.

I have very strong but mixed emotions on the Afghanistan quagmire that has happened. It was going happen now or any time before, but there was no planning, coordinating, communication with military forces and/or the alphabet community on the ground it seems. I know we all cried, bled, hurt, died but also fought honorably giving 100%. And with the way we exited is not the way we fought! It puts a black eye on all of us that fight over there. And it appears with this Bulls*** administration, they failed to give any credence to those of us that fought and died for that damned country. Anger, anxiety, fear for my family and close friends. Because the President has now shown a great weakness to the wickedness in the world that we handed weapons, classified commo equipment, attack vehicles and helicopters. All this did was embolden the Taliban Terrorists threat and will lead to increased attacks! Which may include in the U.S. To ALL my brothers and sisters in arms you have a lot to be proud of and do not ever forget that!