Quote (NetflixAdaptationWidow @ 21 Aug 2021 06:47)
It's actually your argument that makes no sense, because you don't seem to understand even the basics of the agreement. Bringing in forces to make sure the air field stays secure does not violate the agreement. We are allowed to have 8,600 armed soldiers in the country until August 31st. We aren't violently fighting the Taliban to secure the air field, we are there as deterrence in case the Taliban breaks the agreement, which they so far have not to my knowledge.
If we deployed those troops to actively resist the Taliban alongside Afghani forces we would be in direct violation of the agreement and fighting would immediately resume.
So no, we can't deploy troops to keep Kabul and other areas from falling as quickly. Best we could do is the green zone but that does basically nothing to avoid the situation we have right now. It gets us a few more square miles and that's about it.
You misunderstand my point: I did not suggest to bring in troops to actively fight the Taliban alongside the Afghan forces, I suggested to bring them in to secure the diplomatic quarter/green zone the same way they secure the airport right now. 8600 soldiers should have been enough to achieve that since the airport and the green zone are very close to one another. It was too late for this approach when Biden and his generals sent the quick response force on Saturday, so that they only arrived at the airfield on Sunday, mere hours before the Taliban entered the city. At that point, it was too late to erect a bubble around the green zone; they were busy securing the airport and US soldiers strolling into the city at that point in time would have cause fights with the Taliban to break out.
Had Biden and the generals sent the 82nd Airborne 2-3 days earlier, such a bubble around the green zone could have been set up without bloodshed and before the Taliban had captured Kabul. And like I said, by Tuesday or Wednesday, there were no more doubts that the Taliban would steamroll the entire country without meeting resistance.
Quote (bogie160 @ 21 Aug 2021 16:28)
We shouldn't put too much stock into polls which were conducted after a horrendous week and a horrendous news cycle. Particularly since foreign policy tends to take a backseat in voters' minds to kitchen table issues. The Afghanistan debacle will hurt Biden at the margins in the midterms, but I'm quite sure that just 4 weeks from now, most voters will not give a fuck anymore about Afghanistan. Biden's approval ratings should recover at least partially once this news cycle ends.
This post was edited by Black XistenZ on Aug 21 2021 09:39am