[kreuzberger]

Please, please, this is not me being wise after the fact, even in the middle of it, but I was lain in my pit the better part of a month ago with the trusty World Service on my pillow.

"Fine and dandy", opined the steadfastly reliable Lyse Doucet, "perhaps Uncles Sam's work on the ground is done". I paraphrase.

Thing is, when you really trust a journalist, and have done so for literally decades, and you are screaming into the triangular void between your first coffee, a slash, and a fag that this is the most rose-tinted bollocks you have ever since Daniel Hannan reassured us all about the single market, then you begin to question your own judgement.

For two years or more, the Taliban have been attending talks in Gulf States (presumably without being blasted out of the skies with relative ease) and have been agreeing to the job while sucking through their teeth. "Girls' edjumacation and mass hangins, mate? No bovva. Once we iron out a few glitches."

That Afghanistan would hurtle towards the abyss is just so obvious to the point of it being the only logical and likely outcome. You bolt down the lid on a pressure cooker for twenty years without doing much to reduce the raging heat - largely, because you can't - and guess what happens. Exactly.

What in heaven's name was Biden thinking?

[Boiler]

"Our troops are dying for nothing and there's mid-term elections soon?"

Afghanistan is an insoluble problem. I was once transported from hospital back to work by an Afghan mini-cab driver, who showed me photographs of the mountain village he left behind. The scenery was breath-taking and I felt sorry he had to forsake that.

Breaking news: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-58195286

[Bones McCoy]

As Boiler said:

Bottled it in the face of the "Blood and treasure*" lobby.

* A slogan that's popular with American cunts, that usually starts with "We've wasted enough ...".
Comparable with the UK's "We shoot take care of our own" brigade.

[Boiler]

And considering Joe is a hate figure for many, bringing the troops back home might just help with them.

[kreuzberger]

Would the Biden-haters really have a change of heart? I am struggling to buy that as an electoral strategy, even if it is one which would be calculated to try to keep the nukes out of the hands of nutters in 2024.

Surely the systematic rape , killing, and enslavement that follows the hastily-cancelled Operation Enduring Freedom will have a greater impact on those who voted in the US for a return to decency.

The sight of local translators for the Brits swinging in the evening breeze; what do we make of that? Personally, I don't think that your common or garden tory voter will give a flying fuck, just so long as they have been denied asylum. Waves of displaced people and the resurgence of murderous hit squads (and cheap smack) being freshly exported from Helmand? Yep, that's all part of the price of doing a runner in the middle of the night.

What a perfidious and myopic bunch the yanks and their poodles are, and they are virtually begging to live with the consequences.

[kreuzberger]

Tugendhat goes ballistic in that measured way which often earns him respect from unlikely quarters. And indeed, I know he is not a knight in shining armour. War isn't like that.

If all tories were like this, I could live with the differences of opinion and emphasis. But, they're not. They're feral beasts.

[Youngian]

And considering Joe is a hate figure for many, bringing the troops back home might just help with them.

Would the Biden-haters really have a change of heart? I am struggling to buy that as an electoral strategy, even if it is one which would be calculated to try to keep the nukes out of the hands of nutters in 2024.

Republicans hated Obama even more for taking down Bin Laden when Dubya couldn't 'smoke him out.'

Very conflicted over this Afghan withdrawal as I don't see why the US has gone from full military operations to zero. Rory Stewart is making the point that providing air cover would keep the Taliban at bay. Blair or Major would probably have stood their ground and even corralled Biden into maintaining a USAF prescence.
They drew reluctant US presidents into the Kurdish no-fly zone and the Kosovo operation but they had diplomatic clout with France and other European allies backing them. Johnson has burned whatever political capitial he had and his words have no authority to influence anyone but halfwits.
Starmer should retire if he can't make hay out of this; Johnson the weak impotent quitter who's creating a massive refugee crisis heading our way.

[Andy McDandy]

Problem is that for many people in Britain, Afghanistan wasn't about restructuring or rebuilding the country. It was about killing foreigners. They'll look at the resurgent Taliban and say "fuck it, let them kill each other".

Just see how they reacted to Malala Yousafzai. From yay heroine to shut up bitch.

[The Weeping Angel]

This is from a few months ago

[Bones McCoy]

Tugendhat goes ballistic in that measured way which often earns him respect from unlikely quarters. And indeed, I know he is not a knight in shining armour. War isn't like that.

If all tories were like this, I could live with the differences of opinion and emphasis. But, they're not. They're feral beasts.

It's notable that the "Retired Officer" lobby are the one group of Tory MPs who have:
a) Had the balls to call Johnson on his bullshit.
b) Mostly not been purged for it.

[Bones McCoy]

And considering Joe is a hate figure for many, bringing the troops back home might just help with them.

Would the Biden-haters really have a change of heart? I am struggling to buy that as an electoral strategy, even if it is one which would be calculated to try to keep the nukes out of the hands of nutters in 2024.

Republicans hated Obama even more for taking down Bin Laden when Dubya couldn't 'smoke him out.'

Very conflicted over this Afghan withdrawal as I don't see why the US has gone from full military operations to zero. Rory Stewart is making the point that providing air cover would keep the Taliban at bay. Blair or Major would probably have stood their ground and even corralled Biden into maintaining a USAF prescence.
They drew reluctant US presidents into the Kurdish no-fly zone and the Kosovo operation but they had diplomatic clout with France and other European allies backing them. Johnson has burned whatever political capitial he had and his words have no authority to influence anyone but halfwits.
Starmer should retire if he can't make hay out of this; Johnson the weak impotent quitter who's creating a massive refugee crisis heading our way.

Little to add.

Bojo the Clown can showboat, obstruct justice and deny referenda at home.
Bojo the Clown pissed off the EU, and risked the special relationship with an all-in bet on Trump 2020.
Bojo the Clown is a busted flush on the international stage.

[Tubby Isaacs]

[Tubby Isaacs]

Not saying it's Nandy's fault, of course.

[kreuzberger]

Blimey, it is barely worth commenting upon the unfolding developments in Afghanistan, such is the speed of the Taliban advance.

Tomorrow's FT is suggesting that the Taliban are already encircling Kabul and, whilst it is absurd to draw firm conclusions from that, only a fool would bet against them having the whole deal done before the end of the month.

Question; how the hell did they amass such man- and firepower that they can strike at will and with decisive force across 650 thousand km² without the western forces knowing about it? All this "taken by surprise" narrative is looking like a woeful failure of intelligence as well as of military prowess, statecraft, and all the rest of it.

[Bones McCoy]

Blimey, it is barely worth commenting upon the unfolding developments in Afghanistan, such is the speed of the Taliban advance.

Tomorrow's FT is suggesting that the Taliban are already encircling Kabul and, whilst it is absurd to draw firm conclusions from that, only a fool would bet against them having the whole deal done before the end of the month.

Question; how the hell did they amass such man- and firepower that they can strike at will and with decisive force across 650 thousand km² without the western forces knowing about it? All this "taken by surprise" narrative is looking like a woeful failure of intelligence as well as of military prowess, statecraft, and all the rest of it.

Kabul gonna be the next Saigon.

[MisterMuncher]

Blimey, it is barely worth commenting upon the unfolding developments in Afghanistan, such is the speed of the Taliban advance.

Tomorrow's FT is suggesting that the Taliban are already encircling Kabul and, whilst it is absurd to draw firm conclusions from that, only a fool would bet against them having the whole deal done before the end of the month.

Question; how the hell did they amass such man- and firepower that they can strike at will and with decisive force across 650 thousand km² without the western forces knowing about it? All this "taken by surprise" narrative is looking like a woeful failure of intelligence as well as of military prowess, statecraft, and all the rest of it.

Major failure in giving a shit.

[kreuzberger]

A thought crossing my mind early this morning, soon after five, and while listening to an articulate young female student in Kabul on the World Service, is that it is going to be mightily difficult to either shut these women and girls up or to ignore them.

The will shame the US/UK hand-washing to the soles of their boots. And, rightly so.

[Boiler]

A thought crossing my mind early this morning, soon after five, and while listening to an articulate young female student in Kabul on the World Service, is that it is going to be mightily difficult to either shut these women and girls up or to ignore them.

The will shame the US/UK hand-washing to the soles of their boots. And, rightly so.

Oh, I don't know. The Taliban have shown themselves to be mightily effective at silencing opposition in the most brutal manner possible.

I admire your optimism Kreuzy, but I think it's misplaced; I just hope you're right and I'm wrong but I can see a Cambodia 2.0 here.

[Andy McDandy]

Re. the materiel, quite likely that they either pick up and salvage abandoned western kit, or their enemies, when approached, go "fuck it, either way we're not getting paid" and throw in with them.

Or of course, friendly neighbourhood Russian arms dealers. Unlimited credit and a free AK with every tank.

[Boiler]

In all of this, I am astonished that the legitimate Afghan military has rolled over so quickly but if you know the Taliban are already threatening your family...

I suspect the Taliban are already gathering the "dropped once, never fired" hardware.

Kreuzy had his student on the World Service; last night I had a British soldier wondering why he lost limbs for this.