[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.

It's almost as if the Taliban never went away.
Maybe they blended into the populous like a fish in water (I think that's Mao).

Some questions may be due over the vetting of Afghan army recruits, post initial clean-up.
Get training, get a wage, get a gun, and keep your head down till the balloon goes up (I think that's Reggie Perrin).

That may explain how there are suddenly tooled-up Tallies surrounding every major city.

[kreuzberger]

Very little optimism from me, quite the opposite.

As the Kreuzette reminds us, the Taliban could do what the Indians did in Punjab and simply switch off the internet..

[Bones McCoy]

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.

The soldier would have been told "To keep Britain safe; so they can't organise over there then come over here".
They sold that story in Britain and the USA.
I had a hard time believing it at the time,
But if it was said with any degree of honesty, whatever happened to keeping us safe?

[Bones McCoy]

What did Space Force do to stop the rape of Kabul, Daddy?

[Boiler]

Very little optimism from me, quite the opposite.

As the Kreuzette reminds us, the Taliban could do what the Indians did in Punjab and simply switch off the internet..

In the desire for this most vicious of Death Cults to return to their very own Year Zero, I can see that happening.

[Boiler]

The soldier would have been told "To keep Britain safe; so they can't organise over there then come over here".
They sold that story in Britain and the USA.
I had a hard time believing it at the time,
But if it was said with any degree of honesty, whatever happened to keeping us safe?

"It is very difficult obviously, but I think the UK can be extremely proud of what has been done in Afghanistan over the last 20 years," he said.

The prime minister said that thanks to the efforts of the UK armed services there had been no al-Qaeda attacks on the West for "a very long time".

I think that may soon change.

[Bones McCoy]

The soldier would have been told "To keep Britain safe; so they can't organise over there then come over here".
They sold that story in Britain and the USA.
I had a hard time believing it at the time,
But if it was said with any degree of honesty, whatever happened to keeping us safe?

"It is very difficult obviously, but I think the UK can be extremely proud of what has been done in Afghanistan over the last 20 years," he said.

The prime minister said that thanks to the efforts of the UK armed services there had been no al-Qaeda attacks on the West for "a very long time".

I think that may soon change.

Dear Alex Bozo Piffle

My friend, you would not tell with such high zest
To children ardent for some desperate glory,
The old Lie:

[The Weeping Angel]

Thoughts on this piece?

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2021/0 ... an-beyond/

My friends have said I’m angry and taking the withdrawal from Afghanistan personally. They’re right. We weren’t forced out and the losses we sustained in the early years had abated to such an extent that the last British soldier killed in combat died in 2013. We chose to leave.

That’s what’s so heart-breaking for many of us. The consequences were obvious. The Afghan armed forces, trained to fight alongside Western air power, would always struggle alone. The helicopters, serviced by now-departed US contractors, wouldn’t fly and the troops would be exposed.

But more than that, leaving suddenly destroyed morale. That’s not about feeling good, it’s the belief in a future. For many Afghans, the sudden departure was a statement by the US and her allies that it’s over – good luck, goodbye.

After 20 years we walked away from a sustainable peace because it was taking too long. We stayed in Germany for more than 40 years. We’re still in Cyprus today. The US has been in South Korea since the 1950s and Japan since the Second World War. That strategic patience won the Cold War and kept the UN Green Line peaceful. We could have done the same in Afghanistan.

Keeping 10,000 Nato troops in Kabul wasn’t a huge commitment from anyone. The UK’s 750 troops and the US’s 2,500 were half a combat brigade and enabled 400,000 Afghan police and army. That’s over. Because, by leaving so suddenly, we’ve just advertised the reverse.

As we’re talking about Global Britain, it’s worth thinking hard about what this means. Potential allies have been watching us and weighing up whether we’re as good as our word. They’re not wondering now.

This isn’t just about Afghanistan. Around the world autocratic powers like China and Russia are forcing change in the agreements we’ve made to keep us all safe. And we know what that means – less easy trade, obstacles to cooperation, more confrontation. But despite their size, neither is able to weaken us – unless we walk away.

The G7-plus who met in Cornwall this summer account for around 70 per cent of world trade. China is less than 20 per cent and Russia isn’t even relevant. We have the financial, commercial, intellectual, military, developmental and cultural ability to defend our interests. But loans from Chinese state banks are building infrastructure as we’re cutting our aid rather than turning it into investment. Russian military support is going to countries we snub, pushing them into the arms of those who oppose us.

We can turn this around. We need to. Investing in ourselves, our allies and partners has never been easier or more important. This is a choice about the kind of world we want and allies we’ll support. So far we’re choosing to lose.

You see I'm torn on the one hand I can see where Tom is coming from and I do sympathise with him, but on the other hand if after twenty years the Afghan army can't put up much of a fight and the government wilts that easily then what more could we have done?

[Boiler]

According to the BBC, the Taliban have arrived in Kabul and met little resistance.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/world-asia-58219963

https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-paci ... 021-08-15/

[Bones McCoy]

How's this going to enter into western history?
Through the lens of US conservative media I fear.

Another stab in the back for the neo nazis.
Another lost cause for the neo confederates.
Another "we didn't lose, politicians failed us" for the bomb them into the stone age crowd.


Despite all this history, we still happily engage in foreign wars without a clue about sustainable peace, subject to mission creep and with no vision of the end game.

[Andy McDandy]

A few years ago, a Times leader, discussing the war in Syria, argued that if Germany wanted to be taken seriously as a country, it had better join the USA and UK in bombing the fuck out of some Arabs. I'm talking within the last decade.

Reading that, it struck me just how damaging was Murdoch and his love of watching shit explode on 3D crikeyvision. It's not about rebuilding, it's all about the big bangs.

[kreuzberger]

Germany was involved but just with a little less hullabaloo. Deutsche Welle has a decent précis, although it omits the "bombing the shit out of them" bit which was quite a big deal at the time.

https://www.dw.com/en/germany-pulls-las ... a-58097894

[Boiler]

Johnson may recall Parliament on Wednesday.

[The All New KevS]

So presumably, if any of those poor sods we're leaving in the mire in Afghanistan decide to leave and make their way to us for a better life, no doubt they'll be welcomed with open arms?

#willtheybollocks

[Youngian]

So presumably, if any of those poor sods we're leaving in the mire in Afghanistan decide to leave and make their way to us for a better life, no doubt they'll be welcomed with open arms?

#willtheybollocks

Johnson knows his base

[Arrowhead]

I've only just realised how close we are to the 20th anniversary of September 11th 2001. There is a very real chance that the day itself will coincide with the final capitulation of Kabul. The Taliban will probably try to time it that way to cause maximum humiliation for the U.S. and the U.K.

Johnson may recall Parliament on Wednesday.

Get ready for a deluge of performative posturing from Johnson and his legion of braying, purple-faced bastards. "Labour want to let in millions of Afghan refugees, they want to flood the country with asylum seekers!", that sort of bollocks.

[Boiler]

"Bogus translators"

[Youngian]

Get ready for a deluge of performative posturing from Johnson and his legion of braying, purple-faced bastards. "Labour want to let in millions of Afghan refugees, they want to flood the country with asylum seekers", that sort of bollocks.

Or Starmer can portray Johnson as a dishonourable appeaser to Islamic terrorism who is creating a refugee crisis heading for our shores. Ball's in Keir's court.

[Nigredo]

Johnson may recall Parliament on Wednesday.

Could this be Johnson's Suez Canal moment?

[The Weeping Angel]

Germany was involved but just with a little less hullabaloo. Deutsche Welle has a decent précis, although it omits the "bombing the shit out of them" bit which was quite a big deal at the time.

https://www.dw.com/en/germany-pulls-las ... a-58097894

Yeah here's the German defence ministry chucking their translators under a bus.