Should I stay or should I go? POLITICAL op/ed

[BrianSoddingBoru4]

Boru

[Angrboda]

Both undesirable choices.  Worse than PBR or High Life.  All the more reason to bring home those abroad.

I have grown to hate pale beer no matter the label. I did a back and tan in my 20s, and that was it. DARK, and I mean black hole dark beer is the only way to go.

If the beer you drink doesn't look like the oil you drain out of your vehicle when you change your oil, it is not beer, but piss water.

No offense, but I'm not taking advice on what to drink from you, an admitted prior Budweiser drinker.

True story, I came close to calling off my suicide attempt in 1996 because the only beer I could get for washing the down the pills was Budweiser.

[DocIllinois]

Boru

Precisely.

Afghanistan will happily accept the blood and treasure of world powers who invade to rule or "freedom" them while simultaneously keeping the place an Islamic Patriarchal mess and awaiting the next Global North investment when the place starts exporting that mess again.

[Spongebob]

Afghanistan has been the puppet state of Pakistan and Iran for years now. Unless we plan on invading those countries as well, there's no point being there.

[Brian37]

The US had little to no business being in Afghanistan to begin with. At best this should have been no more than a 5 year incursion. Staying 20 years has more than likely made the backlash that much worse.

Space, the final white entitlement, it's 5 year mission to explore strange orange turds, TO STUPIDLY GO WHERE NO ONE HAS VOTED BEFORE!.

But then you have Next Generation and Voyager. 

Word play joke on the number "5". In all seriousness, and I do mean this seriously. I think both parties have been stuck on our WW2 win and both parties don't seem to understand that technology and foreign policy have changed. 

I seriously do understand that neither Trump voters or Biden voters like Bin Laden or the Taliban. But it does seem that if we leave a void, another third party will try to fill that power vacuum. It is literally like any other species fighting over scraps and water sources, but humans make bullshit excuses for doing what other species do.

[Brian37]

I'd like for you to make a case for how little brutality there would have been if the US hadn't invaded. Don't get me wrong, I think that the hunt for bin Laden should have been handled through international channels, instead. The US leaving is not "facilitating" any brutality that the Taliban is going to inflict on their own people. They're going to do that, anyway. Unless you'd like for the US to stay. You can't have it both ways.

I'm not trying to have it any way.  We can't quantify what didn't happen.  

I can make the case that brutality happens in all Muslim societies, which is what you also think.  So, what?

---

I really don't want anyone bitching about ABBA. I mean seriously, I defend ABBA.

Oh bullshit.  What would do with yourself if people didn't give you shit about Bennie, Bjorn, Agnetha and Anni-Frid?

Somebody actually took the time to post their names. Did I mention I was an operative at GITMO? Ok, I wasn't, but aren't you glad you don't have the nuclear codes? 

(Childish schoolyard teasing) "YOU KNEW THEIR NAMES, YOU KNEW THEIR NAMES! NEENER NEENER NEENER."

[Ranjr]

Somebody actually took the time to post their names. Did I mention I was an operative at GITMO? Ok, I wasn't, but aren't you glad you don't have the nuclear codes? 

(Childish schoolyard teasing) "YOU KNEW THEIR NAMES, YOU KNEW THEIR NAMES! NEENER NEENER NEENER."

Of course I know their names.  Bjorn and Bennie wrote lyrically challenged but well orchestrated pop diddies, highly derivative with the occasional classical interlude.  Agnetha had a fantastic voice and matching ass.  I wish she could have worked with American writers and producers.  The German version of Ring Ring sounds more natural, which makes me wish they released more songs in German.

[HappySkeptic]

Back to the OP

Every single news station is calling the American withdrawal botched, and most talking-heads are saying that the withdrawal was a mistake. This includes MSNBC and CNN - and FOX is going nuts with glee at how terrible it is.

I actually think this is a test of leadership. Yes, 70% of Americans don't want troops in Afghanistan, but 0% want what is happening right now. That is where leadership comes in. Sometimes you have to make decisions that don't follow the polls. A strong leader can make that work if he/she is clear about why.

America has the choice to withdraw from the world, and let its enemies determine what the world is going to look like -- and a Taliban-led Afghanistan as friends to all its rivals and enemies is it. They could've kept Afghanistan if the had left the logistical, maintenance and air support in place. A few thousand troops. Of course, government corruption is something they couldn't fix.

[DocIllinois]

Back to the OP

Every single news station is calling the American withdrawal botched, and most talking-heads are saying that the withdrawal was a mistake.  This includes MSNBC and CNN - and FOX is going nuts with glee at how terrible it is.

I actually think this is a test of leadership.  Yes, 70% of Americans don't want troops in Afghanistan, but 0% want what is happening right now.  That is where leadership comes in.  Sometimes you have to make decisions that don't follow the polls.  A strong leader can make that work if he/she is clear about why.

America has the choice to withdraw from the world, and let its enemies determine what the world is going to look like -- and a Taliban-led Afghanistan as friends to all its rivals and enemies is it.  They could've kept Afghanistan if the had left the logistical, maintenance and air support in place.  A few thousand troops.  Of course, government corruption is something they couldn't fix.

When, and by whom, was the decision made that the U.S. won't still be operating in Afghanistan?

I admit I might have missed where the Taliban have announced that they'll be making a major shift in attitude regarding massacre campaigns, human trafficking, violence against civilians, violence against medical and aid workers, and providing cave motels for terrorists to plan war and fatwas against citizens of third-party countries.riti

[BrianSoddingBoru4]

Back to the OP

Every single news station is calling the American withdrawal botched, and most talking-heads are saying that the withdrawal was a mistake.  This includes MSNBC and CNN - and FOX is going nuts with glee at how terrible it is.

I actually think this is a test of leadership.  Yes, 70% of Americans don't want troops in Afghanistan, but 0% want what is happening right now.  That is where leadership comes in.  Sometimes you have to make decisions that don't follow the polls.  A strong leader can make that work if he/she is clear about why.

America has the choice to withdraw from the world, and let its enemies determine what the world is going to look like -- and a Taliban-led Afghanistan as friends to all its rivals and enemies is it.  They could've kept Afghanistan if the had left the logistical, maintenance and air support in place.  A few thousand troops.  Of course, government corruption is something they couldn't fix.

Logistically, there was going to come a time when the US had to withdraw from Afghanistan regardless. Had you withdrawn five years ago, the outcome would have been just what we’re seeing now. Had you withdrawn five years from now, ditto.

The whole ‘terrorist safe haven’ argument is true, but irrelevant - there are terrorist safe havens the world over, and the US staying in Afghanistan won’t alter that.

Boru