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Trump Orders Big Troop Reduction in Afghanistan

Mr Person said:
No, it is not possible that we are witnessing an end to these pointless endeavors in the middle east.



I'd be nice to have something like an exit plan rather than "oh, **** it. Let's go". I guess we just have to wait to find out whether the Taliban sticks to oppressing its own people once we leave.

:shrug:




Kind of strange. Out of all the wars of choice we've fought, Afghanistan was both the most warranted and the most hopeless. So it goes.
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One can't hope?

As far as the Taliban oppressing it's own people once we leave, that is likely going to happen whether we leave now or 20 years from now.
 
Hawkeye10 said:
Maybe my boy comes home early....maybe we dont send these last 2 boxes.....

I agree with Trump here, we lost here just as we did in Syria....it is time to face reality.
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Trump isn't saying we lost in Syria. He is saying we met our objective for being there.

There's a lot of miss reporting going on that somehow we are turning our backs on the Kurds and our allys. Nonsense. If the Kurds were being faced with turmoil for Turkey or whatever, the 82 Airbourne could be deployed in 24 hours and Erdogan knows full well if he starts messing with the Kurds he will be met with total Hell from this administration.
 
vesper said:
Trump isn't saying we lost in Syria. He is saying we met our objective for being there.

There's a lot of miss reporting going on that somehow we are turning our backs on the Kurds and our allys. Nonsense. If the Kurds were being faced with turmoil for Turkey or whatever, the 82 Airbourne could be deployed in 24 hours and Erdogan knows full well if he starts messing with the Kurds he will be met with total Hell from this administration.
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I dont care about the Kurds anymore, they insist upon being assholes, which is why they always get run over.

Let it continue.
 
Hawkeye10 said:
I dont care about the Kurds anymore, they insist upon being assholes, which is why they always get run over.

Let it continue.
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That's a flippant remark you have made that I will just ignore as no the Kurds have not been assholes.
 
vesper said:
That's a flippant remark you have made that I will just ignore as no the Kurds have not been assholes.
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The last straw for me was voting to secede from Iraq even though basically everyone was sure that it was a bad idea and begged them to not.

They did not give a ****.








Dont underestimate me.
 
Hawkeye10 said:
Maybe my boy comes home early....maybe we dont send these last 2 boxes.....

I agree with Trump here, we lost here just as we did in Syria....it is time to face reality.
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Uhhh Trump literally said "mission accomplished" in Syria
 
vesper said:
Trump isn't saying we lost in Syria. He is saying we met our objective for being there.

There's a lot of miss reporting going on that somehow we are turning our backs on the Kurds and our allys. Nonsense. If the Kurds were being faced with turmoil for Turkey or whatever, the 82 Airbourne could be deployed in 24 hours and Erdogan knows full well if he starts messing with the Kurds he will be met with total Hell from this administration.
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No misreporting at all. We did turn our backs on the Kurds and left them to the mercy of the Turks. Word is that Erdogan was so caught off guard by Trump's sudden offer to withdraw our troops from Syria and give up the Kurds in his phone call with him that he actually felt he had to caution the President about making a hasty withdrawal. Now Erdogan is a hero in Turkey and our President not so much.
 
Hawkeye10 said:
I dont care about the Kurds anymore, they insist upon being assholes, which is why they always get run over.

Let it continue.
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Yeah I know. Having friends and allies is sooo overrated, :roll:
 
Helix said:
is there even a good way to deter them, though? what would that look like?
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In my opinion the US will never give up a strategic foothold like Afghanistan, so basically i don’t think you’re ever leaving completely
 
Helix said:
i don't see the advantage of leaving a significantly reduced force there for an extended period of time.
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I'm not talking about an extended period of time. I'm referring to the use of a stay-behind force, to temporarily maintain security. It's basic tactics. It's the stuff that Sun Tsu didn't talk about.
 
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Higgins86 said:
Terror attacked and activity has increased and spread since 9/11. Our approach hasn’t worked and has only created more enemies, maybe it’s time for a different approach.
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WW2 got worse, before it got better. After England and France declared war on Germany, Germany invaded France and kicked France's and England's asses, then a year later invaded Russia.
 
Higgins86 said:
In my opinion the US will never give up a strategic foothold like Afghanistan, so basically i don’t think you’re ever leaving completely
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in that case, it's time to leave completely, IMO.
 
apdst said:
I'm not talking about an extended period of time. I'm referring to the use of a stay-behind force, to temporarily maintain security. It's basic tactics. It's the stuff that Sun Tsu didn't talk about.
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ah, so you remember that link, do you? must have made an impression. hopefully the next president will have read and absorbed at least a bit of it.
 
Helix said:
i don't see the advantage of leaving a significantly reduced force there for an extended period of time.
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I also don't see an advantage in announcing a unilateral decision to make a major reduction in troops whilst in the middle of peace negotiations. What are we getting from this except for a parallel reduction in negotiating leverage?
 
Atomic Kid said:
I also don't see an advantage in announcing a unilateral decision to make a major reduction in troops whilst in the middle of peace negotiations. What are we getting from this except for a parallel reduction in negotiating leverage?
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what kind of negotiations? Afghanistan is the graveyard of empires. get them out of there.
 
Helix said:
ah, so you remember that link, do you? must have made an impression. hopefully the next president will have read and absorbed at least a bit of it.
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Of course I remember how people erroneously believe that Sun Tsu had it all figured out.
 
apdst said:
Of course I remember how people erroneously believe that Sun Tsu had it all figured out.
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Sun Tzu accurately pointed out that 17 year wars might not be a good idea, yes.
 
Atomic Kid said:
No misreporting at all. We did turn our backs on the Kurds and left them to the mercy of the Turks. Word is that Erdogan was so caught off guard by Trump's sudden offer to withdraw our troops from Syria and give up the Kurds in his phone call with him that he actually felt he had to caution the President about making a hasty withdrawal. Now Erdogan is a hero in Turkey and our President not so much.
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We've lost 4 Americans in Syria. Not a good thing. The Kurds have lost 10,000+. Looks to me like a new Axis of Evil has been formed, Turkey, Russia and the US. Iran is ecstatic, Russia, too..
 
Helix said:
Sun Tzu accurately pointed out that 17 year wars might not be a good idea, yes.
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That isn't what we're talking about though. Is it?
 
Parrish said:
We've lost 4 Americans in Syria. Not a good thing. The Kurds have lost 10,000+. Looks to me like a new Axis of Evil has been formed, Turkey, Russia and the US. Iran is ecstatic, Russia, too..
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Iran and Turkey aren't the good guys? :lamo
 
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