Ted Rall for February 24, 2021

I’m liking the death stats. What did Trump pay to get there? Is it an ongoing cost? (I’m absolutely NOT an expert on the area).

Proof positive that Il Douche wasn’t so bad and Biden is the devil incarnate.

Derp!

Afghanistan – the graveyard of empires!! Just ask the Brits or more recently, the Russians!!

Banker Joe never met a financial institution or ongoing war he didn’t like. Yay, let’s be the world’s policeman bringing the glories of predatory capitalism to everyone.

Bush the dim should have be arrested and put on trial at the Hague World Court for crimes against humanity. That was blocked by the Obama administration.

I thought we didn’t negotiate with terrorists. Oh wait, that’s only when a Democrat is president.

Mr. Rall, you are very insistent on saying I told you so regarding Biden. I continue to reject that position. I am not saying you are wrong regarding the Afghanistan deal. It is an incredibly difficult and complicated position and I tend to agree with you. But, everything is relative and Biden vs. Trump was a no brainer and we are far better off now. FAR BETTER. Do I wish the Democratic Party had come up with a better candidate? Sure. But I am also not sure that the candidates you and I consider better would have beaten Trump. So, I will be satisfied at least for now. Even if I accept the idea that Biden is merely a lesser evil than Trump, in this case, the lesser of two evils is so much less evil that I am OK with him. And I don’t accept that premise anyway.

I keep thinking of Kampuchea. We persist in grabbing onto that tar baby.

If we leave, which I am in favor of, then the insurgents will begin executing those locals who assisted the USA.Is that your plan Mr. Rall?

9/11 was attributed to Al-Qaeda, not the Taliban in Afghanistan but the former was given shelter in the nation and brought down the wrath of the U.S. on the nation. Al-Qaeda has largely been defeated by the U.S. led coalition. The goals of the Taliban do not seem to support exporting their religous views to other nations but I am hardly an expert on this subject. It does appear, however, that nation building has failed in Afghanistan but it’s not the role of the U.S. to do so.

The republicans got us into that mess.

The U.S went to Afghanistan to get those who had attacked us on 9/11/2001. We had international support. We asked the Taliban government of Afghanistan who had given al Qaeda safe harbor to give up al Qaeda or allow us to enter and attack them. The Taliban refused. After about 90 days we had toppled the Taliban government and then pursued al Qaeda and specifically bin Laden who was said to have planned the attack.

The Bush2 Administration then tired to tie the attack to Iraq’s Saddam Hussein. They put Afghanistan on the ‘back burner’, move resources and invaded Iraq.

Had the Bush2 Administration simply finished the job in Afghanistan, defeated al Qaeda and killed bin Laden, it would have been done in under one year, and the U.S. could have left the country in a somewhat stable condition. Instead it was the Obama Administration who finally defeated al Qaeda and killed bin Laden almost 10 years later.

Those ten years had a cost in U.S. lives, and money. To walk away would give the Taliban the upper hand to retake power in Afghanistan. It’s soon to be 20 years now. More lives, more money. All lost if we have to go back into Afghanistan 2, 3, 5, 8 years from now for the very same reason, harboring terrorists. If the Taliban continues to refuse the harboring of terrorists, then they must be stopped. The Taliban still refuses to that commitment.

It should all be long done, but was bungled initially and became a quagmire. The Bush2 Admin refused any knowledgeable advice and had no knowledge about the Middle East or Persia. Hindsight is great, but we had foresight that Bush2 refused to consider. And we had an example in the Soviet Union’s failures there, also rejected by Bush2. We could have gone back into Afghanistan 3 or 4 times at less than a year each and been more effective than the almost 20 spent. Now we have much different, and more complicated decisions to make.

If you savage a people, you produce a savage people. It’s far easier to savage them than it is to ‘un-savage’ them – and the latter certainly can’t be accomplished by savaging them even more.

It’s been accepted that once it was decided to pursue the dubious GWoT, no matter how it was to be dealt with, it would come to no good end.

Meanwhile Theodore continues to ignore how the repugs attempt to whitewash the insurrection they egged on, and the folly of not maintaining domestic infrastructure.

Does Rall like anything? What a miserable existence he must lead.

Now that is a flat out lie. We lost 10 American Servicemembers in Afghanistan in 2020.

We’ve been throwing our weight around there for a lifetime, and who has it benefited? Why is it so hard for Americans to understand, “Get out of my country”?

Used to shout that leaving Afghanistan to the Taliban would dishonor all of the U.S. troops who fought and died there… whatever happened to that?

So, you hate the Democrats so much that you’re on Team Taliban? Sheesh!

ted needs to attend a Taliban bomb making class !!

God forbid a president who thinks about something. Or about anything.

Or includes advice from others as part of his thinking.

In the mean time the Taliban have focused on assassinating women politicians, journalists, and women for just being independent strong women at a frightening pace.

Yep. Trump remains the only presidential candidate endorsed by both the Taliban and the KKK.

Surrendering the Afghan people to the Taliban would be immoral. Withdrawing means fixing the problem, not just quitting

“Donald Trump, who I do not support”

Trump needed the troops home to storm the Capital. Fortunately the generals didn’t think it was a good idea.

Saw some remarks by Bernie where he said he wanted to work with the administration in order to make Biden’s presidency a success.

Bet you’re f’ing sorry you supported Bernie now, huh?

Yes, an idiot can press the correct button.