Clay Bennett for August 15, 2021

We were sent in by Shrub and his cronies with no plan or goal. What do you expect?

It was a mistake to go there

It was a mistake to stay that long

It was a mistake to think we could help

It was a SERIOUS mistake to think we were making progress

It is a mistake, too, to leave abruptly. But it’s the best option, imo, among all the possible mistakes.

If their army can’t do better than this after 20 years of training, then they were NEVER going to be able to do better. If we had not been there, the Taliban would long ago have taken over: They have what it takes: Monomaniacal and supremely bloody-minded religious bigotry.

It was WAY PAST time to leave. Even though that’s leaving lots of people there in the lurch. It never should have been our battle, it was a stupid idea, and getting out without hurting people was impossible from about 2 hours after boots first hit the ground.

The media is trying to make us all wet-eyed about the human toll this decision is taking as if it is the only extremist authoritarian state committing the atrocities. Turn to a business channel or read a financial columnist and they are asking if we will be able to get enough supply of rare earth minerals (like lithium) as China starts to maneuver into position.

If the Afghans refuse to fight for the country why should we do it? Reports are now coming back that the Taliban is executing many of those government forces who surrendered without a bit of resistance.

Over 1 trillion dollars buried there now. That’s a lot of hard and soft infrastructure we could have had already.

Its been known as the graveyard of empires since Alexander the Great rode thru

20 years, thousands of lives, trillions of dollars. How many more decades, lives, and dollars do we want to spend to see if the Afghan are willing to stand up for themselves? Are you willing to go there to do that?

goal was achieved, Haliburton and Chaney prospered.

What the heck are we doing there anyway?

There’s a sucker born every decade. Next!

Apparently the Afghan government is so incompetent and irredeemably corrupt that its only foundation of power is American financial and military support. Someone tell me how to salvage that.

Does anybody remember the fall of Saigon?

Viet Nam redux.Remember the Tet Offensive.We haven’t won a war since WWII, and that was questionable (the Germans lost, we didn’t win).

In response to republicans demanding a military presence in Afghanistan, why? After another 20 years, the only change will be in the trillions of dollars wasted on the efforts and the number of American lives lost in a losing cause. Rumors are rife about China entering the country to create stability. More power to them. If they are bogged down in Afghanistan, they can’t cause trouble in other parts of the world. By the way Mitch McTurtle, it has been demonstrated that airstrikes alone can’t win a war. So sending waves of planes might serve as a grandstanding ploy against Biden, but otherwise, it does little besides giving some local citizens false hope. (I want to congratulate McTurtle on his self-promotion to Commander-in-Chief. Apparently, THE CONSTITUTION is full of mysterious surprises.)

It’s okay, American military member. You did your duty. The failure is on that country, not you or the USA.

My stepdad was an officer in Saigon but sent stateside to help set up a USAF base in the mountains. My father was already a noncom in Central America, and won’t discuss what he did (Green Beret). Both think we shouldn’t have been in Afghanistan.

I don’t think a country exists that wants foreign troops in their country, no matter how well-meaning. I think this is a big thing Vietnam and Afghanistan have in common and why American actions were doomed to failure. These were wars that were futile from the beginning.

What a shock, huh? Allah’s Merry Madmen have taken the key to the capital because the brave Afghani “regulars” desert en masse in the face of the enemy.

It would have gone this way no matter when the U.S. pulled out: now or twenty years from now. Pity that Biden had to be the one who will get all the blame.

America just does not learn lessons of history. Russia went into Afghanistan and failed.. but America.. with “we can do anything mentality”.. was going to show them how it’s done. Russia abandoned its satellite nations.. and the locals took it back. Heck, even at home the North won the civil war more than a few generations ago and the locals are still taking it back. You can NOT change a culture with bullets. And.. as we are finding out on this side of the fence with our indigenous .. not with money either.

Greedy politicians see an opportunity to make more money, when they decide to go to war…and stay there….and stay and staaaaaay.

Totally foreseeable. And just like the warmongers lamenting all of southeast Asia would fall to communism, the same ilk are giving the same excuses to continue occupation.

Damn glad I am not still in Vietnam. Semper Fi to all those brave Marines screwed by our insane desire that we can run other countries. To hell with politicians who mostly were never in combat.

A lot of this could have been avoided if the Afghan people themselves had decided to step up and defend themselves and build a real country. But, that is not the history of that region. It is a disconnected group of tribes that are united by brutal force. They had 20 years of US and NATO support; training, weapons, financial largess and blood to get their act together, and they failed. I hate what is going to happen, but the United States and NATO are not competely at fault. The Soviets couldn’t win there, the West couldn’t win there. Let China have the headaches now.

One nice thing, it should be at least 90 days before the politicians and the military get us involved in another conflict. I should say a new conflict, we are in two or three now.

Even a West Point freshman cadet can tell you not to enter a war without first ascertaining your ‘’victory conditions." The United States has developed a tendency to rush into a conflict without predetermining what goal needs to be achieved. Consider Korea, Vietnam, and at last, Afghanistan. (And you can hang all the “Mission Accomplished” banners you like; doing so doesn’t make it so.)

This disaster was brought to you by Sleepy Joe and those good folks at the DNC. Stayed tuned, we’ll be right back.

We should all thank Biden for finally getting out of Afghanistan. And he’s even speeding it up; he has bombed a school and a health center in one province, and has bombed another province in support of a vicious warlord, giving the people even stronger incentive to oust every last American.

The only thing missing from this cartoon is a distant plane labelled ‘Vietnam’ also crashing in the far distance.

How many more trillions of dollars should we throw after all the time we’ve wasted there? In 2001 we were saying this was going to be and endless war, and they sure as hell want to prove us more correct.

Any government that needs the support of foreign troops to stay in power is not a legitimate government and does not deserve to be in power. If the local populace will not support the government, it is by definition, not a government of the people. If the government is so corrupt, if the military is so corrupt that its troops drop their weapons and uniforms and seek protection in a neighboring country, as has been happening in Afghanistan, there is no way US or any foreign troops can possibly stay in country except as a target.

We were there twenty years. If the Afghanis couldn’t support themselves after two decades, it was no longer our job.

I don’t understand the surprise.

20 years of pouring Money down the Black Hole known as the Military Industrial Complex.

Is anyone surprised at how it went 20= nothing. The British , Russians and now Americans find out that Afghanistan isn’t a country it is a group of warlords under one flag. The corruption was hidden but known and not dealt with. It is a money pit and where empires go to die.

In a country where it’s basically a rule for 50% of the population to cover their heads it’s easy to understand why they all still live by a religion from the 7th century. What a waste of our time to do anything but restrict their movements into any part of the civilized world.

I am certain of one today…The only one to have a worse week than President Biden would be Afghan Women & Translators.

Mr. President, You told us there would be no Fall of Saigon Moment in Afghanistan. The Helicopters are flying over Kabul right now pulling out Our People. Where are you Sir ? America needs Our Commander in Chief Right Now Tonight on TV. Regardless your political bent We are experiencing a National Crisis right now and need leadership.

You can’t win a religious war.

Look at the bright side. Afghanistan is not in the immediate neighborhood of the USA. It is, however, close to China, Iran, Pakistan…and not all that far off from Russia. Maybe those countries will have to step up and deal with the problem they let the USA spill blood and treasure on for so many years.

Our leaders never learn!

were those people to fight for their own contry ? Or did they want the Taliban to rule them ??