Afghanistan withdrawal is going to happen

Submitted by gjohnsit on Sun, 04/25/2021 - 8:43pm

Being cynical is perfectly understandable. Yet withdrawal is also inevitable.

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According to the New York Times, Miller, the top commander of US and NATO forces in Afghanistan, told reporters at a press conference in Kabul on Sunday that he had received his orders, and the US would begin “transitioning bases and equipment to the Afghan security forces.”

“All of our forces are now preparing to retrograde,” Miller said, according to a CNN report of the same press conference. “Officially, the notification date will be the first of May, but at the same time, as we start taking local actions, we have already begun that.”

It was going to happen at some point, so after 20 years it shouldn't be all that surprising. Remember that we pulled out of Somalia.
Nor should it be a surprise the fact that while we shall soon stop occupying Afghanistan, we won't stop bombing Afghanistan.

The U.S. military is mulling how to position its aircraft throughout the Middle East and Asia to continue airstrikes and intelligence-gathering missions in Afghanistan, as American forces prepare to leave key installations like Bagram Air Base behind, the head of U.S. Central Command said this week.

This is where the good news ends.
There are zero plans for pulling out of Syria, and despite the Iraq government repeatedly demanding that we leave, let's just say that it's not happening.

The top commander of US forces in the Middle East told lawmakers that he does not foresee a full US withdrawal from Iraq amid continued dialogue with officials in Baghdad.

“That move is not contemplated,” head of US Central Command Gen. Kenneth “Frank” McKenzie told members of the House Armed Services Committee during a hearing on Tuesday.

“I don’t see us withdrawing completely from Iraq in the future,” he said.

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Afghanistan War
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Submitted by humphrey on Sun, 04/25/2021 - 9:46pm

There may eventually be fewer troops but the taxpayers will still be paying for the contractors who replace them.

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Submitted by gjohnsit on Sun, 04/25/2021 - 11:42pm

@humphrey There are plenty of reasons to be cynical. Such as where the troops aren't being pulled out (Iraq and Syria), that we will continue to bomb Afghanistan, and where the troops are likely to be deployed (to threaten Russia and China).
There's no need to be extra cynical about this. That's just being negative.
The occupation is coming to an end. Finally.

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Submitted by ovals49 on Mon, 04/26/2021 - 6:07am

@gjohnsit

“No matter how cynical you get, it is impossible to keep up.”
Lilly Tomlin

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“ …and when we destroy nature, we diminish our capacity to sense the divine,and understand who God is, and what our own potential is and duties are as human beings.- RFK jr. 8/26/2024

Submitted by gjohnsit on Tue, 04/27/2021 - 12:45pm

@ovals49 @ovals49
will it be possible for the doom-and-gloom crowd to admit that they were wrong?
[edit: This is too confrontational. Sorry. I don't want to offend. However, I do want people to acknowledge that good things of modest and temporary size can happen]
And that while the ruling elite are evil and almost always win, that they aren't complete morons, and thus they won't always do the most evil thing possible? (which in this case is staying in Afghanistan)

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Submitted by Lookout on Mon, 04/26/2021 - 6:49am
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@gjohnsit

https://thegrayzone.com/2021/04/16/biden-afghanistan-war-privatizing-con...

Biden isn’t ending the Afghanistan War, he’s privatizing it: Special Forces, Pentagon contractors, intelligence operatives will remain. Over 18,000 Pentagon contractors remain in Afghanistan, while official troops number 2,500. Joe Biden will withdraw this smaller group of soldiers while leaving behind US Special Forces, mercenaries, and intelligence operatives — privatizing and downscaling the war, but not ending it.

Color me skeptical of anything other than troop reduction. Obviously your mileage differs. We'll see.

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“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

Submitted by NYCVG on Mon, 04/26/2021 - 7:16am

@Lookout Yesterday General Austin specified that all US troops and NATO troops PLUS the 18,000 contractors are leaving.3,000 + 7500+ 18000 total leaving.

we can presume that the civilians working with them will leave Afghanistan as well. That is a lot of military plane fuel burning up in the skies.

The droning and bombing and troops all over the ME remain unchanged, as far as I can tell.

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NYCVG

Submitted by Lookout on Mon, 04/26/2021 - 7:46am
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@NYCVG

follows through. Talk is cheap. I'm not hopeful.

Again, color me skeptical.

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“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

Submitted by gjohnsit on Tue, 04/27/2021 - 11:16am

@Lookout if always thinking a certain way is the right thing to do?
In this case, if always expecting the absolute worse is the correct way to go?

Look, you have every right to be cynical for the reasons I listed above, but nothing ever goes in one direction all the time.
We are pulling out of Afghanistan, and you should start wrapping your mind around that fact.

Most congressional Democrats are backing President Joe Biden's decision to withdraw US troops from Afghanistan this year, though many harbor nagging concerns that the gains won over the last 20 years will be erased and the Taliban will retake control after American troops are no longer there.
Biden's announcement that US troops would leave by the 20th anniversary of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks wasn't met with a resounding endorsement from Democrats on Capitol Hill, and a handful came out in opposition. But like Biden's rationale for leaving, many Democrats in Congress say that departing after two decades is simply the best of a long list of bad options -- and now the key is for Biden's team to execute its strategy as US troops leave to keep terrorists from regaining a foothold in Afghanistan.
Interviews with more than a dozen top national security congressional Democrats underscored that many of the previous hesitations that pushed lawmakers to support keeping a US military presence in Afghanistan over the last decade have dissipated as the war has dragged on and on.

And also.

CNN previously reported that US military withdrawal from Afghanistan was underway with equipment being packed and shipped out, according to three defense officials. President Joe Biden announced his decision to end America's longest war earlier this month, arguing that the decades-long conflict no longer aligned with American priorities. The deadline the President has set for troops to withdraw is absolute -- with no potential for an extension based on worsening conditions on the ground.

Miller also said that the US bases in Afghanistan will be given "primarily" to the Ministry of Defense and other Afghan forces, as well as some equipment.

I like the Grayzone, but they blew it on this one.
Besides the U.S. never having occupied a nation with mercenaries before, how exactly would that work without any military bases to operate from?

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Submitted by Lookout on Wed, 04/28/2021 - 7:11am
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@gjohnsit

...but we'll have to wait and see how it plays out.

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“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

Submitted by on the cusp on Sun, 04/25/2021 - 10:18pm

18,000 contractors will remain.
Might have been in joe's ebs last evening.

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"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981

Submitted by Lookout on Mon, 04/26/2021 - 6:50am
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@on the cusp

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jIapQt75GyE]

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“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

Submitted by gjohnsit on Mon, 04/26/2021 - 3:47pm

@Lookout
I have very serious doubts about it's accuracy.
For one simple reason: the U.S. has never in it's history maintained a military occupation of another nation without regular military troops.
At least I'm not aware of an example.

That doesn't mean this won't be the first, but extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.

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Submitted by Dalum Woulu on Mon, 04/26/2021 - 12:59am

but 18.000+ private contractors, special forces and intelligence agents will remain to continue the occupation.

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Submitted by mimi on Mon, 04/26/2021 - 1:32am
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What majority political ideology is found in Idaho?

Do you Pay attention to what candidates for Chancellor are running in Germany? Definitely not the right one when it comes to the Green Party, and even worse for all other parties.

Do you know that it might be dangerous selection so far? Does anybody even care?

Open thread would be nice to have.

Good Morning from Germany. We have freezing temperatures, though I guess most people feel quite hot due to their frustrations.

Don't catch covid, you all.

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https://www.euronews.com/live

Submitted by The Liberal Moonbat on Mon, 04/26/2021 - 7:37am
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@mimi

Do you Pay attention to what candidates for Chancellor are running in Germany?

We know Merkel...and that's it.
You hardly ever see a word about European elections in U.S. press.

Sometimes the UK gets mentioned; they talked about Prince Phillip plenty.

I heard about Macron VS Le Pen a (comparatively) fair amount when that was happening, and some noise about whatever the hell was going on in Italy around that time, too, and...that's the last I can recall.

It's hard enough hearing about elections in one's own state; if it isn't happening in New York (whose nickname "The Empire State", has taken on increasingly baleful meaning for me in recent years - I mean, my father grew up there, and I'm starting to grow really resentful of the place), the corporate media hardly care unless it's scandalous, sensational, or a suitable "cherry" for The Narrative(TM).

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In the Land of the Blind, the One-Eyed Man is declared mentally ill for describing colors.

Yes Virginia, there is a Global Banking Conspiracy!

Submitted by The Voice In th... on Mon, 04/26/2021 - 12:19pm

@mimi
An essay by you enlightening us would be very welcome. if you have the time. this is a request, not a scolding.

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I've seen lots of changes. What doesn't change is people. Same old hairless apes.

Submitted by mimi on Mon, 04/26/2021 - 4:00pm
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@The Voice In the Wilderness I have never written something, and it will take time to do fairly. and of course I am so biased ... such a no no...

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https://www.euronews.com/live

Submitted by The Voice In th... on Mon, 04/26/2021 - 6:59pm

@mimi

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I've seen lots of changes. What doesn't change is people. Same old hairless apes.

Submitted by orlbucfan on Tue, 04/27/2021 - 9:11am
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@mimi I've bookmarked Naked Capitalism, and am following it through their postings and comments. The Greens there are a lot more powerful than they are here. Rec'd!!

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Inner and Outer Space: the Final Frontiers.

Submitted by The Liberal Moonbat on Mon, 04/26/2021 - 7:21am
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https://www.theonion.com/biden-sends-in-troops-to-liberate-afghanistan-f...

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In the Land of the Blind, the One-Eyed Man is declared mentally ill for describing colors.

Yes Virginia, there is a Global Banking Conspiracy!

Submitted by Fishtroller 02 on Tue, 04/27/2021 - 12:47pm

march in the homecoming parade in NYC!

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"Without the right to offend, freedom of speech does not exist." Taslima Nasrin