U.S. Is Starting To Evacuate Some Embassy Staff From Afghanistan With Military Help

[Stevicus]

U.S. Is Starting To Evacuate Some Embassy Staff From Afghanistan With Military Help

The U.S. is evacuating a "significant" number of employees from its embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan, as Taliban forces gain ground across the country.

The State Department announced on Thursday it is reducing its civilian footprint of roughly 4,000 personnel to a "core diplomatic presence" given the rapidly deteriorating security situation in Afghanistan.

"Our embassy remains open and our diplomatic mission will endure," State Department spokesperson Ned Price told reporters at a news briefing.

The department released a statement that the U.S. secretaries of State and Defense spoke by phone with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani on Thursday and told him the U.S. "remains invested in the security and stability of Afghanistan in the face of violence by the Taliban."

Embassy officials have been urging Americans to leave Afghanistan immediately over the last few days.

An additional 3,000 U.S. troops are heading to Afghanistan to assist with the evacuation efforts, according to the Pentagon. Three infantry battalions are expected to arrive at Kabul's international airport in the next 24 to 48 hours.

There are currently 650 U.S. troops in Afghanistan guarding the embassy and Kabul's international airport.

I wonder if this will be like the fall of Saigon, where they showed the last U.S. personnel at the embassy on the roof leaving by helicopter.

What should the U.S. do if the Taliban regain total control of Afghanistan?

 

[Viker]

What should the U.S. do if the Taliban regain total control of Afghanistan

They pretty much already have. And they will regain control. 20 years, billions of bucks, thousands dead, for what?

 

[F1fan]

What should the U.S. do if the Taliban regain total control of Afghanistan?

Realize it's error.

 

[F1fan]

They pretty much already have. And they will regain control. 20 years, billions of bucks, thousands dead, for what?

If only someone else had tried it first (Russia).

 

[Viker]

If only someone else had tried it first (Russia).

Maybe we could learn from Russia?

 

[Stevicus]

They pretty much already have. And they will regain control. 20 years, billions of bucks, thousands dead, for what?

Yeah. Initially, they said it was to go in and get Bin Laden, since the U.S. government said the Taliban were protecting Bin Laden. But Bin Laden has been dead for over a decade, and he was located and killed in Pakistan, not Afghanistan.

We installed a supposedly democratic regime in Afghanistan, but if such a regime can't survive without being propped up by the US military, how "democratic" could it really be? It's all a tragic waste, just like so many other wars and military actions which came before it.

 

[Shaul]

Afghanistan is not America’s problem to fix. The Afghans will choose their own destiny and own the consequences of their choices.

 

[Shadow Wolf]

The Afghans will choose their own destiny and own the consequences of their choices.

You realize and understand, I assume, the Taliban brings with it a very harsh and strict application of the ultra orthodox understanding of Islam? There isn't much of a choice in many areas to be had under their reign.

 

[We Never Know]

U.S. Is Starting To Evacuate Some Embassy Staff From Afghanistan With Military Help





I wonder if this will be like the fall of Saigon, where they showed the last U.S. personnel at the embassy on the roof leaving by helicopter.

What should the U.S. do if the Taliban regain total control of Afghanistan?

Of the around 4000, only around 1400 are Americans. Who do you think will be priority?

 

[Stevicus]

Of the around 4000, only around 1400 are Americans. Who do you think will be priority?

I don't know. The article indicated that the US is sending 3000 troops to assist with the evacuation.

 

[Mock Turtle]

Perhaps a suitable case for the UN to get involved but apparently won't?

 

[exchemist]

U.S. Is Starting To Evacuate Some Embassy Staff From Afghanistan With Military Help





I wonder if this will be like the fall of Saigon, where they showed the last U.S. personnel at the embassy on the roof leaving by helicopter.

What should the U.S. do if the Taliban regain total control of Afghanistan?

I don't know the answer, but I have some sympathy for the view that in the end nations have to take responsibility for their political system. The West has been in Afghanistan now for 20 years and huge efforts have been made to modernise its politics, army etc. But it seems that the Afghans are either not really interested enough, or capable, for whatever reason (tribalism?), of organising themselves at the level of a nation state, to lock in those gains.

I think it is now the turn of Pakistan and China, i.e. countries with physical borders with Afghanistan, to try to stabilise it.

 

[Twilight Hue]

U.S. Is Starting To Evacuate Some Embassy Staff From Afghanistan With Military Help





I wonder if this will be like the fall of Saigon, where they showed the last U.S. personnel at the embassy on the roof leaving by helicopter.

What should the U.S. do if the Taliban regain total control of Afghanistan?

People don't like US meddling.

Time to teach them a lesson.

They're on their own.

 

[Martin]

If only someone else had tried it first (Russia).

And the British before that.

 

[Martin]

They pretty much already have. And they will regain control. 20 years, billions of bucks, thousands dead, for what?

Similar questions are being asked in the UK.

 

[exchemist]

They pretty much already have. And they will regain control. 20 years, billions of bucks, thousands dead, for what?

Well, I suppose it has bought us 20 years with no more Al-Qaeda terrorism from Afghanistan. And The US did manage to bump off Bin Laden. And just maybe we have given the Afghans, especially a generation of women, a taste of what life can be like, which may eventually lead to the Taliban having to become more moderate.

But I agree that will be little satisfaction to the families of dead soldiers.

 

[exchemist]

People don't like US meddling.

Time to teach them a lesson.

They're on their own.

So far as I'm aware, the Afghans are not pressing the US to leave: quite contrary.

So you are teaching a lesson to the wrong people, aren't you?

 

[Stevicus]

It seems that Kandahar has fallen to the Taliban.

August 12, 2021: Afghanistan news

The Taliban wave comes just weeks before US troops are scheduled to complete their withdrawal, with US intelligence agencies forecasting that within months, if not weeks, Kabul could be isolated, and perhaps fall, raising questions about the security of the US embassy and other foreign missions in Kabul.

 

[F1fan]

Maybe we could learn from Russia?

Well Hitler didn't learn from Napolean's experience in Russia, and the USA didn't learn from the Russian experience in Afghanistan.

 

[Terrywoodenpic]

We and others have been fighting wars in Afghanistan for centuries. every one has always lost.
Eventually they will get different rulers, but for now, it seems that it is the Taliban turn to rule.
It is very tough on the people, but most always survive. over the years millions have died.

People ask how they have gained so many cities so quickly. when it is clear that they have been living and working there all the time.
They have just come into the open again.

It is as if the Republicans gained control of America and its forces. The Democrats would not just go away. They would wait their day.