Are the they trying to evacuate 10% of the Afghan population?
Someone above suggested there were 4 million Afghaniâs that want to leave.
But a couple hundred thousand is probably not that big of a stretch.
Why lol?
Itâs easy to set a higher expectation than we are seeing. Whatâs realistic?
1 Like
No matter how many people are âsavedâ the story is about those âleft behind.â
I would believe those who worked with us is a much smaller number.
I donât believe anyone has an expectation to get everyone out just because they want to leave
There is no win for Biden in any of this. There is only the hope of damage mitigation.
We could manage to get everyone left out without incident and he still has effectively handed over billions of dollars of weaponry to the Taliban, upset our NATO partners, and allowed the Taliban to draw a red line on the evacuation date that the US HAD TO FOLLOW. All of that is highly damaging to the idea that his administration is competent and can be trusted to lead this nation.
Yeah, we kind of created a shitshow by starting a war with no clear objective. Obviously there was âget Bin Ladenâ which Iâd argue was in itself an overreaction, but that jingoism isnât going to jingo itself with approval ratings on the line. Then we got him and went⌠well crap, I guess, War on Terror can keep this valid?
Scope creep scaled up to national level for trillions of dollars. Best to end it IMO, even though the optics are horrible. I believe, eventually, some people will view it as a stain on his legacy and some will view it as prudent decision-making. You donât get to be President without authorizing some death. Itâs sad, Iâm sad for them, Iâm sad we messed this up so badly. I donât blame Biden for it.
2 Likes
I was responding to a post from Colonel smoothie suggesting we fly everyone out and worry about the paperwork later .
If we offered a flight out of Afghanistan to anyone who wanted it, I think 10% of the population is actually quite conservative an estimate.
Afghanistan probably couldâve had a cleaner ending if the focus hadnât quickly shifted to Iraq.
3 Likes
I get that, but I donât think the objective is everyone who wants it, but everyone who earned it, even if we worry about the paperwork later
or get everyone out who wants it, then carpet bomb the country, and send them back with resources to rebuild. Refuge problem solved
How do we know who those whoâve earned it are? The paperwork is whatâs needed to figure out who âearnedâ it. If you want to skip the paperwork youâre opening the door to anyone who thinks theyâll be persecuted by the Taliban.
I am not sure of the order of operations
I would think everyone who worked with us, was recorded and is known
many, if not all paid
The Govât would then try to issue SIV for all the people on a list.
You seem to imply each individual needs to fill out paperwork and individually apply for a SIV
at which point we would go and get them
I am not sure which is true, but also the SIV applications have been coming in for years, the trump Nazi in residence was making sure they were not processed.
and the third option is all the applications have already been submitted, possibly when the translators and others working with us, so similar to option 1, we know who they are and how many there are
If it is option 2, they we might as well collect the Americans and get out of dodge. Though it could be a combination of 2 and 3, which means if the US doesnât even have an application in hand, then they are most likely screwed
What about the families of the people who worked for the US?
What sort of ID do people living in the countryside have?
This seems like the unavoidable conclusion we have been pushing off for many years. Political opponents will use it to their advantage, but that should not be surprising.
You have GOT to be kidding me.
The Afghans that we promised to get out are not getting out. The Taliban has already publicly stated that. This looks TERRIBLE to the rest of the world who might want to ally with us in the future - we are now much less trustworthy.
The timeline is totally arbitrary. I just saw an interview yesterday with a Democratic Rep from New Jersey on the Homeland Security Committee saying that the timetable is determining the mission, not the mission determining the timetable.
Not getting the Afghans out is anything but a win. It is a colossal failure.
Youâre so far off the mark that I donât know if youâve even been keeping up with the news. This isnât falling along party lines. MANY Democrats are up in arms about this.
Yeah probably, but those folks have family members.
Yes it looks terrible. It was always going to look terrible. Itâs why we have been there for 20 years. No president was willing to take it on.
2 Likes
MSNBC has softened on Bidenâs plans to leave Afghanistan. Claim itâs going better than we did in Vietnam and all past presidents just kept it going rather than do the right thing and get out.
I agree with you that it was always going to look terrible, and the can was kicked down the road countless times. Itâs not like Biden started this war.
But our promise of getting out the Afghans who helped us is getting completely flushed down the toilet, and thereâs this stupid arbitrary date that no one likes, and that even the president himself has had to waffle on whether we will truly be out by then.
It was always going to be ripping the Band-Aid off at a minimum, but letâs not say that Biden was courageous for doing it. The Taliban came in and overtook Kabul, and our hand was forced. We now get to send a message to our future allies in the world that we show no gratitude for their cooperation, and we will leave them behind in the end.