The US veteran community is on fire over pulling out of Afghanistan in the fashion that we are. I have been hearing a lot of different things about this situation from how we failed the country after 20 years to how we are leaving Americans and our allies behind in hostile country. I have my own opinion about this whole thing going on, but you must remember that I am writing this while everything is still unfolding.
From what I understand, the Afghan Army pretty much melted under the pressure of the Taliban, resulting in billions of dollars worth of weapons and equipment becoming abandoned and/or captured. SURPRISE!!! This is exactly what I expected would happen when we left, just from everything I had seen from the Afghan Army. I never considered the Afghan army to be composed of enough people that had the spine to stand up for themselves. There were some good fighters and warriors, but they were the exception, not the rule. The Afghans would not want to participate in aggressive combat except as followers or as a component of a larger Allied force. This was a huge RED FLAG for me. Even the independent units completely relied on having 100% support and a reaction force. My impressions of the Afghan Armed Forces was that without someone (I.E. the USA) holding their hand and providing a constant cash flow, they were going to break at the first sign of pressure. What do you know? Most of the Army that we ran into were not even FROM Afghanistan, so they didn't really have any skin in the game of holding the line. At least half were criminals from other countries, according to our background checks and some were just coming from other countries to get a meal and money. The few Afghans that were part of the Army seemed to be the serious ones. Some of these Afghans were there out of patriotic ambition while the other half were there for the money, adventure, along with a sprinkle of patriotism. Either way, unless they were from Afghanistan originally, I did not consider them to be anything other than armed luggage and an armored/armed burden.
The other thing I understand is that there are a bunch of people who served for years as interpreters, or Terps, who are now being hunted by the Taliban going house to house. This sucks to hear but it is not something that is unexpected. The Terps knew the risks, and honestly had more courage individually than most of the Afghan Army companies had as a whole. I always felt that the only serious Afghans were the Terps, and when I thought of who gave the country hope of surviving, the Terps were it. Most of the Terps we had were great and had been doing the job for years, and some were not even 18 when they started being Terps for SF in the beginning of the war. The Terps were truly invested in working and even fighting to keep the Taliban out of Afghanistan and at bay. I am sure that many other vets like myself can attest to some of the old timer Terps (ones that had served for years) constantly displaying their courage during firefights by helping coordinate the Afghan Army, sometimes on their own. I am truly saddened that America failed them by not getting them out of the country and offering them a shot at citizenship. Many of our Terps already wanted to be part of American culture and would be better citizens and Americans than most of the population who are spoiled rotten and happily vote to destroy the country. I will note that there were some Terps that we felt were spying for the enemy or were just in it for the money, but these ones did not last very long from my understanding and they are not the Terps I am referring to here.
According to the reports, there are possibly hundreds of Americans from military to civilians that are stuck in Afghanistan and who are being told to stay away from the airport due to the Taliban perimeter. This is absolutely unacceptable to me, but it figures that "Sleepy Joe" would allow this. Perhaps this is all part of the "negotiations" his administration conducted with the Taliban. Perhaps Biden is just doing what he knows how to do and leaving Americans to die like he and his butt-buddy Obama did in 2012, despite having the forces to conduct a secure extraction. If you aren't familiar with this type of situation, watch or read "13 Hours" and buckle up for what could easily be the largest hostage situation in history. 13 hours was a tiny deal in comparison to what is happening right now. From my experience, you can run, but you can't hide forever. The fact is that State Department is either lying about not knowing, or is truly unaware of how many people are stranded there due to orders from higher to not keep a tally. Regardless, it is unacceptable to lie or just not keep accountability of the citizens of the country it represents. But then again, I told people that this administration would pull this "leave all Americans behind" B.S. This makes me and many other American veterans want to arm up and go in force to get our people out if our own Government won't do it themselves. WHO IS WITH ME?!
Afghanistan, in my opinion, was going to fall no matter how or when we pulled out. The only part of Afghanistan that ever chased Western style living was Kabul. We could have stayed for 20 more years and this would be the outcome because the only part of the country that believes in having government and sovereignty from the Taliban or Al-Qaeda is/was Kabul. Even if the entire city was drafted and forced into service, the only part of Afghanistan that would be secured would be Kabul, maybe. This country should have never been asked to bring in foreigners to fill the military ranks and fill the citizens with the illusion that this notional government would use this army of foreigners to protect them from the Taliban. But we are the ones responsible for this mess to begin with. We kept terrorists in power in the Afghan government and it is not hard to believe that this Taliban takeover was a collaborative effort by the illegitimate US and Afghan administrations in their "negotiations" with the Taliban. What happens from here is beyond my knowledge, but I do not think it will end well for any of the good guys.
This is the result of pushing a country that has always been decentralized and tribal to adopt centralized government & military concepts. How are all these people expecting that they will maintain the will to enforce their sovereignty with a force comprised of mostly foreigners just there to get a quick buck? I never thought they were going to survive, and I even told people that the government were going to sell the country back to the Taliban as soon as we left. Hell, half the government officials were former Taliban who were guilty of killing many people. This whole situation is outrageous, yes. However, this was something I foresaw happening a long time ago. All it took was having my eyes open. It is wrong to go into another country and try to force our way of life down their throats. If you want freedom, you have to find your own way, just like we did under the British crown in the later 1700s. Just my 2 cents.
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