Afghanistan

[JHC]

With the pull out Afghanistan is quickly falling. I met a former Marine infantryman after coming back from my second deployment to Afghanistan. He did three tours in Vietnam, and he said "some day, you will know how we fell." Today I do. All of the killing, death, and friends I have lost , I cant help but feel betrayed. We gave our youth, sanity, and morals in that place and they just walk away. Fuck.

Never let anyone get away with telling you didn't accomplish anything.

"As of 2019, approximately 9 million children attend 16,000 schools. During the Taliban regime, only about one million boys were in school. On average, girls make up 39% of students in Afghanistan; girls are about 40% of elementary students and 35% of middle and high school students. There are 240 higher education institutions in Afghanistan, including 36 public colleges and universities, 122 private colleges and universities, and 80 two-year teacher training institutes. Women make up approximately 25% of students in public and private colleges and universities and 49% of graduates of teacher training institutes.

Over the last nearly 20 years, the literacy rate has nearly doubled for men and tripled for women. Today, the literacy rate stands at over 55% for men and more than 30% for women."

"In the last 18 years over 4,000 midwives have been trained and are working to reduce maternal mortality and infant mortality rates, not only in cities but rural areas as well. Infant mortality rate has decreased from 95 per 1,000 live births to 53.2 per 1,000 live births. Life expectancy has increased from 56 years old to 65 for women and 62 for men."

"There has been an increased representation of women in the Afghan government over the last 20 years. There are 400,439 government employees, of which 27% are women. In addition, 35% of the teachers in public schools are women, 12% of the judges are women, 10% of the attorneys are women, and of the 456 provincial council members, 96 are women, and women hold a third of the parliament, 27%. The president pledged to appoint four women as ministers, more than 10 serve as deputy ministers, and four serve as ambassadors. Approximately 4,800 women play an active role in the security sector (3,300 police officers and 1,500 in Defense)."

Lots more at this link: https://feminist.org/our-work/afghan...n-women-girls/


The situation is dire and there will surely be intensified conflict.

Perhaps the ANA can hold. Their special operations class and certain air force assets have done some good work. I certainly hope so.

[Yung]

You guys heard about Bagram and saw the footage of ANA laying down arms to Taliban last month, I presume.

[Duelist]

You guys heard about Bagram and saw the footage of ANA laying down arms to Taliban last month, I presume.

Fuck.

[Robinson]

Link to an article about recent happenings:
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...ghanistan.html

I am not qualified to respond directly to the original post in the thread. It is difficult to know precisely how things in Afghanistan should have been handled. Should we have maintained a strong presence and tried to force a lasting cultural change? Or should we have gone over there, destroyed Al Queda and killed Bin Laden, then left? I don't know, but I can see arguments for both paths.

One thing I do believe strongly is that the current state of things and eventual return to Taliban control are not the fault of our troops. Sort of like Viet Nam in that regard.

[LittleLebowski]

Perhaps the ANA can hold. Their special operations class and certain air force assets have done some good work. I certainly hope so.

They're not going to hold.

[Cory]

I've never been to Afghanistan. Just know that many from OIF feel the same way.

Reach out to your brothers. See what they think. They may have a view that helps you sort out how you think and feel about it.

[Totem Polar]

I’ve been starting to “like” some posts in this thread, but only so people know that they are being heard.

I’ve never had the distinction of serving, myself. I have been to the funeral of a good friend who was at the wrong end of an RPG-7 in Laghman province, however, so I get what some of you are putting down.

[Kyle Reese]

You guys heard about Bagram and saw the footage of ANA laying down arms to Taliban last month, I presume.

The American withdrawal from Afghanistan is like ringing the dinner bell for every Taliban, Haqqani Network and ISIS-K shitheel in Central Asia. They’re going to descend on the ANA like a pack of hungry wolves in short order. I spent a year and a half in Afghanistan and feel sorry for the good folks left over there, and for every service-member who served and sacrificed there.

I predict we’ll see footage of bad guys tooling around in newly liberated armored vehicles, like ISIS in Iraq in 2014.


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[blues]

You boys (and girls) have done us proud in so many ways I won't even try to mention them all. Hold your heads up. The failure of the government and its policies are not yours. You have done all that was asked and more.

I was in a different arena, but understand the frustration when the gov't drops the ball that you handed to them on the 1.

I'd be proud to buy a round for you all.

[holmes168]

Two tours in Iraq and proud wearer of the Enemy’s Marksmanship Badge- felt bad at first about how Iraq basically ended. Honestly- I guess I gave up caring anymore. We were just pawns in a big game.

It’s sad so many people on both sides have died.