US is paying for Taliban leaders' travel expenses for 'peace talks'

[sam13371337]

we all knew the americans were desperate to finish this losing war with tails firmly tucked between their legs after 17 grueling years.

 

the afghan army is taking unsustainable casualties and disintegrating. the Taliban controls more then 50% of the country with this number growing (And americans no longer keeping track of it out of embarrasment) The US has no interest to fight an endless war against the "native shrub" Taliban and trying to escape with any semblance of face. its shocking how mainstream American media is silent on this. 

 

W. Bush's "war on terror" is officially lost.  good thing Canadian politicians blew tens of billions and wasted thousands of lives in deaths/permenant disabilities to lose this war. 

The Trump administration wanted to reimburse the Taliban for their expenses attending recent peace talks, according to a congressional aide.

 

so exporting liberal progressivism failed in a stone age islamic country that never wanted it, and considered it a cultural invasion? i am absolutely SHOCKED....

 

 

[The Lock]

2 minutes ago, sam13371337 said:

we all knew the americans were desperate to finish this losing war with tails firmly tucked between their legs after 17 grueling years.

 

the afghan army is taking unsustainable casualties and disintegrating. the Taliban controls more then 50% of the country with this number growing (And americans no longer keeping track of it out of embarrasment) The US has no interest to fight an endless war against the "native shrub" Taliban and trying to escape with any semblance of face. its shocking how mainstream American media is silent on this. 

 

W. Bush's "war on terror" is officially lost.  good thing Canadian politicians blew tens of billions and wasted thousands of lives in deaths/permenant disabilities to lose this war. 

 

 

so exporting liberal progressivism failed in a stone age islamic country that never wanted it, and considered it a cultural invasion? i am absolutely SHOCKED....

I really think the problem comes down to political agendas. The war got put on the back-burner because of democracy.

 

Not saying I'm anti-democracy by the way, just this is what happens with it.

[naslund.is.king]

US is paying for Taliban leaders' travel expenses for 'peace talks'

Meanwhile in Canada:

Omar Khadr recieves 10 million after killing an American troop

/

 

 

 

[Generational.EP40]

Just wait until you find out that some of them are FBI/American operatives !

 

 

Lol but seriously so what? It’s for good intent. 

[samurai]

31 minutes ago, sam13371337 said:

we all knew the americans were desperate to finish this losing war with tails firmly tucked between their legs after 17 grueling years.

 

the afghan army is taking unsustainable casualties and disintegrating. the Taliban controls more then 50% of the country with this number growing (And americans no longer keeping track of it out of embarrasment) The US has no interest to fight an endless war against the "native shrub" Taliban and trying to escape with any semblance of face. its shocking how mainstream American media is silent on this. 

 

W. Bush's "war on terror" is officially lost.  good thing Canadian politicians blew tens of billions and wasted thousands of lives in deaths/permenant disabilities to lose this war. 

 

 

so exporting liberal progressivism failed in a stone age islamic country that never wanted it, and considered it a cultural invasion? i am absolutely SHOCKED....

 

 

Not that simple. Your commentary is completely wrong on many many many levels.  Do you homework before writing.  Here is a starter for you.

 

https://carnegieendowment.org/files/taliban_winning_strategy.pdf

 

 

[6string]

Afghanistan “The Saudi Arabia of lithium."

 

Afghanistan has an estimated US$3 trillion of untapped minerals.

 

Any wonder why America still have boots on the ground?

Oh but wait, they are training soldiers and building schools and all those other good Amerian things.

[189lb enforcers?]

Canadian and US soldiers are dying for “our freedom”...

Or for something else? 

 

[SabreFan1]

How is it a loss?  The US is tired of blowing up rocks and flattening mountains with MOAB's and wants to stabilize the area as much as possible then leave.  The only way to do that is to make nice with the Taliban since the Afghani citizens won't fight them to free their own country. 

 

This was George W's war, not Obamas or Drumpfs.

 

Is it your opinion that the United States spends another 20 years there for little to no gain?  Or better yet, just kill everybody in the entire country just so we can wave our flag and claim "victory"?

 

In your mind, what is a "win"?  Attacking them was a waste especially since Osama Bin Laden just ended up in Pakistan.  Nobody's denying that. 

 

The only good thing that came from it was signaling to the Saudi extremists that attacking the US comes with a heavy price.

 

Personally I don't want the US to stick around Afghanistan trying to free a bunch of Muslims that won't fight to free their own country.  We're just killing Taliban soldiers at this point out of habit more than anything else and it's costing money and occasional US lives.  That's not a good reason to continue a war.

[Guest]

26 minutes ago, SabreFan1 said:

How is it a loss?  The US is tired of blowing up rocks and flattening mountains with MOAB's and wants to stabilize the area as much as possible then leave.  The only way to do that is to make nice with the Taliban since the Afghani citizens won't fight them to free their own country. 

 

This was George W's war, not Obamas or Drumpfs.

 

Is it your opinion that the United States spends another 20 years there for little to no gain?  Or better yet, just kill everybody in the entire country just so we can wave our flag and claim "victory"?

 

In your mind, what is a "win"?  Attacking them was a waste especially since Osama Bin Laden just ended up in Pakistan.  Nobody's denying that. 

 

The only good thing that came from it was signaling to the Saudi extremists that attacking the US comes with a heavy price.

 

Personally I don't want the US to stick around Afghanistan trying to free a bunch of Muslims that won't fight to free their own country.  We're just killing Taliban soldiers at this point out of habit more than anything else and it's costing money and occasional US lives.  That's not a good reason to continue a war.

I don’t see how this isn’t a loss, to be honest. The American objectives failed, correct? If there is no objective due to a lack of ownership, false pretence etc, then it’s still a loss given the expenditure of lives and resources, no?

 

Maybe I’m just not following?

[Gnarcore]

5 hours ago, The Lock said:

I really think the problem comes down to political agendas. The war got put on the back-burner because of democracy.

 

Not saying I'm anti-democracy by the way, just this is what happens with it.

If the US skipped Iraq and just went full out in in Afghanistan they probably would have done far better of a job. 

[Gnarcore]

1 hour ago, SabreFan1 said:

How is it a loss?  The US is tired of blowing up rocks and flattening mountains with MOAB's and wants to stabilize the area as much as possible then leave.  The only way to do that is to make nice with the Taliban since the Afghani citizens won't fight them to free their own country. 

 

This was George W's war, not Obamas or Drumpfs.

 

Is it your opinion that the United States spends another 20 years there for little to no gain?  Or better yet, just kill everybody in the entire country just so we can wave our flag and claim "victory"?

 

In your mind, what is a "win"?  Attacking them was a waste especially since Osama Bin Laden just ended up in Pakistan.  Nobody's denying that. 

 

The only good thing that came from it was signaling to the Saudi extremists that attacking the US comes with a heavy price.

 

Personally I don't want the US to stick around Afghanistan trying to free a bunch of Muslims that won't fight to free their own country.  We're just killing Taliban soldiers at this point out of habit more than anything else and it's costing money and occasional US lives.  That's not a good reason to continue a war.

This is a loss just like Vietnam if the regime change sought after fails. I also don't want our troops there anymore but it sure as hell is not a win. The Unocal pipeline was definitely a major goal and its still not done in large part due to the unrest in Afghanistan. There is a reason a former Unocal exac, Hamid Karzai, was put in charge after the initial invasion after all  

Edited May 19, 2019 by Gnarcore

[SabreFan1]

1 hour ago, Jack_T said:

I don’t see how this isn’t a loss, to be honest. The American objectives failed, correct? If there is no objective due to a lack of ownership, false pretence etc, then it’s still a loss given the expenditure of lives and resources, no?

 

Maybe I’m just not following?

The idea was to hunt down and kill Osama Bin Laden.  That happened after he was driven out of Afghanistan into Pakistan.  The rest was just the US's attempt at country building.  The US fought back the Taliban, installed a government run by the Afghanistan people.  That government turned out to be woefully inept and the US has been slowly pulling out troops ever since.  Now the US is trying to negotiate some semblance of order before it fully withdraws.

 

The main objective was achieved years ago with Bin Laden's death.  That's a win.

 

Was the expenditure of hundreds of Billions of dollars worth trying to build Afghanistan into something resembling a modern day nation?  Hell no.  That was Obama's pipe dream.

 

So Obama's secondary objective failed miserably, but the main objective was a success.  That is a win with a costly secondary objective failure.

 

It was never the United State's objective to take Afghanistan over and turn it into a territory.  It's long past time to leave so Drumpf wants to leave.

 

That and I think there's a better than average chance that he's going to redirect those troops to Iran.

Edited May 19, 2019 by SabreFan1

[SabreFan1]

3 minutes ago, Gnarcore said:

If the US skipped Iraq and just went full out in in Afghanistan they probably would have done far better of a job. 

A far better job of what?  The US imposed it's will on the country and achieved it's main objective of killing Bin Laden after driving him out into Pakistan.

 

There's only so many mountains you can flatten and Taliban that you can kill before it becomes pointless.  It became pointless years ago.  Obama just didn't want to give up trying to turn them into a modernized nation even after it became obvious it would never happen.

[NewbieCanuckFan]

11 minutes ago, Gnarcore said:

This is a loss just like Vietnam if the regime change sought after fails.

Actually I wouldn't call it a loss - just a hopeless waste of American soldiers especially when you consider Vietnam probably views the US as more favourably TODAY than many other nations in the world.  Weird isn't it?  But they see other countries like China as a bigger threat so the enemy of my enemy is now my friend.  Joint defense operations with the US now, etc.,

 

Edited May 19, 2019 by NewbieCanuckFan

[SabreFan1]

5 minutes ago, Gnarcore said:

This is a loss just like Vietnam if the regime change sought after fails. I also don't want our troops there anymore but it sure as hell is not a win. The Unocal pipeline was definitely a major goal and its still not done in large part due to the unrest in Afghanistan. There is a reason a former Unocal exac, Hamid Karzai, was put in charge after the initial invasion after all  

The regime change was a secondary goal.  The main objective was achieved years ago.  Why is that so difficult for people to comprehend?  Afghanistan wasn't attacked because the US wanted to own rocks.  It was attacked because that's where Al Quada, specifically Bin Laden, was hiding out.

 

Al Quada is all but neutered now and ISIS rose in it's stead.  After ISIS is beat, someone else will take it's place.   If the US kept going until the Taliban was destroyed, another extremist group would just take it's place.  As much of a moron as Trump is, he realizes that staying there is pointless since the Afghanis will not stand up for their own country.

 

It's better to make nice with the Taliban now, set up business ties to be able to access their lithium and minerals, then leave.  Trump's administration recognizes that.

[SabreFan1]

1 minute ago, NewbieCanuckFan said:

Actually I wouldn't call it a loss - just a hopeless waste of American soldiers especially when you consider Vietnam probably views the US as more favourably TODAY than many other nations in the world.  Weird isn't it?  But they see other countries like China as a bigger threat so the enemy of my enemy is now my friend.  Joint defense operations with the US now, etc.,

That and the US went into Vietnam specifically to overthrow the North and failed big time.  The US didn't go into Afghanistan to destroy the Taliban.  That started later and was mostly abandoned after Bin Laden was killed and the Afghani government that took the Taliban's place turned out to be a joke. 

 

For a time, the US imposed it's will on Afghanistan.  After it became obvious that the populace didn't want to do what's needed for permanent change, the US began withdrawing.

 

Now all that's left is to secure mineral and lithium rights deals and leave Afghanistan to the only organization in the world that even wants to run that country, the Taliban.

[CBH1926]

Eventually you have to sit down and negotiate.

Goal of the invasion was not to destroy the entire country, that could have been easily accomplished.

[Ryan Strome]

21 hours ago, SabreFan1 said:

A far better job of what?  The US imposed it's will on the country and achieved it's main objective of killing Bin Laden after driving him out into Pakistan.

 

There's only so many mountains you can flatten and Taliban that you can kill before it becomes pointless.  It became pointless years ago.  Obama just didn't want to give up trying to turn them into a modernized nation even after it became obvious it would never happen.

+1

Nothing left to gain... Soviets and Americans. Killing and being killed is just a waste at this point.

[SabreFan1]

12 minutes ago, Ryan Strome said:

+1

Nothing left to gain... Soviets and Americans. Killing and being killed is just a waste at this point.

The Soviets got their butts whooped in the fighting because they were mostly fighting on the ground. 

 

The US won the fighting because the armed forces softened them up with cruise missiles from the air and the sea and only after that then moved in on the ground.

 

You can't fight guerilla fighters in their own territory unless you are willing to dump major resources into fight like the US did.  The Soviet Union tried to do it on the cheap and with no technological advantage.

 

It's the attempted nation building that in the end was doomed to failure since the Afghani people have no idea how to run a modernized country no matter how much resources you pump into the country.  As much of a moron Trump can be, he recognized that fact and is now just interested in getting a large piece of their Trillion dollar lithium and mineral deposits.  The best way to do that is to give control back to the Taliban after getting them to sign treatises handing over the rights to as many deposits as you can get them to agree to.

[Rob_Zepp]

On 5/18/2019 at 3:52 PM, naslund.is.king said:

US is paying for Taliban leaders' travel expenses for 'peace talks'

Meanwhile in Canada:

Omar Khadr recieves 10 million after killing an American troop

/

 

 

 

Vice-Admiral Mark Norman is the type of terrorist the Canadian Government really wants to pursue.    Concern about legal fees was no object when they could take down such an evil doer as VA Norman.   Priorities.