The Collapse of Kabul

The Collapse of Kabul

I think the recent events in Afghanistan have come as a major surprise to most people, but for those that have been watching the situation over the last few years with a realistic perspective; what happened was completely expected when the U.S. started its hasty and completely muddled withdrawal.

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The War

Can it be said that the U.S. and NATO’s adventure in Afghanistan over the last 20 years has been a complete waste of time, money, and lives? Yes! Did the U.S. and NATO lose to the Taliban? Yes! They had to beg the Taliban and I expect pay another large sum of money so they could retreat from Kabul… So, after kicking their asses the Taliban then squeezed their balls as they ran away as quickly as they possibly could…

It’s pretty obvious that whoever was in charge of planning the U.S. withdrawal and those supplying the intelligence reports had absolutely no clue about what they were doing or talking about… Or was it just the usual U.S. and U.K.  government employee combination of arrogance, ignorance, and incompetence? I expect a combination of all of these factors and in a real democracy these people that were responsible for this completely humiliating disaster would already have been arrested and charged with a multitude of crimes… But real democracy like the truth are nothing more than dirty words these days.

There is an old saying that says “You can rent an Afghan, but you cannot buy one”, and this has proven to be very true especially over the last few weeks. I found it very amusing when the intelligence and political experts were talking about how long it would take the Taliban to takeover Kabul, their estimates were 3 months and I think that was being said 3-days before the Taliban actually reached Kabul. What people missed was that they had been in Kabul all the time…

For anyone that understands a little bit about tribal cultures and has some common sense the fact the warlords and the Afghanistan army did not really fight and just changed sides is not surprising. Such things are also very common in the history of mercenary warfare… When the old paymaster stops paying or as in this case runs away then the troops change sides, that’s just business. There is nothing to do with ideals, loyalty and just causes, it’s all about the money and survival…

The Tactics

With the number of arms, munitions, equipment and training the U.S. and NATO had provided to the Afghan security forces then why did they not put up a determined resistance to the Taliban? Well, why should they? How would it have benefitted them? Their U.S. paymaster had just runaway… So, why should they fight for someone else’s cause for no rewards, this is a basic principle of mercenary warfare…

From a tactical perspective how were the Afghan security forces with all their weapons and training unable to dominate the Taliban and not just in the last few weeks but for the last 20 years? Because again for anyone with a little common sense who is willing to see the real picture the facts are there, the cultural understanding, the training and the tactics were flawed, to put it politely. The same was seen in Iraq when the Islamic State (ISIS) entered the war and for the most the Iraqi Army capitulated. So, you see, there is a pattern…

The U.S. trained the Iraqis and the Afghanis to fight the American way, which works for the American war machine. American tactics rely heavily of fire support, the ground troops move forward and when they encounter the enemy, they call in air support or artillery etc. to pound the target and they keep pounding until the enemy is destroyed or weakened enough for the ground troops to overrun them.

There is an old story from World War Two where a Canadian unit was briefed that if they spotted an unidentified unit of troops to fire a round or two over their heads, so not to hurt anyone, and wait for the response so as to be able to identify them. If they received a fusillade of rapid and accurate rifle fire the unidentified unit was British… If they received heavy machine gun fire the unit was German… If the unit surrendered, then they were French or Italian… And if all went quiet for 5 minutes and then their position started to be hit with artillery or an airstrike the unidentified unit was American.

So, American tactics works for the American war machine but clearly do not work if the troops using those tactics do not have the air support or artillery to back them up. From what I have seen in various places U.S. and NATO training teams do not teach what can be classed as basic light infantry, close with and kill the enemy tactics… Such basic light infantry tactics are essential for troops working with no support. They might be deemed old fashioned in these days of technology where people have issues getting their hands dirty, but you cannot really go to war and keep your hands clean. I think for most armies these days even bayonets are deemed as being visually offensive to the woke crowd, and there the problem begins…

So, it’s a fact, man for man the Taliban in Afghanistan and ISIS in Iraq proved to be far better fighters than the U.S. and NATO trained and equipped local forces. And remember the Taliban and ISIS had no air support…

So, why did the U.S. and NATO fail to destroy the Taliban over the last 20 years, well I think that was more of a lack of will on the political side rather that a lack of military capabilities. For a fact the U.S. and NATO troops that went to Afghanistan to fight did their jobs to the best of their abilities and would have fought longer and harder if they had been allowed to do so. I would not say the war was lost by the politicians, I would say the politicians gave up and lacked the stomach for the fight.

In war people get hurt, in war people get killed… That’s war and if you don’t want people to get hurt and killed then don’t go around starting wars. The militaries of the U.S., U.K. and NATO have become like a bunch of professional boxers that are afraid to get punched. They have all the equipment, all the training, all the support but they have a glass jaw… They can not take punches and punches in war are casualties.

U.S. and NATO failed to destroy the Taliban because the politicians were afraid to commit to the fight which would have by the nature of war caused a lot more allied casualties and losses. It can be understood they did not want to sacrifice anymore of their troops but that should have been considered before the war was started.

We can confidently say that the soft politicians in the West are no longer working for what’s best for their people and their countries, they are just puppets dancing to the tune of social media likes and approval ratings. And as they dance, they throw money and lucrative contracts in the direction of their puppet masters…

The Refugees

We have all seen the pictures of the “refugees” being evacuated from Kabul and heard the stories of those left behind… I find it pathetic and disgusting when the politicians have been making grand statements of what and amazing humanitarian response they have achieved… These idiots cause this complete mess in the first place… It’s no different than sending a submarine to torpedo a cruise ship and then taking credit for having the submarine to rescue the survivors from the water… But the rescue effort takes people’s attention away from the crime, right?

Now, I take it all these Afghani refugees that were working with the U.S. and NATO etc. were being paid for their work? I take it they had benefits? I take it they understood the risks? So, why the hell is the U.S. and the other foreign governments responsible for them now their country has been taken over by the Taliban? If their army had fought, if the able-bodied males among the refugees had fought then maybe the Taliban would have been beaten or the Afghan government could have held a percentage of the country. But why fight and bleed when there is free money to be had in other places… They are no different than dogs following the hands that have been feeding them…

Now among these “refugees” how many were properly vetted? How many have terrorist links? How many are criminals or rapists? Who knows, and this is something I doubt the politicians will want to acknowledge until something goes BANG!  It would be fitting if those behind shipping these unvetted refugees into U.S., U.K. and Europe were held accountable for any crimes they commit. But accountability is another dirty word these days…

Throughout Europe Afghani refugees have been responsible for a plague of sexual assaults and rapes and now, and in the near future more undocumented Afghani are going to be welcomed into the U.K. and Europe. I’m sure it’s just a matter of time before the tradition of Bacha bāzī, the “dancing boys”, an Afghani custom that is connected to sexual slavery and child prostitution is being celebrated in the woke cities of Europe…

And where is the money going to be coming from to house, feed and educate these new refugees? Well maybe the former Afghan President Ashraf Ghani could give back some of the reported $169 million USD he fled the country with… I take it this money came from U.S. taxpayers so, shouldn’t it be repossessed now that he completely failed to lead or run the country? Why should he live in luxury after 13 U.S. troops were killed while trying to sort out the disaster he and his paymasters created?

When I saw the British troops on the TV doing their jobs, as usual, to the highest standard possible, what went through my mind was the refugees they were helping will most likely be far better treated and taken care of by the British Government than those individual soldiers will ever be. How many homeless soldiers in UK? How many with mental health issues? How concerned for the welfare of ex-troops is the British Government? Not very, they’re more interested in refugees…

The complete squandering of $300 million a day for nearly twenty years and the losses of thousands of lives is criminal but will anyone be held accountable? That’s a stupid question really, right?

Orlando W.