[OFF TOPIC] Politics Thread

[Monzanator 4,503]

Politico has written a piece that 20 years of American "gains" in Afghanistan will be (are being) wasted in 20 days Makes you wonder what all those billions were spend on in the end? The Afghan Army looks completely useless and it seems like Kabul will fall way sooner than even I expected. I don't even give them 2 months if Taliban keep going with this.

[Gianlu33 4,573]

The Italian doctor Gino Strada, the symbol of pacifism, has died. He has fought for peace all over the world, from Afghanistan to Palestine, building hospitals in dozens of countries.

[heywoodu 15,144]

And there we go, Taliban has entered Kabul. Doesn't look like they're getting any serious resistance anywhere anyway, sadly, since basically the entire Afghan 'army' is fleeing and/or surrendering immediately.

 

Two months was a positive guess earlier this week, it won't even take two days..

[George_D 1,205]

Afghan army hasnt changed at all since 1970s

[heywoodu 15,144]

And that's the end of Ghani as president. Two days was optimistic as well, I guess, especially when one barely even has to fight to get into a capital. It's like a football match where 10 of the 11 players of one team decided to sit down because they'll lose anyway  

[George_D 1,205]

Kabul 2021....Saigon 1975...

 

 

 

 

[Vic Liu 1,682]

People think Saigon 1975 is betrayal and abandonment. But it's just from western perspective full of arrogance. For Vietnam it's the ending of war, ending of chaos. It means they don't have to pick a side to fight and die meaninglessly. They can start to focus on survival, food, education and economy instead of death for democracy, freedom, liberalism or communism. Vietnam is much better than most westerners anticipated and Saigon is a very prosperous city nowadays thanks to ending of the war. So US is not god who should be responsible for Vietnamese or Afghan's future. It isn't supposed to be there at the very beginning and have no right to help locals to choose a "democratic" government. It's better late than never of US withdrawal. 

[heywoodu 15,144]

8 minutes ago, Vic Liu said:

People think Saigon 1975 is betrayal and abandonment. But it's just from western perspective full of arrogance. For Vietnam it's the ending of war, ending of chaos. It means they don't have to pick a side to fight and die meaninglessly. They can start to focus on survival, food, education and economy instead of death for democracy, freedom, liberalism or communism. Vietnam is much better than most westerners anticipated and Saigon is a very prosperous city nowadays thanks to ending of the war. So US is not god who should be responsible for Vietnamese or Afghan's future. It isn't supposed to be there at the very beginning and have no right to help locals to choose a "democratic" government. It's better late than never of US withdrawal. 

The question is, what will happen now? Especially for example for women and their chances for normal lifes (meaning, education, somewhat free choices, not needing some male relative simply to walk the street, and so on)? It's hard to imagine the current situation will mean the lives of regular Afghan people will magically improve with extremists like Taliban in force.

[Dolby 735]

23 minutes ago, Vic Liu said:

People think Saigon 1975 is betrayal and abandonment. But it's just from western perspective full of arrogance. For Vietnam it's the ending of war, ending of chaos. It means they don't have to pick a side to fight and die meaninglessly. They can start to focus on survival, food, education and economy instead of death for democracy, freedom, liberalism or communism. Vietnam is much better than most westerners anticipated and Saigon is a very prosperous city nowadays thanks to ending of the war. So US is not god who should be responsible for Vietnamese or Afghan's future. It isn't supposed to be there at the very beginning and have no right to help locals to choose a "democratic" government. It's better late than never of US withdrawal. 

I don’t see either as betrayal or abandonment but both the images do show that the greatest superpower has lost the war. 

[Dolby 735]

13 minutes ago, heywoodu said:

The question is, what will happen now? Especially for example for women and their chances for normal lifes (meaning, education, somewhat free choices, not needing some male relative simply to walk the street, and so on)? It's hard to imagine the current situation will mean the lives of regular Afghan people will magically improve with extremists like Taliban in force.

We all know what will happen next.