The US was always going to lose in Afghanistan as foreigners have been losing since the British army wore red coats. Not good on history, the Yanks. But, when did America last win a war?

Now, they are going to repeat another mistake - as is Australia - and import more "refugees", as they did after their last whopping great loss in Vietnam.

The blockheads will never learn that non-Western cultures are the way they are because that's the way they want to be; there is no place for missionaries, do-gooders and father-knows-best types in this world.

The West should concentrate on protecting itself from the Rest, not on trying to change the Rest into the West. Fixing up the mess they have made of the Covid, and taking the Communist China threat seriously would be a good start.

We lost in Afganistan because we took the eye off the ball when a home run and victory beckoned and because we used self-imposed restraint that the other side completely avoided. And with that combination of politically imposed restraints got mired and bogged down and where our casualties were far higher than they needed to be! And wasted, given the outcome!

As to parliaments holding themselves to account? Ha, ha, ha, ha! It'd be more likely you could empty the ocean using a bucket to pour into a hole in the sand!

Anything to be examined that is done by parliament and its conduct on any matter, needs to be completely independent and needs to have teeth so that parliamentarians are not routinely quarantined from the consequences of their decisions!

And where serious mistakes, ineptitude or corruption should rule out any future term in public office! If not some serious jail time?

If our people are to b put in harm's way? And for nil/wasted outcome? Surely someone should stand trial for manslaughter!?

As things stand, they can just walk away, shrug shoulders and often be paid obscene pensions and lifetime Gold standard entitlements
Alan B.

As the Australian society/culture wreckers were wildly emoting and virtue signalling about Afghans who - if you listened to the emoters - virtually fought the war for Australian troops, the government was quietly slipping 400 of these godlike people into Australia. And, there’s more.

The government intends to lift the number of “humanitarian” visas for Afghans. There will be no raise in the overall number of visas - just more Afghans. No. Politicians will never learn from history.

Governments or rather Senior Bureaucrats could learn from history but refuse to do so.
That makes them no different from the average voter.

Dear Alan.B,

Sorry mate but the Russians were far more brutal than the Yanks and were turfed out is even shorter time.

Of course having some of our Australian troops engaged in war crimes was hardly ever going to help the cause.

However there is little doubt the Taliban received not inconsiderable support because of the corruption and brutality of the war lords, many of whom the 'allies' gave serious amounts of money and turned a blind eye to their transgressions.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ja5Q75hf6QI&ab_channel=VICE

Given that widespread support the question comes as to whether the Afghans who supported coalition forces can be regarded as traitors? Certainly for many Afghans they were.

Our role in the conflict was to support the Americans, all the rest unfortunately was peripheral. The country was never a threat to us.

Mark my words:

Now the US, UK, Australia and other countries are running out of time to evacuate thousands of Afghans and foreigners from Kabul Airport.

Hopefully US intelligence has paid off the Taliban NOT to shoot down (with shoulder fired missiles) passenger planes evacuating the airport.

The Taliban were ousted by there Western forces 20 years ago as a central plank of the Post 9/11 War on Terror. Ousting the Taliban in 2001 did reduce terrorism in the West but then Western defence of Afghanistan became self-justifying.

The Afghan Government, its armed forces and police were always dependent on Western money and military support. Western forces usually led and did the fighting, with Afghan interpreters helping.

Now Afghanistan's President, long seen as a Western lackey, has fled. He and previous Afghan presidents was usually seen as merely "Mayors of Kabul" rather than legitimate national leaders.

Afghanistan was never a unified nation fighting for an attempted transplanted Western Democracy. So there was never a cohesive national Afghan Army to hold back the Taliban, al Qaeda (AQ) or Islamic State (IS).

Now Afghanistan may return to being an AQ terrorist training school with a renewal of lessons on how to make bombs to blow up parts of Western cities, trains, buses and aircraft. IS may grow and train in Afghanistan as well.

One difference is that Russia is in a stronger position than in 2001 to block "Talibanism" getting into the "stans" (like Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan) which border northern Afghanistan. China also has power and a reason to block Talibanism from infecting Tajikistan (sitting between Afghanistan and Western China) and then radicalizing Chinese Muslims.

In the next 12 months or less - if there are new Afghanistan linked terrorist outrages in the West at a minimum there will be US drone and cruise missile strikes on terrorist training camps in Afghanistan. After the US 2024 Presidential Election there may be a return of US (and therefore UK and Australian) forces to Afghanistan.

Pete
http://gentleseas.blogspot.com/