it's a real mess in Afghanistan right now.

[Rako]

The US lost 6,000 soldiers in the Afghan war, whereas the Soviets lost what, 15,000?
This Russian article says that the financial cost was 7 times higher for the US:
https://www.vedomosti.ru/politics/articl...istan-sssr

However, this figure must not be taking into account any indirect or unofficial profits that the US or its agencies or corporations gained.

[Rako]

In June, Anatol Levin of the Quincy Institute gave an explanation for why the Taliban could take over Afghanistan quickly after US forces left, which the Taliban did:

Quote:However, given the deep corruption of the current Afghan regime, its tough internal divisions and the demoralization of most of the military, it is unlikely that it will be able to survive for a long time.

The same applies to the fall of the Afghan state to the mujahideen in the spring of 1992 and the rise of the Taliban in 1994-1996. The first reason for this is the dense network of family and tribal ties, as well as local agreements, which linked local government forces and the Taliban. For many years, a well-known strategy for Pashtun families was to send one son to the army or the police and the other son to the Taliban, so that the family was covered, whoever wins. This means that at a certain point, when it becomes clear that one of the parties is losing (and this is unlikely to be the Taliban), the elders of the families will order the sons of the losing side to return home.

Moreover, when it comes to dealing with enemy militants (again, at least in Pashtun areas), the Taliban took an essentially medieval approach in the 1990s. Those who surrendered on time were allowed to return home with personal weapons, and the Taliban invariably kept their word in accordance with their own code of honor. Even many enemy commanders were allowed to peacefully resign or join the Taliban, although some had to flee or die. On the other hand, as in the Middle Ages, the garrison, which fought to the last, faced an unenviable fate. And since no one wants to surrender last, the result can be a domino effect, since the surrender of one garrison will automatically lead to the surrender or collapse of all others in the region.

https://ru.valdaiclub.com/a/highlights/a...hoda-ssha/

Levin notes however that this applies in particular to Pashtun families and tribes, and that the Taliban is not as connected to minority groups of Afghanistan, like the Hazara Shiites with whom Iran has relations. The Pashtuns are generally focused in the central, southern, and eastern parts of the country.

Looking at the map chart I posted earlier, when I reviwed it early today and saw that in July 20 the Taliban took had past Northern Alliance stronghold of northern/northeast Afghanistan bordered by Russia and China, along with seeing how much was controlled by the Taliban, it was a major sign that the rest of Afghanistan could soon after fall to the Taliban. This is because that northern and northeastern part was a resistance area (Northern Alliance) against the Taliban even in the 1990's and early 2000's when the Taliban held power in most of Afghantisan.

[Rako]

Bringing US troops out of Afghanistan was one of Trump's political points before becoming President, whereas Biden tended to support the US occupation more than other Democratic politicians throughout the history of the occupation.

Video of people crowding into airport terminals trying to flee:
https://www.instagram.com/p/CSoAWOhnJMW/...82ffa769aa

Twitter video of Afghanis riding on the outside of a US airforce jet as it moves to begin to race to take off into the air. Do they think that they can safely ride on the outside of it? I am guessing that they hope that if it gets far enough down the road that it will stop and let them on.
Looks crazy anyway.

You can't fly on the outside of a plane. Maybe if you are strapped onto it solidly enough and it doesn't fly above where the oxygen levels are safe you could.

12 people died in mid August who were either being shot at the airport by forces at the airport - the Taliban or US (it's not clear, but I'm guessing by the Taliban) - or killed by the pressing of the crowds (physical body pressure or crowd trampling).

[Redneck]

The Whitehouse released a statement which claimed that they destroyed most of the Military equipment before they ran.

This was clearly just damage control after receiving so much criticism for leaving it all to the Taliban.

The same day of the statement, photos of the Taliban going for a joyflight in a Black Hawk Helicopter, also appeared in the news.

[Megatherium]

The reason it was all left behind is because the MIC didn't want an audit of actual Afghan military expenditures.