cbelt3 wrote:
'2 years to plan" ? It's important to remember that the last administration completely and utterly blocked Biden's access to any information. And gutted the entire organization that created planning, information, etc.. It's like Trump was a paid agent of a foreign power whose goal is the downfall of the United States...

Pompeo at the signing wrote:

“When it comes down to it, the future of Afghanistan is for the Afghans to determine. The U.S.-Taliban deal creates the conditions for Afghans to do just that," he said.

$tevie wrote:
I think the media has done a terrible job reporting on this. They are making it sound as if the evacuation isn't going well.

Supposedly somewhere between 250,000 and 300,000 people need to be evacuated by the U.S. And supposedly 110,000+ people have been taken out since the end of July. Okay, that's "only" 30% but the media makes it sound like we have hardly gotten anyone out.

It's so easy to sit around and carp about it, but what exactly did the administration know regarding the ability of the Taliban to overwhelm Afghanistan in a matter of days? Did Trump know it while he negotiated with the Taliban and cut out the official Afghan government? Should we have started airlifting everyone out back before the announcement? Is the Taliban so stupid that they couldn't guess what that meant?

I hate how everyone is now a military and/or intelligence authority. I have as much faith in them as I did when they were vaccine and epidemic authorities.

Lemon Drop wrote:
No other organization in the world plans or does logistics better than the US military.

I'm humbled and amazed by those courageous soldiers at Kabul airport. They are putting their own lives at risk from violent medieval mofos in order to save other people's lives. Most of us never do anything remotely that brave, or significant.