Taliban insurgency in Afghanistan

mnztr wrote:

SeigSoloyvov wrote:

Sujoy wrote:

flamming_python wrote: Well the US doesn't want to stay there forever. And they want to have relations with whoever establishes power there next - which will be the Taliban

So there's no point. Just leave, that's the only thing left to do.

That's true, one day or the other they had to leave. Question is why leave the country at the mercy of Taliban when the Afghan government created by the US was already in place?

We trained them, at the start of this conflict, they had 10 to 1 numbers and the afghans had better gear.

We did a lot for them, the time was going to come when they had to sink or swim they choose to sink.

Not our job to baby sit the afghans, they need to fight for themselves and we gave them the ability to do that but nothing we can do sides fight their war for them if they decide to roll over and die.

The training and weapons clearly SUCK. The officers and leaders SUCK, all under US management. A huge festering $2.3T failure of ideology, training, technology and leadership.

SeigSoloyvov wrote:no they just gave up before any real fighting happened, they didn't want to fight so they surrendered to the Taliban.

So now they get to enjoy brutal taliban rule.

A day after Taliban fighters took control of India-gifted Mi-35 attack helicopter (serial 123) operated by the Afghan Air Force, reports arose that claimed that the latter lost a ScanEagle Unmanned Aerial System (UAS) to them.

On 12 August 2021, Oryx Blog reported that the Taliban managed to get its hands on the drone after it was' left behind' by the Afghan Army in Kunduz.

Afghanistan has many of these UASs in its inventory. The latest Foreign Military Sale (FMS) order for fifteen ScanEagles for the country was placed in November 2020. An initial order for 65 UASs was placed in 2015 for USD 70,9 million, followed by subsequent orders for five in 2017 and 35 in 2018.

The ScanEagle is 5,1 feet long with a 5,6-foot wingspan. It weighs as much as 48,5 pounds and can carry a 7,5-pound sensor payload. The UAS can fly for more than 24 hours at altitudes as high as 19,500 feet, and at speeds up to 80 knots.

India handed over a pair of refurbished ex Belarus Air Force Mi-35s helicopters each in May 2019 and October 2019 to war-torn Afghanistan. In March 2018, Afghanistan, Belarus and India inked a trilateral pact for refurbished Mi-24/Mi-35 helicopters. According to the Afghan ambassador, Shaida Abdali, in an interview on Monday 23 March 2018, India paid for the four Mi-24/Mi-35 helicopters. Next to these refurbished former Belarus Mi-35s, India delivered four ex Indian Air Force Mi-35s to Afghanistan in 2015 and 2016.

Videos and photographs that surfaced on social media show Taliban moving around the Mi-35 at Kunduz air base. Rotor blades, and several other critical components of the helicopter appear to be missing. It is being speculated that the Afghan forces removed the parts from the helicopter anticipating defeat to the Taliban forces.

Afghan Air Force Afghanistan Mil Mi-35 ScanEagle UAS Kunduz air base Taliban

Taliban has seized all major cities apart from Kabul; leader orders militants to refrain from violence as Taliban enter the capital; Joe Biden defends his decision to withdraw from Afghanistan; US and British troops arrive to help evacuate diplomats.

• Taliban fighters have reached the outskirts of the capital Kabul - but leader orders militants to refrain from violence and says officials in talks for 'peaceful surrender'
  They have already seized Jalalabad, leaving just Kabul and seven provincial capitals under government control
  Kabul airport will still be allowed to function and foreigners are permitted to leave, says Taliban official
  Joe Biden defends decision to pull out of Afghanistan as he sends 5,000 troops to help evacuation of allied forces and 'those at special risk from the Taliban advance' - with British troops also arriving this weekend
  US diplomats urgently destroy sensitive documents as fewer than 50 embassy officials expected to stay in Kabul
  Hundreds of people are trying to withdraw their life savings from ATMs in Kabul
  

Read more: How have Taliban managed to advance so quickly after US withdrawal? | What incentive is there for Taliban to negotiate now? | Fifteen years of security that British soldiers helped to build in Lashkar Gar has gone in 13 days

Live reporting by Alix Culbertson and Emily Mee

Sujoy wrote:Russia Today is reporting based on interviews with locals on the ground that Taliban is carrying out terrible atrocities across the country. Civilians have been killed by Taliban in large numbers.

I suspect this was bound to happen because Pakistanis comprise a bulk of these fighters.

Finty wrote:It's bad, people getting beaten for listening to pop music and others having their eyes gouged out.