fire4effect

I thought you could tell when they can't land a "normal aircraft" in a crosswind.😁

Probably falls under the purview of Captain Obvious. Given the sh!tstorm going on right now and the sheer number of people flooding the gates it probably isn't all that practical but this emphasizes the importance of limiting the initial search of someone or vehicle to say two people. You always hope the other side decides that it's not worth expending his valuable ordnance (suicide bomber) on your target for a relatively small casualty count. Still has me scratching my head how they killed that many US Servicemembers with one SVEST if in indeed that's what it was.

If that's indeed the case we're all in now and it's game on. Or at least it better be.

Copy that on keeping this on current topic. https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwimgJ-t2c7yAhVNl2oFHc23D_QQFnoECBUQAQ&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.bbc.com%2Fnews%2Fbusiness-58261659&usg=AOvVaw27VPgxpsK7XPtlklDBAf7B I see close to 10 billion reasons the Taliban will do one of two things. Play nice and let everyone that wants too leave, leave in exchange for the cash OR take hostages for a big fat ransom.

From my first lesson of marksmanship. Be sure of your target.

At the risk of really derailing the thread I'll put Petraeus' name out there. If they just don't hold that little misdemeanor against him.

I'm sure it is at the moment but even religious fanatics have to pay the bills eventually.

Remember the 4 instruments of national power, DIME, diplomacy, information, military, and economy? Afghanistan is 'weeks to months' from economic collapse, experts say (msn.com) The first three haven't worked so well lately but the Taliban are getting ready to get a reminder in economic pain. The world economy just isn't what it was in the 90s especially in regards to cash flow. No stimulus checks for you.

I wonder what he would think if he were still here. https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwiosZT4n8ryAhUMCc0KHWElC2cQFnoECBgQAw&url=https%3A%2F%2Fen.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2FRonald_J._Shurer&usg=AOvVaw17VUTVZKTtep21Syz_oQ1E And if Biden could look him in the eye.

Makes me question the competence of leadership in ways I never did before. To the point I think some are starting to show the first signs of dementia.

One thing I just recalled and I can't prove this actually happened but supposedly Bin Laden saw how we cut and ran after "Blackhawk Down" in Somalia in 93 and he believed and conceived the 9-11 attacks because he thought we would wholesale cut and run from the Mideast after the 9-11. What we do now could define who we are as a country in our eyes and the eyes of the world for years to come. I ask our leadership, are all we going to have for these people are "thought and prayers"?

Yes Sir to both. And its the kind of thing that keeps the people making the decisions up at night but I don't see a way around going all in. If we think fighting the Taliban is inevitable we need degrade them any way we can. The Northern Alliance as I'll still refer to them could be a powerful ally going forward and as I've mentioned before we need to make it clear to Pakistan they're the ones who allowed the Taliban to flourish and commit the atrocities that are going on now. Sh!tty calculus of no really good options is my take.

Taliban says hundreds of fighters heading to take Panjshir Valley | Asia News | Al Jazeera Target rich environment.

Yep, you went ahead and said what I was thinking the last 4 days or so couldn't bring myself to put it out there. Even if we dropped everything and ran now eventually we would have to go back and this problems not going away. As shitty as it is we are actually in probably the best position militarily (as opposed to when we still had Bagram and earlier etc.) than if we try again from scratch weeks or months from now when the Taliban have had time to dig in. This is going to get WAY uglier.

I wish I had an argument against our political buffoons. I will say this. The Taliban are now trying to hold an entire country with some flashes of resistance from the former Northern Alliance. I'm curious what is their long term logistical sustainment plan is now for say feeding/paying/and transporting fighters as long as we have an albeit small footprint in the country. What we effectively have is a ******* standoff (though I'm sure Kabul International would be re-named the Alamo by some troops at the moment) and beyond stealing from the locals can they stay reasonably sustained? They can't really relax their force posture any more than we can at the moment. I'm certainly not on the ground over there now but this is my take.

All military operations are defined in one of two ways. An operational success if it goes right or an intelligence failure if it goes wrong.

Add this to your show of force

Especially when I think of the ass pain that went into the investigation when ONE ACOG went missing from the arms room several years back. Wonder if the Taliban will sell any cheap on E-Bay

Frankly my strategic goal is to show to the world that even if you bloody our nose we don't completely cut and run though that's admittedly probably a hard sell at this point. Second to degrade the Taliban and at least keep them somewhat looking over their shoulder so they aren't as free to start training terrorist wholesale and brutalizing their own people. As for Pakistan they've always had the ability to shut down overflights and I'm surprised if they really wanted why they hadn't a long time ago. I also think we need to make it abundantly clear to Pakistan that we aren't playing any more and to that end reach out and strengthen our ties with India. On a side note India as I recall in the past was sending a not insignificant amount of aid to Afghanistan. Which touches on something else. I think that something like 70-80 percent of the Afghan Government budget is foreign donation an along with the freezing of assets has slowed money flow to trickle. Obviously a LOT more could be added to this discussion but and I would add one last think targeting the transport of fuel into will degrade the Taliban's mobility IMHO. All part of the effort to squeeze the Taliban.

If and when we get everyone we want/realistically can out of there no reason we can't make life very miserable from the air for them. Assuming 38 million Afghans and a high estimate of 100,000 Taliban that's 380 to 1. I don't get the feeling they have the hearts and minds of the locals as much as they like based on the videos we've seen and as we all know taking territory is a lot easier than holding it. Crank out GBU-39s (minimize collateral damage) by the truckload and go to town. Effectively were airmailing IEDs to them and they can endure the psychology of being hit with no way to shoot back. Basically if it has a crew served weapon/humvee etc. and 3-4 pax it gets hit and anything else we ID as worth going after. In the 90s they ran amok largely because no one was really looking hard but now we most certainly are. My .02

And one strategic E-4 or Taliban fighter with an itchy trigger finger away from a free-for-all that neither side will be able to control.

A lot I agree with but some I don't but still written by someone who benefited from the system and will likely retire with a GO pension.

I wonder if these guys had time to get there Covid shot hiding out in the mountains. It would be an almost biblical justice if they all got taken out by the Delta or some other variant. I know a lot of these 3rd world Sh!t holes tend to have lung issues from Tuberculosis. This whole FUBAR mess has to be a super-spreader event of epic proportions.

And Linebacker 3 on targets starting along the Pakistan Border when the SOBs start running

Yes, this is what hits me personally the most.