Leaving Afghanistan

[HU&W]

President Obama announces drawdown plans.

Currently 32,000.

9800 by end of this year.

Half that by end of 2015.

Normal embassy in 2016.

[SurelySerious]

So now we're not done at the close of 2014? WTF mate?

[mcbush]

The war is "formally ending" later this year. We're just leaving some folks behind to take care of "two narrow missions: to continue supporting Afghan forces... and continuing to support counter terrorism operations against the remnants of al Qaeda." Don't worry though, that totally doesn't count as a war. I hope someone remembers to tell the bad guys to go home soon.

[waveshaper]

Afghanistan exit strategy? What we need to do is dupe one of our adversaries, like China or Iran, into believing that

occupying Afghanistan is in their national interest. As a matter of fact, it may would be worth it for the US to pony up some front money to get them started down the path of occupation. Then we can just hand them the keys to

the Kingdom of Quagmires and we all (including diplomatic personnel) can depart that lovely place posthaste. Lets just

hope there is at least one more country/empire remaining on planet earth that is foolish enough to take the bait.

The most recent two US Ambassador killed by terrorist;

1. Benghazi Libya, 11 Sept 2012; The US Ambassador to Libya was killed in a terrorist attack.

2. Kabul Afghanistan, 14 Feb 1979; The US Ambassador to Afghanistan was killed in a terrorist attack. In typical Afghan fashion, the 1979 attack that killed the US Ambassador was an insider attack and the terrorist were wearing Afghan

police uniforms. Amazing how times have changed, welcome to reality and the perpetual Afghan time warp.

[SurelySerious]

China is probably fine with the US providing relative security for their AFG mining ventures.

[338skybolt]

So now we're not done at the close of 2014? WTF mate?

Troops completely out in 2016; Obama completely out in 2016. Coincidence?

[herkbum]

Troops completely out in 2016; Obama completely out in 2016. Coincidence?

Not at all

[Homestar]

We should have punched out of that hole back in 2003.

[nsplayr]

... and we all (including diplomatic personnel) can depart that lovely place posthaste.

IMHO having our diplomats and the Agency completely pull out of AFG in 1992 was a huge mistake and significantly contributed to our lack of knowledge about the extent to which the Taliban government was harboring AQ and allowing them to actively plan attacks on the homeland. Not sure there was another viable option w/ the Taliban in control, but not having anyone on the ground and having to trust the Pakistanis and occasional contact with the Northern Alliance certainly didn't help with 2001 rolled around and suddenly we wanted back in with some urgency.

We should only totally pull out our diplomatic and intelligence collection apparatus under the most dire of circumstances; the state department and Agency know what the risks are and willingly accept them.

[waveshaper]

We should only totally pull out our diplomatic and intelligence collection apparatus under the most dire of circumstances; the state department and Agency know what the risks are and willingly accept them.

I can agree with this but folks need to understand that staying will come at a high cost and should not be surprised

when shit goes down hill fast. The potential is that we will see many Benghazi type/size attacks. We could also find

ourselves in a situation similar to our last days in Vietnam but this time I would expect it to be much worse.

Source = From the State Department;

This is just a wee glimpse at the type of activities we should expect in Afghanistan ,as a minimum, based on the course

the current administrations is steering.

SIGNIFICANT ATTACKS AGAINST U.S. DIPLOMATIC FACILITIES AND PERSONNEL in IRAQ: Attacks include direct fire, indirect fire,suicide attacks/bombings, IEDs, etc. This sound way to familiar and I thought we won that war?

JANUARY 1 TO DECEMBER 31, 2012– IRAQ: Unknown individuals targeted U.S. diplomatic facilities/personnel with attacks on

41 separate occasions; additional attacks were launched against other U.S. interests elsewhere in Iraq.

JANUARY 1 TO DECEMBER 31, 2011 – IRAQ: Unknown individuals targeted U.S. diplomatic facilities/personnel with attacks on 35 separate occasions; additional attacks were launched against other U.S. interests elsewhere in Iraq.

JANUARY 1 TO DECEMBER 31, 2010 – IRAQ: Unknown individuals targeted U.S. diplomatic facilities/personnel with attacks on 50 separate occasions; additional attacks were launched against other U.S. interests elsewhere in Iraq.

[discus]

Apparently, my 365 as an air advisor is still a go. Not a combat role. So much fun having both military colleagues and family ask "But I thought we were getting out of there, so you won't have to go, right?" *sigh*

[discus]

And wave already alluded to it, but I'm willing to bet the Taliban isn't going to get the memo that combat operations are over. Things are gonna get real ugly when Americans continue getting killed after "the war's over."

Nah. It will be a blurb on the CNN ticker when the obvious main news story is Miley Cirus's cooter hanging out at one venue or another.

[brickhistory]

Nah. It will be a blurb on the CNN ticker when the obvious main news story is Miley Cirus's cooter hanging out at one venue or another.

Well, only one of those things will have more than 9,800 men and women run through it then...

[KState_Poke22]

Nah. It will be a blurb on the CNN ticker when the obvious main news story is Miley Cirus's cooter hanging out at one venue or another.

That checks, the only time Americans seem to care about Afghanistan is when politicians need it to make some political point.

[M2]

All comments about the release of SGT Bowe Bergdahl have been moved here:

[waveshaper]

Friendly Fire Kills Five American Service Members in Afghanistan?

https://www.cnn.com/2014/06/10/world/asia/afghanistan-isaf-deaths/index.html?hpt=hp_inthenews

[Chuck17]

This is terrible stuff. Now reported as a BOne strike on Foxnews - still searching for that in print from a reputable source...

Chuck

Edited June 10, 2014 by Chuck17

[Ram]

...standing by for the opinion posts about how "this wouldn't have happened if it were an A-10..."

[waveshaper]

NBC News Pentagon Correspondent, Jim Miklaszewski, said it was a B-1 Stealth Bomber (really he said that).

[BFM this]

...standing by for the opinion posts about how "this wouldn't have happened if it were an A-10..."

What do you mean? The A-10 never had a flight engineer to begin with.

Posted from the NEW Baseops.net App!

[Warrior]

I'll just leave this here:

https://www.theblaze.com/stories/2014/07/11/exclusive-white-house-issues-ultimatum-to-afghanistan-to-resolve-presidential-crisis-or-obama-will-institute-massive-immediate-withdrawal-from-country/

[snoopyeast]

Exclusive: White House Issues Ultimatum to Afghanistan to Resolve Presidential Crisis or Obama Will Institute ‘Massive Immediate Withdrawal’ From Country

[Fuzz]

I'll just leave this here:https://www.theblaze.com/stories/2014/07/11/exclusive-white-house-issues-ultimatum-to-afghanistan-to-resolve-presidential-crisis-or-obama-will-institute-massive-immediate-withdrawal-from-country/

In other news all C-17/C-5 aircrew's leave for the next 6 months has been cancelled.

[nsplayr]

Maybe jumping the gun for now, hopefully they can continue to work it out.

[HeloDude]

Army 2-Star killed by Afgan Solidier. All I can say it WTF...sadly, I'm not shocked. RIP sir.

https://nytimes.com/2014/08/06/world/asia/afghanistan-attack.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&version=LedeSum&module=first-column-region&region=top-news&WT.nav=top-news&_r=1&referrer=