08-21-2021, 11:02 PM
Bjorn Wrote:I didn't think one would have to go to the war college to figure out that we needed to get our civilians out, then our equipment, and then our troops.
True, but it was the speed of the capitulation that took the senior leadership by surprise. And it is not as if we left gear for them to take, it was the ANA switching sides with all their gear which had been handed to them on a plate. If the senior leadership had listened to the troops on the ground over the past decade instead of focusing on spin and their own careers they would have, should have appreciated this was going to happen. Meanwhile, the Talibs were biding their time both in Afghan and Pakistan wearing the Coalition down using a classic insurgency strategy; waiting patiently just for this day.
The saving grace is a lot of that equipment needs servicing to keep it functioning. If they don't sell, or give it away to Russia and China (or do a deal that those guys service it and train them) it will be more trophy spoils than useful. I am talking about light attack aircraft and even vehicles. At the small arms level, sure, they are resourceful, but hopeless fighters. By the same token they so willingly switched sides overnight they will lack the will to coordinate and fight again.
Biden could have consulted his coalition partners and planned this a bit better, but to be fair this withdrawal had to happen sooner or later. Indefinitely pouring money and lives into a morally bankrupt country that is still in the stone-age was just a drain. They had democracy handed to them on a plate and rejected it. The unwillingness of the ANA and tribal warlords to fight for their own country says it all.
Thousands of NOD's (night vision) will be a game changer but with a few years of abuse they will break. Most of that gear will not be of much concern to anyone except their neighbors.
The 'Graveyard of Empires' strikes again.