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The Pentagon on Tuesday reached the midpoint in its herculean task of withdrawing troops and equipment out of Afghanistan.
The U.S. military has removed the equivalent of approximately 500 loads of material flown out of the country by large cargo aircraft, according to an update from U.S. Central Command.
Approximately 13,000 pieces of equipment that will not be left to the Afghan military have also been handed over to the Defense Logistics Agency for destruction. The U.S. has officially handed over six facilities to the Afghan military.
In April, Biden announced a full withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan by Sept. 11, which would end America’s longest war.
Biden’s withdrawal timeline breaks with a proposed deadline brokered last year by the Trump administration with the Taliban. According to that deal, all foreign forces would have had to leave Afghanistan by May 1.
U.S. forces are halfway through their withdrawal from Afghanistan
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 08 2021, @07:18PM (22 children)
And the third half?
(Score: 4, Touché) by DeathMonkey on Tuesday June 08 2021, @07:26PM (20 children)
Oh don't you worry.
When we are fully out of Afghanistan I will definitely be rubbing all of your noses in it!
Next time, let's not let the Republicans start any wars in the first place! It's a lot harder to get out than it is to get in.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 08 2021, @08:37PM (11 children)
Next time, let's hope we don't have to wait for retards to get us out of it? Getting out is a good thing, but it's no feather in D hats.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 08 2021, @08:45PM (10 children)
Speaking of a great loss of American and other lives put into motion by Jews, today is the anniversary of the cowardly Jewish attack on the U.S.S. Liberty, one of many subversions perpatrated upon us (and the rest of the world) by our "greatest ally."
Never Forget!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 08 2021, @10:06PM (9 children)
Racist idiocy. If you were capable of dropping the racism you would have a much easier time all around.
(Score: 2, Offtopic) by Runaway1956 on Tuesday June 08 2021, @10:56PM (8 children)
He may be racist - but Israel did knowingly attack a US Navy spy ship. And, the US forgave them. Some of the US leadership seems to have been complicit in the attack. Admiral McCain, that is, John McCain's daddy, failed to follow up on reports that a US ship was under attack, and failed to send US fighter planes to investigate.
Both the Israeli and the US governments are still playing coverup today.
Abortion is the number one killed of children in the United States.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 08 2021, @11:26PM (4 children)
Yeah and you could rinse-repeat with just about every nation out there including the biggest offender against the US, itself! Going all racist on a topic instead of sticking with facts needs to be mocked unless the additional points, like Israel attacking a US ship, are extemely pertinent. Wanna distance yourself from your own racist remarks, become more mindful and be the first to criticize such racist stupidity without engaging the bits they are using to try and validate their racism. Doubt you will because you're a stubborn fool that won't be told what to do, but you are free to take my advice if you like.
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Tuesday June 08 2021, @11:37PM (3 children)
Real racists are promoting critical race theory, where feelz are more pertinent than realz. I have problems distinguishing CRT from apartheid.
Abortion is the number one killed of children in the United States.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 09 2021, @12:54AM (2 children)
Awww tribal man was so close, but the Straw Men are wearing shiny new memes! Poor boomer brain so easily distracted.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 09 2021, @01:36AM (1 child)
Thank you for your complete lack of input. [lovelifepractice.com]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 09 2021, @06:35PM
I know your eyesight goes as you get older, but please try and click the correct reply button. Also stop hounding runaway, he is old and can't take the criticism.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 08 2021, @11:38PM (2 children)
Israel apologized for the USS Cole and paid damages to the families of those injured and killed. The US doesn't do that, even when they attack and kill allies. Also keep in mind that the US was covertly selling intel to Egypt during the war.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 08 2021, @11:40PM (1 child)
I somehow wrote USS Cole when I meant USS Liberty. Twice. *crawls off to hide in shame*
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 09 2021, @12:03AM
Freudian slip. There's lots of evidence that Israel was involved in the attack on the Cole, this article [dailykos.com] goes into some detail but other articles have other details that flesh things out a little, like pointing out that the usually-cordial Navy and FBI forensic dive teams had problems when the Navy insisted that the FBI dive team should not operate around the crime scene. I also remember that at least one sailor who served aboard the Cole committed suicide after the attack. The president of Yemen suggested repeatedly in an interview that Israeli Intelligence was behind the attack, but I didn't believe it at the time because he himself was hostile to America's investigation.
Also keep in mind that happened during the Bush II administration, when PNAC and other Zio-cons ran the government and military and had no scruples about being complicit in false flags *cough*9/11*cough* against Americans. And that is on-topic because their chicanery is what lead America into Afghanistan in the first place.
Hopefully somebody will mod your post insightful or interesting. Or +1, Depressing.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Runaway1956 on Tuesday June 08 2021, @09:50PM (7 children)
https://thehill.com/policy/defense/227975-lone-opponent-of-afghan-war-feels-vindicated [thehill.com]
One single congress person voted against the invasion of Afghanistan - but you claim that it was a Republican war. You're going to strain you disengenuity muscles!!
Abortion is the number one killed of children in the United States.
(Score: 1) by fustakrakich on Wednesday June 09 2021, @12:10AM (6 children)
:-) I like to remind him of that too occasionally. He still won't touch it, tries to divert to the Iraq war vote, which most dems went along with also. Betcha we wouldn't be pulling out now if it weren't for the previous deal made before Biden took over. And, we're not really "pulling out", most of the war has been completely privatized now, and the troops are staying right near by.
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Wednesday June 09 2021, @12:40AM (3 children)
I think his world view depends on the idea that there are "good guys" and "bad guys" in Washington. Kind of a simplistic Hollywood version of Cowboys and Indians, or Cops and Robbers. If he ever recognizes that they are all corrupt on both sides, his views might be worth considering.
Abortion is the number one killed of children in the United States.
(Score: 1) by fustakrakich on Wednesday June 09 2021, @12:45AM (2 children)
The first thing to recognize is there isn't a "both sides".
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Wednesday June 09 2021, @01:37AM (1 child)
Even if we accept most of your ideas, there are still sides and factions within The Uniparty.
Abortion is the number one killed of children in the United States.
(Score: 1) by fustakrakich on Wednesday June 09 2021, @01:56AM
These aren't my ideas. It is a clear observation. Yes, they are separate, so are the liver and the heart, but the party doesn't function without their symbiotic relationship. There is no opposition. They just differ on benefits for the party. But the party is what they serve, and the party serves the money. The voters grumble a little, but always play along nicely.. SNAFU
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 2) by DeathMonkey on Wednesday June 09 2021, @03:02PM (1 child)
Ah yes, remind me of that sweet fusty logic!
When Democrats control all three branches of governments, even though they actually only have a tie in the Senate, everything is the Democrat's fault.
And when Republicans control all three branches of government, flat out, everything is the Democrat's fault!
But hey, silly me, thinking the Commander in Chief of the United States Armed Forces should somehow be held responsible for the wars that he started!
(Score: 1) by fustakrakich on Wednesday June 09 2021, @06:22PM
It's the democrats' fault when they refuse to put up a fight, and be worth voting for. It's democrats' fault for not squeezing Manchin, not the republicans'. He is in complete control of the government. He alone makes the republicans relevant. Very convenient for the DNC. Yes, silly you for thinking the democrats oppose the republicans
The man who started the war is no longer president. The current president is responsible for the war now. If he fails to withdraw it will be his fault. Just like it was Obama's/Trump's fault for failing to withdraw while they were president. Heh, but Trump set a date, which Biden already broke over a month ago. He gets no credit from me until they* are all out on or before 9/11. Halfway is only half way.
*only U.S. military ground troops are leaving, all the mercs and drones and other contractors are still in business, so it's not really a withdrawal, the war will continue, with American presence and finance, your tax dollars at work..
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 08 2021, @08:48PM
> And the third half?
I was thinking about half of the remaining half.
A sort of Zeno's withdrawal, if you will. Seems to be what has been going on for the last few years.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by DeathMonkey on Tuesday June 08 2021, @07:23PM (34 children)
I like how Biden keeps calling Trump's bluffs.
$2,000 Stimulus? Done!
Withdraw from Afghanistan? Done!
Even is we assume for the sake of argument that Trump actually wanted those things and wasn't just lying we all know the Republicans had no intention of delivering them. But, they also can't really say anything bad about them, either, because they're scared of the Trump base.
So Biden just get's to stroll through and say "sounds good!"
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 08 2021, @07:34PM
Hmm, ok fine, thanks Trump for setting up an easy win for Biden! Still holding my breath until the US is actually out, but I think I might survive this round.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 08 2021, @07:42PM (5 children)
$1,400 = $2,000
(Score: 3, Informative) by DeathMonkey on Tuesday June 08 2021, @08:00PM (4 children)
And when Trump was president $600 = $2,000.
Trump promised $2,000, delivered $600, and Biden delivered the rest.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 08 2021, @08:13PM (3 children)
The double standard has gone so far overboard with conservatives. They keep brining up shitty Dems and have no response when liberals say "yeah they suck, how is this relevant?"
Tribal politics is all conservatives know. Many know they are in the wrong, but they are so scared of liberal policies literally turning the US communist that they will support the most corrupt assholes around as long as they have an R next to their name. The rest actually believe Fox network bullshit.
(Score: 2) by DeathMonkey on Tuesday June 08 2021, @08:23PM
They would support the commies themselves so long as it kept those evil Democrats out of office.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 08 2021, @10:05PM (1 child)
I mean, people on the left are also pissed about the $600 + $1,400 = $2,000 bait and switch. Many thought they were going to get the $600 checks and also an additional $2,000, leading to disappointment among many. There was no reason they couldn't have just done an additional $2,000, which would have avoided disappointing anyone.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 09 2021, @04:53AM
Yes there was a very good reason that would have disappointed the most important people from our politicians' perspectives. Rich donors hated giving away that money to the poors instead of them and unhappy donors don't give you as much.
(Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 08 2021, @08:14PM (1 child)
I heard it was half done.
(Score: 2) by DeathMonkey on Tuesday June 08 2021, @08:18PM
Haha, well ya got me there!
(Score: 2, Informative) by Runaway1956 on Tuesday June 08 2021, @09:52PM (20 children)
Calling Trump's bluffs?
Trump says "We're done here, let's go." Biden says, "We're not done 'til I say we're done!! OK, let's go." All Biden did with the withdrawal was delay it a few months.
Abortion is the number one killed of children in the United States.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 08 2021, @11:43PM (12 children)
I reserve the possibility that deadlines were changed for political gaming, but more likely that trump put out a date without giving it any thought whatsoever; and the reality of withdrawal needed more time. You know, cause trump is a dumb shit manager type that got where he is by being really good at fucking up and fucking people over while never having a real grasp on what is going on around him.
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Wednesday June 09 2021, @12:00AM (11 children)
Your opinion is noted. I'll point out that the Soviet couldn't defeat the Afghan, and neither have we. Six months after we leave, the Taliban will be calling the shots, and our puppets will have evacuated, or been shot, or rolled over and kissed the Taliban ass. Our time schedule, our assurances to our puppets, nothing is going to change any of that.
So we've shipped a bunch of hardware out of country. We could just as easily have destroyed that hardware in place.
Mehhh . . .
Abortion is the number one killed of children in the United States.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 09 2021, @01:03AM (10 children)
So we shouldn't leave?
You're such a wackjob and you can't even see how partisan your worldview is. You truly might have been driven insane by the last 30 years of rightwing propaganda.
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Wednesday June 09 2021, @01:34AM (9 children)
We should have left in 2002, or at the latest 2003. We never should have been bogged down for a decade, let alone two decades.
Fact is, we didn't even need to declare war. We have forgotten what a punitive campaign is. Go in, kick ass, and leave. The goal should have been to get out within six months. A year would have been reasonable. Two years was much too long.
Abortion is the number one killed of children in the United States.
(Score: 2, Touché) by fustakrakich on Wednesday June 09 2021, @02:07AM (8 children)
:-) So I guess you weren't siding with Barbara Lee either..
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Wednesday June 09 2021, @02:48AM (7 children)
Nope. I argued long and loud against the invasion of Iraq. I was happy to see the Taliban take an ass-whipping. I wasn't in favor of a 20 year campaign though.
Abortion is the number one killed of children in the United States.
(Score: 1) by fustakrakich on Wednesday June 09 2021, @03:45AM (6 children)
Well, I guess I shouldn't be surprised, still disappointing.. What made one lie more believable than the other? Was one more plausible?
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Wednesday June 09 2021, @04:47AM (5 children)
Osama bin Laden was actually in Afghanistan. We wanted the man, and the Taliban stood between us and him. We should have gone in, in force, and taken bin Laden. Then, GTFO.
Iraq? Virtually every talking point in favor of invading Iraq was an outright lie. Those few that weren't actually lies were misrepresentations. One of the most preposterous lies were those mobile biological warfare laboratories, where Saddam purportedly manufactured anthrax, ricin, etc. Nanolabs on wheels or some such bullshit, right? The US can't even do that, but Saddam had mastered it? Riiiiight. The fact was, by the time we invaded, Saddam had zero NBC (nuclear biological chemical) weapons, primarily because everything he had ever manufactured was years beyond it's expected shelf life. Saddam lacked the capability to dehydrate his crap, and it all deteriorated in pretty short order. That's why we found landfills full of old stock weapons that were rusted and corroded beyond any possible use, let alone practical use.
Enough. I could go on for hours about all the lies leading up to the invasion of Iraq. And, you've probably read it all before.
Abortion is the number one killed of children in the United States.
(Score: 1) by fustakrakich on Wednesday June 09 2021, @05:15AM (4 children)
Yeah, so they say, and I'm supposed to believe this, why?
You failed to provide the proper paperwork. It was real life *Wag the Dog*. Fuzzy videos and everything. Real class act. The aggression was not justified any more than it was in Iraq. The lies of Afghanistan are just as big if not bigger. Tragic..
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Wednesday June 09 2021, @05:37AM (3 children)
Osama made video broadcasts bragging that the Americans didn't have the balls to come dig him out of his trenches. Unless Osama was colluding with the US government to make the same pitch to the American people, then he was there. We failed to accomplish the mission, but the mission was within reach.
Abortion is the number one killed of children in the United States.
(Score: 1) by fustakrakich on Wednesday June 09 2021, @06:04AM (2 children)
Yeah, I saw the movie... Why should I believe the fairy tale? What makes this one more authentic than the other?
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Wednesday June 09 2021, @06:06AM (1 child)
Ho-hum. You'll have to do better than that if you're hoping to change my mind about invading Afghanistan.
Abortion is the number one killed of children in the United States.
(Score: 1) by fustakrakich on Wednesday June 09 2021, @05:34PM
Hell, I don't care. If you want to believe lies, that's your choice. But you are believing lies. You have no evidence of anything, just appeals to authority, everything was faked just like your Iraq war. And apparently you too swallowed it right up to the ball sack. All disagreement is "ho-hum" "la-la-la". Afghanistan was never a "just" war. Anyone and everyone who believes it was is a bloody fool. It is an opium war. Your beliefs on the matter are just more of the democrat/republican sameness mishmash that sustains this mess
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 09 2021, @05:25AM (6 children)
Trump did no such thing. He had an agreement with the Taliban (so much for Republicans not negotiating with terrorists) with no input from the Afghani government and to the surprise of the coalition. An agreement that had already been broken by the Taliban well before the election, by the way. Additionally, Trump administration repeatedly underreported the number of US troops in Afghanistan, increased the number of "contractors," and didn't actually plan on removing all the US military members but leave a number on other missions that include diplomatic security and training. They also had no plan in place for our allies, NATO, or coalition members or their bases (which left another interesting loophole if the US wanted to use it) nor their agreement when entering the deal. Only a fool believes that Trump would actually have withdrawn in any sort of responsible manner, if at all. Biden, on the other hand, actually had to figure out those details that Trump's plan didn't even consider, get the agreement of all the allies and the coalition, and he got the Taliban back into compliance with the deal.
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Wednesday June 09 2021, @05:40AM (5 children)
If you know all that you claim to know, you also know that the Pentagon was lying to the White House about the number of troops deployed - not just in Afghanistan, but in Syria, and probably other places as well.
They won't lie to Establishment Joe, because they know Joe supports the forever wars.
Abortion is the number one killed of children in the United States.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 09 2021, @07:55AM (4 children)
First of all, all that "claim to know" information is public.
Second of all, the Trump administration knew about those accounting tricks since Mattis and the Pentagon has been doing them long beforehand. After claims from the administration that they would correct them, they just plain stopped publicly publishing the numbers. All we had to go on was the approved talking points from the Trump White House, which strongly suggests that they knew the number they wanted reported. Going the other way, Trump is the Commander-in-Chief, if he doesn't know what is going on with one of his claimed priorities then that is on him for sleeping behind the wheel; Mattis knew, Biden knew, we knew, too bad Trump isn't as good of a leader as he thought or too clueless to know.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 09 2021, @08:23AM (3 children)
Uh-huh. In detail, who knew what, and when? The claim is that Trump was being misled by Pentagon leadership. You knew better? Based on what, exactly? And, when did you know all of that?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 09 2021, @09:55AM (2 children)
All the way back in 2017, and there were always suspicions before then. Look up what Mattis said about the issue back when he was in the cabinet.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 09 2021, @10:24AM
I should make clear that the parent was in reference to Trump and his people in particular. The reason why they had their suspicions and made them known was precisely because these sorts of moving numbers around and lawyering the definition of who counts is as old as the modern military. The press and political opponents routinely point out the differences in the numbers. Mattis and the Trump administration just made clear what everyone already knew for the easy political points. Until they broke that promise and stopped reporting the numbers altogether that is. If Biden hadn't done the same, then we would have a real surprise.
(Score: 1) by fustakrakich on Wednesday June 09 2021, @05:38PM
Why are we supposed to believe any of them and the things they tell the yellow tabloid press?
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 08 2021, @10:03PM
Many are stilled pissed at the $600 + $1,400 thing, because they thought they were getting $2,000 in addition to the $600. That was an optics lose for the Democrats.
Also, all throughout the pandemic, you had a number of people - including Kamala Harris - calling for monthly stimulus checks for the duration of the pandemic. Then, once elected, it was revealed to be nothing more than a virtue signaling grift, and now they're incapable of even talking about it. A one-time check was a pathetic half-measure to begin with, when so many are massively behind on rent.
Very few on the left are going to be impressed with Biden's compromised half-measures, even if people scream, 'Well, at least he's not Trump!'
Hasn't happened yet. We don't know if it will be a full withdrawal, or if we'll leave private mercenary/secret forces behind, which wouldn't be a real end to the war.
Also, Biden could go further, and end the other wars in the middle east that we're engaged in.
(Score: 1, Offtopic) by fustakrakich on Wednesday June 09 2021, @12:19AM (2 children)
Yeah, just like democrats on health care and, most recently, election reform and, well, the infrastructure show really wasn't anything anyway, but that too...
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 09 2021, @01:08AM (1 child)
Big difference is you don't have the entire liberal voting base believing the pols. Idiots are still defending trump!
(Score: 1) by fustakrakich on Wednesday June 09 2021, @01:16AM
You only need enough to keep the game running. It's still all DNC/GOP
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 09 2021, @03:14PM
For the past ~5 years Erik Prince of Blackwater has been pushing for a privatization of the occupation in Afghanistan. That was largely rejected by the previous administration, but seems to have been accepted by the current administration.
There are currently about 3,000 US troops in Afghanistan. And there are 16,000 [nymag.com] Department of Defense contractors, including more than 6,000 who are US citizens. Far from being ordered to wind-down operations, the contracting agencies have recently started a hiring surge.
Privatization of the war enables greater opaqueness in every aspect including fatalities (both against and by our side), soldier count, and more. The military industrial complex wins, the politicians wins by pretending to be exiting an extremely unpopular war. The only people that lose are the entirety of Afghanistan and Americans who think we should stop our globally destabilizing militarism.