robin1234

How many of these Taliban fighters are there, anyway? I assume, now that they have the entire country and all its towns & cities to govern and police, they’ll find that their forces are overextended. So they’ll have to take on local hires, who may or may not be on board with the “program..”

caretaker

They used to have a nearly unlimited supply of fighters from Northern Pakistan, but now there's apparently some discord among the Pashtun there who are tired of war. Able to flow freely across the border because they're the same ethnicity, and living in tribal areas where the Pakistani army fears to tread, that's where they've gone to resupply, rest, and heal since this started.

LuTziE

When a parting on the left becomes a parting on the right

philat98

President Ghani is saying he was forced to leave Afghanistan by his security staff with $170million in his back pocket. It is hard to imagine him begging to stay longer.

robin1234

Hmm you could buy an apartment in New York with that, but then what would you live on?

philat98

I can imagine him flying along in his private helicopter with banknotes blowing around the cockpit. Like one of those old CIA stories.

Lion in Winter

Some of these speeches are cutting.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/20...ergency-debate

Boiler

This is going to produce numerous ramifications that have not really been considered.

The MSM are not running interference for the Biden administration, I have seen numerous articles on CNN, Guardian etc.

​​​​​​https://www.politico.eu/article/afgh...david-sassoli/
Afghan refugees should be shared ‘equally,’ says EU Parliament president

Having determined that all women qualify well that is 20 million just as a starting number. Might cause a few issues within the EU.

I would imagine China is reconsidering, share a border and of course Pakistan.

robin1234

Further, President Biden now says, we will stay till all Americans are out, even if it is past the end of August. So - flights, both military and civil, in and out of Kabul. Isn’t that a bit of an attractive target for potential terrorist groups and others, who might want to test out their surface to air missiles? Presumably a crowded city, with barely functioning government, could easily hide one or more such groups?

robin1234

So the Guardian and CNN should normally consider it their role to “run interference” for the US government? That’s an odd thought.

Boiler

Well that is what has been happening but this seems the straw.

​​​​​​MPs Say Scheme To Accept 20,000 Afghan Refugees 'Falls Way Short Of Responsibility 'https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/uk-afghanistan-refugee-numbers_uk_611cc3c0e4b029c152af8270

I can not find out where the 20,000 number came from, would seem to be a very low.

scrubbedexpat091

Hopefully the world will finally learn, you can't win in Afghanistan. Seems to me there is a consistent theme going back quite a long time of foreign invaders going into Afghanistan and failing in the end, USSR, US, I think the UK way back in the past, seems like a place best left alone at this point.

US Embassy in Kabul which is now located at the airport, has stated they cannot ensure safe passage from Kabul to the airport for US persons.

CNN had a younger guy on who reported to have a US green card, and speaks English with a US accent, but seems the Taliban has a check point leading into the airport and turning people back.

Lion in Winter

Johnson and Raab going off on holiday then does beggar belief.

Annetje

Yes, I listened to most of it and I think Johnson lost his backbenches a bit there.
Didn't understand the meaning of the debate though.
Just when Rabbb starts to reply to it all, it was stopped. The speaker cut him off halfway a sentence and that was it ... back to the holidays.

Scamp

I can't wait to see where the 20,000 go in the UK, hopefully there are lots of people ready to welcome them into communities.