10-20 years?
by Kali4niaND (2024-02-27 20:05:39)

In reply to: Absolutely, and I'll pile on to shillelaghhugger's thoughts  posted by shag

Cannot Reply Return to Political

Um, yeah. No way.

In my opinion we needed out, so I appreciate both Trump's and Biden's efforts to rip off the bandaid.

I certainly appreciate that we fucked up the evac and could have (potentially) exited more gracefully. Like Across, I'm no military expert or planner either. But it would seem odd that it was the White House that decided to stage the evacuation from Kabul rather than Bagram. Wouldn't that be a DoD decision, or am I missing something? Did the White House overrule our military experts?



We've been in South Korea over 70 years
by shag  (2024-02-27 20:42:05)     cannot delete  |  Edit  |  Return to Board  |  Ignore Poster   |   Highlight Poster  |   Cannot reply

We've been in Europe longer than that...perspective.

We are not privy to what happened behind closed doors regarding details of our Afghanistan exit. No one in this administration - neither Biden, his cabinet nor the joint chiefs - want to shine a light onto the planning process behind the biggest embarrassment of the administration.

With regard to your last question, civilian leadership is in charge of the military in this country. It's that way by design. POTUS is the commander in chief and can override the military, not the other way around. The chain of command is POTUS, then SECDEF, then the Joint Chiefs and combatant commanders. Make no mistake, the latter might as well be political appointees as well.
The population wants us there
by vermin05  (2024-02-27 21:44:35)     cannot delete  |  Edit  |  Return to Board  |  Ignore Poster   |   Highlight Poster  |   Cannot reply

That’s the difference, short of an absolute dictatorship (Saudi Arabia) we’ve only stayed around in places that want us.