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Meanwhile In Afghanistan


Panzermann

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1 hour ago, Stuart Galbraith said:

You know surprisingly little about Romans...

Maybe, but you seem to miss distinction between auxilia and replacement for core legions regiments. When you are downsizing British army in every turn, hiring mercenaries of dubious combat capability is... let's just say naive. Problem with mercenaries is that they can always find someone else to pay them. IOW, while you are doing good they are loyal, once going is rough there is no substitute for your own troops.

As for colonial troops, those were always core of the rebellion in colonies, including every successful independent movement, where on average most of the important people served in the colonialist's army, so yes, they did contribute significantly to the fall of the colonial empires.

Edited by bojan
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As I suspected above, the US is hitting stuff for show and without proper intel, likely as some sort of face saving or 'remember the terrorists' measure.

If this is the same hit claimed to have caused civilian causalities because of 'the large amount of explosives in the vehicle' then that seems to have been some bullshit.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/afghan-family-says-errant-u-114215391.htm

 

Quote

 

Zemari Ahmadi was coming home Sunday evening, having dropped off colleagues from the local office of an American aid group where he worked, relatives and colleagues said in interviews Monday.

As he pulled into the narrow street where he lived with his three brothers and their families, many of their children, seeing his white Toyota Corolla, rushed out to greet him, family members said. Some clambered onto the car in the street, one jumped in while others gathered in the narrow courtyard of the compound as he pulled in.

It was then, friends and family say, that the vehicle was hit with a missile which they believe was fired by a U.S. drone, blowing out doors and windows in the courtyard, spraying shrapnel, and killing 10 people, seven of them children.
 

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25 minutes ago, Sikkiyn said:

What type of radios were left behind? did they leave the encryption modules? what else did they leave which could almost insure a bad day?

 

Short of nuclear weapons, encryption systems and codes are the highest security items for a military.

I can't imagine the Afghanis were given the latest and greatest in encryption equipment.

 

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2 hours ago, glenn239 said:

From what I've seen, and with the possible exception of the Blackhawks, the equipment captured is lower tech stuff that it wasn't worth air lifting out.  [snip]

Maybe, but it represents more US tax dollars than I and everyone in my extended family has ever paid or will ever pay all together, and, while waste in that arena is hardly news, it still galls me.  I hereby nominate Biden for a Proxmire Award.

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it's awful that I can't comprehend it.  I hope the anti Trump people are pleased with what they have done.

On the equipment left behind most of it could've been rendered worthless by the simple expedient of setting it ablaze.  The fact that none of it was burned is telling.

It's not going to be long before Al Qaeda is moving openly throughout Afghanistan.  How will the media manage to bury this?

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9 hours ago, Stuart Galbraith said:

Reports ive seen online says that list has been greatly inflated. I for one have yet to see any Hercules being shown off by the Taliban, and im pretty sure they would. OTOH, I did see a hangar full of Sea Knights, which is probably going to be an absolute delight seeing them try to keep operational.

Obviously, that's the former government's stock of equipment.  Not all of it would have gone to the Taliban and not all of what did would be in working order.  If they had Hercs, for instance, they'd definitely be showing them off.

 

Edit: And they are showing off their Hercs.  Should have read the whole thread first!

Edited by R011
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12 minutes ago, Tim the Tank Nut said:

It's not going to be long before Al Qaeda is moving openly throughout Afghanistan.  How will the media manage to bury this?

I've read the Taliban and Al Qaeda are not in the best of terms, so there is still a little bit of hope.

Not thanks to the higher up individuals in DC, however.

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15 minutes ago, Tim the Tank Nut said:

On the equipment left behind most of it could've been rendered worthless by the simple expedient of setting it ablaze.  The fact that none of it was burned is telling.

They didn't need to set it on fire. They only needed to smash certain components which they did.

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Many of those injured or killed in the suicide bombing attack seem to have been wounded by small arms fire, with eyewitnesses alleging they were fired on by US forces. But it is of course possible that people were confused about the source of fire.
 

 

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2 hours ago, Tim the Tank Nut said:

it's awful that I can't comprehend it.  I hope the anti Trump people are pleased with what they have done.

On the equipment left behind most of it could've been rendered worthless by the simple expedient of setting it ablaze.  The fact that none of it was burned is telling.

It's not going to be long before Al Qaeda is moving openly throughout Afghanistan.  How will the media manage to bury this?

Their leaders are already there. Look at the video I posted earlier.

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2 hours ago, R011 said:

Obviously, that's the former government's stock of equipment.  Not all of it would have gone to the Taliban and not all of what did would be in working order.  If they had Hercs, for instance, they'd definitely be showing them off.

 

Edit: And they are showing off their Hercs.  Should have read the whole thread first!

Wonder if Iran can retrofit the engines in a H model? This one looks a bit sick.

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1 hour ago, KV7 said:

Many of those injured or killed in the suicide bombing attack seem to have been wounded by small arms fire, with eyewitnesses alleging they were fired on by US forces. But it is of course possible that people were confused about the source of fire.

I was wondering about that myself. The overall number of casualties never made much sense for only one suicide bomber with a vest. Also, the heaps of dead bodies inside that drainage ditch suggests a lot of those might have been killed by small arms fire from someone, because the explosion happened much further forward between the blast walls, where the Marines checked the people coming in.

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On 8/30/2021 at 9:54 AM, KV7 said:

For me, the miracle that needs to be explained is how the US manages to seem always on the edge of total disaster, but somehow avoids it.

Cultural thing, they learned to act instead of waiting for someone to act.

 

In the cui prodest? section: Who made sure that ISIS-K reach the gate for maximum effect?

Pentagon prepared for ‘mass casualty’ attack at Kabul Airport hours before explosion

Quote

On a separate call at 4 that afternoon, or 12:30 a.m. on Thursday in Kabul, the commanders detailed a plan to close Abbey Gate by Thursday afternoon Kabul time. But the Americans decided to keep the gate open longer than they wanted in order to allow their British allies, who had accelerated their withdrawal timeline, to continue evacuating their personnel, based at the nearby Baron Hotel.

 

Quote

The transcript of these three conference calls, authenticated by a defense official, details conversations among the highest levels of Pentagon leadership. It makes clear that top officials were raising alarm bells and preparing for a potential attack that they had narrowed down to a handful of possible targets and a 24-48 hour time frame — projections that ended up being deadly accurate.

 

On a related side note about the good side of history, not the leader of ISIS of Levant was the first or last to get much better training than the US Army can provide:

US trained Khashoggi's killers. A review of all military training programs is necessary

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19 minutes ago, Der Zeitgeist said:

I was wondering about that myself. The overall number of casualties never made much sense for only one suicide bomber with a vest. Also, the heaps of dead bodies inside that drainage ditch suggests a lot of those might have been killed by small arms fire from someone, because the explosion happened much further forward between the blast walls, where the Marines checked the people coming in.

It seems some US soldiers did panic and fire into the crowd. According to Wiki:

Quote

After the explosion, gunfire erupted and all gates to the airport were closed.[31][32] US officials said that ISIL-KP gunmen opened fire into the crowd after the bomb and US troops returned fire.[2] According to multiple reporters, eyewitnesses attributed at least some of the gunfire into the crowd and consequent deaths after the explosion to panic by US soldiers.[33][34][35] The Pentagon acknowledged the possibility of US responsibility for some deaths in a news conference on August 28.[36]

 

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