Meanwhile In Afghanistan

[sunday]

22 minutes ago, JasonJ said:

The death of sincerety leaves nothing to care.

*Yawn*

Careful, or the Forum Police(TM) will fine you!

[JasonJ]

8 minutes ago, sunday said:

Careful, or the Forum Police(TM) will fine you!

It's over. Sincerety is dead.

[RETAC21]

3 hours ago, sunday said:

Careful, or the Forum Police(TM) will fine you!

Sez the guy that wants to play moderator at every turn...

[bojan]

What has caused this meltdown? 😞

[JasonJ]

Gente care toooooooo much.

[Nobu]

16 hours ago, RETAC21 said:

Let's have a separate thread on a potential conflict between Japan and South Korea

Agreed--it's way out of place here.

[Nobu]

On 9/22/2021 at 1:21 PM, RETAC21 said:

South Vietnam had a piss poor government that only got worse, until Tet, when the South Vietnamese got a taste of North Vietnamese government and in 1972 held their own, to the point that the 1975 fall o South Vietnam was caused by a conventional invasion, not an insurgency.

If South Vietnam had not fallen in 1975, it may never have. Nixon's visit to China may have forced the North to abandon the insurgency approach.

Not sure if Bush visiting Islamabad would have accomplished the same 30 years later, but it would have been interesting.

[RETAC21]

8 hours ago, Nobu said:

If South Vietnam had not fallen in 1975, it may never have. Nixon's visit to China may have forced the North to abandon the insurgency approach.

Not sure if Bush visiting Islamabad would have accomplished the same 30 years later, but it would have been interesting.

The North Vietnamese certainly thought so, and they didn't rate their chances high enough to win in a year, so they planned to invade the South over 2 years.

[Stuart Galbraith]

I remember reading that South Vietnam discovered oil off their south coast in 1974 and 1975. Within a few years they might just have had enough money to fight a counter insurgency and give the US the sticky finger.

There are so many what if's about Vietnam it can make your head spin.

[bojan]

There would be no deal with China if Vietnam is not united under the rule of the North.

[RETAC21]

1 hour ago, bojan said:

There would be no deal with China if Vietnam is not united under the rule of the North.

Well, there was a deal with China because the North was moving to the wrong communist side, and that enabled the US to pull out.

South Vietnam wasn't fighting an insurgency after 1968, but a conventional enemy that eventually was able to prevail. Note the problems the NVA had dealing with insurgency in Cambodia after 1975.

[urbanoid]

3 hours ago, bojan said:

There would be no deal with China if Vietnam is not united under the rule of the North.

Why not? With the state of Beijing-Moscow relations any deal with the US was a game changer and the Chinese didn't care about Vietnam all that much.

Sure, they supported them, because USSR was doing it as well and it was important to show they were as good communists as them, if not better. It wouldn't have been difficult to throw them under the bus after 1973, guess they'd just have to make up some excuses about the Vietnamese deviating from the party line or sth like that.

[bojan]

Not because North, but because South Vietnam could not be allowed to exist, as that makes another not so nice parallel with Taiwan.

You have to understand that almost everything China does in the foreign policy is with regard to Taiwan.

[urbanoid]

Well, they did allow the existence of South Korea, during the war they only moved to push the Americans back from their borders. Chinese-Vietnamese enmity didn't start in 1970s, it was much older and having a weaker North Vietnam concentrated on the South could have been seen as a better option than a unified (and not exactly friendly) one.

[Stuart Galbraith]

.

Edited September 26, 2021 by Stuart Galbraith

[Nobu]

It was complete and total ruthlessness. 

 

2 hours ago, bojan said:

There would be no deal with China if Vietnam is not united under the rule of the North.

---

You have to understand that almost everything China does in the foreign policy is with regard to Taiwan.

I see where you are coming from on your first point. Much would depend on figuring out what they wanted.

If your second point is true, when Washington offers to break diplomatic relations with Taipei and give them Taipei's UNSC P5 seat, they have to listen to what Washington wants in exchange. They can't afford not to.

[sunday]

FBI hit rock bottom, then fetched a backhoe

Quote

The FBI has contacted veterans' groups which helped evacuate Americans and at-risk allies left behind after the chaotic Afghanistan evacuation last month 

Among those contacted were Task Force Pineapple and Task Force Dunkirk

Agents are reportedly looking at whether any groups solicited money, offered bribes, or hired for-profit contractors for security and escort services 

Following the fall of Kabul in mid-August, multiple task forces made up of people with experience in Afghanistan cropped up to aid Afghans looking to flee  

 

[rmgill]

 

[Stuart Galbraith]

 

[Detonable]

  Are any flights coming out of Afghanistan now?

[DB]

Not for this lady, it seems.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-58742581

The type of societal reform implied by the appointment of female judges and prosecutors, and more generally to putting women in positions of authority takes generations to have effect. a 20 year commitment is insignificant in comparison.

[Andreas]

All of these people would be able to claim asylum, so I guess its very convenient that they cannot get out and somehow no effort was made to help them before the proverbial hit the fan.

All the best

Andreas

[rmgill]

AT this point the FBI is actively hindering people escaping. 

[Stuart Galbraith]

Have they mixed up Afghanistan with Mexico?

[BansheeOne]

Watching the Große Zapfenstreich in front of the Bundestag officially marking the end of the mission. It's an unusual arrangement since the ceremony is usually held for general officers and senior defense officials leaving their position. Here the honored are all troops who deployed to Afghanistan, represented by a selection of 200 from all contingents. The formation was reported to a Panzergrenadier MSgt who spent a total of 1,700 days in country, and a surgeon LTC with three tours under her belt; both saw combat in the same action. 

BTW it has been clarified that the number of 160,000 who served in Afghanistan included all individual tours. Subtracting multiple deployments, a total of 93,000 German troops went there.