Generation Jihad - Ep. 55 - Afghanistan Falls (Many Here Are NOT Gonna Like This...But)

[Valin]

FDD's Long War Journal

Aug 16 2021

Hosts Tom Joscelyn and Bill Roggio discuss the need for accountability after 20 years of failures.

[Valin]

After the Taliban’s triumph

Paul Mirengoff

August 17, 2021

I hear some conservatives saying that we should have gone into Afghanistan, defeated the forces that attacked us on 9/11, and then left. The obvious problem with this view is that as soon as we left, the forces that attacked us or collaborated in the attack would have returned to power.

Sure, we would have killed and captured some bad guys, but basically we would have been back where we were before 9/11. Who would want that?

Now, the forces responsible for 9/11, including al Qaeda (see below) are returning to power or prominence. But at least they suffered nearly 20 years of lost or diminished power, during which they experienced hardship and, most importantly, were unable to execute attacks against the U.S.

(Snip)

Many conservatives like to ridicule our intelligence services, and to some extent they deserve it. But it’s a fact that al Qaeda has been unable to attack our homeland since 9/11.

Unless you believe al Qaeda lost interest in attacking us, our security and intelligence services must have done something right. Our presence in Afghanistan was one of those things.

As inconvenient as it may be, al Qaeda is still around. The Post reports:

Quote

There are worrisome signs it may become more difficult for the United States to prevent a resurgence by al-Qaeda, which a recent United Nations report said maintained a presence in at least 15 Afghan provinces and showed “no indication of breaking ties” with the Taliban despite pledges to do so as part of a 2020 deal struck between the Afghan militants and Trump administration.

(Emphasis added)

A very foolish deal.

(Snip)

Of course. It’s easy to forget that the rise of al Qaeda and other such movements was fueled by the successes of the Taliban and other such movements, coupled with the Clinton administration’s fecklessness in dealing with them. And the rise of ISIS was fueled by the Obama-Biden pullout from Iraq.

It’s worth noting that the adverse consequences I discuss here — the resurgence of jihadists encouraged by America’s defeat and the inability to deal with threats emanating from Afghanistan — all flow from Biden’s decision to withdraw from Afghanistan, not from the way he carried it out. It’s also worth noting that we were preventing these consequences with a commitment of only 2,500 to 3,500 U.S. forces and very few American casualties.

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And The Very Same People who have been Screaming Bring Them, Home Bring Them Home. Will be hollering for blood WHEN the Next Attack comes....And It Is.

[Valin]

 

[Valin]

There are 3 sites I look at everyday, generally the 1st thing

in no particular order

Long War Journal

Rantburg

Strategy Page

 

Forget Fox News/Front Page/Red State....etc etc etc If you want to know what is going on in GWOT. The Above 3 are where you should look.

May I also recommend Jihadica and Jihadology

 

[SDwaters]

1 hour ago, Valin said:

Forget Fox News/Front Page/Red State....etc etc etc If you want to know what is going on in GWOT. The Above 3 are where you should look.

Thanks for the suggestions!

[Valin]

4 minutes ago, SDwaters said:

Thanks for the suggestions!

 

Thing is this GWOT is a real obsession of mine. The Who, What, Where, Why, How. 

For your average person 1 book "The Looming Tower Al qadea  and the road to 911" Lawrence Wright.  One of the Very Few Books on my Must Read List.

[SDwaters]

For some of us, it's very personal.  Look up Brian Sweeny (Flight 175) and John D. Yamnicky Sr. (Flight 77).  We were all supposed to be at the same meeting in CA.