Should the West intervene again in Afghanistan?

Discussion in 'Opinion POLLS' started by Reasonablerob, Aug 14, 2021.

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Should the West militarily intervene in Afghanistan again?

  1. Yes

    7 vote(s)
    17.9%
  2. No

    21 vote(s)
    53.8%
  3. Maybe, let's see what happens?

    11 vote(s)
    28.2%
  1. Bluesguy

    Bluesguy Well-Known Member Donor

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    Those at the top totally or else they are so afraid of losing their jobs for contradicting him the SHOULD lose their jobs.

    Will heads roll? Listening to what is coming out of this White House and straight out of Biden's mouth I highly doubt it. And they should. And Congress should demand it especially for those positions upon which they advise and consent and confirm. They have chips in that pot.
     
  2. Aleksander Ulyanov

    Aleksander Ulyanov Well-Known Member

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    Give Afghanistan to the Chinese as a dumping ground for their Uighurs. It's not called the Graveyard of Empires for nothing. It will be more trouble than it's worth to whoever owns it.
     
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  3. Bluesguy

    Bluesguy Well-Known Member Donor

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    You can't divorce them even thought they and ISIS and other groups are squabbling spouses. The all are part of the Islamic Jihad, the are the radical Muslims who want to enshrine Sharia law on the western world and then beyond. The fact is the Taliban did take over Afghanistan and did allow terrorist groups to operate from them in that Islamic Jihad. And we had had the first WWT attack from there, the Cole, various embassies, attacks on other countries. Bill Clinton should have acted more forcefully after the first attack and perhaps we wouldn't have had the second.

    And now we are back to that Taliban controlled Afghanistan. I am listening to the reports of the former Afghan Specials Forces being dragged out of their home and executed in front of their families, 13 in a report I just heard. Reports that they are searching for all the women judges in Kandahar who oversaw the prison there so they can be executed. We've see them hanging people from helicopters and other horrors.

    But give them a few weeks to get it out of their system and there will be a sudden epiphany to this wanting to be a part of the civilized world and for civil rights and women's rights and will rid themselves of their Sharia law so that the United States and Europe will like them? I just don't have much faith in that. We'd better be prepared for an attack that will kill far more than we ever lost in Afghanistan the last twenty years without such an attack.
     
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  4. perotista

    perotista Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    Sadly, I believe you're correct.
     
  5. Josh77

    Josh77 Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    I am totally against drone strikes unless there are boots on the ground to ensure that no, or at least as few as possible, innocents are killed. Otherwise, we are no better than the extremists that indiscrimantly kill our civilians.
     
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  6. edna kawabata

    edna kawabata Well-Known Member

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    The odds of collateral damage vs troop casualties must be considered in any engagement, drone or otherwise. Hopefully those making those decisions are not trigger happy and are aware lives are at stake.
    A drone struck a truck in Kabul full of explosives. 10 civilians were killed and 7 were children. Now imagine if that truck made it to a packed street of Afghanis trying to get into the airport.
     
  7. Heartburn

    Heartburn Well-Known Member

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    Imagine your reaction if it had been Trump who pulled the trigger. These criticisms of a President for the casualties of war are BS but they were before Joe too.
     
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  8. Josh77

    Josh77 Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    that is certainly a good point. The goal should always be to minimize innocent casualties.
     
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  9. edna kawabata

    edna kawabata Well-Known Member

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    I am sure your comment makes sense to you, but I need them clarified to understand them. Criticisms of a president......?
     
  10. Heartburn

    Heartburn Well-Known Member

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    Please forgive my jerky knee.
     
  11. Turin

    Turin Well-Known Member

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    And your willing to kill thousands and thousands of innocent people to make this point?
     
  12. Heartburn

    Heartburn Well-Known Member

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    I thought drone strikes were to replace boots on the ground, over the horizon like?
     
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  13. Josh77

    Josh77 Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    sure, if you don’t care about collateral damage or if you hit the wrong target. Plus, I believe warfare should remain personal and terrible, to keep it a last resort.
     
  14. Aleksander Ulyanov

    Aleksander Ulyanov Well-Known Member

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    They were, and did.

    Back then I remember lots of people were talking about the Tall Man in he White Hat putting in an appearance. It was being honestly discussed as the only sort of thing that would really justify iti and it's said that the Russians and Chinese were willing to let it happen if it did.


    I am waiting to see what happens next. We have to see where the shoe drops, as it were. If there another 9/11 then what are we expected to do?
     
  15. Heartburn

    Heartburn Well-Known Member

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    How do we fight from over the horizon then?
     
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  16. Josh77

    Josh77 Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    We shouldn’t. If we are dropping bombs we should have JTAC or the equivalent there guiding them in, ensuring the bombs are on target and that we are not hitting a wedding or something.

    I feel presidents have become way too comfortable with just hitting targets with drones so that there is no entanglement. There has been too much collateral damage as a result, and allows people to sleep way to easily with the destruction they are inflicting.
     
  17. Heartburn

    Heartburn Well-Known Member

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    Bombs are dropped on targets that are usually guilty of killing Americans. Collateral damage is their responsibility as is the location of their operations bases. Our new fightin' mode is from over yonder and that is going to mean drones and devil take the hindmost. They can bury their own dead.
     
  18. Josh77

    Josh77 Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    im glad my killing days are over. There is no honor left in the world.
     
  19. Heartburn

    Heartburn Well-Known Member

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    There is but it's hard to find in a war zone and not all participants view it the same way. It is even rarer in politics
     
    Last edited: Sep 10, 2021
  20. edna kawabata

    edna kawabata Well-Known Member

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    Turns out though that the strike appears to have killed a worker for a U.S. aid group and there are indications there were no explosives in the vehicle that was hit, according to investigations by the New York Times and Washington Post. In all, 10 civilians appeared to have been killed in the Aug. 29 strike, including seven children. They were all members of the same extended family.
     
  21. Montegriffo

    Montegriffo Well-Known Member

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    They said the same thing about the crossbow.
     
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  22. gorfias

    gorfias Well-Known Member

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    Our military is designed to kill people and break things. I voted that our return to Afghanistan depends upon things. Are we returning to kill people and break things, or nation build. If they do something that constitutes an act of war against the USA, Congress should declare one, followed by us going in to kill their people and break their stuff. But after doing so, LEAVE.
     
  23. Aleksander Ulyanov

    Aleksander Ulyanov Well-Known Member

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    Why are acting as if drones necessarily increase collateral damage? Strikes me the precise opposite might be the case. The drone can take its time and be more careful because there's no man in it worried about a Stinger being fired at him. There also might be several drones watching one another, when we can only afford one plane and one pilot.

    A pilot sitting in the plane can't see any better than a pilot sitting 8000 miles away, maybe less

    And as far as boots on the ground, why not robots?

    Finally, why do drones have to drop bombs? Why not food and warm clothes, medicines, etc? Terrorists are less inclined to kill people who give them things than people who blow them up
     
    Last edited: Sep 13, 2021
  24. joesnagg

    joesnagg Banned

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    AGAIN!?! Wasn't 20 years of chasing our tail in that particular fiasco enough??? Let the Military-Industrial Complex relax...they'll be fattening off another "hotspot" soon enough.
     
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  25. Josh77

    Josh77 Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    Yeah, they were probably right, lol.
     
    Last edited: Sep 13, 2021

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