Asia-Pacific News Thread

[MagnarTheGreat]

NY Times - India’s true pandemic death toll is likely to be well over 3 million, a new study finds.

Modi accused of treason by opposition over India spyware disclosures | India | The Guardian

 

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Taliban captures provincial capital in Afghanistan | Afghanistan | The Guardian

 

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Taliban's advance in Afghanistan - how has the government's forces collapsed so quickly? | ITV News

 

[Fosterson]

Its pretty much inevitable now that the Taliban will take over most of the country, thereby restoring the country to how it was in the 1990s and rendering the last 20 years of NATO intervention and "nation-building" utterly futile.

 

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Afghanistan, Taliban: Afghan Collapse Accelerates | Forbes India

 

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It's going fast now:

Taliban enter Afghanistan capital Kabul (cnbc.com)

 

[MagnarTheGreat]

Afghanistan crisis: President Ghani leaves country - reports - BBC News

And so ends the Potemkin Village of the past 20 years.

US and Taliban sign deal to end 18-year Afghan war - BBC News (Feb. 2020)

The so-called Afghan government and army were just a bunch of props that never represented the Afghan majority. Believing at all in their props was a flaw to be sure. It was a facade and a grift all around for decades.

The Daily Beast - Why Is the Afghan National Army Performing So Miserably?

 

[Fosterson]

Sums it up really:

 

[Hobgoblin]

The fact that the Afghan government fell apart so easily is a pretty huge embarrassment and screw up. At the same time, it’s been 20 years and if they hadn’t made it work by now, then it wasn’t going to.

 

[MagnarTheGreat]

All the money and all the training in the universe doesn’t matter if you don’t have the will to act.

The mistake wasn’t going after Osama bin Laden (who was ultimately found in Pakistan), it was the occupation.

 

[InCali]

The fact that the Afghan government fell apart so easily is a pretty huge embarrassment and screw up. At the same time, it’s been 20 years and if they hadn’t made it work by now, then it wasn’t going to.

I think that sums it up perfectly. As bad as I feel for some of those people, this had to happen. Could it have been orchestrated better? Probably, but, really folks, it was time.

 

[Fosterson]

All the money and all the training in the universe doesn’t matter if you don’t have the will to act.

The mistake was’t going after Osama bin Laden (who was ultimately found in Pakistan), it was the occupation.

Yes. The Bush Administration responded to 9/11 as though America had been attacked by a nation-state, rather than by a relatively small number of transnational extremists with no loyalty to any flag besides that of the caliphate.

It was this same mentality that led to the invasion of Iraq.

 

[Fosterson]

I think that sums it up perfectly. As bad as I feel for some of those people, this had to happen. Could it have been orchestrated better? Probably, but, really folks, it was time.

The people to feel bad for are the Afghan people. especially women and ethnic minorities, who now face terrible repression at the hands of the Taliban.

The whole "nation-building" mission was a complete failure. NATO comprehensively failed to build a strong, functional Afghan state and this is the result.

 

[InCali]

The people to feel bad for are the Afghan people. especially women and ethnic minorities, who now face terrible repression at the hands of the Taliban.

The whole "nation-building" mission was a complete failure. NATO comprehensively failed to build a strong, functional Afghan state and this is the result.

Yeah, that's precisely who I was thinking about. I just don't think the Afghan people, as a whole, really, really wanted what was being offered. If you don't have the full support of the people, there really isn't a "right" course of action.

 

[Sithborg]

The fact that the Afghan government fell apart so easily is a pretty huge embarrassment and screw up. At the same time, it’s been 20 years and if they hadn’t made it work by now, then it wasn’t going to.

I think it shows just how much of sham of a government the US was holding up.

 

[Fosterson]

Yeah, that's precisely who I was thinking about. I just don't think the Afghan people, as a whole, really, really wanted what was being offered. If you don't have the full support of the people, there really isn't a "right" course of action.

Yes. Absolutely. The United States failed to build a credible Afghan state with the support of the majority of the population and this is the result.

 

[MagnarTheGreat]

February 2019:







ABC News: "According to the Taliban, Trump told Baradar, 'It is a pleasure to talk to you. You are a tough people and have a great country, and I understand that you are fighting for your homeland. We have been there for 19 years, and that is a very long time, and withdrawal of foreign forces from Afghanistan now is in the interest of everyone.'" (March 2020)

LA Times - Essential Politics: Biden pledges to leave Afghanistan. It's a withdrawal years in the making. (April 2021)

NY Times - U.S. and Afghan Forces Killed More Civilians Than Taliban Did, Report Finds (2019)

 

[Fosterson]

I think it shows just how much of sham of a government the US was holding up.

Yes. I mean, even the Communist government managed to hold out for 3 years after the Soviets withdrew in '89 and might have lasted longer had the USSR not collapsed. The US-backed government couldn't even last 3 months without American support.

 

[Fosterson]

February 2019:

Its worth pointing out (as I've seen a number of observers do) that the situation now is arguably worse than it was pre-2001, since the Taliban never actually controlled all of Afghanistan from 1996-2001 (about 10% remained under the control of the Northern Alliance). Whereas now they control the whole country.

 

[MagnarTheGreat]

 

[Sithborg]

As ****ty as this withdrawal is, I just remember that Trump heard proposals to essentially let it become Erik Princes' personal country.

 

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Kabul Airport horror sees Afghans killed after falling from plane | World | News | Express.co.uk

 

[MagnarTheGreat]

Associated Press - China bans men it sees as not masculine enough from TV




Winnie the Pooh and his minions have been busy on the pressing issues. Republicans would love China like Russia if it wasn't for the fact that they're Asian.

 

[Marvolo]

Associated Press - China bans men it sees as not masculine enough from TV




Winnie the Pooh and his minions have been busy on the pressing issues. Republicans would love China like Russia if it wasn't for the fact that they're Asian.

 

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Hong Kong's Tiananmen vigil organiser disbands - France 24