And so it begins, U.S. troops start to withdraw from Afghanistan

[Pauls' Revere]

Pretty much my position, when we're out I'll give credit where credit is due. Until then there's always a good chance of something happening to cause another escalation.

Read about what's going on in Ukraine?

 

[Anti Globalist]

The withdraw date is now September 11th. Nothing symbolic about that date whatsoever.

 

[Swordsmyth]

Done what?

Agree to leave completely. (even if it is delayed a few months)

 

[Swordsmyth]

Go easy on him, he's trying to get emotionally prepared for Joe $#@!ing Biden to pull out of more wars than Donald Trump did.

I knew you would try to steal credit for Biden but it won't work.

 

[Occam's Banana]

All of the credit belongs to Trump, Biden never would have done this [...]

Done what?

Agree to leave completely. (even if it is delayed a few months)

Words, words, mere words, no matter from the heart.
Th’ effect doth operate another way.
Go, wind, to wind! There turn and change together.
My love with words and errors still she feeds,
But edifies another with her deeds.

 

[Swordsmyth]

President Joe Biden said on Wednesday he will begin withdrawing U.S. troops from Afghanistan on May 1 to end America’s longest war, rejecting calls for U.S. forces to stay to ensure a peaceful resolution to that nation’s grinding internal conflict.

In a White House speech, Biden acknowledged that U.S. objectives in Afghanistan had become “increasingly unclear” over the past decade. He set a deadline for withdrawing all 2,500 U.S. troops remaining in Afghanistan by Sept. 11, exactly 20 years after al Qaeda’s attacks on the United States that triggered the war.

Meeting NATO officials in Brussels, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said foreign troops under NATO command in Afghanistan will leave in coordination with the U.S. withdrawal by Sept. 11, after Germany said it would match American plans.

Blinken also spoke by phone with Pakistan’s army chief on Wednesday and discussed the peace process, the media wing of Pakistan’s military said.

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani wrote on Twitter that he spoke with Biden and respects the U.S. decision. Ghani added that “we will work with our U.S. partners to ensure a smooth transition” and “we will continue to work with our US/NATO partners in the ongoing peace efforts.”

More at: https://news.whatfinger.com/2021/04/14/time-to-end-the/

 

[TheCount]

I knew you would try to steal credit for Biden but it won't work.

You spent 4 years trying to give Trump credit for things that he didn't actually do. Why stop now?

 

[Firestarter]

The NATO announced to withdraw all troops from Afghanistan, following Joe Biden's announcement to get them out by 11 September.
Including the Dutch army...

Should we now praise Biden for doing something "good"?

 

[tebowlives]

The NATO announced to withdraw all troops from Afghanistan, following Joe Biden's announcement to get them out by 11 September.
Including the Dutch army...

Should we now praise Biden for doing something "good"?

Sure. Why not? Trump got the ball rolling and it looks like Biden is pretty much staying the course of Trumps plan.

 

[Firestarter]

Trump got the ball rolling and it looks like Biden is pretty much staying the course of Trumps plan.

So you're really saying that we should give Donald credit for Biden taking "our troops" home?

Is that similar to arguing that Donald couldn't be held accountable for continuing the horrible policies of his corrupt predecessor presidents?!?

 

[dannno]

The withdraw date is now September 11th. Nothing symbolic about that date whatsoever.

Agree to leave completely. (even if it is delayed a few months)

LOL.. turns out it was all fake news.

Trump set the date to pull out of Afghanistan to May 1. Biden extended it to Sept. 11.

So you're really saying that we should give Donald credit for Biden taking "our troops" home?

You got the story wrong.

 

[tebowlives]

So you're really saying that we should give Donald credit for Biden taking "our troops" home?

Is that similar to arguing that Donald couldn't be held accountable for continuing the horrible policies of his corrupt predecessor presidents?!?

No it's exactly what I said it was. Trump got the ball rolling, laid out a plan and Biden is finishing it. I can't explain it any plainer

 

[devil21]

No it's exactly what I said it was. Trump got the ball rolling, laid out a plan and Biden is finishing it. I can't explain it any plainer

Just for sake of discussion since I didn't read all the articles, can you point to where it's ever mentioned that any Afghanistan withdrawal means they're coming home?

I'm always reminded to listen to what they actually say, not what I think I want to hear. Perhaps Trump at some point said he's bringing them home but I didn't see that mentioned in what I read of the CFR's....err Biden's statements on Afghanistan.

 

[enhanced_deficit]

Just for sake of discussion since I didn't read all the articles, can you point to where it's ever mentioned that any Afghanistan withdrawal means they're coming home?

I'm always reminded to listen to what they actually say, not what I think I want to hear. Perhaps Trump at some point said he's bringing them home but I didn't see that mentioned in what I read of the CFR's....err Biden's statements on Afghanistan.

EM.

Good point.

4,000 more troops going to mideast ; 18,000 additional troops sent to mideast since May 2019

Zero debate questions on Foreign Policy, Forever Wars, 14,000 troops sent to mideast in 2019
Trump says U.S. troops can come home if Israel has peace
By Philip Weiss October 16, 2020

Trump threatens Iraq with crippling sanctions if US troops are expelled
6 January 2020
Donald Trump has threatened Iraq with "sanctions like they've never seen before" President Trump has threatened severe sanctions against Iraq after its parliament called on US troops to leave the country.
Speaking from the presidential plane, Mr Trump said that if Iraq asked US forces to depart on an unfriendly basis, "we will charge them sanctions like they've never seen before, ever. It'll make Iranian sanctions look somewhat tame."



How U.S. Troops Are Preparing for the Worst in the Middle East

The Pentagon has directed about 4,500 troops to the region atop the roughly 50,000 already there as tensions rise with Iran. They are reinforcing their outposts, bases and airfields.

A soldier preparing last week to deploy to the Middle East from Fort Bragg, N.C.Credit...Travis Dove for The New York Times
Published Jan. 6, 2020

WASHINGTON — American military units stationed in Iraq and Syria are readying for attacks from either Iranian forces or their proxies after the drone strike that killed a senior Iranian general last week.
It is unclear what an Iranian retaliatory attack would look like after the death of Maj. Gen. Qassim Suleimani, an Iranian security and intelligence commander responsible for the deaths of hundreds of troops over the years, and Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, a powerful Iraqi militia commander and government official.
nytimes.com/2020/01/06/world/middleeast/troops-iran-iraq.html

 

[tebowlives]

Just for sake of discussion since I didn't read all the articles, can you point to where it's ever mentioned that any Afghanistan withdrawal means they're coming home?

I'm always reminded to listen to what they actually say, not what I think I want to hear. Perhaps Trump at some point said he's bringing them home but I didn't see that mentioned in what I read of the CFR's....err Biden's statements on Afghanistan.

Yes coming home, in this instance, doesn't mean coming home. It's just a catchy phrase. But it does keep "Murcia out of one less country.

 

[Swordsmyth]

The American military has begun its withdrawal from Afghanistan, Gen. Austin Miller, the head of the U.S.-led coalition there, said at a press conference Sunday, per the New York Times.

Why it matters: Miller's statement comes about two weeks after President Joe Biden formally announced that the U.S. would execute a complete withdrawal from Afghanistan and effectively "end America’s longest war."

Stay on top of the latest market trends and economic insights with Axios Markets. Subscribe for free

What they're saying: “I now have a set of orders," said Miller.

"We will conduct an orderly withdrawal from Afghanistan, and that means transitioning bases and equipment to the Afghan security forces.”

What's more: In addition to the 3,500 U.S. troops that will leave the country by mid-September, many of the 7,000 NATO troops stationed in Afghanistan will also withdraw, according to the Times.

Many private contractors operating in Afghanistan will leave as well, though Miller noted that some contracts will be adjusted to continue support for the Afghan security forces.

More at: https://news.yahoo.com/u-military-starts-afghanistan-withdrawal-165029450.html

 

[Swordsmyth]

The State Department on Tuesday ordered a significant number of its remaining staff at the U.S. Embassy in Kabul to leave Afghanistan as the military steps up the pullout of American troops from the country.

The order came as the U.S. special envoy for Afghanistan told lawmakers that it no longer made sense to continue the 20-year deployment of American troops there.

Shortly before he spoke, the State Department said it had instructed all personnel to depart unless their jobs require them to be physically located in Afghanistan. The order was not specific as to the number of people affected, but it went well beyond the usual curtailment of staffers for security and safety reasons. Such orders normally apply only to non-essential personnel.

In an updated travel advisory for Afghanistan, the department said it had ordered the departure of all U.S. government employees “whose functions can be performed elsewhere.” It also said American citizens should not travel to Afghanistan and those there who want to depart “should leave as soon as possible on available commercial flights.”

The embassy in Kabul is heavily dependent on the U.S. military for security, and staff drawdowns had been been underway since the Trump administration had announced last year that American troops would be withdrawn from Afghanistan by May 1.

The Biden administration extended that deadline until Sept. 11, the 20th anniversary of the 2001 terrorist attacks, but has accelerated the pullout.

The pullout of American troops and their NATO coalition colleagues is proceeding even in the absence of a peace deal between the Afghan government and the Taliban, whose harboring of Osama bin Laden'a al-Qaida network prompted the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan after 9/11.

More at: https://news.yahoo.com/us-orders-big-drawdown-kabul-180711516.html

 

[Swordsmyth]

U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said on Thursday the process of removing all contractors from Afghanistan working with the United States was under way as part of President Joe Biden’s withdrawal of forces from the country.

The remarks are the clearest indication yet that Biden’s April order to withdraw all U.S. forces from Afghanistan by Sept. 11 extended to U.S.-funded contractors.

Asked whether the Pentagon had issued orders to withdraw not just American troops but also contractors, Austin said: “We’re going to responsibly retrograde all of our capabilities that we are responsible for and the contractors fall in that realm as well.”

Austin said the drawdown was going according to plan so far.

More at: https://news.whatfinger.com/2021/05/06/pentagon-chief-says-removal/

Without Trump this would not have happened.

 

[acptulsa]

Without Trump this would not have happened.

Opinions like this are like hemorrhoids. They don't prove anything. They don't accomplish anything. They don't mean anything. But every asshole develops one nonetheless, sooner or later.

 

[Firestarter]

If only lying Donald would still be in the White House, maybe he would have kept one of his promises for a change...

and the US troops would already be "home" (or sent to some other Asian country?)...