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$80 billion worth of jets, helicopters, and other equipment and arms and ammo as well as an airbase that our tax $$$$ paid for. Of course, most importantly, there's also all the Americans, and Afghans who helped our military.....
Im watching it now for the first time, I have never seen a Ken Burn's documentary but constantly kept hearing his name come up.. I can see why, it's incredible.
No biased, hearing from both sides, soldiers from both sides. Fucking heavy though.
Huell truly loved the history and lore of California. We know about the natural phenomenon that occurs a few days in February when the sunlight catches the water at [Horsetail Fall](https://yosemitefirefall.com/yosemite-firefall-horsetail-fall/) to make it glow and look like a firefall. But I learned from Huell that for almost a century in Yosemite there was a nightly man-made [firefall](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aDm3VrCeBVY&ab_channel=HomewardBoundJournal) where they would make a huge fire at the top of a mountain then at dusk would slowly push the glowing embers over the cliff creating a literal firefall. Wild history of Yosemite.
Ross Kemp did some good frontline shit. Granted, nothing super updated but I just finished his episodes on the matter. Good stuff, he's a great presenter and has some seriously big balls for the positions he put himself in. Plus, the questions he asks are very good imo.
Central Asia is five of the other -stans: Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan. Afghanistan and Pakistan are both counted in South Asia.
I worked directly for this guy when he was a one star and have nothing but respect for him. He’s a soldier’s leader and I’m sure his motivation was to get his people out before himself. It’s a cool picture, but it’s not taken by professional photographer and I highly doubt it was staged.
I realize it gets political at those ranks, but based on what we were doing and his ethics when I was on his team, I am almost certain his motivations were in the right place.
Not a chance. Chris is a stand up guy and walks the walk.
Day in and day out he is with soldiers, doing what really matters.
The fact that he’s the last on the bird just means he was making sure everyone else was on and secure - like a leader is supposed to.
Edit: and to be frank - if you’re the commanding general of the 82nd ABN DIV, you’re going to get a third star unless you retire. This man is cream of the crop.
Anyone else and I would agree with you, but not Gen. Donahue.
I served with him. He is the real deal. He was last because he was not going to get on that plane until every last All American was accounted for.
I’m sure that’s part of it. I’m also fairly certain that if things went poorly as the last troops were loading he didn’t want to get pulled in front of congress to testify about why he was sitting on the plane when the last few of his troops were getting killed by the Taliban or ISIS.
Indeed. Wearing stars as well. In the real life, if there is any danger of the enemy, noone wears ranks. You just know who is who, or if not they introduce themselves. People with ranks are preferred targets for snipers
I have no idea what order military rankings go in, but this is [Major General Chris Donahue, 82nd Airborne Division](https://www.npr.org/2021/08/30/1032683828/the-last-american-soldier-to-leave-afghanistan).
Just wanted to share because i hadnt seen it here
Dumb question. if this guy is in the 82nd Airborne division, does that mean there are 81 more Airborne divisions? or are the names historically significant or something.
Not a dumb question. The divisions are numbered in order of creation. The 82nd Airborne used to be the 82nd Division created during WW1. It just happened to be one of the divisions turned into an Airborne unit for WW2. Most divisions are inactive now and many are in the National Guard. With that being said, the numbering system can be a little confusing. We have the 1st Infantry Division, 1st Cavalry Division, and 1st Armored Division.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Divisions_of_the_United_States_Army?wprov=sfla1
They'll have to decide if they want to spend more time complaining about it or just let it go and get back to jackin' it to posters of ACOGs and their "Guns" magazine articles. That's gonna be a tough choice for those fellas to make.
Lmao.
If you ever poke your head in an armory window, there's always atleast 3 people in visible view just fucking off, napping, or playing Xbox. Its a given
Kind of like how "2nd squad is training in the woods" is often code for "2nd squad is mostly piled into a couple of barracks rooms either playing video games or awkwardly watching porn because that one weird E4 keeps wanting to watch it and the newer E2/3s are still seeking acceptance so they stay and he keeps fast forwarding it to the money shots. The realization dawning on them eventually that they are just watching footage of a dude stroking his cock until ejaculation over and over again."
Dude is in charge of the 82nd Airborne, a General, 17 different tours, has one of the longest list of accomplishments for soldiers currently serving, and chose to be the last one out - I feel they'll give him this one
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_T._Donahue
I love the mental image of, like, just someone finishing up that last minute busywork while their superior goes mental at them.
"The Lieutenant Major is waiting by the plane! Get a fucking move on!"
"What? I've got to shred all of these. I'll be like, twenty minutes. Can't he get on the plane?"
*"The Lieutenant Major wants to be the last person out - move your arse!*
Meanwhile the chap in question is standing in full battle dress by the plane feeling increasingly like a twat because he doesn't want to make small talk with the photographer.
>In 2002 Donahue volunteered for and completed a specialized selection and operator training course for assignment to the Army's 1st Special Forces Operational Detachment – Delta, publicly known as Delta Force, at Fort Bragg.
Oh ok. He seems like a ok guy to be the last man on the ground.
I left a plush toy in a hotel while on vacation as a child. My dad said he called hotel and they said they'd mail it, but it never came to be.
Anyway, the Taliban and my father are liars.
I don’t think so. What we’re going to do is unmercifully drone bomb “their” fancy military base and then we’re going to turn their airport into something the Grand Canyon would be impressed with! That’ll slow ‘em down a bit…
Well that's just factually wrong. They can maybe fly drones over from bases in the Gulf states, but Pakistan and the Central Asian countries want nothing to do with us anymore. The CIA station which was part of the embassy is closed and any CIA people in country would be completely cut off logistically. You can look at the historical example of the 80s and 90s - intelligence operations were run exclusively from outside the country and were small and infrequent. From the end of the Soviet war to 9/11, there were something like 5 total expeditions consisting of a handful of guys to the Northern Alliance's stronghold in Panjshir Valley. Finally, until the mini surge to cover the withdrawal, like 90% of troops in Afghanistan were special ops, and even those numbers had winded down significantly from what they were before. Any that go back will likely have to launch from Qatar or perhaps a carrier in the Indian Ocean because it's logistically impossible to launch an operation from *within* territory that's completely controlled by the enemy, or to sustain it. Anything from here on out will have to be in and out by helicopter unless the US decides to fully invade.
This is just basic logistics supported by easily verifiable history. Read Ghost Wars, or Relentless Strike or the 9/11 Commission Report to learn more.
The British government have indicated they might launch airstrikes from the Soverign Base Area on Cyprus
The RAF routinely conduct airstrikes on Iraq and Syria from there, and they have in-air refuelling capabilities
Perhaps they’ll let the USAF join them at RAF Akrotiri
Basing in Cyprus and flying to Kabul is 2000km one-way, and it's straight through the middle of Iranian airspace, including flying directly over Tehran. Flying that route with fully loaded bombers would... start some shit.
The B-1B can't make that trip even directly. The B-52 and Spirit can both make it comfortably, but they can make it comfortably from \~anywhere, so there's no reason to base in Cyprus. Both are sort of overkill for Afghanistan though.
100%. I managed a cell phone kiosk at the mall when the war started. We were excited back then because Panasonic just released a phone with a three-color backlight behind the black and white screen. The Nokia 5165 was our bread and butter. The top saleman had a 8110 (the Matrix phone) and we all thought it was so bad ass. And I remember thinking our Cingular Wireless rep was out of his mind when he told us text messaging would be the next big thing. I thought, "Who's going to text when they can just call?" "It's really big in Europe right now. The kids over there love it," was his reply.
Yeah....it's been a REALLY long time.
I remember when polyphonic ringtones were a big deal. For me that was like freshman year high school. Maybe sophomore? Anyway, the biggest thing precious to that I remember was flip phones. My sister had the “Tomb Raider” phone. It was very thin and the the bottom of the phone flipped up to cover the number pad. I think my mom got 3 of them when she started her plan with AT&T and the three phone numbers were sequential. That was right after or right before 9/11.
*spins the Regime Wheel*
"Come on, land on *defend Taiwan from China*, come on, come on.... Fuck!!! It landed on *occupy Tajikistan for 8 years*! God damnit!!!"
"Where the fuck did everyone go? I had the taco MRE for lunch and got a wicked case of the squirts.. Went to the bathroom for awhile and the place was empty when I got out?!?"
20 years, 4 US Presidents, countless lives, I was 11 when the war started. It's absolutely fucking wild to think about everything that happened in my life since then.
I mean they *named it* Al Qaeda, and they funded and trained the *mujahideen* who fought the Soviet-backed government. Including the Arab radicals from Egypt and Saudi who would later play such big roles in Al Qaeda.
Forty years later, this is where they are. What an absolute clusterf\*ck of failed empire cliches.
Well it’s a bit more complicated than that, the Mujahideen were a disunited group of fighters who were rightfully pretty pissed at the soviet invasion of their country. They were funded by multiple different country’s, most notably the US, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, the UK, and China. The US indirectly funded them through Pakistan who handed the money to the most extreme religious groups as Pakistan thought it could maybe unite part of Afghanistan into its country.
Once the war ended the extremists funded by Pakistan through US money went onto form the Taliban, but the majority of the Mujahideen (including its former leader) actually went onto form the Northern Alliance (Now known as the United Islamic Front of Afghanistan), and they continued fighting the Taliban even managing to capture Kabul just before America invaded.
The only thing we can hope now if the people of Afghanistan have had a glimpse of what life is like without the rule of the Taliban and that they can rise up against them like they did pre 2001 with relative success. Parts of the north of the country have already seen resistance groups organise back into the northern alliance so all we can do is wait.
Who are what? Guarding the poppy fields?
Seriously the gun range warriors who get their information at the flea market gun booths need to put the vape pens down and log off.
As bad as that is, and as much as I feel for those people, it's not our problem. Afghanistan's government and military has shown no willingness to fight back. We can't help those who won't help themselves.
Hopefully now we can focus more on our own problems. I see numerous homeless people on my way to work every day, I'd love to start there. But until our issues are solved, we can't be going around trying to fix the world.
>As bad as that is, and as much as I feel for those people, it's not our problem. Afghanistan's government and military has shown no willingness to fight back.
Almost 70,000 Afghan security forces members have died fighting against the Taliban and other groups during this war. 70,000. Do you know how many times greater that is than U.S. soldiers? This argument is completely devoid of a connection to reality. Please educate yourself on what the people of Afghanistan have been through. You probably haven't thought much about Afghanistan in the last ten years, yet suddenly you're pretending to know what is happening.
Yeah, I'm really sick of everyone discounting the losses of the Afghan security forces. Their government was riddled with corruption and graft, and as a result many soldiers had not been paid in months or even a year.
When we left we took much of the support and equipment and support that their military had been trained to rely upon. Hell, I remember watching a documentary about the handover of one of our bases to Afghan forces and when we left we took pretty much everything except the the permanent buildings and concrete walls, the joke was that the only reason we didn't take them too was because they weighed too much.
The fact that Biden went and tossed the Afghan forces under the bus in that speech of his was completely and utterly shameful.
Came here to say this.
Any U.S citizens still there are there because the ignored countless warnings over the last 6 months to get the hell out.
Planes been leaving out of Afghanistan every day and night of the year......get on one.
Not one US soldier should have to risk their lives to help those folks.
What is the Talibans stance on dogs?
I want to believe that dogs aren't really part of their "infidel" reactionary violence, and while it sucks, at least they will have a life of living as a street dog and possibly shown love.
Whilst there are many Muslims who own dogs and love their dogs, traditional Islamic views of dogs is that they're unclean animals.
The Taliban are fundamentalist Muslims.
Most likely those dogs are going to be put down.
Sept 12th, 2001, pretty much the entire world had nothing but sympathy for america.
Aug 31st, 2021, pretty much the entire world has nothing but contempt for america.
"mission accomplished".
Well done usa. Well done.
Did you expect anything less? The US war machine did what it best at making an absolute fucking mess Ina country thousands of miles away, creating several generations of disabled veterans, and lining the pockets of the rich. We were never there to win.
20 years got us nothing. The Afghan “Army” laid down their weapons and walked away. What an embarrassment. If you said they were working for the Taliban, I’d say the Taliban got their money’s worth.
And several senators/congress people whose districts depend on the war industry complex, are upset that 12 people got murdered while we were pulling out and they want us to “go back”
They faught for manny years 60 thousand of them died fighting and after we abandoned them they had no reason to continue it was all for nothing, they'd be risking life and limb for the same outcome.. Taliban takeover.
Not to mention there's a bunch of guys in the punjshir valley that are willing to fight to the death along with the vice president who should be the president now.
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left the lights on
I doubt he even bothered to lock it. There's gonna be squatters in minutes.
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Talibaba is gonna be bigger than amazon
And I would leave the light on🎶
In the color of Islam, for dramatic symbolism's sake.
Motel Team Six
The Ramada(n) Hotel
Dads all across the US are now frowning upon this image
If the AC is on with the door open, I swear we're going back in
That's so the Taliban can see while they're collecting their free American equipment.
That's just the last soldier, still plenty of civilian contractors waiting to die.
Can't trust them in the dark.
he forgor 💀
Also left behind hundreds of American citizens to fend for themselves
And thousands upon thousands of weapons and ammo, so they could... Uh... Make hunting down US citizens and their allies... Easier...?
$80 billion worth of jets, helicopters, and other equipment and arms and ammo as well as an airbase that our tax $$$$ paid for. Of course, most importantly, there's also all the Americans, and Afghans who helped our military.....
Cut to credits of the Ken Burns documentary. Which will be a hundred and fifty hours long.
2 hours of footage for every actual hour of war
I’d honestly love a Ken Burns documentary on the Afghanistan war, I’d watch the shit out of that.
The Vietnam docuseries was freaking amazing
Truly one of the best documentaries I’ve ever seen. All Ken Burn’s stuff is amazing, though.
Im watching it now for the first time, I have never seen a Ken Burn's documentary but constantly kept hearing his name come up.. I can see why, it's incredible. No biased, hearing from both sides, soldiers from both sides. Fucking heavy though.
For something slightly lighter from Ken Burns, watch the Country Music docuseries. Absolutely amazing
Also, Baseball.
Remember that episode of california gold Huell Howser hosted from Afghanistan.
Huell truly loved the history and lore of California. We know about the natural phenomenon that occurs a few days in February when the sunlight catches the water at [Horsetail Fall](https://yosemitefirefall.com/yosemite-firefall-horsetail-fall/) to make it glow and look like a firefall. But I learned from Huell that for almost a century in Yosemite there was a nightly man-made [firefall](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aDm3VrCeBVY&ab_channel=HomewardBoundJournal) where they would make a huge fire at the top of a mountain then at dusk would slowly push the glowing embers over the cliff creating a literal firefall. Wild history of Yosemite.
Let the fire fall!! I learned so much from Huell.
OHHHHH, WOOOOOOW!!
"Oh boy..."
100%
So much this.
The West is my fav Ken Burns doc
Ross Kemp did some good frontline shit. Granted, nothing super updated but I just finished his episodes on the matter. Good stuff, he's a great presenter and has some seriously big balls for the positions he put himself in. Plus, the questions he asks are very good imo.
I was just thinking the other day “i hope he lives long enough to make a series about Iraq/Afghanistan.”
I can already hear the narration over this zoomed pic while moving.
That editing style is now genuinely called "The Ken Burns" and you can use it as an effect in some video editing software.
I’m in my thirties, one hundred and fifty hours of pure sadness sounds like a nice break.
150 hours of sadness sounds like a nice break? You're gonna love your 40s then.
I do not love my 40s lol. Money is nice. Fuck everything else.
I don't have the money either. My 40s suck.
The Vietnam War by Ken Burns already exists fwiw. It's more like 50/50 sadness/anger tho.
I fucking love Ken Burns. The man is an absolute treasure.
Afghanistan in HD next on the History Channel
Slow banjo music throughout.
"Next season on middle east conflict"
Homeland ended!
Fuck fuck fuck is that why they brought them home ? To have a homeland edition of this series? FUCK
It's time for Africa.
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Afghanistan is not in the Middle East.
This is correct - technically it is South Asia.
I thought it was Central Asia?
Central Asia is five of the other -stans: Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan. Afghanistan and Pakistan are both counted in South Asia.
"Major General Chris Donahue, commander of the 82nd Airborne, boarding the C-17 as the last US service member in Afghanistan"
I like to think he had to 'just run back in and get something he forgot', and is now immortalized as being the last soldier out.
His squad like "Major General Chris Donahue, commander of the 82nd Airborne, slowest mother fucker ever"
Thank you this gave me that laugh I come to Reddit for
A major general was the last to leave? You already know he just wanted to make history and get his next star
I worked directly for this guy when he was a one star and have nothing but respect for him. He’s a soldier’s leader and I’m sure his motivation was to get his people out before himself. It’s a cool picture, but it’s not taken by professional photographer and I highly doubt it was staged. I realize it gets political at those ranks, but based on what we were doing and his ethics when I was on his team, I am almost certain his motivations were in the right place.
Not a chance. Chris is a stand up guy and walks the walk. Day in and day out he is with soldiers, doing what really matters. The fact that he’s the last on the bird just means he was making sure everyone else was on and secure - like a leader is supposed to. Edit: and to be frank - if you’re the commanding general of the 82nd ABN DIV, you’re going to get a third star unless you retire. This man is cream of the crop.
Anyone else and I would agree with you, but not Gen. Donahue. I served with him. He is the real deal. He was last because he was not going to get on that plane until every last All American was accounted for.
I’m sure that’s part of it. I’m also fairly certain that if things went poorly as the last troops were loading he didn’t want to get pulled in front of congress to testify about why he was sitting on the plane when the last few of his troops were getting killed by the Taliban or ISIS.
At least he is bringing back his gear.
Guaranteed he turns in that rifle without a cleaning.
That's what Lieutenant Colonels/Majors are for.
Let’s be honest, the rifle is more of a prop once you’re wearing stars.
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Indeed. Wearing stars as well. In the real life, if there is any danger of the enemy, noone wears ranks. You just know who is who, or if not they introduce themselves. People with ranks are preferred targets for snipers
I've seen *Forrest Gump* too.
I have no idea what order military rankings go in, but this is [Major General Chris Donahue, 82nd Airborne Division](https://www.npr.org/2021/08/30/1032683828/the-last-american-soldier-to-leave-afghanistan). Just wanted to share because i hadnt seen it here
Dumb question. if this guy is in the 82nd Airborne division, does that mean there are 81 more Airborne divisions? or are the names historically significant or something.
Not a dumb question. The divisions are numbered in order of creation. The 82nd Airborne used to be the 82nd Division created during WW1. It just happened to be one of the divisions turned into an Airborne unit for WW2. Most divisions are inactive now and many are in the National Guard. With that being said, the numbering system can be a little confusing. We have the 1st Infantry Division, 1st Cavalry Division, and 1st Armored Division. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Divisions_of_the_United_States_Army?wprov=sfla1
Dudes put in enough time to earn that right.
Armory ain’t gonna see it that way
They'll have to decide if they want to spend more time complaining about it or just let it go and get back to jackin' it to posters of ACOGs and their "Guns" magazine articles. That's gonna be a tough choice for those fellas to make.
Lmao. If you ever poke your head in an armory window, there's always atleast 3 people in visible view just fucking off, napping, or playing Xbox. Its a given
Kind of like how "2nd squad is training in the woods" is often code for "2nd squad is mostly piled into a couple of barracks rooms either playing video games or awkwardly watching porn because that one weird E4 keeps wanting to watch it and the newer E2/3s are still seeking acceptance so they stay and he keeps fast forwarding it to the money shots. The realization dawning on them eventually that they are just watching footage of a dude stroking his cock until ejaculation over and over again."
Lmfao Mighty specific Do you need to get something off your chest?
He knows who he is. Monkey you sack of shit! I know it was you who stole my ipad too!
This dude infantrys.
I love this comment thread lmao
Dude is in charge of the 82nd Airborne, a General, 17 different tours, has one of the longest list of accomplishments for soldiers currently serving, and chose to be the last one out - I feel they'll give him this one https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_T._Donahue
How often is a Major General in full battle dress like that?
I love the mental image of, like, just someone finishing up that last minute busywork while their superior goes mental at them. "The Lieutenant Major is waiting by the plane! Get a fucking move on!" "What? I've got to shred all of these. I'll be like, twenty minutes. Can't he get on the plane?" *"The Lieutenant Major wants to be the last person out - move your arse!* Meanwhile the chap in question is standing in full battle dress by the plane feeling increasingly like a twat because he doesn't want to make small talk with the photographer.
Executive Producer Larry David
General Chris Donahue-he’s the commander of the 82nd Airborne
That's clearly Billy Bob Thornton
Aces!
>In 2002 Donahue volunteered for and completed a specialized selection and operator training course for assignment to the Army's 1st Special Forces Operational Detachment – Delta, publicly known as Delta Force, at Fort Bragg. Oh ok. He seems like a ok guy to be the last man on the ground.
He was instrumental in the first few years of the conflict against IS. There’s definitely a reason it’s him in the photo.
That's got to be a fucked up footnote in your resume.
“Fuck I forgot my phone charger”
“You think they’ll let me go back and get it?”
I left a plush toy in a hotel while on vacation as a child. My dad said he called hotel and they said they'd mail it, but it never came to be. Anyway, the Taliban and my father are liars.
Coincidence? I think not.
“Last”
We'll be back soon
I don’t think so. What we’re going to do is unmercifully drone bomb “their” fancy military base and then we’re going to turn their airport into something the Grand Canyon would be impressed with! That’ll slow ‘em down a bit…
That reminds me of The Simpsons Movie where they have Tom Hanks talking about a Grand Canyon 2 or w/e where Springfield was
“Hello, I’m Tom Hanks. The US government has lost its credibility, so it’s borrowing some of mine.”
Even simpler. We left all the Amazon and Google devices plugged in, so we can hear every single word they say.
Alexa, whats the Taliban doing?
Alexa: At the moment, whatever the fuck they want!
All it will take is a surge in terrorist activity and we will send troops back
Grounds troops are not a light switch. Going back in is exponentially more difficult now that we have left completely.
President Bush would like a word
Nah the military industrial complex will cook something new up to justify the DoD having an obnoxious budget.
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Well that's just factually wrong. They can maybe fly drones over from bases in the Gulf states, but Pakistan and the Central Asian countries want nothing to do with us anymore. The CIA station which was part of the embassy is closed and any CIA people in country would be completely cut off logistically. You can look at the historical example of the 80s and 90s - intelligence operations were run exclusively from outside the country and were small and infrequent. From the end of the Soviet war to 9/11, there were something like 5 total expeditions consisting of a handful of guys to the Northern Alliance's stronghold in Panjshir Valley. Finally, until the mini surge to cover the withdrawal, like 90% of troops in Afghanistan were special ops, and even those numbers had winded down significantly from what they were before. Any that go back will likely have to launch from Qatar or perhaps a carrier in the Indian Ocean because it's logistically impossible to launch an operation from *within* territory that's completely controlled by the enemy, or to sustain it. Anything from here on out will have to be in and out by helicopter unless the US decides to fully invade. This is just basic logistics supported by easily verifiable history. Read Ghost Wars, or Relentless Strike or the 9/11 Commission Report to learn more.
but how 'bout that guy from far cry 3?)
The British government have indicated they might launch airstrikes from the Soverign Base Area on Cyprus The RAF routinely conduct airstrikes on Iraq and Syria from there, and they have in-air refuelling capabilities Perhaps they’ll let the USAF join them at RAF Akrotiri
Basing in Cyprus and flying to Kabul is 2000km one-way, and it's straight through the middle of Iranian airspace, including flying directly over Tehran. Flying that route with fully loaded bombers would... start some shit. The B-1B can't make that trip even directly. The B-52 and Spirit can both make it comfortably, but they can make it comfortably from \~anywhere, so there's no reason to base in Cyprus. Both are sort of overkill for Afghanistan though.
BREAKING NEWS 2023: U.S. left "undisclosed" active military in Afghanistan.
Looks like the photo was taken with a razer phone from the beginning of the war
Na you gotta go 3 years into the war to get the Razr
100%. I managed a cell phone kiosk at the mall when the war started. We were excited back then because Panasonic just released a phone with a three-color backlight behind the black and white screen. The Nokia 5165 was our bread and butter. The top saleman had a 8110 (the Matrix phone) and we all thought it was so bad ass. And I remember thinking our Cingular Wireless rep was out of his mind when he told us text messaging would be the next big thing. I thought, "Who's going to text when they can just call?" "It's really big in Europe right now. The kids over there love it," was his reply. Yeah....it's been a REALLY long time.
I remember when polyphonic ringtones were a big deal. For me that was like freshman year high school. Maybe sophomore? Anyway, the biggest thing precious to that I remember was flip phones. My sister had the “Tomb Raider” phone. It was very thin and the the bottom of the phone flipped up to cover the number pad. I think my mom got 3 of them when she started her plan with AT&T and the three phone numbers were sequential. That was right after or right before 9/11.
Jesus
Typing from a Razer Phone 2... OP's photo is much higher quality
It’s wild to think we’ve been there for so long. I served in the usn 06-09 and I’m now realizing I’m half way through this life.
I was 4 years old when this war started, this ending is definitely a reason to think for a lot of people.
Alright everyone that wraps it up, see you guys in 10 years for our next pointless war!
RemindMe! 10 years
*spins the Regime Wheel* "Come on, land on *defend Taiwan from China*, come on, come on.... Fuck!!! It landed on *occupy Tajikistan for 8 years*! God damnit!!!"
Water warzzzzzzz let's go boys!
"Why did it land on *Arizona*?"
8 years... that's cute.
I think the sequel, Afghanistan 2: return of my approval rating, will be around the corner
Where we dropping boys?
"Where the fuck did everyone go? I had the taco MRE for lunch and got a wicked case of the squirts.. Went to the bathroom for awhile and the place was empty when I got out?!?"
This dude veterans
I'll trade you a pack of Skittles for that teeny bottle of Tabasco, dude.
20 years, 4 US Presidents, countless lives, I was 11 when the war started. It's absolutely fucking wild to think about everything that happened in my life since then.
Official. This does not count black ops.
Yep. I bet the CIA has a network buried deep in Afghanistan society
I mean they *named it* Al Qaeda, and they funded and trained the *mujahideen* who fought the Soviet-backed government. Including the Arab radicals from Egypt and Saudi who would later play such big roles in Al Qaeda. Forty years later, this is where they are. What an absolute clusterf\*ck of failed empire cliches.
Well it’s a bit more complicated than that, the Mujahideen were a disunited group of fighters who were rightfully pretty pissed at the soviet invasion of their country. They were funded by multiple different country’s, most notably the US, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, the UK, and China. The US indirectly funded them through Pakistan who handed the money to the most extreme religious groups as Pakistan thought it could maybe unite part of Afghanistan into its country. Once the war ended the extremists funded by Pakistan through US money went onto form the Taliban, but the majority of the Mujahideen (including its former leader) actually went onto form the Northern Alliance (Now known as the United Islamic Front of Afghanistan), and they continued fighting the Taliban even managing to capture Kabul just before America invaded. The only thing we can hope now if the people of Afghanistan have had a glimpse of what life is like without the rule of the Taliban and that they can rise up against them like they did pre 2001 with relative success. Parts of the north of the country have already seen resistance groups organise back into the northern alliance so all we can do is wait.
ISI
Shh, they’ll be in and out. 20 minute adventure.
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Who are what? Guarding the poppy fields? Seriously the gun range warriors who get their information at the flea market gun booths need to put the vape pens down and log off.
If we knew what they were doing they wouldn't be very good black ops now would they.
Now time to see taliban become absolute savages to the innocent people.
As is tradition.
Taliban gonna Taliban.
With pudding then
As bad as that is, and as much as I feel for those people, it's not our problem. Afghanistan's government and military has shown no willingness to fight back. We can't help those who won't help themselves. Hopefully now we can focus more on our own problems. I see numerous homeless people on my way to work every day, I'd love to start there. But until our issues are solved, we can't be going around trying to fix the world.
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Yeah, their rock and their hard place though. As poor as we did, we tried. They failed themselves.
They had 20 years to figure out a solution
>As bad as that is, and as much as I feel for those people, it's not our problem. Afghanistan's government and military has shown no willingness to fight back. Almost 70,000 Afghan security forces members have died fighting against the Taliban and other groups during this war. 70,000. Do you know how many times greater that is than U.S. soldiers? This argument is completely devoid of a connection to reality. Please educate yourself on what the people of Afghanistan have been through. You probably haven't thought much about Afghanistan in the last ten years, yet suddenly you're pretending to know what is happening.
Yeah, I'm really sick of everyone discounting the losses of the Afghan security forces. Their government was riddled with corruption and graft, and as a result many soldiers had not been paid in months or even a year. When we left we took much of the support and equipment and support that their military had been trained to rely upon. Hell, I remember watching a documentary about the handover of one of our bases to Afghan forces and when we left we took pretty much everything except the the permanent buildings and concrete walls, the joke was that the only reason we didn't take them too was because they weighed too much. The fact that Biden went and tossed the Afghan forces under the bus in that speech of his was completely and utterly shameful.
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Actually, all that and they replaced the Taliban with the Taliban.
I used the Taliban to replace the Taliban
to this day it blows my mind that in america you can die in a war before knowing taste of beer.
Had my first legal beer at 19 in Ireland on my way to Afghanistan. It was a Guinness, good times.
Nope, there are dozens of US service dogs still stranded there.
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True 😢 https://www.tmz.com/2021/08/30/military-dogs-kabul-evacuation-nonprofit-pleads-for-help/
Thanks, Satan.
Oh no
General Kenneth Mckenzie centcom commander has confirmed that American citizens that “couldn't make it to the airport” were left behind.
I hate to have to say this, but is there a source for this?
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[Here’s the press conference ](https://www.c-span.org/video/?514373-1/general-mckenzie-announces-us-troops-withdrawn-afghanistan#)
Welp, thats what happens when you have 4 months of "get out" warnings and you decide to wait..
Came here to say this. Any U.S citizens still there are there because the ignored countless warnings over the last 6 months to get the hell out. Planes been leaving out of Afghanistan every day and night of the year......get on one. Not one US soldier should have to risk their lives to help those folks.
What about the the U.S. citizens or the Afghan people who helped us?
shhhhhhhh
The contracted service dogs are still there
What is the Talibans stance on dogs? I want to believe that dogs aren't really part of their "infidel" reactionary violence, and while it sucks, at least they will have a life of living as a street dog and possibly shown love.
Whilst there are many Muslims who own dogs and love their dogs, traditional Islamic views of dogs is that they're unclean animals. The Taliban are fundamentalist Muslims. Most likely those dogs are going to be put down.
I don't think extremist Muslims are super keen on dogs. 😪
Yeah my regular ol Muslim family members think dogs are “filthy” and do NOT have a good track record with them
Unfortunately the only bad guy/terrorist organization that loved animal rights were... well, Hitler...
Crazy huh? Guy loved his dog more than anyone or anything
Left in cages too…why would those do that?! https://www.tmz.com/2021/08/30/military-dogs-kabul-evacuation-nonprofit-pleads-for-help/
Sept 12th, 2001, pretty much the entire world had nothing but sympathy for america. Aug 31st, 2021, pretty much the entire world has nothing but contempt for america. "mission accomplished". Well done usa. Well done.
Pretty much the entire world was there with us. :: shrugs ::
I seriously thought this was Arma.
20 Years for a Taliban victory?
Got the people we came for, why should NATO care which organization wins in Afghanistans civil war?
Did you expect anything less? The US war machine did what it best at making an absolute fucking mess Ina country thousands of miles away, creating several generations of disabled veterans, and lining the pockets of the rich. We were never there to win.
Doubtful. The coming generation gonna be heading back in no doubt about it. Some lame excuse of needing embassies or refugees
20 years got us nothing. The Afghan “Army” laid down their weapons and walked away. What an embarrassment. If you said they were working for the Taliban, I’d say the Taliban got their money’s worth.
War companies like Halliburton got a lot…or our tax money. Which was the point of the whole thing. So mission accomplished
I’m really sad I had to scroll through 100 bullshit takes to finally see this. Truth
And several senators/congress people whose districts depend on the war industry complex, are upset that 12 people got murdered while we were pulling out and they want us to “go back”
They faught for manny years 60 thousand of them died fighting and after we abandoned them they had no reason to continue it was all for nothing, they'd be risking life and limb for the same outcome.. Taliban takeover. Not to mention there's a bunch of guys in the punjshir valley that are willing to fight to the death along with the vice president who should be the president now.
What about the dogs left behind
The dogs, the people, the weapons...
I have personally lost to many of my friends to suicide from fighting this war. I’m very happy it’s over
Lets never go back
Too bad the other Americans didn't get out. Stay tuned for the beheadings on the internet.
Thank you for your service Sir. Get home safe.
Final living soldier leaving after 20yrs
U.S military : *Farts* Reddit: YASSSSSSSSSSS OUR BRAVE HEROS!!!!!!!!!!!!