Sangin Falls

[Tin basher]

Helmand will be forever part of our military history and now a few short years after we left Sangin has fallen to the Taliban. All this despite the effort and sacrifice expended on the place

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-39366111

 

[dave]

dave75

dave75

It makes a mockery of everything that was done there by us . Plus all the people that we lost or came back disabled for what has turned out to be for naff all .

 

[rocket scientist]

I can't help drawing a parallel between us leaving the defence of Afghanistan to the Afghans and the spams handing over fighting the Viet Cong to the Vietnamese. Reading accounts of US helicopter pilots where they were landing and Vietnamese troops refusing to get out of the chopper makes me wonder if they would be relying on foreign troops to help them out for ever more?

"We want you to fight our bad people for us but we don't want you here"

 

[FOMz]

Russia 'may be helping supply Taliban', says US general

Russia 'may be helping supply Taliban', says US general

The top US general in Europe warned on Thursday that Russia may now be arming the Taliban.

Army General Curtis Scaparrotti, NATO's Supreme Allied Commander, Europe, said Moscow appeared to an increasingly influential player in Afghanistan.

"I've seen the influence of Russia of late - increased influence in terms of association and perhaps even supply to the Taliban," he told a Senate hearing in Washington.

Gen Scaparrotti's comments come after a senior Pakistani military source told the Telegraph that Russia could be tempted to stage a Syria-style intervention in Afghanistan if Taliban and Isil strength continues to grow.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/03/23/taliban-captures-sangin-afghan-town-100-uk-soldiers-died/

 

[Cooheed]

For such an important topic, I think the silence on this thread speaks volumes...

 

[ninjarabbi]

For such an important topic, I think the silence on this thread speaks volumes...

I think most of us are just numb to the situation. Having worked at Headley Court and seen so many young men coming through with horrific injuries it makes you wonder if it was worth it at all. The country was an ungovernable **** hole before we went there and nothing has changed. If one government minister had actually read up on the history of that country then perhaps things might have been different or at least planned a little better.

 

[Ex-Bay]

The lessons of history have not been learned, it would seem.
Even Rudyard Kipling got it right!

 

[FOMz]

Lets not forget here dear readers.. that the Taliban are playing the long game. As soon as countries due to internal political pressures started publicly setting timelines to withdraw all troops and support, all the Taliban (and now IS) had to do was sit back and wait.

If you enter and more importantly exit with a flawed strategy, , the void is so easily filled by bad people.. look at Libya, Egypt, Iraq... the list just gets bigger as it happens time and time again.

 

[Late & Tired]

The lessons of history have not been learned, it would seem.
Even Rudyard Kipling got it right!

"Often, the main thing we learn from history, is that we never learn..."

 

[E E E E E E E E AR]

Thing is, the long-term strategy needs to be political, not military. An armed force very quickly turns from liberators to occupiers.

Don't think we've had a long-term political strategy for any of our recent conflicts.

 

[Cooheed]

All for nothing. Fallen always remembered.

 

[vim_fuego]

An area of a country where the rule is at the tribal level is not going to adjust to a more refined and Westernised state of order if the people living there don't come along on the journey...some simply watch you kick the bad guys out and make sure they don't get too involved so they may be allowed to live when the good guys feck off...