The disastrous evacuation and collapse in August 2021 was not due to Biden or Trump, but rooted in mistakes stretching back to the Bush era.
The rapid victory in late 2001 meant that the new Afghan government inherited a mess of a nation ravaged by 25 years of Soviet invasion, civil war and Taliban rule. A proposed “Marshall Plan” to fund a large reconstruction of Afghan society was scrapped when the funds were reallocated to the 2003 Invasion of Iraq (which set off another calamity in itself).
The young interim Afghan government was immediately plagued with nepotism and corruption, which later split amongst warlord lines. As the war dragged on, the Afghan government became increasingly dependent on American support, while also losing legitimacy amongst the Afghan population.
By the time Trump signed the 2020 Peace Treaty with the Taliban, the Afghan government was a hollow shell of itself. What happened in August 2021 was at that point, all but inevitable.
From 1979 to 1989, 180,000 soldiers on both sides died in the Soviet invasion, half Mujahideen and the other half Soviet and Afghan government forces. 1,500,000 Afghan civilians died in the Soviet invasion, of which 200,000 were killed by some of the ten million landmines scattered around the country.
Over 50,000 died in the Afghan Civil War. Concrete estimates for deaths under Taliban rule are harder to gauge, but run in the tens of thousands at a conservative estimate.
200,000 died between 2001 and 2021, of which 50,000 were Afghan civilians, and 80,000 Taliban fighters. Of the 70,000 dead anti-Taliban forces, 95% were Afghan Security Forces and 3,500 were from NATO.
Now it’s just drones and human remnants
Babe wake up, u/Iron_Calvary posted another war photo thread.
#12
Afaik Blackhawks don’t have any missiles they could fire at this angle.
If anything it’s a tracer round.
I’ve never seen those pictures before, with a couple of exceptions, thanks for sharing!
The soviets killed 1.5 million Afghans and people still claim that Americans are the real imperialists.
Afghanistan: the wheel on which empires are broken
graveyard of empires.
I was on active duty US Army from 99-06
The Soviet invasion of Afghanistan seemed so long ago during the start of the US invasion of Afghanistan when I was 20
But more time has passed since the start of the US invasion to now than had passed from the start of the Soviet invasion up until the US invasion
Now that I’m in my 40s, by comparison it feels strange that the US invasion doesn’t feel like it was that long ago
Keep in mind the 30k Russians killed is the *released* numbers from Soviet Russia – they had (and still *have*) a vested interest in hiding the true numbers of dead / injured in their wars.
IF it was 30k *truly* – then the Ukraine War numbers are *fucking insane* for them to continue the way they are.
Who took these photos?? I have Lynsey Addario’s collection but these are insane in comparison
The Unknown Soldat video has stuck with me for 20 years or something 😀
Unless it’s a representation of bombs being dropped by B52’s. I don’t recall slide 9 being an actual photo over Afghanistan.
15 comments
The disastrous evacuation and collapse in August 2021 was not due to Biden or Trump, but rooted in mistakes stretching back to the Bush era.
The rapid victory in late 2001 meant that the new Afghan government inherited a mess of a nation ravaged by 25 years of Soviet invasion, civil war and Taliban rule. A proposed “Marshall Plan” to fund a large reconstruction of Afghan society was scrapped when the funds were reallocated to the 2003 Invasion of Iraq (which set off another calamity in itself).
The young interim Afghan government was immediately plagued with nepotism and corruption, which later split amongst warlord lines. As the war dragged on, the Afghan government became increasingly dependent on American support, while also losing legitimacy amongst the Afghan population.
By the time Trump signed the 2020 Peace Treaty with the Taliban, the Afghan government was a hollow shell of itself. What happened in August 2021 was at that point, all but inevitable.
From 1979 to 1989, 180,000 soldiers on both sides died in the Soviet invasion, half Mujahideen and the other half Soviet and Afghan government forces. 1,500,000 Afghan civilians died in the Soviet invasion, of which 200,000 were killed by some of the ten million landmines scattered around the country.
Over 50,000 died in the Afghan Civil War. Concrete estimates for deaths under Taliban rule are harder to gauge, but run in the tens of thousands at a conservative estimate.
200,000 died between 2001 and 2021, of which 50,000 were Afghan civilians, and 80,000 Taliban fighters. Of the 70,000 dead anti-Taliban forces, 95% were Afghan Security Forces and 3,500 were from NATO.
Now it’s just drones and human remnants
Babe wake up, u/Iron_Calvary posted another war photo thread.
#12
Afaik Blackhawks don’t have any missiles they could fire at this angle.
If anything it’s a tracer round.
I’ve never seen those pictures before, with a couple of exceptions, thanks for sharing!
The soviets killed 1.5 million Afghans and people still claim that Americans are the real imperialists.
Afghanistan: the wheel on which empires are broken
graveyard of empires.
I was on active duty US Army from 99-06
The Soviet invasion of Afghanistan seemed so long ago during the start of the US invasion of Afghanistan when I was 20
But more time has passed since the start of the US invasion to now than had passed from the start of the Soviet invasion up until the US invasion
Now that I’m in my 40s, by comparison it feels strange that the US invasion doesn’t feel like it was that long ago
Keep in mind the 30k Russians killed is the *released* numbers from Soviet Russia – they had (and still *have*) a vested interest in hiding the true numbers of dead / injured in their wars.
IF it was 30k *truly* – then the Ukraine War numbers are *fucking insane* for them to continue the way they are.
Who took these photos?? I have Lynsey Addario’s collection but these are insane in comparison
The Unknown Soldat video has stuck with me for 20 years or something 😀
Unless it’s a representation of bombs being dropped by B52’s. I don’t recall slide 9 being an actual photo over Afghanistan.
These photographs are amazing.
Is that jamsheeds dad in the second pic?
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