(08-25-2021, 04:27 PM)jerry mcmasters Wrote: I'm not sure if you, the average educated civilian, know so well this was going to happen that our experts could have not conceivably also known. This was a matter of political will, not military ability. If the will was there, the tactical side of this- getting our people, civilians and Afghan allies, to safety, and then turning out the lights on the way out the door, it could have been done. These are tactical maneuvers and well within the American capability if there is the will to do so, and there was not.
So your contention is we literally could not have prevented, or at least reduced the damage of, the exact tactical situation as it currently exists? I.e., thousands of stranded Americans and Afghan allies with the US having almost no military on the ground and no islands of power (small military bases, airfields, etc.) to work from?
The obvious logistical problem with your idea is that evacuating your allies before your soldiers would have taken several months which the Taliban were not willing to grant. To hold the line and avoid panic, you would have needed to redeploy thousands of soldiers in reinforcements and it would have taken several months. Plus, during the evacuation you would have needed the help of local officials, police and translators and as those are evacuated, the system of filtration would have collapse and its not like there was a lack of potential refugees. As we speak they already number in the millions. During those months, the Taliban, now more heavily armed then ever and assured in their victory would have all the time in the world to conduct raids and terror attacks to force the population to panic, force defection and maybe kill a few more US soldiers for the kicks of it. The point is, that's how defeat looks like and the Us and its allies armies were defeated by the Taliban. Of course the end was going to look ugly no matter what. It could have been different had the US withdrawn while the Taliban were on the backfoot for example or had they actually triumphed, but they lost.
