Everyone I see chasing and trying to board the planes in Kabul are young, healthy looking men.

[MoonRiver]

Why the hell weren't they fighting the Taliban for the last 9 days, instead of folding and expecting US to save them again?

Hope this doesn't offend, but it's how I see things right now.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

1. If they were members of the army, it's because they weren't getting paid.

[BeyondGeography]

11. Or fed

If they were out in the field. The Taliban had made a sport for months out of intercepting food deliveries.

[The Blue Flower]

2. I had the same thought

Crowds of men running after planes to escape instead of organizing to defend their loved ones.

[MaryMagdaline]

3. They don't want to die. I'm not going to shame them.

[lark]

4. I will.

They don't want to die and don't care if the women die - they are a big part of what's wrong with Afghanistan and why we should have left 20 years ago. It was always our show and they never invested their hearts or minds - just played soliders for $$$ and folded like a cheap suit the 2nd the US is going away.

[obamanut2012]

10. I will

None of them have a mom, sister, aunt, wife, daughter, niece to save? No female coworkers? None?

[Nexus2]

13. If they were soldiers, they were likely unpaid, badly fed, possibly underfed and far from those they

truly cared for in their home region/village. If they were civilians they were under or armed, terrified and facing a heavily, motived military force with a fierce and brutal reputation.

[Celerity]

17. agreed, lots of keyboard commandos on here lately with fantasyland projections

the corrupt, gutless Afghan central government folded like a house of cards and ran, denied so much equipment, ammunition, etc to the army (MSNBC has covered that a lot the last couple of days)

[HAB911]

5. My wife noted: No women in the group

[we can do it]

6. Why are we always worried about offending young healthy men?

The rest of us be damned.

[North Shore Chicago]

16. You rock!

Yes, damned women are indeed. And if I may add, right here in the good 'ol US of A, republican men would love to be able to shackle ALL the rights female have bled for these many years. They have made quite the dent in it in red states.

Look right here in our backyard.

[JoanofArgh]

7. There was an article in the New Yorker

that I’ll post when I have time. The reporter interviewed an Afghani commander who said they had a lot of problems recruiting young men because they didn’t want to leave home for that long of a time. It was an excellent article written some months ago and I’ll post it when I get home.

[Nexus2]

12. Thank you.

It really seems like a good portion of this debacle was cause a serious lack of understanding of the culture of the region as well as corruption and the lack of inexperience of Afghan army. And the major hit to its morale from recent events.

[JoanofArgh]

15. Yeah , the commander also said that they

weretrying to work with the local tribal chieftain . This chieftain hated the Taliban but also didn’t recognize the government in Kabul and set his own rules. The guy was also a rapist , murderer, torturer and extortionist. Afghanistan is complicated.

[obamanut2012]

8. I had the same thought

100% correct.

[pwb]

9. Sounds like a staged event to me.

The cable media and pukes are busy making stories. Look just like Vietnam. Come on.

[Bev54]

22. I am thinking the same thing, after the media showed people waiting

patiently to get on a transport, after that it was chaos. I would not be surprised if there is some Putin money behind that chaos.

[smirkymonkey]

14. Because they are cowards.

Where are the women and children? Why aren't they defending them and trying to get THEM out of the country? They will suffer much more under the Taliban than any man would. Sickening.

This nation deserves to collapase.

[boston bean]

18. So true moon river. I made similar post after your. Not noticing you had

Already posted!

[MoonRiver]

19. This needs to be repeated bean! Glad you also posted!

[2naSalit]

20. Some reasons that come to mind...

Whether they are real or not is the question. I can see that a reason this whole operation failed was lack of interest in the cultures of the region. We went there intending to create a mini-me looking armed force not recognizing that we should have helped build an armed force that looks like the Afghanis. You can't just march into a foreign country and recreate its indigenous culture without a shitload of opposition and success is rarely achieved.

They didn't want this war, we did. They want to be safe from the shitstorm we created which further endangers them beyond what they would have been if we never showed up.

Foisting our cultural norms on other cultures is a bad idea at any time.

[Treefrog]

21. Most women aren't stupid enough to chase a moving aircraft.

Puts me in mind of dogs and cars.

[BannonsLiver]

23. Because they're cowards.

[hatrack]

24. I've seen this movie before . . .