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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsCondi comes out on Afghanistan
In an op-ed for the Washington Post, former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice argued that President Joe Biden's characterization of the Afghan fighters is "unfair."
"No they didn't choose the Taliban," she wrote. "They fought and died alongside us, helping us degrade al-Qaeda. Working with the Afghans and our allies, we gained time to build a counterterrorism presence around the world and a counterterrorism apparatus at home that has kept us safe. In the end, the Afghans couldn't hold the country without our airpower and our support. It is not surprising that Afghan security forces lost the will to fight, when the Taliban warned that the United States was deserting them and that those who resisted would see their families killed."
She went on to say that the Afghan people tried to create a modern society and build a fledgling democracy with elected leaders.
https://www.rawstory.com/condi-rice-argues-more-war/
rickford66
(5,532 posts)choie
(4,112 posts)Screw her. She was part of the whole mess.
Ocelot II
(115,985 posts)she's pretty close to the top of the list. She and Cheney and Rumsfeld caused that mess in the first place and they all need to STFU forever.
oasis
(49,484 posts)leftstreet
(36,119 posts)Hmm, all the familiar neocons suddenly can't wait to get the band back together
I suspect this has more to do with wresting their beloved GOP away from Trump and his humpers, than any real interest in what's happening in Afghanistan
oasis
(49,484 posts)She's totally incapable of keeping her stories straight.
She's going to lose money when the war machine shuts down and we stop using oil.
leftstreet
(36,119 posts)I think they renamed it, but still such bitter tears when the thing no longer has the fuel to run
JohnSJ
(92,510 posts)destabilized the balance of power and the entire Middle East
If I never hear another word from someone from the bush administration, it will be too soon
Response to JohnSJ (Original post)
Chin music This message was self-deleted by its author.
regnaD kciN
(26,045 posts)"It is not surprising that Afghan security forces lost the will to fight, when the Taliban warned that the United States was deserting them and that those who resisted would see their families killed."
And when did that happen? When the U.S. signed a crap withdrawal agreement in 2020, then pulled out all but a skeleton crew of troops before 1/20/21. Can you remind us who was president at that time?
Response to regnaD kciN (Reply #7)
Chin music This message was self-deleted by its author.
Baked Potato
(7,733 posts)Haggard Celine
(16,867 posts)She and Bolton and the rest of the neocons would have us over there forever. It should have ended a long fucking time ago, back when she was still SoS. Much of this is her fault; she's more to blame for this shit than Joe Biden, who simply had the guts to stop this gravy train for the MIC.
Response to Haggard Celine (Reply #10)
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DURHAM D
(32,617 posts)screw you
Response to DURHAM D (Reply #11)
Chin music This message was self-deleted by its author.
DinahMoeHum
(21,835 posts). . .should open their big fat yappers about Afghanistan right now, unless they were on record of having opposed it.
Johonny
(20,956 posts)If they can't hold their country against themselves without us fighting for them one wonders who really is a Afghan in this equation. Perhaps she just has a simplistic view of the people involved in this situation. In 20 years the right still doesn't know the player in the Afghanistan region.
BeckyDem
(8,361 posts)Just go away, for good.
BlueCheeseAgain
(1,654 posts)Would you fight for a corrupt government and incompetent commanders when defeat is assured? I blame the leadership that failed to give these soldiers something to really fight for.
Response to BlueCheeseAgain (Reply #16)
Chin music This message was self-deleted by its author.
Lovie777
(12,393 posts)your fucked up party don't want Black people to vote. Oh that's right, you don't care.
STFU
Carlitos Brigante
(26,513 posts)comfortably, while sending 1000s to die for your bullshit and your stock portfolio.
oasis
(49,484 posts)UpInArms
(51,291 posts)msongs
(67,498 posts)2naSalit
(86,943 posts)With the war machine shutting down and later when we stop using oil.
madaboutharry
(40,245 posts)She is a liar and a fraud.
These neocons come out of the woodwork with their opinion pieces and morning show interviews talking like its 1999.
Their audience is small.
milestogo
(16,829 posts)Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin
(108,458 posts)Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice thinks the United States needed "more time" in Afghanistan to ensure stability "and consolidate our gains against terrorism" even if 20 years felt too long to maintain a military presence.
"We have understood this before," Rice wrote in a Washington Post op-ed published Tuesday. "Technically, our longest war is not Afghanistan: It is Korea."
The Korean war ended in a stalemate, and seventy years later there are still more than 20,000 American troops in South Korea, Rice notes. While accepting that "even the sophisticated South Korean army cannot deter" North Korea on its own, Washington and Seoul were able to achieve, after several decades, "a stable equilibrium on the Korean Peninsula, a valuable South Korean ally, and a strong presence in the Indo-Pacific."
So, Rice pondered, why couldn't the same strategy be applied to Afghanistan? "Afghanistan is not South Korea," she writes. "But we might have achieved a reasonable outcome with a far smaller commitment. More time for Afghans didn't have to entail combat troops, just a core American presence for training, air support, and intelligence." Read Rice's full op-ed at The Washington Post.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/condoleezza-rice-argues-u-could-214002319.html
soryang
(3,299 posts)during the Korean War than in the entire Pacific theater during WWII. I don't know where she gets the idea the Korean situation is stable. It isn't.
underpants
(183,019 posts)Thanks for the input.
oasis
(49,484 posts)That's a brief summary of Condi's testimony before the 9/11 Commission.
stonecutter357
(12,698 posts)Celerity
(43,752 posts)Keyboard commandos gobbing on about nuking Russia and China over Crimea and Taiwan, respectively.
rockfordfile
(8,709 posts)maxsolomon
(33,461 posts)It was a rational decision to melt away and avoid a bloodbath. It's what Saddam's Army did.