https://www.wsj.com/articles/u-s-combat-troops-will-leave-iraq-this-year-biden-says-11627326623

“We are not going to be, by the end of the year, in a combat mission,” Mr. Biden said Monday at the start of a White House meeting with Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi. The president said U.S. military forces would “be available to continue to train, to assist, to help and to deal with ISIS.”

Currently the US has around 2500 troops fighting with the Iraqi and Kurdish forces, the Peshmerga.

Some people seem to be confused about US support for the Kurds, thinking that US troops stopped supporting them when in reality the US (Trump) only pulled back US forces from the Turkish border.

In fact... far from being crushed by her neighbors, the Kurds have established energy contracts with the Syrian Gov't and received full recognition and protection from the Iraqi Gov't.

A US Withdrawal from Iraq will be a MUCH stickier affair than what is happening in Afghanistan... better make sure the DoD and State are working closely with the WH...

EDIT: to answer a question from another thread, the Kurds would NEVER evacuate their lands. No matter the circumstances, they will fight and die for their region (if that became necessary) as they've done for a loooong time.

https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2021/08/delta-has-changed-pandemic-endgame/619726/

The U.S. now faces a dispiriting dilemma. Last year, many people were content to buy time for vaccines to be developed and deployed. But vaccines are now here, uptake has plateaued, and the first surge of the vaccine era is ongoing. What, now, is the point of masking, distancing, and other precautions?

The answer, as before, is to buy time—for protecting hospitals, keeping schools open, reaching unvaccinated people, and more. Most people will meet the virus eventually; we want to ensure that as many people as possible do so with two doses of vaccine in them, and that everyone else does so over as much time as possible. The pandemic isn’t over, but it will be: The goal is still to reach the endgame with as little damage, death, and disability as possible. COVID-19 sent the world into freefall, and although vaccines have slowed our descent, we’d still be wise to steer around the trees standing between us and solid ground. “Everyone’s got pandemic fatigue—I get it,” Rivera told me. “But victory is not you as an individual getting a vaccine. It’s making sure that SARS-CoV-2 doesn’t bring us to our knees again.”

Didn't see this story... not in the first few pages at least.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/putin-rebuffed-u-s-plans-for-bases-near-afghanistan-at-summit-with-biden-11629398848

Russian President Vladimir Putin, during a June 16 summit meeting with President Biden, objected to any role for American forces in Central Asian countries, senior U.S. and Russian officials said, undercutting the U.S. military’s efforts to act against new terrorist dangers after its Afghanistan withdrawal.

Mr. Putin told Mr. Biden at their Geneva meeting, however, that Moscow was opposed to any U.S. military role in the Central Asian region and that China would reject it as well—a position a senior Russian official reiterated this week. A senior U.S. official said the Russian president emphasized the point even though Mr. Biden didn’t seek Mr. Putin’s support for positioning U.S. military or intelligence assets in the area.

“We do not see how any form of U.S. military presence in Central Asia might enhance the security of the countries involved and/or of their neighbors. It would definitely NOT be in the interests of Russia,” Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov wrote Thursday in a statement emailed to The Wall Street Journal. “This position has not changed against the backdrop of what is transpiring in Afghanistan these days.”

POTUS doesn't sit in front of a map table moving pieces around and confirming logistics.

We have people for that.

Presidents convey a theme, a message. Others pick up the message and turn it into policy and strategy.

Someone at State or DoD dropped the ball, BIG TIME.

Joe is a compassionate man who truly wanted to end this national nightmare before passing it along to another POTUS (Thanks Shrub, you fucking pos)

I'd love to be a fly on the wall for DoD meetings at the WH the last few months. But I'm 100% confident a ball was dropped... and Biden didn't drop it.

You know, facing off with the nuclear capable PRC Army?

Who gets to line up to die? Do parents approve?

My son was in the USAF.

I wouldn't approve if he were still in. He would think it's dumb.

In the 21st Century, wouldn't it be 110% more effective IF the PRC invades Taiwan, to just lock up ALL Chinese dollars in the USA and ban imports from China for a year or three?

EDIT: To add, the Taiwanese Military is highly trained and highly motivated. They're well equipped and deadly.

The American people want an end to endless wars. President Biden was 100% right when he said he wouldn't pass this quagmire to a FIFTH US POTUS.

Support for withdrawal is nearly universal except for Liz Cheney and Bill Kristol-types.

The problem today is the planning, logistics and strategy dealing with the unexpected speed of the collapse of Kabul and the ANA.

I'm hoping Joe will be handing out pink slips to the ass clowns who fucked up here...

https://apnews.com/article/europe-uzbekistan-8b12777429e935bb56c473af564e337e

An Afghan military plane was downed by Uzbekistan’s air defense system on Sunday over an attempt to illegally enter the country’s air space, Uzbek authorities said Monday.

The downing took place in southeastern Uzbekistan, in the Surkhandarya region on the border with Afghanistan.

The wheels are coming off...

https://www.stripes.com/theaters/middle_east/2021-08-16/afghanistan-evacuation-latest-news-withdrawal-2569791.html

Senior U.S. military officials say the chaos at the Kabul airport this morning left seven people dead, including some who fell from a U.S. military cargo jet.

2 armed gunmen shot by US Military at Kabul Airport

https://www.wsj.com/articles/three-killed-in-kabul-airport-as-afghans-scramble-to-escape-taliban-11629096273

Firing at aircraft continues...

https://twitter.com/RichardEngel/status/1427153990295461893?s=20
https://twitter.com/roxanasaberi/status/1427279092790005765?s=20
https://twitter.com/JasonMBrodsky/status/1427091979322675200?s=20

Can we all agree that the US has NO BUSINESS politically or militarily meddling to push a "Heritage Foundation" approved version of "Freedumb" to those who, as a majority don't want or need it? The realization that some cultures live better under Authoritarian leaders?

For example, how many died in Egypt just to trade Mubarak for al-Sisi in Egypt? Remember the protestors from the streets tossed off rooftops by the IB goons?

That's a shocker.

When analyzing vaccine hesitancy by education level, one sees a U-Shaped Curve with High School and Ph.D's highest while Master's Degree recipients have the lowest vaccine hesitancy.

But Ph.D's are even MORE hesitant than High School only grads.

Who wouldathunkit?

https://www.upmc.com/media/news/072621-king-mejia-vaccine-hesitancy