Quote:
Originally Posted by GrumpyOldMan
Thank you, and to add to your excellent reply, we TOLD them we were getting out in May. That was the agreement we made. Then for whatever reason, we delayed the departure until now. That would emphasize your point of people hearing but not believing. I expect (I do not know) that the pull-out was delayed to better prepare for the exit.
And, also, I EXPECT/THINK the plan was to trust the Afgan military to hold for at least a few weeks or months so we could transfer security to them as we pulled out. What appears to have happened is the Taliban told the Afgan military, stand down and accept a bribe or die. And they chose to stand down. At least that is what appears to have happened. If so, yes, it was a serious mistake to trust them - I don't know what we did, if we did. It is just conjecture on my part.
|
I question why we did NOT wait until the WINTER to start to pull out. For some reason (?) the Taliban likes to go back home (to outlying areas, I suppose) for the winter and prefers to fight in the summer. It could be because the mountain passes and roads are not functional in WINTER? I do not KNOW for sure and would like some Afghanistan veteran to straighten me out on this score.