So what if Trump was in charge? ** Title edited by GNHQ**

Nobody has ever got anywhere in Afghanistan, surely only the Chinese are left now to have a go.
I don't see how Biden is going to do anything about the bomb that has gone off, didn't the bomber blow himself up? How would he hunt down the organisers.

To revert to the OP.

I think that Trump was completely stitched up by the Taliban. What was the US to get out of the deal? The Taliban got loads. Their prisoners released and plenty of time to consolidate their hold. He just wanted to be the president who 'Brought our boys home' with no thought at all about how it was achieved. I doubt if he would have made any effort to protect or bring out the Afghans who had been working for the US.

What Biden has done is bad, but Trump would have been much worse.

Well we don't know that, do we, MaizieD?

It's an impossible question.

However Biden did change the date for leaving. He wanted this 9/11 date to be his moment of glory for getting the soldiers home. But it's all gone terribly wrong and he's made an horrendous mistake.

I would assume Trump would have handled things differently. Better or worse? Nobody knows.

But I can't see how it could possibly have been any worse than this

I just wish that, when Biden first spoke about what had happened he had spoken with more compassion about the Afghan people that were affected. He did modify his tone afterwards but it had already grated on me and my sense of disappointment in him won’t go away.

But I can't see how it could possibly have been any worse than this

Can't you, Zoejory?

What if no effort had been made to protect the Afghans who worked with the US troops? I really think that Trump wouldn't have bothered.

No, I can't MaizieD

What Biden has done is shocking. Totally shocking.

He certainly hasn't done much to help the Afghans either.

Maizie I am in complete agreement with you (and that dosn't happen often!).

Trump didn't give a care for anyone but himself. He would, in a phrase, render his own grandmother down for lard were it for his advantage. If his deal with the Taliban led to the death of half a million Afghans he wouldn't give them a thought, providing he could boast that 'he brought our boys home'. As far as he was concerned another reason to see himself as a hero, and that was all that counted.

My guess is we haven’t heard from Harris cos she’s waiting in the wings waiting for her soon to be announced enthronement. Biden has only ever been a puppet president, he freely admits he’s following instructions and whenever he dares to go off script it’s mumbo jumbo gibberish. He plainly evidences cognitive incapacity In any other arena this would be classified as abuse of the elderly. What a farce. This is the leader of the free world. But perhaps it true - we get the politicians we deserve.

Know this;We will not forgive. We will not forget. We will hunt you down and make you pay

He might have spoken the words but if I were his adversary I certainly wouldn’t have been quaking in my boots.
He might as well been talking about the price of eggs in Tesco’s.

MerylStreep

*Know this;We will not forgive. We will not forget. We will hunt you down and make you pay*

He might have spoken the words but if I were his adversary I certainly wouldn’t have been quaking in my boots.
He might as well been talking about the price of eggs in Tesco’s.

All these people throwing about conclusions they have drawn out of thin air. Have any of you been in a soon to be evacuated area of fighting? Have you ever had a gun pointed at you in anger, or discovered your friends were in an area that was shot up by people who are not going to be held to account by any democratic system.

If you are in a country that flares into battles at the drop of a hat, not all will survive and they will not jump up and come back in the next episode either. These things are not neat and tidy and this has been the most amazing air-lift.

Of course it could have been worse - much, much worse.

Have you ever had a gun pointed at you in anger
If I told the truth on here nobody would believe me.

I’m inclined to agree with you stormystar she is indeed waiting in the wings. I can’t see Biden remaining President for the next 4 years and Harris will be very cautious until she takes over from Biden.

Biden should be careful of his reactions. How is he going to hunt ISIS K down without sending troops back into Afghanistan or into some of the surrounding countries where they may well be holing up. Khorosan, originally a province of Iran, but ISIS K could be in Afghanistan, or one of the other 'stans'. Not so easy to 'hunt down' terrorists in this part of the world, as recent and past history would confirm.

I thought the same as you when I heard him say it annodomini.

Trump would not have made one jot of difference, it all got out of control and the Taliban are in control, Biden promises revenge for the bomb attack yesterday, what that amounts to is anyone’s guess.

However the US has done a significant mining deal with the Taliban and will want that to remain in place, the Taliban need cash to run the country expect continued cooperation.

annodomini Modern bomb controls and drones are very precise and have been used to great effect by the Israelis in the West Bank and also by coalition forces agaianst ISIS in Iraq.

Nwaodays, Bin Laden could have been taken out as effectively by a drone as an attack by special forces, however the colateral damage, ie deaths of innocent people can be higher when using drones.

MerylStreep

*Know this;We will not forgive. We will not forget. We will hunt you down and make you pay*

He might have spoken the words but if I were his adversary I certainly wouldn’t have been quaking in my boots.
He might as well been talking about the price of eggs in Tesco’s.

I can't help thinking that if Trump had said those words they would have taken on a different meaning. No-one would be quite sure what he might do, including the Taliban.

They’ve taken out the man who supposedly masterminded the airport explosion. Did it with a drone. Pity they can’t kill the lot.

Well, we have the answer, drones were fired at an identified ISIS-K target in the mountains of Afghanistan yesterday and got their man.

It is not necessary to put feet on the ground these days to fight a war. It only needs a person, almost sitting in the comfort of their own living room, a computer and a weaponised drone.

?That isn’t you is it Monica ??

I am finding it hard to believe that they not only knew who "masterminded" the bombing, but also exactly where he was and were able to send in a drone to kill him within days.

I'm a bit like you Beckett. If they knew who was responsible so quickly after the event, and they had intelligence before it that something was going to happen, why didn't they do something to prevent it?

Maybe I just don't understand that intricacies of it all.

Beckett

I am finding it hard to believe that they not only knew who "masterminded" the bombing, but also exactly where he was and were able to send in a drone to kill him within days.

They can track the electronic communications that everyone uses, these drones can “loiter” for many hours as soon as electronics are switched on, Zap.

Katie59

Beckett

I am finding it hard to believe that they not only knew who "masterminded" the bombing, but also exactly where he was and were able to send in a drone to kill him within days.

They can track the electronic communications that everyone uses, these drones can “loiter” for many hours as soon as electronics are switched on, Zap.

Yes but how did they "know" whose device to track - they surely weren't tracking every single device in the country?

This is such a multi faceted problem. Afghanistan is and always will be a tribal country, and will always be a killing field for any other country which is foolish enough to think they can reign it in, Winchester Cathedral has memorials on the wall to senior military figures who served in Kandahar and other places we are all familiar with, these men served in the 1830s. The book the Far Pavillions covers this subject, from all sides, very well. As to Trump; whether or not he would have done better? I seriously doubt it because he was a loose canon, an egotist with the attention span of a toddler and frankly, on the odd occasion I see a recording of him pouting and posturing and talking rubbish I shudder, and I am thankful he is out. Biden is a disappointment over this Afghan issue, but I am not sure what else he could have done to make it any better, it is always going to end badly. But, i do agree, that it is a mystery how a country the size of the USA can end up with a choice of Trump or Biden.