re: The mistake was: We simply trusted them

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Trump wanted to withdraw as well...

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He did and obviously you haven't read or listened to the criteria of that withdrawal. It surely wasn't to flip a switch and withdraw everyone in the dark of the night. He understood that the Afghan gov was corrupt and that it would more than likely require a draw down and would eventually flip over to the Taliban anyway but was going to do whatever he could to create a bloodless transition. Now the blood bath will ensue. All fighting age men will be murdered or tortured, women raped and revenge delivered. There will be a huge refugee flight to neighboring countries. Biden is currently looking for cities in America that will take them so they can start a new Afghanistan in the states like the Somolis did. More voting base and tax credits to some cities. More Ilhan Omars will emerge and join the squad and continue to push the very principals that they fled from.

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Do we really need to answer that question? At most, we may have done some surveying to see what can be found. But as for actual mining & drilling operations, I doubt there was ever a stable enough time period for that to take place.

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Well... it's like if that was a reason we went... then it was another failure

Bigly.

I always wondered why the state department and Department of Defense we’re so stubborn & adamant about sticking around and rebuilding a nation. Sure, strategically there is some importance to having an ally. But it makes far more sense to risk so much wealth and the lives of our own troops to secure the country so that it will benefit us financially for decades to come. That only makes sense if there is oil and or mineral rights involved.

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here was a plan. The plan depended on the Afghans doing... something. Anything.

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The likely training assumed perpetual US involvement. If it relied at all on excessive air support, they were always going to fall.

I didn't think an army could run as fast as the Italian army in ww2, but the Afghan army wins the gold.

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Biden was warned, but the arrogant, hard headed old man knew better.

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"old habits die hard" After almost 50 years of his
political gamesmanship Biden will not change....
always was a phoney.

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Trump wanted to withdraw as well...

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He did...but with a notion that if the Taliban frick up whatsoever that the US would go back in there with a vengeance they have never seen.

I don't think Biden is quite following in those footsteps.

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Did we get any access / benefit from those resources over the last 20 years?

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Well, the cia dominated the opium trade

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He did...but with a notion that if the Taliban frick up whatsoever that the US would go back in there with a vengeance they have never seen.

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Fair

But have the Taliban screwed anything up?

We all knew when we left the Taliban was going to try to take over.

Would Trump have known the Afghan army and politicians would be this big of sissies?

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There was a plan. The plan depended on the Afghans doing... something. Anything. They did nothing, and we were caught unprepared for that

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All BS! We've dealt with them for twenty years. You don't turn your back on that kind of investment. No weapons, no technology should have been left behind. The old saying "If you want something done right, do it yourself" holds very true here. The Afghans should have been trusted with nothing.