Fall of Saigon 1975, Fall of Kabul 2021

[votivesoul]

A picture says 1,000 words:



And this, less than a month ago (skip to 13:39 for the Q and A):

[1 God]

What a disastrous joke.

[Evang.Benincasa]

This is the image of the last five years. They couldn't take the roads from the embassy to the airport. It was too dangerous. They had to take a helicopter. Not exactly the same thing as Saigon. This was getting worse pretty quick, and unlike the Khmer Rouge, Taliban were already camped out in Kabul. 20 years we were in Afghanistan.

[Evang.Benincasa]

The United States spent 2 trillion dollars on Afghanistan. Lives lost, limbs lost, time wasted. Well, at least C.P. Thomas (Brother Stoneking's friend) converted leaders of the Taliban and converted Osama Bin Laden's wives.

[diakonos]

Votive, I don’t see a link to a video.

[jediwill83]

20 year war...22 vets a day die of suicide...160,600 All for a war that was supposed to be a perpetual money maker for special interests and the military industrial complex. The empire is in freefall.

[votivesoul]

Originally Posted by jediwill83

20 year war...22 vets a day die of suicide...160,600 All for a war that was supposed to be a perpetual money maker for special interests and the military industrial complex. The empire is in freefall.

That is one way to tally the score.

Here's another:

37,466,414 (*est. from July 2021, CIA factbook) people who for the last twenty years have known some semblance of freedom, who, because of our involvement there, have gotten a real taste of liberty, especially compared to what they had previously, and what they all now are going to face.

20 years ago, Afghanistan was a closed country to Christian missionary activity. Then it was opened, and for twenty years, while Christianity by no means flourished or became dominant in any form, the opportunity was there; the door was cracked open.

Not anymore.

Millions of young men who, for the past 20 years, have had the freedom to pursue a different, less radicalized religious ideology are now fairly well doomed to a terrible, terribly manipulative and tortuous brainwashing into the most extreme forms of Islam.

Millions of women who found themselves finally free of the burka, who were given the chance these last twenty years, to show their faces in public, are all about to disappear, in some cases literally, in addition to metaphorically (See below).

Then there's all the infrastructure the USA helped to build, roads, highways, schools, and etc. that are going to be abandoned and/or abused.

The list could go on.

So, while we might only want to consider the detrimental, sacrificial costs to the USA, I think it also important to remember the detrimental, sacrificial costs to the people of Afghanistan. Not to mention the world at large, as the nation will no doubt see a renewal in actions of global terrorists.

Of course we could argue whether or not Dubya and the US Congress should have ever even gone into Afghanistan after 9/11/2001, but that issue is moot. The fact is, we did, and nationally committed ourselves to a multi-generational, ideological war. But that's all over with now.

One last thing: The world now sees that our President wears no clothes. The shame and recoil of that fact will be felt here on our soil for years and years to come, as other nations make use of this to strengthen and embolden themselves against us, which might just lead to another so-called "endless war".

[jfrog]

Originally Posted by Evang.Benincasa

The United States spent 2 trillion dollars on Afghanistan. Lives lost, limbs lost, time wasted. Well, at least C.P. Thomas (Brother Stoneking's friend) converted leaders of the Taliban and converted Osama Bin Laden's wives.

2 trillion used to sound like a lot…

[Evang.Benincasa]

Originally Posted by votivesoul

That is one way to tally the score.

Here's another:

37,466,414 (*est. from July 2021, CIA factbook) people who for the last twenty years have known some semblance of freedom, who, because of our involvement there, have gotten a real taste of liberty, especially compared to what they had previously, and what they all now are going to face.

20 years ago, Afghanistan was a closed country to Christian missionary activity. Then it was opened, and for twenty years, while Christianity by no means flourished or became dominant in any form, the opportunity was there; the door was cracked open.

Not anymore.

Millions of young men who, for the past 20 years, have had the freedom to pursue a different, less radicalized religious ideology are now fairly well doomed to a terrible, terribly manipulative and tortuous brainwashing into the most extreme forms of Islam.

Millions of women who found themselves finally free of the burka, who were given the chance these last twenty years, to show their faces in public, are all about to disappear, in some cases literally, in addition to metaphorically (See below).

Then there's all the infrastructure the USA helped to build, roads, highways, schools, and etc. that are going to be abandoned and/or abused.

The list could go on.

So, while we might only want to consider the detrimental, sacrificial costs to the USA, I think it also important to remember the detrimental, sacrificial costs to the people of Afghanistan. Not to mention the world at large, as the nation will no doubt see a renewal in actions of global terrorists.

Of course we could argue whether or not Dubya and the US Congress should have ever even gone into Afghanistan after 9/11/2001, but that issue is moot. The fact is, we did, and nationally committed ourselves to a multi-generational, ideological war. But that's all over with now.

One last thing: The world now sees that our President wears no clothes. The shame and recoil of that fact will be felt here on our soil for years and years to come, as other nations make use of this to strengthen and embolden themselves against us, which might just lead to another so-called "endless war".

In 2001 my wife and I were at a church near Mobile Alabama. I said to my wife when the US were sending troops into Afghanistan. That the United States will end up like Russia. We were supposedly there to get Bin Laden. But lo and behold it turns out that we now were going to set the masses free. The Russians big mistake is that they tried to secularize the schools. Sorry, but the Taliban are more redneck than any redneck ever dared to be. So they chased the Russians out. They are like David Koresh and Branch Davidians on Steroids. The Taliban sees the United States as infidels, the Russians as infidels. They see us as infidels. They see our Christianity as a total joke. They believe that we practice our faith with a side helping of porn. When Russia pulled out, there were Afghanistan men, women, children who help the Russians. Who had tasted “freedom” and some were left behind. Some had to face the music for going against the Taliban. I grew up with the whole Russian occupation of Afghanistan. Only back then the United States were cheering on the Taliban to kick the tail end of the commie invaders. So when we put on our flag and hot footed over in 2001 I knew we would eventually come home in the same condition as Russia. The British tried, they had Afghans taste “freedom” and the British left those freedom tasters behind. Russia tried, they had Afghans taste “freedom” and the Russians left those freedom tasters behind. Now we tried, but with us we think we got the real freedom. But all we really offer is Burger King, a glow in the dark plastic Jesus, LGBTQ acceptance, and fragging the snot out of anyone who stands in the way.

So, next up at bat will probably be the Chinese. The only difference with them is that they won’t care about giving anyone freedom. They won’t give a rat’s rear end if a Muslim female can wear the latest fashions or strut through Kabul half naked. They want all the precious minerals. Therefore they will fire bomb that place like it was Sodom and Gomorrah. Until no one is left to oppose them.

But we here in the United States will be cheering the Taliban on to fight the commie invaders.

It’s not our job to police the world.

Because we won’t ever do what needs to be done.

Which is Genocidal horrific devastation of the enemy and their people.

I’m not condoning that by the way. I just know how Things are.

Let’s clean up our act here, before we start running around and giving people freedom.

[Evang.Benincasa]

Originally Posted by jfrog

2 trillion used to sound like a lot…

You got that 100% correct.