Laura Jedeed, who served two tours in Afghanistan, tells Lawrence O'Donnell that withdrawing from Afghanistan was "the right thing to do" and that the best time for withdrawal would have been "many years ago but the second-best time is now." David Rothkopf and Joe Cirincione agree it was time for the U.S. to withdraw after 20 years in Afghanistan.
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#MSNBC #Afghanistan #Military
There was never going to be a “right time” to leave Afghanistan. As one commenter stated, Democracy is something that the people themselves have to want and fight for.
@Russo Vlad I never said or implied that the Taliban would. My comment was in response to someone else who said Afghanistan could become a Democracy, or using a strategy that could make it a possibility.
Should never have interfered in the first place. Countries world wide need to look after their own and buttout of invadi g countries. If a county wants to vote in a di tator or corrupt politicians then that is there business. Look at the last four years and half the country voted for him. SAD.
@Ready Now&Forever Libya isnt the same as Afghanistan. Both are Ethnically divided but Libya is mostly just a divided land between two major ethnic groups while Afghanistan s tribal land divided between a 1000 different tribes. Afghanistan wants stability. We should have forced a military dictatorship on them that protected the rights of the people. Would have been better than a corrupt parliament.
@Dow John Watch the video. The Afghan govt insisted on not doing a rapid mass evac of locals who had helped the US, because it would destabilise the country.
@Russo Vlad Indeed. Holding hostages for payment is a very well-practiced matter in Afghanistan. Part of the negotiation process will involve killing some of them, to raise the price on the others. Also to encourage the other citizens to not side against the Taliban ever again. It won’t be cheap but then going in and rescuing them would not be cheap either. They are spread throughout the country and the Taliban have the US biometric database and retina scanners, there is no way to evade that.
republicans: “This is all Biden’s fault!”
Dems: “This is the Stable Genius’ fault!”
GW Bush: 😎
@Totally Accurate Botan Simulator your in over your head and a little dim on world history
@n bay I guess those 5000 Taliban fighters released from prison because of pressure from Trump’s Administration on the Afghan Government is Biden’s fault also.
@Totally Accurate Botan Simulator I think you need a calendar.
It’s americas fault it’s foreign policy has been to turn all non democratic countries democratic. Strange really when America is not really a fully democratic country. Voter suppression is a third world or communist world. America needs to get a grip. Start seeing all citizens have clean drinking water for a start. It’s the one thing we must have as citizens. And should be a government priority.
@Totally Accurate Botan Simulator Osama was captured and killed in 2011.
A clear-eyed opinion on the writing on the wall. If American has spent that $1trillion on its own people, America would be prosperous although the military-industry complex would spend millions to lobby the continuation of wars abroad for its own private profit.
Agree
Hey I’m looking at a woman who Glad she’s out
Celebrate with apple cider
We should have never stayed in that sewer
We yet again arrogantly failed to understand the socio-political and economic CLAN DYNAMICS of these nomadic societies, that we always lump them with their Islamic foreign fighter elements within them for the purpose of FTO labelling—and yet we witnessed the Taliban work the Clan dynamics to their advantage, and wondered how WE GOT IT SO WRONG—AGAIN! after all the lesson we’ve been taught and gleaned in Somalia, after our initial failures there.
Americans would be no more prosperous. As usual, wages would be low, social services low and the wealthy 10% would sop up the gravy.
I have to agree with Laura. When you foist on someone something they don’t want, don’t expect them to keep it.
Bull crap! Do US even listen to what Afghanistan was asking?
@Kickback Relax55 No, They didnt want the taleban thats for sure. They needed a stable govt. But the US made the mistake of thinking they could force democracy onto a land not ready for it. It takes time. They would have been better off with a military dictatorship that protected the rights of the people. Instead the US forced elections and only corrupt members got elected to office. Same as US elections.
It’s Afghanistan’s war and now they have it.
The Taliban has always been in charge. The Afghanistan people have always known that. And yet they allowed the Americans to continue the 2 decades of assistance and billions spent on them !??
So who was actually milking the Americans??
What they didn’t expect, is America pulling out so soon.
It’s too bad for Afghanistan, but it’s time they fought their own battles.
@Russo Vlad yeah it is what it is. They may lie about it. But our government lied to us for 20 years. We know what the Taliban is. But we also know what our government is.
@Russo Vlad there are as fake as the reports that our Government gave the American people.
@Mal C they knew more that the American people. Our government lied to us for 20 years. Sad part is we won’t do anything about it. So it will happen again.
Its not like theres no war when the US troops were there. Leave Afghanistan alone, they will solve their own issues, its none of US business. You dont go to your neighbors house and “fix” their problem, they will f u up.
Regardless who was the sitting president. It was a ticking time bomb waiting to go off
A TICKING TIMEBOMB 2000 MILES AWAY, NOW IT CAN BE IN YOUR CITY GIVEN TIME.
thats the bottom line…
Laura Jedeed is correct. Anyone actually on the ground in Afghanistan knew this would end badly.
but those are always the people who are never asked or talked to.
Everyone but our corrupt politicians new it would end badly 20 years ago.
People call the Korean War the “Forgotten War”. Vietnam is the war that America desperately, desperately wants to forget. As a result, we did not learn the lessons of Vietnam and repeated the mistakes. Those who do not learn from their mistakes are doomed to repeat them.
No one in north korea will ever forget.
Viet NAM wall BEFORE KOREAN veterans war ..SO you’re clueless..TIRED of American IGNORANCE…
@Robin Williams What planet are you from?
@baddoggie101 Right Right
Biden said the buck stops with him, the chump and other gop have deleted tweets that had the same outlook, and that money now needs to be brought and used here now, we have people in congress and the senate who say $300 dollars is too much for Americans in need but we spent 2 trillion dollars on a country that was corrupt.
@T. R. Campbell this looks like cut and paste spam.
@T. R. Campbell Did The Russian Government fall after they were driven out of Afganistan? Did The Brits Gvt. Fall when they gave up? My opinion? The huge mistakes of previous admistrations in not saying F**K it. We got Bin Laden, we’re out of here. Bidens ” The Buck Stops Here”. Is something we’d never hear from trump or his apologists. No matter Trump’s ” deal” with the taliban. The release of 5,000 Taliban fighters. Who won that Art of the Deal. The Warlords continue growing their best cash crop of Opium, and the Taliban keep on keeping on.
@T. R. Campbell You are the one that really need the help i think, for 20yrs with the amount of money pumped into Afghanistan still they couldn’t defend themselves from few thousand Taliban’s, maybe you would take you family over there and fight the Taliban’s.😂😂
I wish some of that money had been used to teach people how to use punctuation.
@T. R. Campbell So Biden should NOT have followed through with the treaty made by Trump? Then Why did trump release 5000 Taliban prisoners? Including the new leader who took over Afghanistan? I mean, I do agree that following through on anything Diaper Don set up was a bad idea.
Halliburton, Ratheon, etc., etc. sure made a killing…both literally and monetarily.
For them: it’s Mission Accomplished.
Provide examples with data
@CrossDog84
Sure:
Do an internet search…it’s all documented. 👍
@CrossDog84 Why? You won’t believe the FACTS if someone smacked you in the face with them.
Go down to the nearest U.S. Air Force Base and watch the fighter jets that fly in and out. Or hop on down to the nearest Navy Ship Yard or Dock and take a look at the ships that go and come there. Practically ALL of our defense technology – radar, communications, range finding, direction finding, electronics counter technology, weapons systems, defense systems, control systems, navigation systems, GPS systems, flight control systems, fire control systems, etc., etc., etc., etc., etc., etc., etc,. etc., etc. on those planes and ships are all designed, engineered, tested, manufactured, and supplied by companies like Haliburton, Ratheon, Lockheed Martin, General Dynamics, Boeing, Northrup Grumman, EE & G, etc., etc., etc. And, they are paid billions by the U.S. tax payers. You can find all the data you want… Just google up U.S. Defense Budget – I’m sure you’ll find it some where. It’s not a secret. The Pentagon is only asking for $715 Billion this year alone….
You want to find out some interesting stuff? Start looking into EE & G, their history, and what they do (and have done) for the U.S. DOD and DOE…
George Bush’s buddies.
@Dan Cannon The Navy used to build their own ships, not all of them, but some of them. This was important for cost-control. The Navy could do it themselves, or they knew from own experience how much it actually cost and couldn’t be so easily cheated by corrupt contractors.
Biden: Afghanistan is known throughout history as the Graveyard of Empires. Stop throwing good money after bad. Also, Biden: I am President of the United States of America and the Buck Stops with me.
What’s the lesson? If you’re going to throw good money after bad make sure it’s in you own country that you do it in.
@fba90130 WELL SAID!!
@Sturdy Thorpe Nobody had a plan. Unfortunately Biden can’t predict the future. But what idiots don’t realize, the same thing probably would have happened no matter how long we waited to end this fiasco
@Matthew Neddeau A good administration would have planned for every scenario. His advisors told him this would happen and the fool still went though with it. He stranded between 15,000 and 40,000 Americans. You would think Biden would have an accurate head count before launching an operation like this.
@David Guelette If Biden had any “balls” he would have stuck around and answered questions after that disastrous speech.
This soldier said it perfectly, this was literally always going to end this way. Look at the cowardice of the Afghan president, fleeing the country and abandoning the country he is responsible for. Its heartbreaking, but the lone unifying factor of Afghan society is Islam, not democracy, not freedom, faith.
Afgan president went to school in USA, he only returned after USA sent him there to be their puppet. He has no loyalty for Afghanistan, he never fought for it.
@AntonioR Software
They abandoned it long ago. The Afghan politicians and contractors grew fat on US dollars.
It’s a teeny bit more complicated than that. Most of us have not earned the “right” to espouse rigid opinions. Which Islam? What about Bhuddists? Christians? They have a history there, which is why the Northern alliance wrote these groups into their model constitution. What about the ethnic divisions? No unity there. What of the people from other foreign occupiers that continue to reside there? And foremost- do you really think women are united around the theme of Taliban faith? It’s way more complex than “it’s all about Islam”.
He just showed up in the UAE with over a 100 million of dollars that he stole from Afghanistan and the American taxpayer. Good riddance.
The Afghan president not only fled, but also robbed the nation on the way out, taking more than 100 Million dollars with him when he went.
This makes me feel better about what is happening.
If the U.S. left Afghanistan last year or next, the result would still be the same.
@Resident Alien you could have said 10 years ago, or 10 years in the future, the results would have been the same.
So true
Joe Biden finally did the right thing, no more money, and no more American lives sacrificed in Afghanistan.
Everyone who died fighting there and everyone who served did so knowing what they were doing. You can stay home in your little suburban house but freedom is won by the barrel of a rifle. Not by running away from a fight like you are doing.
@World Travel, Culture & Natural Landscapes So withdraw the US from the whole world and what then? Some other power will start asserting dominance over the world. Enjoy living like a third world country then.
@Sevenfold120 you need to realize that America shouldn’t be the Lord of other countries. Let other countries work the truth out for themselves. We should focus on HOMELAND security, i.e., security against other forces. Think about it for a minute – if we did, then 9-11 wouldn’t have happened.
Our President did the right thing. 20 years of war and more than 2 trillions spent, enough is enough.
@TY2 Agreed. I am tired of America being every other country’s Lord Savior. There is a supremacist attitude to that, that I find bothersome. Let other countries work out the truth for themselves.
You can only help people who want to help themselves… just think about your kids and how they react when they haven’t learned to deal with their own problems.
Afghanistan did not asked America to invade and occupy them.
This is a moral issue that America thinks they are the police of the world.
They think they have the right to assassinate heads of state of countries they disagree with.
I pity the American Military with its inferior military tactics.
Does America have any diplomats that can negotiate anything without dropping a bomb on someone?
The Taliban Afghan Army outsmarted the entire United States military and government.
The Taliban Afghan Army will go down in the top 10 of greatest armies in the world.
THEY didn’t ask for help!! The USA invaded their country and trashed it! They were doing just fine until (fresh from their disastrous adventure in Viet Nam, they thought they had found another ‘worthy cause’ to pursue in Afghanistan!…and AND made the SAME STUPID MISTAKES ALL OVER AGAIN!!!
She kind of nailed it at the end, the US learned nothing from the fall of Saigon.
This is a good time for US to re-examine her foreign policies, perhaps interfering in other countries internal affairs with our armed forces only leads to more suffering and bloodshed.
Spot on! It’s long past time to quit interfering in other countries’ business
Afghanistan is a graveyard for superpower. England, russia, and the USA are examples of it
20 years, America needs to leave Afghanistan