fire4effect

Taliban says hundreds of fighters heading to take Panjshir Valley | Asia News | Al Jazeera Target rich environment.

Yep, you went ahead and said what I was thinking the last 4 days or so couldn't bring myself to put it out there. Even if we dropped everything and ran now eventually we would have to go back and this problems not going away. As shitty as it is we are actually in probably the best position militarily (as opposed to when we still had Bagram and earlier etc.) than if we try again from scratch weeks or months from now when the Taliban have had time to dig in. This is going to get WAY uglier.

I wish I had an argument against our political buffoons. I will say this. The Taliban are now trying to hold an entire country with some flashes of resistance from the former Northern Alliance. I'm curious what is their long term logistical sustainment plan is now for say feeding/paying/and transporting fighters as long as we have an albeit small footprint in the country. What we effectively have is a ******* standoff (though I'm sure Kabul International would be re-named the Alamo by some troops at the moment) and beyond stealing from the locals can they stay reasonably sustained? They can't really relax their force posture any more than we can at the moment. I'm certainly not on the ground over there now but this is my take.

All military operations are defined in one of two ways. An operational success if it goes right or an intelligence failure if it goes wrong.

Add this to your show of force

Especially when I think of the ass pain that went into the investigation when ONE ACOG went missing from the arms room several years back. Wonder if the Taliban will sell any cheap on E-Bay

Frankly my strategic goal is to show to the world that even if you bloody our nose we don't completely cut and run though that's admittedly probably a hard sell at this point. Second to degrade the Taliban and at least keep them somewhat looking over their shoulder so they aren't as free to start training terrorist wholesale and brutalizing their own people. As for Pakistan they've always had the ability to shut down overflights and I'm surprised if they really wanted why they hadn't a long time ago. I also think we need to make it abundantly clear to Pakistan that we aren't playing any more and to that end reach out and strengthen our ties with India. On a side note India as I recall in the past was sending a not insignificant amount of aid to Afghanistan. Which touches on something else. I think that something like 70-80 percent of the Afghan Government budget is foreign donation an along with the freezing of assets has slowed money flow to trickle. Obviously a LOT more could be added to this discussion but and I would add one last think targeting the transport of fuel into will degrade the Taliban's mobility IMHO. All part of the effort to squeeze the Taliban.

If and when we get everyone we want/realistically can out of there no reason we can't make life very miserable from the air for them. Assuming 38 million Afghans and a high estimate of 100,000 Taliban that's 380 to 1. I don't get the feeling they have the hearts and minds of the locals as much as they like based on the videos we've seen and as we all know taking territory is a lot easier than holding it. Crank out GBU-39s (minimize collateral damage) by the truckload and go to town. Effectively were airmailing IEDs to them and they can endure the psychology of being hit with no way to shoot back. Basically if it has a crew served weapon/humvee etc. and 3-4 pax it gets hit and anything else we ID as worth going after. In the 90s they ran amok largely because no one was really looking hard but now we most certainly are. My .02

And one strategic E-4 or Taliban fighter with an itchy trigger finger away from a free-for-all that neither side will be able to control.

A lot I agree with but some I don't but still written by someone who benefited from the system and will likely retire with a GO pension.

I wonder if these guys had time to get there Covid shot hiding out in the mountains. It would be an almost biblical justice if they all got taken out by the Delta or some other variant. I know a lot of these 3rd world Sh!t holes tend to have lung issues from Tuberculosis. This whole FUBAR mess has to be a super-spreader event of epic proportions.

And Linebacker 3 on targets starting along the Pakistan Border when the SOBs start running

Yes, this is what hits me personally the most.

Interesting point you make as I was just recalling a close family relative who's a Viet Nam Vet and how he recalled how it hit him every time he saw the famous picture of the helicopter on the embassy roof in Saigon

THIS!

I guess I had an epiphany of sorts when I realized in my mind that those who were willing to join the Afghan Military/Police as patriotic as they were could never be completely combat effective for one big reason. Namely because the Taliban was always embedded in the fabric of society and would always be able threaten family members somewhere in the country. I mean how effective would we be if we knew that our families would be under constant real threats at home every day. That said the Taliban are now in the open sts and taking over government building/police stations etc. If you ask me they're more concentrated and easier to kill wholesale even on our way out the door. You'd think after seeing what happened in Iraq after the first withdrawal we'd have learned our lesson.

I'm hearing the Rolls is by far the best. Engines aren't "handed" and can be used on the right side or left side with minimal modification.

That's interesting. Wasn't thinking that way but with two obviously very dissimilar aircraft and one or both get into a stall situation I could see it get ugly quick. I wonder what stall prevention/recovery protocols are baked into the F135 software.

This is a random photo I found. Had no idea they did this with the gear down.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/02/world/middleeast/qassem-soleimani-iraq-iran-attack.html Sometimes removing a couple of malignant tumors require the right scalpel. Our military is ultimately here for two things. 1)Deter war if possible 2) Win the war if necessary. Good Luck OP

Interaction with law enforcement in general. How often do we interact with law enforcement that doesn't have the potential to cost us at least a couple hundred bucks with a ticket? Honestly the only time I want to interact with law enforcement is if I'm engaging more than 1-2 active shooters. Up until that point I'm pretty good at protecting myself. Like with the AME and your medical. No one comes out having a better day than when they went in.

There's a lot to be said for living in the Midwest where we don't live on top of each other or have to depend on a subway or other mass transit (and the pathogens they can harbor) to get to work.

I remember the talk of the stealthy Predator-C a long time ago and I would think it would be effective in some roles. That said I'll leave it to the 100lb brain types to determine how stealthy it would be with the external stores shown in the picture.

I'd say our greatest vulnerability is our decidedly non stealthy tanker fleet. As for Musk I would say put your (Musk's) money where your mouth is and develop something you think can beat the F35 and if its as good as you say it is we'll buy it.

We complain about our government/military but need look no farther than Iran or a multitude of other foreign sh!tholes for what truly effed up looks like. On a side note never under estimate the effect of paranoia in the minds of the Quds/ Shiite militias (and its effect on their combat effectiveness) now that a high level target was taken out so unexpectedly, precisely and publicly. Do ya feel lucky?