Here is what needs to be done

**DEEP BREATH, Exhale slowly....relax**

Here, in my humble opinion, is what needs to be done in Afghanistan.

**Trying hard not to get mad**

The president should direct the US Military to go into Afghanistan and seize Bagram Airbase. He should commit whatever forces are required to do this

Once Bagram has been seized, the military should then push out a perimeter 5 miles in every direction around Bagram. (5 miles to give aircraft ample time to ascend and descend from/to Bagram, safe from ground fire.)

At the same time and as part of the same operation the military should then secure the Bagram-Kabul Airport Road leading to Kabul. Nothing, absolutely no person or vehicle other than the US military should be allowed on this road. Every unauthorized person or vehicle on this road should be killed or destroyed. Period.

Bagram is 27 miles from Kabul. An armored checkpoint should be set up at the Kabul end of the road as close as is practical to the Kabul Airport.

Americans and American allies should then be instructed to marshal at the checkpoint where they will be processed and then bussed to Bagram for evacuation.

The taliban should be instructed that anyone who interferes with this operation will be destroyed. Zero exceptions.

Once the evacuation has been completed the military should then fall back releasing control of the Bagram-Kabul Airport Road.

All armor and equipment should return to Bagram and be evacuated, and the 5 mile perimeter around Bagram released.

Remaining troops at Bagram should then be evacuated.

Following evacuation Bagram Airbase and any remaining structures and/or equipment should be destroyed in it's entirety. The airfield should be rendered completely unusable. The entire base should be completely obliterated.

And we will then leave Afghanistan...forever.

(Note - Not a single exclamation point, a single bolded or capitalized word...except for DEEP BREATH at the very top)

That is all.

I think your plans are good....but there is one problem....

The president should

The old clown occupying the White House and his administration has zero intention on doing anything that is right or best for America or this situation. All of this happening the way it is, was purposeful.

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

Sounds good...

Not being very familiar with military strategy my solution would be different.

remember napalm?

Well that but on a really big scale!!

Or nukes...we all turn our heads, remember the good that have fallen among the bad, take Pakistan with it as a sort of package deal and turn it in to a glow-in-the-dark piece of Earth.

Maybe best if nobody hands me the wheel.

originally posted by: Flyingclaydisk
**DEEP BREATH, Exhale slowly....relax**

Here, in my humble opinion, is what needs to be done in Afghanistan.

**Trying hard not to get mad**

The president should direct the US Military to go into Afghanistan and seize Bagram Airbase. He should commit whatever forces are required to do this

Once Bagram has been seized, the military should then push out a perimeter 5 miles in every direction around Bagram. (5 miles to give aircraft ample time to ascend and descend from/to Bagram, safe from ground fire.)

At the same time and as part of the same operation the military should then secure the Bagram-Kabul Airport Road leading to Kabul. Nothing, absolutely no person or vehicle other than the US military should be allowed on this road. Every unauthorized person or vehicle on this road should be killed or destroyed. Period.

Bagram is 27 miles from Kabul. An armored checkpoint should be set up at the Kabul end of the road as close as is practical to the Kabul Airport.

Americans and American allies should then be instructed to marshal at the checkpoint where they will be processed and then bussed to Bagram for evacuation.

The taliban should be instructed that anyone who interferes with this operation will be destroyed. Zero exceptions.

Once the evacuation has been completed the military should then fall back releasing control of the Bagram-Kabul Airport Road.

All armor and equipment should return to Bagram and be evacuated, and the 5 mile perimeter around Bagram released.

Remaining troops at Bagram should then be evacuated.

Following evacuation Bagram Airbase and any remaining structures and/or equipment should be destroyed in it's entirety. The airfield should be rendered completely unusable. The entire base should be completely obliterated.

And we will then leave Afghanistan...forever.

(Note - Not a single exclamation point, a single bolded or capitalized word...except for DEEP BREATH at the very top)

That is all.

I fail to see why your plan was not implemented or couldn't be... I mean anyone with two functioning brain cells should have been able to plan for this exit.

originally posted by: keukendeur
Sounds good...

Meaning nothing of the sort will happen in reality.

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

Claydisk you should take a look at my plan under my profile .

If we combined forces mate we could really solve this.

a reply to: Edumakated

I fail to see why your plan was not implemented or couldn't be... I mean anyone with two functioning brain cells should have been able to plan for this exit.

Let’s all stop being silly. We all know why something like that hasn’t been done…
Because they didn’t want it to be done that way. They knew exactly what would happen, and what/who would
Be triggered. Maybe this is to usher in WWIII or something.

Ever see the movie Lord of War. I think something like that.

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

Strategic flaw in that plan:

There is nothing to prevent the Taliban from setting up roadblocks Ahead of the military checkpoints to prevent refugees from getting to the safety of the US checkpoints.

Unless you want multiple, on-going gunfights between US and Afghan forces (where US forces will be out numbered, if not out-gunned) extending in ever increasing frequency and ever enlarging circles around the exfil point.

In essence, cranking up the "Neverending War" once again.


We play by established "rules of engagement"; it's how major military powers avoid Mutually Assured Destruction.

There are things we don't do, ways we don't react in certain situations, that prove to our rivals that we can be trusted not to "Go Rogue" and become a immediate threat.

The Taliban does not, and because they are not a World Power, does not have to, abide by the same "gentleman's agreement ".

It's frustrating, maddening even.

But it is what it is, and we must deal with it.

a reply to: Mantiss2021

No, there is no flaw. There is no failure to follow the RoE.

No, US forces will not be outnumbered or outgunned. If it takes 50,000 troops and 10,000 pieces of armor, then that's what it takes. You don't take Americans or allies hostage, and we don't leave them behind, no matter the cost.

As for the taliban or whomever blocking access to the checkpoint, this could happen, but we will build the bridge only so far and no further. From there it is the people's responsibility to get to the gate.

Fifty two Americans were taken hostage by Iran in 1979. It cost a sitting president a landslide election loss in 1980. There are a lot more than fifty two hostages being held in Afghanistan.

What is your plan? Let all those civilians die? Throw your hands up and do nothing? Oh well? Will you be the one to go tell all those people..."It is what it is, so you must deal with it."?

I promised myself I would not post or say this, but I'm just to much PO.... and then I saw someone mention the same thing on TikTok and got burned for saying it while he was so f-ing right!

The day the Taliban took over the presidential palace, they had them all there, together, in one building... all the important leaders and spokesman, except for their religious leader (cant remember his name).
all of them.... in one building....

and not one world leader had the balls to do it! one big BOOM
Yes, there would have been civilian casualties.... so are there today.
This could have been over before it even started.

a reply to: JAGStorm

exactly.
So did the US need an event to stay there after already announcing that they would leave?
Or does someone else needs them to stay?
which one is it? Not trolling, just curious how Americans see it...

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

"If Mohammed cannot come to the Mountain, then the Mountain shall come to Mohammed!"


If those wishing to flee cannot make it to the exfil point, then ways must be found to move the exfil points to those who wish to flee.

In your response you state that "we will build a bridge only so far and no further. From there it is the people's responsibility to get to the gate." But you fail to address the fact that many of those "hostages" risk being killed by trying to make their way to that furthest end of the bridge we will have built and no further.

What difference does it make if a refugee dies at the hands of his oppressor once we have left, or because we have made the his escape entirely dependent upon the willingness of his oppressor to release him?

Dead is dead. What is the real difference? There is none to the dead.

So, (attempt to) solve the conundrum.

The US still has aerial assets the Taliban lack. The Taliban, though numerous, are not, and cannot be omnipresent (one of the disadvantages of a non-surveillance, technologically unsophisticated society).


Perhaps, by identifying those seeking escape, in situ, and arranging for their extraction via helicopter (accompanied by sufficient armed air and ground support to dissuade interference), we could effect a safer withdrawal of our charges.

There are, of course, many complications with this plan; chief among them the fact that there is no way this plan could be deployed, not to mention its goals accomplished, in the few days remaining in the official time frame.

And, of course, there is no guarantee that the Taliban officials would agree to such a plan, or that they would honor their agreement.

Unfortunately, this whole disaster only serves to underscore the wisdom in that old movie quote:

"The only way to win the game is to not (have) play(ed) the game"

a reply to: Mantiss2021

Okay, I'd go for the helo extraction part of your plan, but you'd have a perfect beachhead to deploy this operation from by having control of Bagram Airbase.

In any case, I categorically reject the suggestion we should do nothing. If for no other reason than to demonstrate that the US honors its commitments in the eyes of our allies. The only thing we are doing now is reinforcing the notion that the US is about as useful as a wet towel. We are a nation of pride and honor above all else. We're not demonstrating that in the least with what is currently going on.

a reply to: KindraLabelle2

Agreed, but unfortunately hindsight is always 20/20.

We must look forward now, not backward.

a reply to: KindraLabelle2

Hard to say really.

If anything, the US needed an excuse to leave without getting everyone out. After 20 years that was going to be a serious challenge if we had a year to do it. To try to do it in less than a month, after pulling our troops out in the middle of the night, made that challenge become an impossible task. Biden should have been working this from the day he set foot in the Oval Office, but he wasn't and he didn't. This too is hindsight. It's too late.

Now we have to contend with what lies before us.

originally posted by: Flyingclaydisk
a reply to: Mantiss2021

Okay, I'd go for the helo extraction part of your plan, but you'd have a perfect beachhead to deploy this operation from by having control of Bagram Airbase.

In any case, I categorically reject the suggestion we should do nothing. If for no other reason than to demonstrate that the US honors its commitments in the eyes of our allies. The only thing we are doing now is reinforcing the notion that the US is about as useful as a wet towel. We are a nation of pride and honor above all else. We're not demonstrating that in the least with what is currently going on.

Agreed!

Choppers would be deployed as "airport shuttles" to avoid roadblocks and shakedown by Taliban (and now ISIS) forces. If necessary, enlist helo assets from our allies. Interference of any kind should result in destruction of attacking force.

Leave no one behind.

These folks have already risked their lives, and the lives of their families by assisting us in our efforts over the past 20 years; we cannot abandon them to their fate at the hands of their oppressors, nor should we ask them to further the risk to themselves and their families by making them out themselves and run a literal gauntlet trying to get to the airport while we sit by.