Afghanistan: US military 'days away' from completing pull-out
IMAGE COPYRIGHTGETTY IMAGESimage caption
Afghan security forces pictured in the strategic city of Kunduz
The US military could complete its withdrawal from Afghanistan within days, reports say, amid increasing Taliban battlefield gains.
US officials told Reuters that some US forces were expected to stay to protect the US embassy and Kabul airport.
The reports came as a top US commander warned the country risked sliding into civil war as the last US troops leave.
Fighting has surged since the US began withdrawing last month, with the Taliban seizing swathes of territory.
CNN quoted US officials corroborating the Reuters report. "This week could be a critical week in the withdrawal and end of the retrograde process," an unnamed defence official told the network.
About 650 US troops are expected to remain to help secure the US embassy in Kabul, and several hundred more may be stationed at the city's airport.
President Biden has set a deadline of 11 September for US troops to fully withdraw. But recent reports had suggested most of the more than 4,000 troops deployed in recent months would be out by mid-July, well ahead of time.
The pace of the pull-out now appears even faster.
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The US military could complete its withdrawal from Afghanistan within days, reports say, amid increasing Taliban battlefield gains.
US officials told Reuters that some US forces were expected to stay to protect the US embassy and Kabul airport.
The reports came as a top US commander warned the country risked sliding into civil war as the last US troops leave.
Fighting has surged since the US began withdrawing last month, with the Taliban seizing swathes of territory.
CNN quoted US officials corroborating the Reuters report. "This week could be a critical week in the withdrawal and end of the retrograde process," an unnamed defence official told the network.
About 650 US troops are expected to remain to help secure the US embassy in Kabul, and several hundred more may be stationed at the city's airport.
President Biden has set a deadline of 11 September for US troops to fully withdraw. But recent reports had suggested most of the more than 4,000 troops deployed in recent months would be out by mid-July, well ahead of time.
The pace of the pull-out now appears even faster.
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This bare-footed Viet soldier & his comrades defeated the mighty US military
Last flight out of Saigon at CIA building
Many unwanted Vietnamese clinging on to the skids of the Huey had their desperate hands stomped on in order for the flight to lift off
30 April 1975 - the most crushing defeat in US military history
Will we soon witness the same tail-between-hind-legs scramble off from Kabul?
The Taliban will be in charge of Afghanistan within the next one year is my take.
ReplyDeleteAs it is, the Taliban is already making headway in many parts of the country.
It was wise of the US and NATO to withdraw from that area..no foreign invader has been able to conquer this "backward" country in all its existence.
The Afghanis just have to be prepared for a very strict and very conservative Islamic Law to be imposed..hands to he chopped and perhaps heads to be lopped off?
USA was never at war with the Vietnamese people but with the ideology of communism which was threatening to overrun South East Asia in the 1960s. Both countries have long since normalised relations (since 1995) and today USA is one of the top trading partners with Viet Nam and is a top destination for Vietnamese students and tourists.
ReplyDeleteThis is the same with Germany in WW2 - USA did not go to war with Germans but with Nazi ideology.
After the Hiroshima and Nagasaki the Americans helped to rebuild Japan, just like they did in Europe with the Marshall Plan. Today Germany and Japan are prosperous.
Germany now has the largest economy in Europe. Japan at one time became the second largest economy in the world. Within a few decades both Germany and Japan hosted the Olympic Games in the 60s and 70s. Italy was the other defeated Axis nation, they too prospered after the war and hosted the Olympics in 1960.
South Korea....? Ditto, after the Korean War the Koreans worked hard and prospered, with US military presence to deter Rocket Man. Today South Korea, with a population of 51 million has a GDP of $1.6 trillion. By comparison Russia which has a population nearly three times more (144 million) and who possess unlimited natural resources but their GDP is smaller than South Korea, only $1.5 trillion. All this the South Koreans achieved since the 1950s with the protection of USA from the north. And Seoul hosted the Olympics in 1988.
And did the USA claim a single square inch of territory in Korea? No. Instead US taxpayers fund military presence to the tune of billions of dollars every year. Same for very expensive US military funding in Europe via NATO, to counter the Russians which made Trump very upset.
But even with victory in WW2 the Americans did not claim one square inch of territory anywhere in Europe or Asia. Contrast this with Russia, which claimed huge chunks of Eastern Europe after the WWs.
Sadly the same will not be true for Afghanistan - because the locals have a different agenda. They had their chance the last few decades to rid themselves of the Taliban tribal leaders but now it is time to say Sayonara and May Allah Be With You.
wakakaka, TS you're a fool. Whatever US did for Germany in the West and Japan-S Korea in the East had to do with containing the communist countries for American interests, never the locals. Even now we see US bribing and egging nations surrounding Russia and China to be on their side, nations like the usual suspects, and newbies like Vietnam, India, Ukraine, some of the former East European bloc, etc
DeleteAll nations act in their national interests.
DeleteCCP's Belt and Road is about building CCP's influence and control, and many countries are effectively becoming CCP client states.
So what's the difference?
Trying to reeducate a f*cked katak highs on the demoNcratic fart is a bloody waste of time!
DeleteGermany, Japan & SKorea prosper under the guidance of uncle Sam?
Just pure genuflecting vassal states, to be sacrificed when the Yankee interests r been violated.
Germany would forever be the front line state of the Yankee europea front if not bcoz of the unexpected collapse of the Soviet Union!
Ditto with Japan & SKorea - to contain the military mights of the NKorea & China before any possible military assaults ever reach the Yankee homeland.
Ooop… that 百眼狼 Vietnam. Another vassal state in making to encircle communist China!
Wakakakakaka…
Yankee Doodle is the best of the best. Not an inch of the land taken! What to take when there r frontier sacrificial lambs well feed to prevent any wars ever reaching the Yankee doorstep!
Mfer, to own a country in total u don't need a physical take. Just subservient that country via economic & ideological dependencies.
In a same manner like zombieicism controls zombies, regardless of race, location & period.
That's what Yankee demoNcracy at its BEST.
But can u understand?
Bet my last dollar that u would come up empty as in digesting the full frustration of uncle Sam in
西方帝国主义架起几门大炮就能征服一个东方国家的历史一去不复返 - 彭德怀
Never the locals?
DeleteSo what neighbouring territories to Russia and China did USA occupy or colonize? Name ONE square km.
Today East Germans are so happy to be re-united to West Germany. Berlin is now so prosperous. Similarly Baltic states, Ukraine, Central Asian "stan" states are so happy to be free from Soviet/Russian control. No more food rationing. No more smelly Trabant cars or ugly buildings.
Is KT happy that Russia RAMPASed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014? And Bullyland slowly RAMPASing Bhutan and threatening Taiwan everyday? So happy that he wants Russia and Bullyland to mediate between Israel and Palestine?
Ha ha ha....so lucu.
We know Russia wants Crimea not for local Crimean's sake but Russia's; because Russia wants to control the Black Sea, and Crimea is where their Black Sea Fleet is based, and then their ships have access to the Mediterranean.
Bullyland? Building islands and military bases in the Southern Seas, to "liberate" who? The local fish? Claiming "dispute" with weak neighbours but when you dispute you negotiate, you don't build military bases willy nilly.
Bully warning "Don't Bully Me" ha ha ha so aneh and lucu. This speech could have been made by Stalin or Hitler a few generations ago and a continent away, like in Nuremberg. Hitler so angry that Germany was bullied by the Treaty of Versailles at the end of WW1.
DeleteQUOTE
Xi Jinping warns China won’t be bullied in speech marking 100-year anniversary of CCP
Chinese Communist party leader warns foreign forces seeking to oppress China are on a ‘collision course’ with 1.4 billion people
Helen Davidson in Taipei and agencies
Thu 1 Jul 2021
China will not allow “sanctimonious preaching” or bullying from foreign forces, and anyone who tries “will find themselves on a collision course with a steel wall forged by 1.4 billion people”, its president, Xi Jinping, has said on the centenary of the Chinese Communist party.
In a speech before a crowd of 70,000 in Tiananmen Square in Beijing, Xi praised the ruling party for lifting China out of poverty and humiliation, and pledged to expand China’s military and influence.
Standing at the Gate of Heavenly Peace above a portrait of Mao Zedong on Thursday, Xi said the era of China being bullied was “gone forever”
“We will not accept sanctimonious preaching from those who feel they have the right to lecture us,” he said. “We have never bullied, oppressed, or subjugated the people of any other country, and we never will.”
“By the same token we will never allow anyone to bully, oppress, or subjugate [China]. Anyone who tries will find them on a collision course with a steel wall forged by 1.4 billion people.”
His fiery statements were met with rapturous applause by the tens of thousands of Chinese Communist party (CCP) members in attendance.
The CCP wields absolute rule over 1.4 billion people and one of the world’s largest economies. But China is also an increasingly isolated member of the international community due to its human rights abuses and actions towards regional neighbours such as Taiwan, India and others who dispute China’s claims in the South China Sea. Its relations with countries like the US, Canada, and Australia – with which it is locked in bitter trade disputes – are at their lowest points in decades.
.....con't
...con't..
DeleteIn his speech, Xi said a strong country must have a strong military to guarantee the security of the nation, and the People’s Liberation Army had made “indelible achievements”. It was a “strong pillar” for safeguarding the country and preserving national dignity, sovereignty and development interests, not just in China but in the region “and beyond”, he said.
The party must maintain “absolute leadership” over the military, which must be grown and elevated “to world-class standards”, he said.
There is increasing concern and preparation for the eventuation of military confrontation over Taiwan, likely involving the US which supplies arms to the island’s government.
In his speech Xi reiterated longstanding pledges to “restore” Taiwan. The CCP has never ruled over Taiwan but considers it to be a breakaway province of China that must be unified, by force if necessary. Xi said this remained an “unshakeable commitment”.
“No one should underestimate the resolve, the will and ability of the Chinese people to define their national sovereignty and territorial integrity,” he said.
Given recent context, Xi’s comments on Taiwan weren’t unexpected, said Dr Mark Harrison, senior lecturer in Chinese Studies at the University of Tasmania, but they did show how “uncompromising” Beijing was.
“Xi restated the existing formulations for Taiwan of Beijing’s one-China principle and the 1992 Consensus but his tone was notably belligerent, including his line ‘to utterly defeat any attempt towards Taiwan independence’,” he said.
Taiwan’s China policy-making Mainland Affairs Council said Taiwan’s people have rejected the one-China principle, and Beijing should abandon its military intimidation and talk with Taipei on an equal footing.
“Our government’s determination to firmly defend the nation’s sovereignty and Taiwan’s democracy and freedom and to maintain peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait remains unchanged.”
The Council said while the CCP had achieved “certain economic development”, it remained a dictatorship that trampled on people’s freedoms, and should embrace democracy instead.
“Its historical decision-making errors and persistent harmful actions have caused serious threats to regional security,” it added.
...“The Chinese people are not only good at destroying an old world, but also good at building a new world. Only socialism can save China, and only socialism with Chinese characteristics can develop China.”
Xi said without the party there would be no new China, and it had “profoundly transformed the advancement of the Chinese nation”.
“It is the foundation and lifeblood of the party and the country, and the crux upon which the interests and wellbeing of all Chinese people depend.”
Xi has cemented his eight-year rule through a personality cult, ending term limits and declining to anoint a successor. He has purged rivals and crushed dissent – from Uyghur Muslims and online critics to pro-democracy protests on Hong Kong’s streets.
The centenary celebrations have been a highly orchestrated affair, with little prior announcement of what was on the cards. Thursday’s event began with dozens of military helicopters and jets, including the J-20 stealth fighters, flying in formation through Beijing’s skies, trailing flags and coloured smoke over Tiananmen Square, where 56 cannon – representing the 56 ethnic groups of China – were fired 100 times.
Last week, surveillance and security measures increased and Reuters reported police officers door-knocking to check household registrations, and tightened censorship directives at Bytedance and Baidu.
Thursday also marks the 24th anniversary of the handover of former British colony Hong Kong to China, a date once met with mass demonstrations against Beijing.
Thousands of police were deployed in an effort to prevent a repeat of protests on Thursday, which also marked one year and one day since the implementation of the national security law, a draconian legal tool which authorities have been accused of wielding to crush dissent and opposition.
UNQUOTE
Wakakakakaka…
DeleteKatak-ised his-story from fart filled well!
"So what neighbouring territories to Russia and China did USA occupy or colonize? Name ONE square km"
What a farted question!
Why must Okinawa be allowed full US military jurisdictions when officially it's a Nipponised territory?
Why must any SKorea military decisions be vetted & approved by high US military commands?
Why must India kowtowing to US 'advices' in its military buildups between the China India border?
These countries ain't occupied &/or colonised physically by uncle Sam. But in reality they r in total subservient to Yankee demands!
So mfer, what's the difference as in yr fart?
Superficially looking good mah!
The unification of Germany has zilch contribution from US. It's the desired aim of the German people w/o outside militia/politic influences. Just like the unification of Korea peninsula & Taiwan with mainland China.
Yr uncle Sam can contributes to long term prosperity of the region if he stays the f*ck out of these territories!
Yaloh, Baltic states, Ukraine, Central Asian "stan" states are so happy to be free from Soviet/Russian control. But r they any happier than currently under Yankee insidious manipulations?
Ukraine used to be a middle income state under Soviet Union. Now, Ukraine is a 3rd world state begging for EU recognition. The saddest part is the exploitation of the young ukraine, especially the womenfolk, in drugs & human trafficking - many with US/EU mafia links.
Russia RAMPASed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014? Is that the history u learnt? How about the overall referendum of the Crimeans in agreeing to unite with Russia?
Central Asian "stan" states - wakakakakaka - indeed happy now bcoz of the China-Europe freight train trips that bring external accessibility for local exports & new business opportunities! But… but …where r the f*cked helps from uncle Sam?
"Building islands and military bases in the Southern Seas, to "liberate" who?"
Mfer, so simple & still can't drill through that petrified skull of yrs!
To defense family heirlooms!
UNDERSTAND?
Claiming when you dispute you negotiate - fine! Show yr supporting evidences. Not a piece of The Law of the Sea Convention w/o historical proofs! Otherwise who r the one that's doing the "RAMPASing" using twisted arguments?
Keep farting lah. I'm dying to clear more oxymoron foul gaseous leaking out from that fart filled well.
"This speech could have been made by Stalin or Hitler a few generations ago and a continent away, like in Nuremberg. Hitler so angry that Germany was bullied by the Treaty of Versailles at the end of WW1."
DeleteAny difference from yr uncle Sam's presidential address to the nation?
Ooop… genuflecting dog must know how to wag the tail. Otherwise, no more doggie crumbs!
https://www.reuters.com/article/health-coronavirus-malaysia-vaccines-idUSL3N2OC1OE
ReplyDelete1 million donated AstraZeneca vaccines have arrived from Japan, and 1 million donated Pfizer vaccines from USA.
Arigatogozaimas
Thank You Bro.
Even The Little Red Dot has no fear to say to Bullyland on their Auspicious Day:
ReplyDelete"Your Sinovac is Bullyshit".
QUOTE
Singapore withholds privileges from people with Sinovac shots
Kwan Wei Kevin Tan
Bloomberg
June 30, 2021
SINGAPORE (June 30): Residents in Singapore who opt for the vaccine made by Chinese company Sinovac Biotech Ltd won’t get the same benefits as those with government-approved messenger RNA vaccines from Pfizer Inc and Moderna Inc, reflecting the challenges facing people with less-effective inoculation as countries move to reopen safely.
Doctors are required to tell patients receiving vaccines under the city-state’s special access route – which Sinovac has qualified for – “that they may not be regarded in the same manner as those vaccinated under our national programme,” the Ministry of Health said in a statement on Wednesday.
These individuals will still need to undergo pre-event testing, the statement said, referring to precautions that those with the Pfizer or Moderna shots are exempted from.
The move raises the likelihood that those with Sinovac shots will also not be eligible for other easing measures that the Singapore government has signaled are forthcoming, such as being able to travel without serving a 14 day quarantine upon entering the border. With growing evidence that mRNA vaccines are not just more effective at preventing serious illness and death, but can also curb transmission, governments are scrambling to backstop their use of non-mRNA shots like those from the Chinese makers and AstraZeneca Plc.
While those vaccines are able to prevent acute illness or death, they’re less able to stop onward transmission. Rapid spread of new mutations like the delta variant are also fueling concerns that only the super-effective mRNA shots can provide comprehensive protection. Bahrain has started offering a Pfizer vaccine as a booster shot to people fully inoculated with Chinese maker Sinopharm’s vaccine.
In mid-June, Singapore allowed two dozen private clinics to use its existing stock of Sinovac shots, though the vaccine has not been approved by the regulator. Long lines of people came forward for it, reported local media reported, though the government has not released data on how many shots have been administered. The vaccine is made from the traditional method of injecting an inactivated form of the virus to stimulate immune response, and can be given to immuno-compromised people, the World Health Organization said.
UNQUOTE
Wakakakakaka…
DeletePeople vs bureaucrats!
Common senses vs threats!
Who to win?
Those who laugh last laugh the loudest!
As expected, the Western Anglosphere and its troops of brainwashed trolls get their panties all in a twist bashing the CPC centenary celebration. Some versions in the Western media reporting gave rather wild sensationalized version, using misleading English translation of Xi's speech.
ReplyDeleteXi Jinping was speaking as the General Secretary of the Party on the occasion of the CPC's centenary, and he was introducing a new official narrative about how the Party had brought an end to China's century of humiliation.
All these Westerners' bitching are irrelevant. The important point is that Xi wants to show that the Chinese are better off because of the leadership of the Party, and that Chinese people had closed a dark chapter in their history.
He is laying a claim to this accomplishment on behalf of the Party so that he can insure that the Party continues to play a leading role in China in the future.
If I were to resort to flowery gushing for this great occasion, maybe China can be liken to the Phoenix having risen with the metamorphosis in progress. The century of Asia is now here, and the West can only be viewed through the rear mirror. The US is not liking this scenario in the least, in fact, it is terrified. And being the green-eyed hegemon, it will continue to harass, to harangue, to hammer ceaselessly at China. But all these attempts to contain China will fail because the deep rot within the US and its oligarchy system will ultimately bring about its own decline.