Two of the best. Along with Jeremy Bowen, Christane Amanpour, Rageh Omar all my favourite. Foreign correspondents are the best journo's imo.
I posted earlier that at the moment the other factions will just wait and watch. Then once the situation calms down, they'll re-group, re-arm, get their proxy backers and then we'll see another civil war. At that point the Taliban may well resort to their old methods.
Imagine being one of the many who returned injured, or not at all. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-south-yorkshire-58213383 Link posted earlier of soldier who questioned the sacrifice they made.
Pakistan representative has just kicked off over the UN Security Council meeting about Afghanistan, due to comments made by India. Not sure the in's and outs but I swear he just accused India of genocide. Situation deterioating fast, also accusing the UN of blocking Pakistan and other neighbours from addressing the council.
The situation at Kabul international airport is "tenuous", and US officials are considering evacuating all Americans and leaving Afghans behind, according to CBS News, the BBC's US partner. The decision to abandon Afghan allies has not yet been made, said CBS National Security Correspondent David Martin, but it is "on the table" and will be explored if American troops cannot take control of the airport. On Monday, US troops killed two armed Afghans who were part of the crowd overrunning the airport.
What did I tell ya Btw Pakistan is the only country who tried to broker a deal between the Taliban and the Afghan government. But the Afghan government from Karzai to Ghani thumbed their noses to Pakistan for daring to say the Taliban were a player. They acted charlie big bollox because they had the Americans standing behind them. No Americans standing behind them, the Talibans in charge, who looks the fool now?
Pakistan said they will help anyone regardless of nationality to evacuate the country....no sooner he said that, all flights in and out of Kabul airport have been suspended. Pakistan stated they managed to get one flight out today, I believe.
I'm not sure Doucet will be afforded any more security other than those who work with her for the BBC. The country is being quickly emptied of any Govt and Embassy officials and replaced with the Taliban. I doubt she has any connections with them. But given her background as probably the best war correspondent at the moment and the fact that she lives in Aghanistan, my hunch is that she will want to stay and report.
Should be some decent arms deals in the area over the next decade. We'll be fine. On to the next one....
So BIDEN says the Americans should not be fighting a war the Afghans will not fight themselves. He said the Afghans gave up in some cases without so much as a fight. Well all I've got to say to that then is the British walk away and don't look back. If it's good enough for a superpower, why should we take on the burden. Callous maybe, but over 81 million people voted Biden in (bigger than the UK population), so it must be OK.
I'm not saying that we should take on the burden and I'm not sure what the "solution" for Afghanistan is. The problem now though is the power vacuum and what happens with their neighbours. If it's back to terrorist training camps and exporting jihadists, then walking away doesn't help. They'll follow us out. Afghanistan is barely a country, by all accounts. It's various regions that don't even like each other. Thinking of it as one nation might be the real issue.
Spolier They fell off. All able bodied fighting age men leaving their mothers/sisters/wives/daughters/granddaughters behind to become "non persons".
Brb posted this before. There's lads on there laughing at the camera and running alongside the plane like its a game.