Why Were We In Afghanistan?

[@CptnCobblestone]

Highly underrated channel. We need more stuff like this content.

[@gregorywitcher5618]

🖖🏽🙏🏽🤙🏽!

[@khyronkravshera7774]

Except they are wrong. The Taliban weren’t Mujahideen they were a student movement founded in 1994. (Long after the collapse of the USSR)

[@Unlisted_Name]

It might be more highly rated if KZbin actually notified us when new content is uploaded. 3 days later I stumbled upon it, despite having notifications turned on for all on this channel.

[@sai-codes]

Oh shit it's mumen rider. I'm a big fan

[@loturzelrestaurant]

@@khyronkravshera7774 Hope this channel here grows and catches-up to other Common-Sense channels like Sci Man Dan, Professor Dave, Hbomberguy, Some More News, ect.

[@laillahilaallah001]

"Its not like we are on the verge if economic and social collapse" Evergreene and deficit spending: "allow me to introducing ourselves"

[@maestrulgamer9695]

Debt ceiling: *Bonjour*

[@rwberger6]

Rising tensions between nations and arms buildups would like to say hello as well.

[@ankhmortus1470]

Lets be fair here, the debt was more our government having: 1. No idea how to budget 2. Thinking the solution to everything is tossing more money at it. 3. Corruption everywhere.

[@firefox4206]

@@ankhmortus1470 I would have to disagree they didn't care about having a budget they just keep spending and not caring about how it would effect America or her people

[@codycriss7910]

Dont worry guys, the new trillion dollar bill costs nothing! I mean, win win right??

[@fukumarkzuckerburg]

my issue with Afghanistan is _HOW_ we pulled out, but i agree that we should have left long ago.

[@Enchie]

Yup. I doubt anyone that isn't a warmonger is arguing we should have stayed. But the way we left was just a disaster that we will be feeling for years to come.

[@r.a.panimefan2109]

It was a disaster. Pulling troops out before tech and civilians... bloody stupid. Now I firmly believe we needed to leave it was a hassle and trouble but there needed to be some steps takin. However let's say we left earlier the talisman would have takin over cuase the afghan military we were there training are bloody cowards. I was telling people when I was in 3rd grade 19 years ago. That was on the oil conspiracy train that if we left it wouldn't be a year and the terrorists would be back. There's also the fact that control of that sand pit gave us a extreme advantage on the world. A adjacent military instalation to China. We have the world's largest navy at least now. And would have takin no efrt let's say if the whole world wanted us down. We could have blasted the oil pipelines and literally dried the world's economy out. A block cade on the middle east was tactical gold.

[@mithrandir3300]

But overall it's a huge win. 20 years and three presidents couldn't get us out of the war and just kept the conflict going passing the job on down to the next person. Doing that is actually worse than a flawed withdrawal because staying is always worse than leaving.

[@Aoekin]

definitely, especially with American citizens still there. We could have done this in incremented way that would have reduced blood shed at least.

[@r.a.panimefan2109]

@@mithrandir3300 time will tell. Now them terrorists are Armed with billions in are military tech. Look wat they did with 4 hijacked planes. Now they have missiles. Apache helicopters. Etc. This situation could become much worse. I'm sure those civilians (the women) And children being shot in the street raped. And married off. Having there freedoms trampled may be inclined to disagree with you

[@AlexJosten]

My issue with pulling out: we did it in the ugliest and worse way possible, we could have probably lost fewer lives, left fewer ppl behind, and not left all our equipment if we had organized properly and taken the necessary time

[@ntfoperative9432]

We were gonna. Trump had already worked out a plan, and had even negotiated a temporary ceasefire with the Taliban, but Biden threw it out

[@murdermeoninterchange]

worst part is, we've been through this same movie-trope bullshit before in Vietnam. Yet Brandon apparently got too old to remember, I think it was bad enough the army tried pandering to weaker people with the "no shark attacks" and "im stressed out cards"

[@thenicepenguin6691]

Dont forget we funneled thousands of people through a single airport when we had more than one airbase in the country. Its like they asked a newborn baby for a plan to evacuate.

[@no.yankee.no.brim1]

Never pull out, always use a condom

[@Alsayid]

Well, leave it to Brandon to enact the worst cluster-f*ck possible, all while saying "everything's fine."

[@Raptor302]

"$2 trillion for Afghanistan's infrastructure and not a penny for our own." -US govt

[@braxtonjones6163]

Well that’s what they’re trying to do now.

[@BlackOps05]

@@braxtonjones6163 except it's less an infrastructure package and more a bloated, pork-barrel Dem wishlist that's just called "infrastructure"

[@btsnake]

If we could spend $2 trillion in the US on infrastructure over two decades, it would be a bargain compared to the amount we have already spent. The war in Afghanistan looks like a positively productive use of money compared to how we use it here. AND on top of that we get to have a strong presence in an important part of the world? Yeah, I don't buy that staying in Afghanistan was a bad idea. If you want cost savings, let's get rid of unproductive money spending at home first, before we begin to talk about spending abroad. If you want another shock, look up how much we spend on welfare in this country on a national level - we wouldn't be able to find that for 2 years with $2 trillion.

[@Toons595]

@@btsnake Also, we did not get to have a strong presence in an important part of the world, we wasted the lives of thousands of soldiers and many more civilians just to look weak and pull out after 20 years, how exactly is that "having a strong presence"??

[@btsnake]

@@Toons595 having an air force base in Kabul that could fly out all over central Asia and the Indian subcontinent helped. The truth is, that should've been a permanent base like Rammstein in Germany or Okinawa in Japan. Like it or not, our military needs to be all over the world if we want to keep Russia and China at bay. If you disagree, volunteer to live there. Also if you're not Seamus please change your name. If you are, hey, what's up?

[@scooplerz9071]

I love that, in our pursuit of undermining Russia with their own Vietnam, we get stuck in a 20 year long war that we ultimately lost.

[@khyronkravshera7774]

The Taliban were NOT Mujahideen. They were started by a group of students in 1994 long after the collapse of the USSR.

[@ALovelyBunchOfDragonballz]

We flipped that Uno Reverse card on ourselves.

[@stvargas69]

Vietnam 2.0

[@rocksinshoe9930]

@Bradley Scott i wonder what religious and ethnic group these people are from

[@SomeOrdinaryJanitor]

yeah its likefuckin' doodlebob. destroyed by the one you created.

[@imperialbricks1977]

As soon as Bob heard the silence, he knew he was in for it.

[@elisehauck127]

He is so good at informing people. It gives me facts and arguments.

[@aykranders]

Common Sense Soapbox EDUCATES people with FACTS and LOGIC.

[@khyronkravshera7774]

The Taliban were not Mujahideen. They were a student movement founded in 1994. Long after the collapse of the USSR.

[@CedarHunt]

It's too bad his "facts" about the origins of the Taliban and their reasons for refusing to hand over Bin Laden are false.

[@elisehauck127]

@@CedarHunt wdym? Explain.

[@CedarHunt]

@@elisehauck127 The Taliban aren't an offshoot of the Mujahideen which the US was funding. They are a Pakistani paramilitary group initially recruited from extremist madrasas in the early 90s. They invaded Afghanistan in 1994 and seized power in 1996 after they crushed the US backed Mujahideen group that had controlled parts of the region. The US has never funded or backed the Taliban in any way. After 9/11 the Taliban refused to hand over Bin Laden citing their hospitality rules and, while the claimed to be willing to hand him over if the US could prove he had committed crimes, the reality is that Bin Laden had publicly claimed credit for the attack directly after it happened and the Taliban didn't consider his actions to be criminal under their definitions. Nobody was taking their extradition offer seriously and the Bush administration would have been morons to take it at face value.

[@gavriloprincip5683]

I liked the "oh, nyet" caption! Классные мультики, продолжайте в том же духе)

[@KonpeitoKoil]

Speaking of wars-

[@gavriloprincip5683]

@@KonpeitoKoil speaking of wars... What? Do you want to elaborate? I didn't get what you are telling me

[@KonpeitoKoil]

@@gavriloprincip5683 sorry, I was trying to make a joke about your username.

[@cherishedparks]

Please stay away from the archduke Franz Ferdinand!

[@gavriloprincip5683]

@@KonpeitoKoil oh, man, I even forgot about it. Makes sense 😂

[@rwberger6]

"It's not like we're on the brink of economic and social collapse, right?" Meanwhile everyone who has actually studied history is currently securing their bags because they know whats coming.

[@jackalenterprisesofohio]

Yeah....That's why I put mimeograph on my Christmas wish list like two years ago.

[@randomchannel4852]

The average life of a country is 250 years The USA is 245 years old now, Yeah I’m gonna pack my bags and move into Europe after this

[@joshuagross3151]

It's not like this our country's first economic crisis. I'm eager to see who we go to war with to recover from it, though.

[@CivilDefenseEngineer]

Don’t buy bouillon, buy bullets

[@joshuagross3151]

@@CivilDefenseEngineer Why stop there? Also buy tobacco, alcohol, covfefe, sugar, Styrofoam, gasoline, canned food -- that shit's going to be good as gold, if the market really goes under. Probably wouldn't hurt to learn distillation, either -- both for water and making your own spirits. Should get some disposable lighters and a couple bottles of fluid too; get a refillable Zippo for yourself.

[@spearshake4771]

Iraq was also partly responsible for why troops in Afghanistan didn't leave earlier. The US saw the chaos that occured once they left Iraq in 2011 and they had to return in any case to combat ISIS. That's why they decided to keep a military presence in Afghanistan a little longer. And boy did that turn out well...

[@aquilamflammeus5569]

I mean maintaining troops in Afghanistan didn't really do much. 20 lives a year maintaing human rights for some 40 million people

[@y7va]

Plus Iraq was invaded for no reason, and it’s invasion took away valuable resources from the war in Afghanistan. We should’ve never gone to war with both nation.

[@GewelReal]

@@y7va but man did the war industry love that

[@موسى_7]

America did nothing to stop ISIS, it was all thanks to Iraqi militias trained by a guy who was assassinated a couple of years ago. In Syria, it was the Syrians, the Lebanese, the Kurds, and Russians who defeated ISIS.

[@fafhrdkreig4739]

Side note as soon as the Soviets pulled out of Afghanistan we pulled our support if we had spent 10% of what we did in funding the mujahedeen to help rebuild we may have been able to prevent the Taliban from coming to power.

[@MrAlepedroza]

@Olivier Wells The Mujahideen were willing to cooperate with the US as allies. The Taliban were treacherous and more extreme, they only agreed to hand down Osama...to a third unspecified country which could very well be an islamist infested slum where he would be safe. The Mujahideen may have kept the country stable during the 90's and arguably would have loathed Osama enough to hunt him down and hand him to the US...or just plain kill him. They would not have necessarily been on good terms with Al Qaeda, since muslim extremists do fight each other when their interests or tenets do not agree. They're not as monolythical as some claim. No war, the world's a better place.

[@bl8danjil]

@Olivier Wells The Taliban and Al Qaeda were always on the same side. They have always been allies since the Civil War in Afghanistan. The Taliban protect and allow Al Qaeda to use their country as a safe haven. 9/11 was not the only time we were attacked by Al Qaeda and the Taliban stalled for them.

[@MrAlepedroza]

@@bl8danjil The Mujahideen were in charge of Afghanistan at the end of the Soviet War, and would not have automatically been allies of Al Qaeda just because both were muslims, specially if backed by the US.

[@bl8danjil]

@@MrAlepedroza I never implied that just because they were Muslim they were on the same side. Go look up how the Taliban and Al Qaeda became friends. It started around the civil war.

[@MrAlepedroza]

@@bl8danjil The Taliban revolted against the bulk of the Mujahideen, which would have made Al Qaeda and the latter automatic enemies.

[@UpstateGardening]

The people of Iraq actually wanted a regime change. Afghanistan doesn’t.

[@hamie7624]

Eh, some Iraqis did. And a lot who did changed their minds when the new regime was ISIS.

[@joshuagross3151]

@@hamie7624 To be fair, though, ISIS happened because we did then what was done with Afghanistan. It left a power vacuum that was ultimately filled by the strongest "organization."

[@hamie7624]

@@joshuagross3151 There wouldn't have been a power vacuum if we never went there in the first place, or if we didn't dump tons of money and guns on "moderate rebels" in syria to spite Assad, who were actually ISIS.

[@hamie7624]

@@joshuagross3151 And honestly, there wasn't a power vacuum in either country because the puppet governments we supported were fully in place, they just sucked and didn't have any balls.

[@joshuagross3151]

@@hamie7624 Nor military training.

[@elisehauck127]

Thank you for helping me inform people Seamus! I’m 14 and there are a lot of people who hate me for being a conservative and a catholic. God speed🙏

[@shadowofhawk55]

Stand firm and strong. Don't die on every hill, but if someone makes a move go for the throat (not literally unless its a physical confrontation. In that case yeah, go for the throat).

[@robertkidnley93]

Forget them

[@SweatyFatGuy]

Some advice from an old guy... Stay catholic if you like it, by all means rock on with your self. However you are going to reach more hearts and minds by leaving ideology out of your arguments. Many protestants don't see catholics as chritians, and all the different sects think they are right, everyone else is wrong. It is divisive even among christians, and other religions and the non religious will simply tune out when you start talking about yours.. they have their own. Its sorta like how I don't play racing games because I own several race cars. Why would I do it on a screen when I can simply go out and start mine up and drive it? Now if you want to reach someone like me, who is old, has been through hell a few times, and takes little to no stock in religion, you have to use logic, reason, and a good well thought out argument. Simply spewing bible verses and religious rhetoric will only serve to shut people off. Be like the USA, where no religion is held above others, they are all equal, and legislation is supposed to be made without religious input. e.g. you can't have blasphemy laws, we can speak freely about anything here. You, your parents, and I will probably agree about a great many things, despite me not being a conservative and not having any religion nor ideology whatsoever, but you bring up your specific religion and I diverge there. That is why I frequent channels such as this, and Crowder, among others, because humans have a nature and currently the left is trying to say we don't or that its bad. Dig into the founding of the USA, read about the men who decided to begin this great experiment of self governance, and learn why they opted to not have a theocracy. Read the writings of Franklin, Jefferson, Paine, Adams, and Washington, they spell it out rather well. Avoid the books by Barton, he is pushing an ideology, likewise avoid the books by the morons pushing the 1619 crap, and others of their ilk who claim the USA is evil. They are all trying to control you. History will teach you about human nature, and you will be able to see things from other perspectives, which is paramount in understanding other people. Keep the religion separate from the message, and share the religious message with those who want to hear it. Not saying hide it under a bushel, I remember that one from parochial school, but adding in extra stuff dilutes the message. Its not a simple dichotomy, there are many paths through life, some include religion, some religion is a parallel path. When you give a message like Seamus did in this, without mention of religion, it will reach the widest number of people. Its on a path parallel to what religion he might have. Liberty, freedom, self reliance, personal responsibility, and self determination are not the sole realm of christians or any religion, but because those things will improve your life many religions include them in the message.. By the way I have a favorite bible verse, two of them! Proverbs 21:9 and 25:24. They are essentially the same thing put in twice. First time I read the bible in 4th grad I saw that and liked it immediately, that was 40 years ago.

[@elisehauck127]

@@SweatyFatGuy thank you so much for the advice! I live in America and your advice is very helpful. God bless you🙏

[@ianpage2509]

I’m a Presbyterian conservative but I feel you. If you get a chance look at Jordan Peterson’s biblical Lectures. They help.

[@darthhodges]

I have one criticism. Your oversimplification of Vietnam and comparing it to Afghanistan. Vietnam actually ended the same way Korea did, with a stale mate. Except we actually got a signed peace treaty in Vietnam, so Vietnam kind of ended better. Then the next administration promised not to go back to Vietnam even though we had promised to defend the "democratic" South from the Communist North in said treaty. The North invaded and 2 years later, Saigon fell. The only troops we had in the country during those 2 years were embassy guards. Vietnam was unpopular, expensive, and poorly handled, but it did initially achieve it's original goal of slowing the spread of Communism. We didn't achieve our goals in Afghanistan (democratic government) and left quick and dirty so in some ways the war in Afghanistan will be remembered by history as worse than the war in Vietnam.

[@mobbs6426]

I don't think that was his intention, he can't detour to explain everything. America trying to put Russia in the same situation was the point he was trying to make, not that Vietnam was a complex and multi-layered conflict. Would have had a different title, I'd expect

[@mobbs6426]

@LTNetjak it does, but it tends to be a slow and *arduous* journey. Much better to just skip the communist take-over and go straight to the communist trials

[@NekoinaBox2000]

You seemed to misunderstand his comparison. He was saying we wanted to make Afghanistan the ussr’s own Vietnam, not that it WAS Vietnam. Or anything like it.

[@darthhodges]

@@NekoinaBox2000 I was referring to the beginning of the video where he characterized the end of Vietnam as a disaster similar to how we left Afghanistan.

[@slyninja4444]

"Democractic" South... Many people forget that many of the anti-communist regimes we supported were by no means democratic. Nationalist China, South Vietnam, even South Korea at first. Not communist, but still authoritarian one party state dictatorships (at least in the beginning).

[@charlesshelton7989]

As an Air Force veteran who was deployed to Afghanistan in 2018: I was feeling a raw mix of emotions as the news kept pouring in. I was somewhat exonerated that a war which started when I was in kindergarten finally started "drawing down". I'm really angry that the ANA/ANP forces we stood up pretty much handed over the keys to the kingdom. I was extraordinarily p!ssed off when 13 of our comrades came home in body bags. It will take an entire generation to fully recover from what happened. This was a slap in the face for us. Now we are left wondering: what was it for?

[@randomdude8202]

You cant turn a poor nation to a western democracy. It is simply impossible. Because rights and freedoms you are trying to install heavily depend on wealth. Nobody will care about the rights of the guy next door while they struggle to feed themselves. You can even see this in western democracies, rights and freedoms shrink with increasing economic problems. Only winning hand in that fight was not to play.

[@coltpiecemaker]

Ah, yes. the Common Sense Soapbox Cinematic Universe is all coming together...

[@Secretrider459]

When the economy is so bad we can’t afford the opening jingle.

[@ilikedairyproducts9690]

What do you think about the Us defaulting on its debt?

[@CommonSenseSoapbox]

Pretty bad, man... It's the kind of thing that will have serious long term consequences for he US economy and for international relations.

[@curtbalch2321]

Why default when you can just "inflate it away"?

[@georgewright4285]

@@curtbalch2321 cause you can inflate it by that much before it bursts, but (even though it's politically inconvenient) it'd be better for it to default on 1tr instead of on 20tr, but then again the very very rich have been accumulating wildly big loads of money and the anti trust has become a laughing stock

[@curtbalch2321]

@@georgewright4285 I was being sarcastic. Though there is an argument to be made that this actually is the strategy the Fed and current administration is willfully pursuing as a means to devalue outstanding debt. It also explains the long term flight from bonds and cash to equities and commodities.

[@lonebikeroftheapocalypse9527]

It's an engineered "crisis" from which I will receive no benefit.

[@xanthippus9079]

The US government is better at creating enemies than Conor McGregor.

[@vulthurmir2478]

Please remind me what did he do?

[@shadowsa2b]

Who?

[@Dennis-nc3vw]

Everytime the US gives pocket-change to bad people everyone says "OMGZ U PUT THEM IN POWER!!!!" No, the Taliban almost certainly would have come to power without America's help. Most funding for the Mujahadeen was not from foreign governments, let alone the United States.

[@corrupt1user]

GIMME YOUR BELT! kzbin.info/www/bejne/fquuhX5mZZdnodk

[@CrizzyEyes]

He's a very famous UFC fighter who is known for talking a lot of smack.

[@100and1percentCotton]

Great job! I really love the really quirky music and sound effects. Gives it a fantastic “The More You Know” vibe!

[@ohaviafeldman8535]

All good arguments except for the fact that we could have kept 2500 troops there and they would have been peace and the tens of thousands if not hundreds of thousands of people who were brought up living under US-esque rule would not now be slaves. We failed here and in Vietnam for the exact same reason Politics. We have bases all over the world with thousands of troops stationed at them happily. All those places have one thing in common. There is pretty much peace there and they are not a threat to the US and they are our allies

[@skyranger1366]

Funny how we failed in places that never asked for U.S troops in the first place.

[@MrAlepedroza]

@@skyranger1366 Wrong. The South Vietnamese government requested US help against the Communist North, same for South Korea. Japan and Germany had to be guarded against China and the USSR. Most countries where the US has bases, specially those bordering Russia DID ask for NATO protection.

[@8Maduce50]

Nope sorry I want the 30k troops in germany out of Germany. And that is just germany.

[@ohaviafeldman8535]

​@@skyranger1366 I hear but - Who are you referring to - the "governments" of those places? The people asked - the people of Afghanistan begged us to stay they still are. That does not mean we have to go where ever someone calls our name like a corrupt

[@ohaviafeldman8535]

@@8Maduce50 Right, but Why? What's the goal? To have all our solders lined up at home? An army needs to have a broad presence to be effective. The solders on not held there against their will. Part of being a world power is being in multiple locations

[@orusandornots1915]

I Was deployed twice to Afghanistan. Let me tell you something. All of us on the ground knew the Afghan solders were not even close to being ready. We were at least another 2 decades away from maybe having a stable country because for that you need patriotism to the country and all the Afghans cared about was their religious sect over everything. We needed to leave but there was a right way and a wrong way. We Had an outlined a plan for withdrawl years and years ago and we did it. We only had a couple thousand solders in country.

[@jackhhun2698]

They have Historically always held ties to tribal and religious sects since freaking 1200 its why no one with the exception of the mongls who really just uplifted their country into it as beaten afghanie people. They have no loyalty such things they don't have any reason to do so in the first place. Its like trying to give nomads a coke and tell them to give up their way of life for an xbox. Not going to happen

[@jahenders]

When I was deployed there in 10-11, I was a planner. In some cases, I'd go to one meeting where we were talking about building up bases (a lot of money and time), and another meeting where we were talking about drawing down some things. It was surreal. One thing that REALLY pissed me off was when we had some big planning meeting with other people at the Pentagon and at CENTCOM HQ (FL). Well, we (of course) met on what was convenient for their time zone, so the meeting started at like 2000 (8 pm) for us and about 1100 (11 am) for them. This meeting went on for like 3 hours, so at around 10 pm (our time) THEY BROKE FOR LUNCH. This meant that we had to sit around for an hour while they ran to conveniently located restaurants. The utter cluelessness and callousness of that amazed me. I simply can't think of any situation where I'd ask people who were deployed thousands of miles from their families, and who'd been working for over 12 hours already, to stay up and work until after midnight so I wouldn't be inconvenienced by missing lunch (or having to bring my sandwich to a meeting). It was one of those things that made it clear that, although they were the 'warfighting command', they weren't living in the same world we were.

[@Eluderatnight]

Salt Bae comming in at the end: "Its not like we are on the verge of economic and social collapse" Manufique

[@dougsholly9323]

Totally agree we should have gotten out of Afghanistan a LONG time ago. The premise sounded like a good idea. Convert the country into a reliable democracy, and we could end up with an ally, or at the very least, a country that doesn't want to murder us on sight. The problem is that those people don't, and will never have any interest in being a democracy for a multitude of reasons. It was painfully obvious 2 years in, but we just kept thinking "they'll turn it around any time now. We just gotta keep throwing money at them". It was a complete disaster waiting to happen right from the get-go. I, for one, am extremely glad we are out of that wasteland. However, I am pretty sure there were at least 1,252 different ways to get out that were much better than the way we did...

[@loturzelrestaurant]

Yeah, but now the Situation has changed. The world cant let them be or we have YET ANOTHER N-Korea. You cant just leave woman-hating Barbarics be.

[@thomasb4467]

I’m waiting to hear “deny a terrorist state”….don’t speak for us service-members. Last I checked no one held a gun to my head when I swore the oath of enlistment.

[@Laugh1ngboy]

My issue is they turned my oath into "this". It is very easy to pick apart decisions made 10 or 15 years ago. It is the most recent ones that really bother me though. I mean I have scene better tactics of a withdrawal performed by 10 year olds. I was happy to hear we had a plan to stop fighting the war in Afghanistan, sad to hear that the plan was to delay the reestablishment of the Taliban to power. That they hoped it would take a year.

[@NormalPerson053]

If US can kill a terrorist by not invading countries by drone attacks, air strike, surgical strike, poisioning, bombing etc.with full deniablity why officials forced to invade Afghanistan. Iraq can be answered for petrodollar. But afganistan sounds like sham by governments and it's cronies to gain from spending Americans blood and tax payer money. What you all think?

[@Laugh1ngboy]

@LTNetjak I totally agree. when I started that war the idea wasn't to make it a safe country it was to get bin-laden. The decision to try and modernize the country was after I was discharged. While I have no problems helping a nation build it's self up. The people have to want it and need to work together to do it. We never really gave them a chance though. We gave them a plan and then took away the tools to work it. It saddens me to think of the kids that grew up in the last 15 years looking towards what their future might be turned into the dark ages once again.

[@avroarchitect1793]

@@Laugh1ngboy Sadly the act of modernizing them is a very long term one. There were hair salons popping up that would shave and cut hair in more western styles with their own cultural twist. Now they are banned by the taliban, and these young business owners that would have been part of a modern economy have starting are closing up shop. Those kids you saw running around on your first deployment are all grown up now and have had their future taken away again because of piss poor planning. We needed to leave eventually but the sudden up and gone tactic was not the way to do it.

[@Laugh1ngboy]

@@avroarchitect1793 I agree we didn't need to leave this way. I just see it as a waste of effort. They lied to us about what the mission was and how well it was going in my opinion.

[@mustang607]

Sounds like the sequel is going to be economically interesting.

[@loturzelrestaurant]

Hope this channel here grows and catches-up to other Common-Sense channels like Sci Man Dan, Professor Dave, Hbomberguy, Some More News, ect.

[@jahenders]

We simply had to deal with Afghanistan after 9/11 whether that was bombing or invading. In 20/20 hindsight, we didn't have to go into Iraq and shouldn't have. That being said, IMNSHO the biggest problem in both cases was that we accepted the "if you break it, you have to fix it" school of international relations. Breaking both countries was relatively easy -- trying to 'fix' them was impossible. In Iraq, in particular, we could have gone in, blown crap up, killed Hussein, and left saying, "... And don't make us ever come back there or we'll REALLY be pissed." Sure, the argument against this was, "But they'll be a civil war if you do that." Well, guess what -- there was a civil war anyway and the country is still broken. Us being there didn't really change that plot -- it just cost us trillions and a lot of lives. If we had really felt that we needed to make an attempt at rebuilding, we should have handed them a constitution and said, "Shut up and deal with it" (as we did with Japan after WWII). Instead, we let them argue and dither for months while chaos and opposition grew. Afghanistan was a little harder because we wanted to get Bin Laden, but if we'd just focused on that, we could have let the rest of the country collapse into chaos (as it did anyway). If nothing else, the fact that we weren't trying to do much in Afghanistan would have allowed us to exert great pressure on Pakistan (where he was found) since we didn't need their grudging assistance on other things.

[@billvojtech5686]

Towards the end of our involvement in Afghanistan, the Afghan military was doing most of the actual fighting, with air and logistical support from us. It was actually safer to be an American soldier in Afghanistan than to be a cop in Chicago. Staying was costing us little in lives, and as foreign involvements go, not that much in dollars. Having bases we could use in that region was useful. Leaving was stupid, and the WAY we left was shameful. We abandoned our own citizens and allies. And we armed the Taliban with night vision goggles, tanks, helicopters and other vehicles. If we couldn't take them, we should have called in air strikes on the depots. A generation that grew up free of the Taliban, under American rule are now being subjugated. I can't see any allies in the future trusting us.

[@ImamShamilLibrary]

The people didn’t want you there. At least be a consistent democrat

[@billvojtech5686]

@@ImamShamilLibrary I wasn't there and I'm not a democrat.

[@jokerace8227]

Veteran Lives Matter. Serving in defense of our Nation is not a sin. Do not blame yourselves for corrupt choices the top brass made that actually make the World more dangerous, while trying to keep us all in the dark about the truth of the situation and of their motives. That crime isn't on you, it is on them.

[@mysticalarchives7821]

While knowledge of where the Taliban came from is useful, I have to disagree about the conclusion with regard to regime change. Those who are responsible for the 9/11 terrorist attacks were Al-Qaeda. Al-Qaeda was able to flourish and prosper to the point of being able to launch terror attacks against the United States because they were given support and shelter by the Taliban who controlled Afghanistan. The Taliban were unwilling to give bin Laden over to us unless we met several demands which would only have given the Taliban more resources that they would immediately have handed over to Al-Qaeda who would then find a new leader aside from bin Laden in order to continue their attacks against America. The reason that we focused on overthrowing the Taliban was that the Taliban offered a baseline level of support to Al-Qaeda that would’ve allowed them to simply re-grow and create more problems for us if left unchecked. By removing the Taliban, you guarantee that Al-Qaeda would not be able to carry out another terrorist attack like they had been planning. Once the Taliban was removed, however, it would’ve been highly irresponsible to just leave Afghanistan as it was. We had to recognize the problems in the past from when we’ve overthrown regimes and take action to establish a new government in Afghanistan that would help to fill the power vacuum and bring stability so that it wouldn’t collapse the moment we left. There were a lot of points of confusion and plenty of places where criticism can be leveled with the way that we carried out the construction of a new Afghan government, of course, but we need to understand that the Taliban and Al-Qaeda as well as other groups still existed near Afghanistan and it takes a long time to strengthen a government to the point of being able to defend itself against hostile forces. When America was founded, we had the benefit of being essentially the only government on the continent of North America and thus we faced no hostile force that was seeking to overthrow us from the point of our inception. We were able to grow in the early years of our nation's founding without any obstacles and so we take for granted the concept of establishing a government and think all it takes is just electing new leaders and setting up a military. In reality, it takes a long time to grow that military to the strength necessary to defend a homeland and train it so that it will be effective against any and all hostile forces. It also takes time for the government to get a better feel of how it needs to operate and to establish the baseline level of operations and laws so that it can be effective when combating opponents. In this case, the withdrawal from Afghanistan, while it had grown to where it could have taken the Taliban, we kneecapped their ability to defend themselves by making it impossible for them to maintain their aircraft which is essential to military defense given that most of Afghanistan is covered in mountains that make it difficult for ground forces to get anywhere. In short, regardless of how the Taliban came about, it did become necessary to remove them and it did become necessary to establish a new government in its place to prevent Al-Qaeda from being able to strike the United States again and to keep there from being a power vacuum that would only make things worse. That doesn’t mean that the operations there are immune to criticism of course and there are plenty of areas in which we can question the way things were done as well as their effectiveness but let’s remember that there was a greater need to take action than many give credit for.

[@thesaltyadept7104]

Theres nothing you have said that i dont agree with, in the end sadly its the people of Afghanistan that will suffer. I just hope that small dose of democracy is enough to inspire some meaningful change…i doubt it but hey optimism right?

[@braxtonjones6163]

@@thesaltyadept7104 Resistance fighters in the Panjsir Valley is still holding strong they’ve have never been conquered.

[@thesaltyadept7104]

@@braxtonjones6163 thought and prayers i suppose

[@braethebrave1569]

That helped a lot! Thanks!

[@rudiruttger]

There is nothing wrong with having removed the Taliban 20 years ago.

[@akazinsomniac3007]

We are the Taliban we feed them with Obama 🤑

[@MrAlepedroza]

They're still kicking and now own the country, so it was pointless....unless, maybe if the initial 2001 invasion was just a fast raze, then withdrew immediately to the bases on the countries bordering Afghanistan to block it, under threat of razing the country again for every detection of Taliban activity outside of the country, until they handed Bin Laden back and they ceased international terrorist operations. That, and training the locals to fight tribally and decentralized. But no, the military industrial complex wanted a racket.

[@bl8danjil]

There isn't. People don't remember the Taliban and Al Qaeda have been allies since the 90's around the time of the Afghan civil war. Because the Taliban are back in power, the terrorist activities of Al Qaeda will continue.

[@magnusprime962]

Unfortunately we really didn’t. They’re still around and took advantage of our terrible withdrawal to get right back into power again.

[@dylanmuenzberg8736]

“As in the people we fought in Afghanistan? AHHHBOOOUULLL 😵” I cackled

[@mobbs6426]

"How can we [x] after all that was sacrificed?" I hate this question. So we're to encourage more sacrifice in the name of this unwinnable goal? Is that the solution? Keep throwing our sons and daughters at the mountain trying to follow the birdie? It was a good episode, I just wanted to make my point

[@drascalicus5187]

Sunk cost is a very real phenomenon. People don't like to just cut and run when a project fails, as failure to a narcissist is as bad as death.

[@r.c.8268]

@@drascalicus5187 sunk cost in one of reason people still think that we should continue the war on drugs, even though it has destroyed the entire continent, almost all of Latin America is ruled by cartels

[@r.a.panimefan2109]

The problem is with that is the world is hardly that simple. 😕 I don't like war. But it's a nessesariy evil. We went there to stop terrorism Remember 9/ 11 It will be about a year and will probably happen again. No one wanted that war to continue no one did. But with that in mind leaving now just means all those sacrifices were for absolutely nothing

[@mobbs6426]

@@r.a.panimefan2109 they haven't been sacrificing to stop terrorism for years, just to push a foreign regime on a people who clearly didn't want it. They see us as debauched, and we stuck our military in there and said "you should be debauched too". Keep sacrificing, we can win them over It was used probably once in the right context, now its just a cliche used to move the goalposts

[@mobbs6426]

@@r.a.panimefan2109 tell you what, here's my rule. You can use it for the final battle. "Think of all we've sacrificed to come to this point. Tonight we bring an end to this conflict and we save our country from these tryrants. We will sacrifice, no more!", something like that, but y'know, with more context, and less "sacrifice".

[@megamind8901]

Great stuff. Amazing explanation

[@FreedomRidersVA]

I'm curious if they're gonna talk about the national debt, and the potential fallout if the US decides to default on our debt.

[@robertevans7534]

I believe they’ve cover the topic in previous videos... I don’t remember for sure off hand though.

[@FreedomRidersVA]

@@robertevans7534 i know they covered the national debt in a previous episode, but with the relevance of the impending default of that debt I wasn't sure if they would revisit the topic, including the potential fallout if we do default.

[@aaronlandry3934]

@@FreedomRidersVA Default is highly unlikely. Congress will simply either take on more loans to pay off this debt first or pull a Venezuela and print more money. The Greece card is a last resort and if we’re defaulting, Congress should have taken on much more debt to live it up beforehand

[@FreedomRidersVA]

@@aaronlandry3934 Unfortunately in this case unless they raise the debt ceiling there really isn't a solution. It isn't about spending or printing more money, it's about paying for the bills that have come due. Printing more money won't solve this problem.

[@aaronlandry3934]

@@FreedomRidersVA Printing more money to use to pay the debt would make the debt go away, but at the cost of the currency’s value. The Venezuelan approach is not a desirable one, but it beats the Greek trump card. Anyhow, currency devaluation is likely to occur when Congress takes on more debt to pay off the current due debts. Hopefully now, people will try to cut back on the spending, because we don’t need anymore debt

[@tavernburner3066]

We didn't create the rebels in afganistan. They existed before we funded anybody.

[@SonofIiberty]

True, but we gave them some big fat checks.

[@tavernburner3066]

@@SonofIiberty True, but I've always found captain hindsight to be very unhelpful superhero.

[@jdtreharne]

1. The Taliban and Al Qaeda were/are closely allied. 2. The Taliban offered to turn him over to an unnamed 3rd nation. Bush rightfully wanted them to surrender him unconditionally and they refused.

[@hamie7624]

No. It was perfectly reasonable for them to want to negotiate and turn him over to a 3rd nation, where the US would just get him. Afghanistan is their country. a few thousand dead Americans, a hundreds of thousands dead civilians, plus 2 trillion tax dollars wasted, wasn't worth flexing on a bunch of dirt farmers in plastic flip flops with rusty AKs. None of it had to happen but the US was too busy singing lame Toby Kieth songs to see any reason.

[@braxtonjones6163]

@@hamie7624 The Taliban should’ve thought about that before they harbored all kinds of terrorist organizations in their borders putting not just ours at risk. The Taliban are already threatening Tajikistan despite not being recognized a suicidal move considering Russia has bases there.

[@Supervillain725]

Clinton was offered Bin Laden but he refused.

[@hamie7624]

@Roniixx Maybe he had the "right" to reject them, but it was still massively stupid. If he wanted bin laden, and could have had him via a 3rd country, sounds like a win. Especially if the alternative was killing civilians and more Americans. BL could have been tried and executed a couple months after 9/11 with out all the extra deaths. It is relevant, because you can't just invade a place because you want someone who lives there. If Canada invaded America because one of their fugitives lived here would you shrug your shoulders and say well, they want the guy? Of course not. Your argument is stupid. The Taliban isn't Al-Qaeda. The Taliban are indeed a bunch of dirt farmers who rule the country. Al-Qaeda exists across the middle east and Europe, should we invade and occupy every country that possibly has Al-Qaeda? Plus all the AQ guys were killed in the first few weeks of the invasion, so there was no need whatsoever to stay longer if killing AQ in Afghanistan was the goal.

[@TheResistance-ye8bh]

They gave 3 offers, all of which were rejected. 1. Show us evidence and we hand over Bin Laden to you 2. We hand over Bin Laden to a 3rd nation (probably Pakistan) 3. We hand over Bin Laden to you without evidence if you promise not to invade Afghanistan

[@Steel-101]

This is like School house rock for 2021. Love your videos man!!! God bless and stay safe! 😎🇺🇸👍🏼

[@danielcharland1374]

Holy cow, can you imagine if he put all of these to original songs?

[@Steel-101]

@@danielcharland1374 it would be amazing!!! Man I haven’t seen that show in a LONG time.

[@jakeferreirafamily]

This channel will be big soon enough dont stop

[@ecs1126]

Love the lore of these vids

[@Dies1r4e]

it took me seeing this on my phone, and searching about five times under different names to get this to come up...god bless

[@spikeshartell4675]

TBF our impending economic collapse has more to do with the mass germophobia we've had the last year than the war but yeah, things are bad.

[@kalkuttadrop6371]

0:52 No the Taliban started in August 1994 in Kandahar and took over the city in October 1994. The group the US funded was the Muhjadeen who were the main force in the Northern Alliance and the only one left intact by 1999

[@GreyWolfLeaderTW]

Quick corrections: 1. Yes, the Taliban were involved with Al-Qaeda. When Saudi Arabia forced Osama out of their country in the mid-90s (in spite of him being a native Saudi citizen) following the first World Trade Center bombing (which Osama and Al-Qaeda were directly involved in), the Taliban allowed Osama and Al-Qaeda to set up training and operation bases in Afghanistan (which they would have only been allowed to do with the blessing of the Taliban). They provided funding and resources as well. 2. The US invaded Afghanistan specifically because the Taliban refused to hand over Osama Bin Laden and other leaders of Al-Qaeda to US custody, thus putting them in the position of further aiding and abetting anti-American terrorists. So they had to go like Bin Laden. 3. The US remained in Afghanistan specifically because it would be irresponsible to destroy large quantities of capital, infrastructure, and civil assets in Afghanistan while hunting down Al-Qaeda and the Taliban, then walk away to let the Taliban re-acquire control over the state, with the reduced infrastructure allowing them to have greater power and control over an isolated civilian population.

[@loturzelrestaurant]

Hope this channel here grows and catches-up to other Common-Sense channels like Sci Man Dan, Professor Dave, Hbomberguy, Some More News, ect.

[@dragondogemaster]

I actually didn’t know this about Afghanistan War. Thank you for informing me

[@Dennis-nc3vw]

As crazy as it might sound, 20 years of low key war may have been better for Afghanistan than 20 years of Taliban rule. After all, NGOs only started screaming about the need for humanitarian aid in Afghanistan right after the US withdrew and Afghanistan, according to studies, became literally the most unhappy country in the world (according to research). And, as I stated before, 80% of those civilian so called "casualties of war" were victims of the Taliban, the same people the war was keeping out of power.

[@taddersauce3672]

I'd say looking at the source in hindsight. The U.S. should've never supported the mujahideen to fight the soviets. If they did then they shouldn't have stuck around playing chess with Iraq and Kuwait, Changing those rebel groups view on U.S. involvement in the middle-east. leading to 9/11 than the 20 year long war in Afghanistan.

[@Dennis-nc3vw]

@@taddersauce3672 The Mujaheddin almost certainly would have won without America's support. American only supplied a small fraction of their resources. It was mostly a local movement.

[@taddersauce3672]

@@Dennis-nc3vw Well maybe not just the U.S. Operation Cyclone had combined assistance from the U.S- pakistani distribution, Saudi, British and Chinese which is estimated at about $6-12 billion. Western actions were detrimental to the situation in the Middle East we have in present time, MI6 and CIA collaborating with some hardline Islamic extremists (I say this as someone from islamic background), like Zia-Ul-Haq, Hezeb-e-Islam Gulbuddin and the lot. Bin Laden joined the Mujahideen to, gaining relations with those higher up extremists, which really set the stage for the events to follow later on especially with the Gulf-War adding to the momentum. Foreign interest both Soviet and Nato lot in Afghanistan really furthered the destabilising state that the Middle East became. Sorry if this goes off topic, its just that this to me is a very fascinating piece of history because of how much of an impact it made on the west in present time.

[@iBringDaLULZ]

2:13 > "Soapcrates" > Socrates I JUST got that 😂

[@user-fy6ii5uo7g]

We were in Afghanistan to "sharpen the sword" of the US military. We had a stock pile of aging munitions, weapons platforms and vehicles from the cold war and had to use it up so the military can justify increasing their annual budget to build new stock piles. . .

[@Dennis-nc3vw]

The military isn't the one who decides to go to war, and even when they do the money doesn't go into their personal bank accounts so that doesn't make any sense.

[@user-fy6ii5uo7g]

@@Dennis-nc3vw are you smoking something? When did I say anything the military decided to go to war or anything about the personnel putting money in their own pockets? Read my comment again and then digest it for a bit.

[@NedWasHere94]

The fact that the cartoon Afghan guy keeps appearing with a cartoon goat is savage af

[@GamingGalore64]

Just wanted to add to this, everything you said in this video is correct, but there are some other, lesser known facts about the War in Afghanistan that I think are relevant. On December 5th, 2001, the United States signed the Bonn Agreement, following the Bonn Conference, a conference with NATO leaders and Afghan tribal leaders to determine the future of Afghanistan. The agreement states that the Loya Jirga, an old Afghan tribal council consisting of tribal leaders, clerics, and local politicians, will be reconvened and vote on what form of government Afghanistan will take, and who will lead it. This agreement was written by Director of Policy Planning Richard Haass after he was directed by Colin Powell to come up with such an agreement. Also on December 5th, Afghanistan's former King, Zahir Khan, who was overthrown by the Soviets, pledges to form a secular, democratic, multi ethnic, gender inclusive government if the monarchy is restored. Later on in December, the Taliban reaches out in secret to the deposed King and to the US Government, stating that they are willing to surrender, lay down their arms, and pledge loyalty to the King if the monarchy is restored. April 18th, 2002. Despite the objections of the US government, the King returns to Afghanistan on an Italian military plane. He is met at the airport by all of the country's major warlords as well as thousands of everyday Afghans. The warlords each approach him and embrace him, some are moved to tears over the return of their "Baba" (which means Father/Grandfather). June 10th, 2002. A member of the US National Security Council, Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for Southwest Asia, Near East, and North African Affairs at the US National Security Council Zalmay Khalilzad (An Afghan American who had been in exile since the 1960s) visits the Royal Palace, confronts the King's chief advisor, and attempts to force the King to renounce his claims on the throne. The King refuses, and so Khalilzad forces Hamid Karzai (himself a Monarchist) to read a public statement "from the king" renouncing the throne. The next day, June 11th, 2002. The Loya Jirga is convened, 1500 representatives of every tribe, region, and religious group are represented. The King is helped to the stage by his aides, once he reaches the stage he is given a prolonged standing ovation by the entire Loya Jirga. Many representatives openly weep, and the American National Security and State Department Officials seated in the front row look on, visibly shocked. 20 minutes later, the Loya Jirga votes 900 to 600 to restore the monarchy and give the crown to the former King. One day later, June 12th, 2002. The US National Security Council decides to ignore the Loya Jirga's Vote AND the earlier Bonn Agreement and declare a Republic. 1000 of the 1500 Loya Jirga representatives walk out in protest. We later prevented the former King from running for President of Afghanistan in 2004 because we were worried that our man, Hamid Karzai, would lose. Depending on the source, the old King had between a 75% and 85% approval rating in Afghanistan So, why did we ignore the will of the Afghan people? Because Zalmay Khalilzad and the CIA were concerned that restoring the monarchy would damage America's international reputation. Sources: The Wars of Afghanistan by Peter Tomsen Farewell Kabul by Christina Lamb Descent into Chaos by Ahmed Rashid In The Graveyard of Empires by Seth G. Jones

[@Knightmessenger]

So we were that committed to drmocracy at any cost? Ironic because the US has only two political parties with any significant sway, and many areas of the country are effectively one party rule. Not a great example of democracy.

[@engelsteinberg593]

Correction. Is because they were worried of no comply woth their timetable of Conquest.

[@TheRyLife1]

Every time he let's me know there are more wonderful, exhilarating episodes, I get legit hyped.

[@Dennis-nc3vw]

Despite some small objections to the video, this comment section is very refreshing. This is the first time in all my life I've seen people criticize US foreign policy without going into a torrent of intellectual dishonesty and frothy mouthed anti-Americanism.

[@AtlasofSol]

As informative as always!

[@ManofManySorrows]

Though I agree we should have left a lot sooner, what you are missing is that sometimes, if not most of the time, fighting an enemy on their soil is FAR better than fighting on your own.

[@ChillstoneBlakeBlast]

Well, Of course, because of projection, Our civilian matters more than theirs. This though sadly derails from the conversation that we should have not been there in the first place.

[@korcommander]

So you're saying we should have invaded Saudi Arabia.

[@MrAlepedroza]

As if the Taliban and Al Qaeda could ever invade US soil, plz. There several security methods that could protect us from further 9/11's, it did not had to be a trans-continental invasion nor bullshit nation building while the country was still not at peace. Besides the traveling regulations, blockading the Taliban inside their country was possible by guarding the Pakistani and Central Asian borders, leaving Iran to deal with their Western flank. Killing them in choking points whenever they attempted to get out. Isolating Al Qaeda in Iraq was also possible while leaving Saddam, Assad, Israel and the Saudis to deal with them. The US did not have to go directly inside Iraq nor Afghanistan. Invasions and counter invasions are better left for neighbouring countries or to help allies.

[@Dennis-nc3vw]

@@strangelyukrainian7314 80% of those civilians were killed by the Taliban according to the UN report.

[@Dennis-nc3vw]

@@strangelyukrainian7314 Okay, what's your point? America sucks?

[@ryanrogers8923]

The last couple of lines, omg! So good

[@Spartan322]

This one I disagree with in a sense, of course I don't think fighting the war in the first place was justified but since we were, we had become obligated to follow through with our promises and win. When you make a pact as a country, you should be required to follow through as far as you can and finish it, instead of finishing the fight and actually making Afghanistan a functional country, we wasted billions on making sure nothing was fixed and they've be easily defeated.

[@mcarrowtime7095]

“We shouldn’t allow our soldiers to come under harm, but we abound allow those in other countries to become oppressed after having tried to help them”. We had already instituted a democratic government there if I’m not mistaken, so instead of staying there and letting the government strengthen, we just decided to bail and pull all air support first to ensure the downfall

[@snoopsnet8150]

Great explanation of the situation, and extremely entertaining as well.

[@leftyguitarist8989]

NGL I can't find anything in here that i disagree with. In fact, i appreciate that you have the balls to point out how the initial invasion of Afghanistan was unnecessary (and therefore immoral), since the Taliban was ready to negotiate the extradition of Osama Bin Laden but Bush refused and instead kept us stuck in the Middle East for 20 years.

[@paramagician]

Bush, Obama, and Trump. Although from what I've seen since the withdrawal fiasco, Trump had a better plan to withdraw than just snatching folks out. I'm trying to wrap my head around why we were still there after Bin Laden was dusted. I do remember the news saying that the Afghanistan war was over after Obama's speech, then nobody said anything else about it until the withdrawal.

[@146TS]

Apparently, even Clinton had the chance to get Bin Laden. Sudan offered to arrest Bin Laden, but Clinton refused because "he couldn't find any charge."

[@paramagician]

@@146TS yet, when I was in the military, when Clinton was in office, there was a million dollar bounty on his head. Why would the feds put a bounty on his head if he had no charges?

[@leftyguitarist8989]

@@146TS To be fair, 9/11 hadn't happened yet so Clinton had a point at the time.

[@jordanpuente7635]

I can agree with most of this video however where the derailment of the argument comes at the taliban part. He got the origin correct however this notion that the taliban would have given up bin laden is like saying parts of the third Reich would have killed Hitler or stopped him from invading Europe. All of the groups come from the Mujahideen we are/were fighting and just because one of them isn't radical enough to strap a bomb to themselves and die pointless doesn't mean they aren't are enemy or not responsible for 9/11. Don't get me wrong the US created all of these guys whom all killed Americans however where the mudding of the war gets into trouble is the same reason why Vietnam failed. Military wise we dominate the region and every time the went to fight against us in combat they were crushed and even when they went to hide into the hills we followed them into their caves and butched them there. The problem is that we were too effective and it was political leaders then tell Military leaders to switch from killing people to build a nation. It's like trying to convert a racecar into a tractor, sure they might share how they operate off of fuel but ultimately are designed for different tasks and politicians basically welded a 5 trillion dollar blade on the front of the US military and said dig a damn hole now. Let's call a spade a spade and say people that truly have no business in running a military shouldn't be running a nation especially since they are the de facto leaders for the military.

[@ElixExo]

Love that outro everytime.

[@TheSimba86]

it wasn't a war, it was a 20 year long wealth transfer

[@avroarchitect1793]

It was a 20 year long attempt to modernize a bronze age nation that didn't want it. The war was won by year 3. Everything after that was just us attempting to bring them up to modern standards.

[@quazy1328]

The video was so short I was wondering if you could get the reason across, and you did a really good job of it.

[@djones1379cleo]

I skip all other alerts to play yours first! Education fun!!!! Thanks

[@mitsealb3609]

There are some things I don’t know. Like were there good reasons for continuing the war against an extreme terrorist group besides bin laden? Was turning a government into a democracy the best solution for bringing “stability” to a region? How would we know something was unwinnable before we did it? Is it good to help neighboring countries whose citizens may be going through hell? Did other countries in the region or Europe want us to help if we were indeed helpful? So many questions…

[@mitsealb3609]

@Originz Fishing Yeah, it probably takes a life change of the majority of people to make a democracy. We rebelled for democracy, and fought a civil war for democracy. And probably some other things. You have to want it and you have to participate in it, in the very least. If most people are victims or criminals(immoral) living at the whims of those over them, then democracy doesn’t work.

[@Dennis-nc3vw]

@Crimson Outdoors Co. I'm fairly sure Afghanistan had some history of democracy prior to the Taliban. And after our successes in Japan, Germany, Italy, Grenada, and Panama, how were we to know it wouldn't work in Afghanistan? I think Islam is the real problem. Because yes, insta-democracy actually does work everywhere else.

[@emirhanfidan2018]

Turkey is a republic and most people there are moslems and the land is still stable. I am also a moslem and i can say that there is no rule in the islam against democracy. The problem is the approach of the US. I mean have you heard of the president the US put in south vietnam in charge during the vietnam war. That was someone you don't put in charge of a country.

[@mitsealb3609]

@@emirhanfidan2018 Seems like vietnam had more than a few mistakes Ive heard. Also, the general impression I think is that Islam would prefer a theocracy. To many I think. But maybe a democracy where the majority wanted the ways of Islam would fit as well. I’ve heard good things about Turkey. Just Turkey. I don’t know much about the Middle East.

[@mrscechy8625]

Wow I didn't know a lot of this stuff. Great job again Seamus

[@Gatsmask_FGC]

First, Also hi Sheamus (if i spelt that right)

[@elisehauck127]

Seamus

[@standardcake18]

I was still a young kid when all this happened. I cared about Legos and slacking off in school when all this happened. Really opened my eyes to things I didn’t know before

[@samuelbarrett5701]

Just to clarify the US military won the war in Vietnam. The tet offensive was a failure and a last ditch effort by the Vietcong. It was the Civilians who were clueless as to what the US involvement was in Vietnam, along with the propaganda that every soldier was raping and pillaging. Ironically, if the US didn't pull out, the Vietcong would not have raped and murdered and stolen land from those in the South of Vietnam, and the boat people (of which one of my uncles was) would not have needed to take such a dangerous trek to seek a life of freedom from Communist tyranny. I have one Uncle in law that survived, and another who passed away during the journey.

[@bl8danjil]

This is the real truth and facts of history. The perception that the US "lost" because the people and news media turned against the troops and government which prompted the pull out.

[@dbgaming4620]

There was no impossible war, there was no sacrifice. There was not one casualty in the last 18 months of the conflict, that doesn’t sound like “an unwinnable war” to me

[@notthefbi7932]

It made sense for somebody's pocket book to be in Afghanistan 😬

[@rinopw4262]

Thank you for making an honest video about the issue, so many civilians have died and who is held accountable 😔

[@koraktheape]

More of our solders have shot committed suicide than enemy combatants shooting them.

[@Supervillain725]

A guy I deployed with did it a couple of years ago.

[@RoweOrwell]

Great channel!

[@SupaFlyJedi]

I agree, we should've got in got what we wanted (in the case of Iraq, not found it) and simply left. No nation building, no occupation. Find the guys who did it and be done. It seems we don't learn from our own history.

[@travissmith2848]

And in the case of Iraq there should have been more focus on playing fast and loose with what was being required of that country and the policy of funding terrorists vicariously by supporting their families. Missiles beyond the range allowed, mobile chem-labs they weren't supposed to have but couldn't prove were used, nuke program was mothballed but not dismantled...... Of course with an intelligence department that could basically only say what partners were telling them and an administration that needed hard answers due to who the president was having significance.......

[@tetraxis3011]

But sometimes rebuilding is nessesary, or else a Power vacuum exists and some lunatics take power.

[@CrizzyEyes]

Just go full colonialism until they want a revolution, or be done with it entirely. There's no other way to do the occupation thing properly.

[@tetraxis3011]

@@CrizzyEyes Doesnt really work anymore. The idea of Self-Determination has spread everywhere. A revolution would start quickly if not instantly.

[@thirdeyefoxlove7189]

Inform the masses my man!

[@SimonTekConley]

I still think the "Charlie Wilson war" was the dumbest idea pertaining to all of that.

[@hamie7624]

Gotta love how they portrayed him as a hero and supplying the Muj a just cause in that movie.

[@khyronkravshera7774]

The Taliban weren’t even Mujahideen. They were founded by students in 1994 long after the collapse of the USSR.

[@stevematthews684]

@@khyronkravshera7774 Errr...while these groups are different, your post is wrong. The Taliban is generations old. There are too many cross-overs to mention for these groups, but it is easy to look-up. Bottomline is few wanted the US in Afghanistan...the REAL problem was how US forces left. And that is ALL on the current Administration.

[@khyronkravshera7774]

@@stevematthews684 I have a degree in Political Science specializing in the Middle East. I studied the Taliban before 9/11 and I am literally a “Expert” on the subject. The Taliban were not a Mujahideen group and were not funded or financed in any way by the USA. They were founded in 1994 by a group of Islamic students, the name Taliban even means “Students” for frick sake. Yes the US financed Mujahideen activities but the Taliban wasn’t one of them because they DIDN’T EXIST until 1994 which is long after the Soviet Union broke up.

[@hamie7624]

@@khyronkravshera7774 Right, all the mujahadeen in afghanistan vaporized in 1994 and none joined the taliban.

[@sethisevilone02]

We need more channels like these that tell us the facts and only facts there no far right or far left propaganda just facts

[@loturzelrestaurant]

Hope this channel here grows and catches-up to other Common-Sense channels like Sci Man Dan, Professor Dave, Hbomberguy, Some More News, ect.

[@njmudaliar]

Abolish the military draft! Don't let Biden expand the draft to "include" women. Save our daughters

[@NoGlockTrucker]

Either expand it to include women, as it should have been at least since WW2, or end it.

[@gerardomartinez3920]

Sorry boi but draft comes with voting.

[@gerardomartinez3920]

No surously there were woman’s who were against voting rights back in the day just because there would be a justification of the draft.

[@nobodymatters3294]

Or our sons, enough of the military industrial complex. Those rich fucks can go fight their own wars with other rich fucks . Stop killing our sons, we don't have beef with each other.

[@leahvolmer9210]

Oh yes, save our precious little princesses from the evils of war.

[@SonOfPsalms]

That last line just hurt more than anything

[@conorkerlin5928]

Why were we there? Just to suffer?

[@ct-1177]

Metal Gear reference

[@jamesandrews8655]

Your entire take on this (aside from the absolutely disastrous way we pulled out) is 100 percent correct!

[@xKrown]

you'll never win a fight against an idea unless you destroy 100% of it

[@JohnSmith-kg1ff]

A) The taliban and AQ were one in the same, AQ formed the Taliban 055 brigade, had seats on the Taliban ministry of defense, and the Taliban allowed AQ to train for, recruit for, and launch attacks from their territory. B) OBL already had numerous indictments and extradition requests from the US to the Taliban they had already been provided evidence that he was responsible for the deaths of hundreds of US citizens playing games after 9-11 was the last straw. C) Afghanistan was a textbook just war the problem is mission creep, they didn't go in to win and eradicate our enemies and get out they went in to nation build and to have a perpetual war in order to line the pockets of the MIC for decades.

[@AntiDecepticonCampaign]

How about those “tents” our troops were guarding? Y’know? The ones with the underage kids getting violated and worse.. yknow? Cuz it’s the “culture” right?

[@juliadandoy6692]

I think we should have kept a small troop presence, so that we have a station in the region to check the ambitions of aggressive nations. Not for the nation building crap though.

[@TheSiprianus]

Yup, nation building only possible if the people has no deep rooted value that is not very opposite of US value, or at least the culture can be preserved without any major clash with US constitution (south korea, japan, west german, taiwan, etc).

[@ben10mama]

I'd argue though we still should have stayed in Afghanistan in my opinion, we didn't have many troops there and it did keep peace in the area

[@curtbalch2321]

"Our goal morphed into turning Iraq and Afghanistan into Western style democracies"? Seamus, you know better. That became the marketing spin to keep a regional foothold for US military presence AND reliable markets for billions of military-industrial complex num-nums.

[@thomasb4467]

Prove it.

[@thomasb4467]

@@strangelyukrainian7314 But there wasn’t a large military presence. Can you name a politician that flaunts creating jobs through wars? Do you think Joe Biden doesn’t want to take credit for job creation by pulling out of Afghanistan?

[@curtbalch2321]

@@thomasb4467 Which part are you questioning? The value of Afghanistan and Iraq as strategic bases for US military forces or as reliable markets for military industrial sales? Or that our government doesn't really care about spreading Western democracy?

[@curtbalch2321]

@@thomasb4467 there were over 100,000 US military personnel on the ground in Afghanistan in 2011, over 775,000 served in country over the 20 years. They may have been drawn down to 2500 before total evacuation, but there was a massive presence prior to that. And, while there is no politician that will gleefully draw the connection between prolonged war and jobs they will all celebrate themselves for job increases within their districts for defense contractors. They just hope we assume Lockheed, Moog, Northrup, etc are making plush animals for distribution to the children of the world.

[@thomasb4467]

@@curtbalch2321 Yea? 10 years ago? Wow, how many was needed to maintain the peace and deny a terrorist safe haven in 2020? 2,500? Huh…. If what you are saying is true then we would have never pulled out.

[@justingibson7807]

We spent most of our time in Afghanistan patrolling and rarely getting into confrontations with the Taliban since 2015.

[@h8rman]

notification squad

[@GumMagnum]

i love these videos so much

[@noskalborg723]

I prefer Ben Shapiro's take. Sure you shared some information he didn't, but your conclusion that we shoulda pulled out is just far too staunchly libertarian. There is a point where retreat cists more than maintaining a position. And maintaining a position was the true goal there. "Never again" was about keeping Afghanistan from being a place that staged terror attacks on 🇺🇸.

[@BlackOps05]

Except attacks like 9/11 would never have happened if we had proper defense at the gates. Nearly every major terror attack/shooting (and the perps) on US soil was known about in advance and could have been thwarted if the FBI was actually competent in its official capacity rather than being the Stasi for our vaunted elite.

[@sebwisegamgee4215]

Why am I not shocked that Ben Shapiro would apparently support us being in Afghanistan. Note, I'm definitely a conservative, and I used to be a huge fan of Shapiro, but I can't trust him anymore. I try to stay out of politics nowadays, but I'd advise getting news from other sources.

[@sauronthegreat489]

I subscribed because of this one. It was actually accurate.

[@PhilosophicallyAmerican]

I tend to side more with Ben Shapiro in this matter. The bases we had in Afghanistan were keeping a lid on terrorism in the area and at a negligible cost. Obviously, turning either Iraq or Afghanistan into western-style democracies was a pipe dream but that is an argument against scope creep more than anything. I hope your family is doing well, Seamus.

[@CrazyManwich]

We were also supplying military support to the Afghan military who was still building. Most don’t realize how long it takes to make a military a strong enough power for domestics protection. We still have bases in Germany, Italy and Japan. Those three have not been threats for over 60 years but having a military presence in those countries only helps both parties. We should never have left Afghanistan at all.

[@novacorponline]

I think most people are more upset over *how* we pulled out, rather than that we pulled out. They could not have botched the withdrawal any harder if they tried. Which is why it's a common theory that they DID try to botch it up, in the hopes that Americans would demand that we go back in.

[@lolmanmagee2785]

hmm i just realized this your end card with your guy on soap crates looking like a historical figure "Soap crates" if you remove the ap from soap crates you get "Socrates" i think this is intentional as he is wearing something that looks like a ancient Greek cloth.

[@antonkorg7814]

Top tier content

[@Snakedude4life]

Money. Excuse me; “War on Terror” 🐍 💀 no step on Snek! 🇺🇸🇭🇰

[@Sunrie]

THANK YOU