You don’t. But you gain the ability to control the flow of people into the base.
The civilian airport was undefended and the surrounding area was a logistics nightmare to defend. this is why so many people died in the bombing.
As far the Republicans calling for Biden to resign they can spin it not matter what Biden does:
BIDEN RESIGNS. Biden is a coward because he quits when things got tough.
BIDEN DOES NOT RESIGN. Biden is a coward because he won’t he admit he made mistake and accept full responsibility for it.
That actually made me laugh out loud. I’m suggesting that the base be kept open until everybody was evacuated and not in the dead of night back in July.
That would have been pointless, since we didn’t have the troop levels necessary to secure the road from Kabul to Bagram due to the Trump agreement and draw down. What you’re advocating would have required thousands, if not more, new American troops brought to Afghanistan (and thus put at risk of death). An AFB 40 miles from Kabul isn’t much use if we can’t secure the road in between (and we couldn’t with the troop levels Biden was left with).
Thus far, there’s been one attack on the airport.
How many attacks do you think would occur if we sent in 10,000 more soldiers to occupy a 40-mile stretch of land?
You keep throwing out the need to send in 10,000 trips in an effort to move a goal post.
What part of “don’t leave Bagram Airbase until we’ve evacuated everybody” don’t you understand?
You continue to imply that we could have left Bagram Airbase open with only the 2500 US troops remaining after Trump drew down the troop numbers (post his 2020 deal with the Taliban).
Why do you continue to imply this? Do you have any evidence to cite for your claim?
When others suggest that 2500 troops would not have been enough, why do you attack that position without offering supportive evidence for your attack? Is it because you don’t have any such evidence?
The part where a facility that was staffed by 40,000 people a few years ago can be operated and defended by 2500.
Because the operative word in your post is "suggest’ and carrier the same request. My post is no more an attack than someone who disagrees with me is.
That military base wasn’t just 2,500 people. It was an entire network of satellites, drones and standoff weaponry to monitor and attack.
Biden made his decision based on the advice of his military advisors, acting on the information the intelligence agencies gave him. He didn’t just decide to suddenly pull out on a whim. This was likely the best outcome.
Trump was notorious for disregarding the experts. Biden isn’t. He’s been doing this kind of stuff for years. He knew how this would look whether it went well or badly.
Anyone who tries to argue that Trump would’ve handled this better simply hasn’t been paying attention for the past four years.
And you’re confident that the advise was don’t do jack shit until it blows up in our face and THEN evacuate people from Kabul?
I would expect the advise would be to evacuate people from Bagram early in the year.
Considering Biden had access to intelligence and advice that you didn’t have access to, and listened to it (unlike his predecessor), yes.
Saying that it could have been done better is really easy after the fact. I don’t know why they didn’t just call you up to have you organize everything.
You appear to be saying here that the US gave up its satellites and drones. ? Or perhaps you are claiming that Bagram was the one and only location from which satellites and drones can be operated…?
And the claim here is that the Taliban would have done, what, nothing? if the USA had started flying people out?
Who would have been flown out “early in the year,” in your scenario? The translators? If so, who would have handled translation during the remaining time we had troops in Afghanistan? If not the translators, then who? The diplomats? Other support staff? If so, who would have handled those functions after they were gone?
And, again: what’s the basis for your apparent assumption that the Taliban would have had no reaction to the USA evacuating before it had said it would?
If you are assuming the Taliban would not have immediately moved to take over Kabul and other crucial locations (as in real life they did in August, once evacuations actually DID begin)—why are you assuming that?
Based on the rapid fall of Afghanistan to the taliban Yes. The US left Bagram and that was the last air support of the Afghani soldiers. We abandon the base in the dead of night without telling them anything.
All of them.
Clearly the “dear in headlights” approach didn’t work In July when we left the base and did nothing for a month.
So instead of evacuating en masse in advance of an imminent Taliban victory in August, we should have evacuated en masse in advance of an imminent Taliban victory in January.
Gotcha.
Or are we still assuming that the Taliban were just all going to stand around with their thumbs up their butts, doing nothing while they watched us hastily GTFO?
Yes, when nothing was done for a month after the base was abandon it is easy to say they did just exactly that. Nothing.
Biden couldn’t be bothered to return Boris Johnson’s call for 36 hrs. You’re sarcasm is wasted on reality.
Kind of hard to defend a base if there isn’t anybody there. It would look something like defending a commercial airport surrounded by a city where insurgents can hide in thousands of buildings.
The New York Post? Really?
When come back, bring a cite from a real newspaper.
Though honestly, if Boris Johnson were trying to call me, I’d probably find a reason to ignore him too.
And yet, that’s working just fine.
You have yet to explain how your “let’s send in tens of thousands more men and occupy a 40-mile stretch of highway so we can ferry tens of thousands of people down it every day for weeks” plan would be an improvement.
Unless this is your only internet connection maybe you could google it.