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'Unacceptable' for Taliban to refuse peace talks, U.S. official says

If the police kick the door of Jim's house in without a warrant (and even without proof that Joe was responsible for a crime) then the case is going to get kicked out of court pretty damn quickly.

What you appear to forget is that when the US government originally asked the Afghans to turn Osama bin Laden over to the US, the US government DID NOT have actual evidence that Osama bin Laden was actually responsible for the WTC/Pentagon Mass Murders. True, the US government THOUGHT that he was PROBABLY involved but it had no actual evidence that he was actually involved - that evidence emerged AFTER the US invaded Afghanistan.

Except for the fact that 1) Joe admitted he committed the crime....repeatedly; 2) Jim knows full well that Joe is responsible; and 3) Jim is helping Joe avoid going to trial in order to kill more people.

Other than the fact that his followers were the ones who carried out the attack.....oh, and the fact that he admitted responsibility. The fact remains that the Taliban knew full well what Osama Bin Laden and his movement were responsible for and still actively tried to protect them.
 
Yeahright.

The US contribution to WW1-

1- Show up when it's nearly over.
2- Spend 8 or 9 months making the same mistakes everyone else made 4 years before.
3- Join the parade.

The western frony was static for 3 years when we got there...lol. We saved yall's asses.
 
They didn't surrender.
They signed the treaty of Versailles where they accepted responsablity for the war and agreed to pay reparations.
Unconditonal surrender is not the only way to lose a war
 
You mean when the French were on the verge of shooting their own generals for continually hurling them into the meat grinder and the British weren't much better off.

If nothing else, the prospect of a flood of fresh manpower shored up the Entente and forced the Germans into a last desperate roll of the dice.

Except that's not how it happened.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canada's_Hundred_Days

"Canada’s Hundred Days is the name given to the series of attacks made by the Canadian Corps between 8 August and 11 November 1918, during the Hundred Days Offensive of World War I. Reference to this period as Canada's Hundred Days is due to the substantial role the Canadian Corps of the British First Army played during the offensive."

"During this time, the Canadian Corps fought in the Battle of Amiens, Second Battle of the Somme, Battle of the Scarpe, Battle of the Canal du Nord, Battle of Cambrai, Battle of the Selle, Battle of Valenciennes and finally at Mons, on the final day of combat before the Armistice of 11 November 1918. In terms of numbers, during those 96 days the Canadian Corps' four over-strength or 'heavy' divisions of roughly 100,000 men, engaged and defeated or put to flight elements of forty seven German divisions, which represented one quarter of the German forces faced by the Allied Powers fighting on the Western Front.[1] However, their successes came at a heavy cost; Canadians suffered 20% of their battle-sustained casualties of the war during the same period.[2] The Canadian Corps suffered 45,835 casualties during this offensive."

After a series of battles in which the Canadian Corps was used as 'shock troops', the spear-head, came the last decisive battle...

"The Canadians then broke the Hindenburg line a second time, this time during the Battle of Cambrai, which (along with the Australian, British and American break further south at the Battle of St. Quentin Canal) resulted in a collapse of German morale."

"This collapse forced the German High Command to accept that the war had to be ended. The evidence of failing German morale also convinced many Allied commanders and political leaders that the war could be ended in 1918. (Previously, all efforts had been concentrated on building up forces to mount a decisive attack in 1919.)"
 
The western frony was static for 3 years when we got there...lol. We saved yall's asses.

Where do you get this stuff from? You just make it up?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canada's_Hundred_Days

Canada’s Hundred Days is the name given to the series of attacks made by the Canadian Corps between 8 August and 11 November 1918, during the Hundred Days Offensive of World War I. Reference to this period as Canada's Hundred Days is due to the substantial role the Canadian Corps of the British First Army played during the offensive.

During this time, the Canadian Corps fought in the Battle of Amiens, Second Battle of the Somme, Battle of the Scarpe, Battle of the Canal du Nord, Battle of Cambrai, Battle of the Selle, Battle of Valenciennes and finally at Mons, on the final day of combat before the Armistice of 11 November 1918. In terms of numbers, during those 96 days the Canadian Corps' four over-strength or 'heavy' divisions of roughly 100,000 men, engaged and defeated or put to flight elements of forty seven German divisions, which represented one quarter of the German forces faced by the Allied Powers fighting on the Western Front.[1] However, their successes came at a heavy cost; Canadians suffered 20% of their battle-sustained casualties of the war during the same period.[2] The Canadian Corps suffered 45,835 casualties during this offensive.
 
They signed the treaty of Versailles where they accepted responsablity for the war and agreed to pay reparations.
Unconditonal surrender is not the only way to lose a war

They lost because they were defeated on the battlefield. The same cannot be said for U.S. forces in Vietnam.
 
Where do you get this stuff from? You just make it up?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canada's_Hundred_Days

Canada’s Hundred Days is the name given to the series of attacks made by the Canadian Corps between 8 August and 11 November 1918, during the Hundred Days Offensive of World War I. Reference to this period as Canada's Hundred Days is due to the substantial role the Canadian Corps of the British First Army played during the offensive.

During this time, the Canadian Corps fought in the Battle of Amiens, Second Battle of the Somme, Battle of the Scarpe, Battle of the Canal du Nord, Battle of Cambrai, Battle of the Selle, Battle of Valenciennes and finally at Mons, on the final day of combat before the Armistice of 11 November 1918. In terms of numbers, during those 96 days the Canadian Corps' four over-strength or 'heavy' divisions of roughly 100,000 men, engaged and defeated or put to flight elements of forty seven German divisions, which represented one quarter of the German forces faced by the Allied Powers fighting on the Western Front.[1] However, their successes came at a heavy cost; Canadians suffered 20% of their battle-sustained casualties of the war during the same period.[2] The Canadian Corps suffered 45,835 casualties during this offensive.

Without The United States, it would have never happened.
 
They lost because they were defeated on the battlefield. The same cannot be said for U.S. forces in Vietnam.

Germany was not defeated on the battlefield in WW1.
 
Germany was not defeated on the battlefield in WW1.

They wouldn't have signed the treaty promising to pay reperations and surrender territory, if they were winning.
 
The western frony was static for 3 years when we got there...lol. We saved yall's asses.

The beginning of the end for Germany was on 09 APR 17.

The first American troops arrived in Europe on 26 JUN 17.

On 02 JUL 17 Gen. Pershing asked for 1,000,000 troops.

On 11 JUL 17 Gen Pershing upped that to 3,000,000 troops.

On 16 JUL 17 the 3rd Battle of Ypres began.

On 20 NOV 17 the Battle of Cambrai began.

On 28 MAY 18 the American forces (28th Regiment of 1st Division) fought American forces first major engagement.

On 08 AUG 18 the Amiens offensive forced all German troops back to the Hindenburg Line.

  • The Amiens offensive involved 19 Divisions, 10 British, 5 Australian, and 4 Canadian.
  • There were zero American Divisions involved in the Amiens offensive..
  • The German High Command referred to the Amiens offensive as "The Black Day of the German Army".

On 26 SEP 18 the Meuse-Argonne offensive began.

  • The Meuse-Argonne offensive involved 46 Divisions - 31 French and 15 American.
  • During Phase 1 [26 SEP - 03 OCT], the American forces failed to meet their objectives while the French forces succeeded in meeting theirs.
  • During Phase 2 [04 OCT - 28 OCT], the French forces advanced twice as fast as the American forces [which were relying on frontal assaults on well emplaced and dug in machine guns - something that all the other forces involved had concluded was silly].
  • During Phase 3 [28 OCT – 11 NOV] the French forces continued to advance twice as fast as the American forces.
  • On 11 NOV 18 the Germans surrendered.

During "The Hundred Days",

  • the American Armies had an average of 2170 casualties per German Division defeated;
  • the Canadian Army had an average of 975 casualties per division German Division defeated;
  • the American Armies (over 1,200,000 strong) advanced 34 miles and captured 16,000 prisoners; and
  • the Canadian Army (under 300,000 strong) advanced 86 miles and captured 31,537 prisoners.

Yes, indeed some "ass saving" there.
 
Germany was not defeated on the battlefield in WW1.

Bravo Sierra.

Oh wait, you are one of those who believe that Germany was "stabbed in the back" by the ...

Right?
 
Good heavens NO!

He doesn't make it up - he actually paid attention in the history classes taught in American schools.

Ohyeah. I forgot. Eddie Rickenbacher shot down the Red Baron, Manfred von Richthofen, thus becoming the highest-scoring WW1 ace, and Audie Murphy single-handedly won the ground war. Well, there were other guys there but they were mostly just passing him ammunition.
 
Except that's not how it happened.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canada's_Hundred_Days

"Canada’s Hundred Days is the name given to the series of attacks made by the Canadian Corps between 8 August and 11 November 1918, during the Hundred Days Offensive of World War I. Reference to this period as Canada's Hundred Days is due to the substantial role the Canadian Corps of the British First Army played during the offensive."

"During this time, the Canadian Corps fought in the Battle of Amiens, Second Battle of the Somme, Battle of the Scarpe, Battle of the Canal du Nord, Battle of Cambrai, Battle of the Selle, Battle of Valenciennes and finally at Mons, on the final day of combat before the Armistice of 11 November 1918. In terms of numbers, during those 96 days the Canadian Corps' four over-strength or 'heavy' divisions of roughly 100,000 men, engaged and defeated or put to flight elements of forty seven German divisions, which represented one quarter of the German forces faced by the Allied Powers fighting on the Western Front.[1] However, their successes came at a heavy cost; Canadians suffered 20% of their battle-sustained casualties of the war during the same period.[2] The Canadian Corps suffered 45,835 casualties during this offensive."

After a series of battles in which the Canadian Corps was used as 'shock troops', the spear-head, came the last decisive battle...

"The Canadians then broke the Hindenburg line a second time, this time during the Battle of Cambrai, which (along with the Australian, British and American break further south at the Battle of St. Quentin Canal) resulted in a collapse of German morale."

"This collapse forced the German High Command to accept that the war had to be ended. The evidence of failing German morale also convinced many Allied commanders and political leaders that the war could be ended in 1918. (Previously, all efforts had been concentrated on building up forces to mount a decisive attack in 1919.)"

Which still does not change the existence of the Spring Offensive, nor the lack of morale amongst the French especially.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spring_Offensive
 
They wouldn't have signed the treaty promising to pay reperations and surrender territory, if they were winning.

Didn't say they were winning did I?
 
From Reuters

'Unacceptable' for Taliban to refuse peace talks, U.S. official says

KABUL (Reuters) - Pressure is building on the Taliban to respond to President Ashraf Ghani’s offer for peace talks, in the face of growing demands for an end to the 17-year-long war in Afghanistan, a senior U.S. official said.

“Increasingly, I think it’s becoming unacceptable for the Taliban not to negotiate,” Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for South and Central Asia Alice Wells told reporters during a visit to Kabul.

“Right now it’s the Taliban leaders, and frankly it’s Taliban leaders who aren’t residing in Afghanistan, who are the obstacle to a negotiated political settlement,” said Wells, one of the State Department’s top officials dealing with Afghanistan.

Her remarks were made on Saturday but embargoed for release on Sunday.

COMMENT:-

Generally speaking, the side that thinks that it is winning doesn't call for "negotiations".

On the other hand, exactly how does Mr. Trump's administration think that it is going to "negotiate" a solution which leaves the Taliban with some significant political say in Afghanistan when it is the position of the US government that the Taliban is a terrorist organization that has to be wiped out? And, why would the Taliban believe the US government when it says that it is prepared to allow the Taliban to have some significant political say in Afghanistan after the US government invaded Afghanistan in order to ensure that the Taliban had no significant political say in Afghanistan?

Thing is, they know that they will be back in control of the country within a year of our exit, so why talk.
 
Thing is, they know that they will be back in control of the country within a year of our exit, so why talk.

The government headed by Ho Chi Minh also knew that they would be in control of Vietnam within a year of America's exit.

They thought that it would be expedient to talk so that the US government could have the opportunity to "declare victory and go home" sooner.

Mr. Trump was handed three options regarding Afghanistan:

  1. escalate to a full-scale war (which would have cost the US billions of dollars and potentially thousands of lives) so that he could eliminate all possibility of an indigenous government of Afghanistan that wasn't obviously completely under the control of the United States of America and which would simply kill anyone who objected to being an American puppet state;
  2. leave matters pretty much alone (which would have cost the US billions of dollars and potentially dozens of lives) and let the American backed government of Afghanistan slowly lose the support of the Afghan people as the Afghan people gradually learned how corrupt and ineffectual the American backed government of Afghanistan actually was; or
  3. find a plausible way of declaring victory and going home (which doesn't cost much, doesn't get any Americans killed, and would result in the people that the US said that it was "liberating" Afghanistan ending up in power within reasonably short order.

There really wasn't any "positive" outcome possible once the initial error to invade and conquer had been made (and, even if there had been then, it vanished when the "occupation" was botched due to inadequate knowledge, lack of planning, a dirth of actual goals, failure to provide competent administrators, turning blind eyes to rampant fraud and corruption, and several other factors which would have gotten even the mayor of East Buttfk Junction booted out of office for incompetence.

Think of the Afghan situation as being similar to jumping off the top of a 20 storey building and then trying to think of a way to make a soft landing on the way down.
 
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