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Most Americans would agree that leaving Afghanistan was the right thing to do. The way we left is what makes it such a tragic and shameful situation.

American military abandoning Bagram was a total mouth breather moment. A large airbase ideal for evacuation and leaving all that equipment behind on top of it.

“The opportunity of defeating the enemy is provided by the enemy himself.” - Sun Tzu, The Art of War

I feel it is important to note that the Taliban really didn't have any leverage in this situation until the US gave it to them. It was abundantly clear that the planned date was not going to work by mid-Summer. The withdrawal date could have easily been pushed back a month or two to prevent this humanitarian crisis. Instead, military and government leadership pressed on for the September 11 deadline for symbolism. It was a totally self-imposed deadline that lead to a loss of innocent and military lives.

Afghan President: "I Need a Ride, not Ammunition!"

It's mind boggling that during 90% of my life we have been in Afghanistan.

Virtually everything mentioned in this video is a repeat of what happened during the USA's exit in Vietnam. Back in 1975 with the fall of Saigon, we promised "NEVER AGAIN" and "NO MORE VIETNAMS" but we came full circle all these years later. The main difference is that our Afghanistan War veterans didn't have to endure being spit on and called baby killers upon their return home.

I can personally say that this was one of the most chaotic moments for people in the US military. No specifics, but were in a school at the time and I had a mix of people there ranging from fresh soldiers to seasoned combat veterans and we just watched it unfold before us. Some classmates had family members and friends mobilized to go evacuate Kabul and we were getting crazy pictures from them on the line with Taliban security just across the wall as people fled to the airport. Our cadre even stopped the instruction for half a day for all of us to just talk and analyze what was happening. We all had mixed feelings of rage, sadness, closure that it was done, but most of all for us, a feeling of inevitability. Multiple men and women in that class were talking about how they had been deployed there multiple times and that nothing had changed between deployments which were 3-4 years apart from each other. They knew that the government was not strong enough and that the Taliban already ruled the country because they had a hand in everyone's lives there. Security is not successful when your enemy makes deals with checkpoint guards and soldiers and spares their lives in trade for their equipment. It was never under control, simply at a stagnation. The country was going to fall the second we left, but this was a massive opsec compromise from the projection of our military intentions, to giving the dates we would withdraw, to the sensitive items left behind. This withdrawl was unfortunately very political and non-strategic, and we failed our allies in the process just to cut rope and leave. I think the craziest part was seeing a soldier from the ANA there who was training with one of the other classes. This guy watched his country fall from the country that said they would train and equip him for the future. Never knew what happened to that guy and what decision he had to make from there.

Thank you for not holding back just how much of a clusterfuck this was.

Back in July-August 2021 I was visiting my parents who live on the east coast of Massachusetts. About 20-30 miles south there is an Air Force base, Joint Base Cape Cod. Every now and then from my parents house you see military aircraft and helicopters flying over head, to or from the base. In late July or early august I saw a few transport planes flying relatively low overhead towards the base. Not that unusual. Then I saw a line of two or three more a few minutes later. Then more a few hours after that. In the space of a week I counted at least 20 of these planes flying overhead, and there were probably more I personally didn’t see. I didn’t realize at the time, but it’s weird to know now that they were almost certainly scrambling to get to a base on the Atlantic to get to Afghanistan as fast as possible

I've honestly learned TWICE as much about the botched Afghanistan withdrawal from THIS SIGNLE VIDEO than from every mainstream media network's report on it COMBINED.

I would love a video comparing the Soviets time in Afghanistan and the United States with each other.

I remember my days as a 19 year old busting my butt helping to build Bagram. Many landings on the old Soviet runway that felt more like falling down a cliff. Then, I got to watch all this unfold. Spent many hours on the phone and online with other vets who served. Also got to see my old aircraft that I spent three years on being claimed by the Taliban live on CNN. One of the few moments in my life I actually felt defeated. I can honestly say I'll never get over this bit of betrayal from my own government. We left a lot of people in harms way, and countless good people are suffering to this day because of this decision. Biden committed a grievous mistake and hopefully will be remembered for it.

1) US-backed South-Vietnamese regime fell 2 years after the US withdrawal. 2) Soviet-backed Afghan regime collapsed within 3 years post-Soviet withdrawal. 3) US-backed Afghan regime fled in less than 3 months after the US withdrawal in May 2021 ..."history repeats itself, first as tragedy, then as farce."

Politicians in the west keep thinking they're dealing with same -thinking people

We had the capacity to do this right. We chose to do it wrong and hopefully history will hold us accountable for this.

The fact that 20 years of war was thrown down the drain by poor negotiations on the US behalf is quite shocking

This was entirely expected. For more than a decade Afghanistan fighters were retreating into Pakistan when things got too hot for them. They would rest, rearm, recruit, and then return to fight again. Over and over and over again. There was never, not at any point during the war, where we were in control of the majority of the country. All we had was large population centers. The majority of the rest of the country was entirely hostile, and IMPOSSIBLE to control. It was always known to me that the moment we left it would just fall back into the hands of the Taliban. Anyone who thought different were either lying straight to your face, or they are the most ignorant fools that ever walked this Earth. That is not to say we couldn't take it and keep it. We certainly could have killed every last Taliban member. We certainly could shut down the Afghanistan/Pakistan border on the Afghanistan side. But this would require our entire country to militarize to do it. And for that, the war in Afghanistan would have to be an honorable war; which it wasn't. So the support necessary for a full mobilization of our entire country was impossible. Afghanistan is actually the reason why I now say "If the cause is not honorable it is best to just not do anything at all." I adopted this thinking well more than a decade ago. Seriously, if you can't get UNANIMOUS support for a war effort, then there should be no war effort at all, not even a small one.

Good times. Sighs of “finally” followed by “wait, come back!”

It's disturbing that whilst fleeing a warzone, so many still held onto their belief that masks would protect them further. 😢

As an American, this is probably the most embarrassing and shameful moment since I’ve been alive.

3:30 - Chapter 1 - Plans for withdrawal 9:50 - Chapter 2 - Changing conditions, logistical crunch 14:25 - Chapter 3 - The airlift 19:35 - Chapter 4 - The analysis - Chapter 5 - - Chapter 6 -

My favorite channel by far right now, keep it up simon :)

Great video!

best case - megaprojects worst case - into the shadows what we got - warographics

One of my favorite channels about warfare simon!

Video 4 of suggesting Simon to do a Syrian civil war video, or perhaps more Would be greatly appreciated

21:13 Any sort of praise for this evacuation is disgusting, absolutely no reason for the evacuation to even turn out the way it did. “We did an amazing job of evacuating the Titanic!” Bruh you drove it into the iceberg to begin with.

It sounds like the whole thing was a mess... the withdrawal was just the point where the public got to see that mess...

Left Iraq a disaster. Left Afghanistan a disaster. Left Vietnam a disaster. Left Somalia a disaster. The list goes on and on

Oh boy I’ve been waiting for this one

Wow. I was expecting this topic in today's video. But it is important to discuss it.

I passed by and came back to this video 3 times. As a OIF veteran, and having many friends who served in a OEF, this makes me sick to my stomach, it leaves a stain on our national honor, and destroyed our standing in the international hierarchy

Thank you for talking about this. It is always good to get the high quality of information that you provide. P.S. I was stunned to learn how many private military contractors there were in Afghanistan.

1:40 - The video actually begins...

As part of the secondary team that came in to assist with the Evac let me tell you. That was the biggest shit show I’ve ever been a part of. I feel like most of our orders were just thrown at the wall to see what stuck

The Kabul embassy evacuation truly was the Saigon of our generation, and an end to another conflict the US war machine lost to farmers with AK-47's.

The "strategic failure" was turning it into a conventional ground war in the first place. It should have been a very specific, well-defined mission with a clear goal, accomplished by select small teams. If they had stuck to that, it would have turned out quite differently.

The history will remember that in the middle of this chaos, the US military board just announce to the soldiers that nowadays, Talibans are on the same side: in order to control the evac. In this moment, 20 years of fight were just vaporized!

I need Simon to make those 1hr+ brain blazes with danny

It's very hard to fight people who walk around like civilians, stay around civilians, and are willing to go on suicide missions

I love how the US mocks Russia and pretends that time when they were kicked out from Afghanistan by farmers and shepherds never happened...

Thanks

My brother and he told me this was an impossible mission and something he never expected to be apart of. You want to help everyone you can but you have to follow orders. He was there when the suicide bomb happened and was on one of the last planes out. He hasn’t been the same since he got back.

When US was withdrawing from Afghanistan I thought that they want to be ready for defending Taiwan and cannot be longer involved in Afghanistan.

I work next door to one of the US bases that was responsible for intake and housing of these refugees. I saw the planes landing with them on and the busses trucking them from housing to the base every day. These people arrived in winter. We had snow on the ground. The locals threw the biggest stink about them which disgusted me to no end. Those people did not ask to be picked up and dropped into the middle of the Midwest. But here they were. Later on I was working up at the rifle range doing some painting and I could hear them. I could hear the children laughing and enjoying the spring sunshine. That made all the difference to what I would hear and see on the news and from locals. I hope every one of those families have found some sort of home here.

I’m playing this next time they ask if they can do anything to keep me from retiring from the Army.

Can’t help but think this intro was super long. You owe him an apology and I haven’t forgotten.

At least we don't have mean tweets ..worth it , right ?

OEF veteran here. Ooooooooof this one hurts.

What happened in July felt like a nuclear meltdown slowly pulling control rods out until more go all at once and the Taliban saw this and then started their counteroffensive

Thanks for putting the ad in the beginning so I can skip passed it right away

Not to sound like a bell (end) but it’s been a while since we got a warographics with battlefield tactics and the action part of warring.

A note on the Ridge wallet that is sponsored in this video. I just bought one of these and I’m already returning it. It’s actually kinda heavy and pointy. I’m just going to keep using my cloth/pleather wallet.

"These things happened. They were glorious and they changed the world... and then we f***ed up the endgame." -- Charlie Wilson

I still get so shocked when I think of the stupidity from top to bottom of this failure.

I am a proud citizen of the United States of America and I was embarrassed by this debacle. The fact that we Left any Americans who were seeking to leave on the ground is unacceptable. The fact that we left Afghans who we promised to evacuate from the country on the ground, is reprehensible.

Rest in peace to those that passed away. I hope the human rights situation gets better there.

Who really wishes we were still fighting that pointless war?

I would recommend watching the Shawn Ryan show with guest Tyler Vargas. He explains his story on the ground at HKIA

I was in Afghanistan when the u.s. left as a contractor. I agree we should’ve got wayyyy more people out and done a better job in that regard. What i have a problem with is getting the equipment out. I travelled to almost every active base in Afghanistan. It would have taken YEARS to get even the high value equipment out. Under trump the USA Germany UK Japan Australia etc were moving stuff out but even then there was still so much equipment from 20 years of war. The amount of fuel alone to get everything out would’ve been astronomical. All in all just a huge mess. I feel bad for the people but the to get all of the equipment out would’ve been another monster that even the US people wouldnt have wanted to deal with.

As a member of gen Z I personally think the fall of Kabul is my generations Saigon moment

Cool Wallet and KeyCase 😎

Great work Simon very sad people lost their lives for nothing 😢

One of the reasons to why this stupid and unnecessary war lasted so long was mostly because of the US Army's incompetence. When the Russians left Afghanistan in 1989, the withdraw was far more organised and it took three years for the then Afghan government to fall.

The whole dammed cascade failure in the pull out from Afghanistan only has "2" words - Joe Biteazz. The amount of massive vehicles, planes, parts, trucks, humvees, hospital supplies, etc were abandoned as well as all the many people abandoned there. The only thing, if they remain, is if we get into a WW II with Russia and China - these supplies, if not totally cannibalized, sold off, or destroyed - will be a pre-positioned military force that can be used in splitting Russia and China, and running up the Central Arab Republics, or Azerbaijan/Armenian corridor up into Russia.

He says “violence” with like it have 8 syllables. One of the most British people on the planet

I came, I saw, I conquered. And I, destroyed them all. -Coalition Forces in Afghanistan-

Wow, they went to fight against evil but ended up arming it!

Problem was that the US couldn’t decide if it wanted to fully commit to the war or withdraw. So in the end nothing got done.

How was the U.S. government surprised by the chaos of civilian evacuation? Vietnam should have been a clue. Coincidentally another war/country where previous experience (Vietnam/France and Afghanistan/Russia) by other countries was disregarded.

What more can you tell me about the love letters mentioned at 5:30

You'd think the US would have learned from watching the Soviet Union fail in Afghanistan

What annoys me the most about all this is the abandonment of ALL that military hardware and equipment. WTF guys? Did they forget they're not still giving the Taliban equipment like they did in the Soviet Afghan War? You're just giving the next regime who chooses to invade Afghanistan next (my guess China or Russia) an even harder fight.

Heading should read FAILURE and DEFEAT!

My airline sent a few flights to US bases in the middle east to pick up these refugees. At least one came back completely empty because they couldn’t figure who to put on the plane. The logistics of the evacuation was a complete mess.

The US left 100s of thousands of allies behind... This is how the US will be remembered by any future potential allies in the future.

Honestly, how we left was embarrassing.

I’ve spoke to so many Americans that refuse to admit they lost wars like afghan and Vietnam. As a European can someone explain that mentality to me ?

Commented faster than the Taliban can establish a government

And not one member of the upper echelons of the military lost their job, and many would be the people in charge if we go into a new war.

Quasimodo predicted all this

Got Deja vu, during this video.

Hi simon :)

Jeremy Clarkson : If only America could win it's wars so convincingly 😅

What did we expect? Did we forget how the United States Government abandoned the Hmong people who aided the CIA and United States military during Vietnam? Simon: How about a video about the US evacuation of Vietnam and retaliation toward the Hmong people?👍

There is the possibility it was planned that way, on that date to not have to evacute many afghan citiziens ...

as a vet l felt betrayed by our traitor of a president over this

Let's go Brandon!

Wasn't sure this was a propaganda channel until I saw the Ronald Reagan Biographic. Now I know for certain.

The entire war is an example of politicians playing soldier while the air lift was an example of Marines, Soldiers, Sailers and Airmen doing their jobs without political interference.

I like the fact that you are not biased and cover all kind of events.

Fun fact: the US didn't even tell the British forces they were leaving Bagram- you know, the guys they basically forced into the war- at least according to the BBC- how has nobody been fired?

Looking back at this with a 2023 perspective, the Us should’ve seen this as a prelude for what was to come

Scary that this reminds me of the scene from Greenland, accept the people who didn't have the bracelets got tortured! This was an absolute mess and more troops should have been sent to ensure an orderly excit. So tragic!

Not everyone wants or deserves “democracy” (however you want to define that), and as such; should not have it foisted upon them. Just as not everyone deserves a job.

As an American I'm just glad we're out. The Afghanistan government collapsing is their fault not ours. They had 20 years to get ready and they squandered it.

Can you do a biographic on Bumpy Johnson?

One poster from THEN YEARS AGO said he was a trainer for the Afghan forces. He said, as soon as we leave, 1/2 would just disappear, and the rest would join the taliban.