https://www.foxnews.com/world/american-mom-trapped-afghanistan-taliban-bidenhttps://twitter.com/i/status/1429140083291140105From the armchair, never having been in a battle: I suppose the better thing would have been to have kept enough troops there to hold the airport and a corridor into Kabul. Were this another reality where the current stuff was going on, what would prevent an alternate America from sending in 5000 Sardaukar with instructions to kill everyone waving a gun between the airport and Kabul proper, and hold that until everyone we want evacuated is evacuated? Seems like that would be an efficient way to hold off the Taliban and every other monkey with a gun who is playing Taliban.
I understand this morning that while currently the US military is not allowed to leave the airport to assist other than I guess a few isolated incidents, there is a chance that the politicians are looking at the bad press and because of that (vs a logically contemplated decision) considering sending troops beyond the airport to clear the way for evacuees. I fear that their ROEs and likely smaller numbers will dangerously hamper them if that happens.
Again, from the armchair, but if you want to get people out with the minimal loss of life at this time, it seems going full Von Clausewitz would be the way to do it.
