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'We've Abandoned the People Who Helped Us': Vets Grapple with Emotions over the Fall of Afghanistan
Military.com ^ | 8/17/2021 | Patricia Kime

Posted on 08/22/2021 4:10:25 AM PDT by LibWhacker

Betrayal, frustration, anger, grief, numbness and concern for those left behind -- these are some of the emotions former service members say they are feeling as they watch images of their former enemies celebrating in Kabul and get desperate text messages from those left behind in Afghanistan.

"It's a disgrace that the U.S. has forsaken these bonds and abandoned our allies," said Peter Kiernan, a former Special Operations Command Marine who deployed to Herat in 2012. "We were trying to liberate these people and give them a better life. And that's the part that's so hard to grapple with here. We fought for this. And the Afghan soldiers that we served with were optimistic about the future of their country."

In Afghanistan, Kiernan led a team of interpreters and trained Afghan forces, working with them to clear areas of Taliban presence or to capture Taliban leaders.

The Afghans he met were committed to a better quality of life -- soldiers who were "super ideologically committed," civilians who were educating women, improving health care and cultivating community programs and services with support from micro-grant programs.

He remains especially concerned about an interpreter he's been trying to get out of the country for the past six years. The frustration over the bureaucratic delay of the Afghan's visa and desperate text message exchanges with his friends as the Taliban advanced in the past week have taken their toll.

For many veterans who lost comrades or were wounded with brain injuries, amputations or post-traumatic stress in Afghanistan, the Taliban's triumphant advance across the country has triggered emotions buried for years or still very raw.

(Excerpt) Read more at military.com ...


TOPICS: News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: abandoned; afghanistan; members; service
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1 posted on 08/22/2021 4:10:25 AM PDT by LibWhacker
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To: LibWhacker

A few days old. Never posted. It’s a total disgrace.


2 posted on 08/22/2021 4:11:41 AM PDT by LibWhacker
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To: LibWhacker

The lamestream media makes more money because advertisers use them when people die. biden crowd had to pay back the lamestream media for their election lies. This was the plan utilized. My humble opinion


3 posted on 08/22/2021 4:14:17 AM PDT by no-to-illegals ( Liberals, leftists, Rinos, moslems, illegals, lamestream media. All want America to fail and die )
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To: LibWhacker

The soldiers did not abandon them......
... President Biden did!


4 posted on 08/22/2021 4:17:31 AM PDT by Guenevere (When the foundations are being destroyed what can the righteous do)
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To: LibWhacker

I’ve Worked with Refugees for Decades. Europe’s Afghan Crime Wave Is Mind-Boggling.

Afghans stand out among the refugees committing crimes in Austria and elsewhere. Why?

> by Cheryl Benard, July 2017

Please read, share and save this article for when the coming inevitable Afghan “refugee” sex crime aggravated rape wave hits the USA.

Compared to even other moslem “refugees,” Afghan males are like mad dogs around Western women, they’ll brutally attack and rape any female from age five to 85, anytime they get the chance.

You have been warned.

https://nationalinterest.org/feature/ive-worked-refugees-decades-europes-afghan-crime-wave-mind-21506


5 posted on 08/22/2021 4:26:13 AM PDT by Travis McGee (EnemiesForeignAndDomestic.com)
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To: no-to-illegals

Your opinion is quite good! Our troops and Afghan allies were used like throwaway pawns in a chess game. Disgusting. Good luck, America! Don’t go crying to real patriots when you can’t recruit good men in the future. They are loyal to America as conceived by The Founders, not as conceived by you leftwing POS!


6 posted on 08/22/2021 4:26:58 AM PDT by LibWhacker
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To: LibWhacker

Thank You for the compliment. Imho the pendulum swings both directions


7 posted on 08/22/2021 4:29:10 AM PDT by no-to-illegals ( Liberals, leftists, Rinos, moslems, illegals, lamestream media. All want America to fail and die )
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To: Travis McGee

Very true


8 posted on 08/22/2021 4:30:45 AM PDT by no-to-illegals ( Liberals, leftists, Rinos, moslems, illegals, lamestream media. All want America to fail and die )
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To: no-to-illegals

The only people getting through to the airport are young men approved by the Taliban for travel.


9 posted on 08/22/2021 4:31:58 AM PDT by Travis McGee (EnemiesForeignAndDomestic.com)
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To: Travis McGee

My thought as well


10 posted on 08/22/2021 4:33:03 AM PDT by no-to-illegals ( Liberals, leftists, Rinos, moslems, illegals, lamestream media. All want America to fail and die )
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To: Travis McGee
That is a very good point as well, thanks! Yes, I DO NOT favor bringing them here, but only not abandoning them there.

(Good to see you again, TM, sir!)

11 posted on 08/22/2021 4:33:09 AM PDT by LibWhacker
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To: LibWhacker

WE have not abandoned anyone. The political and military leadership in this country has. And we still permit them to lead.

We own THAT!


12 posted on 08/22/2021 4:37:53 AM PDT by Chickensoup (Voter ID for 2020!! Leftists totalitarian fascists appear to be planning to eradicate conservatives)
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To: LibWhacker

It’s called, “Suicide by voting Democrat.”

😱


13 posted on 08/22/2021 4:46:29 AM PDT by tired&retired (Blessings )
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To: LibWhacker

Vets need to get over the emotion.
Sure, once we were there, CMOps become a natural progression to our presence. Using nationals to achieve our goals is normal.

I get that.

AFG,IRG, HOA, etc all want to suck on our largess, cry foul when we eventually run our course and then demand refugee status etc.

I’ve seen this phenomenon in South America, Bosnia, IRQ, AFG, etc al. Hate me while I’m there, try to kill me and mine, want us gone the whole time, then whine for international sympathy when my govt say time to go.

Make your own destiny.

My devotion and shed blood says I have the right to say so.

My response, “it’s your country, take up arms and make it want you want. Otherwise, ‘inshallah’”.


14 posted on 08/22/2021 4:59:31 AM PDT by Manly Warrior (US ARMY (Ret), "No Free Lunches for the Dogs of War" )
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To: Travis McGee

Personally knew several interpreters. Your broad brush depiction is disgusting.

The men I knew all had close calls and all of them had dead friends as they were always targets. You really have no idea. They people that helped us should be brought out. Otherwise they are dead men walking.


15 posted on 08/22/2021 5:00:00 AM PDT by zek157
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To: LibWhacker

We should have gotten out of there after the US election in 2004. It was unrealistic to assume that an illiterate tribal country would suddenly become modern. It’s especially aggravating that we built and armed an army that was dependent on the US in order to function. We would have been better off salting and napalming the poppy fields, and installing a warlord that would accept our bribes and stay bribed.


16 posted on 08/22/2021 5:04:57 AM PDT by Bernard (The very best scientific articles always contain this phrase: “My personal intuition has been…”)
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To: zek157

Did you read the article?

No, of course not. Tell it to all of the European women brutally raped by Afghan “refugees.”

The only men getting into the airport and out on planes have been approved by the Taliban. They have our former biometric face scanners, and none of our former interpreters would DARE to get near a Taliban checkpoint.

The Taliban are playing us for fools, flooding the airport with bogus “refugees” and keep out our AmCits and former allies.


17 posted on 08/22/2021 5:05:10 AM PDT by Travis McGee (EnemiesForeignAndDomestic.com)
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To: LibWhacker

Thucydides said it best, “The strong do what they will and the weak suffer what they must.”


18 posted on 08/22/2021 5:06:50 AM PDT by joma89 (Buy weapons and ammo, folks, and have the will to use them.)
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To: LibWhacker

We didn’t abandon them, their own government did and their own military did.


19 posted on 08/22/2021 5:09:18 AM PDT by DoodleDawg ( )
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To: Travis McGee
The only men getting into the airport and out on planes have been approved by the Taliban. They have our former biometric face scanners, and none of our former interpreters would DARE to get near a Taliban checkpoint.

OMG, I never considered that. What is the latest count on the number of Afghan "refugees" Biden plans to bring here? Last I heard was 30,000.

20 posted on 08/22/2021 5:18:18 AM PDT by LibWhacker
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