So it seems that our war veterans feel the Fucktard is throwing their sacrifices away....
After enlisting in the U.S. military against his family’s wishes, Chicago native Tom Amenta said he found himself in “middle-of-nowhere,” Afghanistan, in 2002 as an Army ranger in a remote area some 15 minutes from the border with Pakistan. He was fighting the initial battles of a war that few knew would stretch on for 20 years.
Now 40 and retired from the military, he felt anger foam inside as he watched the evening news on Thursday while on a work trip to Pennsylvania.
Headline after headline broadcast the latest gains by Taliban fighters, who have seized control of more than a dozen of the country’s provincial capitals as the Afghan government inches closer to collapse in the final days of the U.S. withdrawal. He was riveted in horror by news of fighters committing suspected war crimes against civilians or Afghan troops.
Friends who had been killed there came to mind, including NFL star Pat Tillman. Fond memories of former Afghan colleagues, such as interpreters, who remained in the country and whose fates he didn’t know, also resurfaced.
“It makes me angry, really angry,” Amenta said of the U.S. withdrawal, lamenting the billions upon billions of dollars spent on the war effort. Not to mention the emotional, financial and human toll suffered by thousands of Americans who served or had sent their loved ones to fight in Afghanistan.
Afghanistan “has never had a clean solution. But now that it’s gotten hard, we’re just going to bounce? It doesn’t make it right,” he said in a phone interview.
Amenta is one of many veterans across the world voicing frustration over the Taliban’s faster-than-expected comeback, reflecting how deeply the conflict resonates throughout the world. Around four dozen countries have sent troops in support of the United States, which with 2,300 killed while serving, has spilled the most amount of blood in the war excluding Afghanistan itself.
Taliban fighters capture Kandahar, Herat and Lashkar Gah in sweeping territorial gains
Amenta recounted memories of Jay A. Blessing of Tacoma, Wash., a goofy friend and fellow Army ranger who used to put hot sauce on everything: “I mean, literally everything. He put hot sauce on ice cream.” Blessing was killed by an improvised bomb in 2003 in Asadabad, Afghanistan.
“I mean, why did my friend get blown up? For what?” said Amenta, who has recently spoken to nearly six dozen veterans from the post-9/11 wars to write a book that’s to be released next month.
n the United Kingdom, where at least 455 British lives were lost over the course of the war, Foreign Affairs Select Committee Chair Tom Tugendhat, who served in Afghanistan, tweeted: “If you think I’m taking the news from Afghanistan badly and personally, you’re right.”
Tugendhat said the withdrawal was “wasteful and unnecessary.” He said, “I’ve seen what it costs and what sacrifices are being thrown away.”
Tugendhat, in a BBC interview, said that withdrawing coalition support in the country had left its government exposed and weak. “We’ve pulled the rug from under them,” he said. “We’ve taken away their air support, we’ve taken away their logistics and we’ve said, ‘Go on then, let’s see how you do.’ ”
Speaking from his home in Tucson, Army veteran John Whalen sighed as reports came in that Kandahar, the second-largest Afghan city, had fallen to the Taliban.
“It’s just frustrating,” Whalen said over the phone. “We knew that this would happen. Now, all the people who went and served, are like, ‘Why did my friend die?’ ”
“I ask that question, too,” Whalen said.
‘Why did my friend get blown up? For what?’: Afghanistan war veterans horrified by Taliban gains
After enlisting in the U.S. military against his family’s wishes, Chicago native Tom Amenta said he found himself in “middle-of-nowhere,” Afghanistan, in 2002 as an Army ranger in a remote area some 15 minutes from the border with Pakistan. He was fighting the initial battles of a war that few knew would stretch on for 20 years.
Now 40 and retired from the military, he felt anger foam inside as he watched the evening news on Thursday while on a work trip to Pennsylvania.
Headline after headline broadcast the latest gains by Taliban fighters, who have seized control of more than a dozen of the country’s provincial capitals as the Afghan government inches closer to collapse in the final days of the U.S. withdrawal. He was riveted in horror by news of fighters committing suspected war crimes against civilians or Afghan troops.
Friends who had been killed there came to mind, including NFL star Pat Tillman. Fond memories of former Afghan colleagues, such as interpreters, who remained in the country and whose fates he didn’t know, also resurfaced.
“It makes me angry, really angry,” Amenta said of the U.S. withdrawal, lamenting the billions upon billions of dollars spent on the war effort. Not to mention the emotional, financial and human toll suffered by thousands of Americans who served or had sent their loved ones to fight in Afghanistan.
Afghanistan “has never had a clean solution. But now that it’s gotten hard, we’re just going to bounce? It doesn’t make it right,” he said in a phone interview.
Amenta is one of many veterans across the world voicing frustration over the Taliban’s faster-than-expected comeback, reflecting how deeply the conflict resonates throughout the world. Around four dozen countries have sent troops in support of the United States, which with 2,300 killed while serving, has spilled the most amount of blood in the war excluding Afghanistan itself.
Taliban fighters capture Kandahar, Herat and Lashkar Gah in sweeping territorial gains
Amenta recounted memories of Jay A. Blessing of Tacoma, Wash., a goofy friend and fellow Army ranger who used to put hot sauce on everything: “I mean, literally everything. He put hot sauce on ice cream.” Blessing was killed by an improvised bomb in 2003 in Asadabad, Afghanistan.
“I mean, why did my friend get blown up? For what?” said Amenta, who has recently spoken to nearly six dozen veterans from the post-9/11 wars to write a book that’s to be released next month.
n the United Kingdom, where at least 455 British lives were lost over the course of the war, Foreign Affairs Select Committee Chair Tom Tugendhat, who served in Afghanistan, tweeted: “If you think I’m taking the news from Afghanistan badly and personally, you’re right.”
Tugendhat said the withdrawal was “wasteful and unnecessary.” He said, “I’ve seen what it costs and what sacrifices are being thrown away.”
Tugendhat, in a BBC interview, said that withdrawing coalition support in the country had left its government exposed and weak. “We’ve pulled the rug from under them,” he said. “We’ve taken away their air support, we’ve taken away their logistics and we’ve said, ‘Go on then, let’s see how you do.’ ”
Speaking from his home in Tucson, Army veteran John Whalen sighed as reports came in that Kandahar, the second-largest Afghan city, had fallen to the Taliban.
“It’s just frustrating,” Whalen said over the phone. “We knew that this would happen. Now, all the people who went and served, are like, ‘Why did my friend die?’ ”
“I ask that question, too,” Whalen said.
