How did the Taliban defeat the US?

Question

How did the Taliban defeat the US army with primitive weapons?

SongBirrd · Accepted Answer

Last time I checked, the United States Military ended its combat operations in Afghanistan in 2014?

Not to mention, the height of USA military manpower in Afghanistan was 100,000 in 2010. By 2020, there were barely 2,000 USA soldiers left in the country, mostly advising/assisting the Afghan security forces, or protecting the USA Embassy. Not to mention during most of that time the USA couldn't care less about the Taliban, and targeted largely ISIS elements in the country.

The ANDSF (Afghan National Defense and Security Forces) fought the war largely by itself from 2014 to 2021. That just happens to be the time the Taliban started to gain momentum, and eventually overthrew the Afghan Government.

We can clearly call it a political disaster, due to politicians being more concerned with other issues, and not wanting to reintegrate the USA back into the war. The withdrawal itself was a perfect example of the incompetence of the Biden Administration.

None the less, the idea the Taliban defeated the USA military is quite hilarious.

The USA military wasn't even fighting the war when the Taliban was making gains against the ANDSF. At that point in the conflict, it was a specifically Afghan vs Afghan Civil War, with very little to no USA military involvement.

Even the ANDSF prided itself on carrying out over 96%+ of operations in the war by itself (This you can see from ToloNews, an Afghan News Agency which released an article about it in 2020) You can look up the article "ANDSF Conducts 96% of Operations Independently: Khalid" on the Website.

Contrary to the popular opinion, the Taliban did not defeat the USA military.

The Taliban suffered numerous defeats while the USA military was operating in the nation, and used Pakistan as safe haven. Then when the USA turned control of the war over the Afghan Government, the Taliban resurfaced.

No doubt the Taliban defeated the USA politically, but it has less to do with their abilities, and more to do with USA political aims.

Militarily? not in the slightest

Its like looking at an Alien Invasion of Earth, and the Aliens help set up a Human based Pro Alien government, and then largely leave.

Then Human insurgents defeat the Human Pro-Alien government, and claim victory over the Aliens... even though the Aliens are now somewhere else.

lol

KostasKouvalis · Accepted Answer

Richard Crenna summed it up perfectly. If the Americans had studied their history they'd know these people have never given up to ANYONE. They'd rather die, than be slaves to a foreign power and you can't defeat a people like that.

Also, the borders between Pakistan and Afghanistan are unsecured, because the Pashto and other tribal land spreads across both countries. So the Talibans would conduct operations in Afghanistan then flee into Pakistan, and since we were only allowed to conduct operations in Afghanistan, we couldn't do anything to them once they crossed. And also, the Pakistani government helped them

YesterdaysChild · Accepted Answer

Not to mention we left $ Billions in equipment and supplies behind to help them along and to keep control. We can blame Biden for that.

purplepoppy · Accepted Answer

Wars aren't won by who kills the most or wins the most battles. They're won by who can hold out the longest.

msc545 · Answer

The purpose of this war was not to "win" it. The purpose was to funnel HUGE amounts of money to the US defense industry, which it did for 20 years, with the cooperation of the Taliban. When that began to be unsustainable, the US left, but:

Shortly thereafter, the Ukraine situation blew up with the help of the US, again providing a convenient way for the US government to prop up the US defense industry with billions of dollars of our tax money.

Most recently, the war in Gaza happened, and the US government is providing the Israelis with the arms to essentially kill every human being in the West Bank. This is yet another gift to the US defense industry, thanks to our tax money.

Do you really wonder why there is no money for health care or for veterans or social programs? 880 BILLION dollars to the defense industry this year that the government will admit to. Probably quite a bit more that they are hiding.

Anonymous · Answer

You had an idiot President think he could make a deal with terrorists, then blame his successor for the fallout. But the real reasons are you can't kill an ideology like theirs based on radical beliefs, and every time you kill one of them, you create 5 more radicals.

Also the US had no interest in winning anything, just like they didn't in Vietnam. Afghanistan was an excuse to keep the extremely profitable industrial war machine going by making weapons and deploying troops under the guise of fighting for the freedom of the Afghan people, as if the US govt gives a shit.

BCA6010 · Answer

They didn't. The US pulled out.

The US does not, and never has had a stomach for prolonged war. It's been well known since Vietnam that all you have to do is persist and remain relevant until eventually the US just leaves. It doesn't matter if the US cleans your clock and kills a hundred of your fighters for every one it loses at that point.

jshm2 · Answer

Simple.

The Russians did to the USA what the USA did to the Soviet Union in operation Cyclone.

Where the USA armed Osama bin Laden to defeat the Soviets. The Russians instead, supported the insurgent groups to ensure the USA never got a days rest.

AviatorTom · Answer

For geopolitical reasons, the US military was handcuffed and wasn't allowed to use everything at its disposal.

Even a small weakling guy can take down a big hunk if the hunk's hands are tied behind his back.

ChicoFromThe305 · Answer

Nothing like knowing the ground you stand in, believe it or not, it's a major advantage, no one knew those sands like they did, it's their home, it's always a major advantage that defenders will have that invaders won't.

rachel776 · Answer

. .

Anonymous · Answer

They didn’t. They hid like cowards, then waited for the US to pull out. That’s when they came back. An AC-130 gunship could easily wipe these cowards out.

Drewtate · Answer

They waited for 20 years in Pakistan until the us military left. Afghanistan was a side show, the real fighting took place in Iraq.

ODC2112 · Answer

The Taliban won because the Americans wanted to act as paladins. To subdue Afghanistan, extremely repressive Graziani-style tactics are needed that a government like the United States is unable to impose.

NamerOfStars · Answer

They didn't- they were beaten quite handily. They simply outwaited them.

Jersey2 · Answer

We were there to kill Bin Laden. Once he was dead we stayed to rebuild a better country but they are so backwards that it didn’t take. So we pulled the plug on it. That’s that.

ShadezMcgee · Answer

The weapons had nothing to do with it compared to the tactics they used.

ImHere22 · Answer

They didn’t defeat the US; we left because we had been in Afghanistan for over 20 years

Tharithi · Answer

They didn’t defeat. Us retreated because they understood Islamic nations are useless

888theGreat · Answer

If the US really wanted win , they would. They don't try to win.

Massageman · Answer

Hmm - how come the U. S. uses a $2M rocket to shoot down $500 drones?

KrakenAttackin · Answer

No, we defeated ourselves by electing imbeciles.

HouseMoat · Answer

Kind of like how the vietcong did. Just their type of warfare

Anonymous · Answer

Offered Joey a warehouse filled to the rafters with brown

ohsheeT · Answer

Do you know how to play chess

ibodi · Answer

As vietnamese did I guess

FunkyMonkee · Answer

When did that happen?

pickles77 · Answer

We were never fighting to win

Kingofkings1992 · Answer

That’s quite humorous

How did the Taliban defeat the US?

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