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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 30 ส.ค. 2021
- More than 800,000 Americans served in Afghanistan since 2001. VICE News sat down with three marine veterans who were at the center of one of the war's bloodiest battles to get their thoughts on how the war is ending.
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Vietnam Veterans: apparently the memo we sent out didn't get past the mail room.
And the US is gonna go to war with Iran and people are gonna fall for the same propaganda.
@@morenitomoreno1282 the US won't risk a war with Iran.
King Askeladd the only way it doesn't happen is if Iran get those nukes which these warmongers force me to support.
It's insane to me that both John McCain and John Kerry were in support of the Iraq and Afghanistan war.
Augustus GRT it's not shocking at all for McCain. He was the quintessential neoconservative. But Kerry made a name for himself opposing the Vietnam war which clearly was just a way to get into politics cause he turned out to be just another warmonger.
It wasn’t for nothing: the weapons manufacturers & mercenaries got to make a lot of money. That’s the ugly truth of it.
They are the real winners
Somebody watched WarDogs
Don’t forget the politicians, they got some grease too in the form of bribes…I mean campaign donations and lobbying money
Excuse me Sir/Madam
Are you saved?
If you died tonight are you going to heaven?
Jesus loves you
Aye. Selling munitions to kill an enemy makes money; even better if it doesn't need to be paid for via a trained and equipped soldier on the ground. Even more profit from not even having the soldier in the process at all.
Someone should publish the links between government officials and munitions manufacturers. There will be a few people that profit massively from the current situation.
As a soldier who served in Afghanistan, I'd never let my daughter join the military.
@pete haskell have you ever been to USA? all the women want to be men now
Especially when the purpose of fighting gets tossed away like this
@pete haskell , this isn't 1960s, women are as equal as men.
As a female marine Corps veteran I couldn't agree more
Incoming femenists attacks
You can fix american healthcare, implement high speed rail, and end homelessness with less than 50% of the Afghanistan war budget.
will any politician make billions out of this? no. then that won't happen.
@@ozioz6285 if anyone finds a way to make money out of problems like hunger homelessness the US is going to be the first one boarding that ship
Yeah spending more money does not solve problems. If that were the case our education system would be number on in the world.
@@robertsalfelder8111 actually, spending more money does solve problems.
Your country and citizens are slaves of the bankers. Your politicians serve bankers not you.
And people looked at me crazy when I tell them my grandfather is an air force vet and advised highly against any of his grandchildren to go in any military
Real talk
You're Grandfather's very wise 💕
Black men shouldn’t fight white pplz oil wars
My dad was a USMC Vet who served in Vietnam. He said the same. And supported kneeling for the flag. But I didn’t listen and did 10 years in the Navy to pay for college. I wouldn’t advise my kids or nieces or nephews to serve in the military as well. Doubly difficult for us black people 🤷🏽♀️
@@Pats4lyfe what’s race got to do with this? Also Afghanistan wasn’t for oil. You’re thinking of Iraq
These veterans should be the most angry at their government for sending them in to a useless conflict.
Only to pull them out 2 decades later, when they were genuinely needed.
@@cantbeatthebay4765 they were never needed. It’s not America’s business to police other countries it was a useless mission that made everything worse
Sadly, it sounds like they we're o.k. with nation building... Is that part of the U.S. constitution? It surely doesn't sound very democratic, nation build in a different country.
They get purple hearts for getting wounded? Df
they should be mad at themselves for agreeing to fight there in the first place. They were fed lies and acted because of them.
These guys are remarkably well spoken and have great insight. I wouldn’t expect any less from somebody who saw this conflict first hand, but it’s still worth mentioning.
Why wouldn't they be well spoken? Smh
We're not dumb people, jesus when we get out of the military we work in schools, hospitals and other menial jobs
Cause military people are supposed to be mouth breathing idiots?
@@MrEvldreamr There are a lot of dumb people in the Military, truth be told. That's just a reflection of the population it serves. These were especially well spoken guys I think.
@@christopherwolfert5178 We certainly have morons but from my experience the dumbest ppl I've ever met have all been college-educated civilians.
As a soldier you dont need a college degree to shoot a weapon but as a civilian apparently you need one to decipher how many genders there are?
Dont need a degree to know you have to work for a living to get paid.... but apparently you need a degree to tell me i shouldnt have to work for a living in order to get paid?
Id say civilian masses are dumber, but thats just me. Military personnel have a stronger work ethic on average, ill take a man who works hard over a man who thinks hes too smart to work.
20 years ago my dad said this war is going to be the longest unwinnable war. He was a Vietnam Vet. He died just a few days after this war started
He died??? Very nice😂😂😂
@@sentinel4636 If you don't feel sad, just ignore and move on. You've exposed yourself as a horrible person, thanks.
"War is young men dying and old men talking. You know this." ~Odysseus, Troy (2004)
"Is this what you left me foooor !?"
War is the fake word, real word is #Population_Control.
War is Young men dying and Old men getting rich.
Odysseus also got all his men on his ship killed and got himself stranded on an island for 7 years because of ego too lol
"fighhhhttt himm soonnn, figgghhhtttt himmm."
These guys are going through a lot of the same feelings as my late husband went through. The biggest difference is we love them. My husband never felt respected and he took his life. I hope these guys and gals keep their heads up!!! They did the best they could and it should be our politicians who should be hiding their faces on the ground!!!!!
How about everyone involved with hurting innocent Afghans including your war mongering late husband?
@@Pats4lyfe I don't think most soldiers enter the military because they love war. They probably have their own motivations, especially because during the beginning, this was about getting Al Quaeda after 911.
@@matthewmullin8168 They got used is what happened. Cannon fodders.
Taliban never presented a threat to US which is two giant oceans away.
When i hear a soldier say “we fought got out freedom” makes me cringe, as if Taliban would pull up on east coast and take over.
Lame war!!
@@Pats4lyfe that is a disgusting comment, karma will come back to you for putting that. If an innocent person is hurt a 100 are saved. People like you will never understand war because you spend to much time bullying women acting like the big man, you are a coward of man.
@@Pats4lyfe so using your logic the cities in the U.S are overrun by your gun toting hipster friends that hurting and killing the elderly and children.
Probably the best journalism I've seen from Vice in a decade.
Because it's not against your Trumpy Bear 🤣
@@BaldwinFanonGarveyTureShakurX ?
Note how thoughtful and articulate these men are.
They are lucky to be in one piece.
Why wouldn't they be?
@@bocaj.455 but the one on the right isn't lmao
I feel proud of them, Don't u thi k ae should support them?
I’m glad that Vice has been so respectful of Afghanistan vets during this time.
Vice should pull no punches when it comes to our politicians but vets deserve our respect.
Why
They literally released an article talking about how us marines are nazis... same day when marines got bombed in Kabul..
@@tunasandwich8049 No they didn't.
Boot licking monster. The German said the same about the Wehrmacht after the war...
@@bigfoothunter8080 you could literally look it up on google
the troops died for no reason. and it’s not just the fault of the people taking us out, it’s the people who got us in there and sustained us being there.
Bush Obama tRump ✔
@@cesaritoa8562 and a biden at the end group fucking if there ever was one
@@stephenkane7202 Wait so we’re now supportive of going back to Afghanistan I’m just guessing it’s the medias fault
@@doggonoburritos4327 No no according to this guy @Cesarito A it's Obama fault because why not right he's the reason for this whole mess or Trump because his 4 year term had such a big Impact on our time in Afghanistan..... 🤷♂️🤷♂️ this Country has really gone to shyt
they died for the oded yinon plan, as planned.
It’s scary because after the war ended people in congress still wants the defense budget to go up. What about Americans school, medical, and cost of living we should focus on building our country not getting into pointless wars.
You do know they're sending some of those troops in Africa. Watch in the news a couple of years to come, there will be countries that will fall as usual.
@@nondbfune9132 Because the US wants to be a global empire but what happens in the end now we’re debt and the countries we try to built in our image fails Liberia, Vietnam, Iraq, and now Afghanistan. We try to change their culture and their way life and the end things don’t go well.
It's not scary. China is building a state or the art military. Russia is building a state of the military. China doesn't care about hugs and kisses. Sadly in this world a strong military is what keeps other countries in check. We do need to invest in our country, but to say have a state of the art military isn't needed is wrong.
@@Tom-vg5nb What if all of these countries that you name including the U.S are not necessarily putting other countries in check. To the millions of people who are displaced around the world due to this fight for "American Freedom." What can you really say to them, when they've lost their homes, loved ones, culture, religion in some areas, all due to 3 groups(Western Allies, Russia, China) thinking they can own the world for themselves. It's funny to me that in schools people understand and know the concept of bullying, but not on the world stage.
@@LuisGonzalez-px4sj I doubt the U.S is trying to build anything in their image. Wars in these countries bring money to the U.S. Destabilizing governments has been the game since WWII, especially in the middle east. I can't remember which source I read from during my world issues course, but it was agreed upon by the western allies then, and now look at the region. The same way they all agreed to go to Syria, Libya, Somalia, Sudan+ 15 years ago, and when asked why, they said because we have a military. That's all it takes. It's saddening really if you ask me.
"The people who fought the war they're the ones who won the battles and its the politicians who lost the war"
Damn that's deep
Yep tru.
Yet somehow we never blame military leadership. The only group of people that remained constant during the 20 year occupation.
Leadership failed to understand this war was un winnable and sent our troops into it. Afghanistan was a quagmire
do u think we should also support them? as they've alr done so much for us
I told my step son joining the military would only be fighting to make a lot of rich men richer!
Have him join the coast guard. Department of homeland security has a different mission with all the same benefits.
@@AndrewChristian-bg6vr coast guard smell like fish
Imagine holding the american government accountable for the past 20 years
That is hard to do, occupying and commiting warcrimes for salary is easier.
as an American, I'm all in for that.😐👸🏾
Imagine not holding just the American government but NATO as well, accountable for the past 20 years for a war they waged and then leaving the brunt for the war torn country that they knew clearly doesnt have the resources and infrastructure to bear it and breaking that promise to always stand and support their allies and then placing the whole blame on them.
@@unicock8268 why NATO? The other NATO countries just followed the NATO treaty. Only the US is culpable here, don't deflect blame just because that makes you uncomfortable.
@@richards4219 Clearly the one who is feeling uncomfortable is you here, not me. I am an American myself and I dont feel insulted for pointing out my government's flaws. Instead of blaming the US here for haphazardly withdrawing its forces and its miscalculation of the Afghanistan military's capability to hold of against the Taliban, NATO instead chose to address the situation with the same narrative that Biden had to give, i.e., 'failure of the Afghan administration' by NATO spokesperson Jens Stoltenberg. In fact, Resolute Support's mandate was *to provide further training, advice and assistance for the Afghan security forces and institutions* , which is no less than what the US part of action was promising. So, NATO had a more than a significant role and responsibility in Afghanistan and they could have chosen to not go with the "Afghan government failure" narrative. I dont know why addressing the truth is equivalent to personal attack for people these days. No offence, I guess.
I feel the pain, but don’t see gain. I’m an Afghan vet. I’m glad we left, but ain’t happy about how we left. But another 5 days, 5 months, 5 years, 5 billion dollars wouldn’t have made the difference. We could never give the Afghan people what modernized world has. Best we could do, is give them a taste, a glimpse of what to aim for. In that sense-mission accomplished. Sorta. And sometimes sorta is good enough.
Is what it is.
But none of it was truly in vain. Young Afghan have had a small seed of a reality other than life under the Taliban, planted in their minds. That’s worth something. Maybe not as much as we would like, but still something. Maybe I’m wrong. I’m not that smart and could be completely off target on this subject.
But one thing I know I am goddamn right about, is that country is not worth ending your own life over. Be strong, my uniformed family.
....well said..
A harsh reality but true. From one vet to another, agreed.
Yeah let's make ourselves feel good about this. In reality we caused more suffering than good, let's not sugar coat anything. We waged war against a poor country halting development for 20 years, we've maimed many, left many orphaned, this is very heart wrenching.
Planting seeds isn't done with bombs and bullets.
True, lot of afghan have a glimpse of freedom and life outside afghanistan. The alternative life beside sharia hopefully take roots
“All I want to say is that they don’t really care about us” - Michael Jackson
indeed..& might be slow as *he11* but citizens are - even IF slowly - waking up.🌻👍🍀🌺👸🏾
Yes!
The amount of influence Michael Jackson had that time frightened the politicians. Imagine if Michael support or endorse a politician or party. He could be the game changer
Micheal doesn’t care about children ,especially little boys
I can not judge these guys, agree or disagree with them, they faced a different reality than I did sitting here comfortable on my chair.
Amen
Lol nice way of saying “poor gov used idiots”
it aint me , it aint me , i aint no fortunate son...ccr had it right
Amen
They went through years and systems of indoctrination. It’s like asking police for their opinion on defunding the police.
It's sad watching them come to the realization that the war was almost entirely pointless, when that was pretty clear right after the invasion and Osama fled to Pakistan. The saddest part was the marine in the middle saying he's support his daughter becoming a marine but hoped we're not fighting the same war. Well, look at history my friend. Afghanistan was no different than Vietnam except it was much longer. Odds are that we'll be entrenched in another pointless war around the time his daughter is turning 18.
Yeah, I was confused by that too. What does he mean by, “same war?”
Tell me, what war isn't pointless? What war is justifiable? When, killing people became something desirable, or normal, or ''the right thing to do''?
@@VeronicaGorositoMusic the Second World War is very justifiable.
@@Layer67 rarely anything since.
The war was 100% pointless cause another 9/11 will happen then we're back in Afghanistan.Plus we gave the Taliban new weapons & basically trained their army.
Saying you're going to war to "fight for freedom" is one of the most corrupted concepts in human history.
@The Tangled Angler Freedom to not pay extremely high taxes that will leave poor and homeless while been ruled as a colony
I love how they're finally realizing what a waste that war was. As one of the youngest countries in the world, it shouldn't even cross our minds to rebuild other nations and say it's "our fight". We did what we promised to do and stayed because we didn't know what to do next when the world was watching our war on terror.
The war wasn’t a waste. The US government was just too focused to rules of engagement for us to successfully rid the Middle East of the disease that is Islamic extremism. You can’t send our troops into combat with one hand tied behind their back against an enemy that fights without rules or morals.
@@trustee7327 The US government created modern jihad as we know it during the cold war to fight the Soviets. The US essentially created the modern "kingdom" of Saudi Arabia and its associated fundamentalism by propping up the Saud family. Have you ever read a history book in your life? As for "rules and morals," yeah, dropping bombs on civilians is what Americans consider "moral."
@@h.b.7104 Man every since the USA was founded, USA has always been in war.
VICE thanks for interviewing the veterans. Follow up with more interviews in the future. We cannot forget this war and it’s veterans
@@Browne7100 😂🤣😂🤣😂🤣
@@carlosram492 uhhhh
The guy on the right was like the optimistic-inspirational guy out of the trio. The middle guy was just straight and said “yeah veterans are going to kill them selves.”
Sadly he’s not wrong 😞.
Truth hurts hey buddy
He siad, "I don't think the American people understand what we go through" YOU got that right.
I came home in 1973 got hired 2 weeks later and kept busy..put it behind me. I saw action off the coast of Vietnam and my ship was awarded the combat action ribbon. None of us were injured.
@@briang.7206 nice story
I find it quite sad that they were so naive to believe they were there to make a difference, and provide freedom for the locals.
The military goes to high schools to get the young ones with big hearts who don’t know better.
We aren't naive. We know what we signed up for
@@TahtahmesDiary yet the military is a better and more secure choice then college
@@Reyes-Latinos Yeah as long as you don’t get PTSD or sexually assaulted
@@dariann1661 you do know only a small percentage actually get sent right? And majority don’t get r@ped you weird0
For anyone watching…just because three vets displayed displeasure of Afghanistan and the way we left and why, that doesn’t mean we all feel that way. Unfortunately they can’t separate their bond for one another and those they lost from the fact that their country knowingly sent them to die for an unwinable cause
Where I work is mostly vets and they ALL feel the same way. That pulling out before the civilians were evacuated was downright stupid. Leaving behind the files, the biometric information, the billions in weapons, vehicles and aircraft was stupid. There's NO WAY to spin this into a positive, no way.
So question do any of them ever offer up how they would’ve done it or do you have a better way of doing it? Assume you have the same intelligence biden and his circle had that the Afghan army would atleast hold out for a little while and you could get everyone you wanted out(which obviously wasn’t the case)
@@matthew1232k Biden was told straight up the same thing Trump was told. First, the 300,000 member Afghan army was a farce and they knew it. There was no 300,000 soldiers. They'd be lucky if there were half that number. The numbers were WAY inflated so the Afghan army received more money for pay.
Second, virtually all of them were illiterate. It's very tough to teach people without a bit of classroom time and some reading. They couldn't even write their own names.
Third, 90% could not pass a drug screen. They were ALWAYS high. The police stations usually had large pot gardens behind the station. Pot opium and heroin was used daily. A good many of them were actually Taliban collecting a paycheck, biding their time.
back in 2014 they did an evaluation. They said (without US support) half of the Afghan army would run away and the other half would join the Taliban. Exactly what happened.
The generals told Trump, (and Biden) under no circumstances give up BAGRAM air base. They got troop numbers down to 2500 and things remained stable.
BAGRAM is in a good location, near Pakistan, Russia and China. They can still operate drones economically and no US troops are in much danger. What's the big deal? There's still 80,000 troops in Japan for gods sakes. Bagram would have been a safe place to evacuate civilians. Trump listened. He would not have closed Bagram. Biden didn't listen. There were big arguments at the White House between the generals and Biden's staff. Biden, being commander, got his way.
Most of what I learned came from Vice. I'm a Democrat so I don't watch Fox and don't trust NBC, CBS or ABC. All big corporate entities that do not care about the US, only the stock price.
There's some good books out there too.
I know alot of vets and EVERY SINGLE ONE said exactly what the guy in the middle said. Well that's not true, they said it with gritted teeth and extra pissed off. I'm not going to say your the only veteran that isn't angry about how it went down, but you are definitely in the minority.
@@calebpaddack7450 I see that I am in the minority I’m just trying to be objective and not have my emotions lead my thought process. The situation was dogshit from the start and I really don’t believe that a “good exit” was possible
DoD offered me a job at the end of July to work as a Communications Specialist with one of the veteran suicide prevention programs. I politely declined because I really think we need military veterans with first-hand experiences to be effective in these roles - people who are just as qualified but also understand their pain and can really relate to our veterans, not someone with experience doing PR on the Hill and around corporate America. No amount of empathy will ever make up for their experiences. And heaven knows there's going to be a lot of need.
Veterans died for nothing in Afghanistan. I hope they realize this and internalize this.
@@TruthDissident that's not true. They died so others might have a better life
@@allywolf9182 Lmao imagine actually believing this.
@@TruthDissident i know this because i know men who fought.
@@allywolf9182 And those men have to lie and rationalize whey they fought because of the unfortunate price they paid. It's a coping mechanism.
There was never a coherent exit strategy. The people on the ground weren’t listened to. Poor leadership starting at the top. Those guys on the ground were betrayed.
Betrayed by an unwillingness to spend 20 more years there 😂
They weren’t “betrayed,” this was always the plan. We were *never* supposed to leave. Afghanistan was the place where US capital could extract the resources without having to be even slightly responsible for the welfare of the people who lived there, and defense contractors had an endless supply of government contracts. And the perpetual occupation guaranteed that those weapons & supplies would always be in demand.
You left out a corrupt Afghan govt that molested it's citizens & the US taxpayers....
it had to happen.
Thank you! As were Americans here who didn't receive help because we were too busy propping up this country for no reason because now it's all right back to where it started except now they have our resources to embolden them.
"My only hope is that we're not fighting the same war that we already fought."
Said every veteran of WW1.
As much as it sucks for the vets, I don't think it is justified to send people to die in a conflict that is older than themselves. You cannot convince me that a 19 year old deserves to die for a war that is 20 years old. They should have spent a few more weeks to get everything and everyone out safely, but there is no way they should have taken any longer in there. Every day you are there you are risking more peoples lives.
The war there has been over for several years. The last years were about helping the local government and ANA get set up. Building schools, hospitals, roads ans=d infrastructure.
The problem was and is, their culture does not want what was being done for them. They have no interest in living like the west. Their culture is also too corrupt for anything like that to survive. Hundreds of millions spent on power plants that no one can afford to use. So they sit, unused.
They tried training the local police, who are illiterate. How can they run a police station when they can't read or write?
@@TheBandit7613 tell that to the kids in afghanistan who used to be strapped up with ak's just to go to school and study. no interest in living like the west? literal kids risking their lives for proper education
More like this please. I'd love to watch more of these soldier-opinions about this war.
After 7 deployments and im sure there will be more for me if i continue to serve. One thing that stood out to me years ago was when one of my NCO's pointed out, there is a reason why politicians don't let their kids go enlisted and if they do serve they are officers, but not for long
Thank you for your service.
Can you choose whether or not to continue serving? Its an honest question from a civilian.
@@Walter-Montalvo You sign contracts. Officers are normally four years and so are enlisted. You get out before then, it's desertion. Four years active, two years reserve normally.
Joe Biden is the only politician I know whose son was in the military
I think joe Biden’s son died in combat
@@mikevids8107 - Biden’s son served in Kosovo and Iraq. He died of brain cancer, not from military combat
Face to face conversations are civil. Social media conversations are not. Thank you all for your service and sacrifice ❤️
I am so grateful for all of our American soldiers who have fought to keep our country safe day after day, year after year. Thank you forever! ❤️
As a veteran myself of this war, im not mad we left, we would have been there another 20 or more years, we gave the afghans everything they needed, we trained their army, we trained thier police we gave them state of the art military technology and the afghans wouldn't defend themselves. We couldn't stay thier indefinitely unless we decided 2 annex the country.
If we're happy to have the Taliban run Afghanistan, why couldn't we have figured that out 20 years ago?
@@Snagabott many of us knew
@@Snagabott who said anything about happy? And again the only way we would have won is ifcwe annexed the county, the people need 2 want change bad enough we did everything we could. Theyve been fighting for over 40 years st8
@@Snagabott we should have known not to go there. Hopefully now after failing war after war, we will have finally learned our lesson.
Staying there or not it was gonna cost american lives.
I was in elementary school when Bush invaded Iraq. Absolutely insane that we were still there in 2021.
Same... 1st week of secondary school (high school in US) bunch of 12 year olds gossiping about a guy named bin laden.. unreal the troops ain't home way before now
It’s nuts. 9/11 was my first day of kindergarten, and I remember it all panning out in my childhood. I’m 25 years old now. Ours is a generation raised in a constant state of war
@@nuggets0717 Came to this country when I was 7 or 8. Now 21, still a bloody fking war.
Did you watch three buildings fall in a free fall though, so they could sell their wars?
1st grade. I turned 26 recently. All our generation knows is war.
@5:10 Ok, did you sign up to "fight for yourself and your country," or did you sign up because it was the only thing available to you? They're not at fault for the failure either way, but I have a feeling the latter is more common than anyone is willing to openly admit.
These vets need to ponder why they were REALLY there and then wonder if the institution they served was in the best interest for the Afghans and Americans. Answers to both those questions are not good. Fact is the US military is a drain on this country in money and resources. All that training, money, benefits and strategy to get defeated by sheep herders in the mountains. Not a good look, especially since this has happened twice. It's a signal on how we approach the military is lumbering and outdated.
They could spend 3 trillion on advanced economic infrastructure here, the plus side would be that the Taliban won't take it over
Imagine how the veterans of WW1 felt on the eve of WW2.
Soldiers win the battle but politicians lose the war. What a saying.
Will always ring true
Facts. A soldier thinks he is doing the right thing, until he understands a little better, by then it is too late for some. The soldiers are not to blame one single bit.
They did not win anything
Bush promised us defeat Allah promised us victory we will see which is true
Battlers and wars are not the same thing.
These warriors are speaking for a lot of veterans or active duty personnel that feel the same way. Thank you for your service
These aren't warriors, they are murderers. Sacrifices, what sacrifices, bollocks how many innocent people have you killed. You got what you deserve. America's day will come, don't forget all "great" empires eventually fall.
A solider isn't paid to think, but paid to fight. A war was started without a plan to leave. For some to start a fight without an exit sound great but to the majority people understand that you start a war knowing there is an end. Sorry to the Warriors who are breed to fight without thinking but now it's time to focus on more pressing issues than Afghanistan.
The bottom line is that these men VOLUNTEERED to be warriors, and go where called regardless of the reason
We were told after 9/11, " Fight them there so they don't come here".... and now we move terrorists over here. Complete betrayal. When it's time to fight China or whoever the next enemy is, my family will not be taking part in it.
@@kevinjohnston6605 China might be a different story tho
@@kevinjohnston6605 you say this but i bet you wouldn’t move to another country 🤣
@@kevinjohnston6605 you say this but i bet you wouldn’t move to another country 🤣
The dark humor never goes away 😂😂
Civilians don't understand the dark humor. We laugh so we don't cry...
@@s_1408 There are plenty of Afghan civilians who "understand".
Laughing is crying/crying is laughing
is that kind of dark humor thats been called out these days by woke community,media and over sensitive idiots.and yet these guys just joke about it and are just happy to be alive.
@@coffinspired3092 thank you bro , these military guys think they got it bad , shiieeeet …
20 years is long enough. I hate the loss of my fellow Marines, but it's time to come home. Exiting was always gonna be messy.
This messy? Strongest nation on earth has to beg the Taliban for safe passage out of country...
If you have to beg are you really the strongest country?
@@CitizensofRev clearly not the strongest willed it appears...
I mean even Soviet exit wasn't that messed up, plus their government stood for 3 years, when Mujahedeen was strongest
They could’ve evaced everyone first BEFORE pulling the military out.
The whole war was to get osama , if the american had paid 100million dollars to taliban, they would have done the job, instead wasting trillion dollars and so many service man dead and achievement was zero, just 100million would have helped.
They needed a place to deploy the new war tech. Look at the bigger picture. They were testing new forms of warfare and tactics. It will probably happen again in the future. America wants war aparently...
Ummm USA already knew where bin laden was for years!!! India told them many times!!! America had no intention to get him
No it was not , Osama is from Saudi , and was in Pakistan
The whole war was to get money off the government into the military industrial complex lol
This whole situation shows us how American imperialism needs to end. We can never make a difference and just waste lives and trillions of dollars.
If you want to be part of ending the “ American imperialism “ then maybe you should stop calling United States America. Because there is no country called America and calling United States America is part of that imperialism.
Right. Let's live in the world dominated by Russian and Chinese imperialism. What can possibly go wrong?
you think this is about making difference? well well well. this is all about money my friend.american or afghan lives not a little bit important.it is the same everywhere in the world. why do you think 80 percent of the world hate america? for helping them?no because there is no help. we steal their money and their life.if we keep lying ourselves and play this hero role, we will lose this country.need to wake up.
Withdrawal was negotiated a year ago. We extended the date past May. This was not just decided. There was no clean way to leave. All the same, I respect these guys for their sacrifice and see why they feel the way they do.
american embassy also warned all americans to leave in April and May too. This wasn't a surprise at all.
We needed to leave, but the way bIdeN did it was wrong and should resign.
Lol warn the Americans forget the millions of innocent women and children
We just gave the Taliban 350,000 assault rifles..............
@@iamnemoo You guys left behind Weapons of mass destruction worth Billions!! The Taliban have the most number of black hawk helicopters second to the US. You left behind service dogs too and you want us to believe this was planned?
What if the Taliban get tired of administration and decide to go to war with Pakistan with their new found weapons? Remember there are a ton of Taliban sympathisers in Pakistan and also Pakistan is a nuclear state before you know it the Terrorists will have nukes who do you think they're going to aim it at?
These guys are fairly clueless about the bigger picture. If a soldier isnt talking about defense contracts and how money is moving around, then they dont actually know why theyre fighting a modern war. The military is an extension of multinational corps. Dont try and sit down and contemplate what you took away from the war without establishing that first.
Vice surely knows this, they're making a purely emotional case for staying in Afghanistan indefinitely with this video.
yeah they say they are fighting for the soldier beside them... but that doesn't answer why they're there in the first place. if you really valued your brother in arms you would just all go home; you'll save each other. they are pawns in a big money racket and it's on OUR expense as taxpayers
@@jarenagra2804 The soldiers that low in the ranking structure can't just up and decide to go home.
@@moppypuppy781 yeah you can people have dishonourable discharge form the army all the time lmao. I hate how ‘vet’ gives you some kind of authority in America. Okay congrats you went over there and killed people for capitalist profit and Jewish interests. No sympathy from me.
It’s amazing how different the view points are from two separate angles. I agree with the soldiers. They are quite honourable
“Who will trust us again to help build their nation?”
How bout quit trying to nation build because it has never and will never work?
It worked after WW2 with germany and japan
@@kontsa340 Doesn't mean it will work again.
It was informative to hear their perspective. Now ask the CEOs of Raytheon, Boeing, and Lockheed if they think leaving Afghanistan was a mistake.
A responsible parent would discourage their children for fighting for corporations. The military doesn’t “serve the country.”
I wish more people understood and spoke about that. National armies service international corporations who financially benefit off war. It's a profitable enterprise, if it was nonprofit it would be old news.
I disagree with you
@@Layer67 Care to elaborate on that?
@@skiddlyd.244 everyone has their own beliefs even people who want, to join the military have their reasons why of joining. I personally believe you shouldn’t let anyone tell you what you can do or what you can’t do just be yourself and do what you want to do in life.
@Ethaniel Lim Care to elaborate on that?
There are no words that express the sufferings both mentally and physically from this 20year war, and I’m grateful for all who served and made the commitment. However, to have the perspective that we shouldn’t leave and that we abandoned Americans is short sighted. Over 18 days the American military and others evacuated over 120,000 people. Let’s not get caught up in the rhetoric and be proud of what the military as accomplished.
The 120,000 people evacuated were the WRONG people. They weren't the ones that helped our troops. They are completely unknown random people who wanted a free ride to the USA. Most are illiterate non-English speakers who can't even write their own names. They are the ones who got past the Taliban and lived in Kabul.
Afghanistan has not kept records of their people. They come up blank when running background checks. A good background check takes 12 to 24 months.
So we have NO IDEA who we just invited into our country. None.
No, I have no "pride" in that.
That's my bro Chischilly, grew up with him. Was there when he graduated from the Marines and remember when I got the news when he stepped on a land mine. I was wondering what his feelings and thoughts were on this subject.
That’s crazy
From this interview, it is very clear that what the soldier think they were in Afghanistan for vs what politicians think we were in Afghanistan for are very different.
Marines*
What did they think was going to happen, point guns at people until they industrialise or something?
I hope that a lesson is instilled in minds of everyone in this country. You can't change a nation by force and always be skeptical of you governments motives
The Taliban changed Afghanistan by force.
Ya, tell that to Japan and Germany...
@@sukmaidack yeah those two countries changer by force
@@sukmaidack Occupying a country doesn't mean they're going to conform to our ideals. Because if were, they would have fought to preserve them.
You can't change islam.
Why do I feel like this won't be the last we will be hearing from Afghanistan.
God Bless these Heroes.
“Do you think this was in vain?
Yeah, I do.”
I am deeply sorry for everyone’s loss. No words.
Same thing happened in Korea and Vietnam....soldiers should KNOW what they signed up for!
@@Browne7100 In all ernesty, this is a video about american lives: sympathising with the vets does not necessarily equate to disregarding Afgan casualties
I can tell you exactly who is to blame, the military-industrial complex and all those companies that profited off of this war.
Facts.
Bullseye
@@BlueSky-vd6qh do service members not get that black and white mentality filled into them? We're fighting the bad guys? Otherwise they'd say 'what's the point' and go home......cmon now. I do get what you're saying, but they have that instilled into them
But what were the profits? Only oil?
Also the politicians
Really intelligent well spoken young men. I trust those men. They are the good guys
Thank you is not enough guys.
God bless you and yours and
God bless America. 🇺🇸
Boeing, Honeywell and Lockheed Martin are grateful for your service
For anyone interested in what afghanistan was like for these guys, there's a good documentary about the 3rd battalion 5th marines called "For the 25" on youtube and it will really teach you about the horrors of war
Thx bruv
Thank you Vice for airing this.
I just wish the video is much longer.
Imagine being an Afghan ally to the U.S being promised protection in return for their cooperation and being left behind, Damn that sucks
Maybe I'm the only one who sees a problem with the "promised protection" premise.
It is their country. We spent money & lives over 20 years to build their country, equip & train their army. It's now up to them to stand up for themselves.
@@jacqdanieles but it's your government fault you weren't able to prepare them enough, left big amounts of weapons to taliban, negotiated with them behind Afghanis government back... You failed them.
@@NeoKish491 they had 20 years to prepare to stand on their own feet. They failed themselves.
@@jacqdanieles they can't fail themselves because they didn't had any means to. Your government made decisions for them, and you failed them, stole their agency. All this big talk about pacification and democracy, and the only legacy US left is a bunch of warcrimes... Shame on you.
Get some Darkhorse, Stay strong. Proud to have served in this battalion and met some of the toughest and best Marines I’ve ever seen. 3/5 Lima Co. 2014-2018
Thank you for your service
@@AaronFischer91 Your shallow comment tells me everything I need to know about you. I’d love to see you make that same comment to these men’s faces without the safety of your keyboard and anonymity.
Thank you for your service.
@@AaronFischer91 And what have you done with your life besides being a cowardly internet troll? Nothing? Got it.
@@SecretSquirrel987 don't let em bring you down brother. The vast majority of us appreciate and respect what you went through, even if we never fully understand it. Thank you for your service.
I want to thank Vice for putting this out.
I love my purple heart veterans. My grandfather has a purple heart from WWII. He is gone now, but his purple heart looks over us, is still beating. So many things are relegated to the dustbin of history, such as the initial purpose of this war. Why were we in it? What were we trying to do? Why were we in Iraq? What were we trying to do? I remember that it fell under the classification of 'War Against Terror' and Bush's 'Axis of Evil.' But what was the purpose of the 20 year war? It kept changing because no one knew what the purpose had become or how it could be stopped. Maybe it should have just gone on forever. But the purpose of the war is a forever shapeshifting, amorphous question mark. The only true and solid thing these Veterans can hold at night is their loved ones, one hand on their forever beating purple hearts. The past 20 years has been so complex and at times, seemingly purposeless. Provoked by 9/11, it seemed the purpose to 'come for' Osama Bin Laden. Then, the adjacent war in Iraq was baffling and confusing. We killed Sadam Hussein, leaving much of the country almost forgetting our mission 'Mission Accomplished!' Exclaimed Bush and the media. Iraq had years to build itself back up, only to be destroyed--and the work that our troops did--destroyed to ash by Isis. Unsurprisingly, the work of Afghanistan is destroyed to ash today. Was the war on terror ever won? Clearly not, because we were there. The only way this project would have worked would be if we kept it precisely the same. Saddam Hussein is dead, Osama Bin Laden, dead. Trump started the pull out, releasing 5,000 inmates from the Taliban from prison and stating we'd be out by May. Biden extended thr deadline, which only made the Taliban furious. In retrospect, perhaps our troops weren't afraid of them, but we are. And there was a brief moment when the Taliban looked like fine, upstanding gentlemen compared to Isis. Each of the four presidential administrations must account for why we were there, what was the exit plan, and why did Trump start the pullout and Biden finish it? Every administration knew the Taliban was biding its time to conquer Afghanistan but the whole time, fought with the Afghab and US Army and were funded billions of dollars from Pakistan and Iran, not to mention making big bucks off the heroin industry. The Taliban has never gone anywhere, and the purpose of the war was to protect the Afghan people from Taliban rule. After 20 years, the successful accomplishment of keeping them at bay solely relied on our presence. That is a far difference from fighting the war against terror by seeking Bin Laden and Al Quada, to killing Sadam Hussein, to protecting Afghans from the Taliban. There was never an exist strategy. Joe should have just let it drag on. Americans had the mute button on as far as Afghanistan was concerned, but now it's on blast. Our purpose in Afghanistan was to look like there wasn't any purpose, and our armed forces, as international peacekeepers.
The only word : sadness
I cant even imagine the pain these veterans go through following the end of the war. They deserve so much better and it hurts seeing them have to suffer because they sacrificed so much and gave their all.
The military is entirely voluntary. They voluntarily signed up to kill people in the developing world in exchange for money and admiration. We didn't do anything to them, they voluntarily decided to join the military.
@@marioqueso4303 respect for what you said. As we were at the receiving end of these "veterans". It's so sad to see the propaganda that these guys were all holy.
we should help them. dont u think? there are so many ways like some projects like HAVE NFTs they're empowering the veterans. below js their discord
Thank you to all vets
Thank u for all your services
I do not want to offend any of those people, but they need to realize that their lives and the lives of their comrades never mattered to those who ordered them to go there and fight, those people just want to enhance their own pockets and they sent poor people to kill other poor people for that.
So true
History lesson 101.. well said. How do they do it? they lie, like "Babies pulled from incubators and thrown around the floor" yes a proven LIE!. there are so many examples of this yet people keep wanting to put on that Uniform.. WHY???
@@markdigital9350 because they need health insurance and they need a steady salary and if they come from a poor home those are not a given.
Nobody talking about the Corruption in the Afghan Government & Military
It is kind of hilarious that they are only interviewing people fresh out of the conflict how were playing with legos when the war started and not people who were there when it begin and have a 20 year perspective.
"sorry bro."... brotherhood on another level...
People still sign up because they seriously think they’ll lose their “freedoms” if they don’t? I thought it was just to get a Camaro or a mustang.
Its to get a challenger financed over 96months!
Zero down for military. Don’t forget housing allowances too
pirate mercenaries with no morals for billionaires, despite the constitution are disgusting
@45 fottuto stronzo some of us chose to flip burgers, take loans and get degrees, others chose to go commit war crimes. f4ck em!
@@G0rdonFr33man good for you buddy. Just pathetic. Best example I've seen of intelligence shadowed by conscientious stupidity.
They didn't just talk about making a difference, they actually tried to make a difference.
exactly I feel the same we should help our nation grow and especially the veterans as they've done so much for us alr wdyt?
The only winner here were the weapons manufacturers, the military industrial complex, the senior field commanders (board or director seats in MIC companies upon retirement), and the politicians with their corporate sponsors!!
And Israel
Thanks for your service
I have empathy for these soldiers, but have to ask, did any of them study the Vietnam War in high school? How could anyone think it would end any other way?
It was the politicians who started the war. Get a grip.
"Good soldier follow order"
@@DEEPSTATE000 no disrespect, but a lot of well meaning folks signed up and got on board with the idea that we're gonna spread freedom and help other countries by bombing and occupying them. I just hope we know better next time.
@@ghostexits People voted for Joe Biden so I doubt we learned anything.
Americans hardly understand history, they can't even get geography, they confuse Colombia and think it's Columbia and switch Australia with Austria. The education system is centered around the US and only the positive side, too little about the military failures, remember the "America is the best country" mentality.
M’y husband was with the 3rd Marines in Vietnam. He got 2 Purple Hearts. He felt We needed to get out. It was similar to Vietnam.
God bless veterans as a 28 year old diesel mechanic with a wife and 3 girls I thank you and recognize your service and sacrifice
Look up the "Blood on My Hands" song, about the withdrawal. Powerful stuff.
That's kinda similar to how my grandfather felt. He strongly encouraged me to go to college instead of joining the military, and he wanted me to pursue a life outside of military service. This was around the same time as the 2007 Iraq War troop surge, in which a majority of the public (around 65%) were against continued military involvement. My grandfather dropped out of high school and joined the army at the age of 16, and fought in WWII, Korea and Vietnam, so when a man who I respected, and who dedicated his life to serving the US in the military told me bluntly, to my face, to stop considering it, I listened.
My grandpa who was Army & served in combat almost never talked about it, but whenever he did it brought him to tears. He never talked about it enough to tell me not to join.
I enlisted wanting specifically & only to try out for special operations in my branch. I got absolutely screwed by my recruiters & MEPS, and unfortunately I was dumb & uneducated enough to fall for their lies. I ended up getting unexpectedly discharged in bootcamp, and unfortunately that “bad paper” discharge is attached to my name & my SS-number for the rest of my life.
I wanted to serve specifically in combat for the sake of wanting to eradicate evil from the world & ensure that no one else had to die in the name of someone else’s religion, and I got absolutely screwed for it.
So, he think we should have never ended the war. Yet, he says he hopes his daughter (if she i lists) doesn’t fight the same war he did. Well, wtf. You can’t have both. You either wanted to stay fighting out there or stop.
We want to keep fighting if nowone wants too I will fight.
@@je-sus-6910 I'd take the "we" out of that. For half the country the war was an afterthought.
I’m pretty sure he meant he didn’t want the war to end so abruptly and to give the people, who aided the military, more time leave the country and in a fashion that doesn’t end up leaving so much intel, weapons and vehicles in the hands of the enemy. It wasn’t that he wanted the war to keep going, he just wanted the exit to have been handled more carefully and without a huge time crunch.
I'm so sad this war ended so many vets lost limbs legs died for nothing it absolutely breaks my heart and it makes me cry 😢
Thanks for Making this ya'll
It was always in vain. Almost every war fought since WW2 has been in vain. I’m sorry for all of your sacrifices but that doesn’t change that fact.
💯
I can explain this in ONE sentence: "Because it's NOT their sons, daughters, mothers or fathers."
💯💯💯💯
“The working class have never yet had a voice in declaring war, If war is right, let it be declared by the people - you, who have your lives to lose. I know of no reason why the workers should fight for what the capitalists own, or slaughter one another for countries that belong to their masters.”
- Eugene V. Debs
@@coffinspired3092 Eugene debs wrote at a time that the draft was in place. These guys in the video were not drafted, their suffering is not tragic. Their suffering is a function of their own voluntary choices and we need to stop pretending like this is anyone else's fault but their own.
If anyone reads this from Vice, tell these guys I Love Them! I was in 1st CEB when this happened, but not deployed. I remember the guys coming back broken. It’s nice to see that they are still around and doing well. We lose too many guys after they come home. I hope all the Darkhorse guys are doing well. Semper Fi!
Thank you for your srrvice
Feel bad for these guys, I don’t think they really knew what were they fighting for.
@@Browne7100 Those guys are soft?? I relieved those men in Sangin. They will rip you to pieces or be your best friend. Pretty naive statement considering they, like myself, are in their mid 30's. What really needs to happen is for uneducated people like you to quit posting stupid comments on the internet over something that you know absolutely nothing about.
They fought for oil and to do Americas dirty work.
@@Browne7100 George Washington, teddy, JFK and Eisenhower were all soldiers before politicians and all saw combat they decided national police.
"Soldiers win battles, Politicians lose wars"
In this case soldiers lost the battle and the war. I watch how talibans was beating them up with ied and pishing them back. Like usa army lost the war. Real loss
Thank you for your insight
A good differentiated point of view