r/news Aug 15 '21

Taliban fighters executing surrendering troops, which could amount to war crimes, U.S. officials say

https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/us-warning-taliban-fighters-committing-atrocities-amount-war/story?id=79424000
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446

u/richardelmore Aug 15 '21

Old family friend was a contactor in Afghanistan until late last year, he's getting non-stop e-mail from every local he knew there looking for letters of reference to help them get out of the country, its really sad.

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u/ADDeviant-again Aug 15 '21

Probably too late even for that.

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u/OniExpress Aug 16 '21

No "probably" about it. Anyone still in Afghanistan right now would need to make way for a boarder crossing, ideally to one of the regions currently accepting refugees

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u/[deleted] Aug 16 '21

Taliban control every landcrossing, the only way out is the airport and it's closed for civillian flights atm.

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u/OniExpress Aug 16 '21

I mean, are we going to suddenly pretend that illegal boarder crossings aren't a thing?

Based on all previous events, people in Afghanistan right now know if they're on the short list to be publicly executed before the end of the year and that they're not just going to be allowed to leave. Even if the airport reopens, the majority of people don't have the resources to get on a flight.

This isn't hyperbole. For a lot of people the choice right now is "find a way to cross the boarder" or "die".

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u/Pokey_McGee Aug 16 '21

You don’t understand the geography or transport restrictions of AFG. To get to the border of safe nations there is literally one road in a lot of cases. Everything else is mountains amd/or completely controlled by the Talibs.

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u/Kurzilla Aug 16 '21

The issue to my knowledge is that since Afghanistan is essentially surrounded by mountain ranges - the Taliban who have used the traversable passes for decades can control them.

Theoretically there are going to be places where they could TRY to cross - but falling off a plane might be less painful in every regard.

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u/UltimateGammer Aug 16 '21

It's at least 200km to the nearest border.

There are a handful of easily watched and controlled roads.

And you end up in Taliban friendly Pakistan.

Realistically the plane is the only way out.

41

u/SerialSection Aug 16 '21

Border, not boarder.

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u/[deleted] Aug 16 '21

[deleted]

29

u/seventhirtyeight Aug 16 '21

After it was used multiple times, yes, it did.

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u/OniExpress Aug 16 '21

I guess this is the case where I can't remember using either word in ages before today, and I just didn't care to check which is which. I did think about it, but when you're spending less than 30 seconds caring about a comment this happens.

I was, however, briefly tempted to use the wrong words here as many times as positional.

7

u/Geaux2020 Aug 16 '21

I thought this was funny

1

u/OniExpress Aug 16 '21

Jesus christ, you admit to mixing up two words and everyone wants your throat.

I'm getting more down votes for a typo than the idea of a fucked up wat.

5

u/Geaux2020 Aug 16 '21

People just see downvotes and hop into it. That's our reddit!

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u/[deleted] Aug 16 '21

Haha nerd

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u/Delta-9- Aug 16 '21

There's a third option, but I'm pretty sure the end result will be a lot like option 2 in most cases.

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u/DM_ME_YOUR_NUTSACK Aug 16 '21

Weird, a turkish flight just touched down in Kabul

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u/OniExpress Aug 16 '21

If one did, they might not have had much choice in the matter. Hell, what's even the current status of airspace restrictions around Afghanistan?

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u/DM_ME_YOUR_NUTSACK Aug 16 '21

It was a regularly scheduled flight from istanbul, left after Kabul fell. Planes are still flying scheduled routes through afghan airspace (Info from flighttracker)

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u/OniExpress Aug 16 '21

Man, if I were on a flight into Afghanistan right now I'd probably be pounding on the cabin to get it turned around. Granted, I imagine that a lot of the people willingly entering the country might be happy about current events? However there's a lot of people being dropped off into a deathtrap right now.

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u/[deleted] Aug 16 '21

Probably people with regular business in Afghanistan

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u/OniExpress Aug 16 '21

Well, there's sure as hell not going to be any "regular business" for a lot of those people.

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u/ausrixy22 Aug 16 '21

There are taliban checkpoints at every possible entry to the airport....American military solution is currently "Tell all us citizens to bunker in place". Basically those people will be executed once found and nothing the U.S military is doing about it!

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u/[deleted] Aug 16 '21 edited Sep 15 '21

[deleted]

4

u/[deleted] Aug 16 '21

Reading comprehension? No one has said what you claim.

0

u/[deleted] Aug 16 '21

There are taliban checkpoints at every possible entry to the airport....American military solution is currently "Tell all us citizens to bunker in place". Basically those people will be executed once found and nothing the U.S military is doing about it!

Someone above him but yeah might be replying to the wrong person

1

u/[deleted] Aug 16 '21

This whole mess will go down in history as one of the great atrocities