Military analyst Mike Lyons talks to A&G about the US military withdrawal from Afghanistan.
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I'm strong, I'm strong, and Jaddy show in Afghanistan. We've taken twenty years to lose to goatherds with fertilizer, and they're not even waiting until we leave to loot Bagram Air Base for basketballs and boom boxes and the world's most lavishly funded and entirely useless General staff thinks we need more diversity saminars. So that's Mark Stein filling in last night on Fox. He's really good and a good writer, but he was making his argument was we spend too much time in our military worried about a political correctness. Now you remember the thing, what was the thing last week that General Milly was on critical race theory, but whether recommending reading that was a good idea and not see I'm I'm leaning toward getting out of Afghanistan and have been for about fifteen years. Uh So I'll be interested to see what our next guest has to say. We always go to mic lines, but we want to know this stuff. But this is from the Onion. Somebody sent this. This is from the Onion in ten years ago. This is on the ten year anniversary being in Afghanistan. The Onion headline was and remember The Onion is a joke newspaper. The Onion headline was US quietly slips out of Afghanistan and dead of night. And there are some reports that that's what we did just a couple of months ago, leaving the Air Force base and not telling anybody and just we're out. Well, let's talk to military analyst Mike Lyons, who served with various military organizations in both the United States Europe throughout his career. AH. He is a student of history, military history in particular, and we always enjoy his perspective. Mike, how are you sir? Hey, guys, so good to be back with you. We have no problem with being corrected on any of our beliefs, assumptions or things we know about what's going on anywhere in the world. What what is currently happening in Afghanistan? Is it a good thing or a bad thing? Well, first of all, I do agree we should have been out maybe five years ago. I think Donald Trump should have made it a priority of his administration when he first got elected and just basically gave everybody in the Heisman and said this is what we're doing. The military industrial complex, though wasn't finished testing equipment wasn't finished the on the army still didn't have a mission. What couldn't figure out you know, how they're gonna make that happen. Um, I think it's I do think it's the right thing. It's going to be back to the future that we're gonna go back to two thousand and one very quickly, the civil war will start. The Taliban now controls something like of the land districts in the country already, even just giving up the air base. Yeah and so, and you know, even the military has gone, the contractor so still being gone. You're gonna see Unfortunately, we can't vet any of these interpreters that that that plan is going to go out the window. So there's gonna be a lot of people that trusted us that are gonna end up losing their lives when the Taliban takes over here. But again, it probably should have happened years ago. To your point, Wow, hey, can we uh take a look at that specific subject, the vetting of the interpreters. You don't think it's going to actually happen, and you don't think their necks are going to be saved. No, you know, we're gonna we talk a good game about it's all words. I just it's just not gonna happen. It's just it's just can't logistically up in the amount of people that that's involved with, and people are gonna slip through the cracks, so there's gonna be reports of that in the future. The question is whether or not the Taliban is going to go after those folks, and and you know, I think you know, us ms, you might be safe. I don't think you're going to see a complete sidon situation where we're going to you know, escape from helicopter roofs there and whether or not they want to go after But it's going to happen. And the number we're talking about, it's just too big a logistical challenges. More people in that group than there are soldiers out of there to try to get out of there in the next two months, so and their family. So it's just not going to happen. And it's an unfortunate thing that we should have planned for a long time ago. God I would say so. So, so, how do we go into another country and get people to help us? If we uh, if we leave these interpreters behind to be killed maybe along with their families. Yeah, I think we're out of country, is that we're going to go into and have that situation. I think we haven't learned from this one again. I I just don't know what else to say here. Um we saw, you know, this is Vietnam in some ways over and over, except we didn't have a hunter fifty body backs coming back every week. Um. We just don't seem to learn our mistakes here from these kinds of interacts, and I really don't see us doing it. I think in the next few years, regardless of administration. Now the question is how you know what it's trying to do is trying to become more bellicose in the South China Sea. We saw the comments by their leader the other day. I mean they're talking about, you know, smashing heads and things like that. So you know the military is gonna have to kind of regroup here and kind of figure out what's the army's mission going forward. First of all, I know the Navy is going to project power. I just think the days, as Dick Cheney I think said about fifteen years ago, the days of US occupying countries with the intent of trying to deliver democracy and capitalism are just over. Well, good before we move on to China and geopolitics in general, one more thought on Afghanistan. I was a little surprised that, you know, at some point Bidener or Trump or somebody just didn't say, look, it's not a war anymore. It's a strategically important part of the globe. So we're gonna have big old base there, so we're ready to move when we need to. Why not that a statement that straightforward? Or do you think the geopolitical need isn't that strong? Yeah? I think the two reasons. First of all, our messaging has been awful when it comes to Afghanistan, and you know we're out September eleventh. Looks like we're gonna be out here in two weeks for all practical purposes. The commander there, Scotty Miller, is someone that knew the mission from the beginning, didn't realize it, knew it didn't have a timetable. So I think that was the first thing that I think. The second reason is because we've just built this over the horizon standoff military now where we don't feel that we need logistical basis in places like this, I think we're gonna be proven wrong. I think that that would have been a great idea to keep this arabase and keep these kind of lily pads that exist either in the ocean or in in certain land masses, because we have no friends now in that part of the world. We don't have any in Pakistan. We're not doing anything obviously in India and a like and Diego Garcia is a long long ways away, and we store P fifty two is there? I think, I think again, you know, we we've we've built this over the horizon military with drones, and we were taking the human element out of it. And I think that's how we think we're going to defend. I think it's going to prove to be full harding when it comes to strategic things that are going to take place in the future when we're gonna need to put people on the ground. But in general, is this pivot that Barack Obama talked about and kind of started and then Trump kind of continued. It's amazing how slow it is. So you think this is the right thing to do. We just let's stop talking about these sand countries. We produce our own oil now, and let's look at the real threat to the future, like the next hundred years China. So that just that general pivot of our attention you think is a good idea. It is, it's overdue, and I think, um, you know, the given the century, the question is this is another American century or does it become the century of the Chinese and some of those countries? And and how what Russia's role in that? Um, what's you look at again the South China. See, our navy is going to continue to project power for some reason, We're now screwing around the Black Sea with Russia trying to you know, bring up Ukraine too. That's another issue that's come up on this week and here. But but really the focus I think everybody I talked to the Pentagon. I talked a good friend of mine the other day. He's actually back at the Armed Services Committee, sent Armed Services Committee back in the desk and he's back at the China desk, and I'm just glad he's there because he's a smart guy. And he says, that's exactly where our focus has got to be, at least for the next four years. Build up enough military presence there that projects enough power that the Chinese don't want to do anything that will upset the trade balance. And upset. What will be you know, the world economy and that's what's at risk right now. Military analyst Mike Lions on the line, Mike, I realized you could probably write a seven page book about this question. The answer to the question. But uh, comparing contrast China and the US in terms of military hardware and also in terms of training this actual battle experience. Uh, you know what adaptability? How did the two forces compare well? So the last two war or the US came prepared? I thought, both does aer Storm and then in Afghanistan and the run up to in the Rock. And what I mean by that is we didn't have what's called the Task Force Smith. And that took place in Korea during the Korean War when the military was just unprepared. After the Second World War, so the military has learned it's less than about preparedness and being ready to go right away out of the gate. What's the question is how much hardware now do we have comparative to the Chinese. The Chinese still don't really have this great navy. They have one aircraft carry there. They've got they project power in some ways, but they have a much larger land force. They have much more mass, let's say, and much more equipment, and I just don't see us facing off in that realm anyway. Um, but I do think the days of the U. S. Military being not prepared are over and and in some ways, UM, that's always gonna be a good thing. And if as long as we fight ferociously and fight the way that we're trained to do, I think will be okay. Once should something arise, either on in Eastern Europe, let's say, the Russians, or either are somewhere in China and the South China. See interesting stuff. Mike always come away from these conversations wishing we could talk all day. But uh, maybe we'll invite you on for a podcast for more extended conversations soon. But the guys, whatever it takes, I think there's a lot going on in the world right now for sir, Amen to that, Mike clients, thanks so much for the time. Really interesting. America's so called longest war is gonna be just a blip in the history books if ever talked about it all twenty years. They're all that money, luckily not too many lives. But you know, if it's a loved one of yours, it's an, of course, a very huge deal. But um yeah, and and you know, outside of the first couple of years where we broke up the guys that attacked New York what what what, it's just amazing the momentum of these projects. And Mike what he said there at the very beginning, the military industrial complex wanted to test some more equipment, right right. You know. The really distressing part of it to me is what we've brought up a couple of times through the years. The messaging to the American people has to be so oversimplified to the point of being stupid, that our leaders either can't or feel like they can't level with us and say, look, you know, it's stop being a war a long time ago. Now, we're just trying to pop prop up this government until they're strong enough to stand on their own. It's not looking great. We're gonna stick with it for another six months. If it doesn't work, we're out. We're gonna keep a base there because the region is super important. Pakistan is a bunch of maniacs with nuclear arms and they're right next door, and if we need to jump from there, it's a good place to jump from. That that's not that complicated. But no, it's our longest war. You know it could come on. I don't you know. Plenty of you are that's stupid. Not you, not not our audience, the American people, But you're not you faults. You're obviously brilliant, But to come on it, do we have to dumb down our messaging that month. I've been saying this for years with Democrats and Republicans. I don't think you're gonna take the political hit you're worried about if you get out of Afghanistan. If you say what Joe just said, I don't think your poll numbers are gonna crash. I don't think anybody's gonna run against you on that. Nobody's any attention. They're gonna say, Okay, that's interesting. What about a homeless or schools or whatever issue they care about. Nobody's talking about Afghanistan. Yeah, you're probably right in this case. I was gonna say somebody will't run against you and say, looking at me, he's cutting and running, But even that is so tired at this point. You're right now. I agree with you, who right, left or center would react to that cutting and running from Afghanistan? And if there wasn't the weren't so much blood and treasure involved. It just be hilarious, just the stupidity again of the messaging, but it's not at all. We had to do a podcast with Laura Logan because you know she she went to Afghanistan all those years and have her on to talk about the high point when they had the most miles of roads paved and the most schools opening, all that stuff. The high point. This is where it is now and versus where it's going to be in a year from now. All that just completely wasted. You could drive from the airport to Kabul to walk the streets and greet the locals. That was a brief period of time that we paid a lot of money for. We US taxpayers paid a lot of money for and just it's over, It's gone.