(04-07-2022, 05:41 PM)paloalto Wrote: The best and most recent comparison is the exit from Afghanistan leaving the Taliban in charge. The United States left aircraft including UH-60 Black Hawks, scout attack helicopters, and ScanEagle military drones. Also 2,000 armored vehicles, a variety of intelligence gathering drones, state-of-the-art night-vision googles, and a wide array of communication gear. Because the supplies to the Afghans was not closely monitored and inventoried there is undoubtedly a bunch more equipment in the hands of the Taliban.
I get that 2,000 armored vehicles would be difficult to transport. Really awful to have them in enemy hands, but I can understand how events on the ground might overtake planning for removal of that equipment. I have a lot more trouble understanding some of the other "spoils" you mentioned. For example, why would we not simply have a remote operator attempt to fly the drones out of hostile territory? Is there any downside? OTOH, I'm not too worried about "googles" getting into enemy hands.
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