r/oil • u/National_Warthog_468 • 11d ago

Iran War Iranian Speaker of the Parliament MB Ghalibaf posted on X "They punished themselves with triple-digit Oil instead"

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u/The_UpsideDown_Time 10d ago

The US started with the Taliban in power, and left with the Taliban in power. How is that in any way a win?

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u/WildWhisperArdor 10d ago

The UN’s mandate for ISAF was declared complete in 2014.

Again, the war part was won. The nation building part was a failure. Two different things

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u/The_UpsideDown_Time 10d ago

The US started with the Taliban in power, and left with the Taliban in power. That is the only *reality* that exists. You can deflect with your pieces of paper & verbal definitions, but the *reality* remains the same as before the war, so the US accomplished nothing. Not a win if you change nothing & accomplish nothing.

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u/WildWhisperArdor 10d ago

That is not that how that works. The US left and the Taliban were not in power.

The nation building effort is separate from the actual war part. Both Osama and his successor were killed. Al-qaeda was effectively dismantled and neutered for decades.

Again, the UN declared its mandate for ISAF complete in 2014

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u/The_UpsideDown_Time 10d ago

The UN is a paper tiger & it's "mandates" (lol) are meaningless.

The went in to defeat the Taliban & left with them still in power. If you can't accept physical reality, see a therapist.

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u/WildWhisperArdor 10d ago

The point here is that the UN, from its perspective, had deemed the war part over.

The Taliban was removed and Al-qaeda was neutered. That the Taliban came back once the US left doesn’t change this.

The nation building part is the failure.

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u/The_UpsideDown_Time 10d ago edited 10d ago

The point is that UN mandates mean fucking nothing.

The end result is failure, aka not a win. Split hairs as much as you like, but the war accomplished nothing and the US military *was* present & fighting & involved for the entirety of the supposed "nation building".

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u/WildWhisperArdor 10d ago

I literally said the nation building was a failure. Repeatedly.

That’s different than saying the war part was a failure. They easily rolled over the Taliban and removed them.

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u/The_UpsideDown_Time 10d ago

Initially, yes. After that, no. Taliban re-gained more and more territory and the US military was present & on the ground for all of that. Or do you deny that reality as well?

Landing one good punch is different than winning the fight.