Afghan civilians cling to landing gear of USAF planes and fall to their death

It's tough for me to put into words how disgraceful it feels to be an American when I think about the war in the middle east. 20 years and thousands of young Americans dead, tens of thousands more wounded and immeasurable damage inflicted on the region, and for what? What were my friends' blown off legs, missing testicles and PTSD traded for? What a fucking disgusting mess that we should all be ashamed of.

Airplane wheel well stowaways have a 3 in 4 fatality rate [1]. Clinging to hope like this is the end result of a desperate decision from people who are clearly very desperate. So incredibly sad.

[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_wheel-well_stowaway_fl...

The army flees or joins the Taliban. The rest of the population doesn't have any will to fight in one of the places where it couldn't be easier to acquire an AK-47 and with luck a few vehicles that cost hundreds of millions of dollars like the several M1117 left behind.

Leaving Afghanistan is still the best thing the USA could do, and should teach a lesson (it won't) for the West to not meddle in those countries.

I can’t imagine how bad it has to be to stay on the ground to make doing this seem like one’s best option. :(

The taliban must be really horrific to take that fate instead. I can only pray for the people of Afghanistan as that monstrous regime fills the vacuum left by Biden’s careless retreat.