103
votes
Why are the Taliban winning against the Afghan army?
Corruption is rampant in Afghanistan, including in the military. They routinely take bribes and sell military equipment to the Taliban. Basically, the average ANA soldier is there just to collect a ...
- 7,891
80
votes
Accepted
Could the US military legally refuse to follow a legal, but unethical order?
The Uniform Code of Military Justice (articles 90-92) state that a service member will be subject to court martial if he or she "willfully disobeys a lawful command of that person’s superior ...
- 76.4k
80
votes
Accepted
Why are the Taliban winning against the Afghan army?
There are multiple reasons behind this (in addition to the corruption of the Afghanistan government).
Firstly, the Taliban is not some foreign movement that tried to gain a foothold in Afghanistan, it ...
- 1,060
78
votes
Why are the Taliban winning against the Afghan army?
This article in the Guardian today answers precisely this question:
It is a tale of two armies, one poorly equipped but highly motivated ideologically, and the other nominally well-equipped, but ...
- 18.1k
74
votes
What is the motivation for the expansion of NATO in Eastern Europe, including Ukraine, at the risk of starting a hot war with Russia?
However, what NATO was doing in the recent years seemed to raise the risk of hot war with Russia. For example, NATO tried to build missile bases in Eastern Europe and even trying to include Ukraine, ...
JJJ♦
- 39.7k
69
votes
Accepted
Why don't the other countries of Europe maintain as massive a military as Russia does?
This is a great question about both politics and history. It relates directly to the changing nature of what a "country" is. First, let me directly answer your questions:
Given that France, ...
- 1,829
68
votes
Why does the U.S military use mercenaries?
The US public opinion is highly sensitive to casualties among US troops. They are much less concerned about casualties to contractors, especially if they are not US citizens.
At times the US ...
- 116k
65
votes
Why does Germany have such a rather small defense budget?
The 2% goal for defense spending of all NATO countries originates from the Wales Summit of 2014. However, the people who made that commitment are heads of governments, many of which don't actually ...
- 78.9k
63
votes
What threat, if any, does Iran really pose to the US?
They don't need to be able to strike the US mainland directly. All they need to do is go to war with allies of the US in the region, and they have ample allies to hide behind
Iran says it is not ...
- 53.1k
60
votes
Accepted
How is Russia able to maintain the 2nd most powerful military in the world at a fraction of the cost of the US & China?
First, who is #2 is highly subjective, if you discount nuclear arsenals.
Second, this question is like asking Compared to a Ferrari a Mustang outruns tons of Priuses, Civics and SUVs. And it costs a ...
- 92.8k
60
votes
Did the U.S. lose the war against the Taliban?
Yes. Unquestionably. They left their enemy in control.
Word games about military dominance in the field are besides the point in a guerrilla war. That kind of sophistry has been tried on Vietnam ...
- 92.8k
60
votes
Accepted
Why does the United States make it public knowledge as to which generals are in charge of various operations?
The U.S. feels secure from assassinations (and honestly, when was the last time you recall a U.S. general being assassinated, so the sense of security is not delusional), and values having visible ...
- 88.3k
56
votes
Why do veterans skew right in the US?
The modern US military is self-selecting — a professional army, not a conscripted one — so I doubt this effect would hold true historically. But as a rule, the political Right tends to value military ...
- 76.4k
56
votes
Why does the USA have such a large military?
A lot of this has to do with the geopolitical state of the world. World War II changed a lot for the US. The US had been reluctant to enter World War I.
President Wilson was reluctant to enter World ...
- 53.1k
55
votes
Accepted
What medical costs burden the military enough to warrant banning all transgender people?
Medical
If your question is:
Would the military be obliged to pay for the transition?
Then the answer is yes. Prior to Donald Trump's tweets, the US Military had promulgated guidance on how ...
- 10.2k
55
votes
Accepted
Why would Assad use chemical weapons in the civil war as of 2018?
Chemical weapons give a casus belli for the Western governments to
increase their presence on the ground
That's true that the use of chemical weapons galvanizes the west against Assad, but, I think ...
- 3,666
54
votes
Why would a state retaliate to a nuclear strike if the consequences could be human extinction?
Because if there is any too much doubt that the targeted country will retaliate, then the aggressor may very well try their luck. Making the whole situation a lot more unstable, and dangerous, than ...
- 92.8k
53
votes
Why does the U.S military use mercenaries?
The reason is the same for any country, not just the US. And it is rarely money. It can be roughly grouped like this:
public opinion damage control: the population of a country cares about the death ...
- 1,138
53
votes
Accepted
Is "Mutually Assured Destruction" still valid considering so many conventional missiles are currently getting shot down?
ICBMs are notoriously hard to intercept. In their final flight phase (where normal anti-missile systems intercept), they are very fast, usually split into many different targets, and have ...
- 1,978
52
votes
Why don't the other countries of Europe maintain as massive a military as Russia does?
It is impossible to understand Russia's preoccupation over seven decades with military power without understanding the country's experience in WW2.
The war had a huge impact on the national psyche ...
- 10.7k
52
votes
Accepted
How true are Trump’s claims about NATO spending?
Imprecise but partly true
First claim: exaggerated
In the three decades before Trump's election, NATO spending declined by two-thirds.
On page 4 of this 1987 report(pdf) on NATO military spending, we ...
- 7,064
52
votes
How do countries justify their missile programs?
Longer range missiles could conceivably be sea-launched, as an SLBM, from a standoff position. Having a more capable platform would give that option.
(India does have SLBMs but not necessarily of ...
- 92.8k
52
votes
Why does the "Tanks for Ukraine" discussion focus on the Leopard 2?
One has to consider that it isn't enough to give Ukraine tanks that are good, but are also able to be supported with logistics.
Leopard 2 is in use by several other countries near Ukraine, including ...
- 15.8k
52
votes
Based on International law, to what extent can Ukraine take aggressive military action within the territory of Russia?
International law does not distinguish between targets in Russia or Ukraine. What matters is that the target is legitimate, i.e. a military objective.
Article 52(2) of the 1977 Additional Protocol I ...
JJJ♦
- 39.7k
51
votes
What threat, if any, does Iran really pose to the US?
Iran doesn't pose any threat to the US or its allies. The US, Israel and some of the Gulf countries see Iran as a threat because Iran is supporting certain militant groups that can pose a threat in ...
- 4,767
50
votes
Accepted
Are the UK, Germany and USA not concerned about their (donated) tanks being captured and researched by Russia?
Has there been any concern from any of the countries donating armoured vehicles, with one of these secretive armour types, that one of their donated vehicles may be captured by Russian forces and ...
- 9,832
49
votes
Why did the US military leave Afghanistan in such a rush that they left so much equipment behind?
Some of the equipment was a bit more sophisticated than the "small arms" mentioned in the William Walker III's answer. I think that's also what the article in the question is referring to. ...
JJJ♦
- 39.7k
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible