This Is What Winning Looks Like (Full Length) on HackerTube: recommended by 7 Hacker News commenters across 8 separate months, 2014–2023.
documentary · evergreen
Ben Anderson's VICE documentary shows embedded reporting on Afghan security forces and US Marines in Helmand during the troop drawdown, exposing incompetence, drug abuse and corruption.
Recommended during Afghanistan withdrawal threads as a sobering look at why the transition to local forces was failing.
“I highly recommend the 2013 documentary”
12 Hacker News comments link this video. Each one links back to its thread.
If you haven't seen the VICE special This Is What Winning Looks Like [0], watch it. As a sibling comment said, there was no plausible path to success. It was just a tremendous waste of time and resources, many of which just ended up in terrorist hands. [0] ▶ this video
in “Taliban fighters are sick of the 9 to 5 working desk jobs to run Afghanistan” · View on HN
Vice news has (or had?) some actual journalists. They hired Ben Anderson whos Afghanistan and Iraq reporting was really impressive. Especially "This is what winning looks like". ▶ this video If i recall correctly he made the footage when embedded via the BBC and (re)published it on vice? Still incredibly impressed of the footage he managed to shoot as an embedded journalists. I would guess in no small parts due to the integrity of Major Bill Steuber. Unfortunately that seems to have cost him his military career. He is now a security guard in Manhattan. [link] Afterwards Anderson mentioned the required style of reporting at Vice negatively (the camera focusing on his reactions) but he stayed with them for a while. Not sure if he is still associated with them. edit: Fixed timestamp & He left vice last year [link]
in “Vice Media organised $20M Saudi government festival” · View on HN
For a fascinating insight into the disaster that was supposed to be the training of and transition to local security forces, I highly recommend the 2013 documentary "This Is What Winning Looks Like": ▶ this video
in “Afghan president flees the country as Taliban move on Kabul” · View on HN
Their youtube channel used to deliver incredibly raw and direct coverage of world events other US news sources seemed to be ignoring. Over the last few years though I've become increasingly annoyed with what content of theirs I saw, it's definitely changed. Their coverage of the rebuilding efforts and failures in Afghanistan for instance was very illuminating and well done, I highly recommend giving this a watch though it's very upsetting: ▶ this video
in “Vice Media to Reorganize, Lay Off 10 Percent of Staff” · View on HN
I was never much of a VICE follower, but their This Is What Winning Looks Like [0] special on the US' war in Afghanistan seemed like pretty solid journalism. Wish they'd continue producing content like that... Hamilton's Pharmacopeia was fun as well. [0] ▶ this video
in “Vice Is Said to Be Headed for Bankruptcy” · View on HN
"Old Vice": ▶ this video "New Vice": [link] Hopefully they can regain their conscience and quality.
in “Vice Media to be Acquired by George Soros and Fortress” · View on HN
"Old Vice": ▶ this video "New Vice": [link] > A @VICEUK video producer once responded to me: "I don't understand why this is so difficult, all I want to know is if you can do the job" when I brought up the issue of my safety covering sensitive topics in China, and how I'll take the fall while her team leaves unscathed. > Naomi: Off limits stuff: I don't talk about my relationship status or my sexual orientation. China is China and it's a complex issue that is sometimes dealt with in pragmatic ways- and my focus is on other issues. It's just a lot of trouble here. > Vice: "LOL. We outed you on an international stage and also went out of our way to get your Patreon banned, buh-bye!" Hopefully they can regain their conscience and quality.
in “‘Like Icarus – now everyone is burnt’: how Vice and BuzzFeed fell to earth” · View on HN
The goal was never to "win". It was to build up an army (the afghan army) that could eventually stand by itself and defend the government in place. This was a largely failing effort even years ago, considering that most of the afghan army were made up of people from the north of Afghanistan and previous geopolitics (north/south) play a role. The people in the south would at times trust the taliban over sympathisers for the previous northern warlords which had influence over members of the afghan army. See this documentary (from 8 years ago) about how utterly lost and helpless this situation has always been: ▶ this video
in “Fighting Like Taliban” · View on HN
The VICE documentary This Is What Winning Looks like [0] was very illuminating for me, the situation there is a total clusterfuck and waste of resources. [0] ▶ this video
in “Special Report: Afghan pilots assassinated by Taliban as U.S. withdraws” · View on HN
The VICE documentary This Is What Winning Looks Like exposes some of the same struggles with Afghanistan. It's a very sobering and disturbing report, available on youtube. ▶ this video
in “What were the creepiest declassified documents of the last decade?” · View on HN
The Vice documentary 'This Is What Winning Looks Like' has some great reporting on Afghanistan. ▶ this video
in “The U.S. Military’s Campaign Against Media Freedom” · View on HN
To state the obvious, the Afghans in aggregate, were not willing to build an army and were not willing to defend themselves against the Taliban. This Is What Winning Looks Like (2013?): ▶ this video
in “Taliban enter Kabul as Afghan government on brink of collapse” · View on HN