Apparently the political strategy is to argue that nothing went wrong or could have been done differently
Biden: “Look, I don’t think it was a fair. Look, it was a simple choice, George. When they. When the Taliban. Let me back up and put it another way. When you had the government of Afghanistan, the leader of that government, get in a plane and taking off and going to another country, when you saw the significant collapse of the Afghan troops we had trained (up to 300,000 of them) just leaving their equipment and taking off, that was you know, I’m not. That’s what happened. That’s simply what happened.”
Stephanopoulos: “So you don’t this could have been handled better. This exit could have been handled better in any way? (you made) no mistakes?”
Biden: “No! I, I don’t think it would have been handled in a way that. We’re gonna go back in hindsight and look. But the idea that somehow there’s a way to have gotten out without chaos ensuing, I don’t know how that happens. I don’t how that happened.”
Stephanopoulos: “So, for you, that was always priced into the decision?”
Biden: “Yes.”
_____________________________
So according to Biden, absolutely nothing could have been done differently and no matter what, there would have been chaos. There would have been no way to have actually evacuated people sooner or done anything more to secure the embassy, airports, and major roads until Americans and American friendly Afghans were safely out of the country.
Which is ridiculous on the surface since we had full security of these facilities just a couple of weeks ago. It would not have been hard (much less impossible as Biden suggests) to move people out of the country even prior to announcing any sort of withdrawal.
Biden goes on to suggest that there is no real evacuation problems and that we now have total control over the Airport (there are and we don't). He seems completely out of touch with reality here folks. There is no manner in which either the demand that nothing could have been done differently or that we are currently in control of things are ground in reality.
The only question is whether or not "anyone" will actually believe him at this point? We obviously need at least a shred of credibility when it comes to the President of the United States. Right now we have a man who seems so far out of his element that he has lost complete touch with reality.
25th Amendment anyone? This is serious delusional behavior.
157 comments:
Afghans clinging to the fuselage of transport planes until they plunged to their death was always part of the - you know, the thing! - plan.
C'mon man!
Just two months ago, the Biden admin closed a new dept thst Trump had set up. The CCR, Contingency and crisis response team. Their job was to help Americans who are trapped in foreign countries.
And now we have that idiot defense secretary saying we cannot help all those Americans trapped in Afghanistan.
At 5his point, whovthe hell cares 5hat Trump was an ass and tweeted too much. This president's dementia is serious and dangerous.
You have become the fascist version of Pravda during the cold war.
The other Scott Johnson Powerline outlined your comments.
POSTED ON AUGUST 19, 2021 BY SCOTT JOHNSON IN AFGHANISTAN, BIDEN ADMINISTRATION, JOE BIDEN, MEDIA
A FEW TACOS SHORT
ABC’s George Stephanopoulos interviewed Slow Joe Biden yesterday. ABC News has posted the transcript of the full interview here this morning.
The interview depicts a president who is a few tacos short of a combo platter. Students of ancient history may recall that Stephanopoulos worked as a self-proclaimed prominent Democratic operative. He now plies his trade under the cover of the mainstream media. The interrogation was not exactly intense.
And yet Biden is president of the United States speaking in the course of a historic national humiliation. His minders in the daycare operation at the White House should have kept him in the basement. The supervision leaves something to be desired. The same rhetoric during the campaign that he won!
As for the missing tacos, note Biden’s resentment of the questions. He forgets what he said about the fate of Afghanistan only last month. He thinks it important that Afghans fell to their death from a cargo plane leaving Kabul four days ago, rather than two days ago, even though it was in fact two days ago at the time of the interview. At least he recalls hearing something about it.
Dominic Green puts it this way.
It is difficult to select a quotable quote, but this isn’t bad:
STEPHANOPOULOS: So when you look at what’s happened over the last week, was it a failure of intelligence, planning, execution or judgment?
BIDEN: Look, I don’t think it was a fa– look, it was a simple choice,
Just like his other speech, you didn't actually watch it, instead you go to Pravda 2021 for your opinions.
https://nypost.com/2021/08/18/damning-pic-of-a-weak-leader-devine/?utm_source=url_sitebuttons&utm_medium=site%20buttons&utm_campaign=site%20buttons
This is related with this moment
The United States has fallen into this very trap. Our parents and grandparents had the fortitude to endure the 20th century, with two world wars and an economic disaster. In the 21st century, we lack the resilience even to overcome a pandemic, much less the great trials of a war or a depression. Worse, we are not mature or stoic enough even to endure the prosaic and often dull routines that are part of daily life.
STORY FROM ROYAL & PURE
CBD may become a part of everyday life
We are suffering because we are successful. We are unhappy because we have what we want.
Time is running out. If we are to recapture our civic life and reinvigorate our liberal and constitutional inheritance, we must stop, right now, and – unpleasant and searing though it will be – take stock of ourselves and our own role in the decline of our democracy.
Tom Nichols (@RadioFreeTom) is a member of USA TODAY's Board of Contributors, a professor at the U.S. Naval War College and an instructor at the Harvard Extension School.
I seriously believe that if he really is demented, even the MSM would disclose it.
But you believe the MSM is Pravda for the Democratic party.
If we don't restore reality we are fucked.
Release the complete unedited Biden interview video
not some sliced and edited FAKE NEWS cover-up
I'm sure my boy roger would agree
ROFLMFAO !!!
Roger Amick said...
utm_source=url_sitebuttons&utm_medium=site%20buttons&utm_campaign=site%20buttons
must have pushed roger's button
ROFLMFAO !!!
25th Amendment anyone? This is serious delusional behavior.
Not seeing an upside other than gridlock in the Senate.
Replacing a completely incompetent imbecile in the throes of dementia with a completely incompetent and unqualified $10 whore just doesn't seem like it solves any of this.
I say let this play out. If the American electorate is stupid enough to 'elect' another democrat to the presidency in my lifetime after this fuckstick, then the nation is beyond saving anyway.
Something Is Wrong with the President
After making no public appearances for four days — during a major foreign crisis — President Biden read a 20-minute speech off a teleprompter on Monday afternoon and took no questions. He immediately returned to Camp David. He had no events on his schedule Tuesday. On Wednesday, he gave another 20-minute speech about vaccine boosters off a teleprompter from Camp David, and again took no questions. Also on Wednesday, the president sat for an on-camera interview with George Stephanopoulos that did not go well. According to the White House public records, Biden has had two phone conversations with foreign leaders in the past ten days — one with Boris Johnson and one with Angela Merkel.
As of this writing, Biden has no public events on his schedule for today. He is scheduled to receive the president’s daily briefing from the intelligence community and meet with his national-security team. According to the Federal Aviation Administration, he is scheduled to return to his house in Delaware today.
This is a highly unusual schedule for a president during a foreign-policy crisis. Yes, a president can perform his job anywhere, whether it’s Camp David or his own private residence. But Biden is barely appearing in public, not saying much of anything when he does, not answering any questions outside of his lone scheduled interview, and sounding angry when he did face questions from Stephanopoulos.
full article:
https://www.nationalreview.com/the-morning-jolt/something-is-wrong-with-the-president/
isolated and making the wrong decisions
a disaster
with another disaster lined up as VP
we are fucked
It was a big screw up involving many, and especially an unrealistic American failure to grasp what we can and what we cannot do.
If you really want to get a better idea of what happened, read this.
Newsweek
The Lesson of Afghanistan: Our Military Must Remain Focused on Its Mission | Opinion
Keith Kellogg
After 20 years of effort, trillions of U.S. taxpayer dollars spent and thousands of American servicemembers killed and wounded, it is important to do a post-mortem on our role in a country that deserves the moniker "Graveyard of Empires." One lesson that emerges is that the United States military has forgotten its mission to fight and win our nation's wars.
.
"Who lost Afghanistan?" will be an interesting academic debate, but there are other questions that require immediate answers. How did we fight a 20-year war defending a country and end up with that country collapsing during our withdrawal? It defies logic.
The article continues, and some answers to that question are in it, available at RealClearPolitics.com
New York Times article
In the days since Kabul fell to the Taliban on Sunday, thousands of Americans and Afghans have surged toward the airport, seeking flights out of the country. Taliban forces outside the airport have been brutally stopping many people at checkpoints. Many others have made it to the airport perimeter only to be turned away.
Mr. Biden insisted in the interview that the Taliban had agreed to let U.S. citizens get through to the airport.
“Look, one of the things we didn’t know is what the Taliban would do in terms of trying to keep people from getting out,” he said. “What they would do. What are they doing now? They’re cooperating, letting American citizens get out, American personnel get out, embassies get out, et cetera.”
Understand the Taliban Takeover in AfghanistanCard 1 of 5
Who are the Taliban? The Taliban arose in 1994 amid the turmoil that came after the withdrawal of Soviet forces from Afghanistan in 1989. They used brutal public punishments, including floggings, amputations and mass executions, to enforce their rules. Here’s more on their origin story and their record as rulers.
Who are the Taliban leaders? These are the top leaders of the Taliban, men who have spent years on the run, in hiding, in jail and dodging American drones. They are emerging now from obscurity, but little is known about them or how they plan to govern.
How did the Taliban gain control? See how the Taliban retook power in Afghanistan in a few months, and read about how their strategy enabled them to do so.
What happens to the women of Afghanistan? The last time the Taliban were in power, they barred women and girls from taking most jobs or going to school. Afghan women have made many gains since the Taliban were toppled, but now they fear that ground may be lost as the militants retake power.
What does their victory mean for terrorist groups? The United States invaded Afghanistan 20 years ago in response to terrorism, and many worry that Al Qaeda and other radical groups will again find safe haven there.
That was not the case, he acknowledged, for the thousands of Afghans who helped U.S. and NATO forces over the years and now have a target on
“They’re having — we’re having some more difficulty having those who helped us when we were in there,” the president said.
The president insisted that the administration had acted swiftly to evacuate the American Embassy in Kabul without losing any lives.
And though the world has looked on in horror, he appeared dismissive of the images of United States military planes taking off with Afghans clinging to their sides. Some plunged to their deaths.
“That was four days ago, five days ago!” Mr. Biden said.
Mr. Stephanopoulos asked whether what happened was a “failure of intelligence, planning, execution or judgment,” deflected to the broader issue of his decision to end the war.
“Look, it was a simple choice, George,” Mr. Biden said. “When you had the government of Afghanistan, the leader of that government, get in a plane and taking off and going to another country, when you saw the significant collapse of the Afghan troops we had trained, up to 300,000 of them, just leaving their equipment and taking off — that was, you know, I’m not, that’s what happened.”
It's not edited to change what he actually said for political purposes
tsar becket adams
https://twitter.com/BecketAdams/status/1428163300722872325
biden’s “chaos was unavoidable” line is terrible not because it means he lied when he promised the exact opposite. it’s terrible because it means he went on vacation fully expecting all hell to break loose in a country containing some 10,000-40,000 U.S. nationals.
you’re telling me you fucked off to delaware for an extended vacation even though you expected there to be chaos in Afghanistan?
that moves you from “inept" solidly into the “malicious” column.
meanwhile, gen. white rage is out here telling us he saw nothing indicating the taliban would conquer afghanistan so quickly. so, was chaos always baked into the equation or are you all making it up as you go? because it sure as hell looks like you’re making it up as you go.
but let’s be fair. it’s not like they had 20 years to come up with emergency contingency plans.
the conundrum now with gen. milley is he likely won’t resign, because he’s a cretin. and biden likely won't demand he resign as it'd be an explicit admission they’ve fucked this up. so this dirtbag will likely go on “serving” as the joint chiefs chairman.
we are fucked
but at least now the American people see it
and our foreign allies
but regrettably also out enemies
and they assisted us getting to this point
along with big tech and the FAKE NEWS media
Roger Amick said...
It's not edited to change what he actually said for political purposes
so release the unedited tape
It will prove that
we agree !!!
or it will show something else...
Word on the street is that the Cum-Allah is headed to Vietnam.
Is this supposed to be some kind of sick and ironic joke?
so release the unedited tape
They don't dare.
Are you Reverend...
Like our President...
Unable to admit anything was done wrong in all of this by the Biden Administration? Because, quite literally, that is the argument being made and you seem quick to embrace at least the general sense of it.
Whether or not there were mistakes made 20 years ago, 15 years ago, 10 years ago, or 5 years ago is completely 100% irrelevant to whether or not the Biden Administration fucked up the end (the withdrawal).
But that seems to be the strategy here, right? Just suggest that anything and everything that went wrong during what was a 100% Biden Administration move is actually the fault of previous people who made previous mistakes.
Are you ever going to get sick of a President who will apparently never take any responsibility for anything and sees every failure as a change to point fingers and blame someone else?
Because Republican or Democrat or whatever... that is not the sort of leader I would ever want. Seriously, Reverend? Will there ever come a time when even the biggest Biden toe sucker in the world (you) will actually hold him accountable?
Biden says no one bring killed in Afghanistan. Wtf???
Even david Axelrod says joe should cut 5he crap and admit his mistakes.
CNN Reporter: ‘Impossible…No Way’ For Americans To Get Past Taliban To Get To Afghanistan Airport
https://youtu.be/9RA2FZjN_-g
Don't impeach Biden.
Try him for TREASON.
CNN Reporter: ‘Impossible…No Way’ For Americans To Get Past Taliban To Get To Afghanistan Airport
They are wrong.
Biden just told Georgie S that the United States had the airport under control! Certainly the President of the United States would not blatantly lie like that?
WASHINGTON, Aug 19 (Reuters) - Armed U.S. fighter jets have flown over Kabul to ensure security for the evacuation operation there, the Pentagon said on Thursday.
Pentagon spokesman John Kirby told a news briefing said the jets had not conducted "low pass" flights over the city but had been engaged in "overwatch."
Army Major General William Taylor said multiple gates at Kabul international airport were now open and about 7,000 people have been evacuated so far.
He said the military now has more than 5,200 troops at Kabul airport to guard the evacuation. (Reporting by David Brunnstrom)
The Pentagon had a hearing today that the airport is secure and that we will fly between 3 and 5 thousands of people per day American citizens and Afghanistan people who helped us together
Scott I watched it live and the Director and General Milly said it is secure.
You depend upon Pravda 2021
Scott the Taliban are actually working with us because it will give them trust among the people
Getting the Taliban militants to actually cooperate with the President is a great deal
Scott I watched it live!!!!!!!!!!!@and the Director and General Milly said it is secure.
Roger...
So you watched Americans in real time, on live television boarding planes with no resistance from the Taliban?
It's funny to see how fixated you are me and the troll squad asshole
Yes
Must be really tough right now, huh Roger?
Either you have to claim that CNN and the liberal news media are lying about what is happening on the ground or you have to claim that the Biden Administration is not providing real information?
Which is is Roger?
Who is lying?
Scott they said that both sides of the airport were secure. The military and civilian
Live on your TV if you actually watched it live.
You actually believe that The Director of Defense and the Chief Executive Officer Milley are lying to the people live???
Indy is right about you
https://www.army.mil/article/249532/austin_milley_say_dod_laser_focused_on_kabul_evacuation_mission
Watch it from the militarily
1Blogger JamesNewLeaf said...
It was a big screw up involving many, and especially an unrealistic American failure to grasp what we can and what we cannot do.
It was the state a department that changed the mission to nation building. The trouble is to install a liberal Democrat government people must want their liberty and freedom. So much so the will fight for their lives for it.
Te people of Afghanistan are content to live in the tribal arrangement they lived under for 12 centuries. They don't want freedom that badly.(that may change as the global internet slowly infiltrates Afghanistan, modern life and the conveniences they offer is seductive.)
If you really want to get a better idea of what happened, read this.
Newsweek
The Lesson of Afghanistan: Our Military Must Remain Focused on Its Mission | Opinion
Keith Kellogg
As I said, it wasn't the military who changed the mission. This sounds like a hack covering for those deep-state globalist who change the mission by dumping on the military.
There's a lot of firing that needs to go on to fix things.
Austin, Milley say DOD laser-focused on Kabul evacuation mission
By Jim Garamone, DOD NewsAugust 19, 2021
The Department of Defense is laser-focused on operations at Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul, Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III said during a Pentagon news conference today.
The secretary and Army Gen. Mark Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, briefed the media on operations in Afghanistan as American service members work to evacuate Americans, allies, Afghans who served with coalition forces and Afghans at special risk from the Taliban.
These troops control the airport and are helping process those wishing to leave the Taliban-controlled capital.
Austin said his first priority is "the safety and security of our people and the people that we're trying to evacuate."
There are currently 4,500 American service members in Kabul now: a number that could grow to around 6,000. "They are trained and equipped to defend themselves and their operations," the secretary said. "There have been no hostile interactions with the Taliban, and our lines of communication with Taliban commanders remain open, as they should be."
Maintaining the security at the airport is the secretary's second priority. "In concert with forces from our allies, our troops have set up defensive positions around the airport, and the airport is able to function safely," he said. He is in daily contact with leaders on the ground to ensure they have all they need to continue the mission.
His final area of focus is increasing the pace of evacuation operations. "We've flown out several thousand since the 15th of August and our goal is to be able to increase our capacity every day going forward," Austin said. "And as we build out this capacity, we're working hand in glove with the State Department, which is leading the whole of government effort to notify and process American citizens who are leaving, and to urgently identify and process Afghan applicants as well."
The military has dispatched small teams to assist State Department consular officials as they process those arriving at the airport. "We expect to be able to augment that capability in the coming days," he said. "This is truly a team effort across the interagency."
Austin praised service members operating in these challenging circumstances. He said they are showing their humanity and their compassion.
The chairman said the key military task is to establish and maintain security at the Kabul International Airport, and to defend the airport from attack.
"The President of the United States made a decision to withdraw U.S. forces from Afghanistan on April 14," he said. "Since that day, we conducted a deliberate and responsible drawdown of U.S. forces, to less than 1,000, with a specific task of securing the U.S. Embassy and our diplomatic presence in Afghanistan."
Since April the security situation in Afghanistan has degraded, and the Taliban now control the country. "Today, the situation is still very dangerous, very dynamic and very fluid," Milley said. "All of us can be proud of the soldiers, sailors, airmen [and] Marines [who are] executing this mission. They are currently in harm's way. That needs to be our focus. There will be plenty of time to do [after action reviews]. Right now, our mission is to secure that airfield, defend that airfield and evacuate all those who have been faithful to us."
Milley said no intelligence scenario foresaw the rapidity of the dissolution of Afghan security forces. "There was nothing that I or anyone else saw that indicated a collapse of this [Afghan] army or this government in 11 days," he said.
Right now, there are 20 maneuver battalions on the airfield from two Marine battalions and a battalion from the Minnesota National Guard. In addition, there are forces from the 10th Mountain Division and special operations forces that had been involved in the counterterrorism mission.
They are working with allied forces from the United Kingdom and other coalition partners.
Added to this is U.S. air power. If needed, there are any number of fighter and bomber aircraft that can be called upon as well as rotary wing aircraft, Milley said.
"This force is capable of extracting a significant amount of people," the chairman said. "Right now we're averaging about 20 sorties of C-17, every 24 hours. We have the capability to significantly increase that throughput, as the Department of State makes evacuees available."
https://www.army.mil/article/249532/austin_milley_say_dod_laser_focused_on_kabul_evacuation_mission
That's the real coldheartedtruth
Unless you think they are a woke operation
Some people here said that General Milly should be executed with a firing squad.
That happened days ago. Not now Scott
Holly fuck
Supreme Court, other D.C. buildings evacuated as police investigate bomb threat on Capitol Hill
PUBLISHED THU, AUG 19 202110:12 AM EDTUPDATED 1 MIN AGO
Dan Mangan
@_DANMANGAN
Kevin Breuninger
@KEVINWILLIAMB
U.S. Capitol Police are investigating what they called “an active bomb threat” from a truck parked near the Library of Congress, as staffers at a House office building were ordered to evacuate.
The Capitol Police Twitter feed warned people to “please stay away from this area.”
People at the Cannon House Office Building received an alert telling them to leave that building and relocate to the Longworth House Office Building.
Now we are going to be in a long, bloody, and costly conflict with China to defend Taiwan.
And all because China sees a weak president of the United States and allies who are now reluctant to follow the US.
To all those voters who voted for Biden because they thought he was the less of two evils. I told you so.
All of the joint chiefs should be fired for this debacle.
CNN on topic..
Biden's presidency is under scrutiny as never before over Afghan chaos
Analysis by Stephen Collinson, CNN
Updated 2 hours ago Aug 19, 2021
(CNN) - President Joe Biden is struggling against an intensifying examination of his judgment, competence and even his empathy over the chaotic US exit from Afghanistan. And each attempt the administration makes to quell a furor that's tarnishing America's image only provokes more questions about its failures of planning and execution.
A defiant Biden on Wednesday rejected criticism of his leadership, as he battled the most significant self-inflicted drama of a term that he won by promising proficient government and to level with voters.
"I don't think it was a failure," the President said in an interview with George Stephanopoulos of ABC News, referring to a US pullout that sparked scenes of desperate Afghans clinging to, and falling to their deaths from, US evacuation planes.
The President had repeatedly pledged the withdrawal from the country's longest war would be orderly, deliberate and safe and that there were no circumstances that Afghanistan would suddenly fall to the Taliban.
But in the ABC News interview he changed tack, saying there was no way the US could have left without "chaos ensuing" and that such scenes were always baked into the decision to get all troops out this year.
In one part of the interview, Biden said that he didn't trust the Taliban but argued that the militia was cooperating with the US evacuation.
"I'm not sure I would have predicted nor would you or anyone else, that when we decided to leave that they'd provide safe passage for Americans to get out," the President.
In the chaos at Kabul airport, however, it is far from clear that the Taliban is cooperating. While hundreds have people have been getting through, CNN's Clarissa Ward in Kabul reported Thursday that there was no process, only mayhem of Afghans who worked for the US and are seeking exit visas because they fear for their -- and their families' -- lives. Some lucky people got through Taliban checkpoints but many others were turned back or beaten, Ward said.
Biden is failing to adequately explain why he so badly failed to predict the swift collapse of the Afghan state. And his credibility has been sullied because his confident downplaying of the risks of the withdrawal has been repeatedly confounded by events. Seven months into his term, Biden no longer gets credit simply for not being Donald Trump.
The President spoke to ABC News after details emerged from a high-level Pentagon briefing that appeared to confirm the US never had sufficient troops left in Afghanistan to facilitate the orderly, deliberate withdrawal Biden had promised. And the deeply awkward session in which Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and the nation's top military officer, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley, spoke to reporters also left open the grave possibility that the US military would be unable to rescue all American citizens and potential Afghan refugees before it departs for good.
Biden's defensiveness, imprecision and apparent changes of position hardly project confidence or competence during an extraordinarily sensitive crisis on hostile foreign soil. Anytime a commander in chief does not appear in control or is in denial of obvious developments is a moment that threatens to inflict political damage.
So the Afghan president fled Sunday (4 days ago)
and Biden has only talked to two foreign leaders over the past 10 days
Boris Johnson and Angela Merkel
One conversation apiece
Means he didn't consult with China
or Russia
or Pakistan
or even Afghanistan
let that sink in
how the fuck can anyone defend that unless you have mental issues
like my boy roger
or Biden
Questions Biden must answer
Despite Biden's efforts to portray the current situation as a simple choice between staying in Afghanistan and fighting a never-ending war, the President is not being held to account for the mistakes of the three previous administrations, whose missteps turned the war into an American failure. The Trump administration especially left Biden with some tough choices in a strategy that left the US with a skeleton garrison and poisoned relations with Kabul by negotiating with the Taliban behind the government's back.
The issue is not even over the President's decision to leave a war that long ago lost public support.
Instead, he is being asked to answer for things that were in his power to influence: the poorly planned evacuation effort, the failure to speed up visa processing for thousands of Afghans and the missed opportunity to get US citizens out earlier.
As that pressure mounts, the President raised the possibility in the ABC News interview that the effort could stretch beyond August 31, his previous deadline.
"We're going to do everything in our power to get all Americans out and our allies out," Biden said.
The operation at Kabul airport is cranking up, with hundreds of people leaving on flights from the US armed forces and those of other nations. But CNN reported that some of those hoping to leave were being stopped at Taliban checkpoints, reflecting the extent to which US evacuations rely on the forbearance of an enemy force.
At the Pentagon news conference, Milley and Austin inadvertently revealed the deficiencies of the US evacuation.
They said there were insufficient forces at the airport to keep its perimeter secure and to venture behind enemy lines to collect Americans or allied Afghans as they shelter from the Taliban in Kabul and elsewhere.
"We don't have the capability to go out and collect up large numbers of people," Austin said.
Austin also said US forces would try to "deconflict" the situation with the Taliban to "create passageways for them to get to the airfield." But he also admitted he didn't have enough forces to do much more.
"I don't have the capability to go out and extend operations currently into Kabul," he said.
Milley revealed that a lack of resources was also behind the decision to shutter the vast former US base at Bagram airfield further out of Kabul, in comments that implicitly confirmed that the forces were never in place to assure Biden's vow for an orderly withdrawal.
"If we were to keep both Bagram and the embassy going, that would be a significant number of military forces that would have exceeded what we had," he said.
"So we had to collapse one or the other, and a decision was made."
Both Milley and Austin, a retired general, appeared deeply uncomfortable at the news conference.
"This is a war that I fought in and led. I know the country. I know the people. And I know those who fought alongside me," Austin said.
"We have a moral obligation to help those who helped us," he added. "I feel the urgency deeply."
With the Taliban celebrating an extraordinary victory over the United States, they may lack an incentive to orchestrate clashes with US forces confined to the airport. But the extent of the group's patience is unclear. And there are no guarantees its extremists will not hunt down Afghans it sees as US collaborators before they can escape to the airport.
This position of powerlessness, in which the US is at the whim of a ragtag militia, is hard for many Americans to accept, especially those who served in uniform.
Rep. Adam Kinzinger, an Illinois Republican, had harsh words for the position in which the United States now finds itself in Kabul.
"Now we are in a position where we are disgracefully begging the Taliban for permission to save Americans," Kinzinger told CNN's Jake Tapper.
An 'America First' moment
Events of the last few days have done more than damage Biden's reputation for competency. They have also exposed as never before the cold-eyed calculation behind a foreign policy that includes some elements of the "America First" approach of Trump.
On Tuesday, Biden's national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, said it was heartbreaking that Afghan women and girls would now face repression under the Taliban. But he indicated the President chose that option over more US blood being shed in Afghanistan.
All presidents face impossible choices. And Biden is honoring his duty to protect Americans. But his chosen course and failure to speed up processing of Afghan refugees months ago, despite warnings from veterans and members of Congress, call into question his commitment to civilians who trusted the US.
Biden's harsh criticism of the Afghan Army has been particularly poorly received abroad and may damage his ability to wield US soft power.
The President argued with reason last week that US forces should not have to fight a war that Afghan soldiers refuse to wage. But in blaming Afghans he ignored savage losses of life among armed and police forces built with US dollars, which far exceed US casualties.
His stance fueled anger in Britain's House of Commons on Wednesday, in a debate in which Prime Minister Boris Johnson faced a backlash because of his association with the US President.
Tom Tugendhat, a member who served with the British Army in Afghanistan, lambasted the US President's comments.
"To see their commander in chief call into question the courage of men I fought with, to claim they ran. It's shameful," Tugendhat said. "Those who have never fought for the colors they fly should be careful about criticizing those who have."
I still think it's mostly political agenda
Roger - I am not saying that the military people are lying.
I am just suggesting that CNN and other media people on the ground are claiming that Americans are not getting through to the airport. That Taliban forces are stopping them prior to even getting to the airport.
So I am just pointing out that there are two stories being told here.
How is that "me" calling anyone a liar?
I was not calling you a liar.
I meant rrb etc. Want to execute General Milly and anyone else
Btw Roger...
The last MSN story claiming that Taliban checkpoints were still stopping Americans and other foreigners was from an hour ago. They claim that there is barbed wire completely surrounding the airport and people being turned away left and right. Reporters themselves are reporting that they are not being allowed to get through. That was as of this morning.
As of right now, twelve people have been killed around the airport since Sunday.
Of course, Administration officials will claim that they are evacuating people (the Taliban is not stopping "everyone") - but that doesn't mean that they either have control (clearly they do not) or that the Taliban is working with them (they clearly are making their own determinations or they wouldn't have a need to control checkpoints).
So the fact that some people are boarding airplanes does not dismiss the claims that people are still not able to get into the airport and that Taliban checkpoints are turning them away.
So you believe what you want, Roger.
Apparently you must now think that CNN and MSN are "fake news"!!!
C.H. Truth said...
Roger - I am not saying that the military people are lying.
I am just suggesting that CNN and other media people on the ground are claiming that Americans are not getting through to the airport. That Taliban forces are stopping them prior to even getting to the airport.
The state department themselves put out a memo saying that they could not get people safely to the airport. They were on their own.
And what if you are anywhere else in Afghanistan other than Kabul ???
I missed what Biden said about that
I have already posted a CNN article that actually said that you said they didn't say!
Ryan Saavedra
https://twitter.com/RealSaavedra/status/1428336534323798021
Highlights from Biden's ABC interview:
-Did not "recall" being warned by U.S. Military to not push ahead with his plan
-Did not know U.S. has troops in Syria
-Did not know certain events in Kabul happened this week
-Did not know people were getting killed
Sensing a pattern
and that's after they did their editing
release the interview
uncut
call it "Biden unplugged"
ratings would probably be huge
Scott, I actually acknowledge that he is not perfect. Even CNN ripped him up.
But you know me well enough that I think outside the box because.
If he really is mentally disabled that the Vice President Harris is planning to get reelected in November 2024..
I read this article.
Since 1980, vice presidents have used this space as a secondary office (the one in the West Wing is closer to the president and serves as the primary work space). Harris has used it to swear in Cabinet members, do interviews and to give remarks alongside the South Korean president.
But for the seven months since she was sworn in herself, Harris has mostly used the office to build a network of allies and associates that can serve two purposes: strengthen the administration’s connections with key power players and groups while building an unofficial political operation in waiting — one she could activate for a future presidential bid or reelection
The two-for-one approach gives Harris a chance to raise her profile both within the administration and for whatever comes after. She a cany politician.
Keeping a low profile during a very complex period is a smart move.
If it actually happens in the next few months, Harris is planning ahead.
You might not like her but she is a very intelligent woman who actually became the first woman Vice Presidential in history.
Cue the cummalt lolololololololololol for rrb
JAMES SAYS:
CH alias SCOTT ASKED ME,
"Are you ever going to get sick of a President who will apparently never take any responsibility for anything and sees every failure as a change to point fingers and blame someone else?
JAMES:
Oh, I got VERY sick of that. His name was TRUMP.
CH THEN GOES ON WITH A QUESTION THAT I TURN BACK ON HIM WITH THE CHANGE OF ONE WORD:
Because Republican or Democrat or whatever... that is not the sort of leader I would ever want. Seriously, will there ever come a time when even the biggest Trump toe sucker in the world (you) will actually hold him accountable?
_______
List the things you ever held Trump accountable for, Ch.
I can think objectively Scott.
Without my personal political views.
I have tried to do that for my life time.
Again Roger...
I just read a story from an hour ago on MSN. What the media "claims" is happening on the ground is not the same thing as what the Biden Administration "claims" is happening on the ground.
You can demand that CNN didn't say whatever, but there are enough reporters all reporting pretty much the same thing. They claim that the Taliban is still in 100% control of the checkpoints and that the Taliban (not the US forces) are deciding who gets in and who doesn't.
If this was just a reporter or two making odd claims, that would be one thing. But there is multiple reporters and footage of what is happening on the ground. If this is the United States Government in control of the Kabul airport, then we are in a world of hurt when it comes to what we consider "control".
But hey... believe what you want Roger.
All of your media that you so trusted up till the past couple of days are apparently providing "fake news" to harm Biden?? Is that your argument now?
Jeff Schogol
TERRIFYING VIDEO:
https://mobile.twitter.com/JackPosobiec/status/1428346163711852551
An Afghan man sent me this video which he said was raked outside Kabul airport today. How are Americans and Afghans supposed to get through this?
Jack Posobiec
If we didn’t have social media and only had the WH statements we’d have no idea this was happening
or relied on CNN and the FAKE NEWS media and compilers
The President said "Chaos" was always expected.
James, he will never provide a list of unacceptable comments by Trump.
Don't hold your breath!
Ch, list here the things you ever held Trump accountable for.
Unlike you regarding Trump,
I have here posted several posts that are extremely UNfavorable to Biden.
Because I am not the rabbid, craven blinders blinded propagandist you are.
General Miley, looking back on where his misplaced attention was, hurt.
Scott you are missing the fact that although the airport is secure but the roads are not under control by the Us government. But they have negotiated with the Taliban militants.
Sometimes it will work out well enough but at other times they actually said that the Taliban militants can't be trusted!
You ignored what you didn't want to see!
JamesNewLeaf said...
Ch, list here the things you ever held Trump accountable for.
Hey asshole
You don't run the blog
CHT doesn't answer to you
Trump is not the subject of the thread
CHT may say different but I say GO FUCK YOURSELF
Like James said.
I am not the rabbid, craven blinders blinded propagandist you are.
Pravda 2021 aka Thecoldheartedtruth is the fascist version of Pravda during the cold war.
Arizona Governor Offers Incentives to Ban Masks
Arizona Republic: “In the latest political volley in Arizona over COVID-19 mask mandates, Gov. Doug Ducey is creating two grant programs that would provide funds to families and school districts that reject mask mandates.”
I have to admit this is really stupid.
I shudder to think how this stupidity will be seen when people look back on these days.
Despite Biden's efforts to portray the current situation as a simple choice between staying in Afghanistan and fighting a never-ending war, the President is not being held to account for the mistakes of the three previous administrations, whose missteps turned the war into an American failure. The Trump administration especially left Biden with some tough choices in a strategy that left the US with a skeleton garrison and poisoned relations with Kabul by negotiating with the Taliban behind the government's back.
Just wondering what mistakes the Trump administration made that left Biden with "tough choices". Biden didn't criticize Trump during the campaign and did not reverse Trump's withdrawal. (and yet with this skeleton crew it managed to keep the Taliban at bay until Biden ordered the bug out.)
The US has a right to unilaterally negotiate the status of it's forces and not being held hostage to a veto from any government.
When the MSM said the same thing about Trump you called it fake news robotics.
You will never provide a list of unacceptable comments by Trump.
I have said things negative about Biden, but in five years ago you have never said negative things about Trump.
Several reported killed as Taliban shoot at crowds waving Afghan flag
Witness describes mass panic during independence day rally in Asadabad, a day after deaths at a similar protest
Several people have been killed after Taliban fighters shot at crowds waving the national flag at an independence day rally, as protests erupted across Afghanistan in a sign of the dissent the Taliban may face as they attempt to govern.
At Kabul airport, chaos continued, preventing dozens of those eligible for evacuation by Britain from being able to reach the rescue aircraft. The Taliban maintained a heavy presence on the airport’s approaches and, in desperate scenes, babies were passed to US soldiers in the hope of giving them a life outside the country.
Fears for the safety of those who had worked for US and Nato forces appeared to be confirmed by a leaked UN report, prepared by the Norwegian Centre for Global Analyses, which said the Taliban were “arresting and/or threatening to kill or arrest family members of target individuals unless they surrender themselves.”
According to the report, the Taliban had done “advance mapping” of individuals, in particular those in the military and police, in every area they had entered and were now targeting them through coercion to join the new regime. It said the militants were also screening individuals on the way to Kabul airport and had set up checkpoints in major cities.
The US state department warned its own citizens on Thursday that it could not guarantee safe passage to the airport.
continues: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/aug/19/several-reported-killed-taliban-shoot-crowds-waving-afghan-flag
this is British reporting
bit different than CNN
And yet I have to admit that Ch did challenge James to tell us in what way he ever held Biden accountable, so I guess James does have the rigtht challenge Ch to list at least one or three things he held Trump accountable for.
The Taliban is now going door to door hunting down Christians to execute.
The genocide of Christians has begun.
But for the seven months since she was sworn in herself, Harris has mostly used the office to build a network of allies and associates that can serve two purposes: strengthen the administration’s connections with key power players and groups while building an unofficial political operation in waiting — one she could activate for a future presidential bid or reelection
The two-for-one approach gives Harris a chance to raise her profile both within the administration and for whatever comes after. She a cany politician.
Keeping a low profile during a very complex period is a smart move.
TRANSLATION:
Cum-Allah's behavior since becoming VP has been 100% self-serving, and she has brought zero value to the nation as a whole.
Low profile = smart move.
Only an imbecile admires this.
Then again, she was able to capture a whole 0% of the delegates in her presidential bid.
It's ironic... She's VP only because she has a vaj, and her vaj is all she's ever used to advance her career.
Thought she was a female 0linsky. Turned out to be nothing but a black Hillary.
This will trigger a lot of people to oppose Biden.
He ran as the most qualified Person who was ever elected President.
This is going to take a toll on his popularity.
Roger Amick's Fucking Daddy
nice one
close but no cigar
can't even steal monikers right
of course I guess it could be either roger or the POS "pastor"
two butt buddies
ROFLMFAO !!!
But they have negotiated with the Taliban militants.
How quaint.
Negotiating with folks we should be slaughtering on a wholesale level.
If we could only get the American left to hate terrorists as much as they hate their own country...
Blogger Commonsense said...
The Taliban is now going door to door hunting down Christians to execute.
The genocide of Christians has begun.
Liberals REJOICE!
One has to ask that after Bin Laden was killed, why didn't Obama start slapping economic sanctions against Pakistan for supporting the Taliban.
One wonders why there is isn't sanctions now.
LMAO I can read you better than you can imagine.
Roger AmickAugust 19, 2021 at 11:37 AM
If it actually happens in the next few months, Harris is planning ahead.
You might not like her but she is a very intelligent woman who actually became the first woman Vice Presidential in history.
Cue the cummalt lolololololololololol for rrb
Commonsense said...
The Taliban is now going door to door hunting down Christians to execute.
The genocide of Chris
tians has begun.
the lying POS "pastor" Boswell supports this administration that empowered that
and alky calls it "brilliant"
and wonder why they get no respect
The genocide of Christians has begun.
Liberals REJOICE!
Joy-Ann Reid was especially ecstatic. She hates Christians.
I am Roger Amick's Fucking Daddy and I approve what this woman and her husband did and didn't do.
Husband of GOP Congressional Candidate Dies of Covid-19
Kansas City Star: “A Missouri state lawmaker who is running for Congress has announced that her husband has died after the couple was diagnosed with COVID-19.
“Republican State Rep. Sara Walsh, of Ashland, thanked everyone who had prayed for her husband, Steve Walsh, in announcing Thursday in a tweet that he had died. He was 63.
“Neither she nor her husband had been vaccinated against COVID-19. KRCG-TV reported that she also said she was not concerned about being vaccinated because she had been healthy since the pandemic began.”
RIP
But your husband might not be beneath the sod if you'd both gotten vaccinated.
Blogger Commonsense said...
One has to ask that after Bin Laden was killed, why didn't Obama start slapping economic sanctions against Pakistan for supporting the Taliban.
He was too busy trading the current leaders of the Taliban for a fucking traitor.
Bergdahl should've been shot as a fucking traitor. Instead 0linsky and the left herald him as a folk hero.
Commonsense said...
One has to ask that after Bin Laden was killed, why didn't Obama start slapping economic sanctions against Pakistan for supporting the Taliban.
One wonders why there is isn't sanctions now.
and why hasn't Biden even talked to Pakistan in at least 10 days, probably months, if ever.
And not even the Afghan president himself
total dereliction of duty
by the whole top of the Biden administration
NBC news
The Afghanistan withdrawal and Taliban takeover mean the terror threat is back!
Given how wrong the Biden administration's assumptions about Afghanistan have been, it's difficult to buy its assurances that Al Qaeda can't strike the U.S.
We may not have thousands of troops in Afghanistan but we will have to attack terrorist organizations and buildings like Trump in Syria.
Someone call roger amick a nurse
and get the coroner ready
he's brain dead
ROFLMFAO !!!
poor roommate, if he hasn't been able to transfer away
Blogger Roger Amick said...
LMAO I can read you better than you can imagine.
Alky, you couldn't "read" the side of one of your juice boxes without fucking it up.
Cum-Allah is a whore who got where she is with her ankles behind her ears.
Amy Coney Barrett cleaned her fucking clock while smiling w i d e the whole time.
Now go chow down another heaping helping of Cum-Allah's yeast infection porridge.
Roger Amick said...
NBC news
The Afghanistan withdrawal and Taliban takeover mean the terror threat is back!
Given how wrong the Biden administration's assumptions about Afghanistan have been, it's difficult to buy its assurances that Al Qaeda can't strike the U.S.
"brilliant"
Negotiating with folks we should be slaughtering on a wholesale level.
The US never had an air operation like Rolling Thunder in Afghanistan and the Afghan topography is uniquely susceptible to air attack. It is all open grassland and dessert and there is no thick jungle to provide cover like the Viet Cong had.
A little bit of napalm goes a long way.
We negotiated with the Russians during the Cuban missile crisis.
We avoided a nuclear war that would have destroyed civilization.
I lived 15 miles from Ellsworth Air Force Base. I would have been nuclear dust.
Someone call roger amick a nurse
and get the coroner ready
he's brain dead
The alky is like Biden personified around here. Like Biden, he thinks plagiarizing others makes him look smart. And like Biden, he belongs in a fucking nursing home.
And so I, the real James, step in here with a really logical post:
_____
The Fog of Afghanistan War Reporting
August 19, 2021 at 10:34 am EDT By Taegan Goddard
Jonathan Bernstein:
“There are a bunch of stories that seem to be coming
from the intelligence community,
from the military,
and from the State Department,
all attempting to shift blame —
for the fall of the government,
for the failure to understand what was happening,
for poor planning —
away from themselves
and toward one of the other portions of the government.
"These aren’t partisan, and reading them as partisan means misreading them.
"But they certainly are spin, and may well be misleading or even flat-out wrong.
“Again, none of this is meant to criticize the reporters and news organizations involved.
"Just to warn everyone: This is probably one of the most confusing information environments we’ve seen for some time. We’ll know more in a few days, and even more in a few weeks.”
Ain't nobody here but us chickens, and it ain't our fault either.
rrb said...
Alky, you couldn't "read" the side of one of your juice boxes without fucking it up.
Cum-Allah is a whore who got where she is with her ankles behind her ears.
Amy Coney Barrett cleaned her fucking clock while smiling w i d e the whole time.
Now go chow down another heaping helping of Cum-Allah's yeast infection porridge.
remember when Tulsi Gabbard destroyed kamala
Good Times
Last I saw she was 15 points underwater in favorability polling
rrb said
The alky is like Biden personified around here. Like Biden, he thinks plagiarizing others makes him look smart. And like Biden, he belongs in a fucking nursing home.
same with his butt buddy the lying POS "pastor" boswell
piece of shit is too kind
So how is Biden doing on this crisis today ?
Too many crises to keep track of
guess he'll have to sleep on it
his signature move
Florida’s Biggest School Districts Vote to Defy DeSantis
“After record-shattering daily COVID-19 counts, school boards in Florida’s Hillsborough and Miami-Dade Counties held emergency meetings Wednesday and voted to again require face coverings on campuses.
“The districts are the nation’s fourth- and seventh-largest — representing more than 600,000 students. They join Broward, Leon, and Alachua Counties in openly defying Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and the Florida Department of Education.”
__________
These traitors should be taken out and shot! All the members of those boards and all the parents and students who support them.
Shoot them! We must have Taliban-like dictatorial action to get this country right again! Our citizens have a right to choose their own means of getting sick and dying!
Ch, list here the things you ever held Trump accountable for.
I had much criticism of Trump, starting with his inability to control his late night social media rants and trusting the wrong people in many situations. I wish he had gotten away from the whole "stolen election" prior to inauguration (but he continues with it today). While I agree (as many Americans do) that the election was suspect, there is a time when you have to move on and change the manner in which election results are counted (as many states are already doing).
I thought Trump lost track of some of the basic conservative principles on limited spending and was too quick to agree to unpaid for spending. That is typical for most (if not all GOP Presidents). I think he could have stayed further away from some of the social debates (like abortion) - although I tend to agree with him about financing as it pertains to how the Court has ruled on those things.
But if you want me to criticize policies as a whole, then I agreed with most of them. I agreed with his stances on immigration, building of a wall, opening up the pipelines, putting "America first" on the world stage. I agreed with most of his economic policies. I was never a fan of ACH, so I have no issues with making changes to that. there were very few actual "policies" where I held a fundamental disagreement with him.
Also... if you want me to "blame" him for Covid, when our response was ahead of the curve the whole time, then I won't. We had a task force in place in Jan, as well as a travel ban in Jan. Based on recommendation from the Pence led task force, we had mandates and lockdowns in place before most any other country. We (not Europe or Russia or China) developed the vaccine. We got it out there.
You also seem to forget that Fauci, Birx, and gang were handpicked by Trump. You seem to think Fauci was the right guy (even as I think he might have been at one time but no longer is). Ultimately he was Trump's guy.
At the end of the day, our deaths per million ended up lower than many European countries (we would be right where Poland and the UK stands if we compared to Europe). With a dozen or more countries doing worse.
Now unfortunately we have dropped in that world ranking recently. But quite obviously that is on Biden now, not Trump.
Perhaps if the left was not so "knee jerk" to criticize everything pretty much everyday, going back to declaring him a Russian asset who conspired with foreign leaders to steal an election... then maybe I wouldn't have been involved in "defending him" so much.
I simply do not recall this sort of general incompetence from the Trump administration. Nor do I recall a flat footedness in responses, nor do I remember outright lies being told. Mostly I remember the lies that were told were "about Trump" not "from Trump". You know, like the "good people on both sides" lie that people like Roger still repeat today because they are idiots.
Charlie Spiering
https://twitter.com/mattdizwhitlock/status/1428353032215941128
STEPHANOPOULOS: Still a lotta pandemonium outside the airport.
BIDEN: Oh, there is. But, look, b-- but no one's being killed right now, God forgive me if I'm wrong about that, but no one's being killed right now.
Matt Whitlock
“No one’s being killed right now?!”
The Taliban have killed over a thousand people in the last two weeks. Several were reportedly killed this morning when the Taliban fired into a crowd waving flags.
This is pretty shocking.
well he figured it was time to continue his vacation
he isn't in the loop anyways
"Nor do I remember outright lies being told."
That alone sinks your entire argument, Ch/Scott. But thanks for trying.
hey "pastor" don't you have some schoolboys to go find ?
or is school out?
Noah Rothman
https://twitter.com/NoahCRothman/status/1428396871651840008
The United States engineered this debacle, and the president has no interest in authorizing an operation that could save the thousands of Americans we’ve summarily abandoned. He could change course at any point, but he just won’t do it.
This fiasco must be intentional
He has not conferred with world leaders
has not taken strong responsive action after totally fucking up the withdrawal
and now he goes on vacation after still never taking questions
That alone sinks your entire argument, Ch/Scott. But thanks for trying.
Do you remember outright lies being told by Trump pastor. If so what were they? The clock is running.
That alone sinks your entire argument, Ch/Scott. But thanks for trying.
An incredibly weak response devoid of any examples, so thanks for trying and lying, pederast.
John Noonan
https://twitter.com/noonanjo/status/1428348000171184136
Have been speaking with evacuees directly on the ground in Kabul.
Taliban not honoring their word.
Obstructing ingress points to the airport, beating and harassing evacuees, scaring many off. US troops prohibited from expanding perimeter or helping.
Many still stuck.
I told one woman to move towards the East gate. She has her injured 10 year old girl with her. She sent me this pic and texted that Taliban won’t let them through. 89 degrees, alone, with a little girl hurt from prior day’s rush on the gates. She had to go back.
Another evacuee, a US citizen texted:
“We are going tomorrow to airport my mother is also injured and so is one the guys I think he has broken back from the When they hit him with an AK.”
“I also have back problems because I got hit with back of machine gun.”
We are trying to get these people out, especially State Dept and our military who are both trying to work miracles against restrictive ROEs but they don’t have a good goddamn chance if the Taliban won’t let them near the airport
Insider Paper
https://twitter.com/TheInsiderPaper/status/1428359277610082305
JUST IN - Afghan national team footballer Zaki Anwari was one of the victims who died after falling mid-air from a US military plane at Kabul airport in Afghanistan, according to Ariana News Agency
For people who doubted if the billboards were real!!
https://twitter.com/american_ka/status/1428000509055705092
We need this on every billboard in America.
Biden takes licking on billboards mocking his Afghanistan withdrawal
https://nypost.com/2021/08/18/biden-mocked-on-afghanistan-withdrawal-via-billboards/?utm_medium=SocialFlow&utm_campaign=SocialFlow&utm_source=NYPTwitter
More VIDEO
HAPPENING NOW Extreme chaos outside Kabul airport as Taliban force people, who came to run away from Afghanistan, to go back to their homes
https://twitter.com/TheInsiderPaper/status/1428308671608524803
Biden dismisses Afghans falling out of planes by saying “that was 4-5 days ago.”
It was 2 days ago.
https://twitter.com/RNCResearch/status/1428108235605635073
Oh dear!
Old Fucking me hates to hear straight talk like this:
ecerpt from an article:
The U.S. military can train soldiers in a foreign army how to fight, but it is impossible to train soldiers why they should.
Why should an Afghan government soldier fight for a government that cannot feed him or provide him reinforcements, ammunition, supplies and care for his wounded comrades?
Furthermore, Afghan soldiers became increasingly convinced that their government was corrupt, something that had also been clearly documented in the “Afghanistan Papers” published by The Washington Post.
Meanwhile, the average Taliban soldier firmly believes he is defending his country from foreign occupiers, like his ancestors did against the British or the Soviet Union, and defending his religion against “crusaders.”
An Afghan special forces officer told The Washington Post this week that many soldiers had lost hope following the signing of the agreement between the Taliban and the Trump administration in February 2020.
This accord called for a full withdrawal of all American forces by May 2021 and the release of 5,000 Taliban prisoners. Many experts agree the accord not only isolated and undermined the credibility of the Afghan government, but also meant it could no longer count on American air power and other crucial support on the battlefield. Consequently, Afghan soldiers became receptive to Taliban approaches urging them to surrender. [Oh dear! That sounds like it's Trump's fault!]
The last week has shown the consequences of a deadly combination of lack of willpower, poor leadership, unreliable air support and the poison of corruption. These factors combined to create the disaster that rapidly unfolded.
Biden addressed the nation Monday and acknowledged “this did unfold more quickly than we had anticipated.” He further accepted responsibility and that “the buck stops with me.” But his remarks focused primarily on the policy decision to withdraw American forces after 20 years and not on the execution of the withdrawal. The scenes at Kabul’s airport are eerily reminiscent of the American departure from Saigon in 1975, despite the president’s arguments to the contrary.
The president also argued that his administration had “planned for every contingency,” but facts on the ground dispute this assertion, too. Furthermore, the decision to execute a contingency is often more important than the details of the plan.
The failure to properly plan, prepare and execute an evacuation plan for American and foreign diplomats, aid workers, foreign journalists and Afghans who worked for the United States for the past two decades is inexplicable. It undermines the credibility of a nation already undermined on the world stage by four years of President Donald Trump. Ron Neumann, a former U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan, told The Washington Post, “If Trump undermined the confidence of the world, Biden’s actions, pulling out and leaving a mess in Afghanistan, may simply be chapter two in undercutting fundamental assumptions about America.”
rrb said...
Biden takes licking on billboards mocking his Afghanistan withdrawal
quiet, you'll wake him up
Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, acknowledged in a statement that American intelligence officials had anticipated for years that in the absence of the U.S. military, the Taliban would continue to make gains in Afghanistan. He noted that, in fact, this “is exactly what has happened as the Afghan National Security Forces proved unable or unwilling to defend against Taliban advances in Kabul and across the country.” It is now the responsibility of congressional committees to ask why we were not better prepared and why it seems we ignored so many red flags.
The vast majority of Americans are tired of the war in Afghanistan and likely welcome its conclusion. But even those who support the president’s decision to withdraw (and there are many) must agree it is imperative that we determine how this catastrophe occurred. Otherwise, we will fail to learn from our past mistakes and better prepare ourselves for a challenging future.
At this moment, U.S. service members are still standing guard at the Kabul airport. Hopefully, they will soon be the last Americans to board an aircraft departing Afghanistan, bringing America’s longest war to a sad conclusion. But the end of this war must mark the beginning of our investigation into how we got its final chapter so wrong.
______
I really hate to say it, but it seem pretty evident that Trump's decision to negotiate with the Taliban without the participation of the Afghani military cut off the Afgani govenrment at the knees and led to this disaster.
Wow, thanks for the fine article, F'n.
Trump thinks he's such a genius that negotiating with the Taliban without Afgani involvment would be a brilliant idea.
About like his deplomacy with Kim, with Iran, and with Putin, all of which led to either nothing or worse.
BDW
https://twitter.com/BryanDeanWright/status/1427665790124363785
Former US intelligence colleagues are angry and deeply worried at what has happened in Afghanistan.
Here's what I'm hearing, and why there's nearly universal belief that America and the world are in for one of the most dangerous, unpredictable times in modern history.
Afghanistan has shown the world -- enemies & allies alike -- that our military & intel assets are largely irrelevant because we can't deploy them successfully.
The blame lays at the feet of multiple Presidents. The Generals. The Spies. The Congress.
America's Elites are trash.
China knows it.
They will become emboldened, covertly & overtly. War over Taiwan and contested islands in the S. China Sea and E. China Sea is now more likely.
Russia will consider similar covert & overt moves, focused on Crimea, & former Soviet satellites.
The fear is that China & Russia will act in concert.
Why? America was whipped by a tiny rebel force and couldn't even retreat properly.
Meanwhile, the American people are angry, COVID weary, & divided.
If there were ever a time to push American hegemony aside, this is it.
If Cold War III grows hot, America will need to quickly build up & work with foreign counterparts.
But who will trust America after Afghanistan?
Who believes we have the leadership to use our military might well?
Who will trust us when we say "We Will Stand With You"?
Beyond China/Russia, others will take gambles too.
Terror orgs like al-Qa'ida & ISIS are degraded but not dead. Their ideology is very much alive.
Iran's Hizballah -- with terror cells throughout the US -- may see an opening to create chaos too.
Meanwhile, the disaster inside Afghanistan is only just beginning.
The Taliban will launch a terror campaign against American collaborators. The pictures will shock the conscience of the world, further degrading American moral authority.
Biden & Co will struggle to respond.
There's also the nightmare of tactical weaponry now awash in Afghanistan, in the hands of the Taliban and -- soon -- on the global black market.
These arms will fuel chaos around the world for decades.
The Pentagon has no idea where this stuff is and no plans to destroy it.
Finally, if Afghani refugees pour into the US, there are profound implications for security, culture, the economy, & politics.
Are they properly vetted?
Do they hold Western / tolerant values re: women, gays?
Do they bring skills / education?
Which party will they support?
The existential problem is that America needs good leadership to right its ship but there is none.
Our federal bench is weak.
Biden is a corrupt old man. Impeachment is a long shot; VP Harris is an unpopular paperweight. The Legislature is a feckless cabal of empty suits.
Leadership could come from a state Governor, it's true, but not soon enough.
The above threats by China, Russia, & Co will metastasize well before the 2024 elections, and even a heroic new President will need years to clean things up.
Again, our enemies and allies know this.
Upshot: There is fear and outrage streaming through former intel officers over the Afghanistan debacle.
America is rudderless. And the world now knows it.
Grave dangers lie ahead, some predictable, others unimaginable.
Keep your loved ones tight. Pray. And vote for change.
By the way, the full article can be read at realclearpolitics.com under the title:
Why Did Biden Get Afghanistan Predictions So Wrong? by Jeff McCausland, NBC News
Someone wake Biden up
or is he off chasing butterflies
waiting for his ice cream ?
he's about as much together as the lying POS "pastor" james boswell
he's about as much together as the lying POS "pastor" james boswell
FACT CHECK - TRUE
I'm such a stable genius I know I can negotiate with the Taliban at Camp David and... what? What's that you say?
Bad idea? Why?
Kyle Becker
https://twitter.com/kylenabecker/status/1426996836292866060
Afghanistan is going to prove to be a hard lesson for the U.S. military. But with a little bit more LGBTQ sensitivity training, free transgender surgeries, and CRT indoctrination, we can make sure America is never humiliated on the world stage like this again.
hopefully this Afghanistan "lesson" will be a jump the shark moment for the liberal woke movement
and the beginning of the end for all the "woke"
Well, Donald, at least you were going to have Afghani leaders also present at Camp David, and when that fell through, what did you do.
Nogotiated with the Taliban without the input of Afghani leaders.
You really screwed up there!
Jesse Kelly
https://twitter.com/JesseKellyDC/status/1428339609860202496
Remember when Trump would stroll right up to the media and field questions every day and they pretended he was a Nazi tyrant so they campaigned for a reclusive dementia patient who doesn’t take questions at all?
and has no clue what is going on
or even talk to world leaders other than 2 calls in the last 10 days
Joe Concha
https://twitter.com/JoeConchaTV/status/1428288648949153795
White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain can’t bring himself to be interviewed or questioned in any capacity — a theme for this White House during this crisis — but has in the last 24 hours been retweeting Jen Rubin, Joe Walsh, John Harwood and Aaron Rupar.
White House - MIA
of course there's nobody home
not even the dementia patient
Notice how the Reverend asks questions, expects answers.
But never provides any answers himself.
Par for the course for dishonest people who cannot defend their views.
Why didn't Joe even talk to the leaders of Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, China, Russia etc for the past 10 days before and after this fiasco unfolded?
Don't they have ice cream ?
was he just putting another record on his phonograph
or talking to Hunter and helping count the "big guys" money ?
Tim Pool
https://twitter.com/Timcast/status/1428333238288883715
There are still up to 15,000 Americans in Afghanistan
This is going to be worse than people realize
doesn't appear to worry Joe in the least
was this intentional ?
Off topic, but what she said -
https://twitter.com/i/status/1427849481551106056
Just in case you're curious Scott
The US military has evacuated 7,000 people from Kabul over the past five days, Pentagon officials said. Maj Gen Hank Taylor said there are now more than 5,200 US troops on the ground in Afghanistan, and the Kabul international airport is “secure and open for flight operations”.
rrb said...
Off topic, but what she said -
https://twitter.com/i/status/1427849481551106056
people like her are speaking up all over America
the people have had enough
and are starting to wake up
Video shows American soldiers helping a woman to get over a wall to get into the airport.
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/videos-show-american-soldiers-help-woman-child-over-wall-kabul-n1277142
Alex Wickham
https://twitter.com/alexwickham/status/1428280996730916867
Two remarkable lines in today’s papers from @Steven_Swinford @benrileysmith
— UK military left in the dark by the US about timings and pace of their withdrawal… UK official confirms this is the case
— Biden ignored Boris Johnson’s attempts to speak on the phone for 36+ hours
So now we know of the two contacts Biden had with foreign leaders over the past 10 days the one with Boris Johnson was initiated by Johnson and was ignored for over 36 hours !!!
What the fuck is going on ???
https://twitter.com/alexwickham/status/1428280996730916867
links to references
The US military has evacuated 7,000 people from Kabul over the past five days, Pentagon officials said.
One has to be an imbecile on the scale of Sloppy Joe to believe this shit.
Scott would condem people who fought against an Insurrection if they were Democrats
Protesters took to the streets to rally against Taliban rule for the second day on Thursday, this time marching in Kabul, including near the presidential palace. At one demonstration in the city, about 200 people had gathered before the Taliban broke it up violently.
The Taliban announced a curfew in the southeastern city of Khost, also on Thursday, after protests there. The authorities did not say how long it would be in effect.
And several people were killed in the eastern city of Asadabad when Taliban fighters fired on people waving the national flag at a rally there on Thursday, Afghanistan’s annual Independence Day, according to a witness cited by Reuters.
It was not clear whether the casualties had come from the gunshots or from a stampede they set off, the witness, Mohammed Salim, was quoted by the news agency as saying.
Hurry alky... go find so more shit to plagiarize that does a marginal job at best of damage control for Sloppy Joe.
WASHINGTON – The U.S. has airlifted about 7,000 people out of Kabul by cargo aircraft in the past 5 days, the Pentagon said on Thursday, as U.S. forces race to evacuate as many people as possible with less than two weeks before a self-imposed deadline to pull out of Afghanistan.
Since the end of July, the U.S. has evacuated approximately 12,000 people from Afghanistan, a figure that includes American citizens, U.S. embassy staff, citizens of NATO countries, at-risk Afghan nationals as well as Afghan nationals who have qualified for special immigrant visas.
The U.S. Embassy in Kabul issued a dire warning on Wednesday to U.S. citizens there stating that it "cannot ensure safe passage" to the airport.
The U.S. is relying on an agreement with the Taliban to guarantee the safe passage of Americans.
U.S. forces have opened another secure gate at the airport to facilitate entry into the perimeter for evacuation, Kirby told reporters Thursday. There are approximately 5,200 troops securing Hamid Karzai International Airport and helping with flight evacuations.
It was not clear whether the casualties had come from the gunshots or from a stampede they set off, the witness, Mohammed Salim, was quoted by the news agency as saying.
Talk about a distinction without a difference.
Dead is fucking DEAD.
https://apnews.com/article/joe-biden-0485402ef4a864d68d4a64982c2d3bdf
https://apnews.com/article/joe-biden-0485402ef4a864d68d4a64982c2d3bdf
Since the end of July, the U.S. has evacuated approximately 12,000 people from Afghanistan, a figure that includes American citizens, U.S. embassy staff, citizens of NATO countries, at-risk Afghan nationals as well as Afghan nationals who have qualified for special immigrant visas.
LOL. Suuuuuuuuurrreee they have alky. Sure they have.
You really have to have a heart of stone not to laugh at all the folks you know who voted for Slow Joe an da Ho.
They are the dumbest fucks who walk among us. the problem is these same dumb fucks are going to be directly responsible for getting scores of people killed in the coming days, weeks, and months.
We're looking at YOU alky.
Give us that link a few more times alky. But in Bold because that is known to make it matter more to the chronically stupid.
rrb said...
Hurry alky... go find so more shit to plagiarize that does a marginal job at best of damage control for Sloppy Joe.
alky is trying to stop a tidal wave
and can't even convince himself
didn't think it could be but he's gotten crazier
ROFLMFAO !!!
This undercover VIDEO shows why we need cameras in schools:
https://twitter.com/robbystarbuck/status/1428033173376540676
and this teacher needs to be terminated immediately
Video shows American soldiers helping a woman to get over a wall to get into the airport.
Nothing says having control like the US military sneaking people over a wall like they are trying to skirt the admission fee at a drive in movie.
Like hiding in the trunk of a car to go to the drive in theater!
A friend of mine did that when I first saw Blazing Saddles!
This is why you have to lose the election I want every single kid taught this!
https://twitter.com/rlamick/status/1428430364679163905?s=19
The U.S. has airlifted about 7,000 people out of Kabul by cargo aircraft in the past 5 days
1400/day, huh?
They believe we have upwards of 40,000 Americans alone in Afghanistan that will need to be evacuated. At this rate we will get everyone out around the same time we can redeclare victory over Covid.
Fire this fucking asshole TODAY please:
Despite the Taliban's long history of oppression of women and iron-fisted rule, U.S. State Department spokesman Ned Price Monday urged Afghanistan's new leaders to form an inclusive government that had women in it.
Price cited a United Nations declaration calling for "an immediate cessation of all hostilities and the establishment, through inclusive negotiations, of a new government that is united, inclusive and representative – including with the full, equal and meaningful participation of women."
Price said that the U.S. government would recognize a potential new government of Afghanistan so long as that government "upholds rights, doesn't harbor terrorists, and protects the rights of women and girls." He did not say how the Taliban could convince the U.S. government that it has reformed itself in this way.
https://news.yahoo.com/state-department-calls-taliban-women-202534014.html?fr=yhssrp_catchall
Has joe poured 2500 Elite American war Fighters back into Afghanistan?
This is why you have to lose the election I want every single kid taught this!
Sort of sad that you would need to be "taught" this, Roger!
That all sort of comes naturally to tolerant people.
Has joe poured 2500 Elite American war Fighters back into Afghanistan?
Nothing says orderly withdrawal of approximately 3000 American troop....
like sending in 2500 more troops....
Blogger Roger Amick said...
This is why you have to lose the election I want every single kid taught this!
That's not "teaching" alky. That's indoctrination. Not surprising small thinkers like you would applaud this shit.
Dem Rep. Garamendi Says It’s ‘Not Sensible’ To Provide Safe Passage For Americans From Afghanistan
https://youtu.be/2dLHopq_yUk
Of course...
The only people "not" welcome in that class are straight white males...
https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2021/08/bidens_surrender_presidency.html
You will love the YouTube video
That's further evidence of your mental decline.
Mental decline alky?
You're only 70, you're confined to a nursing home, and you cannot construct a simple thought without your plagiarism crutch.
And you beat up black women for sport.
Hardly the profile of mental health.
Is pederast having conversations with himself
How fucking pathetic
Hey shorty....you ever have something relevant to say other than insults....???????BWAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!
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