"... home to six million people, and that it was in talks with 'the other side' to discuss entering the city without harming its residents. Until the transition of power is done, the current Afghan government would remain responsible for the security of the capital, it said, while adding that a general amnesty was announced for all government officials and soldiers.... Both the U.S. and Afghan government have asked the Taliban to hold off for two weeks until a transitional government could be agreed to, [said saenior Afghan official].... At the U.S. Embassy on Sunday afternoon, helicopters ferried American and Western diplomats and civilians to the military side of Kabul airport. One after another, Chinooks and Black Hawks took off from the landing zone, spraying dust. Below them was a city of traffic jams and roundabouts choked by cars—many of them filled with Afghans trying to reach the airport’s relative safety. Dark smoke, presumably from burning documents, rose from the presidential palace...."
From "Taliban Enter Kabul as Panic Spreads in Afghanistan’s Capital/Mass evacuations of Western diplomats and civilians under way, with insurgents preparing to assume power" (Wall Street Journal).
Posts
26 comments:
The most important news story of the day today, August 15, was written almost three months ago in the Wall Street Journal on April 17, 2021:
https://www.wsj.com/articles/biden-rebuffed-commanders-advice-in-decision-to-leave-afghanistan-11618696597
Just now, asked about that basic report by Jon Karl on ABC This Week, Secretary of State Antony Blinken did not deny it.
Read https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1842_retreat_from_Kabul. They also swore on the Koran that they would let them leave peaceably.
Also on ABC This Week, right after the Secretary of State, comes Congresswoman Liz Cheney;
"I told you..."
She didn't actually use those words. She could have. Instead, she was more detailed and descriptive.
Those "talks" are the same talks as the U.S. used to engage in. The Taliban is demanding unconditional surrender, not negotiated terms.
The defining image of the Biden presidency --
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/E81HzflXMAAX7ba?format=jpg&name=small
Amusing to see Biden blame Trump for this fiasco. Recall Obama saying: "Don't underestimate Joe's ability to (expletive) things up."
From a NYTimes article in Jan 2017: "The antiwar candidate (Obama) of 2008 who had pledged to turn around Afghanistan — the “good war” to George W. Bush’s “bad war” in Iraq — had conceded that the longest military operation in American history would not end on his watch. The optimistic president who once thought Afghanistan was winnable had, through bitter experience, become the commander in chief of a forever war."
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/01/world/asia/obama-afghanistan-war.html
Imagine if all the adults of Kabul had training, a weapon and ammunition. Would that change the thought processes of the Taliban?
Reports that the Taliban have captured 20 USA helicopters and jets. Also reports that B-52’s are bombing US aircraft in Kabul on the runway.
Anyone believe them?
They've just plowed through 90% of the country, setting up a massive purge of those who are not 'like-minded' and setting women back 1000 years, but they know our 'John Kerry' diplomacy runs through this Biden administration. And while China is about to give legitimacy to the Taliban as the rightful rulers of Afghanistan (in order to have access to rare earth minerals there), the Biden team is just looking for what the Kerry model says to look for: A promise that you'll be good. That's all. Nothing else. You give us that promise and we'll walk away and possibly even send you money on top of the armaments we've given to you.
We are such utter dolts when it comes to foreign policy. And domestic policy. One wonders why we have this government? I think it's probably time to defund it, slim it down, make them a part time operation. Everyone in the world would be better for it.
The link in the first comment doesn't work. It should go to "Biden Rebuffed Commanders’ Advice in Decision to Leave Afghanistan/Top generals favored holding the line at 2,500 U.S. troops while negotiators pursued a peace deal."
"Mr. Biden carefully weighed the military’s input, officials say, but was determined to bring involvement in America’s longest-running war to an end by Sept. 11, the 20th anniversary of the 2001 terrorist attacks that led to U.S. military intervention in Afghanistan."
It was such a bad idea to commemorate the disastrous attack with a disastrous demonstration of losing a long war. But he doggedly clung to that idea, even at the cost of making the pull-out much more disastrous.
My thanks to Althouse for promptly correcting my bad link in the first post. Faster than I could have reposted it, since no edits are possible. I previewed it before clicking "publish" and saw it appearing in blue as a hyperlink and so I thought it would be okay.
I wonder if they have woken Biden up in the last 48 hours to give him some ice cream (everyone loves that Gropey loves ice cream!) and tell him he has to rally his NeverTrump/NeoCon "troops" to defend his decision making?
First in line for rallying will be the disgraced moron Liz Cheney, who will be a full time MSNBC lefty commentator come Nov of 2022, who never met a war she wasn't in favor of while simultaneously never meeting a conflict she'd ever send one of her family members into.
Lining it up with 9/11 - is so Stephen Colbert/ democrat back-slapping late night tongue bath.
"The Taliban in a statement said that they wouldn’t take Kabul by force.
...because they don't have to. When your enemy is negotiating a peaceful transition, you have already won.
What is happening in Afghanistan is an armed insurrection. Where is the Democrat resistance to the overthrow of the democratically elected government of Afghanistan?
Who cares what Liz Cheney has to say about anything?
B-52 bombers head to Afghanistan
Drago said...
I wonder if they have woken Biden up in the last 48 hours to give him some ice cream ...?
So Biden is not yet "woke"?
That's reassuring.
I have written it before and will write it again- this outcome was always the ultimate endpoint. We were never going to stay forever and we no longer have the will to do what was actually necessary to eradicate the Taliban. Whether we leave today, tomorrow, or 50 years from now, this same clusterfuck was going to happen.
To PB above: maybe this would have changed the calculus, but here is the problem- Kabul and the cities are full of Taliban and Taliban sympathizers; surely not a majority, but a significant fraction- you would have been directly arming them, too, all along for 20 years.
There are numerous decisions made over the last 20 years that led to this day, but Bush's decision to nation build a kind of democracy was the main one- it was a hopeless task unless one is willing to literally eradicate the Taliban (and I doubt this is possible, but it is the only potential path to build a more modern functioning Afghan government). The same thing is going to happen in Iraq when we finally fully depart, which we will at some point because staying forever isn't a realistic option.
I don't blame Biden for this outcome- it was going happen, slowly or quickly, but it was going to happen. Ultimately, not enough of the Afghanis ever wanted us there, nor did the ones we put in charge have the competence to rule the country. Maybe, just maybe, we have learned the lesson, but I doubt it. We ourselves have become too corrupt and incompetent to do anything correctly.
Fox is reporting that US personnel are being directed to shelter in place. Just to give the significance of this order this is what we were to be told on our base when there was an active shooter situation.
Today is like the Hemingway Quote.
"How did you loose Afghanistan?" Two ways. Gradually, then suddenly.".
Far from it for me to defend Pres. Biden, but: We saw this already under Pres. Trump. The military commanders and advisors lied to him, manipulating to get the continuation of the war they wanted. After a while, both Trump and Biden decided that there's no sense in listening to them anymore. CNN and the Wall Street Journal never figured that out.
Probably the truth is that they are so messed-up over there that they just are not able to plan an orderly withdrawal. Planes? What planes?
Maybe fire the lot of them since they aren't currently doing anything anyhow, and begin to rebuild the military without all the woke idiots. Of course because Joe Biden will do no such thing.
Suddenly the NYT and the "Wise old grey beards" on the internet are all concerned with Afghanistan. It'd be interesting to know how much ink the MSM spent in the last 10 years giving us the hard facts, and the who, what, when, and why justifying our presence in Afghanistan. Instead all we got was people (including Bush) blathering about Afghan women rights and "We can't let the Taliban win".
We seem to have these unending occupations of various countries, without any convincing explaination as to why we're still there or why its so VITAL to the USA. And then when we leave, all the Forign Policy exburts and idiots like Lindsey Graham start crying about how we're letting down our "noble allies" and crying bitter tears. Where did all this come from? One asks. Its all rather absurd.
"Nothing in his life became him, like the leaving it" says Malcolm in Macbeth. One can say about the US Presence in Afghanistan. I guess we'll have to go play "Risk" in another country.
The Best and the Brightest
Not a good idea to join the US military.
The US should have withdrawn from Afghanistan in 2002.
The commanders and the presidents wasted US military lives on a completely useless mission to nation build in Afghanistan.
They have no credibility. Do not get killed or wounded for these idiots.
Telling your enemy and onlookers that you won’t take the city by force is saying you don’t need to because your enemy is pissing their pants and surrendering ground to you so why waste energy and ammunition? It’s a statement meant to humiliate Joe our commanders and the USA in general. The Taliban spokesman certainly read his Sun Tzu. And their new best buds the Red Army are asking themselves if this is the best time to move on Taiwan, knowing we won’t do shit about it while Joe’s “in charge.”
The news filtering out could hardly be worse. I am afraid that this will get very, very ugly indeed. Essentially we have a bunch of hostages in there now. I also agree that this is pretty much equivalent to waving the "Go" flag at Xi.
Post a Comment