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U.S. military not ready to seek, rescue potential Kabul evacuees

78 Comments
By ROBERT BURNS, ELLEN KNICKMEYER and ZEKE MILLER

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78 Comments

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Poor Afghan people. There are a lot of people to blame for this. Especially the two corrupt (utterly corrupt) presidents of Afghanistan after the 2001 invasion... Hamid Karzai and Ashraf Ghani, two men who put their pockets before the security and well-being of Afghans. They should be held accountable.

Best of luck to "acting" president Amrullah Saleh and the son of the "Lion of Panjshir", Ahmad Massoud.

There's no much to be said about Afghanistan right now.

9 ( +11 / -2 )

If they can’t challenge these goat herders in sandals, how will they fair against a major army like China or Iran?

What a profound sense of understanding you display of Afghani culture, facts on the ground, and the theory of conflict in general! Yes, sometimes it does come down to sandals and goats.

8 ( +10 / -2 )

We should go back to pre-9/11 days and just leave them to their own device and let them do whatever they want

In their own country, yes leave them alone. No more invasions.

Have the failed US invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan made Americans at home any safer.

How do chicken and war-hawks who favor greater US defense spending feel about seeing the Taliban carrying and using US weapons again.

if you pay taxes you paid for those weapons. The US defense industries and their investors must not care, it must not matter to them who is using the weapons, because they've already made their money.

5 ( +7 / -2 )

Lot of blame game going on in the States, but never forget the cabal of Rumsfeld, Cheney, Bill Kristol the Project for a New American Century and their neo con enablers who got this project off the ground and got away scot free.

5 ( +6 / -1 )

It is beyond belief that President Biden is falling back on blaming Donald Trump for the withdrawal insanity.

Congress bipartisan Afghan study team warned, and gave a full report of the impending chaos months ago.

4 ( +11 / -7 )

A fubar idea

A fubar mission started by “smokem out” bush, continued by Barack “the good war” Obama, the end finalized by Donald “unnecessary wars” Trump, accomplished under Biden.

And now a fubar exit.

Nobody should be surprised by this.

I’ve been saying this for 17 years on here to my fellow Americans. If you wanna stop this senseless waste and wars, then stop voting for establishment Dems and Reps. Trump IMO was not establishment, and he got us out.

4 ( +10 / -6 )

Hindsight being 20/20, the U.S. should have brought in more troops, a mini-surge, in order to maintain a defense of Kabul. When the U.S. citizens and Afghans selected are evacuated, then the troops would've probably been engaged in a fighting retreat back to the airport. Too much faith was placed in the fighting ability and will to fight of the Afghan soldiers to hold off the Taliban for long enough so the U.S. could pull off a successful withdrawal and evacuation.

Situation now, establish a perimeter as far as possible around the airport. Difficult and dangerous to do, but a wider perimeter would probably permit more opportunities for people to slip in and be absorbed. Also, an extension of the Aug. 31st deadline is going to be necessary, especially for those people outside of Kabul across Afghanistan.

An ugly situation whichever way you look at it, and this doesn't take into consideration the situation in the far flung former outposts across Afghanistan which are completely out of U.S. hands. Of course, if the Taliban wanted to establish good relations with the U.S. as they claim, then they could permit the U.S. to reopen those airports and permit evacuees in without Taliban checkpoints.

It's also shocking to hear reports that the U.S. didn't consult more with its allies about the withdrawal and evacuation. The allies seem to be as surprised and unbalanced as the Afghans. Obviously, somebody in the Biden administration, probably Sec. of State Blinken most of all, screwed up horribly.

4 ( +4 / -0 )

It’s absolutely horrendous that those that helped (at great personal risk) the coalition efforts no matter, now literally being left to their fate. It’s a stain of blood on those countries who’s “intervention” was to free the Afghan people.

3 ( +6 / -3 )

We spent 43 billion a year,they could at least fought

3 ( +5 / -2 )

Why was this not done earlier? Are they that shortsighted?

3 ( +4 / -1 )

I knew 20 years ago that US will not win! US had 20 years to prepare for this, and failed at protecting their friends AGAIN! Anyone who trusts US word, gets screwed!

3 ( +5 / -2 )

Donald Trump so called deal was fully reviewed. Both President Biden and Vice President Harris fully endorsed measures contained with the withdrawal arrangements.

Afghan war: Biden administration to review Trump's Taliban deal...

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-55775522

3 ( +4 / -1 )

Everybody messes up, that is life, we learn from experience to take responsibility, take measures to rectify those mistakes.

Hold your hands up.

When you start blaming others, that's a failure of leadership, lacking the courage to admit fault, a glaring character flaw

it outright cowardice.

3 ( +4 / -1 )

"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it'."

The US did not learn from Vietnam. Billions of dollars and thousands of lives lost just to prop up what cannot be sustained....

3 ( +3 / -0 )

When the process of withdrawal was implemented then the shocking truth started to emerge of across the board organizational failures on every level.

US left Afghan airfield at night, didn't tell new commander.

https://apnews.com/article/bagram-afghanistan-airfield-us-troops-f3614828364f567593251aaaa167e623

The warning signs of the mayhem were clearly visible. The action of closing Bagram left remaining US personal, embassy staff, Afghan interpreters with no secure exit route.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

Why in good conscious the US. legitimize the same Taliban,that aided in 9/11 take power again

2 ( +2 / -0 )

Seriously?! The ‘greatest’ military power in the history of the world isn’t ready to repatriate its own people?! No wonder they are as despised as the Romans were in those occupied territories.

2 ( +4 / -2 )

China and Russia will be the biggest winners in Afghanistan. 

Yep, Russia is going to "win" in Afghanistan. Seriously? LOL. History tells us that no one "wins" in Afghanistan, least not Russia.

2 ( +3 / -1 )

We should go back to pre-9/11 days and just leave them to their own device and let them do whatever they want, even plan to kill Americans or anyone else in the West? Why?

Not surprising that some chicken-hawks in the far far right who had previously cheered on the US invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan, want to continue the same failed policies. And not surprising that once again they are unwilling to be anything more than cheerleaders. They expect others from a different caste to risk their lives for. them and their investments.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

"another losing cause..."

Yep, like allowing girls to go to school, etc. America and the West should stop imposing its own morality on other vastly different countries.

1 ( +3 / -2 )

The US has a responsibility about Afghan co-workers and their families been working together for decades there. The US military would have to go and rescue them from there.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Ok, so what about the thousands of stranded Americans that we can’t get out and who’s fate are now at this point uncertain?

If they were working for the US govt in a forced deployment, there is a US responsibility to get them out.

If they are there for any other reason, it is their own issue for staying in a war area too long. I hope they were well paid. I've looked at a few jobs around the world that had very high pay, but decided those places were just too scary to go for work regardless of the pay. Money isn't any good if you don't get to spend it, eventually.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

 the two corrupt (utterly corrupt) presidents of Afghanistan after the 2001 invasion... Hamid Karzai and Ashraf Ghani, two men who put their pockets before the security and well-being of Afghans. They should be held accountable.

It should urprise no one where corrupt Ghani has been given refuge.

Afghanistan's President Ashraf Ghani has taken refuge in the United Arab Emirates, the Gulf nation says.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-58260902

1 ( +2 / -1 )

Total debacle. And Biden says this was part of the plan? Shameful

1 ( +4 / -3 )

Not true in reality.

No, it is true. Obama was warned and advised not to let the most dangerous terrorists out of Gitmo, he didn’t listen, the point and the end result is, This guy is in the leadership of the Taliban and now the country disintegrated under Joe Biden’s watch and you see he knows he screwed up. Watch his interview with George Stephanopoulos and watch how testy and defensive he gets.

Kill one leader and another will appear and take over.

And you keep on killing them, as long as you can make bullets, you can continue to engage as many jihadists that want to become martyrs.

If it was true the Taliban leadership, the ISIS leadership and Al Quida could have all been killed off decades ago.

One reason why so many of them were killed was because of the rules of engagement and had the US not have them in place were allowed to take these fighters out unrestrained, it would have been decimated and less willing to attack, but when you have one hand tied behind your back and you are allowed limited engagement or allow to use certain amount of force, you’re not going to win anything, ever. And yes, It’s true, you cannot kill an ideology, but you can kill as many fighters as you can and the more you kill, the more they are reluctant to stage a massive attack in massive numbers. They will change their tactics to fight you sporadically, randomly which makes it always more difficult.

1 ( +3 / -2 )

I feel encouraged that this will get the attention it deserves now that Sec. Austin and Gen. Milley appear to have (temporarily) shifted their focus from fighting "white rage" and other imaginary adversaries to actual military operations.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

Sending the US troops into Kabul is a bad idea, the taliban are itching for a fight and it’ll cause more bloodshed.

However Americans, who want to leave, need to be evacuated. So if it involves working with the Pakistanis or even the Turks, it should be done.

The hypocrisy of the the right wing is getting beyond pathetic now.

The spineless. Nikki Haley came up with this beauty ‘Negotiating with the Taliban is like dealing with the devil.’

Your master the former guy was doing just that a few months ago, ROFL!!!

0 ( +3 / -3 )

Leave sovereign states alone.

If western capitalism is so great, the capitalists in charge should be able to find ways to profit without invading other nations.

0 ( +2 / -2 )

The 300,000 armed Afghan forces did nothing but surrender to the Taliban

Thats cuz 15,000 were already Taliban.

Think about it.

What a deal! Taliban recruits join the US/Afghan army, 3 meals a day, a cot, and FREE training in the latest weapons.

By the way, this went on under Bush and Obama for 14 years. Trump got us out! I just don't understand how this escapes some people.

0 ( +3 / -3 )

Trump reduced the troop numbers to 2,500. Not enough for a secure exit which should have happened at the Bagram airfield.

Trump warned the Taliban Americans were leaving. The Taliban had time to wait and organise to overrun the country.

Khairullah Khairkhwa

*Held in Guantanamo Bay from 2002-2014

*1 of the “Taliban Five” traded for Bowe Bergdahl by the Obama administration.

*Previously served as the Taliban’s interior minister in Afghanistan.

*Accused of being a close associate of OBL.

*Pentagon previously deemed him too dangerous to be released from Gitmo.

There is enough blame to go around, but as Biden said, “ultimately, the buck stops with me.”

0 ( +2 / -2 )

Trump released 5,000 Taliban fighters last year.

Khairullah Khairkhwa 

*Held in Guantanamo Bay from 2002-2014

*1 of the “Taliban Five” traded for Bowe Bergdahl by the Obama administration

Even worse.

0 ( +3 / -3 )

You say the release of one Taliban is worse than the release of 5,000 fighters.

The snakes poison is located in the head, as long as the head is attached to the snakes head there’s always the threat of it striking, if you want to kill it, you need to cut off its head.

Member of the Taliban team which negotiated with Trump.

Again, cut off the snakes head, start from the beginning. Obama allowed the snake to keep its head. Start from there. Bergdahl should have been left to his own device. He went AWOL and people died trying to get this guy out. If he were a captured POW, totally different. Against the advice of the NSA, CIA and other intel officials Obama allowed the five most deadliest terrorists to go free in exchange to save an ungrateful and cowardly American.

0 ( +3 / -3 )

Lots of "experts" commenting about what a disaster this is. For starters, had the US began evacuations last month, what message would that have sent to the Afghan military or even the Taliban about US confidence in regards to defending Kabul? How do you plan an "orderly evacuation" when you haven't been defeated? I'd like to hear your ideas.

Furthermore, the Taliban have been cooperating. We haven't seen the mass executions of interpreters the US media promised everyone. Talis have promised amnesty. Don't trust the Taliban? Ok, trust the people that told you the US was "winning in Afghanistan" for 20 years.

Things could have been really ugly, but they're not. In fact, this transition of power is going waaaaay smoother than the recent US transition.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

No wonder after the disasterous last four years the way the Trump administration mistreated and under-funded our military....

https://www.cnbc.com/2019/12/21/trump-signs-738-billion-defense-bill.html

His failed "retreat" agreement with the Taliban in Feb 2020 is the direct cause of this implosion...

As well as Obama being the catalyst for releasing the Taliban five most dangerous terrorists who are now running the country as a result of that disastrous decision.

One more Trump foreign policy blunder to add to the long list...

Anyway, as the “current President” of the US that caused this what is Biden’s next plan to get our people out?

The US government's main purpose is to protect and help stranded Ametican citizens overseas and this so-called administration intentionally ignores it.

Just mystifying this administration.

0 ( +3 / -3 )

USG on CNN, "if the Taliban disrupt or attack our evacuation efforts there will be swift retaliation!"

USG secretly to Taliban, "here's a plane load of cash to pay for the privilege of evacuating your citizens, and pretty PLEASE don't attack us."

0 ( +1 / -1 )

No wonder after the disasterous last four years the way the Trump administration mistreated and under-funded our military....

https://www.cnbc.com/2019/12/21/trump-signs-738-billion-defense-bill.html

Perhaps no one was less surprised last week when it was reported that U.S. President Donald Trump had called American war dead “losers” and “suckers” than his former high school classmate George M. White. 

The 74-year-old retired Army veteran was Trump’s superior—the first captain, or highest-ranking cadet—in Trump’s 1964 graduating class at the New York Military Academy. White said he witnessed up close Trump’s contempt for military service, discipline, and tradition, as well his ungoverned sense of entitlement, all helped along by his father Fred Trump’s generous donations to the school.

https://foreignpolicy.com/2020/09/08/trump-mocked-us-military-troops-losers-whole-life/

His failed "retreat" agreement with the Taliban in Feb 2020 is the direct cause of this implosion...

As well....

Thanks for agreeing with me....

One more Trump foreign policy blunder to add to the long list...

Anyway, as the “current President” of the US that caused this what is Biden’s next plan to get our people out?

Iraq-failed, Syria-failed, Hong Kong-failed, North Korea-failed....now Afghanistan....the Trump failure list goes on....and that doesn't count the failed insurrection on Jan 6th...

0 ( +2 / -2 )

The moment of truth has at last dawned on Afghans who have been getting a harsh quick lesson in Realpolitik 101, learning, as did Native Americans long before them, that the word of the "Great White Father" in Washington isn't worth the paper it's written on. And ditto for those who put their trust in the mendacious blather of old-hand imperialist meddlers from "Perfidious Albion". Let's hope the Taliban can play fair enough to reassure ALL Afghanis they will be given a means of making a livelihood and a feeling of security because the Taliban leadership have no illusions about what is needed to put the country back on its feet and are now most concerned of all about the ongoing brain drain to the West which poses the greatest threat to the future viability of the new regime.

-1 ( +3 / -4 )

Vietnam all over again.

Let Russia and China have Afghanistan. The U.S. and the rest of the west should get on their horses and make dependency on oil a thing of the past.

-1 ( +1 / -2 )

Thats cuz 150,000 were already Taliban.

-1 ( +2 / -3 )

In 2018, the Trump administration secured the release from a Pakistani prison of the man now widely expected to be the president of the Taliban’s new government, Abdul Ghani Baradar.

Obama did. the prisoner exchange with Bergdahl back in 2014 that makes it 4 years earlier where he negotiated with terrorists for a deserter and the exchange was for the most violent jihadists at the time. If you want to blame Trump for that move fine, Then at the same time you have to give credit to what Obama did back in 2014 he takes a lot of blame for this and even worse Biden for what he did last week. And with Biden it’s worse because he’s the President, he just ruined his chances of another possible 2nd term.

-1 ( +1 / -2 )

We had our own secure airfield. Biden gave the order to abandon it 1.5 months ago. and we left in the middle of the night without informing our Afghan partners.

-2 ( +9 / -11 )

Huge Biden administration policy failure.

-2 ( +5 / -7 )

PTownsendToday  07:44 am JST.

Have the failed US invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan made Americans at home any safer.

Since Afghanistan is safe and peace.... Only those who fall from the US plane were the bad people and they are dead.

From now on USA is going to be the MOST safest nation in the world for next few centuries ...

Long live Holy Biden and his worshippers..

-2 ( +3 / -5 )

Not surprising that some chicken-hawks in the far far right who had previously cheered on the US invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan, want to continue the same failed policies.

What does that have to do with Biden and his mounting problems in handling this deteriorating crisis. This is a failed policy gone amok.

And not surprising that once again they are unwilling to be anything more than cheerleaders.

No one is cheerleading what is going on.

They expect others from a different caste to risk their lives for. them and their investments

Yeah? And Biden and Kamala are doing what exactly at this moment?

-2 ( +3 / -5 )

If western capitalism is so great, the capitalists in charge should be able to find ways to profit without invading other nations

Socialist leaders love using socialism to control every single aspect of people’s lives, but they love Capitalism to help bring in the big bucks to line up and stuff their pockets and if that helps to keep them in power, so be it.

-2 ( +3 / -5 )

The buck stops with Biden, didnt you hear him? Biden the Buck Stopper.

he says nothing could have been done any better than it was done.

we all "knew" there would be chaos, and he doesnt know how he could have prevented that, he said.

-2 ( +3 / -5 )

The U.S. military does not have the forces and firepower in Afghanistan to expand its current mission from securing the Kabul airport to collecting Americans and at-risk Afghans elsewhere in the capital and escorting them for evacuation, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said Wednesday.

No wonder after the disasterous last four years the way the Trump administration mistreated and under-funded our military....

He refused to attend a WW II ceremony because he didn't want to get his hair wet, and has referred to our military veterans as "suckers and losers"...

His failed "retreat" agreement with the Taliban in Feb 2020 is the direct cause of this implosion...

One more Trump foreign policy blunder to add to the long list...

-2 ( +2 / -4 )

They,the US has legal obligation to pay an American fare,these people have no place to stay in America,living in a run down apartment building full of drug dealers,is just as worse,

-3 ( +0 / -3 )

Zichi , are these White American, if not they are not priority,America is made up of many racial and ethnic group,and Whites are not concern about people or cultures ,not like them,

-3 ( +0 / -3 )

If western capitalism is so great, the capitalists in charge should be able to find ways to profit without invading other nations

Socialist leaders love using socialism to control every single aspect of people’s lives, but they love Capitalism to help bring in the big bucks to line up and stuff their pockets and if that helps to keep them in power, so be it.

Socialism is controlling our lives! Big Tech is like 1984! Soros and Zuckerberg and billionaires want to force socialism ! The Taliban are Marxist Islamists!

The noise to signal ratio on posts like this , from the usual suspects, is just absurd.

Ultimately, the Afghanistan project was a neo-conservative adventure that benefited a bunch of private military contractors, Haliburton and associates. That is where the blame lies.

-3 ( +0 / -3 )

What a great way to keep present alliances and make new friends!

Even U.S. service dogs were evacuated by USAF, while thousands of local collaborators were abandoned. Also left at the Kabul airport were dozens of Bulgarian, Rumanian, Ukrainian and other military contractors. All other American allies, particularly Iraqis and Kurds, with great interest observe the real attitude of America to their "friends and allies".

In Saigon'75 the U.S. at least tried to do something. In Kabul they even don't try.

-3 ( +1 / -4 )

The US government's main purpose is to protect and help stranded Ametican citizens overseas and this so-called administration intentionally ignores it.

-3 ( +1 / -4 )

All Americans are American regardless of skin colour.

But let's not kid ourselves: as Orwell would have put it, some are "more American" than others. And there is a "pecking order" in play that can be a matter of life and death for those wishing to flee the clutches of the Taliban regime.

-3 ( +1 / -4 )

In another losing cause, Trillions were spent on arming the US military, yet still war- and chicken-hawks want to continue to spend more.

Not surprising that many hawks of all sorts oppose spending money on infrastructure and projects that would benefit people within the US borders.

It's long passed time for the US to move away from a an economy so reliant on fighting wars abroad in attempts to get control over another state's resources and also have greater control over how resources are shipped.

It's long passed time for any empire to stop doing the same, looking at you China and Russia, or any other country wanting to continue the practices of empires throughout history.

Leave sovereign state alone.

-4 ( +4 / -8 )

“Biden approved the “discontinuation of the establishment, and termination of, the Contingency and Crisis Response Bureau (CCR),” a new State Department entity created during the Trump administration to coordinate emergency response services overseas.”

who still ridin with Biden?

-4 ( +3 / -7 )

Meanwhile, not much from the MSM about why Obama let this continue during his 8 years in power. Deflection much?

Obama messed up, not surprising a centrist like him was unwilling to take on the military establishment. Speaking of deflection and conspiracy theories once again the far right rightists blame the 'media'

-4 ( +0 / -4 )

Only one president withdrew troops from Afghanistan.

-4 ( +1 / -5 )

When did Trump supporters become worried about the truth?

Always. But again, I’m not thinking about Trump. I’m thinking what will this President do to get his people out of this dilemma.

-4 ( +3 / -7 )

This is not new for Biden, he has always had a disturbingly benign idea of how complex military operations are and how they should be conducted and this is way Bob Gates said that Biden has been wrong on every foreign policy issue and this is not new, he’s made statements like this back during the Vietnam era as well.

A transcript of an April 14, 1975, meeting with U.S. President Gerald Ford and other senators in the Oval Office shows Biden, then a 32-year-old freshman senator, was resistant to any continued involvement in Vietnam, and he didn’t even want to approve money that would help get the United States’ former South Vietnamese allies out of the country. “I am not sure I can vote for an amount to put American troops in for one to six months to get the Vietnamese out,” he said. “I will vote for any amount for getting the Americans out. I don’t want it mixed with getting the Vietnamese out.” On April 25, 1975, Biden voted to oppose the Vietnam Contingency Act of 1975, which would have sent emergency relief funds to South Vietnam to be used partly for evacuation.

So even back then Biden just had no idea or proper understanding of how the world works geopolitically and never calculated the afterward impact of what could happen if he decided to leave and leave everything behind, now we are seeing the consequences of this major blunder and now everyone in the Pentagon is in full CYA mode and the NSA as well as senior military officials including Miley had all worn this President of doing a hasty pullout without leaving a residual force behind and we are seeing the effects of that playing out in real time.

-5 ( +3 / -8 )

So Biden says the US is not leaving until all Americans are out. But the military says they have has no plans or even ability to get them out.

would have been a great and obvious question about this discrepancy but Biden doesn’t take questions, come on man.

-7 ( +3 / -10 )

In another losing cause, Trillions were spent on arming the US military, yet still war- and chicken-hawks want to continue to spend more. 

Not surprising that many hawks of all sorts oppose spending money on infrastructure and projects that would benefit people within the US borders. 

Ok, so what about the thousands of stranded Americans that we can’t get out and who’s fate are now at this point uncertain?

It's long passed time for any empire to stop doing the same, looking at you China and Russia, or any other country wanting to continue the practices of empires throughout history. 

Leave sovereign state alone

Even a radical jihadist Islamic State that wants to kill and convert all infidels? We should go back to pre-9/11 days and just leave them to their own device and let them do whatever they want, even plan to kill Americans or anyone else in the West? Why?

-8 ( +5 / -13 )

This is just such a mess. This administration is completely damaged. Kamala is off on vacation, Psaki is nowhere to be found and now Biden’s own NSA and top military officials were saying they tried to warn him not to proceed with this move and warned him to keep a residual force and he ignored them despite all the intel that showed him the possible consequences were he to make this move.

He holds a press conference about booster shots and then walks off not even addressing the complications and dire and deteriorating conditions with stranded Americans and not responding at all, astounding, just speechless.

-11 ( +11 / -22 )

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