Wars & Rumours of Wars

nivek said:

Instead of getting all of the American civilians out ahead of time for the sake of their safety, Biden is okay with leaving them there to fend for themselves if they cannot make it to that airport which they also have to do on their own without US military's help or support...This is getting worse and worse...

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It's very distressing. I don't believe I can remember a similar self-induced crisis. For example, the Iranian hostage situation was forced upon us. And in Vietnam, my understanding has always been that the only Americans not evacuated were those in the hands of the communists.

I wouldn’t be surprised if a hostage crisis comes from this

pigfarmer said:

I wouldn’t be surprised if a hostage crisis comes from this

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Sadly, I don't see how not. The Taliban will snatch up all the American, and other Westerners, that they can get their hands on.

'That was four or five days ago!' Biden snaps in car-crash interview after being asked about Afghans falling from planes in Kabul and claims US could NOT have gotten out 'without chaos ensuing'



President Joe Biden angrily defended his handling of the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, saying on Wednesday that chaos was unavoidable and snapping when asked about horrific images of Afghans falling from planes. 'That was four days ago, five days ago,' he said, even though the images of people falling to their deaths emerged on Monday. The combative moment came during an interview with former Clinton White House official George Stephanopoulos for ABC News. Biden has avoided taking questions on the Afghanistan crisis for more than a week. Scenes of civilians swamping planes on the runway at the Kabul airport, desperate for escape, have triggered bipartisan criticism that the Biden administration should have been better prepared. 'What did you think when you first saw those pictures?' Stephanopoulos asked. 'What I thought was, we have to gain control of this,' said Biden. 'We have to move this more quickly. We have to move in a way in which we can take control of that airport. And we did.'

By late Tuesday, U.S. officials said they had rescued 3,200 people from Afghanistan, including all embassy personnel, except for a core group of diplomats who remained at Kabul airport. But commanders admit they are unable to leave Hamid Karzai International Airport to help other Americans - and their Afghan allies - to safety. Stephanopoulos asked whether the exit could have been better handled. 'No, I don't think it could 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 know how that happened,' said Biden.

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Biden admin moved to dismantle protections for citizens trapped overseas months before Kabul’s fall: memo

The Biden administration moved in June to dismantle a system designed to protect American citizens trapped abroad — just months before the Taliban took over Afghanistan, stranding thousands of Americans in the Central Asian country.

Fox News has obtained the June 11 memo sent around the State Department which gave the green light on the "discontinuation of the establishment, and the termination of, the Contingency and Crisis Response Bureau (CCR)."

The sensitive but unclassified memo was signed by Deputy Secretary of State Brian McKeon, just a couple of months before the Biden administration’s botched troop withdrawal that saw Afghanistan fall under Taliban control.

CCR was formed under Trump-era Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and was tasked with providing "aviation, logistics, and medical support capabilities for the Department's operational bureaus, thereby enhancing the secretary's ability to protect American citizens overseas in connection with overseas evacuations in the aftermath of a natural or man-made disaster."

The bureau could have played a role in the response to the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan, where thousands of American citizens and allies are trapped behind terrorist lines.

(More on the link)

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British officials fear the US could pull out of Kabul within DAYS leaving thousands stranded despite Biden's promise to stay until all US citizens are out: President is accused of keeping closest ally in the dark

• Security sources in the UK have expressed concerns about an imminent US departure from Kabul airport, which British and American troops are protecting
• They told The Guardian that they were in the dark about US plans - and if the US withdrew the 6,000 troops currently at the airport, the UK could not hold it
• Joe Biden was forced to deny that there was an imminent departure from the airport, and on Wednesday night insisted they would stay as long as needed
• An estimated 15,000 US citizens remain in Afghanistan, and 4,000 Britons
• The mistrust between the two allies has surprised many - but Britain has been left reeling by the speed of the collapse of Afghanistan, at Biden's behest

(More on the link)

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Terrorists celebrate fall of Afghanistan and Taliban's return

Supporters of al Qaeda and other extremist social media accounts posted triumphant messages this week after the Taliban retook power in Afghanistan, sparking renewed concerns that the country could function as a haven for terror groups following the impending U.S. withdrawal.

Pro-al Qaeda social media accounts posted an unsigned message on Monday after the Taliban entered the capital city of Kabul and prompted Afghan President Ashraf Ghani to flee the country. The message congratulated "the brothers" – a reference to Taliban militants – following the takeover.

"Afghanistan is Conquered and Islam has Won," the message said, according to the SITE Intelligence Group, a non-governmental organization that monitors jihadist social media accounts.

The Wall Street Journal was first to report on the messages.

Hamas issued a similar celebratory statement following the fall of Kabul, lauding the Taliban’s return as a "defeat of the American occupation on all Afghan lands." Palestinian Islamic Jihad and Somalia's al-Shabaab also released congratulatory messages, according to Reuters.

(More on the link)

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The shadow said:

Joe Biden 'mentally unfit to continue office', claims ex-White House doctor

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I have a strong suspicion that this is the case. I can only hope appropriate non-biased cognitive testing on Biden is performed.

Unfortunately, even if such a shocking, historical development as the medically-warranted removal of a President were to happen, a big problem still would remain, Kamala Harris. Although I don't doubt that she is cognitively fit for the job in a medical sense, I don't have confidence about her general competency as a leader. Though one could be optimistic that she would heed the advice of those who have an objective understanding of what is going on and the recommended courses of action, regarding whatever issues. Still, far from ideal...

nivek said:

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Well, thanks Ron. How would we do all that exactly ? If he's been thinking of that all night maybe he would have thought out the next step.

When I saw IMF I thought - damn! Now we'll fix this! But it isn't about Mr. Phelps and Barney and Paris at all.

The other IMF has suspended funds marked for Afghanistan IMF suspends Afghanistan's access to funds

This is where the hostage crisis comes from, IMO, when the money starts to dry up.

nivek said:

Terrorists celebrate fall of Afghanistan and Taliban's return

Supporters of al Qaeda and other extremist social media accounts posted triumphant messages this week after the Taliban retook power in Afghanistan, sparking renewed concerns that the country could function as a haven for terror groups following the impending U.S. withdrawal.

Pro-al Qaeda social media accounts posted an unsigned message on Monday after the Taliban entered the capital city of Kabul and prompted Afghan President Ashraf Ghani to flee the country. The message congratulated "the brothers" – a reference to Taliban militants – following the takeover.

"Afghanistan is Conquered and Islam has Won," the message said, according to the SITE Intelligence Group, a non-governmental organization that monitors jihadist social media accounts.

The Wall Street Journal was first to report on the messages.

Hamas issued a similar celebratory statement following the fall of Kabul, lauding the Taliban’s return as a "defeat of the American occupation on all Afghan lands." Palestinian Islamic Jihad and Somalia's al-Shabaab also released congratulatory messages, according to Reuters.

(More on the link)

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Biden has emboldened terrorists around the world, are we going to see more brazen terrorist attacks in the near future?...

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'Nobody can get to Kabul airport': Increasingly frantic Western expats say they can't reach their evacuation flights because huge crowd of terrified Afghans is blocking their access - including desperate mothers who are giving their BABIES to soldiers



Westerners and visa holders trying to flee Afghanistan cannot get into Kabul airport today because of 'huge crowds' of 'terrified locals' who are blocking the entrances, MailOnline has been told. Paul Farthing, a British ex-Marine who now lives in Kabul, described the situation as a 'clusterf***' - saying at least one British and one Canadian ex-pat have been forced to turn back from the airport already today, adding that he cannot even get as far as the Taliban checkpoint before the airport because there are so many people.

Australian and Canadian citizens also said it is 'not possible' to reach the airstrip because there is 'lots of firing' and 'too many people'. UK defence secretary Ben Wallace insisted that Taliban guards are letting people through checkpoints, but those on the ground painted a very different picture - saying Islamists appeared to have little idea who to allow through while dishing out beatings, lashings and firing shots seemingly at random (left). Such is the desperation among crowds at the airport that women have resorted to passing babies over barbed wire to soldiers in a vain attempt to get them out of the country. Meanwhile the UN warned that fighters are going through crowds to hunt down anyone they suspect of working with US or British troops for 'punishment' - despite publicly insisting there will be no reprisal attacks.

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You hear a crash and your kid is out in the driveway holding a baseball bat.

Your car window has been smashed in by a baseball.

When you say to Junior 'look at what you've done' his response is 'it isn't my fault, this happened because of another kid who was playing here several months ago'

Naturally any parent would simply say 'oh' and 'you're a good boy' and 'let's talk about something else you want to talk about'.

The text of Trump's agreement with the Taliban is at this US State Department address:

https://www.state.gov/wp-content/up...or-Bringing-Peace-to-Afghanistan-02.29.20.pdf

Although it is not clear if this is the final version. The document file name contains the word "Draft". It mentions in the pre-amble that the agreement is in four parts, it also says "[f]ollowing is the text of the agreement for the implementation of parts one and two of the above." Confusingly, the following contains headings of Parts One to Three. It is quite short at only four pages.

The summaries of parts one and two mention enforcement mechanisms, but no enforcement mechanisms are described in the body text. No penalties are mentioned if either party fails to abide by the agreement.

The agreement puts an onus on the United States to withdraw all of its forces (and to somehow bring about the withdrawal of all allied and Coalition forces as well), within fifteen months of the signing of the agreement. The agreement was signed on the 29th of February, 2020. This commits the US and allies to have completely withdrawn their forces from Afghan soil by then end of May, 2021 (nearly three months ago). Arguably the US is already in violation of its responsibilities under this agreement.

It also mentions "The ... Taliban commits that its released prisoners will be committed to the responsibilities mentioned in this agreement so that they will not pose a threat to the security of the United States and its allies." Does the Taliban's immediate pressing of released prisoners into service in its forced takeover of the country fit within the terms of the agreement? Quite possibly it is not a violation.

In summarizing part four, it says: "A permanent and comprehensive ceasefire will be an item on the agenda of the intra-Afghan dialogue and negotiations. The participants of intra-Afghan negotiations will discuss the date and modalities of a permanent and comprehensive ceasefire, including joint implementation mechanisms, which will be announced along with the completion and agreement over the future political roadmap of Afghanistan."

Further on in the text, it says "The United States and the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan which is not recognized by the United
States as a state and is known as the Taliban seek positive relations with each other and expect that the relations between the United States and the new post-settlement Afghan Islamic government as determined by the intra-Afghan dialogue and negotiations will be positive.

"The United States will seek economic cooperation for reconstruction with the new post-settlement Afghan Islamic government as determined by the intra-Afghan dialogue and negotiations, and will not intervene in its internal affairs."

Given that no new settlement between the Taliban and the Afghan government appears to have been sought, with the agreement implying a commitment on their part to seek such a settlement, and given that the Taliban have instead taken Afghanistan by force, can it not be argued that the Taliban are in violation of the agreement? A bilateral agreement such as this puts obligations on both parties, and not just one.

Although, for a master deal maker like Trump claims he is, this is a lousy agreement that puts few explicit obligations on the Taliban, apart from not allowing foreign terrorists who would threaten the United States to operate on Afghan soil. There are no clauses forbidding explicitly the Taliban actions we have seen recently, and nothing beyond the vague commitment to negotiate a settlement with the Afghan government.

There is a contemporaneous joint declaration that the US signed with the Afghan government:

https://www.state.gov/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/02.29.20-US-Afghanistan-Joint-Declaration.pdf

The signing of these agreements was in late February of last year, when my, and much of the rest of the world's, attention was focused on other events.

Quite a few people are wise after the fact, saying that the collapse we witnessed in Afghanistan was inevitable after the signing of Trump's agreement. I don't know about it being inevitable, exactly. I do not know if any of these people were predicting the collapse of the Afghan government, the complete takeover of the country by the Taliban, and the chaotic US and allied withdrawal this summer, before these events happened, were they?

F-18 fighter jets from USS Ronald Reagan start patrolling over Kabul as US troops on the ground fire shots: Just 2,000 people reach half-empty US evacuation flights, of whom only 300 are actually American



US troops used teargas and fired shots into the air on Wednesday night to control the increasingly desperate crowds of Afghans at the airport, while Taliban fighters blocked Westerners from getting to evacuation planes in a fifth day of chaos in Kabul. US Air Force fighter jets are now on standby in Kabul and are performing overwatch flights as the shambolic rush to get tens of thousands of Westerners and Afghan allies out of the region continues.

It is the latest development in an increasingly tense situation on the ground in Kabul where the Taliban, which had promised peace, appears to be tightening its grip. Its fighters on the street are stopping people from getting to the airport, where jets are waiting to fly them to safety, and there are no troops there on the ground to retrieve them because they are all at the airport defending it from a stampede of frightened natives. Overnight, 12 US Air Force C-17 cargo jets removed 2,000 people from the region - an average of just 160 people per flight, despite the planes being able to carry 600 people - six fewer aircraft than in the previous 24 hours. Since August 14, the US has only removed 7,000 people in total from the region.

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Biden v. Reality: President falsely stated the US has no troops in Syria - when there are 900 - in a series of lies and bungled statements in ABC interview

(Excerpts)

Here are six moments Biden made inaccurate statements during the Wednesday interview:

• Biden says there was 'no way' to leave Afghanistan without chaos ensuing, but six weeks ago he said a Taliban takeover was 'highly unlikely.'

• Biden says US doesn't have a military presence in Syria, but 900 troops remain there.

• Biden says he can't recall military officials suggesting he keep the 'stable' 2,500 troop presence in Afghanistan, though reports show Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Mark Milley made exactly such a request.

• Biden says US has control of Kabul airport, though Taliban fighters have formed a wall around the airport and are controlling who goes in and out.

• Biden says 'no one is being killed' at Kabul airport, though the Taliban have killed at least 12.

• Biden says Afghani stowaways plunging to their death was 'four or five days ago,' - it was two days before the interview.

Biden, then and now: Six weeks ago, the president struck a very different tone on Afghanistan

On the Taliban

July 8: ‘The likelihood there's going to be the Taliban overrunning everything and owning the whole country is highly unlikely... it is not inevitable'.

August 18: ‘The idea that somehow, there's a way to have gotten out without chaos ensuing, I don't know how that happens.’

On the Afghan army

July 8: ‘I trust the capacity of the Afghan military, who more competent [than the Taliban] in terms of conducting war.'

August 18: ‘When you saw the significant collapse of the Afghan troops we had trained, that was -- you know I'm not -- that's what happened.'

The Taliban swept to power in Afghanistan in less than two weeks after they took their first provincial capital.

On the evacuation

July 8: ‘Our military mission in Afghanistan will conclude on August 31st. The drawdown is proceeding in a secure and orderly way'

August 18: ‘Americans should understand that we're going to try to get [the evacuation] done before August 31.'

There are still around 15,000 Americans and allied citizens stranded in Afghanistan, with the Taliban deciding who can and can't reach the airport. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said: 'We don't have the capability to go out and collect up large numbers of people.’

On the Embassy

July 8: ‘There’s going to be no circumstance when you’re going to see people being lifted off the roof of an embassy. It’s not at all comparable [with Saigon].'

The US embassy was closed on Sunday, August 15 with staff and the US flag hastily evacuated by chinook helicopter from the roof.

On the Afghan government

July 8: ‘The Afghan leadership has the capacity to sustain the government in place.'

August 18: 'You had the government of Afghanistan, the leader of that government, get in a plane and taking off and going to another country.'

On Afghan translators

July 8: 'We can guarantee their safety.'

August 18: The Taliban control the area around Kabul airport and have shot and beaten crowds of people trying to get through for evacuation.

Ex-US soldiers have said the lives of Afghans who helped the US are in grave danger and will likely be executed.

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Kamala is still dodging Afghanistan: VP films recorded message for black journalists as new poll reveals majority of Americans believe she is NOT ready to be president



Kamala Harris's standing among likely voters is falling as 55 per cent reveal they do not think the vice president is qualified to run the nation as she appears for the first time publicly in six days in pre-recorded remarks for a black journalism conference. When likely voters were asked in a Rasmussen Reports poll released Thursday if Harris is ready to be U.S. president, 47 per cent said she is 'not at all qualified' while 8 per cent said she's 'not qualified.' Only 14 per cent of the 1,000 polled between August 12-15 said she is 'qualified' and another 29 per cent said she is 'very qualified' to run the nation.

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Biden is hidin' again...Some leader, he should be on national television explaining to the American people what the hell is going on over there inside of hiding like a fool...This is more proof he is incompetent and cannot lead this country...

Afghanistan withdrawal: Biden continues bunker strategy after widely panned ABC interview

In what appears to be a continuation of his campaign bunker strategy, and following his widely panned interview with ABC News on the stunning fall of Afghanistan, President Biden's schedule Thursday contained no planned public remarks or press briefings.

The president took all public remarks, press briefings and press conferences off his schedule as he and his administration deal with the blowback from their botched troop withdrawal that saw Kabul fall into the hands of the Taliban.

Biden’s now-clear press schedule also comes after his much-criticized ABC News interview on Wednesday night, when the president claimed there was no better way to get out of Afghanistan. Other than the ABC News interview, Biden has not taken any questions from the press this week.

(More on the link)

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