The war on terror began twenty years ago with Americans leaping from burning towers that a terror group in Afghanistan destroyed with hijacked planes flown into our buildings. It ends with Afghans falling from planes that a terror group in Afghanistan made Americans fly out of Kabul airport. As Jen Psaki would say, America circled back. Let's see how much of this data dump will be non-Afghanistan as I work through my disgust, fury, and depression at needlessly losing this war.
I'm so old, I remember when Democrats said the Afghanistan war was the "good" war. But they stopped thinking that after we ended combat operations in Iraq. And then conservatives joined the left in deciding we don't need to win the Afghanistan war--even when American casualties were rare. We will find out the difference between not winning a war and losing a war.
As I noted in my Sunday post covering the fall of Afghanistan, after 9/11 America pulled off a blitz while outnumbered by the Taliban, in part with suitcases of money to bribe pro-Taliban commanders. Well, the Taliban returned the favor: "Hollie McKay, a foreign policy expert and war crimes investigator who covered war, terrorism, and crimes against humanity for Fox News Digital for more than a decade, is reporting today from Afghanistan that the Taliban is paying off military commanders to abandon their posts and surrender their cities." Troops who have been fighting were willing to fight until leadership abandoned them. Then they became armed mobs and not units. And the reporter is right, corruption was the biggest threat to the government. You know I've droned on a lot about rule of law over the years. Also, note that our huge intelligence apparatus failed to discover that diabolically clever and unimaginable Taliban plot to bribe leaders.
Democratic "Smart Diplomacy®" is really compiling an amazing record of disaster.
Chinese threat perception: "In addition [to the People's Armed Police], there is the national local police, which has 20 percent
more personnel than the PAP. Together these two police organizations
have combined budgets nearly equal to the military budget." It is interesting that internal threats get almost as much money from the Chinese Communist Party as the military which has high tech equipment and weapons to buy and maintain with its budget. The PAP also has the job of supporting the People's Liberation Army in war. So it is proper to count this police spending as defense spending, really. If China ever conquers Taiwan, the PAP will get the occupation duty.
OPEC said no to Biden's request for more oil production: "OPEC and its allies, including Russia, believe oil markets do not need more oil than they plan to release in the coming months, despite U.S. pressure to add supplies to check an oil price rise, four sources told Reuters." The Saudis are in the driver's seat for oil production swings. And they helped us bankrupt Iran during the Iran-Iraq War by pumping more oil (with an assist from our Alaska production). Why would Saudi Arabia lower oil prices to their detriment when we refuse to treat Iran as the enemy Iran's mullahs insist we are? While also showing the spinal column of Gumby with our abandonment of Afghanistan? Say, maybe Biden could ask Canada?
Is it possible to more stupid and evil? New York is now encouraging people to kill people by subsidizing violent people! Tar. Feathers. Stupidity is much easier to implement with other people's money. Really, since I'm a white male shouldn't I be getting this stipend right now? I've been told I'm a huge threat to America because of my demographics. Should society take that chance? But a grand a month will totally calm me right the ef down, eh? Tip to PJ Media.
Whether or not most Americans agree with me now or in the future, I will not forgive Biden for losing the Afghanistan war. I shared the desire to leave. But losing the war was not a price I was willing to pay to do that.
Thoughts on possibilities in Afghanistan. The Taliban toppled the government we backed. That's different than actual exercise of control. I'll ask why wouldn't our enemies recognize the Taliban government in order to rub our nose in our defeat?
We withdrew from Afghanistan because we thought we paid too high a price for where we were. But that price was paid. We can't get any of it back. But we will pay a steep price for losing going forward.
Mostly non-"death to America" demonstrations in Taliban-controlled Afghanistan.
For 19 years after America overthrew the Taliban in response to the 9/11 terror attacks, the Taliban were unable to reclaim power. It took just 7 months of Biden for the Taliban to achieve decisive and total victory in Afghanistan. I'm sure that is just a coincidence. America The Taliban is back!
No! Way! "The collapse of the Afghan government and takeover of the country by the Taliban is stirring concern in foreign capitals that chaos and instability engulfing the country could spill over to its neighbors and possibly drive a tide of refugees as far as Europe. [para] There was also an undercurrent of criticism of the U.S. for the speed of its departure after nearly 20 years, colored by Washington’s failure to establish a stable government that could stand without American military support." I was told Europeans were deliriously happy that "America is back" under Biden and that there are no more mean POTUS tweets!
Our State Department in Kabul sure had the pulse of the country! "The U.S. Embassy in Kabul posted a job opening days before staffers were
ordered to destroy classified documents and other sensitive materials
in preparation for an evacuation from Afghanistan after several major
cities fell under Taliban control."
To be fair, the American people elected the State Department's boss who can't use his TV remote control let alone guide a global superpower that other people rely on for their safety. For God's sake, my phone's Siri could do a better job than our Turing Test POTUS.
America Heroin is back! "Taliban mulls flooding the West with heroin to shore up Afghan economy". But really, that's more than a reasonable price to not have mean POTUS tweets.
Rogue Taliban or leading indicator? "The Taliban are reportedly hunting down and threatening people who don't show up for work in Kunduz, one of the first cities they reclaimed, in a sign of what may be in store for the rest of the country." Let's hope they, at least, are mostly peaceful.
China wasted little time exploiting our defeat in Afghanistan: "From what happened in Afghanistan, [the Taiwanese] should perceive that once a war breaks out in the [Taiwan] Straits, the island's defense will collapse [within] hours and the U.S. military won't come to help. As a result [Taiwan's Democratic Progressive Party] will quickly surrender, while some high-level officials may flee by plane." And China doesn't even need to be right about America's willingness to fight for Taiwan to make a war more likely. The Chinese just have to think they are right.
Best buddies? "Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu hailed joint war games with China as a sign of increasingly close ties and vowed to further expand military cooperation between the two countries." Sure, the Russians say nice things now.
China's disposable single-mission amphibious ships.
I keep saying don't judge China's amphibious lift capability for
invading Taiwan by the standards of our Navy-Marine Corps team now. I
still wonder if a lot of older PLAN warships sent to the Chinese coast
guard crammed with troops could be used to assault ports. And other
transports could be used to unload at captured ports. I go into these
options in this invasion scenario.
The risk of adding too much new technology at one time. I would not be surprised if we build few Ford-class carriers because they are super expensive platforms in a network-centric naval world.
We abandoned Afghanistan to the Taliban, but the Taliban are supposed to tremble over a red line around the Kabul airport? "In a resolute and, at times, defensive speech explaining the swift fall of U.S.-trained security forces in Afghanistan to the Taliban and his decision to pull troops from that country, President Biden also drew a red line Monday for the use of future military force." I'm honestly worried about a massacre of American troops trying to hold a small perimeter and still fly out without leaving anybody behind. Pro Tip: A speech isn't resolute if everyone is laughing at the very idea that you are serious.
The American war in Afghanistan was undermined--even at the last minute when we weren't really fighting a war anymore--by the failure of so many Americans to cherish what we have: "The West’s post-9/11 bluster was continually undermined by the West’s broader descent into moral relativism. How can you assert the civilisational authority of Western values when your entire educational and university system is devoted to questioning and demeaning Western civilisation? You cannot partake in a clash of civilisations if you loathe your own civilisation." Why do we hate us, as I've asked before. Too many Americans think we deserve to lose. And Biden is their president to make good on that campaign promise.
I'm so old I remember when Democrats were outraged that Trump "abandoned" the Kurds. He didn't. But Afghans? Oh well. Sucks to be them. Wouldn't want to hand off keeping them from being massacred to another American president, eh?
Afghanistan is shattered, under control of the Taliban. Top American military leaders should resign for the disgrace of overseeing this debacle in Afghanistan. We're seeing leaks that military advice and intelligence predictions were ignored by Biden. Well why didn't any of those military, diplomatic, national security, and intelligence leaders resign rather than carry out a policy they knew would lead to this? And having failed to show some honor by resigning to prevent this American defeat, they should at least have the Goddamn decency to resign now in remorse for not doing the right thing when it might have mattered. If there are no resignations, the leaks are just ass-covering like any petty bureaucrat would do rather than the actions of leaders with honor and the ability to feel shame and accountability. I'm sickened by this entire calamity. Biden doesn't have enough honor to resign. Those who swore an oath to protect America should belatedly salvage some of their own. But at least we weren't defeated there by the so-called bigger threats of climate change and white supremacists rampant throughout the military!
Democrats have long claimed they want an "exit strategy" before starting a war. Biden ordered our exit from Afghanistan but had no strategy. Disaster followed. This is sadly too accurate: "‘You were given the choice between war and dishonor. You chose dishonor and you will have war.' Winston Churchill’s words to Neville Chamberlain following the Munich agreement echo grimly across Washington this week as the Biden administration reckons with the consequences of the worst-handled foreign-policy crisis since the Bay of Pigs and the most devastating blow to American prestige since the fall of Saigon." As I warned 25 years ago about exit strategies, "Such an approach seeks to minimize our losses under the assumption that we will at some point lose, so we had better know when to cut our losses and get out. It also assumes that the situation allows for an exit and that our enemy will allow it." Will our jihadi enemies let us go? Or will they grip their hatred tightly and again try to kill us at home?
Biden refused any blame for his Afghanistan debacle. The burning sensation means it's working! "'If anything,' Biden declared in his defensive speech, 'the developments of the past week'—the harrowing string of Taliban victories culminating in the seizure of Kabul, the capital, on Sunday—'reinforce that ending U.S. military involvement in Afghanistan now was the right decision.'" Biden created this defeat. And he welcomes it. Damn him for that. Tip to Instapundit.
My car caught Covid-19. Well, the transmission died. And while it luckily is under warranty, because of the pandemic-created (or lockdown-created, if you prefer) chip shortage the dealership has no idea when the auto company will ship them the particular chip needed to replace my transmission for free. So it sits at the dealership for some unknown amount of time. I'll deal. The timing could have been much worse--the transmission barely lasted through a series of problems I had to deal with which required mobility. If nothing miraculously happens by the last several days of the month I'll need to do something to bridge the gap. Thanks for the virus Xi Jinping and thanks for the economic disruption all you lockdown Western leaders!
Do not condemn the Afghan security forces for not fighting. They've suffered heavy casualties year after year defending their country. Nearly 66,000 died over 20 years! And after organizing Afghan forces to rely on air power and our logistics, maybe we could have given the Afghan forces more time than a week to adjust to the lack of our air power and logistics support. I did not think even Biden could be so sand-pounding stupid.
Well, they got what they wanted with "America is back!" Biden: "Senior politicians in NATO countries that supported the US-led operation
in Afghanistan expressed concern about the speed with which the fall of
the capital occurred, as dramatic scenes unfolded in Kabul on Monday." For all the talk of Biden and his multilateral diplomacy that includes our allies, how much consultation was done with NATO? For the first time in its history, NATO declared 9/11 an attack that triggered Article 5 assistance to America. NATO went in with us. And Biden decided we'd all flee. Just feel the strength of Biden's trans-Atlantic commitment. Still, no mean POTUS tweets!
New York City begins new policy of disproportionately keeping minorities out of restaurants and gyms.
Making Taiwan "sponge worthy."
Fear, itself: "New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced a nationwide lockdown on Tuesday after a new case of COVID-19 was discovered in the biggest city of Auckland." Tip to Instapundit.
Actual Resistance. Tip to Instapundit.
Social media is designed to increase extremism among users. Let me note that I do not use social media. And I don't allow comments. Which I explained in Sources and Methods. Heck, I rarely even comment on articles where I can. So I am in little danger of not having dignified rants when needed, I think. But you already know you come here for the perspective.
One thing that really depresses me about our defeat in Afghanistan is how unnecessary it was. We'd won the war on terror as a major military problem. In both Iraq and Afghanistan where many brigades and regiments of American troops once battled hard against jihadi enemies in close combat, we created imperfect allies who killed jihadis who are our common enemy. We were in the position of shifting from a war on terror to a struggle on terror dominated by intelligence, police, and allied direct action all bolstered by our assistance behind the frontlines. But rather than perceive we are in an Age of Global Troubles to hold down jihadi threats with far lower levels of American sacrifice, we continued to see ourselves in an endless war demanding high sacrifice. That misconception led to our getting tired of holding Afghanistan even though we hadn't had a combat casualty there in a year and a half. We almost screwed up by withdrawing from Iraq in 2011 but recovered. And so now we wait to see if the troubles reverts to something closer to war because our jihadi enemies won in Afghanistan and may be convinced that Allah will deny them no victory if they believe enough and try hard enough to kill us. Have a super sparkly day.
We abandoned Afghanistan and denied them the support we designed their military to need, but somehow expected them to fight and die for Kabul to shield our withdrawal: "'All of our plans were predicated on the notion that we thought that the
Afghans were going to be able to hold Kabul,' said William Wechsler, a
Middle East expert at the Atlantic Council who served as deputy
assistant secretary of defense for special operations and combating
terrorism in the Obama administration." Wow. That's really dumb.
Jesus Christ, I really think our diplomats believe the Taliban tremble in fear of our cancel culture if they are called out for being mean to women and girls. What is our major malfunction? But (tip to Instapundit) cancel culture means something else entirely for vicious jihadi killers like the Taliban who do not restrict their cancellations to getting you banned from Twitter or fired from your job. Many Afghans embraced our chance to advance out of the 8th century. Those who won are looking for them. God help these poor people. Because we won't. And God help us. Because we apparently can't be bothered to do that, either.
Shy Russia shields their shame from the sky.
Last week, I wrote "I'm hoping that Democrats and their media allies will see the collapse of Afghanistan as a learning opportunity" and prepared this helpful illustration:
With any luck, the election of Joe Biden to be our president will turn out to be Peak Stupid in America.
I will not fly my American flag on 9/11 any more. I always flew it not at half-staff as a memorial to those who died in the al Qaeda terror attacks, but full-staff as a sign that we are at war with the jihadis. It was my demonstration of my desire to win the war the jihadis started. Biden lost that war. I will not fly the American flag to commemorate a defeat that Biden inflicted on America for no reason other than to meet a calendar milestone.
It's a sad day when Facebook's attacks on freedom of speech can be used by the Taliban to shield their looming oppression of women. Tip to Instapundit.
So she won't do the compassionate "right" thing until the government forces everyone to do it? "Michigan Rep. Rashida Tlaib's annual financial disclosure shows that she made thousands of dollars in rental income last year, despite being a co-sponsor of a bill to cancel rent during the COVID-19 pandemic." Huh. Tip to Jim Treacher.
Will Biden's presidency last longer if Democrats withdraw support for him than the Afghanistan government lasted after Biden withdrew American support?
The real lesson that flows from the reality that defeating committed jihadis is so difficult is that killing jihadis whenever we find them is the best solution. Only that fate can reduce the appeal of joining the jihad for the majority of potential recruits who are less than fully fanatical.
Sigh: "In the South China Sea, a late July British-led international FONOP (freedom of navigation operations) in the South China Sea was revealed to be less of a proper FONOP than advertised. None of the eight ships in the task force came within 22 kilometers of any of the Chinese islands (many of them artificial) built as military bases and declared sovereign Chinese territory[.]"
Yes, fire them if they don't resign: "The brass and agencies will complain that it was Biden who ultimately made the call.
Indeed, they are already furiously leaking to that effect to the press.
Maybe they’re right. But it’s up to voters to fire the president at the
ballot box. If they thought what Biden planned was disastrous, they
should have resigned in protest. But they didn’t." Lots of people need to be fired if they don't have the Goddamn decency to resign in shame. They should have publicly resigned when their advice wasn't heeded in order to prevent the disaster. But no, they carried out the orders they knew would be disastrous. So they get no sympathy from me for their now-leaked advice. They collaborated with the stupidity that led to our defeat. Failure this massive should not be rewarded or even tolerated. Damn it, I'm furious with our so-called leaders. Austin, Milley, Blinken, and whoever that small child standing at the national security advisor's podium is should be gone by September 11th. And for God's sake, fire the Fuck-Up Fairy immediately.
Can China take advantage of our defeat in Afghanistan given their other foreign policy objectives and internal problems? Or will those internal problems lead China to think they must challenge America as the most likely target that can be beaten to suppress internal problems with a short and glorious war? Russia should thank us if that is so.
Wait. What? I've been told be planned this? Did we plan this inability to rescue Americans, as Secretary of Defense Austin states? "I don’t have the capability to go out and extend operations currently into Kabul." Good Lord. "With all the American troops on the ground at the Kabul airport at the mercy of the Taliban, we'd best have tactical nukes ready to destroy Taliban forces around that perimeter and really crush any attempt to overrun or trap our force. For those who shudder at this suggestion, are you ready to have 6,000 American troops, 10,000 or more American civilians, and who knows how many allied troops and civilians die or be captured by the Taliban if we don't use all our weapons to stop that? I'm absolutely not. And I doubt conventional power flying from distant bases can do the job. Start with MOABs, but that has to be the warning shot for the big stuff. Lord, what a clusterfuck. And remember, I wasn't in favor of bugging out when Trump was proposing it. I feel ill just thinking about how badly Biden has fucked this up. I could weep thinking about the American troops who died for nothing with this idiotic decision to lose. Damn our leaders.
As long as the Taliban don't write mean tweets, Twitter won't suspend their accounts. One must maintain one's standards, mustn't one? I eagerly await the learned commentary on what part of the Koran supports the idea that Twitter rules are supreme over Allah's will.
Iran's home-built warships. Iran's navy focuses on the Indian Ocean and Caspian Sea while the Revolutionary Guard navy is assigned to the Persian Gulf.
The "kinder and gentler, evolved" Taliban in action. Tip to Treacher.
Will the slowly unfolding Durham investigation be the Democratic Party's vehicle for easing Biden out of office? Throw the Republicans a senior but irrelevant Democrat to take the fall and then move on? Biden's return to Delaware might be the first step: "President Biden is once again scheduled to head home to Delaware
Saturday, as thousands of Americans and Afghan allies remain stranded in
Afghanistan following the Taliban’s takeover last weekend." This sounds a lot like parents telling their children that the family cat hit and killed by a car was actually "sent to a farm to live." I assume that Biden's home has all the advanced medical care on par with Chelsea Clinton's apartment. Really, "Something is wrong with President Biden, and we are all being asked to pretend we don’t notice." A lot of people noticed long ago. Our allies and enemies abroad are starting to notice. I think even Democrats can't pretend they don't notice.
If Trump's withdrawal plan for Afghanistan was a "ruse" it was possibly more deluded than Biden's. Really, we were trying for a deal that would bring the Taliban into the Afghan government in exchange for American special forces remaining? That's just a two-step defeat with a slaughter of our best fighters thrown in as a jihadi bonus for playing the game.
Via The Morning Briefing, Rachel Maddow, who based her show on deposing Trump, is in tears over abandoning our Afghan translators to the tender mercies of the Taliban:
Well, duh. The Russias have the largest arsenal of nukes that can reach America: "Russia, with its array of hard-to-detect cruise missiles and advanced submarines, poses the primary military threat to the American homeland today, the commander of U.S. Northern Command said Tuesday." Or do they?
Is opposition to the Taliban forming in the north? I had hoped northerners might rally resistance to a Taliban conquest of Kabul. That didn't happen. Can northerners resist locally now? Will any external power back them? There have been reports of protests in cities the Taliban have conquered. Will signs of resistance be effective? And will the Taliban split apart after victory?
Wow, not even mean tweets caused this kind of reaction from our best ally! It's depressing. Note that Biden effed this up so badly while alienating Britain , our best ally! What is depressing is that so many Democrats and moderates couldn't predict that Biden would ef up everything he touches so badly.
Acceptable collateral pandemic damage? This would have gotten a pass in the media even without a recall election for California's Democratic governor, the resignation-in-disgrace of New York's democratic governor, and Biden's astoundingly inept debacle in Afghanistan to soak up the news cycles.
President Obama promised "to seek a new beginning between the United States and Muslims," in 2009 at a speech at Cairo University. In August 2021, the Taliban demonstrated how they want that new beginning to look like. But don't say that we didn't have a hint of how jihadis want to define 9/11.
Keep in mind that we didn't create a mirror image of our military in Afghanistan despite the claims. We actually did learn from the past and focused on wheeled vehicles and propeller-driven aircraft. They required help maintaining them but it would be easier to get to self-sufficiency with these weapons rather than jets and tracked vehicles.
Meanwhile in Nigeria and Africa.
Meanwhile in Cuba, a brief experience of feeling free.
Don't forget Obama's role in our Afghanistan defeat. Will Biden close our jihadi prison at Guantanamo Bay now?
Pity our armed forces don't focus on the many enemies they highlight when requesting appropriations for weapons: "In a sane world, the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the secretary of defense
would resign. We have heard for too long their careerist boasts about
assigning climate change as their chief challenge. For too long they
have virtue-signaled their critical race theory credentials to Congress.
For too long they have bragged about rooting out alleged white
supremacists from their ranks. For too long they have sparred with
journalists while fighting Twitter wars and issuing cartoonish
commercials attesting to their woke credentials." Do read it all. It's an Institutional Kasserine Pass.
Remember the extraordinary effort to defeat Trump that Molly Ball described in “Secret History of the Shadow Campaign That Saved the 2020 Election”? Sure, it was legal and technically not election fraud. "But what Time did uncover is disturbing enough, even if most of those involved are proud of what they did to help elect President Biden: underhanded methods made all the more galling by the preening self-righteousness of those who deployed them. [para] As the magazine reports, a secret alliance of left-wing activists, union leaders and corporate CEOs worked together to help craft unprecedented changes in the rules governing the way America votes. They did their best to encourage and facilitate mail-in voting on an unprecedented scale." So any regrets from our "best and brightest" about deforming our institutions and norms for the results?
I think this was the real election "fraud" based on exploiting a pandemic crisis with politically motivated rules that had nothing to do with the crisis: "A monthslong investigation into the 2020 presidential vote has found that Democrat-run cities and states used the COVID-19 crisis to change the rules that likely helped Joe Biden’s ascent to the White House." Democrats engineered opportunities for fraud and or undetectable error that probably shifted the 2020 election to Biden. You didn't need much of either to be decisive in the swing states that gave Trump the 2016 election.
Remember that "over-the-horizon" strikes against jihadi terrorists in Afghanistan will have to be carried out with drones that will have little loiter time over the territory. Because if a manned aircraft develops mechanical problems which bring it down in Afghanistan, the crew is not getting out alive.
This failure to find any evidence is pretty impressive when you consider how evidence was manufactured to bolster the bogus Trump-Russia collusion charge: "The FBI has found scant evidence that the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol was the result of an organized plot to overturn the presidential election result, according to four current and former law enforcement officials." It was a riot. Which was reprehensible for those involved. But it was not an insurrection. Tip to Instapundit.
"Goodlife". (Note)
I worry that the Taliban value crushing America by isolating our airport airhead more than they value international recognition. My worries over our line of supply to Afghanistan are nothing new.
Maybe I'm in the minority of people who are furious. But I doubt many Americans will be proud of the clusterfuckBiden that we are witnessing in Afghanistan: "President Joe Biden is brushing off criticism of his administration's
chaotic Afghanistan withdrawal because he and his aides believe the
political fallout at home will be limited, according to White House
allies and administration officials."
Without computer-assisted design software.
Remember when liberals said Afghanistan was the "good" and "necessary" war that Iraq prevented America from focusing on? I've long known that was a lie. Vox says that 20 years of "hawk" policies that did not result in a debacle are the real reason for Biden's complete debacle that shocked even the Biden administration for its rapidity. But you know, Rupar. And Vox.
I'd like to make another defense of Afghan security force willingness to fight. Losing 50,000 dead just over the last 7 years should be enough. But I guess not. Note that Europe has great worries about refugees flowing to Europe now that the Taliban took control of Afghanistan. Why wouldn't NATO stay when Europeans had many more troops than we had? With all the contractors to help? The Europeans did not stay because without American support even advanced European military forces could not sustain themselves in Afghanistan. If even Europeans couldn't fight without American support, is it really right to blame the more poorly trained and basic Afghan security forces for collapsing without our support?
Ninety-one years of Russian paratroopers.
Too bad the media disbanded or reassigned all those fact checkers.
Resistance: "Groups of armed Afghans attacked the Taliban on Friday, driving Afghanistan's new rulers out of three northern districts, the first assault against the Islamist militants since they swept into Kabul last week and seized control of the government." I imagine most Afghan security force people were smart enough to take weapons and ammo with them when they scattered. And corruption will help those resisting gain access to the weapons captured by the Taliban.
Some Afghan pilots escaped the Taliban with their planes and passengers.
Self-inflicted wound: Biden Edition: "President Joe Biden told key allies in June that he would maintain enough of a security presence in Afghanistan to ensure they could continue to operate in the capital following the main U.S. withdrawal, a vow made before the Taliban’s rapid final push across the country, according to a British diplomatic memo seen by Bloomberg." America is back, baby! Strengthening those trans-Atlantic ties that Democrats claimed Biden would repair! Why would Biden tell our allies that we'd maintain "critical U.S. enablers" to keep Kabul sufficiently secure and then reverse course and pull every damn support out? It is mind boggling.
That's nice and all, but that doesn't do much for our problems in the mountains of Afghanistan right now: "For months, top officials at the Defense Department have been working toward declassifying the existence of a secret space weapon program and providing a real-world demonstration of its capabilities, Breaking Defense has learned." I mean, unless it is a Star Trek "transporter beam" that helps us get everyone out.
A global Britain should not forget the Baltic Sea. I don't think post-EU Britain has forgotten the Baltic Sea. And I'm all on board the British and the rest of NATO being able to fight there. But by all means, it justifies attention.
Well, it's something: "U.S. forces rescued 169 Americans who had been in hiding in a hotel in Kabul and brought them safely to the Kabul airport. It’s believed to be the largest such rescue beyond the grounds of the airport to date."
If Minneapolis wants to do this, I say they are free to commit municipal suicide. Why should I care?
Even if the Taliban can control all their factions to allow America to leave Kabul airport, how quickly can other jihadis get to the scene to attack us? "Potential Islamic State threats against Americans in Afghanistan are forcing the U.S. military to develop new ways to get evacuees to the airport in Kabul, a senior U.S. official said Saturday, adding a new complication to the already chaotic efforts to get people out of the country after its swift fall to the Taliban." Fancy that.
Sucks that we need this, but good we will do this: "Military leaders in Canada and the United States plan to work together to modernize the North American Aerospace Defense Command, jointly investing in new sensing and command and control capabilities to protect the continent from new ballistic missile threats."
Defeat in Afghanistan hurts them? "For senior military and Pentagon leaders, this week's news was profoundly personal." Then why the fuck didn't they loudly and publicly resign when their advice to remain in Afghanistan wasn't heeded by Biden?! I guess it wasn't personal enough to get in the way of careerism and post-career positions on boards of directors. Spare me their personal anguish. I'm disgusted with our senior "leaders".
Sure, the 82nd Airborne Division is in command of the Kabul airport defense because it is trained to capture and hold airheads. But that skill won't matter if jihadi mortars are sweeping the airfield and if anti-aircraft weapons are shooting down slow moving, loaded aircraft trying to leave.
Yeah: "In just seven days, any lingering dreams of a free Afghanistan died." Yeah, a week ago I observed: "In
the space of a week I went from hope that the next 5-6 months would be
key to fear that Biden effed things up so badly that we probably won't make
it long enough for Biden to celebrate that 20-year anniversary he seems
to cherish."
For God's sake! How is this legislation not racist as f*ck?
Russia has decided that it is ideal to let the Israelis strike their Syrian ally's territory while simply pretending to be shooting down all those Israeli missiles. Wag the dogski, everywhere!
Well of course it was based on faked data. Tip to Instapundit.
The U.S. may activate planes in the Civil Reserve Air Fleet to help evacuate people from Afghanistan. We need to get our people out and we need to get the people who helped us out. In a perfect world we'd trade our Antifa/BLM fascists for these people who have a deep understanding of the value of being free. I assume none of the CRAF planes will fly into Kabul. I imagine they will be to pick up evacuated people moved from Kabul to a Gulf region airport. [And later I read that is what will happen.]
Justin Trudeau called for a snap election in Canada. He said he is worried about the "she-cession". If Canadians reelect this buffoon they deserve to never win a Stanley Cup ever again.
It is unlikely that the Taliban can fully exploit the capture of the Afghan air force. They'd need pilots and maintainers. While I can see those people using their skills to work for the Taliban, then the issue is the spare parts. I'm not too worried. Nothing is high tech despite the numerous cries that we lost critical equipment. Please. We did not equip Afghanistan with a mirror image of our Air Force. We provided a simple force geared to ground support. There were 23 A-29 propeller-driven attack planes, 4 C-130 cargo planes, 33 Cessna Caravan civilian planes adapted for military uses, and about 150 helicopters. The Russians and Chinese aren't going to learn anything examining them. To this day, Iran has troubles keeping their air force in operation. The Taliban are unlikely to do better. Of course, if Pakistan or China helps the Taliban that's another story.
Say, more than 20 years after Clinton intervened, American troops are holding the line in Kosovo: "Security in Kosovo remains stable overall. But Washington and its NATO allies have no plans to reduce the Kosovo Force — or KFOR — which is still considered essential in maintaining peace between the Albanian majority and Serb minority, whose rivalry erupted in a war in the late 1990s in which at least 10,000 people died." But we couldn't do that in Afghanistan?
American forces will assist with Haiti earthquake relief operations.
The Europeans thought Biden represented nuanced foreign policy that any European could love. But they're not loving what they discovered they got. Oh well. Sucks to rely on Biden for your security.
As Tropical Storm Henri threatened America, I assumed Biden would remind Americans that we've been in a futile battle with such storms for 245 years and so he's abandoning our coastal areas to the threat and wishing residents there the very best of luck. Everyone knows they're doomed, he might say, so why bother wasting any more efforts on protecting them? It's been that kind of a week, eh?
Are Biden's voters happy with the price of no more mean tweets? "Your boy Dementia Joe owns it all now — the catastrophe in Kabul, open borders, rampant inflation, skyrocketing urban crime, the destruction of American energy independence, endless nonsensical lockdowns over a mild virus that is killing almost no one, not to mention so many public misstatements by the doddering old clown that his own cabinet secretaries have to correct his insane lies even before he shuffles off to Marine One for the flight back to his weekend assisted-living facility in Delaware." Tip to Instapundit.
Airport capacity isn't the problem in getting people out of Afghanistan through the Kabul airport. The problem is lack of ability to get through Taliban siege lines to reach the airport and--shockingly--the obstacle of paperwork. Is nothing a crisis big enough to get bureaucrats to act like something is an emergency? No wonder the Taliban think Allah is on their side.
An underwater volcano has made a new island for Japan. How long before China claims it as historic Chinese territory?
Rather than counting on a farcical aquatic ceremony deal to halt Iran's nuclear weapons drive, Israel wants America to support a broad and persistent strategy of hurting Iran: "Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett presented President Biden in
their meeting today with what Israeli officials described as “a death by
a thousand cuts” strategy against Iran." I imagine this is Israel's price to rule out an earlier resort to a strike campaign against Iran's nuclear infrastructure.
I'm still numb from the needless defeat in Afghanistan that the Biden administration delivered this month. Complete incompetence.
