The Afghanistan fiasco is worse than we were told. Pentagon Inspector General: Joe Biden is Hiding Classified Documents Detailing Side Deals He Made with Taliban and Against US Troops
US weapons abandoned in Afghanistan are turning up in Indian-controlled Kashmir.
Now this…
Joe Biden forced US troops to stand down even when checkpoints were attacked in Afghanistan.
How did our country get so screwed up?
Left here without comment. Taliban beheaded Afghanistan volleyball player: coach
An Afghan volleyball player on the girls’ national team was beheaded by the Taliban — with gruesome photos of her severed head posted on social media, according to her coach.
The speed with which the Afghanistan fell to the Taliban, seems to indicate that whatever we were doing there for 20 years, didn't amount to much in the way of success. But then, as this video states, the goal was never success; the goal was endless war.
This is the video for Julian Assange on Afghan war in a 2011 video
And that is the crime that Juslian Assange really comitted. He exposed what they were really about, and made it clear that he meant to expose more.
I'm shocked that he is on to the next topic. The Post-Afghanistan ‘Pivot,’ as Predicted
What had caused Biden to arbitrarily choose August 31 as the final date for U.S. military withdrawal was, of course, his desire to give a September 11 speech declaring victory in Afghanistan. Unfortunately for Biden, the Taliban had other ideas, and so now Biden has to pretend that what happened to the Afghanistan withdrawal — a complete disaster, for which he bears responsibility — is not really important
And besides, totalitarianism is quite in fashion today.
I still can't think about it without getting a headache. And The Other McCain does a fine job of it anyway.
First from Robert Stacy we get Coming This Fall: ‘That 70s Show 2.0’
One thing seems obvious: Dozens of Americans, and perhaps hundreds, will not be able to escape Afghanistan before next Tuesday’s deadline, and nearly all of those Americans are likely to be captured and held as hostages by the Taliban. There will then ensue an ordeal in which the Biden administration attempts to negotiate the release of American hostages in Afghanistan — a repeat of the 1979 Iran Hostage Crisis, except that it’s likely to be much worse, and last much longer.
The picture of a smiling Jimmy Carter is a nice touch.
A brief note on the updated casualty count. BIDEN LIED, AMERICANS DIED
And finally Biden’s Bagram Bungle
During yesterday’s press conference, Our Alleged President tried to argue with Peter Doocy. Biden wanted to argue that, because Trump negotiated a deal last year with the Taliban, everything currently going wrong in Afghanistan is Trump’s fault. Doocy wasn’t buying any of that, and in response, Biden seemed to collapse. As Jim Treacher says, “It would be funny if people weren’t dying.” But people are dying.
There is more at each of those links. They are worth your time.
Was there ever a chance for our Afghanistan mission to end differently?
Both the Neocon idea of building democracy, and the European idea of colonialism revolve around the concept that "I know better than you, what is good for you." Paternalism. Patronizing. They differ in the margins, not in the heart. And in the long run achieve the same result. Nolte: The Disastrous Neocon Ideology Dies in Kabul
In Afghanistan, America spent trillions of dollars, lost thousands of precious lives, and toiled for 20 years to make the neocon fantasy of nation-building come true. World peace is easy! they told us. We need to liberate oppressed peoples, build schools and roads, and give them the right to vote. If we do that, peace will break out all over!
For 20 years, these fools have been telling us the fruition of their fantasy was right around the corner. For 20 years, our country poured blood and treasure into their stupid experiment, and in one day — a single day — it all fell apart.
The British were sure that everyone really wanted to be part of the British Empire. The Neocons were just as sure that everyone wanted the local university to offer a Gender Studies major. Both were wrong.
On October 7, 2001, Taliban rule collapsed. That’s when we should have left with a victory in hand, our heads held high, and the world warned not to fuck with us.
Instead, we stayed and stayed and stayed and stayed, and 2,448 of our soldiers died, including two just this year (at the hands of the Taliban), all under this ludicrous neocon idea that the Afghans are all a bunch of Thomas Jeffersons yearning to be free. And now, instead of walking out of Afghanistan strong and victorious on October 8, 2001, we are skedaddling with our tails between our legs. We’re humiliated and not only look foolish and cowardly, but we are now a country no one should trust to keep our promises to stay and protect those who ally with us.
And this isn't the only place that it was noted. Roberta X noted that It Was Never Going To End Well.
Roberta notes that Americans are mostly ignorant of history. In this case, the history of Afghanistan, and foreign intervention.
We did it. The Russians had; the British had; one local tribe did it to the rest of the country at least once. Before them, the Uzbeks stomped in, and before them, Genghis Khan's forces smashed cities and destroyed civil society -- and before that, waves of Islamic invaders had re-civilized the country, shoving aside the already civilized Buddhists and Hindus who had previously brought their faith to the region at swordpoint. On and on it goes, as far back as anyone can find records to read and archeological remains to figure out.
So the United States went there. Did we expect a different outcome? The Russians were sent packing; the Brits barely got in. Alexander the Great (had I left him out?) marched through, charmed and/or intimidated the locals, and left a ruler in place whose successors eventually swapped the bothersome border province to an emerging Indian empire for vows of chumship and a player to be named later, and that's about the best exit anybody ever managed.
And when Roberta says Russians, she doesn't just mean the Soviet Union. The Russian Empire invaded sometime in the middle of the 19th Century. Followed by the British Empire, the Soviet Union, and now us. The Soviets left in defeat, but at least they held on to a shred of dignity. Hiden Joe Biden couldn't manage that in his cut and run strategy.
On the subject of patronizing behaviour and paternalistic behaviour, and how it never works, you can't do better than this talk by Ernesto Sirolli from 2012.
More on that press release later. So much for Biden's tough talk: Australian citizen is beaten and taken away with his family by Taliban while trying to reach evacuation flight as Islamists IGNORE US president's demand to let civilians get to Kabul airport
Bloodied and beaten by Taliban guards - this was the fate of one Australian citizen as he tried to reach Kabul airport today as the Islamists defied Joe Biden's demand to let evacuation flights continue unimpeded with just hours left to get civilians out of the country.
The man, who was born overseas but has a wife in Adelaide and a brother in Sydney, was beaten as he headed to Hamid Karzai Airport along with his cousins - thought to include three men and two women - who were also beaten by the Taliban before the family was hauled away.
Because words are only an issue if your enemies are convinced that they will come with consequences. And the only consequences people think you can get out of Hiden Joe Biden is, you know, the thing.
As for the press release, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, US ambassador to the UN, issued that "strongly worded" press release on the 16th or 17th.
Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield says U.S. expressed "in no uncertain terms" at the United Nations through "a very strongly worded press statement" from the Security Council that "we expect the Taliban to respect women's rights" and "to be respectful of humanitarian law."
I'm sure that the Taliban is quaking in their boots, worried about the next, even more strongly worded press statement. Or maybe not.
But through all of this, I am sure that the Democrats and others who voted for Sleepy Joe are taking comfort in the complete lack of mean Tweets.
The NY Post doesn't much care for Biden's handling of Afghanistan. Biden's Afghanistan withdrawal shows a disengaged, befuddled president
Shortly after President Biden on Friday claimed that Americans had safe passage to the Kabul airport, and the Taliban weren’t harassing anyone, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told members of Congress that some Americans trying to escape had been beaten by the Taliban. The next day, the US Embassy in Kabul said it wasn’t safe to go to the airport.
Which leaves us with the two choices in the title to this post. The Post thinks that Biden doesn't know. Which answer do you choose?
It’s not that Biden doesn’t lie, it’s that all of his statements and actions of the past week show a disengaged, befuddled president who doesn’t care about Americans and their allies in Afghanistan. He has waved away all criticism, pretended everything is fine, flew off to Camp David.
There is more; click thru. Hat tip to Pirate's Cove.
You know we are in deep yogurt. CNN Anchor Grills Jake Sullivan on Biden’s Misleading Afghanistan Claims: ‘We Know That’s Not True’
CNN anchor Brianna Keilar confronted National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan on Sunday morning over claims President Joe Biden made on Friday about the Afghanistan withdrawal, wondering aloud why the president was “misleading with his words.”
Of course the question itself is insane. "Why is he misleading?" Beause the Truth sucks from Biden's point of view. Harris is so disgusted she ran away to Vietnam, of all places, which will be sure to remind everyone - who is old enough, anyway - about the Fall of Saigon, and how this is the 21st Century version of that fiasco. Situation Normal, All F*#@ed Up.
In the same press conference, Biden also claimed that al Qaeda is “gone” from Afghanistan, even though the United Nations Security Council determined in June that the terror organization still has a presence in nearly half of the Afghanistan provinces and the Department of Defense recently reported that “the Taliban continued to maintain its relationship with al Qaeda, providing safe haven for the terrorist group in Afghanistan.”
The Democrats are used to being able to say whatever the hell they want, and having the media cover for them. It must be quite a shock to have the media reciting facts, and quoting authoritative sources, like The Pentagon, to refute what they have to say.
During an appearance on Fox News Sunday, Secretary of State Antony Blinken was relentlessly grilled by anchor Chris Wallace on Biden’s al Qaeda assertions as well as the president's insistence that he hasn’t heard any criticism on the chaotic withdrawal from America’s international allies.
What do you mean, challenging Blinken with facts?
As for Jake Sullivan, see this link.
The so-called experts said that Trump was an amateur in the area of foreign policy. The guys currently in charge look like the Keystone Cops. And I think they have managed to piss off absolutely everyone. Except maybe for the Taliban.
Our one-time allies, who were not warned about the Afghanistan withdrawal, are paying the price. German man SHOT in Afghanistan as Taliban's chilling reign of terror begins - chaos erupts
AFGHAN citizens fleeing the airport at Afghanistan capital Kabul today were trampled as gunshots rang out, resulting in a German civilian being shot trying to reach the airstrip.
Are we surprised that the "strongly worded press release" from our ambassador to the UN hasn't had much impact? Taliban's barbaric regime kicks in as woman brutally 'set on fire' for 'bad cooking'
The former judge [Najla Ayoubi] claimed one woman had been "put on fire because she was accused of bad cooking for Taliban fighters".
And yes, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the United States Ambassador to the United Nations, did issue a "strongly worded" press release on the subject of human rights under the Taliban.
Joe Biden can't be bothered to talk to our allies. Maybe they are former allies at this point. Farage slams Joe Biden's 'contempt' for UK after he ignored Boris' calls for 36 hours. The headline says it all, really.
And of course the media will take it seriously when the MEDIA are targeted. Relative of DW journalist killed by the Taliban
The Taliban have raided the homes of at least three DW journalists. Nematullah Hemat of the private television station Ghargasht TV is believed to have been kidnapped by the Taliban, and Toofan Omar, the head of the private radio station Paktia Ghag Radio, was, according to government officials, targeted and shot dead by Taliban fighters.
Though the American media probably doesn't even know of Deutsche Welle.
There is more of course, but I have things to do, and this is only making me depressed.
Remember when Biden was going to save our foreign policy, relations with NATO allies, etc. How's that working out? Living Well Is the Best Revenge, Except for Rubbing Your Enemies’ Faces in Their Shameful and Irreparable Failure
While schadenfreude is cold comfort, it is the only comfort that there is in this situation.
Winning an argument is good. Seeing your antagonists exposed as fools is also good. But is victory so sweet, if won at such cost? An absolute catastrophe is now unfolding in Afghanistan because the guy that all the Smart People™ told us would Restore Our Precious Norms has turned out to be a blundering dimwit. And as much as we enjoy this vindication — “We told you so, you damned fools!” — it does not alleviate the horror of watching America’s reputation go up in a cloud of smoke.
Click thru for the details, which include links to Ace "doing a happy dance on Allahpundit’s face," and to Allahpundit admitting that Biden and his administration are lying to the American public. And more.
The temptation toward dark sarcasm is overwhelming, quite the way Ace is tempted to make America’s humiliation in Afghanistan an excuse to do a happy dance all over Allahpundit’s smug neocon face. We must strive to resist this temptation, however. Our gloating is unseemly, at a time when we need to be praying to God that, by some kind of miracle, our nation can survive until January 20, 2025. Tough years ahead, folks.
I don't think it is our nation most immediately at risk today. Ukraine, Poland and Taiwan are at risk, though not necessarily in that order.
