The Taliban is calling the shots of the evacuation in Afghanistan. This situation continues to deteriorate by the hour. What happens next will be absolutely critical for the safety of Americans on the ground in Kabul behind Taliban lines.
The Pentagon is paralyzed in fear as demonstrated by press conferences that seemingly display confusion about their own military capabilities, restrictive rules of engagement, and lack of innovative thinking to bring Americans home — instead, we get bureaucratic answers that leave one wondering, who is in charge and why isn’t the Pentagon moving hell or high water to get all Americans to the airport for evacuation?
Americans are trapped and the Pentagon has admitted that there is no plan to get those Americans that can’t make it to the airport out safely. The State Department continues to send messages stating that it is urgent for them to get to the airport as soon as possible, but emphasizes that the U.S. government “cannot ensure safe passage to the airport.”
Outside the thick walls of concrete barriers and razor wire at the Kabul airport, thousands of Americans are still stranded in Kabul with no ability to get to the airport. The Taliban are doing everything to obstruct movement of personnel to prevent their passage for evacuation. Many who risked traveling to the airport were blocked by Taliban checkpoints that have been set up all over the city. People have been beaten so badly by the Taliban with rifles, chains and whips that they are now so wounded that they physically cannot make it to the airport or have family members who are injured and cannot make the trip. Those who have attempted to travel to the airport face the certainty of encountering the Taliban who are controlling the perimeter outside the airport and the lines of people trying to get in. The Taliban has also set up a curfew to limit movement of travel and are demanding people leave the airport vicinity.
It is clear the Pentagon is terrified of the situation getting out of control if troops leave the security perimeter of the airport, resulting in the Afghanistan version of Black Hawk Down, when in 1993 two U.S. Army helicopters were shot down in Somalia and a rescue mission that resulted in 18 U.S service members being killed.
But the real fear here is the threat of a U.S. citizen hostage situation and a Pentagon leadership team that does not seem to have a contingency plan to respond in case it were to occur. In fact, just a few months ago the Biden administration actually cut a Trump-era crisis response program designed to assist with the evacuation of Americans if needed.
On Wednesday during a Pentagon press briefing, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin responded to a question of whether the U.S. military had the capability to go out and collect Americans and he answered with, “we don’t have the capability to go out and collect large numbers of people.”
It is unfathomable that the Secretary of Defense actually said that.
We are the United States of America. We do not leave our people behind. We will fight until every American is safe. That is the American spirit. That is what sets us apart. We can and WILL do whatever it takes to bring our people home.
The fact that the entire Biden administration is not saying that in unison with authority demonstrates the extreme ineptness of their leadership. And while this administration is making excuses, the British and French are on the ground in Kabul rescuing their trapped citizens.
The White House has completely downplayed the reality of the chaotic situation in Afghanistan and has now completely disengaged. The silence from President Biden is deafening. We are witnessing an epic failure of leadership, a true dereliction of duty, and the worst foreign policy disaster in decades. Unfortunately, there is still plenty of room for the situation to go from bad to worse.
After 20 years, trillions of taxpayer dollars and thousands of lives, the fate of thousands of Americans is in the hands of the Taliban. And our troops are once again being sent into harm's way to clean up the mess of politicians that have no idea the consequences of how their decisions play out in the real world.
Amber Smith is a former Deputy Assistant to the Secretary of Defense (Outreach), author of the book Danger Close and an Afghanistan & Iraq war veteran. Follow her on Twitter @AmberSmithUSA.