All US personnel were supposed be out of Afghanistan by 3:29pm ET this afternoon, based on the Taliban deadline to which President Biden has obsessively adhered. As we learned last evening, our withdrawal concluded 24 hours early. Everyone recognized that there would be Americans and close allies left behind beyond that deadline -- and that is precisely what has happened, by the administration's own admission. If you believe the administration's numbers, hundreds of Americans who wished to leave were left behind. That figure for Afghan allies is estimated to be in the tens of thousands. Imagine being among them, then learning that the US military left earlier than required. Just days ago, the White House scolded a journalist for referring to Americans "stranded" in the country. Now the stranded have been abandoned, left to hope that ad hoc rescue efforts and the good graces of the Taliban (perhaps with, shall we say, financial incentives) will at some point get them to safety. For many, that day may never come, as the terror group finds itself flush with sophisticated, US-provided tools to hunt down and kill collaborators. We've known that for days, the Taliban denied access to the airport to many credentialed Afghans, and even some Americans. They've murdered others. And as of yesterday, according to reports, civilian evacuations stopped entirely, as the military turned inward to evac its own people:
“The military leaders on the call expressed frustration with the Taliban’s persistent lack of cooperation, noting that militants were turning potential evacuees away at the gates.” That’s not what Biden told us. https://t.co/3XACbianwz @politico
— Josh Rogin (@joshrogin) August 30, 2021
•Kabul Airport gates are impossible now.
— Nafiseh Kohnavard (@nafisehkBBC) August 30, 2021
•Flight manifests are being checked by the Taliban before the gates.
• Many of those flights are not happening as buses can’t go through the gates. This puts many vulnerable Afghans at higher risk as now the Taliban has their all info
That’s it. It’s over…
— Nafiseh Kohnavard (@nafisehkBBC) August 30, 2021
•The final stage of evacuation has started
•No more access to the Airport, No charter flights.
•The focus is now on only force protection & evacuation of those already inside the airport including the remaining diplomats & international media
The mess has been very bad, and could very well get worse. For the dead-end partisans who insist that none of the pain, death, betrayal and humiliation could have been avoided, please refer to Sunday's Washington Post story reporting that the Taliban offered the US autonomy over Kabul security until the withdrawal deadline. We proactively declined, handing "security" over to the terrorist organization, presumably because President Biden didn't want more US troops on the ground. But imagine how a larger, very temporary footprint of American soldiers could have guaranteed the safe evacuation of thousands of additional Americans and allies. Our leaders made a decision against that and chose to put the fates of thousands into the hands of the Taliban:
?@washingtonpost? reports that Taliban offered to stay out of Kabul and let US forces secure the city. We told them we only needed the airport. We could have controlled the airport and Kabul and evacuated everyone but chose not to. The incompetence is stunning. pic.twitter.com/5MbW6K81n3
— Marc Thiessen (@marcthiessen) August 29, 2021
"The result of this decision by President Biden and Gen. McKenzie is that Khalil Haqqani—an al Qaeda-linked terrorist with a $5 million U.S. bounty on his head—was placed in charge of security of Kabul," writes John McCormack. The spin on so many aspects of the disastrous decision-making process does not stand up to cursory scrutiny. Biden keeps passing the buck to military leaders after he hems them in with mandates:
Because they were forced to choose after President Biden ordered the withdrawal against their recommendation. Crucial context. https://t.co/bSSeY7hq8l
— Josh Rogin (@joshrogin) August 29, 2021
Weird spin from this White House this am. @potus relied on military advice for tactical decisions, but he over ruled his generals and Sec def on the strategic decision to surrender. I don’t see how this helps him.
— Eli Lake (@EliLake) August 29, 2021
There are no good answers on any of this. Biden might be asked about his failures, but he really doesn't like being challenged on this crisis:
Biden calls on a reporter following remarks about #HurricaneIda and the reporter asks him about his disaster in Afghanistan.
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) August 29, 2021
Biden immediately states he doesn't want to talk about Afghanistan and walks away. 13 U.S. troops were killed after a chaotic situation Biden caused. pic.twitter.com/mmNPlpciLZ
"I'm not going to answer on Afghanistan," he said, mid-crisis, then literally and symbolically bugged out. The American people are not impressed -- especially on the abandonment of our citizens and allies, in violation of a clear and repeatedly-stated promise:
More than 8 in 10 (84%) Americans think U.S. troops should remain in the country until all Americans are evacuated, and just over 7 in 10 (71%) think they should stay until all Afghans who helped the United States are evacuated as well. Breaking from the typical polarization that characterizes public attitudes, support for U.S. troops staying is strikingly consistent across party lines. Among Republicans, Democrats and independents, overwhelming majorities — 87%, 86% and 86%, respectively — believe U.S. troops should not leave until all Americans are out of Afghanistan. The partisan gap is also negligible for keeping troops in Afghanistan until all Afghans who aided the United States are evacuated, with 77% of Republicans, 72% of Democrats and 70% of independents saying troops should stay until that happens...Fewer than 4 in 10 (38%) Americans approve of the president’s handling of Afghanistan — 17 points lower than the share who said they approved of Biden’s handling of the U.S. troop withdrawal in a July 23-24 ABC News/Ipsos poll.
And because the president has insisted (falsely) that no Americans were unable to get to Kabul airport in recent weeks, and that "every contingency" was planned for, I'll leave you with this update to his ludicrous assertion that our alliances have never been stronger and that he hasn't heard about any erosion in trust or credibility:
????Joe Biden "will remember" comments about his mental acuity emanating from senior figures in the UK, and will "bear a grudge" against Britain, sources told the Telegraph
— The Telegraph (@Telegraph) August 29, 2021
Read more: https://t.co/08U4mGjIXU
Joe Biden has seemed angrier with Ron DeSantis, Peter Doocy and the British government than with the Taliban in recent days. This, from the ostensible guardian of norms, healer of partisan wounds, and restorer of American prestige in the world. As we await the president's remarks, I'll leave you with this stark statement of fact, along with a disturbing image of the reprisals already underway, as the Taliban hung a man -- likely an "enemy," from what appears to be a US-made helicopter:
Biden kept his promise to the Taliban to get out of Afghanistan by August 31; he broke his promise to Americans to get them all out before he left.
— Rich Lowry (@RichLowry) August 30, 2021
Taliban hanging someone from a helicopter in Kandahar pic.twitter.com/TwCkVzUrnL
— Old Holborn® (@Holbornlolz) August 30, 2021
Surprise:
Taliban source tells CNN they’re concerned ISIS K fighters have “been melted” with the Taliban in Kabul and it’s very challenging to distinguish them from legitimate Taliban fighters. This makes securing the capital a challenge.
— Clarissa Ward (@clarissaward) August 30, 2021
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