By Arlene Kushner August 20, 2021
And with good reason, I add, “alarmed!” The situation as it is unfolding in Afghanistan is over the top.
Here I hope to touch several bases briefly. As Lawrence Kadish, writing in Gatestone, put it: “The horror of President Joseph Biden’s deliberate retreat from Afghanistan is so immense and its geopolitical impact so severe, we have to fully comprehend the extent of the disaster.”
The US army, I have learned, left in the middle of the night. How could they have done that??? The Afghanis awoke in the morning and discovered that they were gone.
In a Webinar Thursday night, Dr. Victoria Coates, Director of the Program on the Middle East and North Africa for the Center for Security Policy, advanced the likelihood that this was the point at which the Afghani army decided it was not worth fighting: their support had disappeared. Literally, vanished in the night.
[] What is more, the army left before the safety of Americans on the scene could be assured. President Trump, in a brief interview yesterday, said it simply: It’s like a ship captain abandoning a sinking ship before all passengers are safe. The army is not supposed to leave until American civilians are brought out.
Biden then had to reverse himself and send troops back in and rev up efforts to fly out Americans. But there is a catch: Some Americans cannot reach the capital, Kabul, and the airport, because access is controlled by the Taliban (picture is of Taliban fighters in Kabul). Thus, there were reports of planes leaving with seats empty. As of Thursday, there were an estimated 10,000 Americans stranded.
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[] Biden ignored the advice of his military people and other advisers, many of whom wanted to see the modest force of 2,500 troops kept in Afghanistan as a bulwark against a Taliban takeover. “In insisting on an immediate withdrawal Biden apparently rejected the advice of Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III and Gen. Mark A. Milley, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. “…A strong argument was made for not pulling out at all. The objective was to ensure that America was never again attacked by a 9/11 type of terrorist group. To that end, the U.S. had a modest military footprint, like a small insurance premium, in Afghanistan…. The U.S. has, after all, had troops in Germany and South Korea for decades, and no one has been calling for their removal.” (Emphasis added) (See Gatestone source above) Biden argued this week that US troops should not be fighting against the Taliban in a war that the Afghanis are not willing to fight for themselves. But see the argument above about ensuring America against terrorist attack. This is about retaining a small US force in Afghanistan for America’s security, a very valid reason for staying in the country. Follow this thought as I discuss consequences. [] Biden did not consult America’s allies, either. In fact, he did not advise them of his intentions. British citizens were caught in the upheaval. The UK has sent in troops and is working to bring some 4,000 British nationals out, along with Afghanis who worked for the UK. British Defense Secretary Ben Wallace broke down when admitting to the BBC that “some people won’t get back” and observing that “it’s sad that the West has done what’s it’s done.” https://www.bbc.com/news/uk- ~~~~~~~~~~ What is the net effect in the short term? Many analysts are predicting a return to the terrorist situation of the 1990s. It is certainly what Dr. Mordechai Kedar – an expert in Arab culture, with many years of experience in IDF Intelligence – said when I spoke to him this week. < |
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[] The world’s largest and one of the most brutal terror organizations, the Taliban, is now in control of an area roughly the size of Texas. It is in possession of billions of dollars of cutting-edge US military equipment. The Taliban has become adept at PR, and is selling an image of itself as newly moderated. We are cautioned not to take this at face value. Already, there are reports of the Taliban going door to door and dragging out girls sometimes as young as 12 to make them sex slaves. Writes director of Jihad Watch Robert Spencer: “As the Taliban moved into Kabul and demanded the unconditional surrender of the central government, Taliban commander Muhammed Arif Mustafa told CNN: ‘It’s our belief that one day, mujahedin will have victory, and Islamic law will come not to just Afghanistan, but all over the world. We are not in a hurry. We believe it will come one day. Jihad will not end until the last day… “The CNN ‘journalist’…followed that with ‘It’s a chilling admission from a group that claims it wants peace.’” < |
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[] The Taliban in the past provided safe refuge to members of ISIS and Al-Qaida and is expected to do the same again. Afghanistan will serve as the organizational hub of Middle East terrorism: “The new Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan will now be the center for a resurgent terrorism, a Mecca for terrorists. Terrorists in Europe, now emboldened, will have a command-and-control headquarters to draw on.” There were thousands of senior Al-Qaida operatives in Afghani prisons who have already been released by the Taliban. I believe this action flies in the face of commitments made by the Taliban; it offers proof positive of their intentions. [] “Propaganda messaging by Al-Qaeda has risen dramatically in recent weeks, in line with the takeover of Afghanistan by Taliban fundamentalist forces, an Israeli counter-terrorist expert has warned. “Michael Barak, a senior researcher at the Institute for Counter-Terrorism in Herzliya…told JNS that the Taliban has alliances ‘with several Islamist forces in the Middle East, including Al-Qaeda’s branch in Syria.’” https://www.jns.org/counter- [] One of the most critical effects of the current situation is this: Director of Central Intelligence William Burns also warned [before the fact]…that a withdrawal would forfeit the ability to have human intelligence in the area to pick up what the Taliban, Al-Qaeda or ISIS might be planning in their ongoing assault on the West. [] The United States is now broadly seen as an unreliable ally. Writes retired State Department and Defense Department senior official Debra Cagan: “They say a nation’s mettle is not just proven by sending its people to war, but what that nation does with its people and allies once it decides that war is over. By any measure President Biden has failed to prove his mettle. This is not just a legacy of short-term broken promises to American diplomats, military and civilians, but an enduring reputation of a weak, unreliable and undependable ally. The costs and repercussions of this botched and catastrophic ‘withdrawal’ goes far beyond Afghanistan, as if that were not horrific enough. “It goes to the heart of whether any ally, any people who have grown to depend on the United States as a beacon of light in an otherwise blighted landscape, can still have a glimmer of hope that America will have their back. The wise and prudent among them are watching those scenes from Afghanistan and now understand that this administration has no intention of providing anything beyond words, and meaningless words at that.” https://www. [] Malign forces in Communist China and Iran are watching closely and see an American weakness that encourages them to take bolder steps. [] The immigration crisis will be exacerbated as thousands flee Afghanistan. What is more, there are warnings from experts already that American’s southern border should be closed immediately because of terrorist-affiliated forces that will make their way to Latin America and then enter the US. ~~~~~~~~~~ And what should be done down the road? THIS is the most important question. Dr. Coates, cited above, said that from both sides of the aisle in Congress the question being asked is, what do we do to fix this? It is a question I will be returning to again and again. Bottom line: an accounting of US values and policies and goals is imperative. (What we would call a heshbon nefesh at a national level.) But it remains to be seen whether the electorate and its Congressional leaders will have the fortitude for any of it. The United States has been so pathetically embroiled in far-left concerns that it has lost its way. One wonders if there is any chance that this crisis might serve as a wake-up call. Writes Daniel Greenfield on this very issue: “’I want to understand white rage, and I’m white,’ Gen. Mark Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, whined at a congressional hearing. “He might have done better to understand Muslim rage.” (Emphasis added) ~~~~~~~~~~ One good news item here to bring a smile: Magnificent modern mosaics of Israel. Mosaic by Nahum Gutman: < |
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Oh that wonderful woke Taliban! They’re already planning their PRIDE marches, letting women throw off the burkha, reaching out to Israel to extend the arm of friendship and twinning Kabul with Tel Aviv! They’ll be entering the Eurovision Song Contest next, with a trans woman singing “Peace Train”. Can’t you just see it????
joe biden is hitler.
Give hunter a crack pipe and let him overdose and throw jill biden to the taliban.
@Tanna
Also note that we left billions of dollars worth of top secret hardware, including stealth Blackhawks, that are now going to be passed to China/Russia/Iran to examine intact and replicate. This was no accident. Obama supplied Isis to take Syria and Iraq, and now the US has supplied the Taliban, Russia, China and Iran with priceless assets, the surrender of which we can not fathom the consequences. US citizens are currently being reported to be beaten outside the Kabul airport. This is no scandal, just as arming Isis wan’t. It is cold intentional policy claimed as the fumbling actions of poor old Joe. Don’t buy that for a moment. They stole the election, they are uprooting American society, energy, manufacturing and armed forces. They are now undermining with reckless abandon US foreign policy and alliances. Note also that Britain was ignored as the US acted unilaterally to undermine the Afghans while avoiding Johnson’s calls and that Britain is now acting separately from the US in retrieving non-US citizens and former Afghan allies. Curious what will come of the Bennett-Biden summit, but each nation should consider their own security as decidely within their own hands as this administration continues to cripple the nation in every way possible including the deep betrayal of foreign commitments and alliances both recent(Afganistan) and more established(Britain).
What are we watching unfold? If Biden is correct, we trained 300,000 afghan soldiers, why? How?….. Why where the Taliban able to take Kabul without at least a fight? We are not being told something?
If the Military’s pull back or moved out in the middle of the night is true, no wonder the Afghans just gave up. They knew they had been abandoned. Do you know what happens to a person whom is abandon(psychologically)? It takes a little bit to over come and move forward. Maybe, the U.S. leadership is working with the Taliban, coordinating there movements?
Britain is way passed being PISSED at the West(U.S.) The U.S.(Biden Administration) did not tell their allies , did not inform their allies? This is like getting out of bed in the middle of the night and sneaking out and abandoning your wife and children.
Something is terribly wrong here????? We are not being told all the truth of what is really transpiring. How do you totally “demoralize” a 300,000 man/women army?
“As the Taliban moved into Kabul and demanded the unconditional surrender of the central government, Taliban commander Muhammed Arif Mustafa told CNN: ‘It’s our belief that one day, mujahedin will have victory, and Islamic law will come not to just Afghanistan, but all over the world. We are not in a hurry. We believe it will come one day. Jihad will not end until the last day…
“The CNN ‘journalist’…followed that with ‘It’s a chilling admission from a group that claims it wants peace.’”
The below quote is from the last linked article by D. Greenfield.
” The Taliban have now taken over Afghanistan, but it’s not all bad news on the military front
.”While Trump administration Pentagon nominees were overwhelmingly white and male, the Biden administration says 54% of its national security nominees ? to the Pentagon, State Department and U.S. Agency for International Development ? are women, 40% are people of color, and at least 7% identify as LGBTQ,” the publication thrillingly reports.
Better yet, “recent weeks saw two LGBTQ women confirmed to top military positions. Air Force Undersecretary Gina Ortiz Jones is the first out lesbian to serve as undersecretary of a military branch, while Shawn Skelly, the assistant secretary of defense for readiness, is the first out transgender person in the job and highest-ranking out transgender defense official in U.S. history.”
The State Department is doing its part by asking the Taliban to form an “inclusive and representative government.” And if they refuse to have as many neurodiverse black transgender defense officials as us, Biden won’t give them any more humvees, artillery, choppers, or drones.
The Taliban may have won Afghanistan, but we’re winning the diversity race. And since diversity is more important than winning wars or being a military superpower, we’re beating the Taliban. Not to mention Russia, China, and Iran in the field of transgender defense officials.
As I warned in the David Horowitz Freedom Center’s booklet, Disloyal: How the Military Brass is Betraying Our Country, wokeness is leading our military to disaster, disgrace, and defeat.”
Maybe, this is how you totally “demoralize” a 300,000 man/women army? Because every Afghan understand how opposite this is to the Taliban concept of peace. Why would a 19 year old cling to the outside of a plane? What was he scared of?
The blood will soon be flowing like a stream.
Now……. There is a world of reality. And a world behind the world we see and sense with our five senses.
Now my questions turned to……. I wonder what Hashem is doing? What is Hashem setting up to bring the Nations against Israel? Maybe, what we are seeing is the pre-staging of the conflict that puts Islam against the rest of the world…… and they really want to take Israel out because that is the Queen on the chessboard.
Have you ever noticed how bad things happen in the month of AV. Don’t think this did not happen earlier then it played out in reality. Take stock of your own life and note when bad things, life altering things happened, even if they did not become reality in AV. Every took the time to note the root traced back to the month of AV many times?
Chaos is coming around the world, civilization destroying chaos. We are doing it to ourselves.
One other observation: The C-17 that was packed with 823 souls fleeing Afghanistan the other day, I noticed they are not wearing mask. ALL THE PICTURES WE SEE OF PEOPLE ON THE STREETS OF KABUL THEY ARE NOT WEARING MASK ALSO. That tells us there is no COVID 19 or Delta in Afghanistan. OR it could tell us that the Taliban is more deadly then COVID and all of its variants.