An NPR reporter actually did some journalism when he went off-script and asked a follow-up question that Biden was not expecting.
In the previous question, a seemingly out-of-touch Joe Biden falsely claimed that all Americans attempting to flee Afghanistan were able to get to the Kabul airport without issue. This claim is exactly the opposite of the reality on the ground, as it is being reported by dozens of journalists from all media outlets. The false statement was even too big for the NPR reporter ignore seconds later. WATCH:
The look on Kamala Harris’ face at that moment exemplified the entire press conference.
Sometimes pictures are worth more than words…. SEE BELOW:
President Trump previously agitated NATO allies by demanding they keep their pledges and pay for NATO defense security. However, President Trump never drew the level of criticism on display yesterday from the U.K. Parliament, who angrily aligned from across the political aisles to hold Joe Biden in contempt for his unilateral withdrawal from Afghanistan without discussing the issues with NATO.
According to British media, Joe Biden would not take the calls from U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson for 36 hours as the crisis unfolded. The British and allied forces were scrambling to secure their own troops and diplomats with no guidance or contact from the White House.
Labour and Conservative parties expressed a united anger and frustration toward a failed and inept U.S. administration during their session to challenge Boris Johnson on the events and crisis.
MPs and peers from across the political spectrum, including Boris Johnson, put some blame for the Taliban’s takeover and the chaos that followed on Britain’s closest ally.
Oh boy, Lara Logan appeared for an interview with Tucker Carlson [Full Article Here] and shouts a big trumpet. In essence, Ms. Logan points out the current situation in Afghanistan is exactly the outcome those controlling the Biden administration want. There is a benefit to someone or some group in the current outcome; because if there wasn’t, the outcome would be different.
I happen to agree with this perspective because there are so many options that could have been taken before this point in the crisis was reached. We have seen this play out before [Bathtub Principle] where a crisis is created because the crisis has a purpose.
In Libya rather than Hillary Clinton and CIA Director Leon Panetta getting busted for selling surface-to-air missiles (SAMS) to al-Qaeda (Operation Zero Footprint), the State Department and CIA -essentially brother and sister agencies- helped “the Benghazi rebels” take over the Kadaffi weapons caches. If SAMS were then used elsewhere (Syria), well, they came from Kadaffi’s stores… see how that works?
Based on current political alignment, alliances, and the ideology behind who is in charge of specific U.S. government agencies, it can reasonably be assumed someone (insert Obama here) wants Pakistan and Iran to have advanced military technology via the stolen weapons we leave behind in Afghanistan. Why? Because those same people already made money selling advanced military tech to Iran, and this ‘crisis’ provides cover when it shows up later in their arsenal.
https://youtu.be/GD9JRcbGx90
Now, REMEMBER that thing about “Weird Stuff” FIRST…. then keep reading.
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Joint Chief’s Chairman Mark Milley held a Pentagon press briefing today about the unfolding crisis in Afghanistan. [Full Presser Here] As the Taliban has taken full control over the country and capital, the U.S. presence in Kabul has been reduced to securing the airport as a temporary fortress, and telling U.S. citizens to try and get there.
When asked about the Taliban surrounding the airport, constructing checkpoints and the inability of Americans to reach safety for evacuation, Defense Secretary Austin said the military “don’t have the capability to…extend operations.” The follow-up question was then about the U.S. essentially having to negotiate safe-passage with the Taliban… and rather than say, “Yes, that is accurate“, the question left Secretary Austin speechless. WATCH:
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Ooof… THAT, my friends, is exactly what FUBAR looks like!
The FUBAR in Afghanistan is so large in scope and failure, the Pentagon appears to be throwing the White House under the bus; and they are being considerably obtuse while doing it…. or are they?
If these reports from Daily Mail and Wall Street Journal are accurate, the Pentagon is claiming that Joint Chief’s Chairman General Mark Milley and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin warned Joe Biden about the pending collapse of Afghanistan if 2,500 troops were removed. However, both Milley and Austin are on record only a few weeks before the collapse saying exactly the opposite.
(Via Wall Street Journal) – In his Monday speech defending America’s chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan, President Biden said he would not shrink from his share of responsibility.
That would include his decision to bring home U.S. troops, which was made against the recommendations of his top military generals and many diplomats, who warned that a hasty withdrawal would undermine security in Afghanistan, several administration and defense officials said.
The president’s top generals, including Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Army Gen. Mark Milley, urged Mr. Biden to keep a force of about 2,500 troops, the size he inherited, while seeking a peace agreement between warring Afghan factions, to help maintain stability. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, who previously served as a military commander in the region, said a full withdrawal wouldn’t provide any insurance against instability.
Many people have wondered how the Biden administration could get the collapse of Afghanistan so horribly wrong and botched completely the withdrawal of U.S. forces. To that point there is a little known Question and Answer session by Colorado Congressman Doug Lamborn (CO, CD05) that deserves some attention.
Approximately 7 weeks ago, June 23rd, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Mark Milley testified in front of the House Armed Services Committee about their budget requests. Rep Doug Lamborn took this opportunity, he only had 4 minutes, to ask some very specific questions about Afghanistan and his concerns for early reports of the Taliban surging back into control.
Lamborn asked about the hazard of closing Bagrham AFB given the tenuous nature of reliance on one airport in Kabul. Lamborn also asked about the evacuation of U.S-Afghan allies and the risk to women and girls if the Taliban were successful. What Def Sec Austin and General Milley said in response totally explains why the White House was blind-sided by the Taliban in the past week. [WATCH Video at 01:06:56, Prompted]
Given the nature of what has happened in Afghanistan, those totally wrong estimations of the situation in the region should be enough to see both Secretary Austin and General Milley fired. At the very least reliance on this inept and totally wrong outlook explains why the Biden administration had no idea what was about to happen.
Congressman Doug Lamborn’s questioning was directly on point and in hindsight, stunningly prescient. Great job by Lamborn!
Hopefully Austin was wrong when he said that any defense of women and girls in Afghanistan will be contingent upon the U.S. embassy in Kabul. The U.S. embassy in Kabul is no longer there, the Taliban have it.
Apparently, the communications goal from the White House team was to create a strawman argument around the decision to withdraw from Afghanistan, and totally avoid the main point of crisis right now being the method and manner of the withdrawal.
However, he went one step further which makes it worse.
Joe Biden blamed the Afghan people, currently being hunted in the streets of Kabul by the Taliban, for not availing themselves of earlier opportunities for evacuation at the time when Joe Biden and his Secretary of State were telling them the country was in no imminent threat of collapse.
…”I know that there are concerns about why we did not begin evacuating Afghans — civilians sooner. Part of the answer is some of the Afghans did not want to leave earlier — still hopeful for their country. “… [Full Transcript]
The entire speech delivered by Biden was a classic example of a non-sequitur argument. Biden kept defending his decision to exit Afghanistan (which few disagree with) while avoiding the massive crisis created by his unplanned and haphazard manner/method of exit. A point that was not missed by former President Trump:
Biden took no questions, ran away from the podium and immediately hopped back on the helicopter to escape back to his bunker in Camp David.
Joe Biden is an embarrassing joke, installed on our nation.
The crisis unfolding at the international airport in Kabul has reached horrific levels. Afghan nationals are swarming the airport in an effort to escape the onslaught, as Taliban fighters go door-to-door looking for people who have assisted the United States during the 20 year war.
At least seven people were killed at the airport, many fell to their deaths as they clung to the outside of U.S. C-17 transport planes. Horrific videos have surfaced showing desperation amid the humanitarian crisis. The AFP is reporting:
KABUL – […] Residents raced to Kabul’s international airport, where the “civilian side” was closed until further notice, according to Afghanistan’s Civil Aviation Authority. The U.S. military and other Western forces continued to organize evacuations.
Videos circulating on social media showed hundreds of people running across the tarmac as U.S. troops fired warning shots in the air. One showed a crowd pushing and shoving its way up a staircase, trying to board a plane, with some people hanging off the railings.
In another video, hundreds of people could be seen running alongside a U.S. Air Force C-17 transport plane as it moved down a runway. Some clung to the side of the jet just before takeoff. Another video showed several falling through the air as the airplane rapidly gained altitude over the city.
In July, Biden said Kabul would never fall. Four days ago Biden said it would take more than 90 days for Taliban to reach Kabul, if at all. Today, Biden sends 1,000 more additional troops to Kabul as it is expected to fall within 72 hrs. That is correct. By Monday the Taliban could control all of Afghanistan.
The AP is reporting that emergency evacuations have sped up the timeline to avoid the most embarrassing optics for the Biden administration. An additional 1,000 troops from the 82nd Airborne are en-route to support the previously announced 3,000 U.S. troops handling the evacuation. That is a total of 4,000 new military troops sent to Kabul to support the previous 1,000. Keep in mind the original Afghan withdrawal was 2,500 troops in total.
(VIA AP) – The Latest developments on Afghanistan, where a weeklong Taliban offensive is now approaching the outskirts of the capital, Kabul, after the insurgents captured most of the north, west and south of the country, just weeks ahead of the final pullout of all U.S. and NATO troops: “WASHINGTON — A defense official says President Joe Biden has authorized an additional 1,000 U.S. troops for deployment to Afghanistan.
That raises to roughly 5,000 the number of U.S. troops to ensure what Biden calls an “orderly and safe drawdown” of American and allied personnel. U.S. troops will also help evacuate Afghans who worked with the military during the nearly two-decade war.
The Pentagon said earlier that 3,000 troops are being sent to Kabul to join the nearly 1,000 already there. Biden’s statement on Saturday didn’t explain the breakdown of the 5,000 troops he said had been deployed.
The Taliban in Afghanistan have been taking back territory and attacking U.S. allied forces ever since the U.S. military began a withdrawal. On July 8th Joe Biden was asked if the U.S. embassy in Kabul would be evacuated giving a familiar reference to the U.S. collapse in Vietnam. In July he said no. Biden was leaving 650 military personnel in Kabul to guard the embassy and diplomats.
Two days ago Biden announced sending 3,000 U.S. troops to begin the embassy evacuation. That is correct. Biden is sending 3,000 soldiers back to Afghanistan to help evacuate Americans. Another 3,500 soldiers will be on standby. Biden is sending more soldiers back to Afghanistan than the 2,500 he withdrew to begin with.
Considering that Joe Biden has a documented political history of getting everything exactly wrong; meaning the outcomes are exactly the opposite of every contention he has ever made; it is worth noting what Biden claims will not happen – because this is exactly what is likely to happen. WATCH:
As if on cue from divine or karmic providence, exactly what Joe Biden said in July would not occur, is exactly what is occurring in August…. Afghanistan’s second and third largest cities, Kandahar and Herat, fell to the Taliban on Thursday and Friday.
(CNN) – […] In a statement Friday, the Taliban said they had taken control of the governor’s office, police headquarters, as well as other key operational centers throughout the city of Kandahar. “Hundreds of weapons, vehicles and ammunition were seized,” the Taliban statement said.
Kamin said he and many others had made their way to a military base close to the city’s international airport and were awaiting a flight out. “Many (government) soldiers surrendered and the rest fled,” Kamin said.