There are two puzzle pieces that help to make sense of the Politico report about “U.S. Officials” giving the Taliban a list of American and U.S. Afghan names to allow through the checkpoints. {GO DEEP 1 and GO DEEP 2}  However, if you don’t understand the two dueling power teams -each attempting to position- it doesn’t make sense.

Remember, the State Dept (DoS) and CIA are one team.  The White House and Pentagon are another team.

♦ TEAM One – The Department of State is aligned with the CIA.  Their media PR firms are CNN, CNNi and the Washington Post. Their ideology is favorable to the United Nations.  Their internal corruption is generally driven by relationship with foreign actors.  References: Hillary Clinton, Clinton Global Initiative, John McCain, Qatar, Muslim Brotherhood, Samantha Powers, Susan Rice, Cass Sunstein, Brookings Institute, Lawfare, China-centric, Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Council on Foreign Relations.

♦ TEAM Two – The White House is aligned with the Pentagon (DoD) and National Security Council (NSC).  Their media PR firms are domestic in nature. New York Times, Politico, etc.  Their internal corruption is generally driven by domestic influence.  References: Barack Obama, George Bush, Wall St, Big Banks, Multinational Corporations, Defense Contractors, FBI (state police), Judicial Branch, and community activists writ large.

Both teams are highly political. However, the State Dept/CIA team consider themselves above political changes; essentially the deeper Deep State.

With the DoS/CIA aligned with CNN/WaPo, when the Pentagon needs to defend their specific interests in crisis management, they must go elsewhere, hence Politico.

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For the past couple of weeks I have been attempting to draw attention to this segment from a June 23rd congressional hearing.  Given the events of the last 24 hours, that specific segment gains a higher level of importance. {Direct Rumble Link}  PLEASE WATCH:

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Mark Milley:

“Bagram is not necessary, tactically or operationally for what we are going to try to do here with Afghanistan. Consolidate on Kabul in defense of their government“.

https://rumble.com/embed/vj40je/?pub=4

Full Video Segment Below:

BACKGROUND: 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.

On 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.

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The installed occupant of the White House, Joe Biden, will be delivering a national address following the Kabul Airport terrorist attack that killed 12 U.S. servicemembers and wounded dozens more.  The effort is scheduled to begin at 5:00pm with livestream links below:

White House Livestream – Fox News Livestream – PBS Livestream – Alternate Livestream

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Two suicide bombing attacks in Kabul have resulted in American, allied and civilian casualties.  Both blasts were just outside the gates of the Kabul International Airport.  One detonation at the “Abbey Gate”, and the second detonation appears to have happened between the Baron Hotel and the “Baron Gate” entrance.

There are U.S., U.K. and civilian casualties.  The Associated Press is reporting 13 fatalities. Pentagon Spokesperson John Kirby confirmed some of the original, albeit sketchy, details:

♦ Associated Press – KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Two suicide bombers and gunmen targeted crowds massing near the Kabul airport Thursday, in the waning days of a massive airlift that has drawn thousands of people seeking to flee the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan. At least 13 people were killed and 15 wounded, Russian officials said.

A U.S. official said the complex attack was “definitely believed” to have been carried out by the Islamic State group, whose affiliate in Afghanistan grew out of disaffected Taliban members who hold an even more extreme view of Islam.

At least 13 people died and 15 were wounded, according to Russia’s Foreign Ministry, which gave the first official casualty count. Pentagon spokesman John Kirby also confirmed the blasts, saying one was near an airport entrance and another was a short distance away by a hotel.

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The term “indulgency fee” is so much more appealing than “extortion“, just ask U.S. Ambassador John Christopher Stevens; oh,…wait. I digress.

It is being reported that CIA Director William Burns flew to Afghanistan to negotiate with Taliban leadership yesterday.  Earlier today,  Joe Biden tells the G7 nations that he is sticking to the August 31st withdrawal deadline imposed by the Taliban who are in control of almost all regions of the country including the capital city of Kabul.

For future reference, remember this CIA meeting with Taliban leadership in case the administration ever tries to say we do not negotiate with terrorists.  The Biden administration doesn’t have a choice.  The Taliban circle the airport in Kabul. The Taliban have U.S. made advanced technology surface-to-air missiles (SAMS) that we left with the Afghan army before their defeat.   As a consequence, the Taliban could easily begin shooting down any airplane attempting to take-off or land from the airport…

Hence… CIA Director Burns is almost certainly negotiating payment terms with the Taliban for safe passage.  We can only imagine how much money the Biden administration is paying the Taliban leadership to permit ongoing operations at the Kabul airport.   Think about how much Biden would pay to avoid the optics of a U.S. airplane carrying hundreds of Americans being blown out of the sky on CNN and BBC news.   That is how much we are paying.

Biden is telling everyone at the G7 he is sticking to the August 31st deadline date.  Biden addressed the leaders on the call for about seven minutes. The NATO allies are worried they will not be able to get their people out.  However, undoubtedly the extraction of Americans and allies AFTER August 31st is part of the agreement between the CIA (on behalf of Biden) and Taliban leaders.

The Taliban are not stupid, they have all the leverage in this dynamic.  The Taliban know this is a once in a lifetime opportunity to gain massive ransom payments without the international media visibility of physically holding hostages.  They also know the desperation of the Biden administration to avoid any painful optics.

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Lloyd Austin is the U.S. Secretary of Defense.  Lloyd Austin is responsible for the U.S. military and pentagon response to the crisis in Afghanistan. Secretary Austin is the woke, highly political hire within the Biden administration, and it is his responsibility to weaken the U.S. military and infect the institution through a process of advanced cultural Marxism (political correctness).

The collapse of security and stability within Afghanistan is ultimately a distraction from the purpose of Lloyd Austin.  From the perspective of international security and advanced, strategic U.S. military operations, this is not his forte’.  Austin is currently attempting to fulfill an obligation that is way over his head.

The guiding hands behind Biden, the Chicago Marxist system that installed Barack Obama, have a primary objective for Secretary Austin to weaken the U.S. military from within, and by consequence, remove the strategic value of American power on a global stage.  That is his purpose. That is his function.  They did not anticipate the issues within Afghanistan ¹spotlighting his incompetence.  Many people are scrambling to prop him up.

In essence, the eruption of the current crisis in Afghanistan has become a risk to the domestic control agents.  The visible ineptitude of Austin on a global stage puts his position in a spotlight that makes the ideological team uncomfortable.  If too many people notice the incompetence of Austin in the role of defense secretary, Americans might start to ask questions about his real primary objective.

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David Fox is an American trapped in Kabul who appeared on a video report with ABC to highlight the situation faced by thousands of Americans attempting to evacuate the region. While he was describing the dangerous situation around the Kabul airport, Mr. Fox also pointed out a very serious issue.  ABC buried the lead….

According to his report, the U.S. State Department responded en masse to all the people trapped in Afghanistan reaching out for help.

The U.S. Embassy consular services department sent a document with instructions to assist Americans and eligible Afghans claiming Special Immigrant Visa (SIV) status. The document looks exactly like an approved VISA document except there is no filled in name, no serial number and no barcode.

As Mr. Fox notes, the document is easily able to be forged which makes the Kabul airport situation even worse, as it is likely the people who receive this response from the consular’s office will duplicate it and share it with friends or family who can then use it in an effort to get to the United States.

[WATCH ABC News video at 06:25]

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Mr. Fox attributes this massive problem to bureaucratic “brainworms“, or a mistake by professional bureaucrats within the State Department trying to help but actually making things worse.  However, there is a possibility it’s not a mistake.  Perhaps this was done purposefully.

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The old axiom about being in a hole and quit digging applies here.  In some weird disconnected reality today, Joe Biden not only reflected his detachment, but he pulled Secretary of State Tony Blinken, Nat Sec Advisor Jake Sullivan, Def Sec Lloyd Austin and co-dependent enabler Kamala Harris into the hole with him with these remarks:

“I have seen no question of our credibility from our allies around the world. I have spoken with our NATO allies, we’ve spoken with our NATO allies through our secretary of state (points to Blinken). Our National Security Advisor (points to Sullivan) has been in contact with his counterparts throughout the world and our allies; as has my […] secretary of defense (points to Austin), the fact of the matter is I have not seen that. As a matter of fact the exact opposite I have gotten”.

This statement is exactly the opposite of the reality.  The U.K. has roundly condemned Joe Biden’s poor and unilateral decision-making, even going so far as both parties in British Parliament holding Biden in contempt with their public criticism.  As noted by Newsweek, “Like much of the world, European countries have looked on with dismay as two decades of a U.S-led Western campaign in Afghanistan collapsed within hours,” and leaders of those nations have been very public with their criticism of Biden’s weak, ineffective and incompetent action.

Either the people around Joe Biden are lying to him about the perspective of the international community toward his incompetence; or Biden simply doesn’t pay enough attention to the world around him to see it.  Either explanation is alarming in the extreme, and the U.S. media’s willingness to keep pretending the emperor is not naked is only making things worse.  WATCH:

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The message from one of the leading democrats in the House to stranded Americans in Afghanistan is: “you’re on your own.”   John Garamendi (CA) told CNN the U.S. military should not try to rescue stranded Americans outside the Kabul airport.  This rings a familiar Benghazi bell…

This is a remarkable statement considering Garamendi is a member of the House Armed Services Committee, and one of the key people who supported, funded and authorized the current mess in Kabul. While his outlook is representative of the ideology of leftists, it is still quite alarming to see a leading U.S. political figure telling desperate Americans there will be no help coming.

Keep in mind the British forces are conducting search and rescue missions to extract their stranded citizens.  Quite a contrast. Watch this statement from John Garamendi:

This sounds like a massive hostage situation now….

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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.

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