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Biden Defends His Botched Withdrawal Of Troops From Afghanistan
Addressing American people 24 hours after the last United States troops left Afghanistan, President Biden who appeared angry, said his administration is committed to getting out the remaining stranded Americans out of Afghanistan "if they so choose."
The president has faced bipartisan criticism for withdrawing the military from the war-torn country without first evacuating American civilians and Afghan allies.
"Now some say we should have started mass evacuations sooner, and couldn’t this have been done in a more orderly manner?" Biden said. "I respectfully disagree. Imagine if we begun evacuations in June or July, bringing in thousands of American troops and evacuating more than 120,000 people in the middle of a civil war. There still would have been a rush to the airport, a breakdown in confidence and control of the government, and it still would have been a very difficult and dangerous mission."
However many military experts and retired Generals have roundly condemned the president's spin as ridiculous and illogical, noting that he is 'putting the cart before the horse.' They argue there is no tactical rationale behind withdrawing the military before evacuating civilians.
Later on Tuesday, reporters grilled White House press secretary Jen Psaki on the botched troops withdrawal, including with questions about an Afghan ally who drove through a snowstorm to rescue then-Senator Joe Biden and three other senators after the weather forced their helicopter to land in a remote valley.
The interpreter, identified only as Mohammed out of concerns for his safety since he is still trapped in the Taliban-held country, told the Wall Street Journal Monday that he is in hiding with his wife and four children.
"Hello Mr. President, Save me and my family," he told the paper. "Don't forget me here."
Addressing the interpreter, Psaki said: "...to our Afghan partners who have fought by our side and our efforts and our focus right now is, as you heard General Mackenzie say and others say over the last twenty four hours, is to the diplomatic phase. We will get you out."
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U.S. Commander: Last Military Aircraft Departs Afghanistan
Commander of United States Central Command CENTCON, Marine Gen. Kenneth McKenzie Monday, announces the completion of the evacuation operation in Afghanistan, and the departure of the last U.S. military aircraft.
“I’m here to announce the completion of our withdrawal from Afghanistan and the end of the military mission to evacuate American citizens, third country nationals, and vulnerable Afghans,” said McKenzie.
The last C-17 lifted off from the airport at 1929 UTC, he continued, adding, “While the military evacuation is complete, the diplomatic mission to ensure additional U.S. citizens and eligible Afghans who want to leave continues.”
He said "The Taliban has been very pragmatic and very business-like."
Responding to questions about the stranded Americans in Afghanistan, the General said the U.S. will "work with the Taliban," to evacuate any remaining Americans out. “We did not get everybody out that we wanted to get out,” he said.
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U.K Evacuates Diplomats, Military Personnel In Final Flight
United Kingdom's Ministry of Defense: The final flight carrying UK Armed Forces personnel has left #Kabul airport. Earlier today Britain ended its civilian airlift operation.
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[UPDATE] U.S. Central Command Head Says "Active Threat Streams" Remain Against Kabul Airport Following Suicide Bombing Attack
General Kenneth McKenzie says 13 U.S. service members were killed in the suicide attack outside the Kabul airport. 15 others were wounded.
McKenzie who heads of U.S. forces in the Middle East and Afghanistan, says two suicide bombers carried out the complex attack, which he attributed to ISIS-K. He said ISIS gunmen also opened fire during the coordinated attack.
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[UPDATE] Suicide Bombing Outside Kabul Airport; Casualties Include U.S. Personnel
A terror attack Thursday, outside Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul, Afghanistan, has left at least 40 people killed, 120 wounded including children and at least ten U.S. servicemen. A second blast has been reported near the city’s Baron Hotel.
Eyewitnesses describe mayhem at the scene as U.S. officials suggest Islamic terror group ISIS-K may be responsible for the bombing, calling it a "coordinated attack"
Unknown number of foreign nationals including Americans and Britons remain stranded in Afghanistan, as President Biden pulls out U.S. troops.
United Kingdom Prime Minister Boris Johnson says evacuation operations will continue despite the "barbaric" terror attack.
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[UPDATE] CIA Director Holds Secret Meeting In Kabul With Taliban Leader
President Joe Biden reportedly dispatched Burns Monday, to Kabul as the administration continues to grapple with chaotic scenes at the airport as the botched withdrawal of American civilians and troops unfolds.
The CIA Director held a secret meeting with Taliban leader Abdul Ghani Baradar.
The discussions likely involved the August 31 deadline for all U.S. military presence and evacuation operations end in Afghanistan
The Taliban leader is meeting Burns 11 years after he was arrested in a joint CIA-Pakistani operation, which put him in prison for eight years.
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[UPDATE] Afghan President Ashraf Ghani's Nephew Blames Biden's Mishandling Of U.S. Withdrawal For The Quick Collapse Of Government In Kabul
Amel Ghani, said in interview Wednesday, that President Joe Biden mishandling of America’s withdrawal from the country caused the quick Afghan government’s collapse.
“They left in the peak fighting season of the Taliban,” Amel said in an interview with Fox 35 Orlando’s Elina Shirazi. “They left several U.S. bases to the Afghan government in the middle of the night without leaving as far as a note to the Afghan government. And then they expect the Afghan government to go and fight a a war?”
The 27 year-old U. S. resident and 2018 graduate of American University in Washington, D.C., also said Thursday that after the collapse of Afghanistan’s government, he did not believe the country’s residents would view removing the Taliban as a priority. “I think peace is at the top of everybody’s agenda,” he said. “I mean, the last 50 years, the war has been going from one government to the other government.”
Amel's 72-year-old uncle, served as Afghanistan’s president from 2014 until he was forced to flee to the United Arab Emirates last week after his country fell to Taliban. He said he didn’t agree with his uncle’s decision to flee.
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REPORT: Taliban In Hunt For Former U.S, NATO Collaborators On Their Wanted List
The head of the Norwegian Center for Global Analyses’ in report to the UN revealed that the Taliban are carrying out a highly-organised door-to-door hunt for people on their wanted list.
"What we have seen is that the Taliban, in advance of moving into all major cities in Afghanistan, not just Kabul, is that they have a more advanced intelligence system," Christian Nellemann, reportedly said. "They have lists of individuals and even within the very first hours of moving into Kabul they began a search of former government employees - especially in intelligence services and the special forces units."
Nellemann said that, not only could this lead to mass executions, but also a "mass revealing of our methods and the intelligence networks that the West has provided. So this could undermine severely a number of our Western intelligence services."
The report also revealed that the Taliban are recruiting new informers to collaborate with their regime.
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Earlier on Sunday, August 15, Taliban leaders were pictured inside the presidential palace. as they take control of 11 district centres in the capital. "The war is over in Afghanistan," a Taliban spokesman told media outlet Al Jazeera. "We have reached what we were seeking, the freedom of our country and the independence of our people."
Unconfirmed Russia's state news agency RIA report revealed that Afghan President Ashraf Ghani fled Kabul with four cars and a helicopter full of cash.
This comes as Russia's ambassador to Afghanistan Dmitry Zhirnov told a local radio station that the situation in Kabul under the Taliban was "better than it was under Ashraf Ghani."
There are reports across Afghan cities of shutdown businesses and shops, and people who locked themselves indoors. Taliban extremist reportedly knocked on doors looking for Afghans who fought alongside American troops. The Taliban were also asking parents to give up their underage daughter as spoils of war to marry their fighters.
"It's an anxious wait for us and fear of the unknown has gripped us," Mazar-i-Sharif resident Nasim Javid said.
Mazar was one of the most liberal cities in the country and he is worried for young people who have grown up with many freedoms like cinema, music and access to education.
"It will be particularly hard for young women. I know so many female medical students who would make excellent doctors but now they don't know how they will finish their education," he said.
At Kabul International Airport, there were dramatic scenes as desperate Afghans try to flee. Two armed men were killed by US soldiers on Monday, while three people are reported to have died after falling from the underside of a plane they were clinging to shortly after take-off.
Huge crowds have gathered at the airport since the Taliban took control of the capital. US forces reportedly fired into the air to disperse people who were trying to force their way on to planes.
The head of US Central Command has reportedly met face-to-face with senior Taliban leaders to ask the Islamic group not to interfere with the US evacuations out of Kabul airport. At the Sunday meeting in Doha, Qatar, General Frank McKenzie reached an agreement with the Taliban to establish a "deconfliction mechanism" - meaning the Taliban would not interfere with the evacuations.
Addressing Monday, the botched United States withdrawal from the country, President Joe Biden admitted that the collapse of the military and government happened much quicker than expected. “This did unfold more quickly than we anticipated,” he said. This comes just six weeks after saying that Taliban takeover was highly unlikely.
Biden in his speech also blamed the Afghan military and past U.S. presidents. He claimed that he "inherited a deal cut by [President Trump]."
"I was the fourth President to preside over an American troop presence in Afghanistan—two Republicans, two Democrats," the president said. "I would not, and will not, pass this war onto a fifth.”
His speech was roundly criticized by politicians and media pundits in U.S. and around the world.
"It's not that we left Afghanistan," Trump wrote in a statement. "It's the grossly incompetent way we left." The 45th president had earlier called on Biden "to resign in disgrace for what he has allowed to happen in Afghanistan."
World leaders blamed Biden for the rapidly devolving security situation in Afghanistan.
"Fair to say the U.S. decision to pull out has accelerated things," British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said. "But this has in many ways been a chronicle of an event foretold."
Veterans of the wars in Afganistan and other middle eastern nations also expressed their shock over the unfolding event.
Johno Lee, a former British soldier who lost his leg while serving in Afghanistan says he "can't understand how the country was allowed to fall in less than two weeks."
Lee, now a Conservative county councillor in Nottinghamshire, UK, was injured in a minefield explosion in October 2007. He said he was in "complete disbelief" at the way events had unfolded in recent weeks.
"To see areas where we literally gave blood, sweat, tears and limbs to hold it from Taliban fighting, to give people a better life, fall within hours is absolutely heartbreaking," Lee said. The 38-year-old said he felt like the sacrifices he and other veterans made had been "wiped out."
Meanwhile countires like China, Russia and Iran are already lining up to take advantage of Biden's failure in the war-torn country.
China is ready to deepen "friendly and cooperative" relations with Afghanistan, a government spokeswoman told AFP after the Taliban seized control of the country.
The Chinese embassy in Afghanistan says that it has not received any reports of Chinese casualties in the country.
Since the start of their assault this year, Taliban fighters have been sharing images of military hardware they’ve captured from the government – including attack helicopters and armoured vehicles.
The Taliban have also got their hands on artillery, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), rifles, pistols, and equipment like night vision goggles, according to defence think tank RUSI. Some of this has been seized from Afghan military bases. Others have been handed over by soldiers who’ve defected from government forces.
The seizure of big-ticket items like helicopters has made headlines. But Dr Jack Watling, a research fellow at RUSI, says the Taliban don’t have the expertise to use and maintain them, and they’ve probably had little impact on the battlefield.
A bigger concern is the Taliban's access to thermal imaging and night vision equipment, and to optical gear – which can be attached to guns to improve their accuracy.
The Taliban are already selling some of their stolen weapons abroad, in central Asia and the Middle East, and this will likely expand into east Africa, says Dr Watling. The impact of this could be severe.