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Terrorist attacks in Kabul

The New Neo Posted on by

I say terrorist attacks rather than “attacks by the new leaders of Afghanistan” because I think this is not the work of the Taliban, nor is it in the Taliban’s present temporary interests. The Taliban want to put a good face on things and act at least somewhat reformed for just a little while.

But nature abhors a vacuum, and the Biden administration has sucked much of the air out of Afghanistan. In addition, with the freeing of many thousands of terrorists who were imprisoned at Bagram, there are plenty of seasoned and experienced – as well as motivated – volunteers for suicide missions or other terrorist endeavors. ISIS is there, and al Qaeda (or whatever that group calls its regrouped self these days), and probably other entities whose names I don’t know.

It’s like one of those detective mysteries where so many people hated the victim that there’s a myriad of suspects from which to choose. And at the moment we also have the fog of war.

I would not be surprised if attacks happen here, too. And I have no confidence whatsoever that our government has any intention of protecting us or any westerner or western sympathizer in Afghanistan right now.

It was clear to me and a lot of other people on 9/11 that the terrorists and those supporting them meant business, and that this war would continue into the lengthy and indefinite future, and that the west needed to be resolute in fighting it. It also became apparent fairly soon that, for the most part, that resolve was spotty or missing. The war in Afghanistan was undertaken in order to send a message of strength to the radical Islamic terrorist world, but by now the message we are sending is quite the opposite. And that failure acts as blood does on a school of sharks.

[NOTE: I plan to write more on these attacks as more details become known.]

Comments

Terrorist attacks in Kabul — 48 Comments

  3. I dread the coming departure of the last C-17 loaded with US troops as I have every expectation it will be brought down (whether by MANPAD or otherwise), killing all aboard.

  5. Re: “stranded” Americans…

    MollyG:

    I’ve been wondering/worrying the same.

    But who are these Americans who might choose to stay? As opposed to those who figured they didn’t have to rush to the exits just yet.

    Is this another instance of wishful thinking from Team Biden, that they wouldn’t need Bagram after June, because all the Americans would have left on their own by then because the State Dept. had sent out Strongly Worded Emails?

  7. @huxley: “But who are these Americans who might choose to stay?”

    Whoever and whatever else they are (dual-nationality Afghan-Americans, Americans married to native Afghans, etc.), they are certainly today’s DNC/Media Matters talking point and a fig leaf for the criminally incompetent Biden administration.

  8. “…Americans remaining in the country were repeatedly warned to leave…”

    But nationals of other countries (including purported “allies”) were NOT informed?
    Um, OK.

    And the political and military leaders of those countries were also NOT informed?
    Um, er, well, OK.

    (Because, hey, that’s NOT OUR BUSINESS?….which, in effect, means:
    “Because WHO GIVE A FLYING FORK about those guys anyway!!!)

    Alas, not just “those guys”….

    It’s been clear for some time but it should be more and more clear to everyone who bothers to notice that EVERY TIME THEY OPEN THEIR MOUTHS they’re lying….

    Of course some may be totally cool with
    that….

    Maybe they’ll shock us with the truth one day but I wouldn’t want to bet on it.

  10. Whoever and whatever else they are (dual-nationality Afghan-Americans, Americans married to native Afghans, etc.)

    MollyG:

    Not meaning to call you out… But does that make sense?

    If it’s a potential death sentence to have worked with the Americans, surely it’s even more of a risk to be a dual American citizen or an American married to an Afghani.

    At best such a person would be on the short list for Taliban hostages.

  11. In case you are wondering just how far gone the Democratic activist class has become, let me present…

    https://talkingpointsmemo.com/

    The attack in Afghanistan happened three hours ago and, as I post this, this prominent Democratic news site has NOTHING about it on the front page.

    They have a post from yesterday about war supporters being mostly silent on the Afghan withdrawal and a snotty post from two days ago about how “the withdrawal is really going well and why is everybody still complaining?”

    That’s how far gone they are. They’re in the business of drawing clicks and readers. That’s literally how they make money. And they won’t post ANYTHING on the biggest breaking news of the day, most likely because they can’t think of any positive way to spin it to benefit Biden or the Democrats.

    Mike

  13. “It was clear to me and a lot of other people on 9/11 that the terrorists and those supporting them meant business, and that this war would continue into the lengthy and indefinite future, and that the west needed to be resolute in fighting it.”

    The war was lost the instant that W faced the camera and said “ Islam is the religion of peace”. It’s not and never has been in its 1,500 year history dedicated to establishing a universal caliphate. The “ people of the book”, Christians and Jews, are tolerated as second class citizens, everyone else, covert or die. Islam is the ultimate messianic religion that preaches the conquest of the whole world by any means necessary.

  14. Have Biden’s handlers called a lid yet for today? –MollyG

    I was wondering if “lid” was some inside political jargon I had missed. But no, it’s fresh! new! jargon invented by the Biden campaign team in 2020.

    Perhaps “lid” will be the most substantive contribution Biden makes to the world.

  15. MBunge–

    The silence at Talking Points Memo may be due to the fact that Biden called a lid at 10 a.m. when he was supposed to meet at 3 p.m. with state governors about resettling Afghan refugees. He canceled the meeting.

  17. Evidently the Biden adminstration’s message is if you didn’t hustle up and get out by now, clearly you must’ve wanted to stay… and if not, well… sucks to be you I guess! Enjoy being held hostage, raped, and/or beheaded!

  19. @huxley: No worries, not feeling called out, but also not sure I understand your question.

    The US invasion/occupation of Afghanistan was big business if it was anything at all. As such, it attracted Americans and mixed-nationality people for all kinds of reasons, including idealistic work in NGOs as well as all the ordinary kinds of grifting and graft, not to mention all the people who had to be there because they were serving in the US military. In the course of human events, people do fall in love and get married, or just fall in love with a place, and Kabul can be such a place. The Taliban are loathed by almost 90 percent of Afghans, and Kabul, among other Afghan cities, does have pockets of vibrant intellectual and cultural activity — or did.

    What am I missing?

  21. This is very bad, but 9-11-21 will be a horror show. –Cornhead

    Anyone who thinks the Afghanistan situation will hold still for the Biden administration to get out *most* of the Americans, much less Afghani allies, are badly mistaken.

    The main problem the Taliban and Islamic radicals face now is an embarrassment of riches in ways to hurt America.. Which they dearly want to do.

  22. Nonapod:

    Years ago no president would ever say – or even remotely suggest – such a thing. But now it’s standard for this group – and even some NeverTrumper type former Republicans – to ignore the plight of or even wish ill on Americans who get in their way.

    In fact, retired general and ex-CIA had Michael Hayden said this recently:

    Ex-CIA chief General Michael Hayden quipped that it would be a “good idea” to send unvaccinated Trump supporters to Afghanistan.

    In response to a tweet about Afghans fleeing the country on a US military jet, a Twitter user asked: “Can we send the MAGA wearing unvaxxed to Afghanistan, no use sending that plane back empty?”

    “Good idea,” Gen Hayden replied.

    General Hayden, who headed the CIA from 2006 to 2009 during the final years of the presidency of George W Bush, was quickly bashed for his comment…

    Gen Hayden has actively criticised former President Donald Trump and his supporters on Twitter, retweeting memes critical of MAGA fans and the unvaccinated.

    “He’s an a**hole. Pure and simple,” Gen Hayden tweeted about Mr Trump on 19 August.

    He also retweeted a meme that said that Trump supporters were “our Taliban”.

    Gen Hayden also served as the director of the National Security Agency as the principal deputy director of national intelligence

    I think Glenn Greenwald may have it right: “The US intelligence community has always been led by sociopaths.”

    Perhaps not always. But certainly for a long time.

  24. You can get what looks like a braided bracelet. It’s actually a tourniquet. The combat lifesaver training trains you to save life for a few minutes until trained medical care arrives.
    If you go to help at a catastrophe, make sure your will is current because there will be a follow on explosion to kill the helpers.

    If you sometimes carry, carry constantly.

    And never forget this is at the hands of the American voters whose emotional self indulgence gave us Biden.

  25. What am I missing?

    MollyG:

    My confusion as to why anyone in those categories would “want” to stay in Afghanistan.

    I can understand why they would wait until the last minute or even consider staying longer if there were a non-Taliban government.

    But to be an Afghani-American or part of an Afghani/American couple has got to be a one-way ticket to a very unpleasant future in Afghanistan now.

    So, are there any Americans in Afghanistan who want to stay? Unless they’ve defected to the Taliban, it would seem to me they would all be screaming for transport to the airport and a seat on the next jumbo plane out of there.

  26. @Huxley: We agree, then. My original point, probably not clear enough, was that some (phantom) people’s (putative) desire to remain in Afghanistan has been seized upon by the Biden junta and its media lackeys as a talking point and fig leaf.

    Meanwhile, the State Department has called a lid, too — no press briefing today, unbelievable though that is:

    https://twitter.com/weijia/status/1430945319542525953/photo/1

  27. Going back a couple days, the admin. has been saying, “We’ll get out those Americans who want to leave.” Yesterday, I saw that they claimed to be telling those Americans to fill out a web page form in order to leave. Now this ambassador says he was warning people to leave for months. What were all the other people in the State Dept. doing?

    Barry M. makes the point that it wasn’t just crazy Americans left in country, but British and French and probably other nationalities (Danes?).

    A couple thoughts: What were the conditions for the departure of these people? Leave many of your family members behind, perhaps?

    2) If news people or others want to understand this issue of Americans and Afghanis left behind, why don’t they ask them? There was internet and cell coverage. I have heard a tiny amount of such information, but precious little. Why is that? It reminds me that Google managed social media and instant messaging had a great impact on the unfolding of “The Arab Spring” under the Obama admin.

  28. A permanent lid needs to be called on this presidency. Go ahead and stick Harris in the oval office now. She is a hack and an imbecile but her own reptilian sense of self-preservation just might force her to actually act like a real commander-in-chief.

  29. huxley:

    Weren’t they also told they had plenty of time? Wasn’t the administration also constantly reassuring us all that that country and especially Kabul would not be overrun, and certainly not overrun quickly?

    But unfortunately, like in “Animal House”: “You f-ed up, you trusted us.”

    In addition, I know that some small number are Christian do-good groups who chose to stay to help Afghan Christians and/or other Afghans. I assume they realize they might be martyred.

  30. They’ve found their new narrative line and they’re sticking to it for now.

    “If they want to leave, we will help get them out,” Psaki responded.”

    Those left behind will now be portrayed as not really wanting to leave and they instead embraced slavery/death as better. Just personal choice you know.

  32. Gerard says, I wonder how long it will take the security services to call a lid on Biden.

    I’d settle for closing a coffin lid on that [expletive deleted].

  33. What is also really sickening and disgusting is all those spokes-people of Bidet with the military or State Dept or his cabinet appointees – or Bidet’s Propagandist Mouthpiece in Chief, Jen Psaki, who have no problem whatsoever standing in front of “news” people (and the nation) and lying through their teeth.

    Not one resignation; not one.

    Yep, have to follow orders, just following orders.
    Geez, where have I heard that before?
    Nuremberg trials ?

    Jen Kabul-saki makes Bagdad Bob look like Edward R Murrow.

    Just another illustration of the type of people who “serve” in govt.
    A bunch of vermin and parasites.

  36. Gerard: Do the Security Services plan state funerals too? Or will COVID be invoked to justify a rushed midnight interment in Delaware to prevent a superspreader “event”?

  37. Impeachments and courts-martial are in order.
    Leave Bagram in the middle of the night, and to hell with military assets including helos and F-15s? Fortunately the Muslims can’t fly them, though they now own more Blackhawk helos than almost any other country.

  39. MollyG and huxley:

    I’m sure there are some American citizens in Afganistan who genuinely don’t want to leave. Example: an Afgani who migrated to the U.S., became a citizen, got a job, sent money home, saved and retired with a pension, and went back to Afganistan to spend his remaining years with his family and relatives.

    I once met an Italian who was living in Rome on a U.S. Postal Service pension. The money went a lot farther there than here.

    Sure, it’s the Taliban. But surely there are Afganis willing to live with them in charge even though they don’t like it.

  40. “The silence at Talking Points Memo may be due to the fact that Biden called a lid at 10 a.m.”

    They finally posted a barebones story at 5 pm Eastern. Between that and when the bombing happened, TPM posted other stories on…

    “Capitol Police Officers Sue Trump And Cronies For Sparking Jan. 6 Violence”

    “Watch The New Episode Of The Josh Marshall Podcast: Everbody’s Mad”

    “GOP Rep Torched For Vaccine Holocaust Comparison That Even Greene Apologized For”

    “Jail Doc Defends Prescribing Dewormer To Inmates For COVID, Despite FDA Warning”

    “Capitol Police Officers Sue Trump And Cronies For Sparking Jan. 6 Violence”

    “AZ AG Tries Bullying Maricopa County Into Complying With Fake ‘Audit’ After Subpoena Battle”

    “A Boy With An Autoimmune Disease Was Ready To Learn In Person. Then His State Banned Mask Mandates”

    Josh Marshall also posted an editorial on how people are unfairly exploiting the number of Afghans needing evacuation. It was posted at 1:51 pm Eastern and doesn’t reference the bombing at all. Even allowing for it being pre-written and slotted to auto-publish at a particular time, I think it’s pretty clear they made a conscious decision to just ignore the bombing as a news story.

    Mike

  41. I was wondering if “lid” was some inside political jargon I had missed.

    I think you’ll find the term in Ron Nessen’s memoir of his time as press secretary. At that time (ca. 1974), it was an announcement that no news of consequence was anticipated for the rest of the day.

  43. Cornhead on August 26, 2021 at 1:59 pm said:

    This is very bad, but 9-11-21 will be a horror show.

    Maybe not. But it is a reasonable expectation that the United States will be hit somewhere with a significant terrorist attack in the next, oh, say, 18 months or so. At least it will if past patterns of manifest weakness followed by punitive attacks plays out.

    And then there will be the usual cry of “Politics stops at the border!” and “We are all Americans sharing the same fundamental values!” and other palpably false shit like that.

    Unless of course Michael Moore gets his wish, and it is Middle America that is struck. Then it will be, “That is what they get for being Trump supporters.”

    This political project as it is currently constituted, with the woke neurotics hanging their moral and psychological dysfunctions around our necks like rotting albatrosses ***, is not worth it anymore.

    [***Referencing here not only my own opinion, but the observations of many, like that which Anton has made regarding the asymmetric dynamic between “California” on the one hand, and “Texas” on the other.]

    It is an old and recurrent theme of course; and one that particularly raged just prior to the Civil War. But it is always with us.

    As a socialist was fond of saying to me: “It’s an all society proposition” That is to say : No options, no exit, no choice. Because in the final reduction, they just will not leave you with any.

  44. What possible basis is there for giving credence to anything Ross Wilson, the acting U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan says?

    It’s lies, all the way down.

    “Islam is the ultimate messianic religion that preaches the conquest of the whole world by any means necessary.” Paul in Boston

    Islam has no Messiah. It had a psychopath who claimed to be the last prophet. But Islam is not a religion. Arguably, it is a death cult.

    More accurately, Islam is a violently expansionist, totalitarian ideology that wraps itself in a facade of religious pretense. That a cult may claim a membership of a billion people does not change its inherent nature.

    “Impeachments and courts-martial are in order.” Cicero

    Nothing less than firing squads are in order.

    Regarding the excuse makers on the left; at what point does willful blindness that enables treason become collusion?

    What else would you call effectively providing aid and comfort to active enemies of America than treason?

    The driver of the gettaway car may be unarmed but they provide aid and comfort to the bank robber and are thus complicit in the crime.

  45. Christopher Burnett,
    Harris will spend her time campaigning for Gavin Newsom. She hasn’t done a thing as Veep, and I doubt that she even follows foreign affairs.

  46. Sure, it’s the Taliban. But surely there are Afganis willing to live with them in charge even though they don’t like it.

    buster:

    But will the Taliban be willing to live with Afghani-Americans anywhere in their realm?

    That sounds like the sure road to a beheading or being held hostage.

  47. Even Harris realizes how bad things look. She has canceled her campaign stop for Newsom on the way home from Vietnam.

  48. Paul in Boston’s Aug. 26 are worth repeating:
    “The war was lost the instant that W faced the camera and said “ Islam is the religion of peace”. It’s not and never has been in its 1,500 year history dedicated to establishing a universal caliphate. The “ people of the book”, Christians and Jews, are {maybe!- Ed.] tolerated as second class citizens, everyone else, convert or die. Islam is the ultimate messianic religion that preaches the conquest of the whole world by any means necessary.”

    I think a quibble about the small “m” messianic is an unnecessary diversion. Of course following Mohamed to the T is a messianic path, just like following Adolf or Vladimir Ilyich was.

    Islam is an oppressive, totalitarian ideology, a false religion.
    But Democrats in particular pretend otherwise. Why? And what can we who disagree with them do? Shut up and take it? That is like living under Islam!

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