The surrender of Afghanistan [Part I]: Biden to Taliban: Here, take Kabul, we don’t need it anymore.
There’s a certain very bitter humor in contemplating what the Democrats impeached Trump for compared to their failure to do so for Biden’s enormously greater “high crimes and misdemeanors” – such as, for example, this recent sequence of events in Washington DC and Afghanistan (the article appears to not be behind the usual WaPo paywall, so I conclude that the editors seem to want to encourage more people than usual to read it) [emphasis mine]:
…Within hours [of their arrival in Kabul], long-haired Taliban fighters had seized those checkpoints. The president had fled, not bothering to tell U.S. officials or even many of his own top lieutenants on his way out the palace door.
That outcome stunned top U.S. officials, several of whom had been on vacation when the weekend began, having expected the pro-Western government to hang on for weeks, if not months or even years longer. Afghans were no less astonished by the speed with which their government crumbled. Even the Taliban was surprised.
The article goes on to talk about how oblivious Ghani was when the Taliban came to the city, but adds that the US officials were no better:
American officials may have been urging Ghani to show greater urgency. But their own actions suggested no immediate cause for alarm, with officials surrendering to the customary rhythms of Washington in August.
On the Friday afternoon before Kabul fell, the White House was starting to empty out, as many of the senior staff prepared to take their first vacations of Biden’s young presidency. Earlier in the day, Biden had arrived at Camp David, and Secretary of State Antony Blinken was already in the Hamptons.
I imagine if Trump had been doing this, the WaPo‘s relatively calm tone would have been remarkably different. But at least they’re reporting this.
There’s no way to tell what’s true and what’s false in this next part. Certainly the Taliban’s version isn’t one I would trust. But here’s a story of why and how Ghani left:
Around midday, much of the staff had been dismissed for lunch. While they were gone, according to officials, a top adviser informed the president that militants had entered the palace and were going room to room looking for him.
That does not appear to have been true. The Taliban had announced that while its fighters were at the edges of Kabul, having entered through the city’s main checkpoints after security forces withdrew, it did not intend to take over violently. There was an agreement in place for a peaceful transition, and the group intended to honor it.
Yet that wasn’t the message that was being delivered to Ghani. The president was told by his closest aides that he needed to get out — fast…
Mindful of the last time the Taliban had conquered Kabul — in 1996, when victorious fighters sought out the former Soviet-backed president, disemboweled him and hung his body from a traffic light — Ghani agreed to go.
It was the Taliban who had done that twenty-five years ago as they took over the first time, and even if they said they were intending to honor the “peaceful transition” this time, I cannot imagine why anyone would trust them. I especially cannot imagine why anyone would think such an agreement for non-violence would continue to be honored once we and the Afghan government were gone.
The article goes on to add that the president left (with his wife and some aides) without even taking time to go home to get any belongings and without informing anyone, including the US officials. Many of his closest aides felt betrayed and wholly demoralized.
And then this happened:
In a hastily arranged in-person meeting, senior U.S. military leaders in Doha — including McKenzie, the commander of U.S. Central Command — spoke with Abdul Ghani Baradar, head of the Taliban’s political wing.
“We have a problem,” Baradar said, according to the U.S. official. “We have two options to deal with it: You [the United States military] take responsibility for securing Kabul or you have to allow us to do it.”
Let’s pause here for a moment to emphasize what comes next – the US turned Kabul over to the Taliban even though a great many US citizens remained there – because Biden refused to do anything to stop them [emphasis mine]:
Throughout the day, Biden had remained resolute in his decision to withdraw all American troops from Afghanistan. The collapse of the Afghan government hadn’t changed his mind.
McKenzie, aware of those orders, told Baradar that the U.S. mission was only to evacuate American citizens, Afghan allies and others at risk. The United States, he told Baradar, needed the airport to do that.
On the spot, an understanding was reached, according to two other U.S. officials: The United States could have the airport until Aug. 31. But the Taliban would control the city.
Thus we became dependent on the Taliban for security while we tried to get our people out. And the commitment to the August 31 withdrawal date became even more rigid (if such a thing was possible), because after that the Taliban would not be holding back.
Complete capitulation and abject weakness on our part.
And this was a typical response from the Afghans interviewed for the article:
“I just sat there thinking, ‘I lost my country today,’” said Nadery, 40, who had been head of the country’s national civil service agency. “I saw everything I had fought for, for so many years, crumbling before my eyes.”
The article’s concluding paragraphs:
But some had already given up hope that they would ever get out. That night, instead of going home, the senior Kabul security official went to a friend’s house. He has been hiding there ever since but is resigned to the fact that, sooner or later, the Taliban will probably find him.
His fate was sealed, he said, when Afghanistan’s president decided to save himself.
“From that moment, everything was smashed,” he said. “I’ve killed hundreds of Taliban. So for sure they will kill me.”
No, sir; that’s not when your fate was sealed. Your fate was sealed – as was ours – when President Biden decided to retreat by a certain date no matter what, and he announced it to the world. No more conditions needing to be met, no more time, no change of that plan whatever might happen – not even to facilitate the evacuation of our people and those who had helped us.
And yes, I believe that Biden was the major decision-maker in this horrific set of circumstances, although he wasn’t alone. As I said early on, it bears his fingerprints. Incredibly arrogant, stubborn, ignorant, stupid, corrupt, ambitious, mendacious, and short-sighted, he is now also suffering from some degree of dementia which seems to have heightened all of his most terrible characteristics. And although some people apparently did disagree with him and saw disaster coming, no one could or would stop him, and no one resigned.
NOTE: This is going to be a two-parter. Part II will deal with some people in the Biden administration who perceived well in advance that a huge problem was looming with this pullout if it was approached the way Biden wanted it handled. I plan to discuss what they were saying about it even prior to the Taliban’s advance, and speculate on why they nevertheless may have been unable or unwilling to prevent the debacle.
I guess Team Biden believes that getting out at whatever cost doesn’t matter in the long run. Democrats got away with it after Saigon and Iraq, so why not in Afghanistan?
I think Afghanistan is worse and there will be a price because the exit was so terribly incompetent and Biden so horrifyingly weak as President.
Nonetheless, the Biden people may be right about the political cost.
huxley:
If they are right in their calculations – and I fervently hope they’re not, but I fear they may be – then this country is utterly lost.
By November 2022 this will be completely forgotten by the MSM and Democrats. Actually doing all this at this time was pretty savvy. Get it over with now and give plenty of time for it all to be memory holed.
Griffin:
Yes, but what about independents? They’re the ones I’m wondering about. I don’t expect many Democrats to care – which is a sad sad thing. But I certainly hope some of those in the middle care, and care deeply. I cannot predict whether that will be the case, though.
neo,
Some independents will definitely care but the bigger issues will be crime, homelessness and Bio Medical authoritarianism.
That assumes there are no terror attacks or something else that can be directly tied to this fiasco.
There are going to be new terror attacks. Videos of the Taliban torturing and beheading American citizens is going to leak past the MSM’s attempts to send future developments down the memory hole. China is going to attack Taiwan. North Korea with China’s backing is going to attack and take South Korea. Putin is going to seize the Ukraine. Iran is going to achieve nuclear ICBM capability and they will at some point use it.
All of this is going to happen whether Biden or Harris occupy the oval office. When predators sense weak prey, they attack. It’s in their nature to do so, no other consideration exists for that mindset.
When there are no sheepdogs, wolves rule.
The real question is not whether enough voters will reject the democrats, the real question is whether the fraud will be enough to cancel the will of the electorate.
“[T]he real question is whether the fraud will be enough to cancel the will of the electorate.”
By the actions over the past 7 months I’m convinced that the leadership level of the Democrats believe they have every election locked up, through fraud, from now on. I pray they are wrong.
Geoffrey Britain is dead on.
@GB:
You might be right about some of the above, but what business is it of the United States of America?
Were you put upon this Earth to protect absolutely nuclear-armed Jews from potentially nuclear-armed Persians or triply incredibly corrupt Ukrainians from only doubly corrupt Russians? I rather think not.
Your analysis of Korean situation is outdated and simplistic, but I won’t bore you with why. I will say that anyone having had much experience of Koreans qua Koreans would be less than enthusiastic about dying for either side.
If you sit down and contemplate deeply, you’ll eventually probably arrive at the conclusion that a good deal, if not all of the USA’s domestic problems are downstream sequelae of having acted as the world’s increasingly mangy sheep dog. I’d suggest a season or three of ratting in the barn before venturing out again. The world will abide.
*puts on Stalin Hat*
Who are these ‘Independents’? Shoot them first!
You might be right about some of the above, but what business is it of the United States of America?
Zaphod, you really might find out, and not be very happy with the outcome. Being an Isolationist never works.
Zaphod wrote, “I will say that anyone having had much experience of Koreans qua Koreans would be less than enthusiastic about dying for either side.”
Really?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dp0F18FFCTE
@AppleBetty:
They’re good for a fling… No doubt. But keep one in your house and she’ll smash up all the crockery, cut bits off one’s anatomy when asleep, and regularly threaten suicide.
The whole nation is Cluster B. Which can make for some seriously fun times.. but again see above.
There’s a weird phenomenon where a certain type of Japanese female visits Paris for the first time and goes psychotic because Parisians are not quite what she’s been lead to expect. Real life Koreans are bit more full-on than their TV dramas and music videos would suggest… and I’ve heard complaints from Chinese, Malaysians, Thais who have made first trip to Seoul and experienced more culture shock than they were expecting.
Very, very, violent culture. This goes for white collar office culture too — screaming, face-slapping, the works. They make the Japanese seem cuddly. Read up on POW stories… Korean guards were the worst.
Also some of the stuff they did in Vietnam. Guess Jane Fonda didn’t read Hangul.
Not that I hate Koreans or anything. Life’s wonderful kaleidoscope. Always have at least a kg of Kimchi on standby in the refrigerator. Just ROK not worth the bones of a single Pomeranian Grenadier as Bismarck would have put it.
I do so wish some ‘reporter’ would put the following to Biden:
‘Sir, as you may know we are a do-it-yourself nation, as all the ads from Home Depot inform us.
Now considering the deaths of Americans and our allies which you have enabled, you must be filled with shame. Can you tell us when you intend to buy a rope and hang yourself?’
Re: Koreans…
Zaphod:
I had a friend who joined the Army in the 70s. He was bright and got made squad leader or something in basic training. The blacks under him took exception and a group of them ambushed my friend in the restroom. They were about to beat the crap out of him or worse.
Fortunately, a Korean from the ROK Army — very tough guys — who was a friend of my friend showed up and cleaned house like Jason Statham. Good news.
The Korean parlayed his stint in the US Army into citizenship. He moved to Minnesota (similar climate to Korea), married a fat woman and started a family.
@huxley:
All’s well that ends well!
That is as they say, a “value judgment” and in part depends upon how you define “innocent”.
“No, sir; that’s not when your fate was sealed. Your fate was sealed – as was ours…” when the steal was sealed & too many alleged Rs assisted.
Everything else is downstream January 21st.
@ Neo > “I don’t expect many Democrats to care – which is a sad sad thing. But I certainly hope some of those in the middle care, and care deeply. I cannot predict whether that will be the case, though.”
Check out this recent post. The bulk of it is pure unfiltered Kurtness, but the relevant part is right at the end.
https://townhall.com/columnists/kurtschlichter/2021/08/30/own-your-failure-biden-voters-n2594924
If the recall fails, or if Elder is not the winner, all we will know is that the election fraud machine is still working fine in California.
Schlichter’s story leads me to quote myself in another post that riffs off his remarks.
https://www.thenewneo.com/2021/08/27/kurt-schlichter-asks-the-generals-to-resign-and-i-second-the-motion/#comment-2574087
By “stealth” I mean “under the radar, building slowly, as, one-by-one, people realize that the Democrats lie, cheat, and steal to obtain power, and then destroy everything they control.”
It takes a long time to reach a tipping point, but we may be on the verge of having the whole slag heap slide down.
Aesopfan.
People who don’t know this by now….. Why not? And, whatever the answer is…what will change?
Do you and they have a common definition of “destroy”. I know you would think you do. Are you sure? Is screwing up med school over gender issues “destroying” it, or making it better? Can you picture yourself discussing the issue with one who believes the latter?
And those marginally thoughtful people who’ve voted dem or GOPe and now are in a position, including cognitive abilities, to see the error…must see how horribly they’ve messed up. Preserving one’s self-image to oneself would likely require denying the screwup and doubling down to prove it.
Ghani’s left without his clothes, but he remembered to take millions of dollars with him, more than would fit in the help. I WANT THAT MONEY BACK.
In terms of elections….
If you don’t believe Biden won by a large margin, or won at all, then the slog to turn things around is not so hard. Even in 2020 Biden’s win did not translate down-ticket into the expected congressional seats.
Afghanistan blew a hole in Biden’s credibility. There is much patchwork going on now to repair him, but damage has been done. Even major MSM took note. Our allies were horrified. Ninety retired flag rank officers have called on Austin and Milley to resign:
https://img1.wsimg.com/blobby/go/fb7c7bd8-097d-4e2f-8f12-3442d151b57d/downloads/DOD%20Resignation%20Letter%20083021.pdf
And we haven’t heard the end of problems caused by the Bug-Out. Nor with Biden’s ongoing deterioration. Meanwhile the beat goes on with inflation, the border, CRT and Covid.
There’s not much sunshine ahead for Dems.
Delilah:
It’s not at all clear whether he took the money or not. It’s incredibly hard to know the truth, but at the moment it has the status of a rumor.
Zaphod on August 30, 2021 at 9:14 pm said:
Interesting. Why don’t you repeat those observations in a more culturally and philosophically diagnostic sense.
You can skip any warm body details and go straight to the psycho-social explanations – as you understand them – for the behaviors you characterize.
Looks like you are describing a great deal of psychological instability and a certain attitude of petulant entitlement. Wherefore?
@ Richard Aubrey > “Do you and they have a common definition of “destroy”. I know you would think you do.”
Actually, I don’t think “they” and I have a common definition at all, for Leftist & Democrat values of “they.” I’m a firm supporter of the Scott Adams Two Movie Screens Paradigm.
However, I DO think “they” (beginning from at least Wilson, as the first modern leftist in office) have destroyed much of the American ideal, law, societal values, institutions, and community cohesion and tolerance. And rewritten history to support their movie scripts.
I used to think it was just accidental by-product of good intentions.
I don’t believe that any more.
@ Zaphod > “but keep one in your house and she’ll …cut bits off one’s anatomy when asleep, ..”
That could be said about subsets of every nationality, ethnicity, and race.
This story comes to mind. Not that the husband didn’t contribute to the situation, but it fits your specified charge.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_and_Lorena_Bobbitt
My personal recollection of a friend’s lived experience is that he was deliriously happy with his Korean wife in every way, but especially her home-made Kim Chee.
Some might argue that falls within the purview of your observation, but I do think it’s hyperbolic to generalize to the nth degree about individuals.
AesopFan:
Making negative generalizations about ethnic groups is Zaphod’s favorite occupation here, and not one that puts him in a good light at all.
Zaphod,
“You might be right about some of the above, but what business is it of the United States of America?”
When there’s no sheepdogs, wolves eat the sheep.
“Your analysis of Korean situation is outdated and simplistic…”
Thats what Chamberlain said of Churchill’s assessment of the danger that Hitler and the Nazis represented. He was wrong then and events will prove you to be wrong as well.
Moral discomfort apparently has you imagining that the North Koreans aren’t really serious about ‘reunification’. Consoling yourself with the delusion that taking them at their word about ideological imperatives is the province of unsophisticates.
“There are some ideas so absurd that only an intellectual could believe them.” George Orwell
News flash! The world will not abide. Humanity is very close to another historical tipping point.
@GB:
No problem with statement that we’re at some tipping points.
Again, why should you care about Korea? This might also be news to you, but a substantial chunk of South Koreans are constantly agitating for re-unification and Yankee Go Home. Give the People What they Want — especially the ungrateful foreign @#$%ers.
@Neo:
Because Pretending that everyone is a special unique flower and going against all human evolution in ignoring group stereotypes just worked out so well in Afghanistan?
Guys like Karzai and Ghani are definite *types*… Only a seriously determined cretin can’t spot them a mile off and make reasonable predictions about their likely behaviour in any and all situations. This goes for most of the other players in that and every other Sandpit. Including the one you inhabit and the one I inhabit.
Some future Robot Historians (Chinese Robots, I suppose) will say the USA/West died of terminal stupidity. Others will claim it died of Willful Niceness. Some Really Bad Kevin McDBot will short circuit its poor fevered positronic brain trying to explain to the others that when Stereotypical People rule, why then obviously stereotyping must be outlawed.
And I got nothing against Kimchi and Samsung.
Zaphod:
If you didn’t have strawman arguments you’d be left with almost no arguments at all.
I’m sick of wasting time on strawmen such as “Because Pretending that everyone is a special unique flower and going against all human evolution in ignoring group stereotypes just worked out so well in Afghanistan?”
I don’t pretend any such thing; I’m quite cynical about a lot of people. And although stereotypes are sometimes true they are sometimes false, and more importantly they do not tell you anything about a certain individual. I happen to think – and have said so before many times – that we should not have tried to nation-build in Afghanistan and that we ignored many things about that country in the process. But our mission has not included that for many many years. However, from nearly the beginning (9/11) we were stuck between a rock and a hard place in deciding what to do about Afghanistan as a terrorist haven.
Your simplistic kneejerk racial and ethnic stereotyping as an all-purpose explanation and your ignoring of individual variation, plus your nearly relentless strawman arguments, are not the least bit convincing or impressive, and have become way too time-consuming and annoying. Quit those two things or you will be banned here.
Zaphod,
I’m well aware that “a substantial chunk of South Koreans are constantly agitating for re-unification and Yankee Go Home.”
Moral cowardice is a common human failing and attempts to appease the crocodile never works out.
I pay far more attention to national and international politics than I do at the local level. I’m a big picture guy, too short an attention span for detail work.
I wish other allied nations well because it’s both the right thing to do and because it is in our self-interest to maintain a coalition of like minded nations. Coalitions rely on trust. When trust collapses, coalitions disintegrate and then, there’s no one to watch your back.
Ask any combat vet about the necessity for others to watch your six.
I sympathize with those living under tyranny and favor helping those willing to help themselves.
In a world filled with dark alleys, no man or nation can long survive when they make of themselves an island.
@ Neo > “Making negative generalizations about ethnic groups is Zaphod’s favorite occupation here, and not one that puts him in a good light at all.”
And your chastisement was well done.
One of the best features of “answering bad speech with good speech” is that it encourages responders to marshal their own ideology and arguments to refute the things they disagree with, and that is beneficial to all the readers of the discussion.
It is also why the Cancel Culture Crisis Response Teams have had to enlist so many allies to simply eliminate the answerers instead of debating them, and why they rely on emotional appeals instead of logic and facts. They don’t have, or won’t use, the skills that are developed in writing “persuasive essays,” such as the ones my high school English teacher assigned back in the Old School Days.
Sadly, with far too many consumers of news and opinion, they appear to have sufficient success with their approach.