Posted on 08/30/2021 6:15:39 AM PDT by PghBaldy
I have thought that is part of what may be happening with various Biden Regime decisions.
Biden is completely compromised by the CCP. He is also severely impaired cognitively. This is about the CCP bringing down the United States and demoralizing us. We need to be stronger than ever now. We cannot get caught up in petty infighting. Our country and way of life are at stake.
I call different senators and representatives every day to ask them to impeach Biden and protect our country. I pray every day that God protects us even though I feel that because we have forsaken Him, we do not deserve it. We brought this on by being silent and apathetic for years. I do not mean we hear on Free Republic, I am generalizing. But I think you folks understand.
Pray. And be prepared to fight.
On the one hand it’s an astonishing report. On the other hand I’m not really surprised since it does seem to fit the circumstances.
Clearly there is a level of cooperation between the US and the Taliban. The White House along with the State Department and the military are treating the Taliban as a legitimate governing entity to some extent. That seems shocking but it really is a continuation of what had been established under Trump.
According to Trump’s deal, the Afghan government and the Taliban were required to work out a power sharing agreement as part of the US withdrawal process. For this to happen, the Taliban had to be given the status of a legitimate governing faction. Biden and the US establishment are keeping this status in place, apparently to maintain enough of a cooperative framework, at least in the short term, for us to get our military and our people and Afghan friendlies out.
This fragile framework is what is forcing us to submit to a frightening degree of Taliban control over the process. We can’t just do things willy nilly, for instance waving a bus of people through the airport gate. Instead the TB is insisting on a degree of control and we are forced to abide because that is the de facto terms of the deal we’ve struck. This is what happens when you catastrophically mismanage things and give up your advantage.
Apparently Biden thinks there are enough carrots and sticks remaining to keep the Taliban acting civilized at least long enough for us to eke out a humiliating but relatively atrocity free bugout. The question then is what kind of leverage will we have after the 31st to bring home the stragglers (of which there likely will be many). Maybe that’s where our freezing of the $9.3B in Afghan/Taliban assets comes into play.
By far, the worst retreat, and subsequent slaughter, from Afghanistan was made by the British General Elphinstone.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_George_Keith_Elphinstone
“The (Kabul) garrison also included 12,000 civilians, including soldiers’ families and camp followers. He was elderly, indecisive, weak, and unwell, and proved himself utterly incompetent for the post. His entire command was massacred during the British retreat from Kabul during January 1842.”
The best retelling of the tale is found in the historical novel ‘Flashman’, by George MacDonald Fraser. It should be required military reading.
I’m happy for Biden to be beaten with this stick, but I suspect the question was asked at a point when it was too late. The US did not have the forces in place to “secure” Kabul, and actually never did — we relied on Afghan proxy forces that had just melted away. The administration was dead set on leaving, and did not trust the military to start a new mission that would be very hard to disentangle. Spreading US troops thinly through Kabul would also have set them up for ambushes and complete disaster, akin to the British retreat from Kabul in the 1840’s.
The keys to Biden’s disaster are ignorant timing (pure Biden stupidity there) and giving up Bagram, which we did and could control. The Taliban’s political leadership seems to be smart enough to want us to leave, and is avoiding creating outrages that would cause us to stay. Whether they continue that past 8-31-21, or control all forces on the ground remains to be seen. 9-1 I expect the killing to start.
Looks to me like the CIA wants the finger of blame pointed at General McKenzie.
I agree with that, but many won’t.
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Just ask them the question : What would you do differently to destroy the USA?
From the WaPo:
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.”
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.
If true, this is the opening salvo in the effort to discredit him as mentally unstable.
One reason would be to get all these foreigners and military out of the country faster.
Another would be it makes them look good for little to no effort on their part.
They could use the gesture in future talks.
Maybe 60-70%; the others are still leftists, commies, marxists, progs, dems etc squarely in his corner. Don’t kid yourself. They’re just keeping quiet until this blows over.
Like Chuck Schumer said, the IC can get you 6 ways to Sunday.
Watch for reports that the LT Col. had kiddie porn on his electronic devices...
This is my take as well. The Washington Compost is making this argument as a distraction from the real causes of the Afghan debacle. They're pandering to the most delusional, and the most hateful, elements of Joe Biden's base.
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