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23 min ago Biden announces he's authorized 5,000 troops to Afghanistan to ensure "orderly and safe drawdown"
CNN ^ | Updated 4:09 p.m. ET, August 14, 2021 | From CNN's DJ Judd

Posted on 08/14/2021 1:35:09 PM PDT by Hojczyk

President Joe Biden announced in a statement on Saturday the deployment of an additional 5,000 troops to Afghanistan, “to make sure we can have an orderly and safe drawdown of US personnel and other allied personnel and an orderly and safe evacuation of Afghans who helped our troops during our mission and those at special risk from the Taliban advance.”

Biden is also announcing a series of actions aimed at deescalating the ongoing situation in Afghanistan, including directing the intel community “to ensure that we will maintain the capability and the vigilance to address future terrorist threats from Afghanistan,” tasking Secretary of State Tony Blinken with supporting Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, conveying to Taliban representatives in Doha “that any action on their part on the ground in Afghanistan, that puts US personnel or our mission at risk there, will be met with a swift and strong US military response,” and tasking Ambassador Tracey Jacobson with efforts “to process, transport, and relocate Afghan special immigrant visa applicants and other Afghan allies.”

“When I came to office, I inherited a deal cut by my predecessor— which he invited the Taliban to discuss at Camp David on the eve of 9/11 of 2019—that left the Taliban in the strongest position militarily since 2001 and imposed a May 1, 2021 deadline on US forces,” Biden wrote. “Shortly before he left office, he also drew US forces down to a bare minimum of 2,500. Therefore, when I became President, I faced a choice—follow through on the deal, with a brief extension to get our forces and our allies’ forces out safely, or ramp up our presence and send more American troops to fight once again in another country’s civil conflict.”

(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...


TOPICS: News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: afghanistan; afghanistandebacle; bidenadm; bidenforeignpolicy; bidenstatement; troops
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To: monkeyshine
I would say you're thinking like the Taliban. For something big for them to pull off on the Anniversary would be sweet for the Taliban.

Wouldn't be the first "Anniversary" hit. Ask Hillary...

101 posted on 08/14/2021 3:23:17 PM PDT by Sacajaweau
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To: The Antiyuppie

Yup...he didn’t mention it before.


102 posted on 08/14/2021 3:23:48 PM PDT by Sacajaweau
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To: Metrobank

Where is Harris by the way. Haven’t heard from her since she went for a Covid test after Dems hugged her to death.


103 posted on 08/14/2021 3:29:57 PM PDT by Sacajaweau
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To: Hojczyk

They should deploy the Tranny Brigade:

1 BN Totally Gay and Proud
2-3 BN Man Hating Lesbians
4-5-6 BN Tranny, Queer and Pedophile

And to show our resolve, they should be personally led by the Commander of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Mark A. Milley.


104 posted on 08/14/2021 3:35:46 PM PDT by yefragetuwrabrumuy (Do kids in Iceland still play "The Floor Is Lava?")
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To: Billthedrill

I’m not going to get into details, but Embassy and/or Non-combatant evacuation plans are in place for pretty much every Embassy and diplomatic post. Sometimes, like Benghazi, they never get implemented because political, diplomatic, or military leaders ignore signals or get caught flat-footed. But they do exist.

It’s been a bread an butter mission of the military since the first diplomats went overseas. The Boxer Rebellion in China about 120 years ago being the biggest most involved of these missions.

I worked an Afghanistan evac plan about 7 years ago. Something we write as a standard matter of procedure. Part and parcel of these types of plans are a security force that goes in and takes over operations. Their focus is on gathering up the all the evacuees, U.S. and other allied diplomats, U.S. citizens, foreign nationals with a U.S. connection, allied citizens, etc. That force can be scoped in size from a few hundred to tens of thousands, based on the threats the force faces. The military knows how to execute this tactical task, and will likely do it very well.

But that is the easy part, the real issue is that Afghanistan is a utter strategic failure by the foreign policy establishment. Remember, this was the “Good War,” unlike the bad war in Iraq. Just one thing, no one, neither Mr Bush’s team nor Mr. Obama’s team ever clearly articulated just what success would look like. In Iraq we, after some fits and starts, established a functional state, corrupt as hell, misfires a lot, and too willing to overlook Iranian misdeeds, but it is functional. Afghanistan never got there, once we pulled out of an area, it collapsed back into tribal infighting once any pressure, either political or military, was applied. The diplomats and senior military leaders fooled themselves into thinking just a little more time would get them to turn the corner. But it never happened. We never could figure out how to turn the Afghan government and military into something that could stand on its own.

Mr. Trump took the least bad option he could find. Mr. Biden in his zeal to dump anything related to his predecessor found the most bad option and now soldiers and Marines will have to clean up the mess as best they can.


105 posted on 08/14/2021 3:36:46 PM PDT by drop 50 and fire for effect ("Work relentlessly, accomplish much, remain in the background, and be more than you seem.")
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To: Dr. Sivana
Then, how do we pull out the 5,000?

Another 15,000 troops to guard them. See how easy it all is?

106 posted on 08/14/2021 3:45:03 PM PDT by frank ballenger (You have summoned up a thundercloud. You're gonna hear from me. Anthem by Leonard Cohen)
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To: frank ballenger

Seems to me you want to get everyone out now...if the only way out is the airport...

Would not take much to shut that down....shoot down a few planes and it is over...

Plus how far do you have to fly to yet there now...if you need are cover to get out???


107 posted on 08/14/2021 3:55:12 PM PDT by Hojczyk
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To: Hojczyk

This fvktard actually blamed Trump. Any more words from me are counter productive.


108 posted on 08/14/2021 3:58:53 PM PDT by shanover (...To disarm the people is the best and most effectual way to enslave them.-S.Adams)
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To: Sacajaweau
Maps show jihadis flocking to Afghanistan to launch their terror war!:


109 posted on 08/14/2021 4:19:20 PM PDT by Grampa Dave (If I wanted to live in Australia, China, Cuba, Canada, the UK, or Chicago! I'd move there! )
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To: drop 50 and fire for effect
That force can be scoped in size from a few hundred to tens of thousands, based on the threats the force faces.

All such plans assume that there is enough _time_ to implement them.

It looks like the Bidet gang did not figure out what was happening until it was too late.
110 posted on 08/14/2021 4:20:44 PM PDT by cgbg (A kleptocracy--if they can keep it. Think of it as the Cantillon Effect in action.)
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To: yefragetuwrabrumuy

Waving that 🌈 banner all over the place.


111 posted on 08/14/2021 4:24:47 PM PDT by Leep (Save America. Lock down Joe Biden!)
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To: Hojczyk

My prediction from this morning comes true. 😣


112 posted on 08/14/2021 4:51:38 PM PDT by Georgia Girl 2 (The only purpose of a pistol is to fight your way back to the rifle you should never have dropped)
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To: cgbg
All such plans assume that there is enough _time_ to implement them.

No. These plans make no assumptions about time, other than the ever present reality of crisis action planning that you will never have enough time. Time available is a critical part of determining operational or tactical feasibility when you pull a plan off the shelf and turn it into an operation. I do not know first hand, but I suspect that part of the job of the the additional forces is to buy time to accomplish the evacuation. The Taliban know full well that taking on U.S. soldiers and Marines in a prepared defense is a no-win proposition. They’ll pester them, cause casualties if they can, but they’re not stupid enough to play to our strength and fight a set piece battle.

Any plan is only a reference, as the proverb states, they never survive contact with the enemy. But it is the planning that already occurred, the information gathered and requirements identified that are priceless to those executing an operation in a crisis.

113 posted on 08/14/2021 5:10:38 PM PDT by drop 50 and fire for effect ("Work relentlessly, accomplish much, remain in the background, and be more than you seem.")
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To: Hojczyk

Everybody calm down. Per Biden the Afghan Army is over 300,000 strong and as well equipped as any army in the world.

That is all.


114 posted on 08/14/2021 5:17:20 PM PDT by Rebelbase
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To: drop 50 and fire for effect

I understand your point, but I am not convinced that this iteration of political and military leadership is up to the task.

At the end of the day it is the caliber of the personnel in all elements of the operation that make or break any plan.....the less time there is the less room for incompetence or error.


115 posted on 08/14/2021 5:20:43 PM PDT by cgbg (A kleptocracy--if they can keep it. Think of it as the Cantillon Effect in action.)
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To: Dr. Sivana

So if you step on your Dick and get a political black eye you fix it with young American blood!


116 posted on 08/14/2021 5:56:20 PM PDT by squirt (POLITICIANS & DIAPERS NEED TO BE CHANGED, FOR THE SAME REASON)
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To: Hojczyk

The problem is there’s no route of escape. How did they not have a plan?


117 posted on 08/14/2021 9:29:35 PM PDT by lurk ( )
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