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The Pentagon Is Paralyzed While the Taliban Calls the Shots
Townhall.com ^ | August 18, 2021 | Amber Smith

Posted on 08/20/2021 9:22:29 AM PDT by Kaslin

The Taliban is calling the shots of the evacuation in Afghanistan. This situation continues to deteriorate by the hour. What happens next will be absolutely critical for the safety of Americans on the ground in Kabul behind Taliban lines.

The Pentagon is paralyzed in fear as demonstrated by press conferences that seemingly display confusion about their own military capabilities, restrictive rules of engagement, and lack of innovative thinking to bring Americans home — instead, we get bureaucratic answers that leave one wondering, who is in charge and why isn’t the Pentagon moving hell or high water to get all Americans to the airport for evacuation?

Americans are trapped and the Pentagon has admitted that there is no plan to get those Americans that can’t make it to the airport out safely. The State Department continues to send messages stating that it is urgent for them to get to the airport as soon as possible, but emphasizes that the U.S. government “cannot ensure safe passage to the airport.”

Outside the thick walls of concrete barriers and razor wire at the Kabul airport, thousands of Americans are still stranded in Kabul with no ability to get to the airport. The Taliban are doing everything to obstruct movement of personnel to prevent their passage for evacuation. Many who risked traveling to the airport were blocked by Taliban checkpoints that have been set up all over the city. People have been beaten so badly by the Taliban with rifles, chains and whips that they are now so wounded that they physically cannot make it to the airport or have family members who are injured and cannot make the trip. Those who have attempted to travel to the airport face the certainty of encountering the Taliban who are controlling the perimeter outside the airport and the lines of people trying to get in. The Taliban has also set up a curfew to limit movement of travel and are demanding people leave the airport vicinity.

It is clear the Pentagon is terrified of the situation getting out of control if troops leave the security perimeter of the airport, resulting in the Afghanistan version of Black Hawk Down, when in 1993 two U.S. Army helicopters were shot down in Somalia and a rescue mission that resulted in 18 U.S service members being killed.

But the real fear here is the threat of a U.S. citizen hostage situation and a Pentagon leadership team that does not seem to have a contingency plan to respond in case it were to occur. In fact, just a few months ago the Biden administration actually cut a Trump-era crisis response program designed to assist with the evacuation of Americans if needed.

On Wednesday during a Pentagon press briefing, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin responded to a question of whether the U.S. military had the capability to go out and collect Americans and he answered with, “we don’t have the capability to go out and collect large numbers of people.”

It is unfathomable that the Secretary of Defense actually said that.

We are the United States of America. We do not leave our people behind. We will fight until every American is safe. That is the American spirit. That is what sets us apart. We can and WILL do whatever it takes to bring our people home.

The fact that the entire Biden administration is not saying that in unison with authority demonstrates the extreme ineptness of their leadership. And while this administration is making excuses, the British and French are on the ground in Kabul rescuing their trapped citizens.

The White House has completely downplayed the reality of the chaotic situation in Afghanistan and has now completely disengaged. The silence from President Biden is deafening. We are witnessing an epic failure of leadership, a true dereliction of duty, and the worst foreign policy disaster in decades. Unfortunately, there is still plenty of room for the situation to go from bad to worse.

After 20 years, trillions of taxpayer dollars and thousands of lives, the fate of thousands of Americans is in the hands of the Taliban. And our troops are once again being sent into harm's way to clean up the mess of politicians that have no idea the consequences of how their decisions play out in the real world.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Editorial; Foreign Affairs
KEYWORDS: afghanistan; kabul; pentagon; statedepartment; wot
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1 posted on 08/20/2021 9:22:29 AM PDT by Kaslin
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To: Kaslin
Don't rag on the Pentagon. They are overwhelmed getting their genders and pronouns right.

2 posted on 08/20/2021 9:27:06 AM PDT by Governor Dinwiddie ("Success is 10 percent inspiration and 90 percent perspiration." — Thomas Edison)
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To: Kaslin
Americans are trapped and the Pentagon has admitted that there is no plan to get those Americans that can’t make it to the airport out safely.

We're looking at a potential American hostage situation that will dwarf the Iran hostage situation - so far, the Taliban seems too disorganized to start rounding Americans up, but we're not using this time to get our people out.

Things could get much, much worse soon. Hopefully our people can get help from the UK, France and other governments getting their people out, since our government won't act.
3 posted on 08/20/2021 9:27:45 AM PDT by AnotherUnixGeek
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To: Kaslin

Real simple, “nice poppy fields you have there; shame if something were to happen to them. Now GTF out of our way.”


4 posted on 08/20/2021 9:28:16 AM PDT by NonValueAdded (Claiming Racism, the antidote to personal responsibility)
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To: Kaslin

They do have a contingency plan.

It was the post-Vietnam POW approach.

Deny, deny, deny.
Lie, lie, lie.
Accuse the families of being crazy right wing extremist conspiracy theorists.

We have been down this road before....


5 posted on 08/20/2021 9:28:28 AM PDT by cgbg (A kleptocracy--if they can keep it. Think of it as the Cantillon Effect in action.)
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To: Kaslin

President Retard and his woke cohorts that know everything have been outsmarted by cavemen.


6 posted on 08/20/2021 9:28:33 AM PDT by NWFree (Somebody has to say )
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To: Kaslin

Not enough face shields to go around ...


7 posted on 08/20/2021 9:29:25 AM PDT by x
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Obama purged 197


8 posted on 08/20/2021 9:30:07 AM PDT by Gene Eric (Don't be a statist!)
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To: Governor Dinwiddie

Exactly…how did the military leadership and the intel agencies get to this woke USA destroying position…???


9 posted on 08/20/2021 9:30:25 AM PDT by TnTnTn
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To: Kaslin

Did you see the Sec. Def. look around for help after he was asked if we were dependent on the Taliban for the safety of Americans there?


10 posted on 08/20/2021 9:30:37 AM PDT by G Larry (Those destroying the Constitution must demonize those who would defend it.)
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To: Kaslin

11 posted on 08/20/2021 9:31:15 AM PDT by Travis McGee (EnemiesForeignAndDomestic.com)
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To: Kaslin

How many people named Muhammad now work at the Pentagon? Many.


12 posted on 08/20/2021 9:31:20 AM PDT by WMarshal (The Pleasant American)
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To: Kaslin

They are too busy looking for white supremacists and homophobes...................


13 posted on 08/20/2021 9:32:55 AM PDT by Red Badger (Homeless veterans camp in the streets while illegal aliens are put up in hotels.....................)
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To: Kaslin
Austin and Milley need to be shi*tcanned immediately. Both are in over their heads.
14 posted on 08/20/2021 9:33:41 AM PDT by Major Matt Mason (Here lies the USA, born in 1776, died in 2009.)
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To: Kaslin

“restrictive rules of engagement,..”

There’s the problem. Hurting feelings should be kinda low on the priority list.


15 posted on 08/20/2021 9:34:15 AM PDT by jughandle (Big words anger me, keep talking. )
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To: Travis McGee

LOL! But how sad that it is likely true!


16 posted on 08/20/2021 9:37:52 AM PDT by SgtHooper (If you remember the 60's, YOU WEREN'T THERE!)
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To: Kaslin

There have been some reports saying that the Pentagon gave Biden good advice, but it was ignored. If that’s true, why didn’t any generals resign in protest?

Here’s the way it should have gone.

Biden: Abandon the Bagram airport immediately.
General: That would be a grave error, sir.

Biden: I don’t care. My handlers told me to do it. So just do it.
General: You can do it without me. I resign.


17 posted on 08/20/2021 9:38:46 AM PDT by Leaning Right (I have already previewed or do not wish to preview this composition.)
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To: Governor Dinwiddie

It’s the WOKE Military?

NUTS!


18 posted on 08/20/2021 9:44:40 AM PDT by Texas Fossil ((Texas is not where you were born, but a Free State of Heart, Mind & Attitude!))
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To: Kaslin
who is in charge and why isn’t the Pentagon moving hell or high water to get all Americans to the airport for evacuation?

Well, this is a problem that the junta in power since January 6 did not completely nail down.

Obviously, Milley (and all his sub-creatures) were completely on board with removing Trump, by any means necessary. I believe if they needed to install Biden by force, they would have done it.

But now Trump is gone, and routine matters are being handled by a committee of unknown persons. And the military can, for a time, carry on in effect on autopilot. The troops get paid, the beans and bullets are distributed on schedule, the Pentagon guys get another row of ribbons, and it's all good.

But, as they say, "everyone wants to be captain, until there's captain stuff to do".

The coupists did not think of a situation where only the commander-in-chief could issue certain orders, or when his authority was necessary to break a tie in the upper echelons about what to do next.

They are functioning without a commander in chief, and with a barely competent SECDEF, and there may well be combat commanders and colonels whose view of the coup was "I will go this far with you, but no further".

Maybe Milley will take orders from Harris or Jill Biden or Valerie Jarrett while Biden is alive, but other men with guns may not be so sure.

I do not believe our armed forces have ever been put in the situation that now obtains, where they is no functional person with authority at the top of the chain of command.

If we are lucky, Biden will resign or be removed in a week or less, but after that, or if he is permitted to stay, military affairs will become increasingly problematic.

19 posted on 08/20/2021 9:45:39 AM PDT by Jim Noble (The nation cannot be saved until the GOP is destroyed)
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To: Travis McGee

Xi Bump

O’Biden’s Benghazi, 7 months in office. He totally owns it.


20 posted on 08/20/2021 9:47:18 AM PDT by Texas Fossil ((Texas is not where you were born, but a Free State of Heart, Mind & Attitude!))
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