Posted on 08/25/2021 3:36:51 AM PDT by Kaslin
The Biden administration says it does not know how many U.S. citizens are in Afghanistan hoping to leave in the face of the American withdrawal and Taliban takeover. For days, Pentagon officials said they had no ability to venture outside the Kabul airport to find those Americans and bring them to safety.
Now the military says it is doing just that. "The Pentagon is ramping up evacuations from Kabul's airport by deploying American helicopters and troops into select spots in Kabul to extract stranded American citizens and Afghan allies," The New York Times reports. Defense Department spokesman John Kirby would not confirm that any such rescue missions are being conducted. "I would just say that commanders on the ground have the authority to conduct local missions as they deem appropriate to the need," Kirby said Monday.
But here's the thing: The Biden administration will not admit that there are Americans "stranded" in Afghanistan. In a surreal exchange in the White House briefing room, spokeswoman Jen Psaki pushed back against Fox News White House correspondent Peter Doocy, who asked about criticism of President Biden's decision to withdraw American troops "before getting these Americans who are now stranded."
"First of all, I think it's irresponsible to say Americans are stranded," Psaki responded. "They are not. We are committed to bringing Americans, who want to come home, home."
Doocy then asked if the official White House position was that "There are no Americans stranded."
"I'm just calling you out for saying that we are stranding Americans in Afghanistan," Psaki said, "when we have been very clear that we are not leaving Americans who want to return home. We are going to bring them home."
Just for the record: There is some number, likely thousands, of Americans who want to get out of Afghanistan but who cannot safely travel through the country, much less get through Taliban lines around the Kabul airport. They are stranded. Hundreds of news reports in the past week have made reference to that simple fact.
Three examples, in addition to the New York Times' story quoted above: Yesterday, The Washington Post reported that "The Pentagon said U.S. troops had made multiple sorties beyond the airport to reach stranded Americans." Last week, CNN's Wolf Blitzer said: "Thousands of Americans remain stranded in [Afghanistan] right now." And at the same time, CBS News reported, "Thousands of Americans are stranded."
At the Pentagon on Saturday, a reporter asked Kirby whether helicopter missions "may be a way that other Americans who are still stranded might be able to get to the airport." Kirby did not object to the use of "stranded." Instead, he simply said he would not discuss future operations.
But now, the White House spokeswoman insists all that is wrong. No Americans are "stranded."
The Biden administration obviously wants to portray the Afghan disaster in the best light, although it is hard to see what that best light is. But it cannot do that by denying the existence of what is in front of everyone's face, which is that some Americans -- we don't know how many -- are currently stranded in Afghanistan. If they are not, in fact, stranded, why do they need to be rescued?
Even President Biden himself conceded the need for rescue missions. Last week, in one of the few times he has taken questions on the Afghanistan issue, he was asked, "Are you considering rescue operations to recover Americans and Afghan allies stuck behind Taliban checkpoints?"
"Yes," the president answered. "We're considering every opportunity and every means by which we can get folks to the airport."
So a reminder of the reality that even the president at least indirectly acknowledges: U.S. citizens are stranded in Afghanistan. And the U.S. government needs to rescue them, not to deny that they are stranded at all.
Tortured hostages until Trump wins reelection.
This is, of course, the problem with everything in modern American life...words do not mean what they mean.
You can never solve a problem when people in charge cannot acknowledge a problem in clear terms.
We have so twisted the meaning of things, our modern language has become gibberish with no meaning at all.
When a society can no longer speak clearly so others understand, it becomes a hopeless failure.
The administration has telegraphed to the media that this will conclude on or about the 31st of August, After that, coverage will disappear. Any discussion of the subject on social media will be removed for privacy or national security reasons.
Has anyone looked past that date and thought about how dark September 11th will be?
Clear communication is everything.
Trump is so popular because he does not mince words.
He defines a problem in clear speech so everyone understands They then cheer him in his pledge to solve the problem he has clearly defined.
The taliban will slit a few throats on you tube, then demand an exchange for all gitmo prisoners and billions of dollars.
In defense of Biden, I’d say our stupid laws and judicial decisions about what constitutes American citizenship pretty much make it impossible to know how many “Americans” are living in any place in the world at any given time.
Yes. The US has frozen billions of dollars in afghan accounts, and the Taliban are going to want that money back. We know they will stop at nothing to get it.
“Tortured hostages until Trump wins reelection.” I’m afraid that’s absolutely right. The bearded savages will rape the women and use the men as bargaining chips, in return for “settling refugees” in the USA, billions of dollars, and humiliating photos of their inhumane treatment of Americans.
And wuss biden will not do anything about it. I can guarantee you that. He will do nothing when Americans are tortured and hung from poles.
Hostage deals have already begun.
https://www.newsmax.com/newsfront/afghan-druglord-us-hostage-biden/2021/08/24/id/1033537/
Passports. Shouldn’t the U.S. government have a total of all Americans who have left the U.S. for Afghanistan? In this technological age, one would think that there would be a list of who is where overseas due to their passports. Especially in dangerous states.
Actually, I don’t know why the US doesn’t have the number of Americans in A’stan or who they are. Isn’t (wasn’t) travel back and forth to that area scrutinized carefully?? (as it was/is a dangerous area for US travelers)
In those cases, formal oversight on who goes and stays? how long? for what purpose? … etc. is scrupulously probed…. Right?? Casual travelers would have a hard time going there from the US or elsewhere. There HAS to be a definitive list somewhere!!
Or is this JUST another failure of established protocol and a further proof of the total incompetence that characterizes government agencies and bureaus at this point? Is THIS how things go, after decades of irresponsible appointments made by DC politicians who get their friend, nephew, girlfriend, etc., into positions that are beyond their capabilities?? It’s the final reality of wholesale corruption !!
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