Biden's Afghan Disaster: Predictable and Not Over-Afghanistan is run by the Taliban and giving sanctuary to al-Qaida -- just like in 2001

Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on Tuesday put a bright spotlight on President Joe Biden's imprudent withdrawal from Afghanistan.

At one point, Republican Sen. Joni Ernst of Iowa asked Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, some simple yes-no questions about its consequences.

"Has the military's task to defeat terror threats from Afghanistan gotten harder?" Ernst asked.

"Does the Taliban and its other terror partners have more ability to train and prepare in Afghanistan now that we've left?" she asked.

Ernst then cited an inexplicable statement Biden made on Aug. 20 claiming al-Qaida was gone from Afghanistan.

"What interest do we have in Afghanistan at this point with al Qaeda gone?" Biden said then. "We went to Afghanistan for the express purpose of getting rid of al Qaeda in Afghanistan, as well as-as well as getting Osama bin Laden. And we did."

The United States, of course, did get rid of bin Laden — in Pakistan. But did we get rid of al-Qaida in Afghanistan?

Not according to Marine Corps Gen. Kenneth McKenzie, who commands U.S. Central Command and who testified at Tuesday's hearing.

On CBS News' "Face the Nation" on Aug. 22, Major Garrett cited a CBS News/YouGov poll to Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

"You may have heard in our poll that 60% of those we talked to now fear there is more threat of terrorism in the United States because the Taliban is in control of Afghanistan," Garrett said. "Are they wrong?"

"The threat of terrorism metastasized out of Afghanistan a long time ago," Blinken said. "It is more acute in other places around the world. And in Afghanistan itself, we were able to vastly diminish al Qaeda and any threat that it poses. If it reconstitutes, we're putting in place measures over the horizon, as we say, to make sure we can see it and act on it.

"Secretary Blinken had said on August 22 that the threat of terrorism metastasized out of Afghanistan a long time ago," she said. "General McKenzie, is there any terrorist threat in Afghanistan now?"

"What we see is ISIS nearly rejuvenated with the prisoners that came out of Parwan and Pul-e-Charkhi prison," McKenzie responded. "They're gathering strength."

"We have yet to see how that is going to manifest itself," he said. "But we know for a certainty that they do aspire to attack us in our homeland."

"So that threat, it has metastasized, and it is resident in other parts of the world," he said. "In my part of the world though, it certainly is in Afghanistan."

Milley told the committee the Taliban had not lived up to the conditions of the Doha Agreement it had made with the Trump Administration, which would have required a withdrawal of U.S. forces from Afghanistan.

"Under the Doha Agreement," Milley testified, "the U.S. would begin to withdraw its forces contingent upon the Taliban meeting certain conditions, which would lead to a political agreement between the Taliban and the Government of Afghanistan."

"There were 7 conditions applicable to the Taliban and 8 applicable to the United States," Milley testified. "While the Taliban did not attack U.S. forces, which was one of the conditions, it failed to fully honor any other commitments under the Doha Agreement. Perhaps most importantly for U.S. national security, the Taliban never renounced Al Qaeda or broke its affiliation with them."

"In the fall of 2020," Milley said, "my analysis was that an accelerated withdrawal without meeting specific and necessary conditions risks losing the substantial gains made in Afghanistan, damaging U.S. worldwide credibility and could precipitate a general collapse of the ANDSF and the Afghan government resulting in a complete Taliban takeover or general civil war."

"Based on my advice and the advice of the commanders, then-Secretary of Defense Esper submitted a memorandum on 9 November recommending to maintain U.S. forces at a level between about 2,500 and 4,500 in Afghanistan until conditions were met for further reduction."

Initially, despite this recommendation, former President Donald Trump moved ahead with a plan to withdraw all U.S. forces.

"On 11 November 2020, I received an unclassified signed order directing the U.S. military to withdraw all forces from Afghanistan by 15 January 2021," Milley testified.

"After further discussions regarding the risks associated with such a withdrawal, the order was rescinded," Milley told the committee.

"When President Biden was inaugurated," Milley testified, "there were approximately 3,500 U.S. troops, 5,400 NATO troops, and 6,300 contractors in Afghanistan with the specified task to train, advise and assist, along with a small contingent of counterterrorism forces."

Despite the Taliban's failure to abide by the Doha Agreement, Biden decided to go ahead and remove all U.S. forces from Afghanistan.

"On 14 April," Milley testified, "the president announced his decision and the U.S. military received a change of mission to retrograde all U.S. military forces... and transition the U.S. mission to an 'over the horizon' counterterrorism support and security assistance force."

"It is clear — it is obvious — the war in Afghanistan did not end on the terms we wanted with the Taliban now in power in Kabul," Milley said.

"We must remember that the Taliban was and remains a terrorist organization and they still have not broken ties with al-Qaida," Milley testified.

"But we must continue to protect the United States of America and its people from terrorist attacks coming from Afghanistan," he said. "A reconstituted al-Qaida or ISIS with aspirations to attack the United States is a very real possibility and those conditions, to include activity in ungoverned spaces, could present themselves in the next 12 to 36 months."

Afghanistan, run by the Taliban and providing sanctuary to al-Qaida, presents the same security problem now that it did in 2001.

FR posted......Biden didn’t withdraw from Afghanistan. He brought Afghanistan to America......in Wisconsin, for instance

—Snip—

At Kandahar Air Base, the toilets were segregated because, as an officer noted, “When they use our port-a-potties, they stand on the seats and it causes quite a mess. I think it’s just a cultural thing.” There are a lot of these cultural things. Many of them far worse than the toilets.

Although when dealing with a group where “90% of the population are infected by a parasitic disease” and which routinely goes around with fecal matters on its hands, it is an issue.

Democrats insist that 2-year-olds should wear masks, yet invite in a population that doesn’t understand the concepts of toilets, toilet paper, or disease transmission.

But the toilets were the least of the problems at Fort McCoy.

The Afghans, who had supposedly just been saved from death, didn’t like American food.

American rice was “swapped for basmati rice. New spices, hummus and dates were added to the chow hall’s menu” which was entirely Halal. Basmati rice is one of the most expensive varieties of rice available, but nothing was too good for the endlessly complaining arrivals.

While the Afghans were complaining to reporters about “hard rice”, personnel at Fort McCoy were complaining about “multiple cases of minor females who presented as ‘married’ to adult Afghan men, as well as polygamous families.” This wasn’t too surprising since the child marriage in Afghanistan stands at 57%. Like the toilets, it’s a “cultural thing”.

While no action was taken on those cases, Bahrullah Noori, an Afghan refugee, was arrested for trying to undress a 14-year-old boy and behaving inappropriately with a 12-year-old boy.

Mohammad Haroon Imaad was also arrested after his wife accused him of choking her. He had also allegedly threatened to “send her back to Afghanistan where the Taliban could deal with her” and also told her “that nine women have been killed since getting to Fort McCoy and that she would be the tenth.” An estimated 87% of Afghani women face domestic violence.

Like the toilets and the child rape, choking women is just another Afghan cultural thing.

General Glen VanHerck however visited Fort McCoy and assured reporters that the enlightened Afghans were much more law-abiding than the racist Americans.

I’ve done some research and how that compares to populations across the United States,” VanHerck declared. “For example, in six weeks in Operation Allies Welcome, in a population of 53,000, there have been eight reported cases of robbery and theft.”

VanHerck neglected to Google the statistics for assaulting children and women. Or to note that this isn’t a measure of Afghans having lower crime rates than Americans, but a much lower willingness to report crimes to infidels who don’t resolve problems with the use of Islamic law.

“And how long are the Afghans going to be on U.S. military bases?” the FOX News correspondent asked.

“We’re prepared to be here as long as we need to conduct this mission,” VanHerck replied. “We’ll be ready if we need to support through the winter months and into the spring.”

If only there had been the same sort of commitment to getting Americans out of Afghanistan.

Forget the ‘Forever War’ and get ready for the ‘Forever Refugees’.

VanHerck claimed that the Afghans at Fort McCoy “are appreciative of our support and eager to begin their lives in America.”

They’re so eager that they’re just leaving.

Some 700 Afghans have left bases like McCoy despite promises of free taxpayer cash if they just stay and wait to be resettled. The deserting Afghans are upsetting the Biden administration, not because it’s concerned about potential terror threats from the refugees, but because it makes it harder for its refugee resettlement allies to cash in on every single Afghan. And it interferes with their plot to alter demographics in red states by resettling Afghans in the South.

Meanwhile Fort McCoy is near capacity. American soldiers are back to patrolling Afghan streets and trying to win their hearts and minds by asking them to use toilets and not to abuse their women and children. But the scenes of American soldiers trying to keep the peace among Afghans and communicate American values to them are no longer taking place in Kandahar, but in Wisconsin, and in other states with the misfortune of housing Afghans.

It’s almost as if we never actually withdrew from Afghanistan.

Americans are funding three Halal meals a day for tens of thousands of Afghans, our bases are full of mosques, our soldiers are trying to keep Afghans from killing and abusing each other, and we are on the hook for every dollar in welfare spending lavished on the Afghans while Americans struggle. As the Afghans leave Fort McCoy, the occupation of America will begin.

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