Previously though McKenzie had warned the Taliban not to interfere with rescue operations.
General McKenzie said any attempts by the Taliban to interfere with rescue operations ‘will be met with overwhelming force.’
The Foer version offers a disgraceful synthesis of what happened at the McKenzie meet.
General McKenzie arrived at the Ritz-Carlton in Doha. Well before Ghani’s departure from power, the wizened Marine had scheduled a meeting with an old adversary of the United States, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar.
Baradar wasn’t just any Taliban leader. He was a co-founder of the group, with Mullah Mohammed Omar. McKenzie had arrived with the intention of delivering a stern warning. He barely had time to tweak his agenda after learning of Ghani’s exit.
McKenzie unfolded a map of Afghanistan translated into Pashto. A circle had been drawn around the center of Kabul—a radius of about 25 kilometers—and he pointed to it. He referred to this area as the “ring of death.” If the Taliban operated within those 25 kilometers, McKenzie said, “we’re going to assume hostile intent, and we’ll strike hard.”
McKenzie tried to bolster his threat with logic. He said he didn’t want to end up in a firefight with the Taliban, and that would be a lot less likely to happen if they weren’t in the city.
Baradar not only understood; he agreed. Known as a daring military tactician, he was also a pragmatist. He wanted to transform his group’s inhospitable image; he hoped that foreign embassies, even the American one, would remain in Kabul. Baradar didn’t want a Taliban government to become a pariah state, starved of foreign assistance that it badly needed.
But the McKenzie plan had an elemental problem: It was too late. Taliban fighters were already operating within the ring of death. Kabul was on the brink of anarchy. Armed criminal gangs were already starting to roam the streets.
Baradar asked the general, “Are you going to take responsibility for the security of Kabul?”
McKenzie replied that his orders were to run an evacuation. Whatever happens to the security situation in Kabul, he told Baradar, don’t mess with the evacuation, or there will be hell to pay. It was an evasive answer. The United States didn’t have the troops or the will to secure Kabul. McKenzie had no choice but to implicitly cede that job to the Taliban.
Baradar walked toward a window. Because he didn’t speak English, he wanted his adviser to confirm his understanding. “Is he saying that he won’t attack us if we go in?” His adviser told him that he had heard correctly.
From a ‘Ring of Death; to “Is he saying that he won’t attack us if we go in?” Even through the lens of Foer’s spin the disgrace comes through.
Obama had his puppet Biden talk to his general who talked
to the Taliban...
But instead, McKenzie backed down. The ‘Ring of Death’ became a slope of appeasement. And Americans were ultimately caught in the ring of death. 13 military personnel and unknown numbers of civilians were killed, many more were stranded behind enemy lines, because McKenzie backed down and let the Talban take the city.
Why did McKenzie do that? As disgraceful a figure as he may be, he was operating on the orders of the Biden administration. And Biden was determined to pull out no matter what. The orders were not to do anything that might delay the scheduled withdrawal. That meant not rescuing Americans or defying the Taliban.
With questions about an Iranian mole in the State Dept, now I hear that the Qatari oil money has bought up half of DC.
Dare I ask whose side they are on?
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BTTT
Yeah, Franklin Foer is one greasy POS.
democrat party generals are the worst.
Biden has brought nothing but disgrace to this country all over the world.
I think it’s one of the reasons they have such a fetish for Ukraine. They got absolutely clowned in Afghanistan when they couldn’t hide behind excuses so they want a “safe” war in Ukraine to redeem their egos.
Like Kadaffy’s “Line of Death”, from the Robin Williams routine:
“This is a ‘Line of Death’, you cross it, you die!”
“Ok you cross this line, you die!”
“Cross this line, you die!”
“Cross this line!”
“Cross this line!”
“Ok, you come knocking on my door, I’m not coming out, Nyaah!”