US military gives Biden a deadline to
decide on extending Afghanistan evacuations
Posted By: NorthernDog, 8/23/2021 6:14:20 PM
The US military is advising President Joe Biden that he must decide by Tuesday whether to extend the evacuation in Afghanistan beyond August 31, according to a defense official directly familiar with the discussions. Military advisers have told the White House that the decision must be made by Tuesday in order to have enough time to withdraw the 5,800 troops currently on the ground, as well as their equipment and weapons. If the President agrees, the military anticipates "a few more days" of trying to evacuate as many people as possible before the drawdown of US forces begins, possibly at
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NorthernDog"
The Taliban could force Kabul's airport to close if President Joe Biden extends his August 31 deadline for troop withdrawals from Afghanistan, UK Defence Secretary Ben Wallace warned. Biden is expected to decide on Tuesday if he will extend his deadline in order to evacuate more people after the Taliban's takeover.(Snip) He told the BBC's Radio 4's "Today" program that the Taliban had a range of options available, "from preventing people getting to the airport all the way through to military activity that could potentially close the airport. That is very difficult for everyone." "So that's why our focus and
Joe Biden was bluffing with a weak hand again. Faced with the prospect that America’s promised retreat from Afghanistan wouldn’t be complete by month’s end, the commander in chief began backtracking on his exit date last week. “If there’s American citizens left, we’re going to stay to get them all out,” he told ABC News. (Snip) Having abandoned Bagram Air Base and allowed Kabul to fall, Biden now finds himself in the unenviable position of relying on the good will of the Taliban to permit Americans to safely exit the country. This whole situation is a tinderbox. The administration rolled
The US military is advising President Joe Biden that he must decide by Tuesday whether to extend the evacuation in Afghanistan beyond August 31, according to a defense official directly familiar with the discussions. Military advisers have told the White House that the decision must be made by Tuesday in order to have enough time to withdraw the 5,800 troops currently on the ground, as well as their equipment and weapons. If the President agrees, the military anticipates "a few more days" of trying to evacuate as many people as possible before the drawdown of US forces begins, possibly at
GENEVA — A top World Health Organization official says the agency only has “a few days left of supplies” for Afghanistan and wants help to ferry in 10 or 12 planeloads of equipment and medicine for its beleaguered people. (Snip) Brennan said U.S. and other authorities have encouraged WHO and partners to look to other Afghan airports other than Kabul’s, which is facing a crush of thousands of people who are trying to get out of Afghanistan after a Taliban takeover. He said those authorities “have suggested that it’ll be too difficult a logistics exercise and security exercise to bring
Joe Biden’s propensity for verbal gaffes haunted the US president again after he referred to Afghans as “Afghanis” – the country’s currency. The slip was noticed by Idrees Ali, a Pentagon correspondent with the Reuters news agency. He voiced his irritation on Twitter - see below. (Tweet) Others joined in, with Eric Nelson, a biomedical researcher, suggesting that the term Afghani was in fact offensive. David Fielder, a military officer, added: “It grates on my nerve. Like fingernails on a chalkboard.” It was just the latest unfortunate slip of the tongue by the 78-year-old president, which has led Republican critics
A Taliban spokesman warned of "consequences" if the US kept troops in Afghanistan beyond its August 31 deadline hours after President Joe Biden said he could do exactly that. In an interview with Sky News on Sunday, the Taliban spokesman Suhail Shaheen said: "It's a red line. President Biden announced that on 31 August they would withdraw all their military forces. So if they extend it that means they are extending occupation while there is no need for that." (Snip) Taliban sources have also told Reuters that they would not extend the August 31 deadline for Western forces, adding that
Exclusive: Bay Area man recalls terrifying
escape from Afghanistan aided
by ex-Marines friend 12 replies
escape from Afghanistan aided
by ex-Marines friend 12 replies
SAN FRANCISCO -- A Bay Area man is sharing his terrifying story, escaping from Afghanistan. It's a journey which began more than a week ago. His former military buddy in the East Bay assisted in the effort to get him out safely, which almost didn't happen. "I didn't think I'd be able to make it back to the states without losing my head," said Jay. (Snip) "It was a total disaster," he said. Kabul is a city in chaos. Jay says he made several attempts to get to the airport but the Taliban's gauntlet made it almost impossible. "People were being
GOP Rep. Adam Kinzinger rips into Trump
and Mike Pompeo for 'getting rolled'
by the Taliban 57 replies
and Mike Pompeo for 'getting rolled'
by the Taliban 57 replies
Rep. Adam Kinzinger slammed the former Trump administration's deal with the Taliban, saying on Sunday that it set the stage for the current failure in Afghanistan. The Illinois Republican said former President Donald Trump and his then-Secretary of State Mike Pompeo are at fault for America's "disastrous" withdrawal from the country. "Donald Trump was publicly saying, 'We have to get out of Afghanistan at all costs. It's not worth it.' Mike Pompeo meets with the Taliban and tries to 'negotiate' something," Kinzinger said during an appearance on CNN. "They ended up getting rolled almost as bad as Neville Chamberlain," he
CNN’s Clarissa Ward Boards Flight Leaving
Afghanistan, Shows The Packed
Conditions Inside Plane 24 replies
Afghanistan, Shows The Packed
Conditions Inside Plane 24 replies
CNN Chief International Correspondent Clarissa Ward left Kabul, Afghanistan, sharing a picture of a U.S. Air Force plane packed with evacuees in a Friday tweet. (Snip) Ward quoted one of the Afghans awaiting evacuation from the Taliban-controlled Kabul, who described the situation as “an insult to human dignity” and added that he did not know “why the Americans are doing this.” (Tweet) Ward confirmed landing in Doha, Qatar, with 300 other people Saturday, saying that they were “the lucky ones” to get such an opportunity. She reported seeing a “female soldier carrying a weeping Afghan toddler,” a “Marine supporting an
Latest from Afghanistan: All gates at
Kabul airport closed as thousands
left desperate to evacuate 8 replies
Kabul airport closed as thousands
left desperate to evacuate 8 replies
All gates at Hamid Karzai International Airport were closed Saturday because of a backup at Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar, according to a Defense department official who was not authorized to speak publicly. Most U.S. military evacuation planes fly from Kabul to Qatar and the inability to handle more evacuees there is causing a ripple effect. Pentagon officials said Saturday they continue to process evacuees from Afghanistan, despite a fluid and dynamic situation at Kabul airport. “The airport remains secure,” said Army Maj. Gen. William Taylor, deputy director of the joint staff for regional operations. “There has been no
Henri, still a tropical storm, is inching closer to the north-northeast coast and is expected to make landfall Sunday as a hurricane on Long Island or southern New England, weather forecasters said. The storm is currently about 525 miles south of Montauk Point, Long Island. Henri's maximum sustained winds are near 70 mph with higher gusts, the National Hurricane Center said in its 8 a.m. Saturday update. "Strengthening is forecast through tonight, and Henri is expected to become a hurricane later today and be at or near hurricane strength when it makes landfall," the agency said. The last major threat
President Joe Biden just faced one of his toughest weeks as president yet, with pandemonium in Afghanistan, skyrocketing COVID-19 cases, and a declining approval rating. Roughly a month after Biden forcefully defended his move to withdraw US troops from Afghanistan, expressing "trust" in the capacity of the Afghan military to keep the Taliban at bay, the militant Islamist group marched into Kabul on Sunday. The Taliban had rapidly seized major cities over the course of the prior week, often without much of a fight. The militants regained control of the country just days after the US military assessed that it
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A retired top US military general and former CIA chief sparked outrage over the weekend by comparing supporters of former President Donald Trump to the Taliban and calling a suggestion to send 'the MAGA wearing unvaxxed' to Afghanistan a 'good idea.' Retired four-star Air Force General Michael Hayden on Thursday retweeted a split image of armed militants in a caravan of white pickup trucks with the caption 'Their Taliban.' Under that was a picture of cars adorned with Trump 2020 and American flags along a highway.
(Snip)He was first appointed by President Bill Clinton to serve as Director of the National Security Agency.
How many of us have thought it? From the beginning? How many of us have said it, for at least two years, to all who would listen? And now, even worse — far worse — how many of us, on both sides of the political aisle, have seen it in action during a real crisis? How can I put this “tactfully”? The 46th president of the United States is clearly mentally unfit to lead America. It’s not even close. Joe Biden is confused. Dare I say —hell yeah, I do — delusional? He appears to be incapable of understanding the disastrous reality of the debacle on Afghanistan
While it’s easy to suggest that Juan Williams is an idiot based on the content of an op-ed he just penned on Afghanistan that The Hill published, there may be more to the story here.Liberal pundits like Williams, who plies his trade on Fox News, exist primarily to carry water for the Democratic Party and its leaders in Washington, D.C., and with President Joe Biden taking a beating for the spectacular blundering of the U.S. exit from Afghanistan, Biden and his party are desperate to redirect the narrative here.
Unfortunately for Democrats, when the debacle is as big as what is now happening in Kabul, that’s like
The U.S. Capitol Police officer who fatally shot Ashli Babbitt on Jan. 6 during the insurrection was cleared Monday after an internal review concluded the action may have spared the lives of lawmakers and staffers who had barricaded themselves inside the building.
"The officer’s actions were consistent with the officer’s training and (U.S. Capitol Police) policies," the agency's inquiry found. The agency declined to identify the officer.
Federal prosecutors decided in April not to pursue criminal charges in the case.
Some who supported the Capitol siege by rioters angry about the outcome of the presidential election cast Babbitt as a martyr to the conservative cause.
Democratic nominee for Virginia governor Terry McAuliffe on Monday called on all employers in his state to mandate COVID-19 vaccinations following the Food and Drug Administration’s full approval of the Pfizer vaccine.
"Today, I am calling on every Virginia employer to require all eligible employees to be vaccinated against COVID-19," the former Virginia governor said in a statement Monday afternoon. "I have long said that the best way to defeat this deadly virus, keep our students in school and keep Virginia’s economy strong is by getting every eligible Virginian vaccinated as quickly as possible."
The majority of Americans no longer believe President Joe Biden is competent in his role as the Commander-in-Chief, according to a CBS News poll.
Fifty-one percent of the respondents said Biden is not competent in his position as president. This is compared to only 49 percent who said he is.
Additionally, the poll found that 52 percent of the respondents did not feel the president has been focused.
The poll was taken during and after the fall of the now-Taliban-controlled Kabul, Afghanistan, when Biden botched the U.S. troops’ withdrawal from the country. With that, 53 percent of the respondents said they disagree with the way Biden withdrew the troops.
President Biden has decided to adhere to his initial August 31 deadline for withdrawing American forces from Afghanistan, multiple outlets reported on Tuesday.
Biden has requested contingency plans should the U.S. need to keep troops in Afghanistan until a later date, a senior administration official told CNN. A Taliban spokesman said on Tuesday that the U.S. must withdraw all its forces from the country by August 31, with “no exceptions.”
In response to the Taliban threat, Senator Ben Sasse (R., Neb.) urged Biden to ignore the withdrawal deadline.
“Damn the deadline. The American people are not going to surrender our fellow citizens to the Taliban.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki labeled it “irresponsible” to say that Americans currently attempting to leave Afghanistan are “stranded” in the country, in response to a question from Fox News reporter Peter Doocy at a press briefing on Monday. “First of all, I think it’s irresponsible to say Americans are stranded. They are not,” Psaki said. “We are committed to bringing Americans who want to come home, home,” adding that the U.S. is in touch with Americans in Afghanistan by phone, email, and other communications.
“‘There are no Americans stranded’ is the White House’s official position on what’s happening in Afghanistan right now?” Doocy countered.
President Joe Biden hailed the FDA's approval of the Pfizer vaccine as the 'moment you’ve all been waiting'–as he urged Americans who have been sitting on the fence to get their vaccine shots 'today' but dodged comment on Afghanistan. It was a welcome moment of good news for an administration battered by weeks of negative headlines, from spiking cases of COVID-19 to the collapse of the Afghan government and plunging poll numbers. And Biden, speaking at the White House, portrayed it as a huge victory even though it will be of limited practical value months after the vaccination received emergency approval.
As disgraced outgoing Gov. Andrew Cuomo packed his bags and sent his belongings to his sister’s house in his last days in office, he left something very important behind—his dog. Instead, Cuomo asked staff at his Albany mansion if they want to take care of his dog, Captain, the Albany Times Union reported, citing two state police sources. The sources also told the publication an Executive Mansion worker recently took Captain home but didn’t want to take care of the canine. The pooch—a 3½-year-old Siberian-shepherd-Malamute mix—has bitten multiple people in recent years, the Times Union reported.
The Afghanistan Debacle Will Relegate
the Current Ruling Class to the Dustbin
of American History 30 replies
the Current Ruling Class to the Dustbin
of American History 30 replies
The disaster that is the withdrawal from Afghanistan coupled with other innumerable debacles that Joe Biden has singlehandedly precipitated in just seven months should not come as a surprise to anyone who has paid attention to his career. His fifty-years as a politician is littered with a litany of failures due to unforced errors, countless flip-flops, plagiarism, cupidity, mendacity and demagoguery all brought about by an overweening sense of infallibility and egocentrism.
Yet he was chosen by the current ruling class to be the figurehead in their devious scheme to defeat Donald Trump by any means possible in the 2020 election.
WASHINGTON – Fox News host Chris Wallace on Sunday confronted Secretary of State Antony Blinken for statements that President Joe Biden has made on Afghanistan, including the president's claim that al-Qaida is no longer active in the country.
During remarks on Friday, Biden said the United States no longer has any interest in keeping troops in Afghanistan because al-Qaida, which was behind the 9/11 attacks, is gone.
“What interest do we have in Afghanistan at this point with al-Qaida gone?” Biden said. "We went to Afghanistan for the express purpose of getting rid of al-Qaida in Afghanistan, as well as... getting Osama bin Laden. And we did."
Comments:
I don't see how we could possibly be out of there in 7 more days. But Old Joe will drag his heels on making a decision. The Tolliebahn will not be amused.