State Dept. Missing Afghanistan Evacuation Goal, Flights Only 60% Full
British paratroopers are around the country rescuing their citizens. The military couldn’t explain why they are not doing that for American citizens.
What. A. Mess.
The State Department admitted they do not achieve their daily evacuation goal out of Kabul, Afghanistan.
Only 2,000 people have left Afghanistan in the past 24 hours. The Pentagon wanted 5,000 to 9,000 people to go each day. The C-17 planes can hold 300 people. The planes that left on Thursday only had 180 passengers.
The department tried to put a positive spin on the news:
“Since Aug. 14 we’ve airlifted 7,000 total evacuees. I can also confirm there are 6,000 people at the airport who have been fully processed by our consular team and will soon board planes,” State Department spokesman Ned Price told reporters.
Price said that American citizens and green-card holders are given first priority to board and that the U.S. has “significantly expanded” the amount of people being flown out.
Richard Engel said people with private jets and organizations have reached out to help.
I’m guessing logistics come into play regarding private help, but still. Something has to be done.
Hearing of several organisations, companies and philanthropists who have chartered planes, have elaborate, detailed plans in place, ample resources, but are not allowed to help get people out. https://t.co/6s3B86t62k
— Richard Engel (@RichardEngel) August 19, 2021
Plus, how about the Americans not in Kabul? The State Department said the other day they could not guarantee the safety of citizens outside of the capital.
It turns out British paratroopers are rescuing British citizens around Afghanistan. Why can’t America do the same? From Fox News:
At a press briefing, Fox News’ Jennifer Griffin said: “General Taylor, British paratroopers are leaving the airport, going into Kabul to rescue and evacuate some of their citizens who are trapped [and] can’t get to the airport because of the Taliban.”
“Why isn’t the U.S. doing that?” she asked.
Maj. Gen. Hank Taylor, who serves as deputy director of the Joint Staff Regional Operations, replied that the U.S.’ focus was on securing Hamid Karzai International Airport (HKIA).
“At this time, our main mission continues to be to secure HKIA, to allow those American citizens and other SIVs to come in and be processed at the airfield.”
A non-answer because politicians (yes, he is a politician) can never give a blunt or straight answer about anything. It’s gross.
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The left like the bad guys has no value on human life. As long as it’s not them.
Biden’s evacuation of Americans from Afghanistan reminds me of the rescue workers looking for survivors after that condo collapsed in Miami.
The 60% flight capacity thing reminds me of the emergency rooms all over the USA that were chock full of dying COVID patients, except as it turns out, they never were. And that giant hospital ship that NY so desperately needed, except it turns out they never used it.
It just means that airplanes are not the bottleneck. Presumably getting to the airport is the bottleneck.
We control the number of airplanes, so excess is good.
Likely getting INTO the airport is the bottleneck. The US does not want the airport flooded with Afghans and so is trying to control entry. Afghans have clogged the entry points, so those we want to let through cannot get to the entry point to present themselves to US troops.
Joe Biden is the bottle neck. We can’t get any information.
“Biden Calls a Lid on Public Appearances—Indefinitely”
Something’s going on behind the curtain maybe?
Actually, the actual bottleneck appears to be that the incompetent fuckers in charge now have NOWHERE TO SEND THEM, because Qatar is refusing to take any more.
There were ZERO American flights for over 12 hours with over 5000 people already processed and literally waiting next t0 the runway while they’re frantically trying to ‘negotiate’ with other countries to take people.
But don’t worry people. They ‘planned for every contingency!’
We can.
But the biden regime won’t.
In general, presidents seem incapable of this. It devolves onto challengers, like Ross Perot.
No word on how many of them are American citizens?
Didn’t anyone think about how relevant that ‘little’ detail is?
The total number 7,000 sounds a lot better than to break it down and show that very few Americans have been evacuated.
Reading between the lines of the non informative statements from DoD and State and trying to decrypt the DC language here’s my take:
The opposition forces have basically told the US that as long as they stay in/around the airport footprint they won’t attack or interfere with the airport. Further the opposition has told the UK, FR and other nations that they can go get their people. This is done to deliberately humiliate the USA and sow discord among NATO. If true it’s a very astute move. Top notch strategic goals overlayed on tactical goals. They are in a position to dictate and have been since we closed Bagram, IMO.
The other nations have a fraction of the numbers of civilians in Kabal that the US has. That changes the calculus. If the UK has say 600 Citizens stuck then that’s the total number at risk. If you get 60 in one sweep per day that’s 10% each day and brings you in line with the AUG 31 timeline.
If the US has 10K or more in Kabal then they would have to retrieve 1,000 or more each day to meet the timeline. In addition the opposition has told them not to venture from the Airport. Let’s say we do it anyway and the first time is successful. Then the opposition contests and further ventures and brings the airport under mortar, rocket and artillery fire.
Now the runways are degraded at a minimum. Almost certain to take casualties. Perhaps lose aircraft or worse the fuel storage. Every aircraft in or out would be under fire from then on. Likely to be consistent H&I (harassment and interdiction artillery fire) from then on.
That’s probably close to the actual situation on the ground in Kabal. No good answers and no easy solutions. None of this was necessary. The withdrawal was fubar from the start. Very ill conceived and totally mismanaged. People need to be fired or resign in disgrace.
The situation didn’t have to be this way. However, it is this way and all we can reasonably do is react to the facts on the ground as they exist. Maybe our folks in Kabal will get to the airport. Maybe we stay past the 31st to continue evacuated, maybe we are eventually forced to venture out to retrieve the last few hundred folks.
Again, the administration must be shoving money at the Taliban to get their restraint. But if the Taliban is letting the French and Brits sortie out to collect citizens, but NOT the US, then that’s potentially bad news. That may mean either that the Taliban is, as you state, trying to clear the NATO allies out to leave the US isolated and stranded, or, simply that the French and British have come to a suitable and agreeable payment to the Taliban to allow them to collect their people and leave.
A very bad sign would be the Taliban creating gaps in the fencing and walls to let Afghan civilians surge in. Having 30,000 Afghans on the airport while it is under siege would greatly complicate things for the Americans. Since the Taliban would otherwise like to kill these same Afghans anyway, why not but them deliberately in harm’s way?
But just from a propaganda perspective, if the French and Brits can clear their people while the US cannot, that is bad optics for the US.
BSR,
The reason I suggest the evolved propaganda and it’s strategic value to the opposition is two fold. First it doesn’t cost them anything and undercuts US credibility, competence and confidence for zero cost.
Second it just makes sense given the vast differences in social media awareness on their part. They had decades to view the rise and impact of the value of image. That’s buttressed by their BS about a ‘kinder gentler’ Taliban. It’s savvy as hell and a good example of using media to shape the battlefield.
I could be wrong but something along the lines I laid out would make the most sense out the chaos.
“Maybe we stay past the 31st to continue evacuated, maybe we are eventually forced to venture out to retrieve the last few hundred folks.”
The Taliban will not allow this, likely.
When the 31st hits, the Taliban will say they gave ample opportunity for anyone who wants to leave to leave, and now all US forces must leave. They could even say that Americans are still free to go, but the Soldiers must leave. And if we do not? Either more money to keep things peaceful, or there is a fight, which can be resolved with adequate payment, most likely. What the Taliban may not understand is that at some point national honor, even as determined by such a dishonorable clown as Joe Biden, will not allow such a payment. From a utilitarian point of view, it would destroy the Democrat party and this administration.
I have read that the administration is now thinking of bombing all the equipment the left behind, especially the helicopters and aircraft. At this point, it would be a tragic escalation and could, perhaps likely would, start a tragic chain of events. The Taliban needs to save face, too. At some point, ego trumps money, every time.
BSR,
Yeah I think you are likely correct. Waiting until we have as many folks in as possible before risking A confrontation and possibly disaster at the airport makes the most sense. Maybe they all actually get there prior to the deadline.
Blowing the equipment before the last flight out would be a foolish display of ego, IMO. The current display of heated pushback and deflection of responsibility by the WH, DoD, State, IC worries me that they may let pride outweigh the substantial risk.
I am not surprised. Biden has screwed everything else up.
If anyone anywhere is surprised I’d be surprised.
It’s absolutely terrifying to see our military completely infantilized and neutered by the vile Dhimmi-crats’ orders and leadership.
My laptop is in the shop so I have to send this.from cell, which is inconvenient so I’m just going to write a couple of bullet points.
1. When I was.a Naval intelligence officer we aren’t countless thousands of hours creating and updating Non-combatant Evacuation Operations. They obviously didn’t have one. In fact it looks like they shredded the existing ones because they were written during the Trump administration and, orange man bad. Better thousands should and create the largest hostage situation EVER then give Trump credit far anything.
2. They can’t get their story straight. Austin says this was a known possibility. Gee, another way of putting that is they, Austin claims. Is it was a possible contingency. Biden claims they planned for all possible contingencies (no doubt he/his handlers think they can get away with that since the Obama administration issued a press release containing the same lie 2 days before the Cairo embassy/Benghazi attacks which exposed the lie that they were prepared to respond to attacks wordwide). So that again is an obvious lie because they clearly had no plan for what Biden’s Defects claims he new was a distinct possibility. Meanwhile pencil neck spox Sullivan says the fall of Kabul was unexpected. Which is it? The MFN claimed Trump’s administration was in chaos and these idiots are apparently not even talking together to even get their lies straight.
3. This appears to be enemy more than mere incompetence. The Biden administration eliminated State’s Crisis Response Team AFTER his personnel in Kabul warned him the current clown car was begging for and would have a Crisis when they just bugged out. And I have it on good authority that the Biden crew blocked the entry the Aghani Air Force’s foreign maintenance contractors. Either from Bagram or the country entirely. Either way it takes hours of maintenance for 1 hour of flight time. And this WH clusterf*** claims the ANA failed to fight when he grounded the.afghan AF plus denied them US air support? Incompetence can’t explain that level of betrayal.
To be continued
Damned auto correct. But frankly in some cases it improved it. I had to chuckle when I saw auto correct changed : ” Biden’s own Defense Sec” to defects
60% capacity? Are they social distancing?!?
Part 2: repercussions; the intentiona damage, not “unforeseen consequences* (but that will be their next lie)
4. Our allies will abandon us. South Korea was appalled at the Obama admin’s shameless cowardice when the NORKs brazenly torpedoed and sank the ROKN corvette Cheonan in March 2010 in South Korean waters.. Oh yeah! Hillary!
talked tough: the Obama admin was going to coordinate a strong international response from the international community. The went to the UNSC to get a strongly worded resolution condemning the NORKs. Where they were promptly pantsed on the world stage by UNSC permanent members China and Russia. What kind.of fools delude themselves into thinking that the PRC is going to condemn its client state state. Especially when it and Russia thoroughly enjoy humiliating the US by demonstrating our impotence? The same kind of fools who think the Taliban will be “inclusive” if we ask nicely enough after they just handed us our ass. The UNSC resolution condemned nobody in particular. The PRC and Russia vetoed any resolution that named the perp. The ROKs vowed they would never again let the US restrain them from avenging their troops.
The NORKs celebrated by holding a televised award ceremony for the crew of the sub that did the deed. And by shelling South Korea’s Yeongpyong islands in November 2010.
Obama and Hillary! tried to spin their public humiliation as some major diplomatic victory. The world pointed and laughed. Now ROK pols are looking to go entirely on their own. Think that’s a good thing? Wait one.
5. Japan is watching too. They’ve long questioned the value of being a US ally and their suspicions grew stronger when the Obama admin (AGAIN! there’s a real shocker) when they refused to back them in their territorial disputes with China. The real reason we’ve maintained a heavy presence since WWII is to keep an eye on them. Theoretically, legally, per their constitution, they aren’t supposed to have a military with offensive capabilities. Hence the “self defense forces.” It’s not entirely fiction; all uniformed personnel are civil servants with no different legal status than someone working at the DMV.
But they can change that in a heartbeat. It wouldn’t take much longer to develop nuclear weapons, especially if the ROKs start heading in that direction.
And look at the Izumo class DDH and tell me that’s not an aircraft carrier. That’s an offensive weapon. To maintain the fiction they call it a “multi purpose, hero carrying destroyer. Which just happens to have been designed from the keel up to launch and support the V/STOL F-35B.
I loved my time stationed in Japan. I have lots of Japanese friends. But my dad served in the Pacific in WWII and the idea of a nuclear armed Japan with a fleet of aircraft carriers concerns me.
Think the Japanese will stop with the Izumo? Who do you think has been maintaining 7th fleet carriers for the last 50 years? Japanese workers at the Naval Ship Repair Repair Facility Yokosuka. By the time she departed Yokosuka for the final time in 1991 I hear all her blueprints were in Japanese. Japanese engineers knew her better than American engineers.
I think of the Izumo as a training carrier for the Sailors. The Japanese already know how to build super carriers; we gave them OJT.
6. Australia now that we’ve emboldened the Chinese to take Taiwan, pointing to our feckless and saying (in my view correctly) that the US won’t help them, imagine what the Aussies are thinking? I don’t need to imagine. I’ve been following their press. They’re a lot closer to an emboldened PRC making aggressive moves into the IO, SCS, and east into the Pacific. Their lifelines. Yeah, they’re thinking exactly what the ROKs, Japanese, Taiwanese, and all the members of ASEAN are thinking. The US? Most. Unreliable. Ally, Ever.
7. Around the world. The Biden admin will keep lying about how,”The adults are back in charge.” Like Trump was the reckless juvenile Putin-puppet. Putin just bullied Biden out of our bases in the ex-Soviet ‘stans which border Afghanistan to the north. Biden’s foreign affairs/NatSec “experts” had at least hoped to salvage those bases for the counter-terror/Intel ops everybody except Dementia Joe knows we’re going to need to perform now that the Biden brain trust has nuked the koala in Afghanistan. Problem is, we can’t support bases in those land locked countries without Russian permission and Putin is enjoying this self inflicted catastrophe too much to give. Who is the Putin stooge, again? Oh yeah, baby, “America’s back!” Back to what, Jimmy Cahtah and the ’70’s malaise? So much restored respect now that we got rid of orangeman bad. Tell me, when has German chancellor ever called a US Pesident’s precipitous, unannounced, unilateral action the worst disaster in NATO history? When, since, what, maybe the War of 1812 has the UK parliament voted to hold an American President in contempt? Thank gawd the adults are back in charge.
That last one was supposed to be a stand alone comment. I hate using a cell phone for this.