Biden Blows it in Afghanistan Leading to Resurgence of Taliban
Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo pulled no punches when saying who is to blame for the swift and deadly return to power of the Taliban in Afghanistan – President Joe Biden.
Pompeo called out the Biden administration for what he described as poor planning and poor execution of a U.S. troop withdrawal from Afghanistan, which may lead to the nation’s capital of Kabul falling to Taliban insurgents within the next three months.
Pompeo, who helped plan and execute the early days of the shift toward withdrawing troops from the country after 20 years there, told Fox’s “The Story” he and President Donald Trump made sure there were multiple, enforceable “models of deterrence” that would prevent the potential disaster that may await the current White House.
“[It] looks like they have not been able to execute this,” he said. “Strategy depends on planning and execution. Looks like there’s a bit of panic. I hope that they have the right number of folks and get them there quickly. I hope we can protect Americans in the way the Trump administration had every intention of doing.”
Pompeo said that, unlike Biden, Trump made it clear to top Taliban negotiator Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar that there would be stiff and abrupt consequences if any Americans were threatened or hurt going forward.
“If you threatened an American, if you scared an American, and certainly if you hurt an American, we would bring all American power to bear to make sure that we went to your village, to your house,” he recalled Baradar being told.
“We were very clear about the things that we were prepared to do to protect American lives. Since we began those negotiations at the beginning of 2020, there wasn’t a single American killed by the Taliban when that was going on. We had established a deterrence model. I hope we haven’t lost that for the Americans still on the ground there in Kabul.”
Pompeo said the true concern in Afghanistan is not the Taliban per se. The primary fear is a return of Taliban rule will return Afghanistan to being a likely “hotbed” for Al Qaeda and ISIS, as it was before September 11, 2001.
“The threat is not from the Taliban. It’s from the fact that the Taliban will play footsies with terrorists like Al Qaeda,” he said, adding that to date, there are an estimated 200 or fewer Al Qaeda terrorists in the country.
“President Trump made very to me, the State Department, that our mission set was clear. We wanted to make sure that we always had the conditions-based analysis that would protect America, at least reduce the risk that there could be an attack from that place,” he said.
Top Republican on the House Armed Services Committee, Rep. Mike Rogers of Alabama, warned that Biden is risking a “Saigon moment” – in reference to the U.S. departing Vietnam as the North Vietnamese Army rolled onto the Presidential Palace property on April 30, 1975.
“For months, I have pressed President Biden for a plan to avoid the very situation that is now happening in Afghanistan. Now, American lives are at risk because President Biden still doesn’t have a plan,” Rogers said in a statement.
“Weeks ago, President Biden promised the American people that we would not have a Saigon moment in Afghanistan. Now, we are watching President Biden’s Saigon moment unfold before us.”
Bill,
Wait, you’re telling me this is Biden’s fault? I thought when Bush landed on the Aircraft Carrier, he declared mission accomplished?
Cheney, Rumsfeld and their useful idiot blew it. When Obama took office it was already the second longest war in our history. There was no plan, no exit strategy, just vengeance and dollars signs for their buddies.
In fact, I remember military leaders begged for a dramatic increase in troops from the beginning. Damn the cost to our soldiers and Afghan civilians. Years later when Bush finally relented, he was praised for the surge that should have been in place from the get.
20 years later, we are here. No matter who ended the war, and let’s not forget that this was trump’s idea to leave, this was going to happen.
Republican Presidents occupied the White House for 12 of the 20 years. One of them could have done something to avoid the massive loss of life, but no, there was money to be made.
This entire 20 years has been a debacle. America should be ashamed. It’s our M.O. , meddle in other business ( Vietnam, Afghan when fighting the Soviets, Iran’s democratically elected leader,) pay the consequences, and then destroy the Country and leave in a fit because we can’t win.
Im actually with trump in this case. America first, stay out of other country’s business, end the never ending wars!
This sucks, but there’s plenty of blame to go around, we are all complicit.
I couldn’t have said it better!!
Hell yes it’s retard joe’s fault.
Total crap Ben. This administration can’t govern it’s way out of paper bag.
One more question for you, Bill.
How does a Country ask a man to be the last one to die for a strategic mistake? How do you justify having one more man die for a blunder?
I suppose it’s a little easier to do sitting behind your keyboard with no skin in the game.
Ben you have no skin in the game. You just post bullshit
Larr,
You are correct. I’m old, I served between the Republican wars. My son just completed his obligated service and is done with his inactive reserve status.
Unfortunately, my department keeps hiring young men that are mentally broken from things they have done and seen over there. The stories they share are heart wrenching.
So although I personally no longer have skin in the game, I’m still dealing with the fall out from The Bush/ Rumsfeld/ Cheney money making scheme.
Who the fuck asked over 300000 people to die on 9/11 asshole? And your so called president was an embarrassment to America when he begged the taliban to stop and not bother our embassy people. So Ben, what’s your solution? And with a weak fraud in the White House, we will probably get hit again.
As usual, Dan, you just made that number up…2977 people died in the attack on 9/11/01. You’re off by a factor of 100.
On the other hand, 2448 American military personnel have been killed, (and more than 20,000 wounded) as well as 3846 US contractors. More than 100,000 Afghans (military and civilian) have been killed, and more than 50,000 Taliban have been killed.
Afghanistan has NOTHING to do with 9/11. The attackers were almost all Saudis. Yes, Bin Laden hid out in Afghanistant eventually, but there were opportunities to capture him before that. Bush/Cheney/Rumsfeld wanted to invade Afghanistan to enrich their war-profiteering donors. We “liberals” warned strongly and loudly against it. And Saudi Arabia remains a favorite darling of the Conservatives (especially the Trump family). Do you think Bush/Cheney/Rumsfeld made a good decision? Adding 5000 American lives to the death toll 10’s of thousands wounded on both sides, and taking 150,000+ Afghan lives to avenge something they had nothing to do with?
And it was Trump who “negotiated” a “Peace Deal” with the Taliban. Trump himself said the Taliban were “great negotiators” who had also “set up” the United States (in other words, Trump got played). And because of that, the Taliban started making side deals with Russia, China, and members of the Afghan army. Why do you think 300,000 Afghan soldiers dropped their guns and ran in less than a week? The Taliban only has 30,000 fighters. They already had promises of “no retaliation” from the Taliban. Whether the Taliban keeps its word is yet to be seen, but I wouldn’t count on it.
America no longer has a commander in chief, we now have a milk toast, Alzheimer’s patient who is incapable of using the toilet on his own
John,
May I remind you that this was trump’s plan.
Yes, it was Trump’s plan and by your own admission it was and is a good one. It took an incompetent Biden administration to turn it into a cluster f—. Pretty typical of just about everything the Dems do these days. And it only took 7 months!
Picker, Let’s not forget it was the Republican Bush, Chaney, and Rumsfeld’s incompetent administration that turned this into a clusterfuck.
Or Reagan for arming and training Bin Laden… of all the blame to pass around, Biden doesn’t deserve anymore than the rest of the warhawks over the last 20 + years.
Pehaps not, but Biden sure as hell doesn’t deserve any less blame.
Yes Ben, and by your own admission it was and is a good one. It took an incompetent Biden “administration” to completely blow it up.
Picker,
I never said releasing all the Taliban prisoners was a good plan, I said it was trump’s plan. Huge difference. What I said was I agreed that we shouldn’t be asking our kids to die for the military industrial complex and their politicians to make more money.
I never mentioned Taliban prisoner’s.
Nitpicker on August 19, 2021 at 5:10 pm
I never mentioned Taliban prisoner’s.
Of course you didn’t. I’m not sure if it was a calculated omission, or ignorance of the topic. Regardless, trump the 5,000 Taliban prisoners out right before we started to leave the Country. This included the de facto Taliban President.
That contributed to the debacle that Biden inherited
You are not sure of anything Ben.
Ben It’s like you threw a few magazines into a blender and then pulled out some scraps and made a post out it. You might fool some (though it doesn’t appear so), but you are not fooling me. You have nothing to offer anyone here except incoherent of examples of your twisted purposefully fantasies purposefully designed to foment obfuscation, misinformation, and disinformation.
Picker,
For some reason your newer posts don’t have a reply button. Quite honestly, this site sucks. Doesn’t work half the time, there’s no notification that you’ve been replied to, the authors ( with the exception of Larry) are partisan hacks! Larry is just partisan , not a hack)
But I digress, what part of my posts on this article are incorrect?
Reagan armed and trained Bin Laden, Bush started the war, declared”mission accomplished”after 18 months, and then diverted resources away from Afghanistan to start another unnecessary war. Bush then allowed mission creep and Nation building to become the MO. Obama bombed the shit out of the Taliban and civilians alike via drone strikes. Giving more recruitment tools to the Taliban. Trump “negotiated” to let all the prisoners out and then told everyone we would be leaving by May. Biden got handed this 20 yr shit fest fest and had the balls to do what no other President has had the balls to do in the last 18 yrs.
what part of that is inaccurate ?
I disagree with basically all of it. Period. And I’m not gonna go wallowing around in a pile of crap for acorns, right? You said it yourself.
These are your opinions Ben, not facts. Opinions are not accurate nor inaccurate; They’re just that — opinions. And as the old saying goes, “everyone has one”.
Picker.
I listed facts. Reagan armed and trained Bin Laden, FACT. Bush declared mission accomplished after 18 month FACT. Bush diverted resources to start another preemptive war, FACT. Obama increased drone bombings ,Fact. Trump killed more civilians via drone strikes than Obama, Fact. Trump negotiated the release of 5,00 Taliban members prior to our withdraw, FACT.
Those are all FACTS!
My opinion of those facts is that our current state of affairs is due to inept Republican Foreign Policy, the Democrats not havi g the back bone to call out the farce that is Republican foreign policy, and the military industrial complex itching for war to make more money.
I understand that you have trouble differentiating between fact and opinion, but it really isn’t that hard.
God Bless Mr. Trump, we sure need him now
John you are right. The moron in the White House is a huge mistake. All of the progress in Afghanistan is gone. We can thank our commiecrats for that.
Leave them Alone and the Moslem Hadji Tribes will KILL Each Other OFF!
New: Republican Party has removed a page from their website bragging about Trump’s deal with the Taliban that committed Biden to withdraw 5,000 US troops from Afghanistan — and led to the fall of Kabul today.
You’re right of course. Biden and his politburo should be committed immediately.
“Who the fuck asked over 300000 people to die on 9/11 asshole?”
Apparently you, Mr. Tyree, asked for over 300,000 people to die on 9/11, since under 3,000 actually died and you fabricated this number, or you believe it, hard to tell with you.
However, you did get twice that, or over 630,000 dead and counting due to your mishandling of the pandemic which mushroomed on your watch.
Here the US rules with a death rate per million people that ranks about 20th out of 200 different countries around the globe; the guy who masterminded our response on this one —- you actually want him back in office. Go figure.
Bottom line, IMO, it’s good to get out, should of done it a decade and all those lives of our most precious resource, our children, were lost, however doing the right thing the wrong way is always bad. President Biden miscalculated, planned poorly, and should have known better. No way you can point the finger at intelligence or other shortcomings; the implementation errors are Joe’s to own. That said, Joe was handed a landmine by Trump, no doubt about it IMO, but still, Joe shoulda known better, planned better, implemented better, even if he was doing the right thing. I mean, even if we stuck it out another year, the cost of that probably would be lower than the cost of this.
Frank the news reported around 3000. I added too many zeros. Ok. You have your commie party of assholes in charge. And people are still dying. But most cases of COVID are over reported.
Just admit it Frank; there’s no way to spin this for Biden. It’s Biden and Jake Sullivan’s fault. Jake Sullivan, the foreign policy idiot who’s been creating these disasters since Hillary.
“I started the process, all the troops are coming home, they (Biden) couldn’t stop the process. 21 years is enough. They (Biden) couldn’t stop the process, they (Biden) wanted to but couldn’t stop the process.”
– Trump, 1 month ago
That’s right Ben (again!) Trump started the process that everyone agrees needed to be done. Biden took over and turned it into Vietnam/Benghazi cataclysm.
Picker,
How should it have been done? There’s absolutely no good way to do this.
Bush should have gotten out after 18 months, when he declared “Mission Accomplished”. No President for the next 16 years should have been faced with this issue.
How should this have been done? Seriously? You sound as clueless as the Biden administration.
How could they be so wrong about the strength of the Taliban? Have they never heard of military intelligence? You blame Bush, but this was Biden’s operation all the way. “The buck stops here”. He said so himself and there’s no way to blame anyone else. Period.
Oh, and let’s not forget. How about providing some air support for the Afghani army? You think that might have made a difference?
Picker,
How could they be so wrong about the strength of the Taliban? They didn’t figure in the 5,000 Taliban prisoners that trump let out just prior to the withdraw. They also didn’t calculate the idea that the Afghan Security Forces would simply give up their guns and cheer on the Taliban once we stopped doing the heavy lifting for them and stopped paying them.
The fact that you don’t know any of this shows just how bad the “news” you consume really is.
Feel free to provide facts that prove I am not correct in my posts.
But even if I were wrong, trump set this plan in motion, Biden delayed it to try to get all the pieces moving together and be prepared. Why didnt trump know that releasing the Taliban prisoners would rapidly increase the success the Taliban has had in recapturing the country?
The better question Ben is how can you be so wrong about all of this.
“But most cases of COVID are over reported.” Really? And how do you conclude that, your Russian disinformation news service? Or is that the old “we really don’t know what he really died from…..” Because most experts think the case count is well undercounted, especially the delta surge amongst the vaccinated who get mild symptoms and may just self quarantine. But glad you think it’s overreported since it’s mostly the unvaccinated, mostly in Trump country, if you get my meaning, if you get my drift. I mean “party of commie assholes” as you are so fond of mistakenly saying, is pretty much vaccinated, pretty much out of the numbers so it’s all yours, we’re trying our best to help, but think you actually still own it.
Gotta love your 1950’s commie moniker; are you Russian too?
No I’m not Russian. But I wouldn’t be ashamed if I were. And lots of vaccinated people and getting the virus. Maybe it’s God’s way of thinning the herd. As for 50’s thinking, when communism is gone I’ll shut up about it t
President Trump’s Disgraceful Peace Deal with the Taliban
BY DAVID FRENCH
Time, MARCH 3, 2020
Excerpt…
If you read the peace agreement itself, you’ll note immediately that it gives the Taliban a series of concrete, measurable gifts. First, there’s an immediate allied withdrawal – down to 8,600 American troops (and proportionate numbers of allied troops) within 135 days. The remainder of American and allied forces will leave within 14 months.
At the same time, the United States will immediately and substantially reinforce the Taliban by seeking the release of 5,000 Taliban prisoners by March 20. Even worse, the United States further agreed to a goal of “releasing all remaining prisoners over the course of the subsequent three months.” It will do this at the same time that it commits to the “goal” of removing sanctions from members of the Taliban that include travel bans, asset freezes, and an arms embargo.
The combination of the planned American retreat and the planned prisoner release would represent a substantial change in the balance of forces in Afghanistan. This would come without any agreement by the Taliban to cease hostilities against our allies.
At this point, the deal looks worse than a simple withdrawal. America can leave all on its own without also agreeing to seek the release of Taliban prisoners. It can leave all on its own without promising to ease sanctions. So why agree to the additional concessions?
America is making these concrete concessions in exchange for unenforceable promises from an untrustworthy enemy. The Taliban promise that they will not allow its members or members of al-Qaeda to use Afghan soil to threaten American national security. The promise to “send a clear message” that those who threaten the United States “have no place in Afghanistan.” Yet the agreement released to the public provides no verification or enforcement provisions for these assurances, and once America is out of Afghanistan, our ability to enforce those promises absent a new, substantial military buildup will be limited to nonexistent.
Dan, let me see if I get this: you are not ashamed of being Russian but you hate all communists. Yes there are breakthrough infections, Gov Abbot got one. But the vaccinated are dying, and few go to the hospital. So yes, God’s way of thinning the herd. Only you be the sheep that being butchered. It’s a pandemic of the unvaccinated.
Amazingly the Trump states closely line up with the unvaccinated states which closely line up with worst Delta surge states. Better yet, if you look at a county basis, it even gets worse for conclaves of conservatism. I would laugh but it really isn’t funny. https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/07/29/us/delta-variant-risk-map.html
If God has something to do with this, God is thinning the field in a targeted fashion. Hopefully the target will see the signs, get a clue, take the advice of it’s medical and scientific community over snake oil salesmen. Get the shot, it’s safe, it works, and don’t listen to the likes of Dan. He can’t back up his lies with facts.
Dan said “And lots of vaccinated people and getting the virus.” This is factually incorrect. First, “lot’s is a subjective word,” used by those who can’t count. First, Delta variant is about twice as contagious. Guess what that means to the unvaccinated, little kids, vaccinated — everyone is more vulnerable, Delta is more contagious. Thus, Desantis forsakes masks, etc., opens up, outlaws local mandates, and Florida citizens pay the price — worst in the nation, carrying like 20% of the total cases. Second, even though more contagious, it is rare for breakthough infections to result in hospitalization, more rare that the small number who are hospitalized result in death.
Lots to Dan means the reality of “U.S. states counted at least 193,204 so-called breakthrough cases among vaccinated people between Jan. 1 and early August, according to data that health departments in 44 states and Washington, D.C., provided to the Journal. The figure represents 0.1% of the more than 136 million fully vaccinated people in those states and the capital.” WSJournal The journal continues: ““Let’s be real, here: Breakthrough infections are sort of OK,” said Larry Corey, a virologist at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle. “You get infected and you have a cold, maybe an achy fever for 24 hours. But you don’t end up in the hospital, and you don’t end up with that 2.5% chance of dying once you are hospitalized.”
That’s the difference Dan, 873 people died yesterday. About 400 per day for each of the three days before that. Chances are not one of them were vaccinated. Chances are they were younger than our current average. Chances are they were more conservative than our current average. It’s just a numbers game where the numbers can only be changed by the exact methods we mentioned starting with the mask, getting the vaccine, and listening to our experts. The worst thing they can tell you might cause you to be too safe.
You keep putting up unsubstantiated reasons not to mask, not to vaccinate. You can’t prove any of them. Even folks on your side of the aisle are changing there tune. How many more need to die before you see the error of your ways.
No vaccine for me. I’ll be just fine. And Frank I can’t believe how racist that you are. So you think all Russians are communists? You might as well say that all blacks are crack heads and criminals. You racist asshole. Gotcha!!!! And if I get vaccinated it will be a vaccine approved by the FRA. Not some concoction cooked up in a basement lab.
Pfizer’s vaccine is now approved by the FDA. You just lost your excuse.
You say I’m racist for thinking all Russians are communists? No wonder you can’t spot racism, you think it’s based on nationality or political party.
As much as I would like to fun on your FRA, for one who prides himself on looking beyond the mainstream media; one would think you would look at the testing, results, usage, etc. to make your decision rather than be a toady to the Government man. Ask your doctor or another trusted medical specialist. Or Shawn Hannity, he took it. This drug is based on a technology tried and tested for decades; the vaccine has been “tested” now on over 4,800,000,000 people across the globe, for vaccines that historically have shown all long-term issues in a matter of months (we are coming up on a year, and look how many shots….), there are issues, there are risks, but they are very low especially against the reward. But hey, if you are still scarred, if you are still antsy, feel like you need the Government man to tell you what to do and it’s OK, I would say then wait. But f-me, it’s not you I am thinking about, it’s the other Americans you are putting at risk that’s the issue. How self-centered can you be. How uncaring of your fellow citizen just because you are too frightened until the big ole FRA tells you it gonna be alright.
That basement lab just made me 30% profit so I guess they know something. Cha-ching! Imagine how much I would be making if people would get the shot. Not a penny more, we already bought them, with your tax money, and now it’s in my pocket, soon to be in my belly, hahaha… So hold on the shot; I need a price drop so I can get back in before the booster, and you get yours with the FRA approval coming any day now. Yiipppeee.
FYI — traditional definition of racism involves race. Not country, not political party. New woke version includes ethnicity so when you slander a Latin American who is probably of the Caucasian race, so a little hard to be racists with the traditional definition, now you can be considered racist there too. It’s an ever changing woke politically correct world. And then there’s you.
I form my opinions of people based on how that they act. And I expect people to view me that way. There’s nothing wrong with trying to educate people to not be racist. But this woke bullshit goes too far. Changing names of sports teams? Telling college students that they are racist just for being white? Trying to erase our history? Give me a break. You and your leftist comrades are using that shit to bully people. And I’m having none of it. What you idiots don’t realize is that you are making lots of white people resent people of color. Yes, people in my family background owned slaves. But it wasn’t me and I don’t apologize for them. If you fools really want improved race relations, shut the fuck up about Jim Crow and slavery. We don’t discuss it in our family because there’s nothing to discuss. Your other buddies on this site like to troll and stir the pot. When am I going to read posts from you dumbasses condemning the rioting and looting.? It’s been fairly quite for a while. But just wait until an armed black felon shoots at the police and gets his ass shot. People bitch about gun violence but I know for a fact that most of it comes from minorities So don’t piss on my head and tell me it’s raining
You say you form your opinions of people on how they act… but don’t you expect us to form our opinions of you based on the same thing? You call people names, you don’t give a crap if you infect other people with COVID or extend the economic downturn by being one of the idiots that won’t get vaccinated. You insult minorities in almost every post. Instead of intelligently discussing a point, you insult, change the subject, make up lies to support non-sensical arguments. “We don’t discuss it [racism] in our family because there’s nothing to discuss”, which means you’re a bully to your family too, and they’re scared to speak up around you. Are you’re like this to the online community because you have no friends and neighbors left that will speak to you? You’ve been brainwashed to be a “conservative” by FOX news for so long that you can’t by any means admit that other people have an opinion and/or might be right. You’re in a circle-jerk with Tucker Carlson’s arguments based on Trump’s pronouncements based on Q-anon conspiracies supported by Republican fascist traitors based on the ravings of lunatics like you. What a sad pathetic little man you’ve become (assuming that you were a decent guy at some point in your life).
Wrong. My wife tells me off occasionally. But it’s not about politics or racism. She just raises hell sometimes. But we were childhood sweethearts. By the way, most of my family are gun nut rednecks. We love our country but fear the government. My brother and sister feel the same way. And nobody is large and in charge in our family We all speak our minds. My dad was an overbearing asshole and I choose to not be that way. I wrong nobody
On this site, you still come across as an overbearing asshole. The nut doesn’t fall far from the tree…
By the way Joseph. I was a damned good union man. I can see the need for union representation but I don’t believe in forcing people to join. So right to work laws are good. But people in unions can still be fired. It’s written in the contracts to have workplace rules I was sued under the RICO act for harshly dealing with scabs. But good union lawyers got it thrown out
And apparently violence runs in your family too. But you still abandoned your union for the “conservatives” who have been trying to detroy the unions since the Reagan years…
Why do you have to throw the insults? Trying to make friends and influence people?
I called you out for calling me a racist for suggesting you might be Russian. Then you hit me with the ole “but all Russians are not communists, so you are a racist” which is just weird. Do you want to close that, no. You just move on and spew some more invective filled crap. Again, if you want to debate, let’s discuss. If you want to hurl names, let’s not.
I have no buddies here. I, and other liberals are not dumbasses. Lots of people have condemning the violence at any protest, whether said violence is from the protestors or the police. But tossing one bad thing to say therefore another bad thing ain’t that bad is a false equivalency, a false logic. Both things can be bad, one being worse does not make the other better.
But hey, continue. Make it all about me, not the issues.
Little after Frankie got his feelings hurt by Dan Tyree. Lol. But Dan is a true patriot
Joseph my grandma used to say that where’s a drop of that blood it shows.
So your grandma has issues with the English language too, eh. I think all these people who can’t spreak English need to be deported.
If Bobbie sees a true patriot, Houston, we may have another racist on the screen :>) You know it’s true when they start talking about having a Black friend and once belonging to the Union, for a week, in the dead of night, a true story.
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