U.S. and allied planes have flown an additional 19,200 people out of Kabul in the past 24 hours, officials said on Wednesday, as the Biden administration makes substantial inroads into getting American citizens and Afghans who worked for the United States over the last 20 years out of Afghanistan.
But thousands of U.S. citizens are believed to still be in the country, and President Biden’s Aug. 31 deadline for the withdrawal of American troops is rapidly approaching. Tens of thousands of Afghans who qualify for special immigration visas are also waiting to be evacuated.
As of 3 a.m. in Washington, the United States had evacuated about 82,300 people from Kabul’s international airport since Aug. 14.
I think it's inevitable that things will get more desperate on the ground as the final deadline approaches, but we're at 82,000 with six days left to go. By the time this is over we will have evacuated a helluva lot of people from Kabul.
There's no magic number, get as many out as we can before end of month. The only reason we've been able to rescue this many is because the Taliban took 10 days instead of 30-60 to takeover, how the hell would we have rescued people then when already withdrawn and no longer controlling airport (and what would be reason to mass rescue them when Afghan army was going to supposedly hold)?
Also, let's go easy on what example we were setting in Afghanistan. Rigged elections and corruption supported by a foreign regime acting on its own pragmatic interests is not really how to do democracy, and only makes it weak not in retrospect seeing how swiftly it fell.
And from our side, spending a trillion bucks over past decade for a spectacularly failing nation and military building project, all while a consistent set of rosy announcements about how well things were going streamed, and with the Wash Post even reporting on the Afghanistan papers which painted the dysfunction (without government or press seemingly finding it that big a story), we need a very thorough and deep investigation into this decade-long farce.
We would have always controlled the airport. The evacuation plan had 100 marines stationed at the Embassy and another 500 or so at the airport. Of course once the embassy staff was evacuated there would be no reason for the marines to stay.
Of course I was referencing the period after the evacuation, when 500 troops at the airport would be good enough for what? Obviously the Taliban will be reasserting control over the airport, as the Afghan government (unity or otherwise).
No reason. The only reason we were keeping 600 marines in A'stan even with the withdrawal agreement was to secure the embassy. But with the embassy closed and evacuated there is no reason for them to stick around.
Also, what are we to think about all the Al Qaeda and ISIS warning stemming from the military, the same people assuring us the military building project was going so well (when we know it wasn't)?
Just read that military analysts now predicting Al Qaeda up-and-running in Afghanistan for external terrorist operations in as little as 6 months (instead of 1-2 years), what are we to make of this, and on what basis/information are they claiming this?
By all accounts, ISIS was already (obviously) forming in Afghanistan, and we know the Taliban hate them (and recently killed one of their commanders). I've heard reports that Al Qaeda was supposedly regathering too over the past few years, do we really think our air and drone coverage is that impactful in detecting small-scale training and planning (like was the case with 9-11)?
It's not like AQ is going to be out there training regiments in open space, that's not what they do. So this quick takeover by the Taliban changes what exactly?
Afghanistan isn't some magical mystery land of terror, ISIS and AQ have found places to operate and plan elsewhere in the world, and the terrorism threat to us has remained minimal (or we've done what it takes to foil attacks).
Knowing the military they will probably start funding AQ and ISIS in order to destablize the Taliban and give them an excuse to go back in.
This should be emphasized more. 9/11 was planned in hotel rooms in Hamburg. They didn't need a training camp in Kandahar.
Bingo. All we need are presidents willing to read those oh-so-complicated-do-I-hafta-read-them? intel reports (more cartoons please!) and we should be safe enough.
In the mean time, daily covid deaths avg at 858, daily new cases over half of previous high, active cases getting close to holiday highs, and schools are reopening--but this is all old news.
Reports from Afghanistan are dying down since the evacuation is working...though reports of problems or potential problems dominate. "Biden is withdrawing from the World Stage", "Biden insults allies", they missed this person (above the fold) with the that person got out buried on page 14, etc. Stories are just biding time waiting for Isis to try something...
The press doesn't know what to do with a competent administration. Things are not perfect, and it may take a few iterations to get things right, but there is no malice. So they confuse and conflate mountains and molehills.
It's more along the lines of Al Qaeda trying to do something. As I've pointed out by highlighting US Treasury memos and other stories, it's Al Qaeda who maintains a close relationship with the Taliban.
We will have almost zero humint, relying solely on sigint. We'll be almost as blind as we were pre-9/11. That scares the military and intelligence folk like nothing else. I mean, if they were bad with humint, they'll be even worse without humint.
And how does our military presence actually help our humint? It's not like they can go in and bomb a place every time one of our humint operatives is in danger, this is deep undercover covert risk-taking (humint).
CIA can't operate if it can't be in-country.
The CIA is a clandestine agency. It's supposed to operate in places where we aren't.
Being clandestine doesn't mean being absent.
Seems we've managed to get by in many of these other chaotic countries (where terrorists gather and haven't hit is with any terror strikes).
Bingo!
"But thousands of U.S. citizens are believed to still be in the country..."
Where is that number coming from? Nobody seems to have any idea, as far as I can tell. However, one thing is certain. The US embassy in Afghanistan warned Americans to leave the country on May 15. This is now the end of August.
Another thing that is certain. Every American still in Afghanistan has known for a long time that Trump was negotiating an exit agreement with the Taliban that had a May 1 deadline.
So why are we worried about Americans still in Afghanistan? They've known for a very long time that they needed to get out. They didn't. Seems like they've made the decision to stay. Let them stay.
That warning was unrelated to the departure of US forces; it was related to Eid.
There have been a series of warning for Americans to leave for past several months.
Four. Only two of which were related to GTFO now b/c we're gone. But you know, I get the point you and others are conveying: People take risks; they should be willing to accept the risks they take and not expect the gov't to stick around and save their necks.
1 is more than enough.
Is it, though?
People have been warned about San Andreas' big one for decades, but all I see is constant expansion near the physical fault line.
People have been warned for half a century about global warming, but we're still on the same track.
I could go on.
People failing to take warnings seriously is their own fault, not the fault of the people warning them.
D Ohrk E1,
You're not actually comparing our withdrawal from Afghanistan with a future earthquake are you? That's just silly. There was an actual deal made with the Taliban by the Trump administration. The earthquake? Yes the "big one" will happen...sometime in the next 50-100 years.
Why not compare leaving Afghanistan to Florida as it is threatened by hurricanes yearly? Or the Midwest with it's tornados that will happen every year? Or New Jersey, just waiting for the next super storm? Or how about people up and down the west coast living with wild fires?
The answer is, you can't. Because none of these situations is in any way similar to our current situation in Afghanistan.
Of course I am. People routinely misjudge relative risk. That is the point.
And Dork is one of them.
Somewhat O/T, but Seattle's seismic risk situation is the really scary one.
Thanks for reminding me.
Give it a week and they may be blaming this on Joe Biden, but from the Dept. of WTF, what kind of a school district would authorize students to go on a summer trip to Afghanistan?
Students from San Diego County school district stranded in Afghanistan
https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2021-08-24/students-from-cajon-valley-school-district-stranded-in-afghanistan
EL CAJON, Calif. — At least 24 students from the Cajon Valley Union School District in El Cajon and 16 parents are stranded in Afghanistan after taking a summer trip abroad.
...
Cajon Valley Supt. David Miyashiro told school district board members via text message Tuesday that he and other Cajon Valley staff met virtually with U.S. Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Bonsall) and his staff about the situation.
I think you're misreading the story; these are individual students who went to Afghanistan during the summer recess with their families, not an authorized field trip abroad. To get to Afghanistan, they would have had to secured visas, so the State Dept should have them in their records.
You may be right about that. The article mentions "the district's Family and Children Engagement program," which I assumed was involved in arranging the trip. But more likely, FACE is just working on getting assistance to those stranded.
Still, why are all these families taking a trip to Afghanistan for summer vacation? The US gov't has been telling Americans to get out of the country since May. Something doesn't add up.
Maybe it's like the family covered in The Washington Post the other day. They knew Afghanistan was going south but they were desperate to visit family members one last time, the family in the post went over in July, the father is back in the US but the wife and kids are stuck, they were originally going to return in September.
Not smart of course but I can see how it happened.
"Not smart of course but I can see how it happened."
Annie, you are more charitable than I. MUCH more. I red that article and I thought, "Well duuh! Did any of them ever pass an IQ test?"
Read between the lines. These were naturalized American citizens from Afghanistan, going home to visit family for the summer. They knew it was dangerous, but being from there, they wouldn't stand out like an American tourist. They were going to come home long before the August 31 deadline, but hadn't expected to see Kabul fall when it did.
That may be. But if they were Afghans visiting family, it still is curious why that piece of information was not in the story.
If the news reports a man chokes while eating dog, readers are going to ask why the man was eating dog. Why not just tell them?
"Long before", well into August?
Jimm, read the story. They had planned to be back home ahead of the start of the school year. That was over a week ago. IOW, they planned to be out by early August.
The deadline was for US troops, not civilians. Civilians were already told to leave immediately back in June.
Have a little bit of empathy.
There are naturalized Americans with close family still in Afghanistan ( likely without visas to get to the US or do not want to go). An Afghan American who believed Biden in July that it was highly unlikely the taliban would take over - why wouldn't they feel they can go.
And what if they did feel the taliban were eventually going to take over? They then have to expect that this may mean they will never in their life again see their mother, their brother, their cousin. So is it worth taking some chance to just be able to go back and say goodbye? And at least they probably felt that it would take longer for the taliban to take over especially Kabul so they would have time to get out when needed.
Remember lots of Americans are trapped less than an hours drive away from the airport. And it basically happened overnight. One day airport operating normally with us and govt in control and the next day the taliban control Kabul. And in perhaps the last few hours you might have been able to get to the airport, the us govt tells you to shelter in place.
Yes, some of these might have knowingly taken a small risk to be able to see their families one last time. But thought it was a small enough risk because who expected the collapse to happen so fast you cannot see it in time to get to the airport? The administration sure did not. Or they thought the risk was minimal as they believed what biden was saying.
What really will influence people more. A beurocratic travel advisory from the state dept that they tend to issue for lots of countries being Uber cautious. Or a public speech by the president saying really everything will be fine and the Afghan govt will not fall?
Now those who are condemning and insulting these Afghan Americans who are trying to visit family one last time because they should have known better, and also condemn biden to for that, cold hearted but maybe not hypocritical. For those who defend biden yet condemn these people, stop spinning.
Yes, some of these might have knowingly taken a small risk to be able to see their families one last time.
Rational: Traveling to a war zone is hardly a "small risk" especially when you bring your kids. Civilian casualties in the first half of this year have been running at the highest rate in many years. I fervently hope every last one of them can exit, but let's not gloss over their very real stupidity and recklessness.
KD has launched a visceral moral finger-wagging crowd onto people who failed to exercise good judgement.
One might hope that the Taliban will not make things difficult for these U.S. citizens with Afghanistan family ties. I mean, they may demand that the U.S. military leave, but then it should be in their interest to let normal international travel resume.
Having a record of a visa, and a record of them actually being in A'stan are two different things. Unless the registered with the embassy on their arrival, which given the travel restrictions in place I doubt they did.
Why would they even travel there during a pandemic (flights have to go via India or the ME) and to a warzone is a good question.
Why do people keep buying ICE when they explicitly acknowledge that global warming is real? Why do people keep smoking weed when they know that the particulate damages their lungs? Why do we keep entering wars we don't intend to see through?
Why do Libertarians continue to insist that people make the best choices for themselves?
Are you asking me why people make errors in judgement?
Well, if you believe in God, I'd tell you Original Sin. If you believe in Humanism, I'd tell you that to err is to be human.
OMG this is so stupid.
You bring up traveling with a pandemic?
C'mon. Worst case that really is a small risk. The chance that you catch covid on a flight and die is fairly insignificant compared to something that is important enough to most people like seeing a parent one final time in your life. Unless maybe you are so elderly or infirm that covid is a bigger risk ( in which case probably cannot travel anyway).
Maybe you would not visit your mother for the last time because of covid risk of flying. Your choice as you can weigh the risk of dying and value of your life vs. Being able to see her one last time based on your values. And I would not condemn you for that . But you would also not be a normal person in that way.
That you even bring up covid risk here is unreasonable.
If you have a story of someone going to Afghanistan as a simple tourist, OK I agree that is stupid. But you know adventure travel is a " thing " nowadays and often done by bored young yuppie liberals.
I think it is totally acceptable to say that they took the risk so the USA has no responsibility to evacuate them, although I still do not agree. But to not even care about them? Have some compassion and empathy.
Travelling domestically is difficult enough in a pandemic. Internationally with border closures, quarantine requirements, vaccine requirements, test requirements, flight cancellations and the like, it's basically a nightmare especially to a place like Afghanistan - half a world away and requiring multiple stops and layovers. Travelling in a pandemic is not a good idea, and travelling to A'stan in particular is bonkers.
Summer vacation. Wtf?
Issa probably pushed this story because he thought it would embarrass Biden. If so, it backfired badly. Even on sites like Gateway Pundit, the overwhelming response has been "what kind of idiots take their kids to Afghanistan when the State Dept said not to?"
The Car Alarm Chorus is out of tune again.
Better fire up the garbage cans.
By the time this is over the US will have evacuated a helluva lot of able bodied, military age men and women from Kabul.
Kevin - in your later posting about LA Schools District absences you espouse the importance of numeracy and percentages and how some numbers might look "big" but are really "small" as a percentage. So, in that vein, what percentage of those who need (if not want) to get out will this represent?
Does anyone really know? This a time-bounded operation by treaty and we're attempting to maximize throughput in that window, and doing a damn good job of it, that's the objective to be measured, not perfect world scenarios.
We've begun to slow evac because we need to set aside enough to get the troops put
Any American still in Afghanistan at this point is either working on the evacuation, or just doesn't want to leave for some reason.
That is far from true
I mean they've had ample opportunity to get out (months of notice), so if they're still there they decided to roll the dice.
Read this, then discuss: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/25/opinion/afghanistan-taliban-army.html
Was ammunition running out our responsibility, or Afghan leadership? As the article clearly points out, Afghan leadership was very lacking.
As for what the contractors may or may not have been supposed to take, we need to figure out exactly what this stuff was, was it part of the plan to take it, and if not take it up with the contractors and potentially military.
I think some of the fault of lack of ammunition is with both the govt and us/ nato. Unlike Vietnam where that was almost all usa.
Re contractors, I would guess that what they took they likely had the legal right to.
But using contractors instead of our own soldiers does mean that some decisions are made based on simply what is best for the contracting company and not what is best for the USA or the afghans.
That point can be greatly overstated here though. Many of the contractors were ex servicemen or others who had the same sort of patriotism loyalty and motivations as regular army us soldiers. Instead of just staying in the army, they became contractors. Maybe for higher pay ( because it is hard in army beurocracy to compensate the top fighters deservedly) or due to frustration with army paperwork. But also because the us govt wanted it that way.
In reality, many contractors were effectively us army in all but name. They largely acted like us soldiers , obeyed orders like them and fought like them. They had previously been us army.
What this allowed is for the us army to have a higher military presence in the country without admitting it.
Did you read the entire piece? I believe the answer you seek is in it.
D ohrk,
I certainly did not. Because it is begind a paywall.
I did read it, the answer was not there, this is one (strategically important) man's anecdotal account, and not many details are provided. Plus, there's a long history of fog of war media misinformation and propaganda, and this man was in charge of things and can be expected to point finger at others and not his own responsibility.
Gee, I hope I didn't give him the idea,
Billionaire Erik Prince Charges $6,500 Per Person To Evacuate Afghanistan,
https://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/us_61269fb4e4b092664347e1f4
Doesn't say that he's actually done it.
The number of people who the media will claim ought to have been evacuated is x+thousands more, where x= the number who end up actually being evacuated.
On several other sites where evacuation hysteria is rampant, I've asked for a definition of who America is obliged to rescue more precise than 'Afghan allies'. I've yet to receive a response. This probably explains the failure to respond to my request for an estimate of their number.
BTW the latest report is that fewer than 1,500 non-military Americans are still in the country, and it's unknown how many want to leave.
We're living in a wingnut's world,
according to this,
https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/42073/want-uncle-sam-to-get-you-out-of-kabul-it-will-cost-you-thousands-of-dollars
it's US law that anyone evacuated from anywhere by the US will be billed for it, including those US personnel who have been ordered to evacuate.
But, they're waiving this for the present.