On this 20th Anniversary of September 11th, we find ourselves humiliated, our global cachet in tatters, enemies emboldened. A weak Democrat President again pulls defeat from the jaws of victory. Biden, the Taliban’s Washington Spokesman, calls the Taliban “businesslike and professional.” Biden’s team also gave us a new word: retrograde. It’s an Ivy League ‘ism that means “military retreat with civilian abandonment.” Don’t you feel better now? You shouldn’t. The price of our defeat will be paid, sooner or later, in more American blood.
The Railer wishes he were wrong. Everything predicted in the previous post has come true. Helos evacuating our beseiged Kabul embassy, remorse over the abandonment of Bagram Air Base, the (re)enslavement of women, the torture and deaths of our Afghan allies. Checks on all. ISIS and Al Queda are already reconstituting their terrorist organizations under the umbrella of old friends.
Lie:
“There will be no circumstance in which you will see people lifted off the roof of the embassy in Afghanistan,” President Biden, July 8, 2021.
A U.S. Chinook helicopter flies over the city of Kabul, Afghanistan, on Sunday. Taliban fighters entered the outskirts of the Afghan capital, further tightening their grip on the country as panicked workers fled government offices and helicopters landed at the U.S. Embassy.
As candidate, DimJoe Xiden said he would leave no American behind. He was not just talking about free stuff and entitlements. DimJoe told a national TV audience in August that no American would be left behind in Afghanistan. It took George Stephanopoulos’ prompting to pull those words out of the puppet-in-chief, but he finally said them. Our national ethos is that we leave no American behind. Thanks DimJoe, another American ideal you’ve ignominiously trashed.
STEPHANOPOULOS: ‘Cause we’ve got, like, 10,000 to 15,000 Americans in the country right now, right? And are you committed to making sure that the troops stay until every American who wants to be out– BIDEN: Yes. STEPHANOPOULOS: — is out? BIDEN: Yes.
‘Hundreds’ of US citizens left behind as troops leave Afghanistan
Trump handed DimJoe a stable government, a stable country, and a conditions-based settlement. We had zero American casualties in 18 months. The Taliban agreed to support formation of a coalition government. Peace reigned. The Taliban blew that up when they started their March offensive and conquered provinces one-by-one. At that point, DimJoe should have hit them hard, pushed them back. Take the battle to Pakistan if necessary. We had Afghan forces to fight on the ground and American firepower and intelligence in the air. We had everything needed to maintain peace with a miniscule force of 2,500 Americans.
DimJoe failed to respond. He moved the date of our withdrawal to 9/11 to maximize the glory of his anticipated victory dance. The Narcissist in Chief wanted the 9/11 memorials to be about him instead of a day of respect for thousands of still grieving families.
Lie:
When Mr. Biden announced in April that we were pulling out, he promised it wouldn’t be a “hasty rush to the exit,” that it would be done “responsibly, deliberately and safely” in “full coordination with our allies and partners.”
Every word of that statement was a lie. With the complete and unexpected withdrawal of U.S. air support and contractors in July, the Afghan army crumbled. DimJoe even called the Afghani President and asked him to lie. DimJoe didn’t like the “optics” of the rapid Taliban victories. No words about how together we could turn back the tide, only concern that DimJoe was going to look bad.
Kabul fell in 11 days. DimJoe and Secretary of State Blinkon were on vacation. DimJoe at his assisted living facility in Delaware, Blinkon in the haughty Hamptons.
Shortly before Kabul fell in a weekend, Mr. Blinken told lawmakers that any deterioration wouldn’t happen from a “Friday to a Monday.” The fall happened from a Friday to a Monday.
The Railer could see this coming a mile away, months before, and we’re learning that a few Washington adults did too. Did they prepare? Not at all. The Taliban surrounded the airport and controlled who came in or out. They made door-to-door searches for Americans and collaborators. Americans and a lucky few allies were sitting ducks on the tarmac of HKIA airport, surrounded by enemy forces. It’s a miracle that thousands weren’t mowed down by 360 degrees of fire. One renegade terrorist could have lit the fuse.
Each day of the crisis we heard three versions of lies; from the military, the State Department, and fumbling stumbling DimJoe. Let’s paraphrase the words of Sec of State Anthony Blinken, “The military phase of this operation has ended, the diplomatic hostage sequel to that will now begin.”
DimJoe’s surrender stranded Germans, English, French, Turks, and other allies behind enemy lines. And in a final, parting, indignity, 13 marines died from ISIS-K suicide bombers. When their bodies arrived at Dover AFB, the Cadaver in Chief couldn’t even feign basic respect. Family members fumed when Biden looked at his watch as each name was somberly called and the caskets rolled off. Speaking with the distraught families, The Narcissist-in-Chief talked about his late son Beau, not the heroes, the dead sons and daughters he recklessly put in harm’s way.
But we killed those ISIS bombers with a drone strike, right? Nope, we killed a U.S. aid worker loading water into his truck along with a group of seven children. So much for our “over-the-horizon” strike capability.
The U.S. military airlifted more than 100,000 people from Kabul in a few days, an amazing feat. Too bad that we have no idea who they are. Expect thousands of Afghan criminals and terrorists coming to a city near you. The Taliban opened the jails, and we likely gave them precious seats on C-130s bound for the ‘States. The chaotic surrender and evacuation didn’t allow time to filter and sort. Our true Afghan friends were left behind to die.
We could have taken more time, but DimJoe had to “keep his promises to the Taliban” and leave by his self-imposed 8/31 deadline. Amazingly the Taliban had offered to pause their Kabul entry, but DimJoe said no. Emboldened, their initial flexibility evaporated. Every term of our surrender and retreat was thereafter dictated by the Taliban. We lost the war.
DimJoe said in his 8/31 press conference that this was a great success, extraordinary! It was all planned. His administration had anticipated everything. If he had to do it again, he wouldn’t do anything different. It was executed brilliantly. Besides, it wasn’t his fault! Trump made the agreement! The Afghans wouldn’t fight! The Afghan president was corrupt! Those (dumb) Americans left behind, it was their fault. We told them to leave, come to the airport, no, don’t come to the airport, this gate, no, that gate, … It’s their fault they couldn’t penetrate that Taliban gauntlet.
In many ways, we’re worse off than before 9/11. Taliban 2.0 is more powerful than September 11th’s Taliban 1.0. In the 1990’s their hold on the country was tenuous, with competing factions and warlords. There’s no opposition today, their control is border to border. We handed them almost $100B in small arms, rockets, night vision goggles, UAVs, fighting vehicles, and aircraft, much of it serviceable, and they can sell the advanced equipment for teardown and analysis by Iran or China. Speaking of, hours after Kabul’s takeover, the Chinese established diplomatic relations. They’re eager to exploit the trillions of dollars worth of rare earths, that includes lithium, the precious light metal that makes electric vehicle batteries. DimJoe Xiden owes Chairman-for-Life Xi a lot of favors.
Looking forward, would a foreigner ever help America? Would they believe our promises of protection for their family, of citizenship? We just left thousands of Afghan friends and their families to a brutal fate. A quick death would be kind. Would you volunteer to fight in our armies? Do you trust DimJoe, General “white rage” Milley, the naïve and embarrassingly foolish SecState Anthony Blinkon? Is their incompetence worth your life? What did thousands of Gold Star families get for their sacrifice? If your loved one died on 9/11, are you happy that the exact same killers are back, large and in charge? 9/11 Mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed is still alive at Guantanamo Bay. He should have been stood against a wall and shot more than a decade ago.
If you’re a U.S. ally, what do you think now? Do you trust America when invited to a fight? Will you send your sons and daughters, your treasure? If you’re an enemy, there are recurring lessons here for you. Be bold, be patient, be ruthless. Lie and lie big. Know that half of America will believe YOUR anti-western propaganda. You hate America? They do too. The Taliban are now claiming that Osama Bin Laden had nothing to do with 9/11. Rewrite history. Make deals you have no intention of honoring. Humiliate America, get paid. Sooner or later a dim, weak, Democrat President will take office and hand you everything.