US President Joe Biden

BREAKING: WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S General says some American citizens who wanted to leave Afghanistan remain in country after US departure, as Taliban proclaim 'full independence' of Afghanistan after last U.S. troops fly out.

Absolutely reprehensible, that any leader of a Country can abandon it’s own citizens in that hell hole. Impeach 46.

https://apnews.com/article/islamic-s...35999f41733161

WASHINGTON (AP) — The United States has the capacity to evacuate the approximately 300 U.S. citizens remaining in Afghanistan who want to leave before President Joe Biden’s Tuesday deadline, senior Biden administration officials said Sunday, as another U.S. drone strike against suspected Islamic State militants underscored the grave threat in the war’s final days.

“This is the most dangerous time in an already extraordinarily dangerous mission these last couple of days,” America’s top diplomat, Secretary of State Antony Blinken, said not long before confirmation of that airstrike in Kabul, the capital.

The evacuation flow of Americans kept pace even as a new State Department security alert, issued hours before the military action, instructed people to leave the airport area immediately “due to a specific, credible threat.”

Biden’s national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, said that for those U.S. citizens seeking immediately to leave Afghanistan by the looming deadline, “we have the capacity to have 300 Americans, which is roughly the number we think are remaining, come to the airport and get on planes in the time that is remaining. We moved out more than that number just yesterday. So from our point of view, there is an opportunity right now for American citizens to come, to be admitted to the airport and to be evacuated safely and effectively.”

Sullivan said the U.S. does not currently plan to have an ongoing embassy presence after the final U.S. troop withdrawal. But he pledged the U.S. “will make sure there is safe passage for any American citizen, any legal permanent resident” after Tuesday, as well as for “those Afghans who helped us.” But untold numbers of vulnerable Afghans, fearful of a return to the brutality of pre-2001 Taliban rule, are likely to be left behind.

Blinken said the U.S. was working with other countries in the region to either keep the Kabul airport open after Tuesday or to reopen it “in a timely fashion.”

He also said that while the airport is critical, “there are other ways to leave Afghanistan, including by road and many countries border Afghanistan.” The U.S., he said, is “making sure that we have in place all of the necessary tools and means to facilitate the travel for those who seek to leave Afghanistan” after Tuesday.

There also are roughly 280 others who have said they are Americans but who have told the State Department they plan to remain in the country or are still undecided. According to the latest totals, about 114,000 people have been evacuated since the Taliban takeover on Aug. 14, including approximately 2,900 on military and coalition flights during the 24 hours ending at 3 a.m. on Sunday.

Originally Posted by nomadking

Obama promised to get all the forces out, and reduced them by 90% before then. That reduction alone allowed the Taliban to flourish.

Irrelevant to the matter at hand, but thanks for the observation anyway.

[nomadking]

Originally Posted by Chris

Irrelevant to the matter at hand, but thanks for the observation anyway.

How is Obama reducing troops by 90% and promising to get them all out and not doing so, better than Trump not getting them all out? The process started under Obama and the Democrats, and didn't progress under Trump. It only progressed again, when the Democrats came back to power.
Link

28 December 2014: Nato ends its combat operations in Afghanistan. With the surge now over, the US withdraws thousands of troops. Most of those who remain focus on training and supporting the Afghan security forces
29 February 2020: The US and the Taliban sign an “agreement for bringing peace” to Afghanistan, in Doha, Qatar. The US and Nato allies agree to withdraw all troops within 14 months if the militants uphold the deal
13 April 2021: US president Joe Biden announces that all US troops will leave Afghanistan by 11 September that year

Biden announced it 4 months ago. hardly a surprise.

[TheDaddy]

I keep hearing a hourly radio news report where Biden is declaring Ida a disaster and every time it sounds like he's about to declare himself a disaster.

Latest Quote From a U.S Service Academy graduate:

“Our government is garbage... ****ing grossly, criminally, negligent garbage”

Originally Posted by nomadking

How is Obama reducing troops by 90% and promising to get them all out and not doing so, better than Trump not getting them all out? The process started under Obama and the Democrats, and didn't progress under Trump. It only progressed again, when the Democrats came back to power.
Link
Biden announced it 4 months ago. hardly a surprise.

Irrelevant to the question of whether Biden could or should have reversed Trump’s deal with the Taliban.

But by all means, go on shouting at yourself in the corner.

[Mr K]

Originally Posted by Mick

Latest Quote From a U.S Service Academy graduate:

Well the unamed/unsourced graduate wants to have a word with ex-President Trump who made the withdrawal decision (probably whilst on a golf course, after a particularly bad round...)

[BenMcr]

Originally Posted by Chris

Irrelevant to the question of whether Biden could or should have reversed Trump’s deal with the Taliban.

But by all means, go on shouting at yourself in the corner.

Back in January the 'experts say' report was that if the May 1 date from Trump's deal wasn't kept, then you'd get violence anyway

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/nat...liban-n1256227

Any delay in a U.S. troop pull-out could trigger an escalation of violence and prompt the Taliban to abandon peace negotiations with its adversaries in the Kabul government, former U.S. officials and military officers say.

[mrmistoffelees]

And here's the photo of the last U.S. soldier leaving Afghanistan

[nomadking]

Originally Posted by Chris

Irrelevant to the question of whether Biden could or should have reversed Trump’s deal with the Taliban.

But by all means, go on shouting at yourself in the corner.

1) There wasn't much of an Army presence anyway, as a result of Obama's decision, ie 90% reduction.The remaining troops were just supporting the Afghan army, not fighting.
2) It's one of the few things that Biden didn't reverse.
3) NATO allies also agreed to the Feb 2020 agreement.
4) The announcement of the timing for full withdrawal, was more than 4 months ago. Everybody knew it was coming soon round about now. It shouldn't have come as much of a surprise.
All examples of facts.

Originally Posted by Mr K

Well the unamed/unsourced graduate wants to have a word with ex-President Trump who made the withdrawal decision (probably whilst on a golf course, after a particularly bad round...)

Pathetic from you as usual, you clearly like dying on the same hill for posting utter nonsense.

Mr K. Did you miss the 20th Jan inauguration where Biden was sworn in as President, he had ample time to reverse his predecessors policy. He didn’t and then fecked it up big time, Biden then runs from the press coz he sucks at PR.

Originally Posted by nomadking

1) There wasn't much of an Army presence anyway, as a result of Obama's decision, ie 90% reduction.The remaining troops were just supporting the Afghan army, not fighting.
2) It's one of the few things that Biden didn't reverse.
3) NATO allies also agreed to the Feb 2020 agreement.
4) The announcement of the timing for full withdrawal, was more than 4 months ago. Everybody knew it was coming soon round about now. It shouldn't have come as much of a surprise.
All examples of facts.

You’ve always been quite competent at assembling lists of facts. I just don’t rate your ability to move beyond that to forming a compelling, relevant argument that develops the discussion. As is the case here.

[mrmistoffelees]

Originally Posted by nomadking

1) There wasn't much of an Army presence anyway, as a result of Obama's decision, ie 90% reduction.The remaining troops were just supporting the Afghan army, not fighting.
2) It's one of the few things that Biden didn't reverse.
3) NATO allies also agreed to the Feb 2020 agreement.
4) The announcement of the timing for full withdrawal, was more than 4 months ago. Everybody knew it was coming soon round about now. It shouldn't have come as much of a surprise.
All examples of facts.

Shame there's $62Bn's worth of military kit that is now in the possession of the Taliban. Including Black Hawk choppers, but the Taliban can't fly those.

Uh oh, wait a minute.

https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/160099..._source=pushly

[Carth]

Much of that hardware wouldn't be in the hands of the Taliban if, and I'll say it again, the Afghanistan owners of it (given by the US) hadn't turned tail and ran instead of fighting for their country.

Of course, those that capitulated but didn't 'run' were quite handy for the Taliban to have around, considering they'd been trained to fly the damn things.