George Rebane
Diplomacy unsupported by the threat of force is nothing but duplicitous hot air.
Has Kabul fallen? For all intents and purposes the answer is yes. How else to explain all those towelheads carrying their AKs and RPGs, casually walking the streets of that city of six million, while thousands are desperately trying to get on a flight out from the airport’s military side still under American control? Last we looked, the Afghani ‘security forces’ who had yet to flee were still wearing their uniforms.
Our display of existential historical ignorance is on parade. Even backwoods snuffies like me have known for decades that Afghanistan is not a ‘country’, but a region of ethnically and culturally similar tribes of the mostly fanatically devout and concomitantly ignorant Muslims. As recounted here numberless times and echoed by RR’s commentariat, attempting to deal with that region as a unified sovereign nation-state has been a fool’s errand, as history confirms. The only time Afghanis unite and cooperate is when they fight to expel foreigners from their sandbox. All foreign policies should start recognizing those truths.
Re Afghanistan as the on-again, off-again home of international terrorists. Years ago Rebane Doctrine called for no nation-building, no long-term boots on the ground, but the use of our vaunted over-the-horizon military capability to whomp terrorist hotbeds as they arise in the region. We should deal with the terrorists from the air or at most with expeditionary raids – go in quickly, kill and destroy, and extract quickly. This is a policy that we should already be or become very good at, and apply worldwide against anyone who represents a clear and present danger to our nation. It has worked in the past, and it will work again. And the response of the international community to such a clear and consistent policy would be refreshing – it will not be a beauty contest and we will maintain our usual cadre of enemies, but it would make our diplomacy more meaningful.
The enduring problem with such a policy is that it will still require wise, educated, and experienced leaders to determine who to whomp, when, and with what. Starting with its leader, the present administration does not have a senior level team in place to carry out such a policy – their forte consists of wrongheaded and untimely appeasement.
Afterthoughts: I first learned the gory details about Afghanistan back in 1978 when James Michner’s Caravans: A Novel of Afghanistan was published. (All the Rebanes were avid readers of Michner’s and Clavell’s historical novels in those days.) Immediately apparent was that this region was not a country in the ordinary sense of the world, no more than were China (that at least made pretense) and India before the western colonists intervened.
Before the USSR’s recent intervention in the 1980s, the last anyone tried to colonize Afghanistan was Great Britain in its strategic maintenance of the British Empire in the 19th century. Britain’s goal in controlling the region was to deny czarist Russia’s expansionist forays in central Asia that included Afghanistan as a strategically important access to a warm water port unencumbered by climate and foreign controlled narrow straits. In 1878 Britain attempted the tried-and-true approach of imperial colonials – go into a region consisting of warring and distrustful tribes, pick a tribe with a capable and malleable leader, and support him in conquering and annihilating his ethnic brethren. That leader would then be celebrated as the ‘great unifier’ of his heretofore non-existent country that would become a satrap of the western invader. It worked in so many places, it was sure to work in Afghanistan.
Well, it didn’t, and all the west got out of it was a bunch of pretty good literature. But it did give the Russians about a century of pause before they decided in 1980 that they could do it better. But after ten years, the communists in Moscow pulled out of Afghanistan – it turned out that they had bigger problems at home and with their European colonies.
What should be of some amazement to all Americans today is that less than 25 years later, the double dummies on Team Bush2 decided to have another go at nation-building with the idea that a unified Afghanistan under our security umbrella would become a stable and loyal ally. An ally that would serve as a geo-strategic anchor in the mid-east and south Asia from which the US could manage its regional, and even global interests. (Our allies were all for it given their own interest in securing the region’s supply of oil.) Then reality stepped in, and we saw before ten years had passed that we weren’t going to do any better than the Brits or the Russkys. But our hubris and wallet seemed boundless, and the comparatively low rate of casualties was politically acceptable – since we were making the world safe from terrorists – and we stuck it out for another ten years, ignoring a constant stream of evidence that there was no good ending to this growing trail of tears.
So what did we do, we decided to pull a Saigon 2.0 in Kabul, thereby completing a trifecta of a wrongheaded invasion, followed by a frustrating and futile occupation, and concluding now with an ignominious exit. And today half of Americans want to enlarge our government while giving it more money and more control over our lives. How did we become such an ignorant and contentious people?
[16aug21 update] To salvage some remaining honor from the ongoing and ignominious Biden Banzai for the exits, Rebane Doctrine proposes the following. With the 5,000+ combat troops we already have there, the US should declare the Kabul international airport as a temporary sovereign enclave and haven to be retained and defended until the thousands of Afghanis already on the airport, or those who can get there in the interval, are processed for exit visas and transported safely out of the country. First order of business should be to fly in tents, toilets, food distribution facilities, etc (and more gunships and fighting vehicles) to take care of the throngs while they await their exits. Should the Taliban do anything to thwart that process, we will declare publicly that we will whomp them with a new and improved version of ‘shock and awe’ that will give new meaning to the operation, and it will continue for an undetermined time to include Taliban targets all over Afghanistan. In short, we’ll leave when we’re damn good and ready.
[17aug21 update] Biden cannot learn from mistakes. Bumblebrain has a 40+ year sorry record of understanding and making policies – this deficit is especially acute in foreign policy. He was much younger when he started rejecting corrective feedback to his early blunders. Today he has put a ribbon around his demonstrated ability/propensity to make a flustercluck out of all his initiatives and responsibilities. Without the ability to understand and accept feedback from past mistakes, there can be no learning for improved performance. And he’s demonstrated this by blaming Afghanistan on everyone except the guy in the mirror. Today this mental (character?) defect is abetted by his visible mental decline which, I suspect, is making members of his cabinet and inner circle brush up on the particulars of the 25th Amendment. Pelosi must be inwardly overjoyed at the prospect, and Kamala is just too dumb to be worried about her own prospects should the musical chairs start. And the rest of the country will suffer the consequences.
[21aug21 update] Here is an especially interesting, informative, corroborative, and well told piece about the Taliban, how and why they fight, and why losing does not enter their minds as even an idle thought. It's told by a AF gunship combat veteran whose job was to listen in on the Taliban and then kill them by the hundreds. What's astounding is that the ragheads knew the Americans were listening in on their radio transmissions, and they didn't give a crap about being overheard. 'What I learned while eavesdropping on the Taliban' (H/T to reader). Enjoy.
rebanesruminations.com 
413 responses to “Afghanistan Reflections (updated 21aug21)”
Et tu cnn! –
CNN panel blasts Biden’s ‘bizarre’ messaging: ‘You have to question, is the president insulated, isolated?’
Biden claimed to have seen ‘no question of our credibility from our allies around the world’
https://www.foxnews.com/media/cnn-panel-notes-serious-disconnect-from-bidens-messaging-and-reality
😉
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Now thats funny –
CBS reporter instructs WH staff to show Biden the poll about his job approval falling
The poll shows 74 percent believe the withdrawing of U.S. troops from Afghanistan has gone very or somewhat badly.
“A new poll out today shows Americans wanted to withdraw from Afghanistan, but they disapprove of the way you’ve handled it,” O’keefe said. “The majority of Americans – forgive me, I’m just the messenger – no longer consider you to be competent, focused, or effective at the job. What would you say to those Americans?”
Biden initially responded that the pullout of U.S. troops was “going to be hard and painful no matter when it started.” However, after more pressing from the reporter, Biden admitted that he “didn’t see” the poll in question.
Shortly afterwards, O’Keefe’s colleague Erickson tweeted the poll in an effort for the administration to find it.
“Dear White House staff, please share the below polling to @POTUS. He said he had not seen it yet,” Erickson tweeted.
https://www.foxnews.com/media/cbs-reporter-wh-show-biden-poll-job-approval-falling
😉
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Talk about deflating the carefully crafted false narrative in one fell swoop –
Biden, who promised empathy in 2020, blasted for abandoning Americans overseas
The president who ran on empathy reveals his “meanness”
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/biden-who-promised-empathy-in-2020-blasted-for-abandoning-americans-overseas
😉
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Some perspective –
Vietnam vet, evacuee says Kabul withdrawal makes Saigon seem ‘as orderly as’ audience exiting an opera
https://currently.att.yahoo.com/news/vietnam-vet-evacuee-says-kabul-163229041.html
Emery?
Emery?
Emery?
😉
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Biden is SO full of himself.
Just who is writing his BS?
https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2021/08/22/joe-biden-history-will-judge-me-logical-rational-right-afghanistan/
The only one seeing his way, is him.
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Here poll dancer, wiggle away.
https://dailycaller.com/2021/08/22/biden-cbs-news-poll-majority-americans-competent-focused-effective/
““The majority of Americans no longer consider you to be competent, focused, or effective,” said Ed O’Keefe of CBS News to President Biden. “I haven’t seen that poll,” Biden said in response.
The public weighed in on Biden’s performance as president in new CBS polling. Forty-nine percent of Americans say Biden is competent, 48% say he is focused, and 47% say he is effective, according to the CBS poll.”
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Don
I agree it’s a mess right now. Time will tell how it works out in the long run.
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I agree it’s a mess right now. Time will tell how it works out in the long run.
TRANSLATION: Don’t pay attention to what’s being reported right now…..wait 48 hours so a captive and cooperative media can cobble together a new narrative that makes my preferred politician not look like a senile boob.
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Paul 6:36 – “Time will tell how it works out in the long run.”
Hilarious – I guess Paul thinks ‘in time’ the dead will spring back to life and the Taliban will end up using the captured American military hardware only as ambulances.
‘Time’ has already shown that Trump was clearly the much better person to lead our country, but Paul is happy to wait until the end of time before he’ll admit he backed an abject failure.
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Re SecState Blinken on FN’s Chris Wallace – the record clearly shows that Blinken DID NOT ANSWER ONE SINGLE QUESTION that was asked of him. He prevaricated on every single one (save admitting that Al Qaeda was back in Afghanistan, but not in “strength”), and showing his true colors, Wallace did not press him for an answer on any of them.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/blinken-biden-al-qaeda-afghanistan
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If Trump i as great as you say he is how come he is the biggest political loser in modern history. The only President to lose the House, Senate and Presidency in one term since some time before Teddy Roosevelt.
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Scott
Well, Obama did have the biggest troop drawdown in Afghanistan on his watch, which is why Punchy did not vote for him the second time. That andObama doing a 180 and supporting gay marriage in his second term.
But, I want to talk about happy things, man.
———————————————
AS AFGHANISTAN COLLAPSED, BIDEN WANTED “TO TALK ABOUT HAPPY THINGS, MAN”
A week later, on July 2, Biden, in an ebullient mood, gathered a small group of reporters to celebrate new jobs numbers that he said showed that his economic recovery plan was working. But all the questions he received were about news from Afghanistan that the United States had abandoned Bagram Airfield, with little to no notice to the Afghans.
“It’s a rational drawdown with our allies,” he insisted, “so there’s nothing unusual about it.”
But as the questions persisted, on Afghanistan rather than the economy, he grew visibly annoyed. He recalled Ghani’s visit and said, “I think they have the capacity to be able to sustain the government,” although he added that there would have to be negotiations with the Taliban.
Then, for the first time, he was pressed on what the administration would do to save Kabul if it came under direct attack. “I want to talk about happy things, man,” he said.
https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2021/08/as-afghanistan-collapsed-biden-wanted-to-talk-about-happy-things-man.php
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That was for Scott
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‘Biden lies through his teeth, fails to fess up to Afghanistan shambles for third time’
Plus the impotency: He claimed we are “in constant contact with the Taliban.” For what? So far there is no evidence that the Taliban are helping Americans and Afghans get to the airport. They are doing the opposite.
And he talked repeatedly of his plans “to bring international pressure on the Taliban with respect to the treatment of the Afghan people overall, but including Afghan, particularly, women and girls.” How naïve can he be? The Taliban terrorists don’t care about “international pressure.” Lectures mean nothing to barbarians.
“There’ll be plenty of time to criticize and second-guess when this operation is over,” Biden declared. No, the time to criticize this calamity is now, and for Biden to admit the truth. After all, if he can’t come clean with the public on this, how can anyone trust him on anything?
https://nypost.com/2021/08/20/biden-lies-through-his-teeth-fails-to-fess-up-to-afghanistan-shambles-for-third-time/
——————————————————
‘Joe Biden has permanently destroyed his own credibility’
https://nypost.com/2021/08/20/joe-biden-has-permanently-destroyed-his-own-credibility/
———————————————-
‘Unfit to Serve, Undeserving to Lead’
https://townhall.com/columnists/matthewbetley/2021/08/21/unfit-to-serve-undeserving-to-lead-n2594498
And the hits just keep on coming.
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Very nice contribution to the conversation Paul. Perhaps some prune juice might lift your spirits. Somebody is getting grumpy. Must be time for beddy bye.
‘Biden lies through his teeth, fails to fess up to Afghanistan shambles for third time’
“Plus the impotency: He claimed we are “in constant contact with the Taliban.” For what? So far there is no evidence that the Taliban are helping Americans and Afghans get to the airport. They are doing the opposite.
And he talked repeatedly of his plans “to bring international pressure on the Taliban with respect to the treatment of the Afghan people overall, but including Afghan, particularly, women and girls.” How naïve can he be? The Taliban terrorists don’t care about “international pressure.” Lectures mean nothing to barbarians.
“There’ll be plenty of time to criticize and second-guess when this operation is over,” Biden declared. No, the time to criticize this calamity is now, and for Biden to admit the truth. After all, if he can’t come clean with the public on this, how can anyone trust him on anything?“
https://nypost.com/2021/08/20/biden-lies-through-his-teeth-fails-to-fess-up-to-afghanistan-shambles-for-third-time/
—————————————-
Wonder what this NeverTrumper has to say…..
‘Joe Biden has permanently destroyed his own credibility’
“ Then, there are crises yet to come. Biden won’t be as believable if there’s a showdown with Iran or China.
His talk of fearless truth-telling has proved, true to form, to be just talk.”
https://nypost.com/2021/08/20/joe-biden-has-permanently-destroyed-his-own-credibility/
———————————————-
‘Unfit to Serve, Undeserving to Lead’
https://townhall.com/columnists/matthewbetley/2021/08/21/unfit-to-serve-undeserving-to-lead-n2594498
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The tipping point, now everyone knows what we all told ya was spot on with the hiden biden basement campaign. He is what he always has been wrong wrong wrong and the dumbest of the lot and thats from the dems dont underestimate joes ability to fuck it up. –
The majority of Americans no longer believe President Joe Biden is competent in his role as the Commander-in-Chief, according to a CBS News poll.
Fifty-one percent of the respondents said Biden is not competent in his position as president.
https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2021/08/22/cbs-poll-majority-americans-not-believe-biden-competent/
😉
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Fire fight at kabul and the taliban say no extension to creepy grampa joes aug 31 promise, idiots. –
WRAPUP 2-Germany says firefight involving Western forces erupts at Kabul Airport
https://currently.att.yahoo.com/finance/news/wrapup-1-germany-says-firefight-051852183.html
😉
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I take the silence on the Left as overwhelming support for the way Harris-Biden Administration is handling foreign affairs.
——-
‘Joe Biden Is Who We Said He Was’
“Nobody should, any longer, pretend that Joe Biden is fit to lead this nation.
Joe Biden has badly, visibly bungled America’s withdrawal from Afghanistan. He has compounded the problem with his sluggish and dishonest public statements. This has gone so badly that even people and institutions that are normally sympathetic to Biden and his party have noticed. American allies have been appalled, and vocal about it. What is slowly dawning on people is that Biden’s critics were right about him all along. Not since James Buchanan has America had a president who came so prepared by experience for the job, yet had so little clue how to do it. That reality will be shoved from consciousness soon enough by people with a professional stake in not acknowledging it, but a growing number of the American people are likely to remember. So will our allies and enemies around the world.”
https://www.nationalreview.com/2021/08/joe-biden-is-who-we-said-he-was/?
—————————————
You go girl!
‘Kamala Harris in 2019: I Will Protect the Women of Afghanistan and Keep Terrorists Out’
In 2019, Kamala Harris promised to ‘protect the gains that have been made for Afghan women and others.’
Kamala Harris, to the Council on Foreign Relations, August 21, 2019:
“Nobody can predict what President Trump will do between now and 2021, so as soon as I take office, I will bring together our military leaders, national security advisers, and top diplomats to coordinate and implement that withdrawal plan. I fully recognize the importance of diplomacy and development to success in Afghanistan, and I want to ensure that the country is on a path to stability, that we protect the gains that have been made for Afghan women and others, and that it never again becomes a safe haven for terrorists.“
https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/kamala-harris-in-2019-i-will-protect-the-women-of-afghanistan-and-keep-terrorists-out/?
You are not going to pin this shit on me!
Kamala is not the only one on the Left that supports the Biden plan as evidenced by her crickets.
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I wonder what Lord Ignorance of Niverna has to say.
British Parliament Unloads On Biden: ‘Biden May Have Condemned The World To Chinese Domination In Future’
[Just a sampling picked at random]
Lord Blencathra: “My Lords, all my life I have been pro-American and favourably disposed to the United States, but not any more at this moment. What Biden has done in Afghanistan will go down in ignominy as one of the most shameful and despicable acts of betrayal by any American President. Tens of thousands of men will be slaughtered, thousands of young girls forced to marry these Taliban brutes and 14 million women driven back into slavery. Afghanistan was emerging into the light with freedoms for women and children, who will now be ruled with 500 year-old barbaric religious laws. That is Biden’s legacy. He cannot blame it on Trump; Biden boasted that in his first 100 days he issued a record 24 executive orders, all of which were direct reversals of Trump policies. He should have listened to his generals and changed this policy also. This is not like Saigon; it is far worse. First, the retaliation against the population by Islamist fanatics is likely to be far greater than what the North Vietnamese did to the beaten south. Secondly, the appalling humanitarian crisis described in this House today will centre on Afghanistan but the terrorist consequences of this US sell-out will affect us all. The Viet Cong had no agenda outside Vietnam but Afghanistan is now under the control of Islamist fanatics who want to wage war on every western democracy. … Biden has put America back, all right—back into the bunker. The lesson for China is this: play a long game and America will not have the stomach………..”
https://www.dailywire.com/news/british-parliament-unloads-on-biden-biden-may-have-condemned-the-world-to-chinese-domination-in-future
Lord Huffington of Farting Post says……
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Good Morning America. Quotes go here today since not much else is going on, save indoctrination of our children.
Upright: “Events in Afghanistan are devastating, and there’s no reversing them. We aren’t going to be able to make up for the losses to our security or for the great price that will be paid by our allies. But there is something to be done about the corrosive sense that when our government makes massive, avoidable errors, no one is ever held to account.” —National Review
Real suffering: “We are seeing everything we have built so hard piece-by-piece being lost in Afghanistan. Our 20 years of gains and hard work vanished overnight. The world betrayed Afghanistan, legitimized the savages, and brought them into power. I don’t understand. I am still in shock. Afghans, especially women, will face a very new world, a world of fear, destruction, misery and endless pain.” —Fox News National Security correspondent Jennifer Griffin, quoting a letter from an Afghan woman, an NGO leader whose identity is being withheld for her safety
There’s a word for this: “I have seen no questioning of our credibility from our allies around the world.” —Joe Biden
Friendly fire multiplied:
All three of Barack Obama’s CIA directors have criticized Biden’s failure, however understated:
CIA Director and Defense Secretary Leon Panetta: “Our national security is threatened. … With the Taliban now controlling Afghanistan, there is no question that they will provide a safe haven for al-Qaida and for ISIS.”
CIA Director David Petraeus: “The situation is absolutely heartbreaking. It is tragic … This is a Dunkirk moment or, perhaps, a Saigon moment.”
Even Obama’s sleazy Trump-hating CIA Director John Brennan said: “[Biden] was clearly caught off guard. … The U.S. military along with U.S. contractors and intelligence officers have been the bloodstream that have sustained the Afghan military and security forces for many, many years. The abrupt severing of that bloodstream … compounded by impact of the announced withdrawal in a rapid way [caused the collapse].”
More to the point, Obama Acting CIA Director Michael Morell said the Taliban “knew it was going to win” when “the clock started in April when the president made the decision,” and “to blame intelligence now infuriates me, absolutely infuriates me.” (In other words, once Biden declared we were completely abandoning our operations there, the Taliban knew they had nothing to fear from Biden.)
All four of Obama’s ambassadors to Afghanistan have criticized Biden’s failure, however understated:
Obama U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan Ryan Crocker called Biden’s handling of Afghanistan “an indelible stain on his presidency.” He added: “I’m left with some grave questions in my mind about his ability to lead our nation as commander-in-chief. … To have read this so wrong — or, even worse, to have understood what was likely to happen and not care. I think it is damning for him to have created this situation in his first significant action as commander-in-chief. … It’s an unforced error, and as an American I am deeply concerned.”
Ambassador Karl Eikenberry: “Evacuation of an embassy can be interpreted locally and internationally as abandonment, akin to a military unit fleeing from its position under enemy pressure.”
Ambassador James Cunningham: “There was little to no real planning done about how to compensate for the withdrawal of their forces made it almost impossible to carry that out effectively and safely. … They were behind the curve from the beginning of the announcement and that became rapidly apparent to the Afghans and to the Taliban as well.”
Ambassador Michael McKinley: Biden’s withdrawal plan “tied to the 20th anniversary of 9/11, and in the middle of the fighting season, was a mistake.”
And one high-level Obama adviser piled on…
Senior Advisor David Axelrod: “You cannot defend the execution here. This has been a disaster. … It’s a failure, and [Biden] needs to own that failure.”
Meanwhile, some Democrats have awakened from their slumber with a few “keen sense of the obvious” criticisms:
Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ): “I am disappointed that the Biden administration clearly did not accurately assess the implications of a rapid U.S. withdrawal.”
Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-HI): “This is a chaotic situation. … I don’t think it needed to be this way.”
Sen. Tom Carper (D-DE) said that the withdrawal of U.S. troops “should have been carefully planned to prevent violence and instability.”
Sen. Jack Reed (D-RI) blamed the Biden administration’s “failures of intelligence, diplomacy and a lack of imagination as we transitioned military forces from the country.”
Rep. Jackie Speier (D-CA): “This is a crisis of untold proportions.”
Rep. Seth Moulton (D-MA): “To say that today is anything short of a disaster would be dishonest. Worse, it was avoidable. … All the scenes of total chaos that we saw play out on the TV yesterday could have been avoided if the [Biden] administration had planned for this in advance.”
Rep. Jim Langevin (D-RI): “ This is a catastrophe. … Biden owed a better plan to our men and women in uniform.”
The BIG Lie: “Our women are Muslim, they will also be happy to be living within our framework of Sharia.” —Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid
The BIG Lie II: “The Islamic Emirate — after the freedom of this nation — is not going to revenge anybody, we do not have any grudges against anybody. We have pardoned anyone, all those who have fought against us. We don’t want to repeat any conflict, any war, again, and we want to do away with the factors for conflict. … Therefore, the Islamic Emirate does not have any kind of hostility or animosity with anyone, animosities have come to an end, and we would like to live peacefully.” —Zabihullah Mujahid
Elitist arrogance: “I am really struggling to think of a time when I despaired more for the country and had so much contempt not just for both parties, but the bases of both parties.” —Jonah Goldberg
And last… “Guys, you’re all criticizing without understanding the situation: Biden has to use his vacation days or he loses them.” —Frank J. Fleming
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fishniglio 22 August 2021 at 07:05 PM
“TRANSLATION: Don’t pay attention to what’s being reported right now…..wait 48 hours so a captive and cooperative media can cobble together a new narrative that makes my preferred politician not look like a senile boob.” Quote unquote.
Bingo! We have ourselves a winner! Ding ding ding ding! Someone named fishniglio wins the Golden Ring!
Still radio silence over at Raw Story. Very perspective of fishniglio to credit the 48 hour popinjay wait until the new spin is released. Looks like it won’t be today. They are still hunkered down in their crisis management sessions and being Woke is slowly down the decision making.
————————-
Talk about sweet irony and total lack of self awareness. Wasn’t their press 92-95% negative coverage of Trump for 5 straight years up to this very hour? I dunno. I could be wrong.
Mr. Potato Head 🥔 to the rescue:
‘Brian Stelter & Gang Claim Coverage of Biden’s Afghanistan Fiasco Is ‘Over the Top’ Negative’
https://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/tim-graham/2021/08/22/brian-stelter-gang-claim-coverage-bidens-afghanistan-fiasco-over-top
Urgent memo: somebody send our local former news director some talking point so he will know how to think.
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Wonder what this hater of Neo-con/ Illiberals, liar hater, and all around peace lubbing fellow has to say. Hey, it is just one man’s opinion.
‘Aftermath of an Afghanistan Debacle’
Aftermath of an Afghanistan Debacle
By Patrick J. Buchanan 4 min
“In Afghanistan, the mission failure appears complete. The trillion-dollar project to plant Western democracy in a Muslim nation historically fabled for driving out imperial intruders has crashed and burned after 20 years, and the Taliban are suddenly back in power. After investing scores of billions in training and arming a force of 350,000 Afghani troops, the U.S. could not stand up an army and a government that could survive our departure. And the final U.S. departure from Hamid Karzai International Airport may become, like JFK’s Bay of Pigs, a synonym for American debacle.
Nor is the failure ours alone. Many of our principal allies were heavily invested. The British are now attempting to bring their people out of Kabul under the same conditions as ours. The leader of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s party and possibly the next chancellor of Germany, Armin Laschet, calls the withdrawal “the biggest debacle that NATO has suffered since its founding.”
Three decades ago, after the breakup of the USSR and the end of the Cold War, Republican Sen. Richard Lugar said that NATO, having lost the rationale for its existence—containment of the Soviet Union—would now have “to go out of area or go out of business.” Cynics might say that, in Afghanistan, NATO did both.“……….
…….. “Did the U.S. intelligence agencies see it coming? Did they fail to inform the Pentagon or White House? After the Bay of Pigs in April 1961, former CIA Director Allen Dulles, who had a role in the failed invasion, was, after a decent interval of six months, cashiered. One imagines that senior Biden officials’ heads will roll well before that date in the Biden administration. For in this disaster, it seems, no one saw it coming so soon, or becoming so sweeping.”
https://www.intellectualtakeout.org/aftermath-of-an-afghanistan-debacle/
It was a young Pat Buchannon as a Presidential aide who was bold enough to walk into the Oval Office and said, “Mr. President, you have lied to us and to the American people. You must resign.” That was after “Peace with Honor”, Watergate, and a 49 state landslide win, FYI.
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Really??🤣🤣🤦♂️
“MSNBC host Mehdi Hasan on Sunday defended President Joe Biden from detractors criticizing his handling of the “disaster” in Afghanistan and blasted those in the media, military officials, politicians and former Bush and Trump administration officials for their reactions to the unfolding situation in the war-torn country.
In the ‘60 Second Rant’ segment on his show, Hasan implored those critical of the administration over Afghanistan to observe a “period of silence” on the issue, and to only speak out on it if they were willing to say “sorry” for the roles they each played in the ongoing crisis.”
To this I say,,
🖕 YOU!!
https://www.foxnews.com/media/msnbc-mehdi-hasan-joe-biden-disaster-afghanistan-detractors-silent
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Paul 9:00 and 9:05 – “If Trump i as great as you say he is how come he is the biggest political loser in modern history.”
Second part first – Never had previously run for office and was elected POTUS against a candidate thought to be a shoo-in. Against a much larger pile of money and an openly hostile and misleading national news media combine.
He won, Paul – many more experienced pols never got there. Ever heard of Harold Stassen?
First part:
I never said Trump was “great”, Paul. You love to put words in others’ mouths. I said he was popular.
And that he was the better candidate against Biden.
I would remind you that a politician these days needn’t be any more than so-so to be popular and better than Biden.
The bar is astoundingly low these days.
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The joker strikes again –
Meghan McCain compares Kamala Harris’ ‘craven’ uncontrollable laughing to Joaquin Phoenix’s ‘Joker’
‘This may be some kind of real issue,’ McCain tweeted
Phoenix’s “Joker” also suffered from uncontrollable laughter, sometimes at inappropriate times. He was eventually driven insane and became a psychopathic murderer. McCain made the comparison after Harris burst into laughter when a reporter shouted a question seeking her response to reports of Americans being trapped in Afghanistan.
“Hold on, slow down everybody,” Harris said while laughing. She eventually answered the question but critics slammed her for appearing to find humor in the questions.
https://www.foxnews.com/media/meghan-mccain-kamala-harris-joaquin-phoenix-joker
Later on, Harris was again asked about the withdrawal from Afghanistan, specifically whether or not she agreed with the steps taken in making the decisions, even if the results were not what were planned. The vice president said that “there will be and should be a robust analysis of what has happened” but repeated that “right now, there is no question that our focus has to be on evacuating American citizens.”
Lee was asked about American credibility in light of current events and said that what happens next will be key for how the U.S. is perceived in the future.
“What will influence perceptions of U.S. resolve and commitment to the region will be what the U.S. does going forward: how it repositions itself in the region, how it engages its broad range of friends and partners and allies in the region, and how it continues the fight against terrorism,” Lee said.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/kamala-harris-afghanistan-singapore-prime-minister-withdrawal-went-awry
😉
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As if we didnt know –
The Taliban issued a death sentence to the brother of an Afghan interpreter who helped the US, despite saying it won’t seek revenge
https://currently.att.yahoo.com/att/cm/taliban-issued-death-sentence-brother-160226781.html
😉
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Yeah Scott!! the bar is astoundingly low now days. That’s why I voted for Biden.
The characterization of Trump as the biggest loser in modern Presidential history is accurate because-duh-you have to be elected to be President. (except Ford) I’ll state it again. Trump is the biggest Presidential loser in modern history having lost House, Senate and re-election within one four year tern. Biggest Presidential loser since before Teddy Roosevelt.
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Hey lookie someone who has a worse case of TDS than the ponytail of ignorance and thats saying something! –
Readers ripped Washington Post columnist Jennifer Rubin for publishing a pair of columns full of excuses for President Joe Biden in the midst of the chaotic U.S. troop withdrawal in Afghanistan.
But Rubin, one of the most sycophantic Biden supporters among liberal media members, lamented he had become the “obvious target” in the foreign policy debacle and the victim of a “pile-on.” Afghanistan may be in crisis mode at the moment, Rubin allowed, but she argued that does not mean Biden’s policies failed. She suggested reporters give Biden the benefit of the doubt, because to expect “a flawless exit” is “unfair” and “cowardly.”
In a separate piece, published Sunday, Rubin also defended Biden’s press conference performance from last week, including one of his most controversial answers. When asked about American allies who had voiced concerns about U.S. leadership in the wake of the Afghanistan crisis, Biden insisted he had heard the “exact opposite” and that U.S. allies had reiterated their confidence in the government. Many were quick to point to several instances of world leaders expressing their disapproval, including British Prime Minister Boris Johnson. But Rubin suggested those leaders were full of bluster.
“Biden went to great lengths to rebut the accusation that allies were dismayed, if not furious, about the United States’ pullout,” Rubin wrote. “Certainly, loud voices of disapproval popped up around the globe. (The United States is not the only democracy with grandstanding backbenchers who crave attention.)”
Along with her columns, she tweeted, “Biden is projecting confidence in the rescue operation, elevating the work of military and civilian officials.”
Rubin’s critics concluded she was out of touch with reality. The fanatically anti-Trump writer is notorious for her boosting of Democratic politicians, and she’s been rewarded for her loyalty to Biden with numerous retweets from chief of staff Ron Klain, who often promotes writers who support his boss.
Rubin’s minority status was confirmed over the weekend as several outlets added to criticism of the White House. A CNN panel, for instance, blasted Biden’s “bizarre” messaging on Afghanistan.
“There’s a serious disconnect between the messaging from the Biden administration, which is essentially, ‘We’ve got this, we have a plan, we’re getting this under control. If you want to get out of Afghanistan, you can,’” the Associated Press’ Julie Pace said on Sunday’s “Inside Politics.” “And then what we’re seeing on the ground from really brave reporters who are there, from a lot of Afghan civilians who are sharing pictures of images of the scene outside the airport where, no, you cannot get out if you want to get out.”
https://www.foxnews.com/media/washington-posts-jennifer-rubin-hit-for-pair-of-pieces-boosting-biden-amid-afghanistan-fallout-brainwashed
😉
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Here is another TDS sufferer living in an alternate reality like @112. Dont believe your lyin’ eyes –
Psaki claims no Americans ‘stranded’ in Afghanistan in heated exchange
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/psaki-americans-stranded-afghanistan
😉
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Trump the biggest loser Emery claims? No Emery, YOU hold that title.
Trump has answered WAY more questions than you, OR your hero Biden.
The only way he “lost*” was by the PROVEN LIB CHEATING.
If no cheating in Maricopa Co. AZ. then why fight to the death to keep the records from seeing the light of day?
NOT the actions of a free and fair election.
So LOSER,, it’s YOUR TURN to answer the questions, and put up facts to back them up/(which you never do)
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The ponytail of ignorance must be so proud of his boy being too scared to answer direct questions, brain on cap day perhaps? –
Joe Biden Walks Away from Questions About the Thousands of Americans Still Stranded in Afghanistan
https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2021/08/23/joe-biden-walks-away-questions-thousands-americans-still-stranded-afghanistan/
😉
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Here Emery,, your hero runs from questions… DO SHOW where Trump repeatedly ran away.
https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2021/08/23/joe-biden-walks-away-questions-thousands-americans-still-stranded-afghanistan/
“President Joe Biden again walked away from White House reporters asking him questions about thousands of Americans still stranded in Afghanistan on Monday.”
This is what?? The 10TH time his fraudulency has ditched any and all questions? Yup,, real Prezidential, Emery.
Have the guts to tell us just what makes him competent to stay in office? HELL… The somebitch wasn’t fit for the job before he was installed.
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Paul emery, whatever are we to do with you?
Very informative contribution from the Doomed Left @ 1:12 pm. With Rome burning, Paul picks up his fiddle and starts monkeying around about Trump and Grover Cleveland trying to make a point in that garbled ejaculation of vocabulary. Was it something to do with Afghanistan? Oh well. You turn on the lights are you are going to attract all sorts of bugs. Some are really weird looking. Big nosed bugs and the like. Like, “Punchy, what did you bring to the potluck?” A bag of vomit? That TDS is some powerful stuff, man. Bet Paul was the kind of kid that nobody wanted to trade their lunch with. Live and let live.
Moving on…….
————————————+++++
My contribution to the discussion: Source: John Solomon
“Exclusive: Ex-Trump aide lays out Afghan withdrawal plan that Biden scrapped”
“The overarching theme was a conditions-based withdrawal, whereby the U.S. military would leave Afghanistan in increments if the Taliban met clear conditions, according to Patel. Among other things, the Taliban were required to reject and repudiate Al Qaeda, and would have to negotiate in good faith. The U.S. would also maintain a special operations contingent in place, and would retain the capacity to launch air strikes under specific circumstances.
The Trump plan included retaining control of Bagram Air Base until all Americans were withdrawn from Afghanistan. A large, sprawling site, Bagram has multiple airfields and other facilities that safely can handle significant amounts of traffic and also host a large population.
Handing control of Bagram to Afghanistan set up the sequence of events that saw the Taliban seize the facility, Patel said.“
“We would not have ever relinquished control of Bagram Airfield, because that is our command and control node for the entire region,” Patel said. “And that’s where we would fly in and out securely.”
Bagram also was home to a prison where the U.S. held accused terrorists who were set to be prosecuted. Among them were alleged senior Al Qaeda operatives. The Taliban released thousands of prisoners who were considered to be a high threat to the West.
The U.S. never planned simply to release those prisoners. “
https://justthenews.com/government/security/biden-ignored-plan-carefully-withdraw-afghanistan-top-trump-aide-says
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Just reminding you Bill and the other RR’s about what a loser your hero Trump is. You act as though he’s the Second Coming or something. Pretty embarrassing to the RR’s but that’s who you all are. I mean posting that Covid is a “a mild virus that is killing almost no one” is evidence enough that you are ignorant of the fact that 630,000 have died from the covid.
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Posted by: Paul Emery | 23 August 2021 at 04:35 PM
Hey look……it’s Punchy.
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Here is another lie for the po ol ponytail of ignroance to ignore –
White House Lies Saying Americans Are Not Stranded in Afghanistan After Telling Them Not Safe to Come to Airport
https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2021/08/23/white-house-americans-are-not-stranded-in-afghanistan/
😉
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It’s Aug 2021. Biden has completely f’d up nearly everything he’s done. He can’t answer simple questions. He’s pushed China’s and Russia’s interests ahead of ours.
Paul: “Trump, Trump, Trump…”
TDS seems to be fatal in this case.
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It appears that there are only one or two (at most) themes that our PaulE can come back to, no matter how irrelevant they are to what is happening today. He cannot touch Biden’s horrible first eight months record. As a student of American history, I can point to no other administration that had so much going for it in every area including Covid, economy, employment, tax/regulation policies, energy independence, secure border, foreign relations, on and on. And what did he and his gang of Marxist idiots do? They tore it all apart and substituted one inept disaster after another. And the beat goes on, why? Because they really have no idea what is happening in any of the sectors over which the Constitution and the laws of the land give them control. The drumbeat of the double dummies.
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George. The Biden administration knows exactly what they’re doing.
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Creepy grampa joe was the trojan horse for the socialists and yes BP @532 WE TOLD YOU SO! –
https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2021/08/23/charles-hurt-even-during-crisis-globalist-washington-still-at-war-with-america-first/
😉
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And Emery approves. The more Biden and cronies do to scrap, remove, reverse Trump’s accomplishments the better he likes it. He’s said as much.
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I think what Paul likes best about Biden is when Biden fondled and pinched a young girl’s nipple.
On camera.
And the story about Corn Pop.
Paul thought to himself: “that’s my guy!”
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Trumps accomplishments Walt???
Did Trump get us out of Afganistan-yes or no
Was the economy in better or worse shape than when he came into office-yes or no
Did he propose and implement an improvement in health care for citizens that he promised-yes or no
Did he pass an infrastructure bill-yes or no
Did he balance th budget as he promised-yes or no
Did he reduce the national debt as he promised-yes or no
There is so much more-all for now
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More questions from the cowardly Emery? 🤣 Up yours O buzzard of Broad St. No balls to answer any directed at you… from anyone. So piss off.
AWwwww The old “promises” deflection.. Yaa.. Speaking of those. All of Biden’s went down the crapper on day one.
Trump was 10 times the President this piece of crap you voted for is.
But keep blowing your BS out from under your ponytail.
So did you get “I love Biden” tattooed on your ass somewhere?
You don’t have the guts to complain about his 100% failed agenda.
So dung breath, DO tell us just what great accomplishments he done for the U.S.
This is the 10TH time I have asked you.. Do give a good excuse why you have yet to supply an answer.
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I really doubt Empty Emery even watches the news to see the cluster ph*ck ALL the Proggys in D.C. are having.
Emery has been given the facts by everyone here. All he does is ignore them.
So Emery,, you have less credibility than Biden. He has an excuse. Brain damage. So what’s yours?
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Posted by: Walt | 23 August 2021 at 07:14 PM
……psssst…..Walt.
Punch knows that Biden will almost certainly crash the country within the next 24 months.
For some reason it’s more important to him to protect a 40 year grifting swamp creature than hold his senile feet to the fire and make him do what’s best for the good of the country.
Tells you all you need to know about Punch Emery…..
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Yup,, this just about how it is.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/cartoons-slideshow
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You mean crash the economy like Trump did whoever you are fish thing ? Care to compare the economy when Trump came in with the economy that Boden inherited. Just like what Roosevelt and Obama inherited after failed Republican Presidents Hoover and Bush trashed the economy before sneaking out the back door in disgrace.
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Paul 8:06 – “You mean crash the economy like Trump did…”
You know it might not be just TDS for Paul – I hear covid causes high fever and delirium.
He’s definitely having some bouts with an alternate reality.
It’s just a kind of flu little buddy – hang in there.
We’re pulling for you!
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What about, what about, what about! What about TDS you #sadoldman.
😉
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