True, unless Hanoi John Kerry has more money waiting to be loaded onto the planes or sent backchannel than we know about. Could happen, eh? Or Joe might bring out the big guns and offer them all free masks and free vaccine. That seems to be his go-to line of thinking.
Earlier I outlined two items: First -- the U.S. intelligence agencies (aka "three letter agencies") outlined this completely collapse in Afghanistan as the worst case scenario which was increasingly becoming more likely. Second -- the military disagreed with these agency assessments and stated the worst case scenario would not occur. At this point these points have been pushed by media speculation -- opinion columns that do not name sources and social media commentary by journalists. I have been waiting for some more concrete information from mainstream media outlets which supports the two points above -- which is bound to come out as more information (cable leaks, etc.) & investigations come out from within the government -- before pushing more on these two items. We have now arrived where an increasing amount of concrete information is coming out in mainstream media regarding the first point (intelligence assessments)-- for example the article below with information from an interview with Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin. Intel assessment said Taliban could take over in months, Defense Secretary Austin acknowledges These intel assessments appear to contradict Biden's reassurances last month about Taliban takeover https://www.foxnews.com/politics/defense-secretary-intel-assessment-taliban-biden-afghanistan Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said Sunday that intelligence assessments on the U.S. military withdrawal from Afghanistan predicted the Taliban could retake the country in a matter of months, appearing to contradict President Biden's reassurances last month that a Taliban takeover was not inevitable. During an interview with ABC News’ Martha Raddatz at the Pentagon, Austin declared that "nobody" in the intelligence community predicted the Afghan government would fall to the Taliban as rapidly as it did. "There were assessments that ranged initially from one to two years to, you know, several months," he said. "But it was a wide range of assessments. And as the Taliban began to make gains, and we saw that in a number of cases there was less fighting and more surrendering and more forces just kind of evaporating, it was very difficult to predict with accuracy. "This all occurred in a span of about 11 days," he added. "Nobody predicted that, you know, the government would fall in 11 days." Asked by Raddatz whether he thought the planning for the military’s withdrawal from the region was "acceptable and appropriate," Austin responded, "I do, based upon what we were looking at." "Like everyone else, the president listened to our input," he said. "Again, he conducted a very rigorous and thoughtful process and he made a decision. And I support that decision." Austin’s comments about intel lie in contrast to what Biden said on July 8 about how a Taliban-takeover was not likely and that he trusted "the capacity of the Afghan military." When confronted by a reporter who said, "Your own intelligence community has assessed that the Afghan government will likely collapse," Biden fired back at the time, saying, "That is not true." "They did not reach that conclusion," the president said. "The Afghan government and leadership has to come together. They clearly have the capacity to sustain the government in place. The question is: Will they generate the kind of cohesion to do it? It’s not a question of whether they have the capacity. They have the capacity." "There’s not a conclusion that, in fact, they cannot defeat the Taliban," he added. Asked directly at the time whether a Taliban takeover of Afghanistan was "inevitable," Biden responded, "No, it is not." Biden spoke from the White House on Monday, saying the Taliban's retaking of Afghanistan 20 years after their ouster by U.S.-led forces "did unfold more quickly than we had anticipated" but that he still stood "squarely behind" his decision to withdraw troops. The president declared toward the end of his speech that "the buck stops" with him, but not before blaming his predecessor, former President Trump, for negotiating a peace deal with the Taliban that made the current president have to choose between "escalating the conflict and sending thousands of American troops back into Afghanistan." Biden also pointed fingers at the Afghan army for lacking "the will to fight" for their future. And he said the slow-moving pace of evacuating the U.S.'s Afghan allies was in part because "some of the Afghans did not want to leave earlier – still hopeful for their country."
Ohh complete collapse was the most likely outcome, no doubt. The only question was 30, 90 days, or a year. I have see zero, and I have looked, that showed Kabul in doubt before America fully withdrew by August 31st. Not even the Taliban was ready to assume full control so early. They planned on months of fighting.
Disgusting and despicable. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/ar...ggests-sending-unvaxxed-MAGA-Afghanistan.html
The focus of my points are: Did the "three letter" intelligence agencies provide assessments to the Biden administration on the worst case scenario and state it was becoming increasingly more likely. Did the military disagree with these "worst case scenario" assessments. The mechanics of the botched withdrawal under the Biden administration is a separate topic. What question is what information was provided to the Biden administration before they failed to take appropriate action with the withdrawal.
It is worse than that. The question is why did they take - versus actions not taken- actions that were contrary to common sense and all military training - e.g removing troops before civilians, closing Bagram before the country was closed out, failing to protect weaponry. Sorry but intel failure is a factor but the problem is a political one. Biden announced a withdrawal and that there would be a celebration day on Osama Bin Laden Day, September 11. From there it did not matter what the military or the intel people wanted. Everyone knew that if they wanted a good job review or to keep their job they would be lining their ducks up with what Joe said he wanted or what Joe's handlers wanted. You and your ilk vacillate between trying to make Trump the reason and when that fails you try a few rounds of "intel is the reason." Nope. You want to know why this withdrawal looks like some fucked up thing that Joe Biden would do- the same guy who has always been wrong about everything? Look no further than the aforementioned Joe Biden who is now in the White House. FAIL!!!!!!!!!!!!
Once again... I have been addressing the people who demanded a citation of the media speculation of the two points I outlined. I am waiting for concrete mainstream media information to come out which will confirm the information. The failure of the Biden administration to properly act on the intelligence is a follow-up topic. I have already stated that Biden owns this -- the botched withdrawal is his responsibility as President.