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Afghan chaos undercuts Biden's promise of competence


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2021 Aug 18, 2:48pm   162,262 views  1,308 comments

by RWSGFY   ➕follow (4)   💰tip   ignore  






....
The shambolic unravelling of America's withdrawal from Afghanistan comes from a yet to be written textbook of "how to lose at everything". Warnings hadn't been heeded, intelligence was clearly totally inadequate, planning was lamentable, execution woeful.

Let's just focus in on one thing - although there are any number that are worthy of examination.
The withdrawal came during the "fighting season" - a phrase I have to say I have always found rather odd. But in Afghanistan there is a fighting season which starts in spring - and then in winter, when the country freezes over, there is a time when the Taliban go home to their tribal homelands. Did no-one think that it might have been better to have ordered the withdrawal for the dead of winter when Taliban forces weren't there, poised to fill the vacuum?

The end result might have been the same - a Taliban takeover - but it would have almost certainly led to a more orderly drawdown. Yet the Biden administration wanted an eye-catching date. They wanted the withdrawal completed by 11 September. Twenty years on from 9/11 - an artificial, self-imposed deadline.

...

Biden's election campaign could be boiled down to three messages to distinguish himself from Donald Trump. First, he would be more empathetic. He would be more competent. And instead of "America First", it would be replaced by the mantra "America is back".
But in his address yesterday, there wasn't a whole lot of empathy towards the thousands of Afghans who've helped Americans these past 20 years. On competence, even his biggest cheerleaders would struggle to say the withdrawal of American troops has been anything other than shambolic.
And after the bewildering events of the past few days, how exactly is America back?

...

But on the policy itself, Joe Biden is utterly defiant. He summoned up his inner Harry Truman and made clear in his speech that the buck stops with him. He was, however, happy to distribute blame in much the same way that a muck spreader disperses manure in all directions. The Afghan leadership weren't up to it, the Afghan armed forces had no fight in them; Donald Trump had negotiated a bad deal.

...

A fascinating nugget from a briefing that's just been given by Joe Biden's National Security Adviser. Since the fall of Kabul, Jake Sullivan revealed, Biden hadn't spoken to another world leader. Wasn't that just a bit surprising, given that there were a lot of other nations - including Britain - who'd committed vast resources to Afghanistan?

...

When the G7 gathered in Cornwall and the Nato nations met in Brussels the sense of relief was palpable among the prime ministers and presidents that a more outward looking American president was in charge. But given what has unfolded - how America has been humiliated, how Joe Biden embarked on a policy he was cautioned against by these leaders - there is now a good deal more wariness.
And who will feel they have gained most from America's departure - apart from the Taliban, of course? Why, three countries near Afghanistan - Russia, Iran and China. I'm not sure that is what Joe Biden had in mind when he said after his inauguration that "America is back".



https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-58252174?source=patrick.net

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268   AmericanKulak   2022 Apr 2, 1:23pm  

richwicks says
Personally, I think 9/11 was a false flag - at minimum our government allowed it to happen, at maximum, they made it happen


Allowed it to happen. The evidence is the Visa Express program being quietly reinstated in months after 9/11 and the special chartered flight, which was actually the subject of the first Factchecks. The "Factcheckers" glommed onto red herrings like whether it was "Commercial" or "Private" or "Charter" Regardless, Saudis including Bin Laden family members were whisked out on a plane, the only non-Military/non-Emergency Response flight allowed in the few hours after 9/11.
274   Patrick   2022 Apr 15, 9:24am  

https://t.me/greatreject/34049?source=patrick.net


President of the United States of Amnesia

After "Biden" finished his speech, he turned around and tried to shake hands with thin air and then wandered around looking confused..
275   richwicks   2022 Apr 15, 11:19am  

If anybody is interested in just what Joe Biden is, and was KNOWN to be before he was "elected":


original link
278   Patrick   2022 Apr 19, 8:44am  

https://spectatorworld.com/topic/remember-afghanistan/?source=patrick.net


Then, just as quickly as it started, the coverage vanished. While this was somewhat expected following the US departure, the media’s readiness to wash its hands of the whole affair after weeks of emotive appeals to stay the course was particularly jarring.





It's also another example of why foreign countries should never trust the United States, just like Canadians should never trust their banks again:


The salvo began in mid-August, when the White House recoiled in response to the Taliban takeover by freezing $9.4 billion of the Afghan central bank’s international reserves
280   Patrick   2022 Apr 22, 11:35am  




The prison lobby loves prisoners.
287   Patrick   2022 Apr 29, 8:51am  


zerohedge
@zerohedge
39m
*U.S. DOESN'T ASSESS A CURRENT THREAT OF NUCLEAR WEAPONS USE

Is this from the team of Afghanistan experts
Apr 29, 2022 · 3:11 PM UTC
297   Patrick   2022 May 2, 2:25pm  

https://periheliuslux.substack.com/p/who-is-the-commander-in-chief-in?s=r&source=patrick.net


Who Is The Commander In Chief In This Time of War?
Someone is Running The Quasi-Covert War in Ukraine - It Isn't Joe Biden

Perihelius Lux
May 2

The United States is the global superpower and is for all intents and purposes NATO. In 2014, the State Department of the Obama administration fomented and led a coup in Ukraine that ensured that their man Zelinsky was installed as the head of state. The US regime has been supporting him and pushing forward their post ColdWar plan to encroach on the Russian border of the Warsaw Pact countries and put their military installations and weapons systems in place and pointed at the Russian state.

While the US government was declaring war on its own people and standing down and purging its military in the guise of rooting out, “white supremacy”, Putin decided that the time to prevent Ukraine from being the final piece of the NATO encirclement puzzle and invaded Ukraine. Europe is in crises and this is a war. The United States and NATO are providing military support and engaged in full blown, round the clock crisis management of this military matter.

The United States is a Constitutional Republic. According to our Constitution, the President is the Commander-In-Chief of the US Military as well as the head of all US diplomatic efforts. Joe Biden can’t even zip his pants up in the morning and has been seen wandering from the podium lost and shaking hands with phantoms. Biden is not the Commander In Chief. So that begs the question. Who is the Commander-In-Chief of the US military and who is running the State Department? Our form of government is on that is representative. We elect fellow citizens to represent our views and interests. The man who was supposedly elected President is not capable. So, on top of a military crisis on the outskirts of Europe, the American system of government faces a far bigger crises. If the elected President is not in reality the Commander-In-Chief in a time of war, then We The People are no longer represented by the man who we elected. I don’t know about you, but I think it is time We demand an answer lest our Republic has already become a de-facto Military Junta.
298   Eric Holder   2022 May 2, 2:27pm  

Patrick says

https://periheliuslux.substack.com/p/who-is-the-commander-in-chief-in?s=r&source=patrick.net


Who Is The Commander In Chief In This Time of War?
Someone is Running The Quasi-Covert War in Ukraine - It Isn't Joe Biden


Why would Joe Biden be expected to run a war between two sovereign countries, none of which is the US? The autor starts from a stupid assumption and, naturally, quickly arrives at a multitude of stupid conclusions. Total cringe of an article.
299   HeadSet   2022 May 3, 9:37am  

Eric Holder says
Why would Joe Biden be expected to run a war between two sovereign countries,

May not be "running a war," but sure are getting involved by sanctioning one side and sending $billions in support to the other.

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