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Home » How Biden stiffed the Afghan military

How Biden stiffed the Afghan military

The New Neo Posted on by

This story is over two weeks old. I didn’t see it at the time, but it took on more significance once Biden compounded all his other errors by excoriating the Afghan military for not fighting:

Airpower is important to military operations in Afghanistan because forces attempting to capture and hold territory will have to mass together to do so, said Seth Jones, director of the International Security Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies…

Air dominance also provides the Afghan military and national police with rapid transportation. Coalition and Afghan helicopters and transport planes can drop hundreds of troops and tons of supplies in remote locations that are otherwise inaccessible because of difficult terrain or Taliban presence…

To keep its aircraft flying, the AAF relies on hundreds of private civilian contractors brought in to train AAF personnel and maintain the aircraft until they are ready to do it themselves…

Those contractors are expected to leave around the same time that the last US troops withdraw, which President Joe Biden has said will be by the end of August.

According to the SIGAR report, the NATO command that oversees the training and build-up of the AAF concluded in January that “without continued contractor support, none of the AAF’s airframes can be sustained as combat effective for more than a few months.”

The training still needed and the shrinking timetable has made Zoom training a reasonable alternative despite challenges of such a hands-off instruction method, but the Afghan military also has to make sure that the AAF continues to receive the spare parts, engines, fuel, ammunition, replacement aircraft, and other material it needs…

The AAF is expected to play a key role in Afghanistan’s fight against the Taliban. The Biden administration understands its importance and has promised to continue funding and supplying it.

We all know that’s not what occurred. They didn’t even have till the end of August.

This is one thing that happened (that story is datelined July 6th):

The U.S. left Afghanistan’s Bagram Airfield after nearly 20 years by shutting off the electricity and slipping away in the night without notifying the base’s new Afghan commander, who discovered the Americans’ departure more than two hours after they left, Afghan military officials said…

“We (heard) some rumor that the Americans had left Bagram … and finally by seven o’clock in the morning, we understood that it was confirmed that they had already left Bagram,” Gen. Mir Asadullah Kohistani, Bagram’s new commander said.

U.S. military spokesman Col. Sonny Leggett did not address the specific complaints of many Afghan soldiers who inherited the abandoned airfield, instead referring to a statement last week…

“In one night, they lost all the goodwill of 20 years by leaving the way they did, in the night, without telling the Afghan soldiers who were outside patrolling the area,” said Afghan soldier Naematullah, who asked that only his one name be used.

Within 20 minutes of the U.S.’s silent departure on Friday, the electricity was shut down and the base was plunged into darkness, said Raouf, the soldier of 10 years who has also served in Taliban strongholds of Helmand and Kandahar provinces.

The sudden darkness was like a signal to the looters, he said.

If you want to know why Afghan forces surrendered quickly to the Taliban, take a good look at that statement: In one night, they lost all the goodwill of 20 years by leaving the way they did.

It’s as though The Joker designed our exit strategy there.

And you probably already know about this:

I assume that the Biden administration would claim they did this because the Trump agreement with the Taliban included the departure of contractors. But that argument would be ruined by two inconvenient facts. The first is that Biden wasn’t irrevocably bound by such an agreement, and the second is that Trump’s agreement contained contingencies that the Taliban had to fulfill before any of this would occur. The Taliban has not met its part of the bargain – and I suspect Trump knew they would not – and so the whole agreement should have been considered by the Biden administration to be moot.

Comments

How Biden stiffed the Afghan military — 53 Comments

  1. I’m old enough to remember that just threatening to withhold aid to a country is an impeachable offense by a President.

  4. Richard Aubrey:

    Never underestimate the depth of their stupidity.

    But I think you’re correct that the evidence piles up for malicious and destructive intent as an explanation.

  6. (that story is datelined July 6th):

    I’ve seen dates of both July 1 and July 2, as to when the drawdown at Bagram began in earnest. It’s not clear, but probably the electricity was switched off some small number of days after that.

  7. I read in another article, somewhere, that all of the Afghan Army training was based upon having that air support. They were not trained to operate without the air support.

    Yeah, yeah, yeah… “Improvise and adapt”… But, these guys were not Marines with a 200 year old tradition.

  10. I remember reading that story about turning off the electricity and leaving in the middle of the night and thought for sure that some journalist was making things up to make the US look bad.

    Oh, how I so wish my initial impression was wrong.

    What is going down now is far worse in my mind than the fall of Saigon or Phnom Penh because the whole world knows how evil the Taliban were/are and they were still allowed to take over the country. Sorry if this is too Godwin’s law; but, I do see the Taliban as Nazis.

    How many stories will come out (if the soon to happen events even become public) about the thousands who will die at their hands? Will it be years later, after the fact, that we learn of a new Khmer-Rouge-style killing fields? How many thousands of young girls and women will be brutally sexually assaulted, or passed around as “brides” from one Taliban fighter to another? I should include young boys in that too as from what I’ve read in the past they go after them too. How soon before the Taliban turn their sights on the West again and we experience another 9-11 style attack?

    Not that it changes anything; but, I need to, for my own sanity, impose a news blackout on myself about Afghanistan. This whole fall of Afghanistan is just too gut-wrenching.

  11. charles:

    Gut-wrenching is correct. Enraging as well. I sometimes would like to stop covering it myself, but I don’t see how I can do that. Not just because of the fact that I’m a blogger, but just because I tend to be very curious and don’t think I could stop learning about it and struggling to understand what’s really happening there. I know, though, that I feel as though my 16-plus years of blogging and talking to people and trying to get them to see what I think is so obvious has not borne much fruit. Not that I ever thought I could change events, but this situation is just so awful.

  12. But I think you’re correct that the evidence piles up for malicious and destructive intent as an explanation.

    neo:

    How so?

    I’ve been on top of the Bagram story early on, earlier than anyone here I believe. I assume that there was some “security” reason for keeping the Afghan army out of that loop. God knows what. I’m sure I don’t.

    However, if malice was the reason — by whom, for what purpose?

  13. “However, if malice was the reason — by whom, for what purpose?”

    Aye, there’s the rub.

  14. Aren’t you all overlooking one rather telling fact:
    Biden istill more popular than Trump was.
    Democracies deserve what they get more than other states. I wonder what America’s reward will be for Biden?

  15. neo wrote, “I sometimes would like to stop covering it myself, but I don’t see how I can do that.”

    Please consider taking a small step: a day off — completely off — each week.

    I write this as someone who has valued your work every day for several years.

  16. I would strongly encourage everyone who can to watch the Lara Logan interview with Tucker Carlson here. She makes a pretty good argument that this outcome in Afghanistan is what the Biden handlers wanted. They hate this racist colonizing country and enjoy our humiliation,. Biden doesn’t know what he had for breakfast so he was no obstacle to their plan.

  17. Hey, neo, let’s do this together.

    A day of no news, no politics

    neo, please pick a day.

  18. Another one of Biden’s lies: he said during this afternoon’s speech that “To the best of our knowledge, the Taliban are letting through people with American passports [to the airport].”

    According to Legal Insurrection and the NY Post, the Taliban are beating people trying to reach the airport and confiscating US passports and driver’s licenses:
    https://legalinsurrection.com/2021/08/defense-sec-to-congress-taliban-are-beating-american-citizens-in-kabul/

  19. The Commander of the Bagram airbase was ordered to flee in the middle of the night and to not alert the Afghan military of their perfidy. No way did he do that on his own. Nor did Biden issue orders that detailed. Austin and Milley are the most likely to have issued those orders.

    huxley,

    ““However, if malice was the reason — by whom, for what purpose?””

    By Biden’s puppet masters… Of Biden’s ‘advisers’, whomever is most influential is their agent. It’s not Austin or Milley, they’re upper management at the VP level.

    The purpose is revealed by the result; America’s greatly harmed reputation. As long as the deplorables and irredeemables are a semi-effective opposition, America cannot be fundamentally transformed. So to accomplish that end, America must be destroyed.

    Lockdowns and free money preventing economic resurgence. Fiscal collapse and sovereign bankruptcy. A hamstrung military. Indoctrinated youth. Cultural chaos. CRT creating racial animosity. BLM and antifa riots.

    In every area, America is under attack by the Left. This is part and parcel of that strategy.

  20. It seems like a month ago, but was just five days ago that I commented about the Afghan Air Force being pretty much grounded by the departure of the civilian maintenance contractors. Air power, for which the Taliban don’t have many answers, has been the secret sauce that allowed a less motivated army to do battle with the Taliban. Once that part of the equation was removed, the Afghan commanders lost confidence and the rout was on.

    Our intel people and military on the ground should have been aware of this. They probably mentioned it to higher ups, but they had made up their minds. It was time for the Afghanis to fight for their country without us propping them up. Period! To He** with the consequences. Well, the Gods of the Copybook Headings will have their say.

  21. With the exception of Salena Zito, there are no reporters (or policy makers) who have ventured out to speak, let alone try to understand, Trump voters – over half the country. And we all share a common history, culture, language. What are the chances that we know anything about the thought processes, motivations, desires, opinions of the Afghan people?

  24. huxley.
    One asks about motivation. Another answers. The motivation imputed is either nefarious or malicious. First questioner says that’s unbelievable. Thus, the actual actions are not actually happening.

    I know that’s not what you’re doing. Point is, however, that to reduce it from malice to stupidity requires a number of implausibilities be congruent. And that is like multiplying fractions. If I won the lottery three weeks running–that’s one over maybe 250k times one over 250k times one over 250k. And if my uncle worked in the lottery bureau, reducing this to probability is kind of tough. Tough even without the family connection.

    So we look at this: Has there been any decision which was good, helpful, effective, not destructive? We’re at zero for twenty which, as a matter of probability, is pretty thin. Couldn’t they get one right at least by accident? Yes, they could. But they didn’t. How do you beat probability like this? Stupidity or malice? Ninety percent wrong would be astonishing. But going all the way to one hundred percent must be a matter of effort.

    As to which motivation: Haven’t you been listening for the last fifty years to the people claiming the US is the worst place on Earth and must be destroyed. Cloward-Piven is moderate in this area.

    CRT mean anything to you?

  25. Eva Marie,

    That’s a very thought invoking way to put it*.

    Our Elites can’t even understand the people Zito writes about who live among them, in their own country. What makes them think they can understand the myriad tribes of Afghanistan?

    *I too have been very impressed by Ms. Zito and feel she is one of the most underappreciated reporters working today. Her reporting on Trump voters was the most informative and insightful I read anywhere.

  26. This article highlights the problem with US military doctrine. US, and other countries with advanced military, coordinate air assets with ground assets. The training of South Vietnamese and Afghans was based on extensive air support. When you are used to calling in a B-52, Warthog or an Apache you have a different mindset on the battlefield.

  28. They’ve come a long way for people who don’t appreciate bacon.

    (Feel free to imagine your all-too-rare blog comments soundtrack of chirping crickets and wind gently rustling the branches being rudely punctuated by uncouth brunching noises.)

  29. Neo and Charles, yes you are right. This is far far worse than Vietnam and the repercussions will vibrate for a long time. I really did not mean to be so flippant.

  30. The one thing never to forget about Biden’s handlers:

    They know better.

    Milley, for all his faults, knows how to get people out when the enemy is closing in. The armed forces had a plan to evacuate Kabul 19 years ago, and have updated it since.

    But Biden’s people knew better than some knuckle dragging military freak. They said, no, do it our way.

    And when this is done, not one of them will have even the briefest moment of self reflection.

    You saw the same thing with the Clinton people, the Obama people and now Biden’s people. A sneering self regard that is beyond regret.

  33. Gordon Scott: Let’s not leave Bush out. He knew better too. He knew what the Biden crew would do. He had seen them destroy Libya, end any future for Iraq, ship billions to Iran. Had he loved the Afghan people and the US soldiers who sacrificed so much for his entanglement in Afghanistan more than his social position, he would have endorsed Trump and at the very least voted for him. Instead he patted himself on the back and voted for Condoleezza Rice. He knew better.

  34. See: Mike+K at 6:46
    “She (Laura Logan) makes a pretty good argument that this outcome in Afghanistan is what the Biden handlers wanted. They hate this racist colonizing country and enjoy our humiliation.”
    They wanted to get all that equipment into the hands of the taliban. They wanted the taliban to get back in control. They want more thousands of Muslims shipped to the US so they can grow the influence of the ‘squad’. They want thousands of Americans at the mercy of the taliban. This wasn’t so much planned as it was allowed to unfold. Oh, how I wish I had been a fly on the wall at the BHO birthday bash a week ago to pick up snippets of convo. This whole screwup wasn’t a ‘screwup’ at all though it is being treated that way. If this was a real ‘screwup’ then a bushel of heads should roll for it . . but none will. The gooks are in the wire.

  36. AppleBetty,

    We are all different, but I find avoiding the news certainly helps me. I struggle to find a mix.

    As a citizen I think it is important to stay on top of events so I can be an informed, contributing member to society. Also, it helps with business and personal relationships to be conversant in topics that may come up.

    However, it’s a big world with A LOT of news. It’s easy, especially for a naturally curious autodidact like me, to live most of one’s life reading websites, periodicals and watching news and information programs in an attempt to keep current. So much so, that I don’t make time to live in the real world, actually making myself useful to my fellow citizens, family, friends and co-workers. Or taking time for my own spiritual and physical well-being.

    The more I see, experience and learn, the more I try to tilt the teeter-totter towards turning away from the media firehose and going out into the world. It seems to be better for me, which makes me better for others, and I’ve grown to learn the human race seems quite capable of screwing itself up whether I’m paying attention to it, or not. 🙂

    (Actually, the opposite is true. The more I interact with people and walk among the unwashed masses the more examples I see of human decency and kindness. Teen-ager picks up glasses that fell off of old woman’s head and runs through a grocery store to return them* doesn’t make the nightly news or generate ad clicks on Facebook.)

    *An actual event I witnessed yesterday.

  37. AppleBetty,

    Based on today’s “Open Thread” photo Neo seems to be agreeing with you! 😉

  38. In June, Biden said, “If you wanted or if you think you need to have weapons to take on the government, you need F-15s and maybe some nuclear weapons. The point is that there has always been the ability to limit — rationally limit the type of weapon that can be owned and who can own it.”

    Thus, eliminating the air power gives greater ability to “take on the government”.

  39. Well if Kamala returns early from her junket to Vietnam and Singapore that is a sign that vultures are finally roosting on the Cloth Headed carcass.

  40. He had seen them destroy Libya, end any future for Iraq,

    Iraq is as tranquil as it has been at any time since 2002.

  41. Kamala is scheduled to stop in California on the way home, to campaign with Newsom against the recall. They’re getting fairly desperate. The LA Times had an article headlined, “Larry Elder is the Black face of white supremacy.”

  42. Kate:

    The sad thing is that I’ve seen assertions like that one in the LA Times before about other black conservatives.

    I’m curious – is Gavin Newsom (or someone like Chesa Boudin) the white face of black supremacy?

  43. Says it all:
    https://blazingcatfur.ca/2021/08/21/us-general-tells-british-special-forces-stop-rescuing-people-in-kabul-youre-making-us-look-bad/

    Looks like the American military has been converted to that “optics” thang….

    Fortunately, the American military is being entirely overhauled and retooled to meet America’s #1 ENEMY—climate change.

    And it can’t come a moment too soon…
    https://blazingcatfur.ca/2021/08/21/cbs-accused-of-eco-overreach-after-claiming-climate-change-helped-strengthen-taliban/

  45. GeoffreyBritain says it best on 8/20. But for Gen. Milley and SecDef Austin (the black dude who thinks systemic racism is our military’s greatest problem) defer to a brain-dead, only nominal POTUS in the decision to abandon Afghanistan overnight, and cause the imposition of brutal Muslim insanity is in itself bizarre. Flee Bagram in the middle of the night? Crazy. Let Islamists surround MKIA and prevent those who helped us flee? That is a Stalin way of acting.
    Though I despise KamelO, she still has a brain.

  46. Neo: “I’m curious – is Gavin Newsom (or someone like Chesa Boudin) the white face of black supremacy?” If not its white face, at least its useful idiots.

  47. Mostly, we’re confused, angry, dumbstruck, gobsmacked and deeply hurt because we’re forgetting that “Truth” is a racist, white supremacist, colonialist, capitalist, male, oppressive, zionist construct…
    https://townhall.com/tipsheet/spencerbrown/2021/08/20/bidens-pentagon-just-confirmed-hes-lying-n2594475
    https://nypost.com/2021/08/19/i-ran-trumps-afghan-withdrawal-bidens-attempt-to-blame-us-is-sad/
    etc.
    etc.
    etc.

    IOW, the ONLY way to make sense of any of this is to realize—to truly understand—that Truth, along with the USA, is the enemy of the “Biden” administration and the Democratic Party.

    (But haven’t we known that all along?)

  48. And one of the problems that “tend to” occur when you get SO used to lying—and SO used to the media (that is, SO expectant of the media) covering up your lies…

    “US omits Macron plea for ‘moral responsibility’ from record of Afghanistan call”
    https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/aug/20/afghanistan-macron-biden-moral-responsibility-evacuate-allies

    Woops!
    (From the “Guardian”, no less!!)

    We are witnessing how EVIL works. From close up. In real time.

  50. @ Nancy B.

    This way that information get massaged on the way up was a feature of various tyrannies esp. communist. The leadership would say what was expected and the lower ranks would fudge the figures to assuage the higherups. And thus nobody knew what the situation really was, fake all the way down and fake all the way up.

  52. Breaking news at Lucianne.com:
    Apparently the State Department is full of hacks. Who knew?

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