Afghanistan

The worst possible message to our enemies across the world.

The Biden administration’s feckless withdrawal from Afghanistan is sending the worst possible message to our enemies across the world. Our rivals are already convinced of our lack of morale and our fear of the consequences from a response serious enough to concentrate their minds. Twenty years after 9/11, and we still haven’t figured out the nature and aims of those who for decades have in word and bloody deed told us we are an enemy they want to destroy.

Instead we cling to our shopworn belief that “diplomatic engagement” can deter and stop a fanatic enemy, hoping words can substitute for deeds. But all we’ll achieve is further damage to our already fraying national prestige.

America’s humiliation in Afghanistan confirms that the woke West is utterly incapable of standing up for itself.

Everyone is saying it’s like Saigon in 1975. Helicopters evacuating an American embassy. Chaotic, distressing scenes at the local airport as American allies, or just plain fearful people, desperately try to flee the country. American officials convincing absolutely nobody with their unhinged claims that the ‘mission has been successful’ (in Anthony Blinken’s words). It’s clear for all to see, commentators insist: Kabul in 2021 is a replay of Saigon in 1975. America humiliated, its enemies ascendant.

Yet here’s the brutal truth: what is happening right now is worse than Saigon.

Sickening images show two men being paraded through an Afghanistan street with their faces tarred black — and being pulled by nooses around their necks.

“Taliban accused these men of theft, their faces were colored with black color — to embarrass them,” tweeted Bilal Sarwary, one of Afghanistan’s leading journalists, who said he was sent the images late last week.

The Taliban took control of Bagram Air Base on Sunday, a former American airbase that the U.S turned over to the Afghanistan government last month.

The Taliban have reportedly released thousands of prisoners that were held at Bagram, including members of al Qaeda, the terror group that carried out the 9-11 attacks and prompted the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan in 2001. Bagram was under control of the U.S. military for roughly two decades before leaving it in control of the Afghan military in July as the U.S. pulled out of Afghanistan.

As Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau emerged from Rideau Hall to announce an early election, journalists were flooded with messages and photos from interpreters in Afghanistan and their families who had helped Canada’s intervention against the Taliban. They said they feared for their lives.

Many were told to travel to Kabul, where the Canadian embassy is located, only to find it had been shut down when they arrived.

Canada temporarily suspended its diplomatic operations in Kabul amid safety concerns on Sunday as Taliban fighters entered the Afghan capital in what is expected to be the final push to overtake the government.

Kabul safe houses set up by Canadians for Afghan interpreters under threat of collapse

A volunteer humanitarian effort to bring former interpreters to safe houses in Kabul while they wait for flights to Canada is collapsing as Taliban forces take over the Afghan capital.

A group of Canadian veterans and volunteers have been working for weeks to bring Afghans, who worked with the Canadian military in the past, into the relative safety of Kabul before being evacuated from the country. With the city now falling to the Taliban, the veterans say the situation is desperate and they’re appealing for help from Ottawa.

… “We’ve got a small window of opportunity to do the right thing, and I don’t think our government has the risk appetite or the moral fortitude to do anything about that,” Mr. Carroll said. “I hope I’m wrong.”

Go Incognito

Media outlets across the political divide in the US and Britain have united in their condemnation over Joe Biden’s handling of the Afghanistan crisis amid what is being billed the biggest foreign policy catastrophe in 65 years.

Even Left-wing outlets such as CNN and The New York Times that would traditionally back a Democrat president have hit out at Mr Biden for his role in allowing insurgents to take Kabul after routing Afghan forces in just a week.

The Wall Street Journal condemned Joe Biden’s statement ‘washing his hands’ of the situation, saying it should ‘go down as one of the most shameful in history by a Commander in Chief at such a moment of American retreat’.

Biden team surprised by rapid Taliban gains in Afghanistan

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden and other top U.S. officials have been stunned by the pace of the Taliban’s nearly complete takeover of Afghanistan, as the planned withdrawal of American forces urgently became a mission to ensure a safe evacuation.

The speed of the Afghan government’s collapse and the ensuing chaos posed the most serious test of Biden as commander in chief, and he was the subject of withering criticism from Republicans who said that he had failed.

Yes it’s ugly but leaving Afghanistan stands as the right thing to do.

There’s no denying that the withdrawal looks like a Hunter Biden choreographed crack-house horror show but it is impossible to make a case for the 20 years that were wasted.

Keep in mind that the Afghan’s bear some responsibility for their own security.

It’s as if corruption was a virus that infected everyone involved.

A lot of heads should roll, but they won’t.