“The president didn’t believe anyone had made a mistake.”
The short answer to, “What happened in Afghanistan” is that the military wanted a total pullout of all Americans, believing that the Taliban would take over after the withdrawal of military forces, while the State Department refused to develop a plan for an evacuation until the last minute, insisting that it had a diplomatic solution for integrating the Taliban into the government.
The blame game has been quietly playing out for some time, but whom did Biden side with?
One book offers an answer.
Biden was wary of the Defense Department — something Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin was focused on remedying.
Biden was partial to the State Department, given his time chairing the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
His skepticism of the Pentagon grew after the Obama administration’s debate in 2009 about a troop surge in Afghanistan. Biden felt the Pentagon boxed Obama in politically, Ward writes.
We know Biden was obsessed on that point. He had supposedly even threatened to resign over it.
Austin is a weak figure (even before he was hospitalized twice) and had come out of Secretary of State Blinken’s Pine Island Capital all but ensuring that he would make the Pentagon subordinate to the State Department.
The State Department called the shots, and we had another Hanoi-style evac under fire, complete with leaving Americans behind.
On May 8, 2021, during a rehearsal for the evacuation operation with Sullivan, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Mark Milley and others, the Pentagon and the State Department feuded over whether they had to close the U.S. embassy in Kabul as troops withdrew.
The Defense Department argued that the country would be too dangerous to have the embassy try to do business as usual.
Brian McKeon, the deputy secretary of state for management and resources, jumped in and said their diplomats would be fine: “We at the State Department have a much higher risk tolerance than you guys,” he told the uniformed personnel.
Ward writes that “Milley nearly jumped out of his chair, but restrained himself from shouting how he and many serving in the armed forces had lost friends in war. Austin showed no signs of anger, but he later told colleagues that he was offended by McKeon’s remark.”
And what did Milley do apart from “almost” yelling at the meeting? Nothing. Beyond (as usual) leaking the report later in order to later cover his ass.
Biden sided with State. And he was fine with it.
After Afghanistan, “no one offered to resign, in large part because the president didn’t believe anyone had made a mistake. Ending the war was always going to be messy,” Politico’s Alexander Ward writes in “The Internationalists: The Fight to Restore Foreign Policy After Trump.”
“Biden told his top aides, [National Security Advisor Jake] Sullivan included, that he stood by them and they had done their best during a tough situation.”
“There wasn’t even a real possibility of a shake-up,” a White House official told Ward.
There’s been a lot of talk about Biden’s senility. And yes, he’s mentally slipped, but the bottom line is he was calling the shots and doing so in line with his past beliefs.
Some conservatives insist on acting like he’s a puppet who’s just being controlled remotely by Obama, not only is this a terrible election argument, but it lets him off the hook. Biden may be suffering from diminished capacity, but he’s a bastard who places very little value on American lives or honor, and he was shrugging at the human cost of his withdrawal even while it was going on.
Biden’s decision to side with the State Department turned the withdrawal into a catastrophe. Ultimately he allowed State to call the shots, leaving Americans in the path of an invading Taliban army.
The buck stops with him.
Wellington says
The traitor who is Joe Biden (yes, traitor for sundry reasons though not enforcing existing American law respecting America’s borders, thus allowing a massively uncontrolled invasion of the country, being reason enough alone) called the shameful and deadly evacuation by America from Afghanistan in August of 2021, and I quote, “an extraordinary success.”
Biden has been a disaster for America over the past three years and anyone who doesn’t see this simply doesn’t see clearly enough and why I am so done with these fools, even if family members or former friends (yes, “former” because my nation is more important than any friendship). For my money, Biden is the single most useful useful idiot in all of American history.
And the malicious, updated Wizard of Oz behind the curtain controlling matters (including a useful idiot like Biden) above all others and who is the single most destructive person in all of American history? Why it’s the very smooth-talking fool who is Barack Obama, now filthy rich living in Martha’s Vineyard (Dukes County, MA) while he and his hypocritical wife leading the extra good life still continue to assert just how awful America is.
Between Biden, Obama and Leftist handlers aplenty (plus an absolutely moribund and despicable Democratic Party, its surrogate and lackey the MSM, and aided by RINOs like Mitch McConnell) America is sinking very fast. It’s the Late Roman Empire all over again, though—and this is extra ominous—with even more dire consequences for mankind than the demise of said ancient empire. Not looking good.
WESTPAC Spy says
I was a Naval intelligence officer. Back when we worked for this country. Think Battle of Midway. Now these bastards.. .I hated sharing Intel with the CIA or State. Yes, DoS is part of the IC. I wanted to finish my discussions with them by asking, “Should I just save everyone time and call Beijing myself you traitors .”
There was no shower long or hot enough to wash off the grime.
WESTPAC Spy says
Nimitz observed Intel was worth an extra carrier battle group. Damn Brennan and Clapper and their ilk to hell.
WESTPAC Spy says
Nice picture of the hello. Fall of Saigon anyone?
WESTPAC Spy says
HE-LOW! Not hello. Helo. Navy for helicopter. God, I hate autocorrect
PRCS says
I knew what you meant, shipmate.
68-89
࿗Infidel࿘ says
The State Department is another institution that needs to be completely purged. A few years ago, when the Saudis, Emiratis, Egyptians and Bahreinis were doing the right thing and isolating Qatar, which was supporting the Muslim Brotherhood and its affiliates (like Hamas), Iran and Turkey, the State Department had to butt its nose in & try & resolve their dispute. When in fact, Qatar deserved all that opprobrium from its neighbors
In fact, the State Department is as worthless as the FBI and CIA
terry says
The whole District of Collusion serves the the three powers running the world today, and all three are Crime Syndicates; the Globalist Elites of the West, the Marxist, and Islam. All corporations, foundations, grants, cartels, gangs, thugs, punks, and every two-bit zombie-like persons work for these three would-be ‘kingdoms’ of fiefdoms. Satanic agendas empowering their self-willed, self-delusions, of being masters, lords, and gods- they all serve Lucifer.
Walter Sieruk says
The Taliban victory in Afghanistan is the outcome of horrible man; Joe Biden in Office, wicked Joe is a disaster for the people of Afghanistan
.
That fiendish man, Biden with the calamities, the created the catastrophe of the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan inspires more zeal in different jihad Islamic terrors .murder organizations in the around the world.
The many evils caused by Biden seem to have no end or limit.
Walter Sieruk says
That treasonous villain .Joe Biden, willing allowed the Taliban have new high quality US military equipment.
Likewise, Biden is a traitor to all the families and friends of those US soldiers, who had shed their blood, were killed and terribly maimed for life by the Taliban. For creepy traitorous old Joe just ‘gave away” Afghanistan to the Taliban.
Biden also has betrayed many Americans and the good Afghans who really aided the US military in the land by abandoning them all to the vicious and murderous Taliban.
Furthermore, Biden really does not care about those thirteen Americans who died or the other American who died in Afghanistan because of either his incompetence or treasonous orders.
Therefore , Joe Biden is very, obviously is ether completely incompetent and despicably treasonous. In the first or second case Biden should not have been allowed be enter the Office of the Presidency in the first place.
As that catastrophe, he created in Afghanistan and letting the Talban obtain may high quality US military equipment.
As the former US President Theodore Roosevelt that the Office of the Presidency in not only a powerful position but “a very strong man” is needed for the Oval Office. Joe Biden is not a strong man but as already stated is weak and feeble.
Roosevelt also, rightly, believed “a man holding that very important Office “should be sharply watch by the people [and] held to a strict accountability by them.”
Lisa T. says
History is repeating itself. A few years ago I read Brian Kilmeade’s book on Jefferson and the Barbary Pirates. This was the first war America fought after becoming a nation. Muslim pirates had for centuries been trolling the waters of the Mediterranean kidnapping and enslaving sailors and taking their ships. Some European countries would pay tribute but America had debts from the Revolutionary War and had no money to waste on extortion. So,our only course was to fight. There are several famous heros from this war, but the one I admired most was a legate who had actually been a slave of the Muslims and stayed on after he was freed to work for our government because he understood how.bthese people operated..
He ultimately went on a mission to find the legitimate Prince who had been dethroned by his brother and with a handful of Marines and the discontented nomadic peoples that he could pick up along the way, they ended up surprise attacking an important port city and the illegitimate ruler quaking in his boots was about to capitulate and did ultimately release the Americans.
However, a jealous diplomat paid off the Prince holding the Americans after the fact (about $200,000) and pretended he was the true hero. When the truth finally hit the papers and the diplomat ultimately was exposed and socially spurned he killed himself.
So, I guess my point is that I’d trust the soldiers more than the diplomats any old day.