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August 19, 2021

Biden and his wokester military tell trapped Americans in Afghanistan they're on their own

By Monica Showalter

As Afghanistan falls and tens of thousands of Americans remain trapped in Kabul, the U.S. military is sounding strange.

Here's the account from National Review:

Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said that the U.S. will continue to evacuate all the Americans "they can" from Afghanistan, although the U.S. is currently unable to "go out and collect large numbers of people" from outside the Kabul airport.

"It's obvious we're not close to where we want to be," Austin said at a press conference at the Pentagon. "We're gonna get everyone that we can possibly evacuate evacuated, and I'll do that as long as we possibly can, until the clock runs out, or we run out of capability."

Austin admitted that U.S. capabilities to venture outside the airport are already limited, however. "I don't have the capability to go out and extend operations currently into Kabul," explained the defense secretary.

It makes one wonder what they're doing there, then.

This whole thing sounds like the return of the "Five O'Clock Follies," the God-awful press briefings of the Vietnam War era described in books such as Arnaud de Borchgrave's and Robert Moss's The Spike.

Presumably, the military has always been about "leave no man behind."  Now that they've gone woke and are no longer focused on victory, the military wokesters seem to have made an exception to the rules, and they're now more concerned with the Aug. 31 deadline than getting every last American to safety.  On time and under budget?  That sounds really weird coming from the Pentagon.  With Americans abandoned to a terrorist regime full of criminal killers, it's almost sinister.

Obviously, the 7,000 troops sent by Joe Biden, pretty much tripling the pre-pullout mission, is not going to be enough.  The Pentagon has a $700-billion budget, and the world's most powerful military, and suddenly it's become a can't-do operation when it comes to protecting some 10,000 Americans abandoned in a foreign hellhole overrun by barbarians.

And whose job is it to ask for more troops and cash if the number sent isn't enough to get the mission done?  Whose job is to ask for an extension, loudly and publicly if need be?  Is there a plan at all?  Austin and Gen. Mark Milley make noises on the podium about wanting to get every American out, but like harried customer service reps or city planning officials confronting angry neighbors, or hush-puppied flak-catchers confronting Tiki canes, they're making no promises at all.

It's the classic bureaucratic "there's nothing we can do" and telling Americans in peril that they're on their own.  It's unprecedented.  And you can bet that the Taliban is noticing and making plans accordingly.

It's also consistent with the crap that's already been spewed by the White House when spokesweasel Jen Psaki refused to answer a reporter's question as to what to do about Americans who can't get to the airport by Aug. 31.  She effectively said by implication that any American who can't get to the airport is on his own.

It's consistent with the message that trapped U.S. citizens got from the State Department, too.

Now, for perspective, here's an ABC News screen shot of what the entry to the Kabul airport looks like as desperate people try to get in:

The latest reports say military-aged young men who couldn't pass U.S. vetting, often the criminals, have pushed their way in to get rides out, while helpless women with babies and families pushing old people in wheelchairs are left on the outside.  Some women are throwing babies over the side to try to save them.  The Taliban itself is going around with whips and beating the women and babies, as well as looking for U.S. collaborators.  Should anyone have to push through this?  See the Daily Mail pictures here.

The Mail also reports that traffic to the airport is so humongous on both sides that it can be seen from space.  Again, it appears to be an impossible situation to get into the airport, particularly for an American, who's going to stick out in this crowd and be a target for the Taliban.  Seriously, the military can't offer any help on that front, despite being in-country and reportedly having the Taliban's assurances of safe passage for all Americans?  It doesn't sound as though this is going well. 

And worse still, despite Joe Biden's thunder about retribution on the Taliban if they harm the repatriation effort, they've got no will to fight.

The British are willing to fight, and going around the city picking up expats, as well as allies and collaborators.  They may be picking up Americans, too.  But no such luck from the Americans, who tell their own citizens, after a monstrously botched pullout, that they're now on their own. 

Image: Video screen shot from ABC News via YouTube.

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