…from Politico
[ Editor’s Note: There had been a warning, but not much that could be done, as the mass of those outside the gates hoping to get on a flight were an open target for suicide bombers, especially at night.
Afghan/Taliban security would not have had bomb sniffing dogs, and I have seen online no capacity to be checking carry on baggage with people outside the gate.
Even if ISIS did not have an attack in motion, the reports of the US anticipating such would have stimulated one. ISIS would not want pass up the publicity it would get from announcing “we are alive and well and hard to spot when blending into the crowd’.
As of early Thursday morning, the White House said the total number of people evacuated from Kabul since the operation began on Aug. 14 was 95,700, including 13,400 in the last 24 hours.
The Republican opportunists have attempted to stain the effort and our troops, with their never ending efforts to smear it when their own disgraced former president had initiated the Afghanistan pull out last year, setting off the expected Afghan army collapse by closing the Bagram Air Force base and US air support.
And little mentioned was how the Gulf State Muslim US allies with professional militaries did not lift a finger to supply backup forces for the Afghan army. They also were not denounced for it.
There are never good endings for these forever wars, one I would more specifically call a military contractors’ grifters war, as they got the most out of it. Even with Trump running for office, if he had won, he would have claimed the pull out a great victory, but not for Biden.
Now there are rumbles of 250,000 more Afghans who ‘worked for’ the US, who feel entitled to come to the US to enjoy the equivalent of winning the lotto versus remaining to help rebuild their country. Frankly, we need all of our attention and what money we have left to fight the Trumper Taliban insurgency here, which also is ideologically motivated.
American taxpayers are saddled forever with the debt cost of the war, and it seems that is now treated as a ‘nothing’ event, to which I would personally not be inclined to spend any more. There is a large and rich Muslim community in the world that I think should have first shot at depopulating Afghanistan via immigration… Jim W. Dean ]
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First published … August 26, 2021
Multiple U.S. troops were killed and others wounded when two explosions shook the area outside Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul in rapid succession this morning, where the United States and NATO allies had been evacuating thousands of people from the city, two U.S. officials told POLITICO.
“We can confirm that the explosion at the Abbey Gate was the result of a complex attack that resulted in a number of US & civilian casualties,” tweeted Pentagon spokesperson John Kirby, referring to the entrance to the airport, where four sources tell POLITICO that U.S. personnel until recently welcomed American citizens to board evacuation flights.
Kirby also confirmed a second explosion at or near the Baron Hotel, roughly 300 meters from the site of the first detonation. British troops had been using the hotel as a base for evacuating UK personnel.
“This [attack] is a nightmare,” said Stacia George, director of the Carter Center’s Conflict Resolution Program, who has worked to get vulnerable people out of Afghanistan.
“It took incredible courage and strength to get to those gates which are the door to the last reliable way to safety. Although this is happening, people will still keep trying to go back once or if the gates open again because what other choice do they have?”
You can read the full article here.
Jim W. Dean is VT Editor Emeritus. He was an active editor on VT from 2010-2022. He was involved in operations, development, and writing, plus an active schedule of TV and radio interviews. He now writes and posts periodically for VT.
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NOT wishing death on anyone. BUT…is it me, or perhaps someone can provide an explanation as to why there are 45,000 “blackwater” “contractors” in Afghanistan, including those at the Kabul Airport getting the $6,500 per person, AND YET NOT ONE was injured/killed?!
Is it just really ME? Maybe it is. Who can truly say?
Or…is this yet another “job” by the M-C-M-G forces?!
A N*-Pr*ze IF you can guess the meaning of the acronym…
“…in the Kabul Airport blast”
There were not 45,000 Blackwater contractors there. That’s just internet people putting shit out like they always do not so when it is over they can claim they goofed on all the dummies that lapped it up. All of they major events now are being clickbaited by internet grifters, and I don’t see it going away. It took all the time to finally get state medical people to go on TV and denounce the horse and cow deworming treatment. That they should have done was pass emergency legislation to make it a crime to see for people use…but they didn’t…to avoid the Trumper backlash. They were intimidated into not doing the right thing, and only doing it not because the body piles are high enough to encourage them, but their job is PREVENTING their deaths.
Oops!
My apologies, Jim. I appreciate the correction.
As it’s been said, I can always be “G-Checked”, & with no problem…
@ stripes.com 01/19/2021:
“…more than 18,000 contractors remain in Afghanistan, a Defense Department report released this week said, after the Pentagon announced Friday it had reduced its troop total in the country to 2,500…about 4,700 of the contractors are Afghans hired locally, but nearly three-quarters (3/4) come from outside the country, including about a third (1/3) who are U.S. citizens…”
From what I remember of the USMC, it always had a significant gay contingent…nothing like the Navy of course
Amen Brother! Did not catch the news of the day. I am all for the equality spirit. I’m not into supremacy wether it’s sexual or other. I did not expect an evacuation of Afghanistan, a country that we have had a war in for 20 years to go any other way, did you? By the way how did it go for the USSR after 10? RIP to all souls lost, those were disgusting supposed suicide attacks. Martyrs are remembered, they will not be. And those who set them up will only be punished in death, ‘so it goes’.
Sorry, that a response to Mihail. But sincerely RIP all the bombing victims
Another compact “fertilizer” fission weapon? I’ll lean toward the usual suspects….Israel did 9/11, Beirut, etc.
BDS 2021
That is very interesting Mihail. So it’s the ‘Gays’ that wanted retribution in Afghanistan after 911, started a preemptive war, then decided to just run away ’cause they, like everyone else can’t win a war there. The ‘Gays’ are such bitches! They help fund and train ISIS-K. All they care about are their parades. I’m glad you informed us on how self-centered the LGBT groups are.
Meanwhile a lesbian couple in Moab, UT were shot and killed camping in the La Sal Mts and the sheriff tells the community that though the prep is still at large, there is nothing to worry about. I guess the sheriffs office feel the perp was just protecting society from them evil lesbians.
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