The totally arbitrary evacuation deadline is tomorrow, and what Americans could really use right about now is some reassurance that our government is fully committed to evacuating every American and SIV holder from Afghanistan come hell or high water.
Unfortunately, this is evidently the best we can hope for:
Biden Pentagon Spokesman John Kirby on why evacuations did not start earlier: “I don’t think it’s important” pic.twitter.com/YIrh8oZC98
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) August 30, 2021
We think it’s pretty important, John.
More:
"There was simply no way to predict" how quickly Kabul would fall to the Taliban, Pentagon spokesman John Kirby tells @JenGriffinFNC
— Lucas Tomlinson (@LucasFoxNews) August 30, 2021
DOD press secretary John Kirby: "Our expectation was that the Ghani government would stay in place. Nobody could've imagined how quickly that government would've literally just dissipated almost over night. There was simply no way to predict that."
— Jerry Dunleavy (@JerryDunleavy) August 30, 2021
Watch:
.@JenGriffinFNC to Kirby: "If 5,800 Americans were left in Afghanistan when you pulled out of Bagram at the end of July, why did the U.S. Military not begin evacuations of Americans before pulling out of the country?"Kirby: "Jen, we've talked about this quite some time ago." pic.twitter.com/fF42wOsPOX
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) August 30, 2021
Maybe we have to keep talking about this because the government keeps demonstrating that they don’t know what the hell they’re doing and frankly don’t seem to care that they don’t know what the hell they’re doing.
Also, this was all inevitable. Both things. Don't worry about it. #doublethink https://t.co/LVqVWnxZKv
— jimtreacher.substack.com (@jtLOL) August 30, 2021
Both things. This is fine.
Didn't, like, a whole bunch of people predict this?
— ichabod default (@restless_Rev) August 30, 2021
Yes.
"There was simply no way to predict that" thing that most of us predicted for years.
— Ross Allen (@rossallen3) August 30, 2021
You’re gonna have to do a lot better than this, John Kirby.
what's wild re: this (false) claim is idea no one could've *imagined* swift Afghan gov't collapse & Taliban takeover. he's not just saying it couldn't have been *predicted* (also false) but couldn't have even been *conceived of*. 9/11 Commission spoke of "failure of imagination." https://t.co/wpnfCFcD41
— Jerry Dunleavy (@JerryDunleavy) August 30, 2021
"By July, many intelligence reports grew more pessimistic, questioning whether any Afghan security forces would muster serious resistance and whether the government could hold on in Kabul, the capital."https://t.co/f4gh93b3QQ https://t.co/MGQNH28rgV
— Sunny McSunnyface (@sunnyright) August 30, 2021
AYFKM?
This was precisely what I expected. There was little believe that Ghani would take a stand and fight to the last man.
They are really clueless. https://t.co/K18ntDFDvi
— Pradheep J. Shanker (@Neoavatara) August 30, 2021
THEY.
HAVE.
LEARNED.
NOTHING."U.S. officials constantly said they were making progress. They were not, and they knew it, an exclusive Post investigation found."https://t.co/XIBKs5f3x4
— Pradheep J. Shanker (@Neoavatara) August 30, 2021
Someone with a spine should ask Biden if he has ever read the Afghanistan Papers. There are a lot of connections with his and Obama's involvement in them.
— Pradheep J. Shanker (@Neoavatara) August 30, 2021
“The days of providing a blank check are over. . . . It must be clear that Afghans will have to take responsibility for their security and that America has no interest in fighting an endless war in Afghanistan.”
— President Obama, speech at U.S. Military Academy at West Point
— Pradheep J. Shanker (@Neoavatara) August 30, 2021
Re: Ghani:
"In public, U.S. officials insisted they had no tolerance for graft. But in the Lessons Learned interviews, they admitted the U.S. government looked the other way while Afghan power brokers — allies of Washington — plundered with impunity."
— Pradheep J. Shanker (@Neoavatara) August 30, 2021
Sept. 4, 2013
“This army and this police force have been very, very effective in combat against the insurgents every single day. And I think that’s an important story to be told across the board.”
— Then-Army Lt. Gen. Mark A. Milley
— Pradheep J. Shanker (@Neoavatara) August 30, 2021
OH!
"In the interviews, however, U.S. military trainers described the Afghan security forces as incompetent, unmotivated and rife with deserters. They also accused Afghan commanders of pocketing salaries — paid by U.S. taxpayers — for tens of thousands of “ghost soldiers.”
— Pradheep J. Shanker (@Neoavatara) August 30, 2021
"None expressed confidence that the Afghan army could ever fend off, much less defeat, the Taliban on their own. More than 60,000 members of Afghan security forces have been killed, a casualty rate that U.S. commanders have called unsustainable."
Remember…this was YEARS AGO.
— Pradheep J. Shanker (@Neoavatara) August 30, 2021
THEY. HAVE. LEARNED. NOTHING.
But we have learned a great deal. Namely that we can’t trust this administration on anything. Ever.
https://twitter.com/derrickvanorden/status/1432361673894121477