It was known and reported that the US was set to leave Bagram AFB, the long-time base of Afghan operations. W hen the time came though, communication left something to be desired.
According to Afghan officials, the US made off in the middle of the night, turned off the power and left. The new Afghan commander meant to assume control of the base wasn’t told, and indeed didn’t discover for hours that the US troops were gone.
It’s likely that the US didn’t want to make a big fuss. The lack of coordination was such a problem, however, that Afghan officials report that by the time they got to Bagram, there were looters all over the place. That was not part of the plan.
Afghan officials say they’re confident they can hold the base, in spite of mounting losses across the nation. Heavily fortified, the main interest the base might have for the Taliban is the large number of accused Taliban prisoners still held there.
All things save the Lord ends and is forgotten. After all the high definition news ads and propaganda done at sporting events from 2001.. it ends like a thief fleeing for his life.
“Heavily fortified, the main interest the base might have for the Taliban is the large number of accused Taliban prisoners still held there.”
And we just turned off the power and left?
The Taliban are like kids in a candy store. I can imagine their expressions:
Whoopee! Lookie! I just got a Humvee with a gun turret on top……………!
I’ve seen two videos of Afghan Army regulars surrendering to Taliban forces and giving up a hell of a lot of military hardware.
I was stunned by that news as well.
Reminds me of nothing so much as the Fall of South Vietnam.
The Americans assured their Vietnamese collaborators that they were staying, that they would not abandon their friends, but they cut and run without warning, literally in the middle of the night, leaving their flunkies to their fates.
This is standard protocol to ensure protection and avoid any ambush. Nothing to see here, or talk about either. It’s how its done.
The obvious threat of green on blue attack makes secrecy over the withdrawal schedule critical.
Even with or especially because of the U.S. plan to leave troops guarding the U.S. embassy.
The diplomatic mission should be withdrawn the embassy closed, just as the U.S. should have withdrawn from their Iraq embassy.
The U.S. waited until 1995 to reopen their Embassy in Vietnam, which was better for the U.S. in the long run.