President Biden and US military officials said Thursday that the airlift mission in Kabul will continue despite the deadly suicide attacks outside the airport.
Since the airlift started on August 14th, over 95,000 people have been evacuated from Afghanistan. From early Wednesday to Thursday, about 13,400 evacuees were flown out. The State Department said in that period, more than 500 Americans were evacuated.
The State Department said it is in contact with about another 1,000 US citizens who are still in Afghanistan. A department spokesperson said more than two-thirds of that group said they are taking steps to leave Afghanistan, and some are choosing to stay.
“We believe many, if not most, of these individuals are nearly or already out of the country. And, we know that dozens more do not wish to leave Afghanistan for a range of reasons,” the spokesperson said, according to The Hill.
When President Biden delivered remarks on the suicide attacks, he said it would not “deter” him from completing the evacuations. “We can and we must complete this mission and we will,” he said. “And that’s what I’ve ordered them to do. We will not be deterred by terrorists. We will not let them stop our mission.”
Gen. Frank McKenzie, the head of US Central Command, made similar comments when he spoke with reporters earlier in the day. “We’re continuing to execute the mission. Our mission is to evacuate US citizens, third-country nationals, special immigrant Visa holders, US embassy staff, and Afghans at risk. Despite this attack, we are continuing this mission,” he said.
Neither McKenzie nor Biden indicated that there were plans to push back the August 31st withdrawal deadline. The Taliban has warned there would be “consequences” if foreign troops remain in the country come September.
I don’t praise Biden often, and he looked like a marionette up there, but he is continuing to stick to the withdrawal and to resist pressure to backtrack.
“Former”, I said “former” security advisors and their military counterparts are saying “we may have to go back in”.
We have to stick with the plan, the withdrawal, (or, surrender, whichever you choose) late that it is (we were supposed to be out by May 1, 2021), negotiated by Pompeo.
Get the h*ll out of there!!!
What has happened on the ground the last couple of days falls on the shoulders of the military officers in charge on the ground. (chain of command) The bombing was probably foreseen. When and how were the questions. I would imagine that soldiers on the perimeter would have been on high alert.
All this blaming of Biden is nonsense. All he can do is direct the officers high up the chain of command, and then they take it from there.
Besides, the terms of surrender were hammered out by Pompeo and Taliban leaders last February. Now, I know #45 was busy with the pandemic (that he lied about, wasting two precious months, encouraged people to not wear masks, for businesses to “open up”), his rallies, golf at Mar-a-Lago, but don’t you think that the job of planning and early execution of evacuation would have been on his platter??? Could he not have passes that job to Pence. Oh, wait, he was busy with the pandemic what ever it was called.
I am not a fan of Biden, but come on.