Category: Military

‘Creating a database’ really isn’t doing much of anything except dilly-dallying around on a computer.

Pentagon Ratcheting Up Efforts to Get Americans Out of Afghanistan.

Without bothering to give its hapless readers any reminders about how and why Americans got stuck in Afghanistan in the first place, NBC News reported Monday that “the Pentagon is stepping up efforts to get family members of U.S. troops out of Afghanistan, creating a database of the dozens who are trapped there.”

That’s terrific, but why now? Why the long delay in moving on this? And why was priority placed on bringing unvetted and unvettable Afghans into the United States rather than getting the Americans out? As usual with Biden’s handlers, no useful answers are forthcoming.

NBC noted that on Thursday, Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Colin Kahl “issued a memo asking any U.S. military personnel and DOD civilians with immediate family members who need help leaving Afghanistan to email his office.” Wonderful, but why did it take him two months since the American military withdrawal to do this?

The NBC report also states that “there are still several dozen immediate family members of U.S. service members in Afghanistan, according to defense officials. Those include children, sisters and brothers, and parents. There are well over 100 extended family members still in Afghanistan, but it’s not clear how many of them want to leave the country, the officials said.” Kahl’s new memo demonstrates, according to the unnamed defense official that NBC quotes, “a more deliberate effort at the DOD level” to get these people out. “There is an increased desire to make sure that as we make this push that we have every situation accounted for.”

However, even as this new effort is being made, “the Pentagon does not have a good accounting of how many DOD civilians still have immediate family members in Afghanistan, the officials said.”

That’s inexcusable, as these people are severely threatened. Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas) wrote to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin: “Over the past month, I have been contacted by hundreds of Texans who are desperately trying to get friends and family members safe out of the country. That includes the family members of several Texans who currently serve in the military. The federal government has turned their backs on them. If we abandon the family members of our service men and women in Afghanistan, they will certainly be slaughtered by the Taliban.”

That’s certainly true, but Biden’s handlers had other priorities. 70,000 Afghan evacuees are already in the U.S., and the total number is expected to exceed 124,000 before long. The foolishness of this, and the howling injustice of prioritizing getting these people out before rescuing all the Americans in the country, is already becoming apparent: one of Biden’s handlers, unnamed in a late October Wall Street Journal report, has admitted that ten of these evacuees have already been detained as risks to national security.

There will be more of that sort of thing. In mid-October, a delegation led by Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) arrived at Doha’s Al Udeid Air Base for a briefing on the efforts to get Americans and our allies out of Afghanistan. The briefing, said Issa, was “shocking to a lot of members.” It was shocking because the lawmakers were told that fully 12,000 of the Afghans who had come to Camp As Sayliyah and then went on to the U.S. had no identification at all. Issa stated: “They came with nothing. No Afghan I.D., no I.D. of any sorts. Those people were all forwarded on to the U.S., and that’s quite an admission. So many people had no I.D. whatsoever and yet find themselves in the United States today based on what they said.”

As terrible as this was, it is was in line with what we already knew. Back on September 1, according to Politico, “a State Department official said in a private briefing to reporters that ‘the majority’ of special immigrant visa applicants were left in Afghanistan due in part to the complications of the evacuation, and that he and his team are ‘haunted’ by the evacuees the U.S. could not get out by the Aug. 31 deadline.”

So now it is the second week of November, and there are still Americans trapped in Afghanistan, while there are hundreds of Afghans, natives of a jihadi hotspot, who have walked off bases and are now somewhere in the United States, but no one knows where. What’s more, there are thousands of others who are here or on their way here, about whom we know absolutely nothing. Could they be jihad terrorists? We’re likely to find out eventually.

And as this fiasco is unfolding, Biden’s handlers are only now starting to get to work on getting the remaining Americans out of Afghanistan. If there weren’t so much other evidence of the malevolence and incompetence of this administration, all this might actually be shocking.

The Navy can’t put out a fire on a carrier – USS Bonhomme Richard – or avoid running submarines aground on undersea mountains –
USS Connecticut – but it can name a ship after a homosexual activist and advocate of the People’s Temple and the murderous Jim Jones, who preyed on teenage runaways, and find a transvestite homosexual veteran to christen it.

Pray that when – not if, with BS like this, when – the time comes that China decides to take Taiwan, that they can take care of themselves because we’re certainly not going to be much, if any, help.

Observation O’ The Day
You can either train on combat tactics or teach gender inclusivity/critical race theory.
And this was the Marine Corps, advertised as the elite U.S. combat infantry.
So, consider this; If nothing changes and one day everything ever does goes south and the goobermint believes they can use the military against us, we just might have a solid chance at victory.

 

Royal Marines commandos force US troops into a humiliating surrender just days into mass training exercise in Mojave desert

British forces took part in a five-day mock battle at the US Marine Corps Twentynine Palms base in southern California, one of the largest military training areas in the world, and achieved a decisive victory against their American counterparts.

The Royal Marines, along with allied forces from Canada, the Netherlands and the UAE, destroyed or rendered inoperable nearly every US asset and finished the exercise holding more than 65 per cent of the training area, after beginning with less than 20 per cent.

Combatants used paintball-style training ammunition, which fires with reduced pressure and velocity, along with hi-tech simulators for heavier firepower like artillery, and live ammo on expansive ranges.

Seeing no opportunity for victory, American combatants asked for the exercise to be ‘reset’ halfway through the five-day exercise, having taken significant casualties from British commandos.

12,000 Air Force Personnel, Including Elite Pilots, Have Rejected Vax Order as Tuesday Deadline Looms

The deadline is looming for US Air Force personnel to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 and many thousands are still refusing, according to the latest reports. For many at this point, it’s also too late to receive both jabs by the next Tuesday, Nov. 2 deadline. Other branches like the Navy have deadlines coming later in November, but the Air Force will be the first test case as it set the earliest deadline.

The Washington Post is now at the end of the week reporting that up to 12,000 Air Force personnel are still declining the vaccine, causing alarm within the top chain of command who are worried it will impact force readiness, particularly as some forces in key positions face discharge over their vax refusal. “The fact that it’s a choice leading to potential loss to readiness is striking,” a military policy analyst with the Center for a New American Security Katherine L. Kuzminski, told the Post.

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US Army commissions 300-kW, target-tracking laser weapon.

General Atomics and Boeing have won a US Army contract to prototype their most powerful distributed-gain laser weapon to date: a groundbreaking 300-kW, solid-state, target-tracking beast that could fry enemy missiles and aircraft out of the air.

The enormous speed advantage of a hypersonic missile means a lot less when you can shoot it down with an energy beam traveling at the speed of light. If a tracking system can keep it pointed in the right direction – which shouldn’t be too hard with a target traveling in a straight line, no matter how fast – a powerful laser can cause crippling damage, melting metal surfaces to play havoc with aerodynamics, and destroying onboard electronics.

Just look what Lockheed Martin’s 30-kW optical fiber laser did to the hood and engine of a truck within a couple of seconds, during a public demonstration back in 2015:

The laser disabled the engine and drivetrain of a small truck

The laser disabled the engine and drivetrain

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May be just me, but it appears everybody is pointing their fingers at everybody else trying to throw them ‘under the bus’.

Comment O’ The Day:
As soon as Nancy Pelosi contacted General Milley about nuclear weapon procedures, he should have politely referred her to the Secretary of Defense and immediately reported the call to his boss,[actually that’s the President, and then to ] the SecDef. 

Because of civilian control over the military, the decision to employ WMDs is a political decision… the military carries out the orders. Therefore, Pelosi as a civilian should only be talking to DoD civilians about defense procedures.

She was WAY out of line making the call, and Milley was derelict in answering her questions.

Milley Details Nancy Pelosi’s Attempt to Take Over the Chain-of-Command

During his opening statement in front of the Senate Armed Services Committee Tuesday morning, General Mark Milley denied inappropriate phone calls with the Chinese military and tried to reassure Americans he is dedicated to civilian control of the military.

“I am specifically directed to communicate with the Chinese. These military to military communications at the highest level are critical to the security of the United States,” Milley said. “My loyalty to this Nation, its people, and the Constitution hasn’t changed, and will never change, as long as I have a breath to give. My loyalty is absolute, and I will not turn my back on the fallen.”

“I firmly believe in civilian control of the military,” he continued.

Milley also stressed that he does not believe President Donald Trump planned to attack the Chinese in the final days of his presidency.

In his remarks, Milley also addressed a phone call from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on January 8, 2021, in which she pressed him about the process to launch a nuclear weapon. Milley says he informed her that while launching such a weapon requires multiple people in the chain of command, the president is the sole authority to launch an attack.

“Speaker of the House Pelosi called me to inquire about the president’s ability to launch nuclear weapons. I sought to assure her that nuclear launch is governed by a very specific and deliberate process. She was concerned and made various personal references characterizing the president [President Trump]. I explained to her the president is the sole nuclear launch authority and he doesn’t launch them alone and that I am not qualified to determine the mental health of the President of the United States,” Milley said. “There are processes, protocols and procedures in place and I repeatedly assured her there was no chance of an illegal, unauthorized or accidental launch. By presidential directive, and Secretary of Defense directive, the chairman is part of the process to ensure the president is fully informed when determining the use of the world’s deadliest weapons. By law, I’m not in the chain of command and I know that. However, by presidential directive and DOD instruction, I am in the chain of communication to fulfill my legal, statutory role as the president’s primary military advisor.”

Milley said after the call from Pelosi, he convened a meeting with his staff to go through the process and procedures. He also told Acting Secretary of Defense Mark Miller about Pelosi’s call.

“At no time was I trying to change or influence the process, usurp authority or insert myself in the chain-of-command,” Milley said.

When I was stationed in Germany, our smallarms shop was the support shop for 3rd COSCOM’s headquarters. When Beretta came out with the large headed hammer pin and slotted rail slide as a fix for the slide breaks noted in early U.S. production, I got the job to swap them out on the COSCOM commander’s pistol. To be honest, except for the special serial number series, I could tell no difference from any other issue M9 I had seen.

EXCLUSIVE: RARE U.S. ARMY ISSUE GENERAL OFFICER BERETTA UP FOR GRABS

Typically, the only way to get one of the coveted and extremely rare General Officer pistols is to become a general in the U.S. military. About that…

The Army’s General Officer Pistol program dates back to at least 1972, when the service’s Rock Island Arsenal began producing M15 pistols for general officers, a gun that led to the now-popular Officer series of M1911s. Marked with serial numbers prefixed with the letters “GO,” the program switched to issuing M9 Berettas in the 1980s and, in 2018 in a story covered previously by Guns.com, to Sig Sauer M18 GO models.

Other than the special serial number range, GO models are issued for operational use and are essentially no different from standard-issue pistols.

According to U.S. law, at the end of their service, generals can purchase their issued pistols, which are unfathomably rare, museum-worthy collectibles if not retained by the family. As noted by the Army, famed WWII Gens. Omar N. Bradley, George S. Patton, and Dwight D. Eisenhower all purchased their guns when they left the military

A rarity, the General Officer M9 in the Guns.com Vault was obtained directly from a retired U.S. Army general who had more than thirty years of successful military experience spanning the Cold War and Desert Storm, including more than five years with the famed 82d Airborne Division.

General Officer M9 Beretta 9mm pistol
Its serial number, GO-00787, sets it apart from standard martial M9s or guns produced for the consumer market. (Photo: April Robinson/Guns.com)

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BARR: Milley And Biden Together Have Crossed A Dangerous Constitutional Line

Recently disclosed actions by Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Mark Milley highlight a serious fraying of the civilian-military structure at the very core of our constitutional republic and also reveal a deep public misunderstanding of that relationship. Combined, these factors pose a danger the likes of which the country has not witnessed in modern times, if ever.

Our Constitution on this point is crystal clear. There is one commander-in-chief, and that person is the President of the United States. The decision to place the elected civilian leader of our country at the apex of the country’s armed forces was purposeful as a means of protecting the citizenry and the states from an overly-powerful national army that could undermine the constitutional order the Framers had so carefully constructed. Without this safeguard, the Constitution likely would not have been ratified in 1788.

Notwithstanding this constitutional clarity on military matters, inter-service rivalries and bureaucratic shenanigans have cropped up throughout our history. In modern times, these practical problems led Congress to pass two major reorganizations of the military command structure.

The first of these was the National Security Act of 1947, which clarified the chain of command from the president on down by establishing the Department of Defense headed by a cabinet-level Secretary.

Then, in 1986 to address problems that hampered the conduct of the Vietnam conflict, and serious inter-service rivalries thereafter, Congress passed the Goldwater-Nichols Act. This law further clarified the lines of authority for military decision making, and made absolutely clear that the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff had no operational control or command over any military units or individuals. His responsibility is advisory only — to the president, the secretary of defense and the National Security Council.

Any action by the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs to make or direct operational, military decisions is directly contrary to the law; in a word, unlawful.

Yet, to Milley and those who support him, which apparently includes Democrat leaders on Capitol Hill, many major journalists and even President Biden himself, these legal restrictions are trumped by their partisan hatred of Donald Trump. Thus, in the days immediately preceding the November 3, 2020 election, and continuing through Biden’s inauguration the following January, Milley took it upon himself to brazenly violate Article II of the Constitution, the National Security Act, the Goldwater-Nichols Act and his own oath of office.

Just days before the 2020 election, reflecting his personal concerns that President Trump’s behavior might cause China’s military to respond adversely, Milley apparently called his counterpart at the Chinese People’s Liberation Army to assure him that he – Milley – would make sure no such actions by the United States took place.

Subsequently, according to published accounts that Milley has not denied, in early January he directed that subordinate officers (over who Milley has no lawful command authority) inform him if they became aware of any orders with which Milley might disagree that concerned nuclear weapons decisions by Trump, presumably so he could countermand them.

By thus placing himself directly between the president and the Secretary of Defense, which is the person to whom the president issues operational commands as commander-in-chief, Gen. Milley was acting unlawfully.

Milley has not expanded on these allegations, beyond suggesting they were approved by the Secretary of Defense (which they were not) and that they reflected historical precedent (which they do not). Milley is scheduled to testify on Capitol Hill next week, but severe damage to the constitutional fabric of our country already has resulted.

In the immediate aftermath of these startling revelations, Biden not only declined to fire Milley, but actually expressed “confidence” in him.

A president who exhibits so little regard for the constitutional authority of the office he holds, not only demeans and undercuts his own presidency, but by his actions encourage further and possibly even more dangerous erosion of presidential authority by military leaders who may harbor policy disagreements with Biden’s successors. Journalists who deem such gross insubordination as practiced by Milley to be acceptable because it was predicated on action against Trump, exacerbate the constitutional divide.

Milley and Biden have opened a can of constitutional worms that truly will plague future presidents of both major political parties.

Biden’s Drone War in Afghanistan Seems to Be Killing More Civilians Than Terrorists.

“On Friday, the Pentagon admitted that a drone strike in Kabul last month killed 10 civilians, not ISIS-K terrorists, as was originally claimed.”

“This strike was taken in the earnest belief that it would prevent an imminent threat to our forces and the evacuees at the airport, but it was a mistake and I offer my sincere apology,” Gen. Kenneth F. McKenzie of Central Command said.

McKenzie took responsibility “for this strike and this tragic outcome.”

I guess the buck doesn’t stop with Biden.

The Biden administration had originally claimed that at least one ISIS-K terrorist had been killed in the strike, but an investigation proved that wasn’t the case. All those killed were civilians.

Drone strikes were popular with Barack Obama for the limited risk to U.S. troops, but despite their incredible accuracy from the air, drone strikes often result in collateral damage. The Obama administration claimed in the summer of 2016 that Obama’s drone attacks resulted in as many as 116 civilian deaths, but human rights groups said the number was likely closer to 1,100.

In the wake of Biden’s botched withdrawal from Afghanistan, some have predicted that the United States will have to re-invade Afghanistan to protect our country. Biden clearly thinks that an Obama-style drone war will prevent that, but like Obama’s drone war, Biden’s is resulting in the deaths of innocent Afghans. Last month, another drone strike reportedly resulted in the deaths of nine members of a single family, including six children.

After originally claiming a victorious strike, the Biden administration curiously refused to identify who was killed—prompting speculation that the Biden administration was simply trying to create good news to distract from the quagmire they’d created.

Given all the reports of civilians killed in Biden’s drone strikes, one has to wonder if the Biden administration has killed more innocents than ISIS-K terrorists. I’m not sure, but something tells me it’s the former.

Mark Milley, Jen Griffin Interview Goes Pear-shaped

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Mark Milley, granted an interview to Jennifer Griffin of Fox News Channel. Maybe he thought he would find a sympathetic ear. Maybe Griffin just let Milley talk and he hung himself with his words. Milley confirmed in the interview that he doesn’t give a spent shell about our military personnel, our national reputation, or his honor.

On his chest, Mark Milley wears an enormous amount of “fruit salad”. Fruit salad is military slang for the amount of ribbons, medals and devices on the dress uniform. With that many colorful ribbons, the public would be led to believe that Milley is possessed of intestinal fortitude. Maybe when faced with bullets on foreign soil, he is. He has proven time and again that against the vipers in the swamp that is Washington, D.C., he sinks like a leaky canoe.

He walked across Lafayette Square, with President Trump, to the Church damaged by BLM and Antifa and apologized for it, unnecessarily. Milley also talked about a “Reichstag moment”, according to a book by two Washington Post staffers:

“This is a Reichstag moment,” Milley told aides, according to the book. “The gospel of the Führer.” …
If someone wanted to seize control, Milley thought, they would need to gain sway over the FBI, the CIA and the Defense Department, where Trump had already installed staunch allies. “They may try, but they’re not going to f—ing succeed,” he told some of his closest deputies, the book says.

Worse than that, Mark Milley denigrated all of our military personnel with his “white rage” testimony. Since Joe Biden became the Oval Office resident, Milley has gone along with every thing President Asterisk wanted. No push backs. No leaks. No plotting. No throwing his rank on the desk and saying, “Not on my watch.”

In the last couple days, our Victory Girls Blog writers have told you about child brides being imported into the United States, Americans held hostage in Afghanistan, and the brave Afghan Special Forces still fighting after our Pentagon abandoned them.

Apparently, nowhere in Milley’s military education did they cover the First Law of Holes. Mark Milley just keeps digging and digging. And, Jennifer Griffin handed him the shovel in her interview. Griffin interviewed Milley at Ramstein Air Base where the Afghan refugees are being vetted in a tent city built by the U.S..

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US Navy helicopter crashes off San Diego coast, 1 rescued, 5 missing

A search-and-rescue operation was underway Tuesday night off the coast of San Diego for five crewmembers after the crash of an MH-60S helicopter from the USS Abraham Lincoln, a Nimitz-class aircraft carrier about 60 nautical miles from shore, according to a report.

The helicopter was “conducting routine flight operations,” and crashed at about 4:30 p.m., Fox 5 San Diego reported. The Navy did not immediately respond to an email from Fox News. The U.S. Pacific Fleet said in a statement one crewmember was rescued.

Last US troops have departed Afghanistan

The Pentagon announced Monday that all U.S. troops have departed Afghanistan. The final C-17 carrying service members lifted off from the Kabul airport at 3:29 pm U.S. Eastern Time.

The removal of U.S. troops meets the Aug. 31 deadline the Biden administration agreed to with the Taliban, officially drawing the country’s longest-ever conflict to an end.

 

Pentagon Releases Names of 13 U.S. Service Members Who Lost Their Lives in Afghanistan Terrorist Attack

The Department of Defense announced today the deaths of 13 service members who were supporting Operation Freedom’s Sentinel. They died Aug. 26, 2021, as the result of an enemy attack while supporting non-combatant evacuation operations in Kabul, Afghanistan. The incident is under investigation.

For the Marine Corps, the deceased are:

Marine Corps Staff Sgt. Darin T. Hoover, 31, of Salt Lake City, Utah.

Marine Corps Sgt. Johanny Rosariopichardo, 25, of Lawrence, Massachusetts.

Marine Corps Sgt. Nicole L. Gee, 23, of Sacramento, California.

Marine Corps Cpl. Hunter Lopez, 22, of Indio, California.

Marine Corps Cpl. Daegan W. Page, 23, of Omaha, Nebraska.

Marine Corps Cpl. Humberto A. Sanchez, 22, of Logansport, Indiana.

Marine Corps Lance Cpl. David L. Espinoza, 20, of Rio Bravo, Texas.

Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Jared M. Schmitz, 20, of St. Charles, Missouri.

Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Rylee J. McCollum, 20, of Jackson, Wyoming.

Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Dylan R. Merola, 20, of Rancho Cucamonga, California.

Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Kareem M. Nikoui, 20, of Norco, California.

Staff Sergeant Darin T. Hoover, Cpl. Hunter Lopez, Cpl. Daegan W. Page, Cpl. Humberto A. Sanchez, Lance Cpl. Jared M. Schmitz, Lance Cpl. David L. Espinoza, Lance Cpl. Rylee J. McCollum, Lance Cpl. Dylan R. Merola, and Lance Cpl. Kareem M. Nikoui were assigned to 2nd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, I Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Pendleton, California. For more information, media may contact IMEFCOMMSTRAT@USMC.MIL.

Sgt. Nicole L. Gee was assigned to Combat Logistics Battalion 24, 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit, II Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Lejeune, North Carolina. For more information, media may contact IIMEFCOMMSTRAT@USMC.MIL.

Sgt. Johanny Rosariopichardo was assigned to 5th Marine Expeditionary Brigade, Naval Support Activity Bahrain. For more information, media may contact MARCENTCOMMSTRAT@USMC.MIL.

For the Navy, the deceased is:

Navy Hospitalman Maxton W. Soviak, 22, of Berlin Heights, Ohio.

Hospitalman Maxton W. Soviak was assigned to 1st Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, Camp Pendleton, California. For more information on Hospitalman Soviak, media may contact the U.S. Navy Office of Information at PTGN_CHINFONEWSDESK@navy.mil.

For the Army, the deceased is:

Army Staff Sgt. Ryan C. Knauss, 23, of Corryton, Tennessee.

Staff Sgt. Ryan C. Knauss was assigned to 9th PSYOP Battalion, 8th PSYOP Group, Ft. Bragg, North Carolina. For more information on Staff Sgt. Knauss, members of the media may contact Maj. Dan Lessard, Public Affairs Officer, 1st Special Forces Command, Fort Bragg, North Carolina, at 910-908-3947 or by email at: daniel.j.lessard.mil@socom.mil.

 

 

So, we abandoned Bagram air base because SloJoe wanted the Kabul embassy secured with no additional troops brought into the country.
Not because of Trump.
And apparently General Milley didn’t have the intestinal fortitude to ‘advise’ SloJoe about the risks from this that we’ve all seen since Bagram was abandoned.

Opinions from some people with a lot of military experience:

Remember 2010? While the Obama admin was in the process of pissing away the win in Iraq, and giving that place to the Iranians, predictably precipitating the rise both Iran and ISIS, Biden was given the job of deciding what to do with Afghanistan.

Afghanistan was the war the lefties liked. But only to beat up on Iraq. They said all the resources should go to Afghanistan.

But when Petraeus put forward a surge/anti-corruption reform plan for Afghanistan, Biden, directed to look at that, dithered for six months. Or maybe it was nine, I forget. Then he cut the request in half.

Trump had the Taliban at the table. Biden dropped the ball on that.

Trump would not be leaving the people who helped us to be slaughtered by the Taliban.

It’s going to be a blood bath, and all that blood is on Biden’s hands. But whoever is actually running the Biden admin is shrugging about that. All they care about is it will make Biden look like shit.

Their lapdogs in the media will cast it as Bush and Trump’s fault, though. They’ll say Biden just inherited it. So they aren’t too worried about it

They’ll also wring hands and point fingers at their pals in the intelligence community, throw some blame that way.

Hey, in fairness, maybe if those guys hadn’t been so busy cooking up bs vs Trump the last four years …
There’ll be plenty of blame to go around. Go being the operative word.

Locals would have be crazy to cooperate with us in hostile zones, given our track record. That’s like marrying a wifebeater. Going on a carefree roadtrip with a serial killer.

It’s a debacle. But a sure sign that it won’t go well for Biden is that the military brass have already thrown him under the bus with “he didn’t take our advice” leaks.

Multiple things can be true at once:

The decision to stay in AfPak 20 years ago (as compared to punishing those who perpetrated 9/11) was a bad one. This is the first and hardest leason.

Having made it, the Powell Doctrine—“you break it you buy it”—only applies as long as there’s political will.

Afghans cannot be governed the same way as Western traditions hold as a model. Whatever way works isn’t that.

Pretending it can does not help. The mass delusion of everyone thinking it could, the “clap harder if you believe in fairies” model of wishcasting that has dominated the mission there, wasn’t as deadly as Ypres, but is just as dangerous.

The last twenty years show the US intelligence and military communities are led by no one you’d want there. The last year, especially.

Given the decision to stay, having attempted to help the Afghan peoples build a working government and army, at some point the Powell Doctrine expires. A decade was probably enough. I will stipulate “at some point” and leave it there.

So, then, two things can simultaneously be true in the above:

Americans are tired of forever wars, and

Americans assumed that the exit would look less like a complete hiding and defeat in detail, given the assurances to the contrary they heard from those in charge.

Ok, three: it IS a complete hiding and defeat in detail, with the news of mass murder and the usual Taliban slavery reinstated. Plus bonus gifts of an entire war machine given to seventh century mass murderers.

Then, on to the bonus round of things that are true:

There have not been US official casualties for over 17 months in theatre. That’s not to say operators didn’t eat it or that the Vietnamization repeat, echoes of 1971-75, didn’t play out horrifyingly fast. Not even four months, let alone four years. That there was, that it happened exactly that way, shows the mass failure of the USG and the Afghani power structure.

The Taliban didn’t even have to use a mass tank attack to make the Afghan “government” fall, a la Saigon. Does that mean the US should have kept propping up the wretched and corrupt Afghan government forever? I say “no”. Let’s say our lesson is: “insurgencies win when no one opposes them”, for now. What else we might learn from all this blood and treasure, I don’t know yet. But that, at least.

The Taliban’s new buddies are the ChiComs. Belt and Road. Whether they will fare better in the Graveyard of Empires than anyone else in the last 200 years is yet to be determined. But they sure are going to look to make a buck there.

As Africa, the West Pacific, and much of the ME show, the ChiComs don’t have to be world cops. World Ferengi works just fine for them. As HK, the Spratlys and Uighurs show, they don’t much care what anyone thinks or says.

The free people of Taiwan now know the US guarantees aren’t enough. Whether they remain free through the end of the year is yet to be seen.

And, most ominously for anyone who thinks the USG should do better, we know one very troubling thing: those who are willing to fight and die for our freedom will think at least one more time before they enlist.

Quote O’ The Day:

He should have spent more time fighting the taliban and less time fighting Tucker Carlson.

Milley moves up terror threat to US after Taliban’s gains in Afghanistan.

The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff told senators on Sunday that he will move up the assessment of how soon terror groups like al-Qaeda could reform in Afghanistan in the wake of the Taliban’s swift takeover of the war-torn nation, according to a report.

During a ​briefing for a bipartisan group of lawmakers, Gen. Mark Milley was asked by Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) if he and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin would revise an assessment to Congress in June that there is a “medium” risk of terrorist organizations reconstituting in Afghanistan in less than two years.

​”Yes,” Milley replied, adding that he would be happy to brief the senators further in a classified setting, Axios reported, citing three sources on the phone call.

The US and its allies launched the war in Afghanistan in October 2001 because the Taliban provided al-Qaeda support and safe harbor while the terror group planned the 9/11 attacks.

The briefing by Milley, Austin and Secretary of State Antony Blinken came amid rapid developments in Afghanistan.

The US military used helicopters to ferry diplomats and staffers from the US Embassy in Kabul after the Taliban entered the capital city on Sunday, catching the Biden administration flat-footed with their dizzying advance.

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The aircraft based there?
U.S. aircraft we provided to the Afghan air force.

B-52 bombers head to Afghanistan

American B-52H bombers are understood to be conducting an attack on the largest Afghan air force base in order to destroy the aircraft based there.

The aircraft are reportedly heading towards toward Mazar-e-Sharif.

The BBC report here that Taliban fighters recently captured Mazar-e-Sharif, the last major city in northern Afghanistan which was still under government control.

“The fall of the traditional anti-Taliban bastion marked a major gain for the militants, who have been advancing at speed as US-led forces withdraw.President Ashraf Ghani travelled to the city just days ago to rally troops. The Taliban are now in control of much of the country and are edging closer to the capital Kabul.

More than a quarter of a million people have been displaced by the violence, and many have headed to Kabul in hopes of finding safety. Women in areas captured by the Taliban have described being forced to wear burkas and the militants are also reported to have beaten and lashed people for breaking social rules.”

Countries are scrambling to evacuate their citizens, including the UK.

Marines Prepare to Evacuate Kabul Embassy ahead of Possible Taliban Assault.

The Pentagon is preparing for a possible evacuation of the U.S. embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan amid fears that the Taliban may overrun the compound in the coming days, the New York Times reported Thursday.

As the militant organization makes significant gains, capturing ten provincial capitals across the country, the State Department is expected to reduce embassy staff and is considering relocating its outpost to the Kabul airport, a number of sources told CNN. Meanwhile, the Pentagon is moving marines into position to cover the evacuation of staff as intelligence reports suggest the Taliban may launch an assault within 30 days, the Times reported.

The Western diplomatic source told CNN that temporarily moving the U.S. embassy to Hamid Karzai International Airport is “the most probable” course of action. A small staff will reportedly remain at the Kabul embassy while the rest are shifted away from the city center.

In addition, the U.S. military is reportedly trying to evacuate ‘thousands’ of American citizens and Afghan interpreters from the capital. Military transport planes are expected to arrive at the airport to accommodate those fleeing. The embassy sent an emergency notice Thursday urging Americans to “leave Afghanistan immediately using available commercial flight options,” the Times reported.

The Taliban’s advancements come as U.S. forces have formally withdrawn from the war-torn territory at the direction of President Biden. At a press conference Wednesday, Biden doubled down in defense of his decision to remove U.S. troops from Afghanistan amid the Taliban’s resurgence. He confirmed that the U.S. would continue to send air support and food supplies to help the Afghan army fight the battles against the Taliban enemy but would refrain from directly intervening.

On Thursday, Taliban fighters invaded the city of Ghazni, which is situated about 90 miles south of Kabul, then shortly after continued the offensive into Kandahar, Afghanistan’s second-largest city. The insurgents also reportedly stormed the western city of Herat. A recent U.S. intelligence assessment warns that the Taliban could take over Kabul in the next 3o to 60 days and gain full control of the nation in just months, according to reports.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken reportedly had conversations with Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and national security adviser Jake Sullivan recently to discuss strategy to address the security crisis in Afghanistan, a source familiar with the discussions told CNN.