Afghanistan
May 8, 2022 — John Hinderaker
International attention has been focused on Ukraine since Russia’s invasion of that country. Meanwhile, events in the Middle East have been depressingly true to form. In Israel, at least 19 Israelis have been killed in attacks by Palestinians since the middle of March. The attacks appear to be mostly uncoordinated, but are being inspired and cheered on by Hamas. As a result, the London Times reports that Israel is contemplating
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February 9, 2022 — Paul Mirengoff
According to the sworn testimony of military commanders involved in the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, senior White House and State Department officials failed to grasp the Taliban’s steady advance on Afghanistan’s capital and resisted efforts by U.S. military leaders to prepare the evacuation of embassy personnel and Afghan allies weeks before Kabul’s fall. The result was the perilous, chaotic, and ultimately deadly withdrawal that stunned America. This indictment is contained
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February 2, 2022 — Paul Mirengoff
That’s the title of a long article in The Atlantic by George Packer about the Biden administration’s handling of the withdrawal from Afghanistan. Even if you’re already as disgusted as I am by the betrayal — Donald Trump’s decision to turn over the whole country to the Taliban and, especially, Biden’s scandalous handling of the pullout — the article is well worth reading in full. It should be required reading
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November 15, 2021 — Paul Mirengoff
Since Joe Biden took office, it’s been one bad thing after another on the domestic front. A surge in coronavirus cases and deaths (even with the vaccine), a supply chain crisis, runaway inflation, rising violent crime, etc. There have also been a series of setbacks internationally, and these are directly attributable to Biden. The debacle in Afghanistan was the worst and most important one. It pretty much settled the question,
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October 27, 2021 — John Hinderaker
One thing about news stories that reflect badly on Democrats: they generally disappear from the news quickly, and without leaving a trace. Like our departure from Afghanistan, an epic failure on the part of the Biden administration that resulted in 13 dead Americans (that we know of), hundreds of Americans still marooned in Afghanistan–assuming they are all still alive–and many thousands of Afghans, mostly unknown, in the U.S. or on
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October 1, 2021 — John Hinderaker
Rasmussen Reports asked 1,000 likely voters these questions: 1* In a congressional hearing this week, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Mark Milley, testified that his recommendation was to keep 2,500 U.S. troops in Afghanistan. Would that have been better than a complete U.S. troop withdrawal? 2* In an interview last month, President Joe Biden denied that his advisers recommended keeping 2,500 troops in Afghanistan, which is
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September 29, 2021 — Scott Johnson
In an interview with ABC’s George Stephanopoulos last month, President Biden denied ever having received military advice to maintain 2,500 troops in Afghanistan — not that he recalled, anyway. The generals who testified before the Senate Armed Services Committee yesterday wanted it to be known that the debacle in Afghanistan was not their fault. It was Biden’s. They had recommended the maintenance of 2,500 troops in the interest of stability.
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September 28, 2021 — Paul Mirengoff
The Senate Armed Services is conducting a hearing today into Joe Biden’s Afghanistan fiasco. I’ve been tied up with other business and therefore unable to watch the proceedings. Trying to catch up on what has transpired, I came across this piece in Politico. It demonstrates that Biden is either (1) lying about what generals recommended to him about withdrawing from Afghanistan or (2) lacks a good enough memory to serve
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September 28, 2021 — Scott Johnson
We have followed the fate of Marine Lt. Col. Stuart Scheller since he posted his video on Facebook in late August seeking military accountability for our national humiliation in Afghanistan. Task & Purpose reports that Col. Scheller is held in the brig. According to the Task & Purpose story, the Marines have now issued the following statement confirming its report: “Lt. Col. Stuart Scheller Jr. is currently in pre-trial confinement
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September 21, 2021 — Paul Mirengoff
Unintentional killings of innocent civilians are an unfortunate but inevitable occurrence in sustained wars. The wars associated with our attempt to curb terrorism seem particularly prone to producing such killings by American forces. I don’t think there’s any doubt that the wars fought under Presidents Bush (43) and Obama resulted in U.S. forces unintentionally killing innocent civilians. This might well have been the case under President Trump too, despite the
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September 21, 2021 — Scott Johnson
Yesterday the Hoover Institution posted Peter Robinson’s Uncommon Knowledge episode A Lost War: A Conversation with Victor Davis Hanson and H. R. McMaster on Afghanistan’s Past, Present, and Future. Victor is the prominent classicist and military historian. He is also our friend. McMaster is a military historian in his own right, a retired Army lieutenant general who served in the Gulf War, Operation Enduring Freedom, and Operation Iraqi Freedom. Most
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September 20, 2021 — Scott Johnson
Associated Press reporters Bernard Condon and Julie Watson have a compelling story on Americans left behind in Afghanistan: “Fearful US residents in Afghanistan hiding out from Taliban.” The story belies the Biden party line about the extraordinary success of our departure in disgrace from Afghanistan. It even belies the line about unceasing efforts on their behalf (“A U.S. State Department official contacted [a green card-holding couple] several days ago to
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September 18, 2021 — Scott Johnson
On September 1 Joint Chiefs Chairman Mark Milley pronounced the August 29 drone strike in Kabul “a righteous strike.” The strike allegedly prevented a horrendous ISIS attack. The Biden administration touted the drone strike as proof of our so-called “over the horizon” capability to deal with national security threats in Afghanistan following our departure in disgrace. On September 10 the New York Times reported that the evidence suggested “no ISIS
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September 17, 2021 — John Hinderaker
On August 29, military sources claimed that a U.S. drone had taken out an ISIS suicide bomber en route to the Kabul airport: American forces launched a drone strike in Kabul on Sunday that killed a suicide car bomber suspected of preparing to attack the airport, U.S. officials said, as the United States nears the end of its military presence in the Afghan capital. *** “We know that there were
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September 17, 2021 — Scott Johnson
Transcript and video of the State Department’s September 15 press briefing are posted here. This exchange with department spokesman Ned Price is worthy of note: QUESTION: I wanted to ask if there have been any movement on the flights out of Mazar. A week ago [Secretary of State Antony Blinken] said, quote, “Those flights need to move.” And also the Secretary had said State would be coordinating with veterans groups
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September 15, 2021 — Paul Mirengoff
Scott has provided video of the exchanges between Sec. Antony Blinken and several Republican Senators yesterday during a hearing on the Afghanistan fiasco. He has done a great service to those of us unwilling to watch Blinken in full. All of the clips Scott presented are worth watching. In this post, I want to focus on Sen. Rob Portman’s comments (the video is below). Portman presented the best data made
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September 15, 2021 — Scott Johnson
Following up on his remote appearance before the House Foreign Affairs Committee on Tuesday, Secretary of State Antony Blinken appeared before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in person yesterday. The State Department has posted the text and video of his opening statement here. The song remains the same. Blinken continues to fire blanks. However, some of the senators had live ammo. Blinken faced a barrage of critical questions and
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