Civic Register
| 8.16.21
Taliban Takes Kabul: U.S. Embassy Shuttered, Afghans Crowd Airport Hoping for Evacuation
How do you feel about the situation in Afghanistan?
UPDATE 8/16/21
- As of Monday morning, evacuation flights out of Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul are paused temporarily as NATO personnel attempt to secure the facility. Many Afghans have been lining the tarmac, with some clambering onto military transport jets as they taxi down the runway.
- Two Afghans fell to their deaths after trying to cling to the landing gear after takeoff, while another was found crushed to death in the landing gear bay.
- There are preliminary reports that one U.S. servicemember has been injured at the airport, and that American military personnel shot and killed two Afghans who had opened fire on the crowd.
- An additional battalion of 1,000 paratroopers from the 82nd Airborne Division’s brigade combat team is being diverted from Kuwait to help secure the Kabul airport. That will bring the total number of U.S. military personnel at the airport to near 7,000 once they all arrive.
- On the streets of Kabul, there are reports that the Taliban are starting to go house-to-house searching for people who worked with the U.S. or served in the Afghan security forces.
The original article appears below.
What’s the story?
- The Taliban completed its bid to retake Afghanistan over the weekend by seizing the nation’s capital, Kabul, prompting the country’s president to flee into exile and the U.S. and other Western nations to evacuate their embassies while rushing military assets to the region to protect their citizens amid the hasty withdrawal.
- The Taliban’s offensive against the Afghan security forces has been underway since the seasonal fighting season began in May but intensified into a blitzkrieg in the last week. As of August 7th, the Taliban had operational control of about two-thirds of Afghanistan’s territory but only one of its provincial capitals, but by August 12th, they controlled at least 12 provincial capitals. By August 15th, 33 of Afghanistan’s 34 provincial capitals were under Taliban control, in addition to Kabul, as resistance by Afghan security forces collapsed.
What’s happening in Kabul?
- Reports emerged early Sunday that Afghan President Ashraf Ghani had fled the country to Tajikistan before traveling to Oman. Ghani announced later that he had fled to prevent further bloodshed by stepping aside for the Taliban, whose occupation of the presidential palace in Kabul was documented by a camera crew from Al Jazeera.
- As of Sunday night U.S. time, NATO forces including roughly 6,000 U.S. troops are on hand to secure the Kabul International Airport. The U.S. Embassy in Kabul was fully evacuated Sunday, with the American flag hauled down and the ambassador among the personnel ferried to the airport by helicopter for evacuation. Embassy staff had begun the process of destroying or removing sensitive documents and technology last week, and a State Dept. spokesperson said that all staff had been moved to the airport.
- The American contingent securing the airport includes the roughly 1,000 military personnel who were already in the country amid the ongoing drawdown; 2,000 Marines and 1,000 Army soldiers who were deployed late last week to keep control of the airport and U.S. Embassy; plus 2,000 paratroopers from the 82nd Airborne Division who were initially slated to serve as part of a quick reaction force stationed in Kuwait but were routed to Kabul as the security situation deteriorated over the weekend.
- About 500 British troops and 500 Turkish troops are also at the airport providing security for it. As of Sunday night U.S. time, the NATO personnel securing the airport reportedly have not engaged in combat with the Taliban, which hasn’t tried to overrun the airport.
- U.S. military transport aircraft, together with those of allies like the United Kingdom, are conducting a “Kabul airlift” of sorts to evacuate personnel from the embassies of the U.S. and other nations, citizens of those countries, and Afghans who worked for those countries as interpreters along with their immediate family members. Many Afghans hoping to evacuate have packed into the tarmac and terminals of the Kabul International Airport, and embassy staff at the airport are processing paperwork for Afghans seeking to come to the U.S. via Special Immigrant Visas (SIVs).
- Of the roughly 18,000 Afghans eligible for SIVs, about 2,000 had arrived in the U.S. as of the last two weeks. The Dept. of Defense is reportedly preparing to bring up to 30,000 Afghan SIVs into the U.S. in the near future, although the number of would-be evacuees including family members is likely much larger as thousands remain in Afghanistan with their family members, where they will face reprisals and possible death if they stay under Taliban rule.
Taliban Surge Surpasses Intelligence Estimates
- The Taliban’s gains in recent weeks have come at a far more rapid pace than U.S. defense and intelligence officials projected earlier this year after the Afghanistan withdrawal was announced this spring, even after accounting for the reduction in U.S. assistance.
- President Joe Biden initially set September 11th as the withdrawal date, pushing back a May date set by former President Donald Trump, but then moved up the withdrawal date to August 31st. The U.S. had about 2,500 troops in Afghanistan who were providing support and training for the Afghans, and operating residual airpower when the drawdown began this spring. By last week, the number of American troops in the country was between 650 and 1,000.
- In April, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) released its annual unclassified report of worldwide threats to U.S. national security which warned at the time:
“The Taliban is likely to make gains on the battlefield, the Afghan Government will struggle to hold the Taliban at bay if the coalition withdraws support. Kabul continues to face setbacks on the battlefield, and the Taliban is confident it can achieve military victory.”
- An analysis by U.S. defense and intelligence officials in late June found that the Afghan government could fall to the Taliban in as little as six months after the U.S. withdrawal was completed. Secretary of State Antony Blinken in June told the House Foreign Affairs Committee the following about a potential Taliban takeover:
“I don’t think it’s going to be something that happens from a Friday to a Monday. I wouldn’t necessarily equate the departure of our forces in July, August, or by early September with some kind of immediate deterioration.”
- President Joe Biden announced that he was moving up the withdrawal timeline from September 11th to August 31st on July 8th and said:
“The likelihood there’s going to be the Taliban overrunning everything and owning the whole country is highly unlikely.”
- At the time, Biden rejected comparisons of the Afghan government’s collapse to the fall of Saigon to the North Vietnamese two years after the conclusion of the Vietnam War, saying the Taliban is “not remotely comparable in terms of capability.” He added:
“There’s going to be no circumstance where you see people being lifted off the roof of a embassy in the ― of the United States from Afghanistan. It is not at all comparable.”
- As of early August, defense and intelligence officials believed that the Taliban may be able to isolate Kabul, within 30 days and could take control of it within 90 days amid the terror group’s rapid gains. By August 14th, that timeline had been compressed further to as little as 72 hours before Kabul’s capitulation, prompting the deployment of additional American troops on top of the 3,000 more than last week, but as of August 15th the Taliban seized control of all of Kabul except for the international airport.
RELATED READING
- Taliban Makes Rapid Gains in Afghanistan, U.S. Sends 3,000 Troops to Secure Drawdown of Embassy Staff (8/12/21)
- Afghans Who Aided U.S. Military Against the Taliban Begin to Arrive in America as Evacuation Ramps Up (7/30/21)
- Biden Moves Up Afghanistan Withdrawal Date From September 11th to August 31st (7/8/21)
- U.S. Military Withdraws From Bagram Air Base as Afghanistan Drawdown Continues (7/3/21)
- Biden Urged to Expedite Visas for Afghan Interpreters Facing Taliban Death Threats or There Will Be ‘Blood on His Hands’ After U.S. Withdrawal (6/22/21)
- Biden Sets September 11th Withdrawal Date From Afghanistan, Drawing Bipartisan Criticism (4/14/21)
— Eric Revell
(Photo Credit: Flight Out of Kabul: DoD photo by Lisa Ferdinando via U.S. Secretary of Defense Flickr / Public Domain | Taliban: SeHi via Flickr / Creative Commons)
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Check out the new docuseries, “Turning Point: 9/11 and the War on Terror” on Netflix. It is an expansive and detailed historical study about HOW & WHY we got to 9/11, with an almost complete history of WHEN & WHY Afghanistan became a focal point for the American government and the American people. This 5 episode series explains so much and in such detail, afterwards you’ll know EXACTLY WHY we left Afghanistan, and WHY we should have left much sooner than August of 2021! It’s ALL there. And it’s ALL the TRUTH! The main idea I got out of it is this: Never go to war without a clear exit strategy that leaves the invaded country better than you found it. NOT doing so will be catastrophic!
Biden could have prevented this chaos by evacuating the U.S. Citizens and refugees who helped us first, then the equipment, then the military; evacuating the bases last, so our people remained safe in taking off and security would have been more secure. The way Biden did it was unforgivable and he should not only be impeached, but court-martialed and hung for treason.
I’m in shock that it’s unfolded this way. I believe Biden did the only thing he could given trump and pompeo’s crappy deal making and forcing his hand with 2 crappy choices. This situation would have been just as bad, or even worse, had trump still been in office. I think it’s honorable that Biden is owning it and taking responsibility - trump wouldn’t have done that. He would have blamed someone else. At any rate I feel safer knowing that Biden is in charge of this situation instead of trump. But I do feel like the world is less stable now and we are at significant risk of terrorism at the hands of the taliban.
I agree with taking our Military out of Afghanistan. But to leave all the innocent people without protection and allowing the Taliban to take control. Biden did you have a plan ? You keep saying it was the right thing getting our people home. It looks more like the Fall of Saigon. You can have all the news conferences to defend your decision. You should have had a plan.
This is the direct action of the traitors in our own government.
We need to do everything we can to bring as many Afghan refugees to the United States as possible. The United States has played a huge role in the current situation in Afghanistan and now it has the responsibility of providing safety for refugees, especially women and girls. We need to put the time-consuming paperwork and bureaucracy aside, and get the refugees to safety and work with other countries to ensure that they are also welcoming people fleeing from the Taliban.
Repost. Expanded. Following new money. The fabled Silk Road has threaded through Afghanistan for centuries. Afghanistan's location, equidistant between the China Sea and the Mediterranean, made it a strategic ancient crossroads. 21st Century Update: A critical pipeline, power lines and fiberoptics are Afghanistan's new threads. See below. Many ways to view this. Some things not being mentioned at all! One honest way begins with the question "Why didn't the Afghan people deal with their own problems over the 20 years and 2.3 Trillion poured into the country?" Another view begins with the question "If the Biden Admin allowed or allows 20,000 Afghans who allege they provided service, what would the anti-immigrationsts and anti-muslims be saying?" For that matter, what will the advocates for Central & South Americans be saying? Yet another view starts with "Since the Afghans did not ask for America to take over, after chasing the Taliban out of Afghanistan or after assassinating Obama bin Laden, why did we stay? Did someone take a poll?" Finally, for further consideration, what do we / will we learn if we carefully follow the money? $2.3 Trillion! Speaking of money, how come the media has completely ignored the oil pipeline? Turkmenistan–Afghanistan–Pakistan–India Pipeline (AKA TAPI) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turkmenistan%E2%80%93Afghanistan%E2%80%93Pakistan%E2%80%93India_Pipeline? "Taliban vows to guarantee safety of trans-Afghanistan gas pipeline | Eurasianet" https://eurasianet.org/taliban-vows-to-guarantee-safety-of-trans-afghanistan-gas-pipeline Turkmenistan to start Afghan TAPI construction in 2021 | Oil & Gas Journal https://www.ogj.com/pipelines-transportation/pipelines/article/14188134/turkmenistan-to-start-afghan-tapi-construction-in-2021 Hightlight "Construction of power transmission and fiberoptic communication lines along TAPI’s route is also nearing completion, according to Turkmenistan’s foreign ministry" Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) Gas Pipeline https://www.hydrocarbons-technology.com/projects/turkmenistan-afghanistan-pakistan-india-tapi-gas-pipeline-project/ Highlight: "Afghanistan is expected to purchase 16% of the gas, which approximates to 5.11bcm. Afghanistan will also receive $400m a year as transit fee for the pipeline." Who gets this the Taliban? Bet they drive a harder bargain?
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Biden promised (lied) that we would NOT see helicopters lifting off the Embassy roof like we saw in Saigon when America tried to get those Vietnamese who had worked with Americans. My late husband felt totally betrayed as we watched in horror but never did, I think another American President would just leave behind our Afghan partners. Three tours in Vietnam that my husband served gave me a perspective of how important those who partner with our military are.... this is just shameful how Biden has handled it. If we get information of the Taliban torturing, holding hostages or killing to those left behind in Biden's plan for all contingencies, there will NOT be another nation who will want to partner with America. But then again, I can't think of a single thing Biden has done that has been good for America. Shameful! Disgraceful! Disgusted with this senile old man just to undo anything Trump did, even if those policies were working!
I feel sad. Sad for all who served in Afghanistan. Sad for the people who live there. Sad for the people who will be left behind. Sad for every female, especially those who got a taste of equality and will now have to surrender their minds, bodies & souls. Sad for the shame this brings to our country. Sad for my husband, who served several tours there. I feel sad.
My family is there , I fell broken
I've been saying since 9/11/2001 that this would end the same way as Vietnam. Not happy, but I've been preparing for this for almost 20 years.
Many people over many years contributed to this day. Biden owns the lack of coherent planning for this worst case exit strategy. It is difficult to sort out just how we were so unprepared for this. It seems that there was a lot of wishful thinking in terms of how the Afghan Military would perform, and a lack of anticipating the very well planned and executed siege across the country by the Taliban. We did not plan for the worse and that seems to be a failure of our National Security apparatus. … … … I am a little surprised, because most of the planning that we have seen from Biden has been very comprehensive, strategic and developed with clear careful forethought. Exiting Afghanistan was the right choice. Not having a better plan for getting those we promised sanctuary was delayed by bureaucratic bickering, and is not looking too promising. Not recognizing the possibility of a lightning siege of the country and not having a better exit strategy for this scenario appears to be a failure.
America needs to do everything it can to evacuate as many people as it can, especially the ones who have assisted the US military during its occupation. That is the least America can do.
We should have just evacuated every female who wanted to leave to the USA. All of them. Infants to grandmas. You will find out how quickly we can crush a culture. Men can’t uphold or maintain a civilization by themselves.
It was always going to be a clusterfuck Went in without an exit strategy
We had time to implement our exit strategy and failed. Why were we not expediting the special visas?
Where did the policy of announcing withdrawal dates first start? It doesn't seem wise to me to give enemies a timeline. Who's great idea was it to release 5,000 Taliban prisoners? It was announced by Trump to withdraw by May. That was a great heads up to the Taliban. The whole situation sucks. It was not good for our service members to have multiple deployments to the region. They sacrificed more than enough.
I was all for leaving Afghanistan long ago UNDER THE RIGHT CIRCUMSTANCES that honored the sacrifices made and prevented the return of a terrorist government. Mr. Trump had a plan to do that which I supported. That is not what this administration is doing. We have capitulated with unconditional surrender and are running with our tail tucked between our legs while leaving the Afghan people to unimaginable horrors. That is the worst of it initially, but then it also sends a horrific message to the world that we will not fight and cannot be depended on. If I was China, I would be pushing the buttons on invading Taiwan pronto with the USA in retreat and a diminished presence in the South China Sea area. Shame. And the costs of this are incalculable. What is wrong with this country?!
Tragic for many of the Afghan people, particularly women, civil rights activists, and pro-democracy Afghans.