USA TODAY
"For Biden, fallout from the Afghanistan withdrawal abroad complicates agenda at home"
Joey Garrison, USA TODAY
22 AUGUST 2021
WASHINGTON – Joe Biden campaigned in last year's presidential race on restoring order and competence in the White House after four years under Donald Trump.
He called his predecessor's behavior and policies "erratic" and framed his own four decades of Washington experience as a return to principle, professionalism and thoughtful decision-making, particularly on foreign policy.
An adult is back in the White House, his supporters often said.
But the president's chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan – followed by finger-pointing from Biden and military leaders – has damaged his pledge of steady leadership at a critical moment as he presses an ambitious domestic agenda with a razor-thin margin in Congress.
Biden looks to win congressional approval in the coming weeks for his $1 trillion infrastructure plan and a $3.5 trillion budget proposal packed with liberal priorities ranging from Medicare expansion to subsidized child care.
Biden has perhaps less political capital than at any other time in his presidency.
Even before the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan, his approval ratings had begun slipping below 50% in multiple polls – an important marker historically, but especially before next year's midterms when Democrats will try to retain control of Congress.
"This thing politically, it's bad now," Mike Murphy, a longtime GOP strategist who backed Biden in the election, said last week on his podcast with David Axelrod and Robert Gibbs, former aides in President Barack Obama's administration.
“This is the guy who ran on, ‘I've been around foreign policy for 45 years.'"
"'I know what to do.’”
Murphy called the scenes of Afghans clinging to U.S. aircraft "the Jimmy Carter helicopter and Benghazi images on steroids."
And he said Biden is "going to keep owning it" if the situation in Afghanistan worsens.
"It's going to be a real problem for him."
"It's going to get in the way of the other stuff that he wants to do."
"And he earned it."
"It is a fiasco."
Afghanistan could spill into packed legislative agenda, 2022
Republicans quickly seized on the chaos, previewing a possible line of attack before the 2022 midterm elections to go along with other go-to themes: a national rise in crime and the increase in migrants on the southern border.
Michael McAdams, communication director of the National Republican Congressional Committee, called the Afghanistan situation "the latest in a long line of crises" under Democratic leadership.
As Biden tries to unite the liberal and moderate wings of his party to approve his infrastructure and budget proposals, he also faces questions from Democrats on Afghanistan.
Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz., who criticized the price tag of Biden's budget, said the administration "must immediately implement a more coordinated, robust effort" to evacuate Americans from Afghanistan.
Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, called the scenes from Afghanistan "devastating" and vowed to ask "tough but necessary questions about why we weren’t better prepared for a worst-case scenario."
Biden has remained defiant, saying he wouldn't have done anything differently, but his explanations contradicted what he said a month ago.
Biden said last week there was no way to leave Afghanistan "without chaos ensuing."
On July 8, the president said it was "highly unlikely" exiting Afghanistan would lead to a Taliban takeover.
In both his speeches after the Afghanistan collapse, Biden said, "The buck stops here."
Yet he blamed the deal he inherited from Trump that the United States leave by May 1 for binding his administration.
He said Afghan President Ashraf Ghani assured him that the Afghan National Security Forces would fight, but "obviously he was wrong."
He said the Afghan army had the resources to mount a defense but lacked "the will."
Barbara Perry, director of presidential studies at the University of Virginia's Miller Center, said Biden failed to meet the moment.
"His message and his demeanor and his tone have deteriorated," Perry said.
She said Biden made a strong case in his first speech Monday after the Taliban takeover but flopped with a defensive tone in an interview Wednesday with ABC's George Stephanopoulos.
She said Biden needed to be more prepared and precise on the plan moving forward.
"In this modern age of social media, presidents in the White House have to have control of their message and narrative all the time," she said.
Biden and the Pentagon said U.S. intelligence did not predict a rapid Afghanistan collapse.
"Not even close," Biden said in the ABC interview.
Army Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said "nothing" he saw indicated a collapse of the Afghan army in 11 days.
Yet The Wall Street Journal reported that diplomats in Afghanistan sent a classified memo last month warning Secretary of State Antony Blinken that Kabul could quickly fall after the Aug. 31 U.S. deadline to withdraw.
"There will be plenty of time to criticize and second-guess when this operation is over."
"But now – now – I'm focused on getting this job done," Biden said Friday, vowing to complete the evacuation from Afghanistan: "Any American who wants to come home, we will get you home."
Biden's approval numbers started to dip in late spring as the delta variant of the coronavirus rose and his handling of the pandemic – long one of his strongest polling issues – slid in the public's eye.
Those numbers dropped further in the aftermath of the Afghanistan chaos.
An Ipsos-Reuters poll Tuesday found that 46% of Americans approve of Biden's performance in office, down from 53% the previous Friday and his lowest mark.
A YouGov/Economist poll Wednesday found Biden's approval marks dropped to 44%, down from 50% at the beginning of July and 53% in May.
The majority of Americans support the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan after 20 years of military occupation.
The Ipsos poll found 61% of Americans support the completion of troops' withdrawal on schedule, while 25% oppose.
Historically, foreign policy events don't have lasting influence on a president's approval rating because of Americans' short-attention span toward international affairs.
"With Afghanistan, I think Biden is definitely experiencing that sort of event-driven decline in his approval rating," said Chris Jackson, senior vice president of Ipsos, who oversees the company's polling.
"It's still an open question on if he will rebound to the 50-51% approval he had been at before."
"That's partially going to be about how much attention Afghanistan gets over the next couple of weeks."
A 'short shelf life' or lasting impact?
Todd Belt, professor and political management program director at George Washington University, said President John F. Kennedy recovered quickly after the Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba in 1961, as did Ronald Reagan after a suicide bombing in Beirut killed 241 American servicemen in 1983.
Belt said he believes the damage for Biden will most likely be "short-term" and won't be a major factor in next year's election, though it could affect his domestic agenda.
"Things can change, and obviously what makes it change even faster is if it gets replaced by something else on the international agenda," Belt said.
He pointed to the upcoming 20th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks as an opportunity for Biden to re-explain the exit from Afghanistan and to focus on the country's new terrorism threats.
"Foreign policy has a very short shelf life when it comes to U.S. electoral politics, unless we're in a war at that given moment," Belt said.
'It’s just rubbish': Experts doubt Taliban's promises on women and girls
Some political strategists said the Afghanistan chaos could be different.
Veteran Republican pollster Frank Luntz said the fallout will become more damaging politically for Biden if photos and videos surface of the Taliban mistreating women and if Afghanistan turns back into a terrorist launching pad.
"People are trying to compare this to Saigon."
"I don't think so," Luntz said.
"I think this is much closer to the Bay of Pigs in terms of how badly it was orchestrated and closer to Iran (under Jimmy Carter) in that it will continue to harm our credibility globally and Biden's reputation domestically."
"This is not something that goes away."
Luntz predicted the execution of Biden's Afghanistan exit could become an issue in the 2022 midterm elections, arguing that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and congressional Democrats made it one when they "circled the wagons" to defend the president.
Luntz said the chaos "undercuts" the president's ability to get more controversial items in his budget approved.
"The honeymoon is over," he said.
The White House worked last week – the rockiest in Biden's young presidency – to show the president's domestic agenda wouldn't be obstructed by Afghanistan.
Biden announced Wednesday plans for a third booster shot to protect against COVID-19 along with other efforts to curb the pandemic.
The next day, Biden, Pelosi and other House Democratic leaders huddled virtually to plan the path ahead on his infrastructure and budget proposals.
Friday, the White House showed signs of adapting how it explains Afghanistan.
National security adviser Jake Sullivan, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and other Pentagon officials took questions about the unfolding situation for most of the week, and Biden fielded questions after his remarks Friday.
This weekend, Biden was prepared to travel to his home in Wilmington, Delaware.
In a change of plans Friday, the White House said Biden – who worked from Camp David most of the past week – would instead remain in Washington.
Reach Joey Garrison on Twitter @Joeygarrison.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics ... d=msedgntp
AFGHANISTAN
Re: AFGHANISTAN
REUTERS
"Firefight involving Western forces erupts amid Kabul airport evacuation chaos"
Reuters
August 23, 2021
Summary
* Afghan soldier killed in clash with unidentified assailants
* Biden says evacuation 'hard, painful', thousands getting out
* Taliban says no extension to Aug. 31 deadline sought yet
* WHO can't send medical supplies because of airport disruption
KABUL, Aug 23 (Reuters) - A firefight involving Western forces erupted at Kabul airport on Monday when Afghan guards exchanged fire with unidentified gunmen, Germany's military said, adding to the evacuation chaos as Washington faces pressure to extend its deadline to withdraw.
Thousands of Afghans and foreigners have thronged the airport for days, hoping to catch a flight out after Taliban fighters captured Kabul on Aug. 15 and as U.S.-led forces aim to complete their pullout by the end of the month.
Twenty people have been killed in the chaos at the airport, most in shootings and stampedes in the heat and dust, penned in by concrete blast walls, as U.S. and international forces try to evacuate their citizens and vulnerable Afghans.
One person was killed in Monday's clash, the German military said.
CNN said a sniper outside the airport fired at Afghan guards - some 600 former government soldiers are helping U.S. forces at the airport - near its north gate.
U.S. and German forces were involved in the clash, Germany's military said.
Three wounded Afghan guards were being treated at a field hospital in the airport, it said.
Two NATO officials at the airport said the situation was under control after the firing.
The Taliban have deployed fighters outside the airport, where they have tried to help enforce some kind of order.
On Sunday, Taliban fighters beat back crowds at the airport a day after seven Afghans were killed in a crush at the gates as the deadline for the withdrawal of foreign troops approaches.
The Taliban seized power just over a week ago as the United States and its allies withdraw troops after a 20-year war launched in the weeks after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks as U.S. forces hunted al Qaeda leaders and sought to punish their Taliban hosts.
The administration of Biden's predecessor, Donald Trump, struck a deal with the Taliban last year allowing the United Sates to withdraw its forces in exchange for Taliban security guarantees.
'HOURS, NOT WEEKS'
President Joe Biden said on Sunday the security situation in Afghanistan was changing rapidly and remained dangerous.
"Let me be clear, the evacuation of thousands from Kabul is going to be hard and painful" and would have been "no matter when it began", Biden said in a briefing at the White House.
"We have a long way to go and a lot could still go wrong."
Biden said U.S. troops might stay beyond their Aug. 31 deadline to oversee the evacuation.
But a Taliban leadership official said foreign forces had not sought an extension and it would not be granted if they had.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson will urge Biden this week to extend the deadline.
Defence Minister Ben Wallace said Britain was "down to hours now, not weeks" in its evacuation plan and forces on the ground needed to use every moment they had to get people out.
Johnson's spokesperson said Britain still wanted to fly out thousands of people and had not set a hard deadline for when evacuations end.
"We will continue to run our evacuation process as long as the security situation allows..."
"We need to be flexible in our approach," the spokesperson said, adding that it would not be possible for British evacuations to continue once U.S. troops leave.
Panicked Afghans have clamoured to board flights out of Kabul, fearing reprisals and a return to a harsh version of Islamic law that the Sunni Muslim group enforced when it held power from 1996 to 2001.
The chaos at the airport is also disrupting shipments of aid going in to Afghanistan.
The World Health Organization said 500 tonnes of medical supplies due to be delivered this week were stuck because Kabul airport was closed to commercial flights, Richard Brennan, WHO regional emergency director for the Eastern Mediterranean Region, told Reuters.
He said the WHO was calling for empty planes to divert to its storage hub in Dubai to collect the supplies on their way to pick up evacuees in Afghanistan.
OPPOSITION
Leaders of the Taliban, who have sought to show a more moderate face since capturing Kabul, have begun talks on forming a government, while their forces focus on the last pockets of opposition.
Taliban fighters had re-taken three districts in the northern province of Baghlan which opposition forces briefly captured and had surrounded opposition forces in the Panjshir valley, an old stronghold of Taliban opponents northeast of Kabul.
"The enemy is under siege in Panjshir," Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said on Twitter.
Anti-Taliban leader Ahmad Massoud said on Sunday he hoped to hold talks with the Taliban but his forces in Panjshir - remnants of army units, special forces and militiamen - were ready to fight.
Zabihullah also said the Taliban wanted to "solve the problem through talks".
In general, peace has prevailed in recent days.
Reuters spoke to eight doctors in hospitals in several cities who said they had not heard of any violence or received any casualties from clashes since Thursday.
Reporting by Kabul bureau, Rupam Jain, Caroline Copley, Michelle Nichols, Simon Lewis, Ju-min Park, Emma Farge; Writing by Lincoln Feast, Robert Birsel; Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore and Nick Macfie
https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-paci ... 021-08-23/
"Firefight involving Western forces erupts amid Kabul airport evacuation chaos"
Reuters
August 23, 2021
Summary
* Afghan soldier killed in clash with unidentified assailants
* Biden says evacuation 'hard, painful', thousands getting out
* Taliban says no extension to Aug. 31 deadline sought yet
* WHO can't send medical supplies because of airport disruption
KABUL, Aug 23 (Reuters) - A firefight involving Western forces erupted at Kabul airport on Monday when Afghan guards exchanged fire with unidentified gunmen, Germany's military said, adding to the evacuation chaos as Washington faces pressure to extend its deadline to withdraw.
Thousands of Afghans and foreigners have thronged the airport for days, hoping to catch a flight out after Taliban fighters captured Kabul on Aug. 15 and as U.S.-led forces aim to complete their pullout by the end of the month.
Twenty people have been killed in the chaos at the airport, most in shootings and stampedes in the heat and dust, penned in by concrete blast walls, as U.S. and international forces try to evacuate their citizens and vulnerable Afghans.
One person was killed in Monday's clash, the German military said.
CNN said a sniper outside the airport fired at Afghan guards - some 600 former government soldiers are helping U.S. forces at the airport - near its north gate.
U.S. and German forces were involved in the clash, Germany's military said.
Three wounded Afghan guards were being treated at a field hospital in the airport, it said.
Two NATO officials at the airport said the situation was under control after the firing.
The Taliban have deployed fighters outside the airport, where they have tried to help enforce some kind of order.
On Sunday, Taliban fighters beat back crowds at the airport a day after seven Afghans were killed in a crush at the gates as the deadline for the withdrawal of foreign troops approaches.
The Taliban seized power just over a week ago as the United States and its allies withdraw troops after a 20-year war launched in the weeks after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks as U.S. forces hunted al Qaeda leaders and sought to punish their Taliban hosts.
The administration of Biden's predecessor, Donald Trump, struck a deal with the Taliban last year allowing the United Sates to withdraw its forces in exchange for Taliban security guarantees.
'HOURS, NOT WEEKS'
President Joe Biden said on Sunday the security situation in Afghanistan was changing rapidly and remained dangerous.
"Let me be clear, the evacuation of thousands from Kabul is going to be hard and painful" and would have been "no matter when it began", Biden said in a briefing at the White House.
"We have a long way to go and a lot could still go wrong."
Biden said U.S. troops might stay beyond their Aug. 31 deadline to oversee the evacuation.
But a Taliban leadership official said foreign forces had not sought an extension and it would not be granted if they had.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson will urge Biden this week to extend the deadline.
Defence Minister Ben Wallace said Britain was "down to hours now, not weeks" in its evacuation plan and forces on the ground needed to use every moment they had to get people out.
Johnson's spokesperson said Britain still wanted to fly out thousands of people and had not set a hard deadline for when evacuations end.
"We will continue to run our evacuation process as long as the security situation allows..."
"We need to be flexible in our approach," the spokesperson said, adding that it would not be possible for British evacuations to continue once U.S. troops leave.
Panicked Afghans have clamoured to board flights out of Kabul, fearing reprisals and a return to a harsh version of Islamic law that the Sunni Muslim group enforced when it held power from 1996 to 2001.
The chaos at the airport is also disrupting shipments of aid going in to Afghanistan.
The World Health Organization said 500 tonnes of medical supplies due to be delivered this week were stuck because Kabul airport was closed to commercial flights, Richard Brennan, WHO regional emergency director for the Eastern Mediterranean Region, told Reuters.
He said the WHO was calling for empty planes to divert to its storage hub in Dubai to collect the supplies on their way to pick up evacuees in Afghanistan.
OPPOSITION
Leaders of the Taliban, who have sought to show a more moderate face since capturing Kabul, have begun talks on forming a government, while their forces focus on the last pockets of opposition.
Taliban fighters had re-taken three districts in the northern province of Baghlan which opposition forces briefly captured and had surrounded opposition forces in the Panjshir valley, an old stronghold of Taliban opponents northeast of Kabul.
"The enemy is under siege in Panjshir," Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said on Twitter.
Anti-Taliban leader Ahmad Massoud said on Sunday he hoped to hold talks with the Taliban but his forces in Panjshir - remnants of army units, special forces and militiamen - were ready to fight.
Zabihullah also said the Taliban wanted to "solve the problem through talks".
In general, peace has prevailed in recent days.
Reuters spoke to eight doctors in hospitals in several cities who said they had not heard of any violence or received any casualties from clashes since Thursday.
Reporting by Kabul bureau, Rupam Jain, Caroline Copley, Michelle Nichols, Simon Lewis, Ju-min Park, Emma Farge; Writing by Lincoln Feast, Robert Birsel; Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore and Nick Macfie
https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-paci ... 021-08-23/
Re: AFGHANISTAN
CNBC
"U.S. consulting with Taliban on ‘every aspect’ of Kabul evacuation, says Biden national security advisor"
Christina Wilkie @CHRISTINAWILKIE
PUBLISHED MON, AUG 23 2021
KEY POINTS
* The U.S. is in close coordination with the Taliban as it works to evacuate tens of thousands of people from the Kabul airport before Aug. 31, National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said.
* “We are engaging with the Taliban, consulting with the Taliban, on every aspect of what’s happening in Kabul right now,” Sullivan said.
* The U.S.-led international effort to get people out of Afghanistan has picked up pace in the last 24 hours.
WASHINGTON — The United States is in close coordination with the Taliban as it works to evacuate tens of thousands of people out of the Kabul airport before President Joe Biden’s Aug. 31 deadline to withdraw U.S. troops, National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said Monday.
“We are engaging with the Taliban, consulting with the Taliban, on every aspect of what’s happening in Kabul right now,” Sullivan told reporters at the White House.
“On what’s happening at the airport, on how we need to ensure that there is facilitated passage to the airport for American citizens, SIVs and third-country nationals."
"And we’ll continue those conversations with them.”
Sullivan said the coordination was happening on a daily basis “through political and security channels,” but he refused to elaborate.
Tens of thousands of Americans, NATO coalition nationals and Afghans who have aided NATO are desperately trying to leave the country via the only airport not controlled by the Taliban.
Sullivan defended the Biden administration from critics who say the chaotic and often tragic scenes that have played out in and around the Kabul Airport in the past week could have been avoided with better planning and execution.
Sullivan said an element of chaos was inevitable in any U.S. withdrawal.
“Whether Kabul fell in August or September, or December or next August, the fact is, there were going to be American citizens in Kabul who needed to be evacuated,” he said.
Nonetheless, “we believe that we have time, between now and the 31st, to get out any American that wants to get out” of Afghanistan.
Sullivan explained that it was impossible to know exactly how many Americans remained in Afghanistan, because some citizens never informed the State Department that they had arrived in the country while others informed the government of their arrival but not their departure.
State Department spokesman Ned Price later told reporters, “We believe there are several thousand Americans in Afghanistan right now who would like to leave.”
It remained unclear Monday exactly how the United States planned to extract these thousands of citizens, many of whom are believed to be located outside the capital city of Kabul.
Last week, the Pentagon said that the U.S. military could not even ensure safe passage for Americans inside Kabul to the Hamid Karzai International Airport, despite the fact that several thousand U.S. troops are stationed there.
On Saturday, the U.S. Embassy in Kabul warned American citizens not to travel to the airport, which soldiers and diplomats refer to as “H-KAIA,” due to security threats outside the gates.
Aug. 31 deadline in doubt
“The president believes we are making substantial progress,” Sullivan said.
Yet he added that Biden is “taking this day by day and will make his determinations as we go,” referring to whether to extend the Aug. 31 deadline.
On Sunday, the president said, “Our hope is we will not have to extend."
"But there are going to be discussions, I suspect, on how far along we are in the process.”
Meanwhile, the Taliban have made it clear that they consider any effort to keep Western troops in Afghanistan, even if only in the airport, beyond Aug. 31 tantamount to a foreign occupation of their newly seized country.
“It’s a red line,” Taliban spokesman Suhail Shaheen told the UK’s Sky News on Monday.
“President Biden announced that on 31 August they would withdraw all their military forces."
"So if they extend it that means they are extending occupation while there is no need for that.”
Shaheen added: “If the US or UK were to seek additional time to continue evacuations — the answer is no."
"Or there would be consequences.”
Pace of evacuations picks up
The U.S.-led international effort to get people out of Afghanistan has picked up pace in the last 24 hours.
Sullivan said the U.S. had airlifted about 10,400 people out of Kabul in the last 24 hours by cargo aircraft.
Non-U.S. coalition aircraft evacuated an additional 5,900 people.
Since Aug. 14, the U.S. has evacuated or facilitated the evacuation of approximately 37,000 people out of Afghanistan, according to Pentagon figures.
If extended to the end of July, that number jumps to approximately 42,000 people.
The Pentagon said that evacuees are flying from Kabul to temporary safe haven locations across the Middle East and Europe, including U.S. installations in Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Bahrain, Italy, Spain and Germany.
Afghan nationals arriving in the United States will be housed at Ft. McCoy in Wisconsin, Ft. Lee in Virginia, Joint Base McGuire Dix Lakehurst in New Jersey and Ft. Bliss in Texas.
In order to speed up the transit of evacuees to countries beyond the Middle East, Biden activated the Civil Reserve Air Fleet on Sunday, a rarely used program under which civilian airlines are ordered to provide planes to assist the military in times of catastrophic need.
The CRAF activation was for 18 aircraft from six airlines.
— CNBC’s Amanda Macias contributed to this report.
Data also provided by Reuters
https://www.cnbc.com/2021/08/23/us-is-c ... ation.html
"U.S. consulting with Taliban on ‘every aspect’ of Kabul evacuation, says Biden national security advisor"
Christina Wilkie @CHRISTINAWILKIE
PUBLISHED MON, AUG 23 2021
KEY POINTS
* The U.S. is in close coordination with the Taliban as it works to evacuate tens of thousands of people from the Kabul airport before Aug. 31, National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said.
* “We are engaging with the Taliban, consulting with the Taliban, on every aspect of what’s happening in Kabul right now,” Sullivan said.
* The U.S.-led international effort to get people out of Afghanistan has picked up pace in the last 24 hours.
WASHINGTON — The United States is in close coordination with the Taliban as it works to evacuate tens of thousands of people out of the Kabul airport before President Joe Biden’s Aug. 31 deadline to withdraw U.S. troops, National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said Monday.
“We are engaging with the Taliban, consulting with the Taliban, on every aspect of what’s happening in Kabul right now,” Sullivan told reporters at the White House.
“On what’s happening at the airport, on how we need to ensure that there is facilitated passage to the airport for American citizens, SIVs and third-country nationals."
"And we’ll continue those conversations with them.”
Sullivan said the coordination was happening on a daily basis “through political and security channels,” but he refused to elaborate.
Tens of thousands of Americans, NATO coalition nationals and Afghans who have aided NATO are desperately trying to leave the country via the only airport not controlled by the Taliban.
Sullivan defended the Biden administration from critics who say the chaotic and often tragic scenes that have played out in and around the Kabul Airport in the past week could have been avoided with better planning and execution.
Sullivan said an element of chaos was inevitable in any U.S. withdrawal.
“Whether Kabul fell in August or September, or December or next August, the fact is, there were going to be American citizens in Kabul who needed to be evacuated,” he said.
Nonetheless, “we believe that we have time, between now and the 31st, to get out any American that wants to get out” of Afghanistan.
Sullivan explained that it was impossible to know exactly how many Americans remained in Afghanistan, because some citizens never informed the State Department that they had arrived in the country while others informed the government of their arrival but not their departure.
State Department spokesman Ned Price later told reporters, “We believe there are several thousand Americans in Afghanistan right now who would like to leave.”
It remained unclear Monday exactly how the United States planned to extract these thousands of citizens, many of whom are believed to be located outside the capital city of Kabul.
Last week, the Pentagon said that the U.S. military could not even ensure safe passage for Americans inside Kabul to the Hamid Karzai International Airport, despite the fact that several thousand U.S. troops are stationed there.
On Saturday, the U.S. Embassy in Kabul warned American citizens not to travel to the airport, which soldiers and diplomats refer to as “H-KAIA,” due to security threats outside the gates.
Aug. 31 deadline in doubt
“The president believes we are making substantial progress,” Sullivan said.
Yet he added that Biden is “taking this day by day and will make his determinations as we go,” referring to whether to extend the Aug. 31 deadline.
On Sunday, the president said, “Our hope is we will not have to extend."
"But there are going to be discussions, I suspect, on how far along we are in the process.”
Meanwhile, the Taliban have made it clear that they consider any effort to keep Western troops in Afghanistan, even if only in the airport, beyond Aug. 31 tantamount to a foreign occupation of their newly seized country.
“It’s a red line,” Taliban spokesman Suhail Shaheen told the UK’s Sky News on Monday.
“President Biden announced that on 31 August they would withdraw all their military forces."
"So if they extend it that means they are extending occupation while there is no need for that.”
Shaheen added: “If the US or UK were to seek additional time to continue evacuations — the answer is no."
"Or there would be consequences.”
Pace of evacuations picks up
The U.S.-led international effort to get people out of Afghanistan has picked up pace in the last 24 hours.
Sullivan said the U.S. had airlifted about 10,400 people out of Kabul in the last 24 hours by cargo aircraft.
Non-U.S. coalition aircraft evacuated an additional 5,900 people.
Since Aug. 14, the U.S. has evacuated or facilitated the evacuation of approximately 37,000 people out of Afghanistan, according to Pentagon figures.
If extended to the end of July, that number jumps to approximately 42,000 people.
The Pentagon said that evacuees are flying from Kabul to temporary safe haven locations across the Middle East and Europe, including U.S. installations in Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Bahrain, Italy, Spain and Germany.
Afghan nationals arriving in the United States will be housed at Ft. McCoy in Wisconsin, Ft. Lee in Virginia, Joint Base McGuire Dix Lakehurst in New Jersey and Ft. Bliss in Texas.
In order to speed up the transit of evacuees to countries beyond the Middle East, Biden activated the Civil Reserve Air Fleet on Sunday, a rarely used program under which civilian airlines are ordered to provide planes to assist the military in times of catastrophic need.
The CRAF activation was for 18 aircraft from six airlines.
— CNBC’s Amanda Macias contributed to this report.
Data also provided by Reuters
https://www.cnbc.com/2021/08/23/us-is-c ... ation.html
Re: AFGHANISTAN
THE NEW YORK POST
"Afghan evacuees in a ‘living hell’ amid feces, urine and rats in Qatar airbase"
By Emily Crane
August 24, 2021 1:26pm
The overcrowded airbase hangar in Qatar that’s housing thousands of Afghan evacuees has been described as a “living hell” covered in loose feces, urine and rats, a new report says.
The conditions at the al-Udeid Air Base in Doha were described in internal emails sent to State Department and Pentagon officials last Friday as the Biden administration continues to face mounting criticism over its botched handling of the evacuations, Axios reports.
After managing to flee Kabul on US military flights, thousands of Afghan refugees are being forced to crowd into the airbase so they can be processed by American officials and then cleared to fly to the United States.
The email describing the conditions inside the hangar was titled “dire conditions at Doha” and noted how the “human beings are in a living nightmare.”
It was sent by US Central Command special agent Colin Sullivan and included notes from Doha embassy staff about the conditions at the airbase.
Among the notes was the sanitation issues, lack of air conditioning and a rat infestation.
“A humid day today."
"Where the Afghans are housed is a living hell."
"Trash, urine, fecal matter, spilled liquids and vomit cover the floors,” one note included in the email read.
Another said: “We’re in the middle of humanitarian crises [sic] that compounds itself with every flight that lands in Doha.”
“Hangar update."
"They now have a rat problem,” another read.
Sullivan said in the email that he wanted US officials to be aware of and “fully tracking” these issues.
“While not in any way downplaying the conditions in Kabul nor the conditions the Afghanis [sic] are escaping from, the current conditions in Doha are of our own doing,” he wrote.
A US Central Command spokesperson later acknowledged it had been difficult keeping up with the flow of arrivals after tens of thousands fled Afghanistan in the wake of the Taliban takeover.
Pentagon spokesman John Kirby acknowledged the situation Tuesday, telling a press briefing, “Nobody’s making excuses.”
“Nobody’s ducking from this."
"We recognize that things were and in many ways still are not at the level of sanitation and good hygiene that we want."
"I can tell you that for the secretary on down, everybody’s focused on trying to improve that,” he said.
“It’s something we’re going to watch, not just there but every other temporary safe haven that we’re operating from.
“Nobody here wants anyone to be less than safe, secure, comfortable and well cared for, as they go through this process."
"We take it very seriously.”
The Pentagon said it had taken steps to improve the conditions at the hangar, including adding 100 toilets.
The leaked emails add to the criticism the Biden administration has faced amid the rushed evacuations after the Taliban seized control.
The Taliban on Tuesday demanded all US troops be out of Afghanistan by Aug. 31, saying they will not extend the deadline for evacuations.
The group’s spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said during a press conference that they want all evacuations to stop at the end of the month despite thousands of Americans and Afghans still trying to flee.
He warned they would take over airport security in Kabul, which the US currently controls, after the deadline.
Mujahid said the crowds of desperate Afghans trying to get on evacuation flights at Kabul airport should return to their homes because the Taliban “guarantee their security.”
He also claimed there was no list of people they were targeting for helping the US during the war.
“We have forgotten everything in the past,” Mujahid said.
More than 17,000 US citizens and Afghans were evacuated from Kabul in 36 hours, White House officials said late Monday — but the deadly Taliban violence that has blocked many from entering the airport still remains.
Biden administration officials have repeatedly refused to say how many US citizens remain in Kabul.
https://nypost.com/2021/08/24/afghan-ev ... r-airbase/
"Afghan evacuees in a ‘living hell’ amid feces, urine and rats in Qatar airbase"
By Emily Crane
August 24, 2021 1:26pm
The overcrowded airbase hangar in Qatar that’s housing thousands of Afghan evacuees has been described as a “living hell” covered in loose feces, urine and rats, a new report says.
The conditions at the al-Udeid Air Base in Doha were described in internal emails sent to State Department and Pentagon officials last Friday as the Biden administration continues to face mounting criticism over its botched handling of the evacuations, Axios reports.
After managing to flee Kabul on US military flights, thousands of Afghan refugees are being forced to crowd into the airbase so they can be processed by American officials and then cleared to fly to the United States.
The email describing the conditions inside the hangar was titled “dire conditions at Doha” and noted how the “human beings are in a living nightmare.”
It was sent by US Central Command special agent Colin Sullivan and included notes from Doha embassy staff about the conditions at the airbase.
Among the notes was the sanitation issues, lack of air conditioning and a rat infestation.
“A humid day today."
"Where the Afghans are housed is a living hell."
"Trash, urine, fecal matter, spilled liquids and vomit cover the floors,” one note included in the email read.
Another said: “We’re in the middle of humanitarian crises [sic] that compounds itself with every flight that lands in Doha.”
“Hangar update."
"They now have a rat problem,” another read.
Sullivan said in the email that he wanted US officials to be aware of and “fully tracking” these issues.
“While not in any way downplaying the conditions in Kabul nor the conditions the Afghanis [sic] are escaping from, the current conditions in Doha are of our own doing,” he wrote.
A US Central Command spokesperson later acknowledged it had been difficult keeping up with the flow of arrivals after tens of thousands fled Afghanistan in the wake of the Taliban takeover.
Pentagon spokesman John Kirby acknowledged the situation Tuesday, telling a press briefing, “Nobody’s making excuses.”
“Nobody’s ducking from this."
"We recognize that things were and in many ways still are not at the level of sanitation and good hygiene that we want."
"I can tell you that for the secretary on down, everybody’s focused on trying to improve that,” he said.
“It’s something we’re going to watch, not just there but every other temporary safe haven that we’re operating from.
“Nobody here wants anyone to be less than safe, secure, comfortable and well cared for, as they go through this process."
"We take it very seriously.”
The Pentagon said it had taken steps to improve the conditions at the hangar, including adding 100 toilets.
The leaked emails add to the criticism the Biden administration has faced amid the rushed evacuations after the Taliban seized control.
The Taliban on Tuesday demanded all US troops be out of Afghanistan by Aug. 31, saying they will not extend the deadline for evacuations.
The group’s spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said during a press conference that they want all evacuations to stop at the end of the month despite thousands of Americans and Afghans still trying to flee.
He warned they would take over airport security in Kabul, which the US currently controls, after the deadline.
Mujahid said the crowds of desperate Afghans trying to get on evacuation flights at Kabul airport should return to their homes because the Taliban “guarantee their security.”
He also claimed there was no list of people they were targeting for helping the US during the war.
“We have forgotten everything in the past,” Mujahid said.
More than 17,000 US citizens and Afghans were evacuated from Kabul in 36 hours, White House officials said late Monday — but the deadly Taliban violence that has blocked many from entering the airport still remains.
Biden administration officials have repeatedly refused to say how many US citizens remain in Kabul.
https://nypost.com/2021/08/24/afghan-ev ... r-airbase/
Re: AFGHANISTAN
CNBC
"Taliban will no longer allow Afghans to go to Kabul airport for evacuation, spokesman says"
Amanda Macias @AMANDA_M_MACIAS
PUBLISHED TUE, AUG 24 2021
KEY POINTS
* The Taliban said Tuesday that the group will not allow Afghan nationals to leave the country and opposes an extension of evacuation flights.
* President Joe Biden has previously said he may consider extending the departure date past Aug. 31 but has yet to do so.
* More than 5,000 U.S. troops are currently on the ground in Kabul assisting with evacuation efforts.
WASHINGTON – The Taliban said Tuesday that the group will not allow Afghan nationals to leave the country and opposes any extension of evacuation flights, a development that comes one week before U.S. and coalition forces are slated to depart Afghanistan.
“We are not in favor of allowing Afghans to leave,” Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told reporters during a news conference Tuesday.
“They [the Americans] have the opportunity, they have all the resources, they can take all the people that belong to them but we are not going to allow Afghans to leave and we will not extend the deadline,” he said, adding that evacuations carried out by foreign forces after Aug. 31 would be a “violation” of a Biden administration promise to end the U.S. military’s mission in the country.
“The way to the airport has been closed now."
"Afghans are not allowed to go there now, foreigners are allowed to go but we have stopped Afghan nationals to go because the crowd is more, there is danger that people will lose their lives, there might be a stampede,” Mujahid said, according to an interpreter during the broadcast.
President Joe Biden has previously said he may consider extending the departure date past Aug. 31 but has yet to do so.
Biden is expected to address the nation on the U.S. and coalition forces evacuation and relocation efforts on Tuesday following an emergency G-7 meeting.
Pentagon spokesman John Kirby told reporters on Tuesday that there has not been a change to the timeline of the mission.
“We remain committed to getting any and all Americans that want to leave out and we still believe certainly now that we have been able to increase the capacity and the flow, we believe that we have the capability, the ability to get that done by the end of the month,” Kirby said.
“The Taliban have been very clear about what their expectations are,” explained Kirby when asked about public Taliban statements opposing a prolonged U.S. military mission in Afghanistan.
“Without getting into details, I’m not seeing much dissonance [between public and private conversations with Taliban],” he added.
On Monday, a Taliban spokesman issued a similar warning during an interview with Sky News in regard to a potential extension.
“It’s a red line."
"President Biden announced that on 31 August they would withdraw all their military forces."
"So if they extend it that means they are extending occupation while there is no need for that,” Suhail Shaheen said, according to the report.
“If the U.S. or U.K. were to seek additional time to continue evacuations, the answer is no."
"Or there would be consequences,” he added.
White House national security advisor Jake Sullivan said Monday during a press briefing that the administration believed it could complete its evacuation efforts by the end of the month.
“We are engaging with the Taliban, consulting with the Taliban on every aspect of what’s happening in Kabul right now,” Sullivan said.
“Ultimately, it will be the president’s decision how this proceeds, no one else’s,” he added.
The White House said Tuesday that the U.S. has evacuated or helped to get approximately 58,700 people out of Afghanistan since Aug. 14, with about 21,600 of them airlifted out during 12 hours Monday.
Since the end of July, the U.S. has relocated approximately 63,900 people, the White House said.
There are still several thousand Americans believed to be awaiting evacuation, according to the State Department.
More than 5,000 U.S. troops are currently on the ground in Kabul assisting with the emergency evacuation efforts.
Nearly 200 aircraft are dedicated to the evacuation effort in some capacity.
The Pentagon said evacuees are flying from Kabul to temporary safe haven locations across the Middle East and Europe, including U.S. installations in Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Bahrain, Italy, Spain and Germany.
Afghan nationals arriving in the United States will be housed at either Fort McCoy in Wisconsin, Fort Lee in Virginia, Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst in New Jersey or Fort Bliss in Texas.
“It is very well possible that we could need to use additional U.S. military installations here stateside,” Kirby said.
https://www.cnbc.com/2021/08/24/taliban ... ation.html
"Taliban will no longer allow Afghans to go to Kabul airport for evacuation, spokesman says"
Amanda Macias @AMANDA_M_MACIAS
PUBLISHED TUE, AUG 24 2021
KEY POINTS
* The Taliban said Tuesday that the group will not allow Afghan nationals to leave the country and opposes an extension of evacuation flights.
* President Joe Biden has previously said he may consider extending the departure date past Aug. 31 but has yet to do so.
* More than 5,000 U.S. troops are currently on the ground in Kabul assisting with evacuation efforts.
WASHINGTON – The Taliban said Tuesday that the group will not allow Afghan nationals to leave the country and opposes any extension of evacuation flights, a development that comes one week before U.S. and coalition forces are slated to depart Afghanistan.
“We are not in favor of allowing Afghans to leave,” Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told reporters during a news conference Tuesday.
“They [the Americans] have the opportunity, they have all the resources, they can take all the people that belong to them but we are not going to allow Afghans to leave and we will not extend the deadline,” he said, adding that evacuations carried out by foreign forces after Aug. 31 would be a “violation” of a Biden administration promise to end the U.S. military’s mission in the country.
“The way to the airport has been closed now."
"Afghans are not allowed to go there now, foreigners are allowed to go but we have stopped Afghan nationals to go because the crowd is more, there is danger that people will lose their lives, there might be a stampede,” Mujahid said, according to an interpreter during the broadcast.
President Joe Biden has previously said he may consider extending the departure date past Aug. 31 but has yet to do so.
Biden is expected to address the nation on the U.S. and coalition forces evacuation and relocation efforts on Tuesday following an emergency G-7 meeting.
Pentagon spokesman John Kirby told reporters on Tuesday that there has not been a change to the timeline of the mission.
“We remain committed to getting any and all Americans that want to leave out and we still believe certainly now that we have been able to increase the capacity and the flow, we believe that we have the capability, the ability to get that done by the end of the month,” Kirby said.
“The Taliban have been very clear about what their expectations are,” explained Kirby when asked about public Taliban statements opposing a prolonged U.S. military mission in Afghanistan.
“Without getting into details, I’m not seeing much dissonance [between public and private conversations with Taliban],” he added.
On Monday, a Taliban spokesman issued a similar warning during an interview with Sky News in regard to a potential extension.
“It’s a red line."
"President Biden announced that on 31 August they would withdraw all their military forces."
"So if they extend it that means they are extending occupation while there is no need for that,” Suhail Shaheen said, according to the report.
“If the U.S. or U.K. were to seek additional time to continue evacuations, the answer is no."
"Or there would be consequences,” he added.
White House national security advisor Jake Sullivan said Monday during a press briefing that the administration believed it could complete its evacuation efforts by the end of the month.
“We are engaging with the Taliban, consulting with the Taliban on every aspect of what’s happening in Kabul right now,” Sullivan said.
“Ultimately, it will be the president’s decision how this proceeds, no one else’s,” he added.
The White House said Tuesday that the U.S. has evacuated or helped to get approximately 58,700 people out of Afghanistan since Aug. 14, with about 21,600 of them airlifted out during 12 hours Monday.
Since the end of July, the U.S. has relocated approximately 63,900 people, the White House said.
There are still several thousand Americans believed to be awaiting evacuation, according to the State Department.
More than 5,000 U.S. troops are currently on the ground in Kabul assisting with the emergency evacuation efforts.
Nearly 200 aircraft are dedicated to the evacuation effort in some capacity.
The Pentagon said evacuees are flying from Kabul to temporary safe haven locations across the Middle East and Europe, including U.S. installations in Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Bahrain, Italy, Spain and Germany.
Afghan nationals arriving in the United States will be housed at either Fort McCoy in Wisconsin, Fort Lee in Virginia, Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst in New Jersey or Fort Bliss in Texas.
“It is very well possible that we could need to use additional U.S. military installations here stateside,” Kirby said.
https://www.cnbc.com/2021/08/24/taliban ... ation.html
Re: AFGHANISTAN
REUTERS
"'Was it worth it?': Pain and anger inside Pentagon after Afghanistan crumbles"
By Idrees Ali
August 23, 2021
WASHINGTON, Aug 23 (Reuters) - On the second floor of the Pentagon, a small map marks the path that a hijacked American Airlines plane took before hitting the military headquarters on Sept. 11 2001, an attack that propelled the U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan.
A few corridors over hangs a full wall-sized poster of a 2009 Time magazine cover, with the words "How not to lose in Afghanistan" and an image of a U.S. soldier smoking a cigarette somewhere in the country.
The building near Washington that houses offices for more than 20,000 service members and civilian defense employees, is littered with reminders of 20 years of U.S. involvement in Afghanistan, America's longest war.
Was it all worth it? - That's a question senior military leaders are grappling with following the collapse of the U.S.-trained and funded Afghan military, the Taliban's shockingly rapid takeover, a bungled evacuation of civilians from Kabul and the prospect of Afghans who helped Americans in the war being left behind to face reprisals from the Islamist militants in power.
"We see videos and photos, we read stories that bring back memories for some of us, and it becomes intensely personal," General David Berger, the commandant of the Marine Corps, wrote in a memo to Marines.
"Was it worth it?"
"Yes."
"Does it still hurt?"
"Yes," Berger wrote.
'DIDN'T HAVE TO END LIKE THIS'
It is common for service members to form bonds with the countries they deploy to, especially in combat.
There was deep frustration among service members deployed to Syria when then-President Donald Trump in December 2018 abruptly announced the withdrawal of 2,000 troops who had largely defeated Islamic State (ISIS).
The move was criticized by officers and lawmakers as abandonment of Kurdish allies and leaving unchecked Russia and Iran's influence in Syria.
But unlike Syria, a generation of service members were shaped by Afghanistan, a war at first intended to oust the Taliban and target al Qaeda militants there who planned the attacks on New York and Washington.
Over the years, 800,000 Americans deployed to Afghanistan as the mission developed into a nation-building exercise.
Nearly 2,400 were killed and more than 20,000 injured.
To critics, the U.S. military was part of the problem.
Senior military leaders have often presented overly-optimistic views.
U.S. airstrikes and raids killed women and children.
As intelligence reports started trickling in two weeks ago that the Taliban were sweeping through the country with little resistance by the Afghan forces, Pentagon officials said they were shocked.
When President Joe Biden gave a speech in which he said some at-risk Afghans did not want to leave, there was anger over his perceived lack of empathy.
In the past few days, there has been frustration over the slow pace of the evacuations of U.S. citizens and vulnerable Afghans.
U.S. military officials said they were unable to hold back tears during the past week.
For some, it was reading reports about the bases they lived in being overrun.
For others it was receiving messages from Afghans, begging for help and warning that the Taliban would kill them.
"I want to be very clear: your service was not in vain, and it made a difference," Admiral Mike Gilday, the chief of U.S. Naval operations, said in his own memo last week.
Aides to U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Mark Milley, who both served in Afghanistan, included references to the range of emotions service members were feeling when they spoke to reporters.
Both said they understood that the events in Afghanistan were personal for service members and these were difficult times.
"It was going to end sometime."
"It just didn't have to end like this," one military official said.
Reporting by Idrees Ali; Editing by Mary Milliken and Grant McCool
https://www.reuters.com/world/us/was-it ... 021-08-23/
"'Was it worth it?': Pain and anger inside Pentagon after Afghanistan crumbles"
By Idrees Ali
August 23, 2021
WASHINGTON, Aug 23 (Reuters) - On the second floor of the Pentagon, a small map marks the path that a hijacked American Airlines plane took before hitting the military headquarters on Sept. 11 2001, an attack that propelled the U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan.
A few corridors over hangs a full wall-sized poster of a 2009 Time magazine cover, with the words "How not to lose in Afghanistan" and an image of a U.S. soldier smoking a cigarette somewhere in the country.
The building near Washington that houses offices for more than 20,000 service members and civilian defense employees, is littered with reminders of 20 years of U.S. involvement in Afghanistan, America's longest war.
Was it all worth it? - That's a question senior military leaders are grappling with following the collapse of the U.S.-trained and funded Afghan military, the Taliban's shockingly rapid takeover, a bungled evacuation of civilians from Kabul and the prospect of Afghans who helped Americans in the war being left behind to face reprisals from the Islamist militants in power.
"We see videos and photos, we read stories that bring back memories for some of us, and it becomes intensely personal," General David Berger, the commandant of the Marine Corps, wrote in a memo to Marines.
"Was it worth it?"
"Yes."
"Does it still hurt?"
"Yes," Berger wrote.
'DIDN'T HAVE TO END LIKE THIS'
It is common for service members to form bonds with the countries they deploy to, especially in combat.
There was deep frustration among service members deployed to Syria when then-President Donald Trump in December 2018 abruptly announced the withdrawal of 2,000 troops who had largely defeated Islamic State (ISIS).
The move was criticized by officers and lawmakers as abandonment of Kurdish allies and leaving unchecked Russia and Iran's influence in Syria.
But unlike Syria, a generation of service members were shaped by Afghanistan, a war at first intended to oust the Taliban and target al Qaeda militants there who planned the attacks on New York and Washington.
Over the years, 800,000 Americans deployed to Afghanistan as the mission developed into a nation-building exercise.
Nearly 2,400 were killed and more than 20,000 injured.
To critics, the U.S. military was part of the problem.
Senior military leaders have often presented overly-optimistic views.
U.S. airstrikes and raids killed women and children.
As intelligence reports started trickling in two weeks ago that the Taliban were sweeping through the country with little resistance by the Afghan forces, Pentagon officials said they were shocked.
When President Joe Biden gave a speech in which he said some at-risk Afghans did not want to leave, there was anger over his perceived lack of empathy.
In the past few days, there has been frustration over the slow pace of the evacuations of U.S. citizens and vulnerable Afghans.
U.S. military officials said they were unable to hold back tears during the past week.
For some, it was reading reports about the bases they lived in being overrun.
For others it was receiving messages from Afghans, begging for help and warning that the Taliban would kill them.
"I want to be very clear: your service was not in vain, and it made a difference," Admiral Mike Gilday, the chief of U.S. Naval operations, said in his own memo last week.
Aides to U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Mark Milley, who both served in Afghanistan, included references to the range of emotions service members were feeling when they spoke to reporters.
Both said they understood that the events in Afghanistan were personal for service members and these were difficult times.
"It was going to end sometime."
"It just didn't have to end like this," one military official said.
Reporting by Idrees Ali; Editing by Mary Milliken and Grant McCool
https://www.reuters.com/world/us/was-it ... 021-08-23/
Re: AFGHANISTAN
ABC NEWS
"In private, Qatar warn US officials of 'growing crises' at bases housing Afghans"
25 AUGUST 2021
Tens of thousands of Americans, Afghans and other foreigners have been evacuated from Kabul's international airport to U.S. military installations in Qatar, a key U.S. partner in the Middle East that has received public shout-outs from President Joe Biden and his top officials.
But privately, Qatari officials are warning their American counterparts that the situation at U.S. facilities, where thousands of Afghan evacuees are being housed, is growing more dire, according to an internal State Department report obtained by ABC News.
Some Afghans and Americans who have been housed at the bases have spoken publicly about the lack of space, food and water or facilities.
But the urgent warnings from Qatari officials to their American counterparts speak to how thin-stretched facilities have become -- and the risks that it entails, including for human trafficking.
Asked about conditions on Tuesday, White House press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters the administration was "aware" of issues, but "worked quickly to improve" them.
"Certainly, we want the individuals who are being evacuated to be treated with respect."
"We also want them to be safe, hence the speed necessity, but we worked to improve the conditions as soon as we learned," she said.
In meetings Monday, however, Qatar Foreign Ministry officials were still expressing concerns about "deteriorating health and security conditions" and over-crowding at Al Udeid Air Base and Camp As Sayliyah, according to the internal report.
In particular, Lolwah al Khater, a Qatari assistant foreign minister, told U.S. Ambassador John Desrocher that both bases "had hit maximum capacity to house in a safe and secure manner" and warned of "growing crises" at each.
Both Qatari bases include U.S. military installations that are hosting thousands of evacuees, although the pressure on them has decreased in recent days as more U.S. allies accept evacuation flights, especially Germany.
"The fact that we now have more than two dozen countries, across four continents, taking part in this operation has already provided relief to crowding in Doha," a State Department spokesperson told ABC News Tuesday, adding they are "working closely to improve conditions on the ground in Qatar."
Qatari officials were especially concerned about Al Udeid's "ill-famed 'Afghan hangar,'" according to the internal report, which houses some 4,500 Afghans.
There are another 4,000 Afghans at Camp As Sayliyah, where the Qatari officials warned there were "increased tensions among the Afghan population," according to the report, which provided no other details.
Khalifa Jassim al Kuwari, Qatar's foreign aid and development chief, also "doubted that the USG (U.S. government) had sufficient personnel, food, medicine at CAS (Camp As Sayliyah) to care properly for Afghans there," the report said he told U.S. officials.
The U.S. facility there lacks sufficient toilets and basic sanitation, the Qatari officials told their American counterparts.
In fact, Qatar's Red Crescent Society had already provided mobile shower trucks and hygiene kits in recent days to help address the desperate needs, and its Ministry of Foreign Affairs arranged for cleaning services.
A State Department spokesperson told ABC News on Tuesday that the administration was working to improve conditions, including by bringing in air-conditioning units, improving sanitation, increasing supplies, expanding housing and surging staff to more quickly process some people out of Qatar.
"Qatar has been at the forefront of our efforts as the first evacuation site."
"We are grateful to the Government of Qatar for their generous assistance that has allowed us to take-in over 20,000 people and sent hundreds of U.S. citizens to the United States and thousands of Afghans to the United States, Germany, and Italy for further processing," they added in a statement.
Beyond food and water, Qatari officials expressed concern about "whether the USG could provide sufficient medicine and health care requirements for the large numbers of Afghans incoming," the report said.
Al Khater urged U.S. military officials to "muster greater health care resources ... to care for the relocating Afghans," it said.
Qatar also has safety concerns.
Al Khater told U.S. officials there was a "danger of human trafficking in such circumstances and highlighted the cases of unaccompanied minors coming from Kabul," according to the internal report.
The U.S. government has been working to reunite some unaccompanied minors separated from their families amid evacuation efforts, a second State Department spokesperson told ABC News on Saturday, adding they had already successfully reunited "a number" of them with parents and loved ones.
State Department and Defense Department officials at the Kabul airport were "assisting" a number of unaccompanied minors "sheltering" at a "reunification center" run by Norway, according to an internal situation report from Monday that was also obtained by ABC News.
Additionally, al Khater and other Qatari officials asked the U.S. for manifests of all incoming and outgoing flights -- saying they appreciated U.S. efforts, but were concerned there wasn't a "rigorous filtering system to board those flights" in Kabul.
U.S. intelligence, law enforcement and counterterrorism officials are conducting screening and security vetting on all Afghans before they can enter the U.S., the first State Department spokesperson told ABC News on Tuesday.
But it's unclear what steps are being taken to assure Qatari officials.
Despite the high-level concerns, the internal State Department report noted that cooperation between the two countries on the "Afghan relocation crisis has improved markedly in recent days," praising the "unprecedented level of senior- and working-level teamwork."
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/in ... d=msedgntp
"In private, Qatar warn US officials of 'growing crises' at bases housing Afghans"
25 AUGUST 2021
Tens of thousands of Americans, Afghans and other foreigners have been evacuated from Kabul's international airport to U.S. military installations in Qatar, a key U.S. partner in the Middle East that has received public shout-outs from President Joe Biden and his top officials.
But privately, Qatari officials are warning their American counterparts that the situation at U.S. facilities, where thousands of Afghan evacuees are being housed, is growing more dire, according to an internal State Department report obtained by ABC News.
Some Afghans and Americans who have been housed at the bases have spoken publicly about the lack of space, food and water or facilities.
But the urgent warnings from Qatari officials to their American counterparts speak to how thin-stretched facilities have become -- and the risks that it entails, including for human trafficking.
Asked about conditions on Tuesday, White House press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters the administration was "aware" of issues, but "worked quickly to improve" them.
"Certainly, we want the individuals who are being evacuated to be treated with respect."
"We also want them to be safe, hence the speed necessity, but we worked to improve the conditions as soon as we learned," she said.
In meetings Monday, however, Qatar Foreign Ministry officials were still expressing concerns about "deteriorating health and security conditions" and over-crowding at Al Udeid Air Base and Camp As Sayliyah, according to the internal report.
In particular, Lolwah al Khater, a Qatari assistant foreign minister, told U.S. Ambassador John Desrocher that both bases "had hit maximum capacity to house in a safe and secure manner" and warned of "growing crises" at each.
Both Qatari bases include U.S. military installations that are hosting thousands of evacuees, although the pressure on them has decreased in recent days as more U.S. allies accept evacuation flights, especially Germany.
"The fact that we now have more than two dozen countries, across four continents, taking part in this operation has already provided relief to crowding in Doha," a State Department spokesperson told ABC News Tuesday, adding they are "working closely to improve conditions on the ground in Qatar."
Qatari officials were especially concerned about Al Udeid's "ill-famed 'Afghan hangar,'" according to the internal report, which houses some 4,500 Afghans.
There are another 4,000 Afghans at Camp As Sayliyah, where the Qatari officials warned there were "increased tensions among the Afghan population," according to the report, which provided no other details.
Khalifa Jassim al Kuwari, Qatar's foreign aid and development chief, also "doubted that the USG (U.S. government) had sufficient personnel, food, medicine at CAS (Camp As Sayliyah) to care properly for Afghans there," the report said he told U.S. officials.
The U.S. facility there lacks sufficient toilets and basic sanitation, the Qatari officials told their American counterparts.
In fact, Qatar's Red Crescent Society had already provided mobile shower trucks and hygiene kits in recent days to help address the desperate needs, and its Ministry of Foreign Affairs arranged for cleaning services.
A State Department spokesperson told ABC News on Tuesday that the administration was working to improve conditions, including by bringing in air-conditioning units, improving sanitation, increasing supplies, expanding housing and surging staff to more quickly process some people out of Qatar.
"Qatar has been at the forefront of our efforts as the first evacuation site."
"We are grateful to the Government of Qatar for their generous assistance that has allowed us to take-in over 20,000 people and sent hundreds of U.S. citizens to the United States and thousands of Afghans to the United States, Germany, and Italy for further processing," they added in a statement.
Beyond food and water, Qatari officials expressed concern about "whether the USG could provide sufficient medicine and health care requirements for the large numbers of Afghans incoming," the report said.
Al Khater urged U.S. military officials to "muster greater health care resources ... to care for the relocating Afghans," it said.
Qatar also has safety concerns.
Al Khater told U.S. officials there was a "danger of human trafficking in such circumstances and highlighted the cases of unaccompanied minors coming from Kabul," according to the internal report.
The U.S. government has been working to reunite some unaccompanied minors separated from their families amid evacuation efforts, a second State Department spokesperson told ABC News on Saturday, adding they had already successfully reunited "a number" of them with parents and loved ones.
State Department and Defense Department officials at the Kabul airport were "assisting" a number of unaccompanied minors "sheltering" at a "reunification center" run by Norway, according to an internal situation report from Monday that was also obtained by ABC News.
Additionally, al Khater and other Qatari officials asked the U.S. for manifests of all incoming and outgoing flights -- saying they appreciated U.S. efforts, but were concerned there wasn't a "rigorous filtering system to board those flights" in Kabul.
U.S. intelligence, law enforcement and counterterrorism officials are conducting screening and security vetting on all Afghans before they can enter the U.S., the first State Department spokesperson told ABC News on Tuesday.
But it's unclear what steps are being taken to assure Qatari officials.
Despite the high-level concerns, the internal State Department report noted that cooperation between the two countries on the "Afghan relocation crisis has improved markedly in recent days," praising the "unprecedented level of senior- and working-level teamwork."
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/in ... d=msedgntp
Re: AFGHANISTAN
THE NEW YORK TIMES
"ISIS Branch Poses Biggest Immediate Terror Threat to Evacuation in Kabul"
Eric Schmitt
25 AUGUST 2021
WASHINGTON — The United States has been battling the Taliban and their militant partners in Afghanistan, Al Qaeda and the Haqqani network, for 20 years.
But the biggest immediate threat to both the Americans and the Taliban as the United States escalates its evacuation at the Kabul airport before an Aug. 31 withdrawal deadline is a common rival that is lesser known: Islamic State Khorasan, or ISIS-K, the terrorist group’s affiliate in Afghanistan.
Created six years ago by disaffected Pakistani Taliban, ISIS-K has carried out dozens of attacks in Afghanistan this year.
American military and intelligence analysts say threats from the group include a bomb-laden truck, suicide bombers infiltrating the crowd outside Hamid Karzai International Airport and mortar strikes against the airfield.
These threats, coupled with new demands by the Taliban for the United States to leave by Aug. 31, probably influenced President Biden’s decision on Tuesday to stick to that deadline.
“Every day we’re on the ground is another day we know that ISIS-K is seeking to target the airport and attack both U.S. and allied forces and innocent civilians,” Mr. Biden said.
The threats lay bare a complicated dynamic between the Taliban, Al Qaeda and the Haqqani network, and their bitter rival, ISIS-K, in what analysts say portends a bloody struggle involving thousands of foreign fighters on both sides.
A United Nations report in June concluded that 8,000 to 10,000 fighters from Central Asia, the North Caucasus region of Russia, Pakistan and the Xinjiang region in western China have poured into Afghanistan in recent months.
Most are associated with the Taliban or Al Qaeda, the report said, but others are allied with ISIS-K.
“Afghanistan has now become the Las Vegas of the terrorists, of the radicals and of the extremists,” said Ali Mohammad Ali, a former Afghan security official.
“People all over the world, radicals and extremists, are chanting, celebrating the Taliban victory."
"This is paving the way for other extremists to come to Afghanistan.”
American officials say they are preparing to combat both immediate and longer-term terrorist challenges in Afghanistan.
First and foremost is the threat at the Kabul airport.
Jake Sullivan, Mr. Biden’s national security adviser, said on Sunday that the threat from ISIS-K was “acute” and “persistent,” and that American commanders and other officials were taking all possible steps to thwart any attacks.
That includes striking an unlikely accommodation with the Taliban, at least temporarily, not only to allow safe passage to American citizens and Afghan allies to the airport for flights out of the country, but also to actively defend against an ISIS-K attack.
The leaders of the Islamic State in Afghanistan denounced the Taliban takeover of the country, criticizing their version of Islamic rule as insufficiently hard line, and the two groups have fought in recent years.
An attack on the airport, current and former American officials said, would be a strategic blow to both the United States and the Taliban leadership, which is trying to demonstrate that it can control the country.
Such a strike would bolster ISIS-K’s stature in the jihadist world, but that opportunity greatly diminishes after the last American Marine or soldier pulls out.
The Taliban and the Haqqani network, a militant group based in Pakistan, are essentially one and the same, terrorism experts say.
Siraj Haqqani has been the deputy emir of the Taliban since 2015.
In turn, the Haqqanis are close, operationally and ideologically, to Al Qaeda.
“The Taliban, Haqqani network, and Al Qaeda function as a triumvirate, and one that is very much part of the same militant network, they work together hand-in-glove,” said Colin P. Clarke, a counterterrorism analyst at the Soufan Group, a security consulting firm based in New York.
These three entities are inextricably linked, Mr. Clarke said, and in fact, have grown closer over the past decade, a trend that is likely to continue after the U.S. withdrawal, especially as they close ranks against adversaries like ISIS-K and the growing resistance movement in Afghanistan’s north.
On the other side of the jihadist ledger is ISIS-K.
The group is one of many affiliates that the Islamic State established after it swept into northern Iraq from Syria in 2014, and created a religious state or caliphate the size of Britain.
An American-led campaign crushed the caliphate, but more than 10,000 ISIS fighters remain in Iraq and Syria, and ISIS affiliates like the Sahel or the Sinai Peninsula are thriving.
But ISIS-K has never been a major force in Afghanistan, much less globally, analysts say.
The group’s ranks have dropped to about 1,500 to 2,000 fighters, about half from its peak levels in 2016 before American airstrikes and Afghan commando raids took a toll.
Since June 2020, however, under an ambitious new leader, Shahab al-Muhajir, the affiliate “remains active and dangerous,” and is seeking to swell its ranks with disaffected Taliban fighters and other militants, the U.N. report concluded.
“They have not been a first-tier ISIS affiliate, but with the Afghan commandos gone and the American military gone, does that give them breathing room?"
"It could,” said Seth G. Jones, an Afghanistan specialist at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington.
Even as the group’s overall ranks have declined in recent years, Mr. Jones said, ISIS-K has maintained cells of clandestine fighters who have carried out terrorist attacks.
United Nations counterterrorism officials said in the June report that the Islamic State had conducted 77 attacks in Afghanistan in the first four months of this year, up from 21 in the same period in 2020.
The attacks last year included a strike against Kabul University in November and a rocket barrage against the airport in Kabul a month later.
ISIS-K is believed to have been responsible for a school bombing in the capital that killed 80 schoolgirls in May.
Some analysts believe ISIS-K may have links to the Haqqani network.
Indeed, Shahab al-Muhajir, the ISIS leader, is reported to have been a former midlevel Haqqani commander before defecting.
“Since many ISIS commanders and fighters were once part of Al Qaeda or an Al Qaeda franchise, it is not surprising that there should be this contact,” said Bruce Hoffman, a terrorism scholar at the Council on Foreign Relations.
“In most cases, this contact has not produced any lasting reconciliation.”
The rivalry between the Taliban and its partners and ISIS-K will continue after the last American troops leave, analysts say.
And the fragile cooperation between American and Taliban commanders is already fraying, and the two could easily revert to their adversarial stances.
The American military is treating the Taliban’s red line about Aug. 31 seriously.
The recent evacuations have been possible because of Taliban cooperation — in allowing most people to reach the airport unscathed, and in working against the threat of ISIS attacks, commanders say.
After Aug. 31, military officials say, there is a real concern that at best, the cooperation with the Taliban will end.
At worst, that could lead to attacks on U.S. forces, foreign citizens and Afghan allies, either by Taliban elements or by their turning a blind eye to Islamic State threats.
Mr. Biden has pledged to prevent Afghanistan from again becoming a sanctuary for Al Qaeda and other terrorist groups that want to attack the American homeland.
Military commanders say that will be a difficult task, with no troops and few spies on the ground, and armed Reaper drones thousands of miles away at bases in the Persian Gulf.
In the February 2020 agreement with the Trump administration, the Taliban vowed not to allow Al Qaeda to use Afghan territory to attack the United States.
But analysts fear that is not happening and that Al Qaeda remains the longer-term terrorism threat.
As the U.N. report put it: “The Taliban and Al Qaeda remain closely aligned and show no indication of breaking ties.”
Adam Nossiter contributed reporting from Paris.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/is ... d=msedgntp
"ISIS Branch Poses Biggest Immediate Terror Threat to Evacuation in Kabul"
Eric Schmitt
25 AUGUST 2021
WASHINGTON — The United States has been battling the Taliban and their militant partners in Afghanistan, Al Qaeda and the Haqqani network, for 20 years.
But the biggest immediate threat to both the Americans and the Taliban as the United States escalates its evacuation at the Kabul airport before an Aug. 31 withdrawal deadline is a common rival that is lesser known: Islamic State Khorasan, or ISIS-K, the terrorist group’s affiliate in Afghanistan.
Created six years ago by disaffected Pakistani Taliban, ISIS-K has carried out dozens of attacks in Afghanistan this year.
American military and intelligence analysts say threats from the group include a bomb-laden truck, suicide bombers infiltrating the crowd outside Hamid Karzai International Airport and mortar strikes against the airfield.
These threats, coupled with new demands by the Taliban for the United States to leave by Aug. 31, probably influenced President Biden’s decision on Tuesday to stick to that deadline.
“Every day we’re on the ground is another day we know that ISIS-K is seeking to target the airport and attack both U.S. and allied forces and innocent civilians,” Mr. Biden said.
The threats lay bare a complicated dynamic between the Taliban, Al Qaeda and the Haqqani network, and their bitter rival, ISIS-K, in what analysts say portends a bloody struggle involving thousands of foreign fighters on both sides.
A United Nations report in June concluded that 8,000 to 10,000 fighters from Central Asia, the North Caucasus region of Russia, Pakistan and the Xinjiang region in western China have poured into Afghanistan in recent months.
Most are associated with the Taliban or Al Qaeda, the report said, but others are allied with ISIS-K.
“Afghanistan has now become the Las Vegas of the terrorists, of the radicals and of the extremists,” said Ali Mohammad Ali, a former Afghan security official.
“People all over the world, radicals and extremists, are chanting, celebrating the Taliban victory."
"This is paving the way for other extremists to come to Afghanistan.”
American officials say they are preparing to combat both immediate and longer-term terrorist challenges in Afghanistan.
First and foremost is the threat at the Kabul airport.
Jake Sullivan, Mr. Biden’s national security adviser, said on Sunday that the threat from ISIS-K was “acute” and “persistent,” and that American commanders and other officials were taking all possible steps to thwart any attacks.
That includes striking an unlikely accommodation with the Taliban, at least temporarily, not only to allow safe passage to American citizens and Afghan allies to the airport for flights out of the country, but also to actively defend against an ISIS-K attack.
The leaders of the Islamic State in Afghanistan denounced the Taliban takeover of the country, criticizing their version of Islamic rule as insufficiently hard line, and the two groups have fought in recent years.
An attack on the airport, current and former American officials said, would be a strategic blow to both the United States and the Taliban leadership, which is trying to demonstrate that it can control the country.
Such a strike would bolster ISIS-K’s stature in the jihadist world, but that opportunity greatly diminishes after the last American Marine or soldier pulls out.
The Taliban and the Haqqani network, a militant group based in Pakistan, are essentially one and the same, terrorism experts say.
Siraj Haqqani has been the deputy emir of the Taliban since 2015.
In turn, the Haqqanis are close, operationally and ideologically, to Al Qaeda.
“The Taliban, Haqqani network, and Al Qaeda function as a triumvirate, and one that is very much part of the same militant network, they work together hand-in-glove,” said Colin P. Clarke, a counterterrorism analyst at the Soufan Group, a security consulting firm based in New York.
These three entities are inextricably linked, Mr. Clarke said, and in fact, have grown closer over the past decade, a trend that is likely to continue after the U.S. withdrawal, especially as they close ranks against adversaries like ISIS-K and the growing resistance movement in Afghanistan’s north.
On the other side of the jihadist ledger is ISIS-K.
The group is one of many affiliates that the Islamic State established after it swept into northern Iraq from Syria in 2014, and created a religious state or caliphate the size of Britain.
An American-led campaign crushed the caliphate, but more than 10,000 ISIS fighters remain in Iraq and Syria, and ISIS affiliates like the Sahel or the Sinai Peninsula are thriving.
But ISIS-K has never been a major force in Afghanistan, much less globally, analysts say.
The group’s ranks have dropped to about 1,500 to 2,000 fighters, about half from its peak levels in 2016 before American airstrikes and Afghan commando raids took a toll.
Since June 2020, however, under an ambitious new leader, Shahab al-Muhajir, the affiliate “remains active and dangerous,” and is seeking to swell its ranks with disaffected Taliban fighters and other militants, the U.N. report concluded.
“They have not been a first-tier ISIS affiliate, but with the Afghan commandos gone and the American military gone, does that give them breathing room?"
"It could,” said Seth G. Jones, an Afghanistan specialist at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington.
Even as the group’s overall ranks have declined in recent years, Mr. Jones said, ISIS-K has maintained cells of clandestine fighters who have carried out terrorist attacks.
United Nations counterterrorism officials said in the June report that the Islamic State had conducted 77 attacks in Afghanistan in the first four months of this year, up from 21 in the same period in 2020.
The attacks last year included a strike against Kabul University in November and a rocket barrage against the airport in Kabul a month later.
ISIS-K is believed to have been responsible for a school bombing in the capital that killed 80 schoolgirls in May.
Some analysts believe ISIS-K may have links to the Haqqani network.
Indeed, Shahab al-Muhajir, the ISIS leader, is reported to have been a former midlevel Haqqani commander before defecting.
“Since many ISIS commanders and fighters were once part of Al Qaeda or an Al Qaeda franchise, it is not surprising that there should be this contact,” said Bruce Hoffman, a terrorism scholar at the Council on Foreign Relations.
“In most cases, this contact has not produced any lasting reconciliation.”
The rivalry between the Taliban and its partners and ISIS-K will continue after the last American troops leave, analysts say.
And the fragile cooperation between American and Taliban commanders is already fraying, and the two could easily revert to their adversarial stances.
The American military is treating the Taliban’s red line about Aug. 31 seriously.
The recent evacuations have been possible because of Taliban cooperation — in allowing most people to reach the airport unscathed, and in working against the threat of ISIS attacks, commanders say.
After Aug. 31, military officials say, there is a real concern that at best, the cooperation with the Taliban will end.
At worst, that could lead to attacks on U.S. forces, foreign citizens and Afghan allies, either by Taliban elements or by their turning a blind eye to Islamic State threats.
Mr. Biden has pledged to prevent Afghanistan from again becoming a sanctuary for Al Qaeda and other terrorist groups that want to attack the American homeland.
Military commanders say that will be a difficult task, with no troops and few spies on the ground, and armed Reaper drones thousands of miles away at bases in the Persian Gulf.
In the February 2020 agreement with the Trump administration, the Taliban vowed not to allow Al Qaeda to use Afghan territory to attack the United States.
But analysts fear that is not happening and that Al Qaeda remains the longer-term terrorism threat.
As the U.N. report put it: “The Taliban and Al Qaeda remain closely aligned and show no indication of breaking ties.”
Adam Nossiter contributed reporting from Paris.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/is ... d=msedgntp
Re: AFGHANISTAN
CNBC
"12 U.S. service members were killed, 15 wounded in attack near Kabul airport, Pentagon says"
Amanda Macias @AMANDA_M_MACIAS
PUBLISHED THU, AUG 26 2021
KEY POINTS
* The Pentagon on Thursday confirmed that 12 U.S. service members have been killed and 15 wounded after two suicide bombers detonated explosives near Hamid Karzai International Airport in Afghanistan.
* U.S. Marine Gen. Kenneth McKenzie, commander of U.S. Central Command, said that a number of Afghan civilians were also killed but was not able to provide a precise number.
* He said that the U.S. is still monitoring “extremely active threats” to the airport that range from suicide bombers to rocket attacks.
* The terrorist group ISIS has claimed responsibility for the attack.
* President Joe Biden will address the nation on the attack at 5:00 p.m. ET.
WASHINGTON — The Pentagon on Thursday confirmed that 12 U.S. service members have been killed and 15 wounded after two suicide bombers detonated explosives near Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul, Afghanistan.
U.S. Marine Gen. Kenneth McKenzie, commander of U.S. Central Command, said that a number of Afghan civilians were also killed but was not able to provide a precise number.
The explosions took place near the airport’s Abbey Gate and the Baron Hotel immediately adjacent, McKenzie said.
Several gunmen opened fire on civilians and military forces after the explosion at Abbey Gate, he said.
The general, who oversees the U.S. military’s operations in the region, said that the Pentagon is working to determine attribution for the attack, but added that the current assessment is that the bombers are affiliated with ISIS.
ISIS later claimed responsibility for the attack.
McKenzie said that the U.S. is still monitoring “extremely active threats” to the airport that range from suicide bombers to rocket attacks.
McKenzie said that despite the attack, the U.S. emergency evacuation mission continues.
Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin expressed his condolences in a statement Thursday and condemned the attack that “took their lives at the very moment these troops were trying to save the lives of others.”
“We will not be dissuaded from the task at hand."
"To do anything less -- especially now -- would dishonor the purpose and sacrifice these men and women have rendered our country and the people of Afghanistan,” Austin added.
About 5,400 U.S. servicemembers are assisting with evacuation efforts in Kabul.
The British have about 1,000 troops assisting with the evacuation.
The U.K. Ministry of Defense said there were no reported casualties among its government and military personnel in Kabul after the attack.
President Joe Biden will address the nation on the attacks at 5:00 p.m. ET.
“The president met with his national security team Thursday morning, including Austin, Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff U.S. Army Gen. Mark Milley as well as commanders on the ground in Kabul,” the White House said in a statement.
“He will continue to be briefed on updates on the evolving situation throughout the day,” the statement added.
The U.S. Embassy in Kabul had issued a security alert on Wednesday urging Americans to avoid the airport: “U.S. citizens who are at the Abbey Gate, East Gate, or North Gate now should leave immediately,” the alert said.
The embassy again told Americans on Thursday not to travel to the airport and avoid its gates after the attack.
In the last 24 hours, Western forces evacuated 13,400 people out of Kabul on 91 military cargo aircraft flights.
Since the mass evacuations began Aug. 14, approximately 95,700 people have been airlifted out of Afghanistan.
About 101,300 people have been evacuated since the end of July, including about 5,000 U.S. citizens and their families.
A State Department spokesperson said Thursday that about 500 of the 1,500 Americans believed to be in Afghanistan have been evacuated.
“We are now in contact with the roughly 1,000 Americans we believe remain in Afghanistan."
"And, the vast majority – over two-thirds – informed us that they were taking steps to leave,” the spokesperson added.
Biden on Tuesday reiterated to leaders of the G-7, NATO, United Nations and European Union that the United States will withdraw its military from Afghanistan by the end of the month.
The president warned that staying longer in Afghanistan carries serious risks for foreign troops and civilians.
Biden said ISIS-K, an Afghanistan-based affiliate of the terror group, presents a growing threat to the airport.
“Every day we’re on the ground is another day we know that ISIS-K is seeking to target the airport and attack both U.S. and allied forces and innocent civilians,” he said.
The Taliban said earlier Tuesday that the group will no longer allow Afghan nationals to leave the country on evacuation flights nor will they accept an extension of the withdrawal deadline beyond the end of the month.
“We are not in favor of allowing Afghans to leave,” Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told reporters during a news conference Tuesday.
“They [the Americans] have the opportunity, they have all the resources, they can take all the people that belong to them, but we are not going to allow Afghans to leave and we will not extend the deadline,” he said.
Evacuations carried out by foreign forces after Aug. 31 would be a “violation” of a Biden administration promise to end the U.S. military’s mission in the country, Mujahid said.
-- CNBC’s Spencer Kimball contributed to this report from New York.
https://www.cnbc.com/2021/08/26/explosi ... firms.html
"12 U.S. service members were killed, 15 wounded in attack near Kabul airport, Pentagon says"
Amanda Macias @AMANDA_M_MACIAS
PUBLISHED THU, AUG 26 2021
KEY POINTS
* The Pentagon on Thursday confirmed that 12 U.S. service members have been killed and 15 wounded after two suicide bombers detonated explosives near Hamid Karzai International Airport in Afghanistan.
* U.S. Marine Gen. Kenneth McKenzie, commander of U.S. Central Command, said that a number of Afghan civilians were also killed but was not able to provide a precise number.
* He said that the U.S. is still monitoring “extremely active threats” to the airport that range from suicide bombers to rocket attacks.
* The terrorist group ISIS has claimed responsibility for the attack.
* President Joe Biden will address the nation on the attack at 5:00 p.m. ET.
WASHINGTON — The Pentagon on Thursday confirmed that 12 U.S. service members have been killed and 15 wounded after two suicide bombers detonated explosives near Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul, Afghanistan.
U.S. Marine Gen. Kenneth McKenzie, commander of U.S. Central Command, said that a number of Afghan civilians were also killed but was not able to provide a precise number.
The explosions took place near the airport’s Abbey Gate and the Baron Hotel immediately adjacent, McKenzie said.
Several gunmen opened fire on civilians and military forces after the explosion at Abbey Gate, he said.
The general, who oversees the U.S. military’s operations in the region, said that the Pentagon is working to determine attribution for the attack, but added that the current assessment is that the bombers are affiliated with ISIS.
ISIS later claimed responsibility for the attack.
McKenzie said that the U.S. is still monitoring “extremely active threats” to the airport that range from suicide bombers to rocket attacks.
McKenzie said that despite the attack, the U.S. emergency evacuation mission continues.
Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin expressed his condolences in a statement Thursday and condemned the attack that “took their lives at the very moment these troops were trying to save the lives of others.”
“We will not be dissuaded from the task at hand."
"To do anything less -- especially now -- would dishonor the purpose and sacrifice these men and women have rendered our country and the people of Afghanistan,” Austin added.
About 5,400 U.S. servicemembers are assisting with evacuation efforts in Kabul.
The British have about 1,000 troops assisting with the evacuation.
The U.K. Ministry of Defense said there were no reported casualties among its government and military personnel in Kabul after the attack.
President Joe Biden will address the nation on the attacks at 5:00 p.m. ET.
“The president met with his national security team Thursday morning, including Austin, Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff U.S. Army Gen. Mark Milley as well as commanders on the ground in Kabul,” the White House said in a statement.
“He will continue to be briefed on updates on the evolving situation throughout the day,” the statement added.
The U.S. Embassy in Kabul had issued a security alert on Wednesday urging Americans to avoid the airport: “U.S. citizens who are at the Abbey Gate, East Gate, or North Gate now should leave immediately,” the alert said.
The embassy again told Americans on Thursday not to travel to the airport and avoid its gates after the attack.
In the last 24 hours, Western forces evacuated 13,400 people out of Kabul on 91 military cargo aircraft flights.
Since the mass evacuations began Aug. 14, approximately 95,700 people have been airlifted out of Afghanistan.
About 101,300 people have been evacuated since the end of July, including about 5,000 U.S. citizens and their families.
A State Department spokesperson said Thursday that about 500 of the 1,500 Americans believed to be in Afghanistan have been evacuated.
“We are now in contact with the roughly 1,000 Americans we believe remain in Afghanistan."
"And, the vast majority – over two-thirds – informed us that they were taking steps to leave,” the spokesperson added.
Biden on Tuesday reiterated to leaders of the G-7, NATO, United Nations and European Union that the United States will withdraw its military from Afghanistan by the end of the month.
The president warned that staying longer in Afghanistan carries serious risks for foreign troops and civilians.
Biden said ISIS-K, an Afghanistan-based affiliate of the terror group, presents a growing threat to the airport.
“Every day we’re on the ground is another day we know that ISIS-K is seeking to target the airport and attack both U.S. and allied forces and innocent civilians,” he said.
The Taliban said earlier Tuesday that the group will no longer allow Afghan nationals to leave the country on evacuation flights nor will they accept an extension of the withdrawal deadline beyond the end of the month.
“We are not in favor of allowing Afghans to leave,” Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told reporters during a news conference Tuesday.
“They [the Americans] have the opportunity, they have all the resources, they can take all the people that belong to them, but we are not going to allow Afghans to leave and we will not extend the deadline,” he said.
Evacuations carried out by foreign forces after Aug. 31 would be a “violation” of a Biden administration promise to end the U.S. military’s mission in the country, Mujahid said.
-- CNBC’s Spencer Kimball contributed to this report from New York.
https://www.cnbc.com/2021/08/26/explosi ... firms.html
Re: AFGHANISTAN
THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
"McCarthy blames Schiff for focusing on impeachment over Afghanistan intelligence"
Emily Brooks
26 AUGUST 2021
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy took aim at House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff for creating a “failure” by focusing on impeachment investigations against former President Donald Trump rather than on providing oversight on intelligence about the Taliban's influence in Afghanistan.
“We should have been having hearings on what's going on over there."
"We should have been able to gather that they would collapse this fast."
"But Adam Schiff was too focused on impeachment than doing the job he was supposed to do,” McCarthy, a California Republican, said in a press conference on Wednesday.
Schiff, a Democrat, also from California, became the face of the first impeachment effort against Trump as head of the Intelligence Committee, despite the House Judiciary Committee traditionally taking the leading role in impeachment proceedings.
“How much time did Adam Schiff spend looking around the world of what his responsibility is?” McCarthy said.
“When you're on the Intel Committee, you learn things that other members do not know."
"But he spent all this time on politics.”
McCarthy added that he would look at what “failure he created, too.”
A top concern of lawmakers in light of the U.S. being surprised by a swift Taliban takeover of Afghanistan as U.S. troops pulled out of the country is the quality of intelligence.
After a classified Intelligence Committee briefing on Monday, Schiff relayed in general terms what the intelligence agencies knew about the situation in Afghanistan leading up to the collapse.
"Intelligence agencies’ assessments of the Afghan government's ability to maintain itself became increasingly pessimistic over the course of the last six months,” Schiff said.
“There were any number of warnings that the Taliban might take over, and some that included a potential of a very rapid takeover,” Schiff said, but added no one predicted such a rapid collapse.
McCarthy said that if Republicans win back the House in 2022 and he becomes speaker, he would task House committees with evaluating what led to the situation in Afghanistan rather than creating some sort of select committee solely focused on the issue.
"We have people who have such expertise, were on the ground,” McCarthy said.
“I would take it through all committees, from Armed Services to Foreign Affairs to Intel."
"And I would change the Intel Committee back to the purpose of what their responsibility was.”
“They have a responsibility of overseeing the agencies."
"But what did they do?"
"They turned it to look within."
"They spent it as a political arm,” McCarthy said.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics ... hp&pc=U531
"McCarthy blames Schiff for focusing on impeachment over Afghanistan intelligence"
Emily Brooks
26 AUGUST 2021
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy took aim at House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff for creating a “failure” by focusing on impeachment investigations against former President Donald Trump rather than on providing oversight on intelligence about the Taliban's influence in Afghanistan.
“We should have been having hearings on what's going on over there."
"We should have been able to gather that they would collapse this fast."
"But Adam Schiff was too focused on impeachment than doing the job he was supposed to do,” McCarthy, a California Republican, said in a press conference on Wednesday.
Schiff, a Democrat, also from California, became the face of the first impeachment effort against Trump as head of the Intelligence Committee, despite the House Judiciary Committee traditionally taking the leading role in impeachment proceedings.
“How much time did Adam Schiff spend looking around the world of what his responsibility is?” McCarthy said.
“When you're on the Intel Committee, you learn things that other members do not know."
"But he spent all this time on politics.”
McCarthy added that he would look at what “failure he created, too.”
A top concern of lawmakers in light of the U.S. being surprised by a swift Taliban takeover of Afghanistan as U.S. troops pulled out of the country is the quality of intelligence.
After a classified Intelligence Committee briefing on Monday, Schiff relayed in general terms what the intelligence agencies knew about the situation in Afghanistan leading up to the collapse.
"Intelligence agencies’ assessments of the Afghan government's ability to maintain itself became increasingly pessimistic over the course of the last six months,” Schiff said.
“There were any number of warnings that the Taliban might take over, and some that included a potential of a very rapid takeover,” Schiff said, but added no one predicted such a rapid collapse.
McCarthy said that if Republicans win back the House in 2022 and he becomes speaker, he would task House committees with evaluating what led to the situation in Afghanistan rather than creating some sort of select committee solely focused on the issue.
"We have people who have such expertise, were on the ground,” McCarthy said.
“I would take it through all committees, from Armed Services to Foreign Affairs to Intel."
"And I would change the Intel Committee back to the purpose of what their responsibility was.”
“They have a responsibility of overseeing the agencies."
"But what did they do?"
"They turned it to look within."
"They spent it as a political arm,” McCarthy said.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics ... hp&pc=U531