The Fall Of Kabul To The Taliban #2

[worldwatcher]

Mullah Baradar, one of the founders of the Taliban, becomes the new head of government of Afghanistan. International news agencies report this based on sources within the extremist movement. His government would be presented shortly.
A son of Taliban founder Mullah Omar would also join the new government. Taliban leaders have gathered in the capital Kabul to agree on the formation of the new government.


Fighting in Panjshir Valley

Meanwhile, fierce resistance to Taliban rule continues in the Panjshir Valley. It is the only region in Afghanistan that is not yet in the hands of the Taliban. There is only one real access road to the valley and it is guarded by heavily armed resistance fighters.
Journalists report that smoke from combat fire can be seen.
'Taliban-leider Baradar wordt nieuwe Afghaanse regeringsleider'

According to this, the soldiers made $1,873/year in 2012. Still more than 4 times that of the Afghan per capita average. Plus, they got training, food and shelter for free.

"Still, a close look at U.S. military statistics shows that Afghan soldiers and police officers are far more expensive than you'd expect. They are paid an average of just $1,872 a year, but the overall cost of training and fielding a police officer is roughly $30,000 per year, while the cost of each soldier is nearly $46,000 per year. the United States bears virtually all of those costs, adding up to more than $3.5 billion a year."
The U.S. Spends $14K per Afghan Troop per Year, but Each Earns $1,872

At the end of the day, I think every other country that has ever tried to control Afghanistan, including the US, and now China (imo), has been in it for the resources, i.e., $$$ Period. jmo

Eyes on China :
Taliban: China to keep embassy in Afghanistan and increase aid

 

[Skigh]

Afghan resistance fighters come under 'heavy assaults' from 'very well armed' Taliban forces | Daily Mail Online

 

[worldwatcher]

Afghan resistance fighters come under 'heavy assaults' from 'very well armed' Taliban forces | Daily Mail Online

I feared that would happen.
What a mess

 

[worldwatcher]

According to a tweet from a BBC journalist,is that Panjshir has fallen.
Other reply's to that tweet,say that is too early to say,because it's hard to communicate.
https://twitter.com/KazmiWajahat/status/1433814495437234176?s=20

 

[shotgun09]

Inquiring minds want to know what else was said in the conversation where "perception" rather than "reality" was the USA goal as the Taliban took control of Afghanistan.

​

Thank you Otto! Indeed many many inquiring minds want more information on the phone call and transcript between the two leaders. In viewing the Reuters article, (linked again below)

Excerpts of call between Joe Biden and Ashraf Ghani July 23

which initially released the portions of transcripts of the phone call, I believe I counted four times the word(s) 'perception' or 'project '. That appeared to be the focus of the POTUS in my view also.


Exclusive: Before Afghan collapse, Biden pressed Ghani to ‘change perception’


"In much of the call, Biden focused on what he called the Afghan government’s “perception” problem.
“I need not tell you the perception around the world and in parts of Afghanistan, I believe, is that things are not going well in terms of the fight against the Taliban,” Biden said. “And there is a need, whether it is true or not, there is a need to project a different picture.”
A question...did he just encourage Ghani to lie?

"Biden told Ghani that if Afghanistan’s prominent political figures were to give a press conference together, backing a new military strategy, “that will change perception, and that will change an awful lot I think.”

“I’m not a military guy, so I’m not telling you what a plan should precisely look like, you’re going to get not only more help, but you’re going to get a perception that is going to change …,” Biden said.

“We will continue to provide close air support, if we know what the plan is,” Biden said.


Also from this same article, a second phone call was made, and transcripts were obtained by Reuters:

SECOND CALL WITH TOP STAFF

"In a follow-up call later that day that did not include the U.S. president, Biden’s National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, General Mark Milley and U.S. Central Command commander General Frank McKenzie spoke to Ghani. Reuters also obtained a transcript of that call.

In this call, too, an area of focus was the global perception of events on the ground in Afghanistan. Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told Ghani “the perception in the United States, in Europe and the media sort of thing is a narrative of Taliban momentum, and a narrative of Taliban victory. And we need to collectively demonstrate and try to turn that perception, that narrative around.”


So so many questions
Where is the sense of urgency and the demand for truth and information from our Government Leaders and the MSM now?
I hear crickets

This awful situation ended with 13 lives lost and 15 Marines wounded during a heavily botched withdraw.
There are an unknown number of stranded American citizens left in Afghanistan. There are questionable numbers of airlifted citizens vs refugees, and most importantly a seemingly VERY questionable transcript from a phone call between the POTUS and a Foreign leader just prior to the disaster?

Inquiring minds want to know....
I wonder if the families of the fallen want to know
I wonder if those left stranded in Afghanistan want to know
I wonder if the gravely injured Marines in Walter Reed right now want to know
I wonder if those who are currently active in our Military want to know
I wonder if Veterans want to know

 

[shotgun09]

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. officials are looking into reports that in the frantic evacuation of desperate Afghans from Kabul, older men were admitted together with young girls they claimed as “brides” or otherwise sexually abused.

U.S. officials at intake centers in the United Arab Emirates and in Wisconsin have identified numerous incidents in which Afghan girls have been presented to authorities as the “wives” of much older men. While child marriage is not uncommon in Afghanistan, the U.S. has strict policies against human trafficking that include prosecutions for offenders and sanctions for countries that don’t crack down on it.

One internal document seen by The Associated Press says the State Department has sought “urgent guidance” from other agencies after purported child brides were brought to Fort McCoy in Wisconsin. Another document, described to the AP by officials familiar with it, says Afghan girls at a transit site in Abu Dhabi have alleged they have been raped by older men they were forced to marry in order to escape Afghanistan.

Afghan evacuation raises concerns about child trafficking

 

[dotr]

Women stage protest in Taliban-controlled Kabul - CNN
Fri September 3, 2021

Afghan women take part in a demonstration for their rights in Kabul on September 3.

''A group of Afghan women activists staged a small protest in Taliban-controlled Kabul Friday calling for equal rights and full participation in political life, CNN has confirmed.
In spite of the risk, a group called the Women's Political Participation Network marched on the street in front of Afghanistan's Finance Ministry, chanting slogans and holding signs demanding involvement in the Afghan government and calling for constitutional law.
Footage showed a brief confrontation between a Taliban guard and some of the women, and a man's voice could be heard saying, "Go away!" before chanting resumed.
The gathering was relatively small -- video of the scene livestreamed by the group showed just a few dozen demonstrators -- but represented an unusual public challenge to Taliban rule.''

 

[dotr]

 

[shotgun09]

Well this isn't reassuring at all:

U.S. Struggles to Learn Who’s Who in Afghan Airlift of 124,000

"Days after the Biden administration finished evacuating about 124,000 people from Afghanistan, it’s coming to grips with the reality that it doesn’t know who many of those people are.

What’s emerging, according to government officials and advocates, is that a small percentage of the Afghan citizens who got out are the ones the U.S. pledged to place at the top of its priority list: the thousands who had worked for the U.S. and its allies as well as employees of nongovernmental groups and media organizations.

Instead, initial findings suggest that while some who escaped were locally employed staff, many got out because they were part of the initial crush of people who made it to Kabul’s airport as the city fell to the Taliban or secured passage through airport gates thanks to luck or help from people in the U.S. or elsewhere.

The U.S. is looking into reports that older men may have been admitted along with young girls they claimed as “brides” or otherwise sexually abused, according to an official who discussed the concern on condition of anonymity. That issue was reported earlier Friday by the Associated Press. In fact, many of the Afghans who were most vulnerable to the Taliban -- applicants for the Special Immigrant Visa program intended for translators and others who aided the American war effort -- didn’t make it out because the U.S. told them going to the airport would be too dangerous. And they never got a call to come before the last U.S. plane departed..."

 

[Dawookie]

Well this isn't reassuring at all:

U.S. Struggles to Learn Who’s Who in Afghan Airlift of 124,000

"Days after the Biden administration finished evacuating about 124,000 people from Afghanistan, it’s coming to grips with the reality that it doesn’t know who many of those people are.

What’s emerging, according to government officials and advocates, is that a small percentage of the Afghan citizens who got out are the ones the U.S. pledged to place at the top of its priority list: the thousands who had worked for the U.S. and its allies as well as employees of nongovernmental groups and media organizations.

Instead, initial findings suggest that while some who escaped were locally employed staff, many got out because they were part of the initial crush of people who made it to Kabul’s airport as the city fell to the Taliban or secured passage through airport gates thanks to luck or help from people in the U.S. or elsewhere.

The U.S. is looking into reports that older men may have been admitted along with young girls they claimed as “brides” or otherwise sexually abused, according to an official who discussed the concern on condition of anonymity. That issue was reported earlier Friday by the Associated Press. In fact, many of the Afghans who were most vulnerable to the Taliban -- applicants for the Special Immigrant Visa program intended for translators and others who aided the American war effort -- didn’t make it out because the U.S. told them going to the airport would be too dangerous. And they never got a call to come before the last U.S. plane departed..."

If that is actually true, this whole thing is made even worse. It was bad enough that we gave the Taliban the names but then to pull this?

 

[otto]

Well this isn't reassuring at all:

U.S. Struggles to Learn Who’s Who in Afghan Airlift of 124,000

"Days after the Biden administration finished evacuating about 124,000 people from Afghanistan, it’s coming to grips with the reality that it doesn’t know who many of those people are.

What’s emerging, according to government officials and advocates, is that a small percentage of the Afghan citizens who got out are the ones the U.S. pledged to place at the top of its priority list: the thousands who had worked for the U.S. and its allies as well as employees of nongovernmental groups and media organizations.

Instead, initial findings suggest that while some who escaped were locally employed staff, many got out because they were part of the initial crush of people who made it to Kabul’s airport as the city fell to the Taliban or secured passage through airport gates thanks to luck or help from people in the U.S. or elsewhere.

The U.S. is looking into reports that older men may have been admitted along with young girls they claimed as “brides” or otherwise sexually abused, according to an official who discussed the concern on condition of anonymity. That issue was reported earlier Friday by the Associated Press. In fact, many of the Afghans who were most vulnerable to the Taliban -- applicants for the Special Immigrant Visa program intended for translators and others who aided the American war effort -- didn’t make it out because the U.S. told them going to the airport would be too dangerous. And they never got a call to come before the last U.S. plane departed..."

What a mess! That's what I suspected yesterday - that those who were evacuated were simply those who got to the airport first. The dentist who fell from the plane is a good example. He saw on facebook that Canada and the USA were evacuating people who wanted to leave, so he went to the airport on Aug 15 without telling his family. He couldn't get into the plane, so he got on the plane, and then fell off the plane after it was in the air. He didn't need to leave Afghanistan, but he thought it would be nice to live in Canada or the USA. (link)

 

[Gardenista]

Well this isn't reassuring at all:

U.S. Struggles to Learn Who’s Who in Afghan Airlift of 124,000

"Days after the Biden administration finished evacuating about 124,000 people from Afghanistan, it’s coming to grips with the reality that it doesn’t know who many of those people are.

What’s emerging, according to government officials and advocates, is that a small percentage of the Afghan citizens who got out are the ones the U.S. pledged to place at the top of its priority list: the thousands who had worked for the U.S. and its allies as well as employees of nongovernmental groups and media organizations.

Instead, initial findings suggest that while some who escaped were locally employed staff, many got out because they were part of the initial crush of people who made it to Kabul’s airport as the city fell to the Taliban or secured passage through airport gates thanks to luck or help from people in the U.S. or elsewhere.

The U.S. is looking into reports that older men may have been admitted along with young girls they claimed as “brides” or otherwise sexually abused, according to an official who discussed the concern on condition of anonymity. That issue was reported earlier Friday by the Associated Press. In fact, many of the Afghans who were most vulnerable to the Taliban -- applicants for the Special Immigrant Visa program intended for translators and others who aided the American war effort -- didn’t make it out because the U.S. told them going to the airport would be too dangerous. And they never got a call to come before the last U.S. plane departed..."

Shocker.

 

[neesaki]

Afghan resistance fighters come under 'heavy assaults' from 'very well armed' Taliban forces | Daily Mail Online

With our U.S. weapons

 

[otto]

Shocker.

It's a bit Monty Python-ish. There was so much bravado about evacuating 125,000 troops, civilians who worked for foreign governments during the occupation, and green card holders. In the end, there are 125,000 people that no one knows and no one can explain why they were evacuated.

 

[shotgun09]

But wait! There's more! ......
RSBM Huge and informative article:


Inside the Afghan Evacuation: Rogue Flights, Crowded Tents, Hope and Chaos
President Biden has insisted that the evacuation of Kabul was done as efficiently as possible. But key documents obtained by The New York Times suggest otherwise.

"WASHINGTON — On the last day of August, when President Biden called the airlift of refugees from Kabul an “extraordinary success,” senior diplomats and military officers in Doha, Qatar, emailed out a daily situation report marked “sensitive but unclassified.”

"Tensions in the temporary shelters had “flared,” the report said, “due to prolonged stays and unpredictable exit dates.” At the Army base, “single males, including former Afghan military” had become unruly “and contraband weapons have been confiscated.” Overwhelmed, neither base was testing Afghan evacuees for the coronavirus."

"Whatever plans the Biden administration had for an orderly evacuation unraveled when Kabul fell in a matter of days, setting off a frenzied, last-minute global mobilization."

"But unclassified briefing documents titled “2021 Afghanistan Repatriation Mission” reveal that in some cases, spotty information is being collected: Flight manifests have been at times incomplete or missing, visa or citizenship status is unknown, and there is a lack of basic demographic data."

"More than 100 Afghan children have also arrived in the country without a parent or legal guardian, according to the State Department. They are being held in state-licensed shelters in Illinois and Virginia that are overseen by the Health and Human Services Department — the same agency that has been overwhelmed this year with a record number of migrant children arriving alone at the country’s border with Mexico."


Inside the Afghan Evacuation: Rogue Flights, Crowded Tents, Hope and Chaos

 

[Dontknow?]

According to a tweet from a BBC journalist,is that Panjshir has fallen.
Other reply's to that tweet,say that is too early to say,because it's hard to communicate.
https://twitter.com/KazmiWajahat/status/1433814495437234176?s=20

Earlier today they said that but many say it's false. I'll check for a good source on this.

The Afghan Resistance Says Reports Of Its Defeat In Panjshir Are Taliban Propaganda

The NRF, which says it has about 10,000 fighters, is made up of various local militias and former Afghan security force members. It is led by the Western-educated son of legendary mujahedeen commander Ahmad Shah Massoud, who was assassinated in the days leading up to the 9/11 terrorist attacks. The elder Massoud famously helped fight both the Soviet army and the Taliban to a standstill from his stronghold in the Panjshir Valley, situated in the Hindu Kush mountains.

The Afghan Resistance Says Reports Of Its Defeat In Panjshir Are Taliban Propaganda

 

[otto]

But wait! There's more! ......
RSBM Huge and informative article:


Inside the Afghan Evacuation: Rogue Flights, Crowded Tents, Hope and Chaos
President Biden has insisted that the evacuation of Kabul was done as efficiently as possible. But key documents obtained by The New York Times suggest otherwise.

"WASHINGTON — On the last day of August, when President Biden called the airlift of refugees from Kabul an “extraordinary success,” senior diplomats and military officers in Doha, Qatar, emailed out a daily situation report marked “sensitive but unclassified.”

"Tensions in the temporary shelters had “flared,” the report said, “due to prolonged stays and unpredictable exit dates.” At the Army base, “single males, including former Afghan military” had become unruly “and contraband weapons have been confiscated.” Overwhelmed, neither base was testing Afghan evacuees for the coronavirus."

"Whatever plans the Biden administration had for an orderly evacuation unraveled when Kabul fell in a matter of days, setting off a frenzied, last-minute global mobilization."

"But unclassified briefing documents titled “2021 Afghanistan Repatriation Mission” reveal that in some cases, spotty information is being collected: Flight manifests have been at times incomplete or missing, visa or citizenship status is unknown, and there is a lack of basic demographic data."

"More than 100 Afghan children have also arrived in the country without a parent or legal guardian, according to the State Department. They are being held in state-licensed shelters in Illinois and Virginia that are overseen by the Health and Human Services Department — the same agency that has been overwhelmed this year with a record number of migrant children arriving alone at the country’s border with Mexico."


Inside the Afghan Evacuation: Rogue Flights, Crowded Tents, Hope and Chaos

Unaccompanied children? Soldiers with weapons? No covid testing? People who are angry about life as a refugee? Perhaps it's time to put them on a plane and send them home.

Perhaps there's also a lesson to be learned from Syrian refugees in Europe who claimed to be much younger than they were.

 

[ringbearer]

It's a bit Monty Python-ish. There was so much bravado about evacuating 125,000 troops, civilians who worked for foreign governments during the occupation, and green card holders. In the end, there are 125,000 people that no one knows and no one can explain why they were evacuated.

Tbh, I expected nothing different. Would have bet lots of money on it. jmo

 

[shotgun09]

From Jacqui Heinrich, WH corespondent on Twitter:

NBC: U.S. will send 2 Afghan evacuees to Kosovo over security concerns after arriving at a US airport Of 30k+ evacuees from Afghanistan to US, 10k needed add'l screening as of Friday & about 100 flagged for possible Taliban/terror ties. 2 of the 100 going back out for review

https://twitter.com/JacquiHeinrich/status/1433902086584930310

 

[Arkay]

From Jacqui Heinrich, WH corespondent on Twitter:

NBC: U.S. will send 2 Afghan evacuees to Kosovo over security concerns after arriving at a US airport Of 30k+ evacuees from Afghanistan to US, 10k needed add'l screening as of Friday & about 100 flagged for possible Taliban/terror ties. 2 of the 100 going back out for review

https://twitter.com/JacquiHeinrich/status/1433902086584930310

Well, this debacle provided a unique and fabulous opportunity for terrorists to not only penetrate our country but to have our own military escort them in for free.

I agree it was time for our troops to leave Afghanistan. Everything after that decision has been a terrorist’s wet dream.