13 Americans are dead along with 60 Afghan civilians in a major ISIS terror attack against the Kabul airport. NBC News. ISIS took credit for the attack, which involved two suicide bombings and at least one shooter. The attackers targeted the airport's Abbey gate as well as the Barron Hotel, just outside of the airport. Biden said that the United States would pursue ISIS in Afghanistan but would not deploy more troops. Efforts to evacuate American citizens and Afghan allies continued despite the major terrorist attack. The United States has until August 31st to get everyone out, including their own soldiers, due to a Taliban deadline. The Taliban have no love for ISIS as they are enemies, but they were unable to prevent this attack.
The Guardian has a live feed for this event and they have updated the casualty count to 13 Americans dead.
My Comment:
I wrote about the possibility of an ISIS terror attack at Kabul airport a few days ago. I said the possibility of an attack was unlikely, but certainly possible. ISIS had to first get into the city from the countryside, bypassing Taliban checkpoints and then do the same thing in the city itself. Having done so they were able to attack the forces stationed there and inflicted serious casualties.
I wasn't sure they were going to be able to pull such an attack off, even though it was obvious they wanted to. ISIS had been greatly reduced since President Trump took office. He led a major bombing campaign against the terror group and killed much of their leadership. The Taliban too attacked them and they were at a fraction of their previous power. But I guess they still had the troops and bombmakers to pull off this attack.
The situation in Kabul is now very dire. We still have more than 1000 Americans to evacuate and that seems unlikely now. At any moment another major ISIS terror attack could occur and we have to trust the Taliban to keep us safe. And the Taliban are most likely unwilling or unable to do so.
Mounting an evacuation from an airport that could at any moment come under fire has to be one of the most extremely difficult things that the United States military has ever been asked to do and I honestly don't know if they are going to pull it off. If ISIS can set up rocket and/or mortar attacks then it's done. We won't be able to get our people out if the airport is shut down or damaged enough that it can't operate. At that point the only option for the military on the ground would be to move out on foot and hope to God that the Taliban don't stop them.
Even if that doesn't happen though, this event surely has to be the end of Joe Biden's presidency. He may not resign or be removed but all respect for the man is gone and a lot of people in his orbit are now trying to distance themselves from this disaster. Biden has completely mishandled this event and the incompetence now has a price in American blood.
Worst of all is that people do not think that Biden cares at all. When Kabul fell he was on vacation and he only came back for a short statement before going on vacation again. After being shamed into coming back to work he went on vacation. Again. The optics are terrible and his press conferences, where he only answered pre-approved questions and then fled the reporters did not help things.
A real leader would not have acted this way. The fall of Kabul and the evacuation may have been inevitable but I can't picture President Trump acting this way. Hell, I despise Barack Obama and think he was a bad President, but I can't picture him acting this way either. Or even Hillary Clinton or the rest of the Democratic field for 2020 (other than Kamala Harris who has acted just as bad as Biden). A real leader would have showed up, and actually took some of the blame he deserves instead of trying to blame everyone but himself.
This really does seem like the end of an era in terms of America's power globally. We are no longer feared and respected and it's clear that we are leaving Afghanistan as a broken power. We did not win there and now it's clear that we aren't leaving on our own terms. Hell, it will be a miracle if we even manage to get our military forces out, let alone the civilians still trapped there. This will have massive consequences down the line as every other power in the world will realize that the world's policeman is now out to lunch. This is going to be a dark decade...
As for Biden, if he had any sense at all he would resign, along with Kamala Harris. There is no way his Presidency recovers from this and the only reason he hasn't been impeached yet is because the Democrats are for some ungodly reason defending him. Indeed, the talking point from Twitter blue checkmarks today is that this is Trump's fault for "not destroying ISIS" even though Biden has been in power now for seven months.
But that won't save Biden this time. Too many of his own people are turning on him. The media is turning on him. And, most damning of all, the intelligence and military community are turning on him. His base of power is shattered and nobody is going to forgive the 13 Americans left dead and the potential 1000 people he will leave behind in Afghanistan...
No comments:
Post a Comment