Blinken Says Taliban Blocking Americans From Leaving Afghanistan, But Leaked Emails Suggest Otherwise

https://www.zerohedge.com/geop...roper-papers-blinken

Update (1545ET): Fox News is reporting that the State Department refused to grant official approval for private evac flights from Afghanistan.

Furthermore, the State Department explicitly stated that charter flights, even those containing American citizens, would not be allowed to land at Defense Department (DOD) airbases.

The Biden administration's delaying of private evacuation efforts has been a widespread source of frustration, infuriating rescue organizers and even a prominent Democratic senator.

Eric Montalvo, who organized a series of private flights evacuating those stranded in Afghanistan, shared that email and others with Fox News after his evacuation efforts were repeatedly hampered by the federal bureaucracy.

A Sept. 1 email that a State Department official sent to Montalvo underscores the extent to which private evacuation efforts have run into bureaucratic roadblocks.

"No independent charters are allowed to land at [Al Udeid Air Base], the military airbase you mentioned in your communication with Samantha Power. In fact, no charters are allowed to land at an [sic] DoD base and most if not all countries in the Middle Eastern region, with the exception of perhaps Saudi Arabia will allow charters to land," the official wrote.

"You need to find another destination country, and it can't be the U.S. either."

The official noted that though some third countries "may require" official approval from the State Department before accepting the private charter flights, the department "will not provide" that approval.

"Once you have had discussions with the host/destination country and reached an agreement, they may require some indication from the USG that we ‘approve’ of this charter flight. DOS will not provide an approval, but we will provide a ‘no objection’ to the destination country government via the U.S. Embassy in that country."

https://www.wsj.com/articles/t...19?mod=djemalertNEWS

Four days before the 20th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks that triggered the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan, the Taliban declared the restoration of their Islamic Emirate and named a new government, excluding other political forces and giving control of internal security to a U.S.-designated terrorist.

Afghanistan’s new administration included no women or members of the Shiite minority.

In an appointment that would complicate any recognition of the new government by Western nations, Sirajuddin Haqqani, designated a global terrorist by Washington because of close links between al Qaeda and the Haqqani network that he heads, was named minister of interior, with oversight of Afghanistan’s police and internal security. The FBI currently offers a reward of up to $5 million for information leading to his arrest.

While the Taliban’s supreme leader Haibatullah Akhundzada retains overall oversight of state affairs, the new prime minister is Mullah Hassan Akhund, who served as foreign minister in the previous Islamic Emirate, which harbored Osama bin Laden and was ousted from power by the 2001 U.S. invasion.

“Our previous 20 years of struggle and Jihad had had two major goals. Firstly to end foreign occupation and aggression and to liberate the country, and secondly to establish a complete, independent, stable and central Islamic system in the country,” Mr. Akhundzada said in a statement on behalf of the Taliban’s leadership office on Tuesday. “Based on this principle, in the future, all matters of governance and life in Afghanistan will be regulated by the laws of the Holy Shariah.”

the new cabinet represented the traditional hard core of the Taliban leadership, and was made up almost exclusively of ethnic Pashtuns.

No foreign government has extended diplomatic recognition to the Taliban, though Russia, China, Qatar, Iran, Turkey and Pakistan have kept their embassies in Kabul open after all Western missions closed down last month. In the 1990s, only three nations recognized the Taliban regime in Kabul: Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

Hound Dog is right, there are a lot of careerists officers (how do you think the Pentagon got so bloated) and they have existed for a long time. Back in the 1980's it wasn't how well you did your job that counted, it was attending the Colonel's or General's Prayer Breakfasts. Trust me, I saw idiot officers getting promoted and choice assignments over great officers, this even applied to a lesser amount for senior NCOs, but not as much as officers. Strangely those that attended seemed to follow the Colonel or General in assignments. There are "corporate" officers who spent the majority of their career at the Pentagon or behind a desk and have "just enough" command experience to get promoted. They will blow in the wind per the prevailing political climate and are masters of camouflage, blending in with the real true believers until the the winds change. They keep getting promoted until you have a LTG in charge of all training but doesn't know the difference between a Brit rifle and an M4, or have an idiot in charge of the Joint Chiefs (If Milly Villnili really didn't know that the Afghan Army would collapse, well that id down right criminal stupidity).

quote:

Originally posted by Hound Dog:...it is not a black and white situation....

You are correct.

It is why I stated; "...what appeared to be pruning the good branches and fruit from the vine...

I am speaking to that. Certainly the garbage needs to be weeded out of the ranks, bottom to top, and certainly many of those in command and leadership were found to be worthy of being jettisoned.

And everything else you stated has merit and is true to a point, having witnessed all of it in my career.

I also observed people taken down and out, and experienced both the wrong people promoted or given allowances when the should not have, and those who should have been promoted or retained given the door.

We did not get to this place simply by the normal progress of everchanging social norms following people into the military.

Afghan refugee attempts to board a flight to the U.S. with explosive components.

Thank God the Germans seem to take security seriously, because it is clear that we can't count on the Biden administration for anything more than lies.

(good thing they had an "ordinance team" standing by. )


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Afghan refugee stopped on U.S.-bound flight with explosive materials, but terrorism not suspected

Luggage included blasting caps and igniter but U.S. officials believe materials were for work related to U.S. government contracting. Passenger red flagged and kept from U.S.

By John Solomon
Updated: September 7, 2021 - 3:20pm

A male Afghan refugee who was departing the Ramstein Air Base in Germany for the United States was detained Monday after it was discovered during pre-flight screening that he had blasting caps and other explosives materials in his carry-on luggage, three U.S. officials told Just the News.

The man, who was born in the early 1990s and an Afghan citizen, was working as contractor for the U.S. government when he was evacuated, and officials believe the materials were related to his work and not terrorism, officials said.

Nonetheless, the man was placed on a restricted list and prevented from traveling to the U.S., according to a Transportation Security Administration summary of the incident obtained by Just the News. "Subject has been moved to a 'red list' and will not travel to the U.S." and U.S. air marshals were advised, the TSA memo stated.

Screeners, including a member of the German military assisting the U.S. at the Air Force base in Germany, found five blasting caps, one igniter switch, a "def cord" and one shock tube when the refugee was apprehended late Monday morning German time, according to officials and the TSA summary report.

"TSA advised that during the physical search (full open) of the individuals baggage a German military member identified a suspicious item in the baggage," the TSA memo stated. The explosives were taken outside the hangar, an ordinance team was summoned and the man removed from the entry line from the flight, the memo stated.

Though the man wasn't suspected of ill intent, the incident is a poignant reminder that the rushed evacuation and processing of refugees from a country with significant terrorist sympathies poses risks, although officials stressed the pre-flight screening did in fact work as it should.

It was not immediately clear how the man got the explosive materials inside Ramstein, but officials said they were working on the hypothesis that he had brought them with him from Afghanistan during his evacuation.

Officials said the Pentagon was taking the lead investigating since the episode occurred on a U.S. military installation. The FBI, Customs Border Protection, TSA and Homeland Security were assisting the investigation.

The incident occurred the same day Secretary of State Antony Blinken acknowledged many Afghan refugees were not fully vetted before they were evacuated from their country to U.S. bases elsewhere.

"In our effort to get as many people out as fast as we can while we had the airport functioning, we focused on doing just that," Blinken said, but officials are now "doing accountings on the back end as people arrive in the United States."

Cory Mills explains the obstacles the State Department put in place during his rescue operation.
@ 6 minute interview


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4UHdpqGVA3o

According to this report, Pakistan provided direct assistance to the Taliban in the form of drone strikes, Cobra attack helicopters, and Pak commandos in the assault on the Panjshir region, and the head of the ISI was in Kabul to orchestrate the formation of the government, effectively making Afghanistan a puppet state of Pakistan.

Yet one more example of what happens when the U.S. withdraws its leadership, resources, and moral imperative, ceding the 'high ground', and allowing adversaries to replace our stabilizing presence with an adversarial and de-stabilizing one.


@ 6 minute report


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZcBkA68s2YM

Haha. Yeah, real difficult. Stay and have my head lopped off, or flee with millions of dollars and retire somewhere other than a mountainous hell hole. He must've struggled over that one for the entirety of his morning constitutional.

Just a taste of our woke military and "The Naming Commission": Fort Bragg could be known as Fort George Floyd........:

This will piss off the Wokies far more that Biden abandoning Americans in that hellhole:

The Taliban have started painting over murals left behind from the American occupation. Here they paint over one mural depicting St George Floyd and replace it with proclamations of victory.

^^ it's ok with the woke folk because it's their culture. They don't want to interfere with the culture.

Why in the actual fuck was there a mural of "Fentanyl" Floyd in Afghanistan?

https://townhall.com/tipsheet/...-government-n2595506

Four out of five Guantanamo detainees whom former President Barack Obama released in exchange for former U.S. Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl in 2014 now hold senior positions in the interim government created by the Taliban in Afghanistan.

According to the Afghan television network TOLOnews, the Taliban-formed government gave leadership positions to Khairullah Khairkhwa, Norullah Noori, Abdul Haq Wasiq, and Mohammad Fazl; all of whom were released in a 2014 deal between the Obama administration and the Taliban to free Bergdahl, whom the Taliban had held as a prisoner since 2009.

On Tuesday, the Taliban announced that Khairkhwa would serve as acting minister for information and culture, Noori would serve as acting minister of borders and tribal affairs, Wasiq would serve as acting director of intelligence, and Fazl would serve as deputy defense minister.

quote:

“Based on this principle, in the future, all matters of governance and life in Afghanistan will be regulated by the laws of the Holy Shariah.”

the new cabinet represented the traditional hard core of the Taliban leadership, and was made up almost exclusively of ethnic Pashtuns.

yeah, no Shiite.

What you did there, sir, was seen

One day, when I become ruler of the world...or maybe when the Republicans take both houses of Congress and the White House, one of the first pieces of legislation I'd like to see passed would be to immediately turn the destruction or vandalization of public or private property, including memorials, into a capital offense.

ASFAIC, a dirt bag's First Amendment rights end at the point where they destroy public or private property, or desecrate memorials. If they want to buy a flag of their own and burn or cut it up, I don't like it one bit, but ok...but, they do this to someone else's property, then they forfeit their disrespectful, petty, vindictive, immoral life.

[note: hyperlinks and pictures of the vandalized flags at the linked article.]


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California flag memorial to 13 slain US troops vandalized

By The Associated Press
Sep 8, 01:27 PM

Someone severely vandalized flags hung on a Southern California freeway overpass to honor the 13 U.S. service members killed in the suicide bombing at Afghanistan’s Kabul airport on Aug. 26, police said.

A citizen reported the damage to the 13 American flags and a Marine Corps flag that were attached to a fence on a bridge over the State Route 91 freeway in the city of Riverside, local police said in a social media post Tuesday.

“At this point, we don’t have any suspect description but it’s obvious the flags were intentionally damaged,” police said.

Photos posted by police showed large sections of some of the flags had been cut or torn apart.

The flags were removed and will be turned over to a Boy Scout troop for “proper retirement,” police said.

The 13 Americans who were killed included 11 Marines, one Navy sailor and one Army soldier. Four were from California.

quote:

Originally posted by Puckpilot78:
Why in the actual fuck was there a mural of "Fentanyl" Floyd in Afghanistan?

Make no mistake, decades of public school indoctrination coupled with dim presidents have heavily influenced the military. It's a whole field of "wokeness" these days. BRCC are the more conservative example of the new military.

quote:

At this point, we don’t have any suspect description but it’s obvious the flags were intentionally damaged,” police said.

Of course you don't have any suspects. It's not like SOCAL has 360 freeway cameras every 500 feet.

This issue has already started to fade away. What happened was unforgivable.

quote:

Originally posted by ulsterman:
This issue has already started to fade away. What happened was unforgivable.

Yes. Notice the full court press again with Covid and masks and now today more vaccine mandates despite their proven ineffectiveness.

And if it's not Covid, it's climate change. And on and on.

But we won't forget.