A News Aggregator That Covers The World's Major Wars And Conflicts. Military, Political, And Intelligence News Are Also Covered. Occasionally We Will Have Our Own Opinions Or Observations To Make.
Showing posts with label u.s. afghanistan. Show all posts
Showing posts with label u.s. afghanistan. Show all posts
A new report from the National Security Council largely blamed former President Donald Trump's administration for the breakdown that occurred after U.S. troops withdrew.
WASHINGTON — The White House released a report Thursday about the decisions made regarding the 2021 U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, including the bombing at the Kabul airport that killed 13 U.S. service members.
The 12-page report by the National Security Council summarizes the administration's assessment of the withdrawal and largely blames former President Donald Trump's administration for the chaos that unfolded as U.S. troops were leaving and as Americans and Afghans evacuated from the country.
The Taliban took over the government and have remained in power.
"President Biden’s choices for how to execute a withdrawal from Afghanistan were severely constrained by conditions created by his predecessor," the report said.
The Taliban also claimed in a statement that the Al-Badr Corps' Abu Dujana unit had already fixed over 300 combat vehicles and was now prepared for use. pic.twitter.com/TzXyJ8GAok
WNU Editor: Earlier this month the Pentagon’s Inspector General report made the following summary on what was left behind in Afghanistan .... "At least 78 aircraft worth $923.3 mil, 9,524 air-to-ground munitions valued at $6.54 mil, over 40,000 vehicles, more than 300,000 weapons, and nearly all night vision, surveillance, communications, and biometric equipment were left behind" for the Taliban.
WASHINGTON — In the chaotic final days of the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan in August 2021, U.S. military analysts observed a white Toyota Corolla stop at what they believed was an Islamic State compound.
The Americans were already on edge. Three days earlier, a suicide bomber had killed scores of Afghans and 13 U.S. troops at a main gate of the Kabul airport. Now, officials had intelligence that there would be another attack there, and that it would involve a white Corolla.
They tracked the car around Kabul for the next several hours. After it pulled into a gated courtyard near the airport, they authorized a drone strike. Hours later, U.S. officials announced they had successfully thwarted an attack.
WNU Editor: Bottom line. A lot of wrong assumptions and biases were the reasons for this disastrous drone strike.
If I was to hazard a guess. The suicide bomber attack that killed 13 US soldiers at Kabul Airport a few days prior to this drone strike put everyone on edge, resulting in the mistakes and blunders that were then made.
So much for message discipline.
President Biden repeatedly disparaged Afghanistan as a “God-forsaken place” Friday and jokingly threatened to use “my shotgun” to protect the US economy against a recession during a rambling speech in San Diego.
The president, who turns 80 later this month, also mused about his late father returning as a ghost to “strangle me” and confused Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett with General Motors CEO Mary Barra.
“A lot of you have been to Afghanistan.
I’ve been to every part of it. It’s a God-forsaken place — it’s a God-forsaken place,” Biden said, after using the term one other time while recounting being part of a 2008 congressional trip that got stranded in the snow.
Top Biden administration officials met in-person with the Taliban on Saturday for the first time since al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri was killed by the US in his apartment in Kabul in late July, two officials familiar with the talks said.
The administration sent the CIA’s deputy director and the top State Department official responsible for Afghanistan to the Qatari capital of Doha for the talks with the Taliban delegation which included their head of intelligence, Abdul Haq Wasiq.
The Taliban have released a US engineer they had held hostage since 2020 in exchange for an Afghan tribal leader held in US custody since 2005.
Mark Frerichs was handed over at Kabul airport on Monday, the Taliban said.
In return they received Bashir Noorzai, a Taliban ally serving a life sentence for drug trafficking.
US President Joe Biden said that the swap required "difficult decisions" that he did not take lightly.
Mr Frerichs, 60, was abducted by the Taliban the year before the group swept back to power in Afghanistan and its Western-backed government collapsed.
He had been living and working in Kabul as a civil engineer for 10 years.
Mr Frerich's sister, Charlene Cakora, said the family had never given up hope of getting him back.
* Gen. Frank McKenzie has retired since overseeing the Afghanistan withdrawal
* In an interview Sunday to mark the anniversary, he said he advised against exit
* He said the U.S. should have left a small force to prop up Kabul government
* And he said the departure was a rare source of agreement for Biden and Trump
* 'So we had a continuity of objective across two administrations that really allowed the events that occurred to occur in the manner that they did,' he said
Retired Gen. Frank McKenzie, the commander who oversaw the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, on Sunday laid the blame for the Taliban takeover with Presidents Donald Trump and Joe Biden and their mistaken decision to remove all troops from the country.
Tuesday marks the first anniversary of the last American soldier flying out of Kabul, at the end of a chaotic evacuation.
'I advised against withdrawing,' said McKenzie in an interview with Fox News to mark the event.
FILE - A person holds a bundle of Afghan afghani banknotes at a money exchange market, following banks and markets reopening after the Taliban took over in Kabul, Afghanistan, Sept. 4, 2021.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Joe Biden's administration will press ahead with talks on releasing billions of dollars in Afghanistan's foreign-held assets despite the late al Qaeda leader's presence in Kabul and foot-dragging by the Taliban and Afghan central bank, according to three sources with knowledge of the situation.
The decision to pursue the initiative to help stabilize Afghanistan's collapsed economy underscores growing concern in Washington over a humanitarian crisis as the United Nations warns that nearly half the country's 40 million people face "acute hunger" as winter approaches.
At the core of the U.S.-led effort, as Reuters reported last month, is a plan to transfer billions in foreign-held Afghan central bank assets into a proposed Swiss-based trust fund. Disbursements would be made with the help of an international board and bypass the Taliban, many of whose leaders are under U.S. and U.N. sanctions.
More than $7 billion worth of U.S.-supplied military hardware, ranging from howitzers to sniper rifles, fell into the hands of the Taliban in Afghanistan when the American-backed government in Kabul swiftly collapsed amid the U.S. pullout a year ago.
In a report released Tuesday, the Defense Department’s Inspector General said the U.S. government provided almost $85 billion in security assistance to Afghan forces from 2005 to 2021. About $18.6 billion of it funded the procurement of weapons and equipment over the years.
The Taliban seized more than $923 million worth of military aircraft; $4.1 billion worth of ground vehicles; and more than $511 million worth of weapons when they took control of Afghanistan, according to the report.
* Air Force says its transport crew made the right decision to leave Kabul airport amid a chaotic withdrawal last August
* The USAF concluded that air crew members acted appropriately and were not at fault for some tragic deaths during the evacuation from Afghanistan last year
* Crew exhibited 'sound judgment' in face of an 'unprecedented' security crisis, according to a report compiled by the military branch
* Desperate Afghans clung to a military plane as it was taking off and fell to their deaths or were caught in the wheels
* Crowds of people had surged onto the runway at the airport in Kabul in a desperate attempt to flee the country
* Human remains were discovered in the wheel well of the the C-17 military transport plane after it landed in Qatar
The Air Force has concluded that air crew members acted appropriately and were not at fault for some tragic deaths during the chaotic evacuation from Afghanistan last year, when desperate Afghans clung to a military plane as it was taking off and fell to their deaths or were caught in the wheels.
In a statement Monday, Air Force spokeswoman Ann Stefanek said investigations into the deaths found that the crew 'exercised sound judgment in their decision to get airborne as quickly as possible when faced with an unprecedented and rapidly deteriorating security situation.'
* A U.S. watchdog has issued a withering report on how the Biden and Trump administrations triggered the collapse of Afghan security forces last year
* The Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction said the collapse was predictable after years of mismanagement
* John Sopko said the Trump administration's deal with the Taliban to exit and Biden's insistence on executing it were to blame for the swift collapse
* The Taliban swept into Kabul in August last year as Afghan forces melted away
* Biden blamed Afghan troops for the capitulation
The biggest factors in the rapid collapse of Afghanistan's armed forces were the Trump administration's deal with the Taliban to withdraw U.S. troops and contractors from the country followed by Joe Biden's announcement that he was pulling out all U.S. troops, according to a scathing watchdog report.
The Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (S.I.G.A.R) found that Afghan forces had been built to reply on U.S. air power as well as contractors to maintain sophisticated weaponry.
WNU Editor: This report (link here) is an example of Washington rewriting history.
President Trump and the Taliban reached an understanding at the beginning of 2020 that the US will withdraw from Afghanistan if certain conditions were met. After this agreement, the military situation was stable and the Taliban were honoring their commitments up to the time when President Trump left office at the end of January 2021. It was well understood by everyone during this period that if the Taliban did not honor their commitments and negotiated with the Ghani government in good faith, US and allied forces were not going to leave.
This all changed with the Biden administration, who interpreted the Trump administration's deal with the Taliban as non-negotiable, and that all US forces and contractors must leave regardless of what was the situation on the ground. The disaster that then occurred was predictable, and the Afghans have been suffering terribly ever since.
Bottom line.
President Biden's desire to leave Afghanistan on September 11, and his refusal to listen to his military commanders, intelligence officials, Afghan officials, and NATO allies who pleaded with the White House to stay to stabilize the security situation .... this is what precipitated the quick collapse of the Afghan military and the subsequent catastrophic withdrawal of US and allied forces from Afghanistan in August of 2021.
One more interesting historical note.
When the Soviet Union left Afghanistan the Afghan government at the time was able to maintain security over the country even though the Mujaheddin/Taliban were active. The Kabul government was able to do this for three years, but when the Soviet Union fell apart the fuel that the Afghan military was dependent on at the time was cut-off. This inability to travel quickly resulted in the collapse of the government within months. Ditto in 2021. When US contractors left the Afghan helicopter fleet and air force became useless, and the means for the Afghan military to respond to Taliban attacks quickly diminished. The same fate happened.
Sighhh ... history does not repeat itself exactly, but it often rhymes.
U.S. Report Blames Trump And Biden For The Collapse Of Afghanistan To The Taliban
A Taliban fighter poses with a US-made Afghan air force Blackhawk helicopter at Kandahar airfield in August last year, as weapons fell into the hands of the country's new rulers
* Pentagon report details billion of dollars in arms left in Afghanistan after exit
* It was prepared for Congress, and obtained by CNN
* It says $7 billion in hardware was left behind last year after chaotic withdrawal
* That includes $1 billion of aircraft and some 22,000 military Humvees
* The details will provide ammunition for critics who say President Biden should have done a better job of ensuring weapons did not fall into Taliban hands
* Some 9,524 air-to-ground munitions were also left in the country
A Pentagon report reveals that billions of dollars in weapons and military equipment transferred to the Afghan government was left behind in Afghanistan after the chaotic U.S. withdrawal from the country.
In all, about $7 billion worth of hardware remained in the country after the Taliban seized control, according to the report prepared for Congress which was obtained by CNN.
U.S. military forces have not conducted any counterterrorism strikes in Afghanistan since withdrawing all troops from the country last summer, but military officials insisted on Tuesday that they have the capability to monitor and neutralize threats there despite logistical challenges.
Pressed by lawmakers on the Senate Armed Services Committee, Gen. Richard Clarke, head of U.S. Special Operations Command, acknowledged the withdrawal has reduced intelligence resources in Afghanistan and response times to potential threats.
President Joe Biden speaks with his national security team during a briefing on the situation in Afghanistan, on August 22, 2021, in the White House Situation Room in Washington, DC
* Declassified reports from the U.S. military into Kabul withdrawal details frustration with White House and State Department throughout the process
* Particularly over failure to spot Taliban's rapid advance
* It was obtained by the Washington Post with a freedom of information request
* Declassified after-action reports support U.S. military commanders and say President Biden's team was indecisive during the Afghanistan crisis
* At least one of the report spans 2,000 pages and details complete confusion
* The Pentagon's standard priority had been to first evacuate American citizens, then lawful permanent residents, then Afghans who aided the U.S.
* On Friday, The White House said Friday that no such reports exist
Joe Biden's dithering withdrawal from Afghanistan has been blamed for worsening the chaos on the ground and putting American lives at risk by a newly-declassified US intelligence report.
Newly-released papers compiled in the aftermath of the August withdrawal found that deadly chaos was only made worse due to indecisiveness among officials with the Biden administration officials in Washington D.C.
Their reluctance to close down the U.S. embassy in Kabul only added to the confusion and made the mission even more dangerous, according to the damning documents.
Afghans protested Saturday against an executive order President Biden signed a day earlier intended to free up $3.5 billion in frozen Afghanistan funds to go toward compensation for 9/11 victims. The protesters held up signs accusing the U.S. of stealing Afghanistan’s money, The Associated Press reported.
The demonstration took place in the country's capital, Kabul, outside a mosque.
Biden's executive order is intended to make available $7 billion in assets from Afghanistan's central bank that is being held up in the U.S., with $3.5 billion of that amount potentially going to humanitarian aid in Afghanistan and the other $3.5 billion to compensation for the families of 9/11 victims.
WNU Editor: The Afghan government never had any substantial money. Most came in in the form of foreign aid. This money originally came from the US government/taxpayer to aid the previous Afghan government in its expenses. I am surprised that they are getting at least half of it.
Afghans Protest US Decision To Free Up $3.5B In Frozen Afghanistan Funds To Compensate 9/11 Victims
* Vasely said the Pentagon was being pulled in all different directions from Biden officials, lawmakers, members of the media and even the Vatican
* He called the requests a 'distraction' that created competition for 'already stressed resources'
* The Pentagon's standard priority had been to first evacuate American citizens, then lawful permanent residents, then Afghans who aided the U.S.
* Demands poured in at such a high volume that Vasely felt the need to take certain forces away from the established rescue plan
Rear Adm. Peter Vasely, the top U.S. commander in Kabul during the evacuation, said that the withdrawal was made more chaotic by people like First Lady Jill Biden, Pope Francis, the White House and Congress calling in for special favors to help get out certain people.
Vasely said the Pentagon was being pulled in all different directions from Biden officials, lawmakers, members of the media and even the Vatican as it carried out the largest evacuation since Vietnam ahead of the Taliban takeover.
He called the requests a 'distraction' that created competition for 'already stressed resources.'
United States President Joe Biden delivers remarks on Afghanistan during a speech in the State Dining Room at the White House in Washington, DC, the United States, on August 31, 2021 [Carlos Barria/Reuters]
President Joe Biden abandoned as many as 9,000 American citizens in Afghanistan following the administration’s botched withdrawal in August last year, a new report released on Thursday by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee revealed.
The report contradicts the Biden administration’s earlier claims that just 100-150 were left behind.
Signed by Foreign Relations ranking member Jim Risch of Idaho, the report shows that senior State Department officials leading the evacuation task force believed 15,000 Americans at the most were in Afghanistan around Aug. 17.
By Aug. 31, the final day of evacuation operations, 6,000 Americans managed to escape the country that was quickly taken over by the Taliban.
Responding to a 2000-Army report into the Kabul evacuation, U.S. Marine General Frank McKenzie said there might have been preferred plans 'but when the president makes a decision, it’s time for us to execute the president’s decision'
* Army report into Kabul withdrawal outlines military frustration with White House and State Department over failure to spot Taliban's rapid advance
* It was obtained by the Washington Post with a freedom of information request
* It suggests planners wanted to use Bagram air base - but had too few troops
* Officer in overall command said there may have been better plans 'but when the president makes a decision, it's time for us to execute the president's decision'
* Republicans used the report to demand oversight hearings
An Army report details how senior White House and State Department officials failed to understand the rapid advance of the Taliban on Kabul and lays out frustration among senior military officers that troops were put in greater danger because of political decisions.
Initial plans included using both Kabul's international airport and Bagram airbase for the operation, but the latter had to be abandoned because there were too few troops to protect it.
After refusing to heed warnings about the Taliban advance, an officer described finding the embassy in meltdown in mid-August after militants had seized the capital, with some staff 'intoxicated and cowering in rooms.'
A US Marine Corps carry team transfers the remains of Marine Corps Sgt. Johanny Rosario Pichardo of Lawrence, Massachusetts, on August 29, 2021, at Dover Air Force Base, Delaware
* The terror attack occurred on August 26, during the frenzied evacuation near the US embassy
* 'Based on our investigation at the tactical level, this was not preventable,' General Lance Curtis told reporters at a briefing Friday
* The probe revealed that the terrorist responsible for the attack was carrying 20 pounds of explosives and ball bearings
* The devastation of the suicide bombing was so severe that officials initially believed that the attack was carried out by multiple people
* The blast managed to pierce though body armor and helmets, with the ball bearings leaving injuries that mimicked gunshot wounds
* Among the 13 US service members who died, 11 were Marines, one was US Army, and another was US Navy
The suicide bombing in Kabul that killed 13 US service members and over 170 Afghans in August was 'not preventable,' the Pentagon announced on Friday following a probe into the attack.
The terror attack, which ISIS claimed responsibility for, occurred in the early morning hours of August 26, during the frenzied evacuation near the US embassy.
'Based on our investigation at the tactical level, this was not preventable,' General Lance Curtis said during a briefing Friday.
Leaked notes from a White House Situation Room meeting the day before Kabul fell shed new light on just how unprepared the Biden administration was to evacuate Afghan nationals who'd helped the United States in its 20-year war against the Taliban.
Why it matters: Hours before the Taliban seized control of Afghanistan's capital on Aug. 15, 2021, senior Biden administration officials were still discussing and assigning basic actions involved in a mass civilian evacuation.
* Outsiders were frustrated and suspicious the administration was having plenty of meetings but was stuck in bureaucratic inertia and lacked urgency until the last minute.
* While the word "immediately" peppers the document, it's clear officials were still scrambling to finalize their plans — on the afternoon of Aug. 14.
In the future President Biden will be remembered for many things, but the collapse of Afghanistan and the massive suffering that it has unleashed and the damage that it has done to America's standing and credibility in the world is what he will be remembered the most.
Leaked Document Reveals Biden Administration Was Not Prepared For The Fall Of Kabul Or Having Evacuation Plans In Place
I have been involved in numerous computer science projects since the 1980s, as well as developing numerous web projects since 1996.
These blogs are a summation of all the information that I read and catalog pertaining to the subjects that interest me.
