Afghanistan

[Over 29 years of fanhood]

1 hour ago, B-Man said:

 

Biden Left Behind the Afghan Interpreter Who Helped to Rescue Him in 2008

 

 

 

Joe Biden has told a lot of stories over the years, most designed to puff himself up, and some of them with very little relationship to reality.

 

But there’s one story that he tells that does have some relationship to reality — that’s the story of having to land in a helicopter in the woods of Afghanistan in 2008. He often told the story to add to his alleged foreign policy credentials when he was running for office.

 

From WaPo:

“If you want to know where al Qaeda lives, you want to know where [Osama] bin Laden is, come back to Afghanistan with me,” he said on the campaign trail in October, just months after the February rescue. “Come back to the area where my helicopter was forced down…in the middle of those mountains. I can tell you where they are.”

 

Now, Joe being Joe, there’s puffery there — they weren’t exactly near al Qaeda, and their helicopter was “forced down” by a snowstorm, not by any enemy action. But, it was true that it had to land and there was potential danger, given he was a U.S. senator and there with two other U.S. senators — Sen. John Kerry (D-MA) and Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-NE).

 

But one of the people who came to his rescue was a man named Mohammed, who was a 36-year-old Afghan interpreter. Mohammed came out with members of the 82nd Airborne and three Blackwater SUVS from Bagram Air Field, driving hours through the snowstorm to help. Once he got there, he helped to ward off any locals until the military was able to get the Black Hawk out of there. Thanks to Mohammed and the rest, Joe Biden got out of there safely.

 

 

But now Mohammed is stuck, with his four children, in hiding from the Taliban, after years of helping the United States — even helping Biden himself.

 

“Hello Mr. President: Save me and my family,” Mohammed said to The Wall Street Journal, as the Americans pulled the military out. “Don’t forget me here…I can’t leave my house…I am very scared.”

 

“His selfless service to our military men and women is just the kind of service I wish more Americans displayed,” Lt. Col. Andrew R. Till wrote in June to support Mohammed’s application for a Special Immigrant Visa.

 

Mohammed’s visa application became stuck after the defense contractor he worked for lost the records he needed for his application. Then the Taliban seized Kabul on Aug. 15. Like thousands of others, Mohammed tried his luck by going to the Kabul airport gates, where he was rebuffed by U.S. forces. Mohammed could get in, they told him, but not his wife or their children.

 

Army veterans called lawmakers and issued dire appeals to U.S. officials for help. “If you can only help one Afghan, choose [Mohammed],” wrote Shawn O’Brien, an Army combat veteran who worked with him in Afghanistan in 2008. “He earned it.”

 

A White House official declined to comment, saying the administration couldn’t discuss individual cases for confidentiality reasons.

 

Why after everything –after over 122,000 people that they supposedly got out — is Mohammed and his family still there? He’s the perfect example of the person that we gave our word to save, and there are likely few interpreters like him that could say they even saved Joe Biden.

 

Yet, Biden — the allegedly empathetic one — has had months to save folks like Mohammed. Months knowing that the folks like the man who helped save him would be endangered. But, he did nothing. He does nothing now. He appears not to care one whit.

 

He’s more concerned that people would challenge him or question his action. Is that empathy? It may be sociopathy, but it surely isn’t empathy. That’s the real Joe Biden. Let’s hope that Mohammed can get help to get out. Because the very man he saved has left him, high and dry.

 

https://redstate.com/nick-arama/2021/08/31/biden-left-behind-the-afghan-interpreter-who-helped-to-rescue-him-in-2008-n436063

Joe got that message from his translator, and just checked his watch… 

[Buffarukus]

what any of us has to say on the topic is meaningless. what this man has to say is everything. 

 

pissing off marines is not a good idea. backing it up with more then words is something we rarely see. 

 

https://youtu.be/TjCsg9-de2c

 

watch till end. 

 

https://youtu.be/Lj4RHa0G1Bk

 

 

 

 

[sherpa]

Having served as an officer in the US Navy, I am ashamed of the performance of our president, SecDef, and Chairman Joint Chiefs.

This is a gross waste of what has been built over the decades since Viet Nam.

[Buffarukus]

28 minutes ago, sherpa said:

Having served as an officer in the US Navy, I am ashamed of the performance of our president, SecDef, and Chairman Joint Chiefs.

This is a gross waste of what has been built over the decades since Viet Nam.

 

im not sure what the deal is.

 

letting those who protect congress sleep in parking garages. 

 

https://www.cbs17.com/news/national-news/national-guard-in-dc-forced-to-sleep-in-parking-garages-sparking-outcry/

 

vetting out members with conservative views as a sign of distrust.

 

https://m.washingtontimes.com/news/2021/jan/19/outrage-over-fbi-vetting-national-guard/

 

"This is the most offensive thing I’ve ever heard,” he tweeted. “No one should ever question the loyalty or professionalism of the Texas National Guard. I authorized more than 1,000 to go to DC. I’ll never do it again if they are disrespected like this.”

 

afganistan a complete s show.

 

just to name a few where our service members are getting spit in their faces. i dont care what side of the isle your on. last year that rediculous "losers and suckers" story that had 24 hr coverage had the people up in arms even though it was quickly proven false. same people defending ALL of this.

 

partisan is not the word. i think there was alot of discontent BEFORE afganistan. it really is sad to watch where we are. thank you for your service.

 

Edited September 1, 2021 by Buffarukus

[Governor]

32 minutes ago, sherpa said:

Having served as an officer in the US Navy, I am ashamed of the performance of our president, SecDef, and Chairman Joint Chiefs.

This is a gross waste of what has been built over the decades since Viet Nam.

Well, that’s to be expected. Of course every retired military member is going to talk ***** because no one likes to admit 20 years was wasted. Plus, they’re all heavily invested in the war machine.  It’s all they know. Ignore the likes of Patreous and others. They’re money grubbing whores who left in disgrace, along with Mike Flynn.

 

They’re free to give their opinion, but there’s no doubt that it was the right call to end this war. 
 

Theres 20 year olds that don’t even know why this war was started.

 

Theres also a lot of American corporations that set up shop over there and are leaking their displeasure to the media.

 

It was a really ballsy move by Joe and I respect it. Lots of people are about to lose a lot of money. Someone had to do it.

Edited September 1, 2021 by Governor

[Buffarukus]

6 minutes ago, Governor said:

Well, that’s to be expected. Of course every retired military member is going to talk ***** because no one likes to admit 20 years was wasted. Plus, they’re all heavily invested in the war machine.  It’s all they know. Ignore the likes of Patreous and others. They’re money grubbing whores who left in disgrace, along with Mike Flynn.

 

They’re free to give their opinion, but there’s no doubt that it was the right call to end this war. 
 

Theres 20 year olds that don’t even know why this war was started.

 

Theres also a lot of American corporations that set up shop over there and are leaking their displeasure to the media.

 

It was a really ballsy move by Joe and I respect it. Lots of people are about to lose a lot of money. Someone had to do it.

 

how is it your confusing pulling out our troops with abandoning those still there when the taliban was quickly overtaking the country?

 

how? seriously. do you have no understanding of what this is about this far into the topic?

 

 

[Governor]

16 minutes ago, Buffarukus said:

 

how is it your confusing pulling out our troops with abandoning those still there when the taliban was quickly overtaking the country?

 

how? seriously. do you have no understanding of what this is about this far into the topic?

 

 

Well, Trump reduced the troops to like 2k, so the choices are send in 5k more troops and put them in danger when you know ISIS is around, or have the Taliban secure the perimeter at 1 airport and get people out.

 

It would’ve been much more difficult to secure 2 airports. I understand why they didn’t want to do that.

 

I mean, they got over 120k people on planes and to safety in 17 days. That’s incredible if you really think about it. That’s 3 MetLife stadiums jammed full of people on planes.

 

You definitely couldn’t defend against suicide bombers at 2 airports, and I assume that’s why they went with 1.

 

What other country would’ve put their soldiers in danger to do that? None. Personally, I think it was bit excessive, but if there really were that many people that needed to leave then fine.

 

We can’t bring the whole country home with us.

Edited September 1, 2021 by Governor

[Buffarukus]

11 minutes ago, Governor said:

Well, Trump reduced the troops to like 2k, so the choices are send in 5k more troops and put them in danger when you know ISIS is around, or have the Taliban secure the perimeter at 1 airport and get people out.

 

It would’ve been much more difficult to secure 2 airports. I understand why they didn’t want to do that.

 

I mean, they got over 120k people on planes and to safety in 17 days. That’s incredible if you really think about it. That’s 3 MetLife stadiums jammed full of people on planes.

 

You definitely couldn’t defend against suicide bombers at 2 airports, and I assume that’s why they went with 1.

 

2k troops kept the taliban at bay all year. your going to pull out you do so responsibly. you don't just evacuate with no plan in place if the country gets overwhelmed. you redeploy until you get civilians and equipment out. destroy the equipment where there is no chance to defend. you CREATE the time required needed to not hand over billions in machinery or have a damn suicide bomber kill our troops and leave civilians trapped. 

 

its called planning and reacting to what is happening. not scrambling as a afterthought to a outcome our "INTELLIGENCE" should have been able to see coming seeing as they were there gathering it for 20 years!

 

Edited September 1, 2021 by Buffarukus

[Governor]

4 minutes ago, Buffarukus said:

 

2k troops kept the taliban at bay all year. your going to pull out you do so responsibly. you don't just evacuate with no plan in place if the country gets overwhelmed. you redeploy until you get civilians and equipment out. destroy the equipment where there is no chance to defend. you CREATE the time required needed to not hand over billions in machinery or have a damn suicide bomber kill our troops and leave civilians trapped. 

 

its called planning and reacting to what is happening. not scrambling as a afterthought to a outcome our "INTELLIGENCE" should have been able to see coming seeing as they were there gathering it for 20 years!

 

Since when are we responsible for every single Afghan life when withdrawing from war? Half of the people at that airport were civilians that weren’t even supposed to be on a plane.

 

Its easy go sit there and say it could’ve been planned better, but not without putting more American troops at risk due to Trump’s removal. 
 

I wouldn’t put 5k extra American soldiers at risk for that mission. Anyone that still needs to get out can hop on a pay charter flight, etc.

 

There we’re lots of Afghan/Americans that don’t even know if they want to leave yet because they’re financially tied.

 

What are we supposed to do? This got ridiculous real quick. America never signed anything that guaranteed every Afghan that wants to leave be brought to safety. That’s nuts! They had 3 months to plan their exit.

[Buffarukus]

 

1 minute ago, Governor said:

but not without putting more American troops at risk due to Trump’s removal. 
 

Its easy go sit there and say it could’ve been planned better,

I wouldn’t put 5k extra American soldiers at risk for that mission. Anyone that still needs to get out can hop on a pay charter flight, etc.

 

There we’re lots of Afghan/Americans that don’t even know if they want to leave yet because they’re financially tied.

 

What are we supposed to do? This got ridiculous real quick. America never signed anything that guaranteed every Afghan that wants to leave be brought to safety. That’s nuts! They had 3 months to plan their exit.

 

i didnt say every Afghan. maybe the ones that worked with us and saved our lives over there who are target #1? yes no maybe? maybe american civilians that where assured by this president the country would not be overrun? maybe OUR weopons that would not be used against innocent people later.

 

i dunno like i said. we are 75 pages in and your position is "Its easy go sit there and say it could’ve been planned better"

 

20 years...yes. yes, it could have been planned better.

 

 

[Governor]

8 minutes ago, Buffarukus said:

 

 

i didnt say every Afghan. maybe the ones that worked with us and saved our lives over there who are target #1? yes no maybe? maybe american civilians that where assured by this president the country would not be overrun? maybe OUR weopons that would not be used against innocent people later.

 

i dunno like i said. we are 75 pages in and your position is "Its easy go sit there and say it could’ve been planned better"

 

20 years...yes. yes, it could have been planned better.

 

 

This is the thing. We’re getting played here. These aren’t random Afghans that helped the CIA at some point. These are Afghan/American and American businessmen that can’t decide if they want to leave, because they’re holding out hope that their business can survive under Taliban rule. These are people that parked money there in natural gas, and a whole host of other things.

 

We’re supposed to use our volunteer army, your sons and daughters, to protect a bunch of rich businessmen that can’t decide if they want to leave or not? 
 

No, we most definitely shouldn’t be putting American lives at risk for that. These people can pay and hop on any one of those pay charters going out each day.

[All_Pro_Bills]

6 hours ago, Governor said:

Well, Trump reduced the troops to like 2k, so the choices are send in 5k more troops and put them in danger when you know ISIS is around, or have the Taliban secure the perimeter at 1 airport and get people out.

 

It would’ve been much more difficult to secure 2 airports. I understand why they didn’t want to do that.

 

I mean, they got over 120k people on planes and to safety in 17 days. That’s incredible if you really think about it. That’s 3 MetLife stadiums jammed full of people on planes.

 

You definitely couldn’t defend against suicide bombers at 2 airports, and I assume that’s why they went with 1.

 

What other country would’ve put their soldiers in danger to do that? None. Personally, I think it was bit excessive, but if there really were that many people that needed to leave then fine.

 

We can’t bring the whole country home with us.

Trump left 2,500 US troop in Afghanistan for operational support for ground missions and air cover to Afghani government forces.  While operating in-country air support missions from Bagram.  At that point these US troops had no specific combat mission operations other than the above mention support role.  This US force enabled the Afghani forces to keep the Taliban at bay, a sort of equilibrium.  The biggest blunder of the Biden administration was pulling these troop out first and closing the air base.  This disrupted the equilibrium and pushed the advantage to the Taliban which quickly took advantage of the opportunity.  Within weeks it was over.  You'd expect an average idiot would have seen that coming but not this crew.  The fact they've got no self-awareness is another big problem.   

 

What's more galling than the complete failure of this withdrawal is the lengths the administration is going to by insisting it was some kind of raging success.  So either they are lying or delusional.  Take your pick.  Neither is good.  And the idea that "nobody could have seen this coming" is just unacceptable.  Unacceptable.  We spend something like $70 Billion a year on intelligence agencies of all shapes and forms.  Its more than the entire Russian military budget.  And that $70B gets us what?  A "nobody could have seen this coming" excuse?  I don't want to hear any excuses I want accountability.  So where do all those resources and funds go?  Surveillance operations on single mothers in the Mid-West expressing concerns on school masking policies? 

I'll wager some intelligence asset or analyst inside the CIA or some other agency assigned to Afghanistan operations knew exactly what was going to happen and was ignored.  Somebody screwed up here.  Somebody dropped the ball.  Somebody wouldn't listen.  Somebody wouldn't speak up.  And people died and now the US looks like some kind of clown car operation to friends and foes.  If they were worried about bad optics they've got bad optics.  Biden's empty speeches about a successful withdrawal would be comical if the situation wasn't so tragic.  Is he really that clueless?  Somebody needs to go before they "F" up the next assignment and get more people killed.  And if Biden won't pull the trigger and fire these incompetents then he's put the bullseye right on the problem.  Himself.  

Edited September 1, 2021 by All_Pro_Bills

[SectionC3]

6 hours ago, Governor said:

Well, that’s to be expected. Of course every retired military member is going to talk ***** because no one likes to admit 20 years was wasted. Plus, they’re all heavily invested in the war machine.  It’s all they know. Ignore the likes of Patreous and others. They’re money grubbing whores who left in disgrace, along with Mike Flynn.

 

They’re free to give their opinion, but there’s no doubt that it was the right call to end this war. 
 

Theres 20 year olds that don’t even know why this war was started.

 

Theres also a lot of American corporations that set up shop over there and are leaking their displeasure to the media.

 

It was a really ballsy move by Joe and I respect it. Lots of people are about to lose a lot of money. Someone had to do it.

 

The more I think about it, the more I agree with you that history may judge this better than we now think.  The departure looked and was awful.  But it was always going to be awful for a variety of reasons.  Biden had the courage to take the hit for it.  And, at bottom, he's the one who ended this war.  So good for him. 

[Doc]

"I'm taking credit for ending the war.  But all the bad stuff was everyone else's fault."  

 

What a douche.

Edited September 1, 2021 by Doc

[All_Pro_Bills]

38 minutes ago, SectionC3 said:

 

The more I think about it, the more I agree with you that history may judge this better than we now think.  The departure looked and was awful.  But it was always going to be awful for a variety of reasons.  Biden had the courage to take the hit for it.  And, at bottom, he's the one who ended this war.  So good for him. 

Or more likely historians will point to the event as a "Waterloo"  moment.  The event catalyzing the loss of US power and influence in international affairs followed by a drastic transfer of world power and wealth from the West to the East.   

[SectionC3]

35 minutes ago, All_Pro_Bills said:

Or more likely historians will point to the event as a "Waterloo"  moment.  The event catalyzing the loss of US power and influence in international affairs followed by a drastic transfer of world power and wealth from the West to the East.   

Whatevs.  Biden got out.  Nobody else did.   And that’s where we’re at. 

[All_Pro_Bills]

54 minutes ago, SectionC3 said:

Whatevs.  Biden got out.  Nobody else did.   And that’s where we’re at. 

I'm sure that will comfort the families of soldiers and civilians that died because of the administration's incompetence.  And frankly, a Monkey sitting in a tree scratching his balls could have done it better than Biden.  On the execution of the evacuation plan I mean, not the ball scratching part.  I expect Joe has him beat on the second one. 

[Doc]

4 minutes ago, All_Pro_Bills said:

I'm sure that will comfort the families of soldiers and civilians that died because of the administration's incompetence.  And frankly, a Monkey sitting in a tree scratching his balls could have done it better than Biden.  On the execution of the evacuation plan I mean, not the ball scratching part.  I expect Joe has him beat on the second one. 

 

The wingnuts don't care.  But everyone else does.

[SectionC3]

9 minutes ago, All_Pro_Bills said:

I'm sure that will comfort the families of soldiers and civilians that died because of the administration's incompetence.  And frankly, a Monkey sitting in a tree scratching his balls could have done it better than Biden.  On the execution of the evacuation plan I mean, not the ball scratching part.  I expect Joe has him beat on the second one. 

I suppose you’d say the same about Iraq.  Or about Trump’s diddling in getting out of there during the four years of his presidency. 

24 minutes ago, Doc said:

 

The wingnuts don't care.  But everyone else does.

good thing you’re typing.  It’s probably hard to speak with a mouthful of HCQ. 

[Unforgiven]

 Joe Biden, arming the Taliban, disarming Americans !