It’s America’s “Dunkirk moment.”

Spread the love

Loading

by Stephen Collinson

It’s America’s “Dunkirk moment.”
 
At least that’s how former top US General David Petraeus described the US operation to airlift its citizens and desperate Afghan comrades from Taliban-controlled Afghanistan, comparing it to the British retreat from Nazi-occupied Europe in 1940. Petraeus, who once commanded US forces in Afghanistan, also branded President Joe Biden’s chaotic withdrawal a disaster.
 
US military brass hope to eventually be able to evacuate 5,000 to 9,000 people per day, and according to Biden’s national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, the Taliban earlier promised “safe passage” to civilians who want to join the US airlift. But on Wednesday, the Pentagon and State Department issued conflicting statements about the ability of US citizens and Afghans to reach the Kabul airport.
 
The Pentagon said the Taliban is “guaranteeing safe passage” for US citizens. But State has said it cannot ensure safe transit to the airfield; a few hours later, Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman told reporters that, “we have seen reports that the Taliban, contrary to their public statements and their commitments to our government are blocking Afghans who wish to leave the country from reaching the airport.”
 
It’s hardly reassuring that the US evacuation effort turns on the cooperation of a religious militia that it spent 20 years fighting. And it’s unclear whether the Taliban or the US gets the final say in who stays or gets to leave, amid fears of a retribution campaign against those who worked with US and other Western forces.
 



 
What happens to those seeking refuge in the US who are not in Kabul, and must pass Taliban checkpoints just to move through the country? How do people who lack papers or who are stuck in the slow-moving US visa process prove their bona fides before it’s too late? And how long is the Taliban indulgence going to last?
 
Sooner or later, it is likely to become clear that many of those who want or need to leave will never be able to do so. Biden will face new accusations of betraying America’s helpers, and of putting coldhearted judgments of national interest ahead of basic humanity.
 
The Petraeus analogy goes only so far. The British exit from Dunkirk, partly on a flotilla of small civilian boats that transformed a humiliating defeat into a national parable of resilience, was followed four years later by the Allied invasion that freed Europe from repression. Afghans facing life under the Taliban can hope for no similar liberation.
 
‘Passports that were in the Embassy’s possession have been destroyed’
 
It’s everyone’s nightmare when applying for a visa. US personnel destroyed the passports of some Afghans as they were getting rid of sensitive materials at the American Embassy in Kabul, according to an update that Democratic New Jersey Rep. Andy Kim’s office is sharing with people who request evacuation assistance: “Visa and passport appointments at the Embassy have been canceled, and passports that were in the Embassy’s possession have been destroyed. Currently, it is not possible to provide any further visa services in Afghanistan.”
 

 
It is unclear why the passports were destroyed. It is possible that diplomats determined that it would have been dangerous for the documents to fall into the hands of the Taliban, who could then target those Afghans. But needless to say, not having a passport creates major complications for Afghans who are desperately and urgently trying to flee the country.
 
“The women of Afghanistan should know they are not fighting for freedom in vain,” Democratic New York Rep. Carolyn Maloney — theatrically shrouded in a burqa — told Congress in 2001, just days after Operation Enduring Freedom began. But two decades later, Afghan women’s right to work, attend school and leave home unaccompanied could soon vanish. As the Taliban take back control of the country, Afghan women are racing to buy burqas again; prices for the all-encompassing veil have risen tenfold in capital city Kabul, where shop owners are frantically painting over advertisements that show women’s faces.
 
The Taliban said Tuesday that there would be no discrimination against women — within the framework of Islamic law. What that means in practice remains to be seen; in July, the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission said women were not allowed to attend health services without male guardians in areas controlled by the Taliban. “As a woman, they just keep us inside,” one woman told CNN. “We fought for years to get out. Do we need to fight again for the same things? To get the permission to work, to get the permission to go to hospital alone?” she said.

Read more
 

0 0 votes
Article Rating
Subscribe
Notify of

10 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments

This will be bidens legacy, complete dishonor…

The entire civilized world is aghast:

“EU’s Josep Borrell brands events in Afghanistan ‘a catastrophe and a nightmare'”

-France24

https://www.militarytimes.com/video/2021/08/16/chaos-at-kabul-airport/

This is a video of what has happened at the Kabul airfield over the past 2 days. People were hanging on to the sides and climbing on the planes as they departed. Six Afghan people died from falling from the planes.

What a sad scene.

Where were our great intelligence agencies/s when the Taliban was strengthening right outside the gates of Kabul? Maybe they’ve been too busy conducting surveillance on Trump supporters and fabricating threats of domestic extremism.

If only this Kabul airport video could be used by the fake news media as propaganda for the lefty cause, ANY leftist cause. The fact that it hasn’t been blasted on every news network is very telling. People hanging onto the wings of planes is sensational and sure to get attention and ratings. The Biden Administration —and our entire defense and intelligence apparatus either REALLY messed up or….there’s something else going on.

I don’t think this was a mistake at all. China wants the Taliban in power to help them secure strategic border areas between India and Pakistan. India is an economic threat to China. China wants to control India and its production of goods. Biden (along with a large number of our Congressmen) is China’s puppet. IF our defense intelligence agencies DID warn Biden that Taliban control of Kabul was imminent, Biden likely ignored them and instead followed the orders of his Chinese masters.

China doesn’t care if the Taliban tortures, rapes, and oppresses the Afghani people and neither does Biden or all the other bought and paid for puppets in DC. (Mitch McConnell and so many others are remarkably quiet about the travesty in Afghanistan. Gee, I wonder why./s). It’s all about kickbacks, perks, and protecting their own corrupted backsides.

I’ve been reading about all the ways that China and Iran will benefit if the U.S. stands down and allows the Taliban to retake that entire region.

China is calling the shots in DC. I cannot accept the idea that the Afghanistan debacle is a result of mere incompetence. While crooks like Biden and McConnell wouldn’t exist without the mere stupidity and complacency of self-serving DC bureaucrats, they know exactly what they stand to gain or lose in any given situation. Foreign policy has been a profitable game to them for decades. Now China is calling in her notes and her favors. She has them —and by extension US—by the balls.

China —with funding by DC —caused and then mismanaged COVID19.

China allegedly played a part in the 2020 election steal.

America needs Donald J. Trump. God forgive us and help us…

And idiot Biden is America’s Quisling.

And the resident board idiot greg would be excited to be in a foxhole with biden

I wonder, where did all his liberal buddies go? Like idiot Biden, they have left him stranded and alone to fend for himself. Is there no one with a valid argument in defense of this failure?

According to Richard barris the pollster, the only thing keeping biden propped up in the polls was the CCP virus. That metric is beginning to fall and as it does the other lower polls will have biden in the low 40’s on his way to the 30’s.

The regime is not sustainable…

Keep in mind that had his media allies not suppressed the Hunter Biden laptop story, idiot Biden would have lost 17% of his support. This is a weak regime that is supported by nothing but lies and as those lies are exposed, the inevitable is happening. Hopefully this will apply to everyone that supported this farce.

“This entire ‘presidency’ is like being tied to a chair and watching a toddler play with a loaded pistol.”

-Charles OConnell
American Thinker