Jump to content

‘Debacle’ and ‘betrayal’: Blinken ripped for Afghanistan failures in rancorous House hearing


Valin

Recommended Posts

debacle-and-betrayal-blinken-ripped-for-afghanistan-failures-in-rancorous-house-hearing?utm_campaign=article_rail&utm_source=internal&utm_medium=article_rail
The Washington Examiner

Jamie McIntyre, Senior Writer

September 14, 2021

MORE GRILLED BLINKEN ON TAP: To call yesterday’s House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing on the Biden administration's withdrawal from Afghanistan “contentious” would be to risk serious understatement. Secretary of State Antony Blinken faced withering criticism from Republicans on the committee, including demands he resign. More “grilled Blinken” is on the menu for this morning as the embattled secretary of state is raked over the hibachi by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, beginning at 10 a.m.

“I can summarize this in one word, ‘betrayal,’” said ranking Republican Rep. Michael McCaul of Texas. “The America I know keeps its promises. The most important promise in our military is no man left behind, no one left behind. But you broke this promise.”

(Snip)

__________________________________________________________________

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Politics being played by Both sides. :angry:

One side says We didn't do anything wrong, and Donald Trump is a bad man.

The others say This is All Joe Biden's Fault, and Donald Trump did nothing wrong.

Meanwhile I recall this...

pompeo.png

clipboard-21-885837-1599815662.jpg?itok=

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Mar. 17 2020

Hosts Bill Roggio and Tom Joscelyn review the U.S.-Taliban withdrawal agreement. They discuss why it isn't a true peace deal, the Taliban's ongoing alliance with al-Qaeda, and how the U.S. never dealt with Pakistani duplicity in America's longest war.

 

Mar. 24 2021

In a follow up to episode one, hosts Bill Roggio and Tom Joscelyn explain why wishful thinking in Afghanistan has led the U.S. to portray the Taliban as something it is not. True peace is not on the horizon. Meanwhile, Al-Qaeda views the U.S.-Taliban deal as a boon for the jihadists' cause. Al-Qaeda's affiliates are already attempting to use the agreement as a framework for gaining legitimacy elsewhere.

2 video's Donald Trump Doesn't Want You To watch.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Sept. 14 2021

Senator Ted Cruz says the Biden administration — including the president's State Department — made the entire Afghanistan operation partisan from day ONE: ‘It has been all about the speech Joe Biden and his political handlers wanted to give on September 11th,’ Cruz says. Plus, he explains why Americans and Afghan allies left behind in Afghanistan now are ‘inconvenient truths’ to many within the Biden administration: ‘it’s disgraceful.’

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On Point: Biden Administration Strategic Errors Led to Afghan Debacle

Austin Bay

September 15, 2021

Credit Sen. James Risch, R-Idaho, with posing the critical question during Secretary of State Antony Blinken's Sept. 14 testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

After declaring he was not speaking on a partisan basis and that "there is not enough lipstick in the world to put on this pig (the Afghanistan withdrawal)," Risch asked a nervous Blinken: "Who is responsible? Who made the decisions on this? Was it the president of the United States?"

"Ultimately, the president makes the decisions," Blinken replied. He quickly added a string of qualifications. "Hundreds and thousands of decisions ... ," Blinken opined, "... go into a situation as complex as this one." The president makes "big strategic decisions," but "tactical and operational decisions are made by different agencies, agency heads and agency officials."

Risch is the committee's ranking minority member. He didn't need to hear a truism-packed sermon on trickle-down bureaucratic decision-making calculated to appear to take responsibility without really doing so. But that's what he got.

(Snip)

(Snip)

Many of these suboperations could have begun April 14, the day Biden gave the withdrawal order.

Common-sense advice: Don't set firm dates for completing the evacuation if you can avoid it -- tipping off the enemy is a bad idea. Withdraw security forces based on the threat. As the evacuation nears completion, the military begins to "shrink the perimeter" while maintaining punitive strike-back capability.

The sad thing is the U.S. has the institutional resources and experience to conduct a successful evacuation. But the tragic results tell us Biden administration senior leaders had no clue how to organize them, much less use them.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
  • 1711635933
×
×
  • Create New...