Exclusive: Former SECDEF discusses Afghanistan with Military Times (Full Interview): Defense News, Aug. 20, 2021 — Former acting Secretary of Defense Christopher Miller–also an Afghanistan vet and retired Greed Beret–talks to Military Times‘ Howard Altman about Afghanistan.
MEDIA-OCRITIES OF THE WEEK
“STEPHANOPOULOS: Let’s get right to it. Back in July, you said a Taliban takeover was highly unlikely. Was the intelligence wrong, or did you downplay it?…
BIDEN: Yeah. Well, the question was whether or not it w– the idea that the Taliban would take over was premised on the notion that the — that somehow, the 300,000 troops we had trained and equipped was gonna just collapse, they were gonna give up. I don’t think anybody anticipated that. …
STEPHANOPOULOS: So no one told — your military advisors did not tell you, “No, we should just keep 2,500 troops. It’s been a stable situation for the last several years. We can do that. We can continue to do that”?
BIDEN: No. No one said that to me that I can recall. Look, George, the reason why it’s been stable for a year is because the last president said, “We’re leaving. And here’s the deal I wanna make with you, Taliban. We’re agreeing to leave if you agree not to attack us between now and the time we leave on May the 1st. … But, look, b– but no one’s being killed right now, God forgive me if I’m wrong about that, but no one’s being killed right now. People are– we got 1,000-somewhat, 1,200 out, yesterday, a couple thousand today. And it’s increasing. We’re gonna get those people out.
STEPHANOPOULOS: But we’ve all seen the pictures. We’ve seen those hundreds of people packed into a C-17. You’ve seen Afghans falling–
BIDEN: That was four days ago, five days ago.
STEPHANOPOULOS: So you don’t think this could’ve been handled, this exit could’ve been handled better in any way? No mistakes?
BIDEN: No. I– I don’t think it could’ve been handled in a way that there– we– we’re gonna go back in hindsight and look, but the idea that somehow there’s a way to have gotten out without chaos ensuing, I don’t know how that happens. I don’t know how that happened.
STEPHANOPOULOS: So for you, that was always priced into the decision?
BIDEN: Yes. Now, exactly what happened– is not priced in…“
Raymond J. de Souza: In Afghanistan, Biden Didn’t Know What He Didn’t Know — And Everyone Paid The Price: National Post, Aug. 19, 2021
“There are known knowns, there are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns, that is to say, we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns—the ones we don’t know we don’t know. And if one looks throughout the history of our country and other free countries, it is the latter category that tends to be he difficult ones.” — The late Donald Rumsfeld, former U.S. Secretary of Defense.
Members of the British Parliament voice anger and frustration at President Biden’s unilateral move to abruptly leave Afghanistan: “At a stroke, he [US President Biden] has undermined the patient and painstaking work of the last five, 10, 15 years to build up governance in Afghanistan, develop its economy, transform its civil society and build up its security forces.” — Lord Dannatt. “I am afraid that President Biden’s decision to withdraw from Afghanistan is, and will be seen by history as, a catastrophic mistake which may well prove to be the defining legacy of his presidency.” – Lord Howard of Lympne. “This is a humiliation of the West, of NATO, of us, of course, but especially of the US—which, apparently, leads the free world, or so we are told. President Biden said that ‘America is back’. Robert Gates, Defense Secretary to the Administrations of both George W Bush and Barack Obama, said in his memoirs that Biden had been on the wrong side of every national security issue of the past 20 years.” – Lord Robathan. China is the main beneficiary of President Biden’s decision. ‘America is back’ now sounds rather hollow—’America is backing down’ fits the case better.” – Lord Ricketts. (Daily Wire, Aug. 21, 2021)
“in obedience to an imbecilic political slogan about ending ‘the forever wars’, as if our engagement in 2021 was remotely comparable to our commitment 20 or even 10 years ago.” – former British Prime Minister Tony Blair accused US President Joe Biden in an essay posted on his website. (VIN News, Aug. 22, 2021)
“I told a number of ambassadors in the region there; they should expect a collapse of Kabul by Labor Day, and I said that back in April, based on when the U.S. air pressure, when the Air Force really stopped bombing, when that threat largely disappears, then the Taliban would be able to group and mass as they have done, and then they start blowing up cities. It’s a very predictable outcome that all these smart people in the military didn’t pass that kind of information off the chain of command so that the president even last month makes as dumb a statement as he does. We have a cosplay national security apparatus that sits and talks to itself into believing their own B.S., and sadly, the Taliban are feeding into us at the end of the bayonet right now… this is not rocket science, but it’s a failure of imagination.” — Erik Prince, the Navy SEAL veteran and national security entrepreneur. (Gold Institute, Aug. 15, 2021)
“I’m scared. Who knows, they could come here in the middle of the night and nobody is going to know anything. We could be executed, any day, any time, any minute…I can feel the death coming’.” — [Abdul Ahmadullah, former Canadian Forces interpreter, isolated with dozens of ex-employees of Canada in Kabul. (National Post, Aug. 24, 2021)
“…the Taliban issued a stark warning to the West, with a spokesman saying the removal of troops by the end of the month was a ‘red line” and threatening ‘consequences’ [if it was missed.]” — [Biden, who later confirmed the Aug. 31 departure date, was warned later by G7 allies that there would be ‘pandemonium’ on the streets of Kabul if he goes ahead with plans to remove all U.S. troops by Tuesday. – Journalists Ben Riley-Smith et al (National Post, Aug. 24, 2021)
“Many of the biggest issues currently facing the country—including the unraveling of Afghanistan, the unlawful detention and conviction of Canadian citizens in China and the growing unpredictability of our relationship with the United States—require a strong and capable national government. Yet federal party leaders seem more interested in micromanaging provincial health care systems or local-zoning decisions than grappling with how to effectively exercise national power in Canada’s interests…The steady erosion of national power and state capacity is the most underplayed issue in Canadian politics….” — Journalist Sean Speer. (National Post, Aug. 24, 2021)
“… Can you imagine, say, Norman Schwarzkopf — to say nothing of Dwight Eisenhower or Douglas MacArthur — giving that answer? What is wrong with these men? What have they been doing with the $700 billion we spend on national defense? What do they think that money is for, if not to protect Americans in danger, be they at home or abroad, civilians or military?” –columnist Dan McLaughlin, on Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and General Mark Milley’s admission that they “don’t have the capacity to go out and collect large numbers of people” in Kabul. (National Review, Aug. 19, 2021)
ISRAELIS DISCOVER DRUG THAT DRAMATICALLY IMPROVES COVID PATIENTS’ CONDITION (Jerusalem) — Professor Yaakov Nahmias’ team at the Hebrew University identified the lipid-lowering drug TriCor (fenofibrate) as an effective antiviral last year, showing in the laboratory that it both reduced lung cell damage and blocked virus replication. These results have since been confirmed by several international research teams. The lipid-lowering drug reduces inflammation in 48 hours and removes the need for oxygen support within five to seven days. (United With Israel, Aug. 23, 2021)
GOV’T APPROVES IDF DRAFT LAW FOR HAREDIM, LOWERS EXEMPTION AGE TO 21 (Jerusalem) — The cabinet approved a revised IDF Draft Law that includes plans to recruit haredim (ultra-Orthodox) into the military and lower the age of exemption to 21. After 24 months, the exemption age will rise to 22, and a year later, it will increase to 23. (Jerusalem Post, Aug. 22, 2021)
ISRAELI-ARAB SWIMMER IYAD SHALABI WINS GOLD MEDAL IN PARALYMPICS (Tokyo) — Israeli-Arab swimmer Iyad Shalabi picked up the gold medal in the 100-meter backstroke on the first day of the Paralympic Games on Wednesday, finishing in 2:28.04 minutes. Shalabi, 34, who grew up Muslim in Shefa-‘Amr, was born deaf and then later was paralyzed in his lower body following an accident at the age of 13. (Jerusalem Post, Aug. 25, 2021)
ISRAELI ASTRONAUT TO TAKE ANCIENT COIN FROM BAR KOCHBA REVOLT TO SPACE (Jerusalem) — Israeli astronaut Eytan Stibbe will bring an ancient Jewish coin when he travels to the International Space Station for Israel’s “Rakia” mission early next year. The 1,900-year-old coin was minted during the second Jewish revolt against the Romans, also known as the Bar Kochba revolt. The coin was unveiled to the public in March alongside other rare artifacts that were excavated from the “Cave of Horror” in Nahal Hever. (VIN, Aug. 20, 2021)
BAHRAIN CELEBRATES FIRST BAR MITZVAH IN 16 YEARS (Manama) — The first bar mitzvah in Bahrain in 16 years was held over the weekend, at the House of Ten Commandments, the oldest and only operational synagogue in a Gulf Cooperation Council country. The bar mitzvah boy read from the Torah scroll that former senior White House adviser Jared Kushner commissioned in honor of Bahrain’s King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa. (VIN, Aug. 22, 2021)
ARRESTS MADE IN KILLING OF YESHIVAH STUDENT OUTSIDE DENVER JEWISH SCHOOL (Denver) — The Denver Police Department arrested four suspects in the shooting death of yeshiva student 18-year-old Shmuel Silverberg, Denver police are searching for an additional suspect, 19-year-old Samuel Fussell, in connection to this crime spree and have a warrant out for his arrest. (Fox 31 News, Aug. 19, 2021)
MASS GRAVE WITH BODIES OF OVER 60 MURDERED JEWS DISCOVERED IN POLISH VILLAGE OF WOJSŁAWICE (Wojslawice) — A mass grave with the remains of at least 60 Jews murdered during the Holocaust has been discovered in the Polish village of Wojsławice which once housed a vibrant Jewish community. The grave was discovered after officials by the Shem Olam institute of Holocaust education. Using advanced technology, the team found the location of the grave in the backyard of a private residence in the village. The bodies included at least 20 children. (VIN, Aug. 19, 2021)
JIHADISTS REJOICE OVER TALIBAN’S AFGHANISTAN VICTORY (Kabul) — Hamas was among the first to congratulate “the Muslim Afghani people for the demise of the American occupation from its soil.” The Palestinian Islamic Jihad group also issued a congratulatory statement. Egyptian born Islamic Group (Al-Jama’a al-Islamiyya) leader Assem Abdul Majeed hailed “The Conquest of Kabul. Radical Muslim Brotherhood cleric Wagdy Ghoneim, who now lives in Turkey, posted a video in which he said, “God made [the] Taliban victorious over America and the infidel western countries that united against it.” The spokesman for Houthi rebels boasted that “Every occupation has an end, long time or short, and now America is reaping failure after 20 years of occupying Afghanistan.” (IPT News, Aug. 17, 2021)
U.K. PARLIAMENT HOLDS JOE BIDEN IN CONTEMPT OVER AFGHANISTAN (London) –The United Kingdom’s Houses of Parliament has officially voted to hold Joe Biden in contempt over his disastrous handling of the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, condemning it as “catastrophic,” and “shameful.” Mr. Biden was accused of “throwing us and everybody else to the fire” by pulling out US troops and was called “dishonorable” for criticizing Afghan forces for not having the will to fight.” (The Conservative Brief, Aug. 20, 2021)
U.K., FRENCH, GERMAN LEADERS BLAST BIDEN OVER AFGHANISTAN: ‘WE THOUGHT AMERICA WAS BACK (Kabul) — European Union and U.K. leaders have voiced their criticism of how U.S. President Joe Biden handled America’s withdrawal from Afghanistan, a stark difference from the praises they gave at the beginning of his presidency. “We lived a little bit the great illusion,” said French Parliamentarian Nathalie Loiseau. “We thought America was back, while in fact, America withdraws.” (Newsweek, Aug. 19, 2021)
‘ALL AFGHANS’ SHOULD FEEL SAFE UNDER TALIBAN, SAYS SECURITY CHIEF (Ksbul) — Khalil Ur-Rahman Haqqani, a leading Taliban figure currently in charge of security for Kabul, has echoed the group’s claims that “all Afghans” should feel safe under their Islamic Emirate, and that a “general amnesty” has been granted across the nation’s 34 provinces. Many Afghans are sceptical that a leader of the Haqqani Network, known to be the Taliban’s most brutal and violent group especially as reports of house to house searches and violence allegedly committed by the Taliban continue to pour in, including in Kabul. (Al Jazeera, Aug. 22, 2021)
TALIBAN HAS BILLIONS IN US WEAPONS, INCLUDING BLACK HAWKS AND UP TO 600K RIFLES (Kabul) — The Taliban has seized US weapons left in Afghanistan worth billions — possibly including 600,000 assault rifles, some 2,000 armored vehicles, and 40 aircraft, including Black Hawks. The US gave the Afghan military an estimated $28 billion in weaponry between 2002 and 2017 — including seven brand new helicopters delivered to Kabul just a month ago. The war chest also included the supply of at least 600,000 infantry weapons — including M16 assault rifles — as well as 162,000 pieces of communication equipment and 16,000 night-vision goggles. In just two years from 2017 to 2019, the US gave 7,035 machine guns, 4,702 Humvees, 20,040 hand grenades, 2,520 bombs and 1,394 grenade launchers. (NY Post, Aug. 20, 2021)
Video: Chasidic Man Attacked By Muslim Man On London Streets: VIN News, Aug. 20, 2021 — In an unprovoked assault, a man dressed in Muslim garb punched a Jewish man this Wednesday in Stamford Hills knocking him down and breaking his leg.
After the Taliban Victory:: An Alliance of Moderation for the Middle East: Amb. Dore Gold, Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, Aug. 18, 2021 — For all of the countries that have been under the wings of the American eagle, this is a very tough time. Events in Afghanistan will affect events on the Jordan River which is 3,000 kms. away.
