Former VP Pence describes what Sleepy threw away

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In February 2020, the Trump administration reached an agreement that required the Taliban to end all attacks on U.S. military personnel, to refuse terrorists safe harbor, and to negotiate with Afghan leaders on creating a new government. As long as these conditions were met, the U.S. would conduct a gradual and orderly withdrawal of military forces.

Unanimously endorsed by the United Nations Security Council, the agreement immediately brought to Afghanistan a stability unseen in decades. In the past 18 months, the U.S. has not suffered a single combat casualty there.

By the time we left office, the Afghan government and the Taliban each controlled their respective territories, neither was mounting major offensives, and America had only 2,500 U.S. troops in the country—the smallest military presence since the war began in 2001.

America’s endless war was coming to a dignified end, and Bagram Air Base ensured we could conduct counterterrorism missions through the war’s conclusion.

The progress our administration made toward ending the war was possible because Taliban leaders understood that the consequences of violating the deal would be swift and severe. After our military took out Iranian terrorist Qasem Soleimani, and U.S. Special Forces killed the leader of ISIS, the Taliban had no doubt we would keep our promise.

What did Joe do when he became Comrade Leader?

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The Afghan Allies Left Behind

The speed of the Taliban offensive caught the Biden Administration by surprise, but it can’t say it wasn’t warned to move faster on visas and exit plans for Afghan translators, journalists and their families. Former U.S. military officers sounded the alarm, as did Members of Congress. There’s no excuse for the scenes of fear and chaos on Sunday at the civilian wing of Kabul’s airport that had Afghans trying to flee without military protection as the Taliban closed in.

One of those sounding the alarm has been James Miervaldis, a U.S. Army vet who served in Afghanistan and Iraq and is now chairman of No One Left Behind. The nonprofit has been trying to fill the vacuum left by the U.S. State Department by negotiating and financing the exit of families who have been lucky enough to obtain U.S. visas.

On Sunday morning New York time, Mr. Miervaldis told us that his group had 50 families with some 250 people scheduled to leave Kabul on commercial flights. But they were stuck when commercial flights were halted. He said U.S. military flights appeared to be taking only big shots or U.S. Embassy personnel, and no one knows if or when the Taliban will allow commercial flights to leave.

He said U.S. military units contacted his group to obtain information on what is going on at the airport because they had been provided no on-the-ground intelligence. This is unforgivable, and the incompetence of the U.S. is stunning. “It is mind-blowing, the lack of preparation,” Mr. Miervaldis said.

He added that only about 350 Afghan families, or about 1,200 people, with U.S. visas had been able to leave before the Taliban victory. That leaves hundreds of translators and their families who had already obtained visas stranded in Kabul. There are perhaps 50,000 or more who would qualify for visas but didn’t yet have them because of the slow U.S. bureaucracy.

[KeithKSR]

I don’t think even the media can keep Biden from owning this debacle. Word is pouring out from different agencies that were involved that Goofy Joe ignored all advice and decided he knew best.