Red Lines Abound

Now the military is dictating to the Commander in Chief: if you want us to stay past the 31st, you need to tell us today.

Military advisers have told the White House that the decision must be made by Tuesday in order to have enough time to withdraw the 5,800 troops currently on the ground, as well as their equipment and weapons. If the President agrees, the military anticipates “a few more days” of trying to evacuate as many people as possible before the drawdown of US forces begins, possibly at the end of this week.

So we don't have until the 31st, if Biden is going to honor his promise to the Taliban. We have until the end of the week.

UPDATE: Biden administration accepts military's red line, will withdraw all forces by the 31st.

That's really the only play if we aren't going to double down by deploying new forces, and it's a relief that they can see that it is. If they'd tried to bull past 1 September, they could have lost battalions of Marines and Paratroopers in addition to the civilians they'll leave behind. We don't have artillery fire support in the country, air support is limited to what can fly in from outside Afghanistan (and for as long as it can afford to dwell between refuelings, and the Taliban have brought mortars and heavy machine guns into the city that can range the airport. We have to leave while there's an opportunity to leave, or else we'd have to fight out overland. 

So far few evacuees have been American citizens, though, and it's hard to see how they'll get the rest out on this schedule. The odds are a lot of former USAID and State Department employees are going to have to be left behind to whatever fate the Taliban approves for them. 

This woman is clearly terrified of that fate. She begs for people to come and help her as quickly as they can. John Kirby's answer to her and those like her is, "We'll get as many as we can."

UPDATE: 

Good Lord.