Taliban: There Will Be No Extensions of the US Military Presence at the Airport

August 31st is the drop-dead date for American forces to withdraw from the small sliver of Afghanistan where they are stationed. 

I'd like to give you an estimate of how many Americans per day we'd need to evacuate to meet that deadline, but the government says it has no idea how many there are to evacuate. Currently they say they've evacuated 37,000 people, but mostly not Americans. American citizens are currently advised not to come to the airport because it's too dangerous -- as they have been for two days now.

Speaking of things I'd like, I'd like to believe the administration is just pretending to go along with this while getting forces in place to do what will really be necessary to rescue our fellow citizens. 

However, Jen Psaki just said that no Americans are stranded in Afghanistan at all. This is because, she claims, the Biden administration intends to bring them home. They're just experiencing flight delays, I suppose, plus an unusually challenging gauntlet of airport security

I also like the way Psaki says, "Americans who want to come home," as if there might be plenty of them who are just planning to set up house under Taliban rule. "I've always considered converting to radical Islam, maybe taking a second or third wife, burning an amusement park. This might be the perfect opportunity!"

7 comments:

J Melcher said...

An anecdote, not to be construed as data:

In the 1970's the US Peace Corps had a presence in Afghanistan. I had a aunt/cousin sort of acquaintance, a retired "secretary" who ran a school for young ladies there, teaching English, typing, filing, scheduling... building up the civil administrative infrastructure needed for a modern nation. She went back and forth, and was home (in Kansas) when the Soviets invaded. And was forbidden to return to her school and students.

Aunt Mary defied the US government and returned to Afghanistan. And went back and forth a couple times more, under the watchful and resentful eyes of the US, the USSR and the puppet government of Afghanistan.

So, yes, I believe there may be some US citizens who choose to continue whatever work they've been doing with Afghanis, regardless of what sort of authorities are in charge.

I wish all such much luck and God's Grace.

Texan99 said...

I've been hunting for sites accepting donations for the Afghan Dunkirk operation.

Grim said...

According to this, ~10% of those who’ve been evacuated are Americans.

https://twitter.com/politicalshort/status/1429911680666980360?s=21

Assistant Village Idiot said...

They aren't real people, so you needn't worry about them. All the real people live in DC.

E Hines said...

"I've always considered converting to radical Islam, maybe taking a second or third wife...."

Or to be as second or third wife.

Yeah, that's the ticket.

A small quibble, too: Jen Psaki just said that no Americans are stranded in Afghanistan at all.

Actually, that's Joe Biden saying that. He's just using Psaki's mouth because he's too timid to say it directly.

Despicably, what we really have is the spectacle of an American President begging on bended knee for mercy from terrorists. He's certainly not going to challenge the deadline, much less take a Taliban out behind the gym and beat him up. Even if his mouth does says words amounting to deadline extension, they'll only be words, with no plan for actual execution.

Eric Hines

Grim said...

J. M.:

I too have known great people who might endeavor in such conditions. But I've know a very few of them; I don't think it's going to turn out to be any significant percentage. (And they worked for the CIA in some cases.)

Thos. said...

There's a lot of work to do, regardless of how long is left to do it.

Still after the Taliban's little Iwo-Jima-style flag raising propaganda stunt, I'd be willing to bet that if you offered Marines (whether in or out of active service) the chance to go to Kabul keep the Taliban out of the way of evacuation efforts, there'd be tens (hundreds?) of thousands of volunteers.