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Joe Biden and American forces have lost control in Afghanistan.
As CNN’s Clarissa Ward reported on the ground in Kabul, “It’s clear the Taliban is now in charge.”
“Taliban fighters have flooded the capital. Smiling and victorious,” CNN’s Ward said. “They took this city of 6 million people in a matter of hours — barely firing a shot.”
“This is a sight I honestly thought I would never see: scores of Taliban fighters, and just behind us, the U.S. embassy compound,” Ward said. “Some carry American weapons. They tell us they’re here to maintain law and order.”
A Taliban commander is seen telling CNN that “everything is under control” and “will be fine.” Footage has surfaced of fighters waving their weapons and chanting “Death to America.”
The Biden administration’s failure to understand the movement of the Taliban and provide effective preparation with the Afghan government has had horrifying consequences.
Now we’ve learned the Taliban has warned Biden against the idea of extending the Aug. 31 deadline to withdraw US forces from Afghanistan.
The U.S. has deployed troops back into Afghanistan following the disaster that has unfolded. There are roughly 6,000 U.S. troops in the region as well as an estimated 10,000 to 15,000 American citizens. There are also an estimated 6,000 Britons still in Afghanistan looking to evacuate.
Taliban spokesman Suhail Shaheen told Sky News, “It’s a red line.”
He continued, “President Biden announced that on Aug. 31 they would withdraw all their military forces. So if they extend it, that means they are extending occupation while there is no need for that,”
“If the US or UK were to seek additional time to continue evacuations — the answer is no. Or there would be consequences,” he said, adding that extending the deadline would “create mistrust between us.”
Extending the “occupation,” he said, will “provoke a reaction.”
Biden claimed at the White House that he he has had discussions about allowing the US to remain past Aug. 31 deadline.
Without U.S. forces, there will not be security at Hamid Karzai International Airport outside Kabul as the evacuations continue.
Biden claimed, “There’s discussions going on among us and the military about extending. Our hope is we will not have to extend, but there are going to be discussions, I suspect, on how far along we are in the process.”
Given Biden’s past failures to understand and anticipate the Taliban’s movements and decisions, a majority Americans have expressed severe doubt in the president’s ability to lead effectively, according to recent polls.
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He said he would raise the topic with leaders of the G-7 countries when he meets virtually with them Tuesday.
Meanwhile, Rep. Michael McCaul, the ranking Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said the US is without intelligence in Afghanistan outside the Kabul airport, handing a win to the Taliban, Russia, China and Iran.
“The Taliban, their stripes just got bigger,” McCaul (R-Texas) said on Fox News.
“We have no intelligence on the ground now,” he added. “We are completely dark. With the exception of the airport, we will be dark.”
He characterized the situation as a “nightmare unfolding before your very eyes,” and said the US has failed to set up intelligence capabilities in neighboring countries.
Over the past weeks, the Biden administration has closed the Bagram Air Base and the US Embassy in Kabul as the Taliban carried out swift military operations on their way to taking over the country.
“That is a victory, not only for the Taliban but for Russia, China and Iran because we can’t see their activities in the region anymore,” he said.
The evacuations of Americans and at-risk Afghans who assisted the US military during the 20-year war have been fraught with peril.
U.S. troops have been under fire, at least twice, while at Kabul’s Karzai International Airport, the NY Post reports.
At least 12 people were killed at the Hamid Karzai International Airport since the Taliban takeover began, Reuters reported.
Startling footage and images showed Afghans storming Kabul’s Karzai International Airport and attempting to cling to departing planes. “Thousands of Afghans have been filmed desperately chasing after and clinging to a US Air Force plane as it taxied down the runway — with multiple people plunging to their deaths after the aircraft took off in the frantic attempt to flee the country after the Taliban takeover,” the report adds.
Trump has called on Biden to resign from office “in disgrace.” Trump said, “What Joe Biden has done with Afghanistan is legendary. It will go down as one of the greatest defeats in American history!”
One young man, identified as “Reza,” died at just 17 years old by clinging to a departing plane. His body was recovered without legs or arms, but his family was able to identify him, according to VICE news.
The Taliban have been beating and harassing people as they pass through checkpoints the insurgents have set up on the streets leading to the airport.
And the airport itself is enveloped in chaos amid sporadic gunfire and a stampede that killed an Afghan toddler.
