Doc7505
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- Feb 16, 2016
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The General Who Recommended Abandoning Bagram Air Base Has Already Left Afghanistan. Hmm...
The General Who Recommended Abandoning Bagram Air Base Has Already Left Afghanistan. Hmm...
During Wednesdayās briefing by Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Gen. Mark Milley, chairman o
pjmedia.com
During Wednesdayās briefing by Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, CBS national security reporter Jennifer Griffin asked the two about the decision to abandon Bagram Air Base in the weeks leading up to Afghanistanās collapse. That decision has proven to be crucial, as it left Afghanistan with no U.S. military support and now leaves the civilians stranded there with one option: to try to get to the Kabul international airport through Taliban checkpoints. The U.S. government issued a statement saying that it cannot guarantee their safety and that even if they can get to the airport, they will face a long wait.
That wait could have been made shorter and the evacuation safer with better planning and the use of Bagram Air Base, which has two runways. HKIA only has one.
Gen. Milley took up answering the question of why Bagram was abandoned after Austin acknowledged that some U.S. military aircraft have been piloted out of Bagram by the Taliban. Milley carefully said the plan was driven by Washington, designed on the ground in Afghanistan, and then briefed all the way up the chain. Here is the entire briefing. Fast-forward to about 29:17.
āSecuring Bagram is a significant level of military operating forces,ā Milley says. āIt would also require external support from the Afghan security forces. Our task, given to us at that time, our task was to protect the embassy,ā Milley said (emphasis added).
In any case, Milley clearly says the plan to abandon Bagram came from the commander in Afghanistan, Gen. Austin āScottieā Miller, in response to orders from Washington.
Itās tempting to call for Millerās firing now, but thereās a problem with that. He already left.
NBC ran this story about Miller stepping down from command of U.S.-NATO forces on July 12. Itās poignant now to read the quotes he and his commander, CENTCOMās Gen. Frank McKenzie, offered Afghanistan at the time of Millerās departure.
In fact, the United States abandoned Bagram Air Base a full week prior, the AP reported at the time. Millerās plan had already been initiated on July 5.
~Snip~
This was the plan: bug out of the largest U.S. base in the dead of night without even telling our allies, then a week later reassure them that we were always going to stand by themāwhen the military knew Biden had no intention of doing so.
~Snip~
On June 29, a few days before abandoning Bagram and two weeks before he departed Afghanistan, Gen. Miller said, āThe future will tell the rest of the story. What we will have to do is make an honest assessment of what went well and what didnāt go so well over the years as we work forward.ā
Will that honest assessment ever come? It would have to start with the man in the White House, what he did, when, and why.
Comment:
Unfortunately for America, this entire episode will go down as one of the biggest disasters in U S history created by a fraudulently elected incompetent president.
In the real world of corporate America, Biden, Harris, Austin, Blinken, Milley and this entire administration would be fired for a screw up this bad.
We now have learned that Bai Dung's interview with George Stephanopoulos was highly edited and Joey Xi lied time and time again.
In his entire life, Joey Xi has never, been held accountable for his actions.
When someone is never held to account for their decisions, they never learn anything important. They deflect, deny, blame, run away from their incompetence.
This is likely the very first time he has ever been held to account, and he is melting down in real time. This is all OJT for himābeing responsible for his decisions. He canāt handle it.
