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Secretary of State ‘Concerned’ Taliban’s Interim Government Not ‘Inclusive’

Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Wednesday expressed concern over the interim Taliban government in Afghanistan, calling it not “inclusive” enough.

“We’re assessing the announcement but despite professing that a new government would be inclusive, the announced list of names consist exclusively of individuals or members of the Taliban or their close associates and no women,” Blinken said at a press conference at Ramstein Airbase in Germany.

“We’re also concerned by the affiliations and track records of some of those individuals. We understand that the Taliban has presented this as a caretaker cabinet. We will judge it and them by its actions. The international community’s made clear its expectation that the Afghan people deserve an inclusive government,” he said.

In days before the Biden administration withdrew all U.S. forces and employees from the country last month, it had repeatedly called on the Taliban to form an “inclusive” government.

However, the Taliban announced an interim government on Tuesday that is made up of all males — among whom are senior Taliban leaders who are wanted for attacks against American forces. (Read more from “Secretary of State ‘Concerned’ Taliban’s Interim Government Not ‘Inclusive’” HERE)

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Senator Says U.S. Will Have to Reinvade Afghanistan

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) left a BBC reporter stunned Monday when he said the United States will likely reinvade Afghanistan to continue the War on Terror.

During an interview with BBC reporter Stephen Sackur, Graham predicted that the new Taliban government in Afghanistan will provide a safe haven for radical Islamic terrorists who hate America and may devise plots to attack the U.S., just as they did before 9/11. He voiced skepticism of President Joe Biden’s assurances that an “over the horizon” counterterrorism strategy using targeted drone strikes will be effective.

“They’re going to give safe haven to al Qaeda who has ambitions to drive us out of the Mid East writ large and attack us because of our way of life,” Graham told Sackur, referring to the Taliban.

“We will be going back into Afghanistan, as we went back into Iraq and Syria,” he said. (Read more from “Senator Says U.S. Will Have to Reinvade Afghanistan” HERE)

Photo credit: Gage Skidmore via Flickr

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LEAKED EMAIL: Biden Admin Blocking Stranded Americans From Escaping Taliban’s Killer Grip

The State Department refused to grant official approval for private evacuation flights from Afghanistan to land in third countries, even though the department conceded that official authorization would likely be needed for planes to land in those nations, an email reviewed by Fox News shows.

Furthermore, the State Department explicitly stated that charter flights, even those containing American citizens, would not be allowed to land at Defense Department (DOD) airbases. U.S. officials have pointed to possible security threats from landing charter planes at military bases, saying that they lack the resources on the ground to fully verify flight manifests.

The Biden administration’s delaying of private evacuation efforts has been a widespread source of frustration, infuriating rescue organizers and even a prominent Democratic senator.

Eric Montalvo, who organized a series of private flights evacuating those stranded in Afghanistan, shared that email and others with Fox News after his evacuation efforts were repeatedly hampered by the federal bureaucracy.

A Sept. 1 email that a State Department official sent to Montalvo underscores the extent to which private evacuation efforts have run into bureaucratic roadblocks. (Read more from “LEAKED EMAIL: Biden Admin Blocking Stranded Americans From Escaping Taliban’s Killer Grip” HERE)

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Military Officer: Biden Is More of a Danger to the West Than the Taliban; Biden’s Afghanistan ‘Success’ Benefited Taliban, Not U.S.

By Washington Examiner. A highly decorated British Army officer said he is “absolutely shocked” at President Joe Biden’s Afghanistan withdrawal, rendering the 20 year war “a total waste.”

“6,500 people died – including 3,000 deaths at Twin Towers – and we didn’t achieve a single thing,” said retired Special Operations Staff Sgt. Trevor Coult, who has been feted by both the queen and President George W. Bush.

“He destroyed 20 years’ work in less than 24 hours.”

Coult served for 21 years in Bosnia, Iraq and Afghanistan where he was involved in 178 enemy engagements and survived three bomb blasts. The queen awarded him one of the United Kingdom’s highest honors, the military cross, for saving allied lives during an ambush. He was also awarded a presidential citation by Bush during a White House dinner.

“Biden is the most incompetent president in the history of the United States,” Coult told the Washington Examiner. “He has befriended terrorists. The White House is not a friend to the west, it’s a danger while he is president.” (Read more from “British Military Officer: Biden Is More of a Danger to the West Than the Taliban” HERE)

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Afghans Lying About Their Identities to Get Resettled in U.S.

By Breitbart. Some Afghans have lied about their identities or destroyed their passports in hopes to win resettlement across the United States, the Associated Press (AP) reports.

Officials with President Joe Biden’s administration who spoke anonymously to the AP said there have been instances where Afghans at screening sites in safe third countries outside of Afghanistan have sought to come to the U.S. by destroying documents to conceal their real identities.

The AP reports:

In one instance, a red flag popped up on an evacuee’s case as he was mid-flight between two of the overseas transit sites, another U.S. official said, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the processing. In a comparatively small number of cases, the U.S. transit sites overseas also are dealing with other evacuees who require further investigation, or who lie or destroy their identification in hopes of qualifying for immigration, that U.S. official said. [Emphasis added]

Some who managed to get through crushing crowds and U.S. and Taliban controls at the airport got put on planes and made it to transit sites, without any apparent eligibility for U.S. relocation as an at-risk Afghan, the official said. [Emphasis added]

(Read more from “Afghans Lying About Their Identities to Get Resettled in U.S.” HERE)

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Biden’s Afghanistan ‘Success’ Benefited Taliban, Not U.S.

By Boston Herald. The next thing you know, President Biden will be asking the Taliban to join NATO.

Granted Biden took credit for his “extraordinary success,” in bugging out of Kabul and leaving hundreds of Americans behind, as well as abandoning thousands of loyal Afghans.

What he meant to say was that while the evacuation was an extraordinary success, it was a success for the Taliban, not the U.S.

For Biden and the U.S. it was an extraordinary humiliation.

But that has not stopped Biden from making nice with the Taliban, which now rules Afghanistan and holds all those abandoned Americans hostage. (Read more from “Biden’s Afghanistan ‘Success’ Benefited Taliban, Not U.S.” HERE)

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Congressman: At Least 500 Americans Stranded in Afghanistan, Contradicting White House Estimates

Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), whose office has been working to evacuate two elderly U.S. citizens from Afghanistan, said it’s likely that about 500 Americans remain stranded in the country, a figure that’s at odds with estimates provided by White House officials.

“Unless we continue and get the rest of our American citizens, and all those otherwise eligible out, we won’t have done our job,” Issa told The Associated Press (AP), confirming the number.

When including the family members of U.S. citizens, Issa said the number of people stranded in Afghanistan could be as high as 1,000.

Rep. Don Bacon (R-Neb.) stated to the news agency that the Biden administration needs to provide the full number of those left behind in the South Asian nation.

“The problem is, it doesn’t include families,” he said. “They’re lowballing the numbers.” (Read more from “Congressman: At Least 500 Americans Stranded in Afghanistan, Contradicting White House Estimates” HERE)

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Veterans Grapple With New Afghanistan: ‘Was My Service Worth It?’

Veterans are grappling with the fallout from the chaotic withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan that ended the nation’s longest running war but also left the Taliban in control.

Afghanistan war veterans who spoke to The Hill said they have spent the past few weeks questioning their military service, while some said they have also tried to help get Afghan allies out of the country. Groups that work with veterans say processing the withdrawal has been difficult for many who fought there over the past two decades.

David Maulsby, executive director of PTSD of America Foundation, said his organization has received more calls to its crisis hotline from Afghanistan veterans who are “really, really angry with what they have seen on television the last couple of weeks.”

“What they’re angry about is that so many of the men, women, children that they met while they were there, many of them who served them while they were there in Afghanistan, were just left behind and the process of trying to get those SIVs out there was an unmitigated disaster,” Maulsby said, referring to special immigrant visa holders, many of whom worked for the U.S. government at some point during the 20-year war.

“They are absolutely furious, not only with the administration but with the hierarchy, the military. They are just absolutely beside themselves,” he added. (Read more from “Veterans Grapple With New Afghanistan: ‘Was My Service Worth It?'” HERE)

Photo credit: flickr

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Taliban Execute Pregnant Police Officer in Front of Family

Taliban militants in Afghanistan have shot dead a policewoman in a provincial city, witnesses have told the BBC.

The woman, named in local media as Banu Negar, was killed at the family home in front of relatives in Firozkoh, the capital of central Ghor province.

The killing comes amid increasing reports of escalating repression of women in Afghanistan. . .

Details of the incident are still sketchy as many in Firozkoh fear retribution if they speak out. But three sources have told the BBC that the Taliban beat and shot Negar dead in front of her husband and children on Saturday. . .

The family say Negar, who worked at the local prison, was eight months pregnant. (Read more from “Taliban Execute Pregnant Police Officer in Front of Family” HERE)

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Marine’s Shocking Video of Afghanistan Withdrawal Exposes Just How Insanely Chaotic ​Evacuation Was​

Raw and shocking footage of the U.S. evacuation from Kabul shows much more chaotic scenes than many were led to believe happened during the Afghanistan withdrawal.

Real-life, behind-the-scenes video clips were released last week by Marine Cpl. Mike Markland. The Marine, who was at Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul, captured the grittiness and desperation of the hurried evacuation of the Afghan capital as the Taliban marched toward power.

Markland stitched together video clips from a GoPro camera attached to his helmet to show exactly how tumultuous and unorganized the evacuation at the Kabul airport was. The firsthand footage reveals “two straight weeks of worsening conditions” on the ground as seen from the viewpoint of the Marine from 1st Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment.

Markland posted the video on his Instagram, but it has since been deleted. Task & Purpose published the video, as well as Markland’s commentary from social media, which has also been removed.

“I hope this answers questions but also provokes you to ask more,” Markland captioned the since-deleted Instagram video. “To my brothers and sisters who were there I made this for you and your family. When you have the lack of ability to explain all that happened in those two weeks, show them this. Stand tall and wear the last two weeks on your chest.” (Read more from “Marine’s Shocking Video of Afghanistan Withdrawal Exposes Just How Insanely Chaotic ​Evacuation Was​” HERE)

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Report: Civil War In Afghanistan Is ‘Likely’

Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, believes there’s a good chance of an Afghan civil war in the near future following the United States’s military withdrawal.

The U.S. ended the war in Afghanistan last week, leaving the Taliban in control of the country, though it’s too soon to tell if the terrorist organization will be able to field a functioning government.

“My military estimate is… that the conditions are likely to develop of a civil war,” Milley told Fox News . “I don’t know if the Taliban is going to [be] able to consolidate power and establish governance.”

“I think there’s at least a very good probability of a broader civil war and that will then, in turn, lead to conditions that could, in fact, lead to a reconstitution of al-Qaeda or a growth of ISIS or other myriad of terrorist groups,” he added. “You could see a resurgence of terrorism coming out of that general region within 12, 24, 36 months. And we’re going to monitor that.”

Various Biden administration officials and Pentagon top brass have said the military will work to combat the growth of terrorism in Afghanistan through “over the horizon” capabilities. However, the military will be at a disadvantage due to a lack of troops on the ground to help with intelligence. (Read more from “Report: Civil War In Afghanistan Is ‘Likely'” HERE)

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Former FBI Agent Says 9-11 Hijackers Had U.S.-Based Support

At least two of the 9-11 hijackers probably had a U.S.-based support network, according to a former FBI agent.

Danny Gonzalez worked on “Operation Encore,” the still-secret investigation into the two Saudi hijackers who were based in San Diego. Gonzalez told CBS News he’s confident the records of that operation will show the hijackers had help.

“19 hijackers cannot commit 3,000 mass murders by themselves,” Gonzalez told the network.

President Biden signed an executive order Friday directing the Department of Justice to oversee a declassification review of some documents related to the 9/11 attacks, after pressure from families of victims who are demanding to know if Saudi Arabia helped the hijackers. The DOJ must release any declassified documents in the next six months.

Some records pertain to “Operation Encore,” which began two years after the commission’s report. (Read more from “Former FBI Agent Says 9-11 Hijackers Had U.S.-Based Support” HERE)

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