Today was a bad, bad day for President Joe Biden. But maybe worse for the United States.. and global stability..
The collapse of the Afghan government is the biggest foreign policy crisis of Biden’s presidency at this point..recalling setbacks for past presidents such as the withdrawal from Vietnam and the botched Bay of Pigs invasion in Cuba. The AP wrote in a fresh dispatch that the reverberations of the Taliban’s success were startling, endangering Afghan women and girls, posing new security threats and threatening to undercut global views of America’s reliability..
After Biden addressed the nation around 4pm, he flew back to Camp David again..
As he boarded Marine One, an image of him saluting appeared to featuring him covered in the late summer flies of August.
Other images showcased today are not pleasant.. they are actually graphic.
The fall of Saigon and Kabul are perfectly compared in this photo, chilling in similarities:
Other images were more harrowing.
People hanging on for dear life as a plane leaving the nation was swarmed with civilians attempting to escape for their lives… At least two died as they fell from the aircraft as it reached into the sky..
A war, 20 years in the making.. and an ending of the Taliban taking back over in just 20 hours …
Disturbing reports are already emerging from Afghanistan as the government collapsed and the Taliban seized power once again nearly 20 years after being driven out by the West.
There have already been reports throughout the advance of the Taliban of women being shot dead and girls as young as 12 being dragged from their homes to be “married”. Afghanistan’s descent into chaos has seen unverified reports emerge of thousands gathering to witness an execution in Kandahar at a sports stadium.
The media began to turn on Biden tonight in pure feeding frenzy style — even the fans at CNN and MSNBC questioned the Commander in Chief over decisions made in the past few days.
Decisions that included promises that the Taliban’s advance would NEVER be as fast it was..
This unlikely paragraph appeared in CNN state media tonight:
Throughout the weekend, Biden had remained at the presidential retreat, receiving briefings on screens or over the phone while sitting alone at conference table. Advisers huddled separately to discuss when and how he should address the situation. When he returned to the White House midday Monday, many of his aides assumed he would at least spend the night. Yet almost as soon as Biden touched down in Washington, word went out that his stay at the executive mansion would be brief. After his 18-minute speech, Biden quickly decamped again for the mountains.
Meanwhile on Peacock: Former CIA Analyst and US veteran Matt Zeller said he was “appalled” by Joe Biden’s Afghanistan speech on Monday…
U.S. Army veteran Matt Zeller goes off on MSNBC about Biden’s remarks on Afghanistan:
— Whitney Robertson (@whitneyleerob) August 16, 2021
Zeller: “I feel like I watched a different speech than the rest of you guys. I was appalled.” pic.twitter.com/eGC5tMBvy4
But who lost?
The military industrial complex?
Those who made big pronouncements in 2001 when we invaded, all the while the smoke was still billowing out and embers were still smoldering at Ground Zero ….?
Bush?
Cheney?
Obama?
Trump?
Biden?
This war went on, and on, and on for 2 decades.
5 presidents
American service members killed in Afghanistan through April: 2,448.
U.S. contractors: 3,846.
Afghan national military and police: 66,000.
Other allied service members, including from other NATO member states: 1,144.
Afghan civilians: 47,245.
Taliban and other opposition fighters: 51,191.
Aid workers: 444.
Journalists: 72.
And just think.. the gay pride flag was flying over Kabul in June.
Welcome to the new reality.. where that flag will never, ever fly again over Kabul or anywhere else in Afghanistan.
All of that? Was for what…
Nothing.
War..
What is it good for.
Absolutely nothing.