Kabul Afghanistan is Falling to the Taliban

[Yazata]

As I write this, the President of Afghanistan has fled to Uzbekistan. The US Embassy and other foreign embassies have been evacuated and Taliban militants occupy government buildings.

Reportedly the last place in the country where US troops remain is Kabul airport. Pilots report that Americans are in command there and are operating the control tower. They are trying to evacuate foreigners but it's difficult since huge crowds of Afghans clog the airport looking for any way to escape.

Chaos. A madhouse.

As late as this afternoon Kabul seemed relatively secure by Afghan standards. But then word came that Jalalabad, the last provincial capital left in government hands controlling the road from Kabul to Pakistan had fallen without a fight. Kabul was suddenly surrounded and cut off by road. And the government simply imploded. Government troops disappeared from their defensive positions and officials abandoned their desks and ran away.

And that was that. Saigon all over again. Those scenes of the last Americans being taken off the Saigon embassy roof by helicopter are being repeated tonight at the Kabul airport as the last Americans, Canadians and British try to pull out in chaotic conditions with crowds all over the runways rushing any aircraft that land. There have been reports of shells falling on the airport but no major Taliban attack as of yet.

[Magical Realist]

20 years of fighting and training and protecting undone in a mere 48 hours. What were we over there for again? It's been so long I forgot.

[Leigha]

How is it possible that the Taliban could still be this strong, after 20 years of fighting them? That doesn't make sense. It's so heart breaking and I can't help but wonder if American troops were in there for another 20 years, if the outcome would have been different. (This seemed sadly inevitable.)

Could something different (from the US side) have been done, maybe the military angle wasn't the best strategy?

[C C]

20 years of fighting and training and protecting undone in a mere 48 hours. What were we over there for again? It's been so long I forgot.

Something started by some guy who was actually hanging out and partying in Abbottabad, Pakistan when he got whacked just over ten years ago.

[Yazata]

From a Fox news report:

The U.S. State Department and Department of Defense announced in a joint statement that they are working to secure Hamid Karzai International Airport in Afghanistan and "enable the safe departure of U.S. and allied personnel" through civilian and military flights. "Over the next 48 hours, we will have expanded our security presence to nearly 6,000 troops, with a mission focused solely on facilitating these efforts and will be taking over air traffic control," the agencies said. "Tomorrow and over the coming days, we will be transferring out of the country thousands of American citizens who have been resident in Afghanistan, as well as locally employed staff of the U.S. mission in Kabul and their families and other particularly vulnerable Afghan nationals."

Word is that the Americans have established a defensive perimeter around the airport and are attempting to regain some control over the chaotic conditions there so that aircraft can operate.

AFP photo of US embassy being evacuated by US Army helicopters

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France is reportedly sending military aircraft to the United Arab Emirates, from which they will fly to Kabul to evacuate French nationals.

There are reportedly about 600 British troops at the Kabul airport aiding in the evacuation of UK citizens.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-5822...ampaign=64

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Canada has evacuated their embassy and Canadians are gathering at the US protected airport. There are no Canadian aircraft currently there, but some will be arriving in coming days to take Canadians out.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/canada-...-1.6141674

Taliban in the Afghan Presidential Palace where they have declared the creation of an Islamic Emirate.

Photo from al Jazeera

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[Yazata]

Crowds of Afghans trying to escape

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India reports US troops firing into the air in attempt to control desperate Afghan crowds

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[Zinjanthropos]

How is it possible that the Taliban could still be this strong, after 20 years of fighting them?

Similar words were spoken about the Germans in the late 30’s.

[C C]

Difficult to say which was more pathetic. The government/culture that refused to stand up on its own two legs no matter how much training and assistance was given to it; or the country that wasted its own money, lives, and time in that folly of trying to get the former to save/protect itself.

Probably the latter. A second or third time fool (if the Korean War was judged only half-way done) is a fool indeed.

[Yazata]

Reports that flights in and out of Kabul airport have been halted due to large crowds of Afghan civilians on the runways. The situation remains chaotic.

German military aircraft in the air to evacuate German nationals have had to divert because of inability to land.

There are several thousand Americans still in Kabul, civilian and military. Other countries' numbers range from the hundreds to dozens. There's brave talk in Washington of flying in thousands of additional US troops but I doubt that it will actually happen. Given the chaos, the challenge will be to get the people already there out, not to add to their number. Reportedly the number of US troops on Sunday was approx 2,500 before everything fell apart.

Reports of at least seven dead at Kabul airport, some of them individuals clinging to the outside of a US Air Force C17 transport that took off with them still clinging on. They were visible falling off as the jet rapidly gained altitude.

https://apnews.com/article/afghanistan-t...cec34c5c61

https://twitter.com/TOLOnews/status/1427204278695997442

Using Apache attack helicopters to clear the runway. While yesterday there were lots of family groups, today the crowds on the runway appear to be almost entirely young males

https://twitter.com/Tobias_Ellwood/statu...2030462976

Reports that mobs of random people are rushing to board planes and filling the planes over capacity with screaming shouting shoving people, standing room only. Tickets don't matter, no control over who they are. Doesn't seem to matter to them where the plane is going.

Afghan airport staff and security have disappeared.

People who had tickets for civilian airliner flights today find nobody honoring them. Airlines just want to recover their airliners to safe airports and the planes are filled by whoever can best fight their way aboard. Survival of the fittest.

The planned evacuation of foreign nationals has ground to a halt.

Americans in Kabul are being advised to shelter in place and only go to the airport when directed to do so.

https://af.usembassy.gov/security-alert-...ssy-kabul/

The one bit of good news is that the Taliban have made no attempt to attack the airport.

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[Syne]

So we only had like 2500 troops in Afghanistan, but due to how poorly the stand down was executed, we've had to surge in more than twice that, 6000. Everyone foresaw this, including Biden's own military advisors. This is why stand downs are gradual. Sadly, most people in the world don't have the will to fight for their own countries, no matter how well armed, without at least a token US presence to bolster their confidence.

Eradicating terrorists from a country about the size of Texas with plenty of caves to hide in is not easy. And it shows the lie in anti-gun nuts claiming US citizens wouldn't stand a chance if the US military came for their guns.