Tag Archives: Taliban

Your Tax Dollars At Work

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On Tuesday, The U.K. Daily Mail reported the following:

Since the fall of Afghanistan, the U.S. has forked over funds to groups under the brutal Taliban regime to the tune of $2.35 billion. 

That’s according to a new report from the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR), released to the public on Tuesday. 

Another $1.7 billion ‘remained available for possible disbursement’ at the time of the report, dated July 30.

Why are we giving money to people who hate us? Can’t they hate us for free?

In May 2023, U.S. News reported:

The Taliban’s return to power has affected all citizens. In December 2022, for example, the government reinstituted public floggings and executions. But Afghan women, in particular, have seen decades of hard-earned rights stripped away during less than two years of Taliban rule. Though the Taliban initially promised to uphold women’s and minority rights, they have instead imposed strict restrictions. The most recent blow to women’s rights came in April, when women were banned from working for the United Nations, further limiting their participation in the workforce and day-to-day life.

The article at U.S. News includes a timeline of how the Taliban has taken away women’s rights since they took control. Why are we sending these people money (that we don’t have)?

The article at The U.K. Mail concludes:

UN experts say 20 years of progress for women and girls were undone with the takeover of the Taliban in 2021. Women have now largely been banned from attending high school and driving or working outside the home. 

Sopko [John Sopko, head of SIGAR (Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction)] noted in April that in addition to the $2.35 billion, another $3.5 billion is slated to come in to Afghanistan through an international fund.

‘I don’t trust the Taliban as far as you can throw them,’ Sopko told the committee. ‘The information we’re getting — again, not from the State Department who isn’t talking to us or USAID … is that the Taliban are already diverting funds.’ 

‘I haven’t seen a starving Taliban fighter on TV, they seem to be fat dumb and happy. I see starving Afghan children on TV.’

‘If the purpose is to help the Afghan people we have to have effective oversight,’ Sopko said, blaming an ‘over-reliance’ on international agencies he said have been ‘horrible’ about providing his agency with information.

It would be interesting to know who is responsible for the reconstruction of Afghanistan. It would also be interesting to know why we are giving the country that kind of money as they are eliminating the rights of women? Do we care about women’s rights overseas?

Where Is The Money Going?

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On Wednesday, American Greatness posted an article about the aid America has been sending to Afghanistan since the American withdrawal.

The article reports:

Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) John Sopko slammed the U.S. Department of State and USAID during a House Oversight and Reform hearing on Wednesday, accusing the agencies of allowing U.S. taxpayer dollars to be diverted to the Taliban and stonewalling his inquiries into the situation.

According to Sopko, the United States has provided more than $8 billion in assistance to the Afghan people since the U.S. withdrawal, but due to “a lack of aggressive oversight controls,” unknown quantities of U.S. dollars could be ending up in the hands of the Taliban.

The GOP-controlled House Oversight Committee heard from four Inspectors General Wednesday morning during its first hearing on “the Biden Administration’s Disastrous Withdrawal from Afghanistan.”

“While I agree and we all agree Afghanistan faces dire humanitarian and economic situation, it is critical that our assistance not be diverted by the Taliban,” Sopko declared in his opening statement.

The article notes:

The Department of State, USAID, the UN and other agencies have refused to give him “basic information that we or any other oversight body would need to ensure safe stewardship of tax dollars,” Sopko testified.

“More troubling, State and USAID have instructed their employees not to talk to SIGAR, and in one recent instance, State told one of its contractors not to participate in a SIGAR audit,” he added. “I note in passing that DOD’s refusal to respond to SIGAR’s inquiries in 2022 caused months of delay in responding to this committee’s requests.”

Thank God the Republicans took over the House of Representatives. Do you think Congress would be even questioning this if the Democrats were still in control? America cannot afford to be the piggy-bank of the world. Most of the money we are sending to other countries is money we have borrowed from China. At some point our borrowing will end. Does anyone believe that any of the countries we have financed are going to pay us back? It’s bad enough that we are borrowing money to send to Afghanistan, but it is even worse that our government cannot tell us that the money we are sending is not supporting the Taliban.

Mixed Emotions On A Recent Headline

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The Biden administration has announced the killing of top al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri over the weekend. That’s a good thing. I have little doubt that al-Zawahiri is dead, I have a lot of doubt as to exactly what the truth is surrounding his death.

The Conservative Review points out a few problems with the announcement:

According to expert terrorism analyst Bill Roggio, the narrative that al-Zawahiri’s death was a counterterrorism success “masks the undeniable truth that Taliban-controlled Afghanistan is a safe haven for al-Qaeda.”

That is because, as Roggio explained, al-Zawahiri was “hiding” in plain-sight, i.e., he was not hiding at all.

“Zawahiri was killed in the Sherpur neighborhood, in a home run by a deputy of Sirajuddin Haqqani. Sirajuddin is of course one of two deputy Taliban emirs as well as the interior minister,” Roggio explained. “Zawahiri could not operate in Afghanistan — particularly in Kabul — without the consent of the Taliban. He wasn’t in the remote mountains of Kunar, Nuristan, or Nangarhar, or distant provinces of Ghazni, Helmand, or Kandahar. He was in the Taliban’s capital.”

The Conservative Treehouse is also somewhat skeptical of the narrative:

Everything about the supposed killing of al-Qaeda leader Ayman Al Zawahiri is suspect, weird and fishy.

♦First, Al Zawahiri has been reported as killed or dead at least a half dozen times in the last 10 years; including by natural causes.  ♦Second, Ayman Zawahiri was very old. Western citations put his age at 71 (born 1951), however, that is suspect (sounds like his younger brother’s age).  ♦Third, the location of his reported killing in Kabul is odd.  Zawahiri was known to avoid large populations, and even with the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan the tribal conflicts with factions of the Taliban would have been an issue.

♦Fourth, somehow the Taliban waited until after the U.S. intelligence community leaked the strike to the media before they issued a statement condemning the drone attack.  Since when does al-Qaeda wait 48+ hours to denounce hostile action in their territory?   Coordinating and timed joint press releases between the White House and ‘Taliban‘ to western media outlets is seriously sketchy.

♦Fifth, absolutely no official outline from the Pentagon or White House on this “successful counterterrorism strike“?  Despite a primetime presidential address, the White House has no announcement, no official statement, nothing, on their website.  Additionally, Biden leads off saying the attack was on Saturday, the Taliban waited 48-hours to denounce a U.S. drone strike?  Think about it.  Doesn’t add up.  More sketchy.

♦Sixth, and seemingly just an oddball addendum, Fox News breaks the story using Jennifer Griffin as lead reporter.  As I noted several days ago, Griffin had been missing from Fox News since she went bonzo in March attacking Tucker Carlson over his cynicism of the official State Dept and Pentagon narrative in Ukraine.

I am willing to rejoice that a terrorist has departed the earth, but I do wonder if the information we have been given is accurate. It is also disturbing to learn that Afghanistan is once again a safe haven for al-Qaeda.

A Not-So-Veiled Threat?

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Yesterday The Daily Caller posted an article about the Taliban regime in Afghanistan’s request for recognition as legitimate by the nations of the world.

The article reports:

The Taliban warned the U.S. and the rest of the global community Saturday that their decision to withhold formal recognition of Afghanistan’s new government may result in consequences for the world.

“Our message to America is, if unrecognition continues, Afghan problems continue, it is the problem of the region and could turn into a problem for the world,” Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said at Saturday’s press conference, according to Reuters.

Mujahid noted that absence of formal diplomatic ties between Afghanistan and the U.S. led to the military invasion in 2001, Reuters reported.

I don’t think the absence of formal diplomatic ties was actually the problem.

The article concludes:

Although not yet recognized by a single country in the world, the Taliban are counting on China to provide financial assistance to Afghanistan’s struggling economy. China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi met with Taliban officials in Doha, Qatar, in late October, Reuters reported.

The spokesperson also added that China had vowed to inject funds into Afghanistan’s transport infrastructure, as well as to provide Kabul’s exports access to Chinese markets via neighboring Pakistan.

U.S. Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Victoria Nuland said the Biden administration’s strategy in regard to the Taliban was a “far cry” from formal recognition during a briefing in September. However, she did not claim that the U.S. would never recognize the organization.

There are a few things to consider here. China has moved quickly to fill the vacuum left by the American withdrawal from Afghanistan. It is quite possible that China will be able to use the infrastructure America left behind to exploit the rare earth elements that could bring Afghanistan into the twenty first century. China has been working for decades on cornering the market on the elements needed for the computer technology of today. Also consider the fact that much of our Washington ‘leaders’ are indebted to (that’s a polite word for owned by) China. I only wish that we could afford to pay our national leaders as well as China pays them. There are many aspects of the Afghanistan debacle that have much wider ramifications than simply leaving Afghanistan.

Our Pakistani “Allies”

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Jihad Watch reported the following today:

Interrogation of two female suicide bombers named Shifa Haris and Mizha Siddique of the Islamic State’s Kerala module has revealed that around 3200 ISIS sleeper cells are operating in Kerala, India. The National Investigation Agency (NIA) team from Delhi arrested both of the women from a residence at Thana in Kerala’s Kannur in August of this year.

Each of these cells has around 10 members, which translates to the presence of 32000 Islamic jihadis in the state, with at least 40% of these being women. Many of these women have been converted to Islam from other faiths through narcotics jihad or grooming jihad. The charge sheet presented by the NIA states that Mizha Siddique had travelled to Tehran with her accomplices and intended to cross over to Syria illegally, but failed. Mizha was working under the direction of the Kerala ISIS kingpin, Mohammad Ameen, and recruiting Muslim youth for ISIS. Mohammad Ameen is now behind bars. Mizha had recruited her cousins Shifa Harris and Mushab Anwar for jihad and inspired them to join ISIS. Shifa had sent funds to their Kashmir module; they were planning Hijra, Islamic religious migration, to Kashmir. About seven young jihadis were set to migrate to Kashmir from Kerala.

This large-scaled permeation of sleeper cells suggests that the ideologues of the Islamic State are now embedded across Kerala, and its growth is difficult to monitor or check. Most of the members of the ISIS sleeper cells are part of its cyber brigade, are incorrigibly indoctrinated, and could pick up arms at any moment to fight for a caliphate led by the Islamic State.

These jihadis are mostly modern, highly qualified, and adept at using the latest technologies and gadgets. Apart from grooming, many were lured into this cause with promises of sex, money, positions, drugs, or foreign jobs. The Kerala brigade also involves people from the film and media industries, who are working closely with each other.

The article concludes by noting the role that Pakistan played in the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan:

The victory of the Taliban in Afghanistan was impossible without the support of the Pakistani military. In between May and June of this year, Pakistan started to position the Taliban with a renewed image on the international stage. Pakistani federal minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi publically claimed that “the Taliban might wear baggy dresses but they have intelligent brains,” and Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed asserted that the current Taliban leadership is a moderate one compared to the Taliban of 1996 that had publicly displayed the dead bodies of the then-Afghan president Najibullah and his brother. Again, Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan denied the US airspace for attacking the Taliban.

The Taliban commanders, on the other hand, were functional in Peshawar and Quetta in Pakistan, much like how Osama bin Laden was operating out of their backyard. They were transferring both their troops and those of Pakistan towards Kabul and other major Afghan cities. The Pakistani agency ISI was overseeing these jihad terror cells, and has provided a fertile breeding ground for Islamic terrorists. When the most opportune time arrives, they may reach out to the jihadis-in-the-making in Kerala’s sleeper cells and order them to carry out massive acts of terror.

Why in the world are we giving Pakistan foreign aid?

Lest We Forget

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Breitbart posted an article yesterday reminding us that 38 California schoolchildren are still stranded in Afghanistan.

The article reports:

And this is just one school district in one state. God only knows how many more there are.

One reason we don’t know is because the State Department refuses to tell us how many Americans are still trapped in that terrorist hell hole. And with the establishment media running interference for Biden, the administration is getting away with this — with not informing the public about who and how many are being held by the Taliban.

And what other conclusion can we come to at this point other than this: these Americans left behind by Biden — and I think that number reaches the hundreds — are being held by the Taliban. In other words, they are hostages.

Other than being held hostage, give me a good reason why these kids are not home, and all the other Americans have not yet come home?

What could possibly be stopping them, other than the Taliban?

And we all know why this is happening. The Taliban are using these hostages to extract concessions and cash from the White House, and if past is prologue, Biden will pay up, which will only encourage more hostage-taking.

The article concludes:

It’s just remarkable that America’s establishment is now so corrupt and broken that children — American children! — being held hostage by monstrous terrorists are no longer as important to the media as shielding Biden from the political damage he deserves. But, of course, this is all his fault. He was the one who decided not only to pull our troops before our civilians (including kids) were safely home; he handed the Taliban tens of billions of dollars in operational U.S. war equipment.

But rather than pressuring the Biden administration to get these kids home, the media are deliberately ignoring what would be a ratings-grabber of a story to protect Biden.

A few dead kids?

Whatever.

The cause comes first.

 

Who Decides?

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Yesterday The Daily Caller posted an article about the Taliban’s request for representation at the United Nations. The article includes a list of the countries that will decide whether the current Afghanistan Ambassador to the United Nations remains in place or the Taliban gets to seat its Ambassador. The nine countries which will make this decision are the United States, China, Russia, Sweden, the Bahamas, Bhutan, Chile, Namibia and Sierra Leone.

The article reports:

The Islamic militant group wrote the U.N. Secretary-General, Portugal’s Antonio Guterres, Monday to request permission to participate in the ongoing gathering of world leaders at the U.N. General Assembly, according to The Associated Press. Five days prior, Afghanistan’s current ambassador to the U.N., Ghulam, Isaczai, provided Guterres with a list of the Afghan government’s delegation for the proceedings.

The Taliban letter was written with the letterhead “Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, Ministry of Foreign Affairs,” and was signed by the Taliban’s appointed Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ameer Khan Muttaqi, U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said. The letter said that former Afghan President Ashraf Ghani was removed from power by the Islamic militants Aug. 15, and that the global community no longer recognized him or his government as the leaders of Afghanistan. As a result, Muttaqi said, Isaczai could no longer represent Afghanistan at the U.N.

It should be noted that if the Taliban is seated in place of the current Afghan Ambassador, the Taliban inherits Afghanistan’s seat on the U.N. Women’s Rights Commission. I suspect that I am not the only person that has a problem with that.

Trying To Establish Legitimacy

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Yesterday One America News reported that the Taliban has asked to address the United Nations in New York this week. They have nominated Doha-based spokesman Suhail Shaheen as Afghanistan’s UN Ambassador. There is a problem with that–Ghulam Isaczai is already Afghanistan’s UN Ambassador.

The article reports:

The Taliban have asked to address world leaders at the United Nations in New York this week and nominated their Doha-based spokesman Suhail Shaheen as Afghanistan’s U.N. ambassador, according to a letter seen by Reuters on Tuesday.

Taliban Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi made the request in a letter to U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Monday. Muttaqi asked to speak during the annual high-level meeting of the General Assembly, which finishes on Monday.

Guterres’ spokesperson, Farhan Haq, confirmed Muttaqi’s letter. The move sets up a showdown with Ghulam Isaczai, the U.N. ambassador in New York representing Afghanistan’s government ousted last month by the Taliban.

Haq said the rival requests for Afghanistan’s U.N. seat had been sent to a nine-member credentials committee, whose members include the United States, China and Russia. The committee is unlikely to meet on the issue before Monday, so it is doubtful that the Taliban foreign minister will address the world body.

Eventual U.N. acceptance of the ambassador of the Taliban would be an important step in the hardline Islamist group’s bid for international recognition, which could help unlock badly needed funds for the cash-strapped Afghan economy.

Guterres has said that the Taliban’s desire for international recognition is the only leverage other countries have to press for inclusive government and respect for rights, particularly for women, in Afghanistan.

The Taliban letter said Isaczai’s mission “is considered over and that he no longer represents Afghanistan,” said Haq.

Until a decision is made by the credentials committee Isaczai will remain in the seat, according to the General Assembly rules. He is currently scheduled to address the final day of the meeting on Sept. 27, but it was not immediately clear if any countries might object in the wake of the Taliban letter.

The Taliban is a terrorist regime, but they are no less a terrorist regime than Iran. How many UN member countries are ruled by tyrants or dictators? The United Nations was supposed to be a beacon of freedom and peace. Instead it has become a place where terrorists and dictators come to be given legitimacy. It really is time for America to leave the United Nations and ask the United Nations to leave America.

Telling The Truth

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Marc Thiessen posted an op-ed piece at The Washington Post yesterday. The piece is also available at the American Enterprise Institute website. The op-ed piece explains why President Biden should not go to Ground Zero on September 11th.

The op-ed notes:

Biden has no business setting foot in those sacred places on that hallowed day. I take no joy in saying this. As a general rule, I believe that when a president attends a ceremony on behalf of the American people, he is not representing himself but the office of the presidency. We respect that office, even if we do not respect the man who occupies it.

But this is different. Joe Biden is the president who surrendered to the enemies who attacked us on 9/11. He not only surrendered but did so with dishonor — leaving stranded behind enemy lines American citizens, legal permanent residents, and the majority of our Afghan allies who risked their lives to help us. Not by accident, mind you. Intentionally. He ordered the last US plane to take off from Kabul knowing that he was leaving them behind — even though he pledged not to leave until every American was out. He forced our NATO allies — who were in Afghanistan only because America was attacked on 9/11 — to do the same to their nationals and Afghan allies. This is a stain on the honor of our nation. At the very moment the bells ring at Ground Zero on 9/11, US citizens and allies will be hiding from Taliban death squads because of Biden’s shameful decisions.

In carrying out America’s retreat, Biden knowingly put the safety of US service members securing the airport in the hands of the Taliban and the Haqqani network — a US-designated terrorist organization — by refusing a Taliban offer to let the US military secure Kabul while we evacuated. The Taliban set up checkpoints where it prevented many Americans from reaching the airport, but it allowed a suicide bomber to get through — killing 13 Americans and injuring 18 more. On Saturday, those who died as a result of Biden’s blunder will rest in freshly dug graves, while those who survived will watch the ceremonies from hospital beds with injuries they will carry with them for the rest of their lives.

As the evacuation took place, Biden repeatedly lied to the American people. He said no Americans were having trouble getting to the airport, which was blatantly untrue. He said the United States had no interest in Afghanistan because al-Qaeda was “gone” — when in fact al-Qaeda is deeply embedded with the Taliban. He claimed no allies were questioning the United States’ credibility, when many of our allies were aghast at his display of weakness and publicly pleading with him to extend his artificial deadline. He said that none of his military advisers had recommended leaving a residual force, when some had. He even asked the Afghan president to lie about how the fight against the Taliban was going, urging him to project a different picture “whether it is true or not.” And after it was all over, he still declared his Afghan debacle an “extraordinary success.”

Please follow the link to read the rest of the editorial. What is stated is true. President Biden has disgraced his office and disgraced America. We have lost our status in the world because of his dishonesty and his unwillingness to live up to our obligations to our allies to keep them informed of our actions and include them in our decision-making process.

Watch The Spin

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Chances are if you are reading this post and occasionally follow this website, you lost faith in the mainstream media long ago. That’s not news. However, one of my favorite websites, The Conservative Treehouse, has an uncanny ability to predict the next media spin. I think they have done it again.

Yesterday The Conservative Treehouse posted an article about the next war the military-industrial complex is planning to get America involved in.

The article reports:

First things first, the Taliban, ISIS, al-Qaeda, al-Nusra, ISIS-k, are all factions of the same ‘authentic Islam’ ideology under the umbrella of the Muslim Brotherhood.  The U.S. and Western media, as well as the State Department and Intelligence Branch of the U.S. government, like to create false distinctions when it fits their need.  However, the groups are aligned – not adversarial, unless there is a geographic contest for power in a specific place.  That’s essentially the only time they are in conflict.

The ‘extremist’ (by our standard) factions, under the political cover of the Muslim Brotherhood, are united in their dislike of The United States, most of Europe and ‘The West‘ writ large.  They hate our filthy money and the politics that comes with it.

The two U.S. internal groups attempting to avoid accountability for the mess in Afghanistan break out to: (1) State Dept, CIA, Intelligence community; -vs- (2) WH, Pentagon and NatSec Council. Currently the State Department and Intelligence Community are winning the blame game. The White House and Pentagon are being identified by most Americans as responsible for the mess.

This duality of the State Dept (olive branch) -vs- Pentagon (arrows) is the internal dynamic depicted on the presidential seal. However, when the internal mechanisms are trying to save their institutional credibility; and those internal motives are based on trying to retain corrupt systems for affluence and influence; the modern battle is distinctly different.

U.S. money needs to flow somewhere in order for those who skim and direct the cash to have a cover for the business model created by the flow itself. The State Dept., CIA and Intelligence Community wants to send money to Afghanistan so they can position their friends and family to benefit from the business end of the process.

As a result of the State Department winning the blame game, they are now in a great position to flip the narrative and position the Taliban to need financial assistance. However, before they can pull off that shift, they need to change the public impression of the Taliban. After all, the U.S. has been calling the Taliban terrorists for decades….

… Insert ISIS-k!

The magical mythical ISIS-k becomes the new enemy allowing the “Good Taliban” shift.   The Taliban go from being terrorists, to being U.S. allies in the fight against ISIS-k.  See how that works?

By shifting this dynamic the U.S. State Department, CIA and Intelligence Community do not need to take apart their business model. Remember, the U.S. Senate is aligned in this group. The Senate supports the Dept of State and Intelligence Branch of government, writ large. This is also a mutually beneficial financial arrangement for the Senate members, their staff, their families, and the various NGOs that operate as beneficiaries of the support system.

If Americans continue to elect Congressmen who support this, then we deserve what we get. The time has come to elect Congressmen who will not waste American lives on foreign adventures that recklessly spend American lives and taxpayers’ money.

There Is Some Irony Here

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Yesterday The Daily Wire posted an article about one aspect of America’s surrender to the Taliban.

The article reports:

The Taliban are “feeling angry and betrayed Wednesday” after discovering that helicopters, left by the United States military after they officially pulled out of Kabul, Afghanistan, do not work and, in some cases, were deliberately rendered inoperable before the military departed, Fox News said.

An Al Jazeera reporter spoke with Taliban fighters after they entered the formerly American side of Hamid Karzai International Airport (HKIA), and posted a video of the event to various social media networks, said that the Taliban fighters expected the U.S. to leave their equipment in full working order, though it is not clear whether the U.S. made any such promises.

It’s okay–the Chinese will reverse engineer them and solve the problem.

The article continued:

“An Al Jazeera reporter who toured a hanger on the military side of the airport said in a video that the terrorist group ‘expected the Americans to leave helicopters like this in one piece for their use,’” Fox reported.

“When I said to them, ‘why do you think that the Americans would have left everything operational for you’? They said because we believe it is a national asset and we are the government now and this could have come to great use for us,” the Al Jazeera reporter said in her video.

Photos of the equipment posted to social media, which appear to be of the helicopters and other aircraft left behind after the American withdrawal, show smashed indicators and gauges and destroyed control panels. The photos also seem to show that the U.S. military removed guns and other weapons from helicopters before leaving.

…The Washington Post noted Tuesday that, although initial reports said that the Taliban seized $85 billion in equipment left by American forces, that number accounts for all of the money expended to assist the Afghan National Defense and Security Forces (ANDSF) since 2001.

Using a percentage provided by the Government Accountability Office (GAO), the Post reported that the “equipment provided to Afghan forces amounted to $24 billion over 20 years. The GAO said approximately 70 percent of the equipment went to the Afghan military and the rest went to the national police (part of the Interior Ministry).”

It is not clear how much of that equipment ended up in the hands of the Taliban. “With great fanfare, the Taliban has seized a number of Black Hawk helicopters, including ones that the United States had just shipped this year at the request of former Afghan president Ashraf Ghani,” the Post added, noting that the Taliban does not have many qualified pilots and that they targeted Afghan military pilots for execution before taking Kabul.

Upon leaving, CENTCOM said, “the military ‘demilitarized’ 70 MRAPs, 27 Humvees and 73 aircraft,” likely including those helicopters the Taliban is now reportedly angry about.

I hope CENTCOM is telling the truth. Demilitarizing some of the equipment left behind would have been one of the few sensible things done during the evacuation.

A Kinder, Gentler Taliban?

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The Daily Caller is reporting that Afghans who helped America or American allies in any way are getting letters pinned to their front doors at night (“night letters”) telling them to attend a Taliban-conducted court or face death.

The article reports:

One of those to receive a warning was Naz, a 34-year-old father-of-six whose construction company helped the UK military build roads in Helmand and the runway at Camp Bastion.

He had applied for sanctuary in Britain under ARAP, the Afghan relocation programme, but had been rejected.

Naz said yesterday: ‘The letter was official and stamped by the Taliban. It is a clear message that they want to kill me. If I attend the court, I will be punished with my life.

If I don’t, they will kill me – that is why I am in hiding, trying to find a way to escape. But I need help.’

Another victim, a former British military translator, was warned he was a ‘spy of the infidel’ and must give himself up or pay with his life.

A third night letter warned the brother of an interpreter that he had been sentenced to death for sheltering him while a fourth was found in the shoe of an ex-British military translator as he left prayers at a mosque.

The letters are a traditional Afghan method of intimidation. They were used by mujahideen fighters during the Soviet occupation and then by the Taliban as both a propaganda tool and a threat. Often used in rural communities, they are now being widely circulated in cities.

A related article in the U.K. Daily Mail reports:

For Naz, the letter was specific. It named his father and their village and was stamped by the Islamic Emirate. 

The warning said he had been a ‘slave’ of Nato forces and had ignored warnings to stop working with them.

He was ordered to ‘present yourself’ to the court otherwise it would be ‘forwarded to the Sharia Court of Appeal where the judgment of death penalty will be passed in your absence. This would be the path you have chosen for yourself’.

Naz said: ‘The message of night letters is clear: you must comply or die. We have moved but we can’t keep moving. We must escape.’

There is no good news in this surrender. It was time to leave Afghanistan, but we could have done it very differently.

This Is Where We Are

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Yesterday Ed Morrissey posted an article at Hot Air detailing some of the players and events in recent days in Afghanistan.

The article quotes one of President Biden’s recent statements about Afghanistan:

Look, let’s put this thing in perspective here. What interest do we have in Afghanistan at this point with al Qaeda gone? We went to Afghanistan for the express purpose of getting rid of al Qaeda in Afghanistan, as well as — as well as getting Osama bin Laden. And we did.

Well, not so fast.

The article reports:

Say, remember when Joe Biden assured us that al-Qaeda was “gone” from Afghanistan? Ten days later, the security chief for Osama bin Laden at Tora Bora returned to his home province in Nangarhar, amid adulation — and Taliban protection. Amin ul-Haq even flashed a thumbs-up to his admirers out an open window as Taliban troops waved his car through a checkpoint.

In FDD’s Long War Journal, Bill Roggio reports:

Dr. Amin al Haq, the former head of bin Laden’s Black Guard, was captured on video in a large convoy as it traveled through a checkpoint in Nangarhar province. Haq was accompanied by a large convoy of heavily armed Taliban fighters in brand new SUVs. A small crowd flocked to Haq to shake his hand and take selfies with him.

The video of al Haq is evidence that Al Qaeda commanders now feel secure enough to appear publicly in a Taliban-controlled Afghanistan.

The article at Hot Air includes a screenshot of the Taliban’s new arsenal:

I don’t care how much the media spins this–it is not good news.

 

I Wish They Would At Least Get Their Stories Straight

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One of the various methods police use to catch criminals is to separate the people apprehended at a crime scene and have them tell their stories separately without being able to hear each other. Generally the truth will be found somewhere in the contradictions. Right now we seem to be getting a number of contradicting stories from the Biden administration on Afghanistan.

Yesterday The Daily Caller posted an article about one of those contradictions. In this case, the story and the contradiction both came from the same person.

The article reports:

Secretary of State Antony Blinken claimed Sunday that the United States had not given lists of American citizens and allies to the Taliban.

Blinken joined “Meet the Press” with NBC’s Chuck Todd and disputed the accuracy of reports indicating U.S. officials had handed over lists of people the Taliban should allow through checkpoints and into the airport in Kabul. Just moments later, however, Blinken appeared to concede that U.S. officials had handed over passenger manifests for busloads of Afghan allies who were supposed to be allowed through security.

…“Chuck, it’s simply not the case. The idea that we’ve done anything to put at further risk those that were trying to help leave the country is simply wrong. And the idea that we shared lists of Americans or others with the Taliban is simply wrong,” Blinken immediately pushed back.

“What was shared?” Todd pressed.

Blinken went on to detail the lists of people U.S. officials had given to the Taliban in order to ensure their safe passage.

“When you’re trying to get a bus or a group of people through and you need to show a manifest to do that — particularly in cases where people don’t have the necessary credentials on them or documents on them — then you’ll share names of the lists of people on the bus so they can be assured those are the people we’re looking to bring in. By definition, that’s exactly what’s happened,” Blinken said.

“We’ve gotten 5,500 American citizens out of Afghanistan,” Blinken continued, saying again that the U.S. had provided passenger manifests or verified the names of individuals — especially those who might not have proper documentation on them.

“But the idea that we put anyone in any further jeopardy is simply wrong,” he concluded.

If you were dealing with humane, rational people who are willing to help you evacuate Americans and friendly Afghans from Afghanistan, that might be a reasonable course of action. However, if you are dealing with people who routinely cut people’s heads off for any minor slight or infraction, you might want to reconsider giving them a list of  your allies. I really can’t believe that the people in our State Department are that naive. Unfortunately if they are not that naive, this is being done on purpose. That thought is even more scary.

When The Deep State Fights With Itself

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One of the most troubling pieces of news to come out of Afghanistan recently was the fact that evidently America had turned over to the Taliban a list of all Americans in the country and all Afghans who had helped the Americans. I think most Americans question the wisdom of that decision. Not only is the decision seemingly unwise, it makes no sense. Actually, when you look at the agencies involved, it makes perfect sense.

The Conservative Treehouse posted an article today explaining the ‘teams’ and what is actually involved.

The article reports:

There are two puzzle pieces that help to make sense of the Politico report about “U.S. Officials” giving the Taliban a list of American and U.S. Afghan names to allow through the checkpoints. {GO DEEP 1 and GO DEEP 2}  However, if you don’t understand the two dueling power teams -each attempting to position- it doesn’t make sense.

Remember, the State Dept (DoS) and CIA are one team.  The White House and Pentagon are another team.

♦ TEAM One – The Department of State is aligned with the CIA.  Their media PR firms are CNN, CNNi and the Washington Post. Their ideology is favorable to the United Nations.  Their internal corruption is generally driven by relationship with foreign actors.  References: Hillary Clinton, Clinton Global Initiative, John McCain, Qatar, Muslim Brotherhood, Samantha Powers, Susan Rice, Cass Sunstein, Brookings Institute, Lawfare, China-centric, Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Council on Foreign Relations.

♦ TEAM Two – The White House is aligned with the Pentagon (DoD) and National Security Council (NSC).  Their media PR firms are domestic in nature. New York Times, Politico, etc.  Their internal corruption is generally driven by domestic influence.  References: Barack Obama, George Bush, Wall St, Big Banks, Multinational Corporations, Defense Contractors, FBI (state police), Judicial Branch, and community activists writ large.

Both teams are highly political. However, the State Dept/CIA team consider themselves above political changes; essentially the deeper Deep State.

With the DoS/CIA aligned with CNN/WaPo, when the Pentagon needs to defend their specific interests in crisis management, they must go elsewhere, hence Politico.

The article notes:

So it’s fair to say the aggrieved party is the Pentagon in this scenario…. which aligns with Politico receiving the information from the military perspective.

Applying the dynamic of interests from the previous history between the teams, it would appear the State Dept. and CIA gave the Taliban the list.

Indeed, the quick dispatch of the problem of stranded Americans is a ‘toxically political’ priority issue for the State Department.  Additionally, the previous meeting between CIA Director William J Burns and the Taliban leadership now takes on a fulsome context.

It was a decision by the DoS and CIA to share the list and get the evacuation facilitated in the most expedient fashion possible. However, from a tactical perspective it put the Pentagon, charged with Kabul airport security, in a slightly compromised position.

Both teams were responsible for the Afghanistan mess. In the aftermath of the mess; and with the current situation in/around Kabul, each team is positioning to avoid scrutiny. Scrutiny on either team runs the risk of identifying massive corruption; so the objective is to push the spotlight onto the other team. State Dept. blames White House/Pentagon…. Pentagon/White House looking to avoid sunlight.

The Pentagon (arrows) is supposed to working in coordination with State (olive branch), but both institutions are corrupt regarding Afghanistan; so it’s a game of hot potato. If the executive office wasn’t corrupt, the eagle would be having whiplash; alas, the White House was/is an active participant. [So much for school civic ‘checks-n-balances’ eh?]

Externally, we are seeing the executive appointed heads of each faction battling for position on behalf of their institution. The media get to pick and choose which faction they will support. CNN will support the State Dept. ABC, CBS, NBC will lean slightly toward the White House/Pentagon.

Please follow the link above to read the entire article. The Conservative Treehouse has historically been proved accurate and quite a bit ahead of the curve.

Does Anyone Actually Believe This?

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Yesterday Newsbusters posted an article about some recent reporting done by Newsweek. Newsweek posted the following headline, “Seeking World Recognition, Taliban Vows to Help Fight Terror and Climate Change.” I am willing to believe that the Taliban seeks world recognition. I am not willing to believe that they will help fight terrorism and climate change.

Newsbusters reports:

Newsweek Senior Writer of Foreign Policy Tom O’Connor pushed how Taliban Cultural Commission member Abdul Qahar Balkhi “told Newsweek that his group sought worldwide recognition of the Islamic Emirate.” Balkhi propagandized to the outlet how the organization’s drive for “recognition” would be bolstered in part by the terror group’s commitment to “fight terror” and so-called climate change. “‘We hope not only to be recognized by regional countries but the entire world at large as the legitimate representative government of the people of Afghanistan,’” Balkhi said in part, according to Newsweek.

It is damning that a U.S. publication would lower itself so far down the eco-extremist cesspool that it would attempt to humanize an Islamic terrorist group currently slaughtering people in Afghanistan as a result of President Joe Biden’s massive foreign policy failure.

The article at Newsbusters concludes:

Newsweek’s decision to provide a megaphone to the Taliban wasn’t the first time a prominent outlet has tried to nonsensically lump the terrorist group and climate change together. Recently, CBS News published an outrageous story blaming climate change for the Taliban’s rise. CBS News climate and energy reporter Cara Korte’s absurd story was headlined: “How climate change helped strengthen the Taliban.”

But O’Connor’s Taliban spin was horrific in another context as well. The United Nations reported in July that “[m]ore women and children were killed and wounded in Afghanistan in the first half of 2021 than in the first six months of any year since records began in 2009.” The UN said these records followed “the Taliban offensive to take territory from Government forces.” But that didn’t stop O’Connor from summarizing the Taliban’s absurdity that “militants would never again be allowed to launch attacks against other countries” in the first paragraph of his story.

Conservatives are under attack. Contact Newsweek and hold it to account for pushing the Taliban’s talking points.

Anyone who relies on the mainstream media as their only news source at this time is not hearing the truth. The lies that they are hearing endanger themselves and our country.

How Much Military Equipment Did We Leave Behind?

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Our obvious priority as a country should be to get all Americans and Afghans who helped America out of Afghanistan as quickly as possible. However, as we do that, we should consider how much military equipment we left behind for the Taliban (equipment that will be reverse engineered by the Russians and the Chinese and put to use by the Iranians).

Yesterday Just the News posted an article with the numbers. Congratulations, American taxpayers, you are now funding the military of the Taliban, Iran, Pakistan, Russia and China.

The article reports:

The U.S. military is leaving behind 75,000 vehicles, 600,000 weapons and 208 airplanes/helicopters in Afghanistan as the Taliban takes control of the country, according to the watchdog group Open the Books.

“We’ve made the Taliban into a major U.S. arms dealer for the next decade,” said Adam Andrzejewski, CEO & founder of Open the Books. “They now control 75,000 military vehicles. This is about 50,000 tactical vehicles, 20,000 Humvees they control about 1,000 mine-resistant vehicles, and even about 150 armored personnel carriers.”

In total, the U.S. government spent an estimated $83 billion of taxpayer funds on weapons, vehicles and airplanes for the Afghan military. 

…Andrzejewski said his organization “found a Federal Audit that detailed up to $200 million worth of drones that had disappeared,” adding that “we don’t know where 600,000 weapons are within the country.” 

The Taliban also reportedly has access to biometrics data of Afghans that helped U.S. forces during the war.

The last sentence is the one that scares me the most. We have turned those people over to the Taliban to be tortured and killed.

This Is What Desperation Looks Like

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Remember when you were a child or were raising children and anything bad that was done in the house was done by “not me”? It seems as if the Biden administration learned that lesson well. They are desperately trying to avoid responsibility for the humanitarian disaster that is unfolding in Afghanistan.

Yesterday Breitbart reported that CBS News is claiming that climate change is responsible for strengthening the Taliban. Really? President Jefferson was dealing with the Barbary Pirates during his term as President. Did climate change strengthen them?

The article at Breitbart reports:

CBS News has blamed “climate change” for abetting the Taliban in their rise to power in Afghanistan, insisting that global warming has forced farmers into debt and into the arms of the Taliban.

In a risible report that has been compared to spoofs in the Babylon Bee and the Onion, CBS News asserted last week that Afghan farmers struggle to maintain productive crops and thus have to borrow funds to survive.

“When Afghans can’t pay off lenders, the Taliban often steps in to sow government resentment,” CBS News declared in its airtight “gotcha” report.

“If you’ve lost your crop and land or the Afghan government hasn’t paid enough attention then of course, the Taliban can come and exploit it,” the article states, citing Kamal Alam, a nonresident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council’s South Asia Center.

CBS News does not bother explaining how “drought” and “flood-ravaged soil,” which have been a constant in Afghanistan for ages, are suddenly the result of “climate change.” They seem to assume that any weather-related phenomenon, no matter how commonplace, must somehow be related to global warming.

The article concludes:

In 2014, Charles B. Strozier, professor of history at the City University of New York, asserted that “environmental stressors and political violence are connected in surprising ways” and suggested driving hybrid cars as a way to thwart the Taliban’s war on girls.

“If more Americans knew how glacial melt contributes to catastrophic weather in Afghanistan — potentially strengthening the Taliban and imperiling Afghan girls who want to attend school — would we drive more hybrids and use millions fewer plastic bags?” Strozier asked rhetorically. “How would elections and legislation be influenced?”

I hate to disagree with the learned professor, but Islam has been waging war on women long before the automobile was invented. Sharia Law is the basis for the Taliban’s war on girls. Sharia Law goes back to the founding of Islam. While limiting our carbon footprint is an admirable goal, it will not improve the lives of the women left behind in Afghanistan.

Good Questions

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The Daily Wire posted an article today that included some very good observations and questions from Investigative Reporter Lara Logan about Afghanistan.

The article notes:

On Thursday, award-winning investigative journalist Lara Logan fired off a challenge to the mainstream media regarding the United States’ pullout from Afghanistan, stating that the Haqqani network — which according to the United Nations is comprised of “the Taliban’s most combat-ready forces” — had “taken over Afghan intel services,” allowing the Taliban to know “which houses to hit in first 12 hrs, almost imposs in a city w/o exact addresses.”

She continued, “US media needs to ask why US/Intel/NSA allowed sensitive mil equipment to be transported to Pakistan w/o doing anything? Why is the Biden admin not acknowledging the Afghan govt – VP Amrullah Saleh hasn’t surrendered, announced he’s acting Pres under constitution US helped draft.”

Logan began her short Twitter thread by writing, “The real issue in Afghanistan is what happens next because right now Haqqani network/Pakistani ISI has taken over Afghan intel services, can blackmail/target Afghans for years. Taliban knew precisely which houses to hit in first 12 hrs, almost imposs in a city w/o exact addresses.”

She continued, “The greatest gift to the Taliban from US Pres Envoy Khalilzad was US leaving Bagram Air base instantly giving up Afghan air space, signals Intel etc. Nothing you see now would be happening if the US had not done that -demanded by Taliban, opposed by US mil, overruled by State Dep.”

“US media needs to ask why US/Intel/NSA allowed sensitive mil equipment to be transported to Pakistan w/o doing anything?” she asked. “Why is the Biden admin not acknowledging the Afghan govt — VP Amrullah Saleh hasn’t surrendered, announced he’s acting Pres under constitution US helped draft.”

I don’t expect answers from the mainstream media. In fact, I don’t ever expect them to acknowledge the questions.

Please follow the link above to read the entire article.

Actions Have Consequences

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Yesterday The Center for Security Policy posted an article titled, “What happens in Afghanistan doesn’t stay in Afghanistan.” Unfortunately that is true.

The article includes a list of the events that followed the fall of South Vietnam.

This is only a small part of that list:

  • Moscow stepped up aid to Soviet-backed communist insurgents in Central and Latin America. They eventually took over in Nicaragua while amping up violence and instability in El Salvador, Colombia, Peru and elsewhere.
  • The Soviets established a military presence in the Horn of Africa and helped solidify an earlier Marxist takeover in Ethiopia, along with attendant mass slaughter.
  • The Marxist Khmer Rouge went to work in Cambodia and slaughtered a third of the population to set the stage for a Marxist utopia.
  • The Cubans, Soviet clients, dispatched a military task force to Angola in summer 1975 and when the U.S. government – scarred by the Vietnam collapse – refused to intervene in any serious way, the Cubans installed a pro-Soviet, Marxist regime. This was a piece of the puzzle that led to 40 years of Robert Mugabe in Zimbabwe, and scuppered any chance of Southern Africa developing in a more humane way.
  • In 1979 the Soviets went into Afghanistan – following a Marxist coup attempt in 1978. And the country has been ravaged ever since.

The article predicts the result of the fall of Afghanistan:

It will of course be bad enough in Afghanistan. The U.S. recently flew a rainbow flag at the Kabul Embassy to demonstrate progressive street credentials. It’ll now be the Taliban flag. The Taliban flag will also flutter over the soccer stadiums where attendance is mandatory to watch stonings of those who helped the Americans, as well as members of ‘rainbow’ communities who were foolhardy enough to trust American Embassy-funded programs that told them to ‘live their truth’, making them easier for the Taliban to find and kill.

But it won’t stop there. This time, it will be primarily Beijing, rather than Moscow, who will be stoking and spreading the fires designed to torch democracies and expand its hegemony. Some likely outcomes:

  • We can expect the Chinese to start telling leaders and concerned partners around the globe that America lacks the will – or even the ability – to challenge Beijing, beyond furrow-browed expressions of ‘serious concern’. Stepped up CCP political warfare worldwide will likely include trumpeting that the Americans are unreliable – and couldn’t even defeat 75,000 Taliban, so how can they stand up to close to three million trained, armed Chinese military personnel.
  • In Southeast Asia – expect stepped up Chinese pressure on Taiwan. Maybe the seizure of Malaysian territory and increased bullying of the Philippines – while daring the Americans to do something about it, and gaining momentum every time they don’t.
  • ASEAN is already wavering – just listen to Singapore’s Prime Minister all but saying the future is China. And that was before Kabul fell. 
  • The People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) will perhaps move ahead and complete the naval base it’s building (but denying) in Cambodia. It may not even feel the need to deny it anymore.
  • Japan will feel the heat in the East China Sea. Expect a full court press around the Senkaku Islands, for starters. The PLAN will swarm and warn off the Japanese. And maybe there will be ‘administrative fees’ for Japanese ships transiting the South China Sea.

Unfortunately, there is more. Please follow the link above to read the entire article.

Be Careful Of The Spin

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I don’t claim to be able to predict the future, but I am reasonably good at observing trends in the media. The next step by the collective voice of the mainstream media will be to attempt to paint the Taliban of today as different from the Taliban that we have known historically. They will be portrayed as the kinder, gentler Taliban. Please note the video in the previous article. The reporter notes that the Taliban soldiers are shouting “death to America,” but they seem friendly at the same time. That is a foretaste of the mainstream media reporting to come. Expect to see an attempt to portray the Taliban as simply patriotic Afghani people in the near future.

Today, One America News posted an article with the headline, “Taliban tries to appear inclusive in first press conference since taking control.” The Taliban knows how to play the American media.

There are a few things that are noteworthy in the article:

Of the various networks that attended the conference, many conveyed the same message. That message was that the Taliban is trying to come off as more moderate and less violent than before.

Mujahid attempted to paint a picture of a simple bureaucratic shift as if the last several weeks of bloodshed was merely a political procedure used in place of democratic elections. “A new government is about to be founded,” said Mujahid. “After completing a series of political procedures, we will hold a meeting with the leaders of various political factions and witness the birth of a political agreement. Then a strong Islamic government acceptable to everyone shall be established.”

…He went on to claim that things would be different this time around and that the people of Afghanistan had nothing to fear. However, the people of Afghanistan and the rest of the nation have begged to differ.

Mujahid also claimed the treatment of women in the Afghan society would be different, stating they would not be subjected to violence and would be given the opportunity to even participate in the Taliban’s new government. Although, a former family court judge who fled the Taliban, Marzia Babakarkhail, said those are empty promises.

The Taliban leaders have also stated that women would be given rights within the scope of Sharia Law. Essentially that means that women will have no rights.

This is not a kinder, gentler Taliban. There is no such thing. Prepare yourself for horror stories about the atrocities committed by the Taliban as they take over Afghanistan.

Quick Action Is Needed

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President Biden has announced that he will withdraw all American military troops from Afghanistan on September 11th. Although I question his choice of that particular date, I think it is the right move. However, it is necessary in withdrawing those troops to protect those Afghani civilians and military who have helped America in its efforts. To leave those people behind is to insure their capture, torture and death.

The Federalist posted an article yesterday detailing some of the current situation.

The article reports:

During our nearly 20-year presence in Afghanistan, the U.S. military and countless government personnel have been aided by Afghan interpreters. These brave men and women bridged the gap between Americans and Afghans, often patrolling, and sometimes even fighting, alongside our forces.

Because of their selfless service to American personnel, the Taliban consider interpreters arch traitors. According to Brown University’s Costs of War Project, “at least thousands” of Afghan interpreters have been killed in retaliation by the Taliban and other criminal elements.

The United States created the Special Immigrant Visa program in 2006 to grant threatened interpreters from Iraq and Afghanistan refugee status and ultimately citizenship. The SIV program has failed to deliver the safety it promised, however, as evidenced by the host of critical gaps identified in recent reports from Brown University, the Truman Center, and the Department of State’s Office of the Inspector General.

Currently, a backlog of 18,800 applications of Afghan translators awaits processing. Rather than the nine-month processing period promised, applications have taken an average of 658 days to process, putting translators and their families at unnecessary, continued risk. The Washington Post estimates that around 1,000 Iraqi and Afghan interpreters have been killed while awaiting their visas.

Numerous interpreters whose lives are imperiled have been unable to apply for — or were rejected from — the SIV program. Many are unable to locate their employers to supply the necessary proof of employment. Others have been denied because the application makes untenable demands on Afghans who live under wartime constraints.

On Feb. 4, President Biden signed an executive order mandating a 180-day review of the SIV program. While such a review is long overdue, lawmakers believe the effort is inadequate.

The article concludes:

Maj. Thomas Schueman is among other veterans and service members making sincere appeals for their former interpreters. Schueman’s interpreter “Zack,” is unable to apply to the SIV program because his former contracting agency cannot be reached to provide proof of employment.

Zack has previously been identified by the Taliban for his work with the Marines. He says the local Taliban “are threatening [him] all the time.” Schueman considers assisting Zack a way of honoring his “lifelong contract” of “service to [his] troops.”

Miervaldis reports that No One Left Behind has recently received thousands of e-mails and Facebook messages regarding interpreters concerned about their SIV status. As the Taliban step up violent attacks on government forces, the targeting of interpreters will likely increase.

Rather than allowing our allies to stand by in peril as we address decades of failures in our SIV program, we must grant our interpreters asylum with haste. Neglecting to protect those who assisted us would be a moral failure, as well as a stinging blow to those who fought alongside our Afghan allies. It could also have resounding national security implications should we look to forge local alliances in future conflicts.

We need to make sure that all of the interpreters get out of Afghanistan before our troops leave. To leave them behind would be a stain on America forever.

There Are Some Things To Remember When Viewing The Truce In Afghanistan

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Hot Air (and many other places on the Internet) are reporting today that America has signed a peace treaty with the Taliban in Afghanistan.

The article notes:

The United States is set to sign a peace deal Saturday with the Taliban, its adversary in Afghanistan’s 18-year war. The deal marks a major turning point in a conflict marred by years of both military and diplomatic stalemate.

One provision of the agreement is the full withdrawal of American troops that is “heavily conditions based,” according to two U.S. officials who have been briefed on the deal. The officials declined to elaborate on what exactly those conditions are. They spoke on condition of anonymity as they were not authorized to discuss the deal publicly.

The article concludes:

This is something I was venting my frustrations about on Twitter yesterday. While I would be very pleasantly surprised to be proven wrong, I can’t believe that the promises of the Taliban are worth anything. Also, even if they were being sincere, they don’t control all of the fighters in their country, so their ability to maintain a ceasefire is dubious at best.

I realize I’ve preached this line to all of you in the past, but I’ve not seen anything to sway my opinion much. The Taliban is just waiting for us to leave. If they have to wait another 14 months or another 14 years, they will. They’re very good at waiting for invading armies to grow frustrated and go home. They’ve been doing it forever. And as soon as we’re gone, they will tear now the new government and return to being a primitive, seventh century nation just as they’ve always been. At this point, we should probably just face up to that reality, use this deal as a ticket to pull our troops out and leave them to their own devices.

There are some things to remember when considering the war in Afghanistan. We made two major mistakes in that war that essentially cost us the moral high ground. Because we did not have the courage to face the problem of pedophilia in the country or to eliminate the poppy crop. Both would have been very difficult, but both would have had a positive impact on the blatant corruption in the country. Unless we were willing to overwhelm the population and stay long enough to change the culture, we were not going to be victorious there.

We also need to remember two of the basic concepts found in Islam–hudna and taqiyya. Reliance of the Traveller, which is a classical manual of fiqh for the Shafi’i school of Islamic jurisprudence, states the following:

If the Muslims are weak, a truce may be made for ten years if necessary, for the Prophet (Allah bless him and grant him Peace) made a truce with Quraysh for that long, as it related by Abu Dawud. It is not permissible to stipulate longer than that, save by means of new truces, each of which does not exceed ten years.

The purpose of a truce (hudna) was to give the Muslims time to stockpile weapons and become stronger.

In Islamic law, an obligation to lie exists if it is the only way to achieve an obligatory goal in Islam. Al-Taqiyya is based on a concept in Quaran 3:28 and 16:106. It is also found in the hadith,  the embodiment of the sunnah, the words and actions of the prophet and his family the Ahl al-Bayt (The Twelve Imams and the prophet’s daughter, Fatimah).

We are leaving Afghanistan. Under present conditions, that is a good thing. However, to believe that this will mean that Afghanistan will no longer be a disjointed terrorist state is naive. Afghanistan has never really experienced freedom under a central government. It is naive to believe that we can superimpose a central government that espouses individual freedom over what is currently there. We need to learn the lessons of the American revolution–unless the people are willing to fight for their freedom and respect the Laws of Nature and the Laws of Nature’s God, they will never be free.

Note: the information in this article about the principles of Islam are taken from Stephen Coughlin’s book Catastrophic Failure. It is recommended reading for anyone who wants to understand the Muslim plan for worldwide Sharia Law.

 

The Problem Was The Trial

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John Walker Lindh was released from prison today. He served 17 years of his 20 year sentence and was released early for good behavior.

On March 22nd, Fox News posted an article reminding us of some of the circumstances of John Walker Lindh’s arrest:

In November 2001, U.S forces learned that an American – Lindh – was among the cluster of Taliban fighters left in limbo after their leader surrendered to the Northern Alliance in the northern Afghanistan province of Mazar-i-Sharif. Spann was first into the compound, serving as a prison, to interview Lindh, peppering him with questions about where he was from and what he was doing. But Lindh refused to respond.

“In those moments, when he chose to stay silent, he sealed his fate as a traitor to the United States,” Spann said. “At any point, he could have warned him that something was being planned.”

…According to the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP), Lindh – who is currently behind bars in Terra Haute, Indiana – will be discharged on May 23, several years in advance of his initial 20-year jail sentence. The initial charges leveled against the then 20-year-old Lindh in 2002 included one for murder conspiracy for the part he played in the killing of Americans, including Spann, in the prison rebellion.

However, nine of the ten counts in the indictment were dropped and he ended up pleading guilty to disobeying an executive order outlawing support to the Taliban and for possessing a weapon in Afghanistan.

Evidently the prosecution at his trial feared that Mr. Lindh’s confession would be tossed out as evidence because it was obtained under questionable circumstances, so Mr. Lindh was charged with with only one crime–he was never charged with fighting with the Taliban. He should have been shipped to Guantanamo as an enemy combatant and left there, but as an American citizen, he had other options.

Now he has been released from jail with a lot of restrictions–the software on his internet devices will be monitored, he will be required to conduct his online communications in English, he will be required to undergo mental health counseling. He will also be forbidden from possessing or viewing extremist material, holding a passport, or leaving the United States.

I have very mixed emotions about his release. He served his time and exhibited good behavior, so I believe that he has to be released. However, I wonder what his future actions will be. Hopefully he will decide to live peacefully along with his fellow Americans. I am grateful that he will be carefully watched.

 

 

Why We Need Guantanamo

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The Military Times reported yesterday that the five Taliban prisoners held at Guantanamo who were released in exchange for Sgt. Bergdahl have joined the insurgent group’s political office in Qatar.

The article reports:

They will now be among Taliban representatives negotiating for peace in Afghanistan, a sign some negotiators in Kabul say indicates the Taliban’s desire for a peace pact.

Others fear the five, all of whom were close to the insurgent group’s founder and hard-line leader Mullah Mohammed Omar, bring with them the same ultra-conservative interpretation of Islam that characterized the group’s five-year rule that ended in 2001 with the U.S.-led invasion.

The article details some of the history of the five former prisonersL

But there are some among the five who have a disturbing past.

Human Rights Watch accused Mohammed Fazl, the former Taliban army chief arrested in 2002, of overseeing the deaths of thousands of minority Shiites in 2000. The massacre outraged the world and followed the killing the year before of an estimated 2,000 young ethnic Pashtuns in northern Afghanistan by Taliban rivals.

Another of the five is Khairullah Khairkhwa, a former governor of Herat province, who was close to both Taliban founder Mullah Omar and al- Qaida leader Osama bin Laden. Khairkhwa also had a friendship with former president Hamid Karzai.

The others include Abdul Haq Wasiq, deputy intelligence minister, Mullah Norullah Nori, once described as the most significant Taliban leader held at Guantanamo Bay because of his particularly close relationship with Mullah Omar, who fought U.S.-led coalition forces in northern Afghanistan’s Mazar-e-Sharif and Mohammad Nabi Omari, a Taliban communications officer.

All five are from southern Afghanistan, the Taliban’s heartland.

Releasing these men from Guantanamo makes as much sense as releasing an unrepentant serial murderer. The only thing releasing them accomplished was to put American troops in danger.