Former Obama guys blaming Trump for this mess is a pretty transparent CYA move.
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Taliban fighters are assuming control of the Afghan capital of Kabul and have taken control of the presidential palace, after the country’s president Ashraf Ghani fled to Tajikistan.
One of its units shared pictures of the Palace interior – seemingly intact, but empty and abandoned by Afghan officials – on an official Telegram account. A video posted on social media a few hours before showed fighters arriving at the Presidential Palace in Kabul
The group’s spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said earlier that its forces would begin entering areas of the city where the government officials and security forces had abandoned their posts.
“This morning the Islamic Emirate released a statement that our forces were outside Kabul city and we did not want to enter Kabul through military ways,” he said. “However, now we are getting reports that the district police offices are evacuated, police has left their job of ensuring the security, also the ministries are emptied and the security personnel of the Kabul administration has fled.”
“Therefore, in order to avoid any looting and burglary in Kabul and stop opportunists from harming the people, the Islamic Emirate has advised its forces to enter those areas of the city where the enemy has left and the areas are at risk of looting and burglary,” he added.
Social media posts and witness accounts suggest Taliban presence within the city is growing.
“Our forces are quietly entering the city, they won’t bother anyone, government employees both civilian and military should be assured that no one will harm them, no Mujahid is allowed to enter people’s houses, or hurt or bother anyone,” the groups spokesperson added.
The Taliban takeover happens amid a massive evacuation effort by the US and NATO allies of their citizens and support staff within the country.
Earlier reports suggested a transitional government would be formed but the departure of President Ghani seems to have scuppered those efforts.
A meeting, which was expected to happen between a high-level Afghan government delegation and Taliban in Doha, now “may not happen,” a source with knowledge of the intra-Afghan talks told CNN on Sunday.
Regardless, the Chairman of the High Council for National Reconciliation, Abdullah Abdullah, politician Gulbuddin Hekmatyar and former President Hamid Karzai have established a Coordinating Council to “better manage the affairs related to peace and peaceful transfer,” Karzai said in a statement.
A kinder gentler Taliban - right. As soon as they’re firmly in power the executions start.
In 2011 we had more than 100000 US troops in Afghanistan and who knows how many private contractors. There were 132k Troops from all countries. Probably 200k+ troops, advisors, contractors, etc…hell, maybe 300k.
https://twitter.com/MuhammadLila/status/1426957263990837251
If Karzai isn’t killed that will be a good sign I guess. He said he’d stay with his daughters. Will they even be allowed to go to school? Maybe rich, connected people can easily sneak tutors or something.
You wonder “What will be the redline here?”. Oh wait red lines doesnt mean anything.
Public executions in soccer stadiums? Otherwise known as Tuesdays in Saudi Arabia?
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At some level this is just white supremacy in action. If the Taliban was hypothetically threatening to overrun Malmo Sweden or Halifax Canada, the news would be packed with images of terror stricken blond kids and the US would pull out all the stops to mount a counter offensive.
The lesson most of these nutjobs took from 1/6 is that there are no consequences. They’re not wrong.
Conservatives hate cancel culture because it’s a thing that actually delivers consequences to some of them.
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I read somewhere that the Taliban has stated that males should be taught by males and females are taught by females but can still go to school/tutor or whatever.
The finger pointing is going to be epic. This incompetent fat fuck spewing self-congratulatory bullshit right now is… something.
https://twitter.com/justinbaragona/status/1426918201670176771?s=20
I think it’s just that they have no concept of loyalty to country. In Krakauer’s book he said it goes family->extended family->clan->tribe->whoever’s paying you.
Before the Taliban most of the country was basically anarchy dominated by warlords. The Taliban rose up as an answer to the constant predations and chaos of the warlords, and most people welcomed them at first.
It seems few Afghanis want to risk their lives to defend the idea of a country that means nothing to them. Apparently 20 years of democracy wasn’t enough to instill anything like national pride in enough fighters to make a difference.
I guess even for the enlightened people in the cities who don’t want to go back under Taliban rule - there isn’t enough impetus to fight to the death over their city.
Afghan society is divided. Religious fanatics and bullies have disproportionate influence and power. In those respects at least, it’s the same here in the US.
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Eh, Chris Wallace can go fuck himself though, it’s not like he hasn’t been a pro-war cheerleader for the past 20 years. A whole lot of establishment media and political guys need to just shut the fuck up unless they’re ready to give some kind of apology for constantly being dead wrong.
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Yeah - I’m contrasting this with a bunch of books I just read about Nicaragua - which has an insanely fierce national pride. At least among the majority mestizo population that lives in the Western half. The indigenous and creoles in the East - not so much.
Wave after wave of dissidents fought Somoza for decades when it was essentially a death sentence. Their love of their country and wanting better for its people comes up again and again in their revolutionary slogans.
https://twitter.com/beccapfoley/status/1426970872569647105
https://twitter.com/beccapfoley/status/1426974054611922947
FoxNews of course
Nicaragua. Also US occupied for 20 years. Jeez.
Yeah and their national hero Sandino is the guy who expelled the US Marines.
But unfortunately for them we just installed 45 years of dynastic despot rule instead.
And then when the people actually rose up and ousted their dictator, we launched an illegal proxy war to make sure the Sandinistas had no chance to succeed.
USA#1
Lol we aren’t even letting the people who risked their lives to help American troops emigrate.
Cool country, others should definitely help us.