This past Friday (Aug. 20) President Joe Biden gave a stern warning to any enemy of the United States that may hinder the evacuation of U.S. citizens and Afghan allies.
"We’ve been able — we’ve made — look, we’ve made clear to the Taliban that any attack — any attack on our forces or disruption of our operations at the airport will be met with a swift and forceful response," he said.
Less than a week later he had a chance to make good on that threat, when two suicide bombers left 10 U.S. Marines, two Army soldiers and one Navy corpsman dead, and killed at least 95 Afghans.
It was the deadliest single day for American forces in Afghanistan in more than a decade. There have been no U.S. casualties there since February of 2020 — 18 months ago.
Biden announced early Thursday evening, "We will not forgive. We will not forget. We will hunt you down and make you pay."
But they’re pulling out of Afghanistan.
They’ll be gone in four days.
They can’t hunt anyone down by leaving the country.
The attack was reportedly carried out by members of ISIS-K, whose core membership includes disgruntled Taliban militants.
But we’ve heard for days that Kabul is filled with Taliban checkpoints, making it difficult for Americans to make their way to the airport, and making it nearly impossible for fleeing Afghans to do the same.
If that’s true, how did the suicide bombers make their way through all those checkpoints?
And on the subject of the Taliban, the United States is considering the terror organization as more of an ally than an enemy.
Politico’s Lara Seligman reported Thursday (Aug. 26) that U.S. authorities are handing them the identities of every American and Afghan who are granted entry into the Kabul airport. Some are calling it little more than a hit list.
"U.S. officials gave the Taliban a list of names of U.S. citizens, green card holders & Afghan allies to grant entry into the outer perimeter of the city’s airport, prompting outrage behind the scenes from lawmakers and military officials," she tweeted.
Seligman added that one defense official told her that "Basically, they just put all those Afghans on a kill list," adding, "It’s just appalling and shocking and makes you feel unclean."
The administration didn’t deny any of it when the issue was brought up.
"Biden officials defended the move during a classified briefing on Capitol Hill earlier this week, which turned contentious," Seligman said.
"Biden team contended this was the best way to keep Americans & Afghans safe & prevent a shooting war between Taliban fighters and US troops."
Rep. Dan Crenshaw, R-Texas, reported that military brass have been providing the Taliban with information since the militants took over the city, in effect, turning a terror group into our own security detail. The fox guarding the henhouse.
"US CENTCOM Commander: we are communicating with the Taliban to 'make sure they know what we expect them to do to protect us,'" said Crenshaw, a former U.S. Navy SEAL who lost an eye in combat.
"You’ve got to be kidding me. Unleash our military power NOW."
That may be difficult.
While British special forces are escorting their own people to the airport, America’s top brass are keeping U.S. troops inside the airport perimeter.
And that’s reportedly caused some friction between a U.S. general and our British allies.
Multiple military sources told the Washington Examiner last week that the commanding general of the 82nd Airborne Division asked his British counterpart to knock it off, because they were making the U.S. military look like wimps. The Americans deny this ever happened, however.
After the president made his remarks Thursday, he uncharacteristically took questions. Fox News Channel’s Peter Doocy asked, "Do you bear any responsibility for the way that things have unfolded in the last two weeks?"
Biden began by replying, "I bear responsibility for fundamentally all that’s happened, but here’s the deal . . . "
Here’s a tip. When someone uses the word "but" after taking responsibility for a screwup, he’s about to shift blame to someone else.
And true to form, Biden described how it was really all former President Trump’s fault.
"But here’s the deal," he said. "You know as well as I do that a former president made a deal with the Taliban that he would get all American forced out of Afghanistan by May 1 . . . "
Government exists for one reason alone — to serve its own citizens.
Period. Accordingly the primary function of government is public safety.
When government leaders believe their function is to protect themselves ahead of protecting their citizens, it’s time to clean house.
As of noon on Jan. 20, 2021, U.S. government officials stopped protecting the people and began protecting their own backside.
Come Nov. 8, 2022 and Nov. 5, 2024 it will be every voter’s responsibility to clean house.
Michael Dorstewitz is a retired lawyer and has been a frequent contributor to BizPac Review and Liberty Unyielding. He is also a former U.S. Merchant Marine officer and an enthusiastic Second Amendment supporter, who can often be found honing his skills at the range. Read Dorstewitz's Reports — More Here.