'This is not Saigon' US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken
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Gripen9
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OBL should have been killed/captured by US SOF in the caves of Tora Bora where they had him cornered but let go for inexplicable reason?
I wonder why?
Cash GK
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Is ko india ney mar waha deha hain..
ghazi52
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OPINION: History doesn't repeat itself, but it rhymes.
U.S.'s "Saigon moment" in Vietnam vs. "Kabul moment" in Afghanistan.
-- 20 years of war,
-- 2,448 U.S. soldiers killed
-- Countless Afghans killed
-- $2,000,000,000,000.00 spent (on wars in Afghanistan and Iraq),
For what?
ghazi52
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Soviet troops leaving Afghanistan in BTR armoured personnel carriers in 1989.
Americans running for survival.
Lesson: Never fight with those who have nothing to lose.
Never prolong the war. Know when to stop.
Americans running for survival.
Lesson: Never fight with those who have nothing to lose.
Never prolong the war. Know when to stop.
ghazi52
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Taliban have won': Ashraf Ghani says fled Afghanistan to prevent bloodshed
AFP
August 16, 2021
Ashraf Ghani said he believed “countless patriots would be martyred and the city of Kabul would be destroyed” if he had stayed behind. — AP/File
Afghan President Ashraf Ghani said that he had fled the country on Sunday to “prevent a flood of bloodshed”, as the Taliban entered the capital, capping a lightning offensive across the country.
Taliban have now entered the capital. Three senior Taliban sources told AFP that they had taken control of the presidential palace and were holding a meeting on security in the capital.
Ghani said he believed “countless patriots would be martyred and the city of Kabul would be destroyed” if he had stayed behind.
“The Taliban have won [...] and are now responsible for the honour, property and self-preservation of their countrymen,” he said in a statement posted to Facebook.
“They are now facing a new historical test. Either they will preserve the name and honour of Afghanistan or they will give priority to other places and networks,” he added.
He did not say where he had travelled to, but leading Afghan media group Tolo news suggested he had gone to Tajikistan.
Abdullah Abdullah, who heads the peace process, had earlier accused Ghani of “leaving the people to this situation”.
Afghanistan’s acting defense minister, Bismillah Khan Mohammadi, didn’t hold back his criticism of the fleeing president.
“They tied our hands from behind and sold the country,” he wrote on Twitter, according to the Associated Press. “Curse Ghani and his gang.”
AFP
August 16, 2021
Ashraf Ghani said he believed “countless patriots would be martyred and the city of Kabul would be destroyed” if he had stayed behind. — AP/File
Afghan President Ashraf Ghani said that he had fled the country on Sunday to “prevent a flood of bloodshed”, as the Taliban entered the capital, capping a lightning offensive across the country.
Taliban have now entered the capital. Three senior Taliban sources told AFP that they had taken control of the presidential palace and were holding a meeting on security in the capital.
Ghani said he believed “countless patriots would be martyred and the city of Kabul would be destroyed” if he had stayed behind.
“The Taliban have won [...] and are now responsible for the honour, property and self-preservation of their countrymen,” he said in a statement posted to Facebook.
“They are now facing a new historical test. Either they will preserve the name and honour of Afghanistan or they will give priority to other places and networks,” he added.
He did not say where he had travelled to, but leading Afghan media group Tolo news suggested he had gone to Tajikistan.
Abdullah Abdullah, who heads the peace process, had earlier accused Ghani of “leaving the people to this situation”.
Afghanistan’s acting defense minister, Bismillah Khan Mohammadi, didn’t hold back his criticism of the fleeing president.
“They tied our hands from behind and sold the country,” he wrote on Twitter, according to the Associated Press. “Curse Ghani and his gang.”
ghazi52
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https://twitter.com/PSFAERO
Incredible: This USAF C-17A is carrying a whopping 800 passengers out of #Kabul. The normal passenger capacity for C-17s is 188.
Incredible: This USAF C-17A is carrying a whopping 800 passengers out of #Kabul. The normal passenger capacity for C-17s is 188.
Great Janjua
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Yeah right.Its not Saigon it's just Americas PTSD is going haywire.
https://twitter.com/PSFAERO
Incredible: This USAF C-17A is carrying a whopping 800 passengers out of #Kabul. The normal passenger capacity for C-17s is 188.
Even for fleeing the rogue and un-thankful creature on the face of earth needs Pakistan's air space.
ghazi52
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Now...........................................
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US to recognise Taliban only if they respect basic rights, says Blinken
Anwar Iqbal
August 16, 2021
HANOVER: A transport aircraft of Bundeswehr, the German air force, taxis across the runway at an air base. The Bundeswehr plans to begin evacuating German citizens from Kabul on Monday.—AP
WASINGTON: US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Sunday that the United States will only recognise a future government in Afghanistan if it upholds basic rights of its people and keeps terrorists out of the country.
Asked to comment on media reports that China was ready to recognise the Taliban as a legitimate government, Secretary Blinken said: “A future Afghan government that upholds the basic rights of its people and that doesn’t harbor terrorists is a government we can work with and recognise.”
Conversely, he added, “a government that doesn’t uphold the basic rights of its people, including women and girls; that harbors terrorist groups that have designs on the United States or allies and partners — certainly, that’s not going to happen.”
The top American diplomat appeared on a number of US television channels on Sunday to comment on the developments in Afghanistan where Taliban insurgents have entered Kabul, forcing President Ashraf Ghani to seek refuge in Tajikistan.
He warned that international assistance to a Taliban-led government in Kabul “will not be forthcoming, sanctions will not be lifted and their ability to travel won’t happen” if they did not respect basic rights and did not stop harboring terrorists.
When the interviewer argued that his statement sounded like a no to recognition, Mr Blinken said: “It’s incumbent on the international community, including the United States, to do everything we can using every tool that we have — economic, diplomatic, political — to ensure (those) rights are sustained.”
He also emphasised the need to ensure that “if the Taliban does not do that … it clearly faces the penalties for not upholding those rights,” adding “We will do everything we can to make sure that’s the case.”
CNN’s Jake Tapper reminded Mr Blinken that in a recent statement, US President Joe Biden had insisted that the Kabul government would not fall and asked him how the president could “get this so wrong.”
The secretary argued that the US had accomplished its goals in Afghanistan, by dealing with the folks who attacked us on 9/11, eliminating Osama bin Laden in 2011 and diminishing the threat from Al Qaeda and now was the time to leave.
Quoting a former US ambassador to Afghanistan, Ryan Crocker, that the withdrawal of US troops was “a handover to the Taliban” that left the Afghan people “hung… out to dry,” the journalist asked: “Does President Biden not bear the blame for this disastrous exit from Afghanistan?”
Mr Blinken replied, “We have said all along, including the president, that the Taliban was at its greatest position of strength at any time since 2001 when it was last in charge of [Afghanistan].
That is the Taliban that we inherited. And so, we saw that they are very much capable of going on the offensive and beginning to take back the country.”
He pointed out that the US spent billions of dollars, “building a modern military with sophisticated equipment, 300,000 forces strong, with an air force that the Taliban didn’t have. And the fact of the matter is, we have seen that that force has been unable to defend the country.”
Secretary Blinken also rejected the suggestion that sending American troops to evacuate US Embassy staff and other Americans resembled the hasty US evacuation from Vietnam.
“Remember, this is not Saigon,” he said. “We went to Afghanistan 20 years ago with one mission. And that mission was to deal with the folks who attacked us on 9/11. And we have succeeded in that mission.”
Published in Dawn, August 16h, 2021
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US to recognise Taliban only if they respect basic rights, says Blinken
Anwar Iqbal
August 16, 2021
HANOVER: A transport aircraft of Bundeswehr, the German air force, taxis across the runway at an air base. The Bundeswehr plans to begin evacuating German citizens from Kabul on Monday.—AP
WASINGTON: US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Sunday that the United States will only recognise a future government in Afghanistan if it upholds basic rights of its people and keeps terrorists out of the country.
Asked to comment on media reports that China was ready to recognise the Taliban as a legitimate government, Secretary Blinken said: “A future Afghan government that upholds the basic rights of its people and that doesn’t harbor terrorists is a government we can work with and recognise.”
Conversely, he added, “a government that doesn’t uphold the basic rights of its people, including women and girls; that harbors terrorist groups that have designs on the United States or allies and partners — certainly, that’s not going to happen.”
The top American diplomat appeared on a number of US television channels on Sunday to comment on the developments in Afghanistan where Taliban insurgents have entered Kabul, forcing President Ashraf Ghani to seek refuge in Tajikistan.
He warned that international assistance to a Taliban-led government in Kabul “will not be forthcoming, sanctions will not be lifted and their ability to travel won’t happen” if they did not respect basic rights and did not stop harboring terrorists.
When the interviewer argued that his statement sounded like a no to recognition, Mr Blinken said: “It’s incumbent on the international community, including the United States, to do everything we can using every tool that we have — economic, diplomatic, political — to ensure (those) rights are sustained.”
He also emphasised the need to ensure that “if the Taliban does not do that … it clearly faces the penalties for not upholding those rights,” adding “We will do everything we can to make sure that’s the case.”
CNN’s Jake Tapper reminded Mr Blinken that in a recent statement, US President Joe Biden had insisted that the Kabul government would not fall and asked him how the president could “get this so wrong.”
The secretary argued that the US had accomplished its goals in Afghanistan, by dealing with the folks who attacked us on 9/11, eliminating Osama bin Laden in 2011 and diminishing the threat from Al Qaeda and now was the time to leave.
Quoting a former US ambassador to Afghanistan, Ryan Crocker, that the withdrawal of US troops was “a handover to the Taliban” that left the Afghan people “hung… out to dry,” the journalist asked: “Does President Biden not bear the blame for this disastrous exit from Afghanistan?”
Mr Blinken replied, “We have said all along, including the president, that the Taliban was at its greatest position of strength at any time since 2001 when it was last in charge of [Afghanistan].
That is the Taliban that we inherited. And so, we saw that they are very much capable of going on the offensive and beginning to take back the country.”
He pointed out that the US spent billions of dollars, “building a modern military with sophisticated equipment, 300,000 forces strong, with an air force that the Taliban didn’t have. And the fact of the matter is, we have seen that that force has been unable to defend the country.”
Secretary Blinken also rejected the suggestion that sending American troops to evacuate US Embassy staff and other Americans resembled the hasty US evacuation from Vietnam.
“Remember, this is not Saigon,” he said. “We went to Afghanistan 20 years ago with one mission. And that mission was to deal with the folks who attacked us on 9/11. And we have succeeded in that mission.”
Published in Dawn, August 16h, 2021
ghazi52
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Pakistan Strategic Forum
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Kabul is completely peaceful & things are in control except Kabul International Airport which is actually under US Marines.
Only firing you can hear is by US Marines & as of now they have killed 5x Afghan civilians.
"Never enter the box without exit plan".
ghazi52
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Women disappear from Afghan TV
BBC
Afghanistan’s main TV channels are still broadcasting, but with some noticeable differences - including the disappearance of all female presenters from the screen.
There has been a large increase in favourable comments on the Taliban on channels such as the state-run National Afghanistan TV and privately owned Tolo News, Ariana, Shamshad and 1TV.
Little criticism of the group has been seen so far on any of them. All have refrained from airing any music or soap operas.
Tolo News and 1TV have mostly been repeating programmes aired yesterday, possibly because of difficulties with their work.
However, Saad Mohseni, owner of the Moby Group - which includes Tolo TV and Tolo News TV - said in a tweet: “I can assure you our folks are OK and that we have continued with our broadcasting uninterrupted throughout this ‘transition’”.
Moby Group is Afghanistan’s biggest generator of entertainment and news and current affair programmes.
State TV, which was taken over by the Taliban on the evening of 15 August, has largely been airing religious programmes.
Shamshad TV, owned by a former presidential aide, has broadcast much pro-Taliban content. In one programme, the channel’s correspondent showed Kabul residents praising the group for bringing security and unity to the country.
BBC
Afghanistan’s main TV channels are still broadcasting, but with some noticeable differences - including the disappearance of all female presenters from the screen.
There has been a large increase in favourable comments on the Taliban on channels such as the state-run National Afghanistan TV and privately owned Tolo News, Ariana, Shamshad and 1TV.
Little criticism of the group has been seen so far on any of them. All have refrained from airing any music or soap operas.
Tolo News and 1TV have mostly been repeating programmes aired yesterday, possibly because of difficulties with their work.
However, Saad Mohseni, owner of the Moby Group - which includes Tolo TV and Tolo News TV - said in a tweet: “I can assure you our folks are OK and that we have continued with our broadcasting uninterrupted throughout this ‘transition’”.
Moby Group is Afghanistan’s biggest generator of entertainment and news and current affair programmes.
State TV, which was taken over by the Taliban on the evening of 15 August, has largely been airing religious programmes.
Shamshad TV, owned by a former presidential aide, has broadcast much pro-Taliban content. In one programme, the channel’s correspondent showed Kabul residents praising the group for bringing security and unity to the country.
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