Well fuck no I didnt serve. I never needed someone to tell me when to go to bed or when to wake up in the morning.
https://www.politico.com/news/2021/08/30/pentagon-mass-casualty-attack-kabul-507481 Exclusive Pentagon prepared for ‘mass casualty’ attack at Kabul Airport hours before explosion Detailed notes of three classified calls provided to POLITICO show top Pentagon officials knew of imminent threat, but struggled to close Abbey Gate. By LARA SELIGMAN 08/30/2021 05:00 AM EDT Just 24 hours before a suicide bomber detonated an explosive outside Hamid Karzai International Airport, senior military leaders gathered for the Pentagon’s daily morning update on the deteriorating situation in Afghanistan. Speaking from a secure video conference room on the third floor of the Pentagon at 8 a.m. Wednesday — or 4:30 p.m. in Kabul — Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin instructed more than a dozen of the department’s top leaders around the world to make preparations for an imminent “mass casualty event,” according to classified detailed notes of the gathering shared with POLITICO. During the meeting, Gen. Mark Milley, the chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, warned of “significant” intelligence indicating that the Islamic State’s Afghanistan affiliate, ISIS-K, was planning a “complex attack,” the notes quoted him as saying. Commanders calling in from Kabul relayed that the Abbey Gate, where American citizens had been told to gather in order to gain entrance to the airport, was “highest risk,” and detailed their plans to protect the airport. “I don’t believe people get the incredible amount of risk on the ground,” Austin said, according to the classified notes. On a separate call at 4 that afternoon, or 12:30 a.m. on Thursday in Kabul, the commanders detailed a plan to close Abbey Gate by Thursday afternoon Kabul time. But the Americans decided to keep the gate open longer than they wanted in order to allow their British allies, who had accelerated their withdrawal timeline, to continue evacuating their personnel, based at the nearby Baron Hotel. American troops were still processing entrants to the airport at Abbey Gate at roughly 6 p.m. in Kabul on Thursday when a suicide bomber detonated his explosive vest there, killing nearly 200 people, including 13 U.S. service members. Footage of Kabul airport suicide attack In the week before the attack, President Joe Biden and top administration officials repeatedly spoke in public about the general threat ISIS posed to the airport. Biden even cited that threat as a reason not to extend the military mission beyond Aug. 31. The president warned this weekend that an additional ISIS attack was “highly likely.” This account of the internal conversations among top Pentagon leaders in the hours leading up to Thursday’s attack at the airport is based on classified notes from three separate calls provided to POLITICO and interviews with two defense officials with direct knowledge of the calls. POLITICO is withholding information from the Pentagon readouts that could affect ongoing military operations at Kabul airport. The transcript of these three conference calls, authenticated by a defense official, details conversations among the highest levels of Pentagon leadership. It makes clear that top officials were raising alarm bells and preparing for a potential attack that they had narrowed down to a handful of possible targets and a 24-48 hour time frame — projections that ended up being deadly accurate. “This story is based on the unlawful disclosure of classified information and internal deliberations of a sensitive nature,” Pentagon spokesperson John Kirby said in a statement. “As soon as we became aware of the material divulged to the reporter, we engaged Politico at the highest levels to prevent the publication of information that would put our troops and our operations at the airport at greater risk. “We condemn the unlawful disclosure of classified information and oppose the publication of a story based on it while a dangerous operation is ongoing,” he continued. The White House declined to comment further.
Fox News is reporting that the last Air Force plane has departed Kabul airport. It will be interesting to see what the next 24 - 72 hours bring.
I just watched a film clip of the 4 star Marine general who is the CENTCOM commander heaping praise on the Taliban for their "assistance" in the evacuation. It made me want to puke. Another example of the sad state of our military, particularly some officers who wear stars on their shoulders.
Disgusting, as was the Sec of State. Isn't there something in the uniform code of military conduct about giving aid and comfort to the enemy? They left a lot of people behind. The Taliban was dictating to the US which Afghans could leave. They left people with US passports at the airport gates per reports from people on the ground. Thoroughly disgusted with our leadership. I have also read reports they are using the lists we gave them to hunt down Afghans that worked for the US. One case where they reportedly cut out the tongue of an interpreter while his family was forced to watch, then killed his whole family and made him watch, then killed him. No idea if it is true but know the Biden admin is lying about virtually everything. Then there's this- the taliban executed a folk singer and announced a ban on music. And.... https://nypost.com/2021/08/30/us-leaves-behind-hundreds-of-afghan-girls-in-kabul/
