Brings to mind the Bond movie For Your Eyes Only, where Bond is trapped on a remote control helicopter in the opening sequence.AgsMnn said:
Curious who is actually controlling the helicopter.
aggiehawg said:
Good grief! Defense Department epic fail.
CanyonAg77 said:Brings to mind the Bond movie For Your Eyes Only, where Bond is trapped on a remote control helicopter in the opening sequence.AgsMnn said:
Curious who is actually controlling the helicopter.
Also the movie with one of the hottest Bond girls.
74OA said:
Evacuation update Wednesday: MASSIVE
Quote:
President Joe Biden said in a White House news conference Tuesday that the U.S. has evacuated a total of 75,900 people since the end of July, with the vast majority of them, 70,700 people, evacuated in the last 10 days.
Quote:
As of Tuesday, the military said about 4,000 Americans have been evacuated, not including their families, though thousands more remain. But officials have not detailed how many Americans are still in Kabul, which has effectively become a Taliban stronghold.
aggiehawg said:
SIAP. Those numbers are bad.NEW: Leaked State cable with evacuation numbers (as of Aug 23 at 1500 ET):
— Alex Ward (@alexbward) August 24, 2021
Total manifested since midnight Kabul AUG 23: 483 AMCITS, 6,425 Afghans natls, 8 3rd country/unknown. Total = 6,916
Total manifested since op began: 4,407 AMCITS, 21,533 Afghans, 642 TCNs. Total = 26,582Other items in cable:
— Alex Ward (@alexbward) August 24, 2021
• 128 planned flights in the next 48 hours
• Approx 13,000 people inside HKIA
• Denmark won’t temp host US SIVs
• Cyprus will host evacuees in the “low hundreds” for 30-60 days
• Netherlands to take 2k people for 60 days
I have seen some reports that the American citizen count does not include the families. Seems dumb why they wouldn't include them to me.Quote:
Bumped in order to track amcits now out of country. No idea where we go from here
Quote:
The Russian military has begun evacuating 500 citizens of Russia and its regional allies from Afghanistan, the Defense Ministry announced Wednesday.
In a statement carried by news agencies, Russia's Defense Ministry said it will deploy four military transport aircraft to airlift Russians, Belarusians and Central Asian nationals as well as Ukrainians seeking to flee Afghanistan after the Taliban militant group's lightning takeover.
LinkQuote:
"Under the instruction of President Vladimir Putin, Defense Minister and Army General Sergei Shoigu on Aug. 25 organized the evacuation of more than 500 citizens of Russia, CSTO member-states (Belarus, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan) and Ukraine by military transport aircraft from the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan," the statement read.
The CSTO is a Moscow-led military bloc of former Soviet republics known as the Collective Security Treaty Organization.
"Medical and nursing teams of military doctors with the necessary medical equipment are located in each Russian military transport aircraft to provide medical assistance and support to the evacuated citizens during the flight," the military said.
"A sufficient supply of drinking water, blankets and food rations has been provided in all Russian military aircraft for the evacuated citizens," it added.
Russia has said it would provide civil aircraft to evacuate anyone who wishes to leave "to any foreign countries that show interest in receiving and accommodating them."
Russian officials said last week that "one or two hundred" Russian passport holders remaining in Afghanistan had been evacuated earlier due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Media reported earlier Tuesday that the Russian military staged helicopter drills on the Tajik-Afghan border as President Vladimir Putin warned of an influx of militants disguised as refugees from Afghanistan into the Central Asian republics that Moscow counts as allies.
Exactly. Supposedly, the bulk of non-government/non-contractor US citizens in Afghanistan are unknown numbers of Afghans with dual nationality in both countries. Who knows how many of them are willing to go and to leave their ineligible extended families behind. Then there's the borderline crazies.aggiehawg said:I have seen some reports that the American citizen count does not include the families. Seems dumb why they wouldn't include them to me.Quote:
Bumped in order to track amcits now out of country. No idea where we go from here
But this is such a cluster anyway who knows what the real #s are?
The first ever female mayor of an Afghan city, 27-year-old Zarifa Ghafari, who was appointed mayor of Maidan Shahr, the capital city of Wardak province, in 2018, said that she was just sitting with her family waiting for Taliban soldiers to come kill her.#Afghanistan #AfganWomen pic.twitter.com/jKd4bX6DSR
— Rajita Bagga (@RajitaBagga) August 17, 2021
Quote:
On Wednesday news broke that Zarifa and her family were able to escape Afghanistan.
She hid in the footwell of their car with a bag over her head. This allowed her family to make it through the Taliban checkpoints.
The Taliban came to her house and beat her guards. But she was able to escape.
No one came to rescue Zarifa. She had to rescue herself from the terrorists.
Quote:
Zarifa Ghafari cried on Wednesday as she spoke about the horrors she faced leaving her beloved home.
She had words for Joe Biden
Of the closet? That's all I expect out of anyone in this administration.Sea Speed said:
Where tf has the transportation secretary been in all this. Transcom works for him and at least their commander has come out.
LinkQuote:
Erik Prince, a retired US Navy SEAL and founder of the private military company Blackwater USA, joined Steve Bannon on The War Room on Wednesday to discuss Joe Biden's historic catastrophe in Afghanistan.
Prince and Blackwater are assisting Americans and Westerners stranded inside Afghanistan. There are still thousands of Americans stranded inside Afghanistan. According to Erik Prince, who has operatives on the ground, the Taliban and Islamist groups are blocking Americans from reaching the airport and confiscating their passports.
Apologies for the derail.... but this has to be the greatest username on TexAgsDirtyMikesBoys said:
Is the wording of that statement implying Russia recognizes the Taliban as a legitimate government as things currently stand? Although inevitable I assume, didn't Trudeau say just recently something on this topic to the contrary?
Caught themselves telling the truth.cbr said:
State dept texts 'you're on your own' to amcits in stan, then deletes it and claims technical difficulties.
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/state-dept-issued-warning-americans-left-afghanistan-will-be-without-assistance-then
You'd think this is a story Rashida Tlaib/Ilhan Omar might want to comment on. Muslim woman escaping brutality to come to America, making the US look weak. But, wait, doesn't help their CCP-Dem cause.aggiehawg said:The first ever female mayor of an Afghan city, 27-year-old Zarifa Ghafari, who was appointed mayor of Maidan Shahr, the capital city of Wardak province, in 2018, said that she was just sitting with her family waiting for Taliban soldiers to come kill her.#Afghanistan #AfganWomen pic.twitter.com/jKd4bX6DSR
— Rajita Bagga (@RajitaBagga) August 17, 2021Quote:
On Wednesday news broke that Zarifa and her family were able to escape Afghanistan.
She hid in the footwell of their car with a bag over her head. This allowed her family to make it through the Taliban checkpoints.
The Taliban came to her house and beat her guards. But she was able to escape.
No one came to rescue Zarifa. She had to rescue herself from the terrorists.Quote:
Zarifa Ghafari cried on Wednesday as she spoke about the horrors she faced leaving her beloved home.
She had words for Joe Biden
Link
Quote:
Vetting at Hamid Karzai International Airport is complicated by the fact that biometric screening isn't available, according to an internal State Department memo obtained by NBC News. The U.S. mission team reported at least five cases of Afghans who presented U.S. passports that didn't belong to them, according to the Sunday dispatch from the Afghanistan Task Force, highlighting fraud concerns and complicating the process of screening people to enter the airport.
LinkQuote:
NBC News reports:While touting that Afghans are undergoing background checks before their arrival in the U.S., the Biden administration is set to provide "humanitarian parole" to about 50,000 Afghans. That will allow them to come to the U.S. without having secured a visa and without having finalized their immigration processing.Quote:
"People are furious and disgusted," said a former U.S. intelligence official who declined to be quoted by name. A defense official said he grew nauseated as he considered how many Afghan allies would be left behind. [Emphasis added]
At the CIA, "officers feel a real sense of obligation, moral obligation and personal obligation" to the Afghans they supported and trained, said former CIA Director John Brennan, an NBC News national security consultant.
[Emphasis added]
Ag In Ok said:aggiehawg said:
SIAP. Those numbers are bad.NEW: Leaked State cable with evacuation numbers (as of Aug 23 at 1500 ET):
— Alex Ward (@alexbward) August 24, 2021
Total manifested since midnight Kabul AUG 23: 483 AMCITS, 6,425 Afghans natls, 8 3rd country/unknown. Total = 6,916
Total manifested since op began: 4,407 AMCITS, 21,533 Afghans, 642 TCNs. Total = 26,582Other items in cable:
— Alex Ward (@alexbward) August 24, 2021
• 128 planned flights in the next 48 hours
• Approx 13,000 people inside HKIA
• Denmark won’t temp host US SIVs
• Cyprus will host evacuees in the “low hundreds” for 30-60 days
• Netherlands to take 2k people for 60 days
Bumped in order to track amcits now out of country. No idea where we go from here
Quote:
US left Afghan airfield at night, didn't tell new commander
By KATHY GANNON July 6, 2021
The U.S. left Afghanistan's Bagram Airfield after nearly 20 years by shutting off the electricity and slipping away in the night without notifying the base's new Afghan commander, who discovered the Americans' departure more than two hours after they left, Afghan military officials said.
Afghanistan's army showed off the sprawling air base Monday, providing a rare first glimpse of what had been the epicenter of America's war to unseat the Taliban and hunt down the al-Qaida perpetrators of the 9/11 attacks on America.
The U.S. announced Friday it had completely vacated its biggest airfield in the country in advance of a final withdrawal the Pentagon says will be completed by the end of August.
"We (heard) some rumor that the Americans had left Bagram ... and finally by seven o'clock in the morning, we understood that it was confirmed that they had already left Bagram," Gen. Mir Asadullah Kohistani, Bagram's new commander said.
U.S. military spokesman Col. Sonny Leggett did not address the specific complaints of many Afghan soldiers who inherited the abandoned airfield, instead referring to a statement last week.
The statement said the handover of the many bases had been in the process soon after President Joe Biden's mid-April announcement that America was withdrawing the last of its forces. Leggett said in the statement that they had coordinated their departures with Afghanistan's leaders.
https://apnews.com/article/bagram-afghanistan-airfield-us-troops-f3614828364f567593251aaaa167e623
In a briefing to congressional staff, the State Department said that 4100 American citizens are still actively seeking to get out of Afghanistan, a Senate aide tells me. Not all the Americans are located in/around Kabul. The US has evacuated approx. 4,400 Americans already.
— Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) August 25, 2021
What I would like to hear from our Senators and Congressmen is how many people have contacted their offices for help. That would be helpful to get a better sense of how many SIV Afghans and American citizens and/or dual citizenship people are still there.Ag In Ok said:
Still actively doesn't include those who got out on their own, went silent, killed, or resigned to their fate. If the taliban took their passport and phone, guess joe is relieved they elected to stay.
But Ben Affleck was so good!dmart90 said:
They've seen this movie. They didn't like the ending last time...
LinkQuote:
The PAWS bill creates a pilot program for veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder to train service dogs and allows the Department of Veterans Affairs to provide service dogs to veterans with mental health problems.
The president will also sign the "Harlem Hellfighters Congressional Gold Medal Act" on Wednesday, but that event is also closed to the press.
The White House limited press access to the president as he has struggled with criticism while walking away from questions about Afghanistan, turning his back to reporters after delivering a speech, and leaving the room.
White House aides will try to pivot their attention to cybersecurity, as Biden tries to move beyond the debacle in Afghanistan.
Earlier in the day, Biden will receive a closed-door briefing from his advisers about Afghanistan, but that is also closed to the press.
Quote:
As reported by The Wall Street Journal on Wednesday, the Taliban have expanded their blockade of the besieged Hamid Karzai International Airport outside Kabul and are now blocking Westerners from getting to the airport, as well as Afghans, despite having repeatedly assured the Biden administration that "foreigners" would be allowed access to evacuation flights and would not be harrassed. (See: "complete crock of crap.")
—>> “The shift of power is fully in the Taliban's court for any entry right now into..the airport in Kabul.The Taliban has set up a blockade out of the perimeter..so not letting anyone through as of right now.” - Kelley DeConcillis, Security & exfiltration expert tells me. pic.twitter.com/IuMzYriIJX
— Jim Sciutto (@jimsciutto) August 24, 2021
Quote:
As the WSJ noted, contradictions abound, depending on who says what, and when.Quote:
A U.S. military official said the situation at the airport gates was challenging and that American forces were doing their best to allow people through when they were cleared. But charter flight organizers said the process was broken and that it was proving to be impossible to get people into the airport in time to get on their flights.
"It's total chaos," said Warren Binford, a law professor at the University of Colorado who has been working on various evacuation efforts. "What's happening is that we're seeing a massive underground railroad operation where, instead of running for decades, it's literally running for a matter of hours, or days."
"There is no way with the numbers of people on the ground that we will be able to get everybody out by Aug. 31," said Alex Plitsas, a U.S. Army combat veteran working on rescue operations in Afghanistan.
"It's a combination of tragic, surreal and apocalyptic," said Stacia George, director of the Carter Center's Conflict Resolution Program, who has been working round-the-clock to get people out of Kabul. "It's so frustrating to get high-risk people up to the gate and have them risking their lives to go there and you still can't get them through. It's a disaster in slow- and fast-motion."
LinkQuote:
"New Taliban checkpoints on the road to Pakistan have made driving out of the country increasingly risky," added the WSJ, and "confusing bureaucratic hurdles have prevented countless people from leaving Afghanistan."
And according to a report from Politico, the Taliban's expanded blockades are catching not just Afghans, "but American citizens," as well and "halting evacuation efforts."
