‘ALL THE TOOLS’: President Joe Biden says the U.S. military is leaving Afghanistan after 20 years, but not before giving the U.S.-backed government in Kabul a well-trained and equipped military that should be more than a match for the Taliban, who have no planes, tanks, or anti-aircraft missiles.
“Together with our NATO allies and partners, we have trained and equipped nearly 300,000 current serving members of the military,” Biden said in remarks in the White House East Room. “We provided our Afghan partners with all the tools — let me say — emphasize all the tools, training, and equipment of any modern military.”
Biden gave the first public estimate of Taliban strength, putting the number of fighters at around 75,000 and insisting the Afghan forces were “as well-equipped as any army in the world” and have an air force. Even as the Taliban rack up victories in the north, the fall of Kabul “is not inevitable,” he said.
BIDEN ANNOUNCES AFGHANISTAN MISSION WILL END BY AUG. 31, SOONER THAN PLANNED
‘ONE MORE YEAR … NOT A SOLUTION’: Biden defended his decision to complete what President Donald Trump started, arguing that the agreement Trump signed with the Taliban, which resulted in no further U.S. combat deaths, effectively locked the U.S. into leaving. Trump had already cut U.S. troop levels to 2,500, and the Taliban were threatening to resume attacks after May 1.
“Once that agreement with the Taliban had been made, staying with a bare minimum force was no longer possible,” Biden said. “So let me ask those who wanted us to stay, how many more, how many thousands more Americans, daughters and sons, were you willing to risk? How long would you have them stay?”
“For those who have argued that we should stay just six more months or just one more year, I ask them to consider the lessons of recent history. In 2011, the NATO allies and partners agreed that we would end our combat mission in 2014. In 2014, some argued one more year, so we kept fighting, and we kept taking casualties. In 2015, the same, and on and on,” Biden said. “Just one more year of fighting in Afghanistan is not a solution but a recipe for being there indefinitely.”
“I will not send another generation of Americans to war in Afghanistan with no reasonable expectation of achieving a different outcome,” he said. “It’s up to the Afghans to make the decision about the future of their country.”
TALIBAN TAKEOVER OF AFGHANISTAN ISN’T ‘INEVITABLE,’ BIDEN SAYS AFTER FORCEFUL DEFENSE OF US EXIT
‘THERE IS A HOME FOR YOU’: Biden promised to relocate thousands of Afghan nationals who worked “side by side” with U.S. forces, including interpreters and translators, by first evacuating them to safety in other countries before bringing them to the U.S.
“Our message to those women and men is clear. There is a home for you in the United States if you so choose, and we will stand with you, just as you stood with us,” Biden said while indicating that many of the Afghans who would qualify for immigration visas don’t want to leave their homes.
“We’ve already approved 2,500 Special Immigrant Visas to come to the United States,” Biden said. “Up to now, fewer than half have exercised their right to do that. Half have gotten on aircraft, commercial flights, and come. The other half believe they want to stay, at least thus far.”
At the Pentagon, spokesman John Kirby said if that trend holds, the numbers of refugees might be considerably smaller than initial estimates.
“So, the numbers wouldn’t necessarily connote a level that was so high that we couldn’t manage it with a range of U.S. installations overseas, U.S. military installations, or third countries,” he said.
BY THE NUMBERS: Biden gave this final tally of the war’s toll. “After 20 years — a trillion dollars spent training and equipping hundreds of thousands of Afghan National Security and Defense Forces, 2,448 Americans killed, 20,722 more wounded, and untold thousands coming home with unseen trauma to their mental health.”
Asked if the two-decade war was worth it, Biden noted, “No nation has ever unified Afghanistan, no nation. Empires have gone there and not done it,” but he said the objectives in Afghanistan — to bring Osama bin Laden to justice and to neutralize al Qaeda — had been accomplished long ago.
“We achieved those objectives, that’s why we went. We did not go to Afghanistan to nation-build.”
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TIME RUNNING OUT: After Biden’s remarks, Florida Rep. Mike Waltz said while he was encouraged that Biden addressed the plight of Afghan interpreters, it may be too little too late.
“I fear time has run out,” said Waltz, a former Green Beret, in a statement. “While the clock ticks,” he said, “the Taliban continue to gain strength and ground, they are hunting down those who stood with America in our fight against global terror.”
“President Biden’s claim that half of Afghans approved for SIV have chosen not to come to America does not comport with what we are hearing on the ground,” Waltz added. “I call on the White House, Department of Defense, Department of State, and Department of Homeland Security to provide briefings immediately to members of Congress, so we can understand the scope of the evacuation and ongoing SIV vetting.”
In addition, Waltz says as American troops leave, the U.S. has lost its leverage to win the release of U.S. Navy veteran Mark Frerichs, who is being held by the Taliban.
“The Biden administration is losing leverage every day to get him home safely to his family,” Waltz says. “The Obama-Biden administration prioritized exchanging terrorists for a traitor and deserter, Bowe Bergdahl, and seem to be taking little action for Mark. Asking a terrorist organization nicely is not a strategy.”
GRAVEYARD OF EMPIRES: In his remarks, Biden came close to echoing the old adage that Afghanistan was “the graveyard of empires” when he talked about how the country has never been united and no outside force has been able to change that.
Rep. Adam Smith, the Democratic chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, expressed a similar sentiment in a statement.
“I am convinced beyond a shadow of a doubt that ours is the single most powerful, professional, and effective military in the world. As the war in Afghanistan has demonstrated, however, there are certain problems that lack a purely military solution,” Smith said. “While our military presence helped establish the conditions for an Afghan government as well as built, trained, and developed the Afghan Security Forces and institutions, an indefinite troop presence is not and has never been our objective.”
“After nearly twenty years of war in Afghanistan we have successfully prevented transnational terrorists from planning and launching an attack from the region,” Smith said. “Therefore, it is time to withdraw our military forces.”
NDAA MARKUP: The Senate Armed Services Committee has announced the full committee and subcommittee markup for the National Defense Authorization Act will begin Monday, July 19, and continue through Wednesday and perhaps Thursday of that week.
“Enacting the National Defense Authorization Act is critical to our national security, and the markup is a crucial part of a multistep process,” said Chairman Sen. Jack Reed. “I am committed to upholding our tradition of robust, careful deliberation and strong, bipartisan support to ensure we have needed policies and reforms in place.”
“There’s a reason the NDAA has been enacted into law every year for 60 consecutive years,” said Sen. Jim Inhofe, the ranking Republican on the committee. “I look forward to working with Chairman Reed, in the committee’s long-standing tradition of bipartisanship, to make it 61 years.
You can find the full markup schedule here.
MANDATORY COVID VACCINES LIKELY COMING: The Pentagon is not saying it, but its chief spokesman is making clear that as soon as the FDA gives full approval to a COVID-19 vaccine, the military will likely be required to get the shots.
“If these vaccines are approved by the FDA, then the secretary will certainly talk to the services and healthcare professionals here at the department to determine what the best options are going forward, which could include making them mandatory,” said John Kirby, a retired rear admiral. “But I don’t want to get ahead of that process. You know we’re going to wait and see what the FDA does and what they decide, and then we’ll move forward.”
“It is quite common that FDA-approved vaccines are mandatory in the service,” Kirby said at yesterday’s Pentagon briefing. “Having been in the Navy myself for nearly 30 years, I can tell you I’ve been stuck quite a bit, and it wasn’t like I was asking for every one of those.”
For now, the vaccines remain voluntary, and Kirby says almost 70% of DOD personnel have received at least one dose of a vaccine.
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The Rundown
Washington Examiner: Biden announces Afghanistan mission will end by Aug. 31, sooner than planned
Washington Examiner: Taliban takeover of Afghanistan isn’t ‘inevitable,’ Biden says after forceful defense of US exit
Washington Examiner: Biden dismisses comparisons between Afghanistan and Vietnam wars
Washington Examiner: Republicans gear up to hammer Biden as Taliban advance in Afghanistan
Washington Examiner: On former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld
Reuters: Analysis: For Russia, U.S. Afghan Exit Creates Security Threat On Southern Flank
AP: Drone attacks by Iraqi militias reflect Iran’s waning hold
AP: Afghanistan set to get donated vaccines from US
Washington Times: U.S. Pacific Intel Chief: Coming Chinese Attack On Taiwan Could Target Other Nations
AP: U.S. Envoy Warns China ‘Looking At’ New Nuclear Technologies
Reuters: Five Years After South China Sea Ruling, China’s Presence Around Philippines Growing
Politico: Pentagon Pushes Back At GOP Lawmakers Over Critical Race Theory Claims
New York Times: Justice Dept. Debates Due Process Rights for Guantánamo Bay Detainees
Air Force Magazine: Costello: No Going Back on USAF’s Digital Acquisition Journey
19fortyfive.com: Russia’s Most Powerful Bombers Are Training for War in the Arctic
19fortyfive.com: North Korea Should Worry: South Korea Is Working on Ballistic Missile Submarines
Task & Purpose: Team Of Marines Deployed To Protect U.S. Embassy In Eswatini Amid Massive Unrest
19fortyfive.com: One U.S. Marine Corps Sniper Killed Perhaps 400 Enemies (One From 2,500 Yards Away)
Calendar
FRIDAY | JULY 9
12 p.m. — Hudson Institute virtual discussion: “Can Hong Kong Remain a Global Financial Center?” with Carolyn Bartholomew, chairman of the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission’s 2021 Report Cycle; Ellen Bork, president of the Committee for Freedom in Hong Kong; Bill Browder, founder and CEO of Hermitage Capital Management; Mark Clifford, independent non-executive director of Next Digital Ltd.; and Nate Sibley, research fellow at Hudson. https://www.hudson.org/events/1982-virtual-event
TUESDAY | JULY 13
9:30 a.m. 106 Dirksen — Senate Armed Services Committee confirmation hearing for the nominations of Carlos Del Toro to be secretary of the Navy, Gilbert Cisneros to be undersecretary of defense for personnel and readiness, Kathleen Miller, to be Pentagon comptroller, Mara Karlin to be assistant secretary of defense for strategy, plans, and capabilities, and Michael Connor to be assistant secretary of the Army for civil works. https://www.armed-services.senate.gov/hearings/nomination
WEDNESDAY | JULY 14
1 p.m. — Flore Albo LLC webinar “Ransomware: Operational Technology Risk and Solutions,” with Mark Carrigan, an expert on OT cybersecurity; Anthony Belfiore, chief security officer of Aon; Steve Katz, former CISO of Citi; Robert Huber, chief security officer, Tenable.
THURSDAY | JULY 15
3:30 p.m. — George Washington University Project for Media and National Security Defense Writers Group conversation with New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, Democrat, who sits on the House Armed Services Committee. https://nationalsecuritymedia.gwu.edu/
QUOTE OF THE DAY
“Our message to those women and men is clear. There is a home for you in the United States if you so choose, and we will stand with you, just as you stood with us.”
President Joe Biden, pledging to relocate Afghan nationals who worked with the U.S. to America.
