‘A LOT COULD STILL GO WRONG’: As if to underscore the dicey security situation at the Kabul airport, a brief firefight today ended with one member of the former Afghan army dead and the circumstances of the shooting unclear. The incident occurred at the airport’s north gate, where at least seven Afghans died Saturday after the crush of people waiting to get in resulted in a stampede.
“There is no way to evacuate this many people without pain and loss, of heartbreaking images you see on television. It’s just a fact,” said President Joe Biden in an address to the nation yesterday. “It would have been true if we had started a month ago or a month from now.”
“We are proving that we can move, though, thousands of people a day out of Kabul,” Biden said. “But we have a long way to go, and a lot could still go wrong.”
THREAT LEVEL UP: Following a threat that the Afghanistan branch of ISIS might attempt to launch an attack on civilians massed at the airport gates, the U.S. Embassy issued an alert to U.S. citizens to wait for instructions before attempting to make their way to the airport. Anyone without a “verified invitation,” it said, would “not be allowed into the airport or on to an evacuation flight.”
“We know that terrorists may seek to exploit this situation and target innocent Afghans or American troops,” Biden said. “We’re maintaining the constant vigilance to monitor and disrupt threats from any source, including the likely source being ISIS. We are under no illusions about the threat.”
On Thursday, the U.S. military used three Chinook twin-rotor helicopters to rescue 169 Americans who were stranded a short distance from the airport. The Pentagon offered few details and would not say if more helicopter fights would be used to get people past the Taliban and the crush of humanity at the gates. “I won’t speculate about potential future operations going forward,” said Pentagon spokesman John Kirby.
ISIS THREAT IN AFGHANISTAN IS ‘REAL’ AND ‘PERSISTENT,’ BIDEN NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER SAYS
THE NUMBERS SO FAR: Biden said the pace of operations was picking up as security expanded and more planes were getting in and out, with 28,000 people evacuated in the past week, for a total of 33,000 people in July. Biden said a number of changes had been made to gate operations, including expanding the “safe zone” around the airport, but he wouldn’t discuss details.
“We’re executing a plan to move groups of these Americans to safety and to safely and effectively move them to the airport compound,” he said. “For security reasons, I’m not going to go into the detail of what these plans entail, but I will say again today that I have said before: Any American who wants to get home will get home.”
As for America’s Afghan partners, many of whom fear they will be abandoned by the United States with an Aug. 31 deadline just eight days away: “I think you’re going to see they’re going to get out,” Biden said, but he also said that he would “consider” extending the deadline if necessary.
“There’s discussions going on among us and the military about extending. Our hope is we will not have to extend, but there are going to be discussions, I suspect, on how far along we are in the process.”
EVERYBODY’S BEING VETTED: Biden stressed that only American passport holders or Afghans who have already been fully approved for a special immigrant visa will be flown to the U.S.
“We’re flying to these processing stations where we’re working with more than two dozen countries across four continents,” Biden said, naming Qatar, Germany, Kuwait, and Spain as interim stops.
“These transit centers provide a safe place for the SIV applicants and other vulnerable Afghanis and their families to complete their paperwork while we conduct security screenings and background checks before they continue on to their final destination in the United States or in another country.”
On Saturday, the Pentagon announced it was activating the Civil Reserve Air Fleet, a voluntary program that allows the U.S. military to requisition civilian commercial airliners to increase the capacity to move evacuees who are coming to the U.S.
“None of them will be landing in Kabul,” said Biden. “This effort will only use three or four planes from each of the major carriers’ vast fleet of aircraft, so there should be no effect, or a minimal effect, on commercial air travel.”
AIR AMERICA: PENTAGON PRESSES COMMERCIAL CARRIERS TO HELP WITH AFGHAN AIRLIFT
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HAPPENING TODAY: Vice President Kamala Harris is in Singapore, where she is on a mission to deepen ties with America’s Asian allies. But at a joint news conference today with Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, most of the questions were about Afghanistan.
“I understand and appreciate why you asked the question,” Harris told a journalist from Reuters. “I think there’s going to be plenty of time to analyze what has happened and what has taken place in the context of the withdrawal from Afghanistan. But right now, we are singularly focused on evacuating American citizens, Afghans who worked with us, and Afghans who are vulnerable, including women and children.”
HARRIS LAUGHS AT, SHUTS DOWN QUESTIONS AS SHE SAYS AFGHANISTAN IS HER HIGHEST PRIORITY
ALSO TODAY: The House has cut short its summer recess and will be back in session at 5 p.m. A group of Democrats is pushing to pass the bipartisan infrastructure bill without holding it hostage to the $3.5 trillion budget. In an op-ed in the Washington Post, the nine house members write, “Time kills deals. This is an old business saying and the essence of why we are pushing to get the bipartisan infrastructure bill through Congress and immediately to President Biden’s desk.”
‘I SINGLE-HANDEDLY SAID LET’S GO TO ALABAMA’: Former President Donald Trump told a radio show Friday that he “single-handedly” picked Alabama as the new home for the U.S. Space Command, reports Tom Roeder, from our sister publication, the Colorado Springs Gazette.
In an interview with Rick and Bubba, an Alabama-based syndicated talk show, Trump said, “I single-handedly said ‘let’s go to Alabama,'” undercutting the Air Force’s insistence that the Jan. 13 decision was free of political influence and based solely on objective factors.
The decision shocked Colorado, which is the current home of the Space Command and had been privately assured it was the front-runner to be the permanent location, and officials immediately suspected politics given that Alabama went for Trump in the election and its senators were both die-hard Trump supporters. The Government Accountability Office is reviewing the award.
At a rally in Alabama, Trump did not repeat the claim, telling the crowd in Cullman, Alabama, “We created Space Force, and we selected Huntsville, Alabama, as the new headquarters of the US Space Command.”
THE SUNDAY SHOWS AND MORE: Afghanistan was the dominant topic on the Sunday shows and cable networks over the weekend. Here’s a sample of what was said.
“This is not about avoiding accountability. In our system, thankfully, there is accountability, there always will be accountability, but there is a time and place for everything. At the time and place right now is this mission,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken, on Fox.
“There have been incidents of people having some tough encounters with Taliban. As we learn about those incidents, we certainly go back and engage the Taliban leadership and press home to them that our expectation is that they allow our people with the appropriate credentials to get through the checkpoints,” Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin on CNN.
“This was a disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan … So how is it that we leave Afghanistan? We’re going to be able to maintain a counterterrorism posture, supposedly, with this over-the-horizon magic stuff we have. But there’s already an ISIS threat there when we’re there,” Rep. Adam Kinzinger, Illinois Republican and Air Force veteran.
“We’ve got to be fair here and a little bit honest with ourselves. President Biden didn’t create this whole scenario. President Trump did by engaging the Taliban in talks without the Afghan government in the room. That began a process of delegitimization of the state and its security forces. … That said, President Biden owns it. He’s taken ownership of the policy,” Ryan Crocker, former U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan, on CBS.
“So, you take the military out first, then you take the civilians out? It seems to me that you might want to do that the other way around to make sure that you have adequate protection. The mistakes were made here,” Rep. Adam Smith, Democratic chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, on CNN.
“I don’t think it was possible for us to just abruptly walk away right after we killed bin Laden. But, clearly, we could have gone earlier than we did. As I look back, and a lot of people are critical of the president right now, President Biden had it right back then. He was focused singly on counterterrorism. His advice was along those lines. And he certainly said that. And I give him credit for that,” former Joint Chiefs Chairman retired Adm. Mike Mullen, on ABC.
“I know there’s been a lot of comparisons this past week to Saigon in 1975 … But the scenario that troubles me more going forward is the prospect of Tehran 1979, when the ayatollahs took 52 Americans hostage, and it paralyzed America for more than a year. Again we have 10,000 to 15,000 Americans who are, in effect, hostages to the Taliban right now. Joe Biden needs to make it clear to the Taliban that we’re not leaving until everyone is gone, and if they’re injured, then we may do to the Taliban now exactly what we did in 2001,” Arkansas Republican Sen. Tom Cotton, Army veteran of Afghanistan.
“What we’re watching unfold on the ground is a complete catastrophe … Our mission in Afghanistan was to deny terrorists the sanctuary. And the Biden decision now to completely withdraw has handed them an entire country, has, in fact, ensured not just the Taliban, but al Qaeda, ISIS, the Haqqani Network, terrorist organizations that want to attack the United States now have an entire country as a sanctuary from which to do so,” Wyoming Republican Rep. Liz Cheney on NBC.
“If we leave one American behind, if we don’t get all those Afghans who stepped up to the plate to help us out, then Joe Biden, in my view, has committed a high crime and misdemeanor under the Constitution and should be impeached,” South Carolina Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham, on Fox.
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The Rundown
Washington Examiner: Biden keeping Afghan evacuation ‘plans’ under wraps over fears ‘terrorists may seek to exploit the situation’
Washington Examiner: ISIS threat in Afghanistan is ‘real’ and ‘persistent,’ Biden national security adviser says
Washington Examiner: Air America: Pentagon presses commercial carriers to help with Afghan airlift
Washington Examiner: Defense Secretary Austin confirms Americans have had ‘tough encounters with Taliban’
Washington Examiner: Armed Afghans reclaim three districts in first major display of resistance since Taliban’s Kabul takeover
Washington Examiner: Biden to meet with G-7 leaders on Afghanistan policy
Washington Examiner: Former Pence aide faults Stephen Miller’s ‘racist hysteria’ for US refusal to accept Afghan refugees under Trump
Washington Examiner: Afghan woman delivers baby aboard evacuation aircraft
Washington Examiner: Afghan staff at US Embassy losing hope of rescue: Report
Washington Examiner: Fox News says it helped evacuate Afghan associates and their families
Washington Examiner: Video: Spoils of war: Taliban gain American weaponry
Washington Examiner: As liberal hawks take flight, Biden finds new allies on Afghanistan
Washington Examiner: 4,300 veterans back Biden in letter slamming ‘elites who pushed us into a 20-year war’
Colorado Springs Gazette: Trump confirms he ‘single-handedly’ dropped Colorado as Space Command home
AP: The Latest: Britain urges US to extend Kabul evacuations
Long War Journal: Taliban’s special forces outfit providing ‘security’ at Kabul airport
Air Force Magazine: Kabul Evacuation Flight Sets C-17 Record With 823 On Board
Air Force Magazine: Skunk Works Looks to Bridge Tanker, KC-Z, and Lighter-Than-Air
19fortyfive.com: Millions of Bullets, M-16s And An Air Force: Taliban Has Billions in U.S. Weapons
19fortyfive.com: “Highly Modified Drone” Over Tucson: Alien UFOs or Chinese Drones?
New York Times: A Baby Passed Over A Wall In Kabul Is Reunited With His Family, The Military Says.
19fortyfive.com: Opinion: Afghanistan Proves America Has A Hard Time Learning from History
Calendar
MONDAY | AUGUST 23
10 a.m. — The Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies virtual Nuclear Deterrence and Missile Defense Forum, with Stephen Blank, senior fellow, Foreign Policy Research Institute; and Peter Huessy, director for strategic deterrent studies at the Mitchell Institute. Video posted afterward at https://mitchellaerospacepower.org/event/nuclear-deterrence
10:30 a.m. — The Middle East Institute virtual discussion: “Afghanistan’s Collapse and the Implications for Global Jihadism and Counterterrorism,” with Karen Joy Greenberg, director of Fordham University School of Law’s Center on National Security; David Kilcullen, president and CEO of Cordillera Applications Group; Anne Likuski, senior research fellow at the Norwegian Defense Research Establishment; and Charles Lister, senior fellow at MEI https://www.mei.edu/events/afghanistans-collapse-implications
11 a.m. — Atlantic Council press call: “The State of Play in Afghanistan,” with retired Gen. David Petraeus, former CIA Director and U.S. Afghanistan commander; and Barry Pavel, senior vice president, Atlantic Council. RSVP to [email protected]
12 p.m. — Hudson Institute virtual discussion: “Sustaining U.S. Microelectronics Leadership,” with Rep. Mikie Sherrill, D-N.J.; Air Force Chief Scientist Victoria Coleman; Jay Goldberg, CEO of D2D Advisory; Bryan Clark, director of the Hudson Center for Defense Concepts; and Dan Patt, adjunct fellow at the Hudson Center for Defense Concepts. https://www.hudson.org/events
8:30 p.m. EDT 6:30 p.m. MDT — Opening Ceremony for the Space Foundation 36th Space Symposium in Colorado Springs, Colo. Full agenda at https://www.spacesymposium.org/agenda
TUESDAY | AUGUST 24
8:30 a.m. — Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association virtual Federal Identity Forum and Expo, with Ken Kroupa, defense biometrics and forensics director in the Office of the Secretary of Defense/https://events.afcea.org/FedID21/Public/enter.aspx
10 a.m. — Brookings Institution virtual discussion: “How Veterans Can Protect American Democracy,” with former Coast Guard Commandant Jim Loy; former Navy Secretary Sean O’Keefe; retired Marine Corps Gen. Anthony Zinni, former commander in chief of U.S. Central Command; former Army Secretary Louis Caldera; Jeremy Butler, CEO of the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America; Susan Thaxton, chief programs officer at the Mission Continues; and Jake Harriman, CEO of More Perfect Union https://www.brookings.edu/events
10:30 a.m. EDT — Day two of the Space Foundation 36th Space Symposium in Colorado Springs, Colo, with Chief of Space Operations Gen. Jay Raymond; Bill Nelson, NASA administrator; Frank Kendall, Air Force Secretary; Christopher Scolese, director of the National Reconnaissance Office; Army Gen. James Dickinson, commander, U.S. Space Command; John Hill, DOD principal director for Space Policy; and Air Force Gen. John Hyten, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs. Full agenda at https://www.spacesymposium.org/agenda
12 p.m. — Hudson Institute virtual event: “Can We Prevent Further Calamity in Afghanistan?” with former national security adviser retired Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster; Robert Greenway, adjunct fellow, Amb. Husain Haqqani, senior fellow; and Nadia Schadlow, Hudson senior fellow. https://www.hudson.org/events
WEDNESDAY | AUGUST 25
10 a.m. — FedTalks virtual summit with John Sherman, acting Pentagon CIO, and others. https://www.fedscoop.com/events/fedtalks/
3 p.m. — National Security Alliance “Wednesday Wisdom” panel discussion: “Is the IC Staying Ahead of the Digital Curve?” with Elizabeth Leyne, chief of analysis for Iraq and the Arabian Peninsula at the Defense Intelligence Agency; Yvette Nonte, national defense strategy integrator for the Defense undersecretary for intelligence and security, warfighter support; and retired Army Lt. Gen. Robert Ashley, former director of the Defense Intelligence Agency. https://www.insaonline.org/event/is-the-ic-staying-ahead-of-the-digital-curve/
4:40 p.m. EDT — Day three of the Space Foundation 36th Space Symposium in Colorado Springs, Colo, with Lt. Gen. John Shaw, deputy commander of the U.S. Space Command, and Derek Tournear, director, Space Development Agency. Full agenda at https://www.spacesymposium.org/agenda
THURSDAY | AUGUST 26
11:45 a.m. EDT — Day four of the Space Foundation 36th Space Symposium in Colorado Springs, Colo, with Maj. Gen. Heather Pringle, commander, Air Force Research Laboratory, Air Force Materiel Command. Full agenda at https://www.spacesymposium.org/agenda
12 p.m. — Hudson Institute virtual discussion on China’s nuclear program with Navy Adm. Charles Richard, commander of U.S. Strategic Command; and Rebeccah Heinrichs, Hudson senior fellow. https://www.hudson.org/events/2001-virtual-event
FRIDAY | AUGUST 27
11:30 a.m. — Air Force Association virtual Nuclear Deterrence Forum on “the threat of Chinese and Russian nuclear stockpiles, the U.S. nuclear modernization effort, and the future of U.S. nuclear deterrence,” with Air Force Lt. Gen. Thomas Bussiere, deputy commander of U.S. Strategic Command. https://mitchellaerospacepower.org/event/nuclear-deterrence
12 p.m. — Hudson Institute virtual event: “Implementing Mosaic Warfare and Decision-Centric Operations,” with David Spirk, ODO Chief Data Officer; Tim Grayson, director, DARPA Strategic Technology Office; Bryan Clark, Hudson senior fellow; and Dan Patt, Hudson adjunct fellow. https://www.hudson.org/events
QUOTE OF THE DAY
“I think when this is over, the American people will have a clear understanding of what I did, why we did it. But, look, that’s the job. My job is to make judgments. My job is to make judgments no one else can or will make. I made them. I’m convinced I’m absolutely correct.”
President Joe Biden on Sunday, discussing progress in evacuating Americans and Afghan partners from Kabul.
