“The number of private military contractors operating in Afghanistan has dropped precipitously in recent months – the first specifics in an otherwise secretive withdrawal process and the surest sign yet that the Biden administration, unlike its predecessors, does not appear to be retaining any on-the-ground military support for its local allies after it leaves.”
“New documents prepared for Congress by the Defense Department show the total number of all kinds of contractors in Afghanistan has dropped by more than half in the last three months from almost 17,000 as of April to only 7,800 this month, with fewer than 2,700 Americans among them. The cuts are especially acute for private security contractors and for logisticians and mechanics, including the critical staff necessary to keep Afghanistan’s fledgling air force aloft. The Biden administration increasingly touts that force as one of the last remaining advantages the U.S.-backed local military has over the Taliban.
The dramatic reduction outlined in the latest Defense Department quarterly report follows President Joe Biden’s assertions that the Afghan military will have to operate on its own as it faces a growing onslaught from the Taliban, which now occupies or is challenging to take half of the country’s provincial capitals. However, the White House and Pentagon have few solid plans in place for how those forces will avoid collapse.”
“”We’re still working out what that contract support is going to look like,” Pentagon spokesman John Kirby told reporters earlier this month. “Many of those contractors are still there providing that kind of support to the Afghans and the Afghan air forces as you and I speak. And we are actively working ways in which that contract support can be done remotely or virtually or even physically outside the country.”
Among the other tactics the Biden administration has boasted in recent weeks is its decision to provide 37 additional Blackhawk helicopters to the Afghan air force to bolster its existing force. Yet, again, no clear plan is currently in place for who will maintain those sophisticated aircraft once the U.S. leaves.” msn.com
Comment: Well, pilgrims, there you have it, a sentence of death for the present Afghan government and the masses of people who will be condemned to live and die under Taliban rule. Why does anyone ever trust the US? Why? pl
Colonel,
I should imagine that this brings back bad memories of how the South Vietnamese were left to swing.
JerseyJeffersonian
They were doing all right in the two years after the completion of the US withdrawal. And then the US Congress passed a law that they would not be supported further in any way. Then confidence collapsed and so did they.
Message to contractors: get out right now. You can’t spend it if you are dead.
Many years ago I had acquaintances who contracted to provide aviation services in the Middle East. They told me that they always maintained “Plan B” in case of civil unrest.
That plan was to grab the nearest of the many airliners they maintained and crewed, load everyone plus full fuel and leave as surreptitiously as possible.
My father also taught me our own “Plan B” – never travel overseas without a return ticket and at least one thousand U.S dollars in cash next to your passport.
Biden again got his lurid imagery mixed up when he claimed “there would be no more evacuations off roofs of US Embassies.”
First question many ask when visiting “Saigon” today, where did they catch that last helicopter out, only to learn that enduring photo moment took place at some other building, and not at the former US Embassy building.
Biden needs to get our and travel more. Or hire a better PR person to write his made for TV sound bites.
I don’t think we can yet rule out a “Saigon moment” in Kabul.
Deap,
Why bother? The historical ignorance here in the US is profound (by design, as it can be re-written and no one will say boo), Biden is beyond hope, and furthermore, the Lame Stream Media, and Anti-social Media won’t let anything contradict The Narrative (ever-changing though it may be…shades of 1984).
As the old saw has it, “Never try to teach a pig to sing; it won’t work, and the pig won’t thank you for trying”.
So Afghanization train-and-equip consists of 37 Blackhawks and what – a plan to teach/conduct maintenance via Skype? This is the smallest of fig leaves to cover an abject abandonment. It’s pretty clear who the sacrificial lamb is to be this Eid.
This guy is keeping track of all Afghan materiel losses since June 2o21(only those with photographic evidence available), not a pretty sight:
https://www.oryxspioenkop.com/2021/06/disaster-at-hand-documenting-afghan.html?m=1
Keeping the airfields and bases intact, leaving behind military equipment and god knows what else in Bagram, hundreds of Humvees- and probably even a few APCs here and there- and now a couple of dozen UH-1s as the last soldiers are being extracted back home…why? The cynic in me tells me that Chairman Xi, Mullah Brother, Iranian proxies, Imran Khan’s marauders or whichever party decides to fill in as the last U.S. troop is out would surely make good use of them American-made loots.
I Dunno.
I’m so old I remember when il Trumpo merely hinted about the possibility closing down the Afghan operation the IC hounded him for being a Putin pet.
Now O’Biden comes up with this great wheeze. As if it’s new.
Can we now have our real President back?
(PS I misspoke. I’m a Brit. But this being Airstrip One, il Trumpo is still our President. And Brenda likes him too.)
Sorry. This should have gone on Harper’s post. Just that my slidey thing slipped.