It would seem very likely that the Taliban and the Haqqani group who are responsible for security in Kabul permitted the movement of whoever it was that attacked the Abbey Gate today.
That conspiracy against what the jihadis; Taliban, ISIS, ISIS-k, al-qa’ida, etc., see as the kuffar (us) and the murtad (apostates, i.e., Afghan Muslims who resist the jihadis) demonstrates the willingness of the jihadi groups to cooperate against the kuffar and murtad to demonstrate to the Islamic world what victory looks like. The jihadis hope this will generate a worldwide wave of recruitment and action that will cause the countries of the West to crumble as the Weimaresque Afghan government crumbled.
The Biden Administration clearly wanted to think that they could split off the Taliban from the other jihadi groups through their self interest in material goals such as international recognition, foreign aid money, access to the banking world, etc. In fact the jihadis want the destruction of what I have described as the post Treaty of Westphalia world of rule bound nation-states in favor of whatever version of sharia they favor in a world wide ‘umma (Islamic theocracy) Do they believe that is possible? They do.
Should we expect more and bigger attacks? We should. IMO the jihadis will now “pile on” in bigger and bigger attacks intended to halt air operations and force a surrender on the airfield to humiliate and destroy the will of the West to resist.
If Biden does not reinforce on the airfield, re-take Bagram air base, and begin to help the surviving anti-jihadi forces in the country, he should be removed from office and we can take our chance with the cackling one. pl
Amen! I work at the VA and my vets are stressing to the max about this humongus charlie-foxtrot.
“No plan survives contact with the enemy”. (Various attributions.)
But planning is essential. Dwight Eisenhower.
ISIS and AQ need this impunity to attack Sino-Russian BRI interest in the area. The Taliban turning their backs on the ETIM and TTP will jeopardize their legitimacy among jihadi groups. It won’t happen.
https://edition.cnn.com/2021/04/21/asia/pakistan-bomb-blast-chinese-ambassador-intl-hnk/index.html
https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/10-killed-including-chinese-pakistan-bus-accident-78834140
Biden the Butcher. He should do exactly as you recommend, however it appears the marxist element within the administration is determined to destroy what capabilities and international credibility we have at any cost.
“If Biden does not reinforce on the airfield, re-take Bagram air base, and begin to help the surviving anti-jihadi forces in the country, he should be removed from office and we can take our chance with the cackling one.”
In the current circumstances your recommendation would be the best, just like your recommendation in the debate some years back which if heeded we wouldn’t be in the current predicament.
Unfortunately, those both in political and governmental leadership under many administrations and parties including Trump, were more interested in rhetoric and the gravy train and not advise from people like you with a long track-record of having got the analysis correct. It should be apparent to anyone that those in power are not interested in common-sense approaches to policy that further the interests of the nation but instead use smoke-screens to obscure their real intent which in many ways boils down to the personal benefits of power, status and wealth that accrue to the Swamp class.
The only question that remains is if the American people ever wakeup to the fact that the fascist Party of Davos who control all levers of power care nothing about their interests at all?
So the whole “fight them over there so we don’t have to fight them over here” seems to be going up in smoke? After 20 years “ISIS-K” is able to reconstitute itself immediately.
scotts
I never subscribed to that view. I was weened off counterinsurgency in the 70s when I did it a lot. My prescription for Afghanistan has always been that once we broke the back of the Taliban government we should NOT have tried to make something of them. It was not worth the cost. We should have maintained a lodgment at Bagram for the purpose of hunting down and killing the jihadi leaders, just the leaders, nothing more.
Built back better! Or just a new narrative to provide CYA for the people who should get the Admiral Byng treatment.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Byng
Scott –
ISIS-K better known as Islamic State-Khorasan Province (ISKP) has only been in business for six years, not 20. According to the UN counter-terrorism office, CSIS, and FAS they were originally Pashtuns of the TTP the Pakistani branch of the Taliban who were pushed west out of Pakistan’s Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA). But they were joined by Afghan Taliban hardliners especially from the Haqqanis, from the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU), and from some Kashmiri jihadi groups.
They were reportedly “nearly eradicated” in their main base in eastern Afghanistan in late 2019 by U.S. and Afghan military offensives. So they decentralized and some joined the Taliban forces. The US still considered them a threat after the decentralization. They have claimed numerous large-scale bombings against civilians, mainly targeting Shia Hazaras.
And they were responsible for the May 2021 bombing of a girls’ school in Kabul. So they obviously have a footing and probably allies in Kabul. My suspicion is that those allies are within the Haqqani Network, who some have reported are manning checkpoints near the airports.
Thanks to ” T ” for this very helpful diagram of the various sects/branches of Islam – good to print out and keep handy, as I suspect we will need to keep sorting this all out in our very near future:
https://www.informationisbeautiful.net/visualizations/islamic-sects-schools-branches-movements/
I’m inclined to think that those who want chaos are behind these bombings. Any number of the Taliban’s enemies would love to false flag an attack on the airport to get the US to do their bidding. It makes little sense for the Taliban to have done this. They win by doing NOTHING.
EEngineer
No. No. They want to humiliate and defeat us.
Col. Lang,
Thank you for all you do.
As we face “Alice in Wonderland” events since Jan 20, 2021,
consider the following, viewing the geopolitical chessboard from 30,000 ft.
Given we (US) have a braindead POTUS, who could be replaced by his VP, who could then select HRC as VP.
Timeline:
Mon., Sept. 6, US Labor Day Holiday
Tues., Sept. 7, Jewish New Year, Rosh Hashanah
Sat., Sept. 11, 20th Anniv of 9/11
Mon. Sept. 13, Taiwan Military drills
Tues. Sept. 14, Calif. Gov Re-Call Election (Newsome in trouble)
Thurs. Sept. 16, Jewish Day of Atonement, Yom Kippur.
In my SPECULATIVE OPINION, the logical moves for Xi, Vlad & Iran, given seasonal conditionality for such a move, are to move in a coordinated fashion between now & Sept 16:
China moves on Taiwan;
Vlad moves vs. Donbass;
Iran moves vs. Israel.
FWIW( I hope it DOES NOT HAPPEN)!!!!
The following “woke” meme of Gen. Milley depicts how the world now views the truly retarded and treasonous US Pentagon leadership:
https://www.naturalnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Gen-Milley-Woke-Meme.jpg
Under the leadership of treasonous, overfed military bureaucrats like Milley, the Pentagon has collapsed into a pathetic joke. The current US “president” Joe Biden is a cognitively neutered dementia patient. The regime’s policies on economics, border control and covid are catastrophic beyond imagination. Even many Democrats are now missing Trump and his “mean tweets,” as at least when Trump was tweeting mean things, gasoline was affordable, supply lines worked and US Marines weren’t getting blown up in Kabul….MORE:
https://www.naturalnews.com/2021-08-26-afghanistan-collapse-signals-world-nations-to-abandon-the-petro-dollar.html
>Vlad moves vs. Donbass;
Please explain to me and all there present how do you envision that. I really, really want to know.
Because currently there is a position warfare ala the Western Front in Donbass. Nothing big happens.
Oh, and btw – “Vlad” is short for “Vladislav”, not “Vladimir”.
Am I correct in thinking this is the worst IS attack on US forces ever and the second worst single event loss of life in Afghanistan? And the jihadists still have 5 days left to improve on that. So much for Biden’s knock on wood plan.
Gen. McKenzie’s just made it very clear in the Pentagon press briefing that he intends to continue to work with the Taliban. He was directly asked whether they could have deliberately let the bomber through and said he has no evidence of this. All good then. I think there will be some very pissed Marines on the last flights out.
In a sane world no president would survive a fiasco of this magnitude. But when I look at the op-ed’s it’s clear we left sane way back:-
WaPo: “Biden made the hard choice in Afghanistan, and the right one” and
NYT: “Let’s Not Pretend That the Way We Withdrew From Afghanistan Was the Problem”
The levels of incompetence here are seriously bordering on treasonous:
https://www.politico.com/news/2021/08/26/us-officials-provided-taliban-with-names-of-americans-afghan-allies-to-evacuate-506957
The Biden administration literally gave the Taliban a hit-list. I’m still processing this information. It might require whiskey…
According to the BBC, ISIS – K who apparently claim responsibility for the blast, reckons that the Taliban have sold out on jihad. They are also alleged to be tied to the Haqani network and a Haqani is alleged to be in charge of airport security on the Taliban side. A pox on all of them.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-58333533
Because ISIS wouldn’t be able to blend in with 10,000 civilians crowding the gate without Taliban complicity.
“The first person I was instructed to call upon”
Joe Biden, press conference on the Terror Attack in Kabul. 1/26/21
Just who is instructing the President and why does he need “instruction”. What a disgrace.
Fred
Before “Biden” issues and more orders down the chain of command it would be nice to know who the commander(s?) in chief actually are. One thing is at least clear; he/she/they sure as hell weren’t voted into office to perform that role. Does the Constitution have a remedy for this situation?
Barbara Ann,
Impeachment.
Nancy Pelosi closed down the House pretty fast, changed the subject and fled out of town, just to make sure no motions for impeachment would or could come forth.
And the Republicans did what?
Republicans got out-voted. That is what they did.
Biden on the TV just now talking about our “mutual self interest” with the taliban got an ironic laugh out of me, and then I left the room.
This could well end up with a big wheel of bombers with PGMs trying to hold the perimeter. Hopefully they have some assets which are minutes-not-hours away. The success of the entire plan is hinging upon the *forbearance of the taliban*? (rhetorical)
Re:
Retake Bagram
Didn’t Biden say the generals concluded it
Was a bad idea to use it? Is this true?
Never understood why they abandoned it.
Someone demanded a choice be made – protect Embassy or protect Bagram, but not sufficient resources to do both. Bagram sacrificed and Embassy immediately fell. Lose lose. That is Biden’s art of the deal.
The humiliation continues to get worse and the end of the month cannot come sooner.
Expect this narrative to get further traction.
“The Taliban are also victims of terrorism. Instead of asking them to ‘do more’, the US should provide them assistance in the form of humanitarian aid. They could also use military aid in the form of service and spares for all the captured equipment to aid them in their fight against isiskay. The Taliban might then consider awarding our PTB with Hilal-e-Taliban, their highest civilian honor.”
The Taliban have lived up to their name and have truly learned well from their handlers, and they will have great luck in fleecing us.
It is also a failing strategy to identify these perpetrators by different labels just to tactically absolve those who we expect to cultivate. Syria was a good example of this type of corporate makeover for terror groups where they respin themselves with a new appellation at the drop of a hat. There is an alphabet soup of terror organizations with the same cast of foot soldiers and those pulling the strings. The isiskay in all probability is just a convenient fiction to mask actors in the Haqqani network and nothing else. The Iranians must be scratching their heads with the Khorasan reference.
End of the month we will be on another news cycle, and the AZ Audit smears will take the front pages. Public is fickle and feckless.
It seems to me that it’s very likely there’s a large amount of free agency in a place like that and the Taliban is probably not quite as vertically integrated as many here think. In fact I’ve thought from decades ago that American perceptions of Muslim activists being part of some larger organization, which control the actions of various splinter groups who share a common anti western ideology, is faulty thinking. It understandable that we do this; our world is composed of governments, companies, etc which are vertically integrated.
Tolstoy explained that in “War and Peace” in his discussion of free agency as the driver of what appeared to the French to be an organized effort to attack and destroy the retreating Grande Armee.
A. Pols
Islamic groups organize themselves by networking not as we do in the West.
Yes
We also gave these people a list of names of Americans and Afghans that are to be evacuated. I feel terrible for those Afghans that we were foolish enough to inform the Taliban about, they will be murdered or simply “disappeared” by these savages.
I was an 18 year old Marine once. Eventually moved to the ANG Officer corp but I loved the USMC and absolutely these men who died today with all my heart. Didn’t have to happen. The plan was flawed for obvious reasons but Kabal should have been electronic mined like the NK border. Mine it and warn them. Do not proceed. The mines can be flipped on if they get to close. Blow them up then hone in with CAS. Re-mine if needed and more CAS. They would have cut and run. Make a wall out of their dead for good measure and this is OVER.
“No…NO…They want to Humiliate and Defeat Us..” Colonial Lang Said above…and Thats The Eternal Truth…We Saw what every one of these Groups have done from Beruit..to any American they could Kill…from the Embassy…to the CIA..to Hijacking …to Several Hundred Marines…Blown up…To any Target they could find.
With .Seething…Sadistic Religious..Hatred..of The “Great Satan”…and the Infidels..We have paid for it….AlQuadda,,on 9/11…and for All the Killings..in Afghanastan..When we wesponded…and killed May Taliban…and for Our Pay Backs..in Pakistan..where Bin Laden was Stashed..to The recent payback to ..by anyone who wanted to honor ISIS…..who wanted pay backs for Our Operators..Killing Bin Laden…..and ..Kill Shots on I anian…Iraqi..Syrian.Leaders….. and Other World Bad Guys….(Black Ops..) Any one seeking Blood “Revenge”,,will Call themselfs any name they want to Use..Consider…Islam has a End Time Objective..Prophecy Fufilled…World Domination…BY…”ISLAM”.and Continue…Its…”Jihad.” Even more Honorable for them..When they can look the Enemy in the Eye…As they did today..Unhindered REVENGE…
Folks, the wicked witch of the west does not want this sh*t pinned on her!
IMHO, she will not take over until the 2022 elections which are looking really bad for the dems or she is forced by events.
ISIS-K or their facilitators used OSINT to plan the attacks in Kabul. Both Abbey Gate and Baron Hotel had been reported by all the US news media. ISIS or the Haqqanis and other jihadis are using that media reporting. All major news organizations reporting on this withdrawal should be subject to military censorship if they can’t be more selective themselves about what they disclose.
Save Bagram AFB or Kabul Embassy? – Biden engages in historical revisionism:
https://dailycaller.com/2021/08/26/joe-biden-generals-bagram-afghanistan-taliban/
Didn’t Trump get into his worst troubles when he threw staffers under the bus and they came back with a vengeance, writing tell all books? I thought Biden would be more seasoned than throw his top military staff under the bus.
The president actively works for our nations failure,and he has much help.Its hard to understand why someone who has lived such a favored life could hate us so much.Impeachment would be a great start.I pray for those Marines,Corpsman and Soldiers,thanks,mark
Re: IS-K.
“Khorasan” was originally a Persian term (dating back to Sassanid times) for the regions surrounding modern-day Afghanistan, roughly spanning from the Amu Darya river basin in the north to the Safed Koh mountain range in the south. The name entered Arabic vocabulary around the time of the Muslim conquest in the 7th century, and has now been taken up by IS’s regional chapter. Some Pashtun nationalists especially like to use the term “Khorasani” as a slur against Tajiks and other Persian speakers who they see as trying to marginalize their role in the country, or even try tp “balkanize” it.
There’s a supposed hadith from Prophet Muhammad chronicled by Hakim al-Nishapuri in the 10th century, that foretells Khorasan as the place where the Dajjal (anti-Christ like figure) will arrive at the end of days. Which is some pretty compelling imagery, if you happen to be an apocalyptic death cult hanging around the neighbourhood.
The IS-K is that apocalyptic death cult.
Another hadith from al-Tirmidhi compilation mentions “an army of black flags” that will “march from Khorasan and not stop until it reaches Jerusalem”. This kind of imagery features quite prominently in IS propaganda.
Lytenburgh
Interesting, didn’t know about Khorasan featuring that way in the Hadith. Apocalyptic death cult is exactly right. Dabiq, ISIS’ glossy online magazine was named after the place in northern Syria where they consider the battle of the End Times is to happen. It seems incredible now, but ISIS actually occupied Dabiq until they were ejected during Operation Euphrates Shield in 2016.
If ISIS ever look like getting as far as Jerusalem New Testament apocalyptic cultists among the Evangelicals would be rapturous. They consider Megiddo (the root of “Armageddon”) in northern Israel the site of the final battle. Thankfully for we non-cultists, the death cult has been vastly reduced and the apocalypse put off for the time being.
Lytenburgh – Khorasan is also home to what used to be one of the most vibrant cultural cities in in the world – Herat.
Known as the Pearl of Khorasan, Herat had a Renaissance that predated the Italian Renaissance and it rivaled Florence. At its peak 500 years ago it had more artists, poets, and scholars than any other place in the world. It was also a center for astronomy, mathematics and medicine.
And now what? IS-Khorasan gives us incels and suicide vests.
My theory on the “American citizens” that are stuck in Afghanistan: they are all Afghan-born and refused to leave because they were making too much money and were blinded by greed. They refused to believe the gravy train was ending. Unlike President Ashraf Ghani, these American citizens do not have access to a private jet in order to fly out the suit cases of hard cash stolen over the past twenty years
Col. Lang, am I wrong to believe that the Taliban as Government of Afghanistan will ultimately be swayed by access to money? Either ours, the Saudis, Russians, etc.?
‘
I cannot think of any continuous Government that has survived without paying attention to funding Even the commie Chinese during the Vietnam war would only deal in US dollars and looked at you like an idiot if you suggested otherwise.
Could the current situation (except ISIS – K.) be turned into a better story by the generousi application of someone else’s money?
Yes, I know it would be more honourable and mentally comfortable for some to blow the daylights out of all of them. What is our least worse solution??
walrus
They will be offered enough money by someone to limp along as a government for the emirate without sacrificing their “principles.” A government for a medieval entity does not requite the rich funding that the “” Afghan state did.
Here is some useful insight into ISIS-K origins, history and current leadership from Pepe Escobar. ISIS broadly seems to have benefitted from movement of members from Syria through a “rat line” to Afghanistan. I am not seeing most of this information elsewhere.
https://asiatimes.com/2021/08/who-profits-from-the-kabul-suicide-bombing/
Might I ask about this section? –
Even the BBC reported in late 2017 on hundreds of ISIS jihadis given safe passage out of Raqqa, and out of Syria, right in front of the Americans.”
It was common practice in Syria for Jihadi forces to be offered safe transport elsewhere. The Russians or Syrians did it a lot. It saved a final direct attack. Buses were taking Jihadis who’d accepted such an offer from all over Syria to Idlib.
I had thought the Jihadis offered safe conduct from Raqqa were offered it because the same practice had been adopted there, though in that case the transport was not to Idlib.
It’s a little while ago now, but if those events are offered as corroborative evidence for other statement Escobar makes it’d be worth clearing the point up.
THANKS, honored Colonel.
Is a plot like this too crooked to be real?
1. Drug-addled Hunter Biden’s laptops showed JOE Biden’s crimes: $$ Millions in BRIBES from deals in Ukraine + CHINA.
GrabbyJoe is so scurvy that he exploited both his kids for his own illegal profit.
2. China gained POWER over Biden bc of his desperate need to hide his corrupt $$$.
3. Biden–against all reason—-abandoned $83 Billions of TECH + WEAPONS in Afghanistan for China to reverse engineer.
4. GrabbyJoe Biden’s lifetime of THEFT caused the catastrophic collapse of US military, technical, and intelligence advantage, and whatever moral respect the U.S. had left.
Worse, he left vulnerable civilians and brave soldiers to danger and death—and now ridiculously harder fighting.
Thanks to all who shed more light on Khorasan.
National Review explains Biden’s arbitrary cap of 500-600 troops in Afghanistan prevented the military from protecting both the Embassy and Bagram AFB – so Biden ditched Bagram, concluding it had little strategic value and put his emphasis on protecting the Embassy.
No mention of Secy of State Blinken’s role in this decision, or what VP Harris advised as the door to the Oval Office closed behind her:
https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/why-exactly-did-we-abandon-bagram-air-base/?utm_source=recirc-desktop&utm_medium=article&utm_campaign=right-rail&utm_content=top-stories&utm_term=fifth
Finally, a man brave enough to take a stand. Lt. Col. Stuart Scheller, USMC has fallen on his sword calling out the higher command for not falling on theirs. The moral high ground has been seized by a man of honor. It is a very good start.
https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2021/08/27/marine-officer-who-questioned-generals-over-afghanistan-is-relieved-of-duty/