U.S. allies and NATO push Biden to extend Afghanistan airlift beyond August 31
The Taliban says that's a red line.
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US "deal" w Talis to allow evacuation in danger over 31 August deadline
- Thread starter mandrill
- Start date
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CIA director met secretly with Taliban leader in Kabul: report
CIA Director William Burns met with the Taliban’s leader, Abdul Ghani Baradar, on Monday, U.S. officials familiar with the matter told The Washington Post. The Post reported that discussions likely…
thehill.com
Biden holds to Kabul Aug. 31 deadline despite criticism
U.S. President Joe Biden says he will stick with his Aug. 31 deadline for finishing a U.S.-led evacuation of Americans, at-risk Afghans and others.
apnews.com
Taliban talking to former Afghan president about new government: report
The Taliban have reportedly reached out to former Afghan President Hamid Karzai in an apparent attempt to fulfill the insurgent group’s pledge of creating an “inclusive” gove…
thehill.com
Pundit claims Talis funded their operations from selling mining rights to China, foreign contributions and sales of heroin.
I'm sure that it's absolute chaos at Kabul airport, but The Sun is famous for its hit jobs on the Liberal government and it's use of "sources on the spot" is often code for "we're making this bullshit up" at The Sun.
Well, Russia and the US have both tried funding and controlling Afghans, maybe its China's turn.
Good luck.
UN receives reports of summary executions by Taliban – DW – 08/24/2021
UN human rights chief Michelle Bachelet says her office has credible reports of serious violations by the Taliban. They include summary executions, blocking girls from attending school and recruitment of child soldiers.
www.dw.com
WHO says it only has enough medical supplies in Afghanistan to last a week
At least 18 million Afghans, roughly half the total population, were in need of humanitarian assistance as of last month.
www.axios.com
The mining rights seems unlikely - or at least old news - I thought they sold those in 2007.
The deadline thing is tricky.
The Taliban wants the US out, but the US has strong incentive to stay until they have all the people they intend to evacuate out.
The frozen funds means there is leverage to use on the Taliban.
I suspect some kind of agreement will be reached that will be specified as to who qualifies as someone the US can get and then they will just keep the same pace until they get those people.
That does mean there will be some kind of arbitrary line of "you don't qualify to be airlifted" (for Afghans primarily) and that is going to cause a lot of nasty shit as people right close to that line try desperately to qualify anyway.
The Taliban wants the US out, but the US has strong incentive to stay until they have all the people they intend to evacuate out.
The frozen funds means there is leverage to use on the Taliban.
I suspect some kind of agreement will be reached that will be specified as to who qualifies as someone the US can get and then they will just keep the same pace until they get those people.
That does mean there will be some kind of arbitrary line of "you don't qualify to be airlifted" (for Afghans primarily) and that is going to cause a lot of nasty shit as people right close to that line try desperately to qualify anyway.
I fear the Taliban will apply the "Stalin Formula" to anyone that they consider "tainted". They are probably digging mass graves as we speak. This might mean every girl/woman who ever attended school in the last 20 years. On the other hand, women might/could have value to the Taliban as concubines/sex slaves/baby factories.
I doubt they will mass kill women. They will simply confine them to their houses, make them wear burkas and marry them off at 13 years.
There is a lot we don't know. Until today, I did not realize that the T's were cooperating with the evac. There are conflicting reports on how chaotic the evac is. No one knows what the criteria are. The different western nations are not recognizing or assisting each other's protegees, it's being suggested. And the right wing news sources have every incentive to distort or exaggerate their reports to make the admin look bad.
The western nations could fortify Kabul airport, or another area in Ghan. The problem is that the T's can as easily block access of anyone to the airport, thus creating a classic standoff.
So I am guessing as well that the West will pay the T's off in $$$$ or humanitarian aid to get a better deal.
One idea is that we give the Taliban Margaret Taylor Green and Lauren Boebert in return for whatever they will give us in return..... goats? Figs?
It is almost like a mass evacuation at the end of a war is really complicated or something.
Who knew!?
There are also rival groups that aren't pro-Taliban that could take shots at the airport because the Taliban want this to go smoothly (more or less) and so causing chaos will force the Taliban to have to deal with more shit.
The news reports being distorted isn't just going to come from the RW media wanting Biden to take a loss, the MSM has a bit of "we have to prove we weren't unfair to Trump" they want to do. But more than that, they really hate giving up a narrative once they have it, and "It is ALL CHAOS" is what they went with hard. They are not going to change that until they absolutely have to. (The numbers of reporters hoping for some people to get killed because bloodshed and maybe the troops staying or some civil war is better ratings are probably low, thank heavens.)
Afghanistan: G-7 fails to get US to extend evac deadline – DW – 08/24/2021
At an emergency G-7 summit, US allies pushed Washington to keep troops in Afghanistan beyond next Tuesday in order to facilitate evacuation flights. But President Biden is refusing to budge.
www.dw.com
