Harold Pease, Ph.D.

It is one o’clock p.m. Mountain Standard Time August 26, 2021, and news of 13 American slaughtered servicemen and perhaps over 150 civilian casualties in Kabul, Afghanistan flood the airways. This happened five hours ago and America still awaits a comment of compassion or direction from Joe Biden or any other elected Democrat in leadership. Apparently two separate suicide bombers did the deed making this day the most Americans killed in this war in almost a decade. All this while people are fleeing for their lives from the country totally abandoned by the Biden/Harris Administration.

The day before the bombings, Biden’s approval rating was 41%. By the time this column is in print it is destined to descend into the thirties because of these deaths. No US presidential administration has been so inept and America is seeing it in real time. One example of ineptitude was the Secretary of State presenting the Taliban with a list naming those the State Department wanted the Taliban to allow passage through their barriers to escape Afghanistan—in effect a kill list.. The Taliban now know who helped America. These the Taliban could murder, torture, or hold for ransom. We betrayed those who assisted us.

The middle of the night abandonment of Bagram Air Base, one of the most secure airports in the world, guaranteed the subsequent fall of Afghanistan. This mistake was amplified by our NOT first pulling out all American civilians, then Afghans who assisted America, then our military equipment, and last our American troops. Instead Biden had the military run first. Democrats alone are responsible for these four apparent treasonist decisions. Those voting for the Biden/Harris presidency bear responsibility. None of this would have happened under Trump.

Leaving $90 billion of our weapons in enemy hands put the Taliban terrorists on steroids. It potentially made them one of the best equipped military powers in the world and undoubtedly these same weapons could be used against us in the future. Perhaps the most troubling of the new power we bestowed on the Taliban terrorists was 16,000 pairs of night vision goggles. Previously we alone had the power to fight in the dark. This was a devastating blow to our special forces. The most troubling technology left behind for the Afghan citizens is the 7,000 biometric scanners that are now used to hunt down those that helped us; virtually everyone who worked with the Afghan government for the past 20 years. This is a crime against humanity.

Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin, Ill, on August 26, 2021 informed America that, “the evacuation operation continues in Kabul, Afghanistan. Yesterday, August 24th, 19,000 more personnel were evacuated, bringing the totals to 82,900 since the end of July.” The day after, we learned that, “over 4,400 Americans have now been evacuated from Afghanistan” (Pentagon, Lucas Tomlinson@LocasFoxNews, August. 25, 2021).

So the Pentagon admitted that out of 82,900 they boarded on planes and removed from harms way in Afghanistan, the vast majority were Afghans—only 4,400 Americans were rescued as of August 25, 2021 Why weren’t these numbers reversed and Americans taken out first? Of course these numbers changed daily to August 29, when the last planes, on Biden’s order, exited Kubul two days earlier than Biden’s own deadline of August 31, 2021. But the proportion of Americans to Afghans did not and potentially thousands of American citizens remain trapped, betrayed, and abandoned behind enemy lines. Not a single American was on the last five jets to leave Kabul airport because they could not get to the airport and Biden offered no other plan for their evacuation.

All the above is terrifying to most Americans but it gets worse. We have subsequently learned that the Taliban gave Biden the choice of having Americans or the Taliban control Kabul prior to Taliban occupancy August 31. Biden chose the Taliban.

When it became obvious that our military, under Biden, had no plans to rescue Americans other than those who could make it to the Kabul airport before August 31, despite Taliban resistance, and none for Americans scattered throughout the country, embarrassed and irate retired American military personnel began forming to assist. They were confounded when the State Department refused permission and blocked their every effort. Volunteer vets began assisting without permission. One such group called “Pineapple Express” rescued close to 700 Americans by August 30 in secret missions and intend to continue. “We promised these people,” they said, and invited anyone to contact them, www.operationrecovery.org, should they wish to assist.

Non military American religious and humanitarian groups, also embarrassed and irate, reached deep into their pockets and collectively donated millions of dollars to assist. Prominent among these was the Nazarene Fund founded by Glenn Beck and David Barton. They focused on Afghan Christians who would be killed under the Taliban, rescuing over 5,000 thus far (contact the Nazarene Fund to see if you wish to help). Once again “the U.S. State Department blocked every effort, at one time cancelling seven flights of passengers already loaded and seated in the planes ready for take off. The State Department even called ahead to friendly nations advising them not to let these refugee planes land in their country,” reported David Barton. Thereafter the group no longer sought permission but landed with their people notifying the State Department only after landing. Such groups, military and non-military, have been ordered to “cease and desist all operations.” They refuse.

Biden will never survive Afghanistan politically. The only thing slowing his removal from office, which will result via impeachment, the 25 Amendment, or his demise, is that Kamala Harris is viewed as also inept given her southern border fiasco of a previously once secure border. Once again, Biden voters must bear responsibility for the Afghanistan debacle. They put him in.