Defeated in Kabul, Biden surrenders himself to the Taliban and is humiliated: that’s who is behind the attacks
Incredible in Washington: Biden relies on the Taliban and defends them (they have nothing to do with it). The US political and military leaders have entrusted the safety of their troops and the evacuation in Kabul to al-Qaeda allies . And now downloading to ISIS is convenient for everyone
It had been in the air for days and in the end, unfortunately, the final humiliation came. We had hypothesized a hostage crisis, as in Tehran in '79 -80, the bombs arrived.
The death toll in terms of human lives of the attacks that yesterday targeted the evacuation operations in progress at Kabul airport: at least 100 dead among Afghans who were looking for an escape from the Taliban regime, 13 American soldiers fallen (18 injured) – the bloodiest day for the US in Afghanistan in over 10 years.
With its incompetence, the Biden administration has managed to transform a withdrawal – questionable as much as one wants, but still motivated by a strategic rearrangement, not by a defeat on the ground – into a military and political defeat; worse, in a real national humiliation.
Too greedy for America's enemies the opportunity to show the world a superpower put to flight, bent and humiliated. I didn't let it slip away. America suffers a terrible attack from a terrorist group operating in a territory under the control of the Taliban. Does it remind you of anything? Yesterday al-Qaeda, today – and coincidentally on the twentieth anniversary of September 11 – this phantom Isis-K , the Afghan branch of Isis, whose role we will try to understand later. The Taliban again in power in Afghanistan. Historical courses and resorts, but this time it could and should have been avoided.
But let's start from the end of yesterday, with the incredible statements by the commander of CentCom , General McKenzie, and by President Biden himself in a confused and dramatic press conference. Statements that measure the operational chaos and conceptual failure of the US political and military leaders.
McKenzie makes it known that "US officials in Kabul have given the Taliban a list of names of American citizens, green card holders and Afghan collaborators to whom they can guarantee entry to the outside perimeter of the militant-controlled airport".
A madness. "Basically, they put all those Afghans on a black list," someone noted.
Second incredible statement: we are communicating with the Taliban to "make sure they know what we expect them to do to protect us and we will continue to coordinate with them"; we talked to him about "some roads to be closed around Kabul because the risk of a suicide bombing by Isis-K is high right now"; it is "since August 14" that we have been sharing intelligence information with the Taliban "to prevent suicide attacks".
While admitting he does not trust the Taliban, McKenzie later stated that there is "nothing to convince me" that the Taliban have let this ISIS-K attack in Kabul happen. Reason? Because "they share a common purpose", the US withdrawal by 31 August.
Common interest also reiterated by Biden at the press conference: "I have not seen any evidence of Taliban complicity" in the attacks, he said, defending the choice to rely on the Taliban for security in Kabul and around the airport, because it is also in the their interests contain Isis-K and obtain American withdrawal by 31 August.
Therefore, one fact is now confirmed by the White House's own admission: the US has relied on the Taliban for security in Kabul and around the airport. Their interest was that the retreat would be completed by 31 August, but not that everything went smoothly.
In fact, the Taliban and their allies (Haqqani Network and al-Qaeda) also had a vested interest in showing the world an America forced to flee from Afghanistan bleeding and humiliated. But how, one might ask, are gold bridges not built on the fleeing enemy? It depends…
Washington's decision to abandon the Bagram base turned out to be suicidal for two reasons. On the one hand, it made clear the irreversibility of the withdrawal and the release date: without Bagram, there was no longer a military option that would make a backtrack credible. On the other hand, without a secure base, the remaining US troops were in fact abandoned to their enemies, surrounded in a handkerchief of a few square kilometers. The US military and political leadership drew up and implemented a withdrawal plan that placed the safety of the troops and all those who were to be evacuated in the hands of the Taliban.
Now, the whole narrative is aimed at 'acquitting' the Taliban, with peaks of absolute tragicomicity. For days, very precise intelligence warnings have been leaked on the upcoming attacks, complete with prior attribution to ISIS. In the statements of Biden and General McKenzie yesterday, but also in several press articles, we find every kind of effort to paint the Taliban as 'collaborative', in order to try to justify the crazy choice of entrusting them with the security of the troops and evacuation operations in Kabul, to the point of sharing intelligence information with them. Even the Taliban are sworn enemies of Isis-K , you will hear repeatedly in these hours, as if they too are victims of jihadist terrorism and even our potential allies. An absurd thesis, but vastly less embarrassing for the Biden administration than having to admit that it trusted the Taliban and was betrayed.
Even if carried out by Isis-K , it remains difficult to imagine that such far-reaching attacks have not been facilitated by the Taliban, and above all by the highly efficient Haqqani Network, which has military control of Kabul and the airport perimeter. It would not be the first time that competing terrorist groups put aside their rivalries to strike America. Collaboration is now proven even between Iran and al-Qaeda, between Shiite and Sunni jihadists.
Like the Taliban, the Haqqani Network is still affiliated with al-Qaeda to this day. Incredible as it may seem, then, the Biden administration trusted the Haqqani Network and the Taliban – both al-Qaeda allies – in the absurd belief that they would prevent attacks on US troops, an easy target being engaged in evacuation operations to the Kabul airport. A sensational naivety.
Anyone who knows a little about the history of Afghanistan since the mid-1980s knows well that it is a mistake to draw clear boundaries between the different jihadist groups, which can sometimes appear in competition with each other. Between all these groups there is actually a large overlap, a gray area, if only because behind them is the ISI, the powerful Pakistani secret service, which has always supported the Taliban and the Haqqani Network in the war. to the legitimate Afghan government (without the Western powers ever asking Islamabad to account for it).
As the Trump administration's first national security adviser, General HR McMaster explained yesterday, "the Haqqani unmask the lie that there is a clear dividing line between the Taliban and other jihadist groups, especially al-Qaeda." And, he added, "I would not be surprised at all – indeed, I would be surprised if it were not so – if Isis-K had been used by the Haqqani Network to attack and humiliate us as we retreat."
In yesterday's claim, Isis-K reveals its agenda, the creation of the Islamic State of Khorasan in Afghanistan, threatens further attacks and actually seeks to delegitimize the Taliban by accusing them of collaborating with the US.
But far from boycotting the Taliban's return to power, their attacks consolidate it, as evidenced by the narrative of these hours, aimed at representing them too as victims, therefore implicitly "moderates" and even potential allies of the West in the fight against terrorism jihadist of Isis. It is therefore possible that, in order to facilitate a political recognition of the new Taliban regime by the West as a 'lesser evil', the Haqqani Network – and behind it the ISI – has left Isis-K a free hand.
In the mainstream analyzes we notice little awareness of the role of the Haqqani Network, of its history, of its extraordinary continuity over the decades, of its extension and transnational capacity for action. A role recalled yesterday by an article in the Wall Street Journal . Since the Taliban regained control of Kabul, the usually elusive Haqqani Network "has taken on a public role" in the Afghan capital. Its de facto leader, Sirajuddin Haqqani, son of Jalaluddin, the founder, worked closely with Osama bin Laden's lieutenant and al-Qaeda fighters in Afghanistan, according to documents recovered at the bin Laden compound in Pakistan. Today Sirajuddin is the military leader of the Taliban and his forces have been put in command of the security of Kabul.
Afghan officials, the Wall Street Journal recalls, have accused the Haqqani Network for years of facilitating deadly attacks on civilians by providing the local Islamic State affiliate – the same Isis-K that claimed responsibility for yesterday's attacks – technical assistance and access to criminal networks in Kabul, despite Isis and the Taliban being rivals. Heinous attacks, even against women and children, like the one on a maternity ward in May 2020.
A particularly important role around the Kabul airport, reports the WSJ , is played by an elite Taliban unit, Badri 313 , "among the best trained and best equipped forces operating in Afghanistan". The Taliban in recent days have published several videos of their militiamen guarding the airport with American weapons and equipment. The Haqqani Network also has a force called the Badri Army. Some US officials and intelligence officials from the now defunct Afghan Republic believe they are the same unit.
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This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Atlantico Quotidiano at the URL http://www.atlanticoquotidiano.it/quotidiano/disfatta-a-kabul-biden-si-consegna-ai-talebani-e-viene-umiliato-ecco-chi-ce-dietro-gli-attacchi/ on Fri, 27 Aug 2021 03:57:00 +0000.