Daniel Greenfield, a Shillman Journalism Fellow at the
Freedom Center, is an investigative journalist and writer focusing on
the radical Left and Islamic terrorism.
Americans are dead and our credibility is in ruins. Meanwhile the man
at the top of the military chain of command is blaming everyone else
while using the dead for political cover.
When Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III appeared before the
Senate Armed Services Committee, he suggested that any criticism of his
disaster in Afghanistan would impugn the heroism of American soldiers
who fought and died in the war. It was a shameless performance in which
Austin blamed everyone else while using the soldiers he sacrificed as
human shields.
Indian intelligence sources revealed that the ISIS-K suicide bomber
who murdered 13 American military personnel at the Kabul airport had
been released from Bagram Air Base by the Taliban.
The decision to pull out of Bagram had been reached at a secret meeting in the Pentagon’s “extreme basement” attended by Austin, Gen. Milley, and Secretary of State Blinken.
Any final decision would have had to be signed off by Biden and by Austin.
It’s understandable that Austin keeps coming up with excuses for the
disaster that led to the death of more American personnel in one day
than in the last two years of war in Afghanistan.
Austin is at the top of the military chain of command and answers
only to the man in the Oval Office. No one is more responsible for the
military disaster in Afghanistan than Austin except for the man who gave
him his orders. But it was Austin who promised Senate members that if
he were confirmed, he would speak his mind and stand up to Joe Biden.
“I certainly wouldn’t be here if I believed the last four years of my
life left me too familiar with current operations to change course when
needed, too close to scrutinize people with whom I once served, or too
afraid to speak my mind to you or to the President,” Austin had assured
the Senate Armed Service Committee during his confirmation hearing.
It was one of the many broken promises that Austin left in his wake
during his brief tenure. The Secretary of Defense had promised to end
the war in Afghanistan “on terms favorable to the United States”, had
assured that, “Afghan security forces have the capability and capacity
to project security and stability in Afghanistan in 2021 and beyond”,
and that he would work to “ensure that the U.S. military and our Afghan
partners have the capacity and capability necessary to protect U.S.
personnel, our allies and partners, and our interests.”
Austin vowed to represent national interests, to be independent and
flexible, and to keep American soldiers and civilians in Afghanistan and
in the United States safe.
As the Afghanistan disaster unfolded, Austin showed off all of his abandoned promises.
He explained that he could not rescue the Americans trapped behind
enemy lines. “I don’t have the capability to go out and extend
operations currently into Kabul.” Austin acknowledged that Americans
were being assaulted by the Taliban. “We’re also aware that some people,
including Americans, have been harassed and even beaten by the
Taliban.” he admitted, but all he had to offer was a protest that he had
registered with “the designated Taliban leader.”
In eight months under Austin’s leadership, U.S. military forces had
gone from a dominant force to being unable to stop the Taliban from
beating Americans in the streets of Kabul.
This disgraceful betrayal was implemented by Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin.
No single military figure had done as much to radicalize the
military, undermine military readiness, shatter international alliances,
and destroy America’s credibility abroad.
Austin’s opening statement at his confirmation hearing made no
mention of Afghanistan or the Taliban, or even Al Qaeda, ISIS, and
terrorism. Instead he vowed to fight the “enemies” that “lie within our
own ranks” and “rid our ranks of racists and extremists” by which he
meant anyone who wasn’t on board with critical race theory and the rest
of his radical leftist agenda.
In February, Austin held his first press conference at which he
discussed the Biden administration’s illegal military occupation of
Washington D.C. He also mentioned that, “I told our allies that no
matter what the outcome of our review, the United States will not
undertake a hasty or disorderly withdrawal from Afghanistan.”
NATO allies were promised that, “There will be no surprises. We will
consult each other, consult together and decide together and act
together.” As the British and other NATO allies have made clear, there
was no consultation and there were no joint decisions. Instead Biden and
Austin made disastrous unilateral moves while leaving the nations that
had aided us holding the bag.
But Austin was spending far more time fighting conservatives in the
military than fighting the enemy. While white personnel were being told
that they were oppressors, and minority personnel were encouraged to
believe that they were victims of white racism, the planning for a full
evacuation from Afghanistan was being pushed off as it was an
unimportant matter.
Defense Secretary Austin kept sloganeering about “a responsible and
sustainable end to this war” and promised, “we want to do this
methodically and deliberately”. Instead, he abandoned Bagram Air Base,
cutting off the only safe evacuation route, and pulled all but 600
military personnel out, only to rush troops back at the last minute for a
“hasty” and “disorderly withdrawal”.
Austin had also promised that U.S. military weapons wouldn’t fall into the hands of the Taliban.
“We’re going to responsibly retrograde all of our capabilities,”
Austin had falsely promised. “We’re going to account for all the people
and resources that are working with us.”
Instead, Austin left the Taliban as the best armed Sunni Jihadist group on the planet.
While Austin was vowing to fight all the “racists and extremists” in the military, he was ignoring a report to
the Pentagon’s Inspector General which warned that “Al Qaeda is gaining
strength in Afghanistan while continuing to operate with the Taliban
under the Taliban’s protection” and that “Al Qaeda capitalizes on its
relationship with the Taliban through its network of mentors and
advisers who are embedded with the Taliban, providing advice, guidance,
and financial support.”
Al Qaeda functioned in relation to the Taliban the way that America
did to the Afghan government as an embedded supportive force providing
money and strategic insights. The Taliban had not only failed to turn on
Al Qaeda, but the terrorist group that had attacked America on
September 11 was playing the role of the wizards behind the Taliban
curtain.
In response to Senate questions, Austin wrote that the “Taliban have
agreed to take concrete steps to ensure that al Qaeda never again is
able to use Afghanistan’s soil to threaten the security of the United
States or our allies. If confirmed, I will review the Taliban’s progress
toward implementing their commitments with regard to al Qaeda.”
The Taliban implemented their commitments to Al Qaeda, not to Austin.
The Haqqani Network, longtime Al Qaeda allies, control Kabul and the
terrorist group freely operates in Afghanistan.
“We are committed to a responsible and sustainable end to this war
while preventing Afghanistan from becoming a safe haven for terrorist
groups that threaten the interest of the United States and our allies,”
Austin had said. But the report to the Pentagon IG had already made it
clear that Taliban control over Afghanistan would mean the return of Al
Qaeda.
What happened wasn’t a surprise, it was inevitable.
“The whole community is kind of watching to see what happens and
whether or not al Qaeda has the ability to regenerate in Afghanistan,”
Austin told reporters during his post-defeat tour.
As usual, he was late to the party.
“We put the Taliban on notice that we expect them to not allow that
to happen,” he said, referring to Al Qaeda using Afghanistan to launch
attacks against the United States. The “notice” will be as effective as
the one about the Taliban beating Americans at checkpoints.
But Austin had made it his priority to use the military against
fellow Americans, whether in Washington D.C. or within the ranks of the
military, while betraying Americans to the Taliban.
“This all occurred in a span of about 11 days. Nobody predicted that, you know, the government would fall in 11 days,” Austin whined during an ABC News interview.
Every Biden administration official had latched on the same dishonest talking point.
As the Washington Post noted, “On Sept. 27, 1996, Taliban
forces captured Kabul overnight, flooding in from all directions after a
15-day sweep of the country.” There were plenty of intelligence
estimates warning of a rapid Taliban takeover. But Austin didn’t have to
wait until there were only 11 days left. What was he doing since Kamala
Harris swore him in on Jan 25?
Where were all those “responsible” and “methodical” plans he had been promising all along?
Instead of planning how to keep Americans safe, Austin spent those
months waging war on Americans with a militarization of Washington D.C.
and with a purge of the military. And when 13 American military
personnel died because of his actions at the Kabul airport, the dead
heroes proved to be men and women, white and Latino, who represented the
spectrum that Austin was trying to divide with the big lies of critical
race theory and a hunt for “extremists”.
The real extremists were Austin, Milley, and Biden.
Like most leftists, Secretary of Defense Austin could not take the
idea of an external enemy seriously. Radicals striving to take power
focus all their efforts on fighting internal enemies. And while Austin
fought other Americans, Al Qaeda and the Taliban claimed Afghanistan.
Along with untold billions in military equipment, including Black
Hawk helicopters, drones, armored vehicles, and a treasure trove of
assault rifles and heavy weaponry.
On his post-defeat tour, Austin has claimed that the disaster, “will
be studied in the days and months ahead”, and admitted that, “No
operation is ever perfect, there are lessons to be learned.” What those
lessons are, he hasn’t bothered sharing with the rest of the country.
Austin may not be especially bright, but he is a career military man
who reached the pinnacle of his profession. He knew that the Afghanistan
withdrawal would be a disaster and that is why he reportedly advised
Biden to conduct it in stages, instead of in one fell swoop. Biden
ignored his advice and Austin shrugged because he didn’t care about
Afghanistan, he cared about “racism”.
The real lesson here is on the dangers of putting radicals with
racial grudges in charge of the United States military. The Afghanistan
rout was not an unexpected surprise, it was the cumulative effect of
radicalism, incompetence, and apathy by a politicized and disloyal
brass.
While Austin was fighting enemies at home, he enabled enemies abroad.
He made fellow American military personnel into his enemies and they
died at the hands of true enemies.
The betrayal in Afghanistan began with a betrayal at home.