Biden decides to keep August 31 deadline to withdraw from Afghanistan as evacuations accelerate

[George II]

Source: CNN

(CNN) President Joe Biden has decided, in consultation with his national security team, to stick with the August 31 deadline for withdrawing troops from Afghanistan, according to a senior administration official.

Biden made the decision mindful of the security risks in remaining the country longer, the official said, and he has asked for contingency plans in case he determines at a later date the US needs to remain in the country for longer.

Even as the United States flies tens of thousands of people out of the country, the situation in Afghanistan remains desperate and many Afghans who assisted the war effort are still awaiting their turn to leave. US officials have described in stark terms the real threat of terror attacks at the Kabul airport as crowds gather outside the gates.

Biden's aides expected him to discuss the airlift, and potentially explain his decision to leave at the end of the month, on a morning video conference with the heads of the world's leading democracies.

Read more: https://www.cnn.com/2021/08/24/politics/joe-biden-g7-afghanistan/index.html

[IamHappy]

1. YEAH!!

[dalton99a]

2. Good. Get it over with

[onetexan]

30. yup, no one else i trust more than MoJoe

[GoodRaisin]

3. I don't believe we will leave before it's the right moment.

Deadline or no deadline.

[Thomas Hurt]

5. There is no right moment, unless the plan is to not leave until only the Taliban are left.

[GoodRaisin]

11. There is a right moment for Joe Biden

and that will be when he believes he has met the commitments he has made.

The Republicans are waiting to pounce on Joe saying he has abandoned people. He’s not going to be out until he has a push back position on that claim. They will say it regardless, but he will be ready to say that we kept our commitments with those we got out.

Nobody ever committed to getting out everyone but the Taliban.

[Thomas Hurt]

13. The christofascists don't care what happens there and will complain no matter what.

[GoodRaisin]

14. Yeah. That is why I said they would pounce on Joe regardless of

how it ends.

[onetexan]

31. who gives a sh!t what the fascists say. Regardless of what the outcome is they w spin it to bash him

so why give a crap? We already know the Con laid the foundations for a chaotic pullout, and as i've been saying on this board since drawdown started, there is no nonviolent solution. The GOP should have thought of this when they got us into this terrible mess. We have them to blame.

[Jakes Progress]

20. The right moment is when our allies are removed.

The really right movement was 18 years ago.

[FloridaBlues]

4. Smart move we don't need bloodshed. The criticism will start to explode.

I trust Biden is making the correct decision. Can’t evaluate everyone in Afghan.

[Jakes Progress]

10. Whose blood are you talking about?

[ananda]

6. Wise decision.

We need to move on the more important issues
of voting rights and climate change.

[JohnSJ]

7. He is not going to unnecessarily risk Americans lives than necessary. Remember what happened in

Lebanon under Reagan

[Jakes Progress]

9. Yeah. Cause American lives are so much more valuable

than those people.

Promises, Smomishes. Like the Gordon Lightfoot song - "That's what you get for trusting me."

Lyrics there are so scary prescient.

[George II]

12. Another Gordon Lightfoot song is "if you can read my (Biden's) mind...."

[Jakes Progress]

23. Let's hope he's not bringing those lyrics to fruition.

[JohnSJ]

15. So you want to put 100000 more troops back in to continue the war, because that is the

alternative

When trump negotiated an agreement in 2020 that we would be gone in May 2021, that should have been the time for people to start to leave

[Jakes Progress]

21. So you want to behead Aghan children?

Don't throw incendiary headlines at me. I can do that too. And it doesn't lead to discussion.

There is always an alternative. Don't simply believe what the tv tells you. Somewhere between cutting out on our promises and committing massive troops, there is an alternative. You don't know what it is. I don't know what it is. But doing the cowardly thing now to avoid some pain never leads to something good later.

I agree that we should have started moving allies any time in the last 10 month. But Trump didn't. And Biden didn't.

As for the 100,000 troops. We sent that many when we didn't have a good reason. Why couldn't we when we have one?

[JohnSJ]

24. You are the one who has been throwing out incendiary remarks. I am responding likewise

I don’t watch the MSM

I read newspapers and Bloomberg which presents more news less opinion

[Jakes Progress]

25. Doesn't work does it?

I didn't know your were one of those super cool guys who don't watch tv.

Which newspapers? Bloomberg? Really.

If you have such limited resources, it is no wonder you see so few alternatives.

[JohnSJ]

32. Washington Post, San Jose Mercury, LA Times, SF Gate. Local news of course. I generally avoid the

cable news outlets

They mix too much opinion instead of actual news

My resources are quite adequate

Reading many posts here it seems the assessment of some here conveyed by the cable outlets, have been woefully inadequate

Just take th infrastructure legislation

Much of the medias assessment on the various infrastructure bills has been wrong up to now. We will see if that holds

I suspect the situation in Afghanistan and media speculations will not be particularly accurate

Since the end of July, I believe we have evacuated something like 75000 people since the end of July

I don’t think there is the division between our allies and the US as much of the cable outlets seem to suggest

[Jakes Progress]

34. Yeah, Yeah. Yeah. You are so much smarter than the average DU guy.

So cool.

Use that profound knowledge to answer and address the issues I brought up. You have spent the last two posts touting your intellectual prowess and superior understanding due to your heavy reading schedule. (Of course most here read those things and watches television too, so without the television you have more time to be wise.

So, wisely address the issues I brought up in Post 21. You avoided those because I suggested that you watch tv, which you took as a great insult. I'm sure it was just the rage that someone suggested you had a tv that made you forget that that was not the subject of the post, and made you forget to address those issues.

[JohnSJ]

36. Your wise-ass remarks and sarcasm toward me are noted, and I suggest you engage with someone

else who enjoys that

You seem to take my comments as some personal affront to you, and try to infer things that I never said, such as inferring that I am saying I am “intellectually superior”. I have no idea where you came up with that nonsense

Go have a dialogue with someone who enjoys being insulted, I don’t

[Jakes Progress]

39. Kettle meet pot.

You do not enjoy a dialog. You had a chance to have one and engage over the issue presented in the OP. I took umbrage with your suggestion that the only important thing about leaving Afghanistan was the lives of Americans.

You had no defense for such a noxious position, so out of all I said in my reply to your concept of American exceptionalism, you picked two letters, just two letters in my whole reply - tv. And you made it the basis of your retort, completely dodging the issue that you yourself brought up, ignoring issues you can't discuss. When questioned about American responsibility and your simplistic reasoning, you were unable to defend you post so you ducked the issues by picking one tiny element of the reply to escape responsibility for your words.

Don't insult other people if you don't want to be insulted.

Want a discussion? Tell us why you think the most important thing about leaving Afghanistan is saving Americans regardless of the consequences for others' lives.

Explain why there are only two alternatives to ending the Afghanistan occupation. (You might note that Biden is already working on several.)

[totodeinhere]

29. The president did not say that American lives are more valuable.

And of course they are not. But the president has no perfect choices in this situation. Do we stay past the deadline and continue to risk the lives of American and NATO forces? Or do we leave by the deadline and in so doing risk more Afghan lives? Neither choice is ideal. And no matter what the president decided he will face criticism.

[Jakes Progress]

33. My post was not about what the president said. I was responding

to Post #7 which seemed to celebrate the bug out because it would save American lives.

Yes, if we re-engage with the taliban, it will cost lives. But as you say, if we leave it will cost lives. (By the way, NATO forces are pressuring Biden to stay until everyone is out.) One side would be volunteers for war. The other side would be innocent victims of war.

I kind of go on the if-you-broke-it-you-pay-for-it ethic. We went in. We propped up a corrupt government. We promised freedom and the right to determine your destiny. Not one of those girls that will be shot in school or raped for teaching asked for our interference.

I don't like stupid wars. But if all that will happen is that we will take those troops and send them to capture some oil fields or lithium mines somewhere that the corporations will get rich.

I favor negotiations and treaty with whatever government ends up running Afghanistan. But let's honor our promises first.

[totodeinhere]

40. I understand that, but realistically, politically it would be very difficult for President Biden

to go back in with the force necessary to get the job done. Like it or not our troops' involvement in that country will soon be over. However, I think that an extension of the deadline is doable and it might still happen. But no matter how long we stay there we will never get every Afghan who wants to leave out. Tragically, that will never happen.

But regarding negotiations, I also favor that. Hopefully we and our international partners may have enough leverage with the Taliban that we may be able to moderate them somewhat. Or maybe not. Some observers believe that the Taliban will not change no matter what we do.

This is so sad.

[Jakes Progress]

41. Kinda hate it when political expediency kills innocent people.

Yeah, it would be difficult. And I really, really don't want to start up the big war again. But what is someone's word worth?

I never said to move every Afghan that wants to go, just the ones who risked their lives and helped us do what we did there. An extension if needed to remove our allies is the minimum we should consider.

On the matter of negotiations and treaties, we have more sway that MSM says. If America and the NATO nations brand Afghanistan as terrorist and off limits, they will have no where to go but China and Russia. The taliban complained that the former government was a toady for the US. They would become China's slave state. I think they might know that. If the don't, we should help them understand.

[PoliticAverse]

8. "he has asked for contingency plans in case he determines at a later date the US needs to remain" nt

[JohnSJ]

16. There has to be contingency plans, because there is a high probability of hostile actions against us

if we are still there

[GoodRaisin]

18. This, of course, is the statement everyone should be listening to.

The M$M is going to frame the story over the next few days that “not extending the deadline” means Joe might be getting ready to “abandon” people we have commitments to, which of course will all be bullshit.

Joe has to keep them guessing while the M$M hangs all over him asking him to telegraph his plans to the Taliban and our other enemies in the region.

[BumRushDaShow]

17. He supposed to have a presser later this afternoon

WaPo -

Biden to hold to Aug. 31 Afghanistan withdrawal deadline; Pentagon to prepare contingency plan

By Rachel Pannett, Ellen Francis and Adam Taylor

Today at 1:36 p.m. EDT

President Biden, who held a virtual meeting with G-7 leaders Tuesday morning, has faced pressure from allies to extend the Aug. 31 deadline for U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, amid scenes of chaos around the Kabul airport as thousands of Afghans try to flee the country.

But as evacuations of Americans and others ramp up, the president is seeking to adhere to the original timetable, according to a senior Biden administration official who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss private planning. Biden had suggested that the U.S. might extend its stay, though the Taliban had rejected that idea. The Pentagon is preparing a contingency plan, should the evacuation mission not be completed on schedule.

The Taliban repeated Tuesday that it views the United States’ Aug. 31 deadline as final. The group, which assumed power nationally last week, is still allowing foreign nationals to leave, spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said, but stopping Afghan nationals from reaching the airport . “We are asking the Americans please change your policy and don’t encourage Afghans to leave,” he said.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2021/08/24/afghanistan-kabul-taliban-live-updates/

Hopefully people also realize a lot of this was a NATO operation from day one - particularly since it was based on an attack fomented by people who trained there. Iraq was the U.S. production. Time for the other "allies" to step up.

[GoodRaisin]

19. Both sides saying what they would be expected to say at this stage of the negotiations

still a full week before the “deadline”.

[Jakes Progress]

22. Good point. Let's see what happens.

Because we sure as hell know they aren't going to be asking us.

[tonekat]

26. The Taliban are dictating the timeline?

A few Hellfire missiles would change their minds.

[George II]

27. No, the President dictates the deadline. He said weeks ago it would be August 31.

[Jakes Progress]

35. As you said, it is a self-elected timeline.

Suppose you needed a medication to save your life and the hospital administrator said you should have it by Tuesday at 2:00. If it didn't come until 2:15, should they let you die.

The deadline was set as the time Biden believed all the personnel could be removed. The deadline is not the date but the people.

[totodeinhere]

28. I support President's decision to keep the August 31 deadline.

We all need to have the president's back at this time.

[honest.abe]

37. Good.

Get the F out of there. 20 years and $1T is enough.

[zanana1]

38. Let me just add...

I really love the exploding rose, symbolizing a broken heart.