Afghanistan 2021 Onwards
90 members of Flag Officers 4 America have now called for SecDef Austin & Chairman JCS Gen Milley to resign:
Media and PR (flagofficers4america.com)
Media and PR (flagofficers4america.com)
Is the Fat Wun interested in franchising?
Last edited by West Coast; 31st Aug 2021 at 04:21.
Reportedly there are still several hundred US passport holders that didn't want to stay but couldn't get out. So much for Biden's promise that we'd stay until until we got the job done.
Disgusting - absolutely disgusting.
Did we just leave them to be murdered, or turned into hostages?
Disgusting - absolutely disgusting.
Did we just leave them to be murdered, or turned into hostages?
The Taliban always did like good optics.....brings a new dimension to the old saying of "Hang'em High".....I suppose construction cranes are so yesterday as done in Iran.
couldn’t they muster a fleet of hearse, a transit van seem so impersonal
Bad PR to have a dozen Hearses lined up in front of the Big Guy.
Four vehicles reduces the impact of the image when posted on the front page of newspapers or splashed all over social media.
With Politicians it is all about imagery and not content.
Remember when the four Men killed in Benghazi were brought to Dover?
They used Hearses then.
https://www.c-span.org/video/?308200...ictims-remains
Four vehicles reduces the impact of the image when posted on the front page of newspapers or splashed all over social media.
With Politicians it is all about imagery and not content.
Remember when the four Men killed in Benghazi were brought to Dover?
They used Hearses then.
https://www.c-span.org/video/?308200...ictims-remains
Ecce Homo! Loquitur...
Thread Starter
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/p...aths-c753ltp8m
Pentagon leaks blame UK for bombing deaths
The special relationship was under strain last night after Pentagon leaks claimed that the US had kept open a gate at Kabul airport, despite knowing there was a high risk of attack, to assist the British evacuation.
Senior government sources and Tory MPs accused Washington of trying to “shift the blame” after the leaks suggested that senior US military figures wanted to close Abbey Gate on Thursday, hours before a deadly bombing.
Rear Admiral Peter Vasely, commander of the US forces in Afghanistan, was said to have told colleagues in a call on Thursday that the gate would remain open because British forces had “accelerated their drawdown”…..
The leak of classified notes of calls with senior military figures and politicians, which were obtained by Politico, led to a backlash in Britain.
One government source said: “The US is having to explain the total mess that has been the evacuation. There’s clearly some hard briefing going on.”
Another government source did not recognise the briefing. “We understood the severity of the situation; we changed the travel advice,” the source said. “If they had closed Abbey Gate we would have been totally supportive.” The source was unaware of any British request to keep the gate open.
Tobias Ellwood, a Conservative MP and chairman of the defence select committee, said: “I fear this is more to do with an unhelpful blame game . . . it shows how much of a low ebb the special relationship has sunk to.”
https://www.politico.com/news/2021/0...k-kabul-507481
Pentagon leaks blame UK for bombing deaths
The special relationship was under strain last night after Pentagon leaks claimed that the US had kept open a gate at Kabul airport, despite knowing there was a high risk of attack, to assist the British evacuation.
Senior government sources and Tory MPs accused Washington of trying to “shift the blame” after the leaks suggested that senior US military figures wanted to close Abbey Gate on Thursday, hours before a deadly bombing.
Rear Admiral Peter Vasely, commander of the US forces in Afghanistan, was said to have told colleagues in a call on Thursday that the gate would remain open because British forces had “accelerated their drawdown”…..
The leak of classified notes of calls with senior military figures and politicians, which were obtained by Politico, led to a backlash in Britain.
One government source said: “The US is having to explain the total mess that has been the evacuation. There’s clearly some hard briefing going on.”
Another government source did not recognise the briefing. “We understood the severity of the situation; we changed the travel advice,” the source said. “If they had closed Abbey Gate we would have been totally supportive.” The source was unaware of any British request to keep the gate open.
Tobias Ellwood, a Conservative MP and chairman of the defence select committee, said: “I fear this is more to do with an unhelpful blame game . . . it shows how much of a low ebb the special relationship has sunk to.”
https://www.politico.com/news/2021/0...k-kabul-507481
Ecce Homo! Loquitur...
Thread Starter
73 aircraft put out if commission? That seems an awful lot of helicopters. Not sure if they had any fixed wing based at the airport.
CNN: Some US military equipment removed from Afghanistan and other items disabled, top general says
Some of the US military equipment used in Afghanistan was removed from the country and other items were disabled, Gen. Frank McKenzie, commander of US Central Command, told reporters during a briefing on Monday.
The US military kept some equipment operating until nearly the end of the withdrawal to protect US forces and people at Kabul international airport, McKenzie said. That equipment was “demilitarized,” McKenzie said, meaning it was disabled in a way that makes it impossible to use.
As an example, McKenzie said he advanced C-RAM defensive system, which stands for Counter-Rocket, Artillery, and Mortar, was left at Hamid Karzai International Airport.
The automated C-RAM system, which detects incoming fire and destroys it with a machine gun, was activated just one day before the withdrawal was complete, when militants fired approximately five rockets at the airport. Two rockets that would have landed on the field were intercepted by C-RAM.
“It’s a complex procedure, complex and time intensive procedure to break down those systems so we de-militarized those systems so that they’ll never be used again, and we just felt it more important to protect our forces than to bring those systems back,” McKenzie said.
The US military also left behind about 70 MRAPS or Mine Resistant Ambush Protected Vehicles, 27 Humvees, which are tactical vehicles, and 73 aircrafts at the Kabul airport. This equipment was disabled,
McKenzie said. A “total of 73 aircraft, those aircraft will never fly again when we left, they’ll never be operated by anyone,” McKenzie said.
One of the last tasks facing the American military was the destruction of equipment they were unable to take with them. In all 70 tactical vehicles, 27 Humvees and 73 aircraft at Kabul airport were put out of commission.
Some of the US military equipment used in Afghanistan was removed from the country and other items were disabled, Gen. Frank McKenzie, commander of US Central Command, told reporters during a briefing on Monday.
The US military kept some equipment operating until nearly the end of the withdrawal to protect US forces and people at Kabul international airport, McKenzie said. That equipment was “demilitarized,” McKenzie said, meaning it was disabled in a way that makes it impossible to use.
As an example, McKenzie said he advanced C-RAM defensive system, which stands for Counter-Rocket, Artillery, and Mortar, was left at Hamid Karzai International Airport.
The automated C-RAM system, which detects incoming fire and destroys it with a machine gun, was activated just one day before the withdrawal was complete, when militants fired approximately five rockets at the airport. Two rockets that would have landed on the field were intercepted by C-RAM.
“It’s a complex procedure, complex and time intensive procedure to break down those systems so we de-militarized those systems so that they’ll never be used again, and we just felt it more important to protect our forces than to bring those systems back,” McKenzie said.
The US military also left behind about 70 MRAPS or Mine Resistant Ambush Protected Vehicles, 27 Humvees, which are tactical vehicles, and 73 aircrafts at the Kabul airport. This equipment was disabled,
McKenzie said. A “total of 73 aircraft, those aircraft will never fly again when we left, they’ll never be operated by anyone,” McKenzie said.
Last edited by ORAC; 31st Aug 2021 at 06:39.
Not trying to second guess anyone in an extremely tough and stressful environment.
I am sure there were calls to pile all of the equipment together and torch it,
Why would this have been overruled?
The leadership not wanting bad PR?
I am sure there were calls to pile all of the equipment together and torch it,
Why would this have been overruled?
The leadership not wanting bad PR?
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Films of what's left
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They show the last Ameican troop to leave Kabul "Soil" was some General or other, but surely it was the Crewman was the last as he would need to fold the boarding ramps?
https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/ent...b0231e369fb2d8
https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/ent...b0231e369fb2d8
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I could be wrong but I am led to believe that families are not present on the ramp at dover (??) unlike how we do things with families on the ramp when o. IIRC F Barry & Sons Undertakers of London (featured in ITV or Ch4 documentary) had MoD contract at Brize.. Also the IDS and PMs are done at John Radcliffe in Oxford not on base so for us makes more sense for funeral cortège transfer.
Very sad times …in light of the T mouthing off on news about reclaiming their independence …
The Kabul picture of the 82nd Airborne’s CO General Donohue reminded of the famous WWII poster below, and one can be sure General Donohue’s thoughts on boarding that C-17 were likely unprintable.
Well, buddy, just pull your tank in behind me. I’m the 82nd Airborne, and this is as far as the bastards are going!”
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The equipment left behind/seized/abandoned, sadly is not much different to Vietnam (I mean the manner/amount - not the actual kit). It is just that we have the instant spread of footage these days.
Part of me wishes they had of put time delayed ED’s on each bit of kit. But after the destruction and horror I saw out there, I’m glad they didn’t.
Here is hoping that those in Afghanistan who want some form of freedom, can take some of that kit and use it for their own liberation.
It’s a very sad outcome however, an expected outcome. Here is to all of those that didn’t come home - or came home not whole of body and/or soul, and their families.
Part of me wishes they had of put time delayed ED’s on each bit of kit. But after the destruction and horror I saw out there, I’m glad they didn’t.
Here is hoping that those in Afghanistan who want some form of freedom, can take some of that kit and use it for their own liberation.
It’s a very sad outcome however, an expected outcome. Here is to all of those that didn’t come home - or came home not whole of body and/or soul, and their families.
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Or a Hellfire into each hangar / aircraft / vehicle cluster after they departed, but with Nationals still in country and potential hostages they are I supposed limited in their actions. you could have driven a tug or similar into the aircraft noses thus rendering them as scrap.
Still on the bright side, todays gains, tomorrows museum pieces to be rescued from an Afghan scrapyard.
..
Still on the bright side, todays gains, tomorrows museum pieces to be rescued from an Afghan scrapyard.
..
Last edited by NutLoose; 31st Aug 2021 at 14:57.
Ecce Homo! Loquitur...
Thread Starter
I could be wrong but I am led to believe that families are not present on the ramp at dover
Relatives of the fallen were hidden from view behind a line of buses. Their presence became obvious as the second flag-draped transfer case emerged from the plane to the sound of anguished howling.
Ecce Homo! Loquitur...
Thread Starter
Taliban shocked, shocked I tell you, that the departing US and Afghan evacuees have wrecked the aircraft and equipment at the airport before their departure….
From the sound of those Black Hocks they must have made a complete pigs of it….
https://www.aa.com.tr/en/asia-pacifi...irport/2351713
From the sound of those Black Hocks they must have made a complete pigs of it….
https://www.aa.com.tr/en/asia-pacifi...irport/2351713
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Happy with immobilising Military kit, less impressed by vandalising Civil facilities. If that is accurate info, of course.
