Kabul - Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association

Taliban: Kabul Checkpoint Bomb Blast Kills, Wounds Several

Military.com |Associated Press — Mon, 02 Jan 2023 18:57:34 +0000

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — A bomb exploded near a checkpoint at Kabul’s military airport Sunday morning killing and wounding “several” people, a Taliban official said, the first deadly blast of 2023 in Afghanistan.

No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, but the regional affiliate of the Islamic State group — known as the Islamic State in Khorasan Province — has increased its attacks since the Taliban takeover in 2021. Targets have included Taliban patrols and members of Afghanistan’s Shiite minority.

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Source: https://www.military.com/daily-news/2023/01/01/taliban-kabul-checkpoint-bomb-blast-kills-wounds-several.html

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Afghan Mosque Bombing Causes Dozens of Casualties

Ayaz Gul | VOA News — Fri, 02 Sep 2022 21:25:05 +0000

ISLAMABAD —

Taliban authorities and hospital sources in Afghanistan said Wednesday that a powerful bomb blast ripped through a packed mosque in the capital, Kabul, during evening prayers, causing dozens of casualties.

Khalid Zadran, a city police spokesman, told VOA that “there are casualties and fatalities” but he would not give further details. Intelligence teams and investigators had arrived at the blast site and investigations were underway, he added.

Multiple sources reported that at least 20 worshippers were killed and many more were wounded in what reportedly was a suicide blast. Maulvi Amir Mohammad Kabuli, a renowned Afghan scholar and preacher of Sufi Islam, was said to be among the dead.

An eyewitness and police officers were quoted as confirming to The Associated Press the deaths of at least 10 people, including Kabuli. Taliban officials did not comment on the casualties.

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Source: https://www.voanews.com/a/afghan-mosque-bombing-causes-dozens-of-casualties-/6705821.html

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Weekly Update by Mark Armstrong – 17 September 2021

Mark Armstrong — Fri, 17 Sep 2021 01:24:25 +0000

Greetings from Tyler,

Did it strike you as amusing, the way coronavirus edicts were announced in the midst of an unmitigated disaster in Kabul? Let us get up in the air about some draconian, ruinous domestic orders, shall we? Let’s have lawsuits flying, people outraged that those on high have determined that the orders should be enforced along the lines of the Mark of the Beast. Did the conniving class read the Bible in order to render the ultimate punishment for not following orders?

You don’t have to look hard. Already people are having to “show their papers” proving they’ve followed orders, otherwise… sorry. The smart little physician, without whom this illness might never have existed, advises that people shouldn’t be allowed to fly, save they have the proof. There’s no shortage of famous types urging everybody to do as they’re told or prepare to be denied things you need.

Social media will eradicate your memory if one publicly espouses some belief other than that which has been approved by the pertinent parties. They, and their fact-checkers alone determine the truth of any given subject. Maybe they’ll have to alter their perception after more indisputable facts go viral, but for now your musings are banned.

The idea that the public has been muzzled, and agrees to “terms and conditions” is troubling. We know that these incalculably wealthy platforms are allowed to thrive by… do I have to say it? They are shielded from legal responsibility for their actions, Congress has decreed it. Your Constitutional rights have not been abridged by a sovereign power, but by a private company made immune by “law.”

In the 60’s it was all about rebellion. Neither the dropped-out college kids nor those who stayed in school were about to follow the dictates of “the man.” They weren’t about to obey societal norms and they sure weren’t going to follow any dictatorial orders. Can you even imagine if the COVID panic had happened during the rebellion of the 60’s? So those rebels, by and large, are now running the agencies and the whole show. They’ve become “the man.”

They’re insisting that we all fall into line and follow their dictates. How bizarre is that? They were willing to draw the line, and not put up with the kindergarten talking points on the news. No they’d protest, maybe riot. But somebody try that now? They’ll come down with the full might of the alphabet agencies and when possible, law enforcement.

They’ve got a frontman reading from a script he didn’t write, trying to understand what he’s saying. No questions, please. The speaker of the house is admitting that the Chinese are committing heinous crimes if not genocide against the Uigers, but says climate change is more important.

They’ve made up evidence of climate change. Claims are made over news networks that turn out to be totally bogus. Who can forget the nonsense coming out of East Anglia University, or the manic attempt to cover it up?

But they’ve decided FEAR is the way to get people to do whatever they want, and so far it’s working! They’ve chased us around for decades about climate change. They point to weather incidents to bolster (prove) their claims, but then insist it’s not about weather. Not that this is proof one way or the other, but we’ve had one of the mildest summers anybody can remember in Texas. Ok, it’s not about weather, but we’re not in a panicky mood.

It’s as if the powers in charge are out to extinguish any hint of patriotism. We’re ashamed of some things that were done historically, but now we have to be ashamed of what our leaders have done in Afghanistan. You could hardly have written a worse screenplay. The excuses are lame and unbelievable. It’s as if they set out to give the U. S. a black eye while enriching the Taliban beyond their wildest dreams. We’ve got an idea who wanted it to turn out this way. Read the next 20^th Century WATCH for details.

Our border looks like the third world, and is populated now by vast numbers of people from the southern regions. Lately they’re flooding in from Haiti. If you want to see a disastrous land, cursed by generations of corruption and widespread poverty, look no further. Here they come from El Salvador,

Guatemala and Nicaragua, with some from Africa and the Middle East. How long before we have their problems?

Most of those who keep God’s Holy Days have already set out for the Feast of Tabernacles. It is intended to be a time of joy and a celebration of the time when the Kingdom of God is to be established. We can have joy looking forward, because things are going bad at breakneck speed with the crew running the show, whoever it is.

Mark

Source: http://www.intercontinentalcog.org/fridayupdates.php

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Afghanistan: Flight lands in Qatar from Kabul after Taliban cleared Americans and others to leave

Mostafa Salem, Laura Smith-Spark and Sam Kiley - CNN — Fri, 10 Sep 2021 19:26:23 +0000

The first international passenger flight to take off from Afghanistan since the chaotic US military airlift last month landed in Qatar on Thursday, carrying more than 100 foreign nationals, including Americans, according to a source with knowledge of the matter.

Passengers on board the chartered Qatar Airways flight that departed from Kabul airport — including Canadian, Ukrainian, German, British and US citizens — were among some 200 foreigners that the Taliban have cleared to leave the country, the source said.

The plane’s departure is the first signal that at least some foreign nationals who want to leave Afghanistan will be able to, following weeks of uncertainty. Civilians have been left scrambling to find safe passage from the country since the Taliban takeover in mid-August threw a US-led evacuation effort into confusion.

© Anadolu Agency/Getty Images KABUL, AFGHANISTAN – SEPTEMBER 03: A screen grab captured from a video shows that employees make the last preparations before domestic flights begin at Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul, Afghanistan on September 03, 2021. (Photo by Stringer/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

Qatar worked with parties on the ground to transport the passengers in a Qatari convoy and secure a safe passage to Kabul’s airport. Live pictures showed people disembarking the Qatar Airways Boeing 777 on Thursday evening Doha time. After landing in Doha, the passengers will head to a compound facility currently hosting Afghans and other evacuees.

© MAXAR TECHNOLOGIES HANDOUT/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock A handout satellite image made available by Maxar Technologies shows airplanes near the main terminal at Mazar-i-Sharif Airport, northern Afghanistan, on September 3, 2021.

Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Than, Qatar’s deputy prime minister and minister of foreign affairs, thanked the Taliban for their “cooperation” in restarting flights, adding that this was a signal that the militant group’s “positive statements” can be “demonstrated into action.”

The cooperation was also praised by the US. “The Taliban have been cooperative in facilitating the departure of American citizens and lawful permanent residents on charter flights … They have shown flexibility, and they have been businesslike and professional in our dealings with them in this effort. This is a positive first step,” said US National Security Council spokeswoman Emily Horne.

Afghanistan’s Civil Aviation Authority is preparing for more flights to start operating from Kabul, according to an aviation source who spoke to CNN. Both major Afghan carriers Kam Air and Ariana Afghan Airlines plan to restart different routes, according to the source.

The source said that the handling company at the airport will be the same one that was used prior to the shutdown of the airport after the fall of Kabul in mid-August.

The terminal at the airport in Kabul is “ready” for flights, the aviation source told CNN.

Earlier in the day, Qatari and Taliban officials toured the Kabul airport tarmac, where the Qatar Airways Boeing 777 stood.

Several passengers waiting to check into the flight earlier said their final destination was Canada. “We are going to Canada, we are Canadians,” one man told an Al Jazeera Arabic reporter at the airport in English. Another two men also said they were bound for Canada.

Other international flights are expected in the coming days.

The Taliban’s acting foreign minister, Mawlawi Amir Khan Muttaki, thanked Qatari special envoy Mutlaq Al-Qahtani for his country’s efforts in restarting flights out of Kabul International Airport, the Taliban said in a statement posted on an official account.

A Qatari technical team has been in the country for the past 10 days, helping Afghan officials restore airport operations.

An engineer on the Qatari team told a news conference Thursday that the airport was now 90% fixed. “There are some technical issues that we cannot fix, but in total all the equipment is working,” said Mohamed Naeemi, speaking alongside Al-Qahtani.

Al-Qahtani called the flight “historic” but said the process of reopening would be gradual. Other flights have landed carrying humanitarian aid, he added.

A US official told CNN that the Taliban’s agreement for the 200 or so people to leave on the charter flight Thursday came after US Special representative for Afghanistan Zalmay Khalilzad had been pressing the Taliban to allow departures.

A US State Department spokesperson declined to give further details Thursday. “As we have said, our efforts to assist U.S. citizens and others to whom we have a special commitment are ongoing, but we aren’t in a position to share additional details at this time,” the spokesperson said.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Wednesday blamed the grounding of charter flights in Mazar-i-Sharif, northern Afghanistan, on the Taliban, saying that the militant group was not allowing them to leave.

The Taliban claimed “that some of the passengers do not have the required documentation,” Blinken said.

CNN has reached out to the White House, the US National Security Council and the Taliban for comment on Thursday’s developments.

Efforts to repair Kabul airport

The last US military planes left Kabul’s airport just ahead of an August 31 deadline, marking the full withdrawal of American forces. That landmark moment came only two weeks after the Taliban seized control of the capital.

By the time the US completed its withdrawal, more than 122,000 people in total had been flown out of Kabul airport since July and more than 6,000 Americans civilians evacuated.

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said Monday that progress on getting Kabul airport “back to normal” had been held up by the damage done to radar facilities.

“The Americans had damaged the radar and it takes time to repair,” he said, adding that the US had “deliberately destroyed definite parts of the airport.”

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said Tuesday that Ankara also was working with Qatar and the United States on keeping the airport in Kabul operational.

“We currently have 19 technicians on the ground there working. But the most important point is who ensures security?” Cavusoglu said in an interview with Turkish private broadcaster NTV.

“Outside the airport, it could be the Taliban but inside (the airport) it needs to be a private company or a state or two that the international community can rely on.”

Promise of amnesty

Thousands of Afghans who worked with international organizations in Afghanistan and now fear retribution from the Taliban sought to flee during last month’s desperate airlift operation but were left behind.

Afghanistan’s new acting prime minister, Mohammad Hasan Akhund, said Wednesday that his government promises amnesty for “all those who have caused the Taliban fighters to suffer, and are responsible for the most severe types of torture and abuse.”

“No one will be able to prove that he was subjected to revenge. And in such tense circumstances, it is easy to do what you want. But the movement is disciplined and controls its gunmen,” he told Al Jazeera in an interview, adding that the Taliban “have not harmed anyone because of his previous actions.”

Akhund also called on former officials who fled the country after the Taliban took control to return to Afghanistan, assuring them of secure and safe conditions in the country. He said all diplomats, embassies and humanitarian relief institutions would also be guaranteed such safety, according to Al Jazeera.

Akhund is a long-time member of the Taliban and has been leader of the group’s Shura, or Leadership Council, for about two decades. He is currently under UN sanctions.

The Taliban announced a hardline, male-only interim government at a news conference on Tuesday, intensifying concern over potential threats to the rights of women and minorities in the country.

Taliban fighters used whips and sticks against a group of women who protested in Kabul on Wednesday over the lack of representation for women.

Former Afghan President Hamid Karzai called Thursday for the Taliban to form a more inclusive government, including women.

In a statement on Twitter, Karzai acknowledged that the formation of an interim government was “necessary for the provision of services” but urged the Taliban to take account of the country’s “rich social structure.”

“Every citizen of the country, including women, has the right to participate in government and to serve the people,” he said.

“In this regard, it is necessary to address the shortcomings in the announced caretaker cabinet so that all the people in this country see themselves in this government and together with full national unity work for a prosperous, peaceful, and progressive Afghanistan.”

Correction: This story has been updated to reflect that the Qatar Airways flight was a chartered flight.

Source: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/flight-takes-off-from-kabul-airport-after-taliban-cleared-americans-and-others-to-leave/ar-AAOfPmY?ocid=uxbndlbing

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Putin Hopes Afghanistan’s Taliban Will Be ‘Civilized’

AFP via The Moscow Times — Sun, 05 Sep 2021 12:27:35 +0000

Putin was speaking at the plenary session of the Eastern Economic Forum in Russia’s far eastern city of Vladivostok. Vladimir Smirnov / TASS / kremlin.ru

Russian President Vladimir Putin said Friday he hopes the Taliban will behave in a “civilized” manner in Afghanistan so the global community can maintain diplomatic ties with Kabul.

“Russia is not interested in the disintegration of Afghanistan. If this happens, then there will be no one to talk to,” Putin said.

He was speaking at the plenary session of the Eastern Economic Forum in Russia’s far eastern city of Vladivostok.

“The sooner the Taliban will enter the family of civilized people, so to speak, the easier it will be to contact, communicate, and somehow influence and ask questions,” he added.

The longtime Russian leader said the withdrawal of U.S.-led forces from Afghanistan completed last month had ended in “catastrophe.”

“They spent $1.5 trillion on this whole campaign and what is the result? There isn’t any,” Putin said.

Russia has treaded carefully in its dealings with the militant group that swept to power in Afghanistan this summer.

Russia’s ambassador in Kabul met with representatives of the Taliban several days after the takeover and said Moscow will maintain its embassy in the country.

Last week, Russia started evacuating its citizens and those of several ex-Soviet states as the security situation in the country worsened.

Russia has warned about extremist groups using the political turmoil to enter neighboring countries as refugees.

Afghanistan shares a border with three ex-Soviet states in Central Asia where Russia holds military bases.

The Taliban is a terrorist organization banned in Russia.

Source: https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2021/09/03/putin-hopes-afghanistans-taliban-will-be-civilised-a74967

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Afghanistan’s collapse leaves allies questioning U.S. resolve on other fronts

Liz Sly - Washington Post — Sat, 28 Aug 2021 06:20:43 +0000

Pentagon spokesman John Kirby listens to a question about Afghanistan at a briefing on Aug. 13, 2021. (Susan Walsh/AP)

LONDON — The Taliban’s stunningly swift advances across Afghanistan have sparked global alarm, reviving doubts about the credibility of U.S. foreign policy promises and drawing harsh criticisms even from some of the United States’ closest allies.

As Taliban fighters entered Kabul and the United States scrambled to evacuate its citizens, concerns grew that the unfolding chaos could create a haven for terrorists, unleash a major humanitarian disaster and trigger a new refugee exodus.

U.S. allies complain that they were not fully consulted on a policy decision that potentially puts their own national security interests at risk — in contravention of President Biden’s promises to recommit to global engagement.

And many around the world are wondering whether they could rely on the United States to fulfill long-standing security commitments stretching from Europe to East Asia.

Whatever happened to ‘America is back’?” said Tobias Ellwood, who chairs the Defense Committee in the British Parliament, citing Biden’s foreign policy promise to rebuild alliances and restore U.S. prestige damaged during the Trump administration.

Hubris to humiliation: America’s warrior class struggles to make sense of what happened

“People are bewildered that after two decades of this big, high-tech power intervening, they are withdrawing and effectively handing the country back to the people we went in to defeat,” Ellwood said. “This is the irony. How can you say America is back when we’re being defeated by an insurgency armed with no more than [rocket-propelled grenades], land mines and AK-47s?”

Afghans wait in long lines for hours on Aug. 14 at the passport office in Kabul. (Paula Bronstein/Getty Images)

As much as its military capabilities, the United States’ decades-old role as a defender of democracies and freedoms is again in jeopardy, said Rory Stewart, who was Britain’s minister for international development in the Conservative government of Theresa May. “The Western democracy that seemed to be the inspiration for the world, the beacon for the world, is turning its back,” Stewart said.

Britain has voiced some of the bluntest criticisms of the pullout, which is unusual for a country that regards itself as the United States’ closest ally. Britain made the biggest contribution to the U.S.-led war in Afghanistan and suffered the highest number of casualties after the United States.

In comments Friday, British Defense Secretary Ben Wallace predicted civil war and the return of al-Qaeda, the terrorist organization whose attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, prompted the U.S.-led intervention in Afghanistan.

“I feel this was not the right time or decision to make,” he told Sky News. “Of course al-Qaeda will probably come back, and certainly it would like that kind of breeding ground.”

“Strategically, it causes a lot of problems, and as an international community, it’s very difficult . . . what we’re seeing today,” he added.

Rivals of the United States also have expressed dismay. Among them is China, which fears that the ascent of an extremist Islamist government on its western border will foster unrest in the adjoining province of Xinjiang, where Beijing has waged sweeping crackdowns on the Uyghur population that have been denounced by the West.

The Taliban is already reimposing its rules

Washington “bears an unavoidable responsibility for the current situation in Afghanistan,” Col. Wu Qian, a spokesman for China’s Ministry of National Defense, said earlier this month. “It cannot leave and shed the burden on regional countries.”

Secretary of State Antony Blinken rejected criticisms that the withdrawal damages U.S. credibility. He said staying mired in a conflict that is not in the “national interest” would do far more damage.

“Most of our strategic competitors around the world would like nothing better than for us to remain in Afghanistan for another year, five years, 10 years, and have those resources dedicated to being in the midst of a civil war,” Blinken told CNN. “It’s simply not in our interest.”

But the manner and implementation of the withdrawal has left allies feeling betrayed, said Cathryn Clüver Ashbrook, director of the German Council on Foreign Relations. Germany’s government, which withdrew its troops in June and is evacuating its embassy, has refrained from overt criticism of the U.S. withdrawal.

Nonetheless, some German officials and lawmakers are seething at Washington’s failure to consult coalition partners such as Berlin, Clüver Ashbrook said. Germany is particularly concerned about the potential for an exodus of Afghan refugees similar to the influx of 2015, when more than 1 million migrants, spurred largely by the war in Syria, surged into Europe, with many headed for Germany.

“The Biden administration came to office promising an open exchange, a transparent exchange with its allies. They said the transatlantic relationship would be pivotal,” she said. “As it is, they’re playing lip service to the transatlantic relationship and still believe European allies should fall into line with U.S. priorities.”

Europe’s deportations of Afghans grind to a halt as Taliban overruns country

“We’re back to the transatlantic relationship of old, where the Americans dictate everything. . . . ‘Yes we want to partner with you, but in reality, we want to be able to tell you what to do and when,’ ” she added.

The United States’ Arab allies, which have long counted on the U.S. military to come to their aid in the event of an attack by Iran, also have faced questions over whether they will be able to rely on the United States.

“What’s happening in Afghanistan is raising alarm bells everywhere,” said Riad Kahwaji, who heads the Inegma security consultancy in the United Arab Emirates, which hosts one of the biggest American military contingents in the Middle East.

“The U.S.’s credibility as an ally has been in question for a while,” he said. “We see Russia fighting all the way to protect the Assad regime [in Syria], and now the Americans are pulling out and leaving a big chaos in Afghanistan.”

Clüver Ashbrook said Biden’s plan to build an alliance of democracies to counter the influence of China and Russia is also in doubt, now that the West will no longer maintain a significant presence in Central Asia.

For China and Russia, there is opportunity as well as concern in the departure of U.S. troops. Both Moscow and Beijing have hosted Taliban delegations in recent weeks in an attempt to pave the way for a post-American future in the region.

The humiliating conclusion of the two-decade U.S. venture into Afghanistan will aid their efforts to persuade many governments to seek out relationships elsewhere, analysts say.

In a commentary directed at Hong Kong, China’s state-run Global Times cited Afghanistan in a signal to democracy activists not to heed repeated American promises to “stand by” Hong Kong.

“It has been proven repeatedly that whomever U.S. politicians claim to stand with will face bad luck, plunge into social unrest and suffer severe consequences,” the commentary said.

Russia has been struck by the speed of the unraveling of the U.S.-installed government in Kabul, said Fyodor Lukyanov, the chairman of Russia’s Council on Foreign and Defense Policy and editor in chief of the magazine Russia in Global Affairs.

The decade-long Soviet occupation of Afghanistan, which ended in 1989, is widely remembered as a failure, one that leaves Russia in no mood to reengage too closely with Afghanistan, he said.

But at least, Lukyanov noted, the government left behind by the Soviets survived for three years after the withdrawal of Red Army forces.

“We believe our failure was big, but it seems the Americans achieved an even bigger failure,” he said.

John Hudson in Washington contributed to this report.

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The Taliban are ‘intensifying’ their hunt for Afghans who helped the US and NATO, says a private intel report to the UN

Yahoo News — Wed, 25 Aug 2021 04:23:27 +0000

The Taliban are ‘intensifying’ their hunt for Afghans who helped the US and NATO, says a private intel report to the UN

The Taliban are on the hunt for locals who worked with NATO or the former Afghan regime, per an intelligence report for the UN.
They will track down their targets’ families if they are unsuccessful in their search, said the report.
Those who played key roles in the military, police, and investigative units are especially in danger, it added.
Visit Insider’s homepage for more stories.

The Taliban have been tracking down Afghans who worked with the previous government, the US, or the rest of NATO, according to a confidential report to the United Nations from a Norwegian intelligence service and seen by Insider.

Its findings indicate a contrast to the Taliban’s promises earlier this week that they will grant amnesty to those who collaborated with its old enemies. The four-page report, dated Wednesday, was compiled by the RHIPTO Norwegian Center for Global Analyses, which provides intelligence to the UN.

It said the hardline Islamist group is now keeping priority lists of Afghans to be arrested and is collecting intelligence on their phone numbers and families.

“Taliban are intensifying the hunt-down of all individuals and collaborators with the former regime, and if unsuccessful, target and arrest the families and punish them according to their own interpretation of Sharia law. Particularly at risk are individuals in central positions in military, police, and investigative units,” it read.

The report includes a written letter from the Taliban that summoned an Afghan national who worked in counterterrorism for the previous Afghan government. The man was approached at his apartment on Tuesday by a group of men believed to be the Taliban, who said they wanted to detain him for questioning, per the report.

“You were working closely with the Americans and British forces to target the Mujahideen,” reads the letter in Pashto. “We were also informed that you had traveled to the United Kingdom… which indicates you have had excellent relations with the American and British.”

The letter asked the recipient to report to a commission in Kabul and provide information on his relationship with the US and UK. If he did not, his family would be arrested and treated according to the Sharia law, it added. His name was redacted from the report.

RHIPTO knows of more cases and summons letters like these, Christian Nellemann, the group’s executive director, told Insider in an email.

“The Taliban didn’t turn nice last week with their statement, as the assassinations, arrests and also executions and targeting of families has shown in the last month,” wrote Nellemann.

Thousands have tried to flee Kabul after it fell to the Taliban on Sunday, including drivers, security personnel, and translators who used to work with foreign organizations. Footage has emerged online of people clinging to military planes as they take off from Kabul airport runways, as well as what appeared to be people falling from jets in the sky.

A 19-year-old soccer star was among those who died – he was killed in the landing gear of a US military plane, said one report.

Read the original article on Insider

Source: https://news.yahoo.com/taliban-intensifying-hunt-afghans-helped-080306655.html

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Britain wants to see functioning airport in Afghanistan after departure of troops -Sky

Reuters — Wed, 25 Aug 2021 01:27:35 +0000

Aug 24 (Reuters) – Britain wants to see a functioning airport in Afghanistan after the departure of troops, Sky News reported on Tuesday, citing comments by Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab’s briefing to UK lawmakers.

“If we want to do this in a more managed way and really take the steep angle off the cliff edge, what we really could do with is the Taliban being able to run a functional airport in Kabul,” Raab was quoted as saying by Sky News https://bit.ly/3BbNh34.

“I’m sure there will be various neighboring countries that will want to see if they can help them keep that airport open or indeed whether they want to get in members of the previous government, or the officials, to do that job,” he said.

(Reporting by Kanishka Singh in Bengaluru Editing by Chris Reese)

Source: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/britain-wants-to-see-functioning-airport-in-afghanistan-after-departure-of-troops-sky/ar-AANHbVN?ocid=uxbndlbing

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JUST IN: McCarthy Rebukes Biden’s ‘Unconditional Surrender’ In Afghanistan In Fiery Floor Remarks

Forbes Breaking News — Tue, 24 Aug 2021 22:15:32 +0000

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Weekly Update by Mark Armstrong – 20 August 2021

Mark Armstrong — Fri, 20 Aug 2021 22:11:51 +0000

Greetings from Tyler,

The global humiliation is underway. It was intended as one of those off the cuff, wild exaggerations for humor’s sake when this Update suggested we were headed for another escape from Saigon. It’s worse. You can access whatever news you will, but it’s not good anywhere. It’s a disaster we can’t and won’t imagine. It’s off the charts. Pride and honor are a big deal in Middle Eastern culture. We’re fresh out. One very worn out top official, (sometimes known as the big guy) who not a month ago adamantly assured the world this wouldn’t happen, couldn’t be reached for comment. Until he gave a canned speech and explained the situation before darting away. No questions. The ever defensive mainstream press is starting to turn. The events of recent days, and perhaps future days constitute a black eye the U. S. will wear for all eternity. Those in charge have only excuses.

Some images stick with you, and you can no doubt remember some that were so disturbing you can never get them out of your head. We’ve been treated to several of those this week, things we’d never seen before and couldn’t imagine actually happening. One is the military cargo plane completely jammed with Afghans that had scrambled on board. Where are the women and children? They’re not anywhere to be seen. We’d also never seen people climbing all over each other up ramps at a departure gate, or the hundreds trying to hitch a ride as the jet taxied to take off. Turns out that flesh and bone are no match for the C-17’s hydraulics.

So the fall back position is “it’s Trump’s fault,” this situation was inherited. That’s already the retort, even though the Donald is seething with anger at the way this has been handled. It seems like ISIS got humiliated and wiped off the face of the earth during… Let’s see, which president was it? The caliphate was dismantled, remember? Now that the “adults” are back in charge the goat thumpers have made a comeback. Who’d have guessed?

Glenn Beck has to be credited with this. He opened his radio program on Wednesday proclaiming a great triumph for inclusion and diversity. Never in recorded human history has a debacle of this magnitude been pulled off by such a diverse group of people. From the agency heads to the intelligence apparatus and all down the line, the highest priority has been racial equality and multi-gender inclusion. Even the generals have been preaching it. They’d just finished gay pride month at U. S. embassies around the world. They were particularly PROUD that a rainbow flag was flying at the U. S. Embassy at the Vatican, as if they don’t have enough trouble in Rome. But in Kabul the U. S. obviously wasn’t planning for what would come next. Now thousands are marked for death. Was that part of some deal?

It’s been pointed out that the big guy was on the phone congratulating Ft. Worth school board members for standing up against Governor Abbot’s ban on mask mandates as Afghanistan fell. We’re over here deciding whether we want to re-inhale carbon dioxide while people who cooperated with the United States are hunted down and killed. Mind you, the Taliban are the nicest of terrorists even when chanting death to America according to CNN. You probably saw the scene of the Taliban press conference, delivered from within the presidential palace in Kabul. There were about a dozen head wrapped geniuses with automatic weapons and the combined IQ of a third grader. The organizers? They were in Guantanamo Bay until they were traded along with 5 billion dollars, for traitor Bo Bergdahl. You probably remember who did that. Gay pride parade? Anybody?

Now U. S. allies including those in NATO have important questions about the reliability of the United States. It appears that things are not buttoned up in the way you’d expect of the American military or State Department, which is reportedly in charge of the “evacuation.” Promises have been broken. The world is watching, realizing that the U. S. is inept under current leadership. Whoever planned and carried out the withdrawal of the advisory forces still in Afghanistan needs their heads examined. Whose idea was it to leave all manner of valuable equipment and munitions behind? Word is that the volume of weaponry and vehicles now in the hands of the Taliban is “immense.” When asked what was the plan to keep American weapons from falling into the hands of the Taliban, General Hank Taylor said in a nationally televised press conference that he had no answer to that question. Let’s just say we’re impressed.

The answer is to give the Taliban a taste of U. S. military capabilities. It’s not like we don’t have bases all over the Middle East, not counting the eleven that were turned over to the Taliban. But alas, we have the big guy and he’s not even writing the script. Biden is taking a beating that more properly belongs to Obama and crew. Never in the annals of history has the American presidency come in for the kind of rebuke delivered on the floor of the House of Commons. America’s institutions have been shamed, and deservedly so. It turns out that the British Prime Minister was trying desperately to talk to the big guy, it was urgent. The Brits have people in harm’s way, now that the whole of Afghanistan and an unbelievable cache of American weapons have been kindly handed to the terrorists. It would be nice if we could coordinate. Sorry, he can’t come to the phone.

If you’ve not seen the absolute disgust displayed toward the White House on the floor of Britain’s House of Commons, you might consider looking it up. Anger arose over helplessness amid the chaos. The fact that allies can’t even communicate during an emergency with countless lives in the balance is “shameful,” “dishonorable.” The White House was castigated for taking unilateral (“catastrophic”) action, “throwing us (the British) and everybody else to the fire.” This is not just some diplomatic faux pas, innocent lives are being snuffed out by these inbred bozos and nobody better intervene. Meanwhile we continue to be battered with COVID news and the coming orders. It’s like they’ve been learning from the Taliban, but they can’t just shoot us. God sees it all.

Mark

Source: http://www.intercontinentalcog.org/fridayupdates.php

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The post Weekly Update by Mark Armstrong – 20 August 2021 first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.