Defense Sec. Austin Stunned by Simple Taliban Question, Gen. Milley Interrupts and Gives Reporter the Runaround
The men in control of the U.S. military under the leadership of President Joe Biden on Wednesday demonstrated what dereliction of duty looks like when they couldn’t explain how they intend to get Americans out of Afghanistan following the collapse of the government there.
We, of course, saw that collapse play out in horrifying fashion throughout the past week, especially on Sunday, when Kabul fell to the Taliban. There are reportedly thousands of Americans with no clear way of leaving.
Nobody at the White House has any answers about the collapse in Afghanistan. On Wednesday, it looked like the U.S. military was no better.
During a joint news briefing, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley proved that the Pentagon is just as lost as Biden.
Both men were asked how the military intends to evacuate Americans from Kabul, now that Taliban fighters control the city, minus its airport. Austin was reminded of the dynamics of the situation, and couldn’t offer a lucid explanation as to how U.S. troops will secure the safety of Americans currently in Taliban-held territory.
Defense Secretary Austin looks completely stunned when a reporter asks “It sounds like you’re saying this depends on diplomacy with the Taliban. That’s it.”
General Milley interrupts, noting that the State Department has sent messages urging people to go to the airport. pic.twitter.com/xXs4zSipcl
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) August 18, 2021
“First of all… we’re going to evacuate everybody that we can physically possibly evacuate,” Austin said, trying to answer a question about getting Americans and allies out of Kabul. “We’ll conduct these — this process for as long as we possibly can. We will continue to deconflict issues with — with the Taliban.
“And we will stay focused on securing the — the airfield. We cannot afford to either not defend that airfield or — or — or not have an airfield that secures where we have hundreds or thousands of civilians that can access the airfield at will and put our forces at risk.”
The reporter who posed the question responded: “But that doesn’t answer the question. I mean, you’re still saying you’re focused on the airfield. These — these people can’t get into the airfield.”
“Well we’re going to do everything we can to continue to try to deconflict and create passageways for them to get to the airfield,” Austin said. “I don’t have the capability to go out and extend operations currently into Kabul. And where do you take that? I mean, how far can you extend into Kabul, you know, and how long does it take to flow those forces in to be able to do that?”
That answer isn’t good enough for the situation, which wasn’t lost on the reporter.
“So it sounds like you’re saying this depends on diplomacy with the Taliban, that’s it,” she said. “That’s our only option is getting them to agree to do this?”
“Woke” Gen. Milley then stepped in to rescue Austin from further stepping over his words.
“Well let me add something here,” he said. “We’ve got a couple entry control points set up. A north one, east one, and a third one at Abbey Gate. They’re currently manned with consular officers, Marines as all part of the perimeter.
“Messages have gone out by various means of communication from the State Department to American citizens and others, and they’re being told to go to those gates.”
There was more, details that obfuscated the situation more than they clarified (like the patter of a shell game con artist), but the essential question went unanswered. Our military leadership is lost, having spent this year worried about critical race theory, diversity and forcing young and healthy servicemen and women to take a vaccine that some of them don’t want.
In Milley’s case, we know he not so long ago committed publicly to learning about “white rage.” Austin just two months ago was obsessed with ensuring there was enough gay, lesbian and transgender participation in the military.
There is also, of course, the fact that military leadership was so concerned about the left’s false “insurrection” narrative following the Jan. 6 Capitol incursion that they took their eyes off the ball in Afghanistan — and who knows where else.
We do know that an actual insurrection succeeded just this week. It happened in a country we’ve occupied for 20 years and to which we’ve committed incalculable resources.
Our government and military spent two decades and thousands of lives propping up a regime that collapsed within days, and it occurred while our government was worried about identifying “extremism” in the U.S.
Milley, Austin and the administration they represent were presumably so concerned about grandmothers posting photos from the Capitol building on Jan. 6 that they are now depending on an actual terror group to save American lives. Because of their failure, American citizens have to hope for mercy from the Taliban as a matter of U.S. policy.
It’s disgraceful.
Neither Milley nor Austin could admit that they are not in control in Afghanistan, so a question about who is truly running the show there was ignored.
We don’t know at this point exactly what the situation on the ground is, but we know the U.S. has apparently lost complete control, and we know our leaders have surrendered even the ability to get our own citizens out of a war zone.
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