At Armed Services Hearing on Afghanistan, Secretary Austin Confirms that President Biden Followed the Advice of Military Advisors When Planning and Executing Withdrawal Operation 28SEP21

 SEN ELIZABETH WARREN D MA has never been afraid to speak the truth. As usual she is eloquent, fair and honest in her questioning of Sec of Defense Austin and in her comments on the long overdue withdrawal of American forces from Afghanistan. Warmongers, war profiteers, the military-industrial complex and the politicians and pundits they own will continue to run their mouths spewing lies and deception but America can thank God Pres Biden had the courage to end this war and bring our troops home. 

At Armed Services Hearing on Afghanistan, Secretary Austin Confirms that President Biden Followed the Advice of Military Advisors When Planning and Executing Withdrawal Operation

Senator Warren: “I believe President Biden had it exactly right: Withdrawing was long overdue.”

Video of the Hearing Exchange (Round 1 Questioning)

Washington, D.C. -- During today's Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC) hearing, United States Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) questioned Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin about President Biden’s decision to withdraw U.S. troops from Afghanistan. In response to Senator Warren, Secretary Austin confirmed that President Biden followed the advice of military advisors in planning and executing that withdrawal. 

Transcript: Hearing to Receive Testimony on the Conclusion of Military Operations in Afghanistan and Plans for Future Counterterrorism Operations (Round 1 of Questioning)
United States Senate Committee on Armed Services 
Tuesday, September 28, 2021 

Senator Warren: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

So I want to begin by zooming out, because it is not possible to understand our final months in Afghanistan without viewing them in the context of the 20 years that led up to them. Anyone who says the last few months were a failure but everything before that was great, clearly hasn’t been paying attention.  

In 2015, the Taliban conquered its first province since 2001. By October 2018, the Afghan government controlled only 54% of the 407 districts. And by May 2020, the Afghan government controlled less than a third of Afghan’s 407 districts. We poured money and support and air cover, and the Afghan government continued to fail.

By 2021, it was clear that 2,500 troops could not successfully prop up a government that had been losing ground and support to the Taliban for years.

Secretary Austin, I understand that you advised President Biden to stay in Afghanistan. But, as you acknowledge, staying or withdrawing is a decision for the President alone. So I want to focus on what happened next. Once President Biden made the decision to have U.S. forces leave the country, who designed the evacuation?

Secretary Austin: Well, Senator, again, I won’t address what I advised, but the advice I gave to the President. I would just say that in his calculus, this was not risk-free, and the Taliban, as we've said earlier in this hearing, were committed to recommencing their operations against our forces. His assessment was that in order to sustain that and continue to do things that benefitted the Afghans that would require at some point that he increase the presence -- our presence -- there in Afghanistan. So once he made the decision, then of course, from a military perspective -- in terms of the retrograde of the people and the equipment -- that was, that planning was done by Central Command, and certainly, principally, by General Miller. Very detailed planning. And then, we came back and briefed the entire inner agency on the details of that plan. 

Senator Warren: Okay. So the military planned the evacuation. Did President Biden follow your advice on executing on the evacuation plan?

Secretary Austin: He did.

Senator Warren:  Did President Biden give you all the resources that you needed?

Secretary Austin: From my view, he did. 

Senator Warren: Did President Biden ignore your advice on the evacuation at any point?

Secretary Austin: No, Senator. He did not. 

Sen Warren: Did he refuse any requests for anything that you needed or asked for? 

Secretary Austin: No. 

Senator Warren: So the President followed the advice of his military advisors in planning and executing this withdrawal.

As we’ve already established, the seeds for our failure in Afghanistan were planted many, many years ago, so let me ask you one more question, Secretary Austin. Knowing what you know now, if we had stayed in Afghanistan for another year, would it have made a fundamental difference?

Secretary Austin: Again, it depends on what size you remain in at and what your objectives are. There are a range of possibilities, but if you stayed there at force posture of 2,500, certainly, you'd be in a fight with the Taliban. And you'd have to reinforce yourself. 

Senator Warren: I appreciate you looking at it as a fighter, but I would also add one more year of propping up a corrupt government and an army that wouldn't fight on its own was not going to give us a different outcome. And anyone who thinks differently is either fooling himself or trying to fool the rest of us.

I believe President Biden had it exactly right: Withdrawing was long overdue. The withdrawal was conducted in accordance with the advice of his military advisors, who planned and executed every step of this withdrawal.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Or Madame Chair.

MOTHER JONES DAILEY: It’s Not Too Late to Learn the Lessons We Didn’t Learn From 9/11, Inside the wild, Twitter-fueled race to airlift dogs from Afghanistan, Biden criticizes GOP governors for being "so cavalier" about COVID-19, Hurricane Ida left a huge water crisis in its wake, How the pandemic prepared Texas abortion networks for the worst, From the archives: Lie by lie—a timeline of how we got into Iraq, Take a Minute for 40 Things That Have Actually Gotten Better 10SEP21

 

 

September 10, 2021

As the country prepares to mark the 20th anniversary of September 11, David Corn is out with a must-read column on one of the most enduring tragedies of the attacks, one that still haunts US foreign policy and our general engagement with the rest of the world. It's a sobering read, to be sure. But a critical one as the United States considers its role on the international stage, particularly after the "America First" mantra that governed the last White House.

You also don't want to miss Nathalie Baptiste on the strange, almost unbelievable grip that American patriotism had on pop culture in the aftermath of the attacks. (Toby Keith, Lizzy McGuire, 24, yikes!) And be sure to read Tim Murphy's excellent examination of the 2010 ground-zero mosque fight—and how the ugly incident provides essential context for where American politics has landed.

"I’ll always think of the summer of 2010, and the weaponization of a construction project in Manhattan, as a flickering glimpse of things to come—not just the political potency of foaming prejudice against Muslims, but also the readiness with which those pushing the story were accommodated," Murphy writes.

—Inae Oh

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Inside the wild, Twitter-fueled race to airlift dogs from Afghanistan

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From the archives: Lie by lie—a timeline of how we got into Iraq

Mushroom clouds, duct tape, Judy Miller, Curveball. Recalling how Americans were sold a bogus case for invasion.

BY JONATHAN STEIN AND TIM DICKINSON

 

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SOME GOOD NEWS, FOR ONCE

Take a Minute for 40 Things That Have Actually Gotten Better

It’s Friday. I’m gonna wager that you won’t agree with everything on this list of what’s “gotten better” in the past 20 years. So, go ahead, order a la carte: On today’s menu is a seasonal assortment of purportedly good things crowdsourced by University of Virginia postdoctoral fellow David Walsh, who’d asked casually on Twitter: “What has gotten materially better in America in, say, the last twenty years?”

Answers rang in. So many that Reason magazine editor Elizabeth Nolan Brown compiled top entries, from “HIV care” to “better cannabis quality” to “home entertainment” to “information access.” Also in the winner’s circle: “bicycling infrastructure,” “digital reading experience,” “automobile efficiency and safety,” “acceptance of neurodiversity,” “restaurant food variety and quality [including vegetarian and vegan],” “cameras,” “digital video,” “smoking rates,” “getting dressed,” “hygiene products,” “being a nerd,” and, uh, an inappropriate one.

If you can access each.

As you were.

—Daniel King

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MOTHER JONES DAILY; Does Banning the Taliban From Social Media Actually Help Afghans?, The anti-vax lawyer representing January 6 rioters has suddenly gone missing, It took approximately zero seconds for hawks to make the Afghanistan withdrawal about China, As Hurricane Ida strands thousands, the police would rather focus on "anti-looting" patrols, Florida's COVID surge is taxing its ability to purify drinking water, England Intends to Ban Single-Use Culinary Plastics—Very Slowly,A New Website Catalogs More Than 250 Black Films Currently Streaming

 

 

August 31, 2021

It's the last day of August, and the United States' involvement in Afghanistan is officially over.

As the Taliban claims victory, more than 100 Americans remain in the country, though the State Department has said that it plans to assist those who want to leave. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said yesterday that more than 123,000 people had been safely flown out of Afghanistan, including about 6,000 US citizens.

Meanwhile, conservative war hawks are spinning US withdrawal from Afghanistan as a win for China. Social media executives are grappling with the thorny issue of whether to ban the Taliban from their sites. And President Biden will have to figure out how to continue diplomatic relations with a Taliban-run government.

Biden just discussed the future of US foreign policy in Afghanistan. Watch his remarks here.

—Abigail Weinberg

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"This snail-paced, piecemeal approach isn’t leadership.”

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SOME GOOD NEWS, FOR ONCE

A New Website Catalogs More Than 250 Black Films Currently Streaming

Forget the idea that Black cinema primarily depicts a singular set of storylines and themes centered on shared trauma, says screenwriter Maya Cade, who spent a year cataloging more than 250 currently streaming Black films from between 1915 and 1979. Her effort to make that rich history easily accessible culminated in the launch of the Black Film Archive last week. From silent films to horror flicks to blockbuster comedies and romance, Black cinema spans ever-expanding genres and generations, now archived on her site.

In her introductory note, Cade writes that the films appearing in the archive “have something significant to say about the Black experience; speak to Black audiences; and/or have a Black star, writer, producer, or director.” The intentionally broad criteria is an attempt to expand the ways Black films are framed. “I’ve been thinking a lot about the fact that the act of making Black film history accessible is the act of transforming collective memory,” Cade told me. “To intentionally preserve is to remember, and to remember is to reimagine what the future can hold. Here, the films can be many things, and among those things are being remembered, treasured, and seen.”

Beyond archiving, Cade is also one of the vanishingly few people to use Twitter to spread joy, bringing snippets of cultural history—and countless gems from cinema as a whole—to her followers’ feeds every day. She’ll continue updating the archive monthly and maintaining a supplemental newsletter. Explore the rich range of Black film: If you find yourself with an hour to spare, pick a movie and start streaming.

—Abigail Weinberg

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