From yahoo:
“Biden promises to hunt down
terrorists behind devastating Kabul attack”
Speaking to the American people
in the wake of a devastating terror attack at the Kabul airport that left
scores dead on Thursday — including numerous U.S. troops — President Biden
promised the U.S. would strike back against those responsible. “To those who carried
out this attack, as well as anyone who wishes America harm, know this — we will
not forgive, we will not forget, we will hunt you down and make you pay,” the
president said in a somber White House address. Gen. Kenneth McKenzie Jr., the
head of U.S. Central Command, said earlier in the day that one of the
explosions was caused by at least one suicide bomber presumed to be working
with the Islamic State Khorasan, or ISIS-K, and that more attacks were likely.
Biden also said ISIS-K was behind the attack.
A pair of explosions near Hamid
Karzai International Airport killed a number of people Thursday afternoon in
what the U.S. described as a “complex attack.” The Pentagon said 13 U.S.
service members died in the attack and an additional 15 were injured, along
with numerous Afghan nationals, in the single deadliest day for American forces
in the country since 2011. An Afghan official told the Associated Press that 60
Afghans were killed and 143 were wounded in the airport blast. Biden said that
he and first lady Jill Biden are “outraged, as well as heartbroken” at the
news. He alluded to military parents who might be “feeling you're being sucked
into a black hole in the middle of your chest,” and spoke of his late son, Beau
Biden, who served tours in Iraq and Kosovo as an Army officer. Biden emphasized
that while the U.S. is assessing how and when to respond, the ongoing
evacuation mission in Kabul would continue, and that remaining American
citizens would be removed from the country, along with Afghans who had assisted
U.S. forces. “I’ve also ordered my commanders to develop operational plans to
strike ISIS key assets, leadership and facilities. We will respond with force
and precision at our time at a place we choose in a moment of our choosing,”
the president said. Biden added that the military would be given “whatever they
need.” Before taking questions from reporters, Biden asked for a “moment of
silence” for the fallen American personnel. In response to a question about
whether he bore responsibility for the situation in Afghanistan, Biden said
yes, while also noting that former President Donald Trump had negotiated the
original withdrawal agreement with the Taliban. “But here’s the deal: You know,
I wish you — you know as well as I do that the former president made a deal
with the Taliban” Biden said. McKenzie and other U.S. officials have warned
that further attacks in Afghanistan are likely. “We believe it is their desire
to continue those attacks and we expect those attacks to continue and we’re
doing everything we can to be prepared for those attacks,” McKenzie told
reporters at the Pentagon, adding that the U.S. had enough forces on the ground
to counter enemy militants. In public
remarks and interviews since the rapid fall of Afghanistan’s Western-backed
government, Biden warned against the threat of ISIS-K, a group U.S.
intelligence agencies say is a sworn enemy of the Taliban. “These troops and
innocent civilians at the airport face the risk of attack from ISIS-K,” Biden
said last Sunday. The Kabul airport has been the epicenter of the rushed effort
by U.S. forces to evacuate tens of thousands of Americans, Afghans and
third-country nationals.
Worried that any Americans and Afghans who
aided U.S. forces left behind would be at risk of persecution by the new
Taliban government, some current and former officials have called on the White
House to extend its self-imposed deadline of Aug. 31 for the withdrawal of U.S.
forces. Biden has also been criticized for his prediction last month that the
Taliban would not rapidly retake the country as U.S. forces left. Congressional
Republicans and a number of leading Senate Democrats have described the
withdrawal as chaotic and haphazard. “This is a full-fledged humanitarian
crisis, and the U.S. government personnel, already working under extreme
circumstances, must secure the airport and complete the massive evacuation of
American citizens and vulnerable Afghans desperately trying to leave the country,”
Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Menendez, D-N.J., said in a
statement Thursday. The White House, meanwhile, has defended its efforts to
evacuate the country. “This is now on track to be the largest airlift in U.S.
history,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters during a
briefing Wednesday when presented with criticism of the late August deadline.
“So no, I would not say this is anything but a success.”
As of Thursday morning, the U.S.
said it had facilitated the evacuation of approximately 95,700 people since
Aug. 14, including about 13,400 taken out of the country overnight. At least
1,000 Americans are thought to still be in the country, according to McKenzie. Biden
spent much of Thursday in the White House Situation Room with Cabinet members
including Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of Defense Lloyd
Austin, according to the White House. Vice President Kamala Harris joined those
meetings virtually during her flight from Vietnam to Guam. Harris is set to
return to Washington, D.C., on Thursday, canceling the last leg of her overseas
trip to campaign for embattled California Gov. Gavin Newsom. The White House
either canceled or delayed several of Biden’s public events scheduled for
Thursday, including a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett.
^ Americans, our Western Allies,
our Afghani Allies and our Enemies like ISIS know Biden's word means nothing
now. He is a liar plain and simple. We all remember when he promised American
Citizens and the Afghanis who helped us-
just a few days ago - "We will get you out."
As we remember the American
Civilians, the Western Civilians, the Afghani Civilians that helped us who we
will abandon to the Taliban and ISIS we now must remember the dead American
Soldiers.
This failure is because of the
Suits (Commander-In-Failure Biden) and not the Boots (American Troops.) ^
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