Jen Psaki’s quote from the podium from 8/31/2021 per the Afghanistan withdrawal in August 2021 during an Offal Office press briefer to the Coprophile Media:
“I don’t think anyone assessed that they [the Afghan government & forces] would collapse as quickly as they did. Anyone. Anyone in this room. Anyone in the region. Anyone anywhere in the world. If you have anyone who did, I’d be surprised.”
Psaki is an idiot.
House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul 9/18/24:
Not only did Mr. Sullivan direct public communications, but as my report detailed, he materially misled the American public. Those misrepresentations extended throughout the inter-agency process, military withdrawal, and NEO. They came to a head on August 31, 2021, when Ms. Psaki told the American people, “I don’t think anyone assessed [the Afghan government and forces] would collapse as quickly they did. Anyone. Anyone in this room. Anyone in the region. Anyone anywhere in the world.” My report revealed Ms. Psaki’s statement to be false – senior military advisors predicted a rapid collapse during meetings with the NSC – and my report also established Mr. Sullivan was responsible for Ms. Psaki’s press briefings.
McCaul is wrong. No flag officers stepped up and warned the policymakers how quick the fall would be.
At the time this happened, my contacts in uniform and civilians knew that the Afghan National Army (ANA) would collapse in a week. A lot of head scratching occurred when Bagram Air Base was closed in the summer of 2021 because it was the only contested mass exfiltration point in the entire country that had a chance of getting folks out in a crunch. I spent time in 2015 training members of the ANA Special Operations Command (ANASOC) near Mazar-i-Sharif in northern AFG and we plugged in formal and informal ratlines for them if the shit hit the fan. The fragility of the ANA at the tactical and operational level was known by anyone who had happened to have boots on the ground in the HIndu Kush. The ANASOC soldiers became the number one target for the Taliban once they reestablished power. I had the honor of recently linking up with some who survived who are now in the US and whom I had personally trained, we are trying to get their families repatriated.
The US will go down in history as one of the worst allies to have who will hang you out to dry at every opportunity.
America was shameful in all the preparations for the AFG and NO ONE was held accountable for the debacle.
No One.
How long did it take the Iraqi army to collapse in 2011. Weeks.
After the US withdrawal in 2011, “political, tribal and family favouritism expanded out of control. The most senior positions in the military were run by unqualified persons . . . many focused on avoiding work and making money through corruption.” These incompetent senior officers also stopped training the troops. The eventual result was large-scale collapse.
https://publications.armywarcollege.edu/News/Display/Article/3890286/
The Offal Office Script, a work of fiction:
https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/US-Withdrawal-from-Afghanistan.pdf
America should simply stay home.
Email me at cgpodcast@pm.me
