FJB

 

Attacked on Feb 18 by the Houthi Rebels and claimed sunk, the M/V Rubymar is still afloat as of last night according to CENTCOM but is mucking up the Red Sea

 

Honestly I don't understand how General McKenzie can continue to serve under a Commander in Chief Surrender Monkey and do his bidding with a straight face or a clear conscience

 

U.S. Central Command chief Marine Gen. Frank McKenzie, who served multiple tours in Afghanistan, as did his son, appeared somewhat stunned when he spoke to the press on Monday, detailing surprisingly civil interactions with Taliban commanders who oversee the network he has fought to defeat for two decades. When asked how he felt about that, he demurred. 

"I was very conflicted," McKenzie said in a candid moment during a televised briefing at the Pentagon from his headquarters in Tampa, Florida. "I am going to be thinking about that in the days ahead." 

He described Taliban cooperation with the U.S. evacuation mission in recent days as "actually very helpful and useful to us as we closed down operations."

McKenzie detailed that despite assertions from Biden and other top leaders, the U.S. did not withdraw all of its own citizens, nor the Afghans it had pledged it would protect in exchange for their cooperation in the war effort. The military presence on the ground at the airport retained the ability to bring them out of the country, but many were not able to get to the airfield amid the chaos in the capital city. 

"The military phase is over, but our desire to bring these people out remains as intense as it was before," McKenzie said. "The Department of State will now take the lead on it." 

The U.S. would not have been able to accomplish that mission if it had stayed for an additional week or so, he added, batting down suggestions from Capitol Hill and elsewhere that Biden should have ordered an extension to his deadline. ...

McKenzie assesses as many as 2,000 "Hardcore ISIS fighters" are operating in Afghanistan now, some of whom were freed in recent days from jails the U.S. originally ran at Bagram and elsewhere. 

"That's going to be a challenge for the Taliban, I believe, in the days ahead," McKenzie said.

More. 

US Central Command knew better in 2009 that whatever the Taliban put down on paper wasn't worth much

 

General McKenzie in particular, CENTCOM Commander since 2019, strongly echoed the Trump agreement with the Taliban after Feb 29, 2020, stating explicitly the intention to "go to zero" troops and partner with the Taliban, the terrorists

 

The military say what the commander in chief says, simple as that.

US Central Command has been promulgating the mistaken belief that the Taliban wants peace and forgiveness since at least 2011 when Obama ran the show, but also under Trump

 

CENTCOM has no comment today about this revelation that it has given a list to the Taliban of the people the US wants evacauated from Kabul

 

U.S. officials in Kabul gave the Taliban a list of names of American citizens, green card holders and Afghan allies to grant entry into the militant-controlled outer perimeter of the city’s airport, a choice that's prompted outrage behind the scenes from lawmakers and military officials.

More.

General Kenneth McKenzie, elevated to CENTCOM Commander by Trump in 2019: "we share a common purpose" with the Taliban and they are "useful to work with"

 

Did Trump and Pompeo get the gimcrack foreign policy from the military, or was it the other way around?