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US Attempts to Soften Afghan Pullout, flip-flops on closing embassy in Kabul
[ToloNews] The New York Times

...which still proudly displays Walter Duranty's Pulitzer prize...

on Sunday wrote that US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin in a meeting with the current commander of US and NATO
...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A single organization with differing goals, equipment, language, doctrine, and structure....
forces Gen. Austin Miller, Joint Chiefs Chaiman Gen. Mark A. Milley and Centcom head Gen. Kenneth F. McKenzie Jr. discussed Afghanistan and specifically ways to buffer the impact of the US pullout on the Afghan people.

On Friday, the US military left Bagram Airbase in Parwan province, north of Kabul, effectively ending US operations, although a contingent of US military personnel have been left behind to guard the US embassy.

Austin ordered a series of steps to slow the pace of the final withdrawal from America’s longest war, said The New York Times.

The measures are intended to buy some time to soften the drawdown’s psychological shock to the Afghans, and to extend at least through August some involvement by the American military, despite there being no combat troops, equipment or bases in the country.

The first measure, said The Times report, sought to highlight Biden’s message to Afghan leaders that the United States was not abandoning the country at a moment when intelligence analysts predict the fall of the Afghan government to the Taliban
...Arabic for students...
in months.

General Miller will remain in Afghanistan for "at least a couple more weeks," said John F. Kirby, Pentagon front man, to aid the transition of the American military mission from warfighting to two new objectives — protecting an ongoing US diplomatic presence in Kabul and maintaining ties with the Afghan military.

The Times quoted Pentagon officials saying that Gen. Miller will turn over his command to Gen. McKenzie who will assume "at least through August" the same authorities General Miller had to carry out Arclight airstrike
...KABOOM!...
s against Al Qaeda, the ISIS and, in very limited circumstances, Taliban fighters.

General McKenzie will be authorized, at least through the September deadline, to move 300 additional troops into Afghanistan if needed for security or emergencies, like the possible evacuation of the American Embassy, Pentagon officials said as cited by The Times.

The Times said that in the next few weeks, Gen. Miller will travel within Afghanistan, and to Brussels to brief NATO officials on the transition, and to the forward headquarters in Qatar
...an emirate on the east coast of the Arabian Peninsula. It sits on some really productive gas and oil deposits, which produces the highest per capita income in the world. They piss it all away on religion, financing the Moslem Brotherhood and several al-Qaeda affiliates. Home of nutbag holy manYusuf al-Qaradawi...
, Pentagon officials said.

No Plan to close Kabul based US embassy: US Embassy

[KhaamaPress] On Sunday, a tweet by the US Embassy in Kabul confirmed that the US Embassy in Kabul "is open and will remain open."

The statement noted that there is no plan to close the US embassy in Afghanistan. However,
man does not live by words alone, despite the fact that sometimes he has to eat them...
based on reports on Saturday, the Embassy will be closed and US personnel, along with thousands of other Americans in the country, will leave Afghanistan.

The US Embassy said that claims that US officials stepped up work on a possible evacuation of the US Embassy in Kabul are false and rejected the emergency evacuation plan.

In a statement, the US embassy said: "The US Embassy in Kabul is open and will remain open. As directed by President Joe The Big Guy Biden
...46th president of the U.S. S You're a lyin' dog-faced pony soldier...
, we will continue to have a robust diplomatic presence in Kabul to carry out the range of work we do with the government and people of Afghanistan. We have no plans to close the Embassy.

Wall Street Journal had reported on Friday that US government plans for emergency evacuation from the Kabul based embassy after the last soldiers in Bagram airbase left Afghanistan for US.
Posted by: trailing wife 2021-07-06
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=606458