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Putin may veto Biden's post-Afghanistan plans
[HotAir] - It’s understandable that the Biden administration couldn’t release all of the details of our plans to pull out of Afghanistan to the public in advance. It would be far too easy for the terrorists and our other adversaries to take advantage of such information to our detriment and that of our allies. But the more we learn of how this entire bug-out operation was organized, the more troubling it becomes. The most recent revelation involves how we plan on monitoring what’s going on in the country after we’re gone and what preparations are being made in the event that we need to intervene in the future.

We already learned that things were looking bleak at our embassy, as well as at the airport which currently represents the only effective means of egress. Yesterday we found out that the Taliban has been scooping up our abandoned weapons and military vehicles and parading them in front of the international press corps. But even assuming that we manage to get all of our people and those who helped us out of Afghanistan, where will they all go? We need a centralized base of operations to monitor what goes on there, preferably a place allowing the option of launching military action if required. It’s now being suggested that we set up a base of operations in a neighboring country, probably either Uzbekistan or Tajikistan. But there are several problems with that proposal and the biggest problem’s name is Vladimir Putin.
    The U.S. may need the help of an old foe in extricating itself from America’s longest war: Vladimir Putin.

    The Biden administration has in recent weeks quietly engaged Central Asian governments in the hope of using one or more of the countries as bases after the withdrawal is complete. The U.S. has two main requests: a staging post for keeping an eye on terrorist activity in Afghanistan, and temporarily hosting thousands of Afghans seeking visas.

    But Moscow could use its significant economic and military influence in the region to jam up those plans, U.S. officials and experts say.
Because Russians are inherently evil? Or Tit-for-Tat? Or just to cut down on CIA opium trade?

Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2021-07-08
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=606674