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Area: WoT Background    Non-WoT    Opinion        Politix   
Biden Pledges to 'Hunt Down' Those Behind Airport Attack
Today's Headlines
Headline Comments [Views]
Page 1: WoT Operations
6 23:53 Creter B. Hayes3355 [7] 
3 14:27 Glitle Throlumble2020 [1] 
9 19:26 trailing wife [3] 
11 20:58 Anomalous Sources [2] 
2 08:59 Jise Elmeang4932 [] 
0 [4] 
33 20:37 Ebbomoger Speaking for Boskone4589 [6] 
0 [] 
0 [4] 
0 [1] 
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4 18:49 Chuting Griting2963 [] 
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Page 2: WoT Background
4 14:54 swksvolFF [13]
1 11:02 Tom [11]
2 18:52 Anomalous Sources [1]
8 21:59 Frank G [13]
19 21:31 Ruprecht [5]
1 12:07 Abu Uluque [6]
1 12:14 Frank G [1]
6 21:48 Anomalous Sources [3]
0 [5]
0 [7]
9 21:56 Anomalous Sources [5]
3 14:36 g(r)omgoru [6]
1 07:55 Besoeker [2]
6 18:30 Anomalous Sources [5]
Page 3: Non-WoT
11 20:45 Rex Mundi [5]
4 22:54 Skidmark [2]
6 19:01 Anomalous Sources [2]
4 22:55 Skidmark [4]
15 22:57 Skidmark [2]
8 21:55 Dale [5]
11 22:53 Shomong Borgia7813 [3]
14 18:06 Albemarle Thart9070 [4]
3 14:47 g(r)omgoru [2]
6 23:00 Skidmark [1]
5 23:01 Skidmark [6]
5 23:22 Creter B. Hayes3355 [3]
1 09:13 Skidmark [1]
5 13:21 Frank G [4]
7 14:51 swksvolFF [2]
3 23:02 Skidmark [2]
2 23:03 Skidmark [8]
1 11:13 Mike Kozlowski [7]
3 09:17 Skidmark []
1 07:04 NN2N1 [3]
Page 4: Opinion
4 20:46 Rex Mundi [3]
6 16:31 SteveS []
0 [3]
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17 21:19 Anomalous Sources [11]
7 14:29 Ebbaitch Clunk5165 [9]
0 [3]
5 21:09 Anomalous Sources [10]
6 09:25 Skidmark [10]
3 09:28 Skidmark [3]
1 09:30 Skidmark [3]
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Page 6: Politix
3 20:41 ed in texas [9]
6 13:06 SteveS [12]
7 23:39 Silentbrick [8]
2 18:24 Anomalous Sources [9]
3 09:16 M. Murcek [4]
1 08:19 M. Murcek [8]
2 17:29 Phereper White6745 [8]
3 10:08 Procopius2k [1]
9 15:32 Procopius2k [1]
0 []
4 20:29 The Creature from Beyond Harvard7734 [6]
17 18:28 Gomez Tojo9437 [9]
Good Morning

VP cancels her California trip to
campaign with Gov. Gavin Newsom and returns to DC
Saturday August 28th, 2021

pennyedwards1b
Nigeria jihadist surrenders spark debate over war strategy
Sadr announces he will contest election: state media
Reporter to Psaki: Where's the %u2018Swift and Forceful Response' Biden Promised?
Taliban blocks access to Kabul airport to prevent throng
Fury after UK admits Brits and 1,100 eligible Afghans will be left behind when Kabul evacuations stop as death toll hits 170
Kurdish man named a hero after rescuing woman in Vienna
Top member of El Chapo's Sinaloa Cartel FLIPS and gives 'substantial assistance' to feds: Smuggler, 60, is jailed for ten years in deal but she could be out in three

Posted by: Fred || 08/28/2021 || Comments || Link || [7 views] Top|| File under:

#1 
Millicent Maxine Edwards was an American actress who performed on stage, in films, and on television.
Born:Millicent Maxine Edwards, August 24, 1928, Jackson Heights, Queens, New York City, New York, U.S.
Died:August 26, 1998, Friendswood, Texas, U.S.
Occupation:Actress | Stage Name Penny Edwards
Wikipedia
IMDb





Posted by: Deadeye Slater8247 || 08/28/2021 13:03 Comments || Top||

#2 



Posted by: Deadeye Slater8247 || 08/28/2021 13:07 Comments || Top||

#3 

Posted by: Deadeye Slater8247 || 08/28/2021 13:12 Comments || Top||

#4  I like how she never used her sex appeal to further her career.
Posted by: jpal || 08/28/2021 16:38 Comments || Top||

#5  Sorry Mon.
That is a lovely lady.
Posted by: Skidmark || 08/28/2021 23:11 Comments || Top||

#6  The Feast of Augustine the Hippo

"You kiddin'? I never get zippo!
The usual plants
[does a rude little dance]
And a ten percent discount on lipo."

Apologies to the great man (and Purple Knights).
Posted by: Creter B. Hayes3355 || 08/28/2021 23:53 Comments || Top||


Afghanistan
Britain pulls the plug on Kabul airlift: UK will start getting soldiers out of Airport as Boris tells of his 'great regret' at leaving 150 Brits and 1,100 Afghans behind despite fears they will become Taliban hostages
Posted by: Skidmark || 08/28/2021 10:12 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under: Taliban/IEA

#1  It's not your fault, Boris.
Posted by: Abu Uluque || 08/28/2021 11:52 Comments || Top||

#2 
Posted by: Frank G || 08/28/2021 13:24 Comments || Top||

#3  ashes
ashes
All fall down
Posted by: Glitle Throlumble2020 || 08/28/2021 14:27 Comments || Top||


State Department claims hundreds of Americans still aren't sure whether or not they want to LEAVE Afghanistan as August 31 evacuation deadline fast approaches
Posted by: Skidmark || 08/28/2021 09:56 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under: Taliban/IEA

#1  Fine. Make anyone who "isn't sure" sign a waiver. After that, I don't want to hear a damn thing about anything that happens to them. That goes for pearl clutching media accounts too.
Posted by: M. Murcek || 08/28/2021 12:06 Comments || Top||

#2 
Posted by: Frank G || 08/28/2021 12:26 Comments || Top||

#3  So that means anyone who didn't get out didn't really want to.
Posted by: Bobby || 08/28/2021 12:29 Comments || Top||

#4  ^--- more like 'Come-on Man! that was like four or five Minutes ago!"
Posted by: CrazyFool || 08/28/2021 12:30 Comments || Top||

#5  Sure State Department, sure.
Posted by: swksvolFF || 08/28/2021 12:35 Comments || Top||

#6  #2 😁
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 08/28/2021 14:33 Comments || Top||

#7 

Remember some US Citizens are Islamic and have supported the Taliban and etc....

So such statements likely are both SOS CYA and some that want to be part of a Islamic Takeover.

As US Citizen then return to the USA to spread the faith and idea of a Islamic States like in Mich., Minn. and 10 +++ US Metro areas, where they are already have a good toehold.
Posted by: NN2N1 || 08/28/2021 14:57 Comments || Top||

#8  You mean those "who don't want to evacuate" folks?
Posted by: Anomalous Sources || 08/28/2021 18:27 Comments || Top||

#9  How many of those Americans are dual citizens? Not that being a dual citizen protects anyone in Iran, where they do not recognize the dual citizenship idea?
Posted by: trailing wife || 08/28/2021 19:26 Comments || Top||


The Pentagon Seems to Admit They Enabled the Kabul Suicide Bombing in Incredibly Damning Presser
BLUF:
[Red State] If anyone was wondering how reportedly hundreds of ISIS-K fighters made it to Kabul, including those that facilitated the deadly bombings, now we know. Bagram is less than 30 miles from Kabul, and while we are continually told the Taliban and ISIS are sworn enemies, the Taliban let out all of these terrorists without a second thought. Now, the consequences of that have been realized.

How does something like this even happen? Why were they not transferred out of the country when it became clear the Taliban were making gains? While it might have made sense to leave the Afghan government in charge of Taliban prisoners, why would the United States leave thousands of terrorists hellbent on attacking Americans in such a tenuous situation?

Griffin also asked about the information-sharing arrangement between the Taliban and the United States that led to the names of American citizens being handed over. Astonishingly, the Pentagon contradicted itself, claiming that information sharing wasn’t happening.
Posted by: Besoeker || 08/28/2021 02:46 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State

#1  Move along please. We handed the Parwan Detention Facility over to the host nation. Our records are incomplete or have been destroyed. Pretty much anything we had was destroyed in the recent controlled detonation at EAGLE BASE. You'll have to contact former host nation officials for additional details.

We direct your attention to the President Biden orded Reaper strike yesterday in Nangarhar province, east of Kabul and bordering Pakistan.

[sarc off]
Posted by: Besoeker || 08/28/2021 3:02 Comments || Top||

#2  Astonishingly, the Pentagon contradicted itself, claiming that information sharing wasn’t happening

"Oh that. We meant the records of white supremacists left behind for them to find."
Posted by: Dron66046 || 08/28/2021 3:16 Comments || Top||

#3  OK, you may be thinking I'm suffering from onomatophobia but consider this:

Austin "Scottie" Miller bailed on Bagram.
SECDEF Lloyd Austin woking the armed forces
The politics of Austin Texas

I think we should be very concerned about this creeping Austinism
Posted by: Mercutio || 08/28/2021 5:42 Comments || Top||

#4  ^ Nicely done
Posted by: Frank G || 08/28/2021 8:07 Comments || Top||

#5  /\ No known treatment or cure.
Posted by: Besoeker || 08/28/2021 8:12 Comments || Top||


#7  I'm thinking high voltage shock collars...
Posted by: M. Murcek || 08/28/2021 9:06 Comments || Top||

#8  You can tell what a disaster this is by the level of finger-pointing that is already going on.
Posted by: Tom || 08/28/2021 10:56 Comments || Top||

#9  /\ Yep, chronic CYA syndrome.
Posted by: Besoeker || 08/28/2021 11:11 Comments || Top||

#10  "Astonishingly..."

The word used when trying to put a positive spin on "astoundingly."
Posted by: Anomalous Sources || 08/28/2021 18:49 Comments || Top||

#11  And please pass this along to anyone who professes "(that which I do) is the most difficult job in the world."
Posted by: Anomalous Sources || 08/28/2021 20:58 Comments || Top||


Diplomats and Marines in tears over Afghans they can't save and refugees sleeping in 120-degree hangars: Inside Rep. Seth Moulton's secret Kabul trip to see Biden's 'disaster' withdrawal first hand
[Daily Mail, Where America Gets Its News]
Posted by: Skidmark || 08/28/2021 00:41 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Taliban/IEA

#1  Like Tucker Carlson said, Biden's Generals are pigs.
Posted by: Blackbeard Barnsmell6454 || 08/28/2021 1:20 Comments || Top||

#2  By the way, have you noticed in the photos from the airport the huge fence surrounding it? Wouldn't that be nice around our Southern Border?
Posted by: Jise Elmeang4932 || 08/28/2021 8:59 Comments || Top||


United pilot who made the 'arduous and difficult journey' to leave Afghanistan aged nine joins 800 volunteers flying refugees out of military bases to their new homes in the US, as he recalls the 'pain of leaving loved ones behind'
[Daily Mail, Where America Gets Its News]
  • United Airlines pilot Zak K., whose last name is withheld for his safety, posted an emotional video after landing in Ramstein Air Base to rescue Afghan refugees

  • Zak came to the US from Afghanistan when he was nine years old

  • 'I know what an arduous and difficult journey that they have endured and the uncertainty that they face and the pain of leaving loved ones behind'

  • Zak's international flight was one of five completed flights, a United Airline spokesperson told DailyMail.com

  • Zak is already aboard his second flight back to Ramstein Air Base as a translator

  • As of Friday, United Airlines told DailyMail.com that they've flown between 1,500 and 2,000 evacuees to the US, and the mission is ongoing
Posted by: Skidmark || 08/28/2021 00:39 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under:


US says drone strike kills alleged planner of Kabul airport bombing
No doubt they killed someone. And given the thousands of ISIS-K hard boys recently released from Afghan prisons by the Talibs as they rampaged across the landscape, the odds are good the unnamed man deserved killing, even if not necessarily for the thing he is currently accused of.
[IsraelTimes] A US dronezap early Saturday killed a bad boy in the group blamed for the deadly suicide kaboom at the Kabul airport, US officials said, while American forces working under heightened security and threats of another attack pressed ahead in the closing days of the US-led evacuation from Afghanistan.

The attack in eastern Afghanistan killed a member of the country’s Islamic State
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that they were al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're really very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear western pols talk they're not really Moslems....
affiliate, US Central Command said.

The command spokesman, Navy Capt. William Urban, said officials knew of no civilian casualties. US officials gave no immediate information on the person killed, including any possible link to the suicide bombing.
NBC News adds:
"U.S. military forces conducted an over-the-horizon counterterrorism operation today against an ISIS-K planner," said Capt. Bill Urban, front man for U.S. Central Command, in a statement. "The unmanned Arclight airstrike
...KABOOM!...
occurred in the Nangarhar
The unfortunate Afghan province located adjacent to Mohmand, Kurram, and Khyber Agencies. The capital is Jalalabad. The province was the fief of Younus Khalis after the Soviets departed and one of his sons is the current provincial Taliban commander. Nangarhar is Haqqani country..
Province of Afghanistan. Initial indications are that we killed the target. We know of no civilian casualties."

Two U.S. defense officials familiar with the strike told NBC News that the target of tonight's dronezap was an ISIS-K fighter thought to be involved in planning for future attacks. The strike was in Nangarhar Province in eastern Afghanistan, where ISIS-K had a large presence several years ago before being largely ousted by the Afghan military and the Taliban
...Arabic for students...
The unnamed ISIS-K planner was riding in a vehicle with one associate at the time of the strike, driving in an isolated area. The defense officials said the strike was carried out by an MQ-9 Reaper drone and munitions that were selected for precision and in order to minimize any civilian casualties.
Update from Khaama Press at 6:00 a.m. EDT:
Local people in Jalalabad city said that the strike was carried out in Police District 7 of the city Saturday midnight.

As per the latest information, the US evacuation mission was not interrupted and the total number of evacuees now amounts to 111 thousand people.

From Russia Today:

Posted by: trailing wife || 08/28/2021 00:00 || Comments || Link || [6 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State



#3  'A stupid and futile gesture'
Posted by: Raj || 08/28/2021 0:14 Comments || Top||

#4  I don't believe a thing they say. No credibility. Zero. Nada. None.
Posted by: Blackbeard Barnsmell6454 || 08/28/2021 0:34 Comments || Top||

#5  "See! I got them! We are avenged!' - Pretender Biden
Posted by: CrazyFool || 08/28/2021 0:40 Comments || Top||

#6  yep raj
Posted by: Chris || 08/28/2021 0:59 Comments || Top||

#7  Was his name Nakoula Basseley Nakoula ?

Posted by: Besoeker || 08/28/2021 2:13 Comments || Top||

#8  The unnamed ISIS-K planner was riding in a vehicle with one associate at the time of the strike, driving in an isolated area.


Don't insult our intelligence. We didn't all grow up taking methylphenidate.
Posted by: Dron66046 || 08/28/2021 2:31 Comments || Top||

#9  Uh, next time guys, if you're going to use a million dollar missile, try two for one!
Posted by: Fleck Whusing1259 || 08/28/2021 6:02 Comments || Top||

#10 

At one time I would have danced a jig reading this...

But given everything we have seen by this Admin P.P. handling of this Withdrawn. The suspicious 1/2 of my mind is screaming.

Did it happen, or is it an Lame PR attempt to deflect from their total F-UP?


Posted by: || 08/28/2021 6:19 Comments || Top||

#11  /\ I'll take 'deflect from their total F-UP' for $600. Alex.
Posted by: Besoeker || 08/28/2021 6:58 Comments || Top||

#12  "The telescreen was silent for a moment. Winston raised his head again. The bulletin! But no, they were merely changing the music. He had the map of Africa behind his eyelids. The movement of the armies was a diagram: a black arrow tearing vertically southward, and a white arrow horizontally eastward, across the tail of the first. As though for reassurance he looked up at the imperturbable face in the portrait. Was it conceivable that the second arrow did not even exist?"
Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain || 08/28/2021 8:02 Comments || Top||

#13  "an ISIS-K fighter thought to be involved in planning..." Thought to be involved? Thought to be involved??!!
Posted by: Bertie Crains2651 || 08/28/2021 9:55 Comments || Top||

#14  /\ A drone strike on someone..... "thought to be involved."

If fok'ing don't work that way.
Posted by: Besoeker || 08/28/2021 10:02 Comments || Top||

#15  More lies
Posted by: Theque and Company1518 || 08/28/2021 10:17 Comments || Top||

#16  It's curious little is mentioned about from where the drone was launched.
Posted by: Skidmark || 08/28/2021 10:40 Comments || Top||

#17  A question about the Khaama Press article: They show the vehicle hit in the strike, and it looks like a golf cart.

Do the Afghans use golf carts in remote parts of Nangarhar province?
Posted by: Spats Gravigum9743 || 08/28/2021 10:58 Comments || Top||

#18  #17A question about the Khaama Press article: They show the vehicle hit in the strike, and it looks like a golf cart.

Do the Afghans use golf carts in remote parts of Nangarhar province?
Posted by: Spats Gravigum9743 2021-08-28 10:58



....As much as I hate to say this, it's entirely possible - USAF used basic issue golf carts to shuttle people or parts along flightlines and maintenance centers.

Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski || 08/28/2021 11:08 Comments || Top||

#19  Glad to see I'm not the only skeptic.
Posted by: Abu Uluque || 08/28/2021 11:49 Comments || Top||

#20  I knew I could count on Rantburg to put it into proper perspective.
Posted by: Abu Uluque || 08/28/2021 11:50 Comments || Top||

#21  Took how many years to get bin Laden? Took how long to have the intel and a guy like Trump willing to get Suliemani? And they got this guy in a couple days? Riiiiiiight...
Posted by: M. Murcek || 08/28/2021 12:09 Comments || Top||

#22  It's curious little is mentioned about from where the drone was launched.

I saw something about it coming from the Middle East, Skidmark, but I’m afraid I don’t have a link. No doubt there will be boasting about that in the near future.
Posted by: trailing wife || 08/28/2021 12:14 Comments || Top||

#23  Maybe our partners in peace the Taliban told us *exactly* who the right guys were and where to find them.
Posted by: Secret Master || 08/28/2021 12:17 Comments || Top||

#24  No doubt; probably of Northern Alliance stock.
Posted by: swksvolFF || 08/28/2021 12:26 Comments || Top||

#25  Klingon #1: Come on, Mahmoud. We need a name.
Mahmoud the Weasel: OK, OK. The guy you want is Mohamed Mohamed al Jihadi.
K#1: (looks at his notes) Your 5th cousin twice removed on your wife's side?
MtW: Yes, he is the one. A very bad man. He has been a grave disappointment to the family.
(later that day)
MtW: Honey, I'm home! (waves stack of US $20s) And I got the money for the new couch!
Posted by: SteveS || 08/28/2021 12:42 Comments || Top||

#26  ^ LOL and sounds right.

One thing coming up this week in the MSM is that another stack of $20's will buy some footage of rescued Afghanis praising Mahmoud-al-Biden for their delivery. "You wlll give me all this money just to say Orange Man Is Bad? OK, Orange Man Is Bad. I want some singles with that, please."
Posted by: Matt || 08/28/2021 12:51 Comments || Top||

#27  ^ It's gonna be a looong day of Snark O' The Day candidates if these are any indication
Posted by: Frank G || 08/28/2021 12:59 Comments || Top||

#28 
On a long and dusty road
to no particular where,
a nameless bastard drives.

Maybe an urgent batch to drop;
dried poppies, jutebags
and insipid desert chives.

But the Department of State
and some DoD prelate
have fired blind ginsu knives.

"Yaay! Our men are avenged!
And Rrrrobinette revenged,
with the lamentation of his wives!"
Posted by: Dron66046 || 08/28/2021 13:20 Comments || Top||

#29  It's such a coup that DoD won't tell us the names of the targets...
Posted by: M. Murcek || 08/28/2021 13:29 Comments || Top||

#30  ^ Yeah, and it's not like it was in Europe.
Posted by: Dron66046 || 08/28/2021 13:32 Comments || Top||

#31  Throw the dog a bone.
Posted by: Dale || 08/28/2021 13:39 Comments || Top||

#32  "That didn't take long but, Jen, can you tell us how long our intelligence has been monitoring this guy who they were able to finger and dispense with so quickly?"
Posted by: Anomalous Sources || 08/28/2021 18:38 Comments || Top||

#33  Biden refuses to give the name of the targets which leads many to believe he is lying about their value.
Posted by: Ebbomoger Speaking for Boskone4589 || 08/28/2021 20:37 Comments || Top||


Details of Afghan staff, applicants were left behind at UK Kabul embassy
[IsraelTimes] The UK’s defense chief promised Friday to "get to the bottom of" a security lapse that saw documents identifying Afghan staff members and job applicants left behind at the abandoned British Embassy in Kabul.

Times of London news hound Anthony Loyd said he found the papers scattered on the ground as he toured Kabul’s abandoned diplomatic district with a Taliban
...mindless ferocity in a turban...
escort this week.

Loyd said the documents included the name and address of a senior embassy staff member, the contact details for other employees, and the resumes and addresses of people applying to be interpreters.

He called the phone numbers he found and learned that some of the staffers had already left Afghanistan but others were still in the country, including three Afghan employees and eight family members stranded outside Kabul’s airport as they tried to leave.

The government said they were eventually found and taken to safety. The Times said the fate of at least two of the job applicants remains unknown.
Posted by: trailing wife || 08/28/2021 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under: Taliban/IEA


Taliban blocks access to Kabul airport to prevent throng
[KhaamaPress] After the deadly twin explosions at Hamid Maybe I'll join the Taliban Karzai
...A product, and probably the sole product, of the Southern Alliance...
International Airport which inflicted casualties to over two hundred civilians and US men in service, tens of people have again gathered at the doors of the airport.

Taliban
...Arabic for students...
said that no one will be allowed to come closer to the airport so that they prevent the throng of people.

Officials in the cultural commission of the Taliban said that US troops have evacuated an important area in HKIA which has been handed over to them.

The Taliban did not say when will they allow people to enter the airport, but they had previously said that they will no longer allow Afghans to fly out of the country.

The twin explosions of Thursday afternoon killed nearly one hundred civilians including 13 US marines and maimed over two hundred more of which 15 are US personnel.

US president Joe The Big Guy Biden
...46th president of the U.S., who gives the geriatric a bad name. He blames Afghans for losing Afghanistan....
said that they will not leave their evacuation mission incomplete and will deploy additional forces if the military generals ask him to.

The pledge comes as UK, La Belle France, Australia, Italia, and Germany wound up their evacuation mission some before while others after the blasts.

As per the latest stats, the US has evacuated over one hundred thousand people from Afghanistan among them Afghans and US citizens.
Turkish officials also have confirmed that several of its soldiers were wounded in these explosions.

A Taliban official told Reuters that many Taliban guards were wounded.

Erdogan Says Turkey Has Held Its First Talks With Taliban
[ToloNews] President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Friday said Turkey has held its first talks with the Taliban in Kabul, adding that Ankara was still assessing the Islamist group's offer to run the Afghan capital's airport, AFP reported on Friday. Erdogan said the talks were held at a military section of the Kabul airport where the Turkish embassy is temporarily stationed.

"We have held our first talks with the Taliban, which lasted 3.5 hours," Erdogan told reporters. "If necessary, we will have the opportunity to hold such talks again."

Responding to criticism over Turkey's engagement with the Taliban, Erdogan said Ankara had "no luxury" to stand idly given the unstable situation in the region.

"You cannot know what their expectations are or what our expectations are without talking. What's diplomacy, my friend? This is diplomacy," Erdogan said.

Turkey had been planning to help secure and run Kabul's strategic airport, but on Wednesday it started pulling troops out of Afghanistan, which has been interpreted as meaning Ankara is abandoning this possibility.

Erdogan said the Taliban now wanted to oversee security at the airport, while offering Ankara the option of running its logistics.

Italy says its last flight from Kabul in hours
[AlAhram] Italy's foreign minister has confirmed that the last Italian military flight evacuating people from Afghanistan will depart from Kabul later on Friday. Luigi Di Maio said that among those aboard the departing C-130 Air Force aircraft will be the Italian consul, who had stayed on in Kabul at the airport to oversee the evacuation of Italians and foreigners, as well as the top NATO diplomat, Stefano Pontecorvo, who is Italian.

Also aboard will be Italian Carabinieri paramilitary police and Italian soldiers who helped maintain security for evacuations carried out by Italy. ``All the Italians who wanted to return to Italy have returned,'' Di Maio said. Some 4,900 Afghan citizens were also evacuated to Italy, the minister told reporters.

New Zealand unable to get everyone out it wanted
[AlAhram] New Zealand says it was not able to get everybody it wanted out of Afghanistan in time before the deadly attacks near Kabul’s airport brought its rescue mission to an end. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said Friday she is not yet sure how many people were left behind or whether they were New Zealand citizens, residents or visa holders. She said the New Zealand military had gone to great lengths to try and find people in recent days and had been able to fly several hundred people to safety.

Sweden says it has finished its evacuations from Kabul following airport blast
[IsraelTimes] Sweden says it has ended its evacuations out of Kabul, after airlifting more than 1,100 people to Sweden in the wake of the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan. Those evacuated included embassy employees and their families, locally employed guards and their families, members of the armed forces and 500 Swedes, Swedish Foreign Minister Ann Linde says. In addition, Sweden also evacuated women’s rights activists, journalists and European Union employees.

But Sweden was unable to assist all those on the “Sweden list” consisting of people seeking help to flee the country.

Meanwhile, neighboring Norway, which announced Thursday that it was also ending its evacuations, says today that another 128 people had landed in Oslo, bringing the number of people airlifted by the country to 1,098. A final plane was expected later in Norway Friday.

Spain announces end to its Kabul airlifts after flying out 2,200 people
[IsraelTimes] Spain announces the end of its Kabul evacuations after a nine-day operation that saw more than 2,200 people flown out of the strife-torn country following the Taliban takeover. The last two planes arrived in Dubai early on Friday, ending an airlift that began on August 18.

“In total, we have managed to evacuate 2,206 people,” Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez says, indicating the number was almost three times higher than expected and hailing the work involved in a mission of “extraordinary complexity.”

He says most of the people evacuated were Afghans, including 1,671 — and their families — who worked for Spain. Some 333 worked for the European Union, 50 who worked for NATO as well as 21 Portuguese or Afghans working for Portugal. He says another 131 were evacuated on behalf of the United States.

Sanchez says Spain did not have “an exact number” of Afghan collaborators who were left behind but was working on “a way to continue getting them out.”
300 GERMAN NATIONALS LEFT BEHIND IN AFGHANISTAN
After Germany ended its air bridge between Kabul and Tashkent, the foreign ministry announced that around 300 German nationals remain in the country. Another 10,000 Afghans who were eligible for evacuation were also left behind.

Visas for Afghan nationals were being processed after arrival due to the complicated situation in Kabul, a spokesperson for the interior ministry said. It turned out that four people were flown to Germany who had previously been deported, one of which "went straight back into detention."

STATE DEPARTMENT DENIES REPORT IT GAVE TALIBAN LISTS OF NAMES
State Department spokesman Ned Price partially denied a report published in Politico Thursday that said lists of names of US citizens and Afghans, including fearful special immigrant visa applicants, were given to the Taliban.

Price said it was simply wrong that the US State Department had given lists with personally identifiable information to the Taliban.
Just before the midnight rollover, the Times of Israel added:
The death toll in the suicide bombing rose to 169 Afghans, a number that could increase as authorities examine fragmented remains, and 13 US service members.

The Pentagon said Friday that there was just one suicide bomber — at the airport gate — not two, as US officials initially said. A US official said that the suicide bomber carried a heavier-than-usual load of about 25 pounds of explosives, loaded with shrapnel.

The US official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss preliminary assessments of the attack. The officials who gave the Afghan death toll also spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media.

On the morning after the attack, the Taliban used a pickup truck full of fighters and three captured Humvees to set up a barrier 500 meters (1,600 feet) from the airport, holding the crowds farther back from the US troops at the gates than before.

US military officials said that some gates were closed and other security measures put in place. They said there were tighter restrictions at Taliban checkpoints and fewer people around the gates. The military said it had also asked the Taliban to close certain roads because of the possibility of suicide bombers in vehicles.

The Pentagon said the US would keep up manned and unmanned flights over the airport for surveillance and protection, including the use of AC-130 gunships.

US officials said evacuees with proper credentials still were being allowed through the gates. Inside, about 5,400 evacuees awaited flights.

The White House said Friday afternoon that US military aircraft had flown out 2,100 evacuees in the previous 24 hours. Another 2,100 people left on other coalition flights.

The number was a fraction of the 12,700 people carried out by US military aircraft one day early in the week, when the now two-week-old airlift not only met but exceeded intended capacity for a couple days.

France ended its own evacuation effort and pulled up stakes on a temporary French embassy at the airport, leaving Taliban-ruled Afghanistan. US allies and others have ended or are ending their airlifts, in part to give the US time to wrap up its own operations.

The Taliban have said they will allow Afghans to leave via commercial flights after the U.S. withdrawal, but it is unclear which airlines would return to an airport controlled by the militants.
Posted by: trailing wife || 08/28/2021 00:00 || Comments || Link || [12 views] Top|| File under: Taliban/IEA


Britain
Fury after UK admits Brits and 1,100 eligible Afghans will be left behind when Kabul evacuations stop as death toll hits 170
[Daily Mail, Where America Gets Its News]
  • Three Britons and the child of another British national were killed in Thursday's attack, Foreign Office said

  • Dominic Raab mourned the 'innocent people' who were trying 'to bring their loved ones to safety in the UK'

  • 'We will not turn our backs on those who look to us, and we will never be cowed by terrorists,' he added

  • The suicide attack killed at least 170 people, including 13 American service personnel

  • Pentagon officials said on Friday that there was only one suicide bomber involved, not two as first reported

  • Thousands of desperate Afghans are arriving at the airport despite the constant threat of another attack

  • But Defence Secretary Ben Wallace admitted 1,100 eligible Afghans and up to 150 Britons will be left behind

  • Mr Wallace said the last UK flights would leave Kabul within hours

  • Tory MP Tom Tugendhat warned 'we may find ourselves with the biggest hostage crisis the UK has ever seen'


So far, Britain has evacuated more than 13,700 British nationals and Afghans, representing the second biggest airlift by the country's air force after the Berlin Airlift in 1949, the UK defence ministry said.

About 12,500 people were evacuated from Afghanistan on Thursday, raising the total evacuees since the Taliban took over on August 14 to about 105,000, the White House said on Friday.

About 5,000 of those were evacuated on Thursday evening, according to the White House tallies.

Biden paid tribute to the 'selfless heroes' who died helping vulnerable people to safety, but delivered a stern warning to the Islamic state offshoot behind the blasts that killed 11 U.S. Marines, a Navy medic and another service member screening evacuees at the airport gates.

US officials had previously reported that there were two bombs at the Abbey Gate of Hamid Karzai International Airport, where US troops were screening Afghans for evacuation, and the nearby Baron Hotel, where thousands including Afghans, Britons and Americans, were told to gather in recent days before heading to the airport for evacuation. But the Pentagon said Friday only one suicide bomber carried out the deadly attack outside the Abbey Gate, correcting its earlier assessment that there were two bombers and two separate explosions.

Mr Wallace said one bombing happened in a 'standoff area' where British troops had pushed back from the Baron Hotel processing centre.

But despite the risk of another terrorist attack, hundreds desperate Afghans trying to flee Kabul were seen getting off buses outside Kabul airport. Their hopes are fading fast as the US and its allies are packing up their rescue operations ahead of the Tuesday deadline.

The attack, which saw dead bodies piled up outside the airport, has left hospitals in Kabul overwhelmed due to the sheer number of injured people who have come through their doors. The Kabul Surgical Centre, which is run by the international medical charity Emergency, said it had received 60 injured people in less than two hours on Thursday. Staff said at least 16 people were pronounced dead when they arrived.
Posted by: Skidmark || 08/28/2021 00:00 || Comments || Link || [10 views] Top|| File under: Taliban/IEA


Europe
Afghan man flown to France arrested, suspected to have ties to Taliban
[NYPost] An Afghan who was recently evacuated from Kabul was arrested by French authorities and is suspected of having ties to the Taliban
...mindless ferocity in a turban...
, according to reports.

French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said the man was initially placed on house arrest because authorities "suspected this person to have or to have had ties with the Afghan Taliban government," according to La Belle Franceinfo.

The Afghan was arrested and placed in jug in Gay Paree after breaking the terms of his home confinement "for a few minutes," Darmanin said.

The man was allowed to leave Afghanistan after he helped French citizens when the embassy was evacuated and "probably saved lives," government front man Gabriel Attal told BFMTV on Tuesday.

But when he was interviewed by authorities at a French military base in Abu Dhabi as part of his evacuation to La Belle France, the man confessed to being a member of the murderous Moslem group and admitted to taking part in a Taliban checkpoint in Kabul.

He was allowed to continue on to La Belle France where he and four others believed to be family members traveling with him were placed under surveillance.

About 1,200 Afghans have arrived in La Belle France since the Taliban took control of the country on Aug. 15, French officials said.

Across the channel, British officials said a man flown to the United Kingdom from Afghanistan was on a "no-fly" list of possible hard boyz but is no longer considered a risk.

"An individual was flagged to the Home Office as part of the rigorous checks process, involving the police, security services and others," an Interior Ministry spokesperson said in a statement. "However,
by candlelight every wench is handsome...
upon further investigation, they are not a person of interest to the security agencies or law enforcement."
Posted by: trailing wife || 08/28/2021 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Taliban/IEA


Kurdish man named a hero after rescuing woman in Vienna
[Rudaw] A Kurdish man from northeast Syria (Rojava) has been named a hero in Austria after he stepped in to prevent two men from assaulting a woman in the capital, Vienna. He was attacked in the incident and is now partially blind.

Diljar Adnan Said, 29, is from Rojava’s Derik town. He has been living in Austria for six years and four months. In an interview with Rudaw’s Dilbixwin Dara on Thursday, he described the incident.

Around midnight on May 24, he was walking with a friend along, Donaukanal, a canal in Vienna. "I heard a woman calling for help. She was terrified. She was being raped and I could not accept this," he said.

He went up to the men - he saw only two of them - and told them that the woman was his sister. They handed the woman over to him and he took her to her house. Said told the attackers that he would not call the police.

"We left them but they followed us, taking down my friend so that he could not help me. And when I turned around they hit my eye with a glass," he recounted. He was knocked unconscious and does not know what happened next, but he has been told that the men tried to throw him into water, but "God saved me."

Police took him to hospital where he underwent three surgeries and remained there for 10 days.

The incident was reported by several Austrian media outlets, describing him as a hero.

Said has lost 80 percent of the sight in his left eye after being hit with a vodka bottle. "I am in good condition. I am done with all surgeries... Doctors have told me that it will take a long time for me to regain the sight," he told Rudaw.

When he was in hospital, he was not insured and could not pay the 9,499 euros in hospital fees for his treatment and the government has not helped him. He said his Austrian friends sought his approval to fundraise on the Internet. He initially refused their offer, fearing that his mother in Syria would see his photographs, but when he could not come up with the money, he approved the fundraising campaign on gofundme.com.

The campaign, launched on August 17, has surpassed its goal of 9,000 euros. Said told Rudaw that he will pay the hospital fees with the money and dedicate the rest for treatment for the woman, who has not been named.

No one has been arrested in connection with the attack, according to Said. He said a friend of the woman had recorded a video two hours before the incident, intending to post it on their social media accounts. The men who later attacked her are seen in the footage, which has been handed over to the police.

The Kurdish hero said neither he nor the Viennese woman knew the attackers previously.

Said praised the treatment he received from the hospital staff, saying they respected him for his brave act. His friend, who is from Syria’s capital city of Damascus, was not harmed in the incident "because their target was me," the hero said.
Posted by: trailing wife || 08/28/2021 00:00 || Comments || Link || [12 views] Top|| File under: Devout Moslems


Home Front: WoT
U.S. consulate worker in Mexico is sentenced to 46 months in prison for smuggling military-style rifles from Arizona for criminal organization which paid him $150 per gun
[Daily Mail, Where America Gets Its News]
  • Luis Manuel Bray-Vazquez was previously employed at the U.S. Consulate in Nogales, Mexico

  • He was sentenced to 46 months in prison on Wednesday by an Arizona court

  • The 35-year-old was a driver for the consulate office and had been arrested in November 2020 for attempting to smuggle firearms into Mexico

  • He was busted with five handguns and 10 rifles, including a Barrett .50

  • Earlier this month, the Mexican government filed a lawsuit against 10 gunmakers and distributors located in the United States
Posted by: Skidmark || 08/28/2021 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Narcos

#1 

Since Obama/Holder the very same thing back in 2009–2011? So, why didn't they go to jail?
Posted by: NN2N1 || 08/28/2021 6:26 Comments || Top||

#2  the Mexican government filed a lawsuit against 10 gunmakers and distributors located in the United States

They should be going after Holder and Obama.
Posted by: Spats Gravigum9743 || 08/28/2021 10:52 Comments || Top||

#3  As always, should you or any of your IM Force be caught or killed, the Secretary will disavow any knowledge of your actions.
Posted by: Abu Uluque || 08/28/2021 11:55 Comments || Top||

#4  It's Time For Germany's Parliament To Reaffirm The Holocaust Denial Bill To Stave Off Far Right !!
Posted by: Chuting Griting2963 || 08/28/2021 18:49 Comments || Top||


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Police seize large arms cache, dozens of firearm parts in West Bank raid
[IsraelTmes] Police announced Friday morning that officers seized a large cache of firearms and dozens of weapon parts in an overnight raid in the West Bank.

Ten pistols, four rifles, over 130 magazines, weapon sights and other unassembled weapons were uncovered inside a Paleostinian home near Hebron, police said.

No suspects were immediately arrested in connection to the cache, but police said an investigation was underway to locate those involved.

Since the beginning of the year, some 200 firearms, as well as a number of weapon lathes and other arms assembly equipment, have been seized in the West Bank, police said.

In recent years, the Israel Defense Forces and Israel Police have been cracking down on makeshift Paleostinian firearm workshops, as well as conventional weapons that have been smuggled or stolen from the Israeli military.

Improvised weapons, often referred to as the Carlo gun, are relatively cheap to produce and therefore plentiful in the West Bank. But mass-produced, superior guns, like M-4 or M-16 assault rifles, are far more difficult to obtain and are thus far more expensive, often costing tens of thousands of shekels.
Posted by: trailing wife || 08/28/2021 00:00 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under:



Who's in the News
42[untagged]
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4Islamic State
3Commies
2Narcos
2Govt of Iran
1Palestinian Authority
1[untagged]
1Boko Haram (ISIS)
1Devout Moslems
1Govt of Iraq
1Hezbollah
1Human Trafficking

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Two weeks of WOT
Sat 2021-08-28
  Biden Pledges to 'Hunt Down' Those Behind Airport Attack
Fri 2021-08-27
  Karzai, Abdullah house-arrested by Taliban in Kabul
Thu 2021-08-26
  Bomb explodes in northern gate of Kabul airport
Wed 2021-08-25
  Taliban Vows to Help Fight Climate Change
Tue 2021-08-24
  Firefight at Kabul airport kills Afghan guard
16,000 more leave Afghanistan
Mon 2021-08-23
  US Embassy Tells Americans: Do Not Go to Kabul Airport
Sun 2021-08-22
  9 Talbanis surrender to Resistance Forces in Andarab; 6 of them Paks
Sat 2021-08-21
  U.S. charges man who made bomb threat near U.S. Capitol
Fri 2021-08-20
  IMF suspends Afghanistan's access to funds
Thu 2021-08-19
  US freezes assets of Afghanistan central banks as Taliban takeover
Wed 2021-08-18
  Former Vice PR and Now President Of Islamic Republic Of Afghanistan 🇦🇫 Amrullah Saleh In Panjishir
Tue 2021-08-17
  Reports say Ghani in Oman to escape to US
Mon 2021-08-16
  Taliban Declares Victory and Announces ‘Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan' From Presidential Palace
Sun 2021-08-15
  Kabul has fallen, Taliban is killing political leadership and religious minorities in Afghanistan
Sat 2021-08-14
  Herat: Ismail Khan captured by the Taliban


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