{"id":1592164,"date":"2022-08-06T09:46:26","date_gmt":"2022-08-06T13:46:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1592164"},"modified":"2022-08-06T09:46:49","modified_gmt":"2022-08-06T13:46:49","slug":"al-qaeda-is-back-in-afghanistan-already-biden-spox-john-kirby-faces-rapid-fire-questions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/al-qaeda-is-back-in-afghanistan-already-biden-spox-john-kirby-faces-rapid-fire-questions\/","title":{"rendered":"Al Qaeda Is Back In Afghanistan Already? Biden Spox John Kirby Faces Rapid Fire Questions"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">30<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fal-qaeda-is-back-in-afghanistan-already-biden-spox-john-kirby-faces-rapid-fire-questions%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1592164&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div><\/div>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">I, along with many veterans and Americans, celebrated the death of al-Qaeda leader and 9\/11 plotter Ayman al-Zawahiri this week. I can remember the moment I saw the Twin Towers get hit on 9\/11. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">My young adult life was very much built around my military service in and around Afghanistan, so to have the former #2 of al-Qaeda off this blue marble is welcome news.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">However, the strike brings up uncomfortable questions for the Biden administration over some comments the President made a year ago when trying to explain the haphazard withdrawal of Afghanistan. Luckily for us, Fox News\u2019 Peter Doocy made sure to hammer National Security Council spokesman John Kirby with these uncomfortable realizations.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">The exchange between the two gentlemen also made me wonder if Mr. Doocy was happy to have someone up to the task at the podium and if the White House is second-guessing who they have filling the Press Secretary position. Say what you will about Mr. Kirby; he\u2019s more adept at fielding the tough questions than Karine Jean-Pierre.<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">John Kirby didn&#8217;t like it when Doocy told him Biden has &#8220;a lot of free time&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;That&#8217;s a little bit insulting&#8221; <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/JBDIZh3uAH\">pic.twitter.com\/JBDIZh3uAH<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 The Post Millennial (@TPostMillennial) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/TPostMillennial\/status\/1555279904123527169?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">August 4, 2022<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<h3><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Al-Qaeda Back, or Perhaps They Never Left<\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"><a href=\"https:\/\/thepostmillennial.com\/watch-white-house-says-al-qaeda-is-in-afghanistan-though-biden-said-group-was-gone-last-year?utm_campaign=64487\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Mr. Doocy wasted no time<\/a> questioning Mr. Kirby on the accuracy of President Biden\u2019s comments from a year ago:<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">\u201cYou\u2019re saying that you\u2019ve always known there was a small number of al-Qaeda in Afghanistan. President Biden said, \u2018What interest do we have in Afghanistan at this point with al-Qaeda gone?&#8217;\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<div id=\"subscribe\" class=\"email-signup inarticle\">\n<h4>Support Conservative Voices!<\/h4>\n<h5><strong>Sign up to receive the latest<\/strong> political news, insight, and commentary delivered directly to your inbox.<\/h5>\n<\/div>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Typically quite eloquent and concise in answering tough questions, Mr. Kirby responded with the following:<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">\u201cYeah, I mean, in a major way al-Qaeda was not\u2026playing a major role in operations or resourcing or planning in Afghanistan. But, Peter, I know specifically because I was at a different podium a year ago. And we talked about the fact that al-Qaeda had a presence in Afghanistan, but it\u2019s small, and not incredibly powerful or potent.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">So essentially, what I can gather from that is the President, as usual, said one thing when the reality was another. Although to be fair to Mr. Kirby, a year ago, he did issue a correction to the President\u2019s statements regarding al-Qaeda, stating:<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">\u201cWe know that al-Qaeda is a presence, as well as ISIS, in Afghanistan, and we\u2019ve talked about that for quite some time.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Unfortunately, it appears the President wasn\u2019t a part of those conversations.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Peter Doocy takes John Kirby to task over President Biden saying Al Qaeda was &#8220;gone&#8221; from Afghanistan.<\/p>\n<p>KIRBY: &#8220;We talked about the fact that Al Qaeda had a presence in Afghanistan but small\u2026&#8221; <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/lYDlpZl8X1\">pic.twitter.com\/lYDlpZl8X1<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Townhall.com (@townhallcom) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/townhallcom\/status\/1554557658404978688?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">August 2, 2022<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><strong>RELATED: <a href=\"https:\/\/thepoliticalinsider.com\/as-the-anniversary-of-the-afghanistan-withdrawal-approaches-those-in-the-biden-administration-brace-for-impact\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">As the Anniversary of the Afghanistan Withdrawal Approaches, Those in the Biden Administration Brace for Impact<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<h3><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Really Great Questions<\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">According to the government, Zawahiri was taken out on a balcony in downtown Kabul. He had been reportedly casually staying at the house with his family. Other than \u201cal-Qaeda had left Afghanistan,\u201d a laughable statement in and of itself a year ago, the next concerning matter is if the Taliban knowingly were harboring this man.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"><a href=\"https:\/\/thepostmillennial.com\/watch-white-house-says-al-qaeda-is-in-afghanistan-though-biden-said-group-was-gone-last-year?utm_campaign=64487\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Mr. Doocy gets to this issue<\/a> in his questioning:<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">\u201cSo we know that the Taliban was harboring the world\u2019s most wanted terrorist. You guys gave a whole country to a bunch of people that are on the FBI most wanted list. What did you think was gonna happen?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">A fair question that Mr. Kirby took issue with arguing the validity that it was our country to give away or not. What I found most interesting in Mr. Kirby\u2019s response was this:<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">\u201cI don\u2019t want to re-litigate the whole war here, but obviously no one anticipated the Ghani government to fall as fast as it did.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Shouldn\u2019t it be alarming that no one anticipated what would happen? I\u2019m pretty confident there is a process to investigate and review why we were so inept at that assessment\u2026 yet I don\u2019t recall that anything has been released to the public yet.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Color me not surprised.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Mr. Doocy goes on to ask yet another great question regarding the Taliban\u2019s lack of living:<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">\u201c\u2026up to the part of the deal they made with the US to not let Afghanistan be a place that terrorists feel like they can be safe, what are you going to do about it?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">I am still waiting on that answer. Although, if you believe the Taliban, they didn\u2019t break any deal.<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Peter Doocy asks John Kirby what will be done now that the Taliban didn&#8217;t live up to the part of the deal where they wouldn&#8217;t allow Afghanistan be a place terrorists feel safe. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/yOhGuLl9Ka\">pic.twitter.com\/yOhGuLl9Ka<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 The Post Millennial (@TPostMillennial) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/TPostMillennial\/status\/1554560528533577729?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">August 2, 2022<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><strong>RELATED: <a href=\"https:\/\/thepoliticalinsider.com\/biden-state-dept-refusing-to-cooperate-in-investigation-on-afghanistan-corruption-and-waste\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Biden State Dept. Refusing To Cooperate With Afghanistan Inspector General Review<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<h3><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">If You Believe This, I Have a Bridge for Sale\u2026<\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">No surprise here; the Taliban is sticking to the claim that they had no idea Zawahiri was staying in Kabul. A house with ties to the deputy leader of the Taliban, by the way.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Pashtun translator: &#8220;Hey, the Taliban says trust us, you got him! No DNA evidence, but as confirmed as it gets!&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Woke commander: &#8220;Cool. I&#8217;m going to be late for the drag show if we don&#8217;t wrap this up soon. Sounds legit!&#8221;<a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/MOASMAjpPR\">https:\/\/t.co\/MOASMAjpPR<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Jordan Schachtel @ dossier.substack.com (@JordanSchachtel) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/JordanSchachtel\/status\/1555402507735769088?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">August 5, 2022<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Nobody is buying that, at least I hope not. Instead, the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/world\/taliban-claims-unaware-al-qaeda-chief-al-zawahri-afghanistan-us-drone-strike\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Taliban is going even further<\/a>, claiming that the strike the U.S. took against Zawahiri was a \u201cclear violation of\u2026the Doha agreement.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/newshour\/world\/taliban-government-under-scrutiny-after-u-s-kills-al-qaida-leader-who-was-sheltered-in-kabul\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Secretary of State Antony Blinken<\/a> bit back, stating:<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">\u201cThe Taliban grossly violated the Doha agreement and repeated assurances to the world that they would not allow Afghan territory to be used by terrorists to threaten the security of other countries.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Quite right, Secretary Blinken, so what are we going to do about it?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Maybe we don\u2019t need to worry about it; after all, the <a href=\"https:\/\/abcnews.go.com\/International\/wireStory\/taliban-claim-unaware-al-qaida-leader-afghanistan-87919025#:~:text=The%20statement%20also%20assured%20the,strike%20that%20killed%20al%2DZawahri.\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Taliban released a statement<\/a> yesterday:<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">\u201cThere is no danger from the territory of Afghanistan to any country, including America.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">My mind is at ease already.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">I Don\u2019t Need to Imagine<\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"><a href=\"https:\/\/time.com\/6203143\/al-qaeda-leader-zawahiri-killed-taliban-treatment\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Bruce Hoffman of the Council on Foreign Relations<\/a> and an expert on counter-terrorism said Zawahiri was \u201cgiven VIP treatment\u201d and:<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">\u201cOne can only imagine the kind of treatment that other al-Qaeda officials and fighters are getting.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">I don\u2019t need to imagine. <a href=\"https:\/\/time.com\/6203143\/al-qaeda-leader-zawahiri-killed-taliban-treatment\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">A year ago<\/a>, when we pulled chocks and withdrew, over three dozen al-Qaeda senior leaders were released from a jail my husband at one point guarded.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Who released them? The Taliban.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Members close to al-Qaeda currently fill critical positions in the Taliban government, including <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2022\/08\/03\/al-qaeda-leader-al-zawahiri-dead-after-drone-strike-on-home-in-kabul\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Sirajuddin Haqqani<\/a>, who runs the Taliban\u2019s interior ministry. Al-Qaeda is alive and well in the Afghan region, and it\u2019s only a matter of time before they start up training camps and plot their next move if they haven\u2019t already.<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">The Taliban is literally two steps away from joining the U.N. Human Rights Council <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/7UyUn9ArhG\">https:\/\/t.co\/7UyUn9ArhG<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Hillel Neuer (@HillelNeuer) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/HillelNeuer\/status\/1555144682195361792?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">August 4, 2022<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">This is how the world turns, and it appears it will continue to turn, unfortunately. Let\u2019s hope these \u2018over the horizon\u2019 strikes continue to be effective for the sake of the next generation of Americans.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">I\u2019d hate to have my kids fighting the same endless war their parents fought.<\/span><\/p>\n<div>\n<p><strong>Now is the time to support and share the sources you trust.<\/strong><br \/>The Political Insider ranks #3 on <a href=\"https:\/\/blog.feedspot.com\/political_blogs\/\">Feedspot\u2019s<\/a> \u201c100 Best Political Blogs and Websites.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I, along with many veterans and Americans, celebrated the death of al-Qaeda leader and 9\/11 plotter Ayman al-Zawahiri this week. I can remember the moment I saw the Twin<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1592228,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1592164","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1592164","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1592164"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1592164\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1592228"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1592164"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1592164"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1592164"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}