{"id":1999717,"date":"2023-08-14T03:42:02","date_gmt":"2023-08-14T07:42:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/two-years-later-we-know-the-deadly-fall-of-kabul-didnt-have-to-happen-this-way\/"},"modified":"2023-08-14T03:46:54","modified_gmt":"2023-08-14T07:46:54","slug":"two-years-later-we-know-the-deadly-fall-of-kabul-didnt-have-to-happen-this-way","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/two-years-later-we-know-the-deadly-fall-of-kabul-didnt-have-to-happen-this-way\/","title":{"rendered":"Kabul&#8217;s Deadly Fall: A Preventable Tragedy, Two Years On."},"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\">18<\/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%2Ftwo-years-later-we-know-the-deadly-fall-of-kabul-didnt-have-to-happen-this-way%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=1999717&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 class=\"article-content\">\n<h2>Abbey Gate, Hamid Karzai International Airport, Kabul, Afghanistan<\/h2>\n<h3>Aug. 26,\u200c 2021<\/h3>\n<p>The\u2064 crowd was packed shoulder to shoulder. Every man, woman, and child shouted and waved pieces of paper \u2014 \u200btheir contents \u200cindiscernible\u2063 \u2014 in frantic attempts to gain the attention of the \u200bU.S.\u2063 Marines and Air\u2064 Force \u200cspecial operators standing on the wall above them. The\u2063 promise of a new life lay just \u200cbeyond \u2063the Americans guarding the\u2064 gates. <\/p>\n<div class=\"fdrlst__b89e9-paragraph-2-long d-flex justify-content-center\" style=\"margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center; \" id=\"fdrlst__b89e9-647194901\">\n<div id=\"div-gpt-ad-1379703300879-0\" class=\"mb-30\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"fdrlst__b89e9-45548523bf18b1c425f9d1cfd6152f71 fdrlst__b89e9-paragraph-2\" id=\"fdrlst__b89e9-45548523bf18b1c425f9d1cfd6152f71\"><\/div>\n<p>Sunset was \u200bless than an hour\u200d away, but\u2064 the temperature exceeded\u2063 90 degrees Fahrenheit, and\u2063 the air was filled with the stench \u2064of sweat and human excrement from the desperate souls who had been waiting outside for days with nowhere else to relieve themselves. There was no respite other than a \u2062dry wind periodically blowing from east to west, away from the gate and down\u2063 the canal full of civilians struggling to shove their way to the front.<\/p>\n<p>Most\u200d of the crowd had no reason to be there. They had \u200bno connection to the U.S. government and no legitimate claim to U.S. protection. \u200bMany had remained on the sidelines during the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/aclu-silent-on-mcinnes-free-speech-lawsuit-twitter-files\/\" title=\"ACLU Silent on McInnes\u2019 Free Speech Lawsuit, Twitter Files\">decades-long fight<\/a> against the Taliban. But most of them posed no active threat, either. They knew that Afghanistan\u2019s U.S.-backed government was no more and that Sharia law\u200b enforced \u200bby the Taliban was on the horizon, \u2063and they\u2064 desperately wanted to\u2062 find a way out. Some had shown up because they had <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/two-years-later-we-know-the-deadly-fall-of-kabul-didnt-have-to-happen-this-way\/\" title=\"Kabul's Deadly Fall: A Preventable Tragedy, Two Years On.\">sincerely believed\u200c social media posts<\/a> saying that the Americans would take anyone who wanted to leave.<\/p>\n<p>For\u2064 men such\u2063 as \u201cAmir,\u201d the others\u2019 motives didn\u2019t matter. He\u200d had a right to be\u200c there, and he was trying to push through \u2064the throngs to take his \u200dwife and\u2063 four children to safety. He had served \u2064as an interpreter for U.S. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/aclu-presses-supreme-court-to-end-men-only-draft\/\" title=\"ACLU Presses Supreme Court to End Men-Only Draft\">special operations units<\/a> and the Defense Intelligence Agency \u2064(DIA) \u200cfor nearly\u200b a decade. As such, he had an advantage over the hordes holding up clearly forged \u201cadmission documents.\u201d U.S.\u2063 troops were looking for him and had given him a call sign to confirm his identity. The U.S.\u200d veterans and intelligence operatives he\u2019d served alongside, now\u200b back in the\u2064 United States, had arranged\u200d it.<\/p>\n<p>Amir could see Abbey \u2064Gate. He took a picture of the troops standing on\u2062 the wall, so they\u2019d know where to look, and another of the \u200bcall \u200csign he\u2019d been told to paint on a placard: PALE RIDER. Then he took one more of \u200bhis two sons and two daughters\u200d standing below him \u2062in the crowd. His younger son stood on\u200c the\u2062 far left of the\u200b frame, and his two daughters stood on the right. His older daughter, six years old with soft brown eyes, gazed directly into the camera with an inquisitive smile. His younger daughter, the baby of the family, was distracted by the ongoing commotion and blissfully unaware of the moment.\u200d Between his younger son and daughters stood his oldest child, \u2063an 8-year-old boy with large eyes, tousled hair, and a troubled expression. He seemed to be\u200d the only one \u200dwho realized that things weren\u2019t OK.<\/p>\n<div class=\"fdrlst__b89e9-5b4490f5c39d0db7d7fe7fccc4475e70 fdrlst__b89e9-paragraph-6\" id=\"fdrlst__b89e9-5b4490f5c39d0db7d7fe7fccc4475e70\"><\/div>\n<p>At\u200d 5:30 p.m.,\u200d Amir sent the \u200dphotos to his\u2064 handlers in the United States, who in turn would relay them to the troops waiting for his family.\u200b His family was a hundred feet away from freedom. The U.S.-based operatives acknowledged\u200b his message and replied with further instructions. But Amir\u2019s transmissions went silent.<\/p>\n<p>A few minutes later, \u200cthe 3rd platoon of \u2063Echo Company, 2nd Battalion, 1st Marines (known as \u201c2\/1\u201d), gathered 1,250 feet away for a group photo. In less than an hour, they\u2019d begin their final shift at Abbey Gate. Their\u200c platoon sergeant \u200ctried his best\u2062 to capture a moment to commemorate \u200dwhat they\u2019d endured together. He took a few shots, then told the platoon to turn 90 degrees and face toward the gate, where the fading sunlight offered the best picture. The Marines first saw \u200ba \u2063flash of light, then felt the concussion of a blast in their chests. For a few seconds, everyone remained frozen in place \u2063while their brains attempted to process the sensory overload. Reality \u2063set in as body parts started raining down on the cement around them. The entire platoon sprinted toward the gate.<\/p>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-left\">By nightfall, military officials\u200c announced that 13\u2064 U.S.\u2062 service\u200d members had been killed\u200b in action in a\u200d suicide bombing at the entrance\u200c to the\u2064 airfield:\u200b 11 Marines, a Navy corpsman, and \u200dan\u2064 Army staff sergeant from a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/u-s-negotiated-a-secret-arrangement-with-the-taliban-to-help-get-some-americans-to-kabul-airport-report\/\" title=\"U.S. \u2018Negotiated A Secret Arrangement With The Taliban\u2019 To Help Get Some Americans To Kabul Airport: Report\">special operations unit<\/a>. At least 170 civilians were killed in the blast as well. Amir\u2019s oldest son was among them.<\/p>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\">***<\/p>\n<div class=\"fdrlst__b89e9-fd90101dcad397ed5649afc81ce7cd8d fdrlst__b89e9-paragraph-10\" id=\"fdrlst__b89e9-fd90101dcad397ed5649afc81ce7cd8d\"><\/div>\n<p>The\u2062 deaths of the 13\u200d American heroes of\u200c Abbey Gate \u2014 and those of the innocent civilians they were attempting to save \u2014 were neither inevitable nor the product of good-faith decisions poorly executed.\u2062 The \u200dsame goes for \u200dthe thousands of Americans and tens of thousands of Afghan allies left behind in Afghanistan on Aug. 30, 2021. Those outcomes were caused solely\u2063 by the Biden administration\u2019s toxic combination\u2063 of \u200bignorance and self-assurance.<\/p>\n<p>The wisdom of the overarching decision to withdraw U.S. troops from \u200bAfghanistan is immaterial. \u200cPlenty of\u2064 Americans \u2014 and plenty of Afghanistan veterans \u2014 hold differing views on \u2064that topic in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/donald-trump-ends-negotiations-with-nancy-pelosi-on-coronavirus-relief\/\" title=\"Donald Trump Ends Negotiations with Nancy Pelosi on Coronavirus Relief\">good faith<\/a>. No matter\u200c which side you choose in that debate, one thing is painfully clear: Things didn\u2019t have to turn out the way they \u200bdid.<\/p>\n<p>And unlike the tens \u200dof thousands of Americans and \u2064Afghan \u2062allies abandoned \u200din Afghanistan on \u200bAug. 31, 2021, the consequences of the administration\u2019s failures in Afghanistan have not remained in Kabul; they\u2019ve unleashed a dangerous new\u2063 global dynamic that \u200dwill be felt for some time to come.<\/p>\n<p><em>This is the prologue from \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Kabul-Untold-Bidens-American-Warriors\/dp\/1546005307\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Kabul:\u200d The Untold Story of Biden\u2019s Fiasco and the American Warriors Who Fought to the End<\/a>\u201d (Center Street, Aug. 15).<\/em><\/p>\n<div class=\"fdrlst__b89e9-7824edfe3b15baed869eda5da4bedf8b fdrlst__b89e9-after-post-content\" id=\"fdrlst__b89e9-7824edfe3b15baed869eda5da4bedf8b\"><\/div>\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\">    \t\t\t\t\t   \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In Kabul, Afghanistan, at Hamid Karzai International Airport, on Aug. 26, 2021, a tightly packed crowd clamored for attention. Men, women, and children shouted and waved papers, their messages unclear. U.S. Marines and Air Force special operators stood on the wall, their focus sought by the desperate masses.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2293,"featured_media":1999718,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[546],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1999717","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-federalist"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1999717","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\/2293"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1999717"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1999717\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1999718"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1999717"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1999717"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1999717"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}