Nightmare in Niger.
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A senior U.S. Air Force leader deployed in Niger is raising an alarm over the Biden administration’s reluctance to heed an eviction notice from the military junta that last year overthrew the West African nation’s democratically elected government.
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The airman, in a private whistleblower complaint to Congress obtained by The Washington Post, accused top officials at the U.S. Embassy in Niger’s capital of Niamey of having “intentionally suppressed intelligence” as they seek to maintain the “facade of a great country-to-country relationship.” The embassy’s actions, the whistleblower wrote, have “potential implications” for U.S. relations with other African nations “and the safety of our personnel in the region.”
The State Department and Defense Department rejected the claims of negligence, saying the United States is making a final push to maintain a U.S. military presence in post-coup Niger, though they acknowledge that talks are difficult and may fail to produce an agreement.
The whistleblower complaint was transmitted to Capitol Hill before U.S. officials met Wednesday with Niger’s prime minister. Follow-on discussions with other senior Nigerien officials were scheduled for next week — talks that may seal the fate of Washington’s relationship with what had been its chief security partner in a region beset by violence from groups linked to the Islamic State and al-Qaeda.
“There’s a very narrow path here to finding an accommodation that addresses their interests and concerns and our interests and concerns,” said a senior State Department official, who like some others spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the Biden administration’s diplomatic efforts. “It may not work, but the fat lady hasn’t sung yet.”
U.S. military whistleblower warns troops in Niger are vulnerable
View the Whistleblower’s private complaint to Congress
The whistleblower’s allegations highlight the difficulties for the United States in operating in a region of Africa that is increasingly unstable. In 2017, four American soldiers were killed after being ambushed on a mission in Niger, which military investigators blamed on poor training, planning and other institutional failures.
For years, the Pentagon has deployed a mix of mostly Air Force and Army personnel to Niger to support a mission scrutinizing militant groups in the region. Until the coup, the arrangement included drones flying in counterterrorism operations from a base the United States built and U.S. and Nigerien troops partnering on some patrols.
Niger’s military junta last month declared the U.S. military presence there “illegal” and said that it was ending all accords, effective immediately. That announcement followed tense meetings with top officials from the State Department and the Pentagon, whom Nigerien leaders accused of attempting to dictate that the West African nation have no relationship with Iran, Russia or other U.S. adversaries.
In his complaint, directed to Rep. Dusty Johnson (R-S.D.) and other lawmakers, the whistleblower takes aim at Ambassador Kathleen FitzGibbon and Air Force Col. Nora J. Nelson-Richter, the defense attaché posted there, accusing both of jeopardizing the safety of 1,100 American military personnel who are “being held hostage” in Niger while a diplomatic resolution remains elusive.
Officials at the U.S. Embassy referred questions to the State Department in Washington, which denied the whistleblower’s claims. A spokesperson for Johnson’s office declined to comment, saying they don’t discuss possible constituent correspondence.
The complaint reveals new details about the status of U.S. forces in Niger and the restrictions on their ability to swap out personnel. After the coup, the whistleblower wrote, service members were told to “sit and hold” on their bases, leaving them unable either to carry out their counterterrorism mission or return to the United States after their six-month deployment reached its scheduled conclusion.
“They failed to be transparent with U.S. service members deployed to this country,” the airman wrote of the embassy’s top officials, adding that while they “gave a pretense that ‘things were being worked,’ ” required permissions to fly U.S. military aircraft in Nigerien airspace were purposely “not being approved by the country’s military government as a political bargaining chip to entice the U.S. government back to negotiate their withdrawal.”
Reached by phone, the whistleblower declined to comment, citing a fear of professional reprisal and safety concerns. The Post verified the individual’s name, rank and assignment, but generally does not identify whistleblowers who make protected communications to Congress.
Senior U.S. officials said they sympathized with concerns posed by personnel who have been unable to carry out their duties since last summer’s coup, but they rejected the whistleblower’s claim that embassy leaders had suppressed intelligence or put U.S. troops at risk.
“No one is suppressing any information: We’re seeing the good, the bad, and the ugly. It’s feeding into the deliberative process,” said the senior State Department official. “To this person, it might be slow.”
Gen. Michael Langley, who oversees U.S. military activity in Africa, confirmed in a statement to The Post that some diplomatic clearances for military flights recently have been denied, extending the deployments of U.S. troops in some cases. Senior leaders in his headquarters, he said, are working closely with the State Department and other organizations to make sure that U.S. forces deployed in Niger have what they need.
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The airman, in a private whistleblower complaint to Congress obtained by The Washington Post, accused top officials at the U.S. Embassy in Niger’s capital of Niamey of having “intentionally suppressed intelligence” as they seek to maintain the “facade of a great country-to-country relationship.” The embassy’s actions, the whistleblower wrote, have “potential implications” for U.S. relations with other African nations “and the safety of our personnel in the region.”
The State Department and Defense Department rejected the claims of negligence, saying the United States is making a final push to maintain a U.S. military presence in post-coup Niger, though they acknowledge that talks are difficult and may fail to produce an agreement.
The whistleblower complaint was transmitted to Capitol Hill before U.S. officials met Wednesday with Niger’s prime minister. Follow-on discussions with other senior Nigerien officials were scheduled for next week — talks that may seal the fate of Washington’s relationship with what had been its chief security partner in a region beset by violence from groups linked to the Islamic State and al-Qaeda.
“There’s a very narrow path here to finding an accommodation that addresses their interests and concerns and our interests and concerns,” said a senior State Department official, who like some others spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the Biden administration’s diplomatic efforts. “It may not work, but the fat lady hasn’t sung yet.”
U.S. military whistleblower warns troops in Niger are vulnerable
View the Whistleblower’s private complaint to Congress
The whistleblower’s allegations highlight the difficulties for the United States in operating in a region of Africa that is increasingly unstable. In 2017, four American soldiers were killed after being ambushed on a mission in Niger, which military investigators blamed on poor training, planning and other institutional failures.
For years, the Pentagon has deployed a mix of mostly Air Force and Army personnel to Niger to support a mission scrutinizing militant groups in the region. Until the coup, the arrangement included drones flying in counterterrorism operations from a base the United States built and U.S. and Nigerien troops partnering on some patrols.
Niger’s military junta last month declared the U.S. military presence there “illegal” and said that it was ending all accords, effective immediately. That announcement followed tense meetings with top officials from the State Department and the Pentagon, whom Nigerien leaders accused of attempting to dictate that the West African nation have no relationship with Iran, Russia or other U.S. adversaries.
In his complaint, directed to Rep. Dusty Johnson (R-S.D.) and other lawmakers, the whistleblower takes aim at Ambassador Kathleen FitzGibbon and Air Force Col. Nora J. Nelson-Richter, the defense attaché posted there, accusing both of jeopardizing the safety of 1,100 American military personnel who are “being held hostage” in Niger while a diplomatic resolution remains elusive.
Officials at the U.S. Embassy referred questions to the State Department in Washington, which denied the whistleblower’s claims. A spokesperson for Johnson’s office declined to comment, saying they don’t discuss possible constituent correspondence.
The complaint reveals new details about the status of U.S. forces in Niger and the restrictions on their ability to swap out personnel. After the coup, the whistleblower wrote, service members were told to “sit and hold” on their bases, leaving them unable either to carry out their counterterrorism mission or return to the United States after their six-month deployment reached its scheduled conclusion.
“They failed to be transparent with U.S. service members deployed to this country,” the airman wrote of the embassy’s top officials, adding that while they “gave a pretense that ‘things were being worked,’ ” required permissions to fly U.S. military aircraft in Nigerien airspace were purposely “not being approved by the country’s military government as a political bargaining chip to entice the U.S. government back to negotiate their withdrawal.”
Reached by phone, the whistleblower declined to comment, citing a fear of professional reprisal and safety concerns. The Post verified the individual’s name, rank and assignment, but generally does not identify whistleblowers who make protected communications to Congress.
Senior U.S. officials said they sympathized with concerns posed by personnel who have been unable to carry out their duties since last summer’s coup, but they rejected the whistleblower’s claim that embassy leaders had suppressed intelligence or put U.S. troops at risk.
“No one is suppressing any information: We’re seeing the good, the bad, and the ugly. It’s feeding into the deliberative process,” said the senior State Department official. “To this person, it might be slow.”
Gen. Michael Langley, who oversees U.S. military activity in Africa, confirmed in a statement to The Post that some diplomatic clearances for military flights recently have been denied, extending the deployments of U.S. troops in some cases. Senior leaders in his headquarters, he said, are working closely with the State Department and other organizations to make sure that U.S. forces deployed in Niger have what they need.
Why does the US need a military presence in Niger?
They spent a shit ton of $$$ in recent years building a new airbase out in the desert too... probably the reason they don't want to walk away.
To try and counteract the fallout of the failed regime change effort in Libya.
Before he was overthrown and killed, Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi warned jihadists would conquer northern Africa
Now, with France locked in a battle with extremists in Mali, it seems Muammar Gaddafi may not have been so crazy after allAuthor of the article:
Scott Barber
Published Jan 25, 2013
During the dying days of his four decade rule, Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi cast an ominous prophecy. If his regime fell, jihadists would subjugate northern Africa, inflicting widespread violence and terror.
“Al-Qaeda considers all the people to be infidels,” Mr. Gaddafi declared in a speech weeks before NATO began its military intervention in Libya. “They deem all people their enemies. They know nothing but killing.”
The Islamists would pour in from Afghanistan, Algeria, and Egypt, he warned, saying, “These are beasts with turbans.”
Now, with France locked in a battle with extremists in Mali; with al-Qaeda-linked groups carrying out a massive hostage taking in Algeria, and with Britain, Germany, and France telling their citizens to leave Libya because of an unspecified threat, the man many considered mad may not have been so crazy after all.
“The irony is, he was right,” said Christian Leuprecht, Royal Military College and Queen’s University political studies associate professor.
“Here we have a situation that’s out of control,” said Abdel Kerim Ousman, Royal Military College political science associate professor. “Gaddafi actually said, if you want to destroy [Libya], the result would be the taking over by the jihadists.”
https://www.voanews.com/a/us-to-withdraw-military-personnel-from-niger-source-says-/7577865.html
The United States will withdraw its troops from Niger, a source familiar with the matter said late on Friday, adding that an agreement was reached between U.S Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell and Niger's leadership.
As of last year, there were a little more than 1,000 U.S. troops in Niger, where the U.S. military operated out of two bases, including a drone base known as Air Base 201 near Agadez in central Niger at a cost of more than $100 million.
Since 2018, the base has been used to target Islamic State militants and Jama'at Nusrat al-Islam wal Muslimeen, an al-Qaida affiliate, in the Sahel region.
Last year, Niger's army seized power in a coup. Until the coup, Niger had remained a key security partner of the United States and France.
But the new authorities in Niger joined juntas in neighboring Mali and Burkina Faso in ending military deals with one-time Western allies like Washington and Paris, quitting the regional political and economic bloc ECOWAS, and fostering closer ties with Russia….
… Last month, Niger's ruling junta said it revoked with immediate effect a military accord that allowed military personnel and civilian staff from the U.S. Department of Defense on its soil.
The Pentagon had said thereafter it was seeking clarification about the way ahead. It added that the U.S. government had "direct and frank" conversations in Niger ahead of the junta's announcement and was continuing to communicate with Niger's ruling military council.
Hundreds took to the streets of Niger's capital last week to demand the departure of U.S. troops after the ruling junta further shifted its strategy by ending the military accord with the United States and welcoming Russian military instructors.
Eight coups in West and Central Africa over four years, including in Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger, have prompted growing concerns over democratic backsliding in the region.
The United States will withdraw its troops from Niger, a source familiar with the matter said late on Friday, adding that an agreement was reached between U.S Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell and Niger's leadership.
As of last year, there were a little more than 1,000 U.S. troops in Niger, where the U.S. military operated out of two bases, including a drone base known as Air Base 201 near Agadez in central Niger at a cost of more than $100 million.
Since 2018, the base has been used to target Islamic State militants and Jama'at Nusrat al-Islam wal Muslimeen, an al-Qaida affiliate, in the Sahel region.
Last year, Niger's army seized power in a coup. Until the coup, Niger had remained a key security partner of the United States and France.
But the new authorities in Niger joined juntas in neighboring Mali and Burkina Faso in ending military deals with one-time Western allies like Washington and Paris, quitting the regional political and economic bloc ECOWAS, and fostering closer ties with Russia….
… Last month, Niger's ruling junta said it revoked with immediate effect a military accord that allowed military personnel and civilian staff from the U.S. Department of Defense on its soil.
The Pentagon had said thereafter it was seeking clarification about the way ahead. It added that the U.S. government had "direct and frank" conversations in Niger ahead of the junta's announcement and was continuing to communicate with Niger's ruling military council.
Hundreds took to the streets of Niger's capital last week to demand the departure of U.S. troops after the ruling junta further shifted its strategy by ending the military accord with the United States and welcoming Russian military instructors.
Eight coups in West and Central Africa over four years, including in Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger, have prompted growing concerns over democratic backsliding in the region.
It’s like the Wicked Witch of the East threatening that if you drop a house on her it will invite the Wicked Witch of the West.
I think the nations of the Sahel kicking out the French military was inevitable, it's just a question to what degree the jihadist explosion after Libya fell and the Russian influence accelerated things (decades?).
The United States informed the government of Niger on Friday that it agreed to its request to withdraw U.S. troops from the West African country, said three U.S. officials, a move the Biden administration had resisted and one that will transform Washington’s counterterrorism posture in the region.
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The agreement will spell the end of a U.S. troop presence that totaled more than 1,000 and throw into question the status of a $110 million U.S. air base that is only six years old. It is the culmination of a military coup last year that ousted the country’s democratically elected government and installed a junta that declared America’s military presence there “illegal.”
“The prime minister has asked us to withdraw U.S. troops, and we have agreed to do that,” a senior State Department official told The Washington Post in an interview. This official, like others, spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive situation.
The decision was sealed in a meeting earlier Friday between Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell and Niger’s prime minister, Ali Lamine Zeine.
“We’ve agreed to begin conversations within days about how to develop a plan” to withdraw troops, said the senior State Department official. “They’ve agreed that we do it in an orderly and responsible way. And we will need to probably dispatch folks to Niamey to sit down and hash it out. And that of course will be a Defense Department project.”
A Pentagon spokesman did not immediately offer comment.
The United States had paused its security cooperation with Niger, limiting U.S. activities — including unarmed drone flights. But U.S. service members have remained in the country, unable to fulfill their responsibilities and feeling left in the dark by leadership at the U.S. Embassy as negotiations continued, according to a recent whistleblower complaint.
The Sahel region, including neighboring Mali and Burkina Faso, has become a global hot spot for Islamist extremism in recent years, and Niger saw such attacks spike dramatically following the coup. For U.S. officials who viewed the base as an important counterterrorism asset, the withdrawal agreement is a significant setback. “I think it’s undeniable that it was a platform in a unique part of African geography,” the State Department official said.
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The agreement will spell the end of a U.S. troop presence that totaled more than 1,000 and throw into question the status of a $110 million U.S. air base that is only six years old. It is the culmination of a military coup last year that ousted the country’s democratically elected government and installed a junta that declared America’s military presence there “illegal.”
“The prime minister has asked us to withdraw U.S. troops, and we have agreed to do that,” a senior State Department official told The Washington Post in an interview. This official, like others, spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive situation.
The decision was sealed in a meeting earlier Friday between Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell and Niger’s prime minister, Ali Lamine Zeine.
“We’ve agreed to begin conversations within days about how to develop a plan” to withdraw troops, said the senior State Department official. “They’ve agreed that we do it in an orderly and responsible way. And we will need to probably dispatch folks to Niamey to sit down and hash it out. And that of course will be a Defense Department project.”
A Pentagon spokesman did not immediately offer comment.
The United States had paused its security cooperation with Niger, limiting U.S. activities — including unarmed drone flights. But U.S. service members have remained in the country, unable to fulfill their responsibilities and feeling left in the dark by leadership at the U.S. Embassy as negotiations continued, according to a recent whistleblower complaint.
The Sahel region, including neighboring Mali and Burkina Faso, has become a global hot spot for Islamist extremism in recent years, and Niger saw such attacks spike dramatically following the coup. For U.S. officials who viewed the base as an important counterterrorism asset, the withdrawal agreement is a significant setback. “I think it’s undeniable that it was a platform in a unique part of African geography,” the State Department official said.
Huge win for blinken and our vegetable in charge.
Might be able to get out without leaving weapons to the the enemy this time.
The U.S. has roughly 1,000 military personneland civilian contractors deployed to Niger, most of them clustered near the town of Agadez, on the southern fringe of the Sahara desert, at Air Base 201. Known locally as “Base Americaine,” the outpost serves as the linchpin of the U.S. military’s archipelago of bases in North and West Africa and a key part of America’s wide-ranging surveillance and security efforts in the region. Since the 2010s, the U.S. has sunk roughly a quarter billion dollars into the outpost. This is in addition to more than $500 million in military assistance provided to Niger since 2012.
After a group of military officers deposed Niger’s democratically elected President Mohamed Bazoum last summer, the U.S. spent months avoiding the term “coup”before finally, as mandated by law, suspending approximately $200 million in aid. The U.S. did not, however, withdraw its forces from Niger and continued drone operations.
In the wake of Niger’s March 16 decree ending their status of forces agreement with the United States, both the State Department and Pentagon have done little more than acknowledge it. “[W]e’re seeking further clarification for … what that statement means,” said Defense Department Deputy Press Secretary Sabrina Singh on Monday.
Singh went on to say that the U.S. delegation had “expressed concern over Niger’s potential relationships with Russia and Iran.” Earlier this month, Langley, the AFRICOM chief, told the Senate Armed Services Committee that Russia was attempting to “take over” the Sahel. “During the past three years, national defense forces turned their guns against their own elected governments in Burkina Faso, Guinea, Mali, and Niger,” he said, complaining that due to U.S. aid limitations following coups, these governments “turn to partners who lack restrictions in dealing with coup governments … particularly Russia.”
Langley failed to mention that at least 15 officers who benefited from U.S. security assistance have been involved in 12 coups in West Africa and the greater Sahel during the war on terror, including Burkina Faso (2014, 2015, and twice in 2022); Guinea (2021); Mali(2012, 2020, and 2021); and Niger (2023). At least five leaders of the July 2023 coup in Niger received American assistance, according to a U.S. official. The coup leaders, in turn, appointed five U.S.-trained members of the Nigerien security forces to serve as that country’s governors.
While U.S. troop strength in Niger grew by more than 900 percent in the last decade, and U.S. commandos trained local counterparts and fought and even died there, terrorist violence in the African Sahel has been neither deterred nor reduced. During 2002 and 2003, according to the State Department, terrorists caused just 23 casualties in all of Africa. Last year, according to the Africa Center for Strategic Studies, a Defense Department research institution, attacks by Islamist militants in the Sahel alone resulted in 11,643 deaths — a more than 50,000 percent increase.
“This security cooperation did not live up to the expectations of Nigeriens – all the massacres committed by the jihadists were carried out while the Americans were here,” said a Nigerien security analyst who has worked with U.S. officials and spoke on the condition of anonymity due to his ties with the Nigerien military. He said that the U.S. needed to negotiate a new agreement with more favorable terms for Niger that was free of the trappings of “paternalism and neocolonialism.”
In the wake of last year’s coup, Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., introduced a joint resolutionrequiring President Joe Biden to “remove United States Armed Forces from hostilities in or affecting the Republic of Niger” within 30 days. The resolution failed in a lopsided 11-86 vote. Now Niger’s ruling junta has seemingly done what Congress failed to.
“The bipartisan minority of Senators who voted last year to bring these troops home had it right,” said Sperling. “The U.S. needs to accept reality that lasting partnerships require fostering genuine development, not just helping to gun down impoverished rural militants who posed no threat to Americans.”
After a group of military officers deposed Niger’s democratically elected President Mohamed Bazoum last summer, the U.S. spent months avoiding the term “coup”before finally, as mandated by law, suspending approximately $200 million in aid. The U.S. did not, however, withdraw its forces from Niger and continued drone operations.
In the wake of Niger’s March 16 decree ending their status of forces agreement with the United States, both the State Department and Pentagon have done little more than acknowledge it. “[W]e’re seeking further clarification for … what that statement means,” said Defense Department Deputy Press Secretary Sabrina Singh on Monday.
Singh went on to say that the U.S. delegation had “expressed concern over Niger’s potential relationships with Russia and Iran.” Earlier this month, Langley, the AFRICOM chief, told the Senate Armed Services Committee that Russia was attempting to “take over” the Sahel. “During the past three years, national defense forces turned their guns against their own elected governments in Burkina Faso, Guinea, Mali, and Niger,” he said, complaining that due to U.S. aid limitations following coups, these governments “turn to partners who lack restrictions in dealing with coup governments … particularly Russia.”
Langley failed to mention that at least 15 officers who benefited from U.S. security assistance have been involved in 12 coups in West Africa and the greater Sahel during the war on terror, including Burkina Faso (2014, 2015, and twice in 2022); Guinea (2021); Mali(2012, 2020, and 2021); and Niger (2023). At least five leaders of the July 2023 coup in Niger received American assistance, according to a U.S. official. The coup leaders, in turn, appointed five U.S.-trained members of the Nigerien security forces to serve as that country’s governors.
While U.S. troop strength in Niger grew by more than 900 percent in the last decade, and U.S. commandos trained local counterparts and fought and even died there, terrorist violence in the African Sahel has been neither deterred nor reduced. During 2002 and 2003, according to the State Department, terrorists caused just 23 casualties in all of Africa. Last year, according to the Africa Center for Strategic Studies, a Defense Department research institution, attacks by Islamist militants in the Sahel alone resulted in 11,643 deaths — a more than 50,000 percent increase.
“This security cooperation did not live up to the expectations of Nigeriens – all the massacres committed by the jihadists were carried out while the Americans were here,” said a Nigerien security analyst who has worked with U.S. officials and spoke on the condition of anonymity due to his ties with the Nigerien military. He said that the U.S. needed to negotiate a new agreement with more favorable terms for Niger that was free of the trappings of “paternalism and neocolonialism.”
In the wake of last year’s coup, Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., introduced a joint resolutionrequiring President Joe Biden to “remove United States Armed Forces from hostilities in or affecting the Republic of Niger” within 30 days. The resolution failed in a lopsided 11-86 vote. Now Niger’s ruling junta has seemingly done what Congress failed to.
“The bipartisan minority of Senators who voted last year to bring these troops home had it right,” said Sperling. “The U.S. needs to accept reality that lasting partnerships require fostering genuine development, not just helping to gun down impoverished rural militants who posed no threat to Americans.”
"If we lose Ukraine Russia will keep going", also, Niger kicks USA out so Russia can come in.... silence...
This needs to happen all over the world to bring America’s dream of empire to an end. Like the Father of our Country said (paraphrasing) - “We need to mind our own damned business!”
$280 million is a cheap price to pay in the interests of peace.
$280 million is a cheap price to pay in the interests of peace.
The U.S. Is Building a Drone Base in Niger That Will Cost More Than $280 Million by 2024
The Pentagon discloses that in addition to the base’s $100 million construction cost in Niger, more than $30 million a year will be spent to operate it.
theintercept.com
This reporter was there filming a show about gold when the coup went down. USA wasn’t much help.
Trafficked: Underworlds With Mariana van Zeller on National Geographic Channel maybe Hulu also
S1 E10 Caught in an African Coup in Niger.
The most recent numbers suggest we are about to leave roughly 100 million in Arms and equipment at a base in Niger to be recovered by the russians.... and we have told them we would have our shit moved out by September.
Feckless leadership.
Feckless leadership.
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You’re leaving out the most important part, those arms created American jobs, now we can create more jobs replacing the stuff we left behind.
MIC, it’s not just for breakfast anymore!
Jokes aside, I'm in consulting, I live in Iowa, if you would like me to come up with foreign policy I'd be happy to do so but would need the information, time, and resources our leaders having in making the decisions. I assure you, drop the shit and boogy, wouldn't be our plan, especially post Afghanistan, which this is going to be a direct repeat of.
So you don’t have a plan… but already critical of a withdrawal that hasn’t even happened yet. Noted.
I don't have to have all the logistics to know leaving 100million dollars worth of shit for Russia isn't a good idea.
Give me a etch-a-sketch and I'll draw you a better plan than that.
And no, after Afghanistan, he doesn't get the benefit of the doubt.
you know it isn't joe biden who personally draws up these plans, right?
its miltary guys...high ranking military guys who have been serving for years across multiple presidential admins
you're saying you could definitely come up with a better plan than them?
I'm saying if I'm "Joe Biden" I don't give a shit what it takes and or cost I'm not having another Afghanistan.
If Niger doesn't like that, f.uck em. If Russia doesn't like that, fu.ck em.
Hey Bud, I'm not th president. You can sit and say "what would you do" until you edge yourself to the walls. Just like I could be stupid and say "show up with 10k marines and tell them we are nor going anywhere and they can **** themselves".
But, the facts are, you, nor I have all the information. So it's speculation, thus, I have provided mine, which is, I don't care what it cost or takes, we are nor having another Afghanistan.
Link to what arms they’re leaving there? Because the statement made by the military is that they’re leaving the airfield and barracks.
oh i agree that i don't have enough information to make an informed judgement on the situation
that's why i'm not calling out "feckless leadership" on a situation that i admittedly don't have all the information
because...you know...neither of us know what we're talking about
Here is what I know, we have enough time between now and September if it can come it should, and we don't need to be foreshadowing any plans to anyone.
For the record, I don’t have all the intelligence so I won’t criticize something that hasn’t happened yet. But, the military won’t leave anything behind that they want or deem sensitive/secret. Those things will be removed or destroyed on site before they pull out. This will be a nothing burger beyond the cost of business having deployments around the world.
You feel like the Afghan withdrawal went well? You have confidence in this leaderships ability to navigate an issue do ya?
