Former Director of National Intelligence Richard Grenell claimed Thursday the self-preservationist politics of the federal bureaucracy is directly at fault for the deaths of Americans.
Grenell told "Fox News Primetime" the news of President Biden's reported July phone call with then-Afghan President Ashraf Ghani in which he thought would "change perception", as well as the upbeat messaging from the Pentagon on the conclusion of the war there is dangerous and insulting to Americans.
"I am not surprised that Washington, D.C. is lying to us again. Unfortunately, Tammy, we have a situation where Washington, D.C.'s politics has literally killed Americans. And while this can go on in Washington and those in Washington can paper it over and try to spin that they got 90% of Americans out of Afghanistan. The rest of us outside of Washington are saying ‘we have never seen a situation where Washington, D.C. politicians are proud of 90%’," he said.
{{#rendered}}The panel on "The Five" reacted Thursday to news that President Joe Biden reportedly pressured now-former Afghan President Ashraf Ghani to paint a rosier picture of the situation in Afghanistan this July than the reality on the ground.
At the time of the call, the Taliban controlled about half of Afghanistan's district centers. Biden urged Ghani to hold a press conference with other prominent Afghan leaders to outline a new military strategy, which he argued would "change perception, and that will change an awful lot I think," Reuters reported.
President Biden's decision to help secure Tajikistan's border with Afghanistan has infuriated those on the front lines of the U.S. border crisis, who say that America's own southern border still isn't secure.
The U.S. Embassy in Dushanbe on Wednesday announced the launch of a new project to construct facilities for a Border Service detachment along the Tajik-Afghan-Uzbek border, which will allow Tajikistan’s border troops to deploy more quickly in response to threats in the region.
Border sources who spoke to Fox News say the administration's priorities are misplaced.
Fox News Contributor Tammy Bruce slammed President Biden during an interview on "The Faulkner Focus" on Thursday arguing he has lied to the American people after a leaked phone call surfaced between him and former Afghan President Ashraf Ghani. Bruce also blasted Biden for his clear lack of empathy for Gold Star families, calling him a "malignant narcissist," after apparently checking his watch during a ceremony to honor the fallen 13 service members who died in Afghanistan before the U.S. withdrawal.
TAMMY BRUCE: This is what's so shocking, and it's interesting that that's how they tried to portray him in the campaign because they knew that mattered. It had to be a betrayal though because they knew he didn't have any. These are multiple newly-minted Gold Star families- people who are still in shock over the unnecessary deaths of their loved ones. One Gold Star mom says he actually rolled his eyes at her. This is a part of the framework of why all of this exists. There is only one person that matters and that is Joe Biden. It's malignant narcissism. When you can't think past yourself, the impact of what you do to other people does not matter.
{{#rendered}}After California officials helped rescue El Cajon-area students stranded in Afghanistan before the U.S. Military withdrew all troops by Monday evening, they said on Friday that there could "easily" be thousands more who were left behind.
Based on conversations that the Cajon Valley Union School District and Republican California Rep. Darrell Issa's office has had with their contacts in Afghanistan, officials and families estimate that more than 1,000 U.S. students and students of Special Immigrant Visa (SIV) holders are still stuck in the country.
Less than one week after the horrific Kabul terrorist attack that left 13 U.S. servicemen dead, MSNBC's liberal primetime lineup appears ready to move on from covering the dramatic fallout from President Biden's withdrawal from Afghanistan.
Rachel Maddow, MSNBC's biggest star, completely avoided the subject of Afghanistan despite several controversies that are plaguing the Biden administration from the hundreds of Americans and Afghan allies who were left stranded, the growing terror threat as the Taliban has taken over the country, to the controversial July phone call Biden had pressuring then-Afghan President Ashraf Ghani to push a "perception" of stability in the country.
The State Department on Thursday refused to clarify what happens to Special Immigrant Visa (SIV) applicants evacuated from Afghanistan who fail the "rigorous" vetting process.
"Before anyone who is evacuated from Afghanistan comes to this country, they undergo a rigorous vet," State Department spokesperson Ned Price told reporters. "Unless and until they complete that vet they will not be in a position to come to the U.S."
{{#rendered}}White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Thursday that the U.S. will "judge the Taliban by their actions" amid reports militants are carrying out violent reprisals in Afghanistan since they took over the country less than three weeks ago.
During her daily press briefing, Psaki was asked about a BBC report this week citing sources in Afghanistan who say the Taliban is carrying out mass killings of former Afghan officials and soldiers, despite repeatedly promising widespread amnesty while U.S. troops still remained in Kabul. The last of those troops left Monday.
When a president is guilty of dereliction of duty, lying to the American people on a daily basis, pressuring a world leader to lie during a phone call, leaving American citizens behind enemy lines in Afghanistan, making America less safe on the eve of the 20th anniversary of 9/11 terrorist attacks and not fully in command of the country, what should be done about it?
Many are demanding President Biden’s resignation. While I agree the president should resign for his incompetence and dishonesty over Afghanistan, the reality is this will never happen.
On Tuesday, Biden inexplicably called the disaster he created with his botched withdrawal a success! The president, his advisers, and the Democrat Party leadership in Congress are not living in reality. These unhinged leftists can’t even admit a mistake much less muster the courage to leave office on their own volition.
Amid the tumultuous and chaotic withdrawal of U.S. forces and personnel from Afghanistan over the past couple of weeks, there’s no letup in the slide of President Biden’s approval ratings.
The president stands at 43% approval and 51% disapproval among Americans in a new NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist national survey that was released on Thursday. Biden’s approval rating is down 6 points from July, and it’s the president’s lowest approval in Marist polling since taking office in January.
The new survey is the latest to indicate that the rocky exit from Afghanistan, ending a two-decade U.S. military presence in the war-torn Central Asian country, is taking a toll on the president’s political standing.
{{#rendered}}Pentagon Press Secretary John F. Kirby said the the United States will continue to get the people left behind in Afghanistan out of the country.
"We don't believe the effort is concluded," Kirby said.
Kirby said that although the military mission in Afghanistan is over, the U.S. government will continue to find ways to facilitate getting any remaining Americans and Afghan allies out of the country.
"We're all heartbroken we weren't able to get every single person out," Kirby said.
With the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan complete and the Taliban the sole authority in Kabul, the tough task of governing now falls on the shoulders of Islamist militants who have been out of power for 20 years. The Taliban’s greatest obstacle to consolidating control over the entire country is likely to be fellow Islamist militants of the Islamic State’s affiliate in Afghanistan, known as Islamic State Khorasan Province, or ISIS-K.
ISIS-K claimed responsibility for the devastating terrorist attack at Hamid Karzai International Airport on Aug. 27 that killed 13 U.S. soldiers and at least 170 Afghans. The mayhem that ensued following the suicide attack severely damaged the credibility the Taliban had been trying to exert as the guarantors of security and stability surrounding Kabul’s airport while the U.S. and its allies completed the evacuation.
Air Force Gen. Tod D. Wolters, commander of U.S. European Command, said that European command took in 155 inbound flights with 38,000 Afghan evacuees to various U.S. military installations in Europe.
About 16,000 of those Afghan evacuees have since departed for the U.S. from Europe.
{{#rendered}}Ian Bremmer told "The Brian Kilmeade Show" on Thursday that after the United States asked allies to join the Afghanistan war 20 years ago, they didn’t talk to them about the withdrawal of troops.
IAN BREMMER: Let's remember, Brian, and you know this very well: for twenty years, we asked the allies who could come with us and we fought with them and when we left, we did the policy review by ourselves and we didn't ask them what they thought or if they wanted to participate.
U.S. troops destroyed or disabled nearly 100 combat vehicles and dozens of aircraft before vacating the airport in Kabul on Monday, in a last-ditch bid to deprive the Taliban of the use of some American military equipment.
But now that all U.S. forces have left Afghanistan, defense officials, lawmakers and experts who track the flow of weapons are watching closely to see what becomes of the acres of weaponry, vehicles and aircraft that were left behind, are still operable and can be of use to the Taliban or to arms smugglers.
Oryx, a blog that verifies military equipment using photos and videos, has identified 38 airplanes, 13 helicopters and seven unmanned aerial vehicles that the Taliban has captured in working order.
Click here to watch the White House press briefing.
Click here to watch the State Department press briefing.
{{#rendered}}Air Force crews who were among the last to leave Afghanistan tell the Associated Press that "it just looked apocalyptic" before takeoff at Kabul's airport.
"It looked like one of those zombie movies where all the airplanes had been destroyed, their doors were open, the wheels were broken," Air Force Lt. Col. Braden Coleman said. "There was a plane that was burned all the way. You could see the cockpit was there, and the whole rest of the plane looked like the skeleton of a fish."
Click here to read more on Fox News.
Republican senators issued a letter Thursday demanding President Biden provide the exact number of Americans, green-card holders and special immigrant visa applicants who remain in Afghanistan as well as what type of vetting evacuees are undergoing before being granted entry to the United States.
The group of 26 Republicans, led by Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas, have given the president until the end of business Tuesday to give the public a full accounting of who was "left behind" after the last of the U.S. troops evacuated Kabul on Monday.
"We write regarding the humanitarian crisis created by your withdrawal of the United States from Afghanistan, and the safety and well-being of our fellow countrymen and allies who you left behind," the senators wrote.
Click here to read more on Fox News.
Fox News' Greg Palkot reports the latest from Ramstein Air Base in Germany, where around 15,000 refugees are now being held.
{{#rendered}}An Afghan interpreter that helped rescue then-Sen. Joe Biden and two other senators from Afghanistan thirteen years ago is now pleading with the president to rescue him and his family, warning that the Taliban will likely kill him on sight.
In 2008, the man known only as Mohammed was part of a team that helped ensure Joe Biden’s safety after their Black Hawk helicopter was forced to make an emergency landing during a snowstorm.
Taliban insurgents had been spotted in the remote Afghan valley around the same time.
Thirteen years later, with Biden in the driver’s seat, Mohammed is asking the president to return the favor.
"Do not forget me and my family," said Mohammed, while speaking by telephone to "Fox & Friends First" co-host Jillian Mele.
Click here to read more on Fox News.
Qatar Foreign Minister Mohammad bin Abdulrahman Al Thani said Thursday that there is “no clear indication” of when Kabul’s airport will resume service, but his country is “hopeful that we will be able to operate [the airport] as soon as possible,” according to the Associated Press.
The Gulf nation, which sent a technical team to the airport yesterday to assess the situation, is working in coordination with the Taliban “to identify what are the gaps and the risks of having the airport back up and running,” he reportedly added.
The airport closed to commercial traffic since mid-August and was used for military evacuation flights until Aug. 31.
Click here to read more on Fox News.
Jesse Jensen has been heavily involved the past couple of weeks in the private efforts by Afghanistan War veterans to assist in the evacuation of Afghans who helped the U.S. the past two decades.
Jensen, one of roughly 15 veterans who served in the Afghanistan War who are running for Congress as Republicans in next year's elections, is part of the so-called Task Force Pineapple, a group that says it’s so far helped more than 1,000 people escape from Afghanistan after the country was overrun last month by repressive Taliban forces.
The former Army Ranger and GOP candidate in Washington state’s 8th Congressional District noted that he helped an Afghan interpreter that he worked with during one of his tours of duty escape."We were able to successfully, for lack of a better term, kind of smuggle him out of the country, along with another interpreter and his family," Jensen said Wednesday in an interview with Fox News. "We’re still trying to get folks out," he emphasized.
Click here to read more on Fox News.
{{#rendered}}Terrorism experts and former top-ranking law enforcement officials say the United States must not only be prepared to protect against threats caused by the events outside of the country, such as in the Middle East, but must also watch for any threats created by individuals coming in.
The United States has fully pulled out of Afghanistan after weeks of rushing to evacuate Americans and Afghan allies from the country and its newfound Taliban rule. But several experts, including former top cops in major U.S. cities, warned that the U.S. security measures must be far-ranging, spanning not only from utilizing intelligence and monitoring air travel and airport activity, but also ensuring that those brought into the country have only good intentions.
Former Boston Police Commissioner Ed Davis told Fox News "the great majority of people" seeking refuge from Afghanistan in the U.S. "are looking for a new life – and many of them have helped the United States."
"You don't want to say anything negative about the people who … have actually risked their lives to fight terrorism in a very real way," Davis explained. "But the truth is that when large numbers of people are brought into the country like this, the vetting process has to be very intense. And I know from doing investigations around the world that trying to do a background investigation on someone who has come from a country like Afghanistan is virtually, is very difficult to do."
Click here to read more on Fox News.
Even in the final days of Washington’s chaotic airlift in Afghanistan, Javed Habibi was getting phone calls from the U.S. government promising that the green card holder from Richmond, Virginia, his wife, and their four daughters would not be left behind.
He was told to stay home and not worry, that they would be evacuated.
Late Monday, however, his heart sank as he heard that the final U.S. flights had left Kabul's airport, followed by the blistering staccato sound of Taliban gunfire, celebrating what they saw as their victory over America.
"They lied to us," Habibi said of the U.S. government. He is among hundreds of American citizens and green card holders stranded in the Afghan capital.
Another Afghan native who asked to be identified only as Ajmal, fearing retribution, said he, his two brothers, and their families — 16 people in all — were granted emergency immigrant visas to be evacuated after another brother in Virginia submitted the paperwork.
He said he and his relatives went to the airport, but heavy gunfire by the Taliban and the crush of thousands of people sent them back home. On one occasion, he said he received an email telling him and his family they would be picked up at a spot near the airport at 3 a.m. He and his family waited on the street until 9 a.m., but no one came, he said.
Click here to read more on Fox News
A new report from investigative journalist John Solomon claims text messages between military service members and private citizens paint a picture of stranded U.S. citizens "waving passports" to no avail at soldiers stationed at the gates of Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul near the end of President Biden's withdrawal.
Solomon told "Hannity" that one unnamed 82nd Airborne commander exclaimed Sunday "we are [expletive] abandoning American citizens."
"Because Biden was not going to do that, and the military to rescue stranded Americans texted "You guys left American citizens at the gate of Kabul airport, three empty jets paid for by volunteers were waiting for them. You and I talked on the phone. I told you where they were, gave you their passport images, and my email and my phone number, you left them behind," one former special forces soldier wrote in a message read by host Sean Hannity.
That soldier, the host said, was working with private networks because Biden and the State Department under Secretary Antony J. Blinken were either ineffective or refusing to help.
Click here to read more on Fox News.
{{#rendered}}Retired Navy SEAL sniper Jack Carr revealed the truth about the beginnings of U.S.-Middle Eastern warfare on the newest episode of Fox Nation’s "Tucker Carlson Today.
"Carr described American relations with Afghanistan to be "all wrong" immediately following 9/11 when the Bush Administration shifted focus to Iraq and away from al Qaeda.
"Another interesting thing that happened in 2001, while I was doing those ship boardings and while the guys were in Tora Bora asking for reinforcements, is that President Bush asked retired Army Gen. Tommy Franks to come to Crawford, Texas and asked him to draw up plans for the invasion of Iraq," he said.
"So the focus shifted very early on from Afghanistan to Iraq. So when we should’ve really been flooding Tora Bora with troops and crushing our enemy at the time, we’re now starting to think about Iraq."
The Ex-SEAL explained that what followed in Jan. 2002 was a push for nation-building in Bush’s state of the union address, once again deterring interest away from the enemy.
"Very quickly we shifted from crushing al Qaeda to not giving it the support it needed, to Iraq and to nation-building at the same time," he said.
Click here to read more on Fox News.
The president of the U.N. Security Council said it won't take its focus off Afghanistan this month.
Ambassador Geraldine Byrne Nason spoke as Ireland assumed the rotating presidency of the U.N. Security Council.
Nason noted the protection and promotion of human rights for women “must be at the very heart of our collective response to the crisis.”
"We want to see human rights issues addressed in Afghanistan and in particular the rights of women and girls. We have echoed what Michelle Bachelet, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, said this week, it is a red line issue," Nason said, according to Raidió Teilifís Éireann.
"The measure of the Taliban and their plans for their new phase in Afghanistan will be how they treat women and girls, and we will absolutely hold them to account on that," she continued.
President Biden on Wednesday held his first meeting with a foreign leader since ending the war in Afghanistan.
Biden hosted Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy for a long-sought meeting at the Oval Office. The meeting had been postponed two days due to the military withdrawal from Afghanistan.
“The United States remains firmly committed to Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity in the face of Russian aggression and for Ukraine's Euro-Atlantic aspirations,” Biden said.
The Associated Press reported that Biden didn't mention Afghanistan in a brief appearance with Zelenskyy before cameras.
“At a difficult time for the world and the United States ... still you found time for us and we're thankful for this indeed,” Zelenskyy said.
{{#rendered}}Coverage for this event has ended.