Re: Secret Afghanistan testimony revealed

[Jews are liars]

On 26 Feb 2022, Klaus Schadenfreude <klaus_sch...@null.net>
posted some news:sve6an$1rlh2$2...@news.freedyn.de:

> This is sedition!

FIRST IN NATSEC DAILY –– The Trump administration’s slapdash efforts to
withdraw U.S. troops from Afghanistan hurt the prospects of a negotiated
settlement between Kabul and the Taliban, according to secret
congressional testimony obtained by NatSec Daily.

Two career diplomats who served during the Trump years and a Biden
administration official testified last summer to the then-Democrat-led
House Foreign Affairs Committee that Afghanistan-focused officials were
kept out of the loop by senior Trump aides. That ultimately put personnel
at risk, endangered a fragile diplomatic effort and left a new
administration in the dark about their inheritance, they said in
previously unreported comments.

The Trump administration struck a deal with the Taliban in February 2020
that set the conditions for a U.S. withdrawal by May 2021. But after the
ink dried, the administration removed some of the 13,000 troops still in
the country, lowering the total to 8,500 service members within months.
That was followed by a reduction to 4,500 in November 2020 and then to
2,500 five days before JOE BIDEN’s inauguration day. President DONALD
TRUMP was also secretly angling for a full withdrawal of American forces
by the end of his term.

In his unclassified opening remarks during the June 15, 2022, classified
HFAC briefing, JOHN BASS, a career diplomat who served as the U.S.
ambassador to Afghanistan from 2017 to 2020, said he was provided little
to no details about the withdrawals cooked up in Washington. “We did not
know whether U.S. forces would be zeroed out. We did not know how rapidly
U.S. force reductions would occur,” he told the lawmakers, noting he
wasn’t made aware if peace talks would proceed. He continued, “we did not
know if the president would keep our embassy open, or retain some U.S.
counterterrorism forces in-country.”

Choosing to announce a U.S. military withdrawal while trying to broker a
deal between enemies simply couldn’t work, Bass said: “Our main policy
efforts not only didn’t reinforce each other — they all were in tension,
or contradicted each other. These contradictory signals were amplified by
President Trump’s periodic statements supporting rapid force reductions.”

MOLLY PHEE, a deputy to U.S. negotiator ZALMAY KHALILZAD from 2018 to
2020, said there was very weak enforcement of the U.S.-Taliban deal,
ultimately sinking the low-probability process. “It is my judgment that
the unilateral decision to reduce to 4,500 troops…without explicitly tying
this move to a requirement for the Taliban to act, significantly weakened
the prospect for successful intra-Afghan negotiations as the Taliban
appeared to conclude that President Trump was intent on withdrawal
regardless of their conduct,” she said.

This gave the Taliban confidence that they didn’t need “to meet specific
political or military conditions contained in the agreement, she
continued. “Because of the unilateral way in which the withdrawals were
conducted, it is also my assessment that Taliban expectations hardened, so
that by the time President Biden took office, the United States would have
been subject to renewed Taliban attacks if we belatedly attempted — nearly
a year after the agreement’s conclusion — to begin insisting on the
conditions in the agreement and delay our complete withdrawal.”

Enter the Biden transition during the late fall of 2020, which strained
for information from the Trump administration about its plans. They
weren’t provided much — or anything at all — by the team still in power.

“During the transition, we were not presented with a comprehensive plan
for the completion of the withdrawal by May 1,” DEREK CHOLLET, now a
senior State Department official, told the lawmakers last year. It gets
worse: “we only learned after the fact, from press reports, that at that
time there were serious discussions by the outgoing administration about
removing all troops from Afghanistan by the end of the year or the
inauguration.”

It’s unclear why the briefers — who would have had access to officials
inside agencies during the Trump years — couldn’t extract any information
from Trump’s White House, State Department or Pentagon. But Chollet’s
testimony, in particular, counters claims by Trump-era officials, like
acting DoD chief CHRISTOPHER MILLER and Pentagon chief of staff KASH
PATEL, that there were clear plans in place for a peace process and an
orderly withdrawal of U.S. troops.

All this testimony to HFAC came from the nearly four-hour briefing last
year, one of the first to dig deep into Trump’s Afghanistan decision-
making. The panel, then led by chair Rep. GREGORY MEEKS (D-N.Y.), allowed
for unclassified opening statements, which were subsequently compiled into
a 20-page document by the State Department upon request last year from
Rep. MICHAEL McCAUL (R-Texas). That document was sent months later to
McCaul’s office on Feb. 10.

“These statements should have been provided in June 2022, when they were
first requested. I'm glad POLITICO was able to obtain these documents,”
McCaul, who is now the HFAC chair, told NatSec Daily. But he’s upset that
these officials, in his view, are “continuing to try and blame the Trump
administration for their failures in Afghanistan,” adding that it’s
“laughable at this point.”

“For years, the Trump administration withheld information and blocked
Congressional oversight on its negotiations with the Taliban and
preparations to meet the exit date. I organized this bipartisan briefing
during my time as chair to allow Members of both parties to get the facts
and exhaust all their questions to better understand the circumstances
surrounding this period of the war in Afghanistan," Meeks said in a
statement to NatSec Daily.

“The State Department is committed to working with all Congressional
committees with jurisdiction to appropriately accommodate their need for
information to help them conduct oversight for legislative purposes," a
spokesperson for the agency told NatSec Daily on the condition of
anonymity to discuss sensitive congressional engagements.

The statements come as a McCaul-led HFAC is digging deeper into the Biden
administration’s full withdrawal from Afghanistan. A Marine who was
injured in the bombing at the Kabul airport that killed 13 service members
called the process catastrophic during a Wednesday hearing, while Biden’s
team maintains they were dealt an impossible hand by Trump.

DOD’S BUDGET HOPES: The Pentagon is asking Congress to more than double
funding for the military’s presence in the Pacific, signaling the Biden
administration’s increasing sense of urgency toward countering China’s
aggression in the region, our own LARA SELIGMAN and LEE HUDSON report.

Alongside President JOE BIDEN’s budget request for next year, the Pentagon
will submit a new $15.3 billion plan to fund Pacific forces, according to
an unclassified version of the report. That’s much more than what DoD
asked for last year ($6.1 billion) and a significant boost from what
Congress authorized ($11.5 billion). The money will go toward buying
missile defense systems, radars and space sensors, as well as increasing
exercises and training.

“The security environment in the Indo-Pacific is becoming more dangerous
and defined by an increasing risk of confrontation and crisis,” according
to the report. “The strategic competition with the U.S. now encompasses
all domains to include efforts to coerce our strongest allies in an
attempt to dominate the region.”

JETS TO TEHRAN: Iran has finalized a deal to buy advanced Sukhoi SU-35
fighter jets from Russia, a sign that Tehran and Moscow are moving closer
and closer together.

MOJTABA BABAEI, Iran’s mission to the United Nations, confirmed the deal
to Semafor’s JAY SOLOMON three days after his story detailing an effort by
the Saudis, Emiratis and Israelis to persuade Moscow not to arm Tehran.
The deal, they warned, could destabilize the region and isolate Russia in
future conflicts.

After the Iran-Iraq war ended in 1988, “Iran asked a bunch of countries to
buy fighter jets, and Russia said it was open to selling,” Babaei wrote
without detailing the number of fighter jets sold or the delivery date.
“The SU-35 fighter jets were technically acceptable to Iran, so after
October 2020 and the end of Iran's restrictions on conventional weapons
purchases (UN Resolution 2231), Iran finalized the deal to buy them.”

UKRAINE BOMBARDED: Russia launched a massive rocket attack across Ukraine
overnight, striking critical infrastructure and residential buildings in
10 regions, the Associated Press’ HANNA ARHIROVA and ELENA BECATOROS
report.

At least six people died, as Ukrainian President VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY
blasted Moscow on social media for targeting civilians. “The occupiers can
only terrorize civilians. That’s all they can do,” he said.

Russia hit Ukraine with 81 missiles and eight Shahed drones — its largest
missile attack in weeks. Almost half of Kyiv’s residents were left without
heat, and the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant lost
power.

‘MORE QUICKLY ELEVATING’: Chinese leader XI JINPING called for “more
quickly elevating the armed forces to world-class standards” in a
Wednesday speech to delegates representing the People’s Liberation Army.

Beijing must grow its “national strategic capabilities” to “systematically
upgrade the country’s overall strength to cope with strategic risks,
safeguard strategic interests and realize strategic objectives,” he said
in a speech carried by state-run Xinhua and reported by the Associated
Press.

The remarks come just days after new Foreign Minister QIN GANG accused the
U.S. of seeking confrontation with China — a charge the Biden
administration responds to by saying it only wants to “compete” with
Beijing in key sectors while avoiding war.

NOT SO FAST: The U.S. is trying to convince Europe nations to join link up
to confront China, but they may not be ready to cut ties with the critical
trade partner, our own SUZANNE LYNCH, NAHAL TOOSI, BARBARA MOENS and ERIN
BANCO report.

Ahead of Biden’s meeting with European Union chief URSULA VON DER LEYEN in
Washington tomorrow, U.S. officials have been offering Europe both urgent
warnings about Beijing and pledges to smooth over trade disputes.

However, Europe’s response has been ambivalent at best, with many
countries hesitant to pull away from the profitable Chinese market,
including Germany, which has shared concerns that China could arm Russia
with weapons.

IT’S THURSDAY: Thanks for tuning in to NatSec Daily. This space is
reserved for the top U.S. and foreign officials, the lawmakers, the
lobbyists, the experts and the people like you who care about how the
natsec sausage gets made. Aim your tips and comments at aw...@politico.com
and mb...@politico.com, and follow us on Twitter at @alexbward and
@mattberg33.

While you’re at it, follow the rest of POLITICO’s national security team:
@nahaltoosi, @woodruffbets, @politicoryan, @PhelimKine, @laraseligman,
@connorobrienNH, @paulmcleary, @leehudson, @magmill95, @johnnysaks130,
@ErinBanco and @Lawrence_Ukenye.

<https://www.politico.com/newsletters/national-security-
daily/2023/03/09/secret-afghanistan-testimony-revealed-00086286>