Tag: afghanistan

Twitter ‘Frog’ Account Successfully Negotiates With Taliban To Secure Safety Of Spanish Diplomats After Government Fails

A Spanish Twitter account with an Apu Apustaja frog avatar has successfully negotiated with the Taliban for fair and humane treatment of Spanish citizens at the nation’s embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan. The Spanish government had seemingly failed to establish a clear and open line of communication with the Taliban, inspiring the owner of the frog-avatar account to take action.

“Nangarhar’s sweet district was completely conquered,” Taliban spokesperson Mansoor Afghan announced on August 14, to which the account @panamach2 reached out to respond using Google translate, “Hello brother, please don’t hurt the Spanish people at the embassy, we were forces in your country by America. We don’t like them either.”

Mansoor Afghan responded in English, “We are human beings, we all respect each other, we don’t say anything to any foreign troops.” The exchange was viewed as somewhat humorous by many Twitter users, with one pointing out that “a guy with a picture of pepe has done more for the spanish people in afghanistan than the spanish government.”

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Biden State Dept Moved to Abolish Crisis Response Bureau Months Before Taliban Takeover of Afghanistan

The Biden State Department moved in June to cancel a program overseeing the protection and evacuation of American citizens stationed overseas in the case of an emergency, just as the Taliban was taking over Afghanistan, according to an internal State Department memo obtained by the Washington Free Beacon and multiple sources familiar with the matter.

The Biden State Department moved to dissolve the Trump-era crisis response program, according to an internal State Department memo and sources familiar with the matter. That memo, which was marked sensitive but unclassified and was signed by Deputy Secretary Brian McKeon, approved the “discontinuation of the establishment, and termination of, the Contingency and Crisis Response Bureau (CCR),” a new State Department entity created during the Trump administration to coordinate emergency response services overseas.

The CCR bureau was established late last year by then-secretary of state Mike Pompeo. In a notification sent to Congress in October and also obtained by the Free Beacon, the Trump administration said the new bureau would provide “aviation, logistics, and medical support capabilities for the Department’s operational bureaus, thereby enhancing the secretary’s ability to protect American citizens overseas in connection with overseas evacuations in the aftermath of a natural or man-made disaster.”

The decision to dissolve the CCR was handed down just months before the Taliban overtook the Afghan capital of Kabul, leaving the Biden administration scrambling to evacuate more than 15,000 Americans still trapped in the country. It is unclear if the Biden State Department has an alternative plan or a similar bureau that could coordinate emergency services alongside other government agencies, according to sources familiar with the situation.

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U.S. Has No Official Plans To Evacuate Americans Outside Kabul Despite Promises

United States Senators were reportedly told, during a briefing on the Afghanistan situation on Tuesday, that there are no official plans to evacuate all Americans from the quickly deteriorating country, particularly those who are outside of Kabul.

National security advisor Jake Sullivan said later Tuesday that the U.S. intends to rescue all Americans trapped in Afghanistan, though he declined to give specifics, and would not commit to leaving American troops in the country past August 31st if there are still American citizens who have not been evacuated.

The Washington Post, quoting unnamed Senate aides, reported that Biden “administration officials — from the State and Defense departments, as well as the National Security Council and the Joint Chiefs of Staff — also told the assembled Senate staffers that there is no plan to evacuate Americans who are outside Kabul, as they do not have a way of getting through the Taliban checkpoints outside the Afghan capital.”

The Biden administration refused to comment on how many Americans are outside of Kabul, but reportedly told Senators that between 10,000 and 15,000 American citizens are still in Afghanistan waiting to be evacuated.

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‘Gut punch’: American citizens informed the US government can’t guarantee their security as they make their way to the airport

As Twitchy reported, Pentagon spokesman John Kirby told CNN that he’s not sure how many American citizens are still in Afghanistan, but he guesses somewhere between 5,000 to 10,000 are near Kabul. He also said that said the military is not “equipped and able” to help Americans trapped inside their homes in Kabul, although the White House this weekend increased the number of troops being deployed to assist with the evacuation of Kabul to 5,000.

CBS News’ Sara Cook is circulating a note that went out to American citizens thanking them for their request to be evacuated but adding in all caps that the U.S. government can’t guarantee their security as they make their way to the airport.

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