Afghanistan Withdrawal Archives - The Florida Capital Star

Commentary: Reversing the Military Decline

September 9, 2024 RealClearWire

Since 2020, the nation’s military has undergone one of the most humiliating periods in its history. The disgraceful rout at Hamid Karzai International airport during the Afghanistan withdrawal. Soon after, the decrepit state of naval maintenance and shipbuilding is the worst since the Navy’s founding.

Further compounding the humiliation, the Marine Corps has been castrated into a regional force whose legendary force in readiness is being replaced by a combination of colonial light infantry and coastal defense artillery.

Commentary: Typically, That General Is Removed

May 6, 2024 RealClearWire

by Stuart Scheller Do general officers have an obligation to publicly tell the truth? I have an interesting perspective on this question. Currently, the Marine Corps teaches my story at the E-8 seminar (senior enlisted school). If you remember, I was the Marine officer who, via video, made a…

Biden Admin Granted 34,000 Special Visas to Refugees After Botched Afghanistan Withdrawal

November 21, 2023November 21, 2023 Florida Capital Star Staff

The State Department has granted tens of thousands of visas to Afghans who aided the U.S. government following the Biden administration’s withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021, according to a Thursday report from the lead inspector general to the United States Congress.

The Biden administration withdrew all American forces from Afghanistan in 2021, leading to a widespread takeover of the region by the Taliban and the displacement of millions of Afghans, according to the Wilson Center. As part of the U.S. effort to bring in refugees escaping Afghanistan, the State Department has issued approximately 34,000 special immigrant visas (SIV) to Afghans and their immediate family members, according to the Inspector General report released Thursday.

New State Department Report Says Biden Didn’t Know Who Was in Charge of Afghanistan Debacle

July 3, 2023 Admin

The Biden State Department did not have clarity on who was in charge of coordinating the department’s role in the 2021 Afghanistan withdrawal, a report released on Friday found.

A State Department after-action review team found fault with both the Biden and Trump administrations for contributing to the chaos of the August 2021 military withdrawal, which left the Afghan government vulnerable to collapse and contributed to a massive effort to evacuate thousands of Americans and allies afterward, the report shows. While the U.S. military had contingency planning for an evacuation of Kabul in place “for some time” ahead of when the withdrawal was ordered in August in 2021, the State Department’s participation in the operation “was hindered by the fact that it was unclear who in the Department had the lead.”

Biden Rejects U.S. Army Report Detailing Failures of Afghanistan Withdrawal

February 12, 2022February 11, 2022 Florida Capital Star Staff

In an interview on Thursday, Joe Biden outright rejected an official investigative report by the United States Army that highlighted many of the failures that led to the disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan.

As reported by the Daily Caller, the 2,000-page report was released by a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request this week. The report included the sworn testimony of multiple commanders who were on the ground in Afghanistan and witnessed the failed withdrawal firsthand.

Biden’s Average Approval Rating Drops Below 40 Percent

February 11, 2022February 10, 2022 Florida Capital Star Staff

President Joe Biden’s nationwide average job approval rating fell below 40% for the first time Thursday, multiple sources reported.

Biden’s mean approval rating sunk to 39.8% as of early Thursday, according to the Real Clear Politics average of major nationwide job performance polls. The figure is just 2.7 points above former President Donald Trump’s all-time low approval rating of 37.1% in December 2017, according to the Real Clear Politics average.

Poll Shows More Americans Worry About Inflation Than COVID

January 12, 2022January 11, 2022 Florida Capital Star Staff

Despite the mainstream media hysteria over the Chinese coronavirus, a new poll shows that a broader swath of Americans continue to care more about inflation and other more direct economic issues.

As reported by the Washington Free Beacon, the poll was conducted by the Associated Press and the NORC Center for Public Affairs Research throughout the month of December, with its findings released on Monday. In the poll, 37 percent of Americans believe that the coronavirus should be the government’s top priority in 2022. Last year, that number was 53 percent.

Conversely, 68 percent believe the economy should be the top focus instead. Of those 68 percent, 14 percent specifically named inflation as a major issue; last year, only one percent of respondents worried about inflation, which has since risen to a 40-year high under Joe Biden’s watch.

State Department Launching Investigations into Afghanistan Withdrawal

October 20, 2021October 19, 2021 Florida Capital Star Staff

The State Department’s inspector general will investigate the Biden administration’s diplomatic operations in Afghanistan, a spokesperson confirmed with the Daily Caller News Foundation.

The series of investigations will tackle a range of issues, from the State Department’s Special Immigrant Visa (SIV) program, to the processing of Afghans who applied for refugee admission into the U.S, to the resettlement of those refugees and visa recipients, according to an Oct. 15 action memorandum to Secretary of State Antony Blinken first obtained by Politico.

Military Levels Final Judgement on Marine Who Criticized Military Leadership over Afghanistan Withdrawal

October 16, 2021October 15, 2021 Florida Capital Star Staff

The Marine whose outspoken social media posts criticizing military leaders for the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan received a final judgement in his case Friday.

Lt. Col. Stuart Scheller was given a letter of reprimand and ordered to forfeit $5,000 of pay for one month, Fox News reported.

Republicans Demand Release of Marine Lt. Col. Jailed for Criticizing Afghanistan Withdrawal

October 2, 2021October 1, 2021 Florida Capital Star Staff

Republican lawmakers in both houses of Congress are demanding that the United States Marine Corps release a Lieutenant Colonel who was jailed earlier this week for criticizing military leadership after the failed Afghanistan withdrawal, Breitbart reports.

A Marine spokesperson confirmed that Lt. Col. Stuart Scheller is currently in pre-trial confinement in the Regional Brig of Marine Corps Installations East, in Camp Lejeune, as he awaits an Article 32 hearing. Although he has not yet been formally charged, Scheller faces the possibility of being charged under a handful of articles, including “contempt toward officials” (Article 88), “willfully disobeying superior commissioned officer” (Article 90), “failure to obey lawful general orders” (Article 92), and “conduct unbecoming an officer and a gentleman” (Article 133).

Scheller first made his criticisms in a viral video he posted to Facebook on August 26th, the same day that a suicide attack at the Hamid Karzai International Airport in the capital city of Kabul claimed the lives of 13 American servicemembers, as well as hundreds of Afghan civilians. Scheller demanded accountability from military leadership for a withdrawal that has been universally viewed, both domestically and internationally, as a disaster.

Private Afghanistan Evacuation Team Criticizes Biden Administration Officials Who ‘Did Absolutely Nothing’ to Help Girls Escape Taliban

September 6, 2021September 5, 2021 Florida Capital Star Staff

The Biden administration ignored several pleas for help from an American evacuation team in the waning days of the Afghanistan withdrawal, emails reviewed by the Daily Caller News Foundation show.

The team had contacted senior officials in the administration to help evacuate people from Afghanistan before the U.S. withdrawal, according to emails obtained by the DCNF. They were working to get Americans and vulnerable Afghans out of the country, but it was a difficult task to do alone, according to the team.

Robert Stryk, who earlier spoke with the DCNF about his frustrations with the administration before Aug. 31, said Deputy National Security Advisor Jon Finer failed to act on his team’s desperate pleas for help in getting hundreds of girls out of Afghanistan as the U.S. withdrawal deadline approached.

No Update on California Schoolchildren Stranded in Afghanistan

September 3, 2021September 2, 2021 Peter D'Abrosca

There is no update as of Thursday on the 30 American schoolchildren who are stranded in Afghanistan.

American troops packed up and left the Taliban-controlled nation at the end of last week, ending a nearly 20 year war in the country.

America First Legal Requests Investigation into the Biden Administration’s Afghanistan Withdrawal, Demands Answers on ‘Vetting’ of Evacuees

September 2, 2021September 1, 2021 Florida Capital Star Staff

America First Legal is demanding an investigation into the Biden administration regarding its withdrawal from Afghanistan and is requesting answers from a number of government agencies over the handling of evacuees, according to a letter and six Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests first obtained by the Daily Caller News Foundation.

The group has asked the Department of Defense (D0D) acting inspector general for an investigation into the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, specifically into the reported “‘Kill List’ Given to the Taliban,” information revealing what the president knew from intelligence reports, details about the “abandoned equipment and assets” and about leaving Bagram air base, as well as information about the “effective deployment of US air force assets.”

Mother of Slain Marine Suspended from Facebook, Instagram After Criticizing Joe Biden

September 1, 2021August 31, 2021 Peter D'Abrosca

The mother of a U.S. Marine who died during the ISIS-affiliated attack on Kabul’s airport has been suspended from Facebook and its subsidiary, Instagram.

“Shana Chappell, mother of Marine Kareem Nikoui who was killed in Kabul, had her FB and Instagram accounts suspended for posts she made about her son and her feelings about the President and Vice President,” Lynn Afendoulis, former Michigan State Representative, said on Facebook. “This is horrifying. Her son GAVE HIS LIFE FOR OUR COUNTRY. She can say what she wants. Her FB account is back up. For now. God be with her.”

Commentary: Kamala Harris Backed Afghan Exit Despite Intel Warning Taliban Would Abuse Women

August 26, 2021August 25, 2021 RealClearWire

Just 12 days before President Biden ordered the withdrawal of U.S. forces in Afghanistan, the U.S. intelligence community warned the White House that allowing the Taliban to control the country would put Afghan women at grave risk, according to a little-noticed intelligence assessment.

Biden nonetheless pressed ahead with the plan – with the support of his vice president, Kamala Harris, who boasted that she was the last person in the room with the president when he made the decision and felt comfortable with the plan.