The morning after @JanisShenwary saved my life, I found him eating alone in our chow hall. I sat down & thanked him for saving my life - it was the first real conversation we ever had. I asked him why saved me. His answer changed my thinking on #Afghanistan forever. (thread)
He said, “you are a guest in my country, I die before you do.”
“Well, you’re a hell of a shot, I’m really glad you’re on our side. Hey, why is that, why are you on our side?”
“My mom would kick my ass if I joined the Taliban.”
It wasn’t the answer I ever expected to hear. “I don’t understand, I thought women didn’t have any power over here?”
“You know nothing of Afghans,” he said, staring into my eyes.
“You’re right. I don’t. Will you teach me?”
“Ok, first lesson, Afghan men can do nothing without the blessing of their mothers.”
“So you’re telling me everyone on the other side of yesterday’s battle had their mom’s permission to be there, to be Taliban?”
“If their mom is still alive, yes,” he said as he chewed a bite of some Na’an bread and dipped it into some sort of Afghan yogurt.
“What makes your mom so much more enlightened than their moms? Why does she forbid you when theirs allow them?”
“Because she can read and write for herself. She has read the Quran, she knows what the Taliban preach isn’t Islam, it’s bullshit.”
He put his Na’an down and stared into my eyes, “Why do you think the Taliban burn down and attack schools for girls? It’s because they fear moms like mine.”
#Afghanistan is collapsing. We have a moral obligation to save as many of our allies as we can before we leave. We cannot abandon them to be slaughtered by the Taliban. Please contact your members of Congress & @POTUS. Urge them to immediately evacuate our wartime allies to #Guam
7 years ago today, @JanisShenwary and I joined our friends in Congress to announce the Afghan Allies Protection Extension Act of 2014. It has been used to keep the Afghan SIV program alive ever since.
(Thread)
Little did we know at that time just how much more work we’d have to do. We’re still not there yet. Now is our most desperate hour.
“European allies are pushing the U.S. to delay its withdrawal from Afghanistan—which U.S. officials had suggested could be complete by as early as July 4—to give NATO allies more time and support to leave, U.S. officials said…
In another complication, Turkey, which for years has secured the airport in Kabul, has told the U.S. and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization that its troops may leave as well, the officials said…
Turkey’s potential departure, after it initially had planned to stay until after the coalition withdrawal, could prompt some nations to reconsider plans to keep embassies open in the capital without an international force at Hamid Karzai International Airport, officials said.”
I cannot stop thinking about this one #Afghan Army Lieutenant Colonel I met early in my tour in 2008. He ran a depot outside of Gardez, massive warehouses filled with weapons, bullets, body armor, boots, and uniforms. Enough to equip an Army. (a thread)
The previous day I had visited an Afghan police outpost manned by two teenagers and an old man. They had one weapon that actually could fire bullets (the other two were for show and lacked firing pins). None of them had been paid in months, had a uniform, or shoes.
When I asked where the Taliban were in this area they pointed at the house across the street and said, “they are there and now that you have come they will attack us as soon as you leave.”
With today’s news that the US will withdraw all of its forces from #Afghanistan by September 11, we must begin the immediate evacuation of our Afghan wartime allies (interpreters, engineers, aid workers, etc.). When we leave, the Taliban will slaughter our friends with impunity.
When collapse occurs in Afghanistan, it will engender a rapid evacuation that, given Afghanistan’s unique place in the world and our geopolitical relations with its neighbors, must occur via air.
There are four, maybe five airfields in all of Afghanistan that will be able to handle the airlift needed to rapidly evacuate our own personnel and absolutely must have equipment.
In light of the recent @nytimes story outlining Trump’s desire to attack Iran, I think the firing of the head of the National Nuclear Security Administration is all due to the alleged planned attack on Iran. (A thread).
Trump and his ilk hated the Obama era 6-party accords. They withdrew the US from them upon taking power and have never let up from the claim that the accords did nothing but delay an inevitable Iranian nuclear weapon - which they calculate as an unacceptable threat.
If one was going to take out the Iranian nuclear program, one would have to use either the GBU-43/B MOAB or nuclear weapons. The MOAB doesn’t guarantee total destruction & it would be very difficult to accurately gage the caused by the MOAB en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GBU-43/B_…
Here’s a thread of everyone Trump has fired since losing the election. As I keep this, please remember the first concrete moves of a coup are always to secure control over the military, intelligence, and security services.
First up, Lisa Gordon-Hagerty, the head of the National Nuclear Security Administration - the Department of Energy organization that controls the US nuclear weapons stockpile. Fired 6 NOV 2020. defensenews.com/breaking-news/…