For any Biden/Harris snowflakes who land on this post, if you have a problem with these words, come hot and heavy. Having devoted my adult life to the support and defense of Liberty at home and some unfriendly places abroad, and now as the father of a Marine infantry officer, what follows is an unbridled assessment of Joe Biden’s surrender and retreat from Afghanistan – in the wake of our first military deaths in 18 months, and the worst loss of American lives in a decade.

The last 24 hours have been devastating. After 18 months with no American deaths in Afghanistan — zero — a Taliban terror surrogate walked through multiple Taliban checkpoints and murdered 11 Marines, an Army soldier, and a Navy corpsman, along with more than 155 Afghan civilian men, women, and children. There were 15 Americans injured (some with critical life-threatening injuries) and countless civilians severely injured.

The deceased were SSgt Darin Hoover, Sgt Johanny Rosario Pichardo, Sgt Nicole Gee, Cpl Hunter Lopez, Cpl Daegan Page, Cpl Humberto Sanchez, LCpl David Espinoza, LCpl Jared Schmitz, LCpl Rylee McCollum, LCpl Dylan Merola, LCpl Kareem Nikoui, Navy Corpsman Maxton Soviak and Army SSG Ryan Knauss.

Joe Biden was AWOL for eight hours after the attack, but no amount of spin prep will relieve him the fact that all of the blood spilled is on his hands. As I have noted, the failure is not Biden’s plan; it’s the man.

When Biden finally appeared, rambling up to a podium to deliver his remarks, right on cue, he blamed ISIS-Khorasan (ISK) instead of the Taliban.

This is the same Sunni Islamist Taliban who, according to DoD, just released “thousands” of Sunni Islamist ISK terrorists from Bagram air base just thirty miles north of Kabul — the same Taliban who proclaimed last week that Sunni Islamist Osama bin Laden had no connection to the 9/11 Islamist attack on our country.

Biden attempted to draw a distinction between the Taliban and the Khorasan branch of the Islamic State now being hosted by the Taliban. He lied about this distinction because — he could not blame the Taliban, upon whom he is now depending for protection of the airport. Fine job they did keeping that ISK bomber out…

And recall that Taliban leader Khalil Haqqani, a principal leader in the al-Qa'ida associated Haqqani terror network, is a high-profile terrorist who has an FBI $5 million bounty on his head. He was in charge of airport security in Kabul when “security forces” allowed the bomber access – killing 13 Americans and more than 100 Afghan citizens.

Haqqani, who The New York Times gave featured Op/Ed space right after Biden took office, has now been designated as the Taliban’s Interior Minister – head of state security.

What could go wrong?

Do not be confused by the spin from Biden, his cadre, and their Leftmedia propagandists about who is responsible for this attack.

Let me be crystal clear: There is virtually NO degree of ideological separation between the so-called “Taliban government” thugs and their surrogate terrorist groups, just doctrinal differences. The Taliban, or “students” in the Pashto language, is not a “government” per se, but an amalgam of violent Sunni Islamist terrorists, who invaded Afghanistan from Pakistan after the Soviet retreat – and have now rapidly reconstituted.

And there is now no doubt that the more violent Sunni ISK Islamists (also from Pakistan) and Sunni al-Qa'ida Islamists have risen just as rapidly as surrogates under the Sunni Taliban protectorate. To insist that ISK and al-Qa'ida are not under the Taliban umbrella is a distinction without a difference.

In his rambling teleprompted read, Biden declared we would bomb some tents somewhere in retaliation. Biden put on his most menacing mean face and warned: “To those who carried out this attack, as well as anyone who wishes America harm, know this: We will not forgive. We will not forget. We will hunt you down and make you pay.”

Of course, the person “who carried out this attack” is already dead, but expect some over-the-horrizon air attack soon against some ISK outpost, with Biden claiming mission accomplished. But, if the ISK perps were “enemies” of the Taliban as Biden insists, couldn’t we just let the Taliban obliterate them? (Rhetorical question.)

Asked who was responsible for the Kabul cluster, Biden correctly said, “I bear responsibility for, fundamentally, all that’s happened of late.” But, predictably he then added a garbled blame-shift “but”: “But here’s the deal: You know — I wish you’d one day say these things — you know as well as I do that the former President made a deal with the Taliban…” Of course, all he has done of late is attempt to blame-shift his failures to Donald Trump. But recall, as I noted in “Biden’s Afghan Blowup,” that Trump’s drawdown plan had two primary and finite conditions: First, that the Taliban cut their ties with al-Qa'ida, ISK and other terror groups, and second, that they successfully negotiate and maintain peace with the Afghan government.

With Trump gone, the Taliban summarily discarded those conditions and ousted the Afghan government. And why wouldn’t they? Obviously, they have no fear of Biden enforcing those terms.

Next came a plethora of absurdities from Biden’s spokeswoman Jen Psaki. Her obfuscations are too numerous to post but a few here…

Asked about Biden’s mental state, she responded: “Well, I would say that anyone who’s watched the president up close … knows that the — putting the lives of servicemen and women at risk, and those decisions that you have to make as commander-in-chief, weigh heavily on him.” Indeed it should. But she added: “Any day where you lose service members is — may be the worst day of your presidency, and hopefully there’s not more. But we are certainly early in the presidency at this point in time.”

“But we are certainly early in the presidency at this point in time.” There are still 41 months left for Biden’s ineptitude to result in many more Americans deaths.

Brace yourself America – now that Biden surrendered to the Taliban, China and Russia are going to test his resolve to defend Taiwan and the Ukraine – and it WILL get ugly. North Korea and Iran will test his resolve to contain their nuclear ambitions. In all cases, they fully expect Biden will blink.

Asked about extending Biden’s 31 August exfiltration deadline, Psaki responded: “No. And here’s why: The president relies on the advice of his military commanders, and they continue to believe that it is essential to get out by the 31st. That is their advice.” Right, which is precisely why SecDef Lloyd Austin, CJCS Gen. Mark Milley, and CentCom Gen. Kenneth McKenzie need to resign into shameful obscurity.

Indeed, regarding Biden’s “shameful presidential dereliction of duty,” our national security analyst Gen. B.B. Bell (USA, Ret.) declared emphatically not only should Biden’s military leaders resign, but that “He should be impeached and removed from office immediately, and criminal charges should be considered.”

As for concerns about the vetting of incoming Afghans, which Biden’s “national security team” is now proposing should be up to 200,000, Psaki said: “I will tell you that what we have been working to do is to work closely with governors, with localities, with local leaders to give them detailed briefings on what our vetting process looks like, what the background check process looks like before any individual comes into the United States. And that is a background check process that’s thorough before they are allowed to come in and step on U.S. soil.”

They have done NONE of that vetting for the 1.2 million illegal immigrants Biden has invited to step across our southern border in his first seven months, many of whom were then bussed and flown around the nation under cover of darkness. Oh, and that’s 1.2 million we counted — the administration has no idea how many MS-13 gangsters and drug and sex traffickers have walked in.

In an effort to silence any objection to Biden’s deadly folly, Psaki insisted: “This is a day where U.S. service members … lost their lives at the hands of terrorists. It’s not a day for politics, and we would expect that any American, whether they’re elected or not, would stand with us in our commitment to going after and fighting and killing those terrorists wherever they live, and to honoring the memory of service members.”

To honor the memory of our murdered service members, and all who have and continue to serve, we will NOT remain silent.

Where to from here?

The immediate concern is the evacuation of as many Americans and Afghan allies as possible before Biden’s acquiescent timeline.

Allow me to raise a tactical departure question: Exactly how do those last massive transport planes full of American military personnel, more than 5,000 of whom are currently on the airport grounds, safely depart Kabul without a defended airport perimeter? Biden has pleaded with the Taliban to provide a perimeter, but that’s the same perimeter they allowed homicide bomber to enter yesterday.

Air breaks in contact with the enemy are very difficult. Some of us are old enough to recall our helicopters shot down while attempting final exfil from Vietnam LZs with enemy fighters close. And recall the last major loss of military lives in Afghanistan. The deadliest day in SEAL Team Six history was 06 August, 2011, when Taliban in the Tangi Valley shot down a departing Chinook transport helicopter, killing all 38 service personnel on board. Among the 30 American warriors, 15 SEALS were from Team Six’s Gold Squadron and 7 additional SEALs were from other teams. There were 2 Army pilots and 2 crew, 2 AF Pararescuers, 1 AF Combat Controller and 7 Afghan Security Forces.

Those who have departed hostile regions by fixed-wing aircraft know that combat zone departures for large aircraft depend on a lot of runway for airspeed in order to achieve a high angle of climb to get above enemy fire at the end of a runway. But that presumes at least a secure airfield perimeter.

Yes, we utilize defensive departure corridor patterns and may deploy significant air support for cover, perhaps including A-10s for close cover, but our lumbering transport aircraft are now at significant risk from the weapons Biden allowed the Taliban to seize. And positioning American resources to prevent small-arms fire or a man-portable missile launch would mean abandoning those personnel in a zone completely overrun with the enemy.

Of course, the Taliban has no fear that Biden would obliterate Kabul in retaliation for attacking departing transports. Biden knows that the next week the whole world would be viewing images of dead and dying women and children as a result.

I suppose this means, given the Taliban is severely short on cash until the ChiComs bail them out, that one of the last planes into Kabul will be loaded with large denomination American currency to bribe the Taliban to maintain that perimeter – much like the cargo planes with palleted cash Obama sent to appease Iran’s regime.

The aforementioned CentCom Gen. McKenzie assured that he is “reaching out to the Taliban who are actually providing security for the outer cordon of the airfield to make sure they know what we expect them to do to protect us.” McKenzie, who refers to the Taliban as “our Afghan partners,” added, “They’ve cut some of our security concerns down and they’ve been useful to work with going forward.”

Yet McKenzie says that departing aircraft are already taking small arms fire, and assures, “The threat from ISIS is extremely real…and we expect those attacks to continue.”

So trusting is the Biden military command of the Taliban that they gave them the names of Americans and Afghan allies still in Kabul trying to get to the airport, in order to facilitate their “safe passage” through Taliban lines. That prompted one defense official to conclude, “Basically, they just put all those Afghans on a kill list.”

BTW, who gets fired for the colossal strategic error of abandoning Bagram Air Base — turning our military assets over to the Taliban and freeing all the most violent Islamists prisoners there — before American civilians were safely out? Or was retreat from Bagram another indication that Biden lied about how fast he knew the Taliban would take over, mocking Iwo Jima Marines along the way? SecDef Lloyd Austin and CJCS Mark Milley won’t take responsibility.

Moving forward, the intermediate concern is the consequences for tens of thousands of Afghan allies, civilians, and families whom Biden abandoned. As the Taliban firms up its organizational structure and returns to its extremist tyrannical control, the bloody purges will be underway.

The extended concerns are that Biden has reseeded al-Qa'ida’s and ISIS’s turf, and that Biden’s cowardly Afghan retreat will embolden far more powerful tyrants in China, Russia, Iran and North Korea.

Given the resurgence of the Taliban, there is now a very real renewed threat of terrorist assaults on American soil and Americans abroad. Recall that Biden’s director of national intelligence warned him in April that the Taliban rise would result in an imminent and perilous threat to the continental U.S.

Former Trump national security advisor, John Bolton is very clear about that threat: “This was a known. By canceling the insurance policy of having American and NATO forces fighting the terrorist…in Afghanistan, made it less likely we would have to fight them in the streets and skies over America. What has happened here is seen as a Taliban victory over the United States…and has given terrorists all over The Middle East a huge psychological boost. … There are many reports of foreign terrorist fighters already coming into Afghanistan … and we are going back to the pre-9/11 environment.”

The consequences of animatronic Biden’s now-obvious failure as commander-in-chief have immediate and dire implications for our national security that extend far beyond the borders of Afghanistan. China, Russia, and Iran are now greatly emboldened. Power does not tolerate a vacuum.

Allow me to reiterate: The problem was not Biden’s plan; it was, and remains, the man. The Taliban had no fear of Joe Biden, which is why they seized Afghanistan in just days after he abandoned our Afghan army allies. And the Taliban’s actions have confirmed that the world’s tyrants need have no fear of Biden.

It was no small irony that yesterday morning, before the Kabul attack, I read this report from political analyst Charles C.W. Cooke: “It’s Dawning on the Democrats: Biden-Harris Will Drag Them Down.”

Likewise, it is ironic that for 10 hours after the attack until Biden finally spoke, the White House briefing room had only one post — a “Proclamation on Women’s Equality Day 2021.” Ironic, of course, because it is not applicable to the Afghan women Biden and Harris left to the Taliban.

And, in the same hour our personnel were dying, Sergeant Major of the Army Michael Grinston was posting about “Women’s Equality Day” on his official SMA social media page, noting: “[Women’s Equality Day] reminds us we’re smarter and more lethal when we come together as an inclusive, cohesive team.” One more uniformed political hack turning his back on his enlisted soldiers.

Meanwhile, invoking a strong rebuke from Nancy Pelosi, two AFG veteran members of the House, Seth Moulton (D-MA) and Peter Meijer (R-MI), secretly went to Kabul to expose the lies the administration was telling about circumstances there. And other American veterans have voluntarily returned and completed hundreds of rescues of Afghans who served along side them – who faced certain death.

As I asked Wednesday, please join us in lifting up in prayer our warriors and the hundreds of thousands of Afghans and their families who embraced our affirmation of Liberty. Many of them are now being systematically targeted for having collaborated with the nation whose inept president ordered them abandoned as evil swept over them — evil that rose because it knew it had nothing to fear from this president.

Consider these words from a bloodied Afghan father amid the devastation yesterday: “I am an Afghan translator for the United States Marine Corps. I was over here … to get on a plane and get out of here. There was an explosion that happened inside the crowd. A lot of people got hurt. And I got a baby girl, she was five years old, and she died right in my hands.”

We are also praying for those American service personnel and their families who have sacrificed so much to contain that evil prior to this disgraceful retreat.

While the focus now is on getting Americans out, the focus should soon turn to the disaster Biden left behind, and the pressure for accountability should never let up.

Finally, let me reiterate: Anyone — ANYONE — who believes that the resurgence of the Taliban and their ISIS and al-Qa'ida thugs would have occurred under a second Donald Trump term is so deeply deluded with TDS that they are in a state of complete denial. The blood of thousands of those being readied for slaughter is on the hands of every impenitent and unremorseful Biden/Harris voter.

In memory of the service personnel we lost, I offer this verse from the Navy Hymn:

Eternal Father, grant, we pray, To all Marines, both night and day, The courage, honor, strength, and skill Their land to serve, thy law fulfill; Be thou the shield forevermore From every peril to the Corps.

(Updated) And regarding accountability for ineptitude, Biden will not be held responsible for his politically motivated retaliatory strike against that “high-value target” in Kabul — which turned out to be nothing more than a deadly strike on a group of innocent civilians.

Semper Vigilans Fortis Paratus et Fidelis
Pro Deo et Libertate — 1776