The D Brief: America leaves Afghanistan; US-Taliban relations; Hindsight oversight; Zelenskyy at the Pentagon; And a bit more.
By Ben Watson
August 31, 2021 10:52 AM ET
The D Brief
Afghanistan
Pentagon
It’s Day One of full Taliban rule in Afghanistan, and its fighters are celebrating the day with fliers marking their “independence,” Susanna George of the Washington Post reports from the capital. The first moments were filled with tracers and celebratory gunfire arcing across the Kabul night sky, a fair bit of it captured on video and immediately posted to social media.
Other curious images included Taliban fighters (several dressed like SEAL Team Six) wasting no time checking out what had been the military side of Hamid Karzai International Airport, where the U.S. and coalition military staged for many years. They marveled at the former State Department rotary aircraft (CH-46 Sea Knights) that had been gutted and left behind.
U.S. Central Command’s Marine Corps Gen. Kenneth “Frank” McKenzie delivered the news Monday afternoon in Washington: “I’m here to announce the completion of our withdrawal from Afghanistan and the end of the military mission to evacuate American citizens, third-country nationals and vulnerable Afghans.” (C-SPAN preserved the moment on Twitter, here; read a transcript, here.)
https://www.defenseone.com/threats/2021/08/d-brief-america-leaves-afghanistan-us-taliban-relations-hindsight-oversight-zelenskyy-pentagon-and-bit-more/184981/
