Former Department of Defense chief of staff Kash Patel told Newsmax hat the situation in Afghanistan could be the ''beginnings of a possible hostage situation'' as a small contingent of American forces tries to get its citizens, and others, out of the country in the wake of the Taliban takeover.
''We lost overhead air superiority the second we gave up Bagram [Air Base],'' Patel said Friday on ''Eric Bolling: The Balance.'' ''I don't even know how many planes of ours are flying over [the] country, but none of them are dropping ordnances and munitions against ISIS-K, against al-Qaida, or Taliban strongholds, which is what you need to do, as you know, to establish the perimeter.
''And tragically, what we're seeing is we're seeing the beginnings of a possible hostage situation scenario for American citizens in Afghanistan.''
As U.S. troops were pulling out of Afghanistan after its 20-year war, Taliban forces mounted a rapid push throughout the country, taking the capital city of Kabul in 10 days, causing chaos at the city’s international airport as Americans, other foreign nationals and Afghan refugees, many who helped the United States during the war, desperately attempted to flee the country.
Since Aug. 14, more than 100,000 people have been evacuated from Afghanistan, and thousands more are flooding Kabul to try to leave.
President Joe Biden said Thursday after suicide bombings at and near the Kabul airport, reportedly by the terrorist group ISIS-K, killed 13 U.S. service members as well as several Afghans and wounding many more, that the U.S. continues to try to work with the Taliban to allow the exodus.
Patel said that it was ''absurd'' that U.S. troops are ordered to share intelligence with the Taliban, supposedly so they can allow safe passage of people to the airport for evacuation.
''When you're in the operational field and you're running operations against war zone theaters and rescuing hostages, you didn't give away intelligence to the enemy, your commanders above you didn't say, 'Hey, share with the guy to the left and right of you, maybe they can help us.''' Patel said.
''That's what happens when you have a commander in chief who doesn't plan for securitized perimeter, who surrenders Bagram Airfield, so we have no operations to lift in and out from. What you're left with is going to the CENTCOM [U.S. Central Command] commander who is atrociously justifying the providing of intelligence and information about Americans to his enemy.''
Note: See Newsmax TV now carried in more than 100 million U.S. homes, on DirecTV Ch. 349, Dish Network Ch. 216, Xfinity Ch. 1115, Spectrum, U-verse Ch. 1220, FiOS Ch. 615, Frontier Ch. 115, Optimum Ch. 102, Cox cable, Suddenlink Ch. 102, Mediacom Ch. 277, AT&T TV Ch 349, FUBO and major OTT platforms like Roku, YouTube, Xumo, Pluto and most smart TV’s including Samsung+, Sony, LG, Vizio and more – Find All Systems that Carry Newsmax – Click Here
Related Stories:
© 2024 Newsmax. All rights reserved.