U.S. Completes Withdrawal From Afghanistan, Ending America’s Longest War
Dear Friends & Neighbors,
Commanding General U.S. Central Command Kenneth F. McKenzie tours an evacuation control center at Hamid Karzai International Airport, Afghanistan, August 17. Marines are assisting the Department of State with an orderly drawdown of designated personnel in Afghanistan. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by 1st Lt. Mark Andries), Presented at: WindermereSun.com)
U.S. Embassy personnel from Afghanistan arrive as part of Operation Allies Refuge Aug. 15, 2021, at Al Udeid Air Base, Qatar. The Department of Defense is committed to supporting the U.S. State Department in the departure of U.S. and allied civilian personnel from Afghanistan, and to evacuate Afghan allies to safety. (U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Kylee Gardner), Presented at: WindermereSun.com
(Please click on red links & note magenta)
For updated global info & data on COVID-19, please click HERE.
For updated global data & graphs on COVID-19, please click HERE.
For COVID-19 cases and death counts in USA by state, please click HERE.
For COVID-19 cases in Florida via Florida COVID Action, please click HERE.
For COVID-19 cases in Florida, via Florida state government, please click HERE.
The U.S. military has officially ended its 20-year mission in Afghanistan with the last troops having left just before August 31 according to officials. We discuss the implications with Peter Baker, Tom Nichols, and Carol Leonnig, in the video published on Aug. 31, 2021, “Biden Praises Troops As U.S. Ends 20-Year Afghanistan Mission“, below:
Veteran Lucas Kunce, who served two tours of duty in Afghanistan, describes the “grim relief” that comes with the end of the war, saying “it should have happened long, long ago.” Foreign affairs analyst David Rothkopf says the war’s mission was clear immediately following 9/11, but the U.S. military soon “drifted back into the same sorts of mistakes that led to the Vietnam debacle.” in the video published on Aug. 30, 2021, “Veteran Says End Of War In Afghanistan Brings ‘Grim Relief’“, below:
Taliban fighters enter a hangar at the Kabul airport and examine Chinook helicopters left behind after the U.S. left Afghanistan, in the video published on Aug. 30, 2021, “Taliban fighters enter what was the U.S.-controlled portion of the Kabul airport“, below:
NBC News’ Presidential Historian Michael Beschloss reacts to the official ending of the US war in Afghanistan, saying that the US came in the country “with noble motives” and realized that is “a lot harder to end a war than to get into one” in the video published on Aug. 30, 2021, “Michael Beschloss Breaks Down Lessons Learned From The Afghanistan War“, below:
Taliban celebrates victory as last US troops leave Afghanistan US completes withdrawal of its forces from Afghanistan, Pentagon says, ending a 20-year war with Taliban in control, in the video published on Aug. 30, 2021, “BREAKING: US completes withdrawal from Afghanistan | Al Jazeera Breakdown“, below:
The Taliban has revealed to Al Jazeera it is planning an “inclusive caretaker government” in Afghanistan, which will include leaders from all ethnicities and tribal backgrounds. @osamabinjavaid has more, in the video published on Aug. 30, 2021, “Exclusive: Taliban reveals plans for future government to Al Jazeera“, below:
NBC News Pentagon correspondent Courtney Kube walks us through what can happen to the military equipment that the U.S. is leaving behind in Afghanistan, in the video published on Aug. 30, 2021, “What Happens To Equipment That The U.S. Is Leaving In Afghanistan?” below:
Lucas Kunce, an Afghanistan Marine veteran running for Senate in Missouri, joined Stephanie Ruhle to share how he feels about the latest in Afghanistan as the U.S. troop withdrawal deadline nears and evacuations continue. He slams officials calling for an extension of the Tuesday deadline. “The same people right now who are saying one more day, one more month, one more dollar are the same people who said that for 20 years … what that means is one more Marine,” he says, in the video published on Aug. 30, 2021, “Afghanistan Veteran: ‘The Taliban Taking Over Was Absolutely Inevitable’“, below:
Twenty years of war for the United States and coalition partners in Afghanistan ended with the collapse of the Afghan government after U.S. troops withdrew from most of the country. The rapid advance of the Taliban forced an evacuation of more than 100,000 people from Afghanistan over the course of the last few weeks, and led to the deaths of 13 U.S. service members. Here’s how the fall of Afghanistan happened so quickly, and what’s next for the war-torn country, in the video published on Aug. 28, 2021, “The Fall Of Afghanistan: How America’s $2 trillion, Two-Decade War Ended In Chaos“, below:
Former National Security Adviser, Ambassador John Bolton tells Chuck Todd that he gave former President Trump “advice on how to maintain a minimal military presence” in Afghanistan, in the video published on Aug. 27, 2021, “Bolton: Trump-Pompeo Negotiations ‘Delegitimized Afghan Government‘”, below:
According to Newsweek, four California families remain stuck in Afghanistan after their visit to relatives in Afghanistan during their summer vacations while two families have made it back to the U.S. U.S. government officials and California Rep. Darrell Issa have been working to get the other four families safely evacuated as the other two families landed in San Diego Wednesday night, August 25, 2021.
Gathered, written, and posted by Windermere Sun-Susan Sun Nunamaker
More about the community at www.WindermereSun.com
We Need Fair Value of Solar
~Let’s Help One Another~
Please also get into the habit of checking at these sites below for more on solar energy topics:
www.kiva.org/team/sunisthefuture
