The pictures I posted earlier of dead Afghan civilians falling from C-17’s and hitting rooftops was bad enough. There is another disaster looming on the horizon and the inept leadership of our nation has less than 96 hours to solve it.
What is it?
Logistics.
With every 300, 600, 1,000 troops we bring into the airport food, water, medical supplies, and other supplies must follow. If ammunition suddenly becomes a need, God help them. Despite a hardened position in some parts of the Hamid Karzai International Airport where the military aircraft are taking off and landing, the civilian side is now under control of the Taliban. The satellite picture above illustrates that this is not an ideal position to be in for a prolonged military defense position.
Keep in mind that whatever supplies were at the base on Saturday plus being brought in by the troops is all they have. The land bridge is closed and with the transports bringing troops in the amount of supplies they could carry is greatly reduced. This is a botched plan and very haphazard thus raising concerns that the ineptitude of our military leadership might lead to an even greater disaster and “glory” for the Islamist by creating a mass casualty even up to and including hundreds, perhaps thousands of hostages, reminiscent of 1979 Iran.
That however is just the beginning. There are thousands of U.S. officials, contractors, NGO’s, and journalists that need care, feeding, and evacuation. Add in the Afghan civilians trying to escape and a humanitarian nightmare is just around the corner. Thus time is of the essence. The amount of supplies to feed and care for the military is one thing; the ability to feed, care, treat and prepare for a very stressful flight out is another and will get very dire rather quickly.
And all of this is without considering what happens if either side breaks the ceasefire. If the Taliban decided to start using man-pads to shoot down loaded aircraft inbound or outbound or use their artillery positions ringing Kabul to crater the runway and pin down our military it would become a nightmare overnight. Granted, NATO and the U.S. could retaliate using our air power but for every 6 to 8 hours of hitting their positions, that is time that people can not be flown out or rescued. Especially if the runway has to be continuously repaired and aircraft loss due to Taliban fire.
Thankfully, China appears to be pressuring the Taliban to behave at this moment, or so it would appear based on recent statements, so one has to wonder what is next. Unless this is all for show while the Taliban consolidate positions around the airport to then spring a deadly trap on our citizens and military as revenge for two decades of bombing them into oblivion, creating a humiliation for Biden and our nation far worse than any modern military disaster in recent history.
Stay tuned as this frying pan is still heating up.
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