The Taliban on Monday issued a threat to the United States and President Joe Biden, stating that August 31st is a red line for troop withdrawal and “there would be consequences” otherwise.
Taliban spokesperson Suhail Shaheen made the announcement after Biden suggested the deadline could be extended to complete the evacuation from Afghanistan.
“It’s a red line,” Shaheen declared. “President Biden announced that on 31 August they would withdraw all their military forces. So if they extend it that means they are extending occupation while there is no need for that.”
He added, “If the US or UK were to seek additional time to continue evacuations – the answer is no. Or there would be consequences.”
Taliban Spokesperson Suhail Shaheen says extending the August 31st deadline for foreign troop withdrawal would cross a “red line” and “provoke a reaction.” pic.twitter.com/vHTRNEfJyk
— The Recount (@therecount) August 23, 2021
RELATED: Chris Wallace Turns On Biden Over Afghanistan Debacle – ‘It’s Been A Mess’
Taliban Draws a Red Line in the Sand on Biden
The Taliban spokesman went on to say that going beyond the ‘red line’ would create “mistrust” and that continuing any “occupation” in Afghanistan would “provoke a reaction.”
Shaheen’s insistence that the deadline is a hard and fast one comes after President Biden on Sunday offered hope that it could be extended.
“Our hope is we will not have to extend, but there are going to be discussions, I suspect, on how far along we are in the process,” Biden said in remarks at the White House.
Biden: We “might” extend the August 31 deadline to get people out.
Taliban: Nah.
Now what? https://t.co/8qJfVYTpa2
— Jay Caruso (@JayCaruso) August 23, 2021
NBC News reported last week that as many as 15,000 Americans at the time were still in Afghanistan.
The President promised to take action.
“Our first priority in Kabul is getting American citizens out of the situation as quickly and safely as possible,” Biden said. “Any American that wants to get home will get home.”
President Biden is considering extending the deadline for U.S. troops to withdraw from Afghanistan as the evacuation from Kabul plunges more deeply into chaos and violence.
Follow our live Afghanistan updates. https://t.co/wFAhtqgf1q
— The New York Times (@nytimes) August 23, 2021
Critics of the President noted that the Taliban red line seems more likely to be enforced than one issued in Syria by then-President Obama in 2012.
“We have been very clear to the Assad regime,” Obama said at the time, “that a red line for us is we start seeing a whole bunch of chemical weapons moving around or being utilized.”
Despite pressure from his own advisors, the international community, NATO, and U.S. allies, Obama demurred on his “red line.”
He instead opted for a Russian-brokered deal with the Assad regime, in which Assad would give up his chemical weapons arsenal.
Former President Trump would later mock Obama, saying “the red line was drawn, and … President Obama decided that he was not going to do anything about it.”
“You can’t draw red lines in the sand, you just can’t do it,” he added.
The Taliban, it seems, have anyway.
Unlike Obama’s “Red Line” they actually have resolve. The Taliban outsmarted Biden and “Team America Last” and have all the leverage. They know it and so does the world. They will use this to extract even more form the US and show just how incompetent the Biden admin is. https://t.co/mpdnvugEUp
— Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) August 23, 2021
RELATED: Newt Gingrich Demands Top Military Officials Resign Over Biden’s ‘Surrender’ To Taliban
Criticism of Biden Mounting
President Biden’s handling of the troop withdrawal in Afghanistan has been nothing short of breathtakingly incompetent.
Even Fox News host Chris Wallace openly wondered if he even knows what’s going on over there.
“Armin Laschet, the likely successor to German Chancellor Angela Merkel, said, ‘This is the biggest debacle that NATO has seen since its foundation,'” Wallace told Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
“Mr. Secretary, does the president not know what’s going on?”
Chris Wallace to Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Afghanistan: “Does the president not know what’s going on?”
Blinken: “This is an incredibly emotional time for many of us.” pic.twitter.com/MmwlZpCN76
— Ian Miles Cheong @ stillgray.substack.com (@stillgray) August 22, 2021
A letter written by 9/11 mastermind Osama Bin Laden in 2010 discussed assassinating Obama but sparing Biden, who was Vice President at the time, because he is “totally unprepared for the presidency” and would “lead the U.S. into a crisis.”
Anybody remember when Osama Bin Laden hoped @JoeBiden would be President some day because he is “totally unprepared for the presidency” and making him president would “lead the U.S. into a crisis”?https://t.co/WcN8mKADte
— Rusty Weiss ?? (@rustyweiss74) August 18, 2021
A new poll may show that Americans are starting to believe he was unprepared for the presidency after all.
A CBS News poll shows President Biden’s handling of the Afghanistan withdrawal shows he is, as reporter Ed O’Keefe explained, not “competent, focused, or effective at the job.”
Dear White House staff, please share the below polling to @POTUS. He said he had not seen it yet. https://t.co/dW09nTjQeX
— Bo Erickson CBS (@BoKnowsNews) August 22, 2021
In a statement released Monday morning, Trump criticized Biden’s handling of the troop withdrawal.
“Biden’s biggest mistake was not understanding that the Military has to be last out the door, not first out the door,” he explained.
“Civilians and equipment go first and then, when everyone and everything is out, the Military goes,” added Trump. “So simple, and yet it wasn’t done.”
It was indeed a simple calculation that may cost countless lives when all is said and done. And President Biden wasn’t up to the task.
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