UPDATE 9/2/2021: After tweets appearing to show a man being executed by the Taliban using a US Blackhawk helicopter made massive rounds throughout conservative media on Tuesday, the same fake news that has dutifully reported as fact every utterance from the Biden administration scrambled to debunk the story through so-called fact-checks.
Several sites, including CNN, supplied other tweets suggesting that the same flight, seen from a different angle, revealed the man suspended from the helicopter to be a Taliban fighter who was alive and hanging from a harness.
Headline USA was unable to confirm that the flight in question was the same, or whether the subsequent footage may have been part of a Taliban disinformation campaign in an effort to do damage control.
The Taliban itself appeared to have tweeted out the original footage (from a now suspended Twitter account) while making no mention of the man hanging from it.
The harrowing image was doubly shocking for Americans a day after the Biden withdrawal left hundreds—if not thousands—of US citizens, green-card holders and service dogs stranded in the country’s capital city of Kabul.
Some on Twitter noted that the video of enemy forces using a US helicopter was appalling enough—regardless of whether it depicted an execution—as a grim reminder of the billions of dollars in US taxpayer-funded military equipment that was abandoned by the Biden administration.
The Taliban are holding military parades with the equipment that Joe Biden left them. pic.twitter.com/uztEygniVl
— Amy Tarkanian (@MrsT106) September 1, 2021
The withdrawal fiasco—and the administration’s insistence on putting a rosy spin on it—have fueled speculation that the leftist regime may have been intentionally trying to arm the Taliban in order to prevent future US re-entry. China, Russia and Iran, among other traditional US adversaries, all stand to benefit from the absence of US troops within their sphere of influence.
A transcript of a July phone call between President Joe Biden and former Afghan president, Ashraf Ghani revealed that Biden had sought to have his Afghan counterpart assist in painting an optimistic picture, even as both realized the situation with the Taliban was far worse than communicated.
That call spurred calls to impeach Biden, largely due to its parallels with Democrats’ first failed impeachment of his predecessor, former President Donald Trump.
However, it is unlikely that either Republicans or Democrats have the political will to remove Biden, since it would elevate Vice President Kamala Harris to the top spot and would likely cost Democrats their one-vote edge in the Senate.
—Ben Sellers, Headline USA
Original story below
White House press secretary Jen Psaki defended the Biden administration’s decision to abandon more than $60 billion worth of military equipment to the Taliban, claiming it was not the president’s “intention” to arm the terrorist organization.
“We had to make an assessment several weeks ago about whether we provide materials to the Afghan National Security Forces so that they could fight the fight,” Psaki said on Monday.
“Obviously, they decided not to fight, and we made the decision to provide them with that equipment and the material,” she continued. “Our objective was not to leave [the Taliban] with any equipment, but that is not always an option when you are looking to retrograde and move out of a war zone.”
The U.S. left an estimated $68 billion worth of military equipment in Afghanistan, including seven CH-46 helicopters at the airport, 27 Humvees, and hundreds of M4 and M-16 assault rifles.
A viral video posted on Monday showed Taliban terrorists operating one of the U.S.’s helicopters while hanging a man from it.
Our Air Force!
At this time, the Islamic Emirate’s air force helicopters are flying over Kandahar city and patrolling the city. pic.twitter.com/rlE6nUldZf— Talib Times (@TalibTimes) August 30, 2021
In a statement issued Monday, former President Donald Trump slammed the Biden administration for not destroying all U.S. military equipment before leaving the region.
“I would have bombed all of the bases, because I don’t want to give those bases to Russia, China, or even the Taliban,” he said. “I would have bombed every base.”
Trump also said that he would have withdrawn from Afghanistan in a “very orderly fashion,” responding to the Biden administration’s ongoing efforts to deflect blame and to scapegoat him for the botched withdrawal.
“I then would have taken all military equipment,” he added. “And I said to [the generals], I want every single nail, screw, and bolt.”
