America’s longest war is over – they chose to walk away but ended up running

Published

3 years ago

August 31, 2021

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In the end, it was the Taliban, with their volleys of gunfire, who announced the Americans had gone – uncomfortably apt really, given they have been calling the shots for the past few weeks.

For days, in Washington, the US administration had refused to say quite when their Afghanistan withdrawal would be complete.

For obvious security reasons they wouldn’t confirm precisely what ’31 August’ meant. Was it as that day began? Was it midnight at the end of that day? US time, or Afghan time?

It turned out to be just before midnight as 30 August became 31 August.

In the darkness, the last American plane pulled up and away from the tarmac of Hamid Karzai International Airport.

It brought to an end two weeks of total chaos, but also a remarkable airlift like no other in history.

Through the day, the planes had left, one after the other, banking sharply to avoid the rocket fire from below.

This is what the end of the chaotic exit looked like; the end of a 20-year-old war. A country and a people left to a future, unknown.

At the Pentagon in Washington, an announcement came eventually to confirm what the Taliban images had already shown us.

“I’m here to announce the completion of our withdrawal from Afghanistan, and the end of the military mission,” Marine Corps General Frank McKenzie, the commander of US Central Command said.

“The last C-17 lifted off from Hamid Karzai International Airport on August 30, this afternoon, at 3:29 pm, East Coast time, and the last manned aircraft is now clearing the airspace above Afghanistan.”

An hour or so later from the State department, America’s top diplomat emerged from a brutal fortnight for American leadership, looking forward, not back.

“Now, US military fights have ended, and our troops have departed Afghanistan. A new chapter of America’s engagement with Afghanistan has begun. It’s one in which we will lead with our diplomacy. The military mission is over. A new diplomatic mission has begun,” Antony Blinken said.

“The main point I want to drive home here today is that America’s work in Afghanistan continues. We have a plan for what’s next. We’re putting it into action,” he continued, concluding, “we’ll honour all those brave men and women in the United States and many other countries who risked or sacrificed their lives as part of this long mission.”

And with that, America’s longest war was over. They chose to walk away, and they ended up running, taking their allies with them. A deadline set by the American president had been met, but at what cost?

The United States has strained key relationships with close allies.

In the UK, the worth of the so-called ‘special relationship’ has become a central debate.

In Brussels, NATO members have had it confirmed, if they didn’t already know, that without America, their alliance is pretty worthless.

In Moscow and Beijing, they received the same message. The masters inside the Kremlin and at Zhongnanhai will see this episode as more evidence that the American president is beholden to a weary and insular American public in ways that Putin and Xi are not. The advantages, for them, are there to seize.

Then there is terrorism. The return this weekend of the bodies of 13 troops killed by ISIS terrorists last week in Kabul was the tragic image that undermined the president’s justification for the withdrawal.

Afghanistan is still a home for terrorists. America is leaving a country broken, not fixed.

“There are probably at least 2,000 hardcore ISIS fighters in Afghanistan now, and of course many of those come from the prisons that were opened a few days ago,” General McKenzie admitted in the same briefing where he declared the mission to be at an end.

“So that number is up and it’s probably as high as it’s ever been in quite a while and that’s going to be a challenge for the Taliban I believe in the days to come,” the General added.

From the White House, the president released only a statement defending the withdrawal and thanking his troops. He will address the nation later today.

For now, the fundamental unanswered questions were left for his spokesperson.

“Is the US more or less safe today than we were before the Taliban took over,” Jen Psaki was asked.

“Well again, we are not going to do anything that’s going to allow terrorists to grow or prosper in Afghanistan,” she said.

Repeatedly the administration have ignored or plainly denied the fact that al Qaeda and the Taliban remain close and the hard line Haqqani Network, whose number include some of America’s most-wanted, now hold key posts in the Taliban.

In New York, a UN Security Council meeting was an attempt to find optimism and some common ground between the Americans, Russia and China.

They hope that the Taliban can prove it is a different entity from the one it once was. The evidence isn’t very encouraging but the UN will hold the mullahs to their word to allow the continued safe passage of Afghans and foreigners out of the country.

As night fell in Washington, an image was released which will define a military endeavour that proved politically impossible and so tragically bloody.

Through the green of a night-vision lens, it showed the last American soldier to leave the battlefield – Major-General Chris Donahue, commander of the 82nd Airbourne Division. Afghanistan behind him.

US

Man indicted on murder charge after sleeping woman burned to death on New York City subway

Published

49 mins ago

December 28, 2024

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Man indicted on murder charge after sleeping woman burned to death on New York City subway

The man accused of burning a woman to death on a New York subway train has been indicted on murder and arson charges.

Sebastian Zapeta is accused of setting a sleeping woman on fire and then fanning the flames with a shirt, which caused her to be engulfed by the blaze.

He allegedly sat on a platform at Brooklyn’s Coney Island station, opposite the stopped train, and watched as she burned to death.

Authorities are still working to identify the victim.

Zapeta, 33, has been charged with one count of first degree murder, two counts of second degree murder and one count of arson in the first degree.

After a brief hearing in which the indictment was announced, Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez said: “This was a malicious deed. A sleeping, vulnerable woman on our subway system.”

Mr Gonzalez said police and medical examiners are using fingerprints and advanced DNA techniques to identify the victim, while also retracing her steps before the murder.

“Our hearts go out not only to this victim, but we know that there’s a family,” he said. “Just because someone appears to have been living in the situation of homelessness does not mean that there’s not going to be family devastated by the tragic way she lost her life.”

Zapeta was initially charged with murder and arson in a criminal complaint earlier this week.

Such filings are often a first step in the criminal process because all felony cases in New York require a grand jury indictment to proceed to trial, unless a defendant waives that requirement.

Zapeta was not present at the hearing. The most serious charge he is facing carries a maximum sentence of life in prison without parole and the indictment will be unsealed on 7 January.

More US news:
Pizza delivery woman stabs pregnant customer
Judge warns Jay-Z’s lawyer over rape case

Zapeta is a Guatemalan who entered the US illegally having already been deported in 2018, officials say.

He was taken into custody last Sunday, after three children called 911 when they recognised him from an image shared by police.

During questioning, prosecutors say he claimed not to know what happened, and noted he consumes alcohol – but did identify himself in photos and videos showing the fire being lit.

US

Pizza delivery woman stabs pregnant customer over $2 tip, police say

Published

13 hours ago

December 27, 2024

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Pizza delivery woman stabs pregnant customer over tip, police say

A pizza delivery woman stabbed a pregnant customer over a $2 tip, authorities in the US say.

Brianna Alvelo, 22, is charged with attempted murder after allegedly stabbing the woman multiple times at a motel in Kissimmee, Florida.

The victim, her boyfriend and her five-year-old daughter were staying at the Riviera Motel to celebrate a birthday and ordered Marco’s pizza on Sunday, according to a court document reported by Sky News’ US sister outlet NBC News.

Alvelo delivered the pizza which cost around $33 (£26) and was asked to provide change for a $50 bill but did not have the change, the affidavit said.

The woman then searched for smaller bills and in the end gave Alvelo a $2 tip.

She told police that some time later she heard a loud knocking on the door. A man and a woman wearing masks and all black forced themselves into the room when she opened the door, she said.

The man brandished a silver revolver and demanded that the woman’s boyfriend go into the bathroom and the other person, believed to be Alvelo, pulled out a pocketknife, the document said.

As the woman turned to shield her child she felt a strike on her lower back, she said.

She then “threw her daughter onto the bed and attempted to pick up her phone”, the affidavit said, but Alvelo grabbed it and smashed it.

Alvelo then “began striking her multiple times with the knife”, according to the affidavit. The man who had the gun then yelled it was time to go, stopping the assault, it said.

The woman received 14 stab wounds and discovered she was pregnant while being treated in hospital.

Alvelo is charged with attempted murder, home invasion with a firearm, kidnapping and aggravated assault, according to court records.

A man alleged to have accompanied Alvelo during the incident has not yet been identified.

US

Jay-Z’s lawyer warned by judge over ‘inappropriate’ actions as Sean Combs faces fresh lawsuit

Published

15 hours ago

December 27, 2024

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Jay-Z's lawyer warned by judge over 'inappropriate' actions as Sean Combs faces fresh lawsuit

The judge overseeing the case of a woman who says she was raped by Jay-Z and Sean “Diddy” Combs when she was 13 has criticised the “inappropriate” behaviour of Jay-Z’s lawyer.

In a written order, Judge Analisa Torres hit out at Alex Spiro for what she described as his combative motions and “inflammatory language” against the plaintiff’s lawyer, Tony Buzbee.

Mr Spiro – who has been acting for Jay-Z for around three weeks – previously called for the Alabama woman’s identity to be revealed. She is currently identified only as “Jane Doe”, a US legal term to say she is anonymous.

The Manhattan judge has said she can proceed anonymously at this stage but may be required to reveal her identity at a later date.

Combs remains in a Brooklyn jail awaiting trial on federal sex trafficking and racketeering charges. He has pleaded not guilty.

He is facing a wave of sexual assault lawsuits, many of which were filed by Texas lawyer Mr Buzbee, who says his firm represents more than 150 people, both men and women, alleging sexual abuse and exploitation by Combs.

The lawsuits allege many individuals were abused at parties in New York, California and Florida after being given drugged drinks.

Combs’ lawyers have dismissed Mr Buzbee’s lawsuits as “shameless publicity stunts, designed to extract payments from celebrities who fear having lies spread about them, just as lies have been spread about Mr Combs”.

Jay-Z, whose real name is Sean Carter, previously said in a statement that Mr Buzbee was trying to blackmail him to settle the plaintiff’s allegations.

Mr Buzbee said in an email that his firm does not comment on court rulings.

In her lawsuit, the woman claims Jay-Z and Sean Combs raped her when she was 13 after the MTV Video Music Awards in 2000.

Both men strenuously deny the allegations.

Mr Spiro has previously asked the judge to dismiss Jay-Z from the woman’s lawsuit.

Citing an interview the plaintiff did with Sky’s US partner NBC News, Mr Spiro wrote that the broadcast revealed “glaring inconsistencies and outright impossibilities” in the plaintiff’s story.

The woman has admitted inconsistencies, saying she had “made some mistakes”, but standing by her allegations overall.

Judge Torres wrote in her order on Thursday that Mr Spiro had submitted a “litany of letters and motions attempting to impugn the character of Plaintiff’s lawyer, many of them expounding on the purported ‘urgency’ of this case”.

She added: “Carter’s lawyer’s relentless filing of combative motions containing inflammatory language and ad hominem attacks is inappropriate, a waste of judicial resources, and a tactic unlikely to benefit his client. The court will not fast-track the judicial process merely because counsel demands it.”

She said Mr Spiro – who had accused the plaintiff’s lawyer of having a “chronic inability to follow the rules” – had failed to follow the rules himself. She warned him against future “unacceptable” behaviour.

Sky News has contacted Mr Spiro for comment.

Sean Combs faces fresh lawsuit

Meanwhile, in a new lawsuit filed on 20 December, a woman has accused Combs of drugging and sexually assaulting her in 2006 at a New York party, which she attended after winning a radio station contest.

The woman, who was 23 at the time, said she felt sick and fell unconscious after being served two premade drinks by waitresses, later waking up in hospital with a ripped shirt, missing underwear and shoes, and no recollection of how she got there.

The suit said the woman was left with pain in her vagina for around a week, which she believed was from rough intercourse.

She also said an unknown woman with a New York number later called her, allegedly threatening her to keep quiet.

Combs’ attorney has called the allegations “pure fiction”.

As well as Combs, the woman is also suing Bad Boy Entertainment Holdings, which Combs founded; Atlantic Records, which she said facilitated the event; Mike Savas, a promoter for Atlantic at the time; Delta Airlines, which flew her to New York; KKJamz 105.3, the radio station she said held the contest; and the Roger Smith Hotel, where she stayed.

Ten “John and Jane Does” are also listed as defendants.