Post by LFC on Sept 19, 2021 19:16:33 GMT
Glenn Beck just had to stick his nose in where a) it doesn't belong and b) he has no idea what to do with it. Two charities he started raised a pile of money to send in charter flights to pull out Americans and Afghans. The completely predictable problems include having no access to Taliban leadership, charging ahead at the State Department, lack of organization (except the money raising part of course), and nobody being allowed out of the country right now. Plus Beck is a friggin' nutjob.
On the dusty tarmac of an airport in Northern Afghanistan, six planes have been waiting for days.
Thousands of Afghans seeking to escape Taliban rule have converged in the vicinity of the airstrip, located outside Mazar-i-Sharif, on the promise of a charter flight out of the country.
But since Sept. 3, the planes have been stranded. The final flight out of the sleepy airport left Sept. 2.
Into this taut and fluid situation stepped an unlikely personage: Glenn Beck, the far-right radio host who made a name for himself on the Obama conspiracy circuit.
Thousands of Afghans seeking to escape Taliban rule have converged in the vicinity of the airstrip, located outside Mazar-i-Sharif, on the promise of a charter flight out of the country.
But since Sept. 3, the planes have been stranded. The final flight out of the sleepy airport left Sept. 2.
Into this taut and fluid situation stepped an unlikely personage: Glenn Beck, the far-right radio host who made a name for himself on the Obama conspiracy circuit.
Beck’s bomb-throwing came as the State Department began to face mounting criticism from those involved in the charter flights, who saw Mazar as a means to quietly evacuate thousands of vulnerable Afghans and some American citizens in the days after the U.S. withdrawal. With global attention still focused on Kabul, people familiar with the evacuation effort said, Mazar offered a discreet escape route.
But as the Mazar window remained open in the first days of September, people involved said, the State Department struggled to develop consistent guidance on how private charters could secure approvals for the flights – a complicated process occurring in a near-warzone that involves vetting passenger manifests and getting destination countries to issue landing authorizations.
Meanwhile, Beck trained his megaphone on the delicate evacuation effort. At times, even Beck has admitted to being asked to tone down his “fat mouth,” as he called it, not always with success.
But as the Mazar window remained open in the first days of September, people involved said, the State Department struggled to develop consistent guidance on how private charters could secure approvals for the flights – a complicated process occurring in a near-warzone that involves vetting passenger manifests and getting destination countries to issue landing authorizations.
Meanwhile, Beck trained his megaphone on the delicate evacuation effort. At times, even Beck has admitted to being asked to tone down his “fat mouth,” as he called it, not always with success.
I set out to investigate Beck’s claims last week, trying to determine what exactly was going on in Mazar-i-Sharif, how Beck was involved, and whether his claims held water.
What I found, after speaking with multiple officials at government agencies and private aid organizations about the delays at Mazar, was an overriding sense of confusion, with officials at one point mistaking flights for each other, needed government permissions hard to come by, and bickering between organizations that seems pointless with a Taliban that continues to refuse to allow anyone to depart.
People involved in the effort said that Beck’s bluster and injection of American domestic politics into the Afghanistan situation had damaged delicate diplomatic efforts to extricate people from Mazar.
“I said something on the air today, and literally four minutes later, I got an email, saying whatever you do, don’t say this,” Beck said on Sept. 1. “And that’s going to affect the operations.”
In another appearance the same day, Beck suggested that the military would react to the delays by “mak[ing] the Nazis look like rookies.”
“Because if this is allowed to stand, and these people are just allowed to continue on with no ramifications, you don’t not want to see what our military will turn into,” Beck said. “I am telling you now, we will become the darkest force ever, ever to walk the earth. With our technology, and our resources, with our fighting machines that soon can be run robotically, we will make the Nazis look like rookies…this must not continue!”
What I found, after speaking with multiple officials at government agencies and private aid organizations about the delays at Mazar, was an overriding sense of confusion, with officials at one point mistaking flights for each other, needed government permissions hard to come by, and bickering between organizations that seems pointless with a Taliban that continues to refuse to allow anyone to depart.
People involved in the effort said that Beck’s bluster and injection of American domestic politics into the Afghanistan situation had damaged delicate diplomatic efforts to extricate people from Mazar.
“I said something on the air today, and literally four minutes later, I got an email, saying whatever you do, don’t say this,” Beck said on Sept. 1. “And that’s going to affect the operations.”
In another appearance the same day, Beck suggested that the military would react to the delays by “mak[ing] the Nazis look like rookies.”
“Because if this is allowed to stand, and these people are just allowed to continue on with no ramifications, you don’t not want to see what our military will turn into,” Beck said. “I am telling you now, we will become the darkest force ever, ever to walk the earth. With our technology, and our resources, with our fighting machines that soon can be run robotically, we will make the Nazis look like rookies…this must not continue!”
