David Loyn, is a former BBC journalist, with an upcoming book on the war in Afghanistan, THE LONG WAR: The Inside Story of America and Afghanistan Since 9/11. Loyn has been covering the events in Afghanistan since 1996 when he was reporting on the Taliban when they took Kabul the first time. He gives a full accounting of what this means for security and stability not only in that region but around the world. What do our allies think of Biden’s behavior?
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All right news, rounded up information overload hour. Apparently some things happened on this call with the G seven and Biden yesterday as they were trying to convince him to stay beyond the August thirty first deadline that he's adhering to because he's capitulated completely to the Taliban, which is remarkable in and of its In and of itself, even the medium mob it recognizes how awful this is going to be. Even NBC Richard Engel, their reporter, called it a moment of American humiliation. You could also look at this as a tremendously humiliating, a moment of American humiliation, leaving forced to leave on the Taliban's clock and with the Taliban's good graces. So technically it makes sense, but I'm not sure how history will. I think history will judge this moment as a very dark period for the United States. I think he actually is right and on so many different levels. Now, one of the things to come out, we know that Joe Biden was on the phone, it was about four or five hours late yesterday for his press conference. It was beyond odd and weird. And then comes out and starts talking about great economic success and five trillion in new spending and everything but Afghanistan. And when he finally got around to Afghanistan, he had everything that had been reported earlier in the day turns out to be true. He's sticking to this August thirty first headline because he's allowing himself to be bullied by the Taliban, the same guy that could have very easily in May, June, July, as the Taliban was on the march, but we didn't want to engage them like Donald Trump would have obliterated them because they weren't allowed to take over large geographical portions of Afghanistan as part of the Trump deal. Trump would have kept for Gram Air Force Base, for example. But anyway, as soon as they took five percent of the country, Trump would bombed them into oblivion. But Joe didn't do that. Nobody seemed to notice the march, although we have every indication that the intel community knew damn well what was happening, which is why the CIA pulled out six seven weeks ago. They got out, and every indication is is that everything that they knew they were passing onto the Biden and White House and they were completely ignored. And now we're hearing. We just heard from Congressman Mike Waltz of Florida that in fact, everything that the real briefings behind the scene totally completely contradict the lies being told by Jensaki and Joe Biden. You just can't make this up. It's sad for the country anyway. Europe's leaders were trying desperately, apparently yesterday, according to reports, to get the president, and this is France, Germany, Italy, uk US, Canada, Japan, as well as the heads of NATO, even the UN and the EU convene to discuss the situation. You know. In a joint statement, they said that the immediate priorities to ensure the safe evacuation of our citizens and those Afghans who have partnered with us and assisted our efforts over the past twenty years, and ensured continued safe passage out of Afghanistan, where the Taliban has already put an end to that. They're not allowing any Afghans to make it to Karzai International Airport, the only way out of that country anyway. So they've tried to get Biden to extend the deadline and pushed the Taliban back on their heels Joe refused, and every indication, according to everybody we're talking to, is a strong belief that Americans will be left behind, which is unfathomable to me. Anyway. Joining us now is David wyn. He is a BBC journalist. He got a book out actually on the war in Afghanistan called The Long War The Inside Story of America and Afghanistans A nine to eleven. He's been covered ring the events there since nineteen ninety six and he's reporting on the Taliban when they took Cobble for the first time. He can give us an insider's view of this terror organization. What happened yesterday. David, thank you for being one of us, are you? It's it's really good to be on the show. High you know. I do like a lot of the reporting that comes out of Great Britain. I wish they'd let Piers Morgan talk there. I mean, it's a little frustrating some of your laws there. A little tried to do a job, and he tried to do a job in the US for a while, but yeah, no, I kicked his ass and then he acknowledges that part. He went up against me. But I'm kidding we've actually become very good friends. I like the Daily Mail. I love I love a lot of the media coverage there. It's you know, it's it's fascinating. But your media laws on some levels are better than what we have here, on other levels are stifling. You know, the idea that Harry's wife, Megan Markle can go out there and complain to the British government to try in silence Piers Morgan is unfathomable to me. Piers Morgan ought to be able to say anything he wants and anything he feels, and clearly people wanted to hear from them. But let me ask you this, what could you tell us about this G seven meeting yesterday and how I was told that our European partners were aghast that they couldn't convince Biden to extend the August thirty first deadline. I think they were really surprised, and you know all the briefings that were coming out before the meeting that we're getting darker and darker, and the sense that what the UK really wanted and our allies in Europe was to extend this and not leave, frankly until the mission was completed. I mean this goes back to the spring and our Chief of Defense Staff generals to Nick Carter when the Biden plan was announced, and when these deadlines were announced, Carter said publicly, this is not the decision I would have preferred, and the UK's Defense secretary, who has been pushing very hard to extend the deadline ever since. And I think in a sense, Carter and our politicians have been speaking for your generals, because there's been a lot of unease, I know, in the US military community about the decision to pull out and the way that they have and you know, I mean, I think this goes back to twenty seventeen, actually, and one of the things that I go into in quite a lot of detail in the book is the early years of President Trump's administration and President Obama's administration before him, and both of those presidents came in wanting to finish the war, and Trump was persuaded by General Gimattis, who was then the US Secretary of Defense, to do a really, really good speech August twenty first speech twenty seventeen, I think was one of the best. I just I've played some of it earlier where he said he wanted to go but you know that was the staging for nine to eleven. I've played a lot of it earlier in the program. I won't play it now. You're actually correct, then we're singing off the same song sheet. Because I thought at the time, I thought it was a really strong speech. The following year, I was working in Afghanistan advising the President's office actually on communications, and I saw the effect of that speech in terms of pushing the Taliban back on their heels because General Nick Nicholson, who was then the commander of forces in Afghanistan, was given much more opportunity to go after the Taliban than he had been before. And that was that was Trump's decision to do that and matters his decision. So that's how he beat the CALIPHATEE as well. I mean the Kalifade grew under Biden Obama, and Donald Trump defeated the CALIPHATEE by bombing the bombing the living daylight side of them. I think there was Then you then go into the decision to do the withdrawal deal effectively, which which Trump did, which I didn't agree with him quite the same way. And I think the generals who were really in favor of that speech in twenty seventeen and taking the gloves off and putting the Taliban back on their heels. Want the political process in time, but they didn't necessarily want. You know, such a swift O withdrawal has happened. So I think there a question marks over over the Trump deal. But you know, we are where we are, and that was what was imposed on the Afghan government. Maybe they could share some information with you on because I'm happened to be privy to a lot of what happened behind the scenes. I've now confirmed it with President Trump himself, with former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Mark Meadows and others that before the first phone conversation with President Trump and the leader of the Taliban, went like this, before we talk about any deal, let me explain something to you, so we're very very clear up front, and basically said that if they don't abide by every eye dotted, every t crossed, every comma, and every period, that he reminded them what he did to the Caliphate, and then he said to the effect that will be nothing compared to what I will do to you if you don't abide by any agreement we may make. Do you understand me, you fully understand. Literally, I want the transcript of that conversation released. I would like it to be made public after hearing it from people that were on that hall, and from that point the deal was okay. America's withdrawal plan before the fighting season, as you know, there are seasons in Afghanistan or what was to begin, that they would have an orderly withdrawal. And you know, I've been doing this time lapsed map of Afghanistan and how much territory the Taliban had taken as of early May, mid May, late May, early June, mid June, late June into July, and to where we are now. But the Trump plan would have obliterated them. It would have kept for Graham Air Force Base because effectually, by May, you're saying they've broken the deal. They broken the state Trump would Trump listened. I think they believe Trump. I think when Trump says I will obliterate you, I think they believed them. And in your sense then that Biden was wanting to pull out more quickly. May I think Biden didn't do any of the protections with my time elapsed map that I'm showing. You know, at the Taliban clearly the Afghan forces were collapsing as he's telling us that some of the best trained in the world, and meanwhile the Taliban's basically walking and taking over the entire country. And when we had a chance and we had control of Combo, we didn't get our people out. And I'll give a tip of the hat to your country because you sent your paratroopers and special forces behind the enemy lines to rescue uh UK citizens, our friends across the pond. The French did it, the Dutch did it, but the United States of America did not do it. It's embarrassing. We took out we took out an American journalist as well, a very you did. So. Yeah, so I think that I think from that point of view, you know, on the ground, there's certainly been you know, challenges and a much more robust and muscular view from from the UK and from from French forces. But I think it's always going to be it was always going to be President Biden's desire to pull out a pulaud of Afghanistan. And one, I mean one of the chapters. I mean, the two thousand nine year was the other key year, I think twenty seventeen and the Trump withdraw was key, obviously, but two thousand and nine was the year that sort of defined the Obama surge ultimately, and they were always going to it was always on a timetable And it was the other difference with twenty seventeen. It was it was it was conditions based. It wasn't on a timetable place that Trump gave the opportunity for forces to do something that they hadn't been able to do before because what happened in two thousand and nine and Biden was the strongest voice in the White House as Vice President then to pull troops down to the bare minimum or pull them out. And I go into a lot of detail in the book. Talked to a lot of people in the White House at the time about those conversations, and he was always the strongest voice because he was the senior player, he'd been a foreign foreign policy expert, older than everybody else there. He always had the last word, and the last word was let's pull troops right down to the minimum. We don't want them a crystal search. And I think that had an impact on the Obama administration. So Obama was very keen to put the troops in, but he wanted them out as quickly as they went in. And you had good generals like David petrayas Stan McCrystal pushing that timetable as much as they could, because the Taliban knew that the troops were going in on timetable and coming out on timetable. And if the surge had been given a real chance, and then I think the should have been an opportunity in twenty one. Thing. We're enough factoring in here though. You know, the advancement of modern military weaponry and warfare, and we learned this as Donald Trump, you know the way he defeated the Calife. You know, we now have modern military technology that allows us to fight and win wars with pinpoint precision by pushing buttons and Tampa, Florida. Yeah, so you so do you agree with General David Petray us He says we could be there forever, we could keep thirty five hundred troops, which is what we had, and that with the contractors, and that's thirty five hundred plus seventy thousand or so international coalition. Ultimately it was it was about thirty five hundred who were there. I mean, yeah, weak equibble that in terms of the numbers of uniforms, equibble over some beer and tea. Okay, that's what I understand. That's what I understand to be the case. But but there were around ten thousand international troops, and you had the capacity of drone strikes, and you had and you had Afghan forces backed up by fifteen seventeen thousand contractors keeping their air force in the air. And I think there was a sense, I mean portray us in particular, and he's written about this a lot this year, wanted to keep those troops there for effectively for the medium term as an insurance policy against the twenty or so groups in Afghanistan and the Pakistan region who are seen as international terrorist group. Listen, So you have this book coming out. It's going to be called The Long War, The Inside Story of America and Afghanistan since nine to eleven. Your knowledge is is quite impressive, to be very honest, David, I'm impressed, and I'm I'm going to wish. I I just wish the last chapter had had left a stable democratic government in place and not a defeat. But I mean, you know that we are where we don't have to be this way. It did not have to be like this that I can tell you that you know and that I know. Anyway, thank you for being with us. We'll get to your phone calls coming up next eight hundred and nine four one sean. As we continue all right twenty five to the top of the hour, eight hundred and nine four one Sean. If you want to be a part of the program, all right, North Carolina, Daniel will start with you. Glad you called. Welcome to the show. Thanks for checking in. Hey, thanks, Sean. I appreciate it. I've been hearing Jen Psaki, Joe Biden, everybody involved in that screw up up there in DC talking about and they say it exactly this way. We're going to get the Americans out that want to come home, and that's that's fishy to me. I think they're just setting themselves up to uh, you know, cover their ear ends when they fail. Even well, yeah, I think you're right now. There are going to be some circumstances where people have families there and children there and they're not going to want to come home. I believe that will be, but that is not going to be. That will be the exception of the rule we know of Americans dying to get out that are being turned back at the airport. And we've just confirmed today that there are thousands of Americans trapped behind enemy lines this day. Thousands. Yeah, it's the worst thing I've ever seen militarily in my life. So you and I both, my friend, I mean, I hate to say it, I mean, but it's like it's all we caught. We have to pray for these people. Taliban now they've slow walked this entire operation because they know they've got leverage. This is why the military options allowing it to get to this point. We had control of Cobble and all the areas surrounding it for months as the Taliban was on the march. Nobody saw this coming. They waited for the Taliban to march all the way up take Cobbles, stay on vacation with no sense of urgency of what's going on here. And now we're begging the Taliban, a terrorist group, to let Americans get through Talhamad Karzai International Airport and sometimes they're saying no. And our allies that risked their lives, we promised we get them the hell out of there. This day ever came, they will be left behind and they will be summarily murdered and we will learn about it. The world is watching, and Joe Biden caused it all. Sad it was so easily preventable. This is beyond and going along and being bullied into this artificial deadline. I'll give you the last word, sir. Yeah, And our leadership is just totally incompetent. I am so ashamed of the Biden administration right now that I just don't have words for it. I was in the military myself, and this is just this is outrageous what's going on. It's gotten me so upset right now, and not everybody, anybody with a heart and soul that loves this country upset. It's embarrassing. The Brits, the French, the Dutch. They send in their troops behind enemy lines to rescue their citizens. Why didn't we? Mike Waltz confirmed today we have special ops on the ground. They're dying to go help Americans. This is what they trained for. They're not being allowed to do it. Sharon is in Indiana. Thank you, Daniel, Sharon. How are you? Yes, I'm fine, Sean, how are you? I want to thank you for taking my phone call. I know you're speaking about Afghanistan at the moment. But if I wonder if I could just bring up something that you said recently about COVID, and I'd like to thank you for mentioning on your show that there are people out there like me who have rare diseases, who have immune system disorders, who have autoimmune diseases, who can not take the vaccine, and that is well, like I gotta give someone else credit. I mean, it was the story. I interviewed a young woman whose dream was to go to BYU and Hawaii. This was not BYU's decision. I've got to be very fair here, but the state of Hawaii would not give her a medical exemption and her doctor and I advise everyone to talk to their doctor. I don't know anything about anybody's medical condition. I had advised her because she had been paralyzed for over a month from a vaccine she received in twenty nineteen. I didn't ask what it was. And there are rare conditions, which is why one size fits all medicine scares me a lot, and why I refuse to tell people what to do or not do, except please take it seriously and get to a doctor and make the right decision. For you. What. I appreciate your bringing that awareness out there and that I wish more people would put that awareness out there rather than just blindly saying get vaccinated, get the vaccine to be saved like you did. Please talk to your doctor and take it seriously. What is the best thing for you to do based on your medical condition. Yes, ma'am, I'm sorry you have that condition. By the way, I don't know what it is, but I'm you know, I'm sure it sounds like something you're struggling with. And let me be very clear too, Sharon, I believe in science. I'm not an anti vaxxer. I believe in the science of vaccines. I'm just I'm telling everybody take it seriously. I know people that have died from this. I know people that nearly died from this on ventilators for thirty forty days. Take it serious. I've seen the worst of this. I've been up to my eyeballs in it more ways privately than people have any idea. And but on the other hand, I can't be your doctor. I'm not a doctor. I'm not qualified. So I'm telling people take it seriously. I believe in science. I believe in vaccination science, but you have to take into account what you and your doctor decide here. It's not my decision for you. I think that there's people like me fighting for their life in the hospital every two weeks, and if this vaccine is forced on us, we don't know what could happen. It could possibly be fatal for us. And that's the point. We don't know what would happen. And just to think that, you know, maybe some of our freedoms would be taken away, such as possibly not being able to fly or going to an entertainment event because we don't have a vaccine card. And I just think there needs to be more awareness out there. Well. I think the idea that of real life medical exemptions needs to be considered. I'm very concerned about issues as well, medical privacy, doctor patient confidentiality. You know, those are issues that others don't seem to care about at all. I do care about them, and I also don't know that I don't have the answer now the breakthrough cases, the CDC is even acknowledged that the vaccine will not prevent people in a lot of instances now from getting COVID nineteen. Now, the early indications are if you've been vaccinated or your case is far less severe. That's what so far it has. What about behind the delta variant is the lambda variant? Well, what's behind the lambda variant? We got another variant that is beginning to emerge, and there'll probably be more. So, I mean, it gets very, very complicated on so many levels. I just urge people, there are people that you know, there's a lot of research you can look do you're on your own online, talk to the doctor, doctors in your life, talk to medical professionals, your trust, and take this thing seriously because I know people that have died friends of mine sad. Thank you for putting that awareness out there, and I wish that there was more awareness out there to let them know that we're not just an anti vaccer. We are people who are struggling with medical conditions and we don't have that choice to say do I want to get the vaccine or not, or do I believe in it or not. We don't have a choice. We cannot get it. Well, I trust your doctor gave you the right information. If you need a second opinion, I urge you do. I'll get a second opinion. But I you know, it's um. I've never heard of some of these diseases. To be honest with you, there are these rare conditions. I don't know anything about them. It's out of my wheelhouse. But Sharon, I want you to be healthy. I want you to take good care of yourself. Do what's best for you. Please listen. I urge everyone, please talk to your doctor. Listen to your doctor. That's my advice to everybody. Eight hundred nine four one. Sean, if you want to be a part of the program. Stephen is in Missouri. Stephen, you're on the Sean Hannity Show. Glad you called. Hey, Sean, thanks so much. You're firing on all eight cylinders today, and you're guests. In regard to Afghanistan, we're fantastic. I like that we're recognizing our members of Congress that have actually had military experience in Afghanistan. I think it's super important for the Secretary, the Press Secretary to tell us that you know, or even the Department of when they tell us that they don't know how many people are afghanistan anadotally. I think that's kind of a misstep and a lie because in my travels in my career with my former wife. We had connections in France with people that were distant relatives to a Middle Eastern country on a diplomatic level, and when we were leaving France one time, they inquired with us the nature of our visit with that family, which I thought was very shocking that we even knew, you know, that they knew that we were there. So in you know, twenty twenty one, when we have people, they just have to know the numbers that have to be they have to be there. The government has to know how many people are. I know this for a fact, at least I've been told by security that when I travel abroad, like for example, when I went to Singapore, when we went to and Linda, you can confirm this is true. Daniel Hoffman scared the living hell out of all of us. But when we traveled abroad, and we've been in Vietnam and Singapore and Helsinki in other places for example, enemy countries in in Singapore the case would be China more than Russia, but in hell Sink it would be Russia more than China. That they're very aware that I'm in the country, and I've had my hotel rooms literally checked for bugs regularly, and I was given burner phones every day and told don't even turn your own phone on because in a second they have your phone number. They will they will hear every word you say. They will they will download everything that's on your phone, Linda, anything that any part of that untrue? No, definitely not. I mean, I know we came back to one night and they were still in the room going through the stuff. Yeah, and they kind of found something about my recall correctly and it wasn't a cockroach, you know it. So the ability to know who's there, I believe is fundamental. And if we got to this point with this deadline approaching and the Taliban on the march since you know may you know, really on the march, and they didn't lift a finger to stop them or push them back or buy more time and allow them to take Cobble as he's on vacation, Joe, it's unforgivable to me. And they know and I you know, it was Tony Blincoln supposed to give us this. You know this. There's no deadline on evacuating Americans. Now he's saying, why is he saying that today? Because it's gone. The reaction has been outrageous. It has been collective outrage that they're going to and are willing to leave Americans behind. Well, the Taliban gave you the hard deadline, and Joe seemed to be bullied into it. And Blincoln just gives me zero confidence. The guy that gets lectured on human rights by the communist Chinese and Anchorage Alaska, the same country that gave the world COVID, thank you, but no thank you. You know you've got genocide going on within the country of China. The territorial ambitions have never been more clear. And this idiot sat there and got lectured on human rights and didn't push back in a fierce way. Mike Pompeo would have ripped their heads off. I think President She would try that crap with Donald Trump. No, he would not. I've been privy to a lot of information over time because I'm actually a member of the press and I have sources. We're kind of right on everything in a Russia hoax collusion. I know a lot of things about a lot of topics and nobody that I can't share with people. Eight hundred nine four one Sean, if you want to be a part of the program, why because you get you learn things off the record as a member of the press, which I am. I'm a talk show host. Stephen, Thank you, Daniel Colorado, what's up? Daniel Hey, thank you for taking twenty five year gabut venture and disabled. Thank you, sir. Negotiate with terrorists, You're welcome. We don't negotiate with terrorists. So when the President says when we need him to them, but you need them to cooperate, which isn't okay, you're vetting. Okay, those people are in imminent danger. They're being killed and will be killed. Yet you're not saving in the southern border. So the five thousand prisoners we just would let out will be coming to the southern border, and I hate to see that. I hate to say that. We know and my team is not how many Americans okay, you can't keep trying, Well, how many have you got out? Eighty seven thousand? If someone always figures at eighty thousand, four hundred Americans five percent, that's your priority. Okay, we have GPS, get your phone, get special forces out there and start getting them because you're gonna do it now, You're gonna do it later. Twenty people on Tea I don't think they'll do it later. I think the window is closing. That's why the British did it, That's why the Dutch did it, That's why the French did it. Why didn't we do it? Why aren't we doing it? Listen? I was briefed on all of this before my show today. You know, I actually do work. I make phone calls. I talk to people that know and there are thousands that I wasn't told an exact number, but they are knowledging. There are thousands of Americans caught behind enemy lines. Today's the twenty fifth Okay, now we're down to almost five days left. Never seen anything so disgusting in my life. Thank you for your service, though, sir, thank you twenty five years. I'm sorry also sustained injuries. We'll continue, all right. Sun's out shades are in. You want to get your home ready for summer with custom window treatments from our friends at blinds dot com. You've got a high end look, but you're not paying that high end price. With their most popular outdoor shades, it'll transform your backyard into a shady oasis. With their light filtering shades that help block UV rays without obstructing your view and right now, no store beat beats their prices. You'll save an additional thirty five percent off everything at blinds dot Com means that you can upgrade any room, indoors, outdoors. Over twenty five million blind sold well. 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We'll talk to Tom Cotton, Mark Meadows, Ari Fleischer, Ali North, Lara Logan, Congressman Michael Waltz, and Herschel Walker running in Georgia. This isn't going to be a great win for him. All happening tonight at nine. We'll see you then say your DVR back here tomorrow. Thank you for being with us.