NO, JOE, THIS ISN'T GOING AWAY:  His disgraceful withdrawal from Afghanistan is coming back to haunt Joe Biden, just as his presidential campaign is starting.  This is not a good look.  And grieving families still want answers.  From Daily Mail:

In the days before a suicide bomber killed 13 service personnel at Kabul airport in 2021, U.S. military commanders were aware of the threat and twice missed chances to take out the deadly terrorist network behind the plot, according to a new book.

The Taliban, who had seized control of Afghanistan, refused a request to raid a hotel that was a known staging post for ISIS-K, who carried out the atrocity. 

And at around the same time, superior officers vetoed a plan for a drone strike elsewhere because of the 'negative response' of the Taliban to such a raid.

Taken together, the shocking conclusion is that the bloodiest moment in President Joe Biden's presidency might have been avoided if American troops had not been reliant on their enemy for protection in the final days of the evacuation. 

A total of 183 people were killed in the blast, including the bomber. 

The details are set out in 'Kabul: The Untold Story of Biden's Fiasco and the American Warriors Who Fought to the End,' which is published by Center Street on Tuesday — the two-year anniversary of the Taliban takeover.

It describes how the effort to bring home American troops from a 20-year-war collapsed into confusion, as Taliban gunmen raced through the country and seized Kabul in a matter of weeks.

Tens of thousands of people descended on Hamid Karzai International Airport trying to flee the country's brutal new rulers.

With the Taliban in control of Kabul, U.S. forces made a deal with their foe of two decades, relying on their enemy to help keep the airport safe.

It ended in bloodshed. A suicide bomber with the Islamic State's local affiliate detonated his deadly payload on August 26 at the airport's Abbey Gate, where U.S. Marines were stationed to handle the crush of people.

'Our findings — tucked away in the Pentagon’s own documents and in the own words of military officers personally involved in the Afghanistan evacuation — provide more damning evidence about the dangerous stupidity of relying upon terrorists like the Taliban to provide security at Kabul airport,' said Jerry Dunleavy, one of the book authors and an investigator. He is helping lead the Afghanistan withdrawal investigation for the House Foreign Affairs Committee, although he wrote the book in a personal capacity.

He and co-author James Hasson, a former Army officer who served in Afghanistan, pieced together the story with interviews and information that in some cases was hiding in plain sight.

COMMENT:  Horrible in every way, although much of the press will either ignore the revelations or protect Biden from blame. Add to this the fact that the Hunter Biden scandal will not go away.  If these stories build, and the GOP will do whatever it takes to keep them before the public, Biden's campaign can be seriously damaged, if not destroyed. 

Our side is always fighting on two fronts – against the political opposition, and against the leftist press.  It is not an easy fight, and with Donald Trump facing a whole regiment of judges, our side is not in great shape.

August 13,  2023