>>>CNN 1206 EST today There have been at least two explosions near a gate at Kabul's airport that "resulted in a number of US & civilian casualties," the Pentagon says.
>>>UK Defense Ministry says no UK military or government casualties were reported following blasts
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>>I knew Biden would be bad. But not this bad, and not this quickly.
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>Relying on military intelligence (who told Biden in April, pre-decision, that the Afghan army would hold off the Taliban for 1 to 2 years) is always a mistake. Biden made that mistake -- while in the course of doing what Bush and Obama should have done (and who both made it worse).
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>That said, 102K have been evacuated, per the major news sources. Meanwhile, the SAS (40 of whom volunteered spontaneously), Seals, Special Forces, etc. have set up a base hear the Pakistan border, with the approval of the Taliban, to coordinate dealing with ISIS-K and Al Qaeda (although the latter are problematic due to, e.g., intermarriage with the Taliban).
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>In Kabul, the Taliban and the US are apparently working together to better protect the air base -- which they had already been doing in response to what both sides (accurately) knew to be a threat. The Taliban have no experience in urban security, but the disappearance of the Afghan army made that part of the evacuation depend on the Taliban's ability in that area. No one expected that to happen, not even the Taliban. I fail to see how that is Biden's failing.
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>The mark of a good leader is to deal with the unexpected and unwanted in a sensible way that moves things forward. Biden has done that and actually deserves credit for the results obtained against extreme conditions. Sending the head of the CIA (himself an experienced Afghanistan hand) to talk directly with the Taliban, against the advice of the hawks in government, took some grit and was the right call. I give him credit for that.

Good try, Hank, but let's get real.
Joe is a lot better than the alternative we had, but he's a political hack who should have retired long ago.
This man has spent his whole life trying to figure out what people want to hear and has done a good job figuring that out - but that's not leadership.
With the virus, we needed a steady hand and Joe did a pretty good job with that.
Way down deep, he's probably a good person and we dodged a bullet when he beat that animal but this man should be a one term president.
If his only accomplishment was to beat that degenerate, that's still a pretty good record.
I suspect that he knows that.
The party has some exciting people banging on the door.
Joe can do his best work by letting some of them come forward.