Ricochet is the best place on the internet to discuss the issues of the day, either through commenting on posts or writing your own for our active and dynamic community in a fully moderated environment. In addition, the Ricochet Audio Network offers over 50 original podcasts with new episodes released every day.
Our Southern Border Is Vulnerable — to the Taliban
As if the debacle in Afghanistan were not enough, now we have to be seriously concerned with the threat to our own national security. Our southern border will provide the ideal entry for the Taliban, al Qaeda, or ISIS to wreak havoc right here at home. And now that they have been armed and empowered, we should be worried.
We’ve long been aware that the border has been vulnerable to potential terrorists:
Four foreign nationals, whose names match those on the terror watch list, have been stopped trying to enter the U.S. vis the southern border since October, a congressional aide familiar with Customs and Border Protection (CBP) information told Fox News.
That information shows that three migrants from Yemen and one from Serbia were picked up at the southern border by U.S. Border Patrol since the beginning of the fiscal year in October.
Only four? The Department of Homeland Security says these arrests are “extremely rare”; I guess that we are supposed to find that news comforting, although given the poor border security, no one knows how many other terrorists have actually found their way into the country. And how many terrorists do you need to bomb a building?
Now we face a whole new dilemma with the release by the Taliban of thousands of prisoners in Afghanistan. The prisons, which were part of Bagram Air Base, were taken over by the Taliban when we abandoned the base. Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich wrote to President Biden about the threat, referencing a video sent out by former Border Patrol Chief Rodney Scott:
‘These statements from a high-ranking Border Patrol official are frightening — especially as Americans are watching news coverage of thousands of prisoners, including many terrorists, being released by the Taliban in Afghanistan,’ he wrote to Biden. ‘Americans are now facing an unprecedented terrorism threat level in their own backyards.’
Since Biden doesn’t seem in touch with the disaster in Afghanistan, I suspect the last concern he might have is the potential of a terrorist attack in the United States. In fact, he may very well have become complacent about terrorism, since the dangers of terrorists crossing the border have been pointed out several times since Biden took office, and border security remains vulnerable. And we haven’t had a major terrorist attack in many years.
I might even ask if all of us have become complacent; so many other disasters have occurred during the Biden administration that we may feel far removed from the prospect of a terrorist attack.
Let’s hope Joe Biden doesn’t get a horrific commemoration of September 11—one he will regret.
Let’s hope the homeland is safe.
Published in Islamist Terrorism
This assumes a level of literacy absent from Afghanistan. There is a reason the ANA collapsed without U.S. contractor logistics support.
Everyone can defeat the Taliban….except for us.
The continued vulnerability of both the southern border and our international airports as terrorist entry points is primarily the fault of George W. Bush and his collaborators in RepubliCAN’T majorities in the Senate. They willfully postured shortly after 9/11 and then gutted any real enforcement on behalf of their pals in the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and Big Farm.
McConnell and Lyin’ Ryan ensured the “build the wall” promise was not kept between 2017-2019, then McConnell, McCarthy and their cabal pretended the “loss” of the House to Pelosi and the Squad prevented them from keeping promises. Liars, not fools, liars all the way down.
He has to go. Will the Chinese provide proof that he was working with them? Probably not. Once he’s out of office it won’t. help the Chinese to expose their role and the blackmailing. So not even the Bidens need fear being removed. But we must do it soon so we can close the border. If we can’t, border states have to do it themselves. These are times for grown ups. Do all Democrats go along with the insanity.
I understand that the US is not only flying 5,000 young Afghan males into the US each day, but is actively paying for flights bringing in people from Mexico and Nicaragua.
Maybe you’d just give him one bullet, which he had to keep in his pocket.
No mean tweets.
I feel like some of this discussion glosses over the fact we may have been training taliban sympathizers over the course of the last 20 years. Trigger discipline has certainly improved to western standards.
I would not be surprised if some of the soldiers end up with the taliban.
I think you’re right, Stina. If you can’t beat ’em, join ’em. Plus some of the soldiers will likely feel betrayed by the way we left them.
Yeah… underestimating seems the wrong way to approach any military engagement and huge behemoths losing to paltry armies or navies is a pretty repetitive theme in world history.
You must follow John o’ Sullivan on twitter..
R
More
With the sincerest respect for your opinion on this, I have to say that I admired George Bush’s approach to monitoring and controlling terrorism by having a constant presence in Iraq and Afghanistan. His opinion was that Afghanistan was extremely unstable. Given that the Taliban and border Pakistanis had always sheltered the Middle East terror groups including Al Qaeda, any gains we made in the Middle East against these groups would be undone in the caves of Afghanistan.
I think after the initial bombing of Afghanistan, for us to maintain a presence there for an indefinite period made sense for our own security and that of our allies.
One thing I learned from taking care of kids was the value of the simple presence of an adult to keep the kids in line. Parents don’t want conflict or punishment or terrible things to happen. Yes, kids need to suffer the consequences of their mistakes, but on the other hand, childhood is short, and there’s not going to be enough time to help them make up for really serious mistakes they might make if left to their own devices all the time. And no parent relishes the idea of severely punishing his or her children. How do parents avoid that? With their presence. That’s really all it takes most of the time. It’s the best deterrence strategy. The parents are always there, on alert.
That’s what Bush’s idea was for Afghanistan, and the allies understood that basic objective, I think. Solve problems when they are small. Don’t wait until they get huge. Just be there.
I think our and NATO’s presence if Afghanistan was a wise course of action. We can’t change their culture, but we could have averted the kind of disaster we are seeing this week.
GW wasn’t right about everything, but he was right about enough things that I admired him.
Then again, perhaps GW and I are both wrong. :-)
My only reservation about your statement, @marcin, is that the Taliban are not children, and they are not normal in terms of their fear of “getting caught.” They are fearless and don’t care if they live or die. I think we needed to stay for a short time, but not 20 years.
Can you imagine a time or place where a police presence was not needed in the poor neighborhoods that rim every major city in the world? The Chinese Communists are installing surveillance cameras and assigning social credit scores so they know exactly whom to track. They are using technology to keep their citizens in line. But I prefer the American and Western European method of maintaining a simple presence.
Police Commissioner Paul Evans reduced the murder rate in Boston to almost nothing by increasing the number of cops who walked the streets routinely and got to know the citizens. In fact, the work of those police officers led to an incredible private-sector-funded after-school program for kids. It reduced crime significantly. Most of the crimes were being committed by middle and high school kids. But the information network Evans got in return for the increased police presence enabled him to manage the problems in the Boston poor neighborhoods. Not solve but at least manage. In a way that respected their rights while earning their respect in return.
I think of Afghanistan as the poor neighborhoods outside Paris and Chicago. They are places where drug dealers and gangs are preying on people and recruiting young kids.
I think Americans and their NATO allies needed to be there.