With many of the on-the-ground reporters gone from Kabul due to security concerns, the flow of information we were getting last week on the evacuation has slowed. The Biden administration has seized on that to try to present a facade that everything is now going smoothly. Of course, nothing could be further from the truth as thousands of Americans remain trapped, unable to get to the airport to leave. Never mind the fact that this dangerous chaos was completely avoidable in the first place.

Meanwhile, the clock is ticking down to when we are supposed to leave and the Taliban have decided to humiliate Joe Biden further. Their spokesman put out a statement drawing a red line and letting it be known that if we stay past the August 31st deadline, there will be “consequences.”

Taliban spokesman: “It's a red line. President Biden announced that on 31 August they would withdraw all their military forces… If the U.S. or U.K. were to seek additional time to continue evacuations — the answer is no. Or there would be consequences.”https://t.co/O7nJxo3lp5 pic.twitter.com/PDv2Fn3dDm

— Jerry Dunleavy (@JerryDunleavy) August 23, 2021

There are several parts to this, but the most important one involves the logistics of the situation. Be assured, there is no way that we get every American, and certainly not every Afghan ally, out of Afghanistan by the end of the month. It’s just an impossibility as we’ve already seen reports of Americans saying they aren’t going to risk their lives further anymore by entering the Taliban-controlled crowds.

Things are completely out of hand, and there’s just no way to garner safe passage at this point. We’ve seen too many first-hand reports confirming that to believe Biden’s lies that Americans are being let through without issue (see Joe Biden’s Own Administration Contradicts His Afghanistan Presser Lies). While the administration and some in the media want to pretend that total evacuation numbers represent a success, the true measure is how many Americans end up left behind. We aren’t at the hostage stage of this catastrophe, and rest assured, it’s coming given our unwillingness to retake Kabul to create a safe corridor to the airport.

As an aside, we now know why Biden and his cohorts have been so careful to not criticize the Taliban and to not label them an enemy — the administration is taking orders from them.

Of course, aside from the realities on the ground in Afghanistan, this humiliation goes much further in damaging the credibility and capability of the United States. What do you think China is going to take from all this as they set their sights on Taiwan? Or the Russians who were just “punished” by the laughable sanction of banning ammo sales to Americans (a move meant to hurt American gun owners, not Putin)? You can bet Iran is getting ready to take us to the cleaners as well.

While the Taliban threaten consequences if we don’t leave at the end of the month, if we do, the far-reaching consequences will likely be worse. That’s the dichotomy this inept president has put us in. This evacuation could have been started and completed before the Taliban even took Kabul. The intelligence that they were advancing was out there. Instead, Biden wanted to avoid the embarrassment. Now, he’s drowning in it.