{"id":72567,"date":"2021-07-06T15:34:44","date_gmt":"2021-07-06T19:34:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stateofthenation.co\/?p=72567"},"modified":"2021-07-06T15:34:44","modified_gmt":"2021-07-06T19:34:44","slug":"the-us-military-actually-set-up-the-looting-of-the-largest-base-in-afghanistan-and-of-us-taxpayers-money","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateofthenation.co\/?p=72567","title":{"rendered":"The US Military Actually Set Up the Looting of the Largest Base in Afghanistan (and of US Taxpayer&#8217;s Money)"},"content":{"rendered":"<h1>Looters Ransack Bagram Airbase After US Sneaks Out In Middle Of Night<\/h1>\n<p><!--more-->ZeroHedge.com<\/p>\n<p>The United States has wound down its &#8216;forever war&#8217; in Afghanistan by essentially\u00a0<strong>sneaking off from its largest base there in the middle of the night<\/strong>, reportedly without so much as informing the local Afghan commander.<\/p>\n<p>The somewhat shocking method of departure which immediately left Bagram a &#8220;ghost base&#8221; &#8211; as some are already calling it &#8211; was bluntly described by\u00a0<em>Associated Press<\/em>\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/flashpoints\/2021\/07\/05\/us-slipped-out-of-bagram-at-night-didnt-tell-new-commander-afghan-military\/\">as follows<\/a>: &#8220;The U.S. left Afghanistan\u2019s\u00a0Bagram Airfield after nearly 20 years\u00a0by\u00a0<strong>shutting off the electricity and slipping away in the night without notifying the base\u2019s new Afghan commander<\/strong>, who discovered the\u00a0Americans\u2019 departure\u00a0more than two hours after they left, Afghan military officials said.&#8221;<\/p>\n<div class=\"twitter-tweet twitter-tweet-rendered\"><iframe id=\"twitter-widget-0\" class=\"\" title=\"Twitter Tweet\" src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/embed\/Tweet.html?dnt=false&amp;embedId=twitter-widget-0&amp;features=eyJ0ZndfZXhwZXJpbWVudHNfY29va2llX2V4cGlyYXRpb24iOnsiYnVja2V0IjoxMjA5NjAwLCJ2ZXJzaW9uIjpudWxsfSwidGZ3X2hvcml6b25fdHdlZXRfZW1iZWRfOTU1NSI6eyJidWNrZXQiOiJodGUiLCJ2ZXJzaW9uIjpudWxsfSwidGZ3X3R3ZWV0X2VtYmVkX2NsaWNrYWJpbGl0eV8xMjEwMiI6eyJidWNrZXQiOiJjb250cm9sIiwidmVyc2lvbiI6bnVsbH19&amp;frame=false&amp;hideCard=false&amp;hideThread=false&amp;id=1411935986817306625&amp;lang=en&amp;origin=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.zerohedge.com%2Fgeopolitical%2Flooters-ransack-bagram-airbase-after-us-sneaks-out-middle-night&amp;sessionId=619426eb40fcd1399d7347f497701fa3fd624722&amp;siteScreenName=zerohedge&amp;theme=light&amp;widgetsVersion=82e1070%3A1619632193066&amp;width=550px\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\" data-tweet-id=\"1411935986817306625\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<div class=\"Advert_desktop__1J5vD Advert_tablet__3QEBr Advert_mobile__1rlLc Advert_placement__1I4yb Advert_align__N0_fw\"><\/div>\n<p>What&#8217;s more is that it caught local Afghan forces so off guard that\u00a0<strong>looting immediately resulted<\/strong>\u00a0the moment the unsecured base was left devoid of Americans.<\/p>\n<p>The Afghan commander for the area had only initially heard &#8220;rumors&#8221; of an impending US exit from the airfield, but then soon realized it was already an accomplished fact.<\/p>\n<p>And then the following almost unbelievable scene played out, capping off America&#8217;s\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/flashpoints\/2021\/07\/05\/us-slipped-out-of-bagram-at-night-didnt-tell-new-commander-afghan-military\/\">longest running war in history<\/a>:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><em>Before the Afghan army could take control, the airfield, barely an hour\u2019s drive from the Afghan capital Kabul, was\u00a0<strong>invaded by a small army of looters, who ransacked barrack after barrack and rummaged through giant storage tents before being evicted<\/strong>, according to Afghan military officials.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em><strong>&#8220;At first we thought maybe they were Taliban,&#8221;\u00a0<\/strong>said Abdul Raouf, a soldier of 10 years. He said the the U.S. called from the Kabul airport and said \u201cwe are here at the airport in Kabul.\u201d<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<figure class=\"caption caption-img inline-images image-style-inline-images\" role=\"group\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/assets.zerohedge.com\/s3fs-public\/styles\/inline_image_mobile\/public\/inline-images\/bagrmempty.png?itok=8-Uuu6t2\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"332\" data-entity-type=\"file\" data-entity-uuid=\"4e627dde-ac94-4e9a-a723-7459a38ed086\" data-responsive-image-style=\"inline_images\" \/><figcaption><em>Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan, via AP<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>It happened days ago but is only just now coming to light, with one Afghan soldier cited by AP as saying,\u00a0<strong>&#8220;In one night, they lost all the goodwill of 20 years by leaving the way they did.&#8221;\u00a0<\/strong>More details now emerging are\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/world\/2021\/jul\/06\/afghan-anger-over-uss-sudden-silent-bagram-departure\">as follows<\/a>:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><em><strong>The sudden darkness was like a signal to the looters<\/strong>, he said. They entered from the north, smashing through the first barrier, ransacking buildings, loading anything that was not nailed down into trucks.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>On Monday, three days after the US departure, Afghan soldiers were still collecting piles of rubbish that included empty water bottles, cans and empty energy drinks left behind by the looters.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Abandoned vehicles left by the Americans:<\/p>\n<figure class=\"caption caption-img inline-images image-style-inline-images\" role=\"group\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/assets.zerohedge.com\/s3fs-public\/styles\/inline_image_mobile\/public\/inline-images\/bagramvehicles.jpg?itok=vut2EIK_\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"300\" data-entity-type=\"file\" data-entity-uuid=\"76f22c56-56ee-451a-9be1-4eeb7fdb66ae\" data-responsive-image-style=\"inline_images\" \/><figcaption><em>Via EPA<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Despite growing Taliban momentum nationwide amid a serious escalation in attacks on national forces, the Afghan government believes it can hold the sprawling and heavily fortified airbase, which is also home to a prison which holds mostly Taliban-linked inmates.<\/p>\n<p>The abrupt and under cover of night US departure has reportedly\u00a0<strong>sparked widespread anger among Afghan security forces<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"caption caption-img inline-images image-style-inline-images\" role=\"group\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/assets.zerohedge.com\/s3fs-public\/styles\/inline_image_mobile\/public\/inline-images\/bagram2_0.jpg?itok=SH8t1_Ql\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"333\" data-entity-type=\"file\" data-entity-uuid=\"9316d4ba-dfd5-41a7-a25a-50bcaa5480ef\" data-responsive-image-style=\"inline_images\" \/><figcaption><em>Afghan soldier at abandoned Bagram base, via AFP<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Should the Taliban soon threaten Kabul, believed by many analysts to be a likelihood if not near certainty, the group will probably eye overrunning Bagram first to be used as a strategic launching point toward the Afghan capital.<\/p>\n<p>___<br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.zerohedge.com\/geopolitical\/looters-ransack-bagram-airbase-after-us-sneaks-out-middle-night\">https:\/\/www.zerohedge.com\/geopolitical\/looters-ransack-bagram-airbase-after-us-sneaks-out-middle-night<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Looters Ransack Bagram Airbase After US Sneaks Out In Middle Of Night<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-72567","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation.co\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72567","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation.co\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation.co\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation.co\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation.co\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=72567"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation.co\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72567\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation.co\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=72567"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation.co\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=72567"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation.co\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=72567"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}