A U.S. flag is lowered as American and Afghan soldiers attend a handover ceremony from the U.S. Army to the Afghan National Army, at Camp Anthonic, in Helmand province, southern Afghanistan, Sunday, May 2, 2021. (Afghan Ministry of Defense Press Office via AP)
NBC: Confusion in Afghanistan as U.S. cancels NATO flag-lowering ceremony
The U.S. military planned to hold a flag-lowering ceremony on Friday with NATO in Kabul. The event was cancelled amid questions over what it signified.
WASHINGTON — The U.S.-led military mission in Afghanistan planned to hold a flag-lowering ceremony on Friday in Kabul with NATO allies but the event was cancelled at the last moment amid questions over what the ceremony was meant to signify, according to three U.S. Defense officials.
The cancellation reflected a wider sense of confusion and uncertainty surrounding the U.S. troop withdrawal, with defense contractors appealing for more guidance from Washington, former Afghan interpreters pleading for protection from the Taliban and the U.S. embassy hit by a major Covid-19 outbreak.
President Joe Biden announced in April that all U.S. troops would leave Afghanistan by Sept. 11, but the pullout is moving faster than scheduled. Pentagon officials say the U.S. military withdrawal is on track to be wrapped up about two months earlier, by the middle of July or even by early July.
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WNU Editor: This sounds like one of those cases where the left hand did not know what the right hand was doing. This is what confusion looks like, and more evidence to me that the White House, after finalizing the decision to leave Afghanistan, have gone AWOL.
