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As early as June, with the Taliban gaining momentum, Biden himself also talked about the similarities in Saigon and immediately rejected it.
As the Taliban advanced to Kabul, thousands of American soldiers were sent to Afghanistan to evacuate embassy staff from Kabul, which brought back memories of the fall of Saigon.
After the U.S. announced its emergency deployment on Thursday, a photo that made the U.S. failure in Vietnam immortal. The photo showed evacuees boarding a helicopter on the roof of a building, which quickly spread on social networks.
“The latest news of our embassy’s further downsizing and hasty deployment of troops seems to be preparing for the fall of Kabul,” said Republican Representative Mitch McConnell.
“President (Joe) Biden’s decision allows us to move towards a worse sequel to the humiliation and fall of Saigon in 1975.”
As early as June, as the Taliban gained momentum, Biden himself also talked about the similarities in Saigon and immediately dismissed it.
He said: “Under no circumstances will you see people being lifted off the roof of the U.S. Embassy from Afghanistan.”
In the same month, General Mark Milley, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, also refused to compare it to Saigon’s desperate withdrawal.
“I didn’t see this happening,” Milly said.
“I may be wrong, who knows, you can’t predict the future, but I can’t see Saigon in Afghanistan in 1975. The Taliban is not a North Vietnamese army. It’s not like that.”
Since then, the Taliban’s lightning-fast offensive surprised many US military officials.
‘Don’t go away’
In order to evacuate American staff from the Kabul embassy, 3,000 U.S. troops will defend the airport, 1,000 will be sent to Qatar to provide technical and logistical support, and 3,500 to 4,000 will be placed on standby in Kuwait for deployment when needed.
On Thursday, U.S. officials scrambled to answer questions about the mission, and Pentagon spokesman John Kirby declined to describe it as a “NOE” (Non-Combatant Evacuation Operation).
He stated that it had no name and avoided talking about evacuation.
The most famous NOE mission was “Operation Constant Wind”. From April 29 to 30, 1975, more than 7,000 Vietnamese civilians were evacuated from Saigon by helicopter.
When asked about the image of American diplomats leaving under military protection and the inevitable comparison with the fall of Saigon, Kirby tried to emphasize the difference.
“We have not completely eliminated our local diplomatic presence,” he said.
“No one will abandon Afghanistan or leave it. It is doing the right thing at the right time to protect our people.”
The Taliban occupied Kandahar, Afghanistan’s second largest city, on Friday, ending an eight-day blitzkrieg, leaving the government with only pockets in the capital and other territories.
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