Marine Corps Cpl. Greg Whalen gazed across jagged wire and observed the conflict below the wall. Before America withdrew its final forces from Afghanistan, he was manning the Hamid Karzai International Airport.
” We’ve got thousands of people outside”, Whalen said to The Federalist. ” We had to keep it closed and maintain control” . ,
The Afghanistan removal marks its three-year celebration on Aug. 30. The disastrous exit left as many as 9, 000 Americans in Afghanistan, according to a 2022 report, along with$ 7 billion of military equipment for the Taliban. In the final weeks of the departure, an ISIS suicide bomber blew up 13 American service members and thousands of Afghans outside the aircraft.  ,
” I’m not going to state,’ It is Joe Biden’s wrong.’ It’s way more complex than that”, Whalen said. But all of them up as a group, though? Someone should have held somebody responsible”.
In the three decades since the catastrophe, no senior official has resigned or been fired, as The Federalist reported.
According to Whalen, the reason for the removal was obvious, but how to go about doing it and how the situation turned into such a “mystery” appeared to be unknown. He stated that he was merely expressing his opinion.
” The fact that it got to the situation that it was, and we were n’t even called to go in and do anything until basically two weeks before the deadline, is insane”, Whalen said. People are seen clinging to airplanes and falling from the sky in “absolutely determined conditions.” That was the situation on the ground. To me, anyone could have seen that this was going to need more support, much faster, little earlier”.
Whalen released three music on Aug. 23 in memory of the drama. One music,” Kabul 2021″, recalls the next Americans leaving Afghanistan.
Never you see what’s been going on
Who are the show’s liars, exactly?
How is it appropriate to have a convincing living?
When will we arrive house?
Before the Fray
Whalen, who is no more on active duty, enlisted in the Marines in 2017 after high school. He served at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina, therefore was ordered to the 1st Battalion, 8th Marines. He made his first international deployment with this system in 2021. According to Whalen,” the rollout was basically getting on a ship with the Navy, sailing around, and next Marines getting off at various locations to train, and just be on backup in case someone happened.”
His product reportedly intended to leave the Middle East in July, but leaders claimed Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin wanted them to be there. So the system spent a month on standby in Kuwait.  , However, the Taliban had been taking over Afghanistan since America began withdrawing in May. ” We knew we may get going. It really looked like we were n’t going to”, Whalen said. ” I’m like,’ We’ve been sitting around this whole day. They would have used us if they really needed us, they would have said.
But that changed, Whalen said, when authorities ordered the troops to Afghanistan on Aug. 12 or 13 — only weeks before the departure date of Aug. 31. ” Unexpectedly,’ Yep, we’re going right today,'” Whalen said. ” We’d been packed and ready, but people quickly really started going”.
On the Ground
After arriving in Afghanistan, Whalen patrolled the boundary of the aircraft in a” mixed anti-armor team”. He claimed that because the windows were not very tall, people would sometimes climb over them. ” We were kind of continually driving, so we did a mixture”, Whalen said. ” Most of the time we did pass at East Gate.”
Whalen claimed that there were so many Afghans outside the doorway that Marines parked a trailer behind it to prevent the crowd from entering.
According to Whalen, the wall was kept closed by soldiers, opening it just enough to allow people through. Parents passed their children to the Marines, begging them for support.
” The girl item came from, they’re either going to heat or get crushed”, Whalen said. ” So the families are like,’ You get them.’ And then we would go get them when they arrived.” Whalen made an appearance in a popular movie at the time, just to the left of a Marine lowering a child over coiled wire.
Afterward, according to Whalen, officials issued a command to Marines to permanently close the gate.  ,
He claimed that as thousands of Afghans piled up inside and outside the airport in search of a way out, many of whom were speakers or Americans ‘ sympathizers, the situation deteriorated.  ,” Dealing with the people that were trying to evacuate was just the strangest, actually uncomfortable situation where you’re having to get in their face, even physically push them back”, Whalen said. He noted that while he said it was “hectic,” commanding officers and other Soldiers contributed to maintaining some degree of purchase.
One of the biggest issues was that we were bringing people indoors, searching them, and putting them in staging places to load them up on buses so they could travel to the terminal, according to Whalen. ” For weeks, there were no cars”.
Marines escorted Afghans into the aircraft. Courtesy | Gregory Whalen
He claimed that some expecting mothers, many of whom gave baby while under the pressure of the circumstance, were present in the audience. He called it the “perfect storm” . ,
” It was just weird”, Whalen said. It ranged from” Get ready for a combat-style effect if the Taliban or someone attempts to shoot a girl,” to” Get infant formula for the brand new child whose mother just gave birth. The entire spectrum”.
He referred to the government’s arrangement with the Taliban as one of the “weirdest and most unpleasant things” because the Taliban controlled the military’s attention to the outside while Americans concentrated on the interior.
” We were face to face, in a way, for the whole day we were it”, Whalen said. ” It was really anxious”.
While the Taliban mainly wanted the Americans to keep, Whalen said, the situation may simply have escalated. ” There were instances where they threatened to launch shooting”, Whalen said. ” I do n’t think they would have done that”.
However, an ISIS part carried out a death bombing outside a Kabul airport gate on August 26 that claimed the lives of 13 American service members and over 150 Afghans. Whalen said the wall was” just down the street” from where he was stationed, but he was on guard at the time.
” For time that day, we would get to the cars and we’re sitting there waiting, just in case we had to move off after it all happened”, Whalen said. ” One of the strangest things was that I ca n’t even recall hearing the bomb go off.”
In honor of the fallen Americans, former president Donald Trump laid bouquets at Arlington National Cemetery on August 26 this time. President Joe Biden issued a speech.
The past American soldiers left Afghanistan on Aug. 30, 2021.
Profound Effects
Vice President Kamala Harris had a “key function” in the decision to withdraw, according to Politico. Before Biden made the decision, she claimed to be the “last person in the room.”
Whalen claimed that while he was unaware of the decision-makers, someone along the line” totally failed in the planning process.” He claimed that the failed departure had ruined the relationships between Afghan soldiers and Afghans.
” Our country has made promises to a lot of persons for decades, saying,’ We’re going to support you. You’re working with and for us,'” Whalen said. Because of the power of the relationships they established while they were deployed,” the way that it fell out has shattered a lot of American life as well.”
Logan Washburn is a staff writer who writes about the dignity of elections. He graduated from Hillsdale College, served as Christopher Rufo’s journal assistant, and has bylines in The Wall Street Journal, The Tennessean, and The Daily Caller. Logan was born and raised in Central Oregon, but presently resides in remote Michigan.
