Tonight we go over everything that we can tell you about Afghanistan, and it s a quite an expose you don t want to miss. Also, Nikki Haley joins us today, and you can lay your bets down on which head explodes first.
00:12:30.080But let's talk about what you've just recently done.
00:12:34.020Can you tell us about Task Force Pineapple?
00:12:37.020Yeah, Task Force Pineapple, it was a nickname that we got that was the rescue of one Afghan commando where he was in duress.
00:12:49.660He was retired in duress and was trying to make his way out, but he couldn't.
00:12:55.120So a handful of Green Berets, we got on the phone with him.
00:12:57.400We became his eyes and his ears and another ABC reporter, James Meek, and a congressional staffer.
00:13:03.660We formed our little – and we did it all remote.
00:13:05.240I know some of the reporting is that we went into country.
00:13:08.040We actually used our trust, our relationships, which is kind of the Green Beret way, working by with and through indigenous people.
00:13:15.200And then we just became his eyes and ears, and we helped him navigate and move through the city.
00:13:19.440Ultimately got him through the wire and onto an airplane with his family, and we did that with about 700 families or 700 Afghans in three days.
00:13:35.680You know, our combat veterans, what I was so proud of for these retired Navy SEALs, these Green Berets, Marines, is that when everybody else got angry, they got to work.
00:13:46.000You know, they just said, you know what, we're not going to leave anybody behind.
00:13:49.100We're going to honor the promise to the families and the Afghans who stood up for us, and we don't leave people behind.
00:14:03.500The one guy that led the Underground Railroad through a sewage canal that coordinated it is an elementary school teacher, inspired by Harriet Tubman, who retired from SF.
00:14:13.320I mean, it's just amazing how our veterans showed us what leadership looked like.
00:14:18.580So are you still—I'm not going to even ask you that.
00:14:22.940I'm not even going to ask that question.
00:14:24.160When you hear the president say that there's only a couple hundred people left, do you have a comment on that?
00:14:34.120There's still a lot of work to be done.
00:14:36.320And, you know, we don't want to work at cross purposes with the Biden administration or any administration.
00:14:41.680We intend to honor a promise and fill the gap that the government's not filling.
00:15:47.960I appreciate that, Glenn, and same here.
00:15:49.940I think any of the, you know, this is a time for, I believe, that I'm so encouraged that Americans, regardless of our political affiliation, take those negative feelings and put them into resolve.
00:16:00.260It's the first time that I've seen Americans getting behind our myths.
00:16:04.880And, you know, our veterans, man, they have been through some crap, and they're showing us how we come together and how we lead with resolve.
00:16:12.640And so we're right there at your shoulder.
00:16:14.220I would love to do that, and we're going to honor this promise.
00:16:17.140So anybody who's inspired by honoring the promise to these heroic Afghans, you know, let's do it together.
00:16:23.480OperationRecovery.org and the others, let's get them home.
00:17:00.500We have it because we use this concept called the shepherd concept.
00:17:05.520So the volunteers, the Green Berets, the SEALs, the Rangers that are doing this, we have pre-existing relationships that go 20 years deep.
00:17:14.560And what we're trying to communicate to the government is that, you know, when you say Afghanistan was for nothing, you don't understand.
00:17:21.700You have 20 years of relationships, of tangible linkages with some of the most amazing humans on the planet.
00:17:28.320We didn't have that pre-9-11, and that's why we got hit.
00:17:31.300And right now we do have that, but if we're not careful, the rest of the world is watching us.
00:17:36.940And when Green Berets go into other countries to work by, with, and through indigenous people, they're going to say, you know what, I'll take your money, but I'm not working with you.
00:17:45.840I'm not sticking my neck out because you don't get a mulligan when it comes to working with other humans.
00:17:50.500Like, you've got to honor the promise, and that's what I worry about.
00:17:55.240I say that to the Trump administration.
00:17:57.220I say that to the, you know, to the Biden administration.
00:18:00.000If you want Green Berets and operators like us to do our job, you have to honor promises you make on the back end and the front end.
00:18:07.760Can you tell me what you feel about, or how do we repair our relationships, for instance, with England?
00:18:18.480You know, I know that things between commanders of the 82nd and the SAS, I know it got ugly at the airport.
00:18:28.820And I also know what people in England in power have told me.
00:18:35.400They don't want to work with us anymore because we abandoned them.
00:18:39.000How difficult is it going to be to repair this?
00:18:43.000Well, it's going to take deliberate restoration.
00:18:46.200You know, whether it's a marriage, whether it's, you know, a friendship, or whether it's, you know, an ally.
00:18:52.300If you damage a relationship, it's up to you to atone and restore that relationship.
00:18:59.160I teach that, you know, as part of the, you know, when I teach at the Green Berets is, you know, restoration of relationships is one of the hardest things you ever do.
00:19:08.820But I will tell you this that I'm encouraged by is that when we, I did an interview with the BBC about Operation Pineapple when it was underway.
00:19:17.380And I can't tell you how many Afghans were pulled out of the sewage canals because they were holding pineapples on their cell phones to those British troops, man.
00:19:26.040And, you know, they're warriors just like us.
00:19:28.720They know what authorities we had and we didn't have.
00:21:35.560And so what I would ask our politicians and our bureaucrats to do, you know, is if you're going to manage the perimeter security of a half-mile-wide airfield and then send, like, a three-star general in the process, let them do their job.
00:21:51.440Let them give them the authority to do a non-combatant evacuation operation.
00:21:59.820And if you start applying politics to the world of soldiering and the world of fighting, you put your young Marines and your young paratroopers into these moral injuries, and they never get over it.
00:22:12.080And we're losing 22 a day, not solely to that, but it's a big part of it.
00:22:17.460And politicians and bureaucrats bear that responsibility.
00:22:20.680And to our citizenry, you know, if we're not going to put a commanders-in-chief in place that really get that, we need to think about that when we pull the levers.
00:22:38.880Let me – I don't want you to get into politics, and I don't want you to – I don't want to cause you any problems, so feel free not to answer this.
00:22:46.100But I think there must be people held accountable for this.
00:22:53.240This was – and it wasn't necessarily a military thing.
00:22:57.560I think it really falls to the State Department and the White House.
00:23:00.900But there also were some top people at the very, very top that made mistakes in the Pentagon.
00:23:06.760Should people be held responsible for this?
00:23:13.020Yeah, I'm always in favor of accountability.
00:23:15.860You know, one of the things that I wrote in my book Game Changers years ago about the Afghan war was that, you know, for the first 10 years of my life, or in Afghanistan, you know, I was in a trance of just retribution because my ranger buddy Cliff was killed in the Pentagon.
00:23:29.320And I kind of abandoned the way that I should have been doing things as a Green Beret.
00:23:33.640I was focused on just walking the enemy down instead of working with locals.
00:23:40.160I just – I wish that our politicians, our generals, our flag officers would – you know, like that lieutenant colonel that resigned in protest.
00:23:51.960I would just like to see more of that on the military side.
00:23:55.500Like, throw your rank on the table and say, no, like, if you do that, you can have my rank.
00:24:00.580I mean, I haven't seen that lately at a senior level, and I'd love to see it.
00:24:03.840I'd love to see, you know, that happen.
00:24:06.140But then, yeah, I do think there should be accountability on this.
00:24:08.660But, you know, for me right now and the combat veterans that are in it, we're focused on playing our position in support of the government as a citizen liaison network, whatever that looks like.
00:24:18.960But what we're not going to do is break the promise.
00:24:20.940That's not going to happen, and we've all committed to that, and we're volunteers, and we're, you know, we're doing this because it's right.
00:24:28.560And so I hope there is accountability.
00:24:31.340But in the meantime, there's a lot of work to be done.
00:24:33.520Scott, I so appreciate you, and I'm going to put you on hold, and one of my producers will give you my private email and text, because I mean what I say.
00:24:48.640Anything you need, day or night, you contact, and we will be there for you.
00:24:53.340I appreciate that, sir, and the same goes with me.
00:24:56.300Lieutenant Colonel Scott Mann, a president of Rooptop Leadership, retired Green Beret commander, and leader of Task Force Pineapple.
00:25:05.560I highly urge you to donate and support OperationRecovery.org slash donate.
00:25:16.700This is the best of the Glenn Beck Program.
00:25:26.300We are thrilled to have the former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, former South Carolina governor, and good friend Nikki Haley joining us now.
00:25:41.260She's just written a Washington Post opinion piece, America Must Not Recognize the Taliban.
00:26:50.160Like, all of this is not a group that needs to be trusted.
00:26:53.480It's why that group never needed to be trusted to secure the airport.
00:26:56.660And the reason we lost 13 of our finest.
00:26:59.040I mean, they've got to stop giving credibility to the Taliban.
00:27:02.880And what we're trying to do is tell everyone to go to StandForAmerica.com and sign the petition that we're sending to all of Congress not to recognize the Taliban.
00:27:12.820Because if you recognize the Taliban as the head of Afghanistan, you're basically saying send them money.
00:27:19.500We know what they'll do with the money.
00:27:21.320We've seen what they've done with money before.
00:27:35.640And why Blinken and those are continuing to talk to the Taliban just is beyond me.
00:27:42.800I don't know if you know or have a better guess on how many Americans are still left there and how many people are trapped that are trying to get out.
00:27:51.100I can tell you that number is in the thousands.
00:27:53.580If you look at all of them, maybe even into the tens of thousands.
00:27:59.780But our State Department is blocking our every move, our every move.
00:28:08.020You know, I think you can see a lot in the fact that I was listening to Blinken's speech the other day.
00:28:13.700And, you know, we have 200, maybe even 100.
00:28:34.180And when they do go to a checkpoint, their passports and their green cards are being taken away.
00:28:39.100So they're not being realistic and honest with the American public.
00:28:42.560They know that there's more than just the 200 they say that they have.
00:28:46.320And I think that, you know, if you listen now on the news, the conversation between Biden and and President Ghani got out.
00:28:54.980And basically what Biden's saying to Ghani is this doesn't look good.
00:28:59.040You need to fix the perception problem.
00:29:01.460Well, you know, instead of trying to hide how bad it really was that the Taliban was taking over, why didn't Biden say, OK, we've got to change course.
00:29:13.900Like that was all the warning signs to say we need to do something different, not telling Ghani, smile and act like it's going better than it is.
00:29:22.060And I think that's what Blinken's doing and trying to, you know, say that there's less Americans there than they are.
00:29:29.420I mean, that we've been put in and a terrible situation for our military who knows in their blood that they're never supposed to leave an American behind.
00:30:39.220He's lost the trust and confidence of the American people.
00:30:42.160And the way countries are looking at him is, you know, never was there a time that I thought NATO would be having conversations without the U.S.