Sen. Chuck Hagel recalls harrowing 2008 trip to Afghanistan with Biden, Kerry

[Omaha Steve]

By Paul Hammel

LINCOLN — Former U.S. Sen. Chuck Hagel remembers a February 2008 trek to Afghanistan as a side trip, arranged as part of a visit by him and fellow Sens. Joe Biden and John Kerry to officially monitor the presidential election in neighboring Pakistan.

“We were a long way from Bagram (the American air base in Afghanistan). We went to meet some chieftains along the border with Pakistan. It was a pretty dangerous area,” Hagel told The World-Herald. “The weather was terrible. It was a very bad time (of year) to go.”

Skirting across mountains 10,000 to 15,000 feet high, the party, flying in two Black Hawk helicopters, decided to take a look at Tora Bora, a complex of caves in eastern Afghanistan were Osama bin Laden was thought to be hiding at the start of the war.

“The pilots thought we had enough fuel, but it was very close,” Hagel said. “Passing over the tops of these mountain ranges, the helicopters were straining. All of a sudden, we hit a snow squall. It just whited everything out. You just couldn’t see anything.”

FULL story: https://omaha.com/news/state-and-regional/sen-chuck-hagel-recalls-harrowing-2008-trip-to-afghanistan-with-biden-kerry/article_0c562222-2e1a-11ec-ad74-7bd6f02164e8.html



Aman Khalili, third from right, and his family recently escaped Afghanistan after spending weeks in hiding. Khalili, an interpreter for U.S. service members and dignitaries, helped facilitate former U.S. Sen. Chuck Hagel’s exit from Afghanistan in 2008.

SAFI RAUF, HUMAN FIRST

[Walleye]

1. Trump never took risks like that in his whole life. He would've been shitting his pants even more th