memeorandum: Inside America's Covid-reporting breakdown (Erin Banco/Politico)

12:30 PM ET, August 15, 2021

Top Items:

1 big thing: Biden's stain — Rarely has an American president's predictions been so wrong, so fast, so convincingly as President Biden on Afghanistan. — Usually military operations and diplomacy are long; the outcomes, foggy. Not here. — Just five weeks ago, President Biden assured Americans …

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, Townhall, Mediaite, Breitbart, Power Line, New York Post and Talking Points Memo

Associated Press:

Taliban enter Kabul, await ‘peaceful transfer’ of power — KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Taliban fighters entered Kabul on Sunday and sought the unconditional surrender of the central government, officials said, as Afghans and foreigners alike raced for the exit, signaling the end …

Discussion: Washington Examiner, HotAir, Associated Press, Breitbart, Al Jazeera, CNBC, RedState, Honolulu Star-Advertiser, Insider and The Daily Beast

Susannah George / Washington Post:

Afghanistan's military collapse: Illicit deals and mass desertions — KABUL — The spectacular collapse of Afghanistan's military that allowed Taliban fighters to reach the gates of Kabul on Sunday despite twenty years of training and billions of dollars in American aid began with a series …

Yaroslav Trofimov / Wall Street Journal:

Taliban Enter Kabul as Panic Spreads in Afghanistan's Capital — Mass evacuations of Western diplomats and civilians under way, with insurgents preparing to assume power — KABUL—Taliban fighters on Sunday entered Kabul, freeing inmates at the city's main prison and triggering a massive effort …

Discussion: Breitbart, Al Jazeera, National Review and Task & Purpose

New York Times:

A frenzied flight from Kabul as the U.S. evacuation accelerates. — KABUL, Afghanistan — As the Taliban stood at the gates of Kabul, completing the near total takeover of Afghanistan two decades after the American military drove them from power, a chaotic and frenzied evacuation of U.S. diplomats …

George Packer / The Atlantic:

Biden's Betrayal of Afghans Will Live in Infamy — Our abandonment of the Afghans who helped us, counted on us, and staked their lives on us is a final, gratuitous shame that we could have avoided. — About the author: George Packer is a staff writer at The Atlantic.

Discussion: Fox News and Associated Press

Stars & Stripes:

‘They are coming’: US diplomats await flights out of Kabul as the Taliban advance and fear spreads in the capital — KABUL, Afghanistan — Diplomats waiting to fly out of Kabul on Sunday morning spent their last hours at work burning anything of strategic or propaganda value …

Discussion: Financial Times, CBS News, ABC News, Forbes and U.S. Embassy in Afghanistan

Tara Palmeri / Politico:

POLITICO Playbook: How the White House wants to spin the fall of Kabul — DRIVING THE DAY — President JOE BIDEN, July 8: “The Taliban is not ... the North Vietnamese army. ... There's going to be no circumstance where you see people being lifted off the roof of ... the United States from Afghanistan.

Discussion: Trending Politics and Wall Street Journal

Adam Weinstein / Responsible Statecraft:

20-year US intervention in ruins as Taliban enters Kabul — There are reports this morning that the Taliban have entered the capital city of Kabul. Developments on the ground are happening quickly after a week in which the insurgent group took one key provincial city after another …

Discussion: Wall Street Journal and Washington Post

New York Times:

Afghanistan Live Updates: Taliban Advances on Kabul; U.S. Evacuation Accelerates — The insurgents, after seizing control of the eastern city of Jalalabad, encircled the Afghan capital. A senior American official said key diplomatic staff had been moved to a compound at the airport.

Discussion: CNN, The Hill, Japan Times, Politico, Washington Times, Associated Press and Bloomberg

Washington Post:
Taliban enters Kabul, leaving Afghan government on brink of collapse

Discussion: The Guardian, National Review, Slate, HotAir, NPR, The US Sun, Lawyers, Guns & Money, Mediaite, Task & Purpose, Just The News and New York Post

W. James Antle III / Washington Examiner:
Once an area of agreement, Biden and Trump trade blame on Afghanistan

Discussion: Politico, The Hill, POLITICUSUSA, Trending Politics, Breitbart, NPR, National Review, Financial Times, emptywheel and The Gateway Pundit

The White House:
Statement by President Joe Biden on Afghanistan

Discussion: Mediaite, Insider, Politico, The Daily Caller, Common Dreams, Balloon Juice, The National Interest, TheBlaze, Townhall, Reuters, Task & Purpose, Forbes and National File

BBC: LIVEAfghan President Ghani leaves country - reports

Sky News: Afghanistan live updates: Taliban enters outskirts of Kabul - as Afghan government promise peaceful transition of power

Michael R. Gordon / Wall Street Journal: Biden's Afghanistan Exit Raises Questions About His Foreign-Policy Record

Kylie Atwood / CNN:
US completely pulling out of embassy in Afghanistan over the next 72 hours

Discussion: Politico, The Hill, UPI, TheBlaze, Twitchy and Gizmodo

Liz Sly / Washington Post:
Afghanistan's collapse leaves allies questioning U.S. resolve on other fronts

Discussion: HotAir, Insider and Politico

Justin Gomez / ABC News:
US moving personnel out of its embassy in Kabul: Blinken

Discussion: Bloomberg, Washington Examiner, Politico and Associated Press

New York Times:
Taliban Sweep in Afghanistan Follows Years of U.S. Miscalculations

Discussion: Mediaite, Axios, Talking Points Memo, RedState, The Hill, Breitbart, The Daily Caller, USA Today, Mother Jones, Fox News and Washington Post

Jessica Donati / Wall Street Journal:
Afghans Despair Over Long Visa Process as Taliban Close In on Kabul

Discussion: RedState

Washington Post:
Biden administration scrambled as its orderly withdrawal from Afghanistan unraveled

Discussion: The Guardian, Boston Herald, The National Interest and USA Today

France 24:
Weapon seizures ‘massive boon’ for Taliban as cities fall

Discussion: Breitbart, The Daily Beast and Wall Street Journal

Associated Press:
Taliban capture key northern city, approach Afghan capital

Discussion: Fox News, Radio Free Europe/Radio …, FOX 5 San Diego, Al Jazeera, New York Post, TheBlaze, The Hill, Slate, WGN-TV, NPR, HotAir, NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth, Associated Press, CNN, Bloomberg, Forbes and Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion

New York Times:
Afghanistan's commercial hub, Mazar-i-Sharif, falls to the insurgents.

Discussion: Washington Examiner, Insider, Instapundit and Townhall

Ashton Pittman / Mississippi Free Press:

Mississippi 8th Grader Dies With COVID Hours After Gov. Reeves Downplays Child Cases — An eighth-grade girl died this morning in Raleigh, Miss., mere hours after testing positive for COVID-19. Multiple sources told the Mississippi Free Press that the student attended classes at the school …

CBS News:

California's vaccinated say unvaccinated are adding risk; strong support for mandates — CBS News poll — As Californians express widespread concern about the Delta variant, they overwhelmingly say the state's recent rise in cases was preventable, had more people gotten vaccinated and taken more precautions.

Discussion: CBS San Francisco

Yahoo News:
Wake up, California! Removing Gavin Newsom would be a disaster

Discussion: Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Breitbart, KPBS Public Media, Wall Street Journal, The Gateway Pundit, Washington Post, ABC7 and HotAir

The Daily Beast:

This Pro-Trump Lawyer Was a Rising ‘Stop the Steal’ Star. His Firm Erased Him — WE DON'T KNOW HIM — In the months since Trump's failed coup, government documents have further revealed the extent of attorney Kurt Olsen's behind-the-scenes crusade to try to keep him in power.

Discussion: Raw Story

Erin Banco / Politico:

Inside America's Covid-reporting breakdown — There were too many cases to count. — Covid-19 was spreading rapidly throughout the United States, as cold winter weather began to drive people indoors, but the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention was flying blind …

Reuters:

Quake kills hundreds in Haiti, worsening Caribbean nation's plight — At least 304 people died and hundreds were injured after a major earthquake struck southwestern Haiti on Saturday, authorities said, reducing churches, hotels, schools and homes to rubble in the latest tragedy to hit the impoverished Caribbean nation.