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2:35 PM ET, August 15, 2021

memeorandum

 Top Items: 
Axios:
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 …
RELATED:
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 …
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 …
Discussion: BBC, The Intercept and Political Wire
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 …
George Packer / The Atlantic:
Biden's Betrayal of Afghans Will Live in Infamy  —  There's plenty of blame to go around for the 20-year debacle in Afghanistan—enough to fill a library of books.  Perhaps the effort to rebuild the country was doomed from the start.  But our abandonment of the Afghans who helped us …
Discussion: Associated Press
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.
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.
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 …
Discussion: Task & Purpose
ABC News:
Afghanistan updates: US Embassy says to avoid airport because it's taking fire  —  Taliban militants were ordered into Kabul, President Ghani has left Afghanistan.  —  Taliban militants have been ordered to enter Kabul, following earlier assurances by Taliban officials that they do not intend to take Afghanistan's capital by force
Isaac Chotiner / New Yorker:
How America Failed in Afghanistan  —  The New Yorker staff writer Steve Coll on the humanitarian catastrophe that is now likely to engulf Afghan civilians.  —  On Sunday, as the Taliban entered Kabul—the last remaining major Afghan city not under the group's control—the President of the country …
Discussion: Atlantic Council
John Podhoretz / Commentary Magazine:
All Biden Had to Do Was...Nothing  —  All Joe Biden had to do was nothing.  Had Joe Biden done nothing, Afghanistan would not have fallen to the Taliban today.  Had he just let the status quo continue, the status quo would have continued.  Afghanistan would have plodded along and we would have kept …
Discussion: RedState, Breitbart and Instapundit
BBC:
LIVEAfghan President Ghani leaves country - reports  —  Summary  — Afghan President Ashraf Ghani has left the country bound for Tajikistan, reports say  — A Taliban spokesman says their fighters have been ordered to enter the city to prevent looting
W. James Antle III / Washington Examiner:
Once an area of agreement, Biden and Trump trade blame on Afghanistan
Allahpundit / HotAir:
“Forget the visas”: The scramble is on to save Afghan partners as Taliban close in
Stars & Stripes:
‘They are coming’: US diplomats await flights out of Kabul as the Taliban advance and fear spreads in the capital
Discussion: New York Post and Financial Times
Michael R. Gordon / Wall Street Journal:
Biden's Afghanistan Exit Raises Questions About His Foreign-Policy Record
Discussion: National Review and Bloomberg
Washington Examiner:   Marriage and work are worth fighting for
Adam Weinstein / Responsible Statecraft:
20-year US intervention in ruins as Taliban enters Kabul
Siobhan Hughes / Wall Street Journal:
Biden Officials Blame Trump Administration, Security Forces for Afghanistan Collapse
Discussion: HotAir
Sky News:
Afghanistan live updates: Taliban enters outskirts of Kabul - as Afghan government promise peaceful transition of power
Discussion: Telegraph and Page Array
Washington Post:
Taliban enters Kabul, leaving Afghan government on brink of collapse
Jessica Donati / Wall Street Journal:   Afghans Despair Over Long Visa Process as Taliban Close In on Kabul
France 24:
Weapon seizures ‘massive boon’ for Taliban as cities fall
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.
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 …
 
 
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Jason DeParle / New York Times:
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New York Post:
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The Daily Beast:
This Pro-Trump Lawyer Was a Rising ‘Stop the Steal’ Star. His Firm Erased Him
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One person stabbed as COVID anti-vaxxers and counterdemonstrators clash in front of L.A. City Hall
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Carlie Porterfield / Forbes:
FEMA Has Paid Out Over $1 Billion For Funerals Of Coronavirus Victims
Aya Elamroussi / CNN:
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Discussion: Insider
 

 
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Wall Street Journal:
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