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5:05 PM ET, August 15, 2021

memeorandum

 Top Items: 
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 …
RELATED:
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 …
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: USA Today and Associated Press
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 …
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
ABC News:
Afghanistan updates: Another 1K US troops heading to Kabul, bringing total to 6,000  —  The U.S. flag has been taken down at the embassy in Kabul, an official said.  —  Another 1,000 soldiers from the Army's 82nd Airborne have been ordered to head directly to Afghanistan's capital instead …
Jonathan Swan / Axios:
Terrorist threat to U.S. levels up after Taliban rise, Joint Chiefs chair says  —  Afghanistan has fallen to the Taliban much faster than President Biden or his top military leaders predicted.
Discussion: CNN, The Guardian and The US Sun
Charles C. W. Cooke / National Review:
The Broader Questions Aside, President Biden Has Disastrously Botched this Withdrawal  —  Those who are defending the debacle in Afghanistan seem to believe that there is only one important question to ask here: Namely, should the United States have withdrawn per se?  In reality, though there are two questions.
Discussion: Jihad Watch
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.
Isaac Chotiner / New Yorker:
How America Failed in Afghanistan
Discussion: Atlantic Council
Yaroslav Trofimov / Wall Street Journal:
Taliban Enter Kabul as Panic Spreads in Afghanistan's Capital
New York Times:
A frenzied flight from Kabul as the U.S. evacuation accelerates.
Discussion: Task & Purpose
ABC News:
‘This Week’ Transcript 8-15-21: Sec. Antony Blinken & Rep. Liz Cheney
Discussion: POLITICUSUSA and Townhall
Atefa Alizada / The Guardian:
Afghan women's defiance and despair: 'I never thought I'd have to wear a burqa. My identity will be lost'
Discussion: The Daily Caller and Page Array
Siobhan Hughes / Wall Street Journal:
Biden Officials Blame Trump Administration, Security Forces for Afghanistan Collapse
Discussion: HotAir, RedState and Washington Post
Washington Post:
Taliban enters Kabul, leaving Afghan government on brink of collapse
Allahpundit / HotAir:
“Forget the visas”: The scramble is on to save Afghan partners as Taliban close in
Sky News:
Afghanistan live updates: Taliban enters outskirts of Kabul - as Afghan government promise peaceful transition of power
Discussion: Telegraph
W. James Antle III / Washington Examiner:
Once an area of agreement, Biden and Trump trade blame on Afghanistan
Jeff Stein / SpyTalk:
Exclusive: U.S. Channel for Emergency Afghan Visas Crashes  —  State Department mailbox crashes under weight of thousands of SIV applications  —  The email in-box for emergency visa applications for Afghans who worked with the U.S. has crashed, according to a former Air Force serviceman trying …
Discussion: Just Security
NBC News:
‘Easy money’: How international scam artists pulled off an epic theft of Covid benefits  —  Last June, the FBI got a warrant to hunt through the Google accounts of Abedemi Rufai, a Nigerian state government official.  —  What they found, they said in a sworn affidavit, was all the ingredients for a …
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.
Roger L. Simon / theepochtimes.com:
Elder Ignores Mainstream Media in First Online Press Conference  —  Who'd a thunk it?  —  Neither the Los Angeles Times nor Politico (both of whom had multiple reporters) and a host of other mainstream media suspects, including the Associated Press, got to ask a single question Friday …
Catherine Kim / Politico:
NIH director sees ‘no signs’ of a Delta peak  —  National Institutes of Health Director Francis Collins warned on Sunday the continuing rise of Covid-19 cases propelled by the Delta variant could return the nation to the worst days of the pandemic.  —  “This is going very steeply upward …
Discussion: The Guardian, CNN and Fox News
 
 
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 More Items: 
Jason DeParle / New York Times:
Biden Administration Prompts Largest Permanent Increase in Food Stamps
Discussion: Bloomberg and The US Sun
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The Daily Beast:
This Pro-Trump Lawyer Was a Rising ‘Stop the Steal’ Star. His Firm Erased Him
Discussion: Bipartisan Report and Raw Story
Washington Examiner:
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