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8:20 AM ET, August 16, 2021

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 Top Items: 
Wall Street Journal:
‘Saigon on Steroids’: The Desperate Rush to Flee Afghanistan  —  Kabul airport descends into chaos as Afghan civilians besiege the terminal and Western countries scramble to evacuate personnel, in a dizzying coda to America's longest war  —  KABUL—The lucky few were already inside …
RELATED:
David E. Sanger / New York Times:
For Biden, Images of Defeat He Wanted to Avoid  —  President Biden will go down in history, fairly or unfairly, as the president who presided over a humiliating final act in the American experiment in Afghanistan.  —  Rarely in modern presidential history have words come back to bite …
James Gordon Meek / ABC News:
Afghanistan's collapse: Did US intelligence get it wrong?  —  American intelligence sources say they correctly predicted the fall of Kabul.  —  As panicked Afghans watched Taliban fighters roll into the capital city of Kabul Sunday, sealing the collapse of the U.S.-backed government there …
Ben Smith / New York Times:
Afghans working for U.S. government broadcasters fear Taliban backlash.  —  More than a hundred journalists employed by the American government's own radio stations remain in Afghanistan as the Taliban take power, U.S. officials and Afghan journalists said Sunday.
more at Mediagazer »
Craig Whitlock / Washington Post:
Afghan security forces' wholesale collapse was years in the making  —  In the summer of 2011, Army Lt. Gen. William Caldwell IV made a round of public appearances to boast that he had finally solved a problem that had kept U.S. troops bogged down in Afghanistan for a decade.
Sarah Zheng / South China Morning Post:
China, Russia embassies stay put in Afghanistan as US and allies flee Taliban  —  Collapse of Afghan government sets off evacuation scramble but Beijing and Moscow have no current plans to remove staff Chinese embassy warns its nationals to stay indoors, take safety precautions and keep …
Discussion: Quartz, Variety and RedState
Eltaf Najafizada / Bloomberg:
Chaotic Scenes Grip Kabul's Airport, With Reports of Deaths  — Panicked citizens crowd the airport in desperate bid to exit  — Taliban declare victory, prepare to announce new government  —  Desperate scenes played out at Kabul's international airport on Monday as thousands rushed …
Richard Haass / Project Syndicate:
America's Withdrawal of Choice  —  The swift fall of Kabul recalls the ignominious fall of Saigon in 1975.  Beyond the local consequences - widespread reprisals, harsh repression of women and girls, and massive refugee flows - America's strategic and moral failure in Afghanistan …
Julian Borger / The Guardian:
Taliban's Abdul Ghani Baradar is undisputed victor of a 20-year war  —  Return to power of movement's co-founder embodies Afghanistan's inability to escape history of conflict  —  Abdul Ghani Baradar, the Taliban leader freed from a Pakistani jail on the request of the US less than three years ago …
The Bulwark:
America Has a Moral Obligation to Get Our Translators Out of Afghanistan
Discussion: HotAir and Associated Press
Anatol Lieven / Politico:
Why Afghan Forces So Quickly Laid Down Their Arms
Kenneth C. Brill / The Hill:   Afghanistan: Can we build bipartisan agreement out of bipartisan failure?
Financial Times:
Low morale, no support and bad politics: why the Afghan army folded
Discussion: Atlantic Council
Michael Lee / Fox News:
Jen Psaki ‘out of the office’ as Biden remains silent on Taliban takeover of Afghanistan  —  The timing of Psaki's time off comes as Biden has faced criticism for remaining on vacation
RELATED:
Associated Press:
Biden team surprised by rapid Taliban gains in Afghanistan
John Podhoretz / Commentary Magazine:
All Biden Had to Do Was...Nothing
Discussion: RedState, Breitbart and Instapundit
Lindsay Kornick / Fox News:
Rep. Van Drew calls for Biden's resignation amid Taliban takeover in Afghanistan
Discussion: Breitbart
United States Department of State:
Joint Statement on Afghanistan  —  The following is the text of a joint statement on Afghanistan initially released by the following: Albania, Australia, Austria, Bahamas, Belgium, Burkina Faso, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Côte d'Ivoire, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark …
Discussion: RedState
RELATED:
Seth Moulton / U.S. Congressman Seth Moulton:   Moulton Statement on the Situation in Afghanistan
Krista Torralva / Dallas Morning News:
Texas Supreme Court blocks mask mandates in Dallas, Bexar counties  —  The entirely Republican court granted a temporary stay at the request of Republican Gov. Greg Abbott and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton on Sunday.  —  Two days after a Dallas appeals court dealt Texas Gov. Greg Abbott …
RELATED:
Maria Abi-Habib / New York Times:
'I'm the Only Surgeon': After Haiti Quake, Thousands Seek Scarce Care  —  A day after a magnitude-7.2 earthquake killed an estimated 1,300 people in western Haiti, the country, already suffering from a dire lack of doctors, struggled to help the many wounded.
Discussion: CBS News
RELATED:
Miami Herald:
Haiti earthquake: Death toll rises, rescuers face challenges
Discussion: Reuters
Annie Linskey / Washington Post:
From Saigon to Kabul: Biden's response to Vietnam echoes in his views of Afghanistan withdrawal  —  The Debrief: An occasional series offering a reporter's insights  —  Two weeks before Saigon fell in April 1975, a 32-year-old Joe Biden was among the senators summoned to the White House …
Discussion: IJR, Politico and The Moderate Voice
RELATED:
Associated Press:
Detainee says China has secret jail in Dubai, holds Uyghurs  —  A young Chinese woman says she was held for eight days at a Chinese-run secret detention facility in Dubai along with at least two Uyghurs, in what may be the first evidence that China is operating a so-called “black site” beyond its borders.
Josh Marshall / Talking Points Memo:
After Sunday It's Even More Clear Biden Was Right  —  Americans, or at least the commentating classes, are watching aghast as events unfold in Afghanistan.  Some are second-guessing the wisdom of withdrawal - after all, how hard is it to maintain a few thousand soldiers there permanently?
Discussion: The Atlantic
RELATED:
Tom Nichols / The Atlantic:
Afghanistan Is Your Fault  —  The American public now has what it wanted.  —  About the author: Tom Nichols is a contributing writer at The Atlantic and the author of the book Our Own Worst Enemy: The Assault From Within on Modern Democracy.  —  Kabul has fallen.
Claire Giangravé / Religion News Service:
Cardinal Burke is placed on ventilator days after testing positive for COVID-19  —  VATICAN CITY (RNS) - A message from the Twitter account of Cardinal Raymond L. Burke, a conservative prelate and outspoken skeptic of the COVID-19 vaccine, confirmed Saturday (Aug. 14) via Twitter …
Discussion: Raw Story and Mock Paper Scissors
Juan Williams / The Hill:
Trump's coup attempt should bar him from 2024 race  —  Let's agree — former President Trump is running again.  —  He has $100 million in his political war-chest.  His GOP rivals for the nomination, including top congressional Republicans, fear him.  —  One reason he might not run …
 
 
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Meridith McGraw / Politico:
The GOP waves white flag in the same-sex marriage wars
Discussion: Raw Story
Lachlan Cartwright / The Daily Beast:
Mary Trump Rails Against ‘Awful’ Meghan McCain and ‘Weak’ Uncle Donald
Discussion: Raw Story and The Guardian
Gavin Bade / Politico:
‘Lay out the strategy’: Corporate America grows impatient on Biden's China trade review
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