Top Items:
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.
Discussion:
The Nation, New York Times, UPI, The Reactionary, NPR, Talking Points Memo, Poynter, Lawyers, Guns & Money, Japan Times, Althouse, The Moderate Voice and Vox
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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:
HotAir, New York Post and New York Times
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 …
Discussion:
Insider, Fox News, Washington Post, Florida Politics, No More Mister Nice Blog, Breitbart, The American Conservative, Outside the Beltway, Power Line, HotAir, Associated Press, The Gateway Pundit, New York Post, USAFeatures.news, Washington Examiner, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Instapundit, Just The News, The Daily Beast, ABC News and Wall Street Journal
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 …
Tom Nichols / The Atlantic:
Afghanistan Is Your Fault — Kabul has fallen. Americans will now exercise their usual partisan outrage for a few weeks, and then Afghanistan, like everything else in a nation with an attention span not much longer than a fast-food commercial, will be forgotten.
Discussion:
The Dispatch, Washington Examiner and New York Times
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 …
Kurt Schlichter / Townhall:
Our Military Is A Woke Joke — Ignore those pictures of the Afghan army that our military senior leader geniuses spent 20 years and zillions of dollars on disintegrating in the face of a pack of glorified mountain banditos from the Seventh Century - the real story is that, finally …
Discussion:
BizPac Review, Task & Purpose and HotAir
David Frum / The Atlantic:
The 1 Thing That Could've Changed the War in Afghanistan
Discussion:
Axios, Wall Street Journal, Fox News, Persuasion, Quartz and Talking Points Memo
Anatol Lieven / Politico:
Why Afghan Forces So Quickly Laid Down Their Arms
Discussion:
Washington Free Beacon, HotAir, Washington Post, Commentary Magazine, New Yorker, New York Times, Townhall, Wall Street Journal and The Bulwark
Wall Street Journal:
Biden's Afghanistan Surrender
Discussion:
The Hill, Townhall, Louder With Crowder, New York Post, Talking Points Memo, NBC News, Ace of Spades HQ, IJR, The US Sun and Breitbart
ABC News:
Afghanistan updates: Chaos at Kabul airport, world responds
Discussion:
Washington Examiner, Washington Times and CNN
Noah Rothman / MSNBC:
The fall of Afghanistan in 2021 is the result of years of American delusion
Discussion:
The Bulwark, Washington Post, Al Jazeera, Israpundit and The Dispatch
Amber Phillips / Washington Post:
How Republicans are slamming Biden on Afghanistan
Discussion:
Preston Byrne, National Review and Bipartisan Report
Miranda Devine / New York Post:
Joe Biden's defeat will echo for eternity
Discussion:
The Hill, HotAir, The Federalist, Townhall, RealClearPolitics, Louder With Crowder, Bloomberg, CNN, Ace of Spades HQ and BizPac Review
Bret Stephens / New York Times:
Biden owns the moment. He'll also own the consequences.
Discussion:
USA Today, Townhall, TIME, Washington Post, The Dispatch, Just Security and Twin Cities
Ben Kesling / Wall Street Journal:
Taliban Takeover of Afghanistan Brings Complicated Feelings for U.S. Military Veterans
Discussion:
New York Times, Politico, Townhall and Insider
NBC News:
Biden's rosy statements on Afghanistan, Covid have come back to haunt him
Discussion:
Washington Post, ABC News and BizPac Review
Patrick Reilly / New York Post:
Trump calls on Biden to ‘resign in disgrace’ over crisis in Afghanistan
Jonathan Weisman / New York Times:
In Washington, Recriminations Over Afghanistan Emerge Quickly
Discussion:
RedState, CNN and ABC13, more at Mediagazer »
The Daily Beast:
Even Biden's Allies Think He Screwed Up Afghanistan
Discussion:
The Hayride, CNBC, HuffPost, Al Jazeera, Newsbusters, Washington Times, Slate and TheBlaze
Jacqui Heinrich / Fox News:
US prepares to house thousands of Afghan refugees on American military installations
Discussion:
Washington Examiner, New York Post and The Daily Caller
Associated Press:
The latest on Afghanistan: Four Afghans dead after fall from US plane wheel well — Here's the latest on the rapidly unfolding events related to Afghanistan: — Report: Afghans who worked for US may temporarily go to bases in Wisconsin and Texas — The U.S. intends to evacuate tens …
Discussion:
New York Times, HotAir, Insider, Task & Purpose, Page Array, Al Jazeera, The Federalist, Washington Post, Fox News, Associated Press and The Hill
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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 …
Discussion:
The Daily Beast, Associated Press, CBS News, HotAir, Reuters, CNN, Mock Paper Scissors, Bloomberg, RedState, Mediaite, Fox News, Insider and globalnews.ca
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
Discussion:
Washington Free Beacon, HotAir, Townhall, TheBlaze, The Federalist, Mediaite, RedState, BizPac Review, Florida Politics, Breitbart, The Gateway Pundit, The Daily Caller, Washington Examiner, Twitchy, CNN and IJR
Wall Street Journal:
Three Killed in Kabul Airport as Afghans Scramble to Escape Taliban — Mass evacuations follow the insurgents' capture of Kabul after a rapid sweep of the country — At least three people were killed by gunfire Monday morning in chaotic scenes at the passenger terminal of Kabul's international airport …
Shannon Pettypiece / NBC News:
White House weighs response as Biden faces mounting criticism over Afghanistan crisis
Discussion:
RedState, Fox News, Washington Examiner, Insider, Althouse and NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth
BBC:
Afghanistan: US takes control of Kabul airport to evacuate staff from country
Discussion:
Reuters, France 24, TheBlaze, Bloomberg, Al Jazeera, Associated Press and Insider
Ben Smith / New York Times:
Afghans working for U.S. government broadcasters fear Taliban backlash.
Discussion:
Associated Press, Townhall, Raw Story, MSNBC, Insider and FOX 5 San Diego, more at Mediagazer »
Martin Amin Rahmani / The Bulwark:
We Didn't Think Our American Friends Would Leave Us in the Dead of Night
Discussion:
Breitbart, The Nation, Insider, Religion News Service and IJR
Jazz Shaw / HotAir:
US pauses flights out of Kabul
Discussion:
CNN, CBS News and Talking Points Memo
Sarah Zheng / South China Morning Post:
China, Russia embassies stay put in Afghanistan as US and allies flee Taliban
Discussion:
Washington Examiner, Al Jazeera, Louder With Crowder, CNN, Forbes, Quartz, Variety, RedState, Associated Press, Fox News and BBC
Jaclyn Peiser / Washington Post:
A conservative cardinal who criticized the vaccine caught covid. Days later, he was put on a ventilator. — Most days during the coronavirus pandemic, Cardinal Raymond L. Burke could be found strolling down the streets of Rome maskless and carrying rosary beads.
Discussion:
Religion News Service, Crooks and Liars, Friendly Atheist, Balloon Juice, Raw Story and Mock Paper Scissors
Meridith McGraw / Politico:
The GOP waves white flag in the same-sex marriage wars — To mark the beginning of Pride Month this year, Republican National Committee chair Ronna McDaniel did what party leaders do on these types of occasions: She sent out a tweet. — “Happy #PrideMonth!” she wrote, " …
Discussion:
POLITICUSUSA and Raw Story
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.
Discussion:
HotAir and The Daily Caller
Dave Orrick / Twin Cities:
Ugly drama inside MN GOP threatens chairwoman's job — Indictment of donor sparked fire — Following what amounted to a weekend political firestorm, the Minnesota Republican party Sunday evening found itself navigating treacherous waters of possible scandal that threatened to oust the state party's leader.
Discussion:
WCCO | CBS Minnesota and Law & Crime
John Nichols / The Nation:
Ron Johnson Does the Bidding of the Ultra-Rich — A new study reveals that Johnson's “principled” stand for tax reform may enrich two of his campaign donors by half a billion dollars. — Ron Johnson's public image is that of a delusional conspiracy theorist who struggles to pull together coherent sentences.
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 …
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