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1:00 PM ET, August 16, 2021

memeorandum

 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.
RELATED:
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?
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: Salon, The Dispatch, Mediaite, IJR and Twitchy
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 …
Gerald F. Seib / Wall Street Journal:   America's Failures in Afghanistan Were Bipartisan and Long-Running
Wall Street Journal:
Biden's Afghanistan Surrender
Richard Haass / Project Syndicate:
America's Withdrawal of Choice
Discussion: Insider, PRESS RUN and Politico
Patrick Reilly / New York Post:
Trump calls on Biden to ‘resign in disgrace’ over crisis in Afghanistan
Ben Kesling / Wall Street Journal:
Taliban Takeover of Afghanistan Brings Complicated Feelings for U.S. Military Veterans
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 …
RELATED:
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 …
CNN:
Biden to return to White House for address on Afghanistan  —  (CNN)President Joe Biden will address the crisis in Afghanistan from the White House on Monday afternoon, as he faces mounting questions about his administration's apparent failure to prepare for the collapse of that nation's government.
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
Dominick Mastrangelo / The Hill:   Ernst ‘afraid of a Benghazi 2.0’ in Afghanistan
Wall Street Journal:
Three Killed in Kabul Airport as Afghans Scramble to Escape Taliban
Sarah Zheng / South China Morning Post:
China, Russia embassies stay put in Afghanistan as US and allies flee Taliban
Jazz Shaw / HotAir:
US pauses flights out of Kabul
Discussion: CBS News, CNN and Talking Points Memo
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, " …
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
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.
Donald J. Trump:
Statement by Donald J. Trump, 45th President of the United States of America  —  Joe Biden gets it wrong every time on foreign policy, and many other issues.  Everyone knew he couldn't handle the pressure.  Even Obama's Secretary of Defense, Robert Gates, said as much.
Discussion: The Daily Caller
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 …
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: Law & Crime
Melissa Nann Burke / Detroit News:
Ex-Rep. Paul Mitchell dies.  He quit GOP over its refusal to accept Trump's defeat  —  Former U.S. Rep. Paul Mitchell, a conservative who quit the Republican Party over its allegiance to President Donald Trump after the 2020 election, has died after a diagnosis of stage IV renal cancer.  He was 64.
Discussion: The Hill and The Daily Caller
 
 
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 More Items: 
Eliot A. Cohen / The Atlantic:
A Moment for Soul-Searching  —  My Afghanistan war lasted almost exactly two years …
TASS:
No need for evacuation of Russian embassy in Kabul, says mission
Wall Street Journal:
Bitcoin Fans Are Suddenly a Political Force
New York Times:
As Cuomo Exits, Will Congestion Pricing Still Come to New York City?
 Earlier Items: 
Timothy Bella / Washington Post:
A Black officer was a rising star. The department's ‘Jim Crow culture’ destroyed his career, lawsuit says.
Discussion: The Root and Raw Story
Alex Seitz-Wald / NBC News:
Early indicators suggest Democrats' House majority is in jeopardy
Discussion: Salon, Fox News and New Republic
Lachlan Cartwright / The Daily Beast:
Mary Trump Rails Against ‘Awful’ Meghan McCain and ‘Weak’ Uncle Donald
Discussion: Raw Story and The Guardian
Juan Williams / The Hill:
Trump's coup attempt should bar him from 2024 race