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1:20 PM ET, August 16, 2021

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: Glenn Greenwald, The Nation, Mediaite, New York Times, The Reactionary, NPR, Talking Points Memo, Poynter, Japan Times, Lawyers, Guns & Money and HotAir

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, Insider, IJR, ABC News, New York Times and New York Post

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 …

Discussion: HotAir, The Atlantic, Washington Post, Politico, RedState, New York Times, New York Post, Talking Points Memo, The Guardian, The Hill, Breitbart, Townhall, Fox News, Associated Press and Twin Cities

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, New York Times, The Hill 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 …

ABC News:

Afghanistan updates: Chaos at Kabul airport, world responds — As people rush to leave, leaders contemplate recognizing the Taliban government. — United States troops have taken control of the airport in Kabul, Afghanistan as chaos continues after Afghanistan's president fled the country …

Discussion: Washington Examiner, TK News, Washington Times and CNN

CNN:
Biden to return to White House for address on Afghanistan

Discussion: Bloomberg, Los Angeles Times, The Hill, Washington Times, The Guardian, Althouse and Political Wire

Shay Khatiri / The Bulwark:
Why the Afghan Army Fell to the Taliban

Discussion: The National Interest, Common Sense with Bari Weiss, The Dispatch and RedState

David Frum / The Atlantic:
The 1 Thing That Could've Changed the War in Afghanistan

Discussion: Axios, Politico, Persuasion, Fox News, New York Times and Quartz

Kurt Schlichter / Townhall:
Our Military Is A Woke Joke

Discussion: BizPac Review, Ace of Spades HQ and Talking Points Memo

Anatol Lieven / Politico:
Why Afghan Forces So Quickly Laid Down Their Arms

Discussion: Washington Free Beacon, Wall Street Journal, HotAir, Wall Street Journal, New York Times, New Yorker, Townhall, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, The Bulwark and Commentary Magazine

Gerald F. Seib / Wall Street Journal: America's Failures in Afghanistan Were Bipartisan and Long-Running

Amber Phillips / Washington Post:
How Republicans are slamming Biden on Afghanistan

Discussion: National Review, Bipartisan Report, Lincoln Journal Star and NBC News

Noah Rothman / MSNBC:
The fall of Afghanistan in 2021 is the result of years of American delusion

Discussion: Washington Post, Insider, The Bulwark, Al Jazeera and The Dispatch

Preston Byrne:
Did America just lose Afghanistan because of WhatsApp?

Discussion: Jihad Watch, Washington Post, IJR and Breitbart

Richard Haass / Project Syndicate:
America's Withdrawal of Choice

Discussion: Insider, PRESS RUN and Washington Post

Miranda Devine / New York Post:
Joe Biden's defeat will echo for eternity

Discussion: The Hill, The Federalist, Gizmodo, Townhall, RealClearPolitics, HotAir, Ace of Spades HQ, BizPac Review, Louder With Crowder and Bloomberg

Patrick Reilly / New York Post:
Trump calls on Biden to ‘resign in disgrace’ over crisis in Afghanistan

Discussion: Washington Examiner, Telegraph, Forbes, The American Spectator, Trending Politics, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Raw Story, Washington Times, Instapundit, TheBlaze and Crooks and Liars

Jonathan Weisman / New York Times:
In Washington, Recriminations Over Afghanistan Emerge Quickly

Discussion: RedState, Daily Kos, CNN and ABC13, more at Mediagazer »

Bret Stephens / New York Times:
Biden owns the moment. He'll also own the consequences.

Discussion: USA Today, TheBlaze, The Daily Caller, Townhall, Melanie Phillips, Just Security, Washington Post and Twin Cities

NBC News:
Biden's rosy statements on Afghanistan, Covid have come back to haunt him

Discussion: Townhall, ABC News and BizPac Review

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: Washington Post, HotAir, Task & Purpose, Page Array, The Federalist, Al Jazeera, Fox News, Insider, RedState, The Hill, The Daily Caller and Associated Press

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, New York Times, The Guardian, Breitbart, Vanity Fair, CBS News, Reuters, Trending Politics, Washington Examiner, Mock Paper Scissors, Bloomberg, CNN, NPR, Fox News, Insider and globalnews.ca

Joseph Choi / The Hill:

US reaches deal with Taliban on evacuations: report — The U.S. has reached a deal with the Taliban to ensure that evacuations from Kabul's airport can take place without interference from the group, according to a report by The Associated Press. — The deal was reached in talks in Doha …

Discussion: CNN, New York Times, Associated Press and Althouse

Shannon Pettypiece / NBC News:
White House weighs response as Biden faces mounting criticism over Afghanistan crisis

Discussion: HotAir, RedState, Fox News, Washington Examiner, Althouse, Insider and NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth

Michael Lee / Fox News:
Jen Psaki ‘out of the office’ as Biden remains silent on Taliban takeover of Afghanistan

Discussion: Washington Free Beacon, ABC News, HotAir, Townhall, Ace of Spades HQ, TheBlaze, New York Post, The Federalist, BizPac Review, Mediaite, RedState, Florida Politics, Breitbart, CNN, The Gateway Pundit, The Daily Caller, Washington Examiner and IJR

Wall Street Journal:
Three Killed in Kabul Airport as Afghans Scramble to Escape Taliban

Dominick Mastrangelo / The Hill: Ernst ‘afraid of a Benghazi 2.0’ in Afghanistan

Ben Smith / New York Times:
Afghans working for U.S. government broadcasters fear Taliban backlash.

Discussion: Associated Press, Townhall, Raw Story, Mediaite, Washington Post, IJR, MSNBC, Washington Examiner and BBC, more at Mediagazer »

Jazz Shaw / HotAir:
US pauses flights out of Kabul

Discussion: CBS News, Washington Post, The Guardian and Talking Points Memo

Martin Amin Rahmani / The Bulwark:
We Didn't Think Our American Friends Would Leave Us in the Dead of Night

Discussion: HuffPost, Politico, Washington Free Beacon, Breitbart, IJR, Religion News Service and Insider

Sarah Zheng / South China Morning Post:
China, Russia embassies stay put in Afghanistan as US and allies flee Taliban

Discussion: Tangle, Washington Examiner, Al Jazeera, Breitbart, Louder With Crowder, CNN, Forbes, Quartz, Variety, RedState, Associated Press, Fox News and Vox

Tom Porter / Insider:
The RNC deleted a webpage hailing Trump's Taliban deal as fighters swept Afghanistan, but says it was part of routine web maintenance

Discussion: Fox News, The Hill, Washington Examiner, HotAir, Breitbart, RedState, Mediaite, Newsbusters, Daily Kos, Bipartisan Report, Raw Story and The Intellectualist

Associated Press:
US officials say 7 killed in Kabul airport evacuation chaos

Discussion: Axios, The Times of Israel, The Daily Caller, globalnews.ca, The Nation, Breitbart, Associated Press and Fox News

Nicholas Fondacaro / Newsbusters:
NBC Whines GOP ‘Seized’ on ‘Optical Comparison’ Between Kabul/Saigon Airlifts

Discussion: HotAir

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, Raw Story, Balloon Juice 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: Raw Story, POLITICUSUSA and Mock Paper Scissors

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

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

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

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 …