Ousted Afghan President Ashraf Ghani resurfaces in UAE after fleeing Kabul, Emirati government says  — Ousted Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, who fled his country as its capital Kabul was being overtaken by Taliban fighters, is now in the United Arab Emirates.

Biden Broke Our Deal With the Taliban  —  It's a foreign-policy humiliation unlike anything our country has endured since the Iran hostage crisis.  —  'The likelihood there's going to be the Taliban overrunning everything and owning the whole country [of Afghanistan] is highly unlikely," …

CIA's Former Counterterrorism Chief for the Region: Afghanistan, Not An Intelligence Failure — Something Much Worse  —  While it's certainly convenient to depict the shock and miscalculation U.S. officials claim over Afghanistan's tragic, rapid fall to the Taliban as an intelligence failure, the reality is far worse.

A First Amendment Precedent  —  The Supreme Court may reconsider a major case concerning freedom of the press.  The Times's Adam Liptak explains why.  —  Four years ago, at his Supreme Court confirmation hearings, Justice Neil M. Gorsuch indicated that a 1964 precedent protecting press freedom was secure.

The Taliban respond with force to an outpouring of public anger.  —  Even as the Taliban took their first steps to create a functioning government, they faced the first street protests on Wednesday against their takeover of Afghanistan, with demonstrations in at least two cities.

This Is Not the Taliban 2.0  —  When the Taliban first sacked Kabul 25 years ago, the group declared that it was not out for revenge, instead offering amnesty to anyone who had worked for the former government.  “Taliban will not take revenge,” a Taliban commander said then.  “We have no personal rancor.”

Taliban Block Routes to Kabul Airport, Hampering Evacuations From Afghanistan  —  Residents in eastern city of Jalalabad stage first protest against Taliban rule  —  Afghans and Westerners stranded in Kabul after Sunday's Taliban takeover started trickling into the city's U.S.-controlled airport …

U.S. reports more than 1,000 COVID deaths in single day  —  The United States reported more than 1,000 COVID-19 deaths on Tuesday, equating to around 42 fatalities an hour, according to a Reuters tally, as the Delta variant continues to ravage parts of the country with low vaccination rates.

Texas school district makes masks part of dress code to get around Gov. Abbott's order … A small Texas school district has made facial coverings part of its dress code, in a bid to get around Gov. Greg Abbott's executive order banning mask mandates.  —  The board of the Paris Independent …

U.S. announces plan to offer boosters to all Americans starting in late September  —  Top U.S. health officials announced Wednesday that the country has developed a plan to start offering Covid-19 booster shots to all Americans beginning the third week of September, citing evidence that protection …