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August 17th, 2021 
Awake Goy 
Afghan leaders unable to fight for country’s future, says Biden
Joe Biden has faced criticism for blaming the Taliban’s takeover on Afghanistan officials and Donald Trump while standing firmly by his own decision to withdraw US troops.
The US president insisted he had to decide between asking American forces to fight endlessly in what he called Afghanistan’s civil war or follow through on an agreement to withdraw negotiated by his predecessor.
He faced a barrage of criticism, including from British MPs, who branded his speech “grotesque”, after going on to blame the Taliban’s takeover on Afghan political leaders who fled and its army’s unwillingness to fight.
Former president George Bush broke his silence on Afghanistan on Tuesday, issuing a statement addressing serving troops, diplomats and US intelligence officials.
Mr Bush and his wife Laura wrote: “Some of your brothers and sisters in arms made the ultimate sacrifice in the war on terror. Each day, we have been humbled by your commitment and your courage.”
White House: Hamid Karzai Airport is open with flights resuming
Hamid Karzai Airport in Kabul is open and flights are resuming, a White House official says.
The US has moved out over 700 people (including 150 Americans) in the last 24 hrs.
1,000 troops have come into the country, bringing the total US on the ground troops to 3,500. More are arriving today.
The State Department has contacted some Americans in Afghanistan with instructions on how to “safely assemble at the airport for flights out,” Annie Linskey of The Washington Post reports.
Oliver O’Connell17 August 2021 14:48
Biden wouldn’t have gone to Camp David had they known
From The Washington Post:
One close Biden foreign policy ally, who is in regular contact with the White House and the State Department, said the president’s team would never have let him leave for Camp David had they known just how quickly Afghanistan would implode amid the president’s decision to withdraw all US troops by Sept. 11.
Oliver O’Connell17 August 2021 14:40
Pentagon urged State Department to act quicker, says report
Reporting by CNN sheds light on the blame game occurring within the US government over the debacle in getting US citizens and Afghan allies out of Afghanistan.
Department of Defense officials claim they urged the State Department to act faster, but their counterparts at State say they were operating based on intelligence that suggested they had more time.
Intelligence officials insist that they had long predicted a rapid takeover of the country by the Taliban.
Oliver O’Connell17 August 2021 14:28
Taliban says US must stick to 9/11 exit date
A spokesperson for the Taliban has said the US should “withdraw all their forces” from Afghanistan by 9/11, but that it was “committed not to attack them”, after the militant group retook Kabul.
Suhail Shaheen, in an interview with Sky News on Tuesday, said the Taliban had already announced a “general amnesty” to people in Afghanistan, and that it would not attack remaining US forces in the country.
Oliver O’Connell17 August 2021 14:14
White House announces $500m fund for Afghan refugees
The Biden administration has announced a $500m fund to help Afghan refugees displaced by the Taliban offensive.
In a memorandum released late on Monday, the president said he was making an amount “not to exceed $500m from the United States Emergency Refugee and Migration Assistance Fund for the purpose of meeting unexpected urgent refugee and migration needs of refugees, victims of conflict, and other persons at risk as a result of the situation in Afghanistan”.
“Such assistance may be provided on a bilateral or multilateral basis as appropriate, including through contributions to international organizations and through funding to other nongovernmental organizations, governments, and United States departments and agencies,” Mr Biden said.
Tom Batchelor17 August 2021 13:59
British MPs attack Biden’s ‘grotesque’ Afghanistan speech as ‘devoid of empathy’
Conservative MPs in the UK have reacted with anger to Joe Biden’s speech justifying his decision to pull US troops out of Afghanistan while placing blame on the country’s political leaders, with one MP describing it as “grotesque”.
The former Tory MP Rory Stewart also described the speech to The Independent as “hollowed, devoid of empathy, and naively pessimistic”.
Here is the story:
Tom Batchelor17 August 2021 13:42
Fox News anchor condemned for comments on Afghan refugees
Tucker Carlson has claimed bringing Afghan refugees to the US would be an “invasion”, despite many being hunted down by the Taliban for working with American and Nato forces.
The Fox News anchor told viewers: “If history is any guide, and it’s always a guide, we will see many refugees from Afghanistan resettle in our country in coming months, probably in your neighbourhood.”
My colleague Gino Spocchia has more on this:
Chiara Giordano17 August 2021 13:25
US to evacuate as many US citizens and Afghan interpreters as possible in coming weeks, says Pentagon spokesman
The United States will seek to evacuate as many US citizens and Afghan interpreters as possible in coming weeks, Pentagon spokesman John Kirby has confirmed, adding that Americans could again make their way to Kabul’s airport.
In a series of US television interviews, Mr Kirby said the US military, including thousands of incoming troops, were squarely focused on airport operations and security.
“We remain committed to completing this drawdown in a safe and orderly way, and to doing what we can to getting as many of our American citizens out as well as many of those interpreters and translators” who assisted US forces, he told MSNBC.
“We’re going to work really hard in the coming weeks to get as many of them out of the country as we can.”
The spokesman told CNN between 5,000 and 10,000 US citizens were believed to remain in the Kabul area, and that the United States could move between 5,000 and 9,000 people out of Kabul per day.
Three US military bases were prepared to accept up to 22,000 Afghan allies in the coming weeks, he added.
More than 700 people, including more than 150 US citizens, have been evacuated in the past 24 hours, according to Mr Kirby.
Chiara Giordano17 August 2021 13:05
Bush breaks silence on Afghanistan withdrawal and insists ‘sacrifice’ wasn’t in vain
Former president George Bush has broken his silence on Afghanistan, issuing a statement addressing serving troops, diplomats and US intelligence officials.
In a joint statement, Mr Bush and his wife Laura wrote: “Some of your brothers and sisters in arms made the ultimate sacrifice in the war on terror. Each day, we have been humbled by your commitment and your courage.”
My colleague Jade Bremner has more details:
Chiara Giordano17 August 2021 12:46
Democrats ride trains and buses to spotlight spending push
US Democrats are riding buses and trains and holding roundtable discussions this summer as they make the case that a government spending blitz backed by Joe Biden is improving voters’ lives ahead of 2022 congressional elections.
In New Jersey last week, representative Tom Malinowski rode a train with transportation secretary Pete Buttigieg to highlight the benefits of a $1 trillion infrastructure package that he said would upgrade train service, roads and bridges and water pipes in the state.
“There’s not a town among the 75 towns I represent that won’t benefit in some way,” he told a news conference in the town of Westfield, a New York City suburb.
Along with the bipartisan infrastructure bill, which has passed the Senate and is pending in the House, Democrats are backing an even larger, $3.5 trillion social policy measure.
The party’s pitch is getting a road test ahead of the November 2022 congressional elections. Democrats control the House of Representatives and the Senate by narrow margins and are acutely aware of the real risk of losing that majority next year.
A memo from senior House Democrats stressed the party’s message “must stay laser-focused on the substance of what we are getting done and how it will make life better for the people we serve.”
Chiara Giordano17 August 2021 12:33
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