Wretchard.com

“And he’s still alive.”

In the call, Biden offered aid if Ghani could publicly project he had a plan to control the spiraling situation in Afghanistan. “We will continue to provide close air support, if we know what the plan is,” Biden said. Days before the call, the U.S. carried out air strikes to support Afghan security forces, a move the Taliban said was in violation of the Doha peace agreement.

Reuters

Exclusive: Before Afghan collapse, Biden pressed Ghani to ‘change perception’

In the last call between U.S. President Joe Biden and his Afghanistan counterpart before the Taliban seized control of the country, the leaders discussed military aid, political strategy and messaging tactics, but neither Biden nor Ashraf Ghani appeared aware of or prepared for the immediate danger …

When Taliban fighters seized control of Kabul two weeks ago, the invading units made a beeline for two critical targets: the headquarters of the National Security Directorate and the Ministry of Communications.

Their aim — recounted by two Afghan officials who had been briefed separately on the raid — was to secure the files of intelligence officers and their informers, and to obtain the means of tracking the telephone numbers of Afghan citizens. That could be disastrous for hundreds of thousands of people who had been working to counter the Taliban threat.

NYT

Some Afghans say that enemies of the Taliban have begun to disappear.

World|Some Afghans say that enemies of the Taliban have begun to disappear.

But it also contains details on the individuals’ military specialty and career trajectory, as well as sensitive relational data such as the names of their father, uncles, and grandfathers, as well as the names of the two tribal elders per recruit who served as guarantors for their enlistment. This turns what was a simple digital catalogue into something far more dangerous, according to Ranjit Singh, a postdoctoral scholar at the nonprofit research group Data & Society who studies data infrastructures and public policy. He calls it a sort of “genealogy” of “community connections” that is “putting all of these people at risk.”

MIT Technology Review

This is the real story of the Afghan biometric databases abandoned to the Taliban

By capturing 40 pieces of data per person—from iris scans and family links to their favorite fruit—a system meant to cut fraud in the Afghan security forces may actually aid the Taliban.

On Saturday night I had just sat down to have a drink with a friend when he got a call. He apologized for having to take it, but it was urgent: it was about the Afghan women’s orchestra. They were stuck in Kabul and desperate to get out. He was involved in the effort to extract them.

Bari Weiss

Inside the Underground Railroad Out of Afghanistan

A list of 500 Afghans was shared with me. Then I was asked to choose five.

New at the Belmont Club. The enemy always gets a vote, however masterful Washington’s new plan.

Joe’s Next Surefire Over the Horizon Strategy

Plan B

Joe Biden “will remember” comments about his mental acuity emanating from senior figures in the UK, and will “bear a grudge” against Britain, sources told the Telegraph

Telegraph

Joe Biden ‘holds grudges’ and will punish Britain for Afghanistan criticism, allies say

British Cabinet insiders were quoted as suggesting the US president ‘looked gaga’ and described him as ‘doolally’

President Joe Biden said Friday that China was withholding “critical information” on the origins of Covid-19 after the US intelligence community said it did not believe the virus was a bioweapon — but remained split on whether it escaped from a lab.

Yahoo

Biden says China still withholding ‘critical information’ on Covid origins

President Joe Biden said Friday that China was withholding “critical information” on the origins of Covid-19 after the US intelligence community said it did not believe the virus was a bioweapon — but remained split on whether it escaped from a lab.

Pakistan, nominally a U.S. partner in the war, was the Afghan Taliban’s main patron, and sees the Taliban’s victory as its own. But now what does it do with its prize?

NYT

The Real Winner of the Afghan War? It’s Not Who You Think.

Pakistan, nominally a U.S. partner in the war, was the Afghan Taliban’s main patron, and sees the Taliban’s victory as its own. But now what does it do with its prize?

The US president has also reaffirmed the 31 August deadline for troops to leave Afghanistan and says forces will fly out as many people as possible before that date.

SBS

‘We will hunt you down’: Joe Biden vows revenge for deadly Kabul airport attack

The US president has also reaffirmed the 31 August deadline for troops to leave Afghanistan and says forces will fly out as many people as possible before that date.

But with no “smoking gun” and limited access to raw data, discussion of the science has played out in a haze of circumstantial evidence … international scientists tasked with studying the virus’ origins warned Wednesday that another crucial window is “closing fast”: the shrinking opportunity for any thorough scientific study to be completed. As time wears on, potential evidence wanes, and tracing back biologic breadcrumbs will yield diminishing returns, said more than ten of the authors of a World Health Organization-led report that is urging action to “fast-track the follow-up scientific work required” for better answers by the WHO.

ABC News

Biden briefed on US intel assessment of COVID-19’s origins

President Joe Biden has been briefed on a classified report from his intelligence community probing the origins of COVID-19, White House officials tell ABC News.

Kentucky’s Republican congressmen are asking President Joe Biden to keep U.S. troops in Afghanistan until all Americans and Afghan allies have been evacuated.

McClatchy

The Biden administration has exposed itself as incapable of making basic prudential decisions, and then compounding it with outrageous statements by the president, Pentagon brass, and the State Department that have many Americans asking, “What were you thinking?” 

The Hill

Biden’s weak leadership is now America’s top national security threat

The Biden administration has exposed itself as incapable of making basic decisions, and then compounding it with outrageous statements.

“in light of the New York Attorney General’s report, and Andrew Cuomo’s subsequent resignation as Governor, it is rescinding his special 2020 International Emmy Award. His name and any reference to his receiving the award will be eliminated from International Academy materials going forward.”

Variety

International Emmys Takes Back Former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s Honorary Emmy Award

The International Academy of Television Arts and Sciences has taken back the honorary Emmy it had awarded then-New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo last year. In a statement, the org announced on Tuesday tha…

“It was a deep dive, but you can only go so deep as the situation allows,” one U.S. official said. “If China’s not going to give access to certain data sets, you’re never really going to know.”

WSJ

New U.S. Intelligence Report Doesn’t Provide Definitive Conclusion on Covid-19 Origins

The assessment didn’t yield a definitive conclusion on whether the new coronavirus jumped to humans naturally, or via a lab leak, heightening the challenge of getting answers from China.

Military advisers have told the White House that the decision must be made by Tuesday in order to have enough time to withdraw the 5,800 troops currently on the ground, as well as their equipment and weapons. If the President agrees, the military anticipates “a few more days” of trying to evacuate as many people as possible before the drawdown of US forces begins, possibly at the end of this week.

CNN

US military gives Biden a deadline to decide on extending Afghanistan evacuations

The US military is advising President Joe Biden that he must decide by Tuesday whether to extend the evacuation in Afghanistan beyond August 31, according to a defense official directly familiar with the discussions, though Biden has yet to make a decision.

Her difficult journey contradicts President Biden’s assertion that anyone with an American passports would be allowed through checkpoints.

Daily Mail

British troops help American Washington Post reporter evacuate

British troops evacuating brits from Afghanistan helped escort an American Washington Post reporter Savannah George and her Afghan colleagues to safety in Kabul airport.

New at the Belmont Club. Biden is a bigger strategic danger than the Taliban.

Chaos on the Ground, Collapse at the Top

Command failure

Biden makes a potentially huge and elementary mistake in the full view of America’s enemies. He is basing his extraction actions on his estimate of the Taliban’s intentions and what he perceives to be “their self-interest” rather than US capability. Time is working against him and for the enemy, and he seems not to appreciate the significance.