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In terms of conventional warfare the Taliban’s rapid, unopposed advance had the effect of encircling and cutting off 10,000 or more US citizens and upwards of 50,000 Afghans from friendly lines. They are in the “bag”.

The best chance of relief lay in the first days when the situation was fluid and the “bag” was full of holes. But with each passing day, the dispersal of civilians fleeing for their lives and the consolidation of Taliban lines has tightened the ring and a sudden dash to freedom is now very difficult.

The obvious options remaining to Biden are to:

In an editorial published today, The Global Times suggested America’s abandonment of Afghanistan after 20 years was an “omen” for Taiwan’s “future fate”.

‘The US won’t help’: China threatens Taiwan

China has pounced on the United States’ botched withdrawal from Afghanistan, using it to threaten the island of Taiwan.

The Biden administration said today that Kabul’s airport was open for military and commercial flights and that the Taliban had pledged to permit civilians to reach the airfield. But thousands of people trying to exit Afghanistan can’t get to the airport in the capital of Kabul and Taliban fighters are searching the homes and offices of Afghans affiliated with Western governments and organizations.

Major Newspapers Push to Get Workers Out of Afghanistan

The Washington Post, New York Times and Wall Street Journal issued a joint statement to the Biden administration on Monday requesting safe passage for their journalists.

Don’t be surprised at how things have turned into a shit show. We’ve been swallowing ordure for a long time, ingesting lies by the bucketful. Men are women, math is racist, the UN can save the planet, money for nothing, mediocrity — nay incompetence — is justice and whatever you see with your own eyes is hurtful to believe if the media tells you so.

This will work well enough with political partisans but the hard rivals of America will see it for an exercise in trying to cast incompetence as resoluteness. They will note:

1. He didn’t anticipate the outcome of his own orders;
2. He spent a long time sequestered writing a speech;
3. His ultimate reaction was to deny the situation and pass the buck.

New at the Belmont Club. The Only Adults in the Room have your back.

After days in seclusion at Camp David, a politician gives a speech. Now it’s time to move on to a future which will be just like the now forgotten recent past. Back to climate change, intersectionality. Now where was I?

Last week, U.S. President Joe Biden’s administration urged the producer group to boost output to tackle rising gasoline prices it sees as a threat to the global economic recovery.

OPEC+ sees no need to meet U.S. call for more supply, sources say

OPEC and its allies, including Russia, believe oil markets do not need more oil than they plan to release in the coming months, despite U.S. pressure to add supplies to check an oil price rise, four sources told Reuters.

Revealing a double down, CYA and petty mind.

American intelligence sources say they correctly predicted the fall of Kabul. …

“This is a crisis of untold proportions,” Rep. Jackie Speier (D-Calif.) told NBC News Sunday as Taliban militants swept into Kabul. “This is an intelligence failure. We underestimated the Taliban and overestimated the resolve of the Afghan Army.”

But numerous U.S. officials tell ABC News that the opposite was true, insisting that key intelligence assessments had consistently informed policymakers that the Taliban could overwhelm the country and take the capital within weeks.

Afghanistan’s collapse: Did US intelligence get it wrong?

As the Taliban overtook Kabul Sunday, many Americans wondered how top Biden officials could have been so wrong in their assurances that Kabul would not easily fall.

An investigation by The Sunday Times has revealed efforts by Beijing to control the agency’s decision making, sabotage investigations and even install officials. …

It has also been suggested officials agreed a ‘backroom deal’ with the Chinese to water down the inquiry into the origins of Covid-19.

China’s secret deal with WHO to hide origins of Covid

An investigation has claimed China used ‘aggressive’ influence on the World Health Organisation to control decision making, sabotage investigations and even install preferred officials.

Beyond attempting to rescue Western sympathizers and intelligence assets from the Taliban there is little that can be done for Afghanistan. In time the Taliban will wear out its welcome and the merry go-round will turn again.

Biden is angry, humiliated and desperate. Yet he has not yet reached the dregs. The finger pointing, accusations of betrayal, the scramble to pass the buck are only just beginning.

It is the loss of confidence in assessments, assurances and estimates that will be noticed next.

In disasters of this magnitude heads have got to roll. Yet the one man most responsible will be the one to do the head rolling, ensuring that the next time — and there will be a next time — it will be worse.

New at the Belmont Club. Get the number of that truck! Look out it’s backing up to run you over again.

Biden Never Saw What Hit Him

Reality is inside his OODA loop

Among those to be evacuated will be Afghan interpreters and contractors who served alongside Australian Defence Force troops.

Australian military to evacuate hundreds from Afghanistan as Taliban advances

Australian troops will embark on a dangerous evacuation mission as early as this week, with the Taliban expected to soon launch an all-out assault on the Afghan capital Kabul.

New at the Belmont Club. Is the end nigh? Or is it just the second coming of Jimmy Carter?

Getting Ready for the End of the World

Elon Musk reprises When Worlds Collide

It started out as a fringe conspiracy theory touted by Donald Trump. Now the suggestion that the deadly coronavirus was leaked from a laboratory in China is gaining both scientific and political traction.

Why the coronavirus lab leak theory won’t go away

The idea that the pandemic began in a laboratory has moved from fringe theory to mainstream.

The demand seeks to stave off an evacuation of the embassy by dangling aid to future Afghan governments — even one that includes the Taliban.

U.S. Asks Taliban to Spare Its Embassy in Coming Fight for Kabul

The demand seeks to stave off an evacuation of the embassy by dangling aid to future Afghan governments — even one that includes the Taliban.

Joe Biden is facing simultaneous challenges.

1. The collapse of Afghanistan in place of a “decent interval”;
2. The resurgence of the Covid Delta variant in place of the anticipated reopening of society;
3. Looming inflation and economic problems in place of the anticipated boom.
4. The unending border crisis.