Afghanistan

The bustling metropolis of six million saw businesses shut as people stayed indoors after the Taliban took over. The first day of what the Taliban calls the “Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan” saw Kabul, a bustling metropolis of six million, turn into a slow, male-dominated city without police or traffic controls …

The Taliban victory is a major humiliation for the US, but perhaps that’s the silver lining of the Afghan tragedy. Last week’s turn of events in Afghanistan has been utterly shocking but hardly surprising. The Taliban’s blistering takeover of the country’s main cities was breathtaking in its speed and ease, …

Members of the U.S. Congress, including many of President Jo e Biden’s fellow Democrats, said on Tuesday they were increasingly frustrated with events in Afghanistan, and they vowed to investigate what went wrong. “The events of recent days have been the culmination of a series of mistakes made by Republican …

As the Taliban takes ov er Afghanistan, it has freed thousands of prisoners, including top leaders affiliated with al Qaeda and ISIS, a move likely to complicate U.S. efforts to evacuate personnel from Kabul. The release of more than 5,000 prisoners from Bagram Air Base, which the Taliban captured during …

Muslims, people of color, and formerly incarcerated individuals are heavily represented in militant group’s leadership President Joe Biden and his Democratic allies claim to value diversity and inclusion in government, but their actions suggest otherwise. They have praised Biden’s cabinet as the “most diverse” in American history, yet they refuse …

As the United States continues to mount an evacuation effort from Afghanistan, not all foreigners are headed for the exits, as regional powers begin to assess their positions as the country comes under a new regime. No immediate bonanza awaits Afghanistan’s prospective partners. It remains one of the poorest countries …

American media and other politicians, and the people they pay to say things, are locked up tight with the demise in Afghanistan. How could anyone let this happen? Who’s to blame for these precipitous – they claim — events? What awful chaos at the airport! The answers are as vacuous …

Globally, there is not a friend or foe who doesn’t see that America’s reliability as an ally has been demolished. Great Britain, which has troops in Afghanistan, was not even consulted. Thousands of Americans awaiting instructions and with no way to get to an airport whose access is now controlled …

The Turkish government is eyeing a more independent — and riskier — role in Afghanistan after the Taliban’s blitz takeover of Kabul sidelined the United States earlier than expected. Ankara was perhaps among those most taken aback by the Taliban’s whirlwind takeover of Kabul and the earlier-than-expected US departure from …

Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said that the U.S. will continue to evacuate all the Americans “they can” from Afghanistan, although the U.S. is currently unable to “go out and collect large numbers of people” from outside the Kabul airport. “It’s obvious we’re not close to where we want to …