More than 3,000 U.S. troops will be deployed to Afghanistan to help ensure the safety of officials leaving the country, including those from the U.S. embassy, the Pentagon says.https://t.co/dfzHpujAY2
— MSNBC (@MSNBC) August 12, 2021
The Pentagon is moving thousands of Marines into position for a possible evacuation of the American Embassy and U.S. citizens in Kabul as the Biden administration braces for a possible collapse of the Afghan government within 30 days, officials said. https://t.co/DLdZlvPjNq
— The New York Times (@nytimes) August 12, 2021
If there are clear signs that the Afghan government will not stand long against the Taliban without U.S. support, why is the Biden Administration pressing on with the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan? @sbg1 weighs in. https://t.co/efGvsYtGgY
— The New Yorker (@NewYorker) August 13, 2021
The Biden administration “does not want a Saigon-reminiscent, last-minute rescue of Americans at the embassy.” But that’s pretty much what they’ve got.
— Eli Stokols (@EliStokols) August 12, 2021
>Read @TracyKWilkinson on an Afghanistan on the brink. https://t.co/AJoyWlu6Up
"The decision marks a tacit admission that the United States is uncertain how long it can ensure the safety of its staff in a country where conditions are changing on a daily, and sometimes hourly, basis." @DanLamothe and me https://t.co/uvDIVqsvDy
— Missy Ryan (@missy_ryan) August 12, 2021
The U.S. Embassy in Afghanistan is urging Washington to evacuate Afghans under threat because of their work with the U.S. government — warning they cannot get out on their own and are in desperate need, according to internal cable obtained by @ABC News. https://t.co/9BSVtUJueF
— ABC News (@ABC) August 12, 2021
In #PostLetters: Bring all the Afghan interpreters over now https://t.co/F2KZCG5BPs
— Washington Post Opinions (@PostOpinions) August 12, 2021
BREAKING: Afghan officials say the Taliban have taken the southern city of Kandahar, the 12th provincial capital out of 34 to fall to the insurgents. https://t.co/nWik3KTm5D
— The Associated Press (@AP) August 12, 2021
Afghanistan gov’t offers to share power with Taliban: Official https://t.co/mWKVJNC3EN
— Al Jazeera English (@AJEnglish) August 12, 2021
Doha talks on Afghanistan end with call for accelerated peace process, halt to attacks https://t.co/0Kr5rItiIc pic.twitter.com/DJFlBDWbhk
— Reuters (@Reuters) August 12, 2021
"new Chinese military and intelligence assessments of the realities on the ground in Afghanistan have prompted leaders in the Chinese Communist Party to prepare to formalize their relationship with the insurgent network" https://t.co/ENP99pdx4M
— Shashank Joshi (@shashj) August 12, 2021
"Imagine what the people of Afghanistan … are feeling. They are trapped," fmr. Afghan Ambassador to the U.S. Roya Rahmani says of the deployment of 3,000 U.S. troops to Afghanistan to aid in the withdrawal of American officials as Taliban forces move in. https://t.co/cYhEYoGMAG
— MSNBC (@MSNBC) August 12, 2021
There is much to regret about all of this this, but tonight I’m thinking in particular of Afghanistan’s women and girls 🙏🏽 https://t.co/3KWgmsPRKH
— Pippa Crerar (@PippaCrerar) August 12, 2021
“The United States’ leverage to preserve at least some [women’s rights] and privileges is limited and diminishing. But it is hardly zero.” Read John R. Allen and @VFelbabBrown’s 2020 piece with helpful context on the rights of women in Afghanistan. https://t.co/awafArNLbJ
— Brookings Institution (@BrookingsInst) August 12, 2021
“There’s fear, there’s concern.”
— BBC Newsnight (@BBCNewsnight) August 12, 2021
Afghan journalist @bsarwary tells @faisalislam that events in Afghanistan have “shattered the hope of the Afghan people in the future of the country”#Newsnight
READ MORE: https://t.co/47xQSRXgvj pic.twitter.com/mKljdCNCwu
#BREAKING Global News can confirm Canadian Special Operations Forces are gearing up to deploy to Afghanistan and evacuate Canadians at the embassy.
— Mercedes Stephenson (@MercedesGlobal) August 12, 2021
Sources tell Global News the embassy is being shut down and is in full rip out mode.
Britain sends troops to Afghanistan to help evacuate staff and citizens https://t.co/PM9kPdSZAU pic.twitter.com/n6CD3DVPIr
— Reuters (@Reuters) August 12, 2021
The War in Afghanistan was a horrendous waste, a criminal waste, of human lives, human potential and a fortune that could have gone to improving people's lives and was instead grifted by a consortium of arm's manufacturers and their kin. https://t.co/xQoEwuhRnY
— Robert Evans (The Only Robert Evans) (@IwriteOK) August 12, 2021
Afghanistan
— John Robb (@johnrobb) August 12, 2021
20 years of nation-building
2,312 US soldiers killed, 20k + wounded
$2.4 trillion spent — $114,285 for every person in the country, at the time we arrived
Collapses immediately upon the start of withdrawal
A war of nearly two decades’ standing, 3500 Western forces killed, unknown thousands of Afghan civilians with them, two trillion dollars spent and Afghanistan looks to be heading back to something close to where it started. https://t.co/Hs7dFugp5w
— Lewis Goodall (@lewis_goodall) August 12, 2021
The Overnight Note 