Biden gambles he can plow through Afghan crisis . . . President Biden made a big bet in his unapologetic speech from the White House on Monday.c“I stand squarely behind my decision” to withdraw all U.S. forces from Afghanistan, he said. Biden’s gamble is that the American people will fundamentally agree with the decision — and that the traumatic images of the last few days will fade from voters’ minds rather than leave a lasting scar on his political reputation. Biden is hoping that, in the end, voters will shrug their shoulders about the future of a faraway place in which the U.S. military got bogged down for two decades. A conflict that had until recently faded from the American public consciousness is now dominating everything else on Biden’s political agenda. The Hill

 

Blinken reaches out to China and Russia on Afghanistan . . . 
Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Monday spoke with his counterparts in China and Russia about the security situation in Afghanistan. The calls come as both Beijing and Moscow have signaled an openness to recognizing and working with the Taliban, which over the weekend swiftly ousted the Western-backed government in Kabul.  Blinken spoke separately with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi about developments in Afghanistan. In a phone call with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, Blinken discussed U.S. efforts to bring American citizens and vulnerable Afghans to safety. The outreach to China and Russia signals a push by the Biden administration to unite the international community as a bulwark against the Taliban’s push to seek legitimacy for its takeover of the country. The Hill

 

Taliban leader was freed from Guantanamo Bay in 2014 swap by Obama . . . When then-President Barack Obama released five Taliban commanders from the Guantanamo Bay prison in exchange for an American deserter in 2014, he assured a wary public the dangerous enemy combatants would be transferred to Qatar and kept from causing any trouble in Afghanistan. In fact, they were left free to engineer Sunday’s sacking of Kabul.

Soon after gaining their freedom, some of the notorious Taliban Five pledged to return to fight Americans in Afghanistan and made contacts with active Taliban militants there. But the Obama-Biden administration turned a blind eye to the disturbing intelligence reports, and it wasn’t long before the freed detainees used Qatar as a base to form a regime in exile. Eventually, they were recognized by Western diplomats as official representatives of the Taliban during recent “peace” talks. New York Post

U.S. Afghan pullout weighs heavy on vets
Muted reaction mirrors uncertain future . . . Joe Chenelly, a former U.S. Marine who was there at the beginning as part of the U.S. invasion force in Afghanistan after the 9/11 attacks in 2001, is not happy with how the longest war in American history is coming to a close. U.S. military personnel who fought there, in a high number of cases serving multiple tours, at first thought they were part of a new “Greatest Generation” that had mobilized to avenge the wrongs that terrorists had done to their country, Mr. Chenelly said. But with President Biden’s decision to pull out all American military personnel from Afghanistan and the U.S.-backed government in Kabul on increasingly shaky ground, Mr. Chenelly said he is worried that if the Taliban return to power, any gains won through the sacrifice of so many U.S. military personnel over the years will soon be wiped out. Nearly 800,000 U.S. troops deployed at least once to the country. Two thousand died, and another 20,000 suffered grievous wounds. But as with the Vietnam War, those who served have been coming to terms with the fact that the U.S. is pulling out with the job undone, with allies still in peril, and with the enemy they ousted 20 years ago scoring success after success on the battlefield. Washington Times

China Conducts Live-Fire Military Drills South of Taiwan . . . China announced naval and aerial live-fire military exercises in areas south of Taiwan Tuesday. Combat ships, anti-submarine aircrafts and fighter jets were among the forces that joined the exercises “to test integrated operational capability” in territory southwest and southeast of Taiwan, Shi Yi, spokesperson of the People’s Liberation Army’s Eastern Theater Command, said in a statement. Shi described the drill as a “necessary activity in response to the recent situation in the Taiwan Strait,” adding that the repeated collusion between the U.S. and Taiwan had become “the largest source of trouble” for the security and stability in the area. The Taiwanese Defense Ministry said in a text message that it had “full control of the latest activity and situation in Taiwan Strait and neighboring air and sea space” and was ready to respond accordingly. Bloomberg

 

China Touts ‘U.S. Humiliation’ in Afghanistan in Warning to Taiwan . . . China says "U.S. humiliation" in Afghanistan should be a warning sign to Taiwan and other U.S allies in the region that the American military "won't come to help" if war breaks out in the future. As Taliban militants reclaim control of war-torn Afghanistan after the Biden administration's decision to remove all U.S. troops from the country, China is stepping in to fill the power vacuum. Communist Party officials have been talking to Taliban leaders, and China's embassy in Afghanistan is operating normally, even as the United States conducts an emergency evacuation of its personnel in the country. Chinese state-controlled media and Communist Party loyalists gloated on Sunday over America's "humiliation" as the Taliban marched into the Afghan capital, Kabul, forcing U.S.-backed president Ashraf Ghani to flee the country while his government crumbled. Washington Free Beacon

 

 

 

CDC action heats up debate over vaccine boosters . . . The debate over COVID vaccine boosters is intensifying after federal health authorities authorized a third dose of the vaccine for immunocompromised people last week. Health experts said the decision made sense, but the move is likely to spur more confusion than clarity about the need for a booster dose.  The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Food and Drug Administration made clear they authorized a third dose, not a booster, because the shots are considered part of the primary vaccine series.  According to officials, data increasingly show that some people with compromised immune systems do not get the full benefit after just two doses. The Hill

Judges show wide latitude for exemptions to college COVID vaccine mandates . . . SCOTUS lets Indiana University mandate take effect, judge says UConn is liberal with exemptions. Universities with an exemption process for COVID-19 vaccine mandates - no matter how arbitrary, limited or ephemeral - are finding favor with judges in legal challenges, most recently involving the University of Connecticut. U.S. District Judge Jeffrey Meyer dismissed a lawsuit Monday by two students and one parent challenging UConn's vaccine mandate for students, finding that he doesn't have jurisdiction. "The plaintiffs raise important constitutional questions" about whether and how the government can "condition access to public education on a student's sacrifice of his or her right against unwanted medical treatment in the form of a highly invasive injection of a yet-to-be fully approved vaccine," the judge said. But two of them received exemptions after filing suit, while the third refused to apply on the basis that the exemption process was "unconstitutionally vague." Just the News

Parents Increasingly Fight for Control . . . Bad policies from school boards have had at least one unintended good effect.

Lately parents have become more active in the debate around what and how their children should be taught in public schools. Parents are weighing in on curriculum about “systemic racism,” policies about vaccinating children without parental consent, and the front-and-center debate of whether a child needs to wear a mask for the school day. The Left may be pushing wrong policies, but more parental involvement is a good thing. The political Left teaches that America is racist because it was founded through oppression, prejudice, and white privilege. Kids are being taught racism and how to affix blame using racism, not how to prevent it. Whether it’s called Critical Race Theory (CRT) or some other clever name used to camouflage the activism taught as supplemental curriculum in our schools, this indoctrination has been exposed, causing many states to ban the passing on of this mindset. Patriot Post