| Welcome to The Daily 202 newsletter! Tell your friends to sign up here. On this day in 2013, the CIA publicly admitted for the first time its role in the 1953 coup that toppled Iranian Prime Minister Mohammad Mossadegh. President Biden is committed to ending the U.S. presence in Afghanistan. He's made that abundantly clear, for years, and lately expressed no regrets for withdrawing despite the violence and chaos that has plagued his withdrawal efforts over the past 10 days. But that doesn't mean his approach isn't potentially vulnerable to the same kind of mission creep the president has cited as a reason for troops to get out. Biden acknowledged yesterday his Aug. 31 deadline for fully withdrawing from Afghanistan could slip if he hasn't been able by then to evacuate the thousands of Americans still stuck in that war-torn country. That's just one of three ways senior U.S. officials told the public the complicated and dangerous mission to get an estimated 10,000-15,000 U.S. citizens and tens of thousands more Afghan civilians to safety could soon get … more complicated and dangerous. The other two — we'll get to them in more detail later — have to do with potential steps to get Americans safely to Hamid Karzai International Airport, and the possibility U.S. forces might seek alternatives to that hub, located in Kabul.  President Biden promised on Monday "our current military mission will be short in time, limited in scope, and focused in its objectives: Get our people and our allies to safety as quickly as possible." (Elizabeth Frantz/Reuters) | The president's comments highlighted how uncertain the situation is for Americans in Afghanistan, and how much the administration has had to adjust its operations on the fly after being caught by surprise by the speed with which Kabul fell. Biden's comments came in an interview with ABC News's George Stephanopoulos, who pressed him on the likely duration of the operation, which right now has some 5,200 U.S. troops controlling the airport, with more to come, while Taliban forces control the surrounding area. "So Americans should understand that troops might have to be there beyond Aug. 31st?" Stephanopoulos asked. "No," Biden replied. "Americans should understand that we're going to try to get it done before Aug. 31st." If that doesn't happen, the president said, "we'll determine at the time who's left" and "if there's American citizens left, we're going to stay 'til we get them all out." Biden also suggested the Taliban were — at least thus far — letting Americans through. "One of the things we didn't know is what the Taliban would do, in terms of trying to keep people from getting out. What they would do. What are they doing now? They're cooperating, letting American citizens get out, American personnel get out, embassies get out, etc., but they're having — we're having some more difficulty having those who helped us when we were in there," Biden said. But the U.S. Embassy in Kabul warned yesterday it "cannot ensure safe passage" to the airport. And some number of Americans aren't in Kabul. The trek to the capital since the collapse of the Afghan government and the ascent of the heavily armed Islamist militia U.S. forces pushed from power in late 2001 is obviously deeply dangerous. Prodded on this, Gen. Mark A. Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told reporters at the Pentagon that the State Department was "working with the Taliban to facilitate safe passage of American citizens, U.S. passport holders, to the airport. And that's the primary means, and under the current conditions, that's the primary effort. We have the capability to do other things if necessary." That prompted this question: "Well, can I ask you what that means? Because you also said there were international Special Forces there that have the capability to extract. And those words suggest very clearly, in the military realm, you would go get people." Milley replied: "Well, that would be a policy decision. And if directed, we have capabilities that can execute whatever we're directed." That, then, was the second way in which the mission could get more complex and dangerous: The president could order (that's what "a policy decision" suggests) the use of special forces to get Americans to the airport. Finally, there was Milley's reply to my colleagues Dan Lamothe and Greg Jaffe, who asked whether the United States might retake Bagram air base, roughly 40 miles north of Kabul, to expand the number of runways available to evacuating planes. "Great question, but I'm not going to discuss branches and sequels off of our current operation. I'll just leave it at that," the general replied, hardly dismissing the idea. His comments came as the 621st Contingency Response Wing deployed in Afghanistan. The unit's official website says it's a "highly-specialized in training and rapidly deploying personnel to quickly open airfields and establish, expand, sustain, and coordinate air mobility operations." There, then, is the third way things might get more complicated or dangerous — might being an important word here. In remarks on Monday, Biden had promised "our current military mission will be short in time, limited in scope, and focused in its objectives: Get our people and our allies to safety as quickly as possible." But, as Pentagon spokesman John Kirby noted in his briefing the same day, "plans are not always perfectly predictive" and there is "a well-known military maxim that plans don't often survive first contact, and you have to adjust in real time." | | | What's happening now Officials said they are investigating "an active bomb threat" near the Capitol this morning. "U.S. Capitol Police said in a Twitter message that they were checking out a suspicious vehicle near the Library of Congress in Washington. The Cannon, Jefferson and Madison office buildings have been evacuated. Police said there is a possible explosive device in a pickup truck outside the Library of Congress. Congress is not in session this week," Dana Hedgpeth, Paul Kane and Marianna Sotomayor report. "Metro said its trains on the Orange, Blue and Silver lines are bypassing the Capitol South station due to the situation. Shuttle buses are being requested, and riders are expected to see delays on those three lines. ... In an alert to those in the Cannon office building, officials said they should stay calm and relocate to the Longworth House Office Building, using the complex's tunnels." To start your day with a full political briefing, sign up for our Power Up newsletter. | | | More on Afghanistan More than 6 in 10 Americans say the war in Afghanistan was not worth fighting. - The view is largely shared by Democrats and Republicans alike, a new AP-NORC survey found, John Wagner reports.
- "The survey was conducted Aug. 12-16, as Taliban forces quickly made gains through the country. The Afghan government collapsed on Aug. 15 after the Taliban took over the capital, Kabul. ... Majorities of Democrats, Republicans and independents say the war was not worth fighting. Among Democrats, 29 percent say it was, while 67 percent say it wasn't. Among Republicans, 42 percent say it was, while 57 percent say it wasn't. For independents, 32 percent say it was, while 63 percent say it wasn't."
Divisions are emerging among Republicans over how to handle the Afghan refugee resettlement. - "Several congressional Republicans who have long warned against a hasty retreat from Afghanistan have been quick to say that the United States should welcome refugees fleeing the country to prevent a humanitarian crisis, especially Afghans who assisted the United States during the long war and women — two groups most likely to face violent retribution under the Taliban regime that has seized control," Marianna Sotomayor reports. "Several Republican governors have also expressed willingness to accept refugees into their states, especially Afghans who directly helped U.S. troops, diplomats and citizens over the past two decades."
- "But the nativist wing of the party that backed President Donald Trump's 'America First' agenda is warning that the Afghan refugees could pose a security threat and is stoking fears about where they would settle in the United States. Some on the right have characterized the arrival of Afghans as part of their broader 'replacement theory' warning — the idea that immigrants and particularly undocumented ones are 'replacing' natural-born Americans."
On Afghanistan's independence day, many staged protests challenging Taliban fighters. - "In the capital, men and women carried the black, red and green flags of the Afghan Republic, chanting, 'Our flag, our identity,' according to videos posted online. Afghanistan marks its independence from Britain on Aug. 19. The Taliban, which swept to power across Afghanistan earlier this week, flies a white banner bearing the Islamic declaration of faith," Erin Cunningham reports. "In Asadabad in Konar province, several people were killed during a rally Thursday, Reuters reported, quoting a witness. The agency said it was not clear whether the casualties resulted from the firing or from a stampede at the protest."
- "While the Taliban, for now, have a monopoly on the use of force, there is no functioning police service in any traditional sense. Instead, former fighters are patrolling checkpoints and — in many cases, according to witness accounts — administering the law as they see fit," the New York Times's Marc Santora and Victor Blue report.
The Taliban plans on implementing sharia rule. - "Afghanistan is likely to be run by the Taliban under a comparable system to the last time the Islamist militant group was in power, with a senior commander ruling out a democracy and saying that Islamic scholars will decide on the rights of women," Rachel Pannett reports. "Waheedullah Hashimi, a high-ranking Taliban commander, told Reuters that the country would probably be governed by a council of the group's leaders. The Taliban's supreme leader, Haibatullah Akhundzada, is likely to remain in charge, above the head of the council, whose role he likened to a president."
- "Hashimi, in the Reuters interview, hinted at a regime that could be as oppressive toward women as when the militants last ran Afghanistan. He said the right of women to education and work, and how they dress, would be decided by a council of Islamic scholars. It wasn't immediately clear if this council was the same group that could be appointed to run the country."
Afghan women are already fading from public view. - "Dr. Zuhal used to drive herself to work. This week, she started taking a taxi to avoid reprisals from the Taliban, who once banned women from driving. It didn't help. On the second day of the Taliban takeover, a Taliban gunman dragged the doctor, who didn't want to use her full name, out of the taxi and whipped her for filming the chaos surrounding the evacuations at the Kabul airport through her window. 'I cried the whole way home,' she said," the WSJ's Margherita Stancati and Jessica Donati report.
- "Already, women are retreating from the public sphere. Fawzia Koofi, an outspoken women's rights defender and former parliamentarian who is in Afghanistan, said she was unable to give interviews under the current circumstances. Fatima Gailani, one of the few women that negotiated with the Taliban as part of the Afghan government, declined to comment."
- "Any attempt to contact American or international refugee agencies is a risk that most Afghan women are not willing to take, [former and current U.S.] officials and activists said. Even going to the airport in Kabul, to try to secure a place on an American or international flight overflowing with anguished Afghans, has become a life-or-death decision," the Times's Lara Jakes reports.
The Taliban is being denied aid tagged for Afghanistan, but it's tapping the billion-dollar drug trade. - "The Biden administration is set to cut off the Taliban's access to billions of dollars in critical overseas finance, but some officials warn that the terror-group's income from drug sales and other illicit activities threatens to undermine Washington's last-resort pressure campaign," the WSJ's Ian Talley, Kate Davidson and Benoit Faucon report. "The U.S. has largely secured the backing it needs to block the Taliban's access to billions in reserves held at the International Monetary Fund and assistance pledged through the World Bank and other donor groups, according to people familiar with the matter."
- "Some U.S. officials warn that the Taliban's existing income streams may prove substantial enough to partially offset those losses. The group reaps revenue from narcotics smuggling and has set up a shadow government that includes a mining ministry, a customs bureaucracy and even a department that aids people with disabilities, according to a United Nations report."
The E.U. foreign policy chief says Afghanistan is "a catastrophe" as the bloc's staffers are evacuated. - " 'Let me speak clearly and bluntly: This is a catastrophe,' Josep Borrell, the E.U.'s high representative for foreign affairs, told the European Parliament. 'This is a catastrophe for the Afghan people, for the Western values and credibility, and for the developing of international relations.' The two decades of Western intervention in Afghanistan ended in failure, Borrell said, and the European Union must now 'ask ourselves some difficult questions,'" Reis Thebault reports. "What has happened raises many questions about the West's 20 years of engagement in the country and what we were able to achieve," he said.
| | | Quote of the day "I would have tried to figure out how to withdraw those troops, yes," Biden told ABC News's Stephanopoulos, when asked if he would have followed the same course had he not inherited the agreement negotiated under Trump. | | | The pandemic Biden said he and first lady Jill Biden will get their coronavirus vaccine booster shots when they are available. - "In an interview that aired Thursday on ABC's 'Good Morning America,' Biden said: 'We got our shots all the way back in, I think, December so it's past time,'" Adela Suliman and Bryan Pietsch report. "The Biden administration said it would begin offering coronavirus booster shots the week of Sept. 20, after concluding that a third shot is needed to fight off waning immunity."
Republican governors are embracing coronavirus cocktails over masks as cases surge. - "The governors in Florida, Missouri and Texas are promising millions of dollars in antibody treatments for infected people even as they oppose vaccine and mask mandates, saying they can potentially keep people with mild Covid symptoms out of hospitals that are being swamped by new cases. But the treatments and cost of providing them are thousands of dollars more than preventive vaccines, and tricky to administer because they work best early in the course of an infection," Politico's Dan Goldberg reports. "The push to medicate rankles public health officials and some within the Biden administration, who say the governors' stance misleadingly implies Covid-19 can be treated easily, like the common cold. They note treatments like Regeneron's antibody cocktail ... are essential but part of a limited arsenal to keep patients from being hospitalized or dying, not a game-changer that could help end the pandemic."
- "The red state officials are nonetheless forging ahead on antibody treatments. Florida's surgeon general on Monday issued a blanket prescription for Regeneron's cocktail so anyone in the state can receive it without a doctor's sign off. The federal government purchased more than 1.5 million doses of Regeneron's treatment for roughly $2,100 per dose. The drug is free to patients though states are paying to set up and staff sites to dispense the drug."
- "Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, who tested positive on Monday for Covid-19 and received Regeneron's cocktail, announced nine new antibody infusion centers last week, saying they can prevent hospitalizations. And Missouri plans to spend $15 million in CARES Act money to open and staff at least five new infusion centers across the state."
The CDC will create a new disease-forecasting center to improve its ability to use data to predict and gauge emerging health threats. - "The Center for Forecasting and Outbreak Analytics will accelerate access to data for public health decision-makers who need information 'in real-time' to mitigate the effects of disease threats, both domestically and abroad. It will also serve as a hub for innovation and research on disease modeling, the CDC said," Suliman and Jacqueline Dupree report.
The number of people traveling through U.S. airports hit a 10-week low on Tuesday. - "About 1.6 million people passed through TSA checkpoints on Tuesday — the lowest level since June 8. The number of daily travelers had been hovering around 2 million in recent weeks, and on some days in July surpassed pre-pandemic levels," Pietsch reports.
| | | Lunchtime reads from The Post - "Facebook shared new data about what's popular on its platform. The answers are deeply weird," writes Will Oremus: "The social giant announced that it will begin publishing a quarterly report of its own, called the 'Widely Viewed Content Report,' that slices its data along new lines to produce a very different set of rankings. Instead of presenting Facebook as a hotbed of right-leaning politics, the company's inaugural report presents a far weirder, messier, and spammier picture: the news feed as a junk-mail folder."
- "Federal judge rejects Trump-era permits for major Alaska oil project," by Joshua Partlow: "A federal judge on Wednesday threw out the permits for a controversial oil project planned for Alaska's North Slope, faulting the way the federal government had assessed its environmental impact, including how it might harm polar bears. ConocoPhillips's Willow project had been backed by both the Trump and Biden administrations, despite a host of concerns environmentalists and others raised about how the large operation might affect wildlife and the Indigenous communities."
| | | … and beyond - "Trump family friend, associate Ken Kurson re-arrested on cyber-stalking charges," by ABC News's Aaron Katersky: "Seven months after he was granted a pardon by then-President Donald Trump, Ken Kurson, a friend of Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner and a former associate of Rudy Giuliani, was arrested Wednesday in New York on new, state felony charges. Kurson received the pardon from Trump not long after federal prosecutors in Brooklyn charged him in October 2020 with cyberstalking related to his 2015 divorce. Kurson now faces charges of eavesdropping and computer trespassing filed by the Manhattan District Attorney's office."
- "The tweeters behind feeds like DC REALTIME NEWS make every shooting known," by Washington City Paper's Laura Hayes: "As news outlets move away from police blotter reporting and reconsider how they cover crime, accounts such as DC REALTIME NEWS are filling the spot news void. The urge to know why sirens are wailing outside will always be there and social media makes information free to access and easy to share. The self-proclaimed 'scanner boys' who operate these hyperactive accounts say they perform a public service in a region they all hail from."
- "'A smile with sharp teeth': Mike Richards's rise to 'Jeopardy!' host sparks questions about his past," by the Ringer's Claire McNear: "In recent weeks, questions about Richards have only intensified, with multiple lawsuits dating to his time as [executive producer] of The Price Is Right gaining attention after an early-August report that Richards was in advanced negotiations to secure the Jeopardy! host job. The lawsuits, two of which were settled out of court, focused on the mistreatment of female employees."
| | | Hot on the left "Larry David 'screamed' at Alan Dershowitz at grocery store over Trump ties." "Page Six strongly recommends that readers enjoy the following while playing the 'Curb Your Enthusiasm' theme in their heads. Dershowitz: 'We can still talk, Larry.' David: 'No. No. We really can't. I saw you. I saw you with your arm around [former Trump Secretary of State Mike] Pompeo! It's disgusting!' Dersh: 'He's my former student [at Harvard Law]. I greet all of my former students that way. I can't greet my former students?' David: 'It's disgusting. Your whole enclave — it's disgusting. You're disgusting!' Added the stunned source, 'Larry walks away. Alan takes off his T-shirt to reveal another T-shirt [underneath it] that says, 'It's The Constitution Stupid!'.' We're told Dersh 'drove off in an old, dirty Volvo.' Reached for comment, Dershowitz confirmed the exchange and told us that he and the 'Curb' creator had been friends for many years until the lawyer began working with the Trump camp." | | | Hot on the right "Trump's political operation has commissioned a poll showing Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp is vulnerable in a Republican primary," Politico's Alex Isenstadt reports. "The survey, which was paid for by Trump's Save America PAC, shows Kemp on shaky political ground among base Republican voters and suggests he would be at risk of losing the nomination to former Sen. David Perdue, a Trump ally who lost reelection earlier this year — but who hasn't publicly expressed interest in waging a primary challenge to Kemp." | | | Polling D.C. area residents about relocation, visualized One in 7 D.C.-area residents (15 percent) say they temporarily or permanently moved in the past year, according to data from a Washington Post-Schar School poll released this month, although most say their move was not related to the pandemic. | | | Today in Washington Biden and Vice President Harris met with their national security team to hear updates on Afghanistan this morning. The rest of their schedule for Thursday has no other public events. | | | In closing | Seth Meyers reviewed statements made by former Trump administration officials on Afghanistan:  | | | | | | |
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