United States of America eSeries: Chaos in Afghanistan

Sunday 08.15.21

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by Paul LeBlanc and Zachary B. Wolf

: The Taliban enters Kabul

The Taliban edged closer to solidifying control of Afghanistan on Sunday, including entering the presidential palace in Kabul hours after former President Ashraf Ghani fled the country.

The rapidly-evolving situation has prompted confusion and concern as the US and governments worldwide monitor the bitter end to nearly two decades of war.

Head here for CNN's latest reporting as the situation evolves.

Here's what you need to know about what happened this weekend and how we got here.

Where things stand

The presidential palace in Kabul has now been handed over to the Taliban after being vacated just hours earlier by officials of the US-backed government. The Taliban claimed the palace with three Afghan government officials present, according to Al Jazeera, which carried events live. One Taliban security official said there was a "peaceful handover of government facilities ongoing across the country."

Another spoke briefly in English to say that he had formerly been held by the US in Guantanamo, a claim that CNN cannot independently verify.

Afghan President flees. Ghani left the country on Sunday for Tajikistan, two sources told CNN.

Afghanistan's acting defense minister, General Bismillah Mohammadi, slammed the fleeing president in a brief tweet Sunday, writing: "They tied our hands behind our backs and sold the homeland, damn the rich man and his gang."

US embassy evacuated. Early Sunday, two sources familiar with the situation told CNN that the plan was to pull all US personnel from the embassy in Kabul over the next 72 hours. But hours later, most US embassy staff had been moved to Kabul airport for flights out of the country. The US flag is no longer flying over the building. More on the diplomatic evacuation here.

Foreign governments scrambling. The airport has become the focus of much international attention as foreign governments work to evacuate citizens.

Following reports of gunfire at the airport, the US embassy instructed all American citizens still in the country to shelter in place. "The security situation in Kabul is changing quickly including at the airport," it said in a security alert. "There are reports of the airport taking fire; therefore we are instructing US citizens to shelter in place."

How we got here

The US withdrawal from the country opened a clear path for the Taliban to take on and defeat the Afghan security forces. Many major cities fell with little to no resistance, including the key city of Jalalabad, which the Taliban seized on Sunday.

Biden officials admit miscalculation. The rapid fall of Afghanistan's national forces and government has come as a shock to President Joe Biden and senior members of his administration, who only last month believed it could take months before the civilian government in Kabul fell -- allowing a period of time after American troops left before the full consequences of the withdrawal were laid bare.

Now, officials are frankly acknowledging they are surprised by what's happened. "The fact of the matter is we've seen that that force has been unable to defend the country," Secretary of State Antony Blinken told CNN's Jake Tapper on "State of the Union," referring to Afghanistan's national security forces. "And that has happened more quickly than we anticipated." Read more here.

What comes next

The country is now facing the Taliban's return to power, which, if it's anything like it was in the 1990s, would mean a deterioration in civil liberties, particularly for women and girls whose freedoms grew under the civilian government.

Terror groups could reconstitute soon. In a briefing for senators on Sunday morning, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley said terrorist groups like al Qaeda could reconstitute in Afghanistan sooner than the two years defense officials had previously estimated to Congress because of the recent, rapid Taliban takeover of the country, according to a Senate aide briefed on the comments.

The situation could result in a rising counterterrorism threat, just as the 20th anniversary of the September 11, 2001, Al Qaeda attacks approaches.

Additional US troops headed to Afghanistan. US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin on Sunday approved 1,000 more US troops into Afghanistan, a defense official told CNN, for a total of 6,000 US troops who will be in country soon. Their primary mission is securing Kabul's airport.

Next steps are still being debated. Discussions are underway among top White House advisers on how Biden should address the deepening crisis, officials said Sunday. No final decision has yet been reached about whether the President will return to Washington from Camp David, the presidential retreat where he was vacationing.

UN Security Council to meet Monday. UN Secretary-General António Guterres is expected to brief the Council, with private consultations to follow.

In remarks on Friday, Guterres called on the Taliban to halt their offensive in Afghanistan and didn't directly answer when asked what he would say to those who feel Afghanistan has been abandoned by the international community.

Expect scrutiny from Congress. Already, some lawmakers are demanding more information from the administration on how its intelligence could have so badly misjudged the situation on the ground, or why more robust contingency plans for evacuating Americans and their allies weren't in place.

: The Covid crisis is deepening

That's what CNN medical analyst Dr. Jonathan Reiner said this weekend as Covid-19 cases continue to escalate among unvaccinated Americans.

"It's not just the beds. Many hospitals can find beds in places like parking structures or cafeterias. But it's qualified people to staff those beds. And the United States is critically short on ICU nurses, so finding the qualified staff to take care of critically ill patients becomes increasingly hard," said Reiner, a professor of medicine and surgery at George Washington University.

Young, unvaccinated people are getting sick. The rate of new Covid-19 hospitalizations among people in their 30s increased by nearly 300% over the past month, according to an analysis of data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

US crosses 50% vaccinated. As of Sunday, 50.7% of the total US population was fully vaccinated, CDC data shows.

Not all masks are created equal. "Quality of masks really matters," CNN medical analyst Dr. Leana Wen said Saturday. "Don't send your child to school with a cloth face covering. Use as least a three-ply surgical mask and, ideally, an N95 or KN95 if your child is old enough and can tolerate it."

Businesses add vaccination filters on Yelp. Meanwhile, as more cities and businesses begin to require vaccinations, the review website Yelp has implemented filters that allow customers to find out which businesses require proof of vaccination or have a fully vaccinated staff.

: More from the weekend

Hochul vows course correction in New York. "It won't be difficult for me. Everyone who has known my career over 27 years of elected office knows that I have very high ethical standards and I will go in there and literally say, 'It is a whole new day.' Zero tolerance," New York Lt. Gov. Kathy Hochul, who will make history as the female governor of New York when she takes over from resigning Gov. Andrew Cuomo, told CNN's Jake Tapper on "State of the Union."

Stay-in-Mexico immigration policy could return. A federal judge in Texas has ordered the Biden administration to revive a Trump-era border policy that required migrants to stay in Mexico until their US immigration court date.

Landlords aim to block eviction moratorium in court. Landlord groups challenging the Biden administration's eviction moratorium are now turning to the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit to try to block the extension of the moratorium.

Haiti earthquake death toll tops 1,200. The Haitian government declared a state of emergency after a 7.2-magnitude earthquake struck the country Saturday, leaving at least 1,297 people dead, Haiti's Head of Civil Protection Jerry Chandler told CNN.

: What are we doing here?

We're trying to connect the dots at a time of political, cultural and economic upheaval.