The history of the Taliban is crucial in understanding their success now – and also what might happen next

The history of the Taliban is crucial in understanding their success now – and also what might happen next

The Taliban came to the fore during Afghanistan’s civil war that followed the Soviet pullout of 1989. Robert Nickelsberg/Getty Images By Ali A. Olomi, Penn State The rapid takeover of Afghanistan by the Taliban left many surprised. To Ali Olomi, a historian of the Middle East and Islam at Penn State University, a key to understanding what is happening now – and what might take place next – is looking at the past and how the Taliban came to prominence….

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Vaccinated Democratic counties are leading the U.S. economic recovery

Vaccinated Democratic counties are leading the U.S. economic recovery

Joshua Green writes: With Covid-19 cases once again rising across the country, the U.S. is struggling to curb the latest, delta-driven surge, as hospitalizations and deaths have steadily climbed. But at least so far, the economy has proved highly resilient. There are many reasons for this, ranging from generous stimulus checks to the Federal Reserve’s commitment to buying bonds and holding interest rates low. But some interesting new data on the overlap of electoral politics and economic dynamism suggest another…

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Capitol Police officers sue Trump and allies over election lies and Jan. 6

Capitol Police officers sue Trump and allies over election lies and Jan. 6

The New York Times reports: A group of seven Capitol Police officers filed a lawsuit on Thursday accusing former President Donald J. Trump and nearly 20 members of far-right extremist groups and political organizations of a plot to disrupt the peaceful transition of power during the Capitol riot on Jan. 6. The suit, which implicated members of the Proud Boys, the Oath Keepers militia and Trump associates like Roger J. Stone Jr., was arguably the most expansive civil effort to…

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Life in a Virginia town with a government-approved armed militia

Life in a Virginia town with a government-approved armed militia

Mother Jones reports: On a dry, bright afternoon in late June, members of the Bedford Militia lined up on a grassy lot on the property of Bryan Buchanan Auto Auction, right off the county highway in Montvale, Virginia. The group of about a few dozen stood in formation still as water, a US flag on one side and the squad’s guidon bearer holding up the militia’s flag on the other, the Blue Ridge Mountains in the distance. All were dressed…

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How I escaped my troubles through science

How I escaped my troubles through science

Subodh Patil writes: We’ve all felt the need. To just drop whatever loads we’re bearing, retreating to some private realm where our worldly concerns fade into oblivion. Freed from responsibilities, anxieties, hurts, and other miscellaneous burdens, if only transiently. My earliest recollection of the urge must’ve been when I was around 5. My mother was colorfully scolding me the way Indian mothers do, for something I probably did but nevertheless felt unjustly prosecuted for. Turning to the sky beyond the…

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Biden close to backing G20 peace talks on Afghanistan, Italian PM believes

Biden close to backing G20 peace talks on Afghanistan, Italian PM believes

The Guardian reports: The Italian prime minister, Mario Draghi, believes he is close to gaining Joe Biden’s support to stage a special G20 peace conference on Afghanistan next month that will include key players with close contact with the Taliban, including China, Russia and Turkey. Draghi, the chair of the G20 group of nations, has been working on the plan for days, holding talks with the Russian president, Vladimir Putin. The Italian prime minister is also expected to hold a…

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UN Security Council should authorize the U.S. and allies to enforce a safe zone for evacuations from Kabul

UN Security Council should authorize the U.S. and allies to enforce a safe zone for evacuations from Kabul

Paula J. Dobriansky and Paul Saunders write: President Biden seems to have set a trap for himself—and for Americans, allied personnel and Afghans seeking to leave Afghanistan. Those civilians were stranded after Mr. Biden withdrew U.S. troops only to be surprised by the Taliban’s quick takeover. Mr. Biden promised to evacuate them by Aug. 31, and the Taliban said they’d hold him to that deadline. On Monday the administration signaled that it intends to abide by it. It won’t be…

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How Mexico helped the New York Times get its journalists out of Afghanistan

How Mexico helped the New York Times get its journalists out of Afghanistan

Ben Smith reports: A group of Afghans who worked for The New York Times, along with their families, touched down safely early Wednesday — not in New York or Washington, but at Benito Juárez International Airport in Mexico City. The arrival of the 24 families was the latest stop in a harrowing escape from Kabul. And Mexico’s role in the rescue of journalists from The Times and, if all goes as planned, The Wall Street Journal offers a disorienting glimpse…

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Taliban urge women to stay home because fighters haven’t been trained to respect them

Taliban urge women to stay home because fighters haven’t been trained to respect them

The New York Times reports: When the Taliban were last in power, Afghan women were generally not allowed to leave their homes except under certain narrowly defined conditions. Those who did risked being beaten, tortured or executed. In the days since the Taliban swept back into control, their leaders have insisted that this time will be different. Women, they say, will be allowed to work. Girls will be free to attend school. At least within the confines of their interpretation…

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Arkansas runs out of intensive care beds for Covid patients

Arkansas runs out of intensive care beds for Covid patients

The Associated Press reports: Arkansas on Tuesday ran out of intensive care unit beds for COVID-19 patients for the first time since the coronavirus pandemic began, Gov. Asa Hutchinson announced, as a surge in cases continued overwhelming hospitals in the state. The state’s ICU capacity for COVID patients barely eased hours after Hutchinson’s announcement, with only one hospital in southeast Arkansas showing availability, according to the state’s system for coordinating coronavirus patients. Virus patients make up about half of the…

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The social and environmental perils of magical thinking

The social and environmental perils of magical thinking

By Louise Fabiani There has been much coverage in recent media of citizens who fail to acknowledge the existence of such global crises as Covid-19 or anthropogenic climate change. They are said to be skeptical or in denial. They refuse to participate in any solution for the simple reason that they believe them to be non-issues. Just as dangerous to the common good is a person who fully accepts the existence of a problem, yet believes as a matter of…

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The brain doesn’t work the way you think it does

The brain doesn’t work the way you think it does

Jordana Cepelewicz writes: Neuroscientists are the cartographers of the brain’s diverse domains and territories — the features and activities that define them, the roads and highways that connect them, and the boundaries that delineate them. Toward the front of the brain, just behind the forehead, is the prefrontal cortex, celebrated as the seat of judgment. Behind it lies the motor cortex, responsible for planning and coordinating movement. To the sides: the temporal lobes, crucial for memory and the processing of…

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The effort to rescue the Afghans that the U.S. government has abandoned

The effort to rescue the Afghans that the U.S. government has abandoned

Arash Azizzada writes: The day our lives fell apart, Sunday, Aug. 15, I received a call from a close friend in Kabul. Usually cool and confident, vital skills for a community leader in a complex, conflict-ridden place like Afghanistan, my friend now whispered in desperation. “I need to get out,” he said. “Help me.” In the background, I could hear the city bustling nervously as millions of people absorbed the fact of the Taliban’s conquest. My friend, a vocal activist…

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CIA Director William Burns held secret meeting in Kabul with Taliban leader Abdul Ghani Baradar

CIA Director William Burns held secret meeting in Kabul with Taliban leader Abdul Ghani Baradar

The Washington Post reports: CIA Director William J. Burns held a secret meeting Monday in Kabul with the Taliban’s de facto leader, Abdul Ghani Baradar, in the highest-level face-to-face encounter between the Taliban and the Biden administration since the militants seized the Afghan capital, according to U.S. officials familiar with the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive diplomacy. President Biden dispatched his top spy, a veteran of the Foreign Service and the most decorated diplomat…

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