<em>The Atlantic</em> Daily: The Fall of Kabul

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Just four months after President Biden announced plans to fully withdraw U.S. troops from Afghanistan, the country is once again under Taliban rule. Kabul fell, despite 20 years of investment by the American military. A haunting video from the capital’s airport showed desperate Afghans clinging to a departing U.S. military jet.

Now the commander in chief faces scrutiny on behalf of all the people his exit plan left behind. In a speech this afternoon, Biden defended his decision and deflected blame onto Afghans.

“U.S. troops should not be fighting in a war, and dying in a war, that Afghan forces are not willing to fight for themselves,” he said. James Fallows, a former presidential speechwriter and longtime writer for this magazine, said he could not recall a presidential statement as blunt.

• Trump is gone, but “America First” still reigns. Biden’s speech this afternoon “was an elegant articulation of the same foreign policy his predecessor pursued,” David A. Graham argues.

• The Taliban takeover is catastrophic for Afghan women. They stand to lose the gains they made over the past two decades, Lynsey Addario, a photojournalist who has covered the country since 2000, writes.

• Biden’s betrayal will live in infamy. “Today, the U.S. government is more focused on saving our own than on saving the Afghans who counted on us,” George Packer explains. “For many of them, time is running out. For some, it already has.”

• But maybe the president made the right choice. “Critics of President Biden are engaging in fantasies amid Kabul’s collapse,” argues Daniel Silverberg, a former Department of Defense official. “These criticisms ignore the developments of the past decade.”

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The rest of the news in three sentences:

(1) The death toll in the catastrophic earthquake in Haiti now tops 1,400. (2) U.S. coronavirus cases continue their charge upward, with seven-day averages not seen since the winter. (3) Tesla’s autopilot system is the subject of a federal probe into its behavior around parked emergency vehicles.

What to read if … you’re looking for practical advice on how to manage your risk in light of Delta:

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Tonight’s Atlantic-approved activity:

Tonight’s a good night for poetry. Here’s “Postcards From the Living” by Jenny Qi.

A break from the news:

America suffers from a distinctly American drinking problem.

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Atlantic Movie Club

This month, our movie critic David Sims is revisiting some of the most celebrated films of 2001 and examining how they shaped today’s cinema.

Each week, we’ll pick a genre and have you pick a film for David to discuss. This week, we’re turning to dramas. Which movie should we watch together?

Vote on Twitter or by replying to this email with your choice. Check back Friday to see the winner and read David’s thoughts.

If you’re just tuning in, catch up on what we’ve discussed so far.

Every weekday evening, our editors guide you through the biggest stories of the day, help you discover new ideas, and surprise you with moments of delight. Subscribe to get this delivered to your inbox.