How the Taliban uses social media to seek legitimacy in the West, sow chaos at home

August 19, 2021 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — It seems like history may be repeating itself — the Taliban is once again in control of Afghanistan after 20 years of the War on Terror there.

The development is alarming and dismaying, despite (widely dismissed) assurances from the group — decried by the U.S. State Department as having “had one of the worst human rights records in the world” and giving safe harbor to al Qaeda — that they have changed.

One thing that is different since the last time the group was in power is its widespread adoption of social media and the power that having a largely unregulated propaganda platform brings.

The Taliban now has the ability to communicate directly with the rest of the world, as well as to control the narrative around events as it has been trying to do for years at home and abroad through a barrage of messages on social media. Experts say it effectively did an end around the Afghan government through its unrelenting publicity campaign, capitalizing on disinformation and a lack of media literacy.

While photos and videos emerging from Kabul from journalists and residents depict crisis and desperate attempts to flee, Taliban-controlled handles assure that the city is “completely stable and normal.”

Experts say the Taliban’s recent online broadcasting of messages that seem at odds with the ruthlessness and oppressive policies they were known for is part of a sophisticated social media strategy that is aimed at deceiving the West and vying for legitimacy on the international stage after the unexpectedly swift collapse of the Afghan government in recent days.

“The Taliban has had a social media strategy for many years now … they use multiple social media platforms to get their messages out,” Tom Joscelyn, a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, a nonprofit think tank in Washington, D.C., told ABC News. “They’re responding faster — more quickly than even the Afghan government did to events.”

“Another key point is that they are very attuned to Western ears and know how to play to journalists, know how to say things that sound appealing to Western ears, and that are quite deceptive,” he added.

A flood of messages

According to the World Bank’s most-recent data from 2017, only 11.4% of the population of Afghanistan were using the internet — a sharp increase from the 0% figure when the Taliban was last in power, but still lagging behind much of the rest of the world’s 49% benchmark. It also suggests that the Taliban’s target audience is actually outside of the nation.

Their local audience, meanwhile, is victim to Afghanistan’s dilapidated media infrastructure, which makes it difficult for fact-checkers on the ground to effectively counter false statements put out by the party in power. Moreover, as with many parts of the world, researchers have said poor internet literacy in the region compounds the risk of propaganda being taken for fact.

Joscelyn said the group’s spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid — who held a widely-viewed press conference Tuesday — has been active on Twitter for years. The Taliban also issues messages online in multiple languages on a regular basis, Joscelyn said, including English, Arabic, Pashto and Urdu.

“In fact, I think they probably publish messages in more languages on daily basis than maybe even the [U.S.] State Department,” he said.

While crackdowns on extremism online have pushed many bad actors associated with terrorist groups to the fringes of the internet, the Taliban operates largely unhindered on Twitter. The U.S. State Department has not designated the Afghan Taliban as a terrorist group (a label that would more explicitly break policies), and private firms largely take their cues from the government on these matters, putting social media firms in often difficult-to-navigate situations. The high-profile decision of multiple platforms to ban former President Donald Trump, for example, drew ire from even vocal critics of Trump as the nation mulled over social media’s double-edged sword that some say democratizes free speech and others say weaponizes it.

In contrast to Twitter, Facebook says the Taliban has been banned on its platform for years under its “dangerous organizations” policies, citing how the U.S. sanctions the group as a terrorist organization despite not including them on the State Department’s separate list. Facebook said accounts maintained by or on behalf of the Taliban are removed, and a team of multilingual local experts are working to identify emerging issues on the platform.

“Facebook does not make decisions about the recognized government in any particular country but instead respects the authority of the international community in making these determinations,” the company told ABC News in a statement. “Regardless of who holds power, we will take the appropriate action against accounts and content that breaks our rules.”

Inexpensive and effective

Meanwhile, there are half a dozen Taliban officials active on Twitter, with a combined 1 million followers, according to data from Adrienne Goldstein, a research assistant at the German Marshall Digital Fund think tank. Their recent tweets largely seem to be trying to cast the Taliban as peaceful, stable, and overall more palatable to the West — messages that the group’s leaders have repeated in press conferences.

While many may assume their Tweets are rife with disinformation and propaganda, a September 2020 study published in the peer-reviewed journal Media Asia supported this by examining the Taliban’s use of Twitter and their attempts in framing what was unfolding in Afghanistan compared to information being put out by media outlets and advocacy groups.

The study, conducted in 2018, long before the current crisis, found that in the Taliban posted more messages on Twitter than the Ministry of Defense, and in more languages. Moreover, the analysis found vast discrepancies in what the Taliban said happened on Twitter and what media and civilian protection groups stated.

“Belligerents are actively using online platforms where they do not hesitate to frame and disseminate disinformation that suit their desired intention,” the study stated. “Observing discrepancy in terms of the number of casualties between the parties and mainstream media shows propagandistic traits.”

The study suggested that the Taliban has capitalized on social media in part because its use does not require advanced infrastructure or media expertise. Having comparatively limited resources, the Taliban makes up for it by posting and sharing online more often than the Afghan government did. The study warned of the potential dangers of their “disinformation” in a region where many are not equipped with media and information literacy.

Interestingly, the research also noted that during the Taliban’s previous governance from 1996 to 2001, internet use of any kind was strictly prohibited.

Calls for a crackdown

Joscelyn said the issue of vulnerability to disinformation extends outside of Afghanistan — and that’s something the Taliban capitalized on. “They know a lot of people are gullible, and that a lot of people will just repeat what they say without thinking.” He thus believes Twitter “should have been cracking down on the Taliban a long time ago.”

“I think they allowed the Taliban to develop a sophisticated social media ecosystem,” Joscelyn said. “I mean in a lot of ways, they were ISIS before ISIS in terms of the behavior and what they do, from suicide bombings to the oppression of women to the harsh Sharia law they’re going to implement.”

“All the nasty things that are associated with ISIS, the Taliban did before them and yet — if ISIS popped up on social media sites or Twitter feeds or Telegram channels, or any of these different platforms, generally they’re more receptive to shutting them down,” he added. “But with the Taliban, they’re allowed to exist for years on end with the same handles, same channels.”

Twitter told ABC News in a statement that they “remain vigilant” about the situation in Afghanistan in response to an inquiry about why these accounts are allowed to operate.

“The situation in Afghanistan is rapidly evolving, and we’re witnessing people in the country using Twitter to seek help and assistance,” the company said. “Twitter’s top priority is keeping people safe, and we remain vigilant. We will continue to proactively enforce our rules and review content that may violate Twitter Rules, specifically policies against glorification of violence and platform manipulation and spam.”

As the Taliban rapidly seized power, Joscelyn said the group’s social media strategy has helped contribute to the Afghan’s suffering by sowing disinformation that is repeated without question by global media outlets.

“They want to speak the West’s language to lull the West to sleep, and they’ve been very successful with that,” he said. “There are a lot of people who’ve been gullible and who have parroted Taliban talking points without any thought.”

Exhausted, stressed, drained: It’s ‘déjà vu’ for moms as school year begins amid COVID surge

August 19, 2021 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — When Tina Sherman, a mom of four sons in Wake County, North Carolina, thinks of sending her children back to school later this month, she can sum up the emotion of it all in two sentences.

“They are excited,” Sherman said of her sons, who span from first grade to high school. “I am exhausted.”

For nearly two years, Sherman has been at home working a full-time job while overseeing virtual learning for her son in high school, leading home schooling for her twin sons in middle school and adjusting back and forth between in-person and virtual learning for her youngest son, who is now entering first grade.

All four of her sons will be attending in-person school this year, but Sherman said she feels a dreaded sense of “deja vu” with COVID-19 cases on the rise in the United States.

Amid a COVID-19 surge brought on by the more contagious delta variant and low vaccination rates, the number of pediatric cases of COVID-19 in the United States is rising, just as the school year begins.

In one Florida school district where there are no mask requirements, over 8,000 students have been isolated or quarantined just days into the new school year.

“I felt like I was barely hanging on by a thread at the end of school last year and now I’m thinking I don’t know what I’m going to do,” said Sherman, who added she feels lucky to be able to work from home with her job at MomsRising, an advocacy organization. “I’m thinking of all the plans for ‘what if.’ There’s everything from a seven-day quarantine to [my kids] could be out of school for 24 days.”

“I don’t feel like the alarms are going off in the way that they should be,” she said.

While Sherman feels the nation’s leaders are not thinking as much as they should be about moms trying to balance their careers and their kids, it is all she and fellow moms talk about.

“At work, the conversation, no matter the meeting topic, goes to, ‘Are your kids back in school? How’s that going?'” she said. “I don’t know a mom who’s not experiencing it right now.”

MacKenzie Nicholson, a mom of a son entering third grade and daughter entering pre-K, lost her job with a nonprofit organization early in the pandemic. She spent the past year looking for a job while helping her son with virtual learning and caring for her daughter, whom she and her husband pulled from child care due to COVID-19 concerns and financial reasons.

“It was the most stressful time of my entire life,” said Nicholson. “I recall taking interviews locked in my office while my two kids sat downstairs fighting with each other. My last job interview ended with my 4-year-old on my lap because she fell and was upset.”

Nicholson landed a new job in July but now describes feeling whiplash as the delta variant takes hold and the school year remains in flux.

“I remember that call from my son’s school that they were sending kids home for a week and I remember saying to my husband after two days, ‘I can’t do this,’ and now it’s extended into a multiyear thing,” she said. “Now we’re thinking about the year going forward and I’m like, I don’t know if I can do it again.”

Describing the conversations she has with other moms, Nicholson added, “We’re still all on edge and everything we’re talking about to each other is, ‘Are you OK?'”

Nicholson is one of around 3.5 million moms of school-age children who left active work during the pandemic, shifting into paid or unpaid leave, losing their job or exiting the labor market all together, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

As of January 2021, around 10 million U.S. mothers with school-age children were not actively working — 1.4 million more than during the same period in 2020.

Among them, more than 700,000 moms have given up on work outside the home entirely and some may not return, according to Census Bureau data.

Karen Shrimpton, a mom of 12- and 8-year-old sons in San Francisco, quit her job last year after it became too much to balance her role at a small family business that had to suddenly go remote and change its business model and oversee virtual learning for her sons.

It was a hard decision for Shrimpton, who had just been able to rejoin the workforce after moving multiple times to support her husband’s career and then becoming a mom.

“I had been pretty unhappy as a stay-at-home mom and so then having had the opportunity to do something for myself, I knew what a backslide this was going to be,” Shrimpton said of exiting the workforce. “I don’t think I was naïve or ignorant about the decision. I made it with my back against the wall.”

With the prospect of both her sons back at in-person schooling this fall, Shrimpton said she has spent the past several months searching for a job, but now is slowing her search, realizing that her sons could be back home at any point.

“It’s just shock,” she said. “It’s like I can’t believe we haven’t managed to get to a better place than where we are.”

Working moms worked two full-time jobs

Economists say the two main reasons so many women have been forced out of the workforce over the past nearly two years are pandemic-related job loss in women-heavy industries and, not surprisingly, the burden of child care.

Child care was a second full-time job for moms of young kids during the pandemic, data shows.

Moms with children ages 12 and under spent, on average, eight hours a day on child care, while at the same time working an average of six hours per day in their jobs, according to a Brookings Institution analysis of data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Moms have spent about three hours more per day than fathers on child care during the pandemic, and reduced their time spent working by 4 to 4.5 times more than fathers did because of child care, according to the analysis.

“What we know is that we were not doing a great job of supporting women and mothers with kids before the pandemic,” said Lauren Bauer, a fellow in economic studies at the Brookings Institution and the mother of a 9-year-old son. “The loss of child care didn’t actually affect most of the people with the youngest kids because it was already keeping people out of the labor market because it was unaffordable.”

“But the loss of elementary schools [that switched to virtual learning] was really consequential,” she added. “In places with higher levels of elementary school closures, moms were exiting the labor market. They couldn’t hold on, and they just left.”

Among working moms, single mothers, who typically have the highest level of employment, have suffered the most during the pandemic, according to Bauer.

“Single mothers were the breadwinners prior to the pandemic and they currently have the lowest rates of employment and they see the least recovery,” she said. “They’re struggling financially and have high rates of food insecurity. They’re having a hard time feeding their kids.”

Tina Carroll, a single mom in Denver, sent her 7-year-old son to Georgia the past two summers to stay with relatives because she lacked child care resources at home.

During the school year, she relied on a village of college students and a neighbor to help her son with remote learning as she worked in person at a local university.

Her son is now attending second grade in person, but Carroll said she is already bracing for him to be sent home at some point due to COVID exposure at school.

“I’m probably even more worried now because I don’t have an infrastructure set up for the instances when he has to come home,” she said. “I feel like I’m in the ring with COVID and I throw punches every day and I’m drained. I’m literally drained.”

Moms say they are not only feeling exhausted but also frustrated that they are facing the prospect of a third school year upended by COVID-19 with marginally more support in place than when the pandemic began.

When the U.S. Senate passed a $1.1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill earlier this month, absent were programs that would benefit working families, things like paid family leave and child care benefits.

Child care benefits, specifically subsidies, are included in a $3.5 trillion “human infrastructure” package, which could pass Congress with only Democratic support. But the process is complicated, and could take weeks or even months to complete.

And while moms say the additional Child Tax Credit benefits delivered in President Joe Biden’s $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan have helped, they are not a permanent solution to families’ financial and child care needs.

“There’s been no investment in real short-term relief, because this [Child Tax Credit] money is not enough for mothers and families, and there’s also been no investment in long-term relief,” said Katherine Goldstein, a mother of three, journalist and host and creator of “The Double Shift,” a podcast that focuses on moms and work. “Building up our child care infrastructure, making family life much more affordable, more substantively better workplace policies, none of that has happened yet.”

“It’s kind of like we haven’t even accounted for the damage that has been done, and we’re being ask to go in for another round,” she said of moms. “Before COVID it was exhausting and overwhelming to be a parent in America, and now it’s just untenable.”

Bracing for a ‘second wave’ of women leaving the workforce

Last summer, as the economy began to reopen, women’s employment levels rose, but then as kids went back to school in September, the numbers dropped sharply again.

In September 2020, 865,000 women dropped out of the workforce, compared to 216,000 men, according to BLS data.

While moms are currently working at nearly the same rate as women without kids, economists say they fear another exodus of women from the workforce as the school year begins.

“Here we are on the cusp of another school year and we have the delta variant rising; we have kids under 12 who cannot even be vaccinated; and at the same time we have companies saying, ‘Everybody back in the office,’ and also schools saying, ‘Everybody back to school,'” said Alicia Sasser Modestino, an economist and associate professor at Northeastern University, who predicted in an op-ed last year that the pandemic would “set women back a generation.”

“I would call this the ‘second wave’ [of women leaving the workforce] where women who previously were able to hold onto their jobs working from home and maybe sleeping less or cutting corners and supervising kids while working from home, they no longer have that option at the same time that we’re probably going to see a lot of school disruption,” she said. “It’s going to be very difficult for moms to maintain any kind of continuity in the workplace.”

Sara Perschino, of New Hampshire, worked full-time from home while taking care of her daughters until November, when she lost her job. She has taken on only freelance work since then with her daughters’ school schedules still in flux.

Though her daughters, ages 4 and 7, will start in-person school later this month, Perschino said she, like so many other moms, is uncertain about the future as the full-time caregiving falls on her.

“I’ve had a lot of conversations with my friends and other people in the community about how this [pandemic] has highlighted that women are still doing the bulk of caregiving responsibilities,” she said. “We’re having these conversations more globally now, so I think it’s reassuring for families to see they weren’t the only ones struggling with this, and to see that it’s not just them, that there are systemic barriers to be able to have thriving careers and successful families.”

“I’m exhausted,” she added. “I think every working mom is exhausted right now.”

The “great resignation,” as Sasser Modestino calls the exit of women from the workforce during the pandemic, came just after women hit a historic milestone in the U.S.

In January 2020, women held over half of all jobs in America for just the second time in history.

Helping women reach that level again in the workforce will take months of record job gains and, according to Sasser Modestino, will require help from employers, the government and women’s loved ones at home.

“We know that the longer you take out of the labor market, your skills depreciate and the harder it is to get back in down the road,” she said. “If you think that talent is distributed equally across men and women, then we should really be concerned that we’re seeing women leave the labor force in droves because we’re losing that talent now.”

Kate Dando Doran, a mom of two in Colorado, said that in addition to exhaustion and stress, one of the most frustrating things of working full time while also caregiving has been watching her career be unwittingly disrupted.

“I’ve worked very hard to get where I am and want very much to do a good job,” said Dando Doran, who has spent the 17 months working at her dining room table alongside her 3- and 5-year-old kids. “I work early in the mornings and late at night to make up time. You don’t want it to ever be, ‘Oh, she’s busy, she’s focusing on her kids.'”

At the same time, Dando Doran said she constantly worries about the impact the pandemic is having on her children, describing one particular moment in the past year that she said nearly crushed her.

“At one point I was pushing my daughter on the swing while answering email and she said, ‘Mommy, can you please put your phone away and be with me?'” Dando Doran recalled. “This has been exhausting and hard for everyone.”

Afghanistan updates: Taliban fighters harass Afghans seeking to enter Kabul airport

August 19, 2021 by WDNY Radio

(KABUL, Afghanistan) — Chaos has enveloped Kabul after Afghanistan’s government’s collapsed and the Taliban seized control, all but ending America’s 20-year campaign as it began: under Taliban rule.

As the crisis intensifies, with images from Kabul showing Afghans storming the airport tarmac and climbing onto military planes after the U.S. assumed control of the airport, President Joe Biden briefly left Camp David to address the nation from the White House on Monday.

Biden returned to Washington on Wednesday and sat down with ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos for an exclusive one-on-one interview at the White House, the president’s first interview since the withdrawal from Afghanistan.

The Pentagon said that 6,000 U.S. troops have been deployed to the country’s capital as the military races to evacuate people from an increasingly chaotic Kabul. Despite criticism, the Biden administration is sticking by its decision to withdraw troops from the country, though he told Stephanopoulos the stay might extend beyond the original Aug. 31 date if it takes longer to get all Americans out of the country.

Here are some key developments. All times Eastern:

Aug 18, 9:22 pm
US troops will stay until all Americans are out of Afghanistan, even if past Aug. 31 deadline: Biden

In an exclusive interview with ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos, President Joe Biden said the U.S. is committed to getting every American out of Afghanistan — even if it means potentially extending the mission beyond his Aug. 31 deadline for a total withdrawal.

“We’ve got like 10 to 15,000 Americans in the country right now. Right? And are you committed to making sure that the troops stay until every American who wants to be out is out?” Stephanopoulos asked Biden.

“Yes,” Biden replied.

The president cautioned that his focus is on completing the mission by Aug. 31, but when pressed by Stephanopoulos, conceded the mission could take longer.

Aug 18, 7:16 pm
Congressional leaders calling for briefings

Top Republican Leaders Kevin McCarthy and Mitch McConnell are calling on the Biden administration for a “Gang of Eight” classified briefing on Afghanistan.

The so-called “Gang of Eight” includes the top House and Senate leaders, including the heads of the intel committees in both the House and Senate.

Separately, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has also requested three briefings on Afghanistan in the coming days, according to a source. They include a briefing by phone Friday for all members, a classified, in-person briefing Tuesday and a similar “Gang of Eight” briefing.

-ABC News’ Mariam Khan

Aug 18, 2:14 pm
State Department alerts Americans it ‘cannot ensure safe passage’ to airport

The State Department has directed American citizens to the airport in Kabul for departing evacuation flights — but with a stark warning.

“The United States government cannot ensure safe passage to the Hamid Karzai International Airport,” the agency said in an alert to American citizens still in Afghanistan.

“The security situation in Kabul continues to change quickly, including at the airport,” the agency added.

As many as 11,000 Americans and tens of thousands of Afghans are still desperately trying to leave the country, ABC News Senior Foreign Correspondent Ian Pannell has reported.

-ABC News’ Cindy Smith

Aug 18, 1:44 pm
Biden, Harris briefed by top Pentagon officials

Pentagon press secretary John Kirby confirmed to reporters that Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris received a briefing on Afghanistan at the White House on Wednesday.

The White House said the group, which also included Secretary of State Antony Blinken, National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan, Commander of U.S. Central Command Gen. Kenneth McKenzie and CIA Director William Burns, discussed “efforts to accelerate evacuations” and “to facilitate safe passage to HKIA [Hamid Karzai International Airport].”

The readout from the White House also said the group discussed “monitoring for any potential terrorist threats in Afghanistan.”

-ABC News’ Sarah Kolinovsky

Aug 18, 1:30 pm
Senior intel official: Afghan government ‘unraveled even more quickly than we anticipated’

A senior U.S. intelligence official acknowledged to ABC News that the “rapid collapse” of the Afghanistan government “unraveled even more quickly” than U.S. intelligence officials had anticipated.

“We consistently identified the risk of a rapid collapse of the Afghan government. We also grew more pessimistic about the government’s survival as the fighting season progressed. This was less an issue of Afghan military capabilities and more a reflection of Afghan leadership, cohesion and willpower,” the official told ABC News. “That said, the Afghan government unraveled even more quickly than we anticipated.”

Afghanistan’s President Ashraf Ghani and his family fled Kabul on Sunday as the Taliban moved closer to the presidential palace and then claimed the formation of the “Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan.”

-ABC News’ Cindy Smith

Aug 18, 1:09 pm
Pentagon responds to distressing scenes outside airport in Kabul

Ahead of Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley holding a briefing at 3 p.m., Pentagon press secretary John Kirby spoke to reporters on Wednesday about the distressing scenes outside the airport in Kabul.

He said U.S. military officials were aware of reports that Taliban fighters are not letting Afghans through to the airport and that’s one reason the top American commander in Kabul, Adm. Peter Vasely, has reached out to his Taliban counterpart.

Asked what more can be done to ensure safe passage of Afghans to the airport, Kirby said only that the Pentagon is working “very hard” on the issue.

“I don’t have a specific next step for you,” he said. “We are in communication with the Taliban. We want to see this process go more smoothly.”

Kirby also confirmed incidents overnight in which some American troops providing security at the perimeter of the airport fired their weapons in the air as part of “crowd control measures.”

He said the U.S. goal to evacuate 5,000 to 9,000 individuals a day can be accomplished “when we’re at full throttle.”

Aug 18, 11:51 am
One Afghan family’s harrowing account of getting to Kabul’s airport

“Khan,” a computer scientist who worked with a U.S. contractor on the mission in Afghanistan and whose name is being withheld to protect his identity, boarded a U.S. military aircraft on Wednesday with his 3-year-old son and wife, who is 35 weeks pregnant, according to his lawyer.

It was their third attempt to reach the Kabul airport after they picked up their Special Immigrant Visas on Saturday, hours before the U.S. embassy shuttered.

The chaos on Sunday kept them away, and on Tuesday, there were too many Taliban fighters to get close to the gates. Khan spent several hours on Wednesday trying to reach multiple gates.

The north gate was mobbed, with U.S. troops firing warning shots into the air or deploying tear gas to disperse the crowds, according to his lawyer, who was on FaceTime with him.

There were hours when it seemed like Khan and his family wouldn’t be able to get through, forcing him to consider trying alone and leaving them behind, his lawyer told ABC News’ Conor Finnegan, but “ultimately, it was his persistence that got them in.”

Once inside the airport, the process was efficient, his lawyer said. Two of her clients and their families were on flights within 30 minutes of being processed and entering the airport.

But the chaos outside is horrific, and Afghans are receiving conflicting correspondence from the U.S. embassy — some being told to shelter in place, others given specific instructions on which gates to proceed to — but that situation changing rapidly too, his lawyer said.

Aug 18, 11:01 am
Taliban seen forcefully patrolling area near Kabul airport

Thousands were still outside the airport in Kabul as the U.S. continues its evacuation efforts Wednesday and the Taliban patrolled the surrounding streets, only allowing foreigners through and occasionally firing warning shots, ABC News Senior Foreign Correspondent Ian Pannell reported.

The Taliban on Tuesday promised an “amnesty” for those who worked with the U.S. government and said it would allow for their safe passage to the airport, but on the ground on Wednesday, members of the Taliban were seen whipping Afghan civilians.

As many as 11,000 Americans and tens of thousands of Afghans still are desperately trying to leave the country. The U.S. said late Tuesday it had evacuated 3,200 people from Afghanistan including all U.S. Embassy personnel except for a core group of diplomats. Officials have said they plan to launch one flight per hour to hopefully evacuate up to 9,000 people each day.

Still, the situation remains tense across Afghanistan, with the international community paying close attention to the Taliban’s every move.

Outside of Kabul, about 90 miles away in the eastern city of Jalalabad, anti-Taliban protesters were met with violence from fighters after replacing the Taliban flag in the city’s main square with the Afghan national flag, The Associated Press reported.

Aug 18, 9:58 am
Former Afghan president in United Arab Emirates on ‘humanitarian grounds’

The United Arab Emirates Foreign Ministry has confirmed in a statement that former Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani is in the United Arab Emirates, days after fleeing his home country.

Ghani and his family left Kabul on Sunday as the Taliban surged closer to the presidential palace. The Taliban ultimately overtook the building and has claimed the formation of the “Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan.”

Aug 18, 8:39 am
Few answers from Biden administration on Afghanistan despite pressure

Days removed from the Taliban’s takeover of Kabul and after a lengthy news conference with national security adviser Jake Sullivan, there is still little clarity on how conditions degraded so quickly in Afghanistan.

When ABC News Correspondent Stephanie Ramos asked Sullivan about reports that Biden administration officials were informed the Taliban could overwhelm the country, the national security adviser denied seeing it.

“I’m not actually familiar with the intelligence assessments you’re describing,” said Sullivan.

The administration plans to conduct an evaluation of the calamity once evacuations are completed.

“We’ll look at everything that happened, in this entire operation, from start to finish, and the areas of improvement where we can do better,” Sullivan told reporters Tuesday. “Where we can find holes or weaknesses and plug them as we go forward” that analysis will be shared.

Lawmakers are also putting pressure on the Biden administration for answers. Republicans on the House Armed Services Committee penned a letter to Biden demanding withdrawal plan details, plainly accusing the president of not having a concrete plan.

“For months, we have been asking you for a plan on your withdrawal from Afghanistan. You failed to provide us with one and based on the horrific events currently unfolding in Afghanistan, we are confident that we never received your plan because you never had one,” the letter reads. “The security and humanitarian crisis now unfolding in Afghanistan could have been avoided if you had done any planning.”

Aug 18, 7:52 am
Trauma injuries on the rise in Afghanistan, WHO warns

Months of violence in Afghanistan “have taken a heavy toll” on the country’s people and fragile health system, the World Health Organization warned Wednesday.

“As a result of the recent conflict, trauma injuries have increased, requiring scaled up emergency medical and surgical services,” Dr. Ahmed Al-Mandhari, the WHO’s regional director for the Eastern Mediterranean, said in a statement.

In July, some 13,897 conflict-related trauma cases were received at 70 WHO-supported health facilities in Afghanistan, compared with 4,057 cases during the same time last year, according to the WHO.

In Kabul and other areas where people have fled to seek safety and shelter, field reports indicate rising cases of diarrhea, malnutrition, high blood pressure, COVID-19-like symptoms and reproductive health complications. The country’s hospitals were already facing shortages in essential supplies amid the coronavirus pandemic, Al-Mandhari said.

Attacks on health care infrastructure and staff also remain a major challenge. From January to July, 26 health facilities and 31 health care workers were affected, while 12 workers were killed, according to the WHO.

“Delays and disruptions to health care will increase the risk of disease outbreaks and prevent some of the most vulnerable groups from seeking life-saving health care,” Al-Mandhari said. “There is an immediate need to ensure continuity of health services across the country, with a focus on ensuring women have access to female health workers.”

“The people of Afghanistan need support and solidarity today more than ever,” he added. “The gains of the past 20 years cannot be turned back.”

Aug 18, 7:40 am
ABC to interview Biden Wednesday

Biden will sit down with ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos one-on-one on Wednesday at the White House for the president’s first interview since the withdrawal from Afghanistan.

The interview will air on ABC’s World News Tonight on Wednesday and Good Morning America on Thursday.

Aug 18, 6:23 am
Taliban delegation meets with former Afghan president in Doha

A high-level Taliban delegation has met with Afghanistan’s former president, Hamid Karzai, and the head of the High Council for National Reconciliation, Abdullah Abdullah, in Qatar’s capital and assured them of security, a Taliban source told ABC News on Wednesday.

The Taliban has said there is a general amnesty for all in Afghanistan, including former government officials, and that no one should flee the country.

Aug 18, 5:51 am
UK to take in 20,000 Afghan refugees over 5 years

The United Kingdom announced Tuesday a plan to welcome 20,000 Afghan refugees over five years.

The resettlement program will prioritize women, children and religious minorities.

“We have an enduring commitment to the Afghan people, and we will honour it,” British Prime Minister Boris Johnson wrote on Twitter. “A new resettlement scheme will create a safe and legal route for those in most need to come and live safely in the UK.”

While addressing members of parliament on Wednesday morning, Johnson said his government has so far secured the safe return of 306 U.K. nationals and 2,052 Afghan citizens as part of the resettlement program, with a further 2,000 applications for Afghan nationals completed “and many more being processed.” An additional 800 British troops will be deployed to Afghanistan’s main international airport in Kabul to “support this evacuation operation,” according to Johnson.

“We are proud to bring these brave Afghans to our shores — and we continue to appeal for more to come forwards,” he said.

Aug 17, 11:55 pm
US Embassy destroyed some Afghans’ passports during evacuation

Last week when the U.S. Embassy in Kabul ordered staff to destroy sensitive material, including documents, passports were destroyed as well.

During the evacuation, embassy personnel destroyed the passports of Afghans that had been submitted for visa processing, according to a Democratic lawmaker’s office.

Rep. Andy Kim, D-NJ, has been compiling requests for assistance for Afghans on the ground, with his office funneling pleas for help through an email address. In the email’s response note, obtained by ABC News, it says, “Passports that were in the Embassy’s possession have been destroyed. Currently, it is not possible to provide further visa services in Afghanistan.”

A State Department spokesperson acknowledged that was true, but called it “standard operating procedure” during an evacuation and said it “will not prevent people who are otherwise eligible for evacuation from traveling.

Aug 17, 9:38 pm
House Armed Services Committee Republicans request Biden’s plan for Afghanistan

Republicans on the House Armed Services Committee sent a letter to Biden requesting information about his “plan” for Afghanistan.

“The security and humanitarian crisis now unfolding in Afghanistan could have been avoided if you had done any planning. Pretending this isn’t your problem will only make things worse. We remain gravely concerned the void left in Afghanistan will be rapidly filled by terror groups. The Taliban now control the country. Al Qaeda used Afghanistan to plot and execute the 9/11 attacks and other acts of terrorism,” the letter continues. “You cannot let this happen again.”

Notably, Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo. — a member of the committee — has also signed the letter.

Cheney appeared on ABC’s This Week Sunday and said that Biden “absolutely” bears responsibility for the Taliban’s rapid takeover of Afghanistan, as does former President Donald Trump and his administration.

“What we’re watching right now in Afghanistan is what happens when America withdraws from the world,” Cheney told ABC This Week co-anchor Jonathan Karl. “So everybody who has been saying, ‘America needs to withdraw, America needs to retreat,’ we are getting a devastating, catastrophic real-time lesson in what that means.”

Two women dead after shooting at Indiana factory: Sheriff’s office

August 19, 2021 by WDNY Radio

(FRANKFORT, Ind.) — The two people shot dead Wednesday at an NHK factory in Frankfort, Indiana, were employees of the company — a grandmother and granddaughter who were arriving for their shift, according to the Clinton County Sheriff’s Office.

The alleged suspect, 26-year-old Gary C. Ferrell, was an employee at the factory is in custody, authorities said.

Ferrell is believed to have finished his shift before shooting 21-year-old Promise Mays and 62-year-old Pamela Sled, Clinton County Sheriff Rich Kelly said at a press briefing Wednesday evening.

The sheriff’s office said 911 calls came in at 4:15 p.m. local time. Shortly after, it warned residents to avoid the area due to the “active scene.”

When deputies showed up, Ferrell jumped in a car and drove away from the scene, but was tracked down by police about a minute later, authorities said. Ferrell crashed his car after a high-speed pursuit and was taken into custody. He was not injured in the minor accident, Clinton County Sheriff Richard Kelly said.

An investigation is ongoing and the sheriff had no information on a motive. Kelly said they could not provide other information about the relationship between Ferrell and the victims.

The shooting took place in the parking lot of NHK Seating of America in Frankfurt, Indiana. The plant manufactures seats and seating parts for a Subaru plant in nearby Lafayette.

“Please avoid the area of our new NHK,” the sheriff’s office wrote shortly after the incident began. “This is an active scene.”

It’s ‘Written in Stone’: Carly Pearce and Patty Loveless are “dear friends” and singing sisters

August 19, 2021 by WDNY Radio

Carly Pearce considered Patty Loveless an inspiration while crafting her latest hit, “Next Girl.” Then, when it came time to expand 29, the fellow Kentuckian once again looked to the 1996 CMA Female Vocalist of the Year.

But when Carly reached out to the respected traditionalist — who hasn’t released a new album since 2009 — Patty had different ideas about singing on the new record.

“This is a great, funny Opry story, honestly…” Carly explains. “I asked her to be a part of this different song on my album. And she said, ‘You know, I don’t think that that song is right for my voice. But I was watching the live stream of the Opry a couple of nights ago. And you debuted this song about Loretta Lynn. And I really — can I sing on that song?'”

“And I was like, ‘Patty Loveless is asking me if she can sing on a song,'” Carly recalls in disbelief. “And it felt just so meant to be, and if I wouldn’t have [sung] it on the Opry, I don’t know that that would have even happened.”

Patty recorded her part of the duet separately, which resulted in another overwhelming moment for Carly.

“I’ll never forget [writer/producer] Shane McAnally saying… ‘Are you sitting down? I need you to listen to this,'” Carly remembers. “And he sent me her voice on it. And she sang more than we thought she was gonna sing, which was beautiful.”

“And I cried the whole way home, driving,” Carly admits, “because… it felt like my big sister was singing with me.”

Carly and Patty have since “shared many FaceTimes” and “sit up late talking,” having become “dear friend[s].”

You can check out “Dear Miss Loretta” now, ahead of the September 17 arrival of 29: Written in Stone.

Owen Wilson reveals how much trouble he got into after revealing small ‘Loki’ spoiler

August 19, 2021 by WDNY Radio

Vittorio Zunino Celotto/Getty Images for Kering

Owen Wilson revealed just how serious Marvel is about keeping movie and television show details under wraps when recalling his own experience with “Marvel’s super secret no-leaks policy.”

Speaking with Esquire, the 52-year-old actor said the franchise’s approach to keeping people from blabbing spoilers is “serious” and “no joke.”

Wilson, who plays Mr. Mobius in the the TV show Loki that stars Tom Hiddleston, admits he found himself in the doghouse after revealing what he thought was an innocent detail about his character before the show premiered on Disney+.

“Even when I let it slip that I am wearing a mustache, Agent Mobius, I got a ominous text saying, ‘Strike One,’ and I don’t know who that was from,” he laughed. “We looked into it and we think it might’ve been [Marvel President] Kevin Feige using a burner phone or something, but that was never confirmed.”

Because of that crazy experience, Wilson remained tightlipped about his character’s future in the MCU — especially if Mobius will appear in any upcoming movies.

“I couldn’t even speculate,” he confessed. “Although now that we’ve sort of put that on the table, the whole time element, I guess Agent Mobius could show up anywhere. Even outside the MCU.”

The actor continued to joke, “You might see him if they do a reboot on Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure or Back to the Future. You might see Agent Mobius there. Like if they rent him out maybe.”

Wilson also admitted that he wasn’t “convinced” to play the part of Mobius, telling the outlet, “The director just called me and told me the idea, and I wanted to work on it.”

The actor also readily admitted, “I know zero about the MCU.”

Marvel is owned by Disney, the parent company of ABC News.

311 promises “best-looking and best-sounding tour ever” for return to live stage

August 19, 2021 by WDNY Radio

311 is bursting from the Hive and returning to the road.

After keeping fans entertained with their Live from the Hive streaming series over the past year, the “Down” rockers are launching a real-life tour this Saturday in Camden, New Jersey. As frontman Nick Hexum tells ABC Audio, he reckons the outing will be 311’s “best-looking and best-sounding tour ever.”

“We keep evolving our live production to have really cool visuals and keep making the sound better,” Hexum says. “There’s just always little ways where you can tweak and evolve.”

While they were sidelined from the road, 311’s streaming shows allowed Hexum to rediscover a few deep cuts in the band’s catalog. Between that and not having a new album to promote, Hexum predicts some set list experimentation on this tour.

“The best way to keep the shows fresh is to rotate more different songs, special things that people will be really excited and glad they were there for, and more variation from night-to-night,” he says.

311 will also be taking an in-person/virtual hybrid approach to the tour, as select shows will stream live online, as well.

“There’s plenty of people who for whatever reason can’t travel, can’t go to a show,” Hexum says. “So to be able to actively include them in our community, that feels really good.”

Hexum gives a special shout-out to the 311 road crew, which was able to master the technology needed for streaming.

“It was like telling them, ‘OK, quick, learn a new language,'” Hexum says. “They did it very well, so now we see that this is just something that can be a regular part of what we do.”

Police guitarist Andy Summers’ new book of short stories, ‘Fretted and Moaning,’ full of “dark comic tales”

August 19, 2021 by WDNY Radio

Police guitarist Andy Summers‘ first fiction book, Fretted and Moaning: Short Stories, a collection of 45 short tales that all in some way involve a guitar, was published today.

The stories, which are filled with dark humor, ironic twists and whimsy, involve a wide range of characters and scenarios set in various locations and time periods.

Summers tells ABC Audio that featuring a guitar in every tale “was a way for me simply to present myself yet again to the public as a writer, but not…go so far out that [readers] go, ‘We don’t know this guy at all.'”

He adds, “So I’d include a guitar in each story somehow, but it wasn’t really about the guitar. It was about the characters, the way their lives would revolve and be involved maybe somewhat around the instrument.”

While many of the stories focus on rock musicians, Fretted and Moaning also includes tales about country singers, 1930s jazz musicians, gangsters, painters and even cowboys and Indians.

In many of the tales, things don’t end well for the main character.

“The idea is that they’re sort of dark comic tales,” Andy explains. “Most of them have got a tragic ending, you know…[T]hat’s my English sense of irony.”

As for how much of the book is based in reality, Summers notes, “Some of [the stories] are really made up completely. [With others,] someone might [tell me] an anecdote and I go, ‘Oh, let me see if I could…really broaden that out into a thing.”

Three hardcover versions of Fretted and Moaning are available now at AndySummersBook.com — a standard “Classic” edition, a signed “Signature” version and the “Ultimate” edition. Copies of the “Ultimate” version are signed and numbered by Summers and are packaged with a limited photo print.

2 women dead after shooting at Indiana factory: Sheriff’s office

August 18, 2021 by WDNY Radio

(CLINTON COUNTY, Ind.) — Two people are dead following a shooting in a parking lot outside a factory in Indiana, according to the Clinton County Sheriff’s Office.

The alleged suspect is in custody, authorities said.

Both victims were women, law enforcement said at a press conference Wednesday afternoon, and all three were employees at the plant.

The sheriff’s office said the call came in at 4:15 p.m. local time. Shortly after, it warned residents to avoid the area due to the “active scene.”

The suspect jumped in a car after the shooting and drove away from the scene, but was tracked down by police about a minute later, authorities said. The suspect crashed his car and was taken into custody. He was not injured in the minor accident, Clinton County Sheriff Richard Kelly said.

An investigation is ongoing and the sheriff had no information on a motive. Authorities were still working to contact the next of kin of those who were killed and will not release information on the victims until they do so.

The shooting took place in the parking lot of NHK Seating of America in Frankfurt, Indiana. The plant manufacturers seats and seating parts for a Subaru plant in nearby Lafayette.

“Please avoid the area of our new NHK,” the sheriff’s office wrote shortly after the incident began. “This is an active scene.”

ABC News’ Will Gretsky contributed to this report.

Family of man allegedly shot over loud music wants company who employed alleged shooter charged

August 18, 2021 by WDNY Radio

(MEMPHIS, Tenn.) — The family and attorney of a Black man shot to death by a security guard, allegedly over a dispute about loud music, are demanding Kroger and the third-party security guard company it employed to also face charges.

Alvin Motley Jr., 48, was at a Kroger gas station in Memphis, Tennessee, with his girlfriend on Aug. 7 when Gregory Livingston, who is white, allegedly approached him about the volume of music coming from their car. After the initial argument between Motley and Livingston, Motley walked toward the security guard holding a beer can and a lit cigarette asking Livingston, “Let’s talk like men,” according to the affidavit. Shortly after, Livingston shot Motley in the chest, prosecutors said.

Motley’s attorney Ben Crump and the Rev. Al Sharpton said Wednesday that Kroger must be charged alongside Livingston and Allied Universal for facilitating the contract that resulted in the death of Motley. Livingston has been charged with second-degree murder.

“Kroger, you can’t pass the buck saying that this is an issue for the Motley family or the security company. It’s an issue for your company. … You have a duty to provide safety and have qualified employees and contractors who won’t kill Black people over loud music,” Crump said.

Crump and Sharpton called on the civil rights community to play loud music in front of Kroger grocery chain stores across the country in protest of Motley’s death.

A Kroger spokesperson said in an email statement that after an internal review of the incident, Kroger made the decision to end its relationship with Allied Universal Security in Memphis.

“We are deeply saddened, extremely angry and horrified by this senseless violence. At Kroger, nothing is more important to us than the safety of our associates and customers, and our hearts are with the Motley family and we stand with them in their calls for justice,” a Kroger spokesperson told ABC News.

When asked, Kroger did not respond specifically to Crump’s comments. Allied Universal has not responded to requests for comment from ABC News.

Crump and Sharpton said the shooting was racially motivated.

“I cannot imagine if the shoe was on the other foot and these were young white men listening to rock and roll or country music, nobody would say it was justified to kill them,” Crump said at Wednesday’s press conference. “So if you can’t justify killing them over music, you can’t justify killing us over hip hop music.”

Livingston’s attorney, Leslie Ballin, told ABC News that the shooting was neither racially motivated nor about loud music.

“Let it be known that we do not agree that this incident was about loud music,” Ballin said. “I don’t know of any facts that would lead to the conclusion that this event was racially motivated. If there are such facts, I’m ready to be educated.”

The surveillance footage at the Kroger gas station allegedly captured the incident but has not yet been released to the family or the public. Ballin said he objects to the release of any evidence, including the video footage, in fear that it could contaminate a potential jury pool.

Livingston’s attorneys requested their client’s $1.8 million bail be reduced, claiming the amount is excessive and therefore unconstitutional.

“My son was truly my best friend and I’ll forever hold him in my thoughts,” Alvin Motley Sr. said during the press conference before his son’s memorial Wednesday. “I just want justice for my son.”

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