Afghanistan chaos has Americans, allies praying, pleading for a way out as deadline nears
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Afghanistan chaos has Americans, allies praying, pleading for a way out as deadline nears
Chaos, confusion and terror have marked the Biden administration’s Afghanistan withdrawal over the past week, with Americans and Afghan allies pleading for help escaping Taliban-controlled Kabul and uncertainty at the city’s U.S.-held airport.
With special immigrant visa applicants cut off from escape by Taliban checkpoints, retired Marine Corps Sgt. Ryan Rogers told Fox News on Tuesday that non-government organizations have been working through unofficial channels to try to help.
"Everyone is p---ed about this even being necessary," he said. "But if the president doesn't want to step up and lead, someone else will."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Last week, Rogers helped raise the alarm that his former U.S.-contracted Afghan interpreter was trapped in Kabul, hiding from the Taliban and hoping to make it out of the country.
He was still there as of Tuesday, but Rogers said he’s now in touch with non-government sources who heard of his plight and reached out to the retired Marine to try to coordinate an escape.
"It's embarrassing on an international scale that we are even in this situation," Rogers said. "It's insulting to not even have a number of Americans left to get out." CLICK HERE FOR MORE ON OUR TOP STORY.
In other developments:
- Rep. Adam Schiff on Afghan crisis: This looks like a 'military planning failure'
- Pelosi warns against lawmakers' trip to Afghanistan: 'unnecessarily divert needed resources'
- Rubio: Biden Afghanistan crisis will be among ‘worst catastrophes’ in foreign policy history
- Hannity: Biden just signed death certificate of 'every Afghan' who helped US over last 20 years
- 'History will judge this moment as a very dark period' for US says reporter
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Supreme Court reinstates Trump's 'Remain in Mexico' policy
The U.S. Supreme Court refused to block a court order requiring the Biden administration to reinstate a Trump-era immigration move known as the "Remain in Mexico" policy.
The policy, implemented by former President Donald Trump, requires asylum seekers at the southern border to stay in Mexico while they await hearings in U.S. courtrooms to determine their eligibility and status.
Three of the court’s more liberal justices – Justices Kagan, Sotomayor, and Breyer – would have accepted the application for a stay.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The Department of Homeland Security released a statement criticizing the ruling.
"The Department of Homeland Security respectfully disagrees with the district court’s decision and regrets that the Supreme Court declined to issue a stay," the statement said. "DHS has appealed the district court’s order and will continue to vigorously challenge it. As the appeal process continues, however, DHS will comply with the order in good faith. Alongside interagency partners, DHS has begun to engage with the Government of Mexico in diplomatic discussions surrounding the Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP)." CLICK HERE FOR MORE.
In other developments:
- Arizona AG warns of potential border threat from terrorists freed by Taliban in Afghanistan
- Phony Border Patrol vehicle stopped in Arizona, foiling human smuggling attempt, US authorities say
- Top New York ICE official speaks out after resignation: Biden 'endangering the public'
- Biden admin quickly processes migrants at border but can't do the same with trapped Afghan interpreters
Fauci calls on unvaccinated Americans to expedite pandemic end
Dr. Anthony Fauci, the government’s leading infectious disease expert, during a White House briefing Tuesday appealed to eligible unvaccinated Americans to roll up their sleeves, receive shots and accelerate the timeline to the pandemic’s end.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"I would like to appeal to this country, to the people in the country who are not vaccinated, to realize that we have the capability among ourselves to essentially cut down the time frame to getting the end of this pandemic," Fauci said in part during a virtual briefing.
A day prior, Fauci said he misspoke during an interview with NPR, when he said if the majority of Americans get vaccinated, the country may get the virus under control by fall 2022. He later told CNN if a majority of some 90 million unvaccinated Americans sign up to take the vaccines – the country could get "some good control in the spring of 2022."
Data compiled by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) indicates 60.3% of Americans age 12 and older, or all those eligible for vaccines, are fully vaccinated, with 71.1% receiving at least one dose. Dr. Rochelle Walensky, CDC director, noted that the seven-day average of new daily cases and deaths are increasing, with about 137,000 new cases per day, or a 12% rise from the prior seven-day period, and about 739 deaths per day, or a 23% increase over the prior week. The seven -day average for hospitalizations was similar to the prior week at around 11,000 per day. CLICK HERE FOR MORE.
In other developments:
- Oregon governor announces statewide outdoor mask mandate regardless of vaccination status
- Unvaccinated individuals are 29 times more likely to be hospitalized from COVID-19, CDC says
- Texas man strips down to underwear over masks at heated school board meeting
- New York's new governor to order school mask mandate, pushing for tougher vaccine rules
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CLICK HERE TO PLAY FOX NEWS’ CROSSWORD PUZZLE OF THE WEEK
SOME PARTING WORDS
Sen. Marco Rubio says President Biden’s attempts to withdraw U.S. troops from Afghanistan and evacuate Americans trapped there will never be forgotten in history.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"When history looks back at this moment … this is going to be a big deal for decades," Rubio said Tuesday night on Fox News' "Hannity."
"This is going to be covered as one of the worst catastrophes in American foreign policy history for two reasons," he continued. First, he said, was "the failure of this administration to anticipate what they should have known" about the Taliban gaining strength in the country, and second was what he described as the botching of the evacuation process.
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