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Presented by Climate Power: POLITICO's must-read briefing on what's driving the afternoon in Washington. | | | | | |  | | By Rachael Bade, Garrett Ross and Eli Okun | | | THE LATEST IN AFGHANISTAN — “Taliban Consolidate Control in Afghanistan’s Capital as Thousands Remain Stranded,” by WSJ’s Yaroslav Trofimov and Saeed Shah: “Military flights resumed as the U.S. sent additional troops to secure the U.S.-controlled airport’s perimeter, following two days of chaos there as Westerners and Afghans raced to escape the country. “However, many thousands of Afghans who had been employed by Western embassies and nongovernment organizations in Kabul remained stranded and unable to reach the airport for evacuation flights as the Taliban erected checkpoints at airport entrances, whipping and beating Afghans who attempted to cross.” HAPPENING NOW ON THE HILL — House Democratic leaders are once again urging their members to stay united when they return to Washington next week to vote on the party’s $3.5 trillion budget. On a conference call this afternoon, House Majority Leader STENY HOYER (D-Md.) told rank-and-file members to “remember the psychology of consensus,” per our Sarah Ferris: “We’re in this together, led by the president.” — The plan: Dems are aiming for a Monday night vote on a rule that would set up roll call votes on the budget, BIF and the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act. House leaders then plan on sitting on the bipartisan infrastructure bill until the Senate sends its own budget reconciliation bill to the House — which could be weeks (if not months) away. Hoyer says they expect to complete votes by dinner time on Tuesday, then head back home for recess. Of course, that assumes Democrats can get their moderates in line. Currently, there are as many as nine members suggesting they’ll block the budget reconciliation bill unless they get a full vote on the bipartisan infrastructure bill now — a threat that House Speaker NANCY PELOSI called “amateur hour” in recent days. Reminder: Pelosi can only afford to lose three votes. THE TALIBAN’S P.R. BLITZ — At a news conference today, Taliban spokesman ZABIHULLAH MUJAHID “promised the Taliban would honor women’s rights, but within the norms of Islamic law, though he gave few details,” reports the AP. He said that the Taliban “wanted private media to ‘remain independent,’ but stressed journalists ‘should not work against national values.’” The presser was part of what the AP called a “publicity blitz aimed at convincing world powers and a fearful population that they have changed,” though many Afghans — and the broader international community — remain understandably skeptical. More from Nick Niedzwiadek — NYT’s @MujMash, at the press conference: “Quite the moment: After Mujahid says Taliban have announced all encompassing amnesty, Afghan reporter asks — do you think the people of Afghanistan will forgive you too for the explosions and suicide bombings? Mujahid’s response: ‘[collateral] damage’ happens.” — @nahaltoosi: “The Taliban spokesman just criticized Facebook for censorship in a public press conference. Brave new world, indeed.” THE U.S. RESPONSE — “Biden administration freezes billions of dollars in Afghan reserves, depriving Taliban of cash,” by WaPo’s Jeff Stein: “The Biden administration on Sunday froze Afghan government reserves held in U.S. bank accounts, blocking the Taliban from accessing billions of dollars held in U.S. institutions, according to two people familiar with the matter. The decision was made by Treasury Secretary JANET YELLEN and officials in Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control, the people said.” — “Inspector general report paints a ‘bleak’ portrait of 20 years in Afghanistan,” by Maeve Sheehey: “The Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction painted a troubling picture of America’s 20 years in Afghanistan on Tuesday, concluding that the U.S. government consistently underestimated the time required to rebuild the country and misunderstood its context during America's longest war. “‘If the goal was to rebuild and leave behind a country that can sustain itself and pose little threat to U.S. national security interests, the overall picture is bleak,’ JOHN SOPKO, the SIGAR, wrote in the report.” — “‘No plan is ever perfect’: Pentagon spokesperson defends U.S. preparedness after Afghan airport chaos,” by Quint Forgey: “Pentagon spokesperson JOHN KIRBY defended the Biden administration Tuesday against accusations that its Afghanistan withdrawal was unprepared for the speed of the Taliban’s incursion into Kabul — revealing the Defense Department had been conducting drills as far back as May to rehearse the mass evacuation of noncombatants from the country. “Still, Kirby acknowledged the ‘disturbing and heartbreaking’ nature of the scene Monday at the Afghan capital’s international airport and conceded that U.S. officials failed to foresee ‘the level of panic that was going to happen’ on the tarmac.” — Interesting nugget, via @DomenicoNPR: “There are a lot of comparisons being made bw the fall of Saigon & chaos in Kabul. I’m not saying this will happen, but it’s a pt to note that we don’t know everything... After Saigon fell on April 30, 1975, Ford’s approval rating went up -- from 37% in March to 51% by June.” Good Tuesday afternoon. | | | | A message from Climate Power: Investing in clean energy jobs now will mean millions more good-paying jobs across the country this year. Clean energy is the fastest-growing industry in America and provides a huge opportunity to create millions of good-paying, union jobs for builders, roofers, painters, engineers and electricians, autoworkers, accountants, administrators, researchers, and teachers. All it will take to get to a clean energy future is making sure big corporations and the ultra-wealthy pay their fair share. Congress, let's get it done. | | | MORE ON AFGHANISTAN THE STEPBACK — WaPo’s Ashley Parker, Tyler Pager and Annie Linskey have an illuminating behind-the-scenes report on the 72-hour period that President JOE BIDEN spent at Camp David as Afghanistan fell: “One close Biden foreign policy ally, who is in regular contact with the White House and the State Department, said the president’s team would never have let him leave for Camp David had they known just how quickly Afghanistan would implode amid the president’s decision to withdraw all U.S. troops by Sept. 11. “By Saturday night, shortly after 8 p.m., Senate Majority Leader CHARLES E. SCHUMER’S team invited lawmakers to a 10:30 a.m. Sunday phone briefing with top administration officials — including Defense Secretary LLOYD AUSTIN, [Secretary of State ANTONY] BLINKEN, and Gen. MARK A. MILLEY, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff — according to one Democratic aide familiar with the emails. … “Sen. LINDSEY O. GRAHAM (R-S.C.) said two details from the briefing stood out to him: that the officials said there were as many as 60,000 people eligible to be evacuated from Afghanistan, and that they were revising their June assessment that the threat to the U.S. homeland from militant groups like al-Qaeda operating from Afghanistan was a medium risk and could begin in as few as two years. ‘Clearly, they were flat-footed,’ Graham said.” “Sen. JOHN BARRASSO (R-Wyo.), who was also on the call, was similarly alarmed. ‘The thing that struck me, having been with all those guys over the years, was the amount of “ums, uhs, and you knows,”’ Barrasso said. ‘This is a group that usually speaks in complete sentences, and they all sounded, especially Blinken, less confident in what he was saying.’” TOP-ED — Rep. JIM LANGEVIN (D-R.I.) writes for Foreign Policy: “I’m a Democrat Who Opposed the Withdrawal. This Catastrophe Is Why”: “During my time in Congress, I have seen attention on Afghanistan wax and wane. Before the United States collectively moves on, I want to explore where we go from here. “To start, we need to remind ourselves why we were in Afghanistan in the first place: to dismantle al Qaeda and their enablers, deny them a safe haven, and stop them from plotting and planning against the United States. The Taliban offered a safe haven to extremist groups in the past. With the Taliban having taken Kabul, it is only a matter of time before Afghanistan turns into another extremist haven.” — Counterpoint from the Week’s Ryan Cooper: The widespread criticism of Biden’s withdrawal “reveals a profound inability to understand what the Afghanistan occupation was really like. Absolutely everything about it was bungled horrendously from start to finish,” Cooper writes. “These folks insist that America could have done the withdrawal better, imagining a capacity for competent governance that could not possibly be less in evidence.” RIPPLE EFFECT — “Taliban Conquest of Afghanistan Scrambles the Diplomatic Map,” by WSJ’s Michael Gordon in Washington and James Marson in Brussels: “China and Russia already are moving to build ties with the Taliban and have hosted Taliban officials even before the U.S. military completed its troop withdrawal. … [T]he administration’s repeated threats to turn Afghanistan into a ‘pariah state’ if the Taliban commits human rights abuses could be undermined if Beijing and Moscow don’t cooperate and if a Taliban-led government strengthens ties with Pakistan and Iran.” MOVE FAST AND BREAK THINGS — “Extremists Celebrate Taliban Takeover of Afghanistan on Social Media,” by WSJ’s Warren Strobel and Dustin Volz | | | | STEP INSIDE THE WEST WING: What's really happening in West Wing offices? Find out who's up, who's down, and who really has the president’s ear in our West Wing Playbook newsletter, the insider's guide to the Biden White House and Cabinet. For buzzy nuggets and details that you won't find anywhere else, subscribe today. | | | | | POLITICS ROUNDUP 2024 WATCH — “Pence convenes GOP donors, luminaries at Jackson Hole retreat,” by Alex Isenstadt: “Former Vice President MIKE PENCE is ramping up his donor outreach as he weighs a 2024 White House bid. Pence held a donor retreat late last week benefiting his newly formed nonprofit group, Advancing American Freedom. … The retreat was invite-only, with attendees asked to contribute in the six- and seven-figure range, according to a person familiar with the matter. … “Speakers at the conference included House Minority Leader KEVIN MCCARTHY, former House Speaker NEWT GINGRICH and Arizona Gov. DOUG DUCEY, the Republican Governors Association chair and a Pence ally. Several top Trump administration officials attended, including former National Economic Council Director LARRY KUDLOW, PAUL TELLER and KELLYANNE CONWAY, a former Pence pollster. MARC SHORT, Pence's former chief of staff, also presented.” MCCONNELL AND TRUMP ON THE SAME SIDE— “Laxalt launches Republican run in state that is a top GOP 2022 target,” by Fox News’ Paul Steinhauser: “Former Nevada Attorney General ADAM LAXALT on Tuesday officially declared his candidacy for the Senate in a Republican bid to oust first-term Democratic Sen. CATHERINE CORTEZ MASTO in the 2022 midterm elections. “Nevada is one of the top targets the GOP is aiming to flip from blue to red in next year’s midterms, when the party needs a net gain of just one seat to regain the Senate majority it lost in the 2020 election cycle. … He's an ally of former President Trump, and sources close to longtime Senate GOP leader MITCH MCCONNELL tell Fox News it's likely an endorsement by the Kentucky Republican could happen in the weeks ahead.” PANDEMIC DELTA DATA DIVE — “As Delta Surges, Covid-19 Breakthrough Cases Remain Uncommon,” by WSJ’s Robbie Whelan and Jared Hopkins: “The Delta variant of the Covid-19 virus appears to be breaking through the protection vaccines provide at a higher rate than previous strains, a Wall Street Journal analysis found, though infections among the fully inoculated remain a tiny fraction of overall cases, and symptoms tend to be milder. “U.S. states counted at least 193,204 so-called breakthrough cases among vaccinated people between Jan. 1 and early August, according to data that health departments in 44 states and Washington, D.C., provided to the Journal. The figure represents 0.1% of the more than 136 million fully vaccinated people in those states and the capital. The total number of breakthrough cases is likely higher, public-health experts said, because fully vaccinated people with asymptomatic infections likely aren’t getting tested for Covid-19.” — “American Hospitals Buckle Under Delta, With I.C.U.s Filling Up,” by NYT’s Albert Sun and Giulia Heyward: “Data from the Department of Health and Human Services shows that the number of hospitals with very full I.C.U.s doubled in recent weeks. Now, one in five I.C.U.s have reached or exceeded 95 percent of beds occupied, a level experts say makes it difficult or impossible for health professionals to maintain standards of care for the very sick.” | | | | Be a Policy Pro. POLITICO Pro has a free policy resource center filled with our best practices on building relationships with state and federal representatives, demonstrating ROI, and influencing policy through digital storytelling. Read our free guides today . | | | | | THE ECONOMY AMERICAN FACTORY — “U.S. factory production rebounds at fastest pace in 4 months,” by AP’s Martin Crutsinger THE COST OF COVID — “Americans spent less in July as COVID-19 cases surged,” by AP’s Joseph Pisani: “Retail sales fell a seasonal adjusted 1.1% in July from the month before, the U.S. Commerce Department said Tuesday. It was a much larger drop than the 0.3% decline Wall Street analysts had expected. The report offers the first solid glimpse of how the spread of the delta variant of COVID-19 may have changed the spending habits of Americans.” POLICY CORNER CLIMATE FILES — “Poor, unvaccinated countries fear getting to U.N. climate summit may be ‘almost insurmountable,’” by WaPo’s William Booth in London: “As host for a crucial United Nations climate summit this fall in Glasgow, the British government has vowed that the international gathering will not only be "safe and successful," but "the most inclusive ever," even in the face of a surging coronavirus pandemic. “But delegates from nations ravaged by the virus, unable to get vaccines and forecast to shoulder an outsize burden in a warming world, fear they will not be able to attend the historic gathering because of quarantine requirements, high costs, or travel bans, as well as a lack of vaccination.” THE JUSTICE LEAGUE — “Prosecutors push Biden to prioritize criminal justice reform,” by AP’s Claudia Lauer in Philadelphia: “A group of more than 100 former and current prosecutors and law enforcement officials is calling on President Joe Biden to prioritize criminal justice reform and make good on his campaign promise to form a task force to evaluate how criminal cases are prosecuted in the U.S. “The group, which included state attorneys general, police chiefs and former federal justice officials, sent a letter to the Biden administration Tuesday asking that a task force on 21st century prosecution be convened by the end of the year. It’s the latest call to action from progressive groups that have been putting pressure on the Biden administration and the Justice Department to implement criminal justice overhauls from policing to prisons.” MEDIAWATCH EVERYBODY’S GOT ONE THESE DAYS — “Michael Moore joins other prominent writers on Substack,” by NYT’s Katie Robertson PLAYBOOKERS MEDIA MOVE — Shawn McCreesh is joining N.Y. Mag as a features writer covering media, politics and power. He most recently was editorial assistant to NYT’s Maureen Dowd. The announcement WEEKEND WEDDING — Brianna Puccini, deputy COS for Sen. Deb Fischer (R-Neb.), and Lawrence Duff, a manager of corporate strategy at Nestle, got married on Saturday in Kennebunkport, Maine.. The couple met Memorial Day weekend 2016 in Dewey Beach. Pic ... Another pic | | | | A message from Climate Power:   Americans want a clean energy future, good-paying jobs and a solution to the climate crisis. And they want big corporations to pay their fair share. | | | | | | | Follow us on Twitter | | | | Subscribe to the POLITICO Playbook family Playbook | Playbook PM | California Playbook | Florida Playbook | Illinois Playbook | Massachusetts Playbook | New Jersey Playbook | New York Playbook | Brussels Playbook | London Playbook View all our politics and policy newsletters | | Follow us | | | | |  |
