we’re continuing our new, wednesday deep dive articles called hottakes on our website at theweeklyrundown.us. we’re continuing our discussion of the origins of the arab-israeli conflict - this week, how a protest over the Wailing Wall led to the end of an uneasy peace after the british had taken over palestine.

big idea: afghanistan fell...already

1. well, that was quick readers. last week we cited US intelligence reports that kabul would fall to the taliban within 30 days, and it fell within 30 minutes of our issue’s publication. remind us again, why do we trust the US intelligence services?
2. anyways, afghanistan is in total chaos, with tens of thousands attempting to flee the country via land and air, its former (and cowardly) president in exile in the UAE, women afraid to venture outside their homes, helicopters ferrying americans from around kabul to the airport, billions of dollars of abandoned american military equipment being seized by the taliban, or really anyone who happens to be walking by.
3. this has turned out to be a huge mess for ol’ Joe, who was counting on at least a month to evacuate the thousands of american diplomats and contractors still in afghanistan. instead of an orderly sulk out the back door, he got a stampede at the kabul airport, live streamed for the world to see. Joe didn’t exactly handle things well once the taliban took kabul either, taking days to speak to the nation, and even then, mostly blaming others instead of taking responsibility for the loss of the capital.
4. it’s entirely unclear what’s going to happen now. no one really knows if the taliban will stick to its promises to not aid terrorists anymore and allow women in the public sphere. the afghan people have protested in a number of cities against the taliban takeover, and there are reports that opposition leaders are regrouping in traditionally anti-taliban ethnic areas. Joe’s approval numbers have hit an all-time low, and polling shows americans don’t know what the heck to think of the situation either. this was a quick, but not altogether surprising, end to the american occupation of afghanistan, where it’s pretty clear the afghan people have lost the most.

story to watch: will ‘murica learn from afghanistan?

1. we know, we know, talking about afghanistan for both our big idea & story to watch is cheating, but it’s the end of a generation-long war - what lessons (if any) ‘murica draws from this conflict is incredibly important. the intelligence failures from the start to end of this whole quandary were and are staggering, yet it’s unclear if any heads will roll in Joe’s administration.
2. the state and defense departments are already publicly pointing figures at the CIA and the rest of our alphabet soup of spy agencies, even though there’s plenty of blame to be spread...