from
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/aug/13/first-thing-afghanistan-likened-to-fall-of-saigon-amid-advance-by-taliban

First Thing: Afghanistan likened to fall of Saigon amid advance by Taliban
Thousands of American soldiers ordered back to Kabul to evacuate embassy
staff.

TOPSHOT-AFGHANISTAN-CONFLICTTOPSHOT - In this picture taken on August
13, 2021, Taliban fighters are pictured in a vehicle along the roadside
in Herat, Afghanistan’s third biggest city, after government forces
pulled out the day before following weeks of being under siege. (Photo
by - / AFP) (Photo by -/AFP via Getty Images)
Taliban fighters in Herat, Afghanistan’s third biggest city, after
government forces pulled out. Photograph: AFP/Getty Images
Nicola Slawson
Fri 13 Aug 2021 06.16 EDT

Good morning.

The situation in Afghanistan has been likened to the fall of Saigon, as
officials confirmed on Friday that the Taliban had captured the
country’s second-biggest city, Kandahar, as well as Lashkar Gah in the
south.

The Pentagon announced on Thursday it would send three battalions, about
3,000 soldiers, to Kabul’s international airport within 24 to 48 hours.
The defence department spokesman, John Kirby, said the reinforcements
would help the “safe and orderly reduction” of US nationals and Afghans
who worked with Americans and had been granted special immigrant visas.

However, Mitch McConnell has warned that America’s retreat from the
country risks a replay of the nation’s humiliating withdrawal from
Saigon at the end of the Vietnam conflict in 1975. The Senate minority
leader said the US was “careening towards a massive, predictable, and
preventable disaster”.

Joe Biden said on Tuesday that he does not regret his decision, noting
that Washington has spent more than a trillion dollars in America’s
longest war and lost thousands of troops.
On Thursday, US officials scrambled to answer questions about the
mission, with the Pentagon declining to describe it as a so-called
“noncombatant evacuation operation”, or NOE.
Afghan military resistance to the Taliban is collapsing with greater
speed than even most pessimists had predicted. There is talk among US
officials of Kabul falling in months – if not weeks.

US’s white population declines for first time ever, 2020 census finds
2020 Census in the USepa09411676 People on the Santa Monica Pier in Los
Angeles, California, USA, 12 August 2021. The Census Bureau on 12 August
released additional 2020 Census results showing that the total white
population shrank for the first time in the nation’s history.
EPA/CAROLINE BREHMAN
Santa Monica, California. The Census Bureau results showed that US metro
areas accounted for almost all the country’s population growth.
Photograph: Caroline Brehman/EPA
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America’s white population has declined for the first time, while US
metro areas were responsible for almost all of the country’s population
growth, according to groundbreaking data released on Thursday by the US
Census Bureau.

The rapid diversifying of the US was among the most notable findings of
the census. Nationwide, the number of people who identified as white
fell by 8.6%, which means 58% of Americans now identify as solely white,
a drop from 2010 when they made up 63.7% of the population.

Meanwhile, there was significant growth among minority groups over the
last decade. The Hispanic or Latino population grew by 23%, while the
Asian population surged by more than 35%. The Black population also
increased by more than 5.6%.

“The US population is much more multiracial and much more racially and
ethnically diverse than we have measured in the past,” said Nicholas
Jones, a Census Bureau official.

How will the data be used? Lawmakers will use the data to begin the
process of drawing political maps that will be in place for the next decade.
Could this affect future elections? Yes. The 435 districts in the US
House of Representatives as well as state and legislative districts will
be carved up and the Republicans are once again poised to dominate that
process.
What could the impact be? The districts will probably heavily advantage
GOP candidates and could dilute the political voice of the same minority
voters who are driving US population growth.