Afghanistan falls to the Taliban, Earthquake in Haiti, 2020 census

In this issue we cover the withdrawal of troops in Afghanistan, the earthquake in Haiti, potential diversity increases in the 2020 census and the $1 trillion dollar infrastructure bill.

Afghanistan

The Biden administration has been under fire concerning its Afghanistan pullout plan. Among these critics is the former secretary of state Mike Pompeo, who claims that poor execution will result in Taliban insurgents gaining control of Kabul within three months' time. He also claims that a lack of "deterrence models" put in place under the Trump administration's plan could result in the loss of American lives.

Officials confirmed on Friday that Kandahar, the second-largest city in the country was captured by the Taliban. Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell went as far as to compare the pullout to the withdrawn of Saigon Vietnam in 1975. He continued by stating, "President Biden is finding that the quickest way to end a war is to lose it,". Biden defended his administration by pointing out that expediency is required to exit a war that has cost over a trillion dollars and thousands of American lives. He also added that support would continue to be given through salaries to Afghan soldiers and air support.

Despite the criticisms of the Biden Afghanistan pullout some efforts are being taken by the administration to smooth the transition of power. Last Thursday an announcement was made that 3000 more troops were going to be sent to aid in evacuating U.S. embassy staff. John Kirby a Pentagon spokesperson said on Friday that, "Kabul is not right now in an imminent threat environment…", but concluded by stating that the Taliban were making efforts to "isolate Kabul". The U.S embassy appears to be preparing for the worst, at one point informing staff about burn bins where sensitive information could be destroyed rather than captured.

Edit: 8/16/2021

As of the above date, reports have come in that Kabul has already fallen to the Taliban. While critics of the withdrawal were concerned about the Taliban seizing control of the country within months or weeks, no one predicted that fall would happen within a day. Chaos erupted in the country as President Ashraf Ghani fled the country joined by U.S and coalition embassy members.

Flights out of Kabul were halted as hundreds of Afghans attempted to flee the country. Amid the chaos, 7 people died according to the associated press included two armed men who were shot by American troops as they approached the airport. In addition, at least 3 Afghans who clung to the side of an Air force jet were run over and killed.

Earthquake in Haiti

An earthquake on Saturday has left 1297 people dead at the time of this report. The earthquake which measured at 7.2 also injured 5700 others. The timing of the quake has been made worse with the coming of a tropical depression predicted to reach Haiti tonight.

In addition to damage suffered by the people of Haiti, the damage to infrastructure and homes could potentially have a longer-lasting effect. The quake has destroyed 13,694 homes in addition to damaging 13,785 more. And as terrible as the earthquake is, it is only the most recent of troubles for the Haitian people. Last month President Jovenel Moise was assassinated. This combined with food instability and COVID-19 cases put the country in a political crisis.

The spice of life

Back home there is at least some good news in the form of the first local-level census from 2020. The numbers indicate that diversity is on the rise in the U.S with 43% of those reporting being people of color, which is a 34% increase from 2010! Also notable was that the non-hispanic white share of the census fell to 57% signaling a reduction in the overall white population which has fallen 6% in the same 10 year period.

While this may initially appear to be a sign of more diversity there are a few caveats to the numbers. The main one being that we've only been asking the multiracial question since the year 2000; for the years prior only one box was available for this question. What this means is that the data can be looked at and interpreted in different ways. Catchall groups might be used to place multiracial answers into prior single-race groups.  The data can also be interpreted in a more heterogeneous way by separating the groups based on the new multiracial data. It seems that many contradicting views can be gleaned from the numbers and only time will tell how accurate these initial findings are.

Infrastructure bill passes

The Senate passed a massive $1 Trillion dollar infrastructure bill last Tuesday with a bipartisan vote of 69 to 30. The bill will put funds towards fixes to roads and bridges but will also make strides towards climate resilience. Mitch McConnell a constant opposer to the administration was among those who supported the bill afterward saying, "I was proud to support today's historic bipartisan infrastructure deal and prove that both sides of the political aisle can still come together around common-sense solutions." Celebration may be premature however because the bill will likely face some opposition in the House where Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the majority of the Progressive Caucus have said they will not vote on it until the Senate passes a $3.5 trillion social policy bill.

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