Afghanistan
By now you’ve seen it everywhere. Staggering images out of Afghanistan’s capital Kabul as Taliban commanders and heavily-armed fighters entered the presidential palace mere hours after President Ashraf Ghani fled the city. The country now faces an uneasy transition with opinion divided on whether the Taliban has changed since it was forced from power by the US invasion in 2001. The group’s overwhelming and whirlwind victory is being widely seen as a humiliation for Washington, and President Joe Biden will face fierce criticism in the coming days. The coverage is wall-to-wall but much of it is naive and ill-informed. Take care to listen to the journalists who have covered the country for years. Here is a by no means exhaustive selection: Lotfullah Najafizada (Tolo News), Ali M Latifi (freelance), Yalda Hakim (BBC), Charlotte Bellis (Al Jazeera), Shereena Qazi (TRT World), Mujib Mashal (New York Times).
Al Jazeera has a useful primer on the Taliban’s key leaders here. BBC has a history of the group here. And, if you’re curious about why the country’s military was so swiftly defeated, a particularly illuminating Washington Post piece from 2019 is here.
Haiti
Incredible that this is being lost in the news cycle. The death toll from yesterday’s earthquake in Haiti has reached at least 724, with some 2,800 people injured. Haiti was still reeling from the long-term impact of a previous earthquake in 2010, which killed tens of thousands. The country’s president, Jovenel Moise, was assasinated last month and new Prime Minister Ariel Henry now faces the toughest test of his political life.
More from the Guardian here.
India
India today celebrated 74 years of independence and President Narendra Modi used the occasion to announce a $1.35 trillion infrastructure plan aimed at boosting manufacturing and tackling unemployment. The plan was met with skepticism from the opposition who said similar schemes had not been followed through in the past.
More from the Associated Press here.