The blame game

A defiant President Biden defended his chaotic Afghanistan withdrawal yesterday, explaining why leaving U.S. troops in the country to maintain stability in the region was a bad idea. "The reason why it's been stable for a year is because the last president said, 'We're leaving. And here's the deal I wanna make with you, Taliban. We're agreeing to leave if you agree not to attack us between now and the time we leave,'" he said. U.S. forces may remain in Afghanistan beyond the Aug. 31 deadline set for complete withdrawal, Biden said, in order "to get them all out," referring to thousands of stranded U.S. citizens and Afghans who have worked with the U.S. But, the roughly 4,500 troops on the ground at Hamid Karzai International Airport will not be sent beyond the airfield perimeter, so evacuees trying to get to the airfield safely are on their own. —Defense One

• — Furious Democrats. Congressional Democrats are preparing a series of hearings on the withdrawal amid rising anger about the administration's handling of the end of the war. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced a hearing in the Foreign Affairs Committee early next week, and the panel's chair, Rep. Gregory Meeks, said he's invited Secretary of State Tony Blinken and Defense Sec. Lloyd Austin to testify. In the Senate, three Democratic committee chairs have said they're going to ask tough questions at their own hearings when they return from August recess. —CNN
•  
• — Divided Republicans. While congressional Republicans are united in their belief that Biden botched the withdrawal, there is a schism in the party on the question of what to do about the thousands of Afghan refugees looking to flee to the U.S. The intraparty battle has pitted immigration reform advocates, who view the resettlement of individuals and families—particularly those who aided the U.S. mission—as a moral charge, against immigration restrictionists, who don't trust the Biden Administration to properly vet evacuees. —Politico
•  
• — Media-savvy Taliban. In an effort to further establish their authority and legitimize their rule across Afghanistan, members of the Taliban are making their presence known on Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube, defying longtime bans by the platforms. The social media companies have largely designated the Taliban as a terrorist organization and don't allow their content on their sites. But with governments around the world weighing whether to officially recognize the Taliban as Afghanistan's rulers, the companies have no easy answers as to whether to continue barring the group online. —The New York Times

Dionne: The culture wars are killing us

"One [recent] finding got a lot of attention because it seemed to dramatize how divided we are: 'Among those who admit they will not get the vaccine if they can avoid it, 70% either identify with or lean toward the Republican Party, while just 6% align with the Democrats.' That piece of data got Democrats' blood boiling. Yet the same question, analyzed differently, also found that 63% of all Republicans had either been vaccinated or are persuadable. While much lower than the 98% of Democrats in this category, the figure suggests that…we are still hanging on as one nation. But barely. The culture wars' distortion of the vaccine argument is potentially catastrophic for millions of Americans. Can we consider putting some of our animosity aside until we are all healthy and safe again?" —E.J. Dionne in The Washington Post

E.J. Dionne is a Washington Post columnist covering national politics.

MORE: Biden orders Education Dept. to take action against governors who ban school mask mandates —The Washington Post

A plan for the border

It's been a rough week for President Biden. Afghanistan is a mess, Covid cases keep rising, and the southern border is overrun. To help mitigate the latter crisis, the administration unveiled a proposal yesterday to accelerate the handling of asylum claims. Under the plan, which would address a record-high backlog of roughly 1.3 million cases, asylum-seekers who establish they have a credible fear of persecution and are placed in expedited removal proceedings will be able to have their cases heard and decided by U.S. Citizenship Immigration Services asylum officers, rather than immigration judges. USCIS is part of the Department of Homeland Security. Those who receive a negative outcome in the initial stage will be able to appeal to the immigration courts managed by the Department of Justice. The rule is expected to be implemented over the coming months. —Voice of America

MORE: U.S. appeals judge's order reviving Trump 'remain in Mexico' program —Reuters

Georgia GOP closes in on election takeover

The Georgia State Election Board appointed a majority-Republican panel to review the performance of the Fulton County Board of Elections yesterday, in another step toward a potential Republican takeover of the election system in the county. The move comes as Republican-controlled legislatures across the country angle for greater power over election administration, often seeking to strip it from election officials and give it to partisan lawmakers. Under the Georgia voting law that Republicans passed in March, the State Election Board was required to appoint the panel to review the board in Fulton County, which has a history of election management struggles. Democrats have denounced the review, noting that the 2020 election results were affirmed by three recounts and audits that found no evidence of widespread voter fraud. President Biden carried Fulton County in November with 73% of the vote. —The New York Times

MORE: Georgia board launches inquiry of Fulton election problems —The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Waldman: When democracy goes haywire

"The recall election of Gov. Gavin Newsom has begun, and while we ordinarily think of governors being recalled only if they engaged in scandalous behavior or epic mismanagement, that's not at issue in California. That makes this a good case study in how democracy can get out of control. While involving the people in decision-making is generally a good thing, if we aren't careful, the procedures we set up to do so can be hijacked by a determined minority who could never get the public to agree with them otherwise." —Paul Waldman in The Washington Post

Paul Waldman is a political columnist at The Washington Post.

MORE: Polling shows vulnerable Gavin Newsom as recall ballots hit mailboxes in California —Yahoo! News

Focus on global democracy

In Zambia, opposition leader Hakainde Hichilema defeated incumbent Edgar Lungu in an election earlier this week. In his debut address to the nation, Hichilema slammed the southern African country's outgoing "brutal regime" while promising a "better democracy." He pledged to support "rule of law, restoring order, respecting human rights, liberties and freedoms." Speaking shortly after Lungu conceded defeat, Hichilema added, "I will be a president of all Zambians, of those that voted for me and of those that did not." —France24

• — Tanzania. Hopes for democracy are dimming in Tanzania. When President Samia Suluhu Hassan took office in March, she vowed a U-turn in politics from her iron-fisted predecessor, John Magufuli. But Freeman Mbowe, the leader of the opposition Chadema Party, was arrested last month as he was about to address a meeting to discuss constitutional reforms. Prosecutors accused him of taking part in conspiracies to blow up fueling stations and fund terrorist acts, but the Chadema Party denies the charges and claims the arrest is political. —Voice of America
•  
• — Russia. Russia's Justice Ministry has declared Golos, an independent vote-monitoring movement, as a "foreign agent," just a month before the country's parliamentary election. The organization first angered the government by publicizing evidence of fraud in a 2011 parliamentary vote that sparked opposition protests, and in the presidential election that returned Vladimir Putin to the Kremlin for a third term as president in 2012. Golos is urging Russians to register as election observers and has pledged to continue its work. —Reuters

1. — Hong Kong. Two Hong Kong residents who campaigned for international sanctions against China for cracking down on the city's pro-democracy movement, pleaded guilty today to "colluding with foreign forces to endanger China's national security" under the city's draconian national security law. In a separate case, seven political activists, including the leader of a now-defunct group that organized the massive 2019 pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong, also pleaded guilty to "inciting others to participate in unauthorized assembly." —Deutsche Welle

Valsania: Ignorance is the greatest threat to democracy

"Democracies may pave the way to tyrants. Self-serving leaders will appear. They will seek to rewrite national history by purging it of complexity and inconvenient truths. They will capitalize on the widespread frustration and profit from the chaotic situation. Should these leaders seize power, they will curtail the people's participation in politics. They will discriminate based on race, sex, or religion. They will create barriers to democratic participation by certain constituents, including moral tests or literacy tests. So, one way democracies degenerate is because of cunning leaders. But democracies crumble also because of the people themselves. As an intellectual historian, I can assure you that the specter of an ignorant populace holding sway has kept many philosophers, writers, and politicians awake. The American founders were at the forefront in the battle against popular ignorance." —Maurizio Valsania in The Milwaukee Independent

Maurizio Valsania is a professor of American history at the Università di Torino.

MORE: Tom Nichols: Trump is not ruining democracy, we are. And it's been anguishing to confront —USA Today

So many fingers being pointed with regard to whom is to blame for the disaster in Afghanistan. As a veteran and as an American, I believe the list is long. It starts from the moment the mission in Afghanistan changed from a military focus on Al-Qaeda and the Taliban, to nation-building and an occupation where we would provide the peace. That was almost 20 years ago.

We never had a plan, and now it shows. In spades. We did not define what winning would be, or how to win or how to leave. Without doing so, it would always be a disaster. We'd either have to stay forever or leave at some point, regardless of when, and the house of cards would collapse.

I'm sure people will disagree. So here's a simple request of Mr. Trump, Mr. Pompeo, and others right now who said they had a great plan, etc., and this is all Mr. Biden's fault. Explain your plan, don't suggest that Chris Wallace from Fox News go and read it. Tell us the highlights, tell us what broke. They had no plan, rest assured, other than to leave. Lest we forget, they also had 5,000 Taliban fighters released from prison as part of their plan.

As I write, I am listening to various Democrats talking about how folks in Afghanistan must fight for their own country. I agree to some degree, and I was never for nation-building in the first place. That doesn't excuse not having a plan to leave that avoids or mitigates disaster. They won't stand up to the Trump sycophants in this country, but they have the audacity to rip people who will be, and are, slaughtered by the Taliban. They won't fight for the right to vote here and to protect our democracy, yet folks in Afghanistan need to stand up. Rich.

It was not that long ago that we would never negotiate with terrorists. Yet Mr. Pompeo and Mr. Trump did so and were proud of it when they did. But the disaster is on everyone in the administrations from Mr. Bush through Mr. Biden and the leaders in Congress over those 20 years as well—and even on the American public and voters. These are the people who were elected, yet many of them could not find Afghanistan on a map, let alone spell it. And no one, it seems, had a plan of any sort other than to stay forever or leave yesterday. And as usual, no one at the top will be held accountable in any way, shape, or form. It is shameful on so many levels. —Bill T., Arizona

The views expressed in "What's Your Take?" are submitted by readers and do not necessarily reflect the views of the editorial staff or the Stand Up Republic Foundation.