Afghan government collapse.

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Even the Russians were taken aback at how quickly the Afghan defense forces folded...

I also recognize that the Taliban, for the brief time being, are a reasonable party -- if they wanted a CNN primetime bloodbath, they would easily have one. NATO should request access to a second airport since the one at Kabul is manifestly overburdened and the Taliban don't want to frighten Russia and China off with too overt a show of violence against mostly unarmed people.

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Macron says EU setting up initiative to thwart arrival of Afghan refugees

French president Emmanuel Macron said the European Union would be setting up an initiative to thwart the expected arrivals of refugees from Afghanistan after the Taliban takeover.

“We must anticipate and protect ourselves against significant irregular migratory flows that would endanger the migrants and risk encouraging trafficking of all kinds,” he said in a televised statement.

He said the response from France, Germany and other EU countries would be “robust, coordinated and united” and would target smuggling rings.

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I shudder to think how hygiene is maintained on an a cargo plane carrying 640 people.