| | | | | | | Presented By Amazon | | | | Axios AM | | By Mike Allen ·Aug 27, 2021 | | Hello, Friday. Smart Brevity™ count: 1,195 words ... 4½ minutes. Edited by Fadel Allassan. ⚡ Situational awareness: The Supreme Court's conservative majority allowed evictions to resume, blocking President Biden's temporary ban. Go deeper. - "Texas House advances new voting restrictions as Democratic hopes of killing the legislation wane." —Texas Tribune
| | | | | | 1 big thing: "We're going to have to go back in" | | President Biden listens to a question after his address yesterday. Photo: Evan Vucci/AP Tragically, 20 years on, America isn't near done in Afghanistan. - Why it matters: President Biden was determined to finally exit — "time to end the forever war," he said in April as he announced the U.S. would be out of Afghanistan by next month's 20th anniversary of 9/11.
Now, the U.S. must deliver on Biden's vow of retribution for yesterday's calamity at the Kabul airport gate — amid fears Afghanistan will become a renewed launch pad for terrorism against the West. - "Bottom line is that our work is not done in Afghanistan," Leon Panetta, SecDef and CIA director under President Obama, said on CNN. "We're going to have to go back in to get ISIS."
On top of that, at least 250,000 Afghans who worked with the U.S. have yet to be evacuated, the N.Y. Times calculates (subscription). - Efforts to deliver on commitments to those brave allies will go on for years, people involved in clandestine private projects tell me.
Biden told the ISIS-K terrorists are believed to be behind the twin suicide bombings, followed by an attack by gunmen, that killed at least 95 Afghans and 13 U.S. service members: We will not forgive. We will not forget. We will hunt you down and make you pay. Satellite image: Planet Labs. Map: AP At a Pentagon briefing, Marine Gen. Kenneth McKenzie, commander of U.S. Central Command, had said: "If we can find who's associated with this, we will go after them. ... 24/7, we are looking for them." Panetta told CNN's Erin Burnett that U.S. counterterrorism operations must persist past Tuesday's exit deadline: - "We're probably going to have to go back in when al-Qaeda resurrects itself, as they will with this Taliban."
- "[W]e can leave a battlefield, but we can't leave the war on terrorism."
McKenzie, the Central Command commander, said he expects the ISIS attacks to continue. Photo: Asvaka News Agency via Reuters Above: Crowds near Kabul airport on Monday. - Go deeper: U.S. relies on Taliban cooperation to complete mission in Kabul, by Axios' Dave Lawler.
|     | | | | | | 2. Nine days back to freedom: An Afghan tale |  | | | A refugee from Kabul waits at Dulles yesterday. Photo: Win McNamee/Getty Images | | | | The green card that Atifa and her brother used to get back into the U.S. yesterday also put their lives at risk back in Kabul, when the Taliban searched door-to-door for Americans. - Axios' Stef Kight interviewed the 21-year-old and her 18-year-old sibling, who went by his last name, Ahmadi, at the Dulles Expo Center in Chantilly, Va.
- They gave a first-hand account of the journey from Afghanistan to the U.S. — a terrifying, stressful, exhausting trip lasting nine days.
Atifa and Ahmadi had been in Afghanistan visiting family for the month and a half preceding the collapse of the government. It took them three days to make it into the Kabul airport. - In the safety of a convention center outside the nation's capital, they were surrounded by over 100 others who'd fled Afghanistan.
- Among them were children playing with hula hoops, mothers in head scarves holding kids, young men in traditional clothes.
After boarding a flight out of Kabul, the siblings landed at the Al Udeid Air Base in Doha, Qatar, where they stayed for two nights. - There was little food, and none that Afghans are used to eating.
- Their next stop was Germany. After five days, they boarded a 12-hour flight to the U.S.
The expo center was filled with the echoes of dozens of other Afghans who emerged from behind dividers where they had been processed with wristbands signaling their different visa statuses. - Hundreds of green cots sat covered with Red Cross blankets, divided by curtains and labeled with hand-written signs designating sections for single women or families — in English and Dari.
- A curtained area was set aside for prayer.
Outside, a U.S. citizen who lives in New York told Axios' Erin Doherty she was confused about why she landed in Virginia. - Other people waited for relatives — or searched for a lost bag.
Share this story. | | | | | | | | 3. What Marines face at Abbey Gate | | Photo: Marcus Yam/L.A. Times This was the view of American and British forces at the intake Abbey Gate at the Kabul airport on the day before the suicide bombing. Photo: Marcus Yam/L.A. Times This is the sight inside Abbey Gate, as American and British forces try to keep order among Afghan evacuees waiting to leave Kabul. Photo: Marcus Yam/L.A. Times A woman is surrounded by her children as she waits in a pile of debris in the processing area outside Abbey Gate on Wednesday. | | | | | | | | A message from Amazon | | Amazon ranked as the No. 1 U.S. company investing in America | | |  | | | | The Progressive Policy Institute (PPI) ranked Amazon as the No. 1 U.S. company investing in America. Why it's important: PPI estimates Amazon invested $34 billion in U.S. infrastructure in 2020. Every Amazon job comes with a starting wage of $15/hr and comprehensive benefits. Learn more. | | | | | | 4. Ambulance wait times soar |  | | | Illustration: Brendan Lynch/Axios | | | | The Delta wave is overwhelming local ambulance companies, Axios' Marisa Fernandez reports: - Across the U.S., wait times for EMS have skyrocketed.
In some rural areas, EMS trucks have to drive hundreds of miles to respond to calls, even crossing state lines to pick up patients — only to arrive at hospitals with no available beds. - First responders in Austin are waiting up to an hour to hand over a patient to hospital staff.
Share this story. | | | | | | | | 5. Even the cloud has holes | | Microsoft warned thousands of cloud computing customers, including some of the world's largest companies, to change their passwords so intruders can't read, change or delete their databases, Reuters scoops: - Security company Wiz found the vulnerability in Microsoft Azure's flagship Cosmos DB database.
- Microsoft paid a $40,000 bounty for reporting the flaw.
💭 Our thought bubble: Axios managing editor Scott Rosenberg tells me this is more a reminder of online vulnerabilities than a four-alarm fire. - Microsoft says there's no indication that anyone was compromised.
| | | | | | | | 6. Peloton slowdown |  Data: Company filings. Chart: Axios Visuals For the first time since COVID struck, the number of new Peloton users slowed during the past quarter, Courtenay Brown writes in Axios Closer. | | | | | | | | 7. Stat of the day | The L.A. Chargers took the field Sunday in Inglewood, Calif., before losing a preseason game to the 49ers, 15-10. Photo: Ashley Landis/AP The NFL says 93% of players are vaccinated for COVID. | | | | | | | | 8. What's next for Anne Finucane, pioneer in climate finance |  | | | Photo: Bank of America | | | | Bank of America Vice Chairman Anne Finucane, who announced she'll retire at the end of the year, plans to keep working on climate finance and sustainable investing, and is being mentioned for high-level posts in the Biden administration. - Why it matters: Finucane positioned Bank of America as a leader in environmental, social and governance (ESG) efforts, and pushed environmentally sustainable capital deployment as good business.
Dina Powell, Goldman Sachs' global head of sustainability and inclusive growth, tells Axios: "As one of the most senior women in finance, [Anne] made a point to mentor and promote so many women." | | | | | | | | 9. 🎟️ College fans resist digital tickets | | John Fey shows off ticket stubs from Nebraska's 1971 "Game of the Century" against Oklahoma, and the Cornhuskers' 1984 Orange Bowl against Miami. Photo: Eric Olson/AP Ticket stubs are such treasured mementos that most colleges continue to offer printed tickets, even though nearly every Football Bowl Subdivision school has gone to mobile ticketing, AP reports. - In a spot check of 30 schools, only Notre Dame said it would refuse to print tickets for fans who preferred them to scanning a barcode.
- The other 29 are willing to print, though most don't publicize that.
Illinois gave fans a choice, and 74% picked paper. That figure was 64% at Nebraska and 50% at Texas A&M. Photo: Stephen B. Morton/AP Above: Florida fan Evelyn Stark, 86, wore a hat with all the ticket stubs since her first Florida-Georgia game in 1956, while tailgating in 2015. | | | | | | | | 10. America mourns | | Workers walk on the roof of the White House yesterday after lowering the flag. Photo: Susan Walsh/AP President Biden ordered U.S. flags flown at half-staff on public buildings until sunset Monday. | | | | | | | | A message from Amazon | | "Before Amazon, money was tight. I wanted a good stable job" | | |  | | | | When Marie joined Amazon, she started making at least $15 an hour and gained some peace of mind. The background: Amazon raised their starting wage to at least $15 an hour in 2018 because it is good for workers, good for business, and good for communities. | | | | 📬 Invite your friends, family and colleagues to sign up here for Axios AM and Axios PM. |  | | It'll help you deliver employee communications more effectively. | | | |
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