Democracy Now!

Amid a surge in COVID-19 cases, we look at the experiences of meatpacking workers during the pandemic and beyond. Dulce Castañeda, a founding member of Children of Smithfield, a Nebraska-based grassroots advocacy group led by the children and family members of meatpacking workers, says conditions in the meatpacking plants during the pandemic remained as usual. "It was a situation where they weren't receiving the protections that they needed," she tells Democracy Now!, adding that workers often don't have the time or resources to advocate for themselves. Castañeda and her family are profiled in a new book by journalist Eyal Press titled "Dirty Work: Essential Jobs and the Hidden Toll of Inequality in America."

As the United States ends a 20-year occupation of Afghanistan, a former intelligence analyst for the CIA's drone program offers an apology to the people of Afghanistan "from not only myself, but from the rest of our society as Americans." During deployments to Afghanistan, Christopher Aaron says he was able to see "the human toll, the resource toll of these wars, as well as the fact that the policy of dropping 'guided missiles' at people from remote controlled airplanes was not allowing us to actually win the war." We also speak with Eyal Press, who profiles Aaron in his new book, "Dirty Work: Essential Jobs and the Hidden Toll of Inequality in America." He says the U.S. has developed a military strategy of carrying out drone strikes and wars "in the shadows: doing it out of sight, out of mind."

Ahead of Labor Day, we speak with journalist and sociologist Eyal Press about his new book, "Dirty Work: Essential Jobs and the Hidden Toll of Inequality in America." Press profiles workers like prison guards and oil workers — people who make their livelihoods by doing "unethical activity that society depends on and tacitly condones but doesn't want to hear too much" about, he says. "This work is largely hidden, and we rarely hear from the people on the frontlines who are delegated to do it," Press tells Democracy Now! "The powerful and the privileged really don't do the dirty work in America — they not only don't do it, they don't see it."

As the death toll from the remnants of Hurricane Ida in the northeastern United States climbs to 46, President Biden is visiting New Orleans, which is under curfew enforced by police and the National Guard as most of the city remains in the dark amid sweltering temperatures. "This is truly déjà vu," says Malik Rahim, who joins us by phone from the Algiers neighborhood of New Orleans, where he co-founded the mutual aid group Common Ground Collective after Hurricane Katrina. "This hurricane happened when it was the worst time in America to be poor."

Ida's Death Toll Soars After Record Rains Flood Northeastern States, Aerial Photos Show Oil and Chemical Spills Spawned by Hurricane Ida, Humanitarian Flights to Afghanistan Resume as U.N. Warns of Widespread Hunger, Japanese PM Yoshihide Suga Resigns After Critics Blast His Response to COVID-19, Over 15 Million COVID-19 Vaccine Doses Have Gone to Waste in the United States, Democrats Ready Reproductive Rights Bill After SCOTUS Refuses to Halt Texas Ban on Most Abortions, 7.5 Million U.S. Residents to Lose Jobless Benefits, with Millions Bracing for Cuts in Aid, Sen. Joe Manchin Demands "Pause" on $3.5 Trillion Spending Bill, Enraging Fellow Democrats, EPA Study Finds Climate Crisis Will Impact Communities of Color the Hardest, Court Orders Biden Administration to Stop Turning Asylum Seekers Around at Border, Georgia Ex-Prosecutor Indicted for Allegedly Protecting Ahmaud Arbery's Killers, Israeli Soldiers Kill 1 Palestinian, Wound 15 Others at Protest Against Gaza Blockade, Protests Mount as El Salvador Prepares to Adopt Bitcoin as Legal Tender

With the official end of the War in Afghanistan, we speak with Rafia Zakaria, author of "Against White Feminism," about how U.S. officials used the plight of the women in the country to justify the 2001 invasion and subsequent occupation. "Feminism has been delegitimized in Afghanistan because it is associated with an occupying force," says Zakaria. "Now Afghan women are left to pick up the pieces and deal with the Taliban."

Mahbouba Seraj, president of the Afghan Women's Network and a longtime advocate for women's rights, says the Taliban have already restricted women's freedoms since taking over the country, despite their assurances that they have shifted their views since the last time they were in power. "If they continue like this, … Afghanistan will go back another 200 years," says Seraj. "One cannot just disregard the women of Afghanistan and say they don't exist. This doesn't work."

Three police officers and two paramedics in Colorado have been criminally charged in the 2019 death of Elijah McClain, a 23-year-old Black man who was tackled by police, placed in a chokehold and later injected with a large amount of the powerful sedative ketamine. McClain, who was not suspected of any crime, suffered a cardiac arrest on the way to the hospital and died several days later. His death sparked nationwide protests and led to new police accountability legislation being passed in Colorado. "This case has made sweeping changes," says Colorado state Representative Leslie Herod. "But I've got to tell you: It would not have happened if it weren't for the protests."

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled 5-4 to let stand a new anti-abortion law in Texas, which bans all abortions in the state after six weeks — before most people even realize they are pregnant — and allows for private citizens to sue anyone who "aids and abets" a person in getting an abortion. Nancy Northup, president and CEO of the Center for Reproductive Rights, says, "It is clearly an unconstitutional law" that must be reversed. "It's absolutely an abomination," says Northup, who urges Congress to pass new legislation protecting reproductive rights as legal challenges to the Texas law continue.

Supreme Court Refuses to Halt Texas Anti-Abortion Law While Legal Challenges Proceed, Hurricane Ida's Remnants Bring Tornadoes, Flooding and Record Rainfall to Northeast, Gulf Coast Faces Shortages of Food, Water and Energy Days After Hurricane Ida's Landfall, U.N. Says Fivefold Increase in Extreme Weather Events Caused Over 2 Million Deaths Since 1970, Taliban Parade U.S.-Made Military Hardware as Refugees Gather at Afghanistan's Borders, New York Extends Eviction Moratorium Halted by U.S. Supreme Court, Texas School District Cancels Classes After 2 Teachers Die of COVID-19, Colorado Grand Jury Indicts 3 Cops, 2 Paramedics in Killing of Elijah McClain, Nigerian Officials Shut Down Zamfara Schools After Latest Mass Kidnapping, Judge Approves $4.5 Billion Settlement, Shielding Sackler Family from Future Opioid Lawsuits, Biden Issues Warning to Russia as Ukrainian President Zelensky Visits White House, GOP Leader McCarthy Threatens Companies That Cooperate with House Insurrection Probe

As Haitians cope with the devastating aftermath of a 7.2 magnitude earthquake, Tropical Storm Grace and the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse in July, a coalition of over 300 rights groups is denouncing the Biden administration's ongoing deportations to Haiti and urging it to expand temporary protected status. "How do you tell somebody not to come when they are dealing not only with man-made crisis, political crisis and violence, and on top of it dealing with natural disasters?" asks Guerline Jozef, co-founder and executive director of Haitian Bridge Alliance.

In a major setback for reproductive rights, the U.S. Supreme Court has allowed a Texas law to go into effect that bans abortions after six weeks — before most people even know they are pregnant. Until now, no other six-week ban has ever gone into effect in the United States. The law is seen as a direct challenge to Roe v. Wade and allows private citizens to file civil suits against abortion providers or anyone who "aids or abets" an abortion after six weeks. "What Texas has done is blanket unconstitutional," says Nancy Northup, president and CEO of the Center for Reproductive Rights.

Afghan doctor Wais Aria describes how he fled Afghanistan with his family after the Taliban takeover, packing up his wife and four children and trying for days to leave from the Kabul airport, where he was beaten by the Taliban. They managed to catch a flight out of the country Thursday and arrived in the U.S. on Saturday. "It was a disaster for me and my children," says Aria, now in Alexandria, Virginia.

President Joe Biden has forcefully defended his decision to withdraw U.S. troops from Afghanistan, describing the removal of U.S. forces as an "extraordinary success." He noted in a speech Tuesday that the U.S. helped more than 120,000 people flee Afghanistan since the Taliban seized power, and called for a new era in foreign policy. Phyllis Bennis, a fellow at the Institute for Policy Studies, says Biden's speech was honest about the costs of war and the need to get out, but she says it's "clearly not true" that the U.S. is winding down the war on terror. "The U.S. is still waging war in a host of other countries."

Biden Defends U.S. Withdrawal from Afghanistan, Signals End to U.S. Nation-Building Through War, Louisiana Gov. Tells Hurricane Ida Evacuees "Do Not Return" Amid Power Outages, Lack of Services, Texas Enacts Near Total Ban on Abortions, the Most Draconian Anti-Choice Law in the Country, Texas Legislature Passes Voter Suppression Bill, Sending Measure to Governor's Desk, Pennsylvania, New York Announce New Measures to Curb COVID Transmission in Schools, NYC Housing Advocates Call for Extension of Eviction Moratorium, EU Vaccinates 70% of Adults; Israel Rolls Out Booster Shots; Filipino Health Workers Protest Gov't, Court Gives Jail Time to 7 Prominent Pro-Independence Activists in Hong Kong, New Saudi Labor Rules Put Hundreds of Yemenis at Risk of Deportation, Virginia Gov. Grants Posthumous Pardons to 7 Black Men Executed in 1951, R. Kelly Survivors Recount Assault, Patterns of Abuse and Control During Federal Trial, HHS Opens New Office to Address Health Impacts of Climate Crisis, Progressive Dems Call on Biden to Replace Powell with Fed Chair Who Will Take on Climate Crisis

Hurricane Ida and the increasing threats from extreme weather are a wake-up call to divest from fossil fuels that make climate disasters worse and more frequent, says Reverend Lennox Yearwood Jr., the president and CEO of the Hip Hop Caucus, who is originally from Shreveport, Louisiana, and established the Gulf Coast Renewal Campaign after Hurricane Katrina. "We know who is causing these storms. We know who is causing the climate crisis. They're right there in Louisiana with us: It's the fossil fuel industry. So we've got to stop it," Yearwood says.

As Hurricane Ida is downgraded to a tropical depression, Louisiana's main utility company Entergy says it could be weeks before it restores electricity to nearly a million people in the storm's path, including all of New Orleans. We speak with Flozell Daniels Jr., president of the Foundation for Louisiana, who evacuated his home city and is calling for "a just and fair recovery" that addresses preexisting crises, including COVID-19 and poverty. "These are disasters that were already happening," he says. He also describes the power of the oil and gas industry lobbyists he has challenged as a member of Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards's Climate Initiatives Task Force.

As the United States ends its military presence in Afghanistan after 20 years of occupation and war, the Costs of War Project estimates it spent over $2.2 trillion in Afghanistan and Pakistan, and by one count, over 170,000 people died during the fighting over the last two decades. Kathy Kelly, longtime peace activist who has traveled to Afghanistan dozens of times and coordinates the Ban Killer Drones campaign, says it will be important to keep international focus on the people of Afghanistan. "Everybody in the United States and in every country that has invaded and occupied Afghanistan ought to make reparations," Kelly says. "Not only financial reparations for the terrible destruction caused, but also to address … the systems of warfare that ought to be set aside and dismantled."

As the last U.S. forces leave Afghanistan, ending the longest war in U.S. history, we go to Kabul to speak with Danish Afghan journalist Nagieb Khaja, who was once kidnapped by the Taliban and later embedded with them on a reporting assignment. He has been investigating Sunday's U.S. drone strike that killed 10 Afghan civilians, including seven children.

Taliban Celebrate as Last U.S. Troops Leave Afghanistan, Over 1 Million in Path of Hurricane Ida Could Remain Without Power for Weeks, Florida Withholds Funds to Schools Defying Gov. DeSantis's Ban on Mask Mandates, Advocates Demand Biden End Deportations to Haiti After Devastating Earthquake, Over 500 Migrants Rescued in Mediterranean; EU Plans to Bar Entry to Afghan Refugees, U.N. Hails End to Worldwide Use of Toxic Leaded Gasoline, Mass Evacuations Ordered for Lake Tahoe Region as Caldor Wildfire Spreads, Federal Court Strikes Down Trump-Era Rule Gutting Clean Water Act, Emergency Petition Asks U.S. Supreme Court to Halt Texas Anti-Choice Law, Texas House Advances Bill to Severely Restrict Use of Abortion Pills, Lawmakers Order Telecom Companies to Preserve Records of January 6 Insurrection, John Pierce, Anti-Vax Lawyer for Capitol Insurrectionists, Hospitalized with COVID-19, Relatives of Mexico's Disappeared Accuse Government of Failing to Act

U.S. troops in Afghanistan are racing to evacuate people from the country ahead of Tuesday's withdrawal deadline as the Kabul airport is targeted by rocket fire from militant groups. The rocket attacks come just days after over 175 people, including 13 U.S. troops, died after a suicide bomb outside the airport, with the group ISIS-K claiming responsibility for the attack. The Pentagon has publicly acknowledged that some of the people killed outside the airport on Thursday may have been shot dead by U.S. servicemembers in the panic after the suicide bombing. The U.S. retaliated over the weekend with two airstrikes the Pentagon says targeted more potential suicide bombers, but local residents say the strikes also killed Afghan civilians, including as many as six children. "We see how the war on terror in Afghanistan started and how it is ending now: It's with drones and civilian casualties," says Emran Feroz, an Austro-Afghan journalist and author. He says the U.S. airstrikes in the final days of the war — and the innocent people they killed — are emblematic of the entire 20-year conflict. "In many rural areas, these things happened on a daily basis," says Feroz.

Despite desperate climate warnings against new fossil fuel development, ExxonMobil is pursuing a massive new oil project in Guyana that is projected to be the corporation's largest oil production in the world. A new investigation by Antonia Juhasz, a longtime oil and energy investigative reporter, reveals the project will release 125 million metric tons of carbon dioxide per year, turning Guyana from a carbon sink into what she says could be a "carbon bomb" and posing major environmental risks.

Two-thirds of Louisiana's industrial sites lie in the path of Hurricane Ida, including oil refineries, storage tanks and other infrastructure like oil platforms in the Gulf of Mexico. Louisiana's Gulf Coast is a major oil and gas hub, with 17 oil refineries, two liquefied natural gas export terminals, as well as a nuclear power plant and many Superfund sites. Oil spills and chemical releases due to climate change-intensified storms are a "worsening, consistent problem" in Louisiana's Gulf Coast, says Antonia Juhasz, a longtime oil and energy investigative journalist. Communities of color living on the Gulf Coast near polluting gas and oil infrastructure "now also have to deal with that worsening climate crisis creating a storm that harms these facilities, that then causes more releases," she adds.

Hurricane Ida has completely knocked out power to the city of New Orleans and reversed the flow of the Mississippi River after it hit southern Louisiana and Mississippi, flooding the area with storm surges. The Category 4 storm hit on the same date Hurricane Katrina devastated the area 16 years earlier. "This is a storm like no other," says Monique Verdin, a citizen of the United Houma Nation and part of the grassroots collaborative Another Gulf Is Possible. "This is a part of South Louisiana that is losing land at one of the fastest rates," Verdin notes. She also discusses how the storm hit the area as "Delta has been raging in the Mississippi River Delta."

Up to 10 People Killed in U.S. Strike in Kabul, Rockets Fired at Airport as Withdrawal Deadline Nears, Hurricane Ida Slams into Louisiana, Killing One Person, Cutting Power to Entire City of New Orleans, Florida Judge Says Schools Can Impose Mask Mandates; Dr. Fauci Banks Vaccine Mandates for Students, Rev. Jesse Jackson Transfers to Rehab as Wife Moves to ICU; Conservative Radio Hosts Die of COVID-19, Thousands Rally for Voting Rights on Anniversary of March on Washington, 30 Yemeni Soldiers Killed in Attack During Military Exercise, Israel Launches New Airstrikes on Gaza; Soldiers Use Live Fire on Palestinian Protesters, Kidnapped Nigerian Children Freed After Months in Captivity, Mexican Authorities Attack Caravan of U.S.-Bound Asylum Seekers, Extinction Rebellion Actions in London Demand Fossil Fuel Divestment, Indigenous Groups Gather in Brazil's Capital as High Court Nears Major Ruling on Land Rights, Evacuations Ordered as Caldor Fire Threatens Lake Tahoe Basin, Sen. Bernie Sanders Touts $3.5 Trillion Spending Bill in Conservative and Swing States, Los Angeles City Council Commemorates El Salvador's Missing and Murdered, Ed Asner, Acclaimed Actor and Labor & Political Activist, Dies at 91

The conservative talk radio host Larry Elder is now the Republican front-runner challenging Democratic California Governor Gavin Newsom in a special election that could also shape national politics. California voters cast ballots on September 14 on whether to recall Newsom, after a right-wing campaign to unseat the governor garnered enough signatures to trigger the vote. If Newsom fails to get more than 50% support for staying in office, the candidate with the most votes replaces him as governor. "This whole thing started with anti-immigrant nativists in California who were upset about the pro-immigrant, pro-Latino policies that Gavin Newsom was putting in place," says Los Angeles Times columnist Jean Guerrero. "[Elder] basically wants to take California back to the 1990s, when we saw an incredibly anti-immigrant and anti-Black decade in California." Elder was a mentor to Stephen Miller, the xenophobic, anti-immigration former Trump adviser, which Guerrero writes about in her book, "Hatemonger: Stephen Miller, Donald Trump, and the White Nationalist Agenda."

As thousands of people in Afghanistan attempt to flee the country before the United States' withdrawal on August 31, we look at how the Trump administration made it much harder for Afghans who worked with the U.S. to apply and receive what is known as a special immigrant visa, or SIV. Oliva Troye, a former top aide to Mike Pence who resigned in protest, has placed the blame on Trump's xenophobic adviser Stephen Miller, saying he peddled "racist hysteria" in White House meetings about bringing Afghan allies to the U.S. "Stephen Miller would say, 'Well, these are terrorist cells in the making if you bring them here,'" says Troye, director of the Republican Accountability Project and former homeland security adviser to Pence. "I know for a fact that the Trump administration was planning this withdrawal for several years," says Troye. "Why were they not actively prioritizing this population so that we wouldn't be in the situation we're in today?"

We speak with Haroun Rahimi, assistant professor of law at the American University of Afghanistan, about the Islamic State affiliate that claimed responsibility for this week's devastating suicide bombings at Kabul airport, which killed more than 110 people, including 13 U.S. troops. Islamic State Khorasan, or ISIS-K, is a puritanical group that is "critical of all other sects of Islam," says Rahimi. "Whatever Muslim that thinks differently than them is a major target for them." He says the group's name refers to a region of the former Islamic empire and is an attempt to reestablish "some past lost glory" in a bid to attract disaffected Muslim youth.

We go to Kabul, Afghanistan, for an update as the death toll from twin suicide bomb attack outside the airport has topped 110 people, including 13 U.S. troops. The suicide bombers struck near the crowded gates of the airport where thousands of Afghans had gathered in an attempt to flee the country before the withdrawal of U.S. troops on August 31. Afghan journalist Ali Latifi, a Kabul-based correspondent for Al Jazeera English, spoke with witnesses who described a scene of shock and panic following the blasts. "When the bomb went off, it was literally, they said, people walking on top of one another," says Latifi. "Basically, it was, as they described it, mayhem."

At Least 110 Killed as Suicide Bombers Strike Crowds Outside Kabul Airport, Supreme Court Strikes Down Eviction Moratorium Despite Surging Coronavirus Cases, Illinois Reinstates Mask Mandate While Texas Bans Vaccine Mandates, CDC Warns Against Use of Livestock Dewormer Drug Ivermectin on COVID-19 Patients, Texas House Republicans Advance Voter Suppression Bill, Israeli Forces Fire Live Rounds and Tear Gas at Palestinians Protesting Gaza Blockade, Biden and New Israeli Prime Minister to Meet After White House Meeting Postponed, Flash Floods and Mudslides in Venezuela Kill at Least 20, 12 Million in Iraq and Syria at Risk from Drought Fueled by Climate Crisis, Caldor Fire Approaches Lake Tahoe, Prompting Evacuation Warnings, Tropical Storm Ida Could Hit Gulf Coast as Category 3 Hurricane, Capitol Police Officers Sue Trump over Jan. 6 Insurrection, Watchdog Warns of "High Level of Disorder and Chaos" at Rikers Island, Time's Up CEO Resigns After Telling Colleagues Not to Publicly Support Cuomo Accuser, Ilhan Omar Calls on Biden to Pardon Drone Warfare Whistleblower Daniel Hale

We get reaction to the Taliban takeover in Afghanistan from British member of Parliament and former Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn, one of the leading critics of the Afghan War in Britain. He says critics who warned against invading Afghanistan, and later Iraq, have been vindicated, and calls for an official inquiry into the war. "It's horrible to read back to 2001 and 2003 and say all the worst predictions that any of us ever made have all come to pass," Corbyn tells Democracy Now!

As the U.S. proceeds with evacuating people from Afghanistan following the Taliban takeover of the country, we speak with author and former NPR reporter Sarah Chayes, who covered the fall of the Taliban in 2001, then lived in Kandahar until 2009, where she ran a soap factory, and went on to become a special adviser to Joint Chiefs of Staff Chair Mike Mullen in Kabul. She says it was apparent shortly after the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan that the country was an "afterthought" for the Bush administration, which was "hellbent" on invading Iraq. "Well into 2002, there was basically no one home at the U.S. Embassy," says Chayes. "It wasn't until later that I realized that by early 2002, personnel were all pivoting already to Iraq."

As the United States has begun the final phase of evacuations of U.S. citizens and Afghan allies from the Kabul airport, we speak with Obaidullah Baheer, an Afghan academic who has decided to stay in Kabul despite the risks. Baheer's grandfather, Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, is a former mujahideen fighter once nicknamed the "Butcher of Kabul," now among the senior political figures in the country attempting to shape a post-U.S. government with the Taliban. "This country needs more educated people," says Baheer. "They're not going to have enough technocrats for a functioning government to be in place. That's why some of us have to stay behind."

U.S. Begins Final Phase of Kabul Evacuations as Withdrawal Deadline Looms, U.S. Embassy Warns of ISIS Plot to Attack Kabul Airport, U.S. COVID-19 Hospitalizations Top 100,000 for First Time Since January, NY Gov. Hochul Promises "Clear, Honest Picture" of COVID-19 Toll After Cuomo Cover-Up of Deaths, Pan American Health Organization Blasts COVID-19 Vaccine Inequity, House Probe Seeks Documents from Trump's Inner Circle Regarding January 6 Attack, Pro-Trump Attorneys Face Possible Disbarment After Federal Judge's Scathing Ruling, Michigan Man Gets 6-Year Sentence for Plot to Kidnap Gov. Whitmer, Court Upholds Death Sentence for White Supremacist Who Killed 9 at Emanuel AME Church, Newly Surfaced Video Shows White Louisiana Police Officer Brutally Beating Black Motorist, Carbon Dioxide Levels Soared Above 412 Parts Per Million in 2020, Highest in Human History, Madagascar on Brink of World's First "Climate Change Famine" , San Bernardino Brush Fire Forces Evacuations as California Fires Rage at Record Pace, Greek Prime Minister Urges Radical Action on Climate Crisis After Record Heat and Wildfires

We speak with Stéphane Vincent, a Haitian citizen journalist who is helping the BBC to cover the aftermath of the devastating August 14 earthquake for the BBC and says the destruction in Les Cayes is reminiscent of the 2010 earthquake that struck the country. "To relive that again was very heart-wrenching," he says. "The people have been feeling left out and abandoned by government." Vincent co-wrote a BBC article on "The forgotten villages cut off from help."

We go to Les Cayes, Haiti, to speak with a doctor about the conditions near the epicenter of the massive August 14 earthquake, as the death toll passes 2,200, with thousands of survivors growing increasingly desperate. Over 12,000 people were injured and an estimated 53,000 homes were destroyed by the 7.2 magnitude quake. People left unhoused have been living in squalid camps in the mountains north of the hard-hit city of Les Cayes, where children are reportedly suffering from hunger, fevers and infections. There is an acute lack of medical workers and humanitarian aid, says Dr. Chery Marie Anne-Lise, a general practitioner in Les Cayes who has been treating patients following the quake. "People need food. They need water. They need clothes," says Anne-Lise.

We look at the situation in Afghanistan, and pressure on Biden to stay longer, with CodePink co-founder Medea Benjamin, who for years has called for an end to the longest war in U.S. history. "We didn't want it to end like this, and there should have been better planning in terms of getting people out of the country, but we were very clear we never wanted the U.S. to go in to begin with," says Benjamin. She also warns the end of the War in Afghanistan will encourage the Biden administration to pour more money and resources into a rivalry with China. "It is a delusional idea that we should be focusing on China as an enemy," she says.

The United States has helped evacuate over 75,000 people since the end of July from the Kabul airport, but the Taliban is now allowing passage only to people with foreign passports or an invitation from the U.S. or one of its allies. President Joe Biden says U.S. troops are on pace to leave the country by the August 31 deadline, despite pressure from U.S. allies in the G7 to stay longer to help more people flee the country. We speak with Afghan journalist Bilal Sarwary, who fled Kabul in recent days after reporting on Afghanistan for 20 years. He says his plane out of the country was an encapsulation of the brain drain from the country, with some of the most prominent artists, journalists and other civic leaders fleeing for their lives. "This is Afghanistan going down the drain in a matter of seconds," he says.

Biden: U.S. "On Pace" to Withdraw from Afghanistan by Aug. 31, Taliban Blocks Afghans from Accessing Kabul Airport, World Bank Cuts Funds for Afghanistan as U.N. Warns of Looming Catastrophe, House Democrats Approve $3.5 Trillion Budget Resolution, House Passes John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, Immigration: Supreme Court Revives Trump's "Remain in Mexico" Program, Judge Faults DHS for Not Considering Ecological Harm of Militarizing Border, U.S. Records 1,400 New COVID Deaths as AMA Calls for Broad Vaccine Mandates, U.S. & Cuba Pledge Vaccines for Vietnam, But Only Cuba Offers to Share Vaccine Technology, Minnesota Court Denies Appeal Aimed at Halting Enbridge Line 3 Pipeline, Indigenous Groups Protest Against Bolsonaro in Brasília, Student Leader Assassinated in Colombia, Three Years After He Lost Eye in Police Shooting, Israel Shoots Palestinian Teen Dead as He Documents Raid on Refugee Camp, Israel's New PM Naftali Bennett Pushes Hard-Line Positions Ahead of Meeting Biden, Wildfires: Biden Approves Major Disaster Declaration for Northern California, Black Police Groups Back Release of Ex-Black Panther Sundiata Acoli, Jailed Since 1973, Former U.S.-Backed Dictator of Chad, Hissène Habré, Dies, Lucille Times Dies at 100, Inspired Montgomery Bus Boycott, "Lies My Teacher Told Me" Author James Loewen Dies at 79

Civil rights and voting rights icon Rev. Jesse Jackson and his wife have been hospitalized with COVID-19 in Chicago. Jackson is fully vaccinated and has Parkinson's disease. During the pandemic, he has pushed for healthcare for all, and said in a statement, "After 400 years of slavery, segregation and discrimination, why would anybody be shocked that African Americans are dying disproportionately from the coronavirus?" We speak with Jackson's friend, Ben Jealous, president of People for the American Way and former president of the NAACP. "This is a guy who for 60, 70 years has done nothing but serve the people of this country," says Jealous. "I hope we're all praying for him now."

With the Democratic-led House of Representatives expected to pass the John Lewis Voting Rights Act, pressure is growing on the Biden administration and Senate Democrats to abolish the filibuster, without which new voting rights legislation and other Democratic priorities have no hope of passing the Senate. We speak with Ben Jealous, president of People for the American Way and former president of the NAACP, as voting rights groups protest in front of the White House. Jealous says the action is intended to "up the pressure on Biden" to call on the Senate to get rid of the filibuster. "The filibuster was the insulator of Jim Crow. It is an accident of legislative history. It's not part of the Constitution in any way," Jealous says.

Outgoing New York Governor Andrew Cuomo used his final hours in office to grant clemency to six men, including former Weather Underground member David Gilbert, who was sentenced to 75 years to life in prison for his role in a 1981 robbery of an armored truck that left a security guard and two police officers dead. Gilbert, who is 76 years old and has been incarcerated for four decades, will now be able to apply for parole. "Now it's a matter of hoping that the parole board will do the right thing," says Steve Zeidman, Gilbert's lawyer, who also represents four of the other men granted clemency. "They recognize the harm, the trauma and the grief that their actions caused. … They have done everything a human being can do to repair and atone while inside." Zeidman and other advocates are still pushing for the release of hundreds of others, saying "the list is eternal."

In response to the Food and Drug Administration's full authorization of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine for U.S. residents aged 16 and over, Doctors Without Borders is calling on Pfizer-BioNTech to immediately share the vaccine technology with manufacturers on the African continent, where less than 2% of the population is fully vaccinated. Dr. Manuel Martin, a policy adviser at Doctors Without Borders, says it's "regrettable but understandable" for rich countries to limit how many doses they export abroad, but "it's completely unacceptable for countries to refuse to share the technology." He also says rich countries should hold off on offering third booster shots to their populations while so many around the world are still waiting for their initial doses. "In the face of scientific uncertainty and given the historical vaccine inequity, I think really what should be prioritized is getting vaccinations to low- and middle-income countries and sharing the vaccine technologies."

The United Nations warns Afghanistan is on the brink of a humanitarian catastrophe, as the country faces political upheaval, a worsening economic crisis and a devastating drought. Humanitarian groups are vowing to keep working in Afghanistan following the Taliban takeover, but they are facing new hurdles, from working under Taliban rule to concerns about the international community providing much needed foreign aid to restrictions at the Kabul airport. "Today in Afghanistan, we're seeing a potential humanitarian catastrophe," says Isabelle Moussard Carlsen, head of the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in Afghanistan. "Half of the population is in need of humanitarian aid."

G7 Leaders Urge Biden to Delay Withdrawal from Afghanistan as Taliban Warns of "Consequences", WHO Calls for Two-Month Pause on Booster Shots Amid Stark Vaccine Inequity, FDA Fully Approves Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine, Prompting Vaccine Mandates, Florida Doctors Hold Protest as Students Return to Classes Amid Massive COVID-19 Surge, Haiti's Earthquake Death Toll Rises to Over 2,200 with Thousands Still Homeless, Kathy Hochul Sworn In as New York Governor as Andrew Cuomo Resigns, Weather Underground Radical David Gilbert Granted Clemency, North Carolina Court Restores Voting Rights to Tens of Thousands with Felony Convictions, Far-Right Proud Boys Members Clash with Anti-fascists in Portland, Oregon, Proud Boys Leader Enrique Tarrio Sentenced on Weapons and Vandalism Charges, Extinction Rebellion Launches New Resistance Campaign with London Direct Action Protests, Legendary Black Performer Joséphine Baker to Be Buried in Paris's Panthéon

As COVID-19 cases surge in the United States, anti-mask and anti-vaccine protests are continuing nationwide, with some turning violent. In a shocking story out of California, at least one person was stabbed and two journalists were attacked while covering an anti-vaccine, anti-mask demonstration outside Los Angeles City Hall on Saturday, August 14. The protest was attended by members of the Proud Boys and other right-wing groups. A Southern California mortgage broker named Tony Moon, who also participated in the deadly January 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, was videotaped attacking the independent journalist Tina-Desiree Berg. "He started screaming 'Unmask them all!' He ripped my mask off and manhandled me," says Berg, a reporter at Status Coup News in Los Angeles, who describes how the same people have been involved in violent protests nationwide. "This is a group that has been traveling around … and they instigate violence wherever they go."

Concern is growing over a broader humanitarian crisis across Afghanistan as people continue to crowd the Kabul airport to flee after the Taliban takeover of the country. The World Health Organization says about one-half of Afghanistan's population, including nearly 10 million children, already need humanitarian assistance, and the numbers are expected to soar as Afghanistan's economic crisis intensifies. The Taliban is now under intense pressure, says Emran Feroz, an Austro-Afghan journalist and author. "They know that any kind of Afghan state in future will be dependent on foreign money, which includes American money; otherwise, the people of Afghanistan and the state itself cannot survive," says Feroz. "The Taliban must be really pragmatic and try to find a way to build a very inclusive government within a short time, because otherwise they will have a lot of problems."

Chaos and Desperation Reign at Kabul Airport as Afghans Try to Evacuate Taliban Takeover, Taliban Leader Arrives for Talks in Kabul as Afghans Demand Security and Jobs, U.S. Tops 1,000 Daily COVID-19 Deaths for First Time Since March, Sri Lanka Locks Down for 10 Days Amid Worst COVID-19 Surge of Pandemic, India and Taiwan Roll Out Domestically Produced COVID Vaccines Despite Lack of Trial Data, Death Toll from Tennessee Flash Floods Rises to 22; Hurricane Grace Kills at Least 8 in Mexico, More Than 50 Feared Dead After Boat Carrying Refugees Capsizes En Route to Canary Islands, UNICEF Says Fighting in Syria Is Increasingly Killing Children, Dozens of Palestinians Hurt as Israeli Soldiers Fire on Protesters, Climate Crisis Puts Over 1 Billion Children at "Extremely High Risk" of Extreme Weather, Bolivian Wildfires Scorch Nearly 700,000 Acres as Ranchers and Farmers Drive Deforestation, Mexican Journalists Demand Justice for Slain Radio Reporter Jacinto Romero Flores, VP Harris Kicks Off Southeast Asian Tour in Singapore, Biden Nominates Rahm Emanuel as Ambassador to Japan, Drawing Ire of Progressives, SCOTUS to Weigh Fate of Trump-Era "Remain in Mexico" Policy for Asylum Seekers, California Judge Voids Proposition Exempting Gig Economy Workers from Labor Protections, Lawmakers Call on Biden to Halt Enbridge Line 3 Pipeline as Police Step Up Attacks on Protesters

As Republicans raise concerns that Biden's withdrawal of U.S. troops will turn Afghanistan "back to a pre-9/11 state — a breeding ground for terrorism," Pulitzer Prize-winning national security reporter Spencer Ackerman lays out how the U.S. war on terror after the September 2001 attacks actually fueled white, right-wing extremism. Ackerman says U.S. elites consciously chose to ignore "the kind of terrorism that is the oldest, most resilient, most violent and most historically rooted in American history." His new book is "Reign of Terror: How the 9/11 Era Destabilized America and Produced Trump."

As thousands of Afghans try to flee Afghanistan after the Taliban seized control, we look at the roots of the longest U.S. war in history and spend the hour with Pulitzer Prize-winning national security reporter Spencer Ackerman. "This is not the alternative to fighting in Afghanistan; this is the result of fighting in Afghanistan," says Ackerman, whose new book, "Reign of Terror: How the 9/11 Era Destabilized America and Produced Trump," is based in part on his reporting from Afghanistan, Iraq and Guantánamo.