National Politics

By Barbara Starr, Jason Hoffman and Jennifer Hansler, CNN Violence erupted at the Kabul airport as US forces shot and killed two armed men who fired on them Monday, the Pentagon said, as the US resumed temporarily suspended operations at the airfield after clearing crowds off the runways. As the chaos at the airport and

By Tami Luhby, CNN Food stamp benefits will jump 27% above pre-pandemic levels, on average, starting in October — the largest increase in the program’s history, the Biden administration announced Monday. The boost, which advocates say is long overdue, stems from an update to the Thrifty Food Plan, which determines the benefit amounts of the

By Paul LeBlanc, CNN The Taliban edged closer to solidifying control of Afghanistan on Sunday, including entering the presidential palace in Kabul hours after former President Ashraf Ghani fled the country. The rapidly-evolving situation has prompted confusion and concern as the US and governments worldwide monitor the bitter end to nearly two decades of war.

By Jennifer Hansler, Kylie Atwood and Priscilla Alvarez, CNN The Biden administration has curtailed the number of government-sponsored evacuation flights to the United States for Afghans who worked alongside the US for the time being as it prioritizes the evacuation of American personnel from the country, three sources familiar with the situation told CNN Sunday.

By Natasha Bertrand, Jennifer Hansler and Melanie Zanona, CNN Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley said Sunday in a briefing for Senators that terrorist groups like al Qaeda could reconstitute in Afghanistan sooner than the two years defense officials had previously estimated to Congress because of the recent, rapid Taliban takeover

By Devan Cole, Daniella Diaz, Melanie Zanona, Lauren Fox and Jennifer Hansler, CNN The top Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee slammed the Biden administration over the rapidly deteriorating situation in Afghanistan on Sunday, calling it an “unmitigated disaster of epic proportions” that could lead to dire consequences. “I think the secretary has been

By Chandelis Duster, CNN New York Lt. Gov. Kathy Hochul, who will make history as the female governor of New York, on Sunday vowed to uphold integrity in her administration after Andrew Cuomo resigned following the state attorney general’s investigation that found he sexually harassed multiple women. “It won’t be difficult for me. Everyone who

By Alex Marquardt, CNN As hackers and cybersecurity experts descended on Las Vegas last week for the famous cyber conference Black Hat, they may have noticed an open Wi-Fi network called “#Rewardsnotransoms.” It’s not the kind of place where a network is usually left unprotected but, in this case, that was the point. Logging in,

By Kevin Liptak and Jason Hoffman, CNN President Joe Biden and his administration struggled Sunday to project order amid a race by American and other foreign personnel to evacuate Afghanistan as Taliban fighters entered Kabul. The rapid fall of Afghanistan’s national forces and government has come as a shock to Biden and senior members of

By Oren Liebermann, CNN The messages began pouring into the law office of Joseph Jordan in Killeen, Texas, soon after the Pentagon announced it would seek to make the Covid-19 vaccines mandatory for troops. Service members wanted to know what their options were if they didn’t want to be vaccinated. “It’s been the number one

By Kylie Atwood, Jennifer Hansler and Nicole Gaouette, CNN The American flag at the US embassy in Kabul was taken down Sunday, marking a final step in the evacuation of the diplomatic compound as the Biden administration rushed another 1,000 troops into Afghanistan to manage the sudden departure of embassy personnel and other staff days

By John Harwood The Trumpist Republican Party has shown it will toy with democracy. Now President Joe Biden is testing its willingness to play with economic fire. The test comes in the upcoming showdown over raising the federal debt limit, a painful political chore that periodically falls to Congress when the Treasury exhausts the amount

By Donald Judd and Barbara Starr, CNN President Joe Biden announced the authorization of an additional direct deployment of 1,000 troops to Afghanistan in a statement Saturday. Biden said he authorized the deployment “to make sure we can have an orderly and safe drawdown of US personnel and other allied personnel and an orderly and