Politics

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

By Veronica Stracqualursi, CNN Troy Price, the former chair of the Iowa Democratic Party during the chaotic 2020 Iowa caucuses, is the New Hampshire Democratic Party’s new executive director, the party announced Friday. Price’s hiring comes as New Hampshire, where first-term Democratic Sen. Maggie Hassan is expected to face a tough reelection battle in 2022,

By Priscilla Alvarez and Tierney Sneed, CNN A federal judge in Texas has ordered the Biden administration to revive a Trump-era border policy that required migrants to stay in Mexico until their US immigration court date. Shortly after President Joe Biden took office, he ended the policy known as “remain in Mexico” that resulted in

By Ella Nilsen and Natasha Bertrand, CNN In a summer of deadly and life-altering extreme weather, the Biden administration and Democrats are walking a tightrope, with a razor-thin majority in Congress, to enact policies that will reroute the US economy away from fossil fuels and show the world that the US will lead on climate