Fears for Kabul as US embassy evacuated – National & International News – FRI 13Aug2021

US evacuates Kabul embassy as Taliban advance. ‘Unprecedented’ migrant numbers at Mexican border. CDC urges pregnant women to get vaccinated.

NATIONAL NEWS

‘Unprecedented’ numbers of migrant encounters at Mexican border

Head of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas says US border agents are encountering “unprecedented” numbers of migrants at the Mexican border. In July, agencies recorded 212,000 encounters with migrants, 19,000 of them lone minors. However, while the number of encounters is the highest in 21 years, the number of individuals encountered is far less at 154,288. This is because many migrants are still being immediately returned under the protocols of a Trump-era COVID public health order. Thus, many migrants attempt the crossing multiple times.

Critics blame the Biden administration for ‘encouraging’ migrants to cross, citing policies that allow asylum seekers to remain in the US while their cases are adjudicated. Huge backlogs in immigration courts mean that many asylum seekers stay for months or even years before even attending a hearing.

Defenders of the Biden administration point out the numbers of people attempting to enter the US continue to grow, despite the clear and repeated message “don’t come” from the White House. Immigrant rights advocates say that migrants are now facing ever more compelling reasons to try anyway. These reasons include rampant violence, crushing poverty, and the increasingly devastating effects of climate change. 

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CDC urges vaccines for pregnant women 

New projections predict that another 115,000 Americans may die of COVID between now and the end of 2021. The CDC is now making a special appeal to pregnant women to get vaccinated. By July, only 23% of pregnant women had received one or more doses of the vaccine. Mounting evidence is dispelling early fears of vaccine risks for pregnant women and unborn children. And the consequences of unvaccinated pregnant women contracting COVID are now becoming increasingly apparent in the delta wave.

With infections rising and hospitals overflowing, pregnant women are now particularly vulnerable. A recent study shows that pregnant women infected with COVID face an increased risk of deadly complications in childbirth. These risks can also impact the unborn, with obstetricians reporting more instances of stillbirths, premature births and other serious afflictions. 

Dr. Mark Turrentine, a professor of obstetrics at Baylor College of Medicine, stresses that for pregnant women, the risks of turning down the vaccine far outweigh the risks of the vaccine. “I have seen some pregnant women get really sick. I mean, I have seen some die,” Turrentine says. “And you know, you go into this business as an obstetrician gynecologist because patients are young and they are healthy. And most of the time you have great outcomes. This is a bad virus.”

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INTERNATIONAL NEWS

Fears for Kabul as US embassy evacuated

The Taliban continues its conquest of Afghanistan, having captured Kandahar, the country’s second largest city, just this morning. A third of Afghanistan’s provincial capitals have now fallen to the Taliban, over a dozen within the last week. Taliban forces have also cut off major throughways and supply routes to the capital Kabul.

President Biden has ordered 3000 troops back to Afghanistan with the sole mission of helping to evacuate US diplomatic staff and civilians. The troops will be based at Kabul’s airport and in the vicinity of the embassy. NPR also obtained a memo instructing US Embassy staff in Kabul to destroy sensitive documents as most embassy staff prepare to evacuate. These actions indicate high-level fears that a major Taliban offensive in Kabul may be on the immediate horizon. Despite this, the State Department insists that the Kabul embassy will remain open and operational.

Troops will also be helping to evacuate Afghan nationals who served as interpreters for US forces and their families, as their lives are now in imminent peril. Thousands of Afghan civilians are fleeing over the country’s borders ahead of Taliban onslaughts.

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