Friday morning news - August 13, 2021

For WORLD Radio, I'm Kent Covington.

U.S. sends 3K troops to Kabul to evacuate some embassy staff » Three-thousand more American troops are heading to Afghanistan to help evacuate some personnel from the U.S. Embassy in Kabul.

Pentagon spokesman John Kirby acknowledged that conditions are deteriorating quickly as the Taliban advances.

KIRBY: And as I said before, our troops will, as always, have the right of self defense. But this is a narrowly focused mission to help safeguard an orderly reduction of civilian personnel.

One Army and two Marine infantry battalions will enter Afghanistan by the end of the week to help guard the partial evacuation.

The Taliban has not yet advanced on Kabul, but analysts say an assault on the country’s capital city could be just weeks away.

Taliban take Kandahar, Herat in major advance » The extremist group Thursday conquered Afghanistan's second-and-third-largest cities, Kandahar and Herat. It has now captured 12 provincial capitals in a weeklong blitz.

Pakistan's Prime Minister Imran Khan said Thursday that his government has tried to broker peace in Afghanistan, but the Taliban isn’t interested.

KHAN: The moment the Americans started drawing down their troops and especially when they gave an exit, the Taliban thought they had won the war. In their mind, once the Americans had left then, you know, then they had won.

The resurgent Taliban now controls more than two-thirds of the nation. In some areas, its fighters are now seen riding on U.S. military Humvees with American M-16s slung across their shoulders.

Seth Jones with the Center for Strategic and International Studies says in his view, the Afghan military’s biggest problem is not a lack of equipment or training, but morale. He says Afghan troops feel abandoned by the United States and Europe.

JONES: Morale has been so decimated. The support for the Afghan central government has been so weakened in some areas that we’ve seen massive defections from Afghan national security forces.

The latest U.S. military intelligence assessment suggests that if current trends hold, the Taliban could take over the country entirely within a few months.

Census shows US is diversifying, population growth slowing » New information from the U.S. Census Bureau paints the most vivid portrait yet of how America is changing demographically.

Marc Perry is senior demographer with the Census Bureau. He said the data show that the population growth of the United States has slowed.

PERRY: This past decade’s 7.4 percent increase was lower than the previous decade’s 9.7 percent increase, and was in fact the second-lowest percent increase ever. Only the 1930s had slower growth.

The figures show continued migration to the South and West. They also indicate that the white population is aging and has fallen to its smallest share of the total population on record. The population under age 18 is increasingly diverse.

The census figures will set off what are sure to be bitter redistricting battles across the country. The numbers could help determine control of the U.S. House in next year’s elections. The data will also shape how the federal government will distribute $1.5 trillion in federal spending each year.

U.S. jobless claims near pandemic low » The number of Americans filing jobless claims fell for a third straight time last week. WORLD’s Sarah Schweinsberg reports.

SARAH SCHWEINSBERG, REPORTER: Thursday's report from the Labor Department showed that unemployment claims fell by about 12,000 to a total of 375,000.

A total of about 12 million people are receiving unemployment benefits, down sharply from 13 million the previous week.

Analysts say that’s a sign that the economy continues to recover. But some say another factor is that more than 20 states have canceled temporary special unemployment programs.

Since last year, self-employed and gig workers have been able to apply for unemployment for the first time through one of those programs. And a separate program, so-called enhanced unemployment, sent extra $300-a-week federal checks to recipients.

With job openings hitting a record high, many states felt those programs were no longer needed. Both programs will end nationwide next month.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Sarah Schweinsberg.

California’s Dixie Fire continues to grow » California’s largest single wildfire on record continues to grow this week. The Dixie Fire, about 150 miles north of Sacramento, has burned more than a half-million acres. And it’s already destroyed more than 1,000 buildings, about half of them were homes.

Thom Porter with the California Dept. of Forestry and Fire Protection said it takes very little to start a fire right now in the drought-stricken region.

PORTER: If there’s even a blade of grass near you, that is enough to start a fire these days. It is so dry. And the way we’ve seen this burn though live timber in the tens of thousands of acres an hour is unlike anything we’ve seen.

Meantime, in Montana, officials have ordered evacuations as strong winds drive a wildfire toward several remote towns.

Roughly 100 large blazes are burning across 15 states, mostly in the West.

I'm Kent Covington. For more news, features, and analysis, visit us at wng.org.

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