--:-- Georgia Howe: With the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan nearing completion, the Taliban are tightening control on the country. What are the implications of a Taliban-controlled Afghanistan, and what's life like for citizens under the militant group? I'm Georgia Howe with Daily Wire editor-in-chief John Bickley.
--:-- John Bickley: It's Tuesday, August 31st, and this is Morning Wire. After being hit with the most severe hurricane in decades, New Orleans begins the recovery process. We'll look at how the city handled the Category 4 hurricane and how the storm compared to Katrina. And new polling reveals Americans' views on the controversial withdrawal from Afghanistan and some notable agreements across party lines. We'll look at how Americans view the Biden administration's handling of the crisis and their biggest concerns about the Taliban taking control. Thanks for waking up with Morning Wire. Stay tuned.
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--:-- Georgia Howe: As President Biden continues the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, the Taliban are asserting more control over the country. Here to discuss the implications of a Taliban-controlled Afghanistan is journalist and author Lynn O'Donnell, the former bureau chief in Kabul for the Associated Press and the AFP.
--:-- Lynn O'Donnell: Thank you, Georgia.
--:-- Georgia Howe: So what exactly is the Taliban's goal in terms of political leadership in Afghanistan?
--:-- Lynn O'Donnell: I think the goal is complete control. We're talking about a militant group that hasn't been in power since 2001, when they were overthrown by the US-led invasion post 9-11. At the moment, they are still consolidating their power. There's still skirmishes and fights going on across the country. In Kabul itself, the security is being controlled by an affiliated group called the Haqqani Network, which is one of the most brutal listed terrorist organisations in the world and very close to the Taliban.
--:-- Georgia Howe: The head of the Haqqani Network, Sirajuddin Haqqani, is the deputy leader of the Taliban. The people who are being appointed to ministries, even to run hotels, are mullahs, religious leaders who have no experience doing anything. So the fear is it's going to be pretty much the same as it was between 1996 and 2001, a lot of incompetence that led to near collapse and a lot of terror as well.
--:-- Lynn O'Donnell: And what can we expect the Taliban government to actually look like in terms of function and what kind of rules they would put in place for citizens?
--:-- Georgia Howe: Well, from what I've understood from sources of mine inside the Taliban, what they intend to do is create a 12-man council. The councils are called shuras. This shura will mostly be made up of Taliban leaders. And I think what they will probably do is hand out strategic ministries like defence and interior and religious affairs education to trusted insiders
--:-- Lynn O'Donnell: And I understand that they also intend to allow some tame former members of the previous government, like the former president, Hamid Karzai, and the former head of the peace negotiations, and also a former deputy to the last president, Abdullah Abdullah, to have more minor ministries. And I think they might let them battle it out between themselves.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Rules and regulations, we're already seeing what it's going to be like. It's going to be a Pashtun nationalist administration, which means that members of minority groups like Hazaras, Tajiks, Uzbeks will be, if they are included at all, relegated to fairly meaningless, powerless positions. Women are not included so far. They've already segregated education, pushed women out of senior positions. A friend of mine, for instance, who works in one of the big NGOs has been replaced by a man and all of her female staff sent home. Women members of parliament probably won't be allowed to sit. They're already rolling out pretty much what we can expect to continue, misogyny and brutality.
--:-- Lynn O'Donnell: What's the sentiment like among regular citizens? How do they view the Taliban?
--:-- Georgia Howe: Well, that's hard to know at this stage because Kabul people are still generally in shock. What the hell has happened to us over the past two weeks and how did this happen? So there's a coming to terms with the fact that their entire world has collapsed. Then there's the trying to get out and the panic about how do we get out. Then there's the knowledge that the Taliban are still going door to door, not only in Kabul, but outside of the capital, rounding up people for retribution. People are being killed, disappeared. That's still going on.
--:-- Lynn O'Donnell: I think that there is going to be great fear and even terror going forward.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Lynn, thanks for joining us today.
--:-- Lynn O'Donnell: Thank you for having me.
--:-- Georgia Howe: That was former AP Bureau Chief in Kabul, Lynn O'Donnell. Coming up, New Orleans attempts to recover after being hit by the worst hurricane since Katrina.
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--:-- Georgia Howe: On Sunday, New Orleans was rocked by the most severe hurricane to hit the city since Katrina. Now, the storm continues to threaten states across the southeast. Here with more details on the damage we've seen so far and where the storm's heading next is Daily Wire managing editor Cabot Phillips.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Good morning, John.
--:-- John Bickley: Good morning, Cabot. So first, give us a quick rundown. How big is this storm?
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Well, the storm made landfall south of New Orleans on Sunday afternoon as a Category 4, with sustained winds of 150 miles per hour. The storm surge was so powerful, it actually reversed the flow of the Mississippi River. By 2 a.m. Monday, the storm made its way north into southern Mississippi and began to lose strength. It was downgraded to a Category 2, and by Monday evening, as the storm approached Tennessee, it was downgraded to a tropical depression. But experts are still warning that it dropping enough rain to pose a serious threat of flooding
--:-- John Bickley: What sort of damage have we seen so far?
--:-- Cabot Phillips: The storm knocked out power for roughly 2 million people across Louisiana and Mississippi and most notably for everyone in New Orleans. It caused serious flooding in some parts of the city, and the high winds tore apart structures across the state. As of Monday afternoon, the state confirmed one person had been killed by the storm, but Governor John Bel Edwards said that number was certain to rise as recovery efforts get underway.
--:-- John Bickley: Anytime you hear hurricane in Louisiana, you think Katrina. How similar are the two storms?
--:-- Cabot Phillips: So this storm actually made landfall exactly 16 years to the day since Katrina hit. And even though Katrina was weaker when it made landfall, it was a Category 3, the damage at that point was much worse. At the time, the city was far less prepared for a hurricane of that size. And you'll remember the city's levee system famously failed, which resulted in catastrophic flooding. Right. After Katrina, the Army Corps of Engineers spent $14 billion building massive drainage pumps, reinforcing levee walls, and installing other facilities to prevent widespread flooding in the future. This was the first major test that those new systems faced, and thankfully they appear to have worked, at least so far.
--:-- John Bickley: The levee walls kept floodwaters out for the most part, and the city was able to avoid the massive storm surge we saw with Katrina. Governor Edwards praised the system on Monday.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: We saw reports of oil refineries being shut down in the Gulf. Are we going to see gas prices go up?
--:-- John Bickley: Yeah, we probably are. Almost 15% of the country's oil comes from the Gulf of Mexico. And this storm was so huge, it shut down almost every single refinery in the region. So we're told they likely won't be up and running until the end of the week at the earliest, which is going to impact gas prices across the country. Experts right now are saying people should expect prices to go up 10 to 15 cents a gallon in the coming weeks. But again, those are just estimates at this point.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: All right.
--:-- John Bickley: Cabot, thanks for keeping us updated.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Absolutely.
--:-- Georgia Howe: New polling shows a notably unified response from Americans to the crisis in Afghanistan and President Biden's withdrawal of American forces. Here to discuss the new findings is Daily Wire's Charlotte Pence Bond.
--:-- Charlotte Pence Bond: Thanks for having me.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Americans seem to be pretty united on their views about the situation in Afghanistan, specifically involving troops and Afghan allies. According to a new ABC News Ipsos poll, 84% of Americans think that troops should stay in Afghanistan until all Americans are out, and 71% think they should remain there until they get all of the Afghans who helped the United States out too.
--:-- Charlotte Pence Bond: Those numbers were collected after the terror attack in Kabul last week that killed at least 13 U.S. service members and over 100 Afghans. There's almost no issue in American politics where 84 percent of Americans agree on anything.
--:-- Georgia Howe: So did this poll reveal any partisan divides about how people feel?
--:-- Charlotte Pence Bond: Not really. The spread shows responses from Democrats and Republicans are remarkably similar, especially after the terror attack. The polling found that 86 percent of Democrats, 87 of Republicans, and 86 of Independents all agree with that.
--:-- Georgia Howe: The majority of Americans also think the military should stay until all Afghans who helped the United States' efforts there are evacuated. Along party lines, those percentages landed at 72 for Democrats, 77 for Republicans, and 70 for Independents.
--:-- Charlotte Pence Bond: Right now, according to a poll by Economist and YouGov, we're also seeing that two-thirds of U.S. adults think the withdrawal from Afghanistan was handled badly. And that's true for all party affiliations, but we see a bit more partisanship here. Still, a majority of Democrats at 55 percent and independents at 76 percent describe the evacuation as having been handled badly. Republicans come in at 84 percent.
--:-- Georgia Howe: And when they say handled badly, is that being attributed to the president, the military, or who?
--:-- Charlotte Pence Bond: Yeah, 69% of Americans who say it was handled badly blame President Biden. However, those who identify as Democrats were more likely to blame the former Afghan government or the administration's advisors rather than the president himself. The overwhelming majority of Republicans, though, do blame President Biden.
--:-- Georgia Howe: And did that poll address what Americans would like to see in terms of action in Afghanistan?
--:-- Charlotte Pence Bond: Not really, but the recent ABC polling did find that 67% of Americans are at least somewhat worried about a major terror attack in the U.S. So it seems people are concerned about the implications of allowing the Taliban to control the country. Republicans at 80% appear to be more likely to have concerns about this than Democrats and independents who fall at 59% and 65%.
--:-- Georgia Howe: When it comes to whether taking out troops now is a mistake, there's a pretty even split overall. 39% say it is, and 38% say it is not.
--:-- Charlotte Pence Bond: Charlotte, thanks for walking us through the data.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Thanks for having me.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Other stories we're tracking this week. On Monday, ISIS claimed responsibility for a rocket attack aimed at the Kabul airport. The group claimed responsibility for six rockets, at least one of which landed in a neighborhood adjacent to the airport. The rocket attack did not impede evacuation efforts within the airport.
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--:-- Georgia Howe: The parents of an Afghan baby girl born on board a U.S. military aircraft have named their daughter after the aircraft that delivered them safely to Europe. Baby Reach was named for C-17 carrier Reach 828. The pilot guided the craft to a lower altitude in order to stabilize the mother's dangerously low blood pressure during labor. After a successful delivery on board, both mother and baby were transported to a local hospital in Germany.
--:-- Georgia Howe: And Australia will soon allow an additional hour of outdoor time to residents who get fully vaccinated. Starting September 13th, fully vaccinated Australians are permitted to spend up to one hour of leisure time outside the home in groups of up to five fully vaccinated people, including children. Masks must be worn at all times, and gatherings must be within five kilometers of home. This extra hour of outdoor time is in addition to the single hour the government allows for outdoor exercise.
--:-- Georgia Howe: If you liked this episode and are interested in hearing more, subscribe to Morning Wire on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you're listening, and give us a five-star review. That's all the time we've got this morning. Thanks for waking up with us. We'll be back tomorrow with the news you need to know. If you like this podcast, subscribe to our Morning Wire newsletter, available exclusively to Daily Wire members. Get the Morning Wire newsletter delivered straight to your inbox when you join at dailywire.com slash subscribe.
