The Taliban is starting to block access to the airport in Kabul and they’re telling working women to stay at home. With thousands of evacuations per day, Biden has signaled that he will not extend the August 31st deadline. The CIA director made a secret Kabul visit. Here’s the latest from BBC.

+ “It’s hard to deny the evidence in front of you … Biden had it right back then … I give him credit for that.” Retired Adm. Mike Mullen, the top U.S. military officer under Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama, who strongly supported the “nation-building” war policy in Afghanistan, now says we should have pulled out our troops a decade ago. (As ugly and painful as the evacuation is, we need to keep in mind what the alternatives were. Another troop surge? Another 20 years?)

+ Airbnb to provide temporary housing to 20,000 Afghan refugees.