Joe Biden

President Joe Biden on Aug. 31 mounted a fierce defense of his exit from Afghanistan as the "best decision for America," the day after the U.S. military withdrawal celebrated by the Taliban as a major victory.

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The last US military flight has left Kabul airport, marking the end of a 20-year presence in Afghanistan and America's longest war.

Officials said the last C17 aircraft took off with the US ambassador onboard after midnight local time on Tuesday.

They added that the diplomatic mission to assist those unable to leave before the deadline would continue.

Louisiana communities battered by Hurricane Ida faced a new danger as they began the massive task of clearing debris and repairing damage from the storm: the possibility of weeks without power in the stifling, late-summer heat.

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The United States has pulled all its troops out of Afghanistan, ending its longest war to cries of shame at home and celebratory gunfire from its victorious Taliban enemies in Kabul.

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Following the official full approval of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine against COVID-19, announced last Monday by US health regulators, more and more large US companies are starting to demand mandatory vaccinations for employees and even their customers, informs AFP.

US President Joe Biden will meet with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky at the White House on Wednesday in a show of solidarity between the two countries, the White House said on Sunday. The meeting is taking place two days later than originally scheduled, as Biden oversees the response to Hurricane Ida and the withdrawal of US forces from Afghanistan, Reuters reported.

Rockets struck a neighborhood near Kabul's international airport on Aug. 30 amid the ongoing U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan. It wasn't immediately clear who launched them.

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The rockets struck on Aug. 30 morning in Kabul's Salim Karwan neighborhood, witnesses said. Gunfire immediately followed the explosions but it wasn't immediately clear who was firing.

U.S. intelligence agencies remain divided on the origins of the coronavirus but believe China's leaders did not know about the virus before the start of the global pandemic, according to results released on Aug. 27 of a review ordered by President Joe Biden.

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U.S. forces are in the final phase of leaving Kabul, ending two decades of involvement in Afghanistan, and just over 1,000 civilians at the airport remain to be flown out before troops withdraw, a Western security official said on Aug. 29.

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Acting swiftly on President Joe Biden's promise to retaliate for the deadly suicide bombing at Kabul airport, the US military said it used a drone strike to kill a member of the Islamic State group's Afghanistan affiliate Saturday.