VIRUS OUTBREAK NATION MUSIC Growing number Wildfires across a Jackson of cities requiring dozen western states Browne on vaccination cards strain Forest Service modern life Page 7 Page 9 Page 12 More mature Mayfield ready to take next step with Browns ›› NFL, Page 24 stripes.com Volume 80 Edition 85B ©SS 2021 CONTINGENCY EDITION SUNDAY,AUGUST 15, 2021 Free to Deployed Areas AFGHANISTAN ANALYSIS Dignified withdrawal tough task for Biden BY ANNE GEARAN AND KAREN DEYOUNG The Washington Post Last month, President Joe Bi- den vowed that his decision to pull American forces out of Afghanis- tan would never end in a repeat of the infamous helicopter evac- uation from the U.S. Embassy in Saigon at the ig- nominious close of the Vietnam Biden War. “There’s going to be no circumstance when you’re going to see people being lifted off the roof,” he said. But the drama in Afghanistan is now closer to that scenario than Biden might have envisioned, as the president found himself order- ing thousands of troops back into Kabul to help evacuate American diplomats from the bunkered U.S. Taliban rolling in Embassy. SEE TOUGH ON PAGE 6 Insurgents approach Kabul’s outskirts, take major northern Afghan city BY AHMAD SEIR, RAHIM FAIEZ province’s national army corps surrendered a breakneck offensive less than three weeks AND JOSEPH KRAUSS first, which prompted the pro-government mi- before the U.S. is set to withdraw its last troops, Associated Press litias and other forces to lose morale and give raising fears of a full militant takeover or an- KABUL, Afghanistan — Mazar-e-Sharif, the up in the face of the onslaught. other Afghan civil war. fourth-largest city in Afghanistan, fell to the According to the lawmaker, all of the provin- The Taliban have made major advances in Taliban on Saturday after a multipronged as- cial installations, including the governor’s of- recent days, including capturing Herat and sault launched by insurgents, according to a fice, are in Taliban hands. Kandahar, the country’s second- and third- lawmaker. The insurgents have captured much of Balkh lawmaker Abas Ebrahimzada said the northern, western and southern Afghanistan in SEE APPROACH ON PAGE 5 GULABUDDIN AMIRI/AP Insurgents sit on the back of a vehicle in the city of Herat, west of Kabul, Afghanistan, on Saturday after taking the province from Taliban flags fly at a square in the the Afghan government. The Taliban seized two more provinces on Saturday as they approached the outskirts of Afghanistan’s capital. city of Ghazni, southwest of HAMED SARFARAZI/AP Kabul, Afghanistan, on Saturday. PAGE 2 • STARS AND STRIPES • Sunday, August 15, 2021 BUSINESS/WEATHER US stocks eke out small gains after wobbly day EXCHANGE RATES Military rates South Korea (Won) 1164.82 Associated Press losers. Gains in technology, health U.S. Bank Wealth Management. He Switzerland (Franc) 0.9192 Euro costs (Aug. 16) $1.15 Thailand (Baht) 33.33 Another wobbly day of trading on care and household goods compa- noted that the consumer sentiment Dollar buys (Aug. 16) 0.8284 Turkey (NewLira) 8.5484 British pound (Aug. 16) $1.35 Wall Street gave way Friday to nies outweighed losses by banks, report is “something the market is Japanese yen (Aug. 16) 108.00 (Military exchange rates are those available small gains and new highs for the energy stocks and other sectors. looking through as temporary.” South Korean won (Aug. 16) 1139.00 to customers at military banking facilities in the Commercial rates country of issuance for Japan, South Korea, Ger­ S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Small-company stocks fell more The S&P 500 rose 7.17 points to many, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. Bahrain(Dinar) 0.3770 For nonlocal currency exchange rates (i.e., pur­ Average. than the broader market. 4,468. The Dow added 15.53 points Britain (Pound) 1.3839 chasing British pounds in Germany), check with Canada (Dollar) 1.2525 your local military banking facility. Commercial The two indexes wavered for An economic report showing a to 35,515.38, and the Nasdaq picked China(Yuan) 6.4801 rates are interbank rates provided for reference Denmark (Krone) 6.3209 much of the day before eking out big drop in consumer confidence up 6.64 points to 14,822.90. Egypt (Pound) 15.6999 when buying currency. All figures are foreign their fourth straight gains. The last month due to the spreading del- The University of Michigan con- Euro 0.8500 currencies to one dollar, except for the British Hong Kong (Dollar) 7.7828 pound, which is represented in dollars­to­ benchmark S&P 500 rose 0.2% and ta variant of the coronavirus didn’t sumer sentiment index fell to 70.2 Hungary (Forint) 299.90 pound, and the euro, which is dollars­to­euro.) Israel (Shekel) 3.2176 notched its second-straight weekly keep the market from managing from its previous level of 81.2 in Ju- Japan (Yen) 110.11 INTEREST RATES increase. The Dow and the Nasdaq more records. ly. That was the largest drop in sen- Kuwait(Dinar) 0.3007 Norway (Krone) 8.8146 Prime rate 3.25 edged up less than 0.1%. “The reality is the market is hold- timent since April 2020, when the Philippines (Peso) 50.56 Interest Rates Discount rate 0.75 Poland (Zloty) 3.89 Federal funds market rate 0.09 Stocks in the S&P 500 were nearly ing up pretty well,” said Rob Ha- pandemic took its initial grip on the Saudi Arabia (Riyal) 3.7505 3­month bill 0.06 evenly split between winners and worth, senior portfolio manager at country. Singapore (Dollar) 1.3571 30­year bond 2.01 WEATHER OUTLOOK SUNDAY IN THE MIDDLE EAST SUNDAY IN EUROPE MONDAY IN THE PACIFIC Misawa 68/65 Kabul Seoul 86/60 84/66 Baghdad 105/79 Tokyo Drawsko Osan Kandahar Mildenhall/ 92/71 69/66 99/61 Pomorskie Busan Lakenheath 70/60 80/74 73/59 Iwakuni Kuwait City Bahrain 80/75 Brussels Zagan Sasebo 110/91 99/94 Ramstein 78/60 82/74 Guam 75/56 79/61 86/83 Riyadh Lajes, 109/82 Doha Azores Stuttgart 109/84 74/71 80/66 Pápa Aviano/ 94/69 Vicenza 93/70 Naples 90/72 Okinawa Morón 84/81 114/74 Sigonella Rota 95/70 The weather is provided by the Djibouti 88/72 Souda Bay American Forces Network Weather Center, 102/82 81/78 2nd Weather Squadron at Offutt Air Force Base, Neb. TODAY IN STRIPES American Roundup ...... 11 Books .......................... 14 Comics .........................15 Crossword ................... 15 Music ..................... 12-13 Opinion ........................ 17 Sports .................... 19-24 Sunday, August 15, 2021 • STARS AND STRIPES • PAGE 3 MILITARY Proposed highway expansion would connect 12 bases BY ROSE L. THAYER ning, Robins Air Force Base and Stars and Stripes Fort Gordon in Georgia, advo- A proposed stretch of interstate cates contend. highway that would connect a doz- By linking to other interstate en military bases between Texas highways, it could also ease travel and Georgia made its way into the as far west as Fort Bliss, Texas, $1 trillion infrastructure bill and as far east as Fort Stewart, passed by the Senate last week Ga., and the Port of Savannah, ac- with the expectation it will im- cording to a map of the proposed prove access to bases located in route. some of the more isolated stretch- Thompson, a former county es of the South. judge for Polk County, Texas, The highway is a “major step in which the highway is planned to Gulf Coast Strategic Highway Coalition advancing Interstate 14 as a future stretch across, used the phrase A proposed 1,300 mile route expanding Interstate Highway 14 would connect a dozen military bases corridor for handling freight “forts to ports” to describe the between Texas and Georgia. It is part of the $1 trillion infrastructure bill passed by the Senate last week. movement, military facility con- proposed route. nectivity, coastal evacuation and “It’s about moving troops and It’s the ability to move to ports those extreme weather events go- onomic bump, Sledd and Thomp- sparking economic develop- material, and it creates an ease in over in Louisiana or Mississippi or ing on, you now can bypass it fur- son said. ment,” said John Thompson, the ability to keep our country Alabama, or vice versa,” said ther inland,” Sledd said. Where I-10 and I-20 run through chairman of the Gulf Coast Strate- safe,” he said. Sledd, a retired Army colonel and Sens. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and some of the largest cities in these gic Highway Coalition, a group of Of the Army’s 11 armored bri- executive director of the Heart of Raphael Warnock, D-Ga., pro- five states, proposed I-14 would community leaders who advocate gade combat teams, six reside in Texas Defense Alliance. Based posed the amendment to the bill bring life to some smaller towns, for the highway. Texas, said Keith Sledd, a coali- outside of Fort Hood in Killeen, with support from the other eight including many where military If the House passes the sweep- tion board member. the nonprofit is funded by local senators in the five affected states. families live, shop and seek em- ing legislation and sends it to Pres- “Sure, you can go to the Texas governments to advocate on is- The House has not released a ployment. ident Joe Biden to sign into law, it ports, but what if something hap- sues that benefit the military in schedule of when lawmakers “All the large corporations, dis- will expand Interstate Highway 14 pens like [Hurricane Harvey] in central Texas and the surround- might debate the infrastructure tribution centers or manufactur- from its 25 miles near Fort Hood, Houston several years ago?” he ing communities.