1 Biden Defends Withdrawal Of U.S. Troops From Afghanistan
President Biden is defending his withdrawal of remaining U.S. troops from Afghanistan. Speaking from the White House, Biden said the U.S. mission in Afghanistan was never supposed to be 20 years of "nation building." He insisted that he stands squarely behind his decision – and stressed that he inherited a withdrawal plan from the prior Trump administration. The Taliban effectively gained control of the capital city of Kabul after the Afghan President fled the country. While Biden says he owns the ultimate decision, he also acknowledged the crisis unfolded more quickly than anticipated. The President cited the quick collapse of Afghan security forces. Biden said the U.S. "could not provide them the will to fight." He added, "American troops cannot and should not be fighting in a war and dying in a war that Afghan forces are not willing to fight themselves." Biden argued the U.S. cannot continue to double-down on a civil war in a foreign country. U.S. military troops have maintained control of the Kabul airport, but the situation is chaotic as thousands of Afghans try to flee the country.
2 T-Mobile Confirms Data Breach
T-Mobile is confirming it was the target of a cyber-attack, but that’s about all they can confirm. In a statement, the telecommunications company confirmed the data breach, but would not say whether customer data was affected. Strangely, others have. Motherboard not only confirmed that the data of 100-million was affected, but that some of it was posted online. Still, officials said the vulnerability has been secured. Meantime, T-Mobile is reportedly investigating an online forum claiming to be selling the data of affected customers. The seller claims the data includes social security numbers, phone numbers, names, addresses, unique IMEI numbers and driver licenses information. This isn’t the first such breach T-Mobile has suffered. Back in January, an attack saw cyberthieves steal about 200-thousand call records as well as other subscriber data.
3 Tropical Depression Grace Approaches Haiti After Deadly Earthquake
Tropical Depression Grace is approaching Haiti as the island nation tries to recover from a powerful earthquake that hit over the weekend, killing over 12-hundred people. Forecasters say Haiti should expect tropical storm conditions with some areas seeing anywhere from five to fifteen inches of rain. This is only adding to the misery as hospitals in Haiti are struggling to keep up with the 57-hundred people hurt in the magnitude 7.2 earthquake. Officials are racing to bring doctors to the worst-hit areas before Tropical Depression Grace gives her worst. The fear is heavy rain could cause mudslides and flooding as families are sleeping on the street. The quake destroyed close to 14-thousand homes, killing at least 14-hundred people and injuring nearly seven-thousand. As many as 30-thousand families are homeless.