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Robert KennedySirhan Sirhan: six Kennedy children condemn decision to grant killer paroleTwo children of assassinated Senator Robert F Kennedy support California decision which may be reversed Martin Pengelly in New York and agencies@ More
CaliforniaSirhan Sirhan, man who assassinated Robert F Kennedy, granted paroleSirhan, 77, convicted of killing Kennedy in Los Angeles in 1968Prosecutors declined to oppose Sirhan’s bid for parole A More
OpinionAfghanistanThe Guardian view on Afghanistan: chaos turns to carnageEditorialThe attack on Kabul airport underlines the west’s obligations, which do not end with the occupation Fri 27 Aug 2021 13.30 EDTLast modified on Fri 27 Aug 2021 17.45 EDTFor all that it had been warned of, was perhaps even half-expected, Thursday’s terrorist attack on Kabul’s Hamid Karzai airport was a deeply shocking event. The setting for the final unravelling of the west’s failure was already frightening. Thousands of people had struggled for days to gain access to the buildings and officials that they hoped would offer them a passport to safety. With Islamic State’s attack, which began not far from the Baron Hotel where British personnel were based, and is so far known to have killed 79 civilians and 13 US service people, what had been a worst-case scenario became reality.Islamic State’s Afghan affiliate, known as Islamic State Khorasan Province and also as Isis-K, detonated a bomb that not only ripped apart lives, but also served as a bloodcurdling warning of what it may be capable of. Joe Biden, unsurprisingly, responded with a threat of his own: “We will not forgive. We will not forget. We will hunt you down and make you pay,” he said, following the carnage, addressing the terrorists directly for the benefit of an appalled domestic audience.What happens now is that the evacuation continues amid hugely elevated distress. Mr Biden has refused to waver from next Tuesday’s deadline, with the UK effort due to conclude before the weekend. On Friday, it was clear that even bombs had failed to deter the crowds bent on escape. Queues continued to form at the sewage canal close to the airport, while administrators failed to keep pace with demand for documents to be checked. Ben Wallace, the UK’s defence secretary, acknowledged that some of those entitled to come to Britain because they had worked for the embassy or military would be left behind. Others pointed out that his figure of 1,100 was an underestimate.The longer-term impact of the attack is harder to assess, beyond the obvious point that it is alarming – or terrifying, if you are an Afghan – that an Islamic State offshoot now occupies the position that it does. Much will depend on the capacity of the Taliban to withstand this assault on their authority, and on developing relations between the various strands and strongholds of extreme Islamism both within and beyond Afghanistan’s borders. Much faster than the west expected, the Taliban filled the vacuum created by the withdrawal negotiated by Donald Trump and enacted by his successor. Now, before the Americans have even left, the Taliban themselves are being confronted.The danger is that the Afghan state and civil society, after the west’s shamefully conducted withdrawal, will collapse altogether. Already, 300,000 people have been displaced following the Taliban’s advance over the summer. Three-quarters of all public expenditure (on hospitals, schools and so on) is derived from foreign aid. There is no reason to have any confidence in the Taliban’s governance capabilities. But things are likely to be even worse for Afghanistan’s population of almost 40 million, above all the women and girls who are already having basic rights such as education removed, if their leaders become consumed by factional infighting and paranoia. Already, following the attack, there are reports of unprecedented numbers of Afghans feeling across the border to Pakistan.Western countries, including the UK, must honour their obligations, not only to those who worked for them, including the refugees who must now be found homes and jobs, but to Afghan society as a whole. The international community should find common cause in the attempt to give the people of this broken country a chance. From a western perspective, this week’s explosion may have the appearance of a parting shot. For Afghans, the fear is that it marks the start of yet another bloody chapter.TopicsAfghanistanOpinionBiden administrationIslamic StateTalibanBen WallaceSouth and Central AsiaJoe BideneditorialsReuse this content More
Jonathan Freedland revisits an enlightening conversation with Michael Steele, a former chair of the Republican national committee, who campaigned for a Joe Biden victory in last year’s US presidential election
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TexasTexas house passes sweeping voting restrictions billBill comes amid nationwide Republican effort to restrict votingDemocrats attempted to block bill by walking out last month Sam Levine in New YorkFri 27 Aug 2021 00.34 EDTLast modified on Fri 27 Aug 2021 00.36 EDTThe Texas house of representatives has passed a sweeping elections bill that would prohibit 24-hour and drive-through voting, block election officials from sending out absentee ballot applications, impose new identification requirements on mail-in ballots, and give more leeway to partisan poll watchers at voting sites.The bill – which passed on a 79-37 mostly party-line vote – now moves to the Texas senate, which has already passed a similar version. The senate can either concur with the house legislation or produce a final version using a conference committee. After that, it will go to the desk of Texas governor Greg Abbott, who is likely to swiftly approve it.The legislation comes amid a nationwide effort by Republicans, who control state government in Texas, to enact legislation that imposes new restrictions on voting access. The Texas bill exploded into the national spotlight after Democrats in the state legislature repeatedly blocked it by walking out of the state legislature, denying Republicans the ability to move forward with legislative business. The standoff, which lasted a little over a month, ended last week when enough Democrats returned to the state capitol to allow the process to move forward.Texas Democrats return to state capitol, ending 38-day effort to block voting billRead moreMany of the provisions in the Texas bill are aimed at Harris county, Texas’ most populous county, and home of Houston, a Democratic stronghold. Harris County election officials took several steps to make voting amid the pandemic easier. Those measures included adopting drive-through and 24-hour voting. The majority of voters who used both processes in 2020 were either Black, Hispanic or Asian, according to an estimate by the Texas Civil Rights Project. About 127,000 people used the process.Andrew Murr, the bill’s sponsor, said the measure would prevent fraud, increase voting access, and help prevent ballot secrecy. But he was unable to say how many instances of fraud there were in the 2020 election and couldn’t name any voters who had complained about the secrecy of their ballot during drive-through voting.Rafael Anchía, a Dallas Democrat, said the little evidence of actual fraud presented was clear evidence the states justifications for the bill were a “pretext”.“This is all about furtherance of the Big Lie,” Anchía said.The lengthy debate on the bill and proposed amendments was mostly cordial on Thursday afternoon, but it was clear that tension lingered in the chamber, where Republicans recently authorized the arrest of House members who refused to come to the capitol, none were ultimately arrested.“The chair would appreciate members not using the word ‘racism’ this afternoon,” said House speaker Dade Phelan, a Republican.Murr and other Republicans have defended the legislation by arguing that it increases the minimum hours polls are required to be open during early voting. But state representative John Bucy III, a Democrat from Austin, noted that the bill for the first time would set a maximum cap on the amount of early voting hours a county could choose to offer.The data proves it: 2020 US election was a remarkable success | The Fight to VoteRead moreThe new restrictions would make it harder to cast a ballot in a state that already has some of the strictest voting rules, and the lowest turnout in the country. Texas is only one of a handful of states that only allows a select group of people – those who are age 65 and older, disabled or out of town – to vote by mail. The state also does not have online voter registration and ranked among the bottom of US states in 2020.The Democrats in the state house of representatives spent much of the last six weeks in Washington, where they were lobbying federal lawmakers to pass two measures that would implement significant voting rights protections.One of those measures cleared the house on Tuesday and would require states with a recent history of voting discrimination, including Texas, to get any voting changes approved by the federal government before they go into effect. The measure faces an uphill path in the US senate, where it needs the votes of 10 Republican senators to overcome the filibuster and pass.TopicsTexasUS politicsUS voting rightsnewsReuse this content More
AfghanistanKabul airport atrocity offers a glimpse of the chaos to come in AfghanistanJoe Biden left with no good options after deadliest day for US troops in Afghanistan in more than a decade David Smith in Washington@ More
Key events
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5.26pm EDT
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Biden addresses nation on Kabul explosions
5.00pm EDT
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Today so far
3.48pm EDT
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Biden to address the nation this evening on deadly attacks in Kabul
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Pentagon confirms 12 US troops killed and 15 injured in Kabul attacks
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‘We will not be dissuaded from the task at hand,’ defense secretary says after Kabul attacks
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Biden’s meeting with Israeli prime minister moved to tomorrow
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House Republican leader calls on Congress to return to session for Kabul briefing
Live feed
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5.52pm EDT
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Biden said that although millions of Afghans would like to leave and come to the US, he can’t get them all out.
“I know of no conflict — as a student of history — no conflict where, when a war is ended, one side was able to guarantee that everyone they wanted to be extracted in that country would get out,” he said.
Asked how much responsibility he was willing to take for the way the withdrawal has unfolded, Biden said – he’ll bear some.
“I bear responsibility for fundamentally all that’s happened of late,” he said. “But here’s the deal… you know as well as I do that the former president made a deal with the Taliban.”
5.47pm EDT
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