Briefly with OZY

With thousands more people still to be evacuated from Kabul, America’s allies are pressuring U.S. President Joe Biden to keep troops at the airport past his August 31st pull-out date. The U.S. FDA has fully approved the Pfizer vaccine and some states are already instituting mandates for certain professions, but will it convince vaccine skeptics? And, para-taekwondo is among the new sports athletes will compete in at the Tokyo Paralympics which begin today.

There have been births, deaths and gunfire as Afghans continue to flee the country in the wake of the Taliban takeover, with Kabul airport the site of heart-wrenching scenes. At least 22 people have died in flash floods that ravaged rural Tennessee, with two dozen remaining missing. And French-American cabaret star Joséphine Baker will be the first Black woman to be buried in Paris’ Pantheon.

Helicopters have brought Americans into the besieged Kabul Airport while desperate Afghans throng its gates. Inside the facility, an Afghan infant hoisted over the wall by a U.S. Marine has been reunited with its dad. And New England is bracing for its first direct hurricane hit in 30 years.

Despite promises not to seek revenge, the Taliban are reportedly going door to door to find their detractors. As well as former soldiers, journalists and women’s groups face retaliation as scores of people at Kabul airport struggle to leave. A Trump supporter who said the Democrats should step down was arrested after a bomb threat in the Capitol. And find out how two bulls named “Feminist” and “Nigerian” got a Spanish festival canceled.

Afghanistan’s new rulers are showing signs of their 1999 selves, reportedly gunning down protesters and hunting for members of the defeated Afghan government. Visions of a playful, carnival-loving Taliban proved short-lived, according to a Russian broadcaster. And Haitians fear a post-earthquake debacle like the one in 2010.

The Taliban say they've changed. In their first presser since taking over Afghanistan, the militants said they wanted peace and wouldn't take revenge on anyone, but many Afghans are highly skeptical. Texas Governor Greg Abbott, who has railed against mask mandates, is isolating with COVID-19. And there was no hiss-teria when a Sydney shopper found a snake on the supermarket spice shelf!

Rushing the runway, clambering onto the wings and holding onto the fuselage even as one plane took off, there were extraordinary scenes at Kabul’s airport yesterday as desperate Afghans attempted to flee the Taliban-occupied country. The U.S. administration is set to introduce vaccine booster shots for most Americans amid surging delta variant cases. And Bob Dylan is at the center of a #MeToo case, but denies sexually abusing a young girl in 1965.

Twenty years, thousands of lives and billions of dollars later, the Taliban are back in control in Afghanistan. Haitians are digging for survivors with their bare hands after a catastrophic earthquake. And it's a bleak outlook for women after fall of Kabul.

Afghans are feeling “sold out” by their government and the U.S. as the Taliban close in on Kabul, while a rare mass shooting shocks Britain. And an author explores the mysteries of consciousness through the eyes of a robot dog.

The number of Latino, Asian and multiracial people has increased in the US, while the white population has declined, the latest census shows. Three more key Afghan cities have fallen to the Taliban as the US seeks to evacuate its nationals. And after she accused him of abuse, Britney Spears' father has said he'll step down as her conservator.