Minnesota Now

Kyle Potter, editor of the Thrifty Traveler, talked to guest host Tim Nelson about the implications of the CDC’s extension of the federal mask mandate for travel on planes, trains, and buses. Potter shared insights about incidents of unruly airline passengers refusing to wear masks, staff shortages, and what to expect with a potential rise in COVID cases this spring.

A month before the Republican convention in Minnesota, none of the Republican candidates for governor has a lock on the endorsement to challenge DFL Gov. Tim Walz in November. 

There’s a lot of overlap in the Republican candidates’ messages, including criticism of how Gov. Walz has handled the pandemic, crime and education. Where do the candidates agree and where do they differ?

MPR News political editor Mike Mulcahy talks with three Republican candidates as part of the Politics Friday candidate series.  

Plus, listen to a conversation with Domenico Montanaro, NPR Senior Political Editor from a live virtual event on MPR Connects. 

Guests 

The weather has been a main character in the story of the last 24 hours. Paul Huttner has been watching it all unfold. He joined host Cathy Wurzer with the latest on what happened last night and what’s still in store.

Longtime gardener Meg Cowden joined host Cathy Wurzer to talk about how Minnesotans can prepare their gardens for summer.

Twin Cities PBS Data reporter Kyeland Jackson recently did some digging into the federal program, Estate Recovery. He joined host Cathy Wurzer to talk about how the program is impacting some Minnesotans.

Kathy Lantry and Sasha Cotton have been named co-chairs of St. Paul's Police Chief Examining Committee. Lantry joined host Cathy Wurzer to talk about her new role.

As the world watches Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine, another humanitarian crisis is deepening thousands of miles away in Afghanistan.

Since August, when the U.S. pulled the last of its troops out of the country and the Taliban regained control, Afghanistan has plunged into economic collapse. As of last month, the UN estimated 95 percent of the country’s population was not getting enough to eat.

Minnesota native Ross Wilson, the former acting U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan at the time of the withdrawal, provides more on the situation in Afghanistan.

The following is a transcript of the discussion, edited for clarity.

Well, I think we had some hopes that there would be a consensual transfer of power from those who had led the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan that we helped to establish after our invasion in 2001, to something a little bit broader that included Taliban but was not dominated by the Taliban, and certainly not exclusively, the Taliban.

The rather abrupt and violent, chaotic scene at the very end — particularly involving the collapse of the government — I think surprised us, particularly at that particular moment. And we had hopes that some in the United States and elsewhere, that the [Taliban] might rule more reasonably than they had in the 1990s, have proved not to have turned out. Arguably, the Taliban have returned to who they were before.

The airport scene … I know that it looked terrible on American television, it was worse there. You had these mobs of people who came on the airfield and in the first couple of days. After that, we struggled with tens of thousands of people and moving them through choke points that seem to just go downstream. From the gates — the processing gates — to the terminal where people got processed for traveling to the United States, holding areas where they waited, to airplanes, to the so-called lily pads or holding points in countries between Afghanistan and the United States, then finally, on U.S. bases. And shortfalls and choke points with respect to the kind of agencies that support refugees of that sort.

There was also an almost unimaginable Niagara Falls of appeals for help, of demands that we get people or groups out from Afghans from other embassies and organizations and camo from ex-generals, NGO leaders, media executives, members of Congress, hundreds and hundreds of emails, texts, and calls every day. All well-intentioned, were deserving but overwhelming such that it got in the way of getting people out and made it extremely difficult to implement priorities that we had, in particular with respect to American citizens and the so-called Special Immigrant Visa category where we did not do as well as we would have hoped.

I think all of us who were there are incredibly proud of what we did — 124,000 people got out. That movement was affected by our State Department staff, but obviously, especially by the thousands of military personnel who provided the security and directly supported that evacuation effort. That's an unprecedented accomplishment, I believe, and we're all very, very proud of that. All of us are very, very sad about what we left behind.

Just as a point of clarification, of the 124,000 evacuations we help to support from Afghanistan, about 79,000 or 80,000, were intended to come to the United States, others have gone to European countries, and they work for European embassies, they've gone to other locations.

So the numbers are a little bit less. There remains I'm sure it's an excess of 10,000 that has still not been effectively resettled either out of camps or locations in the United States, or an unlimited number of that are still in Europe or elsewhere on route to our country.

I think our biggest obligations are to American citizens who remain in Afghanistan, to legal permanent residents who remain there for one reason or another, to those who work for us and work with us as translators, interpreters, staff supporters, the SIV category.

There is work — I'm not involved in it — but there is work going on at the State Department to try to get people out. The last time I spoke with people, it was in excess of 4,000 had gotten out after our final departure on August 31. Which is not a huge number, but it's a good number, and I'm happy about that. And I think clearly, we owe a lot to those people who helped us and supported us. And all of us who were there cared deeply about them.

You know Cathy, I do. Obviously, one of the reasons I think why the president decided to go ahead with the withdrawal, is that there are other needs in the world, and they have to be addressed.

He wasn't anticipating Ukraine, but as sure as the sunrises and sunsets, there were going to be and will be further crises. I think it's important for the United States both to work with and assist those who got out. Work with and assist those who, particularly those who worked for us and with us — as well as American citizens, of course — to help them get out. And I think also there are millions of people in whom we invested effectively.

The health care that we helped to provide dramatically lowered infant mortality and improved life expectancy there. There are millions that are probably living now, who wouldn't otherwise have been. Millions of boys and girls went to school, through the generosity of American taxpayers and those in Europe and elsewhere. Hundreds of thousands of men and women went to universities, hundreds of thousands were active in civil society programs with us and developing the sinews of a reasonably free and independent country.

Unfortunately, for better or worse, most of those people remain in Afghanistan. And they can be a force for change, particularly as the Taliban proves unable to deal with the problems that the country faces, for which the Taliban are almost uniquely unqualified to cope effectively with. The United States needs to be there and needs to find ways to support those people and to support change as the wheel of politics will turn in Afghanistan, just as it turns everywhere else. And I think there are 40 million people there that are hoping for a better life in the future.

I believe I am. You know, one never says never. I was very reluctant to go into Afghanistan. Frankly, I finally concluded it was my duty to go and to do that. I'm not looking to do this again.

Listen to the full conversation using the audio player above.

Faisal Kaleem, professor of computer science and cyber security at Metro State University, joined host Cathy Wurzer to discuss the impact of cyber-attacks and how people can protect themselves and their personal information.

Last month, President Biden issued a statement warning Americans to consider cyber security in light of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Kaleem suggests that businesses and individuals learn about cybersecurity risks, offering several online resources intended to raise awareness. “It’s easier to prevent an attack than it is to recover from it,” Kaleem said.

Use the audio player above to listen to the full conversation.

Subscribe to the Minnesota Now podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts

Spring storms are in Minnesota's forecast, but fear not: Spring is still hear, and there are signs that are more subtle and harmonious.

Watching all these is retired mail carrier and full time phenologist John Latimer. John observes the seasonal changes in nature from his home in Grand Rapids, Minn.

He appears on KAXE community radio there, and he joined host Cathy Wurzer to talk about what he's noticing outside.

Use the audio player above to listen to the full conversation.

Subscribe to the Minnesota Now podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts

Two Illinois men received federal prison sentences Tuesday for their roles in the 2017 firebombing of a Twin Cities mosque.

Michael McWhorter, 33, and Joe Morris, 26, were two of three people who carried out the attack on the the Dar Al Farooq Islamic Center in Bloomington at the behest of Emily Claire Hari, formerly known as Michael Hari. Hari, 51, is serving a 53-year sentence after being convicted at trial in 2020 for planning the attack.

Host Cathy Wurzer talked with MPR News reporter Matt Sepic about the news. She also checked in with Imam Mohammed Omar from Dar Al Farooq, who was in the mosque the morning the bomb came through the window. He had circulated a letter asking the court to act with compassion in the sentencing.

Use the audio player above to listen to the full conversation.

Subscribe to the Minnesota Now podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts