Biden faces decision on Afghanistan airlift, Taliban edict

By ROBERT BURNS and ELLEN KNICKMEYER
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. military has pulled off its biggest day of evacuation flights of Afghanistan since the operation began. But President Joe Biden faces a pressing decision on shutting down the airlifts, as the Taliban are insisting. And amid the tense operation to get people out of the country, a U.S. official says CIA Director William Burns secretly flew to Kabul on Monday to meet with the Taliban’s top political leader. The White House says U.S. C-17s and C-130s flew out 12,700 people in 24 hours.