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LONDON — The desperatescenes at the Kabul airport rever-berated around the world on Fri-day, forcing President Biden to de-fend his handling of the chaoticevacuation and fueling recrimina-tion from American allies that arestruggling to get their own citi-zens out of Taliban-controlled Af-ghanistan.

Mr. Biden insisted the Ameri-can-led operation made “signifi-cant progress” after a rocky start,with nearly 6,000 Americantroops evacuating 5,700 Ameri-cans, Afghans, and others onThursday. Flights were sus-pended for several hours on Fri-day to process the crush of peopleat the airport, but they were re-suming, he said.

“We’re acting with dispatch,”Mr. Biden said at the White House.“Any American who wants tocome home, we will get youhome.”

The president’s reassuringwords, however, conflicted jar-ringly with the grim reality in Ka-bul, where panic reigned and theTaliban encircled the airport in aring of terror. While Mr. Bidenpledged not to abandon Americancitizens or Afghans who helpedthe United States, he left untoldothers in a dangerous limbo, con-ceding, “I cannot promise whatthe final outcome will be.”

Thousands of Afghans contin-ued to besiege the airport gates,begging to get on planes as Tal-iban militants menaced them withsticks and rifle butts. Anxiouscrowds were pressed up againstblast walls, with women and chil-dren hoisted into the arms ofAmerican troops on the other side.

In one harrowing image, a Ma-rine leaned over razor wire tograsp a wailing baby from out-stretched hands. The Pentagon

said the baby was sick, receivedtreatment and was later returnedto his father.

Many more people were simplyturned away, repulsed by reddishclouds of tear gas and volleys of ri-fle fire above their heads. A Tal-iban fighter put a gun to the headof one man and warned him, “Goback to your home or I will shootyou,” according to a person whowitnessed the encounter.

While the south side of the air-field — the site of anguishedscenes earlier in the week — wascalmer on Friday, a witness re-ported that the gate at the northside, where American troops arein control, was mobbed. Ameri-can-trained Afghan special forcesunits pushed back the crowds,some shooting in the air. The stac-cato pops of gunfire mixed withthe roar of planes taking off.

On the airport’s eastern pe-rimeter, hundreds of Afghans jos-tled with British soldiers as theytried to get into a British-con-trolled compound. In video postedto social media by the BBC, troopsordered people away from the en-

DESPAIR IN KABULUNDERCUTS BIDENON RESCUE EFFORT

President Goes on Defensive as Criticismof U.S. Evacuation Grows Louder

By MARK LANDLER

Khalil Haqqani, who leads a powerful Taliban faction and is on the U.S. terrorist list, is playing a major role in the new government.VICTOR J. BLUE FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES

Taliban troops escorting Mr.Haqqani in Kabul on Friday.

VICTOR J. BLUE FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES

Continued on Page A6

For most of the last week, inthe fires of the worst foreignpolicy crisis of his young admin-istration, the president who won

the White House ona promise of compe-tence and compas-

sion has had trouble demonstrat-ing much of either.

The chaos in Kabul and hisown conflicting messages haveleft President Biden struggling toassert command over worldevents and seemingly moreintent on washing his hands ofAfghanistan than expressingconcern over the humanitariantragedy unfolding on the ground.

Mr. Biden’s team argues that itwill not matter in the long runbecause Americans agree withhis decision to pull out after 20years of war and do not carewhat happens in Afghanistan aslong as their fellow citizens areextracted safely. Afghanistan isAmerica’s longest war, stretchingthrough four presidencies, andnone of those presidents found away to disengage successfully.

But the tumultuous endgameof Mr. Biden’s withdrawal hasnonetheless undercut some ofthe most fundamental premisesof Mr. Biden’s presidency — thatunlike his erratic, self-absorbedpredecessor, he brought foreignpolicy seasoning, adults-in-the-room judgment and a surfeit of

A PresidencyAnd Its Values

Put to the TestBy PETER BAKER

Continued on Page A7

NEWSANALYSIS

In one video, a Taliban officialreassured female health workersthat they could keep their jobs. Inanother, militants told Sikhs, a mi-nority religious group, that theywere free and protected. Still oth-ers suggested a new lawfulness inKabul, with Talib fighters holdinglooters and thieves at gunpoint.

The Taliban, who banned the in-ternet the first time they con-trolled Afghanistan, have turnedsocial media into a powerful tool totame opposition and broadcasttheir messages. Now firmly incontrol of the country, they are us-ing thousands of Twitter accounts— some official and others anony-mous — to placate Afghanistan’sterrified but increasingly tech-savvy urban base.

The images of peace and stabil-ity projected by the Taliban con-trast sharply with the scenesbroadcast around the world of thechaotic American evacuationfrom the Kabul airport or footageof protesters being beaten andshot at. They demonstrate the dig-ital powers the militants havehoned over years of insurgency,offering a glimpse of how the Tal-iban could use those tools to ruleAfghanistan, even as they cling totheir fundamentalist religioustenets and violent proclivities.

Afghan social media may be apoor indicator of public sentiment.Many of the Taliban’s critics and

Taliban EmployTweets to PushDistorted View

By PAUL MOZURand ZIA ur-REHMAN

ADRIANA ZEHBRAUSKAS FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES

Waiting for food in Les Cayes, where scuffles broke out over supplies a week after a quake. Page A8.Frustration Building in Haiti

The cutoff of federal unemploy-ment benefits in much of the coun-try was meant to bring a flood ofworkers back to the job market. Sofar, that flood looks more like atrickle.

A total of 26 states, all but onewith Republican governors, havemoved to end some or all of the ex-panded unemployment benefitsthat have been in place since thepandemic began. The governors,along with many business own-ers, have argued that the benefitsdiscourage returning to workwhen many employers are strug-gling to hire.

Several recent studies, howev-er, have concluded that the extrapayments have played only asmall role in this year’s laborshortages. And they found at mosta modest increase in employmentin states that abandoned the pro-grams — most of them in June —even as millions of jobless work-ers have had to cut spending, po-tentially hurting local economies.

“The idea was that there werelots of jobs — it was just that peo-ple weren’t looking. That was thenarrative,” said Arindrajit Dube, aUniversity of Massachusettseconomist who was an author ofone of the studies. “I don’t thinkthat story holds up.”

Data released Friday by the La-bor Department provided the lat-est evidence. It showed that thestates that cut benefits have expe-rienced job growth similar to —and perhaps slightly slower than— growth in states that retainedthe benefits. That was true even inthe leisure and hospitality sector,where businesses have been par-ticularly vocal in their complaintsabout the benefits.

Overall, the U.S. labor markethas come a long way since last

Benefit Cutoffs Failing to EaseLabor Shortfall

By BEN CASSELMAN

Continued on Page A14

Late Edition

VOL. CLXX . . . . No. 59,157 © 2021 The New York Times Company NEW YORK, SATURDAY, AUGUST 21, 2021

For weeks in June and July,workers at a Maine factory mak-ing one of America’s most popularrapid tests for Covid-19 were giv-en a task that shocked them: takeapart millions of the products theyhad worked so hard to create andstuff them into garbage bags.

Soon afterward, Andy Wilkin-son, a site manager for AbbottLaboratories, the manufacturer,stood before rows of employees toannounce layoffs. The companycanceled contracts with suppliersand shuttered the only other plantmaking the test, in Illinois, dis-missing a work force of 2,000.“The numbers are going down,”he told the workers of the demandfor testing, saying it wasn’t theirfault. “This is all about money.”

As virus cases in the U.S. plum-meted this spring, so did Abbott’sCovid-testing sales. But now, amida new surge in infections, stepsthe company took to eliminatestock and wind down manufactur-ing are proving untimely — hob-bling efforts to expand screeningas the highly contagious Deltavariant rages across the country.

Demand for the 15-minute anti-gen test, BinaxNOW, is soaringagain as people return to schoolsand offices. Yet Abbott has report-edly told thousands of newly in-

terested companies that it cannotequip their testing programs inthe near future. CVS, Rite Aid andWalgreens locations have beenselling out of the at-home version,and Amazon shows shipping de-lays of up to three weeks. Abbott isscrambling to hire back hundredsof workers.

America was notoriously slowin rolling out testing in the earlydays of the pandemic, and thestory of the Abbott tests is a mi-crocosm of the larger challengesof ensuring that the private sectorcan deliver the tools needed tofight public health crises, both be-fore they happen and during thetwists and turns of an actualevent.

“Businesses crave certainty,and pandemics don’t lend cer-tainty to demand,” said Stephen S.

Bad Bet Hurts Efforts to Expand Covid ScreeningBy SHERI FINK Company Destroyed Its

Test Supplies Just asU.S. Cases Soared

Continued on Page A11

Continued on Page A5

Andrew Velazquez, a Bronx native, hada wonderful vantage point for the Yan-kees’ three-game sweep of Boston thisweek: shortstop. PAGE B8

SPORTS B8-10

A Homegrown YankeeFor the British, Mediterranean vaca-tions have been replaced by a trip to theshores of England. PAGE B1

BUSINESS B1-7

A Staycation, U.K.-StyleThe showers are another troubling signof a changing Greenland, which iswarming at a speedy rate. PAGE A9

INTERNATIONAL A4-9

Above the Arctic Circle, Rain

Livingston Matthews, who performs asPink Siifu, is a prolific rapper andproducer. He’s returned this month with“Gumbo’!,” a hat tip to the soulfulSouthern rap that inspired him. PAGE C1

ARTS C1-6

A Shape-Shifting MusicianThe Justice Department asked theSupreme Court to halt a Trump-eraprogram that makes asylum-seekerswait out their cases in Mexico. PAGE A12

NATIONAL A10-15

Request on Asylum Program

The artist was equally admired by thecognoscenti and the public, beforeabsenting himself from the art world.Will his paintings regain visibility? Ourcritic discusses. PAGE C1

Chuck Close’s LegacyTropical Storm Henri strengthened as itmoved toward New England, triggeringa warning for parts of Long Island andthe Connecticut coast. PAGE A13

East Under Hurricane Warning

The Food and Drug Administration isworking toward giving full approval toPfizer-BioNTech’s two-dose Covid-19vaccine as soon as Monday. PAGE A11

Pfizer Shot Nears Full Approval

A California law that made workers likeUber drivers independent contractorswas deemed unconstitutional. PAGE B3

Gig Worker Law Shot DownThousands of activists are workingclandestinely to spread dissent andundermine the government. PAGE A4

Quiet Opposition in Belarus

Thomas L. Friedman PAGE A19

OPINION A18-19

Mike Richards’s first and, as itturned out, last day of filming asthe host of “Jeopardy!” beganwith a gathering that executivesat the long-running quiz showhoped would symbolize a freshstart.

In a taped ceremony on Thurs-

day at the Sony Pictures lot in Cul-ver City, Calif., Sony revealed thatthe “Jeopardy!” studio would berenamed for Alex Trebek, the be-loved host who died last year. Mr.Richards smiled as cameras rolledand Mr. Trebek’s widow and chil-dren looked on.

Less than 24 hours later, Mr.Richards had quit his hosting role,“Jeopardy!” production wasplaced on hold, and the show’sfans were struggling to under-

stand how a television institutionand staple of the American livingroom could have botched a suc-cession plan after 37 years of sta-bility and success.

Mr. Richards stepped down on

Friday after revelations of offen-sive and sexist comments hemade on a podcast several yearsago, nine days after Sony an-nounced his new role with greatfanfare. He wrote in a staff memothat “moving forward as hostwould be too much of a distractionfor our fans and not the right movefor the show.”

“Jeopardy!”, which first aired in

New ‘Jeopardy!’ Host Leaves, Putting a TV Institution in ChaosThis article is by Michael M. Gryn-

baum, Nicole Sperling and Julia Ja-cobs.

Offensive Observationson Podcast Resurface

Continued on Page A15

Today, cloudy, thunderstorms, high82. Tonight, wind and rain from Hur-ricane Henri late, low 75. Tomorrow,wind and rain from Henri, high 79.Weather map appears on Page B5.

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