Good morning. Afghan citizens have experienced their first day under complete Taliban control after the last US troops left the country, marking an end of two decades of western presence.
America’s longest war has come to an end with the last evacuation flight flying out of Kabul airport just after midnight local time. It brought to an end a US presence that lasted nearly 20 years and claimed tens of thousands of lives. The Taliban marked the start of their first day in full control of Afghanistan with celebratory gunfire, minutes after the last US plane of soldiers and their ambassador lifted off. Citizens spoke of an “absolute feeling of depression” under the first day of Taliban rule. “I have been crying since this morning. My brother went out and bought me a burqa, I burned my jeans today. I was crying and burning them, I burned my hopes with them,” said Arifa Ahmadi.
US president Joe Biden’s has claimed in a press conference that the US was ready for “every eventuality” in its planned withdrawal from Afghanistan amid criticism over the the exit from the country. “Even this one,” Biden said, referring to the swift crumpling of the US-trained Afghan military and the Afghan government. He warned that the threat of overseas terrorism is “metastasising” in many parts of the world. But that the US would continue to combat such terrorism without continuing a ground war in Afghanistan. “It was time to end this war,” he said. “We will continue to support the Afghan people through diplomacy and engagement.”
Australian health authorities have warned against mixing Covid vaccine types amid concerns that some people may be cancelling their second AstraZeneca dose in the hope of securing a shot of Pfizer. The head of the Australian Medical Association, Dr Omar Khorshid, said “there’s definitely people vaccinated with AstraZeneca interested in getting Pfizer as a second dose, but that really doesn’t make any sense. The majority of the small risk of TTS is associated with the first dose, and in addition vaccination with AstraZeneca may also provide better longer-term protection than Pfizer,” he said. Officials are urging people to get vaccinated as soon as possible with whatever vaccine is available, and to show up to their existing first and second-dose appointments. “The best vaccine … is the one you can get today,” the Victorian premier, Daniel Andrews, said. “Go online right now, there are literally thousands of AstraZeneca appointments available for you.”
Australia
Scott Morrison assured the senior military figure Lt Gen John Frewen that “the necessary resources and assets will be put at your disposal” when he was appointed to boost confidence in the Australian government’s vaccination rollout, in a letter obtained by Guardian Australia under freedom of information.
There is “overwhelming evidence” that the real-life Man from Snowy River was Aboriginal, according to a new book which argues all the stockmen were Indigenous where the legendary ride is thought to have happened.
If you tune in to the daily Covid briefings from Scott Morrison and the premiers, the impression you’ll get is the federation is in conflict about the national plan to reopen Australia once vaccination rates increase. But is this really war? Political editor Katharine Murphy explains.
The world
Seven Black men who were executed in 1951 have been granted posthumous pardons for the rape of a white woman in the US. Governor Ralph Northam said the men, tried by all-white juries, were not given due process at a time when only Black men received death sentences for rape in Virginia.
Six guards at Iran’s Evin prison are facing criminal cases after footage showing widespread abuse of detainees at the Tehran facility was leaked.
Turkish Cypriot authorities have taken emergency action to stop 20,000 tonnes of oil approaching its coastline from a spill at a power plant in Syria.
Recommended reads
Patrick Lenton has spent the entire duration of the Covid-19 pandemic dating someone long distance across two states in various forms of lockdown, across hard borders. “As I slid into her DMs, I entered the dystopian nightmare of romance across hard borders. But love can grow in the most infertile and unlikely soils … Even for people newly dating in the same locked-down city, there are elements of long distance involved.”
YouTube comments are frequently not very nice, except, for some reason, if it’s below an ASMR video, where it appears to invite a more or less pure stream of all that is tender in the human heart. “These are videos made to provoke one’s autonomous sensory meridian response – AKA ‘a tingly feeling’ – through soothing sounds and visuals. I’m sure if you scroll far enough you can find someone saying something dreary and mean. But as a rule you can be at peace in the knowledge any accidental swiping down will take you only to a safe and pleasant place,” writes Imogen Dewey.
Bryan Brown is one of Australia’s most storied actors. He was underworld boss Pando in Two Hands. He was Lt Peter Handcock in Breaker Morant; Joe in A Town Like Alice; and King Carney in Baz Luhrmann’s Australia. So does it surprise people to learn that Bryan Brown the movie star is now also Bryan Brown the writer? Brown’s first book, Sweet Jimmy, is a collection of short stories that introduce Brown as a new voice in crime fiction. “I’ve been telling stories for 50 years on film and television,” he says. “This is just another form of storytelling – that’s the way I see it.”
Listen
Scott Morrison is pushing a plan to end lockdowns and reopen Australia – insisting that “Covid normal” can begin when national adult vaccination rates reach to 70% to 80%. The government insists the plan is safe, and is based on “the best medical, science and economic research in the world”. In today’s episode of Full Story, Laura Murphy-Oates speaks to political editor Katharine Murphy about Morrison’s simplified interpretation of this expert advice, and the risks of reopening.
Full Story is Guardian Australia’s daily news podcast. Subscribe for free on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or any other podcasting app.
Sport
Three of Australia’s biggest sports stars have joined more than 350 athletes in a new climate campaign. Bronte Campbell, Pat Cummins and Daisy Pearce are calling for urgent action in an open letter to Australian leaders.
The 2021 AFL grand final will be played in Perth for the first time after the game’s spiritual home, the MCG, was ruled out due to the ongoing Covid-19 lockdown in Victoria.
Media roundup
An investigation by the Age and the Sydney Morning Herald has found unscrupulous recruiting practices in the meat industry, including some labour hire operators who “have potentially corrupted the approvals system by paying bribes to some meat industry managers”. The Daily Telegraph reports the man dubbed the “index case’’ in the nation’s worst Covid outbreak has been fined $500 for breaching NSW’s public health orders for not wearing a face mask while waiting at a bus stop. News Corp Australia’s national Covid polls says most Australians want state borders open despite the risk of the virus, but see vaccinations as the key to more freedom.
Coming up
The Archibald prize’s people’s choice award will be announced today.
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