Author: BlackMask Financial

Afghanistan’s president Ashraf Ghani has reportedly left the country for Tajikistan after Taliban fighters entered Kabul and sought the surrender of the government. Senior officials confirmed his departure on Sunday as the Taliban made further, swift gains in and around the capital. Asked for comment, the president’s office said it “cannot say anything about Ashraf Ghani’s movement for security reasons”. Hamdullah Mohib, the Afghan national security adviser, and a second close associate were with Mr Ghani when he left. Confirmation came from two sources – an official in the office of Afghanistan’s former president, Hamid Karzai, and another an aide on the Afghan security council – who spoke to the Associated Press news agency. A representative of the Taliban said the group was checking on Mr Ghani’s whereabouts. His departure – at the end of a week in which the Taliban seized nearly all of Afghanistan, shocking Western military analysts who predicted a much slower advance – signalled the end of a 20-year experiment aimed at remaking Afghanistan. On Sunday, the insurgents entered the outskirts of Kabul but apparently remained outside of the city centre. Sporadic gunfire was reported though the streets were said to be largely quiet. The group have said they expect to take power within days. Zabihullah Mujahid, a Taliban spokesman, said they were waiting on the outskirts of Kabul and were in talks with the Western-backed government for a peaceful surrender. “Taliban fighters are to be on standby on all entrances of Kabul until a peaceful and satisfactory transfer of power is agreed,” he said. Columbia University-educated Mr Ghani, 72, spent several years living abroad before returning to his home country following the fall of the Taliban in 2001. He was first elected in 2014 and was re-elected for a second term five years later. Nick Note: I am sick and tired of hearing about the fact the US has been in Afghanistan for 20 years. Its a lame excuse. The truth is the US has had a armed presence at many military bases, air bases and a naval presence in Japan and in Germany for over 80 years…..

PS: i am tole their is a whole lot of gun fire going on people…and a whole lot of fucking going on too. So you can surmise someone is getting shot and someone is getting fucked. And it pay back. over 10,000 military prisoners have been released… Most are Taliban, have been severely tortured and held without trial by the Afghanistan government…….

Advancing Taliban go door-to-door and forcibly take girls as young as TWELVE to be sex slave ‘wives’ for their fighters as they sweep across country following US withdrawal

• Taliban has swept across Afghanistan, seizing vast swathes of territory along with nine provincial capitals 
• Terrified locals say jihadist fighters have been beheading people and forcing women to marry their fighters
• Girls as young as 12 have been put on ‘marriage lists’ that village elders have been forced to compile
• Taliban are now entering the Capital of Kabul where their are plenty or brides
  

Taliban fighters are going door-to-door and forcibly marrying girls as young as 12 and forcing them into sex slavery as they seize vast swathes of the Afghanistan from government forces.  Jihadist commanders have ordered imams in areas they have captured to bring them lists of unmarried women aged from 12 to 45  for their soldiers to marry because they view them as ‘qhanimat’ or ‘spoils of war’ – to be divided up among the victors.

Fighters have then been going door-to-door to claim their ‘prizes’, even looking through the wardrobes of families to establish the ages of girls before forcing them into a life of sexual servitude

The women and girls’ brutal treatment is just the latest sign of Afghanistan’s military collapse. One female journalist described fleeing a city in northern Afghanistan – which she did not name – and going into hiding with her uncle for fear the Islamists would hunt her down and execute her.  The 22-year-old said she fled under the noses of Taliban gunmen while disguised beneath a burqa and went with her unclear to a nearby village – but was forced to flee again after informants told the militants of her presence. Now holed up in a remote location somewhere in the country’s north, she said she fears for her life and the safety of her family –  ‘Will I ever go home? Will I see my parents again? Where will I go? How will I survive,’ she said. Meanwhile terrified locals who fled the city of Kunduz – captured by the Taliban last week – have told of reprisal attacks carried out by jihadist fighters who hunted down anyone linked to the government and beheaded or executed them.  The Taliban has now captured nine of Afghanistan’s 34 provincial capitals and placed most of the country’s largest cities under siege in a lighting-fast assault that has seen government forces largely capitulate.  In areas that the Islamists have captured, women have been barred from going to school, working, or leaving their homes without a permit, activists have warned. Last month, reports emerged that fighters had ordered imams and tribal elders to prepare lists of all women aged 15 to 45 who were unmarried or widowed so they could be married to their fighters. But, writing for Bloomberg, columnist Ruth Pollard said that has now extended down to girls as young as 12.   ‘Now the Taliban are going door-to-door in some areas, compiling lists of women and girls aged between 12 and 45 years for their fighters to forcibly marry,’ she wrote. Taliban fighters are permitted to do this under their strict interpretation of Islam which views women as ‘kaniz’ or ‘commodities’, according Omar Sadr, professor of politics at the American University of Afghanistan. That means, following a battle, women are treated as ‘qhanimat’ or ‘spoils of war’ to be divided up among the victors. ‘They don’t even have to marry them, it is a form of sex slavery,’ he said, adding that it also constitutes a form of ‘ethnic cleansing’ as other cultures are forcibly assimilated into the Taliban’s Pashtun group. American officials had previously said Kabul could hold out for between six months to a year after US forces withdrew. While the Taliban has been keen to present itself on the international stage as a legitimate government-in-waiting, claiming to have abandoned the radical practices of its past, those on the ground tell a very different story. Even as the Taliban routed government forces, US President Joe Biden gave no hint of delaying his deadline to withdraw all American troops by August 31, instead urging Afghan leaders to ‘fight for themselves’ on Tuesday.

‘I do not regret my decision’ to withdraw US troops after two decades of war, he told reporters in Washington. 

Nick Note: What a fucking idiot. Biden said July 7  ” The Taliban will not overrun Afghanistan”  You think you are out of the fight. The Taliban just defeated the worlds mightiest military.  Mark my words 9-11 will be repeated over and over again against Americas worldwide. You are perceived as weak and vulnerable and that is not good. Tell me are you proud to be an American. Where are the women’s rights lefty liberals. Their silence is deafening, America conquered Germany and Japan in 1945 and the troops are still their! Regime change takes a LONG time!

Chaos broke out in the streets of Kabul this morning as the Taliban entered the capital from all sides, sending negotiators to the presidential palace to demand the democratically elected Afghan government step aside. Helicopters clattered over the city evacuating international staff from foreign embassies to Kabul’s civilian airport, the only route out of Afghanistan still in government hands after the Taliban captured the last border crossing with Pakistan. The streets of the city, population 4.6 million, were choked with traffic as residents tried to rush home or towards the airport, some abandoning their cars to the gridlock and setting out on foot to reach it. Smoke rises next to the American embassy in Kabul. America and Britain have both flown in troops to aid the evacuation of foreign nationals Long queues formed at ATMs as residents rushed to stock up on cash. Lines also formed at phone shops. Nick Note: How do you you are stupid.

1. You trusted America
2. When Biden announced US troop pull out you stayed
3. Your giving you wife and daughters full length black suits and jars of vasaline
4. Your not getting out of dodge with whatever you can carry on your back.

The radical Islamic Taliban troops are at the capital of Kabul.

• Taliban leaders are at the Pesidentil palace
• deciding who will live and who will die.. Mostly die horrible deaths.
• The city will be looted  as they
• rape pillage and plunder mieveil style
• The United States is already bringing its embassy staff to safety – and burning sensitive documents.

With every other major Afghan city already in the hands of the Taliban, and the U.S. evacuation of its citizens “well underway” on Sunday, the militant group is now at the gates of Kabul. The Islamic group that the U.S. promised to destroy two decades ago issued a statement saying they would “stay at the gates of Kabul and not enter the city. Until the transition takes place.” But by mid morning, reports from inside Kabul implied that some fighters were already inside the city. Early Sunday morning, Afghan president Ashraf Ghani’s official Twitter account announced that Kabul had not fallen, though it confirmed gunshots on the outskirts of the city. Later in the day, unconfirmed reports swirled that Ghani had defected amid calls for his resignation, which would pave the way for the Taliban to be handed power of the entire country.

Local media reported on Sunday, that senior Afghan government officials were already saying they would hand over power to a transitional administration, and a Taliban spokesman told CNN talks about a handover were underway.

The utter collapse of the Afghan army—after years of training by the U.S.—is a humiliation for President Biden just weeks after he ordered troops out of the country. The threat to millions of women and children under Islamist rule will be a permanent stain on his legacy. Secretary of State Antony Blinken was still tweeting about “diplomatic and political efforts” on Saturday as the Taliban marched towards the capital.

The Taliban has largely taken Afghanistan without much of a fight, leaving the spoils of war—including military equipment and ammunition supplied by the U.S.—for the militants to further bolster their upper hand.

Former British International Development Secretary Rory Stewart told the BBC on Sunday, “Everything is going wrong… schools are shutting down across the country, clinics are shutting down across the country, people are taking refuge in their homes, looting is taking place.” Those who can get out will easily create a humanitarian refugee disaster, as Afghanistan’s debacle becomes the world’s problem once again. An AFP reporter in Herat described how the Taliban made itself at home in the office that once housed the former Herat governor on Saturday. There, they “sat on couches—some cradling American military rifles—as they jotted down names and reviewed lists spread on a glass-top coffee table.” Among those on the list are soldiers who have been granted a sort of “immunity” for giving up easily. Taliban member Najeebullah Karokhi told the AFP that around 3,000 people were given such amnesty. “Those who are from other provinces will be provided a three-day temporary amnesty letter so they can get to their home provinces, where they need to get another long-term amnesty letter from our officials,” he said.

Those likely not receiving any reprieve are women, who stand to lose the most as Afghanistan falls back in time. The last time the Taliban governed Afghanistan— from 1996 to 2001—they banned women from going to school or working. Many fear an almost certain return to those times, including Afghan lawmaker Farzana Kochai, who told the BBC in Kabul that women should be afraid of what happens under Taliban control. “For the women, the situation is as worse as it was expected,” she said. “Women will be jailed in their houses, is that what will happen, is that what it will be like? For now, yes. but we’ll see if it changes.”

As American troops returned to the capital to ferry its diplomats and select Afghan collaborators to safety on Sunday, the Taliban for the moment waited at the gates. But it’s unknown for how long their safe passage will be guaranteed. “I don’t know, they can’t go to anywhere, there’s nowhere left,” Kochai said Sunday. “They’re saying that the flights are full and we are stuck here, those who are going to go out and you know, where can they go, they have no choice, they have to stay here.” Nick Note: Another American surrender… The greaest arms cath ever taken by the Taliban. US embash=y staff….. A lot of military and CIA are in panic evacuations. The biggest treasure trove of documents, computers and American secrets are about to fall into enemy hands.. WHY? because clueless Amnesiac leadership under Biden though they had weeks to evacuate… NOT HOURS. So tell me are you still proud to be an America. Hang you head in shame. These people were promised freedom if they trusted America. Your freedom is an illision. The lefty liberals are surrendering to its Enemies America…… Obamma git what he alwys wanted……. His Islamic brothers rising to power,  Its over my friends…. OVER.

The number of children hospitalized with COVID-19 in the United States hit a record high of just over 1,900 on Saturday, as hospitals across the South were stretched to capacity fighting outbreaks caused by the highly transmissible delta variant. The delta variant, which is rapidly spreading among mostly the unvaccinated portion of the US population, has caused hospitalizations to spike in recent weeks, driving up the number of pediatric hospitalizations to 1,902 on Saturday, according to data from the US Department of Health and Human Services. Children currently make up about 2.4% of the nation’s COVID-19 hospitalizations. Kids under 12 are not eligible to receive the vaccine, leaving them more vulnerable to infection from the new, highly transmissible variant. “This is not last year’s COVID. This one is worse and our children are the ones that are going to be affected by it the most,” Sally Goza, former president of the American Academy of Pediatrics, told CNN on Saturday.

The numbers of newly hospitalized COVID-19 patients aged 18-29, 30-39 and 40-49 also hit record highs this week, according to data from the US Centers of Disease Control and Prevention.

The spike in new cases has ramped up tension between conservative state leaders and local districts over whether school children should be required to wear masks as they head back to the classroom this month. School districts in Florida, Texas and Arizona have mandated that masks be worn in schools, defying orders from their Republican state governors that ban districts from imposing such rules. The administration of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has threatened to withhold funding from districts that impose mask requirements, and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott is appealing to the state Supreme Court to overturn Dallas County’s mask mandate, the Dallas Morning News reported Friday. A fifth of the nation’s COVID-19 hospitalizations are in Florida, where the number of hospitalized COVID-19 patients hit a record 16,100 on Saturday, according to a Reuters tally. More than 90% of the state’s intensive care beds are filled, according to data from the Department of Health and Human Services. The nation’s largest teachers union, the National Education Association, came out in support of mandatory vaccination for its members this week. NEA President Becky Pringle said Saturday that schools should employ every mitigation strategy, from vaccines to masks, to ensure that students can come back to their classrooms safely this school year, CNBC reported. “Our students under 12 can’t get vaccinated. It’s our responsibility to keep them safe. Keeping them safe means that everyone who can be vaccinated should be vaccinated,” Pringle told CNN.

The US now has an average of about 129,000 new COVID-19 cases per day, a rate that has doubled in a little over two weeks, according to a Reuters tally.

The number of hospitalized COVID-19 patients is at a six-month high, and an average of 600 people are dying each day of COVID-19, double the death rate seen in late July. Arkansas, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi and Oregon have reported record numbers of COVID-19 hospitalizations this month, according to a Reuters tally,

pushing health-care systems to operate beyond their capacity. “Our hospitals are working to maximize their available staff and beds, including the use of conference rooms and cafeterias,” Florida Hospital Association President Mary Mayhew said in a statement Friday. In Oregon, Gov. Kate Brown said Friday that she was sending 500 National Guard members to assist overwhelmed hospitals, with 1,500 members in total available to help. In Jackson, Mississippi, federal medical workers are assisting understaffed local teams at a 20-bed triage center in the parking garage of the University of Mississippi Medical Center to accommodate the overflow of COVID-19 patients.

Fifteen children and 99 adults were hospitalized with COVID-19 at UMMC as of Saturday morning, the hospital said. More than 77% of those patients were unvaccinated. Nick Note: They are not being forthcoming. The myth that vaccinates people although their infection rate is the same as vaccinated are not dieing is just not true. When i extrapolate the data 25% of the people dead were vaccinated. Which is a higher rate then in the past…  If you have not received your third booster shot its the same in my opinion as if you have not been vaccinated. The fucks at the CDC will soon announce the 3rd booster shots for everyone.. I hope its not to late for you, We are in deep shit. Your vaccines are useless…. The boater shot your 3rd will help…. BUT how much remains to be seen. Mask up, vitamin up, isolate and test anyone who comes into your airspace. With testing so easy and cheep test your self at least once a week. Studies have show if you get infected the sooner you get treatment the better the outcome…… We are down to our last 200 test kits out of a thousand ordered. On sale now while supplies last.

ORDER TEST KITS HERE

(Reuters) – The administration of U.S. President Joe Biden is developing a plan to start offering coronavirus booster shots to some Americans as early as this fall, the New York Times reported on Saturday, citing people familiar with the effort. The first boosters are likely to go to nursing home residents and health care workers, followed by other older people who were near the front of the line when vaccinations began late last year, the newspaper reported. Officials envision giving people the same vaccine they originally received. They have discussed starting the effort in October but have not settled on a timetable, the report added.

US and Britain deploying thousands of troops to evacuate their citizens from capital as insurgents conquer more and more cities

KABUL, Afghanistan (AFP) — The Taliban seized more major cities on Friday as they raced to take full control of Afghanistan and inched closer to Kabul, with the United States and Britain deploying thousands of troops to evacuate their citizens from the capital. The evacuation orders came as the Taliban took control of Kandahar — the nation’s second-biggest city — in the insurgency’s heartland, leaving only Kabul and pockets of other territories in government hands. The Taliban also captured the capital of Logar province, just 50kms (30 miles) from Kabul, with a local lawmaker saying the insurgents were in complete control of Pul-e-Alam city. Earlier Friday, officials and residents in Kandahar told AFP that government forces had withdrawn en masse to a military facility outside the southern city. “Kandahar is completely conquered. The Mujahideen reached Martyrs’ Square,” a Taliban spokesman tweeted, referring to a city landmark. A security source confirmed the fall of the city, telling AFP that the Afghan military and government officials had evacuated Lashkar Gah after striking a local ceasefire deal with the militants. The government has now effectively lost most of the country following an eight-day blitz into urban centers by the Taliban that has also stunned Kabul’s American backers. The first wave of the offensive was launched in early May after the United States and its allies all but withdrew their forces from Afghanistan, with President Joe Biden determined to end two decades of war by September 11.

NEW YORK, Aug 13 (Reuters) – The Dow Industrial and S&P 500 edged up to closing records on Friday and notched a second straight week of gains, buoyed by a climb in Walt Disney shares, but a sharp drop in consumer sentiment kept gains in check. Walt Disney (DIS.N) rose 1.00% as one of the biggest boosts to both the Dow and benchmark S&P index after its profit topped market expectations as its streaming services added more customers than expected and its pandemic-hit U.S. theme parks returned to profitability.

But a report from the University of Michigan dented optimism after it showed the university’s preliminary consumer sentiment index fell to 70.2, its lowest level in a decade, suggesting that the Delta variant of the coronavirus was impacting consumers.

“That is concerning, the consumer is by all accounts in an extremely strong position but there is this kind of COVID fatigue that is really starting to wear on people’s sentiment,” said Ross Mayfield, investment strategist at Baird in Louisville, Kentucky. “Regardless of lockdown or full reopen, the consumer is healthy enough to spend and kind of keep the economy afloat, it will be different names and different sectors that become the beneficiaries of it.”The report sent the yield on the 10-year U.S. Treasury note lower and in turn helped lift mega-cap growth names, such as Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O), up 1.05%, while online retail giant Amazon (AMZN.O) slipped 0.29%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (.DJI) rose 15.53 points, or 0.04%, to 35,515.38, the S&P 500 (.SPX) gained 7.17 points, or 0.16%, to 4,468 and the Nasdaq Composite (.IXIC) added 6.64 points, or 0.04%, to 14,822.90. For the week, the Dow gained 0.87%, the S&P 500 advanced 0.71% and the Nasdaq slipped 0.09%. U.S. stocks have managed to slowly grind to new highs over the past few sessions as investor confidence in economic recovery was bolstered by a strong earnings season, the passage of a large infrastructure bill and data showing inflation may be increasing at a slower pace than feared. In the wake of new data from earlier this week that showed consumer price increases slowed in July, while producer prices posted their biggest annual rise in more than a decade, investors are now looking ahead to the meeting of central bankers in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, later this month for cues on policy. In recent days, several Fed officials said it is nearly time for the central bank to begin pulling back on its monetary support, including the tapering of its asset purchases.  DoorDash Inc (DASH.N) rose 3.50% in choppy trading after the food-delivery firm’s loss widened more than expected in the second quarter. Airbnb Inc (ABNB.O) gained 1.07% as it recovered from earlier declines, after it flagged a hit to its current-quarter bookings by the Delta variant and a slowing pace of U.S. vaccination.  Volume on U.S. exchanges was 7.99 billion shares, compared with the 9.42 billion average for the full session over the last 20 trading days. The S&P 500 posted 60 new 52-week highs and no new lows; the Nasdaq Composite recorded 87 new highs and 159 new lows. Nick Note:This strictly is a insane buying of everything in sight. We have all seen this before. Stand aside and let them burn themselves out. The consumer is starting to figure out something is very very wrong….. When the global leaders figure This reminds me of the tech wreck, the great recession and the 1987 algo blow out all rolled into one…. Bide your time, conserve your cash. And most important stay ever vigilant…