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Failing Upward at the State Department
A military transport plane departs overhead as Afghans hoping to leave the country wait outside the Kabul airport on Aug. 23, 2021. (Marcus Yam/Los Angeles Times/Getty Images)
Plus: Biden our time with Iran, the new proletariat, the great Kelce-Swift stupidification, and more.
By Oliver Wiseman
02.01.24 — International
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→ Today in “The Grown-Ups Are in Charge”: Remember the pullout from Afghanistan? That high point of U.S. diplomacy that left tens of thousands of U.S. allies stuck in a country now ruled by the Taliban? Remember the people chasing planes, clinging to the wheels, and dropping from the sky?

Yeah, not our finest hour. 

Well, rather than being offered a prema…

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Oliver Wiseman
Oliver Wiseman is the deputy editor of The Free Press. Previously, he was the executive editor of The Spectator World and a regular contributor to UnHerd, City Journal, the Evening Standard, and a range of other publications.
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