Today’s terrible end-of-show editorial by Jake Tapper on CNN’s State of the Union is a desecration of the memory of the Fall of Kabul at the expense of The Current Thing. Tapper took duct tape and baling wire and tied the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan to the ongoing operation in Iran and the current narrative over conditions aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln.
Watch the editorial as aired to close out CNN’s State of the Union on Sunday, August 16th, 2026:
WATCH: Today’s terrible end-of-show editorial by Jake Tapper on CNN’s State of the Union is a desecration of the memory of the Fall of Kabul at the expense of The Current Thing.
JAKE TAPPER: It was five years ago this weekend that Kabul and Afghanistan fell to the Taliban,… pic.twitter.com/7BW3VC2gSE— Jorge Bonilla (@BonillaJL) August 16, 2026
JAKE TAPPER: It was five years ago this weekend that Kabul and Afghanistan fell to the Taliban, bringing a disastrous end to America's longest war. The horrific scenes that followed still, to this day, shock the conscience. The crowds of desperate Afghans on the tarmac or packed into planes trying desperately to escape, or the 13 American service members killed in the Abbey Gate bombing along with countless Afghan civilians.
Five years later, more than 2 million Afghan girls are currently blocked from attending school by the Taliban, according to UNESCO. It's now legal in Afghanistan for men to beat their wives, as long as they don't break any bones or leave any lasting injuries. Meanwhile, many Afghans who fought with the U.S., risked their lives for the U.S., remain stranded abroad after the Trump administration halted the Special Immigrant Visa program. And many of those who did make it to the United States, to this day, live in fear that their green cards will be revoked.
With that legacy from the war in Afghanistan, you can forgive the American people for wondering why they should trust our leaders when they tell us that our brave service members are engaged in a vital mission. And when today's leaders glibly dismiss questions about their current mission in Iran, what the end game is? What's the plan? Whether there are adequate protections for our service members in Jordan or Kuwait, whether President Trump and Secretary Hegseth are covering up the deaths of Iranian civilians from U.S. strikes or hiding poor conditions for sailors and Marines aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln. They are just the latest in a tradition that we would struggle to call proud.
The first thing that jumps out from Tapper’s Very Deep Thoughts is that he never once mentions by name the administration in charge during the fall of Kabul. There is no mention of Joe Biden or of the flippant way in which his administration handled the withdrawal.
There are no images of Biden looking at his watch during the Dignified Transfer of the brave service members that were killed during the Abbey Gate bombing, or an examination of the subsequent drone strike that killed innocents.
Tapper goes from the fall of Kabul to the current parade of horribles that is today’s Afghanistan. Interestingly, Tapper mentions the many Afghan allies left behind. Which administration left them behind? Tapper also mentions Trump halting the Special Immigrant Visa (SIV) program, without ever mentioning that this action was subsequent to a SIV holder shooting up a pair of West Virginia National Guard members in Washington, D.C., killing one.
What follows next is the desecration: the cheap tie-in to the current situation in the Persian Gulf. There was a whole show Tapper could’ve devoted to coverage of the current situation aboard the USS Lincoln other than a throwaway question and flipping the issue off to the panel discussion.
The Fall of Kabul deserved solemn commemoration on its own, without a cheap partisan tie-in. So, too, did our service members who died or were injured during the withdrawal.
