8月15日、アフガニスタンの武装勢力「タリバン」が首都カブールを無血開城で制圧しました。駐留米軍全面撤退の2週間前でした。
見出し：Taliban take over Afghanistan
The Taliban have seized power in Afghanistan two weeks before the U.S. was set to complete its troop withdrawal after a costly two-decade war.
The recent takeover of Afghanistan by the Taliban is called a bloodless coup by experts and editors.
→coup without bloodshed ※bloodshed 流血（の惨事）
空港に押しかけたアフガニスタンの人々の中には、地上走行する飛行機にしがみつく人もいました。
見出し：Chaotic scenes on the tarmac
Crowds thronged the Kabul airport as planes carrying US troops left.
Desperate people tried to hang on to aircrafts as they taxied—this is proof that the people simply dread the horrific times they fear lie ahead.
※tarmac タールマカダム舗装の滑走路
※throng（場所に）群がる、押し寄せる
※desperate 必死の、命がけの
※taxi 〔航空機が〕地上走行する
人々は、イスラム法を厳しく解釈をするタリバンの弾圧を恐れています。
女性は教育や職業を否定され、音楽な禁止、泥棒は落とされ、姦通者は石打ちの刑に処されます。
Many also fear the Taliban will reimpose the harsh interpretation of Islamic law that they relied on when they ran Afghanistan from 1996 to 2001.
Back then, women were barred from attending school or working outside the home.
They had to wear the all-encompassing burqa and be accompanied by a male relative whenever they went outside.
The Taliban banned music, cut off the hands of thieves and stoned adulterers.
※all-encompassing あらゆるものを含む、包括的な
※adulterer姦通者、密通者
ガニ大統領は逃走。流血を避けるためだったと言い、大金を持ち出した事を否定しました。
President Ashraf Ghani hunkered down and made few public statements as the Taliban swept across the country.
※hunker背を曲げる、しゃがむ hunker down=〈話〉〔隠れるために〕身を潜める〔安全な場所に〕避難する
Former President has apologized to the Afghan people for fleeing to take refuge in the United Arab Emirates.
He said he left the country to prevent bloodshed and denied the "baseless" allegations that he took large sums of money with him.
18日にバイデン大統領は、撤退に対する『責任は私がとる』 と演説しました。
“I stand squarely behind my decision. ・・・ American troops cannot and should not be fighting in a war and dying in a war that Afghan forces are not willing to fight for themselves. ・・・
I am president of the United States and the buck stops with me.”
The buck stops with me. ＝ 責任は私が取る。
※buck=ポーカーでディーラーであることを示す印〈話〉責任＝responsibility
第33代大統領トルーマン（1884～1972年）が自分の机に記した言葉=The buck stops here.も有名。
buck passer＝責任転嫁をする人
8月24日 国連人権高等弁務官ミチェル・バチェレは、女性に対する扱いは「重要な譲れない一線」と述べました。
UN rights chief Michelle Bachelet led calls for Afghanistan’s new Taliban leaders to respect the rights of all Afghans and warned that the treatment of women and girls is a “fundamental red line” that should not be crossed.
※ red line 越えてはならない一線 cross (the) red line越えてはならない一線を越える
自衛隊も現地に出向きましたが、法律の壁もあり協力者まで連れ帰ってくることが出来ませんでした。
見出し：Botched mission to Afghanistan due to bad planning, slow response
The evacuation operation to Afghanistan failed miserably because of two things: delaying a decision on when to dispatch Air Self-Defense Force aircraft to Kabul and the swiftness of the Taliban takeover, which caught Japanese officials badly off-guard.
※botchやり損なう
※catch someone off guard（人）の不意、隙をつく、油断に付け込む
そして、暫定政権＝interim/caretaker/provisional governmentについて発表がなされました。（9月8日）inclusive包括的な政権にするという当初の約束にもかかわらず、女性や前政権のメンバーは一人も入っていません。
The Taliban announced the formation of a hardline interim government for Afghanistan, filling top posts with veterans of the militant group who oversaw the 20-year fight against the US-led military coalition.
No women or members from Afghanistan's ousted leadership were selected for acting cabinet positions or named to advisory roles, in spite of the Taliban's promises of an inclusive government and more moderate form of Islamic rule than when it was last in power.
