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For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. —————————- TOP STORIES —————————- AFGHANISTAN — Afghanistan’s embattled president left the country, joining his fellow citizens and foreigners in a stampede fleeing the advancing Taliban and signaling the end of a 20-year Western experiment aimed at remaking Afghanistan By Ahmad Seir, Rahim Faiez, Tameem Akhgar and Jon Gambrell. UPCOMING: 800 words, photos by 3:30 p.m. BIDEN-AFGHANISTAN — President Joe Biden has cast the rapid fall of the American-backed government as proof of strategic failures spanning four presidents, but the conduct of the evacuation will be his burden to bear. UPCOMING: 800 words, photos by 4 p.m. AFGHANISTAN-YOUNG WOMAN IN KABUL — Hunkering indoors and watching her country fall to the Taliban, one young woman in Afghanistan’s capital of Kabul described the anxiety, fears and dashed hopes her generation feels as embassies evacuate staff and the government all but crumbles. UPCOMING: 700 words, photos by 6 p.m. ------------------------------ HOW TO REACH US ----------------------------— At the Nerve Center, Dave Clark can be reached at 800-845-8450.