Stacking up

Nation faces host of crises domestically, abroad

Is there no end to crises in this country? Dominating the news is the American withdrawal from its 20-year war in Afghanistan.

Most Americans agree, according to polling, with an end to war. The problems are with the way it has been done, particularly regarding the extraction of both the remaining U.S. citizens and our Afghan allies from a country now back under Taliban control.

It has been messy, full of harrowing images from the streets of Kabul and the lone airport from which Americans and Afghan refugees can leave the country.

What has followed the chaos is the predictable finger-pointing and political repercussions, even as U.S. troops continue their life-saving mission with an Aug. 31 deadline for completing the withdrawal.

That’s next Tuesday and the Taliban has warned of consequences if the U.S. doesn’t meet the deadline. President Biden has said he will extend the airlift deadline, if necessary, to get Americans and others out; but the situation on the ground is increasingly perilous.

Among the few bits of good news in this situation was last week’s declaration by Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson that this state would be willing to welcome refugees from Afghanistan.

A former homeland security undersecretary in then-President George W. Bush’s administration, Hutchinson said American troops received cooperation from the Afghan people, many of whom supported the U.S. mission at great risk to themselves and their families.

“Arkansas understands the American responsibility toward those families,” he said, asserting that Arkansas would welcome those who need a place to refuge.

Naturally, Fort Chaffee is a site where Afghan refugees could be processed. The Fort Smith area military base has bed space for about 4,400 people. In the past, it has served as an entry point for Southeast Asian refugees after the Vietnam War, for Cuban refugees from the 1980 Mariel Boatlift and for domestic refugees from neighboring states fleeing the ravages of Hurricane Katrina.

On Tuesday, Hutchinson said it appeared the federal government had not selected Fort Chaffee as a primary site and it had been ranked more as a possible backup site if needed, which he didn’t anticipate.

It isn’t enough that this nation is dealing with the end of that war and the upcoming 20th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on this country that provoked this longest-running U.S. war.

We’re fighting a continuing battle with weather, most likely inspired in part by the world’s failure to address climate change.

Historic flooding ripped homes off their foundations in the small middle Tennessee city of Waverly over the weekend, claiming 22 lives and leaving two dozen more people missing.

And that devastation followed the first hurricane to menace the heavily populated Northeast in decades, causing $12 billion in damages there.

Then there’s that never-ending pandemic, the rising number of covid-19 cases, hospitalizations and deaths.

All of it is made all the more difficult by the accompanying, inexplicable political debate over immunization and other measures, like face coverings, to mitigate its spread.

Increased vaccination and mask mandates are expected with this week’s full approval by federal regulators of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.

Those who continue to refuse vaccination may find themselves unable to return to work, patronize certain businesses or attend public events where proof of vaccination will be required.

A whole new storm of protest may follow over the respective rights of the vaccinated and the unvaccinated during a public health crisis. But sentiment seems to be shifting to help those who are vaccinated live more normal lives.

This list doesn’t even include the federal push for multi-billion-dollar infrastructure investments, the super-serious fight over voting rights or any of the other pieces of the president’s domestic agenda.

Whatever else it has been, this is an August to remember, a time when we must surely wonder how the U.S. can possibly handle all that is coming at us.