The News

America's longest war has ended; opposition figures are fleeing Russia. America's longest war has ended; opposition figures are fleeing Russia.   Tonight's Sentences was written by Gabby Birenbaum. TOP NEWS An ending for a 20-year war     UK Ministry of Defense/Getty Images For the first time in almost 20 years, no American military personnel were reported present in Afghanistan. The US had maintained its presence through four presidencies after the 2001 invasion. [ NPR / Scott Neuman ] President Joe Biden stuck to the August 31 withdrawal date negotiated by former President Donald Trump after a stunningly fast Taliban advance captured the capital of Kabul. Before leaving, the US military airlifted more than 120,000 people out of the country. [ CNN / Nicole Gaou

Plus, the US launched a retaliatory drone strike in Afghanistan. Hurricane Ida has left nearly a million people in Louisiana without power; the US military launched a retaliatory drone strike in Afghanistan.    Tonight's Sentences was written by Gabby Birenbaum. TOP NEWS Hurricane Ida's destructive path     Courtesy of Khalid Hudson Sixteen years to the day since Hurricane Katrina made landfall in New Orleans, Hurricane Ida — a stronger but smaller storm — reached the city, testing the levee system it built after the failures of the 2005 storm. [ Axios ] Ida made landfall in Louisiana on Sunday night as a category 4 storm, with winds as strong as 156 miles per hour. Planning was particularly complicated given that hospitals in Louisiana, as well as in neighboring Alabama