![Afghan leader to meet Biden as Taliban seize ground, and momentum amid U.S. withdrawal](https://cbsnews2.cbsistatic.com/hub/i/r/2021/06/25/3558b892-4bed-4fbb-ae18-754639b9de79/thumbnail/1200x630/1283587ff6e87e2a2012b88b9439d3c1/afghanistan-taliban-kunduz.jpg)
Afghan leader to meet Biden as Taliban seize ground, and momentum amid U.S. withdrawal
CBSN
Kabul — President Biden was to meet his Afghan counterpart, President Ashraf Ghani, at the White House on Friday to discuss the ongoing U.S. military withdrawal from his country. As CBS News correspondent Charlie D'Agata reports, the meeting will come with Ghani's government under severe pressure from a Taliban offensive, and amid rising concern for thousands of Afghan civilians who worked with the U.S. military during 20 years of war.
Afghanistan has entered its most critical period since the U.S. invasion in 2001. The Taliban has made huge military advances across the country in recent months. The United Nations says the militants have captured more than 50 of the country's 370 districts since May. Some estimates are much worse. The Taliban says Afghan soldiers are simply surrendering and abandoning their posts without a fight.![](/newspic/picid-6252001-20250214202746.jpg)
Vice President JD Vance and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy held a high-stakes meeting at this year's Munich Security conference to discuss the Trump administration's efforts to end the war in Ukraine. Vance said the U.S. seeks a "durable" peace, while Zelenskyy expressed the desire for extensive discussions to prepare for any end to the conflict.
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Washington — The Trump administration on Thursday intensified its sweeping efforts to shrink the size of the federal workforce, the nation's largest employer, by ordering agencies to lay off nearly all probationary employees who hadn't yet gained civil service protection - potentially affecting hundreds of thousands of workers.
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It was Labor Day weekend 2003 when Matt Scribner, a local horse farrier and trainer who also competes in long-distance horse races, was on his usual ride in a remote part of the Sierra Nevada foothills — just a few miles northeast of Auburn, California —when he noticed a freshly dug hole along the trail that piqued his curiosity.