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As the Taliban sought to con-solidate control over Afghanistanon Wednesday, they faced the firstchallenges to their renewed rule,using force to break up protests inat least two cities, while an oppos-ing faction vowed to hold out inone pocket of the country.

Millions of Afghans tried toparse conflicting clues about whatlay in store for them and their na-tion, but many were not waiting tofind out.

Despite Taliban assurancesthat there would be no reprisalsagainst their opponents, thou-sands of people continued tocrowd around the airport in Kabul,the capital, hoping to get a flightout of the country. Throngs rushedtoward certain entrances, only tobe met by Taliban troops who beatpeople back and fired their riflesinto the air. A NATO official at thescene said 17 people were injured.

Taliban fighters used gunfire todisperse demonstrations in thenortheastern city of Jalalabad andthe southeastern city of Khost,

with some of the protesters rais-ing the Afghan government flagsthat the Taliban had taken downjust days earlier. News reportssaid two or three people werekilled in Jalalabad.

But in other cities, a tense quietprevailed.

The former president, AshrafGhani, who fled the country onSunday, surfaced in the UnitedArab Emirates and made his firstpublic statement, saying that if hehad stayed in Kabul, “the people ofAfghanistan would have wit-nessed the president hanged.”

President Biden said onWednesday that he was commit-ted to getting every American outof Afghanistan, even if it meantkeeping troops there past theAug. 31 withdrawal deadline he

PROTESTS EMERGEAS TALIBAN STRIVE TO CEMENT POWER

A damaged poster of AshrafGhani, the former president.

JIM HUYLEBROEK FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES

Continued on Page A8

Ex-Afghan President Surfaces in U.A.E.

By RICHARD PÉREZ-PEÑA

In early May, a Taliban com-mander telephoned MuhammadJallal, a tribal elder in BaghlanProvince in northern Afghani-stan, and asked him to deliver amessage to Afghan governmenttroops at several bases in his dis-trict.

“If they do not surrender, wewill kill them,” Mr. Jallal said hewas told.

He and other tribal elders com-plied. After several rounds of ne-gotiations, two government basesand three outposts surrenderedwithout a fight. More than 100 se-curity forces handed over weap-ons and equipment and were senthome unharmed.

The Taliban’s strategy of coer-cion and persuasion was repeatedacross the country, unfolding formonths as a focal point of the in-surgents’ new offensive this year.The militants cut multiple surren-der deals that handed them basesand ultimately entire provincialcommand centers, culminating ina stunning military blitz this sum-mer that put the militants back inpower two decades after theywere defeated by the UnitedStates and its allies.

The negotiated surrenderswere just one element of a broaderTaliban strategy that capturedheavily defended provincial capi-tals with lightning speed, and sawthe insurgents walk into the capi-tal, Kabul, on Sunday with barelya shot fired. It was a campaign de-fined by both collapse and con-quest, executed by patient oppor-tunists.

Each surrender, small or large,handed the Taliban more weaponsand vehicles — and, vitally, morecontrol over roads and highways,giving insurgents freedom tomove rapidly and collect the nextsurrenders as the security forceswere progressively cut off fromammunition, fuel, food and sala-ries.

Each victory also added to agrowing sense of inevitability thatthe Taliban would eventually pre-vail, especially after the militantspoured so many resources intowinning the north, a traditionalstronghold of anti-Taliban mili-tias. As those outposts and dis-tricts fell, the Taliban gained im-portant propaganda victories,quickly spreading the word thatthey could overcome even doggedresistance and would keep theirword to allow soldiers and policeofficers to walk away with theirlives.

The result was a lopsided fightbetween an adaptable and highly

Coaxing and ThreatsSecured Victory

By DAVID ZUCCHINO

A Taliban member tried to hit a woman in Kabul on Wednesday who was waiting with her family to get to an airport to flee.JIM HUYLEBROEK FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES

Continued on Page A10

WASHINGTON — The Bidenadministration moved on multiplefronts on Wednesday to fight backagainst the surging Delta variant,strongly recommending boostershots for most vaccinated Ameri-can adults and using federal lever-age to force nursing homes to vac-cinate their staffs.

In remarks from the East Roomof the White House, President Bi-den also directed his educationsecretary to “use all of his author-ity, and legal action if appropri-ate,” to deter states from banninguniversal masking in classrooms.That move is destined to escalatea fight with some Republican gov-ernors who are blocking localschool districts from requiringmasks to protect against the virus.

The shifts in strategy reflect theadministration’s growing concernthat the highly contagious Deltavariant is erasing its hard-foughtprogress against the pandemicand thrusting the nation back tothe more precarious point it wasat earlier in the year.

Thus far, Mr. Biden has been re-luctant to use the federal govern-ment’s power to withhold fundingas a means of fighting the pan-demic. But that changed Wednes-day, when he said his administra-tion would make employee vacci-nation a condition for nursinghomes to receive Medicare andMedicaid funding. Officials saidthe decision would affect morethan 15,000 nursing homes thatemploy 1.3 million workers.

“The threat of the Delta virusremains real, but we are prepared,we have the tools, we can do this,”Mr. Biden said in the East Room,adding, “This is no time to let ourguard down.”

He accused politicians whowere banning local school dis-tricts from requiring masks in theclassroom of setting a “dangeroustone,” adding, “We’re not going tosit by as governors try to blockand intimidate educators fromprotecting our children.” The ad-ministration is sending letters toeight states — Arizona, Florida,Iowa, Oklahoma, South Carolina,Tennessee, Texas and Utah —challenging their efforts to banuniversal masking in schools.

For many Americans, thebooster strategy will affect them

U.S. Ramps UpIts Power to ActAs Virus Surges

This article is by Sharon LaFra-niere, Sheryl Gay Stolberg and Eri-ca L. Green.

Continued on Page A14

TOIRAC, Haiti — The destruc-tion was everywhere. The help no-where.

Days after a magnitude 7.2earthquake devastated part ofHaiti’s southern peninsula, thehillside village of Toirac had yet tobe visited by any emergency au-thorities or aid groups.

At least 20 Toirac villagers whohad been attending a funeralwhen the quake struck on Satur-day were killed as the church col-lapsed, survivors said.

With some help from Boy

Scouts, the Toirac villagers dugout their dead loved ones, buriedthem in mass graves and builtmakeshift shelters as TropicalStorm Grace pelted the area withheavy rain that caused floods andmudslides. The villagers used sal-vaged pieces of their collapsedhouses.

“I don’t expect any help, we’reon our own,” said Michel Milord, a66-year-old farmer in Toirac, who

Mass Graves, Makeshift Shelters and No Help

By ANATOLY KURMANAEVand ANDRE PAULTRE

Haitians Can’t Rely onGovernment or Aid

A funeral procession in L’Asile, Haiti, for a construction worker who died when a quarry collapsed.ADRIANA ZEHBRAUSKAS FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES

Continued on Page A11

JERUSALEM — Last spring,Israel’s remarkably swift vaccina-tion campaign was seen as aglobal model. Coronavirus infec-tions plummeted, an electronicpass allowed the vaccinated to at-tend indoor concerts and sportingevents, and distancing rules andmask mandates were eventuallyscrapped.

Israel offered the world a hope-ful glimpse of the way out of thepandemic.

No longer.A fourth wave of infections is

rapidly approaching the levels ofIsrael’s worst days of the pan-demic last winter. The daily rate ofconfirmed new virus cases hasmore than doubled in the last two

weeks, making Israel a rising hotspot on the international charts.

Restrictions on gatherings andcommercial and entertainmentvenues were reinstated this week,and the government is consider-ing a new lockdown.

“I believe we are at war,” Is-rael’s coronavirus commissioner,Prof. Salman Zarka, told a parlia-mentary committee on Wednes-day.

Scientists are still assessinghow Israel’s pandemic response

plunged from shining example tocautionary tale, and the stunningreversal has provided a crucialtest for Israel’s new prime min-ister, Naftali Bennett, who stakeda claim for leadership partly onthe strength of his manifesto,“How to Beat a Pandemic.”

But some experts fear that Is-rael’s high rate of infectionsamong early vaccine recipientsmay indicate a waning of the vac-cine’s protections over time, afinding that contributed to a U.S.decision Wednesday to begin of-fering booster shots to Americansstarting next month.

The vaccine may be less effec-tive at preventing infection withthe highly contagious Delta vari-ant, now the primary version of

Israel Provides Lesson in Vaccine ShortcomingsBy ISABEL KERSHNER A Model for the World

Becomes a Hot Spotin a Fourth Wave

Continued on Page A12

WASHINGTON — As Presi-dent Biden last month defendedhis decision to end the U.S. mili-tary presence in Afghanistan, hedelivered a promise as old as thewar itself to the Afghans who hadrisked their lives to assist Ameri-can troops.

“Our message to those womenand men is clear: There is a homefor you in the United States, if youso choose,” the president said.“We will stand with you, just asyou stood with us.”

But his decision not to begin amass evacuation of Afghan inter-preters, guides and their relativesearlier this year has left thou-sands of people in limbo, strandedin a country now controlled by theTaliban after 20 years of war.

Even before Mr. Biden an-

nounced the withdrawal of U.S.troops, his administration re-jected frantic calls from lawmak-ers and activists to evacuate Af-ghans, who now find themselvesin jeopardy.

Then this summer, Afghani-stan’s president, Ashraf Ghani,implored Mr. Biden to hold off onevacuations until U.S. forces weregone for good, fearing that the im-age would undermine confidencein his government.

Mr. Biden instead took steps tostreamline a visa system plagued

Promises Go Unmet for AfghansWho Risked Their Lives for U.S.

By ZOLAN KANNO-YOUNGS and ANNIE KARNI

REFUGEES In Europe, memoriesof a 2015 crisis are making someleaders wary. PAGE A6

Continued on Page A7

Kathy Hilton, who watched her daugh-ters rise to fame, is drawing attentionnow as a darling of “The Real House-wives of Beverly Hills.” PAGE D5

THURSDAY STYLES D1-6

An Unexpected Star

The Smithsonian has acquired a troveof daguerreotypes made by AfricanAmerican photographers. PAGE C1

ARTS C1-6

A Treasury of ImagesCiting risks to children, the agency barsthe use of chlorpyrifos on food crops, re-versing a Trump-era decision. PAGE A13

NATIONAL A13-17

E.P.A. to Limit Pesticide Use

Six weeks ago, the Yankees were in free fall and hearing talk of major up-heaval. So how are they right back inthe thick of the playoff race? PAGE B7

SPORTS B7-9, 12

A Rebirth in the BronxThe tools the company has put in placeto root out images of child sexual abusehave added to a debate between pri-vacy and security. PAGE B1

BUSINESS B1-6

A Problematic Apple Solution

Chucky Thompson brought a range ofmusical influences to bear on the trackshe helped create for Mary J. Blige andmany others. He was 53. PAGE B10

OBITUARIES B10-11

Hip-Hop’s Hit Maker

Shashi Tharoor, a member of Parlia-ment in India, was accused of drivingSunanda Pushkar to suicide. PAGE A12

INTERNATIONAL A4-12

No Charges in Wife’s Death

Peter Coy PAGE A18

OPINION A18-19Denmark has two mermaid statues, andthat has become an issue. PAGE C6

One Over Their Limit

For the first time, line-skipping at WaltDisney World in Florida will come at acost — $15 per person. PAGE B3

A Price for Disney Privileges

Gov. Greg Abbott’s positive Covid testcame amid a fierce battle over publichealth measures in Texas. PAGE A15

No Mask Mandate. Few Masks.

Late Edition

VOL. CLXX . . . . No. 59,155 © 2021 The New York Times Company NEW YORK, THURSDAY, AUGUST 19, 2021

Today, periodic clouds and sunshine,thunderstorms, high 86. Tonight,some clouds, low 72. Tomorrow,clouds and sunshine, warm, humid,high 86. Weather map, Page B12.

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