AEI scholars this week provided valuable analysis of America's withdrawal from Afghanistan, students' exclusion from the classroom, and liberals' retreat from welfare reform.

As the crisis in Afghanistan continues, Kori Schake analyzes President Joe Biden's justifications for withdrawing American forces and finds them wanting. Providing a clear-eyed view of the many factors leading to this crisis, including the failures of other administrations, Schake nonetheless concludes that Biden's "cynical defense of a failed policy and its inept execution are only adding to the damage caused by this catastrophe."

At the start of a new school year, Timothy P. Carney considers the damage done to students during the pandemic. It was clear that minority students at public schools were suffering the most from school closings, but Carney argues that the solution for some officials wasn't to open schools; it was to close more schools so that wealthy and White families would suffer, too — all in the name of equity.

On the 25th anniversary of the 1996 welfare reform law, Matt Weidinger celebrates its success in reducing poverty by getting people off of welfare and into jobs — but he warns that progressives are using the pandemic as an excuse to roll back those advances. Similarly, Angela Rachidi argues that the expansion of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits and the recent expansion of child tax credit mean that "some non-working households are set to receive tens of thousands of dollars from the government each year without any expectation that they work or find a job."

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) filed an amended complaint against Facebook last week, and according to Mark Jamison, it is a weak one. At issue is what Jamison calls the social media company's "market power," which he says the FTC overstates; contrary to what the agency suggests, social media users and advertisers have numerous alternatives to Mark Zuckerberg's network.