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At the White House, there was a meeting in the Oval Office that's been years in the making. It all started with a phone call in July of 2019, which lead to Donald Trump's first impeachment last year.

Officials say evacuation flights have resumed at the Kabul airport after chaos on Monday. But it's unclear if the thousands of Afghans who worked with U.S. forces can get out by the Aug. 31 deadline.

Many veterans long supported an end to the war in Afghanistan, but they also watched with anger and disbelief as the country fell — seemingly overnight — to the Taliban.

Robert talks to Christopher Andrew, who collaborated with former KGB archivist Vasili Mitrokhin to write the book, The Sword and The Shield: The Mitrokhin Archive and the Secret History of the KGB. The book details how for 20 years Mitrokhin copied information from top secret documents in the KGB archives, and gives a rare inside view of the soviet spy operation. (7:45) The Sword and The Shield is published by Basic Books, September 1999.

NPR's John Ydstie reports President Clinton addressed a gathering of finance ministers and central bankers today at the annual meeting of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund. The President announced the US will take steps to forgive the debt of some of the world's poorest countries. He said the money should instead be spent by poor countries on basic human needs.

NPR's Eric Weiner reports that hundreds, maybe thousands, of people were killed in East Timor in recent weeks because of the rampages of Indonesian army organized militias. But whether the culprits are brought to justice or not is another matter. The United Nations Human Rights commission has voted to establish an international inquiry for East Timor, but Indonesian officials have rejected it.

Anne Sutton of member station KTOO in Juneau reports that Alaska's love affair with tourism is showing signs of strain. The seasonal influx of visitors has put wear and tear on the state's infrastructure, and residents aren't sure the tourist dollars that come with them are enough to offset the damage. So voters will go to polls October 5th to decide whether to level a per-head tax on out of state visitors.

John Lurie is a saxophone player, actor, the voice of Molson on Ice, and star of his own fishing program. His band the Lounge Lizards turns 20 this year, and Lurie has released three new music projects. All Things Considered Director Bob Boilen has a profile of this offbeat big band leader. (7:00) CD's heard in this piece are the Lounge Lizards "Queen of All Ears" and the score to Manni and Lo and African Swim, by John Lurie, all the cd's are on the label Strange and Beautiful Music

A brief summary of some other important news in today's program.

NPR's Michele Kelemen reports for the past week, Russian warplanes have been bombing the breakaway republic of Chechnya. Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has vowed to keep up the attacks, to destroy the bases of Islamic militants he blames for recent apartment house bombings in Russia. The air raids have driven tens of thousands of Chechens from their homes and have fueled reports that the Russians are about to send ground troops into Chechnya. President Boris Yeltsin remains silent on the crisis.