The Kabul attack and China’s prosperity drive: Weekeand Reads

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The attack at Kabul's airport that killed 13 American service personnel underscored the need for Washington to maintain a relationship with the Taliban as they both confront the resurgent threat of Islamic State. The highly vaccinated counties that voted for Joe Biden in last year's election are driving the U.S. economic rebound. But the president is facing growing discontent among a key group of voters: Black people who are upset that his push to regulate police and uphold voting rights has stalled. In China, officials are increasingly signaling that they'll take on the nation's wealthy in a move to crush income inequality, while Germany is facing a potential generational shakeup in its election next month. We hope you enjoy these and more of Bloomberg's best political stories in this edition of Weekend Reads. — Michael Winfrey

U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi walks to the House in Washington on Tuesday where lawmakers adopted a $3.5 trillion budget resolution. Photographer: Stefani Reynolds/Bloomberg Click here for this week's most compelling political images and tell us how we're doing or what we're missing at balancepower@bloomberg.net.

Once Enemies, U.S. and Taliban Find Common Ground Against ISIS After fighting each other for 20 years, the U.S. and Taliban are suddenly finding their interests aligned against a common enemy: Islamic State. But as Archana Chaudhary, Philip Heijmans and Colum Murphy explain, their own bloody history stands in the way of eliminating the threat. U.S. Strikes Back at Terrorist Group Tied to Kabul Bombing U.S. forces said they killed a person with a drone strike who was involved in planning the bombing that killed at least 88 people near the Kabul airport a day earlier. John Harney and Anthony Capaccio report. Vaccinated Democratic Areas Are Leading the Economic Recovery The U.S. economy is proving resilient to the surge in Covid-19 cases and rising death toll, but not all areas are performing the same. Joshua Green looks into new data that show America's economic engine is concentrated in the heavily vaccinated counties that Biden won in 2020. Biden Tests Black Voters' Loyalty as Election, Police Laws Stall Biden faces rising discontent among Black voters over his government's lack of progress on voting rights and police reform. Mario Parker explores how criticism is growing among a key bloc Democrats will need in next year's midterm elections. September Promised Return to Normal That Continues to Elude U.S. When Biden signed a $1.9 trillion stimulus package in March, dissolving most of the pandemic safety net in September seemed to make sense. But as Reade Pickert and Olivia Rockeman report, that deadline is around the corner, and the country is still not ready to return to normal. The Best and Worst Places to Be as Delta Wrecks Reopening Plans The delta variant is upending every model of pandemic success that's emerged in the past 18 months. Bloomberg's August Covid Resilience Ranking saw stark shifts, with long-reigning front-runners New Zealand, the U.S. and Israel dropping while European nations proved most resilient. As Merkel Exits, These Are the Issues Facing Germany: QuickTake When Chancellor Angela Merkel steps down after next month's elections, Germany faces a watershed moment. For starters, a lackluster campaign by her party's candidate to replace her has made it uncertain whether her bloc will even be in the next government. Iain Rogers takes a look. Xi Doubles Mentions of 'Common Prosperity,' Warning China's Rich Chinese President Xi Jinping's rhetoric about "common prosperity" has surged this year, with officials proposing measures to tackle "excessively high income" to combat a yawning wealth gap. Now the target may expand to include the merely wealthy in addition to the ultrarich. Airport for Sale Tells a Tale of $140 Billion Turkish Overreach An airport sale is becoming a indictment of public-private partnerships under President Recep Tayyip Erdogan that are hobbling Turkey's finances. Ercan Ersoy and Taylan Bilgic look into a drive to build roads, power plants and hospitals that Turkey can't afford. The Woman Behind Mexico's Controversial Drive to Refine More Oil As much of the world tries to move away from fossil fuels, Mexico is marching in the opposite direction. Max De Haldevang interviewed Energy Minister Rocio Nahle, who dismissed the soaring debt and environmental concerns plaguing state oil company Pemex. And finally … U.S. hospitals are facing a dilemma as surprising vaccine hesitancy among nurses creates staffing shortages and drives up costs. As Cynthia Koons and Emma Court write, they must choose between mandating vaccines, which may cause some nurses to quit, or not, and seeing some get sick or even die. Demonstrators protest against Houston Methodist's employee vaccine rule, including nurses who haven't been inoculated. Photographer: Yi-Chin Lee/Houston Chronicle/AP

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