Letting the Taliban take over Afghanistan isn’t exactly a ‘win’

[Bloomberg]( Follow Us [Get the newsletter]( This is Bloomberg Opinion Today, a medically exempt collection of Bloomberg Opinion’s opinions. [Sign up here](. Today’s Agenda - Biden’s Afghanistan withdrawal [is a mess](. - Few medical conditions [actually preclude vaccination](. - It’s time for NASA to [spend its money differently](. - The British [aren’t coming](. Things Keep Getting Worse in Afghanistan The Taliban are reconquering Afghanistan at a blistering pace. Among many other things, this raises the question of whether the U.S. should have (A) withdrawn its troops long ago, given how chimeric their nation-building efforts have turned out to be, or (B) stayed in place to prevent a humanitarian disaster. Hal Brands is decidedly on Team B. The cost in money and lost lives of keeping a few thousand American soldiers in the country was [modest compared with that of what will now follow](, he writes, predicting atrocities in Afghanistan, a wave of refugees headed for Europe and the empowerment of Taliban-aligned terrorist groups. President Joe Biden had thought leaving the country would reap strategic dividends by allowing the U.S. to focus on other matters. Instead, Afghanistan’s collapse is likely to create all sorts of new problems for him to deal with. The domestic political ramifications will probably be less dire. Voters [don’t really care]( about such matters, argues Jonathan Bernstein, and Afghanistan is unlikely to be a major issue in the 2022 or 2024 elections. (Biden’s Republican predecessor was planning to withdraw the troops too, after all.) But one of the key ways that presidents gain clout is by being seen as a winner, and it’s not looking like Afghanistan is going to help Biden with that. It’s also [going to cast a pall]( on the “Summit of Democracy” that the president has planned for December, writes Eli Lake. Vaccine Medical Exemptions Are Mostly Bogus The vaccination mandates gathering steam across the U.S. and the world usually include exemptions for people who can’t be vaccinated for medical reasons. Well, Faye Flam did some digging and [found that there are vanishingly few people]( with legitimate medical justifications for avoiding vaccination against Covid-19. Sure, the vaccines are less effective for people with compromised immune systems, but doctors who specialize in such disorders told Faye that their patients are still far better off getting jabbed than not. And while those with a history of allergic reactions have good reason to be cautious, it’s not that hard to manage the attendant risks. If you think your health conditions preclude vaccination, you might want to double-check that with your doctor. NASA Needs to Explore Spacesuit Rental NASA has forked over nearly $500 million to design and build a new generation of spacesuits, with more spending to come and the suits still at least four years from production. The problem, explains Adam Minter, [is a procurement model]( in which the space agency hires contractors (there are 27 so far working on the suit program) to build its hardware. The recent successes of Elon Musk’s SpaceX and other private ventures make clear that there’s a better model, in which NASA pays private firms for services rather than equipment. That gives contractors incentive to cut costs rather than pad them, and it’s an approach NASA has already begun to embrace, hiring SpaceX last month to launch its Europa Clipper mission to one of Jupiter’s moons. Maybe it’s time for it to try renting spacesuits as well. Telltale Charts British tourists are [canceling trips and staying home](, while the Germans are still stepping out, writes Andrea Felsted. Electric-vehicle pioneer Tesla Inc. and mRNA vaccine pioneer Moderna Inc. [owe their soaring valuations]( to grandiose investor expectations of future earnings, Max Nisen and Liam Denning write, but in Tesla’s case those expectations can at least be quantified, while for Moderna they really can’t. Further Reading Even Russia can’t [avoid climate-change reality](. — Clara Ferreira Marques Reasons to be [worried about Africa’s progress](. — Tyler Cowen A possible [basic-income experiment]( in New Mexico. — Noah Smith [How to find an apartment]( in resurgent New York. — Alexis Leondis Just [ban stock trading by Congress]( already. — Timothy L. O’Brien Letting troops go hungry [is a disgrace](. — Bloomberg’s editorial board ICYMI [The eviction ban stands](, for now at least. Airbnb will [allow sexual-assault victims to sue](. Another setback for [Boeing’s space plans](. Kickers Maybe the hypothetical Planet 9 at the edge of the solar system is a [primordial black hole](. Today is the [last Fibonacci Day]( of the century (starring Scott Kominers). It’s also a “yes” day at the [“Is Today Friday the 13th?” subreddit](. Notes:  Please send complaints and $500-million spacesuits to Justin Fox at justinfox@bloomberg.net. Your usual e-mail pal, Mark Gongloff, will be back on Monday. [Sign up here]( and follow us on [Twitter]( and [Facebook](. Like Bloomberg Opinion Today? [Subscribe to Bloomberg All Access and get much, much more](. You’ll receive our unmatched global news coverage and two in-depth daily newsletters, The Bloomberg Open and The Bloomberg Close. Before it’s here, it’s on the Bloomberg Terminal. Find out more about how the Terminal delivers information and analysis that financial professionals can’t find anywhere else. [Learn more](. You received this message because you are subscribed to Bloomberg's Bloomberg Opinion Today newsletter. [Unsubscribe]( | [Bloomberg.com]( | [Contact Us]( Bloomberg L.P. 731 Lexington, New York, NY, 10022