The President's Daily Brief - PDB Afternoon Bulletin | February 27th, 2026: U.S. Embassy Tells Staff To Leave Israel Now & Pakistan Declares ‘Open War’ Against Taliban

Episode Date: February 27, 2026

In this episode of The PDB Afternoon Bulletin:  First—The U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem is urging staff to leave Israel immediately if they wish to do so, a significant move that signals Washington is urgently bracing for potential escalation with Iran as diplomacy falters. Later in the show—Pakistan is now declaring “open war” after launching air and ground strikes across Afghanistan, hitting Taliban military targets in Kabul and Kandahar. The escalation follows retaliatory drone attacks by the Taliban along the border, with competing claims of heavy casualties. To listen to the show ad-free, become a premium member of The President’s Daily Brief by visiting PDBPremium.com. Please remember to subscribe if you enjoyed this episode of The President's Daily Brief. YouTube: youtube.com/@presidentsdailybrief DeleteMe: Get 20% off your DeleteMe plan when you go to https://joindeleteme.com/PDB and use promo code PDB at checkout. Ava: See how millions are boosting their credit with Ava—download the Ava app and use code BAKER for 20% off your first year. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It's Friday the 27th of February. Welcome to the PDB afternoon bulletin. I'm Mike Baker. Your eyes and ears on the world stage. All right. Let's get briefed. First up, the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem is urging non-essential staff and dependents to leave Israel immediately if they wish to do so. It's a significant move that signals Washington is likely bracing for escalation with Iran. I'll have the latest. Later in the show, Pakistan is now declaring open war against Afghanistan. after launching air and ground strikes, hitting Taliban military targets in Kabul and Kandahar. The escalation follows retaliatory drone attacks by the Taliban along the border and also competing claims of heavy casualties. We'll look at how this developed. But first, today's afternoon spotlight. In another signal that the Trump administration is preparing for direct conflict with Iran,

the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem has urged its personnel to depart Israel immediately if they wish to do so. a move that reflects growing concern about what could come next. In an internal email sent Friday morning, Ambassador Mike Huckabee told staff that those who wanted to leave should do so today, urging them to secure commercial flights out of Ben-Gurion Airport as soon as possible. While he stressed there was, quote, no need to panic. The urgency of the message was clear. Now, the embassy formally shifted to what's known as an authorized departure footing, allowing non-essential personnel and their dependents to leave at government expense due to the heightened security concerns. The email did not explicitly reference Iran, but you don't need to be a keen observer to draw that

connection. Officials said they were making the decision out of, quote, an abundance of caution, citing safety risks following meetings and calls that took place Thursday night into Friday, including consultations with the State Department. Israel would be a prime target, of course, for retaliation by Tehran or its proxies if the U.S. launches military strikes against Iranian nuclear or military sites. And with American fighter jets now forward deployed in Israel, two aircraft carrier strike groups positioned in the region at additional U.S. assets already surged into Jordan, well, the table does seem set for kinetic action. Still, this is not a full evacuation, and the embassy remains operational. But declaring the authorized

departure protocol is not a routine or common move. It's a precaution reserved for circumstances where U.S. national interests or credible threats to life warrant reducing personal exposure. Earlier this week, the U.S. Embassy in Lebanon also ordered the departure of non-emergency staff and family members. The State Department has also updated travel advisories, urging Americans to reconsider travel to Israel and the West Bank. Other allied governments are taking similar steps, quietly trimming diplomatic footprints as tensions rise. And of course, all of this is unfolding as nuclear negotiations appear to be faltering. According to reporting from the Times of Israel, the U.S. negotiators left Thursday's six-hour session

in Geneva disappointed, with significant gaps still separating Washington and Tecran. Is that somehow a surprise to the U.S. envoys? While talks are currently expected to continue next week with Omani mediation, there was no diplomatic breakthrough, and notably the American negotiating team offered no public assessment afterward. Meanwhile, the State Department announced that Secretary of State Mark Arrubio will be in Israel on Monday to discuss, quote, a range of regional priorities, though the focus is expected to be on Iran. And President Trump continues to weigh a range of military options, from limited targeted strikes designed to increased leverage to broader operations should Iran refuse to dismantle key elements of its nuclear program.

All right, coming up next, Pakistan declares open war on a war. Afghanistan as Islamabad conducts air strikes on targets in Kabul and Kandahar, marking the most serious escalation yet between the two countries. I'll be right back. Hey, Mike Baker here. Let me take a moment of your time to talk about security, specifically your online security, and to tell you about Delete Me. Delete Me is a great company out there working to make people safer online. Now, Delete Me makes it easy, quick and safe to remove your personal data online at a time when surveillance and data breaches are common enough to make everyone vulnerable. Look, it's easier than ever to find personal information about people online. You know that.

But having your address, your phone number, your family members information, just hanging out on the Internet can have actual consequences in the real world and can make you vulnerable to all sorts of scams. If you're like me, privacy and protecting your online presence is very important. We all want to stay protected from identity theft or harassment or doxing. and you can do that with the help of Delete Me. Take control of your data and keep your private life private by signing up for Delete Me.

Now at a special discount for PDB listeners. You can get 20% off your DeleteMe plan when you go to join DeleteMe.com slash PDB and use the promo code PDB at checkout. Again, to get 20% off, just go to JoinDeletMe.com slash PDB and enter CodePD at checkout. One more time, join DeleteMe.com slash PDB, code PDB. Mike Baker here. Let me take just a moment to talk about personal finances. So here's a question.

What are your financial goals for this new year? Maybe it's getting a house or a new car or maybe a business loan. Now getting those things means getting your credit in shape now, right? And Ava's credit building app is designed to do just that. Ava, AVA, it's designed to work fast to help you build solid credit history with almost zero effort. You need to check this app out. Just pay monthly subscriptions like usual with the Ava Credit Builder card, and Ava reports your on-time payments to all major credit bureaus, helping you build solid credit history quickly. Take control of your credit today. Download the Ava app, again, that's AVA. And when you join using my promo code, Baker, well, you'll get 20% off your first year, monthly or annual your choice. Again, grab the Ava app

and use my promo code Baker so they know you heard it from me, and you'll get 20% off any plan for up to a year. That's Ava. Now go get yourself good credit. Exema is unpredictable. But you can flare less with ebbglis. A once-monthly treatment for moderate to severe eczema. After an initial four-month- or longer dosing phase, about four and seven people taking ebbglis achieved itch relief and clear or almost clear skin at 16 weeks.

And most of those people maintain skin that's still more clear at one year with monthly dosing. Ebglis, Librikizumab LBKZ. A 250 milligram per 2 milliliter injection is a prescription medicine used to treat adults in children 12 years of age and older who weigh at least 88 pounds or 40 kilograms with moderate to severe eczema. Also called atopic dermatitis that is not well controlled with prescription therapies used on the skin or topicals or who cannot use topical topical corticosteroids. Don't use if you're allergic to ebbglis. Allergic reactions can occur that can be severe. Eye problems can occur. Tell your doctor if you have new or worsening eye problems.

You should not receive a live vaccine when treated with Ebbglis. Before starting Ebbglis, tell your doctor if you have a parasitic infection. Ask your doctor about Ebbglis.com or call 1800 lilyrx or 1-800 545-979. Starting a business can seem like a daunting task unless you have a partner like Shopify. They have the tools you need to start and grow your business. From designing a website to marketing to selling and beyond, Shopify can help with everything you need. There's a reason millions of companies like Mattel, Heinz and all birds continue to trust and use them. With Shopify on your side, turn your big business idea into

sign up for your $1 per month trial at Shopify.com slash special offer. Welcome back to the afternoon bulletin. I want to return to our coverage of the Pakistan-Afghanistan conflict, where what began as another tense week of cross-border accusations has now escalated into what Pakistan's defense minister is calling, quote, open war. Oh, good. Just what 2026 needed, another crisis or conflict. Pakistan carried out fresh air and ground strikes overnight inside Afghanistan, targeting Taliban leadership in multiple major cities, including the capital of Kabul, as well as Kandahar. Security sources in Islamabad said the strikes involved air-to-ground missile attacks on Taliban military offices and posts.

Now, it marks the first time that Pakistan has directly targeted the military infrastructure of its former Taliban al-A. over allegations that they're harboring militants responsible for terror attacks inside Pakistan, including two recent suicide attacks. Analysts called the overnight strikes the most serious escalation between the two countries since the Taliban took control of Afghanistan in 2021. The current conflict threatens to unravel the remaining remnants of a fragile ceasefire that was brokered between Islamabad and Kabul after deadly border clashes back in October that killed dozens.

Pakistan's defense minister framed the strikes as a retaliation and bluntly said, quote, Our cup of patience has overflowed. Now it is open war between us and you, end quote. So, what was the final straw for Islamabad? According to Reuters, Afghan forces launched what the Taliban described as retaliatory attacks on Pakistani military installations Thursday night. It was their response to Pakistani air strikes earlier in the week that Islamabad said targeted camps linked to the Pakistani Taliban and the Islamic State in eastern Afghanistan. As we covered on Monday's episode, Taliban leaders in Kabul accused the Pakistani military of targeting civilians in the strikes, saying 13 were killed, while rejecting any allegations

that they've allowed militants to operate from Afghan soil. Taliban leaders warned earlier this week that there would be a strong response. Pakistan placed their forces on heightened alert. The Taliban said their forces hit multiple Pakistani military targets, along their 1600-mile disputed border on Thursday with drones, though Pakistan says it intercepted all the drones and suffered no damage. But it was enough to provoke the overnight air assaults by Islamabad. Reuters' witnesses in Kabul reported the sound of jets, loud blasts, and ambulance sirens as missiles hit the capital.

Taliban officials say Pakistani airstrikes hit parts of Kabul, Kandahar, and Paktia Thursday night, and then expanded Friday to additional provinces, including Pactica, Coast, and Logman. Multiple ground clashes were also reported along the border. Afghan leaders claimed there were no casualties from the Thursday night strikes, but say Friday's strikes caused civilian casualties. Pakistan's army spokesperson said their air and ground operations killed at least 274 Taliban officials and defiliated militants while wounding more than 400. They also acknowledge that Afghan forces killed 12 Pakistani soldiers and wounded 27 others.

The Taliban, meanwhile, accused the Pakistani military of putting out false information. If you're confused, well, you're in good company. They claim to have only lost 13 of their fighters while killing 55 Pakistani soldiers. Notably, Taliban officials did not provide specifics regarding the alleged civilian deaths. Now, on top of all that, Qatar is reportedly. working with a number of other countries in the region to try and resolve the crisis. And Taliban officials have said that they want to pursue negotiations, claiming, somewhat absurdly, that, quote, Afghanistan has never been a supporter of violence. And as always, I'm sorry, I wanted to read that with a straight face.

Let me start that quote over again, shall I? Afghanistan has never been a supporter of violence and has always preferred to resolve issues based on mutual understanding and respect, end quote. Taliban officials claiming they've never supported violence. It's hard to quantify just how stupid and nonsensical that statement is. Pakistani officials, meanwhile, warned that any new provocations by the Taliban or attempts by terrorist groups to target Pakistani civilians will be met with a, quote, decisive response. Now, as a reminder, militant violence has surged in Pakistan over the past two years, with much of it blamed on the Pakistani Taliban, also known as the TTP, along with other, outlawed separatist groups. It's important to note that the TTP is separate, but closely aligned with Afghanistan's Taliban, an alignment that, of course, deepens mistrust between Islamabad and Kabul. And that, my friends, is the PDB afternoon bulletin for Friday, the 27th of February. If you have any

questions or comments, please reach out to me at PDB at thefirsttv.com. Now, as you've likely seen on billboards all around town. Tonight at 10 p.m. on the first TV, we launched the latest episode of our weekend show, the PDB Situation Report. Excellent guests this weekend include the former director of MI6, the UK's intelligence service. Sir Richard Dearlov, who spent almost 40 years with MI6, including his Washington Station Chief, Head of Operations, and eventually director, joins us to talk about Iran, Ukraine, and his encounters with Vladimir Putin. We've also got weapons analyst extraordinary Ryan McBeth. Ryan walks us through the military buildup in the Gulf as tensions peak with Iran, and he boldly predicts when the U.S. will launch military operations against the regime.

You can also catch it and past episodes of the Situation Report on our YouTube channel. I hope you'll check that out. It's at President's Daily Brief, and of course, podcast platforms all over podcast land. I'm Mike Baker, and I'll be back over the weekend with the PDB Situation Report. Until then, stay informed. Stay safe. Stay cool. USAA knows dynamic duos can save the day, like superheroes and sidekicks or auto and home insurance. With USAA, you can bundle your auto and home and save up to 10%. Tap the banner to learn more and get a quote at usa.com slash bundle.

Restrictions apply.