It's Friday the 21st 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. It's 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-Gurian 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,

...