Afghanistan

Rush of troops to Kabul tests Biden’s withdrawal deadline

2:10 pm August 14, 2021

Washington: The last-minute decision to send 3,000 US troops to Afghanistan to help partially evacuate the US Embassy is calling into question whether President Joe Biden will meet his August 31 deadline for fully withdrawing combat forces. The vanguard of a Marine contingent arrived in Kabul on Friday and most of the rest of the […]

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US launched several airstrikes in support of Afghan forces

US launched several airstrikes in support of Afghan forces

12:16 am July 23, 2021

Washington: The U.S. military launched several airstrikes this week in support of Afghan government forces fighting Taliban insurgents, including in the strategically important province of Kandahar, officials said Thursday. The strikes demonstrate U.S. intentions to continue supporting Afghan forces with combat aircraft based outside the country, at least until the scheduled conclusion of the U.S. military withdrawal on August 31. The Biden administration has not said whether it will continue […]

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China urges closer Afghanistan ties as US withdrawal looms

8:06 pm June 4, 2021

Beijing: China is urging closer security and economic cooperation with Afghanistan in an apparent effort to bolster its influence in the region as the US and its allies prepare to withdraw their forces from the country. The official Xinhua News Agency reported that foreign ministers from China, Afghanistan and Pakistan met via video conference on […]

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CNN: Trump Justice Department seized reporter phone records

10:59 am May 21, 2021

Washington: The Trump administration Justice Department secretly obtained the 2017 phone records of a CNN correspondent, the network said Thursday in revealing the existence of another apparent leak investigation aimed at identifying a journalist’s sources. The revelation comes two weeks after The Washington Post disclosed that the Justice Department had last year seized phone records belonging to three of its journalists who covered […]

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Report: Blinken offers plan to bolster Afghan peace process

10:56 am March 8, 2021

Washington: Secretary of State Antony Blinken is proposing a series of steps to help jumpstart Afghanistan’s stalled peace process between the government and Taliban, according to a letter from Blinken to Afghanistan’s president Ashra Ghani published Sunday by Afghanistan’s TOLONews. The letter calls for bringing the two sides together for a UN-facilitated conference with foreign ministers and envoys from Russia, China, Pakistan, Iran, India and the United States “to discuss a unified approach […]

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