Category: Middle East

White House Corrects Biden on Number of US Citizens Remaining in Afghanistan

The White House on Tuesday corrected President Joe Biden after he said 90 percent of the Americans who were in Afghanistan and wanted to leave were evacuated before U.S. troops left the country on Aug. 30. Biden, speaking for the first time since the withdrawal, said in remarks from the White House that “The bottom…


Evacuee Says Taliban Gaining Control of Kabul Through Threats, Coercion

The Taliban is gaining control over Kabul through threats and coercion, according to an Afghan citizen who has managed to flee his homeland before the terrorist group tracked down his address and paid a visit in search for him. Just days after fleeing Afghanistan with his son and his wife on Aug. 24, Fawad, a PhD…


Resettled Afghans Who Worked for Britain Will Get Indefinite Leave to Remain in the UK

Afghans who worked for the British military and government and their families will be permitted to remain in the UK indefinitely as soon as they arrive, the government said on Wednesday. The new policy applies to those who resettle in the UK under the Afghanistan Relocations and Assistance Policy (ARAP), which was designed to protect the…


White House Promises to Help Stranded Afghan Interpreter Who Helped Biden in 2008

Top White House officials are promising to get an Afghan interpreter who remains in Afghanistan out of the country. The interpreter, who was identified only by his first name of Mohammed, helped rescue then-Sen. Joe Biden and two other U.S. lawmakers when their helicopter made an emergency landing in the Afghanistan mountains in 2008. Mohammed…


UK in Talks With Taliban Over Further Evacuations From Afghanistan

The UK government is having talks with the Taliban in Qatar in a bid to secure “safe passage” out of Afghanistan for British nationals and Afghans who have worked with the UK, Downing Street has confirmed. “The prime minister’s special representative for Afghan transition, Simon Gass, has travelled to Doha and is meeting with senior…


Afghan Withdrawal Allows US to ‘Shore Up’ Competitiveness to Confront China, Biden Says

President Joe Biden pointed to the U.S. competition with China as a reason for America’s withdrawal from Afghanistan, in a speech on Aug. 31 declaring the end of the 20-year conflict in the war-torn nation. Before commenting on China, he said the future U.S. foreign policy would draw from two lessons in Afghanistan. “First, we…


Taliban Shoot Dead Folk Singer After Announcing Public Music Ban in Afghanistan

The Taliban has executed a well-known folk singer in a village in Afghanistan after officials announced a ban on playing music in public, according to local reports. Fawad Andarabi, a well-known folk singer, was killed in the Afghanistan village of Andarab, north of Kabul, a region where parts of the population are rejecting Taliban rule, The Associated…


‘We Are Not Done With You Yet’: Biden Warns ISIS-K

President Joe Biden has issued a warning to ISIS-Khorasan, the group which killed 13 U.S. service members in a suicide bombing at Kabul airport, and said those who cause America harm will “pay the ultimate price.” Biden delivered a defiant address to the nation on Aug. 31, just one day after the last American military planes left Kabul’s Hamid…


France Says ‘A Few Dozen’ French Nationals Still in Afghanistan

PARIS—France says “a few dozen” French nationals remain in Afghanistan, including some who wanted to be evacuated but could not as the last flight left Kabul. Defense Ministry spokesman Herve Grandjean said in a news conference Tuesday that “all efforts are being done” to allow those left behind to get “a safe and orderly evacuation.”…


‘Humanitarian Catastrophe’ Looms in Afghanistan After US Withdrawal: UN Chief

The United Nations secretary-general has warned of a looming “humanitarian catastrophe” in Afghanistan following the U.S. withdrawal. In a statement issued Tuesday, Secretary-General António Guterres urged the international community to provide “flexible and comprehensive funding” to the country in its “darkest hour of need.” Guterres said he was “gravely concerned at at the deepening humanitarian and economic crisis in the country…