Tag: Afghanistan

US Starts Evacuating Embassy in Kabul

KABUL—The United States started evacuating its diplomats and was sending more troops to help secure Kabul airport and the embassy after the Taliban’s lightning advances brought the Islamist group to the door of the capital in a matter of days. Just last week, a U.S. intelligence estimate said Kabul could hold out for at least…


Taliban Enter Kabul as US Starts Evacuating Embassy in Afghanistan

Taliban terrorists entered Afghanistan’s capital Kabul on Sunday as the United States evacuated diplomats from its embassy by helicopter and a government minister said power would be handed over to an interim administration. A senior interior ministry official told Reuters the Taliban terrorists were coming “from all sides” into the capital but gave no further…


Biden Sending 5,000 Troops to Afghanistan to Help Drawdown of US Personnel

President Joe Biden announced Saturday that he is deploying more troops to Afghanistan to ensure that U.S. personnel can be evacuated safely. “Based on the recommendations of our diplomatic, military, and intelligence teams, I have authorized the deployment of approximately 5,000 U.S. troops to make sure we can have an orderly and safe drawdown of…


McConnell: US Should Launch Airstrikes to Stop Taliban Advance in Afghanistan

The United States should utilize airstrikes to stop the Taliban from gaining more ground in Afghanistan, the Senate’s top Republican said Saturday. “It is not too late to prevent the Taliban from overrunning Kabul. The Administration should move quickly to hammer Taliban advances with airstrikes, provide critical support to the Afghan National Defense and Security…


Chinese Regime Seeks Advantage in US Departure of Afghanistan

News Analysis Beijing is taking full advantage of the U.S. and NATO forces’ imminent departure from Afghanistan. President Biden announced in early July that U.S. forces will leave Afghanistan by Aug. 31, a deadline moved up from Sept. 11. Meanwhile, the Taliban is rapidly increasing its advances in Afghanistan as the American drawdown nears. Pentagon…


Afghan President In Urgent Talks, Vows to Rally Defenses, Amid Taliban Blitz

The president of Afghanistan, Ashraf Ghani, said Saturday he was holding urgent talks with local leaders and international partners while vowing to continue mustering the country’s security forces as a Taliban offensive edged closer to the country’s capital, fueling fears of a return to hardline Islamist rule. Ghani made the remarks in a brief televised…


Austria Keeps Hard Line on Deporting Afghans

ZURICH—Austria stuck on Saturday to its hard line on sending home Afghans whose requests for asylum fail even as Taliban insurgent advances prompted other European Union countries to reconsider similar stances. “It is easy to call for a general ban on deportations to Afghanistan, while on the other hand negating the expected flight movements. Those…


Deep Dive (Aug. 13): Britney Spears’s Dad to Step Down as Conservator

Homeland security head Alejandro Mayorkas said Thursday the United States has encountered an “unprecedented” number of migrants illegally crossing the border. In July, Customs and Border Protection took more than 212,000 people into custody. The spike from June to July was also notable because arrests usually drop during the hottest summer weeks. More cities in Afghanistan…


International Community Warns No Recognition for an Afghan Government Imposed by Force

As the Taliban quickly seized more cities in Afghanistan—including its second- and third-largest cities on Thursday—the International Meeting on Afghanistan called for an immediate ceasefire and warned not to recognize any government imposed by the use of military force. The meeting was called by Qatar and held in its capital, Doha, from August 10—12. Participants…


Pentagon: Quick Taliban Gains ‘Deeply Concerning’

A spokesperson for the Department of Defense (DOD) said that most U.S. troops will arrive in Kabul by the end of the weekend, adding that some troops have already arrived. “We have noted with great concern the speed with which they have been moving,” Pentagon spokesman John Kirby told reporters, referring to the Taliban having…