The U.N. Security Council unanimously adopted a resolution Tuesday welcoming the start of negotiations between Afghan representatives and the Taliban, encouraging the warring parties to engage in good faith and aim for a permanent cease-fire and political settlement to their 19-year conflict.
President Trump checked off a key campaign promise Wednesday with a major drawdown of U.S. troops in Iraq and an even greater reduction in Afghanistan coming soon, but skeptics say the moves reflect U.S. political imperatives and not the chaos and violence both countries are likely to face down the road.
The U.S. military is reducing troops in Afghanistan from 8,600 to about 4,500 by early November, the head of U.S Central Command said Wednesday, hours after he announced the withdrawal of more service members from Iraq this month.
President Trump will announce a further drawdown of U.S. troops from Iraq on Wednesday, and a withdrawal of more troops from Afghanistan in the coming days, a senior administration official said Tuesday night.
U.S. President Donald Trump has said the U.S. military presence in Afghanistan will be reduced to “anywhere from 4,000 to 5,000” troops by November this year.
The United States and six Gulf countries on Wednesday imposed sanctions on six targets Washington has accused of supporting Islamic State operations, including by funneling hundreds of thousands of dollars to leaders of the group in Iraq and Syria.
The US Embassy in Pakistan announced Thursday that Afghanistan’s political leaders are close to starting negotiations with the Taliban about the future of the country, the Military Times reports. The development follows a peace agreement signed between the US and the Taliban in February this year. As part of the deal, US Peace Envoy Zalmay Khalilzad is in the region to help facilitate intra-Afghan negotiations.
The Taliban in Afghanistan still maintains close relations with the terror network al-Qaida, despite having signed a peace deal with the US agreeing to tackle militant groups, a United Nations report released on Tuesday said.
A former U.S. Army medic who received the Medal of Honor in 2018 for his heroic efforts to save the lives of fellow soldiers in Afghanistan has died, his wife and officials confirmed. Staff Sgt. Ronald Shurer II was 41.
U.S. Defense Secretary Mark Esper says the peace process in Afghanistan is not going as quickly as expected, with the Taliban failing to reduce violence in the war-torn country.
Authorities in Germany say they have detained four suspected Islamic militants for plotting to attack American military facilities in the country. The four men, originally from Tajikistan — along with a fifth individual arrested last year — targeted several U.S. airforce bases on behalf of the Islamic State group, prosecutors said.
Islamic State–Khorasan (ISIS-K) claims it carried out Thursday’s rocket attack on Bagram airfield, the largest US base in Afghanistan. There were no casualties or injuries. Bagram’s NATO-led US military mission, Operation Resolute Support, confirmed in a tweet that five rockets were fired at the base early in the morning on Thursday.
The U.S. is cutting aid to Afghanistan by $1 billion and will cut even more unless the country’s feuding political leaders can resolve their differences and form a government that can implement a peace deal with the Taliban.
The US signed a peace agreement with the Taliban on Saturday in an effort to end 18 years of war in Afghanistan and allow US troops to return home.
Pete Buttigieg is ending his Democratic presidential bid.
The Taliban appeared confident Monday it will sign a peace agreement with the United States by the end of this month in the presence of international guarantors to close the 18-year-old war in Afghanistan.
President Trump is reportedly planning to withdraw 4,000 troops from Afghanistan as part of a pledge he made this summer to end American involvement in conflict in the area.
New legislation passed in India’s parliament grants citizenship to beleaguered Christian foreigners, among others, but the US Commission on International Religious Freedom says it is a dangerous move.
President Donald Trump paid a surprise Thanksgiving visit to Afghanistan, where he announced the U.S. and Taliban have been engaged in ongoing peace talks and said he believes the Taliban want a cease-fire.
Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell on Tuesday introduced a resolution opposing the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Syria, one week after the House passed a similar measure.