As the Trump administration debates whether to withdraw from Afghanistan, policymakers in Washington should remember that Iran, not just the Taliban, stands to gain from an American retreat.
The five members of the Afghan Taliban who were released from the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay in exchange for captured American Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl in 2014 have joined the Taliban’s political office in Qatar, according the insurgent group’s spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahid.
The Treasury Department on Tuesday announced steps taken in cooperation with the Terrorist Financing Targeting Center (TFTC) to “expose and disrupt Taliban actors and their Iranian sponsors that seek to undermine the security of the Afghan Government.”
The Trump administration “set a new record” for dropping munitions on Taliban drug facilities in Afghanistan, according to newly declassified information showing a significant increase in American operations in the war-torn country since the White House announced a new policy for the region.
House Foreign Affairs Committee lawmakers expressed pessimism Wednesday over an increasingly fragmented Afghan government’s ability to combat Taliban fighters.
Some Taliban leaders are participating in private talks with Afghanistan government officials to jumpstart peace talks, even as fighting endures in the 16-year war, the top U.S. commander in the country said Wednesday.
Former Navy SEAL Jimmy Hatch stood over the garbage cans in the backyard of his Norfolk, Va., home as he held a loaded pistol in his mouth, a trigger pull away from killing himself 11 months after suffering career-ending injuries while searching for Army Pvt. Bowe Bergdahl in July 2009.
KABUL (Reuters) – Twin blasts in the Afghan capital Kabul killed at least 26 people on Monday, including nine journalists who had arrived to report on the first explosion and were apparently targeted by a suicide bomber, officials said.
Gen. Joseph L. Votel, commander of the Central Command, disclosed in congressional testimony this week that despite a new U.S. policy of pressuring Pakistan, the Islamabad government is still supporting the Taliban terrorist group in the border region with Afghanistan.
The U.S. military has begun redirecting personnel and equipment from Iraq and Syria back to Afghanistan, where the Pentagon hopes to revamp its fight against the Taliban, the top commander of the American-led air campaign in the country said Wednesday.
