The US withdrawal from Afghanistan is between 13 percent and 20 percent complete, the Pentagon’s Central Command said on Tuesday, as it pushes to beat a September deadline for the pullout. CentCom said that since President Joe Biden ordered the exit in April, it had removed the equivalent of 115 fully loaded C-17 cargo aircraft … Read more
A senior Kurdish official has said there are growing indications that Islamic State is trying to make a comeback after an uptick in attacks in Iraq. At least 19 members of Iraqi and Iraqi Kurdish security forces have been killed in recent days across the country, according to military statements and security officials, prompting calls … Read more
A leading contender to succeed Angela Merkel as German chancellor this fall has called for “dialogue and toughness” toward China when it comes to defending democratic values and human rights. Annalena Baerbock, the environmentalist Greens’ candidate for chancellorship, told the weekly Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung that Europe should use its economic might to block Chinese goods … Read more
There are the booms that echo again, and parents know to tell their children they are only fireworks. There are the drones the separatists started flying behind the lines at night, dropping land mines. There are the fresh trenches the Ukrainians can see their enemy digging, the increase in sniper fire pinning them inside their … Read more
Top US diplomat Antony Blinken on Wednesday pressed Turkey‘s foreign minister over a Russian air defence system and Ankara’s withdrawal from a treaty on violence against women. “Secretary Blinken urged Turkey not to retain the Russian S-400 air defence system,” the State Department said, after talks on the sidelines of a NATO meeting in Brussels. … Read more
Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin has said that the US will not undertake a hasty or disorderly withdrawal of its troops from Afghanistan, stressing that violence must decrease now in the war-torn country and more progress is needed in the Afghan-led negotiations. The US and the Taliban reached an agreement in February 2020 that called for … Read more
UNITED NATIONS: The first-ever treaty to ban nuclear weapons entered into force on Friday, hailed as a historic step to rid the world of its deadliest weapons but strongly opposed by the world’s nuclear-armed nations. The Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons is now part of international law, culminating a decades-long campaign aimed at … Read more
Russia’s tightening embrace of embattled Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko is raising concerns at NATO that the balance of military power in the alliance’s weak northeast corner could tip further in the Kremlin’s favor. Western capitals have lambasted Mr. Lukashenko, who has ruled Belarus for 26 years, for declaring himself the winner of a disputed election … Read more
CAIRO: The US Embassy in Libya said Libyan commander Khalifa Hifter agreed to reopen key oil fields and terminals no later than Saturday, a move that could advance talks between the country’s warring sides closer to a political settlement to the yearslong conflict. Powerful tribes in eastern Libya loyal to Hifter have kept export terminals … Read more
WASHINGTON: The United States seeks to formalise its closer defence ties with countries of the India-Pacific region — India, Japan and Australia — similar to something like the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) with an aim to counter China, US Deputy Secretary of State Stephen Biegun said on Monday. He said that Washington’s aim is … Read more