U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken testifies virtually in a House Foreign Affairs Committee on Capitol Hill on September 13, 2021 in Washington, DC. Anna Moneymaker | Getty Images WASHINGTON — Secretary of State Antony Blinken said during a contentious congressional hearing Monday that the Taliban is Afghanistan’s de facto government, a statement that marks the apparent end of a …
View of a gold mine in Nor Aaba, Takhar province, Afghanistan. Omar Sobhani | Reuters One of the first things many Western pundits predicted as the chaotic U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan unraveled was the replacement in that power vacuum by China, long a critic of and strategic adversary to the U.S. Afghanistan has trillions of dollars worth of untapped mineral …
Afghanistan’s President Ashraf Ghani attends a security meeting in Kabul, Afghanistan August 14, 2021. Afghan Presidential Palace | Reuters More than three weeks after fleeing Kabul by helicopter as the Taliban swept through the capital, former Afghan President Ashraf Ghani issued a statement late Wednesday in apology to his fellow countrymen. “I owe the Afghan people an explanation for leaving …
Once again, they will … witness another 9/11. Khalid Noor member, member of Afghanistan’s peace negotiating team “We have said this very clearly — that the international community, if they repeat the same mistake they did in the past, that the war and … terrorism will reach their gates once again, will reach their cities once again,” said Noor, who …
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Saudi Arabia’s former intelligence chief says he is very worried that American weapons could fall into the hands of militant groups such as Al Qaeda, bolstering a sworn enemy of the United States in the wake of an exit from Afghanistan that he says was mismanaged. “I don’t know which word to use, whether incompetence, …
Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi meets with Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, political chief of Afghanistan’s Taliban, in north China’s Tianjin, July 28, 2021. Li Ran | Xinhua News Agency | Getty Images China was one of the first countries that expressed willingness to engage with Taliban militants diplomatically when they swept to power in Afghanistan — analysts …
Afghan people sit as they wait to leave the Kabul airport in Kabul on August 16, 2021, after a stunningly swift end to Afghanistan’s 20-year war, as thousands of people mobbed the city’s airport trying to flee the group’s feared hardline brand of Islamist rule. Wakil Kohsar | AFP | Getty Images The main focus in Afghanistan now is to …
U.S. President Joe Biden answers questions from reporters as Vice President Kamala Harris looks on in the East Room of the White House in Washington, U.S., August 10, 2021. Evelyn Hockstein | Reuters WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden is slated to address the nation Friday on the evacuation efforts in Kabul of American citizens, U.S. Embassy staff, citizens of NATO countries, …
Taliban members are seen near Hamid Karzai International Airport as thousands of Afghans rush to flee the Afghan capital of Kabul, Afghanistan, on August 16, 2021. Haroon Sabawoon | Getty Images DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — The world was shocked this week by horrifying scenes of desperate Afghans swarming the tarmac at Kabul’s international airport, grasping at their last chance …
Afghans (L) crowd at the airport as US soldiers stand guard in Kabul on August 16, 2021. SHAKIB RAHMANI | AFP | Getty Images Taliban forces entered Afghanistan’s capital city of Kabul on Sunday, effectively taking control of the country following the capture of one provincial city after another over recent weeks. Afghan President Ashraf Ghani left the country on …
