Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley says that China’s suspected test of a hypersonic weapon is “very concerning” and likened it to the “Sputnik moment” that occurred as Russia and the United States were competing in the space race in the late 1950s.
Taliban Calls on Biden to Honor Trump’s Deal to Withdraw Troops From Afghanistan
The Taliban has called on President-elect Joe Biden to honor a peace deal negotiated with the Trump administration, which calls for the withdrawal of all U.S. forces from Afghanistan by May to help advance peace talks.
“Steps must now be taken to end the war, not to prolong it, and the agreement was made for the purpose,” Mohammad Naeem, a Taliban spokesman, said Jan. 18, according to Bloomberg.
Naeem was referring to a four-component peace pact between the United States and the Taliban (pdf), signed in February 2020, which included a Trump administration commitment to the Taliban to remove all U.S. military, intelligence, and contractor personnel from Afghanistan by May as a move to spur peace negotiations.