All eyes (for a minute) are on Afghanistan after the U.S. pullout turned to chaos. Yes, President Joe Biden, his administration and the Pentagon clearly screwed up the final withdrawal. They should have acted sooner to help people who aided the U.S.
(Reuters) - The official websites of the Taliban, who swept to power in Afghanistan on the back of lightning offensive last week, appeared to have vanished from the internet late on Friday. It was not immediately clear whether a technical fault or something else was to blame. The Taliban operate separate websites in Pashto, Dari, Arabic, Urdu and English. All five appeared to be unreachable on Friday. The outage was first reported by The Washington Post. (Reporting by Raphael Satter; Editing by Sonya Hepinstall)
RABAT (Reuters) - Morocco is keen to strengthen ties with Spain after a rift between the two countries this spring, Moroccan King Mohammed said on Friday, though he added the crisis had shaken mutual trust. We are keen today to strengthen (ties) bearing in mind the need for a common understanding of the two nations interests, he said in a speech. However, he added that Morocco would not accept that its best interests be trampled on . In April, Morocco was angered after Spain admitted a Western Sahara independence leader for medical treatment using Algerian documents, saying it had not been informed. Morocco regards the territory as its own. Rabat then appeared to relax border controls with Ceuta, a Spanish enclave in northern Morocco, on May 17, leading to an influx of at least 8,000 migrants, most of whom have been returned. This unprecedented crisis … shook mutual trust and raised many questions as to their future, said the king, noting that the two countries have discussed bilate
By Idrees Ali and Humeyra Pamuk WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The U.S. government said on Friday that a dozen countries, from Europe to the Middle East and Central Asia, will allow Americans and others evacuated from Kabul to transit their territory as it steps up its evacuation efforts from Afghanistan. State Department spokesperson Ned Price said Bahrain, Denmark, Germany, Italy, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Qatar, Tajikistan, Turkey, the UAE, the United Kingdom and Uzbekistan had already begun or will soon begin transiting Americans, or in some circumstances others, through their territories. Reuters first reported that Germany and other countries in the Middle East had agreed to temporarily host people evacuated from Kabul. The United States is desperately trying to evacuate thousands of people from Afghanistan as reports of Taliban reprisals against Afghans who worked with U.S.-led forces increase, forcing foreign powers to accelerate the evacuation effort. But officials said no evacuation flights
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - About two dozen U.S. diplomats in Afghanistan sent an internal cable last month warning Secretary of State Antony Blinken of the potential fall of Kabul to the Taliban as U.S. troops withdrew from the country, The Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday. The newspaper said the confidential cable sent through a so-called dissent channel was signed on July 13 and offered recommendations on ways to mitigate the crisis and accelerate an evacuation. The administration has been criticized for leaving efforts to get American diplomats and other citizens, as well Afghan allies, out of the country, until after a Taliban takeover was well underway. U.S. officials declined to confirm specific details or share the contents of the cable. I think the cable reflects what we ve said all along, which is nobody had this exactly right in predicting that the government and army of Afghanistan were going to collapse in a matter of days, White House deputy national security adviser J