Author: Idrees Ali
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Pentagon: Senator holding military nominations hurts readiness
WASHINGTON • A senator’s decision to hold up the nomination of military officials over the Pentagon’s abortion policy will hurt readiness, U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said Tuesday. Sen. Tommy Tuberville has been blocking nominations from moving forward since last month because he believes the Pentagon is improperly using funding to cover travel costs for…
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Australia expected to buy up to 5 Virginia class submarines as part of AUKUS
WASHINGTON • Australia is expected to buy up to five U.S. Virginia class nuclear powered submarines in the 2030s as part of a landmark defense agreement among Washington, Canberra and London, four U.S. officials said Wednesday, in a deal that would present a new challenge to China. The agreement, known as the AUKUS pact, will…
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A year after Biden’s Afghanistan exit, accountability in short supply
WASHINGTON • As weary U.S. military planners wrapped up the evacuation and pullout from Afghanistan one year ago, officials across the government steeled themselves for intense public scrutiny into how America’s longest war ended in shambles with the Taliban retaking power. But as the United States marks the first anniversary of the withdrawal this month,…
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U.S. military: ISIS leader in Syria killed in drone strike
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The leader of Islamic State in Syria, one of the top five leaders of the militant group, has been killed in a U.S. air strike, the U.S. military said on Tuesday. In a statement, U.S. Central Command said Maher al-Agal had been killed in a drone strike in northwesten Syria and a close…
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Deadly U.S. strike in Kabul missed evidence of child present, investigation finds
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – An August U.S. drone strike in Kabul that killed 10 civilians was not caused by criminal negligence but by a series of errors, including not noticing a child minutes before the strike took place, an investigation by a military inspector general found on Wednesday. The Aug. 29 strike killed 10 civilians, including…
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Blame game begins over turbulent U.S. exit from Afghanistan
WASHINGTON • A week into the evacuation from Kabul, the U.S. military was forced to take a drastic step: stop flights from Hamid Karzai International Airport for seven hours because there was nowhere for the evacuees to go. For months, military officials had urged the U.S. State Department to convince other countries to take Afghans…
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Pentagon bracing for more attacks after troops killed at Kabul airport
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -American forces in Kabul were bracing for more Islamic State attacks while winding up their evacuation mission, U.S. officials said, as the number of U.S. troops killed in Thursday’s suicide bomb attack rose to 13. A U.S. official told Reuters the number of U.S. personnel killed was likely to rise even higher. More…
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Pentagon chief says U.S. troops currently unable to help people reach Kabul airport
WASHINGTON • U.S. troops do not have the capability to help people reach Kabul airport to be evacuated from Afghanistan because they are focused on securing the airfield, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said Wednesday. President Joe Biden, in an interview with ABC News, defended his handling of the crisis, saying there had been no way…
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Biden’s vow to airlift Afghan allies meets ticking clock, risky rescue
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Joe Biden’s pledge to evacuate thousands more at-risk Afghans who worked for the U.S. government will run into the cold reality of a fast-closing window of time, insecurity all over Afghanistan and major logistical hurdles. As one U.S. official told Reuters “too many things have to go 100 percent correctly” to…
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U.S. Intel: Taliban could take Afghan capital in 90 days after rapid gains
WASHINGTON/KABUL • Taliban fighters could isolate Afghanistan’s capital in 30 days and possibly take it over in 90, a U.S. defence official cited U.S. intelligence as saying, as the resurgent militants made more advances across the country. The official, speaking to Reuters on condition of anonymity on Wednesday, said the new assessment of how long…