By
Theresa Hitchens on May 04, 2021 at 3:39 PM
Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket, image by Blue Origin
WASHINGTON: DoD and Congress must push harder to reform space acquisition or the new Space Force may well fall back into the tired and ever more risky old and slow ways, says a new report by the Center for the Study of the Presidency and Congress (CSPC).
Mike Rogers, former Republican chair of the powerful House Intelligence Committee (HPSCI), said today the “overwhelming” instinct within the DoD acquisition community is “to take what they know and plop it over” to the Space Force.
3 May 2021
United States-led NATO forces began officially withdrawing from Afghanistan on Saturday, May 1, to meet President Joe Biden’s troop drawdown deadline of September 11, 2021, with officials warning the Taliban against attacks on the troops as they leave.
A NATO spokesperson said shortly before the withdrawal began:
NATO Allies decided in mid-April to start the withdrawal of Resolute Support Mission forces by May 1 and this withdrawal has begun. This will be an orderly, coordinated, and deliberate process. The safety of our troops will be a top priority every step of the way, and we are taking all necessary measures to keep our personnel from harm.
EFEBy Baber Khan Sahel.
Kabul
1 May 2021
Afghan interpreters hold placards during a protest against the US government, UN, and other NATO countries in Kabul, Afghanistan, 30 April 2021. EPA-EFE/FILE/HEDAYATULLAH AMID
Afghan security officials check people at a roadside checkpoint in Herat, Afghanistan, 24 April 2021. EPA-EFE/FILE/JALIL REZAYEE
Afghan men who have been internally displaced due to the conflict poses for a photograph near their temporary shelter in Kabul, Afghanistan, 24 April 2021. EPA-EFE/FILE/HEDAYATULLAH AMID
The United States-led coalition began the final stage of its pullout from Afghanistan on Saturday, concluding an almost two-decade long war, and even as the al-Qaeda terrorist group that it had pledged to wipe out remains a threat.
Al-Qaeda lurks as US readies pullout from Afghanistan 2 minutes read
By Baber Khan Sahel
Kabul, May 1 (EFE).- The United States-led coalition began the final stage of its pullout from Afghanistan on Saturday, concluding an almost two-decade long war, and even as the al-Qaeda terrorist group that it had pledged to wipe out remains a threat.
Earlier this month, US president Joe Biden formally announced the withdrawal of the remaining 2,500 US soldiers – who are joined by another 7,000 allied troops – in Afghanistan by September, coinciding with the 20th anniversary of its invasion of Afghanistan following the infamous 9/11 attacks.
Biden claimed “America’s longest war” had achieved its goal with the killing of 9/11 mastermind Osama bin Laden 10 years ago in Pakistan and the mitigation of the al-Qaeda terror threat.
Benchmarks: October 10, 1913: Atlantic and Pacific waters meet in the Panama Canal
by Allison Mills Tuesday, September 2, 2014
On Oct. 10, 1913, U.S. President Woodrow Wilson pressed a button in his Washington, D.C., office. At that moment, more than 6,400 kilometers away, about seven metric tons of dynamite exploded, clearing the final obstruction in the Panama Canal. Deep within the Culebra Cut, waters from the Atlantic Ocean finally met waters from the Pacific Ocean, marking the end of major construction on the 77-kilometer-long canal.
Breaching the Isthmus of Panama a strip of land only a few tens of kilometers wide linking North and South America would save ships from having to sail around Cape Horn at the southern tip of South America, thousands of kilometers out of the way. It was an achievement four centuries in the making.