U.S. and Allies Plan Fight From Afar Against Al Qaeda Once Troops Exit Afghanistan
Drones, long-range bombers and spy networks will be used in an effort to prevent Afghanistan from re-emerging as a terrorist base to threaten the United States.
Traffic last month in Jalalabad, Afghanistan. American intelligence analysts say security in the country could worsen almost immediately.Credit.Jim Huylebroek for The New York Times
April 15, 2021Updated 8:23 a.m. ET
WASHINGTON American troops are set to leave Afghanistan no later than Sept. 11, but the Pentagon, American spy agencies and Western allies are refining plans to deploy a less visible but still potent force in the region to prevent the country from again becoming a terrorist base.
Biden announces complete US troop withdrawal from Afghanistan before September
By PTI| Posted by Minhaj Adnan | Published: 15th April 2021 2:49 pm IST Photo: Joe Biden
Washington: Declaring that the war in Afghanistan was never meant to be a “multigenerational undertaking,” President Joe Biden has announced that all US troops would be withdrawn from the strife-torn country by September 11 to end America’s longest war that has cost trillions of dollars and the lives of over 2,400 American soldiers.
During a televised address to the nation on Wednesday, Biden said that keeping thousands of troops grounded and concentrated in just one country at a cost of billions each year made “little sense” to him and to other leaders and urged countries in the region, especially Pakistan, as well as Russia, China, India and Turkey to “do more” to help ensure peace in Afghanistan.
In the aftermath of the US and the NATO withdrawing its troops from Afghanistan, India will have tremendous concern on the resurgence of the Taliban and its territory being used as a safe haven for terrorist, experts said. US President Joe Biden on Wednesday announced that all American troops would be withdrawn from Afghanistan by September 11 this year, thus bringing to end the country s longest war, spanning across two decades. Following suit, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization will also pull out its troops from the war-torn country. Regional countries, especially India, will have tremendous concerns about the US pullout from Afghanistan and the likelihood of a Taliban resurgence in the country, Lisa Curtis, who was Deputy Assistant to the President and NSC Senior Director for South and Central Asia from 2017-2021 under the previous Donald Trump administration told PTI.
World Powers Resume Iran Talks in Vienna as Nuclear Crisis Grows Bloomberg 4 hrs ago
(Bloomberg)
Diplomats resumed talks in Vienna to revive the stricken nuclear agreement with Iran, picking up the pieces left by a weekend attack on the Islamic Republic’s primary nuclear-fuel facility and its retaliatory vow to begin enriching uranium close to weapons grade.
Envoys from Iran and six world powers started their third meeting in 10 days with the Persian Gulf once again convulsed by the crisis. They’re trying to coordinate a U.S. return to the 2015 nuclear deal and Iranian compliance with its enrichment commitments. The immediate challenge will be to defuse tensions.
UPDATE 1-Romania approves bill to bar China, Huawei from 5G networks Reuters 2 hrs ago
By Radu-Sorin Marinas
BUCHAREST, April 15 (Reuters) - Romania s centrist government on Thursday approved a United States-backed bill that effectively bars China and Huawei from taking part in development of its 5G network, a member of the IT&C and National Security Committee told Reuters.
Europe has emerged as a battleground in the technology Cold War playing out between China and Washington and Huawei s European competitors, Ericsson and Nokia, could become a supplier duopoly should the Chinese company be shut out. The government just approved this bill of paramount importance for Romania, sealing a 2019 memorandum signed in Washington, meaning that China and Huawei are ruled out from any would-be partnership on 5G with the Romanian state, Pavel Popescu said.