Tag: Afghanistan

Military Bases Had $260 Million in Damages From Afghan Evacuation

WASHINGTON—Military bases that housed tens of thousands of Afghan refugees in the United States incurred almost $260 million in damages that in some cases rendered buildings unusable for troops until significant repairs to walls and plumbing are made, the Pentagon’s inspector general found. Over the last two weeks of August 2021, the U.S. Air Force…


How the 75th Ranger Regiment Taught Me to Dance

by Charles Faint I was never in the Ranger Regiment, but I’m fortunate to know a lot of Rangers. I even helped write a book about them, once upon a time. But this is a different story, a story about how a unit I was never in, taught me to dance. I was in the…


Taliban Bans Afghan Women From Pursuing University Education

The Taliban regime in Afghanistan on Tuesday barred women from attending universities in its latest decree to restrict Afghan women’s rights and freedoms, drawing an international outcry. The Taliban-run Ministry of Higher Education spokesman, Ziaullah Hashmi, reportedly shared a letter informing private and public universities of the cabinet’s instruction to deny access to all female…


Taliban Release Two Americans Detained in Afghanistan: State Department

WASHINGTON—Afghanistan’s ruling Taliban on Tuesday released two American nationals in what appeared to be a goodwill gesture, said State Department spokesperson Ned Price, who indicated that the terrorists were holding other U.S. citizens. Price declined to identify the freed Americans, and he said they were not released as “part of any swap of prisoners or…


US Poised to Ban Shark Fin Trade

MIAMI—The United States is poised to ban the lucrative trade in shark fins, a move conservationists hope will help protect millions of sharks that are butchered every year to satisfy demand in China and other parts of Asia. The practice of shark finning, whereby sharks are caught for their fins and their carcasses then dumped…


Kabul Hotel Attack Ends as 3 Gunmen Killed; 2 Foreigners Injured

KABUL—Armed men opened fire on Monday inside a hotel in central Kabul popular with Chinese nationals in an attack that ended when at least three gunmen were killed by security forces. Two foreigners were injured while trying to escape by jumping from the hotel balcony, Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid wrote on Twitter. Kabul’s Emergency Hospital,…


8 Pakistanis, 1 Afghan Soldier Killed in Cross-Border Clash

QUETTA, Pakistan—Cross-border shelling and gunfire between Afghanistan and Pakistan killed eight Pakistani civilians and one Afghan soldier on Sunday, officials on both sides of the frontier said, with each side accusing the other of starting the fighting. The Pakistan army said Afghan border forces had opened “unprovoked and indiscriminate fire of heavy weapons including artillery/mortar…


Taliban Carry Out First Public Execution Since Afghan Takeover

ISLAMABAD—The Taliban on Wednesday executed an Afghan convicted of killing another man, the first public execution since the terrorist group took over Afghanistan last year, a spokesman said. The announcement underscored the intentions by Afghanistan’s new rulers to continue hard-line policies implemented since they took over the country in August 2021 and to stick to…


7 Killed in North Afghanistan as Blast Hits Vehicle With Oil Workers

KABUL—At least seven people were killed in Afghanistan on Tuesday when a blast hit a vehicle carrying oil workers in the northern Province of Balkh, while another blast in the eastern city of Jalalabad injured six people. “Today at around 7 a.m. a blast took place in … Balkh on a bus which belonged to…


US Adds 4 Terrorists in Afghanistan, Pakistan to Its List of Global Terrorists

ISLAMABAD—The United States has added four top Islamic terrorists operating in Afghanistan and Pakistan to its list of “Specially Designated Global Terrorists,” amid a resurgence of violence and border tensions in the area. The terrorist leaders hail from the Pakistani Taliban and an al-Qaeda branch in South Asia. Both terrorist groups operate from Afghanistan, but…