Ex-US intel operatives admit hacking American networks for UAE
Three former US intelligence operatives who worked as cyberspies for the United Arab Emirates admitted to violating US hacking laws and prohibitions on selling sensitive military technology, under a deal to avoid prosecution announced on Tuesday. The operatives — Marc Baier, Ryan Adams and Daniel Gericke — were part of a clandestine unit named Project Raven, […]
US will look at Pakistan’s role in last 20 years, Blinken tells lawmakers
The US will look at the role Pakistan played in the last 20 years, Secretary of State Tony Blinken told angry lawmakers who expressed outrage over Pakistan’s “duplicitous” part in Afghanistan post 9/11 and demanded that Washington reassess its relationship with Islamabad. The US lawmakers also urged the Biden administration to reassess Pakistan’s status as […]
UN asks Taliban to stop targeting protesters, journalists
GENEVA: The UN on Friday criticised the Taliban’s increasingly harsh response to peaceful protests, including using live rounds, and warned that nearly all Afghan households weren’t getting enough to eat. “We call on the Taliban to immediately cease the use of force towards, and the arbitrary detention of, those exercising their right to peaceful assembly […]
200 people leave Kabul in first airlift since US pullout
KABUL: Some 200 passengers, including US citizens, left Kabul airport on Thursday, on the first flight carrying foreigners out of the Afghan capital since a US-led evacuation ended on Aug 30. The flight to Doha comes as the Taliban continue their transition from insurgents to governing power, less than a month after they marched into […]
China, Japan offer guarded reception for Taliban govt
Hong Kong: China, Germany and Japan offered a lukewarm reception on Wednesday to the Taliban’s provisional government in Afghanistan, following the group’s lightning seizure of Kabul last month. Taliban leaders filled all the top posts in Tuesday’s government list — which had no outsiders and no women — while an associate of the group’s founder was named […]
China says it will maintain communication with new Afghan government
China said on Wednesday it is ready to maintain communication with the leaders of the new Taliban government in Afghanistan, calling its establishment a “necessary step” in reconstruction. Foreign ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin made the comment at a daily briefing in Beijing when asked if China would recognise the new government, whose leaders were named on Tuesday. […]
Blinken, Austin meet in Qatar on Afghan evacuations
US State Secretary Antony Blinken and Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin opened talks on Tuesday in key diplomatic hub Qatar as they try to speed up evacuations from Afghanistan after the Taliban takeover. The top officials from US President Joe Biden’s security team began a meeting at the foreign ministry with their counterparts after a dinner […]
US waiting to see how new Afghan govt shapes up before any decision on recognition: Blinken
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Friday that the United States would like to see how the new Taliban government shapes up and what policies it pursues before recognising it. The US media reported earlier on Friday that Taliban co-founder Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar is likely to lead the new Afghan government. Baradar, […]
US suspends diplomatic presence in Kabul, to conduct ties ‘from distance’
WASHINGTON: The United States on Tuesday decided to maintain diplomatic relations with Afghanistan — even though it’s now controlled by its former arch enemy, the Taliban — but will no longer have any personnel on the ground. “We have suspended our diplomatic presence in Kabul, and transferred our operations to Doha, Qatar, which will soon […]
Before dawn, Taliban enter Kabul airport and take control
The Taliban were in full control of Kabul’s international airport on Tuesday, after the last US plane left its runway, marking the end of America’s longest war. Vehicles carrying the Taliban raced back and forth along the Hamid Karzai International Airport’s sole runway on the northern, military side of the airfield. Before dawn broke, heavily […]
