Free Republic

A suspected member of a “virulently anti-Western” terrorist group was turned loose by federal authorities after being apprehended crossing the US-Mexico border and, later, freed again when he went before an immigration judge, according to a report. Customs and Border Protection agents apprehended and released Mohammad Kharwin, 48, after he illegally entered the US near San Ysidro, Calif., in March of 2023, despite suspicions the Afghan national was on the FBI’s terrorist watchlist, according to NBC News. Kharwin was released under Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s “Alternatives to Detention” program – a process that generally requires migrants to submit to GPS...

On Friday’s broadcast of the Fox News Channel’s “The Story,” White House National Security Communications Adviser John Kirby responded to questions on how the 2021 U.S. strike in Afghanistan that killed an aid worker is different from the Israeli strike that killed World Central Kitchen workers are different by stating that it’s “imprudent to try to compare two things that happened three years apart in two different conflicts.” And there was an independent investigation of the Afghanistan strike, “and that independent investigator found that there was no need for personal accountability to be had, but did find that the U.S....

During a portion of an interview with the Fox News Channel on Tuesday that was aired on Tuesday’s broadcast of “America Reports,” Steve Nikoui, the father of Lance Cpl. Kareem Nikoui, who was killed during the 2021 Abbey Gate bombing, stated that the charges against him for interrupting President Joe Biden’s State of the Union haven’t been dropped and no one from the Biden administration has tried to help him, which he isn’t surprised by, because Biden won’t recognize his own grandchild and “it’s nothing new. It’s been this way for the last two-and-a-half years.” Fox News Congressional Correspondent Aishah...

A man was charged on Monday with attempting to help terrorists after he allegedly planned to travel to the Middle East in order to become a soldier for the Islamic State terrorist group ISIS. The defendant, Humzah Mashkoor, 18, of Westminster, Colorado, was charged in a criminal complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Colorado with knowingly providing or attempting and conspiring to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization. An FBI agent’s narrative included in the criminal complaint alleged that Mashkoor, who was born in the United States but was raised in part in his family’s native country...

Pakistan is taking steps to deport 1.1 million undocumented Afghan refugees, a major policy decision influenced by strained relations with Afghanistan. Though the caretaker federal cabinet has approved this plan, there’s no official word yet from the interim government. According to sources, about 400,000 Afghans have illegally entered Pakistan since the Afghan Taliban resumed power in August 2021. Additionally, another 700,000 Afghans already residing in the country have been identified as undocumented.

During a portion of an interview with ABC News Chief Global Affairs Correspondent Martha Raddatz set to air on Sunday’s edition of “This Week,” Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley stated that he agrees with former CENTCOM Commander Gen. Frank McKenzie (Ret.) that it was a massive mistake to not evacuate American citizens and at-risk Afghans sooner. Raddatz asked, “Gen. McKenzie said it was a serious mistake not to begin to evacuate our embassy personnel, our American citizens, and at-risk Afghans earlier. Do you agree with that?” Milley answered, “Yeah, I agree with that, sure.

BREAKING: Per multiple CBP sources, Border Patrol agents in San Diego sector arrested an Afghan national on the FBI’s terror watchlist after he crossed illegally w/ group of migrants near Otay Mesa, CA on Wednesday. I’m told FBI confirmed the match, & is leading investigation

Congress has failed so far to create a path to residency for Afghans who worked alongside U.S. soldiers in America’s longest war, pushing into limbo tens of thousands of refugees who fled Taliban control more than two years ago and now live in the United States. Some lawmakers hoped to resolve the Afghans’ immigration status as part of a year-end government funding package, but that effort failed. The result is grave uncertainty for refugees now facing an August deadline for action from Congress before their temporary parole status expires. Nearly 76,000 Afghans who worked with American soldiers since 2001 as...

DOD report notes 'tables, chairs and cots broken' by Afghans, 'tents and cots ruined by spray paint, human biological matter and holes' ... A new Department of Defense (DOD) report found that the U.S. military bases that housed Afghan evacuees suffered $260 million in damages, with the Air Force saying the damage was "unrepairable." The DOD inspector general reported last week that the eight bases housing the refugees in Texas, Wisconsin, New Jersey, Virginia, New Mexico and Indiana are asking for repair money after they sustained over a quarter-billion dollars in damage. Over 17 days, 120,000 evacuees were taken to...

Kabul (AFP) – Three women and 11 men were flogged Wednesday on the orders of an Afghan court after they were found guilty of theft and "moral crimes", a provincial official said. The lashings are the first to be confirmed since the Taliban's supreme leader ordered judges this month to fully enforce Islamic law, or sharia, saying corporal punishment was obligatory for certain crimes. Qazi Rafiullah Samim, head of information and culture for Logar province, told AFP the lashings were not administered publicly. "Fourteen people were given discretionary punishment, of which 11 were men and three were women," he said,...

The Taliban has ordered Afghan women to wear burkas in public. The burka, which covers the wearer from head to toe and leaves only a person’s eyes exposed, became the group’s staple order on women in Afghanistan during its first reign of terror, between 1996 and 2001. The decision to re-introduce the garment serves as a chilling echo of the drastic restrictions Afghan women are once again facing under the Taliban’s control. If women have no important work outside the home, they should stay at home, the group also declared. Refusal to comply with the order can result in a...

Members of Afghanistan’s elite National Army Commando Corps are reportedly being contacted to join the Russian army in Ukraine. Afghan military and security sources say these US-trained light infantry forces could make a difference on the Ukrainian battlefield. The commandos were abandoned by the US and Western allies when Afghanistan fell to the Taliban last year.

Diversity is our strength so it couldn’t have been too shocking that an Afghan Muslim refugee was responsible for America’s single worst Islamophobic killing spree. Much as another Afghan, Omar Mateen, brutally carried out the single largest massacre of gay people in America. Americans are generally fairly tolerant so liberals decided to import bigoted immigrant killers. When the migrant surge began, politicians and the media assured us that Afghans would make profound contributions to America. They have already set two particularly ugly national records. And that was bound to happen. Long after the last American soldier had left Afghanistan, the...

Taliban Supreme Leader Hibatullah Akhundzada leveraged a recent gathering of Taliban-aligned religious leaders to consolidate power and advance efforts to implement a hardline governance program. Akhundzada is taking on a more proactive role as the Taliban navigates internal tensions and faces continued attacks from the Islamic State’s Khorasan Province (IS-KP). The Taliban gathered more than 3,500 people from across Afghanistan for an “Assembly of Ulema [Religious Scholars]” from 29 June to 2 July. The attendees were primarily religious leaders affiliated with the Taliban movement, indicating that the gathering intended to shore up support for the Taliban instead of broadening its...

The Taliban’s defense ministry on Sunday claimed the “Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan” has amassed a standing army of over 130,000 troops with hopes to bring that number up to 150,000. Meanwhile, the Afghan economy is a wreck, poverty is rampant, and starvation is kept at bay only through massive international humanitarian efforts. “More than 130,000 people have been registered and this process will continue. With the completion of registration, the Afghans will see an independent, well-formed and committed military who will provide security and defend the Afghan soil and borders,” Defense Ministry spokesman Inayatullah Khwarazami boasted to Afghanistan’s independent Tolo...

An aggressive effort in St. Louis is trying to lure Afghan refugees…. About 600 have arrived so far and another 750 are expected later this year. Civic leaders are hopeful that over the next few years, thousands more will decide to relocate to the Midwestern city, helping to offset seven decades of population loss and rejuvenate urban neighborhoods — just as the arrival of Bosnian refugees did three decades ago.

Don’t ask questions, just give them their citizenship.. Biden’s evacuation brought tens of thousands of Afghans to America. The majority of them were not interpreters, had no visas, and no basis for entering the country. Despite that, they were rapidly brought here with virtually no vetting, dropped off at military bases, and then put through the resettlement process across the United States. There’s no one problem. At last count around 36,000 Afghans or 40% of the “refugees” had no legal basis for being evacuated even after the Biden administration and its congressional allies, both Democrat and Republican, watered down standards...

More Afghan refugees are heading to Asheville. Nearly 100 are expected to arrive within the next month. The refugees will arrive very quickly, starting next Tuesday. Caption: Asheville area agencies prepare to help nearly 100 Afghan refugees expected next week "It's going to be fast and furious," said Laura Collins, who is coordinating the effort with Lutheran Services of the Carolinas Refugee and Immigrant Services.

A group of Afghan refugees were caught wandering the golf course of a local gated resort community in Scottsdale, according to security reports first obtained by the Arizona Daily Independent. The group was part of the Afghan refugees housed at the Homewood Suites, a nearby hotel that made headlines last year for sheltering illegal immigrants for around seven months. The refugees aren’t confined to the hotel and permitted to roam the surrounding areas at their leisure; the hotel sits across the street from the gated community. Mike Anderson — security director for the community, Gainey Ranch Golf and Country Club...

Hundreds of children have been born to newly-arrived Afghans who were brought to the United States as part of President Joe Biden’s massive resettlement operation since mid-August, securing birthright citizenship in the process. Biden started the operation in the midst of the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan — bringing at least 70,000 Afghans to the country for resettlement with minimal standard vetting procedures. Since then, Republicans and Democrats in Congress have bankrolled the operation to the sum of more than $13.3 billion in American taxpayer money. According to data from the U.S. Army, more than 250 U.S.-born children have been delivered...