Free Republic

The US and NATO allies have agreed to withdraw all troops from Afghanistan within 14 months if the details of a "comprehensive peace agreement" signed by the US and Taliban is upheld, BBC reported. US President Donald Trump said the US is "working to finally end America's longest war...

The United States and the Taliban signed a historic deal Saturday aimed at winding down America’s longest war. With Secretary of State Mike Pompeo watching over, U.S. special envoy Zalmay Khalilzad and the Taliban’s political chief, Abdul Ghani Baradar, signed a deal in Doha, Qatar, to begin the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan. In exchange, the Taliban is assuring it will not allow Afghanistan to be used by terrorists to attack the United States. Despite the milestone, a long road remains before peace in Afghanistan, including intra-Afghan talks where the entire deal still has the potential to collapse. “This...

U.S. Expected to Sign Deal With Taliban to Withdraw Troops From AfghanistanAfghanistan has become America’s longest, now nearly invisible, warThe New York Times and others reluctantly acknowledge that the nearly 20 year war in Afghanistan may be coming to an end - at the hand of President Trump, the man they swore would lead us into World War III. But wait! After more than a year of talks, the deal would lay out the beginning of the end of the United States’ longest war. But many obstacles remain. There it is, there’s still hope: “many obstacles remain.” Though the Taliban...

[The agreement was signed this morning a little after 0800 eastern] Since 2011, Qatar has hosted Taliban leaders who have moved there to discuss peace in Afghanistan. It has been a chequered process. A Taliban office was opened in 2013, and closed the same year amid rows over flags. Other attempts at talks stalled. In December 2018, the militants announced they would meet US officials to try to find a "roadmap to peace". But the hard-line Islamist group continued to refuse to hold official talks with the Afghan government, whom they dismissed as American "puppets".

America's longest war may finally be nearing an end. The United States and the Islamists it toppled from power in Afghanistan are poised to sign a peace deal Saturday after a conflict that outlasted two U.S. commanders in chief and is now led by a third eager to fulfill a campaign promise to extricate America from “endless wars."... ...U.S. troops are to be withdrawn to 8,600 from about 13,000 in the weeks following Saturday's signing. Further drawdowns are to depend on the Taliban meeting certain counter-terrorism conditions, compliance that will be assessed by the United States. But officials say soldiers...

A federal court ruling against a border control policy ordered by President Trump, 3 cases of the coronavirus in the United States and a peace deal with Afghanistan's Taliban is just hours away but first..... President Trump spoke with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan today and the Turkish government says the two agreed on: "additional steps without delay in order to avert a big humanitarian tragedy unfoling in the Idlib region" The White House spokesman said that Syria, Russia and Iran must halt their 'offensive' in the region an said that President Trump "condemned yesterday's attack that killed Turkish personnel"...

Nearly 19 years ago, American service members went to Afghanistan to root out the terrorists responsible for the 9/11 attacks. In that time, we have made great progress in Afghanistan, but at great cost to our brave service members, to the American taxpayers, and to the people of Afghanistan. When I ran for office, I promised the American people I would begin to bring our troops home, and seek to end this war. We are making substantial progress on that promise. Soon, at my direction, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will witness the signing of an agreement with representatives of...

Julian Assange tried to contact Hillary Clinton and the White House when he realized that unredacted U.S. diplomatic cables given to WikiLeaks were about to be dumped on the internet, his lawyer told his London extradition hearing on Tuesday. Assange is being sought by the United States on 18 counts of hacking U.S. government computers and an espionage offense, having allegedly conspired with Chelsea Manning, then a U.S. soldier known as Bradley Manning, to leak hundreds of thousands of secret documents by WikiLeaks almost a decade ago. On Monday, the lawyer representing the United States told the hearing that Assange,...

The United States and the Taliban are on the verge of signing what would be a historic agreement aimed at winding down America's longest war, potentially fulfilling one of President Trump's key promises. But first comes a weeklong test. A seven-day "reduction in violence" period started Friday afternoon Washington time, midnight Saturday Afghanistan time. The initial agreement to reduce violence is aimed at building confidence ahead of signing a broader peace agreement. If the reduction in violence holds, U.S. and Taliban negotiators will sign the broader agreement Feb. 29, starting a phased withdrawal of U.S. troops in exchange for Taliban...

Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke by phone Friday with Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan about the situation in Syria. The Kremlin issued a news release noting that Putin expressed concern about "ongoing aggressive actions of extremist groups"..... Russia's defense ministry says that large numbers of Turkish armored vehicles and huge caches of ammunition entering northwestern Syria point to apparent preparation for a large scale military operation that Turkey has been threatening...... The Pentagon revising upwards for the fifth time the number of traumatic brain injuries resulting from the January 8th missile attack by Iran on the Al-Asad Air Base..... US...

Jury deliberations in the rape and sexual assault trial of movie mogul and Democratic Party donor Harvey Weinstein set to begin Tuesday.... Lawyer Michael Avenatti, who was a vocal critic of President Trump and lawyer for porn star Stormy Daniels in her lawsuit against the President, found guilty of attempted extortion... The Russian and Turkish military leader talking about the situation in Syria's Idlib province.... In Syria today two Syrian soldiers killed when their helicopter was downed with Turkish weaponry..... Another pro-Israel delegation making a trip to Saudi Arabia.... The Acting US Attorney in Washington opting to drop a criminal...

MUNICH (AP) — A senior U.S. official said Friday the United States and the Taliban have reached a truce agreement that will take effect “very soon” and could lead to withdrawals of American troops from Afghanistan. The official said the agreement for a seven-day “reduction in violence” to be followed by the start of all-Afghan peace talks within 10 days is “very specific” and covers the entire country, including Afghan government forces. There were indications a formal announcement could come as early as the weekend. The official, who was not authorized to publicly discuss the matter and spoke on the...

More than 18 years after the United States invaded Afghanistan, President Trump has conditionally approved a peace deal with the Taliban that would withdraw the last American troops from the country, potentially beginning the end of America’s longest war, according to Afghan and American officials. But the deal will only be signed if the Taliban prove their commitment to a durable reduction of violence over a test period of about seven days later this month. If the Taliban do end hostilities and a deal is signed, the United States would then begin a gradual withdrawal of American troops, and direct...

President Trump and Vice President Mike Pence left their rally in New Hampshire and attended the dignified transfer of Sgt. 1st Class Javier Gutierrez and Sgt. 1st Class Antonio Rodriguez, who were killed in Afghanistan while conducting combat operations on February 8, at Dover Air Force Base. Gutierrez, 28, of San Antonio, Texas and Rodriguez, 28, of Las Cruces, New Mexico, died on February 8 as they engaged a gunman in an Afghan Army uniform. Fox News reports six others were wounded during the attack. Gutierrez and Rodriguez were assigned to 3rd Battalion, 7th Special Forces Group (Airborne). Both men...

The votes being counted in Ireland today. Yesterday's projection as polls closed put the left-wing Sinn Fein Party in the top three of Irish political parties with its best showing yet in a southern Irish election. Early declared results show Sinn Fein a clear winner.... In Switzerland a law against "homophobia" projected to have won in a referendum..... More unusual activity related to Iowa's Democrat caucus last Monday. The Iowa Democratic Party today awarded the popular vote winner Bernie Sanders only 12 delegates to the national convention while the candidate who ran in second place, Pete Buttigieg, was given 14...

SAN ANTONIO – A San Antonio soldier was killed after a recent attack in Afghanistan, according to U.S. Army officials. Sgt. 1st Class Javier J. Gutierrez, 28, of San Antonio, died Saturday, Feb. 8 from wounds he sustained during a combat mission in Nangarhar Province, Afghanistan. According to a report from The Associated Press, the U.S. Military said “an individual in an Afghan uniform opened fire on the combined U.S. and Afghan force with a machine gun. We are still collecting information and the cause or motive behind the attack is unknown at this time." Gutierrez was one of two...

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — American and Afghan military personnel were fired on while conducting an operation in Afghanistan’s eastern Nangarhar province, the U.S. military said Saturday. There were multiple American casualties, but the number and the extent of the injuries were not immediately known, according to a U.S. official who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss information that has not been officially released. U.S. military spokesman Col. Sonny Leggett said in a statement that both Afghan and U.S. personnel were ’engaged by direct firing.”p>

Today the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy released the results of the annual U.S. Government estimate measuring poppy cultivation and potential opium production in Afghanistan.The U.S. Government estimate of “Afghanistan Poppy Cultivation and Potential Opium Production” found poppy cultivation decreased in 2019 compared to 2018, but potential pure opium production increased.  Poppy cultivation in Afghanistan declined 28 percent, from 221,000 hectares in 2018 to 160,000 hectares in 2019.  Conversely, potential pure opium production increased by 21 percent, from 5,550* metric tons in 2018 to 6,700 metric tons in 2019.  Low opium prices at planting time drove the...

When Syria’s civil war erupted, Iran’s powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) recruited, trained, and deployed thousands of Shi’ite fighters to prop up the regime of President Bashar al-Assad. Among them was the Fatemiyoun Brigade, comprised mainly of Afghans from the country's Shi'ite Hazara minority. From 2011, the IRGC recruited thousands of Afghan migrants and refugees within its own borders and covertly drafted hundreds of Shi'a inside Afghanistan. The majority of Muslims in Afghanistan are Sunni, but around 15 percent of its population -- mainly Hazara -- are Shi’a with religious links to the Shi'ite majority in Iran. With the...

The Pentagon has denied the Taliban shot down a US military plane over Afghanistan killing everyone on board, despite the terror group claiming responsibility. Zabihullah Mujahid, a spokesman for the militant group, said that high-ranking American officers were among the dead after the aircraft was brought down in Dih Yak district around 1.10pm local time. US officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said there were no indications so far that the plane had been brought down by enemy activity. One of the officials said there were believed to be fewer than 10 people on board the small military plane....