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A Pentagon review of the August 29th Kabul drone strike that killed 10 civilians, including seven children, concluded that the slaughter was not a result of "misconduct or negligence" and recommended no disciplinary action, The Associated Press reported Wednesday. The review was done by Air Force Inspector General Lt. Gen. Sami Said. According to AP, the Pentagon decided Said could be an "independent judge" on the matter because he had no connection to Afghanistan operations. The drone strike targeted 43-year-old Zemari Ahmadi, an aid worker employed by a US-based NGO, killing him and nine of his family members. US officials initially claimed the strike targeted ISIS-K and maintained that narrative even as evidence mounted that only civilians were killed. |
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In an interview with CBS on Sunday, Secretary of State Antony Blinken would not rule out the idea of military action against Iran if the nuclear deal, known as the JCPOA, isnt revived. Blinken said the US and its allies prefer diplomacy but are considering "other options" if JCPOA isnt restored. When asked if that the options include military action, Blinken said, "As we always say, every option is on the table." The threat comes less than a week after Iran said it was ready to return to JCPOA negotiations in Vienna by the end of November. US officials have responded to Iran's willingness to restart talks with skepticism, and the Biden administration slapped new sanctions on Tehran after the announcement. |
We're out of Afghanistan. Good. We should have gotten out before. Our involvement there was America's longest war, longer than the Civil War, World War I and World War II combined. We accomplished little good and plenty of bad. Tens of thousands killed. A trillion dollars spent. Now the Taliban wear American uniforms and fly American planes. Hawks say, "If we just stayed a little longer " It's not true. Yes, there had been a drop in violence in Afghanistan. But that did not mean we were winning. The Taliban were just waiting because former President Donald Trump announced we were going to leave. Now what? |
| The Biden administration's surprisingly confrontational stance toward the People's Republic of China (PRC) on both trade and security issues has led to considerable comment in the news media. Some commentators even contend that Biden's China policy is little more than "Trump lite." That reaction is understandable, even with respect to the bilateral trade relationship, since the administration has retained many of the tariffs and other restrictive measures that President Trump imposed. Policy continuity is even more evident on security issues, especially Washington's policy regarding Taiwan. Trump took several steps to boost U.S. diplomatic and military support for Taipei, despite Beijing's increasingly vocal protests. Indeed, by the end of his administration, the U.S.-Taiwan relationship was moving rapidly toward a de facto restoration of the mutual defense treaty that existed from the mid-1950s until Washington switched diplomatic ties to the PRC at the beginning of 1979. |
The Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) said Friday that after Kabul fell to the Taliban, he was pressured by the State Department to redact information from SIGAR reports. Since 2008, SIGAR has documented the corruption and waste involved in Washington's failed nation-building project in Afghanistan. SIGAR chief John Sopko told the annual Military Reporters & Editors Association Conference that the State Department asked him to "temporarily suspend access" to all "audit, inspection, and financial audit reports" from the SIGAR website. The Department claimed it wanted the information removed to protect Afghan allies of the US, but Sopko said he never got an explanation of how reports that have been on the internet for years could put anyone in danger. |
New research out of Chinese think tanks shows that the US has increased its military operations in the disputed South China Sea and other waters near China this year, The South China Morning Post reported on Wednesday. Wu Shicun, who heads China's National Institute for South China Sea Studies, said that the US has conducted about 500 reconnaissance flights over the South China Sea this year. Adding the East China Sea and the Yellow Sea brings the total number of US flights in the region to over 2,000 in 2021 alone. According to the South China Sea Probing Initiative (SCSPI), the US conducted just under 1,000 reconnaissance flights in the region in 2020. The dramatic increase represents Washingtons focus on countering China. |
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