Archive for August 2021
[ The Epoch Times ] New Jersey Military Base to Be Used to House Afghan Evacuees: Pentagon
A military base in New Jersey will house evacuees from Afghanistan as the United States works on flying tens of thousands of Afghans from the Taliban-held country. Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, about 39 miles northeast of Philadelphia, is the fourth base that is preparing to or already has accepted evacuees. The other three bases are Fort Lee in Virginia, Fort McCoy…
Read More[ BBC ] Pfizer becomes first Covid vaccine to gain full FDA approva
Pfizer’s two-dose Covid-19 vaccine has received full approval from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) – the first jab to be licensed in the nation. The vaccine had initially been given emergency use authorisation. Its two jabs, three weeks apart, are now fully approved for those aged 16 and older. In a statement, the…
Read More[ BBC ] Anti-Taliban resistance group says it has thousands of fighters
Ali Nazary, head of foreign relations for the National Resistance Front of Afghanistan (NRF), told the BBC they want to pursue peaceful negotiations. But, he added, “if this fails… then we’re not going to accept any sort of aggression”. Meanwhile, the Taliban say they have surrounded the group’s Panjshir valley stronghold and put them under…
Read MoreFailure to evacuate Afghan contractors will have dire consequences for the rest of US foreign deployments around the world
Daniella Mestyanek Young@daniellamyoungBFF deployed to Africa tells me that all of their translators have quit & nobody wants to work with the US military right now… This is perhaps one of the first signal that a impending translator drought (or local guide for that matter) for US foreign operations/deployment. Locally employed guides and translator (or…
Read MoreSingapore’s Minister answering Malaysian military’s passive aggression on Singapore’s National Day
In case you missed it, Singapore celebrated the nation’s 56th birthday last Saturday (Aug 21) with a belated bash at the floating platform in Marina Bay, featuring the usual fanfare — fireworks, the Red Lions and displays from the Singapore Armed Forces. Across the Causeway, Malaysia was also highlighting its own military with a display of their…
Read More[ The Atlantic ] What I Learned While Eavesdropping on the Taliban
In 2011, about 20 people in the world were trained to do the job I did. Technically, only two people had the exact training I had. We had been formally trained in Dari and Pashto, the two main languages spoken in Afghanistan, and then assigned to receive specialized training to become linguists aboard Air Force…
Read More[ Anny Bonny Pirate ] Afghanistan: The End of the Occupation
Nancy Lindisfarne and Jonathan Neale write: A lot of nonsense about Afghanistan is being written in Britain and the United States. Most of this nonsense hides a number of important truths. First, the Taliban have defeated the United States. Second, the Taliban have won because they have more popular support. Third, this is not because most Afghans love…
Read More[ CS Monitor ] Afghanistan: How the Taliban won over northern ethnic minorities
When the Taliban last ruled Afghanistan in the 1990s, they faced stiff resistance across the country’s north from ethnic-based paramilitaries that resented the southern Pashtun militants. That resistance would prove decisive in 2001 when the same ethnic minorities, backed by U.S. air power, ousted the Taliban regime in Kabul. This time around, the Taliban had…
Read MoreIsmail Sabri’s first statements as PM on twitter after sworn in as Malaysia’s new Prime Minister
Ismail Sabri, the new Malaysian Prime Minister thank God, King and MPs for their support and trust – vow to carry out the duty of the office and fulfill the trust in him for the country. Syukur kehadrat Ilahi. Patik menjunjung kasih atas limpah perkenan KDYMM Seri Paduka Baginda Yang di-Pertuan Agong, Al-Sultan Abdullah Ri’ayatuddin…
Read More[ UnHerd ] The man who lost Afghanistan
If there was one family in Afghanistan who incarnated the hopes, illusions and failures of the last two decades there, it was the Ghanis. Ashraf, the father, was the country’s last president. A trained anthropologist, he believed in books, and the power of the ideas within them to move the world. His wife, Rula, a…
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