Free Republic

CNN national security analyst Juliette Kayyem, a lecturer at the Harvard Kennedy School, was among the droves of liberals who rushed to social media this week to ridicule former President Donald Trump over factual claims he made in Tuesday's debate. Kayyem's experience working in the Obama administration and serving as a member of the National Commission on Terrorism failed to prepare her for the task of dunking on Trump. She suggested that Trump's accurate identification of a founding member of the Taliban present for the U.S.-Taliban peace talks in Doha was a clear indication of his "racism and senility." Having...

China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi made an unannounced surprise visit to Afghanistan Thursday, where he held talks in Kabul with Acting Deputy Prime Minister of the Afghan Interim Government Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar and Acting Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi. The visit comes seven months after the U.S. withdrew from Afghanistan, leaving behind a power vacuum that China is waiting to fill. China is especially interested in Afghanistan’s mineral wealth, which includes gold, precious stones, coal, oil and gas, lithium, copper and rare-earth minerals. China is not the only power taking advantage of the power vacuum that the U.S. withdrawal...

TIME, the magazine, has been around for nearly a century. That is to say, they were around during the heydays of journalism and continue to print despite the eroding trust in established news media. TIME, earlier this month, published its '100 Most Influential People of 2021' list. ......snip............ And according to the TIME, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar—nicknamed "Baradar the Butcher" —deserves a place in the '100 Most Influential People of 2021.' The Deputy Prime Minister in the interim Taliban government is listed under the heading 'Leaders.' Others on the list are U.S. Presidents, Senators, the German Chancellor, and the Indian...

According to a senior diplomat in the region and another source familiar with the matter, the CIA Chief William Burns secretly met with Taliban leader Abdul Ghani Baradar.The meeting was first reported by The Washington Post. The news comes as US President Joe Biden is expected to decide whether to extend the Aug. 31 deadline for U.S. troops to withdraw from the country amid growing pressure from key allies.That expected decision comes as thousands desperately await evacuation in the wake of the militant group’s rapid takeover of the country.The Taliban have warned any delay in the withdrawal would cross a...

The White House and the Pakistani military are confirming that top Taliban commander Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar is in custody. White House spokesman Robert Gibbs called the joint U.S.-Pakistan operation that captured him in Karachi several days ago "a big success for our mutual efforts in the region." He declined to discuss details about Baradar's ongoing interrogation, but said his capture is a sign of increased cooperation in the region. Pakistan's military confirmed Baradar's capture earlier Wednesday. Baradar, an Afghan national, holds the second most important position within the Taliban, after only the group's founder, Mullah Muhammad Omar.

U.S. intelligence officials appear to have obtained access to what could turn out to be a significant trove of phone numbers, photographs and documents detailing the links between Al Qaeda's leaders in northwest Pakistan and the terror group's increasingly menacing affiliate in Yemen, two counter-terrorism sources tell Declassified. In late January, an Al Qaeda operative headed from Pakistan on his way to Yemen was arrested in the Persian Gulf country of Oman, a U.S. counter-terrorism official confirmed. There has been no public announcement of the arrest. But in a possible indication of the operative's importance, just a few days later,...