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On the current airlift, Mr Johnson revealed that just 306 UK nationals and 2,052 Afghan nationals had been extracted so far - with thousands more still waiting.... ..He added: 'As for our Nato allies and allies around the world, when it came for us to look at the options that this country might have in view of the American decision to withdraw we came up against this hard reality. 'That since 2009, America has deployed 98 per cent of all weapons released from Nato aircraft in Afghanistan and at the peak of the operation – where there were 132,000 troops...

National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan says Biden has not spoken to any world leaders since the fall of Afghanistan

European allies had hoped Joe Biden’s election to the US presidency would bolster Nato’s relevance after Donald Trump’s acrimonious years. Washington’s messy withdrawal from Afghanistan is prompting a rethink. After the fall of Kabul, EU defence and security officials have been strikingly critical of the US decision to send home its troops, arguing it has weakened Nato and raised questions about Europe’s security dependence on Washington. Their reaction marks a bitter end to the alliance’s longest-running mission, which shifted over two decades from combat to a training programme involving 10,000 personnel from 36 countries by the time it ended. “This...

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — The Taliban declared an “amnesty” across Afghanistan and urged women to join their government Tuesday, seeking to convince a wary population that they have changed... ...Overnight, flight-tracking data showed a U.S. military plane taking off for Qatar, home to the U.S. military Central Command's forward headquarters. A British military cargo plane also was flying to Kabul after taking off from Dubai. Other military aircraft remained in the air in the region. The U.S. Embassy in Kabul, now operating from the airport, urged Americans to register online for evacuations but not come to the airport before being...

In April 1945, near Prague in Czechoslovakia, the German Wehrmacht was disarmed and their soldiers taken prisoners of war.Video

The White House is seeking $1 billion to help resettle Afghan personnel who worked with the U.S. military, according to multiple reports. People familiar with the matter told Bloomberg News that the request was made last Friday. The money would be divided between the Defense Department and State Department, and $25 million would go to Health and Human Services’ Office of Refugee Resettlement. The money would cover temporary shelter, resettlement, and other necessities.

The people who bravely allied themselves with American efforts to lift Afghanistan out of medieval theocracy — estimated to be 170–180,000 in number — are about to learn that trusting America was a bad bet. Many will be condemned to torture and death as the reward for their service. You can be certain that the lesson will not be lost on those elsewhere in the world contemplating allying themselves with American goals for their countries.Former congressman Steve Israel writes in The Hill:Someone needs to speak for those who spoke for our troops. I'm talking about the Afghan translators who provided...

David Frum’s dangerous argument is part of a larger effort to suggest that if China attacks democratically ruled Taiwan, helping Taiwan is not worth the risk of war with China.David Frum is a prominent member of the foreign policy priesthood, albeit an accidental one, and he continues to urge U.S. foreign policy errors in a new Atlantic article about China. “China Is a Paper Dragon” argues the Biden administration is unnecessarily concerned about the People’s Republic of China (PRC).Frum’s argument is part of a larger effort by high-profile pundits to suggest that if China attacks democratically ruled Taiwan, helping Taiwan...

...Some have attempted to portray this escalation as being about several homes in the Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah that have been the subject of a protracted legal battle between Israeli Jews and Palestinians stretching back nearly fifty years. It is not. Others have attempted to portray it as being about a nefarious Israeli scheme to take control of the Al-Aqsa Mosque, which has been entrusted by Israel to Islamic custodianship since the Jewish state took control over the site in the 1967 Six-Day War. It is not. ...Fundamentally, this is about Hamas and its dedication, in word and deed,...

Do the Biden administration and the Democratic majority in Congress believe that America’s major competitors are willing to wait for the United States to sort out its domestic problems before ensuring the country has a military capable of defending its interests? That’s the impression one gets from following the money.

The Biden administration continues its soft approach to China even as Beijing becomes increasingly aggressive. One America’s Hans Hubbard reports.

Tucker Carlson is correct about utopian ideas from the national security blob resulting in flawed and destructive policies.For the first time in history, the leaders of the Quad—the informal alliance of India, Japan, Australia, and the United States—met in a virtual conference, agreeing to jointly form supply chains for crucial rare earth minerals and to supply vaccines to Asian states, diminishing their dependence on Beijing. The vaccine plan is crucial and a continuation of the Trump administration’s approach to China. As the Financial Times reports, the plan uses the competitive advantage of all the powers, from American and Japanese research...

Ex-House impeachment manager Eric Swalwell (D-CA) confirmed Friday he will sue former President Donald Trump, his son Donald Trump Jr., Rudy Giuliani and Republican Rep. Mo Brooks in a second major lawsuit seeking to hold Trump and his allies accountable for the attack on the U.S. Capitol on January 6. Swalwell’s action follows a similar suit filed last month by Rep. Bennie Thompson against Trump, Giuliani and the Oath Keepers and Proud Boys groups

Under no scenario would a unified European Union aligned with China be in the interest of America. Indeed, a united EU might not be a friend but a foe.Joseph Borrell, a former Spanish socialist and current High Representative of the European Union, recently argued the EU needs to be strategically independent. “It is foreseen that in 20 years, we [the EU] will not represent more than 11 percent of world GNP, far behind China, which will represent double it, below 14 percent for the United States and at par with India,” Borrell wrote, adding the next two decades would be...

Evangelical leaders Paula White, Franklin Graham and David Jeremiah have been named as being among the leading defenders and advocates for Israel worldwide, according to a list released by the Israel Allies Foundation. On Thursday, IAF, an organization that coordinates 44 Israel Allies Caucuses worldwide to mobilize political support for Israel based on shared Judeo-Christian values, published its first list of Israel’s Top 50 Christian Allies, individuals the group said have “conveyed their deep love and support for the State of Israel which stems from their faith.” Released ahead of Sukkot — the Feast of Tabernacles — the list includes...

CLAIM: “Our unemployment rate is more than twice as high as South Korea’s, two-and-a-half times the United Kingdom’s, more than three times Japan’s. Donald Trump says we’re leading the world — well, we are the only major industrial economy to have its unemployment rate tripled,” former President Bill Clinton said in a video broadcast Tuesday night during the Democrat’s virtual national convention.

Acting Secretary of Defense Patrick M. Shanahan embarks Tuesday, May. 28 to visit Hawaii, Jakarta, Singapore, Seoul, and Tokyo. In Singapore, Secretary Shanahan will attend the Shangri La Dialogue where he will meet with key leaders from the region and announce the Department of Defense’s new strategy for the Indo-Asia Pacific. Throughout his trip, Secretary Shanahan will meet with key leaders to reaffirm defense relationships and conduct bilateral and multilateral meetings with senior officials.

Some of our European allies aren’t acting very much like allies these days. The latest example of this phenomenon comes to us from Germany, where Chancellor Angela Merkel has basically put aside all pretenses of diplomacy and is now insulting us to our faces. In remarks to the German press this week, she spoke of the “adversaries” Europe must contend with, both militarily and in terms of trade agreements, and listed three examples. China, Russia and… the United States. (Newsweek) German Chancellor Angela Merkel lumped in the United States with Europe’s other global adversaries on Wednesday, arguing that the countries...

[photo caption] M1A2 Abrams tanks and Bradley Fighting Vehicles converge on a smoke signal during a live-fire exercise at Grafenwoehr, Germany, in March. President Trump is pushing a plan that demands allies pick up the full cost of hosting U.S. troops in their countries, plus a 50 percent premium for American protection, according to a news report. [photo credit; MARTIN EGNASH/STARS AND STRIPES] STUTTGART, Germany — President Donald Trump is pushing a plan that demands allies pick up the full cost of hosting U.S. troops in their countries, plus a 50 percent premium for the privilege of American protection, according...

(Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump said on Saturday the United States was asking European allies to “take back over 800” Islamic State fighters captured in Syria and put them on trial. “The Caliphate is ready to fall,” he said in a Tweet. “The alternative is not a good one in that we will be forced to release them...”