Free Republic

MANILA – In his stated wish to end America’s “forever wars” and accordingly refocus the country’s foreign policy more directly on China, US President Joseph Biden pressed ahead with a hasty exit from Afghanistan. Convinced that the United States has done more than enough of its share of responsibility by spending trillions of dollars on nation-building in Afghanistan, Biden repeatedly resisted or ignored warnings by his top defense officials of a precipitous collapse in favor of Taliban forces. But the “hard and messy” exit and the seamless victory of Taliban forces has sent shockwaves across the world, threatening to undermine...

CAIRO (AP) — U.S. Secretary of State John F. Kerry, in an apparent warning to Iran, tried to reassure America’s Arab friends on Sunday that the United States will not allow them to be attacked “from outside.” He specifically mentioned Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Jordan and Egypt as nations, alongside unspecified “others,” that the U.S. will defend. Those others likely would include Israel, the strongest U.S. ally in the region. “The United States will be there for the defense of our friends and our allies,” Mr. Kerry told reporters in Cairo. “We will not allow those countries...