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A different report containing classified material will be shared with members of Congress, which comes in response to requests from congressional committees, the White House said. "President Biden's choices for how to execute a withdrawal from Afghanistan were severely constrained by conditions created by his predecessor," the report said. But the Trump administration "provided no plans for how to conduct the final withdrawal or to evacuate Americans and Afghan allies," the White House said. "No agency predicted a Taliban takeover in nine days," Kirby told reporters at the White House press briefing. Many critics of the withdrawal — including lawmakers from both parties — faulted the Biden administration for how it handled the pullout.

☆ U.S. House committee chair signs subpoena for State Department Afghanistan documents
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-28 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: 1 min

People queue up to board a military aircraft of the United States and leave Kabul at Kabul airport, Afghanistan, Aug. 22, 2021. The Republican chairman of the U.S. House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee said on Monday he signed a subpoena to be delivered to Secretary of State Antony Blinken for documents related to the August 2021 U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan. Michael McCaul has launched an investigation into the messy withdrawal from Afghanistan under Democratic President Joe Biden and events in the country since. Republicans — and some Democrats — say there has never been a full accounting of the chaotic operation, in which 13 U.S. service members were killed at Kabul's airport. McCaul had given the State Department until Monday to produce the documents.

☆ A top US general warns ISIS will be able to strike Western interests from Afghanistan within 6 months
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-16 | by ( Jake Epstein | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

ISIS could strike Western interests from Afghanistan within months, a top US general says. Gen. Michael Kurilla warned the terror group's Afghanistan affiliate could stage attacks abroad. Its "ultimate goal" is to strike the US homeland, Kurilla told lawmakers, which would be difficult. The terror group continued to carry out attacks across Afghanistan in 2022 — targeting everything from schools to mosques, and killing scores of people. In the latter two countries, US and partner forces have carried out nearly 100 operations against the terror group since the start of 2023, according to CENTCOM fact sheets.

☆ Factbox: Recent attacks on foreigners in Afghanistan
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-12 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

KABUL, Dec 12 (Reuters) - The Taliban took back control of Afghanistan last year as U.S. and foreign troops withdrew after 20 years of conflict following the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States. Following is a list of recent attacks on foreigners in Afghanistan:December, 2022* At least three attackers were killed by security forces in Afghanistan on Monday after armed men opened fire inside a hotel in central Kabul popular with Chinese nationals. * Cross-border shelling and gunfire between Afghanistan and Pakistan killed six Pakistani civilians and one Afghan soldier, officials on both sides of the frontier said, with each side accusing the other of starting the fighting. September, 2022* Two Russian embassy staff were killed in a suicide bombing near the country's diplomatic mission in the Afghan capital, Kabul, the Russian Foreign Ministry said. Compiled by Sudipto Ganguly in Mumbai; Editing by Arun KoyyurOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Caught in 'the green beam': How US Air Force gunship crews let a target know they have it in their sights
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-02 | by ( Stavros Atlamazoglou | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

The US Air Force's AC-130 gunship has a reputation for delivering firepower to the battlefield. The green beamAn AC-130J crew identifies a target with green light during an exercise in Florida in May. Ridge ShanWhile discussing the performance of Air Force special-operations crews during the Kabul evacuation, Slife referred to a targeting technology that Air Commandos use and affectionally call "the green beam." AC-130 crews use the green beam — which Slife called a "giant green laser pointer" — both to point things out to friendly forces and to deter adversaries by letting them know that they're in the gunship's sights. Hitting something is not as simple as seeing it, since gravity, elevation, speed, and atmospheric conditions affect the trajectory of the AC-130's artillery and cannon fire, but having those aids is still invaluable for gunship crews.

WASHINGTON — House Republicans' majority will be smaller than expected, but they're eager to use their new oversight powers and pass a spate of bills to draw contrasts with Democrats and give the Biden administration heartburn. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., joined by Rep. Jim Banks, R-Ind., left, and Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, in Washington on July 21, 2021. A growing number of Republicans say they have their sights set on impeaching Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, bashing his handling of the border surge. LegislationDemocrats still occupy the White House, so any legislation Republicans pass on a partisan basis won’t be signed into law by Biden. But House Republicans say they will waste no time showing the parties’ stark differences as they battle for control of the White House in 2024.

CIA officer Johnny "Mike" Spann. Tyson tried to come to his aid after hearing Spann call his first name, and found four men on top of Spann, Tyson said. “But when it mattered, he ran towards his comrade — Mike Spann. Having already lost her husband to the war, Spann said the chaotic U.S. exit from Afghanistan and its aftermath have been incredibly painful to watch. Nutsch is part of the group now working to help former Afghan allies escape the Taliban.

☆ Some Unaccompanied Afghan Children in the U.S. Suffer Panic Attacks, Depression
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-15 | by ( Jessica Donati | Photographs Valerie Plesch For The Wall Street Journal | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

WASHINGTON—Mahsa Zahrabi, an Afghan teenager who was evacuated to the U.S. on her own after being separated from her family at Kabul airport last year, was sleeping on the floor in her aunt’s unfinished basement in Virginia when a healthcare worker visited the home. The healthcare worker, who had been called to check on the girl after Mahsa went to a local hospital with a panic attack, was alarmed by her living conditions. The healthcare worker tapped into her network of churches and volunteers and found her a foster family instead.

☆ 'Langley Files': CIA launches podcast to ‘demystify’ its spy work
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-22 | by ( Dan De Luce | Dan De Luce Is A Reporter For The Nbc News Investigative Unit. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +5 min

The CIA launched its own podcast Thursday, saying it wanted to step out from the shadows to “demystify” its spy work and to help Americans understand the intelligence agency’s role. During Burns’ tenure, the CIA and other intelligence agencies have broken with past practice and declassified intelligence about Russia’s war effort in Ukraine as part of an information war with the Kremlin. Burns also said the agency had placed a priority on China and set up a new center focused on the country. The CIA was trying to devote more resources to that effort and was recruiting more Mandarin speakers, he said. “It’s a tally of the lives of stranded American citizens and Afghan partners, partners who had fought and bled with us over two decades in Afghanistan.

☆ US government free Taliban drug lord in return for release of kidnapped US citizen
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-19 | by ( Bethany Dawson | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

The Taliban has freed kidnapped US citizen Mark Frerichs after two and a half years' captivity. In return, the US has freed Bashir Noorzai, a Taliban warlord convicted of drug trafficking. In exchange, the US has released Bashir Noorzai. Frerichs was working as a civil engineer in Afghanistan for 10 years "for the benefit of the Afghan people," according to the US State Department. In January, President Joe Biden said: "The Taliban must immediately release Mark before it can expect any consideration of its aspirations for legitimacy.

☆ An Afghan refugee who lifted his wife and toddler onto a C-17 military plane to flee Kabul tells the harrowing story of how they arrived safely in the US
▼ + stars: | 2021-08-23 | by ( Oma Seddiq | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Thousands of Afghan refugees have evacuated Kabul amid the Taliban's takeover of Afghanistan. He was one of thousands who flooded the airport that Sunday evening, desperate to flee the country in fear of a Taliban government. Rahmatullah Alizadah/Xinhua via GettyThe Taliban's swift capture of Kabul triggered a collapse of the Afghan government and forced a frenzied evacuation of Americans and Afghan refugees amid the US's military pullout of the 20-year war in Afghanistan. Transit in Qatar and arrival to the USThe American C-17 aircraft landed in an air base in Qatar. Afghan refugees in the US are being housed at military bases in Virginia, Wisconsin, and Texas before being resettled across the country.

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