US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin has approved a plan to transfer authority from Army General Scott Miller to Marine Corps General Frank McKenzie, Pentagon Press Secretary John Kirby said late Friday. Miller is the commander of U.S. Forces-Afghanistan and the Resolute Support Mission. McKenzie is the commander of U.S. Central Command. According to Kirby, this is all part of […]

US Special Representative for Afghanistan Reconciliation Zalmay Khalilzad said this week that there are “alternative futures” for Afghanistan but warned that the establishment of militia groups could complicate matters even further. He said the best outcome now would be for negotiations to restart. Speaking to PBS News Hour this week, Khalilzad said: “The Talibs have to know, and we have […]

US President Joe Biden has voiced concern over the state of Afghanistan and government’s ability to win the support of the Afghan people after his troops have withdrawn. Addressing reporters at the White House, Biden was asked about the Afghan government’s ability to hold on to power after the withdrawal of American forces. He said: “I think they have the […]

The US is one step closer to completing its troops withdrawal after vacating the sprawling Bagram Airfield base outside Kabul in the early hours of Saturday morning. Local residents said the last plane carrying US forces flew out at 1am on Saturday adding that the base is now in the hands of the Afghan security forces. Bagram, has in the […]

Caecilia Wijgers, the Dutch ambassador to Kabul, said on Thursday her country will continue to provide development assistance to Afghanistan as long as it can be done safely and responsibly. Speaking after the last of Netherlands’ troops withdrew from Afghanistan this week,Wijgers said in a statement: “Development cooperation and military and diplomatic efforts have achieved significant results … and the […]

American troops pulled out of their main military base in Afghanistan on Friday, a U.S. defence official said, under an agreement with the Taliban allowing for the withdrawal of all U.S. forces from the country after a two-decade war. “All American soldiers and members of NATO forces have left the Bagram airbase,” said the senior U.S. security official on condition […]

Moscow has promised to provide any necessary assistance to Tajikistan in the event of terrorist threats from Afghanistan as US and NATO troops withdraw, Russia’s state media TASS reported Thursday. According to TASS, State Duma Defense Committee Head Vladimir Shamanov said Thursday assistance will be provided in accordance with the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO). Speaking ahead of a meeting […]

The Afghan National Directorate for Security (NDS) has thwarted a “terrorist attack” on a Herat-Kabul flight, the NDS said in a statement on Friday. According to the statement, the NDS personnel have arrested a man at the Herat’s Khwaja Abdullah Ansari International Airport who wanted to detonate an explosive placed in a musical instrument on a flight to Kabul. The […]

After nearly two decades, the US military has left the Bagram Airfield in central Afghanistan and has handed it over to Afghan National Defense and Security Forces, sources from the Ministry of Defense confirmed. At its peak, the airfield, located 69 kilometers north of Kabul in the central province of Parwan, saw more than 100,000 US troops pass through its […]

The US cannot and should not transform the withdrawal of its troops from Afghanistan into the relocation of its military facilities to Central Asia, Russian presidential envoy for Afghanistan Zamir Kabulov said Friday. “We have already sent such a signal to Washington at various levels, I hope it will be heard,” Kabulov told Russian news agency, RIA. Kabulov called “a […]