"Now, our 20-year military presence in Afghanistan has ended," he said, thanking armed forces for their execution of the dangerous retrograde from Afghanistan as scheduled -- in the early hours of Tuesday (August 31) -- with no further loss of American lives.
An ISIS-Khorasan planner was killed in a "counterterrorism" operation conducted by US military forces in the Nangahar province, a day after a terror attack in Kabul killed scores of people including 13 US troops.
The United States has named a top air force general to head the investigations into the NATO air strike on Pakistani border posts that left 24 soldiers dead and has invited Pakistan and Afghanistan to join the probe.
"Do not rejoice, America, in killing Sheikh al-Baghdadi," a spokesman said on the recording.
Releasing a few short videos of the strike, US Central Command Commander Gen Kenneth Mckenzie told reporters at a Pentagon news conference that after the raid, Baghdadi's compound looks 'pretty much like a parking lot with large potholes'.
The United States officials in Afghanistan naively handed the Taliban a 'kill list' to target Afghans who aided American forces in the country, according to a media report.
Chief of Defence Staff Gen Bipin Rawat on Wednesday asserted that any possible terrorist activity flowing out of Taliban-controlled Afghanistan and finding its way into India will be firmly dealt with, and suggested that the Quad nations should boost cooperation in the global war on terrorism.
The terrorist attack was carried out by ISIS gunmen, General Kenneth Franklin McKenzie, Commander of the United States Central Command, told reporters at a Pentagon news conference on Thursday, hours after the terrorists opened gunfire at American soldiers standing outside the Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul.
The US is not in a forgiving mood for being humiliated in such a manner by an insurgent force and made to look 'loser' internationally, predicts Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
The United States has announced the end of its 20-year-old war in Afghanistan as the last American military flight flew out of the Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul shortly before the August 31 deadline.
Remember the US withdrawal agreement was signed in February 2020. In the intervening period, a proper evacuation plan ought to have been in place. It was not. Consequently, tens of thousands of Afghans who had worked as interpreters, drivers, suppliers of goods and services, etc, face brutal retribution from the Taliban, Virendra Kapoor points out.
The tragic US military attack on a 'Doctors Without Borders' hospital in the Afghan city of Kunduz last October was a mistake, a combination of human errors compounded by process and equipment failures, the Pentagon said on Friday.
A top United States general has recommended about 14,000 troops to be present in the war-torn Afghanistan even as Afghan forces take charge of the country's security.
The United States military has conducted air strikes against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant near Irbil and Iraq's largest dam in an effort to help Kurdish forces retake it from violent extremists.
The United States will hand out administrative punishment to its six soldiers for their role in desecration of Holy Quran in Afghanistan early this year, an incident that had caused wide-spread protests and riots in the country and forced President Barack Obama to apologise.
"The Afghans do not have that capability yet. It's one of the enablers that we are trying to build into them before we leave," Gen James Mattis, Commander of US Central Command, told members of the powerful House Armed Services Committee.
Inter-Services Intelligence chief Lt Gen Ahmed Shuja Pasha's recent visit to Qatar, home to the US Central Command's regional headquarters, has sparked speculation about an 'intelligence back channel' between Pakistan and the US to reset troubled security cooperation.
Taliban failed to honour Doha accord, never renounced Al-Qaeda: US general Mark Milley
The United States probe into the November 26 air attack on Af-Pak border that killed 24 Pakistani soldiers has found that American forces acted in self-defence after being fired upon and there was no intentional effort to target them, the Pentagon said on Thursday.
Considering that Qatar is a trusted ally of Washington for decades, it is expected to be a steady influence on the Taliban leadership, observes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
United States-led North Atlantic Treaty Organisation troops in Afghanistan have been ordered not to approach the buffer zone on the Af-Pak border in order to avoid recurrence of last week's air strike that killed 24 Pakistani soldiers.
The US Central Command has purchased the $2.7-million programme -- developed by San Diego firm Ntrepid -- which allows one military user to create multiple personas on internet and engage in extended online communications with terror suspects, The Washington Times reported.
For two decades the US paid in blood and blood money for dependence on Pakistan to carry out one president's boast. Now, having been defeated by its proxies, another president will go into Rawalpindi's embrace to satisfy his constituents, predicts Shekhar Gupta.
Army Chief General V K Singh began his official visit to the US during which terrorism, situation in the region including Afghanistan and Pakistan, besides bilateral military-to-military ties would top the agenda of his talks with top American military leadership.
ISI chief Faiz Hameed coerced the Taliban to announce an interim government guaranteed to preserve Pakistan's control over the levers of power in Kabul, observes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
Post 26 /11, amid growing tension between India and Pakistan and mounting evidence that people in the Pakistani establishments were involved in the Mumbai terror attacks, Army Chief General Ashfaq Pervez Kayani, told the US that his army would respond to an Indian attack.
General David Petraeus, Commander of the US Central Command, on Tuesday refuted reports that Afghan President Hamid Karzai has lost confidence in the American and the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation forces to succeed in Afghanistan.
The Pakistani military has "significantly degraded" the Pakistani Taliban, but is still reluctant to take action against the elements of Afghan Taliban operating from inside its territory, a top US General said on Wednesday.
The military used a GBU-43 bomb -- which weighs a staggering 9,525 kg -- and the radius from the blast is believed to more than 300 metres.
"There are elements in Pakistan that have not yet been the focus of the Pakistani counterinsurgency efforts," Gen Petraeus said in reply to a query raised by Senator Claire McCaskill, who expressed concern over the inability of Pakistan authorities in taking "substantial action" against the LeT.
'I think it's really important that we work as hard as we can with each other, and that any kind of public accusations or public finger pointing, quite frankly, that does not serve any of us well. That doesn't mean we won't have disagreements. But I hope that we can do that privately, and not publicly,' The Dawn quoted Mullen, as saying.
The Islamic State, the dreaded terrorist group that has gained control over a large part of Iraq and Syria, has up to 31,500 fighters - three times as many as previously feared, according to a latest Central Intelligence Agency estimate.
Noting that Pakistan has made significant progress in its fight against extremism that threatens its existence, a top United States military general has said that the country's checkered past should be remembered. "I wouldn't allow you to put words in my mouth," Commander of the US Central Command General David Petraeus told Charlie Rose of the PBS in an interview.
The US and North Atlantic Treaty Organisation forces are all set to roll out an "intensive 18-month" ground campaign in Afghanistan to stamp out Taliban and Al Qaeda militants, top US generals have said warning the insurgents that Marjah offensive was just the start.
Virtually putting Pakistan on notice, the United States has said it is looking for concrete action by the government there to destroy the Taliban operating out of its territory in the next two weeks, before determining its next course of action. General David Petraeus, the Commander of US Central Command, has told US officials that the next two weeks are critical to determining whether the Pakistani government will survive, Fox News reported.
"Militants operating out of Pakistan and Afghanistan continue to threaten Afghan stability as well as stoke tensions between Pakistan and India," Gen Votel said.
United States President-elect Donald Trump has formally nominated James Mattis, a retired 4-star Marine Corps general who has long voiced concerns about the threat posed by Iran, as the Defence Secretary to replace Ashton Carter.
The US army, navy, air force and marines have all prepared battle plans and spent four years building bases and training for Operation Iranian Freedom.
Musharraf meets US commander over Afghan allegations
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