WFP Afghanistan Received Aid from Over 12 Countries in 2023: Spokesman

The donors include, Kropf said, “New Zealand as well from the European Union, Islamic Development Bank, the United Nations and private donors.”

The spokesman for the World Food Program (WFP) in Afghanistan, Philip Kropf, said that they received contributions from more than 12 countries this year, but warned that the limited funding is threatening the “lifesaving” operation of the organization.

The donors include, Kropf said, “New Zealand as well from the European Union, Islamic Development Bank, the United Nations and private donors.”

“Two countries, India and the Republic of Korea, have supported our work with in kind donations of wheat and rice,” Kropf said.

He said that the WFP was forced to reduce rations and cut 8 million people from assistance across the country in recent weeks.

“Millions of families in Afghanistan are at risk of going hungry … This year and this winter is as important as it was last year and before,” Kropf said.

He also stressed that WFP in Afghanistan “urgently needs $1 billion” to continue emergency operations and help the families to survive the coming winter.

Meanwhile, the acting Minister of Economy, Din Mohammad Hanif, met with the two UN officials and they discussed the projects in education, food, livelihood and health sectors.

“All humanitarian assistance of the international community has been beneficial for countering the food insecurity and rotation of economic infrastructure. Support for development projects by the international community and focusing on sectors that create jobs causes a reduction in poverty, and economic enhancement,” said Abdul Rahman Habib, a spokesman for the MoE.

This comes as the residents of Kabul say that poverty and unemployment increases the number of people in need of humanitarian assistance.

“The poor people should be helped. The poor people should be reached in the villages, districts and cities,” said Talib, a resident of Kabul.

“90 percent of the people are living under the poverty line and a basic problem is the unfair distribution of assistance to the people, and secondly unemployment,” said Fakhruddin, a resident of Kabul.

WFP Afghanistan Received Aid from Over 12 Countries in 2023: Spokesman
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Biden’s Comments on Al-Qaeda in Afghanistan ‘Divorced From Reality’: McCaul

The Islamic Emirate reacted to McCaul’s statement saying that the al-Qaeda has no presence in the country.

The House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul in a statement reacted to US President Biden’s recent remarks on al-Qaeda in Afghanistan, saying that “it is completely divorced from reality for President Biden to claim that al Qaeda is no longer operating in Afghanistan or that the Taliban has somehow become our national security partner in the region.”

Earlier, Biden in response to a question about “mistakes in Afghanistan withdrawal”, said: “Remember what I said about Afghanistan? I said al-Qaida would not be there. I said it wouldn’t be there. I said we’d get help from the Taliban. What’s happening now? What’s going on? Read your press. I was right.”

Referring to a UN report saying the “relationship between the Taliban and al-Qaida remained close and symbiotic with al-Qaida viewing Taliban-administered Afghanistan a safe haven,” McCaul said that Biden’s words can only be interpreted as an attempt to whitewash the Islamic Emirate and al Qaeda’s longstanding ties, and “may even be an attempt to get Washington on the path of recognizing the Taliban as the government of Afghanistan.”

“That is something I will do everything in my power to oppose,” he said.

McCaul also mentioned the US strike in Kabul, in which, according to the US officials, Ayman al- Zawahiri, the leader of al Qaeda was killed.

However, earlier, the Islamic Emirate said that they have not found any details to prove that Zawahiri was killed in Afghanistan.

The US House Foreign Affairs Committee chairman argued that the UN and top US generals regularly report al Qaeda’s growing capabilities, “which not only go unchecked by the Taliban, but are aided by the Taliban through funding and security cooperation.”

The Islamic Emirate reacted to McCaul’s statement saying that the al-Qaeda has no presence in the country and that the Islamic Emirate has no kind of relations with the group.

“Al-Qaeda doesn’t exist in Afghanistan. I seriously deny it. They have a long territory in Arabic countries and it is possible they are there. But they are not allowed in Afghanistan,” said Zabiullah Mujahid, the Islamic Emirate’s spokesman.
The political analysts give various opinions on the matter.

“As much as the world is concerned about it and it is being highlighted in the media, I don’t think al-Qaeda would be at that level that it could attack Western or world countries from Afghan soil,” said Sarwar Niazai, military analyst.

Biden’s Comments on Al-Qaeda in Afghanistan ‘Divorced From Reality’: McCaul
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Japan Seeks to Help Afghans, Engage With De Facto Authorities: Ambassador

The Japanese ambassador in Kabul, Takashi Okada, said that his country’s policy is to first help the Afghan people and to engage with the de facto authorities.

He made the remarks in an interview with TOLOnews, saying that if the de facto authority will “well govern” the people of Afghanistan, then they “will have a stronger legitimacy inside that will lead to a better international relationship” that “will eventually lead to more assistance and a promising future.”

Okada also called education important for both boys and girls.

“That is why I am very happy to let you know that the Japanese government—the scholarship by the ministry of education of the Japanese government–is going to resume next year. So, it is for the master degree and doctor degree,” he said.

Wahid Faqiri, an international relations’ analyst, said that Japan has an important role in Afghanistan.

“As an assisting country, it (Japan) can have its influence in Afghanistan’s affairs,” he said.

Japan is one of the countries which has provided various types of assistance to Afghanistan.

Japan Seeks to Help Afghans, Engage With De Facto Authorities: Ambassador
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Muttaqi Meets With Charge d’Affaires of UK Mission in Afghanistan

Last month, Robert Chatterton Dickson was appointed to serve as the British Embassy’s chargé d’affaires in Afghanistan.

Amir Khan Muttaqi, the acting foreign minister, called for interaction with the current Afghan government, in a meeting with Robert Chatterton Dickson, the ad interim chargé d’affaires of the UK mission in Afghanistan.

According to Hafiz Zia Ahmad Takal, the deputy spokeswoman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Dickson stressed the importance of maintaining Afghanistan’s stability and security and preventing drug trafficking.

Dickson and Muttaqi spoke about commercial issues, education, consular services, and fostering closer ties between Kabul and London during their discussion, the deputy spokesman said.

“The foreign minister discussed the issues facing Afghans residing in Britain and expressed his hope that consular services will begin in London so that Afghans can get their rights,” Takal told TOLOnews.

In the meantime, the acting minister of higher education, Neda Mohammad Nadim, urged collaboration in the area of education in Afghanistan during a separate meeting with Chatterton Dickson.

“Britain’s role in Afghanistan is limited, but it can also improve coordination with other western countries in monitoring the human rights situation in Afghanistan and also can make a significant contribution in providing humanitarian aid,” said Nematullah Bizhanpor, an expert in international relations.

“The interaction of countries with the Taliban is positive if it is intended to alter the Taliban’s policies, but if it means approving the Taliban’s policies, this interaction means taking part in the violation of the rights of the Afghan people,” said Sayed Javad Sajadi, a university lecturer.

Last month, Robert Chatterton Dickson was appointed to serve as the British Embassy’s chargé d’affaires in Afghanistan.

The British Embassy in Afghanistan now operates from Doha, the capital of Qatar.

Muttaqi Meets With Charge d’Affaires of UK Mission in Afghanistan
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Contracts for 4 Mines in Uruzgan Signed With Domestic Companies

Earlier, the Ministry of Mines and Petroleum (MMP) said that it had handed signed contracts for two nephrite mines in Nangarhar to two Afghan companies.

The spokesman for the Ministry of Mines and Petroleum, Homayoun Afghan, said they have signed contracts for four mines with four domestic companies. 

Three mines were fluoride and one mine was turquoise.

Paiman said that the companies are obliged to extract from the mines based on the conditions of the contract.

“The bidding for three fluoride and one turquoise mine in Uruzgan province took place in transparency. 25 companies attended the bidding,” Afghan said.
Meanwhile, the Afghanistan Chamber of Industry and Mines (ACIM), said that the mines should be extracted transparently, and their processing should happen inside Afghanistan.

“It is time that the mines of the country be offered to bidding and be extracted and should be given to companies which have the capacity and commitment and who process in Afghanistan. The domestic companies should be prioritized,” said Sakhi Ahmad Paiman, deputy head of the ACIM.
Meanwhile, the Afghanistan Chamber of Commerce and Investment (ACCI) said that mining accounted for more than $450 million worth of exports last year.

Earlier, the Ministry of Mines and Petroleum (MMP) said that it had handed signed contracts for two nephrite mines in Nangarhar to two Afghan companies.

Contracts for 4 Mines in Uruzgan Signed With Domestic Companies
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Campaign Starts to Reopen Schools, Universities

They said that they would keep campaigning until girls were allowed to attend schools and universities.

University professors, women’s rights activists, and religious clerics have launched a campaign called “Education of Afghan Girls,” with the goal of reopening schools and universities for females in the country.

The campaign’s organizers said that despite their requests to reopen the nation’s schools and universities during the past two years, no action has been taken.

They said that they would keep campaigning until girls were allowed to attend schools and universities.

“The campaign for girls’ education in Afghanistan has been launched as a national initiative, and this campaign will continue until the doors of schools and universities are opened for girls,” said Fazl Hadi Wazeen, a religious cleric.

“This campaign’s goal is to ensure the rights of students above the sixth grade and female students in public and private universities,” said Abeda Majidi, a university lecturer.

Meanwhile, some girls said that they have been faced with an uncertain future after the closure of schools for girls above sixth grade in the country.

“If we don’t study, it is clear that in the future there will be neither good doctors nor good teachers in our country,” said Setara, a student.

“We ask the Taliban to open the doors of the schools for us. We want to study and serve our country,” said Ghazal, another student.

The country’s schools for female students above the sixth grade have been closed for more than 650 days. Even though this issue sparked a wide range of national and international reactions, so far there has been no word about the reopening of educational institutions for girls in the nation.

Campaign Starts to Reopen Schools, Universities
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Afghanistan Discussed in 23rd Shanghai Cooperation Organization Meeting

Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said at the summit that a peaceful and stable Afghanistan will contribute to global peace, security and progress.

Afghanistan was discussed during the 23rd Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) meeting, which was hosted by India and started in virtual form on Tuesday.

The participants of this summit discussed a number of significant topics, including the creation of an inclusive government, the fight against terrorism, the issue of human rights, particularly the rights of women and girls in Afghanistan, and providing humanitarian assistance to the nation.

“The situation in Afghanistan has had a direct impact on the security of all of us (countries). India’s concerns and expectations regarding Afghanistan are the same as most of the SCO member countries. We have to make united efforts for the welfare of the people of Afghanistan. Humanitarian aid to Afghans, creation of inclusive government, the fight against terrorism and drug trafficking, ensuring the rights of women, children and minorities are our common priorities,” said the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Vladimir Putin, the president of Russia, said during the summit that fighting the activities of terrorist organizations, drug trafficking, and organized crime is a priority for Russia and its allies in Afghanistan.

“Another focus of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization is on the situation in Afghanistan. Our partners have recently talked about this. In this context, the priority of the SCO should be to fight against terrorist activities, prevent the radicalization of minorities, and stop drug trafficking and fight against organized crime,” Putin noted.

Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said at the summit that a peaceful and stable Afghanistan will contribute to global peace, security and progress.

“The international community should meaningfully engage with the interim Afghan government to take the next steps. Similarly, the interim Afghan government must also take concrete measures to ensure its soil is not used for terrorism by any entity. A peaceful and stable Afghanistan will not only bring economic dividends to the Afghan people but will also unlock the true economic potential of the SCO region as well as contribute to global peace, security and progress,” Sharif added.

In the meantime, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and the President of Kazakhstan emphasized the need for the continuation of humanitarian aid to Afghanistan.

“We must make sure that all human rights events are honored; and this action will promote regional cooperation and peace. I’m confident that all of your organization members will keep working to support the Afghan people. I also appreciate the Afghan government’s neighbors’ commitment to aiding the people of Afghanistan,” Guterres said.

However, Suhail Shaheen, the head of the Islamic Emirate’s political office in Qatar, said that sanctions imposed on the current government should be lifted and that the Islamic Emirate’s representative should be invited to such summits.

“In order to end poverty and create job opportunities, it is necessary for the United Nations to start other development projects, end economic sanctions and separate political issues from humanitarian issues,” Shaheen said.

The Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi chaired the 23rd SCO online summit, which included participation by Chinese President Xi Jinping, Russian President Vladimir Putin, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, Kazakhstan’s President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, Tajikistan’s President Emomali Rahmon, Uzbekistan’s President Shavkat Mirziyoyev, and Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi among other leaders of the observer states.

Afghanistan Discussed in 23rd Shanghai Cooperation Organization Meeting
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UN Framework for Afghanistan Prioritizes ‘Most Vulnerable’: Haq

In the meantime, Abdul Latif Nazari, Deputy Minister of Economy, said that the UN can play an important role in supporting the people of Afghanistan.

UN Framework for Afghanistan Prioritizes Women, Minorities, Internally Displaced: Haq

The UN will prioritize issues relating to women and girls, ethnic and religious minorities, and internally displaced persons in Afghanistan, according to Farhan Haq, the deputy spokesperson for the Secretary-General, at a press briefing.

According to Haq, the framework focuses on three complementary and mutually reinforcing joint priorities: sustaining essential services; economic opportunities and resilient livelihoods; and social cohesion, inclusion, gender equality, human rights and the rule of law.

“The new Framework will prioritize the needs and rights of those most vulnerable, including women and girls, children and youth, internally displaced persons, returnees, refugees, [and] ethnic and religious minorities. The Framework focuses on three complementary and mutually reinforcing joint priorities: sustaining essential services; economic opportunities and resilient livelihoods; and social cohesion, inclusion, gender equality, human rights and the rule of law,” Farhan Haq told the press briefing.

In the meantime, Abdul Latif Nazari, Deputy Minister of Economy, said that the UN can play an important role in supporting the people of Afghanistan.

“The UN can play a significant role in supporting the people of Afghanistan. We want good and strategic interaction between the Islamic Emirate, the UN and the international community,” Nazari told TOLOnews.

According to economists, UNAMA can assist the Afghan people in establishing a lasting peace.

“Humanitarian aid is needed in Afghanistan, where over 90% of the population lives in poverty, 28.3 million of them are poor, and six million of them are trapped in absolute poverty,” said economist Sayed Masoud.

“It is a very important organization that can aid Afghans in laying the groundwork for peace and long-term development in Afghanistan,” said Sieyar Qureshi, another economist.

The United Nations Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) on Monday released its new road map through 2025, guiding its work on the ground to address basic human needs in Afghanistan.

UN Framework for Afghanistan Prioritizes ‘Most Vulnerable’: Haq
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Taliban bans women’s beauty parlours in Afghanistan

Al Jazeera
Published On 4 Jul 2023

Ministry confirms recent order asking salons to shut within a month in the latest curb to further squeeze women out of public life.

The Taliban is banning women’s beauty parlours in Afghanistan, says a government spokesman, in the latest curb on the rights and freedoms of women and girls in the country.

The government order, confirmed on Tuesday, followed the edicts barring women from education, public spaces and most forms of employment since the Taliban seized power in August 2021 as US and NATO forces pulled out.

A spokesman for the Taliban-run Virtue and Vice Ministry, Mohammad Sidik Akif Mahajar, did not give details of the ban. He only confirmed the content of a letter circulating on social media.

The ministry’s letter, dated June 24, says it conveys a verbal order from the supreme leader, Haibatullah Akhunzada.

The ban targets the capital, Kabul, and all provinces, and gives parlours across the country a month’s notice to wind down their businesses. After that period, they must close and submit a report about their closure.

The letter does not give reasons for the ban. It comes days after Akhunzada claimed that his government had taken the necessary steps for the betterment of women’s lives in Afghanistan.

Mohammad Sadeq Akif Muhajir, spokesman for the Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, would not say why the new order had been given.

“Once they are closed then we will share the reason with the media,” he told the AFP news agency.

Muhajir said the businesses have been given time to close their affairs so they could use up their stock without incurring losses. A copy of the order seen by AFP said it was “based on verbal instruction from the supreme leader”.

Despite initial promises of a more moderate rule than during their previous stint in power in the 1990s, the Taliban has imposed harsh measures. It has barred women from public spaces, like parks and gyms, and cracked down on media freedoms.

Women have also mostly been barred from working for the United Nations or NGOs, and thousands have been sacked from government jobs or are being paid to stay at home.

The measures have triggered a fierce international uproar, increasing the country’s isolation at a time when its economy has collapsed – and have worsened a humanitarian crisis.

SOURCE: NEWS AGENCIES
Taliban bans women’s beauty parlours in Afghanistan
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Biden administration failed to foresee Afghanistan mayhem, review finds

By

The Washington Post

July 1, 2023

A State Department report released Friday faults the agency’s crisis management and awareness before and during the fall of Afghanistan, findings certain to be trumpeted by Republicans and other critics who have charged that bureaucratic lethargy played a significant role in the chaos and violence that unfolded nearly two years ago during one of the Biden administration’s darkest moments.

The report says that President Biden and his predecessor, Donald Trump, each failed to appreciate how a U.S. military pullout would affect the Afghan government’s stability, and that standard summer diplomatic rotations in the weeks ahead of Kabul’s collapse left the U.S. evacuation in the hands of personnel who in some cases had been in the country for only a few days or weeks.

Critical missteps identified in the report present fresh evidence of the mayhem that left Afghanistan’s future in the hands of the oppressive Taliban regime, cost the lives of scores of Afghans and 13 U.S. service members, and sent Biden’s approval ratings tumbling. The timing of its release — with little notice ahead of a long holiday weekend — also is likely to draw anger from those who have said his administration has tried to downplay scrutiny of its actions during the spring and summer of 2021.

The State Department redacted large portions of the report, releasing 23 of its 87 pages, citing security concerns. The analysis focused primarily on actions and reforms inside the agency, rather than at the White House or the Pentagon, each of which already has produced accounts of the 20-year war’s calamitous final chapter.

Read the report: U.S. State Department After Action Review on Afghanistan

The analysis takes aim at failings on multiple levels. At the top, officials gave “insufficient senior-level consideration of worst-case scenarios and how quickly those might follow” after Biden affirmed Trump’s decision to pull the U.S. military from Afghanistan.

Before the Afghan government’s collapse, “it was unclear who in the [State] Department had the lead” on preparations for a full evacuation of the country, the report found. It called the department’s participation in planning for an evacuation “hindered,” even though the U.S. military had been working on the effort ahead of the pullout.

Once the Taliban drew near Kabul and the United States began the full withdrawal, the Biden administration’s communications made the evacuation more chaotic and dangerous than it would have been otherwise, the report found.

“Constantly changing policy guidance and public messaging from Washington” about who was eligible to be relocated from Afghanistan “added to the confusion and often failed to take into account key facts on the ground,” it said. That exacerbated an already messy situation in which members of Congress, aid workers and others who had connections to Afghans were trying unilaterally to organize rescue missions for individuals and families, rather than allowing U.S. personnel on the ground to concentrate on a more systematic effort.

But there were lower-level problems, too. A June 2021 coronavirus breakout at the embassy led to a strict lockdown there, confining many personnel to their quarters in the bunkerlike facility, and making it harder to collaborate and receive classified briefings as the military pullout intensified, the report noted.

And because the State Department didn’t react to the instability in the country by extending the standard one-year hardship rotations of its diplomats, Kabul’s collapse came at an especially vulnerable moment for the embassy, since much of its staff had just turned over or were still on their way to the country.

The exit from Afghanistan, capped by a chaotic and deadly two-week evacuation from a single airfield in Kabul in August 2021, pulled more than 120,000 people from harm’s way in an extraordinary airlift effort spearheaded by the U.S. military.

Tens of thousands of others who had assisted the American war effort over two decades of conflict were left behind in an effort overshadowed by tragedy, including a gruesome suicide bombing, a botched U.S. drone strike that killed 10 innocent people, and surging crowds that resulted in some people being trampled to death.

The report also notes “differences in style and decision making” between the Trump and Biden administrations, “most notably the relative lack of an interagency process in the Trump administration and the intense interagency process that characterized the initial period of the Biden Administration,” which included an early focus on identifying Afghans who had worked with the U.S. government and were eligible for visas to get them out of the country.

In a Friday email to State Department personnel, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that the review “affirmed what I and so many already knew to be true: our people in Afghanistan, in Washington, and at sites around the world demonstrated extraordinary courage, ingenuity, and dedication to mission in the face of complex and demanding conditions.”

The review “also detailed and made recommendations on several areas where we could have done better, and where processes and systems could be improved,” he wrote.

State Department officials said that they had already taken steps to implement lessons learned from the Afghanistan withdrawal, applying them in the lead-up to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, when the State Department was faster to pull personnel from its embassy in Kyiv than other countries, and to the evacuation from Sudan in April.

“What this report reveals is that in crises that are longer duration, that are particularly complicated, that occur at a large scale, that impact populations well beyond the official American community, we haven’t over time had the appropriate structure and resources available to provide that foundation, a steady, constant set of capabilities that we can draw on when we’re suddenly confronting something at scale,” said a senior State Department official, who briefed reporters on the condition of anonymity under ground rules set by the agency.

House Republicans have held a series of hearings this year as part of their investigation of the withdrawal. Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Tex.), chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, has called the evacuation effort “disastrous” and said he intends to seek testimony from Biden’s top national security advisers, including Blinken, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Gen. Mark A. Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. McCaul called Friday for the full report to be released, saying the redacted pages were not classified.

He also has sought wider access to a July 2021 cable that U.S. diplomats posted to Afghanistan sent to Blinken using the State Department’s dissent channel, a forum for expressing views contrary to those of superiors. The top diplomat in early June agreed to allow committee members to read the cable.

To date, no U.S. official has been fired or forced out as a result of the dysfunction, something that some family members of U.S. troops killed in the airport bombing have criticized.

Tyler Vargas-Andrews, a Marine who lost an arm and a leg in the explosion, told McCaul’s committee in March that the operation was a “catastrophe,” defined by an “inexcusable lack of accountability and negligence.”

“The 11 Marines, one sailor and one soldier [killed] that day have not been answered for,” he told lawmakers.

In an earlier investigation performed by the U.S. military, numerous officials voiced frustration with what they perceived to be a lack of attention in Washington to how dire the situation was in Afghanistan as the Taliban swept across the country.

Military personnel would have been “much better prepared to conduct a more orderly” evacuation, said Navy Rear Adm. Peter Vasely, the top U.S. commander on the ground during the operation, “if policymakers had paid attention to the indicators of what was happening on the ground.”

Vasely’s comments, and other similar remarks, were previously downplayed by State Department officials. Jalina Porter, a State Department spokeswoman, said last year that “cherry-picked comments do not reflect the months of work that were well underway” and the totality of what U.S. diplomats undertook to facilitate the evacuation effort.

“It was tough in the first few hours,” Kirby said then, after the White House had provided Congress with its assessment indicating the evacuation should have been ordered sooner. “You would expect it to be; there was nobody at the airport and certainly no Americans. It took time to get in there.”

That disclosure also was made at the start of a holiday weekend.

Michael Birnbaum is a national security reporter for The Washington Post, covering the State Department and diplomacy. He previously served more than a decade in Europe as The Post’s bureau chief in Brussels, Moscow and Berlin, reporting from more than 40 countries, and he covered climate and security from Washington. He joined The Post in 2008.

Dan Lamothe joined The Washington Post in 2014 to cover the U.S. military. He has written about the Armed Forces for more than 15 years, traveling extensively, embedding with five branches of service and covering combat in Afghanistan’

Biden administration failed to foresee Afghanistan mayhem, review finds
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