WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House has announced $308 million in additional humanitarian assistance for Afghanistan. The new aid comes as Afghanistan edges toward a humanitarian crisis since the Taliban takeover nearly five months ago. White House spokesperson Emily Horne says in a statement issued Tuesday the new aid from the U.S. Agency for International…
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate has passed a stopgap spending bill that avoids a short-term shutdown and funds the federal government through Feb. 18 after leaders defused a partisan standoff over federal vaccine mandates. The measure now goes to President Joe Biden to be signed into law. Earlier in the day, congressional leaders announced they…
WASHINGTON (AP) — Secretary of State Antony Blinken says as many as 1,500 Americans in Afghanistan may still await evacuation, as concerns of a terror attack targeting Kabul’s airport grow in the airlift’s final days. New European warnings of an immediate threat Thursday came after a U.S. security alert, urging Americans to stay away from…
WASHINGTON (AP) — The speedy Taliban takeover of Afghanistan has revived alarms about a resurgent al-Qaida and new terrorism threats against the U.S. The group’s danger to the United States had been eclipsed in the past two decades by other threats, but experts are concerned that al-Qaida could again be given unfettered safe harbor by…
SINGAPORE (AP) — Vice President Kamala Harris says the U.S. must maintain its focus on evacuating Americans and vulnerable Afghans and shouldn’t get distracted by questions over what went wrong in the chaotic U.S. exit from Afghanistan. Harris made the comment at a news conference in Singapore after meeting with Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong…
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden’s national security adviser Jake Sullivan says the Taliban have agreed to allow safe passage for civilians trying to leave Afghanistan. Sullivan says a timetable for completing the evacuation of Americans, Afghan allies and others has yet to be worked out with the country’s new rulers. Pentagon officials say that…
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. officials say the evacuation of the American Embassy in Kabul has been completed and the U.S. flag lowered at the facility in Afghanistan’s capital. President Joe Biden and other top U.S. officials have been stunned by the Taliban’s nearly complete takeover of Afghanistan as the planned withdrawal of American forces urgently…
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration is expanding efforts to evacuate Afghan citizens from Afghanistan as Taliban violence increases ahead of the U.S. military pullout at the end of the month. The State Department says it’s widening the scope of Afghans eligible for refugee status in United States to include current and former employees of…
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden is preparing to present his rationale for setting a hard deadline of Sept. 11 for U.S. troop withdrawal from Afghanistan. The White House says Biden will speak Wednesday afternoon about his vision for the way forward in Afghanistan, then visit the graves of American troops at Arlington National Cemetery…
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — July saw the highest number of civilian casualties in Afghanistan in a single month since 2017, the U.N. mission said Saturday. Its preliminary findings indicate more than 1,500 civilians were killed or wounded, mainly due to a spike in casualties from insurgent attacks. It did not provide a breakdown of deaths…