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ISIS-K claims responsibility for explosion at Kabul airport. What’s their agenda?

ISIS-K has claimed responsibility for the explosion that erupted near the Kabul airport on Thursday and killed at least 13 U.S. service members and 170 Afghans. U.S. officials had warned of an ISIS attack over the past week in wake of the sweeping Taliban takeover. Gen. Kenneth McKenzie of the …

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Security Council Debates Terrorism Amidst Afghan Crisis

Indian External Affairs (Foreign) Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar presided over a UN Security Council meeting last week focused on threats posed by ISIL. Davood Moradian, Director General of the Afghan Institute for Strategic Studies, briefed the UNSC and accused the Islamic world of being passive observers. The UN Secretary-General’s report highlighted …

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U.S. Evacuation Efforts in Afghanistan Receive a Boost from Key Allies

Qatar has played an outsized role in facilitating the safe passage and evacuation of U.S. citizens and vulnerable Afghans from Afghanistan. The Biden administration has been criticized heavily for its handling of the evacuation, with charges that it was unprepared for such a complex operation despite setting the timeline. Coordination …

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Gas Shortage Boosts Russia’s Sway Over Europe’s Energy Markets

Europe is facing a natural-gas shortage just as Russia is completing a controversial pipeline to Germany, increasing President Vladimir Putin’s leverage over the continent’s energy flows. Europe’s gas stores are at their lowest levels for years after demand rebounded from a pandemic-induced low that had led producers to slash output. …

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Putin, Xi Agree to Jointly Combat Afghanistan ‘Threats’

Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping have agreed their countries will step up efforts to counter “threats” emerging from Afghanistan following the Taliban’s takeover, the Kremlin said Wednesday. In a phone call, the two leaders “expressed their readiness to step up efforts to combat threats of …

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Putin Takes Shot at West, but Says He’ll Work to ‘Normalize’ Afghanistan

President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia said the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan showed that it was time for the West to end its “policy of imposing someone’s outside values from abroad.” President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia said on Friday that the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan showed that it was …

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China-Russia drill signals new era in joint exercises: spokesperson

A joint military exercise between China and Russia, code-named ZAPAD/INTERACTION-2021, has charted the course for a new high-point in bilateral relations, opened new horizons for military drills between major countries, and explored new models for planning exercises together, a Chinese military spokesperson told a press conference on Thursday. The joint …

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How Dangerous Is Afghanistan’s Islamic State Group?

The Islamic State offshoot that Americans blame for Thursday’s deadly suicide attacks outside the Kabul airport coalesced in eastern Afghanistan six years ago and rapidly grew into one of the more dangerous terror threats globally. Despite years of military targeting by the U.S.-led coalition, the group known as Islamic State …

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