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 …

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. …

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 …