US President Barack Obama welcomed Kabul’s move on Sunday to have local forces take control of security in a large new slice of the country as an “important step forward.”
In the third phase of a five-tranche transition to bring NATO closer to getting out of the Afghan war, 122 more districts throughout Afghanistan will come under local command, putting Afghan forces in control of security for 75 percent of the population.
US Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta said he was “very pleased” with the move, calling it “another tangible sign of progress in our strategy and in the further development of Afghan leadership and responsibility for their own security.”
Praising the “growing strength” of Afghan security forces, he said that the phase was the largest yet, and when implemented, about three-quarters of the population will live in areas transitioning to Afghan control.
Afghan government officials said the handover’s third phase would start immediately and could take as little as six months, although according to NATO’s International Security Assistance Force, complete transition in an area can take between 12 and 18 months.
NATO has a total of 130,000 soldiers helping Afghan President Hamid Karzai’s government fight an insurgency by hardline Taliban militants, and they are due to withdraw by the end of 2014.
Obama, who is set to host a NATO summit in Chicago on May 20-21, said Afghan National Security Forces were “strengthening their capacity,” allowing the security transition to remain “on track.”
While NATO is quick to praise the growing skills of the 350,000-strong Afghan forces, officers say the war will not be won on the battlefield.
The White House has said the US will push to modernize NATO, deepen partnerships and hammer out details of the Afghanistan withdrawal at the summit.
“The Afghan National Security Forces are strengthening their capacity as we remain on track to meet our goal of having the Afghan government fully responsible for security across the country by the end of 2014,” Obama said.
Republican US lawmakers on Friday criticized US President Joe Biden’s administration after sanctioned Chinese telecoms equipment giant Huawei unveiled a laptop this week powered by an Intel artificial intelligence (AI) chip. The US placed Huawei on a trade restriction list in 2019 for contravening Iran sanctions, part of a broader effort to hobble Beijing’s technological advances. Placement on the list means the company’s suppliers have to seek a special, difficult-to-obtain license before shipping to it. One such license, issued by then-US president Donald Trump’s administration, has allowed Intel to ship central processors to Huawei for use in laptops since 2020. China hardliners
Conjoined twins Lori and George Schappell, who pursued separate careers, interests and relationships during lives that defied medical expectations, died this month in Pennsylvania, funeral home officials said. They were 62. The twins, listed by Guinness World Records as the oldest living conjoined twins, died on April 7 at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, obituaries posted by Leibensperger Funeral Homes of Hamburg said. The cause of death was not detailed. “When we were born, the doctors didn’t think we’d make 30, but we proved them wrong,” Lori said in an interview when they turned 50, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. The
RAMPAGE: A Palestinian man was left dead after dozens of Israeli settlers searching for a missing 14-year-old boy stormed a village in the Israeli-occupied West Bank US President Joe Biden on Friday said he expected Iran to attack Israel “sooner, rather than later” and warned Tehran not to proceed. Asked by reporters about his message to Iran, Biden simply said: “Don’t,” underscoring Washington’s commitment to defend Israel. “We are devoted to the defense of Israel. We will support Israel. We will help defend Israel and Iran will not succeed,” he said. Biden said he would not divulge secure information, but said his expectation was that an attack could come “sooner, rather than later.” Israel braced on Friday for an attack by Iran or its proxies as warnings grew of
A prominent Christian leader has allegedly been stabbed at the altar during a Mass yesterday in southwest Sydney. Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel was saying Mass at Christ The Good Shepherd Church in Wakeley just after 7pm when a man approached him at the altar and allegedly stabbed toward his head multiple times. A live stream of the Mass shows the congregation swarm forward toward Emmanuel before it was cut off. The church leader gained prominence during the COVID-19 pandemic, amassing a large online following, Officers attached to Fairfield City police area command attended a location on Welcome Street, Wakeley following reports a number