Matthew Lee, The Associated Press

  • Secretary of State Mike Pompeo appears during a Senate Foreign Relations committee hearing on the State Department's 2021 budget on Capitol Hill Thursday, July 30, 2020, in Washington. (Greg Nash/Pool via AP)
    State Department watchdog resigns after predecessor’s ouster

    Stephen Akard announced his resignation just two days after Democrats issued subpoenas for several of Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's top aides to answer questions about the shakeup in the watchdog's office.

  • Democratic presidential candidate former Vice President Joe Biden speaks at a campaign event at the William
    Biden eyes major foreign policy shifts if he wins

    Should former Vice President Joe Biden win the White House in November, America will likely be in for a foreign policy about-face as Biden reverses, dismantles or severely curtails many of President Donald Trump’s most significant and boldest actions.

  • Aircraft from Carrier Air Wings (CVW) 5 and 17 fly in formation over the Nimitz Carrier Strike Force on July 6, 2020, in the South China Sea. The aircraft carriers USS Nimitz (CVN 68), right, and USS Ronald Reagan (CVN 76) and their carrier strike groups are conducting dual carrier operations in the Indo-Pacific as the Nimitz Carrier Strike Force. (MC3Keenan Daniels/Navy)
    US rejects nearly all Chinese claims in South China Sea

    The Trump administration escalated its actions against China on Monday by stepping squarely into one of the most sensitive regional issues dividing them and rejecting outright nearly all of Beijing’s significant maritime claims in the South China Sea.

  • Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, speaks during a news conference at the State Department on July 1, 2020, in Washington. (Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP)
    Trump, top officials defend response to Russia bounty threat

    Criticized for inaction, President Donald Trump and top officials on Wednesday stepped up their defense of the administration’s response to intelligence assessments that Russia offered bounties for killing U.S. troops in Afghanistan.

  • In this image provided by the U.S. State Department, Michael White holds an American flag as he poses for a photo Thursday, June 4, 2020, with U.S. special envoy for Iran Brian Hook at the Zurich, Switzerland, airport after White’s release from Iran. White, a Navy veteran who's been detained in Iran for nearly two years has been released and is making his way home, with the first leg on a Swiss government aircraft. (U.S. State Department via AP)
    Detained US Navy veteran freed by Iran as part of deal

    A U.S. Navy veteran whose family said his only crime was falling in love left Iran on Thursday after nearly two years of detention, winning his freedom as part of a deal that spared an American-Iranian physician any more time behind American bars.

  • U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo arrives at King Abdulaziz International Airport in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, on Sept. 18, 2019. (Mandel Ngan/AP)
    Pompeo denies retaliation in firing of State Dept watchdog

    The secretary of state says he was unaware of any inspector general investigation into allegations that he may have mistreated staffers by instructing them to run personal errands for him and his wife.

  • Afghan Taliban militants and villagers attend a gathering as they celebrate the peace deal in Afghanistan's Alingar district of Laghman Province on March 2, 2020. (Noorullah Shirzada/AFP via Getty Images)
    Afghanistan violence must ease for peace deal with Taliban to advance, Pompeo says

    Less than 24 hours after President Donald Trump said he had a “very good talk” with a Taliban leader and insisted the militants want to end the violence, a U.S. military drone targeted the group in retaliation for an uptick in attacks against Afghan forces.

  • A paratrooper provides security during a key leader engagement Feb. 1, 2020, in southeastern Afghanistan. (Master Sgt. Alejandro Licea/Army)
    All US troops to leave Afghanistan in 14 months if Taliban meets commitments of peace deal

    The signing could help President Donald Trump fulfill a key campaign promise to extract America from its “endless wars.” Under the agreement, the U.S. will begin withdrawing thousands of troops in exchange for Taliban commitments to prevent Afghanistan from being a launchpad for terrorist attacks.