In addition to having a profound impact on the author of this commentary, he says Gen. Austin Scott Miller will be remembered as a friend of Afghanistan.
Meanwhile, the U.S. military announced a sudden visit to the Mideast by long-range, nuclear-capable B-52H bombers, underlining America's continuing presence in the region.
Taliban officials say several of their group's members have been freed from Afghan jails, including former shadow governors, just days after a U.S. envoy met top Taliban leaders in the Pakistani capital following the suspension of U.S.-Taliban talks last month.
The Taliban announced Wednesday they are sending a high-level delegation to Pakistan’s capital as part of a tour that has included Russia, China and Iran in a push to resurrect an Afghanistan peace deal with Washington that seemed imminent just a month ago.
The Iraqi prime minister’s removal of a top military commander from his post triggered heated political protests and uncertainty over the weekend, at a time of soaring tensions between the country’s chief security partners in the region, Iran and the United States.
A large explosion hit an arms depot belonging to an Iranian-backed militia faction north of Baghdad on Tuesday, the latest in a series of mysterious blasts at military bases and munitions depots around the country in the past few weeks.
Iraq on Thursday banned unauthorized flights and ordered all military camps and munitions warehouses to be moved outside Iraqi cities following a massive explosion at a munitions depot southwest of Baghdad that killed one civilian and wounded 13 earlier this week.
An Afghan official said Sunday that the government would hold its first-ever direct talks with the Taliban within two weeks, but the insurgents quickly denied any such meeting was planned and reiterated their opposition to negotiating with government representatives in their official capacity.
Iraq’s government moved Monday night to control powerful Iran-backed militias in the country, placing them under the full command of the Iraqi armed forces.