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Operations
Defense Policy / Programs
Defense Industry
Other Conflicts
News Reports

Current Operations

• Remarks by President Biden on Tropical Storm Henri and the Evacuation Operation in Afghanistan The White House 22 Aug 2021
• Department of Defense Activates Civil Reserve Air Fleet to Assist With Afghanistan Efforts DoD 22 Aug 2021 -- Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III has ordered the Commander of U.S. Transportation Command to activate Stage I of the Civil Reserve Air Fleet (CRAF). CRAF activation provides the Department of Defense access to commercial air mobility resources to augment our support to the Department of State in the evacuation of U.S. citizens and personnel, Special Immigrant Visa applicants, and other at-risk individuals from Afghanistan.
• Biden Says Evacuations Accelerating, U.S. May Extend August 31 Deadline For Removing All Troops From Afghanistan RFE/RL Gandhara 22 Aug 2021 -- Thousands of Afghans again jammed the roads leading to Kabul's airport for another day, as President Joe Biden said U.S.-led evacuation efforts were accelerating.
• Former British PM Blair Blasts 'Unnecessary' Military Pullout From Afghanistan RFE/RL Gandhara 22 Aug 2021 -- Tony Blair, the former British prime minister who took his country alongside the United States into war in Afghanistan in 2001, called the Western military pullout from the nation "dangerous" and "unnecessary."
• Ukraine Evacuates Dozens Of Activists, Afghan Women, Journalists From Kabul RFE/RL Gandhara 22 Aug 2021 -- A Ukrainian military plane carrying 83 people, including journalists, activists, and Afghan women and children, arrived in Kyiv, as part of the massive evacuation of foreigners and endangered Afghans from Kabul.
• Bases In Spain To Be Used For Afghan Refugees RFE/RL Gandhara 22 Aug 2021 -- The United States and Spain have agreed to use military bases in Spain to receive Afghans who worked for the U.S. government.
• Kabul Evacuation Numbers to Fluctuate, Biden Says VOA 22 Aug 2021 -- The number of people evacuated from Kabul will change from day to day, President Joe Biden said in a televised address Sunday, depending on specific conditions and safety of the day.
• 7 Killed at Gates of Kabul Airport; Taliban Blame US for Chaos VOA 22 Aug 2021 -- The Taliban on Sunday blamed the United States for the chaos around Kabul's airport, where thousands of people have been trying to leave following the insurgent group's takeover of the country.
• What We Know: Taliban Takeover of Afghanistan VOA 22 Aug 2021 -- Here are the latest developments following the Taliban's takeover of Afghanistan on August 22.
• Economic Crisis Looms for Afghanistan Under Taliban Rule VOA 22 Aug 2021 -- As the Taliban take power in Afghanistan for the first time in 20 years, Afghans face not only a humanitarian crisis but also an economic crisis that threatens to make an already dire situation considerably worse. But just how bad things can get, and how much potential leverage the economic situation gives the U.S. and its allies over the Taliban, is far from certain.

Defense Policy / Programs

• Readout of Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III's Call With Kuwaiti Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defense, H.E. Sheikh Hamad Jaber Al-Ali Al-Sabah DoD 22 Aug 2021
• Readout of Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin's Phone Call With Italy's Minister of Defense, Lorenzo Guerini DoD 22 Aug 2021
• Readout of Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin's Call With Bahrain Crown Prince Salman bin Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa DoD 22 Aug 2021
• Readout of Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III's Phone Call with Canadian Minister of National Defence Harjit S. Sajjan DoD 22 Aug 2021
• Utah ANG demonstrates multi-domain battlespace connectivity on KC-135 US Air Force 22 Aug 2021 -- On Aug. 7, the Utah Air National Guard, in collaboration with Collins Aerospace, successfully demonstrated advanced communication, mission computing and sensor technologies to support Joint All Domain Command and Control and Advanced Battle Management System initiatives on a KC-135 Stratotanker at the Roland R. Wright ANG Base in Salt Lake City.
• USS America fuels HMS Defender at sea in first FAS with U.S. amphib, British warship US Navy 22 Aug 2021 -- USS America (LHA 6), the Navy's only forward-deployed amphibious assault ship, conducted a bilateral fueling-at-sea (FAS) with Royal Navy destroyer HMS Defender (D 36) while operating with elements of the HMS Queen Elizabeth (R 08) Carrier Strike Group (CSG-21) in the Philippine Sea, Aug. 20.
• United Kingdom Carrier Strike Group and USS America Expeditionary Strike Group Join Together for LSGE 21 Operations US Navy 22 Aug 2021 -- United Kingdom (U.K.) Carrier Strike Group (CSG 21) and USS America Expeditionary Strike Group (AMA ESG) with embarked 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit, begin multinational advanced aviation operations in support of Large Scale Global Exercise (LSGE) 21, Aug. 20.
• Readout of Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin's Call With U.K. Secretary of State for Defence Ben Wallace DoD 22 Aug 2021
• Indian Navy Ships Shivalik and Kadmatt Arrive at Guam to participate in Multilateral Maritime Ex Malabar India PIB 22 Aug 2021 -- Indian Naval Ships Shivalik and Kadmatt arrived at Guam, an Island Territory of the USA on 21 Aug 21 as part of their on-going deployment to nations in South East Asia and the Pacific Ocean.
• Iran meets more than 90% of its defense needs domestically: Minister IRNA 22 Aug 2021 -- Iranian Minister of Defense Brigadier-General Amir Hatami said on Sunday that more than 90 percent of Iran's defense needs are being met inside the country.
• Taiwan defense authority's special missile budget futile to change status quo, to bring trouble on island: experts Global Times 22 Aug 2021 -- The defense authority on the island of Taiwan is reportedly proposing a huge special budget for missile manufacturing capabilities with the aim of "coping with threats from the Chinese mainland" amid the fear that the US would give up the island as it did with Afghanistan.
• Statement by Press Secretary Jen Psaki on President Biden's Meeting with G7 Leaders The White House 22 Aug 2021
• Secretary Blinken's Call with Bahraini Foreign Minister al-Zayani US Dept. of State 22 Aug 2021
• US Vice President Harris Arrives in Singapore VOA 22 Aug 2021 -- U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris arrived Sunday in Singapore, at the start of a short trip to Southeast Asia.

Defense Industry

Other Conflicts

• For France's Sahel Mission, Echoes of Afghanistan VOA 22 Aug 2021 -- The chaotic aftermath of Washington's troop withdrawal from Afghanistan is being followed with a mix of trepidation and glee thousands of kilometers away — in Africa's Sahel, where another foreign power, France, also vows to wind down its long-running counterinsurgency operation, at least in its present form.
• Dozens of Palestinians, an Israeli Soldier Wounded on Gaza Border VOA 22 Aug 2021 -- Two Palestinians, one of them a 13-year-old boy and an Israeli soldiers were wounded in renewed fighting along the Gaza border. Hundreds of Palestinian protestors came to the Gaza border to mark the anniversary of an arson attack on the Al-Aqsa Mosque more than 50 years ago. The new tensions come as Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett meets U.S. President Joe Biden in Washington later this week.

News Reports

• National Security Law Seen Threatening Hong Kong's Financial Role VOA 22 Aug 2021 -- Implementation of last year's highly contentious national security law could cost Hong Kong its international luster as a financial hub, experts have told VOA.
• In Fertile Ukraine, A 20-Year Freeze On The Sale Of Farmland Is Lifted - With Uncertain Consequences RFE/RL 22 Aug 2021 -- For small farmers in Ukraine, a traditional "breadbasket" that boasts some of the world's richest soil, there's something new under the sun this summer: They can sell their land if they want to.
• Merkel Says In Kyiv That Natural Gas Should Not Be 'Geopolitical Weapon' RFE/RL 22 Aug 2021 -- German Chancellor Angela Merkel has said natural gas should never be used as a geopolitical weapon and backed extending an energy partnership deal with Ukraine once it expires in 2024.