Biden overturned Trump’s ban in January, with a White House statement at the time saying that “gender identity should not be a bar to military service.” Trump announced a ban on new transgender recruits in 2017, citing “tremendous medical costs” and “disruption.” After two years of legal wrangling, the Supreme …
Read More »Troops NOT leaving Afghanistan before Trump pullout deadline, as Biden makes vague ‘we will leave’ promise
Biden cited “tactical reasons” for May 1 being a difficult date to commit to. “It is not my intention to stay there for a long time,” the president said, adding that more time may be needed so troops can leave in a “safe and orderly way.” “We will leave. The …
Read More »Taliban threatens with ‘reaction’ if US does not pull out troops by May deadline
“They should go,” Suhail Shaheen, a member of the Taliban negotiation team, told reporters in Moscow on Friday. Troop presence beyond May 1, Shaheen warned, will qualify as a “violation of the agreement” struck with the Trump administration and will warrant a “reaction.” “We hope that this will not happen, …
Read More »US has 1,000 ‘off-the-books’ troops in Afghanistan, some of whom work with the CIA – media
Citing US, European and Afghan officials, the Times reported that the US has about 1,000 more troops in the war-torn nation than it has disclosed. Officially, the Pentagon claims that its forces in Afghanistan total 2,500, but this figure allegedly does not accurately represent how many US boots are actually …
Read More »Pentagon says 2,300 National Guard troops to stay at Capitol through May 23 as post-riot review calls for increased security
The Pentagon will work to “incrementally reduce” the National Guard “footprint as conditions allow,” spokesman John Kirby told reporters on Tuesday, announcing that 2,300 or so troops have been authorized to stay through May 23. More than 5,000 Guards were still in Washington as of this week, having been put …
Read More »Moscow’s troops could dominate NATO in Baltic region, top Polish general predicts… but Russia insists it’s just not interested
General Waldemar Skrzypczak, who once led the Polish Armed Forces, and more recently served as a government defense adviser, said that Russian troops could use the enclave of Kaliningrad as a staging ground for a push into Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, cutting off NATO troops, before setting its sights on …
Read More »Ho-ho-hiss: Chinese troops in EXOSKELETONS deliver New Year presents to Himalayan outpost (VIDEO)
A report on Saturday by the state broadcaster CCTV showed the new passive exoskeletons in use, helping to bring some festivity to Friday’s celebrations. The troops strapped on the smart-braces to get an extra oomph for the last leg of a supply run in China’s Ngari Prefecture. The area is …
Read More »India & China begin to pull troops back from contested Himalayan lake, India’s defense minister confirms
Speaking before the country’s parliament on Thursday, Defense Minister Rajnath Singh confirmed the breakthrough reached with Beijing on the months-long standoff at the disputed border, officially known as the Line of Actual Control (LAC). The disengagement agreement was first announced by Beijing on Wednesday, with the country’s military saying that …
Read More »US ‘freezing’ Trump plan to withdraw 12,000 troops from Germany while Pentagon reviews policy – general
The plans have been “put on freeze” while new US Secretary of Defense, Lloyd Austin, is “in the process of conducting a very thorough review” of the policy, Air Force General Tod Wolters told reporters, without giving a timeframe for the audit. The planned drawdown included relocating the US European …
Read More »‘There will be no full withdrawal’: Troops to remain in Afghanistan past Trump-set deadline – report
“There will be no full withdrawal by allies by April-end,” one NATO official told Reuters. According to the source, “conditions have not been met” to justify a full-scale withdrawal, and the new administration will likely present “tweaks in policy.” “With the new US administration, there will be tweaks in the …
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