Dead troops talk

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Zalmay Khalilzad, the U.S. envoy to the Afghan peace process, will travel to Afghanistan and Qatar to resume discussions with Afghan government officials and Taliban representatives, the State Department said on Sunday. Khalilzad and his team will also visit other regional capitals as part of a mission aimed at working toward "a just and durable political settlement and permanent and comprehensive ceasefire" in the Afghan conflict, the State Department said in a statement. It did not provide dates or other details. U.S.-brokered peace talks began in September but progress has since slowed and violence has risen with uncertainty over whether international forces will pull out troops by May as originally planned. President Joe Biden's administration is conducting a review of a February 2020 deal with the Taliban that is expected to determine whether it will meet the deadline to withdraw the remaining 2,500 U.S. troops from America's longest war. U.S. ... » Learn More about U.S. envoy on Afghan peace process to visit Afghanistan, Qatar for talks

WASHINGTON/SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korea will increase its contribution to the cost of U.S. forces stationed in the country under an agreement reached with the United States, the State Department said on Sunday, easing an irritant in ties between the two allies. The agreement reflects the Biden administration’s "commitment to reinvigorating and modernizing our democratic alliances around the word to advance our shared security and prosperity," a State Department spokeswoman said. The proposed six-year "Special Measures Agreement" will replace the previous arrangement that expired at the end of 2019. The spokeswoman said the agreement included a "negotiated meaningful increase in host nation support contributions," but gave no further details. There are about 28,500 U.S. troops stationed in South Korea as deterrence against North Korea. More than 90% of Seoul's contributions under the previous agreement went directly back into the South Korean economy, the spokeswoman added. ... » Learn More about South Korea to boost funding for U.S. troops under new accord – State Department

SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korea is seeking to iron out remaining differences and sign a deal with Washington on sharing costs for stationing 28,500 American troops in the country, its chief envoy said on Thursday. Jeong Eun-bo made the comment as he arrived in Washington for the first face-to-face talks on Friday with U.S. envoy Donna Welton since President Joe Biden's administration took office in January. They held their first video conference last month. The negotiations had been gridlocked after former U.S. President Donald Trump rejected Seoul's offer to pay 13% more, for a total of about $1 billion a year, and demanded as much as $5 billion. South Korean sources have raised hopes the Biden administration will agree to a deal close to their proposal. Seoul currently pays Washington about $920 million a year. "There are issues that we are trying to resolve as much as possible through this upcoming face-to-face meeting," Jeong said in televised remarks to reporters in ... » Learn More about South Korea envoy hopes to wrap up talks with U.S. on defence costs

The UH-1H helicopter tried to make an emergency landing after encountering engine problems but crashed in a mountainous area in Impasugong town in Bukidnon province, regional army spokesperson Maj. Rodulfo Cordero Jr. said. Troops secured the crash site and retrieved the bodies of four air force crewmen, including two pilots, as well as an army soldier and two militiamen, Cordero and the army said. Government forces have been undertaking on and off offensives against communist guerrillas in the region and elsewhere in the country after peace talks between President Rodrigo Duterte’s administration and the Maoist insurgents collapsed. The guerrillas have been weakened by decades of battle setbacks, infighting and surrenders but remain a national security threat. The military says about 3,500 New People’s Army guerrillas remain waging one of Asia’s longest-running insurgencies. - AP ... » Learn More about Philippine air force helicopter crash kills all 7 aboard

ISLAMABAD: After 20 years of military engagement and billions of dollars spent, NATO and the United States still grapple with the same, seemingly intractable conundrum — how to withdraw troops from Afghanistan without abandoning the country to even more mayhem. An accelerated US drawdown over the past few months, led by the previous US administration, has signaled what may be in store for long-suffering Afghans. Violence is spiking and the culprits are, well, everyone: the Taliban, the Islamic State group, warlords, criminal gangs and corrupt government officials. According to NATO’s website, there are about 9,600 troops currently in Afghanistan, including 2,500 US troops. NATO defense ministers will meet on Wednesday and Thursday to discuss the way forward. Meanwhile, President Joe Biden is reviewing his predecessor’s 2020 deal with the Taliban, which includes a May 1 deadline for a final US troop withdrawal from the war-ravaged country. In Washington, calls are mounting for ... » Learn More about NATO faces conundrum as it mulls Afghan pullout

The joint exercise is set to begin on Monday and last nine days, a statement by the JCS said. Washington and Seoul decided to hold the drills "after comprehensively taking into consideration the COVID-19 situation, the maintenance of the combat readiness posture, the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and the establishment of peace," the statement said according to news agency Yonhap. The computer-simulated exercise will not include outdoor manoeuvres, which have been carried out throughout the year, and troops and equipment involved will be "minimized" due to the pandemic, it added. The exercise is set to focus mainly on ensuring troops' readiness posture. The US has 28,500 soldiers stationed in South Korea to deter North Korea. Pyongyang has previously slammed similar manoeuvres as being part of plans to invade North Korea. Both the US and South Korea deny that is the case. Washington and Seoul have cancelled or scaled back a number of joint military exercises since ... » Learn More about US, South Korea reduce scope of planned military drill amid pandemic

SEOUL: The South Korean and US militaries are scaling back their annual exercises this month due to the Covid-19 pandemic and to support diplomacy on North Korea’s nuclear program, officials said Sunday. Seoul’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement that the allies decided to start the nine-day drills on Monday after reviewing factors like the status of the pandemic and diplomatic efforts to achieve denuclearization and peace on the Korean Peninsula. It said the drills are defensive in nature and are mostly tabletop exercises and simulations that won’t involve field training. Last year, the allies canceled their springtime drills after some of their troops were infected with the coronavirus. In recent years, the countries have also suspended or downsized many of their regular training to create more space for the now-stalled US-led diplomatic drive to convince North Korea to denuclearize in return for economic and political incentives. US-South Korea drills have been a ... » Learn More about SKorea, US scale back drills over virus, NKorea diplomacy

As India steps up its efforts to assert control over Kashmir, communities living in remote woodlands say they've been banished from their ancestral homes. PAHALGAM, India: Ghulam Khatana's family lived half their lives in a simple log hut in Kashmir's forests, until around 200 men brandishing guns and iron rods chased them out of their home and into the blistering cold. As India steps up its efforts to assert control over the fractious Himalayan region, communities living in remote woodlands say they've been banished from their ancestral homes. Thousands of apple trees in small forest villages have been chopped down and wooden homes knocked down by police, forest guards and other officials. "They just ended our traditional way of life. I feel as if I was buried alive," said 30-year-old Khatana in Kashmir's famed Pahalgam tourist region. "It (the forest) protects us from disease and sustains us. But they have thrown us out." The eight people in his old home, like their ... » Learn More about India’s evictions of forest dwellers fuels Kashmir fears

By Ifeanyi Nsofor ABUJA, NIGERA: Recently, Meghan Markle, the Duchess of Sussex, wrote a piece sharing about her miscarriage. “I knew, as I clutched my firstborn child, that I was losing my second, she wrote.” She is part of a growing list of celebrities who have publicly shared their experiences with miscarriages. Model Chrissy Teigen also recently shared the pain she and her husband, singer John Legend, felt about the miscarriage of her third pregnancy. While celebrities may make news for sharing their personal grief, they are not alone in experiencing it. Miscarriage is the most common reason for losing a baby during pregnancy. It happens for up to 15 percent of women who knew they were pregnant. According to World Health Organization, a baby who dies before 28 weeks of pregnancy is referred to as a miscarriage, and babies who die at or after 28 weeks are stillbirths. Most miscarriages are due to chromosomal anomalies. The risk of miscarriages increases with age. No ... » Learn More about Women need support and understanding after miscarriage

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. government said Sunday that all options remain on the table for its remaining 2,500 troops in Afghanistan, saying it has made no decisions about its military commitment after May 1. The State Department comments came after reports emerged that U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken had made a new urgent push for a United Nations-led peace effort that included a warning that the U.S. military was considering exiting Afghanistan by May 1. Blinken in a letter to Afghan President Ashraf Ghani published by TOLOnews, an Afghan news outlet, and confirmed in a published report by the New York Times, said the United States is "considering the full withdrawal of forces by May 1st as we consider other options." A State Department spokeswoman declined to confirm the letter's veracity, but said Sunday the United States has "not made any decisions about our force posture in Afghanistan after May 1. All options remain on the table." According to the letter, ... » Learn More about U.S. says all options on table for Afghanistan, decision unclear on force posture after May 1