The sources had few details of the operation, but President Donald Trump has wanted to use the military to go after Latin American drug gangs that have been designated as global terrorist organizations. The Pentagon had been directed to prepare options.

Trump has made cracking down on drug cartels a central goal of his administration, part of a wider effort to limit migration and secure the U.S. southern border.

Continue reading HERE

Source: https://www.aol.com/news/us-military-deploying-forces-southern-101700208.html

The post US military deploying forces to southern Caribbean against drug groups first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell met with Niger’s Prime Minister Ali Lamine Zeine on Friday to formalize the end of the United State’s military presence in the country.

The announcement comes a month after Niger’s military junta revoked a 12-year-old security pact with Washington that allowed U.S. forces on Nigerian soil to combat Islamist terrorists in the region.

The withdrawal is expected to take place over the next few months.

Relations between Niger and the United States have deteriorated since last year when a military coup pushed out the democratically elected President Mohamed Bazoum and installed the current junta.

Continue reading HERE

Source: https://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2024/04/20/troops-withdraw-niger-military/7581713652263/

The post U.S. to end military presence in Niger first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

It has only been one year since the disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan.  Whether intended or not it was a pivotal moment in world events.  For the United States to manage such a debacle after years of occupation, the stockpiling of weapons and vehicles and the construction of one of the most capable airbases on earth, was shattering to America’s reputation.  There are stories of our modern weaponry being sold to the highest bidder on the international arms market.  Lots of it.  That debacle alone casts the U. S. in a weak light, and every would-be enemy on earth took note.  

Now every rotten actor is on the rampage.  They probably watched that reprehensible speech last night and gleaned accurately that the president is involved in an emotional war with the country he’s supposed to represent.  The Marines, at ease, were silhouetted at the flanks to tell us what?  That this angry old man can enforce his mental illness with military might?  He’s at war with those ultra-maga people who are a threat to our democracy!  Really?  That’s the problem?

Insanity reigns on television and the internet.  Conventional wisdom says much that’s just not true.  We’ve got agencies, seemingly out of control while they wield anti-American power and then don’t bother to explain themselves.  You wouldn’t understand anyway.

We’re supposed to ignore inconsistencies in logic, and believe the mainstream no matter what.  The people in charge have it all figured out.  Apparently they’re going to wait until after the mid-terms to announce Donald Trump’s indictment.  For three years they’ve made false accusations for which they’ve never apologized and now this? Anchors sneered at “deniers” of all stripes.  Notice how many “deniers” there are?  Years ago the only time you heard the word was in connection with the holocaust  and that came with anti-Semitic baggage.  Let’s just say it carried a mighty negative connotation. 

If you’re a denier, you must be bad, wrong, even evil.  So now we’ve got climate change deniers and election deniers, and probably holocaust deniers!  They’re all bad, all terribly misguided and probably a threat to democracy.  That’s the phrase now, you hear it everywhere sometimes with a lisp.  

It’s official.  If you love the United States and want to salvage our traditions and laws you must be some kind of terrorist, or a denier of some sort.  If you don’t agree with gender transitions, global warming, and Donald Trump being the worst traitor, document mishandling criminal the world has ever seen, you’re a threat to democracy.  He condemned Trump supporters as the greatest national danger.  It took him less than 24 hours to walk it back, and he did.  Too late.  You don’t suppose somebody pointed out the folly of calling half the country a danger to democracy?

The Texas governor, Gregg Abbott is sending busloads of illegal aliens to New York, and now Chicago.  The mayors couldn’t be happier.  Well, maybe they could if they could figure out who’s going to pay for all the hotel rooms and food.  But they’re welcoming, while calling our governor a racist for sending illegals up there.  How dare he?!?  Meanwhile, they’re just happy to have them.  Good.  

Whatever you do, don’t use your head.  That will get you labeled if not banned.  Suddenly you’re an idiot if you don’t buy what the mainstream is selling.  Count me in.  

We can’t believe California, or its governance could get any more ridiculous.  Stand by.  Not only are they outlawing internal combustion cars, but the grid is overloaded.  So, please don’t charge your electric cars between the hours of…  

It’s looking likely that the political power that demands the people of the world worship their false system is probably going to be saving the planet.  If it becomes a global movement, look out.  We’re already being called a bunch of names if we don’t support things we know are condemned in the Word of God.   Already the technology firms do the government’s bidding.  They’ll decide what is and isn’t fit for human consumption.  Never mind that they’ve been wrong on critical subjects.  If something violates the mainstream narrative, it must be racist, homophobic, climate denial or Covid misinformation. We’ve got larger concerns.  We don’t go by their rules. 

Mark

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The post Weekly Update by Mark Armstrong – September 2, 2022 first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

The report, No Escape: War Crimes and Civilian Harm During The Fall Of Afghanistan To The Taliban, documents torture, extrajudicial executions and killings by the Taliban during the final stages of the conflict in Afghanistan, as well as civilian casualties during a series of ground and air operations by the Afghan National Defense and Security Forces (ANDSF) and US military forces.

“The months before the government collapse in Kabul were marked by repeated war crimes and relentless bloodshed committed by the Taliban, as well as deaths caused by Afghan and US forces,” said Agnès Callamard, Amnesty International’s Secretary General.

“Our new evidence shows that, far from the seamless transition of power that the Taliban claimed happened, the people of Afghanistan have once again paid with their lives.

“Homes, hospitals, schools and shops were turned into crime scenes as people were repeatedly killed and injured. The people of Afghanistan have suffered for too long, and victims must have access to justice and receive reparations.

“The International Criminal Court must reverse its misguided decision to deprioritize investigations into US and Afghan military operations, and instead follow the evidence on all possible war crimes, no matter where it leads.”

The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan reported that 1,659 civilians were killed and another 3,524 injured in the first six months of 2021, an increase of 47% from the prior year.

Taliban atrocities

As they seized control of districts across Afghanistan in July and August 2021, members of the Taliban tortured and killed ethnic and religious minorities, former ANDSF soldiers, and those perceived as government sympathizers in reprisal attacks.

On September 6, 2021, Taliban forces attacked Bazarak town in Panjshir province. After a brief battle, approximately 20 men were captured by Taliban fighters and detained for two days, at times jailed in a pigeon coop. They were tortured, denied food, water and medical assistance, and repeatedly threatened with execution.

One of the men captured by the Taliban said: “[The] Talib had taken a knife… he was saying he wanted to behead the wounded… because they are infidels and Jews.”

Another man added: “They kept us underground. When we were asking for medical treatment of the wounded, the Taliban were saying, ‘Let them die’… There was no food and water, and no support to the wounded. They had brutal relations with us. When we were asking for water, they were saying, ‘Die of thirst’.” Torture and cruel and inhuman treatment of captives constitute war crimes.

Later the same day, the Taliban also attacked the nearby village of Urmaz, where they conducted door-to-door searches to identify people suspected of working for the former government. The fighters extrajudicially executed at least six civilian men within 24 hours, mainly by gunshots to the head, chest or heart. Such killings constitute war crimes. Eyewitnesses said that while some of the men had previously served in the ANSDF, none were in government security forces or taking part in hostilities in any way at the time of execution.

The report also documents reprisal attacks and executions of people affiliated with the former government in Spin Boldak. Amnesty International previously documented Taliban massacres of ethnic Hazaras in Ghazni and Daykundi provinces.

The full scale of the killings nationwide still remains unknown, as the Taliban cut mobile phone service, or severely restricted internet access, in many rural areas.

Civilian casualties from US and Afghan air strikes

The report documents four air strikes – three most likely carried out by US forces, and one by the Afghan Air Force – in recent years. The strikes killed a total of 28 civilians (15 men, five women, and eight children), and injured another six.

The strikes generally resulted in civilian deaths because the US dropped explosive weapons in densely populated areas. Amnesty International has previously documented similar impacts of explosive weapons in numerous other conflicts, and supports a political declaration to curb their use.

On November 9, 2020, an air strike most likely carried out by US forces killed five civilians – including a three-month-old girl – and wounded six at a family home in the Mulla Ghulam neighborhood of Khanabad city, in Kunduz province.

A nine-year-old child who was injured in the attack said: “I was sleeping when the first bomb hit… They were telling us to hide somewhere in case the second bomb happened. My father said I had to find my younger brother. The second bomb killed my mother, my uncle, my aunt, and my sister.”

Such strikes form a pattern of civilian harm that continued until the last moments of the conflict, when a US drone strike killed 10 people, including seven children, in Kabul on August 29, 2021. The US military later admitted that those killed were civilians.

Civilians killed in ground combat

The report documents eight cases during ground combat in which a total of 12 civilians were killed (five men, one woman, and six children), and 15 more injured. Through a combination of negligence and disregard for the law, the US-trained ANDSF frequently launched mortar attacks that hit homes and killed civilians in hiding.

The fighting in Kunduz city was especially fierce in June 2021. In the suburb of Zakhail, government forces launched mortars into densely populated neighborhoods. Meanwhile, Taliban forces gained ground, using schools and mosques to launch attacks, and demanding food from families trapped in their homes.

On June 22, 2021, one man was killed and two people were injured during a mortar attack in Zakhail. The ANDSF most likely launched the mortar from the First Police District, approximately 2.5 kilometers from the scene of the explosion. The man killed was Abdul Razaq, 20, who was recently engaged to be married. Fragments from the mortar tore open his head and stomach.

Later the same day in the same neighborhood, one child was killed and two more were injured when a mortar – again most likely launched by the ANDSF – hit a home where a family was in hiding. A metal fragment hit Manizha, a 12-year-old girl, in the spine, paralyzing and eventually killing her.

One man said the Taliban often forewarned families about combat, but they had received no similar communication from the government. He said: “The Taliban…say, ‘We will be fighting tonight’, and the people who can afford to leave do – but the poor people stay because they will starve if they leave. But there is no use of asking the government, when we know they are going to do nothing.”

The use of mortars, whose use in populated areas is inherently indiscriminate, can constitute a war crime.

Reparations and accountability

Multiple family members of victims of military actions told Amnesty International they did not receive sufficient, if any, reparations from the government.

One man, whose family home was destroyed in an air strike, said: “No one from the government came afterwards. We went to the district and told them what happened. No one came to us. They said, ‘This is not good. It should not have happened. We share your pain’. But nothing happened.”

Amnesty International is calling on the Taliban and the US government to fulfill their international obligations, and establish clear and robust mechanisms for civilians to request reparations for harm sustained during the conflict.

“The Taliban authorities now have the same legal obligation to provide reparations as the former government, and must address all issues of civilian harm seriously,” said Agnès Callamard.

“Victims and their families must receive reparations, and all those suspected of responsibility must be held to account in fair trials before ordinary civilian courts and without recourse to the death penalty.”

Methodology

Amnesty International conducted on-the-ground research in Kabul from August 1-15, 2021, and completed remote phone interviews with victims and witnesses via secure video and voice calls from August to November 2021.

Amnesty International conducted face-to-face interviews in Kabul with 65 people, and remote interviews through encrypted mobile apps with an additional 36 people, from a total of 10 provinces.

The organization’s Crisis Evidence Lab also reviewed satellite imagery, videos and photographs, medical and ballistics information, and interviewed relevant experts where necessary.

Contact: Gabby Arias, media@aiusa.org

Source: https://www.amnestyusa.org/reports/government-collapse-in-afghanistan-marked-by-repeated-war-crimes/

The post Government collapse in Afghanistan marked by ‘repeated war crimes and relentless bloodshed’ – New Report first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.