Afghanistan

Let's pay tribute to the victims of the 9/11 attacks with a bold action to ensure that we don't create more victims.

Trump said he had been ready to meet Taliban leaders on Sunday but cancelled the visit following the death of a U.S. soldier in Afghanistan last week.

Over 40 retired generals and admirals write to the President to list what will make the difference between a strong and effective Afghan deal, and a weak and symbolic one that doesn't.

"It reveals that there is no process in this administration, there is no serious policymaking process," former CIA Director John Brennan said.

A Taliban spokesperson criticized Trump's decision to cancel a planned meeting with the group's representatives that was scheduled for this weekend.

Illinois Rep. Adam Kinzinger and Florida Rep. Michael Waltz both had tough words for the commander in chief after he invited Taliban leaders to Camp David.

"We have consistently stressed that genuine peace is possible when the Taliban stop the killing of Afghans, embrace an inclusive ceasefire, and enter into direct negotiations with the Afghan government," Afghan government spokesman Sediq Sediqqi wrote Sunday.

The president said leaders from the Taliban were secretly supposed to fly into the United States on Saturday night before he cancelled it.

Sgt. 1st Class Elis A. Barreto Ortiz, 34, from Morovis, Puerto Rico, was killed Thursday after an improvised explosive device in a vehicle detonated in Kabul.

Maintaining the CIA and the Afghan paramilitaries it works with would seriously undermine any peace agreement.

Violence continues to plague Afghanistan, even as the nearly year-long talks between the Trump administration and the Taliban appeared on the cusp of a breakthrough.

The president has called the Koch brothers "totally overrated" and "a total joke in real Republican circles."

Negotiators are reportedly close to an initial agreement that will open dialogue between the Taliban and the Afghan government with a view to ending almost two decades of conflict.

U.S. Army Sergeant First Class Dustin B. Ard, 31, of Idaho Falls, Idaho, died Thursday from wounds he sustained during combat operations in Zabul, a southern Afghan province bordering Kandahar.

Reports say at least three civilians and dozens of fighters died.

The Fox News host mocked Biden for reportedly embellished stories about visits to the front line in Afghanistan to meet soldiers.

Russia's Foreign Ministry said "it's possible" Moscow could serve as "a guarantor in the agreement" between the Taliban and the U.S., which was accused of "double standards" in battling terror.

An investigation into alleged U.S. war crimes in Afghanistan was rejected by the International Criminal Court shortly after the U.S. threatened to blacklist and jail its judges.

Luis F. Deleon-Figueroa and Luis F. Deleon-Figueroa were killed Wednesday in Afghanistan, and were each posthumously promoted to Master Sergeant.

Even as there was fresh hope for a deal with the Taliban that could end the U.S.' longest war, Americans lost their lives in Afghanistan.

The group warned Trump that multiple historical empires have taken the dream of victory in Afghanistan "to the grave."

"Afghanistan would be wiped off the face of the earth, it would be gone," Trump said on Monday.

Twenty veterans a day die by suicide. The president needs to guarantee the men and women of our forces are taken care of, both during and after their service.

Christian McCoy, a retired Green Beret working for CACI International, was killed Monday.

"Al Qaeda attacked us on 9/11. That's why I and so many other people joined the military, to go after Al Qaeda. Not the Taliban," Gabbard explained.

Afghanistan will likely never become an American-style democracy. But the U.S. must ensure its peace agreement with the Taliban allows no return to the status quo ante.

The Pentagon is reportedly preparing to present plans to send 10,000 more troops to the region.

Alexander Bortnikov, head of the Federal Security Service, warned that 5,000 fighters from ISIS had been deployed in northern Afghanistan.

While not uncommon, the request comes at a moment of high tension in Washington as Democrats grow increasingly frustrated by what they view as the Trump administration's obstruction of their oversight responsibilities.

"We have not begun any peace talks with the Afghan government at all," retired four-star General Jack Keane said. "That is going to be very, very complicated, and we've got a long road in front of us."