Best views, weather, etc. How to test them 👓 SC, Ala. sites look back Betty Ford honored
NEWS
Afghanistan

DailyChatter: Time and the Taliban

DailyChatter

Editor's note: The following content is by DailyChatter. Sign up to receive the daily newsletter here.

Time and the Taliban

In this May 27, 2016 photo, members of a breakaway faction of the Taliban fighters walk during a gathering, in Shindand district of Herat province, Afghanistan.

Anyone who thought the Taliban’s spring offensive was on hold as they regrouped under their new leader experienced a rude awakening over the weekend: Afghanistan's National Directorate of Security said its officers thwarted a suicide attack in the country's capital of Kabul Saturday just as the U.S. Embassy in Kabul warned of future ones.

In the wake of a May 21 American drone strike in Pakistan that killed former Taliban leader Mullah Akhtar Mansour, the radical Islamic group appointed Haibatullah Akhundzada, a merciless judge who has rendered punishments in the form of amputations.

The New York Timesreported that Akhundzada is “quiet, deeply patient, and a listener.” Those qualities suggest he’ll take a step back and review the fighters’ priorities. Yet in their statement announcing their new leader, the Taliban suggested they aren’t interested in making concessions to Kabul or anyone else that might bring peace to their country.

It might be a stretch to suggest that the Taliban is reeling, as a Wall Street Journal headline read. But if Akhundzada is smart, he'll pause. He faces a landscape that is arguably less conducive than those his predecessors enjoyed.

Mansour died in Pakistan, evoking echoes of Al Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden’s death, The Economistnoted. Mansour also enjoyed the backing of some elements among Pakistan's elite.

Pakistan is part of the ongoing peace talks for Afghanistan that many are criticizing as a disaster. At the same time, it’s become increasingly clear that Islamabad is more interested in retaining influence over the Afghan Taliban by allowing them to operate out of remote areas on the country’s frontier with Afghanistan than helping Kabul or Washington curb the violence.

As a result, Congress recently put conditions on more military aid to Pakistan, and the White House has largely dropped the pretext of secrecy for its drone war in the South Asian country. That angers Pakistani leaders. But President Obama appears to have weighed the pros and cons of that anger and opted to kill terrorists rather than placate undependable allies. That puts more pressure on the Taliban.

To say Afghanistan is better off because of the Taliban’s troubles would also be a stretch, however.

After 15 years of war, hundreds of billions of dollars spent on American troops and $60 billion in American spending on incapable Afghan security forces – the Taliban insurgency is as dangerous as ever and killings have continued as a record pace, argued Retired Lt. Col. Daniel L. Davis in TIME.

Today, Memorial Day, Americans will pause to remember the thousands of US troops killed in the country. At the same time, there is no end in sight for the casualties among Afghan civilians, a death toll not seen since the beginning of the war.

Meanwhile, while Afghanistan has made great strides since then, it remains “fanatically corrupt.” President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani shares power with his chief executive Abdullah Abdullah in a bizarre arrangement designed to satisfy everyone but that actually helps no one. Loads of government positions remain unfilled as the two men and their supporters squabble. Young Afghans are a large cohort of the refugees streaming into Europe in search of peace and job opportunities.

Hopefully, the Taliban won’t recover from their current discord. Hopefully, Afghan leaders can exploit the discord to gain ground in their quest to create a functioning state that can govern and promote prosperity. Given how the Taliban has regrouped from past adversities and how problems in Kabul seem intractable, however, time appears to be on the side of the bad guys.

WANT TO KNOW

Fallujah: What's Next?

Iraqi troops entered the Islamic State-held city of Fallujah Monday as part of its campaign to drive out the Islamic State militants from their strongholds in cities like Mosul and Fallujah, and prevent further attacks on Baghdad, 40 miles away.

Backed by coalition forces, Shia militias and Kurdish fighters, the Iraqi army closed in on the city from three directions. ISIL forces responded with a string of suicide attacks in Baghdad and to the north of Fallujah that killed at least 20.

With strong backing from Iranian forces and advisors, the assault on Fallujah highlights Iran's increasingly prominent role in managing Iraqi affairs: In contrast to similar maneuvers in Syria, where the US is taking charge, Iran is the leading foreign power in the attempts to overthrow ISIL in Iraq.

As a result, many in the Sunni-dominated city are bracing themselves for what comes after IS. The presence of Shia militias in the offensive has raised concerns among Iraqi Sunnis, who fear reprisals as militias move into widely Sunni areas: Many Shiites believe residents of the city are collaborators.

Hermit Kingdom: Losing Allies

North Korea bid farewell to another close friend over the weekend: Ugandan President Yoweri Muse said the country would halt all military cooperation with Pyongyang following a meeting with South Korean President Park Geun-hye.

Uganda said it would adhere to UN sanctions that were implemented as a result of North Korea's fourth nuclear test in January. Those measure rule out all military links between North Korea and other nations, including weapons and training contracts.

Uganda is one of the hermit state's closest allies in Africa, and the African nation's military links to North Korea date back to the 1970s, when it began supplying weapons and training to Pyongyang's armed forces under Ugandan leader Idi Amin.

It's a significant victory in South Korea's ongoing attempt to disrupt North Korea's support networks and nuclear arms development program. Earlier this month, Park traveled to Iran to gain their assistance in pressuring Pyongyang with anti-nuclear sanctions.

Europe: New Routes, New Deaths

British officials expressed mounting concern over refugees' attempt to reach the U.K. via the English Channel – and future casualties there – after a rescue Monday of 18 Albanians and two Brits from a sinking boat off the coast of England.

The rescue occurred a day after Bernard Barron, head of the French coastguard, said that the stretch of water between England and France could end up witnessing drownings like those seen across the Mediterranean.

Last week, an estimated 700 people died trying to reach Europe, according to Doctors Without Borders and the U.N.'s refugee agency, UNHCR, which are collecting witness testimonies.

DISCOVERIES

Ancient Marsupial Preferred…Escargot

Take the Thingodonta, a woodpecker-like marsupial with fangs which dug bugs out of trees. Or the crazily-named Balbaroo fangaroo, a kangaroo relative with tusks. Or even the so-called Drop Crocs, crocodiles that jumped out of trees (yes, really).

And there is the Dromornis known as the "Demon Duck of Doom": This ancient bird was a whopping 10 feet tall.

Let's face it folks, Australia wins the crown for craziest animals known to man. Now, scientists excavating a cave full of ancient goodies have found another winner: a marsupial that had a refined palette – for snails.

"Malleodectes mirabilis was a bizarre mammal, as strange in its own way as a koala or kangaroo," says lead author UNSW Professor Mike Archer of a study published in the Scientific Reports journal.

Still, evidence found by researchers excavating the Riversleigh World Heritage Fossil Site near Queensland suggests it lived 15 million years ago, and – most crucially – belonged to its own family, Malleodectes mirabilis.

And even in such company as the Demon Duck of Doom or the Drop Croc, scientists say the animal is unusual.

"Uniquely among mammals, it appears to have had an insatiable appetite for escargot – snails in the whole shell," said Archer. "Its most striking feature was a huge, extremely powerful, hammer-like premolar that would have been able to crack and then crush the strongest snail shells in the forest."

Check out the ancient snail-loving marsupial here.

Featured Weekly Ad