U.S. military

The U.S. military pulled off its biggest day of evacuation flights out of Afghanistan by far on Aug. 23, but deadly violence that has blocked many desperate evacuees from entering Kabul's airport persisted, and the Taliban signaled they might soon seek to shut down the airlifts.

class='cf'>

President Joe Biden said on Aug. 22 the U.S.-led evacuation of Americans, at-risk Afghans and others from the Kabul airport picked up speed this weekend, although it remains vulnerable to threats posed by the Islamic State extremist group.

class='cf'>

Educated young women, former U.S. military translators and other Afghans most at-risk from the Taliban appealed to the Biden administration to get them on evacuation flights as the United States struggled to bring order to the continuing chaos at the Kabul airport.

The Taliban were in control of Afghanistan on Aug. 16 after President Ashraf Ghani fled the country and conceded the insurgents had won the 20-year war.

class='cf'>

The astonishingly quick collapse of the government, with militants taking over the presidential palace on Sunday night, triggered fear and panic in the capital.

An incident where a ship may have been hijacked off the coast of the United Arab Emirates has ended and the vessel is safe, a UK maritime security agency said on Aug. 4.

class='cf'>

Afghan forces battled Monday to stop a first major city from falling to the Taliban as the United States and Britain accused the insurgents of "massacring civilians" in a town they recently captured near the Pakistan border.

class='cf'>

U.S. Navy explosive experts believe a "drone strike" targeted an oil tanker that came under attack off the coast of Oman in the Arabian Sea, killing two on board, the American military said on July 31.

class='cf'>

Afghan authorities on July 23 imposed a night-time curfew across 31 of the country's 34 provinces to curb surging violence unleashed by a sweeping Taliban offensive in recent months, the interior ministry said.

After nearly 20 years, the U.S. military left Bagram Airfield, the epicenter of its war to oust the Taliban and hunt down the al-Qaida perpetrators of the 9/11 terrorist attacks on America, two U.S. officials said on July 2. 

The United States said on June 27 it carried out another round of air strikes against Iran-backed militia in Iraq and Syria, this time in response to drone attacks by the militia against U.S. personnel and facilities in Iraq.