Bowe Bergdahl

Secretary of Defense James Mattis is on a Mideast tour to “continue efforts to strengthen regional security architectures.” While his meetings in Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Israel are likely to attract most of the press coverage, his discussions in Qatar Saturday could be the most consequential.

President Barack Obama vehemently refused to apologize Thursday for doing a prisoner trade with the Taliban to free a US soldier, despite a fierce political storm over the deal in Washington.        

A suicide bomber killed three Turkish engineers and wounded another one on June 2 in eastern Afghanistan, the latest attack on foreigners in the war-torn country.
      
It came after the US and the Taliban sealed a dramatic prisoner swap that saw soldier Bowe Bergdahl released for five senior insurgent figures, raising hopes for peace as foreign forces prepare to withdraw.

The lone U.S. soldier held captive in Afghanistan was freed May 31 in exchange for five senior Taliban figures detained at Guantanamo Bay, in a dramatic deal brokered by Qatar.