War in Afghanistan

Nov. 6 (UPI) — Opium production has dropped sharply in Afghanistan, but trafficking in the region is on the rise, according to a Thursday report by the United Nations.

The report, by the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, said a little over 25,000 acres are being cultivated now, down from almost 31,000 acres in 2024.

The report said production has fallen by a third to 296 tons, and farmers’ income from opium production has dropped almost in half over the same period.

The report stressed the need to continue to eradicate efforts with support for alternative livelihoods and demand-reduction methods.

“While many growers have switched to cereals and other crops, worsening drought and low rainfall have left over 40% of farmland barren,” the report said.

Effects from the climate have been exacerbated by an influx of 4 million Afghans returning from other countries, which has created increased competition for jobs and put pressure on other sectors of the economy.

The report said these factors have made opium production an attractive alternative.

While cultivation has fallen, optimum trafficking is on the rise as the demand for synthetic drugs made from the plant continues to increase.

Seizures in and around Afghanistan are up 50% compared to 2024, driven largely by an uptick in methamphetamine use, the report said.

Synthetic opium-based drugs are relatively easy to produce and harder to detect than pure opium, which has also contributed to the increase in demand.

“The dynamics of supply and trafficking involve both Afghan and international actors,” said Georgette Gagnon, Deputy Special Representative in charge of the UN political mission in the country.

“Addressing this challenge requires collaboration among key stakeholders,” Gangnon added.

The report calls for counternarcotics strategies that extend beyond opium, including synthetic drug manufacturing and transportation, as well as prevention methods.

Nov. 6 (UPI) — The Trump administration has moved to end deportation protections for those from South Sudan as the United Nations warns the country is on the brink of war.

Amid President Donald Trump‘s crackdown on immigration, the Department of Homeland Security has targeted countries that have been given Temporary Protected Status, which is granted to countries facing ongoing armed conflict, environmental disasters or other extraordinary conditions.

TPS enables eligible nationals from the designated countries to live and work in the United States legally, without fear of deportation.

DHS announced it was ending TPS for South Sudan on Wednesday with the filing of a Federal Register notice.

The termination will be in effect Jan. 5.

“After conferring with interagency partners, Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem determined that conditions in South Sudan no longer meet the TPS statutory requirements,” DHS said in a statement, which explained the decision was based on a U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services review of the conditions in South Sudan and in consultation with the Department of State.

South Sudan was first designated for TPS in November 2011 amid violent post-independence instability in the country, and the designation has been repeatedly renewed since.

The Trump administration has sought to end TPS designations for a total seven countries: Afghanistan, Cameroon, Haiti, Honduras, Nicaragua, Nepal, Venezuela and now South Sudan. Court challenges have followed, with decisions staying, at least for now, the terminations for all of the countries except for Afghanistan and Cameroon, which ended July 12 and Aug. 4, respectively.

The move to terminate TPS for South Sudan is also expected to be challenged in court.

The announcement comes a little more than a week after the United Nations Commission on Human Rights in South Sudan warned the General Assembly that the African nation is experiencing escalating armed conflict and political crisis, and that international intervention is needed to halt mounting human rights violations.

A civil war erupted in South Sudan in December 2013, just two years after the country gained independence — a conflict that came to an end with a cease-fire in 2018.

Barney Afako, a member of the human rights commission in South Sudan, said Oct. 29 that the political transition spearheaded by the cease-fire agreement was “falling apart.”

“The cease-fire is not holding, political detentions have become a tool of repression, the peace agreement’s key provisions are being systematically violated and the government forces are using aerial bombardments in civilian areas,” he said.

“All indicators point to a slide back toward another deadly war.”

The DHS is urging South Sudanese in the United States under TPS to voluntarily leave the country using the U.S. Customs and Border Protection smartphone application. If they do, they can secure a complimentary plane ticket, a $1,000 “exit bonus” and potential future opportunities for legal immigration.

Oct. 12 (UPI) — Dozens of soldiers are dead following clashes along the Pakistani-Afghan border Saturday night into Sunday morning.

An attack by the Afghan Taliban on Pakistani military installations prompted the heavy exchange of military fire after Afghan troops opened fire along the northwest border and took control of several of the military posts, officials said.

The attacks followed alleged Pakistani airstrikes on Afghan territory, which included targets in Kabul, the capital earlier in the week.

Pakistan responded Sunday with gunfire and ground raids on Taliban posts at the border.

The Pakistani military said 23 soldiers were killed and at least 29 more wounded in the fighting. Officials said 200 Taliban-backed Afghan terrorists were killed in retaliatory strikes, and that Pakistani forces had dismantled Afghan terrorist training camps.

A spokesperson for Afghanistan‘s Taliban government said Sunday that a “significant amount” of Pakistani weapons had been recovered by Taliban forces in the clash.

The latest spasm of deadly violence marks the sharpest uptick in tensions between the Taliban and Pakistan in months, and surface amid Islamabad’s allegations that Afghanistan is harboring armed militants in Pakistan.

Sept. 29 (UPI) — The Trump administration on Monday rescinded a Biden-era firearms export rule that prohibited the transfer of civilian weaponry to individuals in 36 countries deemed high-risk of falling into the hands of criminals or terrorists.

The Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security rescinded the interim final rule, arguing it imposed “onerous” export controls on weapons, throttling U.S. gunmakers from competing in overseas markets at a cost of hundreds of millions of dollars a year in exports.

“BIS strongly rejects the Biden administration’s war on the Second Amendment and law-abiding firearms users,” Jeffrey Kessler, under secretary of Commerce for Industry and Security, said in a statement.

“With today’s rule, BIS is restoring common sense to export controls and doing right by America’s proud firearms industry, while also continuing to protect national security.”

The Biden administration released the interim final rule in April 30, 2024, to restrict private transfers of firearms out of the United States.

It aimed to reduce so-called straw purchases where one person legally buys the weapon for someone restricted by the United States from owning it.

It did this by barring the sale of weapons to individuals in 36 countries the Department of State has designated a “substantial risk” that lawful firearms exports to non-governmental entities will be diverted or misused, according to a report to Congress on Biden-era restrictions on firearms sales.

The countries are those blacklisted in the State Department’s Country Reports on Human Rights Practices and the Presidential Determination on Major Drug Transit or Major Illicit Drug Producing Countries.

Countries on those lists include Afghanistan, Myanmar, China, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Venezuela, Jamaica and others.

The rule also reduced export license limits to one to two years instead of the previous four to five and required potential exporters to include purchase orders and passport identification from the intended recipient to show they are the actual person who is interested in and allowed to receive the firearm.

Civilian weapons and ammunition affected by the rule included most pistols, rifles, and non-long barrel shotguns.

In rescinding the rule, the Bureau of Industry and Security argued the presumption of denial to 36 countries ceded the overseas markets in those nations to foreign firearms manufactures, the export license requirements were a bureaucratic hurdle about optics, not national security.

“The firearm industry is tremendously grateful to the Trump administration and BIS officials for their actions to restore American competitiveness in firearm manufacturing and exports to foreign countries,” Lawrence Keane, NSSF senior vice president and general counsel, said in a statement.

“American firearm manufacturing is the worldwide leader and removing these restrictions will restore access to foreign markets while continuing to maintain adequate export controls to prevent illegal firearm trafficking.”

A report produced in October 2024 by the Government Accountability Office found that 73% of all weapons, mostly handguns, recovered in crimes by law enforcement in Caribbean nations, which account for six of the 10 highest murder rates in the world, had come from the United States, many coming from commercial sales.

Rep. Gregory Meeks, D-N.Y., ranking member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, chastised the Trump administration for further weakening oversight of international arms transfers, saying these weapons will now more easily find their ways into “illicit hands.”

“Countries around the world, especially in Latin American and the Caribbean, have called on the U.S. to better control the export of American firearms, which all too often are exploited by gangs and criminal networks to destabilize communities and exacerbate civilian insecurity,” he said in a statement, while pointing to the GAO report.

“The administration’s reduction of oversight checks on such sales does nothing to strengthen national, regional or global security.”

Sept. 29 (UPI) — U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has announced the release of a U.S. citizen who was considered wrongly detained in Afghanistan.

The United States’ top diplomat announced the return home of Amir Amiry in a statement on Sunday.

“We express our sincere gratitude to Qatar, whose strong partnership and tireless diplomatic efforts were vital to securing his release,” he said.

The Taliban on Sunday also confirmed the release of Amiry from prison.

Afghanistan’s foreign ministry posted photos of U.S. special envoy Adam Boehler with its minister, Mawlawi Amir Khan Muttaqi, on X, calling Amiry’s release “a positive step” in diplomacy.

The conditions for Amiry’s release were not stated.

Qatar’s foreign ministry earlier confirmed Amiry’s release from Afghan detention, stating he was en route to Doha and would be leaving for the United States at a later time.

“Qatar remains committed to advancing mediation efforts aimed at achieving peaceful solutions to conflicts and complex international issues — an approach rooted in the state’s foreign policy, which prioritizes dialogue as a strategic choice for promoting regional and global peace and stability,” it said in a statement.

Amiry was reportedly detained in December 2024.

The release comes after two U.S. citizens held by the Taliban were released in a prison swap with the United States in January. In March, an American citizen detained in Afghanistan since 2022 was also released.

Sept. 21 (UPI) — The Taliban government has rejected President Donald Trump‘s attempt to regain control of Bagram Air Base, which the United States abandoned to the Afghan government during its military withdrawal from the Middle Eastern country four years ago.

The United States left the country in a hasty exit that was initiated under the first Trump administration and completed under the Biden administration, which saw Afghanistan fall back under Taliban control.

Last week, Trump publicly demanded the facility be returned to U.S. control in a bid to check China.

The Taliban on Sunday said that it is seeking “constructive relations” with all states and that it has consistently communicated to the United States that Afghanistan’s “independence and territorial integrity are of the utmost importance.”

“It should be recalled that, under the Doha agreement, the United States pledged that ‘it will not use or threaten force against the territorial integrity or political independence of Afghanistan, nor interfere in its internal affairs.’ Therefore, it is necessary that they remain faithful to their commitments,” the Taliban said in a statement shared by its deputy spokesman, Hamdullah Firat, on X.

The Doha agreement, officially as the Agreement for Bringing Peace to Afghanistan, was signed between the Taliban and the first Trump administration in February 2020, initiating the United States’ withdrawal from the country to end the two-decade war.

During a press conference in London on Thursday, Trump told reporters he was seeking to regain control of Bagram Air Base.

“We want that base back,” he said. “But one of the reasons we want the base is, you know, it’s an hour away from where China makes its nuclear weapons.”

He has since followed up with threats against the Taliban.

“If Afghanistan doesn’t give Bagram Airbase back to those that built it, the United States of America, BAD THINGS ARE GOING TO HAPPEN!!!” he said in a statement Saturday on his Truth Social platform.

Sept. 5 (UPI) — A federal judge on Friday blocked the Trump administration for now from ending Temporary Protected Status for more than 1.1 million migrants from Venezuela and Haiti.

U.S. District Judge Edward Chen in San Francisco ruled that the change unlawfully “truncated and condensed” the timeline to end temporary legal protections and work permits for people who fled the two Latin American nations. He was appointed by President Barack Obama.

About 600,000 Venezuelans had their protections expire in April or on Sept. 10. They have fled political unrest, mass unemployment and hunger since receiving their protected status in 2021. The ruling affects 500,000 from Haiti.

The Department of Homeland Security has attempted to end the status for several countries. Separate litigation is ongoing for migrants from Afghanistan, Cameroon, Honduras, Nepal and Nicaragua.

“This case arose from action taken post haste by the current DHS Secretary, Kristi Noem, to revoke the legal status of Venezuelan and Haitian TPS holders, sending them back to conditions that are so dangerous that even the State Department advises against travel to their home countries,” Chen wrote in a 69-page decision. “The Secretary’s action in revoking TPS was not only unprecedented in the manner and speed in which it was taken but also violates the law.”

The decision only temporarily halted the agency from deporting them. But Chen said he expects Venezuelans will be able to renew this status while the case goes through the courts, including appeals, and ultimately the Supreme Court.

Earlier, he halted a TPS order for several hundred thousand Venezuelans. But the Supreme Court in May allowed the Trump administration to end the program as it goes through the courts.

Chen said his new decision concerned only preliminary relief, and the high court didn’t bar him from deciding on the case based upon its merits under the Administrative Procedure Act, which governs the rule-making process of the agency.

In planning to appeal, Noem said the government will “use every legal option at the Department’s disposal to end this chaos and prioritize the safety of Americans.”

“For decades the TPS program has been abused, exploited, and politicized as a de facto amnesty program. Its use has been all the more dangerous given the millions of unvetted illegal aliens the Biden Administration let into this country,” the statement obtained by CBS News read.

The Trump administration has argued that conditions in Venezuela and Haiti have improved sufficiently to end those protections.

TPS was established in 1990 to allow for temporary immigrant protections for people experiencing wars, natural disasters or other “extraordinary” conditions.

“For 35 years, the TPS statute has been faithfully executed by presidential administrations from both parties, affording relief based on the best available information obtained by the Department of Homeland Security,” Chen wrote. “This case arose from action taken post haste by the current DHS Secretary, Kristi Noem, to revoke the legal status of Venezuelan and Haitian TPS holders, sending them back to conditions that are so dangerous that even the State Department advises against travel to their home countries.”

When Donald Trump was president during his first term, he attempted to end TPS for several countries, including Haiti. Court cases were blocked during his presidency.

When Joe Biden was president, he designated Venezuela as part of TPS, covering 600,000 migrants. It was expanded to Afghanistan, Cameroon, Haiti and Ukraine.

Haiti was first designated the protection after the magnitude 7.0 earthquake in 2010. The nation faces widespread hunger and gang violence.

Two years later in 2023, he extended protections for those from Venezuela and Haiti.

When Trump became president again in January, Noem sought to reverse the extension for Venezuela and then sought to terminate the designation entirely. Haitians also were included, as well as those from other countries.

“As a matter of law, the Secretary lacked the implicit authority to vacate,” Chen wrote. “Even if she had such authority, there is no genuine dispute that she exceeded that authority.”

The National TPS Alliance and Venezuelan TPS holders in February challenged Noem’s decisions.

“From Day 1, Secretary Noem acted with a sole intent of stripping TPS-holders of their legal status whether or not there was a basis for it,” Emi MacLean, an attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union in Northern California, which represented the plaintiffs, said in a statement to The Washington Post. “This decision recognizes the illegality of that. As a result, TPS protections should go back into effect immediately.”

Aug. 7 (UPI) — National Purple Heart Day will be celebrated on the seventh day of August after President Donald Trump signed a proclamation making it so on Thursday.

The president was joined by many Purple Heart recipients and their families during a signing ceremony honoring the nation’s military personnel at the White House.

“We’re here to honor and celebrate the unyielding patriotism and grit and devotion to America’s Purple Heart veterans with emotion and great love,” Trump told the audience.

He said Gen. George Washington created the Purple Heart on Aug. 7, 1782, when he presented a purple ribbon shaped like a heart to each of three soldiers for their gallantry in battle.

“Just as George Washington did 243 years ago, today we give our everlasting thanks to you and your unbelievable families,” Trump said while referencing the dozens of Purple Heart recipients in the audience.

While Washington was the first to bestow a Purple Heart to soldiers, it remained a footnote in U.S. military history until Gen. Douglas MacArthur and the War Department officially created the Purple Heart as a badge for military merit in 1932.

The award was narrowed to one solely for those wounded or killed in combat in 1944, and nearly 1.9 million service members have received the honor.

Three of the nearly 100 wounded warriors who attended Thursday’s signing ceremony last year gave their Purple Heart medals to Trump after he survived being shot in his right ear by a would-be assassin during a campaign rally in Butler, Penn., on July 13, 2024.

Those veterans are Thomas Matteo, Gerald Enter Jr., and John Ford.

“What a great honor to get those Purple Hearts,” Trump said while thanking the three men.

“In a certain way, it wasn’t that easy for me, either,” he added,” but you went through a lot more than I did, and I appreciate it all very much.”

The president also honored his 2024 campaign manager, Chris LaCivita, who is a Marine Corps veteran and received a Purple Heart in 1991 while serving in the Gulf War.

Others mentioned during the signing ceremony include Kevin Willette and his son Brian Willette. Both he and his son received Purple Hearts while serving in Afghanistan.

Military specialist Kevin Brown also was honored for pulling Capt. Sam Brown from a Humvee that an explosive device had damaged.

Both men earned their Purple Hearts on that day, and the Senate last week confirmed Brown as the Military Affairs Department’s under-secretary for memorial affairs.

Trump said the Purple Heart “tells a story of courage, sacrifice and purpose” and “speaks of a price paid for the soldier beside you, the country behind you and the generations of Americans yet to come.”

He then signed the proclamation designating Aug. 7 as National Purple Heart Day.

Aug. 1 (UPI) — A federal judge has ruled to postpone the Trump administration’s termination of deportation protections for tens of thousands of migrants from Honduras, Nepal and Nicaragua amid litigation.

Judge Trina Thompson of the U.S. District Court in Northern California issued her strongly worded order Thursday, delaying the termination of Temporary Protected Status until at least Nov. 18, when a hearing is scheduled to hear the merits of the case.

The ruling is a win for immigration advocates, who have been fighting Trump’s crackdown on immigration and policies seeking to mass-deport migrants in the country.

“The freedom to live fearlessly, the opportunity of liberty and the American dream. That is all plaintiffs seek. Instead, they are told to atone for their race, leave because of their names and purify their blood. The court disagrees,” Thompson said in her decision.

TPS was established by Congress in 1990 to shield migrants in the United States from being deported to their home countries experiencing problems, such as war, conflict or famine, where they would be put into harm’s way.

Honduras and Nicaragua were both granted TPS designation in January 1999, following the devastation caused by Hurricane Mitch a year prior, with Nepal receiving the designation in 2015.

Some 60,000 people from the three countries are currently protected from being deported to their native nations because of TPS, many of whom have been in the United States for decades.

Trump has attempted to dismantle TPS. In early June, he announced it was ending such protections for those from Nepal, followed by doing the same for those from Honduras and Nicaragua. The designations were to be terminated within 60 days — Aug. 5 for Nepal and Sept. 8 for Honduras and Nicaragua.

The Trump administration cited that conditions in each of the three countries no longer warranted TPS designation.

The move was met with litigation filed by the National TPS Alliance on July 7, arguing the terminations violated the Administrative Procedure Act by failing to follow the necessary review process rules while stating racial animus was the actual motive behind ending the deportation protections.

The next day, National TPS Alliance filed for postponement of the terminations.

“Today’s court decision is a powerful affirmation of our humanity and our right to live without fear,” Sandhya Lama, a TPS holder from Nepal and plaintiff in the case, said in a statement. “As a TPS holder and mother, this victory means safety, hope and the chance to keep building our lives here.”

In her decision, Thompson, a President Joe Biden appointee, cited comments from Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem about TPS and immigrants as proof of racial animus behind the terminations.

She said Noem had intended to end TPS without first reviewing any country condition reports and that she had expressed bias against the program.

“These statements reflect the secretary’s animus against immigrants and the TPS program even though individuals with TPS hold lawful status — a protected status that we expressly conferred by Congress with the purpose of providing humanitarian relief,” Thompson said, adding that TPS holders have contributed billion to the economy by legally working, paying taxes and contributing to Medicare.

“By stereotyping the TPS program and immigrants as invaders that are criminal, and by highlighting the need for migration management, Secretary Noem’s statements perpetuate the discriminatory belief that certain immigrant populations will replace the white population.”

Thompson also mentioned comments from Trump and other White House officials about migrants that show racial animus.

Trump has also sought to end TPS protections for other nations, including Afghanistan — moves that are also being challenged in court.

July 15 (UPI) — A federal appeals court has temporarily blocked the Trump administration from stripping deportation protections from thousands of Afghans in the country.

The unsigned order from the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals in Virginia came Monday, the same day about 11,700 Afghans in the United States were to lose their Temporary Protected Status.

The order maintains TPS for Afghan migrants until July 21.

The ruling came in response to a request by CASA, an immigration advocacy group.

President Donald Trump won re-election following a campaign that used derogatory rhetoric and misinformation about migrants, while vowing to conduct mass deportations.

Since returning to office, he has used his presidential powers to deport migrants and limit immigration, including ending TPS for migrants from Afghanistan and Cameroon on April 12.

The next month, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem announced the designation for Afghanistan would be terminated on July 14.

“We’ve reviewed the conditions in Afghanistan with our interagency partners, and they do not meet the requirements for a TPS designation,” she said.

The move has attracted criticism because many of the Afghans with TPS protection were permitted to enter the United States following the U.S. military withdrawal from the war-torn country in 2021. It has since returned to Taliban rule.

Prior to the order on Monday, the National Immigration Forum warned that ending TPS designation for Afghanistan would disrupt thousands of lives, harm their U.S. communities and remove essential workers from the workforce.

“These individuals are not only our allies, but our friends, employees and neighbors,” Jennie Murray, president and CEO of the National Immigration Forum, said in a statement.

“Since so many of those losing their protections served alongside U.S. forces, we should honor that service by upholding our promise to provide safety and ensure that they have an opportunity to thrive here.”

The Trump administration has also sought to end TPS designations for Haiti, Venezuela, Nepal, Nicaragua and Honduras.

July 9 (UPI) — The United States has sanctioned an independent investigator of human rights abuses in the Palestinian territories, in latest move by the Trump administration targeting critics of Israel’s military campaign in Gaza.

Francesca Paola Albanese, the 48-year-old Italian-born U.N. special rapporteur for the West Bank and Gaza, was sanctioned by the State Department on Wednesday.

The sanctions come as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visits Washington, D.C., and follow the publication of a recent report by Albanese calling for punitive measures to be imposed against Israel over what she describes as its “genocide” of the Palestinian people, while criticizing dozens of businesses for profiting off the conflict.

The State Department issued its secondary sanctions on the grounds of Albanese’s support of the ICC.

The Trump administration sanctioned the ICC last month after the court opened an investigation into the actions of U.S. personnel in Afghanistan and issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu and former Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant on allegations of committing war crimes and crimes against humanity in their widespread, systematic assault on Gaza.

Albanese has called on countries to comply with the ICC arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio said her support of the ICC is “a gross infringement on the sovereignty” of the United States and Israel, as neither party is a member of the international court.

“The United States has repeatedly condemned and objected to the biased and malicious activities of Albanese that have long made her unfit for service as a special rapporteur,” Rubio said in a statement.

He also chastised her recent report for naming dozens of companies that she described as complicit in and profiting from Israel’s war.

“While life in Gaza is being obliterated and the West Bank is under escalating assault, this report shows why Israel’s genocide continues: because it is lucrative for many,” the report states, while urging the ICC to investigate and prosecute corporate executives complicit in the conflict.

Rubio said the report makes “extreme and unfounded accusations.”

“We will not tolerate these campaigns of political and economic warfare, which threaten our national interests and sovereignty,” he said.

“The United States will continue to take whatever actions we deem necessary to respond to lawfare, to check and prevent illegitimate ICC overreach and abuse of power, and to protect our sovereignty and that of our allies.”

Without directly mentioning the sanctions, Albanese said on X that “on this day more than ever: I stand firmly and convincingly on the side of justice, as I have always done.”

“I come from a country with a tradition of illustrious legal scholars, talented lawyers and courageous judges who have defended justice at great cost and often with their own life. I intend to honor that tradition,” she said.

Amnesty International rebuked the United States’ sanctions as “a shameless and transparent attack on the fundamental principles of international justice.”

“Following the recent sanctions against the International Criminal Court, the measures announced today are a continuation of the Trump administration’s assault on international law and its efforts to protect the Israeli government from accountability at all costs,” Agnes Callamard, Amnesty International’s secretary general, said in a statement.

“They are the latest in a series of Trump administration policies seeking to intimidate and silence those that dare speak out for Palestinians’ human rights.”

The war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza began on Oct. 7, 2023, when the Iran-backed militant group killed 1,200 people and took another 251 hostage during a surprise attack on Israel.

In the 21 months since, Israel has destroyed Gaza and killed more than 57,600 Palestinians and injured more than 137,000 others.

July 8 (UPI) — The International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants Tuesday for two top Taliban officials over a plethora of allegations of crimes against women and young girls.

The court, based in the Hague, Netherlands, issued its international arrest warrants for the Taliban’s supreme leader Haibatullah Akhundzada and its chief justice, Abdul Hakim Haqqani, over “reasonable grounds” of crimes against humanity on girls, women and “other persons non-conforming with the Taliban’s policy on gender, gender identity or expression.”

ICC officials stated the alleged crimes were believed to be committed in Afghanistan from around the time the Taliban seized power until as late as January of this year.

According to the ICC, Akhundzada and Haggani held defect authority in Afghanistan starting at least August 2021.

It accused the two Taliban leaders of “severe” violations of fundamental rights and freedoms against the Afghan population.

Last week, Russia became the first nation to officially recognize Afghanistan’s extremist Taliban government.

The tribunal on Tuesday pointed to “conducts of murder, imprisonment, torture, rape and enforced disappearance.”

“Specifically, the Taliban severely deprived, through decrees and edicts, girls and women of the rights to education, privacy and family life and the freedoms of movement, expression, thought, conscience and religion,” court officials wrote in a release.

It added that other individuals were “targeted” due to “certain expressions of sexuality and/or gender identity” thought to be inconsistent with the Taliban’s policy on gender.

“The Chamber found that gender persecution encompasses not only direct acts of violence, but also systemic and institutionalized forms of harm, including the imposition of discriminatory societal norms,” the ICC ruling continued.

In addition, the court also found that even people simply perceived to be in opposition to Taliban policies were targeted, which the court says included “political opponents” and “those described as ‘allies of girls and women.'”

The International Criminal Court, ratified in 2002 and created to try global cases of genocide, war crimes and other crimes against humanity, was the product of 50 years of United Nations efforts.

The court’s stated goal was to publicly disclose the two warrants existence in hopes that public awareness “may contribute to the prevention of the further commission of these crimes.”

However, the chamber opted to keep the warrants under seal to protect victim witnesses and future court proceedings.

July 7 (UPI) — The United States has ended federal protections shielding thousands of migrants from Nicaragua and Honduras from deportation, angering immigration and civil rights advocacy groups as the Trump administration continues to remove longstanding immigration protections from migrants.

The Homeland Security Department announced the end of the Temporary Protected Status designation for those from the two Central American nations in separate statements Monday, saying the move will go into effect in 60 days.

Commonly known as TPS, the designation is intended to prevent the deportation of eligible migrants to their home countries where they could be put at risk due to natural disaster or conflict. Since returning to the White House in January, Trump has already moved to end TPS designations for Afghanistan, Haiti, Venezuela and Nepal — which have attracted litigation.

The United States first designated Nicaragua and Honduras for TPS in 1999, following the devastation caused by Hurricane Mitch a year prior.

According to DHS figures published in a September report from the Congressional Research Service, nearly 3,000 Nicaraguans and more than 54,000 Hondurans have been approved to stay in the United States under TPS.

“Temporary Protected Status was designed to be just that — temporary,” DHS Secretary Kristi Noem said.

In both statements announcing the end of TPS for Nicaragua and Honduras, DHS cited “improved conditions” in the Central American nations, and that after speaking with interagency partners, Noem decided neither country meets the TPS statutory requirements.

Honduran and Nicaraguan nationals are being “encouraged” to report their departure from the United States with the use of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection smartphone application to leave the country with “a complementary plane ticket” as well as “a $1,000 exit bonus to help them resettle.”

The American Civil Liberties Union was quick to file a lawsuit against the Trump administration on Monday, asking the court to declare its termination of TPS for Honduras, Nepal and Nicaragua unlawful under the Administrative Procedure Act as the decision to do so was “not based on an objective review of country conditions.”

It said the termination decision by the Trump administration will affect tens of thousands of migrants, some of whom have been in the United States for 26 years.

“I am devastated at the heartless decision to terminate TPS for Honduras,” Johny Silva, a plaintiff in the case said in a statement from the ACLU.

Silva, 29, has been in the United States since he was three years old, is a father of a U.S. citizen with special needs and works as a certified nurse.

“I’ve been doing it the ‘right way’ the whole time. Now, I am facing losing my job, the ability to care for my family and the only home I’ve ever known,” he said.

Jessica Bansal, an attorney at the National Day Laborer Organizing Network, lambasted the Trump administration’s move as not only “callous,” but illegal.

“The administration cannot manufacture a predetermined outcome without regard for its statutory obligations,” Bansal said.

The lawsuit alleges that the decision by the Trump administration was motivated by racism against immigrants perceived as non-White, pointing to comments made by White House officials, including Vice President JD Vance.

Vance had amplified and repeated misinformation that Haitians in Springfield, Ohio, were eating pets. Later, when confronted with proof that the story was false, Vance said he was willing to “create stories so that the American media actually pays attention.”

Trump returned to the White House in January after using often derogatory rhetoric and misinformation about migrants in support of his plans to conduct mass deportations.

Amid his second term, Trump has tried to make good on his campaign promises, but has attracted criticism for attacking the due process rights of migrants as well as facing litigation. Several judges have issued rulings blocking his termination of TPS for Haitians as well as Venezuelans, with the latter decision being stayed by the Supreme Court in May.

The bipartisan immigration and justice reform FWD.us organization called the move by the Trump administration to terminate TPS for Nicaraguans and Hondurans “a serious mistake” that is part “of a broader campaign to target and preemptively revoke legal status from immigrants, leaving them vulnerable to detention, family separation and deportation.

“It does nothing to strengthen our immigration system, reflects an approach Americans are increasingly rejecting and, as our recent economic analysis shows, will also unnecessarily raise the costs for families in the U.S.,” FWD.us President Todd Schulte said in a statement.

“We need policies that reflect the reality that immigration is good for America and for all Americans.”

July 4 (UPI) — Russia has become the first country to formally recognize the Taliban government in Afghanistan.

“We believe that the official recognition of the Government of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan will give an impetus to the development of productive bilateral cooperation between our countries in various areas,” the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a media release accompanied by a photo of Deputy Foreign Minister Andrey Rudenko meeting Afghan ambassador Gul Hassan Hassan in Moscow this week.

“We see considerable prospects for interaction in trade and the economy with a focus on projects in energy, transport, agriculture, and infrastructure. We will continue to assist Kabul in strengthening regional security and fighting terrorist threats and drug crime.”

Afghanistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs also confirmed the recognition on X, with photos.

“During this meeting, the Russian Ambassador officially conveyed the Russian government’s decision to recognize the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan by the Russian Federation,” the ministry said in the post.

“The Ambassador highlighted the importance of this decision.”

The meeting between the two dignitaries took place at the new Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan embassy in Moscow.

Last October, Russia formally ended its designation of the Taliban as a terrorist organization but did not at the time officially recognize the Islamic regime.

Moscow first added the Taliban to its list of designated terrorist groups in 2003 while the regime supported separatist groups in the Caucasus region governed by Russia.

After being chased from power following the U.S. military occupation of Afghanistan in 2001, the Taliban returned to governance in 2021 when President Joe Biden ordered the withdrawal of American troops on the ground.

The Taliban quickly regained its hold on the country and began rounding up dissidents and in some cases executing them.

June 25 (UPI) — The United States is offering a reward of up to $5 million for information locating Mahmood Shah Habibi, an Afghan American businessman who was abducted in Afghanistan nearly three years ago.

The reward from the U.S. State Department’s Rewards for Justice Program was announced Tuesday by department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce, who said during a regular press briefing, “We have determined that he has been disappeared, and that he has not been heard from.”

According to a release from the FBI in August, Habibi, a contractor for Kabul-based telecommunications company Asia Consultancy Group, and his driver were kidnapped from their vehicle near his home in the Afghan capital on Aug. 10, 2022.

It is believed that he was taken by the Taliban along with 29 other employees of his company, all of whom, except for Habibi, have since been released.

“He has not been heard from since his initial arrest, and the Taliban has yet to provide any information regarding his whereabouts or condition,” the State Department said in a statement.

Bruce said they are hoping the $5 million reward will entice someone to come forward.

“It makes a difference in everyone’s lives that we might get some information about him,” she said.

The U.S. military withdrew from Afghanistan in 2021. In its absence, the Taliban regained control of the Middle Eastern country.

June 22 (UPI) — Iran and Israel exchanged targeted airstrikes Sunday after President Donald Trump ordered the bombing of nuclear sites in Iran, leaving his administration and lawmakers divided over U.S. involvement.

“We’re not at war with Iran. We’re at war with Iran’s nuclear program,” Vice President JD Vance said in an interview with NBC News’ “Meet the Press” on Sunday. It marked the first major official rhetoric that the United States is indeed “at war.”

Vance declined to confirm that Iran’s nuclear sites were completely destroyed, saying that the U.S. has “substantially delayed” Iran’s ability to develop a nuclear weapon. His comments come after Russia said Sunday that other countries could provide Iran with nuclear weapons.

The strike by the Trump administration has divided his supporters. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, for example, criticized what she called “neocon warmongers” in a post on social media Sunday afternoon.

“America is $37 TRILLION in debt and all of these foreign wars have cost Americans TRILLIONS AND TRILLIONS of dollars that never benefited any American,” the lawmaker wrote in her post.

“American troops have been killed and forever torn apart physically and mentally for regime change, foreign wars, and for military-industrial base profits. I’m sick of it. I can easily say I support nuclear-armed Israel’s right to defend themselves and also say at the same time I don’t want to fight or fund nuclear armed Israel’s wars.”

Rep. Thomas Massie, another Republican, went as far to call the strike on Iran “not Constitutional” in his own post. He later criticized fellow Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson for stating that Trump “made the right call” with the airstrike.

“Why didn’t you call us back from vacation to vote on military action if there was a serious threat to our country?” Massie said in his remarks to Johnson. He reiterated that point Sunday in an interview with CBS News’ “Face the Nation.”

Massie was joined on “Face the Nation” by fellow lawmaker Rep. Ro Khanna, a Democrat, with whom he worked last week to introduce a war powers resolution to prohibit U.S. forces from striking Iran without authorization from Congress.

Khanna said in the interview that Secretary of State Marco Rubio expressed a desire for Iran to enrich uranium for peaceful purposes but the lawmaker noted that Iran had already been under a nuclear deal that the United States withdrew from.

According to Khanna, under the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or JCPOA, which was negotiated by Iran, the United States and the European Union in 2015, the International Atomic Energy Agency did not find a single violation.

“In the first Iraq war, the second Iraq war and the war in Afghanistan, Congress first got the briefings. Congress met and debated. It should have been declarations of war, but at least they did an authorization of use of military force,” Massie added. “We haven’t had that.”

The Israeli Defense Forces said in a statement Sunday that the Israeli Air Force used 30 fighter jets to attack dozens of military targets across Iran.

“As part of the wave of attacks, fighter jets first attacked the ‘Imam Hussein‘ strategic missile headquarters in the Yazd region, where long-range Khoramshahr missiles were stored,” the IDF said. “From this headquarters, approximately 60 missiles were launched towards the State of Israel.”

The IDF added that it also hit missile launchers and military sites for the production of air defense batteries, and a drone warehouse in Isfahan, Bushehr and Ahvaz.

Air raid sirens sounded across most of Israel on Sunday as Israeli Police acknowledged impacts from Iranian missiles on Sunday, including a strike in Tel Aviv that left at least six people with minor injuries, while videos shared on social media purportedly showed damage in Haifa.

Meanwhile, Iranian state media reported Sunday that the Houthis — formally known as Ansarullah — expressed support for Iran after the U.S. strikes and would “stand by any Arab or Islamic country against U.S. aggression.”

June 6 (UPI) — The United States on Thursday sanctioned four International Criminal Court Judges, citing investigations into U.S. personnel in Afghanistan and Israeli leaders.

The State Department announced the sanctions against Solomy Balungi Bossa of Uganda, Luz Del Carmen Ibanez Carranza of Peru, Reine Adelaide Sophie Alapini Gansou from Benin and Beti Hohler of Slovenia over what it described as the court’s effort to “arrest, detain or prosecute a protected person without consent of that person’s country of nationality.”

“We do not take this step lightly,” the State Department statement said. “It reflects the seriousness of the threat we face from the ICC’s politicization and abuse of power.”

The State Department noted that Bossa and Ibanez Carranza had authorized an investigation against U.S. personnel in Afghanistan, while Alapini Gansou and Hohler authorized warrants to arrest Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant.

Neither the United States nor Israel recognize the authority of the International Criminal Court.

“As ICC judges, these four individuals have actively engaged in the ICC’s illegitimate and baseless actions, targeting America or our close ally, Israel,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio wrote in a statement. “The ICC is politicized and falsely claims unfettered discretion to investigate, charge, and prosecute nationals of the United States and our allies. This dangerous assertion and abuse of power infringes upon the sovereignty and national security of the United States.”

The sanctions impose a block on “all property and interests in property” of the aforementioned judges, and American citizens are also forbidden, as per the order, from doing any business with the four judges, unless they’ve been issued a precise license issued by the U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control or are exempt.

The Assembly of States Parties, which serves as the management oversight and legislative body of the ICC, announced Friday in a press release that it rejects the orders put forth by Trump and Rubio.

“Such actions risk undermining global efforts to ensure accountability for the gravest crimes of concern to the international community and erode the shared commitment to the rule of law, the fight against impunity, and the preservation of a rules-based international order,” it said.

European Union Council President Antonio Costa said via social media Friday that the EU “strongly supports” the ICC.

“We must protect its independence and integrity. The rule of law must prevail over the rule of power,” he said.

The sanctions follow an executive order from Trump issued in February that considered “any effort by the ICC to investigate, arrest, detain, or prosecute protected persons” a threat to American national security and foreign policy, and declared economic sanctions against the ICC.

The order’s measures include the blocking of property and assets, and the suspension of entry to the United States of ICC officials, employees and agents, as well as their immediate family members.

June 4 (UPI) — President Donald Trump on Wednesday issued a proclamation to “fully restrict and limit” entry of people from 12 foreign countries starting at 12:01 EDT Monday.

Citing national security concerns, Trump issued the ban on nationals from Afghanistan, Burma, Chad, Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen.

Also, he partially restricted and limited entry from seven countries: Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan and Venezuela.

Of the 19 named nations, 10 are in Africa.

“These restrictions distinguish between, but apply to both, the entry of immigrants and nonimmigrants,” the order states about the two designations,” the proclamation reads.

There are exceptions for lawful permanent residents, existing visa holders, certain visa categories and individuals whose entry serves US national interests.

Later Wednesday, he posted a video on Truth Social announcing the bans.

“The list is subject to revision based on whether material improvements are made,” Trump said. “And likewise new countries can be added as threats emerge around the world, but we will not allow people to enter our country who wish to do us harm and nothing will stop us from keeping America safe.”

The proclamation reads: “As President, I must act to protect the national security and national interest of the United States and its people. I remain committed to engaging with those countries willing to cooperate to improve information-sharing and identity-management procedures, and to address both terrorism-related and public-safety risks. Nationals of some countries also pose significant risks of overstaying their visas in the United States, which increases burdens on immigration and law enforcement components of the United States, and often exacerbates other risks related to national security and public safety.”

White House deputy press secretary Abigail Jackson wrote on X: “President Trump is fulfilling his promise to protect Americans from dangerous foreign actors that want to come to our country and cause us harm. These commonsense restrictions are country-specific and include places that lack proper vetting, exhibit high visa overstay rates, or fail to share identity and threat information.”

On his first day in office on Jan. 20, Trump signed an executive order that it is the policy of the United States to “protect its citizens from aliens who intend to commit terrorist attacks, threaten our national security, espouse hateful ideology, or otherwise exploit the immigration laws for malevolent purposes.”

Secretary of State Marco Rubio was ordered to compile a list of countries “for which vetting and screening information is so deficient as to warrant a partial or full suspension on the admission of nationals from those countries.”

The proclamation said: “Some of the countries with inadequacies face significant challenges to reform efforts. Others have made important improvements to their protocols and procedures, and I commend them for these efforts. But until countries with identified inadequacies address them, members of my Cabinet have recommended certain conditional restrictions and limitations.”

CNN reported Trump decided to sign the proclamation after the antisemitic attack in Boulder, Colo., though the system didn’t come to the United States from the restricted countries.

Mohamed Sabry Soliman, 45, of Colorado Springs, has been charged with a federal hate crime and he is facing 16 state counts of attempted murder on Monday. Soliman, an Egyptian national who spent time in Kuwait, entered California in August 2022 on a B2 visa that expired in February 2023 and his asylum claim was pending.

Alex Nowrasteh, who works for Cato Institute, a nonpartisan and independent public policy research organization, said the threat of foreign-born terrorists is rare.

“A single terrorist from those countries murdered one person in an attack on US soil: Emanuel Kidega Samson from Sudan, who committed an attack motivated by anti-white animus in 2017,” Nowrasteh wrote. The annual chance of being murdered by a terrorist from one of the banned countries from 1975 to the end of 2024 was about 1 in 13.9 billion per year.”

He also noted that travelers and immigrants from the 12 banned countries have a nationwide incarceration rate of 370 per 100,000 in 2023 for the 18-54 aged population, which 70 percent below that of native-born Americans. The data came from the U.S. Census and American Community Survey Data.

During his first term, Trump banned travel by citizens of predominantly Muslim countries, including Iraq, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen. Amid legal challenges, it was modified and upheld by the Supreme Court in 2018.

When President Joe Biden took office in 2021, he repealed it.

June 4 (UPI) — President Donald Trump on Wednesday issued a proclamation to “fully restrict and limit” entry of people from 12 foreign countries starting Monday.

Citing national security concerns, Trump issued the ban on nationals from Afghanistan, Burma, Chad, Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen.

Also, he partially restricted and limited entry from seven countries: Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan and Venezuela.

Of the 19 named nations, 10 are in Africa.

“These restrictions distinguish between, but apply to both, the entry of immigrants and nonimmigrants,” the order states about the two designations,” the proclamation reads.

There are exceptions for lawful permanent residents, existing visa holders, certain visa categories and individuals whose entry serves US national interests.

“As President, I must act to protect the national security and national interest of the United States and its people,” the proclamation reads. “I remain committed to engaging with those countries willing to cooperate to improve information-sharing and identity-management procedures, and to address both terrorism-related and public-safety risks. Nationals of some countries also pose significant risks of overstaying their visas in the United States, which increases burdens on immigration and law enforcement components of the United States, and often exacerbates other risks related to national security and public safety.”

On his first day in office on Jan. 20, Trump signed an executive order that it is the policy of the United States to “protect its citizens from aliens who intend to commit terrorist attacks, threaten our national security, espouse hateful ideology, or otherwise exploit the immigration laws for malevolent purposes.”

Secretary of State Marco Rubio was ordered to compile a list of countries “for which vetting and screening information is so deficient as to warrant a partial or full suspension on the admission of nationals from those countries.”

The proclamation said: “Some of the countries with inadequacies face significant challenges to reform efforts. Others have made important improvements to their protocols and procedures, and I commend them for these efforts. But until countries with identified inadequacies address them, members of my Cabinet have recommended certain conditional restrictions and limitations.”

CNN reported Trump decided to sign the proclamation after the antisemitic attack in Boulder, Colo., though the system didn’t come to the United States from the restricted countires.

Mohamed Sabry Soliman, 45, of Colorado Springs, has been charged with a federal hate crime and he is facing 16 state counts of attempted murder on Monday. Soliman, an Egyptian national who spent time in Kuwait, entered California in August 2022 on a B2 visa that expired in February 2023 and his asylum claim was pending.

During his first term, Trump banned travel by citizens of predominantly Muslim countries, including Iraq, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen. Amid legal challenges, it was modified and upheld by the Supreme Court in 2018.

When President Joe Biden took office in 2021, he repealed it.

June 2 (UPI) — Missing American journalist Austin Tice was imprisoned by the regime of the since-deposed Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in 2012 with his whereabouts now not known, according to top secret intelligence files uncovered by the BBC.

Former Syrian officials also have confirmed Tice’s detention to the BBC. The material was part of a BBC investigation more than one year ago for a Radio 4 podcast series in accompanying a Syrian investigator to an intelligence facility.

The Assad regime had denied they had imprisoned him, and didn’t know where he was.

The U.S. government believes he had been held by the Syrian government.

Tice was a freelance journalist, a former U.S. Marine who served in Iraq and Afghanistan, and a law student at Georgetown University.

He had gone to Syria to report on the civil war.

Tice vanished near the Syrian capital of Damascus in August 2012, just days after his 31st birthday.

About seven weeks later, a video posted online showed him blindfolded and with his hands bound. He was also forced to recite an Islamic declaration of faith by armed men.

U.S. officials and analysts doubt he was abducted by a jihadist group and the scene “may have been staged.”

Instead, Tice allegedly was held by members of a paramilitary force loyal to Assad called the National Defence Forces.

The files, which are labeled “Austin Tice,” include communication from different branches of Syrian intelligence. Law enforcement verified their authenticity.

In one “top secret” communication, he was held in a detention facility in Damascus in 2012. A Syrian official confirmed to the BBC he was there until at least February 2013.

The BBC reported Tice briefly escaped by squeezing through a window in his cell, but he was later recaptured.

Tice had developed stomach issues from a viral infection.

A man who visited the facility told the BBC that Tice “looked sad, and that the joy had gone from his face.”

A former member of the NDF told the BBC that Tice was a “card” that could be played in diplomatic negotiations with the United States.

After Assad’s ouster in December 2024, U.S. President Joe Biden and mother, Debra Tice, said they believed he was alive. She said he was “treated well,” according to a “significant source.”

Rebel forces stormed his regime-run jails in Damascus and other Syrian regions and freed them. Tice was not among them.

The International Committee of the Red Cross said it has registered 35,000 cases of people who have gone missing in Syria in the past 13 years. Syria’s Network for Human Rights put the number of Syrians “in forced disappearance” at 80,000 to 85,000 killed under torture in Assad’s detention centers.

Only 33,000 detainees have been found and freed from Syria’s prisons since Assad’s ouster, according to human rights network.

On May 14, Trump met with the Syrian Arab Republic’s new president, Ahmed Al-Sharaa, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

Trump told reporters, “Austin has not been seen in many, many years,” and gave no other details.