
'It's an impossible situation': Democrats link arms with Biden on Afghanistan -- and brace for the worst
CNN
Most congressional Democrats are backing President Joe Biden's decision to withdraw US troops from Afghanistan this year, though many harbor nagging concerns that the gains won over the last 20 years will be erased and the Taliban will retake control after American troops are no longer there.
Biden's announcement that US troops would leave by the 20th anniversary of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks wasn't met with a resounding endorsement from Democrats on Capitol Hill, and a handful came out in opposition. But like Biden's rationale for leaving, many Democrats in Congress say that departing after two decades is simply the best of a long list of bad options -- and now the key is for Biden's team to execute its strategy as US troops leave to keep terrorists from regaining a foothold in Afghanistan. Interviews with more than a dozen top national security congressional Democrats underscored that many of the previous hesitations that pushed lawmakers to support keeping a US military presence in Afghanistan over the last decade have dissipated as the war has dragged on and on.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth risked compromising sensitive military information that could have endangered US troops through his use of Signal to discuss attack plans, a Pentagon watchdog said in an unclassified report released Thursday. It also details how Hegseth declined to cooperate with the probe.

Two top House lawmakers emerged divided along party lines after a private briefing with the military official who oversaw September’s attack on an alleged drug vessel that included a so-called double-tap strike that killed surviving crew members, with a top Democrat calling video of the incident that was shared as part of the briefing “one of the most troubling things” he has seen as a lawmaker.

Authorities in Colombia are dealing with increasingly sophisticated criminals, who use advanced tech to produce and conceal the drugs they hope to export around the world. But police and the military are fighting back, using AI to flag suspicious passengers, cargo and mail - alongside more conventional air and sea patrols. CNN’s Isa Soares gets an inside look at Bogotá’s war on drugs.

As lawmakers demand answers over reports that the US military carried out a follow-up strike that killed survivors during an attacked on an alleged drug boat in the Caribbean, a career Navy SEAL who has spent most of his 30 years of military experience in special operations will be responsible for providing them.









