U.s. orders big drawdown at Kabul embassy as troops leave
WASHI N G TON» The State Department on Tuesday ordered a significant number of its remaining staff at the U.S. Embassy in Kabul to leave Afghanistan as the military steps up the pullout of American troops from the country.
The order came as the U.S. special envoy for Afghanistan told lawmakers that it no longer made sense to continue the 20-year deployment of American troops there. At the same time, Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad said he shared lawmakers’ concerns that the rights of women and minorities could be jeopardized after the withdrawal is complete.
“We should all remain concerned that those rights could suffer,” Khalilzad told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
Biden to propose free preschool.
WASHINGTON» President Joe Biden will call for free preschool for all 3- and 4-year-old children, a $200 billion investment to be rolled out as part of his sweeping American Families Plan being unveiled Wednesday in a joint address to Congress.
The administration said the historic investment would benefit 5 million children and save the average family $13,000. It calls for providing federal funds to help the states offer preschool, with teachers and other employees earning $15 an hour.
“These investments will give American children a head start and pave the way for the besteducated generation in U.S. history,” the administration said.
Explosive-laden “drone” boat targets Saudi port of Yanbu.
»A DUBAI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES remotely piloted boat packed with explosives targeted the Saudi port of Yanbu in the Red Sea on Tuesday, the kingdom said, with the blast sending black smoke into the sky off the coast.
Saudi Arabia claimed to have intercepted and destroyed the attack boat. However, private security firms suggested commercial traffic near the port may have been hit in the assault.
Details remained scarce, but the incident comes after a series of attacks on shipping in the wider Mideast region amid a shadow war between Iran and Israel and against the backdrop of ongoing negotiations between Tehran and world powers over Iran’s tattered nuclear deal.
Global rights group accuses Israel of apartheid, persecution.
JERUSALEM» One of the world’s best-known human rights groups said Tuesday that Israel is guilty of the international crimes of apartheid and persecution because of discriminatory policies toward Palestinians within its own borders and in the occupied territories.
In a sweeping, 213-page report, the New York-based Human Rights Watch joins a growing number of commentators and rights groups who view the conflict not primarily as a land dispute but as a single regime in which Palestinians — who make up roughly half the population of Israel, the West Bank and Gaza — are systematically denied basic rights granted to Jews.
Two journalists are killed in Burkina Faso.
At least two European journalists were killed in the Western African nation of Burkina Faso after being kidnapped Monday, according to Spanish authorities, amid reports that a third was also abducted and killed.
Biden to nominate Texas sheriff to lead ICE.
Biden will nominate Ed Gonzalez — a sheriff from Texas and critic of the Trump administration’s deportation policies — to lead Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the White House said on Tuesday. Gonzalez would take over an agency that hasn’t had a permanent leader since 2017.