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Australia closes its embassy in Kabul, others scale back
.Australia says it will temporarily close its embassy in the Afghan capital later this week because of security concerns.

"Bottom Line Up Front: There are indications that the Taliban have no intention of reaching a compromise and believe they can take over Afghanistan shortly after the US withdrawal. Comparisons with the survival of the Najibullah government may be misleading. An eventual evacuation of the international community should be manageable but would have its hazards."
when your prime issue is securing the only airport, your probably on a slippery slope.![]()
US will be able to keep embassy in Afghanistan after Turkey agrees to secure airport
Keeping a secure airport has become a priority for embassies working out how to operate once American troops withdrawwww.telegraph.co.uk
How well this will work in practice remains to be seen.
I concur GTXTo me the pull out from Afghanistan is quite obviously a need to re-position/re-deploy forces for potentially bigger, more important things to come. The players involved no longer need to be tied down by a backwater sideshow...
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Italian forces kicked out of Middle East base over UAE arms embargo, lawmaker says
The United Arab Emirates is evicting Italian aircraft and personnel from a key military base in retaliation for an arms embargo slapped on the UAE by Rome in January, an Italian politician has told Defense News.www.defensenews.com
Al Minhad base in Dubai in the UAE, which hosts aircraft from various nations, has been crucial to Italy since it took space in 2015 there for mounting flights over Iraq and as a stop-off en route to Italian bases in Afghanistan. If confirmed, the eviction may now seriously complicate Italy’s ongoing pull-out from Afghanistan.
Most of the papers are marked "official sensitive", a relatively low level of classification used, according to the government, "where there is a clear and justifiable requirement to reinforce the 'need to know'".
But one document, addressed to Ben Wallace's private secretary, and marked "Secret UK Eyes Only", outlines highly sensitive recommendations for the UK's military footprint in Afghanistan, following the end of Operation Resolute Support, the Nato operation currently winding down in the wake of President Biden's decision earlier this year to withdraw American forces.
The document discusses an American request for British assistance in several specific areas, and addresses the question of whether any British special forces will remain in Afghanistan once the withdrawal is complete.
Media reports have already suggested Britain is considering leaving some forces behind.
Due to the sensitivity of the document, the BBC has decided not to report details which could endanger the security of British and other personnel in Afghanistan.
But amid reports of a worsening security situation in the country, it sounds several warnings.
"Any UK footprint in Afghanistan that persists... is assessed to be vulnerable to targeting by a complex network of actors," it says, noting that "the option to withdraw completely remains."
Afghanistan, it says, is already becoming more dangerous.
The reduced presence of Nato forces "is already impairing the situational awareness that we (and the US) used to enjoy across the country".
No Britons have been killed in Afghanistan since the US-Taliban deal in February 2020, it says, but "this would be unlikely to remain the status quo".
IxJac is a retired Canadian Forces solider who served two tours in Afghanistan in a rear-area intelligence unit around 2010 or so. His (scores of) posts on the Afghanistan thread are illuminating commentary on the state of Afghanistan.some places you guys go for information that isn't usually discussed
The Taliban have reportedly been defending US bases and forces in Afghanistan against ISIS and other groups in the region, as per the terms of their agreement with the US.carefully avoided attacking
Thanks for the link! Will check it out. Also weren't some Taliban forces in bed with al queda? Thought al queda and isis were essentially related. I can't keep up.