Anti-junta rebels say they have driven government troops from a key border hub near Thailand. If the news is verified, it signals another setback for Myanmar's military as it battles a number of ethnic rebel groups. Troops loyal to Myanmar's military junta have pulled out from the town of Myawaddy at the Thai border after a dayslong assault by an ethnic armed group, a rebel spokesman said on Thursday. The fighting has caused large numbers of people to try to flee to neighboring Thailand from the border town, which is a major trading hub. Myanmar's military junta, which took power in a 2021 coup, has suffered a number of recent defeats at the hands of ethnic rebel groups and a civilian militia movement, with some saying it could soon be toppled. What do we know so far? Padoh Saw Taw Nee, a spokesman for the Karen National Union (KNU), told AFP news agency that around 200 junta soldiers stationed in the town had withdrawn to a bridge linking it to the Thai border town of Mae Sot. "We took [Myanmar military battalion] 275 at 10 p.m. last night," he said. The KNU said last week that its troops had attacked a junta camp near Myawaddy, forcing some 600 security personnel and their families to surrender. Thai immigration officials said some 4,000 people were entering Thailand daily from Myanmar, compared with the some 1,900 that usually crossed the border.  Thailand has said it is prepared to accept up to 100,000 people displaced by the clashes. The kingdom has stepped up security on its side of the border and is preparing to send more immigration officials to the region in anticipation of an increased flow of people fleeing the fighting. Myawaddy is a vital trading hub for Myanmar's junta and saw about $1.1 billion (€1 billion) in goods pass through in the past 12 months, according to the country's commerce ministry.    

Their original mission ended years ago, but US soldiers are still stationed in Syria and Iraq. As regional tensions mount, some are questioning ongoing US military presence in the Middle East. On Sunday, a one-way attack drone killed three US soldiers and injured some 30 others near the border between Syria and Jordan. US President Joe Biden has said his country will respond. According to the Pentagon, over the past four months, Iranian-backed militants have mounted over 150 attacks on bases occupied by US forces in Iraq and Syria. This has given rise to serious concerns over escalating tensions in the Middle East, with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warning of "further spillover" of the war in Gaza into the wider region. At the same time, the Gaza conflict is also forcing all parties — the Middle Eastern nations that host US bases and the US itself — to evaluate their security partnerships.   Syria: Competing international interests Sunday's attack took place near the al-Tanf base in Syria close to the Iraqi and Jordanian borders. "Since 2016, [al-Tanf] has served as a launching point for counter-IS operations and training for Syrian opposition factions fighting the jihadist group," the political think tank International Crisis Group stated in a report on the area last week.  About 900 US troops are in Syria, ostensibly as part of the international coalition fighting the extremist group known as the "Islamic State," or IS. The IS group took control of large swaths of Iraq and Syria in 2014 but was considered to be largely defeated by 2019. More recently, observers have said there have been hardly any operations against the IS group. But the border area in this part of northern Syria is a puzzle of competing domestic and international interests, including those of Turkey, Russia, Iran and the US, alongside various Syrian and Syrian-Kurdish actors.   This is why US troops are still there. Al-Tanf is also used to "disrupt the activities of Iranian proxies in Syria … it also serves as leverage in the long-running negotiations over the country's future," analysts at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy argued recently.  American soldiers also support what they call partner organizations in the area, including the Syrian Democratic Forces, a Syrian-Kurdish group that controls large parts of northeastern Syria.   Jordan: Tricky balancing act The suicide drone attack this weekend hit what is known as Tower 22, a logistics support base around 20 kilometers (12.4 miles) away from the al-Tanf base, crewed by around 350 US troops who are also supposedly there to combat the IS group. Tower 22 is actually in Jordan, although the Jordanian government appears to have tried to downplay this fact in news reports.   Jordan's royal family has been critical of the way the Israeli military offensive in Gaza is being conducted, and  Jordanian citizens have voiced opposition to Israel's role in the Palestinian conflict. The country's government and royal family must balance this with long-term cooperation and contact with the US and Israel. There are currently around 3,000 US troops in Jordan at the invitation of the Jordanian government. In particular, the US military has helped to fund and set up Jordan's border security. The US military regularly makes use of Jordanian air bases. But for example, the Jordanians have denied that US weapons for Israel are being transported over their borders.   Iraq: Against IS group? During and after the US invasion of Iraq that toppled the regime of Saddam Hussein, US troop numbers peaked at about 150,000. But over the last two decades that number has been reduced to around 2,500. These troops are also there as part of the international coalition fighting the extremist IS group. "If we're really honest, the debate [about US presence] has moved on from the anti-IS mission," Sajad Jiyad, a fellow at the Century Foundation, recently told DW. "Iraqis probably have enough capabilities to stop [the IS group] from relaunching a large insurgency." But there are other benefits to their presence, Jiyad noted, like training, reconnaissance, aerial support and intelligence sharing. In Iraq too, the US sees itself as a counterweight to growing Iranian influence in the country.   But this is also why attacks against US troops have been happening in Iraq for years: Iran-backed militias, who now also play a significant political role, are opposed to the US presence and have found many reasons to attack American bases there with rockets and drones. The Gaza conflict offers them more excuses. In the around two years starting in January 2021, there were about 60 attacks on US troops. Since mid-October in 2023, there have been closer to 160 in just four months. Iraq has recently initiated talks about whether remaining US soldiers, who are there at the invitation of the government to fight the IS group, will be asked to leave permanently.   Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait: Ally of small Gulf states By far, the largest US troop deployments are in smaller Gulf states. Altogether Qatar, Kuwait and Bahrain host more than 30,000 American military personnel. All three countries are designated "major non-NATO allies." As the result of a military partnership that has grown since the late 1980s, Kuwait now has the fourth-largest US troop presence in the world. Even though Kuwait is small, "the country is strategically significant because of its key geographical location in the northeast corner of the Arabian Peninsula and astride the Europe-Asia air corridor," the Washington-based Middle East Institute explained in a 2022 report.   Kuwait itself is often neutral in regional disputes and depends on the US presence for its own defense. Unlike many other US allies in the region, it doesn't charge the Americans for use of its land. In Qatar, the al-Udeid Air Base hosts around 10,000 US personnel. It was the headquarters for US operations in Afghanistan and then the country's 2021 withdrawal from the country. Qatar and the US have had a military relationship since the early 1990s, and in early January extended their agreement on the air base for another 10 years. Observers have suggested the deal was not announced with any great fanfare because of sensitivities around the Gaza conflict.   Finally, the Americans' largest naval base in the Middle East is located in Bahrain, home to the US' 5th Fleet and over 9,000 military personnel. Bahrain was the first nation in the Middle East to host a major US military base and "strategically, Bahrain is the central node of the international maritime presence securing the world's most important choke points," Atlantic Council analysts explained in late 2023, after Bahrain signed a new strategic cooperation agreement with the US.

Ahead of the occasion of Chehlum of Hazrat Imam Hussain, the Pakistan government has approved the deployment of Pakistani Army troops along with civil armed forces to maintain law and order.   According to a notification issued by the Interior Ministry on Friday evening, "The army troops will be deputed in all four provinces, Gilgit-Baltistan and Azad Jammu and Kashmir under Article 245 of the Constitution."   According to the Express Tribune, the Federal Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah said that the military will perform security duties to assist the civil government on the occasion of Chehlum, and Rangers, Frontier Constabulary and other forces will also provide security services, he said.   The minister noted that special measures were being taken for the security of Chehlum processions, routes and Imambargahs. The forces were being deployed for maintaining law and order, adding, "all processions and security matters will be monitored from the Central Control Room established at the Ministry of Interior."   The army troops will be deputed in all four provinces, Gilgit-Baltistan and Azad Jammu and Kashmir under Article 245 of the Constitution. The government gave approval to a summary of the Ministry of Interior and a notification for the deployment of forces was issued Friday evening, reported Express Tribune.   As per the notification, the home departments of Punjab, Sindh, Balochistan, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, Gilgit-Baltistan, the government of Pakistan occupied Kashmir and the office of the chief commissioner of the Islamabad Capital Territory had requested the federal government to deploy army and civil armed forces.   The notification read that the government issued the notice under Article 245 of the Pakistan Constitution authorising the deployment of army troops and Civil Armed Forces troops under section 4(3)(i) of the Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997 in all the provinces during Chehlum, 2022 in aid of civil power.   It added that the exact number of army and civil armed forces assets and dates, and area of deployment will be worked out by the provincial governments, and administrations in consultation with General Headquarters (GHQ) and civil armed forces authorities. Notably, the law and order situation in Pakistan has worsened over time. Amid political instability and economic slowdown, several provinces have been under terrorist attacks. In the past months, several militant activities took place in Pakistan killing many civilians and policemen.   The recent attacks in the provinces have led to public outrage in the country. People in several provinces have raised their voices against the army and the federal government to maintain law and order.   Source: ANI

Ukrainian forces repulsed a Russian attack  on Kyiv but "sabotage groups" infiltrated the capital, officials said  Saturday as a defiant President Volodymyr Zelensky vowed Ukraine would never  give in.   On the third day of an invasion that Ukraine said has killed 198 civilians  including three children, Russia also brushed off the barrage of Western  sanctions and said it had fired cruise missiles at military targets.   Wearing olive green military-style clothing and looking tired but  determined, Zelensky spoke in a video message posted on his Twitter account.   "I am here. We will not lay down any weapons. We will defend our state,  because our weapons are our truth," he said.   "Our truth is that this is our land, our country, our children and we will  protect all of this."   Russian President Vladimir Putin unleashed a full-scale invasion that has  forced tens of thousands to flee their homes and sparked fears of a wider  conflict in Europe.   "We thought something like this might happen but we were hoping until the  end that it wouldn't," Irina Butyak, a 38-year-old teacher, told AFP as she  took shelter in a basement in Kyiv, where explosions were heard through the  night.   "We were hoping that common sense and common decency would prevail. Well,  it didn't," said Butyak, who hoped she would be able to escape soon to  western Ukraine.   In Paris, French President Emmanuel Macron warned that the world must brace  for a long war.   "This crisis will last, this war will last and all the crises that come  with it will have lasting consequences," Macron said, adding: "We must be  prepared".   After speaking to Macron, Zelensky tweeted to thank "partners" for sending  weapons and equipment. "The anti-war coalition is working," he said.   - Clashes in the capital -   AFP reporters in Kyiv heard occasional blasts of what soldiers said were  artillery and Grad missiles being fired in an area northwest of the city  centre.   There were also loud explosions in the centre.   Emergency services said a high-rise apartment block was hit by shelling  overnight, posting a picture that showed a hole covering at least five floors  blasted into the side of the building. Kyiv's mayor, Vitaly Klitschko, said  that the building had been hit by a missile.    "The night was difficult, but there are no Russian troops in the capital,"  he said.   "The enemy is trying to break into the city, in particular from Gostomel,  Zhytomyr, where the aggressors are neutralized," he said, referring to two  settlements to the northwest and west of the city.   "Now in Kyiv there are, unfortunately, sabotage groups, there were several  clashes, shootings," he said.   In a northern district of the city, AFP on Friday saw a dead man in  civilian clothes lying sprawled on the pavement as nearby medics rushed to  help another man whose car was crushed by an armoured vehicle.   Ukraine's defence ministry said "two enemy targets were shot down" --  identifying them as a Russian SU-25 helicopter and a military bomber -- near  the separatist zone in the east of the country.    A Russian Ilyushin Il-76 transport plane had also been "knocked down" near  Vasylkiv, a town roughly 30 kilometres (19 miles) southwest of Kyiv, the  ministry added on its official Facebook page.       Zelensky's aide Mykhailo Podolyak said more than 3,500 Russian soldiers had  been killed and nearly 200 captured, without providing evidence.   Moscow has yet to report on casualties.   - 'Point of no return' -    The United States, Canada, Britain and the European Union doled out further  sanctions on Russia on Friday, including against Putin himself and Foreign  Minister Sergei Lavrov.   Russia said the sanctions against the pair were "a demonstration of the  complete impotence of the foreign policy" of the West.   "We have reached the line after which the point of no return begins,"  Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said.   Moscow also vetoed a UN Security Council resolution that deplored "in the  strongest terms" Russia's invasion, while China, India and the United Arab  Emirates abstained.   While sanctions have focused on finances, travel and the economy, there  have also been repercussions in the worlds of culture and sports.   In the latest development, Poland on Saturday said it would refuse to play  its 2022 World Cup play-off against Russia on March 24.   But, despite Zelensky calling on Western allies to expel Moscow from the  SWIFT banking transfer system, numerous EU countries, including Germany,  Hungary and Italy, have been reluctant over fears Russia could cut off gas  supplies.   - Tens of thousands fleeing -   When he announced the assault in a pre-dawn television statement on  Thursday, Putin called it a "special military operation" aimed at defending  Russia-backed separatists in the east.   Russia's communications regulator on Saturday told independent media to  remove reports describing it as an "assault, invasion, or declaration of  war".   In a statement, Roskomnadzor accused the media outlets of spreading  "unreliable socially significant untrue information" about the shelling of  Ukrainian cities by the Russian army and civilian deaths.   The conflict has rattled eastern members of the EU and the US-led military  alliance NATO which were once dominated by Moscow.   NATO said it was deploying its rapid response forces for the first time to  bolster defences on its eastern flank.   Meanwhile, Poland has been taking in thousands of Ukrainian refugees who  have been arriving by train, in cars and on foot in the border city of  Przemysl.   Polish Deputy Interior Minister Pawel Szefernaker on Saturday said 100,000  people have crossed the border.    "From the onset of warfare in Ukraine through today, along the entire  border with Ukraine, 100,000 people have crossed the border from Ukraine into  Poland," Szefernaker told reporters in the border village of Medyka,  southeastern Poland.    The UN said more than 50,000 Ukrainians had fled the country in the past  two days, calling for "safe unimpeded access" for aid operations.   About 100,000 people are believed to be internally displaced. Source: AFP/BSS AH

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres Wednesday made a personal appeal to Vladimir Putin to not attack Ukraine, minutes before the Russian president announced a military operation against its ex-Soviet neighbor.   "President Putin, stop your troops from attacking Ukraine, give peace a chance, too many people have already died," Guterres said during the second emergency Security Council meeting in three days over the Russia-Ukraine crisis.   As world leaders one after another urged Russia to stand down, Putin made a surprise speech on Russian TV, announcing he had "made the decision of a military operation."   Warnings of a possible Russian invasion had mounted over weeks, as Moscow massed troops on Ukraine's borders and earlier this week recognized the independence of two breakaway eastern Ukraine regions.   Putin's announcement came after the Kremlin said rebel leaders in eastern Ukraine had asked Moscow for military help against Kyiv.   Speaking after Guterres, UN Under-Secretary for Political Affairs, Rosemary DiCarlo, said Wednesday there were reports of "large-scale military buildup and military columns moving towards Ukraine" and that Russia had "shut airspace" to civilian aircraft along the border between the two countries.   The UN could not verify the reports, she added.   The US Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield made a similar appeal to the Russian president.   "Send your troops and your tanks and your planes back to their barracks and hangars and send your diplomats to the negotiating table," she said. Source: AFP/BSS AH

India has told China that their bilateral relations will only develop when both countries pull their troops back from a deadly confrontation on their disputed Himalayan border, the Indian foreign minister said. Subrahmanyam Jaishankar discussed the possibility of both sides withdrawing from their high-altitude face-off when he met his Chinese counterpart, Wang Yi, on the sidelines of a regional conference in Dushanbe on Thursday. “Discussed disengagement in our border areas. Underlined that progress in this regard is essential for restoration of peace and tranquillity, which is the basis for development of bilateral ties,” Jaishankar said on Twitter. Thousands of Indian and Chinese soldiers have been locked in confrontation in the western Himalayas since last year when animosity over a decades old border dispute blew up. In June last year, tension erupted into hand-to-hand fighting resulting in deaths on both sides, the first between them in decades. After several rounds of talks between their commanders, their forces have stepped back on some sections of the border, including the Pangong Tso lake, a contested area near the site of last year’s clashes. But troops backed by artillery remain dug in close proximity in other sectors. The Asian giants went to war over their border in 1962 and have never resolved the dispute. Even so, in recent years, trade ties have flourished. Jaishankar said he also discussed recent global events with Wang. He did not give details. While China’s close military ties with Pakistan have been a source of tension, Jaishankar said India-China relations should be seen in bilateral terms. “It is also essential that China does not view its relations with India through the lens of a third country,” he told Wang. The two top officials are in Dushanbe for a meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation. President Xi Jinping and Prime Minister Narendra Modi are due to speak at the gathering through video link later on Friday. Source: Gulf News

Troops were set to hit the streets of Sydney on Monday to enforce its prolonged lockdown, as stay-at-home orders in Australia's third-largest city Brisbane were extended to curb a worsening outbreak. About 300 Australian Defence Force personnel will be deployed in Sydney after New South Wales state police requested military help to enforce Covid-19 rules. Authorities have been struggling to stop the spread of the highly infectious Delta variant in Sydney -- and ensure that residents follow containment rules -- with more than 3,600 cases recorded since mid-June. "Police officers will be assisted by ADF personnel as they deliver food parcels, conduct welfare door-knocks and go through compliance checks of stay-at-home and self-isolation orders," NSW Police Commissioner Mick Fuller said Saturday. More than five million people in Australia's biggest city and surrounding areas are entering their sixth week of a lockdown set to run until the end of August. Residents are only allowed to leave their homes for exercise, essential work, medical reasons, and to shop for necessities such as food. But compliance has been patchy and police have increasingly been doling out fines to those violating the restrictions. The defence force said the latest deployment was in addition to the 250 military personnel already working at hotels and airports in New South Wales. Meanwhile, millions of people in Brisbane and several surrounding regions will remain under lockdown until Sunday after an "escalating" outbreak there grew to 29 cases. Those stay-at-home orders had been scheduled to lift on Tuesday. "That will make it an 8-day lockdown. And we desperately hope that that will be sufficient for our contact tracers to get into home quarantine absolutely anyone who could have been exposed to the Delta strain," acting Queensland state premier Steven Miles said. The outbreak was linked to a Brisbane school student, with pupils and teachers at several schools subsequently placed into isolation. With about 14 percent of Australia's 25 million people fully vaccinated, authorities are still relying on lockdowns to slow the spread of the virus. Prime Minister Scott Morrison has outlined a long road out of restrictions -- setting a target of 80 percent of the eligible population to be fully vaccinated before borders are reopened and lockdowns eliminated. Australia has recorded more than 34,000 cases and 925 deaths so far during the pandemic. Source: AFP/BSS AH

Iraq's Parliament called for the expulsion of U.S. troops from the country Sunday in reaction to the American drone attack that killed a top Iranian general. Lawmakers approved a resolution asking the Iraqi government to end the agreement under which Washington sent forces to Iraq more than four years ago to help in the fight against the Islamic State group. A pullout of the estimated 5,200 U.S. troops could cripple the fight against ISIS and allow its resurgence. The majority of about 180 legislators present in Parliament voted in favor of the resolution. It was backed by most Shiite members of parliament, who hold a majority of seats. Many Sunni and Kurdish legislators did not show up for the session, apparently because they oppose abolishing the deal. Source: AP/UNB AH

President Donald Trump paid a surprise Thanksgiving visit to Afghanistan, where he announced the U.S. and the Taliban have been engaged in ongoing peace talks and said he believes the Taliban want a cease-fire. Trump arrived at Bagram Air Field shortly after 8:30 p.m. local time Thursday and spent 3½ hours on the ground during his first trip to the site of America's longest war. He served turkey and thanked the troops, delivered a speech and sat down with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani before leaving just after midnight. He arrived back in Florida, where he is spending the holiday weekend, early Friday morning local time. As per tradition, reporters were under strict instructions to keep the trip a secret to ensure the president's safety in the country. About 12,000 U.S. forces remain in Afghanistan. Traveling with Republican Sen. John Barrasso of Wyoming and a small clutch of aides, including his acting chief of staff, press secretary and national security adviser, Trump appeared in good spirits as he was escorted around the base by heavily armed soldiers, as the smell of burning fuel and garbage wafted through the chilly air. Unlike last year's post-Christmas visit to Iraq — his first to an active combat zone — first lady Melania Trump did not make the trip. Trump's first stop was a dining hall, where the crowd erupted into cheers when he arrived. There, he served turkey to soldiers dressed in fatigues and sat down for a meal. But he said he only tasted the mashed potatoes before he was pulled away for photos. "I never got the turkey," he told the troops. "A gorgeous piece of turkey." During his visit, Trump announced that the U.S. and Taliban have been engaged in peace talks and insisted the Taliban want to make a deal after heavy U.S. fire in recent months. "We're meeting with them," he said. "And we're saying it has to be a cease-fire. And they don't want to do a cease-fire, but now they do want to do a cease-fire, I believe ... and we'll see what happens." The trip came after Trump abruptly broke off peace talks with the Taliban in September, canceling a secret meeting with Taliban and Afghan leaders at the Camp David presidential retreat after a particularly deadly spate of violence, capped by a bombing in Kabul that killed 12 people, including an American soldier. That ended a nearly yearlong effort by the U.S. to reach a political settlement with the Taliban, the group that protected al-Qaida extremists in Afghanistan, prompting U.S. military action after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. U.S. and international forces have been on the ground ever since. It was not immediately clear how long or substantive the U.S. reengagement with the Taliban has been. Trump ran his 2016 campaign promising to end the nation's "endless wars" and has been pushing to withdraw troops from Afghanistan and in the Middle East despite protests from top U.S. officials, Trump's Republican allies in Washington and many U.S. allies abroad. For months now, he has described American forces as "policemen" and argued that other countries' wars should be theirs to wage. Tens of thousands of Afghan civilians and more than 2,400 American service members have been killed since the war began 18 years ago. Just last week, Trump flew to Dover Air Force Base in Delaware to oversee the transfer of the remains of two Army officers killed when their helicopter crashed as they provided security for troops on the ground in Logar province in eastern Afghanistan. The Taliban still controls or holds sway over about half of the country, staging near daily attacks targeting Afghan forces and government officials. The U.S. and Taliban had been close to an agreement in September that might have enabled a U.S. troop withdrawal. Nonetheless, Trump said Thursday that he was proceeding with a plan to reduce U.S. troop levels to about 8,600, telling reporters we're "bringing down the number of troops substantially." Still, he said, the U.S. will stay in the country "until we have a deal or we have total victory." Trump made the announcement as he met with Ghani, the Afghan president. Ghani thanked the Americans who have made the "ultimate sacrifice" in Afghanistan and assured the president that Afghan security forces are increasingly leading the fight. "In the next three months, it's going to be all Afghanistan!" Ghani said. Ghani also praised Trump for the October mission that killed Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. The Afghan leader also indicated, as Trump himself has, that the al-Baghdadi mission was even more significant than the 2011 mission targeting al-Qaida founder Osama bin Laden. The bin Laden mission was ordered by then-President Barack Obama. "President Trump, people talked a lot about bin Laden, but what you did to eliminate al-Baghdadi, who was an organizer and not a talker, is a much greater accomplishment," said Ghani, in remarks to U.S. troops before Trump's departure. The trip came a week after the Taliban freed an American and an Australian who had been held hostage since 2016 in exchange for three top Taliban figures — a move that has been widely seen as a possible entree to rekindling peace talks. The White House took pains to keep the trip a secret after Trump's cover was blown last year when Air Force One was spotted en route to Iraq by an amateur British flight watcher. Cellphones and other transmitting devices were confiscated for most of the trip from everyone traveling aboard Air Force One. And Thanksgiving-themed tweets were teed up to publish ahead of time from Trump's account to prevent suspicions arising about the president's silence. A small group of reporters was told to meet Wednesday night on the top floor of a parking garage in Maryland and was transported in black vans to Andrews Air Force Base. Nobody would confirm where he was going. The only guidance: Dress casually and warmly. Meanwhile, the president was secretly flying back from Florida, where reporters had been told he'd be spending Thanksgiving at his Mar-a-Lago club. The plane he'd flown to Florida — the modified 747 painted in the iconic white and blue of Air Force One — remained parked on the tarmac at West Palm Beach Airport to avoid revealing the president's movement. About 9:45 p.m. Wednesday, the president boarded a nearly identical plane concealed in a hangar at Andrews Air Force Base, taking off and landing under the cover of darkness, with cabin lights dimmed and window shutters drawn. White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham said plans for the visit had been in the works for weeks. "It's a dangerous area and he wants to support the troops," Grisham told reporters before Trump landed. "He and Mrs. Trump recognize that there's a lot of people who are away from their families during the holidays, and we thought it'd be a nice surprise." Shortly after midnight, Trump and his entourage departed from Afghanistan. The president told the troops he was honored to spend part of his holiday with them. "There is nowhere I'd rather celebrate this Thanksgiving than right here with the toughest, strongest, best and bravest warriors on the face of the earth," Trump said. Source: AP/UNB AH

Indian and Pakistani soldiers again targeted each other's posts and villages along their volatile frontier in disputed Kashmir, killing at least six civilians and two Pakistani troops, officials said Saturday. Reports AP. Tensions have been running high since Indian aircraft crossed into Pakistan on Tuesday, carrying out what India called a pre-emptive strike against militants blamed for a Feb. 14 suicide bombing in Indian-controlled Kashmir that killed 40 Indian troops. Pakistan retaliated, shooting down a fighter jet Wednesday and detaining its pilot, who was returned to India on Friday in a peace gesture. Fighting resumed overnight Friday. Pakistan's military said two of its soldiers were killed in an exchange of fire with Indian forces near the Line of Control that separates Kashmir between the rivals. It marked the first fatalities for Pakistani troops since Wednesday, when tensions dramatically escalated between the nuclear-armed neighbors over Kashmir, which is split between them but claimed by both in its entirety. Indian police said two siblings and their mother were killed in Indian-controlled Kashmir. The three died after a shell fired by Pakistani soldiers hit their home in the Poonch region near the Line of Control. The children's father was critically wounded. In Pakistan-controlled Kashmir, government official Umar Azam said Indian troops with heavy weapons "indiscriminately targeted border villagers" along the Line of Control, killing a boy and wounding three other people. He said several homes were destroyed by Indian shelling. Following a lull of a few hours, shelling and firing of small arms resumed Saturday. A Pakistani military statement said two civilians were killed and two others wounded in the fresh fighting. The Indian army said Pakistani troops attacked Indian posts at several places along the militarized line. Officials from both countries blamed each other for "unprovoked" violations of the 2003 cease-fire accord at several sectors along the Kashmir frontier, targeting army posts as well as villages. Since tensions escalated following last month's suicide attack, world leaders have scrambled to head off an all-out war between India and Pakistan. The rivals have fought two of their three wars over Kashmir since their independence from British rule in 1947. The current violence marks the most serious escalation of the long-simmering conflict since 1999, when Pakistan's military sent a ground force into Indian-controlled Kashmir. That year also saw an Indian fighter jet shoot down a Pakistani naval aircraft, killing all 16 on board. The latest wave of tensions began after the militant group Jaish-e-Mohammad claimed responsibility for the Feb. 14 suicide bombing by a Kashmiri militant on Indian paramilitary forces. India has long accused Pakistan of cultivating such militant groups to attack it. Pakistan has said it was not involved in that attack and that it was ready to help New Delhi in the investigation. On both sides of Kashmir, thousands of people have fled to government-run temporary shelters or relatives' homes in safer areas to escape deadly and relentless shelling along the frontier. Many of these villages dot the rugged and mountainous frontier, which is marked by razor wire, watch towers and bunkers amid tangled bushes, forests and fields of rice and corn. "These battles are fought on our bodies, in our homes and fields, and we still don't have anything in our hands. We are at the mercy of these soldiers," said Mohammed Akram, a resident in the Mendhar area in Indian-controlled Kashmir. Sakina, a young woman who fled to a shelter with her two children, said the frequent shelling had made them "homeless in our own land." In Pakistani-administered Kashmir, many displaced families urged the international community to help resolve the issue of Kashmir so that they can live peacefully. "Whenever India fires mortars, it's we who suffer," said Mohammad Latif, a laborer who took refuge at a government building that was vacated for sheltering displaced families. "I don't care whether the Indian pilot is gone or not, I don't care who released him and why, but I want to know whether peace will return to us after his return to India," said Mohammad Sadiq, a shopkeeper who also was among the displaced. He said the latest tensions between Pakistan and India rose so suddenly that some people sold their sheep, cows and buffaloes at throwaway prices in his native Chikothi town. "We did not know whether we will get any shelter and how could we take our animals with us”, he said. People living along the Line of Control keep bunkers near their homes, but residents say they cannot spend day and night in them. Meanwhile, Indian police said two paramilitary soldiers and two counterinsurgency police officials were killed in a gunbattle with militants in Indian-controlled Kashmir, while troops fatally shot a civilian during anti-India protests. Rebel groups have been fighting Indian rule since 1989 and demand that Kashmir be united either under Pakistani rule or as an independent country. AH