Sri Lanka’s president has pardoned a soldier who was sentenced to death for killing eight civilians during the country’s civil war, leading to accusations that the government was taking advantage of the chaos from the coronavirus pandemic to free a wartime ally accused of atrocities. The pardon reverses one of the very few convictions from […]
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President Trump has finally called in the military in the nation’s war against the coronavirus. But precious time was lost in the weeks since he was warned about the dangers the virus poses. We need to make sure that doesn’t happen again. Creating a disaster response command within the military would provide unity of action […]
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Episode 30: ‘Open Arms’ Producer/Director Alyse Shorland U.S. defense contractors used the promise of new jobs to persuade the government to approve billions of dollars’ worth of arms sales to foreign allies with little regard for how the American-made bombs, jets and other weapons are used. The Trump administration has repeatedly cleared the way for […]
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The United States can and should “go big” to fight the coronavirus. It has done so before, at extraordinary speed and scale. It has tools like the Defense Production Act to help do it again. And it can be transformative: The industrial mobilization during World War II had a military purpose but lasting economic and […]
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BERLIN — Weighing in at a hefty 11 pounds, with a tiny 128 MB of working memory and a decades-old Pentium III processor, a used laptop recently bought by a German cybersecurity firm had its heyday long before the first iPhone was built. But the laptop’s new owner says it has one standout feature: Its […]
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KABUL, Afghanistan — When the coronavirus began spreading, many Afghans were in denial even after it became an obvious and deadly crisis in neighboring Iran. Some touted their piety as a shield — they already washed and prayed five times a day. Others, even some officials, joked that the health system had been so bad, […]
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TORKHAM, Pakistan — Above the trucks and travelers lining up at the main eastern gateway between Afghanistan and Pakistan, a glinting new landmark scales the dun-colored mountains: Parallel mesh fences, a couple of feet apart and topped with coils of razor wire, climb from the border crossing up over the dizzying crags. The section of […]
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BAGHDAD — Iraqi military officials gave a scathing condemnation of the United States military on Friday for airstrikes launched overnight that they said had killed three Iraqi soldiers, two police officers and a civilian worker as well as damaging an unfinished civilian airport. The U.S. action was retaliation for a rocket attack on Wednesday that […]
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More from our inbox: Image“The virus will not have a chance against us,” President Trump declared in a 10-minute speech on Wednesday night. Credit…Doug Mills/The New York Times To the Editor: Re “U.S. Limits Travel After W.H.O. Cites Pandemic” (front page, March 12): Even if we allow for the factual mistakes President Trump made in his […]
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The Democratic presidential primaries are continuing with little discussion about matters of war and peace, something I’ve found disheartening as a veteran. Yet for Democrats, who have often struggled to establish credibility with voters on national security, the 2020 race presents both a challenge and an opportunity. The traditional language of how to support the […]
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WASHINGTON — North Korea has evaded United Nations sanctions for many months by exporting coal, sand and petroleum, and importing luxury goods including armored sedans, alcohol and robotic machinery. The findings are based on an upcoming U.N. report, other assessments using satellite images and shipping data, and interviews with analysts. The exports provide North Korea […]
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SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea launched multiple projectiles off its east coast on Monday in the country’s second weapons test in a week, the South Korean military said. The projectiles were launched from Sondok, in South Hamgyong Province on the North’s east coast, and flew northeast before falling in waters between the North and […]
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SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea launched three unidentified projectiles off its east coast on Monday in the country’s second weapons test in a week, the South Korean military said. The projectiles were launched from Sondok, in South Hamgyong Province on the North’s east coast, and flew northeast before falling in waters between the North […]
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EVROS, Greece — The farmers and pensioners wore black clothes and heavy boots, imitating Greece’s special forces, and trod along a rural road on a night patrol looking for migrants trying to cross the northern land border with Turkey. “We’ll get you next time!” they shouted at a small group of men who had made […]
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IDLIB, Syria — Before the war in Syria, Idlib city, with its tree-lined avenues and white-stone buildings, was known for its calm, provincial air. Today it overflows with families who fled the war in other parts of Syria, swelling the population to nearly a million people. Some shelter in bombed-out buildings. Those who can’t find […]
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WASHINGTON — It was three days after the Sept. 11 attacks when Pakistan’s president yielded to the American demands — but also delivered a warning. President Pervez Musharraf told the American ambassador in Islamabad that his country would assist the United States in its looming war against the Taliban, long the recipients of Pakistan’s patronage. […]
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Imagine we are living in the year 2030. New seismic activity indicates an underground nuclear explosion somewhere near the Arctic Circle. One more country announces it’s joining the once-exclusive club of nuclear weapons states that has now grown to 20 nations — more than double the number in 2020. The trouble started in 2023, when […]
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KABUL, Afghanistan — The Taliban have resumed attacks against Afghan forces soon after signing a deal to end their war with the U.S. military, raising concerns that the Americans are leaving their Afghan allies vulnerable to an insurgency unwilling to let go of violence as its main leverage. The Taliban have carried out at least […]
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WASHINGTON — Defense Secretary Mark T. Esper said on Monday that the United States had begun withdrawing troops from Afghanistan, the first steps in what could be a complete exit from the country within the next 14 months. Speaking to reporters at a Pentagon news conference, Mr. Esper said the initial troop drawdown — which […]
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ISTANBUL — Turkey said on Sunday that it was launching a major counteroffensive against the Syrian government, for the first time openly declaring war on the government of Bashar al-Assad and steeply escalating Ankara’s involvement in Syria’s nine-year war. The announcement came three days after Turkey suffered its worst military losses in a single attack […]
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ORESTIADA, Greece — Greece deployed additional military forces to the country’s northern border with Turkey on Sunday to fortify the area and to repel a stream of migrants after Turkey opened the floodgates to the European Union over the weekend. Military officials would not say how many additional troops were being deployed, but they confirmed […]
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The deal the Trump administration signed with the Taliban on Saturday is a ticket out of Afghanistan for American troops who’ve been there far too long. It is a quiet end to a conflict that began with vibrant clarity, if not strategic vision, and descended into bloody ambiguity. The Afghan government was not involved in […]
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President Trump has left no doubt that his first priority in Afghanistan is a peace treaty that would enable him to claim that he is fulfilling his vow to withdraw American troops. But a parade of his former national security aides say he is far less interested in an actual Afghan peace. And that creates […]
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