World

Taliban parades American weapons 3 years after chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan

Published

5 months ago

August 14, 2024

Taliban parades American weapons 3 years after chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan

Members of the Taliban on Wednesday commemorated the third anniversary of the chaotic American withdrawal from Afghanistan by parading through a former U.S. air base with American weapons and vehicles that had been abandoned.

Bagram Airfield was once the center of America’s war to unseat the Taliban and hunt down the al-Qaeda militants responsible for 9/11.

Uniformed soldiers marched with light and heavy machine guns, and a motorcycle formation carried the Taliban flag. Pickup trucks crammed with men of all ages drove through Kabul’s streets in celebration of the takeover.

Members of the Taliban Cabinet lauded achievements such as strengthening Islamic law and establishing a military system that allegedly provided “peace and security.”

Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, the Taliban-appointed deputy prime minister for economic affairs, center, inspects the honor guards during a military parade to mark the third anniversary of the withdrawal of U.S.-led troops from Afghanistan, in Bagram Air Base in the Parwan Province of Afghanistan, Wednesday, Aug. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Siddiqullah Alizai)

“This is the Taliban rubbing their victory over us in our face,” U.S. Army Veteran Bill Roggio told Fox News Digital.

Roggio, a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and editor of its Long War Journal, called the parade evidence of U.S. failure in Afghanistan.

“The Biden administration’s effort to get out of Afghanistan quickly has led to the Taliban having an American-supplied arsenal,” Roggio said.

‘PATH TO JUSTICE’: DURBIN URGES AUSTIN TO RETHINK REVOKING 9/11 MASTERMINDS’ PLEA DEALS

Biden’s decision to pull troops from Afghanistan faced widespread global backlash after Taliban insurgents retook the country in a matter of days, on Aug. 15, 2021, 20 years after their ouster by U.S.-led forces. Just a month earlier, Biden told Americans that the likelihood of a Taliban takeover was “highly unlikely.”

The military evacuation, which required thousands of additional U.S. troops on the ground and significant cooperation from the Taliban to complete, ended a day ahead of a deadline on Aug. 30, 2021, leaving behind hundreds of U.S. citizens and thousands of Afghan allies, despite President Biden’s promise to “get them all out.”

On Aug. 26, 2021, during the U.S. military’s mass evacuation at the Kabul airport, suicide bombers killed 183 people, including 13 U.S. service members. The U.S. retaliated by launching two drone strikes against suspected ISIS-K terrorists, one of which ended up killing 10 Afghan civilians, including seven children.

Taliban speeches were aimed at an international audience, urging the West to interact and cooperate with the country’s rulers. Currently, no country recognizes the Taliban as the legitimate government of Afghanistan.

Taliban fighters celebrate the third anniversary of the withdrawal of U.S.-led troops from Afghanistan, in Kabul, Afghanistan, Wednesday, Aug. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Siddiqullah Alizai) (AP Photo/Siddiqullah Alizai)

“The Islamic Emirate eliminated internal differences and expanded the scope of unity and cooperation in the country,” Deputy Prime Minister Maulvi Abdul Kabir said Wednesday, using the Taliban’s term to describe their government. “No one will be allowed to interfere in internal affairs, and Afghan soil will not be used against any country.”

Roggio dismissed that last assertion as preposterous, noting that the Taliban has consistently lied about not allowing its soil to be used for terrorist activities against other countries.

“They lied about it pre-9/11. They lied about it while the U.S. was in Afghanistan. They sheltered Al-Qaeda and other groups which they support to this day,” Roggio said.

ROCKET ATTACK LAUNCHED AGAINST US MILITARY BASE IN SYRIA

“What I do believe them on is their desire to maintain control in Afghanistan, to enforce their will, to impose Sharia on its people,” he said. “You can’t doubt them on that one.”

Roggio said the Taliban’s parading on Wednesday was primarily for optics but still demonstrated the terrorist group’s capabilities.

“I don’t think the Taliban is a threat to project power outside its border. But certainly the equipment is useful to project power within Afghanistan to remain in power,” he said.

Members of the Taliban sit on a military vehicle during a Taliban military parade in Kabul, Afghanistan, in November 2021. (Reuters/Ali Khara)

Despite the Taliban’s grandiose showing of their capabilities on Wednesday, there was no mention of a plan to improve the lives of the Afghan people. Decades of conflict and instability have left millions of Afghans on the brink of hunger and starvation. Unemployment is high and women are banned from attending school beyond sixth grade.

The Bagram parade was the Taliban’s grandest and most defiant since regaining control of the country in August 2021.

The audience of some 10,000 men included senior Taliban officials such as Acting Defense Minister Mullah Yaqoob and Acting Interior Minister Sirajuddin Haqqani. Supreme leader Hibatullah Akhundzada was not at the parade.

Fox News Digital’s Nikolas Lanum and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Bradford Betz is a Fox News Digital breaking reporter covering crime, political issues, and much more.

World

South Korean president Yoon Suk Yeol arrested: report

Published

42 minutes ago

January 14, 2025

Press Room

South Korean president Yoon Suk Yeol arrested: report

Suspended South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol has reportedly been arrested over insurrection charges stemming from his ill-fated martial law declaration last month.

Yoon’s detention was reported Wednesday by Yonhap, one of the country’s largest news outlets. A warrant for his arrest, initially requested after he failed to show up for questioning, has been out since Dec. 31.

Police dispatched some 3,200 officers to the president’s sprawling hillside estate in Seoul, according to Reuters, where he has spent weeks in hiding whilst surrounded by a personal security detail.

Video shows officers closing in on Yoon’s residence, according to Reuters, where hundreds of his supporters had already gathered to protest on his behalf. Earlier, they were reportedly seen pushing through a group of them.

SOUTH KOREA’S IMPEACHED PRESIDENT AVOIDS ARREST ATTEMPT AFTER HOURSLONG STANDOFF

A previous attempt to detain Yoon was called off on Jan. 3 following a six-hour standoff between military guards and the president’s security staff.

“As I have repeatedly emphasized the need for prevention of physical conflict between state agencies,” Acting President Choi Sang-mok said in a statement Wednesday. “I will sternly hold those responsible if unfortunate events occur.”

Authorities are making a second attempt to detain suspended South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol following last month’s martial law declaration. (South Korea Presidential Office via AP, File)

Executing a warrant for Yoon’s arrest has proven difficult for investigators, as the president’s legal counsel insists it is impossible to do so under a law barring non-consensual searches of locations potentially linked to military secrets.

Yoon’s lawyers have also decried such a warrant as an illegal means of publicly humiliating him.

ARREST WARRANT ISSUED FOR IMPEACHED SOUTH KOREAN PRESIDENT AS POLITICAL CRISIS DEEPENS

The arrest warrant is the first ever to be levied against a sitting South Korean president. Yoon’s warrant stems from his declaration of martial law on Dec. 3 out of apparent frustration with the opposition-dominated parliament’s refusal to pass key items on his political agenda.

The move was decried within South Korea and abroad, where analysts expressed shock at the sudden and unprecedented move in what is typically one of Asia’s most stable democracies.

Police officers are seen closing in on suspended President Yoon Suk Yeol’s residence in Seoul, South Korea, alongside investigators of the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials. (REUTERS/Kim Hong-Ji)

Parliament unanimously rejected Yoon’s declaration, and subsequently suspended him on Dec. 14 in a 204-85 vote that included members of his own party.

Yoon will be formally impeached should the Constitutional Court uphold the motion with a three-fourths majority.

The court’s next hearing is scheduled for Thursday.

Reuters contributed to this report.

Kyle Schmidbauer is a production assistant for Fox News Digital. A graduate of Montclair State University in New Jersey, he joined Fox in 2022.

World

Looking for a job in IT? These countries are desperate for new hires

Published

2 hours ago

January 14, 2025

Press Room

Looking for a job in IT? These countries are desperate for new hires

Over two-thirds of large companies struggle to fill their IT roles. What are the highest-paid jobs? Which countries are most in need?

As the IT sector continues to grow, thousands of European companies are having trouble filling the many positions available.

According to 2024 Eurostat data, 57.5% of EU businesses can’t recruit all the necessary ICT specialists.

The gap between labour demand and actual employment has grown by 20% in the past ten years.

Large businesses are facing the biggest challenges.

Sixty-eight per cent of them are unable to fill all their ICT specialist positions, followed by medium (59.2%) and small-sized enterprises (53.4%).

Germany, the Czech Republic, Malta, Austria, and Luxembourg are the countries most in need of ICT specialists, with at least 65% of businesses facing shortages.

The percentages are even higher for large enterprises: 84% in Malta, 80% in Germany, 79% in the Czech Republic, 78% in Slovenia, 76% in Austria, 75% in Luxembourg, 73% in Latvia, 72% in Hungary and 71% in Croatia.

Spain, Poland, and Bulgaria have the least hiring problems, although at least 30% of companies in these countries still face ICT shortages.

What are the highest-paid IT positions?

The main difficulties in recruitment, according to Eurostat, are a lack of applications, insufficient qualifications and experience, and high salary expectations.

Salaries in the ICT sector have consistently outpaced average wages in Europe in the last decade, according to the 2024 OECD Digital Economy Outlook. In the EU, in particular, annual wages grew by 0.24% compared to 0.20% in the rest of the economy.

Recruitment specialists Robert Walters have listed the top-paid ICT jobs in countries including Germany, which seems to be struggling the most in the EU to recruit specialists.

The highest-paid role is Chief Information Technology Officer, with an annual base of €150k for employees with at least three years of experience, to €180k for those with at least eight years.

The consultancy role in the highest bracket is the SAP/ERP one, with a base of €100k. (SAP ERP is an enterprise resource planning software.)

Data engineer and data scientist positions are both in the €100-120k bracket.

Video editor • Mert Can Yilmaz