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YEREVAN (Arka) Armenia has reduced the number of its peacekeeping troops in the NATO-led missions in Afghanistan and Kosovo, Armenian Defense Minister Vagharshak Harutyunyan said in an interview with Russian RIA Novosti news agency.

During the hostilities in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict zone, we significantly cut the number of our peacekeeping contingent in Afghanistan from 121 to 58 troops and from 40 to 2 in Kosovo, he said.

Regarding the humanitarian mission in Syria, he noted that Armenia will continue its mission there because the Syrian people today are at the forefront of countering global terrorism, and it is our duty, especially that there are of Armenian diaspora members in that country.

Our humanitarian mission, based on close cooperation with the Russian military, will certainly continue in Syria, and I must note that even after the Azerbaijani aggression against Artsakh in autumn last year, we did not suspend our peacekeeping activity in Syria, he said.

Harutyunyan added that Armenia is also involved in the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon.(UNIFIL) with 33 troops, and has also one serviceman inthe United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali(MINUSMA).

In early February 2019, the Armenian Ministry of Defense announced the dispatch of the first group of 83 Armenian specialists to Syria, comprising humanitarian demining and medical personnel.

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Armenia Cuts the Number of Its Peacekeepers in Afghanistan and Kosovo - Armenian News by MassisPost

Meghan Markle and Harry: How Queen decided on a 'hard Megxit'

Harry has just been completely stripped of all his patronages, including his military ones, after he and his wife Meghan Markle told the Queen they have no intention of returning to life as working royals. The Queen issued a statement which read, it is not possible to continue with the responsibilities and duties that come with a life of public service and confirmed these titles will be redistributed among the remaining royals. Then, in a surprisingly terse reply, the couple said: We can all live a life of service. Service is universal.

Harry is said to have been emotional when it was announced he could not hold onto his honorary military appointments, while Meghan reportedly thought the Palaces move was so unnecessary according to the biography Finding Freedom.

The Duke of Sussex served in Afghanistan twice during his decade in the Army, although during the first tour in 2008 he was recalled back to the UK early over concerns for his safety.

The return flight is said to have provided a pivotal moment for the royal rebel.

Biographer Sean Smith claimed: The flight back to the UK changed everything for him.

The coffin of a Danish soldier was loaded onto the plane that Harry shared with three injured soldiers, who were all missing limbs.

Despite being a serving officer, he hadnt seen close up the devastating effects of such injuries.

He knew then that he needed to help these brave servicemen and others like them to overcome the physical and psychological scars of being wounded in action.

Mr Smith suggests that this one plane journey might have planted the seed for Harry to later set up the Invictus Games, for injured servicemen and servicewomen in 2014.

Its worth noting that Harry went on a second tour in 2012 but as an Apache Attack Helicopter Pilot.

He was then recalled back to London as a staff officer to help injured soldiers with their recovery and its in this role that he founded the Invictus Games.

Mr Smith noted that the Games have been key for Harry.

He wrote: Harrys obvious delight while watching his fellow servicemen at the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in London demonstrated that he was leaving his Twenties behind and had grown into an empathetic and caring man.

READ MORE: Harrys shocking jibe at William exposed Im better than him!

Despite leaving the Royal Family, Harrys role with the Invictus Games remains unchanged.

He even donated the winnings from a recent legal battle to the Invictus Games Foundation, and has been the first to announce his disappointment after the international sporting event was postponed once again due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

His dedication to the Armed Forces was also clear when he announced he was retiring, back in 2015.

Harry said: After a decade of service moving on from the Army has been a really tough decision.

I consider myself incredibly lucky to have had the chance to do some very challenging jobs and have met many fantastic people in the process.

Inevitably, most good things come to an end and I am at a crossroads in my military career.

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Then Chief of General Staff, General Sir Nicholas Carter, said Harry had achieved much in his 10 years as a soldier and that he has been at the forefront throughout his service upon his retirement in 2015.

Harry is said to have wanted to serve in the military ever since he was a young boy.

Indeed, he was so disappointed at having to evacuate Afghanistan in 2008 after his location was leaked, that he even contemplated quitting the Army.

Although the Palace had agreed to a media blackout with the British media, an Australian magazine leaked the whereabouts of the then third-in-line to the throne.

The Taliban subsequently announced that they were going to target him, using all our strength.

Alarmed at this threat towards both the Queens grandson and his fellow soldiers, Harry was immediately withdrawn.

However, it is a testament to his dedication to the military that the Duke of Sussex decided to retrain as a helicopter pilot and return to Afghanistan four years later.

Finding Freedom authors Omid Scobie and Carolyn Durand wrote: The most demoralising aspect of the new deal was his being stripped of his honorary military appointments that had been awarded to him as a senior royal.

Harry can still wear his medals as he is a retired serviceman.

However, he cannot wear uniform as Captain General of the Royal Marines, Honorary Air Force Commandant of the Royal Air Force Base Honington and honorary Commodore-in-Chief of the Royal Navys Small Ships and Diving Operations.

An insider told Finding Freedom: Thats been a tough pill to swallow and the one that has been most painful for Meghan to witness him go through.

Meghan Misunderstood by Sean Smith was published in 2020 by HarperCollins and is available here.

Original post:
Prince Harrys perspective on Army altered forever after return flight from Afghanistan - Daily Express

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Afghanistan - International Criminal Court

Jane Ferguson:

In reality, even with the limited U.S. air and ground support they currently have, the Taliban is stronger than it has ever been in this two-decades-long war. They continue to bolster their positions around cities. Reassuring the local population that these soldiers are in control is increasingly tough to do.

As the Taliban strengthen their stranglehold on major urban centers in Afghanistan, trying to keep these major roads open is a challenge for the Afghan forces. Trying to secure the capital, even more important.

The February 2020 deal President Trump's administration signed with the Taliban says all foreign forces will leave Afghanistan by May 1st. In return, the group were to promise to prevent Afghanistan becoming a staging ground for terror groups attacking the U.S., and engage in peace negotiations with the Afghan government.

Those peace talks have stalled, and as the deadline to leave looms, violence rages across the country.

The new Biden White House, inheriting both the deal and its deadline, has hinted at delaying that exit date.

At an annual summit of defense ministers this week, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg told the NewsHour they haven't given the Taliban a free ride.

Read the original:
Afghan troops face as deadline to withdraw U.S. troops looms - PBS NewsHour

NATO made no decision on whether or when to pull out of Afghanistan, the military alliance's Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said on Thursday.

"We are faced with many dilemmas, and there are no easy options," Stoltenberg told journalists after talks between defense ministers in Brussels.

"If we stay beyond May 1, we risk more violence, more attacks against our own troops," he said. "But if we leave, then we will also risk that the gains that we have made are lost."

An agreement struck in February 2020 between the Taliban and the United States calls for all US and NATO forces to leave Afghanistan by May 1 in exchange for the Taliban to reduce violence and cooperate with President Ashraf Ghani's government.

However, the Taliban hasincreased violent attacks, and the so-called "intra-Afghan" talks with the government have gone nowhere.

NATO defense ministers also indicated that their engagement in Afghanistan "depends on conditions." They have urged the Taliban to fulfill their promises.

Stoltenberg and the Taliban agree that peace talks are the only way forward. But the path ahead is full of obstacles.

Mohammad Naim, the spokesman for the Taliban's Qatar office, believes that the US-Taliban Doha agreement is still effective. "Neither side will benefit" if the accord is scrapped, he told DW.

There have been reports that US President Joe Biden is reviewing the 2020 deal, that was sealed by the administration of his predecessor Donald Trump. Some analysts have argued that the Doha deal gives too many concessions to Afghan insurgents.

Naim, however, says the agreement offers an "appropriate, reasonable and logical solution" to Afghanistan's problems.

The Taliban spokesmandid not say what the militants would do if NATO decides to keep its troops in Afghanistan.

"There is no other way to solve the existing problems" than sticking to the deal, he stressed.

In an interview with DW on Thursday, German Defense Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer warned there could be further instability if NATO forces stayed past that May 1 deadline.

"What's clear is and this is what the Taliban have announced that with the decision not to leave the country by April 30, the threat level will rise, significantly rise for the international troops and also for us," Kramp-Karrenbauer said.

Kramp-Karrenbauer added that the German military in Afghanistan is preparing "how to react" to the deteriorating security situation "in the appropriate way."

The Taliban havenot attacked a single US soldier in Afghanistan since the Doha deal. They have, however, significantly increased their assaults on Afghan security forces and prominent Afghan citizens.

On Thursday, when NATO defense ministers were discussing how to proceed in Afghanistan, two professors at Kabul University were killed in a targeted bomb explosion. The Taliban continue to deny involvement in these attacks, but the rising violence certainly undermines the peace process.

Homeira Saqeb, a human rights activist and a member of the High Peace Council that is negotiating with the Taliban, believes that intra-Afghan talks have reached an impasse. "I hope the negotiations are not a dead end, but they have been interrupted," she told DW.

In addition to internal consultations, the Taliban have visited several times to Pakistan to discuss the ongoing peace negotiations. Theyhave also visited Moscow, Tehran and Turkmenistan.

These visits show the complexity of these negations and the interest of neighboring countries and regional powers in the conflict. This has also delayed any potential progress in intra-Afghan negotiations. Experts say the Taliban are trying to demonstrate their influence and importance through these foreign trips.

The Afghan government is also trying to come to terms with the new situation.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken held talks with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani earlier on Thursday to discuss how the Biden administration would review the accord's progress.

State Department spokesman Ned Price said the pair agreed that Afghanistan needed "a just and durable political settlement and permanent and comprehensive ceasefire."

The US invaded Afghanistan in the wake of the September 11, 200,attacks in a bidto stop the country from serving as a haven for international terrorists. NATO allies and partners followed after.

Close to two decades of bloody conflict have claimed the lives of more than 40,000 Afghan civilians, and cost hundreds of billions of dollars.

It is now up to Washington if it wants to continue its engagement with Afghanistan. NATO, most likely, will follow Biden's line.

Additional reporting by Shakila Ebrahimkhail.

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Afghanistan: Why NATO's indecision could be a precursor to civil war - DW (English)