Latest news with #AfghanistanWar
CBS News
6 days ago
- Politics
- CBS News
Afghan interpreter who rescued U.S. officer's life during the war says America broke its promise to allies
Dewey Yopp, a retired U.S. Army Special Forces officer, was sent to Afghanistan in 2002 to train up a new Afghan army during the early days of the war in Afghanistan. He met Amir, his then-18-year-old Afghan translator, at the airport on his first day there, and says Amir went on to save his life four times. "Amir dragged me, under fire, to a medevac point," Yopp told CBS News of one of those instances. After the U.S. withdrew from the country in 2021, Yopp scrambled to get Amir a special immigrant visa for Afghan allies. Amir asked CBS News to conceal his real name for safety reasons. "If someone saves your life, your souls are bound together for eternity," Yopp said. "He's like a son to me, really." Three years later, Amir's visa was approved, and he and his family were given green cards. They came to the U.S. and settled in Kentucky, reuniting with Yopp 22 years after they first met in Afghanistan. Yopp now spends most days with Amir's children, who call him "grandfather." Thousands of Afghans living in the U.S. now fear deportation after a federal appeals court late Monday refused to freeze the Trump administration's efforts to end their legal status. Amir is a Special Immigrant Visa recipient, given to U.S. allies who helped during the war. Despite he and his family having green cards, he still fears being sent back, since the White House has threatened to deport green card holders, too. Amir risked Taliban retaliation to help American soldiers, because work in Afghanistan at the time was scarce and the prospect of safety abroad was enticing. He told CBS News the promise that was made to him in return for risking his life was, "Your family will go to America. This was promised with all who work with U.S." Amir said he went into hiding for years after his service, feeling betrayed by the U.S., until Yopp stepped in to fulfill America's pledge and helped secure him his visa. Thousands of veterans of the Afghanistan war across the country have taken it upon themselves to help their translators and other Afghan allies come safely to the U.S. and settle here. But Amir says it is not the job of veterans to fulfill the vow of protection the government previously made to them. The Trump administration has repeatedly targeted Afghan refugees, stopping flights with Afghan allies from arriving, freezing resettlement services, putting Afghanistan on the travel ban list, and ending the Temporary Protected Status (TPS) program for Afghan refugees. Yopp says it is a "moral injury" to veterans to see this happen to those who helped them during the war. As part of the administration's efforts to end the TPS program, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem has claimed that Afghanistan is now safe for Afghans to return to, a point Amir disputes. "OK, if Afghanistan is safe, why are you saying to your citizens, 'Do not go to Afghanistan?'" Amir said in reference to the State Department's "Do Not Travel" advisory for Afghanistan. "For me, [it's] safe, but for you, [it's] not safe? I'm not sure." Amir fears that even as a green card holder, he and his family may be sent back, since the White House has threatened to deport green card holders, too. These days, he works two jobs, seven days a week, to support his family. He says he only got by in the past because of the $500 a month that Yopp, who is retired, would give him. "It's been a slap in the face, really, to see the programs that were in effect, to be taken away," Yopp said. Amir added: "Americans should not make a promise with Afghans, and now [you're] making a problem for them. Then why [did] you make [that] promise?"
Bloomberg
22-07-2025
- Politics
- Bloomberg
Ukraine Risks Becoming to Trump What Afghanistan Was to Biden
On the face of it, the US involvement in Ukraine bears little similarity to the 20-year Afghanistan war, not least because there are no American boots on the ground in Europe. Yet there are similarities for President Donald Trump: resolving the conflict is proving no easy task, and he risks getting shackled with responsibility — and potentially blame — the longer it goes on.
Gulf Today
22-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Gulf Today
In ‘28 Years Later,' a zombie pandemic rages on
Most movies are lucky to predict one thing. Danny Boyle's 2002 dystopian thriller '28 Days Later' managed to be on the cutting edge of two trends, albeit rather disparate ones: global pandemic and fleet-footed zombies. Add in Cillian Murphy, who had his breakout role in that film, and '28 Days Later' was unusually prognostic. While many of us were following the beginnings of the Afghanistan War and 'American Idol,' Boyle and screenwriter Alex Garland were probing the the fragile fabric of society, and the potentially very quick way, indeed, horror might come our way. Boyle always maintained that his undead — a far speedier variety of the slow-stepping monsters of George A. Romero's 'The Night of Living Dad' — weren't zombies, at all, but were simply the infected. In that film, and its 2007 sequel '28 Weeks Later' (which Juan Carlos Fresnadillo helmed), the filmmakers have followed the fallout of the so-called rage virus, which emptied London in the first film and brought soon-dashed hopes of the virus' eradication in the second movie. Like the virus, the '28 Days Later' franchise has proven tough to beat back. In the new '28 Years Later,' Boyle and Garland return to their apocalyptic pandemic with the benefit of now having lived through one. But recent history plays a surprisingly minor role in this far-from-typical, willfully shambolic, intensely scattershot part three. The usual trend of franchises is to progressively add gloss and scale. But where other franchises might have gone global, '28 Years Later' has remained in the UK, now a quarantine region where the infected roam free and survivors — or at least the ones we follow — cluster on an island off the northeast of Britain, connected to mainland by only a stone causeway that dips below the water at high tide. Boyle and cinematographer Anthony Dod Mantle, who innovatively employed digital video in '28 Days Later,' have also turned to iPhones to shoot the majority of the film. Boyle, the 'Slumdog Millionaire,' 'Trainspotting' filmmaker, is an especially frenetic director to begin with, but '28 Years Later' is frequently gratingly disjointed. It's a visual approach that, taken with the story's tonal extremes, makes '28 Years Later' an often bumpy ride. But even when Boyle's film struggles to put the pieces together, there's an admirable resistance to being anything like a cardboard cutout summer movie. The recent event that hovers over '28 Years Later' is less the COVID-19 pandemic than Brexit. With the virus quarantined on Britain, the country has been severed from the European continent. On the secluded Holy Island, 12-year-old Spike (Alfie Williams, a newcomer with some sweetness and pluck) lives with his hunter father, Jamie (Aaron Taylor-Johnson), and bedridden mother, Isla (Jodie Comer). The scene, with makeshift watchtowers and bows and arrows for weapons, is almost medieval. Jamie, too, feels almost like a knight eager to induct his son into the village's ways of survival. On Spike's first trip out off the island, his father - nauseatingly jocular - helps him kill his first infected. Back inside the village walls, Jamie celebrates their near scrapes and exaggerates his son's coolness under pressure. Other developments cause Spike to question the macho world he's being raised in. 'They're all lyin', mum,' he says to his mother. After hearing of a far-off, supposedly deranged doctor whose constant fires mystify the townspeople, Spike resolves to take his mother to him in hopes of healing her unknown illness. Their encounters along the way are colorful. Ralph Fiennes plays the doctor, orange-colored when they encounter him; Edvin Ryding plays a Swedish NATO soldier whose patrol boat crashed offshore. Meanwhile, Comer is almost comically delusional, frequently calling her son 'Daddy.' And the infected? One development here is that, while some remain Olympic-worthy sprinters, other slothful ones nicknamed 'Slow-Lows' crawl around on the ground, rummaging for worms. Associated Press
Newsweek
20-06-2025
- Politics
- Newsweek
Chinese Media Issues Trump-Iran Tensions Warning—'Sliding Into the Abyss'
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. Chinese state media is warning U.S. President Donald Trump to wade carefully into the Iran-Israel conflict, writing in a new editorial that stoked tensions could trigger an aftermath that makes the previous Iraq and Afghanistan wars pale in comparison. Why It Matters White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Wednesday that Trump, who has called for Iran's "unconditional surrender," is weighing U.S. military involvement in the Middle East over the next two weeks. Indeterminate numbers of casualties have occurred in both Iran and Israel, though Israel's intentions to destroy Iran's nuclear capabilities may require U.S. artillery aid in the form of multi-ton bunker buster bombs. What To Know Whether or not the U.S. employs its precision-guided "bunker buster" bombs, the nation's direct involvement in the region "will leave a complicated aftermath that might take it longer than the Iraq War or the Afghanistan War to deal with," reads the editorial by China Daily, an English-language daily newspaper owned by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). "The international community, especially influential major countries, should uphold a fair position and a responsible attitude to create the necessary conditions for promoting a ceasefire and returning to dialogue and negotiation so as to prevent the regional situation from sliding into the abyss and triggering a greater disaster," the editorial published on Friday reads. Chinese President Xi Jinping (2nd-L) attends a meeting with Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva (not pictured) at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on May 13, 2025. Chinese President Xi Jinping (2nd-L) attends a meeting with Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva (not pictured) at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on May 13, 2025. TINGSHU WANG/POOL/AFP via Getty Images Rajan Menon, a senior research scholar at the Saltzman Institute of War and Peace Studies and professor at City College of New York, told Newsweek on Friday that China "has come out squarely" against Israeli attacks and been especially critical of Israel's targeting of Iran's nuclear infrastructure. "Yet it has also offered its services as mediator," Menon said. "In 2023, Beijing brokered a rapprochement between Iran and Saudi Arabia and has now once again presented itself as a peacemaker. "This, in part, reflects its increasing ambitions to project political influence worldwide but, in this instance, also to highlight a constraint between itself and the Trump administration, which it has painted as bent on increasing the likelihood of a wider conflict. "That said, I would be surprised to see this war end with a China-mediated deal." The editorial also questions whether Israel and/or the U.S. would be "held responsible" for war escalation, or more serious consequences emanating from a potential nuclear leak triggered by bombs. "It is partly through projecting his administration as a peacemaker and accusing his predecessor of being the opposite that Trump won the presidential election in the U.S. in November," the editorial continues. "Yet people's hopes that he can fulfill his promise of ending both the Gaza and Ukraine crises have yet to be fulfilled. "With the Israeli leader relentlessly trying to convince the U.S. that its interests overlap with Israel's in the Middle East, the U.S. president should be clearheaded that the U.S.' direct participation in a conflict between Israel and Iran might prove to be the tail wagging the dog." Chinese President Xi Jinping has expressed deep concern for the unfolding situation, saying during a meeting with Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev at the China-Central Asia Summit in Astana, Kazakhstan, that escalation is "not in the common interest of the international community." "We oppose any act that infringes upon the sovereignty, security, and territorial integrity of other countries," Xi said. Also on Thursday, Xi spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin specifically about the Middle East conflict. Xi reportedly laid out a four-point proposal with the following intentions: a ceasefire must be an urgent priority; ensuring civilian safety as a top priority; employing dialogue and negotiation as fundamental solutions; and utilizing the "indispensable peacemaking efforts" of the international community, according to Global Times, a daily Chinese tabloid under the CCP's flagship newspaper, People's Daily. Along with the announcement of a dozen cooperation agreements spanning green mining, trade, connectivity, personnel exchanges, and customs, Xi also called on Central Asian countries to deepen cooperation under China's "Belt and Road" infrastructure initiative. What People Are Saying Eric Olander, editor-in-chief of the China-Global South Project (CGSP): "This conflict—China came out very quickly and did not pretend to try and be a neutral arbiter, did not pretend to be kind of nonpartisan at all. They came out very quickly, backed Iran in this, framed the Israelis as the aggressor, and then also positioned the United States as manipulating all of this, which is par for the course in a lot of these types of incidents." President Donald Trump earlier this week wrote on Truth Social: "We know exactly where the so-called 'Supreme Leader' is hiding. He is an easy target, but is safe there - We are not going to take him out (kill!), at least not for now. But we don't want missiles shot at civilians, or American soldiers. Our patience is wearing thin. Thank you for your attention to this matter!" Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, in a national address, in part: "We warn America of the consequences of engaging in war, because it will suffer severe damage if it decides to do so. War is met with war, bombing with bombing, and strike with strike." What Happens Next Russia has discouraged the U.S. from direct involvement in the Middle East, saying it would spark a wider regional conflict.
San Francisco Chronicle
19-06-2025
- Entertainment
- San Francisco Chronicle
Movie Review: In '28 Years Later,' a zombie pandemic rages on
Most movies are lucky to predict one thing. Danny Boyle's 2002 dystopian thriller '28 Days Later' managed to be on the cutting edge of two trends, albeit rather disparate ones: global pandemic and fleet-footed zombies. Add in Cillian Murphy, who had his breakout role in that film, and '28 Days Later' was unusually prognostic. While many of us were following the beginnings of the Afghanistan War and 'American Idol,' Boyle and screenwriter Alex Garland were probing the the fragile fabric of society, and the potentially very quick way, indeed, horror might come our way. Boyle always maintained that his undead — a far speedier variety of the slow-stepping monsters of George A. Romero's 'The Night of Living Dad' — weren't zombies, at all, but were simply the infected. In that film, and its 2007 sequel '28 Weeks Later' (which Juan Carlos Fresnadillo helmed), the filmmakers have followed the fallout of the so-called rage virus, which emptied London in the first film and brought soon-dashed hopes of the virus' eradication in the second movie. Like the virus, the '28 Days Later' franchise has proven tough to beat back. In the new '28 Years Later,' Boyle and Garland return to their apocalyptic pandemic with the benefit of now having lived through one. But recent history plays a surprisingly minor role in this far-from-typical, willfully shambolic, intensely scattershot part three. The usual trend of franchises is to progressively add gloss and scale. But where other franchises might have gone global, '28 Years Later' has remained in the U.K., now a quarantine region where the infected roam free and survivors — or at least the ones we follow — cluster on an island off the northeast of Britain, connected to mainland by only a stone causeway that dips below the water at high tide. Boyle and cinematographer Anthony Dod Mantle, who innovatively employed digital video in '28 Days Later,' have also turned to iPhones to shoot the majority of the film. Boyle, the 'Slumdog Millionaire,' 'Trainspotting' filmmaker, is an especially frenetic director to begin with, but '28 Years Later' is frequently gratingly disjointed. It's a visual approach that, taken with the story's tonal extremes, makes '28 Years Later' an often bumpy ride. But even when Boyle's film struggles to put the pieces together, there's an admirable resistance to being anything like a cardboard cutout summer movie. The recent event that hovers over '28 Years Later' is less the COVID-19 pandemic than Brexit. With the virus quarantined on Britain, the country has been severed from the European continent. On the secluded Holy Island, 12-year-old Spike (Alfie Williams, a newcomer with some sweetness and pluck) lives with his hunter father, Jamie (Aaron Taylor-Johnson), and bedridden mother, Isla (Jodie Comer). The scene, with makeshift watchtowers and bows and arrows for weapons, is almost medieval. Jamie, too, feels almost like a knight eager to induct his son into the village's ways of survival. On Spike's first trip out off the island, his father — nauseatingly jocular — helps him kill his first infected. Back inside the village walls, Jamie celebrates their near scrapes and exaggerates his son's coolness under pressure. Other developments cause Spike to question the macho world he's being raised in. 'They're all lyin', mum,' he says to his mother. After hearing of a far-off, supposedly deranged doctor whose constant fires mystify the townspeople, Spike resolves to take his mother to him in hopes of healing her unknown illness. Their encounters along the way are colorful. Ralph Fiennes plays the doctor, orange-colored when they encounter him; Edvin Ryding plays a Swedish NATO soldier whose patrol boat crashed offshore. Meanwhile, Comer is almost comically delusional, frequently calling her son 'Daddy.' And the infected? One development here is that, while some remain Olympic-worthy sprinters, other slothful ones nicknamed 'Slow-Lows' crawl around on the ground, rummaging for worms. Buried in here are some tender reflections on mortality and misguided exceptionalism, and even the hint of those ideas make '28 Years Later' a more thoughtful movie than you're likely to find at the multiplex this time of year. This is an unusually soulful coming-of-age movie considering the number of spinal cords that get ripped right of bodies. It's enough to make you admire the stubborn persistence of Boyle in these films, which he's already extending. The already-shot '28 Days Later: The Bone Temple' is coming next near, from director Nia DaCosta, while Boyle hopes '28 Years Later' is the start of trilogy. Infection and rage, it turns out, are just too well suited to our times to stop now. '28 Years Later,' a Sony Pictures release, is rated R by the Motion Picture Association for strong bloody violence, grisly images, graphic nudity, language and brief sexuality. Running time: 115 minutes. Two stars out of four.
