US vice president makes unannounced Afghanistan visit 12/22/2017 8:52:57 AM US Vice President Mike Pence made an unannounced pre-Christmas visit to Afghanistan KABUL (AFP), 21 December 2017 -- Vice President Mike Pence arrived on an unannounced pre-Christmas visit to Afghanistan Thursday, becoming the most senior Trump administration official to visit troops fighting a 17-year-old conflict that has largely receded from US public view. Flying secretly through the day and night on a standard unmarked US Air Force C-17, Pence corkscrewed into Bagram Airforce Base, where he thanked some of the roughly 15,000 US personnel still hoping to turn the tide of America's longest-ever war. The superpower's vexed campaign against Al Qaeda and the Taliban -- born from the rubble of the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington, receives ever-less public attention in the United States these days. Pence's visit is designed to shift the spotlight back on person...

US pledges $60 million to Sahel counter-terrorism force 10/30/2017 5:20:21 PM   facebook Google+ ► Print This file photo taken on October 4, 2017, shows US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson making a statement to the press at the State Department in Washington, DC. The United States will pledge $60 million to support the new G5 Sahel regional counter-terrorism force, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said Monday, ahead of UN talks on the operation. France 24, 30 October 2017  - 'This is a fight we must win, and these funds will play a key role in achieving that mission,' he said, describing G5 members Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania and Niger as 'regional partners.' Washington has previously expressed support for the force, and has troops and drone operators in the region supporting operations against Islamist militants, but opposes  United Nations  involvement. The UN Security Council was due to meet later Monday to ...