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Human Rights Watch (HRW) says CIA-backed Afghan paramilitary forces have "committed summary executions and other grave abuses without accountability" -- including extrajudicial killings, forced disappearances, and attacks on health-care facilities.

One of the Islamic State terror group's media divisions is promising supporters that a major announcement is on the way — the first of its kind since the death of its leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, in a U.S. raid on Sunday.

"The Navy and the Marine Corps have been assessed as 'marginal' in their ability to meet the challenges from rival powers in Beijing and Moscow, as well as regional threats coming from Tehran and Pyongyang, according to annual report on U.S. military strength from The Heritage Foundation."

"Waves of sustained protests have shaken entrenched Arab rulers from Algeria to Iraq, injecting a new sense of euphoria among activists across the region as more leaders succumb to demands for change."

"A U.S. counterterrorism official said Wednesday he expects a new Islamic State leader to emerge after the death of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi and warned that the extremist group’s planning of major attacks probably will go on as before."

"Frayed relations between NATO allies Turkey and the U.S. were on full display Wednesday as Turkey condemned two resolutions passed by the U.S. House, one which would bar most U.S. weapons sales to Turkey."

"Iraqis took to the streets Wednesday in another day of protests over high unemployment, a lack of public services and alleged corruption. Some observers believe the ongoing demonstrations, which have left at least 250 people dead in recent weeks, could pave the way for real and badly-needed economic reforms in the oil-rich nation of nearly 40 million people."

"If America continues to treat unconventional warfare as a cheap way to weaken adversaries with a limited commitment, then the outcome will be sordid alliances with ever more unsavory partners producing more threats than they resolve."

"Congress is finalizing the 2020 National Defense Authorization Act and one of the key issues is the future of the Air Force’s meager light-attack aircraft program. It’s a program that has struggled to gain traction with Air Force leadership since the first iteration appeared in 2009 despite major engagements in irregular warfare in austere locales all over the world."

"A U.S. peace envoy remained in Pakistan on Tuesday as part of efforts to find a negotiated end to Afghanistan’s 18 -year war, even though President Donald Trump has not expressed any interest in resuming talks with the Taliban."

"The U.S. House of Representatives passed bipartisan legislation on Tuesday sanctioning Turkey in a move aimed at reasserting congressional oversight of U.S. President Donald Trump's foreign policy."

"As the last of the Middle Eastern summer fades away, is the region slipping into a new Arab spring? In Iraq, demonstrators are being shot dead in the streets. In Lebanon, protesters have paralysed the country and seem set to bring down the government of Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri. In recent weeks the Egyptian security forces crushed attempts to protest against the police state of President Abdul Fattah al-Sisi."

"A senior official in Afghanistan announced Tuesday that under a “new” peace plan, the government will not seek any more unconditional negotiations with the Taliban and will require that a cease-fire last at least one month before initiating any peace process with the insurgent group."

"The last remaining Kurdish fighters exited Syria’s northern border area as a cease-fire period ended on Tuesday, Moscow said, clearing the way for Russia and Turkey to secure the area."

"Tensions are rising between Israel and Iran and senior Israeli defense officials are warning of increased threats posed by the Islamic Republic. Israel needs to be prepare for war, but one question has to be asked: Does the IDF have what it needs to win?"

"The U.S. military raid resulting in the death of Islamic State founder Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi also yielded an array of valuable intelligence concerning the militant group and its top leaders, defense officials said, providing details that likely will lead to future operations."

"The Donald Trump administration touted the US raid that took the life of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi as 'flawless' in execution, as elite Delta Force operators descending from Chinook helicopters trapped the Islamic State leader in his northwest Syria compound."

Senior Islamic State leaders in Syria are coming under fire, part of what appears to be an urgent campaign to gut the terror group's brain trust. The U.S.-allied Syrian Democratic Forces — helping to take out IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi and IS spokesman Abu Hassan al-Muhajir — said Monday it had carried out a series of raids aimed at getting the terror group's key players dead or alive.

"The American commando raid that bagged Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was launched from the sprawling al-Asad airbase in Anbar province Iraq, according to a source on the ground with direct knowledge of the operation."

"The helicopters flew low and fast into the night, ferrying U.S. special forces to a compound where Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was hiding in Syria. Half a world away, President Donald Trump watched the raid in real time via a video link as troops blasted into the hideout and sent the most-wanted militant running the last steps of his life."

The United States is promising there will be no let-up in its pursuit of the Islamic State terror group despite the death of self-declared caliph Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, in what is being described as a “daring and dangerous” nighttime raid in northern Syria.

"Representatives of Russia, China, the United States and Pakistan have agreed that negotiation is the only road to peace in Afghanistan, including an early resumption of direct U.S. talks with the Taliban."

"The death of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi deprives Islamic State of its ideological head at a time when it is reeling from the loss of its self-proclaimed caliphate and trying to keep its extremist ideas alive."

Defense Secretary Mark Esper and Vice President Mike Pence said late-breaking intelligence gave special forces the opening they needed to carry out the attack on Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi after President Trump approved the raid earlier this past week.

"The CIA has targeted Islamic State militant group (ISIS) spokesperson Abu al-Hassan al-Muhajir in a new operation that comes one day after the organization's leader was killed in a Joint Special Operations Command raid, Newsweek has learned."