The former head of UK armed forces tells Kate Whitehead about his rise through the ranks and why Colin Firth wanted to play him in a film about fighting rebels in Sierra Leone.

UK judges delayed decision on Assange’s last-ditch extradition appeal bid amid concerns he could face death penalty in US. Russia’s foreign ministry said UK’s judicial system was a ‘mockery’.

Julian Assange has been indicted on 17 espionage charges and one charge of computer misuse over his website’s publication of classified US documents 15 years ago.

Monday’s operation targeted the Hafiz Gul Bahadur militant faction, which claimed responsibility for the attack on a military outpost that left seven soldiers dead.

An angry, emotional US President Joe Biden defended his mental competence in a rare evening address to respond to biting comments in a report on his mishandling of classified documents.

Observers said the Taliban’s hopes that the completed project will become a link to China’s vast network are unlikely to be shared by Beijing.

The development is the latest blow to Afghan women and girls, who are already reeling from bans on education, employment and access to public spaces.

India plans to add some 200 employees to its “short-staffed” diplomatic corps over the next five years in a mark of its expanding global ambitions.

Pakistan says deportations protect its ‘welfare and security’, amid growing anti-Afghan sentiment from economic woes and cross-border militancy.

The UK ordered an inquiry last year after the BBC reported that soldiers from the elite Special Air Service (SAS) had killed 54 people in suspicious circumstances during the war in Afghanistan from 2010 to 2013.

Two-thirds of those with severe injuries following the latest devastating earthquakes in Afghanistan are children and women, WHO’s Dr Alaa AbouZeid said.

Most foreign nations – including India – do not officially recognise Afghanistan’s Taliban government, which seized power following the collapse of the Western-backed government more than two years ago.

US President Joe Biden called for Americans to unite despite bitter political differences as the United States marked the 22nd anniversary of al-Qaeda’s September 11 attacks.

A report from the United Nations’ Office on Drugs and Crimes said the country is also a major opium producer and heroin source, even though the Taliban declared a war on narcotics in August 2021.

Taliban leader Hibatullah Akhundzada barred women from universities last December. A Higher Education Ministry adviser said universities were ready to readmit female students as soon as Akhundzada gives the order for the ban to be lifted.

Moral injury could stem from missions where members of the armed forces feel a ‘personal dilemma’ due to the commands they have been given, says Professor Walter Busuttil.

Roberts-Smith, holder of the Victoria Cross and other top military honours, was seen as a national hero for his actions during six tours of Afghanistan from 2006 to 2012 and military citations.

It is thought to be the first assault of its kind since the Taliban swept to power in 2021 and began to crack down on the rights of Afghan women and girls.

Amir Khan Mutaqi is barred by sanctions from leaving Afghanistan but was granted an exemption for a trip to Islamabad to meet his neighbouring counterpart.

‘If there is no justice, and there is oppression, selfishness, murders and revenge, as well as killings without courts, this country will be ruined,’ Islamic scholar, Hibatullah Akhundzada, said.

The US president’s choices for ending America’s longest war were ‘severely constrained’ by his predecessor’s decisions, the White House says.

Media reports named the men as paramedic Kevin Cornwell, YouTube star Miles Routledge and an unnamed manager of a hotel for aid workers. The UK’s foreign ministry said it was ‘working hard to secure consular contact’ with the men.

The US Congress is moving toward doing something it hasn’t done since the Vietnam war – repealing authorisations for the president’s use of military force.