Afghanistan

Senior U.S. and Turkish diplomats discussed the ongoing "strength of the U.S.-Turkey relationship and opportunities to deepen cooperation," the State Department said on Sept. 17. 

Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman and Turkish Deputy Foreign Minister Sedat Önal met as part of this year's U.S.-Turkey High-Level Political Dialogue.

The Pentagon retreated from its defense of a drone strike that killed multiple civilians in Afghanistan last month, announcing on Sept. 17 that a review revealed that only civilians were killed in the attack, not an Islamic State extremist as first believed.

"The strike was a tragic mistake," Marine Gen. Frank McKenzie, head of U.S. Central Command, told a Pentagon news conference.

Top Turkish diplomat Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu met on Sept. 17 with U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres as the international body prepares to host leaders from across the world next week.

Çavuşoğlu said his meeting with the U.N. chief focused on a number of regional and international issues, including Cyprus, Afghanistan, Libya, Syria, and climate change.

 Russia needs to work with the Taliban government in Afghanistan, President Vladimir Putin said on Friday at a meeting of a China- and Russia-led security bloc, the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO).

The EUMed 9 Summit will be held on Friday in Athens, at the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Culture Centre (SNFCC).

President Joe Biden's decision to form a strategic Indo-Pacific alliance with Australia and Britain to counter China is angering France and the European Union. They're feeling left out and seeing it as a return to the Trump era.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen will attend today's Med9 summit in Athens, where the leaders will focus their talks on climate change and environmental protection in the aftermath of Greece's disastrous wildfires that destroyed about 130,000 hectares in August during a heat wave.

"The Biden Administration and the Democrats are failing us both domestically and internationally. It's time to put a fighter in Congress and Robert Kovic is the patriot we need", Grenell said in explaining his decision.

Viola player Bahar was practising at her music college in the Afghan capital, when news broke that the Taliban had reached the city.

Asked whether the conflict with Serbia can be improved only via the economy, not by addressing the past, Kosnett said: "You can never achieve true reconciliation by ignoring the past" - and the US position was not that only the economy mattered.