Headline News 02/08/2017

Headlines

• Scaramucci Sacked

• $714 Billion on Afghanistan: A US Policy Failure

• Al Aqsa Violence Exposes Muslim Rulers

Details

Scaramucci Sacked

US President Donald Trump has sacked his own White House Communications Director Anthony Scaramucci after fewer than 10 days in his post. Mr Trump's Chief of Staff Reince Priebus and Spokesman Sean Spicer both left their posts with his appointment. The former Wall Street financier had been heavily criticised after asking a reporter to give a tirade full of profanity against his very own colleague. This comes after a long list of members in government who have been removed from their post by the infamous president, such as James Comey, Michael Flynn, Sally Yates, Preet Bharara and Paul Manafort. Their life expectancy, it would seem, is short and futile; indicative of the health of the United States’ government at the present moment. Donald Trump has still failed to gain total control over those representing him, and he himself has done a job of a standard similar to those he has fired.

$714 Billion on Afghanistan: A US Policy Failure

A new quarterly report published by the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) shows the US has failed to account for hundreds of millions of dollars it spent on propping up the Afghan government, while the value of opium production in the country has doubled in a year. The US has spent over $714bn in the past 15 years supporting Afghanistan's governments, bolstering its armed forces and building infrastructure in the country, but due to a rampant culture of corruption and lack of US monitoring on the ground, the results are less than satisfactory. According to SIGAR, despite the massive US spending, the balance between the US-backed Afghan government and armed groups fighting against it remained at standstill since 2016. Sixty percent of the total districts in the country are under government control and the remaining 40 percent remained under Taliban or other control by other armed groups. The number of bombings and clashes between fighters and government forces also increased during the reporting period. "From March 1 through May 31, 2017, the UN recorded 6,252 security incidents, a 21 percent increase from last quarter," stated the report. Mattis is expected to deliver the Trump administration's new strategy for Afghanistan, Pakistan and India in the coming days. The new US strategy is expected, according to some reports, to send more US troops to Afghanistan as advisors and trainers to its armed forces. But the result of this all to familiar strategy can be seen in Syria were a similar policy was deployed, an expensive strategy that bore no fruits. Afghanistan, 16 years on from US invasion, one which Obama boldly declared as a victory following the "complete" withdrawal of US troops is in the midst of civil war with US backed Afghan government battling with the Taliban an enemy that the US could not defeat in almost 15 years of Combat and an enemy that is continuing to undermine US policy within the region.

Al Aqsa Violence Exposes Muslim Rulers

The recent closure of Al Aqsa compound due to "security issue" has been a huge issue for Muslims worldwide. With this only being one of the few times the compound has been closed, Muslims in Palestine produced a defiant stance against the Zionist entity, refusing to pray in the mosque whilst security protocols were enforced upon them. Muslim rulers however, were largely passive in their approach as any short term success in managing the situation came from the people. For example, President Erdogan of Turkey, who has the capability to apply military pressure on Turkey instead urged the people of Palestine to do so. Perhaps he had forgotten that these people have been stripped of any weaponry and have lived under oppression for the past 70 years. Other countries were largely passive which in reality was due to their weakness and lack of political will in dealing with the situation.