Guy Taylor
Articles by Guy Taylor
Biden prepares to host historic ‘Quad’ summit at White House
President Biden is preparing to host the first-ever in-person summit of leaders from the so-called "Quad" countries -- the U.S., India, Japan and Australia -- in a sign of growing momentum behind what began as a Trump-era push to rally Asia's most powerful democracies into a more formal grouping to confront and contain communist China. Published September 16, 2021
China’s foreign minister blasts Five Eyes intel-sharing pact
A little-reported proposal by U.S. lawmakers to consider expanding the number of foreign nations allowed to participate in a sensitive intelligence-sharing program known as "Five Eyes" is causing a stir among American allies in Asia and pre-emptive pushback from China. Published September 15, 2021
A year later, Trump’s Middle East dealmaking still reverberates
American, Israeli and Arab diplomats are celebrating Wednesday's one-year anniversary of the signing of the Abraham Accords -- the historic normalization agreements between Israel and several Arab powers that many saw as the greatest diplomatic game-changer of the Trump administration. Published September 14, 2021
Pentagon expresses ‘ironclad’ support for Asian allies after North Korean missile tests
The Pentagon has responded to North Korea's test launch over the weekend of long-range cruise missiles by expressing military solidarity with Japan and South Korea, asserting in a statement that America's commitment to defending the two allies is "ironclad." Published September 13, 2021
Secretary of State Antony Blinken first on docket as Afghanistan pullout hearings begin
President Biden's national security and foreign policy advisers will be grilled, as lawmakers open a series of hearings on the failures of the administration's handling of the Afghanistan withdrawal. Published September 12, 2021
Afghanistan soon to become ‘jihadist central,’ former CIA chief predicts
Former Acting and Deputy CIA Director Michael Morell predicted Sunday that Afghanistan is likely to devolve into a new haven of global jihadist terrorism. Published September 12, 2021
Still going after the bad guys: 20 years after 9/11, U.S. tallies wins, losses in war on terror
America's global war on terror, with massive troop deployments, clandestine Special Forces operations and futuristic drone strikes, has killed high-profile jihadi terrorist operatives in countries across the Middle East and succeeded in hunting down much of the core leadership of al Qaeda and the Islamic State group. But 20 years after the campaign began, Islamist radical extremism is putting down fresh roots around the world. Published September 9, 2021
EXCLUSIVE: Pakistan key to terror fight in wake of Taliban takeover, ambassador says
Pakistan's top diplomat in Washington said in an interview his country will remain a key partner in the U.S. counterterrorism campaign in the wake of the fall of the U.S.-backed government in Kabul, sharing a common goal of preventing a Taliban-ruled Afghanistan from becoming once again a pariah state and a safe harbor for terror groups such as al Qaeda and Islamic State. Published September 8, 2021
Wary Europe looks to its own defenses after U.S. Afghan debacle
President Biden arrived in office eight months ago vowing to fix America's image on the world stage and repair relations with allies that he claimed were "belittled, undermined and in some cases abandoned" by former President Trump, Published September 8, 2021
Former envoy: More focus on North Korean human rights
U.S. policy toward North Korea should focus more on human rights, the former top American diplomat working on such matters said Tuesday, even as Pyongyang tries to prevent outside criticism from reaching its people. Published September 7, 2021
U.S. sanctions Iranian agents accused of trying to kidnap U.S. journalist
The Biden administration on Friday leveled sanctions against four people the U.S. says are Iranian intelligence operatives who tried to kidnap an Iranian-American journalist in New York last year. Published September 3, 2021
New Afghan governing council will be controlled exclusively by Taliban: Reports
The Taliban prepared to formally announce the formation of a hardline Islamist government in Kabul on Friday, even as the threat of a slow-burning civil war loomed amid increasingly intense fighting between the militants and a fiercely anti-Taliban group in northern Afghanistan. Published September 3, 2021
Joint military drills spark fears of growing Russian sway in Belarus
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko on Wednesday dismissed Western concerns over his country's joint military exercises with Russia later this month, but the region remains tense amid signs of a growing security alliance between Moscow and an isolated and increasingly Kremlin-aligned Minsk. Published September 1, 2021
Short-term gains: Pakistan a strategic winner with Taliban triumph — for now
The fall of Kabul to the Taliban -- a hard-line Islamist group created largely by Pakistani intelligence in the 1990s -- delivers what could be a major strategic victory for Pakistan, according to national security sources who say Islamabad has spent the past 20 years carefully playing both sides of the war in Afghanistan to protect its own interests. Published August 31, 2021
Shadowy ‘ISIS-K’ group well known for grisly attacks
It boasts only a few thousand fighters in its ranks, but the Islamic State-Khorasan -- or ISIS-K -- has built its reputation on high-profile, horrific terrorist attacks, from a brutal assault on an Afghan maternity ward 15 months ago to Thursday's dual suicide bombings that killed civilians and American troops at Kabul's airport. Published August 26, 2021
New Israeli prime minister wants Biden to see Iran deal as ‘no longer relevant’
Israel remains America's closest Middle East ally, but there are likely to be disagreements when new Prime Minister Naftali Bennett makes his first visit to the White House on Thursday. Published August 25, 2021
Russia begins constructing nuclear submarines amid increasing friction with West
Russia has begun building new nuclear submarines capable of carrying intercontinental ballistic missiles as part of a wide-reaching military modernization effort amid rising tensions with the United States and other Western powers. Published August 23, 2021
Special envoy urges North Korea to consider restarting nuclear talks
The Biden administration's top diplomat for North Korea policy on Monday called for Pyongyang to consider restarting nuclear talks with the U.S. as he said America "does not have hostile intent" toward the country. Published August 23, 2021
Evacuation proceeds, but fears of Taliban reprisal soar
Even as the U.S. and its allies continued the scramble to evacuate citizens and their Afghan associates from Kabul, a confidential United Nations assessment is warning that the Taliban are intensifying efforts to hunt down Afghans who worked with American and NATO forces over the past two decades and that the militants have threatened to kill or arrest their family members if the people being sought cannot be found. Published August 19, 2021
Taliban intensifying search for Afghans who helped U.S. and NATO forces, confidential document warns
A confidential United Nations document warns the Taliban is intensifying efforts to hunt down Afghans who worked with American and NATO forces over the past two decades, and that the militants have threatened to kill or arrest their family members if the people being sought cannot be found. Published August 19, 2021
