Decision made for 'significant' troop withdrawal from Afghanistan: US official
Washington, Dec 21 : President Donald Trump has decided to pull a significant number of troops from Afghanistan, a US official has told AFP, a day after he announced a withdrawal from Syria.
"That decision has been made. There will be a significant withdrawal," the official told AFP on Thursday on condition of anonymity.
Currently, the United States has about 14,000 troops in Afghanistan working either with a NATO mission to support Afghan forces or in separate counter-terrorism operations.
Trump made his decision Tuesday, the same time he told the Pentagon he wanted to pull all US forces out of Syria. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis quit earlier Thursday, saying his views were no longer reconcilable with Trump's.
The president's twin foreign policy decisions on Syria and Afghanistan are nothing less than epic, and could begin to unspool a series of cascading and unpredictable events across the Middle East and in Afghanistan.
Mattis and other top military advisors last year persuaded Trump to commit thousands of new troops to Afghanistan, where the Taliban were slaughtering local forces in the thousands and making major gains. Trump at the time said his instinct was to get out of Afghanistan.
The Wall Street Journal reported that more than 7,000 troops would be returning from Afghanistan. The pull out comes as the US pushes for a peace deal with the Taliban.
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SC transfers RG Kar Medical College trainee doctor rape-murder case to Calcutta HC
New Delhi (PTI): The Supreme Court on Wednesday transferred the RG Kar Medical College trainee doctor rape and murder case to the Calcutta High Court.
The top court had taken suo motu cognisance of the case in 2024.
A bench of justices MM Sundresh and Satish Chandra Sharma directed that the case papers be sent to the high court.
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The top court also directed that a copy of the status report be given to the parents of the victim.
The body of the postgraduate trainee doctor was found in the hospital's seminar room on August 9 last year. The Kolkata Police arrested Sanjay Roy, a civic volunteer, the next day.
On January 20, a Kolkata trial court awarded convict Roy "life term imprisonment till death" in the case. The crime triggered nationwide outrage and prolonged protests in West Bengal.
The apex court, even after the primary conviction, is monitoring multiple ancillary issues, including regularising the unauthorised absence of doctors.
While taking suo motu notice of the case, the bench constituted a National Task Force (NTF) on August 20 last year to formulate a protocol to ensure the safety and security of medical professionals in the wake of the crime.
