President Joe Biden on Wednesday formally announced his decision to withdraw American troops from Afghanistan before September 11, the 20th anniversary of the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon that led the US into its longest war.

“We cannot continue the cycle of extending or expanding our military presence in Afghanistan hoping to create the ideal conditions for our withdrawal, expecting a different result,” Biden said.

“I am now the fourth American president to preside over an American troop presence in Afghanistan. Two Republicans. Two Democrats,” he added. “I will not pass this responsibility to a fifth.”

In a sign he views his remarks as a historic bookend to the prolonged conflict, he delivered them from precisely the same spot in the White House Treaty Room that President George W. Bush announced the start of the war on October 7, 2001.

Afterward he’ll visit the section of Arlington National Cemetery where many of America’s war dead from Afghanistan are buried.

Biden will say that American diplomatic and humanitarian efforts will continue in Afghanistan and would support peace efforts between the Afghan government and the Taliban. But he’ll be unequivocal that two decades after it began, the Afghanistan war is ending.

“It is time to end America’s longest war. It is time for American troops to come home,” he said.

Biden said the withdrawal will begin on May 1, in line with an agreement President Donald Trump’s administration made with the Taliban. He said the complete withdrawal will be done by September 11.

The deadline Biden has set is absolute, with no potential for extension based on worsening conditions on the ground. Officials said after two decades of war, it was clear to the President that throwing more time and money at Afghanistan’s problems wasn’t going to work.

“This is not conditions-based,” a senior administration official heavily involved in the deliberations said on Tuesday. “The President has judged that a conditions-based approach, which has been the approach of the past two decades, is a recipe for staying in Afghanistan forever.”

Some US troops will remain to protect American diplomats, though officials declined to provide a precise number.

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani said Wednesday he spoke to Biden and that he “respects the US decision.”

“Afghanistan’s proud security and defense forces are fully capable of defending its people and country, which they have been doing all along, and for which the Afghan nation will forever remain grateful,” Ghani said on Twitter.

CNN

Protesters, cops clash in Minnesota after fatal police shooting
Daunte Wright protesters march across Manhattan Bridge in NYC

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The Minnesota police officer who fatally shot a black man during a Sunday traffic stop has been identified as 26-year veteran Kimberly Potter.

The 48-year-old officer’s identity was released Monday night by the Minnesota Department of Public Safety Bureau of Criminal Apprehension.

Potter acquired her Minnesota police officer’s license in 1995 and the age of 22 and began working for the Brooklyn Center Police Department shortly after, according to state records reviewed by the Star Tribune, who first named the officer.

During her career, Potter has served on the department’s negotiation team, the newspaper reported.

Potter has been placed on administrative leave following the fatal shooting of 20-year-old Daunte Wright.

Daunte Wright.

Biden on Daunte Wright protesters: ‘Absolutely no justification’ for looting
Brooklyn Center Police Chief Time Gannon has said the officer mistook her gun for a Taser.

Police bodycam footage released Monday shows the officer yelling “Taser! Taser!” as others struggled with Wright in his car.

The video shows Wright stepping out of his car, then leaping back behind the wheel and driving off.

“Holy s–t,” the officer is heard saying on the video. “I just shot him!”

Potter is married to a former police officer. She has two adult sons, according to the Tribune.

In August 2019, she was one the first responding officers to the police shooting of Kobe Dimock-Heisler, the report said.

Two officers involved in the shooting were told by Potter to “to exit the residence, get into separate squad cars, turn off their body worn cameras, and to not talk to each other,” according to a Hennepin County Attorney’s Office investigative report.

The Minnesota police officer who fatally shot Daunte Wright has reportedly been identified as 25-year veteran Kimberly Potter.

Nypost.com

Nigerian man disguises as a woman to escape after allegedly killing another foreigner in Libya

A Nigerian national has been arrested in Msallata town, northwestern part of Libya over the alleged murder of another foreigner.

According to The Libya Observer, the Nigerian allegedly killed the foreigner, stole his money and tried to escape the town disguised as a woman.
However, he was arrested by security forces in Msallata.

“Security forces in Msallata town have arrested a foreigner from #Nigeria for killing another foreigner before stealing all his money. The killer disguised himself as a woman in an attempt to escape from the town” the report says.