NATO will send 700 more troops to northern Kosovo to help quell violent protests after clashes with ethnic Serbs there left 30 international soldiers wounded, the alliance announced Tuesday. The latest violence in the region has stirred fear of a renewal of the 1998-99 conflict in Kosovo that claimed more than 10,000 lives, left more than 1 million people homeless and resulted in a NATO peacekeeping mission that has lasted nearly a quarter of a century. The clashes grew out of a confrontation that unfolded last week after ethnic Albanian officials elected in votes overwhelmingly boycotted by Serbs entered municipal buildings to take office. When Serbs tried to block them, Kosovo police fired tear gas to disperse the crowd. Also Read: 25 NATO-led peacekeepers injured in Kosovo in clashes with Serbs outside municipal building More violence followed on Monday when Serbs clashed with police and NATO peacekeepers. NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said an additional reserve battalion would be put on high readiness in case additional troops are needed. "These are prudent steps," said Stoltenberg, who made the announcement in Oslo after talks with the Norwegian prime minister. The NATO-led peacekeeping mission in the region is known as KFOR and currently consists of almost 3,800 troops. Also Tuesday, KFOR's multinational peacekeepers used metal fences and barbed-wire barriers to reinforce positions in a northern town that has become a hot spot. The troops sealed off the municipal building in Zvecan, where unrest on Monday sent tensions soaring. A former province of Serbia, Kosovo's 2008 declaration of independence is not recognized by Belgrade. Ethnic Albanians make up most of the population, but Kosovo has a restive Serb minority in the north of the country bordering Serbia. Stoltenberg condemned the violence and warned that NATO troops would "take all necessary actions to maintain a safe and secure environment for all citizens in Kosovo." He urged both sides to refrain from "further irresponsible behavior" and to return to EU-backed talks on improving relations. The United States and most European Union nations have recognized Kosovo's independence from Serbia while Russia and China have sided with Belgrade. China on Tuesday expressed its support for Serbia's efforts to "safeguard its sovereignty and territorial integrity," and Moscow has repeatedly criticized Western policies in the dispute. In response to the confrontation last week, Serbia put the country's military on the highest state of alert and sent more troops to the border with Kosovo. The Serbs protested again Monday, insisting that both ethnic Albanian mayors and Kosovo police must leave northern Kosovo. The confrontations worsened when Serbs attempted to enter the municipal offices in Zvecan, 45 kilometers (28 miles) north of the capital, Pristina. They clashed first with Kosovo police and then with the international peacekeepers. In a video message issued Tuesday evening, Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti said the mayors elected on April 23 "are the only ones who have the legitimacy to be at the municipal buildings and to the citizens' service." Instigators of the violence have been identified, according to the prime minister, who named some Serb businessmen who oblige their employees to protest. "In Kosovo, power is won through elections, not with violence and crime," he said. The United States and the EU recently stepped up their efforts to negotiate an agreement between Serbia and Kosovo, fearing instability as Russia's war rages in Ukraine. The EU has made it clear to both Serbia and Kosovo that they must normalize relations if they're to make any progress toward joining the bloc. "We have too much violence in Europe already today. We cannot afford another conflict," the EU's foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, told reporters Tuesday in Brussels. As a first step to easing tensions, he said, Kosovo police should suspend the operation focusing on municipal buildings in the north, and violent protesters should "stand down." In response to the recent unrest, NATO has decided to increase its KFOR troops with the deployment of "operational reserve forces" for the Western Balkans, a statement said, without specifying a number. Another unit will be on standby "to be ready to reinforce KFOR if necessary." A statement issued Tuesday by KFOR said 30 soldiers — 11 Italians and 19 Hungarians — were hurt, including fractures and burns from improvised explosive incendiary devices. Three Hungarian soldiers were "wounded by the use of firearms," but their injuries were not life-threatening, the statement added. Serb officials said 52 people were injured, including three seriously. Four protesters were detained, according to Kosovo police. "Both parties need to take full responsibility for what happened and prevent any further escalation, rather than hide behind false narratives," KFOR commander Maj. Gen. Angelo Michele Ristuccia said. Belgrade and Pristina have blamed each other for the escalation. Meanwhile, ambassadors from the so-called Quint countries — France, Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom and the U.S. — met Monday with Kurti in Pristina and on Tuesday with Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic in Belgrade. Vucic later also met with the ambassadors in Serbia of Russia and China. In a statement from his office, Vucic expressed "immense dissatisfaction and strong concern" over what he described as international "tolerance" of Kurti's actions that fueled violence against Serbs. Urgent measures to guarantee the security of the Serbs in Kosovo are a precondition for any future talks, Vucic insisted. Kurti has thanked KFOR troops for "valiant action to preserve peace in the face of violent extremism." Russia and China both have sharply criticized Western backing for Kosovo's independence. Russian President Vladimir Putin often has cited the "precedent" of NATO bombardment of Serbia in 1999 to justify his unlawful annexation of parts of Ukraine. The conflict in Kosovo erupted in 1998 when separatist ethnic Albanians rebelled against Serbia's rule, and Serbia responded with a brutal crackdown. About 13,000 people, mostly ethnic Albanians, died. NATO's military intervention in 1999 eventually forced Serbia to pull out of the territory and paved the way for the establishment of the KFOR peacekeeping mission.

Troops raided a militant hideout in a former Pakistani Taliban stronghold near the border with Afghanistan on Friday, triggering a shootout that killed two insurgents, the military said. Pakistani Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif summoned the country's opposition leader to forge a response to the recent surge in violence, including a mosque bombing that killed 101 people. Troops on Friday recovered a cache of weapons in a militant hideout in North Waziristan, a district of the northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, the military said in a statement. The militants killed during the raid had been involved in past attacks on security forces, it added. The statement provided no further details, and the identity of the slain militants was not immediately known. Troops routinely carry out such raids to trace and arrest the Pakistani Taliban, who are also known as the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan. The Pakistani Taliban are a separate group but are allies of the Afghan Taliban, who seized power in Afghanistan a year ago as U.S. and NATO troops were in the final stages of their pullout. The Taliban takeover in Afghanistan has emboldened the Pakistani Taliban, who have stepped up attacks since November when they ended the ceasefire with the government. The latest development comes days after a suicide bomber attacked a mosque on the compound of police in the northwestern city of Peshawar, killing 101 people. Authorities say the bomber wore a police uniform and the guards at the site assumed he was a police officer — their colleague — and did not search him. Read more: -Peshawar, the city of flowers, becomes epicenter of violence On Friday, Sharif said in a televised address that he had invited his predecessor and now opposition leader, Imran Khan, and other officials to a conference Tuesday to discuss next steps. There was no immediate response from Khan, who was ousted in a no-conference vote in Parliament in April last year. Sharif said Monday's attack inside the mosque was carried out by a suicide bomber, and there was no truth in allegations and claims that it was a drone attack. Pakistan blames the Pakistani Taliban, who maintain sanctuaries in Afghanistan, for orchestrating the bombing that wounded 225 wounded. Police say most of the casualties were not caused by the detonation of the bomber’s explosives but by the collapse of the roof of the 50-year-old Peshawar mosque. The force of the blast caused the roof, which was supported by outside walls but no pillars, to cave in.

Military bases that housed tens of thousands of Afghan refugees in the U.S. incurred almost $260 million in damages that in some cases rendered buildings unusable for troops until significant repairs to walls and plumbing are made, the Pentagon’s inspector general found. Over the last two weeks of August 2021, the U.S. Air Force managed the largest humanitarian evacuation in its history, airlifting 120,000 people from Afghanistan in just 17 days. The bulk of those passengers were Afghans fleeing Taliban rule, and U.S. aircraft delivered tens of thousands of those Afghans initially to bases in Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Spain, Italy, Bahrain and Germany. After processing, many of the refugees were flown to eight military bases in the U.S., where many were housed for months as they awaited visa processing and resettlement; the last Afghan refugee left military housing in February. The refugees were housed at Fort Bliss, Texas; Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, New Jersey; Fort McCoy, Wisconsin.; Camp Atterbury, Indiana; Fort Pickett, Fort Lee, and Marine Corps Base Quantico, Virginia; and Holloman Air Force Base, New Mexico. The sheer volume of people in the temporary housing left those barracks and buildings with significant wear and tear, the inspector general found. Read more: Afghan survivors of US drone strike: Sorry ‘is not enough’ In one case, training for the Indiana National Guard was relocated from Camp Atterbury to Fort Campbell, Kentucky, due to damages caused during “Operation Allies Welcome.” The facilities need to be restored “to a condition that enables them to conduct trainings, prepare for future events, and return to normal base operations,” the IG found. For example, of the $260 million in approved restoration costs, the Defense Department approved about $16 million for Camp Atterbury “to replace mattresses and furniture and repair floors, doors, windows, plumbing, fire alarm systems, and landscaping.” But the inspector general questioned whether all the repair work requested by the eight bases was connected to the refugees’ stay. For example, Fort McCoy, which housed 12,706 refugees, was approved for $145.6 million to repair buildings and plumbing, an amount that was more than three times the combined restoration needs of Fort Bliss and Fort Pickett, which had housed similar numbers of refugees. Read more: US says drone kills IS bombers targeting Kabul airport

Russia’s Defense Ministry announced Saturday that it was pulling back troops from two areas in Ukraine’s eastern Kharkiv region where a Ukrainian counteroffensive has made significant advances in the past week. The news came after days of apparent advances by Ukraine south of Kharkiv, the country’s second-largest city, in what could become the biggest battlefield success for Ukrainian forces since they thwarted a Russian attempt to seize the capital, Kyiv, at the start of the nearly seven-month war. “The Russian army in these days is demonstrating the best that it can do — showing its back," Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a video released by his office Saturday night. “And, of course, it's a good decision for them to run.” Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said troops would be regrouped from the Balakliya and Izyum areas to the eastern Donetsk region. Izyum was a major base for Russian forces in the Kharkiv region, and earlier this week social media videos showed residents of Balakliya joyfully cheering as Ukrainian troops moved in. Konashenkov said the Russian move was being made “in order to achieve the stated goals of the special military operation to liberate Donbas,’” an eastern area home to two separatist regions that Russia has declared sovereign. The claim of a withdrawal to concentrate on Donetsk is similar to the justification Russia gave for pulling back its forces from the Kyiv region earlier this year when they failed to take the capital. Read:Rebuilding Ukraine may cost $349bn Igor Girkin, a Russian who was an early leader of a Moscow-backed separatist uprising in Donetsk in 2014, sneered at the portrayal of the pullback being strategic. On the messaging app Telegram, he acidly called it “the brilliant (clearly within the framework of the plan and even ahead of schedule) operation to transfer the cities of Izyum, Balakliya and Kupiansk to respected Ukrainian partners.” Earlier Saturday, Ukrainian officials claimed major gains in the Kharkiv region, saying their troops had cut off vital supplies to Izyum. Foreign Ministry spokesman Oleh Nikolenko also suggested troops had retaken Kupiansk, a town along the main supply route to Izyum, long a focus on the Russian front line and the site of heavy artillery and other fighting. Nikolenko tweeted a photo showing soldiers in front of what he said was a government building in Kupiansk, 73 kilometers (45 miles) north of Izyum. The Ukrainian Security Service posted a message hours later saying troops were in Kupiansk, further suggesting it had been seized. The military did not immediately confirm entering the town, a railway hub that Russia seized in February. Videos on social media appeared to show Ukrainian forces on the outskirts of Izyum at a roadside checkpoint. A large statue with the city’s name could be seen in the images. Ukrainian forces did not acknowledge holding the city. Britain's Defense Ministry said Saturday that it believed Ukrainian troops had advanced as much as 50 kilometers (30 miles) south of Kharkiv, and described Russian forces around Izyum as “increasingly isolated.” “Russian forces were likely taken by surprise. The sector was only lightly held and Ukrainian units have captured or surrounded several towns,” the British military said, adding that the loss of Kupiansk would greatly affect Russian supply lines. The Institute for the Study of War, a Washington-based think tank, likewise referenced sweeping Ukrainian gains, estimating that Kyiv has seized around 2,500 square kilometers (965 square miles) in its eastern breakthrough. The institute said it appeared that “disorganized Russian forces (were) caught in the rapid Ukrainian advance,” and cited social media images of apparent Russian prisoners seized around Izyum and surrounding towns. The same report said Ukrainian forces “may collapse Russian positions around Izyum if they sever Russian ground lines of communication” north and south of the town. Vladislav Sokolov, head of the Russian-appointed local administration, said on social media that authorities in Izyum had started evacuating residents to Russia. Read:Ukraine says 4 civilians killed, 7 wounded by Russian shells The fighting in eastern Ukraine comes amid an ongoing offensive around Kherson in the south. Analysts suggest Russia may have taken soldiers from the east to reinforce the latter area, offering the Ukrainians the opportunity to strike a weakened front line. Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov told the television channel Ukraina that the Russians had no food or fuel for their troops in the area as Kyiv had cut off their supply lines. “It will be like an avalanche,” he said, predicting a Russian fallback. “One line of defense will shake, and it will fall.” The Ukrainian military was more circumspect, claiming to have taken “more than 1,000 square kilometers” (386 square miles) from pro-Kremlin forces this week. It said that “in some areas, units of the Defense Forces have penetrated the enemy’s defenses to a depth of 50 kilometers,” matching the British assessment, but did not disclose geographical details. Officials in Kyiv have for weeks been tight-lipped about plans for a counteroffensive, urging residents to refrain from sharing information on social media. However, Zelenskyy said Friday that troops had reclaimed more than 30 settlements in the Kharkiv region since the start of the counteroffensive. Elsewhere, Ukrainian emergency services reported that a 62-year-old woman was killed in a Russian missile strike in the Kharkiv region when her home was flattened overnight. The Ukrainian governor of Kharkiv, Oleh Syniehubov, accused Moscow of pummeling retaken settlements. He said via Telegram that five civilians were hospitalized in the Izyum district, while nine others suffered injuries elsewhere in the region. In the embattled Donbas, the Ukrainian governor said civilians were killed and wounded overnight by Russian shelling near the city of Bakhmut, a key target of the stalled Russian offensive. Pavlo Kyrylenko said on Telegram that two people died and two were injured in Bakhmut and the neighboring village of Yahidne. In the Russian-held city of Enerhodar, home to Europe's largest nuclear power plant, electricity and water were restored after a four-day outage due to an explosion, the city's Ukrainian mayor, Dmytro Orlov, said. Enerhodar and its Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant have come under repeated shelling in recent weeks, which Russia and Ukraine accused each other of committing. The shelling has raised fears of a radiation leak at the plant, which has been cut off from outside power sources; the facility has been forced to rely on power from its only working reactor for systems cooling and other safety measures. Orlov said workers from the plant assisted in restoring Enerhodar's power, but it was not clear if the electricity was coming from the plant or from a nearby thermal generating station. Read:Ukraine's nuclear plant partly goes offline amid fighting Also Saturday, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock paid an unannounced visit to Kyiv and said Europe would not tire of helping Ukraine, despite Russian President Vladimir Putin’s efforts to raise the pressure by withholding energy supplies. Baerbock said Germany will assist Ukraine in finding and removing mines and other unexploded ordnance left by Russian troops in areas where they have been pushed back. Despite Ukraine's gains, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and the head of NATO warned Friday that the war would likely drag on for months. Blinken said the conflict was entering a critical period and urged Ukraine's Western backers to keep up their support through what could be a difficult winter.

Britain is starting to bring its troops home from Afghanistan as the country’s evacuation operation at Kabul airport ends. A Royal Air Force plane carrying soldiers landed at the RAF Brize Norton air base northwest of London on Saturday morning. The troops are part of a contingent of 1,000 that has been based in Kabul to help run the airlift. Flights bringing U.K. citizens and Afghans have largely ended, though the head of the armed forces, Gen. Nick Carter, said there would be a “very few” more on Saturday. Britain says it has evacuated more than 14,500 people from Kabul in the past two weeks, but that as many as 1,000 Afghans entitled to come to the U.K. have been left behind. Prime Minister Boris Johnson promised Friday to “shift heaven and earth” to get more people from Afghanistan to Britain by other means, though no concrete details have been offered. HERE’S WHAT ELSE IS HAPPENING: ROME — Italy’s final evacuation flight of refugees from Afghanistan has landed at Rome’s Leonardo da Vinci airport. The Italian Air Force C-130J with 58 Afghan citizens aboard arrived Saturday morning, some 17 hours after it departed from the Kabul airport and after a planned stopover. Also aboard were Italy’s consul and a NATO diplomat who had coordinated evacuations at the Kabul airport. Italian Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio said Italy was prepared to work with the United Nations and with countries bordering Afghanistan on what he described as the “more difficult phase.” He said that consisted of efforts to evacuate other Afghan citizens who worked with Italy’s military during its 20-year presence in Afghanistan but weren’t able to get into Kabul airport in time for the evacuation flights. He didn’t say how many still were eligible for evacuation to Italy. READ: Kabul airport attack kills 60 Afghans, 13 US troops Rescuing those citizens “would give them the same possibility” of starting a new life outside their homeland, Di Maio said in a brief statement at Rome’s airport. He said the 4,890 Afghans evacuated by Italy’s air force in 87 flights was the highest number of any European Union nation. Italy’s remaining soldiers left on a separate flight from Kabul on Friday night. That air force flight went to Kuwait and the troops are due back in Italy early next week. ___ ROME — A U.N. agency is warning that worsening drought in Afghanistan threatens the livelihoods of more than 7 million people. The Rome-based Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) on Saturday issued an appeal for humanitarian assistance. Adding to the plight of what the agency termed “severe drought” are the economic impact of COVID-19 and widespread internal displacement of Afghans amid enduring conflict. Earlier this month, the U.N. World Food Program, another Rome-based agency, estimated that some 14 million people — roughly one out of every three Afghans — urgently need food assistance. The FAO said crucial help is needed ahead of the winter wheat planting season, which begins in a month in many areas. FAO’s representative in Afghanistan, Richard Trenchard, said in a statement that “disaster looms” if sufficient help doesn’t materialize for the next winter wheat season. ___ WASHINGTON — The United States military struck back at the Islamic State on Saturday, bombing an IS member in Afghanistan less than 48 hours after a devastating suicide bombing claimed by the group killed as many as 169 Afghans and 13 American service members at the Kabul airport. U.S. Central Command said the U.S. conducted a drone strike against an Islamic State member in Nangahar believed to be involved in planning attacks against the U.S. in Kabul. The strike killed one individual, and spokesman Navy Capt. William Urban said they knew of no civilian casualties. READ: US troops surge evacuations out of Kabul but threats persist It wasn’t clear if that individual was involved specifically in the Thursday suicide blast outside the gates of the Kabul airport, where crowds of Afghans were desperately trying to get in as part of the ongoing evacuation from the country after the Taliban’s rapid takeover. The airstrike fulfilled a vow President Joe Biden made to the nation Thursday when he said the perpetrators of the attack would not be able to hide. “We will hunt you down and make you pay,” he said. Pentagon leaders told reporters Friday that they were prepared for whatever retaliatory action the president ordered. “We have options there right now,” said Maj. Gen. Hank Taylor of the Pentagon’s Joint Staff.

The last-minute decision to send 3,000 U.S. troops to Afghanistan to help partially evacuate the U.S. Embassy is calling into question whether President Joe Biden will meet his Aug. 31 deadline for fully withdrawing combat forces. The vanguard of a Marine contingent arrived in Kabul on Friday and most of the rest of the 3,000 are due by Sunday. Officials have stressed that the newly arriving troops’ mission is limited to assisting the airlift of embassy personnel and Afghan allies, and they expect to complete it by month’s end. But they might have to stay longer if the embassy is threatened by a Taliban takeover of Kabul by then. On Friday the Taliban seemed nearly within reach of contesting the capital. “Clearly from their actions, it appears as if they are trying to get Kabul isolated,” Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said, referring to the Taliban’s speedy and efficient takedown of major provincial capitals across the country in recent days. Biden had given the Pentagon until Aug. 31 to complete the withdrawal of the 2,500 to 3,000 troops that were in Afghanistan when he announced in April that he was ending U.S. involvement in the war. That number has dropped to just under 1,000, and all but about 650 are scheduled to be gone by the end of the month; the 650 are to remain to help protect the U.S. diplomatic presence, including with aircraft and defensive weapons at Kabul airport. READ: Biden lands win, but virus surge threatens to derail agenda But Thursday’s decision to dispatch 3,000 fresh troops to the airport adds a new twist to the U.S. withdrawal. There is no discussion of rejoining the war, but the number of troops needed for security will depend on decisions about keeping the embassy open and the extent of a Taliban threat to the capital in coming days. Having the Aug. 31 deadline pass with thousands of U.S. troops in the country would be awkward for Biden given his insistence on ending the 20-year U.S. war by that date. Republicans have already criticized the withdrawal as a mistake and ill-planned, though there’s little political appetite by either party to send fresh troops to fight the Taliban. Kirby declined to discuss any assessment of whether the Taliban are likely soon to converge on Kabul, but the urgent movement of extra U.S. troops into Afghanistan to assist the embassy drawdown is clear evidence of Washington’s worry that after the rapid fall of major cities this week with relatively little Afghan government resistance, Kabul is endangered. Kirby reiterated the Biden administration’s assertion that Afghan security forces have tangible advantages over the insurgents, including a viable air force and superior numbers. The statement serves to highlight the fact that what the Afghan forces lack is motivation to fight in a circumstance where the Taliban seem to have decisive momentum. Stephen Biddle, a professor of international and public affairs at Columbia University, said in an interview the announcement that 3,000 U.S. troops are heading to Kabul to help pull out American diplomats and embassy staff likely made Afghan morale even worse. “The message that sent to Afghans is: ‘The city of Kabul is going to fall so fast that we can’t organize an orderly withdrawal from the embassy,’” Biddle said. This suggests to Afghans that the Americans see little future for the government and that “this place could be toast within hours.” Kirby said lead “elements” of a Marine battalion arrived in Kabul on Friday as the U.S. speeds up evacuation flights for some American diplomats and thousands of Afghans. The rest of that battalion and two others are due in coming days. “Clearly from their actions, it appears as if they are trying to get Kabul isolated,” Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said, referring to the Taliban’s speedy and efficient takedown of major provincial capitals across the country in recent days. Biden had given the Pentagon until Aug. 31 to complete the withdrawal of the 2,500 to 3,000 troops that were in Afghanistan when he announced in April that he was ending U.S. involvement in the war. That number has dropped to just under 1,000, and all but about 650 are scheduled to be gone by the end of the month; the 650 are to remain to help protect the U.S. diplomatic presence, including with aircraft and defensive weapons at Kabul airport. But Thursday’s decision to dispatch 3,000 fresh troops to the airport adds a new twist to the U.S. withdrawal. There is no discussion of rejoining the war, but the number of troops needed for security will depend on decisions about keeping the embassy open and the extent of a Taliban threat to the capital in coming days. Having the Aug. 31 deadline pass with thousands of U.S. troops in the country would be awkward for Biden given his insistence on ending the 20-year U.S. war by that date. Republicans have already criticized the withdrawal as a mistake and ill-planned, though there’s little political appetite by either party to send fresh troops to fight the Taliban. Kirby declined to discuss any assessment of whether the Taliban are likely soon to converge on Kabul, but the urgent movement of extra U.S. troops into Afghanistan to assist the embassy drawdown is clear evidence of Washington’s worry that after the rapid fall of major cities this week with relatively little Afghan government resistance, Kabul is endangered. Kirby reiterated the Biden administration’s assertion that Afghan security forces have tangible advantages over the insurgents, including a viable air force and superior numbers. The statement serves to highlight the fact that what the Afghan forces lack is motivation to fight in a circumstance where the Taliban seem to have decisive momentum. Stephen Biddle, a professor of international and public affairs at Columbia University, said in an interview the announcement that 3,000 U.S. troops are heading to Kabul to help pull out American diplomats and embassy staff likely made Afghan morale even worse. “The message that sent to Afghans is: ‘The city of Kabul is going to fall so fast that we can’t organize an orderly withdrawal from the embassy,’” Biddle said. This suggests to Afghans that the Americans see little future for the government and that “this place could be toast within hours.” READ: Biden to launch vaccine push for millions of federal workers Kirby said lead “elements” of a Marine battalion arrived in Kabul on Friday as the U.S. speeds up evacuation flights for some American diplomats and thousands of Afghans. The rest of that battalion and two others are due in coming days.

Troops surrounded Tunisia’s parliament and blocked its speaker from entering Monday after the president suspended the legislature and fired the prime minister and other top members of government, sparking concerns for the North African country’s young democracy. In the face of nationwide protests over Tunisia’s economic troubles and the government’s handling of the coronavirus crisis, President Kais Saied decided late Sunday to dismiss the officials, including the justice and defense ministers. Some demonstrators cheered the firings, shouting with joy and waving Tunisian flags. But others accused the president of a power grab, and the country’s overseas allies expressed concern that it might be descending again into autocracy. In a move sure to fuel those worries, police raided the offices of broadcaster Al-Jazeera and ordered it shut down. READ: Tunisian president fires premier after violent protests Tunisia, which ignited the Arab Spring in 2011 when protests led to the overthrow of its longtime autocratic leader, is often regarded as the only success story of those uprisings. But democracy didn’t bring prosperity. Tunisia’s economy was already flailing before the pandemic hit, with 18% unemployment, and young people demanding jobs and an end to police brutality protested in large numbers earlier this year. The government recently announced cuts to food and fuel subsidies as it sought its fourth loan from the International Monetary Fund in a decade, further fueling anger in impoverished regions. The pandemic has only compounded those problems, and the government recently reimposed lockdowns and other virus restrictions in the face of one of Africa’s worst outbreaks. Angry at the economic malaise and the poor handling of the pandemic, thousands of protesters defied virus restrictions and scorching heat in the capital, Tunis, and other cities Sunday to demand the dissolution of parliament. The largely young crowds shouted “Get out!” and slogans calling for an early election and economic reforms. Clashes erupted in many places. “I must shoulder the responsibility and I have done so. I have chosen to stand by the people,” the president said in a solemn televised address. Saied said he had to fire the prime minister and suspend parliament because of concerns over public violence. He said he acted according to the law — but parliamentary speaker Rached Ghannouchi, who heads the Islamist party that dominates the legislature, said the president didn’t consult with him or the prime minister as required. The three have been in conflict. READ: Bangladeshi migrants among 43 missing as boat sinks off Tunisia   “We have taken these decisions ... until social peace returns to Tunisia and until we save the state,” Saied said. While the dissolution of parliament cheered some protesters, others in Tunisia were opposed — and the composition of each camp wasn’t entirely clear. Police intervened Monday to prevent clashes outside the parliament building between demonstrators supporting the president and lawmakers from the dominant Ennahdha party and their allies who opposed the move. Both sides shouted and some threw stones, according to an Associated Press reporter. Ghannouchi, the speaker, tried to enter parliament overnight, but police and military forces guarding the site stopped him. He sat in a car outside the building for nearly 12 hours before leaving Monday afternoon — his next steps were unclear. He called the president’s move “a coup against the constitution and the (Arab Spring) revolution,” and insisted the parliament would continue to work. Saifeddine Makhlouf, founder of and lawmaker in a coalition of hardline Islamists, also denounced the president’s move as a coup. “We will not let it pass,” he said. Tensions between the prime minister and president have been blamed for poor management of the virus, while a bungled vaccination drive led to the dismissal of the health minister this month. To date, 7% of the population has been fully vaccinated, while more than 90% of the country’s intensive care unit beds are occupied, according to health ministry figures. Videos have circulated on social media showing bodies left in the middle of wards as morgues struggle to deal with growing deaths. Ennahdha has been a particular target, accused of focusing on its internal concerns instead of managing the virus. Security forces also moved in Monday on the Tunis offices of Al-Jazeera, the Qatar-based satellite news network said on its Facebook page. The reason for the move was not immediately clear. Al-Jazeera, citing its journalists, said 10 “heavily armed police officers” entered their bureau without a warrant and asked everyone to leave. “The reporters’ phones and other equipment were confiscated, and they were not allowed back into the building to retrieve their personal belongs,” the organization said. Qatar and its Al-Jazeera network have been viewed by some Middle Eastern nations as promoting Islamist groups like the Muslim Brotherhood. Its offices have been shut down in other countries over that, most noticeably in Egypt after the 2013 coup that brought current President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi to office. Qatar’s Foreign Ministry said it hoped “the voice of wisdom” would prevail in the turmoil and that the rule of law would be established again. Inside and outside Tunisia, from the U.N. to the European Union and beyond, concern was raised about whether the nascent democracy was taking an authoritarian turn. Former President Moncef Marzouki called for political dialogue, saying in a Facebook video, “We made a huge leap backward tonight, we are back to dictatorship.” U.N. officials were in touch with Tunisians “trying to see to it that all of the various parties ... do what they can to ensure that the situation does remain calm,” deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said. The already volatile region “cannot bear to have more unrest than it has presently had,” he said. German Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Adebahr said the government was in discussion with Tunisian authorities about the “worrisome” situation. READ: Tunisian carrying Quran fatally stabs 3 in French church “We think it’s important now to return really quickly to the constitutional order,” Adebahr told reporters in Berlin. She stopped short of calling it a coup, but said the Tunisian president appeared to be relying on a “pretty broad interpretation of the constitution” to defend his actions. France, Tunisia’s former colonial ruler, said it counts on “respect for a state of law and the return, as soon as possible, to the normal functioning of institutions.” Paris called on all to avoid violence “and preserve democratic advances.” Italy, likewise, appealed for respect of the Tunisian Constitution and the rule of law, while Turkey hoped “democratic legitimacy” is soon restored. The president invoked a constitutional article that allows him to assume executive power and freeze parliament for an unspecified period of time in cases of “imminent danger threatening the institutions of the nation and the independence of the country and hindering the regular functioning of the public powers.”

The United States and South Korea have reached agreement in principle on a new arrangement for sharing the cost of the American troop presence, which is intended as a bulwark against the threat of North Korean aggression, both countries announced.

More than 200 mostly Honduran migrants rested on a bridge at the Guatemala-Mexico border waiting for the arrival of others and hoping sheer numbers will improve their chances of entering Mexico and continuing their journey north.