Headlines:
- Taliban Agree Deal with the US
- Turkey Shoots Down Syrian Warplanes, Kills Hundreds of Syrian Troops
- UK in Danger of Failing a Generation
Taliban Agree deal with the US
With much fanfare, the US-Taliban peace agreement was signed in press conferences from Doha and Kabul. The US presented the deal as the beginning of the end of the US occupation, if the Taliban stick to their side of the deal. The peace agreement’s main pillars are the guarantee that the Taliban will not allow any group to use Afghanistan against US security, a timeline of US military withdrawal, the beginning of negotiations between the Afghan government and the Taliban and a permanent and comprehensive ceasefire agreement. However, secret annexes to the deal have not been revealed. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo confirmed that there are indeed two “classified” secret annexes to the deal, and that the American public won’t get to know what those are. The fact that they are secret, and classified, however, suggests that both the US and Taliban leadership very much prefer the public not know about them.
Turkey Shoots Down Syrian Warplanes, Kills Hundreds of Syrian Troops
Turkish forces decimated the Syrian army in a series of drone, artillery and bomber attacks this weekend, leaving Syria’s top ally Russia weighing how much it should intervene to stop the offensive. Turkey turned its total air superiority — via a fleet of drones and high-tech F-16s — into an operation that claimed at least two Syrian jet fighters, eight helicopters, 135 tanks, and 77 other armored vehicles, with as many as 2,500 Syrian troops killed, according to the Turkish Defense Ministry. It has left the Syrian military unable to protect its frontline armor and artillery units, which have been methodically targeted by cheap but highly accurate missiles. And with Russia thus far unwilling to directly confront the Turkish military, Bashar al-Assad’s army could continue to suffer, paving the way for Turkey to achieve its goal of pushing regime forces out of Idlib. Turkey poured at least 7,000 regular army forces into the rebel-held Syrian pocket of Idlib, whose collapse after a months-long offensive from the regime threatened to send almost a million Syrian refugees over a border into Turkey. It has taken nine years for Turkey to deploy its military and target Bashar al-Assad’s forces. This episode clearly shows that capability was never really Turkey’s problem, it has always been political.
UK in Danger of Failing a Generation
Rising violence, drug use and mental health problems among young people in the UK mean society is in danger of “failing a generation”, children’s doctors have said. English teenagers are increasingly likely to be injured in youth violence and the UK is lagging behind other European countries on measures including infant mortality, according to UK-wide research into the state of child health by the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health. The numbers of children in poverty, under child protection plans and being “looked after” have increased since its 2017 report, and progress on mental health among five- to 15-year-olds has stalled or reversed.
“It’s not a pretty sight,” said the president of the college, Prof Russell Viner. “On many vital measures we risk lagging behind other European countries. We’re in danger of failing a generation if we don’t turn this situation around. The government has made welcome commitments on childhood obesity and young people’s mental health but we need to see delivery in these and other areas.”