The U.S. invaded Afghanistan in late 2001 to destroy al-Qaida, remove the Taliban from power and remake the nation. On Aug. 30, 2021, the U.S. completed a pullout of troops from Afghanistan, providing an uncertain punctuation mark to two decades of conflict.

For the past 11 years I have closely followed the post-9/11 conflicts for the Costs of War Project, an initiative that brings together more than 50 scholars, physicians and legal and human rights experts to provide an account of the human, economic, budgetary and political costs and consequences of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.

Israel's foreign minister on Wednesday played down criticism of the country's regulation of the cyberespionage firm NSO Group but vowed to step up efforts to ensure the company's controversial spyware doesn't fall into the wrong hands.

Speaking to foreign journalists, Yair Lapid said the government has only limited control over how defense exports are used by customers. Yet he said that Israel is committed to enforcing and strengthening safeguards to prevent abuse of all types of weapons.

Hundreds of people on Wednesday mourned the death of a man Palestinian health officials said was killed by Israeli forces in the occupied West Bank.

Raed Jadallah, 39, a resident of Beit Ur al-Tahta near Ramallah, was buried on Wednesday.

A Russian-negotiated cease-fire took effect Wednesday in a volatile southern city, according to the Syrian opposition and state media.

Violence in the area in recent weeks between government forces and opposition fighters had threatened to undo years of relative calm along the borders with Israel and Jordan.

A delegation of four U.S. senators said Wednesday that America is looking to help Lebanon overcome fuel shortages that have paralyzed the country. But they warned the import of Iranian oil into the crisis-hit country could have "severely damaging consequences."

The Democratic senators pushed for the immediate formation of a Lebanese government that can begin urgent reforms. They also vowed support for Lebanon's U.S.-backed army. The troops saw their salaries lose more than 90% of their value amid a crash in Lebanon's pound in the economic meltdown that began nearly two years ago.

Even in the final days of Washington's chaotic airlift in Afghanistan, Javed Habibi was getting phone calls from the U.S. government promising that the green card holder from Richmond, Virginia, his wife and their four daughters would not be left behind.

He was told to stay home and not worry, that they would be evacuated.

The number of daily COVID-19 cases confirmed in Egypt has grown steadily in recent weeks amid relaxed precautionary measures and the spread of the highly contagious delta variant.

The Health Ministry reported late Tuesday 279 cases in 24 hours and nine deaths, compared to 194 cases and seven deaths on the same day last week.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has criticized the United States' involvement in Afghanistan, charging that its 20-year-long military presence in the country has achieved "zero."

Putin said Wednesday that for 20 years, the U.S. military in Afghanistan "was trying ... to civilize the people who live there, to introduce their norms and standards of life in the broadest sense of the word, including the political organization of society."

Global stock markets mostly rose Wednesday as investors weighed the economic impact of the spread of the coronavirus's delta variant.

Markets in London and Frankfurt opened higher. Shanghai, Tokyo and Hong Kong advanced.

Palestinian health authorities are launching a vaccination drive for students in the Gaza Strip ages 16-18 as the territory contends with a third wave of coronavirus infections.

Health officials began giving the Pfizer vaccine in Gaza Strip schools on Wednesday and aim to inoculate more than 100,000 students in the coming weeks. Palestinian officials in the occupied West Bank began a similar drive on Tuesday.