The State Tribune News

  File photo of Afghans waiting in front of a bank as they try to withdraw money in Kabul.  Facing pressure to prevent a humanitarian and economic catastrophe in Afghanistan, the Biden administration on Wednesday  took steps to allow more aid  to flow into the Taliban-led country. The measures exempt aid groups from stringent economic sanctions that were imposed against the Taliban before they seized control of the government and have been  strangling Afghanistan’s economy  under its leadership. But diplomats and activists said that easing the restrictions might not be enough to rescue the country from what one UN official on Wednesday called “shocking” need and suffering. At the same time, some Republicans said the Biden administration risked legitimizing and even funding Taliban leaders. The US actions and mixed response underscore the challenge that Afghanistan continues to pose for the Biden administration four months after the last American troops with...

  IMAGE SOURCE US President Joe Biden has denied his administration bungled its response to the emergence of the Omicron variant. He told a TV network that "nobody" could have predicted it. His top adviser Dr Anthony Fauci has said experts did foresee variants. It comes a day after the White House unveiled plans to order 500 million at-home coronavirus tests amid a shortage. There have been long waits for in-person tests as Christmas looms. "I don't think it's a failure," Mr Biden said in a sit-down interview with ABC News on Wednesday. "I think it's - you could argue that we should have known a year ago, six months ago, two months ago, a month ago." The Democratic president said he wished he "had thought" about ordering the 500 million test kits "two months ago". One year ago Mr Biden lambasted a shortfall in Covid-19 testing under the Trump administration as "a travesty". IMAGE SOURCE, GETTY IMAGES Image caption,...