14 | October | 2021 | NoisyRoom.net

By: Denise Simon | Founders Code

An interagency delegation of U.S. officials met this weekend with senior representatives with the Taliban and called the two-day meeting in Doha “candid and professional,” a statement from the State Department obtained by Fox News read.

The meetings covered a lot of ground and ranged from terrorism concerns to human rights in the country. The statement said the delegation also called for the safe passage for U.S. citizens and others in the country.

The U.S. delegation—once again—told the Taliban that they will be judged on their actions, not only their words, Ned Price, the spokesman, said.

Taliban political spokesman Suhail Shaheen told the Associated Press there would be no cooperation with Washington on containing the increasingly active Islamic State group in Afghanistan.

IS has taken responsibility for a number of recent attacks, including a suicide bombing Friday that killed 46 minority Shiite Muslims and wounded dozens as they prayed in a mosque in the northern city of Kunduz.

Last month, the White House said there is “no rush” to recognize the Taliban as the official government of Afghanistan, saying that recognition from the U.S. will be “dependent” on their actions, as the group announced the formation of its new government.

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Afghanistan’s state power company has appealed to a United Nations-led mission to give $90 million to settle unpaid bills to Central Asian suppliers before electricity gets cut off for the country given that the three-month deadline for payments has passed. source

Afghanistan's Crippled Power Grid Exposes Vulnerability of Besieged Capital - The New York Times

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By: Denise Simon | Founders Code

Jacob Jeremiah Sullivan is an American political advisor who serves as the United States National Security Advisor to President Joe Biden. He was previously a senior policy advisor to Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential election campaign and her deputy chief of staff at the Department of State when she was Secretary of State.

But we must go backward somewhat and then forward….

Backward:

After Clinton's 2008 primary defeat, Sullivan followed her to the State Department — first as deputy chief of staff and then as State’s youngest-ever director of policy planning. | AP Photo

Jake was the secret agent man of Hillary Clinton.

It was Sept. 27, 2013, and President Barack Obama was about to place a historic phone call to the president of Iran — a conversation that would kick off the public phase of nuclear talks between two longtime adversaries.

And it was at that moment that Jake Sullivan, a 30-something aide who’d spent months secretly laying the groundwork for the talks, started to panic. Jake was part of an interesting phone call –> a 15-minute call in which Obama and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani warmly agreed to pursue the talks.

Eighteen months later, Sullivan’s attention to detail has paid off. In Switzerland on Thursday, officials from the U.S. and five other nations reached a framework deal to limit Iran’s nuclear program — vindicating, for the moment at least, Sullivan’s deep personal involvement in the process.

And thanks to Sullivan, the deal also bears the clear fingerprints of his political mentor, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who first assigned him to the Iran file and with whom he remains extremely close. Sullivan “was at my side nearly everywhere I went” as secretary of state, Clinton wrote in her memoir, “Hard Choices.”

Sullivan has emerged as Clinton’s most trusted foreign policy adviser. It remains undecided whether he‘ll have a formal post at campaign headquarters during her all-but-certain 2016 presidential run, but Clinton allies say he’ll be in daily contact with the candidate regardless.

And should Clinton win the White House, Sullivan, now 38, is almost certain to take a top post in her administration — possibly even as the country’s youngest-ever national security adviser.

“The sky’s the limit,” says Strobe Talbott, a former top State Department official under Bill Clinton. “He is somebody of extraordinary intelligence and temperament.” More here.

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