WASHINGTON — Two months after declaring all U.S. troops are leaving Syria, President Donald Trump wrote to members of Congress that he now agrees "100%" with keeping a military presence in Syria.
A bipartisan group of Senators and Representatives wrote to Trump on Feb. 22, applauding his decision to keep a small residual force in Syria.
"We support a small American stabilizing force in Syria," the group wrote, adding that a force "which includes a small contingent of American troops and ground forces from our European allies, is essential to ensure stability and prevent the return of ISIS."
In a copy of the letter obtained by NBC News, Trump highlighted a paragraph in the letter about the U.S. goals in Syria, which said, "Like you, we seek to ensure that all of the gains made in Syria are not lost, that ISIS never returns, that Iran is not emboldened, and that we consolidate our gains and ensure the best outcome in Geneva for American interests."
"I agree 100%. ALL is being done," President Trump responded, writing directly on the letter and signing it.
Since before he took office, Trump has promised to end the fight against the Islamic State, criticizing the cost to the U.S. in both blood and treasure. In a video message on Twitter posted Dec. 19, 2018, the president said: "Our boys, our young women, our men, they're all coming back and they're coming back now. We won."
The Syrian Democratic Forces recently completed their mission against ISIS in the small area of land they controlled in the Middle Euphrates River Valley in Syria. U.S. military officials say the battle to re-take the final part of the town of Baghuz still held by ISIS had been slowed by the exodus of thousands of civilians and the terror group's use of some women and children as human shields.
Late last month, White House press secretary Sarah Sanders confirmed that some U.S. troops will stay in Syria after the Syrian Democratic Forces finish clearing out Baghuz.
"A small peace keeping group of about 200 will remain in Syria for period of time," Sanders said in a one-sentence statement. U.S. military officials have since confirmed the residual force could be double that and that some U.S. troops could stay in the northeastern part of the country, and others in southern Syria.
Praise God for this turnaround in President Trump's policy which will help to achieve and maintain peace and stability in Syria and the region.
Pray for the efforts to continue impartial peace talks in Geneva and for an end to be brokered to the seven years of civil war.
Pray for aid and support for the hundreds of thousands of displaced people and the many victims of this war.
Please continue to be in prayer for Afghanistan where amidst a number of challenges and setbacks, there are significant efforts taking place to pursue peace talks between the Government, the Taliban, militant groups and tribal and religious leaders.
U.S. State Department spokesman Robert Palladino told journalists on March 5 that negotiations were continuing on "a daily basis right now and progress is being made."
"The discussions wereongoing and focusing on the four interconnected issues that are going to compose any future agreement," Palladino said, listing them as "terrorism," "troop withdrawal," "intra-Afghan dialogue," and a "cease-fire."
However, this longest round of peace talks between the United States and the Taliban has ended with "real strides" being made but without an agreement on troop withdrawals from Afghanistan, U.S. special envoy Zalmay Khalilzad said on March 12.
“The conditions for peace have improved. It’s clear all sides want to end the war. Despite ups and downs, we kept things on track and made real strides," Khalilzad said on Twitter, adding that another round is possible later this month after the 16 days of negotiations in Qatar's capital, Doha. See: https://www.rferl.org/a/u-s--taliban-peace-talks-end-with-real-strides-made-but-no-deal/29818634.html?ltflags=mailer
This last month has seen two militant led attacks on civilians and Government forces in Jalalabad and Helmand Province with the loss of dozens of lives. See: https://www.rferl.org/a/afghanistan-jalalabad-double-suicide-attack/29806106.html?ltflags=mailer AND https://www.rferl.org/a/taliban-attack-afghan-military-base-helmand-gunbattle/29797634.html?ltflags=mailer
A military source told RFE/RL that a top Afghan commander at the military installation had been killed in the attack.The assault on the base came while the U.S. peace envoy for Afghanistan was in Qatar for the latest round of peace talks.Peace negotiations resumed on March 2 following three days of talks with Taliban negotiators in Doha, aimed at finding a negotiated solution to Afghanistan's 17-year war.
The New York Times reported on March 1 that the proposal currently under discussion could include the withdrawal of U.S. forces in the next three to five years and the creation of a power-sharing government including the Taliban.
In the past, Khalilzad has tried to convince the Taliban to hold direct talks with representatives of Afghanistan's government. The Taliban has rejected that proposal.
In Kabul on February 28, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani reiterated that an Afghan-led peace process would provide lasting stability in the country.
"Afghanistan wants cooperation and collaboration, but Afghans and the legitimate government of Afghanistan should own the peace process," he said.
There are some 14,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan, as well as thousands of European forces participating in NATO's Resolute Support mission.
Meanwhile, a planned meeting of hundreds of Afghan politicians and tribal, ethnic, and religious leaders aimed at discussing negotiations with the Taliban has been postponed, officials say. The gathering, known as a consultative Loya Jirga, was initially set to be held in Kabul from March 17-20. See: https://www.rferl.org/a/afghan-loya-jirga-aimed-at-discussing-peace-talks-delayed/29801048.html?ltflags=mailer
Pray for those affected by the recent militant attacks and the medics and other professionals who are treating and supporting them.
Pray for breakthrough as the Afghan High Peace Council pursues reconciliation with the militants.
Pray for the US led talks, that they will open doors to meaningful dialogue between all parties and steps towards lasting peace.
God performs miracles. War between India and Pakistan was averted, a war that likely would have ended in a nuclear war.
Let’s see how God worked in answering prayer in circumstances that seemed impossible. “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.(Matt 19:26)” Last month there was an article in the IPC entitled “India vs. Pakistan: dangerous standoff between two nuclear–armed countries.” War tensions were rising extremely fast.
Both countries were sending warplanes across each other’s borders. Pakistan shot down an Indian plane and captured its pilot. Both countries were bracing for an all-out war, nuclear weapons were being readied.
You were praying. God worked in miraculous ways to make men do what seemed incredibly impossible.
Prime Minister Khan of Pakistan announced in Parliament that Pakistan, as a “peace gesture,” would release the captured Indian pilot. This took everyone by complete surprise. The pilot was given back to India three days later.
Why incredible? Both nations expected the usual treatment of this prisoner. He would be dishonored/lose face, as a representative of his country, as he was paraded through the streets of major cities in Pakistan as a symbol of what Pakistan had done. This would raise war tensions on both sides of the border.
Khan took an extraordinary chance in doing this. His own countrymen might well have overthrown him for making such a move, or the military could have taken over as everyone expected. But God was at work - all of Parliament, including the opposition parties, stood up and supported this move.
It took India by surprise. Some of their news outlets even wondered where Prime Minister Moti was during this emergency - he was out campaigning for his re-election.
An Ephesians 6:12 battle seemed to be taking place between the forces of evil and God’s army.
Satan seemed to have the upper hand.
In the center of the 10/40 window, one of the most densely populated areas of the world, an unprecedented number of people would be killed in a nuclear war. Satan is here to “kill and destroy.”
The West and much of the rest of the world seemed to be oblivious to this. President Trump was in Vietnam with President Kim Jong-un trying to stop North Korea from developing and using nuclear weapons. Meanwhile, just a few countries away, there was a real possibility of nuclear war taking place. Satan was “blinding eyes.”
Those in the world whose eyes were open were China, Russia, and a Muslim coalition that Saudi Arabia and Turkey and other Muslim countries had asked Pakistan to lead and formulate, which led to their falling in line behind Pakistan.
Pakistani Christians have expressed to me that what Khan did was a more Christian action than many of them would have done.
BUT GOD What is impossible with man is possible with God.
WHY? PRAYER. United Prayer. You in IPC were praying, and many other groups around the world were praying. When we come together in unity it allows God to perform the impossible.
Christians in both India and Pakistan were praying. India has a strong prayer movement.
In Pakistan we have learned in the past that when India and Pakistan are on the brink of war, there are certain demonic centers that control much of this activity. We have learned to go to these places and pray; several times war has been averted within 3 to 7 days. I am now learning that prayer teams went to some of these places in Pakistan as war was escalating.
United Prayer stopped this catastrophe.
Thank you for your prayers.
Please CONTINUE PRAYING, this emergency is not over yet. Any spark could ignite a nuclear war. .
- India - retaliating. India’s elections are soon to take place. Prime Minister Moti has lost one of his best campaign platforms - beating the war drums.
- Pakistan – The Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) terrorists making another hit (It is not that easy to take out terrorists. Their leaders have been taken out in the past and they have regrouped. Recently they have been arrested again. May they not be motivated by Satan to carry out some kind of attack to show that they are still alive.)
May you be encouraged! What a wonderful illustration of United Prayer.
“With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”
Submitted by an anonymous Prayer Leader who has lived most of his life in both countries.
The Bible, New Testament, and other Christian literature have gone out across Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Recent translation projects of the Bible in the modern language and other Christian books are also underway.
Let it Rain
As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.
You will go out in joy and be led forth in peace; the mountains and hills will burst into song before you, and all the trees of the field will clap their hands.
Instead of the thornbush will grow the juniper, and instead of briers the myrtle will grow.
This will be for the Lord’s renown, for an everlasting sign, that will endure forever.” Isaiah 55:10-13
Pray for these powerful communication tools to produce salvation and righteousness in the hearts of people in Bosnia.
Pray that Jesus would be honored, worshiped and known as the life-giving Son.
Pray that Bibles and other Christian materials would be taken off the shelves in people's homes today. May the powerful Word of God be like rain on dry land.
Pray that people in Bosnia would understand God's Word and come to Him.
The recent death toll of Christians in Nigeria has reached 120 with this week’s slaughter of more than 50 by Fulani Muslim militants in the Kaduna state of Nigeria, the Christian Post reported.
The Fulani jihadists, who have become a greater threat to Nigerian Christians than the Islamist terror group Boko Haram, stormed the villages of Inkirimi, Dogonnoma, and Ungwan Gora in the Kajuru Local Government Area last Monday, destroying 143 homes, killing 52 people, and wounding dozens more.
The assailants reportedly split into three groups, the first of which fired upon the people, the second set fire to buildings, and the third chased down people fleeing from the scene. Victims of the assault included women and children.
Monday’s incident followed an attack the day before in the UngwanBarde village in Kajuru, where 17 Christians were killed and dozens of homes were burned.
In the first week of March, Muslim extremists massacred more than 30 Christians in Karamar village, setting fire to several houses and a church. The terrorists reportedly shot at families trying to escape the fire, killing 32.
The spate of recent attacks against communities has taken place within the predominantly Christian Adara chiefdom of southern Kaduna.
The governor of Kaduna state, Nasir El-Rufai, has imposed a dusk-to-dawn curfew on the Kajuru Local Government Area to try to contain the violence.
In late February, militants attacked the Maro village, killing 38 Christians and torching homes as well as a Christian church.
The Christian Post reported that Fulani militants killed thousands of Christians in 2018 alone in what many are calling a Christian genocide in Nigeria’s Middle Belt.
Last December, a leading Anglican bishop in Nigeria, Dr. Benjamin ArgakKwashi, said that the Muslim Fulani militants represent the number one terrorist threat facing Christians in Nigeria.
“The government is able to provide protection [to the Christians], but what’s obvious to everybody is that the government is unwilling,” Kwashi told Breitbart News.
“The Fulani herdsmen are a bigger threat,” Kwashi added. “Boko Haram operates in the northeast and scantily moves into other areas, but the Fulani herdsmen are widespread. They’re everywhere now. So the Fulani are a bigger threat.”
Pray that the perpetrators of these attacks will be caught and held to account for their actions.
Pray for the victims and their families – that they will be conscious of the Heavenly Father’s love surrounding them in their grief and suffering.
Pray that the Fulani jihadists and Boko Haram will be hampered in all their efforts to bring terror to the Christians and minority groups.
Pray for wisdom and strength of character for the State Governors and military commanders as they take control of these difficult situations.
BY THOMAS D. WILLIAMS, PH.D.
Sharon Slater, President of Family Watch International brings news of major Transgender, Abortion, and Sexual Rights Controversies that have erupted at the United Nations…
The outrageous, deceptive tactics and methods used this past week both at UN headquarters in New York and at the UN Human Rights Council are beyond compare.
We report to you on two major developments that erupted at the UN on Friday 22nd March 2019 on critical family and life issues.
They lie, they cheat, they bully, and they abuse the UN system, all because they know they cannot get their radical agendas adopted by the body of UN Member States in open, transparent negotiations.
We are pleased to report to you that more than one-third of the UN Human Rights Council members took the serious step of disassociating from South Africa’s transgender resolution on women in sport!
Thank you to everyone who helped by emailing and faxing messages to South Africa and other HRC Member States!
See the joint statement from these countries here. https://familywatch.org/17280-2/#.XJ0Az5j7RhE
We also report on the underhanded, disrespectful, abusive tactics used at the UN Commission on the Status of Women to pretend that nations reached “consensus” on multiple radical provisions.
For weeks, many nations repeatedly and strongly contested multiple provisions promoting abortion, gender/transgender confusion, comprehensive sexuality education, radical sexual rights, and much more.
Yet the Kenyan ambassador facilitating the negotiations completely ignored their calls for deletion and included most every controversial paragraph, while pretending they represented the consensus of the group.
Powerful provisions on the family as the “fundamental unit of society” and other aspects were all gutted, despite the insistence by multiple countries for their inclusion. The 50-plus references to the family throughout the document and strong references to mothers and fathers had been either deleted from the final text or twisted in meaning.
The straw that broke the camel’s back was likely when a paragraph calling for the document to be implemented with respect for national sovereignty and religious and cultural values was abruptly deleted from the document by the facilitator with no discussion. This sovereignty provision was backed by the entire African voting bloc and many other Member States.
Ironically, in the end, the openly biased chair from Ireland announced that the working document for CSW called “Agreed Conclusions” had been “agreed” with consensus. She did this immediately after listening to the strong, emotional statements of two CSW member states (Saudi Arabia and Bahrain) calling out many of the procedural abuses during the negotiations and announcing their countries were withholding consensus from “Agreed Conclusions.”
See the strong, pointed statement from Saudi Arabia outlining the many abuses here: https://familywatch.org/saudi-csw-63-statement/#.XJ0Bo5j7RhE
Yet another joint statement was read from the floor by the country of Comoros, signed by 18 Member States (Bahrain, Belarus, Cameroon, Comoros, Djibouti, Libya, Indonesia, Iraq, Iran, Gambia, Malaysia, Mauritania, Nicaragua, Pakistan, Russian Federation, Sudan, Zambia and Zimbabwe), expressing their outrage for the abuses of the process during the negotiations, and in particular on how the family paragraphs were handled.
To witness firsthand the length and depth to which abortion, sexual rights, and transgender ideology activists will stoop to force their agenda on the world was breathtaking to say the least. You can watch a video of the atrocities as they unfolded here: http://webtv.un.org/meetings-events/watch/14th-plenary-meeting-commission-on-the-status-of-women-csw63-2019-action-on-draft-proposals-action-on-draft-agreed-conclusions-action-on-any-other-outstanding-issues/6017175833001/?term=#.XJZxtfcD3Ec.email
We predict big changes are coming to the UN as many UN Member States are now finally sufficiently angry to say enough is enough.
The radicals have finally gone too far, and they are going to regret what they did at CSW this year as the backlash is going to be strong.
Our Family Watch team covering both Geneva and New York is grateful for all you did to support our grueling work these past few weeks as we worked to be your voice in protecting family, life, and children at the UN.
For more info and to sign up for emails, please visit our website.
Sharon Slater - President
Family Watch International
Praise God for the work of Family Watch and other advocates and agencies who are upholding biblical values, the sanctity of Christian marriage and the family.
Pray that the underhanded tactics being deployed by the officials will come into the light and that these provisions can be revisited and discussed with equity and transparency.
President Vladimir Putin has signed legislation enabling Russian authorities to block websites and hand out punishment for "fake news" and material deemed insulting to the state or the public.
The two bills that critics see as part of a Kremlin effort to increase control over the Internet and stifle dissent were signed by the president on March 18, according to posts on the government portal for legal information.
The new legislation allows the authorities to block websites or Internet accounts that publish what they deem to be "fake news" and penalizing those who post material found to be insulting to state officials, state symbols, or Russian society.
The parliament’s upper chamber, the Federation Council, approved the bills on March 13 after the lower chamber, the State Duma, gave final approval to the proposed legislation on March 7.
On March 11, the Russian Presidential Council for Development of Civil Society and Human Rights urged the upper house to send the bills back to the Duma to be reworked.
The presidential council, whose advice is often ignored by Putin, cited the European Convention on Human Rights and said that freedom of expression cannot be restricted exclusively due to doubts about whether what is being expressed is true.
The new law empowers the prosecutor-general and his deputies to determine what constitutes fake news without a court decision, after which the state media and communications watchdog Roskomnadzor would block the site or account.
The law sets fines for publishing "fake news" at up to 100,000 rubles ($1,525) for individuals, 200,000 rubles for public officials, and 500,000 rubles for companies.
The law says publications officially registered with Roskomnadzor, including online media outlets, will be given a chance to remove reports deemed as fake news before their websites are blocked.
It says websites that are not registered with Roskomnadzor will be blocked without warning.
The law also establishes fines of up to 100,000 rubles for insulting the Russian authorities, government agencies, the state, the public, the flag, or the constitution.
Repeat offenders will face bigger fines and can be jailed for up to 15 days.
Roskomnadzor will give Internet users 24 hours to remove material deemed by the prosecutor-general or his deputies to be insulting to the state or society, and those that fail to do so will be blocked, the law says.
In January, after the State Duma approved the bills in their first readings, Russian opposition politician Ilya Yashin said: "These are crazy bills."
"How can they prohibit people from criticizing the authorities?" he added.
Pray against this apparent state censorship.
Pray for those campaigning for the need to preserve freedom of speech and fundamental human rights.
Pray for the Christian Church in Russia that they will have a strong voice and that they will be fearless.
More:https://www.rferl.org/a/russia-putin-signs-fake-news-legislation/29828242.html?ltflags=mailer
EU leaders have not made themselves accountable to their citizens. This is evident in the EU’s commitment to a reckless open-door immigration policy which has brought a massive wave of crime and jihad attacks to Europe. But EU leaders have bowed in dhimmitude to the Islamic supremacist will, using “kindness,” “diversity,” “multiculturalism,” etc., as a cover. No reasonable person should think that supporting responsible immigration policies equates to racism.
The self-inflicted crisis across Europe is clear in the fact that as of the end of 2016, European taxpayers had paid $767,029,491 USD to Turkey under an agreement the EU made regarding migrants, with “hundreds of millions more in the pipeline.” Instead of erecting walls and exercising their right to sovereignty, Western leaders made themselves stooges to Islamic supremacists, who keep demanding more concessions. Also at the end of 2016, Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan threatened to “open the floodgates of migrants into Europe” because he was upset about the suspension of talks on Turkey’s membership into the EU. Imagine a despot such as Erdogan being an EU member, with his visions of reviving the Ottoman Empire, and his ambitions to criminalize “Islamophobia.” It could still happen. European leaders still kowtow to Erdogan.
Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orbán has warned that the migrant crisis will be repeated “in an even stronger form” in due course.
Orban was referring to the strange relationship that the EU has with Erdogan. Orban warned that “the Turkish government has the sole power to decide on whether or not the millions of refugees in its country will set out for Europe,” and stated that Europe is “approaching the point at which the population of the countries of the Arab world will overtake that of the European Union – and in this I haven’t included sub-Saharan Africa, which is hardly able to provide for its populations.”
The EU is finished unless the reasonable members of the Union exit fast and/or reestablish effective border control.
“Hungary PM: Migrant Crisis ‘Will Happen Again In an Even Stronger Form,’” by Jack Montgomery, Breitbart, March 4, 2019:
Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orbán has warned that the migrant crisis will be repeated “in an even stronger form” in due course, in a combative interview with the German press.
The Fidesz leader has positioned himself in the vanguard of a coalition of conservative and national populist parties hoping to tip the balance of power in the European Union away from the pro-open borders establishment of centrist-globalist parties in the upcoming European Parliament elections, and in favour of a rising pro-sovereignty, anti-mass migration faction.
In an interview with the Germany Sunday newspaper Welt am Sonntag, in which Orbán was challenged at length on a poster campaign featuring European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker alongside billionaire plutocrat and open borders activist George Soros, the Hungarian warned that “the Turkish government has the sole power to decide on whether or not the millions of refugees in its country will set out for Europe.”
The flow of migrants into Europe via Turkey was stemmed - but not stopped - only as a result of the EU agreeing to a multi-billion euro deal with Ankara to control its borders, but the Near Asian country’s Islamist regime has repeatedly threatened to reopen the floodgates.
“We are approaching the point at which the population of the countries of the Arab world will overtake that of the European Union – and in this I haven’t included sub-Saharan Africa, which is hardly able to provide for its populations,” Orbán explained, suggesting that much of this growing population could make for the generous welfare states of Europe.
Defending his poster campaign against EU chief Jean-Claude Juncker, who the Hungarians believe to be enabling an increase in immigration, the Hungarian leader noted that the Luxembourger “commands hardly any respect” in Central Europe.
BY CHRISTINE DOUGLASS-WILLIAMS
Pray for wisdom and political strength for national leaders across the EU in managing migration and implementing border controls.
Pray against manipulative threats and negative third party attempts to influence these issues.