A July 9 US airstrike in Afghanistan killed a senior leader of the Tariq Gidar Group responsible for multiple attacks on targets in Pakistan. The US Forces-Afghanistan strike on Islamic State-Khorasan Province Members in Nangarhar Province killed Umar Khalifa, the mastermind behind a January 2016 attack on Bacha Khan University, a September 2015 attack on Badaber Air Force Base, and a December 2014 attack on a school in Peshawar that killed more than 130 children, Pentagon Press Secretary Peter Cook said in a statement.
President Donald Trump’s nominee for Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff touted his highly unusual background for the job as an asset and reaffirmed his commitment to stay apolitical during a confirmation hearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee on April 1.