As Western nations debate how best to provide humanitarian aid to Afghanistan without enriching the Taliban, China and Pakistan have already sent planeloads of supplies to the country and are willing to send more, Reuters reports.
Why it matters: Afghanistan is mired in a humanitarian and economic crisis, and China's and Pakistan's willingness to help could draw Afghanistan closer into those countries' orbits.
The Biden administration's "over-the-horizon" strategy in Afghanistan is drawing serious questions from lawmakers and counterterrorism experts, as the U.S. withdrawal shifts calculations about threats and capabilities.
Driving the news: Tensions ramped up in an Aug. 27 conference call between President Biden's top national security officials and senators from both parties, sources familiar with the discussions tell Axios. One said members of the intelligence community label it, derisively, the "over-the-rainbow" strategy.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken can expect the most aggressive questioning of his career when he testifies Monday before the House Foreign Affairs Committee and on Tuesday before Senate Foreign Relations.
Why it matters: Republicans see the hearings as their first chance to directly confront a top-ranking Biden official about the chaotic U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan. Democrats see it as a moment in which they must reject GOP efforts to blame President Biden for 20 years of bipartisan mistakes.
The Senate has confirmed just two of President Biden's ambassadorial nominations, far behind the 56 confirmed envoys President Obama had at this stage, according to data compiled by the Partnership for Public Service.
The big picture: Just one in four other national security positions at the Pentagon and Departments of Justice and State are filled.
U.K. Health Secretary Sajid Javid told the BBC on Sunday that the country will not be moving forward with plans to implement vaccine passports for nightclubs and other large, crowded events.
Why it matters: The move marks an abrupt change of course after the vaccine passport plan came under growing criticism from conservative lawmakers. Just days earlier, the U.K.'s vaccines minister, Nadhim Zahawi, defended vaccine passports as the best way forward, the Associated Press reported.
Iran and the International Atomic Energy Agency reached an agreement on Sunday that will allow the United Nations' nuclear watchdog group to provide upkeep on its monitoring cameras at Iranian nuclear sites.
Why it matters: The last-minute agreement prevents another crisis on the road to restoring the 2015 nuclear deal, as Iran was on the cusp of being censured for violating its agreement with the IAEA, per the New York Times.
Appeals filed this week by two former Serbian State Security officials convicted of aiding and abetting war crimes in Bosnia and Herzegovina will mark the final stage of 18 years of international efforts to adjudicate crimes committed during the breakup of Yugoslavia.
Why it matters: "The closure and ending of trials signifies an end of an era — one that was a turning point for international law and goes far beyond the former Yugoslavia," Iva Vukušić, a historian and genocide scholar at Utrecht University in the Netherlands, told Axios.
Al-Qaeda chief Ayman al-Zawahri appeared in a new video released on Saturday, the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, according to the Associated Press.
Why it matters: Last November, rumors spread that Osama bin Laden's former No. 2 had died from an illness though senior leadership never commented. In the new video, al-Zawahri makes references that extend to at least January, according to the monitoring group SITE Intelligence.
Pope Francis on Sunday warned of the threat of anti-Semitism "still lurking," in an address to Christian and Jewish leaders during his trip to Hungary, Reuters reports.
Why it matters: The pope's comments followed a meeting with Hungary Prime Minister Viktor Orban, a strongman leader who has faced accusations of anti-Semitism from the Jewish community in the country.
The FBI released late Saturday a newly declassified document related to its investigation into the planning of the 9/11 attacks and the alleged role of Saudi Arabia's government.
Why it matters: The FBI's publishing of the document on the 20th anniversary of the terrorist attacks is expected to be the first of several such records to be released, following President Biden's executive order last week directing details to be declassified after calls from victims' families.
The big picture: State Gov. Charlie Baker, Boston Mayor Kim Janey and U.S. Sen. Edward Markey (D-Mass.) were among those paying respects when Rosario's casket arrived at Boston's Logan International Airport on the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
France's former health minister Agnès Buzyn has been indicted and accused of "endangering the lives of others" during her response to the pandemic, per AFP. She will appeal the charge.
Why it matters: Buzyn was health minister when the pandemic exploded in France last year. Buzyn, who was accused Friday of "failing to fight a disaster," is the first French official charged over the coronavirus crisis, Le Monde notes. It comes as President Emmanuel Macron faces scrutiny over his response to the health crisis.
