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Give us 5 minutes, and we'll give you the world. Around the clock, Voice of America keeps you in touch with the latest news. We bring you reports from our correspondents and interviews with newsmakers from across the world.

NATO criticizes China for helping support Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. US to station long-range missiles in Germany, a move Moscow says is “aggressive.” President Zelenskyy went to Capitol Hill and VOA was there, plus an update from Kyiv. A look at a plan for the next presidential administration put together by extreme conservatives that some are calling authoritarian and antithetical to the American system of checks and balances within government.

Islamabad — A new United Nations report says the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), an alliance of extremist groups, is “the largest terrorist group” in Afghanistan and receives growing support from that country’s Taliban rulers to conduct cross-border attacks in Pakistan. The U.N. sanctions monitoring team released the assessment late Wednesday amid a dramatic surge in TTP-led terror attacks against Pakistani security forces and civilians, killing hundreds of them in recent weeks. “TTP continues to operate at a significant scale in Afghanistan and to conduct terrorist operations into Pakistan from there, often utilizing Afghans,” the report read. It noted that the globally designated terrorist group, also known as the Pakistani Taliban, is operating in Afghanistan with an estimated strength of 6,000-6,500 fighters. “Further, the Taliban have proved unable or unwilling to manage the threat from Tehrik-e Taliban Pakistan, whose attacks into Pakistan have intensified,” the document said. “Taliban support to TTP also appears to have increased.” The deadly violence has strained relations between Islamabad and the de facto Taliban government in Kabul, which denies allegations of the presence of any terrorist groups or that it allows the use of Afghan soil to threaten neighboring countries. “The Taliban do not conceive of TTP as a terrorist group: the bonds are close, and the debt owed to TTP is significant,” the U.N. report said.  TTP emerged in Pakistan’s volatile border areas in 2007, providing recruits and shelter to the Afghan Taliban as they intensified insurgent attacks against U.S. and NATO troops in Afghanistan in the years that followed. The international forces withdrew from the country in August 2021, clearing the way for the Taliban to reclaim power from the then-U.S.-backed Afghan government in Kabul. Al-Qaida links The U.N. report said regional al-Qaida operatives in Afghanistan, who have long-term ties to the Taliban, are assisting TTP in conducting high-profile terrorist activities inside Pakistan. The Taliban have not immediately responded to the latest U.N. findings, but they have previously rejected such reports as propaganda meant to malign their government, which they call the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan. The U.N. assessment quoted member states as noting that TTP operatives, along with local fighters, are being trained in al-Qaida camps that the terrorist outfit has set up in multiple border provinces such as Nangarhar, Kandahar, Kunar, and Nuristan. Al-Qaida's support for TTP also involves sharing Afghan fighters for military staffing or attack formations. The report quoted one U.N. member state as expressing concern that “greater collaboration” with al-Qaida could transform TTP into an “extra-regional threat.” US weapons and TTP U.N. member states reiterated that NATO “caliber weapons, especially night vision capability, that have been provided to TTP since the Taliban takeover add lethality to TTP terrorist attacks against Pakistani military border posts.” Officials in Islamabad have also repeatedly attributed the increasing number of casualties among security forces to the modern U.S. weapons that were left behind by international forces and have fallen into the hands of TTP. The U.S. Department of Defense responded to the allegations in a quarterly report made public in late May, saying that Pakistani intelligence forces recovered a few U.S.-manufactured small arms, including M-16 and M-4 rifles, following counterterrorism operations earlier this year. “Militants, including the TTP, are probably using only a limited quantity of U.S.-origin weaponry and equipment, including small arms and night vision goggles, to conduct attacks in Pakistan,” the U.S. report said. It added, however, that “the amount of U.S.-origin weaponry that Pakistani sources allege is in the hands of anti-Pakistan militants is likely an exaggeration.” Islamabad has repeatedly called on Kabul to rein in TTP-led cross-border terrorism, apprehend its leaders, including Mehsud, and hand them over to Pakistan. The Taliban’s response has been that TTP is an internal security issue for Pakistan to handle instead of blaming Afghanistan. TTP has gradually intensified the number of attacks against Pakistan from 573 in 2021 to 1,203 in 2023, with the trend continuing into 2024, according to the U.N. report. Pakistani officials also attribute the spike in violence to the “greater operational freedom” the terror outfit has enjoyed in Afghanistan since the Taliban returned to power almost three years ago. The Taliban’s spy agency, the General Directorate of Intelligence, facilitated three new guest houses in Kabul for TTP leaders and reportedly issued passes to senior TTP figures to facilitate ease of movement and immunity from arrest, as well as weapons permits, according to the U.N. report. The assessment noted that the Taliban are concerned that “excessive pressure” might lead TTP to collaborate with the Afghanistan-based Islamic State affiliate, known as IS Khorasan, which routinely plots deadly attacks on Taliban security forces and members of the Afghan Shiite minority. 

The killing of a sixth journalist in Pakistan underscores the dangers for local media, say analysts and reporters. With threats increasing, including on the border with Afghanistan, some journalists fear for their safety. For VOA News' Tabinda Naeem, Elizabeth Cherneff narrates.

Give us 5 minutes, and we'll give you the world. Around the clock, Voice of America keeps you in touch with the latest news. We bring you reports from our correspondents and interviews with newsmakers from across the world.

Pakistan is increasingly becoming an authoritarian state, critics say. On Monday, the government authorized a military spy agency to tap civilians’ phones. From Islamabad, VOA Pakistan bureau chief Sarah Zaman looks at why the state is clamping down on people’s rights to free speech and privacy. Camera: Wajid Asad   

Washington — The House rejected a GOP effort Thursday to fine Attorney General Merrick Garland $10,000 a day until he turns over audio of President Joe Biden's interview in his classified documents case as a handful of Republicans resisted taking an aggressive step against a sitting Cabinet official. Even if the resolution — titled inherent contempt — had passed, it was unclear how the fine would be enforced as the dispute over the tape of Biden's interview with special counsel Robert Hur is now playing out in court. The House voted 204-210, with four Republicans joining all Democrats, to halt a Republican resolution that would have imposed the fine, effectively rebuffing the latest effort by GOP lawmakers to assert its enforcement powers — weeks after Biden asserted executive privilege to block the release of the recording. "This is not a decision that we have reached lightly but the actions of the attorney general cannot be ignored," Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., the resolution's lead sponsors, said during debate Wednesday. "No one is above the law." The House earlier this year made Garland the third attorney general in U.S. history to be held in contempt of Congress. But the Justice Department said Garland would not be prosecuted, citing the agency's "longstanding position and uniform practice" to not prosecute officials who don't comply with subpoenas because of a president's claim of executive privilege. Democrats blasted the GOP effort as another political stunt. Rep. Jim McGovern, D-Mass., said that the resolution is unjustified in the case of Garland because he has complied with subpoena. "Their frustration is that they can't get their hands on an audio recording that they think they could turn into an RNC attack ad," McGovern said in reference to the Republican National Committee. "When you start making a mockery of things like inherent contempt you diminish this institution." Garland himself has defended the Justice Department, saying officials have gone to extraordinary lengths to provide information to the committees about Hur's classified documents investigation, including a transcript of Biden's interview. However, Garland has said releasing the audio could jeopardize future sensitive investigations because witnesses might be less likely to cooperate if they know their interviews might become public. House Republicans sued Garland earlier this month in an attempt to force the release of the recording. Republicans have accused Biden of suppressing the recording because he's afraid to have voters hear it during an election year. The White House and Democratic lawmakers, meanwhile, have slammed Republicans' motives for pursuing contempt and dismissed their efforts to obtain the audio as purely political. The congressional inquiry began with the release of Hur's report in February, which found evidence that Biden willfully retained and shared highly classified information when he was a private citizen. Yet the special counsel concluded that criminal charges were not warranted. Republicans, incensed by Hur's decision, issued a subpoena for audio of his interviews with Biden during the spring. But the Justice Department turned over only some of the records, leaving out audio of the interview with the president. Beyond the bitingly critical assessment of Biden's handling of sensitive government records, Hur offered unflattering characterizations of the Democratic president's memory in his report, sparking fresh questions about his competency and age that cut at voters' most deep-seated concerns about the 81-year-old seeking a second term.

Give us 5 minutes, and we'll give you the world. Around the clock, Voice of America keeps you in touch with the latest news. We bring you reports from our correspondents and interviews with newsmakers from across the world.

The U.S. has led several mediation talks between the warring sides without success. Washington has called on the United Arab Emirates to stop supporting the war and imposed sanctions on several UAE companies that have been fueling the hostilities.

Give us 5 minutes, and we'll give you the world. Around the clock, Voice of America keeps you in touch with the latest news. We bring you reports from our correspondents and interviews with newsmakers from across the world.

With massive missile attacks on Ukraine this week and an announcement that it is resuming production of long-range missiles, Moscow is raising pressure on NATO allies as leaders of the alliance meet in Washington. Marcus Harton narrates this report by Ricardo Marquina.

Give us 5 minutes, and we'll give you the world. Around the clock, Voice of America keeps you in touch with the latest news. We bring you reports from our correspondents and interviews with newsmakers from across the world.

At a summit between India and Russia this week, both countries said they were committed to deepening the relationship. Anjana Pasricha reports on why India is enhancing its partnership with Russia, which has been isolated by Western countries over its war in Ukraine.