The United States is fully confident that if the Taliban (the Taliban movement, a terrorist organization banned in the Russian Federation) captures Afghanistan, this government will not have recognition in the world community. This was stated at a regular briefing on Thursday, August 12, by the head of the press service of the State Department, Ned Price.

The United States has begun transferring additional forces to Afghanistan. The country's authorities intend to complete this process by the end of the week, said Pentagon spokesman John Kirby.

The US military considers the complete evacuation of the embassy in Afghanistan inevitable, according to the publication Politico. Earlier, the United States sent 3,000 military personnel to Afghanistan to speed up the evacuation of civilian employees of the embassy.

The main part of the three-thousandth group of the US military, which will ensure the evacuation of employees of the US Embassy in Afghanistan, should arrive in Kabul by the end of this week, Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said at a briefing on Friday.

Former US President Donald Trump and former US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo criticized the tactics chosen by the administration of current President Joe Biden regarding Afghanistan.

The Government of Canada will send a special forces unit to Kabul, which will ensure the safety of employees of the Canadian embassy during its evacuation and before closing, the Associated Press reported, citing an informed source.

US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken and Defense Minister Lloyd Austin assured in a telephone conversation with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani that they continue to provide assistance to the Afghan government in the conditions of the offensive of the Taliban movement (banned in the Russian Federation), the US State Department said.

The Taliban were able to capture Kandahar because of the flight of Afghan troops, Zamir Kabulov, special representative of the Russian President for Afghanistan, director of the Second Department of Asia of the Foreign Ministry, told RIA Novosti.

The head of the British Defense Ministry, Ben Wallace, criticized the withdrawal of Washington's military contingent from Afghanistan, saying that the international community is likely to suffer from the consequences of this US decision, Sky News reported on Friday.

Recognizing the legality of the Taliban movement (banned in the Russian Federation) unilaterally would be an unacceptable step, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on British television.

The speed with which the Taliban units (a terrorist organization banned in the Russian Federation) were advancing up to Kabul caused general surprise, Olivier de Bavenchov, former commander of the French contingent of the international NATO forces in Afghanistan, told France 24 TV channel on Sunday.

The militants of the Taliban movement (banned in the Russian Federation) are in Kabul, and they do not have to deal with any large-scale resistance, CNN reports.

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said that the difficult political and economic situation that developed in Russia in the 1990s should not be repeated.

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu arrived in China on Thursday on a working visit to monitor the active phase of the Russian-Chinese operational-strategic exercises "Sibu / Interaction-2021".

The training and equipment of the intelligence units of the Russian army, shown during exercises with the army of Uzbekistan at the Termez training ground near the border with Afghanistan, surprised journalists.

The columnist of the Popular Mechanics publication was amazed at the readiness of the special forces of the two countries to overcome any obstacles, including passing through "rings of fire" on the obstacle course. Moreover, such exercises are not practiced in the NATO armed forces.

The introduction of the road into operation will increase the transport capabilities of Eastern Siberia, the Minister of Defense of the Russian Federation noted

The reconstruction of the eastern branch of the Baikal-Amur Mainline (BAM) by the end of 2024, after the road is put into operation, will increase the transport capabilities of Eastern Siberia, increase the capacity of the mainline and the volume of transit traffic, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said.

The trilateral statement of the leaders of Armenia, Russia and Azerbaijan does not imply the withdrawal of Armenian military forces from Nagorno-Karabakh, the Armenian Foreign Ministry said.

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said he is ready to meet with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev for talks on Karabakh and the settlement of regional problems.

Vladimir Zelensky approved the communication strategy on the issues of Euro-Atlantic integration of the republic for the period up to 2025. The purpose of the document is to widely inform Ukrainians about the state's policy on joining the European Union and NATO. Ukraine also intends to counteract the "aggression of Russia".

The volume of Russia's secret exports increased by 61% in January—June 2021, to $27 billion. Exports of defense industry, aircraft and shipbuilding products increased by 31%, to $4.7 billion, Vedomosti reports. The largest importer of these products was the Czech Republic, which was included in the list of countries unfriendly to Russia.