Islamic State captures Tora Bora

AFGHANISTAN: Islamic State forces captured Tora Bora, once the mountain hideout for Osama bin Laden and the site of an extensive battle won by U.S. Special Forces in 2001—all just ahead of a new blueprint for American involvement in Afghanistan due next month.

Defense Secretary James Mattis told a Senate committee yesterday that “we are not winning” in Afghanistan, and an angry Sen. John McCain said it was time for answers from the Trump administration: “We can’t keep going like this,” the Republican from Arizona said. “We know what the strategy was for the last eight years: Don’t lose. That hasn’t worked.”

NORTH KOREA: Freed American prisoner Otto Warmbier returned to the United States, extricated by a U.S. diplomatic mission after officials—and his family—learned in the past week that the University of Virginia student has been in a coma for more than a year. Warmbier was arrested and sentenced after stealing a propaganda poster from a Pyongyang hotel in January 2016.

RUSSIA: Anti-government rallies are growing in Russian cities after authorities on Monday found opposition leader Alexey Navalny guilty and sentenced him to 30 days’ detention. Surprising fact: Most Russia news isn’t happening in Washington, but the U.S. Senate is expected today to take a step toward imposing new sanctions on Russia.

BRITAIN: A horrifying high-rise fire overnight in London has killed at least 12 people and injured dozens more. At least one child survived as desperate residents threw infants and children from the 24-story complex.

The U.K. election has brought more confusion than clarity on Britain’s exit from the European Union, and here’s a good breakdown of the options facing London and Brussels now.

SYRIA: UN officials report “a staggering loss of civilian life” as U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces begin their assault on ISIS fighters in Raqqa, the ISIS capital. As with Mosul in Iraq, coalition forces have engaged ISIS strongholds in dense urban areas with no formal planning for escaping civilians. Before ISIS, Raqqa was a diverse city with sizeable Kurd, Christian, and other non-Muslim populations.

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