Globe Trot: Story of Afghan hospital attack changes again

AFGHANISTAN: U.S. forces targeted the hospital in Kunduz staffed by Doctors Without Borders because they believed it was a staging ground for a key Pakistani operative coordinating the Taliban’s takeover of the city. This is different than a mistake, which is what the Pentagon said earlier this week after the attack killed 22 patients and staff. Note, too, (in the vein of fighting alongside the friends of our enemies) U.S. intelligence “concluded that the Pakistani, believed to have been working for his country’s Inter-Service Intelligence directorate, had been killed.”

Importantly, President Barack Obama yesterday halted the withdrawal of soldiers from Afghanistan, saying a longer-term presence there is vital to U.S. security: “I will not allow Afghanistan to be used as safe haven for terrorists to attack our nation again.”

RUSSIA’s involvement in Syria is, without a doubt, a game changer. Interesting take: It’s all about oil.

ISRAEL: Seems the shrines are all turning to dust. Palestinians set fire to Joseph’s Tomb today, damaging the site where the patriarch is believed to be buried. The wave of Palestinian-led attacks in Jerusalem began with a social media rumor of an impending takeover of Al-Aqsa Mosque, located along with the Dome of the Rock on the Temple Mount. Israeli officials acknowledge this is a “religious approach,” about “defending Islam against the ‘enemies of the mosque’ … against the Jews.”

CORRECTION: On Monday, I said Papua New Guinea was part of Indonesia, but that’s Papua or West Papua, a province on the western part of the island shared by Papua New Guinea, which is an independent country. The whole area continues to cope with a hazardous haze from peat fires plus drought, but one Globe Trot reader reported in from there, saying a little rain has started to fall. May there be more.

NOTE: Actually, two notes. Comments and feedback are more appreciated than I can say. I’m simply not able to respond directly to all of them, but I am digesting. Second, there will be no Globe Trot on Monday.