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On 16 June 2017, the EU - U.S. Ministerial Meeting on Justice and Home Affairs took place in Malta. The meeting reaffirmed the strong and historical bonds of partnership between the United States of America and the European Union, and the commitment to continue working closely together in the areas of Justice and Home Affairs.

The European Union, hosting the meeting in Valletta, was represented by the Commissioner for Migration, Home Affairs and Citizenship Dimitris Avramopoulos, the Commissioner for Justice, Consumers and Gender Equality VraJourov, the Union Security Commissioner, Julian King, by the EU Counter-Terrorism Coordinator Gilles de Kerchove and by Malta's Minister of Home Affairs and National Security, Michael Farrugia and Minister for Justice, Culture and Local Government, Owen Bonnici, on behalf of the Presidency of the Council of the European Union.

The United States of America was represented by U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions and by Deputy Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security Elaine C. Duke.

The European Union and United States of America underlined the critical importance of their cooperation in the area of Justice and Home Affairs and the need to sustain and deepen cooperation while facing shared security challenges, for the benefit of the security of citizens on both sides of the Atlantic.

The European Union and the United States of America discussed their common efforts to fight terrorism. The discussion focused specifically on working together to address the issue of foreign terrorist fighters through improved information sharing, and addressing the challenge of radicalization, particularly on the internet, as well as the role of anti-money laundering legislation in tackling terrorist financing. The two sides also exchanged views and took stock of recent European Union actions in the areas of migration, border management and its role in ensuring internal security.

The discussion further covered the implementation of the U.S.-EU Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty and the question of access by law enforcement authorities to electronic evidence.

Both sides welcomed the entry into force of the EU-U.S. Data Protection "Umbrella" Agreement and reiterated their commitment to ensure its full implementation.

The European Union and the United States of America also discussed the threats from terrorism to aviation security and working together to raise global aviation security standards to protect passengers.

The European Union and the United States of America agreed on the importance of advancing towards reciprocal visa free travel under their respective legal frameworks. Both sides endorsed a cooperative approach to assisting Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Poland and Romania in advancing more rapidly towards the fulfillment of the requirements for designation in the U.S. Visa Waiver Program, consistent with U.S. law.

The sides reaffirmed the need to step up joint work on cybersecurity and cybercrime in all its dimensions including with the private sector. They also agreed to continue the good cooperation on fighting illicit drugs and to consider joint efforts on fighting smuggling and trafficking of migrants.

Reiterating the progress made and the need to face global challenges together, the European Union and the UnitedStates of America remain committed to reinforce their partnership and meet again in the second half of 2017 in Washington.

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Joint EU-US press statement following the EU-US Justice and Home Affairs Ministerial Meeting, Valletta, 16 June 2017 - EU News

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Google gets a wrist slap from German court over European Union privacy law Mashable For now, doing so costs Facebook almost nothing, but privacy violations for Facebook, Google and other internet companies could cost them as much as four percent of their yearly revenue when new E.U. privacy regulations become the rule of law next year.

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Google gets a wrist slap from German court over European Union privacy law - Mashable

Anadolu Agency/Getty Images Afghan police during a protest against a suicide bomb attack in Kabul, June 2, 2017

When Donald Trumps secretary of defense, James Mattis, was called before the Senate Armed Services Committee this week to testify about the conflict in Afghanistan, he was unusually blunt: We are not winning in Afghanistan right now, he said. The Taliban have been on a dramatic offensive, he acknowledged, the security situation continues to deteriorate, and the Afghan government holds considerably less territory than it did a year ago. In other words, prospects for any sort of positive outcome are as remote as they have been in this sixteen-year warthe longest war in American history.

Yet Trumpand Mattisssolution to this unwinnable war seems to be once again to send more troops. On Tuesday, Trump announced that the military itself would be given full authority to decide how many troops it needs. (By leaving all decisions in the hands of the military, he has abandoned the usual inter-agency consultations, especially with the State Department.) And Mattis is talking about a review to be completed in July that could add as many as 5,000 troops. It may be too late.

Afghanistan now faces a far deeper crisis than many seem to understand. Warlords and politiciansincluding cabinet membersare calling for the resignation of President Ashraf Ghani and his security ministers, accusing them of incompetence, arrogance, and stirring up ethnic hatred. There are as many as ten public demonstrations a day in the streets of Kabul, carried out by young people and by relatives of those killed in recent bomb attacks.

In early June multiple suicide bombings in Kabul killed over 170 people and wounded some 500. Terrorists managed to get a massive truck bomb into the heavily guarded diplomatic quarter, where it exploded, killing mainly civiliansa clear indication of collusion with security officers. Neither the Taliban nor the Islamic State claimed responsibility. The Taliban have now launched ground offensives to take more territory and to capture the northern city of Kunduz, a city of almost 300,000 that they tried twice last year to seize. If it falls now to the Taliban it would be the first major city they have re-occupied.

Afghanistans neighbors, meanwhile, are becoming increasingly restive about the US-led counterinsurgency: Pakistan continues to give sanctuary to the Taliban leadership, including the Haqqani groupthe most vicious arm of the Talibanwhile Iran and Russia are also providing support (the exact amount is unknown) to the Taliban. These regional powersbelieve that the Taliban could provide a bulwark against the spread of ISIS into their territoriesand do not want Pakistan to monopolize influence over the Taliban.They want to limitUS power in the region. The influence of ISIS in Afghanistan, which was once relegated to the single eastern province of Nangarhar, is now expanding, and the group claimed responsibility for a horrendous early March attack on Kabuls military hospital in which fifty patients and doctors were killed and ninety wounded.

Still, even more dangerous than the deteriorating security situation is the political crisis now unfolding in Kabul. The lack of trust between president Ashraf Ghani and his CEO or prime minister, Abdullah Abdullah, has led to a paralysis in governance and social services. Senior officials in the army and bureaucracy are choosing sides. Many bureaucrats and teachers have not been paid for months due to the lack of funds. Prominent warlords now turned politicians are increasingly siding with the opposition and demanding that Ghani resign and fresh elections be held.

Ghani is deeply unpopular. Many Afghans now regard the government as illegimate, a regime that would not survive at all if it were not propped up by the US and NATO, who jointly have some 13,000 troops in the country. Two years ago the US brokered a coalition government between Ghani and his rival Abdullah Abdullah in order to paper over a heavily rigged election. (It was rigged by both candidates and the two candidates bickered for months about who actually won, before the Americans stepped in.)

But Ghani, a Pashtun, has never fully shared power with Abdullah, a Tajik, and has been accused of stuffing the government with his fellow Pashtuns. Cabinet members such as the foreign minister and a special representative of the president, and warlords such as the influential Ismail Khan from Heratall once loyal to the coalitionare now demanding Ghanis resignation and fresh elections because they are fed up with his seeming incompetence, his arrogance, and his unwillingness to work with the coalition.

Until now, Western forces have been able to keep the government in power by financing the budget and paying salaries and maintaining the Afghan army in the field. But it has become increasingly difficult, with the Taliban advancing in many parts of the country making US and NATO forces look increasingly irrelevant. Opposition politicans have been willing to contradict the Americans, but that may be changing.

In view of the growing brazenness of Taliban attacks, there are now deep fissures in the US National Security Council between those, including Mattis, who want to send thousands more US troops in a last-ditch effort to save the regime from collapse and those, such as adviser Steve Bannon, who want the US to walk away from what is clearly a failing military endeavor and a failed state. But Trumps decision this week to hand over the troop decision to the military itself suggests that those arguing for a new troop surge will get the upper hand.This is a hopeless strategy.

No matter howmany troops Mattis decides to send this summer, it will not rectifythe political crisisin Kabul. In the absence of clear engagement with the Afghan government, or demands that Ghani create a more inclusive coalition government and yield some of his powers, more US troops will only make things worse.

Nobody in Washington appears interested in exerting more political pressure on the Kabul regime, Pakistan, and the Taliban to begin negotiations that could lead to a ceasefire and a political agreement. To continue seeing the conflict only through the prism of war and troop numbers as the US does will only lead to continuing erosion of the governments legitimacy. and loss of territory. Taliban attacks will increase, there will be continued loss of territory, andthe government may collapse. This is a recipe for failure.

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Afghanistan: It's Too Late - The New York Review of Books

An American citizen who is living in Afghanistan was kidnapped on his way to work on Sunday, Kabul police said.

The kidnapping took place in the Karte Char area of Kabul, according to Mohammad Almas, the head of the Kabul police's Crime Investigation Department (CID).

Almas said that the kidnappers posed in Afghan security forces uniforms in order to trick the victim into stopping his vehicle.

Police originally said that the man, whose name has not been released, was working on a World Bank project with the Afghan Ministry of Agriculture. But later on Sunday Alex Ferguson, a spokesman for the World Bank, denied the claim.

"No World Bank staff have been kidnapped," Ferguson told ABC News in an email. "Our understanding is that these reports refer to an employee of the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock (MAIL) who is working for the National Horticulture and Livestock Project (NHLP), which is funded by a World Bank managed trust fund."

The kidnapping follows a similar incident that took place in August of 2016, when two foreign national professors working at the American University of Afghanistan were kidnapped at gunpoint in Kabul.

The professors, Timothy Weeks, an Australian, and Kevin King, an American, were last seen in a video released by the Taliban in January of this year, according to a report in The New York Times.

ABC News' Ben Gittleson contributed to this report.

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US citizen living in Afghanistan kidnapped on way to work: police - ABC News

This photo taken on May 31, 2017 shows U.S. soldiers standing guard near the site of a car bomb in the Afghan capital Kabul.(Photo: Wakil Kohsar, AFP/Getty Images)

The Pentagon will send nearly 4,000 additional troops to Afghanistan in an effort to turn around a war that commanders have described as a stalemate, the Associated Press reported Thursday.

Earlier this week, President Trump provided his defense secretary, Jim Mattis, with the authority to determine troop levels in Afghanistan.

The AP cited a Trump administration source who was not authorized to discuss the decision publicly and said the decision could be announced as early as next week.

A Pentagon spokeswoman said no decision has been made yet.

"Any decisions about troop numbers will be made only after consultation with the interagency, the Afghan government, NATO allies and coalition partners," Dana White said.

A U.S. official who asked not to be named because he was not authorized to discuss the issue publiclysaid the Pentagon is still considering between 3,000 and 5,000 U.S. troops.

The Pentagon is reviewing the strategy for Afghanistan, which Mattis said may take several weeks. But the question of sending additional troops is considered urgent in order to halt recent Taliban advances as another fighting season gets underway. The Taliban generally steps up violence in the warm months, when snows melt and roads become passable.

The top commander in Afghanistan, Gen. John Nicholson, has said a few thousand additional troops would be required to turn the tide on militants.

We are not winning in Afghanistan right now, Mattis told Congress this week.

Marine Gen. Joe Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said last month that it if the U.S.and NATO countries decide to increase forces they should be prepared to do so quickly.

Wed like to see if we (can) contribute to the Afghans success in the summer of '17,Dunford said.

There are about 8,400 U.S. troops in Afghanistan now in addition to several thousand troops from allied countries. NATO forces are also expected to increase troop levels in Afghanistan.

The Pentagon has said that any troop increase would not change the mission of the forces there. Afghan security forces are leading the fight and U.S. and NATO troops are serving as advisers and providing air and other critical support.

The additional troops will allow the U.S.-led coalition to provide more advisers to Afghan combat units.

The U.S. had as many as 100,000 troops in Afghanistan in 2010 and 2011, but in 2013 turned over the primary responsibility for the war to Afghan forces. In recent years, security in the country declined as the U.S. continued to decrease forces.

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AP: Pentagon to send nearly 4000 more troops to Afghanistan - USA TODAY