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The shadow Brexit secretary, Keir Starmer, said European judges would have to be involved in a system to address Brexit issues. Photograph: Stefan Rousseau/PA

Theresa May was accused of a climbdown over the future sovereignty of British courts after a newly published government paper appeared to leave open the possibility that the European court of justice would influence UK law after Brexit.

The latest of a flurry of Brexit policy papers, due to be published on Wednesday, will repeat the governments insistence that the direct jurisdiction of the Luxembourg-based ECJ must end when Britain leaves the EU in March 2019.

But it will set out a range of options for resolving future disputes between Britain and the EU over the rules of any new trade deal, for example some of which are likely to involve European judges, or the application of ECJ case law.

A UK government spokesperson said: We have long been clear that, in leaving the EU, we will bring an end to the direct jurisdiction of the court of justice of the European Union in the UK.

The spokesperson added: It is also in everyones interest that, where disputes arise between the UK and the EU on the application or interpretation of these obligations, those disputes can be resolved efficiently and effectively.

Judicial independence is a totemic issue for Brexiters, and May sought to reassure them in her Lancaster House speech in January that she would take back control of our laws and bring an end to the jurisdiction of the European court of justice in Britain.

She added: Leaving the European Union will mean that our laws will be made in Westminster, Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast. And those laws will be interpreted by judges not in Luxembourg but in courts across this country.

Opposition politicians said that the paper represented a U-turn by ministers. The shadow Brexit secretary, Keir Starmer, said: The repeated reference to ending the direct jurisdiction of the ECJ is potentially significant. This appears to contradict the red line laid out in the prime ministers Lancaster House speech and the governments white paper, which stated there could be no future role of the ECJ and that all laws will be interpreted by judges in this country.

He added: Nothing the government says it wants to deliver from Brexit be it on trade, citizens rights or judicial cooperation can be achieved without a dispute resolution system involving some role for European judges.

The Liberal Democrat leader, Vince Cable, said: We welcome this sensible and long overdue climbdown by the prime minister. It shows Theresa Mays red lines are becoming more blurred by the day.

The government seems to have belatedly accepted it wont be possible to end the EU courts influence in the UK without damaging our free trade and security cooperation with Europe.

Senior sources at DExEU denied that they were planning a retreat on the principle of judicial sovereignty but as the government has laid out more details of the deep and special partnership it hopes to negotiate after Brexit, it has become clear that the UK and the EU will not diverge significantly.

That is likely to mean shadowing EU law in some significant areas and legal experts have warned that will make it difficult to avoid a key role for the ECJ.

Sir Paul Jenkins, who was the governments most senior legal official for eight years until 2014, said at the weekend that the prime ministers policy of seeking to avoid ECJ involvement was foolish. He insisted that if the UK wanted to retain close links with the single market and customs union it would have no option but to observe EU law in all but name.

Wednesdays paper is likely to point to precedents for international dispute resolution that do not involve a direct role for the Luxembourg court, including disputes between Switzerland and the EU, which are settled through a series of joint committees though the EU is unhappy with that arrangement, and would like a more judicial approach.

It will also use the example of the Canadian free trade deal, Ceta, which includes an investor-dispute mechanism involving expert arbitrators, rather than judges. That would be controversial with campaigners concerned that such a body may be more opaque and less consistent than a court.

The paper will not identify a preferred model, but will stress that the government is willing to be flexible, and could consider the creation of new arbitration bodies for different types of dispute.

Britains objection to ECJ oversight has already become a sticking point in talks with Brussels, with the EU insisting that it sees the Luxembourg-based court as the best arbiter of future disputes over the rights of the EU citizens who currently live in Britain. The government will underline on Wednesday that it still believes UK courts should be the guarantors of these rights and EU courts for British citizens living abroad.

Tory MP and leading Leave campaigner Bernard Jenkin said: The ECJ should not have any role in interpreting any agreement between the EU and the UK.

He told the Daily Telegraph: No non-EU country will be much interested in talking to us about a free trade agreement if we still look hobbled by our relationship to the EU.

Another political hurdle to a successful Brexit deal was made clearer on Tuesday when the Welsh first minister, Carwyn Jones, and his Scottish counterpart, Nicola Sturgeon, announced they would be jointly drawing up amendments to the governments EU (withdrawal) bill, in a bid to ensure that powers returned from Brussels flow to Edinburgh and Cardiff, not Westminster.

The pair had already pledged to withhold consent from the legislation, triggering a constitutional crisis, unless it is amended. After meeting Sturgeon in Edinburgh, Jones said: The Welsh parliament is never going to support something that deprives the people of powers that would otherwise come to them. He added: The UK government has not done enough to build trust.

May has not been fronting the publications of the Brexit position papers, after a low-key summer in which she spent almost four weeks on holiday. She returned last week but only made one public appearance, in Portsmouth, where she welcomed the aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth to its home port for the first time.

After spending time working from her constituency earlier in the week, May will reappear in the public eye on Wednesday at a factory that makes red double-decker buses in Guildford, Surrey. She is visiting the Alexander Dennis site to announce 44m of government financial guarantees to enable the sale of 90 low-emission vehicles to Mexico City.

However, the prime minister will not address staff at the factory for a speech or question and answer session, and journalists will not be allowed to attend apart from a shared broadcast camera.

Before the visit, she said the guarantee was a sign the UK was building a truly global Britain by helping UK companies win multimillion-pound contracts to export their products across the globe, and supporting high-value jobs here in this country.

Jeremy Corbyn, the Labour leader, will spend the day campaigning in the Western Isles as part of his tour of Scotland this week. He will be visiting a Harris tweed mill, an education organisation which helps with broadband connections, meeting business and community leaders, and visiting an art exhibition, followed by a rally at a sports centre where about 1,000 people are expected.

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Theresa May accused of U-turn over EU court's role after Brexit - The Guardian

But it also signaled that, nearly 16 years on, many years of American entanglement may remain.

Even before the presidents speech, the American military and Afghan leaders were laying long-term plans. Mr. Ghani has a new four-year plan for the war, extending through the 2020 fighting season, and it includes doubling his armys special forces. The American military has a $6.5-billion plan to make the Afghan air force self-sufficient and end its overreliance on American air power by 2023.

The Taliban have long-range plans, too. While their attempts to actually hold seized provincial capitals have failed often because of intensive intervention by American air power, aided by Special Operations troops many provincial centers remain little more than islands, surrounded by hostile countryside.

Taliban fighters can create roadblocks and ambushes in almost any part of the country, disrupting commerce and exacting an ever-growing human toll. Most of the 3,000 civilians killed annually are victims of the insurgents. And with Taliban control of most of Helmand Province, where 80 percent of Afghanistans opium is produced, Taliban coffers are full, both from taxing the drug and trafficking in it.

The insurgents, too, suffer high casualties; one senior American military official put their losses at 10,000 a year. Only five years ago, American military intelligence officials put the Talibans entire strength at 20,000 men, yet they seem to have no trouble replenishing their numbers.

Ask the Taliban about that, and they have a ready answer.

Hajji Naqibullah, an insurgent commander from Sangin District, cited Hajji Amanullah, who had 13 members of his family killed in battle, all replaced by his nephews. And Mullah Abdul Salam had four sons killed, but his fifth volunteered and is now a local commander.

Hajji Naqibullah said three of his own cousins were killed during the fight in Sangin, where more American and British soldiers died than anywhere else in Afghanistan, and which fell to the insurgents in March after a yearlong campaign. The three were brothers, and their widowed mother had one son left, who joined after they died. His mother is now living with widows and orphans, Hajji Naqibullah said.

Somewhere in Kandahar Province Monday morning, the Talibans military commander for the south, a member of the groups ruling Quetta Shura, tuned in at 5:30 a.m. to the BBCs Pashto service to hear a translation of Mr. Trumps speech. Like many Taliban leaders, he said, he had hoped to hear Mr. Trump make good on early vows to quit Afghanistan.

This is not good for the people of Afghanistan, said the commander, who did not want his name or even precise location identified for security reasons.

He should realize Afghanistan is not like it was during the Bush and Obama administrations, he said. And we are not going to surrender; we are not going to give up; well fight this war for another 16 years.

Reporting was contributed by Taimoor Shah from Kandahar, Afghanistan; Fahim Abed and Jawad Sukhanyar from Kabul; and Helene Cooper from Jidda, Saudi Arabia.

A version of this article appears in print on August 23, 2017, on Page A1 of the New York edition with the headline: Afghan Victory Looks More Distant, 15 Years On.

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What an Afghanistan Victory Looks Like Under the Trump Plan - New York Times

Cities across Europe, like Frankfurt, above, are taking steps to protect pedestrians after a series of terrorist attacks using cars.

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Iraqi forces are advancing in their offensive to retake the stronghold of Tal Afar from the Islamic State.

U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, above left, is in Iraq for talks to address renewed political instability fueled by regional rivalries. In Erbil, he reiterated his request that a referendum next month on Kurdish independence be postponed.

Separately, YouTube inadvertently removed videos that could be used in potential war crimes prosecutions. It had intended to purge extremist propaganda from its site.

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Our Washington team looked at how President Trump developed his new strategy for Afghanistan, one that will require thousands more American troops.

Pakistan reacted with apprehension. And the Taliban, with the hard-line Haqqani Network in their top leadership, are gaining ground.

Heres a look at some of our photographers best work covering 16 years of war. And here are some notable reactions from the right and left to Mr. Trumps plan.

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On Capitol Hill, the presidents relationship with the top Republican senator, Mitch McConnell, has disintegrated to the point that they are no longer on speaking terms. The rupture threatens to stall the Republicans legislative agenda.

Mr. Trump, at a rally in Arizona, attacked the sick news media, which he said are trying to take away our history and our heritage.

And our most-read story in Europe today: Louise Linton, the Scottish actress married to the U.S. Treasury secretary, belittled a stranger on social media for having less money than she does.

European antitrust regulators opened an investigation into Bayers $56 billion takeover of Monsanto, its American agribusiness rival.

Apple scaled back its ambitions for a self-driving car project, code-named Titan, to focus on developing the underlying technology and testing it in an employee shuttle service.

Heres a snapshot of global markets.

DNA results confirm that a torso found in Copenhagens harbor is that of the missing Swedish journalist Kim Wall, the Danish police said in a Twitter post. [The New York Times]

In Russia, the detention of Kirill Serebrennikov, the acclaimed theater director, has renewed fears of a crackdown on artists. [The New York Times]

President Emmanuel Macron will begin a tour of Central and Eastern Europe today. Notably, no meetings with the populist leaders of Hungary and Poland are said to be on the agenda. [Reuters]

Brawls between more than a hundred Afghan and Eritrean migrants in Calais, France, left 21 injured. Six police officers were also hurt. [Associated Press]

The Trump administration denied $96 million in aid to Egypt and delayed $195 million in military funding in part over Cairos ties to North Korea. [The New York Times]

Angolans are voting in a presidential election today. Outgoing President Jos Eduardo dos Santos, who led one of the worlds most corrupt nations for nearly four decades, is likely to remain influential. [Quartz]

The U.S. Navy is set to replace a top commander in Asia after two deadly collisions that raised questions among allies about American naval superiority. [The New York Times]

Tips, both new and old, for a more fulfilling life.

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Your guide for dorm room essentials.

Recipe of the day: Embrace the meatless meal with roasted cauliflower and broccoli with salsa verde.

Salzburg, Austria, has become the Davos of classical music. There, we followed Anna Netrebko, above, the star soprano, as she navigates a changing classical music industry.

At the Womens Rugby World Cup, England beat France and New Zealand crushed the U.S. to advance to Saturdays final in Belfast.

Soccer: Barcelona is suing Neymar, the star player, for breach of contract over his move to Paris Saint-Germain.

In memoriam: Janusz Glowacki, the Polish writer of darkly humorous works on totalitarianism and the migr experience, died at 78.

The depths of the ocean are a lot brighter than you might think. Scientists are finding that bioluminescence is so common in the oceans that it is one of Earths dominant traits.

They were a dissatisfied group of Americans, determined to break away.

Not Californians in 2017. Or Texans for decades. But on this day in 1784, settlers in western North Carolina declared an independent state. They were concerned that the state and national governments, which were in a debate over debts related to the Revolutionary War, did not have their best interests at heart.

The State of Franklin, in what is now eastern Tennessee, adopted a constitution with power divided among three branches, like the national government that its leaders hoped one day to join.

The state made treaties, levied taxes and set salaries, but not in currency. Instead, those salaries included 1,000 deer skins a year for the governor, 500 raccoon skins for the governors secretary and a single mink skin for the constable for each warrant signed, according to one account published in The Times in 1852.

Officials sought the help of Benjamin Franklin, but hopes of national recognition were never realized. The state only lasted a few years because of internal dissent and external pressure.

But it had an impact. The State of Franklin was eventually absorbed into Tennessee, and its leader, John Sevier, became Tennessees first governor when it joined the union in 1796.

Sarah Anderson contributed reporting.

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This briefing was prepared for the European morning. You can browse through past briefings here.

We also have briefings timed for the Australian, Asian and American mornings. You can sign up for these and other Times newsletters here.

Your Morning Briefing is published weekday mornings and updated online.

What would you like to see here? Contact us at europebriefing@nytimes.com.

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Barcelona, Afghanistan, Kim Wall: Your Wednesday Briefing - New York Times

BBC News

US Afghanistan: Tillerson ups pressure on Pakistan BBC News American Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has increased pressure on Pakistan over its perceived backing for the Taliban in Afghanistan. Pakistan denies sheltering the Taliban, but Mr Tillerson suggested it could lose US privileges if the government ... Trump's Afghanistan war strategy: Use military to force peace talks with TalibanUSA TODAY Pakistani Journalist Criticizes 'Little Substance' In Trump's Address On AfghanistanNPR Tillerson says the Taliban won't win in Afghanistan and neither will the USVox all 121 news articles »

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US Afghanistan: Tillerson ups pressure on Pakistan - BBC News

KABUL, Afghanistan Soon after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, the United States militarys attention turned to Afghanistan, where Al Qaedas leaders were based. The world awaited an invasion that many knew was sure to come.

What nobody knew was that the invasion to rout the Taliban and Al Qaeda would turn into a war that has now stretched into its 16th year Americas longest.

It has vexed three American presidencies and outlasted a dozen American military commanders.

The war also opened a window into a country where modernity clashed with tribal customs and religious edicts.

On Monday night, President Trump announced a new strategy for the war, bringing with it a possible increase in troop levels and a seemingly open-ended commitment to American involvement.

Here in reverse-chronological order are images that depict the arc of the war, as seen through the eyes of New York Times photographers who shadowed the soldiers of the United States and its allies.

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16 Years of War in Afghanistan, in Pictures - New York Times