"Gold is a pretty metal, soft and easy to work with for artists and with some interesting electrical properties, but otherwise rather useless other than as a symbol of wealth and power. If an alien race wanted to conquer the Earth (although one has to wonder what there could possibly be here on Earth worth the trouble) all they would have to do is start handing out 500 pounds of gold to every living human being and the financial/political foundations of our civilization would crumble overnight. I am not convinced that would be a bad thing in the long term" -- Michael Rivero

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Heavy gunfire between Taliban militants and the Iranian military broke out at a shared border on Saturday, resulting in the deaths of at least two Iranian border guards and more wounded.

The flare-up between Taliban-controlled Afghanistan and the Islamic Republic of Iran comes amid a fierce dispute over water rights, specifically concerning access of drought-stricken Iran to the Helmand River.

Rep. Michael McCaul (R-TX), the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, was finally able to see a long sought-after 2021 cable from diplomats warning the Biden administration about the situation of Afghanistan that was ignored, according to Just the News. The chairman and the committee's highest-ranking Democrat Representative Greg Meeks (D-NY) managed to obtain a reading of the cable after much evasion by the Department of State.

House Committee on Oversight and Accountability Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) today is calling on senior officials in the Biden Administration to fully cooperate with the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR). The Oversight Committee has obtained testimony from Inspector General John Sopko that the Department of State, Department of Defense, Department of the Treasury, and the U.S. Agency for International Development are obstructing SIGAR’s investigations.

Military bases that housed tens of thousands of Afghan refugees in the U.S. incurred almost $260 million in damages that in some cases rendered buildings unusable for troops until significant repairs to walls and plumbing are made, the Pentagon’s inspector general found.

Iran's President Ebrahim Raisi said that the current Afghan government should ensure Iran's water rights of the Helmand River based on international treaties, Iranian media reported.

Addressing reporters during a visit to Sistan and Balouchestan province on Thursday, Raisi said the current Afghan authorities should "immediately" provide Iran with its share of water.

“I will remind the rulers of Afghanistan that they should not regard our demand as being ordinary and must take it very seriously,” Raisi said.