Bloomberg Donald Trump vowed as a presidential candidate to reduce America’s military involvement abroad and quickly defeat IS terrorists. His announcement of an open-ended commitment to Afghanistan to battle extremists is a concession that as president he cannot meet either promise. Trump’s shift on Afghanistan is the latest indication of how difficult it has been to deliver on his “only …

BAGHDAD / ERBIL / Reuters A delegation representing Iraq’s ruling Shi’ite coalition may meet Kurdish politicians again next week to try to convince them to delay or cancel a plan to hold an independence referendum, a negotiator said. A first round of talks, held last week in Baghdad, brought the two sides closer and a second round could be held …

Bloomberg Angela Merkel’s main challenger, Martin Schulz, sharpened his attack against the German chancellor less than five weeks before the election as his Social Democrats struggle to narrow the gap in polls that give her a dominant advantage. Laying out his pitch in the northern German city of Bremen, where the Social Democrats have governed since 1945, Schulz called for …