Hello and welcome to Background Briefing, available 24-7 at Background Briefing.org.

I'm Ian Masters, and today we'll examine a number of stories and issues in the news.

We'll begin with the killing today of Iran's top national security official I'm Ian Masters, and today we'll examine a number of stories and issues in the news.

We'll begin with the killing today of Iran's top national security official and the head of the besieged militia,

who were hiding in a safe house and were struck by Israel,

opening the way for even more hardline officials to take over since both Ali Larenjani and Brigadier General Soleimani were pragmatists in an otherwise radical regime of religious zealots.

Joining us to discuss the historical record of US meddling in Iran leading up to the current war is Tom McIdes, a professor of history at DePaul University,

where he teaches courses in British, modern European and military history.

His research and writing cover international security, terrorism, unconventional conflict and military history.

A regular contributor to the Hill, he has taught counterterrorism courses at venues around the world

as part of the US Department of Defense's Counterterrorism Fellowship Program

and is the author of many books including New Terrorism, Myths and Reality, Violent

Extremist Understanding the Domestic International Terrorist Threat and Iraq and the Challenge

of Counterinsurgency. We'll discuss his article at the Hill, A history of US meddling in Iran brought us here.

Then we'll look into the intensifying war between Afghanistan's Taliban and their former sponsor, Pakistan,

following a strike on a drug rehabilitation hospital in Kabul that killed over 400.

Joining us is Christine Fair, a professor in the Security Studies program within

Georgetown University's Edmund Day-Wolf School of Foreign Service.

She previously served as a political officer with the United Nations Assistance

Mission to Afghanistan in Kabul, and she's the author of Fighting to the End, the Pakistan Army's Way of War,

and in their own words, understanding Lashka-eiba, and she speaks and reads Hindi, Urdu, and Punjabi.

Then finally, with Trump claiming he will have, quote, the honor of taking Cuba and handpicking

...