COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — Denmark's military said its arctic command forces evacuated a crew member of a U.S. submarine off the coast of Greenland for urgent medical treatment.
The Danish Joint Arctic Command, on its Facebook page, said the crew member was evacuated on Saturday some 7 nautical miles (8 miles; 13 kilometers) off Nuuk — the capital of the vast, ice-covered territory — and transferred to a hospital in the city. The crew member was retrieved by a Danish Seahawk helicopter that had been deployed on an inspection ship.
Also late Saturday, U.S. President Donald Trump announced plans to deploy a hospital ship to the Danish autonomous territory of Greenland, alleging that many people there are sick and not receiving care — prompting a defense of Denmark's health care system from Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen.
“Working with the fantastic Governor of Louisiana, Jeff Landry, we are going to send a great hospital boat to Greenland to take care of the many people who are sick, and not being taken care of there. It’s on the way!!!” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform, referring to his special envoy for Greenland.
Danish Defense Minister Troels Lund Poulsen, speaking to public broadcaster DR, said Danish authorities had not been informed that the ship was on its way.
The historically strong bilateral ties after World War II between NATO allies Denmark and the United States have come under severe strain in recent months as Trump ratcheted up talk of a possible U.S. takeover of the mineral-rich and strategically located Arctic island.
Frederiksen defended Denmark’s health care system on Sunday, writing on Facebook that she was “happy to live in a country where there is free and equal access to health for all. Where it’s not insurances and wealth that determine whether you get proper treatment.”
“You have the same approach in Greenland,” she said, before adding: “Happy Sunday to you all" in front of a blushing, smiling emoji.
Aaja Chemnitz, one of the two Greenlandic politicians in the Danish parliament, wrote on Facebook: "Donald Trump wants to send a poorly maintained hospital ship to Greenland. It seems rather desperate and does not contribute to the permanent and sustainable strengthening of the healthcare system that we need."
“Another day. Another crazy news story,” she wrote in front of a smiley face emoji.
FILE - Houses are seen near the coast of a sea inlet of Nuuk, Greenland, on Sunday, Jan. 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka, File)
Northern Lights over the Church of Our Saviour in Nuuk, Greenland, Saturday Feb. 21, 2026. (Bo Amstrup/Ritzau Scanpix via AP)
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Islamabad said it carried out strikes along the border with Afghanistan early Sunday, targeting what it called hideouts of Pakistani militants it blamed for recent attacks inside Pakistan. The Afghan Red Crescent Society said more than a dozen people were killed.
Pakistan didn't specify the locations targeted, but the Afghan defense ministry said in a statement “various civilian areas” in the provinces of Nangarhar and Paktika in eastern Afghanistan were hit, including a religious madrassa and multiple civilian homes.
The statement called the strikes a violation of Afghanistan’s airspace and sovereignty.
Afghan government spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid earlier on X said the attacks “killed and wounded dozens, including women and children.”
Mawlawi Fazl Rahman Fayyaz, the provincial director of the Afghan Red Crescent Society in Nangarhar province, said 18 people were killed and several others wounded.
Afghanistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs summoned Pakistan’s ambassador to Kabul and handed him a note of protest over Pakistani strikes. In a statement, the ministry said protecting Afghanistan’s territory is the Islamic Emirate’s “Sharia responsibility” and warned that Pakistan would be responsible for the consequences of such attacks.
On Sunday, villagers were seen clearing rubble in Nangarhar following airstrikes, while mourners were preparing for funerals of those killed. Habib Ullah, a local tribal elder, said those killed in the strikes were not militants. “They were poor people who suffered greatly. Those killed were neither Taliban, nor military personnel, nor members of the former government. They lived simple village lives,” he told The Associated Press.
Pakistan’s Information Minister Attaullah Tarar wrote on X that the military conducted “intelligence-based, selective operations” against seven camps belonging to the Pakistani Taliban, also known as Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, and its affiliates. He said an affiliate of the Islamic State group was also targeted.
Tarar said Pakistan “has always strived to maintain peace and stability in the region,” but added that the safety and security of Pakistani citizens remained a top priority.
Militant violence has surged in Pakistan in recent years, much of it blamed on the TTP and outlawed Baloch separatist groups. The TTP is separate from but closely allied with Afghanistan’s Taliban. Islamabad accuses the TTP of operating from inside Afghanistan, a charge both the group and Kabul deny.
Hours before the Pakistani strikes, a suicide bomber targeted a security convoy in the border district of Bannu in Pakistan’s northwest, killing two soldiers, including a lieutenant colonel. Pakistan’s military warned after the attack that it would not “exercise any restraint” and that operations against those responsible would press on.
Another suicide bomber, backed by gunmen, rammed an explosives-laden vehicle last week into the wall of a security post in Bajaur district in northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, which borders Afghanistan, killing 11 soldiers and a child. Pakistani authorities later said the attacker was an Afghan national.
Tarar said Pakistan had “conclusive evidence” that the recent attacks, including a suicide bombing that targeted a Shiite mosque in Islamabad and killed 31 worshippers earlier this month, were carried out by militants acting on the “behest of their Afghanistan-based leadership and handlers.”
He said Pakistan had repeatedly urged Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers to take verifiable steps to prevent militant groups from using Afghan territory to launch attacks in Pakistan, but alleged that no substantive action had been taken. Tarar also asked the international community to press Afghanistan’s Taliban authorities to uphold their commitments under the Doha agreement not to allow their soil to be used against other countries.
In Islamabad, security analyst Abdullah Khan said the Pakistani strikes suggest that Qatari, Turkish and even Saudi-led mediations have failed to resolve tensions between Pakistan and Afghanistan. “These strikes are likely to further escalate the situation,” he said.
The Qatari-mediated ceasefire between the two countries came about after deadly border clashes in October, killing dozens of soldiers, civilians and suspected militants. The violence followed explosions in Kabul that Afghan officials blamed on Pakistan. Islamabad, at the time, conducted strikes deep inside Afghanistan to target militant hideouts.
The truce between Islamabad and Kabul has largely held, but several rounds of talks in Istanbul in November failed to produce a formal agreement, and relations remain strained.
Ahmed reported from Islamabad. Associated Press writers Riaz Khan and Rasool Dawar in Peshawar, Pakistan, Ishtiaq Mahsud in Dera Ismail Khan, Pakistan, contributed to this story.
Local residents stand next to a damaged car at the site of a cross-border Pakistani army strike in the Behsud district of Nangarhar province, Afghanistan, Sunday, Feb. 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Hedayat Shah)
Local residents gather as bulldozer clears the rubble of a house hit by a cross-border Pakistani army strike in the Behsud district of Nangarhar province, Afghanistan, Sunday, Feb. 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Hedayat Shah)
A man inspects a damaged car at the site of a cross-border Pakistani army strike in the Behsud district of Nangarhar province, Afghanistan, Sunday, Feb. 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Hedayat Shah)
A bulldozer clears the rubble of a house hit by a cross-border Pakistani army strike in the Behsud district of Nangarhar province, Afghanistan, Sunday, Feb. 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Hedayat Shah)
Local residents and civil defense workers look on as a bulldozer clears the rubble of a house hit by a cross-border Pakistani army strike in the Behsud district of Nangarhar province, Afghanistan, Sunday, Feb. 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Hedayat Shah)
