Afghanistan current affairs, news, discussion and update

[Caprxl]

One thing has been made clear by the US, whatever vipers will be upgraded, from the next batch, will be in Pak now, not Turkey.

Very Interesting

 

[Khafee]

 

[space cadet]

 

[space cadet]

Turkey drops Kabul airport plans but will assist if Taliban ask -sources

Turkey has dropped plans to take over Kabul airport after NATO's withdrawal from Afghanistan but is ready to provide support if the Taliban request it, two Turkish sources said on Monday amid turmoil following the militant group's victory in Afghanistan.

www.reuters.com

 

[Counter-Errorist]

Sylvester bin Stalone

 

[Counter-Errorist]

Taliban support women's rights, free media under Islamic law: spokesman

We want to do away with the factors for conflict. Therefore, the Islamic Emirate does not have any animosity towards anybody, says Zabiullah Mujahid

www.geo.tv

Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid on Tuesday said the group does not harbour any kind of hostility with anyone, will support women's rights and a free media under Islamic law, in his first press conference since the insurgent group took over Kabul.

"We want to do away with the factors for conflict. Therefore, the Islamic Emirate does not have any kind of any kind of hostility or animosity towards anybody," he said, with an interpreter translating his speech in English. He added that all animosity "has come to an end".

"We would like to live peacefully. We do not want any internal enemies or external enemies," he said.

The Taliban would not seek retribution against former soldiers and members of the Western-backed government, the spokesman said, saying the movement was granting an amnesty for former Afghan government soldiers as well as contractors and translators who worked for international forces.

"War has ended [...] (the leader) has pardoned everyone," he said.

Mujahid noted that Afghanistan is at a historic stage where the country's men and women are looking to the Taliban with regard to their future.

"I would like to assure [them] that after consultations that will be completed very soon, we will be witnessing the formation of a strong, Islamic, and inclusive government, InshaAllah."

'Taliban entered Kabul after incompetent govt failed to ensure security'​

The spokesman claimed that when the Taliban forces entered the Afghan capital, Kabul, "there were no casualties", terming it a "great development".

He said there were some rioters wanting to "abuse the situation".

"We realised that that problem was going on [...] but we would like to assure the residents of Kabul of their full security, of protection of their dignity and security and safety. Security has been ensured. God-willing, day by day there will be more security," he said.

Mujahid said that the security of embassies is of "crucial importance" to the Taliban and wants to assure other countries of that those areas will have "complete security".

"Your representatives, your embassies, your missions, international organisations, aid agencies, we assure you we will not allow anybody to do anything against you. Your security is ensured. Our forces are there round-the-clock to ensure your security," he said.

He said that the Taliban "do not wish to see any kind of chaos" in Kabul.

"Our plan was to stop at the gates of Kabul after capturing all other provinces," the spokesman claimed, adding that a "smooth transition" of power was what the group had sought to avoid "trouble, harm and damages".

Mujahid, in criticism of the previous government, said that it was so "incompetent" that their security forces "could not do anything to ensure security", forcing the Taliban to step in and "take responsibility".

"The abusers and rioters wanted to abuse the name of the Islamic Emirate to enter houses and harass people and steal, therefore we instructed our forces to enter Kabul [...] and ensure security," he said.

He reiterated that all residents of Kabul should "rest assured" their security is "guaranteed".

Mujahid also sought to assure the international community and the regional countries that the Taliban "will not allow the use of Afghan territory against anybody".

"We are committed to this pledge. You will not be harmed anywhere from our soil," he said.

'Right of Afghans to act in accordance with own religion, culture'​

The Taliban spokesman said that the group wishes to request the international community to be treated in accordance with international norms accorded to all countries.

"We do not wish to have any problem with the international community. We only wish to act on the basis of the principles of our religion, our culture.

"We have given a lot of sacrifices. We have the right to act on the basis of our religious principles and rules and regulations. This is the right of the Afghans," he said, noting that all countries have their own rules and policies.

"No one should be worried about our norms and principles."

'Women to work with us shoulder-to-shoulder'​

Speaking on women's rights, he said it was a "very important issue".

"The Islamic Emirate is committed to the rights of women within the framework of the Sharia. Our sisters, our women will have the same rights, and will be able to benefit from them.

"They can have activities in different sectors and areas on the basis of our rules and regulations — in education, health and other areas," he said, adding that they will "work with us shoulder-to-shoulder".

Mujahid said that over any concerns regarding women that the international community have, the Taliban would like to "assure them that there will be no discrimination against women".

He reminded the world, however, that "our women are Muslim and will also be happy to be living within the framework of Sharia (law)".

Earlier in the day, Suhail Shaheen, spokesman for the group's political office in Doha, told Britain's Sky News that the full burqa will not be made compulsory for women.

"The burqa is not the only hijab (headscarf) that (can) be observed, there is different types of hijab not limited to burqa," Shaheen said.

The burqa is a one-piece overgarment that covers the entire head and body, with a mesh panel to see through.

Shaheen did not specify other types of hijab that would be deemed acceptable by the Taliban.

He did, however, say that women "can get education from primary to higher education — that means university".

Economy​

The Taliban spokesman's briefing also touched on the issue of the economy, for which he said that "as soon as the conflict is done away with", an infrastructure for the economy will be developed.

He spoke of the use of natural resources that Afghanistan has, to "revitalise the economy", for the country's reconstruction and for prosperity.

"Therefore the Islamic Emirate is requesting the whole international community [...] we can very soon, very quickly can change the situation economically. Every Afghan wants to improve his or her life.

"The whole community will be active in trade, in economics," he said, adding that the Taliban are "committed to build our society".

He also termed the group as the "servants of the nation".

Media​

Mujahid said private media could continue to be free and independent in Afghanistan, adding the Taliban was committed to the media within its cultural framework.

"Islam is a very important value in our country. Nothing should be against Islamic values when it comes to the activities of the media," he said.

"They can critique our work so we can improve," the spokesman added.

 

[Counter-Errorist]

 

[Counter-Errorist]

Taliban seek no ‘revenge’ and all Afghans will be ‘forgiven’

Islamist group’s spokesman uses first press conference to urge people trying to flee via Kabul airport to return home

www.theguardian.com

Islamist group’s spokesman uses first press conference to urge people trying to flee via Kabul airport to return home

The Taliban have said they seek no “revenge” on opponents and that everyone will be “forgiven”, during the first press conference held by the hardline Islamist group since taking power in Kabul on Sunday.

Saying the group did not seek “internal or external enemies”, their spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told reporters invited to the media centre used by the former Afghan government that the group wanted to “congratulate the [Afghan] nation” for its victory.

“We assure you that nobody will go to their doors to ask why they helped,” he said, despite reports from different parts of the country that Taliban fighters were doing precisely that. He encouraged people who had fled to the airport with their families to return.

Mujahid added a vaguely worded pledge to honour women’s rights and allow them to work, but within the group’s interpretation of Islamic law, and said private media would be permitted to “remain independent” if journalists “did not work against national values”.

There were a series of assurances apparently aimed at the international community, including a promise to end the narcotics trade from Afghanistan and to prevent the country being used as a base by terrorist groups to attack other countries.

Earlier Germany announced it had halted development aid to Afghanistan over the Taliban takeover. Such aid is a crucial source of funding for the country, and the Taliban’s efforts to project a milder version of themselves may be aimed at ensuring that money continues to flow.

Kabul remained quiet on Tuesday, although there were allegations that insurgent fighters had drawn up lists of people who had cooperated with the government and were seeking them out.

A United Nations spokesperson said it would judge the Taliban by their acts on the ground. “We will need to see what actually happens and I think we will need to see action on the ground in terms of promises kept,” Stephane Dujarric told reporters in New York.

Despite the Taliban’s apparently emollient tone, in a sign of the dangerous frictions ahead, Nato warned on Tuesday that the alliance retained the military power to strike from a distance should the Taliban host terrorist groups.

Speaking to reporters in Brussels, Nato’s secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg, warned: “Those now taking power have the responsibility to ensure that international terrorists do not regain a foothold. We have the capabilities to strike terrorist groups from a distance if we see that terrorist groups again try to establish themselves and plan, organise attacks against Nato allies and their countries.”

He joined the US president, Joe Biden, in blaming Afghan leaders for the Taliban’s lightning victory, calling it a tragedy. “Ultimately, the Afghan political leadership failed to stand up to the Taliban and to achieve the peaceful solution that Afghans desperately wanted,” he said. “This failure of the Afghan leadership led to the tragedy we are witnessing today.”

Afghanistan’s former vice-president Amrullah Saleh, who is reportedly in hiding in the Panjshir area north-east of Kabul, claimed to be the legitimate caretaker president and issued several defiant messages on Twitter vowing never to cooperate with the Taliban, amid suggestions he has allied with Ahmad Massoud, the son of the late and noted anti-Taliban fighter Ahmad Shah Massoud, who was assassinated in September 2001.

The US sent more troops to the capital’s airport to reinforce the escalating evacuation effort and American officials suggested they could airlift up to 9,000 people a day. An earlier US statement said the airport was secure after the chaos of Monday when thousands of desperate Afghans mobbed planes on the tarmac, some falling to their deaths after clambering on wheels. US reinforcements were due to arrive on Tuesday.

The Taliban has declared an “amnesty” across Afghanistan and urged women to join their government on Tuesday, seeking to convince a wary population that they have changed since their brutal rule of the country in the late 1990s.

After a blitz across Afghanistan during which many cities fell to the insurgents without a fight, the Taliban have sought to portray themselves as more moderate this time around. But many Afghans remain sceptical.

Older generations remember the Taliban’s ultra-conservative Islamic views, which included severe restrictions on women as well as public stonings and amputations before they were ousted by the US-led invasion following the September 11 terror attacks in 2001.

On Tuesday the Taliban patrolled the streets of Kabul and many residents stayed home, fearful after the insurgents’ takeover saw prisons emptied and armouries looted. Many women have expressed dread that the two-decade western experiment to expand their rights and remake Afghanistan will not survive the resurgent Taliban.

Promises of amnesty from Enamullah Samangani, a member of the Taliban’s cultural commission, were the first comments about how the Taliban might govern on a national level. His remarks remained vague, however, as the Taliban are still negotiating with political leaders of the country’s fallen government and no formal handover deal has been announced.

“The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan with full dignity and honesty has announced a complete amnesty for all Afghanistan, especially those who were with the opposition or supported the occupiers for years and recently,” he said.

 

[Counter-Errorist]

Afghan VP Amrullah Saleh claims he is now caretaker president

As of now, Afghan leaders, including former President Hamid Karzai and peace council chief Abdullah Abdullah, have been negotiating with the Taliban since the fall of Kabul.

indianexpress.com

As of now, Afghan leaders, including former President Hamid Karzai and peace council chief Abdullah Abdullah, have been negotiating with the Taliban since the fall of Kabul.

The Afghan vice president is claiming that after President Ashraf Ghani fled in the face of the Taliban sweep into Kabul over the weekend and with his whereabouts unknown, the vice president is the country’s ‘legitimate’ caretaker president.

Amrullah Saleh made the comment on Twitter on Tuesday.
He cited the Afghan constitution was empowering him to declare this.


He wrote that he was “reaching out to all leaders to secure their support & consensus.”

As of now, Afghan leaders, including former President Hamid Karzai and peace council chief Abdullah Abdullah, have been negotiating with the Taliban since the fall of Kabul.

 

[Counter-Errorist]

China, Pakistan and Russia set to increase Afghanistan influence​

Analysis: three countries have all signalled a readiness to engage with Taliban authorities to some degree

Regional powers will see their influence increase dramatically in Afghanistan as the US executes a hasty, haphazard withdrawal and the Taliban return to power after 20 years.

Russia, Pakistan and China have all signalled a readiness to transition smoothly into engaging with Taliban authorities with varying levels of enthusiasm.

But the Taliban’s return has also stoked fears in those countries that Afghanistan will once again become a haven for foreign terrorist organisations that could carry out attacks on their own soil.

In Pakistan – long accused of aiding the Afghan Taliban – the prime minister, Imran Khan, said the Taliban had “broken the chains of mental slavery in Afghanistan”. The leader of a key religious political party said the “Taliban has freed their country from superpowers”.

China is ready to develop “good-neighbourly, friendly and cooperative relations with Afghanistan”, a foreign ministry spokeswoman said, but also noted Taliban promises that Afghanistan would not serve as a staging ground for “acts detrimental to China”.

And Russia, which has formulated much of its foreign policy around the fight against international terrorism, reacted to the Taliban’s return to power with cool realpolitik.

“If we compare the negotiability of the colleagues and the partners, I have long since decided that the Taliban is much more able to reach agreements than the puppet government in Kabul,” Zamir Kabulov, Russia’s presidential envoy to Afghanistan, said on state television on Monday.

Pakistan​

Of all its regional neighbours, Pakistan appeared the most exuberant in welcoming Taliban rule in Afghanistan. The hope for Pakistan is that it would enjoy more influence and leverage in Kabul under Taliban rule, giving it a strong regional ally aligned with its Islamic values.

Khan, who has personal and political reason to cheer the fall of the Afghan government, was not alone in portraying the Taliban’s victory as a triumph. Influential religious clerics and senior Pakistan military generals also celebrated publicly.

Siraj ul Haq, the chief of Pakistan’s Jamaat-e-Islami (JI), an Islamic political party, said in a speech it was a “historic win over a superpower” and would create “an exemplary Islamic government in Afghanistan”.

For years Pakistan, which has a long and porous border with Afghanistan, has been a sanctuary for Taliban leaders and their families, and is where fighters often receive training and medical care.

Pakistan has denied giving the Afghan Taliban any military assistance, and said it pushed for peace during the Doha negotiations, but many believe the main priority for Pakistan has been to keep the Taliban onside.

However, many fear the strength of the Taliban’s resurgence will further embolden already powerful radical Islamist groups in Pakistan and make the country more vulnerable to jihadists.

Ayesha Ijaz Khan, a Pakistani lawyer and writer, tweeted: “Pakistanis just don’t know what’s about to hit them yet.”

Russia​

Russia has long criticised the US intervention in Afghanistan and its spectacular failure has evoked obvious schadenfreude in the Kremlin.

More than three decades ago, the Soviet Union evacuated its last tanks in Afghanistan over the Friendship Bridge into Uzbekistan. This week, US-allied warlords and their fighters were forced to flee over the same bridge.

Vladimir Putin has made anti-terrorism a cornerstone of his foreign policy, comparing it to the fight against nazism. In Syria and Libya, Russia justified its backing of authoritarian leaders by saying they provided a bulwark against the rise of radicalism and chaos.

Yet in Afghanistan, the calculus is different and a cooler realpolitik is at play. Despite naming the Taliban a terrorist group, Russia appears ready to engage if it can ensure security for its own diplomats and prevent militants from launching assaults against its central Asian allies such as Uzbekistan and Tajikistan.

Zamir Kabulov, Russian presidential envoy to Afghanistan, even dangled the possibility that Russia would recognise the Taliban government based “on the behaviour of the new authorities”, a major prize for the Taliban that would also indicate Moscow sees itself as a potential intermediary as the west pulls out.

For now, the Russians are staying put. Taliban forces have “taken the external perimeter of the Russian embassy under protection”, Kabulov said on Monday, and its Afghan ambassador, Dmitry Zhirnov, said Russia had a promise that “not a single hair will fall [from the heads] of Russian diplomats”.

Further negotiations are planned for Tuesday, he said. Should those fail, Moscow has also prepared for greater instability in the region.

In the last month, it has held military drills with Uzbekistan and Tajikistan, as well as separate exercises with China, which were aimed at “demonstrating the determination and ability of Russia and China to fight terrorism”. The timing, as the Taliban raced to victory, was no coincidence.

China​

While China was uneasy about the US military engagement in Afghanistan, it has also been critical of its “irresponsible” withdrawal of late.

In recent years, Beijing has begun to see the US’s continued presence in Afghanistan as a lesser of two evils, according to Andrew Small of the German Marshall Fund, a US thinktank.

“But judging from last month’s meeting between the Taliban and the Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi, Beijing seems to have been well prepared for this eventuality – perhaps even better than the US itself,” he said.

On Monday, China’s propaganda agencies took this opportunity to discredit US foreign policy, but Beijing is treading a careful line in its policy towards the new Taliban regime.

This is because China sees the issue of Afghanistan as a quagmire where great powers have found themselves entrapped – from Britain to the Soviet Union, and now the US.

Chinese state media calls Afghanistan a “graveyard of empires” and Beijing does not want to be mired in “the Great Game” in the centre of the Eurasian continent.

China is also showing its pragmatism in its approach. “What China could do is participate in the postwar reconstruction and provide investment to help the country’s future development,” the Global Times quoted a senior Chinese government expert as saying on Sunday.

And on Monday, China’s spokesperson, Hua Chunying, said Beijing welcomed the Taliban’s promise “that they will allow no force to use the Afghan territory to engage in acts detrimental to China and its expression of hope that China will be more involved in Afghanistan’s peace and reconciliation process and play a bigger role in future reconstruction and economic development”.

For many years, China has been concerned about its far-west Xinjiang Uyghur region, with Beijing demanding the Taliban refrain from hosting any Uyghur groups on their territory.

“It was the primary reason for Beijing to meet Mullah Mohammed Omar in 2000, and it’ll still be on top of China’s concern list after the Taliban’s Sunday takeover,” said Small.

China, Pakistan and Russia set to increase Afghanistan influence

Analysis: three countries have all signalled a readiness to engage with Taliban authorities to some degree

www.theguardian.com

 

[Counter-Errorist]

The Taliban is back. Who are the leaders of the group?​

After nearly 20 years, the Taliban have staged a comeback. Here is a rundown of the group's leadership.

The Taliban have been fighting the western-backed government and foreign forces in the country since they were removed from power by US-led forces (Saeed Ali Achakzai / Reuters)

The Taliban, formed in 1994, were made up of former Afghan resistance fighters, known as mujahedeen, who fought the invading Soviet forces in the 1980s.

The armed group took control of Afghanistan in 1996 and remained in power until 2001, when the US-led forces invaded the country following the September 11 terror attacks.

They have since been fighting the western-backed government and foreign forces in the country since they were removed from power in Afghanistan by US-led forces.

During their rule, the Taliban imposed a strict interpretation of Islamic law, carrying out public executions and stoning women accused of adultery.

Women could not work, had to cover their face and be accompanied by a male relative if they wanted to go out.

Girls were not allowed to attend school and university. TV, music and sports of all kind were also banned.

And there's no reason to believe the Taliban has changed since the 1990s says Micheal Kugelman, Deputy Director of the Asia Program at the US-based Wilson Center.

"The Taliban has certainly sought to rehabilitate itself through public messaging that emphasises its commitment to peace," says Kugelman, "but the Taliban remains a violent extremist group."

Kugelman adds that until the group renounces violence and respects human and women's rights "there's no reason to think otherwise."

But it's the Taliban's savvy, and experience, that has allowed them to waltz back into power.

"The Taliban’s strategy was to exploit the deep weaknesses of the Afghan state, and especially a dysfunctional government and a beleaguered military. It was able to wear Afghan troops down, knowing they were already suffering major morale problems because of a government that never had a clear counterinsurgency strategy and failed to provide direction and support."

Now, after nearly 20 years, the Taliban are once again sitting in Kabul with a slightly altered top tier leadership. Here is a rundown of who runs the show today.

Haibatullah Akhundzada

Akhundzada, known as the supreme leader of the group, was appointed as the head of the Taliban soon after a US drone strike killed his predecessor, Mullah Mansour Akhtar, in 2016.

Originally from Kandahar province, Akhundzada has fought against the Russians during the 1980s and then joined the Taliban movement in 1994 under the leadership of Mullah Mohammed Omar.

He was appointed as the head of the military court in Kandahar soon after.

Al Qaeda chief Ayman al Zawahiri named him "the emir of the faithful".

He is believed to be in his 60s and his whereabouts are unknown.

Mullah Baradar

Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, one of the co-founders of the Taliban, heads the political office of the group in Doha, Qatar.

Born in 1968 in the Uruzgan province and raised in Kandahar, Baradar is believed to have fought along side his brother-in-law Mullah Omar against the Soviets in Afghanistan.

Mullah Baradar Akhund oversaw signing of the US-Taliban agreement that led to the foreign forces complete withdrawal from the country (Reuters)

After the Russians were driven out, Baradar and Omar, co-founded the Taliban in 1994 and established the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan in a couple of years.

He was arrested by Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), in a joint US-Pakistan operation in 2010, but after Donald Trump took over as US president, Baradar was released in 2018.

He oversaw the signing of the US-Taliban agreement that led to the foreign forces complete withdrawal from the country.

Mullah Yaqoob

The son of Taliban founder Mullah Omar, Yaqoob heads the group's military unit, overseeing military operations.

In 2015, Yaqoob was promoted to the Taliban's leadership council soon after the announcement of the death of his father, Omar.

He was also appointed as head of the Taliban's military commission for 15 of Afghanistan's 34 provinces.

Soon after Mullah Akhundzada was appointed as the new leader after Mullah Mansoor's death, Yaqoob was named as the deputy leader of the group.

He is believed to be widely respected among the armed group and its followers.

Sirajuddin Haqqani

Sirajuddin leads the Haqqani Network, a group that oversees the Taliban’s financial and military assets across the Pakistan-Afghanistan border.

The son of prominent mujahideen commander Jalaluddin Haqqani, Sirajuddin is also the deputy leader of the Taliban movement.

FILE: Jalaluddin Haqqani (R), the Taliban's Minister for Tribal Affairs, points to a map of Afghanistan during a visit to Islamabad, Pakistan (Reuters)

The Haqqani Network is a US-designated terror group that is viewed as one of the most dangerous factions fighting against the US-led NATO forces in Afghanistan.

The group is believed to have introduced suicide bombing to Afghanistan and have carried out several high-profile attacks in the country, including an assassination attempt on then-President Hamid Karzai.

The Taliban is back. Who are the leaders of the group?

After nearly 20 years, the Taliban have staged a comeback. Here is a rundown of the group's leadership.

www.trtworld.com

 

[Counter-Errorist]

Europe Is Shamefully Shutting the Door to Afghan Refugees​

After the Taliban seized Kabul, Emmanuel Macron led EU governments in declaring the need to “protect ourselves” from a fresh wave of refugees. The West’s intervention fueled chaos in Afghanistan. Now, it is punishing the victims.

On the picturesque Aegean island of Limnos, a new surveillance system is being field-tested this week. If effective, its thermal sensors, camera balloons, ship transponders, and satellite links will provide a 15,000-square-mile panopticon view of approaching boats. In another world, this could be an aid for rescuing people adrift at sea. But in this world, the European Union agency operating the system works to do exactly the opposite.

The agency in question, known as Frontex (European Border and Coast Guard Agency), is currently the subject of a complaint in the Rome prosecutor’s office that makes for grim reading. When NGOs desperately tried to draw authorities’ attention to an ailing refugee boat over a twenty-four-hour period on April 22, they were ignored. The result was that 130 people lost their lives.

The Aegean tests have been planned for some time. But now they have taken on a new context, with the Taliban capture of Kabul sparking a new and dire refugee emergency. More than 2 million Afghans have already had to flee. Neighboring countries will absorb most of them, but many will be pushed further afield. Already last year, 44,000 Afghans pleaded for asylum in Europe. Now, far more people need help — and a place to live.

Yet Europe’s response has been to raise up the drawbridge. Six EU member states have written to the European Commission demanding that deportations of Afghan refugees proceed, despite the Taliban advance. These are people who have suffered under decades of largely foreign-sponsored violence, from the internal conflict that spiraled into a US-Soviet proxy war in the 1980s to the rise of the Taliban in the 1990s, NATO’s long war, and now the prospect of renewed Taliban rule. And many of them will now face another armed force in Frontex itself — a European army by any other name, set to become the bloc’s largest agency in the next few years.

“No One Forced Them”​

Frontex replied to this latest crisis with a dour statement. For the EU’s border guard, “Of course we are observing and following the developments specifically in Afghanistan and Tunisia which might have an effect on migratory flows towards the European Union.” What this means in practice is that they are preparing to repel people by any means necessary, using a complex and lethal system that has already claimed two thousand lives in the last year. Much like the Afghan and Iraq wars, these border wars are a profit bonanza for arms and tech companies that benefit from and lobby for harsh security measures — and spread misery for everyone else.

As desperate Afghans fall from the wheels of departing aircraft in heartbreaking scenes, the nations that occupied the country for supposedly humanitarian reasons remain cold-eyed and hard-nosed. The UK and the United States have consistently and stubbornly attempted to dodge their obligations, even to their own Afghan staff seeking help and safety. A spokesperson for the German military succinctly dropped all responsibility for the Afghan translators now at risk of reprisals: “No one forced them to work for us.”

France’s president, Emmanuel Macron, has pledged to “protect” Europe against Afghans, presumably hoping to outflank his far-right opponent Marine Le Pen in next spring’s elections.

Across the Channel, the UK’s Home Office is sitting on some three thousand outstanding asylum applications. Many of these will be long-standing; the system is intentionally labyrinthine and arduous, and it has gotten worse, logjammed not because of increasing numbers but because of the same combination of callousness and incompetence that produced Britain’s Windrush scandal. This week, the Home Office has removed its online guidance for Afghans seeking to submit an asylum application. This is apparently pursuant to the approval of a new resettlement scheme, but for now, British Afghans trying to aid their friends and families remain in confusion and limbo.

The UK has deported 15,000 Afghans in recent years, sitting at the top of a European total of 70,000. With nearly a quarter of a million war deaths, weak institutions, and rising extreme poverty, the country has never been safe — and most European powers have formally, if quietly, acknowledged this. But the deportation machine was still able to serve as part of the illusion of security reflected in political and military institutions that crumpled within days of their foreign scaffolding being removed.

Under first Donald Trump then Joe Biden, Washington chose to withdraw from Afghanistan for its own pragmatic reasons. It acknowledged what many military figures — and hardly just the antiwar left — have been telling it for a long time: namely that there are no viable military answers in this country. Yet, like guerrillas in the hills, holdouts of interventionists remain on both sides of the political mainstream. They are prepared to commit to wars of infinite lengths and costs — with Washington Post commentator Max Boot even making a comparison to the murderous, three-century-long “Indian Wars.”

That such viewpoints coexist with a complete lack of enthusiasm for even a much lower-cost operation to protect refugees is a horrifying display of the West’s political assumptions.

Taking Responsibility​

The War on Terror and its social, political, and economic wreckage is now twenty years old. It’s lasted twice as long as my adult life. It saw the world’s last remaining superpower usher in a new century by trying to measure problems in terms of the tonnage of ordnance it could drop on them. Now — in a world ravaged by an ongoing pandemic, in which just last week the international body of climate scientists declared a code red for humanity — it is surely time to pursue approaches to humanitarian emergencies based on something better than endless militarization.

Concerted effort to prevent a refugee emergency on the scale of the 2015–17 Mediterranean crisis is the most important demand we can make now. And this is the very least that countries largely responsible for the current situation can do. Every major country should accept its fair share of fleeing Afghans, starting with but not limited to those who it has direct responsibilities to protect. High-tech coastal infrastructure should be used to facilitate, not deny, safe passage to human beings. And a significant international relief package must be assembled to ensure Afghanistan’s neighbors can manage the influx of refugees and support people fleeing terror.

None of this can undo the damage done over the past two decades. But, at the very least, the coda to this dismal affair could be genuine action to help suffering human beings.

Europe Is Shamefully Shutting the Door to Afghan Refugees

After the Taliban seized Kabul, Emmanuel Macron led EU governments in declaring the need to “protect ourselves” from a fresh wave of refugees. The West’s intervention fueled chaos in Afghanistan. Now, it is punishing the victims.

www.jacobinmag.com

 

[PWFI]

Numbers are still up in the air.
One thing has been made clear by the US, whatever vipers will be upgraded, from the next batch, will be in Pak now, not Turkey.

Keep in mind, ultimately PAF's 18 Blk52+ are also inline for upgrade to Blk72.

That's a very very big development alone.

 

[Counter-Errorist]

Ashraf Ghani fled with cars and helicopter full of cash: Russia

MOSCOW: Russia’s embassy in Kabul said on Monday that Afghan President Ashraf Ghani had fled the country with four cars and a helicopter full of cash and had to leave some money behind as it would not all fit in, the RIA news agency reported.

Ghani, whose current whereabouts are unknown, said he left Afghanistan on Sunday as the Taliban entered Kabul virtually unopposed. He said he wanted to avoid bloodshed.

Russia has said it will retain a diplomatic presence in Kabul and hopes to develop ties with the Taliban even as it says it is no rush to recognise them as the country’s rulers and will closely observe their behaviour.

“As for the collapse of the (outgoing) regime, it is most eloquently characterised by the way Ghani fled Afghanistan,” Nikita Ishchenko, a spokesman for the Russian embassy in Kabul, was quoted as saying by RIA.

“Four cars were full of money, they tried to stuff another part of the money into a helicopter, but not all of it fit. And some of the money was left lying on the tarmac,” he was quoted as saying.

Ischenko, the Russian embassy spokesman, confirmed his comments to this news agency.

President Vladimir Putin’s special representative on Afghanistan Zamir Kabulov said earlier it was unclear how much money the fleeing government would leave behind.

Published in Dawn, August 17th, 2021

Ashraf Ghani fled with cars and helicopter full of cash: Russia

Russia's embassy in Kabul says Ghani had to leave some money behind as it would not all fit in.

www.dawn.com

 

[Khafee]

DOD Officials Say U.S. Could Evacuate Up to 9,000 a Day From Afghanistan
Aug. 17, 2021
BY Jim Garamone
DOD News

Air operations at Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul, Afghanistan, continued through the night, getting between 700 and 800 people out of the country, said Army Maj. Gen. William D. "Hank" Taylor, the Joint Staff's deputy director for regional operations.

Taylor spoke alongside DOD Press Secretary John F. Kirby at the Pentagon. The men said the airport is under U.S. control, and there are about 4,000 U.S. troops on the ground in Kabul.

The evacuation operation is ramping up, and Kirby and Taylor said the U.S. effort could be airlifting between 5,000 and 9,000 people a day. Taylor said he anticipates one aircraft in and out of the airport each hour.

Throughout the night, nine C-17s arrived at the airport delivering equipment and about 1,000 U.S. troops. Seven C-17s departed with between 700 and 800 passengers including 165 Americans.

The airport is open to military aircraft and limited commercial flights, Taylor said.

American troops have worked with Turkish forces to secure the airport. They are aided by some Afghan security forces. Outside the airport is the Taliban. "We've had no hostile interactions, no attack and no threat by the Taliban," Taylor said. "We remain vigilant. I want to reinforce that we are focused on the present mission to facilitate the safe evacuation of U.S. citizens, [special immigrant visa personnel] and Afghans at risk -- to get these personnel out of Afghanistan as quickly and as safely as possible."

U.S. commanders in Kabul are in contact with Taliban commanders outside the airport, Kirby said. "There is communication between them and us," Kirby said. "And I would just let the results speak for themselves: … There's been no hostile interactions from the Taliban to our operations at the airport."

This is a dynamic situation, and many things could change — security, availability of aircraft, even just the weather, Taylor said. Army Maj. Gen. Christopher Donohue, the commander of the 82nd Airborne Division, is going to Kabul to take command of the airport. The overall mission remains under Navy Rear Adm. Peter Vasely, the commander of U.S. Forces Afghanistan-Forward.