Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers score diplomatic wins, consolidate power

Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers score diplomatic wins, consolidate power
Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid (C, holding shawl) arrives as he is accompanied by officials to address a media conference at the airport in Kabul on August 31, 2021. (AFP/File)
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Updated 12 August 2024
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Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers score diplomatic wins, consolidate power

Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers score diplomatic wins, consolidate power
  • With restrictions on women major sticking point, Taliban continue to rule without official recognition from any country
  • Worsening humanitarian crisis, threat of terrorism and hard-nosed pragmatism have led to some international engagement

KABUL: Three years into its rule of Afghanistan, the Taliban government has achieved some diplomatic wins even as it has consolidated power and enforced its strict version of Islamic law.
The Taliban rulers continue to operate without official recognition from any country — its restrictions on women a major sticking point.
But concern over Afghanistan’s worsening humanitarian crisis, the threat of terrorism, and hard-nosed pragmatism have led to some international engagement.
The most notable example was the Taliban government’s participation, for the first time, in United Nations-hosted talks in June in Qatar to discuss economic issues and counter-narcotics efforts.
Chief Taliban government spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid, who led the delegation, said the gathering was further proof that: “Afghanistan has come out of isolation.”
“We are in favor of positive meetings with the condition that Afghanistan’s situation is taken into account,” he told AFP in a recent interview ahead of this week’s three-year anniversary of the Taliban taking back power.
The talks went ahead after Kabul obtained the agreement of the UN — which has described restrictions on women in Afghanistan as “gender apartheid” — that civil society and women’s rights groups would not attend.
Obaidullah Baheer, grandson of former warlord Gulbuddin Hekmatyar and an Afghan academic, said engagement at the talks was a “smart approach.”
“The international community can’t solve the women’s rights issue. What they can do is try to create an environment” to gradually stabilize the economy in Afghanistan, Baheer said.
“Economic stability naturally brings with it some sort of opening for politics as well.”
The Taliban authorities, who are still pushing to fill Afghanistan’s seat at the UN, are also forging regional ties.
“Currently we have very good relations with neighboring, regional and Muslim countries,” Mujahid said, adding that about 40 countries had embassies or consulates in Afghanistan.
While Western embassies in Kabul have been closed for three years, Pakistan, China, Russia, Iran and Central Asian republics have established de facto diplomatic relations with Kabul.
Russia is also preparing to remove the Taliban from its list of terrorist organizations, while Beijing has appointed its first ambassador to Kabul since the takeover.
Fears over the growing security threat from the Daesh group’s branch in the region, known as Islamic State Khorasan Province, have also spurred engagement.
Last week, the UN warned that IS-K posed the greatest external terrorist threat to Europe and was growing in strength.
Mujahid insisted the IS threat was being overblown.
“We have brought the phenomenon of ISKP to nearly zero,” he told AFP.
After ousting the foreign-backed government and ending their 20-year insurgency, the Taliban rulers have made security one of their highest priorities.
The Taliban authorities still allocate a large part of the national budget to security despite Afghanistan no longer being at war and its economy in dire straits. And while Afghans may welcome restored security after more than 40 years of successive conflicts, many also struggle to feed themselves and strain under tightening restrictions.
A civil society activist, who asked to remain anonymous for fear of reprisal, described the rules on daily life as becoming “stricter and stricter.”
Government affairs are mostly run through religious edicts from the reclusive supreme leader Hibatullah Akhundzada, based in the Taliban southern stronghold of Kandahar.
Politically, there is no visible opposition: parties are banned and there are no elections.
“There is no one to challenge the Emir,” the civil society activist said.
The UN has described a “climate of fear” in the country, where popular protests are virtually non-existent.
The Taliban government rejects these accusations.
“We don’t accept that we are totalitarian,” Mujahid said.
The authorities have “mechanisms... to convey the voice of the people to the government,” the spokesman said, referring to provincial counsels comprising clerics and tribal elders.
“They might not be the same as in the previous government or what are common in democratic governments, but we have developed these mechanisms in an Islamic way and we are committed to the country’s interests,” Mujahid added.
Baheer, based in Kabul, said he still believed dialogue could bring about change:
“What we can do is constantly speak to the nation and these people (the Taliban authorities), creating a larger national pressure and ultimately... hoping that they realize that they are up against the people and they have to compromise.” 


Cyprus could become a member of NATO when conditions permit, the country’s president says

Cyprus could become a member of NATO when conditions permit, the country’s president says
Updated 25 sec ago
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Cyprus could become a member of NATO when conditions permit, the country’s president says

Cyprus could become a member of NATO when conditions permit, the country’s president says
  • Turkiye maintains more than 35,000 troops in the breakaway Turkish Cypriot northern part of ethnically divided Cyprus, doesn’t recognize the island’s government
NICOSIA: Cyprus could apply to become a member of NATO once its armed forces receive the necessary training and equipment with US help to bring them up to the standards of the world’s premier military alliance, the president of the Mediterranean island nation said Thursday.
President Nikos Christodoulides put Cyprus on a trajectory for possible NATO membership, ending weeks of media speculation about his government’s intentions following his meeting with US President Joe Biden in Washington last month. The development goes against Cyprus’ long-held policy of neutrality harking back to the Cold War era, when it walked a political tightrope between Washington and Moscow.
Christodoulides said although Cyprus can’t join NATO at this time because of objections that Turkiye would raise to its potential membership, the Cypriot National Guard shouldn’t be denied the opportunity to upgrade its defensive capabilities with US assistance.
Turkiye, which maintains more than 35,000 troops in the breakaway Turkish Cypriot northern part of ethnically divided Cyprus, doesn’t recognize the island’s government, which is based in the Greek Cypriot southern part.
Christodoulides didn’t elaborate on how Turkish objections could be sidestepped. But the UN is currently working to prepare for a resumption of peace talks between the rival sides in Cyprus, which was split in 1974 when Turkiye invaded following a coup by supporters of uniting the island with Greece.
“And because we don’t want the National Guard to lose such opportunities, we’re in talks with the US — and we thank them for their positive response — on how the Cyprus Republic can make the best use of these opportunities, so when everything is in its place, the Cyprus Republic can become a member state of NATO,” Christodoulides told The Associated Press.
“The strengthening of the Cyprus Republic’s deterrent capabilities is of the utmost importance, and we take advantage of every opportunity, both in the direction of the United States and NATO, but also the European Union.”
Christodoulides said Cyprus’ geographic location — it’s the closest EU member state to the Middle East at just 182 kilometers (114 miles) from the Lebanese capital, Beirut — has given impetus to planned upgrades to its military infrastructure. He said the government is currently in talks with the US for upgrades to a key air base and with the EU for a naval base.
Following his meeting with Biden, Christodoulides told the AP of his government’s commitment to expanding defense and security cooperation with the US
Cyprus’ Andreas Papandreou air base on its southwestern edge is currently hosting a US Marine contingent and a number of V-22 Osprey tiltrotor military transport and cargo aircraft prepositioned to assist in potential evacuations from nearby Lebanon and elsewhere.

Russian attacks leave one million Ukrainians without power

Russian attacks leave one million Ukrainians without power
Updated 25 min 9 sec ago
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Russian attacks leave one million Ukrainians without power

Russian attacks leave one million Ukrainians without power
  • Ukraine is bracing for what could be its toughest winter of the almost three-year war

KYIV: More than a million Ukrainians were left without power in freezing cold temperatures on Thursday after a massive nationwide Russian missile and drone attack.

Ukraine is bracing for what could be its toughest winter of the almost three-year war as Moscow steps up its aerial bombardment of the war-torn country and its troops advance on the frontlines in the east.

“There are emergency blackouts all over the country due to the enemy’s attack on our energy sector. There is no end in sight,” said the CEO of the Yasno energy supplier Sergey Kovalenko.

President Volodymyr Zelensky’s chief of staff said Russia was “continuing their tactics of terror,” seeking to plunge Ukrainian civilians into darkness and cut of heating in the coldest months of the year.

“They stockpiled missiles for attacks on Ukrainian infrastructure, for warfare against civilians during... winter,” Andriy Yermak said in a post on Telegram.

The combined missile and drone attack, launched in waves throughout the early hours of Thursday, knocked out electricity for more than a million subscribers in Ukraine’s west, hundreds of kilometers from the front lines.

“As of now, 523,000 subscribers in Lviv region are without electricity,” regional head Maksym Kozytskyi said on social media.

The western region, which borders EU and NATO member Poland, has been spared the worst of the fighting of Russia’s 33-month invasion but has been targeted in Russian drone and missile attacks sporadically.

Regional officials said at least another 280,000 were cut off in the western Rivne region and another 215,000 in the northwestern Volyn region, which also borders Poland.

The full extent of the damage was still being assessed on Thursday morning, with Russian drones also having targeted the capital Kviv, the northeastern city of Kharkiv and port city of Odesa on the Black Sea and other regions reporting power outages.

“Power engineers are working to ensure backup power supply schemes where possible. They have already started restoration work where the security situation allows,” the energy ministry said.

It said it was the 11th massive Russian attack on Ukraine’s civilian energy infrastructure this year.

In an early morning warning posted on social media as the strikes were unfolding, Ukraine’s Energy Minister German Galushchenko said facilities were “under massive enemy attack.”

The strikes, which came as temperatures hit 0 degrees Celsius in many Ukrainian cities, are the latest in two weeks of dramatic escalation in the near three-year war.

A senior UN official, Rosemary DiCarlo, this month warned Russian attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure may make this winter the “harshest since the start of the war.”

Both sides have fired new weapons in an attempt to gain an upper hand ahead of Donald Trump being inaugurated as US president in January.

Russia earlier this week said it was preparing its own retaliation for Ukrainian strikes on its territory using US-supplied ATACMS missiles.

Kyiv has launched at least three attacks on Russian border regions with the missiles since the White House gave it permission to fire them on Russian territory.

Moscow responded to the first strike by firing a never-before-seen hypersonic ballistic missile at the Ukrainian city of Dnipro and Russian President Vladimir Putin warned the nuclear-capable missile could be used against Western countries next.

Trump on Wednesday named staunch loyalist and retired general Keith Kellogg as his Ukraine envoy, charged with ending the Russian invasion.

The incoming president has criticized US aid to Ukraine and boasted he could secure a ceasefire in hours — comments that have triggered concern in Kyiv that the US could push it to cede land.

Kellog, an 80-year-old national security veteran, co-authored a paper this year calling for Washington to leverage military aid as a means of pushing for peace talks.

Concerned at a string of Russian advances on the frontline, the outgoing Joe Biden administration has also urged Ukraine drop the minimum age of conscription from 25 to 18 to plug severe manpower shortages.

Russia’s defense ministry also said Thursday it had downed 25 Ukrainian drones fired overnight, including 14 over the southern Krasnodar territory — just to the east of the annexed Crimean peninsula.


China says top military official Miao Hua suspended, under investigation

China says top military official Miao Hua suspended, under investigation
Updated 28 November 2024
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China says top military official Miao Hua suspended, under investigation

China says top military official Miao Hua suspended, under investigation
  • Latest senior apparatchik to fall in a sweeping crackdown on graft in the country’s armed force
  • Unconfirmed reports say defense minister Dong Jun was also placed under investigation for corruption

BEIJING: China said Thursday that top military official Miao Hua had been removed from office and was suspected of “serious violations of discipline,” the latest senior apparatchik to fall in a sweeping crackdown on graft in the country’s armed forces.
The ruling Chinese Communist Party “has decided to suspend Miao Hua from duty pending investigation,” Wu Qian, spokesman of China’s Ministry of Defense, told a press briefing.
Wu did not provide further details about the charges against Admiral Miao, a member of Beijing’s powerful Central Military Commission.
But “serious violations of discipline” are commonly used by officials in China as a euphemism for corruption.
The announcement follows reports, unconfirmed by Beijing, that Defense Minister Dong Jun has been placed under investigation for corruption.
If confirmed, Dong would be the third Chinese defense minister in a row to be probed for graft.


India’s parliament suspended temporarily after row over allegations against Adani group

India’s parliament suspended temporarily after row over allegations against Adani group
Updated 28 November 2024
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India’s parliament suspended temporarily after row over allegations against Adani group

India’s parliament suspended temporarily after row over allegations against Adani group
  • The problem is that India’s states are unprepared for the rapid rise in renewable generating capacity, lack adequate transmission infrastructure and storage

NEW DELHI: Both houses of Indian parliament were suspended temporarily on Thursday within minutes of opening as opposition lawmakers disrupted proceedings for the third day this week seeking a discussion on allegations against the Adani Group.

US authorities have accused Gautam Adani, his nephew Sagar Adani and managing director of Adani Green, Vneet S. Jaain, of being part of a scheme to pay bribes of $265 million to secure Indian solar power supply contracts, and misleading US investors during fund raises there.

“We want a discussion on this in parliament. It is going to be the third day that we are demanding a reply from the prime minister” on the Adani issue, Manickam Tagore, a lawmaker from the main opposition Congress party, which has been leading the protests against the business group, told news agency ANI.

Many of India’s opposition parties accuse Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of favoring Adani and blocking investigations against him in India, accusations both have denied.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, who has been a vocal critic of Adani, said Gautam Adani, 62, should be arrested.

While the government has not made any comment on the indictment, Modi’s BJP has said it had no reason to defend Adani, adding that the party was not against industrialists and considered them partners in nation-building efforts.

“Let him defend himself,” BJP spokesperson Gopal Krishna Agarwal said on Tuesday, adding that the law would take its course.


Landslides in Indonesia’s Sumatra kill at least 27, rescuers search for missing

Landslides in Indonesia’s Sumatra kill at least 27, rescuers search for missing
Updated 28 November 2024
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Landslides in Indonesia’s Sumatra kill at least 27, rescuers search for missing

Landslides in Indonesia’s Sumatra kill at least 27, rescuers search for missing
  • Torrential rain in the province since last week had caused flash floods and landslides in four different districts
  • Extreme weather is expected in Indonesia toward the end of 2024, as the La Nina phenomenon increases rainfalls across the tropical archipelago

JAKARTA: Indonesian rescuers are searching for passengers trapped in a minibus buried in mud after flash floods and landslides hit several locations in North Sumatra province, killing at least 27, an official said on Thursday.
Torrential rain in the province since last week had caused flash floods and landslides in four different districts, Indonesia’s disaster agency has said.
A landslide in a village in Deli Serdang on Wednesday killed seven and injured 20, Hadi Wahyudi, North Sumatra police spokesperson told Reuters.
Rescuers were looking for missing people, including those trapped in a minibus and other vehicles on a hilly interprovince road hit by a mudslide, he said, adding he could not give an estimate for the number of affected people.
In other places, rescuers have found 20 dead during a search that started over the weekend. They are still searching for two missing.
“Today, we’re focusing our search to find missing people and clearing the roads affected by the landslides,” said Hadi, adding excavators were deployed.
The landslides and flash floods damaged houses, mosques, and rice fields.
Heavy rains also triggered floods in the provincial capital of Medan, forcing a delay in votes for a regional election in some polling stations.
Extreme weather is expected in Indonesia toward the end of 2024, as the La Nina phenomenon increases rainfalls across the tropical archipelago, the country’s weather agency has warned.