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.” 


Japan’s Ishiba vows military buildup and deeper ties with US as regional tension rises

Japan’s Ishiba vows military buildup and deeper ties with US as regional tension rises
Updated 13 sec ago
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Japan’s Ishiba vows military buildup and deeper ties with US as regional tension rises

Japan’s Ishiba vows military buildup and deeper ties with US as regional tension rises
  • Shigeru Ishiba: Security environment surrounding Japan and the international community has significantly worsened due to escalating tensions with China, Russia and North Korea
TOKYO: Japan’s Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba on Saturday renewed a pledge to build up his country’s military and deepen its alliance with the United States under President-elect Donald Trump.
Ishiba, who made the comments at an annual troop review held at Camp Asaka in the Tokyo suburbs, said the security environment surrounding Japan and the international community has significantly worsened due to escalating tensions with China, Russia and North Korea. He pledged to reinforce Japan’s military power.
He said breaches of Japanese airspace by Chinese and Russian warplanes earlier this year “not only violated Japanese sovereignty but also threatened the safety of Japan and are absolutely unacceptable.” He said Japan faces growing threats from China’s accelerating military activity around Japanese coasts and from North Korea’s repeated missile firings.
“As we face the most severe and complex security environment, I will balance and strengthen Japan’s diplomacy and security,” Ishiba said in his speech before hundreds of troops gathered for the ceremony.
The Japan-US alliance is the lynchpin for achieving this, Ishiba said, pledging to elevate Japan’s ties with the United States and work closely with Trump as they agreed during a brief telephone conversation Thursday.
Ishiba took office on Oct. 1, replacing his unpopular predecessor Fumio Kishida but his governing coalition badly lost a recent parliamentary election and could face difficulty pursuing his party’s planned policies and budget plans in coming months.
Ishiba pledged to pursue the ongoing military buildup plan under the 2022 security strategy adopted by his predecessor, Fumio Kishida, which calls for a counter-strike capability with long-range cruise-missiles, a break from its self-defense only principle. Ishiba said he will pursue strengthening of command system to improve operation between Japanese and US troops.
After its devastating defeat in World War II, Japan had prioritized economic recovery over defense under its war-renouncing constitution, but has steadily strengthened its defense capability over the past years.

At least 13 killed in Pakistan train station bomb blast, police say

At least 13 killed in Pakistan train station bomb blast, police say
Updated 14 min 40 sec ago
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At least 13 killed in Pakistan train station bomb blast, police say

At least 13 killed in Pakistan train station bomb blast, police say

QUETTA: At least 13 people were killed and 25 injured in a bomb blast at a railway station in Quetta in southwestern Pakistan on Saturday, a police official told Reuters.
Pakistan is grappling with a surge in militant attacks in its northwest and a growing separatist insurgency in the south.
“The blast took place inside the railway station when the Peshawar-bound express was about to leave for its destination,” said the senior superintendent of police operations, Muhammad Baloch.
No group has claimed responsibility for the blast.


North Korea jams GPS signals, affecting ships, aircraft in South

North Korea jams GPS signals, affecting ships, aircraft in South
Updated 31 min 34 sec ago
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North Korea jams GPS signals, affecting ships, aircraft in South

North Korea jams GPS signals, affecting ships, aircraft in South
  • North Korea has become one of the most vocal and important backers of Russia’s offensive in Ukraine

Seoul: North Korea staged GPS jamming attacks on Friday and Saturday, Seoul’s military said, an operation that was affecting several ships and dozens of civilian aircraft in South Korea.
The jamming allegations come about a week after the North test-fired what it said was its most advanced and powerful solid-fuel ICBM missile, its first such launch since being accused of sending soldiers to help Russia fight Ukraine.
The South fired its own ballistic missile into the sea on Friday in a show of force aimed at showing its resolve to respond to “any North Korean provocations.”
“North Korea conducted GPS jamming provocations in Haeju and Kaesong yesterday and today (November 8-9),” Seoul’s joint chiefs of staff said in a statement Saturday, adding several vessels and dozens of civilian aircraft were experiencing “some operational disruptions” as a result.
The military warned ships and aircraft operating in the Yellow Sea to beware of such attacks.
“We strongly urge North Korea to immediately cease its GPS provocations and warn that it will be held responsible for any subsequent issues arising from this,” they said in the statement.
Tensions on the peninsula have been at their highest pitch in years, with the North launching a flurry of ballistic missiles in violation of UN sanctions.
It also has been bombarding the South with trash-carrying balloons since May, in what it says is retaliation for anti-Pyongyang propaganda missives sent North by activists.
North Korea has become one of the most vocal and important backers of Russia’s offensive in Ukraine.
Seoul and the West have long accused Pyongyang of supplying artillery shells and missiles to Moscow for use in Ukraine.
The latest accusations, based on intelligence reports, indicate the North has deployed around 10,000 troops to Russia, suggesting even deeper involvement in the conflict and triggering outcry in Seoul, Kyiv and Western capitals.
South Korea, a major arms exporter, has a long-standing policy of not providing weapons to countries in conflict.
But President Yoon Suk Yeol said this week that Seoul is now not ruling out the possibility of providing weapons directly to Ukraine, given Pyongyang’s military support of Moscow.
On Friday, Seoul’s presidential office said cyberattacks by pro-Russian hacking groups against South Korea have increased following North Korea’s troop dispatch for Russia’s war in Ukraine.


Indonesia volcano catapults vast ash tower into sky

Indonesia volcano catapults vast ash tower into sky
Updated 29 min 50 sec ago
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Indonesia volcano catapults vast ash tower into sky

Indonesia volcano catapults vast ash tower into sky
  • There were no immediate reports of damage to nearby villages from Saturday’s fresh eruption.
  • Indonesia, a vast archipelago nation, experiences frequent seismic and volcanic activity due to its position on the Pacific “Ring of Fire.”

East Flores: A volcano in eastern Indonesia erupted again on Saturday, sending a giant ash tower nine kilometers (more than five miles) into the sky, days after it killed nine people and forced thousands of locals to evacuate.
Mount Lewotobi Laki-Laki, a 1,703-meter (5,587-foot) twin-peaked volcano on the tourist island of Flores, has erupted more than a dozen times this week, killing nine people after its initial burst on Monday.
“The ash column was observed at approximately 9,000 meters above the summit. The ash column appeared grey with thick intensity,” the country’s volcanology agency said in a statement about the eruption that began at 04:47 local time (2047 GMT).
There were no immediate reports of damage to nearby villages from Saturday’s fresh eruption.
But the agency warned residents to “remain alert to the potential for cold lava floods” due to heavy rainfall.
On Friday, another huge eruption forced officials at a nearby monitoring post to evacuate as ash and small rocks rained down.
The mountain on Thursday spewed an ash tower eight kilometers high, which locals said was one of the biggest they had ever seen.
More than 10,000 people have been affected by the eruptions, with officials telling locals to permanently relocate from an eight-kilometer exclusion zone.
The head of Indonesia’s disaster mitigation agency said authorities would temporarily house and fund locals while new homes were built.
“Since the preparation and planning process for relocation takes time, we hope we can build them quickly,” said Suharyanto, who goes by one name, on a visit to a shelter Friday.
Laki-Laki, which means “man” in Indonesian, is twinned with a calmer volcano named after the Indonesian word for “woman.”
Indonesia, a vast archipelago nation, experiences frequent seismic and volcanic activity due to its position on the Pacific “Ring of Fire.”


Over 130 homes lost in California wildfire as winds drop

Over 130 homes lost in California wildfire as winds drop
Updated 28 min 38 sec ago
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Over 130 homes lost in California wildfire as winds drop

Over 130 homes lost in California wildfire as winds drop
  • The blaze erupted Wednesday morning and spread rapidly, fanned by fierce seasonal Santa Ana winds from California’s desert interior.

Camarillo: Firefighters grappling with a blaze that has destroyed at least 130 homes in California said Friday they had made progress in their fight as a turn in the weather offered a break.
Hurricane-strength winds this week fueled an explosion in the Mountain Fire near Camarillo, outside Los Angeles, which grew rapidly to over 20,000 acres (8,000 hectares).
Thousands of people in the path of the inferno were forced to flee, some with only minutes to gather possessions and pets as unpredictable flames leapt from home to home.
Robin Wallace told AFP the home she grew up in was destroyed minutes after everyone fled.
“We were expecting we’d be able to go back and get some things. But of course, that didn’t work out.
“It was completely gone by the afternoon. It went very quickly.”
Linda Fefferman said she knew she had to go when she smelled smoke.
“I’m trying to load the car with animals and important papers, my oxygen concentrator, and when it got too smoky for me, I knew I had to get out,” she told a local broadcaster.
A neighbor with a chainsaw helped remove a fallen tree that was blocking her path.
“I went down to the Goodwill parking lot, watched the smoke, you know, probably our own house burning.
“Nothing is left. It’s gone,” she said. “It’s all gone.”
Fefferman said she thought 14 or 15 houses on her street had been destroyed by the flames.
Authorities said Thursday that initial inspections revealed at least 132 homes had been lost, with 88 more damaged.
The area is home to around 30,000 people, with approximately 10,000 having been told to evacuate.
The blaze erupted Wednesday morning and spread rapidly, fanned by fierce seasonal Santa Ana winds from California’s desert interior.
Gusts up to 80 miles (130 kilometers) an hour pushed smoke and flames sideways, with terrifying footage showing fire engulfing brush, orchards and properties.
Those winds dropped Friday, with meteorologists saying they did not expect them to return for at least a few days.
That was welcome news for firefighters, some of whom had been on the frontlines for 36 hours straight.
The change in weather meant fire crews were able to make progress in their fight, said Nick Cleary of the Ventura County Fire Department, with 14 percent of the perimeter of the blaze contained.
“Today on the fire, we had a very successful day,” he told reporters, with a mild onshore breeze bringing some much-needed humidity.
More than 2,400 personnel, as well as engines, bulldozers and aircraft were involved in the fight.
“We need to keep using these resources with this advantageous weather that we’re having to get in there and make sure we’re mopping everything... so we’re not going to have any secondary starts,” Cleary said.
California Governor Gavin Newsom visited the area Thursday and declared a state of emergency, a move that will free up resources.
The White House said President Joe Biden called Newsom on Friday, along with local elected official Kelly Long, to discuss “support needed for the communities affected” and the approval of a Fire Management Assistance Grant by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).
Utility companies have shut off electricity to thousands of customers in the area — a common practice in California during high winds, with toppled power lines often causing wildfires.
Two relatively wet years have left California’s countryside flush with vegetation that is now dry and exceedingly flammable after a long, hot summer.
While fires, drought and strong winds are characteristics of the local environment, scientists say human-caused climate change is affecting weather patterns and increasing the likelihood of catastrophic events.