The Taliban celebrated Afghanistan’s Independence Day on Thursday, declaring it had beaten “the arrogant power of the world” — the United States. Afghanistan’s Independence Day commemorates the 1919 treaty which ended British rule in the central Asian nation.
After the takeover of Kabul by the Taliban last Sunday, establishing control over most of Afghanistan, scenes of chaos have unfolded as thousands seek to leave, fearing a return to the austere interpretation of Islamic law imposed during the previous Taliban rule that ended 20 years ago.
The Taliban has announced a “general amnesty” for all government officials and urged them to return to work, trying to calm nerves across a tense capital city, establishing its control over Afghanistan. Women would also be allowed to play a role in government that corresponds with Sharia law, Taliban said.
Armed members of the Taliban kept people desperate to flee Afghanistan from reaching Kabul’s airport, while President Joe Biden vowed to keep U.S. troops in the country until all Americans are evacuated, following the takeover of Afghanistan by the Taliban.
Witnesses said Taliban members prevented people from getting into the airport compound, including those with the necessary documents to travel. Thousands of Afghan citizens who have worked for foreign missions and also were interpreters for Western embassies are seeking to leave their homeland, and many have been promised residence and citizenship in Western countries.
As the airlift of Western citizens and Afghans who worked for foreign governments sought to ramp up, President Biden said U.S. Forces would remain until the evacuation of Americans was finished, even if that meant staying past the Aug. 31 U.S. deadline for complete withdrawal.
The president, who has faced criticism about the U.S. departure, said chaos was inevitable. Asked in an interview with ABC News if the exit of U.S. troops could have been handled better, Biden said: “No. … The idea that somehow, there’s a way to have gotten out without chaos ensuing, I don’t know how that happens.”
Foreign ministers of the Group of Seven – G7- nations are due to discuss the evacuation effort and seek to coordinate flights at a virtual meeting on Thursday, German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said.
About 5,000 diplomats, security staff, aid workers and Afghans have been evacuated from Kabul in the past 24 hours and military flights will continue around the clock, a Western official told Reuters.
Under the Taliban, which ruled in accordance with a harsh interpretation of Islamic law, women were largely confined to their homes. The insurgents have sought to project greater moderation in recent years, but many Afghans remain sceptical.
Meanwhile, talks appeared to be continuing between the Taliban and several Afghan government officials, including former president Hamid Karzai and Abdullah Abdullah, who once headed the country’s negotiating council.
Ashraf Ghani
Former Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, speaking from exile in the United Arab Emirates, has said that he had left Kabul to prevent bloodshed and denied reports he took large sums of money with him as he departed the presidential palace.
Ghani has been bitterly criticised by former ministers for leaving the country suddenly as Taliban Forces entered Kabul on Sunday.
“If I had stayed, I would be witnessing bloodshed in Kabul,” Ghani said in a video streamed on Facebook, his first public comments since it was confirmed he was in the UAE. He left on the advice of government officials, he added.
President Biden
US President Joe Biden defended his decision to withdraw US troops from Afghanistan, noting there was no good time to withdraw from America’s longest war while waiting for Afghan troops to be able and willing to confront the Taliban. “American troops cannot and should not be fighting in a war and dying in a war that Afghan Forces are not willing to fight for themselves,” he said.
President Biden said he stood “squarely behind” his decision to withdraw U.S. troops from Afghanistan, despite images of chaos in Kabul that exposed the limits of U.S. power and plunged him into the worst crisis of his presidency.
Breaking his silence on the U.S. pullout after scenes of bedlam dominated television news channels for days, Biden blamed the Taliban’s takeover in Afghanistan on Afghan political leaders who fled the country, and the unwillingness of the U.S.-trained Afghan army to fight the militant group.
He warned Taliban leaders they would face “devastating force” should they interfere with the U.S. pullout.
Biden, rejecting harsh criticism of his Afghan policy from Republican and Democratic lawmakers, was resolute in defending his withdrawal from a 20-year war that endured through four presidencies. “I stand squarely behind my decision,” Biden said in a televised speech at the White House. “After 20 years I’ve learned the hard way that there was never a good time to withdraw U.S. Forces. That’s why we’re still there.”
He also criticised his Republican predecessor, Donald Trump, whose administration negotiated a deal with the Taliban that Biden said left the group “in the strongest position militarily since 2001.”
“How many more generations of America’s daughters and sons would you have me send to fight Afghans – Afghanistan’s civil war, when Afghan troops will not? How many more lives – American lives – is it worth? How many endless rows of headstones at Arlington National Cemetery?” Biden asked.
Biden also said his decision was a result of the commitment he made to American troops that he was not going to ask them to continue to risk their lives for a war that should have ended long ago.
“Our leaders did that in Vietnam when I got here as (a) young man. I will not do it in Afghanistan,” he said. “I know my decision will be criticized but I would rather take all that criticism than pass this decision on to another president.”
European response
European leaders have said they will press for a unified international approach to dealing with a Taliban government in Afghanistan, as they saw the rapid collapse of two decades of a U.S.-led Western campaign in the country.
Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi is working to organise a summit of the Group of 20 major economies on the situation in Afghanistan after the Taliban takeover.
Italy holds the rotating G20 presidency this year and a possible meeting is expected to be held before October’s scheduled summit in Rome.
Draghi is expected to discuss the matter with Russian President Vladimir Putin this week.
An online meeting of leaders of the G7 grouping has already been scheduled for next week to discuss a common strategy and approach on the situation in Afghanistan.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson spoke to French President Emmanuel Macron Monday, stressing the need for a common stand, both on recognizing any future Afghan government and to prevent a humanitarian and refugee crisis.
Both leaders agreed to cooperate at the U.N. Security Council, and Johnson also said he will host a virtual meeting of the Group of Seven leaders on Afghanistan in the next few days. Johnson said on Sunday, “We don’t want anybody to bilaterally recognize the Taliban.”
German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s spokesman echoed that sentiment Monday, saying the question of whether there can be a dialogue with the Taliban needs to be discussed internationally. “We do not have any illusions about the Taliban and the essence of their movement,” said Steffen Seibert, the spokesman.
The French President Macron said in a speech to the nation Monday night that the fight against “Islamist terrorism in all its forms” would not end. “Afghanistan cannot again become the sanctuary for terrorism that it was,” Macron said.
He stressed that the U.N. Security Council is the forum for a coordinated response, and added, “We will do everything so that Russia, the United States and Europe can cooperate efficiently because our interests are the same.”
Macron also raised fears of uncontrolled migration to Europe by Afghans, saying that France, Germany and other European countries would work to swiftly develop a “robust, coordinated and united response.”
NATO countries were left with little choice but to pull out the roughly 7,000 non-American Forces in Afghanistan after President Joe Biden announced in April that he was ending the U.S. involvement in the war by September, 20 years after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said last week that the Taliban “need to understand that they will not be recognized by the international community if they take the country by force.” EU Foreign Policy Chief Josep Borrell has also warned that the militant group would face “isolation” and “lack of international support.”
UNSC – ‘New Government’
The UN Security Council has called for talks to create a new government in Afghanistan and an end to fighting and abuse after U.N. Chief Antonio Guterres warned of “chilling” curbs on human rights and mounting violations against women and girls.
The 15-member council issued a statement, agreed by consensus, after Guterres appealed to the body to “use all tools at its disposal” to suppress a global terrorist threat from Afghanistan and guarantee respect for human rights.
“We cannot and must not abandon the people of Afghanistan,” Guterres told the Security Council.
The Security Council stressed the importance of combating terrorism in Afghanistan to ensure other countries were not threatened or attacked, and said “that neither the Taliban nor any other Afghan group or individual should support terrorists operating on the territory of any other country.”
It called for an immediate cessation of all hostilities and the establishment, through inclusive negotiations, of a new government that should include women.
“Afghanistan must never again become a haven for terrorists. This is the bottom line,” China’s deputy U.N. Ambassador Geng Shuang told the council. “We hope that the Taliban… make a clean break with the terrorist organisations.”
Russian U.N. Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia said the Taliban’s quick defeat of Government Forces “took everyone by surprise… We urge all Afghan parties to refrain from hostilities and to foster a settlement peacefully”.
“We are receiving chilling reports of severe restrictions on human rights throughout the country. I am particularly concerned by accounts of mounting human rights violations against the women and girls of Afghanistan,” Guterres said.
Taliban officials have issued statements saying they want peaceful international relations and promising to respect women’s rights.
U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield called for a stop to attacks on civilians and respect for human rights and freedoms.
Afghanistan’s U.N. ambassador Ghulam Isaczai, speaking for millions of people “whose fate hangs in the balance,” called on the United Nations not to recognize any administration that achieves power by force or any government that is not inclusive.
IMF move
The International Monetary Fund said on Wednesday it suspended Afghanistan’s access to IMF resources, including around $440 million in new monetary reserves, due to a lack of clarity over the country’s government after the Taliban seized control of Kabul.
The IMF’s announcement came amid pressure from the U.S. Treasury, which holds a controlling share in the Fund, to ensure that Afghanistan’s share of a Special Drawing Rights reserves allocation scheduled for Monday does not fall into Taliban hands.
“There is currently a lack of clarity within the international community regarding recognition of a government in Afghanistan, as a consequence of which the country cannot access SDRs or other IMF resources,” an IMF spokesperson said in an emailed statement.
“As is always the case, the IMF is guided by the views of the international community,” the spokesperson added.
A U.S. Treasury official said earlier on Wednesday that the department was taking steps to prevent the Taliban from accessing the country’s SDR reserves.
Afghan and U.S. officials have said most of the Afghan central bank’s nearly $10 billion in assets are held outside Afghanistan, likely putting them beyond the insurgents’ reach. A Biden administration official said previously that any Afghan central bank assets held in the United States would not be made available to the Taliban.
Haiti – disasters
Tropical Storm Grace has lashed southern Haiti with drenching rains, piling on misery for survivors of a powerful earthquake as flash floods and landslides further complicate relief efforts.
Power was still out and communications spotty in parts of southern Haiti after inches of heavy rain and 35mph winds bore down on the embattled region, just two days after it was hit by the devastating 7.2 magnitude earthquake.
As the rain continued to pelt down on Tuesday, Haitian officials raised the confirmed death toll from Saturday’s 7.2 magnitude earthquake to 1,941, with more than 9,900 injured and 30,000 people left homeless. Rescue workers continue to search rubble for survivors.
Hospitals, already full, are treating patients in patios and corridors. Medical supplies including personal protective equipment for staff and painkillers and splints for patients remain scarce.
Residents are fearful of entering or sleeping in their homes, worried that they may either collapse in ongoing aftershocks or flood due to stormwaters, and instead are opting to sleep in tents or under tarps.
Widespread deforestation for the production of charcoal has left the region more vulnerable to disaster.
“During the earthquake, water gushed out of the soil and soaked it, making it unable to absorb the rainwater, …“The conditions are now ripe for more problems with so many heavily damaged constructions and serious flooding possibility.” said Paul Touloutte, the provost of the American University of the Caribbean.
Haiti – the western hemisphere’s poorest nation – has not recovered from the catastrophic magnitude 7 earthquake that struck Port-au-Prince in January 2010, killing more than 200,000 people and turning much of the chaotic capital to rubble. The latest quake was two decimal points bigger in magnitude, though it struck a less densely populated region.
Criminal gangs also maraud the country’s south, with the United Nations’ Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reporting that local officials had to negotiate with militia leaders to secure the safe passage of aid caravans through Martissant, a rough neighbourhood on the southern highway that connects the capital with Les Cayes.
Political violence and urban gang warfare has racked Haiti for more than two years, with roadblocks, fuel shortages and power outages a daily reality. The situation only worsened with the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse on July 7, allegedly carried out by Colombian mercenaries.
Zambia – new leader
Zambian Opposition Leader Hakainde Hichilema has been declared the winner of last week’s bitterly contested presidential election.
Mr. Hichilema defeated the incumbent, President Edgar Lungu, by a landslide – more than a million votes. It was Mr. Hichilema’s sixth attempt at winning the presidency.
Mr. Lungu has accepted defeat and congratulated Mr. Hichilema. In a speech on national TV, he said he was committed to a smooth transfer of power, which is expected in the coming days. However, he repeated his claims that the elections were not free and fair.
Mr. Hichilema has pledged to be president of all Zambians, whether they voted for him or not.
In its final tally, the Electoral Commission said Mr. Hichilema had won 2,810,777 votes to Mr. Lungu’s 1,814,201 in Thursday’s election. There were seven million registered voters.
Mr. Lungu’s six-year rule was criticised for alleged human rights abuses, corruption, a failing economy and massive unemployment.
Correspondents say Mr. Hichilema, 59, tapped into widespread dissatisfaction among voters. He now faces the daunting challenge of turning around the country’s economic fortunes.
Mr. Hichilema was born into humble beginnings. He got a scholarship to the University of Zambia, and later graduated with an MBA degree from the University of Birmingham in the UK. He went on to become one of Zambia’s richest men, with business interests in finance, ranching, property, healthcare and tourism.
Canada polls
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Sunday called an early election for Sept. 20, saying he needed a new mandate to ensure voters approved of his Liberal government’s plan to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Trudeau, 49, hopes that high vaccination rates against the virus and a post-pandemic economic rebound will help him prolong and strengthen his grip on power. Newly-released data shows 71% of the country’s eligible population is fully vaccinated.
The election comes at a “pivotal, consequential moment” for Canada, Trudeau said. “We will be taking decisions that will last not just for the coming months but for the coming decades. Canadians deserve their say. That’s exactly what we’re going to give them,” he told reporters.
Polls suggest the Liberals will win their third consecutive election but may not regain a majority in the 338-seat House of Commons. Trudeau currently has only a minority of seats, leaving him reliant on other parties to govern.
Nationally, Liberals would win 35% of the vote, compared with 30% for the main opposition Conservative Party and 19% for the left-leaning New Democrats, a Leger Marketing poll showed on August 12.
The Liberals spent heavily on subsidies to businesses and individuals to limit the damage from COVID-19, sending both the national debt and budget deficits to record highs.
With a Parliamentary majority, Trudeau would have a free hand to follow through on his stated policy priorities of fighting climate change and supporting those who suffered most during the pandemic.
“Our planet and our future are at stake. So I need you alongside me in this fight,” he said on Sunday.
– Daily News Sri Lanka
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