The United States conducted an airstrike Sunday against a vehicle that posed a threat to the Kabul airport, and the U.S. Central Command is now looking into reports of civilian casualties.“We are aware of reports of civilian casualties following our strike on a vehicle in Kabul,” Captain Bill Urban, CENTCOM spokesperson, said in a statement Sunday night.The U.S. is investigating and, “We would be deeply saddened by any potential loss of innocent life,” Urban said.Earlier Sunday the military said its forces struck a vehicle, “eliminating an imminent ISIS-K (Islamic State Khorasan) threat to Hamad Karzai International airport.” US Airstrike Hits Attacker Targeting Kabul Airport Earlier, US President Joe Biden warned that another attack on the airport was likely soon In his statement Sunday night, Urban said the results of the airstrike are still being assessed and that the secondary explosions “may have caused additional casualties. It is unclear what may have happened, and we are investigating further.”According to reporting in The New York Times, the drone strike or the secondary explosions killed as many as nine civilians, among them children. Dina Mohammadi said her extended family resided in the building and that several of them were killed, including children, according to the Associated Press. She was not immediately able to provide the names or ages of the deceased.Karim, a district representative, said the strike ignited a fire that made it difficult to rescue people. “There was smoke everywhere and I took some children and women out,” he said.Ahmaduddin, a neighbor, said he had collected the bodies of children after the strike, which set off more explosions inside the house, AP reported.Airlift winds downThe evacuation has airlifted about 120,00 people out of Kabul since the end of July, according to the White House as of early Sunday morning, and it is facing a Tuesday deadline.“This is the most dangerous time in an already extraordinarily dangerous mission, these last couple of days,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken told ABC’s This Week on Sunday. Republican U.S. Senator Ben Sasse, also on ABC, criticized the Biden administration’s evacuation operations.“There is clearly no plan. There has been no plan. Their plan has basically been happy talk,” he said. Blinken said in an interview on CNN that about 300 American citizens are seeking evacuation from Afghanistan.Ongoing threatsPentagon spokesperson John Kirby said at a briefing Saturday that threats against the airport “are still very real, they’re very dynamic, and we are monitoring them literally in real time. And, as I said yesterday, we are taking all the means necessary to make sure we remain focused on that threat stream and doing what we can for force protection.”The security threats have made the evacuation of Americans and some Afghans more difficult.“There doesn’t appear to be any concerted effort to get SIVs (Special Immigrant Visa holders) out at this point,” a State Department official told VOA from the airport. But the department is still trying to evacuate local embassy staff, U.S. citizens and legal permanent residents.US to Host Virtual Meeting of Foreign Ministers on AfghanistanThe United States will host the meeting of ‘key partners,’ the State Department said Sunday
The U.S. evacuation of Afghans at the airport has wound down significantly, with most of the remaining 100 American civilian government staffers set to leave before midnight, according to a State Department official who spoke with VOA Saturday on the condition of anonymity.The airport terminals are mostly empty, said the official, who expressed mixed feelings about the operation.“I feel the frustration of the failure of the operation overall,” said the official, who described the decision-making process of getting Afghans evacuated as “chaotic” and “subjective.”
“But I’m extremely proud of the work of the guys on the ground, just the kind of bare-knuckled diplomacy of getting to know the Afghans, even though some of us didn’t know the language,” the official said.
VOA White House Correspondent Patsy Widakuswara contributed to this report, which includes information from The Associated Press and Reuters.Carla Babb, Patsy Widakuswara contributed to this report.
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Month: August 2021
Strengthening Hurricane Ida Makes Landfall on US Gulf Coast
Hurricane Ida made landfall in the U.S. Gulf Coast state of Louisiana Sunday as a Category Four storm, with 240-kilometer-per hour winds on the Saffir-Simpson scale of hurricane intensity. The storm’s arrival comes 16 years after Hurricane Katrina’s onslaught. As Arash Arabasadi reports, memories of Katrina still loom large.
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What We Know: The Push to Evacuate Kabul
Here are the latest developments in Afghanistan as of August 29: * The United States conducted an airstrike Sunday against a vehicle that posed a threat to the Kabul airport, U.S. officials said. The airstrike came hours after the U.S. Embassy in Kabul issued warnings of a credible threat of an imminent attack in the area.* Dozens of countries issued a statement reiterating their commitment to evacuate their citizens and Afghan allies from Afghanistan, adding that they had “received assurances from the Taliban” of safe passage to and through the airport for these people even after the August 31 deadline.* A senior Taliban leader confirmed to VOA, on the condition of anonymity, that the group is in the final stages of announcing a new Cabinet and it is expected to include all of the members of its current Rahbari Shura, or leadership council. * President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden met with the families of the 13 U.S. service members killed in a bombing near the Kabul airport last week. At least 170 Afghans were killed in the blast.*Several veteran Afghan leaders, including two regional strongmen, are seeking talks with the Taliban and soon plan to form a new front for negotiations concerning the country’s next government, according to Reuters.
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Zambia’s New Finance Minister Says IMF Deal Key to Fixing Debt Problems
Zambia’s new finance minister, Situmbeko Musokotwane, said in an interview aired on Sunday that it was critical to agree to a lending program with the IMF because it would give creditors confidence and the government cheaper and longer financing.Musokotwane, appointed on Friday by recently elected President Hakainde Hichilema, faces the daunting task of trying to pull the southern African country out of a protracted debt crisis and has pledged to prioritize talks with the IMF.He told public broadcaster ZNBC he was confident Zambia would get an IMF program before the end of the year and thereafter restructure its debt.New Zambian President Promises Bold Agenda In an interview with VOA, Hakainde Hichilema promises to boost a poor economy, defend human rights, and have better relations regionally and with Washington. The government has a $750 million Eurobond due next year but says it cannot repay it.”We don’t have the money to pay back. This is why it is important that we get on (an) IMF (program) so that we can re-arrange not to pay next year. I am 100% confident that it will be done,” he said.Zambia, Africa’s second-biggest copper producer, became the continent’s first coronavirus-era sovereign default in November after failing to keep up with payments on its more than $12 billion in international debt.But after Hichilema’s landslide election victory this month over incumbent Edgar Lungu, the country’s dollar bonds and kwacha currency have rallied on hopes the new administration will bring a swift resolution to its debt woes.Of Zambia’s external debt, about $3 billion is in Eurobonds, $3.5 billion is bilateral debt, $2.1 billion is owed to multilateral lending agencies and $2.9 billion is commercial bank debt.A quarter of the total is held by either China or Chinese entities via deals shrouded in secrecy clauses, making negotiations for IMF relief particularly tough.Musokotwane also told ZNBC that Zambia hoped to raise annual copper output from its current level of roughly 800,000 metric tons to 2 million metric tons by 2026.He said he would present a budget within 90 days of Hichilema’s swearing-in last Tuesday and in the medium to long term his priority would be creating jobs.
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Groom Leaves New Bride Behind in Rush to Escape Afghanistan
Afghan American Haseeb Kamal had been married only one day when Kabul fell to Taliban control. His terrifying exit from Afghanistan meant leaving his new wife and most of his family behind. VOA’s Carolyn Presutti has his exclusive story for VOA.amera: Mike Burke
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Dozens of Nations Say Taliban Have Pledged Safe Passage for Evacuees
The United States said in a joint statement with dozens of other countries Sunday that the Taliban will allow safe passage out of Afghanistan to all foreign nationals and Afghans with travel documents from another country.“We have received assurances from the Taliban that all foreign nationals and any Afghan citizen with travel authorization from our countries will be allowed to proceed in a safe and orderly manner to points of departure and travel outside the country,” the joint statement read.The statement, that included Britain, Canada and Turkey, said the signatories would continue providing the proper paperwork to Afghans who are designated by foreign nations for relocation.Thousands of people, including journalists, former government officials and civil society activists, have struggled to get on the last flights leaving the Afghan capital’s beleaguered international airport ahead of the deadline for the Western evacuation operation.Taliban Agreement to Let Afghans Leave Is ‘Positive,’ US SaysUS, allies will hold Taliban to their commitment, US envoy for Afghan peace says Domestic and foreign critics, however, remain skeptical about whether the Islamist group will deliver on its pledges.
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France’s Macron Visits Iraq’s Mosul Destroyed by IS War
French President Emmanuel Macron on Sunday visited Iraq’s northern city of Mosul, which suffered widespread destruction during the war to defeat the Islamic State group in 2017. He vowed to fight alongside regional governments against terrorism. Macron said IS carried out deadly attacks throughout the world from its self-declared caliphate in parts of Syria and Iraq. He said IS did not differentiate between people’s religion and nationality when it came to killing, noting that the extremists killed many Muslims. “We will do whatever we can, shoulder to shoulder, with the governments of the region and with the Iraqi government to fight against this terrorism,” Macron said in English following a visit to an iconic mosque that was destroyed by the extremists. “We will be present alongside with sovereign governments to restore peace.” Macron said France will help in rebuilding mutual respect as well as monuments, churches, schools and mosques and most importantly “economic opportunity.” Despite the defeat of IS on the battlefield in Iraq and Syria, the group’s sleeper cells still carry out deadly attacks in both countries and an affiliate of the group claimed Thursday’s attacks at Kabul’s airport in Afghanistan that killed scores. Macron began his visit to Mosul by touring the Our Lady of the Hour Church, a Catholic church that was badly damaged during the rule of IS that lasted from 2014 until the extremists’ defeat three years later. Iraqi children dressed in white and waving Iraqi and French flags sang upon Macron’s arrival. FILE – Pope Francis arrives to pray for the victims of war at Hosh al-Bieaa Church Square in Mosul, Iraq.It was the same church where Pope Francis led a special prayer during a visit to Iraq in March. During the trip, the pontiff urged Iraq’s Christians to forgive the injustices against them by Muslim extremists and to rebuild as he visited the wrecked shells of churches. Macron moved around the church — whose walls are still riddled with bullets — amid tight security as a priest accompanying him gave him details about the church built in the 19th century. The French president then went up to the roof overlooking parts of Mosul accompanied by Iraqi officials. “We hope that France will open a consulate in Mosul,” Iraqi priest Raed Adel told Macron inside the church. He also called on the president to help in the reconstruction of Mosul’s airport. Macron made a list of promises during his meeting with Christian leaders at Our Lady of the Hour church, including opening a consulate. “I’m struck by what’s at stake here so I want to also tell you that we are going to be making the decision to bring back a consulate and schools,” Macron said.
Macron left the church in the early afternoon and headed to Mosul’s landmark al-Nuri mosque, which was blown up in the battle with IS militants in 2017 and is being rebuilt. French President Emmanuel Macron (unseen) tours the Al-Nuri Mosque in Iraq’s second city of Mosul, in the northern Nineveh province, on August 29, 2021.The mosque, also known as The Great Mosque of al-Nuri, and its iconic leaning minaret were built in the 12th century. It was from the mosque’s pulpit that IS’s self-styled caliph, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, declared the caliphate’s establishment in 2014. Mosul, Iraq’s second largest city, became IS’s bureaucratic and financial backbone. It took a ferocious nine-month battle to finally free the city in July 2017. Between 9,000 and 11,000 civilians were killed, according to an Associated Press investigation at the time, and the war left widespread destruction. Many Iraqis have had to rebuild on their own amid a years-long financial crisis. Since the early years of Christianity, northern Iraq has been home to large Christian communities. But over the past decades, tens of thousands left Iraq and settled elsewhere amid the country’s wars and instability that culminated with the persecution of Christians by extremists over the past decade. The traditionally Christian towns dotting the Nineveh Plains of the north emptied out in 2014 as Christians — as well as many Muslims — fled the Islamic State group’s onslaught. Only a few have returned to their homes since the defeat of IS in Iraq was declared four years ago, and the rest remain scattered elsewhere in Iraq or abroad. Macron arrived in Baghdad early Saturday where he took part in a conference attended by officials from around the Middle East aimed at easing Mideast tensions and underscored the Arab country’s new role as mediator. Macron hailed the Baghdad conference as a major boost for Iraq and its leadership. The country had been largely shunned by Arab leaders for the past few decades because of security concerns amid back-to-back wars and internal unrest, its airport frequently attacked with rockets by insurgents. Macron vowed to maintain troops in Iraq “regardless of the Americans’ choices” and “for as long as the Iraqi government is asking for our support.” France currently contributes to the international coalition forces in Iraq with 800 soldiers. On Saturday night, Macron visited a Shi’ite holy shrine in Baghdad before flying to the northern city of Irbil, where he met Nobel Peace Prize laureate Nadia Murad, the 28-year-old activist who was forced into sexual slavery by IS fighters in Iraq. A member of Iraq’s Yazidi minority, Murad was among thousands of women and girls who were captured and forced into sexual slavery by IS in 2014. Her mother and six brothers were killed by IS fighters in Iraq. She became an activist on behalf of women and girls after escaping and finding refuge in Germany and shared the Nobel Peace Prize in 2018.
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US Airstrike Hits Attacker Targeting Kabul Airport
The United States conducted an airstrike Sunday against a vehicle that posed a threat to the Kabul airport, following U.S. warnings of an imminent attack in the area. “U.S. military forces conducted a self-defense unmanned over-the-horizon airstrike today on a vehicle in Kabul, eliminating an imminent ISIS-K [Islamic State Khorasan] threat to Hamad Karzai International airport,” said Capt. Bill Urban, CENTCOM spokesperson. “We are confident we successfully hit the target. Significant secondary explosions from the vehicle indicated the presence of a substantial amount of explosive material.” A broken window of a house is seen after US drone strike in Kabul, Aug. 29, 2021.Islamic State Khorasan had claimed responsibility for a suicide attack outside the airport that killed at least 170 Afghans and 13 U.S. service members last Thursday. A U.S. airstrike last Friday killed two members of the terror group. The U.S. Embassy in Kabul had urged U.S. citizens to leave the vicinity of the airport, citing a specific and credible threat. U.S. President Joe Biden Saturday said another attack was likely within the next 24- to 36 hours. Warnings of additional attacks come as the U.S. and its allies wind down an evacuation of their citizens and Afghans fleeing the Taliban. US Embassy in Kabul Issues Threat AlertEarlier Biden warned that another attack on the airport is likely soon“This is the most dangerous time in an already extraordinarily dangerous mission, these last couple of days,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken told ABC’s “This Week” on Sunday. Republican U.S. Senator Ben Sasse, also on ABC, criticized the Biden administration’s evacuation plan. “There is clearly no plan. There has been no plan. Their plan has basically been happy talk,” he said. Sasse also said people have died and people are going to die “because President Biden decided to rely on happy talk instead of reality.” The White House says about 2,900 people were evacuated from Kabul in a 12-hour period that ended at 3 a.m. EDT Sunday. It says that since August 14, the U.S. has evacuated or helped evacuate more than 114,000 people. Blinken said in an interview on CNN that about 300 American citizens are seeking evacuation from Afghanistan. Separately, a U.S. airstrike Friday night against the Islamic State Afghan affiliate group — retaliation for Thursday’s attack — resulted in the deaths of two important members of the group, the U.S. Defense Department said Saturday. U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan told Fox News Sunday that President Biden “will stop at nothing” to make the terror group pay for last week’s attack. Biden on Saturday said the airstrike was “not the last” and that the U.S. will “continue to hunt down any person involved in that heinous attack and make them pay.”
Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid reportedly denounced the airstrike, saying it was a “clear attack on Afghan territory,” according to the Reuters news agency. He also reportedly said the Taliban expects to take full control of the airport when U.S. forces complete their pullout from the country, scheduled for Tuesday. Ongoing threats Pentagon spokesperson John Kirby said at a briefing Saturday that threats against the airport “are still very real, they’re very dynamic, and we are monitoring them literally in real time. And, as I said yesterday, we are taking all the means necessary to make sure we remain focused on that threat stream and doing what we can for force protection.”The security threats have made the evacuation of Americans and some Afghans more difficult. “There doesn’t appear to be any concerted effort to get SIVs [Special Immigrant Visa holders] out at this point,” a State Department official told VOA from the airport. But the department is still trying to evacuate local embassy staff, U.S. citizens and legal permanent residents.
The U.S. evacuation of Afghans at the airport has wound down significantly, with most of the remaining 100 American civilian government staffers set to leave before midnight, according to a State Department official who spoke with VOA Saturday on the condition of anonymity. In this image provided by the U.S. Marine Corps, Marines with the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit process evacuees as they go through the evacuation control center at Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul, Afghanistan, Aug. 28, 2021.The airport terminals are mostly empty, said the official, who expressed mixed feelings about the operation. “I feel the frustration of the failure of the operation overall,” said the official, who described the decision-making process of getting Afghans evacuated as “chaotic” and “subjective.”
“But I’m extremely proud of the work of the guys on the ground, just the kind of bare-knuckled diplomacy of getting to know the Afghans, even though some of us didn’t know the language,” the official said.
VOA White House Correspondent Patsy Widakuswara contributed to this report, which includes information from the Associated Press and Reuters.
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Afghans See More Checkpoints as Taliban Widen Airport Security Cordon
The Taliban have widened a security cordon around Kabul airport, at American request, but the move means Afghans heading for the last evacuation flights encounter more checkpoints.
Moreover, witnesses say the Taliban guards are becoming more aggressive, especially with women, as the clock ticks down to Tuesday, U.S. President Joe Biden’s deadline for the American airlift to end.
“They don’t spare women,” a 20-year-old student told VOA in a phone call from Kabul, where she is in hiding, too fearful to make a second attempt to leave the country. “They won’t spare us just because we are women,” said Hamdiya, describing what she, her mother and younger sister endured at multiple Taliban checkpoints.
“One Taliban held a gun to my head,” she said. “We were told we are infidels because we want to go to the United States,” she continued. “I said I wasn’t an infidel and he said he was going to shoot me,” she added. Hamdiya has worked for both the U.S. Embassy in Kabul and for a German nongovernmental organization.
On Thursday she, her mother and sister made it to the airport just as a suicide bomber struck, leaving 13 U.S. service personnel dead and at least 170 Afghans. “I was running and I accidentally tripped over a head, and it had no body. I can’t get rid of that image” she said.
Her mother was injured in the bombing, which an affiliate of the Islamic State group has claimed as its attack. Hamdiya said she, her mother and sister are all too terrified to make another bid to reach the airport and she has been trying to find any Western assistance to help them navigate the Taliban checkpoints, to no avail. She said women not accompanied by male relatives are encountering special hostility from Taliban gunmen.
“Sometimes I wish I were a man,” she said. “I am failing. It is very painful,” she added.
The final opportunities to leave are likely slipping away from Hamdiya.
The U.S. State Department Saturday urged American citizens and others to leave the vicinity of Kabul’s airport immediately due to fears of another terror attack. Taliban forces sealed the airport off Saturday to most Afghans hoping for evacuation, The Associated Press reported. US Embassy in Kabul Issues Threat AlertEarlier Biden warned that another attack on the airport is likely soonEven before then, other Afghans trying to reach the airport told VOA that Taliban guards often were only allowing a maximum of two members per family to cross checkpoints, now increasingly manned by uniformed Taliban fighters with Humvees and night-vision goggles seized from Afghan security forces.
Afghans who have been at the airport painted a grim picture of Taliban fighters firing rounds into the air.The Taliban claim they have to disperse crowds, but several Afghans told VOA that they believed the episodic shooting was intimidatory and being done just to scare them. The Taliban also Saturday fired canisters of colored smoke around parts of the airport, adding to the confusion and mounting fear, Afghan civilians said.
NATO’s European members have now ended their airlift, with some governments urging Afghans eligible for evacuation now to shelter in place. Members of the British armed forces 16 Air Assault Brigade arrive at RAF Brize Norton base after being evacuated from Kabul, in Oxfordshire, Britain, Aug. 29, 2021. (Jonathan Brady/Pool via Reuters)Britain ended its evacuation mission Saturday with the final British troops and diplomatic staff arriving at RAF Brize Norton, a British air force base in southeastern England, Sunday morning, drawing to a close Britain’s 20-year deployment in Afghanistan.
The two-week mission to rescue British nationals and Afghan allies was Britain’s largest evacuation mission since World War II. In all, Britain evacuated 15,000 people. In a video posted on Twitter Sunday British Prime Minister Boris Johnson praised the soldiers involved. On the end of military operations in Afghanistan. pic.twitter.com/sOeXjeYtIr— Boris Johnson (@BorisJohnson) August 29, 2021“U.K. troops and officials have worked around the clock to a remorseless deadline in harrowing conditions,” he said.
“They have expended all the patience and care and thought they possess to help people in fear for their lives,” he added, “They’ve seen at firsthand barbaric terrorist attacks on the queues of people they were trying to comfort, as well as on our American friends. They didn’t flinch. They kept calm. They got on with the job.”
Johnson and his ministers, however, are coming under vitriolic criticism for the airlift, with claims that the British government was too slow to get the evacuation mounted in earnest. A former head of the British army, General Richard Dannatt, said the mission should have been started much earlier in the year. “We should have done better, we could have done better. It absolutely behooves us to find out why the government didn’t spark up faster,” he told The Times newspaper.
Hundreds of Afghans have been heading to the country’s land borders but are being charged thousands of dollars by smugglers and drivers, according to Western NGOs. FILE – In this Aug. 20, 2021, file photo, Pakistani army soldier stands guard while Afghan people enter into Pakistan through a border crossing point, in Chaman, Pakistan.The Tajikistan and Uzbekistan borders are currently officially closed. Making for the frontier with Pakistan is highly risky for Afghans who have worked with NATO forces or Western governments as to get to the border they must travel deep into Taliban heartlands. Moreover, most border smugglers are connected with the militant Islamist movement, say private security advisers exploring overland routes to get Afghans out of the country. Some information for this report came from The Associated Press.
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Taliban Close to Formation of Cabinet, Announcement of New Government
A senior Taliban leader confirmed to VOA on condition of anonymity that the group is in the final stages of announcing a new Cabinet that was expected to include all members of its current Rahbari Shura, or leadership council. Taliban supreme commander Hibatullah Akhundzada is holding the consultations in Kandahar, the city known as the birthplace of the Taliban, along with his deputies Sirajuddin Haqqani, the head of Haqqani network, and Mullah Mohammad Yaqoob, son of Taliban founder Mullah Omar and the head of Taliban military commission. “Currently, the Taliban leadership is consulting with different ethnic groups, political parties and within the Islamic Emirate about forming a government that has to be accepted both inside and outside Afghanistan and to be recognized,” Sher Mohammad Abbas Stanikzai, another senior Taliban leader said in a televised address Saturday. FILE – Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid looks on as he addresses the first press conference in Kabul on Aug. 17, 2021.Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid told VOA the process was “near completion.” “The leadership has assigned deputy chief Sirajuddin Haqqani and the other deputy chief Mullah Mohammad Yaqoob to finalize names for the cabinet,” the senior Taliban leader said. The final approval of the names would come from Akhundzada himself. He said the Cabinet could have more than 26 members and might include people other than leadership council members. The Rahbari Shura is the most important decision-making body for the Taliban and is headed by Akhundzada himself, who is called Ameer ul Momineen, or leader of the faithful. While the Taliban claim the government will be inclusive, their spokesman said sharing power was not the group’s priority for now. “There is no agreement with any political leader to induct him in the government,” Mujahid Said. “I want to make it clear that this is not our focus to share government with others.” He said the group was seeking opinions of “known faces, ulema, former Mujahideen leaders” on the new system of governance. The shura held its first formal meeting in Kabul after the takeover of the city in the Presidential Palace on August 21. Haqqani and Yaqoob jointly presided over it. Since then, shura members and other senior officials have been holding informal meetings almost daily. “The shura has in principle decided that if the United States and other invaders complete their withdrawal by August 31, the Islamic Emirate [the Taliban name for their government] will announce the Cabinet,” the senior leader said. “The Amir ul Momineen is of the opinion that if a government is announced in the presence of the American forces it will raise many questions.” FILE – In this undated photo taken at an unknown location, the leader of the Taliban, Mullah Haibatullah Akhundzada, poses for a portrait. (Afghan Islamic Press via AP)He said the shura has also floated the idea that the announcement of the Cabinet should come from Akhundzada himself in a nationally televised address. “If Amir ul Momineen does not want to appear in public, he could nominate a confidant and senior leader to make the announcement,” he added. The shura was also of the view that the cabinet should be announced in the first week of September and the name of the new Taliban government should be Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, but that decision required approval from Akhundzada. The Taliban leader said they intended to keep the national army intact and include their own fighters into the institution. Decisions on the national flag and constitution were to be made by the new cabinet. In their internal consultations, the Taliban were also discussing the possibility of making either Sirajuddin Haqqani or Mullah Yaqoob the “Raees ul Wazara,” a position equivalent to a prime minister. During the Taliban’s last government in Afghanistan from 1996 to 2001, Mullah Mohammad Rabbani, held this post as the head of the ruling shura of ministers. Shura members are also discussing the possibility that if Haqqani becomes prime minister, Yaqoob could be defense minister, since he currently heads the military commission of Taliban. Other than the formation of government, the leader said internal discussions were heavily focused on security in the capital, Kabul. A Taliban fighter stands guard at the site of the Aug. 26 suicide bombing, which killed scores of people including 13 US troops, at Kabul airport on Aug. 27, 2021.Two explosions, at least one of them a suicide bomber, outside Kabul’s airport last week killed at least 170 people including 13 American service members guarding the airport. The Islamic State Khorasan, the regional branch of IS, took responsibility for the attack. Since the attack the Taliban have increased their security around the airport and set up checkpoints on roads leading to the airport. Below is a list of members of Taliban’s Rahbari shura, expected to be included in their Cabinet when it is announced. Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, head of the political office in Qatar’s capital Doha
Sheikh Abdul Hakeem, head of the Taliban negotiation team in Doha
Sher Abbas Stanekzai, deputy of the negotiation team in Doha Sadar Ibrahim, former chief of the military commission Abdul Qayyum Zakir, former chief of the military commission Mullah Fazil, former deputy defense minister Abdul Manan Akhund, brother of Taliban founder Mullah Omar Maulvi Noor Muhammad Saqib, former Taliban chief justice Amir Khan Muttaqi, former information minister Abdul Salam Hanafi, member of the Taliban negotiation team in Doha Qari Deen Muhammad, member of the Taliban negotiation team in Doha Lateef Mansoor, member of the Taliban negotiation team in Doha Sheikh Qasim, member of the Taliban negotiation team in Doha Muhammad Zahid Ahmadzai, former Taliban diplomat in Pakistan Maulvi Abdul Kabeer, former governor, Nangarhar province Sheikh Abdul Hakim Sharee, an influential cleric Noorulah Noori, former Guantanamo Bay detainee Abdur Rahman Mullah Gul agha Ameer Haqqani Mullah Mohammad Hasan Sheihkh Sharif Faizullah Khan Taj Mir Hafiz Majeed
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South Sudan Police Warn Against Anti-Government Protests
The South Sudan National Police Service has deployed officers on the streets of the capital, Juba, and warned South Sudanese not to take part in the scheduled nationwide Monday protests against the government.A group calling itself the People’s Coalition for Civil Action is organizing the protests after launching a public campaign for change in July, saying the Revitalized Transitional Government of National Unity led by President Salva Kiir is doing very little to address the many challenges facing the people of South Sudan.Abraham Awolic, a member of the group, said it notified the police by letter of the planned protests even though such notification is not required.“The people of South Sudan are coming out on the 30th to protest, it is their constitutional right,” he told VOA’s South Sudan in Focus. “You don’t need approval from anyone to exercise that power. … You cannot ask the same state which has aggrieved you to give you permission to protest against it.”South Sudan police service spokesperson Major General Daniel Justin said the planned protests will “cause public disorder” and will not be tolerated by authorities.Justin invited protest organizers to meet with the police.“You have to coordinate with the police to give you protection. And these people, we invite them to come such that we sit and arrange, so it will not be allowed,” Justin told VOA.South Sudan has been in political turmoil after the leaders of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-in-Opposition, part of the ruling alliance, fired three generals in the command of the Upper Nile state shortly after the generals declared First Vice President Riek Machar had been ousted as head of the movement.Bol Deng Bol, head of the civil society organization in Jonglei state, said some of South Sudan’s political parties have done more harm by rebelling against the government.“This time is the right time for us as citizens of this hard-earned country, South Sudan, to express our views, to express our dissatisfaction as long as they are not going to go violent,” Bol told VOA.Bol said he will attend the protests. Other political leaders are wary.The South Sudan National Youth Union this week urged young people across the country to stay away from the demonstrations.Gola Boyoi, chairperson of the Youth Union, condemned the protests, calling them an undemocratic way of toppling a government. He told South Sudan in Focus that the people should give the signatories to the 2018 peace deal ending the country’s civil war a chance to fully implement the agreement.”We are also calling on the business community and the working class to ignore this uprising and go about their normal duties,” Boyoi said.Peter Malir, a youth rights activist and a representative of the South Sudan Youth coalition, said that although citizens have the right to hold a peaceful protest, it is not the right time because the country is facing several challenges, including road ambushes and ethnic fighting.A heavy police presence could be seen along several streets in Juba on Friday. Officers have orders to arrest anyone who takes to the streets to participate in the protests, police spokesperson Justin said.
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Hurricane Nora Brushes Puerto Vallarta, Heads Up Mexico Coast
Hurricane Nora is churning northward up Mexico’s Pacific Coast toward the narrow Gulf of California, after making a sweep past the Puerto Vallarta area.Authorities in Mexico’s Jalisco state, where Nora made a brief landfall Saturday night crossing the cape south of Puerto Vallarta, said there were no early reports of serious damage. But forecasters warned that people along Mexico’s central and northern Pacific Coast should be alert to the dangers of flooding, mudslides and perilous surf.Nora had maximum sustained winds of 120 kph late Saturday, with tropical storm force winds extending out 165 kilometers. It was centered about 85 kilometers north-northwest of Puerto Vallarta and heading to the north at 26 kph.The U.S. National Hurricane Center said Nora was likely to keep dragging along the coast and gradually weaken to a tropical storm by Sunday night before entering the Gulf of California, passing close to the mainland resort area of Mazatlan.The storm was predicted to keep moving north up the gulf, before weakening further to a tropical depression and heading inland toward the Arizona border region. The storm’s remnants could bring heavy rains by midweek to the U.S. Southwest and central Rockies, the hurricane center said.The center said some areas along the west coast of Mexico could see rainfall totals from 20 to 30 centimeters with even more in isolated spots.
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Arc De Triomphe to be Wrapped for Posthumous Work by Christo
The Arc de Triomphe has seen parades, protests and tourists galore, but never before has the war monument in Paris been wrapped in silver and blue recyclable polypropylene fabric. That’s about to happen next month in a posthumous art installation designed by artists Christo and Jeanne-Claude.”Christo has wrapped museums, parliaments as in Germany, but a monument like this? Not really. This is the first time. This is the first monument of this importance and scale that he has done,” Vladimir Yavachev, the late collaborating couple’s nephew, told The Associated Press.Preparations have already started on the Napoleon-era arch, where workers are covering statues to protect them from the wrapping.The idea for L’Arc de Triomphe, Wrapped was formed in 1961, when Christo and Jeanne-Claude lived in Paris. Jeanne-Claude died in 2009, and in spite of Christo’s death in May 2020, the project carried on.”He wanted to complete this project. He made us promise him that we will do it,” Yavachev told The Associated Press.It was to be realized last fall, but the COVID-19 pandemic delayed the installation.The $16.4 million project is being self-financed through the sale of Christo’s preparatory studies, drawings, scale models and other pieces of work, Yavachev said.Visitors to the foot of the Arc de Triomphe during the installation, scheduled for Sept. 18-Oct. 3, will be able to touch the fabric, and those climbing to the top will step on it when they reach the roof terrace, as intended by the artists.Born in Bulgaria in 1935, Christo Vladimirov Javacheff met Jeanne-Claude Denat de Guillebon, born in Morocco on the exact same day as him, in Paris in 1958.The artists were known for elaborate, temporary creations that involved blanketing familiar public places with fabric, such as Berlin’s Reichstag and Paris’ Pont Neuf bridge, and creating giant site-specific installations, such as a series of 7,503 gates in New York City’s Central Park and the 39-kilometer Running Fence in California.Yavachev plans on completing another one of his uncle and aunt’s unfinished projects: a 150-meter-tall pyramid-like mastaba in Abu Dhabi.”We have the blueprints, we just have to do it,” he said.
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Mexican Troops Disrupt Migrants Heading North From Border
Several hundred migrants, including many children, headed north from near Mexico’s border with Guatemala on Saturday hoping to reach the U.S., but Mexican security forces dispersed the group several hours later.About 300 Haitians, Cubans and Central Americans set out on foot from the town of Tapachula, and a few hundred more migrants joined in as the walk progressed.After about eight hours, they passed through an immigration checkpoint without problems, but then National Guard troops in riot gear blocked their way as a heavy rain fell. Some of the migrants were arrested while others eluded capture and kept heading north. By Saturday night about 200 had arrived the town of Huixtla, said the Rev. Heyman Vazquez, a priest who works with migrants.Immigration agents also helped break up the group. An Associated Press journalist saw one immigration agent kick a migrant who was already immobilized and on the ground.The Collective of Monitoring and Documentation of Human Rights of the Southeast, which is a coalition of groups that work with migrants, said some people were injured though it gave no numbers. It said the detained migrants had been loaded on buses and driven away.The flow of migrants from Central America has increased since the beginning of the year and in recent days despair had grown especially among the Haitian community stranded in Tapachula. This week they began to demonstrate seeking to speed up their immigration procedures and threatened to leave in a caravan if Mexican officials did not pay attention to them.The group that started out Saturday was the biggest one this year and recalled the caravans that occurred in Mexico before the pandemic and the big formation that tried to leave Honduras in January but that was blocked from crossing Guatemala.The Mexican government has insisted this week that it will continue with its policy of containing migrants. Defense Secretary Luis Cresencio Sandoval said Friday that the main goal of the deployment of the army, navy and National Guard is to “stop all migration.” He said more than 14,000 military and National Guard personnel are deployed in Mexico’s south.
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US Embassy in Kabul Issues Threat Alert
A few hours after U.S. President Joe Biden said another attack on the Kabul airport is likely within the next 24 to 36 hours, the U.S. Embassy in Kabul, citing a specific and credible threat, urged U.S. citizens to leave the vicinity of the airport.The security alert urged Americans to avoid the airport, and said those in the vicinity of the airport, including the South (Airport Circle) gate, the new Ministry of the Interior, and the gate near the Panjshir Petrol station on the northwest side of the airport, should leave immediately.Biden warned of more likely attacks in a statement Saturday, as the U.S. and its allies wind down an evacuation of their citizens and Afghans fleeing the Taliban and just two days after a suicide bombing on the perimeter of Kabul’s airport, in which at least 170 Afghans and 13 U.S. service members were killed.Biden said he directed U.S. commanders to protect American troops on the ground at the Hamid Karzai International Airport as the massive airlift comes to an end and U.S. troops withdraw.About 2,000 people were evacuated from Kabul in a 12-hour period ending at 3 p.m. EDT Saturday, according to the White House. This included about 1,400 evacuees on U.S. military flights and 600 people on seven coalition flights.The White House also said that since Aug. 14, the U.S. has evacuated or helped evacuate about 113,500 people. Since the end of July, the U.S. has relocated about 119,000 people.Separately, the U.S. airstrike Friday night against an Islamic State Afghan affiliate group — retaliation for Thursday’s attack — resulted in the deaths of two important members of the group, the U.S. Defense Department said Saturday. The affiliate, Islamic State Khorasan, or ISIS-K, had claimed responsibility for the airport attack.“Two high-profile ISIS targets were killed, and one was wounded, and we know of zero civilian casualties,” Pentagon spokesperson John Kirby said at a media briefing, using an alternative designation for the group.“This strike was not the last,” Biden said. “We will continue to hunt down any person involved in that heinous attack and make them pay.”Kirby would not discuss to what extent ISIS capabilities may have suffered as a result of the U.S. attack, saying instead, “They lost a planner, and they lost a facilitator, and they’ve got one wounded. And the fact that two of these individuals are no longer walking on the face of the Earth — that’s a good thing.”Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid reportedly denounced the U.S. airstrike, saying it was a “clear attack on Afghan territory,” according to Reuters. He also reportedly said the Taliban expects to take full control of the airport when U.S. forces complete their pullout from the country, scheduled for Tuesday.Ongoing threatsPentagon spokesperson Kirby said at Saturday’s briefing that threats against the airport “are still very real, they’re very dynamic, and we are monitoring them literally in real time. And, as I said yesterday, we are taking all the means necessary to make sure we remain focused on that threat stream and doing what we can for force protection.”The security threats have made the evacuation of Americans and some Afghans more difficult.“There doesn’t appear to be any concerted effort to get SIVs [Special Immigrant Visa holders] out at this point,” a State Department official told VOA from the airport. But the department is still trying to evacuate local embassy staff, U.S. citizens and legal permanent residents.The U.S. evacuation of Afghans at the airport has wound down significantly, with most of the remaining 100 American civilian government staffers set to leave before midnight, according to a State Department official who spoke with VOA Saturday on the condition of anonymity.The airport terminals are mostly empty, said the official, who expressed mixed feelings about the operation.“I feel the frustration of the failure of the operation overall,” said the official, who described the decision-making process of getting Afghans evacuated as “chaotic” and “subjective.”“But I’m extremely proud of the work of the guys on the ground, just the kind of bare-knuckled diplomacy of getting to know the Afghans, even though some of us didn’t know the language,” the official said.Britain, meanwhile, said Saturday it would halt flights to evacuate civilians and started bringing its troops and diplomats back to the country. Britain reported late Friday it had evacuated more than 14,500 Afghan and British nationals since the Taliban seized control of the country two weeks ago.Britain ended the evacuations a day after Defense Secretary Ben Wallace announced “with deep regret” that Britain has stopped processing people for evacuation from Kabul, and he noted that many British citizens and Afghans who had worked with Britain in Afghanistan would not be able to leave.France previously announced that it is ending its evacuation process in Afghanistan.Aid soughtAs the evacuation winds down, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization called for humanitarian aid Saturday to help more than 7 million Afghan farmers facing worsening drought conditions.“Urgent agricultural support now is key to counter the impact of the drought and a worsening situation in Afghanistan’s vast rural areas in the weeks and months ahead, FAO Director Qu Dongyu said in a statement.The FAO described the drought as “severe” and said its impact on Afghans is exacerbated by the displacement of people caused by the conflict and the economic impact of COVID-19.VOA White House Correspondent Patsy Widakuswara contributed to this report. Some information for this report came from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters.
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War-weary Libyans Yearn for End to Daily Blackouts
Walk down any commercial street in the Libyan capital of Tripoli and the pavements will be lined with generators ready to spring into action whenever the mains electricity supply cuts out.In the decade since the NATO-backed overthrow of longtime dictator Moammar Gadhafi, repeated outbreaks of fighting have caused heavy damage to the power distribution network, while there has been virtually no new investment in generating capacity.On most days, Tripoli residents can expect multiple outages, totaling as much as 12 hours a day.The hum of generators and the acrid fumes and smoke of diesel fuel have become one of the most hated aspects of daily life in the once-affluent city.”We’ve put up with this mess for the past 10 years. … It has a big impact on our daily lives,” said 23-year-old pharmacist Sufian Zerkani. “It’s a basic right the state should guarantee.”Keeping the generators fueled up has become a daily chore for many.At service stations, pedestrians equipped with funnels and jerrycans for the generators line up alongside motorists.The destruction and decay have come as a shock in a country that boasts Africa’s largest reserves of oil and gas, and a population of just 7 million.Promises unkeptThe most recent round of fighting ended with a U.N.-backed cease-fire last year. That paved the way for peace talks and the formation of a transitional government this March, ahead of elections set for December.The new peace process has raised hopes that there might be light at the end of the tunnel after a decade of rival governments fighting with the support of shifting alliances of local militias.But for many, the promise of a return to peace and normality is not coming quickly enough.”Nothing’s changed. The promises made by one government after another have never been kept,” said 25-year-old student Nader al-Naas.In the hottest months, temperatures in Tripoli regularly touch 40 degrees Celsius.”It’s a disastrous situation, especially in the summer,” Naas said.It is worse for those without the means to buy a generator, who sleep outside on rooftops to escape the stifling heat at night.Basic generators sell for around $470, but more reliable models cost thousands.Blackouts bad for businessLast year’s cease-fire came after forces in Tripoli fought off a yearlong offensive by a rival administration based in the east.For a time, the east and its main city Benghazi enjoyed more reliable electric supply than Tripoli and the west.But as the conflict intensified, it too was forced to adapt to the daily grind of power cuts.”When there’s no power, we stop work,” said Benghazi mechanic Ali Wami.”It’s been a week since I was able to carry out any repairs to that vehicle,” he said, pointing to a heavily damaged car.Nearby, grocery shop manager Osama al-Dalah said the blackouts were bad for profits and bad for staff.”All these power cuts wear us down, dampen our spirits and lose us money,” he said. “We need a radical solution.”But while the country basks in a plentiful supply of sunshine, few Libyans are yet to set up solar panels as an alternative source of energy.Decade of decayIn a recent report, the Libyan Audit Bureau took the state-run General Electricity Company of Libya (GECOL) to task for unfinished projects and investments that “brought nothing to the network.”A GECOL official told AFP the problem was the infrastructure, which has been “decaying for 10 years and requires extensive maintenance.”During the abortive 2019-20 assault on Tripoli, hundreds of high-tension lines serving the capital and its suburbs were destroyed.Foreign firms pulled out, fearful for the safety of their employees, delaying the construction of new generating capacity. And in the meantime, thieves pulled out the distribution cables to scavenge copper wire.Generating capacity from oil and gas power stations of between 5,000 and 5,500 megawatts falls well short of the demand of 7,000 MW in winter and 8,000 MW in summer, the GECOL official said.Two new power stations are under construction by a German-Turkish consortium in Tripoli and in Libya’s third city Misrata. They are expected to add 1,300 MW of capacity to the grid in the first quarter of next year.A third new power station, in Tobruk in the far east of Libya, is scheduled to follow.
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