France and Britain on Monday will urge the United Nations to work for the creation of a “safe zone” in the Afghan capital, Kabul, to protect humanitarian operations, French President Emmanuel Macron said. “This is very important. This would provide a framework for the United Nations to act in an emergency,” Macron said in comments published in the weekly Journal du Dimanche. Above all, such a safe zone would allow the international community “to maintain pressure on the Taliban,” who are now in power in Afghanistan, the French leader added. The five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council — France, Britain, the U.S., Russia and China — will meet on Monday to discuss the Afghanistan situation. Paris and London will take the opportunity to present a draft resolution that “aims to define, under U.N. control, a ‘safe zone’ in Kabul, that will allow humanitarian operations to continue,” Macron said. His comments came as international efforts to airlift foreign nationals and vulnerable Afghanis out of the country neared an end. France ended its evacuation efforts on Friday, and the United Kingdom followed suit on Saturday. U.S. troops have been scrambling in dangerous and chaotic conditions to complete a massive evacuation operation from the Kabul airport by an August 31 deadline. Macron announced on Saturday that discussions had been “started with the Taliban” to “protect and repatriate” Afghan nationals at risk beyond August 31. Speaking to reporters in Iraq, where he was attending a meeting of key regional leaders, Macron added that with help from Qatar, which maintains good relations with the Taliban, there was a possibility of further airlift operations. He added that France had evacuated 2,834 people from Afghanistan since August 17. In the article published by the French Sunday newspaper, Macron said he envisaged targeted evacuations in future, “which would not be carried out at the military airport in Kabul” but perhaps via civil airports in the Afghan capital or from neighboring countries.
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Month: August 2021
Hurricane Nora Makes Landfall on Mexico’s Southwestern Coast
The U.S. National Hurricane Center (NHC) warned of torrential rains, life-threatening flash flooding and mudslides as Hurricane Nora made landfall on Saturday evening on the northwest coast of the Mexican state of Jalisco.After making landfall near Vicente Guerrero, the Category 1 hurricane has continued northward near the coast, NHC said.Videos posted on social media showed storm surges flooding roads and fierce winds lashing buildings and downing trees.Hurricane warnings have been issued for coastal stretches of the states of Colima, Nayarit and Jalisco, the agency said.”Nora is expected to produce rainfall totals of 8 to 12 inches (20-30 centimeters) with maximum amounts of 20 inches (50 centimeters) this weekend into early next week,” according to the NHC’s latest advisory. “This rainfall will produce life-threatening flash flooding and mudslides.”The agency also warned that swells generated by the hurricane could produce “life-threatening surf and rip current conditions” on the southern and southwestern coast of Mexico.As of 8 p.m. EST, Nora was about 48 kilometers south southwest of Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, packing maximum sustained winds of 129 kph.From the western coast of Mexico, the hurricane is then projected to approach and move into the Gulf of California on Sunday and Monday.
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Botswana Assures Unauthorized Immigrants of COVID-19 Vaccinations
The Botswana government has sought to assure thousands of undocumented immigrants they will not be left out of the country’s COVID-19 vaccination program.Thousands of immigrants are crossing into Botswana, the majority fleeing economic hardships in neighboring Zimbabwe. Some undocumented migrants say they are being turned away from vaccination centers.But Botswana’s assistant minister of health, Sethomo Lelatisitswe, told the National Assembly on Friday that no one, including immigrants, would be left out of the COVID-19 vaccination program. He said that if undocumented immigrants and refugees were left out, the country’s hospitals would be full tomorrow.Member of Parliament Dithapelo Keorapetse had asked during a National Assembly session whether undocumented immigrants were being vaccinated. Need to publicizeKeorapetse said he didn’t understand why records weren’t being kept about the number of migrants who have been vaccinated, in order to formulate a solid policy. He also said the migrants needed to know they were eligible for vaccination.Mkhululi Moyo, one of the thousands of immigrants from neighboring Zimbabwe who left in search of better economic opportunities, said he was happy Botswana authorities had explained the policy on the vaccination of migrants.“I am happy the [assistant] minister has clarified the issue of papers for foreigners,” Moyo said. “We have a problem, but it means everything is well. We hope it will go smoothly according to what the minister said, and there will be no difficulties.”Health authorities are emphasizing now they are unconditionally assisting undocumented migrants.Botswana deports an estimated 22,000 unauthorized immigrants every year, mostly from Zimbabwe.
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Afghanistan Human Rights Violations Surge Since Taliban Takeover
U.N. and private aid agencies say human rights violations have been surging in Afghanistan since Taliban militants seized control of the country.Aid agencies say Afghanistan is at a very dangerous point. They say an increasingly brutal conflict is worsening the already serious human rights violations in the country.CEO of the Asia Pacific Refugee Network Najeeba Wazedafost says many people feared the resurgence of the Taliban, as the U.S. and NATO withdrew troops from Afghanistan. But she says few people thought the Taliban would gain control over the country so quickly.She says it is horrifying to see the rapid escalation of human suffering and displacement under Taliban rule.“It has been quite heartbreaking, especially in the past week, receiving a vast amount of calls to our ASPRN crisis helpline, where people have been reporting executions and beatings, and clampdown on media and radio stations. They have been reporting to us about Taliban door-to-door searches, targeted killings and looting in the capital. And again, we have been hearing about schools, and hospitals, and thousands of homes being attacked,” she said.Afghan women clad in burqas walk on a street in Kabul, Afghanistan, Aug. 22, 2021.Wazedafost says she is most concerned about the voices of fear she is hearing from women. She says they talk about their fear of being killed simply because they are female. She says she also fears border closures triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic will prevent women and girls fleeing violence and persecution from finding safety.Wazedafost is appealing to western countries that are leaving Afghanistan to not abandon the women and girls left behind and leave them without hope and the support they need to survive their changed circumstances.The United Nations says decades of conflict, compounded by a second drought in four years and the devastating socioeconomic impact of COVID-19, have wiped out Afghanistan’s ability to survive without international support.The U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs says nearly half of Afghanistan’s population, about 18 million people, need humanitarian assistance. The head of OCHA’s coordination division, Wafaa Saeed Abdelatef, says at least a third of the population does not have enough to eat and is suffering from acute hunger.“We also estimate that half the children under five are acutely malnourished. And when a child is malnourished, this means also no access to enough food, to health, to water, to hygiene, to sanitation. And, also, malnutrition has a severe and irreversible impact on children. So, this is something that we cannot let continue,” she said.This year’s United Nations humanitarian appeal for $1.3 billion has received just $500 million, leaving a funding gap of $800 million.
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High Risks Foreseen for Final Afghanistan Evacuation Flights
The final American evacuation flights from Afghanistan—likely Tuesday—will be the most perilous. They will carry the last detachments of rearguard U.S. troops out of the country and will have no friendly ground force to protect them, Western military officials say.
They will have to depend on Taliban fighters to ensure no rocket or mortar attack is launched by Islamic State Khorasan, or ISIS-K, on the airport as the rearguard draws down—or as the planes take off from the airport, say American and British officials. The final flight will be highly risky, they admit.
General Nick Carter, chief of Britain’s Defense Staff, said Saturday everyone should be aware of the daunting test U.S. commanders and soldiers will face in trying to ensure the final planes leave Afghanistan safely. “We should be holding our breath and thinking of that last plane and what a challenge it’s going to be for those brave people,” he told Britain’s Sky News.
Britain will have ended its evacuation operations Saturday, but the final British aircraft will be departing under the watchful eye of U.S. ground forces. Thirteen U.S. servicemen and at least 170 Afghan civilians were killed after an Islamic State suicide bombing Thursday near the airport, prompting many western countries to scramble to complete their final evacuation flights from Afghanistan. The Pentagon said at least 18 troops were injured in the attack.
Many of the Afghan civilians killed were left piled in a sewage ditch, and at least 200 were wounded, according to Taliban officials.
ISIS-K claimed responsibility on its Amaq news agency for the attack, and the first American combat fatalities in Afghanistan since February 2020.
General Kenneth McKenzie, head of the Pentagon’s central command, says he expects ISIS-K to try to strike again. “We believe it is their desire to continue those attacks … and we’re doing everything we can to be prepared,” he told reporters in Washington.
On Friday, the U.S. conducted a drone strike targeting an IS planner, U.S. Central Command said in a statement. “U.S. military forces conducted an over-the-horizon counterterrorism operation today [Friday] against an ISIS-K planner. The unmanned airstrike occurred in the Nangarhar Province of Afghanistan,” spokesman Capt. Bill Urban said.
“Initial indications are that we killed the target. We know of no civilian casualties,” Urban added. The announcement of the strike came a day after U.S. President Joe Biden vowed to retaliate for the attack on Kabul airport. FILE – A U.S. Air Force security forces maintain a security cordon outside a U.S. Air Force C-17, at Hamid Karzai International Airport, in Kabul, Afghanistan, Aug. 20, 2021. (Senior Airman Taylor Crul/U.S. Air Force via AFP)At a press briefing Friday, White House press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters the White House national security team had advised Biden “another terror attack at Kabul airport is likely.”
“The threat is ongoing, and it is active. Our troops are still in danger,” she continued before adding, “this is the most dangerous part of the mission.”
More than 5,000 U.S. service members are still deployed at Kabul airport and will be slowly drawn down over the next few days. That’s a larger number than remained deployed in the final days of the American military evacuation from Saigon, Vietnam in 1975, when all but 1,250 Americans—few enough to be removed in a single day’s helicopter airlift—were left to guard the airport.The Pentagon had to alter at the last minute its final evacuation plans from Vietnam, which had called for fixed-wing aircraft to be used. But because of rocket fire and debris on the runways at the airport at Tan Son Nhut air base, the final withdrawal was conducted by helicopters able to fly to U.S. warships in the South China Sea.
As Pentagon strategists and commanders on the ground run through their plans and try to refine them for the final day of U.S. flights from Kabul airport, officials say discussions are being held with Taliban leaders about security. They say they’re hopeful the Taliban and the U.S. have a shared interest in ensuring the final flights go off without mishap.
American military officials have asked for the Taliban to block more roads and to widen the security perimeter around the airport. But as the last planes are readying for departure, there will be no trained Western security observers around to ensure there is nothing approaching the aircraft and that no suicide bomber gets close.
“There will be no security-in-depth,” a Pentagon official told VOA on the condition of anonymity. He added that patrolling armed drones will try to provide as much protection as possible.
At some point, U.S. ground forces likely will be replaced by Taliban fighters in parts of the airport as U.S. troops withdraw, U.S. officials told VOA. It is unclear, though, whether that will happen as part of an orchestrated handover that’s being negotiated with commanders of the militant Islamic group.
Pentagon spokesman John Kirby denied reports Friday the Taliban had taken over some security duties at the airport. “I saw that report, too,” Kirby said. “It’s false. They’re not in charge of any of the gates. They are not in charge of any of the airport operations. That is still under U.S. military control,” he said in Washington.
Since Thursday, Taliban and IS fighters have clashed several times in west Kabul, according to local media reports. Several hundred Islamic State fighters are estimated to have been freed when the Taliban took control of Kabul and other major cities, including Kandahar, and opened prison gates.
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What We Know: US Drone Strike Kills IS Affiliate Group Member
Here are the latest developments in Afghanistan as of Friday:U.S. military launches drone strike, targeting a member of an IS Afghan affiliate group. One person is killed in the U.S. drone strike. The person is believed to have been responsible for planning deadly attacks on the U.S. in Kabul. It was not immediately clear whether the target was involved in Thursday’s deadly attack outside Kabul airport. The strike was launched less than 48 hours after the Kabul airport attack.
The U.S. Embassy urges U.S. citizens not to come to the Kabul airport because of security threats and to leave immediately if they were near any of four gates to the airport, according to a statement on the State Department’s website.
“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 Hamid Karzai International Airport. But the department is still trying to evacuate local embassy staff, U.S. citizens and legal permanent residents.
U.S. Army General Hank Taylor said Friday a single suicide bomber, not two as previously believed, carried out Thursday’s attack.
Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said the U.S. believes there are other “specific credible” threats against Kabul airport.
Despite the risks, crowds of people desperate to leave Afghanistan gathered outside Kabul’s airport early Friday as evacuation flights resumed.
A VOA reporter who visited the area outside the airport later in the day saw mostly empty streets, with Taliban security blocking access to nearby streets.
About 106,000 people have left Afghanistan on evacuation flights since Aug. 14, the day before the Taliban entered Kabul.
Taylor said some gates to the airport have been closed, but U.S. personnel continue to process for departure American citizens, SIV applicants and vulnerable Afghans who have the proper credentials.
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3 Groups of Students Freed in Nigeria in 24 Hours
Authorities in northern Nigeria announced three separate groups of kidnapped students were freed within 24 hours, prompting speculation late Friday that large ransoms had been paid to the gunmen blamed for a spate of recent abductions.Among those now free are some of the youngest children ever taken hostage in Nigeria, a group of 90 pupils who had spent three months in captivity. Hours after those youngsters were brought to the Niger state capital, police in Zamfara state said that 15 older students also had been freed there.Then late Friday, word came of a third hostage liberation in Kaduna state. Thirty-two more of the students taken from a Baptist high school in early July also had been freed, according to the Rev. Joseph Hayab, chairman of the Kaduna state chapter of the Christian Association of Nigeria.The wave of releases comes after more than 1,000 students have been kidnapped since December, according to an AP tally. While earlier school abductions had been blamed on Islamic extremists in the northeast, authorities have only said that bandits are behind the latest kidnappings for ransom.”The happiness can’t be quantified,” said Yahya Aliyu Babangida, 54, a teacher whose two children aged 7 and 17 were among those who had been kidnapped from the Salihu Tanko Islamic School in Tegina in late May.Some of the kidnapped preschoolers who spent months in captivity were just 4 years old, and authorities said Friday that one child had died during the ordeal. Several others were undergoing medical treatment after their release late Thursday.”They are exposed to this harsh weather, no food, mosquitos everywhere,” he said. “Some of them had never been outside the comfort of their homes.”News of the children’s release was celebrated across Nigeria, where abductions have stepped up pressure on the government to do more to secure educational facilities in remote areas.A freed student of Salihu Tanko Islamic School reunites with her father in Minna, Nigeria, Aug 27, 2021.But questions remained Friday about how much ransom had been paid to secure the children’s release, and if so whether that could in turn fuel further abductions by the unknown armed groups referred to locally as bandits.Muhammad Musa Kawule, 42, acknowledged paying intermediaries in hopes of securing his 6-year-old daughter’s freedom.”I spent a lot of money but today, I’m happy,” he told The Associated Press on Friday. He did not specify how much he had paid nor whether government officials had been involved.The youngsters were later brought to the Niger state capital, Minna, where they underwent medical checkups and met the governor. Video showed scores of children as young as kindergartners coming out of white minibuses, the little girls wearing long blue hijabs known as chadors.While Nigeria has seen scores of school abductions for ransom, the Niger state kidnappings left people aghast because the children were so young. The ramifications also could be long lasting as parents reconsider whether to send their children to school.”This has affected the morale and confidence of the people and has even made parents think twice before they send their children to school,” Niger state Gov. Abubakar Sani Bello said of the children’s abduction. “We will do whatever it takes to bring (the kidnappers) to justice.”As the attacks have mounted across the north, there are also signs they are becoming more violent.After one kidnapping at a university in Kaduna state earlier this year, gunmen demanded ransoms equivalent to hundreds of thousands of dollars. They killed five students to compel other students’ parents to raise the money and later released 14.Also Friday, Zamfara state police spokesperson Mohammed Shehu said that 15 other students had been handed over to officials on Friday, 11 days after they were abducted from the College of Agriculture and Animal Science in Nigeria’s troubled northwest.It was not immediately clear how they were rescued, but the students are now being looked after by Zamfara state officials and will soon be reunited with their parents, authorities said.
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Anger, Grief for Family Members of 13 US Troops Killed in Afghanistan
Steve Nikoui had been glued to TV reports on Thursday, desperate for hints his son, Lance Corporal Kareem Nikoui, survived the deadly airport suicide bombing in Afghanistan when three Marines arrived at his door with the worst news possible.The 20-year-old Marine, who the previous day had sent home a video of himself giving candy to Afghan children, was among 13 U.S. service members killed in the bombing. Others included an expectant father from Wyoming, the son of a California police officer and a medic from Ohio.“He was born the same year it started and ended his life with the end of this war,” Nikoui said from his home in Norco, California, referring to the 2001 start of U.S. military operations in Afghanistan.The U.S. Defense Department has not formally announced the names of the service members killed in the attack at Kabul airport, but details of their lives began to emerge on Friday as family and friends were notified.Islamic State militants claimed responsibility for the suicide bombing, carried out during a massive evacuation of U.S. and other foreign nationals as well as some Afghan civilians following the Taliban takeover.On Friday, Nikoui was waiting for a Marine liaison to come to his house to help with arrangements to fly him and his wife to an Air Force base in Delaware, where their son’s body will arrive in the coming days.He said he was angry.“I’m really disappointed in the way that the president has handled this, even more so the way the military has handled it. The commanders on the ground should have recognized this threat and addressed it,” Nikoui said.Also, among the troops killed was Rylee McCollum of Wyoming, a Marine who was married with a baby due in three weeks, his sister, Roice, said in a Facebook post on Friday.“He wanted to be a Marine his whole life and carried around his rifle in his diapers and cowboy boots,” his sister wrote, adding that he wanted to be a history teacher and a wrestling coach upon leaving the military.Along with wrestling, McCollum played football before graduating from Wyoming’s Jackson Hole High School in 2019.“Saying that I am grateful for Rylee’s service to our country does not begin to encapsulate the grief and sadness I feel today as a mother and as an American,” State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jillian Balow said in a statement. “My heart and prayers are with Rylee’s family, friends, and the entire Jackson community.”Regi Stone, whose son Eli enlisted around the same time as McCollum, described him as “smart, strong and courageous” and said he drew comfort when the two hung out together.”We always knew that Rylee had his back and my son his,” Stone told Reuters, adding that he got to know McCollum during visits for dinner at their house. “He’s a defender. He loved his country and wanted to make a difference.”Cool older brotherNavy medic Max Soviak’s sister Marilyn described him as only a sibling could.“My beautiful, intelligent, beat-to-the-sound of his own drum, annoying, charming baby brother was killed yesterday helping to save lives,” she wrote on Instagram.Soviak’s death was confirmed on Twitter by U.S. Senator Rob Portman of Ohio, the medic’s home state.Pictures on Max Soviak’s Instagram page show him laughing on the beach, rock-climbing, skiing and posing with two young children. “Not just an older brother, I’m the cool older brother,” Soviak wrote in 2019.His last post was more foreboding.“It’s kill or be killed, definitely trynna be on the kill side,” Soviak wrote on June 10.The accompanying photo appeared to show him alongside two other troops in uniform holding weapons.Hunter Lopez, 22, another Marine killed in the blast, was the son of a captain and a deputy in the Riverside County, California, sheriff’s office, according to a Facebook post by Sheriff Chad Bianco. Lopez had planned on following in his parents’ footsteps and becoming a deputy when he returned home, the post said.“I am unbelievably saddened and heartbroken for the Lopez family as they grieve over the loss of their American Hero,” Bianco wrote in a different post on his personal Facebook page.The explosion also took the life of Staff Sergeant Taylor Hoover from Utah, according to a Facebook post by his aunt, Brittany Jones Barnett. She and other relatives described him on social media as brave and kind.“The world has lost a true light. Our hearts are broken. Shock, disbelief, horror, sadness, sorrow, anger and grief,” she wrote.The father of Lance Corporal Jared Schmitz, 20 called into a local radio station in Missouri on Friday to speak about his son’s death and his passion for military service.“He was not the type that liked to just sit around and get his four years done and walk away,” Mark Schmitz told KMOX. “He wanted to be in a situation where he actually made a difference.”Schmitz said his son had been stationed in Jordan before being called to Afghanistan two weeks before the attack.The last publicly visible post on Jared Schmitz’s Facebook page was a July 29 photograph of him at the archeological site of Petra, in Jordan. A friend commented that he hoped Schmitz was staying safe, to which Schmitz replied, “always my guy.”
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Macron to Attend Baghdad Summit Amid Fears Over IS
French President Emmanuel Macron is among the leaders set to attend a regional summit Saturday in Iraq, with the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan and a deadly jihadist attack in Kabul overshadowing the meeting.Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and Jordan’s King Abdullah II also are to attend the Baghdad summit, while the foreign ministers of arch-foes Iran and Saudi Arabia will also be present.Organizers have been tight-lipped on the agenda, but the meeting comes as Iraq, long a casualty of jihadist militancy, tries to establish itself as a mediator between Arab countries and Iran.Iraq seeks to play a “unifying role” to tackle crises shaking the region, sources close to Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhemi have said.Oil-rich Iraq has been caught for years in a delicate balancing act between its two main allies, Iran and the United States.Iran exerts major clout in Iraq through allied armed groups within the Hashed al-Shaabi, a powerful state-sponsored paramilitary network.Baghdad has been brokering talks since April between U.S. ally Riyadh and Tehran on mending ties severed in 2016.Macron aims to highlight France’s role in the region and its determination to press the fight against terrorism, his office said.The French president considers Iraq “essential” to stability in the troubled Middle East, it added.’More urgent than ever’An Islamic State (IS) group affiliate claimed Thursday’s suicide bombing in Kabul that killed scores of people, including 13 U.S. service members.The attack has revived global concerns that the extremist organization, which seized swathes of Syria and Iraq before being routed from both countries, is emerging anew, analysts said.According to Colin Clarke, senior research fellow at the Soufan Center, IS “still has access to tens of millions of dollars and will likely continue to rebuild its network throughout Iraq and Syria.”Its “primary goal at the moment is to have its affiliates maintain momentum until it can sufficiently rebuild its core in the Levant,” he said.”(IS) affiliates in sub-Saharan Africa and now Afghanistan will have the opportunity to make strides in the coming year.”In July, President Joe Biden said U.S. combat operations in Iraq would end this year, but that U.S. soldiers would continue to train, advise and support the country’s military in the fight against IS.Washington currently has 2,500 troops deployed to Iraq.Rasha Al Aqeedi, senior analyst at Newlines Institute for Strategy and Policy, said coalition forces believed Iraq’s security personnel could prevent another IS advance.”Maybe they’re not ideal, but they’re good enough for America to leave the country believing that Iraq is not going to live through another 2014,” she said.
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Chad Rebel Group FACT Says It’s Willing to Join National Dialogue
A Chadian military-political rebel group behind this year’s deadly insurgency said on Friday it was prepared to take part in a national dialogue proposed by transitional president Mahamat Idriss Deby.Deby seized power in April after his father, the former president, was killed while visiting troops fighting the rebels, who had crossed the border from Libya to take a stand against the elder’s 30-year rule.The Libya-based rebel group that claimed responsibility for Deby’s death, known as the Front for Change and Concord in Chad (FACT), has now welcomed his son’s offer to hold talks with all stakeholders, including opposition armed groups.”If there are peaceful initiatives to build a new democratic Chad without dictatorship and the absolute confiscation of power, of course we will join them,” said FACT spokesperson Kingabe Ogouzeimi de Tapol.Deby’s Transitional Military Council (CMT) has previously refused to negotiate with rebel groups, in particular members of FACT, which in April swept south from bases in Libya and reached within 300 kilometers of the capital, N’Djamena, before being pushed back by the army.
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Afghans Arriving at Dulles Airport Tell Their Stories of Evacuations
According to the White House, the U.S. has evacuated more than 105,000 people from Afghanistan since the Taliban took over Kabul. VOA’s Saba Shah Khan spoke to some of them at the Dulles International Airport in Virginia as they arrived and shared their experiences.
Camera: Qazafi Babar Producer: Saba Shah Khan
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US Holds to Deadline for Aug. 31 Departure From Afghanistan
As evacuations from Afghanistan continue ahead of the Aug. 31 departure deadline, the U.S. State Department vows to continue helping Americans who want to leave, even after Tuesday’s deadline. VOA’s Laurel Bowman has our story.
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In Afghanistan, Aid Agencies Adjust to New Environment
The humanitarian situation was already dire in Afghanistan before the Taliban swept into Kabul on Aug. 15, and now it has worsened as aid workers are coping with a new operating environment. VOA U.N. Correspondent Margaret Besheer reports.
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Burials Continue Nearly Two Weeks After Quake Hit Haiti
As Haiti recovers from a quake that struck the country nearly two weeks ago, relatives bury a girl near the ruins of her house. She’s among the more than 2,200 people killed by the 7.2 magnitude quake. Elsewhere, women say they fear for their safety and that of their children. More with VOA Correspondent Mariama Diallo.
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First Group of Afghan Evacuees Arrives in Albania
A first group of 121 evacuees from Afghanistan arrived early Friday in Albania, after the country agreed to temporarily house at-risk Afghan nationals at the request of the United States.More are expected to go to the Western Balkan country, but the timing is uncertain because of the chaos and evolving situation at the Kabul airport, as the United States and other countries race to get Americans and others out of the country ahead of an Tuesday deadline for complete withdrawal, amid the threat of more terror attacks.Officials in Albania said the first group of 121 was made up of civil society activists and others, including children and 11 babies. The flight made one stop in Tbilisi, Georgia, then departed for Albania, arriving at the country’s main airport in Tirana at 3 a.m. local time.Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama offers a gift to a boy during his visit to a resort accommodating Afghan refugees in Golem, west of Tirana, Aug. 27, 2021.They were being sheltered temporarily in three hotels near the coastal town of Durrës, about 38 kilometers (23.5 miles) from Tirana.“We have prepared for everything, including processing documentation and registration, health checks, sanitary packages, food, transportation and of course safety,” said Foreign Minister Olta Xhaçka, who welcomed the group at the airport.U.S. Ambassador to Albania Yuri Kim was also present, thanking Albania for the hospitality.Albania was one of the first countries to agree to take in at-risk Afghans, initially saying that it would house hundreds of them, later putting that figure at up to 4,000. All this past week, the flights from Kabul kept being scheduled and canceled because of the chaos at the airport.“I feel relieved that finally the first flight was able to make it, bringing the first Afghan contingent, including, men, women and children. It is truly an emotional moment, because each man, woman, child that you see here is a life saved from the horror of war,” Xhaçka said.A moral imperativeIn addition to Albania, fellow NATO member North Macedonia and Kosovo have agreed to take in at-risk Afghans.Albania and Kosovo, noting their own people’s plights, see helping with the Afghan evacuees as a moral imperative. Thirty years ago, thousands of Albanians fled to Western Europe after the fall of communism to build a better life.“It’s about who we are. It’s about also being a member of NATO and feeling the responsibility to act as part of NATO,” Albania’s Prime Minister Edi Rama said in an interview with CNN, urging other wealthier fellow NATO members to do more.During the Balkan conflict of the 1990s, 700,000 people from Kosovo were displaced and became refugees. President Vjosa Osmani, confirming the U.S. request, recalled that experience in a tweet early last week.Since mid-July, 🇽🇰 expressed its readiness to do its part to host 🇦🇫citizens, upon request by An Afghan family gathers at a resort that is accommodating Afghan refugees in Golem, Albania, Aug. 27, 2021.While the length of the Afghan evacuees’ stay in these countries remains to be seen, Charles Kupchan, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, a global affairs think tank, told VOA the priority is to move them out of Afghanistan.”Right now, I think the key is to get them to a place where they are safe to begin the paperwork, the background checks, other necessary steps to process to them for refugee status and for ultimate resettlement,” he said, adding that the Biden administration “is very appreciative for any country that is willing to help out.” Ilirian Agolli contributed to this report.
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Soccer Legend Cristiano Ronaldo to Return to Manchester United
Soccer superstar Cristiano Ronaldo is heading back to England to play for the team where he became a legend.Manchester United said Friday that it had reached an agreement to bring the 36-year-old Portuguese forward back to Old Trafford, where the storied club plays.”Manchester United is delighted to confirm that the club has reached agreement with Juventus for the transfer of Cristiano Ronaldo, subject to agreement of personal terms, visa and medical,” a statement from the team read.”Cristiano, a five-time Ballon d’Or winner, has so far won over 30 major trophies during his career, including five Champions League titles, four FIFA Club World Cups, seven league titles in England, Spain and Italy, and the European Championship for his native Portugal.”In his first spell for Manchester United, he scored 118 goals in 292 games. Everyone at the club looks forward to welcoming Cristiano back to Manchester,” the statement concluded.Ronaldo said on Thursday that he no longer wanted to play for Juventus of the Italian league.While details of the move were not officially made public, The Associated Press said the transfer fee would be $29.5 million. Ronaldo had a year left on his contract with Juventus. His contract with United is for two years.Ronaldo played previously for Manchester United from 2003 to 2009 when he left to play for Spanish team Real Madrid before moving on to Juventus.Manchester United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, who played alongside Ronaldo at the club, said, “He is the greatest player of all time, if you ask me.”“Such a tremendous human being as well. … Everyone who’s played with him, I think, has a soft spot for him,” Solskjaer said.United no doubt hopes Ronaldo can help the team win the Premier League championship, something it hasn’t done since 2013.Some information for this report came from The Associated Press.
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