Month: January 2024

ISLAMABAD — Afghanistan’s fundamentalist Taliban hosted their first international meeting Monday since returning to power in Kabul, saying it is aimed at promoting economic connectivity and cooperation with regional countries on “common challenges.”

 

Special representatives and ambassadors from neighboring and regional countries, including China, Russia and Iran, attended the gathering in the Afghan capital titled Afghanistan Regional Cooperation Initiative.

 

Taliban Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi told the inaugural session that “regional security remains of grave importance” for his government, known as the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan or IEA.  His office released the English translation of his local language speech.  

 

Muttaqi explained that the meeting had been convened to develop a “region-centric narrative” to enhance cooperation “for a positive and constructive engagement between Afghanistan and regional countries to tackle existing and potential threats.”

 

The Taliban reclaimed power in August 2021 when the United States-led Western troops withdrew from the country after their involvement in the Afghan war for nearly 20 years.  

 

However, the international community has not recognized the de facto Afghan government mainly over its restrictions on women’s access to education and work.

 

The United Nations has also refused to give Afghanistan’s seat at the world body to the Taliban until they ease their restrictions on Afghan women’s freedom of movement and work and govern the country through an inclusive political setup representing all Afghan ethnicities.

 

The Taliban have defended their administration and policies as aligned with Afghan culture and Islamic law, rejecting calls for reforms as an interference in the country’s internal affairs.  

 

“I would like to take this opportunity to put across to you a clear message: The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan respects others’ interests, choices, government structures, and development models and, in return, expects others to respect Afghanistan’s interests and government and development choices and models,” Muttaqi said Monday.  

 

“Therefore, our choices shall be respected. Instead of proposing governance models and pointing fingers at the (Afghan ruling) system, it is better to engage in mutual interests,” the Taliban foreign minister said.

 

He urged delegates to convey the “ground realities of today’s Afghanistan” to the United Nations meeting scheduled for next month in Qatar in hopes of fostering a “constructive engagement” and “acceptable approach” for his country.  

 

The two-day conference in Qatar’s capital, Doha, will open on February 18. U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres will convene the meeting with member states, regional organizations, and special Afghanistan representatives.  

 

“The objective of the meeting is to discuss how to approach increasing international engagement in a coherent, coordinated, and structured manner, including through consideration of the recommendations of the independent assessment on Afghanistan,” said Guterres’ spokesman Stephane Dujarric while speaking to reporters in New York last week.

 

The U.N.-mandated assessment determined that “international engagement is not working,” nor does it “serve the humanitarian, economic, political or social needs of the Afghan people.”  

 

The Doha meeting is also expected to discuss the appointment of a U.N. special envoy for Afghanistan in accordance with the assessment’s recommendations.

 

On Monday, Muttaqi reiterated Kabul’s opposition to appointing a U.N. special envoy, saying the world body already maintains its presence in Afghanistan and his administration is ready to engage with international stakeholders on all issues. He cautioned that previous “externally imposed” solutions and interventions led to instability in his conflict-torn South Asian nation.

 

The U.N.-authorized assessment has linked the recognition of the Taliban government to compliance with Afghanistan’s international treaty obligations and commitments and the immediate removal of sweeping curbs on women’s rights to education and employment opportunities.
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New Delhi — A Chinese research ship due to dock in the Maldives has raised apprehensions in India, where concerns have been growing about the potential military use of the data collected by such vessels.

The Maldives foreign ministry said last week that it has given permission to the ship, Xiang Yang Hong 3, following a request by China to “make a port call, for rotation of personnel and replenishment.” It said the ship will not be conducting any research in Maldivian waters.

The announcement comes at a time when diplomatic tensions have spiked between India and the Maldives following the election of President Mohamed Muizzu, who is seen as pro-China.

The Maldives gave clearance to the ship weeks after India’s other small neighbor in the Indian Ocean, Sri Lanka placed a one-year moratorium on foreign research ships entering its waters.

The suspension was put in place apparently due to objections raised by India after at least two Chinese research and surveillance ships docked in the island nation in the last year and a half. Last year, the research ship Shi Yan 6, conducted a maritime survey in Sri Lankan waters.

Analysts say New Delhi’s concerns about Chinese research ships such as the one due to dock in the Maldives in the coming days arise from fears that the data collected could be used to deploy Chinese submarines in the region.

“Our suspicion is that this vessel, although it is an oceanographic research vessel, is gathering information that could be used by China to expand its undersea military operations and improve its anti-submarine warfare capabilities, as it studies the Indian Ocean environment, the seabed, temperature profile, eddies, currents, etc. That means China will have an edge militarily in the Indian Ocean in times to come,” Abhijit Singh, Head of Maritime Policy Initiative at the Observer Research Foundation in New Delhi told VOA.

Amid rising geopolitical tensions, the Indian Ocean has become a hugely strategic waterway for India and China, the Asian giants whose rivalries have deepened following a four-year long military standoff along their Himalayan borders.

“Beijing has profound interest in the Indian Ocean because vital sea-lanes of communication pass through here carrying energy, oil, trade etc. What they are doing is reconnoitering the high seas, studying the hydrographic or hydrological conditions because their submarines will operate here one day,” India’s retired navy chief Arun Prakash told VOA. “China is preparing the ground for a major maritime deployment in the years to come So it is of concern to India.”

The Maldives and Sri Lanka are placed strategically along key shipping routes. Although the Maldives foreign ministry said that the Chinese ship, Xiang Yang Hong 3 would not be conducting research, analysts said that was unlikely to reassure New Delhi.

“Once the vessel is there, it is very hard for Maldives to make sure that it is not doing the work it intends to do,” according to Singh.

A report by the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies released earlier this month said that Chinese surveys in the Indian Ocean have “clear military value – especially to submarine operations.”

According to the report, China, whose surveying operations had been concentrated along its periphery in the South China Sea and Western Pacific Ocean, has also set its sights on the Indian Ocean.

“While scientific and commercial benefits may accrue from Chinese oceanographic research, these activities may also prove crucial for the PLA [People’s Liberation Army] in expanding its operational reach and capabilities in the Indian Ocean,” the report said.

“This expansion poses a significant challenge to key regional players like India, as well as to the United States and its allies.”

Following the report’s release, Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning, said that China’s marine scientific research fully complied with the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea.

“We hope that the relevant parties will take an objective view of China’s marine scientific research activities and refrain from speculating through colored glasses,” Mao said on January 11.

In the Maldives, permission to the Chinese vessel was granted weeks after both sides committed to stronger ties during a visit this month by the Maldivian president, Muizzu, to Beijing.

“The Chinese are going to leverage these growing ties with Maldives by conducting surveys in these waters,” said Singh.

Indian Ocean countries such as Sri Lanka and the Maldives have witnessed a geopolitical tug of war between India and China for a strategic presence over the past two decades.

“The Maldives has always been a welcoming destination for vessels of friendly countries, and continues to host both civilian and military vessels making port calls for peaceful purposes,” the Maldivian foreign ministry said last week, referring to the Xiang Yang Hong 3 visit.

“The deployment of such research ships in the Indian Ocean is going to increase, it is not going to get any less in the years to come,” said Prakash.
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Islamabad — Pakistan and Iran agreed Monday to broaden political and security cooperation to confront terrorism after exchanging unprecedented missile strikes earlier this month against alleged militant bases in each other’s territories. 

The understanding stemmed from a meeting Pakistani Foreign Minister Jalil Abbas Jilani hosted with his Iranian counterpart, Hossein Amirabdollahian, in Islamabad.

“There was an agreement to cooperate to fight terrorism in our respective areas. We need to address and allay each other’s concerns with regard to terrorism,” Jilani told a news conference alongside the Iranian foreign minister. 

He said that Pakistan and Iran had decided to immediately deploy “liaison officers” in their respective Turbat and Zahedan border towns to “further strengthen ongoing security and intelligence cooperation.”

Amirabdollahian said Iran and Pakistan “strongly respect” each other’s “sovereignty and territorial integrity.”

He added, “We will tell all terrorists that we will not … provide them with any opportunity to endanger our common security.” 

The chief Iranian diplomat, without elaborating, pointed figures at “third countries” for supporting militants in border regions of Iran and Pakistan.

“There is no doubt that the terrorists located in the common border regions and areas of Iran and Pakistan are led and supported by third countries, and they never favor any good actions in line with the benefits and interests of the Iranian and Pakistani governments and nations,” Amirabdollahian said. 

The two foreign ministers said they had agreed to hold regular meetings at the highest ministerial and military levels to prevent any future “misunderstandings.”

Military tensions between Tehran and Islamabad escalated on January 17 when Iranian security forces launched airstrikes into the turbulent southwestern Pakistani border province of Baluchistan against what Tehran said were the “strongholds” of anti-Iran Sunni militant group Jaish al-Adl, or the Army of Justice. 

Nuclear-armed Pakistan condemned the cross-border incursion, saying it killed two children and injured several other civilians. It swiftly recalled the Pakistani ambassador to Tehran and asked the Iranian ambassador to leave Pakistan, suspending all planned meetings between the two countries. 

Two days later, Islamabad carried out similar airstrikes against what it said were terrorist hideouts in Iran’s southeastern border province of Sistan-Baluchistan. Iranian officials said the strikes killed nine Pakistani nationals, mostly women and children.

The two countries, however, have since agreed to de-escalate tensions and allowed their respective ambassadors to resume duties, leading to the Iranian foreign minister’s visit to Islamabad on Monday. 

Iran and Pakistan share a 900-kilometer-long border and routinely accuse each other of not doing enough to prevent fugitive anti-state militants from using their respective territories to plot cross-border attacks.
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Islamabad — Tens of thousands of supporters of Pakistan’s jailed former prime minister, Imran Khan, rallied countrywide Sunday, despite an ongoing state crackdown. They renewed a pledge to vote for his candidates in the February 8 national elections.

Khan, 71, had urged election nominees from his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, or PTI, party to organize the campaign processions to mobilize voters for the national and provincial elections, already plagued with allegations of pre-poll rigging and claims the military is interfering in the electoral process to impact the outcome. The military has not responded to the allegations.

Sunday’s massive response to his call reflected the results of recent public opinion polls, which indicated that Khan is the most popular politician in Pakistan and the PTI is the largest national political party. 

In Karachi, the country’s largest city, police used tear gas and batons to disperse thousands of his supporters, arresting more than two dozen of them. Police officers defended their action, saying PTI leaders did not seek permission to organize the political activity. 

The PTI denounced the crackdown on an election rally in Karachi as “one of the most shameful acts.”

Rallies elsewhere in Pakistan, including Lahore, Rawalpindi, Peshawar, Faisalabad, and other major cities, ended peacefully despite police withdrawing or declining permission for the gatherings.

Since his ouster in an April 2022 no-confidence vote, the cricket hero-turned-prime minister and his party have faced significant obstacles leading up to the February vote. 

PTI has been barred from holding public gatherings, and dozens of its key candidates have been disqualified from the elections. 

Earlier this month, a controversial court ruling denied the party the use of its iconic cricket bat logo on ballot papers, significantly undermining its chances in a country where electoral symbols are crucial to identify candidates in rural areas with traditionally high illiteracy rates. Khan’s name has also been banned from mainstream Pakistani news channels.

The deposed prime minister alleges that the powerful military orchestrated his removal from office at the behest of the United States and subsequent anti-PTI measures. Washington and Islamabad deny his allegations.

Khan was jailed following a graft conviction last August for allegedly selling state gifts. He accuses the military of being behind nearly 200 charges against him, ranging from rioting and corruption to terrorism.

Major internet disruptions have also affected PTI’s repeated attempts to hold virtual campaign rallies to bypass mainstream media restrictions. Telecom authorities have been widely accused of blocking access to social media platforms from within Pakistan.

Censorship 

Meanwhile, the caretaker government of Prime Minister Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar has increasingly been accused of stifling freedom of speech in the run-up to the polls. 

The Federal Investigation Agency, or FIA, summoned dozens of Pakistani journalists, political commentators, and YouTube show hosts over the past week to respond to charges they were running a “malicious social media campaign” against Supreme Court judges. 

At a news conference in Islamabad, Murtaza Solangi, the caretaker information minister, confirmed Sunday that the FIA had issued notices to journalists and others.

“An investigation is underway. We are monitoring hundreds of accounts, and action will be taken against them,” he said. The minister said more than 500 social media accounts had participated in the anti-judiciary campaign.

Independent critics and journalists have heavily criticized the country’s Supreme Court since it banned the PTI from using the cricket bat symbol, with many denouncing the move as pre-poll rigging.

“Escalating levels of censorship on the media and seemingly deliberate internet outages to curtail digital assemblies appear to target a particular political party and its voter base,” said the independent Human Rights Commission of Pakistan in a statement Saturday. 

“The notices issued by the FIA to scores of social media users for an allegedly ‘malicious campaign’ against the superior judiciary underscore[s] an increasing assault on people’s right to freedom of expression,” the monitoring group said. 

Most analysts and television talk shows have described the political campaigning as subdued or lackluster, citing a few major rallies, lack of voter interest and economic pressures facing many in the country of about 245 million.

Three-time former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, or PML-N party, are seen as front-runners, but he has barely been seen on the campaign trail. 

Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, who heads the other major dynastic political party, the Pakistan People’s Party, has been more active in campaigning. 

Khan has accused Sharif of striking a secret deal with the military to return to power through a rigged election, charges both deny. 

The military directly ruled Pakistan for more than three decades, and generals are constantly accused of playing a role in making or breaking elected governments.
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