Afghanistan’s Taliban on Wednesday condemned the U.S. drone strike that killed fugitive al-Qaida chief Ayman al-Zawahiri in Kabul over the weekend but said they still had no information about the intended target and renewed their resolve to combat terrorism.

Abdul Salam Hanafi, the second deputy Taliban prime minister, made the remarks to reporters in the Afghan capital in what was the first official reaction by the Islamist rulers to the killing of the terror mastermind following confirmation by U.S. President Joe Biden late Monday.

Zawahiri’s presence in a posh Kabul neighborhood is seen as a humiliating blow to the Taliban, who seized power nearly a year ago and have been seeking international legitimacy for their rule.

“We still are not aware of these details. All that we know is that an aerial attack has taken place here and our Islamic Emirate strongly condemns it,” Hanafi said when asked to comment on the killing of al-Zawahiri in the U.S. drone attack.

The Taliban call their government Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA).

Hanafi denounced the U.S. attack as a violation of his country’s “sovereignty, international laws and the Doha agreement.” He referred to the February 2020 deal the Taliban and Washington sealed in Doha, Qatar, which called for U.S.-led foreign troops to withdraw from Afghanistan and the then-insurgent group to prevent transnational terrorists from operating in the country.

“The Islamic Emirate has repeatedly said [to the world] that it is our policy not to allow anyone to use our territory against neighboring and other countries. The Islamic Emirate firmly stands by this policy,” Hanafi said.

Washington, however, blames the Taliban for violating the 2020 pact.

“By hosting and sheltering the leader of al-Qaida in Kabul, the Taliban grossly violated the Doha Agreement and repeated assurances to the world that they would not allow Afghan territory to be used by terrorists to threaten the security of other countries,” according to a U.S. State Department official.

A senior U.S. official said Monday that al-Zawahiri, the 71-year-old Egyptian jihadist leader, was on the balcony of a three-story house in the Sherpur area of the Afghan capital when two Hellfire missiles fired from an unmanned aircraft struck him.

‘Broader effort to cover up’

“The Haqqani Taliban members acted quickly to remove Zawahiri’s wife, his daughter and her children to another location, consistent with a broader effort to cover up that they had been living in the safe house,” stated the U.S. official.

Suhail Shaheen, head of the Taliban’s political office in Doha, said that an investigation was still ongoing to determine whether or not al-Zawahiri was living in Kabul and died in the U.S. drone attack.

“The government and the leadership wasn’t aware of what is being claimed, nor any trace there,” he said in a message he shared with journalists late on Wednesday.

“IEA is committed to Doha Agreement. Investigation is underway now to find out about veracity of the claim. The leadership is in constant meeting in this regard. Findings will be shared with all,” Shaheen added.

The weekend drone strike came just days after Taliban Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi reassured an international conference hosted by neighboring Uzbekistan that his government would not allow any groups, including al-Qaida, to use Afghanistan for terrorism against any country. He cited the specific counterterrorism clause in the pact.

“Last week in Tashkent we heard the Taliban trying to convince countries and organizations committed to supporting the Afghan people that they had full control over Afghan territory. They repeated their commitment that Afghanistan would not become a safe haven for terrorists,” Tomas Niklasson, the European Union’s special envoy for Afghanistan, said Wednesday on Twitter.

“The killing of Mr. al-Zawahiri by the U.S. in central Kabul reinforces previous doubts about such claims. Were the Taliban unaware, unable or unwilling to take action against the AQ leader?” the envoy asked.

Niklasson went on to question whether the Taliban would be able to deliver on their commitments that they would rule the country through an “objectively inclusive government” and respect human rights. “Are they more capable of delivering on these promises to the Afghan people?”

U.S. officials have said that al-Zawahiri was hosted in Kabul by senior members of the so-called Haqqani Network, a powerful militant faction within the Taliban with deep al-Qaida ties and links to the Pakistani spy agency. Sirajuddin Haqqani, the leader of the network, is the powerful interior minister in the Taliban government and carries a $10 million U.S. bounty on his head.

Washington and the world at large have declined to give legitimacy to the Taliban rule, linking such a move to easing of restrictions the hardline group has placed on women’s access to work and education, and upholding counterterrorism pledges. The U.S. has imposed strict financial sanctions on the Taliban and has withheld from them about $7 billion of Afghanistan’s foreign financial reserves.

Pakistan under scrutiny

Meanwhile, questions are being raised about whether neighboring Pakistan played a role in enabling the U.S. to conduct the fatal drone strike against al-Zawahiri in landlocked Afghanistan.

The Pakistani Foreign Ministry on Tuesday cautiously responded to opposition allegations and skepticism about Islamabad’s participation in the U.S. airstrike.

“Pakistan condemns terrorism in all its forms and manifestations … Pakistan stands by countering terrorism in accordance with international law and relevant U.N. resolutions,” said the brief ministry statement.

A major non-NATO ally, Pakistan allowed the U.S. allied troops to use its ground and air routes to invade Afghanistan 20 years ago.

The military intervention dislodged the then-Taliban government in Kabul for permitting al-Qaida leaders Osama bin Laden and al-Zawahiri to plot the September 2001 deadly terrorist strikes against America. Bin Laden, the founder of the al-Qaida network, was later located and killed by U.S. forces in his hideout in Abbottabad, Pakistan, in 2011.

Shireen Mazari, a key opposition politician and former federal minister, in a tweet asked Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s coalition government to explain whether it covertly had provided the U.S. with a military base to conduct Sunday’s airstrike.

“Puzzling question: a U.S. drone flew into Afghanistan from direction of [the] Gulf region — assuming Pakistan hasn’t given bases yet (unless this govt has done so covertly) — but flew over which country’s airspace? Iran does not give any airspace rights to U.S. military so was Pakistan airspace used?” Mazari asked on Twitter.

Michael Kugelman, a South Asian affairs expert at the Wilson Center in Washington, also asserted that Pakistan was the only country that could have facilitated the U.S. raid if at all it did so.

“The geography doesn’t lie. If this drone was launched from a U.S. base in the Gulf, it wouldn’t be able to fly over Iran,” Kugelman said.

“Flying over Central Asia is circuitous and hard to pull off if you’re undertaking a rapid operation. This leaves Pakistani airspace as most desirable option,” he added.

 
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China has dispatched a military ship to Sri Lanka’s port city of Hambantota in the midst of the rapidly changing political situation in the island nation. The move has raised questions about whether China is trying to establish a strong military presence on Sri Lanka’s Indian Ocean coast.

China’s People’s Liberation Army describes the vessel, Yuan Wang 5, as a survey ship, meant to conduct research in the Indian Ocean. But analysts are asking whether the ship, due to arrive in Hambantota on Aug. 11 and packed with sophisticated electronics for space and satellite tracking, is meant to serve a strategic purpose.  

“China’s goal is to put the Hambantota port to dual use, commercial and military. It is trying to build the capability to move and maneuver ships at the port with a military purpose,” Dayan Jayatilleka, a former Sri Lankan diplomat, told VOA. 

China has some say about using the port because the Sri Lankan government handed it over to Chinese companies on a 99-year lease in 2017. Colombo was forced to give up control of the port after it failed to repay Chinese loans used to build it. 

Sri Lanka’s recently ousted president, Gotabaya Rajapaksa, is believed to have given his consent to berthing the vessel at the Sri Lankan port. The new government that replaced him after a massive protest movement is unlikely to revoke the decision and stop the vessel from using the port. 

“Sri Lanka needs financial assistance, and it would not want to displease China by revoking the permission,” Jehan Perera, executive director of the National Peace Council of Sri Lanka, told VOA. 

“China’s purpose is to make sure its military ships have easy access to the Sri Lankan port. As long as this goal is met, it has no need to actually build a military base,” said K.P. Fabian, a former deputy high commissioner of India to Sri Lanka.  

Sri Lanka is seeking a bailout loan from the International Monetary Fund (IMF). IMF rules stipulate that a loan-seeking country should reschedule the payment timetable of past debt in order to qualify. 

China has refused Sri Lanka’s request to reschedule project loans amounting to nearly $10 billion that have fallen due. Without China’s cooperation, Colombo would be unable to obtain IMF financing and sink deeper into a financial mire. 

“[The] Sri Lankan government is hopeful Beijing will come around and accept the request. It also wants a currency swap arrangement to buy Chinese goods,” Perera said. 

Sri Lanka is almost without foreign exchange reserves and facing higher world oil prices, which has resulted in a serious energy shortage. The country is also facing a food crisis with millions of people without jobs.

It is possible that China might try to use its influence as a lender to pressure Sri Lanka to allow the creation of Chinese military facilities, which could be used to target China’s rival, India.

“For India, it is a matter that is causing serious concern. China has been trying to create military challenges for India, and this is one such effort,” said Fabian.

A move to establish a Chinese military presence in Sri Lanka will cause concern not only in India but also in other parts of the world because Indian Ocean sea routes connect Asia and Europe.

Debt trap

Sri Lanka’s economic crisis was caused by heavy foreign borrowing, which has left it with a huge burden of debt. Sri Lanka’s foreign debt as a percentage of its gross domestic product (GDP) jumped from 80% in 2015 to 101% in 2020, according to government estimates. The total foreign debt now stands at $51 billion.

China launched a series of infrastructure projects in Sri Lanka under its Belt and Road Initiative, including the port and an airport that were bankrolled by Chinese banks.

The island nation soon found itself unable to service the Chinese debt. Beijing used the opportunity to force Sri Lanka in 2017 to give the Hambantota port on a lease of 99 years to Chinese companies that built and financed it.

“The U.S. government is correct when it says that Chinese projects and loans are very non-transparent and overpriced,” Perera said. “Chinese forays in Sri Lanka had a corrupting influence because they encouraged local politicians and officials to pilfer funds.”

Earlier, USAID Administrator Samantha Power said that China has financed infrastructure projects in Sri Lanka that often served little practical purpose.

“Indeed, over the past two decades, China became one of Sri Lanka’s biggest creditors, offering often opaque loan deals at higher interest rates than other lenders, and financing a raft of headline-grabbing infrastructure projects with often questionable practical use for Sri Lankans,” Power said. 
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The killing of al-Qaida leader Ayman al-Zawahiri in a U.S. strike in Afghanistan will likely have little impact on the terror group’s affiliates in war-torn Syria, analysts say.

Al-Zawahiri was killed over the weekend in a U.S. missile strike in Kabul in Afghanistan, U.S. President Joe Biden announced Monday.

In Syria, where al-Qaida has endorsed several militant groups during the country’s decadelong conflict, several leaders have reacted publicly to the death of al-Zawahiri.

Abu Abdullah al-Shami, a high-ranking leader of the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) group, published a note in an online chat room on Telegram Tuesday, eulogizing al-Zawahiri’s death.

HTS, formerly known as al-Nusra Front, is a powerful Islamist group that controls most of Idlib province in northwest Syria. Designated as a terrorist organization by the U.S., the group was the main affiliate of al-Qaida in Syria until 2018 when it formally severed ties with the global terror group.

Despite cutting such ties, the Syrian militant group has maintained its al-Qaida-inspired ideology, experts say.

“That’s why the death of someone like al-Zawahiri could be seen as a symbolic blow to the jihadist movement in Syria,” Sadradeen Kinno, a Syrian researcher who studies Islamic militant groups in the country.

Other militant groups based in Idlib such as Huras al-Din and the Turkistan Islamic Party in Syria have pledged allegiance to al-Qaida.

“Zawahiri’s death will not have any direct impact on the way these groups operate in Syria,” Kinno told VOA. “Their organizational structures are largely independent from that of central al-Qaida.”

Other analysts say that al-Zawahiri was a symbol of an older generation of al-Qaida that wasn’t necessarily of significant relevance to today’s extremist groups in Syria and elsewhere.

Nicholas Heras, a Syria expert at the Newlines Institute for Strategy and Policy in Washington, says the younger generation of al-Qaida-inspired leaders have a different approach than that of the older generation within the terror group, including al-Zawahiri.

Their approach, Heras said, “focuses on building local support for a society based on ideals approved by al-Qaida.”

“In Syria, the younger generation has taken over and the focus for jihad there is to build a sustainable society based on Salafist principles,” he told VOA, adding that, “Zawahiri was already yesterday’s news in Syria when he died.”

Syria’s Idlib province is the last major stronghold controlled by forces opposed to the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Syrian forces and their Russian allies have been conducting operations in the region.

The United States also has occasionally carried out strikes in Idlib, targeting al-Qaida-linked leaders, including one in June that killed Abu Hamzah al-Yemeni, a senior commander of Huras al-Din.

In addition to these strikes, experts say rivalry among the various terror groups present in Idlib have forced some of them to keep a low profile.

Some leaders of smaller al-Qaida-affiliated groups, including Huras al-Din, have been arrested by the more powerful HTS and “many leading members are in hiding, so Huras al-Din is already marginalized, and I don’t think Zawahiri’s death will change that,” said Aymenn Jawad al-Tamimi, a Syria researcher at Swansea University in Britain.

It remains to be seen with al-Zawahiri’s successor will have any different impact on al-Qaida’s affiliates in Syria and elsewhere around the world, he said.
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Thousands of Afghans took refuge in Turkey as the Taliban took control of Afghanistan last year. Many of these Afghans say they are now worried about being sent back. VOA’s Mahmut Bozarslan and Soner Kizilkaya bring us one man’s story in this report, narrated by Bezhan Hamdard. VOA footage by Mahmut Bozarslan and Ogulcan Bakiler. Ezel Sahinkaya contributed.
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Pakistan said Tuesday rescue teams had found the wreckage of a military helicopter that crashed overnight due to bad weather in flood-hit southwestern Baluchistan province, killing all six senior officers on board.

A military statement said Lieutenant General Sarfraz Ali, a regional corps commander, a major-general, and one brigadier were among the dead.

Officials said Ali and his team were supervising flood relief operations in Lasbela district, about 500 kilometers south of the provincial capital, Quetta, when their helicopter lost contact with air traffic control late Monday afternoon.

“As per initial finding, the accident occurred due to bad weather,” the statement said, promising to share further information after a detailed investigation into the crash.

Weeks of unusually heavy seasonal monsoon rains and subsequent flooding have killed scores of people and destroyed thousands of homes across Baluchistan, according to Pakistan’s National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA).

The devastation has prompted the military and the Pakistan navy to mobilize their personnel and assets to assist in civilian relief operations in the province, evacuating thousands of marooned people and delivering food and necessary items to victim families.

Authorities said the nationwide death toll from rain-related incidents across the country had risen close to 500 since June. Monsoon rains in Pakistan usually run from July through September.
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India is accelerating action against the monkeypox virus after reporting its first death due to monkeypox in the southern state of Kerala, that of a 22-year-old man who had recently returned from the United Arab Emirates.

The death of the young man is the first due to monkeypox in Asia, where several countries have reported outbreaks of the viral infection that has been declared a global public health emergency by the World Health Organization.

Kerala health authorities announced the death on Monday after it was confirmed that the man had monkeypox. He had died in a hospital on Saturday, about a week after returning from the UAE, where his family said he had tested positive for the infection. By the time doctors were informed, he was already critical.

Samples from the man that were tested in India also detected the virus, according to Kerala Health Minister, Veena George.

This is the fourth monkeypox death reported globally outside Africa. So far there have been two monkeypox related fatalities in Spain and one in Brazil.

Kerala health authorities said that about 20 persons, who had been in contact with the 22-year-old, are being monitored. Passengers who were on the flight with him from UAE to Kerala have also been contacted and authorities have urged people with symptoms to inform doctors.

After the death was reported in Kerala, the federal government said it is setting up a task force to monitor the outbreak in the country.

Fifteen laboratories have been designated to diagnose monkeypox while some states, including the capital, New Delhi, have set up isolation wards.

India has so far detected six cases of the viral disease – four in Kerala and two in New Delhi.

Meanwhile the government has invited domestic vaccine makers to consider making shots against monkeypox after the country reported some cases of infection.

The Indian Council of Medical Research, the federal medical research organization, said last week that it is willing to share the monkeypox virus strain it has isolated to aid the process of developing a vaccine. India is a major vaccine producer.

Vaccines already exist for monkeypox, including those used to eradicate smallpox. Experts have said that unlike COVID 19, mass vaccinations against monkey pox will not be necessary.

Monkeypox, which was first discovered in a monkey, is related to the smallpox virus, which was eradicated in 1980, but is far less severe.

The disease has been found in more than 70 countries where it is not endemic. According to The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention more than 23,000 monkeypox cases have been detected since January in these countries.

In a statement last week, the World Health Organization’s regional director in South East Asia, Poonam K. Singh, said the risk of a monkeypox outbreak in the region was “moderate but the potential of its further international spread is real.” She said that “We need to stay alert and be prepared to roll out an intense response to curtail the spread of monkeypox.”
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The United States conducted a rare counterterrorism operation over the weekend against a “significant” al-Qaida target in Afghanistan, a senior U.S. official said Monday. 

“The operation was successful and there were no civilian casualties,” the official said without giving further details.  

Sources said the strike killed top al-Qaida leader Ayman al-Zawahiri, who was deputy to the terror group’s founder, Osama bin Laden, when they orchestrated the September 2001 attacks against the U.S. out of their sanctuary in Afghanistan. 

The confirmation came more than an hour after the Taliban rulers in Kabul said a missile attack on Sunday against a residential compound in the Afghan capital was the work of an American drone.  

WATCH: Biden to Deliver Remarks on Counterterrorism Operation

“The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan strongly condemns this attack on whatever the pretext,” Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said in a statement, using the official name for the Taliban government.  

He denounced the strike as a “blatant violation of international principles and the Doha agreement.” 

Mujahid referred to the 2020 pact his group had signed with the U.S., which led to the withdrawal of all American and allied troops from Afghanistan last August, after almost 20 years of war with the Taliban.  

The Islamist insurgent group took control of Afghanistan on August 15 as the U.S.-led foreign troops withdrew and the Western-backed government in Kabul as well as its security forces collapsed in the face of the stunning nationwide Taliban assault.  

The U.S.-led military coalition invaded Afghanistan in October 2001 and dislodged the then-Taliban government in Kabul to punish it for harboring the al-Qaida terror network. Bin Laden and al-Zawahiri escaped the international military action. U.S. special forces later located and killed bin Laden deep inside neighboring Pakistan in May 2011. 

The U.S.-Taliban agreement also required the Islamist group not to allow any terrorist organization, including al-Qaida, to pose a threat to the security of the United States and other countries from the Afghan soil.  

But recent United Nations assessments suggested that al-Qaida, boosted by leadership stability and the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan, appears to be positioning itself to once again be seen as the world’s preeminent terror group and as the greatest long-term threat to the West. 

Intelligence shared by United Nations member states and published in a new report earlier this month found al-Qaida was enjoying a degree of freedom under Taliban rule, allowing its leadership to communicate more often and more easily with affiliates and followers. The report further concluded that al-Qaida leader al-Zawahiri, long rumored to be in ill health or dying, was “alive and communicating freely.” 

The U.N. report similarly cautions that while al-Qaida may be better positioned, it is likely to refrain from launching external attacks in order to not embarrass Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers and because the al-Qaida core still lacks “an external operational capability.”

Jeff Seldin, VOA’s national security correspondent, contributed to this report. 
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Pakistan said Monday that a military helicopter carrying six people, including a top general, went missing during a flood relief operation in southwestern Baluchistan province.

The military said in a late-night statement that the aviation helicopter was supervising relief activities in Lasbela district, about 500 kilometers south of the provincial capital, Quetta, when it lost contact with air traffic control.

Lieutenant General Sarfraz Ali, regional corps commander, and Brigadier Amjad Hanif Satti, director general of the Pakistan coast guard, were among those on board the missing aircraft, the army and local media reported.

The army said a search operation was underway but shared no further details.

Weeks of unusually heavy seasonal monsoon rains and subsequent flooding have killed 136 people and destroyed thousands of homes across Baluchistan, according to Pakistan’s National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA).

The devastation has prompted the military and the Pakistan navy to mobilize their personnel and assets to assist in civilian relief operations in the province, evacuating thousands of marooned people and delivering food and other necessary items to victim families.

Authorities said Monday the nationwide death toll from rain-related incidents across Pakistan had risen to 478 since June.

Monsoon rains in Pakistan usually run from July through September.
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Iranian border guards clashed Sunday with the Afghan Taliban, Iranian media reported, the latest cross-border exchange since the former insurgents seized power in neighboring Afghanistan a year ago.

The official IRNA news agency quoted Meisam Barazandeh, governor of the border country of Hirmand in eastern Iran, as saying that the incident is under investigation. He did not provide details about the clash or report any casualties.

There was no immediate comment from the Taliban.

Iran’s semiofficial Tasnim news agency, which is close to Iran’s powerful Revolutionary Guard, said the Taliban opened fire on houses on the eastern edge of the county, in the area of Shoqalak, across the border from Afghanistan’s Nimruz province.

The report said also that Taliban forces tried to raise the Taliban flag in an area that is not part of the territory of Afghanistan and that after the exchange, calm returned.

Tasnim later quoted Majid Mirahmadi, the country’s deputy interior minister, as saying the Taliban first opened fire on Iranian guards, forcing them to return fire until the exchange subsided when the Iranian guards brought the situation under control.

The exchange lasted for an hour and a half and ended early on Sunday afternoon.

Mirahmadi also said a similar clash took place on Saturday because the Taliban do not respect the “geographical and official border” between the two countries.

Clashes have repeatedly erupted between Iranian security forces and Afghan Taliban forces in various spots along the border since the Taliban takeover in Afghanistan last August. The exchanges of fire are often over local issues such as disputes over farmland, water or smuggling, and usually end quickly.

In some of the worst clashes, last December, the Afghan Taliban seized several checkpoints on the Iranian side but soon withdrew, and both sides called the incident a “misunderstanding.”
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Sri Lanka’s new president Ranil Wickremesinghe has formally invited MPs to join an all-party unity government to revive the bankrupt economy by undertaking painful reforms, his office said Sunday.

Wickremesinghe took office earlier this month after public anger over the island nation’s worst economic crisis forced his predecessor Gotabaya Rajapaksa to flee the country and quit.

In a meeting Saturday with the influential monks of the Temple of the Tooth in Kandy, one of Buddhism’s most sacred shrines, Wickremesinghe outlined his plans.

“As the president, I wish to start a new journey,” Wickremesinghe was quoted as telling the monks in his first meeting with the powerful Buddhist clergy since taking office.

“I would like to get all the parties together and go on that journey as well as to form an all-party government.”

He has written to all lawmakers asking them to join a unity government.

A former opposition MP, Wickremesinghe, 73, took up the premiership for the sixth time in May after Rajapaksa’s elder brother Mahinda resigned and there were no other takers for the job.

Wickremesinghe went onto become the president after Gotabaya escaped on July 9 when tens of thousands of protesters angry at the economic crisis stormed the presidential palace.

He fled to Singapore from where he resigned five days later and Wickremesinghe became interim president and later won a vote in parliament confirming his ascension.

Sri Lanka’s 22 million people have endured months of lengthy blackouts, record inflation and shortages of food, fuel and medicines.

Since late last year, the country has run out of foreign exchange to finance even the most essential imports.

In April, Sri Lanka defaulted on its $51 billion foreign debt and opened bailout talks with the International Monetary Fund.

Wickremesinghe told monks that the economy would decline further this year with a contraction of 7% but expected a recovery next year.

“I am working to re-stabilize this economy and build the economy in such a way that the country can be developed by 2023, 2024.

“It is a difficult task. But if you don’t do it now, it will be more difficult. We should think about whether we should try to cure the patient by giving medicine or let the patient die without giving medicine,” he added.

He said inflation currently running at 60.8% could go up further.

After his election as president, Wickremesinghe, while ordering security forces to clear protest sites, has appointed an interim cabinet leaving the door open for others to join.

He has called a new session of parliament from Wednesday and is expected to expand the 18-member cabinet to accommodate members from opposition parties.
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The Taliban on Saturday raised the casualty toll from a hand grenade explosion during a cricket game in the capital of Kabul the previous day, saying two civilians at the stadium died from the blast. 

No one has so far claimed responsibility for the explosion, but the blame is likely to fall on militants from the Islamic State group, the Taliban’s chief rivals since they took over the country nearly a year ago as U.S. and NATO forces pulled out of Afghanistan after 20 years of war. 

Previously, 13 people were reported wounded in the Friday afternoon blast at the International Cricket Stadium in Kabul, where several hundred people had gathered to watch the match. 

At the time, the Italian-run Emergency Hospital in Kabul had confirmed on Twitter that 12 of the wounded were hospitalized while one other patient was treated and discharged. 

On Saturday, the Taliban-appointed Kabul police spokesman, Khalid Zadran, said that two people had died. It wasn’t immediately clear if the two had died instantly or later, in the hospital. 

The game, between cricket teams Band-e-Amir Dragons and Pamir Zalmi, was briefly halted because of the explosion but later continued. The match was part of the domestic T20 Shpageza Cricket league games held every year. Cricket is a hugely popular sport in Afghanistan. 

Since the Taliban takeover last August, the Islamic State group’s regional affiliate — known as the Islamic State Khorasan Province — has claimed attacks in Kabul and other parts of the country. 

The IS affiliate, which has been operating in Afghanistan since 2014, is seen as the greatest security challenge facing the country’s new rulers. The Taliban have launched sweeping crackdowns against IS Khorasan, which has a foothold in eastern Nangarhar province. 

Friday’s attack was widely condemned, including by Ramiz Alakbarov, the deputy at the U.N. mission in Afghanistan, who was at the stadium at the time of the attack but was unharmed. He was to address the Afghan cricket association. 
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China has said that it will not charge tariffs on 98 percent of goods being imported from Afghanistan, in an apparent bid to boost bilateral trade ties as Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers struggle to revive the country’s sanctions-hit economy nearly a year after taking power.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi conveyed the decision to his Taliban counterpart, Amir Khan Muttaqi, in bilateral talks the two officials held Thursday on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) foreign ministers’ meeting in Uzbekistan.  

The Chinese Foreign Ministry released details of the meeting Friday.  

“China will grant zero tariff treatment to 98 percent of the tariff lines of the Afghan products exported to China and is willing to import more quality specialty products from Afghanistan,” the statement quoted Wang as saying. 

Afghanistan is not a major exporter to China, though China has imported some Afghan pine nuts and other goods in what it characterized as an effort to relieve the Afghan people’s difficulties. 

No country has officially recognized the Taliban’s rule since the Islamist group took over Afghanistan last August, when the Western-backed government collapsed and the final U.S.-led foreign troops abruptly withdrew from the country. 

China has openly supported the Taliban, however, and is among the countries that have kept open their embassies in Kabul since the Taliban takeover. Wang visited Kabul recently and has urged other countries to increase engagement with the Taliban.   

Countries demand inclusivity 

The international community, particularly Western countries, have been pressing the Islamist rulers to ease restrictions on women’s access to work, allow girls to resume secondary school education and govern the country through an inclusive system before recognizing the Taliban government.  

The United States and other Western governments blocked Kabul’s access to around $9 billion in Afghan central bank assets, mostly held in the U.S.; suspended financial assistance; and isolated Afghanistan’s banking sector after the Taliban seized control of Kabul on August 15, 2021.  

The curbs have hurt Afghanistan’s war-shattered economy and worsened an already bad humanitarian crisis in the country, where financial aid from foreign governments and organizations accounted for two-thirds of the government’s budget expenditure.

The hardline group defends its governance as representative of all Afghans, saying its rules restricting women’s rights are in line with Afghan culture and Sharia, or Islamic law.

In his statement Friday, Wang said China hopes Afghanistan can build a “broad-based and inclusive government and exercise moderate and prudent governance … and actively respond to the concerns of the international community and gain more understanding and recognition.”

He urged the United States and other Western countries to remove “unreasonable” sanctions on Afghanistan and help with the country’s economic reconstruction after decades of war.

The Biden administration is talking with the Taliban to address economic challenges facing the Afghan people and unfreeze half of the $7 billion under U.S. control to benefit the Afghan people. The rest would be held for terrorism-related lawsuits in U.S. courts against the Taliban.

But the Taliban want all of the funds unblocked, saying they are the property of the Afghan nation.

Accent on humanitarian issues

The latest round of talks on the frozen funds took place Wednesday in Tashkent. A post-meeting State Department statement said the United States expressed the need to address the urgent humanitarian situation in Afghanistan.  

“The two sides discussed ongoing efforts to enable the $3.5 billion in licensed Afghan central bank reserves to be used for the benefit of the Afghan people. The United States underscored the need to accelerate the work on these efforts.”

Wang renewed China’s demands that the Taliban take “resolute measures to crack down” on all terrorist forces on Afghan soil, including the East Turkistan Islamic Movement, which Beijing lists as a terrorist group. He also announced that Beijing would resume August 1 the issuance of visas for Afghan citizens to enter China. 

The statement quoted Amir Khan Muttaqi as telling Wang that the Taliban would never allow Afghan territory to be used for anti-China activities and would resolutely combat drug-related activities. 

Meanwhile, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, after attending the SCO meeting in Tashkent, told reporters that Moscow was continuing its engagement with the Taliban but wanted them to meet their international pledges before seeking legitimacy for their rule.  

“We work with the government in Afghanistan. We recognize it as a reality on the ground. We have our embassy, which never left Kabul,” said Lavrov, referring to the relocation of all the Western embassies to Qatar following the Taliban takeover.

“But the government of Afghanistan for the legal recognition needs to deliver on what it proclaimed when it was taking power, namely that they would be creating an inclusive government, not only inclusive from the ethnic point of view but also from the political point of view,” Russia’s chief diplomat said.
…

The United States has deported a politically influential man to his native Pakistan, where he had been wanted for allegedly murdering three transgender people after sexually assaulting them.

The U.S. immigration agency’s Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) office in New York said in a statement Thursday that it had removed fugitive Ahmad Bilal Cheema on July 12 via commercial flight to his home country, where he was turned over to Pakistani law enforcement authorities.

Officials in Pakistan did not immediately comment on ERO’s announcement.

The 42-year-old man, along with two accomplices, allegedly murdered the three in November 2008 in Sialkot, an industrial district in central Punjab province, before fleeing to the United States weeks later, according to the Pakistani police.

ERO said Cheema “is wanted for murder in Pakistan. According to Pakistani law enforcement, Cheema, along with two accomplices, allegedly murdered three individuals on or about November 5, 2008.”

It added that the Pakistani national first entered the U.S lawfully on January 24, 2009, weeks before “he was arrested and charged with operating a motor vehicle under the influence.”

Cheema comes from a politically influential Pakistani family and is the son of former Punjab minister of industries Ajmal Cheema.

In December 2009, a New York court convicted the fugitive Pakistani national of “driving while impaired by the consumption of alcohol” and sentenced him to a fine and suspension of his driver’s license for 90 days.

ERO said its New York office was notified in May 2021 that Cheema was wanted by the government of Pakistan in connection with the triple-murder case. He was arrested later that year “as a non-immigrant overstay” before an immigration judge ordered his removal from the United States to Pakistan.

“Our officers are to be commended for their work in quickly apprehending and removing this individual, who unbeknownst to U.S. law enforcement for several years was a fugitive wanted for murder in his home country,” said William Joyce, the acting ERO field office director.

Senior police officials in Pakistan reported in early 2009 that their investigators had recovered Cheema’s cellular phone from the crime scene and that its data showed video of him sexually assaulting the victims before they were murdered.

The English-language Dawn newspaper quoted the district police chief at the time saying another transgender person also was shot at, but that person survived and later testified in court against the suspected assailants.
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Afghanistan is again facing risks of mass starvation in coming months as critical relief operations suffer substantial funding shortfalls.   

The World Food Program (WFP) says it faces a net funding shortage of $960 million to sustain humanitarian operations over the next six months.   

“Funding shortfalls and skyrocketing prices mean WFP has been forced to take hard decisions earlier this year to cut down activities to the bare minimum from June to August, temporarily focusing assistance on 10 million people who face the most urgent and life-threatening needs,” Philippe Kropf, the WFP’s head of communication in Afghanistan, told VOA.   

Almost 19 million Afghans – more than half of Afghanistan’s estimated population – are facing critical levels of hunger, aid agencies say.    

Funding is urgently required to procure and stock relief supplies in parts of the landlocked country that become inaccessible during the winter.    

“If we fail to secure funding and preposition food before winter starts in October, people will starve,” Kropf warned.   

To avert starvation and death in the country, the U.N. asked donors for $4.4 billion earlier this year. As of July 28, less than 45% of the appeal has been funded.   

The U.S., the largest humanitarian donor to Afghanistan, has pledged almost $460 million for the appeal, followed by the United Kingdom ($408 million) and Asia Development Bank ($380 million).   

“I think for the United States, the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan is among the highest priorities that drive American decision making,” Thomas West, U.S. special envoy for Afghanistan, told Uzreport TV this week.   

Millions malnourished   

Almost five million children and pregnant and lactating women in Afghanistan face malnutrition this year, while 3.9 million children are already malnourished, aid agencies say.   

“Malnutrition is a life-threatening illness, and if they don’t get treatment in time, severely malnourished children face a very real risk of death,” Sacha Myers, a spokesperson for Save the Children Afghanistan, told VOA.   

While praising donors for giving almost $2 billion in humanitarian assistance to Afghanistan this year, aid workers say the country needs economic recovery and development aid to rid itself of recurring cycles of humanitarian emergencies.    

Donors have cut off development aid to Afghanistan since the Taliban seized power last year. The new Taliban leadership also faces strict financial sanctions, which have crippled Afghanistan’s banking sector.   

“Almost a year has passed, and still the international community hasn’t got any closer to finding a solution to this financial standoff. Until they take steps to resume development aid and revive the economy, they are complicit in the loss of every child who dies from hunger and disease,” said Myers.     

Foreign aid made up over half of Afghanistan’s budget, even before the Taliban took power.   

International donors have repeatedly urged the Taliban to open secondary schools for girls, allow women to work, and form an inclusive government, but Taliban leaders have remained defiant insisting they have formed a purely Islamic system. 

 
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Taliban chief spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid has more than 630,000 followers of his official Twitter account. But the only web address under his profile links to a terminated page.

Mujahid and his team were once dubbed masters of online propaganda when the Taliban were fighting U.S. forces in Afghanistan. Now, as a de facto government, the Taliban’s use of digital platforms is confronted with service denials, adversarial campaigns and removal from social media platforms.

Last week Meta, Facebook’s parent company, closed the Facebook and Instagram accounts of state-run Radio Television Afghanistan (RTA) and the Bakhtar News Agency.

The accounts were created by the previous U.S.-backed Afghan government and were left for the Taliban, who used them to disseminate news of their government.

“The Taliban is sanctioned as a terrorist organization under U.S. law, and they are banned from using our services under our Dangerous Organizations policies,” a Meta spokesperson told VOA. “This means we remove accounts maintained by or on behalf of the Taliban and prohibit praise, support and representation of them.”

Google follows the same policy.

While VOA was seeking comments for this story, a link to a Taliban YouTube radio channel was sent to Google as a reference. In less than 24 hours, the channel was gone.

“Google is committed to compliance with applicable U.S. sanctions laws and enforces related policies under its Terms of Service. As such, if we find an account that belongs to the Taliban, we terminate it,” a Google spokesperson told VOA.

Twitter

Days after former Afghan President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani fled Afghanistan, Taliban acting Prime Minister Mullah Hasan Akhund occupied the presidential palace popularly known as the Arg (“fort” in the Dari language).

Despite taking control of the physical building in Kabul and all corners of the landlocked country, Akhund has been denied access to the Arg’s previously robust cyber realm. The domain “president.gov.af” is broken. The Arg’s Facebook page, which carried millions of likes, is nonexistent. And the official Twitter handle, @ARG_AFG, has been inactive since August 15, 2021 — the day Ghani fled.

There is no verified Taliban account on Twitter, but the platform has allowed numerous unverified accounts, including Mujahid’s, to promote Taliban policies and statements. Twitter did not respond to requests for comment.

The Taliban started using Twitter in 2011 primarily to target Western audiences and quickly used the service to disseminate propaganda, according to research in 2014 by the Terrorism Research Initiative.

After Meta closed RTA’s Facebook accounts, some campaigners launched the “BanTaliban” hashtag on Twitter. In response, pro-Taliban campaigners launched the “SupportTaliban” hashtag, which according to an AI tracking account generated considerable responses among some Twitter users.

De facto government

The U.S. government has designated several Taliban officials and entities linked to them as Specially Designated Global Terrorists.

As insurgents, the Taliban called for armed attacks against U.S. and allied forces in Afghanistan. But since taking over the government, the group’s rhetoric and statements have shifted more toward governance and social service provision, according to Tamar Mitts, a faculty member at the Saltzman Institute of War and Peace Studies at Columbia University in New York.

“What makes the Taliban unique is that unlike many other groups, it also functions as a state, which raises questions about whether companies should allow governance-related content on their platforms when the entity that generates the content is designated as a dangerous organization,” Mitts told VOA.

The Taliban have challenged their removal from popular social networking sites as a sign of Western hypocrisy toward free speech.

“The slogan ‘freedom of expression’ is used to deceive other nations,” Mujahid tweeted on July 20.

Unlike in neighboring Iran where the Islamic government has banned Facebook, thus far, the Taliban have not banned social platforms inside Afghanistan.

Under strict international financial sanctions and not recognized as a government by any country, the Taliban are widely condemned for their suppressive policies toward media and women.

Last month, they arrested a famous Afghan YouTuber for alleged insult toward Islamic scriptures.

Some experts believe the Taliban’s propaganda should also be banned on social platforms when they stifle critics and impose censorship on Afghan media.
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For 20 years, the United States and its Western allies played the major role in shaping Afghanistan’s future. But with the Taliban takeover nearly one year ago, regional powers, like Uzbekistan, are increasingly driving international engagement while Washington and the West hold out for Taliban concessions.

In Tashkent this week, Uzbekistan convened an international conference on Afghanistan. More than 100 delegations from nearly 30 countries attended the event, mingling with the Taliban. Many of the governments, especially those from Central Asia, were clearly pushing toward an eventual normalization of relations with the new powers in Kabul.

“This event matters for everyone who has interest in Afghanistan,” said Najibullah Sharifi, an Uzbek observer from Afghanistan’s Takhar province. “Let’s see what developments it leads to.”

At perhaps the largest multilateral event with Taliban participation since the group seized power last August, officials from Kabul seemed emboldened and assertive. Central Asian diplomats told VOA that the Taliban came well prepared and confident, something reporters covering the event noticed as well.

Acting Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi told the conference that Taliban-led Afghanistan is open for business.

“Before we came to power, everyone used to call to end violence in Afghanistan. Look, we are discussing reconstruction of our country and developing its economy,” he said.

But Muttaqi said the Taliban’s ambitions extend to their former antagonists. He urged the West, especially Washington, to establish direct ties.

Yet Muttaqi wants something from Washington too: Afghan assets once held by the former regime that were frozen when the Taliban took power.

“We want investment,” he said.

The United Nations, the European Union, the U.S. and other Western officials interacted with the Taliban, which is not unprecedented since Washington negotiated with them in Doha, Qatar, for years. They also reiterated demands with the U.S. delegation, led by Thomas West, the Biden administration’s special representative for Afghanistan, seeking Taliban concessions.

In an interview with UzReport TV, a VOA affiliate in Uzbekistan, West said, “The humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan is among the highest priorities that drive American decision-making.”

“We have spent nearly a billion dollars in humanitarian aid since August,” he added, saying that the U.S. is not blocking any aid or business from assisting the Afghan people.

Emphasizing that America remains the largest donor for Afghanistan, West pointed to four sectors that Washington specifically backs – agriculture, health, livelihoods and education. He said the international community prevented starvation in Afghanistan last winter. “But there are still too many Afghans suffering today.”

Non-Western players are setting few, if any, conditions on their own engagement, and they are criticizing Washington. Russia’s representative, Zamir Kabulov, blamed the U.S and its allies for the dire conditions in Afghanistan. Washington supported “the corrupt puppet government in Kabul for 20 years,” he said, accusing the U.S. of pursuing punitive policies now.

Members of some Central Asian research groups suspect that at least 20 militant groups still have roots or bases in Afghanistan, an accusation the Taliban vehemently deny.

Observers in Tashkent told VOA that delegations were diverse and at times quite critical of each other in their statements, but all credited the host, Uzbekistan, for urging the world to engage with Afghanistan’s challenges.

“The international isolation of Afghanistan shall inevitably lead to further deterioration of the humanitarian situation. It is important not to allow this, since the fate of millions” is at stake, warned Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev, in an address delivered on his behalf by Abdulaziz Kamilov, his special envoy.

“The interim government of Afghanistan takes certain steps in terms of peaceful reconstruction, strives to improve the socioeconomic situation and establish friendly relations with neighboring countries and mutually beneficial cooperation with an international community. We must foster and endorse these efforts,” he said.

Still, Mirziyoyev reiterated the international community’s conditions for formal diplomatic recognition, namely “forming a broad representation of all layers of the Afghan society in state governance, ensuring basic human rights and freedoms, especially of women and all ethnic and confessional groups.” By confessional, he was referring to all religious communities in the country.

“We call on the current government of Afghanistan to show firm will and take resolute measures to prevent and counter terrorism in all its forms and manifestations, breaking up ties with all international terrorist organizations.”

But Mirziyoyev challenged the international community to create “real prerequisites for Afghanistan to become a peaceful, stable and prosperous land – free from terrorism, wars and narcotics.”

Rina Amiri, the U.S. special envoy for Afghan women, girls and human rights, underlined that “security, economic stability and peace cannot be achieved without upholding the rights of women, ending abuses against all ethnic and religious communities and fostering an inclusive political process.”

Amiri tweeted from Tashkent that she “countered claims that the Taliban’s regressive policies are based on Afghan culture, arguing that most Afghans aspire for education, work and opportunities for a better future for their sons and daughters.”

She highlighted that while most attendees called for an inclusive political process, no one pushed for recognition of the Taliban’s regime now.

Frederick Starr, an American expert who attended the conference, said the key issue is not recognition but “trade and economic ties that actually test Taliban intentions.”

Uzbekistan showcased several such projects, including a proposed trans-Afghan railway running from Termez at the Uzbek-Afghan border through Mazar-i-Sharif and Kabul to Peshawar in northwestern Pakistan and a planned Surkhan- Puli-Khumri power transmission line running from Uzbekistan to north-central Afghanistan. He invited businesses and others to participate and invest.

Impressed with these initiatives yet skeptical of the Taliban’s claims, Starr told VOA that much work lies ahead for the Taliban to convince the international community of their sincerity.

“Facts on the ground matter most and if the Taliban means what it says, then it should improve the situation step-by-step,” Starr said.

But ultimately, Starr said he sees no chance of lasting peace in Central Asia if Afghanistan cannot achieve stability.

Uzbek scholar Sayfiddin Jurayev said he thinks “the U.S. should return what belongs to the Afghan people” but agrees with Starr that “the Taliban still must face up to the conditions reiterated in this conference.”
…

Sri Lanka’s Parliament on Wednesday approved a state of emergency that had been declared by President Ranil Wickremesinghe as his government cracks down on demonstrators it accuses of violence while trying to find a way out of the country’s worst economic crisis.

The vote passed 120-63 in the 225-member Parliament. The other lawmakers abstained. The decree, which gives the president the power to make regulations in the interest of public security and order, has to be approved every month.

Wickremesinghe declared a state of emergency last week as acting president before lawmakers elected him to serve the remainder of Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s five-year term until 2024. Rajapaksa fled Sri Lanka after thousands of protesters stormed the president’s official residence and other buildings. He later resigned from Singapore.

Ruling party members who back Wickremesinghe said that while protests were reasonable at the beginning of the crisis, groups that don’t believe in parliamentary democracy and want to capture power through unconstitutional means had infiltrated the demonstrators and were creating disturbances.

Opposition parties criticized the emergency as a government move to stifle dissent.

Within a day of Wickremesinghe’ s election, the military raided and dismantled the camps the protesters had set up for more than 100 days opposite the president’s office. Some protesters were beaten up.

Courts issued travel bans against six protest leaders and some were arrested.

On Tuesday, police arrested a man accused of entering the state television station during massive rallies on July 9, ordering employees to air programs supporting the protests and causing a brief disruption in transmission. He was pulled out of a plane while trying to leave for Dubai.

Four other protesters were arrested for trespassing the area of a former prime minister’s statue after police had secured a court order prohibiting people from entering the area, fearing the monument may be damaged.

Sri Lankans have been protesting for months demanding Rajapaksa’s resignation and holding him and his powerful family members responsible for the country’s economic crisis. Some also oppose Wickremesinghe’s election, saying he is too close to Rajapaksa.

Protests have almost dismantled Rajapaksa domination with all six family members who held top government positions since 2019 having been forced to resign.

Sri Lanka is bankrupt and has suspended repayment on its $51 billion foreign loans, of which $28 billion must be paid by 2027. The crisis has led to severe shortages of fuel, cooking gas and medicine and long lines for essential supplies.

The government is in the process of preparing a debt restructuring plan, a condition for an agreement with the International Monetary Fund for a bailout plan.
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In India’s northern state of Himachal Pradesh, an ancient tradition of building homes with mud and other local materials is undergoing a revival. As Anjana Pasricha reports, it is seen as an answer to modern day challenges such as climate change. Video: Rakesh Kumar
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When merchant navy professional Guru Dutt Goswami takes time off from work he comes to stay in his ancestral home in Palampur in North India. The mud structure, built decades back along Himalayan slopes, stays warm in winter and cool in summer.

“I think the mud houses, just like the body, they have some pores, they breathe,” says Goswami, relaxing in a veranda. “They are so cozy, they have beautiful ventilation. It is all because of the mud, the thatches, the material that is used.”

While brick and concrete homes have become the norm in recent decades, a centuries-old tradition of making houses with mud and other local material is undergoing a resurgence in the northern Himachal Pradesh state, tucked in the Himalayan mountains.

Environmentalists have hailed the trend, saying that reviving old building traditions is one of the many answers to addressing modern day challenges such as climate change.

The Sambhaavnaa Institute of Public Policy and Politics, a non-profit that promotes sustainability, is setting an example – the sprawling campus in Palampur is a mud structure. The small hill town is located in the midst of tea estates.

“Reviving vernacular architecture is important,” says Mohammad Chappalwala, programs coordinator at the institute. “The idea is to build with local material, build with natural material, that is the direction we should be taking.”

Made with mud dug out of the site where the building stands, stones, slate and bamboo from the hillsides, he says these houses reduce the carbon footprint – modern-day building materials such as steel and cement are created through carbon-intensive industrial processes and also must be transported across hundreds of miles. Equally important, the mud walls serve as natural insulation, reducing the energy needed for air conditioning and heating.

There are many other advantages – the lighter, lower structures are more earthquake resistant compared to concrete buildings being built in recent decades. “That has been proven by the houses which were left standing after the major earthquakes in the Himalayan region,” says Chappalwala.

The centuries-old tradition has been adapted to modern times. Wider doors and windows with glass let in more light into homes, the plastering is done with natural materials that last much longer, while kitchens and bathrooms partly use concrete and tiles to ensure modern conveniences.

Goswami, for example, has built a conventional structure around the old mud house with a modern modular kitchen and bathrooms. But the mud house serves as his main living area, while the old kitchen with a fireplace is used for some slow cooked meals in winter.

Architects say countries like India need to rethink emulating standardized international styles of concrete houses and glass and chrome skyscrapers and take a closer look at incorporating old traditions that evolved in the pre-electricity era. A growing number are reviving them in other parts of the country — they vary according to the region.

“These were simple, common-sense strategies that were especially important in India, where you need to keep the heat out, contrary to colder places where they need to keep warmth within,” says Yatin Pandya, an architect in the western state of Gujarat who promotes sustainable architecture.

“For example, houses in Gujarat used to have overhanging roofs to shade buildings from heat and courtyards inside for ventilation. The simple wisdom of putting a one-meter awning also can reduce the heat intake by 25 percent. But now we make box-type structures with no projections,” points out Pandya.

India is increasingly suffering from intense heat waves – the problem is compounded by glitzy glass and concrete buildings that trap heat.

Under a project to build 18 villages in Gujarat, Pandya’ firm, Footprints E.A.R.T.H, used local materials that included mud houses in desert regions. “It is thermally efficient, and even if it is over 50 degrees centigrade outside, it is about 34 degrees inside,” says Pandya. “Just in the name of modernism and aping we cannot ignore these traditions.”

Such structures have also proven to be durable, withstanding rains, floods and earthquakes, say architects.

However wider acceptance of traditional architectures remains a challenge — most residents in Himachal Pradesh and other places still opt to build concrete homes that have become associated with development and status. But some, like Goswami, who was inspired by his travels, are setting an example.

“I have been to Morocco, I have been to Latin America, and trust me they have maintained and retained their old heritage, their structures. Why not us? Why not Indians? We have such beautiful heritage,” he says.

Some erstwhile city dwellers find that staying in a mud structure deepens their connection with the earth. “Yes, sometimes we get the creepy, crawlies coming in, but there are also possibilities where birds can also build nests which they can never do in city homes,” says Chappalwala’s wife, Fatema, who works in Sambhaavnaa Institute’s programs team. The erstwhile Mumbai resident has been living on the campus for several years with her son. “Because it is mud it is very cooling, it is soothing to mind and body.”
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Pakistan’s top court Tuesday outlawed a recent disputed vote for the chief minister of the country’s most populous Punjab province, and it instead ordered the installation of a candidate backed by ousted prime minister Imran Khan. 

The Supreme Court verdict is a major blow to current Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, whose Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) heads a multiparty ruling coalition in the center. It will also fuel political uncertainty in the country amid a crippling economic crisis and could pave the way for fresh national elections. 

The three-judge panel removed Chief Minister Hamza Shehbaz, son of Sharif, from office and his rival Pervez Elahi swiftly replaced him as the head of the new provincial government in line with the ruling. 

Elahi, whose Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) is allied with Khan’s opposition Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party, had secured the most votes in Friday’s election for the chief minister in the provincial legislature. But the speaker canceled 10 votes cast in his favor over violations of polling rules and declared Shehbaz the winner. 

On Tuesday, the court set aside the speaker’s decision, saying that Elahi had been wrongfully denied victory.  

Analysts said the judicial order will encourage Khan to intensify his anti-government campaign aimed at pressing Sharif to announce snap generation elections in Pakistan. 

Punjab is known as Pakistan’s breadbasket, and it is also the political stronghold of the Sharif party. Earlier this month, Khan’s PTI won 15 of 20 seats in by-elections to the province legislature, securing the requisite majority to install a PTI-backed government there.  

Khan was ousted as prime minister by then-opposition leader Sharif and his allies in a parliamentary vote of no-confidence in April. The nearly 70-year-old cricket-legend-turned politician declared his ouster as illegal, accusing his opponents of colluding with the United States to topple his government, charges Washington vehemently rejects. 

The deposed prime minister has since drawn tens of thousands to rallies across the country, condemning the Sharif administration in his televised speeches as an “imported government” imposed on Pakistan by the alleged U.S.-led conspiracy. 

Sharif’s party criticized Tuesday’s court ruling. 

“The decision has not been accepted by the people, we will decide our future line of action after consulting coalition partners,” Federal Information Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb said to a hurriedly called news conference in Islamabad. 

The PTI and its allies now rule two of the four Pakistani provinces, including Punjab and northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The PML-N does not control any provincial government. A coalition partner, the Pakistan People’s Party, rules southern Sindh province, while regional parties run southwestern Baluchistan province. 

The political uncertainty comes as the central government struggles to deal with the highest inflation facing Pakistan in many years. Central bank foreign exchange reserves also have rapidly depleted to about $9.7 billion, barely enough to cover a few weeks of imports. 

Additionally, the government is trying to implement tough and politically unpopular economic reforms to address economic challenges. 

Last week, Islamabad and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) agreed to revive a multibillion-dollar bailout package for the cash-strapped South Asian nation to help it tackle a payment crisis in the wake of the high global price of energy imports, mainly blamed on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. 
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The leaders of Central Asia’s five nations edged toward closer cooperation but remain well short of the integrated community that has been a goal in the region for decades. Analysts say the five must still build trust while balancing ties with Russia and China.

Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev stressed the positive at the July 21 summit in Cholpon-Ata, Kyrgyzstan, claiming that regional dialogue has created a constructive environment for multidimensional cooperation.

“We have removed many barriers to the free flow of goods and people,” he said. “We have active cultural and tourism exchanges now. This is allowing us to expand trade and investment” in the region of more than 77 million people, the majority under age 45.

Mirziyoyev and the presidents of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan emphasized progress made on economic ties and connectivity, climate and green energy, tourism, water sharing and hydropower investments.

While publicly silent on Russia’s war in Ukraine and recent civil protests that turned violent in Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, the leaders also agreed to forge a network of security and intelligence services. Observers note that the governments tend to blame bloodshed on “foreign elements.”

Tajik President Emomali Rahmon, whose government worries about possible sleeper cells in Afghanistan, said the five nations must work together against “threats of terrorism, extremism, drugs and arms trafficking, cybercrime and other forms of cross-border organized crime.”

Turkmenistan’s new leader, Serdar Berdimuhamedov, struck a similar note, saying, “In the context of the extreme aggravation of the world situation, we need to preserve unity and solidarity.”

Like his colleagues, he pledged closer partnership on transport, communications and water resources.

Kazakhstan President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev maintained that Central Asia has yet to unleash its transport and logistical potential. He said his government is committed to developing a Trans-Caspian corridor stretching from China and Kazakhstan across the Caspian Sea to Azerbaijan, Georgia, Turkey and parts of Eastern Europe.

He said Kazakhstan is also ready to participate in the construction of a railroad from Peshawar in northwestern Pakistan through Kabul to Mazar-e-Sharif in northern Afghanistan.

“We call on our partners to actively use the Kazakhstan-Turkmenistan-Iran railroad, the shortest route between East Asia and the Persian Gulf,” he said.

Kyrgyz President Sadyr Japarov admitted his country still must solve border disputes with Uzbekistan and Tajikistan.

“I want to confirm that we have a strong will to complete these negotiations on mutual agreements,” he said, promising to create “transnational bridges of peace, friendship, and trust.”

Japarov urged his fellow leaders to sign a proposed pact on friendship, good neighborly relations and cooperation. “I hope this treaty will serve as the reliable basis for common prosperity in Central Asia.”

But Turkmenistan and Tajikistan are not yet on board and say they still are reviewing the document.

Central Asia experts suspect that the two nations’ authoritarian leaders are reluctant to be bolder, compared to the more confident Kazakh, Uzbek and Kyrgyz presidents. Turkmenistan’s closed economy imposes barriers to cooperation.

“Still, this should still be a starting point,” said Temur Umarov, a fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. “Three out of five countries sealing oral promises with some sort of a document is movement in the right direction.”

Umarov said increasing discourse about closer cooperation reflects dynamism.

“Political leaders are interested at least in thinking together about what the region’s future might look like. It was not like that several years ago.”

Tashkent-based scholar Farkhad Tolipov said the leaders “see the need for stronger collaboration now, and this should lead to homegrown institutional frameworks.” As of now, he asserted, the region leans into Russia- and China-led blocs.

Umarov sees Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan as the region’s closest partners, “which is a good thing as it would be much easier to add other countries to the existing strong partnership initiatives between the two biggest economies of Central Asia.”

Annual consultations among the five leaders are “a huge leap forward,” he added. “This is not only a great opportunity to meet exclusively without any foreign actor but to create connections.”

Marlene Laruelle, director of the Central Asia program at the George Washington University, agrees.

“We see trends toward more regional cooperation, but it is cooperation, not integration,” she told VOA. “A bloc is not realistic yet. There is still too much mutual distrust.”

She said the obstacles include differences in policy approaches and the lack of bottom-up momentum to integrate.

Tokayev suggested that representatives from Russia and China might be included in future regional summits, but Umarov pointed out that these powers already have other venues for dialogue with the region.

“This should be done without damaging the safe space where Central Asian states can have an open discussion about anything, including their policies towards China and Russia,” she said.

Uzbek analyst Anvar Nazir sees dependence on Moscow and Beijing as another obstacle to closer integration.

“As long as leaders fear and lean on these powers, Central Asia will not become an independent region,” he said.

Several Tajik experts told VOA they still see the Kremlin’s deep impact on the political mentality.

“Central Asia is a ground for geopolitical games, and with each state facing enormous political and economic challenges, there is more room for Russia and China, while the West remains passive,” analyst Ilhom Yusupov said.

But American policymakers see Central Asia countries finally acting in their own interest.

Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia Donald Lu recently told VOA that the region is now setting the agenda for the C5+1 dialogue with Washington.

“This is exactly what we hoped would happen: Central Asian countries have their own voice now,” Lu said. “That really demonstrates that these are sovereign countries with their own interests and agenda. Central Asian states show great leadership in telling us what they want from this relationship.”

This story originated in VOA’s Uzbek Service 
…

The chief diplomat of Afghanistan’s Taliban government alleged Tuesday while addressing an international conference in neighboring Uzbekistan that sanctions imposed by the United States are a main driver of poverty in his war-ravaged country.

Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi urged Washington again to lift the curbs and “unconditionally” release some $7 billion in frozen Afghan central bank funds held in the U.S. to enable the Taliban to deal with the country’s deepening economic and humanitarian crises. Another $2 billion in Afghan reserves have been held in European countries.

“These actions have not only hampered foreign investment and financial transactions, but also impacted government activities which purely benefit the general public,” Muttaqi stated at the event in the Uzbek capital, Tashkent.

He described unfreezing of Afghan reserves and removal of sanctions as “a fundamental step towards normalization of relations” between Kabul and Washington. 

U.S. President Joe Biden issued an executive order in February aimed at unfreezing half of the $7 billion for humanitarian aid to benefit the Afghan people. The rest would be held for ongoing terrorism-related lawsuits in U.S. courts against the Taliban.

Washington says it is “working to help find an appropriate mechanism that can serve as a steward of the $3.5 billion that President Biden set aside.” The Taliban have demanded the entire sum be released, saying the money belongs to Afghanistan.

Reports said Tuesday that U.S. and Taliban officials had exchanged proposals for the release of the Afghan reserves into a trust fund, hinting at progress in the ongoing dialogue between the former adversaries.

“The problem is that the Taliban are still on the U.S. sanctions list,” noted Torek Farhadi, a former Afghan official and political commentator.

The Taliban retook power last August when the Western-backed government in Kabul collapsed and all U.S.-led foreign troops abruptly withdrew from the country after nearly 20 years of war with the group.

The surprising insurgent takeover prompted Washington and other donor countries to swiftly suspend financial assistance for the mostly aid-dependent South Asian nation, isolate the Afghan banking sector and strictly enforce long-running sanctions on dozens of members in the male-only Taliban government.

Uzbekistan hosted the conference to discuss ways for the global community to provide urgent humanitarian aid and facilitate economic reconstruction in Afghanistan, ravaged by years of war and persistent drought.

“Unfreezing of financial assets of Afghanistan abroad is one of the main factors in economic reconstruction of Afghanistan,” state-run media quoted Uzbek Foreign Minister Vladimir Norov as telling Tuesday’s conference.

Uzbek officials said more than 100 participants from 20 countries including China, Iran, Pakistan, Russia, and the U.S., and representatives from the European Union, United Nations, and the 57-nation Islamic bloc known as the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, attended the conference.

Thomas West, the special representative for Afghanistan, led the U.S. delegation.

Women’s rights and human rights

Rina Amiri, the special envoy for Afghan women, girls, and human rights, accompanied him.

“The international community is committed to a stable, peaceful, and inclusive Afghanistan that respects the human rights and fundamental freedoms of all Afghans, including women and ethnic and religious communities, and that prevents terrorist threats from Afghan soil,” the U.S. State Department said Monday.

The international community wants the group to improve its record on women’s and other rights before officially recognizing the Taliban regime.

The hardline group has significantly rolled back women’s rights to work and education, barring most teenage girls from resuming secondary school in breach of public pledges not to do so. Women employed in the public sector have been told to stay at home, with the exception of those who work for the ministries of education, health and a few others and must use face coverings in public.

The Taliban defend their policies as in line with Afghan culture and Shariah or Islamic law.

Humanitarian emergencies

The U.N. lists Afghanistan among the world’s largest humanitarian emergencies, estimating that 18.9 million people – nearly half of the population – could be acutely food insecure between June and November 2022.

“We stand ready to establish positive relations with all world countries in the framework of mutual respect and legitimate bilateral interests,” Muttaqi said in his address Tuesday.

“We also call on other world countries to begin official engagement with the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan to secure long-term legitimate bilateral interests.”  

The Taliban foreign minister renewed Kabul’s assurances that no individual or group would be allowed to use Afghan soil for attacks against any country.

He stated that his government was also effectively pursuing political reconciliation with former Afghan political and military officials, saying a number of them have already returned from self-imposed exile in recent weeks.

“Similarly, women continue to work in education, health and other government departments in a reassuring atmosphere. In some areas where a proper environment has not yet been established, women are getting paid salaries in their homes,” Muttaqi said.

Critics remain skeptical.

The U.N. women’s agency representative in Afghanistan said Monday that the rollback on women’s rights is an “alarm bell” to the world that shows how decades of progress can be wiped away in months.

Alison Davidian, from U.N. Women, spoke to reporters at U.N. headquarters in New York via a video link from Kabul.

Washington said Monday the Tashkent conference would be followed by direct talks between Taliban and U.S. delegates scheduled for Wednesday “to address the economic challenges faced by the Afghan people.”

Brian Nelson, the Treasury Department’s under secretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, would join Thomas West for the meeting in Tashkent, according to a department statement issued Monday. 

VOA’s Margaret Besheer contributed to this story.
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The U.N. Women’s agency representative in Afghanistan said Monday that the rollback on women’s rights in that country is an “alarm bell” to the world that shows how decades of progress can be wiped away in months. 

“Anywhere in the world, the act of walking outside your front door is an ordinary part of life,” said Alison Davidian, deputy country representative for U.N. Women in Afghanistan. “But for many Afghan women, it is an act that is extraordinary. It is an act of resistance.” 

Davidian spoke to reporters at U.N. headquarters in New York via a video link from Kabul. 

Her remarks come as more than 20 countries and international organizations meet with Taliban officials in the Uzbek capital of Tashkent. The Taliban are preparing to mark a year since they seized power after Ashraf Ghani’s government collapsed, and he fled the country last August. 

Since coming to power, the group has reneged on pledges not to restrict women’s rights, increasingly cracking down on how they dress, on their ability to hold jobs outside the home, get an education, move freely or participate in political life. 

“Combined, these restrictions limit the ability of women to earn a living, to access health and education, to escape situations of violence and to exercise their rights,” Davidian said. 

She said the many Afghan women she has met have told her they will not give up, and she urged countries to support civil society and empower women’s rights groups in the country. 

“Invest in women. Invest in services for women, jobs for women. Invest in women-led businesses, in women leaders and human rights organizations,” she said. 

Davidian emphasized that the full participation of women in Afghan society is a key to helping the country emerge from its current financial and economic crisis. She noted that some data project the loss of women’s employment could deprive the economy of up to $1 billion or 5% of GDP. 

She said that while Afghanistan is not the only country in the world where women’s rights have been rolled back, the situation is an “alarm bell.” 

“What is happening in Afghanistan is a clarion call to everyone that the fight for women’s rights in Afghanistan is a global fight. It is a battle for women’s rights everywhere,” she said. “And what we do, or fail to do, for women in Afghanistan reflects who we are and what we stand for as a global community.” 

Davidian said she is hopeful the situation can improve because of the strong tradition of Afghan women’s rights advocates and activists. And with international support, she believes they can make progress in the fight for their rights. 
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In India, a schoolteacher turned politician, Droupadi Murmu, has been sworn in as president, the first from the country’s tribal communities to hold the highest office. Although the position is largely ceremonial, her rise to the head of the republic is a hugely symbolic win for marginalized ethnic groups.

The 64-year-old is also the second woman president of the country.

“My election is evidence that the poor in India cannot just dream, but also fulfil those dreams,” Murmu said after taking the oath of office in parliament in New Delhi Monday. She said it was a matter of great satisfaction that those “who have been deprived for centuries” are “seeing their reflection in me.”

The daughter of a headman in Baidaposi village in the eastern Odisha state, Murmu was the first woman from her village to go to college. She belongs to the Santhal community, one of India’s largest tribal groups, and won a reputation for active participation in community affairs.

After she took office, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said in a tweet that it was a “watershed moment for India, especially for the poor, marginalized and downtrodden.”

Tribal groups, who usually live in remote areas, make up about 8% of the population and have lagged in education and healthcare.

“To have those on the peripheries of India actually come to the center stage of the power structure is a hugely aspirational message to tribal communities,” said political analyst Neerja Chowdhury. “Whether it will improve their education, health and nutrition status remains to be seen because the president is largely a figurehead, but it will be, definitely, [a] boost [for] these communities.”

Since joining politics in 1997, Murmu served two terms as a lawmaker from the Bharatiya Janata Party in Odisha state. Most recently, she was the governor of Jharkhand state. She won the presidential race after defeating Yashwant Sinha, who was supported by the opposition. The president is elected by an electoral college consisting of members of parliament and state legislatures.

Her win was made possible by Modi’s BJP, which backed her candidacy and had enough support in parliament and state legislatures to ensure her victory. Her choice by the party is seen as an outreach to tribal communities ahead of the 2024 general election.

Political analysts point out that the concentration of tribal groups in several states where the BJP is in power is higher than the national average of 8%.

“The BJP has been ruling these states in the Hindi heartland for about 10 years and will suffer from anti-incumbency. The party will have to offset that by getting support from other communities and Modi has been eyeing the tribal groups. He wants to spread the net wider,” said Chowdhury. “Wooing tribal communities will also make a difference in eastern states like Orissa and West Bengal where the BJP wants to wrest power from the opposition.”

While the president does not have executive powers, the head of state plays a key role at times of political uncertainty. For example, when general elections are inconclusive, it is the president’s prerogative to decide which party to call on to form the government. 
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