As the American military withdrawal from Afghanistan nears completion, regional countries are stepping up diplomatic efforts aimed at pressing warring Afghans to resume the stalled U.S.-brokered peace talks and prevent the conflict from escalating into a full-blown civil war.  The fears of further bloodshed stem from the Taliban’s rapid territorial gains since U.S. and NATO allied troops formally began leaving the country in early May under orders by President Joe Biden.  The withdrawal is due to be completed by August 31. US Military Mission in Afghanistan Ends August 31, Biden Announces   It is time to look to fight the battles of the next 20 years, says the US president, in remarks after he was briefed on the deteriorating situation in Afghanistan Fighting has escalated between the insurgent group and Afghan security forces in provinces next to the country’s long border with Pakistan.  
 
Last week, Tajikistan ordered 20,000 reservists to bolster border security following the Taliban battlefield advances. Iranian and Turkmen authorities also have taken additional border security measures, fearing the violence could spill over into their territories. 
 
The Islamist group has downplayed the prospect of a civil war erupting in Afghanistan after the exit of all foreign troops and sought to reassure anxious neighbors that they pose no threat to regional stability.  Intra-Afghan peace talks have been mostly stalled. Beijing, Tehran, Moscow and Islamabad have all tried to engage the Taliban in an effort to press the Afghan warring sides to negotiate a political settlement before the U.S. drawdown creates a security vacuum and the situation spirals out of control.  
 
Foreign ministers of the China-led Shanghai Cooperation Organization, or SCO, are scheduled to meet this week in Tajikistan to discuss the Afghan crisis. The SCO brings together Russia, Pakistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, India, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan. 
 
Analysts say all of Afghanistan’s immediate neighbors and regional countries look at the Taliban as legitimate political stakeholders and a possible firewall against militants linked to Islamic State terrorists who operate out of Afghan bases. 
 
“The region is more amenable to engaging with the Taliban now than it was in the 1990s, because it sees the group as a more legitimate actor,” said Michael Kugelman, deputy Asia program director at Washington’s Wilson Center. 
 
“The Taliban agreement with the U.S. last year conferred the group with a degree of international recognition that it had long sought, and that makes regional players see it as less of a pariah,” noted Kugelman in his written remarks he sent to VOA. 
 
Influential Pakistani Senator Mushahid Hussain, who heads the Defense Affairs committee of the upper house of parliament, says China, Iran and Russia apparently “are reconciled to a Taliban-dominated Afghanistan.” 
 
“China, Iran and Russia have a certain comfort level with the Taliban and they are willing to cooperate with them and give them legitimacy, unlike 1990s, when only Pakistan, UAE and Saudi Arabia recognized them,” Hussain told VOA.  
 
Hussain noted, however, prevailing concerns in his country that the Islamist movement’s battlefield advances in Afghanistan would embolden extremist forces in Pakistan and could threaten years of domestic gains against terrorism. 
 
“Ironically, for Pakistan there is growing realization, a lesson learned the hard way, that the foes they’ve been fighting in our own inland war on terror may end up being friends of the incoming Taliban regime in Afghanistan,” cautioned Hussain.  FILE – Taliban spokesman Suhail Shaheen leaves after a news conference in Moscow, Russia, July 9, 2021.Both Iran and Russia hosted Taliban leaders over the past week to discuss concerns arising out the militia’s military advances. Observers say this points to a growing political synergy between the Taliban and their regional supporters. 
 
Washington has warned the Taliban against any military takeover and continued to call for finding a negotiated settlement to the long Afghan conflict, emphasizing that “legitimacy and assistance” for any government in Afghanistan “can only be possible if that government has a basic respect for human rights”.  FILE – A plume of smoke rises amid ongoing fighting between Afghan security forces and Taliban insurgeents in the western city of Qala-e-Naw, the capital of Afghanistan’s Badghis province, July 7, 2021.A total Taliban takeover of Afghanistan has raised the prospects of a prolonged civil war like that of the 1990s, which erupted shortly after the withdrawal of Soviet occupation forces. 
 
The ensuing intra-Afghan fighting paved the way for the Islamist Taliban to seize power in Kabul in September 1996 before they were ousted by the U.S.-led international military invasion in late 2001 for harboring leaders of the al-Qaida terrorist network. 
 
Pakistan, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia were the only three countries in the world that had recognized the Taliban regime at the time. 
 
The rest of the global community refused to recognize Taliban-ruled Afghanistan, citing controversial harsh Islamic laws the group introduced to govern the country and allowing safe haven for leaders of the al-Qaida terror network whom the U.S. accused of plotting the September 11, 2001 attacks on America. 
 
On Sunday, a Taliban delegation held talks with Foreign Ministry officials in the Turkmen capital, Ashgabat. A spokesman for the group, Suhail Shaheen, said two sides discussed “political, economic and security issues of mutual interests.” 
 
On Friday, a group of senior Taliban members concluded a two-day visit to Russia, where they met Zamir Kabulov, the Russian presidential envoy for Afghanistan.  FILE – Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov attends a news conference in Moscow, Russia, April 16, 2021.“The situation in Afghanistan today is worrisome because it can spillover into our neighbors’ territory,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told reporters on Friday after his meeting with the visiting Indian counterpart. 
 
Lavrov downplayed the Taliban’s advances, however, and reiterated Moscow’s call for the two warring sides to find a political solution to the Afghan conflict.  Last week, Shiite Iran also hosted a meeting between the rival Afghan parties, calling on both to end hostilities. 
 
Tehran’s tensions had dangerously escalated with Kabul in 1998 when the Sunni-based Taliban were ruling the country. The tensions stemmed from the killings of seven Iranian diplomats in the northern Afghan city of Mazar-i-Sharif in factional fighting. The Afghan government protested Monday over the Taliban leaders’ foreign trips. The foreign ministry said in a statement that Kabul appreciates support of its regional and international partners to the peace process but it expects that these efforts are made in direct consultation with the Afghan government. 
“The Taliban delegation is traveling to the regional countries at a time when its brutal attacks have killed more than 3,500 people, displaced more than 200,000 of our compatriots, disrupted public order and life, and economic activities in tens of districts,” the statement lamented. 
 
Beijing, which maintains diplomatic ties with Kabul and developed close contacts with the Taliban in recent years, has cautioned “the future of the Afghan conflict is a practical challenge” to China and Pakistan. 
 
“We call on parties to the peace negotiation to put the interests of the country and people first, sustain the momentum for intra-Afghan talks, work for the return of the Afghan Taliban in a moderate way to the political mainstream,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin told reporters on Thursday. 
 
Critics, however, anticipate Afghan hostilities will intensify once all U.S. and NATO allied troops are out of the country. Zalmay Khalilzad, the U.S. special envoy for Afghan reconciliation returned to the region this week to “engage in determined diplomacy and the pursuit of a peace agreement between the Islamic Republic [Afghan government] and the Taliban,” according to the State Department. FILE – US peace envoy Zalmay Khalilzad, left, and Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, the Taliban group’s top political leader, sign a peace agreement between Taliban and US officials in Doha, Qatar, Feb. 29, 2020.Khalilzad, who negotiated the troop withdrawal deal with the Taliban in February 2020 under then-President Donald Trump, is scheduled to travel to Pakistan, Uzbekistan after concluding meetings in Qatar, where he signed the deal with the Taliban. 
 
The Qatari capital of Doha, which houses the Taliban’s political office, has also been hosting slow-moving peace talks between insurgent leaders and Afghan government negotiators since last September, but the so-called intra-Afghan negotiations have seen little success. 
 
Analysts say there is still a “narrow, but fast-closing window to collectively push forward the peace process.  
 
“Let it not be said that diplomacy failed the people of Afghanistan who have already suffered so much through decades of war, turmoil and strife. And let history not judge that Afghanistan and the region all lost the peace,” Maleeha Lodhi, former Pakistani ambassador to the U.S. and the United Nations, wrote an opinion article published by the Dawn newspaper Monday. 
…

The top U.S. general in Afghanistan steps down on Monday as Taliban fighters continue to make gains across the war-torn country.The Biden administration has said the official end date of the U.S. troop withdrawal will be August 31, but Gen. Austin “Scott” Miller’s relinquishing of command is a symbolic end to the troop pullout.U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) chief Gen. Frank McKenzie arrived in Kabul early Monday to assume command of the remaining forces in a “short” transfer of command ceremony that includes a flag handover, a U.S. defense official told VOA. The withdrawal is “more than 90 percent” complete, according to U.S. Central Command. Most of the American troops and equipment have left, with fewer than 1,000 troops remaining to protect the U.S. embassy and help with securing the international airport in Kabul.“Yesterday versus today versus tomorrow, there’s no significant difference in terms of the way we are operating in Afghanistan,” the defense official added on Monday.McKenzie already had authority over American military operations in Afghanistan and several other neighboring nations as head of CENTCOM, and he will continue his oversight from his headquarters in the United States while two-star officer Rear Adm. Peter Vasely helps oversee the mission on the ground.Miller was the longest-serving senior U.S. military officer of the Afghan war. He served for about three of the nearly 20 years of U.S. military involvement, overseeing the drawdown after the Trump administration’s February 2020 deal with the Taliban and the final withdrawal called for by President Joe Biden in April.McKenzie will still be able to order U.S. air strikes against the Taliban in support of the Afghan government through the end of August. But after the withdrawal’s completion, U.S. strikes in Afghanistan will solely support counter-terrorism operations against al Qaida and Islamic State, he told VOA in a recent interview.VOA Exclusive: CENTCOM Head Says US Will Not Support Afghan Forces with Airstrikes After Troop WithdrawalThe general’s comments appear to refute a report by the New York Times On Sunday, Pentagon press secretary John Kirby told the “Fox News Sunday” show the U.S. is “watching with deep concern” as Taliban insurgents take control of more and more territory in Afghanistan while American forces are quickly returning home under President Joe Biden’s withdrawal orders.“This is the time for [Afghan government troops] to step up and defend their country,” Kirby said. “This is a moment of responsibility.” Taliban insurgents say they already control 85% of the country, a contested claim. But Kirby did not dispute a Fox News assessment that 13 million Afghans live under Taliban control, 10 million under Afghan government rule and 9 million in contested regions. Since the official start of the withdrawal on May 1, the Taliban has nearly tripled the number of districts it controls, from about 75 to now more than 210 of Afghanistan’s 407 districts, according to the Foundation for Defense of Democracies’ Long War Journal.U.S. troops first entered the country in 2001 to overrun bases where al-Qaida terrorists trained to launch the September 11 hijacked airliner attacks on New York’s World Trade Center and the Pentagon that killed nearly 3,000 people. Biden last week staunchly defended the U.S. troop withdrawal, even in the face of Taliban advances. ”We did not go to Afghanistan to nation build,” Biden said at the White House. “It’s the right and the responsibility of the Afghan people alone to decide their future and how they want to run their country.” He said the U.S. went to Afghanistan to bring former al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden through “the gates of hell” and to eliminate al-Qaida’s capacity to deal more attacks against the United States.“We accomplished both of those,” Biden said. “That’s why I believe that this is the right decision, and quite frankly overdue.”Ken Bredemeier contributed to this story
…

Zahid Quraishi, a Pakistani American Muslim, has made history by becoming the first Muslim federal judge in the United States. After being nominated to the U.S. District court of New Jersey by President Joe Biden, Judge Quraishi’s nomination was approved by the U.S. Senate in June. VOA’s Aunshuman Aapte reports.Camera: Aunshuman Aapte 
Produced by: Aunshuman Aapte 
…

India is on track to overtake China as the world’s most populated country by 2027, according to the United Nations. And it’s facing a housing crisis. Home to 1.3 billion people, India has been witnessing an influx of people migrating from villages to cities in search of better job and education prospects. However, affordable housing remains an unresolved problem, which has led to a mushrooming of illegal settlements and slums. 24-year-old Priya moved to Delhi from Rajasthan for work. “Like, because of, you know, job purposes, from villages, people have to shift to cities and I mean of course cities are now very populated. So, you know, if we make our villages more developed, more educated, I think, this difference will not be there.” Informal housing is often unauthorized with poor sanitization facilities, unplanned drainage, and an erratic supply of clean drinking water and electricity. Bhupinder Kumar lives near a settlement in Delhi. He says, “in the next 20 years, people will turn into cannibals,” given the lack of jobs and homes. The Indian government launched the Housing For All Mission in 2015, with a 2022 deadline. It aims to build 20 million urban housing units and 30 million rural homes. India’s most populous state Uttar Pradesh recently proposed legislation aiming to promote a two-child policy. Under the state government proposals unveiled on Saturday (July 10), couples with more than two children would not be allowed to receive government benefits or subsidies and would be barred from applying for state government jobs. 
…

The U.S. is “watching with deep concern” as Taliban insurgents take control of more and more territory in Afghanistan while American forces are quickly returning home under President Joe Biden’s withdrawal orders, Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said Sunday. “This is the time for [Afghan government troops] to step up and defend their country,” Kirby told the “Fox News Sunday” show. “This is a moment of responsibility.” FILE – Afghan soldiers stand guard after the American military left Bagram Airfield, in Parwan province north of Kabul, Afghanistan, July 5, 2021.Over nearly two decades, the U.S. has supplied Afghanistan with billions of dollars in weaponry to defend itself, but with Biden pulling U.S. troops out of the country by August 31, control of the country is increasingly uncertain. Taliban insurgents say they already control 85% of the country, a contested claim. But Kirby did not dispute a Fox News assessment that 13 million Afghans live under Taliban control, 10 million under Afghan government rule and 9 million in contested regions. The U.S. first invaded the country in 2001 to overrun bases where al-Qaida terrorists trained to launch the September 11 hijacked airliner attacks on New York’s World Trade Center and the Pentagon that killed nearly 3,000 people. Even with the U.S. troop withdrawal, Kirby said American commanders would be able to advise Afghan forces from bases in other countries. But U.S. and NATO forces have mostly left Afghanistan already.  All will be gone by the end of August. Biden last week staunchly defended the U.S. troop withdrawal, even in the face of Taliban advances. “We did not go to Afghanistan to nation build,” Biden said at the White House. “It’s the right and the responsibility of the Afghan people alone to decide their future and how they want to run their country.” US Military Mission in Afghanistan Ends August 31, Biden Announces   It is time to look to fight the battles of the next 20 years, says the US president, in remarks after he was briefed on the deteriorating situation in Afghanistan He described the troop drawdown as proceeding in a “secure and orderly way.” Days ago, U.S. forces withdrew from the mammoth Bagram Airfield, the central point of U.S. military operations. Biden has committed to quickly evacuate thousands of Afghan translators and their families who worked for the United States. He said the processing of special immigrant visas had been “dramatically accelerated.” The U.S. leader stressed it was up to the Afghan government to determine its own fate. “Nearly 20 years of experience has shown us — and the current security situation only confirms — that just one more year of fighting in Afghanistan is not a solution, but a recipe for being there indefinitely,” he said. “It’s up to the Afghans to make the decision about the future of their country.” A reporter questioning the troop withdrawal drew a sharp response from Biden. Asked whether he trusted the Taliban, Biden responded: “Is that a serious question?” “It’s a silly question. Do I trust the Taliban? No. But I trust the capacity of the Afghan military, who is better trained, better equipped and more competent in terms of conducting war,” Biden said. Former President Donald Trump, defeated by Biden in last November’s election, has said he would have withdrawn all troops by May 1, which Biden said was too quick. But Biden said he was the fourth U.S. president to preside over American forces in Afghanistan and that he would not hand the responsibility to a fifth. As he first announced plans in April to end the U.S. presence in the country, he said the U.S. “cannot continue the cycle of extending or expanding our military presence in Afghanistan hoping to create the ideal conditions for our withdrawal and expecting a different result.” The foreign troop exit is the outcome of an agreement negotiated by Washington with the Taliban in February 2020 under then-President Trump. It requires the insurgents to fight terrorism on Afghan soil and negotiate a political peace deal with the Kabul government. However, the U.S.-brokered intra-Afghan peace negotiations have moved slowly since they started last September in Qatar and have met with little success. 
…

With U.S. and coalition combat troops all but gone from Afghanistan, Western officials are preparing to face down terrorist threats with the promise of “over-the-horizon” capabilities that may be ill-suited to the danger that groups such as al-Qaida and Islamic State currently pose.U.S. officials, both publicly and privately, insist both terror groups are a shadow of their former selves. Al-Qaida, they say, commands maybe several hundred fighters across Afghanistan, while the Islamic State’s Afghan affiliate, IS-Khorasan, has slightly more.And while IS-Khorasan has claimed responsibility for several high-profile attacks, especially in urban areas, intelligence and humanitarian officials say that both groups are unlikely to do anything that would make them an easy target for U.S. bombers or drones flying into Afghanistan from afar.”Al-Qaida, probably for the foreseeable future, is probably going to tie its fortunes very closely with the Taliban,” one Western counterterrorism official told VOA.”They’re going to want to reassure the Taliban that they’re not going to embarrass them,” the official added, speaking on the condition of anonymity in order to discuss sensitive intelligence matters. “They’re going to want to keep Afghanistan a place from which they can recruit, train.”Islamic State’s reachIS-Khorasan, which no longer holds territory in Afghanistan, as it once did, has also been laying the foundation for a revival.”IS-Khorasan is not done and is an organization that still has the potential to gain in strength in spite of the recent difficulties that it’s faced,” the counterterrorism official said. “You can see certain circumstances in which IS-Khorasan could grow stronger, may attract additional fighters, and may gain additional freedom of action.”Observers in the region warn that IS-Khorasan has also begun looking beyond Afghanistan itself and is attempting to gain footholds in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and parts of Tajikistan.One humanitarian official in Central Asia, who asked that their name be withheld due to fears they could be targeted, told VOA that the focus was on “more quality and less numbers.””They are building local infrastructure for the recruitment, logistics, economic support, economic infrastructure to support that,” the official said. “At the moment, they have a need to recruit more IT-savvy guys, rather than just a regular soldier who’s ready to become a suicide bomber.”Such concerns are being echoed by both U.S. and Central Asian officials.A Pentagon report issued this past April called the expansion of IS-Khorasan “a top concern” for Afghanistan’s neighbors, adding that the terror group was “creating the potential for destabilization.”U.S. intelligence likewise believes there is reason to worry, given that IS-Khorasan “has historically attracted some of its recruits from Central Asian countries,” according to one official who asked not to be identified in order to discuss intelligence matters.Regional stabilityCentral Asian countries “are prioritizing regional security and stability by pursuing regional cooperation and improving their counterterrorism capabilities and border security,” the official added.Uzbekistan’s ambassador to the United States, Javlon Vakhabov, confirmed to VOA that his country remains “very interested” in working with Washington to strengthen border security, with an eye toward stemming the spread of IS-Khorasan.”We have always been concerned about such recruitments,” Vakhabov said. “They have devastative multiplicative influence not only to the recruited but also to his/her families and children.”Other Central Asian officials also have been talking with the U.S. about securing their borders as the U.S. military presence in Afghanistan comes to an end, with the foreign ministers of Tajikistan and Uzbekistan engaging in meetings at the State Department and the Pentagon earlier this month.”The most important issue, it is #Afghanistan” per #Tajikistan FM Sirojiddin Muhriddin “On this issue & on fighting against terrorism, extremism, drug trafficking…the United States is a very reliable partner” he adds— Jeff Seldin (@jseldin) July 1, 2021″Afghanistan’s neighbors share our interest in a stable Afghanistan and countering terrorist threats,” a State Department official told VOA.Yet getting an accurate understanding of those threats is only going to get more difficult now that U.S. forces in Afghanistan are mostly reduced to a presence in the capital of Kabul and a contingent at Kabul airport.Intelligence challengesCIA Director Bill Burns warned lawmakers in April that withdrawing from Afghanistan would hamper his agency’s ability to collect intelligence. “That’s simply a fact,” he said at the time.And already there are growing discrepancies when it comes to assessing the strength of terror groups such as IS-Khorasan.U.S. officials have put the number of IS-Khorasan fighters at several hundred. But intelligence shared by United Nations member states suggests the tally may be much higher, with a core group of 1,500 to 2,200 fighters in Afghanistan’s Kunar and Nangarhar provinces.”Their recruitment has also expanded well beyond their traditional original appeal in far eastern Afghanistan,” according to Andrew Watkins, a senior Afghanistan analyst with International Crisis Group.”Cells of Islamic State affiliates now appear to operate within Kabul, Parwan and Baghlan provinces, and perhaps elsewhere in the country,” he said. “What was once a group rooted in cells of displaced Pakistani militants has taken root in a range of communities or individuals sympathetic to Salafism.”Reports of Afghan security forces taking down large IS-Khorasan cells around Mazar-e-Sharif, in Balkh province, suggest the numbers could be higher still. And there are few estimates for IS-Khorasan numbers in neighboring countries.Despite intelligence suggesting IS-Khorasan is rebounding from substantial losses — some inflicted at the hands of the Taliban — some counterterrorism officials are wary.Russia”While it would be risky to be complacent about IS-Khorasan, it’s not credible to be alarmist about them,” the Western counterterrorism official told VOA.Some countries, however, appear to be sounding an alarm.”It is important to shine the spotlight on Afghanistan, where IS members are actively concentrating their forces,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told the Tass news agency last week. “IS is actively acquiring territories — mostly in Northern Afghanistan, right on the borders of countries that are our allies.”Officials from various agencies and organizations who spoke to VOA are not convinced, with one arguing that such claims are likely just a “bluff.””The Russian Federation is seeking ways where they could put up the Russian Federation flag within Central Asia, in a strategic place, using narratives like ISIS-Khorasan creating a problem to Central Asia as a region,” the official said.Taliban and terror groupsUltimately, the fate of terror groups such as al-Qaida and IS-Khorasan may depend on how the Taliban, now in control of a growing number of districts across Afghanistan, choose to respond.A recent report by the United Nations, based on member state intelligence, found that despite promises by Afghan Taliban leaders to sever ties with al-Qaida, the opposite appears to be true.The Taliban and al-Qaida core “show no indications of breaking ties,” the report found, adding that the Taliban are playing host to possibly hundreds of members of al-Qaida in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS) in Kandahar, Helmand and Nimruz provinces.AQIS is such an integral part of the Taliban insurgency, the assessment found, that “it would be difficult, if not impossible, to separate it from its Taliban allies.”Some intelligence agencies and counterterrorism officials have also argued that despite being natural enemies, the Taliban are at least for now finding ways to use IS-Khorasan to their advantage.Specifically, they say there have been signs the Taliban have used the semi-autonomous Haqqani terrorist network, which itself commands up to 10,000 fighters, to help plan and direct IS-Khorasan attacks against Afghan government targets in Kabul.Some counterterrorism officials believe such a relationship could prove useful to the Taliban in multiple ways. It would allow the Taliban to further weaken the Afghan government. Occasional crackdowns on IS-Khorasan would also allow the Taliban to claim they trying to make good on their agreement to not allow terrorist groups to use Afghanistan as a base for operations against the West.US counterterrorismFor now, U.S officials insist whatever threat al-Qaida or IS-Khorasan pose outside of Afghanistan can be handled from afar.”We are developing a counterterrorism ‘over-the-horizon’ capability that will allow us to keep our eyes firmly fixed on any direct threats to the United States in the region and act quickly and decisively if needed,” U.S. President Joe Biden said Thursday, defending his decision to pull U.S. forces from Afghanistan after nearly two decades of war.”The goal was deter, dismantle and defeat al-Qaida, and that has been accomplished,” Pentagon press secretary John Kirby told reporters later that same day.”That doesn’t mean there aren’t still al-Qaida operatives or cells in Afghanistan,” Kirby added. “But they are nothing like the organization they were on 9/11, 20 years ago.”The VOA Uzbek Service’s Navbahor Imamova contributed to this report. 
…

With U.S. and coalition combat troops all but gone from Afghanistan, Western officials are preparing to face down terrorist threats with the promise of “over-the-horizon” capabilities that may be ill-suited to the danger that groups such as al-Qaida and Islamic State currently pose.U.S. officials, both publicly and privately, insist both terror groups are a shadow of their former selves. Al-Qaida, they say, commands maybe several hundred fighters across Afghanistan, while the Islamic State’s Afghan affiliate, IS-Khorasan, has slightly more.And while IS-Khorasan has claimed responsibility for several high-profile attacks, especially in urban areas, intelligence and humanitarian officials say that both groups are unlikely to do anything that would make them an easy target for U.S. bombers or drones flying into Afghanistan from afar.”Al-Qaida, probably for the foreseeable future, is probably going to tie its fortunes very closely with the Taliban,” one Western counterterrorism official told VOA.”They’re going to want to reassure the Taliban that they’re not going to embarrass them,” the official added, speaking on the condition of anonymity in order to discuss sensitive intelligence matters. “They’re going to want to keep Afghanistan a place from which they can recruit, train.”Islamic State’s reachIS-Khorasan, which no longer holds territory in Afghanistan, as it once did, has also been laying the foundation for a revival.”IS-Khorasan is not done and is an organization that still has the potential to gain in strength in spite of the recent difficulties that it’s faced,” the counterterrorism official said. “You can see certain circumstances in which IS-Khorasan could grow stronger, may attract additional fighters, and may gain additional freedom of action.”Observers in the region warn that IS-Khorasan has also begun looking beyond Afghanistan itself and is attempting to gain footholds in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and parts of Tajikistan.One humanitarian official in Central Asia, who asked that their name be withheld due to fears they could be targeted, told VOA that the focus was on “more quality and less numbers.””They are building local infrastructure for the recruitment, logistics, economic support, economic infrastructure to support that,” the official said. “At the moment, they have a need to recruit more IT-savvy guys, rather than just a regular soldier who’s ready to become a suicide bomber.”Such concerns are being echoed by both U.S. and Central Asian officials.A Pentagon report issued this past April called the expansion of IS-Khorasan “a top concern” for Afghanistan’s neighbors, adding that the terror group was “creating the potential for destabilization.”U.S. intelligence likewise believes there is reason to worry, given that IS-Khorasan “has historically attracted some of its recruits from Central Asian countries,” according to one official who asked not to be identified in order to discuss intelligence matters.Regional stabilityCentral Asian countries “are prioritizing regional security and stability by pursuing regional cooperation and improving their counterterrorism capabilities and border security,” the official added.Uzbekistan’s ambassador to the United States, Javlon Vakhabov, confirmed to VOA that his country remains “very interested” in working with Washington to strengthen border security, with an eye toward stemming the spread of IS-Khorasan.”We have always been concerned about such recruitments,” Vakhabov said. “They have devastative multiplicative influence not only to the recruited but also to his/her families and children.”Other Central Asian officials also have been talking with the U.S. about securing their borders as the U.S. military presence in Afghanistan comes to an end, with the foreign ministers of Tajikistan and Uzbekistan engaging in meetings at the State Department and the Pentagon earlier this month.”The most important issue, it is #Afghanistan” per #Tajikistan FM Sirojiddin Muhriddin “On this issue & on fighting against terrorism, extremism, drug trafficking…the United States is a very reliable partner” he adds— Jeff Seldin (@jseldin) July 1, 2021″Afghanistan’s neighbors share our interest in a stable Afghanistan and countering terrorist threats,” a State Department official told VOA.Yet getting an accurate understanding of those threats is only going to get more difficult now that U.S. forces in Afghanistan are mostly reduced to a presence in the capital of Kabul and a contingent at Kabul airport.Intelligence challengesCIA Director Bill Burns warned lawmakers in April that withdrawing from Afghanistan would hamper his agency’s ability to collect intelligence. “That’s simply a fact,” he said at the time.And already there are growing discrepancies when it comes to assessing the strength of terror groups such as IS-Khorasan.U.S. officials have put the number of IS-Khorasan fighters at several hundred. But intelligence shared by United Nations member states suggests the tally may be much higher, with a core group of 1,500 to 2,200 fighters in Afghanistan’s Kunar and Nangarhar provinces.”Their recruitment has also expanded well beyond their traditional original appeal in far eastern Afghanistan,” according to Andrew Watkins, a senior Afghanistan analyst with International Crisis Group.”Cells of Islamic State affiliates now appear to operate within Kabul, Parwan and Baghlan provinces, and perhaps elsewhere in the country,” he said. “What was once a group rooted in cells of displaced Pakistani militants has taken root in a range of communities or individuals sympathetic to Salafism.”Reports of Afghan security forces taking down large IS-Khorasan cells around Mazar-e-Sharif, in Balkh province, suggest the numbers could be higher still. And there are few estimates for IS-Khorasan numbers in neighboring countries.Despite intelligence suggesting IS-Khorasan is rebounding from substantial losses — some inflicted at the hands of the Taliban — some counterterrorism officials are wary.Russia”While it would be risky to be complacent about IS-Khorasan, it’s not credible to be alarmist about them,” the Western counterterrorism official told VOA.Some countries, however, appear to be sounding an alarm.”It is important to shine the spotlight on Afghanistan, where IS members are actively concentrating their forces,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told the Tass news agency last week. “IS is actively acquiring territories — mostly in Northern Afghanistan, right on the borders of countries that are our allies.”Officials from various agencies and organizations who spoke to VOA are not convinced, with one arguing that such claims are likely just a “bluff.””The Russian Federation is seeking ways where they could put up the Russian Federation flag within Central Asia, in a strategic place, using narratives like ISIS-Khorasan creating a problem to Central Asia as a region,” the official said.Taliban and terror groupsUltimately, the fate of terror groups such as al-Qaida and IS-Khorasan may depend on how the Taliban, now in control of a growing number of districts across Afghanistan, choose to respond.A recent report by the United Nations, based on member state intelligence, found that despite promises by Afghan Taliban leaders to sever ties with al-Qaida, the opposite appears to be true.The Taliban and al-Qaida core “show no indications of breaking ties,” the report found, adding that the Taliban are playing host to possibly hundreds of members of al-Qaida in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS) in Kandahar, Helmand and Nimruz provinces.AQIS is such an integral part of the Taliban insurgency, the assessment found, that “it would be difficult, if not impossible, to separate it from its Taliban allies.”Some intelligence agencies and counterterrorism officials have also argued that despite being natural enemies, the Taliban are at least for now finding ways to use IS-Khorasan to their advantage.Specifically, they say there have been signs the Taliban have used the semi-autonomous Haqqani terrorist network, which itself commands up to 10,000 fighters, to help plan and direct IS-Khorasan attacks against Afghan government targets in Kabul.Some counterterrorism officials believe such a relationship could prove useful to the Taliban in multiple ways. It would allow the Taliban to further weaken the Afghan government. Occasional crackdowns on IS-Khorasan would also allow the Taliban to claim they trying to make good on their agreement to not allow terrorist groups to use Afghanistan as a base for operations against the West.US counterterrorismFor now, U.S officials insist whatever threat al-Qaida or IS-Khorasan pose outside of Afghanistan can be handled from afar.”We are developing a counterterrorism ‘over-the-horizon’ capability that will allow us to keep our eyes firmly fixed on any direct threats to the United States in the region and act quickly and decisively if needed,” U.S. President Joe Biden said Thursday, defending his decision to pull U.S. forces from Afghanistan after nearly two decades of war.”The goal was deter, dismantle and defeat al-Qaida, and that has been accomplished,” Pentagon press secretary John Kirby told reporters later that same day.”That doesn’t mean there aren’t still al-Qaida operatives or cells in Afghanistan,” Kirby added. “But they are nothing like the organization they were on 9/11, 20 years ago.”The VOA Uzbek Service’s Navbahor Imamova contributed to this report. 
…

A Taliban delegation in Moscow said Friday that the group would not attack provincial capitals even as news emerged that Taliban militants had attacked the capital of Afghanistan’s Kandahar province.Kandahar’s police force said it had received reinforcements and was able to repulse the attack.At a press conference in Moscow broadcast live by Afghan TV, Shahabuddin Delawar, the leader of the Taliban delegation, said the group had decided to avoid attacking cities to prevent bloodshed.Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid told VOA the moratorium on attacking the cities was temporary.Focus is districts“In this regard, all I can say is that in the current first phase, the focus is on the districts. We will make a second plan for the cities, God willing,” he said via WhatsApp.Mujahid told VOA the reason for the bifurcation was to protect the population and the infrastructure from destruction.“Cities have people’s investments, shops, banks and other important things. Before the attack, we need to plan on how to secure them and save them from looting,” he said.Kabul-based analyst Faiz Zaland said the Taliban “really want to give a chance to peace, to intra-Afghan [negotiations]. They want a political solution.”But he said the Taliban would not wait long and predicted that if things did not begin to move on the negotiation front, they would start attacking the cities in a few months.In recent weeks, Taliban forces have attacked or encircled multiple provincial capitals. One of them is Faizabad, the capital of Badakhshan province. Once home to Taliban archrival Ahmed Shah Masood’s forces, the province, which borders China, Tajikistan and Pakistan, has been nearly overrun by the Taliban.FILE – Afghan National Army soldiers patrol the area near a checkpoint recaptured from the Taliban, in the Alishing district of Laghman province, Afghanistan, July 8, 2021.Similarly, Qala e Naw, the capital of Badghis province, which was attacked Wednesday, was cleared of Taliban fighters Thursday. During the attack, the Taliban managed to break into the city’s prison and release hundreds of inmates.However, while the Taliban have made swift gains in rural areas since the withdrawal of most foreign troops, they have been unable to completely overrun a city. Most attacks on cities have been repelled within a few hours or days.Meanwhile, the Taliban delegation in Moscow said the border crossings the group recently captured would remain open and all trade would continue as usual.Concern about instabilityRussia said that it had expressed concern after fighting on the Afghanistan-Tajikistan border led to more than 1,000 Afghan troops seeking shelter in Tajikistan.Russia considers Central Asia its backyard and has long expressed concern that instability in the region could help Islamic State’s local branch make inroads among the Muslim population that lives in those countries.“We will take all measures so that Daesh [IS] will not operate on Afghan territory,” Delawar said during the press conference. “Our territory will never be used against our neighbors.”The swift Taliban gains have led many to question how long the Afghan government can withstand an onslaught by the Taliban.FILE – Taliban delegates speak during talks between the Afghan government and Taliban insurgents in Doha, Qatar, Sept. 12, 2020.Peace negotiations in Doha have stalled and other efforts to jump-start them, including a meeting this week between Taliban and Afghan government representatives in Tehran, have so far been slow to yield results.U.S. President Joe Biden has called it “highly unlikely” that the Taliban could capture Kabul, although he has put the onus of success on the Afghan political elite.’They have the capacity’“The Afghan government and leadership has to come together. They clearly have the capacity to sustain the government in place. The question is: Will they generate the kind of cohesion to do it? It’s not a question of whether they have the capacity.  They have the capacity. They have the forces. They have the equipment. The question is: Will they do it?” Biden said during remarks at the White House on Thursday.He also seemed to hint that the solution to Afghanistan’s problems was in dividing territory into spheres of influence.”[T]he likelihood there’s going to be one unified government in Afghanistan controlling the whole country is highly unlikely,” he said, adding later that “never has Afghanistan been a united country, not in all of its history.”This report includes information from Reuters.
…

The World Health Organization said health care is under siege in Afghanistan as the United States accelerates its troop withdrawal from the country.Afghanistan is one of the largest and longest-standing humanitarian emergencies in the world. The country is subject to almost every type of hazard — an escalating conflict, a rapidly spreading pandemic and most recently a severe drought.The WHO said 18.4 million Afghans need humanitarian assistance — a situation that has serious health consequences. It said increasing violence has led to more civilian trauma cases.Rick Brennan, regional director for the WHO Eastern Mediterranean Regional Office, speaks during a news conference in Geneva, Switzerland, Sept. 30, 2016.The regional director for the WHO Eastern Mediterranean Regional Office, Rick Brennan, said there has been a 29% increase in civilian casualties in the first quarter of this year compared with the same period last year. He said the arrival of people with complex war-related injuries is putting an enormous strain on health workers and facilities.“Moreover, this year there have been 30 attacks on health care across the country, including the total destruction of an immunization center late last month and a reported artillery attack on a health center in Kunar province just two days ago,” Brennan said. “Such attacks are a violation of the right to health. They limit people’s access to health care at a time of increased need and they contravene international humanitarian law.”Increasing instability has coincided with the quicker than expected pullout of American troops from the country. Brennan described the current situation as fluid, fast-moving and terribly concerning. He said many health care workers have left their posts because of security concerns, though some reportedly were starting to return.“I think it is a mixed picture right now. But we are clearly concerned of declining access to health care. … We are concerned about our lack of access to be able to provide essential medicines and supplies and we are concerned about attacks on health care,” Brennan said.Brennan said the WHO is not in direct communication with the Taliban. However, he said the WHO has received indirect requests to continue to provide health services in districts taken over by the Taliban.He said he believes the WHO has a good reputation, particularly in areas where it has run polio vaccination campaigns. That, he added, is likely to be instrumental in the WHO’s ability to maintain a field presence in those areas.
…

Many Afghans who hoped the Taliban would reform their extreme views amid ongoing talks with the Afghan government and the U.S. troop withdrawal have been disappointed by the new severe restrictions imposed on the local population in some of the districts that they have recently captured. Several residents of Balkh, a district in northern Balkh province that is located 20 kilometers north of the provincial capital, Mazar-e Sharif, confirmed to VOA that the Taliban have distributed leaflets, ordering locals to follow strict rules that are similar to those they imposed on Afghans when they last governed the country from 1996 to 2001.  “They want to impose the restrictions that were imposed on women under their rule,” said Nahida, a 34-year-old resident of Balkh district, adding that the restrictions targeting women include “not leaving our houses without a male companion and wearing hijab.”    Sorry, but your browser cannot support embedded video of this type, you can
download this video to view it offline.Download File360p | 6 MB480p | 8 MB540p | 11 MB720p | 29 MB1080p | 48 MBOriginal | 244 MB Embed” />Copy Download AudioBefore their ouster by the United States in 2001, the Taliban mandated Afghans follow a strict interpretation of Sharia law, forcing women to cover themselves from head to foot and preventing them from leaving their houses without a male companion. That changed after 2001 when the new Afghan government, supported by U.S.-led forces, introduced laws to encourage more girls to attend school and to have more women participate in the workforce.  Nahida, who requested to be identified by her pseudonym due to safety concerns, said the group’s new restrictions will be difficult for women to follow “since many of them are the breadwinners of their families and they have to work outside.”   According to the Afghan government, about 30% of the civil servants are now women who were not allowed to work outside their homes during the Taliban’s rule.Last year, following its peace agreement with the United States, the Taliban leadership initially appeared to recognize this new reality and hinted at an openness to changing policies. In interviews with news agencies and in published essays, the group’s leaders hinted at an openness to changing policies.  But in this year’s spring offensive, the Taliban’s actions have indicated otherwise.Since May, when the United States and NATO began withdrawing their remaining troops, the Taliban captured about 100 of Afghanistan’s more than 400 districts from government-allied forces. Afghan officials have since vowed to retake the lost districts. Sorry, but your browser cannot support embedded video of this type, you can
download this video to view it offline.Download File360p | 6 MB480p | 8 MB540p | 10 MB720p | 18 MB1080p | 38 MBOriginal | 228 MB Embed” />Copy Download AudioAnother resident of Balkh, who requested anonymity due to fears of retaliation by the militants, said “salons were ordered not to shave or trim beards” when the Taliban controlled the district last month. “It is possible that they impose more restrictions. In some of the mosques, during the Friday sermons, Mullahs say that the Sharia law should be implemented,” another Balkh resident told VOA.  In several districts of Takhar, Badakhshan, and Kunduz province that came under the Taliban control recently, local reports claim the Taliban issued similar restrictions on women and forced men to grow beards.  Violations The acting U.S. ambassador in Kabul, Ross Wilson, in a tweet on Wednesday, warned that the Taliban’s growing violence violated human rights and triggered fears that “a system this country’s citizens do not support will be imposed.” While no progress has been reported in the intra-Afghan peace talks that started in Doha, Qatar last September, Wilson called on the Taliban to negotiate “in good faith and a genuine will.”In a sign of breaking the long stalemate, a Taliban delegation and a group of Afghan politicians met Wednesday in Tehran. In a joint statement, both sides agreed that “a peaceful solution should be sought.”  Meanwhile, the Afghan forces have vowed to continue their counterattacks to recapture the districts lost to the Taliban.   In a press conference on Tuesday, Afghanistan’s national security advisor, Hamdullah Mohib said that the security forces had recaptured 14 districts, adding that the government forces “will recapture the districts’ buildings,” that have fallen to the Taliban in recent weeks. Human Rights Watch (HRW) in a statement Wednesday accused the Taliban of forcibly displacing residents and burning their homes in an apparent retaliation for cooperating with Afghan forces.   ‘Not Surprising’ Heather Barr, a HRW senior researcher for women’s rights in Asia, said that reports about the Taliban recent crackdown on women and media were “not very surprising” since her organization’s investigation has found that “the Taliban’s policies are not that different from what they were in 2001.” It is “very concerning indeed for human rights,” Barr told VOA, adding that “some of these abusive attitudes are actually intensifying as they are feeling triumphant in gaining control of more and more territory.”  The watchdog group in a report last year said although the Taliban, at least at the leadership level, have portrayed themselves as having reformed their hardline views, they have continued to impose extreme restrictions enforced by the militants.  This skepticism was also shared by Sher Jan Ahmadzai, the director of Center for Afghanistan Studies at the University of Nebraska.  “There is no evidence to substantiate their claims that they have changed their tactics of dealing with the local populace in the areas of their control,” said Ahmadzai. He added that local reports from the areas under the Taliban show the militants have forced residents to feed them and forced the women not to venture out of their houses without their partners or relatives from their families. “It is difficult to confirm such posts by independent organizations because they are not allowed to report from areas under the Taliban openly,” Ahmadzai said.  Press Restrictions  Nawbahar, the only FM radio station in Balkh district, was forced to broadcast Taliban’s Tarani (chants) and anti-government messages instead of music when the militants entered the district last month, according to local journalists.  “It is against the freedom of expression,” lamented Abdul Aziz Danishjo, a journalist in Mazar-e Sharif, who said the Taliban had forced Nawbahar editor and other staff to go to the radio station and start broadcasting “what the Taliban want.”Nai, a local media watchdog, has reported that nearly 20 radio stations have ceased broadcasting in Afghanistan’s northern provinces due to the Taliban’s restrictions and ongoing fighting.  Some local journalists view the Taliban crackdown as a major blow to journalism in Afghanistan, a country ranked by Reporters Without Borders (RSF) at 122nd out of 180 nations for violations against journalists. Mohammad Yaqoob, a local journalist in Balkh province, said the growing violence and Taliban restrictions mean many parts of Afghanistan will be cut off from the rest of the world, making it harder to monitor the human rights violations.   “As a journalist, I would say that the Taliban and the government should follow the media laws,” Yaqoob said.  Yaqoob added that the warring parties should not impose their views on the local radio stations in the areas that come under their control. The RSF charges that violence against journalists and media outlets has increased “significantly” despite of peace talks between the Taliban and the Afghan government.     VOA’s Sirwan Kajjo contributed to this story from Washington. 
…

Authorities in India’s southern Kerala region have issued a statewide alert after a case of the Zika virus was confirmed, officials said Friday.
 
A further 13 suspected cases were being investigated, state health minister Veena George said.
 
A 24-year-old pregnant woman was found to be infected with the mosquito-borne disease and was undergoing treatment at a hospital in Thiruvananthapuram city.
 
Pregnant women are particularly vulnerable and can transmit the infection to their newborns, which can result in life-altering conditions such as Guillain-Barre syndrome, a rare auto-immune disease.
 
Samples from the 13 suspected cases have been sent for further investigation to a lab in Pune, the minister added.
 
Zika is mostly spread through the bite of the Aedes mosquito but can also be sexually transmitted, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
 
The virus was first discovered in monkeys in Uganda’s Zika forest in 1947 and has caused several outbreaks across the world in recent decades.
 
No vaccines or anti-viral drugs are available as prevention or cure.
 
Symptoms include fever, skin rashes, conjunctivitis and muscle and joint pain, but fatalities are rare.
 
Officials said the infected woman had showed symptoms including fever, headache and rashes before being admitted to a hospital, where she safely delivered a baby on Wednesday.
 
Health teams have been assigned to the area to monitor for any further cases.
 
India also saw Zika outbreaks in 2017 and 2018, with hundreds of cases reported in western Gujarat and Rajasthan as well as central Madhya Pradesh state, but the latest infection is the first in Kerala.
 
The state is currently a battling a surge in COVID-19 cases, with more than 13,000 infections recorded on Friday, the highest number of any Indian state.
…

A Taliban delegation in Moscow said on Friday that the group controlled over 85% of territory in Afghanistan and reassured Russia it would not allow the country to be used as a platform to attack others.
 
The Taliban’s claim of control of much of the country, disputed by the Afghan government, is impossible to independently verify.
 
Foreign forces, including the United States, are withdrawing after almost 20 years of fighting, a move that has emboldened Taliban insurgents to try to gain fresh territory in Afghanistan.
 
That has prompted hundreds of Afghan security personnel and refugees to flee across the border into neighboring Tajikistan and raised fears in Moscow and other capitals that Islamist extremists could infiltrate Central Asia, a region Russia views as its backyard.
 
At a news conference in Moscow on Friday, three Taliban officials sought to signal that they did not pose a threat to the wider region, however.
 
The officials said the Taliban would do all it could to prevent Islamic State operating on Afghan territory and that it would also seek to wipe out drug production.
 
“We will take all measures so that Islamic State will not operate on Afghan territory… and our territory will never be used against our neighbors,” Taliban official Shahabuddin Delawar said through a translator.
 
The same delegation said a day earlier that the group would not attack the Tajik-Afghan border, the fate of which is in focus in Russia and Central Asia.
 
Moscow has noted a sharp increase in tensions on the same border, two-thirds of which the Taliban currently controls, the Interfax news agency cited Russia’s foreign ministry as saying on Friday.
 
Russia’s foreign ministry called on all sides of the Afghanistan conflict to show restraint and said that Russia and the Moscow-led CSTO military bloc would act decisively to prevent aggression on the border if necessary, RIA reported.
 
The Taliban delegation told the same news conference that the group would respect the rights of ethnic minorities and all Afghan citizens should have the right to a decent education in the framework of Islamic law and Afghan traditions.
 
“We want all representatives of Afghan society … to take part in creating an Afghan state,” Delawar said.
…

Amid major Taliban gains on the ground, U.S. President Joe Biden on Thursday delivered his justification for military withdrawal from Afghanistan. The U.S. is on track to pull out troops completely by the end of August, ending military operations after two decades of war. White House Correspondent Patsy Widakuswara has this report.
…

Afghan and Taliban representatives are speaking of progress toward peace and promising further talks after two days of dialogue in Tehran between a senior Taliban delegation and representatives of the Kabul government.Javad Zarif, Iran’s foreign minister, called the talks that ended Thursday “substantive,” tweeting: “As foreign forces leave Afghanistan, no impediment remains for Afghans of all political stripes to chart a peaceful & prosperous future for the next generation.”  Honored to be host of cordial & substantive dialog between senior Afghan reps.As foreign forces leave Afghanistan, no impediment remains for Afghans of all political stripes to chart a peaceful & prosperous future for the next generation.Iran stands with our Afghan brethren. FILE – A plume of smoke rises amid ongoing fighting between Afghan security forces and Taliban insurgents in the western city of Qala-e-Naw, the capital of Afghanistan’s Badghis province, July 7, 2021.Michael O’Hanlon of the Washington-based Brookings Institution said Iran, as a next-door neighbor, is seeking “some degree of stability” in Afghanistan, especially since chaos could result in millions of refugees at its door.He said, though, he doubted the efforts would yield results.”I just don’t see the Taliban being in a mood to negotiate, regardless of where peace talks may be held, regardless of who may be the host,” he said.O’Hanlon said the Taliban are unlikely to make a power-sharing agreement at a point when they believe they are about to win on the battlefield.”I think the Taliban want to look as if they’re giving peace a chance, but they’re really going to rely on war,” he said.Iran’s foreign ministry called the talks in Tehran “The Intra-Afghan Dialogue Summit.” The semantics are important since the only official negotiations between the Taliban and an Afghan government-sanctioned team are happening in Doha. Those are called the “intra-Afghan negotiations.”All other meetings between Taliban and other Afghans — and there have been multiple in various countries across the region over several years — are called dialogues. These efforts are similar to what is called track 1.5 or track 2 in diplomacy.”The meeting that took place in Tehran is a complementary initiative to the main track of talks, which is based in Doha,” said Gran Hewad, the Afghan foreign ministry’s spokesman.He voiced skepticism, however, on whether anything meaningful was happening at the negotiations in Doha.”The last meeting that they could call a 1st track, on-the-record meeting was something that none of the parties have announced because it’s been missing for a long time,” he said.The regional diplomacy is happening at a time when the United States already has withdrawn 90 percent of its troops and equipment from Afghanistan, according to U.S. Central Command. President Joe Biden said Thursday the remaining troops will be home by the end of August.”That job had been over for some time and quite frankly overdue,” he said.The withdrawal of foreign forces has been accompanied by battlefield victories by the Taliban, who seem to have focused their energy in the country’s north.FILE- Afghans return to Afghanistan at the Islam Qala border with Iran, in the western Herat province, Feb. 20, 2019. Taliban have taken control of Islam Qala crossing border, an Afghan official and Iranian media confirmed on July 8, 2021.Late Thursday, the Associated Press reported the Taliban had seized a key border crossing with Iran called Islam Qala in Western Herat province.AP quoted Iranian media as reporting that Afghan soldiers on the border fled to Iran for refuge.A few days ago, more than 1,000 Afghan soldiers retreated into Tajikistan amid clashes as the Taliban seized that border.Tajikistan Bolsters Border as Afghan Troops, Fleeing Taliban, Seek Refuge 20,000 military reservists were mobilized to bolster the border with Afghanistan after more than 1,000 Afghan security personnel fled across the frontier in response to Taliban militant advancesAccording to Reuters, the six-nation Russian-led military bloc Collective Security Treaty Organization said Thursday it was ready to mobilize all of its resources if the situation on the border of Tajikistan did not stabilize.Meanwhile, a Taliban delegation landed Thursday in Moscow and met with Zamir Kabulov, the Russian special envoy for Afghanistan, apparently to reassure Russia that the border skirmishes would not spill into Russia’s backyard.”The [Taliban delegation] reaffirmed its position that the territory of Afghanistan will not be used against anyone,” Taliban spokesman Naeem tweeted. He also said diplomats, embassy employees, and those working for charities should continue without fear. Some information from Reuters and the Associated Press was used in this report. 
 
…

As the number of vaccinations around the world increases and countries open up for travel, a new problem has arisen. Many, especially in the developing world, are stuck with vaccines not approved in North America, Europe or some Middle Eastern countries. That is impacting not just recreational travel but people’s livelihoods. VOA’s Ayesha Tanzeem reports from Pakistan.
…

The UK says most of its troops have left Afghanistan. 
 
Prime Minister Boris Johnson confirmed the news Thursday, saying the threat from al-Qaida had lessened.  
 
“All British troops assigned to NATO’s mission in Afghanistan are now returning home,” he said, adding that “most of our personnel have already left.” 
 
He appeared to sidestep questions about whether the troop withdrawal would leave Afghanistan open to another takeover by the Taliban. 
 
“We must be realistic about our ability alone to influence the course of events. It will take combined efforts of many nations, including Afghanistan’s neighbors, to help the Afghan people to build their future,” Johnson said. “But the threat that brought us to Afghanistan in the first place has been greatly diminished by the valor and by the sacrifice of the armed forces of Britain and many other countries.” 
 
Johnson reiterated that Britain will still be involved in trying to achieve peace in Afghanistan, albeit through diplomacy. 
 
“We are not walking away. We are keeping our embassy in Kabul, and we will continue to work with our friends and allies, particularly our friends in Pakistan, to work towards a settlement,” Johnson said. Some 457 British service members lost their lives in Afghanistan during Britain’s nearly 20-year involvement. The withdrawal of the remaining troops was expected to be done “within a few months,” according to the British Defense Ministry. 
 
The U.S. was expected to withdraw its forces from Afghanistan by Sept 11. Some Information from the Associated Press was used in this report. 
…

China has declared the future of Afghanistan’s worsening conflict a “practical challenge” to neighboring countries and stressed the need for collectively tackling it to ensure regional peace.
 
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi made the remarks in a pre-recorded video to a seminar in the Pakistani capital in connection with 70 years of Beijing’s diplomatic ties with Islamabad.
 
Wang said China, together with Pakistan, will continue to support the Afghan parties to the war in seeking a political settlement through peace talks and achieving national reconciliation and “enduring” peace.
 
“We should join hands in safeguarding regional peace. The future of the Afghan issue is a practical challenge to both China and Pakistan,” the Chinese chief diplomat told the event organized by the Islamabad-based independent Pakistan China Institute.
 
“We will encourage other stake-holding countries to strengthen communication and collaboration, effectively contain spillover of security risks, and especially prevent regional and international terrorist forces from wreaking havoc and prevailing,” Wang stressed.
 
Hostilities between Taliban insurgents and pro-government forces in Afghanistan have spiked to unprecedented levels since early May, when the United States and NATO formally began withdrawing their last remaining troops from the country under orders by President Joe Biden.
 
Deteriorating security in the wake of rapid Taliban advances across Afghanistan has raised concerns among the country’s neighbors, including Pakistan and Iran, that a new wave of Afghan refugees could come their way as a result of the turmoil.
 
The insecurity has also raised fears the crisis will likely encourage transnational terrorist groups, including the Islamic State terror group, to expand influence in the war-torn South Asian nation and threaten international security.
 
Wang has previously urged U.S.-led foreign military forces to withdraw from Afghanistan in “a responsible and orderly manner.”FILE – A plume of smoke rises amid ongoing fighting between Afghan security forces and Taliban insurgents in the western city of Qala-e-Naw, the capital of Afghanistan’s Badghis province, July 7, 2021.China is worried the continued Afghan crisis could undermine what it says are its gains against terrorism in its western Xinjiang region. Beijing blames the violence on insurgents from minority Uyghur Muslims and has launched a massive crackdown against the community in recent years amid growing allegations of human rights abuses.
 
Pakistan, which still hosts nearly three million Afghan refugees, is currently receiving billions of dollars in Chinese investment, building roads, railways, ports and power plants.
 
Islamabad and Beijing intend to extend the bilateral collaboration, known as the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, to Afghanistan to bring much needed economic development to the conflict-ravaged and poverty-stricken country if peace is restored there.
 
The CPEC is regarded as a centerpiece of China’s Belt and Road Initiative, bringing more than $25 billion in Chinese investment and soft loans to Pakistan over the past six years.
 
Pakistan’s tension-marked ties with the government in Afghanistan, however, have lately worsened in the wake of growing allegations Islamabad’s covert support of the Taliban is behind the insurgent violence and territorial gains, charges Pakistani officials reject.
 
China has lately stepped up its diplomatic efforts to ease tensions between the two neighboring countries and to encourage them to work jointly for regional security and prosperity.
 
While presiding over a trilateral foreign ministers-level meeting last June, Wang pledged that China will continue to “play a positive role” to help improve and develop relations between Afghanistan and Pakistan.
 
He also urged the delegates to “deepen high-quality” Belt and Road cooperation and enhance connectivity among the three countries and in the region at large.
 
…

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has made sweeping changes in his cabinet and junior ministers, in what is being seen as a bid to restore his government’s image hit both by a deadly second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic and a faltering economy.Modi appointed 36 new ministers on Wednesday after 12 senior cabinet ministers stepped down. One of the key appointments is that of a new health minister, Mansukh Mandaviya, who will now oversee management of the pandemic in the world’s second-worst-hit country as health experts warn of an impending third wave later in the year.  Analysts say Modi’s new team faces the task of restoring the government’s credibility and addressing the wave of public anger that erupted in the aftermath of its handling of the recent health crisis.  “Brand Modi is not as potent or as powerful as it was in in 2019 when he was reelected with a massive mandate for a second term,” political analyst Rasheed Kidwai said.“The handling of COVID during the second wave plus the bruised economy in recent years has exposed the myth that Modi is all-powerful, that he is capable of doing anything.”   Modi, one of the country’s most popular prime ministers, swept to power in 2014 on the promise of providing strong governance and ushering in “good days” for the country. However, tough questions have been raised about the competence of his government following critical shortages of hospital beds and oxygen that left tens of thousands struggling for access to health care even in cities like New Delhi during a devastating second wave of the pandemic in April and May. More than half the 400,000 reported deaths occurred in the last three months.  The government has also faced criticism for a slow-moving immunization program that has been hobbled by vaccine shortages. Only about 5% of Indians have been fully vaccinated so far.  “The rejig exercise is about course correction and creating the right image for the government which did take a beating in the pandemic’s second wave,” said Sandeep Shastri, pro vice chancellor of Jain University.“The ministers who were shown the door are those who did not demonstrate the right political shrewdness,” he said.     Analysts say a distressed economy that plunged by over 7% last year, resulting in millions of job losses, has also led to disillusionment, particularly among the poor and middle classes. Hopes of a swift economic recovery this year have been set back by the pandemic’s second wave.   “I think Mr. Modi and the [ruling] Bharatiya Janata Party is sensing a new vulnerability,” Kidwai said. Regional polls to be held in seven states next year are also a  key focus of the ministerial overhaul, analysts said.   The BJP failed to wrest the battleground state of West Bengal from a regional party in April, despite a high-profile campaign by Modi. The electoral setback has raised concerns about the prospects of the BJP in upcoming polls, particularly in Uttar Pradesh — India’s largest state that is a critical prize for a political party that wants to govern India. More than a dozen of the new ministers come from states that go to the polls representing different castes and regional communities, a key factor in India’s politics.  “There was also a need for political accommodation,” Shastri said.“They needed to give political representation to groups such as lower castes, tribal and backward communities, to states which go the polls and to political allies,” he said. Among the high-profile ministers who stepped down was Ravi Shankar Prasad, who was in charge of the information technology and social justice ministries. Prasad had spearheaded sweeping new laws to govern social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter, that critics say will affect online speech.  Commentators said that even with a new face, the government faces an uphill task in putting pandemic-hit India back on track.
…

In northern Afghanistan’s Balkh province along the border with Uzbekistan, residents tell VOA that since the Taliban have seized control, they have imposed severe new restrictions on locals. Journalist Gul Rahim Niazman reports from Balkh district in the province.
…

Authorities in Afghanistan said Wednesday that pro-government forces had pushed back Taliban insurgents from parts of a northwestern city and regained control of official buildings after hours of fierce clashes.
 
Fighting erupted in parts of Qala-e-Naw, the capital of Badghis province, after the Taliban assaulted it overnight from multiple directions. Residents and officials said insurgent fighters pushed their way into the city, taking over key security installations, including provincial police headquarters, and freeing about 600 inmates from the central prison.
 
Video footage released by the Taliban showed the prisoners escaping from the facility and insurgent fighters riding motorbikes moving into different parts of the city.  
 
Provincial governor Hessamuddin Shams told VOA the Taliban captured all the districts around Qala-e-Naw in recent days, enabling them to attack the provincial capital.
 
Clashes continued in the city throughout Wednesday before Afghan forces, backed by airstrikes, pushed the insurgents out of the city later in the afternoon.   
 
Shams later claimed while talking to reporters that most of the prisoners had been recaptured.  
 
An Afghan Defense Ministry spokesman, Fawad Aman, tweeted government forces inflicted heavy casualties on the “fleeing” insurgents.Taliban #terrorist suffered heavy and sustained casualties in their failed attempt to capture Qala-e-Naw, #Badghis province. The bravery of the #ANDSF and their swift and decisive action was highly commendable. pic.twitter.com/hXbDBH9QAm— Fawad Aman (@FawadAman2) July 7, 2021Taliban fighters have made rapid territorial advances across Afghanistan since May 1, when the United States and NATO allies formally began withdrawing their last remaining troops from the country.  
 
The insurgents have since overrun at least 150 of Afghanistan’s more than 400 districts.  
 
The assault on Qala-e-Naw was the first by the Taliban against a provincial capital, fueling fears the insurgents intend to regain power in Kabul by force instead of returning to the table for peace talks with Afghan government representatives to negotiate a political settlement.
 
The Taliban also have encircled other provincial capitals, particularly those in northern and northeastern Afghanistan, raising alarms in neighboring Central Asian states.  
 
The insurgents there have captured dozens of districts in recent days, largely because pro-government forces either retreated to safety or surrendered. About 1,600 soldiers also fled to Tajikistan from the embattled border province of Badakhshan to escape Taliban attacks.  
 
U.S.-led foreign forces are supposed to fully withdraw from Afghanistan by the September 11 deadline set by President Joe Biden mid-April.  
 
The foreign troop exit is the outcome of a peace deal negotiated by Washington with the Taliban in February 2020 under then-President Donald Trump. It requires the insurgents to fight terrorism on Afghan soil and negotiate a political peace deal with the Kabul government.FILE – An Afghan National Army soldier stands guard at the gate of Bagram U.S. air base, on the day the last of American troops vacated it, Parwan province, Afghanistan, July 2, 2021.But the U.S.-brokered intra-Afghan peace negotiations have moved slowly since they started last September in Qatar and have met with little success.  
 
On Tuesday, the U.S. military announced the withdrawal process was more than 90 percent complete. Officials have said the entire process is expected to finish by late August. NATO troops also are following suit, and most of them already have left the country.  
 
American troops vacated Bagram Air Base, the largest such facility in Afghanistan, before dawn on Friday, prompting criticism and complaints by Afghan commanders that they were kept in the dark about the departure plans.  
 
U.S. officials maintain the transfer of Bagram was fully coordinated with Afghan leaders, just like the handing over of other military bases in the country.The abrupt exit, Afghan officials insisted, allowed looting on the military base by locals before Afghan forces arrived and took control of the facility.Meanwhile, the acting U.S. ambassador in Kabul, Ross Wilson, urged the Taliban to cease violence and negotiate “in good faith and a genuine will” a permanent end to fighting. (1/2) The Taliban offensive is bringing hardship to communities across Afghanistan already grappling with drought, poverty & COVID. It violates Afghans’ human rights and provokes fear that a system this country’s citizens do not support will be imposed.— Chargé d’Affaires Ross Wilson (@USAmbKabul) July 7, 2021  
“The Taliban offensive is bringing hardship to communities across Afghanistan already grappling with drought, poverty & COVID. It violates Afghans’ human rights and provokes fear that a system this country’s citizens do not support will be imposed,” Wilson wrote Wednesday on Twitter.Iran hosted Taliban and Afghan government delegates Wednesday and urged them to move quickly to negotiate a settlement to the crisis.“Return to the negotiation table among all Afghan factions and commitment to diplomatic solutions is the best choice for Afghanistan’s leaders and political factions,” official media quoted Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif as telling the visitors.Pakistan’s ambassador to the U.S., Asad Majeed Khan, echoed those sentiments Wednesday during an appearance in Washington.“The only way forward is to come to some common understanding,” he said at the U.S. Institute of Peace. “If the peace process unravels, we will go back to the old scenario where you will have militias. The countries will start to hedge also. That is going to be a recipe for disaster.”Kahn also pushed back against assertions from top Afghan officials that Pakistan has been providing a safe haven and support for the Afghan Taliban.”Havens is really a question that, frankly, has become irrelevant,” the ambassador said. “The Taliban, in any case, do not need sanctuary in Pakistan because they are increasingly occupying space and territory in Afghanistan.”Late last month, Pakistan Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed admitted in an interview with the privately-owned Geo News television channel that Taliban families do live in Pakistan, including in areas around Islamabad.Khan sought to downplay, however, any notion that Pakistan has been less than sincere in its efforts to prevent Afghanistan from descending into chaos.”What we have made very clear is that we want Afghan parties to talk to each other and we will help in every possible way,” he said.VOA National Security Correspondent Jeff Seldin contributed to this report. 
…

The death of an 84-year-old rights activist and Jesuit priest in Mumbai has turned the spotlight on India’s tough anti-terror law, which rights activists and critics of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government say is being used to stifle dissent.  Stan Swamy, who was suffering from Parkinson’s disease and contracted COVID-19 while in prison, died of cardiac arrest Monday in a hospital. The oldest person to be charged with terrorism in India, he was detained for nine months without trial.   Over decades, the priest campaigned for the rights of tribal communities in Jharkhand, one of India’s most underdeveloped states. He was arrested on charges of having links to Maoist guerrillas and instigating caste-based violence in 2018, both of which he denied. He was among 16 academics and activists arrested in connection with the case under the tough anti-terror act called the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act. Swamy’s repeated requests for bail, which he had sought on the grounds of his poor health, were turned down since he was jailed last October. He was moved to a private hospital in late May when he became very ill.   “The bail provision is particularly stringent, so without judicial scrutiny and without trial the state is able to hold people in prison for long periods under this draconian law,” says lawyer and rights activist Vrinda Grover. “For example, the others accused in the case in which Stan Swamy was held have been behind bars without any trial, in some instances for three years now.”  In the wake of criticism following the death of the rights campaigner, India’s Foreign Ministry said Swamy’s arrest was in accordance with the law and his bail applications were rejected because of the “specific nature” of charges against him.   The comments came after human rights officials of both the European Union and the United Nations expressed concern at Swamy’s death while in pre-trial detention.  At a briefing Tuesday in Geneva, Liz Throssell, a spokeswoman for the U.N. Human Rights Commission, said the agency repeatedly urged India’s government to protect a robust civil society and raised concern over the use of the anti-terror law in relation to human rights defenders.
 
“We are very concerned with the way he [Swamy] was treated,” she said, calling for the release of people detained without proper legal basis.  Foreign Ministry Spokesman Arindam Bagchi said, “Authorities in India act against violation of the law and not against legitimate exercise of rights. India remains committed to protection and promotion of human rights of all its citizens.”  Critics in India point out that the use of the anti-terror law has been on the rise in recent years, despite extremely low conviction rates. According to data from India’s home ministry in parliament, there was an increase of more than 70% in the number of arrests made under the anti-terror law in 2019 compared with 2015. On the other hand, conviction rates were abysmally low. According to a statement in parliament, just 2.2% of the cases registered between 2016 to 2019 led to convictions.  Rights activists charge that the anti-terror law is being used as a political weapon by the government to create a climate of fear and discourage political activism or opposition to its policies.  Meenakshi Ganguly, South Asia director of Human Rights Watch, said that it was concerning that laws like the anti-terror law are being used against peaceful critics of the government. “The counter-terror legislation is meant to keep citizens safe,” said Ganguly. “They should not be used to shut down people who disagree with government policies.”  Criticism of the use of the anti-terror law also came in from prominent newspapers in the wake of Swamy’s death. Calling it “an avoidable tragedy,” The Times of India newspaper said in an editorial, “Terror is currently too broadly defined in this draconian law” and pointed to a “more worrying trend — the freewheeling way serious charges like terrorism are being filed.”     Last month, a judge on Delhi’s High Court criticized the government while granting bail to three student activists arrested last year under the anti-terror law. They had taken part in a protest against a controversial citizenship law a day before deadly communal riots broke out in the city.   “We are constrained to express that it seems that in its anxiety to suppress dissent, in the mind of the state, the line between the constitutionally guaranteed right to protest and terrorist activity seems to be getting somewhat blurred,” the court ruled in its bail order. “If this mindset gains traction, it would be a sad day for democracy.” Swamy championed the tribal communities legal right to land, forests and water as the mineral-rich state he lived in opened up to industrialization in the 1980s, which commentators say pitted him against powerful corporate and political interests.  At a bail hearing held in May, Swamy drew attention to his deteriorating health and said he could hardly eat or bathe without assistance.  Several commentators expressed hope that Swamy’s death will be a wake-up call to review the provisions of the law and to the judiciary, which denied him bail. “In Stan Swamy’s case for example, you have given him a sentence while you have not even demonstrated any guilt against him,” said rights activist Grover.
…

Bollywood icon Dilip Kumar, hailed as the “Tragedy King” and one of Hindi cinema’s greatest actors, died Wednesday in a Mumbai hospital after a prolonged illness. He was 98.The “Tragedy King” title came from Kumar’s numerous serious roles. In several, his character died as a frustrated lover and a drunkard. He also was known as Bollywood’s only Method actor for his expressive performances identifying a character’s emotions.Kumar was hospitalized twice last month after he complained of breathlessness, and his family tweeted “with a heavy heart and profound grief” the announcement of his passing.”Dilip Kumar will be remembered as a cinematic legend. He was blessed with unparalleled brilliance, due to which audiences across generations were enthralled. His passing away is a loss to our cultural world,” Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said in a tweet that also offered his condolences to Kumar’s family and admirers.”An institution has gone,” Bollywood superstar Amitabh Bachchan tweeted. “Whenever the history of Indian Cinema will be written, it shall always be ‘before Dilip Kumar, and after Dilip Kumar’ ..””It’s the end of an era,” filmmaker Madhur Bhandarkar said.He was born Muhammad Yusuf Khan, a Muslim, on Dec. 11, 1922. His Pathan family hailed from Peshawar, in what became Pakistan after Partition, and he visited his ancestral home in the late 1980s.He changed his name as he debuted in Bollywood, the Hindi-language film industry centered in Mumbai, with Jwar Bhata, or Sea Tides, in 1944.Saira Banu, wife of Indian actor Dilip Kumar, wearing blue mask, center, mourns near his body at a hospital in Mumbai, India, July 7, 2021.His career spanned over six decades with more than 60 films. His first major box-office hits were Jugnu, or Firefly, in 1947 in which he starred alongside Noor Jehan, and the 1948 film Shaheed, or Martyr.He played a variety of characters — a romantic hero in Andaz, a swashbuckler in Aan, a dramatic drunkard in Devdas, a comic role in Azaad, a Muslim prince in the historical epic Mughal-e-Azam and a robber in the social movie Ganga Jamuna.Mehboob Khan’s blockbuster Aan in 1952 was his first film in Technicolor and was among a string of light-hearted roles he took at the suggestion of his psychiatrist to shed his “Tragedy King” image.He starred in many social drama films like Footpath, Naya Daur (New Era), Musafir (Traveller) and Paigham (Message) in the 1950s.His top female co-stars included Madhubala, Nargis, Nimmi, Meena Kumari, Kamini Kaushal and Vyjanthimala.In 1966, Dilip Kumar married Saira Banu, who was 22 years younger than him, and the couple acted in “Gopi,” Sagina Mahato and Bairaag. They had no children.In 1961, he produced and starred in Ganga Jamuna in which he and his brother Nasir Khan played the title roles. It was the only film he produced. Indian media reports say he declined the role of Sherif Ali in David Lean’s Lawrence of Arabia in 1962. The role went to Egyptian actor Omar Sharif.He took a break in the late ’70s but returned with a character role in the successful Kranti, or Revolution in 1981. He continued playing key roles in films such as Shakti, Karma and Saudagar. His last film was Qila (Fort) in 1998.In 1994, he was given the Dadasaheb Phalke award, the highest honor for contributions to Indian cinema. He also served in the upper house of Indian Parliament after being nominated for a six-year term.  
…

The U.S. military troop withdrawal from Afghanistan is more than 90% complete, U.S. Central Command announced Tuesday. The news comes days after U.S. and international forces left Bagram Airfield, which has served for nearly two decades as the center of the U.S. fight to remove Taliban forces from power and take down al-Qaida terrorists responsible for killing thousands of Americans on September 11, 2001. Pentagon press secretary John Kirby on Tuesday defended the military’s recent pullout from Bagram, the execution of which had caused local Afghan commanders to express surprise at the departure and led to a security lapse that allowed looters onto the base.  Pentagon spokesman John Kirby speaks during a briefing at the Pentagon in Washington, July 6, 2021.Kirby confirmed that the U.S. military withheld from its Afghan allies the specific time it would complete a withdrawal, citing “operational security,” but said the departure “wasn’t done in some shroud of secrecy.” The Associated Press reported Monday that Afghan military officials said U.S. forces had left the base overnight Friday without notifying the new Afghan commander. “I can’t speak for how Afghan leadership briefed their people. What I can tell you is that there was coordination between General (Scott) Miller and his staff and senior Afghan military and civilian leaders about the turnover of Bagram. That I know. And that there was, even to the degree of there being a walkthrough,” Kirby said. FILE – Armed men who are against Taliban uprising stand at their check post, at the Ghorband District, Parwan province, Afghanistan, June 29, 2021.Since then, the Taliban have more than doubled the number of districts they control, according to the Foundation for Defense of Democracies’ Long War Journal. The Taliban have grabbed hold of more than 120 districts in the past two months, expanding from 73 to 195 Taliban-controlled districts.”We had some glitches as a result of the retrograde and the additional pressure on the Afghan air force. … These were some kind of teeth(ing) problems that we are overcoming,” Hamdullah Mohib, the Afghan national security adviser, told reporters in Kabul. The adviser explained that a lack of resources, particularly those related to the Afghan air force, made it hard for authorities to sustain much-needed supplies to remote security bases after foreign troops had begun pulling out of the country.”Those areas came under pressure, and the way it (the drawdown) happened, the succession and the timing of it made people worried,” Mohib said.Mohib rejected reports that pro-government forces were defecting to the insurgents. “They may have abandoned their posts because they ran out of ammunition, they ran out of supplies. But by no means has anyone defected to the Taliban.”Despite widespread insurgent territorial advances, the Afghan adviser appeared confident his government still enjoyed the public’s support, suggesting the battlefield setbacks were temporary.”It’s a war and there is pressure. Sometimes things work in our way and sometimes they don’t.”Fleeing To TajikistanMohib said Afghan soldiers who had crossed into Tajikistan in recent days after coming under insurgent attacks “are being brought back” and would be rejoining the national security forces.Authorities in the neighboring Central Asian state have confirmed that in the past two weeks, about 1,600 soldiers from Afghanistan’s embattled Badakhshan province have taken refuge in Tajikistan to escape Taliban advances.Tajikistan Bolsters Border as Afghan Troops, Fleeing Taliban, Seek Refuge 20,000 military reservists were mobilized to bolster the border with Afghanistan after more than 1,000 Afghan security personnel fled across the frontier in response to Taliban militant advancesThe development prompted Tajik President Emomali Rahmon on Monday to order the mobilization of 20,000 military reservists to bolster the border with Afghanistan.Mountainous Badakhshan also borders China and Pakistan. The Taliban claimed Tuesday that their fighters took control of Wakhan district next to the Chinese border, reportedly bringing almost all of the province’s 28 districts under insurgent control.In February 2020, the United States, under then-President Donald Trump, signed a peace deal with the Taliban that set the stage for the foreign troop withdrawal from Afghanistan. But the U.S.-brokered peace talks between the insurgent group and the Afghan government, which started last September, have since stalled.Mohib insisted Tuesday that Kabul was ready to find a negotiated settlement to the conflict with the Taliban in line with the wishes of Afghans and the international community, but the insurgents were refusing to do.When asked for his reaction as to who is responsible for stalling the talks, Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told VOA that his group “is ready and determined to move the peace process forward but the other side is not willing to do so.”Washington says it will continue to provide economic and financial assistance for Afghan security forces. The Biden administration said Sunday that its embassy in Kabul would remain open. Officials say a contingent of U.S. troops will be left behind to protect the diplomatic mission.Fears of refugee crisis The worsening security situation in the wake of rapid Taliban advances has Afghanistan’s neighbors worried about a fresh wave of refugees coming their way from the turmoil.Officials in Pakistan, which still hosts nearly 3 million Afghan refugees fleeing four decades of hostilities in their country, said they had tightened border security and might not open it to new refugees.”But, if the situation deteriorates, we will establish settlements along the border with strict control and monitoring, prohibiting the entry of refugees into the mainland,” local media Tuesday quoted Pakistani Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed as saying.  
 
…

At a workshop in Kullu district in North India, dozens of artisans bend over hand-operated looms, deftly weaving a garment called the sari in vibrant shades of pink and orange.The sari is an unstitched, flowing garment worn by women in India and in South Asian countries like Bangladesh. It is a new addition to the hilly region’s handloom industry, which for decades focused on making shawls and stoles with traditional patterns from woolen yarn.The hope is that adding the handwoven sari to shop shelves will draw in new customers and boost incomes for hundreds of women in the region, who have very few employment avenues available in the primarily rural district.Looms have long been a part of many village homes nestled on hilly slopes, where women use yarn from sheep to make traditional woolen wraps known as “pattu” for the family.In recent decades, they made a living weaving shawls to sell to the tens of thousands of tourists who came to the Himalayan district. But it was becoming harder to attract a younger, more fashion-conscious generation that now prefers coats to the traditional shawl.“I just wanted that this art should not die, this handloom art. So, we thought let us give them some new ideas,” said Richa Verma, the Deputy Commissioner of Kullu. “We are very hopeful that the tourist who is coming to this district will take the sari as a souvenir and boost income opportunities for local people.”They will be among the country’s first woolen saris, which are usually made of cotton and silk. The artisans are optimistic because saris are an intrinsic part of most women’s wardrobes in the country.At the workshops, broader looms have replaced the old, narrower ones because the fabric for saris is woven in a wider width compared to shawls and stoles.“This work is very good for women. We educate our children, and we are managing to live well,” said Vimla Devi, a resident.Saris are hung out to dry in Lalitpur, Nepal, April 17, 2019.Sales of handwoven garments, often made from local yarn, have been growing in recent years as people begin to appreciate their qualities, said Paljor Bodh, the head of Bodh Shawl Weavers, one of the region’s well-known manufacturers of shawls who has lent his support to the sari project. His workshop employs about 60 artisans. Boutique stores in large cities like New Delhi and Mumbai, have helped market their product and boost sales among a niche, upmarket clientele that is willing to spend money on.“Handloom fabrics have more warmth because they are uneven and trap the air,” Bodh said. “Fabric made on power looms . . . does not have any gaps, so it cannot trap body heat.”The challenge, however, has been to enhance the appeal of the traditional handmade garments to a more fashion-conscious public and present them in a new avatar, according to experts. Traditional patterns have been enhanced with motifs that represent the region such as trout fish, local flowers and cedar trees.“To keep up with the times and to raise demand, we have consulted fashion institutes and followed global fashion forecasting trends,” said Ramesh Thakur, the General Manager of the Bhutti Weavers Cooperative Society. Designers have also been involved with the project and training programs organized for artisans.They have adapted to a new format quickly.“We don’t have to teach them much. They are expert in making motifs on the fabric. So, we have to just train them in the length and breadth of the sari plus the weight of the sari,” said Verma. “It should not be very heavy, otherwise it will be very uncomfortable to wear.”While an ancient tradition is getting a new spin, much will depend on luring young people to learn the painstaking art. The craft has been passed down generations, but there is a question mark on how many want to continue working with their hands, said 76-year-old Bodh, who learned the art from his father.“Now computers and phones have captured their attention. So, sometimes local people are hesitant to come thinking that their efforts may not fetch much value. Most of those working here are 40 or 50 years old,” Bodh said. “That is why the future of this art will depend on how much support the government extends.”However, some artisans are weaving dreams into a project. Javitri Thakur, who started weaving in traditional designs into the hand spun shawls to support her family, hopes making saris will open new avenues for her. Over the last four years she has mastered the craft. “Maybe I can start my own business one day,” she said, displaying a new garment she has made.
…