Taliban insurgents have captured a district in eastern Afghanistan and negotiated a temporary truce with government forces in another, as U.S.-led foreign troops continue to withdraw from the country.
 
Separately, a roadside bomb blast early Thursday killed at least nine civilians, including women and children, in southern Helmand province.
 
Official sources and residents told VOA the Taliban entered the embattled Dawlat Shah district in Laghman province, after Afghan security forces retreated from their defense posts without offering any resistance.
 
The insurgents reportedly set a key government building and several surrounding security posts ablaze. The Afghan district had been under the Taliban siege for the last six months.
 
Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid claimed in a statement that it seized two tanks, a military vehicle, and “lots of weapons and ammunition” after Afghan police and soldiers “fled” the area.
 
The Afghan Defense Ministry said its forces had staged a “tactical retreat” but clashes were still raging in the area, inflicting “heavy casualties” on the insurgents.China Offers to Host Afghan Peace Talks  Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi discussed the peace prospects in phone conversations with Afghan leaders  Rare Truce
 
The fighting came a day after local elders in the adjacent Alishang district confirmed that Afghan forces and the Taliban had agreed to cease hostilities for a month to allow local farmers to harvest their wheat crops.
 
A copy of the truce, drafted by elders and shared via Taliban social media outlets, says it will also enable local students to take annual examinations. The ceasefire will last until June 21.
 
The rare truce followed several weeks of heavy fighting in Alishang, with the Taliban overrunning key Afghan forces’ outposts.
 
District residents have welcomed the rare ceasefire, though neither the Afghan government nor the insurgent group have confirmed the deal. The Taliban have also released an unspecified number of Afghan security personnel, said local elders.
 
Meanwhile, the Afghan Defense Ministry claimed Thursday national security forces had killed at least 178 Taliban fighters and wounded more than 100 others in operations underway across many provinces.
 
Both the Afghan adversaries often issue inflated casualty tolls for the opposing side, which are difficult to verify from independent sources.’Real Choice’ For Afghans
 
The fighting comes amid widespread concerns that Afghan forces will not be able to resist Taliban assaults for long once the United States and NATO forces completely pull out from Afghanistan by September 11.FILE – NATO soldiers inspect near the site of an attack in Kabul, Afghanistan, March 25, 2020. 
The Afghan army and its air force have heavily relied on the U.S. for maintenance, training as well as for combat air support in battles against the Taliban.  
 
Gen. Frank McKenzie, the commander of the U.S. Central Command said on Wednesday that he believes the Afghans have a “fighting chance” to be successful and defend themselves.
 
“It’s time for the Afghan military to stand up and show that they can fight alone,” McKenzie told reporters traveling with him to the Middle East. “I think it’s going to be a very taxing time for them. I think certainly there is a path for them to preserve what they have now. The risk is high. I don’t want to minimize that.”
 
However, U.S. special representative for Afghanistan reconciliation Zalmay Khalilzad dismissed those concerns in testimony before the House of Representatives Foreign Affairs committee in Washington. FILE – Zalmay Khalilzad, special envoy for Afghanistan Reconciliation, testifies during a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, April 27, 2021. 
“I personally believe that the statements that the [Afghan] forces will disintegrate and the Taliban will take over in short order are mistaken, Khalilzad said.
 
“The real choice that the Afghans will face is between a long war and a negotiated settlement and I hope the Taliban and the other Afghan leaders make the right choice,” stressed the U.S. envoy.
 
The last remaining approximately 2,500 American and roughly 7,000 NATO troops began withdrawing from Afghanistan May 1. The pullout has seen a sharp increase in Afghan fighting.
 
U.S. President Joe Biden announced the drawdown plan last month to wind down nearly 20 years of U.S. military engagement, describing it as America’s “forever war.”
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U.S. and U.N. envoys to Uzbekistan have praised the country’s repatriation of Islamic State wives and children in the Middle East, saying other nations should follow suit as a part of a global effort to reduce the risk of IS reemergence in Syria and Iraq.”They have done a very credible, excellent job,” Daniel Rosenblum, U.S. ambassador to Uzbekistan, told VOA.Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev’s government began Operation Mehr, or Compassion, in 2019 to return noncombatant citizens from camps in northeast Syria held by the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces.Five operations since May 2019 have repatriated 435 women and children, mostly from Syria but also from Iraq and Afghanistan, including 343 minors ages 1 to 15.The Uzbek government does not provide data on how many people have joined extremist militants overseas. Government studies estimate thousands, however.Rano, an Uzbek returnee from Syria, talks to VOA in Tashkent, Uzbekistan.”I accepted that the government had every right to prosecute us,” Rano said. “I was ready to be tried. It would still be much better than living in Syria. But none of that happened. … My kids go to school. I’m a doctor.”Rano’s husband died in a 2019 air bombing in Syria. Her family deeply regretted going to the region, especially with three children, but IS did not allow them to leave.”My husband was not a fighter,” she said. “He repaired cars and was a butcher.”Rano, 40, who requested anonymity, told VOA she was convinced by acquaintances in Turkey that Muslim single mothers would be better off in the IS caliphate. Instead, she found “agony and misery.””I’m hopeful people will accept and understand what took us to those parts of the world,” she said. “We seek forgiveness.”Not their decisionMaqsuda Varisova, a doctor and parliamentarian, said many women were misled and deserve a second chance.”We are bringing people home from the most dangerous parts of the world,” Varisova said. “Women and children ended up there against their will.”None of the female returnees have been formally investigated for possible crimes. Varisova and other lawmakers told VOA the government would not take legal action against them.”The state should care for its citizens here or anywhere,” said Mohia Khodjayeva, a lawmaker.”Uzbekistan has international obligations under conventions, protocols and treaties that call for humanitarian policies and acts,” added Khodjayeva.Some view Uzbekistan’s approach as different from reintegration programs in neighboring countries such as Kazakhstan.”Kazakhstan’s focus is on deradicalization and ideological conversion,” said Gavin Helf at the U.S. Institute of Peace. “Uzbekistan emphasizes reintegration into the community.”During initial rehabilitation, each returnee undergoes medical and psychological examinations and gets a new ID. The government monitors returnees through neighborhood councils and district administrations.Nearly 100 personnel, including nurses, doctors and psychologists, work with each group.’People make mistakes’Not everyone agrees with the current approach. Some, including in the political establishment, are concerned that returnees could become a threat once reintegrated into society. Others say Uzbeks who left to join extremist groups were disloyal to Uzbekistan’s secular system.Yulduz, 31, returned to Uzbekistan with eight children. She believes her first husband is in prison in Russia, while the second one is considered dead in Syria.None of the women admitted to leaving for political or religious reasons.”We lost our way, but people make mistakes,” said Yulduz, 31, a mother of eight repatriated from Syria in 2020.Yulduz followed her husband to Russia in 2011 “to have a happy life.” But within a month, he sent his family to Waziristan, Pakistan. In 2014, she and her children ended up in IS territory with other Uzbeks.Farida, 34, came back to Uzbekistan with her three children. She says her husband vanished in Syria.”We experienced hell away from our homeland,” said Farida, 34, a mother of three.She left Uzbekistan in 2014 with her newborn to join her husband in Russia. Within a month, the couple moved to Turkey and then into Syria, “constantly under fire” between Aleppo and Idlib.Farida lost contact with her husband in early 2019 before arriving at al-Hol camp. She is not sure if her husband is still alive.”It’s hard to imagine what I and my children went through for years,” she said. “I don’t wish that on anybody.”Steve Swerdlow, a human rights expert at the University of Southern California, said Uzbekistan should assure justice for those implicated in crimes, particularly men who fought with IS.”Uzbekistan should repatriate men and, if warranted, investigate and prosecute those suspected of serious crimes to avoid indefinite detention that could amount to torture,” Swerdlow told VOA.Probes, prosecutionsU.N. Security Council Resolution 2396 binds Uzbekistan, encouraging member states to investigate and prosecute suspects for involvement with foreign terrorist groups.Uzbek officials and lawmakers confirmed to VOA that agencies were discussing these issues.”Given the absence of any fair trial proceedings for foreigners detained in northeast Syria, investigations by Uzbekistan and other home countries remain the only viable option to provide redress to victims for serious crimes the fighters may have committed,” Swerdlow said.
 
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India is reporting the world’s highest single-day death toll from the COVID-19 pandemic. The Health Ministry Wednesday said 4,529 people died in a 24-hour period, the first time the South Asian nation posted more than 4,500 single-day deaths during the pandemic.   India now has 283,248 COVID-19 related deaths out of more than 25.4 million total infections, placing it second behind the United States, which leads the world with 587,219 deaths out of a confirmed 32.9 million total infections. A surge of new infections in the world’s second most-populous country has created a humanitarian disaster, with hospitals filled to capacity and an acute shortage of oxygen to treat the sick, with scores of makeshift crematories rushing to burn the dead.  Experts believe the actual casualty figures are much higher than the official figures.    Tokyo Olympics
Amid growing calls to cancel the upcoming Tokyo Olympics due to a growing surge of new COVID-19 infections, International Olympics Committee President Thomas Bach pledged Wednesday in the Japanese capital that both the Olympics and the following Paralympic Games will be safe for everyone involved.  Bach promised that more than 80% of residents in the Olympic Village would be vaccinated against COVID-19, and that extra medical personnel from various national Olympic committees would be available to help out during the games. The demand to cancel the Olympics got its strongest boost Monday when the Tokyo Medical Practitioners Association, which represents 6,000 primary care doctors and hospitals, posted an open letter to Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga Monday warning that hospitals in the Japanese capital city “have their hands full and have almost no spare capacity.”   The surge has prompted authorities to place Tokyo and several other prefectures under a state of emergency. The Olympics are scheduled to begin July 23 after a one-year delay because of the pandemic. The Paralympic Games are set to begin on August 23.   Taiwan on Level 3 alertAuthorities in Taiwan announced Wednesday the island will be receiving 400,000 AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccines through the World Health Organization’s COVAX initiative as authorities raised its alert level for the entire island. The Level 3 alert, which was already in effect for the capital, Taipei, imposes a near-lockdown on the island, with all non-essential businesses forced to close and residents required to wear a face covering while outdoors.  The alert also limits personal gatherings to five people indoors and 10 outdoors.   The self-ruled island had been held up as one of the world’s fewest success stories in containing the spread of the coronavirus, with just 2,017 total cases and 12 deaths, but it has been dealing with a sudden outbreak of new infections that authorities have connected to outbreaks among flight crews with state-owned China Airlines and a hotel at Taoyuan International Airport.  Taipei reported 267 new COVID-19 cases Wednesday, just two days after posting a record-high 335 new infections. The island has 2,260 total confirmed infections and 14 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center. 
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Indian navy ships Wednesday recovered the bodies of 22 people who died aboard a barge that sank off the coast of Mumbai late Monday, a navy spokesman said. Spokesman Mehul Karnik said the search continues for 55 more people who disappeared after Cyclone Tauktae, the most powerful storm to strike the area in more than two decades, swept through Gujarat state, killing more than 50 people in Gujarat and Maharashtra states.  Karnik also said 184 people had been rescued by ships and helicopters from seven meter high waves.  A man waves as people rescued by the Indian navy from a barge that sank in the Arabian sea walk out from Indian naval ship INS Kochi in Mumbai, India, May 19, 2021.The barge had 261 people on board when it sank as the storm hit the Bombay High oil field near Mumbai, killing 14 people. The barge was used in contract work for Oil and Natural Gas Corp., India’s largest exploration company. Cyclone Tauktae also damaged more than 16,500 homes and knocked out power to hundreds of thousands of people at a time when India struggles with record numbers of COVID-19 deaths. 
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 The United States says it is providing new assistance to Myanmar’s Rohingya Muslim minority, many of whom have fled violence for neighboring Bangladesh or have been internally displaced.
Hundreds of thousands of refugees fled violence and persecution in Myanmar in 2017.  
The $155 million in additional funds will be used to sustain “critical efforts to support Rohingya refugees and host communities in Bangladesh and internally displaced Rohingya and other affected people in Burma.” Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a press release.   
“Our assistance will help meet the immediate needs of the nearly 900,000 refugees in Bangladesh who fled from horrific violence in Burma’s Rakhine State, including women and children,” Blinken said.
He said U.S. aid for those affected by the Myanmar crisis since 2017 now tops $1.3 billion.”
“The United States recognizes the cost and responsibility that the response has placed on host countries, especially Bangladesh,” Blinken said.  “We will continue to support all countries in the region that prioritize protection of Rohingya refugees.”
Last week, the U.N. refugee agency said it is seeking $943 million to provide assistance for more than 880,000 Rohingya refugees and 472,000 Bangladeshis in the communities hosting them.  
It appears unlikely the Rohingya refugees will be able to return home soon, as Myanmar is living through a political and social crisis in the wake of a Feb. 1 military coup.  
Blinken said many military officials involved in the coup were also responsible for persecuting the Rohingya.
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In India, the health care crisis triggered by the second wave of the coronavirus pandemic is shifting from big cities to small towns and rural areas. But as ill-equipped medical infrastructure in villages leaves people struggling to cope with the deadly virus, health experts say combating its spread in rural areas has emerged as the country’s new challenge.In north India, people with symptoms do not go to a hospital because getting a bed is nearly impossible, according to resident Manoj Gulia. He said residents in Daryapur village, Haryana state, are fearful of reports they have seen showing conditions in hospitals — people sharing beds and shortages of medical oxygen that had battered even some of the country’s biggest hospitals earlier this month.“There is no specialist doctor in our village so if patients come down with a fever, they just stay at home and have ayurvedic medicines,” says Gulia. Ayurveda is an ancient Indian medical tradition which some use as an alternate to modern medicine.Hundreds of Bodies Found Buried along Indian Riverbanks Police are reaching out to villagers in northern India to investigate recovery of bodies buried in shallow sand graves or washing up on Ganges River banksPrime Minister Narendra Modi has warned of the rapid spread of infection in villages. “All governments of the country are trying everything to stop this,” he said during a video conference with several chief ministers on Friday. “The awareness of people in the villages and the cooperation of village governing bodies is just as important in controlling this spread.”While rural India was largely spared the first wave of the pandemic last year, a more transmissible coronavirus variant detected in the country and classified by the World Health organization as a variant of a global “concern,” has spread into the interiors even as infections slow in several big cities like New Delhi and Mumbai.India has counted more than 25 million cases, but the number of new infections reported on Tuesday at 263,533, was the lowest in nearly a month. India, however, also reported its worst single day toll of 4,329.Images of villagers relating stories of losing loved ones or tending to the sick in overwhelmed hospitals have flashed on Indian television in recent days.Ajay Sehgal, a resident of Saifpur Firojpur village in Uttar Pradesh, one of the worst-affected states, told VOA that he rushed to get treated five hours away in Jalandhar city, where his friend owns a hospital, as he was not recovering from the infection at home. “The situation is very bad in our village. It has spread like wildfire among young and old; getting a bed is very hard and people are buying oxygen cylinders on the black market,” he says.  In Mewla Gopalgarh village in Uttar Pradesh, many people with symptoms were being treated outdoors by villagers, according to Reuters. The government has said it will increase beds that have oxygen support in rural districts. But public health experts say upgrading health infrastructure in rural areas that have suffered decades of neglect will be a “long haul.”“One of the key differences in rural and urban areas is that in villages, health care has mostly focused on preventive and promotive care and does not focus on treatment,” says public policy and health expert Chandrakant Lahariya. He says even testing for the virus that causes the COVID-19 disease will not be easily available to many rural residents.Experts point out that even in big cities, well-equipped hospitals, isolation and testing centers are overwhelmed as infections rise exponentially and people and hospitals struggle with shortages of oxygen. Such facilities are missing in rural areas which are usually served by small, primary health centers that are ill-equipped to deal with the surge in infections.“You may have some hospitals in semi-urban areas, but it is nothing close to what you have in metros in terms of sophistication of infrastructure as well as skills and capacity to deal with the virus,” according to Rajmohan Panda, professor at the Public Health Foundation of India. “Even if you have oxygen concentrators and oxygen care, people should know how to use them, and unfortunately, capacity building has not happened to that extent.”  Villages will also be hit hardest by a shortage of vaccines that is hobbling the country’s inoculation drive, experts said. Rural residents are also at a greater disadvantage because many do not have smart phones or internet access — while older people can get a jab at health centers, India has mandated that adults under 45 register on an app-based technology.“Imagine what will happen with people in rural areas who do not have the full awareness and benefit of knowing the day-to-day changes in COVID protocols that we are being subjected to,” said Panda.Observers warn that a slow pace of inoculations within the countryside will make it harder to counter the fury of India’s second wave.
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China has renewed diplomatic efforts to help facilitate a negotiated end to the conflict in Afghanistan, saying it is ready to hold peace negotiations between warring Afghans.  
 
Foreign Minister Wang Yi discussed peace prospects in phone conversations with his Afghan counterpart, Mohammad Haneef Atmar and National Security Advisor Hamdullah Mohib, said officials in both countries. 
 
Beijing is increasingly worried the withdrawal of U.S. and NATO troops from Afghanistan will descend the turmoil-hit neighbor into chaos and a sanctuary for Islamist militants. 
 
“China is ready to facilitate internal negotiations among various parties in Afghanistan, including creating necessary conditions for negotiations in China,” the Chinese Foreign Ministry quoted Wang as telling Mohib.  
 
U.S. President Joe Biden announced last month it was time to end the “forever war” in Afghanistan and directed the remaining around 2,500 American soldiers to leave the country by September 11, starting on May 1.  
 
NATO allies are also pulling their roughly 7,000 troops from the country in line with Biden’s decision. 
 
The military drawdown has seen increased fighting between Afghan government forces and Taliban insurgents despite international calls for both warring parties to reduce the violence and negotiate a power-sharing deal to end the country’s long war.  
 
Beijing maintains close contacts with both the Taliban and the Afghan government. 
 
The Afghan adversaries opened direct peace talks in Qatar last September, an outcome of Washington’s troop withdrawal deal with the Taliban signed in February 2020.  
 
But the so-called intra-Afghan peace dialogue has mostly been deadlocked and U.S. efforts to push the two sides to accelerate the process have not succeeded. 
 
In recent days, Wang has increasingly criticized Washington for what he described as the “hasty” U.S. troop pullout, claiming the move has undermined the Afghan peace process and “negatively affected regional stability.”  
 
The chief Chinese diplomat repeated his criticism while speaking to Mohib on Monday, and emphasized the need for moving the peace process forward to “promote a smooth transition” in Afghanistan. 
 
“Although the U.S. unilateral withdrawal of troops at a crucial stage of the Afghan domestic reconciliation process has brought uncertainty to the evolution of the situation in Afghanistan, peace is the trend of the times,” Wang said.  
 
The Chinese foreign minister in his conversation with Afghan counterpart Atmar urged all parties to the conflict to create a “favorable environment” for jumpstarting the peace talks.  
 
“China hopes that Afghanistan’s future leadership will pursue a moderate Muslim policy, promote a foreign policy of peace, maintain friendship with neighboring countries, and firmly combat all forms of terrorism,” Wang said.  
 
The Chinese offer of hosting Afghan peace talks, analysts say, appears to be an attempt to position China for a more active political role in the region after the exit of the U.S.-led Western troops from Afghanistan. 
 
“Afghanistan resolutely fights all forms of terrorism, including the East Turkestan Islamic Movement, and is ready to further deepen counterterrorism and security cooperation with China,” the Chinese statement quoted Mohib as assuring Wang.  
 
An Afghan government statement issued in Kabul said Mohib and Wang “identified terrorism as a common threat that both sides should fight.”  
 
It quoted the Afghan national security advisor as telling the Chinese interlocutor that “all levers of influence” should be used to “induce (the) Taliban” to engage “earnestly” in peace talks. 
 
The ETIM has been outlawed by China as a terrorist group. The Islamist outfit claims it is fighting for the rights of minority Uyghur Muslims in Xinjiang. Chinese officials insist sustained crackdowns on ETIM operatives in the province have “effectively” tackled the security challenge. 
 
The United States, however, accuses China of committing serious human rights abuses against ethnic Muslims in Xinjiang in the name of fighting terrorism.  
 
In a coordinated effort this past March, several Western countries, including the U.S., U.K., Canada and the European Union imposed sanctions on Chinese officials connected to the abuses. 
 
China has detained Uyghurs at camps in Xinjiang, where detainees are allegedly subjected to torture, forced labor and sexual abuse, charges Beijing rejects as Western propaganda. 
 
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A deadly cyclone made landfall on India’s west coast Monday, further exacerbating the country’s crisis battling the coronavirus pandemic. Cyclone Tauktae prompted mass evacuations and the halting of vaccination campaigns in the western state of Gujarat, where it made landfall with sustained winds of up to 165 kilometers per hour, according to the country’s meteorological department. The storm killed over a dozen people even before it made landfall. Local media report that it is the worst cyclone to hit the area in 30 years. Indian media reported that at least six people were killed in the state of Maharashtra, home to the country’s financial hub, Mumbai. Thousands of rescue ships and aircraft were deployed as fishing boats along the coast came back to shore. But lockdowns throughout the country, in place to quell the spread of the coronavirus, may delay some rescue operations. The storm is expected to further delay India’s embattled response to the virus, with the weather forcing some hospitals to relocate patients and some vaccination drives to be canceled. “This cyclone is a terrible double blow for millions of people in India whose families have been struck down by record COVID infections and deaths. Many families are barely staying afloat,” said Udaya Regmi, South Asia head of delegation, International Federation of Red Cross. 
 
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The United States has sanctioned more members and associates of the Myanmar military junta for their alleged role in violence against protesters demonstrating against the country’s February 1 military coup.  Those sanctions include members of the State Administrative Council, cabinet members and adult children of some military officials, according to the State Department. The new sanctions were coordinated with Britain and Canada, which will impose similar measures. “As President (Joe) Biden has stated, the United States will continue to promote accountability for those responsible for the coup,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement Monday. “Our actions today underscore our resolve and that of our partners to apply political and financial pressure on the regime as long as it fails to stop violence and take meaningful action to respect the will of the people.” FILE – U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken testifies on Capitol Hill Washington, D.C., March 10, 2021.Blinken encouraged other countries to impose similar measures against the military junta, including arms embargoes, suspension of military sales and the termination of cooperation with military-owned entities in the country. Those sanctioned will be blocked from all property and interests in property “that are owned, directly or indirectly, 50% or more by them, individually or with other blocked persons, that are in the United States or in the possession or control of U.S. persons.” Separately, the U.N. General Assembly will convene on Tuesday to act on a draft resolution put forward by Lichtenstein and co-sponsored by nearly 50 other nations condemning the killing of protesters by Myanmar’s military. U.N. spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said Monday at least 797 civilians, including dozens of children, have been killed by security forces since the military seized control of Myanmar’s government. Thousands more have been injured. On Monday, UNICEF’s Myanmar office called for an immediate halt to the violence and for security forces to protect children in the town of Mindat, in western Chin State, following an uptick of violence over the weekend.   The nonbinding resolution also calls for an immediate arms embargo on the country, as well as for the military to respect the outcome of the November 2020 elections. It calls for allowing in the U.N. special envoy and for Myanmar’s military to stop obstructing the distribution of humanitarian aid.  While the resolution has no legal force, if it draws support from several of the 193 member states, including ASEAN countries and China, it would send a clear signal to the junta that it is internationally isolated. The U.S. has called for the immediate release of Aung San Suu Kyi, leader of the National League for Democracy Party, ousted President Win Myint, and protesters, journalists and human rights activists it says have been unjustly detained since the coup. Military officials have claimed widespread fraud in last November’s general election, which Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy won in a landslide, as justification for the February takeover. The fraud allegations have been denied by Myanmar’s electoral commission. U.N. Correspondent Margaret Besheer contributed to this report.
 
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He served as an interpreter alongside U.S. soldiers on hundreds of patrols and dozens of firefights in eastern Afghanistan, earning a glowing letter of recommendation from an American platoon commander and a medal of commendation. Still, Ayazudin Hilal was turned down when he applied for one of the scarce special visas that would allow him to relocate to the U.S. with his family. Now, as American and NATO forces prepare to leave the country, he and thousands of others who aided the war effort fear they will be left stranded, facing the prospect of Taliban reprisals. “We are not safe,” the 41-year-old father of six said of Afghan civilians who worked for the U.S. or NATO. “The Taliban is calling us and telling us, ’Your stepbrother is leaving the country soon, and we will kill all of you guys.’” The fate of interpreters after the troop withdrawal is one of the looming uncertainties surrounding the withdrawal, including a possible resurgence of terrorist threats and a reversal of fragile gains for women if chaos, whether from competing Kabul-based warlords or the Taliban, follows the end of America’s military engagement. Interpreters and other civilians who worked for the U.S. government or NATO can get what is known as a special immigrant visa, or SIV, under a program created in 2009 and modeled after a similar program for Iraqis. Both SIV programs have long been dogged by complaints about a lengthy and complicated application process for security vetting that grew more cumbersome with pandemic safety measures. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken told reporters last month that the U.S. is committed to helping interpreters and other Afghan civilians who aided the war effort, often at great personal risk. The Biden administration has also launched a review of the SIV programs, examining the delays and the ability of applicants to challenge a rejection. It will also be adding anti-fraud measures.  Amid the review, former interpreters, who typically seek to shield their identities and keep a low profile, are becoming increasingly public about what they fear will happen should the Taliban return to power. “They absolutely are going to kill us,” Mohammad Shoaib Walizada, a former interpreter for the U.S. Army, said in an interview after joining others in a protest in Kabul.In this Friday, April 30, 2021, photo Mohammad Shoaib Walizada, 31, a former Afghan interpreter for the U.S. speaks during an interview to The Associated Press after a protest against the U.S. government and NATO in Kabul, Afghanistan.At least 300 interpreters have been killed in Afghanistan since 2016, and the Taliban have made it clear they will continue to be targeted, said Matt Zeller, a co-founder of No One Left Behind, an organization that advocates on their behalf. He also served in the country as an Army officer. “The Taliban considers them to be literally enemies of Islam,” said Zeller, now a fellow at the Truman National Security Project. “There’s no mercy for them.” Members of Congress and former service members have also urged the U.S. government to expedite the application process, which now typically takes more than three years. State Department spokesperson Ned Price said May 10 that the U.S. Embassy in Kabul had temporarily increased staff to help process the visas. In December, Congress added 4,000 visas, bringing the total number of Afghans who can come with their immediate family members to 26,500, with about half the allotted amount already used and about 18,000 applications pending. Critics and refugee advocates said the need to relocate could swell dramatically if Afghanistan tumbles further into disarray. As it is, competing warlords financed and empowered by U.S. and NATO forces threaten the future along with a resurgent Taliban, which have been able to make substantive territorial gains against a poorly trained and poorly equipped Afghan security force largely financed by U.S. taxpayers. “While I applaud the Biden administration’s review of the process, if they are not willing to sort of rethink the entire thing, they are not going to actually start helping those Afghans who are most at need,” said Noah Coburn, a political anthropologist whose research focuses on Afghanistan. Coburn estimates there could be as many as 300,000 Afghan civilians who worked for the U.S. or NATO in some form over the past two decades. “There is a wide range of Afghans who would not be tolerated under the Taliban’s conception of what society should look like,” said Adam Bates, policy counsel for the International Refugee Assistance Project. Those fears have been heightened by recent targeted killings of journalists and other civilians as well as government workers. The Islamic State affiliate in Afghanistan has claimed responsibility for several, while the Taliban and government blame each other.  Biden raised the nation’s overall cap on refugee admissions to 62,500 this month, weeks after facing bipartisan blowback for his delay in replacing the record low ceiling set by his predecessor, Donald Trump.Syrian refugee Mahmoud Mansour, 47, sits with daughter Sahar, 8, at his rented apartment in Amman, Jordan, Jan. 20, 2021. U.S. President Joe Biden said April 17, 2021, that his administration would boost the number of refugees admitted to the U.S.The U.S. is not planning to move civilians out en masse, for now at least. “We are processing SIVs in Kabul and have no plans for evacuations at this time,” a senior administration official said.  The White House is in the beginning stages of discussing its review with Congress and will work with lawmakers if changes in the SIV program are needed “in order to process applications as quickly and efficiently as possible, while also ensuring the integrity of the program and safeguarding national security,” the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations. Former interpreters have support in Congress, in part because many also have former American troops vouching for them. Walizada, for example, submitted a letter of support from an Army sergeant who supervised him in dozens of patrols, including one where the interpreter was wounded by Taliban gunfire. “I cannot recall a linguist who had a greater dedication to his country or the coalition cause,” the sergeant wrote. Walizada was initially approved for a visa, but it was later revoked, with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services telling him that it had “adverse information you may be unaware of,” in a letter he provided to The Associated Press. Walizada said he has appealed the decision and hasn’t received a response. Hilal, who translated from Dari and Pashto to English for the Army from June 2009 to December 2012, was rejected by the U.S. Embassy, which said he did not meet the requirement for “faithful and valuable service,” because he was fired by the contracting firm that hired him after 3 1/2 years of service. It was a stinging response, considering the dangers he faced. “If I haven’t done faithful and good service for the U.S. Army, why have they given me this medal?” he says, holding the commendation, in an AP interview at an office in Kabul used by the former interpreters to meet with journalists.  Why he was fired by the U.S.-based contractor, Mission Essential, is unclear. Hilal said he had a conflict with supervisors that started with a dispute over a work assignment. The company says it does not discuss current or former employees and declined to comment. But whatever happened eventually, a November 2019 letter of support from his platoon commander was highly complimentary of “stellar” service that “rivals that of most deployed service members.” Hilal was by his side on hundreds of patrols and dozens of firefights, monitoring enemy radio traffic and interpreting during encounters with locals, Army Maj. Thomas Goodman said in the letter.  “He was dependable and performed admirably,” Goodman wrote. “Even in firefights that lasted hours on end, he never lost his nerve, and I could always count him to be by my side.”  As it happens, an AP journalist was embedded with the unit for a time, amid intense fighting in eastern Afghanistan, and captured images of Hilal and Goodman, surrounded by villagers as American forces competed with the Taliban for the support of the people.  Goodman said he stands by his recommendation but declined to comment further.  Coburn, who interviewed more than 150 special immigrant visa recipients and applicants for a recently released study of the program, said Hilal’s denial reflects a rigid evaluation process. “There is no nuance to the definition of service,” he said. “You either served or you didn’t serve.” The special immigration visa program allows applicants to make one appeal, and many are successful. Nearly 80% of 243 Afghans who appealed in the first quarter of 2021 were subsequently approved after providing additional information, according to the State Department. Hilal says his appeal was rejected.  Bates, of the International Refugee Assistance Project, says the fact that there is a U.S. Army officer willing to support should count for something. “Even if he doesn’t qualify for the SIV program, this plainly seems like someone who is in need of protection,” he said.  
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Expatriate Indian doctors in Australia have formed an emergency group to help overwhelmed colleagues and relatives struggling with COVID 19 back home. Also, in Australia, a special task force is urging the government to abandon what some have termed a “fortress approach” to the pandemic due to the country’s decision to keep international borders shut. Settlers from India are Australia’s second-largest group of migrants behind those from England. They have become a valuable part of society and the economy. Now expatriate medical professionals from India have come together to help their colleagues back home during the pandemic. The Indian health system has been under immense strain because of an avalanche of COVID-19 infections and fatalities. The populous South Asian nation is at the heart of the global pandemic. The World Health Organization has reported 25 million infections and more than 270,000 virus-related deaths.A signage is displayed at a closed market during a lockdown imposed to curb the spread of the coronavirus in Hyderabad, India, May 13, 2021.Indian migrant doctors in Australia are dispensing medical advice through phone lines and via the internet, about hospital treatment and drugs to help patients in India fend off coronavirus infections. Yadu Singh is a cardiologist in Sydney and president of the Federation of Indian Associations of New South Wales state. He says they are doing what they can to help anxious patients in India. “We became the secondary doctors. We cannot prescribe medicines sitting in Sydney, but we were able to counsel them, stop them from getting panic and also to counsel them about what they should do to not pass on the infection,” Singh said.Australia’s response to the pandemic has received global praise, but an alliance of education, migration and legal experts has said the nation risks being left behind if its isolationist approach to COVID-19 continues. Australia banned foreign nationals in March 2020 to curb the spread of the virus and the government’s says international borders will not reopen until the middle of 2022. Critics, however, believe that Australia’s prosperity relies on re-joining an “open, globalized world.” But prime minister Scott Morrison said not even mass vaccinations would allow Australia to reopen its borders sooner than he has planned. “Even in that circumstance you are still talking about many Australians — millions of Australians — who would not have been vaccinated because a) they are children, or b) they have chosen not to be, and you are also making assumptions about what the rest of the world looks like with COVID at the end of this year with the introduction of new variants and strains,” Morrison said.Almost 30,000 coronavirus infections have been diagnosed in Australia since the pandemic began, and 910 people have died, according to the latest government figures. Australian citizens and permanent residents are allowed to return home, but numbers are limited because of capacity constraints in the mandatory hotel quarantine system. 
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Officials in Afghanistan confirmed Friday that the United States had turned over another major military base to the local army as all U.S. and NATO troops are in the process of withdrawing from the country.
 
The sprawling security installation is located in southern Kandahar province, and it used to serve about 30,000 foreign forces, as well as contractors, at the height of the nearly two-decade Afghan war.
 
Afghan Defense Ministry spokesman Fawad Aman tweeted that operational control of the Kandahar Airfield was transferred to its forces this week.
 
“The process of handing over the camps and bases from the Resolute Support forces to the Afghan forces continues successfully,” Aman wrote.
 
The remaining roughly 2,500 U.S. troops, along with about 7,000 NATO partners, have to leave Afghanistan by September 11 in line with U.S. President Joe Biden’s directive.
 
The drawdown stems from a landmark peace-building agreement Washington signed with the Taliban insurgency in February 2020 to close what has been America’s longest war.
 A U.S. flag is lowered as American and Afghan soldiers attend a handover ceremony from the U.S. Army to the Afghan National Army, at Camp Anthonic, in Helmand province, southern Afghanistan, May 2, 2021.The troop withdrawal formally began on May 1 and U.S. Central Command announced Tuesday that it has completed “between 6-12% of the entire retrograde process.” It explained that the equivalent of more than 100 cargo planeloads of equipment had been removed from Afghanistan and another 1,800 pieces of equipment were turned over to be destroyed.
 
“The pace of the retrograde continues on schedule,” Pentagon Press Secretary John Kirby told reporters Thursday.
 
But he declined to share further operational details citing security concerns for U.S. personnel on the ground.
 
“We have seen small harassing attacks that have not had an impact on the retrograde,” Kirby said when asked whether foreign forces have come under Taliban attack during the drawdown process.
 
International troops were supposed to completely pull out of Afghanistan by May 1, a deadline stipulated in the U.S.-Taliban agreement.
 
But Biden missed the deadline citing logistical reasons. The move drew denunciation and threats from the Taliban for breaking their year-old cease-fire with the U.S.-led coalition forces.
 
Biden announced his plans for the complete troop withdrawal last month to end what he said was the “forever war.”FILE – Blackhawk helicopters are seen lined up at Kandahar Airfield, Afghanistan, Jan. 23, 2018.Eid truce largely holds
 
Meanwhile, police in Kabul said a bomb explosion ripped through a mosque north of the Afghan capital during Friday afternoon prayers, killing at least 12 worshipers and injuring more than 15 others.  
 
No group claimed responsibly for the bombing and the Taliban denied its involvement.
 
The attack came on the second day of a cease-fire between the Taliban and the Afghan government to enable the war-weary nation to celebrate the three-day Eid al-Fitr festival, which began Thursday.
 
Afghan officials said at least 11 civilians were killed on the first day of festivities in separate roadside bomb blasts. There have been no claims of responsibly for the violence, including Friday’s mosque bombing.
 
The Eid truce has largely held, however, with no battlefield attacks by Taliban fighters.
 
The insurgents proposed the truce, and it was reciprocated by President Ashraf Ghani, which brought a much-needed respite to Afghans as they join friends and family in Eid festivities to mark the end of the Islamic fasting month of Ramadan.
 
Multiple blasts struck a girls’ school in Kabul in the run-up to the Eid festivities, killing nearly 70 people and injuring about 150 others. The victims were mostly schoolgirls.
 
The Taliban denied its involvement and U.S. officials suspected the attack was carried out by Islamic State militants.
 
Washington is pressing the Taliban and the Afghan government to accelerate their peace talks to reach negotiate a power-sharing deal, fearing continued hostilities between the two adversaries will encourage Islamic State and other transnational terrorist groups to again turn the country into a sanctuary.
 
The war in Afghanistan, which will complete its 20th year this coming October, has killed more than 240,000 people. They include Afghan security forces, civilians, Taliban combatants and about 2,400 U.S. troops.
 
More than 20,000 U.S. soldiers also have been wounded since the U.S.-led foreign forces invaded the country and toppled the Taliban rulers at the time, days after al-Qaida carried out the September 11, 2001, terror strikes on America from Afghan soil.
 
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Conservation officials in India say at least 18 wild elephants were killed by lightning during a thunderstorm late Thursday; however, some experts think the animals might have been poisoned in a wildlife preserve in India’s northeastern Assam state.
 
Local residents alerted forest department officials after finding the elephant carcasses in the protected Kondali forest reserve in the state’s Nagaon district, about 150 kilometers east of the state’s largest city, Guwahati. Some local rangers reported burned trees in the area, which might have contributed to the reasoning the elephants were killed by lightning.
 
Wildlife experts were in the Kondali reserve Friday examining the scene. Assam Forest Minister Parimal Suklabaidya said he had never seen a similar incident in the region.
 
The carcasses were being sent for a postmortem and forensic tests to determine the cause of death. He said a full investigation is underway.  
 
Prominent conservationist Soumyadeep Datta, with the environmental activist group Nature’s Beckon, told the French news agency he thought it unlikely the elephants were killed by lightning based on social media images he saw. He said it was more likely the elephants were poisoned.
 
India is home to about 27,000 Asian elephants, more than 50 percent of the world’s population. Assam state is said to have about 6,000 of them. They are considered endangered due to habitat loss, poaching for their tusks, and erratic enforcement of forestry laws.
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The man in the WhatsApp video says he has seen it work himself: A few drops of lemon juice in the nose will cure COVID-19.”If you practice what I am about to say with faith, you will be free of corona in five seconds,” says the man, dressed in traditional religious clothing. “This one lemon will protect you from the virus like a vaccine.”False cures. Terrifying stories of vaccine side effects. Baseless claims that Muslims spread the virus. Fueled by anguish, desperation and distrust of the government, rumors and hoaxes are spreading by word of mouth and on social media in India, compounding the country’s humanitarian crisis.”Widespread panic has led to a plethora of misinformation,” said Rahul Namboori, co-founder of Fact Crescendo, an independent fact-checking organization in India.While treatments such as lemon juice may sound innocuous, such claims can have deadly consequences if they lead people to skip vaccinations or ignore other guidelines.In January, Prime Minister Narendra Modi declared that India had “saved humanity from a big disaster by containing corona effectively.” Life began to resume, and so did attendance at cricket matches, religious pilgrimages and political rallies for Modi’s Hindu nationalist party.Four months later, cases and deaths have exploded, the country’s vaccine rollout has faltered and public anger and mistrust have grown.”All of the propaganda, misinformation and conspiracy theories that I’ve seen in the past few weeks has been very, very political,” said Sumitra Badrinathan, a University of Pennsylvania political scientist who studies misinformation in India. “Some people are using it to criticize the government, while others are using it to support it.”Distrust of Western vaccines and health care is also driving misinformation about sham treatments as well as claims about traditional remedies.The caretaker of a crematorium, center, tries to console a man who lost his 5-month-old child to COVID-19 as they perform a post-burial ritual at the Seemapuri crematorium in New Delhi, India, May 13, 2021.Satyanarayan Prasad saw the video about lemon juice and believed it. The 51-year-old resident of the state of Uttar Pradesh distrusts modern medicine and has a theory as to why his country’s health experts are urging vaccines.”If the government approves lemon drops as a remedy, the … rupees that they have spent on vaccines will be wasted,” Prasad said.Vijay Sankeshwar, a prominent businessman and former politician, repeated the claim about lemon juice, saying two drops in the nostrils will increase oxygen levels in the body.While Vitamin C is essential to human health and immunity, there is no evidence that consuming lemons will fight off the coronavirus.The claim is spreading through the Indian diaspora, too.”They have this thing that if you drink lemon water every day that you’re not going to be affected by the virus,” said Emma Sachdev, a Clinton, New Jersey, resident whose extended family lives in India.Sachdev said several relatives have been infected, yet continue to flout social distancing rules, thinking a visit to the temple will keep them safe.India has also experienced the same types of misinformation about vaccines and vaccine side effects seen around the world.Last month, the popular Tamil actor Vivek died two days after receiving his COVID-19 vaccination. The hospital where he died said Vivek had advanced heart disease, but his death has been seized on by vaccine opponents as evidence that the government is hiding side effects.Much of the misinformation travels on WhatsApp, which has more than 400 million users in India. Unlike more open sites like Facebook or Twitter, WhatsApp — which is owned by Facebook — is an encrypted platform that allows users to exchange messages privately.A sign is displayed at a closed market during a lockdown imposed to curb the spread of the coronavirus in Hyderabad, India, May 13, 2021.The bad information online “may have come from an unsuspecting neighbor who is not trying to cause harm,” said Badrinathan, the University of Pennsylvania researcher. “New internet users may not even realize that the information is false. The whole concept of misinformation is new to them.”Hoaxes spread online had deadly results in 2018, when at least 20 people were killed by mobs inflamed by posts about supposed gangs of child kidnappers.WhatsApp said in a statement that it works hard to limit misleading or dangerous content by working with public health bodies like the World Health Organization and fact-checking organizations. The platform has also added safeguards restricting the spread of chain messages and directing users to accurate online information.The service is also making it easier for users in India and other nations to use its service to find information about vaccinations.”False claims can discourage people from getting vaccines, seeking the doctor’s help, or taking the virus seriously,” Fact Crescendo’s Namboori said. “The stakes have never been so high.”
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India surpassed 4,000 deaths from COVID-19 for the second consecutive day Thursday as two of the country’s states have suspended inoculations.
 
Along with the 4,120 deaths, the Indian Health Ministry reported 362,727 new confirmed coronavirus infections over the previous 24 hours.   
 
A surge of new infections in the world’s second most-populous country has created a humanitarian disaster there, with hospitals filled to capacity, an acute shortage of oxygen to treat the sick and scores of makeshift crematories burning the dead. Experts believe the actual numbers of deaths and cases are much higher than the official totals.      
 
The situation took an unsettling turn this week after more than 100 bodies were found floating in the Ganges river. The images sparked anger and speculation that the people who died succumbed to COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus. Authorities have yet to determine the cause of death, but some medical experts have voiced concern that the coronavirus can be spread through contaminated water.
 
The crisis in the South Asian nation is aggravated by shortage of vaccines as well the raw materials needed to manufacture them, despite India being home to the Serum Institute of India, the world’s largest vaccine manufacturer.  So far, less than three percent of India’s 1.3 billion citizens are fully vaccinated.   
 
The situation has prompted the states of Maharashtra and Karnataka to suspend vaccinations for people between 18 and 44 years old in order to prioritize older people awaiting a second dose.   
 
In one bit of good news, the rate of new COVID-19 infections has declined in the New Delhi area.  Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia told reporters Thursday that Delhi’s positivity rate has dropped from 35% to 14% over the last 15 days.
 
In Japan, the troubled Tokyo Olympics, already delayed a year due to the pandemic, has been dealt another blow with about 40 towns cancelling arrangements to host Olympic athletes for pre-competition events, according to the country’s Nikkei newspaper.   
 
Officials in these towns have expressed concerns that the country’s health care system would be overburdened if the Olympics turn into a superspreader event. Many regions are under a state of emergency as the country struggles with a new surge of COVID-19 infections, which has led to growing public opposition to going ahead with the Olympics, which are scheduled to begin on July 23.   
 
In a related matter, the U.S. track-and-field team has canceled plans to hold a training camp in the Japanese city of Chiba over concerns about the virus.   
 
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Two climbers from Switzerland and the United States have become the first fatalities of this year’s Mount Everest climbing season.According to Nepal-based expedition organizing company Seven Summit Treks, 41-year-old Swiss national Abdul Waraich successfully reached the summit of the 8,948-meter peak, but began having problems during his descent. Company official Chhang Dawa said two additional Sherpas were sent to meet Waraich with oxygen and food, but he died Wednesday.The American climber, 55-year-old Puwei Liu, only made it to Hillary Step, the highest camp before the summit, before he began his descent down the Nepal side of Everest suffering from snow blindness and exhaustion. The company said Liu died during the descent.After shutting down all expeditions last year because of the coronavirus pandemic, Nepal has issued a record 408 permits in an effort to rejuvenate tourism revenue during the popular April-May climbing season, when the weather is more hospitable for climbing.
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Fazliddin Mehmonov considers himself a journalist and a blogger, and does not apologize one bit for wearing both hats. The 30-year-old from Namangan, a city in eastern Uzbekistan, admits that he and his colleagues act unprofessional at times.“We are new in this field and too passionate,” Mehmonov said. “It’s hard to control our energy and drive because we cover hard issues, relevant to the lives of our people.”He and dozens of bloggers and media watched on May 10 as a judge in the Surkhandarya region convicted their colleague, Otabek Sattoriy, of extortion and slander.The prosecutor asked for 11 years, accusing Sattoriy of blackmailing and defaming local officials for personal benefit. The judge threw out some accusations but sentenced Sattoriy to 6½ years in prison.Sattoriy, who ran a blog called Xalq fikri (People’s Opinion), has denied the charges and plans to appeal.Fazliddin Mehmonov, holding his phone, and his colleague Akmal Eshonkhonov are shown in this photo from the Telegram messaging app. (Effect.uz)”I shivered with horror, because I know he is innocent,” Mehmonov said of the verdict.Mehmonov and Sattoriy started blogging together last year. They focus on local economic and social issues, including energy supplies, prices and markets, development projects and local government spending. He remembers Sattoriy discovering suspected extortion and theft while investigating corruption in the energy supply chain.Human rights experts have condemned the verdict, suggesting the charges were “trumped up” in retaliation for Sattoriy’s blog.The conviction is “a clear attempt to frighten the press away from covering sensitive issues,” Gulnoza Said, head of the Europe and Central Asia desk at the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists, said in a statement.Steve Swerdlow, a human rights lawyer who teaches at the University of Southern California, said on Twitter that with Sattoriy’s imprisonment, “Uzbekistan has resumed a notorious place among the list of countries who jail critical journalists and attack free speech.”With the sentencing of blogger #OtabekSattoriy to 6.5 years imprisonment today on dubious charges #Uzbekistan has resumed a notorious place among the list of countries who jail critical journalists & attack free speech—rubicon many rooting for change pleaded w/ govt not to cross https://t.co/AqtwbhSx9h— Steve Swerdlow (@steveswerdlow) May 10, 2021 For Mehmonov, who was a witness for the defense, the conviction is a sign that his colleague’s reporting got too close to sensitive issues.“The Uzbek political system, local and central, is so corrupt that it responds aggressively when you touch a nerve,” Mehmonov said.He and other bloggers told VOA that Uzbek authorities suppress those who investigate matters that touch high authorities.Khurshid Daliyev, a blogger and journalist who runs the Human.uz news site, said that he sometimes receives warnings. “Those being criticized often send a representative seeking a compromise or trying to buy you off,” he said. “When you don’t accept, they tend to threaten or bother you, sometimes through your family and friends.”Daliyev said that when he reported on illegal land leases in his native Andijan region earlier this year, a social media campaign tried to discredit him.“They just wait for some minor mistake to take revenge,” Daliyev said. “We have to be extremely careful and as professional as we can.”Otabek Sattoriy was arrested in January 2021 in his native Surkhandarya, southern Uzbekistan (YouTube)Mehmonov said journalists who covered Sattoriy’s case could do good stories from Surkhandarya or anywhere, “but convicting critical voices like Otabek’s washes away the gains in any sector.”Justice itself has become a prisoner in Uzbekistan, lawyer and blogger Zafarbek Solijonov posted on his popular Telegram channel. Like Mehmonov, he questioned why those in positions of power appear to face no justice or lighter sentences.Solijonov said that when the Sardoba dam burst last year, a catastrophe that cost Uzbekistan billions of dollars and killed at least four people, only a few were punished and with much lighter sentences than the blogger received.Columnists, not reportersUzbek bloggers regard themselves as columnists who, unlike journalists, can express opinion. Solijonov was a reporter for Kun.uz before turning to blogging. He told VOA he values his independence.Mehmonov covers news and produces video blogs. He works for Effect.uz, a news website that often clashes with authorities for its aggressive style. Sattoriy employed a similar strategy.“We are more effective this way, especially when we investigate people’s grievances,” Mehmonov said. “We personalize issues, and yes, we may not be journalistically objective, but our focus is deeper, which helps us to get to the core of the problems. We push the responsible to respond. Uzbekistan needs this kind of media now.”Authoritative bloggers are often invited to briefings and media conferences and get stories out faster than the mainstream media do. They also produce paid content, which raises questions about ethics. But, the bloggers told VOA, they must pay their bills.As opinion leaders with sizable followings, they promote people and ideas and earn a living advertising products and services.Uzbek bloggers and journalists cover the trial of their colleague Otabek Sattoriy. (Effect.uz)Uzbek social media are filled with discussions on retaliatory charges against those who take on powerful interests. In their criticism and calls for reforms, human rights groups point to the past three decades in Uzbekistan, defined by repression and political prisoners.The Agency for Information and Mass Communication, whose regulation of the media industry does not directly extend to blogging, has remained largely silent on Sattoriy’s case.In a brief February 8 statement on his arrest, the agency called on “law enforcement agencies to take account of the findings from all relevant sides.”’Difficulties’ in free-speech environmentKomil Allamjonov, the former head of the agency who now leads the Public Fund for the Support and Development of National Mass Media, said that reporters and bloggers must not lose hope. He pointed to President Shavkat Mirziyoyev’s calls for brave and change-making journalism.Allamjonov is a former press secretary for the president.“We are slowly learning how to live and work in a free-speech environment. It’s not easy; we are having difficulties, but we are learning,” Mirziyoyev said in his annual national address in December.Allamjonov said there is resistance to media freedom in Uzbekistan. He said that because of his support for bloggers and journalists, he has been targeted himself.”But it is impossible to silence everyone,” Allamjonov told VOA. “Moreover, there is no way back for Uzbekistan, which has already chosen the path of media freedom.”“If we can’t defend our journalists, who are working very hard to make a positive difference, then others from the outside will fill that void with false information and conspiracies,” Allamjonov said.Mehmonov and his colleagues agree, but regard such comments with skepticism.“The system flaunted its power, sending a chilling message to all and especially those just entering journalism and blogging; there is a thick red line,” Mehmonov said.This story originated in VOA’s Uzbek Service. 
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A day after declaring the COVID-19 variant first detected in India as one of global concern, the World Health Organization announced Wednesday that the variant has spread to 49 countries.   The U.N. health agency’s new concern about the B.1.617 variant comes as India recorded 4,205 COVID-19 deaths, a new one-day record that pushed the South Asian nation’s overall death toll from the pandemic past the 250,000 mark. India’s total number of confirmed COVID-19 infections is now above 23 million after the Health Ministry reported 348,421 new cases on Wednesday. FILE – Family members wearing protective gear stand next to ambulances carrying bodies of COVID victims, at an open air cremation site set up on the outskirts of Bangalore, India, May 8, 2021.A surge of new infections in the world’s second most-populous country has created a humanitarian disaster there, with hospitals filled to capacity and an acute shortage of oxygen to treat the sick, with scores of makeshift crematories rushing to burn the dead.  Experts believe the actual casualty figures are much higher than the official figures.   The situation took an unsettling turn this week after more than 100 bodies were found floating in the Ganges River. This frame grab from video provided by KK Productions shows police officials standing on the bank of a river where several bodies were found floating, in Ghazipur district, Uttar Pradesh state, India, May 11, 2021.Images of bodies floating in the river sparked anger and speculation they died from COVID-19.  Authorities have yet to determine the cause of death of the bodies, but some medical experts have voiced concern that the coronavirus can be spread through contaminated water. The situation in India is one reason the International Federation of the Red Cross says coronavirus cases have “exploded” across Asia in the past two weeks. The global relief agency said Wednesday the region saw 5.9 million new infections during that period — more than in the Americas, Europe and Africa combined.  Seven out of 10 countries that are doubling their infection numbers the fastest are in Asia and the Pacific.  FILE – Ground staff unload COVID-19 relief supplies from the United States at the Indira Gandhi International Airport cargo terminal in New Delhi, India, Apr. 30, 2021.Alexander Matheou, the IFRC’s Asia Pacific director, called for “greater global cooperation” in providing “lifesaving resources, medical equipment, vaccines and money” where they are needed to help people most at risk. “We’re only safe when everyone is safe,” Matheou said.   TaiwanMeanwhile, Taiwan health authorities are considering raising its coronavirus alert level after the discovery of 16 new locally transmitted cases.  Taiwan is currently under second of a four-level alert scale, which limits large-scale indoor events to just 100 people and outdoor events to 500 until June 8. A move to Level 3 would create a near-lockdown on the island, with all non-essential businesses forced to close and residents required to wear a face covering.   People wear protective face masks while heading in a metro station following the outbreak of COVID-19, in Taipei, Taiwan, May 12, 2021.Health and Welfare Minister Chen Shih-chung told a legislative session Wednesday that the current outbreak was “not a joke.”    President Tsai Ing-wen urged Taiwanese not to panic during a televised address Wednesday, but warned that “the challenge at this moment is still severe.” Taiwan has been one of the world’s biggest success stories in handling the pandemic, recording just 1,210 confirmed COVID-19 infections and just 12 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center. The island imposed strict restrictions on overseas visitors and strict quarantine measures at the start of the outbreak and created a robust contract tracing system.  The majority of confirmed coronavirus infections have been limited to new arrivals held in hotel quarantine.
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Pakistani feminists say they are determined to fight blasphemy charges filed in mid-April by militant Islamic groups opposed to their International Women’s Day rallies held on March 8. They rejected as “totally false” blasphemy allegations based on the social media postings of their rallies.  “We’ve seen a weaponization of blasphemy increase,” said Farieha Aziz of the Karachi-based Women’s Action Forum. “There’s a pattern since 2017 of using it against dissidents in particular.” Until recently, Aziz said, social dissidents were labeled “anti-state” and “anti-Islamic,” with the blasphemy charges taking opposition to a whole new level. Right-wing position Nasir Minhas, an activist and lawyer with the far-right political party Tehrik-i-Labaik Pakistan (TLP), told VOA he would pursue his blasphemy petition in the High Court of Islamabad after it was rejected by a lower court. “These women had raised objectionable slogans which were anti-Pakistan and anti-Islam, and they held banners which symbolically insulted the Prophet of Islam,” Minhas said. FILE – Activists of the Aurat March carry placards as they march during a rally to mark International Women’s Day in Lahore, March 8, 2021.Pakistan’s laws carry the death penalty for those charged with blasphemy, and some of the accused have been killed even before their cases reached court. Aziz said the allegations have had a “chilling effect.” “There are those who continue to speak up, and will,” she said, adding the charges have organizers concerned about the impact on the women’s movement.  Government’s position  Bilalwal Bhutto Zardari, Pakistan People’s Party chairman and opposition leader, opposed the “misuse” of the blasphemy charge, and the PPP has stopped police from registering cases against women.  But Firdous Naqvi, a parliamentarian from the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) ruling party, told VOA his party cannot support the women for raising “Westernized slogans” such as “My body. My choice.” “Islam clearly lays down the guidelines for women’s dress and their code of conduct,” he said.  In videos posted on social media, some women are wearing jeans and several others are without the dupatta, a traditional loose cloth covering. One young female organizer, who requested anonymity for her safety, said she believes Pakistani women’s “consciousness” has progressed more than the state. “Younger women who have studied abroad and have access to social media know how different our lives are in Pakistan compared to women across the world,” she said. ‘Doctored videos’ Rally organizers said their slogans were misinterpreted and their videos were doctored to force them into silence.  They claim when they shouted “mullahs” (Islamic clerics), the sound was doctored to sound like “Allah.” And “Fazlo” (Islamic party chief Fazlur-Rehman) was altered to sound like “Rasool” (prophet). Latif Afridi, president of the Supreme Court Bar Association of Pakistan whose legal team is working to quash the blasphemy cases in the Peshawar High Court, called the manipulation of social media content a “very dangerous trend.”  “If today they use the videos against educated women, tomorrow they will use it against political workers. It makes us wonder where this country is headed,” he told VOA. Thousands had viewed women’s rallies on Facebook and Twitter, after which the doctored videos appeared. As the two sides traded barbs, Pakistan’s Ministry for Religious Affairs said it would probe the matter. PTI lawmaker Naqvi said the videos would not be used in investigations but “in some instances, the women appear to have crossed the line.” “Their cases will be sent to the Islamic Shariat Court, where we should wait to see (the) results,” he said. Civil society participation The left-leaning Women’s Freedom March in Islamabad, with its inclusion of young, grassroots female activists, is the primary focus of the Peshawar investigations, organizers say.  After the Islamabad rally, Islamabad’s Red Mosque petitioned the high court to ban such rallies in the future for their “un-Islamic” and “unconstitutional” nature. FILE – Activists of the Aurat March celebrate as they gather during a rally to mark International Women’s Day in Karachi, March 8, 2021.Ismat Shahjehan, a socialist feminist with the Women Democratic Front, is among the organizers accused of blasphemy by the Red Mosque’s Shuhada Foundation. She told VOA the group’s demand for the rights of Baloch and Sindhis reverberated nationwide and triggered the blasphemy cases. Defense analyst Brig Tipu Sultan rejected charges that the state used accusations of blasphemy to crush social dissent.”It (the charge) is something that is yellow journalism. It is something that represents intellectual corruption, nothing more,” he told VOA. He claimed the West is using the blasphemy law against Pakistan. Last week, the PTI government said it would not compromise on its blasphemy law, even if it hurts its trade options. It was responding to the European Parliament’s citing of an “alarming” increase of abuse in Pakistan’s blasphemy law, followed by a resolution to revoke the country’s preferential trade status. ‘Intimidation tactics’ Organizers say their rallies have inspired women to speak on formerly taboo subjects such as sexuality and violence. “The women’s march is a very large and growing movement that was held in 17 cities this year,” said Arfana Mallah, a Sindh University professor. The Jamiat-i-Ulema and Sunni Tehrik targeted her last year after her tweet in the Sindhi language criticized the blasphemy law as a “colonial-era decree used to target opponents.” Mounting death threats forced her to temporarily flee the country, retract her statement and apologize in a YouTube video. The TLP, now the third-largest political party in the Punjab, said such women are “Western funded,” who do not represent the mainstream. “Religious parties’ interpretation of Islam revolves around women’s bodies and now, seeing women rise up. They’re using blasphemy laws as a tactic to frighten them,” Mallah said. 
 
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A day after declaring the COVID-19 variant first detected in India as one of global concern, the World Health Organization announced Wednesday that the variant has spread to 49 countries.   The U.N. health agency’s new concern about the B.1.617 variant comes as India recorded 4,205 COVID-19 deaths, a new one-day record that pushed the South Asian nation’s overall death toll from the pandemic past the 250,000 mark. India’s total number of confirmed COVID-19 infections is now above 23 million after the Health Ministry reported 348,421 new cases on Wednesday. FILE – Family members wearing protective gear stand next to ambulances carrying bodies of COVID victims, at an open air cremation site set up on the outskirts of Bangalore, India, May 8, 2021.A surge of new infections in the world’s second most-populous country has created a humanitarian disaster there, with hospitals filled to capacity and an acute shortage of oxygen to treat the sick, with scores of makeshift crematories rushing to burn the dead.  Experts believe the actual casualty figures are much higher than the official figures.   The situation took an unsettling turn this week after more than 100 bodies were found floating in the Ganges River. This frame grab from video provided by KK Productions shows police officials standing on the bank of a river where several bodies were found floating, in Ghazipur district, Uttar Pradesh state, India, May 11, 2021.Images of bodies floating in the river sparked anger and speculation they died from COVID-19.  Authorities have yet to determine the cause of death of the bodies, but some medical experts have voiced concern that the coronavirus can be spread through contaminated water. The situation in India is one reason the International Federation of the Red Cross says coronavirus cases have “exploded” across Asia in the past two weeks. The global relief agency said Wednesday the region saw 5.9 million new infections during that period — more than in the Americas, Europe and Africa combined.  Seven out of 10 countries that are doubling their infection numbers the fastest are in Asia and the Pacific.  FILE – Ground staff unload COVID-19 relief supplies from the United States at the Indira Gandhi International Airport cargo terminal in New Delhi, India, Apr. 30, 2021.Alexander Matheou, the IFRC’s Asia Pacific director, called for “greater global cooperation” in providing “lifesaving resources, medical equipment, vaccines and money” where they are needed to help people most at risk. “We’re only safe when everyone is safe,” Matheou said.   TaiwanMeanwhile, Taiwan health authorities are considering raising its coronavirus alert level after the discovery of 16 new locally transmitted cases.  Taiwan is currently under second of a four-level alert scale, which limits large-scale indoor events to just 100 people and outdoor events to 500 until June 8. A move to Level 3 would create a near-lockdown on the island, with all non-essential businesses forced to close and residents required to wear a face covering.   People wear protective face masks while heading in a metro station following the outbreak of COVID-19, in Taipei, Taiwan, May 12, 2021.Health and Welfare Minister Chen Shih-chung told a legislative session Wednesday that the current outbreak was “not a joke.”    President Tsai Ing-wen urged Taiwanese not to panic during a televised address Wednesday, but warned that “the challenge at this moment is still severe.” Taiwan has been one of the world’s biggest success stories in handling the pandemic, recording just 1,210 confirmed COVID-19 infections and just 12 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center. The island imposed strict restrictions on overseas visitors and strict quarantine measures at the start of the outbreak and created a robust contract tracing system.  The majority of confirmed coronavirus infections have been limited to new arrivals held in hotel quarantine.
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The United States’ military footprint in Afghanistan is shrinking at a steady pace, according to U.S. military planners, though they are refusing to say how many troops are still in the country.U.S. Central Command announced Tuesday that it has completed “between 6-12% of the entire retrograde process,” removing the equivalent of more than 100 cargo planeloads of equipment from Afghanistan while turning over another 1,800 pieces of equipment to be destroyed.But Central Command (CENTCOM) and the Pentagon declined to share information on how many of the 2,500 to 3,500 U.S. troops remain in Afghanistan, citing security concerns.“We have an obligation to keep our people safe,” Pentagon Press Secretary John Kirby told reporters Tuesday.“We have to assume that this is going to be an opposed retrograde,” he said. “If we assumed anything less it would be irresponsible of us.” The U.S. has sent elements of an Army Ranger task force to Afghanistan to help protect withdrawing U.S. and coalition forces. It has also sent six B-52 long-range bombers and 12 F-18 fighter-bombers to the region, and officials extended the deployment of the USS Dwight D Eisenhower carrier strike group to the North Arabian Sea to provide additional firepower, if necessary.US, NATO Troops Leaving Afghanistan as Fighting Escalates White House confirms troops, equipment have left the country, the start of the end of America’s longest warIn the weeks leading up to the official start of the U.S. withdrawal, Taliban officials repeatedly threatened to target U.S. and coalition forces, arguing the foreign troops needed to be gone by May 1 — the deadline under an agreement signed between the Taliban and the administration of former U.S. President Donald Trump.Despite those threats, though, Taliban commanders have focused their attacks on Afghan government forces.On Monday, Kirby told Pentagon reporters that while the level of violence in Afghanistan was “still too high,” U.S. commanders have not run into any problems that would slow down the U.S. pullout.Following months of internal deliberations and consultation with allies, U.S. President Joe Biden announced last month that all U.S. forces would leave Afghanistan by September 11, the 20th anniversary of the terrorist attacks on New York’s World Trade Center and the Pentagon, which were planned by the al-Qaida terror group in Afghanistan.U.S. military and intelligence officials have voiced concern about the impact the withdrawal will have on their ability to collect information on terrorist groups and counter plots emanating from Afghanistan.U.S. military officials have said they will rely on “over-the-horizon” surveillance and strike capabilities once all U.S. troops have left Afghanistan. But so far, officials say there has been little progress on security needed basing agreements with other countries in the region.“There are very active discussions going on now inside the department to better define what over-the-horizon counterterrorism capabilities we’ll be able to avail ourselves of,” the Pentagon’s Kirby said Tuesday. 
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Authorities in India said Tuesday they have yet to determine the cause of death of dozens of people found dead in the Ganges River.
 
Officials in Bihar state said 71 bodies were recovered Monday, while officials in the neighboring state of Uttar Pradesh said around 100 bodies were found, some on Tuesday.
 
Images of the bodies floating in the river sparked anger and speculation they died from COVID-19, which is surging throughout the South Asian country at a faster rate than anywhere else in the world.  
 
Some medical experts voiced concern that the coronavirus can be spread through contaminated water.
 
“Although there is no global research on how the virus may spread through dead bodies in water bodies, I strongly believe that the water is now polluted,” said Dr. Mohsin Wali. “It is not worth drinking anymore and when these bodies rot, it will be even more dangerous.”
 
Authorities performed autopsies but could not confirm the cause of death because the bodies had decomposed.
 
India had nearly 330,000 new coronavirus cases and 3,867 related deaths on Tuesday, according to Johns Hopkins University. India has the second highest number of confirmed cases worldwide with nearly 23 million and the third highest death toll with nearly 250,000, although experts say the actual figures are almost certainly much higher.
 
The surge has prompted Prime Minister Narendra Modi not to travel to Britain for the Group of Seven summit next month, the Indian Foreign Ministry said Tuesday.
 
Modi has been criticized for allowing massive gatherings at a religious festival and holding huge election rallies over the past two months even as infections sharply increased.Family members wearing protective gear stand next to ambulances carrying bodies of COVID victims, at an open air cremation site set up on the outskirts of Bangalore, India, May 8, 2021.On Monday, the World Health Organization said a variant of the coronavirus circulating in India is of global concern.   
 
“We classify it as a variant of concern at a global level,” Maria Van Kerkhove, WHO technical lead on COVID-19, told a briefing on the B.1.617 variant. “There is some available information to suggest increased transmissibility.”
 
The Philippines announced Tuesday that it had detected its first two cases of the Indian B.1.617 variant.  The variant was discovered in two travelers who returned to the Philippines in April from Oman and the United Arab Emirates.
 
In other developments, U.S. regulators have authorized the COVID-19 vaccine developed by Pfizer-BioNTech to be used by children as young as 12 years of age, widening the pool of those eligible to get inoculated.
 
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said Monday the shot is safe and effective for children ages 12 to 15. The vaccine is already available under an emergency use authorization to those 16 and older.  
 
The Pfizer vaccine is the first in the United States to be approved for younger people. The approval comes as U.S. officials are seeking to inoculate a larger percentage of the population and will likely prompt millions of U.S. middle and high school students to try to be vaccinated before they head back to class in the fall.
 
While most children with COVID-19 only develop mild symptoms or have no symptoms at all, they are still able to pass along the virus to others.  
 
In a related development on the vaccine front, introduction of another potential COVID-19 vaccine will be delayed until later this year.  U.S.-based pharmaceutical company Novavax announced Monday it will not seek regulatory approval of its experimental vaccine until this July, citing problems in securing the raw materials and equipment needed to manufacture the vaccine.   
 
But Novavax Chief Executive Stanley Erck told reporters on a conference call that the company expects to meet its goal of producing 150 million doses per month by the fourth quarter of this year.
 
Company officials said it expects to release the results of a late-stage clinical trial in North America sometime this month.  A clinical trial conducted in Britain showed the vaccine is about 95-percent effective against the coronavirus. 
 
Novavax has promised to supply more than 1 billion doses of the vaccine to the COVAX global vaccine sharing initiative for poor and middle-income nations, as well as 200 million shots to several European countries.    
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The United States on Monday welcomed the Taliban’s declaration of a nationwide cease-fire in Afghanistan over this week’s Eid-al-Fitr festival, reiterating Washington’s call for the Islamist insurgency and Afghan leaders to negotiate an end to the “senseless violence.”Addressing a routine news conference, State Department spokesman Ned Price also denounced Saturday’s bombing of a girls’ school in the Afghan capital, Kabul.“The circumstances of the bombing over the weekend, they are not yet crystal clear. … There are some indications that this may have been attributable to ISIS and not the Taliban,” Price said using an acronym for Islamic State.“We’re still looking into what or who is responsible, but I would note that ISIS has been responsible for similar attacks on Shia communities in Kabul in the past,” he said.FILE – Afghanistan’s President Ashraf Ghani speaks at the Parliament in Kabul, Oct. 21, 2020.On Monday, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani ordered his national security forces to observe a cease-fire during the three-day Eid festival, which marks the end of Ramadan this week.The move came a day after the Taliban announced that its leadership has directed insurgent fighters “to halt all offensive operations against the enemy” to enable Afghans to peacefully celebrate Eid.“We call on the Taliban and Afghan leaders to engage seriously in the ongoing peace process to ensure the Afghan people enjoy a future free of terrorism and of senseless violence,” Price told reporters in Washington.Afghanistan has experienced a spike in fighting in recent weeks, and observers see the temporary truce as a big relief for war-weary Afghans.The Taliban have previously halted their hostilities during the Eid holiday but ignored calls for extending the truce and resumed fighting immediately after the three-day festivities.The withdrawal of U.S.-led foreign troops is an outcome of a peace-building agreement Washington signed with the Taliban in February 2020 to close 20 years of the Afghan war, America’s longest.However, the ensuing U.S. diplomatic efforts aimed at encouraging the Taliban and the Afghan government to negotiate a power-sharing deal that would permanently end the country’s long war have not succeeded.The so-called intra-Afghan negotiations have been deadlocked for months. U.S. officials hope to accelerate the stalled peace process after the Eid festival.But the Taliban have ruled out progress in the talks until Washington meets the group’s remaining demands in line with the U.S.-Taliban deal. Those demands include the release of around 7,000 Taliban prisoners from Afghan jails and the removal of United Nations and U.S. sanctions on top insurgent leaders.Afghanistan’s President Ashraf Ghani meets with Pakistan’s Army Chief of Staff General Qamar Javed Bajwa, in Kabul, Afghanistan, May 10, 2021.Meanwhile, neighboring Pakistan’s army chief, General Qamar Javed Bajwa, on Monday visited Kabul to reaffirm his country’s support for the Afghan peace process in a meeting with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani. Britain’s chief of defense staff also attended the meeting.Islamabad has long been accused of harboring Taliban leaders, but in recent years, Washington and other Western powers have hailed Pakistan’s efforts in bringing the insurgents to the negotiating table with U.S. interlocutors and rival Afghan groups.Bajwa “reiterated that a peaceful Afghanistan means a peaceful region in general and a peaceful Pakistan in particular,” a post-meeting Pakistani military statement said. “We will always support (an) ‘Afghan-led, Afghan-owned’ peace process based on mutual consensus of all stakeholders,” he said.
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Thousands of Nepalese migrants working in India rushed home in recent weeks seeking safe haven from a brutal second wave of the coronavirus pandemic as it battered the country with sickness and death.Now, the small Himalayan country is confronting a crisis like India’s as its health care system buckles under an exponential rise in infections. Nepalese officials are calling for international assistance as it grapples with shortages of oxygen that have plagued India. Political turmoil after Nepali Prime Minister K.P. Sharma Oli lost a vote of confidence on Monday could make it harder to cope with the pandemic, analysts said.“A number of people are dying as they search for hospitals or during their treatment,” Samir Kumar Adhikari, a spokesperson for Nepal’s Ministry of Health and Population, told VOA. “Almost all hospitals are packed, and although some have space, we are unable to operationalize them because of shortage of oxygen and other logistics.”India and Nepal have an open border policy allowing free movement between the two countries — thousands of Nepalis travel for work in Indian cities, while Indians often travel to Nepal for business.Officials say COVID-19 infections first started to rise in towns like Nepalganj along the Indian border. But Kathmandu Valley where the large cities are situated is now the epicenter of the second wave. Thousands of people have left the capital Kathmandu to return to their villages, raising fears that they will carry the infection and spread it into remote rural areas.Nepal reported over 9,000 daily infections on Monday — 60 times what the country reported at the start of April when Nepal was counting around 150 daily infections.A number of border crossings with India have been shut down in recent days. Most international flights have been halted and much of the country is under a lockdown order. Worried residents are lining up for inoculations, but until last month, only about 7% of the population had received one vaccine dose.“It is a very pathetic situation in Nepal,” Nepal’s Red Cross Chairman, Netra Prasad Timsina told VOA. He says the country urgently needs international assistance to prevent the situation from worsening because the government’s resources are not enough to cope with the pandemic. “Nepal needs all the medical equipment for COVID-19 treatment — oxygen cylinders, concentrators and medicines.”In a statement last week, Timsina said the situation in India was a “horrifying preview of Nepal’s future if we cannot contain this latest COVID surge.”Nepal’s Nepalese paramedics treat a COVID-19 patient outside an emergency ward of a government-run hospital in Kathmandu, Nepal, May 10, 2021.Political instability is adding to its woes, observers add. On Monday, Prime Minister Oli lost a vote of confidence in parliament paving the way for opposition parties to cobble a new ruling coalition.Oli had been criticized for playing down the risk of the pandemic and asking citizens to treat the virus with hot water, guava leaves and turmeric powder.Like in neighboring India, the government is also being blamed for letting down its guard when infections were low — the country was up and running, restaurants and markets were open, crowds gathered to celebrate festivals and Nepal reopened Mount Everest to foreign climbers. Masses political gatherings were held in recent months.The government failed to prepare adequately for a second wave during the months when there was a lull in infections or for more transmissible variants that would spread more rapidly, public health experts said.“We should have learned from [the United Kingdom] and Brazil how difficult it would be to contain the rapidly spreading variants and the measures needed to overcome the situation,” said Suresh Panthee of the Sustainable Study and Research Institute in Kathmandu. “Most importantly, once India started to see a rapid increase in cases, Nepal should have been vigilant to test, quarantine, and isolate. We should have seen the coming danger, but we did not.” He says the large political gatherings held in the country in recent months were “inexcusable.”The virus appears to have travelled to the country’s most famous mountain — a Norwegian climber, Erlend Ness, said last month he had tested positive for COVID-19 at Everest Base camp. Nepalese culture and tourism ministry has however said that there are no health safety risks at the base camp.The country’s former king, Gyanendra Bir Bikram Shah, and his queen, have been hospitalized after testing positive for COVID-19 following a trip to India in April where he attended the Kumbh mela, a Hindu religious festival that epidemiologists have flagged as a super spreader event.  Residents said they fear the spread of the virus in cities like Kathmandu after following the coverage of how people struggled in India’s hospitals.  “We see ambulances parked outside hospitals, people are not getting a bed,” says Vivek Sherchan, a Kathmandu resident who has tested positive for COVID-19. “We worry that the situation is about to get dire.”Officials say that most of the infected people are at home without effective surveillance and warn that the country will not be able to cater to them if they need hospital care. The army is expanding health care facilities in border areas with India.China is sending oxygen cylinders. But Nepal is yet to receive the largescale international medical aid similar to India. India received assistance from over 40 countries.“We immediately need international support. Right now, we need oxygen support,” said Adhikari, the country’s health ministry spokesperson. “The ministry of health is unable to address the real situation, real problem in hospitals, real problem in home isolation.”Officials fear that conditions will only worsen in the coming days if the current trend continues. “We are struggling. The situation is getting out of control,” Adhikari said.
 
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