Women’s rights leaders in Afghanistan and human rights advocates are expressing concern the hard-fought gains of the past 20 years are under threat from a potentially resurgent Taliban when U.S. and coalition troops depart later this year. VOA’s Senior Diplomatic Correspondent Cindy Saine reports on the determination of many to defend those rights.
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The United States will face substantial hurdles if it has to return to Afghanistan — even briefly — to deal with new or growing terror threats once the military completes the planned withdrawal of forces from the country, a top U.S. general told lawmakers.  The warning Tuesday from the commander of U.S. forces in the Middle East and parts of South Asia comes as military planners are still working on how to bring home all 2,500 to 3,500 troops in Afghanistan starting next month, ending two decades of war. ”I don’t want to make light of it. I don’t put on rose-colored glasses and say it’s going to be easy to do,” said U.S. Central Command’s General Kenneth “Frank” McKenzie Jr. as he told members of the House Armed Services Committee of the possible need for future counterterrorism missions. ”We’re examining this problem with all of our resources right now to find a way to do it in the most intelligent, risk-free manner that we can,” he said. “It’s going to be extremely difficult.” McKenzie told lawmakers Tuesday he has been ordered to provide Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin with options by the end of the month. Other officials are also looking at potential solutions. ”Work is under way to adapt, adjusting to the security environment and consider how to continue to apply pressure,” Amanda Dory, acting deputy assistant secretary of defense for plans and posture, told lawmakers.  ”What I can say from the decision process that the president led with his national security team is that there was consideration of a range of scenarios for the future of Afghanistan,” she added.The lack of specifics, though, has worried Democratic and Republican lawmakers, and also former officials, since U.S. President Joe Biden announced his decision last week to move ahead with the withdrawal from Afghanistan.The most recent U.S. intelligence assessments warn that without the presence of U.S. and coalition troops, the prospects for peace in Afghanistan “will remain low,” and that any setbacks for Afghan security forces could give terror groups such as al-Qaida and Islamic State a chance to regenerate.U.S. and Western intelligence officials say that al-Qaida is down to just a few hundred fighters in Afghanistan, but many of them continue to be on good terms with the Taliban and, in some cases, are integrated into the Taliban’s existing command and control structure.JUST IN: @DoD_IG report -citing @DefenseIntel- finds #Taliban has NOT cut off #alQaida in #Afghanistan”The Taliban continues to maintain relations with alQaida…members were integrated into Taliban forces & command structures” per acting DoD Inspector General Sean O’Donnell— Jeff Seldin (@jseldin) February 17, 2021There are also concerns about Islamic State-Khorasan, as the group’s Afghan affiliate is known. Intelligence officials say it has between 1,000 and 2,500 fighters and remains intent on conducting terror attacks against the West.Some high-ranking officials, including the director of the CIA, have expressed concerns about being able to track these groups without any presence on the ground. ”The U.S. government’s ability to collect and act on threats will diminish. That’s simply a fact,” CIA Director Bill Burns said last week, describing the risk as significant.Richard Myers, a retired four-star general who served as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff during the early years of the U.S. war in Afghanistan, said while there may be ways to compensate for the lack of intelligence, it is “a legitimate concern.””I would hope that we have thought about that and have made other plans to make sure that we still have enough intelligence to know what those groups are doing,” he told VOA’s Afghan service. “Without that, I think there’s a great probability that this could be a real danger for the rest of the world.”Yet despite such fears, the Biden administration has expressed confidence in what it describes as an “over the horizon” approach. ”We’ll reorganize our counterterrorism capabilities and the substantial assets in the region to prevent reemergence of terrorists — of the threat to our homeland,” Biden said last week when he announced his decision. “My team is refining our national strategy to monitor and disrupt significant terrorist threats not only in Afghanistan but anywhere they may arise.” In the case of Afghanistan, it appears to be a strategy that rules out the use of combat troops.”We’re going to go to zero in #Afghanistan” per @CENTCOM’s Gen McKenzie “There will be no US forces on the ground there””We will use a variety of means to monitor #alQaida & #ISIS…intelligence will decline” he says “But we will still be able to see into Afghanistan”— Jeff Seldin (@jseldin) April 20, 2021 ”There’s no plans to reintroduce American boots on the ground in Afghanistan,” Pentagon press secretary John Kirby told reporters Monday when asked by VOA about countering potential terror threats to the homeland. ”I know of no discussions with the government in Kabul about reinserting counterterrorism forces inside Afghanistan,” he said. “We have robust counterterrorism capabilities around the world. … There’s not a parcel of earth that we can’t hit if we need to hit it.”Some analysts call such assessments overly optimistic, noting the U.S. has seen only limited success with a so-called whack-a-mole approach.”CT (counterterrorism) efforts without boots on the ground is a losing proposition,” said Bill Roggio, a senior fellow with the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, who has closely studied U.S. efforts in Afghanistan.”You may be able to occasionally kill senior al-Qaida and Islamic State leaders, but successes will be few and far between,” he said. “Jihadists are already based in Afghanistan, and their footprint will grow, and U.S. capabilities decrease.”There are other challenges, as well, including uncertainty about where the U.S. will be able to position counterterrorism assets, such as drones, in case they are needed.”At this time, we have none of those agreements in place,” U.S. Central Command’s McKenzie told lawmakers Tuesday, acknowledging diplomatic discussions are under way with countries in the region to secure necessary permissions.”We’ll look at all the countries in the region,” he said. “Some of them may be very far away.”      
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Young Afghans say they are concerned over the U.S. troop pullout from Afghanistan this year, while calling on the Afghan government and the Taliban to reach a peace agreement. VOA’s Roshan Noorzai reports.  
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Pakistan’s parliament began debating a resolution Tuesday on whether the French ambassador should be ordered to leave the country over the publication of anti-Islam caricatures in France. 
 
The proposed resolution is the outcome of a deal Prime Minister Imran Khan’s government negotiated in overnight talks with leaders of the radical Islamist party Tehreek-e-Labaik Pakistan (TLP) to defuse days of deadly, nationwide anti-France demonstrations.  A supporters of Tehreek-e-Labiak Pakistan, a banned Islamist party, prepares to hurl back a tear gas canister fired by police to disperse protests over the arrest of their party leader Saad Rizvi, in Karachi, Pakistan, Monday, April 19, 2021. The…The TLP has agreed to call off its protests across the country, said Pakistani Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed while sharing details of the understanding. 
 
Ahmed added that all cases registered against activists of the group under anti-terror laws for their involvement in recent violent protests will also be withdrawn. 
 
The government, he said, has also agreed to withdraw last week’s decision outlawing the TLP and to release leaders as well as activists of the group detained during the protests. 
 
Attempts by police to disperse the demonstrations sparked violent clashes, leaving four policemen and six protesters dead. Officials said more than 800 people, mostly law enforcers, were among those injured in the clashes. Supporters of Tehreek-e-Labiak Pakistan, a radical Islamist political party, chant slogans during a protest against the arrest of their party leader, Saad Rizvi, in Lahore, Pakistan, April 15, 2021.The resolution calls for the expulsion of the French envoy and it would be up to the lawmakers to vote in favor or against it. The text of the resolution, however, stressed the (Pakistani) state alone is authorized to deal with foreign policy matters and “no individual, group or party are allowed to exert undue illegal pressure regarding such matters.” “The optics of tabling a resolution calling for the expulsion of the French ambassador are not good for Islamabad, as it’s essentially caving in to the TLP’s core demand,” Michael Kugelman, deputy director of the Asia program at Washington’s Wilson Center, told VOA.  “That said, the Parliament has an opportunity to reject the resolution, and that would be a major victory not just for the government, but also for a state that has repeatedly treated religious hardliners with kid gloves,” Kugelman said.
 
Khan’s ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party holds a simple majority in the legislative house. 
 
The TLP has been agitating and demanding since November that Islamabad expel the French envoy, citing French President Emmanuel Macron’s statement defending media rights in France to republish caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad, an act denounced by Muslims as blasphemous. 
 
The latest protests in Pakistan erupted April 12 after authorities detained TLP chief Saad Rizvi, saying the cleric was planning to lead a march on Islamabad to pressure the government into expelling the French ambassador. 
 
The action angered Rizvi’s supporters, who took to streets across Pakistan, blocking scores of highways and refusing to disperse until the government released their leader. 
 
The government barred local media from covering the protests before ordering a police crackdown to disperse the rallies. The security action cleared almost all sit-ins, but TLP activists continue rallying in Lahore, the capital of eastern Pakistan, where the group is headquartered. 
 
In a televised address to the nation Monday evening, Khan defended the actions against TLP and said the expulsion of the French ambassador would not stop extremists in the West from insulting the Prophet Muhammad. FILE – In this March 16, 2020, file photo, Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan gives an interview to The Associated Press, in Islamabad, Pakistan. 
“It doesn’t make any difference to France. If we keep protesting our whole lives we would only be damaging our own country,” Khan said. He noted that expulsion of the French diplomat would mean cash-starved Pakistan cutting all ties with the European Union, one of the largest destinations for Pakistani textile exports. 
 
Khan again urged Western governments to criminalize any insulting remarks against the Prophet Muhammad and treat offenders the same way they do those who deny the Holocaust. 
 
The Pakistani leader called for all Muslim-majority countries to collectively lobby Western leaders to convince them that insulting the Prophet Muhammad in the name of freedom of speech hurts followers of Islam. 
 
”When 50 Muslim countries in one voice tell them that if something like this happens in any country, we will go for a trade boycott on them and stop buying their goods,” Khan insisted. 
 
The far-right TLP, along with demonstrations against France, has pressured the Pakistani government into not repealing or reforming the country’s harsh blasphemy laws, which critics say often are used to intimidate religious minorities and settle personal disputes. 
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Young Afghans say they are concerned over the U.S. troop pullout from Afghanistan this year, while calling on the Afghan government and the Taliban to reach a peace agreement. VOA’s Roshan Noorzai reports.  
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Pakistan on Monday opened negotiations with radical Islamists after they freed 11 police abducted during week-long anti-blasphemy protests against France in which four officers were killed, the interior minister said.
Most main businesses, markets, shopping malls and public transport services were closed in major cities in response to a strike call by the Tehrik-e-Labaik Pakistan (TLP) and its affiliated groups.
Pakistan’s PSX 100 stock exchange opened 500 points down in the morning though recovered later in the day.
The police officers were abducted during clashes outside TLP headquarters in the eastern city of Lahore, which according to the group also killed its three members.
Photographs of the police officers, with their heads, legs and arms heavily bandaged, were posted on social media by their captors.
“They’ve released the 11 policemen they had held hostage,” Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmad said in a video statement.
He said negotiations with the TLP were under way.
“There have been two rounds of the talks and there will be another later in the evening,” Religious Affairs Minister Noor-ul-Haq Qadri told parliament. “We believe in negotiations and reconciliation to sort out issues.”
The government outlawed the TLP last week after it blocked main highways, railways and access routes to major cities, assaulting police and burning public property. Four police officers were killed and more than 500 wounded.
The violence erupted after the government detained TLP leader Saad Hussain Rizvi ahead of a planned countrywide anti-France campaign to pressure the Islamabad government to expel the French ambassador in response to the publication of cartoons in France last year depicting the Prophet Mohammad.
The TLP has presented four main demands in the talks with the government, officials from both sides said.
They included expulsion of the French ambassador, release of the TLP leader and around 1,400 arrested workers, lifting the ban on the group and the dismissal of the interior minister.
Prime Minister Imran Khan said expelling the French ambassador would only cause damage to Pakistan, and diplomatic engagement between the Muslim world and the West was the only way to resolve disputes.
“When we send the French ambassador back and break relations with them it means we break relations with the European Union,” he said in a televised address. “Half our textile exports go to the EU, so half our textile exports would be gone.”
Relations between Paris and Islamabad have worsened since the end of last year after President Emmanuel Macron paid tribute to a French history teacher who was beheaded by an 18-year-old man of Chechen origin for showing cartoons of the Prophet in a class on freedom of speech.
Protests erupted in several Muslim countries over France’s response to the killing of the teacher. The Prophet cartoons were re-printed elsewhere as well.
At the time, Khan’s government signed a deal promising to present a resolution in parliament by April 20 to seek approval for the expulsion of the French envoy and to endorse a boycott of French products.
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India’s capital, New Delhi, has announced a six-day lockdown as the city’s health system became overwhelmed after a record spike in cases of COVID-19.As India reels under a second wave of the pandemic, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson cancelled a trip to New Delhi scheduled to take place next week.India’s Foreign Ministry said the two sides “will hold a virtual meeting in the coming days to launch plans for a transformed U.K.-India relationship.”New Delhi’s Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said at a virtual press briefing on Monday that there were fewer than 100 critical care beds left in the city’s hospitals and that medical oxygen and key drugs were in short supply.“I don’t say it has collapsed, but every health system has its limits, and if we don’t take tough steps now, it can collapse,” he said announcing the decision to shut down the city till next Monday.Pointing out that the city of 20 million has recorded about 25,000 cases daily in recent days, he said that hospitals are unable to take more patients in big numbers.The Indian capital is not the only one struggling to cope – in other cities too like the country’s financial capital Mumbai – people are scrambling for hospital beds and authorities are flagging shortages of medical oxygen and medicines.A patient with breathing problem is helped by a relative to enter a COVID-19 hospital for treatment in Ahmedabad, India, April 19, 2021.Mumbai has already shut down most industries, businesses, and public places until the end of the month.In recent days, social media platforms have been filled with appeals asking for help to secure beds, medicines, ventilators, and even tests for COVID-19.  The pandemic’s second wave in India is proving far deadlier than the first with daily infections spiking to new record levels in recent days. The nationwide count on Monday was 273,810, taking the country past the 15 million number in total cases.The surge has caught the vast country unprepared. Just weeks ago, authorities were optimistic that the threat posed by the virus was passing. Health Minister Harsh Vardhan said in early March that India was in the “endgame of the pandemic,” as daily infections plummeted.Workers arrange beds at a COVID-19 treatment facility newly set up at an indoor stadium in Gauhati, India, April 19, 2021.But by the start of this month, India was staring at the virus ravaging through the country at a pace not seen during the first wave.Epidemiologists say India let its guard down too soon and was not sufficiently prepared for a second wave or for more infectious variants, which many countries have witnessed.The economy opened fully, packed political rallies have been held as five states went to the polls and one of the world’s biggest religious festivals in the northern city of Haridwar has seen millions turn out daily to take a dip in the Ganges with little heed to COVID-19 protocols of social distancing and masking.Now sprawling cities like New Delhi are scrambling to deal with the fallout. As the Indian capital shuts down, Chief Minister Kejriwal appealed to millions of migrant workers not to worry – a lockdown last year had devastated migrant labor, prompting many to walk hundreds of kilometers to their villages.”I know when lockdowns are announced, daily-wage workers suffer and lose their jobs,” said Kejriwal. “But I appeal to them to not leave Delhi, it’s a short lockdown and we will take care of you.” 
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India’s Health Ministry Monday announced a record 273,810 new COVID cases in the previous 24-hour period. About 1 in 3 people tested for COVID-19 in the Indian capital of New Delhi recently returned a positive result, according to the city’s chief minister Sunday. “The bigger worry is that in last 24 hours positivity rate has increased to around 30% from 24%,” chief minister Arvind Kejriwal told a news briefing Sunday. “The cases are rising very rapidly. The beds are filling fast,” he said. People in Delhi have turned to social media to complain about the lack of oxygen cannisters and the shortages of hospital beds and drugs. With more than 15 million people with the infection, India is second to the U.S. which has 31.6 million infections. Just more than 1% of India’s population has been vaccinated, according to Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center. Cases surge in Iran On Sunday, Iran reported its highest daily death toll from the coronavirus in months, as hospitals in the capital and elsewhere were filling to capacity. Iran’s Health Ministry reported 405 deaths from the virus and confirmed more than 21,000 infections Sunday. The country’s highest single-day death toll was 480 last November. People walk next to closed shops of Tehran Bazaar following the tightening of restrictions to curb the surge of COVID-19 cases, Tehran, Apr. 10, 2021. (Majid Asgaripour/(West Asia News Agency via Reuters)Iran has battled one of the worst outbreaks in the region but has said it cannot sustain long lockdowns to quell the virus for fear of too much economic damage. Iran’s vaccination campaign has been slow, dependent on a range of domestically made vaccines. About one-tenth of 1% of its population has been fully vaccinated, according to Johns Hopkins. Meanwhile Sunday, Israel lifted the requirement that masks be worn outdoors. Nearly 56% of its population is fully vaccinated against the virus, according to Johns Hopkins. The mask mandate remains in place, however, for enclosed spaces. Half US adult population vaccinatedThe United States reported Sunday that just over half of its adult population has received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. FILE – A woman receives the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine at a FEMA vaccination center at Miami Dade College, April 5, 2021.The United States halted use of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine while it investigates rare incidents of blood clots, but Dr. Anthony Fauci, chief medical adviser to President Joe Biden, said he expects use of the shot to resume within a week. “I doubt very seriously if they just cancel it. I don’t think that’s going to happen. I do think that there will likely be some sort of warning or restriction or risk assessment,” Fauci said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” Fauci, former President Barack Obama and several American celebrities appeared Sunday night on “Roll Up Your Sleeves,” a nationally televised special aimed at decreasing vaccine hesitancy in the United States. France to impose quarantinesBeginning April 24, France will require all travelers from Brazil, as well as Argentina, Chile and South Africa, to quarantine for 10 days over concerns of coronavirus variants coming in from those regions, the government announced Saturday. Police is tasked at monitoring arrivals to ensure compliance. Cemetery workers wearing protective gear lower the coffin of a person who died from complications related to COVID-19 into a gravesite at the Vila Formosa cemetery in Sao Paulo, Brazil, April 7, 2021.Brazil had 13.9 million COVID cases as of early Monday, according to Johns Hopkins. Only the U.S. and India have more cases. Flights from Brazil into France will remain suspended until the new rules take effect.  More than 373,000 people have died in Brazil from COVID, according to data from Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center. The U.S. is the only country that has more COVID deaths, at more than 567,000. There have been more than 3 million global deaths from the coronavirus.  
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New Delhi was being put under a weeklong lockdown Monday night as an explosive surge in coronavirus cases pushed the India’s capital’s health system to its limit. Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said in a news conference the national capital was facing shortages of oxygen and some medicine. “I do not say that the system has collapsed, but it has reached its limits,” Kejriwal said, adding that harsh measures were necessary to “prevent a collapse of the health system.” According to India’s health ministry on Monday, Delhi reported 25,462 cases and 161 deaths in the past 24 hours.A health worker takes a nasal swab sample of a man to test for COVID-19 as others wait their turn to get tested at a hospital in Hyderabad, India, April 19, 2021.India overall reported 273,810 new infections on Monday, its highest daily rise since the start of the pandemic and now has reported more than 15 million infections, a total second only to the United States. The Health Ministry also reported 1,619 deaths from COVID-19 in the past 24 hours, pushing the toll over 178,769. India has the fourth highest number of deaths after the U.S., Brazil and Mexico — though, with nearly 1.4 billion people, it has a much larger population than any of those countries. The soaring cases and deaths come just months after India thought it had seen the worst of the pandemic, but experts say even these figures are likely an undercount. Similar virus curbs already have been imposed in the worst-hit state of Maharashtra, home to India’s financial capital, Mumbai. The closure of most industries, businesses and public places Wednesday night is to last 15 days. 
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No one can say with any certainty what will happen in Afghanistan once U.S. President Joe Biden withdraws the remaining 2,500 to 3,500 U.S. troops by September 11 to end the country’s longest war, a top White House official said Sunday.”I can’t make any guarantees about what will happen inside the country. No one can,” White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan told the “Fox News Sunday” show.”All the United States could do is provide the Afghan security forces, the Afghan government and the Afghan people resources and capabilities, training and equipping their forces, providing assistance to their government,” he said. “We have done that and now it is time for American troops to come home and the Afghan people to step up to defend their own country.”Biden’s decision to withdraw the remaining troops has drawn a mixed reaction in Washington. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell called it a grave mistake and “a retreat in the face of an enemy.” Senator Lindsey Graham said it was “dumber than dirt and devilishly dangerous.” Even some Democrats were concerned by the decision, including Senator Robert Menendez, chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, who worried the U.S. may “lost what we were seeking to achieve.”
But other lawmakers say it was long past time for the U.S. to withdraw the troops it sent to Afghanistan to defeat the al-Qaida terrorists who masterminded and carried out the September 11, 2001, attacks in the U.S. that killed nearly 3,000 people. But critics of Biden’s decision to withdraw troops 20 years later say it could lead to creation of a new terrorist haven in Afghanistan.Uncertainty Surrounds US Pullout From AfghanistanPentagon says that planners are still working out the details and a brief surge is possible to ensure a safe, orderly withdrawalAsked in a separate interview on CNN whether the U.S. “won the war” in Afghanistan, Sullivan replied that the U.S. had “achieved its objective” by degrading the presence of al-Qaida and killing al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden in a 2011 mission in Pakistan.He said the U.S. troop withdrawal now was a recognition that the U.S. needs to “focus on the battle of the next 20 years, not the last 20 years.”Sullivan, in the Fox News interview, was asked whether the U.S. was risking a repeat of what happened in Iraq in 2011, where Islamic State militants seized territory after U.S. troops withdrew. Then-President Barack Obama sent troops back into Iraq, but Sullivan said Biden had no intention of sending American forces back to Afghanistan once they are withdrawn.As he announced his decision to withdraw U.S. troops, Biden said the United States would monitor any terrorist threats in Afghanistan and keep substantial assets in the region. “He has no intention of taking our eye off the ball,” Sullivan said. “We have the capacity, from repositioning our capabilities over the horizon, to continue to suppress the terrorist threat in Afghanistan.”But CIA Director William Burns told the Senate Intelligence Committee last week that with the departure of U.S. troops, America’s ability to collect intelligence and act against extremist threats in Afghanistan will be diminished.A United Nations report in January said there were as many as 500 al-Qaida fighters in Afghanistan.
 
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Clashes between a recently banned Islamist party and police in Pakistan’s second-largest city, Lahore, reportedly left at least two people dead and scores of others wounded Sunday.Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) was demanding that Pakistan expel the French ambassador over the French president’s remarks defending freedom of expression regarding caricatures of Islam’s Prophet Muhammad. Police from Punjab province said Sunday’s action was in response to the TLP attacking a police station, trapping officers and Rangers, members of a paramilitary force, inside, kidnapping a senior police officer, and stealing an oil tanker containing 50,000 liters of fuel.  “The miscreants were armed and attacked Rangers/Police with patrol bombs,” a tweet from Punjab police’s official Twitter handle said. The entire episode unfolded on social media as the mainstream news outlets, especially the country’s dozens of 24/7 television channels, were ordered not to report it. “Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority banned coverage of TLP,” tweeted senior journalist Hamir Mir, the anchor of a prime-time current affairs show on Pakistani Geo News TV channel.  Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority banned coverage of TLP TV channels are not covering the operation against TLP in Lahore but all information and videos are available on social media so PEMRA ban is now useless media will lose its credibility https://t.co/5Yi0ozVjhL
— Hamid Mir (@HamidMirPAK) FILE – The coffin of slain teacher Samuel Paty is carried away in the courtyard of the Sorbonne university during a national memorial event, Oct. 21, 2020 in Paris.The incident came days after Paty showed his class controversial cartoons depicting the Prophet in a discussion on freedom of expression. The cartoons had been published in satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, which came under a terrorist attack in January 2015. Many Muslims considered the images blasphemous. The October incident took place less than a month after a Pakistani immigrant stabbed two people outside Charlie Hebdo’s old Paris headquarters. In both cases, the suspects appeared to retaliate against the publication of the cartoons, which originally inspired the 2015 attack. French President Emmanuel Macron called Paty a hero and vowed to defend the country’s liberal values and freedom of expression, including the right to mock religion. His statement caused an uproar in parts of the Muslim world, including Pakistan, where the TLP led the charge in demanding Pakistan boycott French products and sever diplomatic ties with the country. After banning the TLP in his country, Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan Saturday demanded the Western nations criminalize insulting Islam’s prophet in the same way that some countries make it a crime to deny the Holocaust occurred.    Those in the West, incl extreme right politicians, who deliberately indulge in such abuse & hate under guise of freedom of speech clearly lack moral sense & courage to apologise to the 1.3 bn Muslims for causing this hurt. We demand an apology from these extremists.
— Imran Khan (@ImranKhanPTI) April 17, 2021 
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For a second time since the COVID-19 pandemic began, rural migrants in India are packing buses and trains to head back to their villages as cities such as Delhi and Mumbai reimpose restrictions to control an unprecedented surge in infections. Just months ago, millions of migrant workers had returned from their villages to pick up work in factories, restaurants and markets that had begun humming again after a stringent nationwide lockdown imposed in March of last year. Once again, though, they have been hit with widespread job losses amid the new round of curbs in cities as India reels under a second wave of the pandemic. After returning to New Delhi in November from his village in India’s northern Uttar Pradesh state, Ashish Kumar found a job at a garment export factory, but he was laid off last month as his company did not get sufficient orders. His hopes of finding other employment receded as businesses slumped again amid a massive surge in infections. Fearful of a strict lockdown that had abruptly shut off transport and forced migrants to walk hundreds of kilometers home or stay shut in, in tiny city tenements last year, Kumar took no chances. Last week, he returned to his village. “I could not risk what happened last time. I was stranded in Delhi for two months and had to take out a 25,000 rupee [about $350] loan to buy food and pay rent,” a dispirited Kumar said. “I had barely repaid half of it when I lost my job again.”  “There is no way to make a living in the village, but at least I don’t have to pay rent,” he said.    A hospital staff tries to calm down an impatient crowd during the registration process for getting tested for COVID-19 at a government hospital in Noida, a suburb of New Delhi, India, April 13, 2021.In recent days, daily infections in India have gone past the 200,000 mark — the highest in the world and more than double the numbers counted at the peak of the first wave last September. On Sunday, the health ministry reported 261,394 cases, a record for a spike in a day.  Cities such as Delhi and Mumbai, home to millions of rural migrants, are the worst-hit.    The pendulum has swung completely since the start of the year, when plummeting cases triggered optimism the pandemic had waned in India and hopes rose that the economy, battered by a long lockdown, was getting back on its feet. Its megacities wore a look of normalcy as customers flocked to malls and restaurants, people packed holiday destinations and businesses saw a revival.    Those cities have now again fallen quiet. Delhi has imposed a night and weekend curfew through the end of the month. Mumbai has closed down most industries and markets, and halted construction activity.    FILE – Migrant laborers wearing masks as a precaution against the coronavirus wait for transportation in Jammu, India, April 16, 2021.Poonam Singh, who spoke with VOA last year after he was stranded in Mumbai, rushed to take a bus to his village in northern Rajasthan state 10 days ago after authorities began warning of strict measures to control soaring infections. He had returned from his rural home three months ago to work at a diamond processing unit. A train ride would have been cheaper, but he could not get a ticket amid the rush by migrants’ home.   “I was worried when talk of a lockdown started. Last time we had to pay 30,000 rupees to a taxi to bring five others and me and five others back,” said Singh, who spent six weeks in a tiny room with three others with little money to buy food.   About 100 million rural migrants work in India’s populous cities in the country’s vast informal sector.    “The past year has been an unprecedented ordeal in the history of migrant labor. Work was not easily available or the number of working days each worker managed to get reduced, so earnings dropped. That has been the perpetual issue since COVID hit,” according to Anhad Imaan, at Aajeevika Bureau, a nonprofit that works with migrant labor in three Western cities — Mumbai, Surat and Ahmedabad, whose thriving industries have long been a magnet for migrant workers from poorer states in the north.    Imaan said his organization doesn’t, know the scale of the exodus yet, but migrants face a tough choice with the pandemic’s resurgence. “If they go back, there is nothing in the villages. If they stay, they don’t know what is going to close, for how long and how it will impact their work,” he said.   FILE – Impoverished Indians stand in queues to receive free food in Hyderabad, India, March 27, 2020.The number of poor people in India or those living on less than $2 a day is estimated to have increased by 75 million because of the COVID-19 recession, according to a recent analysis by Pew Research Center. That accounts for almost 60% of the global increase in poverty, according to the study.    Raghav Malhotra of Aajeevika Bureau, who works among migrants employed by small manufacturers in Mumbai said distress is widespread. “A lot of people were just about recovering from last year when the restrictions began shutting down businesses again,” he said. “Even those who have stayed back in cities and not returned to their villages are languishing without any work.”   He said government relief measures for the poor remain a severe problem for migrants. “These cater to domicile workers. Those who don’t have identity papers in the city cannot take advantage of subsidized food announced by the local authorities,” Malhotra said.    The economic hardship is being exacerbated by fears that the migrants could carry the virus to their rural homes, where a creaky health infrastructure is not equipped to cope with the pandemic.  
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Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan is urging Western governments to criminalize any insulting remarks against Islam’s Prophet Muhammad and treat offenders the same way they do those who deny the Holocaust.Khan spoke Saturday after violent nationwide protests this week by a radical Islamist party demanding expulsion of the French ambassador over the publication of cartoons in France depicting the prophet, an act condemned as blasphemous.Khan tweeted: “Those in the West, incl extreme right politicians, who deliberately indulge in such abuse & hate under guise of freedom of speech clearly lack moral sense & courage to apologize to the 1.3 bn Muslims for causing this hurt.”He also called on Western governments that have outlawed negative comments about the Holocaust “to use the same standards to penalize those deliberately spreading their message of hate against Muslims by abusing our Prophet.”I also call on Western govts who have outlawed any negative comment on the holocaust to use the same standards to penalise those deliberately spreading their message of hate against Muslims by abusing our Prophet PBUH.— Imran Khan (@ImranKhanPTI) FILE – A supporter of the Tehreek-i-Labaik Pakistan Islamist political party hurls stones toward police during a protest against the arrest of its leader in Lahore, Pakistan, April 13, 2021.Khan on Saturday defended the ban on TLP and vehemently dismissed suggestions the move had stemmed from international pressure on Pakistan.“Let me make clear to people here & abroad: Our govt only took action against TLP under our anti-terrorist law when they challenged the writ of the state and used street violence & attacking the public & law enforcers,” the prime minister wrote on Twitter. “No one can be above the law and the Constitution.”TLP leaders have recently organized several major street protests, disrupting routine life and business in the country.Along with demonstrations against France, the extremist group has pressured the Pakistani government into not repealing or reforming the country’s harsh blasphemy laws, which critics say often are used to intimidate religious minorities and settle personal disputes.French urged to leaveOn Thursday, France advised citizens and companies to temporarily leave Pakistan, citing “serious threats to French interests” in the South Asian nation.Most of the French nationals are said to have ignored the advisory, however, and have chosen to stay in Pakistan, the AFP news agency reported Saturday.Pakistani officials insisted there were no safety concerns for foreign nationals in the country.“We are aware of the advice, which appears to be based on their own assessment of the situation,” Pakistani Foreign Ministry spokesman Zahid Hafeez Chaudhri said. “For its part, the government is taking enhanced measures for the maintenance of law and order and preventing any damage to life and property.”
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Britain’s interior ministry said Friday it had approved the extradition of fugitive Indian jeweler Nirav Modi to his homeland, where he is accused of defrauding one of the largest banks of $1.8 billion.Modi, dubbed a jeweler to the stars thanks to celebrity customers in Hollywood and Bollywood, lost his legal bid to avoid extradition from the UK in February.He fled India in February 2018 after being accused of having a central role in defrauding Punjab National Bank, one of India’s largest lenders, of $1.8 billion.Interior minister Priti Patel had two months to approve his extradition, which was ordered by district judge Sam Goozee following two years of court hearings.Goozee ruled there was enough evidence to suggest there was a criminal case against Modi in India.”On 25 February the district judge gave judgment in the extradition case of Nirav Modi. The extradition order was signed on April 15,” a spokesperson for the interior ministry said in a short statement.Modi has 14 days to begin an appeal of Patel’s decision.Before the alleged fraud which rocked corporate India, Forbes magazine estimated his wealth at $1.73 billion, placing him 85th on India’s rich list.He was arrested in London in March 2019 and has been held in prison on remand while his case has been litigated.The 49-year-old is also accused of money laundering as well as witness intimidation and destroying evidence.In his February ruling Goozee dismissed submissions from his legal team that he would not be treated fairly in India and said there was not enough evidence from doctors to believe he was a suicide risk.
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Police in Indian-controlled Kashmir said Friday that they arrested one of their own officers and dismissed her for obstructing a counterinsurgency operation in the disputed region.The officer livestreamed a cordon and search operation by government forces in southern Frisal village on Wednesday “with the intent of disrupting the search operation,” police said in a statement.In the video, which went viral on social media, the woman was seen shouting: “This is our Kashmir” while hurling invectives at the raiding troops.The statement said the officer “resisted the search party,” turned violent and made statements “glorifying violent actions of terrorists.”The officer was arrested and fired, the statement said. She was charged under India’s main counter-terrorism law.The dismissed officer was a Special Police Officer. Such officials are lower-ranked police recruited mainly for counterinsurgency operations.Indian law enforcement officers repeatedly have been implicated in helping Kashmiri rebels, who for decades have waged an armed campaign demanding independence for their Himalayan region or a merger with neighboring Pakistan, which administers a part of Kashmir.India and Pakistan both claim all of the divided, Muslim-majority territory of Kashmir, a conflict that has persisted since the two countries won independence from the British in the late 1940s.Kashmiri police are caught in the middle, often seen as traitors by their own neighbors and viewed suspiciously by higher Indian officers.When the latest armed insurgency began in 1989, police initially fought against it. But after the rebels began targeting their families, many abandoned the task, staying at their posts and barracks. Some sympathize with the rebels, who have massive public support and dozens have joined rebel ranks, rising to become militant commanders.In several cases, the officials were accused of having ties with rebels. In 1992, two policemen and a paramilitary soldier were arrested for allegedly helping rebels bomb Srinagar’s police headquarters in an attack that killed one officer and injured several others.In response, India set up a police counterinsurgency network that is widely feared and accused by many Kashmiris and human rights groups of abuses such as summary executions, torture, kidnappings and rape. It was those actions the officer may have been protesting when she livestreamed the raid on Wednesday.Police said they are investigating if the woman has links with rebels.Rights activists have called the the counter-terrorism law the officer was charged under draconian. The law was amended in 2019 to allow the government to designate an individual as a terrorist and for police to detain them for six months at a stretch without producing any evidence.Meanwhile, U.N. human rights experts have made public a communication to the Indian government in which they express concern over rights of people in Kashmir after New Delhi stripped the region’s semiautonomous status in 2019 and imposed a slew of administrative changes through new laws.Five experts for the Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights in a communication sent in February and made public after a mandatory 60 days expressed “grave concern that the loss of political autonomy” and the implementation of new legislation may change the demographic composition of the region.Such steps, the experts said, can “result in political disenfranchisement, and significantly reduce the degree of political participation and representation” of the natives.In August 2019 amid a harsh crackdown, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist-led government stripped Kashmir of its statehood, scrapped its separate constitution and removed inherited protections on land and jobs. It divided and downgraded the region to a federally governed territory.Since then, many new laws have been enacted, including a new domicile law, which critics say is the beginning of a colonialization by Hindu Indian settlers aimed at engineering a demographic change in the region.
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“How can we cope with this?” That was Patrick Bury’s thought after attending his first in-country briefing in 2008 at the headquarters of British forces in Afghanistan’s Helmand province.
 
Then a second lieutenant in the Royal Irish Regiment, Bury wrote in a subsequent memoir that he was left reeling by the three-hour briefing. “The situation is so complicated, there are so many tribal, cultural, political, religious and military dynamics, that I am overwhelmed,” he noted.
 
He added: “It seems that we soldiers, primarily trained to fight conventional wars, need to be friendly police, social workers, government representatives, aid workers, bomb detectors, engineers, killers, medics …the list is as endless as the problems we face.”   
 
The announcement this week by U.S. President Joe Biden that he intends to withdraw all American armed forces from Afghanistan has brought back the war memories for Bury and other British war veterans, and the American leader’s decision is drawing mixed reactions, with some questioning the whole mission, others saying it was worth the effort.   
 
President Biden said this week that it was time to end America’s “forever war” in Afghanistan.  
 
The drawdown will be completed on September 11, the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 terror attacks, which triggered the U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan. Britain says it will work in tandem with the U.S. and withdraw its remaining 700 troops. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg says the alliance will withdraw about 7,000 military personnel from the country.
 
Britain sent forces to Afghanistan to contribute to the U.S.-led mission to root out al-Qaida and to prevent future terrorist attacks against the West being planned from Afghanistan, say British officials. At the height of the Afghan war, NATO had more than 130,000 troops from 50 nations deployed in Afghanistan.  About 9,500 of those were British.
 
Bury thinks the effort in retrospect was a “noble” one, despite the doubts he harbored while serving there when he struggled with the question of whether it was a country worth saving. “It is a deeply, deeply fragmented and troubled society, even if you can call it that,” he says. “The idea we could fix it was unrealistic. It is beyond the power of the West,” he adds.
 
Now an academic at Britain’s University of Bath, he told VOA that the announcement brought back memories of “what we went through.” Above all he thinks about the Afghans who he encountered during his tour. “I do remember the Afghan people and the kids especially, and the ones we tried to help.” And he is left wondering: “How are the cadets we trained, and the soldiers we worked with, and the decent people going to get on?”FILE – British troops prepare to depart upon the end of operations for U.S. Marines and British combat troops in Helmand, Afghanistan, Oct. 27, 2014.He adds: “But now, you know, you have to move on. Unless you want to go and live there, you have to let it go.” He accepts it is time for Western forces to leave. “You have to draw a line at some point, don’t you? Otherwise, it would just go on forever. There is never a perfect moment,” he says.
Bury’s reaction to the withdrawal announcement is echoed by other British veterans, including Colonel Hamish de Bretton-Gordon, a former British Army commander who specializes in chemical and biological warfare.  
 
“I think it is probably correct as the greatest threat to the UK is jihadists in Syria and Iraq and our focus should be there,” he told VOA. “Like many military people I’ve lost friends and colleagues in Afghanistan and it’s a sad time but we must focus where the threat is highest now,” he says.  
 
He worries, though, that the Afghanistan experience is leading Western leaders to draw the wrong conclusions about Western interventions. “It appears that politicians are unwilling to get involved in Syria and Iraq and this would be an error in my opinion,” he says.
 
“It’s the Afghan interpreters and soldiers who I fought and patrolled alongside who I’ll be thinking of in the coming months …whose livelihoods and families will be at risk,” Robert Clark, another British veteran tweeted. Clark, now a research fellow at Britain’s Henry Jackson Society, a London-based think tank, fears the gains made in the past 20 years by the Western intervention in Afghanistan likely will be undone when the allies withdraw in September.
 
He is not alone in forecasting the Taliban will be quick to exploit the weakness of Afghanistan’s government.  
 
Toby Harnden, author of the book Dead Men Risen: The Welsh Guards and the Defining Story of Britain’s War in Afghanistan, says many British veterans believe this “withdrawal will lead to further bloodshed in Afghanistan, and the deaths of brave Afghans who worked with the U.S. and NATO forces.” That in turn is prompting a “sadness and a questioning of what all the sacrifices were for,” he told VOA.
 
“There’s also a fear that by leaving no residual force, there will be a vacuum that could be filled by al-Qaida and eventually lead to attacks on the U.S. — the very thing the invasion after 9/11 was designed to stop,” he says. “Soldiers have not forgotten how the hasty withdrawal from Iraq in 2011 led to the rise of ISIS,” he adds.  
 
He and others are predicting that the U.S. and Britain will still be involved, by drone strikes and special forces, after September, especially if there are signs of an al-Qaida resurgence. “You can bet good money, they’ll get walloped,” says Bury.  
 
The Afghanistan campaign claimed the lives of 454 British servicemen. Several British veterans mentioned to VOA that on Saturday they will watch the funeral of Britain’s Prince Philip and it is lost on them that the “Last Post” bugle call for the queen’s husband will be sounded by Sergeant Jamie Ritchie. The 31-year-old Ritchie performed the Last Post for fallen comrades during his four-month tour of Afghanistan.
 
And as the Last Post sounds Saturday at Windsor Castle, they say, they will remember their fallen friends.
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A study released Friday estimates the two-decade-long war in Afghanistan has killed 241,000 people, including Americans, and cost the United States $2.26 trillion to date.
 
The Costs of War Project, housed at Brown University’s Watson Institute and Boston University’s Pardee Center, noted in its report that the financial cost included both Afghan operations and those in neighboring Pakistan.
 
President Joe Biden announced on Wednesday that all U.S. troops will leave Afghanistan by September 11, the 20th anniversary of the attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon, saying “it is time to end the forever war.” The drawdown of around 3,000 remaining troops from the country, Biden said, would begin on May 1.
 
“The Costs of War Project also estimates that 241,000 people have died as a direct result of this war. This includes at least 71,344 civilians; 2,442 American service members; 78,314 Afghan military and police; and 84,191 opposition fighters,” the report said.
 
It noted that the numbers are approximations based on the reporting of several data sources.
 
“These horrific numbers are testament to the costs of war, first to the Afghan people, and then to the soldiers and people of the United States. Ending the war as soon as possible is the only rational and humane thing to do,” said Catherine Lutz, co-director of Costs of War and professor at Brown University.
 
Neta Crawford, the project’s lead researcher and professor at Boston University, described as “the tip of the iceberg” the U.S. Department of Defense spending of more than $900 billion in Afghanistan.FILE – U.S. troops patrol at an Afghan National Army base in Logar province, Afghanistan, Aug. 7, 2018.The rest of the money, according to the report, includes an increase of $443 billion in the Pentagon’s base budget to support the war, $296 billion to care for veterans, $530 billion to cover the interest on the money borrowed to fund the military deployments in the South Asian nation, and $59 billion in overseas contingency funds.“The costs of the Afghanistan war include its escalation into Pakistan, millions of refugees and displaced persons, the toll in lives of combatants and non-combatants, and the need to care for America’s veterans,” Crawford noted.
 
Pakistan, which joined the U.S.-led military invasion of Afghanistan in 2001, conducted military operations to secure its side of the nearly 2,600-kilometer largely porous border in support of actions by international troops on the Afghan side.
 
Washington reimbursed Islamabad for the financial costs Pakistani operations incurred from a Coalition Support Fund set up for the purpose.
 
The Costs of War Project noted that the total estimated $2.26 trillion does not include funds that the U.S. government is obligated to spend on lifetime care for American veterans of the Afghan war, nor does it include future interest payments on money borrowed to fund the war.
 
A more comprehensive accounting is yet to be completed, the report said. It would include not just money that may or may not have been well spent, but the count of those wounded, those who lost limbs, and the psychological toll of decades of war on combatants and non-combatants and their families.
 
Stephanie Savell, the project’s co-director and senior research associate, replied in affirmative when asked by VOA whether their researchers had spoken to relevant U.S. administration departments while conducting the study.
 
“We have spoken with representatives of the administration about this, yes,” Savell said. “Our total number includes the DOD OCO budget (the figure the Pentagon uses to estimate total war costs), but also other ledger items like care for vets, interest on war borrowing, and increases to the Pentagon’s base budget due to war,” she explained in a written reply.
 
The Costs of War Project was launched 10 years ago by a group of scholars and experts to document the “unacknowledged costs” of the post-9/11 wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, and elsewhere, said Friday’s release.
 
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When word gets out of a gunfight between security forces and separatists in Indian-controlled Kashmir, the media are quick to respond. “All it takes is a call from sources,” said Qisar Mir, a photojournalist in the state’s Pulwama district. “The moment I get a confirmation, be it any time and weather, I have to immediately rush to the spot and cover the gunfight.” But that could change after the police chief in India-controlled Kashmir told media to stay clear of clashes, citing safety and national security risks. Police are seen in India-controlled Kashmir, in this undated photo by photojournalist Qisar Mir.The ban centers on coverage of what is known as a “police encounter” — a gunfight between regional police or armed forces and separatist militants. Some FILE – An Indian police officer detains a demonstrator during a protest after Friday prayers in Srinagar, March 5, 2021.Several restrictions and media laws have been introduced in the India-controlled region since Prime Minister Narendra Modi rescinded Article 370 in 2019, which granted autonomy to the disputed territory. Reporters risk arbitrary arrest, fines, harassment or beatings. Authorities cite national security risks or inciting of militant groups as the reason for the laws, internet bans, or arrests. The region is often the site of clashes between Indian forces and militants, who want a separate state for the Muslim-majority region. But media rights groups say authorities should not be trying to control coverage. Gunfights in a conflict zone are a matter of public interest and police should not dictate what reporters can or cannot report on, said Aliya Iftikhar, senior Asia research at the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists. The police chief’s remarks are “yet another attempt to control the narrative around Kashmir and the press,” Iftikhar told VOA. Mohammad, of the Kashmir Press Club, said that covering the news live is important in helping stem the flow of false rumors and unverified information, which has potential to trigger chaos in Kashmir. “The government has been insisting that Kashmir is being projected falsely by media and this new advisory will further aggravate that position in the face of lack of credible and authentic information,” Mohammad said. His point has been echoed by other prominent journalists in the region, including Anuradha Bhasin, executive editor of the Kashmir Times. “Journalists cover encounters for facts, information (vital in a democracy). It is a call to duty. Stop ‘interfering’ in that!” Bhasin tweeted.Journalists cover encounters for facts, information (vital in a democracy). It is a call to duty. Stop ‘interfering’ in that! (Is there one incident where live coverage jeopardised security? Encounters: Jammu and Kashmir police ban live coverage https://t.co/pZWbb15Qd5— Anuradha Bhasin (@AnuradhaBhasin_) April 8, 2021Journalists covering unrest or police responses in many Kashmiri districts already face obstacles, with many saying they are harassed regularly by security forces. In some cases, police order them to hand over footage or confiscate equipment. In March, photojournalist Mir, who contributes to the regional network TV9 Bharatvarsh, was harassed while covering a clash in Kakapora, Pulwama. Police pointed a pellet gun at the journalist and another kicked and chased Mir.One pointed a pellet gun and another kicked a local photographer @QisarMirafter chasing us away while covering clashes near the gunfight site in Pulwama today. Everyday story of a journalist in #Kashmir.@CPJAsia@RSF_inter#JournalismIsNotACrimeVideo:Syed shahriyar pic.twitter.com/nt1w84GuZX— Syed Shahriyar (@shahriyarsyed1) April 2, 2021The police announcement has prompted 12 journalism organizations to issue a statement asking Inspector General Kumar to clarify his comments. “If this is a part of the official policy of police, then it appears to be a tactic to coerce journalists into not reporting facts on the ground,” read the statement signed by the Kashmir’s editor’s guild, press club and other groups. “It also seems to be a part of the string of measures taken by the authorities to suppress freedom of press in the region.” 
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The COVID-19 vaccine could become an annual injection, like the flu shot, according to the head of a pharmaceutical giant and the chief science officer of the U.S. pandemic response.Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla said during a pre-recorded conversation hosted by CVS Heath Corporation that “The Covid virus looks more like the influenza virus than the polio virus.” The polio shot is generally a childhood inoculation, while the flu shot is administered every year.More research is needed, Bourla said, but the “likely scenario” will be a third dose of the current shots “somewhere between six and 12 months, and from there it would be an annual re-vaccination.”Similarly, David Kessler, working with the White House COVID response, told lawmakers Thursday at a House subcommittee hearing the U.S. should plan for COVID booster shots.Kessler said the Biden administration is still “studying the durability of the antibody response,” following vaccinations, but “I think we should expect that we may have to boost.” A healthcare worker in personal protective equipment collects a swab sample from a woman, amidst the spread of the coronavirus disease, at a railway station in Mumbai, India, April 16, 2021.Health officials in India said they counted more than 200,000 new COVID-19 cases Thursday, an all-time daily high for the South Asian nation.The surge in cases has India scrambling to find hospital beds and oxygen. The escalating tally has also forced India, a major vaccine producer, to delay global shipments of COVID vaccines and instead redirect them for use at home.New Delhi health official S.K. Sarin, told the Associated Press that the case surge is “alarming.”Some public health officials also say they believe a Hindu festival at which hundreds of worshippers bathed in the Ganges, as well as recent political rallies, may have contributed to the landmark surge.Over 30% of US Adults Fully Vaccinated, CDC Says 64% of seniors are fully vaccinated for COVID-19More than 30% of U.S. adults, about 78.5 million, are fully vaccinated for COVID-19, according to new data released by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.The CDC said 48% of adults have received at least one dose of the vaccine, as have 80% of seniors, who are the most vulnerable to the harmful effects of the virus. Sixty-four percent of seniors are fully vaccinated.The CDC also reported about 5,800 so-called breakthrough cases of people who have been vaccinated but still contracted the virus.”All of the available vaccines have been proven effective at preventing severe illness, hospitalizations and deaths,” the agency said in a statement. “However, [as] with other vaccines, we expect thousands of vaccine breakthrough cases will occur, even though the vaccine is working as expected.”The CDC data come amid a temporary halt in administering the Johnson & Johnson vaccine.An independent panel of U.S. health experts is delaying a final decision about Johnson & Johnson’s single-dose COVID-19 vaccine as they get more information about the vaccine and possible links to a rare but dangerous blood clot.The CDC’s immunization advisory committee held an emergency meeting Wednesday, one day after the CDC and the Food and Drug Administration issued a joint statement recommending a pause after six women between 18 and 48 years of age developed blood clots known as cerebral venous sinus thrombosis within six to 13 days after being inoculated. One of the women died, while another has been hospitalized in critical condition.The six cases are among more than 7 million Johnson & Johnson inoculations nationwide.Decision on Fate of Johnson & Johnson Vaccine Delayed by US Advisory Panel Use of single-shot vaccine halted after reports of possible link to rare but potentially dangerous blood clotsDr. Beth Bell, a global health expert at the University of Washington, was one of the members who argued in favor of gaining more information. But Bell called the blood-clotting incidents “a very rare event” and insisted she didn’t want to send a message “that there is something fundamentally wrong with this vaccine.”But the reports prompted the U.S. pharmaceutical giant Tuesday to announce it was delaying rollout of the vaccine in Europe, where vaccination efforts have been plagued by a shortage of vaccines and logistical problems, as well as the troubled rollout of the AstraZeneca vaccine, which has also been linked to cases of rare blood clots.Both the AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson vaccines were developed by using so-called adenoviruses to carry DNA into human cells that generates the body’s immune system to ward off the coronavirus.The issues with the AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson vaccines led the European Union to announce Wednesday that 50 million doses of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine that it was initially slated to receive by the end of the year will be delivered by June, adding to the 200 million doses it was already expecting to receive by then.Despite the problems, there was some good news in Europe.COVID-19 cases are declining among Europeans 80 and older, and death rates in the age group are at the lowest level since the pandemic began, according to a World Health Organization official.Speaking Thursday during a virtual news briefing in Athens, WHO Regional Director for Europe Hans Kluge credited the improving trend to vaccination programs across the continent, which prioritized the elderly.But Kluge said that was the only silver lining to the otherwise serious COVID-19 situation facing Europe. He said the region is averaging 1.6 million new cases a week and more than 9,500 new cases per hour. Last week, Europe surpassed 1 million deaths since the pandemic began.The world is nearing 3 million deaths from COVID-19 out of 138.8 million confirmed total cases, according to the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center. Many nations are seeing a new surge of the virus, which is throwing doubt and confusion over numerous planned events, including the upcoming Tokyo Olympics.Toshihiro Nikai, secretary-general of Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party, said Thursday during a televised interview the Olympics should be canceled if the current wave of new infections grows out of control. His remarks came 99 days before the July 23 opening ceremony.With Tokyo and other parts of Japan under a state of emergency to quell a surge of new infections, public opinion polls show an overwhelming majority of Japanese believe the games should be postponed again or canceled.
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Pakistan temporarily blocked access to all social media platforms Friday amid a crackdown on a radical Islamist party leading recent nationwide violent demonstrations against France over the publication of anti-Islam cartoons in a French magazine. The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority confirmed blocking Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, WhatsApp, TikTok, and Telegram on orders from Pakistan’s Interior Ministry. The suspension lasted four hours, with the PTA saying the action was taken. “to maintain public order and safety.” The media shut down came as police in the eastern city of Lahore prepared to clear a large ongoing demonstration by the radical Islamist party Tehreek-i-Labaik Pakistan, a day after the government declared the party a banned group under the country’s anti-terrorism laws.Thousands of TLP activists had taken to the streets across major Pakistani cities Monday to protest the arrest of their leader, Saad Rizvi. The protesters blocked key highways, causing traffic jams, paralyzing business and routine life for three days in Pakistan. Supporters of Tehreek-e-Labiak Pakistan, a radical Islamist political party, chant slogans during a protest against the arrest of their party leader, Saad Rizvi, in Lahore, Pakistan, April 15, 2021.The extremist Islamist party has been demanding that Islamabad expel the French ambassador over the publishing of cartoons in France depicting Islam’s Prophet Mohammad, an act condemned as blasphemous. Police attempted to disperse the protesters, prompting violent clashes. Officials said assaults on law enforcement personnel killed two officers and wounded 580 others, many of them seriously. Three demonstrations also died in the clashes.  Angry protesters in other parts of the country inflicted damage on private and public property and disrupted the much-need supply of oxygen to hospitals at a time when Pakistan is in the grip of a third COVID-19 wave and thousands of patients contracting the pandemic are admitted in intensive care units. Pakistan Islamists Clash With Police, Killing 4 Members of radical Tehrik-i-Labaik Pakistan, or TLP, were in the streets of major cities Monday after authorities in Lahore detained their leader, Saad Rizvi The unprecedented attacks against police prompted the Pakistani government to swiftly outlaw TLP for indulging in terrorist attacks again the state. Pakistani authorities said Thursday police and paramilitary forces had dispersed the demonstrators in all areas, but not in Lahore, where the TLP is headquartered.The violence prompted France to advise hundreds of its citizens and companies on Thursday to temporarily leave Pakistan, citing “serious threats to French interests” in the South Asian nation.France Advises Citizens to Leave Pakistan for Security ReasonsMove follows violent protests by activists of radical Islamist party, which has been demanding that Islamabad expel French ambassador over publishing of anti-Islam cartoons in FrancePakistani Foreign Ministry spokesman Zahid Hafeez Chaudhri, responding to the French advisory told VOA the government was taking steps to improve the situation.“We are aware of the advice, which appears to be based on their own assessment of the situation. For its part, the government is taking enhanced measures for the maintenance of law and order and preventing any damage to life and property,” Chaudhri said.Pakistani Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed defended the arrest of the TLP chief, saying Rizvi was planning to lead a march on Islamabad to besiege the capital in connection with the TLP’s demand for the expulsion of the French ambassador.Ahmed dismissed the demand as illegitimate, saying entities like the TLP cannot be allowed to dictate terms to the Pakistani state. The TLP has risen to prominence in Pakistan in recent years. Along with demonstrations against France, the party has pressured the Pakistani government into not repealing or reforming the country’s harsh blasphemy laws, which critics say often are used to intimidate religious minorities and settle personal disputes.
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Health officials in India said they counted more than 200,000 new COVID-19 cases Thursday, an all-time daily high for the South Asian nation.The surge in cases has India scrambling to find hospital beds and oxygen. The escalating tally has also forced India, a major vaccine producer, to delay global shipments of COVID vaccines and instead redirect them for use at home.New Delhi health official S.K. Sarin, told the Associated Press that the case surge is “alarming.”Some public health officials also say they believe a Hindu festival at which hundreds of worshippers bathed in the Ganges, as well as recent political rallies, may have contributed to the landmark surge.More than 30% of U.S. adults, about 78.5 million, are fully vaccinated for COVID-19, according to new data released by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.The CDC said 48% of adults have received at least one dose of the vaccine, as have 80% of seniors, who are the most vulnerable to the harmful effects of the virus. Sixty-four percent of seniors are fully vaccinated.The CDC also reported about 5,800 so-called breakthrough cases of people who have been vaccinated but still contracted the virus.”All of the available vaccines have been proven effective at preventing severe illness, hospitalizations and deaths,” the agency said in a statement. “However, [as] with other vaccines, we expect thousands of vaccine breakthrough cases will occur, even though the vaccine is working as expected.”The CDC data come amid a temporary halt in administering the Johnson & Johnson vaccine.An independent panel of U.S. health experts is delaying a final decision about Johnson & Johnson’s single-dose COVID-19 vaccine as they get more information about the vaccine and possible links to a rare but dangerous blood clot.The CDC’s immunization advisory committee held an emergency meeting Wednesday, one day after the CDC and the Food and Drug Administration issued a joint statement recommending a pause after six women between 18 and 48 years of age developed blood clots known as cerebral venous sinus thrombosis within six to 13 days after being inoculated. One of the women died, while another has been hospitalized in critical condition.The six cases are among more than 7 million Johnson & Johnson inoculations nationwide.Dr. Beth Bell, a global health expert at the University of Washington, was one of the members who argued in favor of gaining more information. But Bell called the blood-clotting incidents “a very rare event” and insisted she didn’t want to send a message “that there is something fundamentally wrong with this vaccine.”But the reports prompted the U.S. pharmaceutical giant Tuesday to announce it was delaying rollout of the vaccine in Europe, where vaccination efforts have been plagued by a shortage of vaccines and logistical problems, as well as the troubled rollout of the AstraZeneca vaccine, which has also been linked to cases of rare blood clots.Both the AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson vaccines were developed by using so-called adenoviruses to carry DNA into human cells that generates the body’s immune system to ward off the coronavirus.The issues with the AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson vaccines led the European Union to announce Wednesday that 50 million doses of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine that it was initially slated to receive by the end of the year will be delivered by June, adding to the 200 million doses it was already expecting to receive by then.Despite the problems, there was some good news in Europe.COVID-19 cases are declining among Europeans 80 and older, and death rates in the age group are at the lowest level since the pandemic began, according to a World Health Organization official.Speaking Thursday during a virtual news briefing in Athens, WHO Regional Director for Europe Hans Kluge credited the improving trend to vaccination programs across the continent, which prioritized the elderly.But Kluge said that was the only silver lining to the otherwise serious COVID-19 situation facing Europe. He said the region is averaging 1.6 million new cases a week and more than 9,500 new cases per hour. Last week, Europe surpassed 1 million deaths since the pandemic began.The world is nearing 3 million deaths from COVID-19 out of 138.8 million confirmed total cases, according to the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center. Many nations are seeing a new surge of the virus, which is throwing doubt and confusion over numerous planned events, including the upcoming Tokyo Olympics.Toshihiro Nikai, secretary-general of Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party, said Thursday during a televised interview the Olympics should be canceled if the current wave of new infections grows out of control. His remarks came 99 days before the July 23 opening ceremony.With Tokyo and other parts of Japan under a state of emergency to quell a surge of new infections, public opinion polls show an overwhelming majority of Japanese believe the games should be postponed again or canceled.
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U.S. allies have announced they will begin pulling troops out of Afghanistan following Washington’s confirmation that it intends to withdraw all its armed forces by September 11, the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 terror attacks, which triggered the U.S.-led invasion.U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrived in Kabul Thursday for talks with the Afghan government following the announcement. “We’ve achieved the objective we set out nearly 20 years ago. We never intended to have a permanent military presence here,” Blinken told reporters at the U.S. embassy in Kabul.“The threat from al-Qaida in Afghanistan is significantly degraded. Osama bin Laden has been brought to justice. After years of saying that we would leave militarily at some point, that time has come. But even when our troops come home, our partnership with Afghanistan will continue,” Blinken said.Abdullah Abdullah, Chairman of the High Council for National Reconciliation, center right, walks with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, at the Sapidar Palace in Kabul, Afghanistan, April 15, 2021.Britain, which has 750 troops in Afghanistan as part of the NATO mission to train Afghan forces, confirmed it would begin withdrawing from the country next month.Defense Secretary Ben Wallace said in a statement Thursday, “The people of Afghanistan deserve a peaceful and stable future. As we draw down, the security of our people currently serving in Afghanistan remains our priority and we have been clear that attacks on Allied troops will be met with a forceful response. The British public and our Armed Forces community, both serving and veterans, will have lasting memories of our time in Afghanistan. Most importantly we must remember those who paid the ultimate sacrifice, who will never be forgotten.”Sorry, but your browser cannot support embedded video of this type, you can
FILE – Relatives of three Czech soldiers, who were killed by a suicide bomber in eastern Afghanistan, mourn at the Vaclav Havel Airport in Prague, Czech Republic, Aug. 8, 2018.Among Afghans, the withdrawal of foreign troops provokes mixed feelings. “What we saw during the Taliban, it doesn’t even exist in my memory anymore. I don’t want to think about it because our country is moving toward development, it is moving toward peace,” said Mohammad Karim, a kite maker from Kabul.Fellow Kabul resident Sayed Ahad Azizi also hopes for more stability. “Peace is the only thing that all people want but if foreign troops stay here, the realization of peace in Afghanistan will be impossible,” he said.The Afghan withdrawal is a watershed moment for Afghanistan – and for the West, said Norman. “The initial mission was simply to rout out al-Qaida which have had a haven in Afghanistan under the Taliban. And that mission kind of changed and grew over time to be one of deposing the Taliban, trying to help Afghanistan transition to a more equal democracy et cetera. And I think Western powers, and the U.S. in particular, is seeing the limits of that kind of engagement.”The U.S. and its allies will reflect on what has been achieved in two decades of conflict. For Afghanistan, the fight for democracy and freedom is far from over. 
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U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken made an unannounced visit Thursday to Kabul where he told Afghan leaders that while the United States will soon begin withdrawing its remaining troops from the country, it remains committed to Afghanistan.“The partnership is changing, but the partnership is enduring,” Blinken said as he met with President Ashraf Ghani and other officials.The visit came a day after U.S. President Joe Biden announced all U.S. troops will be out of Afghanistan by September 11 of this year.“We respect the decision and are adjusting our priorities,” Ghani said Thursday.A senior State Department official told reporters that while the United States will no longer have military assets in Afghanistan, it will still be capable of confronting any threat that emerges.Blinken also spoke Thursday to a group of mostly U.S. soldiers at the American embassy, offering praise for the military’s efforts since the first forces were deployed to the country in 2001.“What you and your predecessors did over the last 20 years is really extraordinary,” Blinken said.While at the embassy, Blinken met with half a dozen Afghan civil society members, but made no comments while reporters were present.  Naheed Farid, a member of Afghanistan’s parliament who was part of the session, answered a reporter’s question about Afghanistan’s future by saying, “My views are very pessimistic.”President Joe Biden speaks from the Treaty Room in the White House on Wednesday, April 14, 2021, about the withdrawal of the remainder of U.S. troops from Afghanistan.Biden made his announcement in a televised speech on Wednesday, declaring that “war in Afghanistan was never meant to be a multi-generational undertaking.”He said the United States can no longer justify staying there two decades after the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon.   ”We went to Afghanistan because of a horrific attack that happened 20 years ago,” Biden said at the White House. ”That cannot explain why we should remain there in 2021.”    Biden spoke in the Treaty Room, the same place where, on October 7, 2001, then-President George W. Bush announced airstrikes on Afghanistan.    “We cannot continue the cycle of extending or expanding our military presence in Afghanistan hoping to create the ideal conditions for our withdrawal, expecting a different result,” Biden said in his remarks. ”American troops shouldn’t be used as bargaining chips between warring parties in other countries.”   The U.S. leader said he is now the fourth president to oversee an American troop presence in Afghanistan — among two Republicans and two Democrats — and vowed to not pass the responsibility on to a fifth.       Biden, announcing the withdrawal would begin May 1, added that the United States would continue its diplomatic and humanitarian work in Afghanistan and ”we will continue to support the government of Afghanistan.”   The president, amid widespread concern his decision will lead to a wider civil war in Afghanistan, also said Washington and its allies would support training and help equip nearly 300,000 Afghan forces, as well as support peace talks between the Afghan government and Taliban fighters.      He also called on countries in the region, especially Pakistan, but also China, India, Russia and Turkey, to do more to support Afghanistan.      FILE – Upon landing after a helicopter rescue mission, Tech. Sgt. Jeff Hedglin, right, an Air Force Pararescueman, or PJ, drapes an American flag over the remains of the first of two U.S. soldiers killed minutes earlier in an IED attack.The way forward   President Ghani said that he spoke to Biden in the hours prior to the official announcement and his government ”respects the U.S. decision and will work with our U.S. partners to ensure a smooth transition.”   On Twitter, Ghani added that Afghanistan’s security and defense forces ”are fully capable of defending its people and country, which they have been doing all along and for which the Afghan nation will forever remain grateful.”      Afghanistan’s proud security and defense forces are fully capable of defending its people and country, which they have been doing all along, and for which the Afghan nation will forever remain grateful.— Ashraf Ghani (@ashrafghani) Taliban political deputy Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, center, arrives with other members of the Taliban delegation for an Afghan peace conference in Moscow, Russia, March 18, 2021.Taliban reaction   The Taliban on Wednesday said it wants all foreign forces out of Afghanistan ”on the date specified in the Doha Agreement,” and that ”if the agreement is adhered to, a pathway to addressing the remaining issues will also be found.”    Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid added on Twitter, ”If the agreement is breached and foreign forces fail to exit our country on the specified date, problems will certainly be compounded and those (who) failed to comply with the agreement will be held liable.”     News of the U.S troop withdrawal plans had already prompted the Taliban to cancel its participation in a 10-day peace conference between Afghanistan’s warring sides later this month in Turkey.   President Biden warned the Taliban that if ”they attack us as we draw down, we will defend ourselves and our partners with all the tools at our disposal.”   Meanwhile, a pessimistic U.S. intelligence report predicted that a peace deal is unlikely in the next year and the Taliban — an enemy of the democratically elected government of Afghanistan — will make battlefield gains.    “The Afghan government will struggle to hold the Taliban at bay if the coalition withdraws support,” said an unclassified version of the report released by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.   The U.S. ability to collect intelligence and act on threats will diminish when American troops leave Afghanistan, CIA Director William Burns testified to the Senate Intelligence Committee.     “When the time comes for the U.S. military to withdraw, the U.S. government’s ability to collect and act on threats will diminish. That’s simply a fact,” said Burns, adding that the United States would, however, retain ”a suite of capabilities.”  Several prominent senators of the opposition Republican party are assailing Biden’s troop withdrawal decision.   ”Apparently, we’re to help our adversaries ring in the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks by gift-wrapping the country and handing it back to them,” said Minority Leader Mitch McConnell on the Senate floor early Wednesday.      “I beg you, President Biden, reevaluate this. Don’t lock yourself in because things are going to change quickly in Afghanistan for the worse,” Senator Lindsey Graham told reporters following Biden’s speech. ”This is not going to end well for us.”  Biden’s decision is winning praise from those who believe the United States is no closer to winning the war today than it was more than a decade ago or would be in the future.    “President Biden has made the right decision in completing the withdrawal of U.S. forces from Afghanistan,” said former President Barack Obama, under whom Biden served as vice president. ”There will be very difficult challenges and further hardship ahead in Afghanistan, and the U.S. must remain engaged diplomatically and through our development efforts to support the Afghan people, particularly those who have taken extraordinary risks on behalf of human rights.”    House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer said the ”previous approach of maintaining thousands of U.S. military personnel in Afghanistan has not led to a resolution, and a new approach is required.”   Some analysts view Biden’s decision as the best of an array of bad options.    “There’s probably no option that significantly reduces the level of violence. There’s also probably no option on the table to build the Afghanistan that the United States probably had in mind when they invested more than a trillion dollars in the war,” said University of Chicago Assistant Professor Austin Wright, whose research focuses on insurgents and Afghanistan.   Margaret Besheer at the UN, National Security Correspondent Jeff Seldin, Ayaz Gul in Islamabad, and White House Correspondent Patsy Widakuswara contributed to this report
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France advised its citizens and companies Thursday to temporarily leave Pakistan, citing “serious threats to French interests” in the South Asian nation.The move follows violent protests this week across large parts of Pakistan by activists of the radical Islamist party Tehreek-i-Labaik Pakistan (TLP), which has been demanding that Islamabad expel the French ambassador over the publishing of anti-Islam cartoons in France.“Due to the serious threats to French interests in Pakistan, French nationals and French companies are advised to temporarily leave the country,” France’s embassy said in an email to its estimated 500 citizens in living in Pakistan.  “The departures will be carried out by existing commercial airlines,” it said.Police officers guard a road blocked with shipping containers, near the French consulate, in Karachi, Pakistan, April 15, 2021.Pakistani Foreign Ministry spokesman Zahid Hafeez Chaudhri said in response to the French advisory that the government was taking steps to improve the situation.“We are aware of the advice, which appears to be based on their own assessment of the situation. For its part, the government is taking enhanced measures for the maintenance of law and order and preventing any damage to life and property,” said Chaudhri. Pakistani officials said Wednesday that three days of clashes between TLP supporters and police killed two law enforcement personnel and wounded nearly 600 others, including dozens of protesters.The unprecedented attacks against police prompted the Pakistani government to declare the TLP a banned organization under the country’s anti-terrorism laws. TLP members took to the streets in major cities Monday, shortly after authorities in the eastern city of Lahore detained their leader, Saad Rizvi. They blocked highways across major cities, paralyzing business and daily life.Pakistan’s Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmad, left, and Religious Affairs Minister Noor-ul-Haq Qadri, give a press conference addressing anti-France violence, in Islamabad, April 15, 2021.Pakistani Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed on Thursday said police and paramilitary forces had dispersed the protesters in most, but not all, places.Ahmed defended Rizvi’s arrest, saying Rizvi was planning to lead a march on Islamabad to besiege the capital in connection with the TLP’s demand for the expulsion of the French ambassador. The interior minister dismissed the demand as illegitimate, saying entities like the TLP cannot be allowed to dictate terms to the Pakistani state.The TLP has risen to prominence in Pakistan in recent years. Along with demonstrations against France, the party has pressured the Pakistani government into not repealing or reforming the country’s harsh blasphemy laws, which critics say often are used to intimidate religious minorities and settle personal disputes. 
  
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