DRULAP

UN Envoy Urges Patience for Afghan Peace Deal

The U.N.’s top diplomat in Afghanistan sought to lower expectations of a quick peace deal between the Afghan government and Taliban, saying Tuesday that peace is possible, but it will not come immediately, as “genuine and profound differences” exist between the two sides.“Afghans and their international partners have begun to voice understandable frustrations about the lack of real outcomes, against the incredible backdrop of extreme violence throughout the country,” said Deborah Lyons, the head of the U.N. Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA). “It is notable, however, that both sides in the negotiations have been dedicated to remaining at the negotiation table in Doha and continue with the talks.” Peace negotiations began last September in the capital of Qatar. She told a meeting of the U.N. Security Council that progress has slowed recently and several countries have tried to reinvigorate the peace process.The United States is among them, suggesting a meeting in Turkey of senior Afghan leaders in the coming months. In Moscow, the extended “Troika” of Russia, China, the United States and Pakistan, met last Thursday. Also last week, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres appointed veteran French diplomat Jean Arnault as his personal envoy to work in tandem with Lyons to enhance support for the negotiations among Afghanistan’s neighbors.Lyons said there are issues which will require time and patience for the government and Taliban to resolve, but she believes “peace is possible.”“Afghans are not just ready for peace, they are demanding it,” she said. “And all sides need to stop the violence and need the violence to stop.”US to Consult with NATO Allies on Afghanistan Pullout PlansTaliban want Washington to stick to May 1 deadline to remove troops as outlined in 2020 US-Taliban agreementTargeted killingsViolence in Afghanistan has reached unprecedented levels since the talks began. In the first two months of this year, the U.N. mission recorded the deaths of more than 80 civilians – many of them in targeted attacks. Victims have included media, civil society, members of the judiciary, religious scholars, government officials and last week, a three-year old child.“These attacks are meant to dissuade the participation of women and youth in the peace process, create widespread panic, and crush our aspiration for peace,” said Afghanistan’s U.N. Ambassador Adela Raz. Raz and U.N. Security Council members have been emphatic that Afghan women must participate in large numbers in the peace talks, and that any final deal preserve the gains they have made over the past twenty years. Only four women have been present at the table in Doha.“We must do more to support the women and girls of Afghanistan,” U.S. Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield said. “Any agreement must preserve their gains if Afghanistan wants to ensure the international community’s continued political and financial support. We will not give an inch on this point.”Council members also expressed concern about the intensifying humanitarian crisis in the country. The U.N. warns that more than 18 million Afghans may need assistance this year – double the 2020 figure. This would make it the largest humanitarian crisis in the world – surpassing Yemen which is on the brink of widespread famine.The United Nations says 40% of the Afghan population is enduring crisis levels of food insecurity due to a combination of conflict, drought and now COVID-19. It has asked donors for $1.3 billion in aid but has only received 6% of the funds needed.

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Bomb Kills 4, Injures 13 in Southwestern Pakistan

A bomb explosion in Pakistan’s southwestern Baluchistan province Tuesday killed at least four people and wounded 13 others.Police said the explosive device was hidden in a motorcycle parked near an office of the Levies paramilitary force in Chaman, a remote Pakistani town next to the Afghan border.No one immediately claimed responsibility for the deadly bombing. Rescue workers and police said the attack harmed mostly civilians.Secessionist ethnic Baluch militants often take credit for plotting bomb and other attacks against security forces and government installations in Baluchistan.Extremists linked to the banned Pakistani Taliban outfit and Islamic State also operate in the natural resource-rich province and have claimed responsibility for some of the recent attacks, including those against the minority Shiite Hazara community.Pakistani officials allege that fugitive militant leaders have taken refuge in Afghanistan and plot cross-border attacks from there, charges Afghan authorities reject.Earlier this month, gunmen ambushed a vehicle carrying Pakistan Navy personnel in Baluchistan’s key Gwadar district, killing at least one sailor and seriously wounding two others.The Baluchistan Liberation Army, which the United States has designated as a global terrorist group, took responsibility for that attack.Gwadar is home to a Chinese-built and run deep-water port, a centerpiece to the multibillion-dollar infrastructure development project funded by Pakistan’s close ally China as part of Beijing’s global Belt and Road Initiative.

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Massive Fire in Cox’s Bazar Damages Rohingya Refugee Camp

Aid agencies are rushing emergency assistance to tens of thousands of victims of a deadly blaze that broke out Monday in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, destroying thousands of houses sheltering Rohingya refugees.U.N. refugee representative in Bangladesh Johannes van der Klaauw calls the scale of the fire catastrophic. He said he has never before seen anything as massive and devastating. He said teams are on the ground dealing with the huge rescue and relief effort that is underway. “We have so far confirmed 15 people dead, 560 injured, 400 are still missing and at least 10,000 shelters have been destroyed. That means at least 45,000 people are being displaced and for whom we seek now provisional shelter,” he said.Van der Klaauw said he expects the number of casualties to rise. He said the majority of refugees are women and children. They also are the most vulnerable. He said it is urgent to find places for them to stay where they will be safe and protected. Cox’s Bazar is the world’s largest refugee camp. It houses nearly 900,000 Rohingya refugees who fled violence and persecution in Myanmar in August 2017. More than half of this population is children.Smoke rises following a fire at the Rohingya refugee camp in Balukhali, southern Bangladesh, March 22, 2021.Spokesman for the U.N. children’s fund James Elder said thousands of children caught in the fire need assistance. He said a UNICEF team is in Cox’s Bazar trying to address and respond to those needs. He added health teams on the ground are administering first aid and working with other aid agencies.“The reports we have are that yes, children are among the injured. Of course, there also are many children separated from their families. UNICEF has many learning centers, as we have tried to build and build and bring a bit of normality to these kids in these camps. Many of those have been fully burnt. The exact numbers we are trying to confirm, and we will, of course seek to rebuild those as quickly as possible,” said Elder.Rohingya refugees salvage their belongings and watch smoke rising following a fire at the Rohingya refugee camp in Balukhali, southern Bangladesh, March 22, 2021.The International Organization for Migration, along with the UNHCR, is coordinating the relief operation. IOM spokeswoman Angela Wells said the fire, which has since subsided, consumed essential facilities, including the camp’s largest health center. She said the cause of the blaze is still unknown.“IOM teams and partners worked through the night to respond to the most immediate needs of those who fled the scene. Rohingya volunteers on the ground were the first responders, helping people to safety, supporting fire response efforts and working to support relief efforts. In the immediate aftermath, government response services, including the fire brigade, army and humanitarian agencies rushed to the area to put out the fire,” she said.The World Food Program reports it immediately provided emergency rations of high-energy biscuits to the survivors, and it will provide 60,000 hot meals Tuesday to affected families. Editor’s note: An earlier version of this story misspelled Johannes van der Klaauw’s last name. VOA regrets the error.

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Bangladesh Probes Fire at Rohingya Refugee Camp that Killed Seven

Bangladeshi officials began investigating the cause of a massive fire that killed at least seven and displaced tens of thousands at a Rohingya refugee camp, as officials sifted through the debris looking for more victims on Tuesday.
The fire ripped through the Balukhali camp near the southeastern town of Cox’s Bazar late on Monday, burning through thousands of hutments as people scrambled to save their meagre possessions.
Police have so far confirmed seven deaths. “We have information of seven people that died in the fire. Among them, three children were buried last night. Today four bodies were recovered …. all burnt beyond recognition,” said Zakir Hossain Khan, a senior police official.
“The cause of the fire is still unknown,” Khan told Reuters by telephone from the camps. “Authorities are investigating to determine the cause of the fire.”
Sanjeev Kafley, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies’s delegation head in Bangladesh, said more than 17,000 shelters had been destroyed in the blaze, and tens of thousands had been displaced.
The fire spread over four sections of the camp containing roughly 124,000 people, around one-tenth of the more than 1 million Rohingya refugees in the area, he added.
“I have been in Cox’s Bazar for three and a half years and have never seen such a fire,” he told Reuters. “These people have been displaced two times. For many there is nothing left.”
Barbed Wire
Some witnesses said that barbed wire fencing around the camp trapped many people, hurting some and leading international humanitarian agencies to call for its removal.
Humanitarian organization Refugees International, which estimated 50,000 people had been displaced, said the extent of the damage may not be known for some time.
“Many children are missing, and some were unable to flee because of barbed wire set up in the camps,” it said in a statement.
John Quinley of Fortify Rights, a rights organization working with Rohingya, said he had heard similar reports, adding the fences had hampered the distribution of humanitarian aid and vital services at the camps in the past.
“The government must remove the fences and protect refugees,” Quinley said. “There have now been a number of large fires in the camps including a large fire in January this year… The authorities must do a proper investigation into the cause of the fires.”
The vast majority of the people in the camps fled Myanmar in 2017 amid a military-led crackdown on the Rohingya that U.N. investigators said was executed with “genocidal intent”, charges Myanmar denies.
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Several Dead, Thousands of Homes Lost, As Fire Sweeps Rohingya Camp

A massive fire swept through a Rohingya refugee camp in southern Bangladesh on Monday, destroying thousands of homes and killing several people, officials and witnesses said, in the worst blaze to hit the settlement in recent years. Video and photographs showed a blaze ripping through the Balukhali camp in Cox’s Bazar. Black smoke billowed over burning shanties and tents as people scrambled to recover their possessions. “Fire services, rescue and response teams and volunteers are at the scene to try to control the fire and prevent it spreading further,” said Louise Donovan, spokesperson for the U.N. Refugee Agency (UNHCR) in Cox’s Bazar. Mohammed Shamsud Douza, the deputy Bangladesh government official in charge of refugees, said authorities were trying to control the blaze. A fire is seen at a Balukhali refugee camp in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, March 22, 2021, in this picture obtained from social media. (Rohingya Right Team/Md Arakani/via Reuters)Rohingya refugees in the camps said many homes were burned to the ground and several people had died, but neither the authorities nor the UNHCR could confirm the number of deaths. The cause of the blaze has not been established. More than a million Rohingya live in the camps in southern Bangladesh, the majority having fled Myanmar in 2017 from a military-led crackdown that U.N. investigators said was executed with “genocidal intent.” Myanmar denies the charges. Zaifur Hussein, a 50-year-old refugee who escaped the fire but lost his home and was sheltering with friends, said he believed dozens may have been killed and that fencing around the camps made it difficult to flee. “When we were in Myanmar, we faced lots of problems … they destroyed everything,” he said. “Now, it has happened again.” Snigdha Chakraborty, Bangladesh director for Catholic Relief Services, said she was worried about the lack of medical facilities in the area. “Medical facilities are basic, and burns require sophisticated treatment. Plus, hospital beds are already partly taken up with COVID-19 patients,” she said. “Most likely there will be fatalities, because the fire is so large.” A Rohingya leader in Cox’s Bazar, a sliver of land bordering Myanmar in southeastern Bangladesh, said he saw several bodies. “Thousands of huts were totally burned down,” Mohammed Nowkhim told Reuters. Another large blaze tore through the camp in January, destroying homes but causing no casualties. The risk of fire in the densely populated camps is high, and Monday’s blaze was the largest yet, said Onno van Manen, country director of Save the Children in Bangladesh. “It is another devastating blow to the Rohingya refugees who live here. Just a couple of days ago, we lost one of our health facilities in another fire,” he said. The UNHCR said humanitarian partners had mobilized hundreds of volunteers from nearby camps for the support operation, as well as fire safety vehicles and equipment.

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Fire Guts Hundreds of Shelters in Rohingya Refugee Camp

A devastating fire raced through a sprawling Rohingya refugee camp in southern Bangladesh on Monday, destroying hundreds of shelters and leaving thousands homeless, officials and witnesses said.The fire at Balukhali camp in Cox’s Bazar district broke out in the late afternoon and spread quickly through at least four blocks, said Mohammad Shamsud Douza, additional commissioner of the government’s Refugee, Relief and Repatriation Commission. He said at least four units of firefighters were struggling to control the blaze due to its rapid spread.Louise Donovan, a spokeswoman for the U.N. refugee agency, said in an email that fire services, rescue and response teams and volunteers were at the scene.“So far the fire has affected shelters, health centers, distribution points and other facilities. Volunteers are supporting those affected,” she said.No casualties were immediately reported, but deaths and injuries were feared. No details on the missing could be confirmed. Two Rohingya refugees told The Associated Press at the scene that the fire had spread very quickly and continued to rage into the night Monday.Several videos posted on social media showed clouds of smoke billowing from the camp.Bangladesh has sheltered more than a million Rohingya Muslims, the vast majority having fled Myanmar in 2017 in a major crackdown by Myanmar’s military. The U.N. has said the crackdown had a genocidal intent, a charge Myanmar rejects.Bangladesh has hosted the refugees in crowded refugee camps and is eager to begin sending them back to Buddhist-majority Myanmar. Several attempts at repatriation under a joint agreement failed because the Rohingya refused to go, fearing more violence in a country that denies them basic rights including citizenship.In January, another fire destroyed hundreds of shanty-like homes in the camp, leaving thousands without shelter.
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Scientists Chasing Origins of COVID-19 Add Southeast Asia to Search

Scientists hunting the origins of the virus behind COVID-19 and clues for how to prevent the next pandemic say a growing body of evidence argues for expanding the search beyond China into Southeast Asia. Since the first confirmed outbreak of COVID-19 put the eastern Chinese city of Wuhan on the world map in December 2019, researchers looking for the source of the virus that causes the disease, SARS-CoV-2, have been training their gaze on China itself.FILE – Journalists and security personnel gather near the entrance of the Wuhan Institute of Virology after a visit by the World Health Organization team in Wuhan in China’s Hubei province, Feb. 3, 2021. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)The pathogen’s closest known relative, sharing some 96% of its genome, is another coronavirus found early last year in the southern province of Yunnan. But a spate of recent studies has found more viruses nearly as similar to SARS-CoV-2 as the one in Yunnan further afield, in Thailand and Cambodia. Virologists on a recent mission to Wuhan sponsored by the World Health Organization to trace the roots of COVID-19 also say that the next phase of the hunt should add Southeast Asia to the field. Their advice is to follow the bats. Some species are well-known reservoirs of the coronavirus family and leading candidates for SARS-CoV-2 fountainhead. Bat signals Scientists have already identified more than 100 SARS-related coronaviruses in bats across China, said Peter Daszak, a virologist who joined the WHO trip. “But we haven’t done enough work in Myanmar, Laos and Vietnam to really say that there aren’t even more in those countries,” he told VOA. FILE – A woman makes noise as she directs the bats away from power tower in Hpa-An, Karen State, Myanmar.“When you plot out on a map where the bats live that carry these viruses, you start to see that those countries on the southern border of China have even more diversity of bats and likely even more diversity of viruses. So, it may be that the origin really was in Yunnan province, but my best guess is that we need to look in Myanmar, Laos, Vietnam and then even farther south into the whole region of Southeast Asia as a potential hotspot.” China has refused to hand over raw data on some of the earliest patients of COVID-19. Even so, Daszak said, the Chinese scientists and WHO delegation agreed that SARS-CoV-2’s most likely route into humans was from bats via some sort of farmed wildlife as intermediary. Early last year scientists from China and Australia reported finding viruses matching SARS-CoV-2 by more than 90% in Malayan pangolins — a potential intermediary hunted for their scales and meat — that had been smuggled into southern China from Southeast Asia. FILE – Malayan pangolin is seen out of its cage after being confiscated by the Department of Wildlife and Natural Parks in Kuala Lumpur, Aug. 8, 2002.A few months later, scientists found viruses akin to SARS-CoV-2 lurking in horseshoe bats that had been collected in Cambodia and freeze-dried more than a decade ago. They said in their report that the discovery “indicates that SARS-CoV-2-related viruses have a much wider geographic distribution than previously understood and suggests that Southeast Asia represents a key area to consider in the ongoing search for the origins of SARS-CoV-2.” Then, in February, scientists in Thailand also found viruses closely matching SARS-CoV-2 in a colony of bats not far from Bangkok, and antibodies effective against SARS-CoV-2 itself in a smuggled pangolin seized by local authorities in the country’s south, near Malaysia. It’s relative Supaporn Wacharapluesadee, a virologist with the Thai Red Cross Emerging Infectious Diseases Health Science Center at Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok, who took part in the last study, called it an “important discovery in the search for the origins of SARS-CoV-2.” She said the search for those origins should lead wherever the bats that host its closest known relatives live. “For example, if we find SARS-CoV-2-related virus in horseshoe bats in China, that means if you find horseshoe bats in other countries the virus can [potentially] be found in other countries also,” she told VOA. To narrow in further on the ultimate source of SARS-CoV-2, virus hunters are looking for matches even closer than the 96% of the strain found in Yunnan last year. The strains found in Thailand and Cambodia range in likeness from roughly 91% to 93%. But given the population density and abundance of bat species in Southeast Asia, the team that found the SARS-CoV-2 relative in Thailand says the sub-region may be “a more likely hotspot for such viruses” than China and worth added attention. Chee Wah Tan, a senior research fellow at the Duke-National University of Singapore Medical School and another member of the team, said the search should take in the region’s bats and likely intermediaries alike. The strains found in Thailand and Cambodia, “could be the ancestor or something close to the ancestor of SARS-COVID-2,” he told VOA. “That’s why now maybe more work has to be carried out on this region to see whether we can identify any intermediate hosts that carry [a virus with] 99.9% genome similarity to the SARS-COVID-2.” In pursuit That work has already begun. Daszak, president of EcoHeatlh Alliance, a U.S. non-profit fighting the threat of emerging diseases from animals, said his group is just getting started on surveillance work in Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam — which all border China — for signs of SARS-CoV-2 in bats. They’ve been doing similar work with coronaviruses in Thailand and Malaysia for a few years already, as have local scientists there and elsewhere. His hope is that Beijing steps up its own surveillance and testing of wildlife farms and markets on its side of the border in southern China, as it has tentatively agreed to do. He also hopes to work with local police to test the animals they pluck from the illegal wildlife traffickers who cross those borders. Daszak is not expecting any quick answers to exactly where SARS-CoV-2 began and how it jumped to humans. He said the search for the origins of the SARS virus took some five years and that scientists still aren’t sure where the Ebola virus came from more than four decades after spotting it in Africa. The search for those answers is far more than academic. By tracing SARS-CoV-2 back to its roots, scientists hope to find the other animal viruses and pathways most likely to cause the next pandemic and step in before they do. “It’s a bit like disrupting terrorist cells,” Daszak said. “When you hear rumors of a terrorist attack, you don’t wait for the attack, you go out there and you disrupt that network, and you close it down. That’s what we need to do with pandemics.”
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A Transgender Islamic School in Pakistan Breaks Barriers

A long white shawl on her head, Rani Khan gives daily Koran lessons at Pakistan’s first transgender-only madrasa, or Islamic religious school, which she set up herself using her life savings. The madrasa is an important milestone for the LGBTQ community in the overwhelmingly fundamental Muslim country, where transgender people face ostracism, even though there is no official restriction on them attending religious schools or praying at mosques. “Most families do not accept transgender people. They throw them out of their homes. Transgender people turn to wrongdoing,” Khan, 34, said, as other transgender people, their heads similarly covered, swayed back and forth behind her, reciting Koran verses. “At one time, I was also one of them.” Holding back tears, Khan recalled how she was disowned by her family at 13 and forced into begging. At 17, she joined a transgender group, dancing at weddings and other functions, but quit it to connect with her religion after a dream in which a deceased transgender friend and fellow dancer pleaded with her to do something for the community. Khan studied the Koran at home, and attended religious schools, before opening the two-room madrasa in October. “I’m teaching the Koran to please God, to make my life here and in the hereafter,” Khan said, explaining how the madrasa offered a place for transgender people to worship, learn about Islam and repent for past actions. She says the school has not received aid from the government, although some officials promised to help students find jobs.Rani Khan looks at one of her students during a tailoring lesson in Islamabad, March 22, 2021.Along with some donations, Khan is teaching her students how to sew and embroider, in hopes of raising funds for the school by selling clothing. Pakistan’s parliament recognized the third gender in 2018, giving such individuals fundamental rights such as the ability to vote and choose their gender on official documents. Nonetheless, the transgender person remain on the margins in the country, and often have to resort to begging, dancing and prostitution to make a living. The madrasa could help trans people assimilate into mainstream society, Islamabad Deputy Commissioner Hamza Shafqaat told Reuters. “I’m hopeful that if you replicate this model in other cities, things will improve,” he said. A religious school for transgender people has opened in Dhaka, the capital of nearby Bangladesh, and last year a Christian transgender group started its own church in Pakistan’s bustling southern port city of Karachi. Pakistan’s 2017 census recorded about 10,000 transgender people, though trans rights groups say the number could now be well over 300,000 in the country of 220 million. “It gives my heart peace when I read the Koran,” said one madrasa student, Simran Khan, who is also eager to learn life skills. “It is much better than a life full of insults,” the 19-year-old added.
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03/21/2021 DruchinaChina

US Defense Chief Visits Kabul ‘to Listen and Learn’

U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin on Sunday made his first visit to Afghanistan since taking up his post, as Washington considers whether to comply with a May 1 deadline for pulling out all troops from the country under a year-old deal it signed with the Taliban.Austin held a meeting with President Ashraf Ghani after arriving in in the Afghan capital, Kabul, from a trip to India. A Pentagon report quoted Austin as saying he visited Afghanistan to “listen and learn” and that he wanted to understand what Ghani’s concerns were.He also said the meeting “will inform my participation in the review we are undergoing here with the president. It’s very helpful.”An Afghan presidential statement said Ghani and Austin “expressed concern over the high-level of violence” and stressed the need to find a “just and lasting” peace in Afghanistan.

Austin also met with American and coalition leaders in Kabul to better understand the situation and see the way forward to a just peace in the long-troubled South Asian nation.
Fixing Afghanistan Might Be ‘a Bridge Too Far,’ US Watchdog WarnsUnabating violence and the Afghan government’s inability to sustain itself and its security forces could doom peaceful conclusion to decades of war, US inspector general for Afghan reconstruction saysSpeaking to reporters travelling with him, Austin would not comment on whether the Taliban have met the necessary conditions under the agreement that was sealed in Doha, the capital of Qatar, in February of last year.

“What I will say is that it is obvious that the level of violence remains pretty high in the country. We’d really like to see that violence come down. If it does come down it can begin to set the condition for some really fruitful diplomatic work.”

The objective is a “responsible” end to the conflict, he said.

“I heard from all of our partners here today that everyone is really desirous of a responsible end and transition to something else.”
In an interview last week with ABC, U.S. President Joe Biden described as “tough” the May deadline for closing the Afghan war, which has been the longest in U.S. history. Biden did not rule out an extension for the U.S military mission but said that it wouldn’t be by a “lot longer.”

Biden’s national security team is reviewing the February 2020 pact with the Taliban that then-President Donald Trump’s administration sealed in an effort to end the war.

Ahead of Austin’s visit to the region, U.S. media reports said that Biden has decided to keep American troops in the country until November because the Taliban were not living up to their end of the agreement.

Austin dismissed those reports as speculation while speaking in India on Saturday, saying, “No decision on length of stay or troop numbers have been made to this point.”

“I’m a pretty prominent guy in those discussions typically and to my knowledge the president has not made a decision or made any announcements on when he’ll decide to remove the troops…there’s a rigorous process that’s ongoing as the president really works his way through making that decision,” the Pentagon chief said.

An estimated 2,500 American troops are stationed in Afghanistan along with several thousand forces from the NATO-led non-combat Resolute Support mission. All foreign troops are bound to leave the country by May in line with the U.S.-Taliban deal.

The Islamist Taliban have warned Washington against abandoning the May 1 deadline, saying it “will have a reaction.” Suhail Shaheen, a senior Taliban leader, issued the warning without elaborating further while speaking to reporters in Moscow at the end of a Russia-hosted peace conference on Afghanistan.

Shaheen maintained that his group had honored its obligations under the agreement.

For its part, the United States maintains the Taliban have neither fulfilled their obligations nor cut ties to transnational terrorist groups.

U.S. officials say the Taliban stopped attacks on international forces in the country after signing the deal, but that insurgent attacks against Afghan government forces and civilians have intensified.

While experts say the U.S. military requires more time to pull out all soldiers from Afghanistan, they warn that a complete troop withdrawal in the absence of a peace deal between the Taliban and the Afghan government would trigger more bloodshed and chaos in the war-shattered country.

Austin addressed the drawdown challenges and insurgent warnings while speaking in the Indian capital, New Delhi, on Saturday.

“Well, we are mindful of the timelines and requirements that the Taliban has kind of laid on the table. I would just tell you that there’s probably nobody who understands the physics associated with removing troops and equipment out of a place better than me,” Austin said. The U.S.-Taliban pact encouraged the insurgents to open the first direct talks with representatives of the Afghan government in Doha last September to try to agree on a political deal that would end the nearly two decades of war.But the so-called intra-Afghan peace dialogue has made little progress and remained stalled for most of the time, with both Afghan rivals accusing each other of delays.U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, in a strongly-worded letter to Ghani earlier this month, said it is urgent for the Afghan government to accelerate the peace process.

Blinken said the Biden administration was also considering a complete foreign troop drawdown by May 1. He warned that even if the U.S. financial assistance continued for Kabul after the troop withdrawal, the Taliban would make rapid territorial gains.

Washington spends around $4 billion dollars a year to help the Afghan government sustain its security forces.

The U.S. has also shared a proposed peace plan with the Taliban and the Ghani government that seeks installation of an interim government in Kabul to oversee the peace talks between the warring sides.

Ghani has long resisted stepping down in favor of such a government, saying he will transfer power only through elections. His assertions have drawn criticism from Afghan opposition politicians and even the Taliban that Ghani wants to cling to power and prolong bloodshed in the country.

In a speech marking the Nawruz new year festivities Sunday, he urged the Taliban to cease violence against Afghans.

“We have the capacity to stand on our own feet, but it needs unity,” the Afghan president said, apparently downplaying U.S. assertions Afghan security forces will not be able to deal with the Taliban on their own.

The Taliban have ignored international calls for reducing battlefield attacks in Afghanistan until they strike a power-sharing agreement with Afghan rivals that would see formation of an “Islamic government” in the country.
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03/21/2021 DruchinaChina

Taliban Claim Reduction in Violence in Their Proposal

The Taliban claim they, not the U.S., originated the pending proposal for a three-month reduction in violence, or RIV, to “create a conducive atmosphere” for intra-Afghan peace negotiations, two Taliban officials told VOA Saturday.    “We have floated a plan under which all related sides will reduce violence. But this is not a cease-fire,” Taliban spokesman Mohammad Naeem said. He did not offer more details.    Another Taliban official said the proposal has been under discussion between the United States and the Taliban in Qatar for a while.     “Both sides even held further discussions during a recent meeting in Doha between the Taliban and the U.S. Special Representative for Afghanistan Reconciliation, Zalmay Khalilzad,” the Taliban official said on condition of anonymity.    Taliban officials, other than their official spokesmen, are not allowed to talk to media, so they only share information on condition of anonymity.     The idea first came to light earlier this month in a letter from U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken to Afghan President Ashraf Ghani. The letter was leaked to the media.    “We have prepared a revised proposal for a 90-day Reduction-in-Violence, which is intended to prevent a Spring Offensive by the Taliban and to coincide with our diplomatic efforts to support a political settlement between the parties,” Blinken said in the letter.    The Spring Offensive is when the Taliban renew their attacks after a lull during the harsh winters. In a conference on Afghanistan hosted by Russia in Moscow last week, the U.S., Russia, China, and Pakistan jointly called on the Taliban to forego the Spring Offensive this year.
Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid said Sunday they were considering the idea. “There is still a month to go before the formal announcement of our Spring Offensive,” Mujahid said. “We are waiting to see the progress in the political process. But if negotiations [with Afghan government and others] do not progress, then we will decide in a month whether to launch the Offensive.”   Under pressure
The Taliban are under tremendous international pressure to reduce violence and declare a cease-fire. The U.S., NATO, and others have called the level of violence in Afghanistan unacceptably high.    However, the militant group has been hesitant to declare a cease-fire, claiming that the issue will be discussed during its negotiations with an Afghan government-sanctioned team, labeled the intra-Afghan negotiations.    A three-month RIV, if agreed to, would be a major confidence-building measure and the first in 20 years of war.    The Taliban previously declared a weeklong RIV before signing an agreement with the U.S. in Doha in February of last year, and a three-day ceasefire before that on the occasion of Muslim festival of Eid.    The Taliban official warned that the Taliban would have the right to react if the United States “violated” the Doha agreement and kept its troops in Afghanistan beyond the May 1 deadline set in the agreement.    “We have not killed a single American soldier since the Doha agreement was signed in the presence of representatives of many countries,” the official said. “If they violate the agreement, we will have the right to defend our people. Such a decision will also complicate the ongoing negotiations. The U.S. must keep in mind the sensitivity of the situation. The military option was used for 20 years and the U.S. must think before violating the agreement.”    US troopsNaeem also said all articles of the Doha agreement should be implemented, including the withdrawal of foreign troops, and the U.S. should leave Afghanistan in accordance with the agreement.    The Trump administration signed the deal, but President Joe Biden’s administration is reviewing it. Biden recently told U.S. broadcast network ABC it was “not a very solidly negotiated deal.”   However, Biden also supports the idea of bringing the troops home and has indicated that the U.S., even if it decides to stay beyond May 1, would not stay for too long.    The U.S. was forced to consider staying in Afghanistan beyond the negotiated deadline due to an increase in violence, lack of progress in peace negotiations between Taliban and Afghan government, and a wave of targeted assassinations of human rights activists, journalists, and government officials.    The Taliban and an Afghan government team started intra-Afghan negotiations in September but have not made much progress. The two sides have not agreed on an agenda for the negotiations.    The Taliban official claimed there had been “progress” in the Qatar negotiations that he said will resume within days as the delegates have returned from Moscow.   The official said the Taliban team in Moscow met the Afghan government team Friday and agreed to “accelerate” the talks in Qatar.
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03/21/2021 DruchinaChina

N. Korean Diplomats Leaving Malaysia After Ties are Severed

North Korean diplomats vacated their embassy in Malaysia and prepared to leave the country Sunday, after the two nations cut diplomatic relations in a spat over the extradition of a North Korean criminal suspect to the United States. The North Korean flag and embassy signage have been removed from the premise in a Kuala Lumpur suburb. Two buses ferried the diplomats and their families to the airport, where they were seen checking in for a flight to Shanghai. Ties between North Korea and Malaysia have been virtually frozen since the 2017 assassination of the estranged half-brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un at Kuala Lumpur International Airport. Two days after Kuala Lumpur extradited a North Korean man to the U.S. to face money laundering charges, a furious North Korea on Friday announced it was terminating ties with Malaysia. Malaysia denounced the decision and in a tit-for-tat response, gave North Korean diplomats 48 hours to leave. Kim Yu Song, the chargé d’affaires and councilor in Kuala Lumpur, said Malaysia had “committed an unpardonable crime.” Echoing Pyongyang’s earlier statement, he accused Malaysia of being subservient to the U.S. and being part of a U.S. conspiracy aimed at “isolating and suffocating” his country. “The Malaysian authority delivered our citizen to the U.S. in the end, thus destroying the foundations of the bilateral relations based on respect of sovereignty,” he said in a short statement outside the embassy, before heading to the airport. North Korea has called the money laundering charges an “absurd fabrication and [a] sheer plot” orchestrated by the U.S. and warned Washington will “pay a due price.” Some experts say cutting ties with Malaysia was North Korea’s way of showing anger with President Joe Biden’s administration, without jeopardizing an eventual return to nuclear negotiations with Washington. North Korea has insisted it will not engage in talks with Washington unless it abandons what Pyongyang’s perceives as a “hostile” policy. But experts say North Korea will eventually seek to return to diplomacy to find ways to get sanctions relief and revive its moribund economy. Malaysia has defended its move to extradite Mun Chol Myong, saying it was carried out only after all legal processes have been exhausted. A top court ruled Mun can be extradited after rejecting his appeal on grounds that the U.S. charges were politically motivated. Mun, who lived in Malaysia for a decade and arrested in May 2019, has denied U.S. accusations that he was involved in supplying luxury goods from Singapore to North Korea in violation of U.N. sanctions while working in the city-state. He denied laundering funds through front companies and issuing fraudulent documents to support illicit shipments to his country. North Korea has long used Malaysia as a crucial economic hub where it handled trade, labor exports and some illicit businesses in Southeast Asia, but their relations suffered major setbacks over the 2017 killing of Kim Jong Nam. Two women — one Indonesian and the other Vietnamese — were charged with colluding with four North Koreans to murder Kim Jong Nam by smearing his face with VX nerve agent, a toxic and lethal chemical weapon. The four North Koreans fled Malaysia the day Kim died. The two women were later released. Malaysian officials never officially accused North Korea of involvement in Kim’s death, but prosecutors made it clear throughout the trial that they suspected a North Korean connection. North Korea denied the victim was Kim Jong Nam and disputed it had any role in the man’s death. Longtime North Korea watchers believe Kim Jong Un ordered his brother’s killing as part of efforts to remove potential rivals and cement his grip on power.
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03/20/2021 DruchinaChina

Pakistan Urged to Probe Killing of Journalist

A global media watchdog is demanding authorities in Pakistan’s southern Sindh province urgently conduct a “credible” investigation and arrest those responsible for this week’s killing of a journalist.

Police and witnesses said Ajay Kumar Lalwani, 31, was sitting in a barbershop in the province’s Sukkur city on Wednesday evening when unknown assailants riding a motorcycle and a car with four passengers opened fire on him.

Lalwani, a local general news correspondent for a privately owned Urdu language newspaper, suffered multiple gunshot wounds and died in a hospital late Thursday.

“Police in Sindh province must waste no time investigating the killing of journalist Ajay Lalwani and apprehending those responsible,” said Steven Butler of the New York-based advocacy group Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) in a statement.

The Sukkur police Friday announced the formation of a team to investigate the killing, but no progress has been reported.

Police officials insisted it was not immediately known if Lalwani was killed because of his journalistic work, saying they were in the process of collecting evidence and recording statements from witnesses to ascertain the cause of the crime.

“It’s critical that the investigation be led by officers who are able to maintain public confidence, given the long the history of tensions between local journalists and the police in Sukkur,” said Butler, CPJ’s Asia program director.

The CPJ quoted Ashiq Jatoi, editor of the Daily Puchano, which the slain reporter worked for, as telling the watchdog he believed that Lalwani’s killing was related to his professional duties. He cited past threats against the journalist but did not elaborate further.

Jatoi also cast doubt on the impartiality of the investigative team, citing a history of tension between police and journalists in Sukkur.

The CPJ noted in its statement that journalists in Sukkur have repeatedly held demonstrations against the city police to protest the filing of anti-state charges against journalists who report on alleged corruption. In some cases, police resorted to violence to suppress the protest campaign, it said.

Last year, at least two journalists were kidnapped and murdered in Sindh. Their employers and families complained the reporters were killed for exposing alleged links between local police and drug traffickers, and for documenting corrupt practices of the provincial government in their reports.

Despite repeated public pledges to punish the perpetrators, the Sindh government to date has not reported any progress in those investigations.

Pakistan has long been considered a dangerous place for journalists, according to CPJ, and those involved in attacks on journalists are rarely punished.

In 2020, the South Asian nation ranked ninth on the CPJ’s annual Global Impunity Index, which assesses countries where journalists are regularly killed and their killers go free, with 15 unresolved murders.

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Taliban Expect US to Withdraw, Vow to Restore Islamic Rule

The Taliban warned Washington Friday against defying a May 1 deadline for the withdrawal of American and NATO troops from Afghanistan, promising a reaction, which could mean increased attacks by the insurgent group.The Taliban issued their warning at a press conference in Moscow, the day after meeting with senior Afghan government negotiators and international observers to try to jump-start a stalled peace process to end Afghanistan’s decades of war.President Joe Biden’s administration says it is reviewing an agreement the Taliban signed with the Trump administration. Biden told ABC in an interview Wednesday that the May 1 deadline “could happen, but it is tough,” adding that if the deadline is extended it won’t be by “a lot longer.””They should go,” Suhail Shaheen, a member of the Taliban negotiation team, told reporters, warning that staying beyond May 1 would breach the deal. “After that, it will be a kind of violation of the agreement. That violation would not be from our side. … Their violation will have a reaction.”He did not elaborate on what form the reaction would take, but in keeping with the agreement they signed in February 2020, the Taliban have not attacked U.S. or NATO forces, even as unclaimed bombings and targeted killings have spiked in recent months.”We hope that this will not happen, that they withdraw and we focus on the settlement, peaceful settlement of the Afghan issue, in order to bring about a permanent and comprehensive cease-fire at the end of reaching a political roadmap (for) Afghanistan,” Shaheen said.Demand for Islamic governmentHe also reaffirmed that the Taliban were firm in their demand for an Islamic government. Shaheen didn’t elaborate on what an Islamic government would look like or whether it would mean a return to their repressive rules that denied girls education, barred women from working, and imposed harsh punishments.Shaheen did not say whether the Taliban would accept elections, but he emphasized that the government of President Ashraf Ghani would not fit their definition of an Islamic government.Limited role for womenIn previous statements, the Taliban have said their vision of an Islamic government would allow girls to attend school, and women to work or be in public life. But in every conversation, they emphasized the need to follow Islamic injunctions without specifying what that would mean.They have said they would not accept a woman as president, and while women could be judges they could not take the job of the chief justice.But even without the Taliban in government in Afghanistan, The Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace and Security Afghanistan said Afghanistan was one of the worst places in the world to be a woman in 2020.Only one woman attended Thursday’s talks in Moscow, and in the two decades since the Taliban were ousted, successive governments in Kabul have been unable to ratify a law outlawing violence against women.Meanwhile, the Taliban refused to promise they would not launch a spring offensive despite calls from the United States, Russia and China.Washington has been at war in Afghanistan for nearly two decades, since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks masterminded by al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden who was based in Taliban-ruled Afghanistan. The invasion toppled the Taliban regime, but the 20-year-war has made Afghanistan America’s longest conflict.Blinken offers warningThe Taliban, who during their rule imposed a harsh brand of Islam, now control about half of the country. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken has warned that the insurgents could make even more gains without U.S. and NATO troops on the ground.The Moscow conference was attended by U.S. peace envoy Zalmay Khalilzad, Abdullah Abdullah, head of Afghanistan’s National Reconciliation Council, and Taliban co-founder Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, who led a 10-member delegation. Representatives of Pakistan, Iran, India and China also participated.In a statement issued after the talks, Russia, the U.S., China and Pakistan called on the warring parties to reduce the level of violence in the country — and specifically urged the Taliban not to pursue a spring offensive.The joint statement emphasized that the four countries do not support the restoration of an Islamic emirate in Afghanistan similar to the Taliban’s past rule.
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Pakistan’s China-Built Nuclear Reactor Starts Operation

Pakistan has connected its new Chinese-built nuclear power plant, with an installed capacity of 1,100 megawatts, to the national grid. The development marks a major new advancement in nuclear energy cooperation between Islamabad and Beijing.A spokesman for the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC), Shahid Riaz Khan, confirmed that the newly built plant in the southern port city of Karachi went into operation late Thursday, generating much-needed “reliable and cost-effective” electricity.The facility, known as the Karachi Nuclear Power Plant Unit-2 (K-2), will help improve the national economy, said a PAEC statement.“The coming online of K-2 will nearly double the generation capacity of nuclear power plants in the country, substantially improving the overall share of nuclear power in the energy mix,” said an official announcement. It will surely help improve the economy of the country.Until now, the collective generation capacity of all Pakistan’s five nuclear plants was roughly 1,350 megawatts, five percent of the national electricity generation. Four of the plants, also built with Chinese assistance, are located in Chashma in Mianwali district. Canada helped Pakistan build its first nuclear power plant in 1972 in Karachi, which is currently producing around 80 megawatts of electricity, according to officials. The facility has almost lived its life and is expected to be abandoned once K-2 and K-3 are fully operational.China is constructing another similar nuclear plant next to K2, named K-3, with an installed capacity of 1,100 megawatts. Officials said the second unit “is expected to be operational by the end of 2021.”The construction of the Chinese-supplied third generation Hualong One reactors began in 2015 and 2016 respectively, at a combined estimated cost of roughly $10 billion. The reactors are equipped with “advanced safety and foolproof security features.” Khan explained the nuclear power plants come with “double containment” to help contain radio activity in case of an accident or subversive acts.“In the event of a terrorist attack to sabotage the facility from outside, it will not be able to directly hit the plant and damage,” Khan said. “The container dome is designed in such a way that only its external wall would be damaged in case a big passenger plane like Boeing crashed into it.”The site where K-2 and K-3 are being built is more than 12 meters above sea level, giving them protection against tsunamis.Both the power plants will have an operational life of 60 years. Under the agreement, China will provide fuel for them, just like it has a been doing for the four plants operating in Chashma, Khan said.He said that all of Pakistan’s civilian nuclear facilities, including K-2 and under-construction K-3, are under International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) safeguards.Islamabad intends to generate around 8,800 megawatts of nuclear power by 2030 and 40,000 megawatts by the year 2050.Chinese investment has also constructed at least nine coal-based power plants over the past six years in Pakistan and more are in the pipeline, helping the South Asian nation effectively overcome years of energy crisis.The multibillion-dollar collaboration, known as the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), an extension of Beijing’s global Belt and Road Initiative, has upgraded and built new road networks and expanded the Pakistani deep-water Arabian Sea port of Gwadar.
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Moscow Hosts Talks Aimed at Ending Fighting in Afghanistan

Russia Thursday hosted rival Afghani factions in Moscow for talks aimed at kickstarting a power-sharing agreement between the Taliban and the government in Kabul. And as Charles Maynes reports from Moscow, the negotiations mark a rare moment of U.S.-Russian cooperation in an era of recrimination.
Camera: Ricardo Marquina
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