Pakistan announced Monday it will host navies from 45 countries, including the United States, China and Russia, for a joint military exercise in the North Arabian Sea later this month.
 
It will be the first time in a decade that Russian naval ships have attended drills with multiple NATO members.
 
Officials said the biannual multinational “AMAN” (Peace) exercise in Pakistani waters is aimed at fostering international cooperation to fight piracy, terrorism and other crimes threatening maritime security and stability.  
 
“Exercise AMAN is about bridging gaps and making it possible to operate together in pursuance of common objectives,” Rear Adm. Naveed Ashraf, commander of the Pakistani fleet, said Monday.
 
An official statement quoted him as saying that participating nations will attend the military drills with their “surface and air assets, special operation forces and maritime teams.”
 
Britain, Turkey, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Malaysia and countries from the African Union are also among participants of the military exercise under the banner, “Together for Peace.”
 
The last time the Russian navy conducted joint military drills with NATO members was in the “Bold Monarch” exercise in 2011, which took place off the coast of Spain.  
 
NATO’s relations with Moscow have since deteriorated over Russia’s annexation of Ukraine’s Crimean peninsula in 2014.
 
“Pakistan considers that maritime security is not just important for itself but for all other countries whose prosperity and progress are strongly bonded with the seas,” Ashraf said.
 
He stressed that Pakistan’s “extraordinary dependence” on the seas for trade and operationalization of infrastructure projects developed with China’s financial and technical assistance “make the maritime stability” an “important agenda of our national security.”
 
The multibillion-dollar collaboration, known as the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), is regarded as a key component of Beijing’s global Belt and Road Initiative.  
 
The project has in recent years cemented economic relations between the two allied nations, which traditionally maintain close military ties.
 
The Pakistani navy chief last week confirmed his institution will acquire eight submarines and four frigates from China.
 
“Naval collaboration between the two countries has been strengthened with the procurement of F-22P frigates, fast attack craft, helicopters, and state-of-the-art survey ships,” Adm. Amjad Khan Niazi told China’s Global Times.
 
“The PN (Pakistan Navy) has also contracted construction of eight Hangor class submarines, four Type 054A/P frigates, and medium-altitude long-endurance unmanned combat aerial vehicles from China,” Niazi said.On Monday, Pakistan’s military received a donated batch of COVID-19 vaccine from the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA). It marked the first time the PLA has provided the vaccine to a foreign army.  
 
“Pakistan’s armed forces extend their deepest gratitude to PLA and People’s Republic of China for this magnanimous donation during testing times,” the Pakistani military said.
 
It added, however, that the drug will be contributed to the ongoing national drive inoculating health care workers across Pakistan.
 
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Emergency teams in northern India are working Monday to rescue 37 power plant workers trapped in a tunnel after part of a Himalayan glacier broke away, slamming water and debris into a dam and at least two hydroelectric plants early Sunday.  Authorities say at least 18 bodies have been recovered, but more than 165 people are missing and feared dead.  More than 2,000 people have been deployed to the search-and-rescue operation in the valley, including members of the military and police. The floods destroyed a hydroelectric plant on the Alaknanda river and damaged another on the Dhauli Ganga river. The two rivers flow out of the Himalayan mountains and meet before merging with the Ganges river.Rescuers leave on a boat to search for bodies in the downstream of Alaknanda River in Rudraprayag, northern state of Uttarakhand, India, Feb.8, 2021.The incident sent a massive amount of water and debris downhill, flooding the Dhauli Ganga River and forcing the evacuation of downstream villages. Video from the area shows floods of gray glacial water and debris traveling through a valley and surging through the dam in the northern state of Uttarakhand. Scientists have blamed global warming for the glacier’s catastrophic melting.    
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Officials say more than 140 people are missing and feared dead, after a large piece of a Himalayan glacier in northern India broke off and slammed into a dam early Sunday, flooding the Dhauli Ganga River and forcing the evacuation of downstream villages.Authorities say at least nine bodies have been recovered in the unfolding incident.  
Footage from the area shows floods of gray glacial water and debris traveling through a valley and surging through the dam in the northern state of Uttarakhand.Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Twitter, “India stands with Uttarakhand and the nation prays for everyone’s safety there.”More than 2,000 people were deployed in a search-and-rescue operation in the valley, including members of the military and police.The floods destroyed a hydroelectric plant on the Alaknanda river and damaged another on the Dhauli Ganga river. The two rivers flow out of the Himalayan mountains and meet before merging with the Ganges river.The Associated Press reported that a spokesman for the Indo-Tibetan Border Police said as many as 200 plant workers were missing or trapped in tunnels at the plants.Scientists have pointed to global warming as the reason the glacier broke in the first place. 
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Officials say more than 140 people are missing and feared dead, after a large piece of a Himalayan glacier in northern India broke off and slammed into a dam early Sunday, flooding the Dhauli Ganga River and forcing the evacuation of the downstream villages.Authorities say at least nine bodies have been recovered in the unfolding incident.Prime Minister Narendra Modi posted on Twitter; “India stands with Uttarakhand and the nation prays for everyone’s safety there.”Sanjay Singh Rana, who lives on the upper reaches of Raini village told Reuters in a telephone interview, “It came very fast, there was no time to alert anyone … I felt that even we would be swept away.”The government says disaster response teams are being airlifted to the area..  
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Military helicopters in northern Pakistan Sunday continued searching for three climbers, including two foreigners, missing in their attempt to conquer the world’s second-tallest peak, K2, known as the “Savage Mountain.”
  
Organizers said that climbers John Snorri from Iceland, Juan Pablo Mohr from Chile and Muhammad Ali Sadpara from Pakistan, lost contact with base camp Friday during their ascent of the 8,611-meter mountain.  Snorri had tweeted before the start of the final push to the top of the mountain. K2 – 8.611m summit push on the 5th February , Friday morning after noon PKT. Please follow us https://t.co/tEBxpdLl2cFinally summit push has started ❤️@john_snorri@ali_sadpara@EliaSaikalypic.twitter.com/r0KM126iIi— John Snorri (@john_snorri) February 4, 2021Karrar Haidri, a spokesman for the Alpine Club of Pakistan, told VOA the base camp stopped receiving signals from the climbers after they reached 8,000 meters. The search and rescue mission was launched on Saturday but so far it has not located the missing men, he said. • Army’s Helicopter made a search flight almost up to 7000m and returned back to Skardu, unfortunately, they can not trace anything.#k2expedition#k2winter#k2winter2021#karakorum#sherpa#nepal#pakistan#mountaineering#expeditionk2#alpinism#wintersummitk2pic.twitter.com/coemzonVnU— Chhang Dawa Sherpa (@ChhangDawa) February 6, 2021  
Haidri said that two experienced Pakistani rock climbers were also looking for the missing men on foot. On Saturday, Iceland’s foreign minister, Gudlaugur Thór Thórdarson, spoke by phone to his Pakistani counterpart, Shah Mahmood Qureshi, about the missing Icelandic mountaineer and his partners.
A statement issued by Pakistan after the call said Qureshi apprised Thórdarson of the search and rescue mission. “He reassured that Pakistan will spare no effort and will extend all possible support in this regard,” the statement quoted Qureshi as saying.
Nazir Sabir, a veteran Pakistani climber who successfully scaled K2, said there was little hope of finding the climbers alive.
“We have all been praying but sadly it looks like not much hope of their survival. Above 8,000 meters on K2 and that too in winter there are very little chances of survival for any human being for more than 10 hours,” Sabir said. “Wind chill freezes you within hours if you are not in action,” he added.News of the missing climbers came the same day a Bulgarian alpinist, Atanas Skatov, was confirmed to have died on K2.
Skatov, 42, reportedly fell from about 7,400 meters. He was the second climber to die on K2 this year, after a renowned Spanish climber, Sergi Mingote, fell to his death last month while descending the mountain.Russian-American Alex Goldfarb, a Harvard professor, lost his life in January on a nearby mountain during an acclimatizing mission.
Last month, a 10-member team of Nepali climbers made history when they became the first to conquer K2 in winter.
Located in the Karakoram range along the Chinese border, K2 was the last of the world’s 14 tallest mountains higher than 8,000 meters to be climbed in winter.
This winter, an around 50 mountaineers converged on the peak, an unprecedented number.
K2 is about 200 meters shorter than Nepal’s Mount Everest, which is the world’s tallest peak and part of the Himalayan range.
International climbers dub K2 as the “Savage Mountain” because they say summit winds reach hurricane force and still-air temperatures are well below -65 degrees Celsius.
About one person dies on K2 for every four who reach the summit, which mountaineers say is “technically hardest” of the 14 tallest mountains in the world.
“More than 6,500 people have climbed Everest while only 337 have conquered K2 to date,” said Sabir, who also successfully scaled Mount Everest.  
 
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Military helicopters in northern Pakistan Sunday resumed a search for three climbers, including two foreigners, missing in their attempt to conquer the world’s second-tallest peak, K2, known as the “Savage Mountain.” 
  
Organizers said that climbers John Snorri from Iceland, Juan Pablo Mohr from Chile and Muhammad Ali Sadpara from Pakistan, lost contact with base camp Friday during their ascent of the 8,611-meter mountain.  Snorri had tweeted before the start of the final push to the top of the mountain. K2 – 8.611m summit push on the 5th February , Friday morning after noon PKT. Please follow us https://t.co/tEBxpdLl2cFinally summit push has started ❤️@john_snorri@ali_sadpara@EliaSaikalypic.twitter.com/r0KM126iIi— John Snorri (@john_snorri) February 4, 2021  
Karrar Haidri, a spokesman for the Alpine Club of Pakistan, told VOA the base camp stopped receiving signals from the climbers after they reached 8,000 meters. The search and rescue mission was launched on Saturday but so far it has not located the missing men, he said. • Army’s Helicopter made a search flight almost up to 7000m and returned back to Skardu, unfortunately, they can not trace anything.#k2expedition#k2winter#k2winter2021#karakorum#sherpa#nepal#pakistan#mountaineering#expeditionk2#alpinism#wintersummitk2pic.twitter.com/coemzonVnU— Chhang Dawa Sherpa (@ChhangDawa) February 6, 2021  
Haidri said that two experienced Pakistani rock climbers were also looking for the missing men on foot. 
  
On Saturday, Iceland’s Foreign Minister Gudlaugur Thór Thórdarson spoke by phone to his Pakistani counterpart, Shah Mahmood Qureshi, about the missing Icelandic mountaineer and his partners. 
  
A post-call Pakistani statement said Qureshi apprised Thórdarson of the search and rescue mission. “He reassured that Pakistan will spare no effort and will extend all possible support in this regard,” the statement quoted Qureshi as saying.  
   
News of the missing climbers came on the same day a Bulgarian alpinist, Atanas Skatov, was confirmed to have died on K2.  
  
Skatov, 42, reportedly fell from about 7,400 meters. He is the second climber to die on K2 this year, after a renown Spanish climber, Sergi Mingote, fell to his death last month while descending the mountain.  
  
Russian-American Alex Goldfarb, a Harvard professor, lost his life in January on a nearby mountain during an acclimatizing mission. 
  
Last month, a 10-member team of Nepali climbers made history when they became the first to conquer K2 in winter. 
  
Located in the Karakoram range along the Chinese border, K2 was the last of the world’s 14 tallest mountains higher than 8,000 meters to be climbed in winter.  
  
This winter an unprecedented around 50 mountaineers converged on the peak. 
  
K2 is about 200 meters shorter than Nepal’s Mount Everest, which is the world’s tallest peak and part of the Himalayan range. 
  
International climbers dub K2 as the “Savage Mountain” because they say summit winds reach hurricane force and still-air temperatures are well below -65 degrees Celsius. 
  
About one person dies on K2 for every four who reach the summit, which mountaineers say is “technically hardest” of all the 14 tallest mountains in the world. 
  
“More than 6,500 people have climbed Everest while only 337 have conquered K2 to date,” said Pakistani climber Nazir Sabir, who successfully scaled both the peaks. 
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A report by the U.N. Assistance Mission in Afghanistan and the Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights finds torture, which is prohibited under international law, is widely practiced in Afghan prisons. The report covers the period from January 2019 through March 2020.The report is based on 656 interviews with men, women and children held in 63 detention facilities across Afghanistan. It finds about one-third of the inmates who were suspected, accused or convicted of security or terrorism-related offenses had been tortured or subjected to other forms of ill treatment.Afghan Prisoners Sew Lips to Protest Government Policy

        Almost 20 Afghan inmates in the Pul-i-Charkhi prison, on the outskirts of the capital, Kabul, have sewn their lips shut to protest government policies.

They are part of a group of 300 prisoners who are on a hunger strike against a presidential decree denying them the right to serve jail time in their own provinces, rather than Kabul.
 
Abdul Halem Kohistani, the official in charge of protesting prisoners, said they also want to be included in presidential pardons usually granted around religious…
Rupert Colville is spokesman for the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights. He tells VOA the percentage of detainees claiming to have been tortured has decreased slightly compared to the previous two-year monitoring period. Nevertheless, he says the very high percentage of people subjected to torture remains alarmingly high.“Now, we have not been able to individually verify each case that it is true, that it really happened but, obviously, in some cases, you can see the physical evidence of torture…The total prohibition against torture does not appear to be there with the security services or with the prison officials, etc. So, it still appears to be rampant in detention facilities,” said Colville.The Afghan government has allowed the U.N. to monitor the treatment of people in places of detention since 2011. The monitoring of those imprisoned on charges of security or terrorism-related offenses was temporarily suspended in early March of last year because of the COVID-19 pandemic.Afghan Official: 600 Freed Taliban Prisoners Rearrested  The development could pose a fresh challenge to US-backed Afghan peace efforts That makes prisoners particularly vulnerable to abuse. The report highlights that procedural safeguards for detainees are rarely followed. Colville notes none of the detainees interviewed were informed of their right to a lawyer. He says few received a medical examination or were able to contact their families early in their detention.“Perhaps most alarming of all, nearly half of those interviewed were apparently asked to sign or place their thumbprint — because many, many Afghans are not literate — were asked to sign or place their thumbprint on a document without knowing what that document actually said. That, of course, leads to forced confessions and so on,” said Colville.The report recognizes the Afghan government has taken steps to prevent torture in places of detention. But it says more needs to be done. It recommends measures to increase the capacity, resources, and training of law enforcement agencies so they understand the illegal practice must stop.
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Thousands of Indian farmers blocked highways in the country on Saturday as they escalated their 10-week-long protest to demand the repeal of three farm laws.In some places they used tractors and boulders to block roads, in others they chanted slogans and waved flags or squatted along highways for three hours in what is seen as a “symbolic” protest.  Nearly 50,000 security personnel were deployed in the Indian capital, which the government has blocked from the farmers with concrete and steel barriers and concertina wire outside three main sites where protesters have camped since late November.The protesters had, however, said they will not enforce the road blockade in the capital, which witnessed violence and clashes when some farmers broke through police barricades during a farmers’ rally on January 26.Although the protests were widely expected to wind down, they gained fresh momentum in recent days with thousands more pouring into protest sites on New Delhi’s borders and vowing not to return until the contentious laws are scrapped. Congress party activists block a highway during a nationwide shutdown called by thousands of Indian farmers protesting new agriculture laws in Hyderabad, India, Feb. 6, 2021.As the protests continue to spiral, they have garnered international attention. Hours before the road blockades began, the United Nations human rights office called on farmers and Indian authorities to “exercise maximum restraint.””The rights to peaceful assembly & expression should be protected both offline & online,” it said on Twitter late Friday. “It’s crucial to find equitable solutions with due respect to #HumanRights for all.”In a statement Thursday, the U.S. Embassy in New Delhi said that it encourages differences to be resolved through dialogue and described peaceful protests as a “hallmark” of a “thriving democracy.””In general, the United States welcomes steps that would improve the efficiency of India’s markets and attract greater private sector investment,” the statement added.Celebrities such as pop star Rihanna and environment campaigner Greta Thunberg have tweeted their support for the farmers.  With One Tweet, Rihanna Puts India Farmers’ Protests in Global SpotlightIndia condemned ‘international meddling’ as ‘irresponsible’ Most of the protesting farmers camped on Delhi’s borders come from the neighboring states of Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh, but farm leaders say they have support from the rural community nationwide.Following the violence in the Indian capital 10 days ago, a trust deficit has widened between the farmers and the government, especially after the protest sites were heavily barricaded, according to political analysts.Police say the barricades are necessary to ensure that the violence that wracked the capital is not repeated. Some farmers and opposition leaders, however, have called the fortifications “warlike.” “It is quite unprecedented to see the government literally barricading itself and its seat of power – Delhi,” political analyst Suhas Palshikar wrote in the Indian Express newspaper, saying it sends a dual message. “One is a message of distrust and disregard, the other is the message that power and the people are clearly separated.”
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Pakistan organized nationwide annual marches and rallies Friday to reaffirm its political support for residents of the India-ruled part of Kashmir, a Muslim-majority region split between the two arch-rival countries.The highlight of the government-led “Kashmir Solidarity Day” was Prime Minister Imran Khan’s address to a big public gathering in the Pakistan-ruled portion of Kashmir.
 
Khan reiterated his country’s call for arranging a decades-old United Nations-mandated plebiscite to allow Kashmiris to decide on whether they want to join Pakistan or India.
 
“When you get the right to decide on your future, and when the people of Kashmir, God willing, will vote in favor of Pakistan, I want to assure you that after that Pakistan will give Kashmiris the right to decide whether you want to be independent or a part of Pakistan,” Khan said.
 
New Delhi and Islamabad both claim Kashmir in its entirety. The territorial dispute has sparked two of the three wars between the nuclear-armed South Asian neighboring countries since gaining independence from Britain in 1947.If India demonstrates sincerity in seeking a just solution to the Kashmir issue, in accordance with UNSC resolutions, we are ready to take two steps forward for peace. But let no one mistake our desire for stability & peace as a sign of weakness.— Imran Khan (@ImranKhanPTI) February 5, 2021 
The U.N. Security Council passed the resolution in 1948 promising Kashmiris the right to choose between Pakistan and India. But the proposed plebiscite did not include total independence of Kashmir as an option.
 
India is opposed to holding such a plebiscite and wants a resolution of the dispute through bilateral talks with Pakistan under a 1972 so-called Simla Agreement between the two countries.  
 
New Delhi has long accused Islamabad of training and funding separatist groups in Kashmir, charges Pakistani officials deny.  
 
In August 2019, India unilaterally canceled the decades-old semi-autonomous status for its administered Kashmir, dividing the region into two union territories.  
 
New Delhi also placed the region under a strict security and communications clampdown for months to counter a violent backlash from Kashmiris to its controversial action.  
 
Pakistan rejected the Indian actions in Kashmir and downgraded bilateral ties.  
 
Khan reiterated in his speech Friday that his government was ready to hold talks with India to discuss Kashmir, provided New Delhi restored the semi-autonomous constitutional status of the region and removed the ensuing restrictions and laws.  
 
Meanwhile, Pakistani officials in southwestern Baluchistan province said Friday’s separate Kashmir Day rallies there were struck by bombing attacks, killing at least two people and wounding more than two dozen.   
 
Senior provincial police officials said the attacks were under investigation.  
 
There were no immediate claims of responsibly for the violence in Baluchistan, where banned extremist and separatist groups routinely plot such attacks. Pakistani officials accuse the Indian spy agency of funding the militants, charges New Delhi denies.
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India said on Friday it was restoring high-speed mobile internet in the federal territory of Jammu and Kashmir for the first time since August 2019, when the government withdrew the special rights of the restive Muslim-dominated region.
 
Jammu and Kashmir was India’s only Muslim-majority state before Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist government split it into two, including an enclave with many Buddhists, and took direct control of both.
 
Much of the Himalayan mountain territory is also claimed by Pakistan, India’s arch-rival in South Asia.
 
“4G mobile internet services being restored in entire J&K,” local administration spokesman Rohit Kansal said on Twitter.
 
India broke up Kashmir in mid-2019 by sending additional troops mainly to the Kashmir Valley, and detaining political leaders to crack down on dissent in the region where India has been fighting an insurgency for decades.
 
One of those detained and released politicians, former J&K Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, tweeted his happiness at the New Delhi government’s move on the internet.
 
“4G Mubarak!” he said, using an Urdu word for congratulations. “For the first time since Aug 2019, all of J&K will have 4G mobile data. Better late than never”.
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Taliban insurgents have killed at least 21 government troops in new attacks in Afghanistan as U.S.-brokered peace talks between the two warring sides remain stalled.The fighting comes as the United States is reviewing a February 2020 agreement with the Taliban, which required remaining American and allied forces to leave Afghanistan by May of this year.An Afghan security officer said Friday that a major pre-dawn Taliban raid targeted in an outpost in Khan Abad district in northeastern Kunduz province. The officer, who spoke to VOA on condition of anonymity, said the attack killed 16 security force members, including their commander, and assailants also took two others hostage.Separately, insurgents stormed an Afghan army outpost in northern Faryab province Thursday night, killing five soldiers. The provincial governor told local TOLO television channel the Taliban also took “some soldiers” hostage.Taliban Calls on Biden Administration to Honor Trump Afghan CommitmentsPentagon spokesperson tells VOA Washington continues to support Afghan peace processThe insurgent group has not immediately commented on either of the attacks, which come amid increased hostilities in Afghanistan.Dangerous escalationMeanwhile, the Taliban warned U.S. President Joe Biden’s administration against abandoning the February 29 deal between the two adversaries, saying leaving the agreement “will lead to a dangerous escalation” in the Afghan war.The insurgent warning came two days after a bipartisan U.S. congressional panel recommended that Biden should extend the May 1 deadline set in the agreement with the Taliban for pulling out all American forces from the South Asian nation.The Afghanistan Study Group called in its report released Wednesday for strictly linking further U.S. troop drawdowns to a reduction in insurgent violence and progress in the ongoing intra-Afghan peace talks.The study warned that removing all American and NATO forces by the May deadline could lead to a civil war in the country, destabilize the region and revive the al-Qaida terror threat. In a commentary published on its official website Friday in response to the U.S. report, the Islamist insurgent group rejected charges that it had failed on its commitments outlined in the deal. “If the Doha agreement is abrogated, it will lead to a major war, the responsibility of which shall fall squarely on the shoulders of America,” it warned.Afghan Official: 600 Freed Taliban Prisoners Rearrested  The development could pose a fresh challenge to US-backed Afghan peace efforts The Taliban advised the new U.S. administration not to treat the deal in an “emotional manner” and instead “end further investments in the continuation of [Afghan] war, warlords and corrupt individuals.””Therefore, all must desist from provocative actions and rhetoric that could lead us all back to former war footing posture because such is neither in the interest of America nor in the interest of the Afghan people,” the Taliban commentary concluded.The U.S.-Taliban deal has reduced the number of American forces in the country to 2,500 from nearly 13,000 a year ago in return for insurgent counterterrorism guarantees and pledges to find a negotiated settlement with Afghan rivals to the country’s long war.The Biden administration, however, has decided to review the pact made under the Trump administration to determine whether the Taliban has and is also living up to its commitments.Trump’s peace envoy for Afghanistan, Zalmay Khalilzad, negotiated and signed the deal with the Taliban in Doha, the capital of Qatar. The Biden administration has asked Khalilzad, the Afghan-born veteran U.S. diplomat, to retain his position.The landmark agreement opened first direct peace negotiations between the insurgent group and representatives of the Afghan government in Doha last September. However, the so-called intra-Afghan peace talks have been stalled since early last month, with both sides blaming the other for the suspension.U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with Khalilzad on Thursday to discuss the Afghan peace initiative.”Great meeting with @US4AfghanPeace Ambassador Khalilzad to discuss the way forward in Afghanistan: continuing to protect the U.S. against the threat of terrorism, achieving a just and durable political settlement there, and cementing a permanent and comprehensive ceasefire,” Blinken tweeted after the meeting.
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China, Russia, Turkey and Iran are some of the world’s authoritarian countries that have increasingly spread political repression abroad with little consequence, according to a report released Thursday.
 
Freedom House, a Washington-based democracy advocacy group, identified authoritarian nations that have resorted to tactics in recent years to murder and intimidate critics living outside their borders.  
 
Titled “Out of Sight, Not Out of Reach,” the report said there have been at least 608 acts of physical repression against individuals since 2014 in 79 countries, including the United States. About 3.5 million people were affected by direct or secondary attacks in that time span, the report said.   
 
China was the worst offender, conducting “the most sophisticated, global and comprehensive campaign of transnational repression in the world,” said Freedom House.
 
China deployed a wide range of tactics against dissidents abroad, including Uighurs, Han Chinese, Tibetans and Falun Gong adherents, according to the report. Bejing also kidnapped exiled activists such as Gui Minhai, a bookseller of Swedish nationality who was relocated back to China from Thailand in 2015.
 
Turkey ranked a close second in the use of transnational repression, particularly after the July 2016 coup attempt against President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The report said Turkey engaged in murders, interstate extraditions, physical threats and “mobility controls” such as passport cancellations and denial of consular assistance.
 
The report said Russia engaged in “highly aggressive” acts of repression abroad by “heavily” relying on assassinations of people deemed as threats by the Russian government.
 
The Kremlin’s repression campaign resulted in seven of 26 assassinations or assassination attempts identified worldwide by Freedom House between 2014 and 2020.FILE – A forensic tent covering the bench where Russian double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia were found poisoned is seen in Salisbury, Britain, March 8, 2018. The Kremlin is widely believed to have been behind the poisoning.The report said Iran expanded its covert campaign of assassinations abroad and harassment of political opponents and dissidents. It linked Iran to five assassinations or assassination attempts in three countries and said at least two assassination plans were thwarted. Among Iran’s targets were journalists and dissidents that authorities frequently called “terrorists.”
 
In addition to Pakistan and Azerbaijan, all five Central Asian republics — Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan — also targeted their nationals abroad with tactics such as assaults and detentions, according to the report. Saudi Arabia, Rwanda and Thailand were also cited for concerted campaigns against their nationals abroad.
 
A dozen countries, including China, Russia and Turkey, began using criminal listings from the International Criminal Police Organization to suppress individuals. The countries placed names on Interpol’s criminal watch lists, while the agency had little capacity to validate them, the report said.
 
The report focused primarily on countries the group said methodically targeted relatively large numbers of dissidents and acted with increasing impunity due to the lack of consequences.
 
Freedom House did not explore U.S. treatment of its dissidents in other countries such as Edward Snowden, who was granted temporary asylum in Russia in 2013 after leaking secret U.S. intelligence. In 2020, he was granted permanent residency in Russia.
 
Snowden has not complained of the types of treatment other activists have received from their home countries.  
 
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An outcry by Hindu nationalists and criminal complaints for allegedly hurting Hindus’ religious sentiment has prompted the director of a new Amazon television political drama to delete scenes that allegedly mocked Hindi deities and a dialogue with derisive references to lower castes.The show, Tandav, released last month here, was widely expected to win many viewers as it boasted of some of the biggest names in Bollywood. But political analysts say the backlash against the TV series has again put the spotlight on a rising tide of Hindu nationalism in India.  “This signals a new political culture supportive of intolerance, of a hardline Hindu ideology which is endorsed by the ruling party,” said Niranjan Sahoo at the Observer Research Foundation in New Delhi, pointing out that members of the ruling right-wing Bharatiya Janata Party and Hindu groups were among those who filed police complaints, voiced strident objections and called for the show to be banned.A Bharatiya Janata Party supporter wearing mask rests on bike as she waits to take part in a protest against The Amazon Prime Video web series Tandav in Mumbai, India, Jan 19, 2021.The TV show is centered on a power-hungry politician bent on becoming India’s prime minister. The scenes that offended Hindu nationalists include one in which a university student plays the role of the Hindu god Shiva and scenes in which characters insult lower castes. One of the police complaints filed in the northern Uttar Pradesh state, ruled by the BJP, also said that the political drama portrays the prime minister’s post in “an indecent manner.” In a statement after the controversy erupted, the show’s director, Ali Abbas Zafar, called the TV series a “pure work of fiction” and said that the cast and crew “unconditionally apologize if it has unintentionally hurt anybody’s sentiments.” However, the apology and the deletion of the offending scenes have not assuaged those who have objected to the TV series. A BJP member of Parliament, Manoj Kotak, told VOA the makers of the TV series and actors must face legal action.  
 
“What they did is not pardonable,” he said. “It is not enough to say ‘sorry’ after doing something wrong. You have to be answerable for what has been done.”   
 
Soon after the show went on the air last month, he had said that the show “deliberately mocked Hindu gods and disrespected Hindu religious sentiments.”Tandav is not the only TV series that has angered Hindu nationalists. Objections to a scene in which a Hindu woman and a Muslim man kiss against the backdrop of a Hindu temple in a Netflix TV series, A Suitable Boy, had prompted a police complaint in November in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh by a BJP youth wing member, Gaurav Tiwari, who said the scene “hurt religious sentiments.”  A stand-up comedian, Munawar Faruqui, who was scheduled to give a comedy show in Madhya Pradesh, has been in jail since last month after the leader of a local Hindu group, Eklavya Singh Gaud, complained to police that he had outraged religious feelings. Faruqui had not begun his show when he was arrested. Gaud told reporters later that “he has made indecent remarks on Hindu gods and goddesses in the past.” Three BJP-ruled states have also passed controversial legislation prescribing prison terms for anyone using marriage to force religious conversion.  Dubbed the “love jihad” law, it aims to address concerns among Hindu nationalists that women are being lured into marriage by Muslim men in order to convert them to Islam — critics have dismissed such fears as a “conspiracy” theory. In Uttar Pradesh, several Muslim men have been arrested under the law.Political analysts such as Sahoo say the trend is disturbing.“Filing police complaints, dragging people to courts, this all will have a chilling impact on our democracy, on free speech and creative expression,” he said. There have been growing calls for regulation of content on platforms such as Netflix, Amazon and Disney’s Hotstar as it raises the ire of some amid the growing wave of Hindu nationalism.   BJP lawmaker Kotak said the problem is not just with Tandav.“The way shows on streaming services are portraying sex, violence, abuse, women, Hindu gods and goddesses is not correct,” he told VOA.Kotak is among those who have called on the Information and Broadcasting Ministry to regulate streaming platforms. Unlike films, streaming TV services are not subject to the country’s censorship boards.  India has emerged as a big market for Amazon and other streaming platforms, which, besides airing international shows, are producing a lot of local content as they gain popularity.In the days after the controversy over Tandav erupted last month, an editorial in The Times of India newspaper, “Democracy’s Killjoys,” said, “This bullying of artists and creative expression doesn’t serve India well, culturally or commercially.” “Cinema is a source of immense soft power for India,” the editorial said.Using an abbreviation for “over-the-top media,” which refers to media distributed by internet, the paper said, “The Bollywood-centred OTT industry is booming, generating jobs and new experiential spaces for creators and consumers.“However,” it continued, “censorship, harassment and governmental overreach endanger this India story too, after other India stories have come off the rails.”
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The United States should extend the May 1 deadline for pulling all its troops from Afghanistan and make force cuts contingent on progress in peace talks and by the Taliban in reducing violence and containing al-Qaida, a bipartisan report to Congress said Wednesday.Washington should not abandon the Afghan peace process, the report said. But conditions for its success will not be met by a May 1 deadline set in a 2020 U.S.-Taliban agreement. Withdrawing all U.S. troops then could lead to civil war, destabilizing the region and reviving the al-Qaida threat, it said.The United States “should not … simply hand a victory to the Taliban,” said the Afghanistan Study Group report, reflecting criticism that the Trump administration conceded too much to the insurgents in a bid to end America’s longest war.Congress commissioned the group, whose co-chairs included retired Marine General Joseph Dunford, a former Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman, and former Republican Senator Kelly Ayotte.Dunford told reporters the report was shared with aides to President Joe Biden, including Zalmay Khalilzad, the peace negotiator kept on from the Trump administration, who “found it helpful.”State Department spokesman Ned Price said the Biden administration “plans to support” the peace process, and he noted that it was assessing the Taliban’s commitment to cutting ties to al-Qaida, lowering violence and engaging in peace talks.FILE – Relatives gather next to the coffin of a soldier after an ambush blamed on the Taliban killed at least 25 Afghan security force personnel as spiraling violence imperils ongoing peace talks, in Takhar province, Oct. 21, 2020.Drawdown orderedFormer President Donald Trump ordered a drawdown to 2,500 U.S. soldiers by last month, even as violence surged, U.S. officials accused the Taliban of maintaining ties with al-Qaida, and intra-Afghan peace talks stalled. The Taliban say al-Qaida fighters are no longer in Afghanistan and have also indicated that they will resume attacks on foreign forces if they remain past May 1.U.S. policy should be revised to help ensure that the peace talks in Doha between the Taliban and a delegation that includes Afghan government officials produce a durable settlement to decades of war, the report said.”Achieving the overall objective of a negotiated stable peace that meets U.S. interests would need to begin with securing an extension of the May deadline,” said the report, urging an “immediate” U.S. diplomatic push to rally regional support for a delay.An extension would let the Biden administration revise policy, and it would also give Washington time to restructure U.S. civilian aid and offer Kabul incentives “to play a constructive role” in the peace efforts and advancing women’s and minority rights.The February 2020 U.S.-Taliban deal made the U.S. withdrawal contingent on ground conditions and on the Taliban’s ending the hosting of al-Qaida fighters and halting the group’s “recruiting, training and fundraising.” 
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Pakistan’s government began administering the COVID-19 vaccine this week, saying it’s on track to achieve its targets. As VOA’s Ayesha Tanzeem reports from Islamabad, the opposition says the government is doing too little, too late.Producer: Henry Hernandez. Camera: Malik Waqar Ahmed.
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American pop star Rihanna tweeted about ongoing farmers’ protests in India this week, sparking attention from other big names on social media and anger from the Indian government.
 
“Why aren’t we talking about this?!” Rihanna tweeted on Tuesday, with a link to a CNN article about ongoing protests.why aren’t we talking about this?! #FarmersProtesthttps://t.co/obmIlXhK9S— Rihanna (@rihanna) February 2, 2021The tweet, which has been liked more than a half-million times in the past day, sparked attention from climate activist Greta Thunberg and the niece of Vice President Kamala Harris.We stand in solidarity with the #FarmersProtest in India.https://t.co/tqvR0oHgo0— Greta Thunberg (@GretaThunberg) February 2, 2021″It’s no coincidence that the world’s oldest democracy was attacked not even a month ago, and as we speak, the most populous democracy is under assault. This is related. We ALL should be outraged by India’s internet shutdowns and paramilitary violence against farmer protesters,” Meena Harris tweeted.But its reception in India was mixed.
 
In a statement released Wednesday, India’s Ministry of External Affairs said that the issue was a domestic one and accused “vested interest groups” of mobilizing international support against India.
 
“Before rushing to comment on such matters, we would urge that the facts be ascertained, and a proper understanding of the issues at hand be undertaken,” the Ministry said in a statement.
 
“The temptation of sensationalist social media hashtags and comments, especially when resorted to by celebrities and others, is neither accurate nor responsible,” the statement went on.
 
The statement claims that only a “very small section” of farmers have protested three new bills, which farmers fear would put them at the mercy of large corporations. However, tens of thousands of farmers have been camped out near India’s capital of Delhi for nearly two months as talks with the government have stalled.India’s Top Court Puts Controversial Farm Laws on HoldProtest leaders adamant that they will not negotiate with court-appointed panel saying all its members are ‘pro-government’ and reiterating that laws must be repealedIndian newspapers have reported that journalists reporting along the Singhu border near Delhi have been arrested or prevented from entering secured areas to report. The Indian government has also reportedly shut down the internet in various parts of the state of Haryana, where many farmers have set up camp.
 
While many Bollywood celebrities have echoed the rhetoric of the ruling party, famous musicians from Punjab — the state known as the “bread basket” of India where most protesters have traveled from — have welcomed the international attention.
 
Diljit Dosanjh, a Punjabi musician and actor who has been vocal in his support of the protests, produced a song called “Riri” in honor of Rihanna less than twelve hours after her tweet.#RIRI#Rihanna ✊🏽https://t.co/SkyOBC8lLx@Thisizintense@raj_ranjodh— DILJIT DOSANJH (@diljitdosanjh) February 3, 2021The farmers’ protest has emerged as a major challenge for Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, with the government refusing to repeal the laws and farmers refusing to settle for anything less.    
 
The government has defended the laws saying they would modernize agriculture and help farmers raise their incomes by affording them new opportunities to market their produce to private companies.
But farmers say the laws favor powerful corporations and fear they will dismantle the protection afforded by a decades-old system under which the government buys farm produce such as rice and wheat at what is called a “minimum price.”
  
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Pakistan’s highest court has ordered that a man previously convicted of kidnapping and killing American journalist Daniel Pearl be moved from jail to a secure but more comfortable lodging and given access to his family.The decision by the Supreme Court of Pakistan comes as the justices hear an appeal to reinstate the murder conviction against Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh, a Britain-born militant of Pakistani origin. A lower court last year acquitted Sheikh and ordered his release.Sheikh was convicted of killing Pearl in 2002, months after a video of Pearl’s beheading created an uproar around the world. Sheikh spent 18 years on death row as his case went through the court system.Last April, a court in Sindh province overturned that verdict on appeal, leaving only a conviction of kidnapping in place, and commuted his death sentence to seven years in prison considered as time already served. Three others linked to the case, Fahad Naseem, Salman Saqib, and Sheikh Adil, were acquitted.The Sindh High Court decision also caused an international outcry, with the then-acting U.S. attorney general, Jeffrey Rosen, announcing he was ready to “take custody of Omar Sheikh” to try him in the United States.“We cannot allow him to evade justice for his role in Daniel Pearl’s abduction and murder,” a December 2020 statement from Rosen said.In his first call to his Pakistani counterpart since taking up his post, new U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken expressed concern about the “potential release” of Sheikh and his accomplices.A readout of the call issued by the U.S. State Department said Blinken discussed “how to ensure accountability for convicted terrorist Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh and others responsible for the kidnapping and murder of American journalist Daniel Pearl.”Pearl, the South Asia bureau chief of The Wall Street Journal, was investigating militants with links to al-Qaida when he was kidnapped in Pakistan’s biggest city Karachi in January 2002.FILE – Undated file photo of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl. (Credit: Wall Street Journal)A month later, the video lasting several minutes showed his beheading.During testimony in 2007 at the Guantanamo Bay detention center, the mastermind of the September 11, 2001 attacks on the U.S. Khalid Sheikh Mohammad, claimed he was the one who killed Pearl.”I decapitated with my blessed right hand the head of the American Jew, Daniel Pearl, in the city of Karachi, Pakistan,” said a Pentagon transcript of the hearing as published in a CNN story at the time.Later, a detailed report issued by a Georgetown University investigative journalism project, called the Pearl Project, also claimed that Pearl had been beheaded by Mohammad.The 48-year-old Sheikh has a history of involvement with militant groups. He spent time in an Indian prison for the 1994 kidnapping of Western tourists. He was released, along with other militants, in exchange for the passengers of an Indian Airlines plane that was hijacked and landed in Kandahar, Afghanistan in 1999. 
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Pakistan began its COVID-19 vaccine drive Tuesday, with front-line health care workers slated to receive the inoculations in the first phase.Prime Minister Imran Khan attended a nationally televised launch event, where a doctor was given the first shot of China’s Sinopharm coronavirus vaccine.Beijing has donated 500,000 doses of the vaccine to Islamabad as a “goodwill gesture” to help the South Asian neighbor deal with the health crisis.The shots arrived in Pakistan on Monday, making it the first country in the world to receive the Chinese government-donated vaccine.  Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan, center back, watches as the first Chinese-made COVID-19 vaccine is administered to a front-line health worker in Islamabad, Feb. 2, 2021, in this photograph taken by Pakistan’s Press Information Department.Khan thanked China for the donation while addressing Tuesday’s ceremony in the Pakistani capital.”The vaccine will be first administered to health workers treating coronavirus patients, followed by elderly persons in the high-risk age group,” he explained.Pakistani officials said the nationwide inoculation drive will be rolled out Wednesday.The coronavirus situation in Pakistan, a country of about 220 million people, remains relatively under control.Pakistan detected the pandemic almost a year ago. Officials have since documented more than 547,000 confirmed nationwide cases of COVID-19 infections, with close to 12,000 deaths.Officials said on Saturday they had also secured 17 million doses of AstraZeneca’s coronavirus vaccine through the World Health Organization’s COVAX program to immunize Pakistanis against COVID-19.The first batch of COVID-19 vaccine boxes are unloaded from a Pakistan air force plane after arriving from China at the Nur Khan military airbase in Islamabad, Feb. 1, 2021, in this handout picture taken by the Pakistan Health Ministry.COVAX is a global program to vaccinate people in poor and middle-income countries against the coronavirus. The plan aims to deliver at least two billion free vaccine doses by the end of 2021 to cover 20 percent of the most vulnerable people in more than 90 nations across the globe.”COVAX’s timely support and delivery of the vaccine is testament of global stakeholders’ trust in Pakistan’s preparedness for vaccine roll out,” said Dr. Faisal Sultan, special health assistant to Khan.AstraZeneca’s vaccine has been developed with Oxford University researchers and is being used as part of a mass immunization program in Britain.Pakistan’s drug regulator last month approved both AstraZeneca and Sinopharm vaccines for emergency use in the country.The government says it plans to vaccinate at least 70% of the country’s adult population to achieve herd immunity over coming months.Pakistan, in collaboration with China, is also conducting a Phase 3 trial of another Chinese anti-coronavirus vaccine from Cansino Biologics, Inc. The trial is nearly complete and Pakistani officials expect the initial results later this month.Officials said Pakistan is entitled to receive 20 million doses of the Cansino vaccine, provided the trial results “are positive and the vaccine proves to be effective.” 
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Pakistan’s highest court has ordered that a man previously convicted of kidnapping and killing American journalist Daniel Pearl be moved from jail to a secure but more comfortable lodging and given access to his family.The decision by the Supreme Court of Pakistan comes as the justices hear an appeal to reinstate the murder conviction against Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh, a Britain-born militant of Pakistani origin. A lower court last year acquitted Sheikh and ordered his release.Sheikh was convicted of killing Pearl in 2002, months after a video of Pearl’s beheading created an uproar around the world. Sheikh spent 18 years on death row as his case went through the court system.Last April, a court in Sindh province overturned that verdict on appeal, leaving only a conviction of kidnapping in place, and commuted his death sentence to seven years in prison considered as time already served. Three others linked to the case, Fahad Naseem, Salman Saqib, and Sheikh Adil, were acquitted.The Sindh High Court decision also caused an international outcry, with the then-acting U.S. attorney general, Jeffrey Rosen, announcing he was ready to “take custody of Omar Sheikh” to try him in the United States.“We cannot allow him to evade justice for his role in Daniel Pearl’s abduction and murder,” a December 2020 statement from Rosen said.In his first call to his Pakistani counterpart since taking up his post, new U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken expressed concern about the “potential release” of Sheikh and his accomplices.A readout of the call issued by the U.S. State Department said Blinken discussed “how to ensure accountability for convicted terrorist Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh and others responsible for the kidnapping and murder of American journalist Daniel Pearl.”Pearl, the South Asia bureau chief of The Wall Street Journal, was investigating militants with links to al-Qaida when he was kidnapped in Pakistan’s biggest city Karachi in January 2002.FILE – Undated file photo of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl. (Credit: Wall Street Journal)A month later, the video lasting several minutes showed his beheading.During testimony in 2007 at the Guantanamo Bay detention center, the mastermind of the September 11, 2001 attacks on the U.S. Khalid Sheikh Mohammad, claimed he was the one who killed Pearl.”I decapitated with my blessed right hand the head of the American Jew, Daniel Pearl, in the city of Karachi, Pakistan,” said a Pentagon transcript of the hearing as published in a CNN story at the time.Later, a detailed report issued by a Georgetown University investigative journalism project, called the Pearl Project, also claimed that Pearl had been beheaded by Mohammad.The 48-year-old Sheikh has a history of involvement with militant groups. He spent time in an Indian prison for the 1994 kidnapping of Western tourists. He was released, along with other militants, in exchange for the passengers of an Indian Airlines plane that was hijacked and landed in Kandahar, Afghanistan in 1999. 
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Turkey and Azerbaijan are continuing to deepen ties by starting a major joint military exercise Monday. The display of force comes as some analysts suggest Ankara could be on the verge of a foreign policy pivot away from the Middle East to Central Asia.The 12-day military exercise involves tank divisions, airborne units, and “special forces.” Turkish-made weaponry is also set to play a prominent role.Turkish-made drones were pivotal in Azerbaijan’s defeat in October of Armenian separatist forces, in a battle over the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh enclave in Azerbaijan.Azerbaijan’s victory is seen as a strategic triumph for Turkey. “Turkey has invested very heavily in the Azeri military,” said international relations professor Serhat Guvenc of Istanbul’s Kadir Has University. The countries have close ethnic ties and define their relationship as “one nation, two states.”FILE – Men holding national flags of Azerbaijan and Turkey stand next to a memorial for people killed in Azerbaijan during the conflict over the breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh, outside the embassy of Azerbaijan in Moscow, Oct. 19, 2020.The speed and decisiveness of Azerbaijan’s military success boosted Turkish influence in the Caucasus, further consolidating close ties between Ankara and Baku.”Turkey is expanding its influence in Caucasia; it will do more so in the future,” said Huseyin Bagci, head of the Ankara-based Foreign Policy Institute.  Bagci suggests Ankara is poised for a shift in foreign policy, saying, “Turkey does not play the card of Islam and Middle East orientation anymore, but now rather more nationalistic, and of Turkish nationalism.”Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has traditionally positioned himself as the defender of global Muslim rights, in particular the Palestinians. Ankara is also a strong backer of the Muslim Brotherhood across the Middle East, and Hamas, which is designated by the United States and European Union as a terrorist organization.Much to Israel’s anger and Washington’s dismay, Hamas routinely held meetings in Turkey, and Ankara hosted its leaders. Such moves traditionally played well among Erdogan’s religious voting base.But analysts say Ankara is concerned about the U.S.-brokered Abraham Accords that saw the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain normalize ties with Israel last year, with Sudan close behind.FILE – Members of a Turkish forces commando brigade take part in a military parade in which Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev looked on in Baku, Azerbaijan, Dec. 10, 2020.With reports of other Arab countries, including Turkey’s close ally Qatar, ready to join the Abraham Accords, Bagci says there is awareness in Ankara that Turkey is facing growing isolation in the Middle East.”The Islamic card and talk of Muslim unity for Erdogan doesn’t function anymore, after the Abraham Accords,” said Bagci. “Everybody in Turkey realizes the Arabs fight amongst each other, but they also make peace amongst each another. The Arabs are not the Turks. It’s so simple. The Turkish public is more conscious of this, and the Israelis are the winners.”But other analysts remain cautious of a Turkish shift away from the Middle East and toward the courting of ethnic Turkic Central Asian states. “It’s too early to say, but there are some indications,” said Guvenc.Guvenc points out right-wing political parties in Turkey have broadly followed a philosophy of nationalism and Islam, created by the country’s military rulers of the early 1980s under the banner “Turkish Islamic synthesis.” ”I would say the emphasis on the Turko component of this synthesis would make sense for this government,” said Guvenc.Erdogan’s parliamentary coalition partner, the nationalist MHP, is seen as backing a shift in policy. “With MHP, his coalition partner, Erdogan will play more on Turkish nationalism than the Islamic card,” said Bagci.But any reorientation toward the Caucasus and beyond to Central Asia countries like Turkmenistan, Tajikistan and Kazakhstan isn’t without risk.”This will not go down well with Russia, definitely, which considers this region as its sphere of influence,” said Guvenc. “In central Asia, Turkey has already lost the battle and struggle for influence with Russia, and the Chinese are also rising its influence.”Russia thwarted previous efforts by Turkey to project influence across Central Asia. But Zaur Gasimov, an expert on Russia and Central Asia at Germany’s Bonn University, suggests Ankara has a stronger hand. ”Compared with the 1990s and 2000s, Turkey nowadays has much more leverage to influence Central Asian republics using its economy and migration policy just like Russia,” he said.Turkey hosts many migrant workers from across the Central Asian states, helping to develop and strengthen economic and cultural ties.A growing Turkish presence in Central Asia could be welcomed in the region to mitigate Russia’s powerful influence.”For Kazakhstan, the deepening of cooperation with Turkey, for example, could be needed to obtain a sort of balance in its relations with Moscow,” said Gasimov. Gasimov says Kazakh unease over Moscow has been heightened since Russia’s annexation in 2014 of Ukraine’s Crimea, a region populated by ethnic Russians.”Kazakhstani elites are concerned about Russian policy towards Ukraine and feel insecure about the northern provinces populated by ethnic Russians in Kazakhstan. Several high-rank Russian politicians claimed Kazakh territory in the recent past,” he added. 
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A U.S. government watchdog is expressing increased skepticism about the prospects for peace in Afghanistan, warning the United States-led push to reconcile Afghanistan’s Western-backed government with the Taliban are failing short.  
 
In a blunt assessment Monday, the U.S. Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) warned that despite the fanfare that surrounded last year’s withdrawal agreement between Washington and the Taliban, follow-on talks between the Taliban and the government in Kabul “have so far yielded few substantive results.”  
   
“There has been no cease-fire agreement and high levels of insurgent and extremist violence continued in Afghanistan this quarter despite repeated pleas from senior U.S. and international officials,” Special Inspector General John Sopko wrote in his latest quarterly report, the 50th such assessment sent to U.S. lawmakers.  
 
“Nor is it evident … that the Taliban has broken ties with the al-Qaida terrorists who orchestrated the 9/11 attacks on the United States,” he added.  
 
The U.S.-Taliban agreement requires all American and NATO troops to leave the country by May in return for the insurgents’ counterterrorism guarantees and pledges they will negotiate with Afghan rivals a political deal to permanently end two decades of Afghan war.  
 
Yet despite the agreement, U.S. military officials have repeatedly cast doubt on the Taliban’s intent and desire to follow through on its guarantees to Washington. And the new report suggests progress in other keys areas has likewise been stymied.
 
The SIGAR report, based on data from the U.S. military and the U.S.-led NATO mission in Afghanistan, cautioned fighting raged across much of the country over the last three months of 2020.  
 
According to U.S. Forces-Afghanistan, while the number of so-called enemy-initiated attacks were “slightly lower” in the fourth quarter of 2020 than they were in the previous three months, attacks had still increased compared to the same time in 2019.  
 
In some part of Afghanistan, the trend appeared to be even more worrisome.  
 
“Enemy attacks in Kabul were higher than during the previous quarter,” U.S. Forces-Afghanistan told SIGAR. “They were much higher than in the same quarter last year.”  
 
There are also indications that despite maintaining sufficient troop levels, Afghan security forces continued to lose ground to the Taliban.FILE – Afghan security personnel inspect the site of a car bomb blast near the destroyed office building of Afghanistan’s intelligence agency in the city of Aybak on July 13, 2020. The attack was claimed by the Taliban, officials said.SIGAR found that the Afghan National Army abandoned almost 200 checkpoints in Kandahar province to Taliban fighters in December alone, allowing the Taliban to acquire government weapons and ammunition.  
 
In response to the unrelenting violence, Afghan forces doubled the number of ground operations, compared to the same time last year while the number of U.S. airstrikes — “almost exclusively defensive strikes in support of Afghan forces” according the SIGAR report – likewise increased.  
 
So too, the Pentagon’s drawdown to 2,500 U.S. troops in Afghanistan, is also starting to reverberate.  
 
“[U.S.] defense officials acknowledge that this lower force level introduces some limitations on force capacity and on the train, advise, and assist mission,” SIGAR’s Sopko wrote.  
 
“Time is critical,” he added. “As the new administration and Congress start to deal with the thorny issues related to Afghanistan, they should be aware that not only do those risks persist, but they now also extend to wider concerns that the Afghan state itself may be unsustainable without continued international engagement.”  
 
The SIGAR report comes as international concerns about Afghanistan are also rising.  
 
The European Union Delegation to Afghanistan, along with NATO, the U.S., Britain and Canada, on Monday issued a statement to “strongly condemn the continuation of assassinations, kidnappings and destruction of vital infrastructure.”  
 
“The Taliban must understand that their violent, destructive actions outrage the world and must cease if peace is to come to Afghanistan,” the statement added.Together with EU member states, @CanEmbAFG@NATOscr , @UKinAfghanistan & @USEmbassyKabul, we raise our voice on the continuation of assassinations, kidnappings and destruction of vital infrastructure. Full statement here: https://t.co/YalKjqgfnnpic.twitter.com/BSPFqpPrrU— EUinAfghanistan (@EUinAfghanistan) January 31, 2021 
 But the Taliban Monday rejected the charges, calling them “unsubstantiated.”  
 
“The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan has absolutely no hand in civilian killing and neither is it involved in the destruction of public infrastructure,” spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said in a statement, placing the blame instead on other countries.pic.twitter.com/jUD9CRGCpP— Zabihullah (..ذبـــــیح الله م ) (@Zabehulah_M33) February 1, 2021Last Friday, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani told a virtual forum that it appears the Taliban are using the idea of talks simply to buy time.  
 
“The Taliban have been finding one excuse after another not to meet,” Ghani warned, adding “violence has peaked.”  
 
“If Taliban realize they can prevail through violence, they will not let go,” he said.”Peace has not been socialized to the #Taliban commanders or rank & file” per #Afghanistan’s @ashrafghani “Their leaders have taken pictures w/suicide bombers”— Jeff Seldin (@jseldin) January 29, 2021The administration of U.S. President Joe Biden has said it is not taking such concerns lightly.  
 
The U.S is “taking a hard look at the extent to which the Taliban are in fact complying,” new National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan told a virtual forum this past Friday when asked about evidence the group is still not making good on all aspects of its deal with Washington.  
 
“In that context, we will make decisions about our force posture & our diplomatic strategy going forward,” Sullivan added.
 
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International troops plan to stay in Afghanistan beyond the May deadline envisaged by the insurgent Taliban’s deal with the United States, four senior NATO officials said, a move that could escalate tensions with the Taliban demanding full withdrawal. “There will be no full withdrawal by allies by April-end,” one of the officials told Reuters. “Conditions have not been met,” he said on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter. “And with the new U.S. administration, there will be tweaks in the policy, the sense of hasty withdrawal which was prevalent will be addressed and we could see a much more calculated exit strategy.” The administration of then-President Donald Trump signed an agreement with the Taliban early last year calling for the withdrawal of all foreign troops by May in return for the insurgents fulfilling certain security guarantees. FILE – U.S. peace envoy Zalmay Khalilzad, left, and Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, the Taliban group’s top political leader sign a peace agreement between Taliban and U.S. officials in Doha, Qatar, Feb. 29, 2020.Trump hailed the accord — which did not include the Afghan government — as the end of two decades of war. He reduced U.S. troops to 2,500 by this month, the fewest since 2001. Plans on what will happen after April are now being considered and likely to be a top issue at a key NATO meeting in February, the NATO sources said. The positions of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization are becoming increasingly important after the alliance was sidelined by Trump, diplomats and experts say. Peace talks between the Afghan government and the Taliban began in September in Doha, but violence has remained high. “No NATO ally wants to stay in Afghanistan longer than necessary, but we have been clear that our presence remains conditions-based,” said NATO spokeswoman Oana Lungescu. “Allies continue to assess the overall situation and to consult on the way forward.” She said about 10,000 troops, including Americans, are in Afghanistan. Those levels are expected to stay roughly the same until after May, but the plan beyond that is not clear, the NATO source said. FILE – NATO soldiers inspect near the site of an attack in Kabul, Afghanistan, March 25, 2020.Kabul and some foreign governments and agencies say the Taliban has failed to meet conditions due to escalated violence and a failure to cut ties with militant groups such as Al Qaeda, which the Taliban denies. The administration of Joe Biden, who replaced Trump on Jan. 20, has launched a review of his predecessor’s peace agreement. A Pentagon spokesman said the Taliban have not met their commitments, but Washington remained committed to the process and had not decided on future troop levels. A State Department representative said Biden was committed to bringing a “responsible end to the ‘forever wars’… while also protecting Americans from terrorist and other threats.” Afghanistan’s presidential palace did not respond to a request for comment. Rising concern The Taliban have become increasingly concerned in recent weeks about the possibility that Washington might change aspects of the agreement and keep troops in the country beyond May, two Taliban sources told Reuters. “We conveyed our apprehensions, but they assured us of honoring and acting on the Doha accord. What’s going on, on the ground in Afghanistan, is showing something else. And that’s why we decided to send our delegations to take our allies into confidence,” said a Taliban leader in Doha. A Taliban delegation this week visited Iran and Russia, and the leader said they were contacting China. Although informal meetings have been taking place between negotiators in Doha, progress has stalled in recent weeks after an almost one-month break, according to negotiators and diplomats. Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told Reuters the insurgents remained committed to the peace process. “No doubt that if the Doha deal is not implemented there will be consequences, and the blame will be upon that side which does not honor the deal,” he said. “Our expectations are also that NATO will think to end this war and avoid more excuses for prolonging the war in Afghanistan.” NATO and Washington will have a challenge getting the Taliban to agree to an extension beyond May. If the situation remains unclear, the Taliban may increase attacks, possibly once again on international forces, said Ashley Jackson, co-director of the Centre for the Study of Armed Groups at the British think tank ODI. The lack of a resolution “gives voice to spoilers inside the Taliban who never believed the U.S. would leave willingly, and who have pushed for a ratcheting up of attacks even after the U.S.-Taliban deal was agreed,” she said. A Feb. 17-18 meeting of NATO defense ministers will be a chance for a newly empowered NATO to determine how the process would be shaped, said one source, a senior European diplomat. “With the new administration coming in there will be a more cooperative result, NATO countries will have a say.”  
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As the Biden administration considers whether it should pull the remaining U.S. troops out of Afghanistan in the coming months, some fear for the fate of an American who could be left behind: an abducted contractor believed held by a Taliban-linked militant group. On the one-year anniversary of Mark Frerichs’ abduction, family members and other supporters are urging the Biden administration not to withdraw additional troops until the Navy veteran is released from captivity. Frerichs was abducted one year ago Sunday while working in the country on engineering projects. U.S. officials believe he is in the custody of the Haqqani Network, though the Taliban have not publicly acknowledged holding him.”We are confident that he’s still alive and well,” his sister, Charlene Cakora, said in an interview with The Associated Press. “We don’t have any thinking that he’s dead or that he’s injured.”For U.S. diplomats, Frerichs’ captivity is a piece of a much larger geopolitical puzzle that aims to balance bringing troops home, after a two-decade conflict, with ensuring regional peace and stability. Biden administration officials have made clear that they are reviewing a February 2020 peace deal between the United States and the Taliban, concerned by whether the Taliban are meeting commitments to reduce violence in Afghanistan.The Trump administration, which had made the release of hostages and detainees a priority, ended without having brought home Frerichs, who is from Lombard, Illinois. He is one of several Americans the Biden administration is inheriting responsibility for, including journalist Austin Tice, who went missing in Syria in 2012, and U.S. Marine Trevor Reed and Michigan corporate executive Paul Whelan, both of whom are imprisoned in Russia.FILE – U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken gives his first news conference on Jan. 27, 2021, at the State Department, one day after being sworn in. (State Department)It is unclear to what extent, if at all, Frerichs’ fate will be complicated by the declining American military presence in Afghanistan committed to by the Trump administration. Days before President Joe Biden took office, the Trump administration announced that it had met its goal of reducing the number of troops in Afghanistan to about 2,500, part of a broader plan to remove all forces by May.The Biden administration must determine how to handle that commitment.New Secretary of State Antony Blinken had his first call Thursday with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and told him the administration was reviewing the peace deal. A State Department description of the conversation did not mention Frerichs. Separately, the Pentagon said the Taliban’s refusal to meet commitments to reduce violence in Afghanistan is raising questions about whether all U.S. troops will be able to leave by May.Frerichs’ supporters are concerned that a drawdown of military personnel from Afghanistan leaves the U.S. without the leverage it needs to demand his release.”Further troop withdrawals that are not conditioned upon the release of American hostages will likely make it harder to subsequently secure their release,” the two Democratic senators from Illinois, Tammy Duckworth and Dick Durbin, wrote Biden in a letter provided to the AP.FILE – Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., speaks on Capitol Hill, in Washington, Feb. 14, 2018.In an interview, Duckworth said she wrote to Biden and Blinken to stress “that this needs to be a priority, that we need to bring him home.” She said Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin had given assurances that any negotiations about military presence would include discussion about detainees “as opposed to us just unilaterally pulling out of there.”Representatives of the James W. Foley Legacy Foundation, which advocates for hostages, told new national security adviser Jake Sullivan in a conversation during the presidential transition period about concerns that Frerichs and Paul Overby, an American writer who disappeared in Afghanistan in 2014, weren’t adequately prioritized during discussions with the Taliban, according to the organization’s executive director, Margaux Ewen.The State Department is offering $5 million for information leading to Frerichs’ return.”American citizen Mark Frerichs has spent a year in captivity. We will not stop working until we secure his safe return home,” said State Department spokesman Ned Price.Frerichs remains in Afghanistan despite a year of steady diplomatic negotiations, including peace talks in November with then-Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Taliban and Afghan negotiators. The U.S. and Taliban signed a peace deal last February, but much to the family’s frustration, Frerichs’ return was not made a predicate for the agreement even though he had been abducted weeks earlier.”I don’t want any troops to start packing up and heading out until Mark gets home safely, because I don’t think we really have a leg to stand on once they’re all out of there,” Cakora said. “You don’t leave Americans behind, and I just really want to make sure that he’s home safe.”FILE – Zalmay Khalilzad, U.S. envoy for peace in Afghanistan, attends talks between the Afghan government and Taliban insurgents in Doha, Qatar, Sept. 12, 2020.Blinken told reporters Wednesday that the Biden administration wanted to take a detailed look at that deal.”We need to understand exactly what is in the agreement,” he said, before deciding how to proceed. He said the administration had asked Trump’s special envoy for Afghanistan, Zalmay Khalilzad, to remain on the job for continuity’s sake.There were other internal government discussions in the Trump administration.The Taliban had sought the release of a combatant imprisoned on drug charges in the U.S. as part of a broader effort to resolve issues with Afghanistan. The request prompted dialogue between the State Department and the Justice Department about whether such a release could happen, though it ultimately did not, according to a person familiar with the matter who was not authorized to discuss the private discussions and spoke on condition of anonymity.It is unclear whether those conversations will pick up in the new administration.A Justice Department spokeswoman declined to comment.   
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Pakistan announced Saturday it has secured 17 million doses of AstraZeneca’s coronavirus vaccine through the World Health Organization’s COVAX program to vaccinate its citizens against COVID-19.Additionally, the government said, a plane will fly to China on Sunday to airlift an initial tranche of the 500,000 doses of Chinese Sinopharm vaccine Beijing has gifted to Islamabad.The coronavirus pandemic in Pakistan, a country of about 220 million people, is relatively under control. The South Asian nation detected the outbreak nearly a year ago and has since documented more than 543,000 confirmed COVD-19 cases, with close to 12,000 deaths.Dr. Faisal Sultan, special health assistant to the prime minister, said Saturday that almost seven million doses of AstraZeneca’s vaccine will be available for Pakistani citizens in the first quarter of the year and the rest within the second quarter of 2021.China to Gift Pakistan 500K COVID-19 Vaccine Doses Foreign Minister Qureshi says Sinopharm vaccine will be in Pakistan by January 31 Sultan said in a statement that the vaccination drive was expected to start next week, beginning with front line healthcare workers.“COVAX’s timely support and delivery of the vaccine is testament of global stakeholders’ trust in Pakistan’s preparedness for vaccine roll-out,” he noted.The WHO’s COVAX is a global program to vaccinate people in poor and middle-income countries against the coronavirus. The plan aims to deliver at least two billion vaccine doses by the end of 2021 to cover 20 percent of the most vulnerable people in 91 nations across the globe.AstraZeneca’s vaccine has been developed with Oxford University researchers and it is being used as part of a mass immunization program in the United Kingdom.Pakistan’s drug regulator recently approved the vaccine along with the Chinese Sinopharm vaccine for emergency use in the country.China authorized the use of its Sinopharm vaccine in early January, and it is currently in use in several countries, including Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates.Pakistan, in collaboration with China, is also conducting a Phase 3 trial of another Chinese anti-coronavirus vaccine from Cansino Biologics, Inc. The trial is nearly complete and Pakistani officials expect the initial results will be available early next month.“We are entitled to receive 20 million doses, provided the results are positive and the vaccine proves to be effective,” Sultan announced last week.The Pakistani government says it plans to vaccinate at least 70% of the country’s adult population to achieve herd immunity over the coming months.
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