Turkmenistan’s leader has unveiled a six-meter-high gilded statue of a dog in the center of a busy traffic circle in the nation’s capital, Ashgabat.
 
In a dedication ceremony broadcast on state television, President Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov could be seen acknowledging a socially distant gathering to celebrate the Alabai, or Central Asian shepherd dog. The statue features a video screen wrapped around its pedestal showing the dogs in action.  
 
The autocratic leader has long praised the dog as part of Turkmenistan’s national heritage. He has written a book and poem about the local breed, and he gifted one to Russian President Vladimir Putin, with whom he has close ties.
 
The dog is a large stocky breed known as a “wolf crusher” for its prowess in guarding sheep and goats. It also is used to guard homes and often is used in dog fights, a popular passtime in Turkmenistan.
 
Berdymukhamedov erected a similar large gilded statue elsewhere in the city in 2015 in tribute to the Akhal-Teke horse, with himself in the saddle.  
 
Dogs and horses are sources of national pride in the isolated desert nation, where they are widely used by the many traditional herders among the population of 6 million people, which largely depends on revenues from natural gas reserves.
 
Berdymukhamedov has run the tightly controlled, autocratic former Soviet republic since 2007 and is unofficially known as Arkadag, or protector.
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There are an estimated 300,000 drug addicts in Afghanistan’s southern city of Kandahar, and authorities say that number is rising.  The city is unable to help them all, as VOA’s Azizullah Popal reports from Kandahar. Bezhan Hamdard narrates.Producer/camera: Azizullah Popal.
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The United States Embassy in Pakistan drew strong backlash Wednesday for retweeting a political statement critical of the host government, prompting the diplomatic mission to apologize for what it said was an “unauthorized post.”The controversy stemmed from comments on Tuesday tweeted by an opposition lawmaker, Ahsan Iqbal, along with a screenshot of an American media article titled “Trump’s defeat is a blow for the world’s demagogues and dictators.”Iqbal went on to say in a veiled reference to Prime Minister Imran Khan: “We have one in Pakistan too. He will be shown way out soon. Insha Allah (God willing).” We have one in Pakistan too. He will be shown way out soon. Insha Allah! pic.twitter.com/i1qOil7jvf— Ahsan Iqbal (@betterpakistan) November 10, 2020
 
The U.S. Embassy, through its official Twitter account, retweeted Iqbal’s remarks, angering top government officials and other Pakistanis on social media. They demanded the post be swiftly removed and an apology be submitted.The diplomatic mission said in a statement Wednesday that its Twitter account was “accessed” without authorization and it had deleted the post in question. ”The U.S. embassy does not endorse the posting or retweeting of political messages. We apologize for any confusion that may have resulted from the unauthorized post,” the embassy said on its Twitter account.  Dear Followers: The U.S. Embassy Islamabad Twitter account was accessed last night without authorization. The U.S. Embassy does not endorse the posting or retweeting of political messages. We apologize for any confusion that may have resulted from the unauthorized post.— U.S. Embassy Islamabad (@usembislamabad) November 11, 2020However, Pakistani Human Rights Minister Shireen Mazari rejected the U.S. statement as insufficient. ”This not good enough esp after great delay! Account was clearly not hacked so someone who had access to it used it “without authorization”. Unacceptable that someone working in US Embassy pushing a particular political party’s agenda – has serious consequences including staff visas scrutiny,” Mazari tweeted.  This not good enough esp after great delay! Account was clearly not hacked so someone who had access to it used it “without authorisation”. Unacceptable that someone working in US Embassy pushing a particular pol party’s agenda – has serious consequences incl staff visas scrutiny https://t.co/IWqYtRjVna— Shireen Mazari (@ShireenMazari1) November 11, 2020Imran Ismail, a senior ruling party leader and governor of Pakistan’s southern Sindh province also denounced the U.S. Embassy for retweeting what he said were “derogatory” and “utterly absurd” remarks against Prime Minister Khan.”This is against diplomatic protocols. An apology is needed with immediate clarification if fake or hacked,” Ismail said and asked the Pakistani Foreign Ministry to take “required action” against the U.S. mission.  This is utterly absurd, how can u @usembislamabad retweet against our PM @ImranKhanPTI containing derogatory remarks?This is against diplomatic protocols. An apology is needed with immediate clarification if fake or hacked. @ForeignOfficePk must take required action. pic.twitter.com/2BoVmrdVp8— Imran Ismail (@ImranIsmailPTI) November 11, 2020 
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Taking a trek in the Himalayan mountains on the weekend or before starting work is not unusual for 28-year-old information technology professional Divyen Jain. It’s a significant change from his life in India’s information technology hub of Bengaluru, where, like millions of others, he was cloistered indoors as “work from home” became the new norm after the COVID-19 pandemic.   
 
“I could not meet friends, there was no life outside home so it was affecting mental stability personally as well as professionally. Good ideas were also not coming,” recalled Jain.   
 
When travel resumed, Jain headed to the northern hill state of Himachal Pradesh to work from a more relaxed, scenic environment. After a week in Bir town, he went to a homestay in Pulga village where, his workstation was often a bench under a fruit-laden tree.    
 
“I can’t explain, I feel happy,” said a rejuvenated Jain as he played with dogs on the property located in an apple orchard.  “Productivity is definitely up. Even at the end of the day I don’t feel stressed at all because every day you get to do lot of other things.”   
 
With good network connections now available across much of India, some professionals are relocating to small hill towns or beaches as the “work from home” norm continues for thousands in the nation’s pandemic-scarred cities.    
 
A group of employees from an information technology company based on the outskirts of New Delhi set up their base in Bir.  Coming with their families for several weeks to a place virtually unscarred by COVID-19 was an easy decision, said the head of the company.     
 
“If you have to work remotely, why not go to a place where you can roam around and not spend your life locked down in one place, where all you can do is go from room to room,” pointed out Gajender Nagar, chief executive officer of Sophos IT Services.   
 
He initially came to Bir for two weeks in September to see if it would be feasible for his team to work from the place that he has frequented since he was young. He returned last month with members along with their families – they plan to stay here for up to two months.   
 
Children can play outdoors and laptops are often taken under a sun umbrella.  Yoga in the morning and a long walk in the hills is the norm after work winds down at 7 pm.   
 
The group ate at a cafe without fear and visited a nearby village to see pottery being crafted on their first weekend. Roaming under a bright blue sky is rejuvenating for this group, which comes from a satellite town on the outskirts of Delhi, one of the world’s most polluted cities that is shrouded in dismal, grey smog at this time of the year.   
 
“You are out of a cage sort of thing,” laughs Shailender Singh, Vice President at Sophos.  “Here I can move around without a mask. I go out with my son star gazing at night. In Delhi, we cannot spot a single star.” It’s especially important for Singh, who says long hours of inactivity when he was confined to the house led to a health problem.    
 
Himalayan towns that saw business plummet after the pandemic are encouraging the new trend of “workcations” — combining work with a vacation. Hotels and homestays that were locked up for months are seeing an influx of visitors, who are checking in not for just a week but for much longer durations.   
 
Ankush Rana, franchise owner of Zostel hostel in Bir, where the group is staying, said nearly 60% of his property is occupied and the next three months promise to be busy.   
 
The shift in mindsets due to the pandemic could boost the economies of small towns.   “The real estate business of Gurgaon, Bangalore, Mumbai are seeing a lot of “to let” boards. A lot of coworking spaces, office spaces are not that busy,” pointed out Rana. “And the first preference of those moving would be a beach in winters or a nice hamlet in the Himalayas,” according to Rana.   
 
Life in small towns also helps overcome the social disconnect the pandemic has led to in cities. “If I want to step out and take my laptop and sit under the sun, I see different people coming in, saying hi and hello,” according to Singh.  
 
For Jain too, interacting with different people during his stint in Himachal Pradesh has been important.  “You meet strangers, you get to listen to their stories. Amazing and different people you find here, on a daily basis. That is not at all possible in a city,” he gushes.   
 
Some employers say the pandemic has shown that in the future, staff can relocate to smaller towns, whether in the hills, along beaches or elsewhere. “They can have a very good life close to nature, good food, fresh environment, less polluted air,” pointed out Nagar.   
 
And some appear willing to take up such offers. Jain, who works in another company, says when he looks for a job in the future, one of the important considerations for him will be his employer’s willingness to allow him to work away from the city where the company is based for a few months every year.    
 
It remains to be seen if the trend takes hold. But if it does, it could reverse the massive influx into cities that have for long been the mecca for job seekers.
 
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Authorities in Afghanistan said Tuesday an intelligence-led security operation had killed a key al-Qaida leader in a western region close to the Iranian border.
 
The Afghan spy agency, the National Directorate of Security, identified the slain man as Mohammad Hanif, also known as Abdullah, and said he was linked to the terror network’s regional affiliate, al-Qaida in the Indian Subcontinent, or AQIS.  
 
The NDS said Hanif was a citizen of neighboring Pakistan and accused the insurgent Taliban of giving him “a safe haven and protection” in the Afghan province of Farah, where the raid was carried out.  
 
The militant commander also was operating in the nearby provinces of Helmand and Nimruz, providing bomb-making training to Taliban insurgents, the spy agency asserted. The operation also arrested two Pakistani women, the NDS said, but gave no further details, nor did it disclose the date of the raid.
 
A Taliban spokesman contacted by VOA said the insurgent group was “investigating the issue.”
 
The presence of an al-Qaida operative in insurgent-held Afghan areas, if confirmed, would be a breach of the peace-building agreement the Islamist Taliban signed with the United States in February.Afghan security forces last month also announced the killing of a senior al-Qaida leader in the central Ghazni province, where Taliban insurgents control or contest most of the districts. The slain militant commander was on the FBI’s Most Wanted Terrorists list.
 
A U.S. official who spoke to VOA at that time and on condition of anonymity confirmed the death of al-Qaida’s Abu Muhsin al-Masri, saying U.S. forces provided support during the Afghan-led operation in Ghazni.  
 
The United Nations, in a recent report earlier this year, noted that the Taliban continued to maintain ties with al-Qaida, charges the insurgents vehemently rejected at the time, saying they were aimed at undermining their deal with the U.S.
 
The February 29 pact binds the insurgents to sever ties with global terror groups, including al-Qaida, and prohibits these terror groups from operating in Afghanistan. In return, the U.S. has committed to stage a “conditions-based” withdrawal of all American and allied troops from the country by May 2021.FILE – In this Feb. 29, 2020, photo, 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.Peace talks amid rising hostilities  
 
The document also requires the Taliban to negotiate a permanent cease-fire and political power-sharing deal with representatives of the Afghan government in peace talks currently under way in Qatar.
 
But even as the two adversaries engage in what are official known as intra-Afghan negotiations, battlefield violence in Afghanistan remains high.  
 
“Unfortunately, not only the promised reduction of violence and comprehensive cease-fire have not been realized, but the violence by the Taliban has increased substantially,” Afghan President Ashraf Ghani told a summit meeting Tuesday of the China-led Shanghai Cooperation Organization, or SCO.
 
For its part, the Taliban accuses Afghan security forces of launching fresh attacks against insurgent-held areas.  
 
Afghan officials and independent critics, meanwhile, say they are not sure how U.S. President-elect Joe Biden would treat the deal that President Donald Trump’s administration sealed with the Taliban.  
 
While most analysts expect Washington to continue to stick to the peace-making process, Afghan officials have urged Biden to review the deal with the Taliban, saying the Trump administration excluded Kabul from the entire process.
 
On Tuesday, the Taliban’s formal detailed reaction to Biden’s election victory called on the incoming U.S. leader to stick to the troop withdrawal agreement to ensure the 19-year-old war in Afghanistan is brought to an end.  
 
“The Islamic Emirate [Taliban] would like to stress to the new American president-elect and the future administrations that implementation of the agreement is the most reasonable and effective tool for ending the conflict between both our countries,” the group said.
 
Trump has been keen to close what has become the longest U.S. war and stated last month he would like to bring home all American troops by Christmas. The Afghan war has cost the lives of more than 2,400 U.S. soldiers and nearly $1 trillion.  
 VOA’s Jeff Seldin contributed to this report. 
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Russia announced it had brokered a lasting cease-fire deal between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh territory early Tuesday — the Kremlin’s latest attempt to end six weeks of intense fighting in the south Caucasus that risked pulling both Russia and Turkey directly into the conflict.  “The achieved agreement created the necessary conditions for a long-term and full format settlement of the crisis around Nagorno-Karabakh on a just basis and in the interests of the Armenian and Azerbaijani people,” said Russian President Vladimir Putin in a FILE – Men walk along graves of soldiers and civilians who were killed during a military conflict over the breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh, in Stepanakert, Nov. 2, 2020.The leader of the Nagorno-Karabakh territory, which Armenians call Artsakh, said Pashinyan was simply bowing to reality after Azerbaijani gains brought their forces within artillery striking distance of the self-proclaimed republic’s capital city of Stepanakert.   “Over the course of 43 days, we lost the Fizuli region, the Jabrayil region, the Qubatlu region, the Zangelan region, the majority of the Hadrut region, parts of the Martuni and Askeran regions, and Shushi, said the republic’s president, Arayik Harutyunyan, in People hold the national flag after Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev said the country’s forces had taken Shusha, which Armenians call Shushi, during fighting over the breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh, in Azerbaijan, Nov. 8, 2020.A helicopter downed, then peacekeepers deployed  The Russia-brokered agreement came just hours after Azerbaijan acknowledged its forces had accidentally downed a Russian helicopter operating in Armenia, killing two Russian servicemen and raising questions about how the Kremlin would respond.   Russia has a mutual defense pact with Armenia that has repeatedly raised concerns it may get pulled into the conflict despite maintaining good relations with Azerbaijan.   Yet a Kremlin spokesman maintained that the helicopter incident had not influenced the talks.By midday Tuesday local time, Russian peacekeepers were en route to the region, where they would begin a five-year presence, even as questions lingered over whether the mission would be theirs alone.  Media reports in Azerbaijan said President Aliyev and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan were discussing Turkish forces also taking part in the peacekeeping operation.If true, the move was all but certain to be seen as provocative by Armenians, who accuse Turkey of carrying out a campaign of genocide against them during World War I.Yet observers in Moscow said the Turkish demands reflected its growing influence over the Caucasus region, at Russia’s expense.   “For 20 years Russia pretended they were the only power in the south Caucasus — arming both sides to preserve the balance of power,” said military analyst Alexander Goltz in an interview with Echo of Moscow radio.“But then a new player came in” added Goltz, who argues the Kremlin-backed peace deal was “the best of bad options” to keep Russia a player in the region.FILE – A man drives a car past a damaged building following shelling in the town of Shushi (Shusha) during fighting over the breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh, Oct. 29, 2020.The war that never went away  Fighting between Armenia and Azerbaijan broke out on Sept. 27 – the latest in a long-simmering conflict that erupted amid the collapse of the Soviet Union and birth of national independence movements.Nagorno-Karabakh declared its independence in 1994 but has always been regarded as formally part of Azerbaijan by the international community.A 1994 internationally negotiated cease-fire froze the conflict but failed to bring a lasting peace.Religion has also played a role, with Armenians largely Christian and Azerbaijanis predominately Muslim.   Over the years, both sides have engaged in skirmishes and breached the cease-fire, with dead and casualties to show for it.It is not clear exactly how many have died in the latest fighting. Both sides have accused the other of wantonly targeting civilians. 
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A top Pakistani government scientist says Pfizer’s coronavirus vaccine is not suited for Pakistan, or other developing countries because of the -80°C temperatures it needs to be kept at, and the need for a second shot.The American pharmaceutical company announced Monday that late-stage testing on its potential two-dose vaccine indicates it is more than 90% effective in preventing the virus in participants without evidence of prior infection.The revelation is being hailed as a rare piece of positive news in the fight against the pandemic that has globally infected more than 50 million people, with 1.2 million deaths and 33 million people recovered.But Professor Atta Ur Rahman, who heads Pakistan’s Task Force on Science and Technology, said Tuesday it is “premature at least” for his country or others in the developing world to celebrate the Pfizer vaccine.“This is a messenger RNA vaccine and it has to be transported at -80°C, so this vaccine is not suited for developing countries,” Rahman told VOA. “The cold storage infrastructure and chains to take this from the airport across the cities and across the countries are missing in the developing world,” the professor explained.He went on to note that COVID-19 patients would require two doses of the Pfizer vaccine three weeks apart and “a low-temperature carriage” requirement makes it all the more difficult in Pakistan, where average summer temperatures in southern and southwestern regions soar to between 40°C and 50°C.COVID-19 is the disease caused by the coronavirus.FILE – Students wear protective face masks, maintaining a safe distance as they attend a class amid COVID-19 pandemic in Peshawar, Pakistan, Sept. 30, 2020.Own clinical trials on Chinese vaccinesRahman said Pakistan is also conducting its own final-phase clinical trials on two Chinese-made single-dose vaccines in partnership with China. He says that the vaccines can be transported in normal temperatures, unlike the Pfizer vaccine.“Our trials are going on very well. The results are very positive as far as I am aware… Both these vaccines do not have this -80°C transportation problem. I expect the vaccines to be better suited for Pakistan than the Pfizer vaccine.” One of the vaccines under trial in Pakistan has been developed by Chinese biotech firm CanSinoBio and is already undergoing Phase 3, or large-scale, testing on humans in several countries, including China, Russia, Chile and Argentina.Rahman said the clinical trials in Pakistan, which began in September, will take at least three months and that the results will then be sent back to China to be evaluated.Pakistan has documented nearly 347,000 infections, with 7,000 deaths and almost 320,000 people recovered since the pandemic hit the country of about 220 million in February.The number of cases in Pakistan has steadily declined to a few hundred a day since mid-June, when the daily rate of infection spiked at more than 6,000.But officials in recent days have warned the South Asian nation is experiencing a second wave of infections, reporting 1,637 new cases and 23 deaths Tuesday. The resurgence has prompted the government to revive some restrictions on public movement to stem the spread of the ailment. 
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Armenia and Azerbaijan announced an agreement early Tuesday to halt fighting over the Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan under a pact signed with Russia that calls for deployment of nearly 2,000 Russian peacekeepers and territorial concessions.  Nagorno-Karabakh has been under the control of ethnic Armenian forces backed by Armenia since a 1994 truce ended a separatist war in which an estimated 30,000 people died. Since then, sporadic clashes erupted, and full-scale fighting began on September 27. Several cease-fires had been called but were almost immediately violated. However, the agreement announced early Tuesday appeared more likely to take hold because Azerbaijan has made significant advances, including taking control of the strategically key city of Shushi on Sunday.  FILE – Men walk along graves of soldiers and civilians who were killed during a military conflict over the breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh, in Stepanakert, Nov. 2, 2020.Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said on Facebook that calling an end to the fight was “extremely painful for me personally and for our people.”  The agreement calls for Armenian forces to turn over control of some areas it held outside the borders of Nagorno-Karabakh, including the eastern district of Agdam. That area carries strong symbolic weight for Azerbaijan because its main city, also called Agdam, was thoroughly pillaged, and the only building remaining intact is the city’s mosque. Armenians will also turn over the Lachin region, which holds the main road leading from Nagorno-Karabakh to Armenia. The agreement calls for the road, the so-called Lachin Corridor, to remain open and be protected by Russian peacekeepers. In all, 1,960 Russian peacekeepers are to be deployed in the region under a five-year mandate.  The agreement also calls for transport links to be established through Armenia linking Azerbaijan and its western exclave of Nakhchivan, which is surrounded by Armenia, Iran and Turkey. Azerbaijani forces on Monday shot down a Russian helicopter that was flying over Armenia near the border with Nakhchivan, killing two servicemen. Azerbaijan’s foreign ministry said the helicopter was flying low and “in the context of these factors and in light of the tense situation in the region and increased combat readiness in connection with possible provocations of the Armenian side, the duty combat crew decided to open fire to kill.” People hold the national flag after Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev said the country’s forces had taken Shusha, which Armenians call Shushi, during fighting over the breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh, in Azerbaijan, Nov. 8, 2020.The seizure of Shushi, which Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev claimed Sunday and was confirmed by Nagorno-Karabakh’s presidential spokesman Monday, gave Azerbaijan a significant strategic advantage in the conflict. The city is positioned on heights overlooking the regional capital of Stepanakert 10 kilometers (six miles) to the north. “Unfortunately, we are forced to admit that a series of failures still haunt us, and the city of Shushi is completely out of our control,” Vagram Pogosian, a spokesman for the president of the government in Nagorno-Karabakh, said in a statement on Facebook. “The enemy is on the outskirts of Stepanakert.” Since the 1994 end of the previous war, international mediation efforts by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe’s “Minsk Group” to determine the region’s final status faltered and the region was separated from the rest of Azerbaijan by a demilitarized zone.  Aliyev on Monday urged U.S. President-elect Joe Biden to intensify mediation efforts. In a congratulatory letter to Biden on his election victory, Aliyev said, “Azerbaijan expects the United States and other OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs to step up their efforts to find a just solution to the conflict.” Armenia says more than 1,200 Armenian troops have been killed in the war. Azerbaijan hasn’t stated its losses. 
 
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COVID-19 is resurging in places around the globe. VOA’s Saman Khan has this report from Lahore, Pakistan on what the Punjab government is doing to contain the deadly virus. Bezhan Hamdard narrates.
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Azerbaijan has announced the capture of a key city in the Nagorno-Karabakh enclave, but Armenia has denied the claim.  Speaking to the nation on television Sunday, Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev said that Azerbaijani forces had taken Shushi (Shusha in Azeri), the second-largest city in the disputed territory.  “The city of Shusha has been liberated from occupation. Shusha is ours. Karabakh is ours,” Aliyev said, adding that his country will continue its fight until Armenian forces withdraw from the territory. Aliyev’s statement prompted celebration in Azerbaijan’s capital, Baku, where people were waving flags and chanting slogans, and drivers sounded their car horns. The Armenian Defense Ministry denied that Shushi was captured but confirmed heavy fighting in and around the city. A ministry spokesman, Artsrun Ovannisian, said late Sunday that fighting in and around Shushi was continuing. “Neither side fully owns the initiative,” Ovannisian said.   Officials from the Nagorno-Karabakh region also denied Aliyev’s statement. “Shushi remains an unattainable pipe dream for Azerbaijan. Despite heavy destruction, the fortress city withstands the blows of the enemy,” the Nagorno-Karabakh emergencies committee said. The committee also reported strong fighting in other parts of the enclave, including the large eastern town of Martuni. Shushi, a strategic city in Nagorno-Karabakh about 10 kilometers south of the region’s capital of Stepanakert, lies along the main road connecting the enclave with Armenia. Shushi has also cultural significance for Azerbaijan, as it was once the center of its culture, where noted musicians and poets lived.   The ongoing fighting between Azerbaijan and Armenia erupted on September 27 and has claimed at least 1,000 lives, marking the largest escalation of the decades-old conflict over the breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh.         The predominantly ethnic Armenian territory declared its independence from Azerbaijan in 1991 during the collapse of the Soviet Union, sparking a war that claimed the lives of as many as 30,000 people before a 1994 cease-fire. However, that independence is not internationally recognized. 
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The Taliban say they expect President-elect Joe Biden to stick to a peace agreement the insurgent group sealed with the United States earlier this year to end the war in Afghanistan, America’s longest.   
 
The February 29 landmark pact negotiated by President Donald Trump’s administration has set in motion a “conditions-based” withdrawal of all U.S. and NATO troops from Afghanistan by May 2021. The U.S. military has since cut the size of its troop presence to 4,500 soldiers, from around 13,000 at the time of the signing of the deal and vacated several Afghan bases.  
 
“It (the agreement) serves the interest of the Afghan nation and the interest of the American nation. It should not be subject to any significant change and should be implemented in the form in which it is agreed upon,” Taliban spokesman Mohammad Naeem told VOA when asked for his comments on the fate of the pact under the next U.S. president.  
 
“It is our expectation that the ongoing peace process and the agreement with the U.S. government will remain on track,” Naeem said. He spoke to VOA from Qatar’s capital, Doha, where the Taliban maintains its political office.  
 
The agreement requires the Taliban to not attack international forces and to prevent transnational terrorist groups, such as al-Qaida and Islamic State, from operating in Afghanistan. It has also opened first-ever direct peace talks between the insurgent group and representatives of the Afghan government, which was not part of the U.S.-Taliban deal.
Doha is hosting what are officially known as intra-Afghan peace negotiations, which began September 12 but have stalled for the most part because of disputes between Taliban and Afghan negotiators over procedural matters.FILE – A general view shows talks between the Afghan government and Taliban insurgents in Doha, Qatar, Sept. 12, 2020.Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, congratulating Biden on his election victory, said Sunday that ties between Kabul and Washington are expected to deepen in areas of counterterrorism and building peace.  
 
“Afghanistan looks forward to continuing/deepening our multilayered strategic partnership w/ the United States — our foundational partner — including in counterterrorism & bringing peace to Afghanistan,” Ghani wrote on Twitter.
 
Ordinary Afghans also welcomed Biden’s victory, hoping the president-elect might slow the U.S. troop withdrawal to allow for a stable peace to take root, as opposed to Trump who said in a recent statement that he would like all American troops to be home by Christmas.
 
Biden said during his campaign that if he were elected, he would maintain a small troop presence in Afghanistan to ensure al-Qaida and Islamic State terrorists do not threaten the United States from the war-ravaged country. But he opposed continued U.S. involvement in Afghan nation-building.
 
In a February debate among U.S. Democratic presidential hopefuls, Biden drew strong criticism from Afghans for saying that “there’s no possibility of uniting” Afghanistan.
 
The Taliban, however, maintains that it wants all foreign troops to leave Afghanistan for a durable peace deal between Afghanistan rivals to take roots that ends the war. 
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Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev says Azerbaijani forces have taken Shushi (known as Susa in Azeri), the second-largest city in the Nagorno-Karabakh enclave. Armenian officials denied the report but confirmed fighting around the city, a hilltop settlement located on a main road overlooking the breakaway region’s main city, Stepanakert. Videos on social media showed lines of cars leaving Stepanakert on November 8, although the scope of the exodus could not be confirmed independently. Large crowds of people gathered in Baku to celebrate following Aliyev’s statement, waving flags and chanting slogans while drivers sounded their car horns. Armenian Defense Ministry representative Artsrun Hovhannisian said in a Facebook post the same day that “battles in Shushi continue; wait and believe in our troops.” Armenia had earlier reported “fierce combat” near the city. Shushi is located on a road that links Stepanakert with the territory of Armenia, which backs the separatists fighting for Nagorno-Karabakh’s independence. Aliyev’s statement comes a day after Russian President Vladimir Putin discussed the conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh with his French and Turkish counterparts. During a November 7 phone call, Putin and French President Emmanuel Macron expressed serious concern over the large-scale clashes between ethnic Armenian and Azerbaijani forces in the region and the involvement of fighters from Syria and Libya in the conflict, the Kremlin said in a statement. The presidents said they would continue coordinated mediation efforts, including through the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe’s (OSCE) Minsk Group, set up in 1992 to seek a peaceful resolution. The Minsk Group is co-chaired by Russia, France, and the United States. Later in the day, Putin spoke with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who told the Russian leader that Armenia must withdraw from Azerbaijani lands and “sit down at the negotiating table,” according to a statement from Ankara. Clashes between Azerbaijan and Armenian-backed separatists over control of Nagorno-Karabakh, a region that proclaimed its independence from Baku during a war in the 1990s, broke out in late September. At least 1,000 people and possibly many more have died in the nearly six weeks of fighting, representing the deadliest outbreak of hostilities over the region in more than a quarter-century. Several attempts to declare a cease-fire have failed. Turkey has been accused of sending mercenaries to Karabakh to support Azerbaijan in its fight against the separatists. Analysts say Ankara wants a seat at the negotiating table that has long been dominated by Moscow. Armenia has turned to its traditional ally, Russia, for help. Armenia is a member of the Russia-led Collective Security Treaty Organization military alliance.  
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Gunmen in northwestern Pakistan have shot dead a member of the Ahmadi religious minority, which critics describe as one of the most persecuted communities in the majority-Muslim nation.Local police confirmed the Sunday morning fatal shooting in a rural part of Peshawar, the capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, saying an investigation was under way to arrest the assailants.Officials identified the slain man as Mehboob Ahmed Khan, an 82-year-old retired government officer. No one immediately claimed responsibility.FILE – Salim Uddin, a spokesman of the Pakistani Ahmadiyya community talks to The Associated Press in Islamabad, Pakistan, Sept. 26, 2018.“Khan was waiting for his bus to return to his home in Peshawar after visiting his daughter when this act of violence occurred,” Saleem-ud Din, a spokesman for the Ahmadi community in Pakistan, told, VOA.He denounced the attack, saying Khan was “killed because of his faith” and noted that four members of the Ahmadi community have been killed in Peshawar in as many months.Last month, a professor from the Ahmadi sect was shot dead in the city a day after he allegedly had a heated discussion with a Muslim professor over a religious matter.Ahmadis consider themselves Muslim but believe that a prophet came after the Prophet Muhammad, who in Islam is revered as the last of God’s messengers.Human rights groups say an estimated 4 million Ahmadis in Pakistan, a country of 220 million, have faced death, intimidation and a sustained hate campaign for decades.The Pakistani parliament declared the community to be non-Muslim in 1974 and further amended its laws in 1984 to prohibit Ahmadis from “indirectly or directly posing as Muslims.” They are also barred from declaring or propagating their faith publicly and building worship places in Pakistan.The restrictions, critics say, have since led to the killings of scores of Ahmadis across the country. The group blames radical Islamic leaders for often publicly denouncing Ahmadis and promising their killing earns the killer a place in heaven.“We hope that the government will not abandon the peace-loving, patriotic, innocent, and law-abiding Ahmadis at the mercy of these terrorists and hate mongers,” spokesman Saleem-ud Din reiterated Sunday.Human Rights Watch said in a recent statement that Pakistani authorities routinely arrest, jail and charge Ahmadis for blasphemy and other offenses because of their religious beliefs.“In several instances, the police have been complicit in harassment and filing of false charges against Ahmadis or stood by in the face of anti-Ahmadi violence,” the global watchdog alleged. 
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Leaders in Afghanistan and the United States have strongly condemned Saturday’s bomb explosion in the capital, Kabul, that killed two senior central bank staffers, one of them a renowned former television presenter.Police said a “magnetic improvised explosive device” ripped through a car carrying the operation deputy of the ‘Da Afghanistan Bank,’ or DAB, and his colleague, Yama Siawash, who formerly worked at the private TOLO TV channel. Their driver also was killed in the blast.No one immediately claimed credit for the bombing, but the Afghan interior ministry swiftly blamed a militant outfit, known as the Haqqani network, which is tied to the Taliban insurgency.Saturday’s attack is the latest in a wave of unexplained, high-profile assassinations and targeted killings Kabul has experienced in recent weeks.Siawash had anchored popular political and current affairs talk shows on the country’s largest TV network before joining the central bank as an adviser to the president, officials said.Afghan President Ashraf Ghani condemned the attack and ordered an investigation to bring the perpetrators to justice, his office said.“I am shocked at the killing of former Tolo News anchor Yama Siawash,” tweeted Ross Wilson, acting U.S. ambassador in Kabul. “This attack is an assault on freedom of the press, one of Afghanistan’s core democratic principles,” he lamented.Abdullah Abdullah, who heads Afghanistan’s peace and reconciliation process with the Taliban, also said Siawash’s murder was targeted at freedom of expression in the country. “This is an unforgivable and unforgettable crime,” Abdullah said in a statement.Sorry, but your browser cannot support embedded video of this type, you can
download this video to view it offline.Download File360p | 9 MB480p | 13 MB540p | 17 MB720p | 42 MB1080p | 73 MBOriginal | 80 MB Embed” />Copy Download AudioOn Thursday, unknown assailants gunned down in front of his house in Kabul the father of Zarifa Ghafari, one of Afghanistan’s first female mayors.The assassination drew a strong condemnation by U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who had awarded Ghafari the International Women of Courage award in March of this year.Pompeo noted in his statement that since receiving the award, Ghafari herself has survived two assassination attempts. “Every effort must be made to bring the perpetrators of this crime to justice,” he said.A bomb-and-gun raid on Kabul University this week killed at least 22 people, mostly students. The Afghan branch of Islamic State took responsibility for the bloodshed.Battlefield hostilities between Afghan government forces and Taliban insurgents also have intensified in recent months, even as representatives of the two adversaries try to negotiate a peace deal in Qatar.The U.S.-brokered intra-Afghan negotiations started on Sept. 12, but they have for the most part stalled without any significant breakthrough.The dialogue is an outcome of the agreement the U.S. signed with the Taliban in February to close the 19-year-old Afghan war and bring home all American troops.The U.S. Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction, known as SIGAR, reported Thursday that average daily enemy-initiated attacks in the country were up 50% from July 1 to Sept. 30 of this year, compared to the period between April 1 and June 30.The monitoring agency quoted U.S. defense officials as warning that Taliban violence “could undermine” the U.S.-Taliban peace agreement if it continues at this “unacceptably high” rate.
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This week gunmen stormed Kabul University in the Afghan capital, killing at least 19 people and wounding more than 20 others. Monday’s deadly attack is just the latest example of how violence is on the rise in Afghanistan, as its government tries to negotiate a peace deal with the Taliban insurgency. VOA Pentagon correspondent Carla Babb has more.
Camera: Ahmad Javed            Producer: Carla Babb
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This week gunmen stormed Kabul University in the Afghan capital, killing at least 19 people and wounding more than 20 others. Monday’s deadly attack is just the latest example of how violence is on the rise in Afghanistan, as its government tries to negotiate a peace deal with the Taliban insurgency. VOA Pentagon correspondent Carla Babb has more.
Camera: Ahmad Javed            Producer: Carla Babb
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The Afghan government says that the killing of a high-ranking al-Qaida leader in a Taliban safe haven in eastern Afghanistan last month is an indication that the Taliban is not keeping up with its pledge to end ties with al-Qaida.
 
“Unfortunately, the Taliban still provide a safe environment for these terrorist groups to operate,” Siddeq Siddiqqui, a spokesperson for the Afghan government, told VOA.
 
“The Taliban harbor of al-Qaida operatives is contrary to Taliban’s commitment to cut ties with foreign terrorist groups,” Siddiqqui said, referring to the U.S.-Taliban deal in February that required the Taliban to stop supporting terrorist groups such as Islamic State (IS) and al-Qaida.
 
The Afghan government said on October 24 that its forces had killed a senior al-Qaida leader, Abu Muhsin al-Masri, in a Taliban-controlled area in the eastern province of Ghazni.
 
The country’s National Directorate of Intelligence (NDS) said al-Masri was a close aide to al-Qaida leader Ayman al-Zawahiri and had supported the Taliban and Haqqani Network for years. It said he was living in Ghazni under Taliban protection.
 
Al-Masri, who was 61 or 62 years old, is also known as Husam Abd al-Ra’uf and had been on the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Most Wanted Terrorist list since December 2018. The White House has called his death “welcome news” and praised Afghan security forces for their operation.   
 
According to Vahidullah Jumah Zada, a spokesperson for the governor of Ghazni, Taliban fighters were with al-Masri when Afghan forces conducted their raid.
 
“’A Taliban commander, Emran Hanzalah, and [a] few other fighters were killed,” Jumah Zada told VOA’s Afghan Service last week.
 
The Taliban group is yet to formally respond to the government claim that it has been sheltering al-Masri.
 
When asked by local Tolo News on Wednesday about the accusation, Taliban spokesperson Mohammad Naeem refused to comment on al-Masri’s killing but insisted that “right now, there is no al-Qaida presence in Afghanistan.”
 
Al-Masri’s killing comes as the Afghan chief of army staff, Yasin Zia, said Thursday that Afghan forces have killed a number of al-Qaida members in a separate operation in the western province of Farah.This image released by the FBI shows a wanted poster depicting al-Qaida propagandist Husam Abd al-Rauf, also known by the nom de guerre of Abu Muhsin al-Masri.In September, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said that there were fewer than 200 al-Qaida operatives in Afghanistan.
 
A U.N. report in May, however, put their numbers between 400 and 600 armed operatives. It said the group remained active in at least 12 Afghan provinces and included senior leadership that enjoyed close relations with the Taliban.
 
The report said the link between the two groups was “not in simple terms of group-to-group, but rather as ‘one of deep personal ties (including through marriage) and long-term sense of brotherhood.'”
 
The Taliban then rejected the U.N. report as “baseless and bigoted,” and maintained its long-stated position that al-Qaida had no presence in the country.
 
The recent operations in Ghazni and Farah further deepens distrust between the Afghan insurgent group and the government in their talks to reach an enduring peace, said Subhan Mesbah, the deputy head of the Lawyers Association of Afghanistan.
 
“They have not kept their promises in the past, they have shown no flexibility in the peace talks; therefore, they cannot be trusted when they say that they are cutting ties with al-Qaida,” Mesbah told VOA.
 
Al-Qaida pledged allegiance to the Taliban’s leadership when it took power in Afghanistan in the late 1990s. According to the U.N., the ties have remained unbroken even after the fall of the Taliban regime in 2001.
 US withdrawal
 
Under the U.S.-Taliban peace agreement, the Taliban would cut ties with al-Qaida and negotiate a peace deal with the Afghan government in return for the withdrawal of U.S. forces by May 2021. As such, U.S. officials in the past have said that a complete withdrawal of U.S. troops in Afghanistan will happen only if the Taliban meet all the conditions set by the agreement.
 
The U.S.   reduced its troops in July from 13,000 to 8,600, with the goal of bring the number down to 4,500 in November. U.S. President Donald Trump said in October that he intended to withdraw all troops by Christmas.FILE – U.S. soldiers load onto a Chinook helicopter to head out on a mission in Afghanistan, Jan. 15, 2019.Some Afghan politicians say they fear a U.S. exit could hurt Kabul’s bargaining power when negotiating with the Islamist group. They warn the group could steer other armed insurgents into attacking Afghan government and civilian targets to force Kabul into concessions.
 
“As a strategic and military ally and based on the strategic partnership agreement, the U.S. should stand with the Afghan government and nation until peace and stability come to Afghanistan,” Mohammad Faisal Sami, a lawmaker in the upper branch of the Afghan parliament, known as the Meshrano Jirga, told VOA.
 Talks and violence
 
Peace negotiations between the Afghan government and the Taliban for a permanent cease-fire and a road map for the future of Afghanistan started on September 12 in Doha, Qatar. The process now faces a deadlock over disagreements on Islamic jurisprudence and whether the U.S.-Taliban agreement should serve as a basis for their talks.
 
While international efforts to resume the talks are ongoing, violence has increased across Afghanistan in recent months. The U.S. Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) said Thursday that attacks by anti-government forces have increased by 50% in the third quarter of the year compared to the second quarter.
 
Last month, the Taliban launched an offensive in Helmand to take the provincial capital.
 
U.S. special envoy Zalmay Khalilzad said on October 15 that the Taliban agreed to “re-set” their commitments under the U.S.-Taliban agreement and reduce violence.
 
Khalilzad, however, tweeted last week that he was “disappointed” that the violence has not decreased in the country.
 
“The window to achieve a political settlement will not stay open forever,” he warned.   
 
On Monday, at least 22 people were killed and dozens injured when three gunmen stormed Kabul University.
 
IS Khorasan Province (ISKP) has claimed responsibility for the attack, which the Taliban called “a crime against humanity.”
 
The Afghan government, however, is pointing the blame towards the Taliban.
 
While the deadly attack elevated tensions between the Afghan government and the Taliban to a new level, U.S. envoy Khalilzad has encouraged both sides to focus on the “common enemy,” ISKP.
 
“Deny ISIS or any other terrorist the space to carry out these inhumane acts. Unite for peace, find a path to a cease-fire, and accelerate a political settlement. These steps would be the right response to this unspeakable barbarism,” Khalilzad tweeted on Monday.
 VOA’s Afghanistan Service contributed to this report. 
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The poor air quality in New Delhi hit new lows Thursday when its residents woke up to an air quality index rating of 452, marking the most toxic day of the year, according to data from the Central Pollution Control Board.Medical professionals warn that the health hazard posed by the smog could result in a rapid increase in respiratory illnesses among its 20 million residents.India’s capital city, considered to be the most polluted in the world, has more than 400,000 confirmed cases of the coronavirus.New Delhi is reporting a concentration of poisonous PM2.5 particles in the air at a rate 14 times higher than the World Health Organization’s safe limit. The unseen but deadly particles can penetrate the lung barrier and enter the human bloodstream, which has the potential to cause cardiovascular and respiratory diseases, including lung cancer.It is not unusual for New Delhi’s air pollution to spike in October and November. Experts blame local farm fires for 42% of the city’s poor air and say that calm winds and low temperatures in the fall usher in thick blankets of smoke over the city.Authorities say if the air quality remains in the severe zone for more than 48 hours, construction may be halted, and vehicles could be barred from entering and driving within the city to curb carbon emissions.According to a 2019 report by Berkeley Earth, a nonprofit organization focused on data analysis for climate science, breathing in Delhi’s air for one day has the health impact of smoking at least 25 cigarettes. Kuldeep Srivastava, head of the India Meteorological Department’s Regional Forecasting Center, said Thursday that experts expect winds in the area to maintain low speeds for the next several days. That does not bode well for air quality conditions in New Delhi for the foreseeable future. 
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If U.S.-Taliban peace negotiators expected the Taliban to reduce violence in Afghanistan, the latest report from a key government watchdog is a rude awakening.Average daily enemy-initiated attacks in Afghanistan were up 50% from July 1 to Sept. 30 of this year, compared to between April 1 and June 30, according to the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction, also known as SIGAR.U.S. Forces-Afghanistan (USFOR-A) has characterized overall enemy-initiated attacks this quarter as “above seasonal norms.”Anti-government forces accounted for at least 83% of civilian casualties this quarter, according to the SIGAR report released Thursday. The Taliban is responsible for 38% of those deaths and injuries. This was an overall increase in casualties since the last quarter.The Department of Defense told SIGAR in its report that Taliban violence “could undermine” the U.S.-Taliban peace agreement if it continues at this “unacceptably high” rate. It added that the longtime Afghan insurgent group was “calibrating” the amount of violence to remain at a level it determines is within the bounds of the U.S.-Taliban agreement while “harassing” the Afghan government and setting “favorable conditions for a post-(U.S.) withdrawal (from) Afghanistan.”While the United States has been critical of the Taliban’s intensified attacks across Afghanistan, officials have continued to withdraw American troops and stopped short of calling the group’s actions a complete breach of their peace agreement. About 4,500 U.S. troops are currently in the war-torn country.The U.S. peace envoy for Afghanistan reconciliation, Zalmay Khalilzad, last week pressed warring Afghan parties to reduce battlefield hostilities.“I return to the region disappointed that despite commitments to lower violence, it has not happened. The window to achieve a political settlement will not stay open forever,” said Khalilzad.And earlier last month, the U.S. carried out several targeted strikes against Taliban fighters who were firing on Afghan forces in Helmand province.U.S. Gen. Austin S. Miller, the commander of the U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan, said the Taliban attacks were “not consistent with the U.S.-Taliban agreement” and needed to stop “immediately.”According to the SIGAR report, the U.S. military would not disclose whether there had been confirmed or suspected Taliban attacks on U.S. personnel or facilities since the beginning of the Afghan peace negotiations, calling the answer classified.
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If U.S.-Taliban peace negotiators expected the Taliban to reduce violence in Afghanistan, the latest report from a key government watchdog is a rude awakening.Average daily enemy-initiated attacks in Afghanistan were up 50% from July 1 to Sept. 30 of this year, compared to between April 1 and June 30, according to the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction, also known as SIGAR.U.S. Forces-Afghanistan (USFOR-A) has characterized overall enemy-initiated attacks this quarter as “above seasonal norms.”Anti-government forces accounted for at least 83% of civilian casualties this quarter, according to the SIGAR report released Thursday. The Taliban is responsible for 38% of those deaths and injuries. This was an overall increase in casualties since the last quarter.The Department of Defense told SIGAR in its report that Taliban violence “could undermine” the U.S.-Taliban peace agreement if it continues at this “unacceptably high” rate. It added that the longtime Afghan insurgent group was “calibrating” the amount of violence to remain at a level it determines is within the bounds of the U.S.-Taliban agreement while “harassing” the Afghan government and setting “favorable conditions for a post-(U.S.) withdrawal (from) Afghanistan.”While the United States has been critical of the Taliban’s intensified attacks across Afghanistan, officials have continued to withdraw American troops and stopped short of calling the group’s actions a complete breach of their peace agreement. About 4,500 U.S. troops are currently in the war-torn country.The U.S. peace envoy for Afghanistan reconciliation, Zalmay Khalilzad, last week pressed warring Afghan parties to reduce battlefield hostilities.“I return to the region disappointed that despite commitments to lower violence, it has not happened. The window to achieve a political settlement will not stay open forever,” said Khalilzad.And earlier last month, the U.S. carried out several targeted strikes against Taliban fighters who were firing on Afghan forces in Helmand province.U.S. Gen. Austin S. Miller, the commander of the U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan, said the Taliban attacks were “not consistent with the U.S.-Taliban agreement” and needed to stop “immediately.”According to the SIGAR report, the U.S. military would not disclose whether there had been confirmed or suspected Taliban attacks on U.S. personnel or facilities since the beginning of the Afghan peace negotiations, calling the answer classified.
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Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan urged Western nations Wednesday to desist from using freedom of speech as an “instrument” to hurt the feelings of Muslims, warning it will lead to more radicalization and violence.Khan told a joint news conference with visiting Chairman of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina Sefik Dzaferovic the two leaders condemned recent terrorist acts by Muslims in France and Austria. The two sides, he said, also underline the importance of respect for every religion, specifically Muslims living in Europe.Khan stressed that mocking of Prophet Muhammad and publication of blasphemous caricatures cause “the greatest pain” to the Muslim community.FILE – Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan addresses the legislative assembly in Muzaffarabad, the capital of Pakistan-controlled Kashmir, Aug. 5, 2020.”European powers, Western countries must understand that you cannot use freedom of speech as a weapon to cause Muslims pain by insulting our Prophet. Unless this is understood, the cycle of violence will keep happening,” Khan cautioned.Dzaferovic also denounced what he described as “the rampant Islamophobia,” saying while human freedom is and should be “unlimited,” it is unacceptable that religious feelings of Muslims are insulted.”We need to build bridges, we need to meet, we need to build unity around diversity,” Dzaferovic said.FILE – Sefik Dzaferovic of the Party of Democratic Action attends a news conference in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Oct. 7, 2018.Last month, a history teacher was decapitated outside a school near Paris after he had shown his students caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad when the class discussed free speech. While French authorities were investigating the slaying of Samuel Paty and cracking down on suspected Islamist militants, a Tunisian man fatally stabbed three people in a cathedral in Nice.French President Emmanuel Macron has defended the right of publishers in his country to depict cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad, which Muslims deem as blasphemous. His comments have drawn condemnation and triggered anti-France street protests in Muslim countries.Last week, Macron told al-Jazeera that he “understands the feelings of Muslims about the caricatures,” but he insisted it was not his role as president to restrict freedom of expression for causing offense. The French leader asserted the “radical Islam” his government is combating threatens all, especially Muslims.A shooting spree Monday in central Vienna, Austria, killed at least four people and wounded 14 others. Police fatally shot the gunman and later identified him as 20-year-old Kujtim Fejzulai. Islamic State claimed credit for being behind the deadly shooting. 
 
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The Sri Lanka Navy and other groups rescued more than 100 short-finned pilot whales Tuesday after the whales beached themselves on the nation’s southwestern coastline.  
 
The pod of pilot whales washed ashore at Panadura Beach, about 25 kilometers south of Colombo. The navy, Sri Lanka coast guard lifesaving teams, police lifesavers, volunteers, lifeguards and residents took part in the rescue mission.
 
Some villagers defied a coronavirus curfew to join the navy and coast guard, wading into the breaking surf to push the small whales back into the water. Jet skis provided by a local water sports club also were used to pull the whales back into the ocean.
 
The rescue teams managed to move at least 100 whales back into the ocean. At least two injured whales had already died and were buried.
 
The French News Agency reports Sri Lanka’s Marine Environment Protection Authority ((MEPA)) confirmed the stranding was the largest of its kind in the south Asian country.
 
Officials were prepared for mass deaths as seen in Australia’s island state of Tasmania in September when about 470 pilot whales were stranded and only about 110 could be saved after days of rescue efforts.  It was one of the largest ever such mass strandings.  
Pilot whales — actually a large species of dolphin that can grow up to six meters long and weigh a ton — are highly social. The causes of mass strandings remain unknown, despite decades of study by scientists. Some believe the extreme social nature of the species will bring the entire pod of whales to the assistance of a single whale in trouble.
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Islamic State (IS) claimed responsibility for Monday’s attack on Kabul University that killed at least 22 people and injured a dozen more. Afghan security forces said the attack ended after an hourslong gunfight. VOA’s Hikmat Sorosh reports from Kabul.
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Several gunmen entered Kabul university Monday morning and opened fire, creating chaos and a mass exodus from the university as students and faculty tried to escape. A video uploaded to Twitter by Afghan TV channel Tolo news shows confusion and students running as gun shots are heard in the background.  “My students and I tried to leave the university. The situation was very tense. Everyone was running,” said one professor who did not want to be named.    Security forces soon surrounded the area and cordoned it off. Several armored security vehicles could be seen outside the university. Tariq Arian, a spokesman for the ministry of interior, said the security forces were combing the university but moving slowly to avoid civilian casualties.    Eyewitnesses said they saw several gunmen open fire on students inside the campus. The ministry of interior confirmed that eight people were wounded.Afghan police arrive at the site of an attack at Kabul University in Kabul, Afghanistan, Nov. 2, 2020. Gunfire erupted at the university in the Afghan capital early Monday and police have surrounded the sprawling campus, authorities said.Most students, staff, and faculty members were evacuated, according to Hamed Obaidi, a spokesman for the ministry of higher education. Security personnel were seen distributing water to those who escaped and helping the wounded into ambulances. Obaidi said the shots were heard near the schools of law and political science.   However, Tolo news shared videos from some students who said the gunmen  were still inside the compound.  In one of the videos, a student described how he was rushed out from the playground.    “We were playing football . . .  when we heard gun shots. Meanwhile, police came and told us to run since there was an attack,” the student Safiullah said.    Afghan Taliban have denied responsibility for the attack.    While the reason for the attack is not clear, today was the inauguration of an Afghan-Iran book exhibition at the university. Several senior Afghan officials and Iran’s ambassador to Afghanistan was expected to be there. It was not clear whether any officials were on campus at the time of the attack.  
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