After living and working in Russia for the last decade, Tajik construction worker Zoir Kurbanov recently decided it was time to head home.

Life for many Central Asian migrants in Russia after it invaded Ukraine was not the same: wages were falling and men faced a danger of being sent by Moscow to the front.

Then, Kurbanov got an offer for jobs on building sites in Mariupol and Donetsk — cities in occupied Ukraine.

“I refused,” the 39-year-old said.

He decided to take a huge pay cut and return home to Tajikistan “because of the war,” taking up a construction job in the capital, Dushanbe.

Russia is increasingly trying to lure Central Asian migrants to work in the parts of Ukraine it occupies, or even to sign up to fight for its army.

While some 1.3 million still migrated to Russia from Central Asia in the first quarter of 2023, some are choosing to leave, rather than be coerced to go to Ukraine.

Moscow is offering high salaries, social benefits and even promises of citizenship to work in places like Mariupol, virtually flattened by the Russian army last year.

Meanwhile, enlistment offices and recruitment campaigns are trying to entice them to join the Russian army.

While there are no exact numbers on how many migrant workers have left Russia – or the numbers sent to work in Ukraine or recruited to the army – Kurbanov’s case is not an exception.

‘Police everywhere’

If offers of bumper paychecks don’t work, Russian authorities have other means of coercing migrants to the front.

“The Russian police were checking me everywhere, asking if I had done my military service,” said Argen Bolgonbekov, a 29-year-old who served in the Kygryz border force.

What starts as a document check can often escalate, he said. On the pretext of uncovering some kind of offense – real or fabricated – Russian authorities sometimes offer migrants a stark choice: prison or the army.

“In Russia, where there are problems with human rights and workers’ rights, migrants are vulnerable. It’s easier to fool them,” Batyr Shermukhammad, an Uzbek journalist who specializes in migration issues, told AFP.

Street searches and police raids of dormitories and work sites were a common feature of life for Central Asian migrants in Russia even before the war. But the invasion has added a new element of risk.

Bolgonbekov was relieved to have just been deported to Kyrgyzstan after police found irregularities with his documents.

“It’s a good thing, because over there you couldn’t walk around in peace anymore,” he said, speaking to AFP at a textile workshop in the Kyrgyz capital, Bishkek.

Farhodzhon Umirzakov, an Uzbek who worked in Russia for six years before he was also deported, said he was “worn down” by the climate there.

“The pressure on migrants increased. We were disrespected. There were more and more raids – even in mosques people were being arrested,” the 35-year-old told AFP.

He said an Uzbek he knew was sentenced to 12 years in prison for drug trafficking and ended up in the army fighting in Ukraine.

Independent media outlets in Central Asia have also reported similar cases.

‘Russia needs soldiers’

Russia is no longer hiding its targeting of migrants for military service.

Earlier this year, lawmaker Mikhail Matveyev called for Central Asians who have recently been granted Russian citizenship to be drafted instead of ethnic Russians.

“Why are they not mobilized? Where are the Tajik battalions? There is a war going on, Russia needs soldiers. Welcome to our citizenship,” he said in a post on Telegram.

War propaganda uses Soviet imagery of the victory over Nazi Germany, in which Central Asians fought for the Red Army.

Earlier this month, the Russian region of Vladimir published a recruitment video showing two men it said were Tajik doctors talking about their decision to go and fight at the front. In the video they called on their compatriots to “follow our example.”

In another video, an Uzbek man said he joined the army because “Russia is a bulwark. If it falls, our countries will fall too.”

The campaigns have not sat well with governments in Central Asia.

Although economically dependent on Moscow, they are striving to maintain their sovereignty and regularly call on their citizens not to take part in the war.

Despite the escalating pressure, Russia “remains the priority destination” for Central Asian workers, said journalist Shermukhammad.

There is no other country where migrants can go “without a visa, speak Russian and earn money,” he said.

Kurbanov, the Tajik construction worker who recently returned home, agreed.

“If the war ends tomorrow, I’ll go back to Russia the day after,” he said.

 
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Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has called for steps to be taken against an official in her party who threatened to physically assault Peter Haas, the U.S. ambassador to Bangladesh.

The official justified his words by claiming that Haas was working in the interest of the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party, or BNP, ahead of elections scheduled for early January.

While it was not disclosed exactly what action has been ordered, Bangladesh’s junior foreign affairs minister, Shahriar Alam, confirmed in front of local reporters in Dhaka on Friday that the prime minister has directed action against the official.

In a video clip that went viral on social media last week, Mujibul Haque Chowdhury, chairman of a unit of Hasina’s Awami League in a Chittagong subdivision, was seen hurling threats and insults at the American ambassador at a political meeting on November 6.

“Peter Haas said he wants to see a free and fair election here. I say, ‘Peter Haas, you are as knowledgeable as a newborn, while we are the actual grown-ups,’” Chowdhury said in the video. “You have no idea what we are capable of. You will know just how dangerous we are once we bash you up.”

Chowdhury added: “To the BNP members, you are a god, a savior. But we are not scared of you. You cannot harm us in any way.”

As the video spread on social media, Hasina directed her party colleagues to discipline Choudhury at an AL Central Committee meeting Thursday.

Obaidul Quader, the general secretary of her party, acknowledged afterward that Chowdhury’s comments about the ambassador were abusive.

“Peter Haas, as an ambassador, is a respectable person. Mujibul Haque Chowdhury’s comment, as it surfaced in the media, is rude and indecent. We will take disciplinary action against him for his misconduct,” Quader said in a press briefing.

US seeking free and fair election

The 2014 general elections in Bangladesh were boycotted by the BNP. The next general elections, in 2018, were marred by allegations of massive vote stuffing by the AL.

Since 2022, the United States and other countries have been urging the Hasina government to hold the next general election, set for January 7, in a free and fair manner.

In September, the U.S. government announced that it had started “taking steps to impose visa restrictions” on Bangladeshi individuals who are found complicit in “undermining the democratic electoral process” in Bangladesh.

During a visit to the U.S. in September, Hasina said at a New York press conference that every time her party has come to power, it was through a fair democratic process. “We indeed want the next general elections to be free and fair,” she said.

However, the BNP, the largest opposition party in Bangladesh, insists that the general election will not be free and fair if it is held under the Hasina government, and has said it will not participate unless a nonpartisan caretaker government is installed for the election period.

In recent weeks, Haas has met several Bangladeshi government officials, ruling party leaders and the election commissioners. He reportedly conveyed a message from the U.S. government that it seriously wants the next general election in Bangladesh to be free and fair.

Over the past weeks, several leaders of the AL and its various wings and allies have expressed irritation, directly and indirectly alleging that Haas is working in support of the BNP.

“How will Peter Hass help you [the BNP]? Will he impose visa restrictions, sanctions? We have already had talks with his superiors in the U.S. Everything has been settled, and we are going to hold the elections following our plan,” Quader, the party general secretary, said last month.

“We will not allow you to carry out violent activities and disrupt elections by using Peter Haas,” Quader said.

Calls for ambassador to be replaced

Last week, Hasanul Haq Inu, a former minister and political ally of the AL, called for the removal of Haas from Bangladesh.

U.S. President “Joe Biden’s representative Peter Haas, who is the ‘newly appointed adviser of BNP,’ is acting in support of the BNP by supporting the killing of a policeman,” Inu said in a speech. He was referring to the death of a policeman during an outbreak of violence at a BNP rally in Dhaka on October 28.

“Peter Haas is the supporter of the BNP, the killer of the policeman. He does not deserve to continue as the ambassador of the friendly nation of America,” Inu said.

“I call on the Bangladesh government to declare Peter Haas persona non grata, for indulging in undiplomatic activities, interfering in Bangladesh’s internal politics and supporting the dastardly killing of a policeman. The government should tell its U.S. counterpart to replace him with a new ambassador immediately.”

Haas has denied any U.S. interest in who wins the election. “I want to make one thing very clear,” he said in September. “That the U.S. does not support any political party. What we do want is a free and fair election in accordance with international standards so that people of Bangladesh can freely choose their own government.”

Attack on ambassador “deeply disturbing”

Ali Riaz, professor of political science at Illinois State University, said that while any individual has the right to criticize the policies of any government, a “personal attack on the envoy of that country is deeply disturbing.”

“The ruling party leaders and activists are angry with the U.S. because they see the current U.S. policy towards Bangladesh as an obstacle to holding an election according to their plan. Their anger is both spontaneous and orchestrated,” Riaz told VOA.

“Those who are beneficiaries of the present system are spontaneously angry in fear of losing these benefits,” he said. “Others are motivated by [suspicions] that the U.S. has a regime change agenda. They think that the U.S. is out to get its leaders and trying to depose the Hasina government.”

Mohammad Ashrafuzzaman of the Capital Punishment Justice Project, who has been documenting human rights abuses in Bangladesh for over a decade, said that Haas has “become a target of the regime” for being the most prominent foreign diplomat “supporting people’s aspirations for democratization and human rights” in Bangladesh.

He noted that former U.S. Ambassador Marcia Bernicat escaped an attack in Dhaka a few months ahead of the 2018 general elections. Police subsequently identified many of the assailants as leaders and activists of the AL and its student wing, Chhatra League.

On Friday, the U.S. State Department told VOA it has raised Chowdhury’s remarks at the highest levels of the Bangladesh government in Dhaka as well as with the Bangladesh Embassy in Washington.

“The safety and security of our diplomatic personnel and facilities are of the utmost importance. While we don’t comment on specific information regarding our security posture, the Diplomatic Security Service has a robust security program at each post tailored to each mission’s specific needs,” a State Department spokesperson wrote in an exchange of emails.

“Given the charged political atmosphere in Bangladesh, we expect that the government of Bangladesh will take all appropriate measures to maintain the safety and security of all U.S. missions and personnel in the country, per its obligations under the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic relations.” 
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The national poll body of Bangladesh said Wednesday that parliamentary elections will be held on January 7 — an announcement that sparked immediate threats of a boycott from the opposition, which fears the elections will be rigged.

The announcement comes as the country is reeling from widespread violent protests calling for the resignation of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

At least four people, among them a police officer, were killed and hundreds of others wounded in recent demonstrations across Bangladesh.

The leading opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party, or BNP, whose heads are imprisoned or banned from the country, have called on supporters to reject the results of the next election if Hasina does not step down to make way for an interim government.

The BNP previously boycotted the 2014 election.

Hasina has squarely rejected demands for her resignation. Naming a date for parliamentary elections will only add to the unrest, Abdul Moyeen Khan, a former BNP minister, told Reuters.

Hasina, the world’s longest-serving active female head of state, is now eyeing a fourth straight five-year term. She has drawn scorn from pro-democracy activist groups at home and abroad as her administration cracks down on dissent, arresting thousands of protesters.

Hasina’s main challenger, former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia of the BNP, is under house arrest for what she claims are spurious charges of corruption. Her son Tarique Rahman, who serves as BNP’s chairman, fled the country after prosecutors accused him of crimes he says he never committed.

Hasina, who came into power in 2009, has been criticized roundly by the West. The United States, the top importer of Bangladeshi textiles, said last spring that it would restrict the visas of those hampering free and fair elections in Bangladesh.

Some information for this report was provided by Reuters.
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The United States has provided nearly $2 billion in humanitarian aid to Afghanistan since the Taliban took control in August 2021. Oversight officials told U.S. lawmakers Tuesday it is impossible to prevent the Taliban from benefiting from that funding. VOA’s congressional correspondent Katherine Gypson has more.
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An independent assessment commissioned by the United Nations has linked recognition of the Taliban government to compliance with Afghanistan’s international treaty obligations and commitments, requiring it to immediately remove sweeping curbs on women’s rights to education and employment opportunities.

“Any formal re-integration of Afghanistan into global institutions and systems will require the participation and leadership of Afghan women,” said a VOA-obtained draft copy of the report.

In March, a Security Council resolution asked U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to conduct the assessment providing “forward-looking recommendations for an integrated and coherent” international approach to the Taliban-governed crisis-hit country by November 17. He appointed Feridun Sinirlioglu, a former Turkish government official, as the special coordinator to lead the mission.

Sinirlioglu traveled to Afghanistan and engaged with Taliban leaders, Afghan stakeholders residing outside the country, and critical regional and international stakeholders to assess the situation before submitting his report to the U.N. chief.

The document noted that the situation of women and girls — the restrictions on girls’ education in particular — was “the single most common” issue raised in the consultations. It was highlighted by Afghan women, girls, the business community, religious clerics, tribal elders, civil society, health and education professionals, and many representatives of the de facto Taliban authorities, it said.

Taliban ban women from school, work

The Taliban reclaimed power from an American-backed government in August 2021. They have imposed their strict interpretation of Islamic law, banning schools for girls beyond the sixth grade and barring women from most public and private sector workplaces, including the United Nations and other aid groups.

“The DFA (de facto authorities) have tried to justify these restrictions as being part of the Islamic faith and Afghan traditions. However, similar restrictions do not exist in any other member state of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, and many Afghans reject the DFA’s characterization of local traditions,” the U.N. report said.

It noted that the restrictive bans are not consistent with the values embodied in the U.N. Charter or international law, nor are they conducive to Afghanistan’s political and economic stability.

TTP intensifies cross-border attacks

The report recommended, citing stakeholder consultations, that an Afghan national dialogue needs to be initiated to establish inclusive governance and ensure sustainable peace and economic development in the country after 45 years of armed conflict. It would permit movement toward the full normalization and integration of Afghanistan within the international system.

The international community should quickly identify a solution to unfreeze Afghanistan’s frozen assets, which are worth billions of dollars, and revisit the various sanctions regimes if the Taliban can demonstrate their ability to maintain the country’s commitments and govern inclusively, the report adds.

While the document hailed the Taliban’s counternarcotics efforts and improved security conditions across the country, it questioned de facto authorities’ counterterrorism resolve and regional security concerns stemming from it.

The assessment said, without naming any country, that several member countries “attest to the persistent presence of terrorist groups and individuals inside Afghanistan, including members of al-Qaida.” It added, citing recent U.N. reports, that some of these groups have relations with elements of the Taliban.

“According to these reports, significant numbers of fighters for the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) appear to have free movement and shelter in Afghanistan and are carrying out an intensifying campaign of violence inside Pakistan.”

The report said the Taliban have demonstrated “limited responsiveness” to international engagement on the presence and treatment of such groups.

Pakistani officials say the TTP, a globally designated terrorist group, has intensified cross-border attacks from its Afghan sanctuaries since the Taliban returned to power two years ago, killing nearly 2,300 Pakistanis, including security forces.

The Taliban have not commented immediately on the reported U.N. assessment, though they have previously rejected criticism of their policies, including counterterrorism efforts. They have persistently defended their male-only administration, called the Islamic Emirate, as an inclusive dispensation representing all ethnicities and tribes in Afghanistan.

“It is clear from my consultations that we are universally united in our vision of an Afghanistan that is at peace with its people, its neighbors, and the international community,” said Sinirlioglu. “All stakeholders have a role to play in building a more peaceful, prosperous and predictable future for Afghanistan to the benefit of all Afghans.”
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A high-level trade delegation of the Afghan Taliban government held trilateral talks on Tuesday with Pakistan and Uzbekistan in Islamabad. The talks come as Pakistan authorities are carrying out a mass expulsion of Afghans residing illegally in the country.

The delegation of Taliban government officials and Afghan businessmen, led by the acting Minister of Commerce and Industry, Alhaji Nuruddin Azizi, took part in meetings that “centered around advancing the trans-Afg project, trilateral transit and trade, challenges to regional connectivity, and other pertinent matters,” according to a statement by the Afghan embassy in Islamabad, posted on X, formerly Twitter.

The Trans-Afghan project is a 760-kilometer (472-mile) passenger and freight rail line in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Uzbekistan. The three countries signed the agreement in July in Islamabad. The project is slated to be completed by 2027.

Calling the trilateral talks a significant step toward strengthening economic ties and regional connectivity, Pakistan’s Minister of Commerce Gohar Ejaz said on X, “bright prospects for trade, investment and connectivity lie ahead for mutual benefit of three countries.”

The Afghan Taliban delegation’s visit to Islamabad comes at a time when relations between the two sides are tense publicly.

Pakistan accuses the Taliban of taking insufficient action to reign in cross-border terrorism and providing haven to leaders and members of the banned militant outfit Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan.

Pakistan’s Prime Minister Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar recently told media that Islamabad had asked Afghan Taliban “bluntly to choose between Pakistan and the TTP.” He said that Pakistan shared details and a list of wanted militant leaders with Afghan authorities, but that Kabul did not deliver on its counterterrorism pledges.

In response, Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid once again denied Kabul was providing sanctuary to anti-Pakistan terrorists saying, “Pakistan should address their domestic problems instead of blaming Afghanistan for their failure.”

Alleging that Afghan citizens were taking part in terror attacks inside Pakistan, Islamabad last month ordered all those residing illegally in the country to leave or face deportation after November 1. The decision, although applicable to people of any nationality, primarily affected 1.7 million Afghans living in Pakistan to escape war and poverty.

The Taliban called Pakistan’s expulsion of Afghans “unacceptable” and “unjust.”

Speaking to VOA, Special Representative of Pakistan on Afghanistan Asif Durrani downplayed the recent tensions, saying each government was simply expressing its point of view.

“I don’t think there were harsh statements, neither from Pakistan side nor from Afghan side,” Durrani said.

The envoy rejected the notion that Pakistan’s support of the Taliban in its 20-year war against western troops had backfired since his country was seeing terrorism rise since the group’s return to power.

“This is a process, and we hope that good sense would prevail,” he said about the recent tensions in Pakistan-Afghanistan relations. He also denied Pakistan ever supported the then-insurgent group.

Prior to Tuesday’s trilateral trade talks, the Taliban commerce minister met Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Jalil Abbas Jilani.

“The FM [foreign minister] said full potential for regional trade and connectivity can be harnessed with collective action against terrorism,” the Pakistani foreign ministry said on X.

An Afghan embassy statement on X after the meeting said Azizi discussed transfer of property of Afghan refugees with Pakistan, among other issues.

Since the expulsion orders, nearly 300,000 Afghans have left Pakistan voluntarily while more than 1,300 have been deported. Many have been forced to leave their small businesses set up over the years or sell valuables such as cattle or construction material well below market prices on their way out.

Although Pakistan has lifted restrictions on how much currency Afghans returning to their country can take with them, reports of border guards taking cash and jewelry from Afghan returnees have emerged.

Durrani rejected the reports, saying, “I don’t think there is truth in it.” He said Pakistani border guards are disciplined and follow the orders of the government.

Speaking to VOA, Pakistan’s former ambassador to Afghanistan Mansoor Ahmad Khan said the talks were a positive development.

“Since a visit is now already taking place, I see signs of encouragement after the past few weeks when we saw there was no engagement.”

He said he believes the two sides will continue to work together.

After a day of talks, Pakistani commerce minister Ejaz held a brief joint press conference with the visiting Uzbek minister. The Taliban did not make an appearance.

Pakistani and Taliban officials will continue talks on Wednesday. 
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Designers in the Western U.S. state of Colorado are mixing modern fashion with cultural textiles from Iran, Afghanistan, Turkey and Tibet. VOA’s Scott Stearns has our story.
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Nepal’s government decided to ban the popular social media app TikTok, saying Monday it was disrupting “social harmony” in the country.

The announcement was made following a Cabinet meeting. Foreign Minister Narayan Prakash Saud said the app would be banned immediately.

“The government has decided to ban TikTok as it was necessary to regulate the use of the social media platform that was disrupting social harmony, goodwill and flow of indecent materials,” Saud said.

He said that to make social media platforms accountable, the government has asked the companies to register and open a liaison office in Nepal, pay taxes and abide by the country’s laws and regulations.

It wasn’t clear what triggered the ban or if TikTok had refused to comply with Nepal’s requests. The company did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment.

TikTok, owned by China’s ByteDance, has faced scrutiny in several countries because of concerns that Beijing could use the app to harvest user data or advance its interests. Countries including the United States, Britain and New Zealand have banned the app on government phones despite TikTok repeatedly denying that it has ever shared data with the Chinese government and would not do so if asked.

Nepal has banned all pornographic sites in 2018.
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Pakistan is hosting a weeklong naval exercise with China in the Arabian Sea that officials said Monday would further enhance their “joint operational capabilities in dealing with maritime security threats and safeguarding peace.”

The two neighboring countries began the drills Saturday at a naval base in Karachi in the waters and airspace of the northern Arabian Sea and will conclude them on November 17. 

China’s defense ministry said Monday the two navies would also conduct joint anti-submarine warfare, noting that “China and Pakistan will conduct their first joint maritime patrol.” 

The ministry said several warships and submarines, including the guided-missile destroyer Zibo, guided-missile frigates Jingzhou and Linyi, and a People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Marine Corps unit, are participating in the Sea Guardian-3 exercise.

The Pakistan Navy said after the opening ceremony that participants would jointly conduct “advanced level drills and naval maneuvers” during the exercise. 

“The aim… is to share professional experiences on contemporary traditional and non-traditional threats in (the) Indian Ocean region as well as to enhance bilateral cooperation and interoperability between the two navies,” the statement said. 

Chinese state media quoted Liang Yang, commander at a PLA Navy base and the general director of the exercise, telling Saturday’s opening ceremony that it aims to enhance “the all-weather strategic cooperative partnership and boosting defense cooperation” with Pakistan.

China recently delivered four ‘Type 054A/’ guided missile frigates to Pakistan, with Hangor-class attack submarines jointly under construction in both countries. 

Their latest drills follow what Moscow describes as “the first Russian-Myanmar naval exercise in modern history,” held from Nov. 7-9 in the Andaman Sea on the northeastern fringe of the Indian Ocean, considered a milestone for Russia’s naval presence in a sea that the United States counts as one of its global security interests.

Amid the push for deeper security ties between China and Pakistan, and Russia and Myanmar, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin held defense talks in New Delhi last week with their Indian counterparts.

In a joint statement issued after the “2+2 Dialogue” on November 10, the United States and India reaffirmed their commitment to a free, open, and inclusive Indo-Pacific region. However, the statement did not mention China. The two sides, without naming Russia, also “expressed mutual deep concern over the war in Ukraine and its tragic humanitarian consequences.”  

While New Delhi’s relations with Washington have steadily strengthened, it has carefully preserved longstanding relations with Moscow, including defense cooperation.

Beijing has long maintained close defense ties with Islamabad, but the two allies have also deepened economic cooperation under China’s global infrastructure project, the Belt and Road Initiative, or BRI, in recent years.

The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, an extension of the BRI, has brought more than $25 billion in Chinese investments in building roads, ports, and power plants in the South Asian nation over the past decade. The massive program has completed and operationalized Pakistan’s strategically located Arabian Sea port of Gwadar. 

Some information in this report came from Reuters.
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Rescuers were digging through dirt and parts of a collapsed road tunnel Monday to reach 40 workers trapped by a landslide at the construction project in northern India.

All of the construction workers are safe, police officer Prashant Kumar said, adding that they have been supplied with oxygen and water. He said the rescuers had established contact with the trapped individuals.

The collapse occurred Sunday in Uttarakhand, a mountainous state dotted with Hindu temples that attracts many pilgrims and tourists.

Massive construction of buildings and roadways has taken place in recent years in Uttarakhand. The trapped workers were building part of the Chardham all-weather road, a flagship federal government project connecting various Hindu pilgrimage sites.

The number of workers trapped was confirmed Monday by Rajesh Pawar, the project manager at the Navyug Construction Company, which is overseeing the construction of the tunnel.

Rescue efforts began Sunday, with authorities pumping oxygen through a pipe into the collapsed section of the tunnel to help workers breathe.

“The team has progressed 15 meters into the tunnel, with an additional 35 meters yet to cover,” Kumar said, adding that more than 150 rescuers had used drilling equipment and excavators to clear debris through the night.

The collapsed portion of the 4.5-kilometer tunnel is about 200 meters from the entrance, officials told the Press Trust of India news agency.

In January, Uttarakhand state authorities moved hundreds of people to temporary shelters after a temple collapsed and cracks appeared in more than 600 houses because of the sinking of land in and around Joshimath town in the region.

 
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Civil society groups are calling on Australia to halt the prosecution of a man who leaked classified documents detailing allegations of Australian special forces committing war crimes in Afghanistan. 

The call came just hours before the trial of David McBride, a former military lawyer, is to commence at the Supreme Court in Canberra on Monday — and is expected to last three weeks. He is facing charges of theft of government property, breach of defense law, and disclosure of classified information, with a potential life sentence if convicted. 

McBride has pleaded not guilty to all charges.

Human Rights Law Center or HRLC, an alliance of Australian civil society groups and unions said in a statement that the prosecution of the war crimes whistleblowers would deter whistleblowers. 

“There is no public interest in prosecuting whistleblowers. Today is a dark day for Australian democracy. The truth is on trial,” Kieran Pender, senior HRLC lawyer, said in the statement.

McBride was deployed to Afghanistan in 2011 and 2013 as a Defense Force lawyer. He began leaking classified documents to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation between 2014 and 2016 about alleged war crimes by Australian special forces, according to the national broadcaster. 

A subsequent independent investigation into the revelations accused Australian special forces of unlawfully killing at least 39 Afghan civilians. 

The HRLC statement quoted former Australian senator and founder of the Whistleblower Justice Fund, Rex Patrick, as saying that the government had the power to stop the trial.

“We may now see one brave whistleblower behind bars and thousands of prospective whistleblowers lost from the community,” Patrick said. “There was no public interest in this prosecution and that things have come to this is a blight on this government’s pre-election commitment to foster and protect whistleblowers,” he added. 

The Canberra Times newspaper quoted a spokesperson for the attorney-general Sunday as saying that the power to discontinue proceedings was “reserved for very unusual and exceptional circumstances.” 

The spokesperson emphasized that the “proceedings remain ongoing, it is inappropriate to comment further on the particulars of their matters.”

Kobra Moradi, a legal analyst at Afghanistan Human Rights and Democracy Organization, said McBride’s “whistleblowing helped shine a light on the reprehensible conduct” of Australian forces in Afghanistan. 

“He should be commended for exposing war crimes – not prosecuted for doing so,” Moradi said, according to the HRLC statement.

The coalition noted in an explainer published on its website that McBride “will be the first person to face trial in relation to Australia’s war crimes in Afghanistan — the whistleblower, not an alleged war criminal.”

Speaking to a rally held for him in a Canberra park Sunday, McBride said his “government cares more about secrecy than crimes.” He tweeted video of his speech in which he said of the documents he released that “it is not about classified information, it is about crime.” 

Australia withdrew all of its troops from Afghanistan two months prior to the complete military exit of the United States and NATO allies in August 2021, which ended almost 20 years of Western involvement in the Afghan war. Official data showed at least 41 Australian soldiers were killed, and many others suffered injuries in the conflict.
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Part of an under-construction road tunnel in a mountainous north Indian state popular with tourists collapsed after a landslide Sunday, trapping more than 30 workers, officials said.

Rescue work is in progress and oxygen is being pumped through a pipe into the collapsed section of the tunnel to help workers breathe, said Manohar Tamta, an Uttarakhand state relief official.

“It will take some time to bring them out,” Tamta said.

The workers have sent out signals indicating that they are safe,” the Press Trust of India (PTI) news agency cited a state government official as saying.

“I am in touch with the officials on the spot and constantly monitoring the situation,” said the top state elected official, Pushkar Singh Dhami.

The collapsed portion of the tunnel is about 200 meters (500 feet) from the entrance, said police officer Arpan Yaduvanshi. Food is also being sent to the trapped workers, PTI quoted him as saying.

About 160 rescuers from federal and state disaster relief agencies are using drilling equipment and excavators to reach the workers.

Uttarakhand state is dotted with Hindu temples and sees a huge flow of pilgrims and tourists every year. It has expanded over the years with the massive construction of buildings and roadways. The Chardham all-weather road is a flagship federal government project connecting various Hindu pilgrimage sites.

In January, state authorities moved hundreds of people to temporary shelters after a temple collapsed and cracks appeared in over 600 houses because of the sinking of land in and around Joshimath town in the region.
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Millions of Indians celebrated Diwali on Sunday with a new Guinness World Record number of bright earthen oil lamps as concerns about air pollution soared in the South Asian country.

Across the country, dazzling multicolored lights decked homes and streets as devotees celebrated the annual Hindu festival of light symbolizing the victory of light over darkness.

But the spectacular and much-awaited massive lighting of the oil lamps took place — as usual —at Saryu River, in Ayodhya in Uttar Pradesh state, the birthplace of their most revered deity, the god Ram.

At dusk on Saturday, devotees lit over 2.22 million lamps and kept them burning for 45 minutes as Hindu religious hymns filled the air at the banks of the river, setting a new world Record. Last year, over 1.5 million earthen lamps were lit.

After counting the lamps, Guinness Book of World Records representatives presented a record certificate to the state’s top elected official Yogi Adityanath.

Over 24,000 volunteers, mostly college students, helped prepare for the new record, said Pratibha Goyal, vice chancellor of Dr. Ram Manohar Lohia Avadh University, in Ayodhya.

Diwali, a national holiday across India, is celebrated by socializing and exchanging gifts with family and friends. Many light earthen oil lamps or candles, and fireworks are set off as part of the celebrations. In the evening, a special prayer is dedicated to the Hindu goddess Lakshmi, who is believed to bring luck and prosperity.

Over the weekend, authorities ran extra trains to accommodate the huge numbers trying to reach their hometowns to join family celebrations. The festival came as worries about air quality in India rose. A “hazardous” 400-500 level was recorded on the air quality index last week, more than 10 times the global safety threshold, which can cause acute and chronic bronchitis and asthma attacks.

But on Saturday, unexpected rain and a strong wind improved the levels to 220, according to the government-run Central Pollution Control Board.

Air pollution levels are expected to soar again after the celebrations end Sunday night because of the fireworks used.

Last week, officials in New Delhi shut down primary schools and banned polluting vehicles and construction work in an attempt to reduce the worst haze and smog of the season, which has posed respiratory problems for people and enveloped monuments and high-rise buildings in and around India’s capital.

Authorities deployed water sprinklers and anti-smog guns to control the haze and many people used masks to escape the air pollution.

New Delhi tops the list almost every year among the many Indian cities with poor air quality, particularly in the winter, when the burning of crop residues in neighboring states coincides with cooler temperatures that trap deadly smoke.

Some Indian states have banned the sale of fireworks and imposed other restrictions to stem the pollution. Authorities have also urged residents to light “green crackers” that emit less pollutants than normal firecrackers. But similar bans have often been disregarded in the past.

The Diwali celebrations this year were marked as authorities prepared to inaugurate in January an under-construction and long-awaited temple of the Hindu god Ram at the site of a demolished 16th-century Babri mosque in Ayodhya city in Uttar Pradesh state.

The Babri Masjid mosque was destroyed by a Hindu mob with pickaxes and crowbars in December 1992, sparking massive Hindu-Muslim violence that left some 2,000 people dead, most of them Muslims. The Supreme Court’s verdict in 2019 allowed a temple to be built in place of the demolished mosque. 
…

A Myanmar military jet fighter crashed Saturday in a combat zone in the eastern state of Kayah, a military officer and a member of an anti-military resistance organization said.

The resistance group said the plane had been shot down, but its claim could not immediately be confirmed. 

A spokesperson for the ethnic armed group, the Karenni Nationalities Defense Force, said it had shot down the plane during heavy fighting near Loikaw, the capital of Kayah state, which is also known as Karenni. 

However, an officer in Myanmar’s military, while confirming that one of its aircraft crashed somewhere in Kayah, said he did not know whether it was shot down or crashed due to technical failure. 

The officer, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to release information, said a search for the crashed aircraft and two pilots was underway. 

Loosely organized resistance groups have sprouted around Myanmar since the army seized power in February 2021 from the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi. 

No warplanes are reliably known to have been shot down previously by resistance forces, though another ethnic armed group reportedly shot down a helicopter in May 2021. 

The spokesperson of the Karenni Nationalities Defense Force resistance group said the plane was shot down near an area controlled by the military in Hpruso township at around 5 p.m., shortly after shooting broke out near Loikaw. He spoke on the condition of anonymity to safeguard his personal security. 

Hpruso is about 300 kilometers (185 miles) northeast of Yangon, the country’s largest city. 

A statement posted on the Karenni group’s Facebook page said fire from heavy machine guns had hit the fighter in its fuselage and a wing, and it crashed a great distance from the battlefield after emitting smoke. 

The joint statement by two resistance groups, the Karenni Nationalities Defense Force and the Karenni Army — the armed wing of the Karenni National Progressive Party — credited their members for downing the plane. 

Mizzima, an online news site sympathetic to the resistance, said one of its reporters in Kayah state saw parachutes float down in the sky after hearing an explosion and seeing flames coming from the jet fighter. 

Its report said two parachutes had been found on the ground by resistance forces. It published photos of one parachute and a flight helmet, along with breathing apparatus that a pilot would use. However, neither the pilots nor any bodies were found. 

Kayah state has experienced intense conflict between the military and local resistance groups since the army takeover in 2021. 

After security forces cracked down violently on nationwide peaceful protests of the takeover, armed pro-democracy resistance forces were established, which joined hands with some ethnic armed organizations representing minorities including the Karennai, the Karen and the Kachin. Fighting takes place in many of Myanmar’s rural areas, especially along the borders, where the ethnic guerrilla groups are strongest. 

Major offenses by the military, including airstrikes, have driven hundreds of thousands of people from their homes. The resistance forces have no effective defense against air attacks. 

Most combat aircraft in Myanmar’s military come from China or Russia, which also supply other armaments. Many Western nations maintain an arms embargo, in addition to other sanctions on the ruling military, and are making efforts to block the supply of aviation fuel. 
…

It was a rainy August evening in a remote village of the West Bengal state in India when a WhatsApp message from an anonymous number appeared on 16-year-old Prodeepa’s smartphone screen. Her name and those of her family members have been changed to ensure anonymity.

“I saw his profile photo and found him really handsome. We began talking, and I immediately fell for him,” the high school student from the East Midnapore district told VOA.

Three weeks later, the boy asked Prodeepa to come with him to visit his hospitalized mother in a city about an hour away.

Prodeepa told her mother that she was going to a shop in the village.

“We thought she would be back in a few minutes,” said Bidisha, her mother. “But Prodeepa did not return, and the next day I received a call from an unknown number.”

The voice on the other end, which Bidisha did not recognize, said, “Mother, I am fine. I got married.”

Gone without a trace

The fifth National Family Health Survey report says that almost half the girls in India’s rural West Bengal state get married before they turn 18.

According to Jibananda Das, chairperson of the East Midnapore Child Welfare Committee, or CWC, social media is the greatest breeding ground for traffickers who are looking for child brides.

“It is especially difficult for us as government authorities to trace child marriage victims, because the majority of these marriages are unregistered. Most such girls are therefore merely reported as kidnapped or missing,” he told VOA.

‘Dyed hair and Coca-Cola’

With her husband unemployed, Bidisha, the sole earning member of the family, earns about $26 a month by making cigars.

“All I wanted for my daughter and son were lives marginally better than my own. Now I feel like all my dreams have shattered,” she said.

New Delhi-based anti-trafficking activist Pallabi Ghosh said that underage girls from West Bengal are especially vulnerable to being trafficked and married off because of the extreme poverty and deep-rooted culture of “sheltering” children in the state.

“The oldest daughter of a poor Bengali family, despite being a child herself, is forced to be the primary caregiver of all her younger siblings,” she said.

“Deprived of the attention and love of parents who are out working all day to make ends meet, many girls look for love elsewhere — usually on their phones,” the founder and director of the Impact and Dialogue Foundation, a nongovernmental organization that works to prevent human trafficking and rehabilitate survivors, told VOA.

“I handled the trafficking case of a rural girl who met a boy online and was enamored because he had dyed hair and bought her a cold drink. These girls’ exposure to the outside world is so limited that they end up trusting strangers at the tip of a hat,” Ghosh said.

No money, no justice

According to a copy of the First Information Report, or FIR, filed by Prodeepa’s family three days after she disappeared, the family looked all over the village several times before finally reporting her missing.

Manoj Kumar Sharma, head of an anti-human trafficking unit under the border security forces in east India, told VOA that economically challenged families in India are often afraid of even filing an FIR when their girls go missing.

“As national police forces, we take upon several complicated trafficking and child marriage cases, which the local police do not,” Sharma said. “It is not that they do not have the power or resources; they lack the enthusiasm and will, which is something that must be cultivated.”

VOA reached out to three police officials in East Midnapore district, including the sub-inspector who oversaw Prodeepa’s FIR proceedings. All of them refused to comment.

Sitting in a dingy bedroom with copies of the FIR and other legal documents regarding her case sprawled across the bed, Prodeepa said softly, “I share everything with my mother, but I did not tell her about the boy. That was my greatest mistake.”

The boy, who came to pick up Prodeepa on a motorcycle, refused to take off his helmet with a face shield.

“We rode for a distance before I realized we were headed in the wrong direction,” she said. “I asked him what was going on, but he brushed it off.”

The “boy” was, in fact, a 26-year-old man. He looked nothing like the WhatsApp photo.

Prodeepa was sexually abused, coerced into marriage and held against her will by the man and his family for a week.

Madhab, Bidisha’s older brother, said that the family delayed reporting Prodeepa as missing because they were afraid of rumors.

“People in villages talk. We had to wait until we were sure that she hadn’t married him voluntarily,” he said.

‘She said I was a bad girl’

For Prodeepa and her family, there is little hope for justice any time soon.

The perpetrator, who comes from a well-off family, was never arrested.

Prodeepa was promised legal aid by a nongovernmental organization, but it later backed out.

The CWC’s Das told VOA that all the rehabilitation centers for child survivors of sexual abuse in East Midnapore, like the one where Prodeepa was kept for a month after her rescue, are NGO-operated.

While at the CWC-approved center, Prodeepa’s family was allowed to visit for only 15 minutes at a time.

As someone with no formal education like most rural women in India, Bidisha had no knowledge of the official procedure and said that no authority took the time to explain it to her.

“A one-way trip to the center would cost me a week’s worth of income,” she said. “I often wondered why my daughter was being detained away from me like a criminal. Shouldn’t it have been that man who abused her?”

Her eyes brimming with tears, she asked a final question: “It’s like we are invisible to everyone. Is it because we are poor?”

Leafing through the pencil illustrations she made while at the rehabilitation center, Prodeepa said that one of the officials at the institution said she was responsible for her own abuse.

“She said I was a bad girl,” Prodeepa said. “But I never believed her. This is not my punishment to bear, but that of the criminal who wronged me.” 
…

Pakistan announced Friday that it had extended, after a delay of four months, the legal residence status of about 1.4 million Afghan refugees until year-end, though it again rejected calls to halt deportations of all undocumented Afghans and other foreign nationals.

The announcement comes as a relief to the refugee community amid a nationwide crackdown on foreigners illegally residing in Pakistan, including an officially estimated 1.7 million Afghans.

“[The] government of Pakistan is pleased to extend the validity of the Proof of Registration, or PoR, cards issued to the registered Afghan refugees … till [31st] December 2023,” according to an official announcement seen by VOA.

U.N. glad for reprieve

A spokesperson of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in Pakistan welcomed the decision, noting it was due in early July. He told VOA the delay had exposed refugee families to harassment and abuse, particularly after the crackdown was unleashed.

The registered refugees mainly comprise families that fled decades of conflict and persecution, starting with the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in the late 1970s. Pakistan would lately renew their PoR cards every six months but did not do so when they expired on June 30 this year, nor did it explain the reasons for the delay in its Friday statement.

In early October, Islamabad abruptly gave all foreigners without legal documents one month to voluntarily return to their countries of origin, saying those who remained beyond the November 1 deadline would be arrested and deported for violating local immigration laws.

On Wednesday, Pakistani caretaker Prime Minister Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar said more than 250,000 Afghan individuals had voluntarily returned home since his administration announced the plan to force out migrants without papers.

The Taliban government in Afghanistan has decried the deportation plan and demanded Islamabad reconsider it. The U.N. and global rights groups also have criticized the forcible eviction of Afghans, citing a humanitarian crisis in the impoverished country and fearing the move could expose returnees to retribution and abuses by Taliban authorities.

On Friday, Amnesty International again urged Pakistan to immediately halt its continued detentions and deportations of Afghans.

“No one should be subjected to mass forced deportations, and Pakistan would do well to remember its international legal obligations, including the principle of non-refoulement,” said Livia Saccardi, Amnesty International’s deputy regional director for campaigns for South Asia.

“If the Pakistani government doesn’t halt the deportations immediately, it will be denying thousands of at-risk Afghans, especially women and girls, access to safety, education and livelihood,” Saccardi said.

Sanctions include fine, prison

Pakistani Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch again dismissed the criticism Friday, reiterating the plan is not targeting Afghans only.

“This policy is reflective of Pakistan’s desire to implement its own laws, which include sanctions for individuals who are here illegally, and these sanctions include fines, prison sentence, and deportation,” Baloch told a weekly news conference in Islamabad.

Pakistani officials also have cited a spike in terrorist attacks they say are being plotted by Taliban-allied militants out of Afghan sanctuaries for unleashing the crackdown.

But they have repeatedly clarified that registered Afghan refugees and more than 800,000 others documented by the Pakistani government in collaboration with the International Organization of Migration are not the subjects of the deportation.

Returnees would face challenges

Afghans facing eviction include more than 600,000 individuals who fled the Taliban’s takeover in Kabul two years ago. They either lack legal documents, or their visas have expired. These asylum-seekers are reluctant to go back, citing security concerns because of their association with the former American-backed Afghan government and the United States-led Western troops.

The U.S. has also moved to prevent the forced expulsion of about 25,000 Afghans who it says could be eligible for relocation or resettlement in the United States.

During a news conference on Wednesday, Kakar said individuals listed by the U.S. would not be forced out of the country.

The U.S. and allied troops, who stayed in Afghanistan for almost two decades, withdrew in August 2021 when the then-insurgent Taliban reclaimed power and imposed their interpretation of Islamic law to govern the impoverished South Asian nation, reeling from years of war and natural disasters.

Gallup, a U.S.-based research and polling organization, warned Friday that economic uncertainty awaits returnees in Afghanistan, where women’s rights continue to deteriorate as they vanish from the workforce and majorities struggle to afford food and shelter.

“As thousands of Afghans are forced to cross the border from Pakistan, they face an economy unable to accommodate them, where job prospects are bleak, household incomes are squeezed, and millions are unable to afford the basic necessities of food and shelter,” the organization said.
…

Rain in New Delhi and its suburbs brought relief Friday morning to the Indian capital, where authorities were mulling seeding clouds to improve the toxic air gripping the city.

New Delhi, which was the most polluted in the world until Thursday, saw its air quality index (AQI) improve to 127 early Friday – a welcome change from the “hazardous” 400-500 level seen during the past week, according to the Swiss group IQAir.

India’s weather department has forecast intermittent rain over the city and adjoining areas until early noon on Friday. Light showers are also expected in neighboring states like Punjab, Haryana, and Rajasthan.

On Friday morning, New Delhi was the 10th most polluted city in the world, while Kolkata, in India’s east, topped the global chart with an AQI of 303.

Meanwhile, air in the financial capital of Mumbai has markedly improved due to showers in nearby coastal areas.

This year, attention on the worsening air quality has cast a shadow over the cricket World Cup hosted by India.

Scientists and authorities were planning to seed clouds in New Delhi around Nov. 20 to trigger heavy rain, the first such attempt to clean the air.

A thick layer of smog envelops the city every year ahead of winter as heavy, cold air traps dust, vehicle emissions and smoke from burning crop stubble in Punjab and Haryana.

Friday’s rain comes two days before the Diwali festival, when many people defy a ban on firecrackers, causing a spike in air pollution.

The local government of the city of 20 million people, spread over roughly 1,500 square kilometers, has already closed all schools, stopped construction activities, and said it will impose restrictions on vehicle use to control pollution.
…

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is in New Delhi on Friday for talks seeking to bolster India as a regional counterweight to China and win backing for the U.S. position on Israel’s war with Hamas. 

Blinken and U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin will join Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar and Defense Minister Rajnath Singh for annual “two-plus-two” talks that India has said will focus on “defense and security cooperation.” 

India is part of the Quad alliance alongside the United States, Australia and Japan, a grouping that positions itself as a bulwark against China’s growing assertiveness in the Asia-Pacific region. 

Washington hopes a tighter defense relationship will help wean India off Russia, New Delhi’s primary military supplier. 

“Our intention is to encourage more collaboration to produce world-class defense equipment to meet Indian defense needs and contribute to greater global security,” Donald Lu, the top U.S. diplomat for South and Central Asia, said ahead of the trip. 

Blinken arrived in New Delhi late Thursday from South Korea, the latest leg of a marathon trip that has included a G7 foreign ministers meeting in Japan, which sought to find common ground on the Gaza conflict, and a whirlwind tour of the Middle East. 

India was swift to condemn Hamas and shares with Washington a long-standing call for an independent Palestinian state. 

“The Indian government was direct in its condemnation of the Hamas terrorist attack and has also joined a chorus of nations, including the United States, that have called for sustained humanitarian access to Gaza,” Lu said. 

Prime Minister Narendra Modi said he stood “in solidarity with Israel,” and last month India airlifted aid to Egypt for Palestinian civilians from the besieged Gaza Strip. 

The conflict in Gaza poses a major challenge to hopes of a key trade and transport route linking Europe, the Middle East and India, unveiled during G20 talks in India in September. 

India has a long-running border dispute with northern neighbor China, with a deadly Himalayan clash in 2020 sending diplomatic relations into a deep freeze. Their 3,500-kilometer shared frontier remains a long-running source of tension. 

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine will also be on the agenda, Lu said. 

New Delhi has had to balance its traditional alliance with Russia, the provider of most of its arms imports and now a source of cut-price oil, with growing ties to Washington. 

President Joe Biden’s administration has prioritized relations with New Delhi, seeing a like-minded partner faced with the rise of China, but Blinken’s trip could be made awkward by a bitter feud between India and another close U.S. partner, Canada. 

Relations between the two have plunged since Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in September publicly linked Indian intelligence to the killing of a Canadian citizen, Hardeep Singh Nijjar, allegations India has called absurd. 

Nijjar, who advocated for a separate Sikh state carved out of India, was wanted by Indian authorities for alleged terrorism and conspiracy to commit murder.
…

Russia, Venezuela and Pakistan are the top three recipients of Chinese development funding in the past two decades, but the crisis-riddled countries may be losing attraction for Beijing.

China is moving to protect its global investments under the Belt and Road Initiative, according to a study released this week by AidData, a research lab at the U.S. university, William and Mary. The research shows that China gave $1.34 trillion dollars in grants and loans for more than 20,000 projects to 165 low-income and middle-income countries between 2000 and 2021.

While the top three recipients received funding for different reasons, AidData senior researcher Ammar Malik told VOA, “In the global chess board of great power competition between the U.S. and China, every country matters.”

Russia

With nearly $170 billion in development loans, Russia received the biggest chunk of Chinese funding over two decades.

Russia tops the list because China sees it as “strategically important” and Chinese funding is “one of the few options available” to it, Yun Sun, director of the China Program at the Washington-based Stimson Center, wrote to VOA.

China invested most heavily in the Russian industry, mining and construction sectors followed by banking and financial services, and communications.

Unlike many low and middle-income countries that rely on Chinese investments and aid for their domestic needs, the bulk of funding to Russia supports industries that export to China.

Although Russia has seen a drop in Chinese development funding over the years, Moscow will keep courting Beijing, said Ali Wyne, senior analyst with Eurasia Group’s Global Macro-Geopolitics practice.

“Russia believes that it can advance its great-power pretensions by deepening its ties to China, which is the only country that might eventually be able to contest the United States for global preeminence,” Wyne told VOA in a written statement.

Moscow’s debt to Beijing totals almost $130 billion, or 7.3% of its GDP. However, the lack of grants to Russia speaks to the strength of the Russian economy and shows that China expects economic gains by investing there, according to AidData.

But Beijing’s deepening economic and strategic ties with Russia come with a cost, Wyne noted.

“Russia’s ongoing aggression against Ukraine has significantly undermined China’s relationships with the United States and the European Union,” he said.

Venezuela

With almost $113 billion in investments from China in the past two decades, Venezuela is the second-largest recipient of Beijing’s credit and aid.

In AidData’s report, the bulk of China’s funding went to multisector projects that do not fall into any specific category due to a lack of information from Beijing, followed by the sector titled “industry, mining and construction.”

Venezuela has the world’s largest volume of proven oil reserves, and the country’s rapid growth created enormous demand for energy, making it attractive for Beijing to invest there, Wyne told VOA.

However, the third-largest chunk of Chinese spending in Venezuela went to budgetary support to save its economy. This reflects a trend seen in many recipients of Chinese funds.

“This rescue lending is intended to keep the whole financial system in these countries afloat so that they can repay the loans that they had taken on in the previous years,” said Malik.

According to AidData, more than half of China’s loans to low and middle-income countries have entered a repayment phase, but many of the borrowers are unable to pay back the debt. This has forced Beijing, the world’s single biggest creditor, to spend less on infrastructure projects under its global Belt and Road Initiative — known as BRI — launched in 2013, and more on rescuing countries in financial distress.

“The collapse of oil prices between mid-2014 and late 2015 as well as the economic mismanagement under President Nicolás Maduro undercut Venezuela’s ability to make loan repayments to China, thereby making Beijing more cautious about its economic dealings with Caracas,” Wyne said.

Since 2016, Caracas has seen a drop in Chinese funding.

Venezuela joined BRI in 2018. Yun Sun told VOA the South American country is not a key BRI target and will not be, for the foreseeable future.

Pakistan

With deep strategic, diplomatic and, lately, defense ties with China, Pakistan is the third-biggest recipient of Beijing’s credit and aid totaling more than $70 billion.

Pakistan’s 3,300-kilometer border with India to the east and the warm waters of the Arabian Sea to the south make this western neighbor of China an attractive choice for investment.

“Pakistan provides that long-term access into the Arabian Sea and through that into the Middle East for China,” said Uzair Younus, director of the Pakistan Initiative at the Washington-based Atlantic Council. “In a world where India and U.S. continue to come closer together, there is basically a default approach that the Chinese will take towards Pakistan.”

In the past two decades, China has invested most heavily in Pakistan’s energy sector, followed by budget support and loans for projects in the transportation and storage sector.

Home to the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, or CPEC, which many call the BRI’s “crown jewel,” the country has seen a dramatic rise in Chinese funding since 2014.

The Pakistani government’s data indicates CPEC has so far created nearly 200,000 jobs, built more than 1,400 kilometers of highways and roads, and added 8,000 megawatts of electricity to the national grid. The country’s deep-sea southwestern port of Gwadar, the centerpiece of CPEC, handled 600,000 tons of cargo in the past 18 months, according to officials.

Despite billions in Chinese development funding, Pakistan has struggled economically, barely escaping collapse this year.

Islamabad now owes China more than $67 billion which equals 19.6% of its economy. Experts say Beijing’s heavy budgetary support to Islamabad — almost $21.3 billion in 22 years — is a sign that China does not want Pakistan to fail.

“The country that is basically building that crown jewel [CPEC] going into default or a disorderly default or an economic crisis is not good for the broader reputation of the BRI,” Younus said.

As in Venezuela and other financially distressed recipients, Chinese development funding to Pakistan is drying up as Beijing focuses on keeping the country afloat.

“The attractiveness of Pakistan even in Chinese eyes has definitely taken a hit,” Younus said, pointing to Chinese insurance company Sinosure’s hesitation in providing coverage to new projects in Pakistan.

Future outlook

Malik sees Pakistan as a microcosm of what is happening around the world in countries with Chinese investments, especially since the launch of BRI.

“Our research shows that when China faces headwinds in the form of political instability on the ground or a country running into debt crisis, China generally backs down and reduces its commitments,” Malik said.

China is looking to reduce the risks to its global investments, research shows. That means opting for countries that not only favor Beijing over Washington, but also provide a stable and secure environment for investments.
…

Bangladesh police fired rubber bullets and tear gas Thursday, officials and witnesses said, as violence broke out at a protest by garment workers who rejected a government-offered pay raise.

A government-appointed panel raised wages on Tuesday by 56.25 percent for the South Asian nation’s 4 million garment factory workers, who are seeking a near-tripling of their monthly wage.

Bangladesh’s 3,500 garment factories account for around 85 percent of its $55 billion in annual exports, supplying many of the world’s top brands including Levi’s, Zara and H&M.

But conditions are dire for many of the sector’s four million workers, the vast majority of whom are women whose monthly pay starts at 8,300 taka ($75).

Police said violence broke out in the industrial city of Gazipur, outside the capital Dhaka, after more than 1,000 workers staged a protest on a highway to reject the panel’s offer.

“The workers tried to block the road… and we had to fire tear (gas) shells and rubber bullets to disperse them,” Ashok Kumar Pal Gazipur deputy police chief told an AFP reporter at the scene who witnessed the incident.

Police said workers also threw bricks and stones at officers and lit fires on roads.

The workers are seeking an increase to 23,000 taka ($208) and unions representing them have rejected the panel’s increase as “farcical.”

Several thousand workers also left factories in Ashulia, a northern Dhaka suburb, police said.

Police have said at least three workers have been killed since the wage protests broke out in key industrial towns last week, including a 23-year-old woman shot dead on Wednesday.

At least five police officers have also been injured in the protests in which thousands have taken to the streets.

Unions say the panel’s wage increase fails to match soaring prices of food, house rents and schooling and healthcare costs.

They have also accused the government and police of arresting and intimidating organizers.

“Police arrested Mohammad Jewel Miya, one of the organizers of our unions. A grass-roots leader… was also arrested,” Rashedul Alam Raju, the general secretary of the Bangladesh Independent Garment Workers Federation, told AFP.

Another union leader, speaking on condition of anonymity, said unions were being threatened by police to call off the protests and accept the wage offer.

“At least six grass-roots unionists have been arrested,” the union leader said. 

There was no immediate comment from police about the arrests.

The United States has condemned violence against protesting Bangladeshi garment workers and “the criminalization of legitimate worker and trade union activities.”

In a statement, State Department spokesman Matthew Miller urged the panel “to revisit the minimum wage decision to ensure that it addresses the growing economic pressures faced by workers and their families.”

The Netherlands-based Clean Clothes Campaign, a textile workers’ rights group, has also dismissed the new pay level as a “poverty wage.”

The minimum wage is fixed by a state-appointed board that includes representatives from the manufacturers, unions and wage experts.

 
…

Crying in a hospital bed with a nebulizer mask on his tiny face, 1-month-old Ayansh Tiwari has a thick, hacking cough. His doctors blame the acrid air that blights New Delhi every year.

The spartan emergency room of the government-run Chacha Nehru Bal Chikitsalaya hospital in the Indian capital is crowded with children struggling to breathe — many with asthma and pneumonia, which spike as air pollution peaks each winter in the megacity of 30 million people.

Delhi regularly ranks among the most polluted major cities on the planet, with a melange of factory and vehicle emissions exacerbated by seasonal agricultural fires.

“Wherever you see there is poisonous smog,” said Ayansh’s mother Julie Tiwari, 26, as she rocked the baby on her lap, attempting to calm him.

“I try to keep the doors and windows closed as much as possible. But it’s like breathing poison all the time. I feel so helpless,” she told AFP, fighting back tears.

On Thursday, the level of PM2.5 particles — the smallest and most harmful, which can enter the bloodstream — topped 390 micrograms per cubic meter, according to monitoring firm IQAir, more than 25 times the daily maximum recommended by the World Health Organization.

Government efforts have so far failed to solve the country’s air quality problem, and a study in the Lancet medical journal attributed 1.67 million premature deaths to air pollution in the world’s most populous country in 2019.

‘Maddening rush’

“It’s a maddening rush in our emergency room during this time,” said Dhulika Dhingra, a pediatric pulmonologist at the hospital, which serves poor neighborhoods in one of Delhi’s most polluted areas.

The foul air severely impacts children, with devastating effects on their health and development.

Scientific evidence shows children who breathe polluted air are at higher risk of developing acute respiratory infections, a UNICEF report said last year.

A study published in the Lung India journal in 2021 found nearly one out of every three schoolchildren in Delhi had asthma and airflow obstruction.

Children are more vulnerable to air pollution than adults because they breathe more quickly and their brains, lungs and other organs are not fully developed.

“They can’t sit in one place, they keep running and with that, the respiratory rate increases even more. That is why they are more prone to the effects of pollution,” said Dhingra.

“This season is very difficult for them because they can hardly breathe.”

Vegetable vendor Imtiaz Qureshi’s 11-month-old son, Mohammad Arsalan, was admitted to the hospital overnight with breathing issues.

“We have to live day in and day out in this air,” said the distraught 40-year-old, who pulls his cart through the streets every day.

“If I go out, the air will kill me. If I don’t, poverty will kill me.”

‘Toxic environment’

The hospital provides treatment and medicine free of cost — none of its patients can afford private health care, and many cannot buy even a single air purifier for their one-room homes in the city’s sprawling slums.

Pediatrician Seema Kapoor, the hospital’s director, said patient inflows had risen steadily since the weather cooled, trapping pollutants closer to the ground.

“About 30-40% of the total attendance is primarily because of respiratory illnesses,” she said.

Pulmonologist Dhingra said the only advice they can offer parents is to restrict their children’s outdoor activities as much as possible.

“Imagine telling a parent not to let the child go out and play in this toxic environment.”

The Delhi government has announced emergency school closures, stopped construction and banned diesel vehicles from entering the city in a bid to bring down pollution levels.

But stubble burning by farmers in the neighboring agrarian states, which contributes significantly to Delhi’s pollution, continues unabated, drawing a rebuke from the Supreme Court on Tuesday.

Delhi’s choked air is resulting in the “complete murder of our young people,” said the court.

Housewife Arshi Wasim, 28, brought her 18-month-old younger daughter Nida Wasim to the hospital with pneumonia.

“She coughs non-stop,” she said. “She doesn’t take milk or even water because her lungs are choked. Sometimes we have to give her oxygen and rush her to the doctor two or three times a day.

“Every year it’s the same story.”
…

The United States has called on Bangladesh’s garment industry to revisit its minimum wage decision and condemned recent violence against protesting workers and the “criminalization of legitimate worker and trade union activities.”

During protests on Wednesday, a 23-year-old woman Wednesday was killed during clashes with police. The widower of Anjuara Khartun, a sewing machine operator and mother of two, tells AFP that his wife was shot in the head by police when they opened fire on protesters in the garment making hub of Gazipur, outside the capital of Dhaka. 

Her death is the third since protests began. 

On Tuesday, a government-appointed panel of factory owners, union leaders and officials announced they were raising the minimum wage for garment workers by 56% to about $118 per month. However, protesters have continued their demonstrations and are demanding wages be raised to $208 a month.

In a statement on Wednesday, the U.S. State Department praised those who have endorsed the wage increase proposed by union workers.

“The United States urges the tripartite process to revisit the minimum wage decision to ensure that it addresses the growing economic pressures faced by workers and their families,” State Department Spokesperson Matthew Miller said in a statement. 

Miller referred to an internationally-backed system set up for negotiations between parties in regard to labor laws. The system was set up following the 2013 Rana Plaza garment factory building collapse in Dhaka, which left at least 1,134 people dead.

The United States also called on Bangladesh to allow for peaceful protests, citing concern over “repression of workers and trade unionists.”

Bangladesh relies on the garment industry for 16% of its GDP. The industry employs 4 million workers across 3,500 factories, making Bangladesh the second-largest garment-producing nation behind China.

The country is a main supplier for many top clothing brands, such as H&M and GAP.

Some information in this report came from Agence France Presse and Reuters

 
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Pakistan’s caretaker Prime Minister Anwar-ul-Haq Kakar demanded Wednesday that the Taliban government extradite fugitive militants who are sheltering in Afghanistan and plotting terrorist attacks against his country.

Kakar told a nationally televised news conference that his country had experienced “a 60% increase in terror incidents and a 500% rise in suicide bombings” since the Taliban returned to power in Kabul two years ago, killing nearly 2,300 Pakistanis. 

He said his government’s crackdown on deporting all undocumented foreigners, primarily 1.7 million Afghans, to their countries of origin stemmed from the sharp increase in nationwide terrorist incidents, and he claimed foreigners without legal status are linked to those “fueling terrorism and instability in Pakistan.”

The prime minister noted that 15 Afghan nationals were among the suicide bombers, while 64 Afghans were killed fighting Pakistani security forces this year. He asserted the bloodshed was being carried out by “Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan, or TTP, terrorists” from their bases in Afghanistan. The Pakistani leader referred to an ideological offshoot and close ally of the Afghan Taliban, commonly known as the Pakistani Taliban.

Kakar said that despite repeated assurances, de facto Afghan authorities failed to halt TTP-led cross-border attacks effectively. “Instead, clear evidence of enabling terrorism [by Afghan Taliban members] also emerged in some instances.” He did not elaborate. 

He said Pakistan has persistently shared details and a list of wanted militant leaders with Afghan authorities through high-level multiple official engagements and even asked them “bluntly to choose between Pakistan and the TTP.” But Kabul did not deliver on its counterterrorism pledges, he added.

Chief Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid rejected Kakar’s allegations, saying his government is not responsible for maintaining peace in Pakistan, nor is it behind the insecurity in the neighboring country.

“They should address their domestic problems instead of blaming Afghanistan for their failure,” Mujahid said in a statement he shared via X, formerly known as Twitter. “The Islamic Emirate does not allow anyone to use the territory of Afghanistan against Pakistan,” he said, using the Taliban administration’s official title.

Mujahid stated that Kabul “seeks good relations” with Islamabad in line with its policy of “non-interference” in the affairs of other countries and the Pakistani side should not doubt its “sincere intentions.”

Taliban leaders have decried the crackdown on Afghan migrants in Pakistan as “inhumane.” While urging the neighboring country to reverse the plan, Kabul government officials have warned of unspecified consequences.

Kakar said Wednesday that more than 250,000 Afghans had voluntarily returned home since his government began implementing the “repatriation plan” a month ago. He argued that the plan is aligned with Pakistani immigration laws but reassured Afghans awaiting relocation or resettlement in the United States and several other Western nations they would not be evicted.

The U.S.-led Western troops chaotically withdrew from Afghanistan in August 2021 when the then-insurgent Taliban reclaimed power from an American-backed government. The troop withdrawal also evacuated tens of thousands of vulnerable Afghans, including former government officials, human rights defenders, journalists, and women activists.

Late last month, U.S. officials shared with Pakistan a list of 25,000 Afghans who fled the Taliban takeover, fearing retribution and abuses for their association with Western militaries during their presence in the country for almost two decades.

Pakistani officials later said the U.S. had withdrawn the list after Islamabad found it “flawed and incomplete” and promised to resubmit it after addressing the concerns.

On Tuesday, the U.S. State Department spokesperson renewed its call for Pakistan and other countries to respect “the principle of non-refoulement” and uphold their respective obligations in treating refugees and asylum-seekers. 

“We strongly encourage Afghanistan’s neighbors, including Pakistan, to allow entry for Afghans seeking international protection and to coordinate with the appropriate international humanitarian organizations,” said Vedant Patel, the principal deputy spokesperson.

The United Nations and other global refugee agencies also have urged Islamabad to suspend the deportation plans, citing an already dire humanitarian crisis in impoverished Afghanistan, where two-thirds of the population needs some kind of assistance after years of conflict and repeated natural disasters.  
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Taliban officials in Afghanistan said Tuesday that a bomb blast ripped through a minibus in Kabul, killing at least seven civilians and wounding 20 others.

A police spokesman confirmed the casualties, saying the evening deadly bombing occurred in the western Dashti Barchi area, a predominantly Shi’ite Muslim neighborhood in the Afghan capital.

The spokesman, Khalid Zadran, said an investigation into the attack was underway.

The United Nations special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Afghanistan denounced the bombing, saying it was the third attack in less than a month against members of the ethnic Hazara Shiite community.

“I urge a full, transparent investigation with a view to identifying perpetrators and holding them accountable,” Richard Bennett wrote on X.

No group immediately claimed responsibility, but suspicion fell on the regional branch of Islamic State, the Islamic State-Khorasan or IS-K.

The group has previously carried out and claimed attacks targeting Afghan Shi’ite processions, worship places, and schools in Kabul and elsewhere in the country.

Last month, IS-K carried out two bomb attacks targeting a gym in Dashti Barchi and a gathering of Shi’ite clerics in the northern Afghan province of Baghlan. The blast killed four people and 10 religious scholars, respectively.

The Taliban have conducted repeated counterterrorism operations against IS-K hideouts in the country since seizing power two years ago, killing several key IS-K commanders. But the group remains a critical security challenge for de facto Afghan authorities.
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