A multinational rail and ports deal linking the Middle East and South Asia will be announced Saturday on the sidelines of the G20 summit in New Delhi, a White House official said.

The pact comes at a critical time as U.S. President Joe Biden seeks to counter China’s Belt and Road push on global infrastructure by pitching Washington as an alternative partner and investor for developing countries at the G20 grouping.

The deal will benefit low and middle-income countries in the region and enable a critical role for the Middle East in global commerce, Jon Finer, the U.S. deputy national security adviser, told reporters at the bloc’s annual summit in New Delhi.

It aims to link Middle East countries by railway and connect them to India by port, helping the flow of energy and trade from the Gulf to Europe, U.S. officials have said, by cutting shipping times, costs and fuel use.

A memorandum of understanding for the deal will be signed by the European Union, India, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, the United States and other G20 partners, Finer said.

“Linking these key regions, we think, is a huge opportunity,” said Finer. No immediate details of the value of the deal were available.

The move comes amid U.S. efforts for a broader diplomatic deal in the Middle East that would have Saudi Arabia recognize Israel.

From the U.S. viewpoint, Finer added, the deal helps “turn the temperature down across the region” and “address a conflict where we see it.”
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President Joe Biden received a warm welcome in India’s capital upon his arrival on Friday for a summit of the leaders of the Group of 20 major and developing economies. VOA’s Anita Powell reports from New Delhi on the mood ahead of this summit, which Prime Minister Narendra Modi sees as a validation of India’s place among global powers
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Leaders assembled in New Delhi for the annual meeting of the heads of the G20 — the world’s largest economies — are expected to take up a number of pressing global issues, including the threat of a global economic slowdown, the need to fight global warming, and efforts to reform multilateral development banks to better serve the countries of the Global South.

The group is also expected to formally invite the African Union to become a permanent member of the organization, a move that would give that continent stronger representation in the world’s largest bloc of economic powers. The G20 is currently composed of 19 nations and the European Union.

This year’s summit is notable for the absence of Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin. Putin also missed last year’s summit in Bali, Indonesia. The Russian leader rarely travels abroad, having been indicted on war crimes charges by the International Criminal Court for actions taken during his country’s war on Ukraine.

In Xi’s place, China has sent Premier Li Qiang. Russia’s representative will be Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.

Joint communique under negotiation

The G20 traditionally concludes with leaders agreeing on a joint statement expressing areas on which they have consensus. Negotiations over the statement began well in advance of the meeting, and on Friday, Amitabh Kant, India’s chief negotiator, said that the statement was nearly complete.

“[The] New Delhi Leaders’ Declaration is almost ready. I would not like to dwell on it,” Kant said at a news conference. “This declaration will be recommended to the leaders.”

Various news reports said that specific language about how to address the war in Ukraine remained a sticking point. Many members of the bloc are among Ukraine’s most ardent supporters and want the group to condemn Russia’s actions forcefully. However, Russia itself is not going to agree to such wording, and other countries that have offered Moscow tacit support, including China, are unlikely to sign on either.

At last year’s G20 summit in Bali, the joint communique noted that most members condemned Russia’s actions in Ukraine, but that there were dissenting opinions among the remainder.

Economic crises

Reporting by the news site Bloomberg revealed that the leaders’ statement is expected to warn of the “cascading crises” facing the global economy, including a concerning decline in global economic growth, which the International Monetary Fund has characterized as the worst in three decades.

Adnan Mazarei, a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics and a former deputy director at the International Monetary Fund, told VOA that slowing growth and climate change would be high on the agenda for global leaders over the weekend.

He said that lower than expected growth, particularly in China, could have significant consequences.

“It will lower demand for commodities and affect, especially, developing countries, and also all other countries, including the advanced countries that trade with China,” he said.

Climate change

Economic growth concerns come at a time when the negative impacts of climate change are becoming more apparent every day, forcing leaders to listen to calls from developing nations, especially in Africa, for assistance in adaptation and mitigation.

“For that purpose, there is momentum to reform the multilateral development banks and increase their resources, especially the World Bank,” Mazarei said. “This could be, theoretically, through an increase in capital. But more likely, through allowing the World Bank to use its resources more efficiently, meaning allowing the World Bank to take more risk with the resources it has.”

Mazarei said that he also expects G20 leaders to address the fact that many developing nations are struggling under unsustainably high debt burdens, and to explore the expansion of their digital public infrastructure. He said that he was not overly optimistic about significant progress on either front, though he believed movement on the improvement of digital infrastructure was at least a possibility.

Xi’s absence

The decision by China’s Xi to skip the summit comes as his country is under pressure from multiple directions. China is locked in a simmering border dispute with G20 host India over land on the border of Tibet. At the same time, Xi and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi are vying for leadership of the countries of the Global South.

Some have speculated that Xi’s absence is part of the Chinese leader’s ongoing effort to reshape global leadership. Last month, the bloc of nations made up of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, known as BRICS, announced that it had invited several other countries to join it. If they accept, Argentina, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates would become members on January 1.

Other countries have expressed frustration with China in advance of the summit. Before traveling to India, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said that he saw little opportunity for repairing his country’s fractious relationship with Beijing, and he criticized China’s increasingly aggressive presence on the world stage.

“China has made decisions over the past years that have made it more difficult — not just for Canada but for other countries — to engage,” Trudeau said.

U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak publicly criticized China for its initial reluctance to sign onto a G20 joint statement on the topics of climate change and the Ukraine war — a stance China appears to have moderated as negotiations continued.

In a Friday news conference, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said, “China attaches great importance to the G20 and has participated in the consultations and discussions on the G20 New Delhi Summit document in an active and constructive way. We stand ready to work with other parties toward positive outcomes at the New Delhi Summit under the principle of consensus-building.”
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President Joe Biden received a warm welcome in India’s capital Friday upon his arrival for a summit of the leaders of the Group of 20 major and developing economies.

“I’m happy to be here,” he appeared to say as he stepped off Air Force One, while classical Indian dancers moved to a Hindi-laced hip hop track on the New Delhi tarmac.

Biden headed straight into a private one-on-one meeting with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Press were given limited access to the meeting, where the two reaffirmed, in a lengthy statement, “the close and enduring partnership between India and the United States.”

In the statement, the two leaders “called on their governments to continue the work of transforming the India-U.S. Strategic Partnership across all dimensions of our multifaceted global agenda, based on trust and mutual understanding.”

They also “re-emphasized that the shared values of freedom, democracy, human rights, inclusion, pluralism, and equal opportunities for all citizens are critical to the success our countries enjoy and that these values strengthen our relationship.”

On Saturday, Biden and other heads of state take part in the G20 summit, where they are expected to cover issues ranging from the war in Ukraine to climate change.

When asked by VOA what Indians expected from the historic summit, many were quick to say: results.

“I really wish that we have a takeaway from the G20,” said Sabina Samad, 40, a lifelong Delhi resident, who cited climate change among her concerns. “Maybe something good for humanity.”

“Are you optimistic or pessimistic?” VOA asked.

“Both,” she said.

Inderjit Singh runs a small electronics shop founded by his father in 1961.

“The most important thing, what I feel is, trade,” he told VOA. “On the economic front we should have very, very good relations. The trade should increase so there should be economic prosperity between all the G20 nations. And ease of travel of the people – people to people contact, that is very important.”

Some Delhi residents remarked on the tight security and the capital’s unusually quiet streets.

“I love the makeover that Delhi has got. I just wonder where the dogs and the beggars have gone, but I’m sure they’re in a great place,” said Ambika Anand, 42, a social-media influencer.

As for India being taken seriously on the world stage, some noted the need for greater alignment between Washington and New Delhi.

“I think U.S. is taking India very, very seriously,” said Singh, the shop owner. “Because at the moment, I think it is geopolitical also, they have not very good relations with China. … So the only option within South Asia is India. It’s a compulsion.”

Mohini Gujral is a retiree, born in 1949, the year India and Pakistan separated. She says she’s seen many changes in her lifetime.

“Now [the U.S. is] taking India seriously,” she said. “Before I don’t think we had so much of a say in the world. That’s what I feel.”

Top U.S. officials are also attending the G20, which they say is a key forum for developed and developing nations alike.

“I think it’s important to emphasize that the G20 is a prime contributor to the solution of global challenges,” said Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen. “We see it as the premier organization that on a global basis is taking on critical challenges facing the global economy and particularly the ‘Global South.’”
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It’s never been easy for the leaders of the world’s largest economies to find common ground, but Russia’s war on Ukraine has made it even harder for the Group of 20 meeting to reach meaningful agreements this year.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, this year’s host, has pledged Ukraine won’t overshadow his focus on the needs developing nations in the so-called Global South, but the war has proved hard to ignore.

“New Delhi will not want to distract from the main agenda, which is to address issues of concern for the Global South,” said Nazia Hussain, an associate research fellow at Singapore’s S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies.

“So while there will be discussions on the emerging issues as a fallout of the war — supply chain security and decoupling, energy security, and food supply — the focus must remain on how to mitigate the fallout rather than debate the geopolitical/security aspects of the war.”

As leaders began arriving Friday, Indian diplomats were still trying to find compromise language for a joint communique.

Russia and China, which has been Moscow’s most important supporter in the war against Ukraine, have rejected drafts over a reference to Ukraine that said “most members strongly condemned the war,” the same language they signed off a year ago at the G20 summit in Bali

The European Union, meanwhile, has said compromise language suggested by India is not strong enough for them to agree to, while the U.K. said that Prime Minister Rishi Sunak planned to press G20 members to take a tougher line against Russia’s invasion.

Ending the summit without a communique would underscore how strained relations are among the world’s major powers.

European Council President Charles Michel told reporters Friday that it was important to give India space as it worked “actively, maybe sometimes discreetly, to maximize the chance for a communique.”

He said Russia had isolated itself from the world with the invasion of Ukraine, and that the EU and others were working to “encourage China to play a positive role at the global level and to defend the UN charter and to defend the sovereignty of Ukraine.”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy addressed the Bali summit by video last year, but Modi has made a point of not inviting Ukraine to participate in this year’s event.

Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has promised Zelenskyy to keep Ukraine in the discussions, telling him in a video call that the leaders posted on Instagram: “I’m disappointed that you won’t be included but as you know, we will be speaking up strongly for you.”

Founded in 1999, the G20 was initially a response to global economic challenges, but since then, geopolitical tensions have introduced more politics into the discussions, complicating its ability to work effectively, said Ian Lesser, vice president of the German Marshall Fund and director of its Brussels office.

The G20 encompasses the world’s wealthiest countries in the Group of Seven, including the U.S., Canada, Britain, Japan, Germany and the European Union as a bloc, along with Russia, China and others.

Russia’s attack on Ukraine and China’s growing assertiveness in the Asia-Pacific region have added friction, pitting some of the most powerful G20 countries directly against each other diplomatically, Lesser said.

“Having China and Russia in the room now is a very different question than it would have been a decade ago,” he said. “It is very difficult now for any of these large-scale summits to avoid the major issues of the issues of the day, and these major issues are very polarizing — the war in Ukraine, tensions in the Indo-Pacific, even climate policy — the things that are both at the top of the global agenda but also very difficult to address.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping will not be attending the G20 themselves, instead sending lower-level officials.

Russia and China did not indicate why their leaders were not attending, but neither have traveled much recently and both seem to be putting a greater emphasis on the more like-minded BRICS group of nations: Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. That group agreed at its summit last month to expand to include Iran, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Argentina, Egypt and Ethiopia.

China’s relations with India continue to be strained over ongoing border disputes, but despite the decision to send Premier Li Qiang instead of Xi, Modi and Xi did discuss the issue face-to-face at the BRICS summit and China’s Foreign Ministry said Beijing considers India-China relations “generally stable.”

India also has historic ties with Moscow, but is on good terms with the U.S. too. Modi is hoping to use his country’s influence to bridge gaps between the wealthy nations that have been standing together to sanction Russia over the Ukraine war and the Global South.

About half of the G20 countries are found in the Global South — depending on how one defines it — and Modi hopes to add the African Union as a bloc member.

In preparation, he held a virtual “Voice of the Global South” summit in January and has emphasized issues critical to developing nations, including alternative fuels like hydrogen, resource efficiency, developing a common framework for digital public infrastructure and food security.

“For the Global South, India’s presidency is seen as an opportunity with immense potential to address developmental needs, particularly as Brazil and South Africa are set to take over the presidency of the G20 from India in 2024 in 2025 respectively,” Hussain said.

U.S. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters before Biden’s departure that the president supported adding the African Union as a permanent member and that the president hoped this summit “will show that the world’s major economies can work together even in challenging times.”

The U.S. will also focus on many of Modi’s priorities, including reforming multilateral development banks, especially the World Bank and International Monetary Fund, to help developing countries, Sullivan said. Biden will also call for “meaningful debt relief” for low- and middle-income countries, and seek to make progress on other priorities including climate and health issues.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen on Friday dismissed suggestions that the proposals are designed to counter China’s global lending and investment through its so-called Belt and Road Initiative.

Michel, the EU council president, said he had hope the summit would be productive.

“I do not think the G20 will resolve in two days all the problems of the world,” he said. “But I think it can be a bold step in the right direction and we should work to make it happen and support the Indian presidency.”
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Human Rights Watch said in a report Friday it “has concluded” that Afghanistan’s Taliban is committing the crime against humanity of gender persecution against Afghanistan’s women and girls.

Since the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan in 2021, it has been widely reported that the group has sought to deny women and girls basic human rights and to remove them from public life. 

According to Afghanistan Under the Taliban: The Crime Against Humanity of Gender Persecution, Taliban bans on Afghanistan’s females include restrictions on freedom of movement, expression, and association; restrictions on employment; restrictions on dress; bans on education; and arbitrary arrests and violations of the right to liberty.

Crimes against humanity can be prosecuted at the International Criminal Court, the report says, but they can also be prosecuted in “ad hoc international courts that have jurisdiction, the domestic courts of the country where the crimes took place, and in other countries’ courts in which the principle of universal jurisdiction applies.”  

Human Rights Watch is urging the Taliban to dismantle all forms of repression and discrimination that result in the denial of the basic human rights of women and girls in Afghanistan.  

The organization is not alone in its criticism of the Taliban, earlier this year, a report from the United Nations Human Rights Council’s special rapporteur on Afghanistan said the country’s rulers may be “responsible for gender apartheid,” exacerbating the plight of women and girls under its austere version of law.  

The Taliban has accused the United Nations and Western institutions of spreading “propaganda” against their administration, arguing that Islamic laws are being implemented in Afghanistan and that any opposition is a problem with Islam.
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After the Taliban took Kabul in August 2021, Afghan photojournalist Mariam Alimi fled to the U.S. Now she must restart her career in media. Roshan Noorzai has the story, narrated by Bezhan Hamdard.
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Pakistan’s main border crossing with landlocked Afghanistan was closed for a second day Thursday after deadly clashes between security forces from the two countries. 

Residents and transporters said the abrupt closure had stranded hundreds of truck convoys on both sides carrying commercial goods through the busy Torkham border point of transit for trade and travelers. 

Pakistani and Taliban authorities in Afghanistan confirmed that both sides had held talks to try to defuse the tensions and “prevent the recurrence of such incidents in the future,” but the border crossing remained closed Thursday, suggesting the dialogue failed to make headway.

The armed clashes erupted on Wednesday when Taliban guards began building a new border outpost near Torkham in violation of mutual agreements and ignoring repeated warnings to stop the work, said Pakistani officials. 

Residents in Afghanistan’s eastern Nangarhar province, where Torkham lies, told VOA the clashes killed two Taliban guards and wounded about a dozen Afghan civilians. 

Officials in both countries have declined to discuss any details about casualties, if any.

A provincial government spokesman in Jalalabad, Nangarhar’s capital, acknowledged in a statement that Taliban forces were digging a security trench when they came under attack from the Pakistani side.

Business leaders in both countries urged Pakistan and Afghanistan to urgently reopen the border crossing, saying many trucks are loaded with perishable goods, including fresh fruit and vegetables.

“The traders are suffering heavy losses after the border in Torkham was closed on Wednesday following a firing incident there,” Ziaul Haq Sarhadi, director of the Pakistan-Afghanistan Joint Chamber of Commerce and Industry, told Reuters.

The closure of the border crossing has also impacted the handling of commercial goods at the southern Pakistani port of Karachi, which provides Afghanistan access to international markets. 

The Torkham border crossing has increasingly become a vital transit route for Pakistan to export and import commercial goods from landlocked Central Asian countries through Afghanistan. 

However, allegations that the Taliban are not doing enough to prevent anti-Pakistan insurgents from using Afghan soil for cross-border terrorist attacks have strained bilateral relations in recent months. 

Pakistani officials said the latest such attack occurred on Wednesday when a large group of heavily armed militants stormed two security outposts in the northern Kalash valley near the Afghan border. 

The military said that the ensuing fierce clashes had killed four soldiers and 12 “terrorists,” suggesting the assailants had come across the border from Afghanistan.

“Thanks to our alert forces, the terrorist attack on military posts near the Pak-Afghan border in Chitral was repelled with heavy casualties on the terrorist side,” Pakistani caretaker Prime Minister Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar said Thursday on X, formerly Twitter. He named the district where Kalash lies. 

“Sadly, 4 brave soldiers embraced Shahadat (martyrdom). Our resolve to eradicate terrorism remains unshaken, and all our citizens stand firm with us,” Kakar said. 

The outlawed Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan, or TTP, claimed responsibility for launching the deadly raid. The group is a known offshoot and has pledged allegiance to the leader of the Afghan Taliban, Hibatullah Akhundzada.

Pakistani authorities say the TTP has intensified cross-border terrorism from sanctuaries in Afghanistan with “greater freedom” since the Taliban takeover of the neighboring, war-torn country two years ago. 

The Afghan Taliban have repeatedly denied that the TTP or other militant groups are using their territory.
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The Taliban, facing international sanctions and a dire economic outlook at home, have intensified efforts to leverage Afghanistan’s vast natural resources.  

From oil to copper, gold and lithium, the Islamist leadership, unrecognized by any nation as Afghanistan’s legitimate government, has inked multibillion-dollar mining deals with Chinese and other foreign companies.

The landlocked country has plunged deep into economic trouble since Western donors cut off all development assistance, amounting to several billion dollars annually, after the Taliban seized power in August 2021.  

Donors have also slashed humanitarian funding for Afghanistan, prompting aid agencies to suspend critical funding for about 10 million Afghans facing acute food insecurity.

Taliban officials contend they are using domestic sources to try to bridge the chasm left by the withdrawal of foreign aid. Critics, however, contend that the Taliban have other intentions.  

“What the Taliban see in these contracts is both cash and a diplomatic link to the Chinese government,” said Arian Sharifi, a lecturer at Princeton University’s School of Public and International Affairs.  

Afghanistan’s untapped mineral wealth, estimated to be worth trillions of dollars, has historically struggled to attract foreign investment because of security concerns and a lack of infrastructure. 

Work under a $3 billion contract signed in 2007 between China Metallurgical Group Corp. and the Afghan government for copper mining has yet to commence, despite a 25-year time frame. 

This past January, another Chinese company, Xinjiang Central Asia Petroleum and Gas Company, pledged a $540 million investment until 2026 for oil extraction in northern Afghanistan.  

Evading sanctions? 

For over three decades, numerous Taliban leaders have remained on the United Nations’ terrorism sanctions list, barring them from foreign business and travel.  

Several Western countries, including the United States, Canada and various European nations, have also imposed economic, banking and political sanctions on Taliban individuals and entities. 

Spokespersons at the U.S. State and Treasury departments did not answer questions on whether the Taliban’s mining contracts with Chinese companies violated the existing sanctions regime.  

“U.S. sanctions generally require U.S. persons and some foreign persons to comply,” said Alex Zerden, a fellow at the Center for a New American Security.  

“A foreign company could be violating U.S. sanctions if the company engages in a transaction or dealing with a designated person and the transaction or dealing has a nexus to the United States,” Zerden told VOA. 

U.S. sanctions do not necessarily apply to Chinese companies doing business with the Taliban as long as they avoid going through U.S. financial systems, experts say.   

“When it comes to bilateral sanctions from the U.S. side, it’s basically that no U.S. entity, be it a company or an individual, is able to do anything with the Taliban. And that has nothing to do with other countries, because other countries don’t abide by bilateral sanctions,” said Princeton’s Sharifi.  

China, however, has supported U.N. Security Council Resolution 1988 (2011), which calls on all member states to freeze Taliban assets and economic resources, deny their entry and transit, and prevent the sale, supply and transit of weapons to them.  

The U.N. resolution, experts say, needs urgent revisions to respond to the realities in Afghanistan, where the Taliban function as the only governing body.  

Like other regimes facing sanctions, the Taliban claim U.N. and U.S. sanctions primarily hurt ordinary people by limiting and weakening the national economy. 

Stability  

Last year, the U.S. government issued exemptions allowing certain commercial transactions with Afghanistan’s governing institutions, except those directly benefiting sanctioned Taliban individuals.

Graeme Smith, a senior analyst with the International Crisis Group, said as long as revenue from a business or contract does not go directly into the pockets of sanctioned Taliban officials, fees, taxes or royalties can be paid to the de facto Afghan government.  

“In early 2022, the U.S. government specifically clarified that such agreements are permitted under American law,” Smith said, adding that Washington and its allies have strategic interests in the stability of the region, including in the economic revival.  

Smith said the lingering effects of sanctions and other economic pressures have hobbled the Afghan banking system, complicating large-scale investments in mining and other sectors.  

“Mining requires heavy investment up front, with years of work before profits flow. So, the investors are taking a risk, and making the assumption that the Taliban will guarantee stability and keep their side of the bargain,” he told VOA.  

The Chinese Embassy in Washington and the foreign ministry in Beijing did not respond to requests for comment.  

While pressing the Taliban on women’s rights and other governance issues — in addition to terrorism-related sanctions — the U.S. government has refrained from supporting anti-Taliban groups that seek to topple the Taliban.

Weakening the Taliban could risk internal war in Afghanistan, thereby giving terrorist groups opportunities to flourish and target other countries, experts say.  

“America and its allies have strategic interests in the stability of the region, and that requires economic revival,” said Smith.
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Pakistan said Wednesday that a “large group of terrorists” had stormed its security outposts close to the border with Afghanistan, prompting fierce clashes that killed four soldiers and 12 assailants.

The early morning militant raid targeted two Pakistani posts in the northern mountainous Kalash border valley at an elevation of 1,670 meters (5,480 feet).

A Pakistani military statement said its soldiers had repulsed the attack, noting the assailants were “equipped with [the] latest weapons.” It suggested that the militants had come across the border from Afghanistan.

The banned Tehrik-Taliban Pakistan, or TTP, claimed responsibility for the raid earlier. The group said its fighters had inflicted heavy casualties on Pakistani soldiers and seized their weapons while overrunning the posts.

TTP often issues inflated claims about its extremist activities.

The Pakistani military said its forces had previously detected “terrorists’ movement and concentration” in several Afghan border areas opposite the Kalash region and “timely shared” it with Afghanistan’s Taliban authorities.

The statement said the Taliban government “is expected to fulfill its obligations and deny the use of Afghan soil by terrorists for perpetuating acts of terrorism against Pakistan.”

Taliban authorities in Afghanistan did not immediately comment on Pakistani assertions.

TTP, listed as a global terrorist outfit by the United States and the United Nations, is a known offshoot and close ally of the Afghan Taliban, who returned to power in Kabul two years ago.

Pakistani officials say TTP and other insurgent groups have fled and taken shelter in Afghanistan since the U.S.-led NATO troop withdrawal in August 2021. They say the insurgents enjoy greater freedom of movement to plot cross-border terrorism after the Taliban takeover of the war-shattered country.

Over the past two years, the increased TTP-led insurgent violence has killed more than 1,500 people in Pakistan. This year alone, more than 500 Pakistanis, mostly security forces, have died in militant attacks. They included at least 220 soldiers and officers, according to official data.

The Taliban deny the charges, saying no one can use Afghan soil to threaten other countries, including Pakistan.

Pakistani caretaker Prime Minister Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar repeatedly claimed this week that some of the equipment left behind by the U.S. military in Afghanistan has ended up with groups such as TTP. 

“This surge in terrorism is happening because the fighting capacity of these outfits has been enhanced,” Kakar told Islamabad-based international journalists on Monday.

The prime minister said that Islamabad was in close contact with Kabul to enhance bilateral security cooperation to combat the threat of cross-border terrorism.

The Taliban “are in a phase of transformation. I feel that room and space should be given to them,” Kakar said when asked whether the de facto Afghan authorities are helping his country to counter the TTP-led threat of terrorism.
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Three elected members of the Dharmsala-based Tibetan Parliament-in-Exile are in Indian-administered Kashmir to seek the support of pro-Indian leaders in their campaign against Chinese rule in Tibet.

On their five-day visit to Kashmir, the trio met Tuesday with a range of local political figures, including two former chief ministers.

Exiled Tibetan lawmaker Dawa Tsering told VOA that India has a crucial role to play in the Tibetans’ struggle.

“Tibet holds significant importance for India on multiple fronts,” Tsering said. “Prior to Tibet’s occupation, there was no historical precedent of Chinese forces being stationed along the Himalayas,” the scene of deadly border clashes between the two countries in recent years.

Tibet had served as a politically neutral buffer zone between China and India prior to its 1951 annexation by China, Tsering said, adding that the loss of that buffer has cast a pall over diplomatic relations between Beijing and New Delhi.

Tsering said Beijing has deployed missiles and built military infrastructure near India in what he described as an attempt to encroach upon Indian territory.

“Tibet witnessed the same moves before China occupied Tibet,” Tsering said. “Now, China is aiming to capture Indian territories and they are rapidly building infrastructure in Tibet along the Indian border.

“It is high time for India’s people and the government of India to boycott the Chinese goods so as to weaken China’s economy.”

Fellow exiled lawmaker Yeshi Dolma said Tibetans have been “traumatized by systematic violations of their most fundamental human rights” and the attempted eradication of Tibetan cultural and national identity since China’s annexation.

“Over the last seven decades, the situation in Tibet has been deteriorating to the extent that it is now facing imminent threat of cultural genocide and total annihilation of Tibetan identity,” Dolma said during a press conference in Srinagar.

In a statement to journalists, Khenpo Sonam Tenpal, speaker of the Tibetan Parliament-in-Exile — now called the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA) — said Tibet has been ranked among the world’s least-free territories by Freedom House for the third consecutive year in its 2023 Freedom in the World report.

“Last year, U.N. human rights experts expressed serious concern over the large-scale colonial boarding schools in Tibet rampantly being implemented on a massive scale and referred to it as a way to assimilate Tibetans into majority Han culture, contrary to international human rights standards,” Dolma said.

“Likewise, the forced mass DNA sample collection of Tibetans, including kindergarten children, is an intrusive securitization measure under the authoritarian surveillance regime to instill fear and wrest control of all aspects of public and private life of the Tibetan people.”

Tenpal admonished Kashmiri leaders to urge New Delhi to recognize Tibet as an occupied nation, to call on Beijing “to re-engage in dialogue with representatives of His Holiness Dalai Lama without condition,’” and to demand China’s release of all political prisoners, including Gedhun Choekyi Nyima, the 11th Panchen Lama whose whereabouts have been unknown since 1995.

China doesn’t recognize the Tibetan government-in-exile and hasn’t held any dialogue with the representatives of the Dalai Lama since 2010. India considers Tibet as part of China, though it is hosting Tibetan exiles.

Ghulam Hassan Mir, senior vice president of the Jammu and Kashmir Apni Party, acknowledged that Central Tibetan Administration officials met with party leaders at his residence.

“The delegation informed us about the historical context of the Tibetan dispute and furnished us with a memorandum, pamphlets and historical documents,” Mir told VOA.

“We reassured them that the Apni Party and its leadership are committed to upholding democracy, democratic values, and safeguarding the fundamental and human rights guaranteed to all individuals by the U.N. Charter in every nation.”

China says Tibet has historically been part of its territory since the mid-13th century, and its Communist Party has governed the Himalayan region since 1951. But many Tibetans say that they were effectively independent for most of their history, and that the Chinese government wants to exploit their resource-rich region while crushing their cultural identity.

The Dalai Lama, the Tibetans’ exiled spiritual leader, and his followers have been living in Dharmsala since they fled Tibet after a failed 1959 uprising against Chinese rule.

Some information is from The Associated Press.
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A chair with Myanmar’s flag was left empty as Vice President Kamala Harris spoke with Southeast Asian leaders during the U.S.-ASEAN, or Association of Southeast Asian Nations, summit in Jakarta hosted by outgoing chair Indonesia.

“The United States will continue to press the regime to end the horrific violence to release all those unjustly detained and to reestablish Myanmar’s path to inclusive democracy,” Harris said at the opening of the summit Wednesday.

“And we will continue to support ASEAN’s five-point consensus,” she added, referring to the group’s 2021 demands on the crisis triggered by the February 2021 military coup, which include immediate cessation of violence and constructive dialogue facilitated by ASEAN.

Last year, ASEAN agreed to bar Myanmar’s ruling generals from meetings until they make progress to address the crisis. An empty Myanmar chair has been held as a symbol to urge the country to return to democracy.

The group announced earlier this week they are barring Myanmar from its turn as chair in 2026, as they blame the ongoing bloodshed on the country’s junta. The Philippines will take ASEAN’s helm instead.

ASEAN’s statement demonstrates that the group is more united on Myanmar than some people thought, said Aaron Connelly, research fellow at the International Institute for Strategic Studies.

“It makes clear that the bloc blames the military for the violence, sustains a de facto suspension of the junta’s leaders from ASEAN meetings, and forces the junta to give up its turn chairing the organization until the violence stops,” he told VOA.

Myanmar’s turn at chairing ASEAN was last skipped in 2006 as the United States and European Union demanded that the military-ruled country move toward democracy and release pro-democracy campaigner Aung San Suu Kyi.

Enduring commitment

As some Republican presidential candidates’ display of isolationism toward regional conflicts triggers anxiety among some ASEAN members about U.S. staying power, Vice President Harris reaffirmed Washington’s “enduring commitment” to Southeast Asia and the Indo-Pacific.

“The defense and deterrence commitments of the United States and our security presence in the Indo-Pacific help protect our homeland and ensure regional stability,” she said. “It is therefore in our vital interest to promote a region that is open, interconnected, prosperous, secure and resilient.”

As part of the administration’s effort to ensure safe sea traffic, last month Washington signed a deal with the Pacific Island state of Palau that would allow U.S. Coast Guard ships to operate on that nation’s behalf in its exclusive economic zone without a Palauan officer present.

Harris also welcomed the presence of Timor-Leste in its capacity as ASEAN observer, and she pledged U.S. support for Timor-Leste’s ASEAN accession process.

Heightened tensions

Harris’ visit comes at a time of heightened tensions in the region, as China released a 2023 territorial map that has drawn the ire of India, Vietnam, Taiwan, Malaysia and the Philippines.

A White House official told VOA that throughout her engagements in Jakarta, the vice president will make clear that the U.S. rejects what the official described as China’s unlawful maritime claims and provocative actions.

“She will express continued support for ASEAN’s efforts to develop a code of conduct for the South China Sea, consistent with the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea, and the rights of third parties,” the official said.

During the China-ASEAN summit held the same day, Chinese Premier Li Qiang appeared to try to calm ruffled feathers, saying it is important to avoid a “new Cold War” when dealing with conflicts and that countries need to “appropriately handle differences and disputes.”

In the same meeting, Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong stressed the need for Beijing and Washington to continue talking with each other and to strive for greater trust and cooperation. He warned that sharpened geopolitical rivalries could easily stoke existing flashpoints in the region, endangering ASEAN’s decades-long peace, prosperity and stability.

On Thursday, Harris will attend the East Asia Summit, which brings together ASEAN and its partners — the United States, China, Russia, Australia, India, Japan, New Zealand, and South Korea. She will depart immediately after the summit and is scheduled to arrive in Washington on Friday, as President Joe Biden heads to the G20 summit in New Delhi, India.
…

Green hydrogen is being touted around the world as a clean energy solution to take the carbon out of high-emitting sectors like transport and industrial manufacturing.

The India-led International Solar Alliance launched the Green Hydrogen Innovation Centre earlier this year, and India itself approved $2.3 billion for the production, use and export of green hydrogen. Global cooperation on green hydrogen manufacturing and supply is expected to be discussed by G20 leaders at this week’s summit in New Delhi.

What is green hydrogen?

Hydrogen is produced by separating that element from others in molecules where hydrogen occurs. For example, water — well known by its chemical symbol of H20, or two hydrogen atoms and one oxygen atom — can be split into those component atoms through electrolysis.

Hydrogen has been produced and used at scale for over a century, primarily to make fertilizers and plastics and to refine oil. It has mostly been produced using fossil fuels, especially natural gas.

But when the production is powered by renewable energy, the resulting hydrogen is green hydrogen.

The global market for green hydrogen is expected to reach $410 billion by 2030, according to analysts, which would more than double its current market size.

However, critics say the fuel is not always viable at scale and its “green” credentials are determined by the source of energy used to produce it.

What can green hydrogen be used for?

Green hydrogen can have a variety of uses in industries such as steelmaking, concrete production and manufacturing chemicals and fertilizers. It can also be used to generate electricity, as a fuel for transport and to heat homes and offices. Today, hydrogen is primarily used in refining petrol and manufacturing fertilizers. While petrol would have no use in a fossil fuel-free world, emissions from making fertilizer — essential to grow crops that feed the world — can be reduced by using green hydrogen.

Francisco Boshell, an energy analyst at the International Renewable Energy Agency in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, is optimistic about green hydrogen’s role in the transition to clean energy, especially in cases where energy from renewables like solar and wind can’t practically be stored and used via battery — like aviation, shipping and some industrial processes.

He said hydrogen’s volatility — it is highly flammable and requires special pipelines for safe transport — means most green hydrogen will likely be used close to where it is made.

Are there doubts about green hydrogen?

That flammability plus transport issues limit hydrogen’s use in “dispersed applications” such as residential heating, according to a report by the Energy Transitions Commission, a coalition of energy leaders committed to net-zero emissions by 2050. It also is less efficient than direct electrification as some energy is lost when renewables are converted to hydrogen and then the hydrogen is converted again to power, the report said.

That report noted strong potential for hydrogen as an alternative to batteries for energy storage at large scale and for long periods.

Other studies have questioned the high cost of production, investment risks, greater need for water than other clean power and the lack of international standards that hinders a global market.

Robert Howarth, a professor of ecology and environmental biology at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, who also sits on New York’s Climate Action Council, said green hydrogen is being oversold in part due to lobbying by the oil and gas industry.

Boshell, of the International Renewable Energy Agency, disagreed. His organization has projected hydrogen demand will grow to 550 million tons by 2050, up from the current 100 million tons.

The International Renewable Energy Agency says production of hydrogen is responsible for around 830 million tons of carbon dioxide per year. Boshell said just replacing this so-called gray hydrogen — hydrogen produced from fossil fuels — would ensure a long-term market for green hydrogen.

“The first thing we have to do is start replacing the existing demand for gray hydrogen,” he said. “And then we can add additional demand and applications of green hydrogen as a fuel for industries, shipping and aviation.”
…

Bright murals on city walls, freshly paved roads, illuminated monuments and fountains and tall new statues that showcase India’s cultural heritage will greet delegates arriving for the Group of 20 summit to the Indian capital New Delhi.

Even as Delhi is dressed up as never before, massive security measures will turn the city into a virtual fortress for the weekend summit with tens of thousands of police, paramilitary and commandos deployed along its streets, borders and at hotels that will house presidents and prime ministers. Anti-drone systems will deter aerial threats.

During its G20 presidency, India has tried to boost its global stature and authorities want the city of over 20 million to showcase a rising power.

Earlier this year, Delhi’s Lieutenant Governor, Vinai Kumar Saxena, said the G20 summit was an opportunity to show “the best face of India.”

The summit meeting will be held at a revamped convention and exhibition center, named Bharat Mandapam, in the heart of New Delhi. Thousands of potted plants and flowers bedeck sidewalks along roads that VIP motorcades will zip by.

Cutouts of large monkeys called “langurs” have been installed to scare away smaller monkeys, a routine menace in the city. Workers are dowsing mosquito breeding sites with insecticides in a city where dengue cases have been reported in recent months.

The “beautification” drive, that carries a price tag of millions of dollars, is not without controversy.

Several demolition drives in recent months have bulldozed shanties, displacing hundreds of low-income workers. Authorities have denied any link between the demolitions and the G-20 summit, and said they were carried out against “illegal encroachers.” The government said they will help those who lost their homes.

But rights activists point out that these tenements had existed for decades.

“It is an attempt to conceal the poverty that is visible — that is why there was a frenzy of demolitions,” said Harsh Mander, a prominent rights activist. “That is because these shanties are a reminder of the fact that in the midst of India’s economic growth, huge levels of poverty persist. It is a sanitized version of the city that is being projected.”

The city’s homeless who live under bridges and sleep on footpaths have been shifted to shelter homes, according to local media.

Many pavement vendors who plied their trade along major roads have been moved to inner lanes. The opposition Congress Party has demanded financial compensation for street vendors, weekly market traders and others whose livelihoods will be affected by the summit restrictions.

“Since the last two days, I was asked to set up my cart in a lane about 150 meters away from the main road. But customers don’t come inside,” said Devki Nandan Pant, a street vendor who sells “kulfi”, an Indian version of ice cream in a South Delhi neighborhood. “It is creating a lot of hardship for people like us.”

Delhi’s usually crowded streets will be largely silent around the G20 venue with stringent traffic restrictions making it out of bounds for most citizens. Major markets in the vicinity of the convention center, schools and colleges have also been ordered shut from Friday. Offices have been told to work from home.

Many residents are simply leaving the city, choosing to take a break rather than navigate the restrictions.

New Delhi resident Vishaka Talreja took a flight on Wednesday to Kashmir with her family. “Everything will be shut down including food deliveries, so what would we do in the city? We left today itself because I thought it is better to leave before airport security etc. also becomes very stringent or flights get cancelled.”

The grand showcasing of the G20 summit is not just meant to underline India’s ambitions as a rising power, which wants to emerge as the voice of what it calls the “Global South” or developing countries.

It is also expected to give Prime Minister Narendra Modi a boost domestically ahead of next year’s general elections. India’s G20 logo features a lotus, the symbol of Mr. Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party — posters have been plastered along roads, not just in Delhi, but in other cities that hosted a series of G20 events in the past year.

Political analyst Rasheed Kidwai pointed out that G20 summits, whose presidency rotates between members, have been held for many years but have never been scaled up to the level as they have been under India’s presidency.

“Among Modi’s biggest backers are the great Indian middle class and urban India. For them, this grand showcasing and fanfare projects the image that we have arrived on the international high table. So, taking the G20 summit from a somewhat routine event to a high profile one does yield political dividends domestically also,” he said.
…

Southeast Asian leaders decided that Myanmar won’t take over the rotating leadership of their regional bloc as scheduled in 2026, Asian diplomats and a leader said Tuesday, in the latest blow to efforts by its ruling generals to gain international recognition after violently seizing power in 2021.

Western governments led by the United States have condemned the Myanmar army’s ouster of Aung San Suu Kyi’s democratically elected government in 2021 and have demanded her immediate release from yearslong detention along with other officials.

The Philippines agreed to take over the regional bloc’s chairmanship in 2026 at an ASEAN summit hosted by Indonesia on Tuesday, Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said in a statement, citing what he told fellow leaders in the closed-door meetings.

“It is my pleasure to announce that the Philippines is ready to take the helm and chair ASEAN in 2026,” Marcos told his ASEAN counterparts in Jakarta, the statement said.

Marcos did not explain why Myanmar lost the prestigious yearlong ASEAN chairmanship, but two ASEAN diplomats told The Associated Press that it was related to the civil strife in the country and fears that the bloc’s relations with the United States and the European Union, among others, might be undermined because of their non-recognition of the military-led government in Myanmar.

The diplomats spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the delicate issue publicly.

Continuing deadly civil strife in Myanmar and new flare-ups in long-simmering territorial disputes in the South China Sea were high in the agenda of the 10-nation bloc’s talks on Tuesday.

Thorny issues including the U.S.-China rivalry in the region have set off divisions within ASEAN, and Indonesian President Joko Widodo renewed his call for unity.

“All of us are aware of the magnitude of the world’s challenges today, where the main key to facing them is the unity and centrality of ASEAN,” Widodo told fellow leaders.

He likened the regional group to a big ship carrying Southeast Asia’s people. “ASEAN leaders must ensure that this ship is able to keep going, able to keep sailing,” Widodo said. “We must be captains of our own ships to bring about peace, to bring about stability, to bring about shared prosperity.”

In a punitive step for their failure to comply with a five-point domestic peace plan crafted by ASEAN leaders in 2021, Myanmar’s top generals and their appointed officials were again barred from attending this year’s summit in Jakarta despite suggestions by some member states that they be allowed back because their ejection had failed to resolve the country’s crisis.

Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi said ASEAN leaders decided to stick with the peace plan despite an assessment that it has not led to any progress in easing the crisis. They designated three nations — the bloc’s previous, current and next chairs — to deal directly with Myanmar’s civil unrest, she told reporters.

Myanmar’s generals will continue to be barred from attending high-level ASEAN meetings, Marsudi said.

Myanmar security forces have killed about 4,000 civilians and arrested 24,410 others since the army takeover, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, a rights monitoring organization.

After their summit on Tuesday, the regional group’s leaders will meet with Asian and Western counterparts from Wednesday to Thursday, including U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris, who is attending in lieu of President Joe Biden, Chinese Premier Li Qiang, and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said before flying to Jakarta that he plans to offer assurances of the safety of the ongoing release into the sea of treated radioactive wastewater from the damaged Fukushima nuclear power plant. The release began on Aug. 24 and China immediately imposed a ban on all Japanese seafood.

Asked about the possibility of a meeting with Chinese Premier Li in Jakarta, Kishida said there had been no decision made on that.

Kishida and three Cabinet ministers recently ate flounder, octopus and sea bass sashimi caught off the Fukushima coast after the start of the wastewater release in an effort to show they were safe.

On the South China Sea territorial disputes, the ASEAN leaders “reaffirmed the need to enhance mutual trust and confidence, exercise self-restraint in the conduct of activities that would complicate or escalate disputes and affect peace and stability and avoid actions that may further complicate the situation,” according to a post-summit communique to be issued by Widodo in behalf of the other leaders.

ASEAN members Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia and Brunei are involved in the territorial standoffs in the South China Sea, which China claims virtually in its entirely.

“We discussed the situation in the South China Sea, during which concerns were expressed by some ASEAN member states on the land reclamations, activities, serious incidents in the area, including actions that put the safety of all persons at risk, damage to the marine environment, which have eroded trust and confidence, increased tensions, and may undermine peace, security, and stability in the region,” the leaders planned to say, using similar language as in past communiques.
…

The bloody political crisis in Myanmar and China’s increasing aggressiveness are overshadowing the summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations that opened Tuesday in the Indonesian capital Jakarta.

Indonesian President Joko Widodo told his fellow leaders in the 10-member regional bloc that ASEAN “has agreed not to be a proxy” to any power, and said they “must become captains of our own ship to achieve peace.”

ASEAN has been stymied in its attempts to resolve the crisis in Myanmar, which has been mired in chaos since the military overthrew the democratically-elected government of de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi on February 1, 2021. The junta agreed to a five-point “consensus” crafted by ASEAN just months after the coup, which includes an immediate end to the violence, peace talks between the junta and its opponents and the delivery of humanitarian aid.

But Myanmar’s junta has failed to follow through on the ASEAN plan, carrying out a bloody crackdown on anti-coup demonstrations and deadly airstrikes on armed resistance forces that are assisted by several rural ethnic rebel groups who have been fighting for decades for greater autonomy.

The stalemate has furthered ASEAN’s reputation in some diplomatic circles as an irrelevant entity, and has further divided the members on its strategy. The junta has been barred from any high-level meetings, but officials from Thailand held one-on-one talks with junta leaders back in July.

But the leaders agreed Tuesday to strip Myanmar of its 2026 chairmanship of ASEAN and grant it to the Philippines.

Tuesday’s summit comes days after China introduced a new maritime map outlining its claims to a majority of the South China Sea, aggravating tensions with its Southeast Asian neighbors, including who have competing territorial claims.

U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris will attend this week’s ASEAN summit in place of President Joe Biden, as well as a wider regional forum that will include China, Russia, India and Japan.

Some information for this report came from Reuters, Agence France-Presse.
…

Despite improving living standards in India as the economy grows briskly, more than half a billion people struggled to afford food in the past year, while the numbers of those finding it difficult to get by have nearly tripled since 2016, according to a Gallup survey released Tuesday.  

That contrasting picture is highlighted in the poll, “Indians See Brighter Economic Future but Feel the Pinch Now.”

In the world’s fastest-growing economy, optimism was higher when compared to other major economies like the United States, Japan or Germany.

“For me, the key takeaway of this poll is that there is a lot to be hopeful for with regards to India’s economy, but significant challenges remain,” Benedict Vigers, author of a three-part Gallup series on India, told VOA. “Just because a nation can be optimistic about the trajectory of their economy in the future, doesn’t mean lots of people can’t be finding things hard today,” he pointed out.

The survey found that 57% of Indians said their living standards were getting better but the situation remains bleak for hundreds of millions.  

India’s mega cities reflect that dichotomy. In Gurugram, a thriving business hub adjacent to New Delhi, gleaming new office buildings and plush high-rise apartments cater to domestic and global companies and an expanding middle class.

But tucked behind the city’s glitzy façade lie crowded shanties where tens of thousands of migrant workers who work in the city cram into tiny tenements. 

They drive cabs and auto rickshaws, work as drivers, security guards, laborers, carpenters and cooks and waiters in restaurants and hotels or as household help in upmarket residential complexes. 

Among them is Durga Gautam, who trudges daily from her single room to a posh residential complex to work as a household helper – her monthly wages add up to about $150. “I have to support two daughters and two grandchildren. Everything has become so expensive – a 25-kilogram bag of rice which used to cost about $10 dollars now costs more than $12.5. My salary has not gone up much, so I have to keep tightening my budget.”  

In India’s vast rural areas, many farmers own small plots of land that generate only meager incomes. 

More than two in five people (43%) in 2022 said they had struggled to afford food at times in the past 12 months, according to the Gallup survey. Affording shelter at times posed a challenge for about one-third of the country. 

The poll also found that the proportion of Indians who are finding it “very difficult” on their present household incomes reached 31% during the past two years, up from 12% in 2016.  

Although India’s economy is faring well, it has not been immune to the high inflation that has impacted many countries in recent years. Food prices, which are a particularly sensitive issue in a country with a per capita income of about $2,100, jumped by over 11% in July. 

Economists say that for many people, inflation is part of a double whammy — the country is also grappling with high unemployment.  

It is not only joblessness though, according to economist Arun Kumar, who pointed out there is also a high level of underemployment in a country where the bulk of the workforce is self-employed.

“320 million Indians have some kind of work, but for many of them it may be only for a few hours a day or week. So in a country of 1.4 billion people, each worker has to support four people,” Kumar said. 

Despite these challenges, perceptions about economic prospects are improving according to the survey. 

Anshi Madhwar, who has been working as a management consultant for about four years is optimistic about her career. “Things have improved in recent years and there are good prospects, good opportunities to grow ahead for me,” she said. 

Experts attribute that to the economic upturn India has witnessed for most of the past two decades. That growth is expected to continue in the coming years.

The survey, however, said sharing the fruits of this growth among its 1.4 billion people will be key if India is to live up to its economic potential.

“There is still a large proportion of Indian society who are yet to fully reap the benefits of India’s impressive economic growth,” according to Vigers. “If India is to make the most of its economic growth in coming years, spreading the benefits to those unable to afford basic needs will be key.”

But more equitable distribution of income remains a challenge. Some low-income workers say they have only seen the gap widen in recent years. “The cars on the road are bigger and more expensive compared to ten years ago,” says Satinder Singh, a driver. “But my living standards have not improved, only the rich are getting richer.”
…

Pakistan’s caretaker prime minister said Monday that Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates will invest $25 billion each in his cash-strapped country within five years.

Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar told a group of Islamabad-based foreign journalists late Monday that different sectors, such as mines and minerals, agriculture, defense production and information technology, would receive the investment. He did not elaborate.

Economic revival

The prime minister said that the Saudi and UAE investments are part of a new “strategy for economic revival” to increase foreign direct investment in Pakistan under the supervision of the recently set up Special Investment Facilitation Council, or SIFC.

Established in June, the council comprises Pakistan’s civilian and military leadership.

Kakar spoke a day after the Pakistani military chief Asim Munir, while addressing business community leaders in the southern city of Karachi, emphasized the SIFC’s potential to attract investments of up to $100 billion from Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar, Kuwait and other Middle Eastern countries.

“I can confirm it,” he said when asked for his comments on the reported remarks by his military chief that Pakistan could receive an unprecedented $25 billion each from the Saudi Kingdom and the UAE under the SIFC.

Saudi and UAE officials did not immediately comment on Kakar’s assertions.

Kakar said that Pakistan’s untapped mineral deposits are estimated to be worth around $6 trillion. He noted work on the massive Reko Diq gold and copper mines in southwestern Baluchistan province was expected to start in December.

Last month, a Saudi delegation visited Pakistan to study mining sector investment opportunities and showed its readiness to tap into the Reko Diq deposits.

Pakistan is scrambling to deal with a critical balance of payments crisis. The country of about 241 million people needs billions of dollars in foreign exchange to repay international debts and bridge its trade deficit in the current financial year.

Islamabad is implementing long-delayed economic reforms in line with IMF requirements, leading to a historic increase in energy prices when inflation is already hovering at around 29%. The tough reforms have triggered almost daily nationwide protests, bloated electricity bills and soaring fuel prices.

Political crackdown

While speaking Monday, Kakar defended an ongoing crackdown against the opposition party of former Prime Minister Imran Khan, known as the Tehreek-e-Insaf or PTI. 

The crackdown, led by the military, has detained thousands of PTI supporters and leaders for allegedly playing a role in street protests in May, which also saw protesters storming and vandalizing several army installations.

Kakar denounced the violence as an attack on social order.

“An attempt was definitely made that would lead to social disorder,” the prime minister asserted, saying he supports “all lawful measures” to curb such activities in the future.

The caretaker prime minister and his administration are primarily required to oversee national elections expected to be held by February.

Former Prime Minister Khan was jailed on Aug. 5 after being sentenced to three years for selling state gifts and allegedly concealing their proceeds while in office. He refuted the graft charges as politically motivated and has appealed the conviction.

Khan, 70, has rejected charges that PTI supporters were behind the May violence, alleging his party is targeted by the military to keep from contesting the next elections.

Kakar denied the allegations, stressing that all political parties, including the PTI, would be allowed “without discrimination” to participate in the elections.

“We are here just to assist the electoral process in line with our constitutional responsibilities,” he said.

Terrorism

The caretaker prime minister reiterated Monday that militants plotting terrorist attacks in his country have obtained some of the military equipment left behind by the United States in neighboring Afghanistan, enhancing their capabilities to launch more lethal attacks against Pakistani security forces.

Kakar, 52, claimed that anti-state groups such as the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan, or TTP, and ethnic Baluch insurgents committing terrorist acts in his country have now armed themselves with thermal weapons, assault rifles, night vision goggles, and other equipment that U.S. troops left.

He did not offer evidence to substantiate his claims, saying his country was working closely with the Taliban government in Afghanistan to persuade them to evict TTP and other insurgents sheltering there.

“We are not accusing the U.S. of anything that we would need to share evidence (for),” Kakar said.

The Taliban seized control of Afghanistan in August 2021 from a U.S.-backed government in Kabul as all American and NATO troops withdrew after almost two decades of war with Taliban insurgents.

Pakistani leaders complain fugitive TTP leaders and fighters have enjoyed greater operational freedom and intensified cross-border attacks since the Taliban returned to power.

Taliban leaders deny the charges, saying no one can use Afghan soil to threaten other countries, including Pakistan. 
…

A group of Afghan women are staging a hunger strike in Cologne to protest “gender apartheid” in Taliban-ruled Afghanistan, one of them told AFP on Monday.

“Today the women of Afghanistan don’t have school, university, cars, restaurants, everything is banned,” Zarmina Paryani told AFP.

The activist is one of five sisters who fled to Germany in 2022 after being arrested by the Taliban for protesting in Afghanistan.

Another of the sisters, Tamana Paryani, is also taking part in the strike, which is due to last for 12 days.

Tamana Paryani posted a picture on X, formerly known as Twitter, showing a banner reading “Afghanistan should be recognized as a country where gender apartheid exists.”

The Taliban “arrest, torture and kill political and human rights activists every day … but the world is silent,” Zarmina Paryani said.

Sixteen women began the strike in the major city in western Germany four days ago, but there were only three remaining on Monday, she said.

Since returning to power in August 2021, Taliban authorities have imposed a strict interpretation of Islam, with women bearing the brunt of laws the United Nations has labeled “gender apartheid.”

Women and girls have been banned from attending high school and university as well as barred from visiting parks, fairs and gymnasiums.

They have also mostly been blocked from working for U.N. agencies or NGOs, with thousands fired from government jobs or paid to stay at home.
…

France on Monday saw the arrival of five Afghan women “threatened by the Taliban” after repeated requests it create a humanitarian corridor for women shut out of public life, an official said.

Since returning to power in August 2021, Taliban authorities have imposed a strict interpretation of Islamic law, with women bearing the brunt of laws the United Nations has labelled “gender apartheid.”

Women and girls have been banned from attending high school and university as well as barred from visiting parks, fairs and gymnasiums.

They have also mostly been blocked from working for U.N. agencies and nongovernmental organizations, with thousands fired from government jobs or paid to stay at home.

French immigration authority chief Didier Leschi told AFP that by presidential order, “special attention is being paid to women who are primarily threatened by the Taliban because they have held important positions in Afghan society … or have close contacts with Westerners.

“This is the case for five women who will arrive today,” Leschi said.

The women include a former university director, an ex-NGO consultant, a former television presenter and a teacher at a secret school in Kabul.

One of the women was accompanied by three children.

The women had been unable to leave Afghanistan on airlifts to Western countries when the Taliban returned to power in 2021.

They fled to neighboring Pakistan where they sought temporary refuge. From there, French authorities organized their evacuation, Leschi said.

Upon arrival in France, they will be registered as asylum seekers and given housing while their applications for refugee status are considered, Leschi said.

‘Hard fight’ for visas

Leschi said that such evacuations were “likely to be repeated” for other Afghan women with a similar profile.

However, Delphine Rouilleault, head of the asylum advocacy organization France Terre D’Asile, said the evacuations were “not the fruit of a political decision” but gained “after a hard fight” to obtain visas for them.

The women will initially be housed in a center run by her organization, which has been rallying for months for the evacuation of more Afghan women facing a similar situation.

Rouilleault said “hundreds” of Afghan women were “hiding” in Pakistan.

In mid-2021, French President Emmanuel Macron had pledged that France would “be by the side of Afghans.” French authorities say nearly 16,000 people have been evacuated from Afghanistan since then.

In April, an organization working for Afghan refugees and asylum seekers, Accueillir les Afghanes, deplored that Afghan women, especially those who were single, had been largely abandoned and asked Paris to put in place an “emergency” program to take them in.
…

Police in Muslim-majority Pakistan confirmed Monday that a leader of a local Christian congregation was shot and wounded in an eastern district where mob-led attacks on a Christian neighborhood burned around two dozen churches and scores of homes last month.

The victim, identified as Pastor Vicky, told police in Faisalabad that he was heading home with his son on a motorcycle after leading prayers in a local church Sunday evening when a gunman targeted him.

Vicky is currently under treatment in a local hospital for a bullet injury to his shoulder, local authorities and members of the minority Christian community said.

The pastor described the shooting incident to police from his hospital bed, saying the assailant and another man had first intercepted him three days ago and threatened to kill him for allegedly insulting Islam’s Prophet Mohammed.  

Area police officials confirmed that an investigation into the attack was underway.

The pastor said in his written police complaint that unknown men had written Islamic slogans on the front walls of his church last week in violation of local laws, and he was able to get them removed with the help of area police. “Since then, I have been receiving death threats and been falsely accused of blasphemy,” he wrote.

“I call on authorities to ensure my safety and that of my Christian community so we can live in this country without fear. I demand the criminal involved in this attack and his supporters be brought to justice,” the minister said.

No one claimed responsibility for the assassination attempt. It came two weeks after thousands of Muslims stormed a Christian neighborhood in the district’s impoverished Jaranwala town on August 16.

The mob torched and ransacked 24 churches, several dozen smaller chapels, and scores of homes in Jaranwala.

False allegations and rumors that two Christian men desecrated pages of the Quran, Islam’s holy book, had provoked Muslims to riot, according to police and community leaders.

The attack was widely denounced and described as one of the most destructive on a minority community in Pakistan’s history.

Police have since arrested nearly 200 people and are investigating them for their suspected role in the mob attack. Pakistani caretaker Prime Minister Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar and the head of the country’s military condemned the Jaranwala attack and vowed to bring the perpetrators to justice.

Insulting the Quran or Islamic beliefs is punishable by death under Pakistan’s blasphemy laws. No one has ever been executed, but the accused can expect to remain in jail for years while their case is on appeal.

Human rights activists say that hundreds of suspects, mostly Muslims, are languishing in Pakistani jails because judges are often reluctant to move their trials forward or exonerate them under pressure from Islamist groups.
…

Senior U.S. officials visited Syria’s eastern oil-rich Deir el-Zour province on Sunday in an attempt to defuse an uprising by Arab tribes against Kurdish rule that is destabilizing northeast Syria, U.S. officials, security sources, and residents said.

An Arab tribal backlash against the rule of the Kurdish YPG militia has led to clashes, with over 150 killed and dozens injured. The militia forms the backbone of the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), and the uprising is the biggest threat to their rule since they finally drove Islamic State out of a swathe of the country’s north and east in 2019.

U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Syria Ethan Goldrich and Major General Joel Vowell, who heads the coalition against Islamic State, met Arab tribal leaders and SDF commanders and agreed to “address local grievances” and “de-escalate violence as soon as possible and avoid casualties,” the State Department said.

The arrest of a renegade Arab commander last month by the SDF sparked unrest that soon swept a string of towns from Busayrah to Shuhail, in a strategic oil belt in the heart of Arab tribal territory east of the Euphrates River.

Arab tribal fighters initially drove out the Kurdish-led forces from several large towns, but the SDF has begun to regain the upper hand.

U.S. military presence in the SDF-run areas has checked the expansion of militias backed by Russia and Iran, who have a foothold in areas west of the Euphrates River area and who SDF officials say are exploiting the internal divisions to spread their influence.

A spokesman for the SDF accused Iran and the Damascus government of sending tribal militias to create havoc in the northeast of Syria, where most of the nearly 900 U.S. troops in the country are stationed.

Arab tribal leaders say they have been deprived of their oil wealth after the Kurdish-led forces laid their hands on Syria’s biggest oil wells after the departure of Islamic State. They also complain their areas are neglected in favor of Kurdish-majority areas.

“We want them out of all of Deir el-Zour, we want the administration of the area in the hands of the original Arab inhabitants,” said Sheikh Mahmoud al Jarallah, a tribal leader.

The Kurdish leadership of the SDF denies it discriminates against the predominately Arab population under its rule, blaming Islamic State remnants for intimidating locals and preventing the area’s development.

Washington has pushed for a bigger say for Arab inhabitants in running their affairs in SDF areas, Western diplomats say.
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Bangladesh’s government says a letter signed by more than 170 global figures voicing concern for Nobel laureate and microloan pioneer Muhammad Yusuf is undesirable foreign intervention. The letter condemns what the signatories describe as “continuous judicial harassment” of Yunus and calls for the suspension of current judicial proceedings against him.  

The signatories to the August 27 letter include more than 100 Nobel laureates, among them former U.S. President Barack Obama. The names of former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, former U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, along with entertainers, elected officials and business and civil society leaders, are also listed.  

The letter, addressed to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, was published in the international edition of The New York Times Thursday as a full-page ad. It expressed concerns over “threats to democracy and human rights” in Bangladesh, ahead of general elections set for January.

Yunus, 83, is credited with lifting millions of people out of poverty through his pioneering use of microloans through Grameen Bank, which he founded in 1983 for those unable to use conventional banks. He won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006 for his grassroots development work in Bangladesh.

Although Hasina initially praised the work of Yunus and the Grameen Bank, she changed her tune after starting to view him as a political rival.

Yunus was removed from the Grameen Bank board in 2011. Over the past few years, he has faced 166 civil suits and two criminal cases related to business companies founded by him. In one of those criminal cases, involving the Grameen Telecom company, the anti-corruption commission charged him with money laundering. In a separate criminal case, another government agency accused him of labor law violations in the company.

His lawyer, Abdullah Al-Mamun, told VOA September 2 that the charges of labor law violations that have been brought against Yunus in one case by the government are civil offenses under Bangladesh’s Labour Act but that the government had filed them as a criminal case and that the trials had been “fast-tracked in such a manner that we are not being given enough time to present our arguments in the court.”

“Under such circumstances, we fear that he may be denied a fair trial,” the lawyer said.

The letter published in The New York Times noted that that the “previous two national elections [in 2024 and 2018] lacked legitimacy,” and added that it was of “utmost importance” that the upcoming national election be “free and fair.”

The letter also noted their concern about the case against Yunus.

“We respectfully ask that you immediately suspend the current judicial proceedings against Professor Yunus. …We are confident that any thorough review of the anti-corruption and labor law cases against him will result in his acquittal,” it said.

Hasina’s government has reacted sharply to the letter.

Hasina told a press briefing in Dhaka Friday that the government would not be influenced by the letter.

“The cases [against Yunus] are going on in court. The judiciary is completely independent. We have no authority to intervene in these cases. Why is this statement brought from outside the country asking us to withdraw the cases?” Hasina asked.

Hasina said that the authors of the joint letter should send their experts, including lawyers, to see for themselves why Yunus has been charged.

“I invite them here to verify the case documents and see if he has been charged falsely. I cannot understand how they want the case against him suspended by issuing such a statement,” she said.

Mohammad Ashrafuzzaman, former liaison officer of Hong Kong-based rights group Asian Legal Resource Center, said that Bangladesh’s judiciary has “failed to emerge with an image of having independence and integrity” as an institution when its recent track records are assessed carefully.

“Dissidents are regularly targeted by the Bangladesh government, and subsequently the police and judiciary act as its extended hands,” Ashrafuzzaman told VOA. “The track records of the judiciary of Bangladesh do not match with the universal principles of justice. It utterly disregards the notion of the right to fair trial in politically motivated cases.”

Referring to a 1997 speech Hasina gave in Washington expressing Bangladesh’s pride in “the outstanding work done by Professor Muhammad Yunus and the Grameen Bank that he founded,” Badiul Alam Majumdar, founder of the pro-democracy Citizens for Good Governance said Hasina used to be an ardent supporter of Yunus.

“Some global leaders are asking to stop the judicial harassment of professor Yunus and ensure that the next general election is free and fair. As Bangladeshis, we should not ignore the views of these leaders who are the world’s opinion makers,” Majumdar told VOA.

“Those (global) leaders are certainly speaking in the interest of Bangladesh’s 170 million people,” he said
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Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi called on the United Nations to reform in line with 21st century realities to ensure the representation of voices that matter, according to an interview published on Sunday.

A “mid-20th century approach cannot serve the world in the 21st century”, Modi, who will host a summit of the Group of 20 big economies from next weekend, told the Press Trust of India news agency.

Modi, leader of the world’s most populous country and aspirant to become a permanent member of the U.N. Security Council, is seeking to boost India’s status and promote its causes, such as relief for unsustainable debt, using the global pulpit of the G20 summit starting Sept. 9.

He reiterated his support in the interview for the African Union to become a full member of the G20.

The two-day summit will showcase India’s highest-profile guest list ever, from U.S. President Joe Biden to French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. 

“International institutions need to recognize changing realities, relook at their priorities,” Modi said, adding it was critical to ensure the representation of voices. “India’s G20 presidency also sowed seeds of confidence in countries of so-called third world.”

Modi, 72, said India’s G20 presidency has led to the recognition that anti-inflation policies in one country do not harm others.

Inflation hits India’s many poor people especially hard. Economists in a Reuters poll have sharply raised their inflation forecasts for this quarter, expecting price rises to stay above the central bank’s 6% limit until at least October.

Modi called for global cooperation in fighting cyber crime, saying, “Terrorists using dark net, metaverse, cryptocurrency to fulfil nefarious aims can have implications for social fabric of nations.” 
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