DRULAP

HO CHI MINH CITY — Analysts say this week’s visit to Washington by Vietnamese Defense Minister Phan Van Giang shows advances in cooperation between the two countries, despite rising Vietnamese nationalism that may indicate rising anti-American sentiment in Vietnam.

A U.S.-based analyst told VOA on September 12 that Giang’s trip set the groundwork for Hanoi to potentially purchase military cargo planes from the United States this year.

Giang met with U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin at the Pentagon on Monday. [September 9] Both leaders “reaffirmed the importance of the U.S.-Vietnam partnership,” the Defense Department said in a statement, and noted the one-year anniversary of the elevation of the countries’ ties to a comprehensive strategic partnership, the highest tier in Hanoi’s diplomatic hierarchy.

The leaders also underscored the importance of working together to address the lasting impacts of the U.S.-Vietnam War. Austin announced that the U.S. would budget $65 million over the next five years to complete the decontamination of Bien Hoa airbase of dioxin, bringing the total from department to $215 million. The airbase was the primary storage site for the toxic chemical Agent Orange during the U.S.-Vietnam War and remains an environmental and public health hazard for those nearby.

Andrew Wells-Dang, who leads the Vietnam War Legacies and Reconciliation Initiative at the United States Institute of Peace, told VOA by phone on September 5 that diplomatic visits are key to advancing war-remediation efforts, including finding and identifying the remains of missing soldiers. He said that along with the U.S. visit of Deputy Defense Minister Vo Minh Luong in July, visits from authorities provide “opportunity for them to have high level support.”

Zachary Abuza, a professor at the National War College in Washington and an expert on Southeast Asia, said joint war-reconciliation efforts also set the groundwork for defense cooperation more broadly.

“The United States is very pleased with the growth in bilateral defense relations, and it started from very low levels and was built on humanitarian missions,” Abuza said during the August 29 call.

“We’ve just continued to build on that,” he added.

Cargo planes

Reuters reported in July that Hanoi was considering purchasing Lockheed Martin C-130 cargo planes from the U.S., according to unnamed sources.

The U.S.-based analyst, who asked that his name to be withheld because he has not been cleared to discuss the topic, said the C-130 deal was discussed but not finalized during Giang’s visit. The analyst said the deal was held back by the “massive [U.S.] bureaucracy” and because solidifying the purchase during the Washington visit would be “too inflammatory for the Chinese.”

Ian Storey, senior fellow at the ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute in Singapore, noted Vietnam’s delicate diplomatic balancing act, illustrated by Giang’s travel itinerary before the Washington trip.

“Vietnam aims to keep its relations with the major powers in balance,” he wrote in an email on August 30. “As such, Vietnamese Defense Minister Phan Van Giang visited Russia and China in August.”

Storey added that the purchase of C-130 planes would not pose a threat to China in its maritime territorial disputes with Vietnam.

“C-130 aircraft would enable the Vietnamese to transport troops and supplies to its occupied atolls in the South China Sea, but these assets are non-strategic and won’t shift the dynamics in the South China Sea,” he wrote.

Nguyen The Phuong, a maritime security expert at the University of New South Wales Canberra, said the C-130 purchase would be a “symbolic move.”

“Vietnam will try to explore more areas of security and defense cooperation between Vietnam and the United States to upgrade to a higher, more meaningful level,” he told VOA on August 30. “The C-130 would be the symbol of that kind of evolving relationship,” he said.

Phuong said a C-130 is a likely entry point as there is still mistrust between the former foes regarding lethal weapons, and the deal would not rankle China too much.

“It could be quite advantageous for Vietnam,” he said of a potential C-130 purchase. “Vietnam can improve its relationship with the United States, and at the same time, we could not anger China because Vietnam would just buy non-lethal weapons.”

Rising nationalism

Although there are positive signs to improving Hanoi-Washington relations, there have also been recent instances of anti-Western sentiment that could be an impediment to the countries relations, Phuong said.

Fulbright University Vietnam, which has significant backing from the United States, is facing accusations of fomenting a “color revolution,” similar to the popular uprisings in former Soviet republics.

On August 21, Vietnam National Defense TV aired a critique of Fulbright for allegedly not displaying the Vietnamese flag at a graduation ceremony and facilitating a color revolution.

The report has since been taken down, but Phuong said the Fulbright issue and other recent incidents show tension between Vietnam’s conservative and liberal factions.

“It’s a presentation of a continuous struggle between different factions, one conservative and one liberal,” Phuong said.

Abuza said that Vietnamese authorities may be attempting to tighten control ahead of the anniversary of the end of the Vietnam War in 1975.

“Next April is the 50th anniversary of the fall of Saigon,” he said. “The Vietnamese want to control that narrative 100%. There are a lot of sensitivities.”

Along with the Fulbright incident, Phuong pointed to recent uproar around Vietnamese celebrities who were pictured with the South Vietnam flag while traveling to the United States. In addition, a Vietnamese high school student faced cyber bullying and was summoned by police after posting in September that he wanted to leave the country and would “probably never see the [Communist] Party positively again.”

“There’s extreme nationalism in Vietnam at the moment,” Phuong said. “It’s against Western values.”
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washington — In a testament to the global influence of U.S. politics, this week’s televised debate between former president Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris broke through an intensely busy news cycle in South Asia to garner extensive coverage across most major news outlets.  

The pivotal showdown between the two contenders vying to succeed Joe Biden as U.S. president resonated with audiences across the region, overcoming a nine- to 10-hour time difference from Washington and competing with a barrage of pressing domestic headlines:    

In India, opposition leader Rahul Gandhi made a high-profile visit to the United States. In Bangladesh, interim leader Muhammad Yunus delivered his second major speech to the nation. And in Pakistan, the National Assembly speaker suspended security officials over the controversial arrest of five lawmakers in the Parliament building. 

Yet amid this flurry of regional developments, leading newspapers and TV stations from Karachi to Dhaka provided considerable coverage of the debate, reflecting heightened regional interest in the outcome of the U.S. presidential contest.       

“The news cycle in these countries is so fast, and the issues they are dealing with internally are so intense that probably their focus has shifted from what is happening elsewhere,” said Awais Saleem, a former Pakistani journalist now a professor at Lamar University in the U.S. state of Texas.    

“Nonetheless, [the U.S. election] is still keenly observed and keenly watched because whatever happens in the U.S. invariably has an effect in other parts of the world, and South Asia is no exception,” Saleem said.     

India  

Take India, the region’s most populous country and largest media market. Major Indian outlets, such as NDTV and CNN’s local affiliate, dedicated significant coverage to the debate, even while prioritizing Gandhi’s remarks in Washington. Aaj tak, another leading channel, had a correspondent reporting on the debate from the spin room in Philadelphia.      

Large-circulation newspapers provided more substantial coverage, even while relying on international wire services for content.     

The Times of India, India’s largest newspaper, featured a video analysis of the debate on its homepage. The Hindu, another major paper, ran multiple articles, including one focusing on Trump’s pledge to end the Ukraine war and another on Hollywood’s “applause” for Harris.      

While much of the coverage was routine, some stood out. In addition to broadcasting the debate live, NDTV produced at least 10 stories and segments dedicated to what it termed a “fiery presidential showdown.” These included highlights and key quotes, and major takeaways.      

While Indians are as divided over Trump and Harris as Americans, most local outlets widely reported on the American media’s verdict that Harris had outperformed Trump.      

Ahead of the debate, many Indians were skeptical of Harris, said Ashutosh, a veteran Indian journalist and co-founder of Satya Hindi. To find out how Harris did, Satya Hindi devoted a 30-minute segment featuring a U.S.-based Indian American academic, Ashutosh said.      

The verdict: Harris won the debate.      

“There now is a feeling that Kamala Harris is not a weak candidate,” said Ashutosh, who goes by one name.      

India, like other South Asian countries, lacks an American-style tradition of live election debates. The concept intrigues many but faces cultural and political obstacles, experts say.    

On Satya Hindi, another guest, journalist Shravan Garg, questioned their feasibility.  Would Indian TV channels “dare” to host live debates and would politicians “agree” to participate, he asked.      

Atul Singh, founder and editor-in-chief of Fair Observer, an international citizen journalism and civic education platform, said Indian interest in U.S. elections has surged in recent years, spurred by globalization and more recently by the Indian ancestry of Harris and Usha Vance, the wife of Republican vice-presidential nominee J.D. Vance.       

But he said the level of interest varies across the country. States with stronger ties to the U.S., such as Gujarat, a source of migration to the U.S., and Maharashtra, a manufacturing hub for exports to the U.S., are gripped by U.S. election fever. In more rural regions such as Bihar, with fewer connections to the U.S., enthusiasm is far more subdued.      

“So it depends on which part of the country you’re in,” Singh said. “I’d say some areas in India simply don’t care, and others, the ones that are part of the global economy, are absolutely obsessed.”     

Pakistan, Bangladesh   

In neighboring Pakistan and Bangladesh, the debate received far less coverage despite comparable public interest.     

Geo TV, Pakistan’s leading TV news channel, ran an international segment on the debate, reporting on the candidates’ “combative demeanor.” A wire story on its website noted that foreign policy “largely took a backseat.”     

Leading English language newspaper Dawn highlighted the debate as its top international story, reporting how Harris put Trump “on the defensive at a combative presidential debate.” A wire fact check about the debate was included among its “must read stories” on its homepage      

Express Tribune, another leading newspaper, picked up multiple wire service stories about the debate, posting three short video compilations on its websites, including a video of viral memes generated by Trump’s comment that migrants were eating people’s cats and dogs in Ohio.     

Atif Khan, a Pakistani journalist, said Harris’ unexpected emergence as the Democratic nominee helped boost Pakistani public interest in the U.S. presidential election.     

“Every political discussion on television now involves a mention of the U.S. election,” Khan said. “There is talk about Trump. There is talk about Kamala Harris.”     

While Pakistani media generally don’t cover elections in neighboring countries, some local outlets are already planning their U.S. election coverage and trying to secure U.S. visas for their reporters, he said.     

“Pakistanis think that a change of president will inevitably have direct implications for not just Pakistan but also the region,” he said.     

Underscoring the Pakistani media’s interest, Saleem, the Lamar University professor, noted receiving weekly invitations from various outlets to discuss the U.S. election campaign.      

Bangladesh  

In Bangladesh, the debate’s coverage was overshadowed by continuing reverberations from the August 5 collapse of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s government.     

While interim leader Yunus’ speech dominated headlines on Wednesday, leading outlets provided more substantive coverage of the debate, drawing on international wire stories and analysis.      

Prothom Alo, Bangladesh’s largest media outlet, called the debate, “the most important moment” before the November 5 election.      

Daily Star, one of the most reputable outlets, ran at least four stories, including a fact check and a video analysis.      

Daily Ittefaq, a Bengali language newspaper, ran a summary of U.S. media accounts of the debate, reporting that even the conservative Fox News had declared Harris the winner.     

Singh, founder of Fair Observer, said the post-Hasina political turmoil in Bangladesh likely contributed to the relatively thin coverage.     

“They’ve got their own fish to fry,” he said.     

But, he added, political elites in Bangladesh, Pakistan and Sri Lanka – all dependent on the International Monetary Fund, the global finance agency, largesse – are keenly watching the U.S. election campaign.      

“They are in economic crisis, so they follow the election for practical reasons,” he said.  

VOA’s Bangla, Deewa and Uru services contributed to this article.  
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Islamabad — Gunmen in central Afghanistan killed at least 14 Shiite Muslims in an overnight attack that was claimed by a local affiliate of the Islamic State group, multiple sources said Friday.

The Interior Ministry spokesperson in Kabul, Abdul Matin Qani, told the local TOLO news channel that assailants targeted a group of civilians in the Afghan province of Daykundi on Thursday. He did not, however, immediately share any details about the number of casualties or the nature of the attack.

The media outlet quoted area residents and sources as confirming that the violence had resulted in the deaths of at least 14 people and injuries to four others.

The Islamic State group said through its Amaq news agency that “soldiers” of its Afghan offshoot, the Islamic State Khorasan, also known as IS-K, were behind the shooting. It claimed that “15 Shiite [Muslims] were killed and six others wounded.”

Daykundi residents said the victims had gathered to welcome pilgrims returning from the Shiite holy site of Karbala in Iraq.

Richard Bennett, the United Nations special rapporteur on the Afghan human rights situation, denounced Thursday’s violence.

“Yesterday’s appalling ISKP-claimed killings of #Hazara from #Daykundi…. bears hallmarks of int’l crimes,” Bennett said Friday on social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter. “I’m alarmed about the spate of ISKP-claimed attacks. Need for prevention, protection & [international] accountability #Afghanistan,” he wrote, using an acronym for IS-K.

The Taliban regained control of Afghanistan three years ago and say their counterterrorism operations have since “almost decimated” IS-K in the country. However, U.S. officials and recent United Nations reports dispute the claims, identifying IS-K as a growing terrorism threat to the region and beyond.

Earlier this month, IS-K claimed a suicide bombing in the Afghan capital that killed six people. In May, the group took responsibility for an attack by gunmen in the central Bamiyan province that killed three Spanish tourists and their local translator. In March, IS-K claimed that it was behind an attack on a Moscow concert hall that killed 145 Russians.

Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid reiterated in a statement last week that “concerns raised by Western countries and institutions regarding the presence and escalating threat” of IS-K in Afghanistan were “unfounded and driven by propaganda.”

Mujahid claimed that “the entire Afghan territory remains firmly under the control of the Islamic Emirate, leaving no room for independent or external groups to operate.” The Taliban refer to their administration as the Islamic Emirate.

No country has officially recognized the Taliban government in Kabul, mainly because of human rights concerns and extensive restrictions the Islamist Taliban have placed on women’s access to education, work, and public life at large.
…

HANOI, Vietnam — The death toll in the aftermath of a typhoon in Vietnam climbed to 233 on Friday as rescue workers recovered more bodies from areas hit by landslides and flash floods, state media reported.  

Flood waters from the swollen Red River in the capital, Hanoi, were beginning to recede, but many neighborhoods remained inundated and farther north experts were predicting it could still be days before any relief is in sight.  

Typhoon Yagi made landfall Saturday, starting a week of heavy rains that have triggered flash floods and landslides, particularly in Vietnam’s mountainous north.  

Across Vietnam, 103 people are still listed as missing and more than 800 have been injured.  

Most fatalities have come in the province of Lao Cai, where a flash flood swept away the entire hamlet of Lang Nu on Tuesday. Eight villagers turned up safe on Friday morning, telling others that they had left before the deluge, state-run VNExpress newspaper reported, but 48 others from Lang Nu have been found dead, and another 39 remain missing.   

Roads to Lang Nu have been badly damaged, making it impossible to bring in heavy equipment to aid in the rescue effort.  

Some 500 personnel with sniffer dogs are on hand, and in a visit to the scene on Thursday, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh promised they would not relent in their search for those still missing.  

“Their families are in agony,” Chinh said.  

Coffins were stacked near the disaster site in preparation for the worst, and villager Tran Thi Ngan mourned at a makeshift altar for family members she had lost.  

“It’s a disaster,” she told VTV news. “That’s the fate we have to accept.”  

In Cao Bang, another northern province bordering China, 21 bodies had been recovered by Friday, four days after a landslide pushed a bus, a car and several motorcycles into a small river, swollen with floodwaters. Ten more people remain missing.  

Experts say storms like Typhoon Yagi are getting stronger due to climate change, as warmer ocean waters provide more energy to fuel them, leading to higher winds and heavier rainfall.  

The effects of the typhoon, the strongest to hit Vietnam in decades, were also being felt across the region, with flooding and landslides in northern Thailand, Laos and northeastern Myanmar.  

In Thailand, 10 deaths have been reported due to flooding or landslides, and Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra flew to the north on Friday to visit affected people in the border town of Mae Sai. Thailand’s Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation warned of a continuing risk of flash floods in multiple areas through Wednesday, as new rain was expected to increase the Mekong River’s levels further.  

International aid has been flowing into Vietnam in the aftermath of Yagi, with Australia already delivering humanitarian supplies as part of $2 million in assistance.  

South Korea has also pledged $2 million in humanitarian aid, and the U.S. Embassy said Friday it would provide $1 million in support through the U.S. Agency for International Development, or USAID.   

“With more heavy rain forecast in the coming days, USAID’s disaster experts continue to monitor humanitarian needs in close coordination with local emergency authorities and partners on the ground,” the embassy said in a statement. “USAID humanitarian experts on the ground are participating in ongoing assessments to ensure U.S. assistance rapidly reaches populations in need.”  

The typhoon and ensuing heavy rains have damaged factories in northern provinces like Haiphong, home to electric car company VinFast, Apple parts suppliers and other electronic manufacturers, which could affect international supply chains, the Center for Strategic and International Studies said in a research note.  

“Though 95 percent of businesses operating in Haiphong were expected to resume some activity on September 10, repair efforts will likely lower output for the next weeks and months,” CSIS said. 
…

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — When an uprising ousted Sri Lanka’s president, many saw it as the end of his powerful family’s hold on the island nation after more than 12 years of rule.

Now, as Sri Lanka prepares to elect a new leader, Namal Rajapaksa is running for president. The 38-year-old is the son of former President Mahinda Rajapaksa and the nephew of the ousted President Gotabaya Rajapaksa.

Namal Rajapaksa is presenting himself as an agent of change, but many see his bid for presidency as an attempt by the controversial political dynasty to regain power.

By mid-2022, the clan’s political career seemed in ruins. Some of its members were forced into hiding in military camps after angry protesters stormed their residences. Others simply gave up their seats in the government as people blamed them for hurtling the country of more than 20 million people into an economic crisis.

Two years later, the family — shunned and pushed to political wilderness — is trying make a comeback via the Rajapaksa heir apparent who is styling himself as someone who could deliver Sri Lanka into a prosperous future.

But for Namal Rajapaksa, it’s more than just a political choice — it’s a deeply personal one. He wants to shed the widespread allegations that the Rajapaksa clan ran the country as a family business that led to the economy crashing in 2022 — as well as the guilty verdict on corruption charges against them.

“The corruption charges are not something common to my family or to myself. If you look at all politicians in this country or in the world, including our region … all have been accused of being corrupt,” Namal told the Associated Press on a recent afternoon. “People will understand, you know, because if you look at the current stage, everyone is blaming each other.”

Sri Lanka was once an economic hope in South Asia, before it plunged into an economic crisis in 2022 when unsustainable debt and the COVID-19 pandemic led to a severe shortage of essentials. The crisis morphed into a popular uprising, with angry street protesters taking over the president’s and prime minister’s offices and other key buildings, forcing Gotabaya to flee the country and later resign.

Many blamed the Rajapaksas.

The family still had a big parliamentary majority, and voted Ranil Wickremesinghe to serve the remainder of the presidential term. Wickremesinghe ensured them protection in return for their support to pass laws in Parliament, enabling the clan to mark a return in politics.

“We didn’t run away, we never ran away. It’s just that some people thought we were hiding,” said Namal.

Namal’s prospects for a political comeback appear grim, as the main contest appears to be between three other candidates: Wickremesinghe, the parliamentary opposition leader and a left-leaning politician with a powerful alliance.

Alan Keenan, senior consultant on Sri Lanka at the International Crisis Group, said the younger Rajapaksa’s bid for the presidency is a test run that would establish “his position as the heir apparent” of the political dynasty.

“I think they [the Rajapaksas] know that Namal will not win. But his candidature effectively reasserts the family’s ownership of the party,” Keenan said.

The Rajapaksa family has been a mainstay in Sri Lankan politics for decades. They influenced nearly everything — from bureaucracy to courts, police, business and sports.

Namal Rajapaksa’s father was a prime minister and then a two-term president from 2005 to 2015. Even though Mahinda Rajapaksa was adored by the country’s majority Buddhist Sinhalese for defeating the ethnic Tamil separatists after a 26-year bloody civil war, allegations of human rights violations and corruption led to his defeat in 2015.

The family, however, returned more powerful four years later, when Mahinda’s brother was elected president. Gotabaya Rajapaksa whipped up majority Buddhist Sinhalese sentiments after the 2019 Easter Sunday bombings, blamed on Islamic extremist groups, killed 290 people.

But the family’s popularity quickly eroded under a tanking economy and alienation among ethnic Tamils, Muslims and other minorities.

With hopes to reinvent himself as a young, modern leader removed from his family’s tainted past, Namal Rajapaksa’s efforts mirror that of his father, who still enjoys considerable support among some voters who credit him for crushing the Tamil separatists.

Like his father, Namal Rajapaksa wears the trademark outfit that highlights his Buddhist Sinhalese culture, with a maroon scarf around his neck, a sarong and a white robe. During campaigns he can be seen touching his father’s feet in reverence, a practice most locals consider noble. He is also promising to free the island nation from its debt crisis, create more jobs and eradicate corruption by digitizing the administrative systems.

Still, many in Sri Lanka are done with the family, and public opposition to Rajapaksa’s candidacy is particularly palpable among the Tamil community that makes up about 11% of Sri Lanka’s population.

The group was crushed in a 2009 government offensive headed by Mahinda and Gotabaya Rajapaksa to end the separatist civil war that broke out in 1983 and left at least 100,000 on both sides, with many more missing. Though not all Tamils were part of or supported the rebel group, their defeat has effectively become a political defeat to the community. They also blame the Rajapaksas for alleged human rights violations against civilians during the war.

Vellaiyan Sivaprakash, a Tamil who works as an auditor in central Sri Lanka, said he constantly lived in fear of violence during the Rajapaksa rule and doubted whether he could live in Sri Lanka anymore.

“Their rule was like a monarchy and they behaved like princes and treated us like slaves,” Sivaprakash said. “They should never come back to power.”

Rajapaksas still have a large chunk of supporters who appreciate their role in ending the war and in big infrastructure projects including a road network, an airport and a seaport built on high-interest Chinese loans.

Even though many of them believe Namal Rajapaksa has no chance of winning, they are banking on his future prospects.

“I will vote for Namal because I got my job under his father’s government. He is still young and one day he can be the president,” said R. M. Lasantha, who works as a pipe fitter at the state-owned petroleum corporation.

Some Sri Lankans say it would take the Rajapaksas at least a decade to make a political comeback.

“Their name is associated with corruption and bankruptcy, so rebuilding [their image] is a major challenge,” said Manilal Ranasinghe, who works in the tourism industry.

“At the same time,” Ranasinghe said, “we know that Sri Lankans have a short memory.”
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SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea offered a rare glimpse into a secretive facility to produce weapons-grade uranium as state media reported Friday that leader Kim Jong Un visited the area and called for stronger efforts to “exponentially” increase the number of his nuclear weapons.

It’s unclear if the site is at the North’s main Yongbyon nuclear complex, but it’s the North’s first disclosure of a uranium-enrichment facility since it showed one at Yongbyon to visiting American scholars in 2010. While the latest unveiling is likely an attempt to apply more pressure on the U.S. and its allies, the images North Korea’s media released of the area could provide outsiders with a valuable source of information for estimating the amount of nuclear ingredients that North Korea has produced.

During a visit to the Nuclear Weapons Institute and the production base of weapon-grade nuclear materials, Kim expressed “great satisfaction repeatedly over the wonderful technical force of the nuclear power field” held by North Korea, the official Korean Central News Agency reported.

KCNA said that Kim walked around the control room of the uranium enrichment base and a construction site that would expand its capacity for producing nuclear weapons. North Korean state media photos showed Kim being briefed by scientists while walking along long lines of tall gray tubes, but KCNA didn’t say when Kim visited the facilities and where they are located.

KCNA said Kim stressed the need to further augment the number of centrifuges to “exponentially increase the nuclear weapons for self-defense,” a goal he has repeatedly stated in recent years. It said Kim ordered officials to push forward the introduction of a new-type centrifuge, which has reached its completion stage.

Kim said North Korea needs greater defense and preemptive attack capabilities because anti-North Korea “nuclear threats perpetrated by the U.S. imperialists-led vassal forces have become more undisguised and crossed the red-line,” KCNA said.

South Korea’s Unification Ministry said it strongly condemned North Korea’s unveiling of a uranium-enrichment facility and Kim’s vows to boost his country’s nuclear capability. A ministry statement said North Korea’s “illegal” pursuit of nuclear weapons in defiance of U.N. bans is a serious threat to international peace. It said North Korea must realize it cannot win anything with its nuclear program.

North Korea first showed a uranium enrichment site in Yongbyon to the outside world in November 2010, when it allowed a visiting delegation of Stanford University scholars led by nuclear physicist, Siegfried Hecker, to tour its centrifuges. North Korean officials then reportedly told Hecker that 2,000 centrifuges were already installed and running at Yongbyon.

Satellite images in recent years have indicated North Korea was expanding a uranium enrichment plant at its Yongbyon nuclear complex. Nuclear weapons can be built using either highly enriched uranium or plutonium, and North Korea has facilities to produce both at Yongbyon. It’s not clear exactly how much weapons-grade plutonium or highly enriched uranium has been produced at Yongbyon and where North Korea stores it.

“For analysts outside the country, the released images will provide a valuable source of information for rectifying our assumptions about how much material North Korea may have amassed to date,” said Ankit Panda, an expert with the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

“Overall, we should not assume that North Korea will be as constrained as it once was by fissile material limitations. This is especially true for highly enriched uranium, where North Korea is significantly less constrained in its ability to scale up than it is with plutonium,” Panda said.

In 2018, Hecker and Stanford University scholars estimated North Korea’s highly enriched uranium inventory was 250 to 500 kilograms, sufficient for 25 to 30 nuclear devices.

The North Korean photos released Friday showed about 1,000 centrifuges. When operated year-round, they would be able to produce around 20 to 25 kilograms of highly enriched uranium, which would be enough to create a single bomb, according to Yang Uk, a security expert at Seoul’s Asan Institute for Policy Studies.

The new-type centrifuge Kim wants to introduce is likely an advanced carbon fiber-based one that could allow North Korea to produce five to 10 times more highly enriched uranium than its existing ones, said Lee Choon Geun, an honorary research fellow at South Korea’s Science and Technology Policy Institute.

Some U.S. and South Korean experts speculate North Korea is covertly running at least one other uranium-enrichment plant. In 2018, a top South Korean official told parliament that North Korea was estimated to have already manufactured up to 60 nuclear weapons. Estimates on how many nuclear bombs North Korea can add every year vary, ranging from six to as many as 18. 
…

Singapore — Pope Francis wrapped up an arduous 12-day tour of the Asia-Pacific on Friday, defying health concerns to connect with believers from the jungle of Papua New Guinea to the skyscrapers of Singapore.

The 87-year-old pontiff flies home to Rome from Singapore, completing his longest trip in duration and distance since he became head of the world’s estimated 1.4 billion Roman Catholics more than 13 years ago.

The Argentine pope has relied on a wheelchair since 2022 because of knee pain and sciatica. He had a hernia operation in June 2023, and earlier this year he battled flu and bronchitis.

Occasionally, during his four-nation trip, the pope struggled to keep his eyes open when listening to late-night liturgical readings or to remain engaged during formal military parades.

But he was clearly energized by more freewheeling exchanges — cheerfully goading young people to shout out their agreement with his calls to help those in need.

In a lively final inter-religious meeting with young Singaporeans, the pope urged them to respect other beliefs, avoid being slaves to technology and to get out of their comfort zones.

“Don’t let your stomach get fat, but let your head get fat,” the pope said, raising a laugh from his audience.

“I say take risks, go out there,” he said. “A young person that is afraid and does not take risks is an old person.”

The historic tour, initially planned for 2020 but postponed by the COVID-19 pandemic, has included 43 hours of flight time and a distance of 32,000 kilometers.

But neither the pace — 16 speeches and up to eight hours of time difference — nor the heat, nor multiple meetings have forced any rescheduling of his international odyssey.

On a trip that took him to the outer edges of the church’s world, the pope delivered a sometimes uncomfortable message for leaders not to forget the poor and marginalized.

In Indonesia, the world’s most populous Muslim-majority state, he visited the Istiqlal Mosque to deliver a joint message against conflict and climate change.

In sweltering Papua New Guinea, he donned a bird of paradise headdress in a remote, jungle village where he told inhabitants to halt violence and renounce “superstition and magic.”

Addressing political and business leaders, he insisted that the country’s vast natural resources should benefit the entire community — a demand likely to resound in a nation where many believe their riches are being stolen or squandered.

And in staunchly Roman Catholic East Timor, he addressed nearly half the population, drawing about 600,000 rapturous believers in the tropical heat to a celebration of mass on the island’s coast.

Francis addressed East Timor’s leaders, hailing a new era of “peace” since independence in 2002.

But he also called on them to do more to prevent abuse against young people, in a nod to recent Catholic Church child abuse scandals.

In the affluent city-state of Singapore, the pope called for “special attention” to be paid to protecting the dignity of migrant workers.

“These workers contribute a great deal to society and should be guaranteed a fair wage,” he said.

There are an estimated 170 million migrant workers around the world. Most live in the Americas, Europe or Central Asia.

But the Argentine pope was otherwise full of praise for the “entrepreneurial spirit” and dynamism that built a “mass of ultra-modern skyscrapers that seem to rise from the sea” in his final destination.

Sandra Ross, 55, a church administrator in Singapore, said she was still “feeling the warmth and joy” after attending mass led by the pope.

“I was deeply touched by Pope Francis’ courage and dedication to his mission, despite his health challenges. His spirit and enthusiasm are truly inspiring,” she said.
…

washington — This week’s U.S. televised debate between former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris broke through an intensely busy news cycle in South Asia to garner attention across most major news outlets.

Indian opposition leader Rahul Gandhi visited the United States. Bangladesh’s interim leader, Muhammad Yunus, delivered his second major speech to the nation. And Pakistan suspended security officials over the controversial arrest of lawmakers from Parliament.

Despite these significant developments and a nine- to 10-hour time difference from Washington, the pivotal showdown between the two contenders to succeed Joe Biden as U.S. president still drew high interest, underscoring the significance of U.S. electoral politics for the region.

“The news cycle in these countries is so fast and the issues they are dealing with internally are so intense that probably their focus has shifted from what is happening elsewhere,” said Awais Saleem, a former Pakistani journalist who is now a professor at Lamar University in the U.S. state of Texas.

“Nonetheless, [the U.S. election] is still keenly observed and keenly watched, because whatever happens in the U.S. invariably has an effect in other parts of the world, and South Asia is no exception,” Saleem said. 

India

Take India, the region’s most populous country and largest media market. Major Indian outlets, such as NDTV and CNN’s local affiliate, dedicated significant coverage to the debate, even while prioritizing Gandhi’s remarks in Washington. Aaj Tak, another leading channel, had a correspondent reporting on the debate from the spin room in Philadelphia.

Large-circulation newspapers provided more substantial coverage, even while relying on international wire services for content.

The Times of India, India’s largest newspaper, featured a video analysis of the debate on its website. The Hindu, another major paper, ran multiple articles, including one focusing on Trump’s pledge to end the Ukraine war and another on Hollywood’s “applause” for Harris.

While much of the coverage was routine, some stood out. In addition to broadcasting the debate live, NDTV produced at least 10 stories and segments dedicated to what it termed a “fiery presidential showdown.” These included highlights, key quotes and major takeaways.

While Indians are as divided over Trump and Harris as Americans, most local outlets widely reported on the American media’s verdict that Harris had outperformed Trump.

Ahead of the debate, many Indians were skeptical of Harris, said Ashutosh, a veteran Indian journalist and co-founder of news outlet Satya Hindi. To find out how Harris did, Satya Hindi devoted a 30-minute segment featuring a U.S.-based Indian American academic, Ashutosh said.

The verdict: Harris won the debate.

“There now is a feeling that Kamala Harris is not a weak candidate,” said Ashutosh, who goes by one name.

India, like other South Asian countries, lacks an American-style tradition of live election debates. The concept intrigues many but faces cultural and political obstacles, experts say.

On Satya Hindi, another guest, journalist Shravan Garg, questioned their feasibility. He asked whether Indian TV channels would “dare” to host live debates and whether politicians would “agree” to participate.

Atul Singh, founder and editor-in-chief of Fair Observer, an international citizen journalism and civic education platform, said Indian interest in U.S. elections has surged in recent years, spurred by globalization and more recently by the Indian ancestry of Harris and Usha Vance, the wife of Republican vice presidential nominee JD Vance.

But he said the level of interest varies across the country. States with stronger ties to the U.S., such as Gujarat, a source of migration to the U.S., and Maharashtra, a manufacturing hub for exports to the U.S., are gripped by U.S. election fever. In more rural regions such as Bihar, with fewer connections to the U.S., enthusiasm is far more subdued.

“So it depends on which part of the country you’re in,” Singh said. “I’d say some areas in India simply don’t care, and others, the ones that are part of the global economy, are absolutely obsessed.”

Pakistan

In neighboring Pakistan and Bangladesh, the debate received far less coverage despite comparable public interest.

Geo TV, Pakistan’s leading TV news channel, ran an international segment on the debate, reporting on the candidates’ “combative demeanor.” A wire story on its website noted that foreign policy “largely took a backseat.”

Leading English language newspaper Dawn highlighted the debate as its top international story, reporting how Harris put Trump “on the defensive at a combative presidential debate.” A wire fact check about the debate was included among its “must read stories” on its homepage.

Express Tribune, another leading newspaper, picked up multiple wire service stories about the debate, posting three short video compilations on its websites, including a video of viral memes generated by Trump’s comment that migrants were eating people’s cats and dogs in Ohio.

Atif Khan, a Pakistani journalist, said Harris’ unexpected emergence as the Democratic nominee helped boost Pakistani public interest in the U.S. presidential election.

“Every political discussion on television now involves a mention of the U.S. election,” Khan said. “There is talk about Trump. There is talk about Kamala Harris.”

While Pakistani media generally don’t cover elections in neighboring countries, some local outlets are already planning their U.S. election coverage and trying to secure U.S. visas for their reporters, he said.

“Pakistanis think that a change of president will inevitably have direct implications for not just Pakistan but also the region,” he said.

Underscoring the Pakistani media’s interest, Saleem, the Lamar University professor, noted receiving weekly invitations from various outlets to discuss the U.S. election campaign.

Bangladesh

In Bangladesh, the debate’s coverage was overshadowed by continuing reverberations from the August 5 collapse of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s government.

While interim leader Yunus’ speech dominated headlines on Wednesday, leading outlets provided more substantive coverage of the debate, drawing on international wire stories and analysis.

Prothom Alo, Bangladesh’s largest media outlet, called the debate “the most important moment” before the November 5 election.

Daily Star, one of the most reputable outlets, ran at least four stories, including a fact check and a video analysis.

Daily Ittefaq, a Bengali language newspaper, ran a summary of U.S. media accounts of the debate, reporting that even the conservative Fox News had declared Harris the winner.

Singh, founder of Fair Observer, said the post-Hasina political turmoil in Bangladesh likely contributed to the relatively thin coverage.

“They’ve got their own fish to fry,” he said.

But, he added, political elites in Bangladesh, Pakistan and Sri Lanka – all dependent on International Monetary Fund largesse – are keenly watching the U.S. election campaign.

“They are in economic crisis, so they follow the election for practical reasons,” he said.
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WASHINGTON — U.S. Representative Michael McCaul’s office recently released detailed findings of an investigation into the chaotic August 2021 U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, which has been criticized for poor planning.

Speaking with Saba Shah Khan of VOA’s Urdu Service, McCaul, a Texas Republican who is chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, denied that the latest probe was a “political exercise” that coincides with a tight presidential race. He said its purpose was to ensure that “an evacuation will never happen like this again.”

On Tuesday, the committee’s ranking Democrat, Representative Gregory Meeks from New York, issued a statement criticizing the report as a collection of “cherry-picked witness testimony” that excludes “anything unhelpful to a predetermined, partisan narrative about the Afghanistan withdrawal.”

“The Majority did not involve the Minority in this report, nor have they even provided a draft copy to us,” he wrote.

In the following interview, McCaul accuses White House officials of “stonewalling” the investigation and mentions his September 3 decision to subpoena Secretary of State Antony Blinken for testimony even though findings of the full report were released Monday.

“We’re still not finished with the investigation,” McCaul told VOA on Tuesday.

State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller last week issued a statement to The Hill stating that Blinken was unable to testify on the dates requested and offered “reasonable alternatives” to comply with McCaul’s request.

The following has been edited for length and clarity.

VOA: Why is the Foreign Affairs Committee report on U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan being released now? With less than two months left to Election Day, some would say the report is politically driven.

U.S. Representative Michael McCaul: It’s been three years since the … chaotic evacuation. The first year, the majority — at that time, the Democrats — did nothing to investigate. So, I’ve had two years to put this very comprehensive, complete, historic account of what happened together. In the meantime, we served many subpoenas. We’ve had to threaten contempt proceedings. And I would have liked to have had this done a year ago. The administration has been, you know, stonewalling us and slowing down the delivery of the report. In fact, we’re still not finished with the investigation.

VOA: In light of the report, what do you think the Biden administration could have done differently to avoid the chaos and mayhem that unfolded during the withdrawal?

McCaul: That’s one of the key takeaways here. The military is on the ground doing their job. That’s to pull out by July [as dictated by a predetermined date of withdrawal negotiated by the prior administration]. The intelligence community sees what’s happening. They report this information. It gets a little bit manipulated when it gets to the higher level. And then it is amplified that everything’s fine in Afghanistan, when, in fact, on the ground, the conditions are getting very bad.

The State Department is required by law to come out with an evacuation plan called the NEO [Noncombatant Evacuation Operations]. They kept resisting this because they thought evacuation means failure. So, they wait until the very day that the Taliban is overrunning Kabul before they finally initiate an evacuation plan. That is why it was so chaotic. That is why the 13 servicemen and women were left behind — with Taliban, by the way — to work with them to help Afghans get out.

VOA: The report says that [President Joe] Biden kept Zalmay Khalilzad on as special representative [for Afghanistan reconciliation from September 2018 to October 2021], making it clear Biden embraced the [February 2020] Doha Accord. Sir, was that a good decision?

McCaul: The complaint I had — and Zal and I, you know, I’ve known him for a long time, and I have respect for him — but he did not include the Afghan government in the Doha talks. So, it was just between Zal Khalilzad and the Taliban. That sent a terrible message to the Afghan government. They felt like they were sidelined. … The Doha Agreement had conditions. Most important is the Taliban cannot hit U.S. forces. They were continuing to do that. But according to President Biden’s press guy [former State Department spokesperson Ned Price], Doha was “immaterial” as to the evacuation. He was going to go to zero — that means zero troops, zero contractors, zero air power — one way or the other. That was going to happen. He made that decision on day one.

VOA: The [Doha] negotiations and the decision to leave Afghanistan was made during the Trump administration. Chairman, do you think….

McCaul: … that isn’t accurate, because the Taliban were in violation of the Doha conditions. Twenty-five hundred troops were left on the ground — General [Kenneth] McKenzie and [Mark] Milly said that was sufficient to stabilize, along with 6,500 NATO and air power and contractors. That they could stabilize both Bagram and HKIA [Hamid Karzai International Airport] when it went to zero. That’s when it changed.

VOA: The date of withdrawal was decided by the Trump administration…

McCaul: … if conditions were met, which they weren’t …

VOA: … do you think that it is fair to hold the Biden administration solely responsible for the failure?

McCaul: And we don’t. We actually fault Zal Khalilzad. We list a lot of top D.O.D. [Department of Defense] and State Department officials that Congress, in a resolution, will condemn for their actions. Zal Khalilzad, he’s a dear friend, but by not letting the Afghan government participate — to me, that was a major error. And a lot of this, by not executing a plan of action to get out and evacuate, according to the top generals and the intelligence community, was the fatal flaw, leaving behind Americans, Afghan allies, and most importantly, the women.

VOA: The report also says that the U.S. did not keep track of whether the Taliban were following the Doha Agreement. In your opinion, how could the U.S. have made Taliban comply?

McCaul: In my opinion, they were in violation at the time the president made the decision to go to zero. But according to his press spokesperson, that was immaterial to the withdrawal. It was going to happen one way or the other. What people don’t understand is it’s not just the military being pulled out, it’s the air cover, it’s the contractors. When everything is pulled out, the Afghan army was virtually defenseless.

VOA: It is also said in the report that Afghanistan is a hotbed of terrorist activities. Can U.S. leave Taliban to their doings? And what is the way forward?

McCaul: It’s very, very dangerous. I was the chairman of Homeland Security Committee. What we’re seeing now, and we saw it before, is the Haqqani [network and] Taliban protecting Zawahiri, [the] number two Al-Qaeda [figure], who was taken by drone strike not too long after the evacuation. We know that they were collaborating — ISIS-K and Taliban — because United States is a common enemy.

Most disturbingly is Bagram, the prisons in Bagram. They [the Taliban] released thousands of ISIS prisoners that have now gone to the Khorasan region — that’s Tajikistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan — [for] external operations. Just recently, the FBI indicated to us that eight of them have been detained in the United States coming across the southwest border. … So, when Americans think Afghanistan is some faraway, distant land, it is all interconnected and it does threaten the homeland.

VOA: What is the way forward? What do you think the U.S. strategy should be to handle this?

McCaul: Number one, we don’t want to see this happen again. This was not a political exercise for me. As a [former] federal prosecutor, I just wanted to get to the facts and the evidence, wherever that took me. I didn’t have conclusions in advance. … So, to answer your question, we want to propose a new way to do this legislatively, through Congress, so that an evacuation will never happen like this again. Saigon was bad. This is worse.

VOA: The report quotes a study that 118 girls were sold as child brides in Afghanistan, in a village. And, in the same village, 116 parents are waiting for a buyer. So, my question to you is that it seems like there is no hope for women and girls in Afghanistan. What is your suggestion? And what can the U.S do?

McCaul: I mean, can you imagine being 25 years old as a woman and never lived under Sharia law, and now you have to go backwards to the stone age? And that’s essentially what has happened there. I got four busloads of the American School of Music girls out through Abbey Gate, because I knew the Taliban — the way they feel about women and music — their days would be numbered. Now, it’s very difficult. Do you normalize the Taliban? Do you treat them as a foreign terrorist organization?

I think any aid or assistance we give to Afghanistan has to be conditioned on treatment of women and children. And they should be allowed to go to school, they should be allowed to go outside their homes, they should not be beaten. Just fundamental rights.

This story originated in VOA’s Urdu Service.
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American and Chinese diplomats and military officials are talking ahead of the U.S. presidential elections as tensions simmer in the South China Sea and around Taiwan. State Department Bureau Chief Nike Ching reports. Contributor: Jeff Seldin. Narrator: Elizabeth Cherneff.
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quetta/islamabad — A police officer in Pakistan’s southwestern Balochistan province shot and killed a man Thursday who was being held in custody on blasphemy allegations.

The fatal shooting happened inside a highly protected police station in the provincial capital of Quetta, a day after the victim, a Muslim, was arrested for allegedly making derogatory remarks about the Prophet Muhammad.

A senior local police officer, Muhammad Baloch, told reporters that they had arrested the policeman involved in the shooting and registered a murder case against him. He did not name the detainee.

On Wednesday, witnesses reported that when the blasphemy suspect, Abdul Ali, was taken into custody in the Kharotabad neighborhood, a mob of dozens of residents quickly surrounded the police detention facility and demanded that he be handed over to them so they could kill him.

Police officials reported the protesters also had thrown a grenade at the building, but the resulting blast did not cause any casualties. They said the violence forced them to transfer Ali to the police station in the central garrison area of Quetta, where he was fatally shot “inside the lockup by an on-duty policeman” on Thursday.

Activists of a religious party later prevented Ali’s family from burying him in his hometown of Pishin, about 50 kilometers from Quetta, forcing those attempting to carry out the burial to flee the graveyard along with the body.

In Islamabad, the national capital, an Islamic party senator, Abdul Shakoor Khan, while speaking in the upper house of parliament, expressed solidarity with the alleged killer. Khan vowed to help get him a lawyer for his legal battle.

“We will not tolerate anyone issuing blasphemous remarks against the Holy Prophet,” Khan said.

Blasphemy is a highly sensitive issue in majority-Muslim Pakistan, where mere allegations have led to mobs lynching scores of suspects, even some in police custody. Insulting the Quran or Islamic beliefs is punishable by death under the country’s blasphemy laws, though no one has ever been officially executed.

Thursday’s killing of a blasphemy suspect in custody by a police officer, however, is the first of its kind in Pakistan.

In early June, a 73-year-old Pakistani man from the minority Christian community died in a hospital a week after being violently attacked by a mob following blasphemy accusations in his native Sargodha district in central Punjab province.

Days later, on June 20, a Muslim man from Punjab was visiting the scenic Swat Valley in the northwestern Pakistani province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa when a mob violently lynched him for allegedly desecrating Islam’s holy book, the Quran.

Domestic and international rights groups have long sought reforms in the blasphemy laws, arguing they are often misused to settle personal vendettas or to target Pakistani minority communities.

Hundreds of suspects, mostly Muslims, are languishing in jails in Pakistan because of fear of retaliation from religious groups deters judges from moving their trials forward.
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washington — The United States announced sanctions on Thursday on Cambodian businessman and ruling party senator Ly Yong Phat as well as several entities over alleged abuses related to workers who were trafficked and forced to work in online scam centers.

The move comes at a delicate phase in relations between the United States and Cambodia, which has moved ever closer to Washington’s strategic rival China despite U.S. efforts to woo its new leader Hun Manet, son of longtime strongman Hun Sen.

Ly Yong Phat was appointed Hun Sen’s personal adviser in 2022.

The U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control said the sanctions targeted Ly’s L.Y.P. Group Co. conglomerate and O-Smach Resort.

It said it was also sanctioning Cambodia-based Garden City Hotel, Koh Kong Resort, and Phnom Penh Hotel for being owned or controlled by Ly.

Bradley Smith, the Treasury’s acting under secretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, said the move was made to “hold accountable those involved in human trafficking and other abuses, while also disrupting their ability to operate investment fraud schemes that target countless unsuspecting individuals, including Americans.”

Cambodia and other countries in Southeast Asia have emerged in recent years as the epicenter of a multibillion-dollar criminal industry targeting victims across the world with fraudulent crypto and other schemes, often operating from fortified compounds run by Chinese syndicates and staffed by trafficked workers.

The Treasury statement said scammers leverage fictitious identities and elaborate narratives to develop trusted relationships and deceive victims.

In many cases, this involves convincing victims to invest in virtual currency, or in some cases, over-the-counter foreign exchange schemes, it said.

The statement said traffickers force victims to work up to 15 hours a day and, in some cases, “resell” victims to other scam operations or subject them to sex trafficking.

It noted that the U.S. State Department’s annual Trafficking in Persons Report this year highlighted abuses in O’Smach and Koh Kong and that official complicity in trafficking crimes remained widespread, resulting in selective and often politically motivated enforcement of laws.

Americans have been targeted by many of the scams. In 2022, in the U.S alone, victims reported losses of $2.6 billion from pig butchering – a type of long-term scam – and other crypto fraud, more than double the previous year, according to the FBI.

The Treasury reportsaid that for more than two years the O-Smach Resort has been investigated by police and publicly reported on “for extensive and systemic serious human rights abuse.”

It said victims reported being lured there with false employment opportunities, having phones and passports confiscated upon arrival and being forced to work scam operations.

“People who called for help reported being beaten, abused with electric shocks, made to pay a hefty ransom, or threatened with being sold to other online scam gangs,” it said, adding that there had been two reports of victims jumping to their death from buildings within the resort.

The report said local authorities had conducted repeated rescue missions, including in October 2022 and March 2024, freeing victims of various nationalities, including Chinese, Indian, Indonesian, Malaysian, Singaporean, Thai and Vietnamese.

The U.S state department said in June that Cambodian government officials were complicit in trafficking and that some officials owned facilities used by scam operators.

Spokespeople for Cambodia’s government and foreign ministry did not answer phone calls or respond to messages seeking comment when asked about the sanctions.

The U.S. and other governments have repeatedly engaged with Cambodia to put an end to the scam centers.

Washington had considered sanctions for months, sources briefed on the matter told Reuters. They said the decision was initially expected earlier this year but had been delayed.

A change of leadership to West Point-educated Hun Manet last year was seen by U.S. officials as an opportunity to mend ties with Cambodia, but despite U.S. efforts, its ties with China have steadily grown. Beijing sent warships to Cambodia this year and is backing the expansion of a key naval base.
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