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Afghanistan-Taliban Crisis Highlights: United States President Joe Biden said withdrawing the troops from Afghanistan to end the 20-year war was the “best” and the “right” decision for America. He said there was no reason to continue in a war that was no longer in the service of the “vital national interest” of the American people. “I give you my word: With all of my heart, I believe this is the right decision, a wise decision, and the best decision for America,” Biden said in his address to the nation from the White House on Tuesday. “We’ve been a nation too long at war. If you’re 20 years old today, you have never known an America at peace. So, when I hear that we could’ve, should’ve continued the so-called low-grade effort in Afghanistan, at low risk to our service members, at low cost, I don’t think enough people understand how much we have asked of the 1 percent of this country who put that uniform on, who are willing to put their lives on the line in defense of our nation,” he said. Telling his fellow Americans that the war in Afghanistan is now over, Biden said he is the fourth President who has faced the issue of whether and when to end this war. “When I was running for President, I made a commitment to the American people that I would end this war. And today, I’ve honored that commitment. It was time to be honest with the American people again. We no longer had a clear purpose in an open-ended mission in Afghanistan,” he said. “After 20 years of war in Afghanistan, I refused to send another generation of America’s sons and daughters to fight a war that should have ended long ago,” Biden added.
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A price control committee is to be established in Afghanistan amid a spike in prices on imported food and fuel, Afghan Khaama Press news agency reported on Wednesday.
The committee will reportedly include members of the Afghan commerce chamber and the ministry of industry. Officials also called on Afghan entrepreneurs to help the authorities bring prices down. (ANI)
The United States will help build new facilities for border guards in Tajikistan along the Central Asian country's frontier with Afghanistan and Uzbekistan to better respond to security threats, the U.S embassy in Dushanbe said on Wednesday.
The new facility, which will be built in Tajikistan's southwestern tip, will replace an outdated detachment and allow border guards to "deploy forces more quickly to border areas in response to threats," the embassy said.
Afghanistan cricket team gets Taliban's to play a one-off Test match against Australia in September
Britain's foreign minister Dominic Raab said the intelligence assessment was that it was unlikely Kabul would fall this year as he defended Britain's withdrawal from Afghanistan after the Taliban swept across the country much more quickly.
Britain, like the United States, failed to predict how quickly the Afghan government would fall, meaning it had not made sufficient preparation for the chaos that would follow when the Taliban seized power.
In an emergency session of parliament's foreign affairs committee to discuss the crisis in Afghanistan, Raab said the central assessment of Britain's intelligence service was that the Taliban would only consolidate its control of the country in the months after western countries had evacuated their troops.
The Taliban on September 1 said that the negotiations with the leaders of the Panjshir province have gone in vain as it is the only province that is still out of the Taliban's reach in the country, a media report said.
Taliban's commission for guidance and encouragement's head Mullah Amir Khan Motaqi said that negotiations with the tribal elders and leaders failed and asked the people of Panjshir province to motivate their leaders, Afghanistan's Khaama Press reported.
Omar Abdullahasks Union govt whether it considers Taliban a terror organisation
A day after India officially talked to the Taliban, former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah on Wednesday asked the Union government to clarify whether or not it considered the outfit a terror organisation.
"Either Taliban is a terror organisation or it is not. Please clarify to us how you (GoI) see the Taliban," the National Conference vice president told reporters after an Indian representative in Doha met a Taliban leader on Tuesday.
This was the first officially acknowledged meeting when Indian Ambassador to Qatar Deepak Mittal met senior Taliban leader Sher Mohammad Abbas Stanekzai and conveyed India's concerns that Afghanistan's soil should not be used for anti-Indian activities and terrorism.
India's sugar export to Afghanistan has almost come to a halt with Indian merchants reporting cancellation of orders in the wake of the current situation there, a senior government official said on Wednesday.The Taliban ousted the government in Afghanistan and took over the control of the country after capturing Kabul last month.Afghanistan is one of the top three destinations for Indian sugar exports. About 6,00,000-7,00,000 tonne of the sweetener is exported annually.About 6,50,000 tonne of sugar has already been exported so far in the current 2020-21 season ending this month, as per the trade data.Sugar season runs from October to September."Our sugar export to Afghanistan has been affected now because of the prevailing current situation out there. Some orders have been cancelled," Joint Secretary in the Food Ministry Subodh Kumar Singh told PTI.
The Taliban has surrounded the only remaining province resisting its rule, a senior leader said on Wednesday, calling on rebels to negotiate a settlement with the group. Since the fall of Kabul on August15, mountainous Panjshir has been the only province to hold out against the Islamist group, although there has also been fighting in neighbouring Baghlan province between Taliban and local militia forces. Under the leadership of Ahmad Massoud, son of a former Mujahideen commander, several thousand members of local militias and remnants of army and special forces units have been holding out against the Taliban. In a recorded speech addressed to Afghans in Panjshir, senior Taliban leader Amir Khan Motaqi called on the rebels to put down their weapons. "The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan is home for all Afghans," he said. The Taliban have declared an amnesty for all Afghans who worked with foreign forces during the past two decades but crowds fearing reprisals have continued to flock to the borders in an attempt to flee the land-locked country. Motaqi said the Taliban had made many efforts to negotiate with leaders of the opposition forces in Panjshir, "but unfortunately, unfortunately, without any result".
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar spoke to his British counterpart Dominic Raab on Wednesday on the situation in Afghanistan, their second such conversation in a week.India has been in constant touch with all major countries on the fast-paced developments in Afghanistan, particularly after the Taliban took control of the country on August 15."Nice speaking again to UK Foreign Secretary @DominicRaab. Conversation focused on Afghanistan related developments," Jaishankar tweeted.The Jaishankar-Raab conversation came a day after the US completed the withdrawal of its forces from Afghanistan, ending its two-decade war in the country.The external affairs minister spoke to Raab on August 25 as well on the Afghan crisis.On Wednesday, Jaishankar also spoke to Omani Foreign Minister Sayyid Badr Al Busaidi."Good to talk to Omani Foreign Minister @badralbusaidi. Discussed Afghanistan and Covid. Thank Oman for supporting our repatriation flights," Jaishankar tweeted.
Pakistan remains cognizant of the threats posed by the various terror groups operating from Afghanistan and it will strengthen intelligence sharing, counter-terrorism cooperation with China post-US withdrawal, the country's envoy to China has said.The Taliban seized power in Afghanistan on August 15, two weeks before the US was set to complete its troop withdrawal after a costly two-decade war. This forced Afghan President Ashraf Ghani to flee the country to the UAE.Pakistan remains "cognizant of the threat posed by terrorist organisations, including Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), Da’esh (ISIS), the East Turkistan Islamic Movement (ETIM) and others operating from Afghanistan," Pakistan’s Ambassador to China Moin ul Haque told state-run Global Times on Tuesday. Pakistan will strengthen intelligence sharing, counter-terrorism cooperation with China, he added."We continue to work through existing mechanisms to build capacities, share intelligence, and coordinate our efforts. In view of the emerging challenges and threats, the two countries would enhance and strengthen the existing cooperation and coordination,” he said.
A Qatari aircraft landed in Kabul Wednesday carrying a technical team to discuss the resumption of airport operations after the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan, according to a source with knowledge of the matter."A Qatari jet carrying a technical team has landed in Kabul earlier today to discuss the resumption of operations in the airport," the source told AFP."While no final agreement has been reached regarding providing technical assistance, Qatar's technical team has initiated this discussion based on the other sides' request."Talks are still ongoing at the level of security and operation."The source said that the goal was to resume flights for both humanitarian aid and to provide freedom of movement, including the resumption of evacuation efforts.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has criticized the United States' involvement in Afghanistan, charging that its 20-year-long military presence in the country has achieved “zero.”Putin said Wednesday that for 20 years, the U.S. military in Afghanistan “was trying ... to civilize the people who live there, to introduce their norms and standards of life in the broadest sense of the word, including the political organization of society.”“The result is sheer tragedies, sheer losses, both for those who were doing that - the US - and more so for the people who live in Afghanistan. A zero result, if not negative,” Putin said.The Russian president added that “it's impossible to impose something from outside” and that “if someone does something to someone, they should draw on the history, the culture, the life philosophy of these people in the broadest sense of the word, they should treat their traditions with respect.”Moscow, which fought a 10-year war in Afghanistan that ended with the Soviet troops' withdrawal in 1989, has made a diplomatic comeback in the country as a mediator over the past few years. Russia has reached out to the feuding Afghan factions, including the Taliban - even though it has labeled them a terrorist organisation.
