World

Afghanistan experiencing serious crisis, socio-economic collapse looming: Josep Borrell

From www.bignewsnetwork.com
2021-10-03 17:37:00

Excerpt:

Brussels [Belgium], October 3 (ANI): EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell on Sunday said Afghanistan is facing a “serious humanitarian crisis and a socio-economic collapse is looming” that will prove to be dangerous for the region and international security.

“Afghanistan is experiencing a serious humanitarian crisis and a socio-economic collapse is looming, which would be dangerous for Afghans, the region and international security,” Borrell wrote in a blog post.

Borrell said that there are many signs that the situation in Afghanistan is getting worse.

“For instance, we have seen the formation of an interim government that is neither inclusive nor representative. And we have reports that women and girls are excluded from schools and universities, which goes against initial assurances from the Taliban,” he wrote.

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Central African Republic accuses Russians of conflict abuses

From nationalpost.com
2021-10-03 17:55:41

Excerpt:

BANGUI — Russian military instructors committed rights abuses in Central African Republic (CAR) during clashes with rebels this year, a government report said on Sunday, bolstering evidence produced in a United Nations report in June.

The army – backed by U.N. peacekeepers, Russian and Rwandan troops – has been battling rebels seeking to overturn a December vote in which President Faustin-Archange Touadera was declared the winner. Fighting has been fierce: in January rebels launched an assault on the capital Bangui that was repelled after a long gunfight.

 

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Deadly explosion at Eidgah mosque in Kabul, Afghanistan

From www.dailytelegraph.com.au
2021-10-03 21:57:17

Excerpt:

A blast has killed several people in a crowd outside the entrance of the Eidgah Mosque during a funeral service in central Kabul.

A bomb blast at the entrance of a mosque in Kabul has killed civilians.

Thought to be a roadside bomb near the Eidgah mosque gates, the explosion took place during a memorial service being held for the mother of the Taliban’s chief spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahid.

People in bloodied clothing were seen arriving at the nearby Kabul Emergency Hospital on Sunday.

Three suspects were arrested in connection with the blast, a Taliban spokesman said.

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Afghan army collapse took US by ‘surprise’: Pentagon chief

From timesofindia.indiatimes.com
2021-09-28 17:39:59

Excerpt:

 

WASHINGTON: Top US military leaders acknowledged on Tuesday that the Taliban’s rapid takeover in Afghanistan took them by surprise and expressed concern the Islamic regime has not broken ties with al-Qaida.
“We helped build a state, but we could not forge a nation,” defense secretary Lloyd Austin told a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing about the US troop withdrawal from Afghanistan and evacuation.
“The fact that the Afghan army we and our partners trained simply melted away – in many cases without firing a shot – took us all by surprise,” he said. “It would be dishonest to claim otherwise.”
Austin said the United States had provided the Afghan military “with equipment and aircraft and the skills to use them.”
“Over the years, they often fought bravely,” he said. “Tens of thousands of Afghan soldiers and police officers died. But in the end, we couldn’t provide them with the will to win. At least not all of them”, he said.
The Pentagon chief said the United States “did not fully comprehend the depth of corruption and poor leadership in their senior ranks.”
General Mark Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the United States did not have a “full wholesome assessment of leadership morale and will” of the Afghan armed forces.

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France and Greece hedge their bets with a new defence pact

From www.economist.com
2021-10-01 01:07:51

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KYRIAKOS MITSOTAKIS, Greece’s prime minister, cast it as a love story. “History…wants us together,” he told Emmanuel Macron, France’s president, in Paris on September 28th. “So does geography.” He serenaded Mr Macron with tales of Ionian seafarers landing in Marseilles and the French Philhellenes who backed Greece’s war of independence. Mr Macron said that Greece was “a civilisation that has inspired us and enabled us to be ourselves”. Then the two leaders consummated their courtship with what they are calling a “strategic” defence pact.

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The Franco-Greek relationship has been forged in rivalry with Turkey, which last year squared off with Greek warships around Cyprus, and with French ones off Libya. An anti-Turkey bloc, including France, Greece, Israel, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates, has gradually taken shape. Mr Mitsotakis, eager to secure French support and bolster his own armed forces, had already agreed to buy 18 Rafale warplanes from France in January, at a cost of €2.5bn ($2.9bn), and six more in September. Now he will also buy three new French frigates, with the option of one more.

That is a boon for Greece’s navy, which has just 13 ageing frigates against Turkey’s newer fleet of 16. It is also a well-timed consolation prize for Naval Group, the majority-state-owned French arms firm which Australia turfed out of a lucrative sub marine contract on September 15th as part of its AUKUS pact with America and Britain. Naval Group is building the new frigates in Brittany; Greece is supposed to take delivery of its first in 2025.

 

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US Occupation of Areas in Syria Unacceptable: Russian FM – World news

From www.tasnimnews.com
2021-09-26 05:56:00

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Lavrov said at  a press conference on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly meetings that  there is  one remaining hotbed in Syria, in Idlib, and there is no problem in combating terrorism there as “our military sites  and those of the Syrian army come under  attacks in the de-escalation zones and we will not allow this issue to continue”.

In the same context, Lavruv condemned US occupation of the two areas of al-Tanf and al-Rukban in Syria, describing it as “unacceptable”, SANA reported.

He also condemned Western counties’ insistence on the mechanism of delivering aid to Syria without obtaining the acceptance of the Syrian government.

 

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Iran’s nuclear program has crossed ‘all red lines’: Israel PM

From www.france24.com
2021-09-27 21:40:14

Excerpt:

 

Issued on: 27/09/2021 – 23:40

United Nations (United States) (AFP)

Israel’s Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said Monday Iran had breached all the “red lines” aimed at curbing its nuclear weapons program, but that Israel “will not allow” Tehran to get the bomb.

In his first address to the United Nations General Assembly, Bennett claimed the Islamic republic had in recent years taken “a major leap forward” in its nuclear production capacity and ability to enrich weapons-grade uranium.

“Iran’s nuclear weapon program is at a critical point, all red lines have been crossed,” said Bennett, who took office in June.

“There are those in the world who seem to see Iran’s pursuit of nuclear weapons as an inevitable reality, as a done deal, or they have just become tired of hearing about it,” the 49-year-old premier told the world body.

“Israel doesn’t have that privilege. We cannot tire. We will not tire. Israel will not allow Iran to acquire a nuclear weapon.”

Iran responded rapidly, with its ambassador to the UN, Majid Takht Ravanchi, saying on Twitter that Bennett’s speech was “full of lies.”

“That regime is in no position to discuss our peaceful program when it has hundreds of nuclear warheads,” he said.

Iran, which says its nuclear program is for civilian purposes, said Friday that it expected talks to resume soon on reviving a 2015 landmark agreement scaling back its program in exchange for sanctions relief.

The agreement started to fall apart in 2018 when the US withdrew from it and reinstated sanctions. Iran in turn again started to ramp up its nuclear activities.

– After Netanyahu –

Bennett’s predecessor Benjamin Netanyahu, who was in power from 2009 until June, was among the world’s fiercest critics of the accord, regularly condemning it at international forums and cheering former US president Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw.

Bennett, a foreign policy hawk who heads…

 

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