The Afghan government said that the roots of the al-Qaeda network are still alive in Afghanistan and the group still poses a threat to the country…reports Asian Lite News
Despite the Taliban’s claim that it seeks to maintain peace in Afghanistan, Kabul on Monday revealed that the terror outfit still maintains close ties with Al-Qaeda.
The Afghan government said that the roots of the al-Qaeda network are still alive in Afghanistan and the group still poses a threat to the country and the world and is collaborating with the Taliban, reported The News International.
“Al-Qaeda is still active in Afghanistan, Al-Qaeda was not owned by bin Laden,” said Atiqullah Amarkhil, a former military officer.
Osama Bin Laden, the founder of the militant terrorist organisation al-Qaeda, was killed by US security forces in Abbottabad on May 2, 2011. He was shot in the head, during the firefight in the compound in Pakistan, where he was taking shelter.
“Right now, al-Qaeda and Talib are not two different ideologic topics; they are beyond that as they have intermarried within their families,” National Directorate of Security (NDS) chief Ahmad Zia Saraj said last week, reported The News International.
But the Taliban has dismissed any type of relations with al-Qaeda. The US presence in Afghanistan over the last 20 years was due to the existence of al-Qaeda. US President Joe Biden last month said the US has achieved its objectives in the Afghanistan war, reported The News International.
Terming war on terror as America’s longest war, Biden said: “Now, as a result of those efforts, as we bring to an end America’s longest war and draw down the last of our troops from Afghanistan.”
The United States has begun pulling out its forces from Afghanistan. Biden announced earlier this month the decision to withdraw troops from the country starting May 1, with the aim of complete withdrawal from Afghanistan by September 11, which would mark the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks that sparked the war in Afghanistan, the longest conflict in American history. (ANI)
More than 20 people killed in clashes in last 24 hours in Afghanistan…reports Asian Lite News
The Taliban has conducted 141 attacks in Afghanistan over the last 24 hours, mostly in Uruzgan, Zabul, Kandahar, Nangarhar, Badakhshan and Takhar provinces, sources said.
Information obtained by TOLO News shows that at least 20 people were killed in the attacks.
Meanwhile, the Defence Ministry said that more than 100 Taliban fighters were also killed in the last 24 hours.
The militant group has however, rejected the figure.
Data collected by TOLO News revealed that in the last 30 days, 438 members of Afghan forces and civilians were killed and more than 500 others were injured.
The data shows that 190 bombings, targeted attacks and offensives took place in the last month.
The figures come as US forces started their withdrawal from Afghanistan on May 1.
The Defence Ministry said that Camp Antonik in the Washir district in the southern province of Helmand was officially handed over to the Afghan National Army’s 215 Maiwand Corp on Sunday.
The Ministry said the camp will be used as a base for Afghan special forces.
With US President Joe Biden extending the deadline for withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan, the security in the national capital was ramped up on Saturday as the city prepared for reaction from the insurgent Taliban, according to reports.
The US troops are still present in Afghanistan after Biden ordered extension of withdrawal deadline beyond May 1 which was agreed in by the Donald Trump administration.
According to media reports, an increased military presence and security at checkpoints were visible in the Afghan capital, and a security source said the city had been placed on “high alert”. Military patrols and security were being increased in main cities around the country.
Last week, five soldiers and eight militants were killed when fighting erupted in Afghanistan’s northern Badakhshan province, a local source confirmed on Sunday.
The clashes broke out when armed militants stormed an Afghan Regional Army’s checkpoint in surrounding areas of restive Wardoj district at midnight, Abdul Raziq from the Afghan national army’s 217 Pamir Corps told the Xinhua news agency.
The recruitment rallies began in February and are still continuing….reports Anwesha Bhaumik
China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) is for the first time forming exclusive military formations manned by ethnic Tibetans.
India’s external and military intelligence officials told IANS that senior PLA officials are touring specific areas of Tibet to raise the Tibetan-only force.
But they said that most of the recruits are mixed Tibetans — mostly children of Tibetan mothers and Han Chinese fathers or otherwise.
Most of them are children of ex-PLA Han Chinese soldiers who got married to Tibetans, intelligence officials said.
PLA officers based in Lhasa have been to Ngari Prefecture in the far west of Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR) and then to the border county of Zanda or Tsamda County to recruit for the Special Tibetan Army Unit.
People’s Liberation Army(Wikipedia)
The recruitment rallies began in February and are still continuing.
“It is a fairly long process because the security vetting process after the initial selection on the basis of a tough physical and IQ test is very extensive,” said an intelligence official monitoring the process.
He said the Chinese authorities are keen to ensure that no anti-Beijing Tibetan sneaks into the force.
“So not only are Tibetan localities with a history of protest against Beijing’s rule scrupulously avoided, but past records of individual recruits even in the most secure places are screened extensively,” the official said, but on condition of anonymity for obvious reasons.
The PLA also carried out a phased recruitment drive in Lhasa to induct many Tibetans.
People’s Liberation Army(Wikipedia)
The plan is to raise a four battalion force initially for special operations on the lines of India’s secretive Tibetan force, the Special Frontier Force or SFF.
The SFF was raised in 1960s by Major General Sujan Singh Uban, a legendary expert in irregular warfare, for special operations inside Tibet in the event of a conflict with China.
During last year’s Ladakh standoff, the SFF commandoes unleashed take-and-hold operations on some unoccupied heights around Pangong Tso which finally forced the Chinese to settle on a mutually agreed pullback.
The SFF’s success and the ease with which these Tibetans negotiated the icy heights on the Himalayas convinced PLA commanders they would do better than Han Chinese troops.
“These new recruitment drives are happening because units with Han Chinese troops are suffering serious health problems such as severe mountain sickness and high altitude pulmonary edema,” said an Indian medical service expert in high altitude sickness.
According to PLA Daily, China’s military has framed guidelines to help troops serving in Tibet save themselves from altitude sickness.
In the 2 million plus PLA, only 3,000 to 4,000 Tibetans serve at the moment.
A video of Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) personnel is doing the rounds on the Internet with the national flag celebrating Republic Day at 17000 feet in snow today. The temperature in Ladakh at present is minus 20 degrees Celsius. In the 1 min 57 sec video the Indo-Tibetan Border Police’s “Himveers” could be seen chanting ‘Bharat Mata Ki Jai’ and ‘Vande Mataram’.
“So this recruitment is significant,” said Lt Gen J.R. Mukherjee, former Chief of Staff in India’s Eastern Army.
He told IANS the Chinese have been looking to recruit both Tibetans and Nepali Gurkhas.
“They have failed to get Gurkhas because they are tied to the Indian army for historical and emotional reasons, so they have to find Tibetans because an average Chinese soldier cannot match our boys in the high Himalayas physically,” Mukherjee said.
Falcon is not hearing the falconer. Taliban, the creation of the Pakistan army and the ISI, ignore the Rawalpindi request to join the Afghan peace talks in Istanbul …. Writes Mrityunjoy Kumar Jha
Pakistan is not happy with the Taliban. A report by prominent Pakistani journalist Hamid Mir published in The News, a daily newspaper, says that Pakistani security officials have approached the Afghan Taliban leadership in Doha and made it very clear to them that their refusal to participate in the Istanbul Conference was a big blow to the Afghan Peace Process and if they do not show some flexibility they will have to face the consequences.
“Enough is enough” message has been given to the Talibani leadership and the same message was conveyed to the Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani by the Pakistani delegation last week in Kabul.
According to Pakistani sources, the news has emanated from an “off the record” briefing by Pakistan’s army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa at an “Iftar” party hosted by him for a bunch of “trusted” media persons at the military headquarters in Rawalpindi. Bajwa shared a lot of “information” with them but asked the journalists not to attribute the news to army sources.
The report says that the Taliban thinks that India started engaging with Pakistan recently just because India does not want Islamabad to object to its new role in Afghanistan.
This information was “leaked” by the Pakistani army chief Bajwa at a time when a lot of key changes are taking place in Afghanistan, which have crucial bearing on Pakistan’s national security and strategic interests in the long run.
Bajwa is worried because he does not trust the Taliban and he would not like them moving closer to India. Pakistani security agencies found some links between Afghan Taliban and groups related to Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), “They are two faces of the same coin.” The PTT is staunchly opposed to the Pakistani establishment.
The India factor
Bajwa saw the ground situation changing last year when US Special Representative for Afghanistan Reconciliation Zalmay Khalilzad said that India should discuss its concerns on terrorism directly with the Taliban. The US envoy had discussed how India could play a “more active role” in the Afghan reconciliation process during his talks in Delhi.
Ashraf-Ghani
Khalilzad told Indian media that it is for India to decide its role, but engagement between India and all the key players in Afghanistan, not only in terms of the government but also in terms of political forces, society and the Afghan body politic, is appropriate given India’s regional and global position. India is an important force in Afghanistan and it would be appropriate for the India-Taliban engagement to take place.
This was followed by a Taliban statement saying the group would like to have a positive relationship with India and welcomed New Delhi’s cooperation in Afghanistan. The Taliban also said that it does not support Pakistan’s ‘holy war’ against India and that Kashmir was India’s internal matter.
Taliban’s spokesperson Mohammad Suhail Shaheen told an Indian audience through a webinar speech last year in April, that the group wants to build ties with India and even was willing to enact a law against foreign terror groups conducting operations against any other country.
“Linking the issue of Kashmir with that of Afghanistan by some parties will not aid in improving the crisis at hand because the issue of Afghanistan is not related.
Pakistan’s military establishment feels that Taliban may be looking for an opportunity to break away from Pakistan stranglehold to chart out an independent path by taking on board all sections of Afghan society for a futuristic settlement to the Afghan problem.
The current Taliban leadership is known to be based in Doha. Mullah Baradar, the Taliban chief negotiator in Qatar was held by Pakistan for close to 10 years. Similarly, many other senior leaders would want to break free. In the past Taliban leaders have shown an inclination to chalk out an independent path without the baggage of Pakistani patronage leading to factional fights.
While some experts believe that Taliban wants to change its image which has been that of a pawn of Pakistan, others believe that it is merely a ploy by the Taliban to project a better image.
Afghanistan was the focus at the Heart of Asia Conference held in Tajikistan on 30 March and India was represented by the External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar said, “India has been supportive of all the efforts being made to accelerate the dialogue between the Afghan government and the Taliban, including intra-Afghan negotiations”. He also declared India’s support for a regional process to be convened under the aegis of the United Nations.
According to experts, India wants to safeguard its interests and investments in Afghanistan which run into billions. This calls for good relations with the upcoming leadership in Kabul, irrespective of who rules. This would also help to avert any future threats from its economic and political foes, both Islamabad and Beijing.
India’s soft power is likely to have some influence over the Afghan government. If the Taliban comes to power, it may consider a positive political approach to New Delhi as India can play an important role in the development of Afghanistan.
One simulation indicated that by the end of this century global sea-level rise caused by the melting of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet would increase 20 percent by the water expulsion mechanism…reports Asian Lite News.
The global sea-level rise caused by the melting of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet is likely to increase by 20 percent by the end of this century, researchers have warned.
The global sea level rise linked to melting of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet has been significantly underestimated in previous studies, meaning sea level in a warming world will be greater than anticipated, said researchers from Harvard University in the US.
The study, published in the journal Science Advances, made new calculations, referred to as a water expulsion mechanism.
This occurs when the solid bedrock the West Antarctic Ice Sheet sits on rebounds upward as the ice melts and the total weight of the ice sheet decreases. The bedrock sits below sea level so when it lifts, it pushes water from the surrounding area into the ocean, adding to global sea level rise.
One simulation indicated that by the end of this century global sea level rise caused by melting of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet would increase 20 per cent by the water expulsion mechanism.
The new predictions showed that in the case of a total collapse of the ice sheet, global sea level rise estimates would be amplified by an additional metre within 1,000 years.
“The magnitude of the effect shocked us. Previous studies that had considered the mechanism dismissed it as inconsequential,” said Linda Pan, from the varsity.
“If the West Antarctic Ice Sheet collapsed, the most widely cited estimate of the resulting global mean sea level rise that would result is 3.2 metres,” added Evelyn Powell, graduate student at the varsity.
“What we’ve shown is that the water expulsion mechanism will add an additional metre, or 30 per cent, to the total,” said Powell.
The researchers noted their calculations show that, in order to accurately estimate global sea level rise associated with melting ice sheets, scientists need to incorporate both the water expulsion effect and the mantle’s low viscosity beneath Antarctica.
“Sea level rise doesn’t stop when the ice stops melting,” Pan said. “The damage we are doing to our coastlines will continue for centuries.”
Pakistan Health minister expressed gratitude for the China’s support to Pakistan at this difficult time…reports Asian Lite News
Special Assistant to the Pakistani Prime Minister on Health Faisal Sultan said on Monday that the local production of China’s single-dose CanSino Covid-19 vaccine is about to commence in the country to facilitate its vaccination drive.
Thanking China for supporting Pakistan in its fight against the Covid-19 pandemic, Sultan told local media that China remains a strong partner which had donated vaccines and other supplies and is also transferring technology of vaccine production to Pakistan, the Xinhua news agency reported.
The start of the local production of the CanSino vaccine will gradually make Pakistan largely self-sufficient in meeting its Covid-19 vaccine needs, he said.
vaccine jabs
Sultan said that out of 100 million people eligible for vaccination in the country, the government aimed to vaccinate 70 million by the end of 2021, adding that currently, Pakistan is vaccinating nearly 150,000 people every day, while the government is making efforts to reach a target of 300,000 vaccinations daily.
Pakistan has a population of 220 million and over 2.5 million people have already been vaccinated owing to the proactive strategy of the government for vaccine procurement, the official said.
Urging people to continue to observe the standard operating procedures (SOPs) to stop the spread of the virus, he said “vaccines are very important to prevent the virus from spreading, but what is even more important is following SOPs.”
According to Pakistan’s National Command and Operation Center, the country had reported 834,146 confirmed cases with 18,149 deaths and 728,044 recoveries as of Sunday.
According to government data, the infection rate of Nepal now stands high by 13.8 per cent as compared to earlier weeks…reports Asian Lite News
Nepal has recorded an all-time high of 7,211 new cases of COVID-19 in the last 24 hours as the Himalayan Nation has struggled to deal with the second wave of a pandemic that has taken the country by surprise.
According to the Ministry of Health and Population (MoHP), a total of 17,770 samples were tested using Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) and Antigen Test. Out of those tested in the last 24 hours, 7,211 were detected positive for coronavirus.
According to government data, the infection rate of Nepal now stands high by 13.8 per cent as compared to earlier weeks.”This shows that Nepal also falls under nations in the world with the high infection rate,” Dr Birajman Karmacharya, Director at Public Health and Community Program of Dhulikhel Hospital said.
Nepal
“Positivity ratio of those tested now stands at 37 per cent. While Karnali has the highest positivity ratio at 67.9, Lumbini has the ration of 61.3 percent. The ratio should have stayed lower than 5 percent,” Karmacharya added.
There are currently 48,711 active cases of COVID-19 across the country. Of them, 3,530 are in isolation centers and 45,181 are in home isolation. (ANI)
Taliban thinks that India started engaging with Pakistan recently just because India does not want Islamabad to object to its new role in Afghanistan, reports Mrityunjoy Kumar Jha
Pakistan is not happy with the Taliban. A report by prominent Pakistani journalist Hamid Mir published in The News, a daily newspaper, says that Pakistani security officials have approached the Afghan Taliban leadership in Doha and made it very clear to them that their refusal to participate in the Istanbul Conference was a big blow to the Afghan Peace Process and if they do not show some flexibility they will have to face the consequences.
“Enough is enough” message has been given to the Talibani leadership and the same message was conveyed to the Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani by the Pakistani delegation last week in Kabul.
According to Pakistani sources, the news has emanated from an “off the record” briefing by Pakistan’s army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa at an “Iftar” party hosted by him for a bunch of “trusted” media persons at the military headquarters in Rawalpindi. Bajwa shared a lot of “information” with them but asked the journalists not to attribute the news to army sources.
The report says that the Taliban thinks that India started engaging with Pakistan recently just because India does not want Islamabad to object to its new role in Afghanistan.
Pakistan Generals worried that India may bond with Taliban
This information was “leaked” by the Pakistani army chief Bajwa at a time when a lot of key changes are taking place in Afghanistan, which have crucial bearing on Pakistan’s national security and strategic interests in the long run.
Bajwa is worried because he does not trust the Taliban and he would not like them moving closer to India. Pakistani security agencies found some links between Afghan Taliban and groups related to Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), “They are two faces of the same coin.” The PTT is staunchly opposed to the Pakistani establishment.
The India factor
Bajwa saw the ground situation changing last year when US Special Representative for Afghanistan Reconciliation Zalmay Khalilzad said that India should discuss its concerns on terrorism directly with the Taliban. The US envoy had discussed how India could play a “more active role” in the Afghan reconciliation process during his talks in Delhi.
Khalilzad told Indian media that it is for India to decide its role, but engagement between India and all the key players in Afghanistan, not only in terms of the government but also in terms of political forces, society and the Afghan body politic, is appropriate given India’s regional and global position. India is an important force in Afghanistan and it would be appropriate for the India-Taliban engagement to take place.
This was followed by a Taliban statement saying the group would like to have a positive relationship with India and welcomed New Delhi’s cooperation in Afghanistan.
The Taliban also said that it does not support Pakistan’s ‘holy war’ against India and that Kashmir was India’s internal matter.
Pakistan Generals worried that India may bond with Taliban
Taliban’s spokesperson Mohammad Suhail Shaheen told an Indian audience through a webinar speech last year in April, that the group wants to build ties with India and even was willing to enact a law against foreign terror groups conducting operations against any other country.
“Linking the issue of Kashmir with that of Afghanistan by some parties will not aid in improving the crisis at hand because the issue of Afghanistan is not related.
Pakistan’s military establishment feels that Taliban may be looking for an opportunity to break away from Pakistan stranglehold to chart out an independent path by taking on board all sections of Afghan society for a futuristic settlement to the Afghan problem.
The current Taliban leadership is known to be based in Doha. Mullah Baradar, the Taliban chief negotiator in Qatar was held by Pakistan for close to 10 years. Similarly, many other senior leaders would want to break free. In the past Taliban leaders have shown an inclination to chalk out an independent path without the baggage of Pakistani patronage leading to factional fights.
While some experts believe that Taliban wants to change its image which has been that of a pawn of Pakistan, others believe that it is merely a ploy by the Taliban to project a better image.
Afghanistan was the focus at the Heart of Asia Conference held in Tajikistan on 30 March and India was represented by the External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar said, “India has been supportive of all the efforts being made to accelerate the dialogue between the Afghan government and the Taliban, including intra-Afghan negotiations”. He also declared India’s support for a regional process to be convened under the aegis of the United Nations.
According to experts, India wants to safeguard its interests and investments in Afghanistan which run into billions. This calls for good relations with the upcoming leadership in Kabul, irrespective of who rules. This would also help to avert any future threats from its economic and political foes, both Islamabad and Beijing.
India’s soft power is likely to have some influence over the Afghan government. If the Taliban comes to power, it may consider a positive political approach to New Delhi as India can play an important role in the development of Afghanistan.
(This content is being carried under an arrangement with indianarrative.com)
OIC’s Independent Permanent Human Rights Commission said that the legislation will permit arbitrary detention of Muslims who will be subject to human rights violations without any legal oversight….reports Asian Lite News
The Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) has condemned Sri Lankan legislation that allows for the creation of “reintegration centers” as part of a campaign against violent extremist religious ideology, according to Arab News reported.
OIC’s Independent Permanent Human Rights Commission said that the legislation will permit arbitrary detention of Muslims who will be subject to human rights violations without any legal oversight.
According to the report, it also said that a newly imposed ban on the wearing of the burqa, under the pretext of counterterrorism measures, “squarely violates minorities’ rights to freedom of religion guaranteed in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.”
It also expressed serious concerns over the ban, saying that such blanket measures will violate Muslim women’s religious freedom.
The commission added that such “majoritarian rhetoric and discriminatory measures are contrary to the ideals of pluralism, and counterproductive to social cohesion.”
The commission urged the Sri Lankan government to fulfil its international human rights obligations by protecting the rights of its Muslim minority to practice their religion, free from any coercion or discrimination, it was reported.
Sri Lanka’s Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa (Xinhua/Tang Lu/IANS)
Earlier, New York-based Human Rights Watch has slammed the new “de-radicalisation” law in Sri Lanka which they see as another weapon targeting dissidents and minorities in the fractured nation, media reported.
The right group has criticised that new rules expanded the “draconian and abusive” Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) — which a previous government promised to scrap but never did, it was reported.
Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa had announced new rules under the PTA allowing the detention of anyone suspected of causing “acts of violence or religious, racial or communal disharmony”.
The Human Rights Watch has demanded that Sri Lanka should immediately withdraw the rules, which the government said was aimed at the “de-radicalisation” of religious extremists, according to reports.
Geisel condemned the throwing of bottles and rocks, the burning barricades on the streets and especially the violence toward police…reports Asian Lite News
At least 93 police officers were injured and 354 protesters were detained after traditional May Day rallies in Berlin turned violent, the city’s top security official said Sunday.
More than 20 different rallies took place in the German capital on Saturday and the vast majority of them were peaceful. However, a leftist march of 8,000 people through the city’s Neukoelln and Kreuzberg neighborhood, which has seen clashes in past decades, turned violent. Protesters threw bottles and rocks at officers, and burned garbage cans and wooden pallets in the streets.
“Violence against police officers and a blind, destructive rage has nothing to do with political protest,” Berlin state interior minister Andreas Geisel said.
Geisel condemned the throwing of bottles and rocks, the burning barricades on the streets and especially the violence toward police.
“The high number of injured officer leaves me stunned. I wish all of those who were injured in the line of duty a quick recovery,” he said.
There’s a nightly curfew in most parts of Germany because of the high number of coronavirus infections, but political protests and religious gatherings are exempt from the curfew.
Pedestrians wearing face masks are seen in Berlin, capital of Germany
In France, May Day marches in Paris and the southern city of Lyon were also marred by scattered violence, with riot officers targeted by small groups of violent demonstrators who tossed projectiles and trash bins. Police made 56 arrests — 46 of them in Paris, the Interior Ministry said Sunday. It said six officers suffered injuries, three of them in Paris.
The CGT labor union that organized the main Paris march said violent demonstrators also targeted its marchers at the end of the rally, showering them with projectiles, blows and homophobic, sexist and racist insults. The union said 21 of its participants were injured, four seriously.
