Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and chairman of High Council for National Reconcialtion Abdullah Abdullah.
Amid reports of a surge in the number of Covid-19 cases in Afghanistan, the Kabul government is facing mounting criticism over alleged misuse of international funds to battle the pandemic, the media reported
A Kabul-based anti-corruption organization, Integrity Watch Afghanistan (IWA), on Friday said the government was not ready to provide the details of the money it spent for combating the pandemic, reports TOLO News.
“The Afghan government has not been accountable in spending Covid-19 budget, in many cases, either they provided us incomplete information or refrained from providing details about it,” said Sayed Ikram Afzali, the head of IWA.
The Ministry of Finance said the institutions that were assigned to fight the health crisis have not reported back about the scale and area of the fund spending.
“The overall money provided by international donors and the budget that was allocated by the government for fighting Covid-19 are estimated to 19.8 billion Afghanis,” said Shamroz Khan Masjidi, spokesman for the Ministry.
The Attorney General’s Office said that some cases of corruption against former and current officials of the Ministry of Public Health and a hospital officials in some provinces have been investigated.
“Investigation of the cases related to four provinces has been done. Our colleagues are in the process of concluding them. They will soon issue their verdicts on it,” TOLO News quoted Jamshid Rasouli, a spokesman for the Attorney General’s Office, as saying.
On Friday, the Ministry of Public Health on Friday reported 77 new Covid-cases and two fatalities.
As a result the overall caseload in the country has now increased to 39,639, while the death toll stood at 1,472.
New Delhi: MoS External Affairs V. Muraleedharan participated in the 27th Regional Forum Ministerial via video conferencing in New Delhi on Sep 12, 2020. (Photo: IANS/MEA)
MoS External Affairs V. Muraleedharan (Photo: IANS/MEA)
Calling out Pakistan’s attempts to disrupt the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), India has warned that it will slide to irrelevance and be shut out of global decision-making if attempts were made to divide it by venting bilateral grievances.
“If we take up issues that divide rather than unite us, reducing our movement to a platform for venting bilateral grievances or for embarrassing fellow Members, we will soon become a weak and irrelevant entity, with no say at all in global decision making,” India’s Minister of State for External Affairs V. Muraleedharan told the virtual Ministerial Meeting of the NAM on Friday.
Theme of the meeting commemorating the 65th anniversary of the adoption of the movement’s founding principles was “More Relevant, United and Effective NAM against Emerging Global Challenges, including Covid-19”, but Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi raised the Kashmir issue.
Muraleedharan did not mention Quereshi or Pakistan by name but it was clear to whom his message against divisiveness and raising of irrelevant issues was directed.
“Individual members must stop and think before raising issues that are not on the agenda and which find no resonance in the wider membership. NAM never was and never can be a platform for pursuits aimed at undermining the territorial integrity of a State by another State.”
Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi (Xinhua/Asad/IANS)
The second of the 10 founding principles of NAM is “respect for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of all nations”, he added.
On the meeting’s pressing issue of dealing with the Covid-19 crisis and rebuilding the world in its destructive wake, he said: “NAM’s unique tradition of promoting South-South cooperation can provide a way out as societies look to rebuild and regenerate in the wake of this crisis.”
He recalled Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s assurance at the UN General Assembly last month that “India’s immense vaccine production and delivery capacity will be used to help all humanity in fighting the crisis”.
But the world was also facing the threat of terrorism and other imminent dangers, Muraleedharan said.
Terrorism and its “enablers continue to spread their tentacles unabated”, he said in a message also directed against Islamabad.
Listing the other threats to the world, he said: “Misinformation and fake news are wreaking havoc on social cohesion and collective security. Climate change has become an existential threat, especially to the most vulnerable SIDS (Small Island Developing States) countries. Humanitarian emergencies are straining capacities. Cybersecurity threats and the uneven impact of frontier technologies are causing turbulence.
“NAM has the potential to take the lead in addressing the primary issues of our times that demand global cooperation.”
Friday’s meeting commemorated the adoption in 1955 of NAM’s founding principles known as the Bandung Declaration.
It was named for the place in Indonesia where leaders of 29 countries adopted it at a meeting organised at the initiative of India’s former Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and President Suharto of Indonesia.
Union Minister of External Affairs S. Jaishankar
Muraleedharan said: “Over the decades, these core principles have served as anchors in the political and socio-economic journeys of many of our nations. These principles have helped us overcome immense challenges such as colonialism and apartheid, and are today reflected in our steadfast support to the cause of Palestine.”
While Pakistan, like China, was present at the Bandung meeting, it spurned non-alignment by entering into military alliances with the US and other countries, and joined NAM only in 1979.
In his speech to the Friday meeting, Qureshi “expressed concern” at what he said was the denial of the right to self-determination under UN Security Council resolutions.
However, the principal Security Council resolution on the subject demands that Pakistan withdraw its forces and people from all of Kashmir.
Qureshi also asserted that the “struggle of the people of Jammu and Kashmir is being brutally suppressed”.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (Yoav Dudkevitch/JINI via Xinhua/IANS)
Israel imposed a nationwide lockdown ahead of the Jewish High Holidays last month to rein in the country’s surging coronavirus outbreak….Reports Asian Lite News
The Israeli government has extended ban on public gatherings, including widespread protests against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, for an additional week.Arab News Reports
Government ministers approved the measure until Oct. 13 by a telephone vote, the Prime Minister’s Office said in a statement late on Wednesday.
Israel imposed a nationwide lockdown ahead of the Jewish High Holidays last month to rein in the country’s surging coronavirus outbreak.
The Knesset, Israel’s parliament, passed a law last week allowing the government to declare a special week-long state of emergency to limit participation in assemblies because of the pandemic.
The government then declared the state of emergency, limiting all public gatherings to within a km of a person’s home.
Netanyahu has said the restrictions are driven by safety concerns as the country battles a runaway pandemic, but critics and protesters accuse him of tightening the lockdown to muzzle their movement and expression of dissent.
The Gulf Cooperation Council, GCC, has raised “great concern” over the continued war between Azerbaijan and Armenia on the Nagorno-Karabakh region, resulting in casualties and injuries from both countries.
In a statement, GCC Secretary General Nayef Al Hajraf said that the Council ”urges Azerbaijan and Armenia to cease-fire and enter into comprehensive negotiations to reach an inclusive political solution in line with the UN Security Council resolutions and the international law.”
This dispute threatens stability and security of the Caucasus, as well as international peace, he noted as quoted by KUNA.
He appealed to the Security Council to assume its role for an immediate ceasefire and a political solution to the dispute to protect the lives of civilians and guarantee peace and security in this “sensitive area in the world.”
Jerusalem, Sept. 13, 2020 (Xinhua) -- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gives a briefing on COVID-19 pandemic in Israel at his office in Jerusalem, on Sept. 13, 2020. Israel will reimpose a nationwide lockdown for three weeks, beginning on Friday, to slow a rapid resurgence of coronavirus infections, the government decided on Sunday. (Yoav Dudkevitch/JINI via Xinhua/IANS)
The deal had been discussed for years, but the neighbours were only able to finalize it after Israel and the two Gulf Arab states signed a historic agreement last month…Reports Asian Lite News
Israel has inked an aviation agreement with Jordan.The agreement will allow flights from the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain to fly through Israeli airspace, it said on Thursday.Arab News Reports
The deal had been discussed for years, but the neighbours were only able to finalize it after Israel and the two Gulf Arab states signed a historic agreement last month to normalize ties, Israel’s Transportation Ministry said.
Jordanian officials had no immediate comment.
With commercial planes now able to fly through the Israel-Jordan corridor, flight times for some routes between Asia and Europe and North America, including flights from Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates, will be shorter, the Israeli ministry said.
Its statement did not specify any other countries that could benefit from the new arrangement.
US Treasury on Thursday imposed sanctions on Iran’s banking sector, making a signifiant stride aimed at impairing the arch-rival’s economy weeks ahead of US elections.Arab News Reports
The Treasury Department said it was designating 18 major Iranian banks, a step that could largely cut off the nation of 80 million people from the world’s financial system just as it tries to cope with the Covid-19 pandemic.
The Trump administration did not list specific accusations against most of the banks, instead declaring broadly that the entire Iranian financial sector may be used to support the government’s contested nuclear program and its “malign regional influence.”
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said that the action would “stop illicit access to US dollars.”
“Our sanctions programs will continue until Iran stops its support of terrorist activities and ends its nuclear programs,” he said in a statement.
The Treasury Department said it was exempting transactions in humanitarian goods such as food and medicine. But European diplomats say that US sanctions nonetheless have dire humanitarian consequences, with few institutions in other nations willing to take the risks of legal action in the world’s largest economy.
U.S. President Donald Trump. (Photo by Ting Shen/Xinhua/IANS)
Reduction of troops and to pull the country out of “endless wars”, have been a part of Trump’s re-election campaign promises…Reports Asian Lite News
US President Donald Trump has hinted that American troops stationed in Afghanistan should be “home by Christmas”. The Decision came following an announcement last month that Washington would withdraw thousands of military personnel from the war-torn country by November.
Taking to Twitter late Wednesday night, the President said: “We should have the small remaining number of our brave men and women serving in Afghanistan home by Christmas.”
No were no other details available immediate on Trump’s remarks.
General Kenneth F. McKenzie, Jr., Commander, US Central Command.
Last month, Kenneth McKenzie, Commander of the US Central Command, told several media outlets that American troops in Afghanistan would also be decreased to about 4,500 level by early November.
In August, Pentagon chief Mark Esper also confirmed that the troops would be lowered to less than 5,000 by the end of November.
The previous month, the Pentagon had said that Washington maintained its force level in Afghanistan at mid-8,000s, meeting the conditions of the US-Taliban agreement signed in late February.
WASHINGTON, July 16, 2019 (Xinhua) — U.S. Secretary of Defense nominee Mark Esper testifies before the Senate Armed Services Committee during his confirmation hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington D.C., the United States, on July 16, 2019. (Xinhua/Ting Shen/IANS)
The agreement had called for a full withdrawal of the US military forces from Afghanistan by May 2021 if the Taliban meets the conditions of the deal, including severing ties with terrorist groups.
Reduction of troops and to pull the country out of “endless wars”, have been a part of Trump’s re-election campaign promises.
The war in Afghanistan, which has caused about 2,400 US military deaths, is the longest one in American history.
French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian (Xinhua/Zheng Huansong/IANS)
France has stepped up its voice against Turkey as it accused Ankara of “military involvement” on the side of Azerbaijan in its conflict with Armenia over the breakaway Nagorno-Karabakh region, reports Arab News.
The statement made by the French Foreign Minister on this regard has become the latest volley in a war of words between Paris and Ankara.
“The new aspect is that there is military involvement by Turkey which risks fuelling the internationalisation of the conflict,” French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian told parliament.
Armenia and Azerbaijan, two former Soviet republics, have for decades been locked in a conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh, an ethnically Armenian area which broke away from Azerbaijan in a 1990s war that cost about 30,000 lives.
Ghani’s trip comes as direct talks between negotiating teams of the Afghan government and the Taliban were yet to begin…Reports Asian Lite News
Afghan President Ashraf Ghani embarked on a two-nation tour to Kuwait and Qatar on Monday, the Presidential Palace announced in a statement.
According to the statement, Ghani is being accompanied by First Vice President Amrullah Saleh, acting Foreign Minister Mohammad Hanif Atmar, National Security Advisor Hamdullah Mohib, lower house and upper house members and several other high-ranking government officials, TOLO News reported.
Heads of prominent Afghan media are also accompanying the President.
In Kuwait, Ghani will pay tribute to the late Emir Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, said Sediq Sediqqi, presidential spokesperson.
Ghani’s trip comes as direct talks between negotiating teams of the Afghan government and the Taliban were yet to begin.
It has been 22 days since the opening of the intra-Afghan talks.
The negotiating teams have held seven contact group meetings, but could not agree on two disputed points.
Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan. (File Photo: IANS)
Imran Khan
A virtual meeting of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) plenary scheduled for October 21-23 will decide if Pakistan should be excluded from its ‘grey list, based on a review of Islamabads actions against money laundering and terror financing, it was reported on Monday.
The FATF plenary was initially slated to take place, but the global watchdog against financial crimes temporarily postponed all mutual evaluations and follow-up deadlines in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, Dawn news said in a reported.
The Paris-based agency also put a general pause in the review process, thus giving Pakistan an additional four months to meet the requirements.
In February, the FATF had given Pakistan a four-month grace period to complete its 27-point action plan after it noted that Islamabad had delivered on 14 points but missed 13 other targets.
Financial Action Task Force (FATF) Plenary meeting in Paris. (Photo: Twitter/@FATFNews)
On July 28, the government reported to Parliament compliance with 14 points of the 27-point action plan and with 10 of the 40 recommendations of the FATF.
By September 16, however, the joint session of the parliament amended about 15 laws to upgrade its legal system matching international standards as required by the FATF.
The government has already submitted its report to the FATF and its affiliated review groups and responded to their comments, detailing compliance with the 13 outstanding action points, the Dawn news report added.
The plenary had formally placed Pakistan in the grey list in June 2018 due to ‘strategic deficiencies’.
