Afghanistan minute by minute: the Taliban crush those who oppose it
Afghans celebrate their country’s 102nd Independence Day with the national flag in Kabul. (Photo by Wakeel Khader/AFP via Getty Images) A crowd of Afghans in.....»»
IS parcel bomb kills 4
The Islamic State jihadist group claimed on its Telegram channel Friday that it was behind a blast at a sports club that killed four people in the Afghan capital the night before. The Sunni Muslim extremist group said it had used a parcel bomb that “IS fighters placed in a room where Shiites gather.” The explosion occurred Thursday evening at a commercial center in the Dasht-e-Barchi neighborhood of Kabul, an enclave of the historically oppressed Shiite Hazara community, according to police. Police were still investigating the cause of the explosion, Kabul police spokesperson Khalid Zadran said on Friday afternoon in a message to reporters. He added that seven people were injured in the blast, revising the initial toll of two dead and nine injured. Taliban authorities did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the IS claim. The explosion ripped through a sports club several floors up in the commercial centre, blowing out all the sides of the space and shattering windows and causing damage throughout the block, Agence France-Presse journalists saw on Friday. An instructor at the club, which holds training in combat sports, told AFP the blast happened at the end of a busy boxing session that usually hosted some thirty people. “The explosion was extraordinarily strong. The walls fell, the metal doors, glass and windows were broken,” 26-year-old Sultan Ali Amiri, who was not in the club when the blast occurred, said. “There has been a lot of damage, punching bags and almost everything is destroyed.” AFP journalists saw several heavy bags used for combat sport training on the floor of the club, others still hanging and pocked with fragments from the blast. Afghanistan’s Hazaras have regularly faced attacks in the majority Sunni Muslim country. They have been persecuted for decades, targeted by the Taliban during their insurgency against the former United States-backed government as well as by IS. The IS group, which considers Shiites heretics, has carried out several deadly attacks in the same area in recent years targeting schools, mosques and gyms. WITH AFP The post IS parcel bomb kills 4 appeared first on Daily Tribune......»»
Record 114 million people now displaced worldwide: UN
The number of people displaced from their homes worldwide is estimated to have exceeded 114 million, the United Nations said Wednesday -- a record figure. The main drivers in the first half of 2023 were the conflicts in Ukraine, Sudan, Myanmar and the Democratic Republic of Congo; a prolonged humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan; and a combination of drought, floods and insecurity in Somalia, UNHCR, the UN refugee agency, said in a statement. "The number of people displaced by war, persecution, violence and human rights violations globally is likely to have exceeded 114 million at the end of September," the agency said. "The world's focus now is -- rightly -- on the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza. But globally, far too many conflicts are proliferating or escalating, shattering innocent lives and uprooting people," said UN refugees chief Filippo Grandi. He blamed the international community's inability to solve or prevent conflicts and urged better cooperation to end violence and allow displaced people to return home. Record numbers The number of displaced people worldwide jumped from 108.4 million people at the end of last year to 110 million people by the end of June 2023, the UNHCR said in its Mid-Year Trends Report. A UNHCR spokesman confirmed to AFP the 114 million figure at the end of September was a record since the agency began collecting data in 1975. The new estimate precedes the outbreak of the war between Hamas and Israel. Hamas gunmen poured into Israel on October 7, beginning an attack that killed more than 1,400 people, mostly civilians, while also kidnapping more than 220 others, according to Israeli officials. Gaza's Hamas-run health ministry says retaliatory Israeli strikes have killed more than 6,500 people. The number of people internally displaced within Gaza is estimated at about 1.4 million, according to the UN humanitarian agency OCHA. One in 73 displaced More than one in 73 people around the world are forcibly displaced, the UNHCR said. At mid-2023, there were 35.8 million refugees who had fled abroad, and 57 million internally displaced persons (IDPs). Millions more are asylum seekers or in need of international protection. Almost one-third of all displaced people originated from just three countries: Afghanistan, Syria and Ukraine. Low- and middle-income countries hosted 75 percent of refugees and other people in need of international protection. The countries hosting the most refugees are Iran and Turkey at 3.4 million each; Germany and Colombia with 2.5 million each; and Pakistan with 2.1 million. Nearly half of Syria's population remained displaced at mid-2023: 6.7 million people within the country and 6.7 million refugees and asylum-seekers, with most hosted in Turkey. Globally, 1.6 million new individual asylum applications were made between January and June 2023 -- the largest number ever recorded in the first six months of any given year. Of those, 540,600 claims were in the United States, 150,200 in Germany and 87,100 in Spain. "As we watch events unfold in Gaza, Sudan and beyond, the prospect of peace and solutions for refugees and other displaced populations might feel distant," said Grandi. "But we cannot give up. With our partners we will keep pushing for -- and finding -- solutions for refugees." Some 3.1 million people did return home between January and June, including 2.7 million IDPs. The post Record 114 million people now displaced worldwide: UN appeared first on Daily Tribune......»»
‘Hands off our war!’
Israel’s Ambassador to the Philippines, Ilan Fluss, stressed yesterday that his country does not want the United Nations to interfere in its war against the extremist group Hamas, which killed at least 1,400 people, mostly Israeli civilians, in an unprecedented attack last 7 October. In a roundtable discussion with DAILY TRIBUNE editors and reporters, Fluss accused the UN of having a long-standing anti-Israel bias as he brushed aside a UN Security Council call for a “humanitarian pause” in the conflict. The UN was founded 78 years ago to the day today, on 24 October 1945. “We’re in a war against Hamas, which is like the war in Afghanistan (following the 11 September 2001 or 9/11 terror attacks against the United States),” said Fluss, describing the attack by Hamas as second only in barbarity to what Israelis faced during the holocaust. Hitler’s Nazi Germany exterminated about six million European Jews from 1941 to 1945 during the Holocaust in World War 2. The genocide would spur the creation of the state of Israel in 1948. “We will make sure that there’s no humanitarian crisis as much as possible, and we are trying hard to minimize the casualties there,” he said, explaining that the airstrikes in the Gaza Strip are targeting well-known Hamas enclaves. Israel, with about 300,000 soldiers and armor massed at its border with Gaza, has expressed an intent to launch a ground offensive to rout Hamas, without occupying the territory it left in 2005. Fluss pointed out that civilians in Gaza are being warned in advance of the attacks, with pleas made for them to relocate to its south, away from the fighting. War on terror “Our objective in this war is to ensure that Hamas will no longer be able to attack Israel like it did. We will remove their capability in a war that is solely against Hamas and not the Palestinians,” Fluss said. The envoy stressed that Israel is not against delivering humanitarian aid to the civilians in Gaza, while stressing Israel’s right to protect its citizens against terrorist groups like Hamas, the Islamic Jihad and the Hezbollah in Lebanon. Fluss said that nobody, not even the UN, can stop Israel from a war that it did not start, one that was “forced on us” by Hamas with the latter’s massacre of innocent Israelis, including women and children. Enemies of Israel He explained that while the Philippines enjoys recognition by all countries, Israel has for decades, if not centuries, been trying to be recognized as a state with the right to exist peacefully. But Fluss lamented that the UN has been passing resolutions — at least 20 every year — “which are anti-Israel, (resolutions) that take the Palestinian narrative.” “There is no recognition of the Israeli narrative. The bias against Israel in the UN is well-known,” he said. He said that the UN and its agencies, like the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, otherwise referred to as the UN Relief and Works Agency or UNRWA, have allowed themselves to be used by the enemies of Israel. Fluss cited as an example the use by Hamas of UNRWA facilities, supplies and even marked vehicles in attacking Israel. UNRWA had been accused in the past of perpetuating destabilizing events in order to have a perpetual supply of refugees to justify its existence and funding. It has over 18,900 staff working in 138 countries. Israel, as the lone Jewish state in the UN, is ranged against an automatic majority of countries that support the Palestinian initiatives. The Arab League has 22 members in the UN, while the Organization of Islamic Cooperation has 57 members. It may be recalled that a number of Arab countries had banded together to wage wars against Israel, including in 1948 during its founding. The UN has also accommodated Palestinians many times in the past. In October 1974, or 14 years before the Palestine Liberation Organization nominally forswore terrorism, the UN General Assembly voted to invite it to send a spokesperson to take part in its deliberations. No one who was not a representative of a government — except the Pope, and even he was the head of a quasi-state — had ever before been granted such a privilege. The vote to extend the invitation was overwhelming, 105 to 4, with only the United States, Israel, and two Latin American governments opposed. The assembled delegates heard Yasser Arafat proclaim the necessity of getting at the “historical roots” of the issue, namely, “the Jewish invasion of Palestine [that] began in 1881,” and addressing it with a “radical antidote,” rather than “a slavish obeisance to the present.” Expulsion try In 1975, the foreign ministers of the Organization of the Islamic Conference were determined to have Israel expelled from the UN. The PLO lined up support for this move at a meeting of the African states while training its sights on a ministerial meeting of the NAM (Non-Aligned Movement) scheduled a month later, in August 1975, in Lima, Peru. Washington then objected. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger delivered a major speech on the subject, with a thinly veiled warning that the United States might turn its back on the United Nations. In addition to Washington’s hard line, the drive to expel Israel was also slowed by disarray within the Arab’s ranks. The most decisive factor that disrupted the expulsion move was the surprising position of Egyptian President Anwar Sadat, who announced his opposition to it because “Israel must be present at the United Nations if it is expected to comply with its resolutions.” Israel’s enemies soon came up with an alternative that again targeted Israel through a resolution of the General Assembly, echoing Arafat and Soviet propagandists who declared Zionism to be “a form of racism.” In 1982, the body declared that Israel “is not a peace-loving member state and that it has not carried out its obligations under the Charter.” Likewise, the UN General Assembly has voted each year on 70 to 100 resolutions, including from 15 to 20 resolutions pejorative to Israel. Of all General Assembly resolutions that criticize a particular country, three-quarters apply to Israel. The relentless recitation of UN declarations reinforces the conviction in the Arab world that all right lies on the Arab side and that Israel is irredeemably evil. The post ‘Hands off our war!’ appeared first on Daily Tribune......»»
Uzbekistan cyclist Fomovskiy suspended after failing Asian Games drug test
© Provided by Xinhua 22-year-old Fomovskiy placed fifth in the men's omnium points race on September 28.Fomovskiy's case is the fourth confirmed at the Hangzhou Asiad. Earlier, Saudi Arabia long-distance runner Mohammed Yousef Al-Asiri, Afghanistan bo.....»»
Taliban: Evicting Afghan migrants ‘unacceptable’
Pakistan’s plan to evict hundreds of thousands of Afghan migrants is “unacceptable,” Taliban authorities said Wednesday, denying allegations by Islamabad its citizens were responsible for a string of suicide attacks there. Around 1.3 million Afghans are registered refugees in Pakistan and 880,000 more have legal status to remain, according to the latest United Nations figures. But caretaker Interior Minister Sarfraz Bugti said Tuesday a further 1.7 million Afghans were in Pakistan illegally, giving a 1 November deadline to return home or face deportation. The order comes as Pakistan grapples with a rise in attacks the government blames on militants operating from Afghanistan, a charge Kabul routinely denies. “The behavior of Pakistan against Afghan refugees is unacceptable,” Taliban government spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid wrote on social media site X. “Afghan refugees are not involved in Pakistan’s security problems. As long as they leave Pakistan voluntarily, that country should tolerate them.” Bugti claimed Afghan nationals were responsible for 14 of 24 suicide attacks in Pakistan since January. “We deny all these claims because Afghans have migrated to other countries for their safety, their security,” Abdul Mutalib Haqqani, spokesperson for the Ministry of Refugees and Repatriation, said. “It’s natural when someone migrates to another country for his safety, he would never want insecurity there,” he told Agence France-Presse. Legions of Afghans have migrated to neighbouring Pakistan over decades of conflict during the Soviet invasion, the following civil war and the United States-led occupation. And 600,000 have arrived since the Taliban seized power in Kabul in August 2021 and imposed their austere version of Islamic law. The post Taliban: Evicting Afghan migrants ‘unacceptable’ appeared first on Daily Tribune......»»
Budgetary leverage
By passing a financing bill at the last minute, the United States Congress avoided a federal government shutdown this week. However, the Biden administration’s top priorities, including defense financing for Ukraine, were left out of the final package. For countries like the Philippines, which has cozied up anew to Uncle Sam, this is cause for concern because America has practically left Ukraine high and dry without the full backing it needs to defend itself against Russia. Okay, so Biden said they “will not walk out of Ukraine.” Still, without funding, that’s just lip service. Having perfected the art of emotional suasion at one end of the pole and brinkmanship on the other, we would not be surprised if Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky would tell Biden: “Show us the money.” Sacrificing Ukraine casts doubt on America’s dependability as a coalition partner and ally, even as it stakes a claim to a long tradition of backing democracies in their fight for independence. The Philippines should take note. In the US, it’s clear that whatever the executive branch pledges, the US Congress can always override or, as made apparent again now, starve of funding. That’s the power of holding the purse string that could certainly affect America the mighty’s projection of power. From propping up South Vietnam with billions of dollars in war materiel only to leave Saigon in a huff — with choppers flying off the rooftop of the US Embassy in a hasty, humiliating retreat in 1975 — to giving substantial aid to Israel and Middle Eastern countries, the US has not stopped its posturing as the “policeman of the world.” As in Vietnam and Afghanistan, where in the latter it also abruptly pulled out its forces, thereby allowing the Taliban to retake the country in 2021, the US, for all its fire-and-brimstone statements at the start of the Ukraine-Russia war, may have turned its back on its legal and moral responsibility to aid Kyiv. As an adversarial state under madman Vladimir Putin, Russia has been destabilizing international norms, and Ukraine, by fighting back, has been sending the strong message that autocratic governments cannot make the globe their playground. By not including money for Ukraine’s defense in the 2024 spending bill, the US has lost the chance to demonstrate its dedication to the defense of democracy. But such are the vagaries of the budgeting process in the United States and, of course, the Philippines, with the latter’s form of government and jurisprudence loosely patterned after America’s. In the US, government shutdowns have happened before and will happen again when the legislature and the executive branches are unable to reach an agreement on priorities and lawmakers do not enact a budget in a timely manner. The budget can also be wielded as a political baton with which to make the executive branch more malleable. An example would be the 2013 shutdown in an attempt to defund the Affordable Care Act. Frequent disagreements on spending priorities between the two parties in the US Congress have led to stalemates, with neither side willing to pass the budget unless their demands were met. Budget delays had caused negative effects on the economy and public services. Some may argue that past shutdowns of the US federal government would show the Philippines has a more mature budgetary system in place, as a failure to pass the budget for a new fiscal year only results in a reenacted budget. But the problems associated with a reenacted budget abound. There’s the delayed implementation of new programs and projects. This, as a reenacted budget only allows for the funding of existing programs and projects. A reenacted budget also limits government flexibility to respond to changing needs. For example, if the economy experiences a downturn, the government may need to increase spending on social programs or infrastructure projects. However, this is not possible under a reenacted budget. But probably the biggest risk associated with a reenacted budget would be corruption, as it can give the executive branch more leeway or elbow room to fund projects while reallocating “savings” from projects that had been funded previously. In the shadow of budgetary bludgeoning and political brinkmanship, the recent passage of the US funding bill left Ukraine’s defense hanging by a thread, a stark reminder of the capriciousness of budgeting processes in both the United States and the Philippines, where legislative complexities often take precedence over strategic imperatives. The budget’s power to shape policy and dictate priorities, as seen in the Philippines with past reenacted budgets, illustrates the pitfalls of wielding fiscal levers as political weapons. In both nations, the budgeting process, while designed to reflect the will of the people, is susceptible to political posturing, causing disruptions and imperiling the very ideals of democracy it should be upholding. The post Budgetary leverage appeared first on Daily Tribune......»»
Not a fan of Donald
With a parting shot at his former boss Donald Trump, General Mark Milley resigned as the top US military official on Friday. He said that no soldier had ever taken an oath to serve a “wannabe dictator.” On his final day as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Milley delivered a shocking reprimand that perfectly exemplified how the US military has been drawn into the increasingly combustible political landscape since the Trump administration. Milley did not specifically mention Trump during a lavish military ceremony for his leaving, but it was clear who he was criticizing. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and President Joe Biden were both present. Milley remarked of American soldiers “We don’t take an oath to a king, or queen, or a tyrant, or a dictator.” And we don’t swear an oath to a would-be autocrat. Air Force General Charles “CQ” Brown, the second African American to hold the position of chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, will take Milley’s place. Milley, a barrel-chested army veteran with four decades of service, has held numerous high-level leadership positions and numerous foreign deployments. But he had his most difficult task when Trump gave him the career apex position of senior military advisor to the president in 2019. Milley oversaw the daunting withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan, special operations in Syria, and a sizable program to support Ukraine in its valiant struggle against Russian invasion during a four-year term that will continue under Biden starting in 2021. Crisis after crisis Milley told AFP last month that during his tenure as chairman, “it was one crisis after another.” However, under Milley’s tenure at the head, the military became embroiled in an unusually high number of politicized incidents. Senior Republicans have regularly attacked what they allege are “woke” leftist practices inside the ranks, even as the Biden administration has pushed for measures such as renaming bases named after Confederate generals in the Civil War. And even that was not as dangerous as the delicate predicament Milley was in before and after the 2020 presidential election, when Trump, in a first-ever political nightmare for the United States, refused to concede loss. According to the book “Peril” by Bob Woodward, at the height of the crisis following the invasion of the US Capitol by Trump supporters on 6 January 2021, Milley discreetly called his Chinese counterpart to reassure Beijing that the US was “stable” and had no intention of attacking China. With AFP The post Not a fan of Donald appeared first on Daily Tribune......»»
More than 50 killed, dozens wounded in Pakistan blasts
More than 50 people were killed and dozens more wounded in Pakistan's Balochistan province on Friday by a suicide bomber targeting a procession marking the birthday of Islam's Prophet Mohammed, officials said. A second suicide attack by two men at a mosque hundreds of kilometers north in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province led to a roof collapse that killed four people, officials said. While the celebration of the Prophet's birthday is accepted by the majority of Islamic sects in Pakistan and elsewhere in the Muslim world, certain denominations view it as an unwarranted innovation. In southwestern Balochistan, officials said a suicide bomber detonated a device as rallies from neighborhood mosques converged on a meeting point in Mastung, around 40 kilometers (25 miles) south of the provincial capital, Quetta. "My feet trembled and I was thrown to the ground," said 49-year-old Hazoor Bakhsh. "As the dust settled, I saw people scattered in all directions, some screaming while others called out for help." Local hospitals were overwhelmed by the number of wounded, and provincial authorities used social media platforms to appeal for blood donors. The death toll kept climbing throughout the day. "I can confirm that the death toll has increased to 52, with over 70 individuals injured," Munir Ahmed Shaikh, the deputy inspector-general of Balochistan's police force, told AFP. Every year, mosques and government buildings are elaborately illuminated with strings of lights, and people march in processions to mark the Prophet's birthday. On the same occasion in April 2006, a suicide bomber killed at least 50 people in the port city of Karachi after detonating a device at a gathering of Sunni Muslims. Surge in violence Friday's blast comes as Pakistan prepares for an election due in January next year -- while grappling with a political crisis, a crippled economy, and a surge in militant violence inspired by the return to power of the Taliban in Afghanistan in 2021. Jan Achakzai, Balochistan's minister for information, announced a three-day mourning period. Balochistan, Pakistan's least populous province, is also home to several militant groups fighting for independence or a greater share of the region's mineral resources. Hundreds of kilometres north in Hangu, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, four people were killed after the roof of a mosque collapsed following a suicide attack. "Two militants, armed with automatic firearms, hand grenades, and suicide vests attempted to breach the mosque's security," senior district police officer Nisar Ahmad told AFP. "They were intercepted at the main entrance leading to an exchange of gunfire. One of them detonated his vest, while the other managed to enter the mosque's hall through a window." Ahmad said most of those inside had managed to escape as the shooting started, but the detonation of the second bomber's vest brought the roof down, killing four people. In July, more than 40 people were killed in a suicide bombing in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa at a religious political party's gathering. Pakistan's Taliban have stepped up attacks against military and government targets since the return to power of the Taliban in neighboring Afghanistan. But the group said it had nothing to do with the Balochistan attack. The regional chapter of the Islamic State group, known as Islamic State-Khorasan (IS-K), has also carried out attacks in the area in the past. "The attack on innocent people who came to participate in the procession... is a very heinous act," the interior ministry said in a statement. Separately, Pakistan's military said Friday four soldiers had been killed as they fought an attempt by TTP militants to infiltrate Balochistan from Afghanistan. The post More than 50 killed, dozens wounded in Pakistan blasts appeared first on Daily Tribune......»»
Filipino spikers sweep Afghans for 1st Asian Games win in 4 decades
The Philippines won its first volleyball game in the Asian Games in 49 years after overpowering Afghanistan, 25-23, 25-16, 25-12, Wednesday afternoon in Hangzhou, China......»»
Rontini saves Azkals vs Afghans
The youth brigade saved the day for the Philippine Azkals as they pulled off a 2-1 fightback win over Afghanistan in Tuesday night’s international friendly at the Rizal Memorial Stadium......»»
Azkals meet Afghans in friendly
The in-transition Philippine Azkals continue their buildup for the coming FIFA World Cup Qualifiers by taking on Afghanistan in a friendly tonight at the Rizal Memorial Stadium......»»
Biden urges ‘national unity’ 22 years after 9/11
President Joe Biden called Monday for Americans to unite despite bitter political differences as the United States marked the 22nd anniversary of Al-Qaeda's 9/11 attacks. Bells were rung and the names of nearly 3,000 people were read out in somber ceremonies in New York, Washington, and Pennsylvania where the hijacked planes struck. "Let's honor September 11 by renewing our faith in one another," said Biden, speaking at a US military base in Anchorage, Alaska as he traveled back from a trip to India and Vietnam. "We must never lose our sense of national unity, so let that be the common cause of our time." Speaking in front of a huge flag, Biden added that "terrorism, including political and ideological violence, is the opposite of all we stand for as a nation." His speech comes as the United States is increasingly polarized, with tensions likely to increase as Biden, a Democrat, heads into a likely election rematch next year with Republican former president Donald Trump. Trump has been indicted four times since April, including for efforts to overturn the 2020 election results, with the 6 January 2021 Capitol attack by his supporters still fresh in the public's memory. 'Never forget' In New York, Vice President Kamala Harris and current and former mayors joined victims' families at the 9/11 memorial on the site of the World Trade Center twin towers brought down by two aircraft flown by hijackers. The names of the more than 2,600 who died in New York were read out by family members and young relatives not alive at the time of the attack. "I wish I had a chance to really know you. Everyone in the family misses you. We will never forget," said the grandson of firefighter Allan Tarasiewicz, who was killed at age 45 during rescue operations at the World Trade Center. At the Pentagon in Washington, where the attackers plunged a third aircraft into the headquarters of the US military, a sailor rang a ship's bell for each of the 184 killed there. And in western Pennsylvania, where a fourth hijacked plane apparently heading toward Washington was forced to crash, bells were rung for each of the 40 passengers and crew who died. "September 11 made America a nation at war, and hundreds of thousands stepped up to serve our country in uniform," Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said at the Pentagon ceremony. "I know that it aches to remember this milestone year after year... The men and women of the Department of Defense will always remember." Across New York City, in Congress and elsewhere, a moment of silence was held to mark the attack, plotted by Al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden, who was found and killed nearly a decade later by US Navy Seals in a raid on his hideout in Pakistan. Biden noted in his speech that he himself had given the order for bin Laden's successor Ayman al-Zawahiri to be sent to the "gates of hell" last year in an airstrike in Afghanistan. "The soul of America is the fortitude we found in the fear of that terrible September day," he added. "The terrorists believed they could bring us to our knees, bend our will, break our resolve. But they were wrong, they were dead wrong." The post Biden urges ‘national unity’ 22 years after 9/11 appeared first on Daily Tribune......»»
France evacuates five Afghan women ‘threatened by Taliban’
Paris, France — France on Monday was due to receive five Afghan women “threatened by the Taliban” after repeated requests it create a humanitarian corridor for women shut out of public life, an official said. Since returning to power in August 2021, Taliban authorities have imposed a strict interpretation of Islam, with women bearing the brunt of laws the United Nations has labelled “gender apartheid.” Women and girls have been banned from attending high school and university as well as barred from visiting parks, fairs and gymnasiums. They have also mostly been blocked from working for UN agencies or NGOs, with thousands sacked from government jobs or paid to stay at home. French immigration authority chief Didier Leschi told AFP that by presidential order, “special attention is being paid to women who are primarily threatened by the Taliban because they have held important positions in Afghan society... or have close contacts with Westerners.” “This is the case for five women who will arrive today,” Leschi said. The women include a former university director, an ex-NGO consultant, a former television presenter, and a teacher at a secret school in Kabul. One of the women was accompanied by three children. The women had been unable to leave Afghanistan on airlifts to Western countries when the Taliban returned to power in 2021. They fled to neighboring Pakistan where they sought temporary refuge. From there, the French authorities organized their evacuation, Leschi said. Once they arrive in France, they will be registered as asylum seekers and given housing while their applications for refugee status are considered, Leschi said. Leschi said that such evacuations were “likely to be repeated” for other Afghan women with a similar profile. However, Delphine Rouilleault, the head of the France Terre D’Asile NGO working for refugees, said the evacuations were “not the fruit of a political decision” but gained “after a hard fight” to obtain visas for them. The women will be initially housed in a center run by her organization, which has been rallying for months for the evacuation of more Afghan women facing a similar situation. Rouilleault said “hundreds” of Afghan women were “hiding” in Pakistan. In the middle of 2021, French President Emmanuel Macron had pledged that France would “be by the side of Afghans.” French authorities say nearly 16,000 people have been evacuated from Afghanistan since then. An NGO working for Afghan refugees and asylum seekers, Accueillir les Afghanes, in April deplored that Afghan women, especially those who were single, had been largely abandoned and asked Paris to put in place an “emergency” program to take them in. The post France evacuates five Afghan women ‘threatened by Taliban’ appeared first on Daily Tribune......»»
R. Magsaysay Award: 65 years of excellence
Established shortly after the tragic death in March 1957 of Ramon Magsaysay Sr., the seventh President of the Philippines, the Ramon Magsaysay Award, considered the equivalent of the Nobel Prize in Asia, preserves the beloved leader’s legacy by honoring individuals who are exceptionally outstanding in their fields. To be named a Ramon Magsaysay Awardee is to receive Asia’s premier prize and highest honor, and this year, the Award was bestowed on four individuals, including Filipina peace negotiator Miriam Coronel-Ferrer who, in 2012, chaired the Philippine government’s Peace Panel tasked to negotiate peace with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front which led to the signing, in 2014, of the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro by the Philippine government and the MILF. Coronel, who was recognized by the RMAF board of trustees for her “unwavering belief in the transformative power of non-violent strategies in peacebuilding and her devotion to the agenda of harnessing the power of women in creating a just and peaceful world,” is also co-founder of the Southeast Asian Women Peace mediators, the pioneering group of women engaged in convening safe spaces for dialogues and supporting mediation initiatives in countries like Myanmar and Afghanistan. Also named a recipient of the Award is Korvi Rakshand from Bangladesh who, in 2007, established the JAAGO (Bangladeshi for “wake up”) Foundation, a non-profit NGO aimed at addressing problems of access and quality of education for underprivileged children. From small beginnings, JAAGO has grown into one of the largest non-profit organizations in Bangladesh, providing free-of-cost government-recognized English language primary and secondary education to underprivileged children through 11 traditional and online schools in 10 districts in Bangladesh. Rakshand’s work with the underprivileged, his visionary leadership in democratizing education, and his inspiring thousands of young people to heed the call of social transformation have been recognized by the RMAF board of trustees and have bestowed on him the coveted Ramon Magsaysay Award. Agriculturist Eugenio Lemos, 51, was introduced to permaculture in 1999 and resolved that he would devote himself to promoting that kind of sustainable agriculture among his people. He established the Permakultura Timor-Lorosa’e, which includes a Youth Training Program that teaches youths water and natural resources management, farming, aquaculture, and agroforestry. Also a songwriter and a singer, Lemos communicates social issues through his songs. Recognizing Lemos’s vision and passion for integrating local and indigenous cultures in his advocacy for caring for the environment and the well-being of people, the RMAF has named him one of the four recipients of the Ramon Magsaysay Award this year. The fourth awardee is surgical oncologist, Dr. Ravi Kannan, who as director of the non-profit, philanthropy-funded Cachar Cancer Hospital and Research Centre in Silchar, Barak Valley of Assam in India, expanded CCHRC into an innovative, widely admired full-service cancer care facility. From an institution with limited facilities, CCHRC, under Kannan’s leadership, is now a full-fledged comprehensive cancer hospital and research center. From a staff of 23 when he came on board, CCHRC now employs over 450 people. Kannan’s vision is CCHRC’s: “...to become a state-of-the-art cancer center that ensures no individual develops cancer that can be prevented; that no patient is denied appropriate cancer treatment for want of resources; that no patient dies in agony and indignity; and that no family suffers treatment-induced poverty and grief” — a bold statement that the hospital translates into actual practice. For his devotion to public service, commitment to pushing the boundaries of pro-poor health and cancer care, and for building — without expectation of any reward — a beacon of hope to millions in the Indian state of Assam, the RMAF board of trustees named Kannan one of this year’s recipients of the Ramon Magsaysay Award. This year’s awardees share qualities and “greatness of spirit” inherent in other such laureates as St. Teresa of Calcutta, the 14th Dalai Lama, Grameen Bank founder and Nobel Prize awardee Muhammad Yunnus, One Village One Product conceptualizer Morihiko Hiramatsu, and the rest of the over 300-plus recipients of the Award whose selfless devotion to public service and outstanding contributions to society have transformed Asia and serve as shining inspiration to the world. The post R. Magsaysay Award: 65 years of excellence appeared first on Daily Tribune......»»
Lasers, drones vs China
If you may remember, the Afghans beat back the superior Russians from Afghanistan by secretly obtaining portable heat-seeking missiles from the US, which eventually changed the tide of the war. The missile device was so portable, it was smuggled by donkey to remote mountains. It was so user-friendly, even ordinary foot soldiers could use it. The missiles destroyed dozens of Russian warplanes, and eventually forced the Russians to withdraw from Afghanistan. We can use the same tactic in the West Philippine Sea against the superior Chinese warships and warplanes. If Marcos Jr. can somehow obtain lasers and drones, not necessarily from the US, not necessarily in secret, for the Philippine Coast Guard, Chinese warships may think twice before bullying us with their lasers and water cannons. China is currently harassing Filipinos in the Ayungin Shoal, triggering diplomatic protests. This aggression is virtually an act of war. Responding with legal arguments for China to respect the UNCLOS and The Hague court decision is useless. Social media exposés and campaigns cannot solve the problem. We have to face them in our territory in the West Philippine Sea. If we do not, we might as well concede. If we do, are we ready for the consequences of escalation? Has China secretly discovered oil in Ayungin, so it has to keep Filipinos away? Another strategy is to get a US firm as a partner in oil exploration in the Ayungin Shoal, escorted by US warships. Let’s get to the oil before China does. If there are competing explorations and oil rigs, this will prevent war. There is, however, a risk of a full-blown US-China naval confrontation. If we up the ante, China may back out or resort to an unpredictable escalation. Can we handle the escalation? Are we ready to go into this new stage of war, not just physically in terms of possible collateral damage, but also spiritually in terms of the political will to fight? This remains to be seen. Asymmetrics as a Game Changer “Asymmetric” weapons refer to small cheap high-tech weapons that can take out big expensive weaponry. For example, hypersonic missiles taking out aircraft carriers, killer drones neutralizing an entire naval base, super lasers shooting down satellites in outer space, silent electro-magnetic pulse bombs jamming an enemy assault. This is called the equalizer, the use of asymmetrics against far superior foes. Lasers and drones on our coast guard ships are asymmetrics. Asymmetrics are becoming popular. Ukraine is using them against Russia, and Iran against the US in the Strait of Hormuz. China is now able to jam the electronic signals of US warplanes in the WPS. These new sophisticated asymmetrics have evolved as powerful game changers in modern warfare in favor of the underdog. The Vietnam Model Vietnamese water cannons faced Chinese water cannons, forcing the latter to abandon an oil rig close to the Vietnamese shore. We can learn from the Vietnamese, adopt its warrior ways, its spiritual orientation of defiance and belligerence. But we must be cautious as there may be consequences we are not yet ready for. Vietnam has been fighting China for centuries. China respects Vietnam’s audacity while it looks down on Filipinos whose leaders can easily be offered quid-pro-quo deals (Duterte) and whose tin can coast guard vessels they can easily step on. Can we change China’s attitude through a new type of belligerence using asymmetrics? Vietnam is the epitome of David defying Goliath, two Goliaths, in fact, the French and the Americans. France surrendered its colonization of Vietnam in the battle of Dien Bien Phu. The Americans gave up Vietnam after a 20-year guerrilla war, an embarrassing blow for a superpower falling to its knees to a “lowly” Third World country. Centuries before that, at its birth, Vietnam defied and splintered from the powerful Chinese Empire. Viet means south, nam means kingdom — the kingdom south of the empire. From where does Vietnam draw its strength? Vietnam is monolithic, one solid land mass. The Philippines is granulated, a scattered archipelago. It took more than 10,000 years of slow migration (the so-called Austronesian Dispersal) for Malays in improvised boats (balanghays) to populate the Philippines. While this was happening, Vietnam was growing in strength by defying the Chinese empire. Vietnam is a single neutral gray, the Philippines a rainbow. Vietnam has one central language, the Philippines 125-odd dialects. Except for the Hmong, Vietnam has few ancient ethnic groups. We have 85 ethnic groupings. Anthropologically, Vietnam and the Philippines are complete opposites. The Vietnamese is a natural warrior, the Filipino a natural adventurer. The French and the Americans failed to colonize Vietnam. The Filipino was conquered by the Spaniards, Americans and Japanese. The Vietnamese was defiant, the Filipino subservient. The Filipino absorbed colonization and foreign culture, the Vietnamese kept its culture intact. The post Lasers, drones vs China appeared first on Daily Tribune......»»
Bomb blast kills 11 Pakistan laborers
Eleven laborers were killed when a bomb attached to their vehicle exploded in northwestern Pakistan near the border with Afghanistan Saturday evening, a local government official said Sunday. Rehman Gul Khattak, senior government official for North Waziristan, said in a statement that the victims were working at an under construction post for the Pakistan army. In a post on X, caretaker Prime Minister Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar condemned the senseless violence that Amir Muhammad Khan, a senior police official in the area, called a terrorist attack. No one has claimed responsibility for the bombing but militants are suspected. Pakistan has seen a sharp rise in militant attacks since the Afghan Taliban surged back to power in neighboring Afghanistan in 2021. Pakistan’s home-grown Taliban group, Tehreek's e-Taliban Pakistan, has waged a growing campaign against security officials, including police officers. The militant assaults have been focused in regions abutting Afghanistan, and Islamabad alleges some are being planned on Afghan soil — a charge Kabul denies. WITH AFP The post Bomb blast kills 11 Pakistan laborers appeared first on Daily Tribune......»»
11 laborers killed in bomb attack in Pakistan
Eleven laborers were killed in a bomb blast in northwestern Pakistan near the border with Afghanistan, a local government official said Sunday. The device exploded after being attached to the vehicle they were traveling in on Saturday evening, Rehman Gul Khattak, a senior government official for North Waziristan, said in a statement. "The laborers were working at an under-construction post for the Pakistan army," Khattack said. Amir Muhammad Khan, a senior police official in the area, confirmed the bomb blast and the number of casualties to AFP. “Heartbreaking to know about the terrorist attack in North Waziristan which claimed the lives of 11 innocent laborers. Strongly condemn this senseless act of violence and stand in solidarity with the families affected," caretaker Prime Minister Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar posted on X, formerly known as Twitter. The post 11 laborers killed in bomb attack in Pakistan appeared first on Daily Tribune......»»
French ex-army chief in charge of Notre-Dame rebuild dies
A former French army chief in charge of restoring Paris's emblematic Notre-Dame cathedral following a devastating 2019 fire has died during a mountain hike, prosecutors told AFP on Saturday. General Jean-Louis Georgelin, 74, died on Friday in the Pyrenees mountain range straddling the France-Spain border, said the prosecutor's office in the southern French city of Foix. A mountain rescue team deployed to the Mont-Valier peak "discovered the body of a man who has been formally identified as General Georgelin", a spokesman said, adding that an accident was the likely cause. Notre-Dame has lost "the overseer of its rebirth" and France "one of its great servants", President Emmanuel Macron wrote on Twitter, now rebranded as "X". Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo hailed Georgelin on the same social media platform for creating "the human and organizational conditions for completing the reconstruction of Notre-Dame". A five-star general who was the French army's chief-of-staff between 2006 and 2010, Georgelin supervised operations in Ivory Coast, Afghanistan, the Balkans, and Lebanon. In 2020, Macron chose him to lead the complex and expensive reconstruction work on Notre-Dame. The cathedral, one of the French capital's most famous landmarks, was gutted by a blaze that shocked the world the previous year. Georgelin, a practicing Catholic whose motto was "move forward without procrastinating", said Notre-Dame's new spire would be completed by the end of the year. The post French ex-army chief in charge of Notre-Dame rebuild dies appeared first on Daily Tribune......»»
Australia Should Prioritize Humanitarian Visas for Afghans
This week marks the two-year anniversary since the Taliban returned to power in Afghanistan. Days earlier, the Australian federal government announced an increase of its humanitarian visa intake from 17,875 to 20,000 refugees. The synchronicity of these two occurrences is cause for reflectio.....»»
Bangladesh court sentences two journalists over plot to kill PM’s son
Two elderly Bangladeshi newspaper editors were sentenced in absentia Thursday over a plot to kill the prime minister's son, charges their supporters say were confected to punish them for supporting the country's opposition. Shafik Rehman, 88, and Mahmudur Rahman, 70, were convicted along with three others in what authorities said was a thwarted conspiracy to kidnap and murder Sheikh Hasina's eldest child while he was based in the United States a decade ago. All five were sentenced to seven years in jail, prosecutor Abdur Rahman Khan Kazal told AFP. Rehman edited two of the country's most popular Bengali weeklies and later became an adviser to the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party before his arrest in 2016. Rahman was known as a prominent critic of Hasina's ruling Awami League, which has targeted BNP members with periodic crackdowns and mass arrests over the past decade and was arrested in 2013. Both men were later granted bail to seek medical treatment abroad and have not returned. Friends and supporters of the pair maintain their innocence. The other three defendants have been fugitives since the conspiracy charges were filed and were also sentenced in absentia. Sajeeb Wazed, 52, the prime minister's son, now serves in a senior advisory position to his mother's government. Rights groups and foreign governments including the United States have long raised concerns over efforts by Hasina's government to silence criticism and stamp out political dissent. The 2022 World Press Freedom Index compiled by Reporters Without Borders ranked Bangladesh at 162, below Russia and Afghanistan. Bangladesh's draconian Digital Security Act, under which hundreds of people have been arrested since 2018, has caused particular alarm. Dainik Dinkal, the country's only remaining newspaper aligned with the BNP, was shut down in February. The post Bangladesh court sentences two journalists over plot to kill PM’s son appeared first on Daily Tribune......»»