KABUL/PESHAWAR: The United States aims to press the Taliban on the battlefield to convince them that they will have to negotiate peace, a senior US diplomat said on Tuesday, a day after President Donald Trump rejected talks following a series of attacks.
Speaking to reporters at the White House on Monday, Trump condemned the Taliban for recent carnage in the Afghan capital Kabul, and said the United States was not prepared to talk now. He pledged to “finish what we have to finish.”
Trump’s comments suggested he sees a military victory over the Taliban, an outcome that US military and diplomatic officials say cannot be achieved with the resources and manpower he has authorized.
But US Deputy Secretary of State John Sullivan told a news conference in Kabul there was no change in the US policy of forcing the Taliban through military pressure into talks.
Trump’s comments were a reflection of the violence over recent days which indicated “at least some members of the Taliban are not interested in having a discussion about a peaceful future,” Sullivan said.
“That doesn’t change the long-range strategy of our policy which it to be firm militarily to convince the Taliban, or significant elements of the Taliban, that there isn’t a military solution to the security situation here, that ultimately peace and security of Afghanistan will be determined by peace talks.”
Trump last year ordered an increase in US troops, air strikes and other assistance to Afghan forces.
The US ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley, said this month the strategy was working and pushing the insurgents closer to talks.
That was before a suicide bomber penetrated the highly guarded center of Kabul on Saturday and detonated an ambulance laden with explosives, killing more than 100 people and wounding at least 235.
That attack followed a brazen Taliban assault on the city’s Intercontinental Hotel on Jan. 20, in which more than 20 people, including four Americans, were killed.
The Taliban said the attacks were a message to Trump that his policy of aggression would not work.
’WAR-MONGERING’
Earlier, a spokesman for Afghan President Ashraf Ghani said the Taliban had crossed a “red line” with attacks in Kabul and lost the chance for peace, and had to be defeated.
“We have to look for peace on the battlefield,” said the spokesman, Shah Hussain Murtazawi.
The surge of violence has also raised new questions about US relations with Pakistan, weeks after Trump denounced it for what he said was its failure to crack down on Taliban safe havens on its soil, and ordered big cuts in security aid.
Pakistan denies accusations that it fosters the Afghan war, and has condemned the recent attacks in Afghanistan.
A spokesman for the Taliban, fighting to oust foreign forces and defeat the US-backed government, said earlier they never wanted to talk to the United States anyway.
“Their main strategy is to continue war and occupation,” Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said in a statement.
“Donald Trump and his war-mongering supporters must understand that every action has an equal and opposite reaction. If you insist upon war, our mujahideen will not welcome you with roses,” he said.
The United States believes the Haqqani network, a faction within the Taliban, was behind Saturday’s bomb blast in Kabul.
It and Afghanistan have long accused Pakistan of supporting the Taliban, and the Haqqani network in particular, as assets to be used in its bid to limit the influence of old rival India in Afghanistan.
Pakistani officials were not immediately available for comment on Trump’s rejection of peace talks but its embassy in Kabul cited Pakistani clerics as declaring suicide attacks unIslamic. (Additional reporting by Mirwais Harooni; Editing by Clarence Fernandez and Gareth Jones)
US still aims to push Taliban into Afghan peace talks
US still aims to push Taliban into Afghan peace talks
Mexican citizen dies in US immigration detention center
- The man died on June 7 at an ICE facility in the southern state of Georgia
- US authorities notified the Mexican consulate in Georgia’s capital Atlanta of the death
The death comes amid ongoing demonstrations in several US states, most prominently in California, against immigration enforcement raids launched by US President Donald Trump’s administration.
The man died on June 7 at an ICE facility in the southern state of Georgia, where he was being held after he was transferred from a state prison, the foreign ministry said in a statement Thursday.
US authorities notified the Mexican consulate in Georgia’s capital Atlanta of the death.
“Consular staff has established communication with local and ICE authorities, as well as with the individual’s family members, to clarify the facts, confirm the official cause of death, and provide legal advice and support to the family,” the ministry said.
Mexico’s foreign ministry said consular staff had not been notified to interview the detainee while he was in custody, despite regular visits to the facility to assist Mexican nationals.
“The consulate has requested an explanation from the (detention) center’s authorities,” the ministry said.
It also said it was examining legal options and maintaining communication with the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, the state’s independent investigative body.
Japan ‘strongly condemns’ Israel’s attack on Iran
TOKYO: Japan has joined in the condemnation of Israel’s attack on Iran with Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya saying the attack “escalates the situation” in the Middle East, Japan’s Foreign Ministry reported.
“We deeply regret that military force was used despite ongoing diplomatic efforts, including talks between the US and Iran, to achieve a peaceful resolution to the Iranian nuclear issue,” Iwaya said. “Our country strongly condemns this action, which escalates the situation.”
Iwaya emphasized that peace and stability in the Middle East are “extremely important” to Japan and urged all parties involved to exercise maximum restraint.
He called for de-escalation of the situation, adding that the Japanese government will spare no effort to protect Japanese nationals residing in the region.
“We will continue to take all necessary measures to prevent further deterioration of the situation,” he said.
Pakistan, other nuclear states together spent $100 billion on weapons in 2024 — report
- US spent $56.8 billion in 2024, followed by China at $12.5 billion, says International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons
- ICAN says level of nuclear weapons spending in 2024 by these nine nations could have paid UN budget almost 28 times over
GENEVA: Nuclear-armed states spent more than $100 billion on their atomic arsenals last year, the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons said Friday, lamenting the lack of democratic oversight of such spending.
ICAN said Britain, China, France, India, Israel, North Korea, Pakistan, Russia and the United States together spent nearly $10 billion more than in 2023.
The United States spent $56.8 billion in 2024, followed by China at $12.5 billion and Britain at $10.4 billion, ICAN said in its flagship annual report.
Geneva-based ICAN won the 2017 Nobel Peace Prize for its key role in drafting the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, which took effect in 2021.
Some 69 countries have ratified it to date, four more have directly acceded to the treaty and another 25 have signed it, although none of the nuclear weapons states have come on board.
This year’s report looked at the costs incurred by the countries that host other states’ nuclear weapons.
It said such costs are largely unknown to citizens and legislators alike, thereby avoiding democratic scrutiny.
Although not officially confirmed, the report said Belgium, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Turkiye were hosting US nuclear weapons, citing experts.
Meanwhile Russia claims it has nuclear weapons stationed in Belarus, but some experts are unsure, it added.
The report said there was “little public information” about the costs associated with hosting US nuclear weapons in NATO European countries, citing the cost of facility security, nuclear-capable aircraft and preparation to use such weapons.
“Each NATO nuclear-sharing arrangement is governed by secret agreements,” the report said.
“It’s an affront to democracy that citizens and lawmakers are not allowed to know that nuclear weapons from other countries are based on their soil or how much of their taxes is being spent on them,” said the report’s co-author Alicia Sanders-Zakre.
Eight countries openly possess nuclear weapons: the United States, Russia, Britain, France, China, India, Pakistan and North Korea.
Israel is widely assumed to have nuclear weapons, although it has never officially acknowledged this.
ICAN said the level of nuclear weapons spending in 2024 by these nine nations could have paid the UN budget almost 28 times over.
“The problem of nuclear weapons is one that can be solved, and doing so means understanding the vested interests fiercely defending the option for nine countries to indiscriminately murder civilians,” said ICAN’s program coordinator Susi Snyder.
The private sector earned at least $42.5 billion from their nuclear weapons contracts in 2024 alone, the report said.
There are at least $463 billion in ongoing nuclear weapons contracts, some of which do not expire for decades, and last year, at least $20 billion in new nuclear weapon contracts were awarded, it added.
“Many of the companies that benefited from this largesse invested heavily in lobbying governments, spending $128 million on those efforts in the United States and France, the two countries for which data is available,” ICAN said.
Standard nuclear doctrine — developed during the Cold War between superpowers the United States and the Soviet Union — is based on the assumption that such weapons will never have to be used because their impact is so devastating, and because nuclear retaliation would probably bring similar destruction on the original attacker.
Philippines’ former leader Duterte seeks interim release from ICC
- Duterte stands accused of crimes against humanity over his years-long campaign against drug users and dealers
- International Criminal Court prosecutors have agreed not to oppose the request, according to the filing
MANILA: Former Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte’s defense team at the International Criminal Court has filed a motion for his interim release to an unnamed country, stating the prosecution would not object.
The 80-year-old stands accused of crimes against humanity over his years-long campaign against drug users and dealers that rights groups say killed thousands.
In a filing posted to the court’s website late Thursday, defense lawyers said the involved country – the name of which was redacted – had expressed its “principled agreement to receive Mr. Duterte onto its territory.”
ICC prosecutors have agreed not to oppose the request, according to the filing, which said discussions about an interim release had been under way since Duterte’s first court appearance at The Hague on March 14.
“The Prosecution has confirmed its non-opposition to interim release to (REDACTED) (REDACTED) State Party” as long as certain conditions were met, the filing reads.
An annex spelling out the conditions for Duterte’s release was not publicly available, but the defense team’s filing noted that the octogenarian posed no flight risk and cited humanitarian concerns around his age.
Lawyers representing relatives of those killed in Duterte’s drug war condemned the application for release, citing threats made against victims’ families, and saying they had legal avenues to oppose it.
“There is still a procedure within the ICC that requires the prosecution to comment and the ICC Pre Trial Chamber (PTC) to decide on the application for provisional release,” lawyer Neri Colmenares said in a statement.
In an interview with local radio, lawyer Kristina Conti said she believed it was “50-50” the former president would be released.
“I hope the (drug war) victims can weigh in but that would be difficult if (the release is based on) humanitarian grounds, and he is reportedly sick,” she said.
Duterte was arrested in Manila on March 11, flown to the Netherlands that same night and has been held at the ICC’s detention unit at Scheveningen Prison since.
ICC deputy prosecutor Mame Mandiaye Niang is currently overseeing the case against Duterte after Karim Khan stepped aside during an investigation into alleged sexual misconduct.
Requests for comment sent to the ICC prosecutor’s office were not immediately returned.
Prosecutors say Republican South Carolina lawmaker used ‘joebidennnn69’ to send child sex material
- RJ May was arrested after a lengthy investigation and ordered by a federal judge to remain jailed until his trial
- The three-term Republican helped create the Freedom Caucus, a group of the House’s most conservative members
COLUMBIA, South Carolina: A Republican member of the South Carolina House who prosecutors say used the screen name “joebidennnn69” has been arrested and charged with 10 counts of distributing sexual abuse material involving children.
RJ May was arrested at his Lexington County home after a lengthy investigation and was ordered Thursday by a federal judge to remain jailed until his trial.
The three-term Republican is accused of using “joebidennnn69” to exchange 220 different files of toddlers and young children involved in sex acts on the Kik social media network for about five days in spring 2024, according to court documents that graphically detailed the videos.
Each charge carries a five-to-20 year prison sentence upon conviction and prosecutors suggested May could spend over a decade in prison if found guilty.
The files were uploaded and downloaded using May’s home Wi-Fi network and his cellphone, prosecutors said. Some were hidden by the use of a private network but others were directly linked to his Internet addresses.
May says someone else could have used his Wi-Fi
At his arraignment, May’s lawyer suggested someone could have used the Wi-Fi password that was shown on a board behind a photo May’s wife may have posted online. Attorney Dayne Phillips also suggested investigators didn’t link each Kik message directly to May.
Prosecutors asked that May, 38, not be given bail because he lives at home with his wife and young children, and some of the files he is accused of sharing feature children of about the same age as his.
May investigated for paid sex in Colombia
Prosecutors said they also investigated whether May used a fake name to travel to Colombia three times after finding videos on his laptop of him allegedly having sex with three women. An agent from the Department of Homeland Security testified the women appeared to be underage and were paid. US agents have not been able to locate the women.
Prosecutors said May created a Facebook account with his fake name and his Internet history showed him switching between his real account and the fake one and even searching his primary opponent from the fake login.
Phillips, May’s lawyer, told the courtroom that no sexual images of toddlers or young children were found directly on his laptop or cellphone.
After spending the night in jail. May appeared in court Thursday in shorts and a T-shirt with his wrists and ankles in cuffs. After being ordered to stay in jail, he appeared to blow a kiss at his wife, who was at the hearing.
May’s political rise to the state House
After May’s election in 2020, he helped create the Freedom Caucus, a group of the House’s most conservative members who say mainstream House Republicans aren’t the true conservative heart of the GOP. He also helped the campaigns of Republicans running against GOP House incumbents.
“We as legislators have an obligation to insure that our children have no harm done to them,” May said in January 2024 on the House floor during a debate on transgender care for minors.
His son charmed the House in April 2021 when May brought him to visit for his third birthday and the boy practiced his parade wave around the chamber.
The Freedom Caucus released a statement Wednesday night saying they kicked May out of their group after his arrest.
May spent a quiet 2025 House session
Many of his onetime friends have distanced themselves from May as rumors of the investigation spread through the Statehouse. During the current session he could largely be seen at his corner desk in the back of the 124-seat chamber, mixing with very few colleagues.
The House Speaker suspended May from his seat after the indictment.
May’s lawyer suggested he could have been framed and asked the Homeland Security agent if she knew that May had a lot of political enemies.
“There are a fair amount of people who don’t like me either, Mr. Phillips,” agent Britton Lorenzen replied.
