KABUL: Afghan President Ashraf Ghani on Sunday called on US President-elect Joe Biden to “help fight terrorism” and support Afghanistan’s shaky peace process by ensuring continued aid to Kabul.
The plea comes after Afghan lawmakers urged the new US leader to review the Trump-led campaign to force a complete withdrawal of American troops from the country.
“Afghanistan looks forward to continuing and deepening our multilayered strategic partnership with the US — our foundational partner — including in counterterrorism and bringing peace to Afghanistan,” Ghani said in a statement, congratulating Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris on their election victory.
Ties between Ghani and US President Donald Trump’s administration turned sour in recent months over Kabul’s exclusion from crucial behind-the-door talks between Washington and the Taliban, which led to the signing of a historic peace deal in February this year.
Under pressure from Trump’s administration, Ghani freed over 5,000 Taliban inmates since March, before sending negotiators to Doha, Qatar for intra-Afghan talks with the Taliban – a key criterion of the February accord, which also pushes for all foreign troops to leave Afghanistan by next spring.
A few weeks ago, to Kabul’s ire, Trump announced that the remaining US troops would return home by Christmas, much earlier than the timetable agreed with the Taliban.
Under the deal with the US, the Taliban are required to halt attacks on foreign troops. US forces have mostly refrained from striking Taliban forces, except for a few instances where they aided Kabul in preventing militants from seizing government-held areas.
Emboldened by the accord with the US and amid plans for an early troop exit, the Taliban stepped up attacks on government forces in recent weeks, displacing thousands in Helmand province, despite the group’s delegates holding talks with Kabul negotiators since Sept. 12 in Qatar to end the protracted war in the country.
However, both have failed to agree on an agenda for the talks, let alone start negotiations, raising fears that the intra-Afghan dialogue may soon fall apart.
Several MPs in Kabul called on Biden to review the US administration’s policies on the historic accord with the Taliban and troop withdrawal.
“We hope that Biden does not follow in the footsteps of Trump who has discredited the US and committed a betrayal both to the US and Afghanistan through the deal with the Taliban,” Hamidullah Tokhi, an MP from southern Zabul province, told Arab News.
“Biden needs to think about US and Afghanistan honor. He can pull the troops out, but not in a hasty manner. First, he needs to reconcile the two sides,” he added.
Mirwais Khadem, a legislator from Helmand, a region known as a Taliban stronghold, said that Biden’s policy was of the utmost importance since Afghanistan relies on the US “politically, militarily and financially.”
He said: “With Trump’s departure, Biden can reset a new mechanism that annuls part of the deal with the Taliban which bars the US from hitting the Taliban, and also puts pressure (on the militants) to engage in talks with the government seriously.”
In the past, Biden has been vocal about the need to withdraw troops from Afghanistan after more than 19 years of war.
He alienated some sections of Afghan society with comments several years ago when he said that Afghanistan “will never become a nation.”
However, Fawzia Koofi, a government-appointed negotiator who took part in the intra-Afghan talks for over a month before returning home last week, said that Kabul believed Biden will avoid “pushing for a hasty troop departure like Trump.”
She told Arab News: “We have been saying that an irresponsible withdrawal will probably result in the collapse of institutions, if not in the short term then in the long term.”
Koofi added that the momentum in the Qatar talks needed to be maintained.
“We need to convince the Taliban to be sincere in this process, and bring necessary pressure on the Taliban and their supporters,” she said.
When contacted by Arab News on Sunday, Zabihullah Mujahid, a spokesman for the Taliban, said it was “too early” to comment on Biden’s victory.
However, experts predict Biden “might continue Trump’s peace plans” with the Taliban in order to avoid a civil war.
“If the US decides to abandon Afghanistan altogether, a civil war will become inevitable. Most probably the Biden administration will decide to keep some troops in Afghanistan,” Said Azam, a Canada-based Afghan analyst, said.
Other analysts warned that the Taliban might increase their attacks following Biden’s win.
“The Taliban think negotiations are useless and they have to win on the battlefield. They will increase their attacks and Biden will not use the US military against the Taliban,” Rahmatullah Nabil, Afghanistan’s former intelligence chief, told Arab News.
“Biden will also put pressure on Ghani to accept the interim government. If Ghani refuses, then Biden will relocate US bases to Pakistan and will say that it is for Afghanistan to resolve its problems and that US troops are not there to fight the Taliban,” he said.
Pakistan played a crucial role in facilitating the intra-Afghan peace talks. US Special Envoy for Afghanistan Zalmay Khalilzad expressed Washington’s gratitude to Pakistan on several occasions in recent months.
However, in such a scenario where US bases are moved to Pakistan, Nabil added that the “conflict in Afghanistan will continue and Pakistan will have an even bigger veto on internal Afghan matters.”
Torek Farhadi, an adviser to the former government, said that with US troops looking for an exit “the renewed momentum for peace will not come before an administration is firmly in place in Washington. On the ground in Afghanistan, violence will continue and political parties will attempt to make side deals with the Taliban and neighbors.”
Afghan leader urges Biden to help fight Taliban ‘terror’
https://arab.news/rwejh
Afghan leader urges Biden to help fight Taliban ‘terror’
- A few weeks ago, to Kabul’s ire, Trump announced that the remaining US troops would return home by Christmas, much earlier than the timetable agreed
- MPs, lawmakers plead with new US leader to reverse Trump troop exit
Australia will not commit troops in advance to any conflict, minister says
- Defense industry minister Pat Conroy: Australia prioritizes its sovereignty and ‘we don’t discuss hypotheticals’
- A US defense official has been pushing Australian and Japanese counterparts on what they would do in a Taiwan conflict
SYDNEY: Australia will not commit troops in advance to any conflict, Defense Industry Minister Pat Conroy said on Sunday, responding to a report that the Pentagon has pressed its ally to clarify what role it would play if the US and China went to war over Taiwan.
Australia prioritizes its sovereignty and “we don’t discuss hypotheticals,” Conroy said in an interview with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
“The decision to commit Australian troops to a conflict will be made by the government of the day, not in advance but by the government of the day,” he said.
The Financial Times reported on Saturday that Elbridge Colby, the US under-secretary of defense for policy, has been pushing Australian and Japanese defense officials on what they would do in a Taiwan conflict, although the US does not offer a blank cheque guarantee to defend Taiwan.
Colby posted on X that the Department of Defense is implementing President Donald Trump’s “America First” agenda of restoring deterrence, which includes “urging allies to step up their defense spending and other efforts related to our collective defense.”
China claims democratically governed Taiwan as its own and has not ruled out the use of force to bring Taiwan under its control. Taiwan President Lai Ching-te rejects China’s sovereignty claims, saying only Taiwan’s people can decide their future.
Australia’s largest war-fighting exercise with the United States, involving 30,000 troops from 19 countries, opens on Sunday on Sydney Harbor.
Conroy said Australia was concerned about China’s military buildup of nuclear and conventional forces, and wants a balanced Indo-Pacific region where no country dominates.
“China is seeking to secure a military base in the region and we are working very hard to be the primary security partner of choice for the region because we don’t think that’s a particularly optimal thing for Australia,” he said, referring to the Pacific Islands.
Security is expected to be on the agenda when Prime Minister Anthony Albanese meets China’s leaders this week. He arrived in Shanghai on Saturday for a six-day visit.
The Talisman Sabre exercise will span 6,500 kilometers, from Australia’s Indian Ocean territory of Christmas Island to the Coral Sea on Australia’s east coast.
Conroy said it was possible China’s navy would be watching the exercise to collect information, as it had done in the past.
The United States is Australia’s major security ally. Although Australia does not permit foreign bases, the US military is expanding its rotational presence and fuel stores on Australian bases, which from 2027 will have US Virginia submarines at port in Western Australia.
These would play a key role in supporting US forces in any conflict over Taiwan, analysts say.
Farm worker dies after US immigration raid in California
- A farm worker has died after being injured during a raid by US immigration agents on a legal cannabis farm in California, his family said on Saturday
CAMARILLO: A farm worker has died after being injured during a raid by US immigration agents on a legal cannabis farm in California, his family said on Saturday.
Raids on agricultural sites Thursday resulted in the arrests of 200 undocumented migrants, as part of US President Donald Trump’s wide-ranging anti-immigration crackdown, and clashes between law enforcement officials and protesters.
The farm worker’s family had started a page on the fundraising platform GoFundMe to help support his relatives in Mexico. On Saturday, the page posted an update to say he had “passed away.”
Trump campaigned for the presidency on a harsh anti-immigration platform, likening undocumented migrants to “animals” and “monsters,” and since taking office he has delivered on promises to conduct a massive deportation drive.
On Friday, he called demonstrators involved in attacks on Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents “slimeballs” and said they should be arrested.
The chaotic raid on the cannabis plantation in Ventura County, about 56 miles (90 kilometers) from Los Angeles, saw the worker who later died being chased by ICE agents, his family said.
“My uncle Jaime was just a hard-working, innocent farmer,” said a post on the GoFundMe page. “He was chased by ICE agents, and we were told he fell 30ft (9 meters).”
The page described his injuries as “catastrophic.”
Tricia McLaughlin, a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) spokeswoman, said he was never in custody.
“Although he was not being pursued by law enforcement, this individual climbed up to the roof of a green house and fell 30 feet,” McLaughlin said. “(Customs and Border Patrol) immediately called a medevac to the scene to get him care as quickly as possible.”
DHS said 200 undocumented migrants were arrested during raids on marijuana growing sites in Carpinteria and Camarillo on Thursday and 10 children were rescued “from potential exploitation, forced labor, and human trafficking.”
Glass House Brands, which owns the farms, said in a statement that it has “never knowingly violated applicable hiring practices and does not and has never employed minors.”
DHS said more than 500 “rioters” had attempted to disrupt the operation and four US citizens are facing charges for assaulting or resisting officers.
Tear gas was used against the protesters, some of whom were seen in television footage throwing projectiles at law enforcement vehicles.
The department said immigration agency vehicles were damaged and a $50,000 reward was being offered for the arrest of an individual who allegedly fired a gun at law enforcement officers.
In a post on his Truth Social platform, Trump said he had watched footage of “thugs” throwing rocks and bricks at ICE vehicles, causing “tremendous damage.”
Trump said he was authorizing law enforcement officers who are “on the receiving end of thrown rocks, bricks, or any other form of assault, to stop their car, and arrest these SLIMEBALLS, using whatever means is necessary to do so.”
“I am giving Total Authorization for ICE to protect itself, just like they protect the Public,” he said.
Trump has been involved in a showdown over immigration enforcement with Democratic-ruled California for weeks.
The Republican president sent thousands of National Guard troops to Los Angeles last month to quell protests against round-ups of undocumented migrants by federal agents.
California Governor Gavin Newsom has said the troops were not necessary to address the mostly peaceful protests, but his legal efforts to have them removed have failed so far.
The cannabis farm in Camarillo was calm during a visit by an AFP reporter on Friday, as workers waited in line to collect their belongings and paychecks.
“We’ve been here since six this morning asking questions but they’re not giving us any information,” said Saul Munoz, a 43-year-old Colombian whose son was detained on Thursday.
“I just want to know how he’s doing,” Munoz said. “Bring him back to me and if it’s time for us to leave, we’ll leave.
“The truth is the American dream is no longer really the American dream.”
Furor over Epstein files sparks clash between Bondi and Bongino at the Justice Department
- The spat threatened to shatter relations between the two Trump officials and centered in part on a news story that described divisions between the FBI and the Justice Department
WASHINGTON: The Justice Department and FBI are struggling to contain the fallout from this week’s decision to withhold records from the Jeffrey Epstein sex trafficking investigation, which rankled influential far-right media personalities and supporters of President Donald Trump.
The move, which included the acknowledgment that one particular sought-after document never actually existed, sparked a contentious conversation between Attorney General Pam Bondi and FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino at the White House this week. The spat threatened to shatter relations between them and centered in part on a news story that described divisions between the FBI and the Justice Department.
The cascade of disappointment and disbelief arising from the refusal to disclose additional, much-hyped records from the Epstein investigation underscores the struggles of FBI and Justice Department leaders to resolve the conspiracy theories and amped-up expectations that they themselves had stoked with claims of a cover-up and hidden evidence. Infuriated by the failure of officials to unlock, as promised, the secrets of the so-called “deep state,” Trump supporters on the far right have grown restless and even demanded change at the top.
Trump expressed frustration in a social media posting on Saturday over the divide among diehards of his “Make America Great Again” movement over the matter, and expressed support for Bondi. His lengthy post made no mention of Bongino.
“What’s going on with my ‘boys’ and, in some cases, ‘gals?’” Trump wrote. “They’re all going after Attorney General Pam Bondi, who is doing a FANTASTIC JOB! We’re on one Team, MAGA, and I don’t like what’s happening.”
Tensions that simmered for months boiled over on Monday when the Justice Department and FBI issued a two-page statement saying that they had concluded that Epstein did not possess a “client list,” even though Bondi had intimated in February that such a document was sitting on her desk, and had decided against releasing any additional records from the investigation.
The department did disclose a video meant to prove that Epstein killed himself in jail, but even that raised the eyebrows of conspiracy theorists because of a missing minute in the recording.
It was hardly the first time that Trump administration officials have failed to fulfill their pledge to deliver the evidence that supporters had come to expect.
In February, conservative influencers were invited to the White House and provided with binders marked “The Epstein Files: Phase 1” and “Declassified.” But the binders contained information that had largely already been in the public domain.
Afterward, Bondi said an FBI “source” informed her of the existence of thousands of pages of previously undisclosed documents and ordered the bureau to provide the “full and complete Epstein files.” She later said officials were poring over a “truckload” of previously withheld evidence she said had been handed over by the FBI.
But after a months-long review of evidence in the government’s possession, the Justice Department determined in the memo Monday that no “further disclosure would be appropriate or warranted.” The department noted that much of the material was placed under seal by a court to protect victims, and “only a fraction” of it “would have been aired publicly had Epstein gone to trial.”
The Trump administration had hoped that that statement would be the final word on the saga, with Trump chiding a reporter who asked Bondi about the Epstein case at a Cabinet meeting on Tuesday.
But Bondi and Bongino had a tense exchange the following day at the White House, according to a person familiar with the matter who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss a private conversation.
Part of the clash centered on a story from the news organization NewsNation that cited a “source close to the White House” as saying the FBI would have released the Epstein files months ago if it could have done so on its own. The story included statements from Bondi, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche and FBI Director Kash Patel refuting the premise, but not Bongino.
The news publication Axios was first to describe the conversation.
Blanche sought to stem the fallout Friday with a social media post in which he said he had worked closely with Patel and Bongino on the Epstein matter and the joint memo.
“All of us signed off on the contents of the memo and the conclusions stated in the memo. The suggestion by anyone that there was any daylight between the FBI and DOJ leadership on this memo’s composition and release is patently false,” he wrote on X.
Also Friday, far-right activist Laura Loomer, who is close to Trump, posted on X that she was told that Bongino was “seriously thinking about resigning” and had taken the day off to contemplate his future. Bongino is normally an active presence on social media but has been silent since Wednesday.
The FBI did not respond to a request seeking comment, and the White House sought in a statement to minimize any tensions.
“President Trump has assembled a highly qualified and experienced law and order team dedicated to protecting Americans, holding criminals accountable, and delivering justice to victims,” said spokesman Harrison Fields. “This work is being carried out seamlessly and with unity. Any attempt to sow division within this team is baseless and distracts from the real progress being made in restoring public safety and pursuing justice for all.”
Nigeria says jailed 44 for terrorism financing
- Counterterrorism agency says it has now secured a total of 785 convictions involving terrorism-related offenses
- Nigeria is listed as a “gray list country” by world monitors due to deficiencies in preventing money laundering and terrorism financing
KANO, Nigeria: Nigeria on Saturday slapped 44 Boko Haram jihadists with jail terms of up to 30 years for funding terrorist activities, a spokesman for a counterterrorism agency said.
The convicted were among 54 suspects arraigned in four specially-constituted civilian courts set up at a military base in the town of Kainji in central Niger state, Abu Michael, a spokesman for Nigeria’s counterterrorism center said in a statement.
On Wednesday, Nigeria resumed trials of the suspects seven years after it suspended prosecution of over 1,000 people suspected of ties with the jihadist group that has been waging an insurgency since 2009 to establish a caliphate.
“The verdicts delivered from the trials resulted in prison sentences ranging from 10 to 30 years, all to be served with hard labor,” Michael said.
“With the latest convictions, Nigeria has now secured a total of 785 cases involving terrorism financing and other terrorism-related offenses,” said the statement.
The trial of the remaining 10 cases was adjourned to a later date, he said.
Nigeria is listed as a “grey list country” by international monitors alongside South Sudan, South Africa, Monaco and Croatia due to deficiencies in preventing money laundering and terrorism financing.
The Nigerian military’s 16-year campaign to crush the jihadists in the northeast has killed more than 40,000 people and displaced around two million from their homes, according to the United Nations.
The violence has also spilt over into neighboring Cameroon, Chad and Niger.
In October 2017, Nigeria began mass trials of the Islamist insurgents, more than eight years after the start of the violence.
That phase of the trials, which lasted five months, saw the convictions of 200 jihadist fighters with sentencing ranging from “death penalty and life imprisonment to prison terms of 20 to 70 years,” Michael said.
The offenses for the convictions included attacks on women and children, the destruction of religious sites, the killing of civilians, and the abduction of women and children.
Human rights groups accused the military of arbitrarily arresting thousands of civilians, with many being held for years without access to lawyers or being brought to court.
Trump calls for MAGA base to end ‘Epstein Files’ obsession
- “Let’s...not waste Time and Energy on Jeffrey Epstein, somebody that nobody cares about,” Trump posted on his Truth Social platform
- The “Epstein Files” were a hoax perpetrated by the Democratic Party for political gain, he told his MAGA supporters
- Trump has denied allegations that he was named in the files or had any direct connection to the notorious sex offender
WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump urged his political base on Saturday to stop attacking his administration over files related to notorious sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, a case that has become an obsession for conspiracy theorists.
Trump’s Department of Justice and the FBI said in a memo made public last week there was no evidence that the disgraced financier kept a “client list” or was blackmailing powerful figures.
They also dismissed the claim that Epstein was murdered in jail, confirming his death by suicide at a New York prison in 2019, and said they would not be releasing any more information on the probe.
The move was met with incredulity by some on the US far-right — many of whom have backed Trump for years — and strident criticism of Attorney General Pam Bondi and FBI Director Kash Patel.
“What’s going on with my ‘boys’ and, in some cases, ‘gals?’ They’re all going after Attorney General Pam Bondi, who is doing a FANTASTIC JOB!” Trump said Saturday in a lengthy post on his Truth Social platform.
“We’re on one Team, MAGA, and I don’t like what’s happening. We have a PERFECT Administration, THE TALK OF THE WORLD, and ‘selfish people’ are trying to hurt it, all over a guy who never dies, Jeffrey Epstein,” he added, referring to his “Make America Great Again” movement.
Many among the MAGA faithful have long contended that so-called “Deep State” actors were hiding information on Epstein’s elite associates.
“Next the DOJ will say ‘Actually, Jeffrey Epstein never even existed,’” furious pro-Trump conspiracy theorist Alex Jones tweeted after last week’s move. “This is over the top sickening.”
Far-right influencer Laura Loomer called for Trump to fire Bondi over the issue, labeling her “an embarrassment.”
But on Saturday, Trump came to the defense of his attorney general, suggesting that the so-called “Epstein Files” were a hoax perpetrated by the Democratic Party for political gain, without specifying what benefits they hoped to attain.
"Why are we giving publicity to Files written by Obama, Crooked Hillary, Comey, Brennan, and the Losers and Criminals of the Biden Administration...?” he said.
On Saturday, Trump struck an exasperated tone in his admonishment of his supporters.
“For years, it’s Epstein, over and over again,” he said. “Let’s...not waste Time and Energy on Jeffrey Epstein, somebody that nobody cares about.”
The US president called for Patel and Bondi to instead focus on what he terms “The Rigged and Stolen Election of 2020,” which Trump lost to Joe Biden.
The Republican has repeatedly perpetuated unfounded conspiracy theories about his loss being due to fraud.
He called for the FBI to be allowed to focus on that investigation “instead of spending month after month looking at nothing but the same old, Radical Left inspired Documents on Jeffrey Epstein. LET PAM BONDI DO HER JOB — SHE’S GREAT!“
Trump, who appears in at least one decades-old video alongside Epstein at a party, has denied allegations that he was named in the files or had any direct connection to the financier.
“The conspiracy theories just aren’t true, never have been,” said FBI Director Patel on Saturday, hours before Trump’s social media post.
Not everyone, however, seemed to be on the same page.
US media reported that Dan Bongino — an influential right-wing podcast host whom Trump appointed FBI deputy director — had threatened to resign over the administration’s handling of the issue.
