KABUL: A surge of Taliban wins in northern Afghanistan has caused some countries to close their north Afghan consulates, while across the border in Tajikistan reservists are being called up to reinforce its southern border, according to officials and reports on Tuesday.
Nearly 1,000 Afghan soldiers have fled the Taliban advances by crossing the border into Tajikistan, according to reports from Tajikistan.
A statement on Monday from the Tajik government said President Emomali Rakhmon has ordered the mobilization of 20,000 military reservists to strengthen its border with Afghanistan.
The Afghan military exodus comes as Taliban overrun most districts in northeastern Badakhshan province. Many of the districts collapsed without a fight but along the province’s northern border with Tajikistan, hundreds of Afghan National Security and Defense Forces crossed the border seeking safety.
The consulates of Turkey and Russia have reportedly closed in Mazar-e-Sharif, the capital of northern Balkh province, and Afghanistan’s fourth-largest city. Iran said it has restricted activities at its consulate in the city. There has been fighting in Balkh province, but the provincial capital has been relatively peaceful.
The consulates of Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, India and Pakistan have reduced their services, Balkh provincial governor’s spokesman Munir Farhad said Tuesday. He said Turkey and Russia had closed their consulates and their diplomats had left the city.
The Tajik government said Afghan troops were being allowed to cross on humanitarian grounds but the border posts on the Tajik side were in control of Tajik forces and there was no fighting with Taliban from the Tajik side.
The Taliban march gains momentum only days after the United States vacated Bagram Airfield, just an hour drive north of the capital and a sure sign that the majority of its troops had left Afghanistan.
The US withdrew from what had been the epicenter of the US-led coalition’s nearly 20-year war in Afghanistan by s hutting off the electricity and slipping away in the night without notifying the base’s new Afghan commander, who discovered the Americans’ departure more than two hours after they left, according Afghan military officials said.
Meanwhile Moscow also weighed in on Monday with Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov saying there is “heightened concern” over the fighting but Russia has no plans to send troops to assist its former republic.
“We have repeatedly said many times that after the withdrawal of the Americans and their allies from Afghanistan, the development of the situation in this country is a matter of our heightened concern,” Peskov said. “We’re monitoring it very closely and are noting that destabilization (of the situation) is taking place, unfortunately.”
Meanwhile, Tajikistan’s state news agency Khovar counted 1,037 Afghan military personnel who entered Tajikistan while fleeing for their lives. It said Monday they used seven of the crossings along the countries’ shared 910-kilometer (565-mile) border.
The Taliban have made relentless territorial wins since mid-April, when President Joe Biden announced the last 2,500-3,500 US soldiers and 7,000 allied NATO soldiers would leave Afghanistan.
Most have left quietly already, well before the announced deadline in September. The full withdrawal is not expected to be completed until the end of August while agreements to protect Kabul’s Hamid Karzai International Airport are settled.
Meanwhile, the months-old peace talks being held in Qatar between Taliban and a fractious Afghan government have all but stopped even as both sides say they want a negotiated end to the decades-long conflict.
With their victories in northern and southern Afghanistan, the Taliban are putting pressure on provincial cities and gaining control of key transportation routes.
The Afghan government has resurrected militias mostly loyal to Kabul-allied warlords but with a history of brutal violence that has raised the specter of civil war similar to the fighting that devastated Kabul in the early 1990s.
The Taliban wins in northern Afghanistan are particularly significant because that part of the country is the traditional stronghold of US-allied warlords and the scene of the Taliban’s initial widespread losses in 2001 when the US-led coalition launched its battle to unseat the religious movement.
Taliban wins in northern Afghanistan forces closure of consulates
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Taliban wins in northern Afghanistan forces closure of consulates
- Nearly 1,000 Afghan soldiers have fled the Taliban advances by crossing the border into Tajikistan
- The Taliban victories in northern Afghanistan are particularly significant
Portugal police arrest crime ring over fraudulent permits for 10,000 foreigners
- The foreigners paid to obtain bogus labor contracts that allowed them to stay in the
- Portugal’s center-right government has toughened some immigration rules in the past year
LISBON: Portuguese police have arrested 13 people they believe provided an estimated more than 10,000 foreigners with residence permits and documents allowing them to stay in Portugal and the European Union in exchange for bribes, police said on Thursday.
A spokesperson for the Judicial Police force said the bribes paid to the group, which included a foreign ministry employee, a lawyer and several entrepreneurs, averaged 15,000 euros ($16,950) per person.
The foreigners paid to obtain bogus labor contracts that allowed them to stay in the country and then get residence permits, open bank accounts and access the social security system. Many of them have since left for other EU member states, police said.
Portugal’s center-right government has toughened some immigration rules in the past year, reflecting attempts elsewhere in Europe to fend off the rise of the far-right, and on Saturday vowed to deport 18,000 illegal migrants in the coming months.
It was not immediately clear if those who benefited from the illegal scheme counted among those.
Still, the country remains relatively open to migrants, particularly from Portuguese-speaking countries in Africa and from Brazil. Many experts argue that growing immigration has stoked economic growth.
While anti-immigration sentiment is expected to play a role in an early election on May 18, far-right party Chega has been steady or declining in opinion polls after a surge in the previous election last year. The center-right Democratic Alliance of Prime Minister Luis Montenegro looks set to win the most votes.
IMF says Nigeria repays $3.4 billion COVID-19 funding
- In April 2020, the IMF provided the financing to help Nigeria
- “Nigeria is expected to honor some additional payments,” Ebeke added
LAGOS: Nigeria has repaid $3.4 billion in emergency funding it received from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to help the country cope with the impact of the coronavirus pandemic five years ago, the global lender said on Thursday.
In April 2020, the IMF provided the financing to help Africa’s largest oil exporter cope with a collapse in crude prices, which hit its finances and tipped the economy into recession.
IMF resident representative to Nigeria Christian Ebeke said in a statement that, as of April 30, the country had “fully repaid the financial support” it received under the Fund’s Rapid Financing Instrument, a facility that provides urgent balance of payments funding to member nations.
“Nigeria is expected to honor some additional payments in the form of Special Drawing Rights charges of about $30 million annually,” Ebeke added.
The most recent data from the Debt Management Office shows that Nigeria last year spent $4.66 billion to service its foreign debt, of which $1.63 billion was to the IMF.
Greenpeace Denmark launches fake tourism ad to highlight pollution
- “We are inviting Europeans to discover the wonders of Denmark’s agricultural landscape,” Fromberg told
- Greenpeace believes that Denmark has repeatedly violated the EU Water Framework Directive
COPENHAGEN: Discover a dying sea or cycle through protected natural areas covered in asphalt? A tourism campaign by Greenpeace’s Danish branch seeks to highlight environmental pollution in the Nordic country.
“Through the campaign, which is available on social networks as well as on billboards in Brussels and Warsaw, we are inviting Europeans to discover the wonders of Denmark’s agricultural landscape,” Christian Fromberg, head of agriculture and nature at Greenpeace Denmark, told AFP Thursday.
With a tone of sarcasm Fromberg went on to describe the sights: “Here we find asphyxiated seas littered with mysterious brown sludge, car parks and golf courses that are in officially protected natural areas.”
In the Scandinavian country, which prides itself on being a leader in the combating climate change, human activities, particularly waste from agriculture, have suffocated marine ecosystems.
The equivalent of 7,500 square kilometers (2,896 square miles) of the waters around the country, or 17 percent of the surface area of mainland Denmark, has been affected by deoxygenation, leading to the disappearance of marine flora and fauna, according to the Danish Environmental Protection Agency.
“The campaign is a cry for help to the European Union to enforce the environmental regulations systematically violated by the Danish government,” Fromberg said.
Greenpeace believes that Denmark, which takes over the presidency of the European Union in July, has repeatedly violated the EU Water Framework Directive, which requires member states to implement measures to ensure healthy aquatic ecosystems.
“The current government will not take the necessary measures to revitalize our seas and protect our environment,” Fromberg said.
At the same time, a broad majority of Danish politicians have agreed to introduce a carbon tax on livestock farming by 2030.
Denmark has also committed to make agriculture greener, aiming to reduce nitrogen emissions by 13,780 tons a year by 2027.
Russia and Ukraine report attacks despite Moscow-declared truce as Kyiv ratifies minerals deal
- Russian bombs meanwhile struck northeast Ukraine in the opening hours of Moscow’s unilateral ceasefire
- Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha accused Russia of violating its own ceasefire 734 times between midnight and midday Thursday
KYIV: Russia and Ukraine both reported attacks on their forces on the first day of a 72-hour ceasefire called by Russian President Vladimir Putin, while Ukraine’s parliament unanimously approved a landmark minerals deal with the US.
The ratification is a key step in setting the deal in motion. It would allow Washington access to Ukraine’s largely untapped minerals, deepen strategic ties and create a joint investment fund with the US for the reconstruction of Ukraine.
Parliament approved the agreement with 338 members voting in favor out of the required 226 votes, Ukrainian lawmaker Yaroslav Zheleznyak wrote on his Telegram account. No lawmaker voted against it or abstained.
“This document is not merely a legal construct, it is the foundation of a new model of interaction with a key strategic partner,” Ukrainian Economy Minister Yuliia Svyrydenko wrote on X.
Russian bombs meanwhile struck northeast Ukraine in the opening hours of Moscow’s unilateral ceasefire, killing at least one civilian, Ukrainian officials said. Artillery assaults took place across the 1,000-kilometer (620-mile) front line, although with less intensity than in the previous 24 hours, officials said.
The ceasefire coincides with Russia’s biggest secular holiday, the 80th anniversary of victory over Nazi Germany. Kyiv has pressed for a longer-term ceasefire.
Putin on Thursday welcomed Chinese President Xi Jinping in the Kremlin. Xi, who Putin earlier described as “our main guest” at Friday’s Victory Day festivities, arrived in Russia on Wednesday for a four-day visit.
Both sides list attacks since the Moscow-declared truce
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha accused Russia of violating its own ceasefire 734 times between midnight and midday Thursday. He called the ceasefire a “farce” on the social media platform X.
He said Russia carried out 63 assault operations along the front line, 23 of which were still ongoing as of midday. Ukraine “responds appropriately” and is actively sharing information about the attacks with the U.S, the European Union and others. “We will not let Putin fool anyone when he does not even keep his own word,” Sybiha said.
Russian attacks also took place near Chasiv Yar in the Donetsk region on Thursday morning, a press officer of Ukraine’s 24th Mechanized Brigade, Oleh Petrasiuk, told The Associated Press via phone.
One person died and two were wounded when Russian forces dropped guided air bombs on residential areas near the border in the northeast Sumy region, the regional prosecutor’s office said.
Large-scale missile and drone attacks, which have been a near-daily occurrence in Ukraine in recent weeks, were not recorded since 8:30 p.m. Wednesday, Ukraine’s air force said.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky had previously cast doubt on the ceasefire, calling it “manipulation” as US-led peace efforts stalled. “For some reason, everyone is supposed to wait until May 8 before ceasing fire — just to provide Putin with silence for his parade,” Zelensky said.
In March, the United States proposed a 30-day truce in the war, which Ukraine accepted, but the Kremlin has held out for ceasefire terms more to its liking.
Russia’s Defense Ministry meanwhile accused Ukrainian forces of attacking its positions and said its forces would continue to “mirror” Ukraine’s actions during the Kremlin’s ceasefire.
The regions of Belgorod, Lipetsk, Orenburg, Ryazan and Tambov came under a drone threat alert overnight, but there were no reports of any drones being shot down or intercepted. Russia’s civil aviation authority Rosaviatsia also briefly imposed restrictions on flights to and from the airport in Nizhny Novgorod.
Putin praises relations with Xi
In welcoming Xi, Putin said that “the brotherhood of arms between our peoples, which developed during the harsh war years, is one of the fundamental foundations of modern Russian-Chinese relations of comprehensive partnership and strategic cooperation.”
He added that Moscow and Beijing were developing ties “for the benefit of the peoples of both countries and not against anyone.”
Xi, in turn, said that “history and reality have fully proved that the continuous development and deepening of China-Russia relations is a necessity for the friendship between the two peoples from generation to generation.” He also called for safeguarding “international fairness and justice.”
Putin and Xi have met over 40 times and developed strong personal ties that bolstered the countries’ “strategic partnership” as both face tensions with the West.
China has offered robust diplomatic support to Moscow after its 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine and has emerged as a top market for Russian oil and gas, helping fill the Kremlin’s war coffers. Russia has relied on China as the main source of machinery and electronics to keep its military machine running after Western sanctions curtailed high-tech supplies.
King Charles leads UK service to mark end of WWII
- Eighty years ago on May 8, 1945, central London was thronged with huge crowds celebrating the end of the war
- In a radio address to the nation Churchill announced that the day would be “Victory in Europe Day”
LONDON: King Charles III on Thursday joined veterans and other members of the royal family at London’s Westminster Abbey for a service to mark 80 years since the end of World War II.
Arriving at the abbey, Charles and his eldest son Prince William laid wreaths at the church’s tomb of the unknown warrior.
The King’s message on the wreath read simply: “We will never forget” and was signed Charles R.
William’s message, which was signed “William” and “Catherine,” added: “For those who made the ultimate sacrifice during the Second World War. We will remember them.”
This year’s commemorations have had an extra poignancy due to the great age of the dwindling numbers of surviving veterans.
War-time prime minister Winston Churchill’s 10-year-old great-great-grandson Alexander lit a candle of peace during the service, which was preceded by a nationwide two-minute silence.
“It feels really amazing that I can represent my family and also the younger generation to know and remember everyone involved in World War II,” the younger Churchill said.
Other younger members of the congregation handed out white roses to veterans.
Charles, who is undergoing treatment for an unspecified cancer, was also accompanied by Queen Camilla, William’s wife Princess Catherine, also known as Kate, and other senior members of the royal family.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer and other politicians and dignitaries also attended.
Eighty years ago on May 8, 1945, central London was thronged with huge crowds celebrating the end of the war.
In a radio address to the nation Churchill announced that the day would be “Victory in Europe Day.”
He added: “We may allow ourselves a brief period of rejoicing,” despite the conflict with Japan not yet having ended.
Later that day the crowds even included the late Queen Elizabeth II, then a 19-year-old princess, and her younger sister Margaret, who were allowed to leave Buckingham Palace and join the jubilant crowds incognito.
The Westminster Abbey service featured a rendition of the favorite 1940s song “The White Cliffs of Dover,” readings of wartime letters to loved ones, and an excerpt of Churchill’s 1945 victory speech.
Before leaving, Charles and other members of the royal family spent time chatting to veterans and their families, some of whom are now over 100 years of age.
Kate and Camilla then led other royals in laying flowers at the Innocent Victims’ Memorial in tribute to all victims of war and oppression.
This year’s anniversary events will be the last major commemoration for which “anyone will still be alive who actually served in the Second World War,” monarchy specialist Robert Hazell of University College London told AFP earlier.
The four-day celebration which began on Monday was set to wrap up later Thursday with a concert at London’s Horse Guards Parade, with pubs allowed to stay open two hours later than usual.
