English LCCC Newsbulletin For Lebanese, Lebanese Related, Global News & Editorials
For August 19/2020
Compiled & Prepared by: Elias Bejjani
#elias_bejjani_news

The Bulletin's Link on the lccc Site
http://data.eliasbejjaninews.com/eliasnews21/english.august19.21.htm

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Bible Quotations For today
When you give a banquet, Invite all those who cannot repay you, for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous
Luke 14/12-15: “He said also to the one who had invited him, ‘When you give a luncheon or a dinner, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbours, in case they may invite you in return, and you would be repaid. But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind. And you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you, for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.’One of the dinner guests, on hearing this, said to him, ‘Blessed is anyone who will eat bread in the kingdom of God!’””

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on August 18-19/2021
All Petitions To Help Lebanon Shall Remain Futile as long as Hezbollah & its occupation are not their core & essence/Elias Bejjani/August 18/2021
Video/Interview from the Middle East Forum wir Dr. Jonathan Spyer addressing Lebanon Crisis/August 18/2021/Click Here Or On The Link Below To Watch the Video
Akkar Buries Victims of Fuel Tank Blast
Military institution, Akkar and families bid farewell al-Tleil fuel tank explosion victims
Aoun welcomes newly appointed ICRC representative in Lebanon
Aoun meets agriculture sector delegations: Agriculture is the backbone of the productive economy
Army Commander visits Cyprus, meets Cypriot counterpart and Defense Minister
Berri welcomes Serbia’s Foreign Affairs Minister, newly appointed ICRC representative in Lebanon
UNIFIL rebuffs accusation of role allowing ammonium nitrate enter Lebanon
Optimism on Govt. Surges as Draft Line-Up Emerges
Aoun Envoy Meets Putin's Special Mideast Representative
Nabatiyeh Residents Intercept UNIFIL Patrol
Nasrallah Rejects Smuggling, Says U.S. Waging 'Economic War' on Lebanon
RPG, Gunfire Target Gas Station in Beirut Southern Suburbs
North Lebanon Hospitals Grapple with Power, Telecom Outages
Lebanon Government Formation Appears on Hold, Despite Earlier Optimism
Aoun may have won the battle, but could he lose the people?/Michael Young/The National/August 18/2021
UN Peacekeepers Let Hezbollah Call the Shots/Tony Badran/Newsweek/August 18/2021
Histoire de la trahison du Liban/Par Nabil El Khazen/Le 16.05.2021

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on August 18-19/2021
Taliban Pledge to be 'Different', as Afghans Flee
Karman sees ‘lesson’ for Islamists in fall of Ennahda, rise of Taliban
Turkey, Iran face quandary after Taliban takeover: boost influence while curtail Afghan refugee influx
Lebanon buries victims of Akkar fuel tank blast
Afghan envoy says hold-out Panjshir province north of Kabul can resist Taliban rule
Afghanistan’s president, family in UAE on ‘humanitarian grounds’: Foreign ministry
Former Afghan president Ashraf Ghani: Don’t judge me if you don’t know full details
Taliban kill two protesters carrying Afghanistan’s flag in Jalalabad: Reports
Hiding from Taliban hit squads: Former Afghan official describes ordeal, anger at US
Iran Stresses Nuclear Program Peaceful after IAEA Report
Egypt invites Israeli PM Naftali Bennett to visit Cairo
Turkey’s President Erdogan receives the UAE’s National Security Adviser Sheikh
Algeria to review ties with Morocco after ‘hostile acts’
Concern in Jordan over presence of Iran militias near northern borders
Iran accelerates uranium enrichment, sparks tensions with West
Libya’s voter registration advances, poll uncertainties rise

Titles For The Latest The Latest LCCC English analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on August 18-19/2021
Taliban's return to power in Afghanistan sparks new fears of al-Qaida resurgence/Michael Isikoff and Jana Winter/Yahoo News/ August 18/2021
The Afghan debacle will destroy the Biden presidency/Frank Luntz and (Ret) RADM Mark Montgomery/The Telegraph/August 18/2021
Turkey Turns to Taliban, But There is no More Airport Deal to Salvage/Aykan Erdemir/ Balkan Insight/August 18/2021
Afghanistan calls for global rules to face extremism/Ivan Scalfarotto/The Arab Weekly/August 18/2021
Pragmatism is shaping Russia-Taliban relations/Giorgio Cafiero/Arabiya/August 18/2021
Biden's Clueless Afghan Double-Cross/Lawrence Kadish/Gatestone Institute/August 18/2021
Iran's Renewed 'Promise' to the Palestinians/Khaled Abu Toameh/Gatestone Institute/August 18/2021

The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on August 18-19/2021
نطالب بعدم توقيع أي استرحام مهما كان هدفه أو محتواه ما لم يكن التركيز الأول والأخير فيه على احتلال حزب الله والقرارات الدولية الخاصة بلبنان
All Petitions To Help Lebanon Shall Remain Futile as long as Hezbollah & its occupation are not their core & essence
Elias Bejjani/August 18/2021
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/101494/elias-bejjani-camouflaged-futile-petitions-as-long-as-hezbollah-its-occupation-are-not-their-core-essence/
All those Non Profit Organizations (NGO’S) inside occupied Lebanon, or in the Diaspora, are almost every week initiating and circulating petitions on Change.org, and calling Lebanese citizens to sign them, are actually and in reality not helping the Lebanese cause or the occupied Lebanon, even if their intentions are good and not evil. It is worth mentioning the Good intentions only do not Liberate Lebanon, as well as only food, medicine and all other humanitarian needs and supplies.
Why they are not helping with such futile and useless petitions, and most probably are harming, is because they are not focusing on the main cancer that is devouring Lebanon and its people, which is Hezbollah occupation .
All these petitions are not mentioning the occupier Hezbollah, and are not calling for the liberation of Lebanon from its occupation. They are only calling for food, electricity, medicines and other humanitarian domains.
This suspicious track of the NGO’S camouflaging petitions serves the Hezbollah occupation, and totally diverts the focus from its cancerous and devastating occupation.
Therefore, openly and loudly, we call on our Lebanese people, in both occupied Lebanon and the Diaspora, not to sign any petition that does not focus first and foremost on the occupation of Hezbollah, and on the UN Resolutions the Armistice accord with Israel, 1559, 1701, and 1680.

Video/Interview from the Middle East Forum wir Dr. Jonathan Spyer addressing Lebanon Crisis/August 18/2021/Click Here Or On The Link Below To Watch the Video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cBYJgGRlHAQ

Akkar Buries Victims of Fuel Tank Blast
Agence France Presse/August 18/2021
Families laid to rest Wednesday victims of a fuel tank blast that killed at least 28 people in northern Lebanon amid anger and sorrow over the crisis-hit country's latest tragedy.
The explosion on Sunday in al-Tleil in the Akkar region scorched crowds clamoring for petrol that the army was distributing in light of severe fuel shortages that have paralyzed a country also beset by medicine, gas and bread shortages. The victims included soldiers and Akkar residents who darted to al-Tleil after midnight to fill gasoline in plastic containers straight from a fuel tank that exploded in circumstances that remain unclear. The tank was among supplies confiscated by the military, which has lately wrested supplies from alleged fuel hoarders across the country.
The disaster came on top of an economic crisis branded by the World Bank as one of the planet's worst in modern times and follows an explosion of poorly stored fertilizer at Beirut port last summer that killed more than 200 people and destroyed swathes of the capital. Akkar, one of Lebanon's poorest regions, buried around 15 blast victims on Wednesday, according to an AFP correspondent, after their corpses were identified and transported from hospitals hit by power and telecom outages, with even landlines disrupted. The Akkar village of al-Daouseh held funerals for four of its dead, all of whom are from the Shraytih family. "They died for petrol -- if we had fuel this would have never happened," said Mouin Shraytih who was burying two sons -- one 16 and the other 20. "Political leaders and officials should consider what it is like to have two young boys and find them burned and charred in front of your own eyes," the man in his fifties told AFP at the funeral. Dozens had gathered at the family's home when a convoy of vehicles carrying the corpses arrived from a nearby hospital, an AFP correspondent said. Fawaz Shraytih, a relative of Mouin, was burying two brothers, both army soldiers. "What happened is because of deprivation, Akkar is a deprived region," he said. But "all we do is pay with our blood," he added, explaining that soldiers make up the bulk of al-Daouseh's male population. There are eight soldiers among his own immediate family, he said. Nearly 80 people were injured in the blast, medics said, many with burns that further overwhelmed hospitals struggling to function without electricity. Foreign countries and U.N. agencies have scrambled emergency aid to help exhausted health workers cope with the new influx of serious injuries and run DNA tests to identify charred remains.

Military institution, Akkar and families bid farewell al-Tleil fuel tank explosion victims
NNA/August 18/2021
The military institution, Akkar and families on Wednesday bid farewell a number of martyrs of the catastrophic Al-Tleil fuel tank explosion, in a solemn and sad procession in the presence of crowds of the region’s locals. Mourning families and residents chanted slogans calling for retribution and punishment of the perpetrators, and stressing the need to expedite the investigation to uncover the circumstances of this horrific crime and all those involved in it. The martyrs’ procession had several stop overs in te towns of Halba, al-Kuwaikhat and al-Tleil, before martyrs were laid to rest in their respective villages and towns in the region.

Aoun welcomes newly appointed ICRC representative in Lebanon
NNA/August 18/2021
President of the Republic, General Michel Aoun, on Wednesday welcomed the newly appointed representative of the International Committee of the Red Cross in Lebanon, Mrs. Simone Ashelman. The President seized the occasion to convey to Ashelman Lebanon's gratitude for the role played by the ICRC providing support and assistance to the country, especially amid the current difficult circumstances. Aoun also wished Ashelman success in her new mission in Lebanon.

Aoun meets agriculture sector delegations: Agriculture is the backbone of the productive economy
NNA/August 18/2021
President of the Republic, General Michel Aoun, affirmed that efforts are underway to address the difficulties facing the agricultural sector in Lebanon due to the successive crises that the country is enduring, particularly the fuel shortages.
President Aoun pointed out that agriculture is the backbone of the productive economy which he is seeking to achieve instead of the rentier economy, which was one of the causes of the economic and financial distress that Lebanon is currently going through. The head of state pointed out that "agriculture is the backbone of the productive economy that he is working to achieve instead of the rentier economy, which was one of the causes of the economic and financial distress that Lebanon is currently going through."President Aoun stressed the need to adopt swift measures to protect the seasons of “vegetables and fruits”, including securing fuels to ensure their continuity according to a mechanism that can be studied with the relevant ministries, especially the ministries of agriculture, energy and water. Aoun’s fresh words came during his meeting at the Baabda palace on Wednesday with a delegation from the Syndicate of Importers and Exporters of Vegetables and Fruits in Lebanon, headed by Dean Naim Saleh Khalil, and a delegation from the Bekaa Farmers Association, headed by Ibrahim Tarshishi, with whom he discussed the difficulties currently facing the agricultural sector.

Army Commander visits Cyprus, meets Cypriot counterpart and Defense Minister
NNA/August 18/2021
Armed Forces Commander, General Joseph Aoun, accepted the invitation of his Cypriot counterpart, Commander of the National Guard, General Dimokritos Zervakis, to visit the Republic of Cyprus. A reception was held in honor of General Aoun at the Ministry of Defense building, where he met the Cypriot Defense Minister Charalampos Petrides, in the presence of the Lebanese Ambassador to Cyprus, Claude Al-Hajal. Petrides stressed that "the Lebanese army is the backbone of Lebanon and bears many responsibilities," underscoring "the need to support it to continue carrying out its tasks."
Aoun then discussed with General Zervakis the means to strengthen and develop relations between the two armies, in addition to bolstering coordinating in the field of combating illegal immigration. The two sides signed a military cooperation agreement on the exchange of experiences between the two armies.m Zervakis praied "the performance of the Lebanese army despite the exceptional circumstances Lebanon is experiencing, and the economic conditions that Lebanon is suffering from," stressing continued support for the LAF, especially in the field of search and rescue and fire extinguishing.General Aoun, in turn, thanked his Cypriot counterpart for the continuous support, hoping to "strengthen ties for the benefit of the two armies."

Berri welcomes Serbia’s Foreign Affairs Minister, newly appointed ICRC representative in Lebanon
NNA/August 18/2021
House Speaker, Nabih Berri, on Wednesday welcomed in Ain el-Tineh the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Serbia, Nikola Selakovic, in the presence of Serbian Ambassador to Lebanon, Emir Elfic. Talks reportedly touched on the current general situation and the bilateral relations between Lebanon and Serbia. Speaker Berri also welcomed the newly appointed representative of the International Committee of the Red Cross in Lebanon, Mrs. Simone Ashelman, who came on a protocol visit.

UNIFIL rebuffs accusation of role allowing ammonium nitrate enter Lebanon
NNA/August 18/2021
In response to a question by the National News Agency (NNA) about allegations around UNIFIL's role in allowing the ammonium nitrate that caused the August 4th blast to enter Lebanese waters and be offloaded at the port of Beirut, UNIFIL said the following:
“There has been a notable amount of misinformation and misunderstanding in Lebanese media recently around UNIFIL’s mandate and role in maritime interdiction.
Lebanon is a sovereign state, and UNIFIL’s role is one of support and assistance.
Under Security Council Resolution 1701 and following a request made by the Government of Lebanon to the UN after the adoption of that resolution, UNIFIL’s Maritime Task Force supports the Lebanese Navy with very specific tasks to prevent the entry of illegal arms or related material into Lebanon by sea.
The language of the resolution clearly uses words like “accompany and support,” “extend assistance,” and “assist” in reference to UNIFIL’s role vis-à-vis the Government of Lebanon and the Lebanese Armed Forces.
UNIFIL does not board or conduct physical inspections of ships. This is the responsibility of the Lebanese Navy, as Lebanon is a sovereign state.
UNIFIL is not responsible for authorizing entry into Lebanese ports. Although UNIFIL is here to help, the task of securing borders remains the prerogative of the Lebanese state.
UNIFIL’s role, in cooperation with the Lebanese Navy, is to hail ships approaching Lebanon and refer to Lebanese authorities for inspection any ships where there are inconsistencies or where clarification is required. The Lebanese authorities are then responsible for inspecting them, usually upon arrival at port.
UNIFIL has no involvement after ships are referred to Lebanese authorities.
Due to the ongoing judicial investigation, it wouldn’t be appropriate for us to comment on this particular case.”—UNIFIL

Optimism on Govt. Surges as Draft Line-Up Emerges
Naharnet/August 18/2021
Optimism has surged on the possibility of forming a new government in the coming days while most Lebanese newspapers have published incomplete draft cabinet line-ups.
“Discussions are underway to pick candidates who would satisfy the Lebanese and the international community in order to be able to receive international aid,” the reports said.
Below is the draft line-up that is being circulated:
- Energy Ministry: Carole Ayyat (President’s share)
- Deputy PM: To be named by Aoun and Miqati
- Social Affairs: President’s share
- Defense: President’s share
- Foreign Affairs: Abdallah Bou Habib (Named by Aoun and Miqati)
- Economy: President’s share or SSNP’s share
- Telecom: Marada’s share
- Industry: Marada’s share
- Interior: Ibrahim Basbous or Mohammed al-Hassan or Marwan Zein or a candidate from the al-Hajjar family
- Culture: Judge Mohammed Murtada (close to Hizbullah)
- Public Works: Hizbullah’s share
- Finance: Youssef Khalil or Abdullah Nassereddine (Amal’s share)
- Agriculture: Amal’s share
- Education: PSP’s share
- Justice: Judge Jihad al-Wadi (Named by Aoun and Miqati)
- Displaced: Lebanese Democratic Party’s share
- Labor: Shiite duo’s share
- Health: Firass Abiad

Aoun Envoy Meets Putin's Special Mideast Representative
Naharnet/August 18/2021
President Michel Aoun’s adviser for Russian affairs, ex-MP Amal Abu Zeid, has held talks in Russia with Mikhail Bogdanov -- the Russian Deputy Foreign Minister and Presidential Special Envoy for the Middle East and Africa. A statement issued by the Russian Foreign Ministry said the two men discussed the developments in the Middle East and focused on the situation in Lebanon. “They especially discussed the importance of finishing as soon as possible the formation of a government in Lebanon led by PM-designate Najib Miqati in order to overcome the political, social and economic crisis,” the statement said. The two men also discussed “means to boost Russian-Lebanese cooperation at the various levels, including the possibility of providing medicines and medical equipment from Russia to help treat the victims of the blast in the northern Lebanese region of Akkar.”

Nabatiyeh Residents Intercept UNIFIL Patrol
Naharnet/August 18/2021
Residents from the southern city of Nabatiyeh overnight intercepted a patrol belonging to the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), state-run National News Agency reported on Wednesday. The residents intercepted the patrol after “seeing its members photographing the street extending from Nabatiyeh’s western entrance to the Bir al-Qandil intersection,” NNA said. “The Irish patrol, consisted of three military vehicles one of them an ambulance, was on its way back from Beirut and took roads that are not part of its routine route,” the agency added. “It entered from Wadi al-Nmeiriyeh, Doueir and Marj Zabdine before reaching the city of Nabatiyeh where it was intercepted,” NNA said, adding that a Lebanese Army intelligence patrol arrived on the scene and that the Irish patrol was evacuated following a series of contacts.

Nasrallah Rejects Smuggling, Says U.S. Waging 'Economic War' on Lebanon
Naharnet/August 18/2021
Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah has stressed that his party rejects the smuggling of fuel and other subsidized goods from Lebanon to Syria, as he accused Washington of waging an “economic war” on the country. “We reject smuggling and we do not accept it. We are not covering anyone. Let anyone come forward and say that Hizbullah has intervened for the release of anyone arrested by the Lebanese Army, the Lebanese security forces or the Lebanese judiciary on charges of smuggling diesel and gasoline to Syria,” Nasrallah said in a televised speech marking the ninth night of the Ashura religious commemorations. Moreover, Nasrallah said that Hizbullah has contacted Syrian officials in a bid to secure urgent quantities of diesel for hospitals, bakeries and serum factories, adding that the officials in Damascus said that their country lacks the ability to help Lebanon seeing as Syria itself is going through a fuel shortage crisis. “We support all the measures that prevent smuggling. Let the state shoulder its responsibility and prevent smuggling,” Hizbullah’s chief added, noting that his party lacks the logistic ability to deploy on Lebanon’s entire eastern border with Syria.
As for the severe economic crisis in the country, Nasrallah called the situation an “economic war” aimed at “subjugating the Lebanese people, topped by the Resistance.”“America wants Lebanon to be subservient and humiliated,” Nasrallah said, accusing the U.S. State Department and U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon Dorothy Shea of trying to dictate orders on Lebanon. Washington “wants the Lebanese to bow as to appointments, policies, border demarcation, how to deal with the resistance and how to surrender to Israel,” Nasrallah charged. He added that the U.S. had backed NGOs during the October 17 uprising in a bid to topple the president, the government and the parliament, and to force early legislative polls and a government with extraordinary powers, in order to eventually “impose a new president, a new government and a new parliament." Nasrallah also alleged that Washington had “exerted pressure” on then-PM Saad Hariri and “forced him to resign.” “They were overseeing the scheme that started in October 2019,” Nasrallah claimed. He also emphasized that Hizbullah’s military readiness is intact despite the economic “collapse” in the country.

RPG, Gunfire Target Gas Station in Beirut Southern Suburbs
Agence France Presse/August 18/2021
oulder-fired rocket have targeted a petrol station in the Beirut southern suburb of al-Laylaki, the latest in a series of incidents rattling motorists lining up in long petrol queues. The NNA said the army deployed in the area after several people were wounded in the shooting, but did not provide more details.
A security source told AFP that people who had illegally stored petrol at a pumping station fired live rounds as soldiers tried to confiscate their stock. They also started a fire at the gas station, accusing its owner of having tipped off the army. Videos and pictures circulating on social media showed men opening machine-gun fire. The army on Saturday started raiding gas stations and confiscating stocks of fuel that distributors have been hoarding to sell at a higher price in the black market or across the border in Syria. The army said on Twitter it had seized more than 4.3 million liters of petrol and 2.2 million liters of fuel oil between Saturday and Monday. It forced the owners of these supplies to sell almost all the petrol and 1.6 million liters of fuel oil to hospitals, bakeries and a power utility, and to distribute more for free, it said.

North Lebanon Hospitals Grapple with Power, Telecom Outages
Agence France Presse/August 18/2021
Hospitals struggled Tuesday to operate amid life-threatening power cuts and telecom outages in the north Lebanon region of Akkar where a fuel tank explosion killed at least 28 people this week. Lights and phone lines went out across the impoverished and marginalized region that has long suffered from an ailing power grid but that is now grappling with an unprecedented crisis amid severe diesel shortages. The outages come less than two days after a fuel tank exploded in the village of Al-Tleil, scorching people clamoring to fill petrol that the army was distributing.
Around 80 people, including several soldiers, were injured, many of them with severe burns, which overwhelmed hospitals. Fuel shortages since the start of summer have aggravated hardship in Lebanon, a country of more than six million that is in the throes of an economic crisis branded by the World Bank as one of the worst since the mid-19th century. Without the diesel fuel needed to power private generators, businesses, hospitals and even the country's main telecom operator have been forced to scale back operations or close entirely in light of outages lasting up to 22 hours a day.
In Akkar, hospitals still storing corpses of victims charred in Sunday's fuel tank blast were left without power, internet, and working landlines, as health officials pleaded for help from the authorities. "We have a stock of 700 liters (almost 185 gallons) of diesel fuel which will last for only one day," said Riad Rahal, the director of Rahal Hospital in the Akkar town of Halba. The nearby El-Youssef hospital also had enough stock of diesel to last until Wednesday morning and no working phone lines, said Nathaline El-Chaar, assistant to the director. "Since yesterday landlines have been out of service... and we are trying hard to secure diesel," she told AFP., She said the hospital's diesel provider had delayed deliveries fearing attacks on a north Lebanon highway where incidents in recent days have seen angry groups seize fuel from trucks. The official National News Agency on Tuesday said diesel fuel shortages and power outages at the Ogero telecom provider forced it to cut internet, landlines and mobile phone services in several parts of Akkar, effectively paralyzing banks, businesses, and state offices. Ogero head Imad Kreidieh warned other regions in Lebanon would follow suit if the situation does not improve.

Lebanon Government Formation Appears on Hold, Despite Earlier Optimism
Dale Gavlak/VOA/August 18/2021
AMMAN, JORDAN - Lebanese citizens are feeling embittered by the rising death toll of those burned in Sunday’s fuel tanker explosion in the northern region of Akkar. People were reportedly desperate to fill plastic containers there with scarce fuel when the blast occurred.
The general public has been plunged into darkness and chaos as shortages of electricity, food, and transportation services engulf the country.
The tragic incident follows the anniversary of the deadly port blast last August that claimed more than 200 lives and destroyed large parts of the capital, Beirut.
Lebanon's President Michel Aoun meets with U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon Dorothy Shea, at the presidential palace in Baabda,…
Lebanon's President Michel Aoun meets with U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon Dorothy Shea, at the presidential palace in Baabda, Lebanon, Aug. 16, 2021.
U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon Dorothy Shea met with President Michel Aoun and Prime Minister-designate Najib Mikati on Monday. Shea warned that without an “empowered government committed to and able to implement urgently needed reforms” the Lebanese would slide further into a humanitarian catastrophe. She urged parties “who continue to block government formation and reform to put aside partisan interests.”
However, after his talks with Aoun on the naming of potential ministers for a new government, billionaire businessman Mikati refused a time limit for the formation, despite earlier expressing optimism that it could happen in days.
Joseph Bahout, who directs the Issam Fares Institute at the American University of Beirut, told VOA that time has run out for political bickering over portfolios.
“What is to be done is very well known, but no one is able to do it," Bahout said. "It means to stop this race towards the abyss: stopping stupid economic, financial policies, form a minimally accepted government, undertake the minimally required to reforms about the electricity, bank restructuring and the start of the negotiations with the IMF and start putting the country on the right track socially.
"If this happens, it will be accompanied by the international community under the form of an aid social net safety issues to put the country on the track onto recovery over a period of three to four years.”
The influential Lebanese Maronite Catholic patriarch, Bechara Boutros al-Rai, denounced "the state of destructive chaos that is destroying Lebanon,” which he said was one of the causes of the Akkar explosion. He warned parties against exploiting the situation “to bring about more painful events that Lebanon and its people are no longer able to bear or even absorb."
Meanwhile, Lebanon’s state-owned power company says it can provide only one hour of electricity a day. Lack of fuel is one problem; another is that in some areas, people have seized control of power stations and diverted electricity to serve their own towns and villages.

Aoun may have won the battle, but could he lose the people?
Michael Young/The National/August 18/2021
As Lebanon’s government formation process continues, with hope for a successful resolution this time, Michel Aoun can take pride in a singular achievement in having augmented his presidential powers. However, given Mr Aoun’s propensity to make gains without considering the devastating impact of how he achieves his successes, he may also have undermined the presidential ambitions of his son in law Gebran Bassil.
When Saad Hariri began forming a government in October 2020, he approached the task with an interpretation of the constitution that minimised the presidency’s role in the process. According to the constitution, both the prime minister-designate’s and the president’s signatures are required for a government to be formed. Mr Aoun insisted that this condition made him an active partner in naming ministers, with which Mr Hariri disagreed.
Clarifying the president’s powers has profound political and sectarian implications. The Lebanese president is always a Maronite Christian, while the prime minister is always a Sunni Muslim. The constitution, which was amended after the Taif agreement of 1989, greatly reduced the president’s powers to the advantage of the Council of Ministers. Mr Aoun was never happy with this.
For Mr Hariri, the president can ask for some changes in ministerial candidates, but he is not a full partner in naming ministers. The prime minister-designate alone has that latitude. But Mr Aoun, seeing that he has veto power over the establishment of a government, interpreted his mandate more forcefully. The reality is that nothing in the constitution explicitly prevents him from doing so.
When a frustrated Mr Hariri stepped down a few weeks ago, he was replaced by another former prime minister, Najib Mikati. Unlike Mr Hariri, Mr Mikati avoided getting bogged down in a fight over prerogatives. He doubtless realised that the dispute could not be resolved now, and that Lebanon, which is collapsing rapidly, had no time to waste on obscure constitutional issues.
Mr Mikati’s choice, then, was to begin a dialogue with the president and meet with him every few days, sometimes even daily, to reach an understanding. By doing this, however, he implicitly approved of Mr Aoun’s interpretation of the constitution. Henceforth, no Maronite president will take a backseat role in the government-formation process, as has been the case since 1989.
This raises interesting possibilities for the future. Many Maronites have long considered the post-1989 constitution as a catastrophe for their community. By abolishing many of the president’s powers, they feel, it effectively weakened the community as a whole. However, Mr Aoun, who has stubbornly insisted that the president is no potted plant, has created a situation in which many Maronites may now come to look at the constitution differently.
That’s not a bad thing. Moreover, if there is a greater consensus between the president and prime minister over cabinets in the future, it could potentially lessen the polarisation that has become the norm in the country’s politics. This may be an optimistic reading, but if there is a shared policy vision from the start, that can perhaps help create governments that are more cohesive than before.
While Mr Aoun can be credited with a win, the fact that he has blocked a government since October of last year to impose his interpretation of the constitution may come back to haunt him. That’s because in the interim, Lebanon has deteriorated radically, to the point of being paralysed today. Mr Aoun may have scored a victory, but most Lebanese certainly don’t share the enthusiasm. This is reminiscent of what happened when Mr Aoun headed a military government in 1989 and launched a “war of liberation” against Syrian military forces in Lebanon. At the time he had succeeded in regionalising the question of the Syrian presence, when a tripartite Arab committee intervened to find a resolution. This was no mean feat, as the Syrian regime had always considered Lebanon its private reserve, in which Syria’s influence had to be exclusive.
That intervention led to the Taif accord. The accord was effectively a Saudi-Syrian agreement over Lebanon, supported by the US, that sought to end the country’s civil war. It involved amending the constitution, redistributing powers among Lebanon’s sects and starting a process of political and administrative reform (many of whose clauses were never implemented).
Yet Mr Aoun rejected Taif and held out against growing regional and international pressure on him, until October 1990. That is when the Syrian military expelled him from office, sending him into a 15-year exile.
The lesson was a simple one. When Mr Aoun secures a significant advantage, he often overplays his hand and loses everything. That may not happen today over a government, but his main priority is to bring in Mr Bassil, as his successor. His long delay in approving a cabinet may have made the economic crisis so dire that it has undercut his son in law’s presidential hopes.
Mr Aoun is a paradoxical figure. No one ever expected him to come so far, but he is almost unrivalled in the destruction his agendas have visited on Lebanon. Some Maronites may applaud his handling of the government-formation process, but many more will blame him and his son in law for augmenting their suffering.

طوني بدران/ نيوزويك : قوات اليونيفل العاملة في جنوب لبنان تترك الأمرة والقرار في مناطق عملها لحزب الله
UN Peacekeepers Let Hezbollah Call the Shots
Tony Badran/Newsweek/August 18/2021
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/101515/%d8%b7%d9%88%d9%86%d9%8a-%d8%a8%d8%af%d8%b1%d8%a7%d9%86-%d9%86%d9%8a%d9%88%d8%b2%d9%88%d9%8a%d9%83-%d9%82%d9%88%d8%a7%d8%aa-%d8%a7%d9%84%d9%8a%d9%88%d9%86%d9%8a%d9%81%d9%84-%d8%a7%d9%84%d8%b9%d8%a7/
Each year, at the end of August, the UN Security Council holds a vote on whether to extend the mandate of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) for another 12 months. Now in its 43rd year, this “interim” peacekeeping force numbers more than 10,000 soldiers and has an annual budget of more than $500 million—roughly $145 million of which comes from the United States.
In theory, UNIFIL’s mission is to prevent Hezbollah from launching attacks against Israel from southern Lebanon, and to ensure the area is free of weapons. In practice, UNIFIL is an expensive charade. Hezbollah holds absolute sway in southern Lebanon. And now, just in time for the Security Council’s annual vote, the Lebanese terrorist organization has shown once again that it determines what is permissible for UNIFIL, including whether and how the peacekeepers can monitor the Lebanese-Israeli border, known as the Blue Line.
Each year, as part of the ritual of renewing UNIFIL’s mandate, Hezbollah puts out barely veiled threats, mainly targeting France and other European countries that contribute troops to UNIFIL, warning against any attempt to alter the status quo. Last month, through its usual channels in the Lebanese press, Hezbollah once again leveled its customary threats. The warning referred to, among other things, UNIFIL’s attempt to enhance its surveillance capabilities through the installation of advanced cameras at locations near the Blue Line.
Controversy over UNIFIL’s surveillance began last year, after UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres issued a report with recommendations to increase the force’s efficiency ahead of last year’s UNIFIL mandate renewal. In June, pro-Hezbollah Lebanese media claimed that UNIFIL’s head of mission, Major General Stefano Del Col, was abandoning the plan to install advanced cameras a month before he was due to brief the Security Council.
Guterres’ report identified options “for enhancing UNIFIL mandate implementation efforts.” The options included “employing additional new technology” to supplement tools already in use, such as closed-circuit television, sensors and automated access control systems. “More advanced technology such as thermal cameras, high-tech binoculars and unmanned aerial vehicles,” the report said, “could enhance monitoring along the Blue Line and other parts of the area of operations.” Referring to force protection upgrades at 19 positions close to the Blue Line, the report noted that UNIFIL “intends to augment them with long-range, night-enabled cameras…to increase force protection and observation capabilities.”
In October 2020, Guterres reported in a letter to the president of the Security Council that “UNIFIL has initiated discussions with the parties” on the use of cameras. The mission, he added, “has completed a comprehensive plan for enhanced video surveillance” at those 19 positions along the Blue Line. By that point, Guterres seemed to have given up hope of improving surveillance in other parts of the UNIFIL area of operations.
This past spring, as UNIFIL initiated preparatory work to install the cameras, it faced backlash from Hezbollah in the form of manufactured “popular outrage.” The pro-Hezbollah newspaper al-Akhbar reported the project had to be frozen temporarily as a result of local and municipal objections (in line with Hezbollah’s position). The newspaper explained that locals opposed the plan in part because the cameras would serve as an extension of Israel’s camera network on the other side of the border, covering Israel’s blind spots. In addition, the paper said, the cameras could monitor activities on the land of local villagers.
In defense of its plan, UNIFIL command asserted that it had coordinated with the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) in deciding to install cameras. As part of its mandate, UNIFIL coordinates closely with the LAF to reassert Beirut’s sovereignty over the border region. The problem is, despite having received billions of dollars in U.S. military assistance, the LAF simply runs interference for Hezbollah. Despite at first claiming to have LAF support, Del Col backtracked, explaining that UNIFIL was “listening to our strategic partners, the Lebanese Armed Forces,” suggesting that his decision to halt the installation of new technology came in response to the LAF’s counsel.
Al-Akhbar provided more detail. It claimed the LAF commander informed the French that Hezbollah “will not approve the project,” and the LAF therefore “advises that the matter be ignored, as no one wants a confrontation.” Given Hezbollah’s history of targeting UNIFIL contingents whenever they step out of line, the implicit threat would not have been lost on the French.
Hezbollah drove its point home during the war in Gaza last May. While the group did not open a second front against Israel from Lebanon, it did orchestrate “popular protests” along the border fence, which the protesters breached. The message appears to have been intended as much for UNIFIL as for the Israelis. To wit, protesters in the village of al-Adaisseh climbed an observation tower at the border to destroy the surveillance cameras installed on it, while others tried to break the cameras by hurling rocks at them. Hezbollah media pointedly documented the attack.
Hezbollah has a history with surveillance cameras in this area. Last year, one of Hezbollah’s agencies, the so-called environmental group Green Without Borders, planted trees to block Israeli cameras mounted on observation towers along the border. Israel uncovered Hezbollah cross-border attack tunnels along the same stretch of the border in late 2018. The LAF continues to deny UNIFIL access to these sites and others under the same pretext it used for nixing the cameras: invasion of private property.
In a report last month on the implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 1701, which provides UNIFIL its mandate, Guterres confirmed that the LAF requested that the camera installation not proceed at this time. Al-Akhbar’s claim about Del Col scrapping that project, therefore, was amplifying the LAF’s decision with the added message, ahead of the Security Council meeting, that the matter is now settled and the plan is effectively dead.
The same thing happened with another of Guterres’ recommendations, in yet another example of the LAF acting as Hezbollah’s proxy. UNIFIL has made clear that it was not even considering the use of surveillance drones. As with the cameras, the LAF had already vetoed the use of surveillance drones last year, and the idea was killed immediately.
The status quo is absurd. Two organizations—UNIFIL and the LAF—that successive U.S. administrations have underwritten are at best ineffective and at worst complicit.
From the vantage point of the U.S. national interest, the only meaningful policy option is to put an end to the whole farce. The Trump administration had a chance to do so in its final year, when Secretary of State Mike Pompeo threatened to veto the renewal of UNIFIL’s mandate. But Pompeo never followed through. And if the Trump administration balked at terminating the status quo, the Biden administration certainly will not pursue such an option, busy as it is appeasing Hezbollah’s masters in Tehran. Alternatively, Congress could defund UNIFIL, but that remains unlikely with Biden’s party in control of both chambers. Washington therefore will continue to spend American taxpayer dollars underwriting the pro-Hezbollah arrangement in Lebanon.
*Tony Badran is a research fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, where he focuses on Lebanon, Hezbollah, Syria, and the geopolitics of the Levant. He tweets @AcrossTheBay. FDD is a Washington, DC-based, nonpartisan research institute focusing on national security and foreign policy.

Histoire de la trahison du Liban
Par Nabil El Khazen/Le 16.05.2021
Cet article est dédié à ceux qui savent et apprécieront, mais aussi à ceux qui ne savent pas et continuent de croire en lui.
La date du 16 mai 1976 est la date anniversaire de notre « fraternité ». À l’époque, il était officier et pas encore tout à fait « colonel ». En 1987, un serment va nous lier, serment qu’il va renier en 2006.
Le 15 février 2005, il déclare à la télévision française – lors d’un interview avec Thierry Ardisson – que c’est la Syrie qui a assassiné Hariri (comme elle avait assassiné Kamal Joumblatt, le Mufti Hassan Khaled, Bachir Gemayel, René Mouawad ; dit-il). En 2006, il blanchit la Syrie de l’assassinat de Hariri.
Avant 2006, il était le champion de la lutte contre les corrompus. Après 2006, il va s’allier au symbole de la corruption.
Avant 2006, il était le tenant des armes aux seules mains de l’armée. Après 2006, il va dire que l’armée est incapable de défendre le Liban à elle seule.
Avant 2006, il déclare sur Al Jazira, que le Hezbollah doit remettre ses armes à l’armée libanaise. Après 2006, il modifie les statuts de son parti le CPL pour ajouter un article reconnaissant les armes du Hezbollah.
Avant 2006, il était le champion de la libération du Liban de l’occupant Syrien. Après 2006, il va s’allier avec ce même Syrien.
Avant 2006, il s’insurge de façon virulente contre le népotisme, les féodaux et leurs héritiers. Après 2006, il va faire de son FPM la « Family Protected Mazraa » et placer ses gendres, ses trois filles, ses neveux et proches dans des postes lucratifs.
Avant 2006, il insulte presque quotidiennement le président Emile Lahoud qu’il souhaite voir jugé pour « Haute Trahison ». Après 2006, il a des mots presque gentils envers lui et va même jusqu’à le défendre.
Avant 2006, il demande à son fidèle ami le Général Fayez Karam de contacter les Israéliens pour savoir si ces derniers pouvaient le soutenir pour devenir président. Après l’arrestation de Fayez Karam, le Général Aoun va déclarer : « j e ne savais pas que dans mon entourage il y avait des espions Israéliens ».
Avant 2006, il était lié par une grande amitié avec le Général François El Hage. Après son assassinat en décembre 2007 – attentat à la voiture piégée par le Hezbollah – Aoun n’osera faire aucun commentaire.
Avant 2006, il avait promis à Ghazi AAD (président de SOLID) de ne revenir de son voyage en Syrie qu’avec les Libanais kidnappés, emprisonnés et torturés en Syrie. Après 2008, il dira à Ghazi AAD : « Oublie (Nsiyya) il n’y a aucun kidnappé ni prisonnier libanais en Syrie » (depuis cette date une dizaine de prisonniers se sont échappés des prisons Syriennes, sont rentrés au Liban et racontent qu’il existe encore de très nombreux prisonniers en Syrie). Ce moment précis montre un tournant irrémédiable dans le choix fourbe de cet homme.
Avant 2006, il va aller devant le Sénat américain pour soutenir la « Syrian Accountability Bill and Lebanese Sovereignty » puis la résolution 1559. Après 2006, c’est la totale amnésie en ce qui concerne ces deux points essentiels pour le futur du Liban.
Avant 2006, il était le champion d’un Liban indépendant et souverain. Après 2006 et la signature de l’accord de « Mar Mikhael » avec le Hezbollah, il va devenir le PÉTAIN du Liban.
Avant 2006, il était le défenseur de l’armée Libanaise. Après 2008, et l’assassinat du Lieutenant Samer Hanna dans son hélicoptère abattu par le Hezbollah, il va déclarer : « qu’est-ce qu’il allait faire à survoler le Sud » ?
Avant 2006, personne ne savait qu’en 1989 il avait fait des virements de 15 millions de dollars vers son compte en France (il existait 2 comptes à la BNPI en France, le premier avec plus de 14 millions de dollars et le deuxième avec le chiffre rond de 500,000 dollars. Les seuls signataires étaient Michel Aoun et sa femme. Lorsqu'interpellé sur la nature et l'origine de cette somme, Aoun s'offusqua que le secret bancaire fût violé. Il disait que des Libanais donateurs ont donné cet argent. Or, il paraît étrange que de l'argent en nombre arrive au chiffre tout rond de 500,000 USD. Par ailleurs, comme l'indique le canard enchainé, c'était un compte classique qui ne permettait pas de nombreux dépôts ce qui anéantit la thèse que c'était un fond alimenté au fur et à mesure de donations de Libanais).
Avant 2006, personne ne savait qu’il avait signé un document de capitulation le 13 octobre 1990 laissant derrière lui sa femme et ses trois filles ainsi que ses troupes se battre jusqu’à 10h00 avec pour résultat des centaines de morts, de blessés et des prisonniers emmenés et torturés en Syrie. Il avait pourtant répété « qu’il était le capitaine du bateau et qu’il serait le dernier à quitter le bateau ».
Ou bien il avait vraiment des principes et des valeurs patriotiques et puis il a changé ses principes contre l’argent et le pouvoir ; ou bien il était depuis toujours un agent Syrien attendant le moment d’en profiter. En 2005, il rentre au Liban sous protection Syrienne (émissaires : Officier Syrien - Emile Emile Lahoud – Karim Pakradouni).
Lorsque l’on touche l’argent de la trahison, on vend son âme et on devient le serviteur qui perd sa liberté d’agir et de parler. PÉTAIN n’avait pas touché de l’argent.
Depuis les élections et succès en 2009, puis la participation aux divers gouvernements et enfin son accès à la présidence au sommet de l’Etat, voici une liste de ses accomplissements :
• Alliance avec le parti « Awmi Suri » ;
• Alliance avec le parti communiste ;
• Alliance avec Michel El Murr qu’il considérait comme le plus grand corrompu et qui ne « devait pas mourir dans son lit » ;
• Alliance avec Sleiman Frangieh avant de devenir son ennemi ;
• Facilitation pour son gendre et ministres de plonger dans la corruption (Électricité du Liban, Fuel, Bateaux, Barrages et surtout les ressources gazières) ;
• Alliance avec son ennemi juré « Samir Geagea » pour le soutenir à devenir président, puis inimitié une fois président ;
• Alliance avec Saad Hariri qui auparavant était son ennemi juré « one way ticket » ; pour le soutenir à devenir président puis pour redevenir son pire ennemi ;
• Trahison et rejet de ses amis les plus proches : Général Nadim Lteif, Général Fayez Karam, Magistrat Salim Azar, Magistrat Youssef Saadallah El Khoury, Clovis Francis, Elie Bijjani, Pierre Atallah, Elias Zoghbi, Dalia Obeid, Elias Mahfoud, Général Isam Abou Jamra, Naïm Aoun (son neveu), Kamal Yazigi, Jean Aziz, Michel de Chadarevian, Joseph Abou Fadel, Professeur Philippe Salem, Général Chamel Roukoz, et de beaucoup d’autres ;
• Aucune réaction après les assassinats de Georges Haoui, Wissam Eid, Samir Kassir, Gibran Tuéni, Pierre Gemayel, Mohamad Chattah, Général Wissam El Hassan, Hashem Salman, Joe Bejjani, Lokman Slim,
• Paralysie lors de la formation de plusieurs gouvernements (total 13 mois) ;
• Paralysie de l’élection présidentielle (total 18 mois) ;
• Signature de la naturalisation de 340 personnes proches du régime Syrien pour leur éviter les sanctions sur leurs comptes bancaires ;
• Nomination de 4700 personnes de son parti dans les rouages administratifs ;
• Refus de signer les nominations des juges et magistrats ;
• Un million de manifestants le 17 octobre 2019 contre le régime. Le régime se transforme en régime policier ;
• Destruction des relations avec les pays Arabes ;
• Destruction du Tourisme ;
• Destruction de l’économie Libanaise ;
• Plus de 50% des Libanais sous le seuil de pauvreté ;
• Plus de 150 000 Libanais en voie d’émigration ;
• Plus de 47 milliards de dollars volés entre 2009 et 2020 ;
• Sanctions américaines contre la corruption du gendre Gibran ;
• Promesse non tenue de démissionner si un membre de sa famille venait à être accusé de corruption ;
• Refus de signer les vérifications des comptes de l’État par une autorité indépendante;
• Refus de demander à la Suisse de donner les noms des personnes qui ont transféré des sommes importantes hors du Liban depuis 2019;
• Il avait connaissance de l’existence des 2740 tonnes de Nitrate d’ammonium stockées dans le Port de Beyrouth ;
• Déclaration que l’enquête sur l’explosion du Port du 4 Août 2020 sera terminée en CINQ jours ;
• Rejet des appels pour une enquête internationale de l’explosion du Port du 4 Août 2020 ;
• Aucune réaction par rapport au trafic de blé, de fuel et de médicaments subventionnés par l’économie libanaise vers la Syrie ;
• Aucun commentaire sur les multiples trafics de drogue du Hezbollah vers les pays Arabes et dans le monde ;
• Incompréhension concernant la volonté du refus de délimitations des frontières maritimes au Nord (Syrie) et au Sud (Israël);
• Son seul souci : ôter les sanctions de son gendre et le faire parvenir à la présidence ;
• Son incompréhensible positionnement contre la Neutralité, seule et unique solution pour sauver le Liban ;
• Ses attaques contre le Patriarche Al Rahi et Monseigneur Audeh ;
• Son soutien aux armées électroniques du CPL pour ce qui concerne les insultes sur les réseaux sociaux à l’encontre du Patriarche ;
• Blocage depuis 9 mois pour la formation d’un gouvernement de sauvetage ;
• Accusations par une grande partie des Libanais qu’il est un traître à la Patrie (le PÉTAIN) ;
• Accusations par des médecins (Dr Assaad Ramy, Dr Manoukian, Dr Fouad Hitti) qu’il est un malade psychotique atteint de paranoïa et de mégalomanie démesurée (il vit avec trois médicaments psychotropes : le Leponex, le Zoloft et le Xanax) ; Il est le NapoleAOUN, il est le Christ ; il est le nouveau Saint-Paul
• Non-respect du serment présidentiel juré sur la Constitution ;
• Pétition pour un jugement en « Haute Trahison » signée par une centaine de personnalités politiques libanaises.
Le Aounisme sera jugé par l’Histoire comme ayant détruit le Liban.
L’Histoire retiendra que cet homme aura été le plus grand traître du Liban et cela sera enseigné dans les écoles, et en premier à l’École Militaire pour apprendre à ne plus jamais recommencer.
Quant à cet homme, son nom sera synonyme de traître.
*Nabil El Khazen (Tiré du livre « Témoin Oculaire : un traître au Liban »)

The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on August 18-19/2021
Taliban Pledge to be 'Different', as Afghans Flee
Agence France Presse/August 18/2021
The Taliban have offered a pledge of reconciliation, vowing no revenge against opponents and to respect women's rights in a "different" rule of Afghanistan from two decades ago. The announcements came on Tuesday night shortly after the return to Afghanistan of their co-founder, crowning the group's astonishing comeback after being ousted by a U.S.-led invasion in 2001. With huge concerns globally about the Taliban's brutal human rights record -- and tens of thousands of Afghans still trying to flee the country -- they held their first press conference from Kabul. "All those in the opposite side are pardoned from A to Z," Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told foreign and local reporters, revealing his identity for the first time.
"We will not seek revenge."
Mujahid said the new regime would be "positively different" from their 1996-2001 stint, which was infamous for deaths by stoning, girls being banned from school and women from working in contact with men. "If the question is based on ideology, and beliefs, there is no difference... but if we calculate it based on experience, maturity, and insight, no doubt there are many differences," Mujahid told reporters. He also said they were "committed to letting women work in accordance with the principles of Islam," without offering specifics. A spokesman for the group in Doha, Suhail Shaheen, told Britain's Sky News that women would not be required to wear the all-covering burqa, but did not say what attire would be acceptable. Nevertheless, Afghans and foreigners continued to flee the country, with US and other nations stepping up evacuation airlifts from Kabul airport. Desperate scenes from the airport at the start of the week have created searing images of Afghans terrified of the Taliban, and a diminished United States unable to protect them. Some footage showed hundreds of people running alongside a U.S. Air Force plane as it rolled down the runway, with some clinging to the side of it. The United Nations Human Rights Council announced on Tuesday it would hold a special session on Afghanistan next week to address the "serious human rights concerns" under the Taliban. President Joe Biden's administration gave a non-committal response to the Taliban's pledges of tolerance. "If the Taliban says they are going to respect the rights of their citizens, we will be looking for them to uphold that statement and make good on that statement," State Department spokesman Ned Price said. Russia and China have quickly signaled their willingness to work with the Taliban.
Russia said Tuesday that the Taliban's initial assurances had been a "positive signal" and that the militants were behaving in a "civilized manner."
Triumphant return
Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, the co-founder and deputy leader of the Taliban, arrived back in Afghanistan on Tuesday night. He chose to touch down in Afghanistan's second biggest city Kandahar -- the Taliban's spiritual birthplace and capital during their first time in power. He arrived from Qatar, where he has spent months leading talks with the United States and then Afghan peace negotiators. Footage released by pro-Taliban media showed crowds gathering around Baradar at the airport, pumping their fists in the air and chanting in celebration. But for those fearing reprisals from the Taliban, the emotions were opposite. "Sometimes I stand in front of the window and I think about how I got here and how I'm lucky that I'm not in Afghanistan now," Afghan human rights researcher Mohammad Ehsan Saadat, who fled his home country with his family, told AFP in Canada. In Kabul, some shops have reopened and traffic is on the streets, but schools remain closed and tensions are still high. "The fear is there," said a shopkeeper who asked not to be named after reopening his store.

Karman sees ‘lesson’ for Islamists in fall of Ennahda, rise of Taliban
The Arab Weekly/August 18/2021
TUNIS--Yemeni Islamist activist and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Tawakkol Karman argues that the sidelining of Tunisia’s Islamist party Ennahda compared to the Taliban’s rise to power in Afghanistan illustrates the West’s dislike for democracy in the Middle East and is likely to encourage Islamists to tread the violent path. “Observe the ill-timing: at the time that Afghanistan was handed over to Taliban, there was a coup against democracy in Tunisia so as to exclude Ennahda,” she wrote in a Facebook post. She was alluding to Tunisian President Kais Saied’s decision of July 25, to suspend the Ennahda-dominated parliament and dismiss the prime minister based on emergency powers conferred on him by the constitution. Karman alleges that the concomitance of the two developments, in Tunisia and Afghanistan, will encourage Islamist organisations to follow the path of violent extremism instead of political participation. “The truth is that many Islamist movements will regret having followed Ennahda’s path and not that of the Taliban! Unfortunately this is the worst lesson to draw at all.”Tunisian commentators have rejected her linking of the two disparate situations as an encouragement to radical violence and as an attempt to ignore the many failures of Ennahda in government in recent years, which led the Tunisian state to the brink of collapse and triggered popular hostility towards Islamists. Eventually, the intractable political impasse, rampant corruption and virtual economic bankruptcy of the country, made worse by Ennada’s role in Tunisian politics, motivated President Kais Saied’s decisions of July 25. Ennahda today faces a judiciary investigation over illegal election financing and foreign lobbying. Leftist activists have also accused the Islamist party of running a clandestine apparatus with connection to 2013 assassination of secularist leaders. Ennahda has vehemently denied the accusations. “The West does not want democratic regimes or civilian states in the Middle East. Because of that it has conspired and blessed conspiracies against our Arab Spring and against our peaceful revolutions,” claimed Karman. Karman's post in Facebook: Western "conspiracies" against democracy.Karman's post in Facebook: Western "conspiracies" against democracy. (Facebook)
She added that, “Militias and despotic fascism in our region are what America wants,” asserting that Yemen’s Houthis and Afghanistan’s Taliban “are two faces of the same coin that is endeared to the West.”Tawkkol Karman is no stranger to controversy. When she won the 2011 Nobel Peace prize for her “role in Arab spring protests,” the Muslim Brotherhood’s website, Ikhwanweb, released a statement on Twitter identifying her as a “Yemeni Muslim Brotherhood member,” sparking widespread speculation and criticism about her connection to the group.
Despite minor disagreements about alliances in Yemen’s war, Karman has been considered a leading figure of Yemen’s Islah Party, a Muslim Brotherhood affiliate.Yemeni writer Saleh al-Baidhani said, “Karman grew up in an area in Taiz governorate, where many members of the Muslim Brotherhood in Yemen originated. Her home atmosphere must have been dominated by radical ideas and tendencies, as her father Abdel-Salam Karman, was a leading Brotherhood figure and founder of the Yemeni Rally for Reform Party.”
” In 2005, she co-founded her first human rights organisation, called “Women Journalists Without Chains,” which incorporated radical Islamist overtones and slogans inspired by prison chants of jailed jihadist elements of the 1970s and 1980s,” he added. Because of her Muslim Brotherhood connections, there was also an uproar last year when the Yemeni Nobel Prize winner was named among Facebook’s first 20 oversight board members. Karman has repeatedly defended the Muslim Brotherhood, even describing the group as “one of the victims of official tyranny and terrorism in the region, (to) which Trump gives his supports and assistance.” She has said she believes the movement’s role in the region will “necessarily” grow in the future.

Turkey, Iran face quandary after Taliban takeover: boost influence while curtail Afghan refugee influx
The Arab Weekly/August 18/2021
ANKARA--The Taliban’s rapid takeover of Afghanistan has left Iran and Turkey both facing a quandary: how to use the recent development to boost their influence while limiting the risks inherent in a huge influx of refugees they may not be able to control.
This is especially the case right now as both countries are battling the coronavirus pandemic and facing economic difficulties. Analysts say everything depends on the behaviour of Taliban after they firmly seize power: whether they stick to their proclaimed policy of self-restraint or they return to the unbridled fanatical extremism which led to their overthrow in the wake of the September 11, 2001 attacks. “The situation is a huge risk for Turkey, there is no doubt. Iran will also stand to lose if the Taliban returns to its old ways and provides a safe haven” for Islamist extremists, Asli Aydintasbas, senior fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR), said. Iran and Turkey both risk seeing substantial inflows of refugees, many of whom cross from Iran into Turkey in the hope of reaching Europe. Both already host large refugee populations, 3.6 million Syrians in Turkey and 3.5 million Afghans in Iran, and tolerance at home is wearing thin as signs of xenophobic reactions are rising. The COVID-19 pandemic has hit Iran hard, pushing the sanctions-battered country further into crisis, while in Turkey the economic growth has faded away putting at risk Erdogan’s support at home. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said last week that he was prepared to meet the Taliban leadership in a bid to secure peace while Iran’s new hardline President Ebrahim Raisi said the US military “defeat” in Afghanistan was a “chance to bring peace” to the country. For now, Ankara and Tehran are trying to woo the new authorities in Afghanistan. On Tuesday, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu talked of “positive messages” coming from the Taliban on protection for civilians and foreigners, expressing hope they would follow through with positive actions.
“Strategic card”
Turkey is also offering “technical” help to the Taliban to help manage Kabul airport after having dropped the idea of managing it themselves. But analysts say the Taliban takeover has robbed Erdogan of a strategic card he was eager to play, an offer to provide military security at Kabul airport that might have improved relations with US President Joe Biden. “The whole Turkish mission is in jeopardy as well as the idea of using Kabul airport as leverage in relaunching Turkey’s relationship with Washington,” Aydintasbas said, adding it was “hard to imagine” the Taliban letting Turkey control the airport. “A few days ago this looked like a golden opportunity for Turkey. Now it is a huge ticking bomb.”Meanwhile, “the most pressing issue” for Erdogan is the possible influx of refugees from Afghanistan at a time of growing unrest in Turkey over the long-term presence of Syrians in the country, she said. Aydintasbas said neighbouring countries “have no idea what Taliban 2.0 will look like”. “If the Taliban has become more moderate then Turkey could engage with it,” she said. The International Crisis Group argued in a research note that the Taliban’s diplomatic engagement “has shifted to a regionally-focused approach”, emphasising dialogue with Iran, Russia, Central Asian states and China.
Conflicting wishes
Rouzbeh Parsi of the Swedish Institute of International Affairs said US forces leaving the region was Iran’s stated goal, but their departure was far from entirely welcome for Tehran. “US support for the governments in Afghanistan and Iraq has also been helpful for Iran in that it ensured a certain stability and US did the heavy lifting,” he said. Overwhelmingly Shia Iran, which shares a more than 900-kilometre border with Afghanistan, appeared keen to achieve peaceful coexistence with the Sunni Taliban, he said. “Iran has for some time, pragmatic as always, accepted that the Taliban are not going to disappear and that no outsider will be able to militarily defeat them,” he said. “Iran is a country heavily beset by COVID, corruption and a faltering economy. The ability and willingness to take on more Afghan refugees is probably not great.” Parsi added that Iran’s future relationship with the new rulers in Kabul “hinges on the pragmatism of the Taliban”, noting that Tehran would pay particular attention to the well-being of the mainly Shia, Persian-speaking Hazara minority. Marc Pierini, visiting scholar at Carnegie Europe and a former EU ambassador to Turkey, said Europe was anxiously watching the potential migrant flows after a million people reached its shores mainly through Turkey in 2015 when the Syrian conflict was at its peak.“Handling this emergency will require a degree of confident humanitarian cooperation between the EU and Iran-Turkey, which will be difficult to achieve,” he said.
Controversial issue
The arrival of Afghan migrants on Turkey’s eastern border has become a very controversial issue in Ankara, with the opposition pressing the government to take strong measures to stop the influx. In Europe as well as in Turkey itself, there are those who suspect Ankara of being tempted to use the migrant influx to obtain financial aid from the Europan Union. Kay Van-Petersen, a global macro strategist at Saxo Capital Markets in Singapore, said that if the refugees travel via Turkey, they could help Erdogan make political or financial demands of the European Union.
“Basically it’s a lever for Erdogan to pull with the European Union … ‘Pay us to take care of these refugees, or we are just going to let them through’,” he said. But the debate over the triangular relationship between Afghan refugees, the EU and Turkey may be too hot to handle for Ankara considering domestic opposition to any migration deals with Europe. “Brussels has a plan to bribe Turkey to keep refugees from Afghanistan away from Europe. Estimates shows that there is a risk of 500,000 or a million Afghan refugees [coming],” Kemal Kilicdaroglu, leader of the main opposition Republican People’s Party, CHP, was quoted as saying. The debate heated up again after Austrian Prime Minister Sebastian Kurz told German media outlet Bild on July 26 that Turkey was a “more suitable place” to host Afghan refugees than either Germany, Austria or Sweden, provoking pushback by Turkish opposition parties.
In a live interview with private broadcasters CNN Turk and Kanal D, Erdoğan underlined that Turkey is not a roadside inn, adding that considering all matters “we will take steps accordingly.”The Turkish president also denied that there was a flow of irregular migrants across Turkey’s borders, as it is currently being “exaggerated on social media.”Referring to irregular migrants from Afghanistan, Erdoğan also said in the interview that Turkey is building walls along its borders with both Iran and Iraq.
“The walls being built there are to prevent these irregular migrants from entering our country,” he outlined.

Lebanon buries victims of Akkar fuel tank blast
AFP, Al-Daouseh/18 August ,2021
Families laid to rest Wednesday victims of a fuel tank blast that killed at least 28 people in northern Lebanon amid anger and sorrow over the crisis-hit country’s latest tragedy. The explosion on Sunday in Al-Tleil in the Akkar region scorched crowds clamoring for petrol that the army was distributing in light of severe fuel shortages that have paralyzed a country also beset by medicine, gas and bread shortages. The victims included soldiers and Akkar residents who darted to Al-Tleil after midnight to fill gasoline in plastic containers straight from a fuel tank that exploded in circumstances that remain unclear. The tank was among supplies confiscated by the military, which has lately wrested supplies from alleged fuel hoarders across the country. The disaster came on top of an economic crisis branded by the World Bank as one of the planet’s worst in modern times and follows an explosion of poorly stored fertilizer at Beirut port last summer that killed more than 200 people and destroyed swathes of the capital. Akkar, one of Lebanon’s poorest regions, buried around 15 blast victims on Wednesday, according to an AFP correspondent, after their corpses were identified and transported from hospitals hit by power and telecom outages, with even landlines disrupted. The Akkar village of Al-Daouseh held funerals for four of its dead, all of whom are from the Shraytih family. “They died for petrol -- if we had fuel this would have never happened,” said Mouin Shraytih who was burying two sons -- one 16 and the other 20. “Political leaders and officials should consider what it is like to have two young boys and find them burned and charred in front of your own eyes,” the man in his fifties told AFP at the funeral. Dozens had gathered at the family’s home when a convoy of vehicles carrying the corpses arrived from a nearby hospital, an AFP correspondent said. Fawaz Shraytih, a relative of Mouin, was burying two brothers, both army soldiers. “What happened is because of deprivation, Akkar is a deprived region,” he said. But “all we do is pay with our blood,” he added, explaining that soldiers make up the bulk of Al-Daouseh’s male population. There are eight soldiers among his own immediate family, he said. Nearly 80 people were injured in the blast, medics said, many with burns that further overwhelmed hospitals struggling to function without electricity. Foreign countries and UN agencies have scrambled emergency aid to help exhausted health workers cope with the new influx of serious injuries and run DNA tests to identify charred remains.

Afghan envoy says hold-out Panjshir province north of Kabul can resist Taliban rule
Reuters/18 August ,2021
The Afghan ambassador to Tajikistan on Wednesday rejected Taliban rule of his country and said Panjshir province, north of Kabul, would serve as a stronghold for resistance led by self-proclaimed acting president Amrullah Saleh. Afghan First Vice-President Saleh said on Tuesday he was the “legitimate caretaker president” of Afghanistan after President Ashraf Ghani fled the country as Taliban insurgents took the capital Kabul. Saleh’s whereabouts were unknown. Ambassador Zahir Aghbar, a lieutenant general who held senior positions in Afghan state security including chief of police before becoming ambassador, blamed the defeat on Ghani and replaced his portrait in the embassy with one of Saleh. “I cannot say that the Taliban have won the war. No, it was just Dr Ashraf Ghani who gave up power after treacherous talks with the Taliban,” he told Reuters in an interview. “And only Panjshir resists, led by Vice President Amrullah Saleh,” he said. “Panjshir stands strong against anyone who wants to enslave people.” The narrow Panjshir valley is still littered with the remnants of armored vehicles destroyed by the forces of the former Mujahideen leader Ahmad Shah Massoud during the Soviet invasion of the 1980s. It also became a center of the anti-Taliban resistance in the decade following and a key stronghold of the Northern Alliance that the United States supported to defeat the Taliban in 2001. However, it was unclear how significant any resistance might be from Saleh, one of Massoud’s closest aides, or whether the holdout was a prelude to a compromise with the Taliban, who have so far not entered the area. Massoud’s 32-year-old son Ahmad Massoud is believed to be in Panjshir with his supporters. It was not immediately possible to reach a spokesperson for his movement. Unconfirmed reports also suggest that remnants of some of the elite Special Forces units trained by the United States have retreated to the area following the Taliban’s lightning campaign that led to the fall of Kabul on Sunday. Possible resistance could complicate the Taliban’s attempts to impose a unified government on Afghanistan’s complex mix of regions and ethnicities. The Persian-speaking Tajiks of western and northern regions, including the Panjshir valley, have long been opposed to the southern and eastern Pashtuns who make up the core of the Taliban. Aghbar said a coalition government involving the Taliban that would represent all Afghan factions was possible, if they “let others live in peace and accord.”Italian aid group Emergency said its hospital in Panjshir was operating and was taking in a growing number of wounded. “Regarding our hospital ... unfortunately we have to report that admissions for war surgery are increasing,” said Alberto Zanin, medical coordinator of the group.

Afghanistan’s president, family in UAE on ‘humanitarian grounds’: Foreign ministry
Tamara Abueish, Al Arabiya English/18 August ,2021
Afghanistan’s President Ashraf Ghani is currently in the United Arab Emirates “on humanitarian grounds” after he fled the country when the Taliban took over, the UAE’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation said on Wednesday.
His family is also in the UAE, the ministry added. “The UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation can confirm that the UAE has welcomed President Ashraf Ghani and his family into the country on humanitarian grounds,” Emirates News Agency (WAM) announced without providing additional details. Ghani had left Afghanistan on Sunday as the Taliban entered the capital city of Kabul. A senior interior ministry official had said that the president was heading to Tajikistan, according to a Reuters report. Ghani’s office did not verify the account at the time “for security reasons.” The Taliban took control of the country on Sunday while the US was finalizing its withdrawal of troops, diplomats, and Afghans who worked with the coalition over the last 20 years. On Wednesday, the extremist group killed two protesters who were carrying the flag of Afghanistan during demonstrations in the Afghan city of Jalalabad, according to several local media reports. The Taliban opened fire on the crowd who had gathered in the city to protest the Taliban rule over the country, the reports said, adding that dozens were injured. Chaos broke out in recent days as hundreds of Afghan civilians tried to flee on flights evacuating diplomats and individuals who had worked with foreign government during the past two decades. Flights from Kabul airport – the only exit point out of Afghanistan – were suspended for most of Monday after at least seven people were reportedly killed when as hundreds crowded the tarmacs, clenching onto moving flights in an attempt to flee the country on the already-full flights.

Former Afghan president Ashraf Ghani: Don’t judge me if you don’t know full details
Ismaeel Naar, Al Arabiya English/18 August ,2021
Former Afghan president Ashraf Ghani has said that those that think he fled Afghanistan should not judge him if they do not know all the details.
Ghani, speaking via a live stream on Facebook, was speaking to the nation and the world for the first time since fleeing the country following the capture of Kabul by the Taliban. The former president addressed accusations and rumors that he had taken a lot of money before his departure from the presidential palace, calling them "complete lies and baseless."Ghani released the video message on Wednesday from the United Arab Emirates, which earlier confirmed it was hosting him "on humanitarian grounds."Ghani said he would address "recent developments" in Afghanistan before beginning his video message, which was streamed on his Facebook page. He fled the country at the weekend.

Taliban kill two protesters carrying Afghanistan’s flag in Jalalabad: Reports
Tamara Abueish, Al Arabiya English/18 August ,2021
The Taliban on Wednesday killed two protesters who were carrying the flag of Afghanistan during demonstrations in the Afghan city of Jalalabad, according to several local media reports. Members of the extremist group opened fire on the crowd who had gathered in the city to protest the Taliban rule over the country, the reports said, adding that dozens were injured. Local news agency Pajhwok Afghan News shared a video online that showed people carrying the Afghan national flag on the streets of Jalalabad before shots were fired. Several people had also reportedly taken down the Taliban flag which hung in the center of the city earlier, a video circulating on Twitter showed.Journalists on scene were also allegedly beaten for filming the protests, according to local news reports. A day earlier, the Taliban said that families who were trying to flee the country out of fear will not be harmed, during their first public press conference since taking over the capital Kabul. The extremist group’s main spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahid, said that the Taliban would not seek retribution against former soldiers and members of the Western-backed government. Mujahid had said that private media could continue to be free and independent in Afghanistan and that the Taliban were committed to the media within their cultural framework. The extremist group would also grant amnesty to former Afghan government soldiers as well as contractors and translators who worked for international forces, Mujahid added.

Hiding from Taliban hit squads: Former Afghan official describes ordeal, anger at US
N.P. Krishna Kumar, Al Arabiya English/18 August ,2021
With a Taliban hit squad out to target them, former Afghan government officials are scared for their safety and lying low. One such official texted the independent, non-profit US news website NPR that he was not safe. “I don’t know what will happen with me,” he said.
He is one of many who are hiding or gone into exile following the chaotic takeover of the capital by the Taliban, as the US and their Western-allied forces withdraw from the country after two decades of fighting the extremist group. With Afghan President Ashraf Ghani slipping out on Sunday, the Taliban are out to reestablish their rule over the violence-marred country, and the officials who assisted in the former Afghanistan national government are fearful. The top government officials, who spoke to NPR on phone, said that “they don’t make frequent phone calls to family or anyone else to avoid detection.”
They said that the Taliban is “patrolling neighborhoods in Afghan cities and even going door to door hunting for government loyalists in some places.”In the city where this ex-official is hiding in, there is “occasional gunfire in the streets.”The officials said the plan was to hide “step by step,” changing their plans every day. When asked about the security provided by the earlier Afghan government, they said as the Taliban entered Kabul, the whole machinery evaporated, with the situation “getting worse day by day.”They also said the fact was that Ghani's escape has pu the onus on the Taliban. Had it not happened, the extremist group “would have forced the president to resign to pave the way for the group to assume control.” the source said. That would have been far more damaging to Afghanistan and suited Taliban more than Ghani seeking refuge abroad, they believe.
This ex-official puts the main blame at the US, saying that if the American forces had warned the Taliban not to come into Kabul, the militants would not have stormed in. Afghans, including this source, are now “becoming more and more angry” at what has developed and hold the US responsible, they said.
Although, Taliban officials are projecting an outward stance of civility and promise of a peaceful transfer of power sans revenge on the Afghan people, the former official does not buy into this, nor their promise that schools will reopen and girls will be welcome.
He pointed to videos circulating on social media of bodies in the streets of Afghan cities of Kandahar and Ghazni after the Taliban took over. The former officials said the Taliban is devoid of “any capacity [to run a country].”
On the other hand, their rules involve violence, killing, and threatening people. And the former official said that patriots like him who seek a country with a constitution and rule of law will be at the top of Taliban’s hit list, becoming more vulnerable even as the last of the international evacuation flights take off.
After their bitter experience, they do not look at the United States as a safe haven. “I don’t want help from America,” they said, preferring to die in their home country while under siege. But the former official looked to get out of Afghanistan for some time, seeking a visa and safe passage to any European country.

Iran Stresses Nuclear Program Peaceful after IAEA Report
Agence France Presse/August 18/2021
Iran has stressed its nuclear activities are peaceful and conform to safeguard obligations, after the U.N. nuclear watchdog said it has established a process to accelerate production of highly enriched uranium. International Atomic Energy Agency director Rafael Grossi informed IAEA member states that Iran was boosting such capacity at its Natanz enrichment plant. "All of (Iran's) nuclear programs and actions are in complete compliance with the NPT (Non-Proliferation Treaty), Iran's safeguards commitments, under IAEA supervision and previously announced," Iran's foreign ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh said in a statement on Tuesday. The U.N. agency verified on Saturday that "Iran had configured a new operational mode for the production of UF6 enriched up to 60 percent U-235," Grossi said in a statement to AFP. This involved using two centrifuge cascades compared with one previously, he added. Iran had started in mid-April to enrich uranium to 60 percent. The Islamic republic has gradually rolled back its nuclear commitments since 2019, a year after then US president Donald Trump withdrew from a multilateral nuclear deal and began imposing sanctions. The 2015 deal known formally as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or JCPOA, gave Iran relief from sanctions in return for curbs on its nuclear program. Iran "will pursue its peaceful nuclear program based on its needs, sovereign decisions and within safeguard obligations' framework until the full and unconditional implementation of the JCPOA by America and other parties," Khatibzadeh said. Six rounds of nuclear talks between Iran and world powers -- with the U.S. indirectly taking part -- were held in Vienna between April and June in an attempt to revive the accord. The last round concluded on June 20, with no date set for another.

Egypt invites Israeli PM Naftali Bennett to visit Cairo
AFP/18 August ,2021
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has invited Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett to visit Egypt in “the coming weeks,” a statement from Bennett’s office said Wednesday. The invitation was conveyed by Egyptian intelligence chief Abbas Kamel, who met with Bennett in Jerusalem on Wednesday. “The two discussed diplomatic, security and economic aspects of Israel-Egypt relations, as well as the Egyptian mediation in the security situation vis-a-vis the Gaza Strip,” a statement from Bennett’s office read. On Sisi’s behalf, Kamel invited Bennett “to make an official visit to Egypt in the coming weeks”, the statement added. Cairo brokered the May 21 ceasefire between Israel and Gaza’s Islamist rulers Hamas, after 11 days of Palestinian militant rocket fire towards Israel and Israeli airstrikes on the Gaza Strip. Egypt pledged $500 million to help rebuild the Palestinian enclave, where some two million people are crammed under Israeli blockade. Cairo signed a peace treaty with neighboring Israel in 1979. Kamel has also been working to help resolve political divisions between Hamas in Gaza and rivals Fatah in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

Turkey’s President Erdogan receives the UAE’s National Security Adviser Sheikh
Reuters/18 August ,2021
Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan held a rare meeting with a senior official from the United Arab Emirates on Wednesday, after years of tension between the two countries and rivalry in regional disputes. Erdogan and UAE National Security Adviser Sheikh Tahnoun bin Zayed Al Nahyan discussed ways of improving relations between the two countries, including trade and investment opportunities, the Emirates news agency WAM reported. Turkey and the UAE have supported opposing sides in regional disputes, including the conflict in Libya and the blockade of Qatar by several Arab states.

Algeria to review ties with Morocco after ‘hostile acts’
Ismaeel Naar, Al Arabiya English/18 August ,2021
Algeria on Wednesday said it will be reviewing its relations with Morocco after “hostile acts,” according to a statement from the presidency. "The incessant hostile acts carried out by Morocco against Algeria have necessitated the review of relations between the two countries and the intensification of security controls on the western borders," the Algerian statement said. Last month, the Algerian foreign ministry recalled its ambassador to Morocco and hinted at possible further measures in the latest flare-up of tension between the North African neighbors over the disputed territory of Western Sahara.
The Polisario Front is fighting for the independence for Western Sahara, a Spanish colony until mid-1970s now largely occupied and administered by Morocco. Land borders between Algeria and Morocco have been shut since the early 1990s over security, aggravating friction between Algiers and Rabat whose relations have been worsening due to the conflict.(With agencies)

Concern in Jordan over presence of Iran militias near northern borders
The Arab Weekly/August 18/2021
AMMAN--Jordan is watching the escalation in Syria’s southern province of Daraa with a lot of concern, fearing that the regime’s control of the area may facilitate the deployment of Iranian militias near its northern borders. Syrian regime forces are clashing with rebels again in Daraa, three years after Syria’s government retook control of the flashpoint province. Nearly half of the population of the rebel-held Daraa al-Balad district have fled heavy shelling and ground battles, but the United Nations warns that remaining civilians are cut off with dwindling supplies.
Jordanian researchers and academics have recently called on Amman to watch “with concern and alarm” the developments in the Syrian province, warning that the presence of Iranian militias could become a security threat that poses a risk to Jordanian-Syrian relations. Muhammad Masalha, professor of international relations and political science at the University of Jordan, says that the 2018 settlement agreement in Daraa, bordering Jordan, “with Russia’s blessing, was aimed at countering any Iranian threat to Jordan’s national security.”The Jordanian academic warned that “three years after the settlement agreement between the opposition and the regime in the Daraa province, with Russian mediation, the current situation feels like a return to square one.” Daraa, which borders Jordan and is close to the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, is widely seen as the cradle of the 2011 uprising in Syria, which sparked a decade-long civil war that has killed almost half a million people. In 2011, young boys who had scrawled graffiti against President Bashar al-Assad were detained in Daraa, sparking nationwide protests.
After the demonstrations evolved into war, rebels seized control.
The rebels hung on until 2018. But after weeks of deadly fighting, the Russia-backed regime retook control under a surrender deal. Moscow had brokered similar so-called “reconciliation” accords in Syria’s second city of Aleppo, as well the Eastern Ghouta region, outside the capital Damascus. Under those deals, rebels handed over their heavy weapons and left on buses. But in Daraa, many former opposition fighters stayed behind. Since the 2018 “reconciliation” deal, Daraa province has seen regular explosions and hit-and-run attacks. In late July, some of the fiercest clashes to rock the province since regime forces returned left 32 dead, including 12 civilians, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. The government seized farmland outside Daraa al-Balad, before the fighting largely subsided and Russian-mediated talks began. But pro-Damascus forces had continued to shell the area “to exhaust fighters who only have light weapons.”Experts say Iran is pushing Damascus to bolster its forces there. Daraa is close to the Golan Heights, occupied by Tehran’s arch-foe Israel. Pro-Iran fighters are deployed in parts of the province.
The presence of pro-Iran forces has increased Amman’s concerns, especially after Jordan’s King Abdullah II recently revealed in an interview with CNN that his country was targeted by Iranian-made drones. Jordan is among the most affected countries by developments in Syria. After being ready to reopen the Jaber-Nassib border crossing amid hopes to revitalise economic and trade exchange, Jordan decided on July 31 to completely close the crossing, blaming this on “developments in the security situation on the Syrian side.”Jordan, which has repeatedly called for a political solution to the Syrian conflict, is concerned that the escalating clashes in Daraa would end up posing a threat to its border security. A new security problem, experts say, could lead to more displacement and this is a factor that would lead to increased pressure on Jordan’s economy and infrastructure. Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman al-Safadi had previously warned that chaos in Daraa may lead to the deployment of armed groups that are hostile to both the Jordanian and Syrian peoples. Jordan does not want to see militias affiliated with Iran, Lebanon, Iraq, or any other country deployed near its borders. Jordan also does not want to respond militarily to the presence of armed groups, at least 50 kilometres across the frontier between the two countries. The presence of Iranian militias near Jordan’s borders also poses a danger, especially in the event of an armed clash with Israel, as rockets and missiles may land in Jordanian territory, which may compromise the safety of Jordanians. “The Iran-backed Syrian Army’s control of Daraa means that the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) are present on the northern borders of Jordan and are edging closer towards Israel and its borders,” Saud Al-Sharafat, founder and chairman of the Shorufat Centre for Globalisation and Terrorism Studies in Amman. Such a presence, Sharafat added, “increases the risk of targeting Amman’s interests directly or indirectly, using the borders to strike Israel or harass Jordan, particularly with drones that the IRGC usually uses against soft targets.”Though there is a Jordanian agreement with the Syrian side to keep Iranian militias away from the Jordanian borders, a distance of 50 km, available intelligence confirms the presence of such militias, but in Syrian military uniforms.

Iran accelerates uranium enrichment, sparks tensions with West
The Arab Weekly/August 18/2021
VIENNA--Iran has accelerated its enrichment of uranium to near weapons-grade, the UN atomic watchdog said in a report on Tuesday seen by Reuters, in a move that raises tensions with the West as both sides seek to resume talks on reviving Tehran’s nuclear deal. Iran increased the purity to which it is refining uranium to 60% fissile purity from 20% in April in response to an explosion and power cut at its Natanz site which damaged output at the main underground enrichment plant there. Iran has blamed the attack on Israel. Weapons-grade is around 90% purity. In May, the International Atomic Energy Agency reported that Iran was using one cascade, or cluster, of advanced centrifuges to enrich to up to 60% at its above-ground pilot enrichment plant at Natanz. The IAEA informed member states on Tuesday that Iran was now using a second cascade for that purpose, too. The move is the latest of many by Iran breaching the restrictions imposed by the 2015 nuclear deal, which capped the purity to which Tehran can refine uranium at 3.67%. The United States and its European allies have warned that such moves threaten talks on reviving the deal, which are currently suspended. Iran has reiterated that its nuclear programme is peaceful and said it had informed the IAEA about its enrichment activities. It added that its moves away from the 2015 deal would be reversed if the United States returned to the accord and lifted sanctions, Iranian state media reported. “If the other parties return to their obligations under the nuclear accord and Washington fully and verifiably lifts its unilateral and illegal sanctions … all of Iran’s mitigation and countermeasures will be reversible,” foreign ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh was quoted as saying by state media. The IAEA said on Monday that Iran had made progress in its work on enriched uranium metal despite objections by Western powers that there is no credible civilian use for such work. Uranium metal can be used to make the core of a nuclear bomb, but Iran says its aims are peaceful and it is developing reactor fuel. The United States on Monday had voiced alarm over Iranian production of uranium metal reported by the UN nuclear watchdog as it urged Tehran to return to talks. The State Department said the United States has seen the latest report to members by the International Atomic Energy Agency and believed that Iran “has no credible need to produce uranium metal.” Indirect talks in Vienna brokered by the Europeans made no breakthrough with the US administration refusing to lift sanctions unrelated to the nuclear issue.
The talks have been at a standstill since the inauguration of Iran’s new ultraconservative president, Ebrahim Raisi, although he says he supports efforts to lift US sanctions.

Libya’s voter registration advances, poll uncertainties rise
The Arab Weekly/August 18/2021
TRIPOLI--Libya’s elections commission on Tuesday closed its online voter registration portal ahead of national polls set for December, but the vote is beset by growing doubts despite a months-long pause in fighting. Commission head Imad al-Sayeh told journalists in Tripoli that some 2.83 million people in the North African country had signed up to vote and invited citizens overseas to register from Wednesday onwards. Libya, home to some seven million people, has made tentative steps since last summer towards ending a decade of violent fragmentation sparked by the NATO-backed uprising leading to the overthrow of long-time ruler Muammar Gadhafi in 2011. A UN-brokered ceasefire signed in October between warring eastern and western camps has largely held. Parallel political negotiations have installed a transitional government tasked with leading the country towards national elections set for December 24. But despite months of relative calm, Libyans remain at odds over when the elections should be held, which elections and on what legal basis. Libya has been without a constitution since Gadhafi scrapped it in 1969. The 75 delegates selected by the United Nations to guide the political transition have yet to agree on a constitutional basis for the December polls. Last week at a virtual meeting they again failed to reach a compromise despite pressure from the UN. Sayeh said Tuesday that the commission was waiting for a new electoral law to be passed in order for candidates to begin signing up.

The Latest LCCC English analysis & editorials published on August 18-19/2021
Taliban's return to power in Afghanistan sparks new fears of al-Qaida resurgence
Michael Isikoff and Jana Winter/Yahoo News/ August 18/2021
In early July, as the Pentagon was accelerating the pullout of U.S. troops from Afghanistan, U.S. counterterror analysts circulated a confidential report highlighting a worrisome development thousands of miles away. The al-Qaida offshoot in Saudi Arabia and Yemen had just published a new edition of its online magazine, Inspire — the first time it had done so in four years. The issue praised a mass shooting that killed 10 people in Boulder, Colo. (although there was no obvious connection to terrorism), and instructed future perpetrators to exploit lax U.S. gun laws by purchasing ready-made gun parts for easy at-home assembly.
Al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula “additionally encourages attackers to use incendiary/explosive devices — either Molotov cocktails or improvised explosive devices” in order to “maximize the economic and psychological impact of the attack,” the magazine proclaimed, according to a joint FBI-Department of Homeland Security bulletin distributed to federal and state law enforcement agencies about the new issue of Inspire.
Labeled “for official use only,” a copy of the bulletin was obtained exclusively by Yahoo News.
The bulletin was a stark reminder that, even while President Biden was telling the American public that al-Qaida was “degraded,” the terror group and its affiliates remain very much alive and still quite active trying to figure out ways to cause death and destruction in the U.S. homeland. And as disturbing as the new edition of Inspire was when it surfaced more than a month ago, U.S. officials and counterterrorism experts say the threats from al-Qaida — and similar jihadi groups — are only likely to grow in the aftermath of the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan following the U.S. withdrawal.
“For al-Qaida, this is a dream come true,” said Charles Lister, the director of counterterrorism programs at the Middle East Institute, a Washington-based think tank, about the Taliban victory. “This breathes new life into al-Qaida for the first time in many years — if not since before 9/11.”
To be sure, the al-Qaida of today is a shadow of the terror organization that was ensconced on Afghan soil under Taliban protection as it plotted mass casualty attacks on the United States in the days prior to Sept. 11, 2001. The U.S. invasion of Afghanistan put the group on its heels. Osama bin Laden fled to the remote mountains of Tora Bora in eastern Afghanistan and later to a compound in Pakistan before U.S. Special Forces tracked him down and killed him 10 years ago. Other al-Qaida leaders have been picked off one by one by U.S. drone strikes, leaving a weakened leadership with an Egyptian confederate of bin Laden’s, Ayman al-Zawahiri — reportedly frail and ailing — still nominally in charge and in hiding somewhere in Afghanistan.
But the group has decentralized and remains a formidable presence — in Somalia, Yemen, North Africa and elsewhere around the globe. “And all these affiliates operate ultimately under the instructions of al-Qaida central,” said Ali Soufan, a celebrated former FBI counterterrorism agent who heads the Soufan Center, a New York-based national security research organization.
What makes this moment especially dangerous is that the Taliban and al-Qaida have, according to a United Nations report, retained close ties, raising the prospect that the group will once again be offered safe sanctuary on Afghan soil with foreign fighters flocking to the newly proclaimed Islamic emirate.
A February 2020 peace deal that the Trump administration reached with the Taliban called for the U.S. to withdraw all troops by May of this year in exchange for a Taliban pledge to cut all ties to al-Qaida and other terror groups, such as the Islamic State. Yet the U.N. report, released in June, noted multiple links between the two groups, commenting that the Taliban and al-Qaida “show no indication of breaking ties.” There were, the report asserted, as many as 500 al-Qaida fighters still in 15 Afghan provinces.
Asked about those concerns at a White House press briefing Tuesday, Jake Sullivan, President Biden’s national security adviser, said: “Our position is that we are going to have to deal with the potential threat from Afghanistan going forward — just as we have to deal with the potential threat of terrorism in dozens of countries in multiple continents around the world.”
The wife of the former leader of al-Qaida on the Indian subcontinent was among 5,000 Taliban prisoners freed last year under a peace agreement signed by the Trump administration. Another al-Qaida leader of the Indian affiliate, Mohammad Hanif, who was killed last November, had been previously providing bomb-making training to Taliban insurgents, the U.N. report stated.
Biden, in his speech to the American public on Monday, vowed that if the Taliban or al-Qaida resumes attacks on the U.S., they will be met by a forceful response. But that threat from Washington is somewhat muted given that the U.S. military will have no boots on the ground and limited, if any, intelligence assets in country to direct drone strikes, or U.S. Special Forces who might seek to return to Afghanistan.
Now there are fears that Afghanistan will once again became a magnet for jihadi fighters around the world in much the same way that Iraq and Syria did with the rise of ISIS after the U.S. withdrew troops there. Already, the Washington Post reported Tuesday that there was intercepted "chatter" among Islamic extremists that the Taliban victory had become a "rallying cry" that, according to an intelligence official from an Arab nation, was "encouraging many jihadis to think about traveling to Afghanistan now instead of Syria and Iraq."
Even more disturbing, the Taliban on Sunday released up to 5,000 prisoners held at Bagram Airfield in Afghanistan, including a number of "high value" al-Qaida operatives who had "been charged, tried and convicted," said Doug London, a retired CIA veteran who served most recently as the agency's chief of counterterrorism for South and South Central Asia. He said he also expects a number of high-ranking al-Qaida leaders in Iran, possibly including Saif al-Adel — who is rumored to be in line to be the terror group's next emir and has been indicted in the U.S. for his role in the 1998 U.S. Embassy bombings in Africa — to return to Afghanistan.
“The idea that things are somewhat under control, therefore we can pack up our bags and leave, is extraordinarily shortsighted,” said Lister. Al-Qaida hasn’t “chosen to relocate elsewhere,” he added. “One plus one equals two. Al-Qaida will thrive and at least recover.”

The Afghan debacle will destroy the Biden presidency
Frank Luntz and (Ret) RADM Mark Montgomery/The Telegraph/August 18/2021
Some people are comparing the chaotic end of US involvement in Afghanistan to the final days of South Vietnam. They’ve got it wrong. What’s happening in Kabul is more akin to the Bay of Pigs under JFK or the disaster in Iran in 1979. That failure cost Jimmy Carter the presidency in 1980, and Afghanistan could cost Democrats the White House in 2024.
President Biden had been flying high in the polls. Thanks to bipartisan support on a host of issues, he had been running 10 per cent above his predecessor at the same point in their respective administrations. With his carefully manicured image and his refusal to face reporters on a daily basis, Biden had looked, for the most part, competent and confident. No longer.
It is said that those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it. Biden, not wanting another Vietnam, told the American people it was time to leave Afghanistan. The public agreed. In April, 69 per cent of Americans supported Biden’s decision to withdraw troops from Afghanistan, while only 16 per cent were opposed. For a nation hopelessly divided on just about every issue, this is as unanimous as it gets.
In his April 14 withdrawal announcement, Biden was clear. No Vietnam. No Iran. “We will not conduct a hasty rush to the exit. We’ll do it responsibly, deliberately and safely.” The public overwhelmingly agreed. On the surface, Biden had made a wise decision to leave. But there is an even more powerful emotion that pollsters can’t immediately measure. Americans hate to lose – and they will punish a president who leads America to defeat.
On Monday, the President had to scramble back from Camp David to explain why there was an unfolding disaster in Kabul. Yet he passed the blame to the previous administration and, incredibly, the Afghan people.
The political consequences will be just as impactful in Washington as the military impact in Kabul. It could even unravel the Biden presidency. The most damaging impact will be the backlash over how the withdrawal was executed. Biden promised the country that there would be no helicopters “lifting people off the roof of the embassy”. He kept that promise: the American embassy in Kabul has its helipad on the front lawn.
More embarrassing moments will follow. On September 11 2021, 20 years after 9/11, a Taliban flag will be flying over that new $775 million embassy. Thanks to technology not available in the 1970s, the images from Kabul are already unmistakably tinged with failure. Afghans falling off C-17 wheel-wells as the planes take off are no less searing than tank man in Tiananmen Square or falling man on 9/11.
This will be followed by horror stories of Afghans who supported the US, as translators, or host nation staff, being tortured or killed. This in addition to the nearly 30,000 Afghan special forces troops who fought ferociously side by side with US troops and are now being hunted down by the Taliban. The egregious failure to properly plan for their extraction will be a constant and agonizing story for the US over the next six to 12 months.
We know how women were mistreated under the Taliban in the 1990s. Biden and Secretary of State Antony Blinken express false hope that the Taliban will moderate themselves. The American voter, particularly suburban moms, will think otherwise.
In the end, the public will need to come to grips with what brought the US to Afghanistan in 2001: the Taliban’s harboring of terrorists. This weekend, General Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told Congress that he had already begun to revise the date he estimates terrorist organizations will be able to operate freely in Afghanistan and threaten the US and its allies. The US stopped those deadly attacks against our homeland for 20 years thanks to military control of Afghanistan. Should that streak be broken, the public will know who to blame.
Regardless of the facts on the ground, Biden will continue to assert that this was the right withdrawal at the right time. That will not sit well with the electorate. The negative impact on his popularity and the American public’s trust in his leadership and competence will be significant, and it was all self-inflicted. Foreign policy is normally the place where presidents go to mask mistakes at home. Not this time.
Robert Gates, the former Secretary of Defense, once wrote that Biden has “been wrong on nearly every major foreign policy and national security issue over the past four decades”. That harsh assessment may prove even more prescient as we watch this complex foreign policy disaster play out in the region – and eventually at the ballot box.
*Frank Luntz is a US pollster. Mark Montgomery was a rear admiral in the US Navy. Follow Mark on Twitter @MarkCMontgomery. FDD is a Washington, DC-based, nonpartisan research institute focusing on national security and foreign policy.

Turkey Turns to Taliban, But There is no More Airport Deal to Salvage
Aykan Erdemir/ Balkan Insight/August 18/2021
Turkey’s Erdogan hoped to secure another bargaining chip with the West by taking over running of Kabul’s international airport. Suddenly, it’s not looking so simple.
Turkey’s offer in June to guard and manage the international airport in the Afghan capital was a unique opportunity for Ankara to build leverage over the United States, the European Union and NATO.
However, since President Recep Tayyip Erdogan first made the offer to his US counterpart, Joe Biden, on June 7, the Taliban’s rapid ascendancy in Afghanistan has for all intents and purposes killed the Turkish leader’s plan.
Erdogan’s subsequent August 11 offer to meet Taliban leaders in Turkey was an attempt to salvage his deal with Biden, but the move has intensified the Turkish public’s vocal opposition to the Turkish president’s Afghanistan policy.
At the outset, Erdogan’s Afghanistan deal appeared to promise a high return on investment for the Turkish government. As Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar said on June 23, Ankara did not commit to deploying additional troops to Afghanistan besides the 500 already stationed there.
Turkey reportedly was not willing to take on any combat mission outside the airport and refused to provide security for diplomatic convoys shuttling between Kabul’s foreign missions and the airport.
Furthermore, Erdogan demanded “diplomatic, logistic and financial” assistance from Washington. In exchange, the Turkish president hoped that he would extract more favorable treatment from the Biden administration, which had given him the cold shoulder during its first five months in office and called out Ankara’s human rights violations at home and it destabilizing foreign and security policy abroad.
Taliban not on board
On June 10, four days before Erdogan negotiated the Afghanistan deal with Biden, a Taliban spokesperson insisted that Turkey should withdraw all of its troops from Afghanistan, arguing that such a step would be consistent with the terms of the February 2020 agreement between Washington and the Taliban for the pullout of US forces.
Last month, the Taliban went as far as to issue a warning that it would view Turkish forces as occupiers and wage “jihad” against them.
Ankara’s response to the Taliban’s threats ranged from downplaying their seriousness to searching for palliative fixes. A Turkish official dismissed the militant group’s threat of waging jihad, saying Ankara did not expect the Taliban to have a “hostile attitude.” Erdogan told reporters on July 20 that the Taliban should be comfortable holding talks with Ankara, since “Turkey doesn’t have anything that contradicts their beliefs.”
To ease tensions, the Turkish government reached out to Qatar and Pakistan, which share not only ideological affinities with Turkey’s Islamist government but also close relations with the Taliban. Ankara also turned to Hungary to seek collaboration in securing the Kabul airport.
Meanwhile, facing growing security risks in Kabul, Ankara reportedly began hedging its bets by making preparations to deploy some 2,000 Syrian mercenaries to Afghanistan, as it did for earlier military campaigns in Syria, Libya, and Nagorno-Karabakh.
But while a US leaked intelligence assessment on August 11 warned that the Taliban could isolate Kabul within 30 days, the Afghan capital and much of the rest of the country had fallen by August 15.
The day the US intelligence assessment was reported, senior Turkish officials told Reuters that Ankara still intended to run and guard the Kabul airport, which days later was the scene of chaos as frightened Afghans tried to flee. “Work is continuing on the basis that the transfer will happen, but of course the situation in Afghanistan is being followed closely,” one source was quoted as saying.
On August 12, during a visit to Pakistan, Turkey’s Akar said that since the existing diplomatic missions in Afghanistan would completely withdraw if the airport closed, “we continue to share our view that the airport should remain open. In the coming days, this issue will take shape.”
Pressure building at home
The Turkish government’s Afghanistan plans rest neither on any informed deliberations in the Turkish parliament nor on any public consensus. Erdogan’s unilateralism, which also characterized his earlier military action in Syria and Libya, is made possible by the lack of any meaningful checks and balances in the country or oversight by parliament, independent media outlets or civil society organizations.
The ability to deploy troops rapidly and continue with overseas missions despite mounting Turkish casualties, a flexibility Ankara’s NATO counterparts do not have, has until now given the Erdogan government a unique bargaining power in bilateral and multilateral relations.
Although Turkey’s checks and balances continue to erode at an alarming rate, the collapse of the Afghan government, the spike in the number of displaced Afghans taking refuge in Turkey, and the alarming rise in anti-refugee sentiment across the Turkish political spectrum, including among the ruling bloc’s support base, have nevertheless practically blocked the Turkish president’s ability to move forward with his Afghanistan deal.
On August 3, in a series of tweets, Turkey’s main opposition leader, Kemal Kilicdaroglu, criticised a US recommendation for Afghans escaping the Taliban’s reprisal attacks to seek refuge in third countries.
“As a member of the alliance that will govern Turkey in the future, we do not accept those deals that you made with Erdogan,” he warned in a tweet directed at the US. “Whatever you have said or relayed to Erdogan are binding only for him, not for the Republic of Turkey.” The next day, amid a growing public outcry, Erdogan’s communications director reacted to Washington by announcing that Turkey “does not, and will not, serve as any country’s waiting room.”
Meanwhile, Erdogan’s statement that Turkey “doesn’t have anything that contradicts” the Taliban’s beliefs and his plans to meet with Taliban leaders in Turkey continue to draw negative reactions from the country’s pro-secular figures. Numerous members of the pro-secular Republican People’s Party, CHP, slammed Erdogan for suggesting that Turkey and the Taliban share the same values, with a CHP deputy chair criticising the Turkish president for associating Turkey with militant Islamist groups, including “the Muslim Brotherhood, Islamic State, al-Nusra Front, and the Taliban.”
Namik Tan, Turkey’s ambassador to Washington between 2010 and 2014 joined elected officials in warning against hosting the Taliban. He criticised the Turkish government for denouncing the United States for cooperating in its fight against the Islamic State with the Syrian Kurdish militia People’s Protection Forces, YPG – which Ankara considers as a terrorist entity – while also “stating that you will meet with the Taliban that everyone sees as terrorists.”
Bumpy road ahead
Back in June, Erdogan regarded his Afghanistan deal with Biden as a unique opportunity to build leverage over the United States and other NATO allies. Such a deal, Erdogan hoped, would resemble his earlier set of deals with the European Union to host displaced Syrians and prevent them from continuing their journey to the West. Those deals have succeeded in watering down Brussels’ punitive rhetoric and action toward Ankara.
The developments of the last two months have shown that Erdogan’s Afghanistan deal with the US, as many analysts warned, have proven much trickier than his Syrian refugee deal with the EU.
Although Washington appeared to mute its criticism of Turkish domestic, foreign, and security policy transgressions in June and July, the Biden administration has emerged from its silence as of August.
This is yet another reminder that there are no quick fixes to US-Turkish relations, which have been on collision course over a broad range of issues. With the Afghanistan deal all but dead, it would be wise for Ankara to engage Washington in good faith to negotiate outstanding issues rather than hoping to sweep them under an Afghan rug that no longer exists.
*Aykan Erdemir is a former member of the Turkish parliament and senior director of the Turkey Program at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, a Washington, DC-based, nonpartisan research institute focusing on national security and foreign policy. Follow him on Twitter @aykan_erdemir.

Afghanistan calls for global rules to face extremism
Ivan Scalfarotto/The Arab Weekly/August 18/2021
The Taliban are the most evident and hateful manifestation of the political use of religion, the sheer enforcement of a creed turned into a law and instantly applicable to anyone who does not comply.
This use of religion is the first enemy of religion, as excluding or punishing on the basis of a belief affects other believers in most cases. Those who wield religion as a political weapon often begin by attacking their own people. The use of religion in politics often serves to legitimise, with an instrumental use of faith, totalitarianism, fanaticism, violence and terrorism.
BPUR International (www.bpur.org) is a non-governmental organisation, which I support, committed to promoting an international treaty to ban the political use of religion when it leads to religious discrimination, threatens freedoms or human rights or when it imposes bans on religious freedom.
I believe that among the many things that the Afghan tragedy we are witnessing is teaching and compelling us to do, is that there should be a commitment of all people of good will, believers and non-believers, and the assumption of legal obligation by the international community to ensure that nowhere in the world crimes against humanity can be perpetrated in the name of a faith or an interpretation of it.
The bad news coming from Kabul reaffirms the need to adopt common international rules so that in the future it will be possible to speak with one voice and face this crisis and other threats to world peace.
These rules also have the purpose of inducing both the neighboring countries of Afghanistan and the major world powers not to pursue political agenda that indulge or are founded on discrimination and violations of fundamental human rights.

Pragmatism is shaping Russia-Taliban relations
Giorgio Cafiero/Arabiya/August 18/2021
Although the Taliban gains in Afghanistan amid a security vacuum created by the US/NATO exit from the war-torn country were to be expected, the rapidity of the Taliban’s offensive that put most of the country back under its control was shocking. The resurgent group’s ability to take control of Kabul, a city of six million, in a few hours without facing any real local resistance surprised even the most seasoned Afghanistan experts.Russia has hedged in Afghanistan by engaging both with the now departed government of Ashraf Ghani and the Taliban. This has positioned the Kremlin to maintain a flexible and working relationship with the new administration led by Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar. In early July, there were talks between the Taliban and Russia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Moscow, marking a continuation of talks between the two that commenced in 2017. Additionally, the Taliban representatives and Russian diplomats have been in contact at Afghan peace talks in Qatar.
President Vladimir Putin correctly assumed that the Taliban would have a major role in post-US Afghanistan. For Moscow, good relations with the Taliban are key to Russia’s strategies for having clout and security in Kabul. Ultimately, the Kremlin’s decision to keep itself on positive terms with the resurgent group has seemingly paid off for Russia.
There is no love between Russia and the Taliban. There is historical baggage between the two. Some Taliban leaders were insurgents in the Afghan-Soviet war (1979-1989).
During the Taliban’s 1996-2001 period in power, Chechen separatist groups trained on Afghan land, which resulted in Putin threatening to bomb certain terrorist training camps in Taliban-ruled Afghanistan in May 2000.
Additionally, a Chechen embassy was open in Kabul with the “Islamic Emirate” being the only government in the world to recognize an independent Chechen state.
The Taliban openly declared “jihad” against Russia.
These factors helped explain why Putin supported US military operations against the Taliban regime in 2001. When the George W. Bush administration was launching the “war on terror” in Afghanistan in 2001, Russia armed the Northern Alliance and worked with its allies in Central Asia to give the US military access to their airspace for operations against the Taliban.
By engaging both with the now departed government of Ashraf Ghani and the Taliban Russia has positioned itself to maintain a flexible and working relationship with the new Afghan administration led by Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar. (File photo: Reuters)
By engaging both with the now departed government of Ashraf Ghani and the Taliban Russia has positioned itself to maintain a flexible and working relationship with the new Afghan administration led by Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar. (File photo: Reuters)
In 2003, Russia designated the Taliban a terrorist organization. Six years later, Dmitry Rogozin, Russia’s permanent representative to NATO, warned of a Taliban threat to Russia if coalition forces in Afghanistan would suffer a defeat with the Islamist group moving north toward ex-Soviet states.
Today, however, Moscow’s view is that it can work with the Taliban. Notwithstanding all the ideological contradictions and historical baggage, it is safe to conclude that Russia and the Taliban are approaching each other in ways that are purely pragmatic.
“They are sane people,” said Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on July 23. “They clearly stated that they have no plans to create problems for Afghanistan’s Central Asian neighbors, that they would uncompromisingly fight [Da’esh], and that they are ready to discuss the political structure of their nation with other Afghans because they used to be accused of wanting to create an Islamic emirate based on the Sharia law.”
Russia, unlike western countries, is keeping its embassy open in Kabul. According to Russian Ambassador Dmitry Zhirnov, “The Taliban is already guarding our embassy” and the group has established “public order” in the Afghan capital. Since Ghani fled, Zhirnov has praised the Taliban, claiming that “the situation in Kabul now under the Taliban is better than it was under (President) Ashraf Ghani.” The Russian ambassador maintains that, so far, the Taliban’s conduct has been “good, positive and business-like” and that “the situation is peaceful and good, and everything has calmed down in [Kabul].”
On the one hand, Russia is undeniably content to see another case of US foreign policy being a failure, which gives Moscow more ways to benefit from the further decline of US hegemony.
On the other, the Kremlin also has grave concerns about the consequences of America’s failure in Afghanistan for Russia itself. In Central Asian countries bordering Afghanistan, Russia has military bases. Moscow fears ways in which violence and terrorism could spread into these ex-Soviet states. Russian officials also worry about potential opportunities for al-Qaeda and Da’esh to exploit chaos in the war-torn country. Moscow is betting that the Taliban will help with the fight against such transnational terror groups, taking the resurgent group at its word.
On a more international level, it is safe to bet that Russia will continue enhancing defense cooperation with central Asian states and China when it comes to dealing with Afghanistan-related security threats.
Russia is always keen to see ways which can make the failures of US foreign policy
lead to conditions that suit Russian interests. Putin’s government sees post-US Afghanistan as an opportunity to reassert influence throughout large portions of Eurasia—extending far beyond Afghanistan itself—that the Soviet Union once wielded.
Moscow’s goal now is to persuade Afghanistan and its neighbors in Central Asia that Russia is the power with the means to ensure their security in ways that the Americans and their NATO allies spent the last two decades failing to do.
The 64,000-dollar question is whether Russia will recognize the “Islamic Emirate” as a legitimate Afghan government. Desperate for recognition from at least one permanent member of the UN Security Council, the Taliban leaders would see Moscow recognizing the regime as extremely beneficial from the standpoint of its international standing.But, at least for now, the Russians are trying to carefully assess how the chaotic mess in post-US Afghanistan unfolds before making that decision. “No one is going to rush” that decision said Zamir Kabulov, Putin’s Afghanistan envoy, who declared that Moscow’s “recognition or non-recognition will depend on the conduct of the new authorities.”

Biden's Clueless Afghan Double-Cross
Lawrence Kadish/Gatestone Institute/August 18/2021
Globally, there is not a friend or foe who doesn't see that America's reliability as an ally has been demolished. Great Britain, which has troops in Afghanistan, was not even consulted.
Thousands of Americans awaiting instructions and with no way to get to an airport whose access is now controlled by the Taliban are still trapped inside Afghanistan. Pathetically, they are being told to "shelter in place." Interpreters and their families, who were promised that in the event of crisis they would be rescued, are not just trapped; reports are that members of the Taliban with "lists of names" are going door to door looking for allies of the U.S. military.
A strong argument was made for not pulling out at all. The objective was to ensure that America was never again attacked by a 9/11 type of terrorist group. To that end, the U.S. had a modest military footprint, like a small insurance premium, in Afghanistan.... The U.S. has, after all, had troops in Germany and South Korea for decades, and no one has been calling for their removal.
What must allies such as Taiwan or Israel be thinking now after watching poorly armed tribesman sweep aside an American ally we resolutely vowed to assist? Worse, what must America's adversaries, such as China, Russia, Iran or North Korea be thinking now? That such cut-and-run behavior signals the perfect opportunity to strike the Ukraine or Taiwan?
Communist China can see what America and the West did in response to its seizure of Hong Kong, its deceitful build-up of fake islands as military bases in the South China Sea, its attacks on northern India, its threats of a nuclear attack on Japan, its threats to attack Australia and its lies about the human-to-human transmissibility of its Covid-19 virus that have so far caused the deaths of more than 4,000,000 people worldwide and the devastation of countless economies -- exactly nothing.
Thousands of Americans awaiting instructions and with no way to get to an airport whose access is now controlled by the Taliban are still trapped inside Afghanistan. Pathetically, they are being told to "shelter in place." Pictured: Taliban fighters near Zanbaq Square in Kabul, Afghanistan on August 16, 2021.
The horror of President Joseph Biden's deliberate retreat from Afghanistan is so immense and its geopolitical impact so severe, we have to fully comprehend the extent of the disaster.
In insisting on an immediate withdrawal Biden apparently rejected the advice of Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III and Gen. Mark A. Milley, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. According to the New York Times:
"Even as the number of American forces in Afghanistan steadily decreased to the 2,500 who still remained, Defense Department leaders still cobbled together a military effort that managed to protect the United States from terrorist attacks...."
Director of Central Intelligence William Burns also warned the U.S. Senate that a withdrawal would forfeit the ability to have human intelligence in the area to pick up what the Taliban, Al-Qaeda or Isis might be planning in their ongoing assault on the West. Globally, there is not a friend or foe who doesn't see that America's reliability as an ally has been demolished. Great Britain, which has troops in Afghanistan, was not even consulted.
Thousands of Americans awaiting instructions and with no way to get to an airport whose access is now controlled by the Taliban are still trapped inside Afghanistan. Pathetically, they are being told to "shelter in place." Interpreters and their families, who were promised that in the event of crisis they would be rescued, are not just trapped; reports are that members of the Taliban with "lists of names" are going door to door looking for allies of the U.S. military.
According to the Washington Post:
"'I gave everything I had to the Americans, but once they are gone, I will be killed,' Abdul Rashid Shirzad told the journalists. The 35-year-old husband and father mastered English and risked his life to serve two years as a battlefield interpreter for Navy SEALs. Shirzad said his identity and those of other U.S. employees are well known to Taliban extremists: 'They keep track of us, and they don't shoot us like they do Afghan soldiers. If they catch me, they will behead me.'"
Other reports tell of the Taliban also going door to door and dragging out girls, some as young as 12, to make them "fighters' sex slaves" or for forced marriages.
Some military experts suggest that if a troop withdrawal had been planned for the winter when the Taliban return to Pakistan to escape the cold, rather than in the middle if the summer, evidently the fighting season, much of this calamitous outcome could have been avoided. Biden was hearing none of it.
A strong argument was made for not pulling out at all. The objective was to ensure that America was never again attacked by a 9/11 type of terrorist group. To that end, the U.S. had a modest military footprint, like a small insurance premium, in Afghanistan of 2,500 troops, six airbases including the largest, Bagram; and from its runways the ability to reach adversaries such as China, Russia, North Korea, Iran, and other points in or near Central Asia. Those airbases are now in the hands of the Taliban.
To reach much of Eastern or Central Asia now, the U.S. would first have to fly around eight hours from the Gulf States, or perhaps from Pakistan – not the most practical approach, although the US has reportedly been looking for other airbases in Central Asia. The U.S. has, after all, had troops in Germany and South Korea for decades, and no one has been calling for their removal.
There are fears as well that after the Americans have gone, the treatment of women and girls will be beyond description. MSNBC reports:
"[A]ccording to Human Rights Watch, the Taliban have been summarily executing Afghan civilians linked to the government — a development Secretary of State Antony Blinken meekly said was 'troubling.' Already, the Afghans who put their lives on the line to assist the U.S. Army over the last decades are reported to have been beheaded, a grotesque dereliction of our duty to the Afghans who foolishly believed in the U.S."
What must allies such as Taiwan or Israel be thinking now after watching poorly armed tribesman sweep aside an American ally we resolutely vowed to assist? Worse, what must America's adversaries, such as China, Russia, Iran or North Korea be thinking now? That such cut-and-run behavior signals the perfect opportunity to strike the Ukraine or Taiwan?
Communist China can see what America and the West did in response to its seizure of Hong Kong, its deceitful build-up of fake islands as military bases in the South China Sea, its attacks on northern India, its threats of a nuclear attack on Japan, its threats to attack Australia and its lies about the human-to-human transmissibility of its Covid-19 virus that have so far caused the deaths of more than 4,000,000 people worldwide and the devastation of countless economies -- exactly nothing.
The new Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan will now be the center for a resurgent terrorism, a Mecca for terrorists. Terrorists in Europe, now emboldened, will have a command-and-control headquarters to draw on. Moreover, what is to stop them, and the thousands of terrorists, including senior Al-Qaeda operatives, released from Afghan prisons this week, from crossing into the U.S. through its newly open, non-existent southern border?
In June, President Biden announced that the Afghan army, 300,000 strong, was armed with "all the tools... and equipment of any modern military. We provided advanced weaponry." Much of this weaponry -- "massive amounts of US-supplied firepower" -- is now in the possession of the Taliban, potentially to be used against the U.S. and our allies throughout Europe.
Historians have the advantage of looking back at seminal events that occurred decades, generations, even centuries ago and, with hindsight, point to how the fate of nations were changed by decisions, indecisions, mistakes, or a failure of leadership. In this case, they won't need to wait to assign the verdict of history. It is now clear that the Biden Administration has profoundly and dangerously miscalculated, and the free world will pay the price. As we approach the 20th anniversary of 9/11, the bitter irony won't be lost on many an American.
*Lawrence Kadish serves on the Board of Governors of Gatestone Institute.
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Iran's Renewed 'Promise' to the Palestinians
Khaled Abu Toameh/Gatestone Institute/August 18/2021
[T]he leaders of various Palestinian factions are seeking Iran's support for their jihad (holy war) against Israel.
This means that Iran under Raisi will continue to provide the Palestinian terrorist groups in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip with financial and military aid.
Iran did not promise to contribute to the reconstruction of the Gaza Strip in the aftermath of last May's 11-day war between Hamas and Israel. Iran did not promise to build new hospitals and schools in the Gaza Strip. Iran did not promise to help the two million Palestinians living in the Gaza Strip cope with the rising number of Covid-19 infections.
Iran's renewed promise to help the Palestinians in their fight against Israel shows that the mullahs in Tehran feel emboldened by the perceived weakness of the Biden administration and other Western powers in dealing with the Iranian nuclear threat.
The silence of the US and the rest of the international community towards the latest threats from Iran and its Palestinian proxies signals that it is only a matter of time before the Palestinian terror groups' jihad toward Israel, most likely enthusiastically assisted by Iran, resurges in a way that is entirely expectable.
The leaders of various Palestinian factions are seeking Iran's support for their jihad (holy war) against Israel. This means that Iran under its new President Ebrahim Raisi will continue to provide the Palestinian terrorist groups in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip with financial and military aid. Pictured: Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh (2nd R), shakes hands with Iran's outgoing president Hassan Rouhani during Raisi's swearing-in ceremony in Tehran on August 5, 2021.
As the Biden administration continues to talk about the need for confidence-building measures between Israel and the Palestinians to create an environment to reach a two-state solution, the leaders of various Palestinian factions are seeking Iran's support for their jihad (holy war) against Israel.
Leaders of Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) and other factions who visited Iran recently to attend the inauguration of President Ebrahim Raisi, seem to be satisfied with the promise they received from the mullahs in Tehran.
The Biden administration wants to advance confidence-building measures between Israel and the Palestinians. The Palestinian terrorist groups and their supporters, however, want confidence-building measures with any country that is willing to support them in realizing their dream of destroying Israel.
The Biden administration can probably promote some form of confidence-building measures between Israel and the Palestinian Authority headed by Mahmoud Abbas. There is no way, however, that the Biden administration would be able to advance such measures between Israel and Iran's Palestinian proxies.
Raisi and other Iranian officials assured the Palestinian leaders that Iran will continue to support the Palestinians in their fight against Israel. This means that Iran under Raisi will continue to provide the Palestinian terrorist groups in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip with financial and military aid.
Iran did not promise to contribute to the reconstruction of the Gaza Strip in the aftermath of May's 11-day war between Hamas and Israel. Iran did not promise to build new hospitals and schools in the Gaza Strip. Iran did not promise to help the two million Palestinians living in the Gaza Strip cope with the rising number of Covid-19 infections.
During separate meetings with the Palestinian leaders, Raisi underlined that the Islamic Republic "will continue to support Palestine as the main issue of the Muslim world."
"We have never had and will never have any doubt about this policy," Raisi said during the meeting with Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh. "In our view, Palestine has been and will be the first issue of the Muslim world."
Raisi lauded the Hamas leader for his optimism about eliminating Israel. He said that the rockets and missiles fired into Israel by Hamas and PIJ during the recent war showed that a great leap has been made in the fight against Israel.
"Today, signs of great victory of the resistance movement have emerged and Operation Saif Al-Quds ["Sword of Jerusalem," the name Hamas uses to refer to the last war with Israel] was one of the signs of this victory," Raisi added.
Haniyeh, for his part, assured the Iranian president and other senior officials in Tehran that Hamas will stand by Iran in any conflict with the US and Israel.
In a meeting with PIJ Secretary-General Ziyad al-Nakhalah, Raisi "stressed the importance of supporting the oppressed Palestinian people against Israeli aggression."
Nakhalah said the Islamic Republic is a model of peaceful transition of power in the world while there was a power-transfer conflict in the US just a few months ago.
In another meeting with secretary general of the PFLP, Talal Naji, and his deputy, Abu Ahmad Fuad, the Iranian president said that "Palestine and the liberation of Al-Quds (Jerusalem) are the most important issues of the Muslim world."
Naji, for his part, said that the fight against Israel will continue "until the final victory against the Israeli regime." He too assured the Iranians that the Palestinian terrorist groups would "stand by the Iranian people because the Islamic Republic seeks to protect security of the entire region."
The speaker of the Iranian parliament, Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, also met with the Palestinian leaders and "reaffirmed Tehran's support for Palestine until the liberation of Jerusalem."
Additionally, the Palestinian leaders met with the Commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), Major General Hossein Salami, who told them that the "decline of the Zionist regime is a reality that can be materialized soon." The "decline of the Zionist regime" is a euphemism for the elimination of Israel, an open and declared goal of the mullahs of Iran.
"Given the undeniable realities on the ground, we rest assured that the decline of the Zionist regime is more than a wish, a reality that can happen in the near future," said General Salami.
He stressed that "only power can force the rebellious Zionists to go quiet. Strengthening of Palestine is a strategy and a way that should never be stopped."
General Salami dismissed the idea that Israel is invincible: "This idea [of invincibility] collapsed suddenly with the Operation Saif al-Quds, and this battle showed that it is Palestine that has become powerful, and the decline and collapse of the fake Zionist regime is definite."
Emboldened by the promises they received during their visit to Iran, the Palestinian faction leaders seem more defiant than ever and are stepping up their threats not only against Israel, but also against Arab countries that seek to normalize their relations with Israel.
Days after the visit to Tehran, several Palestinian factions again denounced Arabs for normalizing their relations with Israel. The warning came in response to Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid's recent visit to Morocco.
The factions condemned Lapid's visit as a "crime" against the Palestinians and called on the Arabs "to reject normalization with the Zionist entity."
Iran's renewed promise to help the Palestinians in their fight against Israel shows that the mullahs in Tehran feel emboldened by the perceived weakness of the Biden administration and other Western powers in dealing with the Iranian nuclear threat.
Apparently, Raisi and his friends in Tehran are convinced that the US and the Europeans do not care if Iran continues supplying weapons and money to Palestinian terror groups whose declared goal is to kill as many Jews as possible and annihilate Israel.
Appeasing the mullahs or failing to hold them to account for their continued support of the terrorists will lead to yet more bloodletting in the Middle East. The silence of the US and the rest of the international community towards the latest threats from Iran and its Palestinian proxies signals that it is only a matter of time before the Palestinian terror groups' jihad toward Israel, most likely enthusiastically assisted by Iran, resurges in a way that is entirely expectable.
*Khaled Abu Toameh is an award-winning journalist based in Jerusalem.
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