English LCCC Newsbulletin For
Lebanese, Lebanese Related, Global News & Editorials
For August 28/2020
Compiled & Prepared by: Elias Bejjani
#elias_bejjani_news
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Bible Quotations For today
‘Occasions for stumbling are bound to come, but woe to anyone by whom they come!
It would be better for you if a millstone were hung around your neck and you
were thrown into the sea than for you to cause one of these little ones to
stumble
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according
to Saint Luke 17/01-04/:”Jesus said to his disciples, ‘Occasions for stumbling
are bound to come, but woe to anyone by whom they come! It would be better for
you if a millstone were hung around your neck and you were thrown into the sea
than for you to cause one of these little ones to stumble.Be on your guard! If
another disciple sins, you must rebuke the offender, and if there is repentance,
you must forgive. And if the same person sins against you seven times a day, and
turns back to you seven times and says, “I repent”, you must forgive.’”
Titles For The Latest English LCCC
Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on
August 27-28/2021
U.N. Chief Urges 'Effective Govt. of National Unity' in Lebanon
Presidency Hits Back at ex-PMs over Port Blast Accusations
President Aoun meets Lebanese Orthodox Council delegation, says keen on
preserving rights of all sects in political life
Minister of Health says Central Bank has started green lighting accumulated
permissions to import medicine
Miqati Holds 'Negative' Meeting with Aoun
Daryan Hits Out at Aoun, Throws Support behind Diab
Parliament: Bitar Has No Jurisdiction to Subpoena Diab
Ex-PMs React Angrily to Bitar's Measure against Diab
Nasrallah Slams Bitar over Diab Move, Urges Govt. Formation
Hassan Urges Firms to Ship, Distribute Missing Medicine after BDL Green Light
Lebanon Cancer Patients Face 'Humiliating' Drug Shortages
Lebanese security chief warns crisis ‘may be prolonged’
Lebanon’s Mikati Says He Still Faces Big Hurdles to Forming Govt
Lebanon Heading to Complete Collapse Unless Action Taken, Warns Grand Mufti
Lebanon blast judge subpoenas caretaker PM, sparks showdown with parliament
On Lebanon’s turmoil, there can be no middle ground
Ronnie Chatah/The National/August 27/2021
Lebanon…The Social Support Base Will Break the Wall/Mustafa Fahs/Asharq Al Awsat/August
27/2021
Titles For The Latest English LCCC
Miscellaneous Reports And News published on August 27-28/2021
Biden assures Israel’s PM: US has options if Iran nuclear diplomacy fails
US airstrike targets Islamic State member in Afghanistan
U.S. on alert for further Kabul attacks in race to complete evacuations
Taliban say have taken control of sections of Kabul airport, Pentagon denies
No rush to recognize Taliban government by US or allies: White House
Taliban proposed Turkey run Kabul airport: Erdogan
At Least 95 Afghans Killed in Thursday's Bombings
Australia ends Afghanistan evacuations after Kabul suicide attacks
Turkey Holds First Talks with the Taliban in Kabul
Iran Foreign Minister Heads to Iraq Regional Summit
Iranian president admits country is ‘seriously lagging behind’
UAE senior official’s visit to Doha ushers in new chapter in Emirati-Qatari
relations
Decrepit Ankara theme park tells tale of AKP-sponsored waste
Amnesty calls on Qatar to probe worker deaths
Obstacles hinder women’s participation in Iraqi poll
New Group of Rebels Quits Syria's Daraa under Truce
Morocco to Close its Algiers Embassy after Ties Cut
Titles For The Latest The Latest LCCC
English analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on
August 27-28/2021
Question: "Is baptism necessary for salvation?"/GotQuestions.org/August
27/2021
Afghanistan, Islamist Terrorism and the Tormented Geopolitics of South
Asia/Charles Elias Chartoun/August 27/2021
The Pakistani angle on the Taliban victory/Jonathan Spyer/The Jerusalem
Post/August 27/2021
What does Israel really want to do with Iran and Gaza?/Yaakov Katz/Jerusalem
Post/August 27/2021
Hasty US Pullout from Afghanistan Invokes Regional Talk of Post Pax Americana/Riad
Kahwaji/Breaking Defense/August 27/2021
Taliban Is Back in Kabul — So Is Al Qaeda/Camelia Entekhabifard/Asharq Al Awsat/August
27/2021
The Latest English LCCC Lebanese &
Lebanese Related News & Editorials published
on August 27-28/2021
U.N. Chief Urges 'Effective Govt. of National Unity' in Lebanon
Naharnet/August 27/2021
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has expressed "deep concern" over the
"rapidly deteriorating" socio-economic situation in Lebanon. "The people of
Lebanon are struggling every day with hyperinflation, acute shortages of fuel,
electricity, medicine and even access to clean water," Guterres said in a
statement by his spokesman. He called on all Lebanese political leaders to
"urgently form an effective government of national unity." Guterres added that
the new government should be able to "bring immediate relief, justice and
accountability to the people of Lebanon and drive an ambitious and meaningful
course for reform to restore access to basic services, restore stability,
promote sustainable development and inspire hope for a better future."
Presidency Hits Back at ex-PMs over Port Blast
Accusations
Naharnet/August 27/2021
The Presidency press office responded Friday to the statement of the ex-prime
ministers condemning the subpoena issued by the port blast lead investigator
Judge Tarek Bitar against caretaker Prime Minister Hassan Diab. The press office
said in a statement that the terms used by the ex-PMs -- Saad Hariri, Najib
Miqati, Fouad Saniora and Tammam Salam -- about a “veiled justice” and a
“politicized judiciary” are “insulting” and “disgraceful” to the judiciary. It
added that the timing of the statement is “suspicious,” seeing as President
Michel Aoun is “making an effort to form a government” that will help the
Lebanese “who are suffering through severe hardship.”The Presidency also said
that “it is really regrettable for the aforementioned statement to include an
accusation against Mr. President regarding the issue of the disastrous bombing
at Beirut port on August 4, 2020, whereas Mr. President had put himself at the
disposal of the investigative judge.”
President Aoun meets Lebanese Orthodox Council delegation, says keen on
preserving rights of all sects in political life
NNA/August 27/2021
President of the Republic, General Michel Aoun, affirmed his keenness to
preserve the rights of all Lebanese sects in political life and to achieve fair
representation in constitutional institutions. The President indicated that this
issue is taken into account in the formation of the new government so that the
partnership of Lebanese components is complete, while taking into account
balance and charter criteria, “Especially in current difficult circumstances
which Lebanon is going through and which require fortification of national
unity”.Stances of the President came while meeting a delegation from the
Lebanese Orthodox Council, today at Baabda Palace. The delegation was headed by
Mr. Robert Al-Abyad, who discussed the national role which members of the
community play in Lebanon, with their Lebanese brothers from all sects, hoping
that Orthodox representation will be well-achieved in the future government,
which is a true representation of independents who enjoy experience and
competence. Al-Abyad also addressed the sufferings experienced by the Lebanese,
from harsh economic and living conditions, and wished to speed-up the formation
of the new government to start with developing solutions to the successive
crises which have accumulated along the past 20 years. Moreover, Al-Abyad
briefed the President on the sufferings of residents of Ashrafieh, Rmeil, Saifi
and Gemayzeh regions, who were affected by the Beirut Port explosion, last
August 4th. Al-Abyad wished to speed-up their financial compensations and help
them psychologically to recover from the repercussions of this crime. For his
part, President Aoun assured the delegation that he is personally following-up
on the compensation process, especially after the disbursement of 150 Billion
Lebanese Pounds of the President’s appropriations for emergency cases, in
accordance with the constitution, and work is ongoing to pay an additional 50
Billion Lebanese Pounds for this purpose. President Aoun also indicated that
after the formation of the new government, economic recovery will witness a
breakthrough which will help alleviate Lebanese suffering. The President also
promised to continue combatting corruption and smuggling, while starting
forensic audit after the deliberate delay which prevented it from starting since
the Cabinet took the decision concerning this issue, back in March
2020.—Presidency Press Office
Minister of Health says Central Bank has started green lighting accumulated
permissions to import medicine
NNA/August 27/2021
Caretaker Minister of Public Health Dr. Hamad Hassan’s press office said on
Friday that the MoH was informed yesterday that the Central Bank has begun green
lighting accumulated permissions to import medicines — amounting to 1,800 bills
— that have been previously approved by the ministry of health.
“Accordingly, the Ministry requires of importing companies to start disbursing
the stocked medicines and importing new shipments as of today,” the statement
said. “The importing agents’ warehouses, in addition to general medicine
warehouses, will be under direct supervision, as well as electronic and field
tracking, with the support of the ministerial inspection and competent
regulatory bodies.
Miqati Holds 'Negative' Meeting with Aoun
Naharnet/August 27/2021
The meeting between President Michel Aoun and PM-designate Najib Miqati on
Thursday in Baabda was “negative,” media reports said on Friday. “The meeting
was negative and involved going around in circles over a number of names and
portfolios on which no consensus has been reached,” Annahar newspaper reported,
quoting unnamed sources. Informed sources meanwhile told the daily that
“alternative candidates were presented by the President and the PM-designate for
the disputed portfolios in a bid to reconcile viewpoints, while preserving the
portfolios’ sectarian distribution.” The sources added that Aoun and Miqati
might hold another meeting today, Friday. Confirming that two Maronite seats
will be granted to the Marada Movement, the sources added that there are
disagreements over the portfolios of justice, interior, social affairs and
economy as well as over the deputy PM post.
Daryan Hits Out at Aoun, Throws Support behind Diab
Naharnet/August 27/2021
Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdul Latif Daryan on Friday hit out at President Michel Aoun
over his “hell” remarks as he threw his support behind caretaker PM Hassan Diab
in connection with the port blast investigation. “I advise the President,
General Michel Aoun: try to rescue what’s left of your tenure, or else we would
be heading toward the worse and toward the bottom of hell, not to hell as you
have promised us,” Daryan said at the opening ceremony of a mosque in the
Shatila area. Turning to the issue of Judge Tarek Bitar’s subpoenaing of Diab in
the port blast case, Daryan warned that “the Premiership position is not less
important or prestigious than any other presidential position in Lebanon.”“Its
respect is a must and we are keen on keeping this position preserved in order to
maintain balance among the three presidencies (Presidency, Speakership and
Premiership),” the mufti added. “The targeting of the caretaker PM, Dr. Hassan
Diab, is deplorable and alien from the norms of communication and speaking with
the Premiership,” Daryan went on to say. He added: “Let all immunities be lifted
through the issuance of a law in this regard by parliament, and let justice take
its course properly toward everyone, away from selectivity and malice.”
Parliament: Bitar Has No Jurisdiction to Subpoena Diab
Naharnet/August 27/2021
Parliament's secretary-general Adnan al-Daher sent Friday a memo to the public
prosecution saying that the lead investigator into Beirut's massive port
explosion Judge Tarek Bitar “has no jurisdiction to subpoena caretaker premier
Hassan Diab.”The memo stated that Diab had received a subpoena to appear before
Bitar on August 26, adding that Bitar has “no jurisdiction, according to the
constitution and law.”This issue is being looked into by parliament in order to
take “the necessary measures.”Bitar had subpoenaed Diab for interrogation on
September 20 after he failed to show up for questioning on Thursday.
Ex-PMs React Angrily to Bitar's Measure against Diab
Naharnet/August 27/2021
Judge Tarek Bitar’s decision to issue a subpoena ordering security forces to
bring caretaker PM Hassan Diab to interrogation has infuriated the so-called
club of former premiers, which comprises ex-PMs Saad Hariri, Najib Miqati, Fouad
Saniora and Tammam Salam. Bitar issued the subpoena after Diab refrained from
attending an interrogation session on Thursday. The judge scheduled a new
session for September 20. According to a judicial source, security forces have
been ordered to bring Diab to the main courthouse in Beirut 24 hours before the
session. In a joint statement, the former premiers lashed out at the decision,
warning that “never in the history of Lebanon has a subpoena been issued for the
head of the Lebanese government in the manner that has been written by the
investigative judge into the port bombing crime, Judge Tarek Bitar.”“This
precedent is dangerous in all of its political, national and constitutional
aspects and it is a non-innocent measure exploiting the law and the fury of the
victims’ families to target the Premiership without the other top positions of
the Lebanese state,” the statement said. Reminding of President Michel Aoun’s
acknowledgement of his knowledge of the presence of the ammonium nitrate
shipment at the port, the ex-PMs noted that the President “showed negligence and
refrained from doing anything of practical value to avert that humanitarian,
economic and urban disaster that hit Lebanon.”“This means that the President’s
immunity should also be lifted regarding this dangerous crime that hit Lebanon,
and accordingly the investigative judge would be liberated of texts that do not
grant him legal and constitutional rights to try presidents and others,” the
former premiers added. They also charged that Bitar’s measure is “politically
suspicious because it complements attempts that have not stopped for years to
overthrow the Taef Accord, break the prestige of the Premiership and besiege its
position in the political system.”
Nasrallah Slams Bitar over Diab Move, Urges Govt. Formation
Naharnet/August 27/2021
Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah on Sunday launched a fresh attack on the
lead investigative judge into the port blast case, this time over the latter’s
subpoenaing of caretaker PM Hassan Diab. “If Judge Bitar wants to question the
prime minister, then let’s amend the constitution, and what he did is a rejected
violation of the constitution,” Nasrallah said in a televised address. “We call
on the judicial authorities to intervene,” he added. Nasrallah also again
accused Bitar of “practicing politicization” and managing the case in a
“selective” way. Turning to the stalled government formation process,
Hizbullah’s leader said: “Unfortunately, all the blood and pain have not pushed
the officials to finalize the government's formation.”“The government's
formation is the main gateway for resolving the crisis,” he said. “The claims
that we are awaiting the Vienna talks are ridiculous,” he added. “It's about
time the discussion of the ministerial portfolios ended in order to form the
government,” Nasrallah urged. As for the issue of the Iranian fuel ships,
Nasrallah announced that the Iranians will load a third ship to send it to
Lebanon. “The days are coming and the facts will appear regarding the
fuel-loaded ships from Iran… and the talk will be clear when the first ship
arrives,” Nasrallah said.
Hassan Urges Firms to Ship, Distribute Missing
Medicine after BDL Green Light
Naharnet/August 27/2021
The press office of caretaker Health Minister Hamad Hassan announced Friday that
“things are getting better” after the raids carried out by the minister on
medicine warehouses.The office said in a statement that Hassan was informed on
Thursday that the Central Bank will start giving permissions for “1,800 pending
invoices” that had been recently approved by the ministry. The Ministry asked
the importing companies to start distributing and shipping the medicines that
were missing, “starting today” Friday.The warehouses of the importers and of the
distributors will be “under the ministry’s supervision,” the statement added.
Lebanon Cancer Patients Face 'Humiliating' Drug
Shortages
Agence France Presse/August 27/2021
As if her cancer treatment was not already agonizing enough, Rita is now wracked
with worry about the medication she needs as Lebanon's crippling economic crisis
sparks drug shortages."The treatment is like fire shooting through your body,"
the 53-year-old patient told AFP, asking that her real name not be given. "But
now on top of that, we have to go hunting for the drugs."Lebanon is in the
throes of one of the world's worst economic crises since the mid-19th century,
which has sparked a flurry of shortages from medicines to fuel as foreign
currency reserves run low.
The health ministry has previously provided cancer medication at very low cost
to patients without health insurance, but the patients say there are now almost
no drugs to be found. The shortages are threatening the treatment of tens of
thousands of people, many of whom have taken to social media in a desperate plea
to source the drugs they require. Since Rita was diagnosed with uterine cancer
three years ago, the disease has also spread to her lungs. "My brother couldn't
find the drugs from the ministry," said the single mother of three, her face
etched with worry at his home in Kfar Nabakh in the Chouf mountains. For now,
she has borrowed money to buy the medicine at a much higher price on the black
market. But she says she will not be able to afford to do this for long. "What
am I supposed to do? Sit around waiting for my turn?" she asked. "If you can't
find the drugs, you die."
'No drugs left'
The World Health Organization says 28,764 people have been diagnosed with cancer
in Lebanon over the past five years, out of a total population of six million.
But doctors say the number of patients undergoing treatment is likely to be much
higher. The head of the Lebanese Society of Hematology and Blood Transfusion,
Ahmad Ibrahim, said that around 2,500 new cases of leukemia and lymphoma are
recorded each year in the Mediterranean country. "Very little medication is left
for their treatment," he said. "Yet if they don't follow regular treatment, some
will die."Cancer drugs are just the latest medication to become scarce, with
even painkillers disappearing from pharmacy shelves in recent months. "Some have
neared the end of their treatment and are about to get better, but now suddenly
there are no more drugs left," Ibrahim added.
This summer many Lebanese expats who return home have flown in with suitcases
packed to the brim with boxes of medication for their loved ones. Some drugs are
available at a higher price on the black market, but in a country where three
quarters of the population live in poverty, many cannot afford them. Last month,
importers said supplies of hundreds of kinds of drugs had run out, as the
central bank owed millions of dollars to their suppliers abroad. The authorities
in turn accused importers of hoarding medicines with the aim of selling them
later at a higher price, and blamed smuggling abroad for part of the problem.
'They don't care'
Many Lebanese see the lack of medicine as merely the latest outcome of decades
of mismanagement of the country by a political class they say is selfish and
corrupt.
The Barbara Nassar Association for Cancer Patient Support on Thursday staged a
protest to demand better access to cancer medication. "Can you believe it? In
Lebanon, cancer patients -- with all their worries -- are forced to go down into
the street and protest to demand medicine," said its president, Hani Nassar.
"How is it the patient's fault if the state is incapable of containing the
crisis?" In the Hazmieh suburb of Beirut, Patricia Nassif, 29, said she was
afraid she would not be able to finish her breast cancer treatment. She had been
married for only eight months when she discovered in April that she had breast
cancer, upending her dream to start a family when all of her friends were
becoming pregnant. "I often lose hope," she said, wearing a black wig with a
purple streak to match her outfit of black T-shirt and jeans. She has finished a
round of chemotherapy, but now fears she will have to spend thousands of dollars
buying medication abroad for the next stage of her treatment.
"It's humiliating," she said, and accused the ruling class of doing little to
help.
"It's as if they were telling us: 'Die slowly'. They don't care about us."
Lebanese security chief warns crisis ‘may be
prolonged’
The Arab Weekly/August 27/2021
BEIRUT--The head of one of Lebanon’s most powerful security agencies ordered his
officers to stand firm in the face of a national crisis that could be
protracted, warning of the chaos that would ensue if the state collapsed. Major
General Abbas Ibrahim, in a message to General Security staff received by
Reuters on Friday, said state institutions had been undermined by “the great
collapse”. He was referring to a financial crisis that has gripped Lebanon for
two years and plumbed new depths this month as supplies of imported fuel ran
out, forcing even essential services to scale back or shut down and sparking
numerous security incidents. The meltdown has deepened international concerns
about Lebanon, a country pieced back together after a 1975-90 civil war and
still deeply riven by sectarian and factional rivalries. Ibrahim noted the
impact of the crisis on personnel at General Security, an intelligence and
security agency whose responsibilities include control of Lebanon’s border
crossings. “The crisis that Lebanon is going through may be prolonged. Your duty
is steadfastness and standing as a barrier to protect your country and your
people.” he told staff. Were the state to fall it would fall on everyone “and
everyone will be in the eye of chaos and in the line of tension,” he said.
Ibrahim also noted the crisis’ impact on other security agencies and on the
nation in general. The UN secretary general on Thursday called on Lebanese
leaders to form a new government urgently, something they have failed to do for
a year during which the currency has collapsed by more than 90% and poverty has
soared. Foreign donors say they will provide assistance once a government is
formed which embarks on reforms to address the root causes of the collapse.
President Michel Aoun, the Maronite Christian head of state and Prime
Minister-designate Najib Mikati, a Sunni Muslim, have yet to agree on a new
cabinet more than one month after Mikati was picked to form one. Mikati gave no
statement on Thursday after their 13th meeting. Mikati took on the task after
Saad al-Hariri, Lebanon’s leading Sunni, abandoned a nine-month-long bid to form
the government, saying he could not agree with Aoun and accusing him of seeking
effective veto power in cabinet. Aoun, an ally of the heavily-armed, Iran-backed
Shia group Hezbollah, has denied this and blamed Hariri.
Lebanon’s Mikati Says He Still Faces Big Hurdles to
Forming Govt
Asharq Al-Awsat/August 27/2021
Lebanon’s Prime Minister-designate Najib Mikati said on Friday he still had to
overcome major hurdles to forming a new government, amid a deep economic and
political crisis that has left the country with a caretaker administration for a
year. Mikati, the third person picked to try to form a government since last
year, told Al Hadath television network that the situation in Lebanon remained
grave. Forming a government is a necessary first step to secure international
support to help pull Lebanon out of its deepest crisis since its 1975-1990 civil
war. The currency has collapsed, while medicines and fuel are running out.
Leader of the Iran-backed Hezbollah party, Hassan Nasrallah has said Iranian
fuel shipments were on their way to help ease shortages. Asked about Nasrallah’s
comments, Mikati said he was against anything that would harm Lebanon’s
interests. “We will not let anyone lead us to new sanctions,” he said. “But I
tell the critics and the Arab League give us a candle, we can’t say no to the
shipment without having an alternative.”Lebanon has been run by the caretaker
government of Prime Minister Hassan Diab, who resigned with his cabinet after a
massive Beirut port blast ripped through the capital a year ago.
Lebanon Heading to Complete Collapse Unless Action Taken,
Warns Grand Mufti
Asharq Al-Awsat/August 27/2021
Lebanon is heading towards complete collapse unless action is taken to remedy
the crisis caused by its financial meltdown, Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdul Latif
Derian warned on Friday. The economic collapse that began in 2019 has plumbed
new depths this month, leading to fuel shortages that have crippled even
essential services and causing numerous security incidents involving scrambles
for gasoline. General Security chief Major General Abbas Ibrahim, ordered his
officers to stand firm in the face of the crisis, saying it could be protracted
and warning of the chaos that would ensue if the state collapsed.
The warnings are some of the strongest yet from Lebanese officials about the
gravity of the situation. The accelerating pace of the deterioration has added
to international concern about a state that was pieced back together after a
1975-90 civil war and is still deeply riven by sectarian and factional
rivalries.
The UN secretary general on Thursday called for a new government to be formed
urgently. Lebanese politicians have failed to agree on the government even as
the currency has lost more than 90% of its value and more than half of Lebanese
have fallen into poverty. Even vital medicines are hard to find. Cancer patients
who have been told their treatment cannot be guaranteed protested on Thursday.
“We fear that ... the patience of Lebanese will run out and that we will all
fall into the furnace of complete chaos, manifestations of which we have started
to see in all fields,” Derian said during a Friday sermon in comments carried by
the National News Agency. “The matter requires serious and immediate treatment,”
he said. “Otherwise we are truly going to what is worse and to complete
collapse,” he said, noting clashes that have flared up in some parts of Lebanon.
The World Bank says it is one of the worst collapses ever recorded. Its root
causes include decades of corruption in government and the unsustainable way the
state was financed. Foreign donors say they will provide assistance once a
government is formed that embarks on reforms.
‘The eye of chaos’
President Michel Aoun and Prime Minister-designate Najib Mikati have yet to
agree on a cabinet to replace the government that quit after last year’s Beirut
port explosion. The already difficult process was overshadowed on Friday by a
row between Aoun and a group of former prime ministers, including Mikati and
Saad al-Hariri, over the probe into the explosion. The former premiers have
objected to attempts by the investigating judge to question the caretaker Prime
Minister Hassan Diab, seeing it as an unjustified move against a post reserved
for a Sunni and accusing the presidency of steering the probe. Aoun said the
accusations were unfortunate. Mikati was designated premier after Hariri
abandoned a nine-month-long bid to form the government, saying he could not
agree with Aoun and accusing him of seeking effective veto power in cabinet.
Aoun, an ally of the Iran-backed Hezbollah, has denied this. He blamed Hariri.
Derian, who generally aligns with the former prime ministers in politics, urged
Aoun to try to save what was left his term. “Otherwise we are going to ... to
the bottom of hell,” he said, recalling Aoun’s warning last September that
Lebanon was going to hell if a government was not formed. Major General Ibrahim,
in a message to personnel at General Security, said state institutions had been
undermined by “the great collapse”. Were the state to fall it would fall on
everyone “and everyone will be in the eye of chaos and in the line of tension”.
Lebanon blast judge subpoenas caretaker PM, sparks
showdown with parliament
The Arab Weekly/August 27/2021
BEIRUT--The Lebanese parliament on Friday told the judge who is investigating
last year’s Beirut port explosion that he had exceeded his powers by issuing a
subpoena for caretaker Prime Minister Hassan Diab after he failed to show up for
questioning.
Judge Tarek Bitar, leading the inquiry into the huge explosion, issued requests
in July to question Diab and other top officials, including former ministers,
who were charged by his predecessor with negligence over the blast.
All have denied any wrongdoing.In a letter to the prosecutor, the secretary
general of parliament said the subpoena fell outside Bitar’s jurisdiction. The
lead investigator into Beirut’s massive port explosion had subpoenaed Lebanon’s
caretaker premier for interrogation next month after he failed to show up for
questioning on Thursday, a judicial source said. Judge Tareq Bitar ordered the
security forces to bring outgoing prime minister Hassan Diab to the main
courthouse in the capital 24 hours before the new date, September 20, the source
said. A huge stockpile of ammonium nitrate exploded at the port on August 4 last
year, destroying swathes of the city and killing at least 214 people. It later
emerged that officials had known for years that the highly volatile fertiliser
had been stored there, close to residential neighbourhoods. But a probe into the
disaster has so far failed to hold anyone to account and activists accuse
politicians of doing everything they can to stall the investigation. Bitar has
previously summoned four former ministers, three of whom are lawmakers, but
parliament has refused to lift their immunity so they can be questioned. The
outgoing interior minister has also refused to allow the questioning of top
intelligence chief Abbas Ibrahim. Powerful Shia movement Hezbollah has accused
the judge of “politicising” the probe. Lebnase analysts accused the Iran-backed
party of attempting to conceal its reponsibility and that of its political
allies in the blast. The judicial source said the subpoena followed a letter on
Wednesday from the cabinet’s administration claiming “constitutional obstacles”
prevented the caretaker premier from appearing before the judge, an argument
Bitar said had “no legal value”. On Thursday, several former prime ministers
issued a statement denouncing Bitar’s subpoena move, calling it “a dangerous
precedent and a deliberate measure that undermines the position of the prime
minister”. On Wednesday, Bitar attended a re-enactment of welding work that
happened in the hours before the explosion, the National News Agency reported.
Security sources initially suggested that welding could have started the fire,
but experts have since dismissed that theory as unlikely and an attempt to shift
the blame for high-level failings. Human Rights Watch earlier this month accused
Lebanese authorities of criminal negligence over the blast. Political leaders
have repeatedly refused an international investigation, although France has
launched its own probe into the deaths of some of its nationals in the
explosion. In February, Bitar’s predecessor was removed by a court after he
charged Diab and three former ministers with “negligence and causing death to
hundreds” in the explosion, a move widely condemned by the political class.
روني شطح: فيما يتعلق بالاضطرابات في لبنان، لا يمكن أن
يكون هناك حل وسط
On Lebanon’s turmoil, there can be no middle ground
Ronnie Chatah/The National/August 27/2021
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/101743/ronnie-chatah-on-lebanons-turmoil-there-can-be-no-middle-ground-%d8%b1%d9%88%d9%86%d9%8a-%d8%b4%d8%b7%d8%ad-%d9%81%d9%8a%d9%85%d8%a7-%d9%8a%d8%aa%d8%b9%d9%84%d9%82-%d8%a8%d8%a7%d9%84%d8%a7%d8%b6/
There are multiple players responsible for the country’s current crisis, but
none carry the weight of Hezbollah.
Lebanon has lost its foundation. Its inability to govern is a condition that
goes back to 1970. Any country that remains a battlefield 31 years after the end
of a civil war would struggle to survive.
The temptation to follow the narrative that there are “two sides to every story”
holds little weight when measured against Lebanon’s reality. Yet, a list of
misinformed comparisons echoes among analysts. Perhaps this is out of a concern
to not appear ”one-sided” or a desire to remain ”sensitive” towards an armed
group’s position.
Take, for example, the case from last week of the American ambassador to
Lebanon, Dorothy Shea, pushing for a World Bank arrangement that would allow
Beirut to purchase enough Jordanian electricity while avoiding Caesar Act
sanctions. That is not the same as Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah promising
an Iranian oil tanker while circumventing Lebanese state authority that his
paramilitary force helped paralyse. The former is a diplomat pursuing politics
through standard state channels. The latter is a proxy militia leader, sponsored
by Iran, responsible for enduring state failure.
Then there are the attempts to compare Hezbollah with other political groups.
For example, it is wrong to describe as militiamen members of the Lebanese
Forces political party who hurled sectarian slurs and viciously attacked
protesters during the Beirut Port blast anniversary on August 4. The Lebanese
Forces are not a militia. Thugs undoubtedly resorted to violence, and those
criminals must be held to account.
On the other hand, it is Hezbollah members – who launched rockets into empty
patches of Shebaa Farms earlier this month in order to avoid full-scale Israeli
reprisal and angered villagers from Hasbaya for placing them in harm’s way – who
are militiamen. They belong to the country’s only post-war militia. The problem
with labelling previously armed groups as ”militia-in-waiting” – and thereby
characterising every Lebanese political party as a paramilitary force – is that
it removes Hezbollah’s unique and detrimental place in the country’s politics.
Of course Arab tribes in the town of Khalde used low-grade weaponry earlier this
month. It is also a fact that Palestinian factions in camps across the country
retain small arms. And various groups have used guns since the end of the civil
war. But their weaponry cannot be compared to Hezbollah’s sophisticated arsenal,
or the group’s ability to wage terror and conduct political assassinations.
Violent opponents may pose short-term security challenges, but when that line is
crossed, they are immediately dealt with by the Lebanese army. Justice, however,
is one-sided. Hezbollah have free rein to exert authority as they see fit.
Similarly, it is not fair to compare the so-called March 14 Alliance with the
March 8 Alliance. Indeed, there are no firm pros and cons to both political
coalitions. The former called for political reform, wanted the previously
occupying Syrian army out of Lebanon, independence from Syrian President Bashar
Al Assad’s henchmen and Hezbollah’s disarmament. The latter wanted to preserve
the status quo, including Mr Al Assad’s influence over Beirut, at least until
Hezbollah inherited that security arrangement. March 14 – whatever one thinks of
that movement today – did not use violence to achieve political ends. March 8’s
most potent party, Hezbollah, forced a “national unity government” on its terms
by turning weapons inwards in May 2008, as its heavily armed fighters seized
control of western Beirut in what was meant to be a show of force.
Former prime minister Rafik Hariri’s economic policies and post-war
reconstruction efforts were not as destructive to society as Syria’s
invasion-turned-occupation of Lebanon from 1976 to 2005, or for that matter,
Hezbollah’s proxy dominion. Those critical of “Haririism” (euphemism for the
term “neoliberalism”) and the massive debt that his government accrued should be
mindful of the context in which those policies were pursued. It was at a time
when the Madrid Conference of 1991 and the Oslo peace process were appearing to
move the region on from conflict.
It also promised a scenario whereby Lebanon would edge its way out of the Assad
regime’s control. It was meant to be a country that – following the post-war
Taif Agreement’s signing – would undergo reforms, including the creation of a
senate that channels sectarianism to its rightful chamber, allowing for a
merit-based parliament rather than one administered by confessional quota;
bringing to an end the Syrian occupation; and the disarmament of all militia.
Alas, Syrian hegemony and political suffocation through intimidation by the
military and intelligence agencies ensured these steps weren’t taken. And even
after Hezbollah lost its raison d’etre to remain armed, following Israel’s own
withdrawal from southern Lebanon in 2000, the country – 21 years later – hosts
an ever-expanding regional army that curtails political aspirations and engages
in battles to protect the Syrian regime.
Lebanon is a country with a consensus-based confessional power-sharing system
that is in dire need of reform. The country itself is not a flawed idea born in
error, but our worst traits today are borne from the inevitable consequences of
remaining a battlefield for more than half a century. The corrosive impact of
this is that ours has become a society unable to hold its leadership to account
and rid its worst custodians from power.
Our government ceased to function effectively from late 1969, in the aftermath
of the Cairo Agreement, which allowed Palestinian guerrillas to continue
operating inside Lebanon without being regulated by authorities, thereby turning
southern Lebanon into a war zone between the Palestinian group Fatah and Israel.
Our curses are not the mid-19th century Ottoman massacres in Mount Lebanon or
the birth of Greater Lebanon in 1920. Divisions on their own do not destroy
society, and a complicated mosaic can indeed function in a country with agency
and absolute control over its destiny. Our sectarian system represents an old,
and in many ways outdated, form of governing. But blaming it for our current
state of affairs is to overlook all that transpired in the 20th century.
The US was, no doubt, militarily involved in 1958 and in the mid-1980s, but that
is not the case today. Iran has been continuously expanding its military
presence in the country from that period. American policy towards Lebanon during
the Cold War may have been anti-Soviet until the 1970s, but it accepted the
Assad regime’s reign from 1989 until 2005 and limited its actions to sanctions.
But today, Iranian policy towards Lebanon – carried out through Hezbollah – is
one of state subversion and sub-state investment that favours a Tehran-led
foreign policy, basing the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ most effective
external military force in Beirut.
Iran violates our sovereignty. So does Israel, when its fighter jets fly over
Lebanon on their way to attack positions in Syria. But by tolerating Iran’s
detrimental role while at the same time condemning Israel’s, people are engaging
in what they perceive to be balanced opinion.
Truth has one side. The rest is false equivalence.
*Ronnie Chatah hosts The Beirut Banyan podcast, a series of storytelling
episodes and long-form conversations that reflect on all that is modern Lebanese
history. He also leads the WalkBeirut tour, a four-hour narration of Beirut’s
rich and troubled past
Lebanon…The Social Support Base Will Break the Wall
Mustafa Fahs/Asharq Al Awsat/August 27/2021
During the civil war, demarcation lines separated the regions of Lebanon,
leaving every faction or sectarian community able to barricade itself behind
them and build its statelet or autonomous administration in the areas under
their control. Since the return of barricades seems impossible, separating the
Lebanese or isolating them from one another is impossible as well. However, one
side, at this stage, is trying to isolate its sectarian, doctrinal, or partisan
community from the others using various means to maintain its pervasive presence
among its sons and prevent a loss of confidence in the faction’s choices. In
this vein, it has been striving, since the first few days of the “October
insurgency,” to build a virtual wall separating the community from others and
making communication between that community and the others in the country
impossible. It has used every tool in its kit, from financial resources to
stirring sentiments and incitement, to create this schism.
On October 19, 2019, that is, three days after the “October insurgency,”
Hezbollah’s secretary-general demonstrated, in the speech he gave then, his deep
concern for distancing a foundational community, whose sons has taken part in
the Martyr’s Square protests, from a new course for approaching politics, social
issues, and the economy that has been crystalizing since the revolt began. That
revolt and the course it set demonstrated the scale of the changes to Lebanon’s
social composition, threatening the Lebanese status quo and its political
forces’ future.
At that moment, Hezbollah decided to defend the entire ruling clique, both its
loyalists and its domesticated opposition figures. At its core, this decision
was one of self-defense and defending the gains the party had made after years
of working to shape (the ruling clique and the authorities) to its liking. It
was capable of doing so thanks to its abundance of military, ideological, and
sentimental power, which have turned it into a ruling party capable of defending
the regime and controlling the state. That pushed Hezbollah to stand behind the
ruling clique and everything it has done, to stand against the Lebanese’
righteous demands that the clique be held accountable for its corruption and
failure to administer the country and its wealth. It did so for a clear reason,
as abandoning any of the clique’s factions would destabilize the clique and
bring it all down, with the factions falling like dominos.
After becoming convinced of the impossibility of containing the revolt and
developing a deep mistrust of its political and cultural rhetoric, which was and
is being put forward by university-educated youths of the post-March 8 and 14
generations, as well as the reexaminations that the post-war generation has
developed, the party was left perplexed by the massive gap between its
ideological discourse and political rhetoric and the uprising’s demands. It
faced the problem of being unable to understand their logic or rejecting it
altogether. On the other hand, the still divided and flustered uprising met the
party with social and political standard-setting that has found its way into the
party's support base and is expanding in line with the exacerbation of economic
pressures, leading to a direct confrontation between them.
After national and communal solutions to those problems faltered, and with no
faction capable of remaining neutral, Hezbollah, through its secretary-general
attacked “October 17.” In his latest speech, Nasrallah accused the insurgency’s
political groups of being funded by foreign powers aiming to fragment Lebanese
society. “Since October 17, work has been ongoing to fragment the state, sects,
towns, and villages as an alternative to civil war… what is demanding is
striking Lebanese society,” he declared.
Attacking politically and socially active groups, accusing them of cooperating
with regional and international embassies, warning that non-governmental
organizations are tools for foreign interference, the talk of Lebanon as being
suffering under the weight of US sanctions, holding “October 17” responsible for
the country's financial and economic collapse, and pushing the idea of a
conspiracy against Lebanon, are nothing but an attempt to distract some
Lebanese, especially the county's Shiite community, which is suffering just like
the others. All of that is an attempt to contain dissent within the community,
which has begun to pose questions and to become skeptical about the party’s
domestic and external choices. The community has begun to appear uneasy and
restless because of proposed solutions' failures and Hezbollah's reiteration of
the same justifications, with the partying insisting on pushing a narrative that
is no longer convincing. Based on the above, Hezbollah, sooner or later, will
realize and may admit that the Lebanese insurgency will dispel all the
accusations that have been levied against, and that its standards will form a
holistic national configuration. The party's community will go past the wall
that it is trying to build between the community and the other Lebanese. This
wall will not be tougher to break than that of Berlin, and this strengthens the
conviction that creating a schism or isolating the community is impossible.
The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous
Reports And News published on August 27-28/2021
Biden assures Israel’s PM: US has options if
Iran nuclear diplomacy fails
Tuqa Khalid, Al Arabiya English/27 August ,2021
US President Joe Biden told Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett on Friday
that if diplomatic negotiations failed regarding Iran’s nuclear deal then
Washington was prepared with other options. “We're putting diplomacy first and
we'll see where that takes us. But if diplomacy fails, we're ready to turn to
other options,” Biden said without adding further details. He stressed to Bennet
the US commitment to ensure Iran never developed a nuclear weapon. Biden added:
“The US will always be there for Israel. It’s an unshakeable partnership between
our two nations.”Bennet was pleased with Biden’s remarks, telling Biden: “I was
happy to hear your clear words that Iran will never be able to acquire a nuclear
weapon. You emphasized that you'll try the diplomatic route but there's other
options if that doesn't work out.” Despite moving away from his predecessor
Benjamin Netanyahu’s aggressive style, Bennet was expected to press Biden on his
commitment to a non-nuclear Iran. Israel has long threatened it would take its
own action against Iran if the latter continued to threaten its interest and
safety. It was even ready to use the US military aid it receives to that
end.“Israel never had and never will ask America to send troops to defend
ourselves. That’s our job. We will never outsource our security. It’s our
responsibility to take care of our fate… you’ve been giving us,” Bennet said.
US airstrike targets Islamic State member in Afghanistan
WASHINGTON (AP)/August 27/2021
The United States military struck back at the Islamic State on Saturday, bombing
an IS member in Afghanistan less than 48 hours after a devastating suicide
bombing claimed by the group killed as many as 169 Afghans and 13 American
service members at the Kabul airport.
U.S. Central Command said the U.S. conducted a drone strike against an Islamic
State member in Nangahar believed to be involved in planning attacks against the
U.S. in Kabul. The strike killed one individual, and spokesman Navy Capt.
William Urban said they knew of no civilian casualties. It wasn’t clear if that
individual was involved specifically in the Thursday suicide blast outside the
gates of the Kabul airport, where crowds of Afghans were desperately trying to
get in as part of the ongoing evacuation from the country after the Taliban’s
rapid takeover.
The airstrike fulfilled a vow President Joe Biden made to the nation Thursday
when he said the perpetrators of the attack would not be able to hide. “We will
hunt you down and make you pay,” he said. Pentagon leaders told reporters Friday
that they were prepared for whatever retaliatory action the president
ordered.“We have options there right now,” said Maj. Gen. Hank Taylor of the
Pentagon’s Joint Staff..
WASHINGTON (AP) — By promising to strike the extremists who killed 13 Americans
and dozens of Afghans, President Joe Biden now confronts the reality of finding
and targeting them in an unstable country without U.S. military and intelligence
teams on the ground and no help from a friendly government in Kabul.The
president was warned Friday to expect another lethal attack in the closing days
of a frantic U.S.-led evacuation. White House press secretary Jen Psaki said
Biden's national security team offered a grim outlook.
"They advised the president and vice president that another terror attack in
Kabul is likely, but that they are taking maximum force protection measures at
the Kabul airport,” Psaki said, echoing what the Pentagon has been saying since
the bombing Thursday at Kabul airport that pushed the White House deeper into
crisis over a chaotic and deadly conclusion to a war that began nearly 20 years
ago.
Late Friday, the State Department again urged Americans to stay away from
airport gates, including “the New Ministry of Interior gate.”Few new details
about the attack emerged a day later, but the Pentagon corrected its initial
report that there had been suicide bombings at two locations. It said there was
just one — at or near the Abbey Gate, followed by gunfire. The initial report of
a second bombing at the nearby Baron Hotel proved to be false, said Maj. Gen.
Hank Taylor of the Pentagon's Joint Staff; he attributed the mistake to initial
confusion.
Based on a preliminary assessment, U.S. officials believe the suicide vest used
in the attack, which killed at least 169 Afghans in addition to the 13
Americans, carried about 25 pounds of explosives and was loaded with shrapnel, a
U.S. official said Friday. A suicide bomb typically carries five to 10 pounds of
explosives, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss
preliminary assessments of the bombing. Biden said in an address to the nation
after the attack that the perpetrators cannot hide, and he vowed to strike back
at the Islamic State group’s Afghanistan affiliate. “We will hunt you down and
make you pay,” he said.
Taylor said the Pentagon will be prepared. “We have options there right now” to
enable whatever retaliatory action may be ordered, Taylor said. Beyond the
prospect of a one-time retaliatory strike to answer Thursday's suicide bombing,
Biden faces the problem of containing over the longer term an array of potential
extremist threats based in Afghanistan. In an Oval Office appearance Friday,
Biden again expressed his condolences to victims of the attack. The return home
of U.S. military members' remains in coming days will provide painful and
poignant reminders not just of the devastation at the Kabul airport but also of
the costly way the war is ending. More than 2,400 U.S. service members died in
the war and tens of thousands were injured over the past two decades. The Marine
Corps said 11 of the 13 Americans killed were Marines. One was a Navy sailor and
one an Army soldier. Their names have not been released pending notification of
their families, a sometimes-lengthy process that Pentagon spokesman John Kirby
said involves “difficult conversations.”
Still, sorrowful details of those killed were starting to emerge. One Marine
from Wyoming was on his first tour in Afghanistan and his wife is expecting a
baby in three weeks; another was a 20-year-old man from Missouri whose father
was devastated by the loss. A third, a 20-year-old from Texas, had joined the
armed services out of high school. Biden ordered U.S. flags to half-staff across
the country in honor of the 13.
They were the first U.S. service members killed in Afghanistan since February
2020, the month the Trump administration struck an agreement with the Taliban
that called for the militant group to halt attacks on Americans in exchange for
a U.S. agreement to remove all American troops and contractors by May 2021.
Biden announced in April that he would have all forces out by September. Psaki
said the next few days of the mission to evacuate Americans and others,
including vulnerable Afghans fleeing Taliban rule, “will be the most dangerous
period to date.” Biden has set Tuesday as the deadline for completing the
airlift. The White House said that as of Friday morning, about 12,500 people
were airlifted from Kabul in the last 24 hours on U.S. and coalition aircraft;
in the 12 hours that followed, another 4,200 people were evacuated. Psaki said
about 300 Americans had departed and the State Department was working with about
500 more who want to leave. The administration has said it intends to push on
and complete the airlift despite the terror threats. Kirby told reporters the
U.S. military is monitoring credible, specific Islamic State threats “in real
time.”
“We certainly are prepared and would expect future attempts,” Kirby said. He
declined to describe details of any additional security measures being taken,
including those implemented by the Taliban, around the airport gates and
perimeter. He said there were fewer people in and around the gates Friday.
Biden promised that the Islamic extremist perpetrators would made to “pay” for
their actions, and Psaki on Friday said this was his way of saying "he does not
want them to live on the earth anymore.”Effective retribution, however, will be
harder with fewer U.S. intelligence assets and no military presence in
Afghanistan. Emily Harding, a former CIA analyst and deputy staff director for
the Senate Intelligence Committee, said she doubted Biden’s assurances that the
United States will be able to monitor and strike terror threats from beyond
Afghanistan's borders. The Pentagon also insists this so-called “over the
horizon” capability, which includes surveillance and strike aircraft based in
the Persian Gulf area, will be effective.
Harding says she cringes when she hears Biden restate this assurance.
“It's way too rosy an assessment of what’s possible,” said Harding, now a senior
fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. The U.S. is still
scrambling to establish bases closer to Afghanistan while at the same time
removing people who have worked with the CIA and other intelligence agencies in
the country, former officials have said. The IS affiliate in Afghanistan has
carried out many attacks on civilian targets in the country in recent years. It
is more radical than the Taliban, who seized power less than two weeks ago and
are an enemy of IS. The most heralded American attack on IS came in April 2017
when the U.S. dropped the largest conventional bomb in its arsenal on an IS cave
and tunnel complex. The group more recently is believed to have concentrated in
urban areas, which could complicate U.S. efforts to target them without harming
civilians., Gen. Frank McKenzie, the U.S. Central Command chief who is
overseeing the airlift and is responsible for all U.S. military operations in
the greater Middle East, told reporters Thursday that the first step will be
determining with confidence who carried out the attacks.
“Yes, if we can find who is associated with this we will go after them,” he
said. “We've been clear all along that we retain the right to operate against
ISIS in Afghanistan, and we are working very hard right now to determine
attribution, to determine who is associated with this cowardly attack, and we
are prepared to take action against them — 24/7, we are looking for them.”
U.S. on alert for further Kabul attacks in race to
complete evacuations
(Reuters) -U.S/Thu., August 26, 2021
forces helping evacuate Afghans desperate to flee Taliban rule were on alert for
more attacks on Friday after an Islamic State suicide bombing outside Kabul
airport killed at least 92 people, including 13 U.S. service members.
The White House said the next few days of an ongoing U.S. evacuation operation
that the Pentagon said has taken about 111,000 people out of Afghanistan in the
past two weeks are likely to be the most dangerous https://www.reuters.com/world/us/advisers-warned-biden-significant-danger-ahead-afghan-mission-official-2021-08-27.
Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said https://www.reuters.com/world/pentagon-says-kabul-attack-carried-out-by-one-suicide-bomber-2021-08-27
the United States believes there are still "specific, credible" threats against
the airport after the bombing at one of its gates. "We certainly are prepared
and would expect future attempts," Kirby told reporters in Washington. "We're
monitoring these threats, very, very specifically, virtually in real time." U.S.
and allied forces are racing to complete evacuations of their citizens and
vulnerable Afghans and to withdraw from Afghanistan by an Aug. 31 deadline set
by President Joe Biden after two decades of American military presence there.
About 4,200 people were evacuated from Kabul during a 12-hour period on Friday,
the White House said. Earlier in the day U.S. officials said a total of
approximately 5,100 Americans had been evacuated, with about 500 more waiting to
leave.
While thousands have been evacuated, they are far outnumbered by those who could
not get out https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/with-hope-escape-dashed-two-afghan-women-look-future-under-taliban-2021-08-27.
Some U.S. media including the New York Times cited local health officials as
saying up to 170 people, not including the U.S. troops, were killed in
Thursday's attack.
Throngs of people have gathered outside the airport to try to get onto
evacuation flights since the Taliban took control of Afghanistan on Aug. 15. The
attack was the deadliest incident for U.S. troops in Afghanistan in a decade.
Taliban forces have taken up positions in Kabul airport and are ready to take
full control as early as this weekend, as soon as U.S. forces leave, two senior
Taliban figures said. One senior commander said Taliban forces had taken over
most of the airport, "just not a small part where the Americans still are".
"As soon as the Americans leave, they just have to give us the signal and we
will then take over," a second Taliban official said. Kirby disputed the Taliban
account, telling reporters that the military section of the airport remains
under U.S. control.
"They are not in charge of any of the gates. They are not in charge of any of
the airport operations. That is still under U.S. military control," Kirby said.
Early on Saturday in Kabul, the U.S. Embassy warned that Americans should avoid
traveling to the airport because of security threats, and those at the Abbey,
East, North or Ministry of Interior gates should leave immediately.
The United States expects some ongoing engagement with the Taliban will be
necessary after the withdrawal to facilitate further evacuations, White House
Press Secretary Jen Psaki said. "The reality is, the Taliban control large
swathes of Afghanistan, including the areas surrounding the perimeter of the
airport," she told reporters. "So by necessity, that is our option."
SINGLE SUICIDE BOMBER
Islamic State (ISIS), an enemy of the Islamist Taliban as well as the West, has
claimed responsibility for the attack, which the Pentagon said https://www.reuters.com/world/pentagon-says-kabul-attack-carried-out-by-one-suicide-bomber-2021-08-27
on Friday was carried out by one suicide bomber at an airport gate, not two as
it earlier stated. The number of Afghans killed has risen to 79, a hospital
official told Reuters on Friday, adding that more than 120 were wounded. A
Taliban official said the dead included 28 Taliban members, although a spokesman
later denied any such fighters had been killed.
The attack underlined the realpolitik https://www.reuters.com/world/islamic-state-attack-signals-wests-least-bad-option-afghanistan-taliban-2021-08-27
facing Western powers in Afghanistan: Engaging with Taliban forces who they have
long fought may be their best chance to prevent the country becoming a breeding
ground for Islamist militancy. The United Nations Security Council condemned the
bombing as "especially abhorrent https://www.reuters.com/world/un-security-council-condemns-kabul-attack-especially-abhorrent-2021-08-27"
for targeting civilians trying to flee the country. Biden said on Thursday he
has ordered the Pentagon to plan how to strike ISIS-K https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/what-is-islamic-state-afghanistan-2021-08-26,
the Islamic State affiliate that claimed responsibility. Asked on Friday if
Biden sought to capture and put on trial those responsible, Psaki said "I think
he made it clear yesterday that he does not want them to live on the earth
anymore."
Biden was already facing strong criticism at home and abroad for the chaos
surrounding the troop withdrawal and evacuations. As the Taliban rapidly
advanced to Kabul amid the pullout, Afghanistan's Western-backed government and
military collapsed. Biden has defended his decisions, saying the United States
long ago achieved its rationale for invading the country in 2001.
The U.S.-led invasion toppled the then-ruling Taliban, punishing them for
harbouring al Qaeda militants who masterminded the Sept. 11 attacks on the
United States that year.
Most of the more than 20 allied countries involved in airlifting Afghans and
their own citizens out of Kabul said they had completed evacuations https://www.reuters.com/world/evacuations-afghanistan-by-country-2021-08-26
by Friday. The Taliban said that Afghans with valid documents would be able to
travel freely in future at any time - comments aimed at calming fears that the
movement planned harsh restrictions. Taliban guards blocked access to the
airport on Friday, witnesses said. "We had a flight but the situation is very
tough and the roads are blocked," said one man on an approach road.
Medical supplies will run out within days in Afghanistan, the World Health
Organization said, adding that it hopes to establish an air bridge https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/who-says-hopes-air-bridge-into-northern-afghanistan-days-2021-08-27
into the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif with the help of Pakistan.
Pakistani officials told Reuters that at the Torkham border crossing, Pakistani
security forces had opened fire on a group of people trying to illegally enter
Pakistan, adding that two Afghans were killed and two wounded.
Up to half a million Afghans could flee their homeland by year-end, the U.N.
refugee agency UNHCR said, appealing to all neighbouring countries to keep their
borders open. There are also growing worries Afghans will face a humanitarian
emergency https://www.reuters.com/world/nato-allies-struggle-keep-kabul-airport-open-aid-after-withdrawal-2021-08-27
with the coronavirus spreading and shortages of food and medical supplies
looming. The Taliban have asked all women healthcare workers to return to work
https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/taliban-say-afghan-women-health-service-staff-should-go-back-work-2021-08-27,
a spokesman said, as trained and educated Afghans flee the country.
*(Reporting by Reuters bureaux; Writing by Stephen Coates, Mark Heinrich, Hugh
Lawson and James Oliphant; Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore, Frances Kerry, Will
Dunham and Daniel Wallis)
Taliban say have taken control of sections of Kabul airport, Pentagon denies
Tuqa Khalid, Al Arabiya English/27 August ,2021
The Taliban took control of sections of Kabul airport on Friday, Spokesman Bilal
Karimi said. “Today, three important locations in the military section of Kabul
were evacuated by the Americans and are under the control of [the Taliban],” he
tweeted. “Now a very small part remains with the Americans.”However, the
Pentagon denied the Taliban's claim of having taken control of any operations at
Kabul airport. “They are not in charge of any of the gates, are not in charge of
any of the airport operations. That is still under US military control,”
Pentagon Press Secretary John Kirby said. The opposing announcements come as the
August 31 deadline for the US and its allies to complete evacuations looms in
the horizon. About 12,500 people were evacuated from Afghanistan on Thursday,
raising the total number of evacuees amid the Taliban takeover of Kabul to
roughly 105,000 since Aug. 14, the White House said on Friday. The Taliban’s
announcement comes a day after the deadly attack on Kabul airport which was
claimed by ISIS and led to the deaths of dozens of people and injured scores
more. The attack claimed the lives of 13 US servicemen and injured 18 others.
The Taliban said the attack occurred in an area where US forces are responsible
for security and one of the group’s officials claimed the attack was due to the
presence of foreign forces. However, US officials told AFP that the Taliban
requested an American diplomatic presence after the full withdrawal.With AFP
No rush to recognize Taliban government by US or
allies: White House
Tuqa Khalid, Al Arabiya English/27 August ,2021
The White House denied any chance of rushing to recognize the legitimacy of the
Taliban government by the US or its allies, Press Secretary Jen Psaki said on
Friday. “I want to be really clear: there's no rush to recognition of any sort
by the United States or any international partners we have talked to,” she said.
The Taliban seized control of Afghanistan on August 15, causing thousands of
Afghans to flood Kabul's airport in an effort to flee the group's rule. Asked
about US coordination with the Taliban, Psaki said: “We don’t trust the Taliban.
This is not about trust. But there is a reality on the ground, and the reality
is the Taliban control large swaths of Afghanistan including the area
surrounding the area of the airport.”“So by necessity, that is our option to
coordinate with them to get American citizens out, to get Afghan partners out,
to get individuals who are eligible for the range of programs the US has
out.”About 12,500 people were evacuated from Afghanistan on Thursday, raising
the total number of evacuees amid the Taliban takeover of Kabul to roughly
105,000 since Aug. 14, the White House said on Friday. And despite the deadly
attack on Kabul airport by ISIS on Thursday, which claimed the lives of over 100
Afghans and 13 US servicemen and injured scores more, US President Joe Biden
stuck to the August 31 withdrawal deadline.
Taliban proposed Turkey run Kabul airport: Erdogan
Tuqa Khalid, Al Arabiya English/27 August ,2021
The Taliban proposed that Turkey run the airport in Afghanistan's capital Kabul,
with the group providing security, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said
on Friday. “The Taliban have proposed that we operate Kabul airport. We have not
yet made a decision on this issue,” state news agency Anadolu quoted Erdogan as
saying. Erdogan condemned Thursday’s attack on Kabul airport which left dozens
dead and wounded and was claimed by ISIS. The Taliban said the attack occurred
in an area where US forces are responsible for security and one of the group’s
officials claimed the attack was due to the presence of foreign forces. Erdogan
said: “The heinous attack has made it clear how important security in
Afghanistan is, and that the state's priority for now is the evacuation of
Turkish citizens.”Erdogan said Turkey was negotiating with the Taliban to work
on “expectations and negotiate to practice diplomacy.”The Turkish president
stressed that his country cannot handle the burden of Afghan refugees. According
to the Turkish Interior ministry, “currently there are some 300,000 Afghan
immigrants both registered and unregistered in Turkey.”“Turkey cannot handle
another migration wave,” Erdogan added. There are thousands of Afghans flooding
the surroundings of Kabul airport, having rushed there since the Taliban seized
the country in August 15. Many Afghans would rather risk living as a refugee
than stay in a country under Taliban rule.
At Least 95 Afghans Killed in Thursday's Bombings
Associated Press/August 27/2021
An official says at least 95 Afghans were killed in Thursday's suicide bombings
outside Kabul's international airport. The official spoke on condition of
anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media. The official
said the actual death toll is even higher because others were involved in
evacuating bodies. Afghan and U.S. officials earlier said the bombings killed at
least 60 Afghans and 13 U.S. troops, in the deadliest day for U.S. forces in
Afghanistan since August 2011.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. THE PREVIOUS STORY IS BELOW.
Evacuation flights from Afghanistan resumed with new urgency on Friday, a day
after two suicide bombings targeted the thousands of desperate people fleeing
the Taliban takeover. The U.S. says further attempted attacks are expected ahead
of the Tuesday deadline for foreign troops to leave, ending America's longest
war. Kabul residents said several flights took off Friday morning, while the
anxious crowd outside the airport was as large as ever. In one location, dozens
of Taliban members with heavy weapons about 500 meters from the airport were
preventing anyone from venturing forward. Thursday's bombings near Kabul's
international airport killed at least 60 Afghans and 13 U.S. troops, Afghan and
U.S. officials said, in the deadliest day for U.S. forces in Afghanistan since
August 2011. In an emotional speech, President Joe Biden blamed the Islamic
State group's Afghanistan affiliate, far more radical than the Taliban militants
who seized power less than two weeks ago.
"We will rescue the Americans; we will get our Afghan allies out, and our
mission will go on," Biden said. But despite intense pressure to extend
Tuesday's deadline, he has cited the threat of terrorist attacks as a reason to
keep to his plan.
The Taliban, back in control of Afghanistan two decades after they were ousted
in a U.S.-led invasion following the 9/11 attacks, insist on the deadline. The
Trump administration in February 2020 struck an agreement with the Taliban that
called for it to halt attacks on Americans in exchange for the removal of all
U.S. troops and contractors by May; Biden announced in April he would have them
out by September. While the U.S. on Thursday said more than 100,000 people have
been safely evacuated from Kabul, as many as 1,000 Americans and tens of
thousands more Afghans are struggling to leave in one of history's largest
airlifts. Gen. Frank McKenzie, the U.S. Central Command chief overseeing the
evacuation, on Thursday said about 5,000 people were awaiting flights on the
airfield.
Yet more were arriving. Thursday's attacks led Jamshad, who gave just his one
name, to come early Friday with his wife and three small children, clutching an
invitation to a Western country he didn't want to name. This was his first
attempt to leave, he said: "After the explosion I decided I would try because I
am afraid now there will be more attacks and I think now I have to leave." The
scenes at the airport, with people standing knee-deep in sewage and families
thrusting documents and even young children toward U.S. troops behind razor
wire, have horrified many around the world as far-flung efforts continue to help
people escape. But those chances are fading fast for many. Some U.S. allies have
said they are ending evacuation efforts, in part to give the U.S. time to wrap
up its evacuation work before getting 5,000 of its troops out by Tuesday.
Britain said Friday its evacuations from Afghanistan will end within hours, and
the main British processing center for eligible Afghans has been closed. Defense
Secretary Ben Wallace told Sky News there would be "eight or nine" evacuation
flights on Friday, and they will be the last. British troops will leave over the
next few days. The Spanish government said it has ended its evacuation
operation. And the French European affairs minister, Clement Beaune, said on
French radio Europe 1 that France will end its evacuation operation "soon" but
may seek to extend it until after Friday night. Untold thousands of Afghans,
especially ones who had worked with the U.S. and other Western countries, are
now in hiding from the Taliban, fearing retaliation despite the group's offer of
full amnesty. The militant group has claimed it has become more moderate since
its harsh rule from 1996 to 2001, when it largely confined women to their homes,
banned television and music and held public executions. But Afghans in Kabul and
elsewhere have reported that some Taliban members are barring girls from
attending school and going door to door in search of people who had worked with
Western forces. No one knows how effective the Taliban will be at combating the
Sunni extremists of IS, who have links to the group's more well-known affiliate
in Syria and Iraq and have carried out a series of brutal attacks in
Afghanistan, mainly targeting its Shiite Muslim minority.
Australia ends Afghanistan evacuations after Kabul
suicide attacks
Reuters/August 27/2021
Australia has stopped evacuation flights from Afghanistan after Islamic State
suicide bombers killed scores of civilians and at least 13 U.S. military
personnel in attacks outside the airport in Kabul, Prime Minister Scott Morrison
said on Friday. Morrison said Australia's military personnel had been evacuated
from Kabul just hours before the attacks, and with security so precarious it was
no longer safe to continue evacuations. "Our plan now moves into its post
evacuation stage and that involves ensuring the process of returning, through
our official humanitarian program," Morrison told reporters in Canberra. While
some governments, like Australia, have halted evacuation flights, a Western
security official at the airport said evacuation operations had been accelerated
after the overnight attacks. The official said flights were taking off regularly
from the airport, where thousands of Afghans have gathered, desperate to flee
the country since the Taliban take over. Morrison acknowledged some Australian
visa holders remain in Afghanistan, though he said Canberra did not know exact
numbers. While the United States and some allies were continuing with evacuation
flights, Morrison warned it was unlikely that Australians and visa holders would
be given seats. Morrison said Australia has evacuated 4,100 citizens and Afghans
with visas in the last nine days. Nearly 800 people are already in, or on the
way to Australia. Foreign Minister Marise Payne urged Australian citizens and
visa holders to stay clear of the airport amid fears of further attacks.
Australian said authorities are trying to find if any Australian citizens or
residents were killed in the attack. Australia was part of a NATO-led
international force that battled the Taliban and trained Afghan security forces
in the years after they were ousted in 2001. More than 39,000 Australian troops
served in Afghanistan and 41 were killed.
Turkey Holds First Talks with the Taliban in Kabul
Agence France Presse/August 27/2021
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Friday said Turkey has held its first talks
with the Taliban in Kabul, adding that Ankara was still assessing the Islamist
group's offer to run the Afghan capital's airport. The Turkish leader said the
talks were held at a military section of the Kabul airport where the Turkish
embassy is temporarily stationed. "We have held our first talks with the
Taliban, which lasted 3.5 hours," Erdogan told reporters. "If necessary, we will
have the opportunity to hold such talks again." Responding to domestic criticism
over Turkey's engagement with the insurgent group, Erdogan said Ankara had "no
luxury" to stand idly by in the volatile region. "You cannot know what their
expectations are or what our expectations are without talking. What's diplomacy,
my friend? This is diplomacy," Erdogan said. Turkey had been planning to help
secure and run Kabul's strategic airport, but on Wednesday, it started pulling
troops out of Afghanistan -- an apparent sign of Ankara's abandoning this goal.
Erdogan said the Taliban now wanted to oversee security at the airport, while
offering Ankara the option of running its logistics. But he said the suicide
bombs that killed at least 85 people, including 13 US troops, outside the
airport during in the last days of urgent evacuation effort Thursday showed the
importance of knowing the details of how the air hub will be secured. "They
said: 'We will ensure the security, you operate (the airport'. We have not made
any decision on this issue yet," Erdogan said.
"We will make a decision once calm prevails."
Iran Foreign Minister Heads to Iraq Regional Summit
Agence France Presse/August 27/2021
Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian left for Iraq Friday to
participate in a regional summit, the ministry said. Foreign ministry spokesman
Saeed Khatibzadeh announced the departure to the "meeting to support Iraq" in a
short statement. The Islamic republic's new President Ebrahim Raisi has also
been invited to the Baghdad summit, but it is not clear if he will attend. The
Saturday meeting seeks to give Iraq a "unifying role" to tackle the crises
shaking the region, according to sources close to Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa
al-Kadhemi. Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and Jordan's King Abdullah
II have said they will attend, as has French President Emmanuel Macron, the only
official expected from outside the region. Leaders from Saudi Arabia and Turkey
have also been invited. Iraq is seeking to establish itself as a mediator
between Arab countries and Iran. Baghdad has been brokering talks since April
between regional heavyweights Riyadh and Tehran on mending ties severed in 2016.
Raisi, who took office last week, has said he sees "no obstacles" to restoring
ties with Riyadh. He has made improving relations with regional countries one of
his priorities.
Iranian president admits country is ‘seriously lagging
behind’
The Arab Weekly/August 27/2021
TEHRAN--Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi on Thursday admitted his country is
“seriously lagging behind” in many areas and vowed to improve the economy and
its COVID response, saying that the current situation “does not befit” the
Islamic republic.
He delivered the remarks while chairing the first meeting of his cabinet which
was approved by parliament on Wednesday. Lawmakers accepted one-by-one, 18 out
of 19 candidates put forward by the ultra-conservative Raisi for the ministerial
posts. “The country’s situation today does not befit the great nation of Iran
and it must certainly change,” Raisi said in a speech broadcast live on
television. He stressed that the Islamic republic is “seriously lagging behind”
in many areas, adding that his government’s priorities would be to curb a surge
in coronavirus infections as well as to control inflation and “improve people’s
livelihoods”. In Iran where ultimate power rests with supreme leader Ayatollah
Ali Khamenei, Raisi inherits a difficult socioeconomic situation. The
ultraconservative won a June 18 election marred by record low turnout and an
absence of significant competitors. Iran has been strangled financially by
sanctions reimposed by Washington after then US president Donald Trump pulled
out of a multilateral nuclear deal in 2018. Its already severe economic crisis
has been amplified by the COVID pandemic. Iran is the country in the Middle East
worst hit by the virus and is currently grappling with a fifth wave of
infections, the strongest yet, with daily deaths and cases hitting record highs
several times this month. Fewer than 6.5 million of Iran’s 83 million people
have received a second vaccine dose, according to official figures. Choked by US
sanctions that have made it difficult to transfer money abroad, Iran says it has
struggled to import vaccines. Raisi vowed to increase vaccine imports and boost
local production without offering details, saying efforts so far have been
“necessary but not enough”. The authorities have approved the emergency use of
two domestically-developed vaccines, but the only mass-produced dose, COVIran
Barekat, is in short supply.
UAE senior official’s visit to Doha ushers in new chapter
in Emirati-Qatari relations
The Arab Weekly/August 27/2021
DOHA--The visit by the UAE National Security Adviser Sheikh Tahnoun bin Zayed Al
Nahyan to Doha on Thursday and his meeting with the emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim
bin Hamad Al-Thani, seems to have ushered in a new chapter in relations between
the two countries. These links had been gripped by tensions from June 2017 until
the Gulf Cooperation Council reconciliation summit held in the Saudi city of Al-Ula,
last January. Gulf analysts considered Sheikh Tahnoun’s visit to Doha to be the
result of a regional momentum towards calm, reconciliation and overcoming of
differences. They pointed out that this visit was not preceded by any mediation
from any outside party. The new step appears instead to be part of a more
comprehensive Emirati policy based on deepening communication with yesterday’s
opponents as reflected by Sheikh Tahnoun’s visit earlier this week to Ankara
where he met with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The UAE national
security adviser and the emir of Qatar discussed “bilateral relations and the
means to enhance them,” the official Qatar News Agency reported. The UAE’s
official WAM news agency also reported that the “Emir of Qatar received a
delegation headed by Sheikh Tahnoun”, adding, “The meeting touched upon
bilateral relations and ways to further develop cooperation between the two
countries, especially in the economic and trade fields and vital investment
projects that serve the process of construction, development and progress as
well as achieving the common interests of the two countries.” Anwar Gargash, a
former UAE minister of state for foreign affairs, who now advises the country’s
president, tweeted a picture of the meeting. “Building bridges of cooperation
and prosperity with brothers and friends is … a major pillar of the UAE’s
policy,” he wrote. ” We turn the page of disagreement and look to the future
positively,” he added. A former minister of state for foreign affairs, Gargash
stressed that “the visit of Sheikh Tahnoun bin Zayed to Qatar and his meeting
with its emir stem from the fact that we have a common destiny and our success
is shared.”
Gulf affairs experts believe that Sheikh Tahnoun’s visit to Doha was the
culmination of the GCC reconciliation process that was launched at the Al-Ula
summit in Saudi Arabia, on January 5, noting that the regional situation seemed
propitious for an official Emirati move. The same experts point out that the
factors of tension in the region, that had prevailed during the past few years,
have receded significantly. This affected Doha’s position and made it adjust its
position in a way that eventually provided a new atmosphere which eased the way
for Sheikh Tahnoun’s visit to Qatar.
Among those factors was the unravelling of the project of political Islam in the
region. The latest chapter in this process was provided by Tunisia where the
Qataris have distanced themselves from their Islamist proteges in light of
changing regional and international trends.
A rising international view argues that the war on terrorism requires curtailing
the influence of Islamist groups that provided violent Islamic extremists with a
doctrinal, educational and political incubator.
This development led to a decline in the influence of the “old guard” in Doha,
which had fuelled disputes within Gulf states and boosted the influence of
Islamists in Qatari media hence hindering calls for calm and mediation efforts.
Doha has shown in recent months its ability to neutralise Islamist activists
preventing them from being an element of tension or an obstacle to rapprochement
with former foes such as Egypt. It also displayed a neutral stand in the
Tunisian political standoff, dashing Ennahda’s hopes for Qatari support in its
showdown with President Kais Saied. Doha did not try to save Hichem Mechichi’s
government with an infusion of credits or by providing millions of doses of the
anti-COVID vaccine as the Islamists had hoped and promised. Lack of Qatari
support contributed to the fall of the Mechichi government and the dramatic
ebbing of Ennahda’s influence. Among other factors that helped consolidate
Qatari-Emirati rapprochement paving the way for Sheikh Tahnoun’s visit to Doha,
have been changes in Ankara’s regional posture. Political, security and economic
shocks convinced the Turkish president that his regional ambitions were greater
than his capabilities or those of his allies. This eventually prompted him to
seek to open communications with the Gulf states, especially Saudi Arabia.
Overtures to UAE, offered potential sources of support for the Turkish economy
as it struggled with a serious slowdown as a result of a populist rhetoric of
Erdogan, which contributed to stemming the flow of Gulf investments. Analysts
say that the various crises that Turkey has experienced made Erdogan look at the
UAE national security adviser’s visit to Ankara last week mostly from an
investment angle. After talks held in Ankara on Wednesday with Sheikh Tahnoun,
Erdogan said, “We discussed what type of investment could be made in which
areas”. He also said he hoped that, “the United Arab Emirates will make serious
investments in our country in a very short time.”Syed Basar Shueb, CEO of the
Abu Dhabi-listed International Holding Company (IHC), appeared to reflect a
clear Emirati intent to open a new page in relations with Turkey based on mutual
understanding and common interests. “The company is looking for investment
opportunities in Turkey in sectors including healthcare, industry and food
processing,” he said. Observers believe that the various developments in the
Middle East have helped nurture regional and Emirati awareness of the new
situation created by US disengagement from the region. This trend convinced the
region’s countries to forge new relations that prioritise their own national
security in the face of common challenges including the threat posed by Iran .
Decrepit Ankara theme park tells tale of AKP-sponsored
waste
The Arab Weekly/August 27/2021
ANKARA--The decaying dinosaur toys outside the abandoned theme park tell the
tale of grand ambition, waste and troubles facing the long-ruling party of
Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The problems started early for
“Wonderland Eurasia”, meant to be Europe’s largest amusement venue and billed by
Erdogan as “a symbol of pride” at its opening in Ankara in March 2019. Two days
after the inauguration, a rollercoaster broke down, forcing people to scramble
down to safety. Public restrooms were a mess, some rides stood unfinished and
areas remained off-limits despite a reported $801 million spent on building
Turkey’s version of Disneyland. The park closed less than a year after it opened
when the operator struggled to pay staff wages and electricity bills since there
had not been enough customers. For Erdogan’s critics, the park is one of the
biggest symbols of waste by mayors from his ruling AK Party (AKP), in power for
two decades and facing a general election no later than 2023. Such was the level
of anger, some of Turkey’s biggest cities, including Ankara and Istanbul, voted
for mayors from opposition parties in 2019.“Ankara’s urgent need was not a
Disneyland. It was transport,” said Tezcan Karakus Candan, who heads the Chamber
of Architects’ Ankara branch, pointing out that the capital already has a large
amusement park. “This was a project of extravagance.”
‘Adolescent whim’
The city is now suing the operator in an attempt to win back control and try to
do something constructive with the land. An Ankara court will rule on the
request on September 13. The park itself stands eerily quiet, its broken toys
and ride parts collecting dust and rotting at a waste site a few kilometres
away.
Yet its problems appear never-ending, with the city reporting at least 21
attempts to steal its cables in the last three months alone. Ankara’s popular
current mayor, Mansur Yavas, seen as a possible presidential challenger to
Erdogan, claims the park cost $801 million. The former mayor, Melih Gokcek, puts
the price tag at $500 million. But Gokcek is also blamed for many other hated
Ankara projects he oversaw between 1994 and 2017, when he was fired by Erdogan.
The park was a bizarre idea even before construction started, planned for a city
not known for tourism. Gokcek claimed it would bring in ten million people a
year. Ankara welcomed 4.9 million domestic and international visitors in 2019
before the coronavirus pandemic hit. In stark contrast, Istanbul, famous for its
Ottoman mosques, Byzantine-era buildings and sunsets on the Bosphorus, hosted
nearly 15 million tourists in 2019. Guven Arif Sargin, a professor in the
architecture department at Ankara’s Middle East Technical University, called the
idea of trying to make the city attractive to tourists an “adolescent whim”.
Ataturk’s legacy
The deep dislike of Gokcek and his tenure as mayor, despite five electoral
victories, led to the opposition easily winning his office in March 2019. “Melih
Gokcek is a symbol of how AKP local administrations betray cities, how they ran
a process of plunder and a network of relations,” said Candan.
“We shouldn’t look at Gokcek alone.”The Chamber of Architects tried to use the
courts to stop construction, arguing it unlawfully transformed a natural
protected area into a place of business. The ex-mayor countered with a legal
complaint against Candan and four other heads of professional chambers in which
he accused them of slander, she told AFP. The legal wrangles continue to this
day. But for many, Gokcek’s gravest crime was not the waste of a failed vanity
project, but his destruction of the land it stood on, the Ataturk Forest Farm.
Gokcek’s fiercest critics view his amusement park as an attempt by Erdogan’s
Islamic-rooted party to erase the secular legacy of modern Turkey’s revered
founder, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk. Ataturk envisioned the farming area in 1925 as
the place where the capital’s residents would meet their future agricultural
needs. The area where “Wonderland Eurasia” stands once had a zoo open to the
public. On part of the land Erdogan also built a 1,150-room presidential palace
at a cost of more than $600 million. Sargin said the “priority” was to turn the
park and its equipment into “public property again”.But Candan wants the area to
fulfil Ataturk’s legacy, calling for “radical” action.
“Give the (park’s) toys away to regions that may need them, seek compensation
from Melih Gokcek for the money spent, use that money to reforest the area,”
Candan said.
“With such decisions, it can return to its original state.”
Amnesty calls on Qatar to probe worker deaths
The Arab Weekly/August 27/2021
DOHA, Qatar--Rights group Amnesty International on Thursday called on 2022 World
Cup hosts Qatar to do more to investigate worker deaths, alleging that a string
of labourer fatalities had gone unexplained. As next year’s tournament
approaches, Qatar has repeatedly come under the spotlight over worker welfare
issues, including the death rate, prompting protests from European national
sides including Germany.“Qatari authorities have failed to investigate the
deaths of thousands of migrant workers over the past decade, despite evidence of
links between premature deaths and unsafe working conditions,” Anesty said in a
statement ahead of the launch of a new report. “(The report) documents how Qatar
routinely issues death certificates for migrant workers without conducting
adequate investigations, instead attributing deaths to ‘natural causes’ or
vaguely defined cardiac failures.”
Amnesty said that in a well-funded healthcare system it should be possible to
identify the cause of death in all but one percent of cases. In Qatar cause of
death could not be determined in 70 percent of cases, according to analysis of
records in the migrants’ home countries. In February, the Gulf state fiercely
denied reports in Britain’s Guardian newspaper of excessive worker fatalities,
insisting the figure was unreliable but refusing to publish the actual number.
Amnesty said it analysed 18 death certificates issued between 2017 and 2021 with
15 using vague terms including “heart failure unspecified” and “acute
respiratory failure due to natural causes”. “Essentially, everyone dies of
respiratory or cardiac failure in the end and the phrases are meaningless
without an explanation of the reason why,” David Bailey, a pathologist and
member of the WHO’s Working Group on death certification, told Amnesty.
As well as promises that infrastructure will be ready for the tournament, Qatar
has repeatedly given assurances on its human and labour rights record.
International organisations frequently criticise the gas-rich nation over the
treatment of its hundreds of thousands of foreign workers, mostly from Africa
and Asia.
Doha has announced several reforms to its employment regulations since it was
selected to host the World Cup, although critics say implementation has been
patchy. “We do not support or agree with the position Amnesty has taken against
Qatar. The positive impact of labour reforms in Qatar is clear for all to see,”
a government spokesman said in a statement. “Major reforms include a new
national minimum wage, the removal of exit permits, the removal of barriers to
change jobs, stricter oversight of recruitment, better accommodation and
improved health and safety standards.”After two months in jail a Kenyan security
guard arrested in May for blogging about working conditions in Qatar, was
allowed to leave the country on August 18. Malcolm Bidali had been charged by
the public prosecutor with offences related to payments received by a foreign
agent to create and distribute disinformation. However, rights groups voiced
concern his detention may have been a reprisal for human rights work. Though
charges had apparently been dropped against Bidali, Migrant-Rights.org claimed
that the former guard had only been permitted to leave the emirate after paying
“a hefty fine”. Qatari authorities did not comment.
Obstacles hinder women’s participation in Iraqi poll
The Arab Weekly/August 27/2021
BAGHDAD--The number of female candidates standing in Iraq’s October
parliamentary election will be less than half that of the last poll three years
ago, according to an elections commission source. In the 2018 legislative
election, 2,014 women stood among a total of 6,982 candidates, but this year the
number of women standing will be just 963 out of a total field of 5,323. This
takes the proportion of female candidates down to 18 percent from 28.8 percent,
even as Iraq’s Constitution reserves a quarter of parliament’s 329 seats for
women. The polls, planned for October 10, will be the first under a new
electoral law, which has reduced the sway of party lists and thus weakened major
parties’ influence, giving more scope for independents to stand. The number of
candidates on each party’s list has thus been substantially reduced,
automatically reducing the number of female candidates.
Changes in the electoral law came last year, after popular protests in late 2019
and early 2020 demanding an overhaul of a political system widely seen as
corrupt and overly-favourable to established parties. Some would-be female
parliamentarians have complained of obstacles to their candidacy. Inas Naji al-Maksoussi,
an independent standing in Wasit province in eastern Iraq, said she and other
women seeking to enter politics have been subjected to “pressures”. “Some people
in my competitors’ entourages have prevented me from campaigning in certain
areas of my constituency,” she said.
New Group of Rebels Quits Syria's Daraa under Truce
Agence France Presse/August 27/2021
A second group of rebel fighters left the southern Syrian city of Daraa Thursday
under a Russian-brokered truce aimed at ending the region's worst fighting in
years, a monitor said. Daraa, seen as the birthplace of Syria's uprising in 2011
and held for years by opposition forces, was returned to government control in
2018 under a previous Moscow-backed ceasefire that had allowed rebels to stay in
some areas of Daraa province. But since late July local armed groups have
exchanged artillery fire with government forces and the regime has imposed a
crippling siege on the city's southern districts of Daraa al-Balad, seen as a
hub for former rebels. The clashes were the biggest challenge yet to the 2018
ceasefire, and Moscow-led talks have intensified in recent days as the
government has stepped up its campaign to root out remaining rebels from Daraa
al-Balad. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported Thursday that 53
people, mostly "fighters who rejected the reconciliation deal reached under
Russian auspices", had been sent to northern Syria. Syria's official SANA news
agency said that "45 terrorists and some of their family members" had left Daraa
in what it called a step "towards ending terrorist control over the district and
towards the return of all state institutions and services". It came two days
after an initial group of opposition fighters boarded buses to take them to
rebel-held territory in the north, according to the Britain-based Observatory.
It says the agreement would see around 100 rebel fighters leave Daraa al-Balad
for northern Syria, with remaining fighters surrendering their arms, in exchange
for a lifting of the siege which has seen some 40,000 people face water and
power cuts as well as food and medical shortages. The United Nations said
Tuesday that the latest escalation had forced some 38,000 people to flee over
the past month. UN Special Envoy for Syria Geir Pedersen called Tuesday for
humanitarian assistance and an immediate truce. "Immediate, safe and unimpeded
humanitarian access is needed to all affected areas and communities, including
Daraa al-Balad," he told the Security Council.
Morocco to Close its Algiers Embassy after Ties Cut
Naharnet/August 27/2021
Morocco is to close its embassy in Algiers on Friday, an official source said,
after Algeria severed ties with the kingdom over what it said were "hostile
actions". From Friday, the embassy "will close, and the ambassador and all staff
will be repatriated to Rabat", the Moroccan source told AFP on Thursday.
Algerian Foreign Minister Ramtane Lamamra's announcement of the rupture came
after months of resurgent tensions between the North African rivals.The two
countries have long accused one another of backing opposition movements as
proxies. Algeria's support for separatists in the disputed region of Western
Sahara is a particular bone of contention for Rabat. Morocco has called the
severing of diplomatic ties "completely unjustified", and said the decision was
based on "false, even absurd pretexts". The source said Moroccan consulates in
Algiers, Oran and Sidi Belabbes "will stay open". At the end of last month, King
Mohamed VI deplored tensions with Algeria and invited its President Abdelmadjid
Tebboune "to make wisdom prevail" and "to work in unison for the development of
relations" between the two countries.
The Latest LCCC English analysis &
editorials published on
August 27-28/2021
Question: "Is baptism necessary for salvation?"
GotQuestions.org/August 27/2021
Answer: The belief that baptism is necessary for salvation is also known as
"baptismal regeneration." It is our contention that baptism is an important step
of obedience for a Christian, but we adamantly reject baptism as being required
for salvation. We strongly believe that each and every Christian should be water
baptized by immersion. Baptism illustrates a believer’s identification with
Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection. Romans 6:3-4 declares, “Or don’t you
know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His
death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order
that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father,
we too may live a new life.” The action of being immersed in the water
illustrates dying and being buried with Christ. The action of coming out of the
water pictures Christ’s resurrection.
Requiring anything in addition to faith in Jesus Christ for salvation is a
works-based salvation. To add anything to the gospel is to say that Jesus’ death
on the cross was not sufficient to purchase our salvation. To say that baptism
is necessary for salvation is to say we must add our own good works and
obedience to Christ’s death in order to make it sufficient for salvation. Jesus’
death alone paid for our sins (Romans 5:8; 2 Corinthians 5:21). Jesus’ payment
for our sins is appropriated to our “account” by faith alone (John 3:16; Acts
16:31; Ephesians 2:8-9). Therefore, baptism is an important step of obedience
after salvation but cannot be a requirement for salvation.
Yes, there are some verses that seem to indicate baptism as a requirement for
salvation. However, since the Bible so clearly tells us that salvation is
received by faith alone (John 3:16; Ephesians 2:8-9; Titus 3:5), there must be a
different interpretation of those verses. Scripture does not contradict
Scripture. In Bible times, a person who converted from one religion to another
was often baptized to identify conversion. Baptism was the means of making a
decision public. Those who refused to be baptized were saying they did not truly
believe. So, in the minds of the apostles and early disciples, the idea of an
un-baptized believer was unheard of. When a person claimed to believe in Christ,
yet was ashamed to proclaim his faith in public, it indicated that he did not
have true faith.
If baptism is necessary for salvation, why would Paul have said, “I am thankful
that I did not baptize any of you except Crispus and Gaius” (1 Corinthians
1:14)? Why would he have said, “For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to
preach the gospel—not with words of human wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be
emptied of its power” (1 Corinthians 1:17)? Granted, in this passage Paul is
arguing against the divisions that plagued the Corinthian church. However, how
could Paul possibly say, “I am thankful that I did not baptize…” or “For Christ
did not send me to baptize…” if baptism were necessary for salvation? If baptism
is necessary for salvation, Paul would literally be saying, “I am thankful that
you were not saved…” and “For Christ did not send me to save…” That would be an
unbelievably ridiculous statement for Paul to make. Further, when Paul gives a
detailed outline of what he considers the gospel (1 Corinthians 15:1-8), why
does he neglect to mention baptism? If baptism is a requirement for salvation,
how could any presentation of the gospel lack a mention of baptism?
Does Acts 2:38 teach that baptism is necessary for salvation?
Does Mark 16:16 teach that baptism is necessary for salvation?
Does 1 Peter 3:21 teach that baptism is necessary for salvation?
Does John 3:5 teach that baptism is necessary for salvation?
Does Acts 22:16 teach that baptism is necessary for salvation?
Does Galatians 3:27 teach that baptism is necessary for salvation?
Baptism is not necessary for salvation. Baptism does not save from sin but from
a bad conscience. In 1 Peter 3:21, Peter clearly taught that baptism was not a
ceremonial act of physical purification, but the pledge of a good conscience
toward God. Baptism is the symbol of what has already occurred in the heart and
life of one who has trusted Christ as Savior (Romans 6:3-5; Galatians 3:27;
Colossians 2:12). Baptism is an important step of obedience that every Christian
should take. Baptism cannot be a requirement for salvation. To make it such is
an attack on the sufficiency of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
شارل الياس شرتوني: أفغانستان، الإرهاب الإسلامي والجغرافيا
السياسية المعذبة في جنوب آسيا
Afghanistan, Islamist Terrorism and the Tormented Geopolitics of South Asia
Charles Elias Chartoun/August 27/2021
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/101737/charles-elias-chartoun-afghanistan-islamist-terrorism-and-the-tormented-geopolitics-of-south-asia/
The agreement between the US and Taliban was swiftly undermined by the Taliban’s
deliberate failure to uphold its stipulations and abide by the sequences of the
withdrawal course, the immediate resurfacing of the Islamist terrorist movements
converging from all over Central Asia, the continuation of the Pakistani double
game, and the inability of Taliban to get their act together and operate as a
coherent entity, let alone establish their independence towards their
undergirding power players. They were readily outmaneuvered by their Islamist
power rivals from within and without, and they are going to have a hard time
attesting their statehood credentials, if ever. Therefore, their ability to
engage the international community is curtailed at the onset of the political
course that was supposed to set the track of normalized statehood. Taliban are
unable to extricate themselves from their terrorist legacy, engage the process
of statehood, endorse a consensual power sharing with the different
ethno-national communities, and convert their political momentum into
Nation-State building.
The harshness of factional, ideological and geopolitical power rivalries have
undermined the presumed political credentials of the Pashtun islamist movement,
and confirmed the inability of Afghanistan to overcome its state of geopolitical
prostration, ineptitude to build State institutions and pliability to clashing
power politics. This vast political wasteland is demonstrating its inveterate
political instability, and the volatility of the overall geopolitical stability
in South Asia and the Indian sub-continent. The terrorist attack at Kabul
Airport, has proven at a very early stage, that the two trillions spent by the
USA on the reconstruction of a peripheral political wasteland converted into an
operational platform for Islamist terrorism, have yielded dismal results in
terms of Nation-State building and cumulative societal and cultural
transformations. One wonders whether the alleged moderates amongst Taliban are
willing to seize the new political circumstances to reengage the international
community and attempt at Nation-State building, the answer is quite sobering
since their internal rivalries are self defeating, their purported new political
elites are quite ambiguous, the cauldrons of ethno-political warfare are set for
revival, and the galaxy of Islamist Terrorism is impatient to regain its
foothold and set its imprints on the long awaited comeback.
There are no good news, insofar as the normalization of Afghanistan, and
hopefully the completion of the withdrawal shall prepare the ground for
strategic simulations regarding the future of an expired geopolitical order, its
exacerbating pathologies, destabilization effects and eventual substitutes. The
juggling imperial projections (China, Russia) are in no better position to take
advantage of the rising chaos and its corollary strategic voids; their best bet
is to join their Western power rivals to contain the destructive proclivities of
overlapping radical Islamist movements and their nihilistic delusions, and put
an end to the volatility of a smoldering geopolitical order and its deleterious
consequences.
The Pakistani angle on the Taliban victory
Jonathan Spyer/The Jerusalem Post/August 27/2021
Islamabad’s support for the terrorists played a crucial, largely ignored, role
in recent events.
BEHIND THE LINES - The collapse of the Kabul government and the Taliban’s rapid
takeover of nearly all Afghanistan has captured the attention of the world. It
has led to widespread discussion of US imperial retreat, the implications for
the global contest between the US and China, and the possibilities of a revival
of global Sunni Islamist terror.
An element that has been largely missing in Western analysis of these dramatic
events is the role of powerful elements within Pakistan in facilitating the
activities of the Taliban in recent years. Yet without this complex and
multi-faceted Pakistani role, it is difficult to see how the Afghan jihadi
movement could have sustained itself during the years of US occupation, and laid
the foundations for the rapid takeover of power that we have just witnessed.
Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan praised the Taliban victory in a statement
earlier this week as “breaking the shackles of slavery.”
Latest articles from Jpost
The US and its allies have consistently chosen to turn a blind eye to evidence
of the Taliban presence in Pakistan, and Islamabad’s apparent assistance to the
movement.
This decision relates to the US and its allies’ dependence on Pakistan as a
vital logistics hub in its deployment in Afghanistan. Pakistani intelligence
support was important in deciphering the dynamics of militant Islamic movements
in this area.
More broadly, a reluctance to antagonize Pakistan, a nuclear power with a
population of 200 million, traditionally aligned with the US, probably played a
role in this attitude of benevolent neglect. US reluctance to place pressure on
Pakistan, paradoxically, may have been exacerbated by widespread anti-American
sentiment in Pakistan at the popular level, and an American desire not to worsen
it.
This resulted in a situation in which Pakistan came to constitute both a vital
node in the prosecution of the US campaign against the Taliban, and a central
element in the Taliban’s war effort against the US, with the apparent
acquiescence of Washington.
The Taliban leadership is domiciled in the city of Quetta, in Pakistani
Balochistan. The movement’s fighters, alongside members of other Sunni jihadi
groups including al-Qaeda and the Haqqani network, maintain havens in the
Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) along the border, crossing back and
forth to Afghanistan at will, with no interference from the Pakistani armed
forces. These areas were the springboard for the recent campaign that culminated
in Kabul. Taliban fighters wounded in the recent campaign were treated in
Pakistani hospitals, according to a June 27 statement by Sheikh Rashed Ahmed,
Pakistan’s interior minister, to the Pakistani Geo news website.
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In addition to the logistical role, these majority Pashtun border areas are home
to thousands of madrassas, Islamic religious seminaries, in which the hard-line
Deobandi interpretation of Sunni Islam favored by the Taliban is propagated. In
this way, the pool of future fighters for the Afghan Taliban is maintained, on
Pakistani soil.
A resident of Kuchlak, 25km from Quetta, noted in an interview with Voice of
America this week that the Taliban maintains considerable support among the
residents of the area, and that “Locals from all the tribes (living in the town)
are with them, saying that they are conducting jihad to establish the Islamic
Emirate of Afghanistan.”
Afghanistan’s deposed vice president Amrullah Saleh, along with other members of
the deposed Ghani government, have alleged that the Pakistani Inter Services
Intelligence (ISI) and the Pakistani Special Forces were directly guiding the
Afghan Taliban.
Such allegations are routinely denied by the Pakistani authorities and are
impossible to prove conclusively. But the weight of evidence regarding the
presence of the Taliban in the border areas, their ease of access, the provision
of available health care, and statements of support by senior officials seem to
confirm a role of elements within the Pakistani state in the recent Taliban
victory.
WHAT ARE the motivations behind the Pakistani role?
It is important to note that the border between these two states is of
relatively recent vintage and does not represent a division of populations
according to linguistic or cultural heritage. Rather, Afghanistan was divided
off from then British India in the Anglo-Afghan Treaty of 1919, in which Britain
recognized the independence of Afghanistan. The 1893 ‘Durand Line’ that this
treaty ratified (in a slightly modified form) was a line demarcating areas of
influence between the British and the Afghan Amir of that time.
The result when the modern states of Pakistan and Afghanistan emerged was that
the border between them bisected the area of the majority population of the
largely tribal Pashtun peoples. The Taliban are a mainly Pashtun movement.
Pashtuns constitute around 42% of Afghan citizens. The majority of Pashtuns,
however, live in Pakistan, where they are a subordinated minority in a state
dominated by the Punjabi Muslim population.
Close Pakistani involvement in Afghan affairs has been a constant element in the
modern history of this area. The Pakistani desire for ‘strategic depth’ in
Afghanistan has in recent years been reflected in support for domiciling of, or
turning a blind eye to, a variety of Islamist movements in the Federally
Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) and the neighboring Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province
of Pakistan. In addition to the Taliban, these have included the Haqqani Network
and elements of al-Qaeda.
Pakistan desires this strategic depth in order to counteract Indian influence in
this strategically important area in the ongoing contest between the two
countries. Influence over or control of the government in Kabul would also
enable Pakistan to project influence further into Central Asia. Lastly, given
the demographic issues within Pakistan, the alliance with the Taliban, who favor
an ‘Islamic Emirate,’ enables Islamabad to offset and combat separatist or
nationalist tendencies among its own Pashtun population. Since 2014, a popular
movement for Pashtun rights, known as Tahafuz, has been active in this area.
These developments matter to Israel because Pakistan is engaged in a growing
strategic relationship with Turkey, based on a shared conservative Sunni
Islamist outlook. The emergence of a Pakistan-aligned Taliban government in
Kabul will strengthen this axis. Given Islamabad’s close ties with China, and
Turkey’s own advancing relations with Beijing, this in turn raises the future
possibility on the horizon of a trilateral alignment. However, this would depend
on the willingness of conservative Islamists in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Turkey
to turn a blind eye to China’s own treatment of its Muslim minorities.
Many analysts, in discussing Pakistan’s role in the latest events in
Afghanistan, have noted a 2014 statement by Hamid Gul, a former leader of the
ISI in Pakistan: “When history is written, it will be stated that the ISI
defeated the Soviet Union in Afghanistan with the help of America…Then there
will be another sentence. The ISI, with the help of America, defeated America.”
Gul, incidentally, also believes that the Mossad carried out the 9/11 attacks,
that the US actively seeks to destabilize Pakistan because it is a “Muslim
nuclear state,” and that the Taliban represent the “purest form of Islam.”
These views are a reflection of the outlook of those elements within the
Pakistani system that manage the relationship with the Taliban. Without this
relationship, the Taliban victory of recent weeks would almost certainly not
have taken place. This piece of the picture regarding Afghanistan is worthy of
greater attention in the West.
What does Israel really want to do with Iran and Gaza?
Yaakov Katz/Jerusalem Post/August 27/2021
What can be done is something far easier: have the government explain to the
public what it is doing and what it wants to achieve; and not just when it comes
to Iran, but also Gaza
It was a coordinated assault.
The first was by Defense Minister Benny Gantz, who on Wednesday morning warned a
group of 60 diplomats serving in Israel that Iran is a mere two months away from
becoming a nuclear power. Israel, he warned, would not let that happen.
“The State of Israel has the means to act and will not hesitate to do so,” Gantz
said. “I do not rule out the possibility that Israel will have to take action in
the future to prevent a nuclear Iran.”Later that afternoon, comments made a day
earlier by IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Aviv Kohavi were released from embargo.
Israel, the head of the army said, was accelerating operational plans against
Iran, with NIS 3.5 billion of the new defense budget being earmarked
specifically for that purpose.
On Thursday it was Prime Minister Naftali Bennett’s turn. On his first visit to
Washington as prime minister, Bennett planned to use his hour-long meeting with
Joe Biden to try to convince the US president to keep up the pressure on Tehran.
While Bennett spoke earlier this week about a new plan he had crafted to stop
Iran, he did not really have that much new to offer the US that was
substantively different from what previous Israeli governments had asked of
their American partners. Israel wants to stop Iran without needing to attack. It
has long believed that the way to do that is to combine a number of measures:
sanctions, covert operations, economic pressure, and steps against Iranian
proxies throughout the Middle East.
What is new is Bennett himself.
One, he is not Benjamin Netanyahu; and two, he is not going to stand before
Congress, as his predecessor did, and speak out publicly against a sitting
president. That is why he has spoken in recent weeks about the “new spirit” that
his “new government in Jerusalem” is bringing to the relationship with the
United States. Another opening that allows for a new plan is that the US has not
yet returned to the 2015 nuclear deal, known as the JCPOA. Upon taking office in
June, Bennett initially believed that the Americans were just weeks away from
returning to the deal. But when that didn’t happen, it presented him with a
window of opportunity of which he is now trying to take advantage.
That is what is new, and that is why the government is working in a coordinated
way. From Gantz to Kohavi and Foreign Minister Yair Lapid to Bennett, everyone
understands that as long as the Americans are not yet back inside the deal,
Israel needs to use this moment to influence what happens next. It is also why
Bennett speaks of the “new spirit”: he wants to buy good faith with Biden, and
knows that not being Netanyahu is just not going to be enough.
Nevertheless, after all is said and done, we need to remember that Israel’s
options are limited. It can continue to strike covertly at Iran, and share its
vital intelligence with allies to get them to curb economic ties, but that will
not be enough. What Israel would ideally like to see happen is for the US to
issue a credible military threat against Iran, similar to what Gantz and Kohavi
did on Wednesday.
While there is very little expectation that the US under Biden would attack Iran
– especially in light of what’s happening in Afghanistan – a credible US
military threat is believed to have been one of the most effective tools until
now in getting the Iranians to recalibrate. In 2003, when the US invaded Iraq,
the ayatollahs in Iran thought they were next in line and suspended most aspects
of their nuclear weapons program.
It is a strategy that Netanyahu pushed during the Obama administration as well.
He urged the president to not only up sanctions against Iran, but to also
prepare the US military in a way that would make it clear to the Iranians that
he was not bluffing, and that military action was not just on the table as a
figure of speech. Until today, there are disagreements among former officials on
whether Netanyahu was actually planning to attack Iran, or was just bluffing and
trying to get the Americans to take tougher action themselves.
Based on the threats from Israel in recent days, it could be that this is the
direction Israel is once again headed. It wants to get Iranians to think it is
preparing an attack, but no less important is getting the world and specifically
Biden to think that scenes of Israeli fighter jets flying to Iran is a realistic
option.
While the effectiveness of this policy can be questioned, there at least seems
to be a coordinated strategy being led by Bennett and his government. As
demonstrated on Wednesday, everyone knows their part. Gantz and Kohavi are
making the threats, Lapid is working the diplomats, and Bennett is trying to get
Biden on board. Where Israel does not seem to have anything remotely close
to a strategy is the Gaza Strip, which this week seemed like it was again on the
verge of exploding into another widespread conflict.
Last Saturday, St.-Sgt. Barel Shmueli was shot along the border and continues to
fight for his life. In the days since, the media has been full of stories of
everything but the main issue: what does Israel want to do with the Gaza Strip?
We heard the recording of the conversation Bennett had with Shmueli’s father
during which he bungled the border policeman’s name; we heard the radio
interviews with his mother and watched as hundreds of people gathered outside
Soroka Hospital in Beersheba to pray for his recovery; we learned of Kohavi’s
visit to the hospital, which came after criticism from the family that no one
was visiting them; and we read about the IDF’s investigation into the incident
that includes recommendations on how to prevent such border shootings from
happening again.
If I didn’t know better, I would think that the border protest that led to
Shmueli’s shooting was an incident of strategic ramifications for the State of
Israel, and not a tactical border clash (which it was) that was bungled.
The reason this happens is because Israelis don’t know what to make of the
situation in Gaza. They don’t know how to process it, since their government
never explains what it wants. And the reason the government never explains what
it wants is because it doesn’t really know.
So instead of explaining that unfortunately Israel borders a territory
controlled by a murderous terrorist organization and that conflict will not just
go away, the government doesn’t say much of anything. It threatens Hamas every
once in a while, saying Israel will attack on its own time clock; responds with
meaningless airstrikes to incendiary balloon and rocket attacks; and allows in
Qatari cash payments that it previously said it would not do.
Under these circumstances, it is no surprise that both Kohavi and Shin Bet
(Israel Security Agency) chief Nadav Argaman are not particularly perturbed by
Gaza today. It is blocked off by a wall, there is Iron Dome to intercept most
rockets, and there is technology to detect tunnels. They of course are always
preparing for a new conflict, but their focus is on other fronts, from the West
Bank to Lebanon to Syria to Iran.
The question we need to ask ourselves is whether this is good enough. Should we
not demand more from our government? Either introduce a plan that has never been
tried that would use economic tools and incentives (for example allowing Gazans
into Israel for work, or building a power plant and industrial zones for them),
or, a frank explanation of how the conflict will continue and more soldiers like
Shmueli will unfortunately and tragically continue to get hurt.
We know that neither will happen, since it is highly unpopular to admit that you
don’t have a solution to something. It is much easier to pretend that there is
one even if there isn’t.
What adds to this imbalance is the way this country digests news of an injured
soldier. This is one of the “sacred cows” in Israel, an issue that is meant to
be above and immune to criticism. It is an issue that cannot be analyzed in a
single column and possibly not even in a lengthy series, leading to a feeling
that Israelis sometimes have a harder time learning of a dead soldier than of a
dead civilian.
This is the result of a number of factors. Firstly, all Israelis are meant to
serve in the army. This means that almost every one – excluding the haredim and
the Arabs – has served in the army and has a child who has served or is serving.
When there is war or news of a casualty, the fear sweeps across the entire
nation.There is also the changing nature of warfare, which has become standoff
and almost casualty-less in recent years.
In the operation in Gaza in May, for example, no soldiers needed to cross into
the Hamas-controlled territory. In total, on the Israeli side, 12 civilians were
killed and one soldier. This style of warfare gives the impression that wars can
be fought and missions carried out with very little price.
Then there is the length to which Israelis are willing to go to save a single
soldier. On the one hand, this is exemplary, and shows the value that we as a
people put on every single life. But this also leads to situations like the
prisoner swap for Gilad Schalit, which saw the release of 1,500 Palestinian
prisoners for one single soldier. And so we have to ask ourselves: if the person
shot on Saturday had been a farmer working his field near the border, would it
have received as much attention? Would the TV stations have dispatched camera
crews to the hospitals for several days in a row? Would the prime minister have
called the family? Would the chief of staff had needed to visit?
We all know the answer. But this is something to ponder since it touches on the
role of the military and what our soldiers are meant to do. Tactical incidents
will continue to happen, especially when soldiers need to be deployed along a
volatile border to protect civilians, which, after all, is their primary job.
Can this be corrected? I don’t know. But what can be done is something far
easier: have the government explain to the public what it is doing and what it
wants to achieve; and not just when it comes to Iran, but also when it is closer
to home, along the border with Gaza.
Hasty US Pullout from Afghanistan Invokes Regional Talk
of Post Pax Americana
Riad Kahwaji/Breaking Defense/August 27/2021
America’s allies in the Middle East are weighing options to avoid meeting the
fate of the Afghani government, as regional scholars talk of the post Pax
Americana era.
DUBAI: The chaotic withdrawal of US forces from Afghanistan has sent shockwaves
throughout the Middle East, where America’s allies are weighing the impact on
the region’s security amidst talk from scholars of the post Pax Americana era.
Footage of Afghans begging for entry into Kabul airport, with some of them
dangling from the sides and wheels of US military transporters, were played on
and on by regional media outlets and circulated on social media platforms with
comments that mostly ended with questions about US credibility and reliability
as a security partner. Those questions are only set to intensify after the
deadly attack on Kabul’s airport that left 13 Americans dead.
Of course, Iran and its allies — including the powerful Hezbollah group in
Lebanon — were quick to capitalize on this precious moment as evidence of the
fading power of the United States and a sign of things to come.
“Let all the allies of America watch the fate of all those who put their faith
in it,” said Mohammed Raad, head of Hezbollah Parliamentary Block, who told a
crowd of party supporters at a recent ceremony in Lebanon that all America’s
allies will face the same fate of the Afghan government.
For US allies in the Middle East, especially in the Gulf Arab states, there was
little official reaction to the American exit from Afghanistan. In fact,
military transporters from the UAE, Bahrain, Qatar and Saudi Arabia as well as
other Arab countries participated in Washington’s massive effort to airlift
thousands of foreigners and Afghanis, who had worked for Western agencies and
NATO forces, out of the country.
But it is impossible to ignore the public statements from political
commentators, scholars and, via social media, the public. And those comments
make is clear that there are new doubts about America’s ability to keep its
promises.
“The US pullout from Afghanistan was hasty and chaotic, with catastrophic
consequences on the image and reputation of America,” said Abdulkhaleq Abdullah,
a UAE political science professor and commentator. “The world has entered the
post Pax Americana phase and the Gulf Arab States have to be prepared for this.”
In a recent Arab News op-ed, Nadim Shehadi, a prominent scholar and associate
fellow at the Chatham House think tank in London, wrote: “We are again in a
bipolar world — not that of the Cold War, but a psychological one. At one pole
are the triumphalism, ecstasy and jubilation of America’s enemies; at the other
are denial, disbelief and allies [lamenting] another sign of the end of Pax
Americana.”
The question now facing Gulf leaders is what alternative options they have.
After all, these elites have tied themselves closely to the United States for
years; a decoupling isn’t as easy as simply flipping a switch.
“Leaders of the Gulf Arab States do sense the declining interest of US officials
in the region as an area of vital interest, and therefore have to explore new
options like developing their own defense capabilities and not repeat the
Afghani model of building a paper-tiger army that fell apart in the first real
confrontation with the Taliban,” Abdullah said.
“In light of Washington’s failure or reluctance to deal with the Iranian threats
and attacks in the Strait of Hormuz, the Gulf Arab States should seek to secure
a bigger military presence for other powers such as Britain, France and the EU,
as well as other Eastern powers such as China, India and South Korea,” Abdullah
added. “Internationalization of the Gulf security is one of the options in the
post Pax Americana era.”
In Abdullah’s opinion, Gulf Arab leaders should end their differences, close
ranks and consolidate their military capabilities.
“Priority should be given in the near future to unify the Gulf armies and to
integrate them operationally and institutionally, and this can only happen if a
strategic political decision is taken by the leadership,” he said. “We have to
become more self-reliant defensively, with more allies in the East and West.”
Regional analysts found it notable that there have been several high-level
visits to Turkey, Egypt, Jordan and Qatar in the last week from the UAE’s
National Security Advisor Sheikh Tahnoun bin Zayed Al Hahyan. The high-profile
talks with the Qatari Emir in Doha were particularly interesting; that
represented the culmination of months-long efforts to mend the strained
relations between the UAE and Qatar, along with its strategic ally Turkey.
All told, the moves seem to be steps taken to consolidate the Arab and regional
front against Iran, under the assumption the US may not be as study a wall
against Iranian activity as previously hoped. That’s not directly on the
Afghanistan situation, of course; Washington’s frequent foreign policy changes
and contradictory approaches in dealing with Iran’s threats have shaken US
relations with its Arab allies and undermined the trust between the two sides.
The current US Administration is yet to make clear its strategy to deal with the
many complex issues in the volatile Middle East region, and has recently
revealed plans to pull out some of its forces in Iraq.
Whatever moves the Gulf Arab states make, however, unilateral action against
Tehran seems unlikely, as the remaining American forces in the region still
provide a security blanket against Iranian actions. Unless Washington makes any
credible moves to alter this reality, its regional allies will most likely
maintain the status quo.
And that, says Albadr Al Shateri, a professor at National Defense University in
the UAE, is a key thing to remember: even if the American focus is shifting to
the Pacific, there’s no need for Arab leaders to assume that America is truly
abandoning the region.
“The Middle East represents a vital and primary interest to the United States.
Israel’s safety is part of the US political culture and protecting the flow of
oil in and out of the Gulf is crucial for the global economy that is dominated
by Washington.”
Ultimately, Al Shateri said, “The US has too many grand strategic interests in
the Middle East region that prevent it from abandoning it.”
Taliban Is Back in Kabul — So Is Al Qaeda
Camelia Entekhabifard/Asharq Al Awsat/August 27/2021
US President Joe Biden, 78, has said that he doesn’t regret his decision in
withdrawing the American forces out of Afghanistan. Addressing the American
people, he said that he will judge Taliban based on their actions, not words.
Let me tell you what he actually means: We don’t care what goes on in
Afghanistan! It’s up to you and your country.
The Democratic president has dispatched the head of his CIA to the Kabul airport
to meet the terrorists of Taliban (as reported by the Washington Post) and is
doing his most to criticize Trump, claiming that he had no choice but to carry
out the Doha Agreement made between the Taliban and the US under the former
Republican administration. Has Biden told the American people that the most
dangerous terrorists of the world, people who had a role in 9/11 and were later
released from Guantanamo are now in the leadership of Taliban? Mullah Nurollah
Noori, Mullah Abdolhaq Vasiq, Maulavi Mohammad Nabi Omri, Mullah Heydarallah
Kheyrkhah and Mullah Mohammad Fazel Akhund are those were released from
maximum-security prison at Guantanamo and are now in the leadership of Taliban
in Kabul. Has the US media reported that international terrorists, those on US
intelligence top wanted list for five million dollars, are now leading prayers
in Kabul?
Last Friday, Kabul’s communal prayers were led by Khalil Haqaani. This itself
shows how the Biden administration wants to safeguard human rights, freedom of
speech and democratic values.
The US has declared a five million dollar reward for information leading to
Khalil Haqqani’s arrest. Based on the information published by the US
government, Haqaani has worked as a proxy for Al Qaeda and has been aware of
group’s terrorist actions. Al Qaeda is the very group that organized the 9/11
suicide attacks; the very group whose destruction was the goal of US invasion of
Afghanistan in the first place.
You shouldn’t be surprised to see thousands of women and men camping out in the
Kabul airport and wanting to get out. Taliban have not just come from Pakistan
and Qatar; they’ve arrived from the dark ages and are so terrifying as to give
anyone a reason for running away. The shameful Doha Agreement and its details
were never shared publicly (although the Afghan government is said to have
received a copy) and the US actions in agreeing to the return of Taliban and an
irresponsible and speedy withdrawal of forces should be further questioned; but
we all know what authority the US president has and how he could have used his
position to disrupt the Doha Agreement or at least moderate or delay it to help
the people of Afghanistan or re-negotiate a deal with Taliban (really with
Pakistan and Qatar.) But Biden decided not to use his powers.
Biden says that he will base his judgement on Taliban’s actions. What he leaves
unsaid is the fact that this evil group has changed very little. In the last few
months, there have been thousands of reports about its actions violating
individual and social rights. The group will wait for one more month to watch
the last of US and US-led coalition forces leave Afghanistan. It will then go on
to bring about extremist Sharia rules, flogging, stoning, imprisonment, torture
and forced entrapment of women and men.
Why should the people of Afghanistan, without being consulted or taking part in
any elections, accept the US’s decision to give all power to the Taliban? Is it
not the case that even in the shameful Doha Agreement there was a stipulation
for a coalition government followed by general elections? Why did the US take
actions that gave all power to the Taliban? The US agreed to leave by September
11. There probably was a date in the Doha Agreement for formation of a
transitional government which has now passed.
Ashraf Ghani’s unexpected fleeing of Kabul and lack of an order for resistance
to the Afghan National Army means that there is now probably very little
possibility for the formation of a transitional government. It’s likely that
some of those close to Ghani, maybe even his senior advisors, had hidden ties to
Taliban. They colluded with Taliban and helped its ascent to power. They had
started their project when they helped bring about early retirement of
experienced and patriotic commanders of the army.
This isn’t the first time that the US has imposed its demands on the people of
Afghanistan. In the two elections where Hamdi Karzai competed with Abdullah
Abdullah (the former being Zalmay Khalilzad’s candidate in the transitional
period), he won both times but only with electoral fraud. With deception,
mediations and calls for calm, they asked Dr. Abdullah to stop short of
demanding what was truly his and give power to Karzai. This is while they knew
very well that he was the true winner of elections and was being prevented from
coming to power.
The next two elections weren’t much better. Ashraf Ghani, too, was imposed on
Afghanistan by Americans. Ghani had first returned to Kabul, following years of
exile in the US, to serve as finance minister in the Karzai cabinet. Both Karzai
and Ghani were friends and allies of the United States and there was a lot of
trust in them. Between them, they led the country for 20 years but they did not
remain loyal to the cause of the United States. Karzai went on to oppose the US
and speak ill of it. Ashraf Ghani refused to accept the Doha Agreement and
boldly criticized the US and Khalilzad. According to himself, Ghani threw out a
letter by Secretary of State Anthony Blinken that suggested a transitional
government.
Of the two former presidents, Karzai has now taken refuge in the home of his
former rival, Abdullah; Ghani has, of course, fled the country and, not being
allowed in the US, has found a place in the United Arab Emirates.
The people of Afghanistan are paying the price for the hatred and regrets of a
man who became a US citizen years ago but who, in his soul and heart, continues
to harbor the dream of becoming the president of Afghanistan. In the run-up to
both the 2009 and 2014 elections, Khalilzad attempted to get support from the
influential elders of Afghanistan to back his candidacy for presidency but he
got nowhere. He got many meetings with the late Burhanuddin Rabbani, Mohammad
Atta Noor, Esmail Khan and others to get support for his presidential campaign
but was never successful.
In 2001, Khalilzad worked with the Islamic Republic of Iran to prevent the
appointment of Zahir Shah, the late king of Afghanistan, as the head of the
interim administration; a man who could have been a symbol for unity and
national solidarity. Mohammadreza Bahrami, Iran’s former ambassador in Kabul,
had close ties to the US embassy, Khalilzad and also the Northern Alliance.
Working with Khalilzad, these two were able to deceive Zahir Shah.
The Iranian regime was worried that overthrowing the Taliban and replacing them
with a regime led by the former king of Afghanistan will influence the Iranian
people. Khalilzad also gave false messages from the US president to elders of
Pashtuns and other Afghan communities, giving the impression that the US was
opposed to the assumption of power by Zahir Shah (credible sources among the
former commanders of the Northern Alliance have confirmed this to me.)
This grand betrayal helped both American and Iranian interests but it was
presented as good news to Afghans. In the later years of his life, Zahir Shah
had told people close to him that to the end of his life, there were two people
he didn’t want to ever see again: Zalmay Khalilzad and UN envoy to Afghanistan,
Lakhdar Brahimi.
Speaking to a group of people in Dubai, the late Zahir Shah said these two (Khalilzad
and Brahimi) helped destroy Afghanistan.
This is how, with the intervention of the US and Iran, the best opportunity for
bringing about agreement, national unity and solidarity was lost in Afghanistan.
The government that came later only won with American support and with rigging
the elections. National disappointment and competition of political factions
aimed at eliminating one another destroyed an opportunity for effective
nation-building.
With all the pain and suffering that the people of Afghanistan have gone through
and all the hesitations about an interim government, there will come an
opportunity to leave behind this dark, bitter and painful period; Afghans will
have new experiences and outlooks as they attempt a new destiny for themselves.
The overthrown, treacherous and servile governments have shown their true faces;
the Afghan nation whom I know, as shown by the evidence of history, will not
accept humiliation, slavery and living under the yoke of regressive groups.
Afghans will once more come to control their own destiny.