English LCCC Newsbulletin For Lebanese, Lebanese Related, Global News & Editorials
For  September 14/2020
Compiled & Prepared by: Elias Bejjani
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Bible Quotations For today
Very truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit
John 12/20-28: “Among those who went up to worship at the festival were some Greeks. They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and said to him, ‘Sir, we wish to see Jesus. ’Philip went and told Andrew; then Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus. Jesus answered them, ‘The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Very truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. Those who love their life lose it, and those who hate their life in this world will keep it for eternal life. Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there will my servant be also. Whoever serves me, the Father will honour. ‘Now my soul is troubled. And what should I say “Father, save me from this hour”? No, it is for this reason that I have come to this hour. Father, glorify your name.’ Then a voice came from heaven, ‘I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on September 13-14/2021
New Cabinet Holds Its First Session
Aoun Urges Easing People's Suffering, Miqati Vows to Tackle Fuel, Medicine Crises
Government to Reportedly Finalize Policy Statement in 10 Days
Miqati to Visit Gulf States Once Govt. Wins Parliament Confidence
Central Bank OKs Seven Imported Fuel Ships
Nasrallah Says Transport of Fuel from Syria to Lebanon Begins Thursday
STL Schedules Appeals Hearing in Merhi-Oneissi Case for October
Bitar Questions Former Army Chief Qahwaji
Lebanon to Receive $1.13 Billion from IMF
Lebanon hopes for Arab support to overcome its crises
Memo à Bachir Gemayel/Jean-Marie( Nino) Kassab/September 13/2021

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on September 13-14/2021
Energized Pope Cracks Jokes, Greets Fans in Slovakia
Israeli PM to meet Sisi, in first official visit to Cairo in a decade
Bennett on First Egypt Visit by Israeli PM Since 2011
Israeli FM proposes development in exchange for Gaza ‘long term quiet’
Israel Hits Hamas Targets in Gaza in Response to Rocket Fire
Israeli Firm Unveils Armed Robot to Patrol Volatile Borders
Qatar Sends High-Level Delegation to Afghanistan
Donors Voice Concerns over Taliban Rule as U.N. Seeks Funds
Kadhimi seeks Iran’s help to keep militias on tight leash before elections
Tebboune era consecrates primordial role of the army in Algeria
Military seen on the ascendency in Sudan’s power structure

Titles For The Latest The Latest LCCC English analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on September 13-14/2021
What Should the World Expect of Gifting Afghanistan to Fundamentalists?/Hamid Bahrami/Gatestone Institute/September 13/2021

The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on September 13-14/2021
New Cabinet Holds Its First Session
Naharnet/September 13/2021
The newly formed Lebanese cabinet held its first session today, Monday, at the Baabda Palace, headed by President Michel Aoun and Prime Minister Najib Miqati. Before the session, a protocol photo of the new government was taken in the presence of President Aoun, Speaker Nabih Berri and PM Miqati.
A closed-door meeting between Aoun, Miqati and Berri preceded the session, the National News Agency said. The cabinet formed a ministerial committee headed by Miqati to draft the ministerial policy statement. The committee includes the Deputy Prime Minister and the ministers of Justice, Energy, Finance, Culture, Interior, Administrative Reform , Information , Education, Public Works and Transport, and Agriculture. Aoun said in a statement he hoped the committee tasked with drafting the statement would include the pursuit of negotiations with the International Monetary Fund. Talks with the IMF on financial assistance are key to rescuing Lebanon, which defaulted on its debt last year and has since been sliding into poverty. The ministerial committee held its first session in the afternoon at the Grand Serail and a second meeting was scheduled for tomorrow, Tuesday. "We discussed the entire draft and made some observations," the new minister of information Georges Kordahi said. He added that the drafting of the ministerial statement is expected to be completed tomorrow. The Minister of Public Works Mustafa Bayram -- one of two Hizbullah-appointed ministers -- said that the draft ministerial statement is "good" and that "the main concern is people's pain." "We will come up with a new language to address people," Bayram added.

Aoun Urges Easing People's Suffering, Miqati Vows to Tackle Fuel, Medicine Crises
Naharnet/September 13/2021
President Michel Aoun said during the new Cabinet's first session on Monday that the priority is for easing citizens' daily suffering as PM Najib Miqati said that the government will address the country's fuel and medicine shortage crises.
"We are before major national and historic responsibilities as to activating the role of the state and its institutions and restoring confidence in it. We must not waste time, seeing as we no longer have the luxury of slowness and procrastination," Aoun told Cabinet. Calling on the ministers to "work as a harmonious and unified team to implement a rescue program," the President said the priority is for alleviating citizens' daily suffering and securing their essential needs. Miqati for his part said the government will address the fuel and medicine crises in order to "put an end to the humiliation of the people." "It is true that we don't have a magic wand and that the situation is very difficult, but through firm will, determination, resolve and planning we can all, as one team, fulfill for our patient and grieving people some of what they aspire for," the PM added. He also called on ministers not to appear a lot on TV screens because "the people are looking for actions and no longer care for talk and promises." More than three out of four Lebanese are now considered to be under the poverty line, mains electricity is only available a handful of hours a day while petrol, bread and medicine shortages are sowing chaos across the country.
The new lineup was unveiled by Miqati after protracted horsetrading, 13 months after the previous government resigned following the deadly explosion at Beirut port in August 2020. In the interim, the economic collapse in Lebanon has become one of the worst on record worldwide, with the currency losing more than 90 percent of its value and foreign partners seeing no sign of political change. Miqati, the country's richest man and a third-time premier, succeeded where his two predecessors failed in clinching a political agreement for a new lineup. His team was met with skepticism if not scorn by many in Lebanon who argue that the same parties and political barons that have ruled for decades were unlikely to deliver major change.

Government to Reportedly Finalize Policy Statement in 10 Days
Naharnet /September 13/2021
Najib Miqati’s Cabinet is expected to form Monday a ministerial committee comprised of six to eight ministers with the aim of drafting the new government’s policy statement, media reports said. “Miqati’s team has devised a draft policy statement to be the cornerstone for discussions amid expectations that the statement will be finalized within ten days at the latest,” ministerial sources told al-Joumhouria newspaper in remarks published Monday. The daily added that the statement will be very concise and will borrow its main points from the French initiative’s roadmap. “It will talk about the priorities of addressing the Lebanese people’s need of fuel, medicine and bread, including the steps necessary to confront the repercussions of the lifting of subsidization which is expected in the next few days,” al-Joumhouria said. The statement will also tackle the administrative, economic and financial reforms, the talks with the International Monetary Fund, the capital control law, the laws related to the energy and electricity sectors, and the ration card plan. Politically, the statement will focus on the need to restore international confidence in Lebanon and to revive its ties with the Arab and Western countries, especially Saudi Arabia.As for the so-called army-people-resistance equation, its text will be taken from the policy statements of the previous two governments led by Saad Hariri and Hassan Diab, the daily said. The statement will also mention the upcoming parliamentary and municipal elections, the investigations into the Beirut port blast, the judicial appointments and Lebanon’s commitment to international resolutions including Resolution 1701.

Miqati to Visit Gulf States Once Govt. Wins Parliament Confidence
Naharnet/September 13/2021
The new government and its premier Najib Miqati have a “real desire” to pull the country out of its crisis through all the available means, informed political sources said.Miqati is keen on restoring Lebanon’s relations with the Arab and Gulf countries, the sources told the PSP’s al-Anbaa newspaper in remarks published Monday. “Once the government wins parliament’s confidence, he will carry out an Arab tour that will include the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Kuwait and Qatar in order to secure the needed support for Lebanon and restore the ties with the Arab brothers,” the sources added.

Central Bank OKs Seven Imported Fuel Ships
Naharnet/September 13/2021
The central bank will give pre-approvals to all seven oil importing companies to import seven fuel ships, according to TV channels. Sources informed the LBCI TV channel on Monday that “five of the seven ships have already reached the Lebanese waters and have been waiting for days.”The two other ships are on their way to Lebanon, the LBCI said. The fuel price for these 7 shipments will be subsidized at an exchange rate of LBP 8,000 per dollar. Before that the central bank had supported fuel imports at an exchange rate of 3,900 LBP to the dollar up from the official rate of 1,500 LBP to the dollar. The central bank said last month it could no longer afford to provide importers with dollars at any preferential rate, but leaders reached a compromise with the 8,000 rate. Dire shortages have seen Lebanon's people struggle to find enough fuel to drive to work or power back-up generators during near round-the-clock electricity cuts. Motorists have become caught up in long lines outside the petrol stations that have remained open.

Nasrallah Says Transport of Fuel from Syria to Lebanon Begins Thursday
Naharnet/September 13/2021
Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah announced Monday that a ship carrying diesel from Iran has arrived in Syria’s Banias and that the transfer of fuel by land to Lebanon would begin on Thursday. “In order not to embarrass the Lebanese state, we restored to the other option, which is for the ship to dock in Banias, and the Syrian state facilitated the movement at the Banias port and provided tankers for the transport of fuel products,” Nasrallah said in a televised address. “We thank Syria for receiving the fuel ship … The transport of fuel from Syria to the Bekaa begins Thursday and it will be stored in specific tanks and a second ship will arrive in Banias within a few days,” Nasrallah stated. “A third ship started loading gasoline today and we have agreed to bring a fourth ship carrying diesel and it is expected to arrive in October,” Hizbullah’s leader added. He said the diesel will be distributed to all Lebanese components and to those who want it without “sectarian or regional discrimination.”“We will offer a one-month diesel donation to state-run hospitals, nursing homes, orphanages, disability centers, state-run water institutions, municipalities that have water wells, the Civil Defense and the Lebanese Red Cross,” he added. “We will cover the needs of bakeries, medicine factories, coops and foodstuffs and agricultural factories for a one-month period,” he said, noting that “the sides that provide electricity to the people through generators will get the biggest share of diesel.”Nasrallah added that the Hizbullah-affiliated Al Amana Company will distribute the fuel in Lebanon “because it is already on the sanctions list.” “Phone numbers will be distributed to all Lebanese regions for communication and placing orders,” he said. He added that the fuel will be sold in Lebanon for below cost price. “We will consider the difference a gift from Iran and Hizbullah to the Lebanese people. The price will be specified in the coming days and will be acceptable, will take people’s situations into consideration and will be in Lebanese lira,” Nasrallah went on to say. As for the formation of the new government in Lebanon, Hizbullah’s secretary-general welcomed the step and thanked “everyone who contributed to this achievement.”“Let no one expect drastic solutions during the term of this government,” Nasrallah added, while noting that “this government can alleviate the burden of the Lebanese people.”“The priorities of this government are clear, which are the needs of the Lebanese people. We are looking forward to a government that rescues Lebanon from its collapse,” he said. Nasralla also called for holding the parliamentary elections on time, insisting that the vote should not be postponed.

STL Schedules Appeals Hearing in Merhi-Oneissi Case for October
Naharnet/September 13/2021
The Appeals Chamber of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL) has scheduled an appeals hearing to take place from 4 to 8 October 2021 in the case of Prosecutor v. Merhi and Oneissi, the STL said on Monday. The case relates to the 14 February 2005 attack in Beirut that killed 22 people including former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, and injured 226 others. In a Scheduling Order issued on 12 July 2021, the Appeals Chamber stated that it will hear oral arguments from the Prosecutor, Defense Counsel for Hizbullah suspects Hassan Habib Merhi and Hussein Hassan Oneissi (the Parties), and the Legal Representatives of the Victims (LRV), or may invite them to clarify arguments developed in their written submissions and observations in relation to the Appeal filed by the Prosecutor against the Trial Judgment. The Chamber authorized the LRV to attend the Appeal hearing and to make oral submissions in relation to issues that affect the victims’ personal interests. Following the conclusion of the hearing, the Judges will withdraw to deliberate and will render their Judgment on Appeal in due course, the STL said, noting that the Judgment shall be pronounced publicly at a later stage.

Bitar Questions Former Army Chief Qahwaji
Naharnet/September 13/2021
The lead investigative judge into the Beirut port blast case, Tarek Bitar, on Monday interrogated former army chief General Jean Qahwaji, who appeared before him as a suspect. The questioning session was held in the presence of Qahwaji’s lawyer, Antoine Toubia, and the claimant team that represents the families of the victims. Al-Jadeed TV said Bitar scheduled a new questioning of Qahwaji for September 28. It added that the claimant team requested that Qahwaji and ex-army intelligence chief Brig. Gen. Camille Daher be interrogated together to determine the responsibility of each of them and in light of “the presence of contradiction between their testimonies.

Lebanon to Receive $1.13 Billion from IMF
Naharnet/September 13/2021
The Ministry of Finance was informed on Monday from the International Monetary Fund that Lebanon will receive about $1.135 billion “as part of the Special Drawing Rights,” the National News Agency said. The Ministry of Finance had asked the International Monetary Fund to transfer the special drawing rights that Lebanon can benefit from, especially those belonging to the year 2009. The total value is a sum of 860 million dollars for the year 2021 and 275 million dollars for the year 2009. “The funds will be deposited in the central’s bank accounts on September 16,” the agency added.

Lebanon hopes for Arab support to overcome its crises
The Arab Weekly/September 13/2021
LONDON--The statements of Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati, in which he stressed on Sunday that Lebanon cannot be alien to its Arab environment, reflect that he will not be looking for solutions at home, but rather outside Lebanon and in the Arab Gulf region, in particular. Mikati told the Kuwaiti newspaper, Al-Jarida, in its Sunday edition, “Meetings with ministers have begun to set the government’s general policy, which will be divided into multiple priorities, the first of which is economic, financial and social, the second of which is laying the foundations for negotiation with the International Monetary Fund, and the third of which is the development of a general foreign policy that restores Lebanon to the vitality of its relations with friendly and brotherly countries, foremost among them the Arab countries. , especially the Gulf, because my conviction is like everyone else’s, that Lebanon cannot be alien to its Arab surroundings.”He revealed that he had started “communication […] with Arab funds in order to reactivate support projects for Lebanon.”
“Lebanon cannot rise from its crisis without the help of itself and the help of its Arab brothers,” Mikati added, noting that his country is not asking for “a blank cheque, and we know that the time of financial miracles is over, and aid can only be obtained based on a clearly defined programme and transparent investments with a clear purpose. This will be an essential part of the government’s work.”Analysts view Mikati’s pledge to seek support from Arab countries with a great deal of apprehension. A number of these countries, analysts say, has shunned Lebanon because of the extensive influence wielded in Beirut by the heavily-armed, Iran-backed Shia Islamist group Hezbollah, which is allied to President Michel Aoun, a Christian. “I think (Mikati) has a 50-50 chance of accomplishing anything, whether you look at it in terms of a programme with the IMF or aid from the Arab countries,” said economist Toufic Gaspard, who has advised the IMF and Lebanon’s finance ministry. Securing support from Arab states such as Saudi Arabia would depend on confronting Hezbollah’s influence, while securing an IMF programme would require reforms that past governments have failed to enact. “It is a very delicate political game. This is not going to be easy,” Gaspard said. Ties between Lebanon and Arab Gulf states have been rattled in recent years due to repeated attacks on their leaders by Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah. Gulf states have also accused the Lebanese paramilitary group of assisting other Iranian-backed militias, such as Yemen’s Houthis, in launching drone attacks on Saudi Arabia. Lebanese political sources considered that Mikati’s Sunday statements were aimed at Arab Gulf states, particularly Saudi Arabia. These sources, however, wondered if Mikati would be able to convince Saudi Arabia that he is not a prime minister of a government that is controlled by Hezbollah from behind the scenes. Mikati, the sources added, has to show Saudis and other Arab states that he can act away from the dictates of the Shia movement and its Secretary General, Hassan Nasrallah. After Lebanon’s civil war (1975-1990), Saudi Arabia provided billions of dollars for the reconstruction of Lebanon. However, this generous assistance has stopped in the last few years, with Riyadh growing increasingly frustrated at the expanding influence of Hezbollah.
Riyadh, experts say, has spared no effort in supporting Lebanon, urging the political actors there to prevent their country’s dependence on any foreign party.
But the Lebanese political elite continued to view the kingdom as a financier whose sole task is to pump money into the country and revive the economy and tourist industry without political strings attached, a course of action that Riyadh no longer accepts. Saudi Arabia is now not particularly enthused by the prospect of coming to the aid of Lebanon as it believes Lebanese officials have handed over control of their country to Hezbollah. Since 2016, the Saudi-Lebanese relations have been marked by a chill that was exacerbated by Hezbollah’s increasing control over the Lebanese state institutions. The tensions, then, rose further following a series of Lebanese diplomatic positions that were deemed hostile to Riyadh. In recent months, Saudis attempted to make a comeback in Lebanon but their bid failed to produce a real change in the situation.
Riyadh still insists on the need to curb Hezbollah’s influence, as an essential step to resume support for Lebanon, a demand that former Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri did not take into consideration. In addition to the Saudi apathy, the short lifespan of the new government poses another challenge to Mikati.
Observers say the kingdom, even if it would be to review its positions on Lebanon, will not take any step in that direction for now, but will rather wait for the legislative elections to be held in the spring of 2022. These elections, observers believe, will determine the new political environment and whether Hezbollah would maintain control over the state and the country’s institutions. Mikati, meanwhile, will be acting as a ‘fireman,’ observers say, struggling to avoid a total collapse of the Lebanese state. As it waits for the elections, Saudi Arabia has not so far responded to the appeals of Lebanese officials. However, analysts say the kingdom will push its financial and political weight to support the country, if the Lebanese manage to form a government, in which Hezbollah does not have the final say. Lebanon’s economic crisis, which came to a head in late 2019, stems from decades of corruption in the state and unsustainable financing. Mikati was the third prime minister-designate to attempt to form the government since Diab quit after last year’s catastrophic Beirut port explosion. Mikati was chosen after Saad al-Hariri, a former prime minister, abandoned his efforts. Hariri traded blame for the failure with Aoun. The president’s political adversaries have accused him and his political party of seeking effective veto power in the new government by demanding a third of the seats. Aoun has denied this repeatedly.

Memo à Bachir Gemayel
Jean-Marie( Nino) Kassab/September 13/2021
J'espère avant toute chose que tu sois heureux là où tu es. Je pense à toi et revois tes vidéos chaque jour ou presque et mon coeur se déchire. Il se déchire de chagrin et de désarroi quand je compare avec ce que nous vivons aujourd'hui. Tes paroles ont traversé les âges, intactes, et sont toujours pertinentes, comme si tu vivais toujours et avec nous, au jour le jour.
Je t'aurai imaginé menant la lutte aux devants de tout le monde. Je t'aurai vu harangant la foule devant une station d'essence en remplissant toi même le réservoir de ta petite Honda. Je suis sûr par contre qu'une fois toutes les negociations tournées en impasse, tu aurais pris le pouvoir de force et à la tête des hommes et des femmes libres du pays.
Certains pensent que si tu avais survécu on n'en serait pas là. Je ne suis pas de cet avis. Le Liban est un pays impossible. Il est victime de sa géographie d'où le fait que ses crises sont cycliques et que son peuple est commerçant en quête de transactions et non de production.Çe fût ainsi depuis les Phéniciens. Or les commerçants sont toujours à la recherche de profit et en certaines occasions peuvent vendre leur pays si la somme est suffisante.
Mon très cher et bien-aimé patron, sache que par contre que je t'en veux et beaucoup. Comme cette lettre est en pli fermé , je me permettrerai de te dire la vérité ,
cette vérité que tu cherissais tellement:
Avant tout tu n'as pas été assez tranchant. Notre ennemi est cruel et sans pitié. Il fallait les éradiquer tous et autant que possible. Tu as été trop clément.
De plus tu as mal assuré ta succession: nous voilà victimes de ce problème. Nous avons tout simplement hérité de malfrats et de collaborateurs.
Il est vrai que le temps te manquât mais quand on est Bachir, il fallait y penser. Tes prophéties sont restées des mots en l'air.
Sauf que je t'en veux le plus d'avoir mouru. Oui Bachir il fallait vivre . Pour ta famille , pour nous tous. Pour moi. Pour mes enfants.
Cette bande de truands qui dirige le pays n'a rien lu, rien vu et rien retenu de tes paroles. Ils ont simplement vendu le pays aux Iraniens.
Gouverner c'est prévoir avait dit Girardin, or prophétiser est l'apanage des grands. Tu étais et demeurera le plus grand parmi les grands sauf que tu aurais du anticiper ton départ brutal et penser à ton peuple. Je ne te le pardonnerai jamais , sache le.
En guise de mot final je te promets qu'on ne se laissera pas faire, que nous ne céderons jamais. Ceux de ton école au moins. Mais au fait n'avons pas toujours été un petit groupe d' irréductibles face aux masses?

The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on September 13-14/2021
Energized Pope Cracks Jokes, Greets Fans in Slovakia
Associated Press/September 13/2021
Pope Francis cracked jokes Monday and took an ambling walk to greet well-wishers as he opened his first full day in Slovakia in good health and spirits ahead of a solemn encounter with the country's Jewish community. Francis arrived at the presidential palace, and later at the capital's St. Martin cathedral, looking rested and energized on the second day of his four-day pilgrimage to Hungary and Slovakia, which marks his first international outing since undergoing intestinal surgery in July. "I'm still alive!" Francis quipped when asked by an Italian journalist how he was feeling as he walked up a ramp into the cathedral for a meeting with Slovak priests and nuns, where he cracked a series of jokes in a sign he was in good spirits. Francis, 84, has been recovering after having 33 centimeters (13 inches) of his colon removed for what the Vatican said was a severe narrowing of the large intestine. He has seemed in good form, though he used a golf cart buggy indoors on Sunday during a rigorous few hours in Budapest to limit a long walk, and has been delivering some speeches sitting down. But he stood for a long time to greet priests and bishops — nearly all of them maskless — at the end of his meeting. And he then took an extended walk around the cathedral piazza to greet pilgrims, clearly enjoying the welcome and enthusiasm of the crowd after the coronavirus put a stop to his global travels for over a year.
At his first stop of the day at the Bratislava presidential palace, Francis told President Zuzana Caputova, Slovakia's first female president, that the coronavirus pandemic had been the greatest test in recent history, but that it should offer a lesson for the future. "It has taught us how easy it is, even when we are all in the same boat, to withdraw and think only of ourselves. Let us instead set out anew from the realization that all of us are frail and in need of others." Ahead of a rigorous two days hop-scotching around Slovakia, Francis is spending Monday in Bratislava where the highlight of his visit is an afternoon encounter at the capital's Holocaust memorial, built on the site of a synagogue destroyed by the communist regime in the 1960s. He goes into the event having called on Sunday for Christians and Jews to work together to stop the rise of antisemitism in Europe, saying it is a "fuse which must not be allowed to burn."
Slovakia declared its independence from Czechoslovakia on March 14, 1939, and became a Nazi puppet state with politician and Roman Catholic priest Jozef Tiso becoming the country's president. Under his rule, the country adopted strict anti-Jewish laws and deported some 75,000 Jews to Nazi death camps where some 68,000 perished. Tiso was sentenced to death and hanged in 1947.
Now, only about 5,000 Jews live in Slovakia, a largely Roman Catholic country of 5.5 million currently ruled by a four-party center-right coalition government. Just last week, the government formally apologized for the racial laws that stripped the country's Jews of their human and civil rights, prevented their access to education and authorized the transfer of their property to non-Jewish owners. Marking the 80th anniversary of the "Jewish Code" adopted on Sept 9, 1941, the government said in a statement Sept. 8 that it "feels a moral obligation today to publicly express sorrow over the crimes committed by the past regime." The code was considered one of the toughest anti-Jewish laws adopted in Europe during the war. Slovakia is now home to the far-right People's Party Our Slovakia, which has had members in Slovakia's Parliament since 2016. The party openly advocates the legacy of the Slovak Nazi puppet World War II state. Its members use Nazi salutes and want Slovakia out of the European Union and NATO.

Israeli PM to meet Sisi, in first official visit to Cairo in a decade
The Arab Weekly/September 13/2021
CAIRO--Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett is expected to meet Monday with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi for talks on Israeli-Palestinian relations and bilateral issues, Egypt’s presidency said, in the first official trip by an Israeli head of government to Egypt in a decade. Bennett, the head of a far-right party who took office in June, was invited to visit by Sisi last month and the two were due to meet in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh on the southern tip of Egypt’s Sinai peninsula. The discussions were expected to address “ways and efforts to revive the peace process” between Israel and the Palestinians, Egypt’s presidency said in a statement, as well as bilateral and regional matters. Peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians collapsed in 2014 and analysts say there is little prospect of reviving them. Bennett, a nationalist atop a cross-partisan coalition, opposes Palestinian statehood. One focus of Monday’s talks will be the situation in the Gaza Strip, where Egypt helped broker a ceasefire after 11 days of conflict in May between Israel and Hamas, the Palestinian faction that controls the enclave, diplomatic and security sources said. An uptick in cross-border violence since late August has tested the fragile truce. Over the past week, Palestinian militants have fired rockets into Israel for three nights in a row, drawing Israeli air strikes.
Iran’s influence
Bennett and Sisi were also expected to discuss regional issues, including Iran’s influence in the Middle East and the crisis in Lebanon, diplomats said. The trip appeared to give transport links between the two countries a boost. The Taba crossing between Israel and Sinai, an entry point for Israeli tourists, would become fully operational from Monday as restrictions put in place during the coronavirus pandemic were lifted, Israel’s transport ministry said. From October, Egyptair would begin operating several flights a week between Cairo and Tel Aviv, sources at the Egyptian national carrier said. Egypt became the first Arab country to sign a peace treaty with Israel in 1979 but relations have remained cool, restricted to security cooperation and limited economic links. Egypt’s brokering of the Gaza truce allowed it to reassert its diplomatic role in the region in the wake of deals by four Arab states to normalise ties with Israel last year. The last official visit by an Israeli prime minister to Egypt was when Benjamin Netanyahu met former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak in January 2011 in Sharm el-Sheikh, just before the uprising that toppled Mubarak.

Bennett on First Egypt Visit by Israeli PM Since 2011
Agence France Presse/September 13/2021
Israel's Naftali Bennett was to meet President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi on Monday, on the first visit to Egypt by an Israeli premier in over a decade, the presidency said. Sisi was to host Bennett in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh to discuss "efforts to revive the peace process" between the Israelis and Palestinians, presidential spokesman Bassam Radi said in a statement. Egypt, the Arab world's most populous country, in 1979 became the first Arab state to sign a peace treaty with Israel, after decades of enmity. In May, Cairo played a key role in brokering a ceasefire between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas that rules the Gaza Strip after 11 days of heavy fighting. Egypt regularly receives leaders of Hamas as well as of its political rival the Palestinian Authority led by Mahmud Abbas, while maintaining strong diplomatic, security and economic ties with Israel. Bennett's visit comes 10 days after Abbas was in Cairo for talks with Sisi. The last meeting between an Egyptian president and an Israeli prime minister dates back to January 2011 when Hosni Mubarak received Benjamin Netanyahu.

Israeli FM proposes development in exchange for Gaza ‘long term quiet’
The Arab Weekly/September 13/2021
JERUSALEM--Israel’s foreign minister has proposed improving living conditions in Gaza in exchange for calm from the enclave’s Hamas Islamist leaders, aiming to solve “never-ending rounds of violence” as the two sides exchanged fresh fire over the weekend. The plan, which includes infrastructure and employment benefits, aims to show Palestinians in the Israeli-blockaded enclave that Hamas’s campaign of violence against Israel is “why they live in conditions of poverty, scarcity, violence and high unemployment, without hope”, Yair Lapid said Sunday. He stressed that he was not calling for negotiations with Hamas, as “Israel doesn’t speak to terror organisations who want to destroy us”. Lapid, due to take over as premier in two years as part of a rotation agreement, conceded that his plan does not yet amount to official policy in Israel’s eight-party coalition government, but said it had support from Prime Minister Naftali Bennett. In the first stage of the plan, the infrastructure in Gaza, an impoverished territory of two million people, would receive a sorely needed upgrade, Lapid said in a speech at the Reichman University in Herzliya. “The electricity system will be repaired, gas will be connected, a water desalination plant will be built, significant improvements to the healthcare system and a rebuilding of housing and transport infrastructure will take place,” he said. “In exchange, Hamas will commit to long-term quiet,” he added, noting the international community would play a role in the process, especially Egypt, to Gaza’s south. “It won’t happen without the support and involvement of our Egyptian partners and without their ability to talk to everyone involved,” Lapid said. “Any breach by Hamas will stop the process or set it back,” he warned. If the first stage were to go smoothly, Gaza would then see the construction of an artificial island off its coast that would allow the construction of a port and a “transportation link” between Gaza and the West Bank would be created. Lapid said he had presented the plan to “partners in the Arab world,” as well as to the United States, Russia and the European Union. “There is still work to do, we’re still on the drawing board, but if this plan has a chance to succeed and gains widespread support, I’ll propose it to the government as the official position,” he said. Just hours after Lapid’s remarks, the spectre of renewed violence flared. The Israeli army said it had intercepted a rocket launched from Gaza towards southern Israel, the third such incident in as many days. Overnight Monday, Israel returned the attack, its fighter jets striking four Hamas military compounds and a tunnel in the Palestinian enclave, the Israeli army said in a statement. Israel and Hamas fought their last full-scale war in May, the fourth since 2008. The conflict ended in an Egyptian-brokered ceasefire. The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights said in late May that Israeli air strikes on the territory had resulted in “the widespread destruction of civilian infrastructure”.

Israel Hits Hamas Targets in Gaza in Response to Rocket Fire
Associated Press/September 13/2021
Israeli aircraft struck a series of targets in the Gaza Strip early Monday in response to a series of rocket launches out of the Hamas-ruled territory. It was the third consecutive night of fighting between the enemies. Tensions have been heightened following last week's escape from an Israeli prison by six Palestinian inmates, as well as struggling efforts by Egypt to broker a long-term cease-fire in the wake of an 11-day war last May. The Israeli military reported three separate rocket launches late Sunday and early Monday, saying at least two of them were intercepted by its rocket defenses. In response, it said it attacked a number of Hamas targets. There were no reports of casualties on either side. Over the weekend, Israel caught four of the six Palestinian inmates, who tunneled out of a maximum security prison on Sept. 6. Palestinian militants responded with rocket fire. Israel's search for the last two prisoners is continuing. Meanwhile, Egyptian-mediated efforts to deliver a long-term truce have struggled with the sides unable to agree on a system to renew Qatari payments to needy Gaza families. Israel has demanded guarantees that Hamas does not divert the money for military use. Gaza is an impoverished territory whose population is overwhelmingly comprised of families who fled or were forced from properties in what is now Israel during the war surrounding Israel's establishment in 1948. Hamas is pushing for Israel to end a crippling blockade that has devastated Gaza's economy, while Israel is demanding that Hamas free two captive Israeli civilians and return the remains of two dead Israeli soldiers. Hamas has controlled Gaza since ousting the forces of the internationally recognized Palestinian Authority in 2007, a year after the Islamic militant group won Palestinian parliamentary elections. Since then, Israel and Hamas have fought four wars and numerous smaller rounds of fighting.

Israeli Firm Unveils Armed Robot to Patrol Volatile Borders
Associated Press/September 13/2021
An Israeli defense contractor on Monday unveiled a remote-controlled armed robot it says can patrol battle zones, track infiltrators and open fire. The unmanned vehicle is the latest addition to the world of drone technology, which is rapidly reshaping the modern battlefield. Proponents say such semi-autonomous machines allow armies to protect their soldiers, while critics fear this marks another dangerous step toward robots making life-or-death decisions. The four-wheel-drive robot presented Monday was developed by the state-owned Israel Aerospace Industries' "REX MKII." It is operated by an electronic tablet and can be equipped with two machine guns, cameras and sensors, said Rani Avni, deputy head of the company's autonomous systems division. The robot can gather intelligence for ground troops, carry injured soldiers and supplies in and out of battle, and strike nearby targets. It is the most advanced of more than half a dozen unmanned vehicles developed by Aerospace Industries' subsidiary, ELTA Systems, over the past 15 years. The Israeli military is currently using a smaller but similar vehicle called the Jaguar to patrol the border with the Gaza Strip and help enforce a blockade Israel imposed in 2007, after the tiny territory was seized by the Islamic militant group Hamas. Gaza is home to 2 million Palestinians who have largely been locked in by the blockade, which is also supported to some extent by Egypt. The border area is the site of frequent protests and occasional attempts by Palestinian militants or desperate laborers to infiltrate into Israel. According to the Israeli army's website, the semi-autonomous Jaguar is equipped with a machine gun and was designed to reduce soldiers' exposure to the dangers of patrolling the volatile Gaza-Israel border. It is one of many tools, including drones armed with guided missiles, that have given the Israeli military vast technological superiority over Hamas. Unmanned ground vehicles are being increasingly used by other armies, including those of the United States, Britain and Russia. Their tasks include logistical support, the removal of mines and firing weapons.
The tablet can control the vehicle manually. But many of its functions, including its movement and surveillance system, can also run autonomously. "With every mission, the device collects more data which it then learns from for future missions," said Yonni Gedj, an operational expert in the company's robotics division. Critics have raised concerns that robotic weapons could decide on their own, perhaps erroneously, to shoot targets. The company says such capabilities exist but are not being offered to customers. "It is possible to make the weapon itself also autonomous, however, it is a decision of the user today," Avni said. "The maturity of the system or the user is not there yet." Bonnie Docherty, a senior researcher from the arms division of Human Rights Watch, said such weapons are worrisome because they can't be trusted to distinguish between combatants and civilians or make proper calls about the harm attacks may do to nearby civilians. "Machines cannot understand the value of human life, which in essence undermines human dignity and violates human rights laws," Docherty said. In a 2012 report, Docherty, a lecturer at Harvard Law School, called for fully automated weapons to be banned by international law.
The defense magazine Janes said the development of autonomous ground vehicles has lagged behind autonomous aircraft and boats because moving across land is far more complex than navigating water or air. Unlike the open ocean, vehicles have to deal with "holes in the road" and know exactly how much force to apply to overcome a physical obstacle, the report said. The technology in self-driving vehicles also has raised concerns. Electric car manufacturer Tesla, among other companies, has been connected to a series of fatal accidents, including an incident in Arizona in 2018 when a woman was hit by a car driving on autopilot.The Israeli drone vehicle is being showcased at this week's Defense and Security System International arms trade show in London.

Qatar Sends High-Level Delegation to Afghanistan
Associated Press/September 13/2021
The Middle Eastern State of Qatar, which has played an outsized role in Afghanistan since the Taliban's sweep to power on Aug. 15, has sent a delegation to Kabul. It is the highest diplomatic level delegation to visit the Afghan capital since the Taliban announced their interim Cabinet. Taliban political spokesman Suhail Shaheen tweeted Sunday about the high-level delegation, saying it included Sheikh Mohammad bin Abdur Rahman Al-Thani, the deputy prime minister who is also Qatar's foreign minister. He met with Taliban Prime Minister Mullah Mohammad Hasan Akhund. The Qatar delegation also met with former president Hamid Karzai and Abdullah Abdullah, the previous government's chief negotiator in peace talks with the Taliban. The Taliban have maintained a political office in the Qatar capital of Doha since 2013. Last week, Qatar Airways became the first international airline to begin operating international flights out of Kabul international airport, transporting more than 250 foreign nationals, including U.S. citizens, out of the capital. Qatar has also provided technical assistance, along with Turkey, to restart the airport, which had been damaged by departing U.S. troops who left Afghanistan on Aug. 30 after evacuating tens of thousands of Afghans fleeing the return of the Taliban.

Donors Voice Concerns over Taliban Rule as U.N. Seeks Funds
Associated Press/September 13/2021
Western governments and the U.N. human rights chief voiced concerns Monday about the Taliban's first steps as they establish power in Afghanistan. The United Nations, meanwhile, hosted a donors conference to drum up emergency funds for beleaguered Afghans who could soon face widespread hunger after decades of conflict. U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres was leading the world body's call for more than $600 million for the rest of this year in a "flash appeal" for Afghans after their country's government was toppled by the Taliban and U.S. and NATO forces exited the 20-year war in a chaotic departure.
There are concerns that instability and upended humanitarian efforts, compounded by an ongoing drought, could further endanger lives and plunge Afghanistan toward famine. The conference will put to the test some Western governments and other big traditional U.N. donors who want to help everyday Afghans without handing a public relations victory or cash to the Taliban, who ousted the internationally backed government in a lightning sweep. The U.N. says "recent developments" have increased the vulnerability of Afghans who have already been facing decades of deprivation and violence. A severe drought is jeopardizing the upcoming harvest, and hunger has been rising. The U.N.'s World Food Program is to be a major beneficiary of any funds collected during Monday's conference at which the U.N., along with its partners, is seeking $606 million for the rest of the year to help 11 million people. Coinciding with the conference in Geneva, the head of the U.N. refugee agency, Filippo Grandi, made a previously unannounced visit to Kabul. He wrote on Twitter that he would assess humanitarian needs and the situation of 3.5 million displaced Afghans — including over 500,000 who have been displaced this year alone.
Officials at UNHCR have expressed concerns that some people could try to seek refuge in what have been traditional havens for fleeing Afghans in neighboring Pakistan and Iran, which both have large populations of Afghans who had fled their country earlier to escape war and violence.
The Taliban seized power on Aug. 15, the day they overran Kabul after capturing outlying provinces in the blitz campaign. They initially promised inclusiveness and a general amnesty for former opponents, but many Afghans remain deeply fearful of the new rulers. Taliban police officials have beaten Afghan journalists, violently dispersed women's protests and formed an all-male government despite saying initially they would invite broader representation. The world has been watching closely to see how Afghanistan under a Taliban government might be different from the first time the Islamic militants were in power, in the late 1990s. During that era, the Taliban imposed a harsh rule of their interpretation of Islamic law. Girls and women were denied an education, and were excluded from public life.
The U.N. human rights chief, Michelle Bachelet, warned of a "new and perilous phase" for Afghanistan as she upbraided the Taliban for a disconnect between their words and actions. She said her office has received credible allegations of reprisal killings by the Taliban of former Afghan security forces, as well as instances in which officials in the previous government and their relatives were arbitrarily detained and later turned up dead. Bachelet cited "multiple" allegations of Taliban forces conducting house-to-house searches looking for specific officials in the previous government and people who cooperated with U.S. forces and companies. She said that over the last three weeks, women have instead been progressively excluded from the public sphere — in contradiction to Taliban assertions to respect women's rights. German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas, speaking to the council, said the world has a "moral obligation" to continue helping the Afghan people — and said Germany would be "significantly stepping up" its humanitarian aid for Afghanistan. But he also suggested such aid would only continue if rights are respected.
"We demand from the Taliban that they respect basic human rights, particularly the rights of women and girls," Maas said, saying that would be a "benchmark for us and our partners in determining our future engagement with a new Afghan government — including for possible development assistance."
He also criticized the Taliban's decision to exclude other groups from their recently announced interim government, saying it was "not the right signal" for international cooperation and stability in Afghanistan. Also on Monday, a Pakistan International Airlines plane charted by the World Bank landed at Kabul's airport to evacuate more people, according to Abullah Hafeez Khan, a spokesman for the airline. Pakistan has halted commercial flights to Kabul because of security reasons, and the airline has no plans so far to resume commercial flights. Last Thursday, an estimated 200 foreigners, including Americans, left Afghanistan on a Qatar Airways flight out of Kabul with the cooperation of the Taliban — the first such large-scale departure since U.S. forces completed their frantic withdrawal on Aug. 30. Many thousands of Afghans remain desperate to get out, too, afraid of what Taliban rule might hold. The Taliban have repeatedly said foreigners and Afghans with proper travel documents could leave. But their assurances have been met with skepticism, and many Afghans have been unable to obtain certain paperwork. Abdul Hadi Hamdani, head of Kabul's airport, said Monday that all domestic flights were back to their regular schedule but that "some technical problems need to be solved" before international flights can resume. Members of the border police who previously worked at the airport have been called back to resume their duties.

Kadhimi seeks Iran’s help to keep militias on tight leash before elections
The Arab Weekly/September 13/2021
TEHRAN/ BAGHDAD--Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi sought, during an official visit to Tehran, Sunday, to secure Iranian support towards keeping Shia militias on a tight leash so as to prevent these radical factions from playing a spoiler role during parliamentary elections, scheduled for October 10.
Kadhimi is wary that the presence of armed militias beyond the authority of the state could wreak havoc on the forthcoming elections. His main fear appears to be that these militias could try to assassinate electoral candidates who are independent from the traditional parties that have dominated the Iraqi scene since 2003. Independent candidates argue that large Shia and Sunni parties cannot provide solutions to the country’s dilemmas. They are therefore presenting themselves as an acceptable alternative in the political process. It is expected that 110 political parties and 22 electoral alliances will take part in October’s election. Independents could for the first time be a determining factor in the outcome. Shia militias have long been accused of targeting activists with kidnappings and killings. The fear of assassination is growing, especially among the large number of independent candidates. These independents, who some hope will change the face of parliament, are also considered to be the weakest link in the electoral process. The opposition has called for the commemoration of the second anniversary of the October uprising with further mass demonstrations in all Iraqi provinces on October 1, that is just days before the parliamentary elections. A source close to the Iraqi government described Kadhimi’s visit to Tehran as an attempt to ensure Iranian support for his wish to keep rogue militias under strict control before and during the elections.The source, who declined to be named, told The Arab Weekly that Kadhimi asked Iran, during the visit, which it described as “important”, not to allow the militias to target independent candidates. Kadhimi is seeking a formula that does not provoke Iran but maintains stability, especially by guaranteeing the prerequisites of the electoral process and its integrity in the eyes of international monitors. Baghdad hopes to put in place strict security measures to prevent the infiltration of the voting system by rogue elements who could contemplate irregularities and fraud .
Iraqi political analyst Jabbar al-Mashhadani said that Kadhimi’s visit to Iran failed to achieve any political, security or economic goals. He told The Arab Weekly that “the calculations of Iran’s revolution and the Supreme Leader are achieved on the ground through means of military force and political pressure they usually exert in four regional capitals. They do not need guarantees from the head of a government whose mandate will end in three weeks. If Kadhimi is unable to prevent the bombing of Erbil Airport, how can he guarantee any political achievement?”Political analysts agree that the issues on the agenda of the talks between Kadhimi and the Iranian leaders were many and complex. They believe Kadhimi was likely, during talks in Tehran, to have been brought into the picture regarding the militias’ designs to expand their influence in Iraq to key parts of the state. They say it was only natural that Kadhimi also told the Iranians of the Iraqi public’s fears of the growing encroachment by the militias into economic life through pressures on merchants, especially those with ties to Iran such as currency dealers. Kadhimi official visit to Iran was his first visit since Iran’s President Ibrahim Raisi took office in August. During a press conference with Kadhimi, the Iranian president said his country wanted to strengthen ties with Iraq. He also said an agreement was reached to cancel the requirement for entry visas between Iran and Iraq. The Iraqi prime minister said, “We discussed a set of bilateral issues, including the railway connection and increasing trade exchange between the two countries.” Despite the economic character of the talks which official statements sought to present, most experts said Kadhimi’s visit was “essentially political” and was aimed at ensuring the best conditions for next month’s election. Mashhadani added, ” Kadhimi wants to achieve a single goal, which is to market the idea that he is the right man for the next Iraqi government, as he is able to charm the snakes, bring together major regional countries, skilfully solve the region’s crises, bring the Americans together with the Iranians, reconcile Saudi Arabia with Iran and also, being a seasoned economist, transform Iraq’s economy into an open market system.”Mashhadani ruled out that the militias would abide by the decisions of the Iraqi prime minister. “Some factions no longer obey all instructions issued to them from Tehran, so how can they abide by orders given by those who cannot protect their own government buildings in the Green Zone?,” he asked.

Tebboune era consecrates primordial role of the army in Algeria
The Arab Weekly/September 13/2021
ALGIERS--The military institution in Algeria has regained its influence and gradually begun to control the levers of the state, after years of sidelining. Although recently, many decisions were attributed to President Abdelmajid Tebboune, the imprint of the military on decision-making was evident. In politics and propaganda, it stands centre-stage. The presence of the armed forces has at times even overshadowed the place of Tebboune. The recent decisions, relating to important changes in key positions of the army, came in brief statements attributed to President Tebboune. But analysts say the real actors remained behind the scene, so as not to conflict with the constitution and there was no doubt about growing role of the army in managing public affairs. Hence it was announced that Tebboune had removed a number of senior military officers, including from the information, documentation and military health departments. There were also reports of a probe being opened into the activities of the former director of foreign intelligence, General Mohamed Bouzit. The investigation raised again the issue of shifting balances within the military institution. Algeria experts attribute Bouzit’s disgrace to military and intelligence top brass as part of ongoing internecine conflicts. Local reports said the arrest of Bouzit came after he was investigated by the army security services on suspicion of corruption, abuse of power and dissemination of false information prejudicial to national security. Based on Algeria’s military legislation, the charges could carry “heavy” sentences. General Mohamed Bouzit, a.k.a. “Youssef”, had overseen the external security department after 2013, before being removed from office and then reinstated in 2017 and given additional responsibility as presidential adviser in charge of the Libyan issue. Lack of coordination between the diplomatic and intelligence agencies is said to have adversely have affected Algeria’s performance in the Libyan crisis.
The armed forces have gone through profound changes since 2018 as various factions jockeyed for power and influence. The late Chief of Staff, General Ahmed Gaid Salah, tried to appoint loyalists in key positions to back his policies, especially in dealing with the political demands of the popular protest movement, known as the Hirak. But the loyalists’ influence has ebbed since the death of their mentor Gaid Salah, in December 2019. Tebboune’s accession to the presidency reinforced the influence of the army as he took advantage of his predecessors’ inability to deal with the protest movement. Tebboune himself relies more on the legitimacy of the military than on a mandate from Algerian voters. After the fall of Ahmed Gaid Salah’s faction and the rise of the more “hawkish'” faction within the power structure with the return of its historic symbols, former Minister of Defence Khaled Nizar and former intelligence chief Mohamed Mediene (Taoufik), there was speculation that the Hirak could benefit from the wide gap between the competing factions. But the growing influence of the army proved a red line regardless of divisions with the military establishment. The forest fires that recently swept through Algeria’s Kabylie region were followed by the dismissal of the Gendarmerie Commander, General Noureddine Gouasmia and his replacement by Yahia Ali Oulhaj. Shortly before that, the secretary-general of the Ministry of Defence, General Abdelhamid Ghris, was removed from office. He was then investigated and sent to the military prison of Blida. He was accused of involvement in a network that worked to spread hate speech and undermine inter-communal cohesion and national unity, as part of what was known as the “Novemberian Badisia Network,” which has been accused of working on social media to stir up regionalist and ethnic strife between Berber and Arab groups. Members of the network included high-ranking officers close to Ahmed Gaid Salah.

Military seen on the ascendency in Sudan’s power structure
The Arab Weekly/September 13/2021
KHARTOUM--More than two years after Sudan’s power-sharing deal was inked, analysts say the role of civilian leaders is receding while the army remains dominant.
Sudan’s military ousted and detained long-time autocrat Omar al-Bashir in April 2019 after months of mass protests against his rule. The country’s powerful generals and key civil society factions signed a deal four months later for a civilian government and legislature to spearhead the post-Bashir transition. A “sovereign council” of military and civilian figures would constitute the ruling body. But the legislative assembly has yet to materialise and splits have deepened within the Forces for Freedom and Change (FFC), the main civilian alliance which led the anti-Bashir protests. Support for Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok’s transitional government of technocrats has waned, in large part due to economic reforms that have taken a heavy toll on many Sudanese households. Moreover, delays in delivering justice to the families of those killed under Bashir and even during the 2019 protests following his ouster, have left the government open to further criticism. “Foot-dragging by the military on key aspects of the transition … has stunted progress,” said Jonas Horner of the International Crisis Group. “Internal divisions and a dearth of capacity have hurt the civilians’ ability to keep the transition ticking over,” he added. The 2019 accord initially outlined a three-year transition, but that period was reset when Sudan signed a peace deal with an alliance of rebel groups last October. The military and civilian camps only work “in sync sporadically”, Horner said.“The military has effectively retained its power.”
Military encroachment
Horner said forming the transitional legislative council “would be key to initiating oversight over the military”. “But both security forces and older political parties, concerned about a dilution of their current powers, have blocked this crucial reform.”The military has been heavily involved in foreign policy decisions since the power-sharing deal. Last year, Sudan announced plans to normalise ties with Israel as the US agreed to remove Khartoum from Washington’s state sponsors of terror blacklist. The Sudanese decision upended a policy in place since the 1967 Arab-Israeli Six-Day War, said Omar al-Digeir, a leader in the FFC civilian alliance. The transitional government signed the accord in January during a visit by Washington’s Treasury chief and simultaneously obtained US financial aid. Government officials have said the deal would come into effect only after the approval of the yet-to-be formed legislature. According to analyst Magdi el-Gizouli of the Rift Valley Institute think tank, “the re-orientation of Sudan’s foreign policy since Bashir was outlined by the military”. It also “translated into closer ties with the US”. The military has also been key to agreeing to peace deals with rebel groups. A senior member of the ruling council, Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, known as Hemeti, commander of a feared paramilitary force, signed last October’s peace deal with a key rebel alliance on behalf of Khartoum. Talks this year with a holdout rebel group also involved senior military figures.
Military expert Amin Ismail said civilian participation in peace talks with the rebels was “limited”. “They left the issue completely to the military.”
Dominant role
The military also dominates lucrative companies specialising in everything from agriculture to infrastructure projects. Hamdok said last year that 80 percent of the country’s public resources were “outside the finance ministry’s control”, without specifying the proportion controlled by the army. A military source who requested anonymity told AFP that the involvement of civilians in any military affairs remains a “highly sensitive” issue. “Recent civilian calls for security sector reforms may accordingly continue to face resistance,” the source added. Civilian leaders and former rebel factions have been pushing for reforms that include integrating paramilitaries and armed groups into the armed forces. According to Digeir from the FFC civilian alliance, the 2019 power-sharing accord failed to specify who would be overseeing the security reforms. “Instead, it was left to be shared between both sides,” he said. Horner said the transitional deal demands that civilians “ultimately exercise oversight of the military”. “But there has been no sign of military will to step away from their dominant role in the country,” he added.

The Latest LCCC English analysis & editorials published on September 13-14/2021
What Should the World Expect of Gifting Afghanistan to Fundamentalists?
Hamid Bahrami/Gatestone Institute/September 13/2021
The Taliban, by trying to introduce themselves as "moderate," also appear to be playing "good cop, bad cop" regarding Islamic State Khorasan Province (IS-K), presumably to get international support and recognition. The West should be skeptical. As long as the Taliban and other terror groups, whether Shi'ite or Sunni, have not changed ideologically, they will remain a significant threat to the US and the Free World.
Although the Taliban pledged to protect future US economic interests on Afghan soil by vowing that it would not allow other groups to form and organize terrorist attacks against the US and its allies, this promise will probably last only as long as the US keeps complying with the Taliban's blackmail demands regarding the US hostages and co-workers Biden abandoned.
The newly formed government consists of acting interior minister, Sirajuddin Haqqani, who has a $10 million bounty on his head , is on the FBI's Most Wanted List, and whose family are longtime supporters of al-Qaeda; and four of the senior commanders are terrorists whom former President Barack Obama released from Guantanamo Bay in exchange for US Army deserter Bowe Bergdahl.
Reports have also begun questioning if Biden's surrender of Afghanistan with not a trace of resistance – including the great Bagram airbase and nearly as much military aid as the US has provided to Israel since 1948 -- might have been deliberate in view of China's "investment" of $1.5 billion in Biden's son, Hunter, when Biden was vice-president, as well as for possible future returns.
A few key questions remain unanswered: Has America, in seeking coordination with a terror group against which it fought for years, ended its own supremacy? Is America about to cap the horror by officially recognizing a state run by known terrorists, armed to the teeth with America's finest military equipment, and who seem to have every intention of establishing a terrorist state?
Another question is the geostrategic factor, if any, of the West's position in the future of Afghanistan, Central Asia and the Free World?
So far, the main losers in Afghanistan disaster, apart from the US and the Free World, are the people of Afghanistan, especially those who helped the US and found themselves betrayed, and the women who for 20 years, thanks to the US and its allies, had for the first time known freedom.
The Taliban, by trying to introduce themselves as "moderate," also appear to be playing "good cop, bad cop" regarding Islamic State Khorasan Province (IS-K), presumably to get international support and recognition. The West should be skeptical. As long as the Taliban and other terror groups, whether Shi'ite or Sunni, have not changed ideologically, they will remain a significant threat to the US and the Free World. Pictured: Taliban gunmen patrol a road Kabul, Afghanistan on September 9, 2021. (Photo by Wakil Kohsar/AFP via Getty Images)
The team that assisted former President Barack Obama to destabilize the Middle East in Syria, Libya and Yemen, the instability of Egypt, the surrender of Iraq to Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and the annexation of Crimea to Russia, apparently wishes to go the same route in Central Asia by gifting this strategic region to Shi'ite and Sunni Islamic fundamentalists.
The election of President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris may be giving onlookers around the world a sinking feeling that we could see the same collapse happen again in Afghanistan and, as the Kabul airport suicide attack signalled, that Afghanistan has again become a center for narcotics, violence, terror and hostage-taking.
Last week, six privately chartered planes, reportedly carrying Americans, were lined up on the tarmac waiting to leave, but were prevented for days with spurious excuses of insufficient vetting by the US State Department -- who seem blithe enough not vetting the anticipated 2,000,000 migrants flooding across America's southern border this year -- as well as the Taliban. Countless asylum seekers are apparently trying to escape the country while an extremist group swallows Afghanistan and an unknown number of betrayed civilians remain trapped at the heart of danger.
Although the withdrawal from Afghanistan is reportedly a bipartisan policy in the US there are still those who see America's pullout as a "catastrophic mistake." If you look at "nation building" done so well in Germany, Japan and South Korea, and at twenty years of advancement for women in Afghanistan -- and at keeping a small footprint for on-the-ground intelligence and access to in Central Asia to protect America and the West -- the continued presence of a small contingent at a relatively low risk would seem extremely worthwhile. Add to that the advantage of maintaining a forward-positioned listening-post for less-than-friendly countries that neighbor Afghanistan, such as China, Pakistan, former Soviet bloc nations, and Iran. Now, post-pullout, the closest airports from which the US can easily reach Central Asia are located at the Persian Gulf and require at least an eight-hour flight.
Importantly, intelligence reports had warned President Biden about a rapid, total collapse of the Afghan military and the Kabul government.
Former President Donald J. Trump had also hoped to withdraw from Afghanistan; his planning, however, had entailed specific conditions, based upon the behavior of the Taliban, and "retaining control of Bagram Air Base until all Americans were withdrawn from Afghanistan," according to Kash Patel, former chief of staff to Acting Defense Secretary Christopher Miller in the Trump Administration:
"The overarching theme was a conditions-based withdrawal, whereby the U.S. military would leave Afghanistan in increments if the Taliban met clear conditions....Among other things, the Taliban were required to reject and repudiate Al Qaeda, and would have to negotiate in good faith. The U.S. would also maintain a special operations contingent in place, and would retain the capacity to launch air strikes under specific circumstances."
Trump had also reportedly planned to keep a residual intelligence force in Afghanistan as was done in Syria.
Currently, China is reportedly in talks, which they strenuously deny, to take over the Bagram airbase, conveniently situated near Russia's former "Stans", Iran, Pakistan and China's Xinjiang province, home to its persecuted Turkic Uyghurs. Bagram's central location enabled intelligence gathering and proximity to these countries. If China succeeds in occupying the airbase, Biden -- despite purported efforts to withdraw from Afghanistan to focus more on Beijing -- will instead have provided CCP Chairman Xi Jinping with the run of the region.
Reports have also begun questioning if Biden's surrender of Afghanistan with not a trace of resistance, might have been deliberate in view of China's "investment" of $1.5 billion in Biden's son, Hunter, when Biden was vice-president, as well as for possible future returns.
President Biden could hardly have organized a worse retreat if he had tried. The withdrawal began in the middle of the summer fighting season rather than in the winter when the Taliban relocate to Pakistan. The military was evacuated before Americans or their allies; $85 billion of America's most advanced weaponry -- worth nearly as much as the military aid the US has provided to Israel since 1948 -- instead of being destroyed, was left for the enemy; kill-lists were provided to the enemy of names, often with biometric data, of Americans and their allies -- now targets to be tortured, killed or held hostage; there was no consultation with America's NATO and European allies, who had not even been informed of the US pullout, and no one destroyed the US embassy before abandoning it. Worse, no one seemed then, or seems now, to threaten the Taliban with reprisals if any American or ally is hurt. Americans have been relying for protection on the word of terrorists who have been trying to kill them for more than twenty years, were beating Americans at the airport, and allowed a suicide bomber to blow up nearly 200 gathered there, including 13 US servicemen.
The US is now announcing that it could "work with" these terrorists, send them billions of dollars and possibly recognize them as a legitimate government. The Taliban, for their part -- going from house to house raping women and girls, hunting down journalists, and slaughtering Christians, Americans and their allies -- have been trying to claim that they are now "moderate".
The newly formed government actually consists of acting interior minister, Sirajuddin Haqqani, who has a $10 million bounty on his head , is on the FBI's Most Wanted List, and whose family are longtime supporters of al-Qaeda; and four of the senior commanders are terrorists whom former President Barack Obama released from Guantanamo Bay in exchange for US Army deserter Bowe Bergdahl.
Even if the Taliban remain committed to some professed peace agreement with the US, terror groups such as the IRGC or IS will doubtless have access to this military equipment. Biden's policy in Afghanistan only gives a green light to other fundamentalist groups. One can expect a considerable growth of Islamism in the region.
Today, all extremist groups including the Taliban, Al-Qaeda, IS, Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and its proxies, seeing America at its self-inflicted weakest, can only feel empowered and emboldened.
Republican Congressman Jim Banks warned that the Taliban currently has access to $85 billion advanced weapons including 75,000 vehicles, 200 airplanes and helicopters, and 600,000 small arms and light weapons, courtesy of gold-star families and US taxpayers.
The Taliban and other Sunni terrorist organizations now have access to all that potentially to use against the US, its allies, or send to adversaries of the US in Russia, China and Iran to reverse-engineer.
It also appears that President Biden or his administration had fully trusted the former Afghan president, Ashraf Ghani. This US surrender to the Taliban is an expensive lesson on how a superpower relies on a terror group for securing its soldiers.
Meanwhile, President Biden is calling the pullout an "extraordinary success."
Some critics believe that the Biden administration intentionally left these weapons behind for the Taliban in contrast to when the US had bombed its military equipment before leaving Northern Syria in 2019. The supposition, apparently, was that the Biden administration had decided to hand over the country to the Taliban in the Quixotic hope that China and Russia – both of which had voted "abstain" on a UN Security Council resolution pressuring the Taliban -- would confront terror groups in Afghanistan.
Now what? Islamic fundamentalist groups ideologically seem to consider the West -- but not China or and Russia -- an enemy. In a speech at the RUSI security think tank, former British Prime Minister Tony Blair said that "Islamism, both the ideology and the violence, is a first order security threat and, unchecked, it will come to us, even if centred far from us, as 9/11 demonstrated."
Unfortunately, some Western officials and liberal mainstream media conveniently disregard this probability. CNN reporter, Clarissa Ward, for instance, called the Taliban's fighters friendly to the US and her. BBC also reported that the Taliban had called for good relations with the US. Unfortunately, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson told members of parliament that he believed the Taliban were different from when the group ruled Afghanistan in the 1990s, even though all evidence seems to be pointing the other way.
The newly formed government consists of acting interior minister, Sirajuddin Haqqani, who has a $10 million bounty on his head , is on the FBI's Most Wanted List, and whose family are longtime supporters of al-Qaeda; and four of the senior commanders are terrorists whom former President Barack Obama released from Guantanamo Bay in exchange for US Army deserter Bowe Bergdahl.
The Taliban leadership, meanwhile, seem to have taken a tip from Iran's mullahs, and have been marketing themselves as what they know the West loves to hear: that the terrorists responsible for 9/11 and other atrocities have reformed and are now a kinder, gentler Taliban. This kinder, gentler Taliban released from prison in Bagram 5,000 inmates, including some members of Islamic State (IS), who are now roaming freely wherever they like and are reputed to be responsible for the attack that murdered the 13 US servicemen and nearly 200 Afghanis outside Kabul airport in August.
The Taliban also appear to be playing "good cop, bad cop" regarding Islamic State Khorasan Province (IS-K), presumably to get international support and recognition. The West should be skeptical. As long as the Taliban and other terror groups, whether Shi'ite or Sunni, have not changed ideologically, they will remain a significant threat to the US and the Free World.
Any official recognition, which the Taliban may now be demanding in exchange for releasing American hostages, will only embolden other Islamic and terrorist groups worldwide -- including the Muslim Brotherhood and its supporter, the Qatari government -- to destabilize their countries, as well as place a bounty on the head of any American traveling abroad.
A few key questions remain unanswered: Has America, in seeking coordination with a terror group against which it fought for years, ended its own supremacy? Is America about to cap the horror by officially recognizing a state run by known terrorists, armed to the teeth with America's finest military equipment, and who seem to have every intention of establishing a terrorist state?
Another question is the geostrategic factor, if any, of the West's position in the future of Afghanistan, Central Asia and the Free World.
With the prospect of an intensifying Sino-US rivalry in the coming decades, the shadow of the geopolitical conflict over Afghanistan between these superpowers, despite the US surrender, might well remain. Although the Taliban pledged to protect future US economic interests on Afghan soil by vowing that it would not allow other groups to form and organize terrorist attacks against the US and its allies, this promise will probably last only as long as the US keeps complying with the Taliban's blackmail demands regarding the US hostages and co-workers Biden abandoned.
The unlikely "stability" that Washington no doubt desires for its upcoming mid-term elections in 2022 will be met with the growth of Islamic fundamentalism in Afghanistan and beyond. By contrast, the relative stability after the US pullout provides China with the opportunity to develop its excavation of rare earth minerals, such as lithium, as well as to expand its Belt and Road Initiative – both huge loss for India and the West. China will most likely be able to cope with the Taliban regime's support for about 12 million Uyghurs in China, concentrated in its Xinjiang province.
The Uyghurs in China have been subjected to a state campaign of mass detention, surveillance, forced labor, and, according to some accounts sterilization, torture, rape and even genocide. Beijing, moreover, does not have the West's moral commitment to provide a warm future for the new regime in Kabul.
Considering the proxy influence of Pakistan, Russia, Saudi Arabia and Iran among the Islamist sects of Afghanistan and Central Asia, we should expect that if these countries' interests require, they will move towards activating these satellite groups in Afghanistan against each other, as Washington has lost all access and intelligence and influence. The IRGC, for instance, may be planning to build its own Shi'ite proxy and exploit the situation to develop Shi'ite fundamentalism for possible clashes with IS or the Taliban.
The Taliban and other terror groups might be used as Trojan horses to force out rivals, as Pakistan and its Inter-Services Intelligence agency (ISI), are currently doing with India. Delhi had sought influence in Afghanistan by investing millions of dollars in the country's reconstruction plans. Strengthening India's political influence in Afghanistan would pave the way for its economic, social and cultural influence as well as helping anti-Pakistan movements in Afghanistan. Now that the Taliban are in charge there, India does not have many levers to secure its interests there. The Taliban have close ties to anti-Hindu groups such as Lashkar-e-Taiba. One of its leaders, Suhail Shaheen, recently said that the group raises voice for Muslims in "Kashmir, India or any other country." Pakistan and India had evidently transferred their conflicts in Kashmir to Afghanistan and were pursuing their threats against each other in Afghanistan at a lower cost. So far, the main losers in Afghanistan disaster, apart from the US and the Free World, are the people of Afghanistan, especially those who helped the US and found themselves betrayed, and the women who for 20 years, thanks to the US and its allies, had for the first time known freedom.
Whether the situation is reversible or not depends upon the policy of the US leadership regarding the Far East. At present, all policies appear in disarray.
*Hamid Bahrami is an independent Middle East analyst based in Glasgow, Scotland. He tweets at @HaBahrami
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