KABUL: China has signed security and economic agreements with Afghanistan during a rare trip to Kabul by a top Chinese official, in deals seen aimed at bolstering Beijing’s influence ahead of a NATO withdrawal of most combat forces by 2014.
Zhou Yongkang, China’s domestic security chief and a member of the ruling Communist Party’s central Politburo, made an unannounced visit to the Afghan capital late on Saturday, holding talks with Afghan President Hamid Karzai at his garden palace.
Zhou’s visit was the first to Afghanistan by a senior Chinese leader since 1966 and followed a visit by Karzai to Beijing in June.
During the talks, held under tight security after violent protests in Kabul over a film which insults Islam, Zhou signed agreements on increased security and economic cooperation, including a deal to help “train, fund and equip Afghan police.”
The agreement was not specific on how much assistance China planned to give the 149,000-strong police force, which is currently trained by the NATO-led coalition.
“It is in line with the fundamental interests of the two peoples for China and Afghanistan to strengthen a strategic and cooperative partnership which is also conducive to regional peace, stability and development,” Zhou said.
Resource-hungry China, which has a small border with Afghanistan in the country’s mountainous north-eastern corridor, is keen to invest in Afghan resource deposits worth as much as $1 trillion, based on US Pentagon estimates.
Chinese state-owned miner China Metallurgical Group (MCC) operates the $3 billion Aynak copper mine in eastern Logar province, which has been subject to rocket attacks and other raids by insurgent groups.
MCC won the contract to develop Aynak in 2008 and it was originally scheduled to begin production in 2013, but work has been delayed by the discovery of a huge and significant archaeological site in the area.
Zhou’s visit underscores the concern in Beijing about a deterioration in security as the NATO presence in Afghanistan winds down. It also comes after Karzai last week voiced concern about strategic pacts signed with the US earlier this year ahead of talks starting in three weeks’ time on a continued US troop presence in Afghanistan beyond 2014.
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Beijing inks security deal with Kabul
Beijing inks security deal with Kabul
FBI fires more agents who worked on Trump classified document investigation
WASHINGTON: The FBI has fired additional agents who worked on an investigation into President Donald Trump, this time terminating employees who participated in the probe into the Republican’s hoarding of classified documents, people familiar with the matter said Wednesday.
The firings are part of a broader personnel purge under the leadership of Director Kash Patel, a Trump appointee who, over the last year, has pushed out dozens of employees who either contributed to investigations of the president or who were perceived as not in alignment with the administration’s agenda. The Justice Department has engaged in similarly sweeping firings of prosecutors since Trump took office last year.
The FBI Agents Association condemned the firings as unlawful and endangering national security.
“These actions weaken the Bureau by stripping away critical expertise and destabilizing the workforce, undermining trust in leadership and jeopardizing the Bureau’s ability to meet its recruitment goals — ultimately putting the nation at greater risk,” the association said in a statement.
The latest round of terminations included employees who helped investigate Trump’s retention of classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago resort, a case that involved a high-profile FBI search of the Florida property and resulted in a federal prosecution charging the now-president with holding onto top-secret records from his first term in office and obstructing government efforts to get them back.
The firings were confirmed to The Associated Press by multiple people familiar with the matter who spoke on anonymity because they could not publicly discuss the personnel moves. Several of the people said a total of 10 employees were fired, and one said at least 10 were fired.
The FBI has also fired agents who participated in a separate investigation into Trump’s efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election. That investigation also led to criminal charges, but like the Mar-a-Lago case, was abandoned by special counsel Jack Smith after Trump won the White House in November 2024 because of longstanding Justice Department legal opinions that say sitting presidents cannot be indicted.
The firings were revealed on the same day that Patel was quoted as telling Reuters the FBI during the Biden administration had subpoenaed his phone records and those of current White House chief of staff Susie Wiles. Patel said the action had occurred in 2022 and 2023 when they were private citizens.
Patel was subpoenaed by federal prosecutors in 2022 to testify before a grand jury in Washington in the Mar-a-Lago investigation, and appeared after being given immunity, the AP has previously reported.
The firings are part of a broader personnel purge under the leadership of Director Kash Patel, a Trump appointee who, over the last year, has pushed out dozens of employees who either contributed to investigations of the president or who were perceived as not in alignment with the administration’s agenda. The Justice Department has engaged in similarly sweeping firings of prosecutors since Trump took office last year.
The FBI Agents Association condemned the firings as unlawful and endangering national security.
“These actions weaken the Bureau by stripping away critical expertise and destabilizing the workforce, undermining trust in leadership and jeopardizing the Bureau’s ability to meet its recruitment goals — ultimately putting the nation at greater risk,” the association said in a statement.
The latest round of terminations included employees who helped investigate Trump’s retention of classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago resort, a case that involved a high-profile FBI search of the Florida property and resulted in a federal prosecution charging the now-president with holding onto top-secret records from his first term in office and obstructing government efforts to get them back.
The firings were confirmed to The Associated Press by multiple people familiar with the matter who spoke on anonymity because they could not publicly discuss the personnel moves. Several of the people said a total of 10 employees were fired, and one said at least 10 were fired.
The FBI has also fired agents who participated in a separate investigation into Trump’s efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election. That investigation also led to criminal charges, but like the Mar-a-Lago case, was abandoned by special counsel Jack Smith after Trump won the White House in November 2024 because of longstanding Justice Department legal opinions that say sitting presidents cannot be indicted.
The firings were revealed on the same day that Patel was quoted as telling Reuters the FBI during the Biden administration had subpoenaed his phone records and those of current White House chief of staff Susie Wiles. Patel said the action had occurred in 2022 and 2023 when they were private citizens.
Patel was subpoenaed by federal prosecutors in 2022 to testify before a grand jury in Washington in the Mar-a-Lago investigation, and appeared after being given immunity, the AP has previously reported.
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