KABUL: Protesters have shut down three border crossings and a number of election offices in northern Afghanistan as anti-government protests entered their 10th day on Friday, officials and locals said.
The closure of the border crossings has led to substantial price hikes in many parts of the country, with more than 2,000 trucks loaded with goods being blocked by protesters.
This comes amid ethnic tensions, deep rifts within the government, more frequent attacks by the Taliban, and long-delayed parliamentary elections scheduled for October.
The protests began in the northwest Faryab province on July 3 after the government arrested an ethnic Uzbek factional commander, Nizamuddin Qaisari, who serves as a police officer and is loyal to exiled First Vice President Abdul Rashid Dostum.
Protesters attacked government institutions, and demonstrations soon spread to other Uzbek-populated parts of the north. They closed down election offices in three provinces, as Dostum had demanded if the government did not free Qaisari, local officials said.
“These (closed) border crossings are important in terms of exports and imports,” Siyamuddin Psarlai, director of public relations at the Afghan Chamber of Commerce, told Arab News.
“Traders have incurred a loss of $5-$7 million as a result of this. Prices have gone up already, and if this isn’t dealt with there will be further increases.”
Protesters also briefly closed various roads in the north, and blocked the main highway that links Kabul and much of the south and east of the country through the Salang tunnel.
Protests against Afghan govt enter 10th day
Protests against Afghan govt enter 10th day
- The protests began in the northwest Faryab province on July 3 after the government arrested an ethnic Uzbek factional commander, Nizamuddin Qaisari
- Prices have gone up already, and if this isn’t dealt with there will be further increases
US Justice Department official eyes cases against Cuba leaders as Trump floats ‘friendly takeover’
- “Working group” formed to build cases against people connected to the Cuban government
- Trump’s has increasingly displayed aggressive stance against Cuba’s communist leadership
MIAMI: The top Justice Department prosecutor in Miami is considering criminal investigations of Cuban government officials, according to people familiar with the matter. The inquiry comes as President Donald Trump has raised the possibility of a “friendly takeover” of the communist-run island.
Jason Reding Quiñones, the US attorney for the Southern District of Florida, has created a “working group” that includes federal prosecutors and officials from the Drug Enforcement Administration and other agencies to try to build cases against people connected to the Cuban government and its Communist Party, according to one of the people. They spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to publicly discuss the effort.
It was not immediately clear which Cuban officials the office is targeting or what criminal charges prosecutors may be looking to bring.
The Justice Department said in a statement Friday that “federal prosecutors from across the country work every day to pursue justice, which includes efforts to combat transnational crime.”
The effort is taking place against the backdrop of Trump’s increasingly aggressive stance against Cuba’s communist leadership.
Emboldened by the US capture of Cuba’s close ally, Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, Trump last month said his administration was in high-level talks with officials in Havana to pursue “a friendly takeover” of the country. He repeated those claims this week, saying his attention would turn back to Cuba once the war with Iran winds down.
“They want to make a deal so bad,” Trump said of Cuba’s leadership.
While Cuba has faded from Washington’s radar as a major national security threat in recent decades, it remains a priority in the US Attorney’s office in Miami, whose political, economic and cultural life is dominated by Cuban-American exiles.
The FBI field office has a dedicated Cuba group that in 2024 was instrumental in the arrest of former US Ambassador Victor Manuel Rocha on charges of serving as a secret agent of Cuba stretching back to the 1970s.
In recent weeks, several Miami Republicans, in addition to Florida Sen. Rick Scott, have called on the Trump administration to reopen its criminal investigation into the 1996 shootdown of four planes operated by anti-communist exiles.
In a letter to Trump on Feb. 13, lawmakers including Reps. Maria Elvira Salazar and Carlos Gimenez highlighted decades-old news reports indicating that former President Raúl Castro — the head of Cuba’s military at the time — gave the order to shoot down the unarmed Cessna aircraft.
“We believe unequivocally that Raúl Castro is responsible for this heinous crime,” lawmakers wrote. “It is time for him to be brought to justice.”
While no indictment against Castro has been announced, Florida’s attorney general said this week that he would open a state-level investigation into the crime.
The Trump administration has also accused Cuba of not cooperating with American counterterrorism efforts, adding it alongside North Korea and Iran to a select few nations the US considers state sponsors of terrorism.
The designation stems from Cuba’s harboring of US fugitives and its refusal to extradite several Colombian rebel leaders while they were engaged in peace talks with the South American nation.
