KABUL: US Secretary of State Antony Blinken made an unannounced visit to Afghanistan on Thursday to sell Afghan leaders and a wary public on President Joe Biden’s decision to withdraw all American troops from the country and end America’s longest-running war.
Blinken was meeting with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, chief executive Abdullah Abdullah, and civic figures, a day after Biden announced that the remaining 2,500 US soldiers in Afghanistan would be coming home by the 20th anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks that led to the US invasion.
His trip also came after NATO immediately followed suit, saying its roughly 7,000 non-American forces in Afghanistan would be departing within a few months, ending the foreign military presence that had been a fact of life for a generation of Afghans already reeling from more than 40 years of conflict.
Blinken sought to reassure the Afghan leadership that the withdrawal did not mean an end to the US-Afghan relationship.
“I wanted to demonstrate with my visit the ongoing to commitment of the United States to the Islamic Republic and the people of Afghanistan,” Blinken told Ghani as they met at the presidential palace in Kabul. “The partnership is changing, but the partnership itself is enduring.”
“We respect the decision and are adjusting our priorities,” Ghani told Blinken, expressing gratitude for the sacrifices of US troops.
Blinken arrived in the Afghan capital from Brussels where he and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin briefed NATO officials on the move and NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg announced the alliance would also be leaving.
Biden, Blinken, Austin and Stoltenberg have all sought to put a brave face on the pullout, maintaining that the US- and NATO-led missions to Afghanistan had achieved their goal of decimating Osama bin Laden’s Al-Qaeda network that launched the 9/11 attacks and clearing the country of terrorist elements that could use Afghan soil to plot similar strikes.
However, that argument has faced pushback from some U.S, lawmakers and human rights advocates who say the withdrawal will result in the loss of freedoms that Afghans enjoyed after the Taliban was ousted from power in late 2001.
Later, in a meeting with Abdullah, Blinken repeated his message, saying that “we have a new chapter, but it is a new chapter that we’re writing together.”
“We are grateful to your people, your country, your administration,” Abdullah said.
Despite billions of US dollars in aid, Afghanistan 20 years on has a poverty rate of 52 percent according to World Bank figures. That means more than half of Afghanistan’s 36 million people live on less than $1.90 a day. Afghanistan is also considered one of the worst countries in the world to be a woman according to the Georgetown Institute for Women Peace and Security.
For many Afghans the past two decades have been disappointing, as corruption has overtaken successive governments and powerful warlords have amassed wealth and loyal militias who are well armed. Many Afghans fear worsening chaos even more once America leaves.
Peace talks between the Taliban and the Afghan government are at a stalemate but are supposed to resume later this month in Istanbul.
Under an agreement signed between the Trump administration and the Taliban last year, the US was to have completed its military withdrawal by May 1. Although Biden is blowing through that deadline, angering the Taliban leadership, his plan calls for the pull-out to begin on May 1. The NATO withdrawal will commence the same day.
“It is time to end America’s longest war,” Biden said in his announcement in Washington on Tuesday, but he added that the US will “not conduct a hasty rush to the exit.”
“We cannot continue the cycle of extending or expanding our military presence in Afghanistan hoping to create the ideal conditions for our withdrawal, expecting a different result,” said Biden, who delivered his address from the White House Treaty Room, the same location where President George W. Bush announced the start of the war. “I am now the fourth United States president to preside over an American troop presence in Afghanistan. Two Republicans. Two Democrats. I will not pass this responsibility to a fifth.”
Biden, along with Blinken and Austin in Brussels, vowed that the US would remain committed to Afghanistan’s people and development.
“Bringing our troops home does not mean ending our relationship with Afghanistan or our support for the country,” Blinken said. “Our support, our engagement and our determination remain.”
Austin also said that the US military, after withdrawing from Afghanistan, will keep counterterrorism “capabilities” in the region to keep pressure on extremist groups operating within Afghanistan. Asked for details, he declined to elaborate on where those US forces would be positioned or in what numbers.
Blinken in unannounced visit to Afghanistan to sell US troop withdrawal
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Blinken in unannounced visit to Afghanistan to sell US troop withdrawal
- NATO says its roughly 7,000 non-American forces in Afghanistan are also departing within a few months
Trump to meet with senior Japanese official after court session Tuesday in hush money trial
Trump met last week with Polish President Andrzej Duda at Trump Tower and also met recently with British Foreign Secretary David Cameron and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán
WASHINGTON: Former President Donald Trump is meeting with another foreign leader while he’s in New York for his criminal hush money trial.
The presumptive GOP nominee will host former Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso at Trump Tower Tuesday, according to two people familiar with the plans who spoke on condition of anonymity because they had not been formally announced.
Aso is just the latest foreign leader to spend time with Trump in recent weeks as US allies prepare for the possibility that he could win back the White House this November.
“Leaders from around the world know that with President Trump we had a safer, more peaceful world,” said Trump spokesperson Brian Hughes in a statement. “Meetings and calls from world leaders reflect the recognition of what we already know here at home. Joe Biden is weak, and when President Trump is sworn in as the 47th President of the United States, the world will be more secure and America will be more prosperous.”
Trump met last week with Polish President Andrzej Duda at Trump Tower and also met recently with British Foreign Secretary David Cameron and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán.
Trump was close with Shinzo Abe, the former Japanese prime minister who was assassinated in 2022. Aso is vice president of the Japanese Liberal Democratic Party and also served as deputy prime minister and finance minister under Abe.
Trump has threatened to impose broad new tariffs if he wins a second term.
Early Tuesday morning, he complained about the US dollar reaching a new high against the Japanese yen, calling it “a total disaster for the United States.”
“When I was President, I spent a good deal of time telling Japan and China, in particular, you can’t do that,” he wrote on his Truth Social platform. “It sounds good to stupid people, but it is a disaster for our manufacturers and others.”
The US dollar is trading at above 150 yen recently, up from 130-yen mark a year ago, which has made it more costly for Japan to import goods but has boosted exports.
President Joe Biden hosted current Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida at the White House for talks and a state dinner earlier this month. During the visit, the leaders announced plans to upgrade US-Japan military relations, with both sides looking to tighten cooperation amid concerns about North Korea’s nuclear program and China’s increasing military assertiveness in the Pacific.
Bangladesh, Qatar sign 10 cooperation deals during emir’s first Dhaka trip
- Agreements cover investment, maritime transport and establishment of joint business council
- Bangladeshi president invited Qatar’s emir to invest in the country’s special economic zones
DHAKA: Bangladesh and Qatar signed 10 cooperation agreements on Tuesday as the Gulf state’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani made his first official visit to Dhaka.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and Sheikh Tamim witnessed the signing ceremony, which covered deals on investment, maritime transport, taxation, legal affairs and the establishment of a Bangladesh-Qatar joint business council.
The two countries also signed several memoranda of understanding, including on diplomatic training, education, labor, youth and sports, as well as port management cooperation.
Sheikh Tamim then held a meeting with President Mohammed Shahabuddin as part of his visit to Bangladesh, which is the second stop in the emir’s Asia tour that began in the Philippines on Sunday.
During their talks, Shahabuddin invited Qatar to invest in Bangladesh’s special economic zones.
“Bangladesh will welcome investments in various sectors including in state-led food supply chains from production to consumption such as agro-production and processing, food packaging, smart agriculture and fertilizer production,” Shahabuddin’s press secretary Joynal Abedin told reporters after the meeting.
“Qatar investors can get massive incentives and support in sectors like petrochemicals, energy, machineries, information technology, electronics, ceramics, agri-business, and food processing in Bangladesh.”
Shahabuddin also urged Sheikh Tamim to recruit more skilled workers from Bangladesh during their talks, Abedin said.
Qatar is currently the largest supplier of liquefied natural gas to Bangladesh. Earlier this year, the emirate signed a 15-year agreement with the US-based Excelerate Energy to supply 1 million metric tons per year of LNG to Bangladesh starting from January 2026.
The Gulf state is also home to about 400,000 Bangladeshis who live and work there, as it is one of the preferred destinations for migrant workers from the South Asian country.
India’s Modi calls rivals pro-Muslim as election campaign changes tack
- Modi has accused Congress of having an election plan to redistribute wealth of Hindus among Muslims
- Modi’s government has repeatedly been accused of discrimination against India’s estimated 200 million Muslims
NEW DELHI: Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Hindu nationalist party have begun attacking opposition rivals, saying they favor minority Muslims, in what analysts see as a bid to invigorate their hard-line base after general elections began last week.
India began voting on Friday in a seven-phase election at which Modi seeks a rare third consecutive term, with campaigning that had so far largely focused on his record of growth and welfare as well as his personal popularity.
But in a speech on Sunday, Modi referred to Muslims as “infiltrators” who have “more children,” linking the comment to what he called an election plan of the main opposition Congress party to redistribute the wealth of Hindus among Muslims.
The Congress denied making any such promise and petitioned the Election Commission to act against Modi, who surveys suggest will win a comfortable majority, though analysts say his party wants to avert possible voter fatigue and overconfidence.
The controversial remarks were an unusual “deviation” from Modi’s usual practice as he rarely targets Muslims directly, said Hilal Ahmed, a political analyst at Delhi’s Center for the Study of Developing Societies.
They followed low voter turnout in areas where the BJP had done well in 2019, he added.
“The low turnout simply means that the committed BJP voter has not yet come out,” Ahmed said. “They obviously want the committed voter to come out. That is the reason for this deviation.”
The comment on redistribution of wealth to Muslims was supported and amplified on Monday by BJP members, including Modi’s powerful cabinet colleague, Home Minister Amit Shah, who mentioned it in a campaign speech.
Modi aired the claim again on Tuesday, a day after speaking about the gains Muslims have made during his 10-year rule.
In the southern state of Karnataka, half of which votes on Friday in the second phase of elections, BJP members have staged protests against last week’s murder of a Hindu woman by a Muslim man.
They say the incident is an instance of “love jihad,” a term Hindu groups use to accuse Muslim men of waging a campaign that lures Hindu women to convert to Islam with promises of marriage.
EXPOSING OPPOSITION, BJP SAYS
Modi’s government has repeatedly been accused of targeting and discrimination against India’s estimated 200 million Muslims, who form the world’s third-largest Muslim population.
The government has denied all accusations, and Modi has said he works for the betterment of all.
“Stating facts and exposing the flawed strategy of the opposition is our job,” BJP president J.P. Nadda told Reuters, when asked about Modi’s weekend comments.
But he said the BJP remained committed to its slogan of betterment, underlining reforms pushed by Modi’s government to help Muslim women and the poor among the community.
Another senior BJP leader and member of the party’s central election panel said Modi’s Sunday comments should not be seen as “polarizing,” as he had only reminded voters about the “Muslim-first strategy” of Congress and its allies.
He spoke on condition of anonymity as he was not authorized to speak to the media.
In January, Modi inaugurated a grand temple to the Hindu god-king Lord Ram on a once-disputed site believed to be his birthplace, fulfilling a longstanding promise projected by the BJP as a symbol of Hindu rejuvenation.
In campaign speeches Modi refers to the temple, but he has focused more on his development and welfare record and national pride to counter the opposition focus on joblessness, price rise and rural distress in the world’s fastest growing major economy.
“When the campaign started, the focus was entirely on development, welfare, reaching out to marginalized people and Hindutva came last,” said analyst Ahmed, referring to the Hindu nationalism espoused by the BJP.
“After the first phase, they realized they need to go back to their own voters ... back to the basics.”
16 dead, 28 missing in migrant boat capsize off Djibouti: UN
- The accident occurred about two weeks after another boat carrying mainly Ethiopian migrants sank off the Djibouti coas
NAIROBI: At least 16 people are dead and 28 missing in a new migrant boat disaster off the coast of the Horn of Africa nation of Djibouti, the UN’s International Organization for Migration said on Tuesday.
The accident occurred about two weeks after another boat carrying mainly Ethiopian migrants sank off the Djibouti coast, claiming several dozen lives.
“Tragedy as boat capsizes off Djibouti coast with 77 migrants on board including children,” the IOM said in a post on X, without specifying when the latest incident occurred.
“At least 28 missing. 16 dead,” it said, adding that the local IOM branch was “supporting local authorities with search and rescue effort.”
It was the latest deadly accident on the so-called Eastern Migration Route.
Another boat carrying more than 60 people sank off the coast of Godoria in the northeast of Djibouti on April 8, according to the IOM and the Ethiopian embassy in Djibouti.
The IOM said at the time the bodies of 38 migrants, including children, were recovered, while another six people were missing.
The embassy in Djibouti said the boat was carrying Ethiopian migrants from Djibouti to war-torn Yemen.
Each year, many tens of thousands of African migrants brave the perilous “Eastern Route” across the Red Sea and through war-scarred Yemen, escaping conflict or natural disaster, or seeking better economic opportunities.
Indian court extends pre-trial detention of opposition leader Kejriwal
- Kejriwal, chief minister of national capital territory of Delhi, was arrested last month in connection with graft allegations
- Kejriwal’s detention has united the 27-party opposition alliance called INDIA, which includes AAP and the Congress party
A Delhi court on Tuesday extended the pre-trial detention of Indian opposition leader Arvind Kejriwal until May 7 in a corruption case, the legal news website Live Law reported.
Kejriwal, the chief minister of the national capital territory of Delhi, was arrested last month in connection with graft allegations relating to the city’s liquor policy, weeks before general elections.
The Enforcement Directorate, India’s federal financial crime-fighting agency, is investigating allegations that a liquor policy implemented by the Delhi government in 2022 gave undue advantages to private retailers.\
The policy was subsequently withdrawn. Kejriwal, who rose to power as an anti-corruption crusader and is a critic of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has denied wrongdoing.
His arrest on March 21 sparked protests in Delhi and in the northern state of Punjab governed by his decade-old Aam Aadmi Party, and also drew the attention of the United States and Germany.
His detention has united the 27-party opposition alliance called INDIA, which includes AAP and the Congress party.
However opinion polls suggest that Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party has a strong lead in elections that are underway and is likely to win a historic third term.
Opposition parties have alleged that the action against Kejriwal is politically motivated but Modi and his party deny the accusations and say law enforcement agencies operate independently.
A seven-phase general election is underway in India, with the second phase of voting scheduled to take place on Friday.
