RAMSTEIN, Germany: US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Wednesday said a provisional Afghan cabinet was not the inclusive government the Taliban had promised and that the group needs to earn the international legitimacy and support it seeks.
Blinken, visiting a US air base in Germany that has been a transit point for evacuees from Afghanistan, also called on the Taliban to allow charter flights carrying Americans and at-risk Afghans to depart the country.
Taliban leaders filled all the top posts in the government named on Tuesday, while an associate of the group's founder was named prime minister and the new interior minister appears on a US terrorism wanted list.
“We’re assessing the announcement but despite professing that a new government would be inclusive, the announced list of names consists exclusively of individuals who are members of the Taliban or their close associates, and no women," Blinken said at a news conference.
Washington was "concerned by the affiliations and track records of some of those individuals,” Blinken added.
Blinken and his German counterpart Heiko Maas held a joint news conference after convening a virtual meeting of 22 foreign ministers plus officials from NATO, the European Union and the United Nations.
Blinken said all those in the meeting agreed on the need to hold the Taliban accountable before giving the new government legitimacy.
"The Taliban seek international legitimacy and support. Any legitimacy, any support, will have to be earned," Blinken said.
The United Nations has said basic services are unraveling in Afghanistan with food and other aid about to run out.
Small numbers of Americans still remain in the country, and their family members and other Afghans at risk continue to try to leave, but flights have been largely grounded since US forces left Kabul's airport on Aug. 31.
Planes chartered to carry people out of Afghanistan have been stuck at Mazar-i-Sharif International Airport, sparking calls for the State Department to do more to facilitate their departure.
Blinken said the United States was doing everything in its power to get the flights off the ground, but the Taliban was not permitting the flights to depart.
“We’ve made clear to all parties, we’ve made clear to the Taliban that these charters need to be able to depart,” Blinken said.
Blinken says Taliban must earn legitimacy after new government fails inclusivity test
https://arab.news/p4xde
Blinken says Taliban must earn legitimacy after new government fails inclusivity test
- Blinken: Consensus on need to hold Taliban accountable before giving the new government legitimacy
- He is pressing the Taliban to allow charter flights carrying would-be evacuees to leave Mazar-e-Sharif
Sweden seizes false-flagged ship with suspected stolen Ukrainian grain
- The Russian embassy in Stockholm said it had been informed by the Swedish coast guard that 10 of the crew were Russian citizens
STOCKHOLM: Police in Sweden have seized a false-flagged cargo ship off its southern coast believed to belong to Russia’s shadow fleet and suspected of transporting stolen Ukrainian grain, authorities said Saturday.
The 96-meter (315-foot) Caffa left Casablanca in Morocco on February 24 and was headed for Saint Petersburg, Russia when armed Swedish police boarded it on Friday off the southern town of Trelleborg.
“The vessel is on the Ukraine sanctions list. Information indicates that it has essentially been used to transport grain that is stolen, as we understand it, from Ukraine,” the coast guard’s acting head of operations, Daniel Stenling, told a press conference.
“We have been able to establish that the vessel is sailing under a false flag. She is registered in Guinea, but that registration is in fact false,” he added.
“A majority” of the 11 crew members were Russian, Stenling said.
The Russian embassy in Stockholm said it had been informed by the Swedish coast guard that 10 of the crew were Russian citizens.
“The Russian embassy in Sweden is in contact with the competent Swedish authorities and is ready, if necessary, to provide consular assistance to the Russian nationals among the crew,” it wrote on Telegram.
One crew member was under investigation for violation of the maritime code on seaworthiness and on ship safety, Stenling said, refusing to disclose the suspect’s identity or crew role.
“The investigative measures we have taken so far reinforce our suspicions and our view that there are extensive maritime safety deficiencies on this vessel,” he said.
The Swedish Transport Agency was to inspect the ship and determine whether it was seaworthy and authorized to continue its journey.
- ‘Risk of accidents’ -
Moscow’s “shadow fleet” consists of vessels with opaque ownership used to skirt Western sanctions.
“It’s a problem for us that we are seeing more ships that don’t respect the law of the sea,” Stenling said, noting that “the risk of accidents increases when ships are not certified.”
“We might not even know what kind of crew is on board, what kind of skills they have, what certifications they hold, and they often lack insurance if something were to happen,” he added.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiga on Saturday thanked Sweden.
“Collective action against such vessels is gaining momentum. This is a welcome development,” he wrote on X.
“Sanctions work when they are strictly enforced. Together, we must stop the activities of Russia’s shadow fleet to protect Europe’s security and environment.”
