Afghanistan Future: Lives of innocents depend on ‘rehmon karam’ of Taliban

With the complete withdrawal of the US armed forces and the NATO from Afghanistan by next month, the countries have started remolding their foreign policy with Kabul intending to make peace with Taliban – a major military force in the country. But has any ounce of thought been given to what will happen to the thousands of innocent civilians whose lives and future is on the “rehmon karam” of the Taliban militants? While last week the Taliban claimed to have had occupied 85% of Afghanistan after capturing key border crossings with Iran and Turkmenistan, this week the militants seized a key town in the southern Kandahar province that is the country’s major border crossing with Pakistan’s Balochistan province. Former US President George W Bush has criticized the withdrawal of the American troops and said that the civilians will be “slaughtered” by the Taliban.” He had sent the troops to Afghanistan in 2001 after the September 11 attacks on New York’s World Trade Centre. During a conversation with German broadcaster Deutsche Well on Wednesday, he said. "Afghan women and girls are going to suffer unspeakable harm. This is a mistake... They're just going to be left behind to be slaughtered by these very brutal people, and it breaks my heart.” While leaving a petrifying future for the innocent Afghans, US President Joe Biden last week said, “As I said in April, the United States did what we went to do in Afghanistan: to get the terrorists who attacked us on 9/11 and to deliver justice to Osama Bin Laden, and to degrade the terrorist threat to keep Afghanistan from becoming a base from which attacks could be continued against the United States. We achieved those objectives. That’s why we went.” He further said, “We did not go to Afghanistan to nation-build. And it’s the right and the responsibility of the Afghan people alone to decide their future and how they want to run their country.” Well, questions that Biden must answer are – Has the goal to “keep Afghanistan from becoming a base from which attacks could be continued against the United States” been achieved? Is there no longer a possible threat of more Osama Bin Laden in the days to come? And most importantly, is it not the responsibility of the international community to assure safety to the innocent Afghans? According to an AP report, as the Taliban surge through northern Afghanistan — a traditional stronghold of US - allied warlords and an area dominated by the country’s ethnic minorities — thousands of families are fleeing their homes, fearful of living under the insurgents’ rule. As per the Afghan government’s Refugee and Repatriations Ministry, “In the last 15 days, Taliban advances have driven more than 5,600 families from their homes, most of them in the northern reaches of the country.” In this week’s interview with Time of India, General David Petraeus, who served as the commander of coalition forces and headed the US central command in the war-ravaged country in 2011, opined that the US “will come to regret” the decision to withdraw its troops from Afghanistan. He said, “I fear the decision to withdraw has consigned Afghanistan to a bloody civil war, and is likely to produce millions of refugees, cause damage to infrastructure and foist an ultra-conservative theocratic regime over much of the country that curtails the rights of women, democratic processes and human rights.” Since late June hundreds of Afghan soldiers have fled their homeland for a safe haven in Tajikistan. AFP reported the Tajikistan's national security committee as saying that 1,037 Afghan government troops had fled into the ex-Soviet country "to save their lives" after clashes with the Taliban during the night. "Taking into account the principle of good neighbourliness and adhering to the position of non-interference in the internal affairs of Afghanistan, the military personnel of the Afghan government forces were allowed to enter Tajik territory," said the statement, published by Tajikistan's state information agency. AFP further said that Afghan security forces have been crumbling in the face of the Taliban onslaught, with several bases and outposts surrendering to the insurgents without firing a shot. Further, the diplomatic officials have told The Hindu that the Central Asian countries gathering for the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) in Dushanbe are in particular worried about the possible spillover of violence across their borders with Afghanistan, revival of splinter jihadist groups and a refugee influx if the situation deteriorates. However, as the Taliban continues its operation of bringing key areas of Afghanistan under its control, several countries seem to have “preferred” to strike a peace deal with the militant group rather than launching a full scale war against it. Last week, a Taliban delegation had visited Moscow and assured that “it would not violate the borders of Central Asian states and also guaranteed the security of foreign diplomatic and consular missions in Afghanistan”, according to a Reuters report. The Daily Telegraph on Wednesday quoted British Defense Minister Ben Wallace as saying that his government will work with the Taliban should they enter the government in Afghanistan. Meanwhile, the Afghan government instead of waiting for a savior to rescue the country has already begun its preparation to launch a full-scale war against Taliban if July 15 peace talks in Qatar fail. Kabul has also cleared its stance that it will no longer allow foreign troops on its land to fight against Taliban. "Should we not get to a stage in the peace process with the Taliban, then maybe a time (will come) where we would be seeking India's military assistance, more military assistance in the years ahead," Farid Mamundzay, Afghanistan's Ambassador to India, told NDTV. "We are not seeking India's assistance with sending troops to Afghanistan. Their footprint in Afghanistan to fight our war would not be needed at this stage," he clarified.

Xi Jinping: Mess with us and face bloodshed

As calls for a fresh investigation into the origins of coronavirus amplifies and the global leaders join hands to tackle China's growing threat, President Xi Jinping on the 100th anniversary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has publicly threatened of “bloodshed" if anyone tried to mess with Beijing. According to NDTV, in the summer of 1921 Mao and a clutch of Marxist-Leninist thinkers in Shanghai founded the Communist Party, which has since morphed into one of the world's most powerful political organisations. Speaking from the podium in Tiananmen Square where once Mao Zedong had proclaimed the People's Republic of China in 1949, Xi said, "The Chinese people will never allow any foreign forces to bully, oppress, or enslave us". "Anyone who dares try to do that will have their heads bashed bloody against the Great Wall of Steel forged by over 1.4 billion Chinese people," he added. According to BBC, Xi Jinping, modern China's most powerful leader since Mao Zedong, wore a light grey suit which appeared to be identical to the one worn by the Communist Party founder in the famous portrait that adorns one side of Tiananmen Square. During the ceremony a fly-by of helicopters in formation of '100' -- a giant hammer and sickle flag trailing -- was followed by a 100-gun salute. BBC further reported that at the end of the ceremony, the crowd sung a song called "Without the Communist Party There Would Be No New China". The CCP has organised a week-long celebration promoting Beijing-approved history. According to AFP news agency, the Chinese history did not include significant events such as the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests and the pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong. However, a huge police force did patrol the streets of Hong Kong to prevent any protest against Beijing or Xi Jinping. According to a NDTV report, four activists marched with a banner near the official anniversary reception on Thursday -- tailed by 200 police officers, a fraction of the thousands deployed across the city to deter pro-democracy groups from mobilising. It is interesting to note here that July 1 is also the 24th anniversary of Hong Kong's return to the Chinese rule. Meanwhile, it has also been one year since the draconian national security law (to smother free speech) was imposed in Hong Kong. Under this law thousands of pro-democracy Hong Kong activists have been arrested till now. China has been rebuked globally for cracking down on Hong Kong pro-democracy protesters and Uyghur Muslims in Xinjiang. Lithuania is the latest to have termed the human rights abuses on the ethnic minorities as 'genocide'. Meanwhile, during the centenary celebrations in Tiananmen Square, Xi reiterated that China will have an "unshakable commitment" to unify with Taiwan. "No one should underestimate the resolve, the will and ability of the Chinese people to defend their national sovereignty and territorial integrity," he said. Xi’s comments on Taiwan have come a day after the US reiterated that it would continue to strengthen its relationship with Taipei. "Our support for Taiwan is rock solid," White House press secretary Jen Psaki said at a news conference in Washington, reported Taipei Times. "We're committed to the importance of the US-Taiwan trade and investment relationships, and we will continue to strengthen our trade relationship with Taiwan, which is why we are looking forward to the upcoming Trade and Investment Framework Agreement council meeting, which was recently announced," Psaki said.

PM Modi remains missing from duty as Indians cry for help amid pandemic

 

PM Modi: Missing

A whole year has gone by since the COVID-19 pandemic struck the world. While several countries such as Israel, Australia, New Zealand and even the US has somewhat been able to bring back the pre-covid ‘era’, India continues to struggle in vaccinating its adult citizens.

With the beginning of 2021, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had announced massive vaccination drive and Vaccine Maitri to support India’s neighbouring countries and African nations amid the pandemic. However, soon India, which was manufacturing two vaccines – Covaxin and Covishield – started facing a devastating crunch in number of vaccines for its own citizens.

Besides shortage of vaccines, India is also facing a crisis in number of oxygen cylinders, oxygen concentrators, hospital beds and even crematoriums. While lakhs of people are racing against time to save themselves and their loved ones, the Narendra Modi-led government, which has been busy holding massive rallies to with oust Mamata Banerjee in the West Bengal Assembly elections held earlier this year, is now focused on completing its Rs 20,000 crore worth Central Vista Project.

The Central Vista project is aimed to redevelop a 3.2 km stretch ‘the Central Vista’ lying at the heart of Lutyens Delhi. Under the project several government buildings will be either tore down or rebuilt, including iconic landmarks, and constructing a new Parliament. The constructions of the Prime Minister and Vice President’s residences are also part of the project.

While the Centre’s deemed ‘essential service’ continues to progress at a good speed, it has been ridiculed from all quarters of society. Recently, the Centre told the Delhi High Court that Public Interest Litigations against the Central Vista project is "sheer abuse of the process of law" and thus the plea should be scrapped with a fine.

Amid the ever increasing criticisms, the Central Public Works Department has now prohibited photography and video recording at the Central Vista construction work near India Gate.

While on the one hand the Centre is engrossed with its project to renovate the central Delhi, almost everyday hundreds of dead bodies, supposedly to be of COVID-19 patients, are washing up on the ghats of holy river Ganga.

According to a recent report by Dainik Bhaskar, more than 2,000 bodies have been found in 1,140 kms on the bank of river Ganga in Uttar Pradesh.

The newspaper further reported that as many as 350 bodies were found buried near Mahadevi Ganga Ghat in Kannauj. Citing sources the newspaper reported that the administration is trying to hide the bodies by putting soil on them.

Earlier, The Indian Express had reported, “At least 96 unidentified bodies – many of them decomposed and bloated – have been found floating in the Ganga over the past couple of days, triggering fears among local residents in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh that bodies of Covid victims were being dumped in the river.”

The authorities are yet to confirm whether the bodies found floating on Ganga are indeed of COVID-19 patients. However, Union Jal Shakti Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat has condemned the incident and said, “Floating bodies in Ganga in Buxar, Bihar is unfortunate. It is surely a matter of investigation. [Narendra] Modi government is committed to maintaining piety and continuity of mother Ganga. States [Bihar and UP] concerned must take cognizance of the matter immediately”.

While the Narendra Modi-led government continues to be missing from duty amid the pandemic, the panic stricken public has no option other than to pin their hopes on the Centre to bring down the number of COVID-19 cases and deaths.