UN: Nearly 400,000 children facing starvation in war-torn Yemen

NEW YORK, OCT 12: According to the United Nations, almost 400,000 children are facing starvation in war-torn Yemen.

After around seven years of conflict, 20 million people - two-thirds of the population - need help, the UN humanitarian coordinator in Yemen, David Gressly, said on Monday.

An expansion of the conflict has made the situation even worse for countless people, especially in the south of the country. The worst humanitarian crisis in the world is raging in Yemen, Gressly said.

The country has been roiled by a devastating power struggle between a Saudi-backed government and the Iran-linked Houthi rebels since late 2014.

The conflict of more than six years in Yemen has pushed the country, one of the poorest in the Arab world, to the brink of famine and caused huge damage to health facilities.

Gressly said only about 2.1 billion dollars of the approximately 3.8 billion dollars calculated in March for humanitarian aid for the population had been received.

Serious efforts to find a political solution to the conflict were making progress, Gressly said. But reconstruction could not wait until a ceasefire. The world must not allow a whole generation to grow up knowing nothing but conflict.

People needed work, the fishing industry had to be revived, the ports and airports had to be opened, Gressly said.

Civil servants must be paid enough so that they do not also fall into poverty. For this, too, the economy must be stimulated to find the resources to pay them.

----------------------------------------------

COURTESY Anews

-------

Taliban say US has agreed to provide humanitarian aid

ISLAMABAD, OCT 11: The United States has agreed to provide humanitarian aid to a desperately poor Afghanistan on the brink of an economic disaster, while refusing to give political recognition to the Taliban rulers, according to a statement released on Sunday.

The statement came at the end of the first direct talks between the former foes since the chaotic withdrawal of US troops at the end of August.

The Taliban said the talks held in Doha, Qatar, went well, with Washington freeing up humanitarian aid to Afghanistan after agreeing not to link such assistance to formal recognition of Taliban.

The United States made it clear that the talks were in no way a preamble to recognition of the Taliban, who swept into power on Aug 15 after the US-allied government collapsed.

Taliban political spokesman Suhail Shaheen said the movement’s interim foreign minister assured the US during the talks that the Taliban were committed to seeing that Afghan soil is not used by extremists to launch attacks against other countries.

On Saturday, however, the Taliban ruled out cooperation with Washington on containing the increasingly active militant Islamic State group in Afghanistan.

The IS, an enemy of the Taliban, has claimed responsibility for a number of recent attacks, including Friday’s suicide bombing that killed 46 Shias.

“We are able to tackle Daesh (IS) independently,” Shaheen said when asked whether the Taliban would work with the US to contain the Islamic State affiliate. He used an Arabic acronym for IS.

Bill Roggio, a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defence of Democracies who tracks militant groups, agreed the Taliban do not need Washington’s help to hunt down and destroy Afghanistan’s IS affiliate, known as the Islamic State in Khorasan Province.

The Taliban “fought 20 years to eject the US and the last thing it needs is the return of the US. It also doesn’t need US help,” said Roggio, who also produces the foundation’s Long War Journal.

The IS affiliate doesn’t have the advantage of safe havens in Pakistan and Iran that the Taliban had in its fight against the United States, Roggio said. However, he warned that the Taliban’s longtime support for Al Qaeda made them unreliable as counterterrorism partners with the United States.

The Taliban gave refuge to Al Qaeda before it carried out the 9/11 attacks. That prompted the 2001 US invasion of Afghanistan that drove the Taliban from power.

“It is insane for the US to think the Taliban can be a reliable counterterrorism partner, given the Taliban’s enduring support for Al Qaeda,” Roggio said.

During the meeting, US officials were expected to press the Taliban to allow Americans and others to leave Afghanistan. In their statement, the Taliban said without elaborating that they would facilitate principled movement of foreign nationals.

-------------------------------------------------------

COURTESY DAWN NEWS

--------------

Taliban FM Amir Khan Muttaqi warns US not to ‘destabilise’ Afghan government

 

KABUL, OCT 9: The Taliban warned the United States not to “destabilise” the regime during their first face-to-face talks since the US withdrawal, its foreign minister Amir Khan Muttaqi said on Saturday.

“We clearly told them that trying to destabilise the government in Afghanistan is good for no one,” Muttaqi told the Afghan state news agency Bakhar, in a recorded statement.

-------------------------------------------

COURTESY Anews

----------

World must maintain contact with interim Taliban govt, NSA Yusuf tells visiting US official

ISLAMABAD, OCT 8: National Security Adviser (NSA) Moeed Yusuf, in a meeting with US Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman on Thursday, stressed that the international community "must maintain contact" with the interim Taliban government in Afghanistan.

According to a report by Radio Pakistan, during the meeting both sides expressed the desire to promote bilateral relations between the United States and Pakistan.

They also discussed economic cooperation as well as the security situation in the region, it added.

According to the report, the US delegation appreciated Pakistan's efforts to evacuate foreigners from Afghanistan and the help it extended to Afghan refugees.

In his remarks, Yusuf said that blatant human rights violations in Indian-occupied Kashmir also posed a threat to regional peace.

Sherman and her seven-member team arrived in Islamabad on Thursday for a two-day visit to the country.

She had earlier visited India for a series of bilateral meetings, civil society events, and the India Ideas Summit.

Sherman is the senior-most official in the State Department after Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

She is the highest-ranking US visitor to Pakistan under President Joe Biden since the Taliban's victory in Kabul.

Important visit

"The visit is taking place at a very critical time, both in the context of Afghanistan and developments in the wider region," said a senior diplomatic source when asked to explain why Islamabad sees this as an important visit.

The source pointed out that the Biden administration did "not seem to be reluctant to travel to both India and Pakistan in one go, which was the case in the past".

"This is an important visit, and we look forward to engaging with Deputy Secretary Sherman," Pakistan's US Ambassador Asad Majeed Khan earlier told Dawn. "Together, we would explore ways to strengthen and expand our bilateral cooperation in areas of mutual interest and concern."

According to sources, the Biden administration is focusing on four major points in its talks with Pakistan — recognition of the Taliban government in Kabul, international sanctions on Afghanistan, access to Afghanistan and counter-terrorism cooperation.

The sources say that the United States does not want Pakistan to recognise the Taliban regime before the rest of the international community. Instead, it wants Pakistan to continue its efforts for softening the Taliban position on controversial issues, such as inclusive governance, human rights, girls' education and allowing women to work.

"We seek a strong partnership with Pakistan on counterterrorism and we expect sustained action against all militant and terrorist groups without distinction," Sherman had told reporters last week ahead of the visit.

"Both of our countries have suffered terribly from the scourge of terrorism and we look forward to cooperative efforts to eliminate all regional and global terrorist threats," she had said.

---------------------------------------------------------

COURTESY DAWN NEWS

-----------

Japan's new PM Kishida calls general election on Oct 31

 

TOKYO, OCT 4: New Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida called a general election for Oct. 31 in his inaugural address on Monday, hoping to capitalise on the honeymoon period typically enjoyed by new administrations amid a drastic drop in COVID-19 infections.

KISHIDA TO CREATE PANEL ON ECONOMIC STEPS

Kishida said on Monday he will create a new panel to debate measures to achieve solid economic growth in a post-pandemic world.

In his first news conference as prime minister, Kishida also said he will consider offering cash payouts to households hit hardest by the coronavirus pandemic.

------------------------------------------

COURTESY Anews

-------------