Afghanistan - Page 64

A French court has convicted a 30-year-old migrant of raping a 12-year-old boy after his lawyer had tried to convince the court that the Afghan’s culture should have been taken into consideration.

National Guard colonel and Green Beret Rep. Mike Waltz (R-FL) warned the Biden administration that they will have “blood on their hands” if they do not evacuate Afghan interpreters who helped American troops from Afghanistan as the war winds down.

Afghanistan’s Tolo News reported on Monday that an Afghan delegation to Washington has been told the United States will provide 37 Black Hawk helicopters and two A-29 Super Tucano fixed-wing attack planes to Kabul for deployment against advancing Taliban forces. 

The Biden administration revealed Thursday it will evacuate thousands of Afghans who helped the departing U.S. military during the war to other countries until American entry visas for them and their families are processed.

The “mass evacuation” of visa-eligible Afghans who helped the U.S. during the war remains the only option keep them safe.

The Biden team is expediting the Special Immigration Visa (SIV) approval process for thousands of Afghans who worked for U.S. government.

The Taliban on Monday announced it captured a key district in the northern province of Kunduz and its forces have encircled the provincial capital, the latest battlefield gains in a relentless campaign waged by the Islamist extremists against the internationally recognized government in Kabul as U.S. and NATO forces prepare to end their 20-year intervention in Afghanistan.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi is praising President Joe Biden’s plan to bring four times as many refugees to the United States this year as former President Trump had planned. 

KABUL — The Taliban said Sunday they remain committed to peace talks but insisted a “genuine Islamic system” in Afghanistan was the only way to end the war and ensure rights — including for women.

The administration of U.S. President Joe Biden agreed on Monday to grant Turkey’s Islamist President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan a “lead role” in providing security at Kabul’s Hamid Karzai International Airport after U.S. forces withdraw from Afghanistan in September, U.S. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said on Thursday.

A coalition of over 200 rabbis sent a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) criticizing her for not removing the far-left Democrat Rep. Ilhan Omar (MN) from her committee assignment on the Foreign Affairs Committee after her most recent remarks made last week comparing the United States and Israel to terrorists.

The Long War Journal (LWJ) reported on Monday that during the six weeks that have elapsed since U.S. troops officially began withdrawing from Afghanistan, the Taliban has “seized control of 32 additional districts, their reach spanning nearly half of the country’s 34 provinces.” 

On Saturday, a Greek court sentenced four Afghan asylum seekers to ten years in prison for their role in burning down Europe’s largest migrant camp on the island of Lesbos that left at least 13,000 homeless.

Bassem Naim from Hamas’ Office of International Relations released a statement, Friday, to denounce the recent remarks made by Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN), where she “equated” the Palestinian people to the “crimes” of the “Israeli occupation in Palestine” and the “American aggression” in Afghanistan.

In an exclusive statement made to Breitbart News on Thursday, Rep. Guy Reschenthaler (R-PA) blasted Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) after the congresswoman equated the United States and Israel to Hamas terrorists and the Taliban, going so far as to describe her as unfit to serve in Congress.

India’s Hindustan Times reported on Wednesday that the country has established formal communication with the Taliban terrorist organization, a sign that New Delhi expects the group to wield significant power in neighboring Afghanistan following the withdrawal of American troops.

China human rights magazine Bitter Winter on Monday accused Pakistan of playing along with “Chinese propaganda” by making a splashy public vow to crack down on the East Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETIM), an alleged Uyghur terrorist group that evidence suggests does not exist.

The Taliban released a statement on Monday reassuring Afghans who worked with U.S. and NATO forces as interpreters and assistants there is no need to flee the country now that foreign militaries are pulling out as the Taliban has no plans to kill them.

Australian Special Air Services Regiment (SAS) veteran Ben Roberts-Smith, the most decorated living Australian service member, opened his defamation case on Monday against the Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, and the Canberra Times for libeling him with allegations of war crimes committed during his tours in Afghanistan.

The German military says it has found a solution for an unusual logistics problem its troops in Afghanistan face: a glut of beer.

The Afghan migrant behind a mass stabbing spree in the small Swedish town of Vetlanda admitted in court that he carried out the attack because an interaction with an atheist angered him.

LONDON (AP) – Britain said Monday it will make it easier for Afghans who worked with British troops to settle in the UK, amid rising fears for their safety as foreign forces leave Afghanistan.

A French court sentenced two pro-migration activists to two-month suspended prison sentences after they aided Afghans crossing the border illegally.

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Mark Milley confirmed Thursday that the administration of President Joe Biden will help Afghan nationals who aided the U.S. military leave the country before the military concludes its departure in September.

A spokesman for the Taliban jihadist organization issued a statement Wednesday assuring diplomats from foreign countries that the Taliban does not “pose any threats to them” and encouraging them not to vacate Afghanistan.

The administration of President Joe Biden faced mounting concerns this week about the details of its post-withdrawal Afghanistan plan — set to feature extensive subsidizing of the government in Kabul — after officials admitted last week to evidence that millions in government revenue disappear on a daily basis.

Swedish authorities say that a couple suspected of planning terrorist offences fooled the country’s Migration Agency with false identities, claiming to be from Afghanistan when they are actually believed to be Iranians.

Former President George W. Bush has joined the chorus of establishment figures warning against the United States’ plan to withdraw its troops from Afghanistan following two decades of war in the country.

A movement has begun to persuade the NFL to retire the jersey of former NFL player and Army Ranger Pat Tillman, who sacrificed his life defending our country in Afghanistan in 2002.

China’s Global Times state-run newspaper lamented in a column Sunday that a full American withdrawal from Afghanistan would pose “grave challenges” to China’s ruling Communist Party, whereas U.S. investment in Afghanistan’s economic stability could yield economic benefits to China.

Unidentified attackers bombed a mosque in Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan, on Friday, killing at least 12 people including the imam offering services.

Chinese state media on Wednesday anticipated greater influence for Beijing in Afghanistan after U.S. and NATO withdrawal, suggesting China’s firm hand could restore order to bloody chaos after the “failure” of America’s twenty-year intervention.

U.S. State Department spokesman Ned Price encouraged the government of Afghanistan and the Taliban to “engage in serious negotiations” to bring peace to Afghanistan on Tuesday, urging them to work together against the Islamic State the day before.

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), a designated terrorist organization, issued a statement on Monday describing the bombing attack on a girls’ school in Kabul, Afghanistan as part of a “plot by Americans” to bring “terrorism, war, and insecurity to Afghanistan.”

The Chinese Foreign Ministry on Sunday blamed the United States for the surge of violence in Afghanistan, including Saturday’s bombing massacre at a girls’ school in Kabul, because the U.S. was supposedly irresponsible to withdraw its forces so “abruptly” from Afghanistan after twenty years of deployment.

A spokesman for the Taliban announced Sunday night the group ordered its forces to pause offensive operations for the three days of Eid al-Fitr, the end of the Muslim holiday of Ramadan.