Afghan personnel hunted by Taliban denied UK sanctuary

Afghan personnel hunted by Taliban denied UK sanctuary
A file photo of Afghan soldiers patrol jointly with British soldiers of the 1st batallion of the Royal Welsh, French soldiers of the 21st RIMA in a street Southern Afghanistan in 2010 (AFP)
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Updated 05 June 2023
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Afghan personnel hunted by Taliban denied UK sanctuary

Afghan personnel hunted by Taliban denied UK sanctuary
  • Mechanics, chefs and laborers rejected by resettlement scheme for failing frontline role criteria
  • ‘We are all the same in the Taliban’s eyes,’ says former interpreter

LONDON: Afghans who worked for the UK military and who are at risk of Taliban reprisal attacks are being refused sanctuary in the UK, The Independent reported.

The revelations are part of an investigation by the newspaper into Britain’s relocation policies regarding Afghan military personnel who aided UK forces.

The Independent’s latest report found that former mechanics, laborers and chefs are being rejected by the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy scheme because they fail to classify as having served in frontline roles alongside British troops. 
But that distinction is not recognized by Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers, with the former staff and contractors facing revenge attacks as a result of their work for British forces.
Tobias Ellwood MP, chair of the defense select committee, warned that the Taliban were still hunting Afghan workers who aided Western forces.
He said: “I don’t believe the Taliban share the same criteria. They gained access to databases of all local Afghans who were assisting ISAF forces and local Taliban continue to hunt them down for execution. Each case should be judged on its own merit.”
Some of the Afghans who aided the UK war effort and who fled to the UK in the wake of the Taliban takeover have appealed to the government to help their former colleagues still trapped in Afghanistan.
But Armed Forces Minister James Heappey has said that the government has no intention of expanding the ARAP criteria to include former non-frontline staff and contractors.
An Afghan mechanic who repaired troop carriers and armored vehicles during the conflict was rejected by the scheme last year, but is now appealing the decision through a judicial review.
He was left jobless when British troops pulled out of the country, and later worked for NGOs and as a contractor for private military forces.
But following the Taliban takeover, the man was forced into hiding, with his former colleagues demanding that the UK grant him sanctuary through the ARAP scheme.
A former British Army adviser and colleague of the mechanic told The Independent: “We are trying to do our best for him and his family but he is in a very bad situation. A lot of people are being disappeared and he is all the time hiding himself because many people know that he worked with the British Army.
“Lots of people in the same situation applied for ARAP. I don’t know why ARAP just rejected his case.”
The mechanic’s solicitor, Stephanie Alban, who is challenging the decision, said: “His life is in danger so I thought they would deal with it in days and not weeks. He is in hiding and he has been moving to avoid the Taliban.
“People in the local area would know that he worked for the British. He’s on their record so they will be looking for him and targeting him. It feels like these employees have just been forgotten. You shouldn’t have to do judicial reviews just to get a simple decision on a straightforward case.”
Other Afghan personnel denied by the ARAP scheme have said that they were still exposed to danger and risk despite not serving in frontline combat roles.
A former guard who protected a British Army camp said that he was fired at during a terrorist attack on the base, but was still rejected by the UK on account of his guard role.
Since the Western withdrawal, he has received threats from the Taliban as well as Daesh, which has a small presence in Afghanistan.
As a result, the former guard has moved his family to new homes around the country to avoid reprisal attacks.
In a review into his ARAP application, the man said: “Security at the camp was vital in order to ensure the safety of the British and other NATO soldiers in the camp.
“As such, the camp and the military operations carried out from the camp could not have functioned without the presence of security guards like myself.”
The Independent also spoke to relatives of personnel who have been rejected by ARAP, including former British Army chefs and laborers.
One interpreter said that his brother, a former laborer, had gone into hiding to avoid the Taliban after the Western withdrawal.
“He is in the same risk as me. It is not written on his face that he was a laborer and not an interpreter. We were all working with the British Army and we were all the same in the Taliban’s eyes.
“They have already killed one of our other brothers in front of our family home in 2020. He was working to help the American and British troops and they encountered him and shot him.”
A Ministry of Defence spokesperson said: “We owe a debt of gratitude to those interpreters and other staff eligible under the ARAP scheme who worked for, or with, UK forces in Afghanistan in exposed roles.
“Our absolute priority is supporting the movement of eligible people out of Afghanistan and, to date, we have relocated over 12,200 individuals to the UK under ARAP.


US diplomat says intelligence from ‘Five Eyes’ nations helped Canada to link India to Sikh’s killing

US diplomat says intelligence from ‘Five Eyes’ nations helped Canada to link India to Sikh’s killing
Updated 24 September 2023
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US diplomat says intelligence from ‘Five Eyes’ nations helped Canada to link India to Sikh’s killing

US diplomat says intelligence from ‘Five Eyes’ nations helped Canada to link India to Sikh’s killing
  • The “Five Eyes” intelligence-sharing alliance is made up of Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States

TORONTO: Information shared by members of an intelligence-sharing alliance was part of what Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau used to make public allegations of the Indian government’s possible involvement in the assassination of a Sikh Canadian, the US ambassador to Canada said.
“There was shared intelligence among ‘Five Eyes’ partners that helped lead Canada to (make) the statements that the prime minister made,” US Ambassador David Cohen told Canadian CTV News network.
CTV News released some of Cohen’s comments late Friday, and the network said that it would air the full interview with the US envoy on Sunday. No further details were released about the shared intelligence.
On Thursday, a Canadian official told The Associated Press that the allegation of India’s involvement in the killing is based on surveillance of Indian diplomats in Canada, including intelligence provided by a major ally — without saying which one.
The “Five Eyes” intelligence-sharing alliance is made up of Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States.
The relationship between Canada and India reached its lowest point in recent history when Trudeau said there were “credible allegations” of Indian involvement in the assassination of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a 45-year-old Sikh separatist, in June in a Vancouver suburb. Both countries have expelled some top diplomats.
India, which has called the allegations “absurd,” also has stopped issuing visas to Canadian citizens and told Canada to reduce its diplomatic staff.
Canada has yet to provide public evidence to back Trudeau’s allegations.
Nijjar, a plumber who was born in India and became a Canadian citizen in 2007, had been wanted by India for years before he was gunned down in June outside the temple he led in Surrey, a suburb of Vancouver.

 


Russian FM slams Black Sea Grain Initiative ‘lies’

Russian FM slams Black Sea Grain Initiative ‘lies’
Updated 23 September 2023
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Russian FM slams Black Sea Grain Initiative ‘lies’

Russian FM slams Black Sea Grain Initiative ‘lies’
  • ‘We were lied to on the basics of the deal,’ Sergey Lavrov tells press briefing attended by Arab News
  • ‘The US is doing everything possible to prevent the establishment of a Palestinian state’

NEW YORK: Russia’s foreign minister lambasted the “lies” of the Black Sea Grain Initiative, and refuted suggestions that Iran is pursuing nuclear weapons, during a heated press conference at the UN on Saturday.

Addressing a briefing attended by Arab News, Sergey Lavrov stressed confidence in Iran’s claim that it has no intention to obtain “the bomb,” referencing the 2003 religious edict issued by its Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei forbidding production or use of nuclear weapons.

“If Iran came into possession of nuclear weapons, Saudi Arabia said it would also have to consider this,” Lavrov said at the 78th session of the UN General Assembly.  

“This is something I view as a statement of fact: Nobody wants to see the emergence of new nuclear states; but since we believe that Iran won’t have the bomb, Iran’s neighbors won’t be tempted to take that path.”

Lavrov was speaking amid international calls for a resumption of the Black Sea Grain Initiative, with Gulf states reportedly looking to support mediation efforts.

Agreed last year, the deal allowed 33 million tons of grain to be exported from Ukrainian ports, helping to stabilize global food prices and avert shortages.

But Moscow withdrew in July after months of protest that the export of Russian fertilizer was not being honored.

“The Ukrainian part of the package was implemented rather effectively and swiftly, while the Russian part wasn’t implemented at all,” said Lavrov.

“At the same time, our naval officers were opening up for the safe passage of grain ships, but the corridors were used to launch UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles) and carry out strikes on Russian ships.

“But the main reason why we left the agreement is everything promised to us turned out to be a lie.”

Earlier in the week, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres referenced questions that had arisen over Russia’s apparent interest, or lack thereof, in resurrecting the deal.

When this was put to Lavrov, he denied this was the case, reiterating that Moscow’s withdrawal was linked to the “lies” surrounding rights for Russian fertilizer exports, as he pointed to the continuing work between Russian representatives and UN officials to resolve the blockade.

“We were lied to on the basics of the deal, and the secretary-general himself was forced to mislead on that,” Lavrov said.

“Let us once again recall what President (Vladimir) Putin said, which is that as soon as everything that’s enshrined in the Russian part of the package is implemented, on that very day the Ukrainian part of that initiative will become operational.”

Saying “someone in London or Washington doesn’t want the war to end,” Lavrov poured scorn on the continued investment from Western states into Ukraine’s defense apparatus.

Segueing into saying “we all know the US is doing everything possible to prevent the establishment of a Palestinian state, but somehow this doesn’t seem to cause great concern,” he concluded by appealing to African states to consider Russia as a partner.


Russian FM dismisses Ukraine peace plan, slams West in UNGA speech

Russian FM dismisses Ukraine peace plan, slams West in UNGA speech
Updated 23 September 2023
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Russian FM dismisses Ukraine peace plan, slams West in UNGA speech

Russian FM dismisses Ukraine peace plan, slams West in UNGA speech
  • Sergei Lavrov also tells UN General Assembly that Russian troops will help in ‘mutual trust-building’ between Armenia, Azerbaijan

LONDON: Russia’s Foreign Minister said in a speech at the UN General Assembly on Saturday that Russian troops will “certainly” help in rebuilding trust between Armenia and Azerbaijan.

Sergei Lavrov said it was time the dispute between the two countries was settled, adding that Western countries were trying to imposes themselves as mediators, but were not needed.

“Yerevan and Baku actually did settle the situation,” he said. “Time has come for mutual trust-building. There are Russian troops who will certainly help this.”

Russia has peacekeeping missions in Nagorno-Karabakh, where Azerbaijan launched an offensive this week and where the ethnic Armenian leadership said the terms of their ceasefire with Azerbaijan were being implemented.

Lavrov also said Ukraine’s proposed peace plan in its war with Russia, as well as UN suggestions for reviving the Black Sea Grain Initiative, were “not realistic,” but did not elaborate further on the 19-month conflict.

“It is completely not feasible,” he said of the 10-point peace blueprint promoted by Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelensky. “It is not possible to implement this. It’s not realistic and everybody understands this. But at the same time, they say this is the only basis for negotiations.”

Lavrov criticized the West throughout his speech, and accused it of “fueling conflicts,” “dividing humanity” and “preventing the formation of a genuine multipolar world.”

He called for the expansion of the UN Security Council, which he said was skewed toward preserving Western hegemony.

“(The rest of the planet) don’t want to live under anybody’s yoke anymore,” he said, adding that this was evident by the growth of groups such as BRICS, which recently invited Argentina, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia and the UAE to join.

“Our future is being shaped by a struggle, a struggle between the global majority in favor of a fairer distribution of global benefits and civilized diversity, and between the few who wield neo-colonial methods of subjugation in order to maintain their domination which is slipping through their hands,” he said.

“The US and its subordinate Western collective are continuing to fuel conflicts which artificially divide humanity into hostile blocks and hamper the achievement of overall aims. They’re doing everything they can to prevent the formation of a genuine multipolar world order.

“They are trying to force the world to play according to their own self-centered rules,” he said.


China willing to work with South Korea ahead of summit with Japan

China willing to work with South Korea ahead of summit with Japan
Updated 23 September 2023
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China willing to work with South Korea ahead of summit with Japan

China willing to work with South Korea ahead of summit with Japan
  • Xi told Han that he welcomes the summit at an opportune time and he will seriously consider the matter of visiting South Korea, Yonhap reported on Saturday

BEIJING: China is willing to work with South Korea to promote a strategic partnership to develop with the times, President Xi Jinping told South Korean Prime Minister Han Duck-soo on Saturday, amid rising tensions surrounding Russia, the United States and North Korea.
Xi held talks with Han in the eastern Chinese city of Hangzhou before the opening ceremony of the Asian Games, China Central Television reported.
The commitment to cooperation came ahead of scheduled trilateral talks between China, Japan and South Korea in Seoul on Sept. 26, the first summit led by their senior officials in four years.

FASTFACT

The commitment to cooperation came ahead of scheduled trilateral talks between China, Japan and South Korea in Seoul on Sept. 26, the first summit led by their senior officials in four years.

Xi told Han that he welcomes the summit at an opportune time and he will seriously consider the matter of visiting South Korea, Yonhap reported on Saturday. A Chinese statement did not mention Xi’s comment on the summit or a visit to Seoul.
China attaches great importance to the positive willingness of South Korea to commit to cooperation, Xi said, and asked South Korea to meet it half way to maintain the direction of friendly cooperation. The two countries can deepen mutually beneficial cooperations, he said.
Tensions between the two East Asian countries rose after North Korea’s Kim Jong Un’s weeklong visit to Russia earlier this month, which angered the United States, Japan and South Korea.
South Korea imposed sanctions on 10 individuals and two entities in relation to North Korea’s nuclear program and weapons trade with three countries, including Russia, the Foreign Ministry said on Thursday.

 


Indonesia pledges continued support for Palestinian statehood, urges UN to ‘walk the talk’

Indonesia pledges continued support for Palestinian statehood, urges UN to ‘walk the talk’
Updated 23 September 2023
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Indonesia pledges continued support for Palestinian statehood, urges UN to ‘walk the talk’

Indonesia pledges continued support for Palestinian statehood, urges UN to ‘walk the talk’
  • ‘For far too long, we’ve allowed our Palestinian brothers and sisters to suffer’: FM tells General Assembly
  • Retno Marsudi also calls for global solidarity with Afghans, especially women and girls

JAKARTA: Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi appealed to the UN General Assembly on Saturday to uphold the principle of sovereignty, as she pledged continued support for Palestinian statehood.
Addressing the 78th session of the UN General Assembly in New York, Marsudi referred to its theme of “Rebuilding trust and reigniting global solidarity” by highlighting a deep trust deficit in the world today.

“The problem is that we do differently than what we say, we say differently about what we did. We don’t walk the talk,” she said.
“The fate of the world can’t be defined by the mighty few. A peaceful, stable and prosperous world is a collective right and responsibility of all countries — big and small, north and south, developed and developing.”
To achieve this goal, she urged all leaders to “adhere to the same rules of the game” and invoked the spirit of the 1955 Asian-African Conference held in the Indonesian city of Bandung, which was a defining moment in postcolonial history and led to the founding of the Non-Aligned Movement.
The “Bandung Spirit,” or the core principles adopted during the meeting, were political self-determination, mutual respect for sovereignty, non-aggression, non-interference in internal affairs, and equality.
Palestine is the only country participating in the 1955 Asian-African Conference that has not yet become independent.
“We must uphold respect for international law, particularly the principle of sovereignty and territorial integrity,” Marsudi said.
“For far too long, we’ve allowed our Palestinian brothers and sisters to suffer. Indonesia won’t back an inch in our support for Palestinian statehood.”
Indonesia, the world’s most populous Muslim-majority nation, has long been a staunch supporter of the Palestinian cause.
Indonesian people and authorities see Palestinian statehood as mandated by their own constitution, which calls for the abolition of colonialism. 
In its preamble, the Indonesian constitution says that “independence is the inalienable right of every nation.”
The Southeast Asian nation has no diplomatic relations with Israel, and the Indonesian government has repeatedly called for an end to the occupation of Palestinian territories and for a two-state solution based on pre-1967 borders.
Jakarta has also repeatedly called on the UN Security Council to implement all its resolutions related to Palestine.
As world leaders this week made a political declaration to accelerate action to achieve the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals to end poverty and hunger, empower women and girls, and drive economic prosperity and well-being for all people while protecting the environment by 2030, Marsudi called for equal chances for all to do so.
“Every country has the same right to develop and grow, but the global architecture of today only benefits the selected few,” she said.
“Many developing countries may not meet the SDGs by 2030. They also struggle with foreign debt and development financing. All of this will contribute to eroding trust and solidarity.”
Marsudi also called for global solidarity with Afghans, especially women and girls, whose lives have been significantly restricted since the Taliban came to power in 2021 and barred them, among other things, from secondary and higher education.
“Indonesia will do its utmost to help the Afghan people and ensure the rights of women and girls are respected, including their right to education,” she said.