The second most senior EU official in Afghanistan and a top UN political adviser left the country yesterday after being expelled by the government for posing a threat to national security.
The two men, a British and an Irish national, were on Tuesday declared persona non grata amid claims they had made contact with Taliban insurgents.
The UN insists the affair is a result of a misunderstanding arising from a visit the men made to the southern town of Musa Qala, a former Taliban stronghold recaptured by Afghan and British troops this month.
"Our discussions and negotiations are ongoing with the government of Afghanistan so we can see the return of these vital members of staff," UN spokesman Aleem Siddique said after the men flew out on a UN plane.
The government has not expanded on the allegations against the men -- Irishman Michael Semple, acting head of the EU mission, and Briton Mervyn Patterson.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai's office has said only that the men "posed threats to the national security of Afghanistan."
But officials have said on condition of anonymity that the men are alleged to have been talking to Taliban, and perhaps even supplying them with cash and weapons.
"They really did something wrong and beyond their mandate," one government official said, but refused to elaborate.
The Taliban reportedly denied it had links with the men.
Semple in particular was a "spy and a big enemy of Taliban and allegations of his links with Taliban is totally false," the Pakistan-based Afghan Islamic Press said, quoting from a statement it received from the rebel group.
The men had gone to Musa Qala to talk to "disaffected communities to help reconnect them back to the government of Afghanistan," Siddique said.
"They were talking to people on the ground to understand what their needs are, their concerns, what their opinions are about the government of Afghanistan -- good and bad," he said.
Meeting with locals is part of a strategy to stem support for a Taliban-led insurgency that was its bloodiest this year since the hardliners were driven from government in late 2001 by a US-led coalition that included Britain.
"It is somewhat surprising to us that these efforts seem to have been misconstrued and that is what we are working to rectify," Siddique said.
He said there had been no talks with the Taliban and that "we don't pay terrorists money."
A European diplomat said the matter was being dealt with at the highest levels -- between EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana and Karzai.
Another Western official in Kabul said the matter would not be resolved until Karzai returned from a state visit to Pakistan later yesterday.
It appeared that people who did not like what the diplomats had been doing had "got the ear of Karzai" before the matter could be properly explained, he said.
Kehinde Sanni spends his days smoothing out dents and repainting scratched bumpers in a modest autobody shop in Lagos. He has never left Nigeria, yet he speaks glowingly of Burkina Faso military leader Ibrahim Traore. “Nigeria needs someone like Ibrahim Traore of Burkina Faso. He is doing well for his country,” Sanni said. His admiration is shaped by a steady stream of viral videos, memes and social media posts — many misleading or outright false — portraying Traore as a fearless reformer who defied Western powers and reclaimed his country’s dignity. The Burkinabe strongman swept into power following a coup in September 2022
‘FRAGMENTING’: British politics have for a long time been dominated by the Labor Party and the Tories, but polls suggest that Reform now poses a significant challenge Hard-right upstarts Reform UK snatched a parliamentary seat from British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s Labor Party yesterday in local elections that dealt a blow to the UK’s two establishment parties. Reform, led by anti-immigrant firebrand Nigel Farage, won the by-election in Runcorn and Helsby in northwest England by just six votes, as it picked up gains in other localities, including one mayoralty. The group’s strong showing continues momentum it built up at last year’s general election and appears to confirm a trend that the UK is entering an era of multi-party politics. “For the movement, for the party it’s a very, very big
ENTERTAINMENT: Rio officials have a history of organizing massive concerts on Copacabana Beach, with Madonna’s show drawing about 1.6 million fans last year Lady Gaga on Saturday night gave a free concert in front of 2 million fans who poured onto Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro for the biggest show of her career. “Tonight, we’re making history... Thank you for making history with me,” Lady Gaga told a screaming crowd. The Mother Monster, as she is known, started the show at about 10:10pm local time with her 2011 song Bloody Mary. Cries of joy rose from the tightly packed fans who sang and danced shoulder-to-shoulder on the vast stretch of sand. Concert organizers said 2.1 million people attended the show. Lady Gaga
SUPPORT: The Australian prime minister promised to back Kyiv against Russia’s invasion, saying: ‘That’s my government’s position. It was yesterday. It still is’ Left-leaning Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese yesterday basked in his landslide election win, promising a “disciplined, orderly” government to confront cost-of-living pain and tariff turmoil. People clapped as the 62-year-old and his fiancee, Jodie Haydon, who visited his old inner Sydney haunt, Cafe Italia, surrounded by a crowd of jostling photographers and journalists. Albanese’s Labor Party is on course to win at least 83 seats in the 150-member parliament, partial results showed. Opposition leader Peter Dutton’s conservative Liberal-National coalition had just 38 seats, and other parties 12. Another 17 seats were still in doubt. “We will be a disciplined, orderly
RSS