US envoy Richard Holbrooke was to meet Afghan President Hamid Karzai yesterday on the second full day of a visit to Afghanistan to assess US-led efforts to tackle a Taliban-led insurgency.
The meeting, scheduled for yesterday evening, comes as Afghanistan marks 20 years since the withdrawal of Soviet forces after a 10-year resistance that the Taliban says has parallels with its own battle against US and other troops.
Karzai’s office would not comment on the agenda, but the president is likely to reiterate demands for an end to civilian casualties in US-led military operations and more focus on militant bases in neighboring Pakistan.
PHOTO: AP
Afghanistan has been heartened by recent strikes on extremist sanctuaries in the Pakistani tribal belt, which it says give vital support to the insurgency.
Holbrooke, US President Barack Obama’s regional troubleshooter, arrived in Afghanistan late on Thursday from Pakistan, where military commanders say they urgently need equipment to tackle the Taliban threat.
NEW US POLICY
He has already met Afghan authorities and politicians including from the opposition, military commanders and international ambassadors as part of wide-ranging discussions that will inform a new US policy in the region.
The envoy, who has a reputation as a hard-nosed diplomat, has insisted a new approach is required to turn the strife-torn country around that involves all of Afghanistan’s neighbors — and in particular Pakistan.
“It is going to be a long, difficult struggle,” he said at an international conference in Germany last week, adding he believed it was going to be “much tougher than Iraq.”
Holbrooke’s appointment underscores Obama’s commitment to refocus on Afghanistan, which last year suffered its deadliest year in the insurgency led by the Taliban who were removed from government in a US-led invasion in late 2001.
ADDITIONAL TROOPS
Obama is expected to decide soon whether to send more US troops to Afghanistan with the US commander here, General David McKiernan, requesting up to 30,000 additional troops.
If they are approved for deployment, it would nearly double the size of the US force, which currently numbers around 37,000.
The expected deployment is seen as one reason behind a delay in presidential elections to August with fears that the weakening security could jeopardize the poll.
Karzai is standing for re-election at the ballot — the second-ever presidential vote in war-battered Afghanistan — amid doubts over his relations with the new US administration after firm support from the previous government.
He said last week that there was some “light wrestling” with his US allies, mainly over civilian casualties, which have caused deep anger and resentment among Afghans and risk public support for his government.
The Taliban often try to use such casualties to fuel suspicion of the troops, whom they call “infidels” and “invaders” like the Soviets who entered Afghanistan in December 1979.
The arrival of the Red Army led to a resistance by mujahidin (holy fighters) that drew in Pakistan and the US and resulted in a Soviet withdrawal on Feb. 15, 1989, which was marked with a public holiday in Afghanistan yesterday.
The Taliban says it too is involved in a jihad and regularly warns of a similar “cruel defeat” for the thousands of US and NATO-led troops who are in Afghanistan at the request of the government.
Russia and Ukraine have exchanged prisoners of war in the latest such swap that saw the release of hundreds of captives and was brokered with the help of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), officials said on Monday. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said that 189 Ukrainian prisoners, including military personnel, border guards and national guards — along with two civilians — were freed. He thanked the UAE for helping negotiate the exchange. The Russian Ministry of Defense said that 150 Russian troops were freed from captivity as part of the exchange in which each side released 150 people. The reason for the discrepancy in numbers
A shark attack off Egypt’s Red Sea coast killed a tourist and injured another, authorities said on Sunday, with an Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs source identifying both as Italian nationals. “Two foreigners were attacked by a shark in the northern Marsa Alam area, which led to the injury of one and the death of the other,” the Egyptian Ministry of Environment said in a statement. A source at the Italian foreign ministry said that the man killed was a 48-year-old resident of Rome. The injured man was 69 years old. They were both taken to hospital in Port Ghalib, about 50km north
The foreign ministers of Germany, France and Poland on Tuesday expressed concern about “the political crisis” in Georgia, two days after Mikheil Kavelashvili was formally inaugurated as president of the South Caucasus nation, cementing the ruling party’s grip in what the opposition calls a blow to the country’s EU aspirations and a victory for former imperial ruler Russia. “We strongly condemn last week’s violence against peaceful protesters, media and opposition leaders, and recall Georgian authorities’ responsibility to respect human rights and protect fundamental freedoms, including the freedom to assembly and media freedom,” the three ministers wrote in a joint statement. In reaction
BARRIER BLAME: An aviation expert questioned the location of a solid wall past the end of the runway, saying that it was ‘very bad luck for this particular airplane’ A team of US investigators, including representatives from Boeing, on Tuesday examined the site of a plane crash that killed 179 people in South Korea, while authorities were conducting safety inspections on all Boeing 737-800 aircraft operated by the country’s airlines. All but two of the 181 people aboard the Boeing 737-800 operated by South Korean budget airline Jeju Air died in Sunday’s crash. Video showed the aircraft, without its landing gear deployed, crash-landed on its belly and overshoot a runaway at Muan International Airport before it slammed into a barrier and burst into flames. The plane was seen having engine trouble.
RSS