Israeli new Prime Minister Naftali Bennett plans to push for a new strategy towards Iran on his first visit to the White House. He says he will urge US President Joe Biden not to renew the 2015 nuclear deal with Tehran.
Photo: flickr/Prachatai
Biden's aides hope the talks will set a positive tone for his relationship with Bennett, a far-right politician and technology-rich millionaire. In June, he ended Benjamin Netanyahu's record 12-year career as prime minister. His tenure was marked by years of tension between conservative Netanyahu, who was close to Donald Trump, and the last democratic administration led by Barack Obama, whose vice president was Biden.
The leaders' meeting gives the US administration the opportunity to demonstrate, as usual, with its closest ally in the Middle East, when faced with the chaotic situation in Afghanistan, Biden's biggest foreign policy crisis since coming to power.
Negotiations will be relatively easy, writes Arab News. The two leaders are expected to address a small group of reporters briefly during interviews at the Oval Office, but will not hold a joint press conference.
Bennett is as adamant as Netanyahu and promises not to allow Iran, which Israel considers an existential threat, to develop nuclear weapons. “Iran is making rapid progress in uranium enrichment and has already significantly reduced the time required to accumulate material for a single nuclear bomb,” the Israeli leader said.
Bennett revealed what he would say to Biden: “It's time to stop the Iranians and not give them a lifeline to re-enter into an expired nuclear agreement.” Trump withdrew the United States from an agreement between the six world powers and Iran in 2018. He considered it too beneficial for Tehran and re-imposed US sanctions, according to a report released by Reuters last week. for Atomic Energy stated that Iran had accelerated uranium enrichment to a level close to weapons.
Iran has consistently rejected attempts at bombings, but enriching the country has increased tensions in the West as both sides seek to resume negotiations to renew an agreement to limit Tehran's nuclear activities in exchange for lifting sanctions.
Bennett told the government that he would present to Biden “the structured plan we have formulated over the past two months to curb Iranians from nuclear and regional aggression.” He did not provide any details.
US State Department spokesman Ned Price said: “I have the Israeli Prime Minister present to the US President any ideas the Israeli government may have regarding Iran. “
Bennett, 49, is the son of American immigrants in Israel. The former head of the Israeli Settler Council in the West Bank leads a coalition of left-wing, right-wing, centrist and Arab parties. The Biden administration has already made it clear that it opposes further expansion of Jewish settlements. Bennett, who advocated expansion in the West Bank, is cautious about settlement.
The Taliban have introduced an amnesty for all members of the former Afghan government, in particular former President Ashraf Ghani and Vice President Amrullah Saleh. High Taliban leader Khalil ur-Rahman Haqqani announced this on August 22. According to him, if politicians decide to return to the country, they will not be persecuted. Meanwhile, new evidence comes from Afghanistan of atrocities committed by a terrorist Taliban banned in Russia.
Photo: AP
В In an exclusive interview with Pakistan's Geo TV, Haqqani stressed that among the Taliban, the country's former president and other officials who have left Afghanistan, there is no animosity. So if they still want to return to the country, they will not receive retaliation.
“We forgive Ashraf Ghani, Amrullah Saleh and Hamdullah Mohib (National Security Adviser. – MK ), he said, adding that the animosity between the Taliban and all three arose solely for religious reasons. “” As far as we are concerned, we forgive everyone, from the general to the common man. “
Haqqani also said it was not the Taliban who started the war against the United States. According to him, the members of the group decided to take up arms only after the Americans “invaded their homeland to fight against their culture and religion.” However, the Taliban still won a “huge victory” over its enemies, especially given the fact that the Afghan army numbered about 350,000 troops, and according to him, it also gained support from the US and NATO.
According to the high representative of the radical Islamist movement, the Taliban really wants all Muslim countries to reconcile with each other. In addition, Haqqani called on all countries in the world to ensure their citizens' proper rights, and said that an “inclusive government” would be formed in Afghanistan. “The Afghan government in Afghanistan will be formed by very capable and educated people,” he said. “It will involve people who unite the masses.”
In addition, one of the group's leaders called on Afghans fleeing the country not to spread propaganda that the Taliban would take revenge. Haqqani promised that all nationalities living in the country could feel at ease. “The Tajiks, Baluchas, Khazars and Pashtuns are all our brothers,” he assured. “All Afghans are our brothers, so they can return to the country.” The only reason for our hostility was the desire to change the system. Now the system has changed. “
However, the human rights organization Amnesty International recently reported that the Taliban recently killed several members of the Afghan ethnic minority – Hazaras living in Ghazni province. Human rights activists noted that the incident was “terrible evidence of militant rule.” However, when some of them returned to buy food, they found their houses looted.
A report by the Human Rights Group states that the Taliban shot at least six Hazaras and tortured another three. One of them, 63-year-old Jaffar Rahim, had eye muscles cut, according to eyewitnesses, and tried to strangle him with his own scarf. The man was accused of working for the Afghan government after cash was found in his pocket.
40-year-old Sayed Abdul Hakim was again taken out of his house by gunmen and beaten with sticks and a machine gun. Then his hands were tied and then shot. Two bullets hit the leg, the other two – in the chest. His body remained beside the creek …
There were reports from Afghanistan that the Taliban had begun looking for Afghans to help the United States and NATO. The secret document of the Norwegian Center for Global Analysis, prepared for the UN, informs about it. The militants allegedly have a list of addresses of people who have cooperated with foreign forces.
Earlier, Afghan media and social media users reported that militants in Kandahar had publicly executed four commanders of the Afghan national army. TOLO News Muslim Shizrad tweeted that the execution took place at a local stadium. Among the victims is Commander Hashim Regwal, who is close to the former head of the provincial police, General Abdul Razak, who was killed in 2018.
The journalist published a video showing a large crowd of people. Voice-over also claims that residents were gathered for public execution. According to the Afghan media, militants with Razak's supporters have a long-term score. It is noted that he was particularly cruel to the Taliban.
We recall that on August 15, the Taliban announced the establishment of control over the entire territory of Afghanistan. The militants said they would soon announce the creation of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, and also demanded the withdrawal of foreign troops from the country.
President Ashraf Ghani resigned the same day and left the country, which he explained as a desire to avoid bloodshed. The Afghan leader admitted defeat to his government in a post on his Facebook page. According to initial data, the politician went to Uzbekistan with his wife and two advisers. Other sources say the president flew to Oman or Tajikistan. According to a spokesman for the Russian embassy in Afghanistan, Ghani fled the country with cars loaded with millions of dollars that did not even fit in his helicopter.
The UAE Foreign Ministry later confirmed that the Afghan leader and his family were in the country. The ministry said the former head of state, who had fled Afghanistan, had been accepted for humanitarian reasons. Ashraf Ghani himself denies exporting a huge amount of money from the country, claiming that he only took with him the clothes he was wearing.
Despite the fact that the fugitive president has announced that he is consulting to return home. However, as a politician whom the Taliban called an American “puppet,” it was more appropriate for him to wait for time in a foreign country. Because the Taliban's guarantees are hardly worth much.
An eloquent example is the story of an Afghan brother who worked as a translator for the Americans. The man was accused not only of helping the United States, but also of ensuring the safety of his brother, who was translating for the US military. Several threatening letters were sent to the poor man. “You are accused of helping the Americans,” the Taliban wrote in the first of the reports, adding: “You are also accused of ensuring the safety of your brother, who was a translator.” The second handwritten letter is a notice of his absence from the hearing. In the third letter, the Taliban informed the man that by refusing a previous warning to stop “serving the invading crusaders” and ignoring the summons to a hearing, he was found “guilty in absentia” and would be sentenced to death. . “These court decisions are final and you have no right to object,” says the third letter. “You have chosen this path for yourself and your death is inevitable.”
By NSN, Member Andrei Klimov, on the Committee on International Affairs of the Russian Federation, commented on the situation with US weapons and military equipment left by the US military in Afghanistan.
MEP recalled that in Afghanistan in the late 1970s & ndash; In the early 1980s, with the help of the CIA, serious tensions arose, which led to the USSR being drawn into the Afghan war.
“ Then, with relatively serious US support, the Mujahideen were armed … And now I feel déjà vu … The United States deliberately left weapons in Afghanistan that they allegedly did not have time to draw. A serious network of agents is being set up there, … a source of tension is being prepared against Russia, China and the states we border, & # 39; & # 39; Klimov is sure.
Newspaper The New York Times published images from satellites of the American company Maxar Technologies, which captured crowds of people around the airport in Kabul, Afghanistan.
The pictures show hundreds of people besieging the airport building in hopes of leaving Afghanistan as soon as possible. It can also be seen that many kilometers of traffic jams from cars and public transport have formed on the access routes to the airport.
Citizens waiting for departure are lined up in the airport itself.
Print -The service of the National Police of Ukraine has issued a statement stating that criminal prosecution has begun on the attack on the country's former president Petro Poroshenko.
„24. August, during ceremonies in the center of Kiev, an unknown person poured the President of Ukraine Poroshenka green. Law enforcement officers immediately stopped the violator and took him to the Pechersk police department. The attacker turned out to be a native of the Chernihiv region, born in 1999. The Pechersk Police Department initiated criminal proceedings under Part 1, Article 296 (rioting) of the Ukrainian Criminal Code.
Algerian Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced the severance of diplomatic relations with Morocco amid allegations of burning forests.
According to Ramtan Lamamra, head of department, Morocco has regularly “ carried out abominable deeds & # 39; & # 39 ;; with regard to Algeria, this behavior has been “purposeful since the 1963 war”. He accused the kingdom of associating with terrorist groups that the Algerian authorities believe are involved in burning forests.
The diplomat also accused Moroccan special services of spying on officials from a neighboring country.
Earlier, on August 18, the Security Council of the Supreme Algeria announced on August 18 a review of relations with Morocco in connection with the burning of forests in mountain areas.
In Valencia Hall in Spain hung a portrait of Joseph Stalin. He appeared on the balcony with the words “In defense of Stalin” and hung there for a few minutes. It happened on the European Day of Remembrance for the Victims of Stalinism and Nazism.
The event was organized by activists of the Marxist-Leninist Party of Spain. They also published a photo on their Twitter page, in which a portrait of the leader of the Soviet people was hung on the streets of other cities. In particular, & nbsp; next to the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, reports ABC.
These actions are allegedly directed against “the criminalization of communism and attempts to hide the achievements of the workers' movement.” The party also condemned the identifying Nazism and Stalinism in Twitter posts. The mayor has already contacted the police about the incident.
Russian authorities cautiously monitor the situation in Afghanistan. However, the Russian Federation does not intend to involve its armed forces in the “all against all” conflict, as described by Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The Russian leader acknowledged that the situation in Afghanistan could lead to a direct escalation in neighboring countries. At the same time, he reminded that the conflict in this republic “ has lasted for several decades.“
He also reminded that the USSR had experience from living in Afghanistan. Our country has learned a lesson from this.
Putin previously said that Russia, in contact with Western countries, will do everything in its power to ensure security in Afghanistan. According to him, Moscow does not want militants to appear in the country under the guise of refugees.
Former President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko was attacked in the center of Kiev. According to eyewitnesses, the politician was bathed in brilliant greenery near the Khreshchatyk metro station as he, accompanied by his wife and colleagues, headed for the cabinet.
According to the published footage, Poroshenko was not seriously injured, most of his face was covered with a corrosive liquid antiviral mask. The former first lady was also not injured.
After the attack, Poroshenko was surrounded by police and the army, forced to get in a car and taken away.
Russian terrorist movement The Taliban, according to UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet, conducts mass executions of civilians and military fighters. According to her, such information was received by the Office of the High Commissioner.
Bachelet added that the Taliban allegedly also encouraged children to take part in hostilities. In addition, they restrict women's rights and suppress demonstrations. In this context, it called on the UN Human Rights Council to organize a special mechanism to monitor the situation in Afghanistan. She said it was important to ensure that the Taliban kept their promises. In addition, Bachelet is convening an extraordinary meeting at the request of Pakistan and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation.
After coming to power in Afghanistan, the Taliban promised to respect the rights of representatives of ethnic and religious minorities. They also pledged to refrain from reprisals against those who have worked with the government or the international community. In addition, they noted that they would respect women's right to work and girls' right to go to school, as interpreted by the Taliban. Islamic law.
Meanwhile, Afghan Vice President Amrullah Saleh said militants allegedly abducted residents of Baghlan province in northern Afghanistan. And former Republican Interior Minister Mohammad Masood Andarabi called on international human rights organizations to “ investigate the Taliban's actions & # 39; & # 39; in the district of Andarab in the province of Baghlan. In his view, the “atrocities of the Taliban” have no excuses against the Afghan civilian population.
