Abu Dhabi [UAE], August 18,2021: Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani, who fled the war-torn country after it was overtaken by the Taliban, is now in the United Arab Emirates, the UAE government confirmed on Wednesday.
“The UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation can confirm that the UAE has welcomed President Ashraf Ghani and his family into the country on humanitarian grounds,” the United Arab Emirates Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation said in a statement.
On Sunday, Ghani left Afghanistan after the Taliban entered the presidential palace. Ghani said he fled to prevent “bloodshed.”
Soon after the terror group claimed control over the Afghan capital, several countries evacuated their diplomatic personnel from the country, and thousands of people flocked to the Kabul airport in a desperate attempt to leave Afghanistan.
Meanwhile, the Taliban had ruled Afghanistan from 1996 until 2001 and in those five years, they imposed Sharia Islamic law in the country, introducing punishments in line with their strict interpretation of the law – publically executing convicted murderers and adulterers and carrying out amputations of those found guilty of theft. Men were required to grow beards and women had to wear the all-covering hijab.
Dharamshala (Himachal Pradesh),August 18 ,2021: Tibetan government-in-exile spokesperson Tenzin Lekshey on Wednesday expressed concern at the situation in Afghanistan and said that whatever is happening in the country is due to a lapse by the government and the international community.
“There is a huge humanitarian crisis. What’s happening inside Afghanistan is a lapse by the government and the international communities in understanding the aspirations of the Afghan people,” Lekshey told ANI.
“Hopefully the international communities will wake up to see what they can do to help the Afghan people become self-reliant and work for their own benefit,” he said.
He also said that he thinks the situation in Afghanistan is a serious matter.
“I think this is a serious matter. It’s not just the matter of Afghan people, but also an international matter, which needs to be looked at closely. We believe that for the last 20 years, American visibility was so much there but after the withdrawal of troops, we see there is a huge vacuum. People are tense and there is a tense moment in Afghanistan. We feel sorry for the Afghan people,” Lekshey said.
“We need to also look at what the international community can do to help the Afghan people. That’s the most important thing. Otherwise, this humanitarian crisis can go on for a long time and it will jeopardise the whole thing,” he added.
Kabul [Afghanistan], August 18,2021: Members of the Taliban opened fire on people rallying in support of the Afghan national flag in the eastern Nangarhar province, a local source told Sputnik on Wednesday.
Some people were killed and others were injured, the source continued.
Meanwhile, Afghan news agency Pajhwok reported that Taliban militants had beaten journalists working for it and the Ariana News broadcaster who were covering the rally. The violence provoked an outrage from the local media.
On Sunday, the Taliban completed their takeover of Afghanistan by entering Kabul, which led to the collapse of the US-backed civilian government. After taking over Afghanistan, the Taliban promised that the media would be able to work in the Central Asian country without interference.
New Delhi , August 17,2021: The Ministry of External Affairs on Tuesday said the Indian Ambassador in Kabul and his Indian staff will move to India immediately, in view of prevailing circumstances in Afghanistan.
“In view of the prevailing circumstances, it has been decided that our Ambassador in Kabul and his Indian staff will move to India immediately,” MEA spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said in a Tweet.
Meanwhile, sources said that an Indian Air Force C-17 aircraft has taken off from Kabul with more than 120 Indian officials. They were brought inside the secure areas of the airport safely on Monday evening.
India is closely monitoring the fast-changing situation in Afghanistan and will be deciding on the evacuation of diplomatic personnel from Kabul, sources said.
Afghanistan government collapsed on Sunday with President Ashraf Ghani leaving the country, the New York Times reported.
Taliban entered Kabul on Sunday and took control of the presidential palace. Taliban leaders have been discussing future government plans in Doha after gaining control of Kabul and seizing the presidential palace in Afghanistan’s capital, as per a media report.
Panic has gripped the Afghan capital as people fear a return to the Taliban’s brutal rule and the threat of reprisal killings.
Thousands of Afghans flooded the tarmac on Monday morning, at one point swarming around a departing US military plane as it taxied down the runway.
Washington, Aug 17 ,2021: The airport in Kabul has been re-opened for operations at 3:35 local time, US Army Brig. Gen. William Taylor told reporters.
“As of 15:35 local time, the air field was open for operations. Shortly after, the first C-17 landed with US Marines on board. The next C-17 is preparing to land as we speak,” Taylor said during a press briefing on Monday.
Aug 16,2021: A federal judge in Texas has ordered the Biden administration to reinstate the Remain in Mexico program, a Trump-era immigration policy that required migrants seeking asylum to wait in Mexican border cities for the duration of their immigration cases.
The program, which the Department of Homeland Security under former President Donald Trump introduced in 2019 at the height of a surge in Central American families coming to the U.S. border, was wound down by President Biden soon after he took office.
In a ruling late Friday, U.S. Judge Matthew J. Kacsmaryk of the Northern District of Texas said the elimination of the policy was arbitrary and violated federal law because the administration didn’t properly consider the benefits of the program. He also wrote that ending it has contributed to the current border surge.
“Since [its] termination, the number of enforcement encounters on the southwest border has skyrocketed,” he wrote.