The Biden administration is vowing to safely evacuate all Americans who want to leave Afghanistan even as the situation at the Kabul airport grows more tense. Evacuations continued Sunday for Americans and Afghans who helped the U.S. military, and the U.S. has ordered commercial airlines to help. VOA’s Arash Arabasadi has more.
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Month: August 2021
Heavy Rain in Northeastern US as Tropical Storm Henri Makes Landfall
Parts of the northeastern United States braced for more heavy rains and the potential for flooding Monday as the storm that made landfall as Tropical Storm Henri slowly moved across the region. The bulk of the rain overnight was located over New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. The National Hurricane Center expects the center of the storm, now downgraded to a tropical depression, to drift a short distance to the east during the day Monday before eventually making it back out over the Atlantic Ocean by Tuesday morning. Forecasters said total rainfall amounts across much of the region would be between 7 and 15 centimeters, with some locally higher amounts. The storm made landfall Sunday in the state of Rhode Island, and knocked out power to more than 130,000 homes in that state, Connecticut, Massachusetts and New York. President Joe Biden said Sunday he had already approved emergency declarations for Rhode Island, Connecticut and New York, and that the Federal Emergency Management Agency had resources such as generators, food and water positioned in the region to help those in need. “We don’t know the full extent of the storm’s impact today, but we are acting to prepare for and prevent damage as much as possible, and to speed help to affected communities so they can recover as quickly as possible,” Biden said. Rhode Island Governor Dan McKee spoke of the need to get electricity service restored with warm temperatures forecast in the coming days. “We know that that’s an issue and that’s why getting power restored is critical for the health and safety of our residents, our economy, and our small businesses to make sure that they’re operating,” McKee said. Some information for this report came from the Associated Press.
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US Vice President Harris Highlights Commitment to Regional Security in Singapore Visit
U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris spoke of what she called a “shared vision of a free and open Indo-Pacific region” as she visited Singapore at the start of a short trip to Southeast Asia. Speaking to reporters alongside Singapore’s Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, Harris stressed U.S. commitment to the region and working with allies to “uphold the rules-based international order and freedom of navigation, including in the South China Sea.” “The reason I am here is because the United States is a global leader, and we take that role seriously,” Harris said.U.S. Vice President visits Singapore, Aug. 23, 2021.Monday’s talks included extensive focus on the climate crisis, Harris said, along with the need for cooperation to end the coronavirus pandemic and to prevent future ones from occurring. “The pandemic has highlighted the importance of working together as partners on the issue of global health,” she said. Harris is scheduled to meet Tuesday with business leaders in Singapore as part of a joint effort to shore up supply chains. The United States and Singapore have also agreed to cooperate on an effort to identify new coronavirus variants and to boost preparedness in Southeast Asia. Earlier Monday, Harris took part in a welcome ceremony and met with President Halimah Yacob. Harris will also make a stop Monday at the Changi Naval Base, where she will speak to U.S. sailors aboard the visiting USS Tulsa. Late Tuesday, Harris arrives in Vietnam, becoming the first U.S. vice president to visit Hanoi, as Washington seeks to bolster international support to counter China’s growing global influence. Her visit follows Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin’s late July trip to the same two countries plus the Philippines and Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s virtual meetings August 4 with counterparts from the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations at an annual summit.US Seen Bolstering Military Links in Southeast Asia to Counter China US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin visited Hanoi and Manila this week to advocate ‘integrated deterrence’ among Southeast Asian statesRalph Jennings contributed to this article.
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US Vice President Harris in Singapore to Start Asia Trip
U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris is in Singapore for talks Monday at the start of a short trip to Southeast Asia. She took part in a welcome ceremony before heading to meetings with President Halimah Yacob and Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong.Harris will also make a stop Monday at the Changi Naval Base, where she will speak to U.S. sailors aboard the visiting USS Tulsa. Late Tuesday, Harris arrives in Vietnam, becoming the first U.S. vice president to visit Hanoi, as Washington seeks to bolster international support to counter China’s growing global influence. She will speak with both Singaporean and Vietnamese officials about security, climate change, the pandemic and “joint efforts to promote a rules-based international order,” spokesperson Symone Sanders said.Harris Will Be First US Vice President to Visit HanoiWhite House confirms trip, says Harris ‘will engage the leaders of both governments on issues of mutual interest, including regional security, the global response to the COVID-19 pandemic, climate change, and our joint efforts to promote a rules-based international order’Her visit would follow Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin’s late July trip to the same two countries plus the Philippines and Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s virtual meetings August 4 with counterparts from the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations at an annual summit.US Seen Bolstering Military Links in Southeast Asia to Counter China US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin visited Hanoi and Manila this week to advocate ‘integrated deterrence’ among Southeast Asian statesThe trip appears to be a continuation of the Biden administration’s efforts to counter China’s influence in a crucial yet wary region of 660 million people, experts say. Southeast Asian nations have long valued the U.S. role in their “security,” according to a Foreign Policy Research Institute research organization analysis released in June. Washington periodically sends warships, sells arms and helps train troops. The 10-member Southeast Asian bloc, however, opposes overtly siding with any outside power, though, the analysis said. Ralph Jennings contributed to this article.
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Protesters Clash in Portland After Opposing Gatherings
Protests by rival far-right and left-wing groups in Portland descended into violence on Sunday, as the opposing sides engaged in clashes and at least one man was arrested for firing a gun at demonstrators.Nobody was hurt in an exchange of gunfire, and by Sunday evening there was no word on any injuries in numerous other skirmishes that saw opposing sides brawling, dousing each other in what appeared to be bear spray and breaking car windows of rivals.Police Chief Chuck Lovell said during a briefing on Friday that officers would not necessarily intervene to break up fights between the groups.But he added that “just because arrests are not made at the scene when tensions are high, does not mean that people won’t be charged with crimes.”Portland has become a magnet for clashes between political extremists since last year.As recently as August 7, a black-clad antifa group and a group wearing the colors of the far-right Proud Boys exchanged shots of pepper spray and paint balls after an open-air religious meeting led by a conservative pastor, local media reported.Sunday’s competing protests came on the anniversary of a clash that grew violent between right-wing and leftist crowds in downtown Portland, where a succession of street demonstrations last year followed the murder of George Floyd, a Black man, by a Minneapolis police officer on May 25, 2020.The clashes resulted in the shooting death of a right-wing protester, 39-year-old Aaron Danielson, on August 29.The suspected shooter, Michael Reinoehl, a 48-year-old self-declared anti-fascist activist who provided security for Black Lives Matter protesters, was shot and killed by police in Washington state last September 4 as they sought to arrest him.
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US, South Korea Envoys Discuss Jump-starting Talks with North Korea
The U.S. special envoy for North Korea was scheduled to meet his South Korean counterpart on Monday, as the two allies look for ways to entice Pyongyang back to talks over its nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programs.Sung Kim arrived in Seoul on Saturday for a four-day visit. He met with Foreign Minister Chung Eui-yong at the minister’s residence on Sunday, where they discussed ways for a speedy resumption of the peace process on the Korean Peninsula, a foreign ministry official said.On Monday Kim will meet with his South Korean counterpart, Noh Kyu-duk, and on Tuesday with Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Igor Morgulov in Seoul.The visit comes as a brief thaw in inter-Korean relations in July gave way to a new standoff over U.S.-South Korean military exercises that North Korea has warned could trigger a security crisis.The nine-day exercise began on Aug. 16, with silence so far from North Korean state media despite fears that the country could conduct a missile test or take other actions to underscore its disapproval.North Korea has said it is open to diplomacy, but that the American overtures appear hollow while “hostile acts” such as the drills continueU.S. President Joe Biden’s administration has said it will explore diplomacy to achieve North Korean denuclearization but shown no willingness to ease sanctions.
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Josephine Baker to be First Black Woman in France’s Pantheon
Josephine Baker, the famed French American dancer, singer and actress who fought in the French resistance during WWII and later battled racism, will later this year become the first Black woman to enter France’s Pantheon mausoleum.Baker will be the sixth woman to join about 80 great national figures of French history in the Pantheon after Simone Veil, a former French minister who survived the Holocaust and fought for abortion rights, entered in 2018.Baker will be honored on November 30 with a memorial plaque, one of her children, Claude Bouillon-Baker, told AFP.”Pantheonisation is built over a long period of time,” an aide to President Emmanuel Macron told AFP on Sunday, confirming a report in the Le Parisien newspaper.Jennifer Guesdon, part of a group campaigning for Baker’s induction that includes one of her sons, said they met with Macron on July 21.”When the president said yes, (it was a) great joy,” she said.The Baker family has been requesting her induction since 2013, with a petition gathering about 38,000 signatures.”She was an artist, the first Black international star, a muse of the cubists, a resistance fighter during WWII in the French army, active alongside Martin Luther King in the civil rights fight,” the petition says.The campaign has “made people discover the undertakings of Josephine Baker, who was only known to some as an international star, a great artist,” Guesdon said.But “she belongs in the Pantheon because she was a resistance fighter,” she added.From Missouri to ParisBaker, who was born in Missouri in 1906 and buried in Monaco in 1975, came from a poor background and was married twice by the age of 15. She ran away from home to join a vaudeville troupe.She quickly caught the eye of a producer who sent her to Paris, where at the age of 19 she became the star of the hugely popular “La Revue Negre,” which helped popularize jazz and African American culture in France.She became the highest-paid performer in the Paris music hall scene during the 1920s.On November 30, 1937, she married Jean Lion, allowing her to get French nationality. She would go on to divorce him and remarry twice more, adopting 12 children along the way.In 1939, she joined the French resistance, passing on information written on her musical scores.She later went on a mission to Morocco, toured the resistance movement and was appointed a lieutenant in the French air force’s female auxiliary corps.She was awarded the Croix de Guerre, a Resistance medal, and was named a Chevalier of the Legion d’honneur.”I only had one thing in mind … to help France,” she told INA archives.The Pantheon is a memorial complex for the legendary national figures in France’s history from politics, culture and science.Only the president can decide on moving personalities to the former church, whose grand columns and domed roof were inspired by the Pantheon in Rome.
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Kabul Evacuation Numbers to Fluctuate, Biden Says
The number of people evacuated from Kabul will change from day to day, President Joe Biden said in a televised address Sunday, depending on specific conditions and safety of the day.Earlier Sunday, the White House said the U.S. had evacuated 7,400 people from Kabul in the previous 24 hours and Biden said as many as 11,000 were evacuated in a 36-hour period over the weekend. Tens of thousands more await a ride out of Kabul.In all, the U.S. has evacuated 25,100 people in the last week, a White House official said.“Any American who wants to get home, will get home,” Biden said. “We’re also moving to work our Afghan allies … and other vulnerable Afghans out of the country.”US Evacuates Another 7,400 from Afghanistan Blinken describes ‘incredibly volatile’ scene at Kabul airport Biden said none of the planes from Kabul were flying straight to the United States. Instead, he said, all flights first land in military bases in a handful of countries where non-U.S. citizens will undergo background checks and security screenings.Since July, the president said about 33,000 people have been evacuated from Kabul, even as American officials confront what Secretary of State Antony Blinken described as an “incredibly volatile situation at the airport” after the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan a week ago.Meanwhile, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin activated the use of 18 civilian passenger jets from six U.S. airlines to help ferry Americans and Afghans from safe havens where they were staying after leaving Kabul. It is the third time in the past 30 years the U.S. has invoked use of civilian aircraft to assist the military. Blinken told the “Fox News Sunday” television show that the latest group of evacuees, Americans and Afghans who had assisted them in 20 years of U.S. fighting in Afghanistan, left on 60 flights, with many of them headed to Mideastern countries.Earlier Sunday, Biden discussed the Afghan situation at the White House with Blinken, Austin and other key national security officials, affirming the role played by partner countries in relocating Afghans leaving their homeland.Chaotic scenes at the Kabul airport of many foreign residents, including Americans, trying to flee Afghanistan, as well as Afghans trying to flee after the Taliban takeover of their country, have been broadcast around the world for days now.But White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan told CNN’s “State of the Union” show that U.S. forces have “secured the capacity to get large numbers of Americans safe passage through the airport and onto the airfield.” “At the moment, we believe we have sufficient forces on the ground” to control the crowds trying to leave the country, Sullivan said in a separate interview on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”Economic Crisis Looms for Afghanistan Under Taliban Rule Whether financial hardship gives the U.S. and its allies leverage over the group remains an open questionSullivan said that “every single day” Biden “asks his military commanders, including those at the airport and those at the Pentagon, whether they need additional resources, additional troops. So far, the answer has been ‘no,’ but he will ask again today.”He said that “if in the end, Americans are blocked from getting to the airport, blocked from leaving the country or our operations are disrupted or our evacuations are in some way interfered with, we have explained to (the Taliban) that there will be a swift and forceful response.”Sullivan said the U.S. has “agreements with 26 nations around the world to logistically move Afghans and Americans and third-country nationals out of the country and to air bases throughout neighboring countries and further afield.”While most of the evacuations have occurred at the Kabul airport, the U.S. also deployed three military helicopters to rescue 169 Americans from a hotel.“We will do what is necessary to get Americans out of harm’s way,” Blinken said.He deflected questions about U.S. miscalculations about the swift Taliban takeover of the Afghan government, saying there would be “plenty of time to determine what might have been done differently and what lessons could be learned.”But he acknowledged, “We believed the government was not about to collapse and the (Afghan) military fade away.” In July, Biden said it was “highly unlikely” that the Taliban would abruptly assume control, as it did in a matter of days a week ago.A Biden critic, Republican Senator Ben Sasse of Nebraska, said the U.S. leader “needs to step up and be a commander in chief” to control the evacuation.He said the U.S. needs to consider retaking the Bagram airfield outside Kabul that it abandoned as U.S. forces ended their operations there. Sasse called leaving Bagram “one of the stupidest blunders,” leaving the Kabul airport as the only major departure point.Defense Secretary Austin echoed Biden, saying the commercial airlines assisting the military would not fly into Kabul but rather be used “for the onward movement of passengers from temporary safe havens and interim staging bases.” Most likely the U.S. commercial jets will carry Afghans from such Persian Gulf states as Qatar and the United Arab Emirates where many Afghans are awaiting next moves after escaping Kabul.The activation of the aircraft includes four from United Airlines, three each from American Airlines, Atlas Air, Delta Air Lines and Omni Air and two from Hawaiian Airlines.The Defense Department said it “does not anticipate a major impact to commercial flights from this activation.”What We Know: Taliban Takeover of Afghanistan Latest developments following Taliban’s sweep into Kabul The Civil Reserve Air Fleet was created in 1952 to assist the U.S. military in emergencies such as what has quickly evolved in Kabul over the last week, where thousands of Americans and Afghans have tried desperately to leave the country.Civilian aircraft were previously used during the first Gulf War in 1990 and 1991 and in Iraq in 2002 and 2003.The Defense Department said the use of the civilian aircraft will allow the U.S. military “to focus on operations in and out of in Kabul.”Some of the Afghan evacuees are expected to move to the United States and others elsewhere in the world.
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At Least 10 Killed in Tennessee Flash Floods; Dozens Missing
Rescue crews on Sunday searched for dozens of people reported missing in Tennessee after flooding from extraordinarily heavy rains left at least 10 dead.The flooding in rural areas took out roads, cellphone towers and telephone lines, leaving families uncertain about whether their loved ones survived the unprecedented deluge and emergency workers searching door to door, said Kristi Brown, a coordinator for health and safety supervisor with Humphreys County Schools.Humphreys County Sheriff Chris Davis said many of the missing live in the neighborhoods where the water rose the fastest and he expects the death toll will rise.The hardest-hit areas saw double the rain that area of Middle Tennessee had in the previous worst-case scenario for flooding, meteorologists said. Lines of storms moved over the area for hours, wringing out a record amount of moisture — a scenario scientists have warned may be more common because of global warming.The downpours rapidly turned the creeks that run behind backyards and through downtown Waverly into raging rapids. Business owner Kansas Klein stood on a bridge Saturday in the town of 4,500 people and saw two girls who were holding on to a puppy and clinging to a wooden board sweep past, the current too fast for anyone to grab them.He isn’t sure what happened to them. Klein heard that a girl and a puppy had been rescued downstream, and that the other girl was also saved, but he wasn’t sure it was them.By Sunday, the floodwaters were gone, leaving behind debris from wrecked cars, demolished businesses and homes and a chaotic, tangled mix of the things inside.”It was amazing how quick it came and how quick it left,” Klein said.The Humphrey County Sheriff Office Facebook page filled with people looking for missing friends and family. Go Fund Me pages were made asking for help for funeral expenses for the dead, including 7-month-old twins yanked from their father’s arms as they tried to escape.Not far from the bridge, Klein told The Associated Press by phone that dozens of buildings in a low-income housing area known as Brookside appeared to have borne the brunt of the flash flood.”It was devastating: buildings were knocked down, half of them were destroyed,” Klein said. “People were pulling out bodies of people who had drowned and didn’t make it out.”Davis told news outlets Saturday about the 10 confirmed deaths and more than 30 people missing in his county, located about 60 miles (96 kilometers) west of Nashville.The dead ranged from babies to elderly people and included one of his best friends, the sheriff of the county of 18,000 people told WSVM-TV on Sunday.”Small town, small community. We know each other. We love each other,” Davis said.Just to the east of Waverly, the town of McEwen was pummeled Saturday with 17.02 inches (43.2 centimeters) of rain, smashing the state’s 24-hour record of 13.6 inches (34.5 centimeters) from 1982, according to the National Weather Service in Nashville, though Saturday’s numbers would have to be confirmed. A flash flood watch was issued for the area before the rain started, with forecasters saying 4 to 6 inches (10 to 15 centimeters) of rain was possible. The worst storm recorded in this area of Middle Tennessee only dropped 9 inches (23 centimeters) of rain, said Krissy Hurley, a weather service meteorologist in Nashville.”Forecasting almost a record is something we don’t do very often,” Hurley said. “Double the amount we’ve ever seen was almost unfathomable.”Recent scientific research has determined that extreme rain events will become more frequent because of man-made climate change. Hurley said it is impossible to know its exact role in Saturday’s flood, but noted in the past year her office dealt with floods that used to be be expected maybe once every 100 years in September south of Nashville and in March closer to the city.”We had an incredible amount of water in the atmosphere,” Hurley said of Saturday’s flooding. “Thunderstorms developed and moved across the same area over and over and over.”The problem isn’t limited to Tennessee. A federal study found man-made climate change double the chances of heavy downpours in August 2016 that dumped 26 inches (66 centimeters) of rain around Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Those floods killed at least 13 people and damaged 150,000 homes.The thousands of plant species collected over decades at the South Carolina Botanical Gardens at Clemson University were destroyed in 2013 when 8 inches (20 centimeters) of rain fell in a few hours from an isolated storm.
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Malawi President Pledges to Intervene in Fertilizer Price Rise
Malawi President Lazarus Chakwera says he will take steps to mitigate the steep rise of fertilizer prices which have doubled in the last year. He says about 80 percent of Malawi farmers can no longer afford to buy fertilizer. Farmers in Malawi say the rise in fertilizer prices is likely to affect production in this agro-based southern Africa country. Jacob Nyirongo is Chief Executive Officer for Farmers Union of Malawi. “Most farmers in Malawi are poor and it’s quite a struggle for farmers to access fertilizer even at the prices that they were like last year. So, the increase that we have seen this year means it is pushing more farmers to a bracket where most farmers won’t be able to access fertilizer,” he said. Fertilizer prices have hit an all-time high in Malawi with a bag weighing 50 kilogram now selling between $40 and $50 dollars. This is almost double the prices of last year. Agriculture experts say this would likely lead to higher costs for government subsidized fertilizers under the Affordable Inputs Program, in which ultra-poor farmers buy at $6 dollars per 50 kilograms bag. But in his national televised address Saturday, President Chakwera vowed the keep the prices low. He said the price hike is the result of actions by a cartel, which he did not name, and accused it of trying to undermine his Affordable Inputs Program. He says “But what I want you to know is that I and my government cannot allow someone to kill agriculture in this country. Whether one likes it or not, farmers will buy fertilizer at a cheaper price this year.” He, however, said the prices might be slightly higher than last year’s but not as exorbitant as they are now. But the Fertilizer Importers Association in Malawi, a group of fertilizer importers justifies the current price rise. Speaking in Malawi Parliament Wednesday, the group said the rise is dictated by the international market which is facing the rise in fertilizer’s raw materials like phosphate. In response to the rise in fertilizer prices, the Ministry of Agriculture announced in July that it has trimmed the number of beneficiaries of the subsidized farm input program this year from 3.7 million to 2.7 million. But Chakwera has reversed that decision. “I will not allow anyone to remove any family or village from the list of beneficiaries of the cheap fertilizer. This is taking the government for granted. If there are people I vowed to fight for, they are the farmers,” he said.Dr. Betchani Tchereni is a lecturer in Economics at Malawi University of Business and Applied Sciences. He says farmers should do organic farming which largely relies on manure. “This organic way of farming is the way to go. We just need to propagate it to make sure that everyone understands the best way of doing it. Once we do that, I think issues of biodiversity will come in and I am very sure that at the end of the day, we are going to benefit as a country economically and also in terms of our own health,” he said. But Farmers Union’s Nyirongo, also an agronomist, says manure cannot stand alone. “So what we have seen as farmers is that if you use manure, you improve the health of the soil. And you enable the soil to utilize the fertilizer that you apply to a crop. So, if for example, you combine manure with inorganic fertilizer, you get the best yield,” he said. Nyirongo says for now, farmers are keeping their fingers crossed on President Chakwera’s pledge to help control the overpricing of fertilizer.
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For France’s Sahel Mission, Echoes of Afghanistan
The chaotic aftermath of Washington’s troop withdrawal from Afghanistan is being followed with a mix of trepidation and glee thousands of kilometers away — in Africa’s Sahel, where another foreign power, France, also vows to wind down its long-running counterinsurgency operation, at least in its present form. As the United States continued to evacuate thousands of citizens and allies at Kabul’s airport this week, dozens of civilians and soldiers were killed in several Islamist attacks across a vast and dangerous three-border region that straddles Niger, Burkina Faso and Mali. It was just another marker in a protracted fight that has killed thousands, displaced 2 million and — like Afghanistan — is considered by some as unwinnable. FILE – French President Emmanuel Macron pays his respect in front of the flag-draped coffins of the thirteen French soldiers killed in Mali, during a ceremony at the Hotel National des Invalides in Paris, Dec. 2, 2019.If there many stark differences between America’s war in Afghanistan and France’s in the Sahel — from their size and nature to their Islamist targets — there are also haunting similarities, analysts say. Both involve yearslong foreign involvement in countries with weak and unstable governments. Both operations have struggled against troop fatigue, casualties, and dwindling support at home. Both are against Islamist groups which, many say, are patiently confident they will outlast their enemy. “If there’s any lesson to draw, it’s that indefinite military solutions aren’t sustainable,” said Bakary Sambe, Senegal-based director of the Timbuktu Institute think tank. “Sooner or later, there’s got to be an exit,” he said. Staying put Unlike the U.S., France for now has no intention of withdrawing from the Sahel, a vast area below the Sahara. It will, however, soon begin decreasing its 5,100-troop Barkhane operation, the linchpin of a regional counterterrorist fight spanning five West and Central African countries. FILE – French President Macron reacts during a joint press conference with Niger’s president in Paris, on July 9, 2021, following a video summit with leaders of G5 Sahel countries.Nor was the Sahel mentioned in French President Emmanuel Macron’s first major response to the Taliban’s swift victory. Rather, he warned against resurgent terrorism in Afghanistan and illegal migration to Europe. Yet it may be hard to compartmentalize. “I think the French cannot afford not to look at what’s going on in Afghanistan when preparing for the very gradual drawdown” of Barkhane forces, said University of Kent conflict expert Yvan Guichaoua. Images of mayhem and anguish at Kabul’s airport and elsewhere “is something that certainly shocked French officials,” he said, “and maybe made them think about the circumstances in which they are going to leave.” FILE – Taliban fighters display their flag on patrol in Kabul, Afghanistan, Aug. 19, 2021.Others are not so sure. “I don’t think [the French] are drawing this kind of direct parallel,” between Afghanistan and the Sahel, said Jean-Herve Jezequel, Sahel Project director for the International Crisis Group policy group.“Maybe this is a mistake. But the French are downsizing, they’re not withdrawing. They’re still the biggest military force in the region,” he said.
Different — but also echoes of Afghanistan Macron announced in July France’s Barkhane operation would formally end early next year, with troops shrinking to up to half their current numbers and shifted to other anti-terrorist missions — notably forming backbone of the European Union’s fledgling Takuba force, currently aimed at helping Mali fight terrorism in the Sahel region. FILE – The France-led special operations logo for the new Barkhane Task Force Takuba, a multinational military mission in sub-Saharan Africa’s troubled Sahel region, is seen Nov. 3, 2020.Yet France’s revamped mission with its narrowed goals — counterterrorism and beefing up local forces rather than securing large tracts of territory — comes after mounting casualties, fading support at home, a spreading insurgency and growing anti-French sentiment in some Sahel nations. Born in 2013, France’s military intervention in that region is half as old as the U.S. war in Afghanistan was, with a fraction of its scope and troop losses. Originally aimed to fight jihadist groups in Mali, it later expanded to four other vulnerable former colonies — Niger, Chad, Burkina Faso and Mauritania — that together now form a regional G5 Sahel counterinsurgency operation. Meanwhile, the jihadists are moving south, into parts of sub-Saharan Africa.
While Paris pushes for greater governance and democracy — in June, Macron briefly suspended operations in Mali after its second coup in a year — the nation-building efforts seen in Afghanistan are not likely, Crisis Watch’s Jezequel said. “It’s a failure,” he added. “But it’s a failure of the Sahel states.” Today, some of those states, especially Mali, are watching Afghanistan’s swift unraveling with alarm, experts say, even as extremists celebrate. The Sahel’s myriad jihadi groups lack the deep roots and experience of the Taliban, which held power in the 1990s. Yet, especially Western recognition of Afghanistan’s new rulers “will comfort the idea that the Islamist alternative is possible,” Sambe said. “It will galvanize radical Islamist groups—and that’s the fear,” he said. The European Union’s executive arm said Saturday it does not recognize the Taliban. Moving forward For France, moving forward in the Sahel means focusing southward, where the insurgency has spread, and beefing up the Takuba Task Force. Nearly a dozen European countries, including Estonia, Italy, Denmark and non-EU-member Norway have joined or promised to take part in the military mission. But many others remain on the sidelines, including Germany. “The fear of many European countries is to commit troops and then be confronted with a fiasco or death of soldiers,” Guichaoua said. However, he and others add, French persuasion, from raising fears of conflict-driven migration to Europe, to offering military support in other areas, appears to be working. Not under French consideration, though, is any dialogue with extremists — an effort controversially tried with the Taliban that is earning support among some Sahel authorities, at least when it comes to homegrown groups. “The French have considered this a red line,” Guichaoua said. “Because that would mean somewhat that French soldiers died for nothing. But it is on the agenda for Malian authorities.” Local-level negotiations with jihadi groups have long taken place, he said — to gain access to markets, for example, or get hostages released — but not high-level ones, “and the main reason is France.” For their part, the Sahel’s extremists appear willing to wait, as the Taliban did in Afghanistan. Both, Guichaoua said, are convinced foreign powers will eventually leave, so time is on their side.
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US Vice President Harris Arrives in Singapore
U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris arrived Sunday in Singapore, at the start of a short trip to Southeast Asia. Harris begins her public duties on Monday, speaking with Singapore President Halimah Yacob and holding a bilateral meeting with Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, according to The Associated Press.During the first leg of her trip to regional financial center Singapore, Harris will also make a stop at the Changi Naval Base, where she will speak to U.S. sailors aboard the visiting USS Tulsa.Late Tuesday, Harris arrives in Vietnam, becoming the first U.S. vice president to visit Hanoi, as Washington seeks to bolster international support to counter China’s growing global influence.She will speak with both Singaporean and Vietnamese officials about security, climate change, the pandemic and “joint efforts to promote a rules-based international order,” spokesperson Symone Sanders said. Her visit would follow Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin’s late July trip to the same two countries plus the Philippines and Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s virtual meetings August 4 with counterparts from the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations at an annual summit.US Seen Bolstering Military Links in Southeast Asia to Counter China US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin visited Hanoi and Manila this week to advocate ‘integrated deterrence’ among Southeast Asian statesThe trip appears a continuation of the Biden administration’s efforts to compete with China for influence in a crucial yet wary region of 660 million people, experts say.Southeast Asian nations have long valued the U.S. role in their “security,” according to a Foreign Policy Research Institute research organization analysis released in June.Washington periodically sends warships, sells arms and helps train troops.The 10-member Southeast Asian bloc, however, opposes overtly siding with any outside power, though, the analysis says.
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UK Military: 7 People Killed in Chaos at Kabul Airport
Seven people were killed near Kabul’s airport Saturday as thousands gathered in a desperate effort to leave the country as the Taliban take control, the British Ministry of Defense said on Sunday.The Taliban, after a 10-day offensive, entered the Afghanistan capital just a week ago, on August 15. Since then, the airport has been a chaotic site as thousands of people have tried to flee the country, fearing a return to the harsh interpretation of Islamic law practiced when the Taliban controlled the country 20 years ago. “Conditions on the ground remain extremely challenging but we are doing everything we can to manage the situation as safely and securely as possible,” the British Defense Ministry said in a statement.FILE – Hundreds of people gather near a U.S. Air Force C-17 transport plane at the perimeter of the international airport in Kabul, Afghanistan, Aug. 16, 2021.Temperatures on Saturday in Kabul reached 34 degrees Celsius (93 degrees Fahrenheit). The Associated Press reported that it wasn’t immediately clear whether those killed had been physically crushed, suffocated or suffered a fatal heart attack in the crowds. A Sky News correspondent who was at the Kabul airport, however, said tens of thousands of Afghans turned up on Saturday with those at the front crushed against the barricades, Reuters reported. Also Saturday, U.S. citizens in Afghanistan who want to leave the country have been advised not to go to Kabul’s airport unless they have received “individual instructions from a U.S. government representative to do so.” FILE – Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, the Taliban’s deputy leader and negotiator, and other delegation members attend the Afghan peace conference in Moscow, Russia, March 18, 2021. (Alexander Zemlianichenko/Pool via Reuters)Baradar, a co-founder of the Taliban, returned to Afghanistan this week from Qatar, where he headed the group’s political office and oversaw peace negotiations with the Trump administration that culminated in the February 2020 deal that paved the way for U.S.-led allied troops to withdraw from nearly 20 years of war in Afghanistan. Biden delayed the May 1 withdrawal date that he inherited to August 31. But last week, Biden said during a national address from the White House that the U.S. may extend that deadline to evacuate Americans. Abdullah Abdullah, coalition partner of the self-exiled President Ashraf Ghani, and former President Hamid Karzai have held repeated meetings with Taliban leaders over the past few days. After a meeting Saturday, Abdullah said via Twitter that he and Karzai welcomed Taliban leaders at his residence. “We exchanged views on the current security & political developments, & an inclusive political settlement for the future of the country,” Abdullah wrote. Meanwhile, thousands of Afghans continued to swamp the Kabul airport in hopes of finding place on one of the flights the U.S. military and other countries are operating to evacuate foreign personnel and Afghans who served international forces in different capacities. The White House said Saturday that in the last 24 hours, six U.S. military C-17s and 32 charter flights had departed the Afghan capital, evacuating about 3,800 passengers. “Since the end of July, we have relocated approximately 22,000 people. Since August 14th, we have evacuated approximately 17,000 people,” it said. Some information in this article came from The Associated Press, AFP and Reuters.
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Greece: Forest Fire Destroys Jobs of Pine Resin Collectors
For generations, residents in the north of the Greek island of Evia have made their living from the dense pine forests surrounding their villages. Tapping the ubiquitous Aleppo pines for their resin, the viscous, sticky substance the trees use to protect themselves from insects and disease, provided a key source of income for hundreds of families. But now, hardly any forest is left. A devastating wildfire, one of Greece’s most destructive single blazes in decades, rampaged across northern Evia for days earlier this month, swallowing woodland, homes and businesses and sending thousands fleeing. The damage won’t just affect this year’s crop, resin collectors and beekeepers say, but for generations to come. “It’s all over. Everything has turned to ash,” said Christos Livas, a 48-year-old resin collector and father of four. Resin has been used by humans since antiquity and is found today in a dizzyingly broad array of products, from paint and solvents to pharmaceuticals, plastics and cosmetics. The north of Evia, Greece’s second-largest island, accounted for around 80% of the pine resin produced in Greece, and about 70% of the pine honey, locals say. Satellite imagery shows the wildfire destroyed most of the island’s north. The devastation is breathtaking. Tens of thousands of hectares of forests and farmland were reduced to a dystopian landscape of skeletal, blackened trees silhouetted against a smoke-filled sky. For trees to grow back to the point where resin can be extracted will take more than two decades, and probably twice as long for the production of pine honey. “In 10 years, the forest will become green again,” Livas said. “But for tapping, it will take 20, 25 years. For me, it’s all over. Even for a 30-year-old – what’s he going to do, find a job and then come back when he’s 50, 60 to tap pines? His legs won’t even hold him.” Livas walked through the still smoldering remnants of the forest on the outskirts of his mountain village of Agdines, puffs of white and grey ash rising from beneath his boots as he surveyed the damage. “This one, I remember since I was a young boy, from 15 years old,” he said, pointing to a blackened pine, the strip of peeled bark where resin had been extracted still visible. “This must have been tapped for 32, 33 years.” Most of his livelihood has literally gone up in smoke, lost in a horrifying roar as the giant wildfire raced toward the village. “You could hear a rumble. … It was like an earthquake,” Livas said. The flames moved fast, leaving no time to collect the thousands of plastic bags pinned to the trees to gather the precious resin. Instead, local residents turned their attention to the village, ignoring an evacuation order and staying to save their homes. They managed. But they couldn’t save the forest. And the villagers’ anger — at the government for not sending more firefighters sooner, for ordering evacuations when they say locals could have helped fight the flames — is palpable. Livas had been extracting resin from about 3,000 trees, producing about 9-10 tons per year at 27 euro cents (32 cents) per kilogram. Of all the trees he was tapping, just one survived. He supplemented his income by farming olive trees, raising animals and occasionally logging. But there are no trees to log now, and most of the olive trees are gone, too. “I have nowhere left. Everywhere I’ve been, everything is burnt,” he said. With four young children to support, the eldest just 13, Livas said he’d look for new kinds of work. But with only a primary school education and unable to read or write, he seemed overwhelmed by the thought. The forest, farming, and collecting resin, which he’s been doing since he was 15, are all he’s ever known. “What will I do now?” he said, stumbling for words. “I’ll look for a job. What will I do? Do I know what to do now?” Others were even worse off, he said. Some had several family members collecting resin, gathering around 30-40 tons a year. There were entire villages in northern Evia working almost exclusively in resin collection. Fellow villager Antonis Natsios felt the same. He started collecting resin at the age of 12, learning the technique from his father, who had learned it from his father before him. Now 51 and with three children, two of them in college, Natsios is unsure how he’ll make ends meet. Some of his fig trees were singed but would probably survive and produce a new crop, he said, and about 20% of his olive trees remained. But of the pine trees, his main source of income, “zero. Not even a branch.” He sees few options. “Either the state, or God, if he helps. Or migration,” Natsios said. The government has vowed to compensate all those affected by the fire. But nothing can make up for the loss of the source of their livelihoods for decades to come, the residents of north Evia say. “We’ve lost everything for the next 30-40 years,” said beekeeper Makis Balalas, 44, who relied on Evia’s forests for pine honey each year. The forest’s destruction, he said, was far worse than the loss of any beehives. “I can create new beehives,” he said. “But this that has been lost, you can’t create that again.” For Natsios, it’s the loss of the forest he grew up in that pains him the most. “It’s not the future, it’s what we see. When you’ve been living something for 50 years and now you see this thing, this charcoal…” he trails off. “Now I, who was born in this forest, I have to breathe this blackness.”
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Myanmar Military Arrests More Journalists
Myanmar’s military government has arrested two more local journalists, army-owned television reported on Saturday, the latest among dozens of detentions in a sweeping crackdown on the media since a February 1 coup. Sithu Aung Myint, a columnist for news site Frontier Myanmar and commentator with Voice of America radio, and Htet Htet Khine, a freelance producer for BBC Media Action, were arrested on August 15, Myawaddy TV reported. Sithu Aung Myint was charged with sedition and spreading false information that Myawaddy said was critical of the junta and had urged people to join strikes and back outlawed opposition groups. Htet Htet Khine was accused of harboring Sithu Aung Myint, a criminal suspect, and working for and supporting a shadow National Unity Government. BBC Media Action said in a statement it was concerned about Htet Htet Khine’s safety and the charges against her and was closely monitoring the situation. Reporters Without Borders (RSF) said the pair were being held incommunicado. “We strongly condemn the arbitrary conditions of their detention, which reflect the brutality with which the military junta treats journalists,” said its Asia-Pacific desk head Daniel Bastard. Myanmar remains fraught with instability and opposition to army rule, under which more than 1,000 people have been killed, according to an activist group that has tracked killings by security forces. The military, which has revoked the licenses of many news outlets, says it respects the role of media but will not allow news reporting it deems false or likely to create public unrest. A report by the Committee to Protect Journalists https://bit.ly/3glb0WN last month said Myanmar’s rulers had effectively criminalized independent journalism. Human Rights Watch late last month said the army government had arrested 98 journalists since the coup and should stop prosecuting media staff. Of those arrested, 46 remained in custody as of the end of July.
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US East Coast Likely to See Flooding, Storm Surge With Hurricane Henri
As Hurricane Henri heads toward New York’s Long Island and southern New England with maximum sustained winds of 120 kilometers per hour, the National Hurricane Center said early Sunday the region could expect to experience weather conditions that include “dangerous storm surge” and “flooding rainfall.” Sunday morning, Henri was located 215 kilometers south southeast of Montauk Point, New York, and 280 kilometers south of Providence, Rhode Island. Despite Henri being hundreds of kilometers away Saturday night, it still managed to ruin New York City’s “Homecoming Concert” in Central Park meant to “really tell people New York City was back, to tell the whole world,” Mayor Bill de Blasio said Friday. Barry Manilow was cut off midsong as concertgoers were told to calmly but quickly exit the park. Also among the performers were Bruce Springsteen, Paul Simon, Jennifer Hudson, Carlos Santana, LL Cool J and Andrea Bocelli. Evacuation orders for New York’s Fire Island and some Connecticut coastal communities were issued Saturday. Hurricane warnings stretched about 400 kilometers from New Bedford, Massachusetts, to New York’s Fire Island, but high winds and dangerous tidal surges were expected from Cape Cod, Massachusetts, to the Jersey shore, a distance of 500 kilometers. Power outages could last a week or more, utilities warned. Several popular summer vacation destinations are in Henri’s path, including Long Island, as well as Cape Cod and Martha’s Vineyard in Massachusetts. Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont and Rhode Island Governor Dan McKee both told their states’ residents to stay home through Monday morning. “We consider this a serious matter,” McKee said at a news conference. Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker expressed relief Saturday that his state would not take a direct hit but joined Lamont and McKee is warning that the wind and rain could lead to serious damage and lengthy power outages. Hurricane, storm and storm surge watches and warnings have been declared for many locations along the East Coast of the U.S. A storm surge of 1 meter to 1.5 meters is possible from New York City to Massachusetts, the hurricane center said. Henri is expected to produce rainfall amounts of 8 to 15 centimeters over Long Island, New England, southeast New York and northern New Jersey Sunday into Monday, with isolated maximum totals near 25 centimeters.
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Lockdowns or Vaccines? 3 Pacific Nations Try Diverging Paths
Cheryl Simpson was supposed to be celebrating her 60th birthday over lunch with friends but instead found herself confined to her Auckland home. The discovery of a single local COVID-19 case in New Zealand was enough for the government to put the entire country into strict lockdown this past week. While others might see that as draconian, New Zealanders generally support such measures because they worked so well in the past. “I’m happy to go into lockdown, even though I don’t like it,” said Simpson, owner of a day care center for dogs that is now closed because of the precautions. She said she wants the country to crush the latest outbreak: “I’d like to knock the bloody thing on the head.” Elsewhere around the Pacific, though, Japan is resisting such measures in the face of a record-breaking surge, instead emphasizing its accelerating vaccine program. And Australia has fallen somewhere in the middle. All three countries got through the first year of the pandemic in relatively good shape but are now taking diverging paths in dealing with outbreaks of the delta variant, the highly contagious form that has contributed to a growing sense that the coronavirus cannot be stamped out, just managed. Professor Michael Baker, an epidemiologist at New Zealand’s University of Otago, said countries around the world are struggling to adapt to the latest threat: “With the delta variant, the old rules just don’t work.” The differing emphasis on lockdowns versus vaccines — and how effective such strategies prove to be in beating back the delta variant — could have far-reaching consequences for the three countries’ economies and the health of their citizens. Japan has never imposed lockdowns against the coronavirus. The public is wary of government overreach after the country’s fascist period before and during World War II, and Japan’s postwar constitution lays out strict protections for civil liberties. Before the delta variant, the country managed to keep a lid on coronavirus outbreaks in part because many people in Japan were already used to wearing surgical masks for protection from spring allergies or when they caught colds. Now, almost everyone on public transportation wears a mask during commuting hours. But late at night, people tend to uncover in restaurants and bars, which has allowed the variant to spread. Hosting the Tokyo Olympic Games didn’t help either. While strict protocols kept infections inside the games to a minimum, experts such as Dr. Shigeru Omi, a key medical adviser to the government, say the Olympics created a festive air that led people in Japan to lower their guard. New cases in Japan have this month leaped to 25,000 each day, more than triple the highest previous peak. Omi considers that a disaster.A security guard takes a break in front of the Tokyo metropolitan building during a Paralympic torch relay event in Tokyo, Aug. 20, 2021.Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga on Friday expanded and extended a state of emergency covering Tokyo and other areas until at least mid-September, though most of the restrictions aren’t legally enforceable. Many governors are urging the prime minister to consider much tougher restrictions. But Suga said lockdowns have been flouted around the world, and vaccines are “the way to go.” Daily vaccinations in Japan increased tenfold from May to June as thousands of worksites and colleges began offering shots, but a slow start has left the nation playing catch-up. Only about 40% of people are fully vaccinated. In Australia, a delta outbreak hit Sydney in June, after an unvaccinated limousine driver became infected while transporting a U.S. cargo air crew from the Sydney Airport. State authorities hesitated for 10 days before imposing lockdown measures across Sydney that have now dragged on for two months. Early in the pandemic, Australia’s federal government imposed just one nationwide lockdown. Now, amid the delta outbreak, it is pursuing a strategy it calls aggressive suppression — including strict controls on Australians leaving the country and foreigners entering — but is essentially letting state leaders call the shots. New infections in Sydney have climbed from just a few each week before the latest outbreak to more than 800 a day. “It’s not possible to eliminate it completely. We have to learn to live with it,” Gladys Berejiklian, premier of Sydney’s New South Wales state, said in what many interpreted as a significant retreat from the determination state leaders have previously shown to crush outbreaks entirely. “That is why we have a dual strategy in New South Wales,” Berejiklian said. “Get those case numbers down, vaccination rates up. We have to achieve both in order for us to live freely into the future.” The outbreak in Sydney has spilled over into the capital, Canberra, which has also gone into lockdown. Government worker Matina Carbone wore a mask while shopping on Friday. “I don’t know that anyone’s ever going to really beat delta,” she said. “I think we just have to try and increase our rates of vaccinations and slowly open things up when we think it’s safe to do so.” But Australia lags far behind even Japan in getting people inoculated, with just 23% of people fully vaccinated. Last year, soon after the pandemic first hit, neighboring New Zealand imposed a strict, nationwide lockdown and closed its border to non-residents. That wiped out the virus completely. The country of 5 million has been able to vanquish each outbreak since, recording just 26 virus deaths. It went six months without a single locally spread case, allowing people to go about their daily lives much as they had before the pandemic. But this month, the Sydney outbreak spread to New Zealand, carried by a returning traveler. New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern promptly imposed the strictest form of lockdown. By Sunday, the number of locally spread cases in New Zealand had grown to 72, and the virus had reached the capital, Wellington. Officials raced to track 10,000 more people who might have been exposed. Ardern has been steadfast. “We have been here before. We know the elimination strategy works. Cases rise, and then they fall, until we have none,” she said. “It’s tried and true. We just need to stick it out.” Baker, the epidemiologist, said he believes it is still possible for New Zealand to wipe out the virus again by pursuing the “burning ember” approach of taking drastic measures to stamp out the first sign of an outbreak. That remains to be seen. New Zealand doesn’t have much of a Plan B. A recent report by expert advisers to the government noted the nation has comparatively few intensive care hospital beds and said an outbreak could quickly overwhelm the health system. And New Zealand has been the slowest developed nation to put shots in arms, with just 20% of people fully vaccinated.
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Portland, Oregon, Preps for Protests Between Opposing Groups
All available police personnel in Portland, Oregon, will report for duty Sunday because of expected rallies between opposing groups downtown. Portland Police Chief Chuck Lovell said Friday that despite predicted clashes, police will not necessarily be standing in between opposing groups. Lovell and Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler did not name the groups expected to gather that “may choose to confront one another” at Tom McCall Waterfront Park Sunday afternoon. Oregon Public Broadcasting reported it is far-right groups that are planning a rally. The bureau is working with Oregon State Police, the sheriff’s office and other local partners to address this weekend’s demonstrations. Similar events in Portland between groups with differing political ideations or affiliations have resulted in violent clashes. Sunday’s event falls on the one-year anniversary of a particularly violent political clash in which the opposing groups brawled on the street next to police headquarters for hours.
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Afghan Refugees in Eastern Turkey Hope for Better Future
Thousands of Afghans, hoping for a better future, are trying to escape the country as the Taliban seize control. VOA’s Arif Aslan visited with 30 Afghan refugees whose long, perilous trek had taken them to eastern Turkey. This report is narrated by Bezhan Hamdard.Producer and camera: Arif Aslan.
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Chad to Bring Home Half of Its Troops Fighting Sahel Militants
Chad has decided to recall half of its 1,200 troops battling Islamist militants in the tri-border area of Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger, a spokesperson for Chadian authorities said Saturday. Chad deployed the soldiers in February to support a France-backed regional fight with insurgents linked to al-Qaida and Islamic State who have destabilized swaths of territory in West Africa’s Sahel region in recent years. The decision to withdraw 600 of these soldiers was made in agreement with Chad’s Sahel allies, General Azem Bermandoa Agouna said, speaking on behalf of the Transitional Military Council in Chad. The recalled Chadian troops would be redeployed elsewhere, Agouna said, without giving further details. The authorities in Chad have faced a separate conflict this year with insurgents in the north. France has also said it plans to reduce its presence in the Sahel to around half the 5,100 soldiers there, although it has given no timeframe. The former colonial power has hailed some successes against the militants in recent months, but the situation is extremely fragile with hundreds of civilians killed in rebel attacks this year. Mahamat Idriss Deby, who leads the Transitional Military Council (CMT), has run Chad since his father, the former president, was killed while visiting the front line in April. Earlier in August, Deby invited the rebels to participate in a national dialogue. A military source said the 600 troops would be sent to Chad’s northern border with Libya and Sudan to disarm rebels seeking to return to take part in these talks, which are scheduled for the end of the year. On Saturday, Deby said the talks would not succeed unless all stakeholders were represented.
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Winds Threaten to Fan Destructive California Wildfire
Crews were digging in and burning out fire lines amid fears Saturday that another round of high winds would bring renewed fury to a Northern California wildfire. “We have a firefight ahead of us and the wind today is going to make it very challenging,” said Keith Wade, a spokesman with the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, or Cal Fire. The Caldor Fire in the northern Sierra Nevada has destroyed dozens of homes, and authorities on Friday closed a 74-kilometer (46-mile) stretch of Interstate 50, the main route between the state capital of Sacramento and Lake Tahoe on the Nevada state line. The highway was closed after debris from the blaze fell onto the roadway and because of red flag warnings for 32- to 48-kph (20- to 30-mph) winds that could gust to 65 kph (40 mph) throughout Saturday. Mushroomed in sizeThe road is a key checkpoint as crews struggle against the fire, which erupted earlier this week and grew to 10 times its size in a few days, fueled by winds. “We’re going to invest everything we can into holding the fire south” of the road, said Eric Schwab, an operations section chief with Cal Fire. Firefighters made progress on the fire’s western side and burned vegetation to starve it of fuel and prevent the flames from heading into the evacuated community of Pollock Pines. On the northeast side, crews were protecting cabins in the dense forest area, fire officials said. The Caldor Fire had devoured about 310 square kilometers (130 square miles) as of Saturday and more than 1,500 firefighters were battling it amid heavy timber and rugged terrain. The blaze was one of about a dozen large California wildfires that have scorched Northern California, incinerating at least 700 homes alone in and around the Sierra Nevada communities of Greenville and Grizzly Flats. Nearly 1.5M acres burnedThe fires, mainly in the northern part of the state, have burned nearly 1.5 million acres, or roughly 6,000 square kilometers (2,300 square miles) and have sent smoke as far as the East Coast. They were burning in grass, brush and forest that is exceptionally dry from two years of drought likely exacerbated by climate change. Thousands of homes remained under threat in communities tucked away in scenic forests, and tens of thousands of people remained under evacuation orders. Nine national forests in the region have been closed because of the fire threat. FILE – A firefighter continues to hold the line of the Dixie Fire near Taylorsville, Calif., Aug. 10, 2021.To the northwest of the Caldor Fire, the massive Dixie Fire kept expanding and new evacuations were ordered, including the hamlet of Taylorsville. In five weeks, the fire about 282 kilometers (175 miles) northeast of San Francisco has become the second largest in state history and blackened an area twice the size of Los Angeles. Weather forecasts call for a storm system that will bring winds but little rain through Northern California into early next week. With it will come increased risks of fires. Dozens have erupted in recent days but were quickly stamped out. California is one of a dozen mostly Western states where 99 large, active fires were burning as of Friday, according to the National Interagency Fire Center. Fires have intensified across the entire West, creating a nearly year-round season that has taxed firefighters. Fire patterns used to migrate in seasons from the Southwest to the Rockies, to the Pacific Northwest and then California, allowing fire crews to move from one place to the next, said Anthony Scardina, deputy regional forester for the U.S. Forest Service. “But the problem is all of those seasons are starting to overlap,” Scardina said.
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A Final Appeal and Khmer Rouge Tribunal Begins Winding Down
The last surviving leader of the Khmer Rouge, Khieu Samphan, launched his final defense in appealing his conviction for genocide this week as the long-running United Nations-backed tribunal held its last public hearings before winding down. Luke Hunt has more.
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White House: US Has Evacuated 17,000 From Kabul in Past Week
The U.S. military evacuated about 3,800 people from Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul in the past 24 hours, the White House announced Saturday, and 17,000 since August 14, the Saturday before the Taliban entered Kabul. The White House said a total of about 22,000 people had been evacuated since the end of July. Among the 17,000 evacuated over the past week were 2,500 Americans, Army Major General William Taylor said Saturday at a Pentagon media briefing.Pentagon spokesman John Kirby told reporters at the briefing he did not have a “perfect figure” indicating how many Americans remain in Kabul and in other parts of Afghanistan.State Department spokesman Ned Price said Friday the total number depends on certain factors. He said the State Department is working to contact all U.S. citizens who have reached out to the department as well as at-risk Afghans seeking U.S. assistance.Biden Vows to Bring Americans Home From AfghanistanUS forces have evacuated 18,000 people since end of JulyNoting that the United States has “a tremendous airlift capacity,” he said, “We are going to do as much as we can for as long as we can for as many people as we can.”U.S. President Joe Biden reiterated a vow Friday to stay in Afghanistan until all American citizens who want to leave and Afghans who risked their lives working for the U.S. government during the conflict have been evacuated. “Any American who wants to come home, we will get you home. Make no mistake, this is dangerous. It involves risks to our armed forces and is being conducted under difficult circumstances,” Biden said alongside Vice President Kamala Harris and Secretary of State Antony Blinken at the White House. Sorry, but your browser cannot support embedded video of this type, you can
U.S. Air Force Airmen prepare cots at a hangar to provide temporary lodging for qualified evacuees from Afghanistan as part of Operation Allies Refuge, at Ramstein Air Base, Germany, August 19, 2021.The president has faced criticism from U.S. lawmakers that his administration did not act quickly enough to relocate Americans and at-risk Afghans as the Taliban made sweeping advances across the country.General Taylor told reporters Friday that there are about 5,800 U.S. troops at the airport in Kabul to help the evacuation efforts.He said evacuations stopped Friday for more than six hours because of a backup at a refugee transit point at a U.S. airbase in Qatar. Taylor said that the flights resumed later in the day and that, in general, evacuation flights are steadily increasing.On Saturday, the White House said evacuees had been flown out on 6 flights using C-17 aircraft and 32 flights on charter planes. Despite the chaos and occasional violence outside the airport, the president has stressed that the U.S. military is in control at the airport and evacuating thousands, with the goal of getting everyone who needs to be evacuated, both American and Afghan, out by August 31. Concern is growing over reports that Afghans and American citizens are having trouble getting to the airport because of Taliban checkpoints. The U.S. is continuing to communicate with local Taliban commanders to move people through the checkpoints.The U.S. Embassy in Kabul issued a new security warning Saturday advising Americans not to go to the airport without “individual instructions from a U.S. government representative,” noting possible security threats posed by the Islamic State outside the airport gates.U.S. officials who spoke anonymously declined to provide details about the IS threats but said they are significant.Patsy Widakuswara and Steve Herman contributed to this report.
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Malawi’s Supreme Court Makes ‘U-turn’ on Death Penalty Ban
Malawi’s Supreme Court of Appeal says the death penalty remains constitutional in the southern African country. The decision reverses a ruling from just four months ago, when the same court abolished the death penalty. Rights campaigners say the development is disappointing.The ruling in April stemmed from the petition of a convicted murderer, who wanted the Supreme Court to re-hear his case.In his judgment, Justice Dunstan Mwaungulu, now retired, said Malawi’s constitution respects the right to life – and said the death penalty negates that right.He emphasized the sanctity of life, saying without the right to life, other rights do not exist.Justice Mwaungulu also ordered the re-sentencing of all cases where the death penalty was handed down.However, in a document released this week, the other Supreme Court justices say Mwaungulu’s ruling only expressed his personal opinion.Justice Anaclet Chipeta said he dissociates himself from the judgment because it did not reflect the views of the majority of the appeal court justices. Another justice, Rezine Mzikamanda, said the issue of the constitutionality of the death penalty was not part of the case they were handling. Peter Dimba is chairperson of the legal committee of Malawi’s parliament.“The views of the majority of the judges on the panel would have carried the day because that’s what it means. So as it stands, it means death penalty still stands,” Dimba said.Michael Kaiyatsa is executive director for the Centre for Human Rights and Rehabilitation in Malawi.He says although the justices have valid reasons for not backing Mwaungulu’s opinion, the Malawi government needs to move quickly to formally abolish the death penalty.”We think Malawi has an obligation under international human rights law to ensure that it complies with that resolution,” Kayiyatsa said. “But also we know that Malawi has not executed anybody since the 1990s. So the country needs to continue on that path. But we need a lasting solution. That’s why we think that a way should be found to repeal this death penalty”The death penalty has long been mandatory in Malawi for those convicted of murder or treason, and optional for rape.Court records show that 27 people are under a death sentence in Malawi. However, according to Amnesty International, Malawi last carried out an execution in 1992 when 12 people were hanged. Lawmaker Dimba noted that many countries are abolishing death penalty.He said his parliamentary committee would opt for abolishing the death penalty if the proposal came to parliament in the form of a bill.”This is an issue that was supposed to be done by the government,” Dimba said. “If they see to it, they actually bring an amendment bill to parliament and I don’t think parliament would have problems in abolishing the death penalty.”However, some critics say abolishing the death penalty may lead to an increase in acts of mob justice. In December 2020, a mob killed a 47-year-old man in Malawi’s capital, Lilongwe, who had allegedly killed another man suspected to have raped his daughter.
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