Category: Politics

On Monday, the United States President Joe Biden announced that he will address the nation on the current situation in Afghanistan. The Taliban has seized power from the Ashraf Ghani-led government in the wake of the American troops leaving the nation after two long decades.

The announcement came after Biden faced criticism in the US and abroad for his decision to withdraw the troops. Senator Mark Warner, the chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence found the images as “Devastating” which were being broadcast out of Afghanistan before the statement was released by the president. He vowed to ask tough but necessary questions about why they weren’t better prepared for a worst-case scenario involving such a swift and total collapse of the Afghan government and the security forces.

Biden will not take any questions from the reporters gathered in the East Room following his speech. This will be his first public remark on Afghanistan. Biden was previously scheduled to remain at Camp David until Wednesday but he had to return to the White House to deliver the address.

Malaysian Prime Minister Mr. Muhyiddin Yassin is expected to resign after months of political turmoil that resulted in his losing his majority. The confirmed resignation will end the tumultuous 17 months in office.

This resignation will also hamper the efforts of Malaysia to reboot a pandemic-stricken economy and curb a resurgence in COVID-19 cases as there is no successor yet. It is yet not clear who will form the next government as no one has a clear majority in parliament. Holding elections during the pandemic can be dangerous as the infection and fatality rates per million people are the highest in Southeast Asia. The constitutional monarch King Al-Sultan Abdulah will likely be thrust into office with the decision. He can most likely appoint the Prime Minister among the elected lawmakers based on who he thinks is most likely to command a majority. Muhyiddin has earlier denied the calls to quit and submitted his resignation to the King on Monday.

The contenders for the premiership or interim prime minister’s post can include deputy prime minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob and veteran lawmaker Tenku Razleigh Hamzah. Both the candidates are from UMNO.

The Taliban entered Kabul, the Capital of Afghanistan, and are on a verge of declaring the nation as the “Islamic Emirate Of Afghanistan”. According to Press Association reports citing a Taliban official have taken control of the country and the declaration is to be expected to be made from the Presidential palace in Kabul.

Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani has earlier fled to Tajikistan but his current location is unconfirmed according to a news agency. After Ghani left, the Taliban took over the presidential palace in Kabul. The government is yet to confirm the palace takeover. The American flag at the US embassy has been removed by the Taliban’s and the flag along with the US Ambassador is reported now to be at the airport of Kabul. Currently, Kabul airport is the only way out of Afghanistan after the Taliban have surrounded the capital and road crossing being controlled by the extremist insurgency forces.

This happened while 3,000 US troops were in Kabul overseeing the crucial evacuation of its staff and other members of the allied forces. Biden said that he was hemmed in by the now-tattered peace accord negotiated with a terrorist group by the Trump administration that led to the popular decision to bring US troops back to the US from Afghanistan.

Japan marked the 76th anniversary of its World War II surrender with a somber ceremony in which Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga. He pledged for the tragedy of war to never be repeated. He also avoided apologizing for his country’s aggression.

He said the sacrifice of those who died in the war has built the peace of the country which they enjoy today and the nation will never forget that. In his first speech at the event since becoming prime minister, he said they will commit to their pledge to never repeat the tragedy of the war. He preferred not to offer an apology to the Asian victims of Japanese aggression across the region in the first half of the 20th century. Japan’s previous leader Shinzo Abe was always accused of trying to whitewash Japan’s brutal past. Suga mourned for damage inflicted on Japan and its people along with the U.S. atomic attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki and firebombing of Tokyo with other cities and the fierce battle of Okinawa.

Abes’ vision to allow Japan to play a greater military role in international conflicts is also vowed by Suga and will cooperate with the international community in tackling global issues under “proactive pacifism”.

A nationwide military victory in Afghanistan forced President Ashraf Ghani to flee from the country. Taliban have carried out a lightning sweep of the country and captured all its provincial capital in just 10 days.

Earlier the President of Afghanistan Mr. Ashraf Ghani fled to Tajikistan but his current location is still unknown. He posted his first statement on Facebook after fleeing to declare that the Taliban have won with the judgment of their swords and guns and now are responsible for the honor, property, and self-preservation of their countrymen. He added that he left to prevent a “flood of bloodshed” and they are now facing a new historical test. Either Taliban will preserve the name and honor of Afghanistan or they will give priority to other places and networks.

Former interim minister Ali Ahmad Jalali who was former Afghan ambassador to Germany will relinquish the power of the President to run the interim government which will be led by the Taliban. The President will hand over the power to Ali Ahmad Jalali in the coming hours. The Deputy leader of the Taliban Mullah Baradar has arrived in Kabul. He was accompanied by Ahmad Jalali to form the interim government. The Head Of High Council for National Reconciliation Abdullah Abdullah is said to be mediating the process according to the Khaama Press News Agency.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has called a snap election for September 20, two years ahead of the scheduled election. He triggered the election as he seeks to capitalize on Canada being one of the most fully vaccinated countries in the world.

The announcement came after Trudeau visited the governor-general who holds a mostly ceremonial position that represents Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II as head of state. He seeks to win a majority of seats in Parliament which his liberal Party fell short of two years ago. They had to rely on the opposition to pass legislation. The elections are coming amid the new wave of Delta variants of Coronavirus which have surged the cases across the nation. His government’s handling of the pandemic is viewed as a success in recent times. More than 71% of Canadians are fully vaccinated and more than 82% have received at least one dose. Trudeau’s government has sent billions to prop up the economy amid lockdowns that have now been lifted by the nation.

Professor Bothwell of Canadian history and international relations at the University of Toronto said that Trudeau is not widely liked but he’s all that the Liberals have so they will fall in behind him but if he loses he’s toast.

The government of Afghanistan has executed a three-phase plan to defeat the Taliban. After the fighting intensified in the last few days, the Taliban terror group captured the nine provincial capitals in the nation after which the uprising forces have announced their full support to the president and government.

The interior minister of Afghanistan Mr. Abdul Sattar Mirzakwal took charge of the country’s 1,30,000- strong police force. He said they are working in three phases in which the first is to aim at stopping the government forces from the defeats. In the second phase, they plan to gather their forces to create the security ring around the city. The third and last phase includes begging the offensive operation. Al Jazeera reported the current is one to be moving towards the third phase. The President has also announced the new chief of army staff in an attempt to give a robust response to the terror group.

The government is encouraging the local volunteer militants which is the uprising movement to tackle the Taliban. It is now focusing on secure key infrastructures such as main highways, large cities, and border crossings to stop the Taliban from capturing other cities.

On Thursday, Ebrahim Raisi was inaugurated as Iran’s president signaling the start of a new harder-line era of Imran. It can herald major shifts in the Islamic Republic’s policies at home and abroad. After the moderate administration of eight long years of Hassan Rouhani, Iran now turned Raisi into an Ultra-conservative judiciary chief. His views are completely in line with the rational thinking of the country’s powerful clergy and the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

His inauguration came at a very pivotal time when Iran is currently in indirect negotiations with the United States. The strategy involves how to revive the 2015 nuclear agreement. After swearing-in, Raisi called for US sanctions to be lifted and said that his government will support the diplomatic plan that will realize the objective. The aim behind the nuclear program is said to be “peaceful” according to Raisi. He rejects the use of nuclear power except for civilian purposes.

The reason behind Raisi’s first press conference after he was elected was Saudi detente. He sent a warm welcome to Saudi Arabia. Raisi’s ultimate goal is economy, which means foreign trade and when he speaks about foreign trade it means de-escalation which ultimately aims to detente with Saudi Arabia. It also aims at dealing with other countries in foreign trade.

On Thursday, Israel’s Foreign Minister Yair Lapid inaugurated the country’s diplomatic representation in Morocco. It was a symbol of normalization of the relations between the two nations. The deal comes less than a year after the two nations established formal ties under the U.S. broke “Abraham Accords”.

The two-day visit by Lapid was the first to the country by the Israeli minister since 2003. He opened the Israeli liaison office in Rabat and shared the picture of him formally opening it from his Twitter account. Lapid met the Moroccan counterpart Nasser Bourita where both the countries signed an air service agreement. The agreement to cooperate in the fields of culture, sports, and youth was also signed. A memorandum of understanding on the establishment of a political consultation mechanism between the two nations has also been signed by the foreign minister. During Lapid’s visit it appeared to fit into the wider design of face-to-face diplomacy.

Last year the Abraham Accords were struck with four Arab states, The United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Sudan, and Morocco. The Palestinians have rejected the agreement of the long-held belief that Israel could not normalize relations with the broader Arab world without progress in resolving its decade-old conflict with them.

Migrant Karla Leivar along with her five years old daughter found herself on a chartered US government flight shortly after she crossed the border in south Texas. She learned mid-air about her being headed to the provincial capital of Villahermosa In southern Mexico. She was put on the bus by the authorities to head to Mexico’s southern border where she sat on the patio of a migrant shelter in a remote Guatemalan border town.

Her quick exile was a part of a highly unusual partnership between the government of the United State and Mexico. The Biden administration hopes it will deter migrants from returning to the U.S. border. The government has intermittently flown Mexican deep into Mexico for years to discourage the repeated attempts to cross borders. However, the flight began last week from Brownsville, Texas to Villahermosa and Tapachula was the first time that the Central Americans have been flown to Mexico.

The administration made its first public acknowledgment that it is expelling Central Americans on the flight to southern Mexico whereas the Mexican government has been publicly silent. The same was confirmed by U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas on Thursday.