Category: Politics

Afghan Army Chief General Wali Mohammad Ahmadzi is replaced as Taliban militants continue to make rapid advances. The removal of the chief who had only been in the post since June was confirmed by the BBC on Wednesday.

AsiaOne reported that out of 34 provincial capitals of the country, the insurgents have now taken control of almost nine provincial capitals after heavy fighting was reported in the cities of Kandahar and Ghazni cities. President Ashraf Ghani earlier went to the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif to try to rally pro-government forces. Mazar-i-Sharif was traditionally an anti-Taliban bastion. The successor of the army chief general will now deal with the escalating violence across the nation after the US and other foreign troops have withdrawn their military troops after 20 years of military operation in Afghanistan.

According to AsiaOne Magazine, in the violence over the past month in Afghanistan, more than 1,000 civilians have been killed. President Ghani had talked about defending the city with ethnic Uzbek warlord Abdul Rashid Dostum along with prominent ethnic Tajik leader Atta Mohammad Noor in Mazar-i-Sharif on Wednesday. As per the reports from US officials, Afghanistan’s capital can fall into the hands of the Taliban in less than 90 days but according to Afghan, the Afghani security can halt the Taliban’s momentum by putting up more resistance.

In the fight against rebels in the Tigray region, the prime minister of Ethiopia has called on civilians to join the army. Prime minister Abiy Ahmed asked all the capable Ethiopians to show their patriotism by joining the war.

Since June the fighting escalated between the government troops and Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) who ruled Ethiopia for decades and now controls Tigray, as reported to Asia News. The Fighting initially broke out in November 2020 which has forced two million people to flee their homes. Those who were left behind hundreds of thousands were pushed into famine conditions. In June, the government announced the unilateral humanitarian ceasefire after-effects of losing control of key areas including the regional capital, Mekelle. The federal army had withdrawn and declared a ceasefire in which the government declared the TPLF designated as a terrorist organization.

Asia One Magazine reported that Mr. Abiy, who is a Nobel Peace Prize winner, said in his statement that the whole country has to go behind the battle to defeat the TPLF. The media, artists, and social activists were also called by the prime minister to contribute towards strengthening the people’s support for the country. He asked for all the Ethiopians to work closely with the security forces in being the eyes and ears of the country to track down and expose spies and agents of the terrorist TPLF.

Lithuania plans to build a metal fence topped with razor wire of 4 meters (13 feet) on the borders of Belarus. According to AsiaOne Magazine, the cost of the fence is expected to be around $178 million. The government also announced a plan to offer the migrants who agree to return to their countries of origin a sum of €300 each.

Interior minister Agne Bilotaite told Reuters news agency that without this physical barrier it is impossible to protect the borders of the country. However, a spokesman for the EU said the bloc does not finance fences or barriers. The EU has offered help to the country in the form of border guards and supplies instead. AsiaOne stated that the Lithuanian government started with harsher and more controversial policies of pushing the migrants back from the border last week. According to the Lithuanian Border Guard, many migrants come from Iraq who have been detained at several temporary detention centers.

On Monday, President on Belarus Alexander Lukashenko who has been in power since 1994, acknowledged the increasingly fraught situation on the border at a marathon eight-hour TV news conference in Belarus. He said if they don’t calm down at the borders, they will get an all-out stock on the jaw.

On Tuesday, the United State peace envoy was back in the Middle East and warned the Taliban not to pursue a military victory on the ground. The US delivered a blunt message: A Taliban government that comes to power through force in Afghanistan will not be recognized. Zalmay Khalilzad of the U.S. The State Department said that the U.S. envoy was in Doha, Qatar where the Taliban maintain a political office, as mentioned to AsiaOne Magazine. They help formulate a joint international response to the rapidly deteriorating situation in Afghanistan.

The state department said the U.S. envoy would press the Taliban to stop their military offensive and to negotiate a political settlement which will be the only path for the stability and development for Afghanistan. Five out of 34 provincial capitals have been captured by the insurgents in less than a week and now are battling the western-backed government for control of three other cities.

The Taliban military chief Mohammad Yaqood released a five-minute audio message to his fighters ordering them not to harm Afghan forces and the government officials in territories they conquered and insurgents to stay out of abandoned homes of government and security officials who fled, leave marketplaces open and protect places of business including banks.

On Tuesday, 2500 Russian, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan troops along with 500 military vehicles wrapped up their drills intended to stimulate the joint response on potential security threats coming from Afghanistan. The war games that began last week were held at the Harb-Maiden, as reported to AsiaOne Magazine. The firing range was about 20 kilometers north of the Tajik border with Afghanistan. They saw the troops practice action against invading militants. The Russian su-25 attack jets struck mock targets imitating militant vehicles as a part of their exercise.

According to the Russian military, the operations took place against the disruption of the situation in neighboring Afghanistan to work out the issues of repelling possible threats and practical interaction. As per the reports given to AsiaOne News, it also ensures security and maintains stability in the Central Asian region. The Russian troops practiced in Tajikistan using weapons during the drills with new sniper rifles and flame throwers. Russian Central Military Chief assured that this will help in the future joint actions and strengthen military cooperation which will protect their countries from military aggression.

Tajikistan is the military base for Russia, and has pledged military assistance to its ally along with the ex-Soviet Central Asian nations- Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan. They are members of the Moscow-dominated security pact of several ex-Soviet nations which together form the Collective Security Treaty Organization.

North Korea has repeated a threat to respond to the U.S. South Korean military exercise as its claims are an invasion rehearsal. Meanwhile, the U.S. insists that the drills were purely defensive to maintain the South’s security.

Ned Price of the State Department reported in Washington that they have long maintained the United States harbors no hostile intent towards the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. He further added that they support inter-Korean dialogue, engagement and will continue to work with their partners (South Korea) towards that end as reported to AsiaOne News.

On Wednesday, the state media released a statement that stated that the senior North Korean official Kim Yong Chol condemned South Korea for continuing the allied drills. Kim also warned of unspecified counteractions that would make Seoul realize by the minute that it had walked into the security crisis. Kim’s sister Kim Yo Jong said the drills were the most vivid expression of the U.S. hostile policy towards North Korea. She further said that North Korea will work faster to strengthen its preemptive strike capabilities. Asia News stated that they have not confirmed when the drills will take place and other details are also yet to be realized. However, according to the local media, the preliminary training might take place this week to set up larger computer-simulated drills on August 16-26.

Foreign Affairs Minister Raychelle Omamo along with her Kenyan delegation held talks with Somali Prime Minister Mohamed Hussein Roble in Somalia’s capital, Mogadishu on Sunday.

The neighboring states were not on a strong footing for several months but came together to agree to cement the relations between them. The areas which the delegates mainly agreed on were diplomacy, trade, and security. The prime minister’s office gave a press statement about President Uhuru Kenyatta extending an invitation for Somalia’s prime minister to visit Nairobi. The disputed existing maritime between the nations will be decided by the Hague-based International Court of Justice or ICJ, despite the several requests by Kenya to reach a settlement out of court.

Last year in December, Mogadishu served diplomatic ties with Nairobi over claims of Kenyan political interference in Somalia’s affair. The accusation was later denied by Nairobi. The visit by the Kenyans was stated as a sign of improving relations despite thorny issues on both sides according to the analyst Ali Abdulkadir. Kenya’s name is included along with the nations who have greatly contributed to the African Union peacekeeping mission in Somalia to fight against the armed group al-Shabab. In late 2011 Kenyan troops had an incursion into southern Somalia after which militants carried out attacks inside Kenya since then.

On Monday, The U.S. secretary of State Antony Blinken called out bullying in the South China Sea. Blinken even warned the U.N. Security Council that the conflict would have serious global consequences for security along with commerce which would spark a strong rebuke from China.

Washington rejects China’s territorial claims by Beijing in the resource-rich water as unlawful. Blinken told the Security Council meeting on maritime security that “when a state faces no consequences for ignoring these rules, it fuels greater impunity and instability everywhere”. He further added that they have seen dangerous encounters between the vessels at sea and provocative actions to advance unlawful maritime claims and Washington is concerned by the actions that intimidate and bully other states from lawfully accessing their maritime resources.

Deputy U.N. ambassador Dai Bing of China also accused the United State of stirring up trouble out of nothing and the US casually sending advanced military vessels and aircraft into the South China Sea. The US tries to provoke and publicly try to drive a wedge into regional countries. Dai even said that the US itself has become the biggest threat to peace and stability in the South China Sea.

First time ever an Indian Prime Minister Mr. Narendra Modi chaired the first-ever independent discussion on maritime security in the UNSC. On Monday, India held its first major activity during its presidency of the global body in which China was snubbed by the UNSC regarding its sea convention.

China showed its displeasure by sending the deputy permanent representative Dai Bing to the meeting and its overcoming reluctance towards the unprecedented India-led UN security council session. The session highlighted the primacy of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) which sets out the legal framework that is applicable for the activities in the oceans. It includes illicit activities at the sea.

China’s actions towards the South China Sea and the East China Sea, island-building, and bullying of countries by its fishing militia show its aggression towards occupying the sea. The Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) in 2016 ruled it illegal but Beijing has continued undeterred which raises concern on an international level. China lashed out at Japan in the debate for emptying Fukushima water into the Pacific as it asked ASEAN countries to work out a code of conduct. US Secretary of State Antony Bliken criticized China’s action in the South China Sea.

On Monday, The United Nations Security Council adopted its first-ever outcome documented on maritime security under India’s “Presidential Statement”. The UNSC was a high-level debate on maritime affairs which was chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Sources said that as per practices, the presidential statement has to be adopted unanimously. The process was said not to be smooth with one P-5 country holding out till the very end on language related to the UN Convention of the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). India’s negotiators deserved credit to be able to find language acceptable to all. India didn’t drop the reference to UNCLOS (which other P-5 countries insisted on retaining) which also reaffirmed the country’s bridging role in the UNSC. The key takeaways from the event included unprecedented high-level participation from other countries, the importance of the topic of maritime security, and the substantive nature of the discussion along with the adoption by the consensus of the first-ever outcome document on the topic.

The source further added that in its innings at the UNSC, this was the reaffirmation of the bridging and constructive role played by India.