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https://www.nationthailand.com/international/40005493

IS attacks resurge in Afghanistan after Taliban takes control of capital Kabul

Kabul has been the scene of more violent attacks in recent days. Five rockets were fired early Monday at Kabul airport in the Afghan capital, where the evacuation of U.S.-led troops is underway, witnesses said.

After years of being silenced in the war-battered Afghanistan, the Islamic State (IS) group launched a deadly attack on the fortified Kabul airport Thursday, leaving at least 170 Afghans and 13 U.S. soldiers dead and about 200 others wounded.

The bloody attack, claimed by ISIS-K, a local affiliate of the Islamic State group in Afghanistan, has taken many by surprise and the armed extremist group has warned of more attacks after completion of the pull-out of U.S.-led forces from Afghanistan.

The attack on the Kabul airport has been faced by the U.S. military’s sharp reaction as it launched drone strikes in the eastern Nangarhar province, killing an alleged attack planner of the terror group.

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid has confirmed the incident in Nangarhar, saying two civilians were killed and four others including two children were injured in the unmanned plane attacks.

The attack on the alleged IS hideout in Afghanistan has been termed by the Taliban as breach of the U.S.-Taliban peace deal inked in Doha.

“The airstrike inside Afghanistan is a violation of Doha agreement and America does not have the right to conduct operations in Afghanistan soil,” a Taliban senior leader Abdul Haq Waseq was quoted by a local media outlet Tolo News as saying.

People injured in the Kabul airport attacks receive medical treatment at a local hospital in Kabul, capital of Afghanistan, Aug. 27, 2021.

Mujahid also said that the U.S. had to share its intention for attack before launching it.

In the meantime, Kabul has been the scene of more violent attacks in recent days.

Five rockets were fired early Monday at Kabul airport in the Afghan capital, where the evacuation of U.S.-led troops is underway, witnesses said.

“The rockets attached to a sedan were fired towards the airport from Khair Khana Minia locality. It looked to me that the U.S. missile system intercepted the rockets,” witness Sayyad Mohammad told Xinhua.

Evacuation flights continued as the U.S. troops were at the final stage of their withdrawal from Afghanistan. The pull-out is expected to be completed on Tuesday.

U.S. unmanned planes have been flying over Kabul since Sunday.

Afghans fear that the IS fighters would conduct more attacks in the coming days or weeks to prove its presence in Afghanistan.

The ISIS-K emerged in Afghanistan in 2015.

Published : August 31, 2021

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https://www.nationthailand.com/international/40005492

WHO calls for action to increase COVID-19 vaccination rates in Europe

“Vaccination is a right, but its also a responsibility. Vaccine skepticism and science denial are holding us back from stabilizing this crisis. It serves no purpose, and is good for no one,” said WHO Regional Director for Europe Hans Kluge.

The World Health Organization (WHO) Regional Office for Europe on Monday called on health authorities to take urgent action to counter both an accelerated transmission of the coronavirus and a clear stagnation in vaccination rates across the region.

“The high transmission is deeply worrying particularly in the light of low vaccination uptake in priority populations in a number of countries. Several countries are starting to observe an increased burden on hospitals and more deaths,” said WHO Regional Director for Europe Hans Kluge during an online press conference.

According to Kluge, alarm bells are already ringing in 33 of the 53 states in the WHO European region which have reported a greater than 10 percent increase of COVID-19 cases in the past 14 days. Moreover, there was an 11-percent increase in the number of deaths in the region during the past week.

“Three factors account for this increase: the first is the more transmissible Delta variant, now reported in 50 countries in the Region. The second factor is the easing of public health measures and the third is the seasonal surge in travel, driving a significant growth in case numbers in most countries,” said Kluge.

Despite nearly 850 million vaccine doses having already been administered and nearly half of the people of the European Region being fully vaccinated, the regional director criticized the lack of access to vaccines in some countries and a lack of vaccine acceptance in others during a time when the “public’s vaccination acceptance is crucial.”

Passengers wait to receive COVID-19 vaccine at the Fiumicino airport in Rome, Italy, July 29, 2021.

“Vaccination is a right, but it’s also a responsibility. Vaccine skepticism and science denial are holding us back from stabilizing this crisis. It serves no purpose, and is good for no one,” said Kluge.

In an effort to counter vaccine skepticism, Kluge called upon the region’s health authorities to examine closely what determines vaccination uptake by population groups and then “establish tailored interventions at the community level to boost vaccine uptake.”

He called for an increase in vaccine production, sharing vaccine doses equitably as well as a drive on vaccine acceptance and demand as the three fundamental elements needed “to deliver on the promise that vaccination can move the European Region beyond the pandemic.”

Asked about the perception of the effectiveness of a third vaccine jab, or the “booster jab,” Kluge advised caution due to lack of evidence on its effectiveness.   

People walk on a street amid the COVID-19 outbreak in Madrid, Spain, Aug. 2, 2021.

Published : August 31, 2021

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https://www.nationthailand.com/international/40005491

UN Security Council adopts resolution on Afghanistan after Taliban takeover

Resolution 2593 demands that Afghan territory not be used to threaten or attack any country, or to shelter or train terrorists, or to plan or finance terrorist acts.

The Security Council on Monday adopted a resolution on Afghanistan after the Taliban’s return to power, focusing on counter-terrorism and humanitarian assistance.

Resolution 2593 demands that Afghan territory not be used to threaten or attack any country, or to shelter or train terrorists, or to plan or finance terrorist acts.

It reiterates the importance of combating terrorism in Afghanistan and notes the Taliban’s relevant commitments.

The resolution, which was adopted with 13 votes in favor and two abstentions, calls for strengthened efforts to provide humanitarian assistance to Afghanistan.

It calls on all parties to allow full, safe, and unhindered access for the United Nations, its specialized agencies and implementing partners, and all humanitarian actors engaged in humanitarian relief activity, to ensure that humanitarian assistance reaches all those in need.

It calls on all donors and international humanitarian actors to provide humanitarian assistance to Afghanistan and major Afghan refugee-hosting countries, and underlines that all parties must respect their obligations under international humanitarian law in all circumstances, including those related to the protection of civilians. 

Published : August 31, 2021

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https://www.nationthailand.com/international/40005490

U.S. general says withdrawal from Afghanistan completed

Kenneth McKenzie, commander of U.S. Central Command, said the number of U.S. citizens currently still stranded in Afghanistan is “in the very low hundreds,” stressing that the Department of State is now in charge of assisting those evacuees.

The U.S. Central Command announced Monday that the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan has completed, ending 20 years of U.S.-led invasion into the country.

“I’m here to announce the completion of our withdrawal from Afghanistan and the end of the mission to evacuate American citizens, third country nationals and vulnerable Afghans,” Kenneth McKenzie, commander of U.S. Central Command, announced during a news conference held by the Department of Defense.

“The last C-17 lifted off from Hamid Karzai International Airport on August 30, this afternoon, at 3:29 p.m. East coast time, and the last manned aircraft is now clearing the space above Afghanistan,” McKenzie said.

McKenzie said while the completion of withdrawal drew an end to U.S. military presence in the war-torn nation that Washington accused of harboring Al-Qaeda — the mastermind behind the 9/11 terror attack on American soil in 2001 — “the diplomatic mission to ensure additional U.S. citizens and eligible Afghans, who want to leave, continues.”

While paying tribute to the 2,461 U.S. service members killed — including the 13 troops lost Thursday to a terror attack aimed at sabotaging the evacuation mission — and over 20,000 U.S. personnel injured during the longest war Washington has engaged in throughout history, McKenzie also told reporters that no American citizens managed to embark on the final five evacuation flights leaving Kabul, meaning there were still Americans wishing to depart the country that were left on ground.

A CH-47 Chinook is loaded onto a U.S. Air Force C-17 Globemaster III at Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul, Afghanistan, on Aug. 28, 2021.

“We maintained the ability to bring them in up until immediately before departure,” McKenzie said. “We would have been prepared to bring them on until the very last minute, but none of them made it to the airport and were able to be accommodated,” he added.

The general said the number of U.S. citizens currently still stranded in Afghanistan is “in the very low hundreds,” stressing that the Department of State is now in charge of assisting those evacuees.

“The military’s phase of this operation has ended … The diplomatic sequel to that will now begin,” he said, adding that the United States will continue trying to extract the remaining U.S. citizens and “negotiate very hard and aggressively” to get eligible Afghans to come to the United States.

U.S. media cited a State Department official as saying earlier on Monday that it was believed that there were fewer than 250 American citizens who may wish to leave Afghanistan.

Published : August 31, 2021

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https://www.nationthailand.com/international/40005488

Taliban welcomes U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan

The Taliban has welcomed the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan shortly after U.S. Central Command announced that the withdrawal of U.S. troops from the Asian country has completed.

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid wrote on social media platform twitter early Tuesday that the last U.S. soldiers were evacuated from Kabul airport at mid-night on Monday. 

“In this way, our country became completely free and independent,” he said.

Published : August 31, 2021

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https://www.nationthailand.com/international/40005487

U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan completed: Pentagon

The U.S. Central Command announced Monday that the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan

The U.S. Central Command announced Monday that the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan has completed, ending 20 years of U.S.-led invasion into the country. 

Published : August 31, 2021

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https://www.nationthailand.com/international/40005486

10 civilians killed by U.S. drone strike in Kabul, family says

KABUL – A U.S. drone strike targeting the Islamic State killed 10 civilians in Kabul, including several small children, family members told The Washington Post on Monday.

The dead were all from a single extended family who were exiting a car in their modest driveway when the strike hit a nearby vehicle, said Abdul Matin Azizi, a neighbor who saw the attack. Azizi, 20, said the explosion occurred as the family returned home Sunday afternoon around 4:30 p.m.

Azizi said he ran next door to help and found a gruesome scene, the air thick with smoke. “The bodies were covered in blood and shrapnel, and some of the dead children were still inside the car,” he said.

U.S. Central Command said the strike Sunday destroyed an Islamic State car bomb that posed an “imminent” threat to Kabul’s airport. It acknowledged reports of civilian casualties but did not release specifics. The attack is the second U.S. drone strike on Afghanistan in response to a suicide bombing and gunfire attack outside Kabul’s airport on Thursday.

Mourners gathered at a neighbor’s home under the shade of a grape arbor. A woman, her face raw from sobbing, approached the garden’s entrance in hysterics.

“I lost my daughter, I lost my heart,” she screamed, calling out to God before a group of women surrounded her, trying to calm her down. Suma Ahmadi’s 2-year-old daughter and three of her brothers were killed in the explosion, said Ahmad Fayaz, a relative.

Growing faint and unable to speak, Ahmadi was helped back into the shade. Fayaz said she was inconsolable all night, unable to sleep or eat. In total, eight children and young adults were killed in the attack, Fayaz said.

Of the 10 civilians killed, eight were age 18 and under, according to lists from family members obtained by The Washington Post. Zamarai Ahmadi, 45, an engineer for a U.S.-based nonprofit, and three of his sons were among those killed, according to one of his surviving sons, 22-year-old Samim Ahmadi.

The United States “always says they are killing [the Islamic State], al-Qaeda or the Taliban, but they always attack civilian people and children,” Fayaz said. “I don’t think they are good people.”

10 civilians killed by U.S. drone strike in Kabul, family says

Zamarai Ahmadi’s employer, Nutrition and Education International, said in a statement released on Monday that “we are all very saddened and shocked by his sudden death.”

The elder Ahmadi had worked for the organization since 2006, according to the statement, “was well respected by his colleagues and compassionate towards the poor and needy. Just yesterday, he, together with us, prepared and delivered soy-based meals to hungry women and children at local refugee camps in Kabul.”

The Taliban condemned the attack and announced it is investigating allegations of civilian casualties.

“No country including the U.S. has the right to carry any direct operation in our country,” Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said in a statement Monday. “They should share information with us so that we can take actions by ourselves.”

U.S. Central Command said it is launching its own investigation. “We are aware of reports of civilian casualties following our strike on a vehicle in Kabul,” it said in a statement Sunday. “It is unclear what may have happened, and we are investigating further. We would be deeply saddened by any potential loss of innocent life.”

The suicide bombing outside Kabul airport Thursday was claimed by the Islamic State. The attack killed 13 U.S. troops and more than 170 civilians trying to flee the country.

The Sunday drone strike that took the lives of the 10 family members “is a glimpse into the future U.S. involvement in Afghanistan if the Biden administration pushes ahead with an ‘over the horizon’ counter-terrorism program that does not prioritize civilian protection,” Paul O’Brien, the executive director of Amnesty International USA, said in a statement condemning the strike and calling for a full investigation.

The Biden administration’s so-called “over the horizon” plan to continue applying pressure on terrorist groups in Afghanistan uses aircraft and surveillance based in the Persian Gulf and other regions. And some criticize the approach as a less precise use of air power because U.S. or allied troops are not observing from the ground to relay intelligence.

“The Americans said the airstrike killed Daesh members,” Azizi, the neighbor, said angrily, using a term for the Islamic State. “Where is Daesh here? Were these children Daesh?”

Published : August 31, 2021

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https://www.nationthailand.com/international/40005483

Ida weakens to tropical storm as it moves to Mississippi

Hurricane forecasters downgraded Ida to a tropical storm Monday morning but are still warning of dangerous storm surges and heavy rainfall in multiple states.

The storm weakened 16 hours after Ida made landfall in Louisiana as a Category 4 hurricane. Ida battered Louisiana into Monday, with reports of downed power lines, levee failures and flooding, collapsed buildings and trapped residents on rooftops.

Forecasters warned that flooding from storm surges will continue through Monday in parts of Louisiana and Mississippi. As Ida’s center moves into southwestern Mississippi, damaging winds could cause more power outages. Heavy rainfall is possible through Tuesday morning across Mississippi, the Tennessee Valley and, ultimately, the Mid-Atlantic.

Flooding could also hit portions of the Tennessee and Ohio valleys and the Mid-Atlantic through Wednesday, according to the National Hurricane Center.

New Orleans Mayor Latoya Cantrell expressed relief that the worst-case scenario in New Orleans did not come to pass because of Ida, but she urged evacuees to remain out of the city until further notice.

“We did not have another Katrina,” Cantrell said during a Monday afternoon news conference.

Ida weakens to tropical storm as it moves to Mississippi

Cantrell said officials believe that one person drowned, but she said confirmation and additional details would come from the coroner’s office.

“So far, we have not had reports of massive loss of life, but we did have a tragedy, and one is too many,” she said.

She implored those who evacuated from New Orleans to stay out of the city until it is safe to return.

“While we held the line, no doubt about that – now is not the time for reentry,” Cantrell said.

She said city officials are “only at the beginning of that process determining what the actual impacts have been across the city of New Orleans. City agencies have been out since daybreak; they’re going block by block, neighborhood by neighborhood. No one will be left out. No one has been left out.”

Collin Arnold, director of the New Orleans Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness, said there is widespread debris blocking roadways, trees and power lines downed and damage to structures. “Just because the weather has passed, that does not guarantee that it’s safe to be out walking around,” Arnold said.

“If you evacuated from the city, take a breath – we’re doing good here, we’re doing well, under the circumstances. But it’s not the time to return,” he said. “There’s not a lot open right now. There’s not a lot of fuel resources. There’s not a lot of reason to come back, and I want to add with covid, if you get hurt … hospitals are strained right now, so it’s not a good time if you’re out of the area to come back.”

President Joe Biden on Monday detailed the federal government’s efforts to aid those affected by Ida, including the deployment of more than 200 generators and “millions” of meals and gallons of drinking water.

“We’re in close contact with local electric providers to see what they need. They’re all private providers; we don’t control that, but we’re doing all we can to minimize the amount of time it’s going to take to get power back up for everyone in the region,” Biden said during a virtual meeting with Deanne Criswell, the Federal Emergency Management Agency administrator, and officials in the affected states.

The president also noted that he has asked the Departments of Defense and Homeland Security to make available any satellite imagery that could be helpful in assessing the damage.

Published : August 31, 2021

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https://www.nationthailand.com/blogs/international/40005481

South African scientists say new variant may have increased transmissibility

South African scientists said they identified a new coronavirus variant with a concerning number of mutations.

The so-called C.1.2. variant was first identified in May in the South African provinces of Mpumalanga and Gauteng, where Johannesburg and the capital, Pretoria, are situated, the scientists said in a research paper. By August 13, it had been found in six of South Africa’s nine provinces as well as the Congo, Mauritius, Portugal, New Zealand and Switzerland.

The mutations on the virus “are associated with increased transmissibility” and an increased ability to evade antibodies, the scientists said. “It is important to highlight this lineage given its concerning constellation of mutations.”

Changes in the virus have driven successive waves of the coronavirus with the delta variant, first found in India, now pushing up infection rates across the world. Mutations are first classified as variants of interest by the World Health Organization. Once they are identified as being more severe or transmissible, they’re termed variants of concern.

C.1.2. evolved from C.1., a lineage of the virus that dominated infections in the first wave of the virus in South Africa in mid-2020. It has between 44 and 59 mutations from the original virus detected in Wuhan in China.

The research was published by South African groups including the KwaZulu-Natal Research Innovation and Sequencing Platform, known as Krisp, and the National Institute for Communicable Diseases.

In May, the variant accounted for 0.2% of the genomes sequenced in the country. That rose to 1.6% in June and 2% in July.

“We are currently assessing the impact of this variant on antibody neutralization” in both vaccinated and unvaccinated individuals, the scientists said.

South African scientists also discovered the beta variant in 2020. They have stressed that the country’s advanced ability to sequence the genomes of the virus enables the identification of new strains, they could have originated elsewhere.

Published : August 31, 2021

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https://www.nationthailand.com/international/40005480

China restricts young people to playing video games three hours a week

China announced Monday that it is banning minors from playing video games during the school week and can only play for an hour on Fridays, weekends and holidays.

The new rule comes from China’s video game regulator, the National Press and Publication Administration, which did not respond to requests for comment.

The policy is slated to take effect by September 1.

China has established extensive rules about minors and playing video games in the past, after blaming games for causing nearsightedness and addiction in youth. In 2019, the government announced that gamers under 18 had to stop playing between 10 p.m. and 8 a.m., and only game for 90 minutes on weekdays. In 2018, Beijing stopped approving video games for publication for nearly nine months, hurting the bottom line for massive Chinese companies like NetEase and Tencent.

The Chinese government plans to enforce the ban by requiring minors to register to games with their real names and requiring gaming companies to ask for real names. Some game companies have already begun to use a real name-based registration system to limit playtime, such as Tencent asking for real names with its wildly successful mobile hit, “Honor of Kings.”

Tencent said in a statement on its official WeChat account that it firmly supports the new rule and will make every effort to follow it. It said that the company had been implementing ways to keep minors from being addicted to games since 2017.

“While China’s government has been positive on video games recently and has promoted segments such as esports and cloud gaming as key growth areas, gaming addiction among minors is viewed as a negative output of the popularity of video games in society,” said Lisa Cosmas Hanson, president at research firm Niko Partners. China’s esports scene has grown considerably over the years, and players in esports typically train for hours a day at a young age, the firm noted.

It is possible for children to get around the ban if they were to use the accounts of adults, Niko pointed out. The government is asking for family cooperation to prevent that tactic.

The overall impact of the new ban is still unclear, as the government expands upon previous restrictions. Minors in China are already banned from spending more than 400 yuan (about $62) a month on games. Tencent said in an earnings call that players under 16 years old only account for 2.6% of total spending from customers.

Earlier last week, South Korea announced it would end a law that kept people under 16 from playing games between midnight and 6 a.m. Parents and guardians can instead arrange times for children to play.

Console gaming in China was banned for over a decade, up until 2015. Even today, most gamers in China gravitate toward PC and mobile gaming, with companies like Nintendo and Sony slowly making inroads in often minuscule console sales.

Published : August 31, 2021