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Tropical storm complicates Haiti recovery efforts as heavy rains deluge devastated nation

LES CAYES, Haiti – Tropical Storm Grace battered Haiti on Tuesday, triggering mudslides and hampering relief efforts as the country struggled to recover from an earthquake that killed more than 1,900 people and pulverized tens of thousands of homes.

Rescue workers in some areas were forced to suspend their efforts as the rains swept in. Grace strengthened from a tropical depression to a tropical storm early Tuesday, drenching Haiti with up to 10 inches of rain, according to the U.S. National Hurricane Center. Isolated areas received 15 inches.

In Les Cayes, a major city on Haiti’s southwestern peninsula, the rain and wind exacerbated a burgeoning homelessness crisis caused by the earthquake. Many desperate residents spent Monday night huddling outdoors under tarps or other makeshift shelter, while others fled back to quake-damaged homes as the downpour intensified.

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Casimir Chery, 24, said no emergency shelter was available, so he slept on the street under a plastic sheet. “We hear that we can’t sleep in our homes, but what can we do?” he said. “We don’t have tents.”

Marie Michel Nicolas, 60, said she and 17 family members tried to ride out the storm in a tent, but it was pummeled by the rain, driving them back into their unstable two-bedroom home. “This storm and the rain are just one disaster on top of another,” she said.

The 7.2-magnitude earthquake Saturday and the subsequent tropical storm have intensified the pain of a country already reeling from the coronavirus pandemic, rising gang violence and a political crisis that deepened last month with the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse.

By Tuesday afternoon, the rain had tapered off in much of southwestern Haiti. But “the negative consequences will continue in the hours and days to come,” warned Martin Coria, the regional director for the Church World Service charity. The rain sent mud cascading over roads in the mountainous region, making remote communities even harder to reach, he said in a telephone interview.

Many residents complained that aid was painfully slow to arrive.

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Marie Bedar Samedi, 60, one of hundreds of people who spent the night in a giant tent in the Brefet neighborhood of Les Cayes, said someone brought food Monday night for the first time since Saturday’s quake. “But it was inedible, it was spoiled,” she said. “We had to throw it away.” She managed to salvage food from her damaged home. “I don’t see how we will eat tomorrow,” she said.

U.S. officials said emergency operations had been suspended Monday night because of the storm but were ramping up again Tuesday. Military helicopters were being dispatched to Haiti’s hard-hit southwestern peninsula to bypass damaged bridges and roads, and seven U.S. Coast Guard cutters were steaming toward the impoverished nation. Meanwhile, a 65-member search and rescue team from the Fairfax County Fire and Rescue Department in Virginia started work in the disaster area.

Asked whether Haiti was receiving enough foreign aid, Sarah Charles, assistant administrator of the USAID Bureau of Humanitarian Affairs, told reporters that “we are working with international partners to scale up assistance. Much more will be needed in the coming days and weeks.”

Officials on Tuesday raised the death toll to 1,941 people. The quake was stronger than the devastating 2010 temblor that led to the deaths of more than 220,000 people, but it was centered farther from the densely populated capital. Thus far, U.S. officials said, assessments suggest Saturday’s quake damage did not compare to that earlier disaster.

Still, the death toll was expected to climb, as authorities arrived at villages cut off by rubble and washed-out roads.

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Roosevelt Louis, head of the Fondation Sainte Rose d’Haïti, a charity in Les Cayes, said he had heard that a community north of the city, Maniche, was in critical condition. “But we can’t go there because of the rain,” which had made the roads impassable, he said.

The weather was not the only barrier to relief operations. Violent gangs were hindering aid groups from reaching quake-shattered areas, the Haiti mission of the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said Tuesday. “W/out sustained, & unhindered #humanitarianaccess, thousands of people in need of urgent assistance could die,” the office tweeted.

Haitian officials and U.N. representatives have negotiated permission for two relief convoys to travel from the capital, Port-au-Prince, to the southwestern peninsula, on a major road that gangs had blocked for months, according to the U.N. office. But the situation was volatile. “There is not a reliable, permanent humanitarian corridor,” said Coria. “It’s one truck at a time, one day at a time.”

Further complicating matters, he said, some residents of towns along the route were stopping the convoys to demand aid. And there were few places for truck drivers or crews to sleep or eat. “All the guesthouses and small hotels in the field that we used in the last five years, after Hurricane Matthew, they are all destroyed,” he said.

As the tropical storm swept past on Tuesday, residents of Les Cayes tried to recover. Traffic was snarled by flooding and cracks that snaked through the streets. Still, pharmacies and money-transfer businesses – a lifeline for the millions of Haitians who rely on transfers from relatives abroad – reopened. Residents using shovels and their bare hands resumed their painstaking efforts to extract victims from collapsed buildings.

Chery said he had pulled four bodies from the wreckage of a three-story apartment building in the Brefet neighborhood a day earlier but had not given up hope of finding survivors.

“We still have at least one person alive in the rubble,” he said.

More than 84,000 homes have been destroyed or damaged by the quake, in a region that was already whipsawed by Hurricane Matthew in 2016.

“The remote areas are as badly damaged as the city,” said Silvera Guillaume, civil protection chief in southern Haiti, one of the three regions hit hardest by the quake. “We’re still collecting information, since there are places we have yet to get to.” He appealed for more international assistance. “We don’t have the means to respond.”

The center of Tropical Storm Grace was moving near the northwest coast of Jamaica on Tuesday evening. The U.S. National Hurricane Center warned that the system was likely to strengthen into a hurricane Wednesday as it approached the Yucatan coast of Mexico.

Published : August 18, 2021

By : The Washington Post · Widlore Merancourt, Mary Beth Sheridan, Anthony Faiola

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U.S. exit forces a reconsideration of its global role

President Bidens decision to withdraw from Afghanistan has triggered a globe-spanning rethink of Americas role in the world, as European allies discuss their need to play a bigger part in security matters and Russia and China consider how to promote their interests in a Taliban-led Afghanistan.

Biden’s defiant address to the nation on Monday, when he stood “squarely” behind his decision to pull out U.S. troops, also renewed one of the most hotly contested debates of the post-9/11 era: Would a withdrawal from Afghanistan convey weakness, provoke aggression and shatter America’s ability to lead on the international stage, or would it reflect a sound realignment of the national interest, put the country on better footing to deal with the new challenges of the 21st century, and clarify to allies and adversaries what the United States is and is not willing to expend resources on?

In the European Union, which held an emergency session of foreign ministers on Afghanistan on Tuesday, officials offered rare criticism of Washington for risking a flood of refugees to their borders and the return of a platform for terrorism in Central Asia.

“This kind of troop withdrawal caused chaos,” Latvia’s defense minister, Artis Pabriks, said in a radio interview Tuesday, noting the demise of long-term nation-building projects and how the decision to withdraw was essentially foisted on Europeans. “This era is over. Unfortunately, the West, and Europe in particular, are showing they are weaker globally.”

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Germany’s conservative candidate to succeed Chancellor Angela Merkel, Armin Laschet, on Tuesday called the withdrawal of forces “the greatest debacle that NATO has experienced since its foundation.”

In China, where the U.S. withdrawal is seen as creating both risks and opportunity, Foreign Minister Wang Yi told U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken in a phone call that the rapid departure of U.S. troops caused a “severely adverse impact.”

He also drew broader implications from the pullout, saying it showed America’s inability to transpose a foreign model of governance to a country with different cultural and historical attributes.

Longtime critics of the war in Afghanistan say claims about lost U.S. resolve and credibility ring hollow.

“Deciding not to keep fighting an unwinnable war for a less-than-vital interest hardly means the United States will not fight when the stakes are higher,” said Stephen Walt, a scholar of international relations at Harvard University. “On the contrary, ending the long and futile war in Afghanistan will allow Washington to focus more attention on bigger priorities.”

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In his remarks to the nation, Biden latched on to the need to dislodge the United States from costly quagmires in an era of big-power competition.

“Our true strategic competitors, China and Russia, would love nothing more than the United States to continue to funnel billions of dollars in resources and attention into stabilizing Afghanistan indefinitely,” he said.

Biden said the United States could continue to disrupt terrorist organizations with air power.

Although history could vindicate Biden’s order, his administration faces difficult questions about squaring the decision with its near-constant refrain that human rights and support for allies will be “at the center of U.S. foreign policy.”

Those statements were often designed to create a contrast with the Trump administration, which denigrated European allies and cozied up to authoritarian-leaning governments in Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Hungary and Brazil.

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Critics of Biden’s policy seized on that rhetoric as the Taliban swept into Kabul and many women and girls sheltered at home in fear of a return to the militants’ harsh rule that had banned women from education and work when the Taliban was last in power.

“Whatever happened to ‘America is back’?” said Tobias Ellwood, who chairs the Defense Committee in the British Parliament, noting Biden’s promise to rebuild alliances and restore America’s place in the world.

Part of the confusion stems from the mix of ideologies inside the Biden administration, in particular, longtime advocates of humanitarian interventions such as Blinken and USAID Administrator Samantha Power, who routinely speak about the importance of human rights.

The outlook stands in contrast with Biden’s skepticism of the military, which was apparent during his time as vice president, when he argued against the ambitious troop surge that Pentagon leaders were proposing in 2009 to check a Taliban resurgence. Biden, warning President Barack Obama against letting the top brass “jam” him, unsuccessfully argued for a much leaner mission narrowly focused on blocking threats against the U.S. homeland.

But on issues involving other elements of American power, like diplomacy or trade, Biden has articulated a more ambitious view, seeking to take greater risks to advance human rights. His administration has repeatedly called out China for what it views as a campaign of genocide against Uyghur Muslims in Xinjiang, for instance.

“Those things generally coexist without too much tension,” said a former defense official familiar with his thinking who spoke on the condition of anonymity to talk candidly. “In Afghanistan, there was a trade-off.”

Biden’s views, and those of some of his aides, were also heavily informed by the wrenching debates over intervention in Libya and Syria during the Obama administration.

“One of the realities that has been realized in the past two decades is that advancing human rights policy through military intervention is extremely difficult,” said Stephen Pomper, who served as a senior White House official for human rights during the Obama administration and is now acting policy director at the International Crisis Group.

He pointed to the 2011 intervention in Libya, which was intended as a shield for those rising up against dictator Moammar Gaddafi but which has been followed by a decade of chaos and insecurity. That lesson is also apparent in Afghanistan, where despite important gains in health and women’s rights, the long U.S.-backed effort was unable to secure lasting peace.

“That’s the lived experience of a lot of people who are now at the top of the foreign policy hierarchy in this administration,” Pomper said.

Brian Katulis, a scholar at the left-leaning Center for American Progress, said the administration has at times reacted to events at home and abroad rather than articulating an overarching ideology.

“That raises the question, ‘What do you stand for when the chips are down?’ ” he said.

On Tuesday, world powers began adjusting to the new reality of Taliban rule as the group’s de facto leader, Abdul Ghani Baradar, arrived in the country for the first time in more than a decade.

At a news conference in Kabul on Tuesday, Taliban leaders offered conciliatory messages – met with skepticism by some officials and analysts – promising not to discriminate against women or to seek control of the media, and suggesting that those who worked with the previous government and allied forces would be “pardoned.”

With the Biden administration still “taking stock” of whether it will officially recognize the Taliban as the government of Afghanistan, other countries began staking out their own approach.

Russia, which has long-established ties to the Taliban but does not officially recognize it, praised the group on Monday. “The situation is peaceful and good and everything has calmed down in the city. The situation in Kabul now under the Taliban is better than it was under [President] Ashraf Ghani,” said Dmitry Zhirnov, the Russian ambassador to Afghanistan.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, meanwhile, said his government had “no plans” to recognize the Taliban government.

State Department spokesman Ned Price said Monday that the United States would decide whether to recognize its rule only after it demonstrates a willingness to govern inclusively and prohibit terrorists from operating on its soil.

“We are still taking stock of what has transpired over the past 72 hours and the diplomatic and political implications of that,” Price said.

Published : August 18, 2021

By : The Washington Post · John Hudson, Missy Ryan

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UN Security Council calls for cessation of hostilities, inclusive govt in Afghanistan

The Security Council called for an immediate end to the violence in Afghanistan, the restoration of security, civil and constitutional order, and urgent talks to resolve the current crisis of authority in the country and to arrive at a peaceful settlement through an Afghan-led, Afghan-owned process of national reconciliation.

The Security Council on Monday called for an immediate cessation of all hostilities in Afghanistan and the establishment of a new government that is united, inclusive and representative, including with the full, equal and meaningful participation of women.

Institutional continuity and adherence to Afghanistan’s international obligations, as well as the safety and security of all Afghan and international citizens, must be ensured, said the members of the Security Council in a press statement.

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The council members called for an immediate end to the violence in Afghanistan, the restoration of security, civil and constitutional order, and urgent talks to resolve the current crisis of authority in the country and to arrive at a peaceful settlement through an Afghan-led, Afghan-owned process of national reconciliation.

They underscored that a sustainable end to the conflict in Afghanistan can only be achieved through an inclusive, just, durable and realistic political settlement that upholds human rights, including for women, children and minorities.

They called on parties to adhere to international norms and standards on human rights and put an end to all abuses and violations in this regard.

They underlined that all parties must respect their obligations under international humanitarian law in all circumstances, including those related to the protection of civilians. They underscored the particular situation of vulnerability of humanitarian and medical personnel, interpreters and other international service providers.

The council members called on strengthened efforts to provide humanitarian assistance to Afghanistan, and on all parties to allow immediate, safe and unhindered humanitarian access for UN humanitarian agencies and other humanitarian actors providing assistance, including across conflict lines, to ensure that humanitarian assistance reaches all those in need.

They reaffirmed the importance of combating terrorism in Afghanistan to ensure the territory of Afghanistan should not be used to threaten or attack any country, and that neither the Taliban nor any other Afghan group or individual should support terrorists operating on the territory of any other country.

They reiterated their support for the work of the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan. They emphasized the importance of the safety and security of UN personnel as well as of diplomatic and consular personnel of UN member states. 
 

Published : August 17, 2021

By : Xinhua

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Israel mulls calling for intl help to curb massive wildfire

Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett has ordered security officials to consider appealing for international assistance to combat a raging massive wildfire near Jerusalem.

Israel is considering calling for international assistance in battling a massive wildfire that has been raging over the past two days near Jerusalem, officials said on Monday.

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Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett’s office said in a statement that he instructed Public Security Minister Omer Bar-Lev and the National Security Council “to consider appealing for international assistance in extinguishing the fires.”

Bennett also ordered the army to give “all necessary assistance to the firefighting and rescue efforts,” including sending more military aircraft to help contain the fire.
 

Some 45 firefighting teams and 10 aircraft were already battling the blazes, according to a statement issued by the Fire and Rescue Services.

Israel’s state-owned Kan Radio reported that more than 17 square kilometers of forest had already been consumed. At least 10,000 people have been evacuated from their homes in the Jerusalem area, a spokesperson with the Jerusalem police said in a statement.

The cause of the fire has yet to be determined. It broke out on Sunday amid a combination of hot, dry and windy weather. 
 

Black smoke and ash from a massive wildfire almost blocks the sight of the sun near Jerusalem, on Aug. 15, 2021.

Published : August 17, 2021

By : Xinhua

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Roundup: More European countries evacuate diplomats, citizens from Afghanistan

Finnish President Sauli Niinisto said in a statement that the fact that Afghanistan ended up fast into the hands of the Taliban indicates that western countries did not succeed in their aims to build democratic administration and society in Afghanistan.

“Perhaps, unavoidably, the lesson from this remains that it is fairly difficult to export a totally different societal structure and thinking,” he noted.

 More European countries said on Monday that they were evacuating embassy staff and nationals from Afghanistan following the latest developments in the Asian country.

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Denmark and Norway, which have announced the temporary closure of their respective embassies in Afghanistan, described “working under extreme conditions” as they tried to evacuate their citizens and local employees there.

Danish Foreign Minister Jeppe Kofod said Denmark “is far from finished” with the evacuation of Danish and Afghan employees from its embassy in Kabul. He said Pakistan is assisting with the Danish evacuations from the Afghan capital.

Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg said Monday that her country “is doing everything possible” to get Norwegians and local employees evacuated.

“It’s chaotic and catastrophic. We had all hoped that we could do this under more orderly conditions than what is happening right now,” Solberg told Norwegian news agency NTB.

Afghan Taliban fighters stand guard in Kabul, capital of Afghanistan, Aug. 16, 2021.

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Later on the day, the Norwegian Chief of Defence Eirik Kristoffersen confirmed to the Norwegian newspaper VG that Norway has completed the evacuation of all Norwegian employees at its embassy in Kabul.

Finland on Monday announced the closure of its embassy in Kabul. The government said 18 Finnish people, including diplomats and embassy staff, have left the Afghan capital by the afternoon.

The Belgian government also approved a defense evacuation operation. Foreign Minister Sophie Wilmes said some 100 people claiming their Belgian nationality have reported to the Belgian embassy in Pakistan — also responsible for Afghanistan — wishing to return to Belgium.

In Italy, the first flight evacuating Italian diplomatic staff along with some Afghan citizens arrived in Rome on Monday. A military KC 767 airplane landed at the Fiumicino airport with some 70 people on board, the Defence Ministry said.

The Croatian Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs said Monday that eight Croatian nationals have been evacuated from Afghanistan and others will be repatriated in the coming days. Germany also evacuated on the day dozens of embassy staff to Qatar’s capital city of Doha.

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Meanwhile, the European Commission foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said he decided to convene on Tuesday an extraordinary video teleconference of European Union foreign ministers.

French President Emmanuel Macron on Monday called for “a responsible and united response” within the United Nations Security Council on Afghanistan, and warned against the risk of irregular migration flows to Europe caused by the destabilization of Afghanistan.

Afghan army vehicles are seen on a road in Kabul, capital of Afghanistan, on Aug. 15, 2021.

For the present, he said, the absolute urgency for France is to bring back its nationals and Afghans who worked for France. Two military planes and French special forces will be sent to Afghanistan for evacuation operations in the next few hours, Macron added.

The Taliban said on Sunday that the war in Afghanistan has ended, and they will soon declare the establishment of the “Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan” and take responsible actions to ensure the safety of Afghan citizens.

On Monday, British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab admitted that the speed of the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan came as a surprise to the UK government.

“Everyone, I think, has been surprised by the scale and the pace at which the Taliban have taken over in Afghanistan,” Raab said after attending an emergency meeting on the situation in Afghanistan.

Afghan Taliban fighters are seen in Kabul, capital of Afghanistan, Aug. 16, 2021.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Sunday that the U.S. decision to pull out of Afghanistan has “accelerated things.”

German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Monday said the international deployment in Afghanistan during the last 20 years was disappointing.

The campaign against terrorism is “not successful and has not completed as we have anticipated,” Merkel said at a press conference.  She admitted that the efforts to bring democracy and peace in Afghanistan have failed, therefore lessons should be drawn.

Finnish President Sauli Niinisto also said in a statement that the fact that Afghanistan ended up fast into the hands of the Taliban indicates that western countries did not succeed in their aims to build democratic administration and society in Afghanistan.

“Perhaps, unavoidably, the lesson from this remains that it is fairly difficult to export a totally different societal structure and thinking,” he said.

Photo taken on Aug. 15, 2021 shows closed shops in Kabul, capital of Afghanistan.

Published : August 17, 2021

By : Xinhua

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Haiti quake death toll hits 1,419

Most of the fatalities have been registered in the department of the South (1,133), whose capital is Les Cayes.

death toll from the powerful earthquake that struck southwestern Haiti on Saturday climbed to 1,419, authorities announced on Monday.

The 7.2-magnitude quake also left at least 6,900 people injured and destroyed over 37,000 homes, according to the country’s civil protection agency.

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The agency said on Twitter it continues to airlift seriously injured Haitians by helicopter from quake-hit areas so they can receive better care.

According to the agency, most of the fatalities have been registered in the department of the South (1,133), whose capital is Les Cayes.

At a press conference, the director of civil protection agency, Jerry Chandler, underscored the international support Haiti is receiving.

“We continue to work with our friends from the international community. Many of them have offered to come in our support,” Chandler said. 

Published : August 17, 2021

By : Xinhua

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U.S. Fed officials consider ending asset purchases by mid-2022: media

A recent run of strong U.S. hiring reports have strengthened the case for the Fed to announce at its next meeting in September its intentions to start tapering, potentially as soon as its following meeting in November, according to The Wall Street Journal.

U.S. Federal Reserve officials are nearing agreement to begin tapering its asset purchase program in about three months and end the program by the middle of next year, local media reported on Monday.

A recent run of strong U.S. hiring reports have strengthened the case for the Fed to announce at its next meeting in September its intentions to start tapering, potentially as soon as its following meeting in November, according to The Wall Street Journal.

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Boston Federal Reserve Bank President Eric Rosengren told the newspaper in an interview last week that he expected to see enough job growth to meet the criteria for reducing asset purchases by the Fed’s Sept. 21-22 meeting.

“That would set up some time this fall a possible tapering that is dependent on the Delta variant and other variants not slowing down the labor market substantially,” Rosengren was quoted as saying, adding he hoped the Fed would end asset purchases by the middle of next year if strong economic growth continues.

Dallas Federal Reserve Bank President Robert Kaplan also told CNBC last week that the Fed should announce a plan for tapering its asset purchases in September and start tapering in October. The process of tapering should take about eight months, he added.

However, some other Fed officials have argued for more patience. Fed governor Lael Brainard indicated last month she wanted to see September hiring data, which won’t be available until early October, before deciding. That would hold off any tapering until no sooner than the Fed’s Nov. 2-3 meeting, according to the paper.

The Fed has pledged to keep its benchmark interest rate unchanged at the record-low level of near zero, while continuing its asset purchase program at least at the current pace of 120 billion U.S. dollars per month until “substantial further progress” has been made on employment and inflation.

The Fed is set to release on Wednesday minutes of its July policy meeting that could provide further clues about Fed officials’ discussions over tapering asset purchases.

Published : August 17, 2021

By : Xinhua

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Chinese FM talks with U.S. secretary of state over Afghanistan

Wang said that China stands ready to communicate with the United States to push for a soft landing of the Afghan issue, so that a new civil war or humanitarian disaster will be prevented in Afghanistan and the country will not relapse into a hotbed and shelter for terrorism.

Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Monday exchanged views with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken over phone on the situation in Afghanistan.

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During the phone talk, Blinken expressed appreciation for China’s participation in the Doha meeting on the Afghan issue, noting that the current situation in Afghanistan is entering a crucial stage.

The Taliban should announce a clean break with extremism, opt for an orderly transfer of power and establish an inclusive government, the top U.S. diplomat said, expressing hope that China will also play an important role to this end.

The United States recognizes that the future of Afghanistan should be decided by the Afghan people, Blinken said, calling on the Taliban to ensure the safety of all those who wish to leave the country.

Wang said that China stands ready to communicate with the United States to push for a soft landing of the Afghan issue, so that a new civil war or humanitarian disaster will be prevented in Afghanistan and the country will not relapse into a hotbed and shelter for terrorism.

China encourages Afghanistan to establish an open and inclusive political framework in accordance with its own national situations, Wang added.
 

Published : August 17, 2021

By : Xinhua

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Chinese FM talks with U.S. secretary of state over bilateral ties

In the face of various global challenges and urgent regional hotspot issues, the two countries should carry out coordination and cooperation, which is what the international community is looking forward to, Wang added.

Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Monday exchanged views with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken over phone on bilateral ties.

Wang said that both China and the United States are permanent members of the United Nations Security Council and important participants in the contemporary international system.

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In the face of various global challenges and urgent regional hotspot issues, the two countries should carry out coordination and cooperation, which is what the international community is looking forward to, Wang added.

For his part, Blinken said that it is very important for the United States and China to maintain communication on major international and regional issues.

Blinken said he agrees that it is a common goal for the United States and China to realize peaceful coexistence, voicing hope that both sides will seek and carry out cooperation.

Of course there are also obvious differences between the two sides, Blinken said, adding that those can be gradually resolved in a constructive way in the days to come.

Published : August 17, 2021

By : Xinhua

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One “peaceful” day in Kabul, residents seeking hope amid frustration

“I am not sure about my future and the future of my children. No one knows what would happen one hour later, or my children can go to school tomorrow,” said a Kabul resident.

The Afghan capital has experienced a relatively peaceful day after the Taliban captured the city, as locals eagerly hoped for lasting peace amid the immense uncertainty.

Kabul, Afghanistan’s capital city with a population of some 6 million people, has experienced a relatively peaceful day on Monday compared with the past months as no bomb blasts or gunshots have been reported.

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Taliban fighters captured the city on Sunday, ending the war in the violence-battered country as no conflict has been reported over the past 24 hours.

The militant group has warned to deal with iron hand if anyone commits crime including theft or robbery.

Although there is no head of state or government in Afghanistan since the fall of Kabul to the Taliban, the Taliban released a short statement on local media asking residents, including government employees, to go to their offices and continue normal work.

However, like many shops and supermarkets in Kabul, many government department offices, banks and schools remained closed on Monday as the Taliban members are patrolling the city streets either on military vehicles or on foot.

Fearing the eruption of fighting, many people have been scrambling to leave the country and the road leading to the Kabul international airport is full of Afghans including men, women and children attempting to take refuge in other countries.

Meanwhile, Western countries have been evacuating their diplomats from Kabul.

Afghan Taliban fighters stand on a military vehicle in Kabul, capital of Afghanistan, Aug. 16, 2021.

To check mass migration, the civil aviation authority on Monday cancelled all flights, calling on passengers not to come to the Kabul airport until further notice.

Women are rarely seen on Kabul street. If anyone comes out she wears a hijab that covers her face.

“I am not sure about my future and the future of my children. No one knows what would happen one hour later, or my children can go to school tomorrow,” whispered Mohammad Aref on Monday.

Afghan Taliban fighters stand on a military vehicle in Kabul, capital of Afghanistan, Aug. 16, 2021.

A Kabul resident who is in his 50s, Aref muttered with sorrow that his daughter is a student of Law Faculty at a private university but she did not attend her class on Monday fearing the new rulers’ retribution.

Another man Hamayon told Xinhua about his plan of fleeing the country as the outlook seems bleak for Afghanistan and for himself.

“I try to leave the country maybe today, tomorrow, the day after tomorrow or anytime the fortune sides me,” he said.

The 31-year-old man, who served in the national army for nine years, expressed sorrow that he worked for years in the army but the outcome is zero.

“Afghanistan with international support has built 350,000-strong Defense and Security forces but all have been dismantled within days,” he said.

“Having security alone is not enough,” said another Kabul resident Sufi Mohammad. “In addition to ensuring security, the establishment has to provide job opportunity, respect human rights and dignity for the citizens in society,” he said.

Taliban fighters stand beside the belongings of Afghan security soldiers in Kabul, capital of Afghanistan, Aug. 16, 2021.

Published : August 17, 2021

By : Xinhua