Interview: WHOs 2nd phase of COVID-19 origin-tracing proposal politicized, says former Egyptian diplomat
The World Health Organization (WHO)s proposal, under the pressure of the United States, to conduct a second-phase COVID-19 origin tracing in China is politicized, a former Egyptian diplomat has said.
-Politicizing critical issues is a disease that has been afflicting the world for a long time, said a former Egyptian diplomat.
– “Anybody can realize that the West has always employed human rights and democracy as ways to suppress countries opposing their agendas.”
China has already received a WHO delegation which stayed for a long time to study the virus origin and concluded in a report that the lab leak theory was “extremely unlikely,” said Ali el-Hefny, Egypt’s former ambassador to China and former deputy foreign minister, in a recent interview with Xinhua.
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China has also facilitated the scientists’ meetings and field visits during the research, said the former Egyptian diplomat.
By pressing for a second round of origin tracing, the Western countries aim to stir up confusion and doubts about China’s transparency, el-Hefny said.
They are attempting to hinder the development of the world’s second largest economy, he said.
The former diplomat also voiced his support for the Chinese netizens who signed an open letter to the WHO, asking the organization to list the Fort Detrick laboratory in the United States as a focus of the next phase of the origin-tracing work.
He also noted that politicizing critical issues is a disease that has been afflicting the world for a long time. “Anybody can realize that the West has always employed human rights and democracy as ways to suppress countries opposing their agendas.”
“Achieving their interests via giving a political tone to many issues and crises, that’s the plan,” he said, adding that it’s a shame to politicize the virus crisis when it comes to human lives.
People visit the Washington Monument in Washington, D.C., the United States, on Aug. 6, 2021.
U.S. politicization on COVID-19 origin tracing a false flag operation: media
It is an unethical propaganda to shift blame for its failure to safeguard the lives of its own people and to control a disease which may have originated from within its own borders, said Maldives-based social advocate and activist Hamdhan Shakeel.
It is axiomatic at this point that the U.S. politicization and deviancy from scientific facts on the origin tracing of the COVID-19 virus is a part of a false flag operation, said an article published in Maldives News Network on Sunday.
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While the majority of the nations are cooperating and calling for a transparent and scientifically-driven investigation into the origin of the virus, the United States has made a firm stance on its approach to tracing the origin of the virus, Maldives-based social advocate and activist Hamdhan Shakeel wrote in the article under the headline “COVID-19: Debunking the U.S. politicization of the origin tracing of virus.”
The United States has politicized the origin tracing process of the COVID-19 pandemic to such an extent that it has given rise to anti-Asian hate crime in the United States, Shakeel said.
It is an unethical propaganda to shift blame for its failure to safeguard the lives of its own people and to control a disease which may have originated from within its own borders, said the author.
Asia Album: People get vaccinated in Sri Lanka, as Delta variant spreads amid 3rd wave
People lined up to get vaccinated in Sri Lanka in the midst of a third wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, with medical officials warning that the Delta variant may be spreading beyond control.
The country’s Health Ministry on Sunday received a new batch of Sinopharm vaccine from China as a mass scale vaccination program against the COVID-19 is underway in the country.
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People wait to receive the Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccine in Colombo, Sri Lanka, on Aug. 7, 2021.
People wait to receive the Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccine in Colombo, Sri Lanka, on Aug. 7, 2021.
A woman receives the Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccine in Colombo, Sri Lanka, on Aug. 7, 2021.
A woman receives the Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccine in Colombo, Sri Lanka, on Aug. 7, 2021.
People wait to receive the Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccine in Colombo, Sri Lanka, on Aug. 7, 2021.
People wait to receive the Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccine in Colombo, Sri Lanka, on Aug. 7, 2021.
A woman receives the Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccine in Colombo, Sri Lanka, on Aug. 7, 2021.
A woman receives the Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccine in Colombo, Sri Lanka, on Aug. 7, 2021.
People stand in the queue at the Viharamahadevi Park in Sri Lanka’s capital Colombo on Aug. 7, 2021, to receive the first doses of the Sinopharm vaccines.
Singapore to relax restrictions from Aug 10; Covid-19 cases down in Asean
Southeast Asia saw a decline in new Covid-19 cases for the second successive day, although deaths were higher on Sunday, collated data showed.
Asean countries reported 88,376 new cases on Sunday, lower than Saturday’s 95,881, while the death toll rose to 2,940, up from the previous day’s 2,449.
On Friday, cases in the region had exceeded 100,000 with over 3,000 deaths.
Covid-19 cases in the region crossed 8.04 million, while deaths rose to 169,959.
Indonesia reported 26,415 new cases, its lowest on a single day in weeks, and 1,498 deaths on Sunday, bringing cumulative cases in the country to 3,666,031 with 107,096 deaths.
Indonesian President Joko Widodo expressed concern over the Covid-19 situation outside Java and Bali islands after many areas such as West Sumatra and East Nusa Tenggara reported increasing number of infections. He vowed to impose travel restriction measures to curb the outbreak, but no starting date has been announced.
Singapore will relax disease control measures from August 10 onwards, as the country is seeing decreasing number of new infections while almost 70 per cent of the population has been vaccinated at required doses. The government aims to further relax lockdown measures, including reopening the country to vaccinated visitors without having to quarantine when more than 80 per cent of the population has been vaccinated at required doses, which is expected to be achieved within September.
Nearly 90 percent of the adults in Britain have had their first dose of vaccine, while more than 74 percent have had their second jab.
The number of people waiting to start routine hospital treatment in England could reach almost 14 million by next autumn as a result of the backlog caused by the coronavirus pandemic, according to an analysis from the Institute of Fiscal Studies (IFS). Currently, this number is at a record high of 5.3 million.
Britain has reported another 27,429 coronavirus cases in the latest 24-hour period, bringing the total number of coronavirus cases in the country to 6,069,362, according to official figures released Sunday.
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The country also recorded another 39 coronavirus-related deaths. The total number of coronavirus-related deaths in Britain now stands at 130,320. These figures only include the deaths of people who died within 28 days of their first positive test.
Meanwhile, the number of people waiting to start routine hospital treatment in England could reach almost 14 million by next autumn as a result of the backlog caused by the coronavirus pandemic, according to an analysis from the Institute of Fiscal Studies (IFS).
Currently, this number is at a record high of 5.3 million, the latest figures showed.
Previously, Britain’s Health Secretary Sajid Javid said this number could rise to 13 million in the coming months.
Passengers walk at Waterloo train station in London, Britain, on Aug. 5, 2021.
“There is a real risk that if the NHS (National Health Service) cannot find effective ways to boost its capacity – a challenge at the best of times, let alone after a major pandemic – then much longer waiting lists will be with us for years to come, ” Sky News quoted Max Warner, the author of the analysis, as saying.
Most COVID-19 restrictions in England have been lifted last month as part of the final step of the British government’s roadmap out of the lockdown.
Nearly 90 percent of the adults in Britain have had their first dose of vaccine, while more than 74 percent have had their second jab, according to the latest figures.
To bring life back to normal, countries such as Britain, China, Russia, the United States as well as the European Union have been racing against time to roll out coronavirus vaccines.
Passengers walk at Waterloo train station in London, Britain, on Aug. 5, 2021.
Chinas Wuhan completes citywide testing to curb COVID-19 resurgence
The central Chinese city of Wuhan has completed a round of all-inclusive nucleic acid testing within five days to contain the latest COVID-19 resurgence, local authorities said Sunday.
More than 11.28 million residents in the megacity have been tested for the novel coronavirus during the citywide testing that started Tuesday, Li Tao, deputy secretary-general of the Wuhan municipal government, told a press conference on Sunday.
This means a “basically full coverage” of all residents in Wuhan, except for children under six and university students away on summer vacation, according to Li.
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The mass testing was launched after new locally transmitted infections emerged among several migrant workers on Monday.
By Saturday, Wuhan had registered 37 locally transmitted confirmed cases and 41 locally transmitted asymptomatic carriers in the latest outbreak.
Peng Houpeng, deputy director of the municipal health commission, said nine of the infections were found in the mass screening of residential compounds under closed-off management, while the other cases were found among quarantined close contacts.
Hit hard by COVID-19 in early 2020, Wuhan, capital of Hubei Province, was the world’s first megacity to complete a comprehensive nucleic acid testing campaign, testing nearly 10 million residents in 19 days at the height of the pandemic.
Hard hit by COVID-19 in early 2020, Wuhan, capital of Hubei Province, was the world’s first megacity to complete a comprehensive nucleic acid-testing campaign last year.
The city had not reported any locally transmitted COVID-19 infections for over a year.
UK universities to continue online lessons in autumn term despite lockdown lift: media
Two-thirds of the 65 universities polled by the Times Higher Education magazine confirmed that most lectures would remain online for the coming academic year, but that they planned as much in-person teaching as possible.
Many of the top universities in Britian have refused to bring back full face-to-face teaching in the autumn, despite government advice that they can lift all COVID-19 restrictions, local media reported Sunday.
According to The Sunday Times report, 20 of the leading 24 Russell Group universities said a proportion of undergraduate teaching will continue to be held online, which means they will offer blended learning to mix the online and face-to-face teaching for classes, seminars and lectures.
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Meanwhile, two-thirds of the 65 universities polled by the Times Higher Education magazine confirmed that most lectures would remain online for the coming academic year, but that they planned as much in-person teaching as possible.
They said the decisions were driven by the risk of coronavirus spreading in large lecture classrooms, as well as the educational benefits of blended learning.
Most universities said they would require students to wear masks on campuses. Some will also instruct students to socially distance. Students may also need to be double jabbed to attend concerts, discos or other social events.
The decision has dismayed college students who coped with severe disruption last year.
Students in Manchester, Leeds and Liverpool have launched petitions calling for a full return to “normality in terms of teaching” and demanding fee refunds. In Manchester, where some of the strictest lockdowns took place, nearly 10,000 have signed.
Claire Marchant, chief executive of the universities admissions service Ucas, said that online teaching might mean that universities could enrol more students.
It was predicted that top universities in Britain have to cope with a 10-percent surge of applicants with A and A+ grades, compared to 2019, due to the cancellation of college entrance exams in the pandemic.
Most COVID-19 restrictions in England have been lifted last month as part of the final step of the British government’s roadmap out of the lockdown.
Britain has reported another 28,612 coronavirus cases in the 24-hour period, bringing the total number of coronavirus cases in the country to 6,042,252, according to official figures released Saturday.
Nearly 90 percent of the adults in Britain have had their first dose of vaccine, while more than 74 percent have had their second jab, according to the latest figures.
To bring life back to normal, countries such as Britain, China, Russia, the United States as well as the European Union have been racing against time to roll out coronavirus vaccines.
What he did to me was a crime: Cuomo executive assistant who filed criminal complaint breaks silence
The woman who filed a criminal complaint against New York Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo last week alleging he engaged in illegal sexual conduct has come forward publicly for the first time.
Brittany Commisso was previously identified only as “Executive Assistant #1” in a report released Tuesday by Democratic state Attorney General Letitia James after a lengthy investigation into numerous sexual harassment allegations against Cuomo. On Thursday, Commisso also filed a criminal complaint against Cuomo with the Albany County Sheriff’s Office, but had remained anonymous.
In a joint interview with CBS’s “This Morning” and the Albany Times Union that will air Monday, Commisso revealed herself to be “Executive Assistant #1.” Previews of the interview were released by CBS throughout the day Sunday.
When asked why she had filed the criminal complaint against Cuomo, Commisso told CBS News correspondent Jericka Duncan, “it was the right thing to do.”
“The governor needs to be held accountable,” Commisso added.
When asked to clarify if that meant seeing Cuomo charged with a crime, Commisso nodded in the affirmative.
“What he did to me was a crime,” she told Duncan. “He broke the law.”
Commisso told Duncan that Cuomo began giving her “hugs with kisses on the cheek” and at one point Cuomo hugged her, quickly turned his head and kissed her on the lips. Commisso also said Cuomo groped her – “he touched me, not only once, but twice” – and said she was too afraid to say anything.
“I didn’t say anything this whole time. People don’t understand that this is the governor of the state of New York,” Commisso told Duncan. “There are troopers that are outside of the mansion and there are some mansion staff. Those troopers that are there – they are not there to protect me. They are there to protect him.”
According to the attorney general’s report, Commisso told investigators that Cuomo harassed her both verbally and physically, including groping her breast in the governor’s mansion in Albany. Cuomo has denied the allegations.
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Commisso told investigators that one day, Cuomo allegedly told her it was “about time you showed some leg” when she wore a dress, and later asked if she had kissed or “fooled around” with someone other than her husband.
At one point, the governor allegedly said to Commisso something like, “If you were single, the things I would do to you,” she recalled, per the attorney general’s report. In one incident, he allegedly asked her to take a selfie with him and then “moved his hand to grab her butt cheek and began to rub it,” the report said. Commisso told investigators she was shaking so much that the photos were blurry.
In November, Commisso was dispatched to assist Cuomo at the executive mansion, according to the report. As she was leaving, he slammed the door shut and slid his hand up her blouse, cupping her breast, according to the investigation. “I remember thinking to myself who – I knew what just went on, I knew and he knew too that was wrong,” she told investigators. “And that I in no way, shape or form invited that nor did I ask for it. I didn’t want it. I feel like I was being taken advantage of.”
Commisso told investigators from the attorney general’s office that she planned to take Cuomo’s actions “to her grave” but grew upset after hearing him deny inappropriately touching women.
On Friday, a spokesman for the governor reiterated Cuomo’s denial that he groped the assistant and said that the office notified authorities after she told a supervisor about her experience.
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“As we said previously, we proactively made a referral nearly four months ago in accordance with state policies,” said Richard Azzopardi, a spokesman for the governor.
Cuomo attorney Rita Glavin questioned the assistant’s account of the breast groping in a news conference Friday. She said a reconstruction of the events on Nov. 16, a possible date of the incident given in the report, showed that the assistant was on a different floor from the governor for much of the day and that she did not leave abruptly, but offered to continue working late at the mansion. The attorney general’s report notes that the assistant was not certain of the date of the incident. But Glavin said that records show that Nov. 16 was the only day that month the assistant entered the mansion.
Albany County Sheriff Craig Apple vowed Saturday that his office would conduct a “very comprehensive investigation” into the criminal complaint filed against Cuomo, and took pains to keep her identity secret during a news conference.
Apple also said his investigators would not be rushed or swayed either way by the high-profile nature of the case.
Cuomo is facing a growing number of calls to resign, including from President Biden and other top Democrats, after 11 women accused him of sexual harassment and retaliation.
“We treat victims the same. We investigate the same. This one has more eyes on it,” Apple said Saturday. “I’m not going to rush it because of who [Cuomo] is and I’m not going to delay it because of who he is.”
Published : August 09, 2021
By : The Washington Post · Amy B Wang, Josh Dawsey
Dixie Fire mushrooms into second-largest wildfire in California history
The Dixie Fire that has forced thousands from their homes in Northern California and destroyed a historic town grew into the second-largest blaze in state history on Sunday, officials said, as the wildfire mushroomed to more than 463,000 acres.
The fire razed most of Greenville late Wednesday and continues to threaten nearly 14,000 buildings, firefighters said, underscoring the danger of climate change-fueled disasters. Most of California’s biggest wildfires on record have erupted in the past year, as dry conditions and high temperatures lead to destruction, mass evacuations and smoke disrupting life in the West.
On Sunday, authorities said they were trying to keep Dixie’s flames from reaching homes in the tiny community of Crescent Mills, just a few miles south of Greenville. As evacuation orders expand, they have been warning of unusually fast-spreading flames and “historically” low moisture levels leaving land primed to burn.
“We’re seeing fire activity that even veteran firefighters haven’t seen in their career,” Edwin Zuniga, a spokesman for Cal Fire, the state firefighting agency, told The Washington Post. “So we’re just in really uncharted territory.”
Smoke has helped shade and moderate the flames but also stymied crews’ ability to work from the air, Zuniga said, leaving those on the ground to spray retardant on mountain ridges and around threatened communities. Clearing skies on the blaze’s northeast perimeter, meanwhile, have “led to more dynamic fire behavior,” Cal Fire said in a Sunday incident report. The agency said the blaze was 21% contained, with more than 5,000 people trying to keep it at bay and full containment not expected for weeks.
It helped that the sun was often hidden Sunday, Cal Fire spokesman Mark Beverage said, limiting the opportunity for dry vegetation to heat up. But with warmer, drier weather expected in the coming days, he said, “We’re looking at another tough week.”
In acreage burned, Dixie has shot up California’s all-time rankings in a matter of days. On Sunday it passed the massive 2018 Mendocino Complex Fire and now ranks behind only the August Complex Fire of 2020, which spread to more than 1 million acres. That blaze – the result of many smaller fires sparked by lightning – destroyed more than 900 structures and led to one death, according to Cal Fire.
Dixie’s destruction is still dwarfed by past wildfires, including the 2018 Camp Fire that leveled the town of Paradise, catching residents off guard and becoming the deadliest blaze on record in the state. The Camp Fire killed at least 85 people and torched well over 18,000 structures.
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Authorities say the Dixie Fire has ruined several hundred buildings. No fatalities have been reported.
In Greenville, a town of about 1,100 dating back to the Gold Rush era, the blaze left mostly rubble piles and charred building frames. The U.S. Forest Service said only about a quarter of the town’s structures survived. In surrounding Plumas County – where officials say nearly 40% of the population is under evacuation orders – the sheriff’s office said four people were unaccounted for as of Sunday morning.
At a news conference the night before, officials said the displaced have “just spread out everywhere,” finding refuge in California towns such as Chico and Quincy, as well as out of state. Hanna Malak, a spokesman for the American Red Cross, said tens of thousands of people have been forced from their homes as the organization and its partners run 15 emergency shelters.
“Everybody’s scattered and scared,” said Brian Maldonado, 47, who said he did maintenance work at the Dollar General store in Greenville and recently evacuated from Westwood about 25 miles to its north. He and his partner, Desiree Maurer, are staying at a motel in Redding for now, their Jack Russell terriers in tow.
“Everything in our lives is upside down,” Maurer said as online maps showed the fire burning perilously close to their home after creeping around a lake. “And we have it good. There are people right now in their cars, and they don’t know where to go.”
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The couple has fled infernos before: In 2018, they barely escaped the encroaching Camp Fire in Paradise. Maurer and Maldonado remember an agonizing crawl through gridlock traffic as the town burned behind them and propane tanks popped like gunfire.
Like dozens of others who fled the Camp Fire, Maurer and Maldonado had started to slowly rebuild their lives in small, rural communities around Lake Almanor. Now, Maurer said: “We’re losing more than our stuff. We’re losing our way of life. If we move, we have to find another community.” Despite the trauma of another evacuation, she wants to return to Westwood if she can.
She also said she wants to see more investments in fire safety from Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E), the utility company under renewed scrutiny after saying its equipment may have started the Dixie Fire. The company pleaded guilty last year to involuntary manslaughter in the Camp Fire and acknowledged that its electrical grid caused the blaze.
“This shouldn’t happen over one company,” Maurer said.
While the cause of the Dixie still under investigation, U.S. District Judge William Alsup on Friday ordered PG&E to provide information about a tree that fell on the utility company’s power line at the wildfire’s origin.
“PG&E’s responses will not be deemed as an admission by PG&E that it caused any fire, but they will serve as a starting point for discussion,” wrote Alsup, of the Northern District of California.
A PG&E spokesperson told The Post on Saturday that the utility was aware of the court’s orders and would respond by the judge’s deadline of Aug. 16.
No civilian injuries have been reported in the Dixie Fire, but four firefighters were injured by a falling tree branch, officials said. Three have been released, while a fourth is in the hospital in stable condition, Zuniga said Sunday.
As the fire advanced, another historic spot burned: a nearly century-old scenic fire lookout in Lassen Volcanic National Park, park superintendent Jim Richardson said Saturday night. Many other sites with long histories remain at risk, he said.
Pace of Taliban advance quickens as militants overrun three major cities in a single day
KABUL, Afghanistan – Taliban fighters overran three major cities in the north of Afghanistan on Sunday, the most significant territorial gains the militants have netted in a single day since the withdrawal of U.S. forces entered its final phase this year.
In nearly simultaneous operations, the Taliban pushed into the center of Kunduz city and the capitals of Sar-e Pol and Takhar provinces. Afghan officials said clashes were continuing in Kunduz, and a major military operation was planned to retake the strategically important city that the militants had besieged for months.
The developments marked a sharp escalation in the pace of Taliban gains across Afghanistan. For months, Taliban fighters focused on taking control of districts and increasing pressure on urban areas, but that changed Friday when they overran a provincial capital for the first time since the withdrawal of foreign forces. The militants took a second city on Saturday, and by Sunday government-held territory in the north appeared to be collapsing quickly.
In Takhar, Afghan officials said government forces abandoned the provincial capital before Taliban fighters attacked, according to Rohullah Raufi, a provincial council member. In Sar-e Pol, a small number of Afghan security forces and government officials also fled, seeking refuge at a military base on the city’s outskirts.
In Kunduz, too, Afghan government control shrank to a single military base near the airport, where most of the government officials left in the city were sheltering.
Taliban fighters pushed into Kunduz from the north Sunday and closed in on the city prison, according to an Afghan officer in contact with the few government security forces left there. The officer spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to journalists about ongoing operations.
The Taliban quickly overwhelmed the prison guards. They then released prisoners and bolstered their numbers with dozens of inmates who were Taliban fighters, the officer said. The additional Taliban fighters helped the militants launch attacks on the main government compounds in central Kunduz.
Afghan security forces have been scrambling to secure prisons and Taliban inmates for weeks as the militants have closed in on urban areas across the country. The most dangerous Taliban prisoners have been relocated to Kabul, but many low-level Taliban fighters remain in provincial detention centers, according to Afghan officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to disclose the information to journalists.
The officials warned that if even a fraction of Taliban inmates were freed, it could give the group significant battlefield advantages.
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Taliban fighters launched attacks on the main government compounds in Kunduz for hours, according to Ghulam Rabani Rabani, a member of the provincial council. Clashes lasted into the evening.
Amr al-Din Wali, another Kunduz provincial council member, said Afghan security forces have “no morale.” Speaking from the base near the airport, he said waves of intense airstrikes had been launched in and around the city, but he didn’t think security forces had a plan to retake it.
The Taliban attack on Takhar mirrored the attack on Kunduz. Fighters first assaulted the central prison to release dozens of Taliban inmates, according to a Taliban member briefed on the operation. He spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to journalists.
Raufi, the provincial council member from Takhar, said government forces retreated to avoid the destruction of the city, but some informal anti-Taliban fighters attempted to hold the militants off. He estimated that some two thousand Taliban fighters moved on the city from multiple directions.
Clashes in the capital city of Sar-e Pol province continued into the evening, according to deputy governor Abdul Malik Azimi, who spoke by phone from a military base on the city’s outskirts. A provincial council member, Sayed Asadullah Danish, said Taliban fighters were in control of the city’s main government compounds.
Taliban fighters overran Zaranj, the capital of the western province of Nimruz, on Friday and pushed into Shebergan, the capital of the northwestern province of Jowzjan, on Saturday.
Zabiullah Mujahid, a Taliban spokesman, said the militants were in full control of the important government buildings in Kunduz, Sar-e Pol and Takhar and were “chasing away the remaining forces of the enemy.” He repeated a call for Afghan government “officials and security forces to stop fighting,” and pledged that anyone who chose to lay down their arms would “be provided protection.”
As the conflict escalates across the country, the Taliban is increasingly accusing Afghan forces and the United States of indiscriminately using air power that is killing and wounding large numbers of civilians.
Human rights groups are also voicing concerns about a spike in civilian casualties.
For years, the majority of the fighting between the Taliban and Afghan government forces occurred in the country’s rural areas. As the Taliban is now pushing into cities, Deborah Lyons, the U.N. special representative for Afghanistan, has warned that more civilians will be injured or killed.
In testimony to the U.N. Security Council on Friday, Lyons said that in Lashkar Gah – one of the most closely contested provincial capitals in the country – more than 104 civilians were killed and 403 wounded in a 10-day period. The U.N. Assistance Mission in Afghanistan reported recently that civilian casualties could reach “unprecedented” levels this year if the war continues on its current trajectory.
“To attack urban areas,” Lyons said, “is to knowingly inflict enormous harm and cause massive civilian casualties.”
U.S. officials acknowledged an increase in the use of American air power last month, but have since declined to comment on the number of American strikes in Afghanistan. The United States stopped releasing strike data last year after signing an accord with the Taliban. Officials have cited sensitivities surrounding peace talks that have been stalled for months.
U.S. forces are in the last stages of a withdrawal from Afghanistan that President Joe Biden has said will conclude at the end of the month. But Marine Gen. Kenneth “Frank” McKenzie, who oversees operations in Afghanistan as head of U.S. Central Command, has not committed to ending airstrikes in support of Afghan forces after that deadline.
Raufi, speaking by phone from a military base besieged by the Taliban in Takhar’s capital city, said he had not received any information from the central government about a potential push to retake the area.
People visit the Washington Monument in Washington, D.C., the United States, on Aug. 6, 2021.
People wait to receive the Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccine in Colombo, Sri Lanka, on Aug. 7, 2021.
A woman receives the Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccine in Colombo, Sri Lanka, on Aug. 7, 2021.
People wait to receive the Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccine in Colombo, Sri Lanka, on Aug. 7, 2021.
A woman receives the Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccine in Colombo, Sri Lanka, on Aug. 7, 2021.
Passengers walk at Waterloo train station in London, Britain, on Aug. 5, 2021.
Passengers walk at Waterloo train station in London, Britain, on Aug. 5, 2021.
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