KABUL: The Taliban on Wednesday “strongly opposed” Turkey’s offer to retain soldiers in Afghanistan to guard and run its international airport in the capital city, Kabul, once the United States and NATO-led troops withdraw from the country in the next few months.
Turkey has more than 500 troops stationed in Afghanistan as part of a NATO mission to train Afghan security forces.
“We will allow no country to keep their troops, be it from America or Turkey... nor agree with this,” Zabihullah Mujahid, a spokesman for the Taliban, told Arab News on Wednesday.
“If Turkey has such an intention, the Islamic Emirate [name of the Taliban’s government when the group was in power] will strongly oppose this, we will not accept any foreign force in the country, under any name,” he added.
“Presence of foreign forces in Afghanistan soil is not acceptable regardless of which country they belong to,” Mujahid said. “As you know Turkey is a member of NATO too. They have stayed here for 20 years and were involved in a part of the war. They should not make the mistake (of keeping troops) and if they want to keep troops in Afghanistan, without doubt, Afghans will treat them in the same manner they have dealt with other invaders because Afghans will not who the invader is.”
Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar said on Monday Turkey intended to stay in Afghanistan “depending on conditions.”
“What are our conditions? Political, financial and logistical support. If these are met, we can remain at Hamid Karzai International Airport,” his ministry quoted Akar as saying, according to a Reuters report.
The Taliban, however, maintained that “there was no need” for foreign forces as Afghans, throughout history, “have not accepted nor will accept the presence of foreign troops,” according to Dr. Mohammad Naem, a spokesman for the group’s political office in Qatar.
“The responsibility of Afghanistan’s security belonged to Afghans alone and protection of foreign civilians, both from an Islamic point of view and based on international principles, was the responsibility of the country where they live,” he told Arab News.
Turkish officials say the airport security proposal was made at a NATO meeting in May when the US and its partners agreed to withdraw troops once Washington ends its nearly 20-year occupation of Afghanistan on Sept. 11.
Safeguarding the airport is crucial for military and commercial flights and the safe passage of international aid groups and diplomats residing in the country. It could also help persuade some countries to maintain a diplomatic presence in Afghanistan. Last month, however, Australia shut its embassy in Afghanistan, citing “security concerns.”
While other US-led foreign troops have been subjected to regular attacks by the Taliban and other militant groups in the past 19 years, Turkey’s forces remain unharmed, partly because it is the only Islamic country and NATO member.
With hope over the success of US sponsored talks between the Taliban and President Ashraf Ghani’s embattled government waning, there are concerns among some Afghans and foreigners that the Taliban will endeavor to retake the country by force as they did in the mid-1990s.
Turkey’s proposal comes amid the Taliban making territorial gains during clashes with local forces in Afghanistan after Washington started to withdraw its troops on May 1.
All foreign troops should have left Afghanistan last month, but the new US administration unilaterally extended the deadline until Sept. 11, based on a controversial agreement between Washington and the Taliban more than a year ago.
Toreq Farhadi, an adviser for former Afghan president Hamid Karzai said the Taliban had rejected Turkey’s offer as part of a “military strategy.”
“It could be part of the Taliban’s military objective [to ensure President Ashraf] Ghani’s total surrender. It is clear that the Taliban’s military strategy is to cut off the Afghan government from the breast that feeds them; the international community,” he told Arab News.
However, he added: “This has its own risks for the Taliban. NATO allies are also a supplier of humanitarian aid to Afghanistan, something which the Taliban recognize as a need to be met going forward.”
Farhadi explained that the Taliban have “shown an interest in Afghanistan maintaining its relations with the world, to continue receiving donor funds.”
“They also want their names removed from the UN’s sanctions list... refusing international support would mean depriving Afghanistan of much needed diplomatic, aid and investment support,” he told Arab News, adding: “If they have a problem with Turkey, they should offer an acceptable alternative country for this [airport security] task.”
Taliban reject Turkish military presence in Afghanistan after troop withdrawal
https://arab.news/2r2c2
Taliban reject Turkish military presence in Afghanistan after troop withdrawal
- Taliban spokesperson says if Turkey decides to keep troops, Afghans will treat them the same way they “dealt with other invaders”
- Turkey has more than 500 troops stationed in Afghanistan as part of a NATO mission to train Afghan security forces
Russia says it downed hundreds of Ukrainian drones, briefly halts Moscow airports
- Russia’s Defense Ministry said on Telegram that at least 262 Ukrainian drones were intercepted or destroyed
- Most were over Russia’s western regions bordering Ukraine and central Russia
MOSCOW: Russia said on Wednesday that its air defenses shot down more than 260 Ukrainian drones including some approaching Moscow, and the capital’s airports were briefly shut down to ensure the safety of flights.
There were no reports of casualties.
As Russia, Ukraine, the United States and European powers discuss ways to end the more than three-year-old conflict in Ukraine, fighting has intensified on some parts of the front and drone warfare has continued.
In a series of announcements, Russia’s Defense Ministry said on Telegram that at least 262 Ukrainian drones were intercepted or destroyed on Wednesday. Most were over Russia’s western regions bordering Ukraine and central Russia.
But some approached the Moscow region where 21 million people live. The three major airports in the region halted flights briefly then resumed operations.
Ukraine’s military said its drones hit the Bolkhovsky Semiconductor Devices Plant, a supplier in the Oryol region to Russian fighter jet and missile makers.
The war in Ukraine, which has killed hundreds of thousands of people, has become a crucible of drone innovation as both sides send the unmanned vehicles far behind the front lines.
Moscow and Kyiv have sought to buy and develop new drones, deploy them innovatively and devise new methods to disable and destroy them, from farmers’ shotguns to electronic jamming.
Russia’s Defense Ministry said its forces were advancing at key points along the front, and pro-Russian war bloggers said Russia had pierced the Ukrainian lines between Pokrovsk and Kostiantynivka in the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in his nightly video address the heaviest frontline battles were around Pokrovsk and made no reference to any Russian advances.
Zelensky said Ukrainian forces remained active in two Russian regions along the border — Kursk and Belgorod.
Reuters could not independently verify battlefield accounts from either side.
Irish rapper charged over Hezbollah flag at London concert: police
- Liam O’Hanna, 27, known by his stage name Mo Chara, is accused of showing support for a proscribed group
LONDON: A member of Irish rap group Kneecap has been charged with a terror offense for allegedly displaying a Hezbollah flag at a London concert, police said on Wednesday.
Liam O’Hanna, 27, known by his stage name Mo Chara, is accused of showing support for a proscribed group during a performance on November 21.
London’s Metropolitan Police said officers from its Counter Terrorism Command launched an investigation after a video of the event surfaced online in April.
Early in May, the British counter-terrorism police launched an investigation into online videos of Irish rappers Kneecap after the band denied supporting Hamas and Hezbollah or inciting violence against UK politicians.
The announcement came as nearly 40 other groups and artists, among them Pulp, Paul Weller and Primal Scream, rallied around the band amid an escalating row about political messaging at its concerts.
Japan flexes defense ambitions at arms show
- Japan has been gradually stepping back from the pacifism that was the cornerstone of decades of defense planning after the country’s defeat in World War Two
TOKYO: Japan opened one of its largest-ever arms shows on Wednesday in a display that Defense Minister Gen Nakatani said marked the pacifist nation’s deepening push for overseas defence cooperation and weapons exports.
The DSEI Japan exhibition near Tokyo showcased Japanese missiles, warships and research into lasers and electromagnetic railguns.
The event, double the size of the 2023 show, drew 471 firms from 33 countries, including 169 from Japan — twice as many as two years ago, according to organizer Clarion Defense & Security.
“I sincerely hope that this exhibition will provide a new opportunity for cooperation and exchange between national delegations and companies, help sustain defense industry development, drive innovation and promote peace and stability,” Nakatani said during a speech at the event.
Japan has been gradually stepping back from the pacifism that was the cornerstone of decades of defense planning after the country’s defeat in World War Two.
It lifted a military export ban in 2014, and is taking its first steps into global defense cooperation encouraged by the United States and European partners eager to share development costs and tap Japan’s industrial base.
“Strength comes from expanding and elevating the alliance’s capabilities and capacity, which means leveraging our respective skills and our specialties in co-development, co-production, and co-sustainment,” US Ambassador to Japan George Glass said as he opened the DSEI US pavilion.
Putin visited Russia’s Kursk region for first time since Moscow said it drove out Ukrainian forces
- Putin’s unannounced visit appeared to be an effort to show Russia is in control of the conflict
- Video broadcast by Russian state media showed that Putin visited Kursk Nuclear Power Plant-2
MOSCOW: President Vladimir Putin visited Russia’s Kursk region for the first time since Moscow claimed that it drove Ukrainian forces out of the area last month, the Kremlin said Wednesday.
Putin visited the region bordering Ukraine the previous day, according to the Kremlin.
Ukrainian forces made a surprise incursion into Kursk in August 2024 in one of their biggest battlefield successes in the more than three-year war. The incursion was the first time Russian territory was occupied by an invader since World War II and dealt a humiliating blow to the Kremlin.
Since the end of 2023, Russia has mostly had the advantage on the battlefield, with the exception of Kursk.
Putin has effectively rejected recent US and European proposals for a ceasefire. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Wednesday accused Kyiv’s allies of seeking a truce “so that they can calmly arm Ukraine, so that Ukraine can strengthen its defensive positions.”
North Korea sent up to 12,000 troops to help the Russian army take back control of Kursk, according to Ukraine, the US and South Korea. Russia announced on April 26 that its forces had pushed out the Ukrainian army. Kyiv officials denied the claim.
Ukraine says it stopped Russian attacks in Kursk
The Ukrainian Army General Staff said Wednesday that its forces repelled 13 Russian assaults in Kursk. Its map of military activity showed Ukrainian troops holding a thin line of land hard against the border but still inside Russia.
Putin’s unannounced visit appeared to be an effort to show Russia is in control of the conflict, even though its full-scale invasion of its neighbor has been slow and costly in terms of casualties and equipment.
Video broadcast by Russian state media showed that Putin visited Kursk Nuclear Power Plant-2, which is still under construction, and met with selected volunteers.
Many of the volunteers wore clothes emblazoned with the Russian flag, some had the Latin letters “V” on them, one of the symbols of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
“What you are doing now during this difficult situation for this region, for this area, and for the country, will remain with you for the rest of your life as, perhaps, the most meaningful thing with which you were ever involved,” Putin said as he drank tea with the volunteers.
Ukraine’s surprise thrust into Kursk and its ability to hold land there was a logistical feat, carried out in secrecy, that countered months of gloomy news from the front about Ukrainian forces being pushed backward by the bigger Russian army.
Kyiv’s strategy aimed to show that Russia has weaknesses and that the war isn’t lost. It also sought to distract Russian forces from their onslaught in the eastern Donetsk region of Ukraine.
The move was fraught with risk. Analysts noted that it could backfire and open a door for Russian advances in Ukraine by further stretching Ukrainian forces that are short-handed along the roughly 1,000-kilometer (620-mile) front line.
The incursion didn’t significantly change the dynamics of the war.
Putin told acting Kursk Gov. Alexander Khinshtein that the Kremlin supported the idea of continuing monthly payments to displaced families that still couldn’t return to their homes.
Putin said that he would back a proposal to build a museum in the region to celebrate what acting Gov. Alexander Khinshtein described as “the heroism of our defenders and the heroism of the region’s residents.”
Disgruntled residents had previously shown their disapproval over a lack of compensation in rare organized protests.
Putin last visited the Kursk region in March, when Ukrainian troops still controlled some parts of the area. He wore military fatigues – a rarely seen sight for the Russian leader, who usually wears a suit – and visited the area’s military headquarters where he was filmed with top generals.
Russia and Ukraine continue deep strikes with drones
Russia’s Ministry of Defense on Wednesday repeatedly reported its air defenses shot down dozens of drones over multiple Russian regions. In total, between 8 p.m. on Tuesday and 6 p.m. on Wednesday, the ministry said 262 drones were shot down.
Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin reported a total of 16 drones downed on their way toward Moscow, and during the day flights were briefly halted in and out of Moscow’s Domodedovo, Sheremetyevo and Zhukosky airports, according to Russia’s civil aviation authority Rosaviatsiya. Flights were also temporarily grounded in the cities of Ivanovo, Kaluga, Kostroma, Vladimir and Yaroslavl.
Local authorities in the regions of Tula, Lipetsk and Vladimir also announced blocking cell phone Internet in the wake of the drone attacks.
In Ukraine, Russian drone attacks killed two people and wounded five others in the northern Sumy region, the regional administration said.
In the Kyiv region, four members of a family were injured when debris from a downed drone hit their home, according to the regional administration.
Russia launched 76 Shahed and decoy drones overnight at Ukraine, the Ukrainian air force said.
The Ukrainian army said that its drones struck a semiconductor plant overnight in Russia’s Oryol region, about 150 kilometers (90 miles) northeast of Ukraine. According to the General Staff, 10 drones hit the Bolkhov Semiconductor Devices Plant, one of Russia’s key producers of microelectronics for the military-industrial complex.
It wasn’t possible to independently verify the claim.
Trump plays video in Ramaphosa meeting to back ‘genocide’ claims
- Julius Malema was shown singing ‘Kill the Boer, kill the farmer’ — an infamous chant dating back to the apartheid-era fight against white-minority rule
- Another clip showed former South African president Jacob Zuma singing an anti-apartheid song that threatens white people
WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump surprised his South African counterpart Cyril Ramaphosa during a White House meeting Wednesday by playing him a video designed to back baseless claims of a white “genocide.”
Trump asked staff members to play a video on a screen set up in the Oval Office showing Ramaphosa — and the gathered global media, golfers Ernie Els, Retief Goosen and businessman Johann Rupert — what he said were clips of black South Africans talking about the issue, including images of what the US president called “burial sites.”
In the video, firebrand far-left opposition lawmaker Julius Malema was shown singing “Kill the Boer, kill the farmer” — an infamous chant dating back to the apartheid-era fight against white-minority rule.
The chant is highly controversial in South Africa and was banned by a court in 2010.
However a court in 2022 said that it did not constitute hate speech and should be considered in its historical context.
In 2024 the Supreme Court of Appeal, seized by a right-wing Afrikaner lobby group, ruled that Malema should be allowed to continue to use the song.
“Mr Malema was not actually calling for farmers, or white South Africans of Afrikaans descent, to be shot,” it said.
He “was using a historic struggle song as provocative means of advancing his party’s political agenda,” the ruling said.
Malema has been a loud and radical voice in South African politics for several years, but his Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) party came only fourth in last year’s elections with less than 10 percent of the vote.
The 4:30-minute video aired in the White House showed clips of Malema telling dancing supporters that “we are cutting the throat of whiteness,” and “to shoot to kill.”
“We have not called for the killing of white people, at least for now,” Malema said in one archival clip.
Another clip showed former South African president Jacob Zuma singing an anti-apartheid song that threatens white people with being shot by a machine gun.
The video finished with images of a 2020 protest in South Africa where white crosses were placed along a rural roadside to honor a couple who were murdered on their farm in the east of the country.
Viral social media posts, some included in the video, have falsely claimed that dozens of white farmers are killed every day.
But figures from groups representing farmers and Afrikaner interests show that around 50 people of all races are killed on farms every year.
Overall, about 75 people are murdered every single day in South Africa, most of whom are young black men in urban areas, according to police figures.
