Trump campaigns in Western states as Harris focuses on critical Pennsylvania

Trump campaigns in Western states as Harris focuses on critical Pennsylvania
Harris said the candidates “owe it to voters to have another debate.” But Trump said he won’t agree to face off with her again. (AP)
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Updated 13 September 2024
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Trump campaigns in Western states as Harris focuses on critical Pennsylvania

Trump campaigns in Western states as Harris focuses on critical Pennsylvania
  • Trump is scheduled to hold what’s being billed as a news conference in the morning at his Los Angeles-area golf club

LOS ANGELES: Former President Donald Trump will campaign Friday in Western states as his opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris keeps her focus on one of the biggest battleground prizes in the East, Pennsylvania.

Trump is scheduled to hold what’s being billed as a news conference in the morning at his Los Angeles-area golf club before heading to northern California for a fundraiser, followed by a rally in Las Vegas, the largest city in swing state Nevada.

Harris, meanwhile, heads to Johnstown and Wilkes-Barre on Friday as she tries to capitalize on her momentum after Tuesday night’s debate. It’s her second day of back-to-back rallies after holding two events in North Carolina, another swing state, on Thursday.

While speaking in Charlotte, Harris took a victory lap for her debate performance in which she needled Trump and kept him on the defensive. Recounting one moment while campaigning in North Carolina, she mocked Trump for saying he had “concepts of a plan” for replacing the Affordable Care Act.

“Concepts. Concepts. No actual plan. Concepts,” she said as the crowd roared with laughter.

Her campaign said she raised $47 million from 600,000 donors in the 24 hours after her debate with Trump.

Harris said the candidates “owe it to voters to have another debate.” But Trump said he won’t agree to face off with her again.

Trump’s morning event will mark the second Friday in a row that the Republican has scheduled a news conference, though at his last appearance in New York, the former president didn’t take any questions. Instead, the Republican for nearly an hour railed against women who have accused him of sexual misconduct over the years, resurrecting the allegations in the public eye days before his debate with Harris.

It’s unclear whether Trump plans to speak about any subject in particular at Friday’s news conference, but his campaign has added more to his schedule since early August as he tries to contrast himself with Harris. She has not held a news conference since becoming a presidential candidate and the Democrat has only sat for one in-depth interview.

Her campaign has said she will start doing more interviews with local media outlets concentrated in battleground states.

After appearing at his golf club in upscale Rancho Palos Verdes, Trump will head to a fundraiser in the afternoon in the Bay Area town of Woodside that is being hosted by billionaire software developer Tom Siebel and his wife, Stacey Siebel. Tom Siebel is the second cousin once removed of Jennifer Siebel Newsom, the wife of California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat and surrogate for Harris.

Attendees will pay at least $3,300 per person or raise $10,000 for the campaign, according to an invitation. Top-tier donors will get a photo, reception and roundtable, paying $500,000 for a couple to be on the host committee or $150,000 per person to be a co-host.

It’s Trump’s second fundraising stop in California in as many days as he tries to make up fundraising ground against Harris.

Even before she raked in cash after the debate, the vice president reported raising $361 million in August from nearly 3 million donors, her first full month as a candidate after replacing President Joe Biden. Trump brought in $130 million over the same period. Harris’ campaign reported that it started September with $109 million more on hand than Trump’s did.

On Friday night, he heads to Las Vegas, where he’ll have a rally in the city’s downtown area. Trump was in the city last month for a brief stop to promote his proposal to end federal taxes on workers’ tips, something that’s expected to especially resonate in the tourist city, where much of the service-based economy includes workers who rely on tips. He announced a new proposal Thursday to end taxes on overtime pay.

The swing state is one that Trump narrowly lost in 2016 and 2020 and is among about half a dozen that both campaigns are heavily focused on.

The Republican presidential ticket has visited Clark County, Nevada, four times since June. Trump has held campaign events in Las Vegas three times, while his running mate, Sen. JD Vance, held a rally in suburban Henderson in July.

The Democratic ticket also has visited four times, although two of those campaign events were by President Joe Biden before he dropped out of the race. Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, had a joint rally in Las Vegas last month, and Walz visited the city again Tuesday.


Authorities say about 200 immigrants were arrested in raids on 2 Southern California farms

Authorities say about 200 immigrants were arrested in raids on 2 Southern California farms
Updated 8 sec ago
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Authorities say about 200 immigrants were arrested in raids on 2 Southern California farms

Authorities say about 200 immigrants were arrested in raids on 2 Southern California farms

CAMARILLO, California: Federal immigration authorities said Friday they arrested about 200 immigrants suspected of being in the country illegally in raids a day earlier on two California cannabis farm sites. Protesters engaged in a tense standoff with authorities during an operation at one of the farms.

The Department of Homeland Security said in a statement that authorities executed criminal search warrants in Carpinteria and Camarillo, California, on Thursday. They arrested immigrants suspected of being in the country illegally, and there were also at least 10 immigrant children on site, the statement said.

Four US citizens were arrested for “assaulting or resisting officers,” the department said. Authorities were offering a $50,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of one person suspected of firing a gun at federal agents. One worker who called family to say he was hiding from authorities was on life support after falling and suffering significant injuries.

During the raid, crowds of people gathered outside Glass House Farms in Camarillo to seek information about their relatives and protest immigration enforcement. Authorities clad in military-style helmets and uniforms faced off with the demonstrators. Acrid green and white billowing smoke then forced community members to retreat.

Glass House, a licensed California cannabis grower, said in a statement that immigration agents had valid warrants. The company said workers were detained, and it is helping provide them with legal representation. The farm also grows tomatoes and cucumbers.

“Glass House has never knowingly violated applicable hiring practices and does not and has never employed minors,” the statement said.

It is legal to grow and sell cannabis in California with proper licensing.

The state’s Department of Cannabis Control said they “observed no minors on the premises” during a site visit to the farm in May 2025. After receiving another complaint, the department opened an active investigation, according to a department spokesperson.

Worker gravely injured

At least 12 people were injured during the raid and protest, said Andrew Dowd, a spokesperson for the Ventura County Fire Department. Eight were taken to St. John’s Regional Medical Center and the Ventura County Medical Center, and four were treated at the scene and released. Dowd said he did not have information on the extent of the injuries of those hospitalized.

On Friday, about two dozen people waited outside the farm to retrieve the cars of loved ones and speak to managers. Relatives of Jaime Alanis, who has picked tomatoes at the farm for 10 years, said he called his wife in Mexico during the raid to tell her immigration agents had arrived and that he was hiding with others inside the farm.

“The next thing we heard was that he was in the hospital with broken hands, ribs and a broken neck,” Juan Duran, Alanis’ brother-in-law, said in Spanish.

It was not immediately clear how Alanis was injured. A doctor at Ventura County Medical Center told the family that those who brought Alanis to the hospital said he had fallen from the roof of a building.

Alanis had a broken neck, fractured skull and a rupture in an artery that pumps blood to the brain, said his niece Yesenia, who didn’t want to share her last name for fear of reprisal. He is on life support, she said.

“They told us he won’t make it and to say goodbye,” Yesenia said, crying.

The hospital did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Confrontation with authorities

Relatives and advocates headed to the farm about 50 miles  northwest of downtown Los Angeles to try to find out what was going on, and began protesting outside.

Federal authorities formed a line blocking the road leading through farm fields to the company’s greenhouses. Protesters were seen shouting at agents wearing camouflage gear, helmets and gas masks. The billowing smoke drove protesters to retreat. It wasn’t clear why authorities threw the canisters or if they released chemicals such as tear gas.

Ventura County fire authorities responding to a 911 call of people having trouble breathing said three people were taken to nearby hospitals.

At the farm, agents arrested workers and removed them by bus. Others, including US citizens, were detained at the site for hours while agents investigated.

The incident came as federal immigration agents have ramped up arrests in Southern California at car washes, farms and Home Depot parking lots, stoking widespread fear among immigrant communities.

Federal investigations

The Department of Homeland Security said in a statement Friday that the investigation into immigration and potential child labor violations at the farm is ongoing. No further details of the allegations were provided.

The agency said hundreds of demonstrators attempted to disrupt the operations, leading to the arrest of four Americans.

“We will prosecute to the fullest extent of the law anyone who assaults or doxes federal law enforcement,” Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection were both part of the operation, the statement said.

President Donald Trump said he has ordered DHS Secretary Kristi Noem and White House border czar Tom Homan to direct ICE agents to use “whatever means is necessary” going forward when dealing with violent protesters.

“I am giving Total Authorization for ICE to protect itself, just like they protect the Public,” Trump said in a social media posting Friday evening.

White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson in a statement blamed “violent leftists” and Democrats for the Camarillo incident and other assaults on ICE agents in recent weeks.

Family members search for answers

The mother of an American worker said her son was held at the worksite for 11 hours and told her agents took workers’ cellphones to prevent them from calling family or filming and forced them to erase cellphone video of agents at the site.

The woman said her son told her agents marked the men’s hands with ink to distinguish their immigration status. She spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because she feared reprisals from the government.

United Farm Workers said in statement that some US citizens are not yet accounted for.

Maria Servin, 68, said her son has worked at the farm for 18 years and was helping to build a greenhouse. She said she spoke to her son, who is undocumented, after hearing of the raid and offered to pick him up.

“He said not to come because they were surrounded and there was even a helicopter. That was the last time I spoke to him,” Servin, a US citizen, said in Spanish.

She said she went to the farm anyway but federal agents were shooting tear gas and rubber bullets and she decided it was not safe to stay. She and her daughter returned to the farm Friday and were told her son had been arrested Thursday. They still don’t know where he is being held.

“I regret 1,000 times that I didn’t help him get his documents,” Servin said.


State Department lays off over 1,300 employees under Trump administration plan

State Department lays off over 1,300 employees under Trump administration plan
Updated 12 July 2025
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State Department lays off over 1,300 employees under Trump administration plan

State Department lays off over 1,300 employees under Trump administration plan
  • The cuts have been roundly criticized by current and former diplomats

WASHINGTON: The US State Department fired more than 1,300 employees on Friday in line with a dramatic reorganization plan from the Trump administration that critics say will damage America’s global leadership and efforts to counter threats abroad.

The department sent layoff notices to 1,107 civil servants and 246 foreign service officers with assignments in the United States, according to a senior department official who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss personnel matters.

Notices said positions were being “abolished” and the employees would lose access to State Department headquarters in Washington and their email and shared drives by 5 p.m., according to a copy obtained by The Associated Press.

As fired employees packed their belongings, dozens of former colleagues, ambassadors, members of Congress and others spent a warm, humid day protesting outside. Holding signs saying, “Thank you to America’s diplomats” and “We all deserve better,” they mourned the institutional loss from the cuts and highlighted the personal sacrifice of serving in the foreign service.

“We talk about people in uniform serving. But foreign service officers take an oath of office, just like military officers,” said Anne Bodine, who retired from the State Department in 2011 after serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. “This is not the way to treat people who served their country and who believe in ‘America First.’”

While lauded by President Donald Trump, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and their Republican allies as overdue and necessary to make the department leaner and more efficient, the cuts have been roundly criticized by current and former diplomats who say they will weaken US influence and the ability to counter existing and emerging threats abroad.

The layoffs are part of big changes to State Department work

The Trump administration has pushed to reshape American diplomacy and worked aggressively to shrink the size of the federal government, including mass dismissals driven by the Department of Government Efficiency and moves to dismantle whole departments like the US Agency for International Development and the Education Department.

USAID, the six-decade-old foreign assistance agency, was absorbed into the State Department last week after the administration dramatically slashed foreign aid funding.

A recent ruling by the Supreme Court cleared the way for the layoffs to start, while lawsuits challenging the legality of the cuts continue to play out. The department had advised staffers Thursday that it would be sending layoff notices to some of them soon.

In a May letter notifying Congress about the reorganization, the department said it had just over 18,700 US-based employees and was looking to reduce the workforce by 18 percent through layoffs and voluntary departures, including deferred resignation programs.

“It’s not a consequence of trying to get rid of people. But if you close the bureau, you don’t need those positions,” Rubio told reporters Thursday during a visit to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. “Understand that some of these are positions that are being eliminated, not people.”

Foreign service officers affected will be placed immediately on administrative leave for 120 days, after which they will formally lose their jobs, according to an internal notice obtained by AP. For most civil servants, the separation period is 60 days, it said.

Protesters gather to criticize the job cuts

Inside and just outside the State Department, employees spent over an hour applauding their departing colleagues, who got more support — and sometimes hugs — from protesters and others gathered across the street.

As speakers took to a bullhorn, people behind them held signs in the shape of gravestones that said “democracy,” “human rights” and “diplomacy.”

“It’s just heartbreaking to stand outside these doors right now and see people coming out in tears, because all they wanted to do was serve this country,” said Sen. Andy Kim, a New Jersey Democrat who worked as a civilian adviser for the State Department in Afghanistan during the Obama administration.

Robert Blake, who served as a US ambassador under the George W. Bush and Obama administrations, said he came to support his peers at a very “unjust time.”

“I have a lot of friends who served very loyally and with distinction and who are being fired for nothing to do with their performance,” Blake said.

Gordon Duguid, a 31-year veteran of the foreign service, said of the Trump administration: “They’re not looking for people who have the expertise ... they just want people who say, ‘OK, how high’” to jump.

“That’s a recipe for disaster,” he added.

The American Foreign Service Association, the union that represents US diplomats, said it opposed the job cuts during “a moment of great global instability.”

“Losing more diplomatic expertise at this critical global moment is a catastrophic blow to our national interests,” the AFSA said in a statement. “These layoffs are untethered from merit or mission.”

As the layoffs began, paper signs started going up around the State Department. “Colleagues, if you remain: resist fascism,” said one.

An employee who was among those laid off said she printed them about a week ago, when the Supreme Court cleared way for the reductions. The employee spoke to the AP on the condition of anonymity out of fear of retaliation.

She worked with about a dozen colleagues to put up the signs. They focused on bathrooms, where there are no security cameras, although others went in more public spaces.

“Nobody wants to feel like these guys can just get away with this,” she said.

The State Department is undergoing a big reorganization

The State Department is planning to eliminate some divisions tasked with oversight of America’s two-decade involvement in Afghanistan, including an office focused on resettling Afghan nationals who worked alongside the US military.

Jessica Bradley Rushing, who worked at the Office of the Coordinator for Afghan Relocation Efforts, known as CARE, said she was shocked when she received another dismissal notice Friday after she had already been put on administrative leave in March.

“I spent the entire morning getting updates from my former colleagues at CARE, who were watching this carnage take place within the office,” she said, adding that every person on her team received a notice. “I never even anticipated that I could be at risk for that because I’m already on administrative leave.”

The State Department said the reorganization will affect more than 300 bureaus and offices, as it eliminates divisions it describes as doing unclear or overlapping work. It says Rubio believes “effective modern diplomacy requires streamlining this bloated bureaucracy.”

The letter to Congress was clear that the reorganization is also intended to eliminate programs — particularly those related to refugees and immigration, as well as human rights and democracy promotion — that the Trump administration believes have become ideologically driven in a way that is incompatible with its priorities and policies.

___

Lee reported from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and Amiri from New York. Chris Megerian in Washington contributed.

___

Follow the AP’s coverage of the US Department of State at https://apnews.com/hub/us-department-of-state.


Australia detains Palestinian grandmother who fled Gaza

Australia detains Palestinian grandmother who fled Gaza
Updated 11 July 2025
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Australia detains Palestinian grandmother who fled Gaza

Australia detains Palestinian grandmother who fled Gaza
  • Maha Almassri, 61, was taken away during a pre-dawn raid on her son’s home in Sydney
  • Government official cancels her visa over concerns she is a ‘security risk’

LONDON: A Palestinian grandmother who fled the war in Gaza has been detained in Australia by immigration officers after they raided her son’s home in Sydney.

Maha Almassri, 61, was taken away in a pre-dawn raid on Thursday by 15 members of the Australian Border Force, her family said.

She was told her visa has been canceled after she failed a character test, Guardian Australia reported.

Almassri left Gaza via the Rafah border crossing with Egypt in February 2024 and arrived in Australia, where many of her family live, on a tourist visa soon afterwards, her cousin Mohammed Almassri said.

She had been staying with her son in western Sydney, where the raid took place at 5.30 a.m. She was taken to a nearby police station and transferred to Villawood detention center, Mohammed told the Guardian.

Her visa was canceled by the assistant minister for citizenship and cultural affairs Julian Hill, who “reasonably suspects that the person does not pass the character test” and was “satisfied that the cancelation was in the national interest,” a document seen by the newspaper and SBS News said.

The Australian Security Intelligence Organization assessed Almassri to be “directly or indirectly a risk to security,” it said.

Mohammed said that his cousin was in poor health, frightened, and struggled to talk over the phone because she was so upset.

He said that the Australian and Israeli authorities carried out security checks before she was cleared to leave Gaza, where almost 58,000 people have been killed in a 21-month Israeli onslaught.

“She’s an old lady, what can she do?” Mohammed said. “What’s the reason? They have to let us know why this has happened. There is no country, no house, nothing (to go back to in Gaza).”

A spokesperson for Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke told SBS News that the government would not comment on the case.

“Any information in the public domain is being supplied by the individual and is not necessarily consistent with the information supplied by our intelligence and security agencies,” the spokesperson said.

Almassri had reportedly been granted a bridging visa in June last year after applying for a protection visa.

Last year, Amnesty International accused Australia of rejecting more than 7,000 Palestinian visa applications since the Israeli offensive on Gaza started in 2023.


Palestine Action protests aim to make UK ban ‘unenforceable’

Palestine Action protests aim to make UK ban ‘unenforceable’
Updated 11 July 2025
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Palestine Action protests aim to make UK ban ‘unenforceable’

Palestine Action protests aim to make UK ban ‘unenforceable’
  • Hundreds expected at demonstrations in London, Cardiff, Manchester after group proscribed under Terrorism Act
  • Founder: ‘We’re a force to be reckoned with when we act together’

LONDON: Palestine Action supporters say they will make the ban on the group “unenforceable” after it was proscribed as a terrorist organization by the UK government. 

On Thursday, the group’s founder Huda Ammori, 31, encouraged over 200 people in a Zoom meeting to protest the move this weekend in London and elsewhere, The Times reported on Friday.

“My faith in people like you all is at an all-time high,” she said. “We’re a force to be reckoned with when we act together.

“The most effective route is through actions like the ones Defend Our Juries are leading the way on, in terms of making this ban unenforceable.”

Defend Our Juries is a group originally set up to convince juries not to convict climate activists engaged in disruptive behavior in the UK.

In the Zoom meeting attended by Ammori, a Defend Our Juries member encouraged people to be arrested, saying the police take “a soft approach” to conscientious protests.

“People will be thinking, ‘is that the end of it, has that repression worked to silence us?’ Imagine if it’s the opposite effect and there are double (the number) of us in Parliament Square on Saturday, and there are similar actions in Cardiff and Manchester,” the Defend Our Juries member said.

The call to protest comes a week after 29 demonstrators were arrested for supporting Palestine Action with placards in Westminster, including an elderly female Church of England priest.

“The Met (Police) commissioner has now got an excruciating dilemma. He was being hauled over the coals for wasting public money, for arresting an 83-year-old priest with a sign opposing genocide,” the Defend Our Juries member said.

“He’s either got to double down on that, leaving him looking like he’s not listening, or he’s got to leave it be, which is to admit the law is mad and unenforceable. He’s got no good option. As long as we turn up in numbers, we expose this.”

Palestine Action was outlawed on July 5 after members of the group broke into a Royal Air Force base at Brize Norton and vandalized military aircraft. Under the terms of the ban, support for the group could lead to a 14-year prison sentence. 

Protesters, though, are using encrypted messaging platforms such as Signal to plan further demonstrations in other UK cities, The Times reported. 

Ammori, of Palestinian-Iraqi heritage, has backed the protests to cause major disruption in the UK court system if hundreds of people are arrested under the Terrorism Act.

The first of these, in London, will be held in Parliament Square on Saturday at 1 p.m., and attendees were told via Zoom that they would be provided with placards, solicitors’ information and prepared statements to read to police if arrested.

A nine-page document was also issued with instructions to communicate via burner phones and on what to do when arrested, including to “go floppy” when manhandled by police to “add to the visual drama of the action” of “civil resistance.”

Another activist with over 100 arrests to their name told the Zoom call: “The worst thing we can do is to be scared. We have to become active … You will find it wonderful to do, important to do.

“If any of you have been getting depressed about issues recently, it’s a great antidote to depression.”

Ammori will appear before the High Court on July 21 after a judicial review of the ban on Palestine Action was called, with moves to prevent its proscription rejected by the Court of Appeal.


UN warns of ‘chaotic’ Afghan refugee-return crisis and calls for urgent international action

UN warns of ‘chaotic’ Afghan refugee-return crisis and calls for urgent international action
Updated 11 July 2025
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UN warns of ‘chaotic’ Afghan refugee-return crisis and calls for urgent international action

UN warns of ‘chaotic’ Afghan refugee-return crisis and calls for urgent international action
  • More than 40,000 people arriving from Iran each day, reaching a high of 50,000 on July 4, as more than 1.6m refugees return from there and Pakistan so far this year
  • ‘Handled with calm, foresight and compassion, returns can be a force for stability. Handled haphazardly, they will lead to instability, unrest and onward movements,’ agency says

NEW YORK CITY: With more than 1.6 million Afghans returning to their home country from Iran and Pakistan so far this year, the UN Refugee Agency warned on Thursday that the scale and intensity of the mass returns are creating a humanitarian emergency in a country already gripped by poverty, drought and insecurity.

Arafat Jamal, UNHCR’s representative in Afghanistan, on Friday described the situation as “evolving and chaotic,” as he urged countries in the region and the wider international community to urgently commit resources, show restraint and coordinate their efforts to avoid further destabilization of Afghanistan and the region.

“We are calling for restraint, for resources, for dialogue and international cooperation,” he said.

“Handled with calm, foresight and compassion, returns can be a force for stability. Handled haphazardly, they will lead to instability, unrest and onward movements.”

According to UNHCR figures, more than 1.3 million people have returned from Iran alone since the start of this year, many of them under coercive or involuntary circumstances.

In recent days, arrivals at the Islam Qala crossing on the border with Iran have peaked at more than 40,000 people a day, with a high of 50,000 recorded on July 4.

Jamal warned that many of the returnees, often born abroad and unfamiliar with Afghanistan, arrive “tired, disoriented, brutalized and often in despair.” He raised particular concern about the fate of women and girls who arrive in a country where their fundamental rights are severely restricted.

Iran has signaled its intention to expel as many as 4 million Afghans, a move UNHCR predicts could double the number of returnees by the end of the year. Jamal said the agency is now preparing for up to 3 million arrivals this year. Afghanistan remains ill-equipped to absorb such large numbers.

“This is precarity layered upon poverty, on drought, on human-rights abuses, and on an unstable region,” Jamal said, citing a UN Development Programme report that found 70 percent of

Afghans live at subsistence levels, and a recent drought alert from the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization.

UNHCR’s humanitarian response is severely underfunded, with just 28 percent of its operations financed so far this year. Jamal described agonizing decisions being made in the field, including reductions of food rations and other aid supplies: “Should we give one blanket instead of four to a family? One meal instead of three?”

Despite the strained resources, Jamal said the agency is still providing emergency food and water, shelter and transportation at reception centers, and working with partners such as UNICEF to address the needs of unaccompanied children, about 400 of whom were reportedly deported from Iran in just over two weeks.

Pressed on how the UN can support peace and development in a country where women face widespread discrimination, and access to education and healthcare is limited, Jamal acknowledged the severe challenges but defended the organization’s continued engagement.

“Yes, this is the worst country in the world for women’s rights,” he said. “Yet with adequate funding, the UN is able to reach women. We’ve built women-only markets, trained midwives, and supported women entrepreneurs.

“We must invest in the people of Afghanistan, even in these grim circumstances.”

He added that the Taliban, despite their own restrictions and resource constraints, have so far welcomed the returnees and facilitated UN operations at the border.

UNHCR is now appealing for a coordinated regional strategy and renewed donor support. Jamal highlighted positive examples of regional cooperation, such as trade initiatives by Uzbekistan, as potential models for this.

He also welcomed a recent UN General Assembly resolution calling for the voluntary, safe and dignified return of refugees, and increased international collaboration on the issue.

“Billions have been wasted on war,” he said. “Now is the time to invest in peace.”