KABUL: The Taliban on Saturday denied US media reports saying that a Russian intelligence unit secretly rewarded them for targeting American troops in Afghanistan.
“We have heard these reports and they are false and baseless,” Zabihullah Mujahid, a spokesman for the Taliban, told Arab News over the phone.
He added that the group had “neither sought nor received any aid from any country or intelligence agency in 19 years of war.”
Mujahid argued the Taliban have not been in possession of any advanced weapons, which according to him implies they had not received any foreign arms.
“We have used whatever resources we have had in Afghanistan or prepared for example roadside and car bombs from explosives and materials available locally.”
The Taliban, Mujahid said, have not been in possession of any advanced weapons to conduct sophisticated attacks on US targets, which could imply they had received foreign arms.
“We have used whatever resources we have had in Afghanistan or prepared for example roadside and car bombs from explosives and materials available locally.”
He said the group has not targeted the US military since the two sides signed a peace deal in Doha, Qatar, in late February. In accordance with the agreement, American troops should leave Afghanistan by spring 2021.
Earlier on Saturday, the New York Times and two other American dailies reported that American intelligence officials have concluded that a Russian military intelligence unit secretly offered bounties to Taliban-linked militants for killing coalition forces in Afghanistan and targeting American troops.
Mujahid commented that some circles in the US were disappointed by the Doha deal. “They want to prevent the withdrawal of Americans from here because they will lose the resources and income they have earned from continuing the war and want to do everything for their survival,” he said.
While Russia itself had suffered a disgraceful retreat after nearly 10 years of occupying Afghanistan in the 1980s, it has joined Iran, Pakistan and China in opposing the presence of American troops in the country.
Although Afghan officials in the past have not found any direct military links between the Taliban and Moscow, some provincial officials said that Russians provided intelligence to the group when it captured the northern city of Kunduz near the border with Tajikistan in 2015 and 2016.
According to analyst Zabihullah Pakteen, Russia has been a vocal supporter of the Taliban in their war against Daesh. He suggested that the US report on bounties could be referring to developments from before the Qatar deal and leaking it now could be linked to the pullout of American troops.
“Russian involvement in Afghanistan in giving bounties to kill US soldiers certainly puts pressure on the Trump administration as US election approaches. The most important aspect of intelligence leaking could be very well connected to troops withdrawal … so the US would have to stay to confront Russia and other adversaries in the region,” he told Arab News.
Some 4,400 out of 13,000 American troops have already left Afghanistan following the Doha deal.
Their withdrawal and ending America’s wars abroad was one of US President Donald Trump’s main campaign promises. The allegation of Taliban-Russian links, which could delay the troop pullout, comes as Trump is running for a second term in the White House in November’s election.
Taliban deny reports Russia paid them to attack US troops in Afghanistan
https://arab.news/cgzew
Taliban deny reports Russia paid them to attack US troops in Afghanistan
- Taliban spokesman says the group has not received any assistance from any country or intelligence agency in 19 years of war
- Analysts suggest the reports could be related to the withdrawal of American troops and upcoming US election
Slovakia wants to normalize relations with Russia, ramping up gas imports, PM Fico says
“I want to say openly that we are extremely interested in standardization of relations between the Slovak Republic and the Russian Federation,” Fico said
MOSCOW: Slovakia wants to normalize its relations with Moscow and is increasing imports of Russian gas through the TurkStream pipeline, Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico told Russia’s President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday.
The comments clashed with the position of the European Union, which is seeking to wean itself off Russian energy imports to punish Moscow over its 2022 invasion of Ukraine, and come at a critical phase in efforts to end the conflict.
Populist-led Slovakia and Hungary — both EU members — have sought to maintain political ties with Russia, which supplies the majority of their oil needs.
“I want to say openly that we are extremely interested in standardization of relations between the Slovak Republic and the Russian Federation,” Fico said during the meeting with Putin on the sidelines of China’s World War Two anniversary celebrations in Beijing.
“Let’s get back to what used to be typical for countries when it comes to economic cooperation,”
he added.
The EU has vowed to end its decades-old energy relations with former top gas supplier Moscow and is aiming to phase out all Russian energy imports by the end of 2027.
Hungary and Slovakia, however, oppose the plan, arguing that switching to alternatives would increase energy prices.
“I want to thank you for the safe and regular gas supplies that we receive through TurkStream,” Fico told Putin as the two met.
TurkStream remains the only pipeline carrying Russian gas to Europe after blasts stopped exports via the Nord Stream 1 pipelines in September 2022 and as transit via Ukraine was halted on January 1.
Slovakia has so far this year imported about 1.7 billion cubic meters of gas through Hungary, which is its most direct link to the TurkStream pipeline, according to data from Slovak transit company EUstream.
A project is currently under way to increase the cross-border capacity for gas flow from Hungary to Slovakia, including gas originating from the Turkstream pipeline, to 4.4 bcm from 3.5 bcm.
Fico, meanwhile, said Slovakia had restarted issuing visas to Russian citizens, a service that was suspended following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
He said Slovakia was also interested in Russian companies potentially participating in a new nuclear power plant, a project the government aims to grant to US firm Westinghouse.
Fico will meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Friday in the western Ukrainian city of Uzhhorod, he said. That meeting had previously been scheduled to take place in eastern Slovakia.
The prime minister said he planned to raise the issue of recent Ukrainian attacks, which temporarily stopped Russian oil flows through the Druzhba pipeline to Slovakia and Hungary in the last two weeks.
Critics of Palestine Action ban say ‘key’ figures arrested
- Defend Our Juries has organized several demonstrations against the government’s contentious July 5 Palestine Action ban, leading to hundreds of arrests
LONDON: Police arrested five “key spokespeople” for an organization campaigning against the UK government’s designation of Palestine Action as a “terrorist group” in “dawn raids” on Tuesday, the group said.
Defend Our Juries has organized several demonstrations against the government’s contentious July 5 Palestine Action ban, leading to hundreds of arrests with police charging scores of people under anti-terror laws.
The campaigners had been due to hold an online press conference later Tuesday ahead of another planned “Lift the Ban” protest in London this weekend, but postponed the briefing after what they called the “dystopian crackdown.”
“Counter-terrorism police arrested five of Defend Our Juries’ key spokespeople in dawn raids in London this morning over Lift the Ban protests,” it said in a statement.
“This is scandalous,” a spokesperson added, calling it “an unprecedented assault on free speech in our country.”
“This level of political repression is not what we expect in a democracy — it’s the kind of tactic typically associated with authoritarian regimes around the world,” the spokesperson said.
London’s Metropolitan Police did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Defend Our Juries vowed to press ahead with its latest planned demonstration on Saturday in Parliament Square, claiming that 1,000 people had pledged to hold signs saying “I oppose genocide. I support Palestine Action.”
More than 700 people who have held up such signs at previous protests over the last two months have been arrested under anti-terror laws for showing support for a proscribed organization.
Police said Monday a further 47 people had been accused of showing support for a banned group, meaning 114 Palestine Action supporters have now been charged with the offense.
The arrests were made under the Terrorism Act 2000, which the government also used to proscribe Palestine Action.
Interior minister Yvette Cooper accuses it of orchestrating “aggressive and intimidatory attacks against businesses, institutions and the public.”
Its outlawing came after the group took responsibility for breaking into a Royal Air Force base in June and spraying two aircraft with red paint, causing an estimated £7 million ($10 million) in damage.
Palestine Action said its activists were protesting Britain’s support for Israel amid the war in Gaza.
Critics, including the United Nations and groups such as Amnesty International and Greenpeace, have condemned the group’s proscription as legal overreach and a threat to free speech.
India, UAE review CEPA progress, target $100bn in non-oil trade
- UAE, Indian ministers highlight digital infrastructure, healthcare as emerging sectors
- Non-oil exports from India to UAE reached $27.4bn in fiscal year 2023–24
NEW DELHI: India has announced plans to strengthen its Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement with the UAE, aiming to boost non-oil bilateral trade to $100 billion by 2030, amid changing global trade dynamics and sharp increases in US tariffs.
UAE Foreign Trade Minister Thani Al-Zeyoudi visited India over the weekend for talks with Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal and business leaders in Mumbai.
“The meeting reviewed the progress made under CEPA and reaffirmed the shared vision of expanding bilateral trade towards the target of USD 100 billion non-oil, non-precious metals trade by 2030,” India’s Ministry of Commerce and Industry said in a statement on Monday.
“Discussions included collaboration in emerging sectors such as renewable energy, digital infrastructure, supply chain resilience, and healthcare.”
The ministers co-chaired meetings with representatives of the pharmaceutical and food sectors.
“In the pharma sector, key issues were discussed in light of evolving geopolitical challenges,” the ministry said.
“Dr. Thani bin Ahmed Al-Zeyoudi underlined that despite global turbulence, the India–UAE partnership has emerged as a resilient driver of growth.”
The announcement to boost UAE-India ties under CEPA comes as many sectors in India look for ways to offset the impact of the Donald Trump administration’s recent 50 percent tariff hike on Indian goods — expected to significantly slow India’s exports to the US, which has been a top market.
In effect since May 1, 2022, the UAE-India CEPA has reduced tariffs on about 80 percent of all goods and provided zero-duty access to 90 percent of Indian exports.
Bilateral non‑oil trade reached $65 billion in 2024, according to UAE Ministry of Economy data.
Non-oil exports from India to the UAE reached $27.4 billion in the financial year 2023–24, marking an average annual growth of 25.6 percent since the CEPA came into effect. The surge has been led by sectors such as gems and jewelry, electrical machinery, chemicals, and smartphones.
“We are looking to diversify our trade basket, our products and also looking at important markets in the Gulf and Middle East. We can work on alternative markets for our products,” Manish Mohan, senior director for the Gulf and Middle East at Confederation of Indian Industry, told Arab News.
“UAE is a very important gateway to Africa, Europe and Central Asia … We have already achieved a great success in CEPA, and we are looking at deeper investment and economic opportunities.”
Putin says Trump administration is listening to Russia’s arguments on Ukraine war
- “Now we see this mutual understanding, it’s noticeable,” Putin said
- In Beijing, Putin struck an apparently amenable tone about possible progress in some aspects of the discussions to stop the fighting
BEIJING: Russian President Vladimir Putin said Tuesday that USPresident Donald Trump’s administration is listening to the Kremlin’s justifications for its invasion of neighboring Ukraine and claimed that Moscow and Washington have come to a “mutual understanding” about the conflict.
Putin said during a visit to China that “the (Trump) administration is listening to us,” as he complained that former President Joe Biden paid Moscow’s arguments no heed.
“Now we see this mutual understanding, it’s noticeable,” Putin said at a bilateral meeting with Slovakian President Robert Fico after talks with Chinese leader Xi Jinping in Beijing. “We are very happy about this and hope this constructive dialogue will continue.”
But Russia faces possible punitive actions by Trump, who has expressed frustration at Putin’s lack of engagement in US-led peace efforts and threatened unspecified “severe consequences.” The American president has made ending the three-year war one of his diplomatic priorities and hosted Putin at a summit in Alaska last month.
Putin attended the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit in the Chinese city of Tianjin with Chinese leader Xi Jinping and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who are also facing pressure from Trump. The SCO started out as a security forum viewed as a foil to US influence in Central Asia but it has grown in influence over the years.
After the summit, the Russian leader held talks with Xi in Beijing, and on Wednesday he was to attend a massive military parade there commemorating the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II.
In Beijing, Putin struck an apparently amenable tone about possible progress in some aspects of the discussions to stop the fighting, although his comments reflected no substantial change in Russia’s position. Western leaders have accused Putin of marking time in peace efforts while Russia’s bigger army seeks to overwhelm Ukrainian defenses.
On the key issue of possible postwar security guarantees for Ukraine to deter another Russian invasion, Putin said “it seems to me that there is an opportunity to find consensus.” He didn’t elaborate.
While Putin reiterated that Moscow will not accept NATO membership for Ukraine, he also noted that he had never objected to Ukraine joining the European Union.
He also said Russia “can work with our American partners” at the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, Europe’s largest and one of the 10 biggest atomic power plants in the world. Its fate has been a central concern of the war due to fears of a nuclear accident.
Putin said Russia could also work with Ukraine on the Zaporizhzhia question — “if favorable conditions arise.”
German authorities warn people against becoming ‘disposable agents’ for Russia
- Germany’s Federal Criminal Police Office said it is seeing increasing activity in Germany and elsewhere in which Russian intelligence services apparently use social media to recruit people for espionage or sabotage
BERLIN: German security authorities are warning people against becoming “disposable agents” as worries mount about Russia using social media to find recruits for spying and sabotage in or against Germany.
Western officials have accused Russia and its proxies of staging dozens of attacks and other incidents across Europe since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine began in 2022. They worry that the risks are rising as untrained saboteurs are increasingly used. German officials have voiced concern over the use of “low-level agents.”
Germany’s Federal Criminal Police Office said Tuesday that, along with the country’s domestic, foreign and military intelligence services, it is seeing increasing activity in Germany and elsewhere in which Russian intelligence services — directly or via intermediaries — apparently use social media to recruit people for espionage or sabotage.
It said the so-called “low-level agents” or “disposable agents” carry out crimes without receiving intelligence training, for only a little money and often without knowing who is ordering the activities or what their purpose is.
“They are ‘used’ and then ‘thrown away,’” the police office said in introducing a campaign titled “Don’t become a disposable agent.” It warned that “anti-constitutional sabotage” carried a maximum sentence of five years in prison and espionage can carry a 10-year sentence.
It urged people to get in touch with Germany’s domestic intelligence agency if they or acquaintances have been contacted by strangers offering them money to engage in activity such as spreading pro-Russia slogans, scoping out people or property, or causing damage.
Several suspected cases are currently under investigation in Germany, involving among other things arson, damage to property, drone overflights and suspicious filming and photography, police said.
