Taliban reject US envoy’s claims of seeking ‘lion’s share’ in future government

US Special Representative for Afghanistan's Reconciliation Zalmay Khalilzad (C) sits in a coffee shop ahead of a session of the peace talks between the Afghan government and the Taliban in Doha, Qatar on July 17, 2021. (AFP)
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Updated 05 August 2021
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Taliban reject US envoy’s claims of seeking ‘lion’s share’ in future government

  • Group aims for accord that ‘observes Islamic aspirations’ of Afghans, spokesman says

KABUL: The Taliban on Wednesday refuted US Special Envoy Zalmay Khalilzad’s assertions that it was seeking a “lion’s share of power” in a future government, terming it as a “personal view,” as fighting worsens across Afghanistan and foreign troops inch closer to completing a withdrawal mission by month-end.

“That is his personal view. We heard Khalilzad’s comments, but our stance is that we want an accord that can observe the Islamic aspirations of the people,” Zabihullah Mujahid, a Taliban spokesman, told Arab News, adding that the group was “not after a monopoly of power or eyeing a key share.”

“We do not want anything for ourselves; we have given lofty sacrifices for Islam. The nation is exhausted. There will definitely be a complete Islamic government, and all sides will have to accept this … All Afghans will be given a share in it,” he added.

The comments follow Khalilzad’s remarks during a virtual conference of the Aspen Security Forum on Tuesday when he said: “At this point, (the Taliban) are demanding that they take the lion’s share of power in the next government given the military situation as they see it.”

He added that the Taliban and the Kabul government “are far apart” in US-backed peace negotiations, which began in Doha, Qatar, nearly a year ago.

The intra-Afghan talks were the first formal step to politically settle a decades-old conflict that began after the Taliban were toppled from power in a US-led invasion in 2001.

Khalilzad was the chief architect of the controversial, behind-the-door negotiations between the US and the Taliban, which Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and his administration were excluded from.

They led to the signing of a conditional agreement on Feb. 29 in Qatar between former US President Donald Trump’s administration and Taliban representatives based on which US and NATO troops were to pull out of Afghanistan as part of a 14-month process that began on May 1 and is scheduled to complete on Aug. 31.

Since then, Khalilzad has played a crucial role in facilitating the talks between the Taliban and the Kabul government in Doha and, in March, proposed the formation of an inclusive interim government to replace Ghani, whose term ends in 2024.

Both groups have failed to make headway in the Doha talks, which was the subject of a phone call on Tuesday between US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Ghani, who agreed on the need to accelerate the peace process.

This comes a day after Ghani, during a special parliamentary session, called for a nationwide war against the Taliban, who have made significant gains in several parts of Afghanistan and after an overnight attack in Kabul on the defense minister’s home.

“Eight non-combatants, including a woman, were killed in the attack on the home of Defense Minister Gen. Besmillah Khan in Kabul,” Interior Ministry Spokesman Mirwais Stanekzai told reporters on Wednesday.

The Taliban claimed responsibility for the strike.

“We were behind the strike,” Mujahid said. “The attack was in response to the airstrikes by the defense ministry.” 

Ghani blamed the country’s deteriorating security on Washington’s “abrupt” decision to withdraw its troops.

Presenting his security plan before parliament on Monday, Ghani said the situation in the war-torn nation would be “under control within six months,” adding that the US has pledged its full support.

The gap left by departing troops has emboldened the Taliban, who have intensified their insurgency since early May, targeting Afghan government forces and stepping up attacks on Herat in the west, Kandahar, and the adjacent Helmand province in the south — three major regions — since last week.

Helmand’s provincial capital, Lashkar Gah, has taken the brunt of the fighting.

Both Taliban and government officials said fighting was “intense” on Wednesday in various parts of Lashkar Gah, where the group has made significant inroads.

A lawmaker from Helmand, Mirwais Khadem, said the Taliban were “in control of all parts of the city,” except for a series of government buildings, such as the governor’s compound, police and intelligence headquarters and the central prison.

“I can say that there is street-to-street fighting in Lashkar Gah now. The Taliban have taken shelter in people’s homes. Afghan troops fire back on them, and there are bombardments both by the government and US forces,” Khadem told Arab News.

He chided the army’s move asking residents to “flee from their homes” in Taliban-held areas.

“This decision of the government is not appropriate. We urged the government to go instead to a desert where there are no residential homes. Both the Taliban and the government can fight there and decide who will be the winner and will be defeated,” he said.

“But the government did not accept it. Asking civilians in the middle of the war to leave their homes, without arrangements for shelter, food and other necessities in this hot weather is not fair,” Khadem added.

He explained that “there were casualties among civilians both from shelling and air raids in Lashkar Gah” but could not provide the exact fatality count.

Medical charity Doctors Without Borders said casualties were “mounting” in Lashkar Gah.

“There has been relentless gunfire, airstrikes and mortars in densely populated areas. Houses are being bombed, and many people are suffering severe injuries,” Sarah Leahy, the aid group’s coordinator for Helmand, said in a statement.

The loss of Lashkar Gah to the Taliban would be a massive blow for Kabul, which has pledged to safeguard provincial capitals “at all costs” after losing much of the countryside to the insurgent group over the summer.

US-led troops have stepped up aerial attacks on suspected Taliban positions to support Afghan forces and block Taliban advances.

Experts say the measures are too little, too late.

“American forces do not want to see the fall of any major city to the Taliban before their exit. That is why they continue providing air support for national forces,” Torek Farhadi, an analyst and former adviser to former President Hamid Karzai, told Arab News.

“But these attacks cause civilian casualties, such as the ones we saw in Helmand. This is not good for the Kabul government,” he added.

Nearly 2,400 Afghan civilians have been killed or injured in May and June amid an uptick in violence between the Taliban and Afghan security forces, the highest number for those two months since records started in 2009, the UN’s Assistance Mission to Afghanistan said in a July report.

By then, it had documented 5,183 civilian casualties between January and June, of which 1,659 were deaths. The number was up 47 percent from the same period last year.


UK’s Keir Starmer condemns Israel in strongest terms yet as pressure mounts for Palestine recognition

Updated 4 sec ago
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UK’s Keir Starmer condemns Israel in strongest terms yet as pressure mounts for Palestine recognition

  • ‘Suffering and starvation unfolding in Gaza is unspeakable and indefensible,’ UK leader says
  • Senior figures within and outside govt urge Starmer to follow Macron and recognize Palestinian state

LONDON: UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer has condemned Israel with his strongest comments yet, as pressure mounts within and outside the government for Britain to formally recognize a Palestinian state.

Starmer’s remarks came after French President Emmanuel Macron said his country would recognize a Palestinian state, and as the two leaders, along with Germany’s Friedrich Merz, were set to hold an emergency call on the issue.

“The suffering and starvation unfolding in Gaza is unspeakable and indefensible. While the situation has been grave for some time, it has reached new depths and continues to worsen. We are witnessing a humanitarian catastrophe,” the UK prime minister said.

For the first time with reference to Israel, his statement failed to mention the country’s right to defend itself, or the hostages held by Hamas and other militant groups.

Starmer “appeared to have lost his patience with Benjamin Netanyahu’s Israeli government,” The Independent said, adding that the PM “appeared to be on the cusp of being prepared to recognize a Palestinian state.”

The political movement among major European countries is taking place as Israel faces mounting global anger over its actions in Gaza.

Starvation in the enclave has reportedly surged in recent weeks, with at least 113 hunger-related deaths being recorded, including 82 children, according to Palestinian health officials.

The Israeli military has also killed scores of Palestinians queuing for food at designated aid sites operated by the controversial Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, a US charity backed by Israel that is attempting to supersede Gaza’s existing UN-operated aid system.

Starmer added in his statement: “I will hold an emergency call with E3 partners tomorrow, where we will discuss what we can do urgently to stop the killing and get people the food they (Palestinians) desperately need while pulling together all the steps necessary to build a lasting peace.

“We all agree on the pressing need for Israel to change course and allow the aid that is desperately needed to enter Gaza without delay.”

Starmer has faced significant pressure this week from within his own Labour Party, including Cabinet ministers, as well as from trade unions and academics, to recognize a Palestinian state.

He added: “We are clear that statehood is the inalienable right of the Palestinian people. A ceasefire will put us on a path to the recognition of a Palestinian state and a two-state solution which guarantees peace and security for Palestinians and Israelis.”

Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood said yesterday that recognition would lead to “multiple benefits” and send a “strong message” to the Netanyahu government.

She is one of several government ministers who have privately urged Starmer to recognize a Palestinian state in recent months.

The issue has also been raised at regular Cabinet meetings.

Mahmood, the most senior Muslim politician in the UK, told The Times that though pushing for a ceasefire in Gaza was “the most urgent thing of all,” Palestinian statehood represented the “best mechanism to get us through a peace process.”

In its manifesto for last year’s general election, the ruling Labour Party pledged to recognize Palestine once in office.

Labour’s Sadiq Khan, the mayor of London, also urged the government to follow France’s lead.

He warned that there could be no two-state solution — a longtime policy target of British governments — if “there is no viable state left to call Palestine.”

Another Labour politician, Emily Thornberrry, chair of the foreign affairs select committee, also urged Starmer to act.

The UK’s actions in relation to the Israel-Palestine conflict have “time and time again … come too little, too late,” she wrote in an opinion piece for The Independent on Friday.

Thornberry highlighted the potential of the major joint Saudi-French conference on the two-state solution, set to begin in New York next week.

After addressing Parliament on a visit to London last week, Macron met Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Thursday, delivering a letter that said he would formally recognize Palestine at the UN General Assembly in September.

The French president was “right” to do so, Thornberry said.

“A unified move by the signatories to the secret Sykes-Picot agreement which carved up the Middle East more than a century ago would demonstrate our sincere commitment to a two-state solution,” she added.

“The natural reaction of the British public to the scenes of starvation and death in Gaza is to call on their politicians to do something. The challenge for politicians is to ensure that what they do makes a real difference.

“The recognition of Palestine as part of a renewed commitment by the UK to work with others to build a peace process would be just that.”


Jewish group welcomes local English council backing of Gaza ceasefire and friendship links

Updated 29 min 36 sec ago
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Jewish group welcomes local English council backing of Gaza ceasefire and friendship links

  • Hastings Borough Council voted to call for a ceasefire in Gaza, an end to arms sales to Israel and continued support for its civic ties with Al-Mawasi

LONDON: A Jewish advocacy group has praised an English local council’s recognition of “friendship links” with the Gazan town of Al-Mawasi as “an important act of solidarity” after councilors passed a motion backing an immediate ceasefire in the region, it was reported on Friday.

Last week, Hastings Borough Council voted to call for a ceasefire in Gaza, an end to arms sales to Israel and continued support for its civic ties with Al-Mawasi, an area in southern Gaza that was declared a safe zone by the Israeli military in December 2023, but has since faced repeated attacks.

Hastings Jews for Justice welcomed the move.

“We stand with the Palestinians in Gaza who are being slaughtered and starved right now, and we demand immediate action of our politicians,” they said.

“We applaud all the councilors who chose to stand on the right side of history and used their voice and their vote to fight these crimes against humanity.

“And we reject the idea, shared by several Labour councillors during the debate, that standing up for a people facing genocide is an attack on Jewish people in our community or ‘divisive’,” they added.

The motion, which had been attempted several times over the past 21 months, passed following the local elections that changed the council’s political makeup.

It was carried by a majority of 14 Green and Hastings Independent Group councilors, with three voting against and 11 abstentions, mostly from Labour.

Proposing the motion, Green Party councilor Yunis Smith said: “We must ask ourselves, when the dust settles, will we have done enough? Will we be able to say that we stood up even when it was difficult?

“Or will we, like generations before us, say that we saw the signs and still we did nothing?”

Smith added: “From one coastal town to another, we’ve shown that solidarity, dignity and human connection shine brighter than cruelty. Al-Mawasi, like Hastings, is defined not just by its land but by the resilience of its people.

“They survive, endure and beckon us to witness their struggle and their strength.”

The friendship between the two communities has been fostered by Hastings Friends of Al-Mawasi, which has developed a language exchange and solidarity program in recent years.

The group said there has been a “marked escalation of threatening and abusive behavior” in the town toward those expressing support for Palestine.

Hastings has now joined a growing list of UK councils that have formally called for a ceasefire in Gaza.

Hastings Jews for Justice added: “This is an important act of solidarity with a people who are being made to suffer in the most horrific ways imaginable and we are determined to show that as British Jews it is not in our names.”

Council leader Glen Haffenden of the Greens has reportedly received more correspondence from constituents on the issue than on any other since being elected.

Meanwhile, Sussex Police have launched an investigation following reports that a woman was assaulted while wearing a keffiyeh at the De La Warr Pavilion in nearby Bexhill.


UK fears new summer of unrest, year after Southport riots

Updated 37 min 31 sec ago
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UK fears new summer of unrest, year after Southport riots

  • 18 arrested since demonstrations flared last week outside hotel housing asylum seekers in Epping

EPPING: Concern is mounting in Britain that recent violent anti-immigrant protests could herald a new summer of unrest, a year after the UK was rocked by its worst riots in decades.

Eighteen people have now been arrested since protests flared last week outside a hotel housing asylum seekers in the town of Epping, northeast of London, and seven people have been charged, Essex police said. In one demonstration, eight police officers were injured.
The unrest was “not just a troubling one-off,” said the chairwoman of the Police Federation, Tiff Lynch.
“It was a signal flare. A reminder of how little it takes for tensions to erupt and how ill-prepared we remain to deal with it,” she wrote in the Daily Telegraph.

HIGHLIGHTS

• Anti-migrant sentiments have been amplified by inflammatory messaging on social networks, fueled by far-right activists.

• Almost exactly a year ago on July 29, 2024, three young girls were stabbed to death in a frenzied attack in northwestern Southport.

• The shocking killings stoked days of riots across the country after false reports that the killer was a migrant.

During the demonstrations, protesters shouted “save our children” and “send them home,” while banners called for the expulsion of “foreign criminals.”
Cabinet Minister Jonathan Reynolds urged people not to speculate or exaggerate the situation, saying “the government, all the key agencies, the police, they prepare for all situations. “I understand the frustrations people have,” he told Sky News.
The government was trying to fix the problem and the number of hotels occupied by asylum seekers has dropped from 400 to 200, he added.
The issue of thousands of irregular migrants arriving in small boats across the Channel, coupled with the UK’s worsening economy, has triggered rising anger among some Britons.
Such sentiments have been amplified by inflammatory messaging on social networks, fueled by far-right activists.
Almost exactly a year ago on July 29, 2024, three young girls were stabbed to death in a frenzied attack in northwestern Southport.
The shocking killings stoked days of riots across the country after false reports that the killer — a UK-born teenager whose family came to the country from Rwanda after the 1994 genocide — was a migrant.
Nearly 24,000 migrants have made the perilous journey across the Channel so far in 2025, the highest-ever tally at this point in a year.
The issue has become politically perilous, putting pressure on Labour Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s center-left government, as the anti-immigrant, far-right Reform UK party rises in the polls.
The Epping protests were stirred after a 38-year-old asylum seeker, who only arrived in Britain in late June, was arrested and charged with three counts of sexual assault.
Images from the protests have gone viral on social networks, mirroring what happened last July. But Epping residents have maintained that the protests are being fueled by people from outside the community.
“These violent scenes ... are not Epping, and they are not what we stand for,” the Conservative MP for Epping, Neil Hudson, told parliament Monday.
While calm was restored to Epping, a middle-class suburban town with a population of 12,000, tensions remain palpable.
“This is the first time something like this has happened,” one local who lives close to the Bell Hotel said, asking not to be named.
“The issue is not the hotel, but extremists applying a political ideology,” he added.
Late on Thursday, the hotel, cordoned off behind barriers, was again the center of a protest involving dozens of people, with police making one arrest.
With another protest expected on Sunday, the local council voted through a motion to demand the government no longer house asylum seekers at the hotel.
The UK is “likely to see more racist riots take place this summer,” said Aurelien Mondon, politics professor and expert on far-right and reactionary discourse at Bath University.
Anti-immigrant protests have already erupted elsewhere, with demonstrations in the southeastern town of Diss in Norfolk outside a similar hotel on Monday.
Last month, clashes flared for several days in the town of Ballymena in Northern Ireland after two teenagers with Romanian roots were arrested for the alleged attempted rape of a young girl.
“It is well documented that many of the protests we are witnessing are not the result of grassroots, local movements,” Mondon said.
“Social media plays a role and facilitates coordination among extreme-right groups,” but it is “also crucial not to exaggerate” its power, he added.

 


Investigators find black boxes from crashed Russia plane

Updated 25 July 2025
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Investigators find black boxes from crashed Russia plane

  • Investigators are looking into whether the crash was caused by technical malfunction or human error
  • Russian authorities have also launched an investigation into the plane’s operator

MOSCOW: Investigators have recovered flight data recorders from the wreckage of a plane that crashed in Russia’s far east, killing 48 people, and will send them for analysis, Russian authorities said Friday.

The aircraft, an Antonov-24 operated by Angara Airlines, was making a second attempt to land in the remote Siberian town of Tynda when it disappeared from radar around 1:00 p.m. local time (0400 GMT) on Thursday.

A rescue helicopter later spotted the burning fuselage of the plane on a forested mountain slope about 15 kilometers (nine miles) south of Tynda’s airport.

Prosecutors have not commented on what may have caused the crash, but a rescuer quoted by the TASS news agency said the twin-propeller plane — almost 50 years old — was attempting to land in thick cloud.

Investigators are looking into whether the crash was caused by technical malfunction or human error, the agency reported.

“The flight recorders have been found at the crash site and will be delivered to Moscow for decryption in the near future,” Russia’s transport ministry said in a statement.

Russian authorities have also launched an investigation into the plane’s operator, Angara Airlines, and whether it complied with regulations, it added.

“Based on the findings, a decision will be made on the company’s future operations,” the ministry said.

Angara Airlines, a small regional carrier based in the Siberian city of Irkutsk, said it was doing “everything possible to investigate the circumstances of the accident.”

The company’s CEO, Sergei Salamanov, told Russia’s REN TV channel on Thursday that it was the plane’s captain — an experienced pilot with 11,000 hours of flight time — who decided to make the flight.

“The weather forecast was unfavorable,” he said.

The plane came down in a hard-to-reach area and it took a ground rescue team hours to reach the site.

Russia’s transport ministry said the families of the 48 killed — six of whom were crew — would receive five million rubles’ ($63,000) compensation each.

The number killed could have risen to 49 if the Marina Avalyan, who was already sitting on the plane, had not been asked by her daughter to urgently get off and return home, according to a story reported by Argumenty i Fakty newspaper.

The daughter wanted Avalyan to look after her newborn baby, as she was taking her second child to a hospital, the daily said.

“I have no words to describe it: is this a miracle? Thank God she returned! My child has saved my mother,” Zimina told Argumenty i Fakty.


Greek heatwave drags out as temperatures near 46C

Updated 25 July 2025
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Greek heatwave drags out as temperatures near 46C

  • The National Observatory in Athens said the warmest temperature recorded was 45.8C in the Peloponnese region of Messinia
  • The Greek weather agency EMY modified a warning note to reflect that temperatures would begin falling after Monday July 28

ATHENS: A week-long heatwave in Greece that began on Monday is now expected to last more than a week, the country’s weather service said as temperatures on Friday neared 46C.

The National Observatory in Athens said the warmest temperature recorded was 45.8C in the Peloponnese region of Messinia.

In Athens, the highest temperature in parts of the capital was 42C, also recorded in the main port of Piraeus.

Officials once again modified the opening hours of the Acropolis, the country’s top archaeological site, for the safety of visitors and staff.

The monument was shut from midday to 5:00 p.m. — the hottest part of the day — in line with usual safety rules.

The Greek weather agency EMY modified a warning note to reflect that temperatures would begin falling after Monday July 28, instead of on the weekend as it had previously reported.

Northern winds are expected to pick up later Friday, raising the risk of fires, EMY said.

A wildfire earlier this week destroyed more than 2,800 acres (1,130 hectares) of forest and grassland near the mountain village of Feneos in the Peloponnese.

It was apparently started by two workmen using welding equipment near a forest.

Over half of the area affected was a pine forest that cannot regenerate, the National Observatory said.

On Friday, a fire burning near the city of Kilkis in northern Greece forced the evacuation of a university, homes and businesses, the fire service said.

A high of 44C was expected in Greece on Saturday, with a maximum of 42C forecast in Athens, the agency said.

In neighboring Albania, there were 10 active fires including one in Delvina, near the border with Greece.

Another fire in Kakavia, near the border crossing with Greece, was brought under control on Thursday.