United States (US) Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken “designated” Pakistan and China as countries of particular concern (CPC) for violating religious freedom, as per the official website of the US State Department.
In a statement issued by Washington, Secretary Blinken stated, “I am designating Burma, China, Eritrea, Iran, the DPRK, Pakistan, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan as Countries of Particular Concern for having engaged in or tolerated systematic, ongoing and egregious violations of religious freedom,” reportsDawn.
“We will continue to press all governments to remedy shortcomings in their laws and practices and to promote accountability for those responsible for abuses,” he added.
According to US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) official website, each year the US President designates CPC to countries in which governments have engaged in or tolerated systematic, ongoing, and egregious violations of religious freedom.
Moreover, Washington has placed Taliban governed Afghanistan under a “special watch list”.
A meeting of the Troika Plus, hosted by Pakistan, including China, Russia, and the United States (US), was held in Islamabad on Thursday.
The Taliban government in Afghanistan was given a clear message to uphold its international legal obligations, including universally accepted principles of international law and fundamental human rights, reports Geo News.
During the meeting, alluding to the US, Pakistan said efforts should be made to enable Afghanistan to access its frozen funds, which would dovetail into efforts to regenerate economic activities and move the Afghan economy towards stability and sustainability.
Good to address Troika Plus Meeting in Islamabad today. The meeting reflects our common desire to see a peaceful, stable, unified, sovereign & prosperous Afghanistan; a shared responsibility. Reaffirmed PM @ImranKhanPTI’s resolve to help Afghanistan on its path towards prosperity pic.twitter.com/Gl5WmyoRZn
Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi took to Twitter and said, “The meeting reflects our common desire to see a peaceful, stable, unified, sovereign & prosperous Afghanistan; a shared responsibility.”
A joint statement issued after a meeting of the Troika Plus stressed that the representative government should protect the rights of all Afghans and provide equal opportunities to women and girls to participate in all aspects of Afghan society.
The forum agreed to continue practical engagement with the Taliban to encourage the implementation of moderate and prudent policies that could help achieve a stable and prosperous Afghanistan as soon as possible.
Condemning in the strongest terms the recent terrorist attacks in Afghanistan, the forum called on the Taliban to cut ties with all international terrorist groups, dismantle and eliminate them in a decisive manner, and deny space to any terrorist organisation operating inside the country.
The participants reaffirmed their expectation that the Taliban will fulfil their commitment to preventing the use of Afghan territory by terrorists against its neighbours, other countries in the region and the rest of the world.
The question was raised at the US State Department briefing where a journalist reminded Spokesperson Ned Price that the US still considered the TTP a terrorist outfit and asked him to comment on it.
Price replied, “If we have a specific reaction on the Pakistani dialogue with the Pakistani Taliban, we will, of course, let you know,” while adding that Washington is in regular contact with Pakistan regarding their approach to Afghanistan.
“We have heard both publicly and privately from our Pakistani counterparts that they too have an interest in seeing to it that the gains, including among Afghanistan’s minorities, including among its women and girls, over the past 20 years not be squandered,” the US official added.
Moreover, he ensured, “There is quite a bit of alignment of interest when it comes to Afghanistan, and we’re continuing to have those conversations.”
Earlier, it was announced that a new envoy for Afghanistan Tom West would visit Islamabad later this week to clarify US expectations of the Taliban.
Afghanistan’s Foreign Minister (FM) Amir Khan Muttaqi arrived in Islamabad on Wednesday on a three-day visit. It is the first to Pakistan by an Afghan minister since the Taliban came into power in August.
When, on the last ball of the 18th over, Asif Ali refused to take a single, rather than adding a run to Pakistan’s score with the required run rate almost touching the 12-run mark, it was obvious that he was confident enough in his abilities to take his team over the line. Or so it seemed. Two nights before, his quickfire cameo had helped Pakistan cruise to victory in a grudge match against New Zealand. Against Afghanistan, he picked up from where he had left off against New Zealand and pulled it off with aplomb to ensure that Pakistan’s record in this tournament remains unsullied.
Heretofore, Asif’s selection in the World Cup squad drew a massive outcry. Many were of the view that he lacked the tools to translate his domestic exploits to the international stage and gratuitously touted him as a tulla, laparoo and fraudiya even though he had shown glimpses of his hard-hitting prowess multiple times for his PSL side. An average of 16 and strike rate below 125 – Asif’s sorry set of batting stats in T20Is prior to the tournament – are without a doubt dismal and not remotely redolent of someone who can thrive at the highest level. Steadfastly determined to prove that he is not a flash in the pan, Asif navigated the choppy waters and chose the biggest stage to rehabilitate himself.
In both the matches, Asif strode out to the middle in unnerving and high-pressure situations. When he walked out to bat against New Zealand in the 15th over, Pakistan was teetering at 87 for 5 in pursuit of 135 and the required run-rate had shot past nine an over. After kicking off his World Cup campaign with a four-off Trent Boult over the third man region, he took a liking to Tim Southee and whacked him for back-to-back sixes before pulling Trent Boult for a maximum and scoring a brace off him to clinch Pakistan’s second win in the tournament.
Against Afghanistan, when he came to bat, his side was 122 for 4 and the required run rate had crept up to more than eight with 26 runs required from the last three overs. Asif, however, only needed seven balls to get the job done. After opening his account with a single off Naveen-ul-Haq, he mercilessly dispatched seamer Karim Janat for four majestic maximums in an over to maintain Pakistan’s perfect record in the tournament. Fittingly, it was his bat from which the winning runs flowed in both the games.
To put into context how good Asif’s six-hitting has been and how hard sixes are to come by in this tournament, take a look at this stat: Asif took 19 deliveries for these seven sixes. On the other hand, Indian batsmen took 250 balls for seven sixes, New Zealand batsmen took 240 balls for seven sixes while West Indian batsmen took 147 balls to hit seven sixes.
More crucially, none of the seven sixes Asif struck against Afghanistan or New Zealand were mishits or mis-timed slogs. His pyrotechnics featured meaty blows over long-off, midwicket, extra cover and wide long-on — an indicator of his expansive hitting arc.
Although Pakistan has got world number one and world number 4 T20I batters at the top of the order, they need someone who can put the finishing touches and up the ante down the order. At the biggest stage, Asif has advertised his credentials, repaid the faith of those who had faith in him, and made a telling statement that Pakistan have found the right man in him to do that job.
Pakistani officials have reached a temporary understanding with the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) to seek a broader peace agreement to end nearly two decades of militancy in the country, reports Dawn.
The news report reveals that the “direct, face-to-face” talks between the two sides being held in Afghanistan’s south-western Khost province for nearly two weeks had resulted in a tentative understanding to declare a countrywide truce, conditional to the release of some TTP foot soldiers as part of confidence-building measures.
It was not confirmed as to how many militants in Pakistan’s custody would be allowed to go free, but sources said the number was not more than two dozen people. “These are foot soldiers, not senior or mid-level commanders,” the sources said. “We are testing the ground. We are cautious,” they added.
“The truce will come into effect once the prisoners are released,” these sources said.
“The tentative month-long truce shall be extendable, depending on how these negotiations go forward,” a source said.
Following an investigation, a Pentagon inspector general said that a United States (US) airstrike that killed 10 civilians in Afghanistan was a mistake but did not violate any laws and doesn’t recommend any disciplinary action, reported Al Jazeera.
US Air Force Lieutenant General (Lt Gen) Sami Said stated: “They all have a genuine belief based on the information they had and the interpretation, that was a threat to US forces, an imminent threat to US forces. That’s a mistake. It’s a regrettable mistake. It’s an honest mistake. I understand the consequences, but it’s not criminal conduct, random conduct, negligence.”
Lt Gen Said admitted that there had been execution errors and communication breakdowns among the US forces at the time that led to civilian casualties.
Said was asked to investigate the August 29 drone strike on a white Toyota Corolla Sedan, which killed nine family members, including seven children and a man who worked for a US aid group.
According to the US air force general, the forces believed that the car they were following was an imminent threat as the US military had intelligence that Daesh militants were planning a fresh attack on the evacuation operations but they followed the wrong car.
He revealed, “We actually never ended up tracking the actual Toyota Corolla.”
He also admitted that the people involved in conducting the operation thought the house at the site of the target was empty.
“They were convinced that the compound didn’t have children in it. It turns out to be wrong,” he said. None of the individuals conducting the operation noticed a child entering the target area just two minutes before the attack was launched.
According toDawn, Washington is working to pay financial reparations to the victims’ families but nothing has been finalised.
Former Pakistan captains Waqar Younis and Wasim Akram were critical of suggestions on social media of match-fixing during the India-Afghanistan clash. The pace bowling duo dismissed the claims as ‘conspiracy theories’.
After two back-to-back defeats, India finally registered a victory in the T20 World Cup with a comprehensive 66-run win over Afghanistan. However, while most of the cricketing fraternity praised India’s dominant performance, some users on social media started a viral trend alleging the match was fixed and India ‘paid’ well.
Reacting to the trends, Akram said on A Sports, “I don’t know why we like to create such conspiracy theories? India are a very good team. They just had couple of bad days at the start of the tournament.”
Waqar echoed the sentiment saying, “It’s a pointless thing to say and people should not give it much attention.”
After losing the toss and being asked to bat first, India scored 210 for two in their must-win Super 12 game. This is so far the highest score of this World Cup and the only time a team crossed the 200-run mark in what has been a low-scoring tournament.
Soon after Indian batting ended in the first half of India vs Afghanistan match of T20 World Cup Super 12 stage, Twitter was flooded with reactions on Afghanistan’s performance.
Taking to Twitter, many users were disappointed by the bowling figures of the Afghan team. Some tweeted that the match is fixed, while others said that the Indian team paid well to the Afghans.
Many notables took to Twitter to express their displeasure with the Afghan team.
@ACBofficials has demonstrated a certain consistent play & demeanor on the field in all previous matches which seemed missing today. An observation on fielding attitude is not the same as speculating fixing/cheating ♀️ Lets not go as far as doubting the integrity of the sport.
However, many chided those who believed in such conspiracy theories.
Pakistan cricket sphere unsure of where to put the usual conspiracy, hidden game, fixing waghera narratives so pumping it out first chance it got today.
How racist do Pakistanis have to be to claim that the Afghan team whose pride and courage we’ve been praising up till now have suddenly ‘sold out for money’ rather than just admit that India is simply playing really well? #INDvsAFG
And they will do this in front of multiple cameras and mics? Bro, ab itnee bhee andhee nahee machee, it was Nabi telling Virat about decision and Virat saying okay. https://t.co/djrAbEut3K
KL Rahul and Rohit Sharma put together India’s biggest opening stand at T20 World Cups. Hardik Pandya and Rishabh Pant then provided India the finishing kick with a 63-run partnership in the last 3.3 overs. Having put such a high total, India’s bowling was too good for Afghanistan, keeping them to 144, moving into positives on the net-run-rate.
Meanwhile, Afghanistan’s net-run-rate dropped from 3.1 to 1.481. India has played three matches and their current NRR is 0.073. Their next matches are against Scotland and Namibia.
United States (US) Secretary of State Antony Blinken has said that the former Afghan President Ashraf Ghani promised to fight till death but when the Taliban came, he fled, reports Dawn.
In a show, Blinken was asked if he had personally tried to persuade Ghani to stay in Kabul. To which he replied that he was on the phone with the former President on the night of August 14 (a day before the Taliban’s takeover of Kabul). Blinken said that he was pressing him to accept a plan for transferring power to a new government.
Secretary Blinken said that Ghani told him that, “he was prepared to do that, but if the Taliban wouldn’t go along, he was ready to fight till death. And the very next day, he fled Afghanistan.”
This government would have been “led by the Taliban but would have included all aspects of the Afghan society,” he added while answering the question.
Blinken claimed that he had engaged with the former President Ghani over many weeks and months.
Former Indian spinner Harbhajan Singh, England’s Ben Stokes and West Indian Carlos Brathwaite were all praises for batter Asif Ali after he led Pakistan to victory in the closely fought match against Afghanistan in the Super 12 stage of the T20 World Cup.
Taking to Twitter, Singh said: “Asif Ali showed a lot of confidence by refusing the single on the last ball and finishing it in style by hitting those four big sixes in the next over.”
“Clean and powerful hitter.”
Asif Ali showed lot of confidence by refusing single on the last ball and finishing it in style by hitting those four big 6 in the next over .. clean and powerful hitter #AFGvPAK#T20WorldCup@StarSportsIndia
Asif smashed four sixes in the penultimate over to help Pakistan achieve a hard-fought five-wicket win over the Afghan side.
With Pakistan needing 24 runs off the final two overs, Asif lifted paceman Karim Janat’s first, third, fifth, and sixth balls over the boundary to help Pakistan overhaul a tricky 148-run target.
Babar Azam also took to his social media and praised the team for a combined team effort. While the skipper also lauded Asif for “the awesome finish” from him and called his performance “cherry on the top”.
Alhumdulillah, 3/3!
Afghanistan fought well. A brilliant display of bowling from our team, especially Shaheen Shah Afridi and Imad. Fakhar was just remarkable and the awesome finish from Asif Ali was indeed the cherry on top. All eyes set on the next one! #WhyNotMeriJaanpic.twitter.com/u13FKuAKxP
Afghanistan scored a fighting 147-6 in their 20 overs with Gulbadin Naib and skipper Mohammad Nabi each scoring 35. With Asif’s help, Pakistan finished the match in the 19th over.
