Tag: Joe Biden

  • Top U.S. commander in Afghanistan says steps to end military mission launched

    Top U.S. commander in Afghanistan says steps to end military mission launched

    The commander of foreign forces in Afghanistan, U.S. Army General Scott Miller, on Sunday said an orderly withdrawal of foreign forces and the handing over of military bases and equipment to the Afghan forces had begun.

    Miller said he was acting on orders based on U.S. President Joe Biden’s decision to end America’s longest war, deeming the prolonged and intractable battle in Afghanistan no longer aligned with American priorities.

    Earlier this month Biden said he would withdraw troops from Afghanistan before Sept. 11, the 20th anniversary of the militant attacks on the World Trade Centre and the Pentagon that launched the Afghan war.

    Miller, who has been commanding the U.S. forces and the NATO Resolute Support Mission in Afghanistan in their fight against the Taliban and other Islamist militant groups since 2018, said foreign forces will continue to have “the military means and capability to fully protect themselves during the ongoing retrograde and will support the Afghan security forces.”

    “I’ve had the opportunity to talk to Taliban members with the Taliban Political Commission, and I’ve told them a return to violence, an effort to force a military decision, would be a tragedy for Afghanistan and the Afghan people,” Miller told reporters in the capital Kabul.

    The Taliban ruled Afghanistan from 1996 to 2001, when they were ousted by U.S.-led forces. Since then they have waged a long-running insurgency and now control wide swathes of territory.

    Security experts in recent weeks said they doubt if the Taliban will allow U.S. forces, whom they call invaders, to peacefully exit the country at a time when clashes between the Afghan forces and the Taliban have not ebbed.

    Foreign force withdrawal is slated to begin on May 1, in line with an agreement with the Taliban in 2020.

    “As we retrograde to zero U.S. forces, we will turn over the (military) bases primarily to the (Afghan) Ministry of Defense and other Afghan forces,” Miller said adding that the Taliban have committed to break their relationship with al Qaeda, the Islamist extremist group.

    The Taliban government’s sheltering of Al-Qaeda was the key reason for the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan after the September 2001 attacks.

    A United Nations report in January said there were as many as 500 al Qaeda fighters in Afghanistan and that the Taliban maintained a close relationship with them. The Taliban denies al Qaeda presence in Afghanistan.

  • George Floyd murder trial: former police officer found guilty

    The murder of a 46-year-old African-American man, George Floyd, on May 25, 2020 led to violent protests across the United States (US) last year. Floyd was killed after a white Minneapolis police officer pinned him down with his knee. A video of the gruesome incident shows how Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin pinned Floyd to the pavement with his knee on Floyd’s neck for several minutes.

    Today, a jury found Chauvin guilty on all three counts: charges of second-degree murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter.

    US President Joe Biden and US Vice-President Kamala Harris spoke with Floyd’s family immediately after the verdict. “At least now there is some justice,” Biden was heard saying. “We’ve been watching every second of this. We are all so relieved.”

    Biden thanked the “young woman with a smartphone camera” who filmed George Floyd’s death. He also thanked the police officers who testified against Chauvin “instead of just closing ranks”.

    Biden said Floyd’s murder “ripped the blinders off for the whole world to see on systemic racism”.

    Former President Barack Obama tweeted that the “jury did the right thing”. He added: “Michelle and I send our prayers to the Floyd family, and we stand with all those who are committed to guaranteeing every American the full measure of justice that George and so many others have been denied.”

    Floyd’s family celebrated the verdict. “Justice for George means freedom for all,” said his brother Philonise Floyd.

    https://twitter.com/ABC/status/1384621697723207686

    George Floyd told the police officers “I can’t breathe” more than 20 times according to the transcripts of the minutes leading up to his death revealed. Floyd’s words have become a rallying cry against racism around the world.

  • Pakistani-American likely to become first Muslim federal district judge

    Pakistani-American likely to become first Muslim federal district judge

    A Pakistani-American has been nominated by President Joe Biden for the position of a federal judge on the United States (US) District Court for New Jersey.

    If confirmed, Zahid Quraishi will be the first Muslim American to serve as a federal district judge.

    Hailing from New Jersey, Quraishi was ppointed in 2019 to be a magistrate judge in the District of New Jersey by the judges he now seeks to join on the bench.

    He is of Pakistani descent and got his law degree from Rutgers Law School, where he currently serves as an adjunct professor.

    An army veteran, Quraishi was a military prosecutor with the JAG Corps and did deployments in Iraq in 2004 and 2006, according to his Rutgers bio page.

    He later worked with the Department of Homeland Security then served as a federal prosecutor in the District of New Jersey.

  • VIDEO: US President Joe Biden stumbles twice while boarding Air Force One

    President of the United States of America Joe Biden stumbled three times while climbing the stairs to board Air Force One. The video of him losing his footing is being widely shared on social media.

    Boarding a flight to Atlanta, where he was to speak to the Asian-American community about a shooting there earlier this week, Biden stumbled slightly about halfway up the 25 or so stairs, recovered, then stumbled again and briefly went down on one knee, according to video footage.

    The president appeared to rub his left knee before getting back up, then completed the stairs at a slower pace. He stopped at the top of the stairs, turned around and offered a crisp salute.

    Following the incident, Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told White House reporters that the president was “doing fine” after the fall.

    “It was very windy. I almost fell coming up the steps myself. He is doing 100 percent,” she told reporters.

    “He’s doing fine. He’s preparing for the trip just fine,” she added.

    Biden’s stumbling has raised concerns about the 78-year-old President’s health, was the oldest person ever to assume the presidency. In late November, Biden suffered a hairline fracture in his right foot while playing with one of his dogs.

    In November 2020, Biden won an extremely close US election battle against former president Donald Trump. He was sworn in as the 46th President of the United States in January 2021.

  • Biden nominates Pakistani-American as Deputy Administrator of Small Business Administration

    Biden nominates Pakistani-American as Deputy Administrator of Small Business Administration

    President of the United State (US) Joe Biden has nominated Dilawar Syed to serve as the Deputy Administrator of the Small Business Administration (SBA).

    Sharing the news on social media, the Pakistani-American said that he is humbled and honoured by President Biden’s nomination.

    “If confirmed by the US Senate, I will put my heart and soul into helping small businesses everywhere in these challenging times. Their grit makes America strong,” wrote Syed.

    Syed is currently serving as the President and Chief Executive Officer of Lumiata, an artificial intelligence (AI) for a healthcare company that is focused on reducing healthcare costs and improving outcomes of medical processes.

    “Syed has driven civic efforts at the federal, state, and local level focusing on economic growth and entrepreneurship,” read a statement by the White House.

    Syed immigrated to the US from Pakistan as a freshman student to attend The College of Wooster in Ohio. He holds an MBA from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and earned a B.A. in Economics and Computer Science from The University of Texas at Austin.

  • MBS off the hook: US to impose sanctions, visa bans on Saudis over Khashoggi’s killing

    MBS off the hook: US to impose sanctions, visa bans on Saudis over Khashoggi’s killing

    The Biden administration will announce sanctions and visa bans on Friday targeting Saudi Arabian citizens over the 2018 killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, but it will not impose sanctions on Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, US officials said.

    US President Joe Biden’s actions in the first weeks of his administration appear aimed at fulfilling campaign promises to realign Saudi ties after critics accused his predecessor, Donald Trump, of giving the Arab ally and major oil producer a pass on gross human rights violations.

    A senior Biden administration official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the approach aims to create a new launching-off point for ties with the kingdom without breaking a core relationship in the Middle East. Relations have been severely strained for years by the war in Yemen and the killing inside a Saudi consulate of Khashoggi, a US resident who wrote columns for the Washington Post.

    Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman approved of an operation to capture or kill dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi, according to a declassified US intelligence assessment released on Friday in a manner choreographed to limit damage to US-Saudi ties.

    “We assess that Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman approved an operation in Istanbul, Turkey to capture or kill Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi,” the US Office of the Director of National Intelligence said in the report posted on its website.

    Importantly, the decisions appear designed to preserve a working relationship with the crown prince, even though US intelligence concluded that he approved the operation to capture or kill Khashoggi.

    “The aim is a recalibration (in ties) — not a rupture. That’s because of the important interests that we do share,” the senior Biden administration official said.

    The 59-year old Khashoggi was lured to the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on Oct 2, 2018 and killed by a team of operatives linked to the crown prince. They then dismembered his body. His remains have never been found.

    The US Treasury Department will place sanctions on the former deputy Saudi intelligence chief, Ahmed al-Asiri, and will announce a sanctions designation on the Saudi Royal Guard’s rapid intervention force, the administration official said.

    The rapid intervention force, or RIF, was singled out in the declassified US intelligence report for its role in Khashoggi’s killing.

    The United States will also announce visa restrictions against more than 70 Saudi citizens as part of a new policy aimed at nations that carry out activities against journalists and dissidents beyond their borders, a second Biden administration official said. Such activities include efforts to suppress, harass, surveil, threaten or harm them.

  • US report on Khashoggi killing expected to single out Saudi crown prince

    US report on Khashoggi killing expected to single out Saudi crown prince

    A declassified version of a US intelligence report expected to be released on Thursday finds that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman approved the 2018 killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, four US officials familiar with the matter said.

    The officials said the report, for which the CIA was the main contributor, assessed that the crown prince approved and likely ordered the murder of Khashoggi, whose Washington Post column had criticised the crown prince’s policies.

    President Joe Biden, a Democrat who succeeded the Republican Donald Trump five weeks ago, told reporters on Wednesday he had read the report and expected to speak soon by phone with Saudi Arabian King Salman, 85, father of the crown prince, the country’s 35-year-old de facto ruler.

    The report’s release is part of Biden’s policy to realign ties with Riyadh after years of giving the Arab ally and major oil producer a pass on its human rights record and its intervention in Yemen’s civil war.

    Biden is working to restore the relationship with Riyadh to traditional lines after four years of cozier ties under Trump.

    White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki told reporters on Wednesday Biden would only communicate with the Saudi king and said the declassified Khashoggi report was being readied for release soon.

    While Biden restricts his contacts to the king, others in the Biden administration are talking to Saudi officials at various levels.

    “We have been in touch with Saudi officials at numerous levels in the early weeks of this administration,” said State Department spokesman Ned Price.

    The 59-year old Khashoggi, a Saudi journalist and Washington Post columnist, was lured to the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on Oct. 2, 2018, and killed by a team of operatives linked to the crown prince. They then dismembered his body. His remains have never been found.

    Riyadh eventually admitted that Khashoggi was killed in a “rogue” extradition operation gone wrong, but it denied any involvement by the crown prince. Five men given the death penalty for the murder had their sentences commuted to 20 years in jail after being forgiven by Khashoggi’s family.

    In 2019, a UN human rights investigator, Agnes Callamard, accused Saudi Arabia of a “deliberate, premeditated execution” of Khashoggi and called for further investigation.

    “There is sufficient credible evidence regarding the responsibility of the crown prince demanding further investigation,” Callamard said after the six-month probe.

    A classified version of the report was shared with members of Congress in late 2018.

    But the Trump administration rejected demands by lawmakers and human rights groups to release a declassified version, seeking to preserve cooperation amid rising tensions with Riyadh’s regional rival, Iran, and promote US arms sales to the kingdom.

    Biden’s new director of national intelligence, Avril Haines, committed at her confirmation hearing to complying with a provision in a 2019 defense bill that required the Office of the Director of National Intelligence to release within 30 days a declassified report on Khashoggi’s murder.

    Biden pledged during the 2020 presidential campaign to reassess US-Saudi ties in part over Khashoggi’s murder. Since taking office, he has ended sales of offensive arms that Riyadh could use in Yemen and appointed a special envoy to boost diplomatic efforts to end that country’s grueling civil war.

  • ‘Saudi crown prince desperate for patchup with Pakistan while Imran, Gen Bajwa may have moved on,’ claims journalist

    ‘Saudi crown prince desperate for patchup with Pakistan while Imran, Gen Bajwa may have moved on,’ claims journalist

    Anchor Usama Ghazi, among other journalists with a presence on YouTube, has claimed that Saudi Arabia is desperate to improve ties with Pakistan as it needs to get closer to the new Biden administration in the United States (US); however, it seems that the civil and military leadership in Pakistan may have moved on.

    Islamabad recently returned $1 billion to Riyadh as the second instalment of a $3 billion soft loan, as the country reached out to Beijing for a commercial loan to help it offset pressure to repay the last $1 billion in January.

    “Now that Pakistan will no longer be under Saudi pressure but the Kingdom will be fearing missing out on a lot under a new US government; it is trying to improve relations with Pakistan that have suffered blows over the past few months,” Ghazi said in a YouTube video, citing Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s closeness with former US president Donald Trump as a major reason.

    He went on to claim that a new world was being formed with Pakistan, China, Russia, Turkey and even Iran if Biden’s US removes Trump-imposed sanctions on the country.

    WATCH VIDEO:

    “Saudi Arabia is regretting not outrightly supporting Pakistan on the Kashmir issue against India and seeking back the loan […] but now the ball is in Pakistan’s court,” he said and added that leadership in Pakistan was no longer under any burden. “They have appointed Bilal Akbar as the new envoy [to Saudi Arabia] and Gen (r) Raheel Sharif is already there.”

    While the journalist also mentioned the under-construction Iran–Pakistan gas pipeline and what impact would it have in the new world, it is relevant to note that Ghazi is not the only one to have come forward with such claims regarding alleged Saudi desperation for better ties with Pakistan.

    Senior journalist Irshad Bhatti had earlier claimed that the Saudi government has refused to let former convicted PM Nawaz Sharif, leading to speculations if it was an attempt to appease the Pakistani government.

  • ‘Retro Bernie’: Bernie Sanders memes flood internet after Biden inauguration

    ‘Retro Bernie’: Bernie Sanders memes flood internet after Biden inauguration

    The oath-taking ceremony of President Joe Biden, though a low-key affair due to the coronavirus and security concerns, was still a star-studded and historic event.

    Donald Trump finally out of the White House; the US getting its first Black-South Asian, woman vice president; and Jennifer Lopez and Lady Gaga mesmerising the crowds: the US citizens had more than one reason to celebrate. But this wasn’t the headline of the event, at least on the internet.

    Shortly after the ceremony, tons of memes featuring Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders — who was spotted sitting alone and bored (at least that’s how we see it) started flooding the internet. And we don’t want you to miss them!

    Bernie is friends with Deadpool?

    https://twitter.com/SethAbramson/status/1352116679816454145

    He’s least bothered by what’s happening at The Capitol

    When you like work from home too much

    Simba won’t be happy

    Bernie will be there for you…

    https://twitter.com/BernieMemes2021/status/1352184130910482433

    Bernie giving moral support to Raj and Simran

    Retro Bernie

  • Biden rolls back Trump policies on Muslims, climate, health

    Biden rolls back Trump policies on Muslims, climate, health

     US President Joe Biden signed 15 executive actions shortly after being sworn on Wednesday, undoing policies put in place by his Republican predecessor, Donald Trump, and making his first moves on the pandemic and climate change.

    Signing several actions in front of reporters in the Oval Office on Wednesday afternoon, Biden said there was “no time to waste” in issuing the executive orders, memorandums and directives.

    “Some of the executive actions I’m going to be signing today are going to help change the course of the COVID crisis, we’re going to combat climate change in a way that we haven’t done so far and advance racial equity and support other underserved communities” said Biden. “These are just all starting points”

    Aides said the actions the Democratic president signed included a mask mandate on federal property and for federal employees, an order to establish a new White House office coordinating the response to the coronavirus, and halting the process of withdrawing from the World Health Organization.

    Biden signed a document to begin the process of re-entering the Paris climate accord and issued a sweeping order tackling climate change, including revoking the presidential permit granted to the contentious Keystone XL oil pipeline.

    Among a raft of orders addressing immigration, Biden revoked Trump’s emergency declaration that helped fund the construction of a border wall and ended a travel ban on some majority-Muslim countries.

    The Day One plans were just the start of a flurry of executive actions Biden would take soon after entering office, said his press secretary, Jen Psaki.

    “In the coming days and weeks, we will be announcing additional executive actions that confront these challenges and deliver on the president-elect’s promises to the American people,” Psaki said.

    Further actions would include revoking the ban on military service by transgender Americans, and reversing a policy that blocks U.S. funding for programs overseas linked to abortion.

    On the economic front, Biden asked the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to extend a moratorium on evictions until the end of March, and the Department of Education to suspend student loan payments until the end of September.