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Afghanistan - Not a political thread: Potential large public health threat as government falls - August 15, 2021 - population total is approx. 38 mill

sharon sanders

sharon sanders

Editor-in-Chief & President
15 Aug 2021

The Taliban have taken control of Afghanistan’s Jalalabad without a fight, according to officials and a resident, effectively leaving the capital Kabul as the last major urban area under government control.

The key eastern city, which is also the capital of Nangarhar province, fell early on Sunday morning. It’s capture followed the Taliban’s seizure of the major northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif.

more..

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021...fghanistans-jalalabad-cut-off-kabul-from-east

----------------------------------------

Apparently some governors handed their areas over to government opposition forces to avoid mass casualties of civilians.
 
Apparently the government has fallen. The population of Afghanistan is 38 million. There are rumors that the COVID-19 vaccines will be banned. I can not verify this.

Afghan President Said to Have Fled as Taliban Enter Kabul

snip

With rumors rife and reliable information hard to come by, the streets were filled during the day with scenes of panic and desperation.

“Greetings, the Taliban have reached the city. We are escaping,” said Sahraa Karimi, the head of Afghan Film, in a post shared widely on Facebook. Filming herself as she fled on foot, out of breath and clutching at her headscarf, she shouted at others to escape while the could.

“Hey woman, girl, don’t go that way,” she called out. “Some people don’t know what is going on,” she went on. “Where are you going? Go quickly.”

https://www.nytimes.com/live/2021/08...ghanistan-news
 
Security Alert – U. S. Embassy Kabul, Afghanistan


Home | News & Events | Security Alert – U. S. Embassy Kabul, AfghanistanLocation: Kabul

Event: The security situation in Kabul is changing quickly including at the airport. There are reports of the airport taking fire; therefore we are instructing U.S. citizens to shelter in place.

U.S. citizens wanting assistance in departing the country should register for any option that might be identified to return to the United States, and must complete thisRepatriation Assistance Request for each traveler in their group. Spouses and minor children of U.S. citizens in Afghanistan who are awaiting immigrant visas should also complete this form if they wish to depart. Please do so as soon as possible. You must complete this form even if you’ve previously submitted your information to the U.S. Embassy in Kabul. Do not call the U.S. Embassy in Kabul for details or updates about the flight. This form is the only way to communicate interest in flight options.

Assistance:


By U.S. Embassy in Kabul | 15 August, 2021 | Topics: Alert

https://af.usembassy.gov/security-alert-u-s-embassy-kabul-afghanistan-15/
 
Truly wonderful, Kafka could not have done better.
The place is falling under assault and the Embassy staff is evacuating, but '
U.S. citizens wanting assistance in departing the country should register for any option that might be identified to return to the United States, and must complete this Repatriation Assistance Request for each traveler in their group. '
 
Doubt the Taliban will be interested in eradicating polio or improving the lot of women or preservation of ancient monuments....never mind Covid. A tragedy that has implications for all of humanity.
 
The bill along with the benefits belong to China now.

https://jamestown.org/program/chinas-deepening-diplomatic-and-economic-engagement-in-afghanistan/
China’s Deepening Diplomatic and Economic Engagement in Afghanistan
Publication: China Brief Volume: 20 Issue: 6
By: Syed Fazl-e Haider
April 1, 2020 03:41 PM Age: 1 year

...
As the U.S plans to draw down its forces in Afghanistan—a key element of the February 29 deal—China is set to further deepen its involvement in Afghanistan (Nikkei Asian Review, January 14, 2019). Beijing wishes to achieve at least two key objectives. First, it wants once and for all to block any contact between the Taliban and ethnic Uighur Muslim militants seeking independence from China (China Brief, April 24, 2019). Second, the PRC wants long-term stability in Afghanistan in order to extend the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC)—the flagship project of China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI)—to the war-wracked country. Beijing sees Afghanistan as a primary link between the Central Asian republics and the CPEC (China Brief, December 10, 2019). To achieve its objectives, Beijing has pursued positive engagement with the Taliban movement that controls more than half of Afghanistan’s territory. These ties have increased over the past couple of years: for example, in 2019 Taliban representatives paid at least two visits to Beijing (in June and September) for talks with PRC officials (CGTN, June 20, 2019; Al-Jazeera, September 23, 2019)...

https://thekabultimes.gov.af/how-does-the-taliban-make-money/
How does the Taliban make money?
August 15, 2021

...
According to the most recent data from the World Bank, the Afghan government spent $11 billion in 2018, of which 80% came from foreign aid.
...
As for potentially losing out on billions of dollars in foreign aid, Levitt said the Taliban could survive that.
The country as a whole, “not so much,” he added. “But that’s not their [the Taliban’s] goal post.”...
 
Possible stampede at airport reported as people try to escape.



Al Jazeera English

@AJEnglish
Replying to
@AJEnglish
At least 5 people killed in Kabul airport as hundreds of people tried to forcibly enter planes leaving the Afghan capital, witnesses tell news media. One witness said it's unclear whether victims were killed by gunshots or in a stampede.
 
I am really having a hard time staying within our guidelines on this thread. There are pictures of at least one person dropping off a departing airplane. There is some news that Germany wants to get about 10k people out in the midst of this chaos. Not to mention the fate of people left behind.....

I think we are witnessing a huge & preventable public health debacle developing. I am just sick about it.
 
I just want to say that regular US citizens have no power to change anything that our government does. We sit in horror and watch along with the rest of the world.

What is going on right now as the US abruptly departs Afghanistan is a perfect example why the typical US citizen does not believe anything that our government says to us. You want to know why people are vaccine resistant despite data that shows deaths are decreased?

No faith.
 
Afghanistan: International community must act decisively to avert further tragedy

16 August 2021, 13:35 UTC

Responding to the collapse of the Afghan government following the seizure of power by the Taliban and the chaotic scenes at Kabul airport as thousands of people attempt to leave the country, Agnes Callamard, Amnesty International’s Secretary General, said:

“What we are witnessing in Afghanistan is a tragedy that should have been foreseen and averted. It will only be compounded further without swift and decisive action from the international community. Thousands of Afghans at serious risk of Taliban reprisals - from academics and journalists to civil society activists and women human rights defenders - are in danger of being abandoned to a deeply uncertain future.

“Foreign governments must take every necessary measure to ensure the safe passage out of Afghanistan for all those at risk of being targeted by the Taliban. This includes expediting visas, delivering support for evacuations from Kabul airport, providing relocation and resettlement, and suspending all deportations and forced returns. We urge the US to provide continued security at the airport while evacuations are ongoing.

more..

https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/ne...rther-tragedy/
 
The US should have been out of Afghanistan many years ago, but the manner of this departure, without protecting as many Afghans as possible, is unforgivable.


Reported by CNN -


23 min ago

Americans in Kabul, should "shelter," and avoid the airport, State Department spokesperson says


From CNN's Josiah Ryan



Americans remaining in Kabul should not travel to the airport, which is under the control of US military forces, but instead "shelter" and wait for further instructions, State Department spokesperson Ned Price said this afternoon.

"The situation is evolving quickly, and we will communicate information to US citizens as rapidly as possible," said Price, speaking from the State Department this afternoon. "We are asking US citizens to shelter and not to travel to the airport until they hear otherwise from the Department of State," he continued.

more...

https://www.cnn.com/world/live-news/afghanistan-taliban-us-news-08-16-21/index.html
 
President Macron pledges 'robust, coordinated and united' European response to stop waves of Afghan migrants heading to the West and says Taliban territories cannot become 'sanctuary for terrorists'

PUBLISHED: 16:57 EDT, 16 August 2021 | UPDATED: 18:17 EDT, 16 August 2021
By PETER ALLEN IN PARIS and JACK WRIGHT
  • Emmanuel Macron has vowed a 'robust, coordinated and united' European response to Afghanistan crisis
  • French President has pledged effort to stop waves of Afghan migrants fleeing Taliban heading to the West
  • He warned that Afghanistan is on course to become 'sanctuary' for terrorists and people-smugglers
  • 'This is key for international security and peace,' Macron said from presidential summer residence Monday
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/ar...-stop-waves-Afghan-migrants-heading-West.html
 
Plans underway to house Afghan refugees at military bases in the US

August 16, 2021 10:28am

By Mark Moore

​The Department of Defense is preparing to house thousands of Afghan refugees on military bases in the US as the Biden administration scrambles to evacuate the Special Immigrant Visa applicants amid the Taliban’s​ ​rapid takeover of Afghanistan, according to reports.

Up to 30,000 Afghans who worked with the US military over the 20-year war would be relocated to military bases in Wisconsin and Texas, according to a statement from the Defense and State departments, Fox News reported.

“The situation in Afghanistan may lead to DoS [Department of State] allowing Afghan SIV applicants to be moved to temporary housing locations while still being vetted for parolee status,” a Defense Department document says, according to the report.

https://nypost.com/2021/08/16/plans-underway-to-house-afghan-refugees-at-us-military-bases/
 
2021 is not 2001. A lot has changed in the world since the Taliban were last in power. The Arab Spring has happened, and there are democracies across the Islamic world. China, Afghanistan's wealthiest neighbor, has boomed economically, but has also put a million Muslims in camps. The Arab gulf states have made a tentative peace with Israel. International terrorism has been exposed as a much greater threat than anyone knew back then. Social media has been invented, giving immediate international audience to the targets of oppression. And perhaps most importantly here, generations of Afghan women have been educated both domestically and in the West.

If the Taliban tries to run the country the way they did in the 1990s, they will fail miserably. I think they know this. Taliban 2.0 will have to be at least a little more accommodating than the original version. Attempting to run Afghanistan as if it was still 1999 will probably lead to another war, perhaps within weeks or months, even if it does not include the United States this time.

It should be interesting to see the differences and whether they are enough to avert this catastrophe.
 
The Chinese are eager to help develop Afghanistan, but their price is that the Taliban ignore the Uighur issue.
So we'll know pretty quickly whether the Taliban have evolved.
 
A VFW Message to Veterans in the Wake of Recent Events in Afghanistan

The following is a message from VFW National Commander Fritz Mihelcic

August 16, 2021

With the recent turn of events in Afghanistan, the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) wants the veterans of the war in Afghanistan to know we stand with you. Scores of VFW members know the anger, frustration, and sadness you are experiencing after hearing the troubling reports and seeing the disturbing images coming from lands where we sacrificed so much. From the fall of Saigon in Vietnam, to the withdraw from Somalia after the battle of Mogadishu, to the ISIS take-over of Fallujah, Ramadi, Mosul, and Tikrit, far too many of us have experienced the heavy burden of loss, disappointment, and helplessness our newest generations of veterans may be feeling watching the Taliban return to power.

However, while there is bitter sentiment over this withdrawal, we encourage you to hold your head high. Because of your vigilance, hard work, and selfless sacrifice, you dealt a tremendous blow to Al-Qaeda, taking out its leader Osama Bin Laden, and disrupting its ability to plan and execute another major attack on American soil since September 11, 2001. You who served in Afghanistan with honor, valor, and distinction, our nation owes you a tremendous debt of gratitude for the past twenty years of relative safety and security. Your service was not in vain.

While we continue to watch events unfold in Afghanistan, we remind our brothers and sisters that we are beside you, arm-in-arm, ready to support you. You are not alone.

Please know that through the Department of Veterans Affairs, the VFW, and other non-profit organizations, there are people you or a battle buddy can talk to and resources available to help cope with the stress of the situation.

http://www.vfw.org/media-and-events...s-in-the-wake-of-recent-events-in-afghanistan
 
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