DIMITAR DILKOFF/AFP via Getty Images
9 Jul 2021
A delegation of the Taliban terror group met with representatives of the Russian foreign ministry in Moscow, where one delegate claimed the Taliban currently controls about “85 percent of Afghanistan’s territory,” Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported Friday.
The Taliban, a jihadist terror group based in Afghanistan, controls roughly “85 percent of Afghanistan’s territory,” Taliban delegate Shahabuddin Delawar told reporters, as quoted by AFP.
Members of the Taliban delegation specifically claimed to hold sway over “about 250 of Afghanistan’s nearly 400 districts,” according to AFP. The French news agency noted the Taliban’s assertion was “impossible to independently verify and disputed by the government,” referring to Afghanistan’s internationally recognized government based in Kabul.
Moldova’s Parliamentary Elections May Produce a Sea Change (Part Two)
Publication: Eurasia Daily Monitor Volume: 18 Issue: 109
The Electoral Bloc of Communists and Socialists (BECS) would probably nominate Igor Dodon (Moldova’s president in 2016–2020) as the next prime minister, if BECS wins the snap parliamentary elections, scheduled to take place on Sunday, July 11. Dodon’s Socialist Party has taken on board former president (2001–2009) Vladimir Voronin with his moribund Communist Party, which could not hope to pass the threshold on its own. Dodon had left the Communist Party in 2011, carried most of its electorate with him into the Socialist Party, and has been denounced as “traitor” and worse by Voronin in the last ten years. Nevertheless, Dodon invited Voronin’s Communists into this bloc, yielding to Voronin’s conditions (e.g., the first spot on the ticket), in return for the few residual Communist votes. This move reflects the Socialists’ fear of losing th
NATO-Georgia: A Pause in the Integration Process?
Publication: Eurasia Daily Monitor Volume: 18 Issue: 109
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg and the President of Georgia Salome Zourabichvili (Source: NATO)
In early July, James Appathurai, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s (NATO) special representative for the Caucasus and Central Asia, held a series of top-level meetings in Georgia.
The Georgian authorities greeted their guest from Brussels warmly and with much fanfare. President Salome Zurabishvili awarded Appathurai with the Order of the Golden Fleece for his special contribution to strengthening NATO-Georgian relations and his support for Georgia’s sovereignty and territorial integrity (Civil.ge, July 3). Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili tweeted that he and the NATO envoy discussed Tbilisi’s cooperation with the Alliance, Black Sea security, as well as Georgia’s significant achievements along its Euro-Atlantic path and the need to move forward on the p
Taliban terrorists are now thought to control about a third of Afghanistan. (File)
Washington:
The US has said that regional consensus and support for an Afghan-led and Afghan-owned peace process is important for an enduring peace, stressing that Afghanistan s neighbours and countries in the region have a real stake in the war-torn nation s future.
The comments came on Friday, hours after US Secretary of State Antony Blinken had a telephonic conversation with his Pakistan counterpart Shah Mahmood Qureshi, amidst a rapid withdrawal of American and North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) troops from Afghanistan.
During the call, Blinken underscored the importance of continued bilateral cooperation between the US and Pakistan.
Daily Times
July 10, 2021
Amid the rapidly deteriorating security situation in Afghanistan, U.S. officials in Kabul are developing plans to reduce the large contingent of contractors and other personnel at the massive U.S. Embassy complex, The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported Saturday.
Citing embassy officials and contractors, the newspaper said in a dispatch from Kabul that State Department officials are undertaking an intensive look at the number of staffers at the embassy, which houses roughly 4,000 diplomats, contractors and other staff, including about 1,400 Americans. The review is expected to result in a significant reduction of the thousands of Afghan and American contractors as well as those from other countries, the newspaper said, citing officials. Meanwhile, the Pentagon’s top spokesperson Friday acknowledged a “deteriorating security situation” in Afghanistan amid claims from the Taliban that the insurgent group now controls a large majority of the country.