Friday, April 30, 2021
Bilawal thanks people after PPP's victory in NA-249 by-poll
#Pakisatan - Former President Asif Ali Zardari’s May Day message
Former President Asif Ali Zardari in his message on the May Day has said that Pakistan Peoples Party will continue to protect the rights of workers.Asif Ali Zardari said that today workers, farmers and government employees are in extreme financial difficulties. The present selected government has usurped the rights of workers, employed in government industries including Pakistan Steel Mills, PIA and Railways and they are worried for their jobs. Asif Ali Zardari said that the founding chairman of the PPP, Quaid-e-Awam Shaheed Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto had given the workers the right to form unions so that the labour unions could collectively raise their voice for the rights of the workers.
Asif Zardari said that today farmers are worried because they are not getting return for their crops and labor. He said that Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto always raised her voice in favor of the workers. Zardari said that Rs. 25 billion had been set aside for the welfare of the workers, working in government enterprises, which has been stolen by the present government. He asked the workers not to allow anyone to usurp their institutions under the guise of privatization. Asif Zardari said that PPP will always be with the workers like in the past.
https://www.ppp.org.pk/pr/24708/
Protection of rights of labourers is a cornerstone of the PPP’s ideology, Chairman PPP
Articles 11, 17, 18, 25 and 37(e) prohibit all forms of bonded labour, child labour, allow freedom of association, grant rights to unionise, provide citizens with the right to enter any lawful profession or trade without any discrimination, and secure humane and reasonable working conditions, he added.
Bilawal Bhutto Zardari further pointed out that the first-ever comprehensive Labour Policy was also announced by Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto in 1972 and with the subsequent legislation the scope of labour laws was enhanced and benefits like increased trade union rights, minimum wages, profit-sharing, statutory bonus, group insurance scheme, group incentive scheme, etc. were guaranteed. The Zia dictatorship reversed many of these progressive incentives and undid many of the gains Pakistan had made in securing labour rights, he added.
He said that Prime Minister Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto continued the PPP’s legacy by restoring labour rights and expanding benefit programs for the labour class. The PPP government led by President Asif Ali Zardari furthered this mission by offering partnerships to labourers in the state companies under the Benazir Employee Stock Option Scheme. Labour colonies with thousands of houses for laborers were also constructed, he added.
Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said that the selected government has only unleashed unemployment and poverty as millions have been turned jobless and pushed below the poverty line during last two and a half years.
The PPP Chairman pledged that his Party would continue to strive for the rights of the labour and working classes and it wouldn’t allow the selected regime to usurp their rights without facing strong resistance.
https://www.ppp.org.pk/pr/24710/
Thursday, April 29, 2021
Wednesday, April 28, 2021
Can You Have Alcohol After the Covid Vaccine?
By Anahad O’Connor
Moderate drinking is unlikely to impair the immune response to the Covid vaccine, but heavy drinking might. After a long year and a lot of anticipation, getting the Covid-19 vaccine can be cause for celebration, which for some might mean pouring a drink and toasting to their new immunity. But can alcohol interfere with your immune response? The short answer is that it depends on how much you drink. There is no evidence that having a drink or two can render any of the current Covid vaccines less effective. Some studies have even found that over the longer term, small or moderate amounts of alcohol might actually benefit the immune system by reducing inflammation. Heavy alcohol consumption, on the other hand, particularly over the long term, can suppress the immune system and potentially interfere with your vaccine response, experts say. Since it can take weeks after a Covid shot for the body to generate protective levels of antibodies against the novel coronavirus, anything that interferes with the immune response would be cause for concern. “If you are truly a moderate drinker, then there’s no risk of having a drink around the time of your vaccine,” said Ilhem Messaoudi, director of the Center for Virus Research at the University of California, Irvine, who has conducted research on the effects of alcohol on the immune response. “But be very cognizant of what moderate drinking really means. It’s dangerous to drink large amounts of alcohol because the effects on all biological systems, including the immune system, are pretty severe and they occur pretty quickly after you get out of that moderate zone.” Moderate drinking is generally defined as no more than two drinks a day for men and a maximum of one drink a day for women, whereas heavy drinking is defined as four or more drinks on any day for men and three or more drinks for women. Keep in mind that one “standard” drink is considered five ounces of wine, 1.5 ounces of distilled spirits, or 12 ounces of beer. Some of the first concerns about alcohol and Covid vaccination began circulating after a Russian health official warned in December that people should avoid alcohol for two weeks before getting vaccinated and then abstain for another 42 days afterward. According to a Reuters report, the official claimed that alcohol could hamper the body’s ability to develop immunity against the novel coronavirus. Her warning sparked a fierce backlash in Russia, which has one of the world’s highest drinking rates. In the United States, some experts say they have heard similar concerns about whether it is safe to drink around the time of vaccination. “We’ve been getting a lot of questions from our patients about this,” said Dr. Angela Hewlett, an associate professor of infectious diseases who directs the Covid infectious diseases team at the University of Nebraska Medical Center. “Understandably, people who are receiving these vaccines want to make sure they’re doing all the right things to maximize their immune response.” Clinical trials of the Covid vaccines that are currently approved for use by the Food and Drug Administration did not specifically look at whether alcohol had any impact on the effectiveness of the vaccines, Dr. Hewlett said. It’s possible that there will be more information on that in the future. But for now, most of what is known comes from previous research, including studies that examined how alcohol affects the immune system in humans and whether it hinders the immune response in animals that received other vaccines. One thing that is clear from studies is that heavy alcohol consumption impairs the immune response and increases your susceptibility to bacterial and viral infections. It prevents immune cells from traveling to sites of infection and carrying out their duties, like destroying viruses, bacteria and infected cells; makes it easier for pathogens to invade your cells, and causes a host of other problems. In contrast, moderate drinking does not seem to have this effect. In one study, scientists exposed 391 people to five different respiratory viruses and found that moderate drinkers were less likely to develop colds, but not if they were smokers. In another study, Dr. Messaoudi and colleagues provided rhesus monkeys access to alcoholic beverages for seven months and then looked at how their bodies responded to a vaccine against poxvirus. Much like humans, some rhesus monkeys enjoy alcohol and will drink a lot, while others show less interest and will limit themselves to small amounts. The researchers found that the animals that were chronically heavy drinkers had a weak response to the vaccine. “They had almost a nonexistent immune response,” Dr. Messaoudi said. The animals that consumed only moderate amounts of alcohol, however, generated the strongest response to the vaccine, even compared to the teetotalers that consumed no alcohol at all. Studies in rats have found a similar pattern: Those consuming large amounts of alcohol have only a weak immune response to infections compared to animals given moderate amounts of alcohol or none at all. Other studies have found that when people drink moderately, it seems to lower inflammatory markers in their blood. Another reason to moderate your alcohol intake is that heavy drinking — along with the hangover that can ensue — can potentially amplify any side effects you might have from the Covid vaccine, including fever, malaise or body aches, and make you feel worse, said Dr. Hewlett of the University of Nebraska Medical Center. Dr. Hewlett chose not to drink after getting the Covid vaccine. But she said that people should feel free to imbibe so long as they drink within reason. “Having a glass of champagne probably won’t inhibit any immune response,” she said. “I think having a celebratory beverage in moderation is fine.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/27/well/eat/alcohol-covid-vaccine.html?action=click&module=At%20Home&pgtype=Homepage
Who is Qazi Isa, judge Pakistan SC gave relief to, the case against him and why it matters
Who is Qazi Isa
The Supreme Court of Pakistan Monday offered relief to Justice Qazi Faez Isa, who was accused of misconduct for allegedly failing to disclose information about his family’s foreign assets.
The SC allowed review petitions against the court’s earlier order that had directed an inquiry into the allegations made in a presidential reference against the top court judge in 2020. Justice Isa had been accused of not disclosing information about foreign properties owned by his family members in his wealth statement.
In June 2020, the court had asked the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) — a federal agency that investigates tax crimes in Pakistan — to probe the allegations against 61-year-old Justice Isa, who is in line to become the country’s Chief Justice in September 2023.
However, in a short order, a 10-judge bench vindicated the judge of all allegations Monday with a six-four majority verdict.
The allegations
Pakistan President Arif Alvi had filed a presidential reference against Justice Isa on May 2019 for allegedly concealing information about his properties in the UK.The reference noted that he had acquired three properties in London, between 2011 and 2015, on lease in the names of his wife and children but did not reveal this information in his wealth returns.The president had asked the Supreme Judicial Council (judicial body that hears cases against judges) to probe the judge on the matter.
However, Justice Isa contested the allegation and said that he was not a beneficial owner of the flats, either directly or indirectly.
2019 Faizabad judgment
According to Justice Isa, the Imran Khan government was conspiring to remove him from the Supreme Court for his controversial 2019 judgment on the Faizabad protests, which Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party had supported.
He had made the claim while presenting his arguments before the SC and had also said that he would fight “till the last drop of blood”.
This was echoed by several opposition leaders and lawyers as well.
The Opposition Pakistan People’s Party, in its official statement, said the PTI government’s attempt to “blackmail, intimidate and harass an honorable judge of the Supreme Court has failed”. It was an assault on the entire judiciary, said PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari.
Furthermore, Sindh High Court Bar (SHCB) Association President Salahuddin Ahmed said, “We had argued that the entire case against Justice Isa was a mala fide conspiracy to punish him for the Faizabad dharna judgment in which he exposed elements of the deep state and designed to intimidate and subjugate the judiciary”.
In February 2019, the Supreme Court and Isa in particular, had come under fire for passing a verdict that warned the military and intelligence agencies not to exceed their mandate by meddling in politics.
The Supreme Court was investigating the 2017 sit-in protests in Islamabad’s Faizabad, led by the Tehreek-e-Labbaik, a hardline Islamist group, which had paralysed the capital.
The protest had started after Tehreek-e-Labbaik chief Khadim Hussain Rizvi and his followers accused then law minister Zahid Hamid of blasphemy for changing the words of an oath taken by lawmakers. The minister later apologised for the same.
“The involvement of ISI and of the members of the Armed Forces in politics, media and other ‘unlawful activities’ should have stopped,” Justice Isa along with Justice Mushir Alam, had said in their verdict.
Justice Isa is the son of the late Qazi Muhammad Isa of Pishin, who was at the forefront of the Pakistan Movement and a close associate of the country’s founder Muhammad Ali Jinnah, and also helped establish the All India Muslim League in Balochistan.
Justice Isa took oath as a judge of the Supreme Court of Pakistan in 2014, after serving as the chief justice of the Balochistan High Court for five years.
https://theprint.in/go-to-pakistan/who-is-qazi-isa-the-judge-granted-relief-by-pakistan-sc-the-case-against-him/647621/
#Pakistan #PPP - Bilawal concerned over virus spread
PPP ‘s government is synonymous with food security
The prices of everything from fertilizers, seeds and pesticides to agricultural machinery, electricity have gone up by 150 per cent and an increase in wheat subsidy of Rs 1,800 is an injustice to farmers. Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari also said that the federal government wanted the purchasing price of wheat to be Rs. 1600 but when the PPP fought for the farmers, the federal government increased the price a little. He reminded the people that the federal government created two wheat crises in three years.
Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari sharply criticized Imran Khan’s government and said that it is a result of the poor plan of the PTI government that today only two to two and a half weeks of wheat stock is left in the country. If the crisis is not dealt with, the country may once again face a shortage of flour, he said, adding that the wheat crop landed in Punjab in May last year and more than 10 million tonnes of wheat disappeared in July in Punjab. Imran Khan should ask his friends how the artificial crisis was created by smuggling wheat to Afghanistan. Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said that it is a shame that Pakistan, a wheat producing country, is importing wheat from abroad today.
Chairman PPP said that one of the reasons for the devastation of the economy is that the ruler of the agricultural country of Pakistan is unfortunately not even familiar with the alphabets of the word ‘agriculture’. Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari referring to the self-sufficiency of wheat in the PPP government (2008-13), said that the PPP federal government had made the country a wheat exporting country in just one year. The PPP government had increased relief price by 47% in the first year and 52% in the second year.
https://www.ppp.org.pk/pr/24698/
Tuesday, April 27, 2021
Regrouping of militants is Pakistan’s biggest worry: US general
Gen Kenneth F. McKenzie Jr., Commander US Central Command (Centcom), warned at a recent Pentagon briefing that after the US withdrawal the biggest threat would be the regrouping of Al Qaeda and IS militants. The regrouping of terrorists like the militant Islamic State group and Al Qaeda would be a biggest concern for Pakistan, warned a top US general as the Pentagon started pulling out its troops from Afghanistan.
Gen Kenneth F. McKenzie Jr., Commander US Central Command (Centcom), warned at a recent Pentagon briefing that after the US withdrawal the biggest threat would be the regrouping of Al Qaeda and IS militants who “will be able to regenerate if pressure is not kept on them”. And “that’s very concerning to all the neighboring states, biggest concern to Pakistan,” he added. As head of Centcom Gen McKenzie is responsible for all US military activities in the Pak-Afghan region.
According to a transcript the Pentagon released this weekend, Gen McKenzie also said that his command and American diplomats were working with nations surrounding Afghanistan on agreements to base troops and aircraft for countering terrorists after the US pullout.
“That would be ultimately a decision made at the national level by the United States if we were to seek basing rights in those countries,” said the general when asked if internal politics in Pakistan and other states could prevent Washington from having military bases in the region. During the early phases of the 18-year war in Afghanistan, the United States flew drone missions out of Shamsi airfield in Balochistan.
Gen McKenzie said he was now figuring out how the US will be able to conduct counter-terrorism activities in the area without being in Afghanistan.
“I’m actually conducting detailed planning, by the direction of the secretary, to look at those options right now. I will report back to him by the end of the month with some alternatives,” he said.
The pullout, he said, did not “mean that the US will be at the mercy of groups like IS, Al Qaida or the Taliban if they want to create problems and threaten our interests”.
The Centcom chief also said that militants regrouping was not just a threat to the US or Pakistan. “It’s a concern of all the Central Asian states to the north. It is even of concern to Iran in the West, I believe. Everyone has a vested interest in a stable Afghanistan,” he said.
Meanwhile, several major media outlets reported on Sunday that the US military withdrawal from Afghanistan was “now underway with equipment being packed and shipped out”.
The reports claimed that the Pentagon had also approved the deployment of hundreds of maritime, air and land forces to the region to ensure security for American and Nato forces as well as contractors as they withdraw, the officials said.
Various media outlets reported that the Pentagon had also started winding down local contracts for services such as trash pickup and maintenance work. “There have been indications that the pullout could be completed well before Sept 11, which marks the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks that triggered the US invasion of Afghanistan,” reported The Military Times newspaper.
The newspaper reported that Germany’s Defence Ministry was also discussing a plan with the Nato-led Resolute Support Mission in Kabul for a possible withdrawal of international troops from Afghanistan as early as July 4.
https://www.dawn.com/news/1620448/regrouping-of-militants-is-pakistans-biggest-worry-us-general
Pakistan - PTI government’s attempt to blackmail, intimidate and harass an honourable judge of the SC has failed
The recent judgement on Justice Qazi Faez Isa’s review petition is a welcome development. The PTI government’s attempt to blackmail, intimidate and harass an honorable judge of the Supreme Court has failed. It was an assault on the entire judiciary. There must be accountability for those in the PTI government who were part of this conspiracy. The accountability process must start from the Prime Minister who initiated this reference with malafide intent of attacking the Supreme Court and attempted to send a message of fear to every independent judge in the country. Attacks on judiciary are hallmarks of dictatorships. President Arif Alvi acted as the Prime Minister’s accomplice in this illegal, unconstitutional attack and as result lost any moral right to continue in office he and should resign immediately. It has also been established that Shahzad Akbar and Farogh Nasim acted maliciously and in bad faith to threaten the judiciary and they should be immediately removed from their positions and an independent inquiry initiated against them. The entire episode is a scathing indictment of this government, its bullying tactics, and its disregard for rule of law.
The PPP has always been an unwavering advocate of a strong, independent judiciary and even when historically PPP has been a victim of judicial murder and unfair treatment for three generations. PPP has always stood by constitutional supremacy and has never resorted to intrigues against or attack on the judiciary. Rule of law and not rule of men is the cardinal principle of democracy and the PPP will always be in the frontline to defend judicial independence, constitutional supremacy, and democracy. The PPP demands that this government respects democratic norms and end its campaign of victimization of judiciary, political opposition, media and all critical and dissenting voices.
https://www.ppp.org.pk/pr/24692/
Friday, April 16, 2021
#Pakistan - No accountability and hungry masses
#Pakistan - Another ex-PPP man assigned task to fix economy
By Rizwan ShehzadPrime Minister Imran Khan on Friday appointed former PPP senator Shaukat Tarin as the country’s new finance minister in yet another cabinet reshuffle during the third year of the PTI-led government. Tarin, the second former PPP lawmaker picked as the finance minister, has replaced PTI’s recently appointed finance minister Hammad Azhar, who has now been given the portfolio of energy. Before Hammad’s short stint, PPP’s ex-financial czar Abdul Hafeez Shaikh served as the finance minister before being unceremoniously sacked in last month – that too when the prime minister had claimed the economy was on course to recovery. Though the premier has often blamed the previous governments – especially PPP and PML-N’s rule between 2008 and 2018 – for country’s economic crisis, it is surprising to see that he has chosen former lawmakers of the opposition party as rescuers. Both Tarin and Shaikh have served in the government of PPP’s ex-prime minister Yousuf Raza Gilani between 2009 and 2011. Since April 2019, when PTI stalwart Asad Umar was shown the door, frequent reshuffles have taken place against a backdrop of declining popularity of the ruling party because people have been expressing their disapproval with the government’s economic policies since it came to power in 2018. In other major changes, the prime minister has swapped the portfolios of science and information ministries between Fawad Chaudhry and Shibli Faraz. Fawad has been appointed the government’s spokesperson for the second time. Shibli, who served as the information minister before his term as a senator ended in March, has been given the portfolio of the science and technology ministry. In addition, PM Imran has appointed Khusro Bakhtiar the industries and production minister.His portfolio of economic affairs has been handed over to former energy minister Omar Ayub.Apart from Shibli and Hammad, all others have served in different capacities with the PPP, the PML-N and the PML-Q in the past.Though PM Imran has been envisaging a cabinet reshuffle before the Senate elections, no new faces from PTI have so far been given a chance to sit in the cabinet.Earlier, Shibli had told The Express Tribune that “three to four new people are expected to be given state-minister level portfolios”. “Lawmakers in the National Assembly are likely to be given a chance,” he added. Shibli and a couple of other ministers, who wished not to be named, had revealed that the premier was unhappy with the performance of several key ministers and decided that only those who could deliver would stay in the cabinet. Party sources said that performance and delivery were the only things that the premier was interested in as he felt exhausted after hearing excuses after excuses and inordinate delays in the completion of projects for one reason or another for a long time. Among other things, the recent reshuffle is a result of growing frustration within the party circles as the premier believes that the ministers must start delivering without coming up with excuses anymore. The premier had this realisation, the sources said, and made it clear that it was time to deliver. Party insiders have long been saying that the premier frequently chairs meetings of spokespersons and issues directions to defend government policies at all the forums. They also acknowledged that the narrative of simply blaming the previous governments was not yielding the desired results anymore in and outside parliament and it was time to back up the claims earlier made through performance. Since 2018 when the PTI came to power, the PM has reshuffled the cabinet on a number of occasions. Last time, he tweaked the cabinet was in December last year when he had elevated his finance adviser Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh to the status of a full-fledged finance minister and brought high-profile political ally Sheikh Rashid Ahmed to the interior ministry’s helm. PM Imran had picked Azam Khan Swati, who was serving as the minister of counter-narcotics, to replace Rashid as the railways minister. Rashid’s predecessor at the interior ministry, Brig (retd) Ijaz Ahmed Shah, was given the narcotics control ministry, vacated by Swati. Earlier, PM Imran had carried out a reshuffle of ministers in cabinet positions in April 2020, appointing Makhdoom Khusro Bakhtiar as the economic affairs minister after taking back charge of the national food security ministry from him two days after his name emerged as a major beneficiary in an investigation report into the sugar crisis. In the major cabinet at that time, Syed Fakhar Imam was made the national food security minister, Hammad the industries minister and Swati was handed over the portfolio of the narcotics control ministry. The premier had accepted the resignation of MQM-P’s Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui as the information technology and telecommunication minister, replacing him with fellow party man Aminul Haq . Among other changes, Babar Awan was appointed the PM’s adviser on parliamentary affairs. In April 2019, PTI stalwart Umar was sacked from the post of the finance minister. Earlier, Shaikh was named the adviser on finance, state minister for interior Shehryar Afridi was made the states and frontier regions (Safron) minister and Brig (retd) Ijaz Ahmed Shah was appointed the interior minister. Ghulam Sarwar Khan, who previously was the petroleum minister, was handed over the portfolio of the aviation ministry.
https://tribune.com.pk/story/2295141/another-ex-ppp-man-assigned-task-to-fix-economy
#Pakistan - Violent extremism
https://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/2021/04/15/violent-extremism/
#Pakistan - The fault in our textbooks - Do our textbooks teach what really happened?
https://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/2021/04/16/the-fault-in-our-textbooks/
#Pakistan - PM makes announcements but doesn't fulfill promises: Murtaza Wahab
Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) spokesperson Murtaza Wahab Friday said Prime Minister Imran Khan only makes announcements but does not fulfill his promises as the previous projects are still pending.
The PPP spokesperson held a news conference and said Imran Khan’s interest in Sindh develops every year in Ramzan. He said the premier comes in the holy month, takes donations for Shaukat Khanum Hospital and leaves. A similar process will be repeated today, he asserted.
Murtaza Wahab also criticized the federal government for not observing the coronavirus standard operating procedures (SOPs). He said the incumbent regime should vaccinate the entire population if it wants to continue holding such gatherings.
https://dunyanews.tv/en/Pakistan/597568-PM-makes-announcements-doesnt-fulfill-promises-Murtaza-Wahab
Thursday, April 15, 2021
How the U.S. Plans to Fight From Afar After Troops Exit Afghanistan
By Eric Schmitt and Helene Cooper
American troops are set to leave Afghanistan no later than Sept. 11, but the Pentagon, American spy agencies and Western allies are refining plans to deploy a less visible but still potent force in the region to prevent the country from again becoming a terrorist base.
Drawing on the hard lessons from President Barack Obama’s decision a decade ago to withdraw American troops from Iraq — allowing the rise of the Islamic State three years later — the Pentagon is discussing with allies where to reposition forces, possibly to neighboring Tajikistan, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, according to United States officials.
Attack planes aboard aircraft carriers and long-range bombers flying from land bases along the Persian Gulf, Indian Ocean and even in the United States could strike insurgent fighters spotted by armed surveillance drones.
But there are risks.
Afghan commandos who have been providing the bulk of intelligence on insurgent threats could disintegrate after the United States withdraws, leaving a large hole to fill.
Turkey, which has long had a direct relationship with Afghanistan in addition to its role in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization mission there, is leaving troops behind who could help the C.I.A. collect intelligence on Qaeda cells, officials note.
Still, planners at the military’s Central Command in Tampa, Fla., and Joint Staff in Washington have been developing options to offset the loss of American combat boots on the ground, and President Biden said on Wednesday that the revised approach would keep Al Qaeda at bay.
“We will not take our eye off the terrorist threat,” Mr. Biden said in a televised address from the White House. “We will reorganize our counterterrorism capabilities and the substantial assets in the region to prevent re-emergence of terrorist threat to our homeland.”
But some former top commanders, as well as lawmakers from both parties, warned that absent the unrelenting pressure from American Special Operations forces and intelligence operatives in the country, Al Qaeda could make a comeback in Taliban-dominated Afghanistan.
“As good as our intelligence and over-the-horizon capabilities are, there is no substitute for being there,” Joseph Maguire, a former top Navy SEAL commander who served as acting director of national intelligence in the Trump administration, said in an interview. “Our effectiveness in protecting our homeland will be significantly diminished.”
Even as military officials rushed to flesh out the details of Mr. Biden’s revised plan, top Defense Department officials and military commanders appear to have ruled out for now two other options that could be employed if this revised approach falls short.
More than 16,000 civilian contractors, including over 6,000 Americans, now provide security, logistics and other support in Afghanistan, according to recent figures compiled by the Pentagon. Top military officials on Wednesday played down any significant role for civilian contractors in combating Al Qaeda in Afghanistan, although some analysts say they could be used to train Afghan security forces.
Under Mr. Biden’s order, the United States is withdrawing 2,500 troops from Afghanistan, but the Pentagon actually has about 1,000 more troops on the ground there than it has publicly acknowledged. The murky accounting results from some Special Operations forces having been put “off the books,” Pentagon officials say, to include some elite Army Rangers, who work under both the Pentagon and the C.I.A. while deployed to Afghanistan.
The Obama administration used similar sleights of hand under the bureaucratic term “force management levels,” which resulted in more troops in war zones with little public oversight.
But Pentagon officials said they would not resort to those tactics to slip undisclosed troops into Afghanistan after the departure deadline, even though some analysts voiced skepticism.
“We are actively engaged in counterterrorism where every effort is made to minimize the ‘troops’ — the boots on the ground — and replace them with an invisible force that can achieve just as much,” William M. Arkin, a longtime security analyst and author of a new book, “The Generals Have No Clothes: The Untold Story of Our Endless Wars,” said in an interview.ImageMembers of the Afghan army and police. If Afghan security and intelligence forces falter drastically, that could significantly damage one of the United States’ best sources of intelligence on insurgents like Al Qaeda.
In his remarks, Mr. Biden said that the United States would remain closely involved in the peace process between Kabul and the Taliban, and would continue to provide security assistance to Afghan security forces. But the fear is that the American exit will lead to the collapse of a weak Afghan government and a deepening civil war with the Taliban, opening the door to a resurgence of Al Qaeda.
American intelligence analysts say security in the country could worsen almost immediately, given the seismic effect of Mr. Biden’s decision.
Senior Biden administration officials say that American troops could leave Afghanistan in three months if the Taliban does not pick a fight. Mr. Biden and his top aides reiterated a warning to the Taliban on Wednesday that any attacks on withdrawing American and NATO troops would be met with swift retaliation, a response that could delay the departure.
Military officials said the overall size of the force in Afghanistan will temporarily grow beyond the number of troops there now as extra security and logistics forces arrive to help safeguard an orderly withdrawal.
Some former Special Operations commanders said the Pentagon should continue to train Afghan security forces as long as possible, even taking them out of the country for advanced, specialized, technical and leadership training, as American forces did with Iraqi troops in Jordan years ago.
But if Afghan security and intelligence forces falter drastically, that could significantly damage one of the United States’ best sources of intelligence on Al Qaeda and other insurgents.
“What we are really talking about are how to collect intelligence and then act against terrorist targets without any infrastructure or personnel in the country other than essentially the embassy in Kabul,” said Marc Polymeropoulos, a former C.I.A. officer who spent much of his career working on counterterrorism operations, including in Afghanistan.
“I just don’t see how the I.C. operates in a place like Afghanistan without the U.S. military side by side,” Mr. Polymeropoulos said in an email, referring to the intelligence community, including the C.I.A. “It is just far too dangerous.”
Daunting challenges face the American-backed Afghan security forces. Over the past year, they have lost territory from repeated assaults by the Taliban and have relied on U.S. air power to push back the insurgents.
With the Afghan government’s credibility waning, militias — once the main power holders during the days of the Afghan civil war in the 1990s — have rearmed and reappeared, even challenging Afghan security forces in some areas.
“If the president authorizes it, we will still be able to provide some level of military support to the Afghan national security forces after we depart the country,” William H. McRaven, the retired Navy admiral who directed the raid that killed Osama bin Laden, said in an interview on Wednesday.
For the Pentagon and the intelligence agencies, a key issue now is how readily counterterrorism operations can be carried out from beyond Afghanistan. The history of such operations has a decidedly mixed record. Cruise missile strikes launched from distant ships against terrorist targets in Afghanistan have had a low rate of success.
The United States maintains a string of air bases in the Persian Gulf region, as well as in Jordan, and the Pentagon operates a major regional air headquarters in Qatar. But the farther that Special Operations forces have to travel to strike a target, the more likely the operations are to fail, either by missing their mark or resulting in a catastrophic failure that could kill American service members or civilians on the ground, according to officials who have studied the record.
Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III, meeting with allies of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization in Brussels on Wednesday, cited the military’s ability to strike terrorist targets in far-flung hot spots “in Africa and other places” where few, if any, troops are stationed, apparently referring to drone strikes and commando raids in Somalia, Yemen and Libya in recent years.
“There’s probably not a space on the globe that the United States and its allies can’t reach,” Mr. Austin told reporters.
US Government Sanctions Crypto Addresses Linked to Russian Election Fraud Scheme
Nikhilesh De
The U.S. Treasury Department is sanctioning a Pakistan-based organization it claims was paid in digital currencies to create false identities for members of the Internet Research Agency (IRA), a Russian organization accused of election interference and other cyberattacks.
Part of a sweeping set of actions taken by the U.S. government to address alleged Russian government interference in its elections on Thursday, the Treasury Department announced it would identify digital currency addresses used by Second Eye Solution (SES), otherwise known as Forwarderz, which allegedly received some $2.5 million across nearly 27,000 transactions between 2013 and March 2021.
“As part of today’s listing of SES on OFAC’s Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons List (SDN List), OFAC is also identifying digital currency addresses used by SES to fulfill customer orders in order to help assist financial institutions, and their third-party identity verification services, in identifying customers on their platforms who have purchased fraudulent identity documents,” Treasury’s press release said.
Related: Coinbase Listing Brought Attention To Crypto, Says Tezos's Kathleen Breitman
Following the publication of this article, the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) published a list of addresses and entities accused of participating in the scheme. Addresses include bitcoin, bitcoin cash, litecoin, ether, zcash, dash and verge, with 28 total addresses on the list.
In addition to SES, addresses are tied to the Association for Free Research and International Cooperation (linked to Russian national Yevgeniy Prigozhin, the alleged financier of the IRA) and Southfront, which is tied to the Russian Federal Security Service.
The U.S. has accused Russian government officials of meddling with its election before, and Thursday’s actions formally include allegations that the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service was behind the massive SolarWinds cyberattack.
An executive order signed by President Joe Biden also mentions cryptocurrencies as a tool that may be used to bypass U.S. sanctions. The executive order states that any individual who uses “deceptive or structured transactions or dealings to circumvent any United States sanctions, including through the use of digital currencies or assets or the use of physical assets” should be blocked from transacting with or being paid by any U.S. person (meaning U.S. citizens or individuals residing on U.S. soil).
The U.S. has sanctioned crypto addresses on a handful of occasions before, including previously adding digital currency addresses and individuals accused of interfering with U.S. elections on behalf of the Russian government.
Other additions to the Specially Designated Nationals (SDN) list include alleged drug traffickers and money launderers tied to cyberattacks.
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/us-government-sanctions-crypto-addresses-130658070.html
Pakistan protests: Why the Islamist TLP party is now a major political force
Pakistani authorities have decided to outlaw the hard-line Tehreek-e-Labiak Pakistan (TLP) party. The group opposes the publication of cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad in France, and also the French response reaffirming the right to "blasphemy" after schoolteacher Samuel Paty was beheaded near Paris last October after showing caricatures of the prophet of Islam to his class. The TLP has demanded that the government expel the French ambassador and endorse a boycott of French products. TLP activists have also demanded the release of Saad Rizvi, the 26-year-old leader of the group. Violent TLP protests have wreaked havoc in the Muslim-majority country, with Islamist supporters and police clashing in major cities. At least two police officers have been killed and over 100 injured in these clashes. Prime Minister Imran Khan's government is being heavily criticized for mishandling the protests and not acting swiftly against violent protesters. On Thursday, the French Embassy in Pakistan advised all French nationals and companies to temporarily leave the country, following the anti-French protests. "Due to the serious threats to French interests in Pakistan, French nationals and French companies are advised to temporarily leave the country," the embassy said in an email to its citizens.Violent anti-French protests have paralyzed Pakistan for the past few days. The architect of these demonstrations is the Tehreek-e-Labiak Pakistan party, which is now a force to be reckoned with in Pakistani politics.
Husain Haqqani, a former Pakistani ambassador to the US, believes the TLP is playing politics over the Muhammad cartoons. "France is a major financial donor to Pakistan and the demand to expel its ambassador over alleged blasphemy is just a gimmick," Haqqani, who is the director for South and Central Asia at the Washington-based Hudson Institute, told DW.
"If Pakistan starts expelling ambassadors of all countries where someone commits what these hard-liners see as blasphemy then Islamabad will have diplomatic relations with very few countries," he said.
Anti-blasphemy politics
TLP is a largely Barelvi (a sect in Islam) party, founded in 2015 by Khadim Hussain Rizvi, a firebrand cleric who died in November 2020. The core ideology of this party revolves around the "finality of Prophet Muhammad" and the protection of Pakistan's blasphemy laws.
"The group represents a powerful Sunni sect and its mission is to protect the honor of the prophet. The TLP is now a formidable political force in Pakistan," Raza Rumi, a Pakistani political analyst, told DW.
Blasphemy is a contentious issue in Pakistan, where anyone deemed to have insulted Islam or the Prophet Muhammad can face the death penalty under the country's blasphemy laws.
Rights activists say the laws are often employed in cases that have little to do with blasphemy and are used to settle petty disputes and personal vendettas. Christians, Hindus and Ahmadis — a minority Islamic sect — are often victimized as a result.
In November 2018, the TLP called off nation-crippling protests after striking a deal with the government on the legal future of Asia Bibi, a Christian woman acquitted of blasphemy. TLP supporters held three days of sit-ins and demonstrations after the Supreme Court of Pakistan overturned Bibi's blasphemy conviction, ending her eight years on death row.
"The TLP's main motivation revolves around aggressively defending Pakistan's blasphemy laws. That has long been its bread and butter. Linked to this focus on the blasphemy laws is the group's bigoted views toward religious minorities, the very groups that suffer the most from these laws," Michael Kugelman, a South Asia expert at the Washington-based Woodrow Wilson Center for Scholars, told DW.
How popular is the TLP?
"Unfortunately, given that the blasphemy laws are fiercely defended by a critical mass of Pakistanis, the TLP has been able to attract substantial constituencies of support. This is not only through street power, but also through respectable performances in elections, which is unusual for an Islamic political party in Pakistan," Kugelman added.
In the 2018 election, the party bagged 2.2 million votes, mostly from the Punjab province, and won two provincial seats in the Sindh Assembly. The TLP emerged as the third-largest party in Punjab, behind Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party and Former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League (PML-N).
Some analysts believe that rising unemployment, growing inflation and illiteracy are also some of the factors behind a surge in TLP's popularity. With many people unhappy with Khan's economic performance — and with mainstream political parties in general — an increasing number of voters are looking toward Islamist parties for a remedy.
"TLP's popularity is linked to wealth and income disparities in the country. Its supporters are not only madrassa students but even common youngsters who have gained nothing from the country's political and economic system," Rumi said, adding that the government needs to create economic opportunities for the youth to sway them away from hard-line religious groups.
But former Pakistani ambassador Haqqani downplayed the talk about TLP's popularity. "It is just one of many Islamist groups that has become a threat to Pakistan's stability," he said.
Kugelman agrees. "The TLP may have substantial support, but not enough to challenge the ruling PTI or its main rival, the PML-N. There have been fears that the TLP could siphon off votes from other parties, but not on a level of scale that it could impact the electoral performance of the major parties in a big way. That said, the electoral performance of the TLP shouldn't be shrugged off. It has done significantly better than most other religious political parties."
But analyst Rumi said the TLP has gained much public support in a short period of time. "If it continues to mobilize people, it could gain more ground."
Will the state change its 'pro-Islamist' policy?
Observers say that if the TLP threat goes unchallenged, it will increase Pakistan's international isolation. Haqqani said the country's establishment, the military, has "historically used Islamist groups to strengthen Pakistan's anti-India narrative."
"Prime Minister Imran Khan, who harbors Islamist sentiments himself, needs to tell Pakistanis to have a realistic world view," he said.
But analysts say that banning TLP won't solve the problem of increasing religious extremism in Pakistan.
"Pakistan has done the right thing by banning the TLP, but that's only the first of many necessary steps. Many extremist groups have been banned in Pakistan, and they tend to reappear under new names," said Kugelman.
"To achieve true success in removing the TLP threat, Islamabad needs to not only ban it but also build narratives and messaging on a state level that aim to condemn and delegitimize the TLP and its ideologies. The party enjoys substantial support, and so simply banning it won't make it go away," he added.
https://www.dw.com/en/pakistan-protests-why-the-islamist-tlp-party-is-now-a-major-political-force/a-57214719