Monday, September 2, 2019

Asia Bibi, Pakistani Christian given shelter in Canada, plans to move to Europe


Nearly four months after the 54-year-old finally left Pakistan following a miscarriage of justice that caused worldwide outcry, she has the opportunity to build a new life



Asia Bibi, a Christian woman recently freed from prison after her blasphemy conviction was overturned.
As Asia Bibi sits free at last in a secret location in Canada, the Pakistani Christian woman who spent years on death row on false blasphemy charges turns her mind to those left behind still facing the same ordeal.
Nearly four months after the 54-year-old finally left Pakistan following a miscarriage of justice that caused worldwide outcry, she has the opportunity to build a new life for herself and her daughters.
Yet while she is grateful for the international efforts to free her, she says the world should also know that Pakistan’s harsh blasphemy laws have left many others still languishing behind bars.
In her first ever newspaper interview, she told The Sunday Telegraph she had at times fallen into despair after being sentenced to death.
She also spoke of her heartbreak at being forced to leave her homeland, amid fears she would be murdered by religious extremists even after Pakistan’s supreme court had quashed her flimsy conviction.
Her freedom was finally secured with mediation from Jan Figel, a European Union special envoy, who has for the first time spoken about negotiations to secure Mrs Bibi’s freedom as she was held in protective custody for months even after her release from prison.
In this file photo taken on February 1, 2019 Pakistani Islamists hold a poster displaying an image of Asia Bibi, a Christian Pakistani woman accused of blasphemy, with a noose and a knife, during a protest against the Supreme Court decision on Bibi’s case in Lahore. – Asia Bibi, the Christian woman at the centre of a decade-long blasphemy row, has left Pakistan, a senior government source told AFP on May 8, months after her death sentence was overturned to mass protests by Islamist hardliners. ARIF ALI/AFP/Getty Images
While she is currently in Canada, she hopes to move to an undisclosed country in Europe in the coming months.
Mrs Bibi said her wrongful conviction after she was accused of insulting the Prophet Mohammad in a row with fellow farmhands had devastated her life.
“My whole life suffered, my children suffered and this had a huge impact on my life,” she said in a series of voice messages sent in response to questions from The Telegraph.
Mrs Bibi thanked the supreme court for acquitting her, but said others also needed fair trials. “There are many other cases where the accused are lying in jail for years and their decision should also be done on merit. The world should listen to them.
“I request the whole world to pay attention to this issue. The way any person is alleged of blasphemy without any proper investigation, without any proper proof, that should be noticed. This blasphemy law should be reviewed and there should be proper investigation mechanisms while applying this law. We should not consider anyone sinful for this act without any proof.”
The US State Department says an estimated 77 others are in prison in Pakistan under blasphemy laws, most of them Muslims, with lawyers and rights groups saying false accusations are made to settle scores, or silence rivals. The charge can carry the death penalty, but is so incendiary that cases can also end in mob lynching. Pakistan has never executed anyone specifically for blasphemy, but trials and appeals can drag on for years because judges are afraid of extremist threats.
“Sometimes I was so disappointed and losing courage, I used to wonder whether I was coming out of jail or not, what would happen next, whether I would remain here all my life,” Mrs Bibi said.
“When my daughters visited me in jail, I never cried in front of them, but when they went after meeting me in jail I used to cry alone, filled with pain and grief. I used to think about them all the time, how they are living.”
Mrs Bibi was first convicted of blasphemy after she quarrelled with two Muslim women while they picked falsa berries for a landowner in rural Punjab in 2009. Her accusers claimed she insulted the Prophet Mohammed in an argument because the women would not drink from a container she had touched. The accusation was taken up by the village mullah and she was taken to court and sentenced to death in 2010. But Mrs Bibi said she had been made to confess at the hands of a village mob who nearly beat her unconscious. She denied she had ever committed blasphemy.
She spent eight years on death row, constantly fearing for her life, before the case was quashed in the supreme court last October. However, she was kept in custody for a further seven months as Imran Khan’s government wrestled with how to free her without angering influential hardline Islamist groups who had paralysed the country in protest at her acquittal.
Mr Figel, a Slovak politician and the EU special envoy on religious freedom since 2016, said: “I think Imran Khan’s government and Pakistan’s military used this delay to get the situation in the country under real control.”
He held talks in Brussels with Anwar Khan, Pakistan’s attorney general, and Shireen Mazari, human rights minister, on how to free her.
As the months dragged on, Mrs Bibi and her husband, Ashiq Masih, were kept in government safe houses first in the hills outside the capital Islamabad and then in the port city of Karachi. While given a television and a phone, they were unable to go outside.
The strain saw Mrs Bibi fall into depression and be treated for heart problems. Throughout this time she was in daily contact with Muhammad Amanullah, a human-rights activist who had previously helped five other people accused of blasphemy. Mr Amanullah acted as her direct liaison with the EU.
He said: “[Pakistan’s government] always told us it will be two weeks, or 10 days, two weeks, 10 days and like this we spent seven months.”
He went on: “At one point she had lost her hope and one day she told me, if I am assassinated or anything happens to me, please do not forget my daughters.”
Early candidates for asylum included France and Belgium, but as time went on, Mrs Bibi’s daughters were granted temporary refuge in Canada.
If I am assassinated or anything happens to me, please do not forget my daughters
Mrs Bibi had wanted to go to Europe, but arrangements were made for her to follow them and she finally left Pakistan in May. Mrs Bibi and Mr Figel both rejected earlier reports she had ever wanted to go to the UK.
She said she had never contacted the UK or asked to go there. The whole family is later expected to move to an undisclosed European country. “Security conditions are crucially important for Asia Bibi and for her family,” said Mr Figel.
When her freedom finally arrived, security concerns meant Mrs Bibi was unable to say goodbye to her father or her home town. “My heart was broken when I left that way without meeting my family. Pakistan is my country, Pakistan is my homeland, I love my country, I love my soil,” she said.
Mr Amanullah has also left the country after being declared an apostate because of his work with those accused of blasphemy.
Mr Figel said Mrs Bibi was “an admirably brave woman and loving mother” who had refused to give up her Christian faith in exchange for immediate freedom. “Her story and the highly professional supreme court decision can serve as a base for reforms in Pakistan, which has very outdated system of blasphemy legislation easily misused against neighbours and innocent people.”

The Pakistani American who could be behind Bernie Sanders’ controversial Kashmir speech



Faiz Shakir, a Harvard and Georgetown alumnus, has deep ties across the Democratic Party leadership and civil liberties advocacy groups. 

Over the weekend, Democratic presidential frontrunner Bernie Sanders created a stir in India by stating that New Delhi’s actions in Kashmir were “unacceptable” while calling for the United States to support a UN-backed peaceful resolution in the region.
Many believe that his campaign manager, Faiz Shakir, a progressive advocate and Pakistani American, is responsible for authoring Sanders’ Kashmir speech. ThePrint looks at Faiz Shakir, an activist with a stellar CV and deep ties with the Democratic Party.  

‘A progressive hustler’ 

Shakir has been deeply immersed in the world of activism and has managed to cultivate several important connections in the Democratic Party. Born to Pakistani immigrants in the US, Shakir went on to study at Harvard and Georgetown universities.
Over the past decade-and-a-half, he has developed a stellar resume by working with some of the biggest Democratic legislators and top-notch think tanks and civil liberties advocacy groups. 
When Sanders appointed Shakir as his campaign manager in March 2019, news website Daily Beast wrote, “In hiring Shakir, Sanders brings into the fold one of the Democratic Party’s better-travelled operatives — an official with limited campaign experience but with ties to the party’s think tank infrastructure, its Hill operations, and the larger progressive universe.”

Shakir’s ties with the top Democratic Party leadership 

After completing his education at prolific institutions, Shakir began working as a legislative aide to former Florida governor, Bob Graham. He then went to work as a junior staffer in the 2004 John Kerry presidential campaign. 
Following Kerry’s campaign, Shakir joined the liberal think-tank and advocacy group Centre for American Progress (CAP) in 2005. Back then, the CAP was headed by John Podesta, Bill Clinton’s Chief of Staff and Hillary Clinton’s controversial campaign manager. Shakir worked at CAP as a policy advisor. 
Later that year, Shakir helped CAP launch the progressive news website ThinkProgress. Shakir was ThinkProgress’ editor-in-chief between 2007 and 2012 and helped turn it into a platform that garnered a lot of acclaim for its reporting on climate change. 
After his stint at CAP and ThinkProgress, Shakir joined prominent Democratic legislator Nancy Pelosi’s team as the “director, new media”. Pelosi is currently the majority leader of the US House of Representatives (lower chamber). 
Following his stint with Pelosi, Shakir went on to work with esteemed Democratic Senator Harry Reid, the Senate majority leader between 2007 and 2015. 
Talking about Shakir’s importance, Reid’s deputy chief of staff said, “Reid did not make a big decision without consulting Faiz. There’s no one he trusted more on how the progressive community would react on something and no one whose advice he took more seriously on pushing him to the left.” 
In 2016 when Shakir joined Sanders’ presidential campaign team, he drew a lot of ire from his former boss Podesta, who was then managing Clinton’s campaign. His displeasure at Shakir’s decision was revealed in the infamous “Podesta email leaks”. 
During this time, as a bitter primary campaign ensued between Clinton and Sanders, according to news website OZY, Shakir was reported to have played the role of an “intermediary among various players”. Though Shakir’s efforts failed, this reflects his deep connections across the Democratic party.

The quintessential Washington activist 

After Sanders failed to win the Democratic primaries, Shakir joined civil rights advocacy group American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) as its political director. 
Over the past two years, ACLU has been at the helm of legal and political resistance against President Donald Trump’s policies, especially the “Muslim immigration ban”. ACLU is a major advocacy group and has over 12,00,000 members and more than $100 million at its disposal. 
Following Trump’s immigration ban, ACLU helped raise $24 million and Shakir played a big part in it. ACLU had also filed a lawsuit against Trump’s executive order, which led to a temporary stay on Trump’s immigration ban. 
“Shakir, along with the ACLU’s executive director, Anthony Romero, has become the face of the resistance,” notes a report in OZY.  During an interview to The Slant, when Shakir was asked which political issues occupy his mind, he responded by saying, “There’s no shortage of issues — it depends on what day you catch me.”

#Pakistan - #Lahore cinema releases night-vision explicit videos of couples

In what is being termed as a blatant breach of citizens’ privacy, a cinema in Lahore has released explicit footage of couples putting on public display of affection at the movies.
The videos showing couples holding hands, making out and being involved in sexual activities, started doing rounds on Friday evening, sparking outrage over social media.
While some called out the cinema for “blatant violation” of the couples’ privacy, others stepped in to train guns at the couples for publically being involved in the activities.


Emporium cinema in Lahore, DHA should be sued for breach of privacy under cyber law for leaking out videos of couples involved on PDA.

See Hasnain's other Tweets

Apparently there's videos circulating from an emporium cinema of couples making out in the cinema hall. The videos are from infrared security cameras mounted inside the hall facing the crowd.

Why are there cameras facing the crowd watching the screen in the first place?

See Maaz's other Tweets

No official statement over the episode has yet been released, however, former Punjab’s Strategic Reforms Unit director general (DG) Salman Sufi has announced filing a lawsuit against the cinema.


Important thread: Just found that video recordings of citizens from cinema halls in have been shared around.This is NOT acceptable and is a violation of law. We demand that all theaters/Public places delete ALL video recordings that have no recorded safety threat ASAP

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“Just found that video recordings of citizens from cinema halls in #Pakistan have been shared around. This is NOT acceptable and is a violation of law. We demand that all theaters/Public places delete ALL video recordings that have no recorded safety threat ASAP [sic],” Sufi tweeted.

Sunday, September 1, 2019

Arab Belly Dance video - King Indian Rap Music Baba KSD - Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan Remix

Can a rift tear apart the Saudi Emirati coalition in Yemen? | Inside Story

Video Report - Houthis: Saudi-led coalition bombs Yemen prison, kills dozens

Commentary: Violence in Hong Kong must end now

Rioters in Hong Kong on Saturday once again resorted to escalating violence. They stormed government and legislative offices, threw petrol bombs at police and set fire to multiple locations including police headquarters.
Facing flagrant violent acts, the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) government and the Hong Kong police took decisive measures to enforce the law and stop the violence, sending a clear warning to the rioters.
The resolution of the HKSAR government and the police to restore social order and safeguard the rule of law in Hong Kong has won acknowledgment and support among Hong Kong residents, as well as all Chinese people.
The rioters and their behind-the-scene supporters cried for "freedom" and "democracy" but turned a blind eye to people's freedom by violently obstructing them from going to school and work.
Shame on those who threatened children of police officers in school, who spread the language of hatred against police, who ambushed police officers at night outside police stations.
Behind the violence and chaos in Hong Kong is an elaborate scheme of the rioters and their patrons whose real intent is clearly exposed now. They tried to stir up unrest in Hong Kong and compromise the "one country, two systems" principle, before spreading the "color revolution" into the Chinese mainland.
However, their attempt to "kidnap Hong Kong" and press the central authorities is just a delusion. No concession should be expected concerning such principle issues.
There are three bottom lines which must not be crossed: no one should harm the national sovereignty and security; no one should challenge the power of the central authorities and the authority of the Basic Law of the HKSAR; no one should use Hong Kong to infiltrate and undermine the mainland.
Anyone who dares to infringe upon these bottom lines and interfere in or damage the "one country, two systems" principle will face nothing but failure and will be held accountable by the country's Constitution and the HKSAR's Basic Law.
The Hong Kong police recently detained nearly 900 people suspected of taking part in violent crimes, including Joshua Wong Chi-fung and Andy Chan Ho-tin, leaders of political groups advocating "Hong Kong's independence."
Faced with the central government's resolute support for the HKSAR government and the Hong Kong police, faced with the HKSAR government's firm and just law enforcement, faced with strong condemn from Chinese people, the end is coming for those attempting to disrupt Hong Kong and antagonize China.
They should never misjudge the determination and ability of the central government, the HKSAR government and Chinese people to safeguard the nation's sovereignty, security and core interests.

Hong Kong - Radical protesters no different than terrorists

Bewitched by “Hong Kong independence” and “color revolutions”, the radical protesters in Hong Kong have engaged in all kinds of illegal and violent activities.
They assaulted the Legislative Council Building, besieged the agency of the central people’s government in Hong Kong and sullied the national flag and emblem.
The radicals collected and used explosives and other weapons. Not only did they lay siege to police stations and attack the police, they also made threats against the police and their families on the internet.
Meanwhile, they blocked roads and traffic; they committed arson and sabotaged public facilities. What’s worse, they smashed shops, destroyed personal property and even detained and beat innocent journalists and tourists.
Such practices exhibited a nature of terrorism, which is intolerable in any country or region and has to be restrained.
Under the ulterior motive of overthrowing the government, the fierce and aggressive force in Hong Kong has launched violent attacks, undermined social order, and endangered the physical safety of the police and the public, exposing its anti-human essence and causing great harm to society.
Whether to judge from China Counter-terrorism Law or from the internationally recognized definition of terrorism, the radical protesters are one of the same.
Supported by illicit funds and manipulated by foreign schemers, these people dressed in black, who colluded with Hong Kong independence upholders, are growing more extreme.
They may chant slogans of “democracy” and “freedom”, but the escalating violence is nothing but a slap in the face to the rule of the law. Although protesters wore masks to cover their faces, innocent citizens have seen though their ugly intentions and the despicable schemes of the black hands behind them.
"Taiwan independence" forces as well as external hostile forces such as the US and Britain have conspired to destabilize Hong Kong. On the other hand, radical protesters have resorted to violence to deliberately cause chaos in the region.
Hong Kong is being pushed to the point of total disaster. It is time for order to be restored.
It is the only choice for Hong Kong to take measures to control violent radicals, to stop the violence and chaos and combat terrorism to protect the fundamental interests of the region.
http://en.people.cn/n3/2019/0831/c90000-9611121.html

Afghan Music - احمد ظاهر مست شدم تو ساقی

Video Report - Proud to be an Afghan: Cricket in the Shadow of War |

#Afghanistan - The War On Afghan Women


As the Taliban and US negotiate a peace deal, Afghan women fear their rights and freedoms will be traded for stability.

"If they captured us, they'd kill us."
Laila Haidari drives a car, does not wear a headscarf and likes to meet her friends at a bowling alley.
For that, she fears, the Taliban could kill her.
101 East investigates fears that Afghanistan's women could again fall victim to the Taliban's brutal rule.
With the United States's longest war costing more than a trillion dollars and the lives of more than 3,500 coalition soldiers, the US is desperate to bring its troops home.
Now, a peace deal could end with a power-sharing agreement with the Taliban, a regime that denied women basic rights and publicly executed them for defying their draconian laws.
"The Americans introduced democracy, human rights, women's rights to us, and encouraged us to defend them. But they're telling us that now the Taliban is legit," says Laila, an outspoken advocate who runs a drug rehab centre. "Was all this talk of human rights, women's rights, democracy - was it just a game?"
Those with first-hand experience of the Taliban say it is a matter of life and death.
A young woman who recently fled an area controlled by the fighters describes how she was forced to marry at the age of 12; her husband beat her and her father-in-law demanded sex.
She is now in hiding, but the Taliban is demanding that she return.
"If I go back, they'll kill me. If I don't, they'll kill my family," she says.
101 East investigates whether women will pay the price for peace in Afghanistan.

https://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/101east/2019/08/war-afghan-women-190829084944974.html

Taliban Attack Second Afghan City in 2 Days as Peace Deal Nears



Taliban fighters mounted their second attack in two days on a provincial capital in northern Afghanistan on Sunday, as American and Taliban negotiators finalized the details of a preliminary peace agreement.
Just before the top American negotiator, Zalmay Khalilzad, said the two sides were on “the threshold of an agreement,” the Taliban attacked poorly defended provincial capitals and forced the Afghan government to send in commandos to keep the cities from being overrun.
The Taliban attack on Sunday targeted Pul-i-Kumri, the capital of Baghlan Province in northern Afghanistan, about 145 miles north of Kabul. On Saturday, the militants launched an offensive against a neighboring provincial capital, Kunduz, killing the top police spokesman and wounding the police chief, local officials said.
There were no immediate official reports of casualties in Baghlan Province on Sunday. But a Taliban spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahid, said on Twitter that fighters had entered Pul-i-Kumri after overrunning four government checkpoints and killing several soldiers and police officers. He said heavy fighting continued.
Since peace negotiations began last fall, both sides have ramped up combat operations in order to improve their positions on the ground. But the Taliban have often seized the initiative, as they did this weekend, even as American and Afghan government airstrikes and United States-backed commando raids have inflicted heavy casualties.The Taliban are able to attack government-held centers almost at will because Afghan troops and the police generally hunker down in defensive positions on bases, checkpoints and command centers, leaving most offensive operations to commandos and airstrikes.
Taliban fighters attacked Pul-i-Kumri from two directions early Sunday, said Mahmood Haqmal, a spokesman for the provincial governor. The militants entered homes, killing local Afghans they accused of conspiring against them, said Leqaa Andarabi, a former police chief who commands a local pro-government militia. “They got in because the intelligence people weren’t doing their jobs,” Mr. Andarabi said, echoing frequent complaints from local officials that government military and intelligence commanders have failed to secure provincial capitals.
Safdar Mohseni, the head of the provincial council in Baghlan, said at midday Sunday that no government reinforcements had arrived. He said the city was being defended by pro-government self-defense militias known as uprisers, along with some police units and government intelligence officials.“I’m on the front lines now, and the fighting is very fierce,” Mr. Mohseni said. “The situation in the city is very bad — people are panicking and trying to find ways to flee.”
That Mr. Mohseni, a civilian official, was helping to organize the city’s defenses was an indication that government security forces there were in disarray. The governors of both Baghlan and Kunduz provinces were absent.
The Baghlan governor, Farid Baseem, left for India several days ago without informing provincial officials, Mr. Mohseni said. The Kundz governor, Abdul Jabbar Naemi, was in India on Sunday for medical treatment, said his spokesman, Ismatullah Muradi. Mustafa Mohseni, a former police official and current militia commander in Pul-i-Kumri and Safdar Mohseni’s brother, said Taliban fighters had entered sections of the city as police officers and militiamen fought to hold them off. Mr. Mohseni said that the main highway to Kabul was closed and that residents had remained in their homes as the militants advanced.
“We heard the sounds of gunfire and mortars at 4 a.m.,” said Khadija Yaqeen, who lives in a section of Pul-i-Kumri under attack. Ms. Yaqeen, who leads the local women’s affairs directorate, said that electrical service had been cut, restored and then cut again, and that most cellphone service was down. Government officials said on Sunday that Taliban fighters had been driven out of Kunduz by commandos and airstrikes, with many militants moving south to attack Pul-i-Kumri. Taliban fighters had been able to penetrate deep into Kunduz, briefly occupying the health department and a hospital, said Ehsanullah Fazli, the health director for Kunduz Province.
The fighting killed at least 20 security force members and five civilians, and wounded 85 others, the Ministry of Interior said in a statement. As many as 56 Taliban fighters were killed, the ministry said. Fawad Aman, deputy spokesman for the Ministry of Defense, said in a Twitter post on Sunday that government forces in Pul-i-Kumri had rebuffed the Taliban attack. But government officials have said in the past that they had regained control of cities even as fighting continued in provincial capitals under Taliban attack.
Mr. Khalilzad, the American negotiator, said he was flying on Sunday from Doha, Qatar, the site of the peace talks, to Kabul, the Afghan capital, to brief Afghan leaders. He said on Twitter that he had warned Taliban negotiators that “violence like this must stop,” referring to the attack on Kunduz.The Afghan government, which the Taliban has called an American puppet, has been excluded from the talks. The ninth round of negotiations ended early Sunday, and an announcement of a final preliminary agreement was expected soon.The agreement is expected to set a timeline for the phased withdrawal of American and NATO troops and to open a path for direct negotiations between the Taliban and Afghan officials over the country’s political future.
Under the deal, the Taliban would agree not to allow Afghanistan to be used as a base for terrorist attacks, and negotiators would attempt to secure a reduction in violence leading to a cease-fire.
Mr. Khalilzad said in a Twitter post early Sunday that the agreement would “reduce violence and open the door for Afghans to sit together and to negotiate an honorable & sustainable peace and a unified, sovereign Afghanistan that does not threaten the United States, its allies or any other country.”

Afghanistan Is Not Iraq

By Lawrence J. Korb
This is how Donald Trump can gain the support of the local government—something Obama did not have when he decided to leave troops in Iraq. As the Trump administration appears to be close to finalizing a peace agreement with the Taliban in Afghanistan, many members of the foreign-policy establishment are urging the administration not to repeat the mistakes the Obama administration made in Iraq by withdrawing all American forces in December 2011. President Barack Obama did so despite some warnings that the withdrawal of American troops could lead to a resurgence of violence. 

 A recent op-ed in the Wall Street Journal by retired Gen. David Petraeus and foreign-policy commentator Vance Serchuk, as well as a recent editorial from the Washington Post, blame Obama for unnecessarily leaving Iraq. Trump loyalist Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) echoes those claims and argues that Trump should learn from Obama’s mistakes. But based upon my interactions with Iraqi government officials from 2008 to 2011, I know that the claims of these commentators and that of Graham are wrong, and that any blame for leaving Iraq should fall not on the Obama administration, but on the Bush administration—which got us into the senseless invasion and occupation of Iraq in the first place and made an agreement to leave that country. During the summer of 2008, when I was advising the Obama campaign on foreign-policy matters, I met with the Iraqi foreign minister Hoshyar Zebari. He said that the Malaki government would not agree to sign a Status of Forces Agreement, which would allow U.S. troops to legally remain in Iraq, unless the United States agreed to remove all of its troops by the end of 2011—something the Bush administration agreed to before leaving office. 


Denis McDonough— who eventually went on to become Obama’s chief of staff, and who at that time was on the campaign trail with then-candidate Obama—seemed surprised by this information. In October 2009, during a visit to Iraq to help plan the withdrawal, organized by Army Gen. Ray Odierno—at that time the U.S. commander—I again raised the issue with several Iraqi officials. I raised the issue again with Iraqi prime minister Nouri al-Malaki himself when he came to Washington, in December 2011, with the same result. At this December meeting, which was organized by former Sen. Chuck Hagel, Malaki reiterated that the Americans had essentially signed an agreement and must keep it.


At that meeting, Gen. James L. Jones, Obama’s first national security advisor, said that the president was willing to leave up to ten thousand troops in Iraq. By leaving Iraq in 2011, Obama did what the elected Iraqi government wanted and which his predecessor agreed to. This was the correct thing to do. To do otherwise would have violated the principles for which we had ostensibly fought the war. The situation in Afghanistan is dramatically different. Unlike Iraq, which in 2011 was relatively peaceful and remained so for another three years, before the Syrian Civil War had begun, the war in Afghanistan is still being waged. In addition to the Taliban, the Islamic State is already a large presence: in August, a suicide bomber for the Islamic State blew himself up, killing eighty people and wounding another 165 at a wedding in Kabul. While the Taliban want America to withdraw completely, as did the elected Malaki government, the democratically-elected Afghanistan government does not want the United States to leave any time soon. 
Therefore, if the Trump administration follows the advice of some of his national-security aides and the foreign-policy establishment and decides not to withdraw all U.S. forces from Afghanistan as part of an agreement with the Taliban, and therefore maintains a permanent presence, then he will have the support of the internationally recognized and democratically-elected government—something Obama did not have when he decided to leave troops in Iraq. https://nationalinterest.org/feature/afghanistan-not-iraq-77201

#AsfandyarWaliKhan #NYO #GrandYouthConention Asfandyar Wali Khan Speech - NYO Grand Youth Convention

کشمیر کا سودا ٹرمپ،مودی اور عمران نے کرلیا ہے،آج کے آنسو جھوٹ کے آنسو ہیں۔