US envoy Richard Holbrooke was to meet Afghan President Hamid Karzai yesterday on the second full day of a visit to Afghanistan to assess US-led efforts to tackle a Taliban-led insurgency.
The meeting, scheduled for yesterday evening, comes as Afghanistan marks 20 years since the withdrawal of Soviet forces after a 10-year resistance that the Taliban says has parallels with its own battle against US and other troops.
Karzai’s office would not comment on the agenda, but the president is likely to reiterate demands for an end to civilian casualties in US-led military operations and more focus on militant bases in neighboring Pakistan.
PHOTO: AP
Afghanistan has been heartened by recent strikes on extremist sanctuaries in the Pakistani tribal belt, which it says give vital support to the insurgency.
Holbrooke, US President Barack Obama’s regional troubleshooter, arrived in Afghanistan late on Thursday from Pakistan, where military commanders say they urgently need equipment to tackle the Taliban threat.
NEW US POLICY
He has already met Afghan authorities and politicians including from the opposition, military commanders and international ambassadors as part of wide-ranging discussions that will inform a new US policy in the region.
The envoy, who has a reputation as a hard-nosed diplomat, has insisted a new approach is required to turn the strife-torn country around that involves all of Afghanistan’s neighbors — and in particular Pakistan.
“It is going to be a long, difficult struggle,” he said at an international conference in Germany last week, adding he believed it was going to be “much tougher than Iraq.”
Holbrooke’s appointment underscores Obama’s commitment to refocus on Afghanistan, which last year suffered its deadliest year in the insurgency led by the Taliban who were removed from government in a US-led invasion in late 2001.
ADDITIONAL TROOPS
Obama is expected to decide soon whether to send more US troops to Afghanistan with the US commander here, General David McKiernan, requesting up to 30,000 additional troops.
If they are approved for deployment, it would nearly double the size of the US force, which currently numbers around 37,000.
The expected deployment is seen as one reason behind a delay in presidential elections to August with fears that the weakening security could jeopardize the poll.
Karzai is standing for re-election at the ballot — the second-ever presidential vote in war-battered Afghanistan — amid doubts over his relations with the new US administration after firm support from the previous government.
He said last week that there was some “light wrestling” with his US allies, mainly over civilian casualties, which have caused deep anger and resentment among Afghans and risk public support for his government.
The Taliban often try to use such casualties to fuel suspicion of the troops, whom they call “infidels” and “invaders” like the Soviets who entered Afghanistan in December 1979.
The arrival of the Red Army led to a resistance by mujahidin (holy fighters) that drew in Pakistan and the US and resulted in a Soviet withdrawal on Feb. 15, 1989, which was marked with a public holiday in Afghanistan yesterday.
The Taliban says it too is involved in a jihad and regularly warns of a similar “cruel defeat” for the thousands of US and NATO-led troops who are in Afghanistan at the request of the government.
SEEKING CHANGE: A hospital worker said she did not vote in previous elections, but ‘now I can see that maybe my vote can change the system and the country’ Voting closed yesterday across the Solomon Islands in the south Pacific nation’s first general election since the government switched diplomatic allegiance from Taiwan to Beijing and struck a secret security pact that has raised fears of the Chinese navy gaining a foothold in the region. The Solomon Islands’ closer relationship with China and a troubled domestic economy weighed on voters’ minds as they cast their ballots. As many as 420,000 registered voters had their say across 50 national seats. For the first time, the national vote also coincided with elections for eight of the 10 local governments. Esther Maeluma cast her vote in the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was