The US and UK yesterday warned their citizens to avoid hotels in Afghanistan, days after dozens were killed at a mosque in an attack claimed by the Islamic State group.
The Taliban, which seized power in August and declared an Islamic emirate, are seeking international recognition and assistance, to avoid a humanitarian disaster and ease Afghanistan’s economic crisis, but as it transitions from a rebel army to a governing power, it is struggling to contain the threat from the Afghanistan chapter of the Islamic State group.
“US citizens who are at or near the Serena Hotel should leave immediately,” the US Department of State said, citing “security threats” in the area.
“In light of the increased risks you are advised not to stay in hotels, particularly in Kabul (such as the Serena Hotel),” the British Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office added.
Since the Taliban takeover, many foreigners have left Afghanistan, but some journalists and aid workers remain in the capital.
The Serena, a luxury hotel popular with business travelers and foreign guests, has twice been the target of attacks by the Taliban.
In 2014, just weeks before a presidential election, four teenage gunmen with pistols hidden in their socks managed to penetrate several layers of security, killing nine people, including an Agence France-Presse journalist and members of his family.
In 2008, a suicide bombing left six dead.
During a chaotic evacuation of foreign nationals and at-risk Afghans in August, NATO nations issued a chorus of warnings about an imminent threat, telling people to stay away from Kabul airport. Hours later, a suicide bomber detonated in a crowd gathered around one of the airport gates, killing scores of civilians and 13 US troops.
The attack was claimed by the Islamic State group, which has since targeted several Taliban guards and claimed a devastating bomb attack in Kunduz last week that ripped through a mosque during Friday prayers — the bloodiest assault since US forces left the nation.
Islamic State’s Afghanistan-Pakistan chapter has been responsible for some of the deadliest attacks in those nations — massacring civilians at mosques, shrines, public squares and even hospitals.
The terror threat has partly overshadowed Taliban efforts to improve its international standing.
Over the weekend, senior Taliban and US delegations held their first face-to-face talks in Doha since the US withdrawal.
The talks “focused on security and terrorism concerns and safe passage for US citizens, other foreign nationals and our Afghan partners,” US Department of State spokesman Ned Price said.
“Human rights, including the meaningful participation of women and girls in all aspects of Afghan society” were also raised, Price said in a statement.
The discussions were “candid and professional,” and US officials reiterated that “the Taliban will be judged on its actions, not only its words,” the state department said.
The Taliban said the US had agreed to send aid to Afghanistan, though Washington said the issue had only been discussed, and that any assistance would go to the Afghan people and not the Taliban government.
“US representatives stated that they will give humanitarian assistance to Afghans and will provide facilities for other humanitarian organizations to deliver aid,” the Afghan Ministry of Foreign Affairs said, adding that the aid should not be linked to political issues.
POLITICAL PRISONERS VS DEPORTEES: Venezuela’s prosecutor’s office slammed the call by El Salvador’s leader, accusing him of crimes against humanity Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele on Sunday proposed carrying out a prisoner swap with Venezuela, suggesting he would exchange Venezuelan deportees from the US his government has kept imprisoned for what he called “political prisoners” in Venezuela. In a post on X, directed at Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, Bukele listed off a number of family members of high-level opposition figures in Venezuela, journalists and activists detained during the South American government’s electoral crackdown last year. “The only reason they are imprisoned is for having opposed you and your electoral fraud,” he wrote to Maduro. “However, I want to propose a humanitarian agreement that
ECONOMIC WORRIES: The ruling PAP faces voters amid concerns that the city-state faces the possibility of a recession and job losses amid Washington’s tariffs Singapore yesterday finalized contestants for its general election on Saturday next week, with the ruling People’s Action Party (PAP) fielding 32 new candidates in the biggest refresh of the party that has ruled the city-state since independence in 1965. The move follows a pledge by Singaporean Prime Minister Lawrence Wong (黃循財), who took office last year and assumed the PAP leadership, to “bring in new blood, new ideas and new energy” to steer the country of 6 million people. His latest shake-up beats that of predecessors Lee Hsien Loong (李顯龍) and Goh Chok Tong (吳作棟), who replaced 24 and 11 politicians respectively
Young women standing idly around a park in Tokyo’s west suggest that a giant statue of Godzilla is not the only attraction for a record number of foreign tourists. Their faces lit by the cold glow of their phones, the women lining Okubo Park are evidence that sex tourism has developed as a dark flipside to the bustling Kabukicho nightlife district. Increasing numbers of foreign men are flocking to the area after seeing videos on social media. One of the women said that the area near Kabukicho, where Godzilla rumbles and belches smoke atop a cinema, has become a “real
‘WATER WARFARE’: A Pakistani official called India’s suspension of a 65-year-old treaty on the sharing of waters from the Indus River ‘a cowardly, illegal move’ Pakistan yesterday canceled visas for Indian nationals, closed its airspace for all Indian-owned or operated airlines, and suspended all trade with India, including to and from any third country. The retaliatory measures follow India’s decision to suspend visas for Pakistani nationals in the aftermath of a deadly attack by shooters in Kashmir that killed 26 people, mostly tourists. The rare attack on civilians shocked and outraged India and prompted calls for action against their country’s archenemy, Pakistan. New Delhi did not publicly produce evidence connecting the attack to its neighbor, but said it had “cross-border” links to Pakistan. Pakistan denied any connection to