UNITED NATIONS – The head of the United Nations will convene a ministerial assembly in Geneva on Sept. 13 to seek an immediate buildup of investment to address the developing humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan, where nearly some of the country’s 38 million people are seeking help.
U. N. spokesman Stéphane Dujarric made the announcement Friday, calling for Secretary-General Antonio Guterres would also call for “full and unhindered humanitarian access to ensure that certain Afghans continue to get what they need. “
Dujarric said the UN’s request for $1. 3 billion by 2021 to more than 18 million other people is only 40% funded, leaving a $766 million shortfall.
“Afghanistan is facing a humanitarian catastrophe near,” the UN spokesman said. “One in three Afghans don’t know where their next meal will come from. Almost a proportion of all young people under the age of five are expected to suffer from acute malnutrition. “in the next 12 months. “
Earlier Friday, Dujarric said the secretary-general “is very grateful for the generosity” of Denmark, Kazakhstan, North Macedonia, Pakistan, Poland, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and the United States for offering services and transportation for the U. N. body’s transitional relocation. from workers to Afghanistan.
Dujarric announced on 18 August that around one hundred of the three hundred foreign United Nations painters were being transferred to Kazakhstan to paint remotely for security reasons.
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WASHINGTON — U. S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken has announced he will travel to Qatar and Germany to stop at U. S. diplomats, troops and Afghans who have been evacuated from Kabul amid the race to withdraw U. S. troops from Afghanistan.
Blinken’s to Qatar will coincide with the first leg of an excursion by Persian Gulf allies through Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin.
Blinken told reporters Friday that he would make a stopover at Qatar’s capital of Doha and at the U. S. military base in Ramstein, Germany, starting this weekend to thank the United States for its paintings to complete the withdrawal on Monday.
The State Department said Blinken had no plans to meet with Taliban representatives in Doha, where the organization that now controls Afghanistan has a workplace and had been the scene of failed peace talks with the former Afghan government. Scale in Kabul embassy staff members who have been founded in Doha since the United States shut down its diplomatic project in Afghanistan.
In Germany, in addition to his own in Ramstein, Blinken will meet with German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas and participate in a virtual assembly with foreign ministers from some 20 countries with interests in Afghanistan.
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WASHINGTON — U. S. military bases housing Afghan evacuees are building their own city-like leadership organizations to deal with sanitation, food and demanding situations as Afghan participation in the United States increases.
Air Force General Glen VanHerck, who heads U. S. Northern Command, said more than 25,000 evacuated Afghans were staying at the 8 bases on Friday and claimed there had been disorder as the bases dealt with linguistic, cultural and other disorders.
He told Pentagon reporters that he “building 8 small towns, we’re going to have challenges. “He said the bases had appointed an army officer as “mayor” to live up to a few bedrooms or housing complexes and an Afghan counterpart who can. talk about any current issues. He is fluent and can talk to Afghans.
The U. S. military will eventually be able to space up to 50,000 Afghan evacuees at the country’s 8 bases and probably won’t want to operate any more facilities, said VanHerck, who is also the head of the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD).
Afghans at the grassroots are divided, with single men and women in separate dwellings, and families are divided into their own sections where you can imagine for some privacy.
So far, he said, there have been few disruptions in which evacuees tested positive for COVID-19, and he’s heard of serious concerns about protection.
A defense official said the number of Afghans at the 8 bases fluctuated over time, but on Friday the rough totals were: Fort McCoy, Wisc. , 8,800; Fort Bliss, Texas, 6,200; Fort Lee, Virginia, 1,700; McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst Joint Base, New Jersey, 3,700; Holloman Air Force Base, N. M. , 650; Quantico Marine Corps Base, Virginia, 800; Fort Pickett, Virginia, 3650 and Camp Atterbury, Indiana, 65.
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WASHINGTON — The U. S. Homeland Security secretary says the government expects to admit more than 50,000 people into the country from the Afghan airlift.
Alejandro Mayorkas warned Friday that that number could rise in what he called an unprecedented evacuation. Mayorkas told reporters at a press convention that the United States has brought more than 40,000 people from Afghanistan to the country since the fall of Kabul last month.
About a quarter of those who have come here are U. S. citizens or permanent residents. The rest, he said, includes other people who have obtained special immigrant visas for Afghans who have worked for the United States or NATO as interpreters or in some other role. . Also included in this organization are other people who have been implemented but have not yet won the visa and those who are “vulnerable” under the Taliban regime.
The latter organization includes women, youth and members of civil society, Mayorkas said.
The secretary, who came to the United States as a refugee from Cuba as a child with his family, spoke proudly about the evacuation effort and said the number of other people admitted could exceed 50,000.
He said that upon entering the US they undergo security screening and examinations at various transit points, where they are tested for COVID-19 and presented with a vaccine.
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WASHINGTON — The Pentagon has announced that Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin will partner with Persian Gulf allies to thank them for their cooperation in evacuations from Afghanistan.
Spokesman John Kirby said Austin will depart on Sunday and travel to Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia.
He said the Pentagon leader will reaffirm U. S. defense relations in the region, and he will also do so with the U. S. military.
Qatar’s authorization to the United States to temporarily space Afghan evacuees at al-Udeid airbase is a key detail in facilitating the Kabul airlift. It will be Austin’s first stop in the Gulf since President Joe Biden announced in April that he was ending the U. S. military’s engagement in Afghanistan.
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DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (F) – A qatari plane with the Gulf country’s special envoy for counter-terrorism and fighting clashes has arrived in Kabul.
A Qatari official wise from Friday’s scale said officials would talk about efforts for an inclusive government and the resumption of civilian advertising operations at the airport. Doha from Kabul in recent days. These countries come with the United States, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and Japan as part of an effort to provide corridors and freedom of movement to those still in Afghanistan.
No additional main points were provided.
Mutlaq bin Majed Al Qahtani, qatar’s envoy who landed in Kabul, said his country remains “an independent mediator” and committed to all parties. Qatar has embraced Taliban political leaders for years, as failed attempts at peace talks between the militant organization and the U. S. -backed government before its collapse.
Al Qahtani told The Associated Press that “Qatar’s precedence with the Taliban is to ensure a nonviolent movement of force and to ensure the formation of an inclusive and effective government to serve the Afghan people. “
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PRISTINA, Kosovo — Kosovo said the number of Afghan evacuees who had worked with NATO and their families arriving in the country reached 467.
The first of the 111 Afghans arrived in the country on Sunday.
Interior Minister Xhelal Svecla met with foreign organizations on Friday to “discuss the existing scenario and wishes for transitional housing of Afghan citizens in Kosovo. “
Svecla said NATO had so far helped them with their accommodation and asked for the organizations’ help even though they “house dignitaries to facilitate their stay” in the country.
Kosovo has said it can temporarily space up to 2,000 Afghans while they process documents at their final destination in the United States.
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COPENHAGEN, Denmark — Denmark’s foreign minister says the country will recognize any Taliban government.
Jeppe Kofod told Danish TV channel DR on Friday that the country’s leaders are willing to “ensure that the progress we have made in two decades of efforts in Afghanistan can be sustained. “
The top immediate priority, Kofod said, is that everyone on the country’s evacuation list can leave Afghanistan “in smart order. “
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KABUL, Afghanistan — A few dozen protesters gathered outdoors at the presidential palace in Kabul, urging the country’s new Taliban leaders to protect women’s rights acquired under Western sponsorship and come with women to the next government.
At a door on Friday, a dozen women lifted up small pages posted urging “A heroic wardrobe with the presence of women. “Protesters chanted slogans affirming human rights and saying they did have to go back in time.
A document circulated among protesters demanded that Afghan women have full rights to education, the country’s long-term social and political contributions and general freedoms, adding freedom of expression.
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MORE ABOUT AFGHANISTAN:
– U. S. defends an attack that afghan circle of relatives says killed innocent people
Qatar says it’s unclear when Kabul airport will reopen
Those who remain in Afghanistan because of America’s damaged promises.
– Afghans face a hunger crisis, facing the challenge of the Taliban
Biden defends ‘eternal war’ and praises airlift
UN leader urges countries to Afghans in ‘times of need’
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– Find more APs in https://apnews. com/hub/afghanistan
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HERE’S WHAT HAPPENS:
WARSAW, Poland (F) — A government official said Poland will house about 500 Afghan evacuees who had worked for NATO in Afghanistan.
Michal Dworczyk said Friday that the Afghans will remain in Poland for up to 3 months before leaving for other countries. Depending on your choice, up to 50 more people will settle in Poland. However, Poland has not been a popular destination in Europe. for migrants.
Dworczyk, one of Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki’s most sensible advisers, told FMR Radio that the first organization of about 250 more people would arrive on Friday from the NATO airbase in Ramstein, Germany.
In addition, Poland evacuated some 1,300 people from Kabul, mostly Afghans, who had worked with the Polish army and the diplomatic project and their families, and said it took responsibility.
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KABUL, Afghanistan — The Taliban have announced that Western Union will resume operations in Afghanistan, opening a rare channel for foreign budget to enter the cash-scarce country.
The spokesman for the group’s cultural commission, Ahmadullah Muttaqi, announced the resolution on Friday: The US monetary giant had halted its operations in Afghanistan when the Taliban seized force in the capital on August 15.
The opening will be received through Afghans with foreign relatives abroad. Hundreds of others line up in front of Afghan banks to withdraw cash. Withdrawals have been limited to $200 consistent with the week and ATMs are not working. Overpopulation means that not everyone manages to do it. get cash on any given day.
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WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden visited wounded United States at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center Thursday night.
There are 15 Marines at the hospital in Bethesda, Maryland, outside Washington, who were wounded in an Aug. 26 suicide bombing at Kabul airport. The attack came as the U. S. government organized the evacuation of Americans, Afghans and their allies before the official end of the nearly two-decade war in Afghanistan on Aug. 31.
Eleven Marines were also killed in the attack, as well as an Army soldier and a member of the Navy. Biden traveled Sunday to Dover Air Force Base in Delaware to witness the return of his remains to U. S. soil in a solemn “dignified transfer. “
One of the Marines wounded in critical condition, three in serious condition and 11 in solid condition.