Nuke talks must lead to US sanctions removal: Iran's parliament committee

Xinhua, August 15, 202

An Iranian parliament committee said on Sunday that the talks on reviving a 2015 nuclear deal must result in the removal of U.S. sanctions in a way to safeguard Iran's economic interests, the Iranian Students' News Agency (ISNA) reported.

Abolfazl Amoui, spokesman of the Iranian parliament's National Security and Foreign Policy Committee, made the remarks after a committee meeting held to evaluate the latest round of the nuclear talks in Vienna.

The sanctions must be removed in a way to benefit the Iranian people and enable the country's traders and businessmen to conduct transactions with other countries, he said, adding the Iranian government is duty-bound to present a report on sanctions removal to the legislative body for review.

The parliament will review the draft text being discussed in the Vienna talks, Amoui noted.

The European Union has recently put forward a "final text" of the draft decision on reviving the nuclear deal, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), awaiting political decisions from the other participants in the Vienna talks.

Iran signed the JCPOA with world powers in July 2015, agreeing to curb its nuclear program in return for the removal of sanctions on the country. However, former U.S. President Donald Trump pulled Washington out of the agreement and reimposed unilateral sanctions on Tehran, prompting the latter to drop some of its commitments under the pact.

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Jawbone found in China linked to unknown tiger lineage that never evolved

AUGUST 14, 2022

By KEVIN MCSPADDEN

Twitter/TheChinatiger01

A team of scientists in China used DNA analysis of a fossil found in northeast China to identify what they believe is a lineage of tigers that diverged from today’s modern felines approximately 268,000 years ago.

The proposed evolutionary split would have happened far earlier than the previously known divergence around 125,000 years ago when what would become South China tigers (Panthera tigris amoyensis ) split from what eventually became the five other living species of tigers.More from AsiaOneRead the condensed version of this story, and other top stories with NewsLite.

The scientists believe the newly discovered lineage of tigers evolved independently from modern tigers before eventually going extinct at an unknown date, according to a paper published in late July in Royal Society, a peer-reviewed journal.

Sheng Guilian, a study author and professor at China University of Geosciences (Wuhan) Future City Campus, told the South China Morning Post that the team was able to build an evolutionary tree using DNA and molecular analysis that allowed them to identify when different tiger species diverged.

The researchers analysed DNA samples of 40 modern tigers spread across the six living species, as well as one lion and one snow leopard.

“The tree shows that this new tiger is in another branch of the tree and formed a sister clade to all modern tigers,” Sheng said.

The researchers wrote in the paper that their findings support the idea that there may be more now-extinct tiger lineages that humans have yet to discover.

The new tiger was identified by analysing a lower jawbone found in a karst cave in Jilin province, northeastern China, and the researchers nicknamed the cat “Da’an tiger” after the cave’s name.

The area is consistent with historical ranges of tigers and is where Amur tigers (more famously called Siberian tigers) still live. The researchers hypothesised that the location of the fossil might mean the ancient tiger had specific genes enabling it to adapt to cold environments, also reported in Amur tigers.

Sheng said the scientists pinpointed that the extinct tiger evolved from modern tigers 268,000 years ago by using a strategy called the “molecular clock theory”, in which scientists can use the mutation rate of molecules to determine when animal species diverge.

“Before this study, all available research in terms of molecular evolution of tigers was based on modern tigers, which means we could only investigate the evolutionary process of their direct ancestors,” she said.

The discovery also highlights how valuable DNA analysis can be in biological sciences.

The piece of the jawbone excavated from Da’an was not large. Scientists initially thought it belonged to an ancient hyena because other hyena bones were found in the cave.

It was only through analysing the DNA that the researchers could determine that it was a tiger, not a hyena.

Read Also China tiger farms put big cats in the jaws of extinction


“It is not a surprise that you make morphological mistakes if you only get a small part of the [jawbone]. That is why ancient DNA is so important and helpful,” said Sheng.

Scientists would need to identify more bones to give it a specific species classification, and they are very far from figuring out what the ancient tiger might have looked like.

Interestingly, fossils from an ancient species of cave lions called Panthera spelaea have been found in the region, piquing the researchers’ interest in whether the lions and tigers interacted with one another. As of now, we do not have enough information to determine either way.

The oldest known fossil that is considered a close relative of tigers belonged to a species named Panthera zdanskyi. It was found in 2004 in Gansu province in northwest China and is estimated to be between 2.16 and 2.55 million years old.

Japanese scholar exposes crime of germ warfare

 

On the eve of the 77th anniversary of Japan's unconditional surrender on August 15, a lecture was held in Yokohama to expose the germ warfare crimes committed by Japan during World War II in China. Japanese scholar Ogawa Takashi talked to more than 500 people about Unit 731, a notorious branch of the imperial Japanese army that conducted lethal experiments on Chinese civilians. At the same time, he exposed and criticized the Japanese right-wing's attempts to whitewash the history of aggression.

World's clearest UFO photo of 100ft diamond-shaped spacecraft released after 30 years

The photo, taken in 1990 by two hikers in Scotland, shows a huge diamond-shaped object in the sky and has been dubbed the "world's best" UFO photo

The Calvine photo hadn't been seen publicly for 32 years

 (Image: Sheffield Hallam University Library/Craig Lindsay)NEWS


By Sara Odeen-Isbister 14 Aug 2022


A fascinating UFO photo taken by two hikers in the Scottish Highlands over 30 years ago and considered lost, has been uncovered.

The so-called "Calvine Photograph" appears to show a massive diamond-shaped object in the sky and what looks like a Harrier jet in the distance.

Described by some as the "world's best" UFO image, it was found after years of research by academic and journalist Dr David Clarke.

The photo, along with five more, were snapped on August 4, 1990, by two hikers on a hillside near Calvine, about 35 miles north-west of Perth in Scotland.

They were handed to Scotland's Daily Record newspaper who then gave them to the Ministry of Defence (MoD).

For reasons unknown, the story was never published and nothing more was heard from the MoD.

This led to the modern myth of the "Calvine Photograph" - with the images never being seen by the public, until now.


Man captures footage of 'sparkling UFO' hoovering in sky above his garden

Craig Lindsay (left) and David Clarke with the photo

 (Image: @disclosureteam_/Twitter)

At the time, the hikers - whose identities are not known - said they watched the metallic object - about 100ft long - hovering with a low hum for about 10 minutes and saw the fighter jets pass in the distance.

The object is then said to have quickly shot up into the sky before vanishing.

Dr Clarke - who has worked as a curator for the MoD UFO files project at The National Archives and is an an associate professor from Sheffield Hallam University - managed to find the photo after contacting former RAF press officer Craig Lindsay, The Sun reports.

Mr Lindsay had kept a copy of the original photograph as he was the go-to between the press and the MoD when the original story was looked into in 1990.

He still had the original envelope from the Daily Record - and inside was one of the Calvine photos.

Mr Lindsay agreed to hand it over to Dr Clarke and Vinnie Adams, from campaign group UAP Media UK, and it has now been filed in the archives at Sheffield Hallam University.

Mr Adams told The Sun Online: "It’s been a privilege to work on this case with such a dedicated team of researchers.

"After 32 years, and an intensive investigation, it feels good to be able to show this elusive photograph to the world."

Before the photo was uncovered a colour mock-up of what it might look like was created

 (Image: Cynon Valley Leader)

He urged anyone with any information on the identity of the hikers or the case to come forward.

Legend has it that a poster size version of the Calvine Photo once hung on the wall at the MoD's so-called UFO office.

Nick Pope, who investigated UFOs for the MoD in the 1990s, wrote about the photo in his 1996 book Open Skies, Closed Minds and said it was once on the walls of the MoD's 'UFO office'.

He claimed the UK asked the US if the photo was of an experimental aircraft.

The image was then removed from the wall and not seen again.


For reasons not known, the MoD are keeping the case about the sighting classified until 2072.

Although mystery surrounds the image, some believe it was, like the MoD had apparently suspected, an experimental US aircraft, possibly The Aurora.

It has never been confirmed if The Aurora actually existed but some believe it was a hypersonic spy plane capable of super fast speeds.

A number of witnesses in the UK claimed to have seen angular flying objects in the late 80s and early 90s.

Graeme Rendall, from UAP Media UK, said: "We may not be any closer knowing exactly what the object seen over Calvine in August 1990 was, or who it belonged to, but an important piece of the puzzle has dropped into place due to diligent research."

New Zealand's endangered kakapo parrot gets a big population boost

The kakapo is estimated to reach about 90 years of age, making it one of the longest-living bird species.

(Reuters: Jake Osborne – New Zealand Department of Conservation)

The population of New Zealand's endangered flightless parrot kakapo has increased by 25 per cent in the past year, bringing it up to 252 birds.

Key points:The kakapo population was nearly wiped out because of introduced predators like stoats

Conservation efforts have helped the rare parrot population recover

Some of the breeding success was due to the amount of fruit on rimu trees as well as artificial insemination

A good breeding season and success with artificial insemination were behind the increase in kakapos, the New Zealand Department of Conservation said.

Introduced predators such as stoats have nearly wiped out the kakapo as the birds cannot fly.

The problem has been exacerbated by inbreeding, very low fertility — only 50 per cent of eggs are fertilised — and because they only breed every two or three years when native rimu trees fruit.

The population of the kakapo, which is the world's heaviest parrot, is now at its highest number since the 1970s.

"There were just 86 kakapo when I first started working as a kakapo ranger in 2002," operational manager for the kakapo recovery program Deidre Vercoe said.

"That number was scary. Having a breeding season with 55 chicks feels like a very positive step."

The program was established in 1995. It is a collaboration between the New Zealand conservation department and Maori tribe Ngai Tahu and uses volunteers to help with activities like monitoring the nests to keep them out of trouble.

The kakapo is the world's heaviest parrot.

(Reuters: Jake Osborne – New Zealand Department of Conservation)

Some birds have had to be rescued after getting stuck in the mud or after their legs were caught in trees.

Ms Vercoe said much of the success this season was due to the amount of fruit on rimu trees.

Success with artificial insemination this season was also key, she said. Eight surviving chicks were born from artificial insemination, compared to just five in the decade to 2019.

"Using artificial insemination has meant that some males, who had not yet naturally fathered chicks, are still represented in the future gene pool," Ms Vercoe said.

"Artificial insemination can also help to increase fertility of the eggs laid."

THE ORIGIN OF PULP SCI FI
Great Moon Hoax of 1835 convinced the world of extraterrestrial life

Dave Kindy, Aug 15 2022

BENJAMIN HENRY DAY/LIBRARY OF CONGRESS
A 1935 illustration in the New York Sun claimed to show animals on the moon, discovered by Sir John Herschel in his observatory at the Cape of Good Hope, and copied from sketches in the Edinburgh Journal of Science.

On July 31, a prominent French physicist tweeted an image of what he said was a distant star captured by the new James Webb Space Telescope.

Étienne Klein emphasised to his 91,000 followers "the level of detail" shown of Proxima Centauri, located 4.2 light-years from the sun, which appeared as a glowing red circle on a black background.

The photo image, he later admitted, was actually a slice of chorizo.

Klein apologised on Twitter for the prank and said it was a joke gone wrong, saying that no "object related to Spanish charcuterie exists anywhere else other than on Earth," according to CNN.


This is not the first time people have been duped by fake reports of out-of-this-world discoveries. Perhaps the greatest of them all occurred in 1835. The Great Moon Hoax emerged from a series of newspaper articles describing newly discovered life on the moon, including winged humanlike creatures and never-before-seen species of flora and fauna.

Readers were astounded by the reports in the New York Sun, which were reprinted in many newspapers in the United States and Europe. The articles, purportedly written by Dr Andrew Grant, detailed the discoveries of Sir John Herschel, a widely known astronomer who in real life had speculated on the possibility of life on the moon.

The Sun ran six articles on the discoveries over the course of a week beginning on August 25, 1835. The stories included amazing descriptions of life on the moon, as viewed through an enormous telescope with "hydro-oxygen" lenses built by Herschel at an observatory on the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa.

According to the Sun, the articles were reprinted from the Edinburgh Journal of Science in Scotland. In them, Grant wrote about golden temples and a ruby coliseum built by Vespertilio-Homo, a Latin name meaning "bat-man," which was given to the humanoids populating the moon.

He also reported how "some of their amusements would but ill comport with our terrestrial notions of decorum." Apparently, these winged humans liked to share intimate moments in public - presumably of a sexual nature.

Grant went on to describe other animals seen through the telescope. They included a large bipedal beaver that carried its young in its arms, as well as herds of beasts similar to bison, goats "of a bluish lead color" and "a strange amphibious creature, of a spherical form."

Readers were captivated by the accounts, published under the heading "Great Astronomical Discoveries, lately made by Sir John Herschel." New Yorkers reportedly spoke of nothing but the lunar revelations for days. Other newspapers were quick to jump on the story, reprinting the articles soon after they ran in the Sun. Publications as far west as Cincinnati and in London and Paris carried the series.

Asa Greene, editor of the New York Transcript, recalled in 1837 how everyone seemed caught up in the stories:

"The credulity was general. All New York rang with the wonderful discoveries of Sir John Herschell [sic]... There were, indeed, a few skeptics; but to venture to express a doubt of the genuineness of the great lunar discoveries, was considered almost as heinous a sin as to question the truth of revelation."

At first, people generally believed the reports. "In sober truth, if this account is true, it is most enormously wonderful," former New York mayor Philip Hone wrote in his diary. Soon, though, as more fantastical accounts were released, some started to have their suspicions.

One of the first publications to voice its doubt was the Journal of Commerce, a biweekly magazine in New York that primarily covered global trade news. Its editor wrote, "There is no doubt but the article was manufactured in this country, and that it belongs to the same school as Robinson Crusoe and Gulliver's Travels."

Slowly the truth began to emerge. On August 31, James Gordon Bennett Sr, owner of the New York Herald, printed an article titled The Astronomical Hoax Explained. He presented evidence debunking the Sun's stories, pointing out that the Edinburgh Journal of Science – the supposed source of the series – had ceased publication in 1833.

And there was no Dr Andrew Grant, nor did the fabulous telescope exist. Herschel, who was real, did build a telescope at his observatory in South Africa, but it could see only the stars – not life on other planets.

Bennett also identified the author of the unsigned articles: Richard Adams Locke, a New York Sun reporter. The Herald publisher proffered flimsy evidence of Locke's involvement, but it appears he was on target. In 1840, Locke admitted he was the writer, although some historians speculate other authors helped craft the tall tale.

For its part, the public seemed amused by the revelation, taking it as a good-natured joke. At the time, the profession of journalism was not well-established, and most people understood that newspapers were not always purveyors of accurate information.

One of those who did object was Edgar Allan Poe, the author of many otherworldly stories of his own. He argued that the Sun's series ripped off one of his stories published a few months earlier. In The Unparalleled Adventure of One Hans Pfaall, which Poe also claimed was a true story, the hero visits the moon in a hot-air balloon.

"The hoax was circulated to an immense extent, was translated into various languages - was even made the subject of (quizzical) discussion in astronomical societies ... and was, upon the whole, decidedly the greatest hit in the way of sensation - of merely popular sensation - ever made by any similar fiction either in America or in Europe," Poe wrote later.

An unsuspecting Herschel continued working ahis observatory in South Africa. In the days before transatlantic cables, he was unaware of the hoax until late 1835, when an American businessman handed him one of the newspapers. After reading it, he reportedly blurted out, "This is a most extraordinary affair! Pray, what does it mean?"

Though initially amused, Herschel soon tired of the publicity and incessant questions. An unsent letter he wrote in 1836 to a London magazine – discovered in 2001 – reveals his feelings at the time:

"I feel confident that you will oblige me therefore by inserting this my disclaimer in your widely circulated and well conducted paper, not because I have the smallest fear that any person possessing the first elements of optical Science (to say nothing of Common Sense) could for a moment be misled into believing such extravagancies, but because I consider the precedent a bad one that the absurdity of a story should ensure its freedom from contradiction when universally repeated in so many quarters and in such a variety of forms."

Locke never apologised for what later became known as the Great Moon Hoax, although he admitted in an 1840 letter published in the New World newspaper that it was meant as satire.

Three years later, Locke tried to pull off another hoax in the New Era, a New York newspaper. He wrote that he had discovered a long-lost letter of Scottish explorer Mungo Park, who had disappeared in West Africa in 1805. Nobody was buying his story this time, though.

Locke eventually gave up journalism and worked for the Customs Service in New York. When he died in 1871, the New York Sun reported in his obituary:

"Mr. Locke was the author of the 'Moon Hoax,' the most successful scientific joke ever published ... The story was told with a minuteness of detail and dexterous use of technical phrases that not only imposed upon the ordinary reader, but deceived and puzzled men of science to an astonishing degree."

As Klein later wrote on Twitter about his Spanish sausage prank, "Let's learn to be wary of the arguments from positions of authority as much as the spontaneous eloquence of certain images."


The Washington Post

READ MORE:
* Neptune at the touch of a button - Auckland Stardome telescope now computerised
* Fifty years of asteroid hunting for Kiwi couple
* Roger Hanson: 100 Years of astronomy in New Plymouth

Zimbabwe blames measles surge on sect gatherings after 80 children die

AUGUST 14, 2022

An illustration of a measles virus particle.
Unsplash


HARARE – A measles outbreak has killed 80 children in Zimbabwe since April, the ministry of health has said, blaming church sect gatherings for the surge.

In a statement seen by Reuters on Sunday (Aug 14), the ministry said the outbreak had now spread nationwide, with a case fatality rate of 6.9 per cent.

Health Secretary Jasper Chimedza said that as of Thursday, 1,036 suspected cases and 125 confirmed cases had been reported since the outbreak, with Manicaland in eastern Zimbabwe accounting for most infections.

"The ministry of health and child care wishes to inform the public that the ongoing outbreak of measles which was first reported on 10th of April has since spread nationwide following church gatherings," Chimedza said in a statement.

"These gathering which were attended by people from different provinces of the country with unknown vaccination status led to the spread of measles to previously unaffected areas."

Manicaland, the second-most populous province, had 356 cases and 45 deaths, Chimedza said.

Most reported cases are among children aged between six months and 15 from religious sects who are not vaccinated against measles due to religious beliefs, he added.

Bishop Andby Makuru, leader of Johanne Masowe apostolic sect, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

In Zimbabwe, some apostolic church sects forbid their followers from taking vaccinations or any medical treatment. The churches attract millions of followers with their promises to heal illnesses and deliver people from poverty.

With a low vaccination rate and in some cases, no record keeping, the government has resolved to start a mass vaccination campaign in areas where the outbreak was recorded.

The measles outbreak is expected to strain an ailing health sector already blighted by lack of medication and intermittent strikes by health workers.

Source: Reuters

Russians detain their own former spy chief en route to the frontline in Ukraine

Igor Girkin is said to have signed up to join Russia’s “special military operation” in Ukraine after growing frustrated with the slow progress of the conflict. Photo: Russian Defence Ministry


James Kilner
August 15 2022 02:30 AM

A former spy for Russia who led rebels in Ukraine’s Donetsk region – and has been linked to the shooting down of a commercial airliner – has been arrested as he tried to join the frontline of the Kremlin’s war.

Igor Girkin, also called Igor Strelkov, is said to have signed up to join Russia’s “special military operation” in Ukraine after growing frustrated with the slow progress of the conflict.

Social media photos show a shaven Mr Girkin, a former FSB colonel, without his trademark moustache in an apparent attempt to travel in disguise to the battle near the city of Kherson, in the south of Ukraine.

Kherson is the only sizeable Ukrainian city to have fallen to the Russians since the invasion on February 24 and even this is now under threat from a Ukrainian counter-offensive that is reportedly gathering force on the northern banks of the Dnipro river.

A Russian nationalist supporter of Mr Girkin, Alexander Zhuchkovsky, said that Mr Girkin had been detained in Russian-controlled Crimea as he travelled to the frontline.

“Strelkov [Girkin] is a man with vast military experience,” Mr Zhuchkovsky said. “It is a great political crime that such a person cannot get to the front.”

Mr Girkin gained a cult following among hardcore Russian nationalists in 2014 after he led separatist rebel forces seeking to hive the mostly Russian-speaking Donetsk region away from Ukraine following Vladimir Putin’s annexation of Crimea.

He styled himself as an officer of the Imperial Russian Army, striding around, barking orders and chain-smoking.

He also imposed an unforgiving form of martial law in the area under his control, ordering that looters be shot by firing squad. Ukrainian officials have also accused him of shooting prisoners of war.

Analysts said Mr Girkin travelled to Donetsk in 2014 as a freelance nationalist fighter and that his charisma and know-how propelled him into the leadership. For a few months, the Kremlin tolerated his leadership in Donetsk but they ditched him after rebel fighters used a Russian missile system to shoot down Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 on July 17, 2014, killing 298 people.

Most of those killed on Flight 17 were Dutch and, in 2019, prosecutors in the Netherlands charged Mr Girkin with their murder. The Russian authorities have ignored the arrest warrant.

In the past few years, Mr Girkin has been spotted on the Moscow Metro cutting a forlorn figure. Now aged 51, his face is puffy, his hair has turned grey and his moustache has lost its sharpness.

However, the Kremlin’s invasion of Ukraine in February rejuvenated Mr Girkin who has established himself as a military analyst on the Telegram social media channel.

He supports the invasion of Ukraine but is critical of the Kremlin for not committing itself totally.

He has also used Telegram to deny he had tried to join a frontline unit.

POSTMODERN SPIRITUALISM

AI technology lets dead speak from beyond the grave as a hologram and have two-way conversation with mourners

The late Marina Smith, who was a renowned Holocaust educator in the UK, spoke at her own funeral which led to some unknown revelations about her upbringing


Victoria Ward and Justin Stoneman
August 15 2022


When Marina Smith died aged 87 in June, her grieving loved ones thought all they had left of her was their memories – in fact, the Holocaust campaigner returned from beyond the grave in the form of an artificial intelligence-powered hologram to answer questions and reveal family secrets.

Ms Smith was one of the first adopters of a new technology, available in the UK from this week, that enabled her to appear at her own funeral in Babworth, Nottinghamshire.

The “holographic conversational video experience” came courtesy of an AI-powered video platform called StoryFile. The brainchild of her Los Angeles-based son, Stephen Smith, it allowed her to deliver a brief speech about her life and spirituality and respond to questions from those who attended the ceremony, creating the illusion of a real-time conversation.

StoryFile combines the latest studio technology – a bank of 20 synced cameras to capture the subject in hologram-specific detail – advanced AI and expert psychological evaluation to create a digital clone that allows people to talk to the dead.

“Mum answered questions from grieving relatives after they had watched her cremation,” Mr Smith said.

In January, Ms Smith spent several hours a day for two days, documenting and discussing her life on a personal computer using a plug-in webcam.

Her son said: “What was most valuable to me, as her son, was the fact that my mother was prepared to answer questions about her early childhood.

“This included difficult topics such as the divorce of her parents and living as an immigrant from India. She was also prepared to answer interesting questions about her points of view on politics, the environment and the future, which was interesting because I had never had those conversations with her before.”

He added: “People feel emboldened when recording their data. Mourners might get a freer, truer version of their lost loved one.

“Relatives were staggered by my mum’s new honesty at her funeral. She had previously been too embarrassed to reveal her true childhood. A question about it at the funeral suddenly had her revealing her childhood in India that we knew nothing about.

“During her life my mum worked very closely with the Jewish community, I could never understand why – we always knew her to be a Methodist. Her digital version shocked mourners: she told us she was actually a Seventh-Day Adventist. Suddenly her life made sense to me in a clear, new way.”

The question-answering digital version of a lost loved one can be bought for roughly €47, which includes the choice of 75 questions, unlimited conversations and two-minute video answers.

An individual chooses their preferred topic areas – such as careers, relationships and childhood secrets – based on the areas they feel their loved ones might want answers to.

Mr Smith, who previously ran Steven Spielberg’s Shoah Foundation, has won plaudits for the StoryFile technology and was awarded an MBE in 2000.

Ms Smith created her own non-profit organisation to help individuals in need and later bought a derelict farm in Laxton, Nottinghamshire, which she and her husband turned into a Christian conference and retreat centre.

A family holiday to Israel in 1981 prompted them to follow a new direction and the family home became the UK’s National Holocaust Centre.

It remains the only national museum in the UK dedicated to teaching and learning the lessons from the Holocaust and Ms Smith was recognised in the Queen’s 2005 New Year’s Honours List with an MBE for services to Holocaust remembrance and education.

William Shatner, the 91-year-old star of Star Trek, has also recorded information about the television series on StoryFile that will only be revealed after his death.

Mr Smith was inspired by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s public plea for support from tech companies in June. He has since recorded StoryFile versions of 77 individuals in war-torn areas of Ukraine.

Taliban chase and beat women at Kabul protest on anniversary of power grab

Afghanistan marks a year since the West’s withdrawal from country

Young Afghan girls read the Koran at a mosque outside Kabul. Photo: Ebrahim Noroozi/AP

David Millward
August 15 2022

The Taliban was condemned yesterday for beating women at a demonstration on the eve of the anniversary of their seizure of power.

As Afghanistan marks a year since the West’s withdrawal from Kabul, fears that the Taliban would roll back women’s rights gained during two decades of Western intervention appear justified.

On Saturday, a group of 40 women marched in front of the education building in Kabul chanting “bread, work and freedom”. Some defied the strict dress code by refusing to wear face veils.

Taliban militants dispersed the crowd by firing into the air before chasing after the protesters and beating them with rifle butts.

The fighters seized phones and banners as they cracked down on the first women’s rally in months.

Josep Borrell, the EU’s foreign policy chief, said: “The EU is particularly concerned by the fate of Afghan women and girls who have seen their freedoms, rights and access to basic services such as education systematically denied.”

Meanwhile, US Republicans warned last night that former Afghan security personnel with sensitive knowledge of US operations left behind by the American evacuation operation were vulnerable to recruitment or coercion by Russia, China and Iran.

“This is especially true given reports that some former Afghan military personnel have fled to Iran,” minority Republicans of the US House Foreign Affairs Committee said in a report.

The Biden administration, the report said, failed to prioritise evacuating US-trained Afghan commandos and other elite units in the shambolic troop pull out and evacuation operation at Kabul international airport.

Thirteen US soldiers died and hundreds of US citizens and tens of thousands of at-risk Afghans were left behind during the operation.

The administration calls the operation an “extraordinary success” that flew more than 124,000 Americans and Afghans to safety and wound up an “endless” war in which 3,500 US and allied troops, and hundreds of thousands of Afghans died.

But hundreds of US-trained commandos and other former security personnel and their families remain in Afghanistan amid reports the Taliban have been killing and torturing former Afghan officials, allegations the militants deny.

Also yesterday, the US was accused of failing to share secret documents that formed part of the peace deal the Trump administration signed with the Taliban.

Although Joe Biden was in the White House when the chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan took place, much of the preparatory work had been done by his predecessor.

According to The Sunday Times, the agreement, which was part of Mr Trump’s pledge to end “forever wars”, included detailed arrangements for how the Taliban and Nato troops would end the fighting. (© Telegraph Media Group Ltd 2022)