'The way the US withdrew from Afghanistan was disgraceful' | DW interview with Hamid Karzai

In an exclusive interview, former Afghan President Hamid Karzai tells DW why he didn't leave Afghanistan after the Taliban seized power one year ago. "This will go away, and we'll be back on our feet," Karzai says.

 

A year on, ex-Afghan leader defends role in Taliban takeover

By RAHIM FAIEZ

August 14, 2022

Passengers walk to the departures terminal of Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul, Afghanistan, on Saturday, Aug. 14, 2021, past a mural of President Ashraf Ghani, as the Taliban offensive encircled the capital. On the eve of the anniversary of the Taliban takeover of Kabul, Afghanistan's former president on Sunday, Aug. 14, 2022, defended what he said was a split-second decision to flee, saying he wanted to avoid the humiliation of surrender to the insurgents.

 (AP Photo/Rahmat Gul, File)


ISLAMABAD (AP) — On the eve of the anniversary of the Taliban takeover of Kabul, Afghanistan’s former president on Sunday defended what he said was a split-second decision to flee, saying he wanted to avoid the humiliation of surrender to the insurgents.

Ashraf Ghani also told CNN that on the morning of Aug. 15, 2021, with the Taliban at the gates of the Afghan capital, he was the last one at the presidential palace after his guards had disappeared. He said the defense minister told him earlier that day that Kabul could not be defended.

Ghani had previously sought to justify his actions on the day Kabul fell, but offered more details Sunday. He alleged that one of the cooks in the palace had been offered $100,000 to poison him and that he felt his immediate environment was no longer safe.

“The reason I left was because I did not want to give the Taliban and their supporters the pleasure of yet again humiliating an Afghan president and making him sign over the legitimacy of the government,” he said. “I have never been afraid.”

Critics say Ghani’s sudden and secret departure Aug. 15 left the city rudderless as U.S. and NATO forces were in the final stages of their chaotic withdrawal from the country after 20 years.

Ghani also denied persistent allegations that he took tens of millions of dollars in cash with him as he and other officials fled in helicopters.

In a report issued last week, a Congressional watchdog said it’s unlikely Ghani and his senior advisers transported that much cash on the escape helicopters.

“The hurried nature of their departure, the emphasis on passengers over cargo, the payload and performance limitations of the helicopters, and the consistent alignment in detailed accounts from witnesses on the ground and in the air all suggest that there was little more than $500,000 in cash on board the helicopters,” wrote the Office of the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction, which has tried to monitor the massive U.S. spending in the country over the years.

The agency added that “it remains a strong possibility that significant amounts of U.S. currency disappeared from Afghan government property in the chaos of the Taliban takeover, including millions from the presidential palace” and the vault of the National Directorate of Security. However, the report said the watchdog was unable to determine how much money was stolen and by whom.

In the end, the Taliban seized the capital without significant fighting last August, capping a weeks-long military blitz in which they rapidly captured provincial capitals without much resistance from the increasingly demoralized Afghan security forces.

In the year since the takeover, the former insurgents have imposed significant restrictions on girls and women, limiting their access to education and work, despite initial promises to the contrary. The Taliban have remained internationally isolated and largely cut off from the flow of international aid enjoyed by the Ghani government. The Taliban have struggled to govern and halt the sharp economic decline that has pushed millions more Afghans into poverty and even hunger.

Despite those challenges, the Taliban-led government planned several events Monday to mark the anniversary, including speeches by Taliban officials and several sports events.

Iran responds to EU draft text to save 2015 nuclear deal, seeks US flexibility

Issued on: 16/08/2022 - 

01:40The Palais Coburg in Vienna, where closed-door talks on Iran's nuclear programme are taking place. Video by: Carys GARLAND

Text by: NEWS WIRES

Iran responded to the European Union's "final" draft text to save a 2015 nuclear deal on Monday, an EU official said, as the Iranian foreign minister called on the United States to show flexibility to resolve three remaining issues.

After 16 months of fitful, indirect U.S.-Iranian talks, with the EU shuttling between the parties, a senior EU official said on Aug. 8 it had laid down a "final" offer and expected a response within a "very, very few weeks."

While Washington has said it is ready to quickly seal a deal to restore the 2015 accord on the basis of the EU proposals, Iranian negotiators said Tehran's "additional views and considerations" to the EU text would be conveyed later.

The EU official on Monday provided no details on Iran's response to the text.

"There are three issues that if resolved, we can reach an agreement in the coming days," Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian said earlier on Monday, suggesting Tehran's response would not be a final acceptance or rejection.

"We have told them that our red lines should be respected... We have shown enough flexibility ... We do not want to reach a deal that after 40 days, two months or three months fails to be materialised on the ground."

The United States said the deal could only be revived if Iran dropped "extraneous" issues, an apparent reference to Tehran's demands the U.N. nuclear watchdog close a probe into unexplained uranium traces in Iran and that its Revolutionary Guards come off a U.S. terrorism list.

Diplomats and officials told Reuters that whether or not Tehran and Washington accept the EU's "final" offer, neither is likely to declare the pact dead because keeping it alive serves both sides' interests.

Amirabdollahian said that "the coming days are very important" and "it would not be end of the world if they fail to show flexibility ... Then we will need more efforts and talks... to resolve the remaining issues."

The stakes are high, since failure in the nuclear negotiations would carry the risk of a fresh regional war with Israel threatening military action against Iran if diplomacy fails to prevent Tehran from developing a nuclear weapons capability.

Iran, which has long denied having such ambition, has warned of a "crushing" response to any Israeli attack.

"Like Washington, we have our own plan B if the talks fail," Amirabdollahian said.

In 2018, then-President Donald Trump reneged on the deal reached before he took office, calling it too soft on Iran, and reimposed harsh U.S. sanctions, spurring the Islamic Republic to begin breaching its limits on uranium enrichment.

The 2015 agreement appeared on the verge of revival in March after 11 months of indirect talks between Tehran and U.S.

President Joe Biden's administration in Vienna.

But talks broke down over obstacles including Tehran's demand that Washington provide guarantees that no U.S. president would abandon the deal as Trump did.

Biden cannot promise this because the nuclear deal is a non-binding political understanding, not a legally binding treaty.

(REUTERS)

 

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Target of Bolsonaro attacks to become Brazil election court chief

Marcelo SILVA DE SOUSA
Mon, August 15, 2022 


Openly reviled by President Jair Bolsonaro, Brazilian judge Alexandre de Moraes may have to show the stuff that earned him the nickname "RoboCop" as arbiter in polarizing, disinformation-plagued elections to decide the far-right incumbent's fate.

A Supreme Court justice -- a job in which he has been a constant target of Bolsonaro's attacks -- Moraes is set to take over Tuesday as head of Brazil's Superior Electoral Tribunal (TSE), the institution responsible for refereeing the South American giant's October elections and punishing violations of electoral law.

It is typically a fairly humdrum role. But these aren't shaping up to be typical elections.

Bolsonaro, who trails in the polls to leftist ex-president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva (2003-2010), has been railing against the electronic voting machines Brazil has used since 1996, alleging without evidence that they are plagued by fraud.

He has also hinted he will not leave the presidency without a fight, saying his reelection bid can only have three outcomes: "prison, death or victory."

That has many Brazilians worried Bolsonaro will try to fight the result if he loses, following in the footsteps of his political role model, former US president Donald Trump -- and putting Brazil on track for its own, possibly uglier version of last year's attack on the Capitol in Washington by Trump supporters.

That context makes Moraes's new job particularly high-profile.

"He'll have to run the TSE with an iron fist to prevent the collapse of our entire electoral system," says political analyst Andre Cesar of consulting firm Hold.

- Bolsonaro bane -

Instantly recognizable with his shiny bald pate and the stern demeanor that earned him the "RoboCop" nickname, Moraes, 53, is used to being on the receiving end of Bolsonaro's diatribes.

One of the most vitriolic came as Brazil celebrated 199 years of independence from Portugal on September 7, 2021.

Riling up a crowd of hardline supporters in Sao Paulo, Bolsonaro vowed he would no longer obey rulings issued by Moraes.

"From now on, this president won't carry out one single decision by Alexandre de Moraes. My patience is up," Bolsonaro said to cheers and chants for the Supreme Court's judges to be jailed.

Long hostile to the Supreme Court, which he accuses of blocking his agenda out of what he calls left-wing bias, Bolsonaro has singled out Moraes for particular disdain, making him a poster boy of judicial activism he says is wrecking Brazil.

The justice has earned the president's ire on a regular basis.

Moraes ordered Bolsonaro investigated for his unproven claims that Brazil's voting system is riddled with fraud; and jailed one of his biggest supporters, Congressman Daniel Silveira -- who was then pardoned by Bolsonaro -- on charges of attacking democratic institutions.

He ordered social networks to remove some of Bolsonaro's posts on grounds of disinformation; and he is the lead judge in investigations into charges that Bolsonaro leaked a classified police probe and interfered in another, into corruption accusations against his sons.

Alleging "persecution," Bolsonaro has sued Moraes for abuse of authority and asked the Senate to impeach him.

Neither effort succeed.

- Pragmatic ex-prosecutor -

Moraes, who will keep his Supreme Court spot as TSE president, was elected to head the electoral court in a secret vote by its seven members in June.

He first gained national prominence as justice minister under center-right ex-president Michel Temer (2016-2018), who appointed him to the Supreme Court in 2017.

Fellow justices call him a pragmatist with a gift for dialoging with politicians and the military.

Moraes got his start as a Sao Paulo state prosecutor, then went on to serve as state security secretary. Known as a hardliner, he was no ally of left-wing activists, who accused him of repressing social movements.

Since becoming a top Bolsonaro target, Moraes barely speaks with journalists and keeps his decisions strictly under wraps, a Supreme Court source told AFP.

But he is active on Twitter, posting last week for example in support of massive rallies in "defense of democracy" held across the country.

msi/jhb/st/dw

Simon Stiell of Grenada named new UN climate chief

Grenada's former environment minister Simon Stiell has been appointed the new United 

Nations climate chief.

Grenada's former environment minister Simon Stiell was named Monday as the new UN Climate Change chief, replacing Patricia Espinosa of Mexico, the UN secretary-general's office said.

The appointment of the long-time advocate for climate action was approved by the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC) under which all climate negotiations are held, including the Paris agreement.

Stiell will take up the position shortly, said a spokesman for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, suggesting he would be in office for the next UN climate conference, COP27, in Egypt in November.

A member of Grenada's government from 2013 until June, Stiell has served as minister of environment and climate resilience for the last five years, calling relentlessly during COP summits for more progress in the fight against global warming.

Guterres's office called Stiell, who trained as an engineer, a "true champion for formulating creative approaches for our collective global response to the climate crisis" and said he brings unique skills honed over a 30-year career.

He will replace Espinosa, who has served two terms as head of the UNFCCC, from 2016 until July.

Until Stiell steps into the post, Mauritanian Ibrahim Thiaw remains in place as interim head of UN Climate Change, in addition to his duties as leader of the UN agency that combats desertification.Nearly 200 countries attend ambitious climate talks

© 2022 AFP

Archaeological treasure discovered in Najaf

• Amr Salem
•  August 15, 2022

The Iraqi Minister of Culture, Tourism and Antiquities Hassan Nazim with other officials watching precious pieces from the late Abbasid era displayed on a table. Photo: Iraqi News Agency

Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) – The Iraqi Minister of Culture, Tourism and Antiquities, Hassan Nazim, announced on Monday, in a press conference, that an archaeological treasure has been discovered in Najaf city, according to the Iraqi News Agency (INA).

“An important archaeological treasure was discovered in Kari-Saada area in Najaf city, near Kufa city, by an Iraqi archaeological excavation mission,” Nazim said.

“The treasure is a pottery jar containing precious pieces that are gold ornaments, necklaces, rings, earrings, pendants, precious stones, eighteen dinars of pure gold referring to the Caliphs Al-Mu’tamid Be-Allah, Al-Muqtadir, and Al-Mustakfi Be-Allah, as well as more than 100 dirhams of silver,” Nazim clarified.

Nazim elaborated that the excavation team also discovered many copper coins in different sizes in the site, but the coins were damaged due to the impact of moisture and salts.

Additionally, small size glass bottles and flasks made by free-blowing method with spherical bodies and a long narrow necks where the thickness of the glass does not exceed two millimeters were discovered.

Archaeological excavators mentioned that the discovered pieces in Kari-Saada area in central Iraq, about 160 kilometers south of Baghdad, belong to the late Abbasid era.

Nazim added that the General Authority for Antiquities and Heritage is working to combat transgressions against archaeological and heritage sites in all governorates of Iraq with the aim of preserving Iraq’s antiquities from damage and loss.

Space mission shows Earth’s water may be from asteroids: study

• AFP
•  August 16, 2022

Hayabusa-2 returned to Earth’s orbit two years ago to drop off a capsule containing the sample

Tokyo – Water may have been brought to Earth by asteroids from the outer edges of the solar system, scientists said after analysing rare samples collected on a six-year Japanese space mission.

In a quest to shed light on the origins of life and the formation of the universe, researchers are scrutinising material brought back to earth in 2020 from the asteroid Ryugu.

The 5.4 grams (0.2 ounces) of rocks and dust were gathered by a Japanese space probe, called Hayabusa-2, that landed on the celestial body and fired an “impactor” into its surface.

Studies on the material are beginning to be published, and in June, one group of researchers said they had found organic material which showed that some of the building blocks of life on Earth, amino acids, may have been formed in space.

In a new paper published in the journal Nature Astronomy, scientists said the Ryugu samples could give clues to the mystery of how oceans appeared on Earth billions of years ago.

“Volatile and organic-rich C-type asteroids may have been one of the main sources of Earth’s water,” said the study by scientists from Japan and other countries, published Monday.

“The delivery of volatiles (that is, organics and water) to the Earth is still a subject of notable debate,” it said.

But the organic materials found “in Ryugu particles, identified in this study, probably represent one important source of volatiles”.

The scientists hypothesised that such material probably has an “outer Solar System origin”, but said it was “unlikely to be the only source of volatiles delivered to the early Earth”.

Hayabusa-2 was launched in 2014 on its mission to Ryugu, around 300 million kilometres away, and returned to Earth’s orbit two years ago to drop off a capsule containing the sample.

In the Nature Astronomy study, the researchers again hailed the findings made possible by the mission.

“Ryugu particles are undoubtedly among the most uncontaminated Solar System materials available for laboratory study and ongoing investigations of these precious samples will certainly expand our understanding of early Solar System processes,” the study said.

French academic back in Iran prison after 5-day leave: supporters

• AFP
•  August 15, 2022
•  310
•  3 min

Fariba Adelkhah’s five-day furlough was not extended

Paris – A French-Iranian academic held in Iran for the past three years in a case that has raised tensions between Tehran and Paris has returned to prison after a brief furlough, her supporters said.

Fariba Adelkhah was last week allowed to leave Tehran’s Evin prison for five days.

Hopes that the measure may be extended were not fulfilled, her support group said in a statement published late Sunday.

“Unfortunately, Fariba’s five-day leave was not extended, or transformed into house arrest,” it said. “It gave her a break, but it’s still bad news.”

Activists say that at least 20 foreign and dual nationals are being held by Tehran on baseless charges, in a deliberate policy of hostage diplomacy aimed at extracting concessions from the West.

Adelkhah’s temporary release comes at a crucial time in the negotiations between world powers and Iran over the Iranian nuclear programme, with Tehran studying a final proposal from the EU aimed at salvaging a 2015 deal.

It is relatively common for prisoners in Iran to be allowed brief leave for time at home with families before returning to jail.

A specialist in Shiite Islam and a research director at Sciences Po university in Paris, Adelkhah was arrested in June 2019 along with her French colleague and partner Roland Marchal.

Adelkhah was sentenced in May 2020 to five years in prison for conspiring against national security, accusations her supporters say are absurd. 

Marchal was released in March 2020 and Adelkhah was allowed home in Tehran in October 2020 with an electronic bracelet. But she was then sent back to prison in January 2022.

Iran last month allowed German-Iranian woman Nahid Taghavi, who was arrested in October 2020, a medical furlough to get treatment for back and neck problems.

Three other French nationals are also being held by Iran.

Benjamin Briere, who according to his family is simply a tourist, was arrested in May 2020 after taking pictures in a national park with a recreational drone and sentenced to eight years in prison on spying charges.

Meanwhile, French teachers’ union official Cecile Kohler and her partner Jacques Paris were arrested in early May on security-related charges, Tehran has said.

Iran insists the foreigners are given fair trials but their families claim they are being held as pawns in a political game.

Anger flares at slow response to deadly Cairo church fire

Mon, August 15, 2022 


Egyptians voiced outrage Monday over reports that firefighters and paramedics took over an hour to respond to a blaze that tore through a Coptic Christian church and killed 41 people.

Grief has spread over Sunday's fire among Copts, the Middle East's largest Christian community, which makes up at least 10 million of Muslim-majority Egypt's population of 103 million.

But many other Egyptians have also voiced outrage over the disaster in the now scorched Abu Sifin church, located in the greater Cairo neighbourhood of Imbaba west of the Nile River.

As debate flared on social media, one Twitter user charged that the reportedly slow response time "is not just negligence, it's complicity".

"My cousin's children died," video creator Moha El Harra said in a widely shared online livestream after Sunday's blaze, which was blamed on an electrical fault.

"I'm from the area. I know that the ambulance could have been there in three minutes. It took them an hour and a half.

"All we want is justice -- for the local ambulance authority, the fire services, civil defence. All of them need to be held to account."

- Smoke inhalation -

Health Minister Khaled Abd el-Ghaffar had declared Sunday that "paramedics were informed of the fire at 8:57 am" and the first ambulance "arrived at the site at exactly 8:59 am".

But many challenged this, with eye-witnesses saying it took "an hour and a half" for emergency services to arrive.

"No, the ambulance did not arrive within two minutes," one local resident, Mina Masry, told AFP. "If the ambulance had come on time, they could have rescued people," he added, stressing that many lives were lost to smoke inhalation, not burns.

A statement from the public prosecutor's office confirmed that asphyxiation caused all of the 41 deaths as the corpses bore "no other visible injuries".

Another local witness, Sayed Tawfik, said that, as the inferno raged, some panicked people inside "threw themselves out of windows to escape the fire".

He pointed to a car parked on the street with a deep indentation which he said was "left by a person who is now lying in the hospital with a broken arm and back".

Residents said bystanders braved flames and smoke to save children from the burning building.

"Everyone was carrying kids out of the building," said Ahmed Reda Baioumy, who lives next to the church. "But the fire was getting bigger and you could only go in once or you would asphyxiate."
- Child victims -


Slow response times of emergency services are not unusual in Egypt, where neighbourhood residents routinely improvise rescue efforts, even within the megalopolis of Cairo.

Smoke detectors and alarms and fire escapes are rare and in many areas, such as Imbaba, warrens of narrow roads make it hard for fire engines to reach disaster sites.

Baioumy, the neighbour, told AFP that firefighters were hampered by the church's location "on a very narrow street".

Egypt, with its informal residential areas and often dilapidated infrastructure, has suffered several deadly fires in recent years.

Most recently, a church went up in flames a week ago in the eastern Cairo district of Heliopolis, though no deaths or injuries were reported.


Because the Coptic church fire happened during Sunday mass, when local families flock to the church and its daycare services, children were among the victims.

Though officials have not confirmed how many minors died, AFP correspondents at the funeral Sunday night saw several child-sized coffins.

Local media published a list from the Imbaba Hospital listing the names of 10 people killed who were aged under 16.

bha/fz

Moving from natural gas, fossil fuels to renewable energy grows need for minerals, metals



Josh Archote, Lafayette Daily Advertiser
Mon, August 15, 2022 

The world's transition away from fossil fuels toward clean energy is increasing demand for certain minerals, rare earth metals and the expertise of a scientific discipline that has been dwindling for decades.

Renewable energy systems are more material-intensive than those powered by fossil fuels. Minerals like lithium and nickel are needed for better batteries; rare earth metals for wind turbines and electric motors; and vast amounts of copper and aluminum to further electrify the power grid.

The increase in demand is also spurring the need for geologists skilled in finding ore deposits and assessing the potential for drilling -- a subfield of geology that has nearly disappeared from American university geology programs.
'If you don't grow it, you mine it'

Although we usually don't think about the materials that make up the built environment, minerals power every aspect of our lives, explained Barbara Dutrow, a geology professor at Louisiana State University and former president of the Geological Society of America.


“An old saying is, ‘If you don't grow it, you mine it.’ Our lifestyles depend on materials from the earth,” Dutrow said.

The emerging renewable energy sector will be material-intensive instead of fuel-intensive like traditional forms of energy.

A typical electric car requires six times the mineral resources of a conventional car while an onshore wind plant requires nine times more than a gas-fired power plant, according to the International Energy Agency.

Since 2010, the average amount of minerals needed for a new unit of power generation capacity has increased by 50% as renewables replaced traditional sources of energy.

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The IEA projects that by 2040, mineral demand from clean energy technologies will double or even quadruple in some scenarios.

The study of minerals has been increasingly left out of the earth science curriculum, particularly in the U.S., either disappearing altogether or being grouped in with other subjects.

Geology programs focused on training geologists to locate ore deposits, identify materials and assess the potential for drilling in different locations has been fading.

LSU’s vice president for research and economic development, Samuel Bentley, said he wants to see the university return to these programs, sometimes referred to as “economic geology.”

“For a number of reasons, many universities in the U.S. let programs like that phase out,” Bentley said. “Well, now that's reversing because the demand for raw materials and for innovation using the raw materials to build and electrify the economy, to electrify transportation, are huge.”

A few universities, like Iowa State University, the University of Arizona, and the University of Michigan maintained their programs, but a slump in the metals market made the field nearly obsolete by the late 1990s.

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“I would expect that Louisiana will be getting more into our academic programs – we’ll be focusing more over upcoming years on returning to applied economic geoscience in order to help with energy transition,” Bentley said. “That's the direction I want us to go in. And I think that's the direction a lot of universities are already moving.”
Geopolitical concerns

Concerns over energy security have traditionally been centered around countries having a steady supply of fuel – oil and gas. Europe’s current energy crisis, for example, was spurred by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which caused disruptions to natural gas supply.

But replacing fossil fuels with clean energy won’t erase geopolitical concerns over resources. Though renewable energy isn’t fuel intensive, it is material intensive, and the minerals needed for the energy transition are not distributed evenly across the globe.

China, for example, made up over 60% of rare earth metal production in 2019, and has a significant amount of nearly every other necessary ore needed for the transition.

The raw materials needed for the energy transition are more geographically concentrated than oil and gas. Additionally, China has a heavy presence in the infrastructure needed to process the raw materials.

China’s share of refining is around 35% for nickel, 50-70% for lithium and cobalt, and as high as 90% for rare earth metal processing that converts ores into oxides, metals and magnets, according to the IEA.

“Developing a U.S. infrastructure for identifying new resources for critical minerals and materials is once again important,” Dutrow said.

This article originally appeared on Lafayette Daily Advertiser: Energy transition pushing demand for minerals and trained geologists