SCA MORNING PRESS CLIPS
Prepared for the U.S. Department of State
Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs
TO: | SCA & Staff |
DATE: | Friday, January 24, 2025 6:30 AM ET |
Afghanistan
I.C.C. Prosecutor Seeks Arrest of Taliban Leader for Persecution of Afghan Women and Girls (New York Times)
New York Times [1/23/2025 4:14 PM, Marlise Simons, 831K, Neutral]
The chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court said on Thursday he had requested arrest warrants for the supreme leader of Afghanistan’s Taliban government and the country’s chief justice for their “unprecedented” persecution of Afghan women and girls.
The prosecutor, Karim Khan, said in a statement that the Taliban’s leader, Sheikh Haibatullah Akhundzada, and the head of Afghanistan’s supreme court, Abdul Hakim Haqqani, had committed a crime against humanity: “persecution on gender grounds.”“Afghan women and girls, as well as the LGBTQI+ community, are facing an unprecedented, unconscionable and ongoing persecution by the Taliban,” the statement said.
Since U.S. troops pulled out of Afghanistan in 2021 and the Taliban regained power, the fundamentalist rulers have issued ever-tightening codes of vice and virtue laws that have driven women entirely from public life and from many private activities.
The edicts, presented as Muslim religious rules, have excluded women from jobs and almost all public areas. In 2023, the Taliban shut all beauty salons — one of the few public places left in the country where women could congregate outside the home. Afghanistan also barred girls from high school and women from university education — the only country to do so.
A United Nations rapporteur has described the extreme regime as “gender apartheid.”
Many women have fled the country, and others are seeking ways to escape from their confined way of life.The prosecutor’s move is the first legal filing by the court, which is based in The Hague, to include the plight of L.G.B.T.Q.I.+ groups in a discrimination complaint. But it is not the first international legal attempt to pressure the Taliban to loosen their grip on Afghan women’s lives.
Last year, Australia, Canada, Germany and the Netherlands took the Taliban to the International Court of Justice, the United Nations’ highest court, and denounced them for “gross and systematic” violations of the U.N. convention, ratified by Afghanistan, that forbids all forms of discrimination against women.
Other countries have since joined this case, which is winding its way through the World Court and is expected to lead to public hearings and, possibly, court orders.
Although the Taliban have ignored international pressure to change their extremist treatment of women, activists hope that the group would make concessions as the country’s leaders seek to normalize diplomatic relations or obtain international aid. They say that international court cases are important to keep the plight of Afghan women on the agenda.“Afghan women and girls finally have a chance to secure justice for the cruelty they have endured since the Taliban’s takeover,” said Binaifer Nowrojee, president of the Open Society Foundations, independent groups working for justice, democratic governance and human rights. “Without the I.C.C. and other international tribunals, Afghan women and girls would have nowhere else to turn to hold the Taliban accountable.”
Mr. Khan’s request for warrants is part of his broader investigation into alleged Taliban crimes. In his brief, the prosecutor said that his office would seek further warrants for other senior Taliban officials for broad attacks against the Afghan civilian population.
A panel of three judges issues I.C.C. arrest warrants, a process that can take months. Lawyers familiar with the court said these warrants might emerge faster because the edicts discriminating against Afghan women in violation of international law have been openly issued by the Taliban rulers.
The leader of the Taliban has not been known to leave the country, so if the warrants are issued, chances are slim they could be executed.
Mr. Khan said in his statement that opposition to the Taliban is “brutally repressed” through “crimes including murder, imprisonment, torture, rape and other forms of sexual violence, enforced disappearance and other inhumane acts.” He compared the oppression and violence to the Taliban’s earlier crimes, when they were previously in power.
The ultraconservative militants rose to prominence in the aftermath of the withdrawal of invading Soviet troops, capturing the capital, Kabul, in 1996. An alliance of international forces led by the United States invaded in 2001, tracking Osama bin Laden, the leader of Al Qaeda. The bombing campaign led to the Taliban’s retreat.
The I.C.C.’s investigations into crimes committed in Afghanistan first began in 2007 and had long lingered on the back burner. They have included accusations of misconduct by U.S. troops, including extrajudicial killings and torture.
But Mr. Khan surprised many when, soon after taking office in 2021, he announced that he would “de-prioritize” the investigation into U.S. personnel. He said his decision was based on his need to use limited resources efficiently. That essentially shelved the U.S. component of the inquiry. ICC prosecutor seeks warrants for Taliban leaders over women’s rights (Washington Post)
Washington Post [1/23/2025 2:12 PM, Rick Noack, 40736K, Negative]
The International Criminal Court’s chief prosecutor announced Thursday that he is seeking arrest warrants for the leader of the Taliban and another senior regime official over their alleged persecution of women and girls in Afghanistan.The requested warrants target Haibatullah Akhundzada, the reclusive Kandahar-based leader of the Taliban, and Abdul Hakim Haqqani, the group’s chief justice.Karim Khan, the ICC prosecutor, said his office has determined “there are reasonable grounds to believe” that both men “bear criminal responsibility for the crime against humanity of persecution on gender grounds.”The judges of the court in The Hague will now decide whether to issue the warrants, the first to be sought over the situation in Afghanistan. Khan, a British lawyer, said Thursday that warrant applications for other senior Taliban members would be filed soon.“These applications recognise that Afghan women and girls as well as the LGBTQI+ community are facing an unprecedented, unconscionable and ongoing persecution by the Taliban,” the prosecutor said in a statement. He added that “persons whom the Taliban perceived as allies of girls and women” have also been targeted.The Taliban-run Foreign Ministry and the chief government spokesman did not immediately respond to requests for comment.The application for warrants was the result of a years-long investigation and was widely applauded by human rights groups Thursday. But even if the warrants are issued, they are likely to remain largely symbolic.Akhundzada and Haqqani have made no known trips abroad in recent years, and Haqqani had already been placed under sanction by the European Union in 2023 for “gender repression.” Many of the countries where Taliban officials are currently able to travel have not signed or ratified the Rome Statute — the ICC’s founding document — meaning they have no obligation to arrest Akhundzada and Haqqani.Experts say Thursday’s warrant applications represent a landmark effort to pursue gender-based persecution.Such crimes have “rarely been thoroughly investigated or prosecuted, so this also marks progress in the broader international criminal justice effort, which will, hopefully, provide justice for other victims worldwide,” said Kingsley Abbott, an international criminal and human rights lawyer and a professor at the University of London.The decision is likely to deepen the international isolation of the Taliban regime, which has not been formally recognized by any government since seizing power in 2021 after the withdrawal of U.S. forces.Some countries have tried to establish diplomatic ties with the regime to solve bilateral issues, but the Taliban’s treatment of women — regarded by human rights experts as unparalleled in its severity and systematic implementation — has significantly hindered further engagement.Earlier this week, President Donald Trump suspended the U.S. refugee admissions program, which halted flights for Afghans who had hoped to resettle in America and left thousands of other applicants in limbo. Many of those seeking refuge are women and girls, who say they have no future in Afghanistan.The government in Kabul has imposed increasingly repressive measures against women and girls, banning them from secondary and university education and limiting their ability to participate in public life.Women are barred from parks and are forbidden to undertake long-distance travel without a male relative. Last month, they were banned from pursuing careers as nurses and midwives, which experts warned could exacerbate a mounting health crisis in the country.The ICC prosecutor said that based on testimonies, forensic reports and public statements, his office found the Taliban leaders to be in violation of the “right to physical integrity and autonomy, to free movement and free expression, to education, to private and family life, and to free assembly.”The complaint also cited acts of “murder, imprisonment, torture, rape and other forms of sexual violence, enforced disappearance, and other inhumane acts.”Taliban officials have said previously that women’s lives have improved under their rule. Akhundzada said in a 2023 audio message that he wants women to live “comfortable” lives.Behind closed doors, some members of the Taliban government have criticized Akhundzada for the tightening of restrictions on women and girls. But almost none of them have made their reservations public. ICC prosecutor seeks arrest warrants for two Taliban leaders in Afghanistan (Reuters)
Reuters [1/23/2025 12:46 PM, Stephanie van den Berg, 48128K, Negative]
The International Criminal Court prosecutor said on Thursday he had applied for arrest warrants for two Taliban leaders in Afghanistan including supreme spiritual leader Haibatullah Akhundzada, accusing them of the persecution of women and girls.A statement issued by the office of chief Prosecutor Karim Khan said investigators found reasonable grounds to believe that Akhundzada and Abdul Hakim Haqqani, who has served as chief justice since 2021, "bear criminal responsibility for the crime against humanity of persecution on gender grounds."They are "criminally responsible for persecuting Afghan girls and women...and persons whom the Taliban perceived as allies of girls and women," the statement said.Persecution has taken place across Afghanistan from at least Aug. 15, 2021 - the day that Taliban forces captured the capital Kabul - to the present day, the prosecutor said.Since the Islamist group returned to power in 2021 it has clamped down on women’s rights, including limits to schooling, work and general independence in daily life.There was no immediate comment by Taliban leaders on the prosecutor’s statement, which was welcomed by groups defending women’s rights.It will now be up to a three-judge panel at the ICC to rule on the prosecution request, which has no set deadline. Such procedures take an average of three months.It was the first time ICC prosecutors have publicly sought warrants in their investigation into potential war crimes in Afghanistan, which dates back to 2007 and once included alleged crimes by the U.S. military there.Khan said his office was demonstrating its commitment to pursuing accountability for gender-based crimes and that the Taliban’s interpretation of Islamic sharia law could not be a justification for human rights abuses or crimes."Afghan women and girls as well as the LGBTQI+ community are facing an unprecedented, unconscionable and ongoing persecution by the Taliban. Our action signals that the status quo for women and girls in Afghanistan is not acceptable," the prosecutor said.Zalmai Nishat, founder of the UK-based charity Mosaic Afghanistan, said if ICC warrants were issued it may have little impact on Akhundzada, who rarely travels outside Afghanistan."But in terms of international reputation of the Taliban, this basically means a complete erosion of their international legitimacy, if they had any," he said.COURT IN CRISISKhan’s move came amid an existential crisis at the court, opened in The Hague in 2002 to prosecute individuals accused of war crimes, crimes against humanity, genocide and aggression.The administration of U.S. President Donald Trump is preparing new economic sanctions against it for issuing an arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for alleged crimes in Gaza.Moscow struck back at the ICC for its 2023 warrant against Russian President Vladimir Putin by issuing a warrant of its own for Khan.Despite the recent string of high-profile arrest warrants, courtrooms in The Hague are virtually empty and Khan is under investigation for alleged sexual misconduct in the workplace, which he denies.The ICC has no police force and relies on its 125 member states to make arrests. But several European member states have expressed doubts about detaining Netanyahu and this week Italy arrested an ICC suspect, but failed to hand him over. Afghan women’s group hails court’s move to arrest Taliban leaders for persecution of women (AP)
AP [1/24/2025 1:14 AM, Staff, 456K, Neutral]
An Afghan women’s group on Friday hailed a decision by the International Criminal Court to arrest Taliban leaders for their persecution of women.
The International Criminal Court’s chief prosecutor Karim Khan announced Thursday he had requested arrest warrants for two top Taliban officials, including the leader Hibatullah Akhundzada.
Since they took back control of the country in 2021, the Taliban have barred women from jobs, most public spaces and education beyond sixth grade.
In a statement, the Afghan Women’s Movement for Justice and Awareness celebrated the ICC decision and called it a “great historical achievement.”“We consider this achievement a symbol of the strength and will of Afghan women and believe this step will start a new chapter of accountability and justice in the country,” the group said.
The Taliban government has yet to comment on the court’s move.
An official in the former Western-backed administration warned the Taliban leadership was likely to exploit the decision for propaganda purposes by framing it as proof of their strong faith and resilience.“They may tell their followers that their beliefs are so powerful they have provoked the collective opposition of global powers,” Mohammad Halim Fidai said on the X platform. Fidai was a governor of four provinces before the takeover and now lives outside Afghanistan. “This decision could inadvertently serve as a badge of honor or credibility for them.”
Also Friday, the U.N. mission in Afghanistan said it was a “tragedy and travesty” that girls remain deprived of education.“It has been 1,225 days — soon to be four years — since authorities imposed a ban that prevents girls above the age of 12 from attending school,” said the head of the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan Roza Otunbayeva. “It is a travesty and tragedy that millions of Afghan girls have been stripped of their right to education.”
Afghanistan is the only country in the world that explicitly bars women and girls from all levels of education, said Otunbayeva. Two Americans remain in Taliban custody following prisoner exchange (Washington Examiner)
Washington Examiner [1/23/2025 6:32 PM, Beth Bailey, 2365K, Neutral]
On Jan. 21, the outgoing Biden administration and Trump administration secured the release of Americans Ryan Corbett and William Wallace McKenty from Taliban detention in exchange for Afghan Khan Mohammad, incarcerated on drug and terrorism charges in the United States.Little is known of McKenty, age 69, as his family has "requested privacy." Previously, the State Department had not included him in its tally of Americans in Taliban custody.
Corbett is the founder of microloan and consulting group Bloom Afghanistan and had lived in Afghanistan with his family for years prior to the Taliban’s August 2021 takeover. He was arrested after returning to Afghanistan in August 2022.
Corbett’s detention was widely publicized and his deteriorating health condition during his 894 days in Taliban captivity concerned both his family and Congress. He was held in a 9-foot square cell with other detainees, sometimes subjected to solitary confinement, and deprived access to sunlight while fed "scraps of fatty meat." Corbett was reunited with his family on Jan. 22, but reports say his recovery will be long after his time in Taliban custody, when he suffered from "seizures, fainting, and discolored extremities," according to a House resolution calling for his immediate release in June 2024.
According to Justice Department documents, the "violent jihadist and narcotics trafficker" who was exchanged for Corbett and McKenty was serving two consecutive life terms in the U.S. Mohammad’s sentence was based on his plans to kill U.S. soldiers with rockets in Afghanistan and his attempt to import "one kilogram or more" of heroin into the U.S. as part of an effort "to provide something of pecuniary value" for terrorist affiliates.
While the release of Corbett and McKenty is to be celebrated, Americans Mahmood Habibi and George Glezmann remain in Taliban custody. The State Department did not respond to the Washington Examiner’s questions about why Glezmann and Habibi were not included in the prisoner exchange.
Glezmann was arrested on Dec. 5, 2022, while traveling in Afghanistan "to explore the cultural landscape and rich history of the country." In a Senate resolution calling for Glezmann’s immediate release in July 2024, his family expressed concern that he would "not survive his wrongful detention." While held in solitary confinement in his 9-foot square underground cell, he has experienced "facial tumors, hypertension, severe malnutrition, and other medical conditions.".
Habibi was arrested by the Taliban’s General Directorate of Intelligence on Aug. 10, 2022, on suspicion of being involved in the U.S. strike that killed al Qaeda senior leader Ayman al Zawahiri. Despite the FBI opening an investigation into Habibi’s whereabouts, the Taliban continue to claim that they do not hold Habibi in custody. Little is known about his condition as a result.
Though Habibi’s family "welcomed the news" that McKenty and Corbett were being released, Habibi’s brother Ahmad said in a press release that he was "frustrated with the Biden [National Security Council] because we know they have evidence my brother is alive and in Taliban hands." Ahmad explained that his family "know[s] President Trump is about results and we have faith he will use every tool available to get Mahmood home.".
The Taliban have long lobbied to secure the release of Guantanamo Bay prisoner Muhammad Rahim, an al Qaeda facilitator. A 2016 detainee profile on Rahim describes a man who had "advanced knowledge of 9/11" and who had "become even more deeply committed to [al Qaeda’s] jihadist doctrine and Islamic extremism" since his detention.
On Jan. 12, then-President Joe Biden called Habibi’s family to explain that he would not release Rahim unless the Taliban released Habibi.
Hugh Dugan, principal deputy special presidential envoy for hostage affairs between 2019 and 2020, told the Washington Examiner calling a future exchange between Rahim and current American detainees a "prisoner swap" would be a misnomer.
"Right out of the shoot, we’re dealing with innocents who were taken as pawns against hardened, convicted, imprisoned terrorists and criminals," Dugan said. "So there’s no way there’s an equivalent there." At the same time, Dugan said such an exchange would be the "least-worst outcome.".
Given his former experience of facilitating prisoner exchanges with the Taliban, Dugan confirmed that the Taliban’s "track record on the treatment of all of [their hostages] is deplorable.". Afghan refugees feel ‘betrayed’ by Trump order blocking move to US (BBC)
BBC [1/23/2025 7:11 PM, Azadeh Moshiri, 57114K, Negative]
"It’s like the United States doesn’t actually understand what I did for this country, it’s a betrayal," Abdullah tells the BBC.
He fled Afghanistan with his parents amid the US withdrawal in August 2021 and is now a paratrooper for the US military. He worries he can’t help his sister and her husband escape too, because of President Donald Trump’s executive order suspending a resettlement programme.
The order cancels all flights and applications for Afghan refugees, without any exemption for families of active servicemembers.
Trump argues the decision addresses "record levels of migration" that threaten "the availability of resources for Americans".
But Abdullah and several other Afghan refugees have told the BBC they feel the US has "turned its back" on them, despite years of working alongside American officials, troops and non-profit organisations in Afghanistan. We are not using their real names, as they worry doing so could jeopardise their cases or put their families at risk.
As soon as Abdullah heard about the order, he called his sister. "She was crying, she’s lost all hope," he said. He believes his work has made her a target of the Taliban government which took power in 2021.
"The anxiety, it’s just unimaginable. She thinks we’ll never be able to see each other again," he says.
During the war, Abdullah says he was an interpreter for US forces. When he left Afghanistan, his sister and her husband couldn’t get passports in time to board the flight.
Suhail Shaheen, a spokesperson for the Taliban government, told the BBC there is an amnesty for anyone who worked with international forces and all Afghans can "live in the country without any fear". He claims these refugees are "economic migrants".
But a UN report in 2023 cast doubt on assurances from the Taliban government. It found hundreds of former government officials and armed forces members were allegedly killed despite a general amnesty.
Abdullah’s sister and her husband had completed the medical exams and interviews required for resettlement in the US. The BBC has seen a document from the US Department of Defense endorsing their application.
Now Abdullah says Trump’s insistence that immigration is too high does not justify his separation from his family. He describes sleepless nights, and says the anxiety is affecting his work in his combat unit, serving the United States.
Babak, a former legal adviser to the Afghan Air Force, is still in hiding in Afghanistan.
"They’re not just breaking their promise to us - they’re breaking us," he says.
The BBC has seen letters from the United Nations confirming his role, as well as a letter endorsing his asylum claim by a Lt Colonel in the US Air Force. The endorsement adds that he provided advice on strikes targeting militants linked to both the Taliban and the Islamic State group.
Babak can’t understand the president’s decision, given that he worked alongside US troops. "We risked our lives because of those missions. Now we’re in grave danger," he says.
He has been moving his wife and young son from location to location, desperately trying to stay hidden. He claims his brother was tortured for his whereabouts. The BBC cannot verify this part of his story, given the nature of his claims.
Babak is appealing to Trump and his National Security Adviser Mike Waltz to change their minds.
"Mike Waltz, you served in Afghanistan. Please encourage the president," he tells us.
Before saying goodbye, he adds: "The one ray of light we’ve been holding onto has been extinguished.".
Ahmad managed to fly out to the US amid the chaos of the withdrawal but is now separated from his family. He felt he had no choice but to leave his father, mother and teenage siblings behind.If he and his father had not worked with the US, he says, his family would not be targets of the Taliban government. "I can’t sleep knowing I’m one of the reasons they’re in this situation," he adds.
Before the Taliban takeover, Ahmad worked for a non-profit called Open Government Partnership (OGP), co-founded by the US 13 years ago and headquartered in Washington. He says the work he’s proudest of is establishing a special court to address abuses against women.
But he claims his work at OGP and his advocacy for women made him a target and he was shot by Taliban fighters in 2021 before the Taliban took over the country.
The BBC has seen a letter from a hospital in Pennsylvania assessing "evidence of injury from bullet and bullet fragments" which they say is "consistent with his account of what happened to him in Kabul".
Making matters worse, he says his family is also in danger because his father was a colonel with the Afghan army and assisted the CIA. The BBC has seen a certificate, provided by the Afghan National Security Forces, thanking his father for his service.
Ahmad says the Taliban government has harassed his parents, brothers and sisters, so they fled to Pakistan. The BBC has seen photos showing Ahmad’s father and brother being treated in a hospital for injuries he claims were inflicted by people from the Taliban government.
His family had completed several steps of the resettlement programme. He says he even provided evidence that he has enough funds to support his family once they arrive in the US, without any government help.
Now Ahmad says the situation is critical. His family are in Pakistan on visas that will expire within months. He has contacted the IOM and has been told to "be patient".
The head of #AfghanEvac, a non-profit group helping eligible Afghan refugees resettle, said he estimated 10,000-15,000 people were in the late stages of their applications.
Mina, who is pregnant, has been waiting for a flight out of Islamabad for six months. She worries her terror will threaten her unborn child. "If I lose the baby, I’ll kill myself," she told the BBC.
She says she used to protest for women’s rights, even after the Taliban government took control of Afghanistan. She claims she was arrested in 2023 and detained overnight.
"Even then I didn’t want to leave Afghanistan. I went into hiding after my release, but they called me and said next time, they’d kill me," she says.
Mina worries the Pakistani government will send her back to Afghanistan. That’s partly because Pakistan will not grant Afghan refugees asylum indefinitely.
The country has taken in hundreds of thousands of refugees from its neighbour, over decades of instability in the region. According to the UN refugee agency, the country hosts three million Afghan nationals, about 1.4 million of whom are documented.
As cross-border tensions with the Taliban government have flared, there has been growing concern over the fate of Afghans in Pakistan, with reports of alleged intimidation and detentions. The UN special rapporteur has said he’s concerned and Afghans in the region deserve better treatment.
Pakistan’s government says it is expelling foreign nationals who are in the country illegally back to Afghanistan and confirmed search raids were conducted in January.
According to the IOM, more than 795,000 Afghans have been expelled from Pakistan since last September.
The Afghan refugees we’ve spoken to feel caught between a homeland where their lives are in danger, and a host country whose patience is running out.
They had been pinning their hopes on the US - but what seemed a safe harbour has been abruptly blocked off by the new president until further notice. He helped the U.S. bomb the Taliban. Now, Trump’s refugee ban has stranded him in Afghanistan (San Francisco Chronicle)
San Francisco Chronicle [1/23/2025 3:02 PM, Ko Lyn Cheang, 4368K, Neutral]
Nasir has barely slept in the three days since he learned that President Donald Trump was indefinitely suspending refugee admissions into the U.S.
A former lieutenant colonel with the Afghan Army and Air Force, the 32-year-old was part of the U.S.-led campaign in his home country, approving thousands of airstrikes against the Taliban and the Islamic State terrorist group from 2017 to 2021. When the U.S. withdrew from Afghanistan in August 2021, it forced Nasir and his family into hiding. (The Chronicle is identifying Nasir by only his first name because he is being sought by the Taliban.).
He filed for refugee status two years ago. He had completed his final interviews in November and was expecting a call scheduling his family’s flights to Qatar, which processes Afghan relocations to the U.S. Nasir planned to stay with a friend in Virginia.
Trump’s executive order indefinitely halting refugee admissions extinguished that hope. While the order is set to take effect Jan. 27, flights have already been canceled for approved refugees and pending cases have been halted, stranding tens of thousands of people in countries where they face persecution and threats to their lives.
"I have always been encouraging and inspiring and motivating my wife and my son to focus on the small light in the distance so we can get out of this hell one day," Nasir told the Chronicle from a safe house in western Afghanistan. "But after Mr. Trump announced his new policy about refugee programs, I don’t know what else to tell my wife.".
Trump’s order upends decades-old practice of the U.S. accepting refugees, established through the Refugee Act of 1980. In his first term, he implemented a travel ban on seven Muslim-majority countries, slashed the annual refugee cap set by the president in consultation with Congress, and tanked refugee admissions to historic lows.
His actions financially crippled refugee resettlement agencies, and it took the Biden administration four years to rebuild an infrastructure for vetting and accepting people displaced by catastrophe and conflict, a mission that has largely been bipartisan for the past 45 years.
In the Jan. 20 executive order, Trump justified the refugee ban by saying that the U.S. has been "inundated" with record levels of migration from refugee admissions and that small towns have seen influxes of immigrants.
The number of refugees accepted by the U.S. has generally declined since the program started in 1980, when the country accepted about 207,000 refugees, and reached all-time lows under Trump.
Refugee admissions gradually increased under President Joe Biden, reaching 100,034, a 30-year high, at the end of the 2024 fiscal year.
Immigration advocates point to the positive economic impact of refugees and say that the U.S. has the capacity to accept more refugees. A 2024 study by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services found refugees and asylees contributed $124 billion in a positive fiscal impact over a 15-year period, including through paying federal, income, sales and property taxes.
Late Tuesday, the U.S. State Department informed resettlement organizations that it was canceling all previously scheduled refugee travel and future bookings, according to a copy of a State Department email shared by the nonprofit coalition #AfghanEvac, which supports Afghan refugees.
#AfghanEvac founder and president Shawn VanDiver said his organization estimated 40,000 to 60,000 Afghans would be affected by the ban, including 10,000 to 15,000 who were already vetted. He said an estimated 200 U.S. military service members also had pending cases to bring their Afghan family members over as refugees.
These refugees, many of whom are fleeing Taliban persecution for assisting the U.S. in its 2001 to 2021 war in Afghanistan, are now stuck in Afghanistan, Pakistan and other countries they escaped to. VanDiver said the Trump administration ought to, at the very least, make an exception for the nation’s Afghan allies.
"Afghans are refugees because of us," VanDiver said. "They’re in danger. Imagine if you’re a refugee with a document in hand, you thought you were getting to fly today, and your American dream has been dashed.".
The State Department did not respond to detailed questions about how many approved refugees have faced travel cancellations.
"In accordance with the Executive Order, ‘Realigning the United States Refugee Admissions Program,’ the Department of State is coordinating with implementing partners to suspend refugee arrivals to the United States and cease processing activities," a State Department spokesperson wrote in a statement.Robin Mencher, CEO of Jewish Family and Community Services East Bay, which works on refugee resettlement, said resettlements have been frozen this week for 22 client families.
"The climate of fear is very real for our clients and the community," said Reena Arya, the nonprofit’s director of immigration legal services. "The threat of increased enforcement, changes to immigration policies and the pervasive anti-immigrant sentiment have put our communities on edge.".
On a Wednesday video call organized by the #WelcomeWithDignity campaign, a coalition of 125 organizations, a representative of the Center for Gender & Refugee Studies said Trump’s actions will cause "untold suffering" to refugees and immigrants across the globe.
"Border shutdowns and asylum bans have only ever created more chaos, dysfunction and pain and they are designed to punish people for seeking safety and to foster hatred and fear of immigrants," said Melissa Crow, director of litigation for the center.
Nasir said he has received no communication from the U.S. State Department about the status of his case. He has no idea what to do, he said.
Nasir said he does not consider neighboring Pakistan, which in late 2023 began deporting Afghan refugees, an option. But Nasir, his wife and 12-year-old son, who hasn’t been able to attend school since 2021, are not safe where they are. The Taliban have seized their home, Nasir said, and twice kidnapped and tortured his brother for information about Nasir’s whereabouts.
"My message for U.S. citizens, for Trump, his administration, is to reconsider this decision because that decision puts many lives in danger and at risk," Nasir said. "Taliban are serious about what they are doing. They are not joking with us. They are taking lives.". Veterans groups ask Trump to reconsider immigration executive order, cite impacts on Afghan partners (FOX News)
FOX News [1/23/2025 11:01 PM, Alexandra Koch and Jennifer Griffin, 49889K, Neutral]
Multiple veterans groups sent a letter to President Donald Trump on Thursday, urging him to reconsider a recent executive order regarding immigration and refugee programs, citing concerns about the safety of Afghan interpreters and their families who helped the U.S. military.
The executive order, the Realigning the United States Refugee Program, will go into effect on Monday and suspend the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program (USRAP).
Trump’s order immediately pauses all processing and movements for USRAP refugees, who are referred due to threats from their association with the U.S. - such as family members of service members, and Afghan partner forces.
Special Immigrant Visas (SIVs), people who directly worked for or supported the U.S. government - which includes interpreters and contractors, do not appear to be directly impacted.
They could, however, be indirectly affected by implementation decisions or additional orders, according to #AfghanEvac, a non-profit that helps facilitate relocation and resettlement of Afghan U.S. allies.
The veterans groups wanted to highlight "unintended consequences" of the order, claiming it could adversely affect the mental health of countless veterans.
The letter, obtained by Fox News, discussed the bonds many service members and veterans formed with Afghan partners who supported the global war on terror, often at great personal risk to themselves and their families.
"The current suspension of certain pathways for these allies may unintentionally penalize individuals who could be eligible for Special Immigrant Visas (SIVs) but do not currently hold them — not because they do not meet the qualifications, but because of the chaotic and disorganized nature of the withdrawal from Afghanistan under the previous administration," the letter read.
The groups said they "fully support" Trump’s goal of prioritizing American security, but believe there is a clear opportunity to address the issue without harm to Afghan partners.
The executive order argues that the entry of additional refugees would be "detrimental to the interests of the United States," but notes the Secretary of State and the Secretary of Homeland Security can jointly make exceptions and admit refugees on a case-by-case basis when in the national interest, and there is no threat to America’s security or welfare.
Noting concerns about Afghan partners being deported "erroneously," the groups said the partners’ immediate family members, who face serious threats from the Taliban may lose their hopes of safe passage.
They asked the president to consider SIV-eligible allies and their families, to prevent them from being "inadvertently cast aside due to lapses that occurred under the botched withdrawal," according to the letter.
"This approach would protect those who have risked their lives for our country while reinforcing your administration’s clear commitment to national security," they wrote.
USRAP has no impact on illegal immigration, according to #AfghanEvac. Refugees must be vetted before entering the U.S., and crossing the border without authorization voids their eligibility.
Chad Robichaux, a U.S. Marine Corps force recon veteran and Department of Defense contractor, told Fox News he spent years of his life protecting American lives domestically and internationally, but the sacrifice was not made solely by U.S. service members.
"Afghan interpreters risked their lives for two decades alongside us to defeat the evils of the Taliban," Robichaux said. "When Afghanistan fell, I personally went to rescue my interpreter Aziz from the clutches of that very evil, delivering him to American soil. President Trump is honorably taking strong steps to keep this hallowed soil safe. But in doing so, [it] places these same Afghans in jeopardy. These Afghan Allies have demonstrated more patriotic courage than some of our own citizens, and I am asking for their due protection in the midst of these sweeping security measures.".
The suspension effectively leaves thousands of Afghan allies stranded in limbo, according to #AfghanEvac. The organization claims at least 10 to 15,000 individuals are fully vetted and awaiting flights in Afghanistan, Pakistan and other countries.
Groups that signed the letter included: Save Our Allies; Sheepdog Response; The Verardo Group; The Independence Fund; Diesel Jack Media; Special Operations Association of America; and Mighty Oaks Foundation.
Tim Kennedy - a Green Beret, former UFC fighter, founder of Sheepdog Response, and president of Save Our Allies - told Fox News it is the nation’s duty to protect its allies.
"I’ve served with the most patriotic heroes our nation has to offer. I’ve watched them brilliantly and valiantly sacrifice life and limb to protect the United States," Kennedy said. "Among those patriots are the Afghan men who risked threat and brutality from the Taliban to defend the freedom and American ideals we hold dear.".
There are still 150,000 to 250,000 Afghans seeking settlement, according to #AfghanEvac. An estimated 40,000 to 60,000 are refugees under USRAP.
"The Biden administration is responsible for our blood-soaked exit from Afghanistan," Kennedy said. "The Allies we served beside didn’t receive the promise we offered them. I applaud the necessary and exemplary efforts President Trump is making to secure our country from foreign threats, but it is our duty to protect and preserve the sanctity of our promise to those Afghan allies. In many cases, we owe them our lives, and we must let this be their home.".
Since the end of the war in 2021, some 180,000 Afghans have resettled in the U.S., Fox News Digital reported.
Many of those who are still waiting for refugee approval are hiding out in Pakistan, fearful of deportation back to Afghanistan.
Daniel Elkins, CEO of Special Operations Association of America, said he is "certain there would be more Americans in Arlington cemetery if it weren’t for Afghans who risked their lives to help us, and now is the time for us to help them.".
Rep. Michael McCaul, chairman emeritus of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, told Fox News he looks forward to continuing to work with Save Our Allies as they advocate for all Afghan allies former President Joe Biden "abandoned.".
"Unlike President Biden who consistently dismissed pleas from veterans and service members to help their Afghan allies, President Trump cares about America’s veterans and service members and will listen to them," McCaul said.
The White House did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment Thursday night. Taliban flog 12 Afghans, including women, for adultery, eloping (VOA)
VOA [1/23/2025 6:35 AM, Ayaz Gul, 2717K, Negative]
Taliban justice officials in Afghanistan said Thursday that 12 people, including two women, had been publicly flogged this week after being tried and charged with adultery, sodomy, eloping, and having "illicit relations.".
The regime’s Supreme Court announced the punishments, saying they were carried out in the southeastern Khost and northern Parwan provinces, with members of the judiciary, administrative staff, and ordinary citizens present as onlookers.
Each of the twelve defendants received the maximum of 39 lashes and prison terms ranging from eight months to three years. The top court acknowledged that the sentences were imposed by provincial courts and implemented only after its approval.
At least 35 Afghans have been publicly flogged in this month alone, according to the Supreme Court data.
Hundreds of men and women have been flogged in packed sports stadiums across Afghanistan, while six people have been publicly executed under what the Taliban described as the Islamic concept of retributive justice, known as qisas.
The United Nations and global human rights organizations have persistently decried the floggings and other forms of corporal punishment as contrary to Afghanistan’s international human rights obligations, demanding the Taliban cease the practice.
Taliban leaders, who regained power in 2021, defend their criminal justice system and governance at large, saying they are based on their strict interpretation of Islamic law, or Sharia.
Authorities have banned Afghan girls from pursuing secondary and university-level education and prohibited women from seeking employment in most public and private workplaces. Women must also publicly cover their faces and travel with a male guardian.
No country has officially recognized the Taliban as legitimate rulers of Afghanistan, mainly over their harsh treatment of women and other human rights concerns. China and the United Arab Emirates have acknowledged a Taliban ambassador without recognizing the Afghan government. China Vows to ‘Combat Terrorism’ After ISIS-Claimed Attack Kills Citizen (Newsweek)
Newsweek [1/23/2025 2:47 PM, Tom O’Connor, 6595K, Neutral]
China has asserted its international right to take on insurgents threatening the lives of its citizens after an attack claimed by the Islamic State militant group (ISIS) killed a Chinese citizen in northeastern Afghanistan.
"Regarding terrorism, our position is that terrorism is the common enemy of all mankind," Chinese Embassy to the United States spokesperson Liu Pengyu told Newsweek.
"It is the common responsibility of the international community to combat terrorism and prevent tragedies from happening again," Liu said. "China opposes all forms of terrorism and resolutely safeguards the safety of Chinese citizens, projects and institutions overseas.".Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said her country was "deeply shocked at the attack," which reportedly took place in Takhar province, "and strongly condemns it.".
"We express our condolences over the lives lost," she told reporters on Thursday. "China has lodged serious protests to Afghanistan right after the attack, and asked the country to conduct thorough investigations into the attack, and bring the perpetrators to justice.".
Why It Happens
The security situation in Afghanistan and Pakistan, both of which neighbor China, has deteriorated significantly in recent years, particularly in the wake of the Afghan Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan in August 2021. As U.S. troops withdrew from the country, the new leadership vowed to prevent Afghanistan from once again becoming a safe haven for militant groups but have faced internal challenges, even if the deaths of foreigners were rare.
Groups such as ISIS’ regional Khorasan province (ISIS-K) have accelerated operations in both Afghanistan and Pakistan, where Baloch separatists and the Pakistani Taliban have also stepped up attacks, including those targeting Chinese citizens.
The Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) and the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) have been tied to a spate of attacks against Chinese nationals in Pakistan. ISIS-K previously claimed an attack against Chinese citizens in Afghanistan in December 2022.
China considers Pakistan to be one of its closest strategic partners, having invested billions of dollars in the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, a crucial node of the broader intercontinental Belt and Road Initiative. Beijing has also bolstered diplomacy with Taliban-led Afghanistan in the interest of enhancing trade and security.
Throughout its sophisticated online network, ISIS-K has channeled the grievances of Uyghur separatists seeking to establish an Islamist state in China’s northwestern Xinjiang province. Chinese forces largely defeated the Uyghur separatist group known as the East Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETIM) a decade ago in Xinjiang but its offshoot, the Turkestan Islamic Party, continues to operate in Afghanistan and Syria, where it supported successful campaigns to overthrow the government in both countries.
"China firmly opposes all forms of terrorism and calls for resolute and strong efforts in cracking down on ISIS, the ETIM and other terrorist organizations designated by the UN Security Council with zero tolerance," Mao told reporters on Thursday.
U.N. reports have alleged collaboration between ISIS and ETIM, which also claims a presence in Afghanistan.
After the Turkestan Islamic Party emerged as one of the components of the victorious Islamist-led rebel offensive that toppled longtime President Bashar al-Assad in Syria, Liu told Newsweek that "China stands ready to step up counterterrorism cooperation with members of the international community to firmly strike down on ETIM and keep the region and the world safe and stable.".What to Know
Takhar province police spokesperson Mohammed Akbar was cited by the Associated Press and Reuters as saying that a foreigner with the surname Li was killed Tuesday during an ambush while traveling toward the Dasht-e-Qala district. An interpreter accompanying him was unharmed, according to Akbar.
The attack took place just one day after Chinese Ambassador to Afghanistan Zhao Xing met with Taliban officials to commemorate 70 years of diplomatic relations between Beijing and Kabul. China was the first country to formally appoint an ambassador to Afghanistan after the Taliban takeover in 2021, though no nation has yet extended formal diplomatic recognition to the new government.
While ISIS-K’s claim of responsibility for the attack drew headlines on Wednesday, another group calling itself the Afghanistan National Mobilization Front also took credit for the ambush.
The group, apparently one of several underground factions that have risen to challenge Taliban rule, alleged that the slain Chinese citizen was supporting the Taliban in espionage activity and hinted that Beijing had attempted to infiltrate Afghanistan through the deployment of Uyghurs.
"The Afghan National Mobilization Front proposes to China, considering the friendship between the people of China and Afghanistan and the neighborly relations between the two countries, to prevent the entry of its Uyghur spies into Afghanistan," the group’s statement said.
What People Are Saying
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning at a press conference Thursday: "China will closely follow the security situation in Afghanistan and continue supporting Afghanistan in combating all forms of terrorism and violence, and upholding national security and stability. We urge the Afghan interim government to take resolute and effective measures to ensure the safety and security of Chinese citizens, institutions and projects in Afghanistan.".
ISIS-K in a statement published Wednesday: "By the grace of God Almighty, the soldiers of the caliphate targeted a vehicle carrying a Chinese communist in the village of Katkajer in the Takhar region yesterday with machine guns, which led to his death and damage to his vehicle, praise be to God.".
The Afghanistan National Mobilization Front in a statement published Wednesday: "As a result of the operation of the National Mobilization Front fighters against the Taliban terrorists and their overseas supporters, on Tuesday evening, [21st] of January 2025, a vehicle of a [Chinese] trainer who was training the Taliban terrorist group in the intelligence department was attacked in Takhar Province.".
"The [Chinese] trainer was training the Taliban in the control and monitoring of social networks such as Facebook and WhatsApp, how to reach people.".
Newsweek has reached out to the Afghanistan National Directorate of Security and the Afghanistan National Mobilization Front for comment.
What Happens Next
China has repeatedly sought to ramp up regional security efforts to fight the rise of non-state actors. These include bilateral efforts such as the joint counterterrorism drills conducted alongside Pakistan last month and multilateral initiatives such as various steps taken through the Shanghai Cooperation Organization that also counts Belarus, India, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan as members.
But the unrest has also ramped up regional tensions, leading to clashes between Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan as the three nations accuse one another of harboring militant groups. ISIS-K has also exploited disaffected Islamists in Central Asian nations to double down on recruitment there.
And with President Donald Trump having just begun his first term a day before the latest ISIS-K-claimed attack in Afghanistan, experts and former officials have told Newsweek that the group will constitute one of the most serious risks posed to U.S. and global security throughout his second term. Germany working hard to deport more criminals to Afghanistan, says interior minister (Reuters)
Reuters [1/23/2025 8:22 AM, Rachel More, 48128K, Negative]
Germany is working intensively to deport more criminals to Afghanistan, said Interior Minister Nancy Faeser in Berlin on Thursday, a day after an Afghan asylum seeker was arrested for a deadly knife attack."We are the only country in Europe to have deported serious criminals back to Afghanistan for the first time since the Taliban rule. And I would like to make it very clear that we are working hard to deport further criminals to Afghanistan," said Faeser.The interior minister also took aim at the EU’s Dublin rules, under which someone’s asylum application has to be processed in their first country of arrival.The suspected attacker in the southern German city of Aschaffenburg had come to Germany via Bulgaria."We are already seeing once again that the Dublin system no longer works," said Faeser. Pakistan
Afghan refugees urge Pakistan to ease visa regime after Trump’s pause on US resettlement programs (AP)
AP [1/24/2025 5:46 AM, Munir Ahmed, 456K, Neutral]
Afghan refugees on Friday appealed to Pakistan’s premier to ease a visa regime on humanitarian grounds after President Donald Trump paused the U.S. refugee programs.Many Afghans whose visas have either expired or will expire soon fear arrest and deportation.“We don’t know exactly when the pause of the U.S. refugee program will be lifted, but we request Pakistan to extend our stay for at least six months after the expiry of our visas,” said Ahmad Shah, a member of the Afghan USRAP Refugees advocacy group.An estimated 20,000 Afghans are currently waiting in Pakistan to be approved for resettlement in the U.S. via an American government program.Refugees approved to travel to the United States in coming days have had their travel plans canceled by the Trump administration. Among those affected are the more than 1,600 Afghans cleared to resettle in the U.S.Pakistan says it is yet to receive any official intimation from the United States about the suspension of the refugee program. Afghans who are in the country were supposed to be relocated by September 2025.The refugee program was set up to help Afghans at risk under the Taliban because of their work with the U.S. government, media, aid agencies and rights groups. The U.S. pulled out of Afghanistan in 2021 when the Taliban took power.But in its first days in office, Trump’s administration announced the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program would be suspended from Jan. 27 for at least three months.Shah said most of the Afghans who are in transition to the United States were now living in a very difficult conditions. “We don’t want to live here permanently, we urge the Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif to order authorities to extend the visas of Afghan people for at least six months,” he said.He also urged the United Nations refugee agency and the International Organization for Migration to help Afghans who are waiting for relocation. “If the UNHCR and IOM don’t help us in this difficult situation, who will rise his or her voice for us?” Shah said.Meanwhile, there is uncertainty among many over their future.Sarfraz Ahmed, a journalist who fled to Pakistan from Afghanistan when the Taliban seized power, said Friday he had been expecting to receive a call confirming his travel plans, but the suspension of the refugee program by Trump changed everything.Khalid Khan, a former Afghan army captain who worked for the Afghan air force and helped the U.S. air force during the operations against the Afghan Taliban and other groups, fled his country along with his family in 2023. “I will be in a trouble if I am sent back to Afghanistan,” he said.Pakistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said there is an agreement with Washington to take Afghans who are in Pakistan to the United States for resettlement by September 2025.“The arrangements are in place. We have, so far officially, not received any further information on this issue. So that’s all that I can say as far as we are concerned, that arrangement remains in place,” ministry spokesman Shafqat Ali Khan told a news briefing in Islamabad on Thursday.The Taliban has deprived 1.4 million Afghan girls of schooling through bans, according to the United Nations. Afghanistan is the only country in the world that bans female secondary and higher education. Afghans in Pakistan awaiting US resettlement feel betrayal after Trump order (Reuters)
Reuters [1/23/2025 11:27 AM, Charlotte Greenfield, 48128K, Neutral]
A decision by President Donald Trump’s administration to halt visa processing for refugees has caused uncertainty and shock at an English school for Afghans in Islamabad who are awaiting resettlement in the United States.
Normally enthusiastic students were quiet or crying in class after the news broke on Tuesday, said Sayed Hasib ullah, a 20-year old teacher whose application for resettlement in the U.S is in process.
Some feel betrayed, with many - including those who fled Taliban rule in Afghanistan - having already spent years in limbo.
"It was really a horrible moment for us. We have been waiting for almost three years and there is no hope anymore," he told Reuters at the school in Pakistan’s capital.
The sudden delay has upended the plans of many Afghans in Pakistan and left them in despair after undergoing extensive vetting and making preparations for new lives in the U.S.
In an intermediate language class, about half of which had U.S. visa applications in process, a 16 year-old girl broke down in tears.
"I feel very bad from this news," she said, unable to focus on her work - practicing a list of English phrases for giving formal presentations that was written on the class whiteboard.
She hopes to enrol in high school in the U.S. after being barred from pursuing her education at school in Afghanistan.
The tutoring academy, which has roughly 300 students, is one of the few spaces available for studying for many Afghans waiting for U.S. visas. They cannot legally work or formally study in Pakistan.
Shawn VanDiver, the founder of #AfghanEvac, the leading coalition of resettlement and veterans groups, said there were 10,000-15,000 Afghans in Pakistan waiting for special immigration visas or resettlement in the U.S. as refugees.
Many have waited for years after being instructed when applying to travel to a third country for processing. For many the only option was Pakistan, which borders Afghanistan but, facing economic and security crises, began deporting tens of thousands of Afghans in 2023.
A spokesperson for Pakistan’s foreign ministry did not immediately respond to request for comment on the U.S. announcement.FLIGHTS CANCELLED?
Nearly 1,660 Afghans cleared by the U.S. government to resettle in the U.S., including family members of active-duty U.S. military personnel, are having their flights cancelled under the order suspending U.S. refugee programs, Reuters reported on Monday.
One of Hassib ullah’s students, Fatima, has no idea whether an official email she received on Jan. 14 - and seen by Reuters - seeking documents to proceed with her family’s travel arrangements for the U.S. is still valid.
The 57-year old women’s rights and development advocate who worked for years for U.S.-funded organisations in central Daikundi province began learning English a few months ago.
She said she had previously never imagined leaving Afghanistan and that she and many others had trusted the U.S. - which spent two decades leading foreign forces in Afghanistan, backing the now-collapsed government and spending billions of dollars on human rights and development programs.
"You supported us at that time and raised us up so we worked with you and after that you invited us to a third country (for visa processing) and now you are doing something like this," she said.
In addition to concerns about her own safety following her advocacy work, Fatima is particularly worried about her 15-year-old daughter. She hopes she can enrol in school in the U.S. after years out of high school, and that her 22-year-old daughter can complete her engineering degree.
Many students and teachers said they had contacted U.N. agencies and the U.S. embassy this week and were sharing any information they could find on the internet in Whatsapp groups. But there were few clear answers.
The U.S. embassy and State Department did not immediately provide comment in request to a question from Reuters on whether the new order would affect Afghans waiting in Pakistan for visas.
"We have been living here for three years with a hope of going to America to be safe but now when President Donald trump came ... and told us we will not process these case or maybe we will delay it, indeed you feel betrayed," Hassib ullah said.
"I just wanted to tell them respectfully that we have helped you and now we expect help back from you.". Pakistan’s Imran Khan calls off talks with government after latest conviction (Reuters)
Reuters [1/23/2025 5:47 AM, Staff, 48128K, Negative]
Pakistan’s former Prime Minister Imran Khan called off reconciliatory talks with the government on Thursday, a week after a court handed him a 14-year jail term on graft charges, his party’s chairman said.Aimed at cooling political instability in the South Asian nation, the talks had started late last year ahead of the judgment in the land corruption case against the 72-year-old former cricket star-turned-politician.The graft case is the largest that Khan faces in terms of financial impropriety. It involves land given by a real estate tycoon to a welfare institution set up by Khan and his wife in return for illegal favours."Khan has called off negotiations," the party chairman, Gohar Khan, told reporters in comments telecast live by local Geo News TV after he said he met the former premier in jail.He said Imran Khan conveyed his decision after the expiry of a seven-day deadline he had given to the government to respond to demands he had given last week.Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party mainly demands the setting up of two judicial commissions to probe the events that led to his arrest in August 2023, and the violent protest rallies, including one on May 9, 2023, when his supporters rampaged through military offices and installations.Khan’s removal from office in 2022 stoked the instability, which has worsened with his party leading violent protests to urge his release, and threatens an economic recovery under a $7 billion IMF bailout. India
India, China Diplomats to Meet in Beijing to Pursue Better Ties (Bloomberg)
Bloomberg [1/23/2025 7:55 AM, Sudhi Ranjan Sen, 21617K, Negative]
Top diplomats from China and India will meet next week in Beijing as the nuclear-armed neighbors try to repair ties marred by a border dispute nearly five years ago.India’s Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri will meet his Chinese counterpart during a two-day trip to Beijing starting Sunday, India’s External Affairs Ministry said on Thursday.“The resumption of this bilateral mechanism flows from the agreement at the leadership level to discuss the next steps for India-China relations, including in the political, economic, and people-to-people domains,” the ministry said in a statement.Diplomatic and economic relations between the two countries plunged after June 2020 when clashes between soldiers along the border left at least 20 Indian and an unknown number of Chinese troops dead. As the relations soured, the two countries moved thousands of troops, missiles and fighter jets along parts of the 3,488 kilometer (2,167 mile) unmarked border. India also imposed strict rules on Chinese businesses seeking to invest in the country, banned hundreds of Chinese apps and slowed visa approvals.In October, the two nations agreed to stabilize relations after Chinese President Xi Jinping and India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi met at the BRICS summit in Russia. India’s National Security Adviser Ajit Doval met Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Beijing last December and the two sides agreed to refine the rules for border management, and enhance confidence-building measures to achieve sustainable peace and stability in the border areas. India foreign secy to visit Beijing for talks to revive ties (Reuters)
Reuters [1/23/2025 7:15 AM, Tanvi Mehta, 48128K, Neutral]
India’s Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri will visit Beijing on Jan. 26-27 to discuss steps to boost ties with China, as the Asian neighbours revive relations that were strained since a deadly military clash on their disputed frontier in 2020.New Delhi and Beijing reached a milestone pact in October on lowering military tensions on their Himalayan border and have begun taking baby steps to restore ties following talks between Chinese President Xi Jinping and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Russia.India’s foreign ministry said on Thursday that Misri’s visit "flows from the agreement at the leadership level to discuss the next steps for India-China relations, including in the political, economic, and people-to-people domains".The military and diplomatic tensions sparked by the 2020 clash hurt ties in other areas as India slowed visa approvals for Chinese nationals, banned popular Chinese mobile apps and tightened scrutiny of investments from China.The world’s most populous nations share a poorly demarcated border which runs along the Himalayas and has been a source of tension for decades, including a brief but bloody war in 1962.India is not looking to reduce the number of troops along the northern frontier in winter, the country’s army chief said last week, adding that it will review summer deployment based on outcome of talks. ‘Dam for a dam’: India, China edge towards a Himalayan water war (Al Jazeera)
Al Jazeera [1/24/2025 12:00 AM, Yashraj Sharma, 19.6M, Negative]
Gegong Jijong lined up with hundreds of other protesters on a cold afternoon last month near the Siang River in India’s northeastern state of Arunachal Pradesh, shouting antigovernment slogans.“No dam over Ane Siang [Mother Siang],” the protesters in Parong village demanded.
The Siang River, cutting through serene hills, has been considered sacred for centuries by Jijong’s ancestors in the Adi tribal community – farmers whose livelihood depended on its water.
But all of that is now at risk, he said, as India moves to build its largest dam over their land.
The $13.2bn Siang Upper Multipurpose Project will have a reservoir that can hold nine billion cubic metres of water and generate 11,000 megawatts of electricity upon completion – more than any other Indian hydroelectric project. It was first proposed in 2017, and officials are now carrying out feasibility surveys.
Locals, however, warn that at least 20 villages will be submerged, and nearly two dozen more villages will partly drown, uprooting thousands of residents.
Amid intensifying resistance from locals, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) -led state government has ordered the deployment of paramilitary forces to quell protests, though there have not been any clashes yet.
The protesters insist that they are not going anywhere. “The government is taking over my home, our Ane Siang, and converting it into an industry. We cannot let that happen,” said Jijong, the president of the Siang Indigenous Farmers’ Forum (SIFF) community initiative. “Till the time I’m alive and breathing, we will not let the government construct this dam.”
But the BJP government argues that the protesters have got it wrong. Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Pema Khandu has insisted that it is “not just a hydro dam,” but that its “real objective is to save the Siang River”.
From China.
A fragile ecosystem
At the heart of the Indian dam project that Jijong and his community are opposing is a geostrategic contest for water and security between New Delhi and Beijing, who are locked in a tense rivalry that, in recent years, has also at times exploded into deadly border clashes.
The Siang River originates near Mount Kailash in Tibet, where it is known as the Yarlung Zangbo. It then enters Arunachal Pradesh and becomes much wider. Known as the Brahmaputra in most of India, it then flows into Bangladesh before sinking into the Bay of Bengal.
Last month, China approved the construction of its most ambitious – and the world’s largest – dam over the Yarlung Zangbo, in Tibet’s Medog county, right before it enters Indian territory.
Soon after China first officially announced its plan to construct the dam in 2020, officials in New Delhi started seriously considering a counter-dam to “mitigate the adverse impact of the Chinese dam projects”. The Indian government argues that the Siang dam’s large reservoir would offset the disruption in the flow of the river by the upcoming Medog dam, and safeguard against flash floods or water scarcity.
But the presence of two giant dams in a Himalayan region with a fragile ecosystem and a history of devastating floods and earthquakes poses serious threats to millions of people who live there and further downstream, caution experts and climate activists. And India and China’s dangerous power tussle over Himalayan water resources could disproportionately hurt Indigenous communities.‘Major flashpoint’
The new mega-dam in Medog county over the Yarlung Zangbo will dwarf even the Three Gorges Dam, currently the world’s largest hydro dam, in central China. Beijing says that the project will be vital in meeting its net-zero emissions goal by 2060, and Chinese news agencies reported that the dam will cost $137bn. There is no immediate clarity on how many people will be displaced on the Chinese side.
The dam’s construction, at the Great Bend near Mount Namcha Barwa, will also be an engineering marvel of sorts. As the water falls into one of the deepest gorges in the world – with a depth exceeding 5,000 metres (16,400 feet) – it will generate about 300 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity annually.
The massive new project is the latest in a series of dams – the previous ones were smaller – that China has built on the Yarlung Zangbo and its tributaries, said BR Deepak, professor of Chinese studies at the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), New Delhi.
And these dams “should be considered as one of the major flashpoints between India and China,” he said, citing how “some of the biggest conflicts have originated out of the trans-water rivers”. The water of the tributaries of the Indus River is a major bone of contention between India and Pakistan. Ethiopia and Egypt, meanwhile, are locked in a dispute over a giant dam that Ethiopia is building on the Nile.
But India’s response, by constructing a dam over the Siang River, “adds fuel to the fire,” said Deepak. “Till China keeps damming these rivers, fears and anxieties will continue and stoke strong responses from lower riparian countries.”
A report by the Lowy Institute, an Australian think tank, in 2020 argued that control over rivers originating in the Tibetan Plateau essentially gives China a “chokehold” over India’s economy.
The ‘chokehold’
Throughout history, the Yarlung Zangbo was often known in China as the “river gone rogue”: Unlike other major Chinese rivers that flow west to east, it turns sharply south at the Great Bend to enter India.
Beijing’s decision to choose this strategic location for the dam, next to the border with India, has prompted concerns in New Delhi.“It is obvious that China will have the card to use the dam as a strategic factor in its relationship with India to manipulate water flows,” said Saheli Chattaraj, assistant professor of Chinese studies at Jamia Millia Islamia University in New Delhi.
Deepak agreed. “Lower riparian like Bangladesh and India will always fear that China may weaponise water, especially in the event of hostilities, because of the dam’s large reservoir.” The reservoir is projected to have the capacity to hold 40 billion cubic metres of water.
The fragility of the terrain adds to worries. “The damming of the river is fraught with several dangers,” said Deepak. About 15 percent of the great earthquakes – with a magnitude greater than 8.0 on the Richter Scale – in the 20th century occurred in the Himalayas.
And that pattern of major earthquakes hitting Tibet has continued. On January 7, a 7.1-scale earthquake killed at least 126 people. At least five out of 14 hydro dams in the region examined by Chinese authorities after the earthquake had ominous signs of damage. The walls of one were tilting, while some others had cracks. Three dams were emptied, and several villages were evacuated.
Meanwhile, the Indian government has told anti-dam protesters in Arunachal Pradesh that a counter-dam is needed to mitigate the risks of China flooding their lands, punctuating its warnings with terms like “water bomb” and “water wars”.
Chattaja, the assistant professor, pointed out that neither India nor China are signatories to the UN’s international watercourses convention that regulates shared freshwater resources, like the Brahmaputra.
India and China have been parties to a memorandum of understanding since 2002 for the sharing of hydrological data and information on the Brahmaputra during flood seasons. But after a military standoff in Doklam – near their shared border with Bhutan – between the nuclear-armed neighbours in 2017, India said that Beijing had temporarily stopped sharing hydrological data. That spring, a wave of floods hit the northeastern Indian state of Assam, leading to more than 70 deaths and displacing more than 400,000 people.“It is a problematic scenario and, moreover, when the relationship deteriorates or it is malevolent, like the way it was in 2017, China immediately stopped sharing the data,” said Deepak.
Sour neighbours, bitter relations
The Medog county dam was part of China’s 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-2025), and planning has been under way for more than a decade. However, it was officially announced on December 25, triggering sharp responses from India.
Randhir Jaiswal, spokesperson for India’s Ministry of External Affairs, said that New Delhi has “established user rights to the waters of the river”, and has “consistently expressed our concerns to the Chinese side over mega projects on rivers in their territory”.
He added that New Delhi has urged Beijing “to ensure that the interests of downstream states of the Brahmaputra are not harmed by activities in upstream areas”, adding that India will “continue to monitor and take necessary measures to protect our interests”.
Two days later, spokesperson for the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Mao Ning, told reporters that the project “will not negatively affect the lower reaches”, and Beijing will “continue to maintain communication with [lower riparian] countries through existing channels and step up cooperation on disaster prevention”. She again underscored the Medog county dam’s role in China’s pivot towards clean energy and other hydrological disasters.
Yet, trust between India and China is in short supply.
Last October, the countries reached an agreement to disengage after nearly five years of a tense military standoff in Ladakh, following a deadly military clash on the disputed border in 2020.
But the agreement must not be mistaken for an ice break in sour relations, warned Michael Kugelman, South Asia Institute director at the Wilson Center, a Washington, DC-based think tank. “There are simply too many points of divergence and tension between India and China, including this latest flashpoint around water, to expect that we could see strength in relations,” he told Al Jazeera.
Kugelman pointed out that both India and China have borne the adverse effects of climate change, including water shortages, and their tussle over water will likely only intensify in the coming years.“India just cannot afford to see water, which it expects to flow down, be bottled up in China,” he said.‘Bangladesh will face most adverse impact’
But while India and China engage in a tug-of-war, experts say that the worst impact could be felt by millions of people in Bangladesh.
Although only 8 percent of the 580,000-square-kilometre (224,000-square-mile) area of the Brahmaputra basin falls in Bangladesh, the river system annually provides over 65 percent of the country’s water. That’s why it is viewed as the “lifeline of Bangladesh”, said Sheikh Rokon, secretary-general of Riverine People, a Dhaka-based civil society organisation that focuses on water resources.“The ‘dam for a dam’ race between China and India will impact us most adversely,” Rokon told Al Jazeera.
Those fears have kept Malik Fida Khan, executive director at the Dhaka-based Center for Environmental and Geographic Information Services (CEGIS), on edge for a decade now.“We have access to no information. Not a feasibility report, or the details of the technology that will be used,” he said, his tone tense. “We need a shared, and detailed, feasibility study, environmental impact assessment, and then social and disaster impact assessment. But we have had nothing.”
The Brahmaputra also forms one of the world’s largest sediment deltas in Bangladesh, before entering the Bay of Bengal, and directly supports millions who live on its banks. “If there is any imbalance in the sediment flow, it will increase the riverbank erosion and any chances of potential land reclaiming will vanish,” Khan said.
India’s dam, Khan lamented, could be particularly damaging to the part of the basin in Bangladesh. “You cannot counter a dam with another down,” he said. “It will have a huge and fatal impact on millions of us living downstream.”
Rokon agreed. “We need to get out of the ‘wait and see’ attitude regarding Chinese or Indian dams,” he said, reflecting upon the Bangladesh government’s current policy. “The discussion on the Brahmaputra river should not be a mere bilateral discussion between Bangladesh and India, or India and China; it should be a basin-wide discussion.”
Since the ouster of Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina from Dhaka, whose government was backed by New Delhi, the new dispensation led by Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus has maintained its distance from India. This also means that there is no joint effort, or a unified pushback, from the South Asian countries to counter China’s growing command over the Brahmaputra river, say analysts.
Whereas Khan sees this water crisis as “a golden opportunity” for India and Bangladesh to forge ties, Kugelman of Wilson Center isn’t optimistic.“We’ve seen that China is not a country that is receptive to external pressure, whether it be from one country, or two, or even 10,” said Kugelman. “Even if India and Bangladesh were in a position to muster joint resistance toward these Chinese moves, it would not be sufficient to deter Beijing’s actions.”
Meanwhile, the threat facing communities on the front lines of these water tensions is only going to grow, say experts.“One cannot emphasise enough on the significance and seriousness of these water tensions because of how climate change effects could make these tensions much more dangerous and potentially destabilising in the upcoming decade,” Kugelman told Al Jazeera.
Back in Parong village near the Siang River, Jijong says he has no time to rest. “We have been making more and more people aware about the implications of these dams,” he said.“I do not know about the next generation, but, even if I am 90 years old and cannot walk,” said Jijojng, pausing for a long breath, “I will continue to resist.” India open to return of undocumented Indians in US (VOA)
VOA [1/23/2025 6:45 AM, Anjana Pasricha, 2.7M, Neutral]
Indian foreign minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar has said New Delhi is open to the return of undocumented Indians in the United States. His comments came following a meeting with U.S. foreign secretary Marco Rubio in Washington during which illegal immigration was one of the issues discussed.
Saying that New Delhi was firmly opposed to illegal migration, he told reporters that “We have always taken the view that if there are any of our citizens who are not here legally, if we are sure that they are our citizens, we have always been, you know, open to their legitimate return to India.” He said it is a position India takes with every country.
Jaishankar was addressing a news conference in Washington on Wednesday, a day after his meeting with Rubio.
After taking office, U.S. President Donald Trump issued executive orders that aim to clamp down on illegal immigration and deport those who are in the U.S. illegally.
Indians made up the third-largest group of unauthorized immigrants in the U.S. in 2022 behind Mexico and El Salvador, according to Pew Research Center. It estimated their number at 725,000.
Analysts see India’s proactive stand on facilitating the return of illegal Indian migrants in the U.S. as a move to address a key concern of the Trump administration as New Delhi prepares to navigate more complicated issues, including trade and tariffs.“Among a range of issues, where there are divergences between India and the U.S., this is one area where India can show it is transparently doing something, allowing it greater space to maneuver in other areas,” according to Harsh Pant, vice president of studies at the Observer Research Foundation in New Delhi. “In other areas, such as the economy and trade, it is very difficult to do things which the new Trump administration may want India to do, and it would take time.”
Jaishankar said that New Delhi is currently verifying the identities of those eligible for deportation and precise numbers of illegal migrants cannot be determined.
The United States has identified some 18,000 undocumented Indian migrants to be sent back home, for which India will verify and start the process of deportation, Bloomberg reported earlier this week, citing people familiar with the matter.
Deportations of Indians in the United States who lack proper documentation have been taking place – a group of Indian nationals was repatriated by the U.S. in October, for example.
The Indian foreign minister Jaishankar also spoke in support of legal migration channels.“As a government, we are obviously very much supportive of legal mobility because we do believe in a global workplace. We want Indian talent and Indian skills to have the maximum opportunity at the global level,” he said at his press conference.
The H-1B visa program, which brings skilled foreign workers to the United States, has been a subject of debate in the U.S. in recent years, with some strongly criticizing the program for negatively impacting American workers. Proponents assert those skilled workers benefit U.S. companies and employers. Indians, most of them professionals working in the technology industry, are among the biggest beneficiaries of the visa program.
Analyst Pant says India is on a “stronger wicket” where H-1B visas are concerned. “On this issue, India has also been getting support from companies in the U.S. So politically, that is a safer issue for India to handle because there is a domestic support base for India,” Pant said.
Elon Musk is among those who have expressed strong support for the program. Trump, who had been critical of the program, last month spoke in its favor. Passengers Fled a Train Over Fears of a Fire. Then Another Train Hit Them. (New York Times)
New York Times [1/23/2025 4:14 PM, Suhasini Raj and Isabella Kwai, 831K, Negative]
At least 12 people were killed and 11 people injured in India on Wednesday evening after they stepped off a train and were hit by another one while on the tracks, the local authorities said.
The passengers had disembarked after rumors of a fire on their train spread panic among those onboard, the authorities said.
The accident happened around 5 p.m. in Maharashtra State, about 170 miles northeast of Mumbai, said Ashok Pawar, a police inspector at the Pachora police station. The passengers were aboard the Pushpak Express, a train traveling from Lucknow, in northern India, to Mumbai in the west, when word spread onboard of a fire, he said.
Panic ensued, and people began to leave the train when it eventually came to a stop, Mr. Pawar said. They were hit by another train, the Karnataka Express, passing by on an adjoining track.
It was unclear how many passengers had been on the Pushpak Express. Mr. Pawar said the train had been packed with people, many of them migrant workers traveling for work. The accident, he said, left victims with severe injuries.
The authorities said that they were looking into the episode.“We will investigate exactly what was the reason, whether there was an actual fire or whether it is just a rumor spread by any mischievous person,” Maheswar Reddy, the superintendent of police in Jalgaon District, where the accident happened, said to reporters.
Mr. Pawar, the inspector, said seven people who had died were from Nepal and four were from the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, where Lucknow is. One body remained unidentified, and families of the victims were now in Jalgaon, he said.
Devendra Fadnavis, the top government official in Maharashtra, said late Wednesday that eight ambulances had been dispatched to the scene. The state government would offer financial assistance to the families of the victims, he said on social media, and would cover expenses for people who were injured.
The accident raised more questions around the safety of train travel in India, where millions of people depend on a vast but accident-prone railway network for transport, especially in rural areas.
The government has invested heavily in rail safety and launched a series of high-tech initiatives, although accidents continue.
One of the deadliest rail crashes in the country’s history, in the eastern state of Odisha in 2023, killed 290 people after two passenger trains collided. Another train crash last June killed at least eight people, after a freight train rammed a passenger train that had derailed in the eastern state of Tripura. German-Indian JV emerges as sole contender for $5 billion India submarine deal (Reuters)
Reuters [1/23/2025 9:41 AM, Shivam Patel, 48128K, Neutral]
German shipbuilder ThyssenKrupp and its Indian partner have cleared field trials for building six advanced conventional submarines for the Indian Navy, according to an exchange filing, emerging as the sole contender for the $5 billion project.
Their potential rival, Spanish state-held shipbuilder Navantia, which partnered with India’s Larsen & Toubro (L&T) (LART.NS) could not meet the navy’s requirements in trials held in 2024 for testing key technologies, an Indian defence source said.
The project is crucial to India’s effort to modernise its military and boost its naval capabilities in the face of China’s growing presence in the Indian Ocean region.
ThyssenKrupp’s Indian partner, state-owned Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Ltd (MAZG.NS) said in an exchange filing on Thursday that its field trials for the project were successful and the Indian defence ministry had invited the company for commercial negotiations next week.
The defence ministry, L&T and its submarine partner did not respond to requests for comment.
A key requirement for the project was air-independent propulsion (AIP) technology, which would allow the diesel-electric attack submarines to stay underwater for over two weeks. A conventional submarine without AIP technology would have to surface every few days to charge its batteries.
Currently, the 17 conventional submarines operated by the Indian Navy do not have AIP technology, which India’s neighbours China and Pakistan have, according to nonprofit Nuclear Threat Initiative.
Analysts say the project for the six new submarines has been delayed by more than a decade, with the first of them now expected three to five years after a contract is agreed.
About half of India’s conventional submarines have undergone multiple upgrades and retrofits over the past few years and are nearing the end of their productive lives. India Has Good Reason to Help Shore Up Trump’s Wall (Bloomberg – opinion)
Bloomberg [1/23/2025 5:00 PM, Mihir Sharma, 21617K, Neutral]
India is proud of its diaspora. People of Indian extraction tend to earn well over the average wage in most countries, and often fit seamlessly and unobtrusively into local power structures. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has made a point of cultivating Indians abroad and sometimes gifts foreign leaders a bit of his star power for their own campaigns. He attended a joint rally in Texas during President Donald Trump’s first term, for example.So, the subject of illegal Indian migrants to the US would appear to require delicate handling. According to Bloomberg News, the incoming administration has identified at least 18,000 Indian citizens living in the US illegally and wants them sent back. That number could grow: The Pew Research Center estimated in 2022 that Indian citizens make up the third-largest community of undocumented immigrants in the US; there might be as many as 725,000 of them.The composition of the most recent arrivals is particularly sensitive. While hard data is lacking, reporting suggests that many if not most are young men from the western states of Punjab and Gujarat. Both regions are relatively well-off; Gujarat in particular has long been touted as a model of development — especially by Modi, who rode to national power by selling his record as that state’s growth-minded chief minister.If it turns out that young people from such prosperous areas are being driven to follow the “donkey route” to the US, a few questions might begin to be asked about the famous “Gujarat model” of growth. Some opposition politicians have already started demanding answers.Yet US leaders might be surprised at how unbothered most Indians or even Indian Americans are likely to be about the proposed repatriations. In countries such as India, illegal migration is not exactly popular; the numbers willing to take such risks are small when compared to the country’s vast population. For decades there have even been legal checks on Indians below a certain income or without a college degree leaving the country for the Persian Gulf, supposedly to ensure that they aren’t exploited by traffickers.Meanwhile, most Indians in the US legally would want to draw a sharp distinction between them and their compatriots sneaking into the country from Canada or Mexico. At that Texas rally, Modi even backed Trump on the need for “border security.”Indeed, Indian authorities have good reason to cooperate with Western politicians worried about illegal immigration. India has already signed several bilateral agreements to repatriate citizens, including with Germany and the UK.In part, that’s because India wants to be a reliable source of legal migration — a key pillar of its plans to develop its workforce and economy. Remittances from Indians working elsewhere bring in crucial foreign exchange. India derives more money from its citizens abroad than any other nation; in 2022, they sent back $111 billion, almost double the amount remitted to Mexico.Indians studying overseas also take pressure off the country’s overstretched universities. And circular migration provides a useful pathway for learning and deploying skills in what is still a very young country.Accountability for those abusing the system is a crucial component of the strategy. Most of India’s repatriation agreements include new pathways for legal and temporary migration alongside mechanisms for returning illegal migrants. If that will be hard for the US to provide right now, Modi’s government might be open to discussing deportations anyway to keep Trump happy.The key is not to make too much of a fuss about it. Being the source of illegal migration isn’t something anyone wants to advertise, least of all officials in New Delhi whose job is to tell the Indian public that everything is going swimmingly.Trump’s agenda might be America-centric. But many of its pillars — including dealing with illegal immigration — will require cooperation from other countries. If he wants to work with governments such as India’s, he can. The question is how willing he will be to notch quiet victories rather than crowing about them. NSB
Bangladesh’s high growth under ousted PM Hasina was ‘fake’, interim head Yunus says (Reuters)
Reuters [1/23/2025 11:03 AM, Una Galani and Peter Thal Larsen, 48128K, Neutral]
The head of Bangladesh’s interim government, Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus, said on Thursday that his country’s high growth under ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina was "fake" and faulted the world for not questioning what he said was her corruption.Yunus, 84, an economist and the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize winner, took charge of the South Asian country’s interim government in August after Hasina was forced to flee to neighbouring India following weeks of violent protests.
Hasina has been credited with turning around the economy and the country’s massive garments industry during her 15 years in power, although critics have accused her of human rights violations and suppressing free speech and dissent.
Hasina, who had ruled Bangladesh since 2009, is being investigated there on suspicion of crimes against humanity, genocide, murder, corruption and money laundering and Dhaka has asked New Delhi to extradite her.
Hasina and her party deny wrongdoing, while New Delhi has not responded to the extradition request.
"She was in Davos telling everybody how to run a country. Nobody questioned that," Yunus told Reuters in an interview on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting in the Swiss Alpine resort. "That’s not a good world system at all.".
"The whole world is responsible for making that happen. So that’s a good lesson for the world," he said. "She said, our growth rate surpasses everybody else. Fake growth rate, completely.".
Yunus did not elaborate on why he thought that growth was fake, but went on to stress the importance of broad-based and inclusive growth, and the need to reduce wealth inequality.
Annual growth in the Muslim-majority country of 170 million people accelerated to nearly 8% in the financial year 2017/18, compared with about 5% when Hasina took over in 2009, before the impact of COVID-19 and the war in Ukraine pulled it down.
In 2023, the World Bank described Bangladesh as one of the world’s fastest-growing economies.
"Since its independence in 1971, Bangladesh has transformed from one of the poorest countries to achieving lower-middle income status in 2015," it said.
HURT BY STRAINED INDIA Ties
The student-led movement in Bangladesh grew out of protests against quotas in government jobs that spiralled in July, provoking a violent crackdown that drew global criticism, although Hasina’s government denied using excessive force.
The student protesters recommended Yunus as the chief adviser in the interim government tasked with holding fresh elections.
Yunus, who has promised to hold elections by the end of 2025 or early 2026, said he was not interested in running.
Known as the "banker to the poor", Yunus and the Grameen Bank he founded won the Nobel for helping lift millions from poverty with tiny loans of less than $100 offered to the rural poor, too poor to gain attention from traditional banks.
"For me, personally, I’m not very driven by growth rates," Yunus said. "I’m driven by the quality of life of the people at the very bottom level. So I would rather bring an economy which avoids the whole idea of wealth concentration.".
Ties between Bangladesh and India, who have strong trade and cultural links, have become fraught since Hasina was ousted and she took refuge in New Delhi.
Yunus has demanded that India send Hasina back to Bangladesh so she can face trial for what it says are crimes against protesters and her opponents, and crimes she is accused of committing during her tenure.
Calling India’s rival China a long-term friend of Bangladesh at this difficult time, Yunus said the strained relationship with New Delhi "hurts me a lot personally".
"Bangladesh-India relationship should be the strongest possible. You know, you cannot draw the map of India without drawing the map of Bangladesh," he said, referring to how Bangladesh’s land border runs almost entirely alongside India’s. Bangladesh frees 178 troops over deadly 2009 mutiny (Agence France-Presse)
Agence France-Presse [1/23/2025 6:07 AM, Staff, 63029K, Negative]
Bangladesh let 178 former paramilitary troops walk free from jail Thursday, nearly 16 years after they were detained over a violent mutiny that massacred dozens of senior army officers.Rampaging troops from the Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) murdered 74 people during the two-day revolt that began in Dhaka and spread across the country in 2009, destabilising the government of then-premier Sheikh Hasina weeks after she took office.Thousands of participants were rounded up after the mutiny ended with more than 150 initially sentenced to death in trials criticised by rights groups for procedural shortcomings.Those bailed on Thursday had been acquitted of murder charges, but were kept in custody on accusations of violating explosives laws -- with their cases still pending more than a decade after the revolt."I can’t express my feelings in words. I am returning to my family. I came out of a life full of darkness into the light," newly released prisoner Abul Kashem, 38, told AFP.The releases came months after the ouster of Hasina following a student-led uprising against her 15 years of autocratic rule over the South Asian nation.Relatives of the jailed men thronged prisons in Dhaka from early in the morning after news of the impending release spread."It feels like a dream. I never would have imagined he could come out of jail if Hasina was still in power," Shiuly Akter, 40, the wife of one of the men released on Thursday, told AFP."There was no justice here; what happened to us was unfair. My husband knew nothing about the mutiny or the killings. He was just a novice in the BDR when he was arrested."A previous official investigation into the mutiny blamed years of pent-up anger among ordinary soldiers, who felt their appeals for pay rises and better treatment were ignored.But that probe was carried out during Hasina’s tenure, and her opponents have claimed her involvement in a conspiracy to orchestrate the mutiny in a plan to weaken the military and bolster her own power.Since her fall, families of soldiers killed in the violence have been campaigning to reopen the investigation, a demand met last month by the interim government which replaced Hasina’s regime.The mutineers stole thousands of weapons from the BDR headquarters before embarking on a killing spree in the barracks.The uprising quickly spread, with thousands of soldiers pledging allegiance to the mutineers before it was quashed by the army. Sri Lanka revokes power purchase deal with Adani Group, AFP reports (Reuters)
Reuters [1/24/2025 4:19 AM, Chris Thomas and Uditha Jayasinghe, 5.2M, Neutral]
Sri Lanka has revoked a power purchase deal with India’s Adani Group after a probe into U.S. allegations that the conglomerate’s executives paid bribes to secure Indian power supply contracts, according to an AFP report published by the Economic Times newspaper on Friday.
Sri Lanka opened the probe into the Group’s local projects, the AFP reported, after U.S. authorities indicted billionaire Gautam Adani and other group executives in November on bribery and other charges, all of which the Group has denied.
While President Anura Kumara Dissanayake’s cabinet has revoked the 20-year deal power purchase deal signed in May 2024, it has not cancelled the project and has appointed a committee to review the project, the AFP reported, citing an official document and an energy ministry official.
Sri Lanka’s Power and Energy Ministry declined to comment. But two ministry sources told Reuters they were still reviewing the project and the power purchase deal had not been revoked.
The Adani Group did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The U.S. allegations had raised concerns among some partners and investors of the group, with at least one Indian state reviewing its power deal with Adani and TotalEnergies (TTEF.PA) halting further investments in the conglomerate.
Overseas, Kenya has scrapped more than $2.5 billion in deals with the Adani Group, including contracts to develop an airport and build power transmission lines, after the U.S. indictment.
Under the power purchase deal, Adani Green Energy (ADNA.NS) was to build two 484 megawatts wind power stations in the South Asian island nation’s northern province, with a total investment of $442 million. The company would be paid 8.26 cents per kilowatt-hour (kWh).
The cash-strapped country, which has suffered from crippling power blackouts and fuel shortages, has been trying to speed green power generation to hedge against surges in imported fuel costs.
The Adani Group is also involved in building a $700 million terminal project at Sri Lanka’s largest port in Colombo.
Adani Green Energy shares were trading 1% lower in Mumbai. Central Asia
Tajikistan launches crackdown on ‘witchcraft’ and fortune-telling (Agence France-Presse)
Agence France-Presse [1/23/2025 6:45 AM, Staff, 1.4M, Negative]
In a block of flats in Tajikistan’s capital Dushanbe, a turbaned woman cautiously opened the door of her apartment a chink, letting out a waft of incense.
"I’m not taking on new clients. It could be a set-up," she says, as she closes the door again and locks it.
"I risk a heavy fine. I do not want people outside on my landing," speaking through the door.
A majority Muslim country in Central Asia, mountainous and impoverished Tajikistan has recently launched a crackdown against fortune tellers, clairvoyants, mediums and "witches".
Practitioners of the occult are keeping a low profile to avoid arrest and public shaming because of a government-led campaign against them.Tajik police have stepped up raids against what they call "parasites engaged in some of the most detestable activities imaginable -- divination and witchcraft".
Other countries in Central Asia are also cracking down on what have become widespread practices with roots in pre-Islamic traditions.
Thousands of arrests
The fight against occult practices is part of wider strict controls imposed in the authoritarian country, which is seeking to curb both radical Islam and ancestral beliefs.
"Illegal religious teaching leads to scams, divination and witchcraft. Tajiks! The Prophet categorically forbade going to diviners and sorcerers," President Emomali Rakhmon, who has ruled the country since 1992, said last year.
Rakhmon also last year announced the arrest of 1,500 people "engaged in witchcraft and divination" as well as "more than 5,000 mullahs" who promised healing through prayer.
A repeat offence is now punishable by two years’ imprisonment and a fine of 12,800 euros ($13,300) -- the equivalent of six years’ average salary for a Tajik.
Witches and fortune tellers have adapted to avoid police raids.
"I no longer receive people in my home. I go to them," Adalat, a 56-year-old fortune teller, said during a session on the outskirts of Dushanbe.
She swung a string of pearls over some instructions scribbled on a piece of paper, mumbling a few words after asking her client some questions.
She said she is particularly skilled at reconciling fighting couples and seeing their future.
"Even as a child, I was tormented by nightmares which made me want to help people. But I only show my gift to people close to me," she said.
The price of consultations can range from a few euros to gold jewels depending on the client requests but Adalat said she "cannot live" off her fortune telling and relies on money sent to her by her son who works in Russia.‘Social inequality’
One of her clients, Gulbakhor, said she had "turned to fortune tellers and healers mainly because of health problems".
"It’s cheaper than conventional medicine, which is very expensive," the 42-year-old housewife told AFP.
Since the fall of the Soviet Union and a civil war in the early 1990s, Tajikistan has been plunged into poverty.
According to Mehrigiul Ablezova, a professor of sociology at the American University of Central Asia, "the attraction of witchcraft and fortune-telling may be linked to social inequality and a lack of access to public services".
"In countries where health or welfare systems are limited, people may seek alternative sources of treatment and support," she told AFP.
She said repression alone would not be enough to counteract these "deeply rooted traditions and beliefs in Central Asia that predate the introduction of Islam". VOA Uzbek: Human rights conditions have worsened across Central Asia, HRW says (VOA)
VOA [1/23/2025 8:39 PM, Staff, 2717K, Negative]
A 2024 Human Rights Watch report released last week describes the five Central Asian republics as an environment under law-breaking and authoritarian governments.There were no major improvements in the rule of law in any of the Central Asian republics in 2024, HRW, the New York-based international organization, reported. The situation remained grim and, in some cases, worsened in Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan, according to HRW’s annual analysis.
The HRW analysis emphasized that courts are not independent, parliaments are puppets, and presidents are autocrats. Trump’s Russia Gambit Puts Central Asia on Notice (The Diplomat)
The Diplomat [1/23/2025 10:02 AM, Catherine Putz, 857K, Neutral]
"If we don’t make a ‘deal,’ and soon, I have no other choice but to put high levels of Taxes, Tariffs, and Sanctions on anything being sold by Russia to the United States, and various other participating countries," U.S. President Donald Trump said in a rambling Truth Social post on January 22, two days after returning to the presidency.
For years, Trump has bragged that he could force an end to the Russia-Ukraine war in a single day.
Ahead of an expected call between Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin, the new U.S. president’s comments present a confusing array of sentiments, both lauding and lashing out at Russia. He decries the so-called "Russia HOAX" – the allegation that Russia interfered in the 2016 election on his behalf – and notes Russia’s contributions to the Allied victory in World War II, but then claims the Russian economy is failing under Putin as a result of the "ridiculous" war.
In the first official Russian response to the message, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said during a January 23 briefing, "We don’t see any particularly new elements here. You know that Trump, in the first iteration of his presidency, was the American president who most often resorted to sanctions methods." He went on to say that Russia was ready for an "equal and respectful" dialogue. Peskov also said that there were no preparations underway for a meeting between Trump and Putin.
This is a shift from comments Peskov made earlier in January: "We see that Mr. Trump is declaring his readiness to solve problems through dialogue. We welcome that.".
Russian commentators have not viewed Trump’s latest Truth Social post as an olive branch.
The governments of Central Asia, meanwhile, are surely paying attention to the rhetoric flying between Russia and the United States, trying to gauge their own path forward.
The previous U.S. administration, under President Joe Biden, took a careful approach to sanctions targeting Central Asian entities involved in circumventing restrictions slapped on Russia. Central Asian businesses and elites have arguably profited from the ways the war has shifted trade pathways in Eurasia. One the one hand, the West has increasingly paid attention to routes like the Middle Corridor, which circumvent Russia; on the other, Central Asia remains a prime node in trade to and from Russia. In both cases, Central Asia benefits. This is reflected in regional trade statistics.
While a handful of Central Asian companies have been subject to secondary sanctions since the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, the hammer has not fallen broadly on the region’s economies. The Biden administration accepted Central Asia’s difficult geopolitical position, and tried to find nuanced ways to restrict Russia via sanctions without alienating the governments of Central Asia.
Trump is not known for such nuanced policymaking. Rather, his "America First" ideology is steeped in nationalism and a transactional attitude, which may not provide the space for such a careful diplomatic dance.
Trump has long bragged that he could swiftly end the war between Russia and Ukraine. In a CNN town hall in May 2023, Trump was asked whether he would give Ukraine weapons and funding if he were re-elected. He responded that "If I’m president, I will have that war settled in one day, 24 hours.".
When pressed, he said he would meet with Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. "They both have weaknesses and they both have strengths," Trump said. "And within 24 hours that war will be settled. It will be over. It will be absolutely over.".
At the time, Trump wouldn’t directly respond to the question of whether he wanted Ukraine to "win" the war or not. Instead, he shifted the conversation to his belief that Europe should contribute more to the war effort. "I want Europe to put up more money," he said.
On the campaign trail, Trump repeated his insistence that he could force an end to the war without offering concrete plans as to how. He has also stated a broad belief that U.S. allies – from NATO to those in the Pacific – should pay more.
Transposing this attitude onto Central Asia-U.S. relations, it’s entirely possible that Trump will demand that the region’s countries "do more" with respect to Russia if his efforts to drag Putin and Zelenskyy to the negotiating table fail.
Much will depend on how Trump and Putin’s next conversation goes, and then whatever conversation Trump eventually has with Zelenskyy. Triangulating peace out of the present situation will not be easy, and it will certainly take more than 24 hours. Twitter
Afghanistan
Malala Yousafzai@Malala
[1/23/2025 3:40 PM, 1.9M followers, 220 retweets, 982 likes]
Today’s decision is a pivotal milestone. For years, Afghan women and girls have led the fight for accountability and real action from the global community. Now, because of their relentless work, the movement to end the Taliban’s system of gender apartheid is growing. In the last few months, we’ve seen signs of progress: from the @CIJ_ICJ case, to the Crimes Against Humanity treaty negotiations at the @UN, to today’s decision by the @IntlCrimCourt, there are concrete vehicles for states, Afghan women and human rights defenders to pursue justice. World leaders must support all avenues to restore the rights of Afghan women and girls, including their right to go to school. And we must do everything possible to recognise the Taliban’s regime of gender apartheid as a crime against humanity.
Habib Khan@HabibKhanT
[1/23/2025 4:09 PM, 247.4K followers, 21 retweets, 80 likes]
Fawzia Koofi, a prominent Afghan woman leader, calls the ICC arrest warrant against Taliban leaders a breath of fresh air and urges more warrants for those responsible for vice and virtue, and education policies.
Habib Khan@HabibKhanT
[1/23/2025 10:44 AM, 247.4K followers, 96 retweets, 311 likes]
The ICC’s arrest warrants for the Taliban hold symbolic importance but are unlikely to affect their leader, who rarely leaves his cave in Kandahar. However, other officials, such as their foreign minister & deputy PM, who frequently travel abroad, should be added to the list.
Jahanzeb Wesa@Jahanzeb_Wesa
[1/23/2025 5:51 PM, 5.4K followers, 21 retweets, 31 likes]
The ICC’s move to seek arrest warrants for senior Taliban leaders on gender persecution charges is historic. It sends a powerful message: gender apartheid is a crime, and justice will prevail. Afghan women’s voices are being heard. Now, action must follow.
Jahanzeb Wesa@Jahanzeb_Wesa
[1/23/2025 10:56 AM, 5.4K followers, 5 retweets, 20 likes]
The ICC’s arrest warrant for key Taliban figures is a victory for Afghanistan’s justice seekers, especially women. This decision exposes the Taliban’s crimes and invalidates claims of their ‘change.’ Afghan women demand immediate execution of this justice! Pakistan
Ministry of Foreign Affairs – Pakistan@ForeignOfficePk
[1/23/2025 8:54 AM, 480.7K followers, 16 retweets, 37 likes]
Deputy Prime Minister/Foreign Minister Senator Mohammad Ishaq Dar @MishaqDar50 chaired a meeting today to review the progress made on relocation of Afghan nationals to the 3rd countries. The meeting was also briefed by the head of team that visited Morocco to investigate the boat tragedy off the coast of Morocco leading to several deaths. DPM/FM directed to take all necessary measures to bring culprits to justice at the earliest and provide all necessary assistance to the victims. Meeting was attended by Special representative on Afghanistan, Secretary Interior and other officials.
Imran Khan@ImranKhanPTI
[1/23/2025 10:39 PM, 21.1M followers, 5.1K retweets, 8.3K likes]
Former Prime Minister Imran Khan’s conversation with his lawyers and representatives of media at Adiala Jail - January 22nd, 2025“I strongly condemn the illegal raid on Sahibzada Hamid Raza’s home and seminary. The ‘orderly’ [subservient to the Military Establishment] government is pretending to hold talks on one hand and continuing to violate human rights on the other. Following this raid, we are immediately discontinuing all talks (with the government). A raid on the home of our ally, who is the spokesperson of our negotiations team, is an attack on our negotiations committee itself. Such a duplicitous and malicious negotiation process cannot yield anything positive.
For the sake of the rule of law, survival of democracy, and respect for human rights in Pakistan, I have instructed my party to take all political parties into confidence. We are working on developing a grand national agenda against this illegitimate government. There is instability everywhere you look in Pakistan.
Terrorism is taking root in Balochistan, and no one is looking for a political solution there. The Baloch missing persons issue, for which Mahrang Baloch is raising her voice, is extremely serious. The situation in the entire country is now the same as in Balochistan. Many of our Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party workers are also missing. We stand with those affected by this issue and will raise it with international human rights organizations. Until a government that has the public’s trust is brought in, stability anywhere in the country, including Balochistan, will remain a distant dream.
I am not asking the establishment for anything for myself. If I talk to them, it will be only for the benefit of the country and the nation. Real control is in their hands. Everyone else is their puppets, who do as they are told.
We demand that a commission comprised of the three most senior judges of the Supreme Court or the Islamabad High Court be formed so that the real culprits responsible for the incidents of May 9th (2023) and November 26th (2024) can be identified. Any other commission would not be acceptable to us.
Dishonest people never support neutral umpires. The reason for continuously ignoring our demand for a Judicial Commission is that the government and the establishment are themselves involved in the false flag operation of May 9th and the massacre of November 26th. On May 9th, they deliberately withdrew military and police forces from their posts, set fires themselves, and made CCTV footage disappear to falsely accuse innocent political workers. On November 26th, our people were killed and injured, yet we were labeled as terrorists. At least 14 of our people were martyred, many are injured or missing, and thousands were unjustly imprisoned. Those who are not in jails are having to go from one court to another for bail but are not being heard.
Malik Riaz recently said that if he starts to disclose what he knows, many people will be exposed and embarrassed. I ask Malik Riaz to disclose which judges, generals and politicians received bribes and other benefits from him over the last 30 years so that the nation knows who has been involved in dirty deals. The world should know how clean those who lecture about the bogus Al-Qadir (University) Trust case really are.
My message for overseas Pakistanis is that sending remittances to this government is akin to staining your own hands with blood. Completely boycott remittances to this regime, which is complicit in the massacre of its own citizens.”
Imran Khan@ImranKhanPTI
[1/23/2025 5:17 AM, 21.1M followers, 13K retweets, 20K likes]
Former Prime Minister Imran Khan’s conversation with lawyers and media at Adiala Jail - January 22, 2025
"To extend Yahya Khan Part 2’s hold on power and to cover up the events of May 9th (2023), Chief Justice Qazi Faez Isa did not hear our petitions regarding the May 9th false flag operation and the election rigging of February 8th (2024). The worst human rights violations in history were committed against PTI. From Zille Shah to Sami Wazir, there is a long tale of oppression and tyranny against us. We have not been able to get justice from any court across the country. The courts are paralyzed, but even today, the illegitimate government fears that if a judge hears our petitions on human rights violations on merit, they might actually deliver justice. But no matter what they do, it is a divine law that a reign of tyranny and oppression cannot last long.
I am deeply grateful to Saudi Crown Prince HRH Mohammed bin Salman for responding to my appeal and releasing nearly 7,200 poor and deserving Pakistani citizens from Saudi prisons. I have always tried to use my position and influence to improve the lives of ordinary Pakistanis. This was one of the reasons I entered politics, and I will continue to strive for it for as long as I live.
Neither Bushra Bibi nor I have financially benefited from the Al-Qadir Trust in any way. Malik Riaz will testify that I was the only Prime Minister who never sought anything from him for personal or financial gain. Unlike Zardari, I did not have a Bilawal House built for me, nor did I sell One Hyde Park at double its value, like the Sharif family did. The future of Pakistan’s youth is important for me, and it was for this reason that Al-Qadir University was established.
They have used every tactic to cause me agony. I strongly condemn the social media campaign launched by our opponents against Bushra Bibi. The opposition has been slinging mud at Bushra Bibi for the past six years just so they can somehow malign my character. Those who claim to be our well-wishers, but become part of their propaganda are not our well-wishers, but are playing into the enemy’s hands by carrying out their mission."
Michael Kugelman@MichaelKugelman
[1/23/2025 10:10 AM, 217.7K followers, 19 retweets, 72 likes]
This week for @ForeignPolicy examine four things to watch in the early days of the Trump administration that will give an indication of President Trump’s approach to relations with South Asia: Trade, tariffs, terrorism, Pakistani politics. https://foreignpolicy.com/2025/01/22/trump-south-asia-policy-tariffs-immigration/
Michael Kugelman@MichaelKugelman
[1/23/2025 9:59 AM, 217.7K followers, 4.6K retweets, 12K likes]
Pakistan’s interior minister meets with a US Congressman and soon thereafter the Congressman posts a “free Imran Khan” tweet. That’s an epic fail for the interior minister and his superiors.Anas Mallick@AnasMallick
[1/23/2025 6:42 AM, 75.4K followers, 8 retweets, 89 likes]
Pakistan’s Prime Minister @CMShehbaz has written a letter to US President @realDonaldTrump in which he has sent the customary felicitation to the US President upon assuming office, Pak FM @MIshaqDar50 has also sent a customary letter of felicitation to @secrubio
Ashok Swain@ashoswai
[1/23/2025 3:00 PM, 621.5K followers, 4K retweets, 10K likes]
Pakistan’s interior minister met US lawmaker Joe Wilson. Immediately after this meeting, Joe Wilson tweeted “Free Imran Khan”. A bunch of losers ruling Pakistan! India
Narendra Modi@narendramodi
[1/23/2025 10:00 PM, 104.9M followers, 1.8K retweets, 9.3K likes]
Today, on National Girl Child Day, we reiterate our commitment to keep empowering the girl child and ensure a wide range of opportunities for her. India is proud of the accomplishments of the girl child across all fields. Their feats continue to inspire us all.
Narendra Modi@narendramodi
[1/23/2025 10:00 PM, 104.9M followers, 364 retweets, 859 likes]
Our Government has focused on sectors like education, technology, skills, healthcare etc which have contributed to empowering the girl child. We are equally resolute in ensuring no discrimination happens against the girl child.
Narendra Modi@narendramodi
[1/23/2025 8:29 AM, 104.9M followers, 4.2K retweets, 25K likes]
Best wishes to all the athletes participating in the 5th Khelo India Winter Games 2025! I am sure this tournament will encourage upcoming talent. May the games also be a celebration of sportsman spirit. @kheloindia
Narendra Modi@narendramodi
[1/23/2025 3:15 AM, 104.9M followers, 10K retweets, 65K likes]
Paid homage to Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose. Don’t miss the special interaction with my young friends!
Dr. S. Jaishankar@DrSJaishankar
[1/23/2025 7:51 AM, 3.3M followers, 949 retweets, 5.9K likes]
Good visit to Washington DC reaffirming our strategic partnerships. Highlights of my visit to USA. https://x.com/i/status/1882410934603501659 Rajnath Singh@rajnathsingh
[1/24/2025 2:59 AM, 24.4M followers, 20 retweets, 88 likes]
Deeply saddened to know about the blast ot Ordnance Factory at Bhandara, Maharashtra. My condolences to the bereaved families. Praying for the speedy recovery of the injured. The rescue teams are deployed at the site. All efforts are being made to provide assistance to those who are affected. NSB
Tshering Tobgay@tsheringtobgay
[1/24/2025 2:41 AM, 100.6K followers, 1 like]
It was a privilege to be part of the panel discussion on “Big Ideas from Small Economies” at @wef in Davos yesterday.
Tshering Tobgay@tsheringtobgay
[1/24/2025 2:41 AM, 100.6K followers, 1 retweet]
I shared three ideas close to Bhutan’s heart: Gross National Happiness, the vision of Gelephu as a Mindfulness City, and our unwavering commitment to environmental conservation.
Tshering Tobgay@tsheringtobgay
[1/24/2025 2:41 AM, 100.6K followers, 1 like]
These aren’t just concepts shaping Bhutan’s economy - they’re principles that resonate globally, inspiring change far beyond our borders.
Tshering Tobgay@tsheringtobgay
[1/24/2025 2:39 AM, 100.6K followers, 1 like]
Honored to deliver the keynote at the Davos Baukultur Alliance Breakfast Session yesterday, where leaders from diverse fields came together to reimagine the future of our living spaces.
Tshering Tobgay@tsheringtobgay
[1/24/2025 2:39 AM, 100.6K followers]
I shared Bhutan’s journey of progress guided by the philosophy of Gross National Happiness - a path that harmonizes economic growth with social wellbeing, cultural preservation, and environmental stewardship.
Tshering Tobgay@tsheringtobgay
[1/24/2025 2:39 AM, 100.6K followers]
Also had the opportunity to share about His Majesty The King’s vision of the Gelephu Mindfulness City, an initiative rooted in these principles, and invited the global community to join us in co-creating this special and unique endeavour.
Tshering Tobgay@tsheringtobgay
[1/23/2025 4:03 AM, 100.6K followers, 2 retweets, 20 likes]
Had a productive meeting with H.E. @MpRammohannaidu, Minister of Civil Aviation of India, on the sidelines of WEF in Davos yesterday. We discussed areas of mutual interest in the transport and aviation sectors, reaffirming the strong cooperation between our two nations.
The President’s Office, Maldives@presidencymv
[1/23/2025 4:57 PM, 111.8K followers, 47 retweets, 47 likes]
President attends groundbreaking ceremony for new Council Secretariat building in R. Maakurathu
The President’s Office, Maldives@presidencymv
[1/23/2025 4:49 PM, 111.8K followers, 50 retweets, 50 likes]
President meets with Island Council, WDC and Heads of Institutions in R. Maakurathu
The President’s Office, Maldives@presidencymv
[1/23/2025 4:40 PM, 111.8K followers, 58 retweets, 58 likes]
President attends groundbreaking ceremony for new Police Station in R. Maakurathu
Amnesty International South Asia, Regional Office@amnestysasia
[1/24/2025 12:41 AM, 95.7K followers, 5 retweets, 16 likes]
Sri Lanka: 15 years since the enforced disappearance of Sri Lankan journalist and cartoonist Prageeth Eknaligoda on 24 January 2010, his family still continues to fight for justice. #StillNoAnswers #WhereIsPrageeth
Harsha de Silva@HarshadeSilvaMP
[1/23/2025 10:01 AM, 360.4K followers, 19 retweets, 110 likes]
Spoke in @ParliamentLK today defending #Rohingya refugees. During #lka civil war, Sri Lankans sought refuge worldwide for better life. Today, it’s our turn to show the same compassion. We have both legal & moral obligations to protect those fleeing persecution, not deport them. Central Asia
Shavkat Mirziyoyev’s Press-service@president_uz
[1/24/2025 12:44 AM, 210.9K followers, 1 retweet, 10 likes]
President Shavkat #Mirziyoyev reviewed the mortgage program and outlined priorities for 2025. In 2024, over 40 million square meters of buildings were constructed. This year, 120,000 apartments will be built, and a new company will oversee land, design and operations, prioritizing green energy in housing projects. Regional renovations will improve land efficiency, and a five-year housing strategy will be developed with international experts.
Saida Mirziyoyeva@SMirziyoyeva
[1/23/2025 9:46 AM, 21.4K followers, 5 retweets, 25 likes]
On International Education Day, Uzbekistan reaffirms its commitment to education. Today, we held discussions with @UNICEF, @UNESCO, @UNDP, @OECD, @WorldBank on innovative, inclusive approaches. Together, we ensure quality education for all!
Javlon Vakhabov@JavlonVakhabov
[1/23/2025 2:21 AM, 6.1K followers, 2 retweets, 4 likes]
Privileged to join an official reception at Ambassador Jonathan Henick’s (@UsAmbUzbekistan) residence for senior Uzbekistan Government officials in honor of Donald J. Trump’s inauguration. Taking office by Donald Trump as the 47th President of the United States coincides with a significant milestone in U.S.-Central Asia relations—the 10th anniversary of the C5+1 format established back in 2015 in Samarkand. We look forward to many more years of successful partnership between the U.S. and the region bulding secure, resilient, and prosperous Central Asia.{End of Report} To subscribe to the SCA Morning Press Clips, please email SCA-PressOfficers@state.gov. Please do not reply directly to this email.