epubdos : Afghanistan
SCA MORNING PRESS CLIPS
Prepared for the U.S. Department of State
Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs
TO:
SCA & Staff
DATE:
Thursday, March 6, 2025 6:30 AM ET

Afghanistan
Afghan Charged in 2021 Kabul Attack That Killed 13 U.S. Service Members (New York Times)
New York Times [3/5/2025 8:08 PM, Adam Goldman, 3531K]
The F.B.I. arrested an Afghan national charged with playing a role in the deadly 2021 attack on U.S. service members as they carried out a tumultuous evacuation of civilians at Afghanistan’s main airport, the Justice Department announced on Wednesday.

The man, Mohammad Sharifullah, is accused of helping a suicide bomber approach the Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul that August without being detected. The horrific attack killed 13 U.S. military service members and approximately 160 civilians.

Mr. Sharifullah was flown back to the United States early Wednesday and charged with violating terrorism statutes. He appeared later that day in federal court in Alexandria, Va., and a preliminary hearing was set for March 10. If convicted, he faces the possibility of life in prison.

Officials said the United States had provided intelligence to Pakistan that led to Mr. Sharifullah’s capture. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif of Pakistan said that Mr. Sharifullah had been arrested by Pakistani security forces in the border region with Afghanistan.

In an interview on Sunday with F.B.I. agents from the Washington field office, Mr. Sharifullah admitted he was a member of the Islamic State Khorasan, or ISIS-K, a U.S.-designated terrorist group.

The attack took place at what was known as the Abbey Gate, the entry point to the airport for thousands of civilians hoping to flee Afghanistan as the Taliban took hold of the country. The bloody attack became a symbol of the chaotic U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan in the opening months of the Biden administration.

The military had been warned about the possibility of terror attacks at the airport, which had fueled intense criticisms of the Biden administration and the pell-mell withdrawal.

Erik S. Siebert, the acting U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, said in a statement: “The charges announced today carry an unmistakable message: The commitment of the United States to hold accountable all who facilitate and carry out acts of terror against us will never waver.”

Kash Patel, the F.B.I. director, said the Central Intelligence Agency had provided assistance in Mr. Sharifullah’s case.

Former and current officials said it is highly unusual to reference the C.I.A. in these types of operations. Typically, the C.I.A.’s involvement in law enforcement operations is not mentioned because of the sensitive nature of its work and complications with undercover officers testifying in federal court.

When F.B.I. agents interviewed Mr. Sharifullah, he said he had scouted the attacker’s route to the Kabul airport. He also admitted to knowing the ISIS-K operative who blew himself up.

Mr. Sharifullah told the agents that he had been in a prison in Afghanistan from about 2019 until two weeks before the attack. After his release, an ISIS-K operative contacted him about the pending operation and provided Mr. Sharifullah with a motorcycle and money for a cellphone. Mr. Sharifullah was told to use a social media platform to communicate other operatives for the group during the attack.

The F.B.I. said that Mr. Sharifullah had acknowledged helping carry out other lethal attacks on behalf of ISIS-K. He conducted surveillance in a 2016 suicide attack on the Canadian Embassy in Kabul while housing and transporting the bomber to the area, according to the F.B.I. The attack killed 10 embassy guards and wounded other soldiers guarding the embassy, according to court documents. (Reporting by The New York Times found that 15 guards were killed.)

Mr. Sharifullah also claimed knowledge of a March 2024 attack on music venue near Moscow that killed about 130 people. Russian authorities charged four gunmen in the attack and Mr. Sharifullah admitted that he had shared instructions on how to use assault rifles and other weapons with at least two of the gunmen, the F.B.I. said.
Suspect in Kabul airport bombing during Afghanistan withdrawal makes court appearance following capture (AP)
AP [3/5/2025 3:32 PM, Eric Tucker and Alanna Durkin Richer, 837K]
A suspected participant in the suicide bombing at the Kabul airport that killed 13 American service members and roughly 170 Afghan civilians during the chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan arrived in the U.S. on Wednesday to face criminal charges in connection with the attack.

Mohammad Sharifullah was taken into custody over the weekend and admitted during an FBI interrogation to being a member of the Islamic State group’s affiliate in Afghanistan and to his role in the August 2021 suicide bombing and other attacks, according to U.S. officials.

President Donald Trump announced the arrest during his Tuesday night address to Congress, telling the audience that he was "pleased to announce that we have just apprehended the top terrorist responsible for that atrocity. And he is right now on his way here to face the swift sword of American justice.".

Senior Pakistani intelligence officers on Wednesday confirmed the arrest and said Sharifullah, also known as Jafar, was captured in the country’s restive southwest Balochistan province near the border with Afghanistan after multiple operations had failed to seize him.

Sharifullah is charged in federal court in Virginia with providing material support to a foreign terrorist organization, resulting in death. He wore a light-blue jail jumpsuit and listened through headphones as an interpreter translated the proceedings. His public defender declined to comment after his court appearance, which ended with him being held until at least a detention hearing set for Monday.

The Abbey Gate bombing, in the waning days of an airlift for those fleeing the Taliban takeover of the country amid the withdrawal by U.S. forces from the country, occurred in August 2021 when a suicide bomber attacked crowds of Afghans flocking to Kabul’s airport. Besides 13 U.S. service members, about 170 Afghans were also killed in the attack, which triggered widespread congressional criticism and undermined public confidence in the Biden administration’s handling of the conclusion of the war.

According to an FBI affidavit filed as part of the case, Sharifullah admitted under questioning to having joined the Afghanistan-based Islamic State-Khorasan, also known as ISIS-K, in 2016. He told investigators that he was in prison from 2019 until about two weeks before the bombing, at which point he was contacted by another ISIS-K member about helping in the attack, the affidavit said.

He was given a motorcycle, funds for a cell phone and a SIM card, as well as instructions for communicating via social media during the attack operation, prosecutors said. He admitted to participating in the Abbey Gate attack by scouting a route to the airport for the bomber and communicating to other members of the militant group that the path was clear.

Sharifullah said he was instructed to leave the area and later learned that the bombing was done by an ISIS-K operative he had met while jailed, the affidavit said.

The bomber was identified as Abdul Rahman al-Logari, an Islamic State group militant who had been in an Afghan prison but was released by the Taliban as the group took control of the country that summer.

During his FBI interrogation, Sharifullah also said he had shared firearms and weapons instructions before a March 2024 attack at a Moscow concert hall that was also carried out by ISIS-K and killed scores of people, authorities said.

Sharifullah was arrested in 2019 by the U.S.-backed Afghan government at the time but escaped from prison on Aug. 15, 2021, as the Taliban took Kabul.

The Pakistani officials said Sharifullah had planned the bombing from behind bars with other senior militant figures. They said he remained on the run in the border areas of Balochistan until his arrest through a joint intelligence-sharing operation between Pakistan and the U.S.

Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif thanked Trump for "acknowledging and appreciating" the country’s role in counter-terrorism efforts in Afghanistan.

"We will continue to partner closely with the United States in securing regional peace and stability," Sharif said on the social media platform X.

From Kabul, the Taliban chief spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid declined to comment beyond saying that the arrest "on Pakistani soil" of an Afghan national and member of the Islamic State group shows that IS group figures "have taken refuge and established havens" inside Pakistan.

"This issue has nothing to do with Afghanistan," Mujahid said. The regional Islamic State affiliate is a rival group to the Afghan Taliban.

Trump, a Republican, had repeatedly condemned Biden’s role in the Afghanistan withdrawal on the campaign trail and blamed Biden, a Democrat, for the Abbey Gate attack. A review last year by U.S. Central Command concluded that the attack was not preventable despite assertions by some service members who believed they had a chance to take out the would-be bomber but did not get approval.

A U.S. official, speaking on the condition of anonymity Tuesday night to discuss a case that had yet to be unsealed, said Sharifullah’s arrest came after fresh U.S. intelligence community coordination, increased intelligence sharing and pressure on regional partners to bring those responsible for the attack to account since Trump’s swearing-in in January.
Mohammad Sharifullah, suspect in Abbey Gate Kabul airport bombing, extradited to U.S. and ordered held in custody (CBS News)
CBS News [3/5/2025 8:20 PM, Margaret Brennan, Jordan Freiman, James LaPorta, and Scott MacFarlane, 51661K]
Mohammad Sharifullah, who has been connected with the August 2021 Abbey Gate suicide bombing at the Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul, Afghanistan, was ordered to be held in custody Wednesday after being extradited to the United States. The attack killed 13 American service members and about 170 Afghans during the withdrawal of U.S. forces from Afghanistan.

Sharifullah appeared at an initial hearing in federal court in Alexandria, Virginia, Wednesday afternoon. A formal detention hearing was scheduled for Monday.

Wearing a blue jail jumpsuit, Sharifullah was told in court that he’ll face a potential life sentence in prison if convicted of conspiracy to provide material support of a foreign terrorist organization. Sharifullah used an interpreter to communicate with the judge. Attorneys argued he has no assets and needs a federal public defender.

U.S. officials said Sharifullah was one of two masterminds involved in the planning of the bombing. He is described as a regional Islamic State Khorasan, or ISIS-K, commander.

A senior defense official told CBS News that Sharifullah was captured roughly 10 days ago in a joint raid between Pakistani intelligence and the Central Intelligence Agency.

Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said in a statement that the operation was conducted in the Pakistan-Afghan border region.

President Trump announced the arrest in his address Tuesday night to a joint session of Congress, and thanked the Pakistani government.

Axios was first to name Sharifullah.

CBS News spoke with a senior Taliban official who said, "Right now, we have two Tajik nationals named Sharifullah in ... custody. They have been sentenced to long-term imprisonment and were involved in the 2021 Abbey Gate bombing ... and others attacks. We are not aware of any Afghan national named Muhammad Sharifullah. The only individuals with that name in Kabul are the two Tajikistani nationals in our custody.".

According to the Pentagon, a suicide bomber detonated an explosive device at an entrance to the airport, where thousands of people had been gathering daily as they tried to flee the city after it fell to the Taliban.

Then-President Biden had vowed revenge following the attack, saying, "We will not forgive. We will not forget. We will hunt you down and make you pay.".

Mr. Trump had fiercely criticized both Biden and then-Vice President Kamala Harris over how the withdrawal was handled while on the campaign trail. The president again lambasted his predecessor for the withdrawal during Tuesday’s address to Congress, even claiming it led to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The Department of Defense in a 2024 review identified the bomber as Abdul Rahman al-Logari, who it said was also affiliated with ISIS-K. That review upheld previous findings from the department that the bombing "could not have been preventable at the tactical level.".
American Porn Star Whitney Wright Sparks Fury With Trip To Afghanistan (Radio Free Europe)
Radio Free Europe [3/5/2025 4:14 PM, Abubakar Siddique, 235K]
Afghanistan’s Islamist Taliban rulers have banned education and most jobs for Afghan women, who are also barred from parks, gyms, and bathhouses.

They are not supposed to leave their houses without a male guardian and live under draconian Taliban morality laws.

With such constraints, Afghan women are furious after photos and videos emerged of an American porn actor visiting their country.

While the Taliban has not acknowledged the visit, adult film star Whitney Wright posted photos of her visit to an Afghan tourist landmark on her Instagram account.

"It is fundamentally hypocritical," said Wazhma Tokhi, an Afghan women’s rights and education activist.

"Afghan women are imprisoned in their own homeland, while foreign visitors -- no matter their background -- are treated with hospitality," she added.

In recent years, Wright has visited the predominantly Muslim nations of Iran, Iraq, Syria, and Lebanon.

RFE/RL’s Radio Azadi couldn’t reach the Taliban or Wright for comment.

The U.S. State Department currently advises Americans to "not travel to Afghanistan for any reason" because "multiple terrorist groups are active in Afghanistan and US citizens are targets of kidnapping and hostage-taking."

Wright would require a visa as a US citizen, although the Taliban’s unrecognized government does not control the Afghan Embassy or consulates in the United States.

The Taliban has been keen on wooing foreign tourists to boost its international image and showcase the significant drop in violence in the country since it returned to power in August 2021.

Some Afghan women have said the Taliban is using female tourists to cultivate a positive image and highlight how safe the country is even for foreign women.

"This freedom is only for foreigners, not for Afghan women who are deprived of their most basic rights," Nasima Bidargar, an Afghan women’s rights activist, told RFE/RL’s Radio Azadi.

‘Gender Apartheid’ In Afghanistan

After returning to power in August 2021, the Taliban immediately banned teenage girls from school.It closed the doors of universities and other seats of higher learning to women in December 2022. The extremist group has also banned women from working for international NGOs and other sectors.

Even public parks exclusively reserved for women and restaurants and cafes owned or frequented by women have been shut down by the Taliban regime.

In August 2024, the Taliban enacted a new morality law specifically targeting women by requiring them to be accompanied by a male chaperone in public while covering their faces. It also banned women from singing or even raising their voices in public.

Senior United Nations officials and Afghan female activists have termed the Taliban’s treatment of Afghan women as a "gender apartheid."

In January, the International Criminal Court requested arrest warrants for the Taliban’s supreme leader, Mullah Haibatullah Akhundzada, and the Taliban’s Chief Justice Abdul Hakim Haqqani for bearing "criminal responsibility for the crime against humanity of persecution on gender grounds."

Dressed in a black veil, Wright posted a video on Facebook of her walking in the snow near Band-e Amir. The famed crystal-blue lakes and soaring cliffs are one of the most popular national parks in Afghanistan’s central province of Bamiyan. In August 2023, the Taliban banned Afghan women from the park.

"As an Afghan woman, this situation is harrowing for me," a female resident of Bamiyan told Radio Azadi.
Airlines face overflight payment risks as planes divert over Afghanistan (Reuters)
Reuters [3/6/2025 4:47 AM, Charlotte Greenfield, Federico Maccioni, Joanna Plucinska and Lisa Barrington, 5.2M]
Airlines are turning to a network of third parties to pay fees to Afghan authorities as more planes use the country’s airspace, increasing the risk of legal disputes and money laundering, according to pilots, aviation executives and lawyers.

In the last year more airlines have started flying over Afghanistan as conflict in the Middle East widened and as aviation regulators softened their stance on using Afghan airspace.

The Taliban says publicly that this has led to a surge in overflight payments - fees that countries typically charge airlines for navigation services in their airspace.

However, the process of making these payments to the Taliban-run aviation authorities is complicated by the freezing of Afghanistan’s government bank accounts overseas and Western sanctions on Taliban leaders.

The challenges airlines face making overflight payments to Afghanistan, including a reliance on intermediaries and a lack of invoices, are detailed here for the first time.

Before the Taliban came to power in 2021, the International Air Transport Association industry group collected overflight charges on behalf of Afghanistan’s aviation authority.

IATA told Reuters that it ceased this service in September 2021, leaving millions of dollars in charges collected for the previous Afghan government frozen in its accounts.

Airlines and private jet operators have instead turned to third-party intermediaries, known as trip support firms, to process payments to the Afghanistan Civil Aviation Authority, according to six people familiar with the process, including pilots, airline officials, and third-party payment firms.

Some third-party permit specialists use additional intermediaries - primarily based in the United Arab Emirates - to facilitate payments to the ACAA.

This has added to the complexity of making payments to Afghanistan, and, according to lawyers and sanctions experts, could pose legal and financial risks for the industry.

For instance, several Western trip support firms have never received an invoice for overflight fees from Afghan authorities, making it near-impossible to make payments, said Jon Braid, who owns Jet Team, a British-based trip support company.

"The biggest difficulty is basically finding a way to pay the bills ... no one sent us a bill yet," Braid said.

The Taliban did not respond to a request for comment.

According to flight tracking data, major airlines which have started using Afghan airspace over the last year include Lufthansa (LHAG.DE), Air Baltic, TUI (TUI1n.DE), KLM (AIRF.PA), British Airways (ICAG.L), Singapore Airlines (SIAL.SI), China Airlines (2610.TW), EVA Air (2618.TW), Air India [RIC:RIC:AIRID.UL] and Vietnam Airlines.

In response to Reuters questions, a Lufthansa spokesperson said the airline was in full compliance with relevant sanctions, declining to comment further on its payments to Afghanistan.

The other airlines declined to comment or did not respond to questions on how they pay Afghan overflight fees.

Reuters found no indication of any sanctions breaches or wrongdoing by airlines or financial intermediaries. The U.S. Treasury in 2022 provided expanded authorisation, including for air navigation services, to allow financial transactions with Afghan institutions, including those run by the Taliban.

FINANCIAL RISKS

Afghanistan charges a flat $700 fee to transit its airspace. According to FlightRadar24 data, it should have made close to $6 million each month in October, November and December, based on the number of overflights.

Finding ways to pay Afghan aviation authorities has increased the risk of illicit financial flows and raises the possibility of legal disputes if payments are not completed or fail to reach the intended recipient, three lawyers and sanctions specialists told Reuters.

Industry sources say countries can sometimes lack the administrative resources to invoice and collect payments, despite issuing permits.

Reuters contacted more than a dozen financial aviation intermediaries in the UAE, a main hub for the industry.

Some said they were helping private jets and commercial airlines get permits for Afghanistan but they declined to be named or reveal the identity of their clients and to detail how or whether payments are made.

One large company that does arrange permits told Reuters it can take six months to a year for Afghanistan’s aviation authority to send invoices to airlines, meaning they can rack up large outstanding bills.

Others said they chose not to arrange overflight permits to avoid any banking or legal complications.

Last year the UAE was dropped from a list of countries at high risk of illicit money flows, compiled by the Financial Action Task Force, a global watchdog. However, the European Union still lists it as a high-risk country.

"Since its removal from the FATF grey list, the UAE has further strengthened its regulatory framework, ensuring strict oversight across all sectors," a spokesperson for the UAE government told Reuters.

Reuters asked the Taliban how much it had made in overflight fees to date and did not receive a response.
Family of detained British couple pleads with Taliban for phone call (The Telegraph)
The Telegraph [3/5/2025 6:00 PM, Akhtar Makoii, 126906K]
The family of an elderly British couple being held captive in Afghanistan has pleaded with the Taliban to allow them a phone call so that they know they have not been abandoned.

Peter Reynolds, 79, and his 75-year-old wife Barbie were returning to their home in Bamiyan, central Afghanistan, last month when they were detained, ostensibly over accusations that they had fake Afghan passports.

The couple, who have lived in Afghanistan for 18 years and have UK-Afghan citizenship, are being held separately somewhere in Kabul.

Their daughter Sarah Entwistle told The Telegraph she was increasingly concerned about their well-being, and pleaded with the Taliban to arrange a phone call.

She said: "We have a big family reunion planned for Dad’s upcoming 80th birthday. It will be the first time in 20 years that all 33 of us have been together in the same place – our parents, their children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. We are desperately hoping the Taliban will release them in time for this.".

The couple were married in Kabul in 1970, before war ravaged the capital. They later set up a company named Rebuild, which provides education and training programmes for government and non-government organisations.

Such is their bond with Afghanistan that when the Taliban took power in 2021, they stayed, even after their house staff and most foreigners had left the country.

Ms Entwistle explained: "Through tears, Dad said:’I could not get on a plane and land in Heathrow, leaving our friends and country in their greatest hour of need.’.

"One time, they thought they were about to be shot as the Taliban were at their gate. They were about to say goodbye on the video call, but we said ‘no, please let us stay with you if this is going to be the end’. Then the soldiers passed by. It was one of the most stressful times we have ever lived through.".

The couple, who have devoted their senior years to Afghanistan’s most vulnerable citizens, now find themselves vulnerable.

Ms Entwistle said: "Both Mum and Dad had phone conversations with my brother on Feb 1 after their arrest in Bamiyan.

"However, three days later, when they were taken to Kabul for the second time, their texts became increasingly distressed before we lost all contact. At first we waited for three weeks to see if the Taliban would release them. We heard nothing from them during that time, and felt it was long enough to wait before informing the world of what had happened.".

Since the couple’s arrest, their home in Bamiyan has been ransacked and their house staff have been interrogated.

Sources within the Taliban told The Telegraph that their detention was not based on any violations of local laws or religious customs, but was a political move by a faction to increase international pressure on the government and Haibatullah Akhundzada, its supreme leader.

The arrests have triggered intense disagreements between Taliban factions in Kabul and Kandahar, with "heated phone calls exchanged".

The interior ministry, responsible for the couple’s detention and potential release, is controlled by the Haqqani network, which is at odds with the establishment in Kandahar and seems to be using the situation it has created to challenge Akhundzada.

Addressing the Taliban, Ms Entwistle said: "We know that there are those of you who want to see justice and peace in Afghanistan.

"We urge you to demonstrate this by releasing mum and dad to return to their home and continue their work. We also ask for proof of their well-being and the opportunity to communicate with them by phone. We don’t know what conditions they are being held in. It is a concern given their age and Dad’s health issues.".

She thanked the British Consulate, adding: "Please continue to do all you can.".

Ms Entwistle said small victories, such as the delivery of Mr Reynolds’ prescription medicine through EU representatives over the weekend, accompanied by the message that the couple’s plight has become world news, offered fragile hope.

She added: "This will be comforting for them to know they are not abandoned and forgotten.".

Fada Mohammad Peykan, a former deputy health minister trained by the couple in 2019, described them as "kind and patient people with excellent behaviour". He said: "I testify that they are good people – they are harmless, and not the kind of people who would commit a crime.".

Ms Entwistle added: "Prior to the Taliban’s leadership in Kabul, mum and dad discovered there was no extra support for children with special educational needs.

"They organised groups where parents and their children with additional education needs could learn together. The testimonials were overwhelmingly positive, and the progress these families made was both remarkable and heart-warming.".

She described her father as "a gentle, compassionate man who is considered a father figure to many people", adding: "He is deeply loved and respected around the world for his wisdom and kindness. Mum is a fun-loving, vibrant visionary with inspirational ideas. She is truly loved by everyone, and spreads joy wherever she goes.".
Pakistan
Pakistan Needs Support Fighting Terrorism. A Happy Trump Could Help. (New York Times)
New York Times [3/5/2025 4:14 PM, Zia ur-Rehman, 831K]
As President Trump delivered a speech to Congress on Tuesday night for the first time since re-entering the White House, one country made a surprising cameo: Pakistan.

Mr. Trump thanked the Pakistani government for its role in capturing a regional Islamic State leader linked to an attack in 2021 at the airport in Kabul, Afghanistan, that killed 13 American service members and dozens of Afghan civilians.

The president’s announcement of the arrest signaled a possible strengthening of counterterrorism ties between Pakistan and the United States, just as the Pakistani government is seeking international support to combat a resurgence of terrorism within the country’s borders.

Pakistan, a nuclear-armed nation of about 250 million people, is navigating a complex web of internal and external pressures. Domestically, armed groups like the Pakistani Taliban in the north and ethnic separatists in the south have dramatically ramped up attacks. At the same time, the country is grappling with deepening economic instability and ongoing political turmoil after the ouster of Prime Minister Imran Khan in 2022.

Outside of Pakistan’s borders, the departure of the United States from Afghanistan in 2021 has altered regional dynamics. Pakistani leaders have increasingly been at odds with the Taliban government in Afghanistan, where militant groups — some aligned with the Taliban and some opposed to them — have a growing foothold. And Pakistan’s expanding alliance with China has strained relations with the United States, which has reduced assistance to Pakistan since the end of the Afghan war.

Mr. Trump’s statement about the detention of what he called a “top terrorist” comes as Pakistan has experienced three suicide bombings in two volatile provinces over just four days.

One of those attacks, on an Islamic seminary in Pakistan long associated with the Afghan Taliban, was believed to have been carried out by the regional Islamic State affiliate, known as ISIS-K. That suggests the group’s wave of assaults targeting Taliban leaders in Afghanistan has now entered Pakistan with the killing of pro-Taliban figures.

Adam Weinstein, deputy director of the Middle East program at the Quincy Institute, a think tank in Washington, said that “a thank-you from President Trump is no small win for Pakistan,” a country seeking recognition for its counterterrorism efforts in the region.

He emphasized, however, that Pakistan’s powerful military seeks more than gratitude. It wants a security partnership that actively targets its enemies, particularly Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, also known as the Pakistani Taliban. Pakistani leaders accuse the Taliban administration in Afghanistan of harboring the group and allowing it to conduct cross-border attacks, allegations that Taliban officials in Kabul deny.

Experts noted that the operation to capture the man linked to the Kabul airport attack in 2021 highlighted ongoing intelligence cooperation between the United States and Pakistan — at least against mutual threats like ISIS-K, a group that poses global security risks.

In a social media statement on Wednesday, Pakistan’s prime minister, Shehbaz Sharif, thanked Mr. Trump for “acknowledging and appreciating” his country’s support in counterterrorism efforts across the region.

U.S. and Pakistani officials said that the United States had provided intelligence to Pakistan that led to the capture of Mohammad Sharifullah, an Afghan national who is a leader of ISIS-K.

Mr. Sharif said that Mr. Sharifullah had been arrested “in a successful operation conducted in the Pakistan-Afghanistan border region.” The prime minister did not say exactly where Mr. Sharifullah had been captured.

On Wednesday, a spokesman for the Taliban administration in Afghanistan, Zabihullah Mujahid, claimed that the arrest served as “proof” of ISIS-K hide-outs on Pakistani soil.

Iftikhar Firdous, editor of The Khorasan Diary, a research organization based in Islamabad that monitors militant groups, said Mr. Sharifullah had been involved in dozens of attacks in Afghanistan since joining ISIS-K in 2016.

He said that Mr. Sharifullah had previously been arrested by the U.S.-backed Ashraf Ghani administration in Kabul but was released when the Taliban freed about 1,700 hard-core militants after taking power in 2021.

A Justice Department news release implicated Mr. Sharifullah in the ISIS-K attack last year in suburban Moscow that killed more than 130 people. Mr. Sharifullah was flown to the United States on Wednesday and charged with violating terrorism statutes.

“The coordination between the C.I.A. and Pakistan’s prime intelligence agency” in arresting Mr. Sharifullah, Mr. Firdous said, “marks yet another instance of a long history of cooperation that both the U.S. and Pakistan will depend on each other, even if it’s not boots on the ground.”

A global terrorism index published by the Institute for Economics and Peace, an international think tank, ranks Pakistan as the country second most affected by terrorism, after Burkina Faso.

Terrorist attacks in Pakistan are at their highest level since 2014. Deaths related to terrorism surged by 45 percent in 2024 over the year before, to 1,081, while attacks more than doubled, from 517 to 1,099.

On Tuesday evening, two suicide bombers associated with a local Pakistani Taliban commander drove vehicles packed with explosives into a military base in the Bannu district in the northwestern province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa before other attackers stormed the compound. At least 18 people were killed, including five soldiers, and dozens were wounded, according to the Pakistani military.

On Monday, a suicide bomber targeted a security forces convoy in Kalat, in the southwestern province of Balochistan, killing a paramilitary soldier and injuring four others.

On Friday, in the suspected ISIS-K suicide attack on the seminary, six worshipers in a mosque there were killed in the Nowshera district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

While the U.S.-Pakistani collaboration in arresting the suspect in the Kabul airport attack raised hopes in Pakistan of further help in combating terrorist groups, it also had political repercussions.

Supporters of Mr. Khan, the prime minister who was ousted after falling out with the military, have hoped that the Trump administration will push for his release from prison. That expectation was heightened after close allies of Mr. Trump made statements supportive of Mr. Khan.

But those hopes may now be diminished after Mr. Trump’s praise of the Pakistani government, which has long been guided behind the scenes by the military, political analysts said.

Pakistan’s military chief “just won another round in his showdown with Imran Khan,” Sadanand Dhume, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, said on social media. The Pakistani Army, he added, “hasn’t lost its uncanny ability to ingratiate itself with whoever is in power in Washington.”
Pakistan hails renewed cooperation with US after Sharifullah arrest (Reuters)
Reuters [3/5/2025 12:10 PM, Asif Shahzad, 126906K]
Pakistan highlighted its counterterrorism cooperation with Washington after the arrest of Mohammad Sharifullah, whom it blames for a 2021 attack on U.S. troops at Kabul airport, in a military operation along the border with Afghanistan.

"We will continue to partner closely with the United States in securing regional peace and stability," Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said on Wednesday, hours after U.S. President Donald Trump thanked the country for the arrest, adding Sharifullah was on his way to the United States.

The United States has charged Sharifullah with helping plan the attack and a hearing was scheduled for him in a federal court in Virginia on Wednesday, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.

The 2021 bombing at Kabul airport killed at least 170 Afghans and 13 U.S. soldiers as they sought to help Americans and Afghans flee in the chaotic aftermath of the Taliban takeover.

The attack was claimed by ISIS-K, the Afghan branch of the Islamic State group.

The U.S. Justice Department has charged Sharifullah with "providing and conspiring to provide material support and resources" to ISIS-K.

"He confessed. This was the planner of that bombing," White House national security adviser Mike Waltz said in an interview with Fox News.

Sharifullah is in U.S. custody, FBI Director Kash Patel said in a post on X alongside a picture of agents standing in front of the plane that he was due to arrive on.

Pakistan had launched an operation along its Afghan border to capture Sharifullah, whom Sharif described as an Afghan national and top commander for Islamic State Khorasan.

"We thank U.S. President Donald Trump for acknowledging and appreciating Pakistan’s role and support in counterterrorism efforts," Sharif added in another statement.

A spokesman for Afghanistan’s Taliban government said that "the issue is unrelated to Afghanistan" and that the Taliban was also fighting the Islamic State.

Pakistan’s deputy prime minister and foreign minister, Ishaq Dar, had spoken with U.S. national security adviser Mike Waltz on Tuesday, according to a Pakistani foreign office statement.

Dar "reiterated that Pakistan looked forward to building on its longstanding and broad-based relationship with the United States under President Trump and his administration", it said.

SHIFTING TIES

Perennially shifting relations between Islamabad and Washington had been soured by concerns about Pakistan’s alleged support of Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers.

Although Pakistan denies such support, its links with Washington have frayed, while arch-rival India has gained greater influence.

"This is a significant development in that U.S.-Pakistan ties have been in an unsettled state in the nearly four years since the U.S. exit from Afghanistan," said Michael Kugelman, Director of the South Asia Institute at the Wilson Center in Washington D.C.

A Pakistani security official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Sharifullah’s arrest was part of wide-ranging joint counterterrorism efforts.

"Excellent cooperation has been established between Pakistan and President Trump’s new government," the official added.

The U.S. Justice Department said it had caught Sharifullah with the help of the CIA and FBI, without naming Pakistan.

Islamabad is making use of concerns about regional security and counterterrorism "to engage with Trump, who otherwise has no interest in Pakistan", said defence analyst Ayesha Siddiqa.

"For now (the arrest) is just to signal to the United States that Pakistan is there and can be relied upon as a partner."
US-Pakistan capture of ‘top terrorist’ signals deep counterterrorism cooperation despite cold ties, experts say (VOA)
VOA [3/5/2025 9:54 PM, Sarah Zaman, 2913K]
The U.S. Justice Department presented in a federal court in Virginia the alleged mastermind of the August 2021 bombing that killed 13 U.S. troops in Afghanistan.

The justice department said Islamic State Khorasan operative Mohammad Sharifullah, also known as "Jafar," was charged on March 2 with "providing and conspiring to provide material support and resources to a designated foreign terrorist organization resulting in death.".

Sharifullah appeared in an Alexandria, Virginia, court not far from the U.S. capital Wednesday, wearing light blue prison garb and a black face mask, Agence France-Presse reported.

President Donald Trump broke the news of Sharifullah’s capture Tuesday night in a speech to Congress on Capitol Hill.

"Tonight, I am pleased to announce that we have just apprehended the top terrorist responsible for that atrocity," Trump said. "And he is right now on his way here to face the swift sword of American justice.".

The Abbey Gate bombing at the Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul on August 26, 2021 also killed roughly 170 Afghans.

Islamic State Khorasan, or ISIS-K, a U.S. designated foreign terrorist organization linked with the Islamic State terror group, claimed responsibility.

The suicide attack came amid the chaotic troop withdrawal at the end of the 20-year U.S.-led war in Afghanistan.

In this speech, Trump hailed Pakistan for helping with the mission to arrest Sharifullah.

"And I want to thank, especially, the government of Pakistan for helping arrest this monster," the U.S. president said.

Sharifullah’s capture

Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif identified Sharifullah as a "top tier commander" and an Afghan national in a post on X.

"The wanted terrorist was apprehended in a successful operation conducted in Pakistan-Afghan border region," Sharif said, without sharing details.

The justice department said the mission was a multi-agency effort that also involved the CIA and the FBI.

"Sharifullah admitted to helping prepare for the Abbey Gate attack, including scouting a route near the airport for an attacker," the department said.

Sharifullah admitted to recognizing Abdul Rahman al-Logari who detonated the suicide bomb and admitted to playing a role in other attacks in Afghanistan and Russia, the statement added.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told media, Wednesday Sharifullah was captured late last month based on US intelligence and Pakistani officials interrogated him first.

"US law enforcement officers travelled to Pakistan over the weekend, where he again confessed his crimes to the FBI." Leavitt said.

Islamabad-based security affairs analyst Iftikhar Firdous told VOA that Sharifullah, a resident of Kabul, joined ISIS-K in 2016.

"He was arrested in 2019 and then released during the jailbreak of the Afghan Taliban during their takeover of August 15, 2021," said Firdous, founder of The Khorasan Diary, an online platform that monitors militancy.

If convicted, Sharifullah could get a maximum penalty of life imprisonment, the justice department said.

Cooperation with Pakistan

Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif thanked Trump for acknowledging his country’s contribution in a post on the X social media platform.

"We thank U.S. President Donald Trump for acknowledging and appreciating Pakistan’s role and support in counter terrorism efforts across the region," Sharif posted.

"We will continue to partner closely with the United States in securing regional peace and stability," the prime minister added.

The arrest signals Islamabad and Washington are working closely on some security issues despite relations reaching a low since the end of the U.S. war in Afghanistan and the return of the Taliban to power.

"The arrest shows that counter-terrorism cooperation between Pakistan and the US remains robust even though relations are largely confined to a narrow bandwidth focused on counterterrorism," former Pakistani ambassador to Washington, Maleeha Lodhi, told VOA.

"This is the first major development between both countries since the Trump administration took office," Firdous said. "It also exemplifies the dependence of both countries on each other when it comes to counterterrorism cooperation.".

Thaw in ties?

Still, experts warned the joint effort and the public expression of gratitude from the highest offices should not be seen as a thaw in relations.

"One has to be careful not to over read the significance of a single event for Pakistan-US relations, that have been at a crossroads since the US exit from Afghanistan in 2021 and need high-level engagement for a reset," Lodhi said.

Most military aid to Pakistan remains blocked since Trump put a freeze on it during his first term in office.

Many in Washington also blame Pakistan for the losses the United States incurred in the Afghan war.

In congressional hearings soon after the troop withdrawal, U.S. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Mark Milley said Pakistan’s role in providing sanctuary to the Afghan Taliban needed to be "fully examined.".

Antony Blinken, then-Secretary of State, told Congress in a September 2021 hearing that the Biden administration would look into the role Pakistan played during the war.

Nearly two dozen Republican senators also proposed a bill that called for "an assessment of support by state and non-state actors, including the government of Pakistan, for the Taliban between 2001 and 2020.".

Pakistan, a major non-NATO ally has consistently denied allegations of covertly providing support to Taliban while supporting the U.S. in the Afghan war.

"We remain steadfast in our resolve and unwavering commitment to combating terrorism, in all its forms and manifestations," Sharif said in his X post Wednesday.

In a post on X, Washington-based South Asia expert Micheal Kugelman said Pakistan is interested in a new security partnership with the U.S.

"Pakistan wants to leverage U.S. concerns about terrorism in Afghanistan and pitch a renewed security partnership with the U.S.," said Kugelman, director of the South Asia Institute at the Wilson Center, adding "it will be a hard sell to the administration.".

The joint counter-terrorism operation comes just days after the Trump administration released $397 million for a program that supports Pakistan’s use of F-16 fighter jets acquired from Washington. Islamabad is stipulated to use the fighter jets for only for counterterrorism purposes, and not against archrival India.

Afghanistan reacts

Hamdullah Fetrat, Afghan Taliban deputy spokesperson, told Afghan public broadcaster RTA that Sharifullah’s arrest showed ISIS-K militants were present in Pakistan.

"The arrest of a member of ISIS-K in Pakistan confirms that ISIS-K has hideouts and training centers in that region, and this also proves that ISIS-K does not have hideouts in Afghanistan," Fitrat said an audio message in Pashto.

In a briefing last month United Nations counterterrorism officials said ISIS-K posed "a significant threat in Afghanistan, the region and beyond.".

Pakistan accuses Afghanistan of harboring anti-Pakistan militants and taking insufficient action to curb cross-border attacks. Taliban authorities reject the allegation.
Pakistan’s Arrest Of Islamic State Operative Signals Renewed U.S. Cooperation (Radio Free Europe)
Radio Free Europe [3/5/2025 4:00 PM, Abubakar Siddique, 968K]
Pakistan’s arrest of a suspected Islamic State-Khorasan (IS-K) operative and his extradition to the United States signals renewed counterterrorism cooperation between the two countries, experts said.

The United States accuses Mohammad Sharifullah, a suspected senior member of IS-K, the Afghanistan branch of Islamic State, of helping plan the 2021 suicide bombing outside Kabul airport that killed 13 American soldiers and 170 Afghans.

Sharifullah is due to appear in a U.S. federal court on March 5. He has been charged with providing "material support and resources to a designated foreign terrorist organization resulting in death" and faces life in prison.

Pakistan said Sharifullah, also known as Jafar, was arrested recently in the country’s southwestern province of Balochistan, near the border with Afghanistan. It came after Pakistani intelligence reportedly received a tip from the CIA.

Islamabad’s strategic importance has waned since the US and NATO withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021.

But Sharifullah’s capture and extradition is "a very notable development," said Lucas Webber, senior threat intelligence analyst at Tech Against Terrorism, an UN-backed project that monitors extremism online.

Webber said it could point to "signs of more coordination to come between the two countries.".

US President Donald Trump thanked Islamabad "for helping arrest this monster" during his State of the Union address on March 4.

Meanwhile, Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif thanked Trump for recognizing his country’s role in counterterrorism efforts and pledged to "continue to partner closely with the United States in securing regional peace and stability.".

Ihsanullah Tipu Mehsud, news director at the Khorasan Diary, a website tracking militant groups in Afghanistan and Pakistan, said Pakistan’s handover of Sharifullah is a significant boost to relations between Washington and Islamabad.

"It gave Trump something to showcase during an important occasion," he said.

‘Major Event’

Based in Afghanistan, IS-K has carried out deadly attacks against the Taliban, which seized power in 2021.

The extremist group has also staged a series of devastating, high-profile assaults in Russia, Iran, and Tajikistan in recent years.

Webber said Sharifullah’s capture is a "major event in the U.S. fight against IS-K.".

Pakistani officials said Sharifullah is an Afghan citizen, a claim rejected by the Taliban government.

U.S. officials said Sharifullah admitted to being a member of IS-K and to his role in the August 2021 bombing, one of the deadliest attacks of the entire 19-year U.S.-led war in Afghanistan.

Sharifullah also confessed to training the suspected IS-K militants involved in the March 2024 attack on a concert hall outside Moscow that killed around 140 people, according to the Justice Department.

The department said he also played a role in a deadly attack on the Canadian Embassy in Kabul in 2016, which killed 10 guards.

"IS-K is highly multifaceted, expanding its operational cells and networks," said Webber. "It’s a very dynamic, robust, internationally reaching organization and poses a serious threat.".
Pakistani mortar fire injures Afghan journalists covering closure of key border crossing (AP)
AP [3/5/2025 8:13 AM, Staff, 456K]
Shelling from Pakistan injured three Afghan journalists on Wednesday while they were reporting on the closure of a key border crossing, a Taliban official said.

Torkham has been closed since Feb. 21 because of a dispute between the two neighbors. It is vital for trade and travel, but both countries have closed it in the past, most often over deadly shootings and fire. It lies in Pakistan’s northwest and Afghanistan’s east.

Shamshad TV reporter Hedayat Shah Hedayat and two other journalists went to Torkham to cover the ongoing clashes when they were hit by the Pakistani side, the station’s deputy director Mahir Ihsanzai said.

A local official, Qureshi Badloon, confirmed the shootings.

“These journalists were hit and injured by mortar shells fired by Pakistani soldiers,” said Badloon, who works at the Nangarhar Information and Culture Department.

He identified the other journalists as Pajhwok Afghan News cameraman Wali Mohammad Shinwari and Hurriyat Radio journalist Azizul Hassan Nomani.

Shinwari and Nomani were in serious condition and taken to Nangarhar Regional Hospital.

There was no immediate comment from the Pakistani government.
Pakistanis mourn 18 killed in a suicide bombing at an army base (AP)
AP [3/5/2025 8:38 AM, Riaz Khan, 456K]
A city in northwestern Pakistan observed a day of mourning on Wednesday, a day after a twin suicide bombing targeted a military base and killed 18 people, including five soldiers.

A militant group linked with the Pakistani Taliban claimed responsibility for the bombing in Bannu, which also left 42 wounded, some critically. Militants have targeted the city in the past.

The bombers blew themselves up to breach the base’s surrounding wall. At the time, most residents were breaking their daylong fast during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan or praying at a nearby mosque.

The blasts ripped off roofs and severely damaged the mosque. Other attackers stormed the base and set off a firefight with troops.

An army statement on Wednesday said five soldiers and 16 militants were killed.

Gunshots could be heard early Wednesday as security forces combed through the area, looking for militants. At the scene, a mechanical digger cleared rubble where homes had stood. Debris-covered prayer mats lay crumpled at the mosque.

Joint funeral prayers were held for the victims at a sports complex.

“All education institutions are closed,” Bannu community elder Alam Khan said. “Most shops are also shut. Rescue workers have completed their operation by recovering the bodies of three deceased worshippers who were trapped under the collapsed roof of the mosque.”

Bannu is in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province that borders Afghanistan. Several armed groups are active there. A group affiliated with the Pakistani Taliban, Jaish Al-Fursan, has claimed responsibility for the attack.

Militants have targeted Bannu several times. Last November, a suicide car bomb killed 12 troops and wounded several others at a security post. In July, a suicide bomber detonated his explosives-laden vehicle and other militants opened fire near the outer wall of the military facility.

Also Wednesday, a bomb struck a shop in Nal — in the district of Khuzdar in southwestern Balochistan province — and killed three people and wounded five, according to Deputy Commissioner Iqbal Dashti. People from Sindh and Punjab provinces who have moved to Balochistan often shop there.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility. Suspicion is likely to fall on Baloch separatists seeking independence from the central government in Islamabad. They have previously targeted people from elsewhere in Pakistan in a drive to expel outsiders.

Also Wednesday, a drive-by shooting killed intelligence official Shahid Anwar as he drove to work in the northwestern city of Peshawar’s Uzair Town neighborhood. The attacker, riding a motorcycle, fled the scene, police officer Adnan Khan said.
India
Modi Positions India as Ally in Trump’s Illegal-Immigration Fight (Wall Street Journal)
Wall Street Journal [3/5/2025 8:58 AM, Shan Li, Aakash Hassan, and Tripti Lahiri, 810K]
During a visit to Washington last month, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi made one point crystal-clear: He would gladly take back illegal Indian migrants in the U.S.

“Anybody who enters another country illegally, they have absolutely no right to be in that country,” Modi said during a joint press conference with President Trump. When it comes to illegal immigration, he added, India and the U.S. “have always been of the same opinion.”

It is the kind of conciliatory rhetoric that reflects New Delhi’s careful approach to the new Trump administration. By conceding to Trump’s high-profile deportation campaign, India’s primary goal is to preserve its deepening relationship with the U.S., especially in vital areas such as trade and defense.

Another key goal: safeguarding legal paths for Indians to study and work in the U.S., particularly by way of the H-1B visas for high-skilled migrants that are overwhelmingly taken up by Indian citizens.

“At a time when millions of Indians are globe-trotting as tourists, students and professionals, we do not want Indians to be seen as a source of illegal immigration,” said an Indian Foreign Ministry official. “We play by rules, we want to be part of the legal club and we should be recognized that way.”

Three military deportation flights arrived in India last month alone. Deportees on the three flights were shackled, sparking a public backlash in India. Some opposition lawmakers called on India to follow Colombia’s example and send planes to collect its citizens.

Before Trump took office, U.S. authorities last year carried out deportations to India every few months by commercial airlines or chartered flights.

A decade ago, Indians were hardly seen at U.S. borders. They still make up only about 2% of the estimated 11 million unauthorized immigrants in the U.S., according to Department of Homeland Security data.

But in the past four years, Indian citizens became the largest group outside of Latin Americans caught while trying to enter the U.S.

Among those deported was Jasnoor Singh, who spent nine months traveling by plane, bus and on foot through 17 countries to reach the U.S.

Last June, Jasnoor, 19, began the journey by flying to Ghana in West Africa and then Suriname in South America. From there, he traversed through Guyana, Brazil, Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, Panama, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Guatemala and Honduras.

The cost: $50,000 that his grandfather planned to raise by selling ancestral land.

The arduous path to the U.S. was worth it, Singh said, because there are few economic prospects in his home in Punjab, a northern state that is India’s agricultural heartland. He was accepted into a university to study business after graduating from high school. But even with a degree, his only option is working at a shop as a clerk.

“Even if I go to college, there are no jobs, no prospects,” he said.

He hoped his journey would lead him to the “amazing” life that his U.S.-born cousins in California often told him about.

Political analysts said that India wants to preserve the legal paths to immigration that have sent millions of well-educated Indians to the U.S. over the decades—a vital safety valve for an economy that hasn’t created enough jobs. More than 70% of the H-1B visas the U.S. issues for specialty workers go to India-born applicants year after year, while India has also become the largest source of foreign students in the U.S.

India-born CEOs of top tech companies, such as Microsoft’s Satya Nadella and Google’s Sundar Pichai, are a point of pride for India. In December, a public rift opened up between members of the U.S. administration who back the H-1B visa, such as Tesla CEO Elon Musk, and Trump supporters who believe the visa deprives Americans of jobs.

“India does a great job with legal immigration, so you don’t want the illegal one messing it up,” said Mukesh Aghi, president of the U.S.-India Strategic Partnership Forum, ahead of Modi’s visit. India discussed illegal immigration with the Trump administration even before the inauguration, he said.

At last month’s meeting, Modi and Trump pledged to streamline legal migration for workers and students, while combating illegal immigration and trafficking.

Nearly 18,000 Indians in the U.S. outside of immigration detention are on final removal orders, according to a document from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement made public by Fox News, making them subject to deportation. India said in February it is presently working through a list of nearly 500 individuals flagged for removal by the U.S.

Political experts said that India is also eager to stop illegal migration to the U.S. because it spoils the image of a rapidly booming economy that produces highly skilled professionals.

Job creation and pay for ordinary people have stagnated in India. Many migrants come from families who own vast swaths of land, but who find opportunities are slim outside of farming. High school and college graduates face particularly high unemployment rates.

“They can’t really join the modern economy in India, but they have aspirations,” said Devesh Kapur, a professor at the School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University and co-author of a new research paper on illegal Indian migration.

Daler Singh, a 37-year-old truck driver, mortgaged his land, sold his wife’s jewelry and borrowed money from relatives to pay a smuggler over $60,000 to help navigate a route that started last August in Dubai.

Several friends who crossed the U.S. border successfully now earn $4,500 a month as truck drivers, compared with $170 a month for a similar job in Amritsar. “In a few years, I would have earned back the money,” he said. Singh arrived in the U.S. on Jan. 15 and was detained. He was deported last month.

Emigration is so common in Punjab that it is customary for families to place a statue or water tank in a fanciful shape—like an eagle, an airplane, a kangaroo or soccer ball—on their roof to brag about kin overseas. An eagle or a kangaroo can mean a family has relatives in the U.S. or Australia, respectively. Towns are flooded with ads hawking visa services to the U.S., the U.K. and Canada.

U.S. Border Patrol data indicates that trafficking rings have taken note of more liberal visa policies in Canada, which made a big push to attract Indian foreign students in recent years. Indians accounted for more than 14,000 apprehensions by the U.S. Border Patrol on the Canadian border in the year ended Sept. 30, about 60% of the total number held.

Mangal Singh, the 70-year-old grandfather of the teenager Jasnoor, said he wished for his grandson a future in a country where he has the chance to land a well-paying job.

“The problem with the entire India is that there are no jobs,” he said. “So what is the point of actually studying for many, many years when you cannot get a better life here?”

Jasnoor Singh entered Mexico in January, and then walked across the Tijuana border on Jan. 21, a day after Trump took office. He was detained by border police and taken to a detention center in San Diego.

“I was very happy and relieved,” Jasnoor Singh said. “My dream was coming true.”

He initially hoped he could apply for asylum and be released on bail in the U.S. But soon it became clear that he would be deported. He landed in Amritsar on Feb. 16.

The teenager hasn’t given up on his American dream. His grandfather said they may have to wait until Trump leaves office.

“Then we will be back on track and headed to the U.S.,” he said.
India Sees US Relations at ‘Best’ Despite Looming Tariff Threat (Bloomberg)
Bloomberg [3/6/2025 1:20 AM, Sudhi Ranjan Sen and Lucy White, 5.5M]
India’s top diplomat said relations with the US are on firm footing in comments that come as New Delhi looks to lower tariffs on imports to fend off President Donald Trump’s threatened reciprocal levies that could upend bilateral and global trade.

“Our relations with the US are probably the best they have been,” India’s External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar said Wednesday at Chatham House — a London-based independent policy institute.

India’s trade minister is holding conversations with his US counterparts, the minister said. Trump told a joint session of the US Congress on Wednesday that many nations, including India, set tariff rates too high and reiterated they will be hit by reciprocal levies that take effect from April 2.

Jaishankar said Trump’s priorities such as keeping global energy prices stable worked in favor of India. “I think that offers a lot of possibilities.”

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi was one of the first world leaders to meet Trump after he returned to the White House. During Modi’s visit in February, the two sides agreed to negotiate the first tranche of a multi-sector trade deal by the fall of this year.

Modi’s trip followed years of deepening ties between the US and India, which Washington has been cultivating as a regional counterweight against a more assertive China.

To lessen a possible blow from Trump’s reciprocal levies, officials in New Delhi have also been discussing reducing duties for automobiles, some agricultural products, chemicals, critical pharmaceuticals, as well as certain medical devices and electronics, Bloomberg reported last week citing people familiar with the matter.

Jaishankar highlighted the South Asian nation’s role in mediating between Russia and Ukraine behind closed doors. As the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in southeastern Ukraine was under attack, India passed along messages between the two capitals, the minister said.
India condemns security breach as protester disrupts foreign minister’s London visit (Reuters)
Reuters [3/6/2025 3:48 AM, Shivam Patel, 5.2M]
India on Thursday condemned a security breach during its foreign minister’s visit to London when a protester broke through a police cordon, stood in front of the minister’s car and tore the Indian flag before being taken away.

India’s foreign ministry said it expects Britain to live up to "diplomatic obligations" and called the group of protesters a "small group of separatists and extremists".

Videos posted on social media showed a handful of protesters waving flags of a Sikh separatist movement called Khalistan and shouting slogans outside think tank Chatham House in London on Wednesday where Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar was speaking.

A member from the group broke away from the police cordon as Jaishankar was leaving the venue and was taken away by police officers within seconds.

Jaishankar is on a six-day trip to the United Kingdom and Ireland.

"We deplore the misuse of democratic freedoms by such elements. We expect the host government in such cases to fully live up to their diplomatic obligations," Randhir Jaiswal, the spokesperson for the Indian foreign ministry, said in a statement.

Britain’s foreign office did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Reuters.

The Khalistan movement advocates a separate Sikh homeland carved out of Hindu-majority India and is considered a security threat by the Indian government. It has been a flashpoint in an increasingly tense relationship between Canada and India.

In April 2023, India asked Britain for increased monitoring of UK-based supporters of the Khalistan movement after protesters carrying "Khalistan" banners last month detached the Indian flag from the diplomatic mission’s building.
India opposition unites against Modi’s plan to redefine constituencies (Reuters)
Reuters [3/5/2025 7:21 AM, Rupam Jain and Hritam Mukherjee, 41523K]
India’s opposition party politicians in the southern states met on Wednesday to protest plans by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government to redraw constituencies based on the 2011 census, on concerns the northern states would dominate in parliament.

The protest, led by M.K. Stalin, chief minister of the wealthy, less populated Tamil Nadu state, has been backed by the national Congress party and over a dozen others in five southern states, which are enjoying faster economic growth than northern counterparts while keeping a lid on population growth.

Stalin tabled a resolution to ensure that the so-called delimitation exercise, or redrawing of boundaries, be based on 1971 population levels and retained till 2056 to ensure that densely populated northern states taper population growth.

The 1971 census paved the way for the last redrawing of such boundaries and created 543 seats in parliament. Now, leaders from the south want the status quo retained, until a formula providing equal representation is drawn up.

"We are not against delimitation and yet it shouldn’t be a punishment for those who are successful in controlling population," said Sarvanan Annadurai, spokesperson of Stalin’s DMK party.

The resolution also sought a constitutional amendment to guarantee proportional representation for all states if the number of MPs increases.

"The voice of southern states cannot be stifled by the Modi government in parliament," he said, adding that over 15 parties have offered their support and push-back would continue.

Southern states have accused Modi’s government of discriminatory practices in the past, including in federal fund distribution, unfair allotment of grants, denial of permission for irrigation projects and for special funds for drought relief.

According to the constitution, India is supposed to conduct delimitation exercises after every national census, which is done every decade.

But India missed the 2021 census due to the pandemic, and despite repeated demands, the Modi government has yet to begin the task of counting the estimated 1.4 billion population.

The 2011 census had put the national population at 1.21 billion, but the number of elective seats in parliament remains at 543 - unchanged since the 1970s. Yet, a new parliament building inaugurated last year allows for 888 seats.

Home Minister Amit Shah last week maintained that southern states would not suffer due to the delimitation efforts. His ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) rejected Stalin’s demands and accused the latter of trying to create a north-south divide.

The BJP is in power in most populous state Uttar Pradesh while its ally controls neighbouring Bihar. The two states are among the country’s poorest and comprise about 26% of India’s 1.4 billion population, the highest in the world.
New Delhi vows to flatten monster garbage pile in Indian capital (Agence France-Presse)
Agence France-Presse [3/5/2025 1:48 AM, Staff, 43K]
India’s capital New Delhi has vowed to clear one of its largest trash piles by next year as part of a plan to eradicate unsightly landfills dotting the megacity’s skyline.

Around 32 million people live in greater Delhi, where a slipshod approach to waste management has left numerous landfills with garbage piled up to 60 metres (200 feet) high and visible from miles away.

Regular spot fires during the capital’s long and intense summer see the trash mounds turn into toxic conflagrations spilling dangerous chemical fumes into nearby neighbourhoods.

Delhi environment minister Manjinder Singh Sirsa told reporters Tuesday that work was underway to process and dispose of waste at one of the city’s biggest trash piles.

By the end of the year, waste at the Bhalswa dump on the city’s northern outskirts "will be reduced to a point where it will no longer be visible" from a distance, he said.

"Our ultimate aim is to ensure that no new garbage mountains are formed," he added.

Local neighbourhoods around the Bhalswa landfill are home to thousands of Delhi’s poorest residents who have migrated from grinding rural poverty in search of work.

Sirsa said the Bhalswa site would be cleared by March next year with similar remediation work to follow at Delhi’s other two main garbage dumps.

According to last reported estimates from 2023, Delhi generates more than 11,000 tonnes of solid waste each day, according to official estimates in 2023.

More than four million tonnes of waste sit at the Bhalswa dump according to official estimates.

Untreated domestic waste burns in the landfills during the hot summer months, producing excess methane which further pollutes India’s already smog-choked urban centres.
Elusive peace: In India’s Manipur, bombs and mortars are civilian weapons (Al Jazeera)
Al Jazeera [3/5/2025 4:14 PM, Tanushree Pandey, 18.2M]
Every time 13-year-old Selina Mairembam tries to write or eat with her right hand, the pain and the scars remind her of the day she was nearly killed by a bomb.

She was knocked out instantly. When she woke up, there was blood everywhere. For a moment, she thought she was dead.

Talkative once, Selina now barely speaks. Holding out the jagged pieces of bomb shrapnel that tore through her arm, she whispers to me, “I’m always scared. I don’t want to be scared.”

Selina is the great-granddaughter of Mairembam Koireng Singh, the first chief minister of the northeastern Indian state of Manipur. On September 7, 2024, while she was helping a priest arrange a ritual for her grand-aunt’s death ceremony, a “big rocket” came out of nowhere. She remembers no flash, only the deafening sound – so loud she thought her ears had been blown off.

The improvised bomb struck the house of the former chief minister in the heart of Moirang town, near Loktak Lake, the largest freshwater lake in northeast India.

Selina survived with severe injuries, but the missile killed 72-year-old RK Rabei, a priest and event manager. His bloodied body was found by his daughter-in-law and granddaughter. Four-year-old Gianna Rajkumari often wakes up at night, screaming – haunted by the image of her grandfather’s mutilated body.

Palmei Houjellu, Gianna’s mother, was nine months pregnant at the time. The 35-year-old from Moirang had gone with her daughter to attend the ritual organised by her father-in-law.

Just minutes before the attack, Houjellu and Gianna had stepped out for a short five-minute trip home to fetch a few things for the ceremony. That saved them.

A day later, Houjellu gave birth to a baby boy. But even as she cradles new life, death still lingers in their home.

“My daughter saw her grandfather’s bloodied body,” she said. “She still wakes up screaming at night. She keeps asking, ‘Who killed Nana? Why?’ And I have no answer for her.”

“Did she deserve this?”

Hovjellu belongs to the Meitei community, the largest ethnic group in Manipur, a state devastated by a deadly ethnic conflict over the past two years. The violence was sparked by a dispute over an affirmative action measure. On April 14, 2023, the Manipur High Court directed the state government to recommend Scheduled Tribe status for the Meitei community – a decision later criticised by the Supreme Court.

In response, tribal communities that already had these benefits organised protest rallies on May 3, while the Meitei community held counter-rallies and counter-blockades. Clashes soon erupted between Kuki and Meitei groups near the border of Churachandpur and Bishnupur districts, followed by widespread arson and destruction. The conflict has never fully subsided – more than 260 people have been killed, and more than 65,000 have been displaced.

Amid growing public pressure and the threat of a vote of no confidence from the opposition Congress party in the state legislature, Chief Minister N Biren Singh – a footballer-turned-politician who is Meitei and has been accused of inflaming tensions in the state – resigned in February.

Like the bomb that struck Hovjellu’s father-in-law, a wide range of mortars, grenades, homemade rockets, and thousands of weapons with lakhs of rounds of ammunition have landed in the hands of warring communities over the past 20 months.

Security forces have managed to prevent new outbreaks of violence in recent weeks, and public anger has claimed Singh’s political scalp. But with hamlet after hamlet armed and the state’s credibility at an all-time low, military experts and local communities say Manipur is a tinderbox that could explode at any time, again.

‘Never happened before’

A senior security official who has witnessed the Manipur conflict since it first erupted in 2023 told Al Jazeera on the condition of anonymity:

“Within no time, right before our eyes, we saw a state slipping into an unprecedented conflict. We felt helpless because these are our own people.”

The official called it a failure of the state – marked by a lack of will and intent to act decisively.

“Two ethnic groups are virtually at war, and security forces are caught in the middle, trying to defuse tensions as intermediaries. Our priority has always been to prevent violence and maintain peace on the ground. But had the state taken a more decisive approach early on, so many weapons would not have fallen into civilian hands, and mass displacement could have been avoided.”

Major Digvijay Singh Rawat, another decorated Indian soldier belonging to the 21st Battalion of The Parachute Regiment (Special Forces), is the recipient of the Kirti Chakra – an award given for extraordinary courage and valour – for his time with the military in Manipur during the current conflict.

He corroborated the senior official’s account, saying he has never witnessed anything like what he has seen in Manipur. “Even the military avoids using mortar bombs in villages with civilians – even when armed rebels might be hiding there. It is a grave human rights violation [to use such weapons in civilian areas],” he said. “But in Manipur, we saw an unprecedented use of mortars, bombs, and all kinds of improvised explosives by civilians – powered by underground groups on both sides – without any fear.”

“This has never happened before in any part of the country – civilians launching this kind of war against each other.”

The bombs often didn’t kill as many people as bullets have, only because civilians did not know how to fire them with precision, he says. “But bombs flying in broad daylight did their job – they created grave fear,” Rawat says.

According to the state government, more than 6,000 arms, 600,000 rounds of ammunition, and more than 28,000 bombs and explosives – including 51mm mortars, 2-inch mortars, hand grenades, stun grenades, tear gas shells, picket grenades, and so on – were looted from police stations and state armouries in Imphal and the hills since the violence erupted.

So far, only 2,500 weapons, fewer than 3,000 explosives, and less than 40,000 rounds of ammunition have been recovered, including those surrendered in the past week. Most of these are single-barrel and double-barrel firearms, country-made weapons, and .303 rifles – not the more sophisticated weapons like AKs and INSAS rifles that were stolen. Security officials estimate that more than 3,000 looted weapons and hundreds of thousands of ammunition rounds still remain unaccounted for.

Many of the weapons recovered and surrendered since the conflict began are far more advanced than those looted from state armouries. These include M4s, M16s, sniper rifles, machineguns, and handguns smuggled from Myanmar and Bangladesh. However, neither side has surrendered the more sophisticated weapons they are known to possess.

Besides this, both sides also improvised their own local weapons and heavy arms. Kuki-Zo fighters have been found using improvised rockets made from galvanised iron and metal pipes, known as “pumpi”, while Meitei fighters have developed their own makeshift wheeled mortars.

The result: Civilians, armed with looted weapons and trained by fighter groups, have launched mortar and bomb attacks on each other. Villages were set on fire overnight. The bodies of civilians – including charred women, beheaded men, and children with their skulls crushed – lay scattered.

Al Jazeera has accessed videos of men – both Meitei and Kuki – cheering as they fired mortars and tested homemade rockets at each other. Security officials have verified the authenticity of these videos. Al Jazeera has also confirmed that many young Meitei and Kuki civilians died after their bombs and rockets exploded while they were launching them because they did not know how to fire them properly. Even in India’s northeast, which has a long history of ethnic violence, this – citizens using heavy arms against each other – is a first.

And no one has been spared.

‘This war was not worth it’

42-year-old LS Mangboi Lhungdim, a Kuki singer-songwriter from the town of Churachandpur, had never held a gun before the conflict broke out. Amid the fighting, he became a village volunteer and helped to transport essential supplies to the front line.

In August 2023, he left for the “frontline” (the unofficial border within the state where Meiteis and Kukis fought each other) near Khosabung village, between Churchandanpur and Bishnupur districts, about 25km (16 miles) from his home, on one such assignment. He never came back.

Lhungdim died at three in the morning on 31 August while being evacuated from Khosabung. Seanboi Vaiphei, the deputy superintendent of the Churachandpur district hospital, told us they did not have adequate resources to treat him in Churachandpur. So with the help of some civil society organisations, he was rushed to Aizawl, the capital of the neighbouring state of Mizoram, a 16-hour drive from the hill district. Tertiary care hospitals in Meitei-majority Imphal have been inaccessible for Kukis.

“He was hit by a mortar bomb. When we reached the hospital, my kids and I could not even recognise his face. My kids had to see his exploded body,” said Neimnilhing Lhungdim, his wife.

“This war was not worth it.”

Autopsies of victims accessed by Al Jazeera revealed injuries that experts say are clear indicators of the heavy weaponry being used in the conflict: deep splinter wounds with metal fragments embedded 5-6cm inside soft tissue; blast injuries causing complete loss of limbs; skulls shattered beyond recognition; internal bleeding in multiple organs, a sign of shockwave damage from explosions.

A senior official at a leading medical institute in Imphal confirmed that early in the conflict, staff started noticing “a shift in the type of bullet injuries” as they received “bodies with sniper and splinter wounds – used for shooting and killing from a much greater distance”.

On the other side of the border, a hospital official in Churachandpur, speaking on condition of anonymity, revealed that the medical facility had received bodies “with severe splinter injuries from bombs or mortars – something we had never encountered before”. Both officials requested anonymity because they are not authorised to speak to the media.

What’s worse, there’s little hope that victims will see justice. Many police complaints, seen by Al Jazeera, list the accused as “Kuki militants” or “Majority Meitei community and Arambai Tenggol” – a Meitei armed militia that has been accused of major excesses during the conflict – which the police say is as good as “unknown persons”.

This story of death by bombs spans Manipur.

Neikim, 55, lost her oldest son, Richard Hemkholun, to the conflict.

Richard, a political science graduate from the Indira Gandhi National Tribal University in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh, died on the same day as LS Mangboi while serving as a village volunteer guarding Khoirentak Khunou village in Churachandpur district. His mother told us, “We had no other option but to make our son a village volunteer – not to kill, but to protect our people. The other side did the same.”

Today, after losing the only earning member of the family, Neikim works as a contractual labourer on a small piece of land with her husband in Churachandpur, who cannot walk properly, earning less than a dollar per day.

“I wish this war had never started. I wish the government had done something – anything,” Neikim said, as she wiped the dirt off her son’s college degree and the guitar he used to play.

‘No one won this war’

Amid this devastation, an audio tape leaked last August prompted a political uproar. In it, a voice that is purportedly that of Singh, the chief minister at the time, boasts about using bombs and asks security officials to use explosives covertly.

Singh, who belongs to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which rules both federally and in Manipur, has insisted that the tape is doctored, though an analysis by Truth Labs Forensic Services, a private nonprofit, said that comparisons with samples of Singh’s public speeches showed that there was a 93 percent match.

If the tape proves to be accurate, it would be a damning indictment of the complicity of Singh’s government in driving the conflict, experts say.

Al Jazeera sought a response from Sharda Devi, a BJP leader from Manipur, about the Truth Labs report on the tape, but she did not reply.

Meanwhile, following Singh’s resignation, the Modi government has imposed federal rule over the state of Manipur. Since then, armed fighters from both the Meitei and Kuki-Zo sides have surrendered some of their weapons, but most of them still remain unaccounted for. A 14-day ultimatum by the governor to voluntarily surrender weapons ends on March 6.

The fighters on both sides have pleaded for immunity from prosecution. But the state itself faces a grim reality: In most cases, there’s no record of who committed which crime. Was it a civilian-turned-armed village volunteer, an armed militia member, or a rebel from an underground group?

For families like Houjellu’s and Neimnilhing’s, the government’s steps towards establishing peace are too little, too late.

A frail 63-year-old Paulianthang Vaiphei, father of Pausondam Vaiphei – the third bombing death in Churachandpur – struggles to speak, his voice heavy with grief after losing his only son. Pausondam, just 29 years old, was a member of the Kangvai village council.

According to the First Information Report (FIR) filed at Churachandpur police station, he was killed in heavy shelling near Kangathei village on August 31.

“What stopped the government from acting sooner?” Paulianthang asks, his voice breaking. “If they had intended to really de-weaponise the state from day one, maybe we wouldn’t have seen this scale of violence and mass displacement. No one won this war. Only Manipur lost – its people, its peace, its future.”
Does India Have a Diplomatic Role in Ukraine? (Foreign Policy)
Foreign Policy [3/5/2025 4:43 PM, Michael Kugelman, 1.4M]
The highlights this week: New Delhi could find a diplomatic opportunity as U.S.-Ukraine relations falter, new data shows an uptick in India’s GDP growth, and student leaders in Bangladesh launch a new political party.

India’s Ukraine Opportunity

Last week’s spat between U.S. President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in the Oval Office, along with Trump’s subsequent suspension of military aid to Ukraine, may have been a setback for Kyiv, but New Delhi could find a diplomatic opportunity.

India, because of the nature of its diplomatic partnerships, is one of the few countries that is currently well positioned—in principle—to serve as a mediator in Russia’s war in Ukraine. It has warm ties with the United States and Europe, friendly relations with Ukraine, and, most importantly, a deep and long-standing partnership with Russia.

India has never criticized Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. But New Delhi has a strong interest in the war coming to an end. India’s sluggish economy doesn’t benefit, and the longer the war rages, the higher the risk that Russia will grow more dependent on China, India’s strategic competitor. Moreover, a long conflict could wear down Moscow’s capacity to send weapons to New Delhi.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has repeatedly called for the war to end—a message that he delivered publicly while sitting next to Russian President Vladimir Putin during a regional conference in Uzbekistan in 2022. Modi has also said that he is prepared to help facilitate an end to the war, with a pledge to Zelensky in Kyiv and during a visit to Warsaw last year.

Admittedly, India has compelling reasons not to mediate in Ukraine. It rejects the role of intermediaries in its own conflicts, including its dispute with Pakistan over Kashmir. New Delhi likely wouldn’t want to take on a mediation role unless formally asked, and there may be limited demand: Several European states now appear to be putting together a cease-fire proposal.

India may not want to inject itself into the complex diplomatic dynamic among the United States, Europe, Russia, and Ukraine. Still, India could be helpful in ways that fall short of formal mediation but still bolster peace efforts pursued by the Europeans and others. This can start with Modi using his good offices at upcoming diplomatic engagements.

Modi may meet Putin twice over the next two months. Last December, Modi invited the Russian leader to visit India in early 2025, and a date could be announced soon. Modi also reportedly plans to visit Moscow in early May. Leveraging India’s status as a top buyer of Russian arms and energy, Modi can use both meetings to emphasize to Putin the importance of a settlement.

Modi could then follow up his visit to Moscow with a trip to meet Zelensky in Kyiv, as he did last year. India’s ties with Ukraine are weaker than those with Russia, but Modi’s trip to Kyiv last August was the first such visit by an Indian leader since Ukraine’s independence; he met Zelensky again the next month in New York.

A joint statement after Modi and Zelensky’s meeting in Kyiv spoke of an interest in elevating the relationship from a comprehensive to a strategic partnership. Strengthening ties with Ukraine could help India get Zelensky to take its push for peace more seriously.

Meanwhile, Modi will have opportunities to reinforce his peace pitches to Putin later in the year, when the two leaders will likely both be present at summits for the BRICS group, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, and the G-20. New Delhi can share the outcomes of any discussions between Modi and his Russian and Ukrainian counterparts during its engagements with U.S. and European partners.

Ultimately, Europe or the United States would likely lead from the front on any outside-driven peace effort in Ukraine. But India can still leverage its advantageous diplomatic position to try to move the needle forward, even modestly, on de-escalating a war that it badly wants to end.

What We’re Following

India releases new growth figures. In what will surely be a relief for Indian officials, new data from New Delhi’s National Statistical Office last week showed an uptick in GDP growth. India’s economy grew by 6.2 percent between October and December 2024, compared to 5.6 percent in between July and September, which fell below economists’ projections.

India cites higher consumption demand as a key factor for the increased growth, suggesting that the public isn’t feeling as stressed about inflation as before. India’s chief economic advisor, V. Anantha Nageswaran, has projected that even higher GDP growth (more than 7 percent) is possible in the coming months thanks to strong export performance and increased government spending.

However, the new data brought some bad news, too. Critical sectors, such as manufacturing, continue to struggle; manufacturing grew by 4.3 percent, compared to 12.3 percent during the same period in 2023. The mining, construction, power, and services sectors also saw reductions in growth, while India’s investment-to-GDP ratio sank to its lowest level in three years.

All this suggests that New Delhi may prod the Reserve Bank of India to lower interest rates to spur more private sector growth; the bank resisted such pressure late last year. Such a move would risk more inflation and public hardship, but Modi’s government—buoyed by its string of recent state election wins—might have sufficient political capital to withstand it.

Inflation falls in Pakistan. Officials in Pakistan also received good economic news this week: Data released on March 3 by Islamabad’s statistics bureau show that the annual inflation rate fell to 1.5 percent in February—a nearly 10-year low. The figure, which was lower than the Finance Ministry’s own estimates, marks the culmination of a yearlong decline. Pakistan’s inflation was at 23.1 percent in February 2024.

The decline comes amid wider macroeconomic stabilization in Pakistan, reflected by larger supplies of foreign reserves and increased exports. The country’s economy was at risk of default two years ago, and the shift provides a much-needed political boost to the beleaguered government in Islamabad.

Yet this stabilization is somewhat deceptive: It is largely driven by recent infusions of assistance from the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Pakistan is still hampered by long-standing problems that keep the economy vulnerable, including the lack of a diverse export base, a low tax base, heavy debt, and poorly performing public corporations.

Pakistan, which recently bought a stake in a BRICS-backed development bank (an initiative intended to serve as an alternative to Western economic institutions), has also signaled its desire to reduce long-term reliance on the IMF. The fund has often provided short-term relief to Pakistan’s economy, but it has also insisted on reforms that Islamabad has resisted for political reasons.

Bangladeshi students launch political party. Young politicians in Bangladesh held a rally in Dhaka to launch their new political party, the National Citizen Party (NCP), on February 28. The NCP will be run by some of the student leaders of the mass movement that forced the resignation of longtime Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina last year.

Some of those student leaders—including Nahid Islam, 26, who will head the new party—have served in Bangladesh’s interim government. The students’ plans to form a new party were known for some time. Those in the interim government likely opposed calls for early elections so that they would have time to build the new party and make it electorally competitive.

The NCP will face major challenges when Bangladesh holds elections, likely at the end of the year. The Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), the main rival to Hasina’s Awami League, can bank on significant resources and patronage in addition to its large support base; it will be the favorite to win.

Still, one of the NCP’s goals is to establish itself as an alternative to the dynastic parties—mainly the BNP and the Awami League—that have dominated Bangladeshi politics since the country gained independence. Even if the NCP doesn’t make a big electoral splash in the immediate term, it could still have a notable and positive impact on Bangladeshi politics.
Under the Radar

On March 3, border clashes broke out between Pakistani and Afghan troops, with each side accusing the other of firing the first shot. The rugged 1,640-mile border, which no Afghan government has ever formally recognized, has been especially volatile in recent years amid Pakistani efforts to fence the border and surges in cross-border terrorism.

This week’s clashes took place on an especially important part of the border—the main crossing at Torkham, which Pakistan closed on Feb. 21 because of a dispute with Afghanistan over the Taliban’s construction along the border. Several troops were wounded in the clashes, and Afghanistan said that one member of its security forces died.

The incident highlights the economic toll of Afghanistan-Pakistan border tensions. The recent unrest reportedly stranded around 5,000 trucks with essential goods on both sides of the border. Even worse, Ramadan has just begun, when demand for food imports tends to increase.

Authorities in the Pakistani province of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa estimate that the border closure has generated at least $15 million in losses. Authorities in Afghanistan’s Nangarhar province say that Afghan traders have been losing $500,000 a day.

Regional Voices

In the Express Tribune, development consultant Syed Jalal Hussain explains why a port development initiative in Gwadar, Pakistan—a key Chinese infrastructure project—has struggled to take shape. “Gwadar’s story … is a reflection of Pakistan’s wider struggle to turn grand strategic ambitions into lasting economic transformation,” he writes.

In Prothom Alo, development worker Parvez Uddin Chowdhury argues that Bangladesh should strive for a plastic-free Ramadan. “Given the growing plastic pollution concerns across the country, can we think of avoiding single-use plastics in the iftar parties this year? It’s not just a consideration but a necessity,” he writes.

A Kuensel editorial lauds a decision in Phuentsholing, Bhutan, to refurbish school furniture. “A good learning environment is not just about textbooks and teachers—it is also about the spaces where students spend their formative years,” it argues. “Schools should not just be places of learning but also spaces where students feel safe, comfortable, and cared for.”
NSB
Bangladesh leader likens Sheikh Hasina regime to ‘terrible tornado’ (BBC)
BBC [3/5/2025 5:45 PM, Samira Hussain, 33298K]
Bangladesh’s interim leader says he felt "dazzled" when asked to take charge after long-serving prime minister Sheikh Hasina was driven from power last year.

"I had no idea I’d be leading the government," Muhammad Yunus told the BBC. "I had never run a government machine before and had to get the buttons right.

"Once that settled down, we started organising things," the Nobel-prize winning economist said, adding that restoring law and order and fixing the economy were priorities for the country.

It’s unclear if Hasina, who fled into exile in India, and her party will participate in elections Yunus hopes to hold later this year. She is wanted in Bangladesh for alleged crimes against humanity.

"They [the Awami League] have to decide if they want to do it, I cannot decide for them," said Yunus in an interview with the BBC at his official residence in Dhaka.

"The election commission decides who participates in the election.".

He said: "Peace and order is the most important thing, and the economy. It’s a shattered economy, a devastated economy.

"It’s as if there’s been some terrible tornado for 16 years and we’re trying to pick up the pieces.".

Sheikh Hasina was elected prime minister in 2009 and ruled Bangladesh with an iron fist. Members of her Awami League government ruthlessly cracked down on dissent. There were widespread allegations of human rights violations and the murder and jailing of political rivals while she was prime minister.

A student-led uprising forced Ms Hasina from office in August. At the behest of protesters, Yunus came back to Bangladesh to lead the new interim government.

He says he will hold elections between December 2025 and March 2026, depending on how quickly his government can institute reforms he believes necessary for free and fair elections.

"If reforms can be done as quickly as we wish, then December would be the time that we would hold elections. If you have a longer version of reforms, then we may need a few more months.".

"We are coming from complete disorder," he said, referring to the violent protests that engulfed Bangladesh last summer. "People getting shot, killed.".

But almost seven months on, people in Dhaka say law and order has not yet been restored, and that things are not getting better.

"Better is a relative term," he said. "If you are comparing it to the last year for example at the same time, it looks okay.

"What is happening right now, is no different than any other time.".

Yunus blames many of Bangladesh’s current woes on the previous government.

"I am not supporting that these things should happen. I’m saying that, you have to consider, we are not an ideal country or an ideal city that suddenly we made. It’s a continuum of the country that we inherited, a country that’s been running for many, many years.".

Victims of Sheikh Hasina’s brutal regime remain angry. Thousands of demonstrators have taken to the streets in recent months, demanding she be prosecuted for the deadly crackdown on student protesters.

A court in Bangladesh has issued a warrant for her arrest, but India has yet to respond.

Now, under Yunus’s leadership, there are questions about the safety of those belonging to Sheikh Hasina’s political party.

In February, several homes of Awami League members, including that of the founder of Bangladesh - Hasina’s late father, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman - were vandalised and set on fire after her supporters were told she would give an address on YouTube.

In a post on social media, the Awami League accused the interim government of justifying violence.

When asked by the BBC about claims by members of the Awami League that Bangladesh is not safe for them, Yunus was quick to defend his government.

"There’s a court, there’s a law, there’s a police station, they can go and complain, register their complaint," he said. "You just don’t go to a BBC correspondent to complain, you go to the police station to complain and see whether the law is taking its course.".

The Trump administration’s decision to cut foreign aid and effectively end almost all programmes funded by the US Agency for International Development will have an impact on countries like Bangladesh.

"It is their decision," says Yunus.

"It’s been helpful. Because they are doing things that we wanted to get done, like fighting corruption and things like that, which we couldn’t afford right away.".

The United States is the third largest supplier of official development assistance to Bangladesh. Last year the US committed $450m in foreign aid.

When asked how it will make up the shortfall, Yunus says "When it happens, we will make do.".
Rohingya Refugee Food Aid To Be Halved From Next Month: UN (Agence France-Presse)
Agence France-Presse [3/6/2025 12:28 AM, Staff, 356K]
Rations will be halved for around one million Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh from next month due to a lack of funds, the United Nations food agency has said.

Huge numbers of the persecuted and stateless Rohingya community live in squalid relief camps in Bangladesh, most arriving after having fled from a 2017 military crackdown in neighbouring Myanmar.

Successive aid cuts have already caused severe hardship among Rohingya in the overcrowded settlements, who are reliant on aid and suffer from rampant malnutrition.

The UN World Food Programme (WFP) said in a letter on Wednesday that "severe funding shortfalls" had forced a cut in monthly food vouchers from $12.50 to $6.00 per person.

"Unfortunately, we have still not received sufficient funding, and cost-saving measures alone are not enough," the letter said.

Md. Shamsud Douza of Bangladesh’s refugee agency told AFP that his office would meet community leaders next week to discuss the cuts.

A decision by US President Donald Trump’s administration to make drastic cuts to foreign aid has sent shockwaves through humanitarian initiatives worldwide.

But WFP’s Kun Li said that the United States remained a donor for Rohingya aid and the ration cuts reflected a "funding gap across multiple sources".

Funds raised were only half the $852 million sought by foreign aid agencies, she told AFP.

Wednesday’s letter comes days before a visit by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, who is slated to meet Rohingya refugees to mark the annual Muslim Ramadan fast.

The 2017 crackdown in Myanmar -- now the subject of a UN genocide investigation -- sent around 750,000 Rohingya fleeing into neighbouring Bangladesh with harrowing stories of murder, rape and arson.

Bangladesh has struggled to support its refugee population. The prospects of a wholesale return to Myanmar or resettlement elsewhere are remote.

Rohingya living in the camps around Cox’s Bazar are not allowed to seek employment and are almost entirely dependent on limited humanitarian aid to survive.

Large numbers of refugees have attempted hazardous sea crossings in an effort to find a better life away from the camps, including more than 250 Rohingya who arrived in Indonesia in January.
Sri Lanka police seek public help to arrest chief (Agence France-Presse)
Agence France-Presse [3/6/2025 3:47 AM, Staff, 356K]
Sri Lanka’s police issued a public appeal Thursday to locate their fugitive chief, who has been missing since a court order for his arrest following the death of an officer.

Spokesman Buddhika Manatunga said they had been unable to find Inspector-General of Police (IGP) Deshabandu Tennakoon despite deploying several special units.

"We urge the public to provide any information about his whereabouts," Manatunga told reporters in Colombo.

"We also warn that anyone harbouring the IGP will be prosecuted for obstructing justice."

Manatunga admitted that the failure to locate their own chief had "undermined public confidence in the police force".

A foreign travel ban has been imposed in case he tries to flee the island.

"It is a serious matter, and we are working with more vigour to arrest him," he added.

"As someone who is aware of the law, the IGP should have complied with the court order and surrendered," Manatunga said.

A magistrate ordered Tennakoon’s arrest last week following allegations that he had authorised an illegal raid on a hotel in 2023.

Tennakoon had ordered a unit from Colombo to search for illegal drugs at the hotel in the southern coastal resort town of Weligama, about 150 kilometres (95 miles) from the capital.

Local police, unaware of the undercover operation, confronted the unit, sparking a gun battle in which one officer was killed and another was critically wounded.

No drugs were found.

Tennakoon was controversially appointed as police chief in November 2023, but his appointment was challenged in the Supreme Court, which suspended him last July pending the outcome of a hearing.

He was given the top job despite the country’s highest court ruling in a separate case that he had tortured a suspect in custody by rubbing menthol balm on his genitals.

The court ordered Tennakoon to pay half a million rupees ($1,600) in compensation to the victim, but the government at the time ignored judicial orders to take disciplinary action against him.
Central Asia
New rail routes launched in Central Asia, bypassing Russia (EurasiaNet)
EurasiaNet [3/5/2025 4:14 PM, Staff, 57.6K]
The Middle Corridor trade route is filling out. China and Kazakhstan have announced the launch of a new freight rail transit line that will deliver Chinese goods to Europe while bypassing Russia.

According to a statement issued by Kazakhstan’s State Railway company, the first container train following the new route departed Chengdu in central China on March 4 heading for the Polish city of Lodz. The train, carrying televisions and other electronic components, is expected to complete the journey within 40 days, traversing Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Iran and Turkey before reaching the European Union’s border.

“This route not only expands the region’s transport capabilities, but also makes international logistics even more flexible, fast and reliable,” the Kazakh Railways statement asserts.

China is also developing two additional westbound freight transit routes that circumvent Russia via Kazakhstan and across the Caspian Sea, depriving the Kremlin of transit income and denting its geopolitical leverage.

“The flow of Chinese goods that went through Russia is switching to new routes,” gloated a commentary published by the Ukrainian news outlet Dialog. “Moscow no longer controls logistics between Asia and Europe; this lever of political pressure is now in the hands of Kazakhstan, China and Turkey.”

Meanwhile, Uzbekistan’s state railway agency announced the launch of a new freight transit route connecting India to Kazakhstan. Twelve containers were recently loaded onto a freighter at the Indian port of Mundra for transport to the Iranian port of Bandar Abbas. From there, the containers will make their way by rail via Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan before reaching its destination outside Astana, the Kazakh capital. The total travel time for the shipment of ceramic tiles is estimated at 25-30 days.

The new route has the potential to significantly reduce transport costs, while “broadening opportunities for exporters and importers,” the Uzbek statement noted.
Kazakhstan’s Trump Trade Is a $1 Billion Bet on Inflation-Hedging Bonds (Bloomberg)
Bloomberg [3/5/2025 7:23 AM, Nariman Gizitdinov, 1085K]
Kazakhstan plans to buy $1 billion of inflation-protected US Treasuries in a wager that President Donald Trump’s policies will stall progress in bringing down inflation.

“Tax breaks, trade wars and protectionism, economic stimulus — these are all pro-inflationary rhetoric,” and they threaten to increase price pressures, according to Aliya Moldabekova, deputy governor of the National Bank of Kazakhstan. “There is a risk that inflation will not decline as it has been declining, and central banks will slow down rate cuts.”

That makes TIPS — which pay interest at fixed rates on a principal amount tied to growth in the US consumer price index — attractive, she said. The central bank plans to buy about $1 billion of the US government bonds meant to insulate investors from inflation over the next two to three months. That would comprise as much as 10% of the central Asian nation’s developed-market debt portfolio.

Stock markets around the globe were battered on Tuesday after the US unleashed the largest set of new tariffs in nearly a century. The Kazakh central bank is not alone in thinking Trump’s policies will be inflationary. Federal Reserve Bank of New York President John Williams warned that tariffs will contribute to pricing pressures, a sentiment shared by former Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin who said the levies added a “very serious risk of inflation.”

“Markets are volatile now,” Moldabekova said in an interview last week. The US consumer price index was 3% in January. And as she sees it, the US inflation rate is likely to remain above the rate implied by the debt, of about an annual 2.35%.

“We expect that by the end of the year it will still be higher than this breakeven,” she said, referring to the market measure of inflation expectations derived from inflation-linked Treasuries.

The TIPS will go into Kazakhstan’s $59 billion national oil fund, where $54 billion is allocated to a savings portfolio geared toward making more profitable investments.

There are other assets, besides TIPS, that benefit during high-inflation periods — real estate and infrastructure for instance, Moldabekova said. And while the central bank’s unit that manages so-called alternative investments already bought into real estate funds of funds, it’s now considering buying into infrastructure funds, she said.

Gold Bets

Kazakhstan’s central bank has $47 billion in reserves as of January, including $26 billion in gold. It was the world’s second largest net gold seller among central banks in 2024.

Tariff turmoil has stoked haven demand, sending gold on a record-breaking run this year. Bullion prices may be further supported by expected weak US payroll figures

later this week. Trump’s proposed levies, including on China, threaten to keep price pressures elevated and dollar-denominated gold more expensive for foreign investors.

The central bank debated cutting the share of gold in its reserves to 50% from about 54% before deciding against it, citing estimates that the precious metal will climb as high as $3,100 per ounce. The bank may reconsider selling gold options if the precious metal hits $3,100 an ounce, Moldabekova said, which is about 7% above current trading.

With gold expected to climb higher as inflation reignites, Moldabekova sees the Kazakh central bank keeping bullion as a hedge.

Holding Dollars

The bank decided not to boost its US dollar holdings, currently 72% of the oil wealth fund, as the currency is too expensive to invest in.

Moldabekova shrugged off warnings about US fiscal instability and credit risk from its ballooning deficit, saying such concerns have been around for the past 20 years of her career at the central bank. Moldabekova expects the greenback to remain the world’s reserve currency and a critical payment instrument in international trade.

Kazakhstan’s central bank showed an increased risk appetite, investing in dollar-denominated emerging markets corporate bonds last year, as well as buying for the first time high-yield instruments — the corporate debt of developed market companies with ratings of BB+ and BB, one and two steps below investment grade.

The central bank plans to take profits on its stock investments, cutting its exposure through the national oil fund’s savings portfolio to about 30% from 36%, Moldabekova said.

“There is a concern that stock market became overheated,” she said, shares are expensive, especially as interest rates won’t be coming down quickly.
Kazakhstan’s Plans for a Regional Sustainable Development Goals Center Backed at UN (The Diplomat)
The Diplomat [3/5/2025 10:02 AM, Catherine Putz, 777K]
On March 4, the United Nations General Assembly adopted a resolution to established a U.N. Regional Center for Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in Almaty, Kazakhstan, with the support of 152 countries.

Kazakhstan’s presidential administration, Aqorda, called the adoption a "significant foreign policy success for Kazakhstan.".

Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev first proposed a regional SDG center in September 2019, during his address to the U.N. General Assembly’s 74th General Debate. At the time, he noted the opening, in May 2019, of a new "Building of International Organizations" in Almaty, which already hosted 16 U.N. agencies. "As the next step, we propose to establish in its premises a U.N. Center for SDGs with [the] mandate to assist countries of Central Asia and Afghanistan," he said.

Tokayev repeated his desire for such a center at the 77th General Debate in 2022, characterizing it as an important step in furthering regional cooperation amid global turmoil. "We intend to work together with all stakeholders to address a pressing regional agenda that includes climate change, the Aral Sea, rational use of water resources, border delimitation, combating extremism, and expanding intra-regional trade," Tokayev said in 2022.

The four-page draft resolution, dated February 26, 2025, starts with a lengthy (and traditional for U.N. resolutions) section essentially recounting the history of the Sustainable Development Goals, from their origins in a 2015 resolution packaged as part of the 2030 Development Agenda to various other resolutions touching on international and regional cooperation.

Mentioning "the progress achieved in the Central Asian countries, their integration with economies of Europe and Asia and their contribution to global economic growth," "shared interests in the further development of regional cooperation among the Central Asian countries for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals and advancing good-neighborly relations," and touching specifically on the role of regional cooperation in promoting lasting peace in Afghanistan, the resolution calls for the establishment of a U.N. Regional Center for Sustainable Development Goals for Central Asia and Afghanistan. It requests that the U.N. secretary-general appoint a head for the center and outlines the cooperative work envisioned, to be supported by voluntary contributions from U.N. member countries and private sector actors.

In announcing the "unanimous" adoption of the resolution, Kazakhstan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs reiterated Tokayev’s backing of the idea: "President Tokayev stressed that Kazakhstan, as the largest economy in the region, is interested in strengthening cooperation between states and the sustainable development of Central Asia, playing a key role in promoting regional integration.".

152 U.N. member states co-sponsored the resolution. (There are 193 member states in total.).

Kazakhstan’s push for the center serves to reemphasize the country’s commitment to the U.N. system and its role as a central player in connecting the region to the world. It also further highlights the trend toward greater regional cooperation within Central Asia, including Afghanistan and not necessarily centered on China and Russia. This trend can be observed in the steady beat of regional leader meetings, which began in 2018 and by 2022 had hit its stride.

"The adoption of this resolution underscores global support for a regional approach to sustainable development and demonstrates the readiness of the international community to facilitate the progress of Central Asia and Afghanistan on the path to stability, prosperity, and integration into global development processes," Kazakhstan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement following the adoption.

This effort comes at a time when the United States is undergoing what can only be called a convulsive reorientation of its geopolitical outlook. For a taste, it’s worth noting remarks delivered by Edward Heartney, minister counselor for economic and social affairs at the U.S. Mission to the U.N., in regard to Kazakhstan’s resolution. After recognizing Kazakhstan’s efforts to reach consensus, and noting that the U.S. had joined that consensus, Heartney cast cold water on the effort:

… the United States remains skeptical of the need for this SDG Center and, in principle, opposed to expansion of the U.N. system, especially where the likelihood of duplication of efforts and overlapping mandates is high. Kazakhstan needs neither an expanded U.N. system nor the SDGs in order to prosper; it should, instead, make sovereign decisions for its people and cast aside the burden of soft global governance.

Heartney took issue with the "inclusion and constant repetition of references to prior resolutions," calling it an inefficient practice, and also objected to mentioning non-U.N. organizations. He quibbled with the language used to describe development, stating that "the United States believes it is time to start talking about ‘responsible’ and ‘long-term’ development that aims to move countries up and out of ‘developing’ status. The term ‘sustainable’ fails to indicate the direction and movement we all expect to see.".

Finally, Heartney called the listing of specific categories of people whose human rights should be protected "redundant and unnecessary," claiming, "Concerning human rights, it is the long-standing U.S. position that all human beings have the same internationally recognized human rights and there are no gradations of human rights." In these remarks, we see the bleed-over of U.S. President Donald Trump’s crusade against "DEI" – that is "diversity, equity, and inclusion" – from the domestic realm into the international.

The only "human rights" referenced in the draft resolution were those of "all Afghans," with the "meaningful participation" of women, children, and minorities specified as important.
Kazakh Volunteers’ ‘Yurts Of Invincibility’ Leave A Legacy Of Helping Ukraine’s War Victims (Radio Free Europe)
Radio Free Europe [3/6/2025 6:16 PM, Staff, 235K]
When Russia invaded Ukraine, the Darmenovs -- a family of ethnic Kazakhs living some 25 kilometers southwest of Kyiv -- had the option of returning to Kazakhstan to escape the war and the destruction it brought.

Instead, they decided to stay in Ukraine and defend the country they have called home for more than two decades however they could.

Marat Darmenov, the father of the family of five living in the village of Bilohorodka, quickly volunteered to help those affected by the brutal war. As Ukrainians faced power outages, water shortages, and heating cutoffs amid relentless Russian air strikes, the 55-year-old offered shelter, food, and warmth under a symbol of his Central Asia homeland: a traditional Kazakh yurt.

Darmenov and other Kazakh volunteers called their use of the circular tents covered with felt or animal skins "Yurts Of Invincibility," a play on the government-backed Points of Invincibility that provided aid to displaced Ukrainians and those dealing with blackouts.

Images of his first yurt set up in early 2023 in the town of Bucha -- the site of a brief but brutal occupation by Russian forces who tortured and killed hundreds of civilians in the early days of war -- made international headlines, and private donations, mostly from Kazakhstan, poured in.

That first yurt was donated by a Kazakh businessman named Daulet Nurzhanov and he’s since sent more to Darmenov, who has set up yurts in cities and towns across Ukraine, the latest of which was erected in the western city of Novovolynsk in January. He says he drove some 500 kilometers to Novovolynsk to install the tent and cook plov, a Central Asian rice dish, for locals.

"I loaded my cooking pots and samovars into my minibus to make plov. I also took a stove, firewood, and disposable tableware -- I traveled with my whole kitchen. At the opening ceremony of each yurt, we treat visitors to plov," Darmenov said, adding that he has always offered food and drink free of charge.

‘An Apocalyptic Scene’
Darmenov’s volunteer work began in late March 2022, after Ukrainian forces pushed back the Russian Army from the edges of Kyiv, crushing Moscow’s original aim to capture the Ukrainian capital and take control of the country in a short span.

Shutting down a successful furniture business he ran along with his relatives before the war, Darmenov joined other members of the Kazakh diaspora who decided to deliver food to residents of the cities and villages liberated from the occupation. His eldest son, Dastan, would go on to join the military to fight for Ukraine.

Darmenov recalls visiting the village of Hostomel on the outskirts of Kyiv that was liberated in early April 2022 after a fierce battle that lasted for more than a month.

He cooked plov, placing his large pot and stove in the village center, while female Kazakh volunteers prepared baursaks, a traditional fried bread that is offered with milk and tea.

"It was an apocalyptic scene there: no natural gas, no electricity, no water. Large supermarkets burned down," Darmenov recalls. "There were [Ukrainian] soldiers who told us: ‘Stay in this place and don’t move around because [Russian forces] have laid land mines everywhere.’"

"Residents stood in line, and we handed out food. We told them that we are Kazakhs, but citizens of Ukraine. People hugged us. One of them said: ‘I lived in Kazakhstan,’ another said: ‘My husband is from Kazakhstan,’ and another one had a relative in Kazakhstan. I filmed all of these on my phone," he said.

As the videos of yurt were shared on social media with touching messages and warm tributes, Darmenov and other Kazakh volunteers got messages of support and offers of help from Kazakhstan and elsewhere.

Among those who offered help was a Kazakh-born German national who provided 10 tons of food supplies to Darmenov.

"I set aside some of the rice and cooking oil, which we used to prepare plov and baursaks for people, and I distributed the rest of the supplies to hospitals, rehabilitation centers, and internally displaced people from the eastern regions," Darmenov remembers.

‘HIMARS Didn’t Scare Russia As Much As Our Yurts Did’

As footage and images of the Kazakh Yurts of Invincibility went viral, they even caught the attention of the Kremlin. An infuriated Moscow demanded an official explanation from Astana "to avoid damaging the Russia-Kazakhstan strategic partnership and alliance," Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said in January 2023.

In response, Kazakh Foreign Ministry spokesman Aibek Smadiyarov said there was "nothing to explain."

"It is an initiative of private Kazakh companies. They organized it, transported it, and are providing the assistance…. We do not see any problem here," Smadiyarov told reporters at the time.

Darmenov believes that Moscow’s angry reaction proves that the Kazakh volunteers’ work "have not gone in vain."

"HIMARS didn’t scare Russia as much as our yurts did," Darmenov said, referring to the U.S.-made rocket system that helped Kyiv to push back Russian forces.

Darmenov hopes for the war to end and for peace to return to Ukraine. He wants soldiers to come back home safely, aincluding his son, Dastan.

Dastan was 22 when the invasion started. The compulsory age for being drafted in the Ukrainian military at the time was 27, but He chose to voluntarily join the military. He has been wounded several times in the front line in eastern Ukraine.
Tajik women speak out against government fashion advice (Agence France-Presse)
Agence France-Presse [3/5/2025 10:10 PM, Bruno Kalouaz, 126906K]
Women in Tajikistan are being advised by the government to dress more "Tajik-style" and not wear either revealing Western clothes or Islamic head coverings -- supposedly to reinforce national identity.

Some in the secular Muslim country are speaking out against the advice, including from President Emomali Rakhmon as well as in the form of a manual due to be issued by the government this year.

The advice to be published in July will be based on "scientific and historical sources", Khurshed Nizomi, a culture ministry official, told AFP.

The manual applies to women "of all ages" and will give tips on what to wear "at work, at home, at the theatre or during celebrations", he said.

But Firuza Naimova, a pharmacist, questioned the need for government advice to women on clothing.

"There are many economic and social problems -- a lack of electricity, the air quality, emigration" to Russia, she told AFP in Dushanbe, the poorest capital of the former Soviet republics of Central Asia.

"Why do they want to give lessons to women? They can choose their own clothes," Naimova said.

A previous manual from the government in 2018 advised women to avoid revealing European clothing, mini-skirts, and low necklines, but also refrain from wearing black and head-covering hijabs.

Instead, they should wear long and brightly coloured Tajik robes, it said.

President Emomali Rakhmon, who has ruled Tajikistan since 1992, passed a law in 2024 banning the "import and sale of foreign clothes and their wearing in public places" and called on Tajiks to respect "the wearing of national clothing".

"In Tajikistan, women have always faced pressure on clothing choices," Farzona Saidzoda, co-author of the feminist initiative "Tell Me Sister", told AFP.

"Under the Soviet Union, the hijab was not worn because it was considered alien to our culture in Central Asia.".

"But that is the same for more open and shorter clothing," she said.

State media have criticised "so-called artists" who wear mini-skirts, "imitators" of American style, and women wearing the hijab.

The fashion policy started after the victory of Rakhmon’s ex-Communist forces against a coalition of democrats and Islamists in a civil war that killed tens of thousands of people in the 1990s.

The authorities have since tried to strengthen a divided nation and eradicate Islam as a political force -- cracking down on any opposition.

After decades of Soviet atheism, independence saw a return of religion in a society beset by poverty, with many Tajiks joining jihadist organisations in the Middle East and neighbouring Afghanistan.

"The situation is worrying. Those who wear foreign clothes like the hijab think of themselves as different. They are nothing and trample on our values, undermine our identity," Rakhmon said.

The authorities have accelerated a crackdown since four gunmen suspected to have come from Tajikistan carried out an attack claimed by the Islamic State group near Moscow last year, killing 145 people.

Hijab wearers resent the association with radical Islam.

"I have worn the hijab since I was nine years old. I have never had a problem until this year when I was asked to show my hair in a ministry and then at the market," said Dzhamila, a doctor.

"Last spring, some of my friends were detained and received fines" for wearing hijabs, she told AFP.

Authorities are counting on fashion designers to promote traditional garb.

"We are creating modern dresses by using our rich cultural tradition for everyday use," Khurshed Sattorov said in his workshop.

"For women who want to cover their hair, we have national textiles," he said.

There is no similar advice for men, although beards are effectively banned and anyone with one risks being seen as a suspected Islamic extremist.

The culture ministry said it was thinking of issuing a separate manual with a male dress code.
Turkmenistan is trying to come out of its shell (EurasiaNet)
EurasiaNet [3/5/2025 4:14 PM, Staff, 57.6K]
Turkmenistan is trying to shed its long-standing image as a hermit kingdom, at least when it comes to natural gas exports. Over the past few months, Ashgabat has gone on a deal-making binge that, over the long term, could significantly alter the European Union’s energy-import pattern.

The centerpiece of Turkmenistan’s gas export diversification push is a swap arrangement with Iran and Turkey under which Ashgabat is expected to supply Ankara with 1.3 billion cubic meters (bcm) of gas by the end of 2025, with annual supplies slated to increase to 2 bcm in following years. The gas started flowing on March 1.

Regional analysts noted that the Turkish supply deal is the first of its kind in which Turkmen gas heads West along a route that bypasses Russia. According to some projections, the volume of Turkmen exports to Turkey and beyond to the European Union could reach 65 bcm within the next 25 years.

The swap arrangement at present “supplies only modest volumes [to Turkey], [but] its strategic significance lies in strengthening Europe’s energy diversification,” wrote political analyst Rauf Mammadov in a commentary published by the Anadolu News Agency. It potentially “provides European nations with greater leverage in future energy negotiations, particularly if Russian gas supplies are reinstated.”

Another regional observer, Hikmet Eren, head of the EkoAvrasya Foundation, an Ankara-based non-profit entity dedicated to promoting stronger ties among Turkic states, characterized the Turkish-Turkmen deal as capable of altering the EU’s center of gravity, in terms of energy imports.

“The step taken today is not just a commercial agreement; it has the potential to redefine regional power balances,” Eren told the Türkiye Today news outlet on March 3.

In addition to the Turkish gas-swap arrangement, Turkmenistan is set to expand exports to neighboring states, Afghanistan, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. The Kazakh state-run gas company QazaqGaz announced it is accelerating expansion of a pipeline connecting the two countries that will double the volume of Turkmen gas exports. QazaqGaz chief executive Sanzhar Zharkeshov also visited Ashgabat on February 28 for discussions on joint exploration and production projects.

“Both sides agreed to accelerate the work of their joint expert group to ensure effective cooperation,” according to a statement issued by QazaqGaz. “This meeting marked a natural progression of high-level strategic agreements previously reached between the two countries.”

Turkmenistan possesses what are estimated to be the world’s fifth largest proven reserves of natural gas and features what watchdog groups say is one of the world’s most repressive political systems. Until recently, Turkmen leaders had been reluctant to strike deals to send gas westward, with most the country’s exports heading to Russia and China. Regional experts believe that Turkmen wariness of engaging Western companies was rooted in a desire to seal the country off from foreign influence. One regional observer recently described Turkmenistan as “arguably the second most insular state in the world after North Korea.”

A country analysis prepared by the Germany-based Bertelsmann Foundation suggests economic pressures are pushing the Turkmen leadership to open the country economically and diversify trade, although it emphasizes “the goal of these activities is not to … democratize” the political system.

For the last decade, the country has been gripped by economic dysfunction that is impoverishing a widening sector of Turkmen society via “high losses of purchasing power [and] a lack of affordable food supplies,” exacerbated by “skyrocketing unemployment,” the report states.

It goes on to say the country has the resources to reverse the current trend. The energy sector gives the government “considerable potential for budget revenues and for boosting the economy,” but a lack of political will to maximize available economic resources has hindered the country from developing “a targeted and sustainable economic policy.”

It may be that Turkmen leaders have determined that robust economic engagement with the outside world offers the incumbent regime the best chance of enduring. Not only has Ashgabat demonstrated heightened interest in expanding its gas export options, but also in closer integration with emerging East-West trade networks.

The Bertelsman country report notes that Turkmenistan “badly needs financing for natural gas and other industrial projects” and the leadership “sees transit business as a potentially rich source of income.” The analysis also asserts “the government aims to demonstrate to the Turkmenistan people that the country’s policies have high value internationally.”
Indo-Pacific
New Trump travel ban could bar Afghans, Pakistanis soon, sources say (Reuters)
Reuters [3/5/2025 10:02 PM, Jonathan Landay, Ted Hesson, and Humeyra Pamuk, 41523K]
A new travel ban by President Donald Trump could bar people from Afghanistan and Pakistan from entering the U.S. as soon as next week based on a government review of countries’ security and vetting risks, three sources familiar with the matter said.

The three sources, who requested anonymity, said other countries could also be on the list but did not know which ones.

The move harkens back to the Republican president’s first term ban on travelers from seven majority-Muslim nations, a policy that went through several iterations before it was upheld by the Supreme Court in 2018.

Former President Joe Biden, a Democrat who succeeded Trump, repealed the ban in 2021, calling it "a stain on our national conscience.".

The new ban could affect tens of thousands of Afghans who have been cleared for resettlement in the U.S. as refugees or on Special Immigrant Visas because they are at risk of Taliban retribution for working for the U.S. during a 20-year war in their home country.

Trump issued an executive order on January 20 requiring intensified security vetting of any foreigners seeking admission to the U.S. to detect national security threats.

That order directed several cabinet members to submit by March 12 a list of countries from which travel should be partly or fully suspended because their "vetting and screening information is so deficient.".

Afghanistan will be included in the recommended list of countries for a complete travel ban, said the three sources and one other who also asked not to be identified.

The three sources said Pakistan also would be recommended for inclusion.

The departments of State, Justice and Homeland Security and the Office of the Director for National Intelligence, whose leaders are overseeing the initiative, did not respond immediately to requests for comment.

One source pointed out that Afghans cleared for resettlement in the U.S. as refugees or on the special visas first undergo intense screening that makes them "more highly vetted than any population" in the world.

The State Department office that oversees their resettlement is seeking an exemption for Special Immigrant Visa holders from the travel ban "but it’s not assumed likely to be granted," the source said.

That office, the Coordinator for Afghan Relocation Efforts, has been told to develop a plan by April for its closure, Reuters reported last month.

The Taliban, who seized Kabul as the last U.S. troops pulled out in August 2021 after two decades of war, are confronting an insurgency by Islamic State’s regional branch. Pakistan also is grappling with violent Islamist militants.

Trump’s directive is part of an immigration crackdown that he launched at the start of his second term.

He previewed his plan in an October 2023 speech, pledging to restrict people from the Gaza Strip, Libya, Somalia, Syria, Yemen and "anywhere else that threatens our security.".

Shawn VanDiver, the head of #AfghanEvac, a coalition of groups that coordinates evacuation and resettlement of Afghans with the U.S. government, urged those holding valid U.S. visas to travel as soon as possible if they can.

"While no official announcement has been made, multiple sources within the U.S. government suggest a new travel restriction could be implemented within the next week," he said in a statement.

This "may significantly impact Afghan visa holders who have been awaiting relocation" to the U.S., he said.

There are some 200,000 Afghans who have been approved for U.S. resettlement or have pending U.S. refugee and Special Immigrant Visa applications. They have been stranded in Afghanistan and nearly 90 other countries - including about 20,000 in Pakistan - since January 20, when Trump ordered a 90-day freeze on refugee admissions and foreign aid that funds their flights.
Twitter
Afghanistan
Shawn VanDiver
@shawnjvandiver
[3/5/2025 2:02 PM, 31.9K followers, 25 retweets, 106 likes]
A new executive order could have devastating consequences for Afghan allies seeking safety in the U.S. The White House is set to receive a report next week that may determine which countries face extreme restrictions. Another #AfghanEvac

Shawn VanDiver
@shawnjvandiver
[3/5/2025 2:02 PM, 31.9K followers, 5 retweets, 20 likes]
We’ve heard that Afghanistan & Pakistan are among the countries being considered. If true, this could effectively block all Afghans—including allies who served alongside U.S. forces—from reaching safety. Here’s the EO: https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/01/protecting-the-united-states-from-foreign-terrorists-and-othernational-security-and-public-safety-threats/

Shawn VanDiver
@shawnjvandiver
[3/5/2025 2:02 PM, 31.9K followers, 3 retweets, 24 likes]
This would be a betrayal of the promises made to those who risked everything to support the U.S. mission. Many still face threats from the Taliban & extremist groups. Cutting off their pathways to safety is unconscionable.

Shawn VanDiver
@shawnjvandiver
[3/5/2025 2:02 PM, 31.9K followers, 3 retweets, 24 likes]
AfghanEvac & others are working to confirm details, but the risk is clear: a blanket ban on Afghan nationals would shatter lives & undermine U.S. commitments to those who stood with us.

Shawn VanDiver
@shawnjvandiver
[3/5/2025 2:02 PM, 31.9K followers, 3 retweets, 21 likes]
We believe this would not impact US citizens or LPRs but would impact those overseas in non-permanent status. We also believe it may impact some already here in the United States, in non-permanent status.

Shawn VanDiver
@shawnjvandiver
[3/5/2025 2:02 PM, 31.9K followers, 4 retweets, 43 likes]
The report is due next week. We need clarity NOW. We urge the administration to ensure this EO does not shut the door on our allies. Afghans & others deserve fair, case-by-case assessments—not a one-size-fits-all ban.

Shawn VanDiver
@shawnjvandiver
[3/5/2025 2:02 PM, 31.9K followers, 4 retweets, 46 likes]
This is urgent. We will share updates as we learn more and we are updating our website. In the meantime, we call on policymakers & advocates to stand against policies that punish those fleeing persecution. Stay tuned. #AfghanEvac

Amnesty International South Asia, Regional Office
@amnestysasia
[3/5/2025 7:27 AM, 96.4K followers, 76 retweets, 146 likes]
Afghanistan: Amnesty International is deeply concerned about the whereabouts of education activist Wazir Khan following his arrest by four Taliban soldiers of the General Directorate of Intelligence, with his hands tied and eyes blindfolded. After over a week since his arrest, his family is unable to contact him or locate his whereabouts. Wazir Khan has been peacefully promoting education for boys and girls in Afghanistan, where the Taliban have officially banned girls from attending secondary education. The Taliban de facto authorities must immediately and unconditionally release him. https://independent.co.uk/asia/south-asia/taliban-afghan-activist-wazir-khan-arrested-b2707907.html
Pakistan
Shehbaz Sharif
@CMShehbaz
[3/5/2025 8:01 AM, 6.7M followers, 408 retweets, 2K likes]
I welcome Arab League’s approval of Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi’s plan for Gaza’s reconstruction and the League’s firm rejection of any plan to displace the Palestinians from their homeland. I reiterate Pakistan’s call that the United Nations must ensure implementation of its Resolutions affirming the two States solution, with a viable, sovereign State of Palestine based on pre-1967 borders, with Al-Quds Al- Sharif as its capital.

Government of Pakistan
@GovtofPakistan
[3/6/2025 2:55 AM, 3.1M followers, 2 likes]
Federal Minister for Kashmir Affairs and Gilgit Baltistan Amir Muqam called on Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif in Islamabad.

Government of Pakistan
@GovtofPakistan
[3/6/2025 1:28 AM, 3.1M followers, 1 retweet, 12 likes]
Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif chairs a review meeting on National Youth Employment Plan in Islamabad.

Government of Pakistan
@GovtofPakistan
[3/5/2025 2:45 PM, 3.1M followers, 1 retweet, 8 likes]
An unprecedented special cabinet session, chaired by Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif, was held yesterday, where the government presented its performance and future agenda before the public. People from different walks of life were invited so they can personally observe the session and learn about the government’s actions over the past year and its future plans.

Ministry of Foreign Affairs – Pakistan
@ForeignOfficePk
[3/5/2025 10:34 AM, 481.1K followers, 26 retweets, 56 likes]
Deputy Prime Minister / Foreign Minister Senator Mohammad Ishaq Dar @MIshaqDar50 received a telephone call from US National Security Advisor Michael Waltz @MikeWaltz47, yesterday. DPM/FM congratulated him on assumption of office. Both sides agreed to continue broad based cooperation in counter-terrorism, trade and investment. NSA also conveyed President Trump’s appreciation and thanks for Pakistan’s efforts for countering terrorism.

Michael Kugelman
@MichaelKugelman
[3/5/2025 10:16 AM, 218.7K followers, 365 retweets, 1.3K likes]
For those hoping the new US administration will take a hard line on Pakistan’s military, pursue sanctions, press for Khan’s release etc, news of US-Pak cooperation on the Sharifullah arrest is a reminder that US still believes the Pak establishment can be helpful on some fronts.

Michael Kugelman
@MichaelKugelman
[3/5/2025 7:34 AM, 218.7K followers, 55 retweets, 133 likes]
The affidavit on Mohammad Sharifullah, the IS-K terrorist detained by Pakistan and reportedly now being extradited to the US, indicates that he plotted the Kabul Abbey Gate attack but was also involved in the Moscow concert attack. He was a big fish. https://justice.gov/opa/media/1391881/dl

Michael Kugelman
@MichaelKugelman
[3/5/2025 8:12 PM, 218.7K followers, 25 retweets, 80 likes]
The CIA and ISI appear to have cooperated operationally to get Sharifullah. "A senior defense official told CBS News that Sharifullah was captured roughly 10 days ago in a joint raid between Pakistani intelligence and the Central Intelligence Agency." https://www.cbsnews.com/news/mohammad-sharifullah-abbey-gate-afghanistan-bombing-extradited-u-s/

Anas Mallick
@AnasMallick
[3/5/2025 2:51 PM, 75.8K followers, 26 retweets, 77 likes]
US Sect of Defense thanks Pakistan for its co-operation in apprehending the ISIS-K key figure involved in the Abbey Gate bombing -- Mohd Sharifullah, an Afghan national was arrested by Pakistani intelligence agencies after being tipped off by the American Intelligence.

Anas Mallick
@AnasMallick
[3/5/2025 6:35 AM, 75.8K followers, 57 retweets, 265 likes]
First high level contact between Pakistan and the new US Trump administration — Pakistan’s Foreign Minister @MIshaqDar50 speaks US National Security Advisor — US NSA conveys Pres Trump’s appreciation and thanks for Govt of Pakistan in efforts on countering terrorism.

Bilal Sarwary
@bsarwary
[3/5/2025 3:32 PM, 255.2K followers, 30 retweets, 78 likes]
On Tuesday, U.S. President Donald Trump announced that Pakistan’s security forces had arrested the organizer of the Abbey Gate attack. According to media reports, Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), acting on intelligence shared by the CIA, apprehended Mohammad Sharifullah, also known as Jafar, Naser, and Ajmal, in the country’s tribal areas. A senior operative of ISIS-K (Islamic State Khorasan Province), Sharifullah has been directly involved in planning and executing multiple deadly attacks.

Sharifullah was a key figure behind the Abbey Gate attack at Kabul airport in August 2021, which killed 13 U.S. service members and 150 Afghan civilians. He also played a central role in at least 29 suicide bombings and terrorist attacks in Kabul, including launching rocket attacks on the Afghan Presidential Palace and the U.S. Embassy. His operations resulted in significant civilian casualties and widespread destruction.

A former National Directorate of Security (NDS) official revealed that Sharifullah was part of ISIS-K’s Kabul Katiba unit and is one of the closest figures to ISIS-K leader Shahab al-Muhajir. He was previously arrested along with his network by NDS in August 2019 but was released from Bagram prison when the Taliban took control of Kabul in August 2021. Before his initial capture, Sharifullah actively coordinated ISIS-K’s operations, including the recruitment and logistical support of suicide bombers. Intelligence reports indicate that he facilitated the transfer of new ISIS-K recruits between Nangarhar and Kabul, overseeing their training and ensuring they had the necessary resources for attacks.

Sharifullah’s arrest marks a significant breakthrough in global counterterrorism efforts. He has now been transferred to the United States for further investigation and prosecution. His capture is expected to provide critical intelligence on ISIS-K’s operational structure, funding networks, and historical ties with the Haqqani Network (HQN) and al-Qaeda (AQ).

His photo and a summary of his 2019 interrogation, previously shared by the NDS, are included as part of this report. I will provide further details on his background and his ties with AQ, LeT, the HQN through his involvement in ISIS-K’s Kabul Katiba unit.
India
Narendra Modi
@narendramodi
[3/5/2025 9:19 PM, 105.7M followers, 3.8K retweets, 27K likes]
I thank the people of Telangana for blessing @BJP4Telangana with such phenomenal support in the MLC elections. Congratulations to our newly elected candidates. I am very proud of our Party Karyakartas who are working among the people with great diligence @MalkaKomaraiah @AnjiReddy_BJP

Narendra Modi
@narendramodi
[3/5/2025 9:00 AM, 105.7M followers, 6.6K retweets, 52K likes]
Pleased to meet the Japanese business delegation led by Mr. Tatsuo Yasunaga today. Encouraged by their expansion plans in India and steadfast commitment to ‘Make in India, Make for the World’. Looking forward to deepening economic collaboration with Japan, our Special Strategic and Global Partner.

Narendra Modi
@narendramodi
[3/5/2025 8:27 AM, 105.7M followers, 2.9K retweets, 17K likes]
The Union Cabinet’s approval for the revised Livestock Health & Disease Control Programme (LHDCP) will assist in disease control, boost vaccination coverage, entail more mobile vet units and ensure affordable medicines for animals. It is a big step towards better animal health, higher productivity and prosperity for farmers. https://pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=2108419

Narendra Modi
@narendramodi
[3/5/2025 4:01 AM, 105.7M followers, 4.5K retweets, 17K likes]
This year’s Union Budget paves the way for a stronger workforce and a growing economy. Addressing a post-budget webinar on boosting job creation. https://x.com/i/broadcasts/1MnxnwAYvLwKO
NSB
Chief Adviser of the Government of Bangladesh
@ChiefAdviserGoB
[3/5/2025 5:10 AM, 119.8K followers, 41 retweets, 615 likes]
Chief Adviser Professor Yunus on Wednesday asked the officials concerned to reform the labour law of the country to meet international standards for improving the living conditions of millions of labourers employed in different sectors of the country. #Bangladesh #ChiefAdviser

Anura Kumara Dissanayake
@anuradisanayake
[3/5/2025 7:31 AM, 146.1K followers, 4 retweets, 153 likes]
Today (05), I engaged in a discussion with officials from the National Physical Planning Department on urban development. I emphasized the need for strategic planning that enhances Sri Lanka’s tourism appeal while preserving our identity and strengthening rural economies.

Anura Kumara Dissanayake
@anuradisanayake
[3/5/2025 7:29 AM, 146.1K followers, 2 retweets, 82 likes]
Today (05), I met with senior officials from Sri Lanka Customs at the Presidential Secretariat to discuss the 2025 Budget and institutional restructuring. I emphasized the need for structural reforms to modernize Customs, tackle inefficiencies & corruption and enhance service delivery through technology.

Harsha de Silva
@HarshadeSilvaMP
[3/5/2025 11:59 PM, 360.7K followers, 8 retweets, 51 likes]
Trump’s reciprocal #tariffs w/ India should be wake-up call for #Srilanka. We need urgent, proactive measures to address before trade walls block our access to the US - our largest export market. Inexperience in foreign policy isn’t an excuse. As #COPF Chair, I’m ready to assist.

Harsha de Silva
@HarshadeSilvaMP
[3/5/2025 10:37 AM, 360.7K followers, 14 retweets, 81 likes]
Historic milestone for Sri Lanka! We’re establishing our Parliamentary Budget Office to strengthen fiscal oversight. Seeking experienced professionals for Budget Officer positions through March 31. Details: https://parliament.lk/files/vacancies/2025/pbo/ad-en.pdf #SriLanka #Governance #PBO
Central Asia
Shavkat Mirziyoyev’s Press-service
@president_uz
[3/5/2025 12:51 PM, 213.3K followers, 3 retweets, 10 likes]
President Shavkat #Mirziyoyev met with Nurlan Yermekbayev , Secretary General of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization. Sides discussed the ongoing modernization of #SCO activities, initiated at the #Samarkand summit, including improving the efficiency of its structures. They emphasized the need to implement the Concept of New Economic Dialogue and other initiatives of our country, and reviewed preparations for the upcoming SCO summit in #China.

Shavkat Mirziyoyev’s Press-service
@president_uz
[3/5/2025 12:01 PM, 213.3K followers, 1 retweet, 6 likes]
President Shavkat #Mirziyoyev attended a National Council on Combating Corruption meeting to review progress and set new objectives. The Anti-Corruption Agency’s activities and internal controls will be enhanced, while prioritizing the independence of control inspections and corruption prevention in investment projects and auctions. Plans include restructuring regional councils to enforce stricter laws and using an electronic platform to prevent procurement corruption. Efforts will focus on strengthening the legal framework, including measures to prevent illicit enrichment.

Saida Mirziyoyeva
@SMirziyoyeva
[3/5/2025 12:14 PM, 21.7K followers, 5 retweets, 56 likes]
Met with Kazakhstan’s Ambassador Beibut Atamkulov to discuss strengthening our partnership. We explored cultural ties, including Alisher Navoiy Theater tours, museum exhibitions, and a youth forum in Turkistan. With support of our leaders, these initiatives will deepen our bonds.

{End of Report}
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