KABUL, 27 March, 2021(TON): On Friday, the Taliban threatened to continue insurgent hostilities against the foreign troops in Afghanistan in the backdrop of the non-withdrawal of troops as per the 1 May deadline.

Taliban remarked after the U.S. President Joe Biden asserted to that it would be hard to withdraw the last U.S. troops by the deadline that was agreed last year in Washington.  

On the other hand, Germany’s lawmakers approved a mandate to allow its troops to stay in Afghanistan until 31 January, 2022.

The Taliban released a statement, “If the May 1 deadline was not met, the Taliban would be compelled to continue its Jihad and armed struggle against foreign forces to liberate its country.”

However, the United States and the Taliban last year agreed that all foreign troops would be withdrawn in exchange for security guarantees from the insurgent group and the start of peace talks with the Afghan government. This move relatively largely ceased insurgency on the foreign troops in the war-torn country but the attacks continued on the Afghan security forces and locals.

WASHINGTON, 27 March, 2021 (TON): A retaliation action has been proposed by the U.S. against the taxation including the equalization levy (EL) on Indian and other countries’ digital services.

In response, New Delhi says it will examine the proposed action and will act accordingly.

"The government of India will examine the proposed action with stakeholders concerned and take suitable measures keeping its trade and commercial interest of the country and overall interest of its people," media said.

The others countries under probe are Italy, Turkey, the United Kingdom, Spain and Austria.
On January 6, the USTR released its findings on section 301 investigation into India's digital services tax (DST) and concluded that it discriminates against U.S. digital companies by its structure and operation.

Meanwhile, India's DST is unreasonable as it is inconsistent with principles of international taxation, including due to its application to revenue rather than income, extraterritorial application and failure to provide tax certainty as per the findings.

MEXICO CITY, 27 March, 2021 (TON): About 87 migrants locked up by the human traffickers have been rescued by the Mexican police.

The media said citing the Secretariat of Security and Civilian Protection in Puebla state that the group of Central American migrants, including children, were heading towards the U.S. when they were held for three days in Amozoc. 

Authorities launched a search and found 45 women, 26 men and 16 children from Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala and Nicaragua.

According to the Secretariat, the traffickers were apparently supposed to bring the group north to the city of San Luis Potosi, but left them behind at the house.

However, further details of the case were not immediately known.

KABUL, 27 March, 2021 (TON): On Saturday, at least nine policemen killed after the Taliban militants attacked a security checkpoint in Afghanistan’s Helmand province.

The attack was carried out by the insurgents on the checkpoint along the Kandahar-Heart highway in Nahr-e-Saraj district, the security official said.

Three policemen, including a senior official were killed and others injured during the clashes, the provincial police spokesman Mohammad Zaman Hamdard told the media.

Taliban agreed to take the responsibility of the insurgent attack.

However, the violence in the country has been increasing despite, ongoing peace talks between the representatives of the Afghan government and the Taliban in Doha.

Amsterdam, 27 March, 2021 (TON): On Friday, the Dutch Election Council published the results that included 34 out of 150 seats for the VVD in the House of Representatives that made the party biggest to win for the fourth time in a row.

The centre-left liberal Democrats 66 (D66) party led by Sigrid Kaag finished second with 24 seats. 

As a result of the elections that took place on 15-17 March, the turnout was 78.7 per cent, compared to 81.9 per cent in 2017, as 10,462,677 of the 13,293,081 eligible Dutch people cast their vote. 

However, the government stepped down on 15 January as a result of the so-called child benefits scandal, in which parents were wrongly accused of fraud. 

Following the announcement of the preliminary election results, the two biggest parties (VVD and D66) started the coalition formation process. 

NEW YORK, 27 March, 2021 (TON): Saudi Arabia is committed to take legislative and procedural measures to protect women’s rights, Dr. Hala bint-e-Mazyah Al-Twaijri, Secretary-General Family Affairs Council affirmed.  

This included the elimination of discrimination against women and supporting their full and effective participation in development at all levels within the framework of Vision 2030, said the official.

The affirmation came during Saudi Arabia’s statement to the 65th session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women (CSW), which was held to coincide with International Women’s Day.

The officials highlighted that that the confirm active role of women, ensuring their rights, support and empowerment, in addition to  protecting them from violence and any obstruction to their progress was made into focus at the session.

DHAKA, 27 March, 2021 (TON): On Saturday, the Indian  PM Narendra Modi called Bangladesh a strong example of communal harmony, and assured commitment to deeply cooperate with Dhaka all the time.  

He made the remarks while addressing members of the Matua community in Gopalganj district following his visit to the Orakandi temple.

Over five crore Matua community people consider the Matua temple holiest.

"I'm blessed to come to this holy land of Orakandi. It is because of the blessings of Orakandi Thakur. When I first visited Bangladesh in 2015, I hoped that someday I will be able to come here. My wish has been fulfilled today.

"We are moving forward through the way directed by Harichand Thakur and his son GuruChand Thakur," the Prime Minister said.

Modi also met members of the Thakur family. He arrived in Tungipara aboard a helicopter after offering morning prayers at the Jeshoreshwari Kali temple in Satkhira district.

However, Modi is the first Indian head of state to visit Tungipara.

TIGRAY, 27 March, 2021 (TON): On Friday, the Ethiopian PM Abiy Ahmed affirmed that Eritrea will pull its troops out of Ethiopia’s northern Tigray region.

The announcement followed, as the PM faces the mounting pressure to end fighting in which both Eritrean and Ethiopian troops stand accused of abuses including mass killings and rapes.

Troops were deployed in the region in the wake of TPLF attacks on the camps.

For months both Addis Ababa and Asmara denied Eritrean troops were in Tigray, contradicting accounts from residents, aid workers, diplomats and even some Ethiopian civilian and military officials.

Finally, Abiy finally admitted Eritrea's role in an appearance before lawmakers on Tuesday, then flew Thursday to Asmara to meet with Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki.

After the meeting, Abiy tweeted, "The government of Eritrea has agreed to withdraw its forces out of the Ethiopian border. The Ethiopian National Defense Force will take over guarding the border areas effective immediately."

However, the Eritrean information minister Yemane Gebremeskel did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment.

KATHMANDU, 27 March, 2021(TON): A team to hold a meeting of the families of the convicts and other accused of the 2015 Tikapur incident held under the chairmanship of Tharuwan/Tharuhat Rashtriya Morcha’s coordinator Laxman Tharu has been formed to hold talks with the government.

On Friday, a press meet was organized at Hasuliya in Kailali district where Laxman Tharu informed of the formation of a six-member talk team led by Resham Chaudhary, serving his team term in Dilli Bazaar Prison in Kathmandu.

Other members of the team are Laxman Tharu, Ram Prasad Tharu, Chuniram Tharu, Bina Chaudhary and Yamuna Chaudhary. All of them are convicted by the court in connection with the Tikapur incident in which nine people were killed in a violent clash.

“We have formed a talk team as the government seems willing to sit down for discussions with the Tharu community. However, we have one condition, the talks should be held outside the prison with the participation of Resham Chaudhary,” said Laxman.

However, he made into focus that the front is ready to hold discussions regarding the release of the prisoners and that the government should withdraw false cases filed against Tharu people in connection with the Tikapur incident. Meanwhile, the meeting held on Friday also decided to appeal at the Supreme Court by 2 April this year.

ISLAMABAD, 27 March, 2021 (TON): After the detailed discussions on the Indus Water Treaty (IWT) during the tow-day meeting between the delegations of Pakistan and India in New Delhi, Islamabad will be hosting Indian delegation for the second round of talks next month.

“The dialogue with the neighboring country on the water issues would continue in the future," Mehar Ali Shah, the Indus Water Commissioner from Pakistan said.

On his return from India at the Wagha border, he said, "The Indian side has listened to the objections raised by Pakistan on different projects on its rivers and promised serious review of such projects."

The Indian external ministry said during the first round of talks, that both sides agreed to interact more frequently to resolve issues through bilateral discussions.

Shah highlighted the meeting of the Permanent Indus Commission (PIC) in New Delhi as a positive step forward as it had not happened since August 2018.

As per details of the meeting, "India has expressed willingness for the visit and will give us the names and dates for the site visits. Pakistan will invite Indian officials for a meeting after April 1," said Shah.

However, Pakistan's foreign ministry has maintained that both sides have agreed to make endeavors to resolve the issues, conduct tours of inspection and hold the next meeting of the commission in Pakistan at an early date.