WASHINGTON, 15 October 2021, (TON): Deputy Secretary of State for Management and Resources Brian P. McKeon met separately with Danish Permanent Under-Secretary of State Jean-Charles Ellerman-Kingombe and Permanent Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs Lars Lose on Thursday in Copenhagen.

In each meeting, the two sides emphasized the importance of the U.S.-Denmark relationship to security and prosperity in Europe and throughout the world.

They also reaffirmed our commitment to work jointly on global issues, including the Arctic and climate change, as well as other areas of bilateral and multilateral cooperation, including NATO.

RIYADH, 15 October 2021, (TON): People across countries in the Middle East have started a social media campaign to boycott Indian products to protest the Assam police’s brutality against Muslims during an eviction drive earlier in September.

The incident drew wide condemnation after a video of Indian police shooting a Muslim man went viral.

The widely circulated video also showed an Assam government photographer repeatedly stomping on a body during the eviction drive. The horrific video has triggered a backlash in the Gulf countries.

Boycott of Indian products on social media in the Arab world is currently underway.

The hashtag ‘India kills Muslims’ has been trending in Arab countries and India is being accused of genocide. Under the hashtag, many people expressed their support for displaced families and condemned the treatment meted out to them by Indian authorities.

On September 30, The Middle East Monitor, a publication focused on reporting from the region, revealed that members of Kuwait's National Assembly had condemned “the atrocities committed by the Indian authorities and Hindu extremist groups against the Muslim community”.

Kuwait’s National Assembly members also issued a joint statement against the attacks on Muslims in India.

TEHRAN, 15 October 2021, (TON): The Iranian military said that it had successfully tested anti-missile defences for “sensitive” sites during war games in central Iran, after Israeli and US warnings over its nuclear programme.

“The country’s air defences are perfectly prepared to protect sensitive and vital installations through a multi-layered defence system,” said General Amir-Qader Rahimzadeh, commander of Hazrat Khatam al-Anbiya airbase at Semnan, quoted by Fars news agency.

The exercises, which began, combined the army’s “Majid” defence system with the “Dezful” system of the elite Revolutionary Guard Corps to destroy incoming cruise missiles.

Iran’s central region is home to the Natanz enrichment plant and other nuclear sites.

The war games there came ahead of a visit to Iran expected on Thursday by a European Union envoy coordinating talks on reviving a troubled nuclear deal between Tehran and major powers including the United States.

Rahimzadeh said “a solid and multi-layered defence against cruise missile attacks was one of the objectives of the joint air defence exercises that were carried out successfully.”

These air defence systems are from now on “deployed all over the country,” said the head of the aerospace branch of the Guard Corps, Brigadier General Amirali Hajizadeh.

KABUL, 15 October 2021, (TON): Mohammad Muslim Haqqani, Acting Deputy Minister for Policy and Implementation of the Ministry of Refugees and Repatriations, signed a memorandum of understanding on four aid projects with Ismail Hamid, Director of Operations at Danish Refugee Association (DRA).

The signed memorandums, which have a budget of 3 million 897 thousand 708 dollars, include the following sections:

Monitoring protection, personal assistance and referrals in central, western and southern Afghanistan, life-saving services for men, women, boys and girls at risk in Ghazni, Maidan Wardak, Kapisa, Kunar, Zabul, Herat and Farah, humanitarian aid Focused on the client, improving the lives of people affected by the crises in Farah, Kandahar and Zabul, and providing emergency assistance to provide shelter for the most affected families affected by the crisis.

During the signing of the MoU, Haqqani also called on other aid organizations and institutions to continue assistance to displaced and needy families in coordination with the Ministry of Refugees and Repatriations. The two sides also stressed on implementation of the agreements.

ISLAMABAD, 15 October 2021, (TON): According to a statement issued by the Inter-Service Public Relations (ISPR) “Chief of the Army Staff (COAS) General Qamar Javed Bajwa said that the strategic partnership and defence collaboration between Pakistan and China is a factor of stability in the region.”

The statement said “General Bajwa expressed these views during a visit to the Army Air Defence Centre in Karachi to witness the commissioning of a Chinese-origin High to Medium Air Defence System (HIMDAS), HQ-9/P, into the Pakistan Army Air Defence.”

According to the military's media wing, the COAS highlighted the importance of air defence and said the induction of high-tech systems would make Pakistan’s air defence "impenetrable in the emerging threat scenario".

He added that the exemplary synergy between the Pakistan Air Force and Pakistan Army Air Defence had made the country’s air defence impregnable.

During the visit, Lieutenant General Hamooduz Zaman Khan, commander of the Army Air Defence Command, also briefed General Bajwa on the strategic weapon system.

ISLAMABAD, 15 October 2021, (TON): Pakistan has strongly condemned Indian Home Minister Amit Shah’s reported statement in which he threatened the country with so-called “surgical strikes”, saying it will spare no effort in “resolutely thwarting any aggressive designs”.

“Pakistan condemns in strongest terms the irresponsible and provocative statement reportedly made by Indian Home Minister threatening so-called “surgical strikes” in Pakistan,” Foreign Office Spokesperson Asim Iftikhar said in a statement issued in Islamabad on Thursday.

He said “while Pakistan is a peace-loving country, we will spare no effort in resolutely thwarting any aggressive designs.”

The spokesperson recalled that Pakistan’s swift response to India’s Balakot misadventure in 2019, including the downing of Indian combat aircraft and capture of Indian Air Force pilot, fully demonstrated the will, capacity and preparedness of “our armed forces to deter Indian aggression”.

He added that this delusional statement only goes to further demonstrate the BJP-RSS combine’s propensity to stoke regional tensions for both ideological reasons and political expediency, based on enmity towards Pakistan.

NEW DELHI, 15 October 2021, (TON): Taking the cover of back-to-back low-level terrorist activities in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK), Modi's cabinet ministers are back to the business of hurling threats at Pakistan, warning it of more “surgical strikes”.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Thursday, in an address in Goa state, mentioned the incident at Poonch, saying there was a time talks happened but now is the time to reciprocate.

He apparently cautioned Islamabad in his address and said that more such strikes would be invited by Pakistan should it choose to "transgress".

India, in the past, undertook several false flag operations, like the Pulwama attack and blamed Pakistan, even leading to a botched attack on Balakot.

The recent spate of several low-level terrorist activities in IIOJK, being closely monitored by security analysts, are seen as a precursor for major state-sponsored terrorist activity. The Indian stance has again caused a stir in the international circles, Pakistan and besieged the IIOJK population.

Known for his staunchly anti-Pakistan bias, Amit Shah said that under Prime Minister Narendra Modi and former defence minister Manohar Parrikar, a surgical strike was conducted. He termed it an "important step" and said “we sent out a message that one should not disrupt India’s borders.

LODON, 15 October 2021, (TON): According to the Telegraph newspaper “the Royal Air Force is carrying out secret missions to extract Afghan translators who manage to cross the border out of Taliban-run Afghanistan.”

The mission, which is understood to have started this week, could see hundreds of people who worked with British forces during the 20-year occupation of Afghanistan airlifted back to Britain.

The Telegraph did not report the specific locations of the airlifts, but Afghans have been fleeing Taliban rule toward various bordering countries, including Pakistan, Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan.

Technology obtained by the Taliban stored databases of civilians working with coalition forces, raising fears of retributory violence against the estimated 300 interpreters left behind when foreign troops withdrew. Many of them were forced into hiding, changing between safe houses to hide their location.

The planes will also extract stranded foreign nationals of allied states and will land in border regions of neighboring states rather than in the larger airports of capital cities. The aircraft being used are capable of landing on rougher terrain than standard craft, including roads, desert, and scrubland.

A government source told the Telegraph “more RAF aircraft are going in to pick people up from ‘friendly’ nations. We’ll be picking up a variety of foreign nationals, ARAP (translators eligible for evacuation under the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy), anyone left behind.”

Another source emphasized that the government had committed to “get as many people out as possible and they will do what they can to make that happen.”

WASHINGTON, 15 October 2021, (TON): Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken, has said that it is good to see everyone here, and it is especially a pleasure for me to welcome our friends here from the Hellenic Republic of Greece for the third U.S.-Greece Strategic Dialogue. Nikos, to you, to all of your colleagues, again, welcome. It’s so good to have you here.

This strategic dialogue is a signal of our shared commitment to deepen our partnership on the most urgent challenges that are facing both of our countries but also the entire region and, in many ways, the world.

And that’s because we believe that, together, Greece and the United States can become an even more powerful force for peace, for prosperity, and for human dignity. Because fundamentally that is what we both stand for.

This dialogue is an example of how close the friendship is between our countries, and how much we value each other.

When the founders of the United States, after hundreds of years of monarchies, sought to create a new form of government, they looked of course to ancient Greece, where democracy was invented.

It’s hard to imagine something as intrinsic to humanity as democracy being invented but it was, and it happened in Greece.

And I think this is particularly resonant today when in many ways the as President Biden has said, one of the central challenges of our time is to remind and demonstrate that democracies can effectively deliver for their citizens. And I think the United States and Greece together need to be working to demonstrate that proposition.

WASHINGTON, 15 October 2021, (TON): Under Secretary of Defense for Policy Dr. Colin Kahl, met with Brazilian Special Secretary for Strategic Affairs of the Presidency of the Republic, Admiral Flávio Augusto Viana Rocha, at the Pentagon to reaffirm the importance of the Brazil/U.S. bilateral defense relationship and further strengthen our partnership.

Dr. Kahl emphasized our nations’ shared values and our commitment to cooperation premised on respect for democratic governance and human rights.

Dr. Kahl and Admiral Rocha discussed regional security and mutual defense concerns in the maritime, cyber, and space domains. The two leaders also acknowledged the importance of integrating climate change and its impacts into future defense dialogues.