NEW YORK, 20 September 2021, (TON): Warning of a potential new Cold War, the head of the United Nations implored China and the United States to repair their “completely dysfunctional” relationship before problems between the two large and deeply influential countries spill over even further into the rest of the planet.

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres spoke to The Associated Press this weekend ahead of this week’s annual United Nations gathering of world leaders.

Guterres said “the world’s two major economic powers should be cooperating on climate and negotiating more robustly on trade and technology even given persisting political fissures about human rights, economics, online security and sovereignty in the South China Sea.

“Unfortunately, today we only have confrontation,” Guterres said in the interview.

He said “we need to re-establish a functional relationship between the two powers.” he said

NEW DELHI, 20 September 2021, (TON): The White House revealed “US President Joe Biden will hold bilateral talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the margins of the Quad meeting in Washington on Friday. Biden will also meet separately with Japan's Prime Minister Yoshihide Sug.”

The two bilaterals are expected provide clarity, among other things, on the new AUKUS alliance involving Australia, UK, and US, aimed ostensibly at countering China's growing influence in the Indo-Pacific region.

Australia's Prime Minister Scott Morrison is the fourth leader in the first ever in-person Quad meeting that will take place later the same day.

While AUKUS is largely a military alliance involving transfer of top-tier military technology including nuclear propulsion systems, the Quad, which is also aimed at countering China, has a largely economic orientation given Japan's non-nuclear, non-militaristic commitments and Washington's residual unease with New Delhi's defense tie-ups with Russia and France.

India has often perceived the US as an unreliable and sometimes reluctant military partner whose technology transfer is constrained by legislative hurdles.

ISLAMABAD, 20 September 2021, (TON): Director-General Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Major General Babar Iftikhar has said that Pakistan is confident that the Taliban will fulfil their commitment of not allowing any terrorist organisation to use Afghan soil against any country including Pakistan.

In an interview, the chief military spokesperson said “Pakistan is in constant contact with Afghan Taliban officials to protect the country’s national security.”

He said that the Afghan Taliban have reiterated on several occasions that they would not let any group or organisation use the Afghan soil for terror activities.

Maj Gen Babar added “we have no reason to doubt their intentions, and that is why we are in constant touch with them to protect our national interest.”

Since the Taliban took control of the Afghan capital Kabul last month, Pakistan has been calling upon the international community to play its role in rebuilding the war-torn country to ensure peace and stability.

Pakistan has also urged the Afghan Taliban to form an inclusive government comprising all ethnicities including Tajiks, Hazaras and Uzbek.

Prime Minister Imran Khan last week also announced that he had initiated dialogue with the Taliban for an inclusive government.

He said “after 40 years of conflict, this inclusivity would ensure peace and a stable Afghanistan, which was in the interest not only of Afghanistan but the region as well.”

KHARTOUM, 20 September 2021, (TON): A protest leader said “dozens of demonstrators in Sudan have blocked key roads and a crucial port in the country’s east in protest at parts of a peace deal with rebel groups.”

Last year, several rebel groups signed a landmark accord with the transitional government which came to power shortly after the April 2019 ouster of long-time autocrat Omar Al-Bashir.

Protest leader Sayed Abuamnah said “we’ve blocked the (main) road connecting Port Sudan with the rest of the country since Friday as well as the main container and oil export terminals.”

Beja tribes people in eastern Sudan have criticized the fragile peace deal saying it does not represent them.

Port Sudan in the Red Sea state is the country’s main seaport and a vital trade hub for its crippled economy dependent on exports.

The protests come as Sudan grapples with deep economic woes left in the wake of Bashir’s ouster, whose three-decade iron-fisted rule was marked by prolonged US sanctions.

Abuamnah added “the closure will not be lifted until our demands to nullify the parts about east Sudan in the peace deal are met.”

BRUSSELS, 20 September 2021, (TON): The State Duma, regional and local elections in the Russian Federation took place on 17-19 September. The European Union regrets that Russia’s decision to severely restrict the size and format of an international OSCE/ODIHR Election Observation Mission prevented its deployment.

The EU takes note of independent and reliable sources reporting serious violations.

In the run-up to the elections, there was an increased crackdown on opposition politicians, civil society organisations and independent media outlets, as well as journalists.

This resulted in the limitation of the choice for Russian voters and their ability to get full and accurate information about candidates.

The EU reiterates its deep concerns over the continuous pattern of shrinking space for the opposition, civil society and independent voices across Russia. The EU calls on Russia’s leadership to reverse these negative developments.

The Russian Federation should abide by the commitments it has assumed within the framework of the UN, the OSCE and the Council of Europe in terms of protection of human rights and democratic values.

The EU does not and will not recognise the illegal annexation of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol by the Russian Federation, and therefore does not recognise the so-called elections held in the occupied Crimean peninsula.

WASHINGTON, 20 September 2021, (TON): France said “US President Joe Biden has requested early talks with French President Emmanuel Macron, in an apparent effort to mend fences after a row over a submarines contract sparked rare tensions between the allies.”

The announcement came after Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison rejected French accusations that Canberra had lied about plans to cancel the contract to buy French submarines, saying he had raised concerns over the deal “some months ago”.

Australia’s decision to tear up the French deal in favour of American nuclear-powered vessels sparked outrage in Paris, with Macron recalling France’s ambassadors to Canberra and Washington in an unprecedented move.

But French government spokesman Gabriel Attal said that there would be a telephone conversation between Biden and Macron “in the coming days” at the request of the US president.

Macron will ask the US president for “clarification” after the announcement of a US-Australian-British defence pact that prompted Canberra’s cancellation of the huge contract for diesel-electric French vessels.

Attal said “we want explanations” the US had to answer for “what looks a lot like a major breach of trust.”

Morrison meanwhile insisted that he and his ministers had made no secret of their issues with the French vessels.

KABUL, 20 September 2021, (TON): A senior official said “a Qatar Airways plane evacuated more than 230 people from Kabul airport in the Afghan capital to the Qatari capital Doha.”

Qatar’s Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Lolwah Al-Khater wrote on Twitter “Just now, the 4th Qatar Airways passenger flight took off from Kabul (HKIA) carrying more than 230 passengers, including Afghans & Citizens from the US, Germany, Belgium, Ireland, Canada, France, Italy, UK, Finland, The Netherlands. Welcome in Doha shortly.”

On Sept. 9-10, two planes carrying American and European passengers arrived in Doha from Kabul before departing for their countries.

A third plane carrying about 170 people from Afghanistan, the US and Europe landed in Doha.

ISLAMABAD, 20 September 2021, (TON): Prime Minister Imran Khan will address the 76th session of the United Nations General Assembly on Friday via video link.

During his address, the prime minister will focus on key global and political challenges faced by the international community, especially the Afghanistan crisis.

Pakistan’s UN representative, Munir Akram, said “Pakistan will draw world’s attention to the human rights violations in Indian occupied Kashmir, the imperative to stabilise Afghanistan, and the need to combat Islamophobia.”

He added “the PM will also stress the need to counter the disinformation being propagated by India and to address the economic challenges confronting developing countries amid the pandemic.”

Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi along with his delegation has departed for New York to take part in the UNGA session. The FM will meet his counterparts, senior UN officials and other dignitaries on the sidelines of the session.

KABUL, 20 September 2021, (TON): The European Union will focus on humanitarian aid as it figures out how to deal with the Taliban, aiming on an informal arrangement with Afghanistan's new rulers to ensure safe aid corridors, four diplomats and two officials said.

More than a month after the group took control following a chaotic Western withdrawal from Kabul, EU governments are also limiting their presence to the Qatari capital, Doha, where the Taliban have a representation.

The reduced ambitions reflect security concerns and confusion about who to deal with in the Taliban after their leaders announced a provisional government without women that ran counter to appeals from world powers for an inclusive team.

Diplomats said “the formation of a government of Taliban veterans and hardliners as well as widespread reports of human rights abuses have dented optimism they had changed since running the country between 1996 and 2001.”

An EU diplomat said that the Taliban will have to make a choice between money or isolation, but we have very little expectations of them. Today there are no signals."

Limited aid convoys are reaching Afghanistan, where poverty and hunger have spiralled since the Taliban took power on Aug 15, via the United Nations refugee agency. UNHCR chief Filippo Grandi also met with the Taliban in Kabul last week.

WASHINGTON, 20 September 2021, (TON): Rights groups in the United States have blasted the Biden administration for its planned expulsion of some 12,000 mostly Haitian migrants and asylum seekers who have been camped under a bridge in Del Rio, Texas, after wading across the Rio Grande River from Mexico.

US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said that 6,500 migrants and asylum seekers have been taken into custody in advance of processing and removal from the US. On Sunday, the first flights carrying migrants landed in Haiti’s capital Port-au-Prince.

“It’s completely unconscionable,” Steven Forester, immigration policy coordinator at the US-based Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti, told media. “There’s no way Haiti can handle the people that are in Haiti now given the conditions there. It can’t provide for these people.”

The US in May acknowledged the potential dangers Haitian migrants could face if they are deported back to their country [Ralph Tedy Erol/Reuters]

Images during the weekend showed hundreds of Haitian migrants trudging waist-deep across the Rio Grande while carrying their belongings over their heads to reach the US, heaping pressure on the Biden administration to rethink its immigration policies.

DHS said the vast majority of the migrants will be expelled under Title 42, a Trump-era health order that cites the coronavirus pandemic as a reason to quickly expel people seeking asylum at the US border.