LONDON, 05 August 2021, (TON): Afghanistan risks becoming a failed state unless government forces can prevent the Taliban’s advance, Britain’s most senior soldier warned.

Gen. Nick Carter, the chief of defense staff, said “Afghan forces have to secure a military stalemate in order to start talks between the government and the Taliban.”

He also warned the international community against giving credence to the Taliban and its leader Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, saying there is a risk of giving the group “legitimacy” that it does not deserve.

Carter said “the country becoming a failed state “is one of the scenarios that could occur, but we have to get behind the current Afghan government and support them in what they’re trying to do.”

“And if they can achieve a military stalemate, then there will have to be a political compromise. Even the Taliban at the level of Baradar recognize that they can’t conquer Afghanistan.

“There has to be a conversation. And the important thing is to achieve the military stalemate that can then bring on that conversation.”

KATHMANDU, 05 August 2021, (TON): Nepal welcomed around 3,000 international tourists last month. According to the Department of Immigration, 2,991 tourists arrived Nepal in July, 2021 via Tribhuvan International Airport.

Of them, 1,940 were males, 1,050 were females and one was another sex. With the relaxation of restrictions by the government of late, the number of people entering the country from outside has been gradually increasing.

In June, this number was 1,143. During the same period, 3,157 people departed from TIA. In the past one month, people from 99 countries across the world had arrived in Nepal and the highest number was from India with 1,105 followed by 819 from the US, 185 from the UK, and 165 from Turkey.

People from other South Asian countries include four from Bangladesh, 14 from Bhutan, five from Pakistan and three from Sri Lanka.Likewise, 78 Canadians, 50 Chinese,

45 Belgians, 41 French, 26 Dutch, and 19 Russians were welcomed in the country last month.

NAYPYITAW, 05 August 2021, (TON): The group said “foreign ministers from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) have appointed Brunei's second minister for foreign affairs, Erywan Yusof, as special envoy to Myanmar.”

 Erywan has been tasked with ending violence in Myanmar, opening dialogue between the military rulers and their opponents in the crisis-torn country, according to a communique released after meetings on Monday and Wednesday by the bloc's foreign ministers.

 The diplomat will also oversee a humanitarian aid package, although no details of the assistance were announced.

The United Nations and many countries, including the United States and China, have urged Asean, whose 10 members include Myanmar, to spearhead diplomatic efforts to restore stability in Myanmar.

The appointment of an envoy was central to those efforts but was delayed for months amid deep divisions within the Southeast Asian bloc.  On Sunday, the head of the junta, Min Aung Hlaing, announced he had been appointed prime minister and repeated a pledge to hold elections by 2023.

TEL AVIV, 05 August 2021, (TON): Israel called on the international community to consider military action against Iran following a fatal drone attack on an Israeli-owned commercial shipping vessel in the north Arabian Sea that took place last week.

Now is the time for deeds words are not enough. It is time for diplomatic, economic and even military deeds, otherwise the attacks will continue.”

Israel Defense Minister Benny Gantz said in a meeting in Jerusalem with representatives of United Nation Security Council members.

NAYPYITAW, 05 August 2021, (TON): According to the Karen National Union (KNU) “some 65 Myanmar army soldiers were killed and 101 injured in clashes with the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA) in Karen State’s Mutraw (Hpapun) District in the month of July alone.”

Thoolei News, under the KNU’s information department, posted on their Facebook page that a total of 133 battles were fought in the area last month, those injured included a junta battalion commander.

The news outlet said “the commander was wounded during one of the 29 battles fought during the third week of July.”

In the fighting, five homes belonging to villagers were reportedly destroyed. The KNU also reported that the military council was responsible for 25 episodes of artillery fire in civilian areas.  Four civilians also triggered landmine explosions.

Citing Col Saw Kler Doh, spokesperson for the KNLA’s Brigade 5, the territory of which is in Mutraw, local media said that two personnel from the military-allied Border Guard Force surrendered to the KNLA in July, and four light arms were confiscated at that time.

Three KNLA soldiers were also reportedly injured.

The news report stated that the occupying junta troops had stolen livestock from locals, including buffaloes and cows.

DHAKA, 05 August 2021, (TON): At least 14 Rohingyas who fled Bhasan Char for Chattogram were detained by locals in Noakhali's Companiganj upazila.

They were detained from Henju Mia Ghat of Char Elahi Union of the upazila around 4pm today and were handed over to Companiganj Police Station around 5:30 pm, reports our Noakhali correspondent.

Char Elahi Union Parishad Chairman Abdur Razzak, said "brokers helped 14 Rohingyas flee Bhasan Char for Chattogram three days ago. They (the brokers) put them on a fishing boat on the Bamni River in Char Elahi Union area and fled the scene. Later locals detained the Rohingyas and handed them over to the union parishad office and from there they were handed over to police."

The detained Rohingyas said “the brokers and boatmen agreed to bring them from Bhasan Char to Chattogram on contract for Tk 60,000.”

DHAKA, 05 August 2021, (TON): At least 19 people were killed and 16 others injured by lightning in two incidents in Chapainawabganj and Kishoreganj.

Of the dead, 17 including five women are from Chapainawabganj. They were travelling with a groom to a marriage ceremony.

The groom and his guests started their journey from Surynarayanpur area of Chapainawabganj by a boat for the bride's home in Panka area of Shibganj upazila.

Lightning hit the boat when it reached Telikhari Ghat near Panka around noon. The incident left 17 people dead, said Moudud Alam Khan, project implementation officer (PIO) of Chapainawabganj Sadar upazila.

As per government rules, the PIO is responsible for providing assistance to the families of the victims who die of lightning strikes.

Abdul Malek, officer-in-charge of Shibganj Police Station, said 16 of the dead were residents of Chapainawabganj Sadar upazila and the other one was from Shibganj upazila.

Ten of the injured were admitted to Chapainawabganj Sadar Hospital, said Dr Nurun Nahar, resident medical officer of the hospital.

TEHRAN, 05 August 2021, (TON): The commander of the Navy of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, Alireza Tangsiri said “the Iranian armed forces control the movements of all ships entering the Persian Gulf through the Strait of Hormuz.”

Today the strategic region of the Strait of Hormuz is under control. Any ship passing through is under observation.

The enemy knows that its movements are being monitored and even in the case of an unintentional violation there will follow a serious warning that must be swiftly obeyed.

Tangsiri added that the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps had established full security on the maritime borders of the region of the Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz.

Tangsiri said “the region’s Muslim countries maintain the security of the Persian Gulf and there is no place for foreign forces.”

He made this statement as the US, Britain and Iran have heightened their rhetoric over recent maritime incidents.

DHAKA, 05 August 2021, (TON): Bangladesh, for the first time in history, has sent a delegation to Iran for attending the oath-taking ceremony of an Iranian president, a step that analysts say reflects Dhaka's approach of maintaining balance in foreign policy.

Foreign ministry officials confirmed “State Minister for Foreign Affairs Shahriar Alam, head of the three-member delegation, yesterday arrived in Tehran, and would attend the oath-taking ceremony of the newly-elected President Ebrahim Raisi.

According to the Iranian embassy in Dhaka “the ceremony is going to be held at the Iranian parliament and will be attended by over 50 government or state heads.”

Iran, a country that has a bitter relationship with the US over sanctions and nuclear programmes, also has tension with many of the Middle Eastern countries including Saudi Arabia and UAE.

Mahfuzul Haque, a former director of Iran-based Radio Tehran, said Bangladesh maintained a neither so good nor so bad relationship.

NEW DELHI, 05 August 2021, (TON): officials said that India is sending a naval task force to the South China Sea this month to expand security ties with friendly countries, signalling its intent to play a bigger role in regional efforts to counter China.

The Indian military has been traditionally wary of antagonising China but the mood has hardened following clashes between troops on the disputed land border last year. The government has since drawn closer to the United States in efforts to push back against China.

The navy said in a statement “four ships including a guided missile destroyer and a missile frigate will be deployed for a two-month period to southeast Asia, the South China Sea and the western Pacific.”

The navy said "The deployment of the Indian Navy ships seeks to underscore the operational reach, peaceful presence and solidarity with friendly countries towards ensuring good order in the maritime domain."

The South China Sea has become one of many flashpoints in the testy relationship between China and the United States, with Washington rejecting what it calls unlawful territorial claims by Beijing in the resource-rich waters.