NEW DELHI, 30 July 2021, (TON): US Secretary of State Antony Blinken issued a veiled warning on Wednesday about Indian democracy backsliding in his first official visit to New Delhi.

Rights groups say “civil liberties and the space for dissent are under increasing attack in the world’s biggest democracy under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government.”

Antony Blinken told a joint news conference with Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar “the US and India “take seriously our responsibility to deliver freedom, equality and opportunity to all of our people”. But he added “we know that we must constantly do more on these fronts, and neither of us has achieved the ideals that we set for ourselves.”

Democracies should “always seek to strengthen our democratic institutions, expand access to justice and opportunity, stand up forcefully for fundamental freedoms.”

Blinken said “Under Modi, India has made growing use of anti-terrorism legislation and “sedition” laws to arrest campaigners, journalists, students and others.”

The Modi administration has also brought in legislation that detractors say discriminates against India’s 170-million-strong Muslim minority.

The government denies cracking down on criticism and says people of all religions have equal rights.

ISLAMABAD, 30 July 2021, (TON): The military's media wing said “Belgian Ambassador to Pakistan Philippe Bronchain has appreciated Islamabad's sincere efforts for bringing peace and stability in the region, especially the Afghan peace process.”

According to the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the appreciation comes during the meeting of the Belgian envoy with Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Qamar Javed Bajwa at the General Headquarters in Rawalpindi.

During the meeting, according to the ISPR “matters of mutual interest, regional security situation including the latest situation in Afghanistan and enhanced bilateral and defence cooperation were discussed.

The COAS said that Pakistan earnestly looks forward to enhance mutually beneficial multi-domain relations with Belgium based on common interests.

The ISPR said that the visiting dignitary appreciated Pakistan's sincere efforts for bringing peace and stability in the region, especially the Afghan reconciliation process.

Both sides reiterated the commitment to enhance bilateral relationships at all tiers, it added.

Earlier this month, US Charge d’Affairs to Pakistan Angela Aggeler called on General Qamar and also lauded Islamabad’s efforts for peace and stability in the region, especially in Afghanistan.

The ISPR statement said that during the meeting between the army chief and the US envoy, matters of mutual interest, the regional and current security situation in Afghanistan and bilateral cooperation in various fields were discussed.

PARIS, 30 July 2021, (TON): Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan met with the French president’s top diplomatic adviser, Emmanuel Bonne, at the Elysee Palace in Paris.

During the meeting, the two sides discussed strong Saudi-French relations and bilateral diplomatic ties, and ways to enhance them to serve common interests.

They also discussed the most prominent developments in the regional and international arenas.

The meeting was attended by the Saudi ambassador to France, Fahd bin Maayouf Al-Ruwaily, and the director general of the Saudi foreign minister’s office, Abdulrahman Al-Daoud.

ISLAMABAD, 30 July 2021, (TON): Prime Minister Imran Khan has said that Pakistan cannot be held "responsible" for the actions of the Taliban in the aftermath of US and its allies' ongoing withdrawal from Afghanistan, adding that his government is not a spokesperson for the group.

He said in comments to Afghan media representatives "what the Taliban are doing or aren't doing has nothing to do with us. We are not responsible, neither are we spokespersons for the Taliban."

The premier's remarks were a continuation of Pakistan's repeated warnings that it would not accept the responsibility if it was blamed for any deterioration in the Afghan peace process.

In June, National Security Adviser Dr Moeed Yusuf had said the sudden withdrawal of the United States from Afghanistan was not ideal, adding that any shifting of blame on Pakistan for “facesaving” would be unacceptable.

Earlier this month, the premier gave a robust response to Afghan President Ashraf Ghani’s allegation about Pakistan’s “negative role” in the Afghan peace process and said it was “extremely unfair” to blame Islamabad for the situation in Afghanistan.

PM Imran again distanced Islamabad from the happenings in Kabul, saying: "All we want is peace in Afghanistan."

TUNIS, 30 July 2021, (TON): Tunisian President Kais Saied appointed Ridha Garsalaoui, a former national security adviser to the presidency, to run the Interior Ministry and pledged to protect rights and freedoms.

Saied invoked a national emergency to seize control of government, dismiss the prime minister and freeze parliament in moves his opponents called a coup.

Tunisians are awaiting the appointment of a new prime minister and the announcement of a road map to find a way out of the crisis.

Saied said "I tell you and the whole world that I am keen to implement the constitutional text and keen more than them on rights and freedoms."

He added "no one has been arrested. No one has been deprived of his rights, but the law is fully applied."

Supporters of Saied have cast his intervention as a welcome reset for the 2011 revolution after years of economic stagnation under a political class that has often appeared more interested in its own narrow advantage than in national gain.

KABUL, 30 July 2021, (TON): The first group of 2,500 interpreters and their families evacuated from Afghanistan is expected to arrive in the US on Thursday

They will stay at the Fort Lee Army Base near Washington DC to complete the Special Immigrant Visa (SIV) process.

The SIV programme is offered to those who worked with the US government or American-led military forces during the Afghanistan war, which began in 2001.

Threats against Afghans who helped the US have risen amid Taliban advances.

The Army will house the 2,500 Afghans at Fort Lee while they finish the vetting process, medical screening and other requirements for the visa.

Since 2008, approximately 70,000 Afghans who have received SIVs have been resettled in the country, according to US officials.

Last week, a senior state department official said that the total number of SIV applicants stands just over 20,000. About half have yet to complete the first steps of the process.

KABUL, 30 July 2021, (TON): Afghan officials said that at least 80 people were killed with 100 more missing after a flash flood tore through a village in a Taliban-controlled area of eastern Afghanistan.

The deluge swept away most of the village in the Nuristan province, destroying around 200 homes, and caught most residents off guard because they were sleeping. By Thursday night, villagers had recovered around 80 bodies; as the search continues, local officials expect the death toll to surpass 200.

Abdul Naser, a resident of the district who visited the village, said “it is wiped out; nothing remains after floods. No aid has arrived yet, and there are no measures for caskets, coffins and funerals.”

The flash flood is the latest blow for Afghanistan, where fighting between government forces and the Taliban has displaced hundreds of thousands of people in recent months and pushed the country to the brink of a humanitarian crisis, aid agencies say. Since international troops began withdrawing in May, the Taliban have made a swift military advance, gaining control of more than half of the country’s 400-odd districts.

But as the militant group presses on in its offensive, raising the possibility of a complete Taliban takeover, many have questioned whether they could effectively govern the war-stricken and foreign aid dependent country if they seize power. The flood, in Kamdesh district, offered an early test for the Taliban’s ability to provide relief services — a sign of effective governance — in the areas they control.

“The area is under Taliban control, if the Taliban allow us, we will take aid to the area,” said Hafiz Abdul Qayum, the governor of Nuristan province.

In a statement Thursday evening, a Taliban spokesman, Zabiullah Mujahid, said that the group welcomed aid organizations’ assistance.

GENEVA, 30 July 2021, (TON): the State Department said “senior U.S. and Russian officials restarted talks on easing tensions between the world’s largest nuclear weapons powers and agreed to reconvene in September after informal consultations.”

U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman and Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov headed their delegations at the meeting at the U.S. diplomatic mission in Geneva.

Ryabkov as saying he was satisfied with the consultations and that the United States showed readiness for a constructive dialogue at the talks.

Armed with mandates from their leaders, it was the first time in nearly a year that the sides had held so-called strategic stability talks amid frictions over a range of issues, including arms control.

U.S. President Joe Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin, whose countries hold 90% of the world’s nuclear weapons, agreed in June to launch a bilateral dialogue on strategic stability to “lay the groundwork for future arms control and risk reduction measures”.

After informal consultations aimed at “determining topics for expert working groups” in the next round, the two sides agreed to reconvene in late September, State Department spokesman Ned Price said in a statement.

Calling the discussions “professional and substantive,” he said the U.S. side discussed its policy priorities, the current international security environment, “the prospects for new nuclear arms control” and the format for further talks.

The decision to meet again showed the sides understand the need to resolve arms control disputes, a senior State Department official said, that have seen an end to several Cold War-era treaties, including one that limited intermediate-range missiles.

COLOMBO, 30 July 2021, (TON): Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa declared open a Regional Consular Office of the Foreign Ministry in Kurunegala virtually on 27 July 2021.

Foreign Minister Dinesh Gunawardena, Minister of Highways & Chief Government Whip Johnston Fernando, Provincial Governor for North-Western Province Raja Kollure, State Minister for Regional Cooperation Tharaka Balasuriya, and several other dignitaries joined the opening ceremony.

This Regional Consular Office in Kurunegala will cater to the public in the North Western Province and neighboring regions providing a range of consular services such as attestation of birth, marriage and death certificates as well as educational certificates for overseas use; authentication of export documents and related certificates; extending assistance to family members of Sri Lankans stranded abroad; processing of compensation claims and other forms of redress to affected migrant workers, and repatriation of human remains of deceased Sri Lankans from abroad.

The Foreign Ministry, under the direction of Minister Dinesh Gunawardena, has taken an initiative to open Regional Consular Offices islandwide since January 2020 with the objective of giving impetus to the National Policy Framework of the Government “Vistas of Prosperity and Splendor” aimed at improving the productivity and delivery of consular services offered to the public.

This is the latest Regional Consular Office opened by the Ministry in order to provide consular services through a network of regional offices across the island, enabling the public to receive such services without travelling to Colombo, especially during this pandemic period.

WASHINGTON, 30 July 2021, (TON): Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken met in Kuwait City with His Highness the Amir of Kuwait Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, His Highness the Crown Prince Sheikh Mishal Al-Ahmed Al-Sabah, Prime Minister Sheikh Sabah Al-Khaled Al-Hamad Al-Sabah, Speaker of the National Assembly Marzouq al Ghanem, and Foreign Minister Sheikh Dr. Ahmed Nasser Al-Mohammed Al-Sabah to discuss regional security and other key issues important to the bilateral relationship.

Secretary Blinken recognized two milestones in the U.S.-Kuwait relationship, the 30th anniversary of Operation Desert Shield and 60 years of diplomatic ties and thanked the Amir for the enduring support that has enabled close cooperation in defense, counterterrorism, trade and investment, security, education, culture, and science.