KABUL, 15 July 2021, (TON): Taliban on Wednesday said they have gained control over an important trade route linking Pakistan with southern Afghanistan, hours after Afghan forces surrendered the critical transit point to the Islamist hardline insurgent group.

Afghan government officials were not immediately available to confirm the fall of a town in Spin Boldak district in Kandahar province situated next to the Durand Line border with Pakistan.

Zabihullah Mujahid, a Taliban spokesperson in a statement said "the Mujahideen have captured an important border town called Wesh in Kandahar."

He said "with this, the important road between (Spin) Boldak and Chaman and Kandahar customs have come under Mujahideen control.”

Afghan government data shows about 900 trucks cross the frontier each day, linking Pakistan with Afghanistan, Iran and Central Asian nations.Shafiqullah Attai, the chairman of Afghanistan Chamber of Commerce and Investment in capital city of Kabul, said the Taliban in recent weeks have taken control of Islam Qala and Turghundi in Herat province, ShirKhan Bandar in Kunduz and Abu Naser Farahi border port in Farah province.

WASHINGTON, 15 July 2021, (TON): An administration official said that the Biden administration is set to begin evacuations of Afghan interpreters and translators who aided the U.S. military effort in the nearly 20-year war.

The Operation Allies Refuge flights out of Afghanistan during the last week of July will be available first for special immigrant visa applicants already in the process of applying for U.S. residency, according to the senior administration official, who was not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.

President Joe Biden has faced pressure from lawmakers on both sides of the aisle to come up with a plan to help evacuate Afghan military helpers ahead of next month's U.S. military withdrawal. The White House began briefing lawmakers on the outlines of their plans last month.

The evacuation planning could potentially affect tens of thousands of Afghans. Several thousand Afghans who worked for the U.S, plus their family members, are already in the application pipeline for special immigrant visas.

The Biden administration has also been working on identifying a third country or U.S. territory that could host Afghans while their visa applications are processed.

CAPE TOWN, 15 July 2021, (TON): Fear of running out of gasoline and food has gripped South Africans on the sixth day of violence that has already left 72 people dead, against a backdrop of endemic unemployment and new anti-Covid restrictions.

At dawn, queues stretched out in front of petrol stations and food stores, particularly in Durban, in Kwazulu-Natal (east).

The day before, the country's largest refinery closed its plant in the region, which supplies about a third of the fuel consumed in the country.

Our correspondent said “the military had doubled the number of troops deployed to quell the violence.”

Mark Roughton in Cape Town "the initial forces on the ground, from the military, were 2500 troops. That number has now been increased to 5000."

On Wednesday morning, at least 72 deaths had been confirmed.

ANKARA, 15 July 2021, (TON): A spokesman for Turkey’s ruling AK Party said “Turkey and Israel agreed to work towards improving their strained relations after a rare phone call between their presidents.”

The two countries expelled ambassadors in 2018 after a bitter falling-out. Ankara has condemned Israel’s occupation of the West Bank and its treatment of Palestinians, while Israel has called on Turkey to drop support for the Palestinian group Hamas that governs Gaza.

Both sides say the other must move first for any rapprochement.

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan called Israel’s new president, Isaac Herzog, to congratulate him on taking office. Israel’s presidency is a largely ceremonial office.

Spokesman Omer Celik said after an AK Party meeting “a framework emerged after this call under which advances should be made on several issues where improvements can be made, and where steps towards solving problematic areas should be taken.”

Turkey has also recently been trying to repair its frayed ties with Saudi Arabia and Egypt.

MALE, 15 July 2021, (TON): India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi has congratulated Minister of Foreign Affairs Abdulla Shahid on his election as the President of the 76th UN General Assembly.

Modi expressed these sentiments over a phone conversation he held with President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih.

Shahid won the election with 143 votes, beating his rival, former Afghan Foreign Minister Zalmai Rassoul, who received 48 votes. India played a pivotal role in helping Maldives and Shahid achieve this win.

Following Shahid’s election, he had appointed Indian Deputy Permanent Ambassador to the UN, Nagaraj Naidu Kumar as his “Chef du Cabinet”.  The title is used by the head of an office in the United Nations Secretariat, appointed by the Secretary-General – and is equivalent to a ‘Chief of Staff’ status. Hence, Kumar will be responsible to lead the team that will work with Shahid.

In his speech after his election victory, Shahid vowed to select a team that achieves gender parity and represents all geographical regions made up of both developing and developed nations.

DHAKA, 15 July 2021, (TON): The Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh (CAAB) has decided to confiscate and auction off 12 airplanes parked at Dhaka airport.

These planes have been occupying a large part of the cargo village at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport (HSIA) for years, disrupting the loading and unloading operations of goods.

CAAB officials said “they will be sold over the failure of their owning companies to ensure proper registration and repayment of loans.

Of the aircraft to be sold, eight are owned by United Airways, two by Regent Airways and one each by GMG and Avina.

United, Regent, and GMG collectively owe some Tk1,000 crore to CAAB in different unpaid charges.

Of the total sum, United owes Tk311.17 crore, GMG Tk368.29 crore and Regent Tk283.38 crore.

LONDON, 15 July 2021, (TON): The head of the MI5 intelligence agency said that the British public now needs to be as alert to covert infiltration by hostile countries as it is to terror threats.

Ken McCallum warned that it is wrong to believe that other nations represent only a threat to the UK government, organisations or high-profile individuals.

he said in an annual speech “over the past five years, we have seen over 10,000 disguised approaches from foreign spies to regular people in the UK, seeking to manipulate them.”

We see the UK’s brilliant universities and researchers having their discoveries stolen or copied; we see businesses hollowed out by the loss of advantage they’ve worked painstakingly to build.

Given half a chance, hostile actors will short-circuit years of patient British research or investment.

WASHINGTON DC, 15 July 2021, (TON): The Biden administration intends to keep pursuing efforts to resurrect the 2015 Iran nuclear deal despite new allegations that Tehran plotted to kidnap a U.S. citizen.

A U.S. official familiar with the issue told POLITICO in a statement that restricting Iran’s nuclear program remains an “important and urgent” concern of the United States.

The official stressed that the U.S., categorically condemns the alleged Iranian plot.

But the official also noted that the fact that the United States was able to indict multiple Iranians suspected in the kidnap plot showed that Washington can simultaneously pursue multiple objectives when it comes to dealing with the Islamic Republic.

The official said “so yes, we intend to continue our effort to limit Iran’s nuclear program through a return to mutual compliance with the [deal] while also actively protecting American citizens and American interests on non-nuclear issues.”

Federal prosecutors unsealed the indictment in Manhattan.

It alleged that four Iranians plotted to abduct an Iranian American journalist living in Brooklyn who has sharply criticized the regime in Tehran for years.

NAYPYITAW, 15 July 2021, (TON): US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has expressed “deep concerns” about the military coup in Myanmar and called on Southeast Asian nations to take action to end violence and restore democracy in the country.

Blinken made the appeal during a meeting with foreign ministers of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

ASEAN has been leading the main diplomatic effort on Myanmar since the country’s military seized power in a coup on February 1.

According to a monitoring group “at least 902 people have been killed in the ensuing crackdown, while tens of thousands of people have been displaced amid fighting between the security forces and newly formed armed groups across Myanmar.”

During Wednesday’s video conference with ASEAN diplomats, Blinken urged the 10-country bloc, of which Myanmar is a member, to take “immediate action” on a five-point consensus that was agreed in April, according to a statement by the US Department of State.

NAYPYITAW, 15 July 2021, (TON): Former UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon said on June 1, four months after Myanmar’s military coup, that the country’s “regional neighbours have the levers in their hands to change the trajectory of this crisis.”

This statement provides a reasonable sense of actions to follow, especially when it comes to calling out Myanmar’s big neighbours when and if they enter into deals with the military junta, which seized power on February 1.

Among other neighbours like China and Thailand, India has come under the radar of Myanmar anti-coup activists who are opposed to the idea of any relationship between the Indian government and the junta and its generals. In the midst of a fight to restore democracy, these activists have been critical of other countries, particularly neighbouring democratic establishments, for not severing their ties with the coup regime.

India’s investments in Myanmar have been mostly focused on infrastructure development seen by New Delhi as “people-friendly projects,” yet Indian military ties with the Tatmadaw have also grown in recent years, although not as significantly as China, which has had huge investments in oil, gas, mining, and in the sale of military equipment and hardware.