English LCCC Newsbulletin For Le

English LCCC Newsbulletin For Lebanese, Lebanese Related, Global News & Editorials
For August 30/2020
Compiled & Prepared by: Elias Bejjani
#elias_bejjani_news

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Bible Quotations For today
It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God
Saint Luke 18/18-30/:”A certain ruler asked him, ‘Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?’Jesus said to him, ‘Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone. You know the commandments: “You shall not commit adultery; You shall not murder; You shall not steal; You shall not bear false witness; Honour your father and mother.” ’ He replied, ‘I have kept all these since my youth.’When Jesus heard this, he said to him, ‘There is still one thing lacking. Sell all that you own and distribute the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.’But when he heard this, he became sad; for he was very rich. Jesus looked at him and said, ‘How hard it is for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God! Indeed, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.’Those who heard it said, ‘Then who can be saved?’He replied, ‘What is impossible for mortals is possible for God.’Then Peter said, ‘Look, we have left our homes and followed you.’And he said to them, ‘Truly I tell you, there is no one who has left house or wife or brothers or parents or children, for the sake of the kingdom of God, who will not get back very much more in this age, and in the age to come eternal life.’”.

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on August 29-30/2021
Ministry of Health: 1,153 new Corona cases, 4 deaths
Health Ministry launches national campaign for vaccination against Corona
Rahi: Lebanese society is corrupt, and we call on the security services to close the border crossings, prevent smuggling
Bishop Audi: “Is it possible for a sane person to follow that who rendered the country a farm?”
Reports: Govt. Formation Process Back to Square One
Report: Next Week Decisive for Govt. Formation
EU will reimpose COVID-19 travel ban on US, Lebanon, and Israel: Sources
Calm prevails in the towns of Anqoun, Maghdoucheh following army deployment
"Amal" denies any connection to Maghdouche incidents, says it will not allow situation to continue
FPM concerned about Maghdouche incidents, calls for overcoming situation
Diab contacts Akar, military leaders over Maghdouche, Anqoun situation
Tensions escalate between the towns of Anqoun, Maghdouche
Geagea addresses Aoun, Diab via Twitter over Maghdouche, Anqoun escalated tension
Abdallah: Citizen's guarantee has vanished with the Taif misimplementation
Sami Gemayel: We will not accept living as ‘overpowered people’ or subject to the will of some
Khair contacts Jordanian authorities to retrieve the body of expatriate victim George Nehme
Lebanon-Egypt gas wild theories unfounded: US plan is pro-Iran, pro-Hezbollah/Tony Badran/Al Arabiya/August 29/2021

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on August 29-30/2021
US carried out military strike in Kabul targeting multiple ISIS bombers: Officials
U.S. Warns of More Terror Attacks at Kabul Airport
Only 300 American citizens left to be evacuated from Afghanistan: Blinken
Taliban ‘brutally killed’ Afghan folk singer Fawad Andarabi: Former minister
Joint international statement says Taliban will allow Afghans to leave after Aug. 31
At least two dead including child in blast near Kabul airport: Reports
US woman told to stop taking credit for saving Afghan girls robotics team: Report
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu attends a press conference in Ankara,
Yemen’s president says Houthis ‘will pay the price’ for attack on al-Anad airbase
Macron Visits IS Former Stronghold in Iraq's Mosul
Iraq Brings Together Mideast Rivals at Baghdad Summit
Iran and Syria vow to confront US sanctions
Israel Strikes Gaza after Fire Balloons, Border Clashes
Canada/Joint statement on Afghanistan evacuation travel assurances
Fauci backs COVID-19 vaccine mandate for US school children

Titles For The Latest The Latest LCCC English analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on August 29-30/2021
Soft power will keep the US as world’s leader despite Afghanistan debacle/Makram Rabah/Al Arabiya/August 29/2021
The Taliban have amassed authority in Afghanistan but do not speak for the people/Heba Yosry/Al Arabiya/August 29/2021

The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on August 29-30/2021
Ministry of Health: 1,153 new Corona cases, 4 deaths
NNA/August 29/2021
In its daily report on the COVID-19 developments, the Ministry of Public Health announced on Sunday the registration of 1,153 new infections with the Coronavirus, thus raising the cumulative number of confirmed cases to-date to 6,000,451.The report added that 4 deaths were also recorded during the past 24 hours.

Health Ministry launches national campaign for vaccination against Corona
NNA/August 29/2021
The Ministry of Public Health is launching a national campaign to raise awareness on the importance of vaccination against the Coronavirus in the coming weeks. This campaign comes within the framework of the Ministry's successive efforts to limit the spread of the COVID-19 virus and ensure community protection to confront this pandemic.The campaign includes a series of awareness functions, advertising clips and a campaign on social media, in addition to a tour of a “Vacci-Awareness” bus to a number of remote Lebanese regions and villages, to encourage and speed-up people’s registration process on MoPH’s platform in order to receive the vaccine soon. Stressing the importance of receiving the vaccine, the Health Ministry affirmed the right of all persons residing on Lebanese territory to obtain the vaccine free of charge and with the highest safety standards guaranteed.

Rahi: Lebanese society is corrupt, and we call on the security services to close the border crossings, prevent smuggling
Agencies/August 29/2021
Maronite Patriarch, Cardinal Bechara Boutros al-Rahi, presided this morning over Sunday Mass at the summer patriarchal edifice in Diman. Rahi said in his sermon that it has become the duty of the country’s leaders, parties and popular movement to consult among themselves and meet in order to take national decisions and decide the necessary steps to push the state to change its performance before the great collapse that will not save anyone. He called for expediting the formation of a rescue government that is up to the challenges, neutral, non-partisan, and consists of highly qualified people. He also regretted that the Lebanese society is corrupt, calling on the security services to close the border crossings and prevent smuggling. Al-Rahi on Sunday criticized the "delay" in the port blast investigations. "Where is the probe into the crime of the Beirut port bombing? The martyrs' families and the Lebanese in general have the right to know the investigation's developments without delving into its secrets," al-Rahi said in his Sunday Mass sermon. "What is the fate of the summonings of MPs, ministers and the heads of security and military agencies? Why is there a delay and why summonings are accumulating without being followed up or settled?" the patriarch added. Commenting on the subpoena that has been issued against caretaker PM Hassan Diab, al-Rahi said keenness on respecting the country's top posts should not negate insistence on unveiling the truth, noting that the August 2020 blast had "destroyed the port and half of the city and left over 200 people dead and more than 6,000 wounded." "We are against politicizing, sectarianizing or impeding the probe!" the patriarch emphasized. He added: "We are against the exclusion of anyone from interrogation, especially that the President has expressed his willingness to appear before the investigative judge."And apparently defending Judge Tarek al-Bitar against attacks by Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah and the club of ex-PMs, al-Rahi said he is against "turning the investigative judge into a suspect."

Bishop Audi: “Is it possible for a sane person to follow that who rendered the country a farm?”
NNA/August 29/2021
Metropolitan Bishop of the Greek Orthodox Church of Antioch for the Archdiocese of Beirut, Elias Audi, wondered in his religious sermon during Sunday Mass at Saint George's Cathedral this morning, “how possible could it ever be for a sane person to follow those who have rendered the country a farm, humans as slaves and morals a corrupt commodity?”“Our country is enduring its current ordeals because everyone is compromising righteousness, their dignity and the dignity of the citizen,” he said. “Freedom and democracy in Lebanon are nothing but empty words, for democracy only accompanies a free, noble soul that respects oneself and respects others,” Audi asserted. The Bishop urged the Lebanese to be loyal and supportive to one another and to their country, saying: “Love your brethrens who need you most, and do not abuse them, imitating the unjust, who only care about themselves by securing what they eat, what they drink, and what they store…”

Reports: Govt. Formation Process Back to Square One
Naharne/August 29/2021 t
The government formation process returned to square one during the latest meeting between President Michel Aoun and PM-designate Najib Miqati, al-Joumhouria daily quoted "credible sources" as saying in remarks published Saturday.
"The main hurdles is neither about portfolios nor about candidates. It rather lies in the naming of the two Christian ministers who are not part of the shares of the President, the Free Patriotic Movement and the Syrian Social Nationalist Party," the sources said.

Report: Next Week Decisive for Govt. Formation
Naharnet/August 29/2021
The coming week will be "decisive" as to "revealing all the cards related to the governmental obstacles," informed political sources said. "The crippling conditions are still gripping the formation process, amid an inclination to witness further complications," the sources told Annahar newspaper in remarks published Sunday. Ruling out a fourteenth meeting between President Michel Aoun and PM-designate Najib Miqati, the sources noted that the latter "will not step down, at least not in this stage." "Miqati still believes in the need to form a government and will continue his efforts out of his concerns over the major and existential threats that the country is facing," the sources added. Moreover, the newspaper said that Miqati has received advices and wishes from the international community, especially France, to be patient and not to take rushed steps.

EU will reimpose COVID-19 travel ban on US, Lebanon, and Israel: Sources
Rawad Taha, Al Arabiya English/30 August ,2021
Two officials within the European Union institutions have confirmed for Reuters that the EU Council will on Monday announce its decision to remove from the list of epidemiologically safe third countries a total of six countries, including Lebanon, the US, and Israel. Schengen Visa Info said that the removal from the list means that the Member States are advised to reimpose the entry ban on travelers from these countries so that the same are no longer eligible to enter restriction-free for non-essential purposes like tourism and business. According to Reuters, the decision on reimposing the entry ban on US travelers has been taken on Friday, August 27, but it will be officially announced only on Monday, August 30. All countries affected have recently reported an increasing number of COVID-19 cases detected within their territory. Lebanon has recently reported an increase in COVID-19 cases following the Delta variant outbreak. The small nation has vaccinated only about 30 percent of its population. In the US, which is home to 328.2 million residents, a total of 38,158,495 cases have been detected since the beginning of the pandemic, 169,512 of which within the last 24 hours, data by the World Health Organization reveals.
Whereas Israel, which has so far vaccinated about 80 per cent of its 9.053 million population, has recorded 8,078 cases within the last 24 hours, bringing the number of infected persons since the beginning of the pandemic to 1,031,810. The complete list of the countries affected also includes Kosovo, Montenegro, and North Macedonia. Due to the increase in the number of cases, SchengenVisaInfo.com had reported for days now that the entry ban on Americans traveling to the EU for non-essential purposes would be brought back. The EU’s list of epidemiologically safe third-countries is a list of non-EU/EEA countries that are considered safe amid the COVID-19 pandemic due to the low rates of infections, and the Member States are advised to reopen the borders for non-essential travelers from these areas.

Calm prevails in the towns of Anqoun, Maghdoucheh following army deployment
NNA29 August ,2021
Sidon – A state of tranquility currently prevails in the towns of Anqoun and Maghdouche in wake of the army's deployment, under the direct instructions of Army Chief, General Joseph Aoun, whereby army units have taken control in the area which led to decreased tension in both towns.The Maghdouche Municipality also made a call to the office of House Speaker Nabih Berri, asking him to immediately intervene and help put an end to what is happening between the two towns.

"Amal" denies any connection to Maghdouche incidents, says it will not allow situation to continue
Sun 29 Aug 2021
NNA - "Amal" Movement confirmed in an issued statement this afternoon, that "it has nothing to do whatsoever with what happened in the town of Maghdouche, and considers it totally unacceptable, and by no means related to the aspect of coexistence that the Movement has always adhered to and sacrificed to protect and preserve Maghdouche as an icon in the south.""The Movement is following up with the Lebanese army, security forces, and Maghdoush activists on the current developments and will not accept that the prevailing situation persists," the "Amal" statement concluded.

FPM concerned about Maghdouche incidents, calls for overcoming situation
NNA29 August ,2021
The Free Patriotic Movement issued a statement this afternoon, in which it viewed with concern the "fabricated clashes" that the area of Maghdouche is witnessing, condeming the encroachment on the peaceful citizens.
The Movement expressed "all confidence in the awareness of our people in the region and in the fraternity they are keen on preserving as a basic factor to overcome what is happening," while urging "the military and security forces to take the necessary measures to control the situation."

Diab contacts Akar, military leaders over Maghdouche, Anqoun situation
NNA29 August ,2021
Caretaker Prime Minister, Hassan Diab, followed-up on the situation in the towns of Maghdouche and Anqoun, whereby he contacted Caretaker Minister of Defense Zeina Akar and the military and security leaders, urging them to control the situation and end the prevailing tension.

Tensions escalate between the towns of Anqoun, Maghdouche
NNA29 August ,2021
The town of Maghdouche is witnessing an atmosphere of tension, after a number of young men from the town of Anqoun forcibly entered the houses located at the outskirts of the town of Maghdouche, attacking the townsmen and smashing vehicles and shrines in the town, NNA correspondent reported this afternoon. Tensions also escalated between the two towns after members of the Maghdouche police station entered Anqoun, searching for the perpetrators who took part in the clash that occurred in the town two days ago.

Geagea addresses Aoun, Diab via Twitter over Maghdouche, Anqoun escalated tension
NNA29 August ,2021
Lebanese Forces Party Chief, Samir Geagea, addressed the President and Caretaker Prime Minister via Twitter today over the recent events in Maghdouche and Anqoun, saying: “Your Excellency, President of the Republic, and Prime Minister of the caretaker government, for the past two days, tension has been exacerbating between Maghdouche and Anqoun in wake of the gasoline crisis caused by your “wise policy”; and for two days no security or judicial measures have been taken to ease the tension between two Lebanese towns directly under your authority, until the situation exploded today, with attacks on homes and individuals in the town of Maghdouche, where tension still prevails.” He added: “The solution is clear: army deployment with force and intensity in both towns, giving it the necessary orders to stop any acts of encroachment and sabotage, and issuing immediate arrest warrants against the aggressors, all the aggressors, regardless to which of the two towns they belong; otherwise, you would be considered to be wasting the last of what remains of our civil peace.”

Abdallah: Citizen's guarantee has vanished with the Taif misimplementation
NNA29 August ,2021
“Among the diseases of Lebanese politics: the guarantee of justice - a Christian minister; guarantee of security - a Sunni minister; guarantee of money and finance - a Shiite minister; guarantee of each and every ministry is a sect, movement or party…As for the guarantee of citizenship, it has faded away with the misapplication or overthrowing of the Taif, or rendering Lebanon at the mercy of the international-regional gambling table,” tweeted Democratic Gathering Member, MP Bilal Abdallah, on Sunday.

Sami Gemayel: We will not accept living as ‘overpowered people’ or subject to the will of some
NNA29 August ,2021
Lebanese Kataeb Party Chief, Sami Gemayel, stressed "the necessity of building a new Lebanon on new foundations based on truth and frankness," asserting that "we cannot accept living in defeat or according to the whims of some…"Speaking at the swearing-in ceremony of a number of new party members from the Keserwan-Ftouh region, Gemayel said: “The challenge today is twofold: the first is to withstand all the difficulties that we experience in our daily lives, i.e. not to surrender and not to leave our country, and to hold on to our villages and homes….and to persevere and make a difference; while the second challenge lies in refusing to postpone our problems once again.” “At the end of this crisis, a different Lebanon must be built. We do not accept any of the arrangements that postponed our problems, neither through a Cairo, Taif or Doha agreement. Lebanon must be built on new foundations, on truth and frankness. We want to be honest with each other as Lebanese, whether or not we are ready to abide by the constitution and the law and live in equality, and if we are ready to live in a civilized, sovereign and decentralized country or not,” he emphasized. “Nevertheless, it is certain that we will not accept to live as if we are defeated, and we will not accept to live according to the will of some, i.e. those who want to drag us into war, isolate us and disrupt institutions and make us live the life we live today, this life we are not ready to live,” Gemayel strongly reiterated. He continued to affirm that it is high time the Lebanese citizens were open and sincere with one another and knew exactly in which country they wish to thrive. “We want to live as equals in the 10452 country, in a civilized, developed, democratic, neutral and decentralized state. We want to build a strong economy, return our youth and investors to Lebanon, prepare economic plans, and make our country Hong Kong and Monaco, not Hanoi and Vietnam, nor live by killing, humiliation and wars,” he maintained.“It is forbidden for our people in Lebanon to be humiliated,” Gemayel underlined. "Enough lies…We want people who work honestly to build a healthy society and a civilized and developed country, and this is what the Kataeb does,” he confirmed, calling on partisans to rise up to the call of duty in serving every village in this region and helping it remain steadfast and resisting to humiliation.

Khair contacts Jordanian authorities to retrieve the body of expatriate victim George Nehme
NNA29 August ,2021
Higher Relief Commission Secretary General, Major General Mohammad Khair, made a series of contacts with the Jordanian authorities and the Jordanian Ambassador, Walid Al-Hadid, to recover the body of the late Lebanese expatriate George Hanna Nehme, who was stabbed to death by a Jordanian work colleague, while he was traveling from Saudi Arabia to Jordan to meet his family. Coordination is taking place with the family of the deceased to return the body to his hometown of Kfar’aka in Lebanon’s Koura District. Major General Khair regretted the tragic incident, "which cost the Lebanese expatriate his life, as he struggled in the country of emigration to secure a decent living for himself and his family."

طوني بدران/العربية: نظريات استجرار الغار من مصر للبنان عن طريق البر لا أساس لها من الصحة، كما أن الخطة الأميركية هي موالية ولخدمة إيران وحزب الله
Lebanon-Egypt gas wild theories unfounded: US plan is pro-Iran, pro-Hezbollah
Tony Badran/Al Arabiya/August 29/2021
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/101779/tony-badran-al-arabiya-lebanon-egypt-gas-wild-theories-unfounded-us-plan-is-pro-iran-pro-hezbollah/
The US ambassador to Lebanon, Dorothy Shea, confirmed recently that the Biden administration is facilitating the export of Egyptian natural gas and Jordanian surplus electricity to Hezbollah-controlled Lebanon via Syria. Shea’s remarks came after Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah’s announcement that Iran was sending Lebanon shipments of fuel.
Even though the effort to wheel Egyptian gas had been reported last month, the coincidence in timing has led to a flurry of speculative commentary in Lebanon about the supposed meaning of the American initiative.
Always eager to see their affairs as the center of global intrigue, Lebanese commentators quickly weaved grandiose theories, tying the US plan to geopolitical threads that are as convoluted as they are fictional. Instead, the announcement is another misstep in Biden-era US policy that will benefit Iran’s Lebanese interests and its local arm, Hezbollah.
At the heart of the Lebanese speculative analysis is the conceit that the US is competing with Iran over Lebanon. By bringing gas and electricity from Arab countries through Syria, the argument goes, the US is countering Hezbollah, and preventing Lebanon from falling entirely into Iran’s orbit. Leaving aside the fact that Lebanon has been an Iranian satrapy for well over a decade – what does falling “entirely” even mean in this context? – this reading is off on all counts. It is confused both about the Biden administration’s regional posture as well as about the conduit for its latest initiative, namely Syria.
For the American plan to work, the Biden team would require the cooperation of the Assad regime and would therefore need to waive sanctions on Damascus. In other words, the administration would throw a lifeline to Iran’s other vassal, whom Tehran continues to prop up with assistance, ranging from funding to fuel shipments, and the support of a host of militias, led by Hezbollah.
Hezbollah maintains control of a stretch of territory in western Syria along the border with Lebanon. Ongoing Israeli strikes in this region, from Homs to Qusayr down to the area west of Damascus, is a testament to the group’s, and the Revolutionary Guard’s, entrenchment, and to the concentration of their military infrastructure in this area.
The area in question is also home to the transit point for the Egyptian natural gas, which Lebanon would receive through the Arab Gas Pipeline. The pipeline runs from Egypt to Jordan and Syria. From Homs, it would connect to the Deir Ammar plant in northern Lebanon.
After years of war, however, the Syrian section of the pipeline likely requires repairs. Shea might have alluded to this already, with her comments that there will be “some logistical things that need to happen too.” That is to say, this initiative will require investment in Syria, which is under US sanctions.
Speaking to Al Arabiya, Shea said she recognized that sanctions imposed on the Assad regime under the Caesar Syria Civilian Protection Act of 2019 posed an obstacle to the plan. Nevertheless, she expressed the administration’s determination to work around this hurdle: “There is a will to make this happen.”
The administration is looking to fund its plan through the World Bank. Washington’s discussions with the World Bank also covered financing the cost of repairs to the electric transmission lines and maintenance of the gas pipelines, the office of the Lebanese president said following an August 19 phone call between President Michel Aoun and Shea.
In other words, the Biden administration is looking to secure investment to rehabilitate infrastructure in Syria. This is on top of the transit fees Assad will demand and, presumably, collect.
Underscoring the falsehood of the conceit of competition with Iran, or of an alleged Hezbollah concern over wheeling energy through Syria, Nasrallah has welcomed the US plan. After all, Washington’s initiative is a positive development for both Hezbollah and its Syrian ally – Assad will receive sanctions waivers and potential investment, while Hezbollah maintains its position on both sides of the border.
Hezbollah’s support for the deal is further seen in the Lebanese delegation that will discuss the deal with the Syrians. Reportedly, it will be led by Hezbollah’s trusted troubleshooter and emissary, General Abbas Ibrahim, head of the General Security Directorate.
Most importantly, Nasrallah could not have missed the US ambassador’s response to his announcement on Iranian fuel shipments. Far from voicing opposition, never mind a threat to enforce sanctions, Shea seemingly offered only acquiescence: “I don’t think anyone is going to fall on their sword if someone’s able to get fuel into hospitals that need it.” The only objection Shea mustered was a feeble jab at Hezbollah’s reliability, questioning whether the terrorist group would distribute the Iranian fuel to all of Lebanon: “I ask you, can you count on Hezbollah to do that?”
Shea’s implicit acquiescence is in line with the posture of the administration she represents. As it set out to appease the Iranian regime in an effort to revive Barack Obama’s Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), Team Biden has waived sanctions on Iran’s oil trade to allow the regime to access frozen funds from sales to Japan and South Korea. In addition, the administration pointedly has not enforced sanctions on Iran’s oil trade with China.
It’s unclear whether the Iranian fuel shipments to Lebanon will unload directly there or will head to Syria and be brought in overland. The latter option poses some problems to the Lebanese theory regarding the alleged antagonism between Nasrallah’s announcement – the “Iranian plan” – and the wheeling of Egyptian gas through Syria – the “American-Arab plan” – which supposedly would cause friction between Tehran and Damascus.
A tweet by Lebanese Druze chieftain Walid Jumblatt captured how worthless these flights of fancy are. “Egyptian gas through Syria and Iranian fuel by sea, or via Iran – pardon me, Syria – or Russia, I don’t know.” Jumblatt’s quip shows how silly it is to build wild theories on a false and utterly meaningless distinction between Iran and its client, the Assad regime.
Either way, by seemingly acquiescing to the Iranian shipment and by actively looking to waive sanctions on Assad, the Biden administration’s posture is a win for Iran. Much like the Lebanese commentators, Team Biden will likely defend its initiative by arguing that it would serve the greater good of helping Lebanon or, better still, of countering Hezbollah.
This episode perfectly encapsulates the core problem with the very concept of a US “Lebanon policy.” Under the pretense of attempting to “save” Lebanon, US policy sets itself on a path which inexorably leads to shoring up the Iranian-dominated order led by Hezbollah. By definition, Washington’s “Lebanon policy,” whose proponents often will market it as an arena of competition with Iran, is, structurally, a pro-Iran policy.
*Tony Badran is a research fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. Follow him on Twitter @AcrossTheBay.

The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on August 29-30/2021
US carried out military strike in Kabul targeting multiple ISIS bombers: Officials
Reuters, The Associated Press/29 August ,2021
US officials say an American drone strike has hit a vehicle carrying multiple ISIS suicide bombers heading for the Kabul airport. A military official said the strike on Sunday caused “significant secondary explosions” indicating the presence of a substantial amount of explosive material in the vehicle.
The incident happened as police said a rocket struck a neighborhood just northwest of Kabul’s international airport Sunday as the US evacuation there winds down following the Taliban’s lightning takeover of the country, killing a child. The two strikes initially appeared to be separate incidents, though information on both remained scarce.

U.S. Warns of More Terror Attacks at Kabul Airport
Agence France Presse/August 29/2021
Suicide bomb threats hung over the final phase of the U.S. military's airlift operation from Kabul Sunday, with President Joe Biden warning another attack was highly likely before the evacuations end. More than 112,000 people have fled Afghanistan via the massive US-led evacuation since the Taliban movement swept back into power a fortnight ago, and the operation is winding down despite Western powers saying thousands may be left behind. What had already been a chaotic and desperate evacuation turned bloody on Thursday when a suicide bomber from the local chapter of the Islamic State group targeted US troops stopping huge crowds of people from entering the airport. More than 100 people died in the attack, including 13 US service personnel, slowing down the airlift ahead of Biden's deadline for evacuations to end by Tuesday. The Pentagon said Saturday that retaliation drone strikes had killed two "high-level" IS jihadists in eastern Afghanistan, but Biden warned of more attacks from the group. "The situation on the ground continues to be extremely dangerous, and the threat of terrorist attacks on the airport remains high," Biden said. "Our commanders informed me that an attack is highly likely in the next 24-36 hours."The U.S. embassy in Kabul later released an alert warning of credible threats at specific areas of the airport, including access gates. In recent years, the Islamic State's Afghanistan-Pakistan chapter has been responsible for some of the deadliest attacks in those countries. They have massacred civilians at mosques, public squares, schools, and even hospitals. While both IS and the Taliban are hardline Sunni Islamists, they are bitter foes -- with each claiming to be the true flag-bearers of jihad.
Unthinkable co-operation
The IS attack has forced the US military and the Taliban into a form of cooperation to ensure security at the airport that was unthinkable a fortnight ago.On Saturday, Taliban fighters escorted a steady stream of Afghans from buses to the main passenger terminal, handing them over to US forces for evacuation.
The troops were seen throughout the civilian side of the airport grounds and annexe buildings, while US Marines peered at them from the passenger terminal roof. After a 20-year war, the foes were within open sight of each other, separated by just 30 meters. Also in view of the U.S. troops were the Taliban's "Badri" special forces in American Humvees gifted to the now-vanquished Afghan army. Taliban spokesman Bilal Karimi tweeted that the group's fighters had already moved into parts of the military side of the airport, but the Pentagon stressed that U.S. forces retained control over the gates and the airlift.
Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said US troops had started withdrawing -- without saying how many were left.
'Heartbreaking'
Western allies that helped with the airlift have mostly already ended their flights, with some voicing despair at not being able to fly out everyone at risk. The head of Britain's armed forces, General Sir Nick Carter, told the BBC it was "heartbreaking" that "we haven't been able to bring everybody out".Two Afghan athletes were able to leave last weekend and spent a week in France before a "major global operation" took them to Japan for the Tokyo Paralympics. There was an emotional welcome for Zakia Khudadadi and Hossain Rasouli at the athletes' village on Saturday night. "There were lots of tears from everyone in the room," said International Paralympic Committee spokesman Craig Spence. French President Emmanuel Macron, meanwhile, said talks had begun with the Taliban to "protect and repatriate" at-risk Afghan nationals beyond Tuesday. France and Britain will on Monday urge the United Nations to work for the creation of a "safe zone" in Kabul to protect humanitarian operations, he said. The UN said it was bracing for a "worst-case scenario" of up to half a million more refugees from Afghanistan by the end of 2021.
'Good luck'
At the airport, gone are the crowds of thousands mobbing the perimeter, hoping to be let through and allowed onto a plane. The Taliban have now sealed off roads leading to the facility and are only letting sanctioned buses pass. An AFP photographer saw a journalist friend Saturday among those brought by bus for evacuation -- he had worked for the US-led coalition force's media department and was considered at risk of Taliban retribution. They embraced briefly before parting ways. "Good luck," they told each other -- one staying behind, and the other on his way to a new life.

Only 300 American citizens left to be evacuated from Afghanistan: Blinken
AFP and Reuters/29 August ,2021
Only 300 American citizens still in Afghanistan are seeking to leave the country, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Sunday, just days ahead of the US deadline for evacuations. “We are down to a population of 300 or fewer Americans who are still on the ground there, and we are working actively in these hours and these days to get those folks out,” he told ABC. Some Americans, Blinken said, had chosen to stay beyond the August 31 deadline set to complete the evacuation, but Blinken said “they are not going to be stuck in Afghanistan.” He said the US had “a mechanism to get them out.”Meanwhile, National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan confirmed in an interview with CBS that the US will not have an embassy presence in Afghanistan after the August 31 deadline to evacuate allies from Kabul airport. “Relevant terrorist groups,” in Afghanistan do not possess the ability to plot attacks abroad, he added.
The US will also consider more air strikes and other operations against ISIS-K plotters after an extremist attack on Kabul airport killed more than 170 people including at least 13 US troops.

Taliban ‘brutally killed’ Afghan folk singer Fawad Andarabi: Former minister
Marco Ferrari, Al Arabiya English/29 August ,2021
The Taliban killed an Afghan folk singer just days after stating that they would ban music from being played in public places, former Afghan Minister of Interior Masoud Andarabi said in a tweet on Saturday. Fawad Andarabi was “brutally killed” in the village of Andarab, according to the former minister, near the Panjshir Valley that harbors a resistance force rejecting Taliban rule. The extremist group has banned playing music in public, with Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid reportedly telling the New York Times that music is prohibited in Islam. “Music is forbidden in Islam, but we’re hoping that we can persuade people not to do such things, instead of pressuring them,” Mujahid told the New York Times. Although the group has taken a softer tone publicly when compared to their 1996-2001 rule, there are fears of a return to a repressive regime. Afghan pop singer Aryana Sayeed posted on Instagram on August 21 saying that she had managed to flee the country and was en-route to Istanbul. Mujahid also told women and children to stay home in a press conference Tuesday, saying that Taliban fighters were not trained to ensure their safety. The directive undermined efforts by the group to present a more tolerant front, bringing back memories of their first rule in which women were restricted from going to work and leaving the house.

Joint international statement says Taliban will allow Afghans to leave after Aug. 31
Reuters/29 August ,2021: 10:14
The Taliban will allow all foreign nationals and Afghan citizens with travel authorization from another country to leave Afghanistan, according to a joint statement issued by Britain, the US and other countries.“We have received assurances from the Taliban that all foreign nationals and any Afghan citizen with travel authorization from our countries will be allowed to proceed in a safe and orderly manner to points of departure and travel outside the country,” they said in the statement. The statement said the countries, which also included Australia, Japan, France, Spain and many others, would continue to issue travel documents to designated Afghans.

At least two dead including child in blast near Kabul airport: Reports
Marco Ferrari, Al Arabiya English/29 August ,2021
A child was killed in a rocket attack northwest of Kabul airport amid the US evacuation, according to an Afghan police chief. Early reports suggest at least two people have been killed and three injured in the attack, according to Afghan news agency Asvaka. A security official from the recently deposed government told AFP it was a rocket that “initial information shows hit a house.”The US carried out a military strike on Sunday in Kabul, two US officials told Reuters. The two strikes initially appeared to be separate incidents, though information on both remained scarce. An ISIS-K attack outside Kabul airport on Thursday killed more than 170 people including 13 US military personnel as Afghans queued up attempting to flee Taliban rule. The US retaliated with a drone strike that they say killed two top ISIS-K members. US President Joe Biden warned on Saturday that another attack was highly likely. With agencies

US woman told to stop taking credit for saving Afghan girls robotics team: Report
Reem Krimly, Al Arabiya English/29 August ,2021
A lawyer for Afghanistan’s girls robotics team has told an Oklahoma woman in the US to stop taking credit for the rescue of the team members, adding that she is putting their lives at risk, according to media reports. CNN had previously interviewed the woman claiming to have saved them, Allyson Reneau, calling her a “determined mother of 11 from Oklahoma.”The report said she “took action to evacuate ten members of an all-girls Afghan robotics team amid the ongoing chaos in Afghanistan.”The woman’s media appearances are endangering the safety of the girls of the robotics team, a lawyer for DCF, the team’s parent organization, said, as her claims are undermining ongoing rescue efforts in the country. The lawyer has sent a cease-and-desist letter to Reneau, the Washington Post reported. Last week, ten members of the team were evacuated from Kabul and taken to Qatar after the Taliban took over the country, according to a statement by the Digital Citizen Fund (DCF) and Qatar Ministry of Foreign Affairs. “Several members of the girls Afghan robotics team have safely arrived in Doha, Qatar, from Kabul, Afghanistan,” the statement said. Five girls from the team arrived in Mexico last week. “We give you the warmest welcome to Mexico,” said Mexican Deputy Foreign Minister Martha Delgado as she greeted them during a news conference at Mexico City’s international airport. Several members of the team are still in Kabul, but the DCF said it was working on organizing flights to get them out of the country.

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu attends a press conference in Ankara,
Reuters/29 August ,2021
Turkey cannot take the burden of a new migrant wave from Afghanistan, Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Sunday after talks with his German counterpart. “As Turkey, we have sufficiently carried out our moral and humanitarian responsibilities regarding migration,” Cavusoglu said, speaking in a joint news conference with German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas. “It is out of the question for us to take an additional refugee burden,” Cavusoglu said.Turkey currently hosts 3.7 million Syrian refugees as part of a 2016 deal with the European Union.

Yemen’s president says Houthis ‘will pay the price’ for attack on al-Anad airbase
Rawad Taha, Al Arabiya English/29 August ,2021
Yemen’s President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi said that the Iran-backed Houthi militia will pay the price for their attack on al-Anad airbase in the government-held southern province of Lahij on Sunday morning. At least 30 soldiers were killed and 60 wounded in Iran-backed Houthi strikes on a military base belonging to forces of the Arab coalition, southern forces spokesman Mohamed al-Naqeeb said on Sunday. Yemen’s president said that the terrorist Houthi militia will be held accountable for every crime it commits against Yemenis, and that the people’s battle against the Iranian project in Yemen is continuing, according to Yemen’s News Agency. He added that the Yemenis’ sacrifices will not be in vain and that the Iranian-backed militia’s attempt to drag the country into the past will fail and the people will turn the page and establish their federal state. The president called on everyone to unite in the face of the Iran-backed militias. “Whoever imagines that he will be spared the death project led by the Houthi militia, with its Iranian support, is delusional, and we all in the republic’s ranks should be well aware of this and direct our arrows towards this enemy,” the president added. The internationally recognized government, backed by an Arab military coalition -- and the Iran-backed Houthi militia -- have been locked in war since 2014, when the Houthis seized the capital Sanaa. In 2019, the Houthis said they launched a drone strike on al-Anad during a military parade, with medics and government sources saying at the time at least six loyalists were killed -- including a high-ranking intelligence official. Al-Anad, some 60 kilometers (40 miles) north of Yemen’s second city Aden, was the headquarters for US troops overseeing a long-running drone war against al-Qaeda until March 2014 when it was overrun by the Houthis. It was recaptured by government forces in August 2015 as they recovered territory from the Houthis across the south with support from the Arab coalition. with wires.

Macron Visits IS Former Stronghold in Iraq's Mosul
Agence France Presse/August 29/2021
French President Emmanuel Macron was to pay a visit Sunday to the Islamic State group's former Iraqi stronghold Mosul, a day after vowing to keep troops in the country. Macron made the commitment during a regional summit in Baghdad largely devoted to the fight against terrorism and the impact of the Taliban's takeover of Afghanistan as the US withdraws. "No matter what choices the Americans make, we will maintain our presence in Iraq to fight against terrorism," he told a news conference on Saturday. On Sunday, the French leader will set foot in Mosul, a Sunni Muslim city recaptured from the Islamic State group (IS) in 2017 after three years. His visit to Mosul, a melting pot of Iraq's diverse ethnic and religious communities, is seen as an opportunity to renew his support for Christians in the Middle East. Macron was to visit the Church of Our Lady of the Hour, a church that the U.N.'s cultural agency UNESCO is working to restore. France, which finances French-speaking Christian schools in the region, aims to boost the plight of Christians in the Middle East, as well as other minorities. "This message is civilizational but also geopolitical. There will be no balance in Iraq if there is no respect for these communities," said the French president. Macron was also due to make a stop at the site of Mosul's Al-Nuri mosque, where IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi had declared the establishment of a "caliphate" in 2014. IS blew up the famed 12th century mosque in June 2017 as Iraqi forces closed in on the jihadists in Mosul's Old City. UNESCO is now organising a vast project to rebuild it almost identically, with its famed leaning minaret. The mosque and church are part of three reconstruction projects led by UNESCO and funded by the United Arab Emirates to the tune of $50 million.
The initiative, called "Reviving the Spirit of Mosul", the largest in the organization's history, includes plans to rebuild Ottoman-style heritage houses as part of a European-funded project. The French president on Friday visited the Shiite Muslim shrine of Imam Musa Al-Kadhim in northern Baghdad district of Kadhimiya, accompanied by Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhemi. It was the first such visit for a French president, he said. Macron will also meet with young Iraqis, including entrepreneurs and students, at the University of Mosul. He will later Sunday visit Arbil, capital of the autonomous region of Iraqi Kurdistan. After a visit to French special forces at Camp Grenier, he will hold talks with Kurdish President Netchirvan Barzani, as well as his predecessor, Massud Barzani. "I look forward to discuss bilateral ties, Iraqi elections and other pressing issues with President Macron. I remain grateful for France’s continued support to the Kurdistan Region and Iraq," the Iraqi Kurdish president tweeted. Macron will also meet the family of a Peshmerga fighter killed by IS, to pay tribute to the Kurdish contribution to the fight against the jihadists.

Iraq Brings Together Mideast Rivals at Baghdad Summit
Associated Press/August 29/2021
Arab heads of state and senior officials from the region including archenemies Iran and Saudi Arabia held a rare meeting Saturday at a conference hosted by Iraq. The meeting is aimed at easing Mideast tensions and underscored the Arab country's new role as mediator.
French President Emmanuel Macron also attended the Baghdad meeting, hailing it as a major boost for Iraq and its leadership. The country had been largely shunned by Arab leaders for the past few decades because of security concerns amid back-to-back wars and internal unrest, its airport frequently attacked with rockets by insurgents.
On Saturday, Iraqi leaders were on hand at Baghdad International Airport to receive the red carpet arrivals. They included Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi, Jordan's King Abdullah and Qatar's Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani. It was the first official visit to Iraq by the Qatari emir, whose country's ties with Saudi Arabia are also fraught with tensions. Relations have improved recently since a declaration was signed with the kingdom and other Arab Gulf states to ease a years-long rift. Among the participants were also the foreign ministers of Iran and Saudi Arabia, whose rivalry over regional supremacy has often played out to deadly consequences in Iraq and other countries across the region, including Yemen and Lebanon. Saudi Arabia was represented by its foreign minister, Prince Faisal bin Farhan, and Iran with its foreign minister, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian. It was not immediately clear if the two ministers held a meeting on the sidelines. Iraqi Foreign Minister Fuad Hassan avoided a question as to whether they did, saying only: "These meetings in fact began in Iraq, and in Baghdad, and these meetings are continuing, and will continue." "What we understood from the two sides, or the parties, is a great and wide desire to reach positive results to solve the outstanding problems between the two countries," he added. The high-level meeting in Baghdad sent a message of Arab solidarity with Iraq, which has increasingly been pulled into Iran's orbit in recent years. "This summit marks the return of Iraq as a pivotal player in the region," said political analyst Ihsan al-Shammari, who heads the Iraqi Political Thinking Center in Baghdad. "Having rival parties be seated at the same table is a significant step in that direction." Iraqi special forces deployed in Baghdad, particularly around the Green Zone, seat of the Iraqi government, where the meeting was held. Participants were expected to discuss a regional water crisis, the war in Yemen and a severe economic and political crisis in Lebanon that has brought the country to the point of collapse. Lebanon, which has been without a functional government for the past year, and Syria, which has been suspended from the Arab League since 2011, were not represented at the meeting. Macron, whose country is co-organizing the meeting, described Saturday's meeting as "historic," showcasing Iraq's return to stability following the ruinous war against the Islamic State group, which was defeated in 2017.
Sunday's meeting was a chance for Iraqi leaders to underscore their recent efforts to portray Iraq as a neutral mediator in the region's crises and re-engage with the world after decades of conflict. "Iraq, which for years has been a headline for war and conflicts, is hosting leaders and representatives of the region today to affirm their support for Iraqi sovereignty and prosperity," said President Barham Salih. Earlier this year, Iraq hosted several rounds of direct talks between regional rivals Saudi Arabia and Iran, with mid-level officials discussing issues related to Yemen and Lebanon, according to Iraqi officials.
The talks, while significant, fell short of a breakthrough in relations given the deep strains, historic rivalry and continued sporadic attacks on Saudi oil targets by Iran-backed Houthis from Yemen. Saudi Arabia has sought talks with Iran as the kingdom tries to end its years-long war in Yemen against Iran-backed Houthi rebels. Tehran, meanwhile, appears to have calculated that a gradual detente with Riyadh, a longtime U.S. ally, will work in its favor during renewed nuclear talks with Washington and world powers. An Iraqi government official had told The Associated Press he anticipated Saudi and Iranian officials would hold talks on the sidelines of Saturday's meetings. He said the aim was to create a political atmosphere for resolving outstanding problems. Iraq's message at the summit is that it stands at the same distance from all sides, the official said. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to give official statements. After decades of conflict, Iraq is seeking to reclaim a leadership role and status in the Arab world with a centrist policy and a determination among the country's top leaders to maintain good relations with both Iran and the United States and its regional allies.
The Shiite-majority country lies on the fault line between Shiite Iran and the mostly Sunni Arab world, led by powerhouse Saudi Arabia, and has long been a theater in which Saudi-Iran rivalry for regional supremacy played out.

Iran and Syria vow to confront US sanctions
The Associated Press/29 August ,2021
Iran and Syria vowed on Sunday to take “mighty steps” to confront US sanctions imposed on the two regional allies, saying their relations will strengthen under Iran’s new leadership. The announcement was made by Iran’s new Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, who was received at the airport a visit to Damascus by his Syrian counterpart, Faisal Mekdad. Iran has been one of Syrian President Bashar Assad’s strongest backers, sending thousands of fighters from around the region to help his troops in Syria’s 10-year conflict that has killed half a million and displaced half the country’s pre-war population of 23 million. With the help of Russia and Iran, Syrian government forces now control much of Syria. But the country has been suffering for years under American and European Union sanctions. US Treasury sanctions have targeted a network that spans Syria, Iran and Russia, and which is responsible for shipping oil to the Syrian government. American sanctions were imposed on Tehran after former President Donald Trump pulled America out of a nuclear deal between Iran and world powers in 2018. The sanctions have caused severe fuel shortages in Syria, which has been relying mostly on Iranian oil shipments that have been subjected to mysterious attacks over the past two years. Syria has blamed Israel for the attacks. “The leadership of the two countries will together take mighty steps to confront economic terrorism and reduce pressure on our people,” Amir-Abdollahian said at the airport. He did not say how the two countries will fight the sanctions. Amir-Abdollahian’s visit to Syria comes a day after he represented Iran in a conference attended by officials from around the Middle East aimed at easing regional tensions. Amir-Abdollahian described Syria as the “land of resistance,” adding that Damascus and Tehran had worked together “on the ground and achieved joint victories.”

Israel Strikes Gaza after Fire Balloons, Border Clashes
Agence France Presse/August 29/2021
The Israeli air force attacked two sites in Gaza on Sunday, the army said, after Gazans clashed with forces on the border and launched incendiary balloons into southern Israel. The latest escalation came as Israel and Egypt continued to relax restrictions on commerce and travel imposed on the Gaza Strip, largely cut off by both countries since the Islamist movement Hamas seized the Palestinian enclave in 2007. Israeli "fighter jets struck a Hamas military compound used for manufacturing weapons and training as well as an entrance to a terror tunnel adjacent to Jabalia," the Israeli army said. "The strikes were in response to Hamas launching incendiary balloons into Israeli territory and the violent riots that took place yesterday," it said in a statement. The army said both incidents were "examples of how Hamas continues to employ terror tactics and target civilians." There were no reports from the Gaza Strip of any casualties caused by the Israeli strikes. Speaking in Washington, where he had met with U.S. President Joe Biden, Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said he held Gaza's Islamist rulers Hamas responsible for any unrest from the Palestinian enclave."As I have already said, our actions in Gaza will serve our interests," he told reporters before boarding a plane back to Israel. "As far as I'm concerned, the address (of those responsible) has been and remains Hamas."
Rafah crossing fully reopens
On Saturday evening, two wildfires broke out in the Eshkol region near the Palestinian enclave, Israeli firefighters said. Protests erupted later in the day, with the Israeli army firing tear gas and stun grenades as Palestinians burned tires on the border between Gaza and Israel, an AFP reporter said. The health ministry in Gaza said 11 Palestinians had been hurt in the clashes, three of them by live fire. Hours earlier, Gazans laid to rest Omar Hassan Abu al-Nile, 12, who died of his wounds a week after being shot by Israeli forces during border clashes. In 2018, Gazans began a protest movement demanding an end to Israel's blockade and the right for Palestinians to return to lands they fled or were expelled from when the Jewish state was founded in 1948. The often-violent weekly demonstrations backed by Hamas sputtered as Israel killed some 350 Palestinians in the territory over more than a year. Hamas and Israel then fought a devastating 11-day conflict in May, the worst between the two sides in years, which ended with an informal truce. Incendiary balloons from Gaza have continued in the following months, with Israel blaming Hamas. Israel has at the same time been easing restrictions on civilian life and commerce for the territory it has blockaded since 2007, when Hamas took power. On Sunday, Egypt reopened the Rafah crossing with the Gaza Strip to allow Palestinians to exit, after having partially reopened on Thursday for travel into Gaza. Rafah, Gaza's only gateway to the outside world not controlled by Israel, was shuttered on Monday by Egypt. Egypt gave no reason for the move, but Palestinian sources in Gaza said it was over the rise in border violence with Israel.

Canada/Joint statement on Afghanistan evacuation travel assurances
August 29, 2021 - Ottawa, Ontario - Global Affairs Canada
The text of the following statement with regard to Afghanistan evacuation travel assurances was released initially by the Governments of Canada, the United States of America, Albania, Australia, Belgium, Belize, Bulgaria, Burkina Faso, Cabo Verde, Central African Republic, Colombia, Costa Rica, Côte d’Ivoire, Croatia, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Denmark, Djibouti, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Estonia, Eswatini, Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, Finland, France, Gabon, Georgia, Germany, Ghana, Greece, Guinea, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kiribati, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lebanon, Liberia, Libya, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Madagascar, Maldives, Malta, Marshall Islands, Moldova, Montenegro, Morocco, Nauru, Netherlands, New Zealand, Niger, North Macedonia, Norway, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Poland, Portugal, Republic of Cyprus, Republic of Korea, Republic of Kosovo, Romania, Rwanda, Senegal, Serbia, Sierra Leone, Slovakia, Slovenia, Somalia, Spain, St. Kitts and Nevis, Sudan, Suriname, Sweden, Switzerland , The Bahamas, The Gambia, Togo, Trinidad and Tobago, Turkey, Uganda, Ukraine, Union of the Comoros, United Kingdom, Vanuatu, Yemen, and Zambia, and the Secretary General of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, and the High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy.
We are all committed to ensuring that our citizens, nationals and residents, employees, Afghans who have worked with us and those who are at risk can continue to travel freely to destinations outside Afghanistan. We have received assurances from the Taliban that all foreign nationals and any Afghan citizen with travel authorization from our countries will be allowed to proceed in a safe and orderly manner to points of departure and travel outside the country. We will continue issuing travel documentation to designated Afghans, and we have the clear expectation of and commitment from the Taliban that they can travel to our respective countries. We note the public statements of the Taliban confirming this understanding.

Fauci backs COVID-19 vaccine mandate for US school children
Reuters/29 August ,2021
Dr. Anthony Fauci, the top US infectious disease expert, said on Sunday he supports COVID-19 vaccine mandates for children attending schools as the highly contagious Delta variant of the coronavirus continues to fuel a surge in cases in the nation. “I believe that mandating vaccines for children to appear in school is a good idea,” Fauci told CNN’s “State of the Union” program. “We’ve done this for decades and decades, requiring polio, measles, mumps, rubella, hepatitis” vaccinations. Currently, children under 12 are not eligible to receive the COVID-19 vaccine. But Fauci, in a separate interview on ABC’s “This Week” program, said there should be enough data by early October for the US Food and Drug Administration to consider whether the shot is safe for children under that age. “I think there’s a reasonable chance” that the Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna vaccines could get FDA clearance for kids under 12 before the upcoming holiday season, Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and chief medical adviser to the White House, said last Tuesday. As schools re-open for the fall, the rise in coronavirus cases is already causing significant disruptions. Dozens of schools nationwide have had to delay the start of the school year or shut down since opening in August, according to data from tracking website Burbio tracker. Its data shows the impact on schools so far has been heaviest in the South, the epicenter of the current surge in cases and where vaccination rates among those already eligible are generally the lowest in the country. The re-opening of schools is also contributing to a supply shortage of COVID-19 tests in the United States as schools revive surveillance programs that will require tens of millions of tests, according to industry executives and state health officials, Reuters reported last week.

The Latest LCCC English analysis & editorials published on August 29-30/2021
Soft power will keep the US as world’s leader despite Afghanistan debacle
Makram Rabah/Al Arabiya/August 29/2021
“Raise ships and men to fight the pirates into reason than money to bribe them… It will procure us respect in Europe… and respect is a safeguard to interest.”
With these words Thomas Jefferson, the principal author of the US Declaration of Independence, and the third President of the United States envisioned his country’s involvement in global affairs. While he was at the time mainly interested in fending off the Barbary pirates of North Africa, this doctrine has lived through successive American administrations, regardless if there was a sense of isolationism or reservations about pursuing political interventions anywhere in the world.
Jefferson’s ethos was virtually non-existent in President Joe Biden’s speech on August 16 as he defended his rational, but clumsy decision to evacuate Afghanistan, and to abandon a country where he himself as a Senator, a former Vice President and the current Commander-in-Chief is partly responsible for the current state of affairs. The crux of the Afghanistan debacle does not really rest upon arguing for a continued US-armed presence in a country renowned for its many apocalyptic challenges. It falls on the gauche manner in which Biden decided for this long-awaited evacuation to transpire.
Unquestionably, this was not a technical mess up by the US forces whose military might and logistical capabilities could have avoided the ongoing dramatic scenes at Kabul airport, and one which has placed thousands of westerners and many local Afghans at risk. It has also compromised the global respect for the US, and the type of stature which Thomas Jefferson was adamant to uphold.
Biden’s underlying logic is not totally flawed. Perhaps a drastic move such as the hasty exit from Afghanistan is needed to break the vicious cycle that 9/11 unleashed. But the hasty retreat not only damaged Biden’s own image, but placed one on the United States’ most potent weapons: soft power.
American soft power is unmatched in modern history. The US has the military might and intelligence to bomb, invade and assassinate terrorists. Its drive for soft power stems from the liberal values it holds dear which, despite all the failings of its politicians at times, has survived the test of time. Biden’s cardinal sin was to blame the Afghans for not being able to fight off the invading Taliban hordes. These are the same hordes that Biden - and before him Trump - brokered a deal with to give them quasi-transitional power.
In Biden’s breakup speech, the most powerful man in the world came off as weak, perhaps not militarily, but morally because he simply walked away from a humanitarian crisis that is set to worsen when the Taliban show their true colors.
The recent ISIS-Khorasan attack on Kabul airport is a sober reminder of what is really at stake, and the impression of a condescending Biden is galling for the Afghans. The issue here isn’t about defeating ISIS in all of its different forms and names, but rather Biden’s childish belief that the Taliban can be a strategic partner for the United States in the region. This is similar to Obama’s perception that the late General Qassem Soleimani and his Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) could be an ally to drive out ISIS from Iraq and Syria.
Biden ran for office under the banner of morality and ethics against an opponent that didn’t shy away from highlighting his many flaws, including a selfish outlook where pragmatism was the direction the US should follow.
The President, and many members of his cult of so-called progressive followers are scrambling to justify the Kabul debacle.
This is not to disparage how they have maintained respect for diversity, race and women’s empowerment.
The problem is that Biden’s commitment to these things, along with American liberal values and soft power have all been left on the tarmac of Kabul airport, with thousands of pro-western Afghans placed on long kill lists from a Talban setting out for revenge.
American soft power, rather than its military might makes the nation stand above the rest, and despite the many debacles of successive administrations, the United States must keep its commitment of helping people from struggling nations who are living in dangerous political environments. Biden is pushing the narrative that the decay of Afghanistan is self-inflicted. This is not true. While Afghanistan will go down in history as Biden’s biggest fiasco, humanity is left with one essential truth: relying on the Taliban and its comrades is foolish. While Biden is in office for the next few years, soft power and liberal values and the people promoting them will always remind us never to try to bribe pirates nor try to portray them as angels.

The Taliban have amassed authority in Afghanistan but do not speak for the people
Heba Yosry/Al Arabiya/August 29/2021
As the images started emerging from Afghanistan of disheveled Taliban members convening in the Presidential palace in Kabul, reactions varied. Some expressed their concern about the inevitable deterioration of human rights in Afghanistan, particularly to women. Some expressed anger towards the US betrayal of the Afghans, most notably Tony Blair who penned an essay calling the impetus behind the withdrawal “imbecilic.” And, there are those who shared their jubilation of the resurrection of the insurgents who were able to humiliate the West and their cronies, recapture the country’s rugged terrain and exude awe and fear in the hearts of the feeble who desperately fled for their lives. Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan said the Taliban had broken “the shackles of slavery.” Imran’s sentiments were echoed across the world in sometimes muted and sometimes pronounced voices, even here in Egypt.
There has been lots of speculation surrounding the reasons behind the celebrations of the Taliban’s rise to power. When any rational person can clearly see that it is a calamity of huge proportion, and one that will not remain contained within
Afghanistan itself, the reasoning that the Taliban’s “victory” is a victory for Islam is futile. That Islam and Muslims have been humiliated for such a long time that this act is a vindication and restoration of Muslim pride across the world is preposterous, and I refuse to entertain it. The resurrection of the Taliban is effectively a resurrection of the Islamic caliphate that dwindled with ISIS.
For some, this is the beginning of a united flag that will ripple across the Muslim world. It is no accident that the Taliban are raising their own flag across their country. They didn’t come to rule Afghanistan, they conquered it.
Another reason for the glee was that by vanquishing the Americans it symbolized the end of imperial rule.
As Khan described it along with other leftist intellectuals, it was a symbol synonymous with freedom.
Yet, I fail to comprehend how this so-called freedom from the western oppressors can drive the oppressed citizens to tie themselves to moving planes so that they can at least die trying to escape the reign of their freedom fighters.
Or, how can this freedom allow a mother to juggle her baby through the suffocating crowds to be picked up by a soldier over a barbed wire fence, and not knowing if she will ever see her child again.
The Quran describes the agony of Moses’s mother when she had to drop him in the casket and throw him in the water as her heart was vacant. A mother can never let go of her baby, unless it is to save the child from inevitable doom.
Shouldn’t those people be the first to welcome the Taliban with open arms? After all, this is the group that broke the shackles of slavery.
The celebratory discourse surrounding the tragic events in Afghanistan is delusional, misguided and incredibly insulting to the Afghans who fear, not only their freedom, but for their very lives. Yet, a cacophony of voices cheer on as symbols of civility are trampled upon in the name of Islam.
These voices started emerging in Egypt with calls to embrace the Taliban’s success and to support the Muslim cause. These voices are insidious and dangerous. The Ministry of al-Awqaf, the responsible authority for supervising mosques and Imams, issued a decree to prevent any Imam from preaching in mosques if suspected of harboring extreme views about Islam. It understands that Islam needs to be detached from terrorism. That if a young and uneducated man or woman listens to a preacher who speaks of the pride that the Taliban has brought to Muslims, they could be inclined to follow the same path. It understands that the Taliban have amassed their authority, not through the guns they stole from the Americans, but by presenting themselves as the agents of God on earth.
They are Islam. They are the representatives of God. Going against the Taliban is going against God. This is the narrative being spun like a spider’s web, and if we don’t tackle it now we will become entangled. We must renounce the Taliban. We must renounce terrorism. The Taliban does not represent Islam.