US officials have repeatedly accused Pakistan of supporting the Afghan Taliban, which fought in a civil war in the mid-1990s before seizing power in 1996.
Islamabad, one of the few capitals to recognise the Taliban government that was toppled in 2001, denies the charge.
Pakistan's government has said that its influence over the movement has waned, particularly since the Taliban grew in confidence once Washington announced the date for the complete withdrawal of US and other foreign troops.
The official, who has direct knowledge of the country's security decisions, said Pakistan planned to send security and intelligence officials, possibly even the head of the powerful Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agency, to Kabul to help the Taliban reorganise the Afghan military.
An Afghan Taliban spokesperson did not immediately respond to Reuters' requests for comment on security relations with Pakistan.
PAKISTAN EXPECTS TALIBAN COOPERATION
Though recognition of a new Taliban government was not immediately on the table, the official said, the world should not abandon Afghanistan.
"Whether we recognise the Taliban government or not, stability in Afghanistan is very important."
The official warned that Islamic State Khorasan (ISIS-K), a loosely-affiliated offshoot of Islamic State in Syria and Iraq, was actively looking to launch attacks and recruit new fighters.
Left unhindered, it would almost certainly grow from relatively small numbers currently.
The United States recently launched two drone strikes targeting ISIS-K militants, including one in Kabul and one near the eastern border with Pakistan.
The strikes followed a pledge by President Joe Biden that the United States would hunt down the militants behind the recent suicide bombing.
The Taliban criticised the strikes as a "clear attack on Afghan territory".
Pakistan, whose armed forces also possess unmanned drones as well as conventional aircraft, will avoid intervening directly in Afghanistan if at all possible, said the official.
The Afghan Taliban have reassured their neighbour that they will not allow their territory to be used by anyone planning attacks on Pakistan or any other country.
But Islamabad expected the Afghan Taliban to hand over militants planning attacks against Pakistan, the official added, or at least force them from their mutual border, where Pakistani troops have been on high alert in recent weeks.
WASHINGTON: In the last call between US President Joe Biden and his Afghanistan counterpart before the Taliban seized control of the country, the leaders discussed military aid, political strategy and messaging tactics, but neither Biden nor Ashraf Ghani appeared aware of or prepared for the immediate danger of the entire country falling to insurgents, a transcript reviewed by Reuters shows.
The men spoke for roughly 14 minutes on Jul 23. On Aug 15, Ghani fled the presidential palace, and the Taliban entered Kabul. Since then, tens of thousands of desperate Afghans have fled and 13 US troops and scores of Afghan civilians were killed in a suicide bombing at the Kabul airport during the frenetic US military evacuation.
Reuters reviewed a transcript of the presidential phone call and has listened to the audio to authenticate the conversation. The materials were provided on condition of anonymity by a source who was not authorised to distribute it.
In the call, Biden offered aid if Ghani could publicly project he had a plan to control the spiralling situation in Afghanistan. “We will continue to provide close air support, if we know what the plan is,” Biden said. Days before the call, the US carried out air strikes to support Afghan security forces, a move the Taliban said was in violation of the Doha peace agreement.
The US president also advised Ghani to get buy-in from powerful Afghans for a military strategy going forward, and then to put a “warrior” in charge of the effort, a reference to Defense Minister General Bismillah Khan Mohammadi.
Biden lauded the Afghan armed forces, which were trained and funded by the U.S. government. “You clearly have the best military,” he told Ghani. “You have 300,000 well-armed forces versus 70-80,000 and they’re clearly capable of fighting well.” Days later, the Afghan military started folding across provincial capitals in the country with little fight against the Taliban.
In much of the call, Biden focused on what he called the Afghan government’s “perception” problem. “I need not tell you the perception around the world and in parts of Afghanistan, I believe, is that things are not going well in terms of the fight against the Taliban,” Biden said. “And there is a need, whether it is true or not, there is a need to project a different picture.”
Biden told Ghani that if Afghanistan’s prominent political figures were to give a press conference together, backing a new military strategy, “that will change perception, and that will change an awful lot I think".
The American leader’s words indicated he didn’t anticipate the massive insurrection and collapse to come 23 days later. “We are going to continue to fight hard, diplomatically, politically, economically, to make sure your government not only survives, but is sustained and grows,” said Biden.
The White House Tuesday declined to comment on the call.
After the call, the White House released a statement that focused on Biden’s commitment to supporting Afghan security forces and the administration seeking funds for Afghanistan from Congress.
Ghani told Biden he believed there could be peace if he could “rebalance the military solution". But he added, “We need to move with speed.”
“We are facing a full-scale invasion, composed of Taliban, full Pakistani planning and logistical support, and at least 10-15,000 international terrorists, predominantly Pakistanis thrown into this,” Ghani said. Afghan government officials, and US experts, have consistently pointed to Pakistani support for the Taliban as key to the group’s resurgence.
The Pakistani Embassy in Washington denies those allegations. “Clearly the myth of Taliban fighters crossing from Pakistan is unfortunately an excuse and an afterthought peddled by Mr Ashraf Ghani to justify his failure to lead and govern,” an embassy spokesman told Reuters.
Reuters tried to reach Ghani’s staff for this story, in calls and texts, with no success. The last public statement from Ghani, who is believed to be in the United Arab Emirates, came on Aug 18. He said he fled Afghanistan to prevent bloodshed.
By the time of the call, the United States was well into its planned withdrawal from Afghanistan, which Biden had postponed from the May date set by his predecessor, Donald Trump. The US military had closed its main Afghanistan air base, at Bagram, in early July.
As the two presidents spoke, Taliban insurgents controlled about half of Afghanistan's district centres, indicating a rapidly deteriorating security situation.
Afghanistan was promising a shift in its military strategy, to start focusing on protecting “population centres” – major cities rather than fighting to protect rural territories. Biden referred approvingly of that strategy. He said that doing so would help not just on the ground but in the “perception” internationally that was required to shore up world support for the Afghan government.
“I’m not a military guy, so I’m not telling you what a plan should precisely look like, you’re going to get not only more help, but you’re going to get a perception that is going to change …,” Biden said.Ghani, for his part, assured Biden that “your assurance of support goes a very long way to enable us, to really mobilise us in earnest.”
WASHINGTON (REUTERS) - United States President Joe Biden on Tuesday (Aug 31) defiantly rejected criticism of his decision to stick to a deadline to pull out of Afghanistan this week, a move that left up to 200 Americans in the country along with thousands of US-aligned Afghan citizens.
In a televised address, Mr Biden offered a sweeping defence of his handling of the Afghanistan withdrawal, saying he inherited an unstable situation from his predecessor, Republican Donald Trump, and that the 20-year war “should have ended long ago”.
“I was not going to extend this forever war, and I was not extending a forever exit,” he said, his voice rising with emotion as he spoke.
Mr Biden’s handling of the withdrawal has drawn sharp criticism from Republicans and his own Democrats as well as foreign allies, punctured his job approval ratings and raised questions about his credibility.
Of primary concern is the fate of Americans and Afghans who were not able to get on the last US flights out of Kabul airport this week after the Taliban took over the capital.
US officials believe 100 to 200 Americans remain in Afghanistan “with some intention to leave”, Mr Biden said.
He said most of those who remained were dual citizens and long-time residents who earlier had decided to stay, and added that the US was determined to get them out.
Many lawmakers had called on Mr Biden to extend the Aug 31 deadline to allow more Americans and Afghans to escape. He said on Tuesday it was not an arbitrary deadline, and that sticking to it was aimed at saving lives.
“I take responsibility for the decision. Now some say we should have started mass evacuations sooner and couldn’t this have been done in a more orderly manner. I respectfully disagree,” he said from the White House State Dining Room.
Mr Biden said a deal brokered by the Trump administration last year authorised the release of 5,000 prisoners, including some of the Taliban’s top war commanders.
“By the time I came to office, the Taliban was in its strongest military position since 2001, controlling or contesting nearly half of the country,” he said.
Even if evacuations had begun in June or July, Mr Biden said there still would have been a late rush to the airport by people wanting to leave.
He gave his strongest criticism to date of the ousted Afghan government’s inability to fight back against swift Taliban advances, which forced the US and its Nato allies into a hasty and humiliating exit.
But on Tuesday, Mr Biden said: “The people of Afghanistan watched their own government collapse and flee amid corruption and malfeasance, handing over their country to the Taliban.”
While most Americans agreed with him, the chaotic and deadly nature of that end will present fresh challenges in the months ahead.
Mr Biden’s presidency, which had been focused on fighting the coronavirus pandemic and rebuilding the economy, now faces political probes over the handling of the withdrawal as well as the logistical challenge of finding new homes for thousands of Afghans being moved to US military bases.
He also must contend with a surge in coronavirus infections, disasters like hurricanes and wildfires, and a series of difficult deadlines to get signature spending measures through Congress.
Republicans and some Democrats have expressed frustration and anger at how fast Afghanistan fell to the Taliban, the former leaders who were ousted by the US after the Sept 11, 2001, attacks, and what they call a botched withdrawal.
Republicans are expected to use the crisis to try to derail Mr Biden’s policy and legislative agenda and as a talking point in the 2022 mid-term elections. Republicans hope to take control of the Senate and House of Representatives from Mr Biden’s Democrats, which could hobble the second half of his presidential term.
Less than 40 per cent of Americans approve of Mr Biden’s handling of the withdrawal, and three quarters wanted US forces to remain in the country until all American civilians could get out, according to an opinion poll - by news agency Reuters and market research firm Ipsos - released on Monday.
Leading House Republicans, including the top Republican on the Foreign Affairs Committee, Mr Michael McCaul, said they wrote on Monday to Mr Biden’s national security adviser, Mr Jake Sullivan, requesting details of the plan to repatriate Americans and evacuate others left behind.
“Congress has a right to know how these evacuations will be facilitated and conducted,” McCaul said in a statement.
Their victory came after Biden withdrew nearly all American troops, then was forced to send back about 6,000 more to conduct the airlift.
Biden said he would address the nation on Tuesday in Washington, as his critics continued to savage him for his handling of the withdrawal.
"We can't fight endless wars, but the scope & consequence of Biden's failure here is staggering," Republican Senator Rick Scott said.
Biden's top diplomat, Secretary of State Antony Blinken, was able to offer little more than stern words for the Taliban.
"Any legitimacy and any support will have to be earned," Blinken said, as he announced the United States had suspended its diplomatic presence in Kabul and shifted its operations to Qatar.
AIRPORT UNCERTAINTY
All eyes will now turn to how the Taliban handle their first few days with sole authority over the country, with a sharp focus on whether they will allow free departure for those wanting to leave - including some foreigners.
Blinken said a small number of US citizens remained in the country - "under 200" but likely closer to just 100. Britain says the number of UK nationals inside Afghanistan are in the "low hundreds".
Many thousands of Afghans who had worked with the US-backed government over the years and fear retribution also want to get out.
Western allies have voiced heartbreak in recent days that not all Afghans who wanted to flee could get on the evacuation flights.
The UN Security Council adopted a resolution Monday, requiring the Taliban to honour a commitment to let people freely leave Afghanistan in the days ahead, and to grant access to the UN and other aid agencies.
Talks are ongoing as to who will now run Kabul airport, which German Chancellor Angela Merkel warned Tuesday was of "existential importance", because it is a lifeline for aid.
The Taliban have asked Turkey to handle logistics while they maintain control of security, but President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has not yet accepted that offer.
Refugees disembark from a US air force aircraft after an evacuation flight from Kabul at the Rota naval base in Rota, southern Spain, on 31 August 2021. - Japan was heavily criticised for evacuating just one passenger on its C-130 aircraft. (AFP via Getty Images)
Japan has been criticised for evacuating just one passenger on its C-130 aircraft from Kabul on 27 August, instead of more than 500, according to local reports.
The Kyodo News identified the Japanese national on the flight as Hiromi Yasui, 57, who ran a business in Kabul and was also a stringer for the outlet’s Kabul bureau.
Tokyo has come under scrutiny for its poor evacuation plans, which were underscored by this C-130 flight last week.
However, the newspaper Asahi Shimbun reported that Japan’s ASDF was also able to evacuate 14 Afghan government officials a day before, at the request of the United States.
They were evacuated by the ASDF from Kabul and then flown to Pakistan.
Japan had dispatched three aircraft for the evacuation mission, believing that 500 Japanese nationals, as well as several hundred local Afghans working for the Japanese embassy and Japan International Cooperation Agency, would be evacuated.
Buses manned by American troops were reportedly gathering those evacuees on Thursday when a powerful suicide bomb exploded at the perimeter of Kabul’s International airport, killing more than 170 people.
Japanese officials have refused to give details about the exact number of Japanese nationals still in Afghanistan.
“Upon considering the local situation and relevant countries’ movement, we’ve decided to move our personnel in Afghanistan to a nearby country temporarily,” Japan’s foreign ministry said in a statement. The spokesperson added: “We will continue to do our utmost to ensure the safety of Japanese nationals and local staff, and to provide assistance for their evacuation.”
On Monday, the UN Security Council adopted a resolution calling on the Taliban to allow safe passage for those seeking to leave Afghanistan.
As the last US troops left Kabul, the Central Command head General Kenneth McKenzie said that “73 aircraft that were already at the Kabul airport were “demilitarized” and that “those aircraft will never fly again... They’ll never be able to be operated by anyone.”
The Japanese defence minister, Nobuo Kishi on Tuesday ordered the withdrawal of the Self-Defense Forces from the rescue mission.
That distinction goes to Maj. Gen. Christopher Donahue, commanding general of the 82nd Airborne Division, who was photographed boarding an Air Force C-17 in Kabul:
The official time of departure was 3:29 p.m. EDT Monday, or 11:59 p.m. in Kabul.
Marine Corps Gen. Kenneth McKenzie, who leads U.S. Central Command, said more than 123,000 civilians had been evacuated from Afghanistan by the U.S. and its allies since Aug. 14, one of the largest airlift operations in history.
“Tonight’s withdrawal signifies both the end of the military component of the evacuation but also the end of the nearly 20-year mission that began in Afghanistan shortly after Sept. 11, 2001,” McKenzie said.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that 100 to 200 U.S. citizens remain in Afghanistan who wish to leave and that diplomatic efforts are underway.
“The military phase is over, but our desire to bring these people out remains as intense as it was before,” Blinken said.
This article originally appeared on HuffPost and has been updated.
CANBERRA/SINGAPORE - Australia will receive 500,000 doses of Pfizer's Covid-19 vaccine from Singapore this week, with Canberra returning the same quantity later in the year, the leaders of both nations said on Tuesday.
"We need to vaccinate the whole country and we need for those doses to go from one end of the country to the other and for them to be taken up," Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said.
"This will greatly assist the national vaccination program as it brings in two important age groups into the program — the 16- to 29-year-olds, which have already begun this week — and, of course, the 12- to 15-year-olds," Australian Broadcasting Corp reported him as saying.
Mr Morrison thanked Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong for helping facilitate the swop.
Mr Lee, in a Facebook post on Tuesday, said: "Our two countries enjoy a warm and long-standing friendship, and this is another example of our Comprehensive Strategic Partnership."
"Glad to support their efforts to get Australians vaccinated as soon as possible. Countries must be united in the battle to quell the pandemic, so that we can all move into the new normal. Singapore is ready to do our bit."
In a statement, Singapore's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said: "This arrangement will enable both countries to support each other in optimising our respective schedules for vaccinating our populations against Covid-19."
MFA noted the benefit Australia providing the same quantity of vaccines back to Singapore at a later date, "after we have drawn down on our existing supplies vaccinating the rest of our population, including new incoming long-term pass holders as we open up our society and economy.
"These returned doses would come in more useful for Singapore then, potentially as booster doses for specific segments of our population that could benefit from such boosting."
"Throughout the pandemic, both countries have been sharing best practices in our respective efforts to combat Covid-19, and have been working together to keep markets open and supply chains functioning globally."
With just under 28 per cent of Australia’s population fully vaccinated, compared with 80 per cent in Singapore, several states and territories have had to implement strict lockdowns as cases soared, hitting businesses and the domestic economy.
Capital city Canberra on Tuesday extended its hard lockdown by a further two weeks, and Victoria, the country’s second most populous state, is expected to soon follow suit.
“We are bending the curve down and are getting on top of the outbreak. However, it is a slow process and it will take more time,” Australian Capital Territory Chief Minister Andrew Barr told reporters in Canberra.
On Tuesday, Canberra reported 13 new cases in the past 24 hours. New South Wales reported 1,164 new infections, down slightly from a record 1,290 cases the day prior.
Victoria, which has been in lockdown for five weeks, on Tuesday reported 76 new locally acquired coronavirus cases in the past 24 hours, up marginally from 73 cases reported the previous day.
State Premier Dan Andrews said too many people remain unvaccinated to significantly ease restrictions, but that Victoria would outline a plan on Wednesday to reduce curbs as vaccination levels rise.
Australia has recorded nearly 54,000 Covid-19 cases and 1,006 deaths since the start of the pandemic, still lower than the caseload and death toll in most comparable nations.
WASHINGTON/KABUL (REUTERS/AFP) - The United States on Monday (Aug 30) said it had completed the withdrawal of its forces from Afghanistan following a chaotic airlift nearly 20 years after it had invaded the country in the wake of the Sept 11, 2001, attacks on America.
A senior Taliban official said on Tuesday (Aug 31) the the Taliban had "made history", as celebratory gunfire was heard across the Afghan capital after the last US troops pulled out.
"We made history again. The 20-year occupation of Afghanistan by the United States and Nato ended tonight," said Mr Anas Haqqani, a senior official in the hardline Islamist movement, in a tweet.
"I am very happy that after 20 years of jihad, sacrifices and hardship, I have this pride to see these historic moments."
Taliban spokesman Qari Yusuf said: “The last US soldier has left Kabul airport and our country gained complete independence”, Al Jazeera TV reported on Monday.
US President Joe Biden said in a statement after the withdrawal that the world would hold the Taliban to its commitment to allow safe passage for those to want to leave Afghanistan.
“Now, our 20-year military presence in Afghanistan has ended,” said Mr Biden, who thanked the US military for carrying out the dangerous evacuation. He plans to address the American people on Tuesday afternoon.
The operation was completed before the Tuesday deadline set by Mr Biden, who has drawn heavy criticism from both Democrats and Republicans for his handling of Afghanistan since the Taliban took over Kabul earlier this month after a lightning advance.
More than 122,000 people have been flown out of Kabul since Aug 14, the day before the Taliban - which harboured the Al-Qaeda militant group blamed for the 2001 attacks on New York and Washington - regained control of the country.
The chief US diplomat in Afghanistan, Mr Ross Wilson, was on the last C-17 flight out, Marine General Frank McKenzie, the head of the US Central Command, told a Pentagon news briefing.
“Every single US service member is now out of Afghanistan. I can say that with 100% certainty,” General McKenzie said.
Two US officials said “core” diplomatic staff were among the 6,000 Americans to have left. Gen McKenzie added the final flights did not include the fewer than 250 Americans who expressed a desire to leave but could not get to the airport.
“There’s a lot of heartbreak associated with this departure. We did not get everybody out that we wanted to get out. But I think if we’d stayed another 10 days, we wouldn’t have got everybody out,” Gen McKenzie told reporters.
The emergency air evacuation came to an end before a Tuesday deadline set by Mr Biden, who inherited a troop withdrawal deal made with the Taliban by his predecessor Donald Trump and decided earlier this year to complete the pullout.
Celebratory gunfire light up part of the night sky after the last US aircraft took off from the airport in Kabul on Aug 31, 2021. PHOTO: AFP
The US and its Western allies scrambled to save citizens of their own countries as well as translators, local embassy staff, civil rights activists, journalists and other Afghans vulnerable to reprisals.
The evacuations became even more perilous when a suicide bomb attack claimed by Islamic State - enemy of both the West and the Taliban - killed 13 US service members and scores of Afghans waiting by the airport gates on Thursday.
Mr Biden, who faced intense criticism at home and abroad over his decisions, promised after the bloody Kabul airport attack to hunt down the people responsible.
The departure took place after US anti-missile defences intercepted rockets fired at Kabul’s airport.
In recent days, Washington has warned of more attacks, while carrying out two air strikes. It said both hit Islamic State targets, one thwarting an attempted suicide bombing in Kabul on Sunday by destroying a car packed with explosives, but which Afghans said had struck civilians.
Most of the more than 20 allied countries involved in airlifting Afghans and their citizens out of Kabul said they had completed evacuations by Friday. Britain, closely involved in the war from the start, said on Saturday it had finished evacuations and withdrawn the last of its troops.
The chaotic scenes outside the airport for the past two weeks, where thousands thronged every day to try to get past the gates, were a bitter coda to the West’s two-decade involvement in Afghanistan.
In this photo taken on Aug 16, 2021, Afghans crowd the tarmac of the Kabul airport waiting to flee the country. PHOTO: AFP
While the Taliban have sought to present a more moderate face to the world and erase memories of the harsh fundamentalist rule they practised in the 1990s, the desperation by many Afghans to flee the country showed clearly the fear of the Islamist group.
Their seizure of the city on Aug 15, after the Western-backed government collapsed without a fight and President Ashraf Ghani fled, completed a rapid campaign that saw them sweep up all the country’s major cities in a week.
It is unclear whether the US pullout represents the end of American military involvement in Afghanistan – given Washington’s interest in punishing Islamic State for the airport attack and keeping the country from becoming a haven for militants.
Now in full control of the country, the Taliban must revive a war-shattered economy but without being able to count on the billions of dollars in foreign aid that flowed to the previous ruling elite and fed systemic corruption.
Cut off from some US$9 billion (S$12.11 billion) in foreign reserves and missing thousands of educated specialists who have joined the exodus, the inexperienced new administration must deal with a collapse in the Afghani currency and rising food inflation.
Banks remain closed, despite promises they would reopen, and the economic hardship facing those left behind has worsened dramatically.
KABUL: The US military has completed its withdrawal from Afghanistan to end a brutal 20-year war - one that started and ended with the hardline Taliban in power, despite billions of dollars spent trying to rebuild the conflict-wracked country.
Celebratory gunfire rang out in Kabul in the early hours of Tuesday (Aug 31), and elated senior Taliban officials hailed the event as a watershed moment.
The withdrawal came after the fraught final days of a frantic mission to evacuate tens of thousands of Americans and Afghans who had helped the US-led war effort - and which left scores of Afghans and 13 US troops dead in a suicide attack last week.
That attack - claimed by the Islamic State's Afghan offshoot - gave edgy urgency to the risky US-led international airlift from Kabul, and also revealed the possible troubles ahead for Afghanistan as the Taliban move to form a government and actually rule.
The withdrawal came before the end of Aug 31, the actual deadline set by President Joe Biden to call time on America's longest war - one that ultimately claimed the lives of more than 2,400 US servicemembers.
"I'm here to announce the completion of our withdrawal from Afghanistan and the end of the military mission to evacuate American citizens," US General Kenneth McKenzie told reporters Monday Washington time.
"Tonight's withdrawal signifies both the end of the military component of the evacuation but also the end of the nearly 20-year mission that began in Afghanistan shortly after September 11th, 2001."
The final flight left at 1929 GMT Monday (3.29am Tuesday Singapore time) - just before the start of Tuesday in Kabul, he said.
Biden said he would address the nation on Tuesday in Washington.
Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said Afghanistan had "gained full independence" with the US withdrawal, and Anas Haqqani, a senior Taliban official, said he was "proud" to witness "these historic moments".
AFP correspondents in the city heard celebratory gunfire from several Taliban checkpoints, as well as the cheers of fighters manning security posts in the green zone.
EXODUS CUT SHORT
The return to power a fortnight ago of the Taliban movement, which was toppled in 2001 when the United States invaded in retaliation for the carnage on 9/11, triggered a massive exodus of people who fear a new version of hardline Islamist rule.
SINGAPORE - So you have been to Germany, and Brunei's borders remain shut.
Still, the prospect of quarantine-free leisure travel finally beckons.
The Straits Times talks to industry experts who weigh in on popular destinations that may be future candidates for the Vaccinated Travel Lane (VTL).
However, they all caution the same thing - keep an eye on changing restrictions that may affect travel plans.
Expedia Brand's Apac head of communications Lavinia Rajaram says: "As the travel landscape evolves, and more destinations are carefully considered to be introduced under the VTL, it is crucial for travellers to be flexible, purchase travel insurance and research the local situation when planning for future or upcoming trips."
The Covid-19 situation and border measures are dynamic, and information is correct as of today.
The hopeful candidates
For an ideal VTL arrangement, a few factors must come together. The country or region must be deemed safe, welcome travellers from Singapore and be served by direct, designated flights.
Canada
Singapore is likely to partner with nations that have vaccinated a sizeable population with approved and internationally recognised vaccines, says aviation expert Simin Ngai from Cirium, a global travel analytics company.
Falling into category two, with almost 67 per cent of its population fully vaccinated and declining Covid-19 cases, Canada looks like one such moderate-risk destination.
The country is looking to open its borders to all fully vaccinated travellers from next Tuesday.
International flights can land at selected airports in cities such as Quebec and Ottawa. However, there are no direct flights between Singapore and Canada, which is currently one of the VTL requirements.
New Zealand
Dreaming of a road trip in crisp country air? New Zealand might just be on the cards. It has won plaudits for containing Covid-19 transmission with one of the lowest death rates in the world, though it saw an outbreak of the Delta variant of the virus last week.
New Zealand intends to move from an elimination strategy to a risk-based one by the end of the year. It has administered at least one dose of the vaccine to about 40 per cent of the population and is looking to ramp this up.
Australia
Australian PM Scott Morrison said that the country will gradually open up to fully vaccinated international travellers once 80 per cent of Australia is fully vaccinated. PHOTO: AFP
Australia's four-phase pandemic recovery plan is good news for those missing the laid-back life Down Under.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison last month announced that once 80 per cent of the country is fully vaccinated, it will gradually reopen to fully vaccinated international travellers from safe countries. It is aiming to achieve this by November.
And with flag carrier Qantas looking to resume international flights to Singapore by the end of the year, this is one destination worth keeping an eye on.
Denmark, Switzerland
What about countries already allowing in travellers from Singapore?
Of the nine category three countries, Denmark, Switzerland and Italy all appear likely candidates, with Singapore Airlines operating direct flights.
Of the three, Denmark looks the most promising from a public health standpoint. It has the highest vaccination rate, with at least 70 per cent of its population having received both doses. New cases have remained relatively low since the start of the year.
The country allows quarantine- free leisure travel for fully vaccinated people travelling from Singapore. Travellers from Singapore who are not fully vaccinated will have to take a Covid-19 test before departure and upon arrival.
Switzerland, meanwhile, has fully vaccinated about 51 per cent of its population and also allows quarantine-free travel for people from Singapore.
Switzerland currently allows quarantine-free travel for people from Singapore. PHOTO: ST FILE
Italy, however, still has some restrictions in place. It requires non-European Union citizens from Singapore, without family or long-term residence status there, to self-isolate for five days. About 62 per cent of its population is fully vaccinated.
Independent aviation analyst Brendan Sobie says Singapore is likely to take a measured approach, using the VTL with Germany as a pilot, and possibly making adjustments to the scheme.
He adds that it would make sense for Singapore to eventually open up to the European Union as a whole, especially since its borders are porous.
Taiwan
It is among four destinations that Singapore has classified in category one, with the lowest risk of Covid-19 transmission.
These destinations have the least stringent requirements for arriving travellers, who do not have to serve stay-home notice.
It has administered one dose of the vaccine to at least 40 per cent of the population.
While this makes it an ideal VTL candidate, independent aviation analyst Brendan Sobie points out that Taiwan, along with other category one destinations such as Macau and China, have not reciprocated with quarantine-free travel for visitors from here.
"The issue with the category one regions is that none of these are currently open to Singapore, so any VTL wouldn't have much of an impact," he says.
As with many Asian territories taking a zero-infection strategy, Taiwan remains cautious about relaxing border restrictions.
Japan, South Korea
The numbers of those who have received the first dose of the vaccine in Japan and South Korea have recently crossed the 50 per cent mark. ST PHOTO: KUA CHEE SIONG
What of Japan and South Korea, which are destinations on the wishlist of many? Both category three countries, their borders remain largely closed.
They have seen a spike in Covid-19 cases over the past month, making them less likely possibilities.
Still, those hankering for a cherry blossom holiday can take heart. Vaccinations in both countries are gathering pace, recently crossing the 50 per cent mark for first doses of the vaccine.
The wait-and-see
United States
Currently a category four country with the most stringent health measures for arriving travellers, there is hope yet for leisure travel to the United States.
Although 57 per cent of the US population is fully vaccinated, the Delta variant has caused spikes in Covid-19 cases in states such as Florida, Texas, Alabama and Tennessee. Bringing these numbers under control would bode well for a VTL.
Britain
Britain currently has a vaccination rate of about 63 per cent, and is willing to accept visitors from countries that have kept Covid-19 under control. PHOTO: REUTERS
Independent aviation analyst Shukor Yusof notes Britain's willingness to accept visitors from countries that have kept the pandemic under control, adding that the flag carriers of both countries have daily flights linking London and Singapore.
A vaccination rate of about 63 per cent is encouraging, though scientists in Britain have criticised the easing of most coronavirus restrictions last month. These include no longer mandating face masks in most locations and allowing venues such as nightclubs and sports stadiums to operate at full capacity.
In the middle of last month, Britain recorded its largest spike in new cases in six months. With the Delta variant and the public health system under strain, it remains to be seen if the country can bring cases under control.
Those that fizzled out
Hong Kong
Singapore's plans for a travel bubble with Hong Kong were called off in July. PHOTO: EPA-EFE
Hopes were high for the Hong Kong-Singapore air travel bubble, which was called off this month. The failed pilot demonstrates the importance of compatible Covid-19 strategies, says Cirium's Simin Ngai. "Hong Kong is pursuing a zero-infection strategy to eliminate Covid-19 while Singapore is working towards becoming Covid-19-resilient."
Bintan, Batam
Earlier this year, Indonesia announced a plan to establish a travel corridor that would allow quarantine-free entry for people from Singapore into the Riau Islands, including Bintan and Batam.
However, travellers would still have to serve a stay-home notice upon their return, making the weekend trip far less enticing.
Regardless, the plan has been shelved due to rising infection rates in the country.
KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - Malaysian Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob is under quarantine following a close contact with a COVID-19 patient, his office said in a statement on Monday.
His office did not say how long he would be in quarantine or whether he had been tested for the coronavirus.
Ismail Sabri was sworn in https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/malaysias-king-expected-name-new-pm-after-rulers-meet-2021-08-20 as prime minister earlier this month, succeeding Muhyiddin Yassin who had resigned after failing to hold onto a narrow majority in parliament.
He takes charge amid public anger over the handling of the pandemic, with a recent surge in COVID-19 cases to record highs and downgraded growth forecasts after the economy has been battered by extended lockdowns.
(Reporting by Liz Lee, writing by A. Ananthalakshmi; Editing by Ed Davies)
KABUL (AFP) - Rockets were fired at Kabul’s airport on Monday (Aug 30) where US troops were racing to complete their withdrawal from Afghanistan and evacuate allies under the threat of Islamic State (IS) group attacks.
President Joe Biden has set a deadline of Tuesday to withdraw all US forces from Afghanistan, drawing to a close his nation’s longest military conflict, which began in retaliation for the Sept 11 attacks.
The return of the hardline Islamist Taleban movement, which was toppled in 2001 but took back power a fortnight ago, triggered an exodus of terrified people aboard US-led evacuation flights.
But US forces are now focused chiefly on flying themselves and American diplomats out safely.
The IS group, rivals of the Taleban, pose the biggest threat to the withdrawal after carrying out a suicide bomb attack at the perimeter of the airport late last week that claimed more than 100 lives, including those of 13 US troops.
Mr Biden had warned more attacks were highly likely and the US said it carried out an air strike on Sunday night in Kabul on an IS-prepared car bomb.
That was followed on Monday morning by rockets being fired at the airport.
'We can't sleep'
The White House confirmed there had been a rocket attack directed at the airport, but said operations there were “uninterrupted”.
“The President... has reconfirmed his order that commanders redouble their efforts to prioritise doing whatever is necessary to protect our forces on the ground,” the White House statement said.
An AFP photographer on Monday took images of a destroyed car with a launcher system still visible in the back seat.
A suspected US drone strike had hit the car, about 2km from the airport.
A Taleban official at the scene said he believed five rockets had been fired, and all were destroyed by the airport’s missile defence systems.
Smoke is seen billowing near Kabul airport after several rockets were heard flying over the Afghan capital by @AFP staff Monday morning, a day after the US said it had destroyed a potential car bomb with an air strike. pic.twitter.com/8AqwTa5H7I
While there were no reports of fatalities or airport damage from the rocket attacks, they caused greater anxieties for locals already traumatised by years of war.
“Since the Americans have taken control of the airport, we can’t sleep properly,” Abdullah, who lives near the airport and gave only one name, told AFP.
“It is either gun firing, rockets, sirens or sounds of huge planes that disturb us. And now that they are being directly targeted, it can put our lives in danger.”
'Potential loss of innocent life'
The US said the air strike on Sunday night on the car bomb had eliminated another threat from the IS militants.
However, it may have also have killed civilians.
“We are aware of reports of civilian casualties following our strike on a vehicle in Kabul today,” Captain Bill Urban, a US Central Command spokesman, said in a statement.
“We would be deeply saddened by any potential loss of innocent life.”
In recent years, the IS’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 Taleban are hardline Sunni Islamists, they are bitter foes – with each claiming to be the true flag-bearers of jihad.
Last week’s suicide bombing at the airport led to the worst single-day death toll for the US military in Afghanistan since 2011.
The IS threat has forced the US military and the Taleban to co-operate in ensuring security at the airport in a way unthinkable just weeks ago.
The Taleban have promised a softer brand of rule compared with their first stint in power, which the US military ended because the group gave sanctuary to Al-Qaeda.
But many Afghans fear a repeat of the Taleban’s brutal interpretation of Islamic law, as well as violent retribution for working with foreign militaries, Western missions or the previous US-backed government.
Western allies have warned many thousands of at-risk Afghans have not been able to get on the evacuation flights.
"I feel like I'm a genuine Filipino now because getting circumcised is part of being a Filipino," Gruta said after the 20-minute procedure.
Wearing masks and face shields, the boys sat on plastic chairs near a row of wooden tables surrounded by a red curtain.
Some looked excited or did their best to appear nonchalant. Others fidgeted as they waited.
After removing their shorts, the youngsters lay down on a table with their legs hanging over the edge and their groin covered by an operating sheet.
Some bit into a facecloth or covered their eyes as they were given a local anaesthetic. The surgeon then went to work.
"I got circumcised because they said I will grow taller and I will get better in sports," said 12-year-old Almer Alciro, who went to another outdoor clinic for his delayed procedure.
His family could not afford a private hospital where the operation costs as much as 12,000 pesos (US$240) - more than what many workers earn in a month.
While he waited for the free service to resume, Alciro's friends mocked him as "uncircumcised" - an insult similar to coward in a country where the procedure is a badge of masculinity.
"I'm happy that I'm finally circumcised," Alciro said.
DEMARCATING LINE
Circumcision has been practised in the Philippines for centuries, enduring wars and colonisations by Spain and the United States.
Male circumcision tends to be more common in nations with significant Muslim or Jewish populations, and less so in Catholic-majority places.
Yet around 90 per cent of males are circumcised for non-religious reasons in the Philippines, according to World Health Organization data.
Boys as young as eight face social pressure to go under the knife. Even hospital advertisements urge boys to "Be Man Enough".
Mass circumcisions are common during the hottest months from April to June when school children are on a long break.
Normally hundreds of boys undergo outdoor surgery on a single day, but COVID-19 rules have drastically reduced group sizes.
Many areas have yet to restart the free service as they battle COVID-19.
The delays have knock-on effects.
Circumcision is an important "demarcating line" between boys and men, when the youngsters take on more responsibility in the family and learn about sex, said Nestor Castro, a professor of anthropology at the University of the Philippines.
"Once a boy gets circumcised, he already leaves the position of being a child and he is now considered ... as an adult," Castro said.
"If you are a circumcised male ... you should act as a grown-up man, no longer as a young boy."
JOHOR BARU (THE STAR/ASIA NEWS NETWORK) - Opening up the two land borders in Johor with Singapore that have been closed for more than a year due to Covid-19, must be among the top priorities of newly appointed Malaysian Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob, said Johor leaders and experts.
Leading the call is Umno Youth executive committee member Bastien Onn, who said that Datuk Seri Ismail must do whatever he can to convince the Republic that the pandemic, especially in Johor, is being managed well.
The Segamat division youth chief called on the new administration to discuss putting in place a proper mechanism to allow Malaysians to cross the border daily, with its Singapore counterparts.
"Prior to Covid-19, an average of 200,000 Malaysians crossed the border daily due to work commitments.
"Once our government is able to convince Singapore that Malaysia can overcome Covid-19, then our cross-border travel should resume," he said when contacted on Sunday (Aug 29).
Universiti Teknologi Malaysia's Azman Hashim International Business School Associate Professor L. Nanthakumar said getting the Causeway and Second Link reopened as soon as possible is key to both nations' economy.
"We should hasten our vaccination effort and introduce a green lane to allow those already vaccinated to travel between both countries.
"Singapore needs Malaysian workers while we depend on Singapore investments to drive up our economy," he said, adding that the Republic has already opened up its border to several countries.
Johor South small and medium-sized enterprise adviser Teh Kee Sin noted the importance of Singapore as one of Malaysia's main partners in foreign direct investments in the past decade, especially in the southern region.
"In addition, Singaporeans are big spenders and among the biggest group of tourists visiting many states in Malaysia, helping to grow our tourism sector," he said.
Mr Teh said many are hoping to enter Malaysia once infections are brought under control.
"We hope fully vaccinated Singaporeans and Malaysians are allowed to travel in and out of both countries so that we can see economic activities in Johor and our city area thrive again," he added.
Last Monday, two days after he was sworn in as Malaysia's ninth Prime Minister, Mr Ismail received an invitation from Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong to visit the Republic.
In a separate congratulatory letter to Mr Ismail, PM Lee said the two governments have worked closely on shared challenges including the Covid-19 pandemic and he looked forward to expanding their cooperation for mutual benefit.
The United States has evacuated nearly 5,500 American citizens from Afghanistan since Aug 14, including 50 in the last day, and was still working to get about 250 American citizens still in the country onto evacuation flights, a State Department spokesman said.
The Taliban had pledged to allow Afghans to leave Afghanistan after Tuesday's deadline for the withdrawal of North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) troops, after which the United States was unlikely to have any diplomats in the country to help at-risk Afghans who miss out on the evacuation flights, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in an interview on NBC's Meet the Press programme.
"In terms of having an on-the-ground diplomatic presence on September 1st, that's not likely to happen," Blinken said.
Senator Ben Sasse, a Republican member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said that the administration had failed to plan for a Taliban takeover, and criticised Blinken for giving an overly positive view of the evacuation effort.
"Their plan has basically been happy talk. People have died and people are going to die because President Biden decided to rely on happy talk instead of reality," Sasse told ABC's This Week.
Other members of Congress have vowed to probe what went awry in Afghanistan.
Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Menendez, a Democrat, said earlier this month that his panel will hold a hearing on US policy towards Afghanistan "including the Trump administration’s flawed negotiations with (the) Taliban, and the Biden administration's flawed execution of the US withdrawal".
The collapse of the government leaves an administrative vacuum that has led to fears of an economic crisis and widespread hunger.
Prices for commodities like flour, oil and rice are rapidly rising and the currency is plunging, with money changers across the border in Pakistan already refusing to accept the afghani.
On Saturday, officials ordered banks to reopen and imposed a limit on withdrawals of US$200 or 20,000 afghani. Long queues of people trying to withdraw money formed outside bank branches.
Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid has said that the difficulties will subside quickly once the new administration is up and running.
But with its economy shattered by 40 years of war, Afghanistan is now facing the end of billions of dollars in foreign aid poured in by Western donors.
Mujahid said that the Taliban would announce a full Cabinet in the coming days. It had appointed governors and police chiefs in all but one of Afghanistan's 34 provinces, he said.
It also appealed to the United States and other Western nations to maintain diplomatic relations after withdrawing. Britain said that should happen only if the Taliban allow safe passage for those who want to leave and respect human rights.
The Taliban's 1996 to 2001 rule was marked by a harsh version of sharia, Islamic law, with many political rights and basic freedoms curtailed and women severely oppressed.
Afghanistan was also a hub for anti-Western militants, and Washington, London and others fear it might become so again.
US forces are in the final phase of leaving Kabul, ending two decades of involvement in Afghanistan, and just over 1,000 civilians at the airport remain to be flown out before troops withdraw, a Western security official said on Sunday (Aug 29).
The country's new Taliban rulers are prepared to take control of the airport, said an official from the hardline Islamist movement that has swept cross Afghanistan, crushing the US-backed government.
The Western security official, who asked not to be identified, told Reuters a date and time for the end of the operation was yet to be decided.
President Joe Biden has said he will stick by his deadline to withdraw all US troops from Afghanistan by Tuesday, 20 years after they invaded Kabul and ousted the Taliban government for shielding the perpetrators of the Sep 11, 2001 attacks.
"We want to ensure that every foreign civilian and those who are at risk are evacuated today. Forces will start flying out once this process is over," said the official, who is stationed at the airport.
The Western-backed government and Afghan army melted away as the Taliban entered the capital on Aug 15, leaving an administrative vacuum that has bolstered fears of a financial collapse and widespread hunger.
KABUL: Suicide bomb threats hung over the final phase of the US military's airlift operation from Kabul on Sunday (Aug 29), 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 airlift 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 airlifts ahead of Biden's deadline for evacuations to end by Tuesday.
The Pentagon said Saturday retaliation drone strikes had killed two "high-level" IS extremists 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 US 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.
WASHINGTON (AFP) - US military commanders believe that another terror attack like the deadly suicide bombing at Kabul airport is "highly likely in the next 24-36 hours," President Joe Biden warned on Saturday (Aug 28).
After a briefing from his national security team, Biden said in a statement that a US drone strike targeting the Islamic State-Khorasan (IS-K) group, which claimed responsibility for Thursday's carnage at the airport, was "not the last."
"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."
Scores of Afghan civilians were killed in the Kabul bombing on Thursday, along with 13 US troops - several of them born around the time US military operations in Afghanistan began 20 years ago.
No civilians were hurt in the attack, Major-General Hank Taylor told a news conference in Washington.
"The fact that two of these individuals are no longer walking on the face of the Earth, that's a good thing," Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said.
US troops have been scrambling in dangerous and chaotic conditions to complete a massive evacuation operation from the Kabul airport by an Aug 31 deadline.
Biden has pledged to stick to the agreed cut-off and had vowed to punish those responsible for the suicide blast.
He said on Saturday that the drone attack would not be the last.
"We will continue to hunt down any person involved in that heinous attack and make them pay," he said.
"Whenever anyone seeks to harm the United States or attack our troops, we will respond. That will never be in doubt."
The White House said the next few days were likely to be the most dangerous of the evacuation operation. The United States and allies have taken about 111,900 people out of Afghanistan in the past two weeks, the Pentagon has said.
With another attack against Kabul airport a near certainty, according to US officials, the US Embassy in Kabul warned Americans to avoid the airport.
The last British flight evacuating civilians from Afghanistan left Kabul on Saturday. British troops would take small numbers of Afghan citizens with them as they leave this weekend, a defense ministry spokesperson said. Armed forces chief Nick Carter said hundreds of people who had worked with Britain would not make it through.
In the Pentagon's strike on militant suspects in Nangarhar, a US official said on Friday that an MQ-9 Reaper unmanned aircraft flown from the Middle East targeted an Islamic State militant who was planning attacks and was in a car with an associate.
Residents of Jalalabad, the provincial capital, said they had heard several explosions around midnight and community elder Malik Adib said three people were killed and four were wounded in an air strike, adding that he had been summoned by the Taliban investigating the incident.
"Women and children are among the victims," said Adib, though he did not have information about their identity.
The US military said in a statement that it knew of no civilian casualties.
While Kabul's airport has been in chaos, the rest of the city has been generally calm. The Taliban have told residents to hand over government equipment including weapons and vehicles within a week, the group's spokesman said.
The airport attack added fuel to criticism Biden faced at home and abroad for the chaos after Afghanistan's government and military collapsed before a lightning Taliban advance. He has defended his decisions, saying the United States long ago achieved its rationale for invading in 2001.
KABUL (AFP) - Order replaced chaos at Kabul airport Saturday (Aug 28) with Taleban fighters escorting a steady stream of Afghans from buses to the main passenger terminal, handing them over to US troops for evacuation.
Gone are the tens of thousands clamouring to get inside the airport grounds in the hope of getting aboard a flight before Aug 31, when the US-led evacuation ends and the last foreign troops depart.
The deadly Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) suicide blast at a secondary entrance on Thursday likely scared away many looking for a way to escape the return to power of the hardline Islamists, but the Taleban have also sealed off all roads leading to the airport and are now only letting sanctioned buses pass.
"We have lists from the Americans... if your name is on the list, you can come through," one Taleban official told AFP near the civilian passenger terminal of Hamid Karzai International Airport. "If your name isn't here, then you cannot come through."
On Saturday, AFP saw more than a dozen small- and medium-sized buses disgorge tense-looking passengers at the main gate of the airport.
It was unclear who had organised the buses - or where they had come from - and the Taleban officials and guards present would not allow the passengers to be interviewed.
The men and women were separated and made to walk on opposite sides of the road, but both groups carried infants or led children by the hand - some oblivious to their ordeal and skipping as if on an adventure.
Everyone was stripped of their luggage apart from what they could keep in a plastic bag - but a Taleban official was quick to offer an explanation.
"Because of the blast, the Americans won't let them take anything," he said.
"We tell them to take the money and the gold in their pockets. If they leave clothes we will give to other people."
Heavily armed Taleban fighters were seen throughout the grounds and auxiliary buildings of the airport complex, 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 metres, and holding fire.
Also in view of the American troops were Badri special forces in humvees gifted to the Afghan defence forces, but now flying the white Taleban flag.
The US and other nations that had a military stake in Afghanistan planned for years to offer sanctuary to those who helped their troops - some more generously than others.
But plans for a staggered and orderly relocation were thrown into disarray by the Taleban's stunningly swift return to power.
Until Thursday's ISIS attack, tens of thousands of people had besieged the airport since Aug 15, when the Taleban rolled into Kabul having swept through the rest of the country in a lightning offensive.
The Taleban insist there will be no recriminations for those who helped foreign forces, but many Afghans - particularly the country's educated middle class - fear a return to the fundamentalist Islamist rule that effectively barred women from public life and punished crime with public floggings and executions.
The Pentagon says more than 110,000 Afghans and foreigners have been evacuated since Aug 14 - most to start a new life abroad with nothing more than their skills and what they can carry in a plastic bag.
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 Taleban 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.
