Iranian government minister publically speaks of coronavirus conspiracy - Daily Mail

Iranian government minister accuses US or creating a 'special version' of coronavirus to target his country – as he blasts UK for blocking sale of masks due to sanctions

• Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei publicly declared that he thinks the United States may have created 'a special version' of the diseased to kill Iranians
• A Chinese spokesman has already accused the US government of a coronavirus cover up adding to the long list of  conspiracy theories about deadly COVID-19 
• Iran is also accusing the West of impeding anti-virus efforts with sanctions 
• Coronavirus symptoms: what are they and should you see a doctor?

By Sara Scarlett For Mailonline

Published: 00:13 GMT, 23 March 2020 | Updated: 12:45 GMT, 23 March 2020

The ruler of Iran has suggested that America created a new strain of the coronavirus with the intention of infecting Iranians. 

According to the Independent newspaper, Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has publicly declared that the United States created 'a special version' of the deadly coronavirus now ravaging the country. 

The deadly coronavirus has killed at least 1,685 Iranians, including 129 in the last 24 hours.

Ayatollah Khamenei also rejected  US offers of help in a speech on Sunday marking the beginning of the Persian calendar year. 

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has publicly declared that the United States created 'a special version' of the deadly coronaviruswith the intention of infecting Iranians using genetic information

He also suggested Washington would exploit any acceptance of American aid.

In his speech, the Ayatollah said: 'The American leaders have said several times that 'we are willing to provide you with treatment and medical assistance.'

He added: 'First of all, you face shortages yourselves. If you have anything available, use it yourselves. Second, you, Americans, are accused of producing this virus. I do not know how true this accusation is. But as long as this accusation stands, which sane mind will trust you?' 

The accusation is the latest propaganda effort against the United States, with the Chinese government already accusing the USA of manufacturing the virus. 

Zhao Lijian, a spokesman for China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs accused American officials of dishonesty over what the US government knows about the disease.

According to the New York Times, the unfounded conspiracy theory was recirculated on China’s tightly controlled internet on Friday after Zhao Lijian made the accusations on Twitter. 

The conspiracy theories mark ever deepening tensions between the US and Iran, and the US and China. 

Iran's deputy health minister, Alireza Raisi, has already accused the UK of impeding its efforts to fight the crisis by prohibiting the sale of a million surgical masks due to US sanctions.

Zhao Lijian, a spokesman for China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs conspiratorially accused American officials of covering up what the US government knows about the disease 

Despite Twitter being banned in China's tightly controlled internet, Zhao Lijian's comments were widely circulated on throughout China as part of a conspiratorial propaganda war

He said: 'We had bought several million masks from Britain before [the epidemic started] but the country did not deliver them to us due to the sanctions.'

Mr Raisi did not elaborate of details of the deal.   

More than 21,000 people have tested positive for coronavirus in Iran, which has been the third most affected country after China and Italy respectively.  

Speaking to the Fars News Agency, Mr Raisi said that many Iranian medical staff had become sick because of shortages of protective equipment and masks, and that efforts to obtain the materials had been prevented by long-standing sanctions on the Iranian regime. 

In 2015, the US imposed further rules were after Donald Trump's administration pulled out of the nuclear deal and launched a renewed economic blockade of the country. 

Mr Raisi added: 'We are facing serious problems for ordering, purchasing and transferring money due to the sanctions,' 

'We cannot buy ventilator systems and ICU [intensive care unit] beds. Also, transferring money to purchase certain drugs is not possible for us.   

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2020-03-23 15:11:26Z
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Pompeo visits Afghanistan - The - The Washington Post

Jacquelyn Martin AP Secretary of State Mike Pompeo speaks during a June 25, 2019, news conference at the U.S. Embassy in Kabul during an unannounced visit to Afghanistan.

KABUL — Secretary of State Mike Pompeo arrived Monday morning in Kabul on an unannounced half-day visit, which will be dominated by meetings with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and his political rival, Abdullah Abdullah, who is attempting to form a parallel government.

Pompeo and other officials traveling with him did not make any comments to accompanying journalists, but the flurry of announced meetings with Ghani and Abdullah suggested that Pompeo would seek to mediate between the two men. Both Ghani, the incumbent, and Abdullah, who holds the title of chief executive, both claimed to have won the presidency in September polls.

The Afghan government has been at a tense stalemate for nearly two weeks, with no progress made on plans to begin negotiations between Afghan and Taliban leaders over the country’s future political system. Those talks were scheduled to begin by March 10, after U.S. officials signed an agreement with Taliban representatives Feb. 29 that would allow thousands of U.S. troops to begin leaving the country.

[Standoff between Afghan President Ghani and rival Abdullah threatens Taliban peace deal]

Pompeo was greeted on arrival by Zalmay Khalilzad, the U.S. diplomat who has been leading peace talks with the Taliban for the past year. In the past week, Khalilzad has been attempting to smooth relations between Ghani and Abdullah, but he appears to have made scant progress. Afghan political and religious leaders have also been mediating between them, to no avail.

The secretary’s announced schedule includes a lengthy private meeting with Ghani, followed by a similar one with Abdullah. After that, the two Afghan leaders were scheduled to meet alone, followed by a final meeting with Pompeo. After brief meetings with Afghan security officials, Pompeo was scheduled to leave the country early Monday evening.

The unusual and quick visit here by the top U.S. diplomat appears to reflect the high level of frustration in Washington over the high-stakes political standoff in Kabul, which has aroused concerns here that a civil war could erupt. Abdullah, who claims he was cheated out of victory at the polls, is backed by an array of powerful former ethnic warlords.

Pompeo’s apparent mediation mission is eerily reminiscent of the last Afghan presidential election in 2014, when then-Secretary of State John F. Kerry successfully mediated an identical spat between Ghani and Abdullah. Both claimed to have won the presidency in a fraud-marred election, but Kerry persuaded them to accept a power-sharing arrangement that has proven tense and fractious.

Pompeo is also likely to raise a second issue with Ghani that has undercut the Taliban peace deal almost from the day it was signed. The agreement reached in Qatar called for an exchange of prisoners in which the Ghani government would released 5,000 Taliban fighters and the Taliban would release 1,000 captured Afghan government forces.

The Afghan president, however, strongly objected, saying that releasing so many insurgents would rob the government of significant leverage in future talks and would risk freeing large numbers of enemy fighters who might well return to the battle. In the past 10 days, his aides have been assessing lists of prisoners and said they are willing to release a smaller number who are old, sick or otherwise less likely to go back to fighting.

Khalilzad has also been trying to help work out an agreement on prisoners, and over the weekend he said in a tweet that he had facilitated a video conference meeting between Taliban and Afghan prison officials on “technical” aspects of the release. He did not say whether or when any release would start.

Pompeo, who attended the peace agreement signing in Doha, the Qatari capital, said at the time that the path forward would be “rocky” and that launching meaningful negotiations between the Taliban and Afghan leaders over a shared role in governing would be difficult. But he also said that while Taliban leaders have “an enormous amount of blood on their hands, they have now made a break” from their past and have promised not to allow anti-U.S. terrorist activities on Afghan soil.

The agreement, which was widely criticized by Afghans as giving too much leeway to the Taliban, called for both sides to observe a brief “reduction in violence.” It also included a Taliban anti-terrorism pledge and called for intra-Afghan talks to begin within a short time.

In return, the Trump administration is expected to begin withdrawing some troops immediately, reducing the number here from about 14,000 to about 8,600, and then pulling back most of the remaining forces by the end of the year. Some reductions have reportedly begun, but U.S. military officials have not provided public details.

Read more

U.S. signs peace deal with Taliban agreeing to full withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan

Pakistan fears Afghan peace failure could bring violence its way

Afghan president commits to releasing Taliban prisoners

Today’s coverage from Post correspondents around the world

Like Washington Post World on Facebook and stay updated on foreign news

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2020-03-23 14:40:33Z
52780683187143

Iran leader refuses US help; cites coronavirus conspiracy theory - Al Jazeera English

Iran's supreme leader refused American assistance to fight the new coronavirus citing a conspiracy theory claiming it could be man-made by the United States government.

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's comments came on Sunday as Iran faces crushing US sanctions blocking the country from selling its crude oil and accessing international financial markets.

More:

While Iranian officials in recent days have increasingly criticised those sanctions, 80-year-old Khamenei instead echoed Chinese officials about the possible origin of the coronavirus.

"I do not know how real this accusation is but when it exists, who in their right mind would trust you to bring them medication?" Khamenei said. "Possibly your medicine is a way to spread the virus more."

He also alleged the virus "is specifically built for Iran using the genetic data of Iranians, which they have obtained through different means".

"You might send people as doctors and therapists, maybe they would want to come here and see the effect of the poison they have produced in person," Khamenei said.

US response

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo denounced Ayatollah Khamenei's remarks on Monday, saying his "lies" were endangering people's lives.

Calling COVID-19 the "Wuhan virus", Pompeo said Khamenei's "fabrications are dangerous and they put Iranians and people around the world at greater risk".

The statement also mentioned "failed" steps taken by Iran to counter the virus as "facts that Iran regime would like to keep from the world".

The US secretary of state accused Iran of "putting millions of lives at risk and infecting its people with running 55 flights between Tehran and China in February, ignoring repeated warnings from its own health officials, and denying its first death from the coronavirus for at least nine days".

"He works tirelessly to concoct conspiracy theories and prioritises ideology over the Iranian people," Pompeo said of Ayatollah Khamenei.

'Be transparent'

There is no scientific proof offered anywhere in the world to support Khamenei's claims.

However, his comments come after Chinese government spokesman Lijian Zhao tweeted earlier this month it "might be US army who brought the epidemic to Wuhan. Be transparent! Make public your data! US owe[s] us an explanation!"

Lijian likewise offered no evidence to support his claim, which saw the US State Department summon China's ambassador to complain. A Chinese state newspaper tweeted on Sunday another allegation trying to link the virus to Italy, similarly hard-hit by the outbreak.

Wuhan is the Chinese city where the first cases of the disease were detected in December.

In recent days, the Trump administration has increasingly referred to the virus as the "Chinese" or "Wuhan" virus, while the World Health Organization (WHO) used the term COVID-19 to describe the illness the virus causes.

A US senator from Arkansas has trafficked in the conspiracy theory it was a man-made Chinese bioweapon. Relations with China and the US have been tense under President Donald Trump amid a trade war between the nations.

Ayatollah Khamenei continued to berate the United States on Sunday. "No one trusts you. You are capable of bringing into our country a drug that will keep the virus alive and prevent its eradication.

"The American leaders are liars, manipulators, impudent and greedy... They are charlatans," he said, also labelling them "absolutely ruthless". 

'Improbable'

For most people, the new coronavirus causes only mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia. The vast majority of people recover from the new virus.

Scientists have not yet determined exactly how the new coronavirus first infected people. Evidence suggests it originated in bats, which infected another animal that spread it to people at a market in Wuhan. The now-shuttered Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market advertised dozens of species such as giant salamanders, baby crocodiles and raccoon dogs that were often referred to as wildlife, even when they were farmed.

An article published last week in the peer-reviewed scientific journal Nature Medicine dismissed the idea the virus was man-made. Its authors said it was "improbable" that the virus "emerged through laboratory manipulation of a related SARS-CoV-like coronavirus".

Khamenei made the comments in a speech in Tehran broadcast live on Sunday across Iran marking Nowruz, the Persian New Year, and the Islamic commemoration known as Isra and Miraj. He had called off his usual speech at Imam Reza shrine in Mashhad over the virus outbreak.

His comments come as Iran has reported more than 21,600 confirmed cases of the new coronavirus amid 1,685 reported deaths, according to government figures released Sunday. Experts still fear Iran may be underreporting its cases.

'Maximum pressure'

Across the Middle East, Iran represents eight of 10 cases of the virus and those leaving the Islamic Republic have carried it to other countries.

Iranian officials have criticised US offers of aid during the virus crisis as being disingenuous.

They have accused the Trump administration of wanting to capitalise on its "maximum pressure" campaign against Tehran since withdrawing from the nuclear deal in May 2018.

US sanctions have made it more difficult for Iran to access the global market.

On Sunday, Pakistan's Prime Minister Imran Khan echoed the call on the US to lift its sanctions.

"I want to appeal to President Trump on humanitarian grounds to lift the sanctions against Iran till the COVID-19 pandemic is over," Khan said in a tweet.

"The people of Iran are facing untold suffering as sanctions are crippling Iran's efforts to fight COVID-19. Humanity must unite to fight this pandemic," he said.

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2020-03-23 14:29:51Z
52780680079088

Pompeo visits Afghanistan - The - The Washington Post

Jacquelyn Martin AP Secretary of State Mike Pompeo speaks during a June 25, 2019, news conference at the U.S. Embassy in Kabul during an unannounced visit to Afghanistan.

KABUL — Secretary of State Mike Pompeo arrived Monday morning in Kabul on an unannounced half-day visit, which will be dominated by meetings with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and his political rival, Abdullah Abdullah, who is attempting to form a parallel government.

Pompeo and other officials traveling with him did not make any comments to accompanying journalists, but the flurry of announced meetings with Ghani and Abdullah suggested that Pompeo would seek to mediate between the two men. Both Ghani, the incumbent, and Abdullah, who holds the title of chief executive, both claimed to have won the presidency in September polls.

The Afghan government has been at a tense stalemate for nearly two weeks, with no progress made on plans to begin negotiations between Afghan and Taliban leaders over the country’s future political system. Those talks were scheduled to begin by March 10, after U.S. officials signed an agreement with Taliban representatives Feb. 29 that would allow thousands of U.S. troops to begin leaving the country.

[Standoff between Afghan President Ghani and rival Abdullah threatens Taliban peace deal]

Pompeo was greeted on arrival by Zalmay Khalilzad, the U.S. diplomat who has been leading peace talks with the Taliban for the past year. In the past week, Khalilzad has been attempting to smooth relations between Ghani and Abdullah, but he appears to have made scant progress. Afghan political and religious leaders have also been mediating between them, to no avail.

The secretary’s announced schedule includes a lengthy private meeting with Ghani, followed by a similar one with Abdullah. After that, the two Afghan leaders were scheduled to meet alone, followed by a final meeting with Pompeo. After brief meetings with Afghan security officials, Pompeo was scheduled to leave the country early Monday evening.

The unusual and quick visit here by the top U.S. diplomat appears to reflect the high level of frustration in Washington over the high-stakes political standoff in Kabul, which has aroused concerns here that a civil war could erupt. Abdullah, who claims he was cheated out of victory at the polls, is backed by an array of powerful former ethnic warlords.

Pompeo’s apparent mediation mission is eerily reminiscent of the last Afghan presidential election in 2014, when then-Secretary of State John F. Kerry successfully mediated an identical spat between Ghani and Abdullah. Both claimed to have won the presidency in a fraud-marred election, but Kerry persuaded them to accept a power-sharing arrangement that has proven tense and fractious.

Pompeo is also likely to raise a second issue with Ghani that has undercut the Taliban peace deal almost from the day it was signed. The agreement reached in Qatar called for an exchange of prisoners in which the Ghani government would released 5,000 Taliban fighters and the Taliban would release 1,000 captured Afghan government forces.

The Afghan president, however, strongly objected, saying that releasing so many insurgents would rob the government of significant leverage in future talks and would risk freeing large numbers of enemy fighters who might well return to the battle. In the past 10 days, his aides have been assessing lists of prisoners and said they are willing to release a smaller number who are old, sick or otherwise less likely to go back to fighting.

Khalilzad has also been trying to help work out an agreement on prisoners, and over the weekend he said in a tweet that he had facilitated a video conference meeting between Taliban and Afghan prison officials on “technical” aspects of the release. He did not say whether or when any release would start.

Pompeo, who attended the peace agreement signing in Doha, the Qatari capital, said at the time that the path forward would be “rocky” and that launching meaningful negotiations between the Taliban and Afghan leaders over a shared role in governing would be difficult. But he also said that while Taliban leaders have “an enormous amount of blood on their hands, they have now made a break” from their past and have promised not to allow anti-U.S. terrorist activities on Afghan soil.

The agreement, which was widely criticized by Afghans as giving too much leeway to the Taliban, called for both sides to observe a brief “reduction in violence.” It also included a Taliban anti-terrorism pledge and called for intra-Afghan talks to begin within a short time.

In return, the Trump administration is expected to begin withdrawing some troops immediately, reducing the number here from about 14,000 to about 8,600, and then pulling back most of the remaining forces by the end of the year. Some reductions have reportedly begun, but U.S. military officials have not provided public details.

Read more

U.S. signs peace deal with Taliban agreeing to full withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan

Pakistan fears Afghan peace failure could bring violence its way

Afghan president commits to releasing Taliban prisoners

Today’s coverage from Post correspondents around the world

Like Washington Post World on Facebook and stay updated on foreign news

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2020-03-23 14:10:38Z
52780683187143

China sees drop in new coronavirus cases; all new cases imported - Reuters

BEIJING/SHANGHAI (Reuters) - Mainland China saw a drop in its daily tally of new coronavirus cases, reversing four straight days of gains, as the capital Beijing ramped up measures to contain the number of infections arriving from abroad.

Passengers wearing face masks are seen at a subway station after the city's emergency alert level for coronavirus disease (COVID-19) was downgraded, in Shanghai, China March 23, 2020. REUTERS/Aly Song

China had 39 new confirmed cases on Sunday, the National Health Commission said, down from 46 a day earlier. All of them involved travellers arriving from abroad, many of whom are Chinese students returning home.

The city of Beijing expanded measures to contain imported infections, diverting all international flights arriving from Monday to other airports in other cities, including Shanghai and as far west as Xian, where passengers will undergo virus screening.

Beijing reported 10 new imported cases, the National Health Commission said on Monday, down from 13 a day earlier. Infections from abroad in the city hit an all-time high of 21 on March 18.

Shanghai and Guangzhou have also said all arriving international passengers will undergo tests to screen for the coronavirus, expanding a programme that previously only applied to those coming from heavily-affected countries.

Shanghai reported 10 new cases on Sunday, down from a record 14 a day earlier.

Guangdong province saw seven new imported infections, Fujian had four and Jiangsu had two. Hebei, Zhejiang, Jiangxi, Shandong and Sichuan each saw just one case, bringing the total imported cases in China to 314 so far.

Mainland China saw no new locally transmitted infections.

In Wuhan, capital of central Hubei province, authorities have eased tough lockdown measures as the epicentre of the outbreak in China saw no new infection for the fifth day.

Downtown Wuhan remains the only high-risk area in the province, with other cities and counties in Hubei are now classifed as low-risk.

Wuhan went into a virtual lockdown on Jan. 23 to contain the spread of the virus to the rest of China.

According to authorities on Sunday, people can enter the city if they are certified healthy and have no fever.

Hubei residents who are in Wuhan can apply to leave the city, but they have to go through a test for the virus and if are certified healthy.

There is still no indication that Wuhan residents can leave the city for non-essential reasons.

As of Sunday, the total accumulated number of confirmed cases in mainland China stood at 81,093.

The death toll from the outbreak in mainland China reached 3,270, up by nine from the previous day.

Reporting by Ryan Woo, Lusha Zhang, Engen Tham and Jing Wang; Editing by Himani Sarkar and Michael Perry

Our Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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2020-03-23 13:50:46Z
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Pompeo visits Afghanistan - The - The Washington Post

Jacquelyn Martin AP Secretary of State Mike Pompeo speaks during a June 25, 2019, news conference at the U.S. Embassy in Kabul during an unannounced visit to Afghanistan.

KABUL — Secretary of State Mike Pompeo arrived Monday morning in Kabul on an unannounced half-day visit, which will be dominated by meetings with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and his political rival, Abdullah Abdullah, who is attempting to form a parallel government.

Pompeo and other officials traveling with him did not make any comments to accompanying journalists, but the flurry of announced meetings with Ghani and Abdullah suggested that Pompeo would seek to mediate between the two men. Both Ghani, the incumbent, and Abdullah, who holds the title of chief executive, both claimed to have won the presidency in September polls.

The Afghan government has been at a tense stalemate for nearly two weeks, with no progress made on plans to begin negotiations between Afghan and Taliban leaders over the country’s future political system. Those talks were scheduled to begin by March 10, after U.S. officials signed an agreement with Taliban representatives Feb. 29 that would allow thousands of U.S. troops to begin leaving the country.

[Standoff between Afghan President Ghani and rival Abdullah threatens Taliban peace deal]

Pompeo was greeted on arrival by Zalmay Khalilzad, the U.S. diplomat who has been leading peace talks with the Taliban for the past year. In the past week, Khalilzad has been attempting to smooth relations between Ghani and Abdullah, but he appears to have made scant progress. Afghan political and religious leaders have also been mediating between them, to no avail.

The secretary’s announced schedule includes a lengthy private meeting with Ghani, followed by a similar one with Abdullah. After that, the two Afghan leaders were scheduled to meet alone, followed by a final meeting with Pompeo. After brief meetings with Afghan security officials, Pompeo was scheduled to leave the country early Monday evening.

The unusual and quick visit here by the top U.S. diplomat appears to reflect the high level of frustration in Washington over the high-stakes political standoff in Kabul, which has aroused concerns here that a civil war could erupt. Abdullah, who claims he was cheated out of victory at the polls, is backed by an array of powerful former ethnic warlords.

Pompeo’s apparent mediation mission is eerily reminiscent of the last Afghan presidential election in 2014, when then-Secretary of State John F. Kerry successfully mediated an identical spat between Ghani and Abdullah. Both claimed to have won the presidency in a fraud-marred election, but Kerry persuaded them to accept a power-sharing arrangement that has proven tense and fractious.

Pompeo is also likely to raise a second issue with Ghani that has undercut the Taliban peace deal almost from the day it was signed. The agreement reached in Qatar called for an exchange of prisoners in which the Ghani government would released 5,000 Taliban fighters and the Taliban would release 1,000 captured Afghan government forces.

The Afghan president, however, strongly objected, saying that releasing so many insurgents would rob the government of significant leverage in future talks and would risk freeing large numbers of enemy fighters who might well return to the battle. In the past 10 days, his aides have been assessing lists of prisoners and said they are willing to release a smaller number who are old, sick or otherwise less likely to go back to fighting.

Khalilzad has also been trying to help work out an agreement on prisoners, and over the weekend he said in a tweet that he had facilitated a video conference meeting between Taliban and Afghan prison officials on “technical” aspects of the release. He did not say whether or when any release would start.

Pompeo, who attended the peace agreement signing in Doha, the Qatari capital, said at the time that the path forward would be “rocky” and that launching meaningful negotiations between the Taliban and Afghan leaders over a shared role in governing would be difficult. But he also said that while Taliban leaders have “an enormous amount of blood on their hands, they have now made a break” from their past and have promised not to allow anti-U.S. terrorist activities on Afghan soil.

The agreement, which was widely criticized by Afghans as giving too much leeway to the Taliban, called for both sides to observe a brief “reduction in violence.” It also included a Taliban anti-terrorism pledge and called for intra-Afghan talks to begin within a short time.

In return, the Trump administration is expected to begin withdrawing some troops immediately, reducing the number here from about 14,000 to about 8,600, and then pulling back most of the remaining forces by the end of the year. Some reductions have reportedly begun, but U.S. military officials have not provided public details.

Read more

U.S. signs peace deal with Taliban agreeing to full withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan

Pakistan fears Afghan peace failure could bring violence its way

Afghan president commits to releasing Taliban prisoners

Today’s coverage from Post correspondents around the world

Like Washington Post World on Facebook and stay updated on foreign news

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2020-03-23 13:40:59Z
52780683187143

Pompeo visits Afghanistan - The - The Washington Post

Jacquelyn Martin AP Secretary of State Mike Pompeo speaks during a June 25, 2019, news conference at the U.S. Embassy in Kabul during an unannounced visit to Afghanistan.

KABUL — Secretary of State Mike Pompeo arrived Monday morning in Kabul on an unannounced half-day visit, which will be dominated by meetings with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and his political rival, Abdullah Abdullah, who is attempting to form a parallel government.

Pompeo and other officials traveling with him did not make any comments to accompanying journalists, but the flurry of announced meetings with Ghani and Abdullah suggested that Pompeo would seek to mediate between the two men. Both Ghani, the incumbent, and Abdullah, who holds the title of chief executive, both claimed to have won the presidency in September polls.

The Afghan government has been at a tense stalemate for nearly two weeks, with no progress made on plans to begin negotiations between Afghan and Taliban leaders over the country’s future political system. Those talks were scheduled to begin by March 10, after U.S. officials signed an agreement with Taliban representatives Feb. 29 that would allow thousands of U.S. troops to begin leaving the country.

[Standoff between Afghan President Ghani and rival Abdullah threatens Taliban peace deal]

Pompeo was greeted on arrival by Zalmay Khalilzad, the U.S. diplomat who has been leading peace talks with the Taliban for the past year. In the past week, Khalilzad has been attempting to smooth relations between Ghani and Abdullah, but he appears to have made scant progress. Afghan political and religious leaders have also been mediating between them, to no avail.

The secretary’s announced schedule includes a lengthy private meeting with Ghani, followed by a similar one with Abdullah. After that, the two Afghan leaders were scheduled to meet alone, followed by a final meeting with Pompeo. After brief meetings with Afghan security officials, Pompeo was scheduled to leave the country early Monday evening.

The unusual and quick visit here by the top U.S. diplomat appears to reflect the high level of frustration in Washington over the high-stakes political standoff in Kabul, which has aroused concerns here that a civil war could erupt. Abdullah, who claims he was cheated out of victory at the polls, is backed by an array of powerful former ethnic warlords.

Pompeo’s apparent mediation mission is eerily reminiscent of the last Afghan presidential election in 2014, when then-Secretary of State John F. Kerry successfully mediated an identical spat between Ghani and Abdullah. Both claimed to have won the presidency in a fraud-marred election, but Kerry persuaded them to accept a power-sharing arrangement that has proven tense and fractious.

Pompeo is also likely to raise a second issue with Ghani that has undercut the Taliban peace deal almost from the day it was signed. The agreement reached in Qatar called for an exchange of prisoners in which the Ghani government would released 5,000 Taliban fighters and the Taliban would release 1,000 captured Afghan government forces.

The Afghan president, however, strongly objected, saying that releasing so many insurgents would rob the government of significant leverage in future talks and would risk freeing large numbers of enemy fighters who might well return to the battle. In the past 10 days, his aides have been assessing lists of prisoners and said they are willing to release a smaller number who are old, sick or otherwise less likely to go back to fighting.

Khalilzad has also been trying to help work out an agreement on prisoners, and over the weekend he said in a tweet that he had facilitated a video conference meeting between Taliban and Afghan prison officials on “technical” aspects of the release. He did not say whether or when any release would start.

Pompeo, who attended the peace agreement signing in Doha, the Qatari capital, said at the time that the path forward would be “rocky” and that launching meaningful negotiations between the Taliban and Afghan leaders over a shared role in governing would be difficult. But he also said that while Taliban leaders have “an enormous amount of blood on their hands, they have now made a break” from their past and have promised not to allow anti-U.S. terrorist activities on Afghan soil.

The agreement, which was widely criticized by Afghans as giving too much leeway to the Taliban, called for both sides to observe a brief “reduction in violence.” It also included a Taliban anti-terrorism pledge and called for intra-Afghan talks to begin within a short time.

In return, the Trump administration is expected to begin withdrawing some troops immediately, reducing the number here from about 14,000 to about 8,600, and then pulling back most of the remaining forces by the end of the year. Some reductions have reportedly begun, but U.S. military officials have not provided public details.

Read more

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2020-03-23 13:22:34Z
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