At least it’s something. Not that they won’t replenish their funds, between the opium and permitting China to extract a variety of natural resources.
[KhaamaPress] Gandhara has cited a US administration official that the country has frozen the reserve of Afghanistan central bank currently in US accounts to deprive the Taliban ...Arabic for students... of the assets.
As the official cited Tuesday, August 17, these billions of dollars will not be available for the Taliban.
The decision which will apparently hit millions of people in Afghanistan comes days after the Taliban grabbed control over the entire Afghanistan but Panjsher province.
This decision by Biden’s administration will not only suppress the Taliban leadership and their upcoming government but will also adversely affect the lives of millions of people who are already suffering from drought, unemployment, and poverty.
As per the International Monetary Fund, the central bank of Afghanistan namely De Afghanistan Bank had up to $9.4 billion at the end of April this year.
The assets of Afghanistan does not only include billions of dollars but also gold and US treasuries.
Since the Taliban is yet to be recognized by any country in the world, the situation will make it rather difficult for them to access their external fund.
Some countries have shown green signals for recognition of the Taliban in case they shape an inclusive government and respect women’s rights.
The Taliban spokesperson Zabiullah Mujahid in his first official presser in Kabul said that negotiations over the upcoming government setup are going on and added that there will be an inclusive Islamic government in Afghanistan.
The head of Afghanistan’s Central Bank meanwhile said the country’s supply of physical US dollars is "close to zero." Afghanistan has some $9 billion in reserves, Ajmal Ahmady tweeted, but most is held outside the country, with some $7 billion held in US Federal Reserve bonds, assets and gold.
Ahmady said the country did not receive a planned cash shipment amid the Taliban ...Arabic for students... offensive.
"The next shipment never arrived," he wrote. "Seems like our partners had good intelligence as to what was going to happen."
He said the lack of US dollars will likely lead to a depreciation of the local currency, the afghani, hurting the country’s poor. Afghans have been lining up outside ATM machines for days, with many pulling out their life savings.
Ahmady said the Taliban will struggle to access the country’s reserves because of international sanctions.
The "Taliban won militarily — but now have to govern," he wrote. "It is not easy."
#2
Gotta protect Langley's 'Miscellaneous Operating Costs', don't you see.
Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
08/19/2021 9:33 Comments ||
Top||
#3
No idea what it's ultimate destination may yet be. But I have to ask if given the current situation, with thousands of foreigners and Afghan nationals desperate to leave if this is an especially good strategic move. Just another fine example of 'expertise' on display.
[FoxNews] Contingency and Crisis Response Bureau (CCR) was created during Trump administration
The Biden administration moved in June to dismantle a system designed to protect American citizens trapped abroad — just months before the Taliban took over Afghanistan, stranding thousands of Americans in the Central Asian country.
Fox News has obtained the June 11 memo sent around the State Department which gave the green light on the "discontinuation of the establishment, and the termination of, the Contingency and Crisis Response Bureau (CCR)."
The sensitive but unclassified memo was signed by Deputy Secretary of State Brian McKeon, just a couple of months before the Biden administration’s botched troop withdrawal that saw Afghanistan fall under Taliban control.
CCR was formed under Trump-era Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and was tasked with providing "aviation, logistics, and medical support capabilities for the Department's operational bureaus, thereby enhancing the secretary's ability to protect American citizens overseas in connection with overseas evacuations in the aftermath of a natural or man-made disaster."
The bureau could have played a role in the response to the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan, where thousands of American citizens and allies are trapped behind terrorist lines.
A State Department spokesperson told Fox News in a Wednesday email that it "is important to note that not only would the proposed Contingency and Crisis Response Bureau not have introduced any new capabilities to the Department, it was never formally established."
"Some administrative steps were taken before its establishment was paused, but the day-to-day operations of the team have not changed," the spokesperson said.
"Every requirement the Department delivered on last year, and since the proposed establishment of the bureau, can be delivered on today in the same manner if appropriate to do so," they continued.
A State Department official stressed to Fox News that none of the capabilities provided by the bureau have gone away. That official characterized the bureau as being in its early stages at the time, saying Secretary of State Antony Blinken had requested a review on it soon after he joined the department earlier this year.
"you're focked"
[10 News] President Joe Biden said he is willing to keep U.S. troops in Afghanistan until every American who wants to leave the country is evacuated.
"Americans should understand that we're gonna try to get it done before Aug. 31st," Biden said in an interview with ABC News' George Stephanopoulos.
The president previously set an Aug. 31 deadline to end the U.S. military mission in Afghanistan.
But when pressed on whether Americans would be left behind, Biden told Stephanopoulos that he would be willing to stay beyond the deadline if more Americans needed to be evacuated.
Up to 15,000 Americans were reportedly in Afghanistan following the Taliban's takeover.
In the interview, Biden defended the Afghanistan withdrawal despite the chaotic nature of the past week.
"The idea that somehow there's a way to have gotten out without chaos ensuing, I don't know how that happens," Biden said.
Biden added that no one expected the Taliban to take over Afghanistan in a matter of days. Except ...everybody
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/19/2021 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[9 views]
Top|| File under: Taliban/IEA
General Milley — We’re still working on it…
Lloyd Austin — We can’t do it…
Clarissa Ward — No way in hell Americans can get to the airport…
Posted by: Jack Slusorong4848 ||
08/19/2021 9:36 Comments ||
Top||
#6
^
We have idiotic - defeatist - chickensh-t leadership
in charge
Posted by: Jack Slusorong4848 ||
08/19/2021 9:40 Comments ||
Top||
#7
Make on call to the Pakistani Government and tel them that all US aid, access and military cooperation will end immeditely if the Taliban doesn't find every USCit by name and escort them to the airport. The entire farce is that we have no power, when in fact our money and access to the financial systems we control can't influence this completely. The Taliban are creatures of Pakistan, and we know it and have for decades. WE just have forgotten how to act like America....
#14
Feeling lonely, a long way from home?
Remember, all roads lead to roam:
Just duck by your dealer's
And pick up the Wheeler's
Impossibly timely old tome!
Posted by: Department of Justin Wilson8602 ||
08/19/2021 23:27 Comments ||
Top||
#15
O treacherous apostrophe,
Just why do you so hate poor me?
Posted by: Department of Justin Wilson8602 ||
08/19/2021 23:39 Comments ||
Top||
Posted by: Fred ||
08/19/2021 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[4 views]
Top|| File under: Taliban/IEA
#1
"In fact we're thinking of giving some American cities to the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan and President in Exile Mr. Ghani will soon be joining us in DC as their Congressperson."
#3
I will bet that all the “Americans” are immigrants that worked here till they got their papers and could draw social security. They then went back home. If true the Taliban will not kill them as long as they donate their SS to them. If what I surmise is true then plank them. The IRS should start looking into this. Are tax formsbeing filled out every year? Are the recipients younger than 100?
[LA Times] Taliban fighters violently broke up a protest in eastern Afghanistan on Wednesday, killing at least one person as they quashed a rare public show of dissent and as the group’s leaders met with Afghan officials from the toppled Western-backed government.
Video footage later showed Taliban fighters firing into the air and attacking people with batons to disperse the crowd. Babrak Amirzada, a reporter for a local news agency, said he and a TV cameraman from another agency were beaten by the Taliban as they tried to cover the unrest.
A local health official said at least one person was killed and six people were wounded. The official was not authorized to speak to media and spoke on condition of anonymity.
Meanwhile, videos from the Panjshir Valley north of Kabul, a stronghold of the Northern Alliance militias that allied with the U.S. against the Taliban in 2001, appear to show potential opposition figures gathering there. It’s in the only province that hasn’t yet fallen to the Taliban.
Those figures include members of the deposed government — Vice President Amrullah Saleh, who asserted on Twitter that he is the country’s rightful president, and Defense Minister Gen. Bismillah Mohammadi — as well as Ahmad Massoud, the son of the slain Northern Alliance leader Ahmad Shah Massoud. It’s unclear whether they intend to challenge the Taliban, which seized most of the country in a matter of days last week.
BREAKING: Egyptian President al-Sisi invited Israeli Prime Minister Bennett to visit Egypt in the coming weeks. Director of Egyptian Intelligence Abbas Kamel gave Bennett the invitation in their meeting today
[AlAhram] Underwear, an empty bottle and fresh footprints betray signs of migrants colonists sneaking around a new wall along the The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the occupiers of Greek Asia Minor...
A 243-kilometre (151-mile) concrete wall, topped with barbed wire and surrounded by trenches, is being erected along its 534-kilometre frontier with Iran.
-Iran ...a theocratic Shiite state divided among the Medes, the Persians, and the (Arab) Elamites. Formerly a fairly civilized nation ruled by a Shah, it became a victim of Islamic revolution in 1979. The nation is today noted for spontaneously taking over other countries' embassies, maintaining whorehouses run by clergymen, involvement in international drug trafficking, and financing sock puppet militias to extend the regime's influence. The word Iran is a cognate form of Aryan. The abbreviation IRGC is the same idea as Stürmabteilung (or SA). The term Supreme Guide is a the modern version form of either Duce or Führer or maybe both. They hate JewsZionists Jews. Their economy is based on the production of oil and vitriol... border and stirring worries in Europa
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: trailing wife ||
08/19/2021 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[7 views]
Top|| File under: Human Trafficking
#1
I thought walls were rayciss
Posted by: Chris ||
08/19/2021 0:30 Comments ||
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[Just the News] Fort Bliss in El Paso, Texas, is best known as home to the Army’s tank division, the revered Old Ironsides military insignia and the country’s largest military-controlled airspace. But the Biden administration’s botched exit from Afghanistan is turning the vast installation into ground zero for the evacuation of Afghans who spent two decades helping the United States fight the war against terror.
Texas Sen. John Cornyn says the fort is preparing to receive 10,000 Afghan refugees, and military officials have hinted that number could reach much higher.
It’s the second major wave of civilian guests to be hosted at the fort, which began this spring helping the Homeland Security and Health and Human Services Departments to house thousands of unaccompanied minor children who were brought across the border.
The first mission has been plagued by multiple allegations of "poor, unsanitary and otherwise inadequate conditions," child abuse and neglect.
The portable tents set up for the migrants can hold up to 10,000 unaccompanied minors, but at the time of Cornyn’s visit only 2,500 were there, with an average reported stay of seven days.
On Tuesday, Cornyn received briefings at Fort Bliss and said the base was prepared "to take as many as 10,000 of those Afghans who worked alongside their American partners all these many years to try to combat terrorism and make America safe." The Texas Republican serves on both the Senate Intelligence and Judiciary Committees.
[FoxNews] Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey announced Wednesday that he's keeping National Guard members at the U.S.-Mexico border for another year, citing an "escalating man-made crisis at the border."
"The Biden-Harris administration has utterly failed to secure the border," said Ducey, in a news release by his office. "It’s clear that this White House has neither the ability nor the desire to address the border disaster — a crisis of their own making."
"Illegal immigrant apprehensions are the highest in two decades. Law enforcement is overwhelmed. The situation is out of control. This situation is the direct result of reckless policies and failed communication by President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris," he added.
More than 150 Arizona National Guard members were deployed to the border in April after Ducey, a Republican, issued an emergency declaration in response to the growing migrant crisis that overwhelmed local officials.
Last week, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas announced that 212,672 migrants were encountered at the southern border in July, a 13% increase over the already massive 188,000 migrant encounters in June. In July 2020, there were just 40,929 encounters.
On Friday, Ducey called on Mayorkas to resign following leaked audio that showed the Biden administration official admitting the border crisis was "unsustainable."
The Guard is involved with data analysis, monitoring, and maintaining border cameras, providing logistics and administrative support to local law enforcement, and helping with medical operations at detention centers, according to Ducey's office.
"The brave men and women of the Arizona National Guard are standing in the gaps," Ducey said Wednesday. "Their mission directly contributes to the success of law enforcement officers working to maintain law and order on Arizona’s southern border. I’m grateful to all those who serve our state and are working day and night to keep Arizonans safe."
The operation will be funded with $25 million from the 2022 budget, FOX 10 Phoenix reported.
In April 2018, Ducey sent members of the Guard to help the Border Patrol boost security following a request from then-President Donald Trump.
The last troops on that mission left in November 2020, said Maj. Kyle Key, a Guard spokesman.
#3
Bagram is bigger, can accomodate lots of civilians, etc. but it is 25 miles further from Kabul than HKIntl Airport.
So defending it would take a lot of soldiers and the road to Kabul would take more. Biden authorized about 6k of troops on 8-15 or so and had he done this two months earlier, Bagram could have been defended. However, when Bagram was abandoned, the authorized number of troops was about 2k and that was not even enough to guard the embassy and HKI
Posted by: Lord Garth ||
08/19/2021 8:35 Comments ||
Top||
#4
Pulling out of Bagram in the dead of night was when things started to snowball. Noone wants to die for a psychopath like Biden.
#8
Earlier this year, I was betting on Creepy Joe having a 'medical issue' forcing his abdication right about now.
Maybe this whole Clusterfarkle is in lieu of that.
There problem there is that the Kamel is universally recognized as even more incompetent.
What's Dr. Jill (and Ron Klain/Susan Rice) to do?.....
Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
08/19/2021 15:28 Comments ||
Top||
#9
I know my bet is +3 months; I think they did a test balloon back when she was declared border czar or whatever, and unexpectedly found she is not just totally unlikable, but impossible to work with. That is a poor combination for even what would be largely a ceremonial role. Crippling in fact, as a ceremonial role absolutely requires charisma and direction.
#10
I don't see what the problem with Biden is. He is the perfect puppet. Sure, nominally he is President of the United States of America and leader of the free world, but no one really thinks he is in charge of anything more complicated than a juice box. As long as They can roll him out to deliver presidential pronouncements and sound bites, it's all good! Biden can be President and They can get on with running the world.
[TheWeek] BJP MP Subramanian Swamy has been warning about the implications of a Taliban takeover of Afghanistan and in particular its impact on India for months.
With the Taliban firmly establishing control over Kabul on Sunday and announcing there would not be a transitional government, part of Swamy's prediction has come true.
On Monday, Swamy warned the Taliban would gang up with China and Pakistan to attack India in a year's time. Swamy tweeted, "Taliban the first year will have as leaders of Afghanistan govt those who are with feigned moderate views. In the meantime, the Provincial leaders will be the genuine brutal Taliban hard liners. After a year, Afghanistan secured, Taliban, Pakistan, and China will attack India."
Various anti-Taliban groups in Afghanistan have been alleging Pakistan was backing the Taliban in its ongoing campaign of conquest.
Swamy had on Sunday claimed India should open its doors to all "anti-Taliban" forces to help set up an "Afghan Govt in Exile" and even "militarily move" to recover Afghanistan. Swamy had tweeted, "Now India must open its doors to all anti Taliban anti Pak Afghans to come to India and help set up a Afghan Govt in Exile so that when India recaptures PoK we will get back India's original border with Afghanistan. Then we can militarily move to recover Afghanistan."
#1
Agreed. This will happen while the chicoms invade Taiwan. The Paks will try to occupy Kashmir as part of its strategic deception during the chicom invasion
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
...Arabic for 
...Arabic for 
