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WORLD NEWS Thursday 23 June 2022
Afghanistan quake kills 1,000 people, deadliest in decades

By FAZEL RAHMAN FAIZI iban and the rest of the
Associated Press world, Alakbarov said
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) the Taliban had not for-
— A powerful earthquake mally requested that the
struck a rugged, moun- U.N. mobilize international
tainous region of eastern search-and-rescue teams
Afghanistan early Wednes- or obtain equipment from
day, flattening stone and neighboring countries to
mud-brick homes and kill- supplement the few dozen
ing at least 1,000 people ambulances and several
in the country’s deadliest helicopters sent in by Af-
quake in two decades, the ghan authorities.
state-run news agency re- The disaster only com-
ported. pounds the misery in Af-
An estimated 1,500 others ghanistan, which is already
were reported injured, and deep in one of the world’s
officials said the death toll worst humanitarian crises,
could rise. with millions facing increas-
The disaster inflicted by ing hunger and poverty af-
the 6.1-magnitude quake ter the cutoff of internation-
posed a major test for Af- al financing to the Taliban.
ghanistan’s Taliban govern- That has prompted a huge
ment, which retook power aid program, but to avoid
nearly 10 months ago as putting money in the Tal-
the U.S. and its NATO allies iban’s hands, the world has
withdrew from the coun- In this photo released by a state-run news agency Bakhtar, Afghans look at destruction caused funneled funding through
try and has been largely by an earthquake in the province of Paktika, eastern Afghanistan, Wednesday, June 22, 2022. the U.N. and other humani-
Associated Press
shunned by the rest of the tarian agencies, a system
world since. area near the Pakistani where on average every from recent rains made ac- that may be too slow for
In a rare move, the Tal- border searched for vic- home has seven or eight cess even more difficult. an emergency response to
iban’s supreme leader, tims dead or alive by dig- people living in it, said Rescuers rushed in by heli- the quake.
Haibatullah Akhundzadah, ging with their bare hands Ramiz Alakbarov, the U.N. copter, but the relief effort The quake was centered in
who almost never appears through the rubble, ac- deputy special representa- could be hindered by the Paktika province, about 50
in public, pleaded with the cording to footage shown tive to Afghanistan. exodus of many interna- kilometers (31 miles) south-
international community by the Bakhtar news agen- The full extent of the de- tional aid agencies from west of the city of Khost,
and humanitarian organi- cy. struction among the vil- Afghanistan after the Tal- according to neighboring
zations “to help the Afghan It was not immediately clear lages tucked in the moun- iban takeover last August. Pakistan’s Meteorological
people affected by this if heavy rescue equipment tains was slow in coming to Moreover, most govern- Department. Experts put its
great tragedy and to spare was being sent, or even if it light. Rutted roads difficult ments are wary of dealing depth at just 10 kilometers

no effort to help the affect- could reach the area. to pass in the best of times directly with the Taliban. (6 miles). Shallow earth-
ed people.” At least 2,000 homes were may have been badly In a sign of the muddled quakes tend to cause more
Residents in the remote destroyed in the region, damaged, and landslides workings between the Tal- damage.q

China says Ukraine crisis has sounded alarm for humanity

BEIJING (AP) — The conflict their own safety at the ex- VID-19 pandemic, which it
in Ukraine has “sounded an pense of others,” the offi- has confronted with a hard-
alarm for humanity,” Chi- cial Xinhua News Agency line policy of lockdowns
nese leader Xi Jinping said quoted Xi as saying. and quarantines, despite
Wednesday, as China con- Xi, who did not propose a diminishing number of
tinues to assume a position any solutions, was speak- cases and the increasing
of neutrality while backing ing at the opening of a vir- economic cost.
its ally Russia. tual business forum of the China’s increasingly as-
China has refused to criti- “BRICS” countries Brazil, sertive foreign policy and
cize Russia’s war in Ukraine Russia, India, China, and drive to dominate global
or even to refer to it as an South Africa. markets have prompted a
invasion in deference to In other comments, Xi said backlash in the U.S., Europe
Moscow, while also con- imposing sanctions could and elsewhere, including
demning U.S.-led sanctions act as a “boomerang” and calls to replace Chinese
against Russia and accus- a “double-edged sword,” suppliers and reduce reli-
ing the West of provoking and that the global com- ance on the Chinese econ- In this photo released by Xinhua News Agency, Chinese
Moscow. munity would suffer from omy. President Xi Jinping delivers a keynote speech in virtual format
“The Ukraine crisis has “politicizing, mechanizing Xi called for nations to work for the opening ceremony of the BRICS Business Forum on
again sounded the alarm and weaponizing” global together on such issues, Wednesday, June 22, 2022.
for humanity. economic trends and fi- saying efforts to “build a Associated Press
Countries will surely end up nancial flows. small courtyard with high for the development of ry and trying to block oth-
in security hardships if they Xi also said China would walls” was in no one’s inter- productive forces and an er people’s road will only
place blind faith in their po- seek to reduce the dam- est. irresistible historical trend,” block your own road in the
sitions of strength, expand age to international supply “Economic globalization is Xi said. end,” he said.q
military alliances, and seek chains caused by the CO- an objective requirement “Going backwards in histo-