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A30 world news
Diaranson 3 augustus 2022

Taliban under scrutiny as US kills al-Qaida leader in Kabul

Still, there have been persis- in Afghanistan” but did not to advising and supporting
tent reports of unease among mention al-Zawahri. “Paki- the country’s new rulers.
Taliban leadership, particu- stan condemns terrorism in
larly tensions between the all its forms and manifesta- A report by the monitors said
Haqqani network and rivals tions,” it said. Pakistan has the two groups remain close
within the movement. been lobbying for the world and that al-Qaida fighters, es-
to give greater recognition timated to number between
The Taliban initially sought to and support to the Taliban 180 to 400, are represent-
describe the strike as America government. ed “at the individual level”
violating the Doha deal, in among Taliban combat units.
which the U.S. committed The strike early Sunday
not to attack the group. The shook awake Shirpur, once The monitors said it’s un-
Taliban have yet to say who a district of historic build- likely al-Qaida will seek to
was killed in the strike. ings that were bulldozed in mount direct attacks outside
2003 to make way for luxury Afghanistan, “owing to a lack
“The killing of Ayman al-Za- homes for officials in Af- of capability and restraint on
wahri has raised many ques- ghanistan’s Western-backed the part of the Taliban, as well
tions,” said one Pakistani in- government and internation- as an unwillingness to jeopar-
(AP) — The U.S. drone terror attacks, who has called telligence official, who spoke al aid organizations. After the dize their recent gains” such
strike that killed al-Qaida for striking the United States on condition of anonymity U.S. withdrawal in August as having a safe haven and
leader Ayman al-Zawahri in numerous video messag- to The Associated Press as he 2021, senior Taliban moved improved resources.
on the balcony of a Ka- es in recent years, lived for wasn’t authorized to speak into some of the abandoned
bul safe house intensified months apparently sheltered publicly to reporters. Al-Za- homes there. During the first half of 2022,
global scrutiny Tuesday by senior Taliban figures. wahri took over as al-Qaida’s al-Zawahri increasingly
of Afghanistan’s Taliban leader after Osama bin Lad- The targeted safe house is reached out to supporters
rulers and further un- The safe house where al-Za- en was killed in Pakistan in only a few blocks from the with video and audio messag-
dermined their efforts to wahri was staying in Kabul’s 2011, in an operation by U.S. British Embassy, which has es, including assurances that
secure international rec- upscale Shirpur neighbor- Navy SEALs. been closed since the Taliban al-Qaida can compete with
ognition and desperately hood was the home of a top takeover in August. Taliban the Islamic State group for
needed aid. aide to senior Taliban leader “The Taliban were aware of officials blocked AP journal- leadership of a global move-
Sirajuddin Haqqani, accord- his presence in Kabul, and ists in Kabul from reaching ment, the report by the Ana-
The Taliban had promised in ing to a senior U.S. intel- if they were not aware of it, the damaged house on Tues- lytical Support and Sanctions
the 2020 Doha Agreement ligence official. Haqqani is they need to explain their po- day. Monitoring Team said.
on the terms of the U.S. deputy head of the Taliban, sition,” the official said.
withdrawal from Afghanistan serves as interior minister in The U.N. Security Council IS militants have emerged as
that they would not harbor its government and heads the Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry was informed by monitors of a major threat to the Taliban
al-Qaida members or those Haqqani network, a power- issued a very carefully word- militant groups in July that over the past year, carrying
seeking to attack the U.S. ful faction within the move- ed statement, which referred al-Qaida enjoys greater free- out a series of deadly attacks
ment. to a “counter-terrorism op- dom in Afghanistan under against Taliban targets and ci-
Yet a mastermind of the 9/11 eration by the United States the Taliban but confines itself vilians.

Italy’s salty Po Delta hurting agriculture, fisheries

(AP) — Drought and un- form a reserve recognized by That is one-tenth of annual this year.
usually hot weather have UNESCO for its biodiver- averages. It has been nearly And while deltas are by defi-
raised the salinity in Italy’s sity. two months since farmers nition an area of exchange “The territory around the
largest delta, where the have been able to tap the river between fresh and salt water, Po is three meters below
mighty Po River feeds into The amount of water enter- water for agriculture. the movement is becoming sea level, therefore there is a
the Adriatic Sea south of ing the delta from the Po more and more one-direc- continual flow of saline water
Venice, and it’s killing rice River is at an all-time low, The impact may be even tional: Inland penetration of that is going into the aqui-
fields along with the shell- hitting just 95 cubic meters more lasting, as saltwater saltwater has increased from fers,” Mantovani said. “We
fish that are a key ingredi- (3,350 cubic feet) a second is leaching inland distances two kilometers (just over a are therefore not only creat-
ent in one of Italy’s culi- last month, due to drought never before recorded, and mile) in the 1960s and 10 ing an agricultural problem, a
nary specialties: spaghetti conditions caused by a lack seeping into aquifers, under- kilometers (six miles) in the human problem, but also an
with clams. of wintertime snowpack and ground layers of rock that can 1980s to an astounding 38 environmental problem. ...
spring and summer rains. hold water. kilometers (nearly 24 miles) This is a perfect storm.”s
At least one-third of the
stock of prized double-valve
clams raised in the Po Delta
have died off. Plants along
the banks of the Po River are
wilting as they drink in water
from increasingly salty aqui-
fers and secondary waterways
have dried up, shrinking am-
phibians and birds’ wetland
homes.

“It is evident that there is an
entire system with an ecol-
ogy that will have permanent
problems,” said Giancarlo
Mantovani, director of Po
River Basin Authority. The
ecosystem includes the Po
Delta Park, which along with
neighboring lands in Veneto