Page 5 - aruba-today-20201017

A5
WORLD NEWS Saturday 17 OctOber 2020
Taliban to suspend assault after U.S. pledges to halt strikes

By KATHY GANNON mainly in the minutiae of Is-
Associated Press lamic jurisprudence.
ISLAMABAD (AP) — The While successful negotia-
Taliban said on Friday they tions are seen as critical to
have agreed to suspend an end to decades of war
attacks in southern Afghan- in Afghanistan, the with-
istan that have displaced drawal of American troops
thousands this week — but relies on the Taliban honor-
only after the Americans ing their commitments from
promised to halt all strikes the February accord to not
and night raids in keeping support terror groups and
with the peace agreement fight all militants, most spe-
the U.S. signed with the in- cifically the region's Islamic
surgents in February. State affiliate.
The U.S. has been conduct- Khalilzad tweeted that re-
ing air strikes in support of cent attacks have been
Afghan forces trying to re- "threatening the peace
pel week-long Taliban as- process and alarming the
saults in southern Helmand Afghan people and their
province that threatened regional and international
to derail efforts to end Af- supporters." The Taliban of-
ghanistan's 19-year war. ficial told The Associated
The Taliban pledge came Press that in the meetings,
after a meeting with U.S. Afghan families leave their houses after fighting between the Afghan military and Taliban insurgents the Americans were told
peace envoy Zalmay in Helmand province, southern of Afghanistan, Tuesday, Oct. 13, 2020. Associated Press "their military is carrying
Khalilzad and Gen. Austin drone strikes on our posi-
Miller, commander of U.S. week, with rocket attacks sentatives and the Taliban said both sides agreed to tions, conducting night
troops in Afghanistan, a from the Taliban and re- are holding peace talks in a "reset" which will result in raids and using fighter jets
Taliban figure familiar with taliatory airstrikes from U.S. the Middle Eastern state of a "reduced numbers of op- to bomb our mujahedeen,"
the discussions said. He and Afghan aircraft forcing Qatar, where the Taliban erations." "Following several or holy warriors.
spoke on condition of ano- more than 5,600 families have for years maintained meetings Gen. Miller and "We told them, 'You had
nymity because he was not to flee their homes, seek- a political office. The nego- I had with the Taliban we promised not to carry out
authorized to speak to the ing refuge in the provincial tiations, envisaged under agreed to re-set actions by attacks. We react to your
media. capital of Lashkar Gah and a U.S. deal signed with the strictly adhering to imple- attacks'," he said.
The Taliban agreed to sus- Nad Ali and Marja districts. insurgents on Feb. 29, are mentation of all elements The Taliban official also
pend their operations after Over the past few years, seen as the country's best of the U.S.-Taliban agree- said that after both sides
the Americans said they a resurgent Taliban have chance at peace. ment and all commitments agreed to strictly imple-
would end drone strikes gained control of roughly In a series of tweets Thurs- made," he said. The nego- ment the U.S.-Taliban deal
on insurgent positions, as 80% of the province, mainly day, Khalilzad said he tiations in Qatar between signed in February. "We
well as night raids and air the rural areas, while the and Gen. Austin Miller, the the Taliban and Afghan have directed our mujahe-
assaults, the Taliban figure district centers are still un- commander of U.S. forces government negotiators deen in Helmand to stop
said. Helmand has been der government control. in Afghanistan, held talks began in September but their advance. We hope
the scene of a blistering The flareup came even as with the Taliban and then, after a ceremonious start the U.S. will stop further
Taliban assault since last Afghan government repre- after several rounds, he became bogged down, bombing," he said.q
Israel settlement plans draw international condemnation

By FARES AKRAM dependent state. They say agreements between Is-
Associated Press the growing settler popula- rael and the two Gulf Arab
JERUSALEM (AP) — Israeli tion, approaching 500,000 countries. Ayman al-Safadi,
plans to advance the build- in the West Bank, has made Jordan's foreign minister,
ing of thousands of settle- it increasingly difficult to called for international
ment units in the occupied achieve their dream of in- pressure on Israel to stop
West Bank drew European dependence. the building of new settle-
condemnation on Friday as "We are deeply concerned ments. On Thursday, the top
approvals for constructions by the decision taken by diplomat of the European
hit a record high in 2020. the Israeli authorities to ad- Union also condemned the
The European countries vance more than 4,900 set- latest Israeli decision.
warned the building per- tlement building units in the "Settlements are illegal un-
petuates the Israeli-Pales- occupied West Bank," said der international law. As
tinian conflict and further a joint statement by foreign stated consistently, the
threatens the viability of ministry spokespersons of EU will not recognize any
a two-state solution. The Britain, France, Germany, changes to the pre-1967 Jewish settlers fight fire in olive groves near their outpost that was
warning came after Israel Italy, and Spain. borders, including with re- caused by Israeli police's teargas canisters, used to disperse
on Thursday pressed for- "It is also a counterproduc- gard to Jerusalem, other Palestinian farmers going to their groves, in the West Bank village
ward on plans for more tive move in light of the than those agreed by the of Burqa, East of Ramallah, Friday, Oct. 16, 2020.
than 3,000 West Bank set- positive developments of parties," the bloc's foreign Associated Press
tlement homes. normalization agreements relations chief Josep Borrell
The Palestinians claim all of reached between Israel, said. ing the presidency of Don- to annex parts of the West
the West Bank, captured the United Arab Emirates The latest Israeli approvals ald Trump. It also comes Bank in exchange for a
by Israel in the 1967 Mideast and Bahrain," it added, re- are part of a building boom months after Israel prom- U.S.-brokered normalization
war, as part of a future in- ferring to the recent historic that has gained steam dur- ised to put on hold plans deal with the UAE.q