Page 6 - Aruba-today-15 Sept 2020

A6 WORLD NEWS
Tuesday 15 sepTember 2020

U.S. envoy lauds Pakistan's role in Afghan peace talks process

By MUNIR AHMED ghan Taliban, but the sec-
ISLAMABAD (AP) — The U.S. ond round of the sched-
peace envoy for Afghani- uled talks collapsed when
stan was in Pakistan on the Afghan government
Monday to express his grat- announced the death of
itude for Islamabad's role in Taliban founder Mullah Mo-
helping launch the much- hammed Omar.
awaited negotiations be- The announcement
tween the Taliban and Af- strained ties between Ka-
ghan representatives, the bul and Islamabad at the
Pakistani military said. time. But since then, Wash-
The historic negotiations ington has pressed Islam-
kicked off over the week- abad to help convince the
end in Qatar, a Middle East Taliban to meet with the
nation where the Taliban U.S. and Afghan officials.
have maintained a political Last month, a Taliban po-
office for the past several litical team led by the insur-
years. The start of nego- gents political chief Mullah
tiations was the latest in a Abdul Ghani Baradar, vis-
flurry of diplomatic accom- ited Islamabad to consult
plishments by the Trump In this photo released Pakistan's military information wing 'Inter Services Public Relations', a U.S. with Pakistani officials.
delegation headed by peace envoy for Afghanistan, Zalmay Khalilzad, third left, hold talks with
administration ahead of Pakistan's army chief, Gen. Qamar Javed Bajwa, second right, in Rawalpindi, Pakistan, Monday, The Taliban were ousted in
the U.S. presidential elec- Sept. 14, 2020. 2001 by a U.S.-led coalition
tion in November. Associated Press for harboring Osama bin
While the start of the talks Laden, the architect of the
on Saturday was mainly the disarming of tens of The U.S. team met with support." Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on
about ceremony, the hard thousands of Taliban fight- Pakistan's army chief, Gen. Islamabad has for the past America.
negotiations on agreeing ers and militias loyal to war- Qamar Javed Bajwa, in the several years maintained In Afghanistan, meanwhile,
to a road map for a post- lords, some of them aligned garrison city of Rawalpindi that its influence over the scores of friends and fami-
war Afghanistan will be with the government. on Monday. Taliban is overstated but lies of those killed on Af-
held behind closed doors Washington's peace envoy A military statement said that it would do whatever ghan battlefields gathered
and over a number of ses- Zalmay Khalilzad and a U.S. the visiting delegation is possible for peace in Af- at a cemetery on Monday
sions. delegation visiting Paki- "greatly appreciated" Paki- ghanistan, saying that a to call for a permanent
The sides will be tackling stan praised its assistance stan's role in the ongoing stable Kabul was in its own countrywide cease-fire,
tough issues, including in efforts aimed at finding peace process, saying interests. which is expected to be
the terms of a permanent a peaceful solution to the that "it could not have suc- In 2015, Pakistan hosted the first on the agenda of the
cease-fire, the rights of 17-year war in Afghanistan, ceeded without Pakistan's first ever face-to-face talks intra-Afghan negotiations
women and minorities, and the Pakistani military said. sincere and unconditional between Kabul and the Af- in Qatar.q

Report says Yemen's warring sides 'severely restricting' aid

ternationally recognized denied obstructing aid, shortages, a new fuel crisis,
government and their saying groups that made mainly in Houthi-held areas,
southern separatists. the allegations were follow- has further reduced Ye-
That aid includes food, ing "political orders" from menis' access to food, hos-
health care supplies, water the United States. Yemen's pital care, and water sup-
and sanitation support to internationally backed plies, Human Rights Watch
people in need in the Arab government and the south- said.
world's poorest nation. ern separatists did not re- Yemen has confirmed
"Millions of Yemenis depend spond to requests for com- more than 2,000 cases of
on the authorities letting ment from The Associated the coronavirus, including
aid flow freely for health Press. 584 deaths. However, the
care and other necessities," The obstructions partly led actual tally is believed to
said Gerry Simpson of Hu- to a collapse in donor sup- be much higher as testing
man Rights Watch. port to U.N. aid agencies capabilities are severely
Yemen is home to the in June. A top U.N. official limited and the Houthis
In this Aug. 22, 2020 file photo, tribesmen loyal to Houthi rebels world's worst food crisis, warned last month that have stopped issuing statis-
hold their weapons as they ride in a vehicle during a gather-
ing against the agreement to establish diplomatic relations be- mostly due to the civil war Yemen is sliding toward tics from areas they hold.
tween Israel and the United Arab Emirates, in Sanaa, Yemen. that pits the Houthis in the famine as the coronavirus Human Rights Watch called
Associated Press north against a Saudi-led spreads and its economy for the U.N. to establish an
coalition and its allies in the implodes. independent inquiry into
By SAMY MAGDY group warned on Monday. south, including separatist Some 24 million Yemenis, or the extent of obstruction
Associated Press Human Rights Watch forces. The Houthis seized 80% of the country's popu- and shortcomings in the
CAIRO (AP) — Warring par- said international donors Saana in September 2014. lation, require some form humanitarian community's
ties in Yemen's yearslong slashed their funding in The coalition entered the of assistance or protection, response. It also urged war-
conflict are "severely re- June partly because of war in March 2015 on be- according to the U.N. Al- ring parties to immediately
stricting" the delivery of the "systemic interference" half of Yemen's internation- ready, 75% of U.N. aid pro- end the obstructions.
desperately needed aid as in relief operations by the ally recognized govern- grams for the country have However, multiple U.N. re-
the country slides toward Houthi rebels who hold Ye- ment. closed or reduced their op- ports and appeals have yet
famine amid the corona- men's capital, Sanaa, as The New York-based erations. to see an end to the crisis in
virus pandemic, a rights well as by the country's in- watchdog said the Houthis Added to the funding Yemen. q