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Biden’s decision on Afghanistan raises Guantanamo questions

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US President Joe Biden’s decision to withdraw all troops from Afghanistan is raising questions about what, if any, effect that will have on the future of the Guantanamo Bay detention center.

According to The Hill, at least two prisoners who have been challenging their detention have already updated their complaints to include Biden’s withdrawal as a reason they should be released.

But according to some experts while the war on terrorism will continue even after the last U.S. service member leaves Afghanistan, the legal justification for indefinite detention at Guantanamo does not appear to be going anywhere anytime soon, The Hill reported.

“I think the short answer is that we just don’t know,” Steve Vladeck, a University of Texas law professor, said of the withdrawal’s effect on Guantanamo.

“It clearly provides the remaining Guantanamo detainees with a new ground on which to challenge the legal basis for their continuing military detention, and one that is not necessarily foreclosed by existing precedent,” he added in an email.

“But it’s not at all clear that courts will be sympathetic to those arguments, not just because they haven’t been to date, but because the Executive Branch is likely to argue that the conflict with al-Qaeda isn’t ending just because we’re leaving Afghanistan.”

Forty men remain detained at the facility opened by former President George W. Bush after the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan. Six have been cleared for transfer, and seven have been charged in the military commission system, including the five 9/11 suspects.

According to The Hill, the Biden administration is in the midst of reviewing the facility with the intention of closing it, but it remains to be seen whether that effort will be successful.

Amid the administration’s review, Biden is facing pressure to fulfill his promise to close the facility and 24 Senate Democrats penned a letter to Biden last week saying he could close the facility with “sufficient political will and swift action.”

“After years of indefinite detention without charge or trial; a history of torture and cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment; and multiple attempts at a thoroughly failed and discredited military commission process, it is past time to close Guantanamo’s detention facility and end indefinite detention,” read the letter, which was organized by Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin and Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy.

When Biden announced earlier this month he was ordering a full withdrawal from Afghanistan by September 11, he declared, “It’s time to end the forever war.”

But Alli McCracken Jarrar, North American campaigner for Amnesty International, told The Hill that if Biden is serious about ending the “forever war,” he will close Guantanamo.

“I hope that he can align his timeline to withdraw from Afghanistan with his plan to close Guantanamo,” she said. “It would be wonderful to see the whole detention camp shut down and the men transferred out by September 11. And I think that would make a lot of groups feel happy and would really be a positive sign that he's committed to his human rights obligations.”

The Hill reported that last week, lawyers for two Guantanamo detainees filed motions for the release of their clients, citing the withdrawal.

One of the two detainees is Asadullah Haroon Gul, an approximately 40-year-old Afghan captured by Afghan forces in 2007. His lawyers argued in a motion seeking their client’s immediate release that the withdrawal takes away any basis to continue holding him.

“The law is clear: Asadullah gets to go home now, regardless of whether, as the government incorrectly contends, he was part of or substantially supported al- Qaeda,” his lawyers wrote in the motion.

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Armed attack on civilians in Daikundi-Ghor area sparks international reactions

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Daesh-affiliated members' armed attack on civilians in an area between Daikundi and Ghor provinces has provoked international reactions. In this attack, 14 civilians were killed.

The United Nations has condemned the attack on Hazara community and described it as "heinous".

UNAMA has urged the Islamic Emirate to identify the perpetrators of this attack.

Karen Decker, Chargé d'Affaires of the US Mission to Afghanistan, has also strongly condemned the attack and expressed her condolences to victims and their families.

The Embassy of Japan in Afghanistan also condemned the attack in a post on X and called it “heinous terrorist attack”.

IEA’s spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid confirmed on Friday that 14 civilians were killed in an attack in an area between Daikundi and Ghor provinces.

Daesh claimed responsibility for the attack.

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US aid to Afghanistan should be conditioned on treatment of women and children: McCaul

McCaul also said that by not including the Afghan government in the Doha negotiations, Zalmay Khalilzad, the former US special representative for Afghanistan peace, made a big error.

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Michael McCaul, Republican chair of the US House Foreign Affairs Committee, has said that any aid or assistance Washington gives to Afghanistan has to be conditioned on treatment of women and children.

In an interview with the Voice of America, McCaul said that girls in Afghanistan should be allowed to go to school and enjoy their fundemental rights.

Referring to the restrictions against women, he said that Afghanistan has now returned to the "Stone Age".

McCaul also said that by not including the Afghan government in the Doha negotiations, Zalmay Khalilzad, the former US special representative for Afghanistan peace, made a big error.

“They (Afghan government) felt like they were sidelined,” he said.

McCaul also stated that the withdrawal of US forces from Afghanistan without an action plan was a “fatal flaw” because many Americans and their Afghan allies were left behind.

This comes as the Islamic Emirate has said that the rights of women and girls are an internal issue of Afghanistan and Sharia laws must be respected.

IEA has also said that foreign aid to Afghanistan is managed by international organizations and the Islamic Emirate does not use it.

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Pakistan’s ex-PM Khan says terrorism cannot be eliminated without dialogue with Afghanistan

He said that a large number of policemen in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa have been killed in the fight against terrorism and if terrorism is not controlled, the economy will come to a standstill.

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Pakistan's jailed former prime minister, Imran Khan, said on Friday that terrorism cannot be eliminated without having dialogue with the authorities in Afghanistan.

Speaking to reporters on Friday, Khan expressed his support for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapour's proposal for a direct dialogue with Kabul.

“Ali Amin is absolutely right,” Imran Khan stated. “They should be beseeching him to go and talk to Afghanistan for the sake of God."

A day earlier, Pakistan's Defense Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif criticized Gandapur's plan to talk to Kabul, saying it was a direct attack on the federal government.

When questioned about the possibility of a province directly engaging with another country when a federal government and the Foreign Office were already in place, Imran Khan replied: "Forget the Foreign Office, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has been the most affected by terrorism.”

He said that a large number of policemen in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa have been killed in the fight against terrorism and if terrorism is not controlled, the economy will come to a standstill.

Khan urged the government to lend a hand to anyone attempting to eradicate the menace of terrorism.

"If someone is trying to end terrorism, cooperate with them," he stated, dismissing the perception that Gandapur’s intentions were anti-state. "Ali Amin is speaking in the favour of the country, not against it."

Clarifying Gandapur’s stance, he pointed out, "Ali Amin spoke about going but didn’t say he was leaving immediately, — he didn’t even fix a time." Khan concluded his talk by saying, "What wrong has Ali Amin said?"

Gandapur announced on Wednesday that he would send a delegation to Afghanistan to resolve bilateral issues.

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