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Trump calls Afghanistan collapse ‘most humiliating’ moment for US

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(Last Updated On: August 18, 2021)

Former President Donald Trump described the recent events in Afghanistan as the worst humiliation in American history but defended the agreement his administration struck with the Taliban last year.

“It’s a great thing that we’re getting out, but nobody has ever handled a withdrawal worse than Joe Biden,” the former president told Fox News Tuesday. 

“This is the greatest embarrassment, I believe, in the history of our country,” he said. 

Trump sat down for his first interview since the Taliban marched into Kabul Sunday, climaxing a 96-hour conquest that saw Afghanistan’s major cities and provincial capitals fall with little resistance, Reuters reported. 

While he was full of criticism for the Biden administration, Trump also at times echoed his successor’s address to the nation Monday, which cast blame on Afghan military and political leaders for their battlefield collapse and the resulting scenes of chaos.

“I knew they [Afghan security forces] weren’t going to fight … I said, ‘Why are they fighting? Why are these Afghan soldiers fighting against the Taliban?’” Trump told Fox News host Sean Hannity. “And I was told some very bad information by a lot of different people.

“The fact is, they’re among the highest-paid soldiers in the world. They were doing it for a paycheck, because once we stopped, once we left, they stopped fighting … The fact is, our country was paying the Afghan soldiers a fortune. So we were sort of bribing them to fight, and that’s not what it’s all about.”

By contrast, Trump repeatedly praised the Taliban as “good fighters” — at one point telling Hannity that “you have to give them credit for that” — and claimed he got along better with the Islamic fundamentalists than recently deposed Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, who fled the country as Taliban forces closed in, Reuters reported. 

“I never had a lot of confidence, frankly, in Ghani,” the former president recalled. “I said that openly and plainly. I thought he was a total crook. I thought he got away with murder. He spent all his time wining and dining our senators. The senators were in his pocket. That was one of the problems that we had, but I never liked him, and I guess based on his escape with cash, I don’t know, maybe that’s a true story. I would suspect it is. All you have to do is look at his lifestyle, study his houses where he lives. He got away with murder in many different ways.”

In February 2020, the Trump administration announced a cease-fire agreement with the Taliban that called for the withdrawal of all US combat troops from Afghanistan by May 1 of this year. On Monday, Biden argued that his hands were tied by the agreement, Reuters reported. 

“There would have been no ceasefire after May 1. There was no agreement protecting our forces after May 1. There was no status quo of stability without American casualties after May 1,” the president said. “There was only the cold reality of either following through on the agreement to withdraw our forces or escalating the conflict and sending thousands more American troops back into combat in Afghanistan, lurching into the third decade of conflict.”

Trump said Tuesday that the agreement was forged after what he called a “strong conversation” with a Taliban leader he identified as Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, a contender to become the new supreme leader of the new government, Reuters reported. 

“I told him up front, I said, “Look, up front, before we start, let me just tell you right now that if anything bad happens to Americans or anybody else or if you ever come over to our land, we will hit you with a force that no country has ever been hit with before, a force so great you won’t even believe it,’” he recounted.

As a result of the agreement, Trump claimed, “we lost no soldiers in the last year-and-a-half because of me and because of the understanding that we had … In Chicago and in New York and in other cities in the United States, many people die every weekend. We lost no soldiers in Afghanistan because they knew I wasn’t going to put up with it.”

Summing up two decades of American efforts in Afghanistan, Trump described the initial decision to invade in October 2001 as “the worst decision ever made” and argued that the US should have limited its retaliation for the 9/11 attacks to airstrikes, Reuters reported. 

As more grim reports emerged of thousands of Americans stuck in Taliban territory, with checkpoints between them and Kabul’s international airport, Trump said: “ I looked at that big, monster cargo plane yesterday, with people grabbing the side and trying to get flown out of Afghanistan because of their fear, their incredible fear, and they’re blowing off the plane from 2,000 feet up in the air.” 

“Nobody’s ever seen anything like that. That blows the helicopters in Vietnam away. That’s not even a contest. This has been the most humiliating period of time I’ve ever seen.”

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Magnitude-6.5 earthquake shakes Afghanistan

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(Last Updated On: March 21, 2023)

An earthquake of magnitude 6.5 shook Afghanistan at 9:17 pm local time on Tuesday, the United States Geological Survey (USGC) reported.

The quake happened at a depth of 187.6 kilometers and its epicenter was in Badakhshan province, according to USGC.

People in Kabul were seen leaving buildings as the earthquake struck.

Tremors were felt also in Pakistan and India.

There were no immediate reports of human casualties or property damage, if any.

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Three-day expo held in Kabul to boost domestic products

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(Last Updated On: March 21, 2023)

The Ministry of Industry and Commerce (MoIC) says a three-day expo titled “Premier Services of National Expo” was opened in Kabul on Tuesday in support of domestic products.

Female and male entrepreneurs showcased their products at this expo.

MoIC officials have said that in this new Solar Year, 1402, supporting domestic products is their priority and they are considering a plan that government institutions will have to purchase domestic products only.

The officials said they are still trying to attract investment and increase the country’s exports abroad.

“We are in contact with countries so that our products are marketed abroad and our products reach there,” said Qudratullah Jamal, deputy minister of industry and commerce.

“It is the duty of youth to once again work for greenery, reconstruction, economic development, technology and other sectors for the country,” said Bilal Karimi, deputy spokesman of the IEA.

In addition, the Ministry of Economy has also said that despite international sanctions and pressure, the IEA was able to control the economic situation to some extent.

According to this ministry, it will expand economic activities in the country in 1402.

“Not only did we act appropriately and decently in providing services, but we also maintained the price of goods and the price and value of services,” said Abdul Latif Nazari, deputy minister of economy.

At this expo, dozens of male and female entrepreneurs have displayed their products and asked people to support the domestic market.

“Again, women did not accept failure and more women are engaged in handicrafts,” said Yalda, a female entrepreneur.

The expo is open to visitors for three days, and several similar expos have been held in recent months in Kabul and in provinces around the country.

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Over 50 instances of artifact smuggling prevented in last 18 months: officials

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(Last Updated On: March 21, 2023)

More than 50 cases of smuggling of antiques have been prevented in the last 18 months, officials in the Ministry of Information and Culture said on Tuesday.

“More than 50 artifacts have been seized. We have put the artifacts on display. This is a great achievement. These artifacts were obtained from different areas and customs during the last year and a half,” said Zabihullah Sadat, head of the archeology department of the Ministry of Information and Culture.

Officials at the National Museum of Afghanistan said that they are committed to preserving antiques.

“The National Museum is a place where antiques are kept and preserved, and we are committed to preserving the antiques. The National Museum has also helped prevent smuggling of antiques,” said Mohammad Zubair Abedi, head of the National Museum.

In the latest case, 75 ancient coins were discovered in Baghlan province and handed over to the National Museum in Kabul.

The Department of Information and Culture of Baghlan said that these coins were obtained with the cooperation of local people of Jalga district.

“People’s cooperation in this regard is very necessary. Unless there is cooperation of people, no activity will be done properly. Alhamdulillah, here too, it was the cooperation of the people that we could seize this number of objects,” said Asadullah Mustafa Hashemi, the head of Baghlan Information and Culture Department.

More than 50,000 historical and cultural artifacts from different eras have been registered and put on display at the National Museum in Kabul.

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