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UN emphasizes the importance of aid for Afghanistan

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(Last Updated On: January 28, 2023)

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees says that the distribution of cash aid to the needy is very important during this year’s extremely harsh winter.

The spokesperson of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in Afghanistan Caroline Gluck says that in this cold winter, it is very important to distribute cash aid to the needy in Afghanistan.

Gluck, who visited Bamyan province recently, says that Afghanistan has faced one of the worst winters in many years and the needs of the people are very high.

She said the distribution of cash will help people sort out their needs during the cold weather.

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs estimates that in 2023, the number of people in need in Afghanistan will reach more than 28 million.

Weather reports have put the minimum temperatures in a number of provinces across the country over the past three weeks at between minus 16 degrees Celsius and minus 30 degrees Celsius.

This record-cold winter has left well over 150 people and an estimated 200,000 livestock dead this month.

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NASA, Boeing clear two technical hurdles for Starliner’s debut crew flight

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(Last Updated On: May 25, 2024)

Boeing (BA.N), opens new tab and NASA quelled two technical issues on the company’s Starliner spacecraft, including a “design vulnerability” requiring a temporary workaround, to get the capsule back on track for its first mission carrying two astronauts to space, officials said on Friday.

Starliner’s debut crewed mission, a high-stakes test now planned for June 1, was derailed earlier this month by a small helium leak detected in its propulsion system hours before it was due to lift off from Florida. Over two weeks of extra scrutiny found that the leak poses no major risk to the astronauts, officials said.

“This is really not a safety of flight issue for ourselves, and we believe that we have a well-understood condition that we can manage,” Boeing’s Starliner boss Mark Nappi told reporters during a news conference.

Starliner’s long-delayed first crewed flight, with NASA astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore on board, is a final test mission before NASA can certify the spacecraft for routine astronaut trips to and from the International Space Station. It would become the second U.S. crew capsule alongside SpaceX’s Crew Dragon, which started flying humans in 2020.

Boeing and NASA’s probe of the helium leak led engineers to uncover an additional issue in Starliner’s propulsion system that NASA’s commercial crew chief Steve Stich called a “design vulnerability.”

Modeling showed that a cascading, but very unlikely, series of issues during a mission could eliminate the capsule’s backup thrusters and render it unable to safely return to Earth. A software fix offered a temporary workaround for the mission, but Boeing and NASA will discuss whether a deeper redesign is needed before future flights, officials said.

“It’s backed by test data, it’s backed by flight data, and the guidance and navigation modeling have reinforced that this technique will work,” Nappi said, adding the astronauts had tested the system after the fix.

That broader issue and ad hoc resolution prompted NASA to call for an additional Flight Readiness Review, an extensive, day-long meeting among agency officials, Boeing engineers and independent analysts to justify Starliner is safe for flight.

Boeing is a longtime NASA contractor that has built modules for the decades-old International Space Station but has never before flown humans into space, a feat that persistent struggles in its Starliner program has made elusive.

Years behind schedule and with $1.5 billion in unplanned development costs, a success with Starliner is badly needed as Boeing reels from unrelenting crises in its aviation business.

Starliner in 2019 failed an attempt to reach the ISS, returning to Earth roughly a week earlier than planned because of dozens of software, technical and management issues that reshaped Boeing’s relationship with NASA.

The spacecraft succeeded in a re-do flight in 2022 to the ISS.

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IEA can stabilize Afghanistan if left to its own devices: Russian spy chief

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(Last Updated On: May 25, 2024)

The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) is fully capable of restoring order in the country, assuming external actors do not meddle in its affairs, the head of the FSB security service said.

Speaking at a security meeting of Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) in Bishkek, Alexander Bortnikov said that attempts to consolidate and expand the influence of terrorist networks in the Afghan-Pakistani zone are a big threat to CIS security.

“Undoubtedly, we cannot but be concerned about what is happening in this country. On the one hand, positive trends should be noted. The Afghan authorities are actively working on normalizing the situation, they’re countering against odious terrorist organizations, seeking to strengthen external borders in order to reduce the infiltration of militants from regional conflict zones. They are in dialogue with us – I am speaking about the special services of the CIS,” Russia’s state news agency TASS quoted Bortnikov as saying.

“And if external players do not interfere with Kabul, the Taliban (IEA), I believe, will be able to restore order in the country,” he said.

The Russian official said that there are “persistent attempts by the Anglo-Saxons to influence the situation in Afghanistan,” with the aim to gain a foothold in Central Asia and use this platform to influence the entire region.

“Of course, with so much at stake, any means necessary are used. Hence the constant rotation of militants in the Syrian-Iraqi and Afghan-Pakistani zones, the emergence of new training camps for militants near the southern borders of the Commonwealth,” he said.

Meanwhile, Bortnikov called efforts to find common ground in countering international terrorism with the new authorities in Afghanistan a “positive trend.”

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US envoy discusses way ahead in Afghanistan during visit to Ankara

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(Last Updated On: May 25, 2024)

US Special Representative for Afghanistan Thomas West announced Saturday that he discussed the way ahead in Afghanistan during his two-day trip to Turkish capital Ankara.

West said on X that the issues discussed included the need for collective diplomacy, coordinated efforts against Daesh-Khorasan threats, support for disaster relief efforts in northern Afghanistan, and to promote for Afghans’ human rights.

The envoy also met with the head of Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency (TIKA) “to learn more about Turkey’s robust support for cultural preservation, emergency relief, health and education projects.”

Last week, the American diplomat met with Mohammed bin Abdulaziz Al-Khulaifi, Qatar’s Minister of State at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, before the latter’s visit to Kabul.

The meetings take place ahead of the third Doha meeting on Afghanistan, which is scheduled to be held on June 30.

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