Gunfire at Kabul airport kills 1; Taliban mass near Panjshir
Kabul(AP): A firefight at one of the gates of Kabul's international airport killed at least one Afghan security officer early Monday, German officials said, the latest chaos to engulf Western efforts to evacuate those fleeing the Taliban takeover of the country.
The shooting near the military side of the airport came as the Taliban sent fighters northward to face a nascent rebellion against the insurgents who seized the country over a week ago in a lightning offensive. So far, the Taliban said there had been no fighting though the rebels already have seized three rural districts in the mountains of the Hindu Kush.
Though the security forces of Afghanistan's central government largely collapsed or fled the Taliban advance, some armed Afghans remain at Kabul airport assisting Western countries and others as they struggle to evacuate those gathered there. It remains unclear whether they belong to the Afghan border forces that once guarded the airport or whether they were attached to the Western militaries as private armed guards now providing security there.
The gunfire that killed the Afghan officer early Monday broke out near the airport's northern gate the same scene of chaos that on Saturday saw a crush of a panicked crowd kill seven Afghan civilians.
Who opened fire and the circumstances of the shooting around 6:45 a.m. local time remained unclear. However, the German military said in a tweet that one member of the Afghan security forces was killed and three others were wounded by unknown attackers.
The U.S. military and NATO did not immediately acknowledge the shooting. The Taliban as well did not acknowledge the incident.
The tragic scenes around the airport have transfixed the world as thousands of Afghans poured into the facility last week. In the chaos, some plunged to their deaths while hanging onto an American C-17 taking off from the runway. At least seven people died that day, in addition to the seven killed Sunday.
The Taliban blame the chaotic evacuation on the U.S. military, saying there's no need for Afghans to fear them, even though their fighters shoot into the air and beat people with batons as they try to control the crowds outside the airport perimeter.
The Taliban have pledged amnesty to those who worked with the U.S., NATO and the toppled Afghan government, but many Afghans still fear revenge attacks. There have been reports in recent days of the Taliban hunting down their former enemies. It's unclear if Taliban leaders are saying one thing and doing another, or if fighters are taking matters into their own hands.
As the airlift continues, the U.S. government has activated the Civil Reserve Air Fleet program, requesting 18 aircraft from U.S. carriers to assist in transporting Afghan refugees after they are evacuated to other countries. The voluntary program, born in the wake of the Berlin airlift, adds to the military's capabilities during crises.
Already early Monday, a Delta Air Lines flight part of those evacuations landed in Dubai and later took off for Al-Udeid Air Base in Qatar, where evacuees already crowd hangars there. A steady stream of military transport planes continue to fly people out of Kabul to airfields across the Mideast.
There also have been concerns about a potential attack on the Kabul airport by a local Islamic State affiliate, whether through suicide bombers targeting the gathered crowds there or using portable surface-to-air missiles to bring down aircraft. U.S. military planes have been executing corkscrew landings, and other aircraft have fired flares upon takeoff, measures used to, prevent missile attacks.
Meanwhile in Baghlan province, some 120 kilometers (75 miles) north of Kabul, fighters calling themselves the People's Uprising claimed to have seized three districts in the Andarab Valley, nestled the Hindu Kush. Others have gathered in Panjshir province, the only of Afghanistan's 34 provinces not to fall to the Taliban.
Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said the insurgents' forces had begun surrounding Panjshir province. Amurllah Saleh, Afghanistan's vice president under the country's absent President Ashraf Ghani, wrote on Twitter that Taliban fighters have massed near the province after facing ambushes.
Mujahid said the Taliban planned to open negotiations with those in Panjshir.
So far there has been no fight, he said. "We prefer to find a peaceful solution for Panjshir.”
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Congress not just removed clothes at AI Summit but exposed its intellectual bankruptcy: PM Modi
New Delhi (PTI): Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday came down heavily on the Congress for the shirtless protest by its youth wing members at the AI Impact Summit recently, saying the opposition party can tear as many clothes as it wants, but his government will continue to work for the country's progress.
Addressing the News18 Rising Bharat Summit, Modi also said that the Congress did not just remove its clothes in front of foreign guests but also exposed its intellectual bankruptcy, asserting that the millennials have already taught the country's oldest party a lesson, and now Gen-Z is ready to do the same.
In an apparent jibe at Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, Modi said the opposition was unhappy seeing the statue of "Babbar Shers" (lions) installed atop the new Parliament building, but their own “Babbar Shers" were running away after facing the "shoes" of the general public.
Gandhi, the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, had said on February 24 that he was proud of the "Babbar Shers" of the Indian Youth Congress, who "fearlessly" raised their voice at the AI Summit.
"Congress ke Babbar Sher logon ki jute kha ke bhaag gaye (The 'lions' of Congress ran away after being hit by shoes by the public)," Modi said.
The prime minister was apparently referring to the protesting Youth Congress workers being heckled by some people at the AI Summit.
On February 20, a group of Indian Youth Congress (IYC) workers staged a dramatic protest inside Hall No. 5 of the summit venue in Delhi by removing their shirts to reveal T-shirts printed with anti-government slogans, triggering a political slugfest between the BJP and the Congress.
“Congress can tear as many clothes as it wants, but we will continue to work for India's development. Congress not just shed clothes at the AI Summit, it also exposed its incapabilities in front of foreign guests,” Modi said in his nearly 45-minute speech.
He said the AI Summit was a moment of pride for the entire nation, but unfortunately, Congress attempted to tarnish this national celebration.
"When the frustration and despair of failure weigh on the mind, and arrogance makes one's head spin, such a mindset emerges to defame the country," he said.
The prime minister also alleged that the Congress always takes refuge in Mahatma Gandhi to hide its failures, but tries to give credit to one family for anything good.
"People of our country welcomed every good step taken by our government, but the Congress only knows how to oppose everything. The votes of Congress are not stolen; rather, people do not consider Congress worthy of their votes. Millennials first taught a lesson to Congress, now Gen-Z is ready to do the same," he said.
Modi also said that in a democracy, the role of the opposition is not just about blindly opposing every move of the government, but presenting an alternative vision, and that is why the "enlightened public" of the country is "teaching a lesson" to Congress now.
In 1984, the Congress got 39 per cent of the votes and more than 400 seats. But its votes declined consistently in the subsequent elections, Modi said.
"Today, the condition of the Congress is such that it has more than 50 MLAs in just four states. Over the past 40 years, the number of young voters in the country has increased, but the Congress has clearly diminished," Modi said.
On the recent trade deals that India signed with foreign countries, Modi said the country has discovered its inherent strength and strengthened its institutions, which prompted developed nations to come forward and sign deals with India.
He also said that even after Independence, some people ensured that the colonial mindset remained for their own benefits.
"No country would have done trade deals with us had we not discovered our inherent strength and strengthened our institutions. Because of this, developed nations have come forward to sign trade deals (with India)," he said.
Modi also said that even after Independence, India was unable to break free from the mentality of slavery, for which the country is still paying the price.
"The latest example of this can be seen in the ongoing discussions on trade deals. Some people are shocked – ‘what has happened, how did this happen? Why are developed countries so eager to do trade deals with India?’ The answer is – a confident India is emerging from despair and frustration," he said.
Over the long span of history, centuries of slavery had instilled a feeling of inferiority, while the ideology imported from other countries deeply ingrained in society the notion that Indians were uneducated and subservient, the prime minister said.
"If the country was still mired in the despair of the pre-2014 era, counted among the 'Fragile Five', and gripped by policy paralysis, who would strike a trade deal with us?
"Over the past 11 years, a new surge of energy has flowed into the nation's consciousness. India is now striving to reclaim its lost potential," Modi said.
The prime minister also said that due to the recent series of reforms initiated by his government, the world's most powerful nations are now coming forward to sign trade deals with India.
"There was a time when India was only a consumer of new technology. But now we are not just developing them, but also setting standards," he said.
The prime minister also said that India's digital public infrastructure has become a subject of global discussion today, and every move India makes is closely watched and analysed across the world.
"The AI Summit was a clear example of this," he said.
The government's 'Viksit Bharat by 2047' is not a political slogan but an effort to correct the mistakes of the previous Congress governments by making India self-reliant, he said.
“So far, in every industrial revolution, India and the Global South largely remained followers, but in this age of artificial intelligence (AI), India is not only participating but is also shaping it. India now has its own AI startup ecosystem,” Modi said.
He also said the world is astonished that India, where around 30 million families lived in darkness until 2014, has now risen to become one of the top countries in solar power capacity.
India, where many cities had no hope of improving their public transport system, has now become the country with the world's third-largest Metro network, Modi said.
“The Indian Railways was known only for chronic delays and sluggish speeds, yet semi-high-speed connectivity like Vande Bharat and Namo Bharat has now become possible,” he said.
Nation-building never happens through short-term thinking; it is shaped by a long-term vision, patience and timely decisions, the prime minister added.
