How to prevent tens of thousands of Afghans from starving to death, taskandpurpose.com

Adam Weinstein, research fellow at the Quincy Institute and a former U.S. Marine who served in Afghanistan

Millions of Afghans will starve as Americans carve our Thanksgiving turkeys next month. By the time Christmas rolls around it may be too late to save them. […]

Washington can still avert a humanitarian disaster in Afghanistan.

First, the Treasury Department should grant more expansive licenses which will exempt aid organizations from sanctions. The Biden administration should make it clear to NGOs that providing food and healthcare to Afghans will not put them in hot water with the United States. Second, Washington should focus humanitarian aid on Afghanistan’s health facilities. Lack of access to healthcare disproportionately affects women and Afghanistan’s medical clinics are one of the few settings where the Taliban have demonstrated some willingness to allow women to work. Third, the United States should continue funding Afghan schools while also calling on the Taliban to allow girls to access all levels of education. Salaries for individuals carrying out critical public services such as healthcare workers and teachers could potentially be made without going through the Taliban. Instead, they can be handled directly by institutions like the World Bank, UNICEF, or trustworthy non-governmental organizations with ground access. It is in the Taliban’s interest for these institutions to stay afloat regardless of who is paying for it and how.

Finally, the United States should begin to unconditionally release portions of Da Afghanistan Bank’s (Afghanistan Central Bank) $9.5 billion in frozen Afghan assets, much of which is held in the United States, and demand specific Taliban actions in exchange for releasing the rest. Providing humanitarian aid here and there without allowing money to flow into Afghanistan’s financial system will simply apply a feel-good bandaid to a bullet wound. Läs artikel

Läs också kommentar på den här sajten till utrikesminister Ann Lindes uttalande:  ”Inte en spänn skall gå till talibanerna”.

Rusty Charley, newleftreview.org

Wolfgang Streeck, sociologist and former director of the Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies

Weird things are going on in Brussels, and they are getting weirder by the day. The European Union, an international would-be superstate running an impressive democratic deficit, is gearing up to punish two of its democratic member states and their elected governments, together with the citizens that have elected them, for what it considers a democratic deficit. Governing the EU is an unelected technocracy, a constitution without a people, consisting of unintelligible international treaties and the accumulated rulings of an international court, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) – treaties that cannot in practice be revised, and rulings that only the court itself can revise – with a parliament that is not allowed to legislate and knows no opposition. Läs artikel

Det bryter neppe ut krig i konflikten rundt Taiwan, nordnorskdebatt.no

Oddmund H. Hammerstad, tidl. statssekretær (H) i Forsvarsdepartementet

[…] Målet for Kina er at det skal bli et høyinntektsland på linje med vestlige land og økonomier innen 2050. Xis taler og hans adferd gir et bilde av en politisk leder med ambisjon om å bli stående i de kinesiske annaler som Den store leder, større enn Mao Zedong. Å ødelegge sitt land i krig med USA passer dårlig inn med en slik ambisjon. […]

Uansett finter og tøff retorikk fremover kan vi være sikre på at diplomatiske prosesser vil pågå. Xi og Biden er enige om å møtes ansikt til ansikt før året er omme, og det er utenkelig at ikke de to lands diplomater i mellomtiden jobber intenst med å finne frem til en skisse eller modell for fremtidig modus vivendi i Taiwan-spørsmålet. Den må innebære en løsning som gjør at Xi ikke taper ansikt. President Joe Biden har gjentatte ganger bedyret at diplomatiet skal spille en viktig rolle, og at det er slutt på null-sum spill med «winner takes it all» fra USAs side. Det er tid for å levere. Läs artikel

Why is Washington collectively punishing the Afghan people? responsiblestatecraft.org

Daniel Larison, contributing editor at Antiwar.com

Afghanistan is facing a major economic and humanitarian crisis, and the U.S. has it within its power to prevent at least part of the approaching disaster.

The Biden administration’s decision to freeze nearly $10 billion in Afghan government assets has put an already impoverished, suffering country on a disastrous path to mass poverty and starvation, and it must move swiftly to release these assets. It is understandable that the administration does not want to be seen as “rewarding” the Taliban after it seized control this summer, but that is not a good enough reason to keep these funds frozen. Refusing to unfreeze these assets will impose a terrible punishment on tens of millions of ordinary Afghans. […]

Fatima Ayoub, the policy director at Crisis Action, was even more emphatic last month: “I don’t know [how] much louder or more often I can say this: because of U.S. restrictions on the banking sector the Afghan economy is collapsing. Millions of people will die if this problem isn’t fixed in order to get cash and liquidity into the system.” Läs artikel

Vi måste skriva under förbud mot kärnvapen, aftonbladet.se

Birgitta Dahl, Bo Toresson, Pierre Schori, Thage G Peterson, Lena Hjelm-Wallén m fl

100 S-profiler: Vårt budskap till kongressen är tydligt.

En lång tradition av ned- och avrustning, fred och frihet har alltid varit en hörnsten inom svensk socialdemokrati och arbetarrörelse.

Vårt budskap till kongressen är tydligt: vårt parti ska även fortsättningsvis vara en kraft i denna kamp och ett undertecknande av FN:s kärnvapenförbud bör således ske skyndsamt.

L-motion om insatsen i Mali, riksdagen.se

[…] Utvecklingen i Mali är bekymmersam. Liberalerna inser behovet av stabiliseringsinsatser, skydd av civila, främjandet av mänskliga rättigheter, humanitär verksamhet, stöd till den politiska övergångsprocessen, inklusive genomförande av demokratiska val. Men trots en långvarig och omfattande utländsk truppnärvaro går utvecklingen i Mali åt fel håll. […]

Tanken är Malis militär ska ta över uppgiften och att specialförbanden i Task Force Takuba – där Sverige även ingår – ska stödja dem i strid. Frankrikes engagemang för Mali framstår som alltmer osäkert. […]

Mot bakgrund av ovanstående anser Liberalerna att det svenska bidraget till Task Force Takuba bör vara avvecklas senast vid utgången av mars 2022. Läs motionen

NAM calls for ending unilateral sanctions against other countries, irna.ir

Ambassador and Deputy Permanent Representative of the Islamic Republic of Iran to the United Nations said in a speech on behalf of the Non-Aligned Movement that this movement wants the countries that have imposed unilateral sanctions to end the sanctions immediately. […]

The Security Council’s imposed sanctions still remain an issue of serious concern to the Member Countries of the Non-Aligned Movement. It is the Movement’s view that the imposition of sanctions should be considered as a last resort. Furthermore, targeted sanctions may be imposed only when there exists a threat to international peace and security or an act of aggression, in accordance with the Charter. They are not applicable as a preventive measure in any and all instances of violation of international law, norms or standards.

Sanctions are blunt instruments, the use of which raises fundamental ethical questions as to whether the suffering inflicted on vulnerable groups in the target country is a legitimate means of exerting political pressure. The objectives of sanctions are not to punish or otherwise exact retribution on the populace.

Sanctions regimes should avoid triggering unintended consequences in the target State or third States which may lead to violations of human rights and fundamental freedoms. They should also avoid hindering humanitarian assistance from reaching the civilian population.

In this regard, the objectives of sanctions regimes should be clearly defined based on tenable legal grounds, and their imposition should be for a specified timeframe. […]

The Movement also expresses its deep concern regarding the imposition of laws and other forms of coercive economic measures against developing countries, including unilateral sanctions, which violate the Charter of the United Nations and undermine international law as well as the rules of the World Trade Organization. Furthermore, the Movement calls on countries that have imposed unilateral sanctions to put an end to such sanctions immediately. Läs talet

Svenskt deltagande i Förenta Nationernas stabiliseringsinsats i Mali, riksdagen.se

[…] Internationell säkerhet ska vila på folkrätt, samarbete och ett starkt globalt regelverk under FN:s ledning. Vänsterpartiet är starkt kritiskt till hur Nato förväntas ta en allt större roll på bekostnad av FN. I stället för att skicka soldater i EU:s, Natos, Storbritanniens eller Frankrikes stridsgrupper bör Sverige prioritera att öka FN:s möjlighet att agera fredsbevarande. FN som organisation och dess fredsbevarande insatser blir aldrig starkare än vad staterna gör FN. […]

Sverige ska enbart delta i internationella militära insatser under FN-mandat. FN är den viktigaste internationella organisationen för frågor som rör konflikter, säkerhet och nedrustning, även om FN också har brister som måste åtgärdas. Genom folkrätten har FN en särställning som det organ som kan ge mandat till internationella militära insatser på folkrättslig grund. […]

Deltagande i internationella insatser måste samtidigt vägas mot nationella åtaganden. Försvarsmakten har begränsade resurser vilket innebär att både myndigheten själv och de politiska beslut som formar myndighetens aktivitet behöver prioritera hur dessa resurser ska fördelas. Att delta i internationella insatser är krävande för Försvarsmakten och bör alltid övervägas noggrant. Vänsterpartiet anser att Försvarsmakten även har vissa behov av utökade resurser kring den inhemska verksamheten, inte minst för att möta en utbyggnad av värnplikten och för att stärka förbandsverksamheten. […]

Regeringen bör utreda möjligheterna för svenskt deltagande i en annan internationell insats ledd av Förenta nationerna.        Läs motionen

Russisk skyteøvelse utenfor norskekysten for tredje gang på under ett år, nrk.no

I natt startet en ny russisk militærøvelse utenfor Helgeland. Øvelsen foregår langt til havs og ute i internasjonalt farvann. Dette er tredje gang på under ett år at Russland varsler skyteøvelser utenfor kysten i nord. Ifølge Forsvaret er det uvanlig at russerne øver langt sør i Norskehavet.

Professor Tormod Heier er oberstløytnant og forsker ved Forsvarets høgskole. Han mener at én av årsakene er at Norge har bygd ned sitt eget forsvar.

– Dette er en konsekvens av det som på mange måter har vært en norsk politikk utover 2000-tallet. Man har ønsket å omstille Forsvaret til et lite «ekspedisjonskorps» som først og fremst har vært opptatt i utlandet i veldig mange år, sier Heier.

– Når man da skal vende tilbake til eget territorium, ser man at man ikke på langt nær har den forsvarsevnen man en gang hadde. Dermed blir man nødt til å «outsource» grunnleggende nasjonale forsvarsoppgaver til USA. […]

– Russland er ikke redd for Norge, men redd for at USA skal bruke Norge som utgangspunkt for operasjoner inn mot dem, sier Heier.

Russland avholder øvelser tettere opp mot våre områder fordi de er bekymret for sikkerheten til sine egne atomstyrker, sier professoren. […]

Folk i Norge trenger ikke å bekymre seg over de russiske øvelsene, mener Heier. Russland er militært underlegne Vesten og vil aldri i verden finne på å gå til krig mot Norge. I tillegg bor vi ett av verdens mest regulerte og fredelige områder.

– Russland og Norge har så mange felles interesser i å holde denne rettsordenen i nordområdene ved like. Dette må vi først og fremst se på som en form for politisk kommunikasjon. Her er det Putin som snakker med Erna Solberg om at han ikke liker at Norge og Nato er for nærme deres egne grenser. Läs artikel

Ex-Nato head says Putin wanted to join alliance early on in his rule, theguardian.com

[…] George Robertson, a former Labour defence secretary who led Nato between 1999 and 2004, said Putin made it clear at their first meeting that he wanted Russia to be part of western Europe. “They wanted to be part of that secure, stable prosperous west that Russia was out of at the time,” he said. […]

Robertson also recalled how he became the first and only Nato secretary general to invoke Nato’s collective defence clause, known as article five, in the wake of the 9/11 attacks.

Invoking article five was “a gamble” and it was far from a foregone conclusion that Nato members would reach for it after a terrorist attack, he said, noting it was “designed for an attack by the Soviet Union across the Fulda Gap in Germany”.

Some Nato allies were uneasy about invoking the collective defence clause to support the US, fearing it would give George W Bush’s administration a licence to invade Iraq. Robertson recalled one minister asking him: “‘Does this mean we’re giving them a blank check to invade Iraq?’ We said: ‘No, it’s not.’” Läs artikel

Fulani-Dogon Killings in Mali: Farmer-Herder Conflicts as Insurgency and Counterinsurgency, tandfonline.com

Tor A. Benjaminsen and Boubacar Bab

Violent clashes between Fulani and Dogon have recently escalated in the Seeno plains in central Mali. After failing to defeat a “jihadist” insurgency dominated by Fulani, the Malian army has sponsored and trained a Dogon militia, which has systematically attacked Fulani villages, and again caused counterattacks. In addition, internal conflicts within Fulani and Dogon society have emerged. This demonstrates the complexities of the current crisis in Mali and how simplistic narratives about its causes are unhelpful. It also shows how views of the enemy as “terrorists” or “jihadists” are dangerous and able to further fuel violent conflicts. Läs rapporten

Den svenska evakueringsinsatsen i Afghanistan, riksdagen.se

Svar på skriftlig fråga 2021/22:289 besvarad av Försvarsminister Peter Hultqvist (S).

Björn Söder har frågat mig om jag avser tillse att även den svenska evakueringsinsatsen, med beskrivna brister, kommer innefattas i en kommande bred utvärdering av den 20 år långa svenska Afghanistaninsatsen.

De senaste 20 årens svenska engagemang i Afghanistan ska utvärderas. Former och omfattning för en bred utvärdering bereds för närvarande i Regeringskansliet. Läs svaret

Se även kommentar på den här sajten till regeringens ändrade biståndspolitik för Afghanistan.