Armed group warns that the US president is wasting soldiers’ lives by sending thousands more troops to the country.

Afghan security forces have been killed at a ‘shockingly high’ rate in fighting against the Taliban [File: Reuters]

by Al Jazeera

The Afghan Taliban has warned Donald Trump is “wasting” American soldiers’ lives after the US president approved sending thousands more troopsto the war-ravaged country.

Taliban spokeman Zabiullah Mujahid said Afghanistan would become a “graveyard” for the US on Tuesday after dismissing Trump’s strategy as vague and offering “nothing new”.

“If America doesn’t withdraw its troops from Afghanistan, soon Afghanistan will become another graveyard for this superpower in the 21st century,” he said.

In his first formal address to the US as commander-in-chief, Trump backtracked from his election pledge to end America’s longest war that has dragged on for nearly 16 years.

Since taking office in January, Trump said he has realised that withdrawing could create a vacuum for groups such as al-Qaeda and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) to exploit.

Though his speech was billed as an announcement of his updated Afghanistan policy, Trump offered few specific details.

He did not, for example, provide a number of the additional troops that would be sent to the war.

READ MORE: SIGAR questions millions spent in Afghanistan

The US currently has around 8,400 troops in the country, down from a peak of about 100,000 troops in 2010 and 2011, with around 5,000 from NATO allies assisting a much larger Afghan force in the war against the Taliban and other armed groups.

A senior Taliban commander told the AFP news agency that Trump was perpetuating the “arrogant behaviour” of previous US presidents, such as George Bush.

“He is just wasting American soldiers. We know how to defend our country. It will not change anything.

“For generations we have fought this war, we are not scared, we are fresh and we will continue this war until our last breath.”

Al Jazeera’s Jennifer Glasse, reporting from the Afghan capital Kabul, said the Taliban was taking a very hard line to the president’s speech.

“The Taliban has made it clear they’re committed to continue fighting the enemy and are in-turn giving the US latitude to do so.

“Both President Bush and Obama said they would take the fight to the Taliban … but it remains to be seen whether Trump’s plan can yield any different results.

“The Afghan government has been very bullish on the new strategy, but since we don’t know the specifics we don’t know what Trump plans to do differently.”

The war in Afghanistan, which began on October 7, 2001, after the September 11 attacks, has claimed the lives of more than 2,200 US troops and cost more than $800 billion.

There is no official figure of the number of Afghan civilians killed but estimates range between 25,000-30,000. According to the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), at least 1,662 civilians were killed between January 1 and June 30 this year.

While Trump has refused to offer detailed figures, senior White House officials said he had already authorised his James Mattis, the defence secretary, to deploy up to 3,900 more soldiers.

In his speech, Trump also lambasted ally Pakistan for offering safe haven to “agents of chaos”.

“We have been paying Pakistan billions and billions of dollars at the same time they are housing the very terrorists that we are fighting,” he said.

“It is time for Pakistan to dedicate to civilization and order and peace.”

A commander from the Taliban-allied Haqqani network told the AFP news agency that Trump’s speech was proof of “a Crusade”.

“His statement has proved that he wants to eliminate the entire Muslim [community],” he said.

Prior to Trump’s announcement, the Taliban had written an open letter warning him not to send more troops and calling for the complete withdrawal of foreign forces from Afghanistan.

Iraqi and coalition planes step up air raids in advance of a ground offensive to drive out ISIL from town west of Mosul.

Hundreds of exhausted civilians were brought by Iraqi army trucks from the front line to a humanitarian collection point west of Mosul [Balint Szlanko/AP]

by Al Jazeera

Thousands of Iraqis have fled an ISIL-held town west of Mosul as Iraqi and coalition warplanes step up attacks before a ground offensive to drive out the group.

Iraqi warplanes carried out air attacks on Tuesday against Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) positions in Tal Afar in preparation for a ground assault to retake the town near the Syrian border, the military said.

Plans to retake Tal Afar were announced on Monday by federal police chief Lieutenant General Raed Shakir Jawdat, who said “armoured and elite units” were headed for the town.

Tal Afar and the surrounding area is one of the last pockets territory held by ISIL in Iraq, after victory was declared against them in July in Mosul, the country’s second-largest city.

The town of Tal Afar, about 150 kilometres east of the Syrian border, sits along a major road that was once a key ISIL supply route.

On Monday, hundreds of exhausted civilians were brought by Iraqi army trucks from the front line to a humanitarian collection point just west of Mosul. Many described a harrowing journey of a day or more from Tal Afar, with no food or water.

‘There was nothing’

Jassem Aziz Tabo, an elderly man who arrived with his 12-member family, told The Associated Press he had left Tal Afar months ago and gone to a village on the outskirts to escape hunger, air raids and violence from ISIL.

“Those who tried to escape were captured and shot in the head. They killed my son,” he said. “He tried to escape, he was caught and they killed him.”

He said severe shortages have caused the price of food to skyrocket in Tal Afar, which has been besieged by Iraqi forces for months, with a kilogramme of sugar selling for $50.

“There was nothing. We were eating pieces of bread with water,” he said.

Alia Imad, a mother of three whose family paid $300 to a smuggler to lead them to safety, said there is no drinking water left in the town. “Most people drink water that’s not clean. The majority are surviving on that and a bit of bread,” she said.

The group she was with had come under fire during their escape from ISIL, she said. A woman was killed, and they had to bury her by the road.

Lise Grande, the UN humanitarian coordinator, told AP that the conditions in Tal Afar are “very tough”.

“Thousands of people are leaving, seeking safety and assistance. Families escaping northeast are trekking 10 and up to 20 hours to reach mustering points. They are exhausted and many are dehydrated when they finally arrive,” she said.

Shia groups to take part in battle

Anwar Hama, of the Iraqi air force, told AP that air raids this week have targeted ISIL headquarters, tunnels and weapons’ stores.

But Iraqi forces, closely backed by the US-led coalition, are not expected to push into the town for another few weeks, according to an Iraqi officer overseeing the operation. He spoke on condition of anonymity in line with regulations.

Iraqi army, federal police and special forces units are expected to participate in the operation, as well as state-sanctioned mostly Shia armed groups known as the Popular Mobilisation Forces.

The Shia fighters largely stayed out of the operation to retake Mosul, a mostly Sunni city, but have vowed to play a bigger role in Tal Afar, which was mostly Shia before it fell to ISIL. Shia fighters captured Tal Afar’s airport, on the outskirts of the town, last year.

Their participation in the coming offensive could heighten sectarian and regional tensions. Tal Afar was once home to Shia and Sunni Arabs, as well as a sizable ethnic Turkmen community with close ties to neighbouring Turkey.

Turkish officials have expressed concern that once territory is liberated from ISIL, Iraqi Kurdish or Shia forces may push out Sunni Arabs or ethnic Turkmen.

On Monday, the Iraqi army began moving an armoured brigade to the front line south of Tal Afar, while an infantry division was deployed about 30km to the town’s east.

The United Nations says some 49,000 people have fled the Tal Afar district since April, compounding a humanitarian crisis that has lingered despite the cessation of major fighting inside Mosul.

It says nearly a million people were displaced by the Mosul campaign.

Leaked emails show Mohammed bin Salman expressing desire to end conflict during talks with former US officials.

Otaiba, UAE’s ambassador to the US, has described the crown prince as ‘pragmatic’ [Reuters]

by Al Jazeera

Saudi Arabia’s crown prince has told two former US officials that he “wants out” of the two-year war he started in Yemen, and that he is not against US rapprochement with Iran, according to leaked emails published by Middle East Eye.

The revelation sheds light on the thinking of Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, the 31-year-old heir to the Saudi throne, also known as MBS.

The leaks pertain to discussions he held on the Middle East with Martin Indyk, a former US ambassador to Israel, and Steven Hadley, who served as US national security adviser during George W Bush’s presidency.

The conversation took place at least one month before Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt severed diplomatic and economic ties with Qatar, accusing it of trying to undermine their war in Yemen and for having friendly relations with Iran.

The details of the meeting between MBS and the former American officials were revealed in an email exchange between Indyk and Yousef al-Otaiba, the UAE’s ambassador in Washington, DC.

The email exchange was obtained by the GlobalLeaks campaign group, according to Middle East Eye.

MBS’s doubts about Decisive Storm further undermine the position of the Yemeni president in exile, Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, in whose name the Saudi-led campaign against the Houthis and their allies was launched.

In one email, Otaiba and Indyk can be seen discussing the difference between the young MBS and the elder leadership of Saudi Arabia, with the former describing him as a “pragmatic leader”.

The emails also paint a picture of how Otaiba and the UAE leadership view the future Saudi Arabia.

‘Emirati imperialism’

The emails further reveal conversations between Otaiba and Elliott Abrams, former Bush administration official and pro-Israel hawk, who describes the UAE’s objectives in the region as the “new hegemon” and “Emirati imperialism”.

The conflict in Yemen has escalated dramatically since March 2015, when Saudi-led forces launched a military operation against the Iran-allied Houthi fighters.

Since the conflict began, more than 10,000 people have been killed, and millions have been driven from their homes.

The Saudi-led operation has been blamed for the spread of cholera in Yemen, where an estimated 500,000 have reportedly been afflicted.

In the exchange, Indyk was quoted as telling Otaiba that MBS made it “quite clear” to him and Hadley that “he is OK with the US engaging Iran as long as it is co-ordinated [sic] in advance and the objectives are clear.”

Indyk was contacted by Middle East Eye and presented with the substance of his email exchange with Otaiba. He refused to comment.

Otaiba did not reply to Middle East Eye’s request for comment.

Hadley said: “I cannot comment on what was a private conversation.”

The revelations come a day after Qasim al-Araji, Iraq’s interior minister, reportedly said that both Saudi Arabia’s King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud and MBS had asked Baghdad to act as an intermediary and help mend relations between Riyadh and Tehran.

On July 30, MBS met Muqtada al-Sadr during the influential Iraqi Shia leader’s rare visit to Saudi Arabia.

Separately, Sadr visited the UAE on Sunday and met Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, crown prince of UAE, and UAE Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan.

Sadr’s diplomacy

Sadr, an anti-American figure, commands a large following among the urban poor of Baghdad and the southern cities, including Saraya al-Salam, or the Peace Brigades armed group.

He is now seen as a nationalist who has repeatedly called for protests against corruption in the Iraqi government, and his supporters have staged huge protests in Baghdad calling for electoral reform.

Speaking to Al Jazeera on Sunday, Saad Jawad, a political science professor at the London School of Economics, termed the Saudi-Iraqi diplomatic moves “odd”.

“If Saudi Arabia is [in a dispute] with Qatar about Qatar’s relationship with Iran … how could they ask the Iraqis to amend their relations with Iran?

“The Saudis know very well that Iraq is a little bit biased in [its] relations with the Iranians, and they are under the influence of the Iranians.”

Jawad said Saudi Arabia could have asked a more neutral broker such as Kuwait or Oman, both of whom have “good relations” with Iran.

Rights group NRC says closure of Sanaa airport since 2016 has blocked thousands from receiving treatment abroad.

The NRC said at least 20,000 people are needed of life-saving treatment in Yemen [Hani Mohammed/AP Photo]

by Al Jazeera

At least 10,000 people have died in Yemen as a result of the Saudi-led coalition’s restriction on airspace and the closure of Sanaa airport a year ago, Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) said citing Sanaa’s Ministry of Health.

The rights group joined 14 other aid organisations that called on warring parties in Yemen to reopen the country’s main airport on Wednesday, saying the year-long closure was hindering the flow of aid and preventing thousands of patients from flying abroad for life-saving treatment.

“Denial of access to travel has condemned thousands of Yemenis with survivable illnesses to death,” Mutasim Hamdan, the NRC’s director in Yemen, said in a statement.

“Without access to safe, commercial travel, Yemenis are left with no way to access critical medical care.

“The result is devastating. Thousands of women, men and children who could have been saved lost their lives.”

The coalition, which intervened in the Yemen conflict in 2015 to support the internationally recognised government of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, controls the airspace over Yemen.

Sanaa International Airport was closed on August 9 last year “leaving many Yemenis with no safe means of transport in or outside of the country”, NRC said.

Citing UN figures, the NRC estimated that 7,000 Yemenis went abroad from Sanaa annually for medical treatment before the conflict.

Now, the number of people needing life-saving healthcare is around 20,000 over the past two years because of the violence, the group added.

‘Journey was too much’

The NRC told the story of Mohammed, whose father, in need of urgent treatment outside of the country, died after travelling for more than 24 hours by road to Seiyun Airport in southern Yemen.

“The doctors said it was dangerous for him to travel all the way there and he might die on the way, but it was our only option,” Mohammed was quoted as saying in the NRC statement.

“We had to pass through many checkpoints, but the journey was too much for my father.”

In addition, another 10,000 people have been killed in violent attacks and more than three million displaced since the conflict began, according to the UN.

The country is also coping with the “world’s worst cholera outbreak” as the heathcare system continues to crumble.

The outbreak has independently claimed the lives of at least 1,800 people and infected more than 370,000 others, according to the World Health Organization.

The Saudi-led coalition has repeatedly been accused of blocking aid to Yemen.

Earlier this month, the UN said the coalition obstructed the deliveries of jet fuel to UN planes bringing desperately needed humanitarian aid to rebel-held Sanna.

It also said aid efforts have been hampered by delays and refusals of visa by the Yemeni government and by the rebels controlling the capital.

According to the NRC’s Hamdan, “Yemen’s public services are crumbling under the pressures of war”.

“Hundreds of thousands more people are sick, injured or in need of services, but there are drastically reduced resources to meet them,” he said.

“It is critical that all channels of domestic and international air movement are reopened so Yemenis can get help, and help can get to Yemenis.”

A smuggler forced the mostly Somali and Ethiopian refugees into the sea as they approached Yemen’s coast, says the UN.

The IOM says about 55,000 people have left Horn of Africa nations for Yemen since January [File: Emilio Morenatti/AP]

by Al Jazeera

Up to 50 refugees and migrants from Somalia and Ethiopia were “deliberately drowned” when a smuggler forced them into the sea off Yemen’s coast, the UN migration agency said on Wednesday, calling the drownings “shocking and inhumane”.

International Organization for Migration (IOM) staffers found the shallow graves of 29 of the refugees and migrants on a beach in Yemen’s Shabwa during a routine patrol, the agency’s statement said. The dead were buried by those who survived.

At least 22 people are still missing, the IOM said. The passengers’ average age was 16, the agency said.

The narrow waters between the Horn of Africa and Yemen have been a popular migration route despite Yemen’s ongoing conflict. Refugees and migrants try to make their way to the oil-rich Gulf countries.

The smuggler forced more than 120 people into the sea on Wednesday morning as they approached Yemen’s coast, the IOM statement said.

“The survivors told our colleagues on the beach that the smuggler pushed them to the sea when he saw some ‘authority types’ near the coast,” said Laurent de Boeck, the IOM’s chief of mission in Yemen.

“They also told us that the smuggler has already returned to Somalia to continue his business and pick up more migrants to bring to Yemen on the same route.”

IOM staffers provided aid for 27 survivors who remained on the beach, while others left.

Laurent de Boeck told Al Jazeera that the chaos of Yemen’s war is providing fertile ground for people smugglers.

“It’s absolutely awful, and this is reflected in the real big business which is happening now in Yemen where there is no capacity to actually control the border. We have seen since the war increased smuggling to the country actually,” he said.

“Last year we counted 117,000 people entering the country irregularly – and these are those who have identified,” added de Boeck.

‘False hope of a better future’

De Boeck called the suffering of refugees and migrants on the route enormous, especially during the current windy season in the Indian Ocean. “Too many young people pay smugglers with the false hope of a better future,” he said.

The IOM says about 55,000 people have left Horn of Africa nations for Yemen since January, with most from Somalia and Ethiopia. A third of them are estimated to be women.

Despite the fighting in Yemen, African refugees and migrants continue to arrive in the war-torn country where there is no central authority to prevent them from travelling onward.

The refugees are vulnerable to abuse by armed trafficking rings, many of them believed to be connected to the armed groups involved in the war.

The conflict itself is a deadly risk. In March, Somalia’s government blamed the Saudi-led coalition fighting in Yemen for an attack on a boat that killed at least 42 Somali refugees off Yemen’s coast.

Some Somalis are desperate to avoid years of chaos at home with attacks by homegrown armed group al-Shabab and deadly drought. Some Ethiopians have left home after months of deadly anti-government protests and a 10-month state of emergency.

More than 111,500 refugees and migrants landed on Yemen’s shores last year, up from around 100,000 the year before, according to the Regional Mixed Migration Secretariat, a grouping of international agencies that monitors migration in the area.

Israel says attacks carried out after rockets were fired out of Gaza, a claim that Hamas denies.

Israel and Hamas have fought three wars since the group took control of Gaza, most recently in 2014. [Mohammed Salem/Reuters]

by Al Jazeera

At least four Palestinians have been wounded, one of them seriously, after Israel carried out air attacks on Hamas locations in Gaza.

The attacks on Tuesday targeted three locations in Gaza, officials told Al Jazeera.

The Israeli military said it carried out the air attacks in response to a rocket fired towards Israel.

Hamas spokesman, Hazem Qasem, rejected Israel’s claims.

“The airstrikes targeted Hamas positions in the centre of the Gaza Strip,” Qasem told Al Jazeera.

“The occupation claims that a group from Gaza launched rockets at them, but there is no side in Gaza that has claimed responsibility.

“We are maintaining the period of calm and did not launch any rockets. It is not beneficial for the occupation to violate this period of calm.”

The emergency director at the al-Shifa hospital in Gaza, Ayman al Sahbani, told Al Jazeera that three of the injured were discharged after undergoing treatment.

“The fourth person, a 26-year-old, is in serious condition. He has a fractured skull and is unconscious in the ICU,” Sahbani said.

Israel holds Hamas responsible for all fire coming out of the Gaza Strip.

For the last decade, Hamas has been the de facto government of Gaza, while the Fatah-led Palestinian Authority has controlled the West Bank.

Israel and Hamas have fought three wars since the group took control of Gaza, most recently in 2014.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 14 out of 29 killed by US-led air raids were members of the same family.

A man and woman flee Raqqa, Syria [Rodi Said/Reuters]

by Al Jazeera

US-led coalition raids on Raqqa in northern Syria have killed 29 civilians over the past 24 hours as American-backed forces battle the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant group, a monitor said on Tuesday.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said nine women and 14 children had been killed in coalition air raids on Raqqa city since Monday evening.

It said 14 of the dead were members of one family, who had fled to Raqqa from Palmyra.

The death toll could rise because of the number of critically wounded, it added.

A US-backed Arab-Kurdish alliance is battling to overthrow ISIL, also known as ISIS, from Raqqa, its main Syrian stronghold, and has taken around 45 percent of the city.

A spokesman for the US-led coalition could not immediately be reached for comment. The coalition has previously said it strenuously tries to avoid civilian casualties and investigates all reports that its attacks have killed civilians.

The coalition said in July that its attacks had killed at least 600 civilians in both Iraq and Syria since it began operations in 2014, a figure that is far lower than those given by independent monitors.

Meanwhile, Syrian activists say pro-government forces have intensified their bombardment of the capital’s rebel-held Eastern Ghouta suburbs, one day after rebels frustrated a government attempt to advance.

The opposition-affiliated Ghouta Media Centre said one civilian was killed and several others injured in government shelling and aerial bombardment.

Rebels and other witnesses said shelling and air raids increased on Monday and the bombardment was at its heaviest in a two-month Syrian army campaign.

People had retreated to shelters, one resident said, noting that at least five buildings had collapsed under the shelling in two days.

Many locals have left the area over recent weeks because of the bombardment and, even under military assaults, they will still be able to do so, the resident said.

“This isn’t Aleppo, where people were surrounded. Ghouta is a bigger space and the towns are more open to each other. No town is surrounded.”

However, there was little movement between Eastern Ghouta towns because of fighting over territory between rival rebel groups who control that area.

Comments come as email leak suggests Emirati FM was disappointed US chose Doha over Abu Dhabi to host group’s office.

[Reuters]

by Shereena Qazi, Al Jazeera

Qatar played a major role in facilitating peace talks between Afghan officials and the Taliban by opening an office for the group in Doha, a senior Taliban offical told Al Jazeera.

The Taliban official’s comments on Tuesday come as a series of leaked emails from UAE diplomats suggest the Emirati foreign minister was disappointed that US officials had chosen Doha over Abu Dhabi to host the office.

The June 2013 opening of the unofficial embassy allowed for talks to develop, said the Taliban official, who is based in the Qatari capital.

“We got a chance to discuss with Afghan diplomats, journalists and analysts face-to-face on how peace can be achieved in Afghanistan,” he told Al Jazeera, speaking on the condition of anonymity.

In 2016, Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs, an international crisis group, organised a meeting in Doha bringing Afghan diplomats, analysts and journalists to the table with the Taliban to discuss how to achieve peace.

“We’ve conducted many peace conferences in Doha and discussed many issues with the help of Qatari officials who played the role of mediators, and nothing else.”

That conference was not a part of the official process between officials from Afghanistan, Pakistan, China and the US aimed at charting a roadmap to peace.

But the Taliban official said such meetings were important.

He also noted a separate meeting was held between the Taliban and Afghan journalists where both sides were able to discuss their ideas for peace.

The official went on to say that demands on Doha by a Saudi-led bloc currently boycotting the peninsula are “unfair”, and that the quartet should not “accuse Qatar of supporting terrorism”.

Leaked UAE emails

As part of its attempt to isolate the peninsula, the kingdom, UAE, Bahrain and Egypt have derided Qatar for hosting an office for the Afghan armed group.

But a series of leaked emails show UAE diplomats lobbied US officials so Abu Dhabi could host the office.

Reported by the New York Times on Monday, the emails from UAE ambassador to the US Yousef Al Otaiba apparently contradict a mounted campaign against Qatar for its alleged support of “terrorist groups”.

Otaiba said he received an “angry call” from UAE Foreign Minister Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, complaining that the Taliban had ended up in Qatar and not the UAE, according to messages in the ambassador’s Hotmail account.

“I got an angry call from [Zayed] saying how come we weren’t told,” Otaiba wrote to an American official.

The newspaper obtained another email dated September 12, 2011, in which an Emirati official questioned the US position on the Taliban office’s location.

“There is an article in the London Times that mentions US is backing setting up a Taliban embassy in Doha,” the diplomat, Mohamed Mahmoud al-Khaja, wrote to Jeffrey Feltman, then assistant secretary of state for near east affairs.

“HH says that we were under the impression that Abu Dhabi was your first choice and this is what we were informed”, Khaja said in the email, referring to bin Zayed.

The latest email leak comes from a group called “GlobalLeaks”, which is not affiliated with the software developer, GlobaLeaks.

GlobalLeaks told Newsweek that the recent messages are proof of the “biggest hypocrisy” in the Qatar crisis.

The office was part of a broader US-led effort to facilitate peace talks in Afghanistan – not to support their ideology or the group itself.

Qatar agreed to open the mission for the Taliban with Washington’s blessing four years ago.

In 2011, when the emails were sent, the Obama administration was making efforts to hold peace talks between the Taliban and the Afghan government as it sought to remove NATO troops from the country.

Most of the troops withdrew in 2014, but peace was not achieved.

The opening of the office enraged the Afghan president at the time, Hamid Karzai, by styling itself as an unofficial embassy for a government-in-exile.

Karzai broke off bilateral talks with the Americans and threatened to boycott any peace process altogether after the Taliban opened the offices with a flag-raising ceremony for the “Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan” – the name of the country under Taliban rule.

That flag has since been removed.