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Speaking out on Spains move to seize Gibraltar as leverage for the European Unions Brexit negotiations with the United Kingdom as it moves to withdraw from the bloc, chief minister of the British Overseas TerritoryFabian Picardo made his views clear in the strongest terms in an interview withReuters.

Lashing out at recently re-selected EU president Donald Tusk who is overseeing the Brexit negotiations, Mr. Picardo said: Mr Tusk, who has been given to using the analogies of the divorce and divorce petition, is behaving like a cuckolded husband who is taking it out on the children.

Referring to the fact that the majority of Gibraltariansvoted to remain in the EU but had no interest in being divorced from Britain to be ruled by Spain, Mr. Picardo continued: We are not going to be a [bargaining] chip and we are not going to be a victim of Brexit as we are not the culprits of Brexit: we voted to stay in the European Union so taking it out on us is to allow Spain to behave in the manner of the bully.

The Falkland Islands and a dozen other territories are, like Gibraltar, sovereign parts of the United Kingdom, but are not automatically part of the EU only Gibraltar has that distinction. Leveraging this difference to their advantage, the EUsurprised Downing Street on Friday by declaring that any Brexit deal agreed with the UK wouldnt automatically apply to Gibraltar too, and any such deal would be subject to a veto by Spain.

The move suggests Brussels has de-facto sided with Spain over their territorial claim over Gibraltar, which they ceded to Britain in 1713 but later desired to re-claim. Wishing to settle the dispute, the British government held a referendum of Gibraltarresidents in 2002 which asked whether they would accept Spanish co-rule. Over 98 per cent rejected the notion.

Mr. Picardo said the paragraph excluding Gibraltar from negotiations and handing their fate to Madrid should be cut out of the EUs draft letter of reply.Removal of the reference to Gibraltar would be a sign of good faith and good will, he said.

A spokesman for Downing Street said of the spat: The Prime Minister said we will never enter into arrangements under which the people of Gibraltar would pass under the sovereignty of another state against their freely and democratically expressed wishes, nor will we ever enter into a process of sovereignty negotiations with which Gibraltar is not content.

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Gibraltar: European Union Is Acting Like 'Cuckolded Husband' over Brexit - Breitbart News

Afghanistan's president insists Australia's military commitment to his country is a "sovereign decision".

Dr Mohammad Ashraf Ghani has been in Canberra for two days of official talks including meetings with Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and Defence Minister Marise Payne.

Australia has 270 defence personnel deployed mostly in the capital Kabul where they provide support and security along with some mentoring recruits at the Afghan National Military Academy.

Earlier this year, the US Army General John Nicholson, who leads American and international forces in Afghanistan, called for thousands more troops to advise Afghan forces on the ground to beat the stalemate.

Dr Ghani clarified that General Nicholson had requested about 5200.

Asked if Australia should provide more troops, Dr Ghani said: "These are sovereign decisions."

"We always defer to national authorities in terms of the decision-making process," he told ABC radio.

Australia's main base in Afghanistan had been in Uruzgan province, before the withdrawal in 2013.

The Taliban have now overrun that area.

But Dr Ghani insisted "temporary setbacks" should not be seen as reversals.

"It is not trending in the wrong direction," he told ABC TV.

He acknowledged the threat of Islamic State militants in eastern Afghanistan and said authorities were dealing with them relentlessly.

"Given what has happened in Iraq and Syria, the likelihood of them migrating or jumping like cancer cells elsewhere is significant," Dr Ghani said.

During the president's visit thousands of Hazara protesters rallied in Canberra against a 2011 deal between Australia and Afghanistan to send failed Afghan asylum seekers back to their homeland.

Dr Ghani said it had not been a subject of conversations during his meetings with Australian government ministers.

He argued thousands of refugees had returned to Afghanistan from Pakistan in recent years and the level of participation in public life by Hazaras was increasing.

Asked if Afghanistan would take back failed asylum seekers detained on Manus Island or Nauru, he said due process was important to follow.

"An Afghan who has gone through the full legal process has a right to return. We never refuse if the host country wants to expel them, then the due process should be observed," he said, adding that international human rights agreements need to be taken into account.

Dr Ghani earlier on Tuesday marvelled at Australian-designed gadgets that are protecting his country's soldiers and police from improvised explosive device attacks.

In the past two years, Australia has supplied 150,000 Redwing contraptions to Afghanistan security personnel with a further 34,000 to be delivered later this year.

The devices, which jam radio signals that can set off IEDs, cover both individuals and vehicles and are made in Brisbane.

"It's truly amazing," Dr Ghani said.

"You've taken the request to save lives extremely seriously."

Link:
No request for extra troops to Afghanistan - NEWS.com.au

BBC News

Afghanistan: Nine sacked over Kabul hospital attack BBC News Nine military officers have been sacked over last month's attack by militants on the military hospital in Kabul, the Afghan defence ministry says. Those dismissed include a general and a colonel. All face prosecution for negligence, the ministry said ... American University of Afghanistan reopens after attackTimes Higher Education (THE) Afghanistan sacks top generals for their 'negligence' that aided attack on military hospitalThe Indian Express Afghanistan refutes Russia's support to Taliban demands for foreign troops exitThe Siasat Daily Daily Pakistan all 8 news articles »

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Afghanistan: Nine sacked over Kabul hospital attack - BBC News

Afghan farmer in his poppy field in eastern Afghanistan. (AP)

President Donald Trumps budget puts a number of foreign assistance programs at risk, if not outright elimination. His plan to cut about 30 percent from the State Department and the U.S. Agency for International Development has drawn resistance from both Republicans and Democrats.

At a March 28 hearing, Rep Ted Yoho, R-Fla., came to the defense of several prominent projects, including the Overseas Private Investment Corporation and two Obama-era programs aimed at boosting electric capacity in Africa and agriculture globally. But Yoho did agree with cuts in one area -- the war on drugs. He said it was ineffective.

"I look at the poppy fields in Afghanistan," Yoho said. "They have more hectares planted today than they had before we started this war." Opium poppies produce a key ingredient for heroin and other opioids.

Afghanistan remains the worlds top opium poppyproducer, despite the billions of dollars America has put into the country. Since late 2001 when the United States and its allies retaliated against the Taliban and al-Qaida for the 9/11 attacks, America has spent about $25 billion to rebuild Afghanistans economy and $8.5 billion to rid it of narcotics.

Yohos office said he got his information from a United Nations report. The latest survey found that in 2016, farmers were growing poppies on more than 200,000 hectares. In 2002, the number was 74,000 hectares.

The U.N.s chart below shows the pattern over the decades. The black lines show the high and low estimates. In conflict zones, satellite images replaced on-the-ground observations.

Aside from a few years, the land under poppy cultivation has trended up. The actual tons produced has jumped aroundmore, but it too is higher today than in 2002. The big drop in 2001 came after the Taliban banned production in 2000. The Taliban later reversed itself, leading to a rapid spread after 2012.

According to the U.N., most of the opium comes from Afghanistans southern provinces.

Only in terms of Gross Domestic Product does opium play a smaller role than in the past. The International Monetary Fund reported that in 2004, opium exports were equal to half of the countrys non-opium GDP. Today, it is closer to about 15 percent.

But it still provides about 400,000 jobs, more than the Afghan National Security Forces.

Reports from the private research group RAND and the World Bank say the driver is simple economics. Opium offers a better return to farmers than most crops. In a regrettable twist, American-led efforts to make legal crops more lucrative can backfire.

In Helmand Province, a project successfully shifted a number of landowners away from poppies, but then they no longer needed the sharecroppers and tenant farmers who had been working the land. World Bank researchers said this "created a displaced, cheap, and mobile population, skilled in poppy cultivation." They moved to marginal land and poppy production increased.

Our ruling

Yoho said Afghanistan has more land producing poppies than before the U.S. war began. U.N. surveys back that up. In 2002, the country had about 74,000 hectares in poppy cultivation. In 2016, the number was over 200,000. The amount of land used for growing poppies has gone up and down, but the long term trend is definitely up.

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"Afghanistan has more hectares (of opium poppies) planted today than they had before we started this war."

Ted Yoho

U.S. Representative from Florida

In a house hearing

Tuesday, March 28, 2017

03/28/2017

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"Afghanistan has more hectares (of opium poppies) planted today than they had before we started this war." - PolitiFact

Moscow maintains the militant group has regional ambitions and terrorism could eventually hit Russia.

In this file photo, Russia's President Vladimir Putin (R) shakes hands with Afghanistan's President Ashraf Ghani during the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit in Ufa, Russia, July 10, 2015. PHOTO: REUTERS

Global militant group Islamic State has a simple game-plan to first establish its strict version of Islam in Muslim countries and then conquer other parts of the world to purge them of what it calls ignorance. And that is why its presence in the Nangarhar province of Afghanistan is a source of concern not just to Pakistan, but to countries as far as Russia and China.

Since 2015, when it first made a public appearance in Afghanistan, Islamic State has proved its growing power with deadly attacks in the country and neighbouring Pakistan. Already in cahoots with Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, the militant group has extended its influence by establishing alliances with Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan and militants from China and Central Asian Republics (CARs).

How strong is Islamic State in Pakistan?

With regional rivalries and instability in Afghanistan providing a conducive environment for Islamic State to grow, stakeholders have decided to come together to address the growing menace before it is too late. In this regard, Russia will be hosting a 12-party conference this month with the aim to start peace talks between Afghan Taliban and the Kabul government. Though the US has turned down the invitation to attend on the pretext that Washington was not consulted in advance, representatives from Pakistan, Afghanistan, China, Iran, India and several CARs will attend the consultative meeting in Moscow. Participation of Afghan Taliban is uncertain at the moment but they have shown willingness to talk to Kabul.

Russian interest in Afghanistan

Russia is concerned about Islamic States growth in Afghanistan due to its proximity to CARs. Russian envoys at the UN and in Kabul have expressed their fears in this connection several times; Moscow maintains the militant group has regional ambitions.

Russia detains man over IS-claimed attack on Chechen base

Secondly, the withdrawal of Nato forces from Afghanistan and confusing US policy for the country has created a power vacuum in Afghanistan which Russia is interested in filling to avoid turmoil in its immediate neighbourhood. It fears that in the case of an unstable Afghanistan, terrorism would finally hit Russia which has a large Muslim population.

Russia is also interested in the economic projects aimed at connecting the entire region such as China-Pakistan Economic Corridor and the Central Asia Regional Economic Cooperation Program both of which need a stable Afghanistan to work.

Drug trafficking into Russia through Central Asian countries that share borders with Afghanistan is another major worry for Moscow. Afghanistan supplies 90 per cent of the global opiate stock and producers target Russia as one of the largest markets in the world.

Why is this meeting needed?

Mistrust and differences between regional and international players are not only delaying establishment of peace in the region but also fuelling terrorism all stakeholders, be it from the region or the West, share the same strategic goal of stability but disagree on tactical front which is proving counterproductive to the ongoing counter-terrorism efforts and raising the level of threat.

No end to terrorism without better Pakistan-Afghanistan-India ties

Suspicion between the players is no secret Pakistan, Afghanistan and India blame each other for destabilising their countries while Russia accuses the US of supporting Islamic State in Afghanistan and Washington claims Moscow is supporting the Taliban.

In this atmosphere of finger-pointing, it is important for all concerned countries to come together, address each others concerns and chalk out a coordinated plan for peace which reconciles everyones strategic and tactical goals.

Chances of success

The ideal outcome of the upcoming Moscow conference would be to unify international support and create an environment to promote the Afghan peace process.

Fortunately, Kabul and Taliban have given positive signals for the resumption of talks which were stalled after the news of Taliban chief Mullah Omars death was made public in 2015. Further, Pakistan and Afghanistan have already held talks in London agreeing over the mechanism for addressing each others security concerns. Coordination with Russia, China, Iran and CARs is also on the right track. Despite difference with Moscow, Washington is likely to come on board.

Pakistan, Russia and China inch closer to formal alliance

The toughest task would be the Islamabad-New Delhi ties; the last two meetings in Moscow in some way reduced differences between the two countries over the peace process in Afghanistan but certain long-standing issues such as Kashmir are still an irritant. Tehran, Moscow, Beijing and Washington need to play their role in reducing tensions between the two South Asian neighbours, making them cooperate on peace initiatives and resuming dialogue.

Imdad Hussain is an Islamabad-based journalist specialising in diplomatic and security issues.

Originally posted here:
The threat of Islamic State and Russia's renewed interest in Afghanistan - The Express Tribune