2021.08.21 國際新聞導讀-普丁與德國首相梅克爾會晤討論北溪二號天然氣管落成啟用及烏克蘭事務、塔利班繼續鞏固統治但開始報復式攻擊個人、美國政界討論撤軍責任但拜登無悔、真主黨呼籲聯合國關注以色列任意空襲敘利亞、以國總理班奈特下周將到白宮會晤拜登總統

蘇老師講解國際新聞、中東與中亞歷史、中國事務、太空知識的頻道。 Diplomat's daily news review and history research on Middle East and Central Asia, China Affairs and Space Exploration

2021.08.21 國際新聞導讀-普丁與德國首相梅克爾會晤討論北溪二號天然氣管落成啟用及烏克蘭事務、塔利班繼續鞏固統治但開始報復式攻擊個人、美國政界討論撤軍責任但拜登無悔、真主黨呼籲聯合國關注以色列任意空襲敘利亞、以國總理班奈特下周將到白宮會晤拜登總統

Vladimir Putin

1 小時 ·

Flowers for Angela. Putin met Merkel in the Kremlin and talked to her for several hours behind closed doors. Russia and Germany, despite a number of disagreements, are ready for conversation. The results are clear:

1. "Nord Stream 2", bypassing Ukraine, will be launched in the coming weeks and the first billions of cubic meters of gas will arrive in Europe this year. This is cheaper for Europe and much shorter than Ukrainian transit.

2. Ukraine violates the Minsk agreements and fires at Donbass — Merkel will fly to Kiev to talk harshly with Zelensky. Apparently, she will explain to him that it is not necessary to stand in the way of Europe and impede the implementation of "Nord Stream 2".

3. Merkel's concern about the fate of "Berlin patient" Navalny is in vain — he is serving sentence for a criminal offense (financial fraud), and not for political activity. If you fight corruption, then you yourself should not participate in corruption schemes.

In general, Russia and Germany again have demonstrated that they are the main moderators of processes in Europe, and are able to negotiate even the most difficult issues. And Merkel's successor as a Chancellor will inevitably need to observe the continuity of this approach.

Цветы для Ангелы. Путин встретил Меркель в Кремле и поговорил с ней несколько часов за закрытыми дверями. Россия и Германия, несмотря на ряд разногласий готовы к разговору. Итоги очевидны:

1.«Северный поток-2» в обход Украины будет запущен в ближайшие недели и первые миллиарды кубометров газа в Европу поступят уже в этом году. Это дешевле для Европы и гораздо короче украинского транзита.

2. Украина нарушает Минские договоренности и обстреливает Донбасс - Меркель полетит в Киев, чтобы жестко поговорить с Зеленским. Видимо, она разъяснит ему, что не нужно стоять на пути Европы и препятствовать реализации «Северного потока-2».

3. Озабоченность Меркель судьбой «берлинского пациента» Навального напрасна - он отбывает срок за уголовное преступление (финансовые махинации), а не за политическую деятельность. Если борешься с коррупцией, то и сам не участвуй в коррупционных схемах.

В целом, Россия и Германия вновь продемонстрировали, что являются главными модераторами процессов в Европе, и умеют договариваться даже по самым сложным вопросам. И преемнику Меркель на посту канцлера неизбежно нужно будет соблюдать преемственность подхода.

翻譯年糕

拜登為何不在阿富汗留下2500名士兵？

批評人士說，事實證明，只留下一支小規模的美國軍隊足以阻止塔利班取得重大進展並防止阿富汗軍隊解體

由保羅·漢德利2021 年 8 月 21 日，上午 12:50

在這張 2018 年 1 月 15 日的檔案照片中，美國海軍陸戰隊在阿富汗赫爾曼德省肖拉布軍營西南特遣隊軍區的指揮權變更儀式上觀看。（美聯社照片/馬蘇德侯賽尼，文件）

華盛頓（法新社）——在美國總統喬·拜登 (Joe Biden) 決定在 8 月 31 日之前撤出美軍後，塔利班閃電般迅速接管阿富汗，批評人士問：他為什麼不只在那裡留下 2,500 名士兵來鞏固現已垮台的政府？

在拜登的前任唐納德特朗普將其人數從 15,000 人大幅削減後，拜登於 1 月上任時，美國軍隊仍留在該國。

從表面上看，在特朗普於 2020 年 2 月 29 日與塔利班叛亂分子簽署撤軍協議後的一年裡，他們背後的 2,500 名士兵和 16,000 名美國民用承包商似乎足以讓阿富汗政府繼續掌權。

特朗普將最終退出日期定為 2021 年 5 月 1 日，甚至試圖加快這一進程。

雖然塔利班加強了對阿富汗政府目標的攻擊，但他們的收益仍僅限於非戰略性農村地區。

但是，遵守協議，他們對美國和北約部隊的攻擊同時幾乎枯竭。在特朗普達成協議後，沒有美國士兵被殺。

在這張 2021 年 8 月 19 日的照片中，塔利班戰士在阿富汗喀布爾巡邏時展示了他們的旗幟。（美聯社照片/Rahmat Gul，文件）

批評人士認為，這表明，如果有一支骨幹的美國軍隊支持，喀布爾可以堅守陣地，對抗叛亂分子。

他們說，戰場上的僵局比塔利班的全面勝利更可取。

廣告

“我們在那裡只有 2,500 名士兵，輕觸，沒有混亂，一年中沒有一個美國士兵在戰鬥中喪生，”共和黨最高參議員米奇麥康奈爾本週表示。

他敦促拜登增加對阿富汗軍隊的支持，而不是離開。

麥康奈爾說：“如果我們讓塔利班主宰阿富汗，讓基地組織回歸，它將在全球聖戰運動中引起共鳴。”

衝突的第三個十年

長期以來一直主張退出阿富汗的拜登在上任後發起了審查。

4 月，他宣布了他的決定：美國將離開，但離開的最後期限被推遲了三個月，至 8 月底。

拜登在 8 月 16 日解釋說，這個選擇“要么是履行該協議，要么準備重新與塔利班作戰。”

廣告

2021 年 8 月 20 日，阿富汗人聚集在喀布爾機場軍事部分附近的路邊，美國士兵坐在牆上，希望在塔利班軍事接管阿富汗後逃離該國。（攝影：Wakil KOHSAR / 法新社）

他說，如果沒有退出日期，塔利班就會恢復對美國目標的攻擊。

“在 5 月 1 日之後，沒有美國人傷亡，就沒有穩定的現狀，”他說。

選擇是“要么按照協議撤出我們的部隊，要么升級衝突並派遣數千名美國軍隊重返阿富汗作戰，陷入衝突的第三個十年。”

以平衡為目標

拜登決定的影響是驚人的。塔利班加速了他們的行動，阿富汗軍隊停止了戰鬥，政府官員沒有抵抗就交出了他們的城市，直到8月15日喀布爾淪陷。

軍事歷史學家馬克斯·布特在《華盛頓郵報》上撰文將拜登的撤軍決定與阿富汗軍隊的解體直接聯繫起來。

2021 年 8 月 20 日，在塔利班驚人地接管阿富汗之後，武裝的塔利班戰士在喀布爾的阿卜杜勒拉赫曼清真寺進行星期五祈禱時站在伊瑪目旁邊。（攝影：Hoshang Hashimi / 法新社）

他寫道：“許多人認為，僅僅有 2,500 名美軍就沒有任何意義。”

“過去幾個月的歷史否定了這種觀點：最後的塔利班攻勢是在美軍撤軍接近完成時才開始的。”

布特說，如果美國在該國留下 2500 名士兵並繼續向阿富汗軍隊提供空中支援，“就足以維持塔利班在農村取得進展的脆弱平衡，但每個城市仍掌握在政府手中”。 .

深深的依賴

拜登和批評者同意的一件事是：阿富汗政府和安全部隊深深依賴美國。

廣告

隨著美國的軍事支持、技術知識和資金的流失，阿富汗的安全大廈崩潰了。

批評人士說，美國軍隊應該留下來，就像美國自二戰和朝鮮戰爭以來在伊拉克保留了 2,500 人的軍隊，在德國、韓國和日本保留了更多的軍隊一樣。

他們說，阻止與基地組織結盟的聖戰分子接管該國是值得的。

拜登和他的支持者說，美國人的生命和金錢的持續成本，支持喀布爾一個公開腐敗和無效的政府，是不合理的。

拜登說，五年後的結果將是相同的。

2021 年 8 月 20 日，美國總統喬·拜登 (Joe Biden) 在華盛頓白宮東廳談論美國公民、他們的家人、SIV 申請人和弱勢阿富汗人的撤離。副總統卡瑪拉·哈里斯（左）和國務卿安東尼·布林肯聆聽。（美聯社照片/Manuel Balce Ceneta）

沙利文說，白宮國家安全顧問傑克·沙利文認為，即使特朗普政府在 2017 年將美國駐軍人數增加到 15,000 人，阿富汗軍隊也失去了陣地。

“過去一個月發生的事情已經決定性地證明，美國需要大量駐軍，比拜登總統所獲得的人數多出數倍，才能阻止塔利班的襲擊。我們本來會傷亡的。”

Why didn’t Biden leave 2,500 troops in Afghanistan?

Critics say leaving only a small American force has been proven as enough to keep the Taliban from making major gains and preventing disintegration of Afghan military

By PAUL HANDLEY21 August 2021, 12:50 am

In this Jan. 15, 2018, file photo, US Marines watch during the change of command ceremony at Task Force Southwest military field in Shorab military camp of Helmand province, Afghanistan. (AP Photo/Massoud Hossaini, File)

WASHINGTON (AFP) — The Taliban’s lightning-fast takeover of Afghanistan after US President Joe Biden’s decision to withdraw US troops by August 31 has critics asking: why didn’t he just leave 2,500 troops there to fortify the now-fallen government?

That was how many US forces remained in the country when Biden took office in January, after his predecessor Donald Trump slashed their numbers from 15,000.

In appearances, the 2,500 troops and 16,000 US civilian contractors behind them, seemed to have been enough to keep the Afghan government in power in the year after Trump signed a withdrawal agreement with the Taliban insurgents on February 29, 2020.

Trump set a final pullout date of May 1, 2021, and even tried to speed that up.

While the Taliban stepped up attacks on Afghan government targets, their gains remained limited to non-strategic rural areas.

But, abiding to the agreement, their attacks on US and NATO forces meanwhile almost dried up. No US soldier was killed after Trump’s deal.

In this Aug. 19, 2021 photo, Taliban fighters display their flag on patrol in Kabul, Afghanistan. (AP Photo/Rahmat Gul, File)

Critics argue this showed that, when backed by a skeleton US force, Kabul could hold the line against the insurgents.

A battlefield stalemate was more desirable than a full Taliban victory, they said.

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“We only had 2,500 troops there, light touch, no chaos, not a single American soldier killed in a year in combat,” top Republican Senator Mitch McConnell said this week.

He urged Biden to increase support for Afghan troops rather than leave.

“If we let the Taliban dominate Afghanistan and Al-Qaeda return, it will resonate throughout the global jihadist movement,” McConnell said.

Third decade of conflict

Biden, who had long advocated exiting Afghanistan, launched a review after taking office.

In April, he announced his decision: the US would leave, but the departure deadline was pushed back three months, to the end of August.

The choice, Biden explained on August 16, “was either to follow through on that agreement or be prepared to go back to fighting the Taliban.”

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US soldiers sit on a wall as Afghans gather on a roadside near the military part of the airport in Kabul on August 20, 2021, hoping to flee from the country after the Taliban’s military takeover of Afghanistan. (Photo by Wakil KOHSAR / AFP)

Without an exit date, he said, the Taliban would have resumed attacks on US targets.

“There was no status quo of stability without American casualties after May 1,” he said.

The choice was “either following through on the agreement to withdraw our forces, or escalating the conflict and sending thousands more American troops back into combat in Afghanistan, lurching into the third decade of conflict.”

Aiming for equilibrium

The impact of Biden’s decision was stunning. The Taliban accelerated their campaign, Afghan troops stopped fighting, and government officials handed over their cities without resisting, until Kabul fell on August 15.

Military historian Max Boot, writing in the Washington Post, tied Biden’s pullout decision directly to the disintegration of the Afghan forces.

Armed Taliban fighters stand next an Imam during Friday prayers at the Abdul Rahman Mosque in Kabul on August 20, 2021, following the Taliban’s stunning takeover of Afghanistan. (Photo by Hoshang Hashimi / AFP)

“Many argued that a mere 2,500 US troops could make no difference,” he wrote.

“The history of the past few months repudiates this view: The final Taliban offensive began only when the US troop pullout was nearly complete.”

If the United States left 2,500 troops in the country and continued to provide air support to Afghan troops, it “was enough to maintain a tenuous equilibrium in which the Taliban made advances in the countryside, but every city remained in government hands,” Boot said.

Deeply dependent

One thing Biden and critics agree on: the Afghan government and security forces were deeply dependent on the United States.

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And with US military support, technical know-how and money gone, the Afghan security edifice crumbled.

Critics say US troops should have remained, much as the United States keeps a 2,500-strong force in Iraq, and larger numbers in Germany, South Korea and Japan, since World War II and the Korean War.

It would be worth preventing an Al-Qaeda-allied jihadist takeover of the country, they say.

Biden and his supporters say the continuing cost in American lives and money, supporting an openly corrupt and ineffective government in Kabul, would not justify it.

The outcome would be the same five years down the road, said Biden.

US President Joe Biden speaks about the evacuation of American citizens, their families, SIV applicants and vulnerable Afghans in the East Room of the White House, on August 20, 2021, in Washington. Vice President Kamala Harris, left, and Secretary of State Antony Blinken listen. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan argued that even when the Trump administration ramped up the US troop presence to 15,000 troops in 2017, Sullivan said, Afghan forces lost ground.

“What has unfolded over the past month has proven decisively that it would have taken a significant American troop presence, multiple times greater than what President Biden was handed, to stop a Taliban onslaught. And we would have taken casualties.”

定點殺戮的故事越來越多，加劇了阿富汗對塔利班的恐懼

人權組織稱，伊斯蘭叛亂分子殺害了哈扎拉少數民族的 9 名成員，這是一個近年來在教育、社會地位方面取得重大進展的什葉派團體

按機構今天，晚上 7:51

2021 年 8 月 19 日星期四，塔利班戰士在阿富汗喀布爾拍照。（美聯社照片/Rahmat Gul）

阿富汗喀布爾——週五有報導稱，塔利班佔領的地區發生了有針對性的殺戮，這加劇了人們的擔憂，即他們將使阿富汗恢復上次執政時強加的壓迫性統治，儘管他​​們敦促伊瑪目在星期五的祈禱。

由於害怕新的事實上的統治者會對他們國家的未來犯下這樣的虐待和絕望，在塔利班驚人的閃電戰穿越阿富汗之後，成千上萬的人跑到喀布爾的機場和過境點。其他人走上街頭抗議接管——塔利班戰士暴力鎮壓的反抗行為。

塔利班表示，自 1990 年代上次統治阿富汗以來，他們變得更加溫和，並承諾恢復安全並原諒自美國領導的入侵以來 20 年來與他們作戰的人。在星期五祈禱之前，領導人敦促阿訇使用佈道呼籲團結，並敦促人們不要逃離該國。

但許多阿富汗人持懷疑態度，擔心塔利班會抹去過去二十年取得的成果，尤其是對女性而言。國際特赦組織週五的一份報告提供了更多證據，削弱了塔利班聲稱他們已經改變的說法。

該權利組織表示，其研究人員與加茲尼省的目擊者進行了交談，目擊者講述了塔利班如何於 7 月 4 日至 6 日在 Mundarakht 村殺害了 9 名哈扎拉族男子。他們說，其中六人被槍殺，三人被折磨致死。哈扎拉人是什葉派穆斯林，他們以前受到塔利班的迫害，近年來在教育和社會地位方面取得了重大進展。

大赦國際的負責人艾格尼絲·卡拉馬德 (Agnes Callamard) 表示，殺戮的殘暴“提醒了塔利班過去的記錄，也是塔利班統治可能帶來的可怕跡象”。

人權組織警告說，由於塔利班切斷了他們拍攝的許多地區的手機服務，以防止發布圖像，因此可能有更多的殺戮沒有被報告。

在西班牙國防部提供的 2021 年 8 月 18 日星期三在阿富汗喀布爾拍攝的檔案照片中，人們登上西班牙空軍的 A400 飛機，作為阿富汗喀布爾機場撤離計劃的一部分。（西班牙國防部通過美聯社，文件）

另外，無國界記者組織對塔利班武裝分子週三殺害一名為德國德國之聲工作的阿富汗記者的家人的消息表示震驚。

廣告

廣播公司說，戰士們對已經搬到德國的記者進行了挨家挨戶的搜查。它說，塔利班還襲擊了至少三名記者的家。

“可悲的是，這證實了我們最擔心的事情，”無國界記者德國部分的 Katja Gloger 說。“塔利班的殘暴行動表明，阿富汗獨立媒體工作者的生命處於極度危險之中。”

德國政府發言人周五表示，一名德國平民在前往機場的途中被槍殺。

塔利班自稱重塑品牌，一再發誓要完全大赦，但聯合國的一份情報文件稱，武裝分子正在挨家挨戶追捕前政府官員以及與美國和北約部隊合作的人。

根據法新社看到的聯合國威脅評估顧問的一份機密文件，武裝分子還在前往喀布爾機場的路上對人們進行檢查。

“他們的目標是那些拒絕自首的人的家人，並‘根據伊斯蘭教法’起訴和懲罰他們的家人，”該組織執行董事克里斯蒂安·內勒曼告訴法新社。

廣告

與此同時，一家向聯合國提供信息的挪威私人情報組織表示，它獲得的證據表明，塔利班已將阿富汗人列入黑名單，他們認為這些人在前阿富汗政府或美國領導的部隊中擔任過關鍵角色。

在一封電子郵件中，RHIPTO 挪威全球分析中心的執行主任表示，該組織知道向阿富汗人發送了幾封威脅信，其中包括一名本週被塔利班從喀布爾公寓帶走的男子。

“我們獲得了塔利班軍事委員會為此簽發並蓋章的具體信件的硬拷貝，”克里斯蒂安·內勒曼說。美聯社獲得的該組織的一份報告包括其中一封信的副本。

美聯社無法獨立核實該組織的說法。

在 2021 年 8 月 17 日星期二的檔案照片中，數百人聚集在阿富汗喀布爾的國際機場外。（美聯社照片，文件）

在塔利班以前的統治下，婦女基本上被限制在家裡，電視和音樂被禁止，公開處決定期舉行。但這次運動的領導人承諾更加溫和。

目前尚不清楚關於濫用職權的報導是否表明塔利班領導人說的是一套，做的又是另一套，還是他們根本無法完全控制自己的部隊。

他們接管的規模和速度似乎挑戰了領導層控制他們的戰士的能力。例如，在喀布爾，有報導稱戰鬥人員向主要新聞媒體承諾安全，但也有他們恐嚇企業主的例子。

在不確定的情況下，數千人試圖逃離該國，冒著塔利班武裝人員派駐的檢查站沖向喀布爾機場，那裡正在進行混亂的疏散。

Mohammad Naim 已經在機場人群中四天試圖逃跑，他說第一天他不得不把他的孩子放在車頂上，以免他們被人群壓死。他看到其他無法讓開的孩子被殺。

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奈姆說他曾為美軍做翻譯，他敦促其他人不要來機場。

“現在這是一個非常非常瘋狂的情況，”他說。

在美國海軍陸戰隊提供的這張照片中，一名男孩於 2021 年 8 月 18 日在阿富汗喀布爾的哈米德卡爾扎伊國際機場疏散期間通過疏散控制檢查站。（Staff Sgt. Victor Mancilla/US Marine Corps via美聯社）

美國正在努力加快從阿富汗撤離的步伐，成千上萬的美國人及其阿富汗盟友可能需要逃離阿富汗。歐洲國家也在努力讓他們的公民和那些與他們一起工作的人出去。

但西班牙國防部長瑪格麗塔·羅伯斯週五表示，其軍用運輸機在騷亂中使喀布爾部分空置。

“沒有人能控制局勢，”羅伯斯告訴西班牙公共電台 RNE。

到達設施也是一個重大挑戰。官員們說，德國正在向喀布爾派遣兩架直升機，以幫助將來自該市其他地方的少數人帶到機場。

隨著人們越來越擔心塔利班政府會是什麼樣子，該組織的領導人正在會見前阿富汗政府的一些官員。

一位熟悉這些會談的阿富汗官員表示，在最後一批美軍撤離（目前計劃於 8 月 31 日）之前，他們不會有任何結果。

據這位不願透露姓名的官員稱，塔利班的首席談判代表阿納斯·哈卡尼 (Anas Haqqani) 表示，該組織同意美國在該日期之前“什麼都不做”，因為他無權向媒體提供信息。

塔利班曾表示他們想要一個包容性的政府，但與他們的其他承諾一樣，目前尚不清楚他們是否會兌現。

除了對塔利班濫用職權的擔憂之外，官員們還警告說，如果沒有大規模的國際援助來支撐被推翻的西方支持的政府，阿富汗已經疲軟的經濟可能會進一步崩潰。聯合國表示糧食嚴重短缺，專家表示該國急需現金。

Tales of targeted killings mount, fueling Afghan fears of Taliban

Rights group says Islamist insurgents have killed 9 members of Hazara minority, a Shiite group that in recent years has made major gains in education, social status

By AGENCIESToday, 7:51 pm

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Taliban fighters pose for a photograph in Kabul, Afghanistan, on Thursday, August 19, 2021. (AP Photo/Rahmat Gul)

KABUL, Afghanistan — Reports of targeted killings in areas overrun by the Taliban mounted on Friday, fueling fears that they will return Afghanistan to the repressive rule they imposed when they were last in power, even as they urged imams to push a message of unity at Friday’s prayers.

Terrified that the new de facto rulers would commit such abuses and despairing for their country’s future, thousands have raced to Kabul’s airport and border crossings following the Taliban’s stunning blitz through Afghanistan. Others have taken to the streets to protest the takeover — acts of defiance that Taliban fighters have violently suppressed.

The Taliban say that they have become more moderate since they last ruled Afghanistan in the 1990s, and have pledged to restore security and forgive those who fought them in the 20 years since a United States-led invasion. Ahead of Friday prayers, leaders urged imams to use sermons to appeal for unity and urge people not to flee the country.

But many Afghans are skeptical, fearing that the Taliban will erase the gains, especially for women, achieved in the past two decades. An Amnesty International report provided more evidence on Friday that undercut the Taliban’s claims they have changed.

The rights group said that its researchers spoke to eyewitnesses in Ghazni province, who recounted how the Taliban killed nine ethnic Hazara men in the village of Mundarakht on July 4-6. They said that six of the men were shot, and three were tortured to death. Hazaras are Shiite Muslims who were previously persecuted by the Taliban and who made major gains in education and social status in recent years.

The brutality of the killings was “a reminder of the Taliban’s past record, and a horrifying indicator of what Taliban rule may bring,” said Agnes Callamard, the head of Amnesty International.

The rights group warned that many more killings may have gone unreported because the Taliban cut cellphone services in many areas they’ve captured to prevent images from being published.

In this Wednesday, August 18, 2021 file photo provided by the Spanish Defense Ministry and taken in Kabul, Afghanistan, people board a Spanish airforce A400 plane as part of an evacuation plan at Kabul airport in Afghanistan. (Spanish Defense Ministry via AP, File)

Separately, Reporters without Borders expressed alarm at the news that Taliban fighters killed the family member of an Afghan journalist working for German’s Deutsche Welle on Wednesday.

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The broadcaster said that fighters conducted house-to-house searches for their reporter, who had already relocated to Germany. It said that the Taliban also raided the homes of at least three of its journalists.

“Sadly, this confirms our worst fears,” said Katja Gloger of Reporters without Borders’ German section. “The brutal action of the Taliban show that the lives of independent media workers in Afghanistan are in acute danger.”

A German civilian was shot on his way to the airport, a spokeswoman for the German government said on Friday.

In professed rebrand, the Taliban have repeatedly vowed a complete amnesty, but an intelligence document for the United Nations said that militants were going door-to-door hunting down former government officials and those who worked with US and NATO forces.

According to a confidential document by the UN’s threat assessment consultants seen by AFP, militants were also screening people on the way to Kabul airport.

“They are targeting the families of those who refuse to give themselves up, and prosecuting and punishing their families ‘according to sharia law’,” Christian Nellemann, the group’s executive director, told AFP.

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Meanwhile, a Norway-based private intelligence group that provides information to the UN said that it obtained evidence that the Taliban have rounded up Afghans on a blacklist of people they believe worked in key roles with the previous Afghan administration or with US-led forces.

In an email, the executive director of RHIPTO Norwegian Center for Global Analyses said that the organization knew about several threat letters sent to Afghans, including a man who was taken from his Kabul apartment this week by the Taliban.

“We had access to hard copies of concrete letters issued and stamped by the Taliban Military Commission to this effect,” said Christian Nellemann. A report from the group that was obtained by The Associated Press included a copy of one of the letters.

The AP could not independently verify the claims made by the group.

In this Tuesday, Aug. 17, 2021 file photo hundreds of people gather outside the international airport in Kabul, Afghanistan. (AP Photo, File)

Under the Taliban’s previous rule, women were largely confined to their homes, television and music were banned, and public executions were held regularly. But leaders of the movement have pledged more moderation this time.

It’s not clear whether the reports of abuses indicate that Taliban leaders are saying one thing but doing another or whether they simply don’t have full control over their forces.

The scale and speed of their takeover seems to have challenged the leadership’s ability to control their fighters. In Kabul, for instance, there have been reports of fighters promising security to major news outlets, but also examples of them intimidating business owners.

Amid the uncertainty, thousands have tried to flee the country, braving checkpoints manned by Taliban fighters to rush to Kabul’s airport, where a chaotic evacuation is underway.

Mohammad Naim, who has been among the crowd at the airport for four days trying to escape, said that he had to put his children on the roof of a car on the first day to save them from being crushed by the mass of people. He saw other children killed who were unable to get out of the way.

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Naim, who said he had been an interpreter for US forces, urged others not to the come to airport.

“It is a very, very crazy situation right now,” he said.

In this photo provided by the US Marine Corps, a boy is processed through an Evacuee Control Checkpoint during an evacuation at Hamid Karzai International Airport, in Kabul, Afghanistan, on August 18, 2021. (Staff Sgt. Victor Mancilla/US Marine Corps via AP)

The US is struggling to pick up the pace of evacuations it is running from Afghanistan, where thousands of Americans and their Afghan allies may be in need of escape. European countries are also working to bring their citizens and those who have worked with them out.

But Spanish Defense Minister Margarita Robles said on Friday that its military transport planes are leaving Kabul partly empty in the tumult.

“Nobody’s in control of the situation,” Robles told Spanish public radio RNE.

Getting to the facility is also a major challenge. Germany was sending two helicopters to Kabul to help bring small numbers of people from elsewhere in the city to the airport, officials said.

As concerns mount about what a Taliban government will look like, the group’s leaders are meeting with some officials from previous Afghan administrations.

An Afghan official familiar with those talks indicated nothing would come of them before the last US troops leave, currently planned for August 31.

The Taliban’s lead negotiator, Anas Haqqani, has said that the group agreed with the US to “do nothing” until after that date, according to the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to give information to the media.

The Taliban have said that they want an inclusive government, but, as with their other promises, it was not clear if they will make good on that.

In addition to concerns about Taliban abuses, officials have warned that Afghanistan’s already weakened economy could crumble further without the massive international aid that sustained the toppled Western-backed government. The UN said that there are dire food shortages and experts said that the country is severely in need of cash.

塔利班接管後，西方團體迫切希望拯救處於危險之中的阿富汗工人

歐洲國家承諾撤離那些面臨特殊風險的人——女權主義者、政治活動家和記者——但不清楚劃在哪里或有多少人符合標準

由科琳·巴里和克斯廷SOPKE今天，晚上 7:40

2021 年 8 月，喀布爾國際機場，一名婦女通過鐵絲網將嬰兒交給一名海軍陸戰隊士兵。（屏幕截圖/推特）

喀布爾（美聯社）——在過去的 20 年裡，意大利慈善機構 Pangea 幫助成千上萬的阿富汗婦女自力更生。現在，由於有報導稱塔利班正在挨家挨戶尋找與西方人合作的公民，其在阿富汗的數十名工作人員正與家人一起躲藏起來。

Pangea 創始人 Luca Lo Presti 已要求將 30 名阿富汗慈善工作者及其家人納入本週運送 500 人安全的意大利航班，但這些請求遭到斷然拒絕。星期四，軍事協調員告訴他：“不是今天。”

自從塔利班佔領首都喀布爾以來，數十次航班已經將數百名西方國民和阿富汗工人帶到了歐洲的安全地帶。那些有幸從可怕的報復中獲救的人大多是直接與外國使團工作的阿富汗人及其家人。

歐洲國家也承諾從塔利班撤離特別危險的人——女權主義者、政治活動家和記者——但目前尚不清楚界限的確切位置以及西方國家將能夠撤離多少阿富汗國民。

Pangea 在阿富汗的工作人員越來越焦躁不安。Lo Presti 說，她們的角色特別危險，因為她們為女性創造了與塔利班的信條不符的那種獨立性。

“Pangea 是敵人，因為誰創造了意識和權利，誰就是敵人。我們現在必須躲起來，”洛普雷斯蒂在他位於米蘭的基地裡說道。Pangea 提供貸款幫助 70,000 名女性開設自己的企業——例如美髮沙龍和麵包店——其中許多人支持至少有 8 到 10 個孩子的家庭。

在這張 2021 年 8 月 16 日星期一的檔案照片中，數百人聚集在阿富汗喀布爾國際機場周邊的一架美國空軍 C-17 運輸機附近。（美聯社照片/Shekib Rahmani，文件）

意大利外交部吹捧維羅內西基金會的活動家扎赫拉·艾哈邁迪 (Zahra Ahmadi) 和女性研究人員乘坐星期四的航班抵達，該航班載有 202 名阿富汗公民，並指出“特別關注為意大利工作並受到威脅的人，例如婦女和年輕人。”

然而，在剛剛起步的民主國家中，與援助團體和其他非政府組織合作的人數不計其數，但仍然沒有受到保護。還包括那些協助美國和北約部隊但現在被塔利班困住並被追捕的人。許多人正在從手機中刪除與西方的聯繫，或者記住關鍵號碼以保持聯繫。

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一名為意大利發展機構工作的意大利裔阿富汗醫生在乘坐疏散航班抵達後身體崩潰，並對西方離開該國的決定進行了嚴厲的評估。

“我們需要拯救喀布爾的那些人。我們一無所有地將他們留在喀布爾，”阿里夫·奧里亞哈伊爾博士告訴記者，他的聲音顫抖著。“他們與我們合作，我們將他們培訓為產科醫生、護士和醫生。他們在工作，現在他們被遺棄了，我們的醫院也被遺棄了。”

一個德國網絡關閉了與聯軍合作的阿富汗國民的安全屋，稱他們為“死亡陷阱”。

“塔利班正在挨家挨戶尋找當地部隊，”管理該網絡的現役德國士兵馬庫斯·格羅蒂安 (Marcus Grotian) 說。“這是可以預見的，塔利班已經訪問了其中一個安全屋。感謝上帝，它是空的。”

Pangea 慈善總裁 Luca Lo Presti 於 2021 年 8 月 19 日星期四在意大利米蘭的家中接受美聯社採訪時示意。（美聯社照片/安東尼奧·卡蘭尼）

他每天要接到 400-500 個電話，尋求被困前工人的幫助，但他感到無助。他說，在協助北約部署方面發揮關鍵作用的阿富汗人現在“正在扔掉他們的文件，並試圖渡過難關”。“我們不知道如何幫助他們了。”

法國總統埃馬紐埃爾馬克龍承諾不會放棄為該國工作的阿富汗人，從翻譯到廚房工作人員，以及活動家。超過 300 人已被疏散，馬克龍辦公室表示，慈善機構希望將更多人添加到名單中。

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週一和周二，超過 130 名捷克國民和阿富汗人被疏散，匈牙利已開始為其公民以及一些幫助其軍隊的阿富汗人執行疏散任務。

Lo Presti 呼籲建立一條人道主義走廊，以疏散與西方合作的阿富汗人。到目前為止，他被阻止前往喀布爾以幫助在混亂中識別 Pangea 工人及其家人。他說，一個無視他的建議並前往機場的家庭在混亂中看不見他們的孩子，也無法找到他們。

他承認西方對“被帶到西方並冒充難民的聖戰派別”表示擔憂，這使得他的組織成員前往喀布爾為那些與他共事的人提供擔保變得更加緊迫。

但他也意識到落後者面臨的風險。

“每天晚上都會帶來恐懼，因為像納粹政權那樣的圍捕是真實的，害怕被抓捕而沒有辯護的可能性，也不知道未來和想像它可能是死亡，”洛普雷斯蒂補充道。“這讓我們很害怕，我們就在這裡。想像一下那些生活在其中的女性。”

在美國海軍陸戰隊提供的 2021 年 8 月 18 日星期三檔案照片中，一名男孩在阿富汗喀布爾的哈米德卡爾扎伊國際機場疏散期間通過疏散控制檢查站進行處理。（參謀長 Victor Mancilla/美國海軍陸戰隊通過美聯社，文件）

前英國海軍陸戰隊員保羅·法辛 (Paul Farthing) 正在開展競選活動，以幫助在喀布爾的 Nowzad 動物保護區工作的 25 名阿富汗人及其家人在英國定居。其中包括 20 多歲的女外科醫生，她們害怕與塔利班武裝分子被迫結婚並結束自己的職業生涯。

“我們給了他們對未來的希望、抱負和夢想，”法辛說。“現在有數千人的生命被剝奪了。”

令人擔憂的不僅是個人，還包括過去二十年所提倡的西方民主價值觀的可信度，以及在其他危險地區招募和依賴當地員工的人道主義組織的可信度。

格羅蒂安說，阿富汗撤軍暴露了“當事情變糟時如何支持人們的概念是沒有的。”

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阿富汗僑民在德國的 YAAR 協會正在接到急於離開的阿富汗人的電話。其他沮喪的人正在完全刪除手機聯繫人，因此他們不會留下數字痕跡。

YAAR 負責人 Kava Spartak 表示，任何疏散阿富汗人的失敗都會產生長期後果。

“這是士氣和歐洲道德的一種終結。如果他們現在把阿富汗人拋在後面，尤其是那些與北約軍隊和為民主而奮鬥 20 年的國際組織合作的阿富汗人，我認為歐洲價值觀將不會再留下多少，”斯巴達克說。

Western groups desperate to save Afghan workers in danger after Taliban takeover

European nations pledge to evacuate those at particular risk — feminists, political activists and journalists — but unclear where line being drawn or how many people meet standard

By COLLEEN BARRY and KERSTIN SOPKEToday, 7:40 pm

A woman hands her baby over barbed wire to a Marine soldier at the Kabul's International Airport, August 2021. (Screen capture/Twitter)

KABUL (AP) — The Italian charity Pangea helped tens of thousands of Afghan women become self-supporting in the last 20 years. Now, dozens of its staff in Afghanistan are in hiding with their families amid reports that Taliban are going door-to-door in search of citizens who worked with Westerners.

Pangea founder Luca Lo Presti has asked that 30 Afghan charity workers and their families be included on Italian flights that have carried 500 people to safety this week, but the requests were flatly refused. On Thursday, the military coordinator told him: “Not today.”

Dozens of flights already have brought hundreds of Western nationals and Afghan workers to safety in Europe since the Taliban captured the capital of Kabul. Those lucky enough to be rescued from feared reprisals have mostly been Afghans who worked directly with foreign missions, along with their families.

European countries also have pledged to evacuate people at special risk from the Taliban — feminists, political activists and journalists — but it is unclear exactly where the line is being drawn and how many Afghan nationals Western nations will be able to evacuate.

Pangea’s staff in Afghanistan is getting increasingly agitated. Lo Presti says that they are specifically at risk for their role creating the kind of independence for women that is at odds with the Taliban’s tenets.

“Pangea is an enemy because whoever creates awareness and rights is the enemy. We now have to hide,” Lo Presti said from his base in Milan. Pangea gave loans to help 70,000 women open their own businesses — such as hair and beauty salons and bakeries — and many of them support families with at least eight to 10 children.

In this Monday, Aug. 16, 2021 file photo, hundreds of people gather near a US Air Force C-17 transport plane along the perimeter at the international airport in Kabul, Afghanistan. (AP Photo/Shekib Rahmani, File)

The Italian Foreign Ministry touted the arrival of activist Zahra Ahmadi and female researchers from the Veronesi Foundation on a Thursday flight carrying 202 Afghan citizens, noting “the special attention to those who worked for Italy and who [are] under threat, such as women and young people.”

Yet still unprotected are untold numbers who worked with aid groups and other nongovernmental organizations in the fledgling democracy. Also included are those who assisted United States and NATO forces and are now stranded and being hunted by the Taliban. Many are deleting contacts with the West from their phones, or memorizing key numbers to maintain contact.

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An Italian-Afghan doctor who worked for Italy’s development agency broke down after arriving on an evacuation flight and offered a harsh assessment of the West’s decision to leave the country.

“We need to save those people in Kabul. We left them in Kabul with nothing,” Dr. Arif Oryakhail told reporters, his voice breaking. “They cooperated with us, we trained them as obstetricians, nurses, doctors. They were working and now they are abandoned, our hospitals are abandoned.”

A German network has closed its safehouses for Afghan nationals who worked with coalition forces, calling them “death traps.”

“The Taliban are going door-to-door looking for local forces,’’ said Marcus Grotian, an active German soldier who runs the network. “This was foreseeable, and there has already been a visit to one of the safehouses by the Taliban. Thank God it was empty.”

Pangea charity president Luca Lo Presti gestures during an interview with AP at his home in Milan, Italy, on Thursday, August 19, 2021. (AP Photo/Antonio Calanni)

He is fielding 400-500 calls a day for help from stranded former workers and feels helpless. Afghans who were key to aiding the NATO deployment now “are throwing away their documents, and trying to get by,” he said. “We don’t know how to help them anymore.”

French President Emmanuel Macron has pledged not to abandon Afghans who worked for the country, from translators to kitchen staff, as well as activists. More than 300 have been evacuated, and Macron’s office says that charities want more added to the list.

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Over 130 Czech nationals and Afghans were evacuated on Monday and Tuesday, and Hungary has begun an evacuation mission for its citizens as well as some Afghans who helped its military.

Lo Presti is calling for a humanitarian corridor to evacuate Afghans who worked with the West. He has been blocked so far from going to Kabul to help identify Pangea workers and their families amid the chaos. One family who ignored his advice and went to the airport lost sight of their children in the confusion and are unable to locate them, he said.

He acknowledged concerns in the West over “jihadist factions who are brought to the West and pass themselves off for refugees,” making it more urgent that members of his organization get to Kabul to vouch for those who have worked with him.

But he also is cognizant of the risks for those left behind.

“Every night brings trepidation, because roundups like those of the Nazi regime are real, and the fear of being taken and arrested without the possibility of a defense and not knowing the future and imaging that it could be death,” Lo Presti added. “This is terrifying us, and we are here. Imagine the women who are living it.”

In this Wednesday, Aug. 18, 2021 file photo provided by the US Marine Corps, a boy is processed through an Evacuee Control Checkpoint during an evacuation at Hamid Karzai International Airport, in Kabul, Afghanistan. (Staff Sgt. Victor Mancilla/US Marine Corps via AP, File)

A former British Marine, Paul Farthing, is campaigning to help 25 Afghans who work for the Nowzad animal sanctuary in Kabul and their families to settle in Britain. They include female surgeons in their 20s who fear forced marriages with Taliban fighters and an end to their careers.

“We gave them hopes, aspirations, dreams for the future,” Farthing said. “Thousands of people now have had their lives ripped from them.”

The concern is not only for individuals, but for the credibility of Western democratic values promoted over the last two decades, as well as that of humanitarian organizations which recruit and rely on local staff in other danger zones.

Grotian says that the Afghanistan withdrawal has exposed “that there is no concept of how to stand by people when things go bad.”

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The YAAR association for the Afghan diaspora in Germany is being barraged by calls from Afghans desperate to get out. Others, despondent, are deleting cellphone contacts altogether, so they don’t leave a digital trail.

Any failure to evacuate Afghans will have long-term consequences, said YAAR head Kava Spartak.

“It is a sort of an endgame for the morale and for the European ethics. If they leave Afghans behind now, particularly those Afghans who worked with NATO troops and with international organizations fighting for democracy 20 years long, I think there wouldn’t be much left for European values anymore,” Spartak said.

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近600名阿富汗空軍入境庇護　烏茲別克：帶來46架美規軍機

李靖棠 2021年08月19日 21:35:00

在美國進行A-29「大嘴鳥」攻擊機訓練的阿富汗空軍飛行員。（圖片取自美國空軍）

當北約與美國離開後，阿富汗政府的夢魘也正式開始，短短數週以來、神學士部隊以秋風掃落葉的態勢，從四方步步逼近、並在16日包圍首都喀布爾（Kabul），讓民主政府與總統賈尼（Ashraf Ghani）放棄出逃，阿富汗在20年後再次重回神學士統治之下。

《路透》（Reuters）報導，隨著神學士拿下政權，也讓阿富汗與鄰近諸國面臨尷尬狀態，其中兩邊有陸地接壤的烏茲別克，17日向媒體表示，當首都喀布爾確定「淪陷」後，該國基地迎接585名阿富汗空軍現役人員，駕駛22架美規軍機與24架直昇機，飛往烏國尋求庇護。

事實上，早在首都圍攻開始之際，烏茲別克就曾多次對外抱怨，多國商業航空和軍事機型，在沒有事前溝通和告知下，多次侵犯該國領空進行飛行撤僑。

北部邊境居民則透露，小部份軍機選擇向北逃亡，疑似飛往塔吉克尋求庇護，但當歐美媒體詢問美國駐烏茲別克和塔吉克大使館時，至今尚未收到任何回應和答案。

駐紮在阿富汗的A-29「大嘴鳥」攻擊機。（圖片取自美國空軍）

雖然外媒沒有透露軍機型號，不過根據阿富汗政府軍現役的軍備，很可能是舊型型UH-1「休伊」直升機（UH-1 Iroquois）、AC-208輕型攻擊機（AC-208 light attack combat）或A-29「大嘴鳥」攻擊機（Embraer EMB 314 Super Tucano）。

協助阿富汗訓練飛行員的美國，早在2019年就曾做過報告，發現多年來超過4成的阿富汗學員抵達美國後，出現擅離職守（AWOL）的逃兵狀況；剩下未逃離的飛行員，多半刻意「延畢」而不願返回母國服役。

美軍協助阿富汗訓練黑鷹直升機飛行員和技術人員。（圖片取自美軍DVIDS系統）

由於逃兵或刻意延期回國狀態愈發嚴重，最終讓五角大廈在2019年中止自2005年開始的飛行員訓練計畫。

該報告指出，計畫啟動後、僅一期學員「順利畢業」。調查報告中並未指出，擅離職守的阿富汗飛行員行蹤，但從2005年開始，入境美國受訓的飛行員共有320名，竟高達152人選擇「逃離」，部份軍官在被抓回時向美國提出難民申請，以求留在當地生活。

美國將阿富汗交給塔利班的災難是如何發生的

地區事務：美國在阿富汗的崩潰是一個複雜的過程，崩潰有很多前因。

作者：SETH J. FRANZMAN

2021 年 8 月 21 日 01:12

2021 年 8 月 20 日拍攝的這張照片中，美國海軍陸戰隊第 24 海軍陸戰隊遠征隊 (MEU) 在阿富汗喀布爾哈米德卡爾扎伊國際機場疏散期間為一名兒童提供水

（照片來源：SGT SAMUEL RUIZ/美國海軍陸戰隊/通過路透社提供的資料）

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幾天前就預測到喀布爾機場的悲慘場景。憤世嫉俗者知道“西貢”時刻即將到來。

美國總統喬拜登在 7 月曾承諾，喀布爾不會淪陷，據說約有 30 萬人的阿富汗軍隊可以戰鬥。事實上，軍隊在很大程度上是虛構的，只存在於紙面上，多哈的談判代表以及他們在中國、俄羅斯、伊朗和巴基斯坦的朋友悄悄告訴塔利班，他們所要做的就是等待。

美國在阿富汗的崩潰是一個複雜的過程，崩潰有很多前因。

從長遠來看，“無休止的戰爭”讓人感到疲倦。這是美國歷屆政府、官員和專家使用的術語。美國前總統唐納德特朗普在 2020 年告訴西點軍校畢業生，“我們正在結束無休止戰爭的時代。” 他告訴他們，“解決遙遠土地上的古老衝突”不是美軍的工作。

這與喬治·H·W·布什在海灣戰爭後所相信的美國在全球、基於國際規則的秩序中發揮積極作用的觀念相去甚遠。這與克林頓政府尋求人道主義干預以幫助從科索沃到索馬里的人們的想法相去甚遠。

但美國左派和右派基本上都同意美國需要離開。

關於離開的部分觀念往往建立在無知之上，這是冷戰結束後美國對帝國權力的無知。

美國國會議員拉希達·特萊佈在推特上寫道，喀布爾機場被絕望的阿富汗人佔領，尋求出路：“這就是：無休止的戰爭和失敗的美國政策的可怕後果可以追溯到 1980 年代，當時我們支持塔利班對抗蘇聯。無辜的人遭受戰爭的恐怖，而政治領導人和軍火交易公司則坐視不理，賺取數十億美元。”

事實上，美國並沒有支持 1990 年代創建的塔利班。美國支持其他極端分子，稱為聖戰者組織。

特萊布不需要閱讀歷史書就能理解這一點。她本可以只看查理威爾遜的戰爭，甚至是蘭博三世。但如今，美國並不要求其立法者或官員對世界了解得太多。事實上，左派和右派都珍視無知。這種無知和無能，加上缺乏任何責任，是導致阿富汗崩潰的原因。

特朗普為撤軍奠定了基礎，推動與塔利班的和平談判和停火。美國派團隊前往卡塔爾與塔利班會面。到這個時候，塔利班似乎掌握了大部分的牌。美國乞求離開，但就像在越南一樣，它希望出現“和平與榮譽”。這個想法是，美國將能夠假裝停火，然後可以安靜地離開，而不是被趕走。在停火概念下，塔利班幾乎得到了前往戴維營的邀請。特朗普團隊無視阿富汗政府，美國一直支持該政府，數十億美元的美國資金被抽走或消失。

到 2020 年春天，交易已經達成。據英國廣播公司報導，在美國與塔利班簽署旨在為阿富汗帶來和平的協議後，特朗普表示“是時候讓我們的人民回家了”。到 2020 年 5 月，將有 5000 名美軍撤離，而在 14 個月內，所有美國人和北約成員國軍隊都將撤離。塔利班本應停止襲擊。

從那時起，塔利班開始了一項全球小跑任務，以探詢其他國家是否同意他們可以佔領喀布爾。他們已經得到了巴基斯坦的支持，巴基斯坦幫助創建了塔利班，並一直支持其極右翼的伊斯蘭極端主義品牌。塔利班前往莫斯科，到 2021 年 7 月，它似乎得到了俄羅斯的同意。俄羅斯和其他國家一直在等著看拜登政府會做什麼。

想要表明“美國回來了”的拜登也想離開。他會保留特朗普的時間表。莫斯科於 7 月會見了塔利班，塔利班隨後於 7 月下旬會見了中國高級官員。北京也加入了塔利班。塔利班還前往伊朗並獲得德黑蘭的支持。現在它有卡塔爾、巴基斯坦、俄羅斯、中國和伊朗。

土耳其也試圖與它合作。土耳其的目標是控制喀布爾機場，以便它可以驅逐阿富汗難民，因為土耳其總統雷傑普·塔伊普·埃爾多安曾承諾阻止阿富汗移民進入土耳其。土耳其在其東部邊界修建了一堵大牆，以防止從伊朗進入的阿富汗人進入。

土耳其的執政黨植根於穆斯林兄弟會，它可能將塔利班視為潛在的盟友。土耳其試圖與巴基斯坦、馬來西亞、伊朗和卡塔爾建立一個全球伊斯蘭世界秩序，承諾建立自己版本的伊斯蘭貿易和伊斯蘭電視。

隨著塔利班攻勢加快，土耳其國防部長於 2021 年 8 月前往巴基斯坦。埃爾多安發出觸角，乞求會見塔利班。

CH-46 海騎士軍用運輸直升機飛越阿富汗喀布爾（圖片來源：REUTERS/STRINGER）

與此同時，在喀布爾，美國正在關閉商店。美國已成為撤軍的專家。

它於 2019 年 10 月混亂地離開了敘利亞東部的部分地區，讓土耳其支持的聖戰分子襲擊了美國一直在保護的人民。

在親伊朗的民兵開始襲擊美軍後，美國於 2020 年在伊拉克留下了十幾個設施。

現在，美國將撤出阿富汗。美國士兵在晚上離開巴格拉姆空軍基地，甚至沒有告訴基地的阿富汗指揮官他們要離開。

這就是美國這些天發動戰爭的方式。它甚至不告訴它的合作夥伴、盟友或幾十年的朋友它在做什麼。在一個國家打了20年，夜裡賊走的帝王氣焰，對美國官員來說似乎並不可恥，而是一種正常的政策過程。

這是因為美國官員將阿富汗人描述為“利益”，當他們不再符合美國的“利益”時，他們就無所謂了。與支持敘利亞政權等政權的俄羅斯不同，美國不支持盟友。它有利益，當利益不盈利時，商店就關門了。而且它在阿富汗也將停業出售，因為塔利班獲得了所有舊的美國設備。

更糟糕的是，美國已經撤出了承包商和空中支援以及其他有助於支撐瘦如紙的阿富汗軍隊的關鍵因素。事實證明，儘管自 2001 年以來在阿富汗花費了數万億美元，但幾乎沒有建設任何基礎設施。阿富汗空軍只是幾架螺旋槳飛機和直升機，而不是真正的空軍。美國之所以沒有讓阿富汗軍隊武裝，正是因為這種方式會依賴它，如果美國離開，那麼美國的戰鬥機就不會落入美國的對手手中。20 年美國的角色結束後，幾乎什麼也沒有留下。

美國派出軍隊保護機場的一部分，讓美國人和西方人離開。在 8 月 16 日的最後幾個小時裡，機場的種族隔離並不完全是這樣，但阿富汗人被擱淺了，大多數白人西方人上了飛機。美國曾經幫助過科索沃人和庫爾德人，但到了 2021 年，美國人幫助的日子結束了。

雖然有些人將美國離開喀布爾與美國離開西貢相提並論，但 1975 年，美國駐西貢大使格雷厄姆·馬丁親自前往前線親眼目睹了這場災難，並努力堅持到底以幫助越南人撤離。

他和他的妻子親自幫助越南人撤離，他敦促海軍幫助逃離的越南人。

那是美國官員關心當地人的時候。這次美國代辦沒有坐等；當機場發生混亂時，他已經離開了。

沒有人會承擔責任。阿富汗領導人都將他們的人民拋在身後，搬到了中亞、歐洲或海灣地區的舒適別墅中。當窮人乞求飛行時，美軍被留在機場向空中開槍。

與越南不同的是，不會有美國人在海外幫助難民，不會有美國阿富汗版的《印度支那移民和難民援助法》。本世紀不會有像格雷厄姆·馬丁大使這樣的美國人，他的堅定信念幫助 140,000 名越南人逃離。•

How the US disaster in giving Afghanistan to the Taliban happened

REGIONAL AFFAIRS: America’s debacle in Afghanistan is a complicated process, and the breakdown has many antecedents.

By SETH J. FRANTZMAN

AUGUST 21, 2021 01:12

A U.S. Marine with the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) provides water to a child during an evacuation at Hamid Karzai International Airport, Kabul, Afghanistan, in this photo taken on August 20, 2021

(photo credit: SGT SAMUEL RUIZ/US MARINE CORPS/HANDOUT VIA REUTERS)

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The harrowing scenes at Kabul airport had been predicted days earlier. Cynics knew that a “Saigon” moment was coming.

US President Joe Biden had promised in July that Kabul would not fall and that the Afghan army, supposedly some 300,000 strong, could fight. In fact, the army was largely a fiction, present on paper only, and the Taliban had been quietly told by negotiators in Doha, and their friends in China, Russia, Iran and Pakistan, that all they had to do was wait.

America’s debacle in Afghanistan is a complicated process, and the breakdown has many antecedents.

In the long term it was fatigue with “endless wars.” This is the term that was used by previous US administrations, officials and experts. Former US President Donald Trump told West Point graduates in 2020 that “we are ending the era of endless wars.” It is not the job of American forces “to solve ancient conflicts in faraway lands,” he told them.

This was a far cry from the notion of America’s positive role in a global, international rules-based order that George H.W. Bush believed in after the Gulf War. It was far from the ideas of the Clinton administration which sought humanitarian intervention to help people from Kosovo to Somalia.

But the US largely agreed, on the Left and Right, that the US needed to leave.

Part of the notions about leaving are often built on ignorance, an ignorance borne of imperial power that the US had after the end of the Cold War.

US Congress member Rashida Tlaib tweeted, as Kabul airport was overrun by desperate Afghans seeking a way out: “That’s what this is: the horrible consequences of endless war and failed US policy going back to the 1980s when we backed the Taliban against the Soviets. Innocent people suffer the horrors of war while political leaders and arms-dealing corporations sit back and make billions.”

In fact, the US had not backed the Taliban, which was created in the 1990s. The US had backed other extremists, called Mujahedin.

Tlaib didn’t need to read a history book to understand that. She could have just watched Charlie Wilson’s War or even Rambo III. But these days the US doesn’t demand that its legislators or officials know much about the world. In fact, ignorance is prized on the Left and the Right. That ignorance and incompetence, alongside lack of any responsibility, are what helped lead to the debacle in Afghanistan.

Trump laid the groundwork for the withdrawal, pushing for peace talks with the Taliban and a ceasefire. The US sent teams to Qatar to meet with the Taliban. By this time the Taliban appeared to hold most of the cards. The US was begging to leave, but, like in Vietnam, it wanted the appearance of “peace with honor.” The idea was that the US would be able to pretend it got a ceasefire and then could leave quietly, not being chased away. Under the ceasefire concept the Taliban almost got an invite to Camp David. The Trump team ignored the Afghan government, which the US had been backing and where billions in US funding had been siphoned off or disappeared.

By the spring of 2020 a deal had been worked out. Trump said it was “time to bring our people back home” after the US signed a deal with the Taliban aimed at bringing peace to Afghanistan, the BBC reported. Five thousand US troops would leave by May 2020, and within 14 months all the Americans and NATO-member troops would be gone. The Taliban was supposed to stop attacks.

From that point on the Taliban began a globe trotting mission to sound out other countries on whether others agreed they could take Kabul. They already had support from Pakistan, which helped create the Taliban and has always supported its far-right brand of Islamist extremism. The Taliban went to Moscow, and by July 2021 it appeared to have Russia’s agreement. Russia and others had waited to see what the Biden administration would do.

Biden, who wanted to show that “America is back,” also wanted to leave. He would keep Trump’s timeline. Moscow met the Taliban in July, and the Taliban then met with top Chinese officials in late July. Beijing appeared on board with the Taliban as well. The Taliban also went to Iran and secured Tehran’s backing. Now it had Qatar, Pakistan, Russia, China and Iran.

Turkey was also angling to work with it. Turkey’s goal was to control Kabul airport so it could deport Afghan refugees, as Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had promised to stop Afghan migrants entering Turkey. Turkey had built a large wall on its eastern border to keep Afghans who come through Iran from coming in.

Turkey’s ruling party is rooted in the Muslim Brotherhood, and it likely sees the Taliban as a potential ally. Turkey has tried to carve out a global Islamic world order with Pakistan, Malaysia, Iran and Qatar, promising its own version of Islamic trade and Islamic television.

Turkey’s defense minister traveled to Pakistan in August 2021 as the Taliban offensive gained pace. Erdogan sent out feelers begging to meet the Taliban.

CH-46 Sea Knight military transport helicopter flies over Kabul, Afghanistan (credit: REUTERS/STRINGER)

MEANWHILE, IN Kabul, the US was closing up shop. The US has become expert at withdrawing.

It left part of eastern Syria chaotically in October 2019, letting Turkish-backed jihadists attack people the US had been protecting.

In Iraq the US left a dozen facilities in 2020 after pro-Iranian militias began attacking US forces.

Now it would be Afghanistan that would see a US withdrawal. US soldiers left Bagram Air Base at night, not even telling the Afghan commander of the base that they were leaving.

That’s how America wages war these days. It doesn’t even tell its partners, allies, or friends of decades what it is doing. The imperial arrogance of fighting in a country for 20 years and leaving like thieves in the night doesn’t seem to be shameful to US officials, but is rather a normal course of policy.

This is because US officials describe Afghans as “interests,” and when they are no longer in America’s “interest” they don’t matter. Unlike Russia, which backs regimes such as the Syrian regime, the US doesn’t back allies; it has interests, and when the interests don’t profit, then the shop closes. And it’s a going out of business sale in Afghanistan also, because the Taliban gets all the old US equipment.

What’s worse is that the US had already pulled contractors and air support and other key factors that had helped prop up the paper-thin Afghan army. It turned out that despite the trillion dollars spent since 2001 in Afghanistan, almost no infrastructure had been built. The Afghan Air Force was a few propeller planes and helicopters, not a real air force. The US had kept the Afghan army underarmed precisely because of the sense that this way it would be dependent, and if the US left, then US fighter jets would not end up in the hands of US adversaries. Almost nothing was left to show for 20 years of the US role when it was all over.

AMERICA SENT in troops to secure part of the airport to get Americans and Westerners out. It wasn’t exactly apartheid at the airport in the final hours on August 16, but Afghans were left stranded, and mostly white Westerners got on the planes. Where once the US had helped Kosovars and helped Kurds, in 2021 the days of Americans helping were done.

While some compare the US leaving Kabul to the US leaving Saigon, in 1975 the US ambassador in Saigon, Graham Martin, went to the front to see the debacle himself and struggled to stay to the end to help get Vietnamese out.

He and his wife personally helped get Vietnamese out, and he urged the navy to help Vietnamese who were fleeing.

That was a time when American officials cared about locals. This time the US chargé d’affaires didn’t sit around to wait; he was gone when the chaos unfolded at the airport.

No one will take responsibility. Afghan leaders had all left their people behind, off to comfortable villas in Central Asia, Europe or the Gulf. US troops were left at the airport to fire gunshots in the air as the poor people begged for flights.

Unlike Vietnam, there would be no Americans offshore helping the refugees, no American Afghan version of the Indochina Migration and Refugee Assistance Act. This century would have no Americans like ambassador Graham Martin, whose steadfastness helped 140,000 Vietnamese flee.•

從塔利班到哈馬斯，中東的真空永遠不會結束-意見

世界這一地區的所有撤軍都以同樣的方式結束，充滿敵意和激進的恐怖主義分子填補了真空。

作者：雅科夫·卡茨

2021 年 8 月 20 日 14:06

喬拜登總統週三在白宮東廳發表講話。

（圖片來源：路透社/伊麗莎白·弗蘭茨）

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這甚至不是一場真正的戰鬥。2007 年 6 月 10 日，哈馬斯和法塔赫部隊在加沙地帶爆發衝突。以色列早在兩年前就撤出了沿海飛地，哈馬斯在2006年1月大選上台後，雙方就如何共同統治巴勒斯坦人民不斷爭論不休。

當時，一名美國將軍駐紮在以色列，負責幫助訓練忠於巴勒斯坦權力機構主席馬哈茂德·阿巴斯的法塔赫部隊。中將軍 美國安全協調員基思·代頓 (Keith Dayton) 於 2006 年底解釋了他的任務。他說，伊朗正在幫助武裝哈馬斯，而美國希望防止“溫和力量”被消滅。

2007 年夏天五天多發生的事情不能完全歸咎於美國人。法塔赫——得到西方支持的運動和安全部隊——在幾天之內就瓦解了。多年後，法塔赫成員仍然帶著創傷回想起哈馬斯如何將他們的朋友從屋頂上扔下來或將他們綁在摩托車上並拖著他們穿過加沙滿是坑洼的街道。

在此後的 14 年裡，哈馬斯完全控制了加沙。除了每個月轉移數千萬美元來支付一些工資外，阿巴斯對加沙地帶發生的事情的影響為零。哈馬斯是主權國家。

在觀看了從阿富汗傳來的圖像後，以色列高級國防官員本週回憶了 2007 年 6 月的那五天。它提醒那些以色列人——其中許多是第二次起義的退伍軍人——當你指望別人來做你的工作時會發生什麼，無論是法塔赫、阿富汗總統阿什拉夫加尼還是黎巴嫩南部軍隊。

這是以色列從慘痛教訓中吸取的教訓。1990 年代中期，以色列國防軍開始將西岸城市的安全控制權移交給巴勒斯坦權力機構，但幾年後在防禦盾牌行動中重新征服了整個地區。2000年，它從黎巴嫩撤軍，五個月後士兵被真主黨綁架，然後在2006年爆發戰爭。如今，真主黨擁有的火箭數量是15年前的10倍。

5 月，真主黨領導人哈桑·納斯魯拉 (Hassan Nasrallah) 的支持者聚集在黎巴嫩與以色列邊境附近的摩托車車隊中，紀念“抵抗和解放日”。（信用：阿齊茲·塔赫/路透社）

2005年，以色列從加沙地帶撤出。當時，政府官員警告說，如果向以色列發射一枚火箭，後果將很嚴重。我們都知道結果如何。

這種現象並非以色列獨有。世界這一地區——伊拉克、敘利亞、利比亞、也門——的所有撤軍都以同樣的方式結束，敵對和激進的恐怖主義分子企圖破壞為促進民主價值觀和自由所做的任何工作，從而填補了真空。

認為阿富汗會以某種方式結束的想法是荒謬的，而且未經歷史證實。金錢、培訓和希望不足以改變一個國家。同樣的食譜在太多地方失敗了太多次。

現在的問題是接下來會發生什麼。在接下來的幾週內，阿富汗將從世界議程中消失，人們將忘記阿富汗人從運輸機上墜落的可怕畫面，他們一直緊緊抓住機翼和輪子，希望能將他們帶到安全的地方。

以色列的重點——從來沒有真正放在阿富汗——將落戶華盛頓，納夫塔利·貝內特總理下週將作為喬·拜登總統的客人訪問華盛頓。領導人將就一系列問題舉行會談，儘管具體取決於你聽誰。

如果你從貝內特那裡得到消息，這次訪問將是關於伊朗的。這是總理在周三晚上宣布即將到來的旅行時所說的話。但如果你閱讀白宮發表的聲明，話題就會擴大一些。是的，有人提到了伊朗，但也提到了巴勒斯坦人，兩位政治家會談論巴勒斯坦人，以尋找“促進和平、安全和繁榮”的方法。

貝內特需要考慮他為拜登帶來的善意姿態。僅僅到達白宮，期望讓總統相信伊朗協議存在的問題，並希望他放棄協議是不夠的。向總統和他的工作人員解釋阿巴斯如何腐敗，猶太和撒馬利亞屬於猶太人民，巴勒斯坦國將失敗——貝內特過去發表的所有評論也不夠。這不是白宮想听到的。

最近幾週，一些國防官員會見了貝內特，並為他提供了一系列民用項目，以改善西岸巴勒斯坦人的生活質量並幫助促進巴勒斯坦權力機構經濟。有關於數字化過境點的想法，以簡化工人進入以色列的方式；建設新的聯合工業區；甚至開始開發有助於將產品運送到西岸及其他地區的火車系統。

到目前為止，貝內特大部分時間都在傾聽，但尚未採用任何計劃。拜登希望從他們的會議中得到一些切實的東西，而不僅僅是聽取另一位以色列領導人警告德黑蘭的危險。中國——正如上週在這些頁面中提到的——肯定會出現，但巴勒斯坦人也會出現。

貝內特的一個想法是在他離開耶路撒冷之前給阿巴斯打電話。雖然他的一些部長以及艾薩克·赫爾佐格總統已經與這位巴勒斯坦領導人進行了交談，但貝內特還沒有，而且可能寧願永遠不必。

那不可能永遠持續下去。打電話給阿巴斯——在這個階段，這只不過是感謝巴勒斯坦領導人本週早些時候派遣救火車幫助撲滅耶路撒冷地區的火災——將在華盛頓得分。不會有任何約束力，而只是打開一條通信線路。

拜登並不抱太大希望。他認識到貝內特在一個支離破碎的聯盟中的六個席位讓他幾乎沒有政治可操作性。例如，拜登不會像奧巴馬在 2009 年首次訪問白宮時向本傑明內塔尼亞胡施壓那樣敦促他凍結定居點建設。

但拜登可以像奧巴馬在2013年訪問以色列時對內塔尼亞胡所做的那樣對貝內特做。內塔尼亞胡陪同總統到機場告別，奧巴馬把內塔尼亞胡拉進帳篷，讓他給土耳其總統雷傑普·塔伊普打電話埃爾多安，當時以色列正在與他進行大規模戰鬥（今天仍然如此），並為三年前馬維馬爾馬拉船隊事件中的生命損失道歉。

例如，拜登可以讓阿巴斯在橢圓形辦公室打電話，並堅持要求兩位領導人召開會議。貝內特會怎麼做？拒絕在拜登面前與巴勒斯坦領導人交談？不太可能。

貝內特下週會見的總統將與兩週前舉行會議時他會見的總統有所不同，當時阿富汗分崩離析，拜登在其龐大的基礎設施法案獲得通過後欣喜若狂。

拜登現在在該地區的地位確實較弱，但這並不意味著他會很容易走動。從耶路撒冷和拉馬拉分心可能正是他需要將注意力從喀布爾轉移開的原因。如果是這樣，以色列最好做好準備。

***

週日，推特上出現了內塔尼亞胡、他的妻子薩拉和他們的兒子亞伊爾在舊金山國際機場的照片，據報導，他們正在前往夏威夷度假的途中。一張照片顯示內塔尼亞胡坐在一個手提箱上，手提箱放在一輛 Smart Carte 手推車上，這種手推車是在機場候機樓以 5 美元的價格租用的。

內塔尼亞胡被拍到看起來並不高興。他看起來很疲憊，筋疲力盡，考慮到他快 72 歲了，剛剛從跨大西洋航班上下來，這是可以理解的。然而，這與以色列公眾從內塔尼亞胡的海外旅行中習慣看到的形象截然不同。沒有紅地毯，沒有黑色豪華轎車，也沒有包機。內塔尼亞胡看起來像一個穿過機場航站樓的普通公民，坐在他的智能卡上排隊等候。

沒過多久，媒體就火了。一些人稱讚這張照片是以色列民主韌性的例證。有一天你作為領導者崛起，有一天你失敗了。一天你會遇到儀仗隊，第二天你會遇到不耐煩的值機櫃檯服務員。

其他人認為這張照片是假的，內塔尼亞胡希望這張照片出來，讓人們看到他是一個普通公民，也許會為他感到難過。還有一些人襲擊了反對派領導人出國旅行，當時以色列的冠狀病毒正在激增，貝內特要求人們不要乘坐飛機。

我的觀點有點不同，幾乎可以概括為：別管這個人。內塔尼亞胡——不管你喜不喜歡他——為這個國家奉獻了 12 年的生命。他是民選出來的，他努力工作，他為以色列犧牲。

我有我的批評，並在這些頁面中廣泛分享。但我也相信他值得一個假期。在經歷了最艱難的 12 年之後，他剛剛下台。讓他休息一下。他賺到了。

4名親伊朗戰士說在以色列對敘利亞的襲擊中喪生

據報導，真主黨軍火庫遭到轟炸後，大馬士革敦促聯合國“立即採取堅決措施，防止以色列再次發動襲擊”

由機構和TOI 工作人員提供今天，下午 5:05

在敘利亞國家新聞發布的一段視頻中，一枚防空導彈，底部中央，朝著似乎是一枚導彈射入敘利亞的方向飛去。（屏幕截圖：YouTube/SANA）

一名駐英國的戰爭監察員周五表示，據稱以色列對敘利亞的空襲殺死了四名與大馬士革政權結盟的親伊朗戰士。

敘利亞官方媒體早些時候表示，其防空系統週四晚些時候在首都大馬士革上空與“敵對目標”交戰。

“以色列敵人發動了空襲……目標是大馬士革附近和霍姆斯市附近的陣地，”一名軍方消息人士告訴國家通訊社 SANA。

“我們的防空系統對導彈做出了反應，並擊落了大部分導彈。”

敘利亞人權觀察組織表示，以色列導彈的目標是屬於黎巴嫩什葉派恐怖組織真主黨的“武器庫和軍事陣地”，位於大馬士革省西北部、霍姆斯省和黎巴嫩邊境附近的 Qarah 地區。

據總部設在英國、資金不確定的親敘利亞反對派組織戰爭監察員稱，襲擊造成伊朗支持的組織的四名成員喪生，但目前尚不清楚他們是敘利亞人還是黎巴嫩人。

黎巴嫩媒體還報導說，兩枚導彈落在黎巴嫩和敘利亞之間崎嶇邊界的 Qalamoun 地區，但尚不清楚這些射彈是來自所謂的空襲還是錯誤的攔截器。

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以色列國防軍很少承認其在敘利亞的襲擊，一名發言人告訴法新社，它“不對外國媒體信息發表評論”。

然而，自從十年前敘利亞戰爭開始以來，以色列已經在敘利亞領土上進行了數百次空襲，目標是敘利亞政權陣地以及盟軍伊朗軍隊和真主黨成員。

以色列經常表示，它不會讓敘利亞成為其死敵伊朗的據點。

同樣在周五，敘利亞外交部致函聯合國安理會和聯合國秘書長安東尼奧·古特雷斯，敦促他們“立即採取堅定的措施，防止以色列對敘利亞的多次襲擊”。

在以色列飛機據稱侵犯其領空以在敘利亞進行空襲後，黎巴嫩也向聯合國提出了類似的抱怨。

所謂的罷工發生在真主黨首領哈桑·納斯魯拉表示，他的組織將開始從伊朗進口燃料，無視美國的製裁以及以色列或美國幾乎勇敢地停止運輸後數小時。

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真主黨領袖哈桑·納斯魯拉於 2021 年 8 月 7 日發表講話。（截圖：推特）

黎巴嫩一直在努力解決嚴重的燃料短缺問題，導致該國陷入癱瘓，上週一個油箱發生爆炸，造成數十人死亡。

以色列很少對黎巴嫩進行打擊，但據報導，以色列會利用其領空來避開駐紮在敘利亞的防空系統，包括由俄羅斯士兵操縱的防空系統。

有跡象表明，俄羅斯對以色列在敘利亞的空襲感到越來越不安，其目的是阻止伊朗軍隊和代理人團體在該國建立立足點。

7 月，一名俄羅斯軍官表示，他的軍隊幫助敘利亞使用 Buk 2ME 防空系統攔截了四枚以色列導彈。

4 pro-Iran fighters said killed in alleged Israeli strikes on Syria

Damascus urges UN ‘to take firm and immediate measures to prevent the repeated Israeli attacks,’ after Hezbollah arms depots reportedly bombed

By AGENCIES and TOI STAFFToday, 5:05 pm

An air defense missile, bottom center, streaks toward what appears to be a missile shot into Syria, in a video distributed by Syrian state news. (Screen capture: YouTube/SANA)

Alleged Israeli airstrikes on Syria have killed four pro-Iranian fighters allied to the Damascus regime, a Britain-based war monitor said on Friday.

Syrian state media earlier said that its air defense system engaged “hostile targets” over the capital Damascus late on Thursday.

“The Israeli enemy launched an aerial attack… targeting positions near Damascus and around the city of Homs,” a military source told state news agency SANA.

“Our air defense responded to the missiles and shot most of them down.”

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that the Israeli missiles targeted “arms depots and military positions” belonging to Lebanese Shiite terror group Hezbollah, in the Qarah area in the northwest of Damascus province, near Homs province and the Lebanese border.

The strikes killed four members of the Iran-backed group, but it was not immediately clear whether they were Syrian or Lebanese, according to the war monitor, a pro-Syrian opposition organization of uncertain funding based in the UK.

Lebanese media also reported that two missiles fell in the Qalamoun region on the rugged border between Lebanon and Syria, though it was unclear if the projectiles were from the alleged airstrikes or errant interceptors.

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The Israel Defense Forces rarely acknowledges its strikes in Syria and a spokesperson told AFP that it did “not comment on foreign media information.”

However, since the start of the war in Syria ten years ago, Israel has carried out hundreds of airstrikes on Syrian territory, targeting regime positions as well as allied Iranian forces and members of Hezbollah.

Israel regularly says that it will not allow Syria to become a stronghold of its sworn enemy Iran.

Also on Friday, the Syrian foreign ministry sent a letter to the United Nations Security Council and UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, urging them “to take firm and immediate measures to prevent the repeated Israeli attacks against Syria” following the reported strikes.

Lebanon similarly complained to the UN after the Israeli jets allegedly violated its airspace to carry out the airstrikes in Syria.

The alleged strikes came hours after Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah said that his group would begin importing fuel from Iran, defying US sanctions and all but daring Israel or the US to stop the shipment.

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Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah gives a speech, on August 7, 2021. (Screen capture: Twitter)

Lebanon has been grappling with serious fuel shortages that have paralyzed the country, and was rocked by a blast at a fuel tank last week that killed dozens.

Israel rarely carries out strikes against Lebanon, but has been reported to use its airspace in order to avoid air defense systems stationed in Syria, including ones manned by Russian soldiers.

There have been indications of growing Russian unease over Israel’s air campaign in Syria, which has been aimed at keeping Iranian forces and proxy groups from establishing a foothold in the country.

In July, a Russian military officer said that his military had helped Syria intercept four Israeli missiles using the Buk 2ME air defense system.

黎巴嫩向聯合國抱怨以色列從其領空發動襲擊

國防部長說，戰鬥機在貝魯特嗡嗡作響，讓當地人感到恐慌；官員稱民用飛機被迫短暫改道

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2021 年 8 月 19 日星期四，黎巴嫩首都貝魯特因停電而處於黑暗中，月亮升起。（美聯社/哈桑·阿馬爾）

貝魯特國防部長表示，在以色列戰機涉嫌侵犯其領空對敘利亞的目標進行空襲後，黎巴嫩向聯合國提出申訴。

據路透社週五早些時候報導，澤納·阿卡爾說，以色列飛機“在低空公然侵犯黎巴嫩領空，造成公民恐慌”。

投訴是在大馬士革居民報告稱聽到據稱針對敘利亞首都和首都以北霍姆斯地區的空襲地點的巨大爆炸聲數小時後提出的。

敘利亞國家電視台聲稱，其防空系統成功擊落了大部分據稱是從貝魯特附近發射的以色列導彈。

總部設在英國的戰爭監測機構敘利亞人權觀察站 (SOHR) 表示，“以色列導彈的目標是”黎巴嫩什葉派運動真主黨在大馬士革和霍姆斯之間的軍火庫和軍事陣地。

黎巴嫩媒體還報導，兩枚導彈落在黎巴嫩和敘利亞之間崎嶇邊界的 Qalamoun 地區，但尚不清楚這些射彈是來自所謂的空襲還是錯誤的攔截器。

社交媒體上分享的視頻聲稱顯示以色列戰鬥機飛越黎巴嫩領空。

阿卡爾說她曾就這些航班向聯合國投訴，她說這違反了聯合國第 1701 號決議，該決議結束了 2006 年以色列與黎巴嫩恐怖組織真主黨之間的戰爭。

據路透社報導，她還敦促聯合國對以色列的飛越採取行動。

2018 年 5 月 10 日，黎巴嫩士兵檢查了一枚敘利亞地對空導彈的殘骸，該導彈顯然是在針對敘利亞境內伊朗目標的大規模空襲中向以色列噴氣式飛機發射的，該導彈降落在黎巴嫩南部村莊 Hebarieh。（Ali直徑/法新社）

以色列軍隊很少承認其在敘利亞的襲擊，一位發言人告訴法新社，它“不對外國媒體信息發表評論”。

一名黎巴嫩官員告訴路透社，在所謂的罷工期間，兩架飛往貝魯特的民用飛機被迫短暫改變航線。

黎巴嫩國家通訊社週四早些時候報導說，以色列的飛機已經飛過該國的幾個城市，包括貝魯特。它還說，黎巴嫩就其在貝魯特附近領空上空的偵察飛行向與​​以色列接壤的聯合國維和部隊提出了投訴，並發布了一張照片，顯示天空中出現圓形煙霧痕跡，據稱來自以色列飛行。

黎巴嫩經常向聯合國提出以色列偵察飛行侵犯其領空的問題。

說明：2019 年 11 月 12 日，一架以色列 F-16 噴氣式飛機在加沙地帶附近的以色列南部城市阿什杜德上空拍攝。（Jack Guez/法新社）

所謂的罷工發生在真主黨首領哈桑納斯魯拉表示他的組織將開始從伊朗進口燃料，無視美國製裁以及以色列或美國幾乎勇敢地停止運輸後數小時。

他在紀念什葉派穆斯林阿舒拉節的電視講話中說：“這艘船在接下來的幾個小時內航行，直到進入（地中海）水域，都將被視為黎巴嫩領土。” “對於美國人和以色列人，我說：這是黎巴嫩的領土。”

前總理薩阿德·哈里裡週四警告說，納斯魯拉的言論可能是“危險的”。

“伊朗船隻將給黎巴嫩人帶來額外的危險和製裁，”他在其辦公室發表的一份聲明中說。

2021 年 8 月 14 日，在首都貝魯特的一個加油站看到黎巴嫩士兵，此前有士兵被部署迫使幾個加油站重新開門。（安瓦爾阿姆羅/法新社）

黎巴嫩一直在努力解決嚴重的燃料短缺問題，導致該國陷入癱瘓，上週一個油箱發生爆炸，造成數十人死亡。

以色列很少對黎巴嫩進行打擊，但據報導，以色列會利用其領空來避開駐紮在敘利亞的防空系統，包括由俄羅斯士兵操縱的防空系統。

廣告

有跡象表明，俄羅斯對以色列在敘利亞的空襲感到越來越不安，其目的是阻止伊朗軍隊和代理人團體在該國建立立足點。

7 月，一名俄羅斯軍官表示，他的軍隊幫助敘利亞使用 Buk 2ME 防空系統攔截了四枚以色列導彈。

Lebanon complains to UN over alleged Israeli strikes from its airspace

Defense minister says fighter jets buzzed Beirut, panicking locals; civilian planes forced to briefly divert, official says

By TOI STAFF and AFPToday, 5:50 am

The moon rises over the capital city of Beirut as it remains in darkness during a power outage, Lebanon, Thursday, Aug. 19, 2021.(AP/ Hassan Ammar)

Lebanon complained to the United Nations after Israeli jets allegedly violated its airspace to carry out an airstrike on targets in Syria late Thursday, Beirut’s defense minister said.

Zeina Akar said Israeli planes “blatantly violated Lebanon’s airspace at low altitude, causing a state of panic among citizens,” Reuters reported early Friday.

The complaint came hours after Damascus residents reported hearing loud explosions from alleged airstrikes targeting sites in the Syrian capital and the Homs area north of the capital.

Syrian state television claimed its air defense systems managed to knock down most of what it said were Israeli missiles that had been fired from near Beirut.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), a Britain-based war monitor, said that “Israeli missiles targeted arms depots and military positions of” Lebanese Shiite movement Hezbollah, between Damascus and Homs.

Lebanese media also reported two missiles fell in the Qalamoun region on the rugged border between Lebanon and Syria, though it was unclear if the projectiles were from the alleged airstrikes or errant interceptors.

Videos shared on social media purported to show Israeli fighter jets flying over Lebanese airspace.

Akar said she had complained to the UN over the flights, which she said violated UN Resolution 1701, which ended the 2006 war between Israel and Lebanese terror group Hezbollah.

She also urged the UN to act against the Israeli overflights, Reuters reported.

Lebanese soldiers inspect remains of a Syrian surface-to-air missile that had apparently been fired at Israeli jets during an extensive air campaign against Iranian targets in Syria, which landed in the southern Lebanese village of Hebarieh, on May 10, 2018. (Ali Dia/AFP)

The Israeli army rarely acknowledges its strikes in Syria and a spokesperson told AFP it does “not comment on foreign media information.”

During the alleged strike, two civilians planes en route to Beirut were forced to briefly divert their paths, a Lebanese official told Reuters.

Lebanon’s state news agency reported earlier Thursday that Israeli jets had flown over several cities in the country, including Beirut. It also said Lebanon had complained to the UN peacekeeping force on the border with Israel over reconnaissance flights over its airspace near Beirut, and published a picture showing circular trails of smoke in the sky, allegedly from an Israeli flight.

Lebanon regularly raises the issue of Israeli reconnaissance flights violating its airspace with the UN.

Illustrative: An Israeli F-16 jet is pictured above the southern Israeli city of Ashdod, near the Gaza Strip, on November 12, 2019. (Jack Guez/AFP)

The alleged strikes came hours after Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah said his group would begin importing fuel from Iran, defying US sanctions and all but daring Israel or the US to stop the shipment.

“The vessel, from the moment it sails in the coming hours until it enters (Mediterranean) waters, will be considered Lebanese territory,” he said during a televised speech to mark the Shiite Muslim commemoration of Ashura. “To the Americans and Israelis, I say: it’s Lebanese territory.”

Former prime minister Saad Hariri warned Thursday that Nasrallah’s remarks could be “dangerous.”

“Iranian vessels will carry additional dangers and sanctions for the Lebanese,” he said in a statement released by his office.

Lebanese soldiers are seen at a gas station in the capital Beirut on August 14, 2021, after soldiers were deployed to force several stations to reopen their doors. (ANWAR AMRO / AFP)

Lebanon has been grappling with serious fuel shortages that have paralyzed the country, and was rocked by a blast at a fuel tank last week that killed dozens.

Israel rarely carries out strikes against Lebanon, but has been reported to use its airspace in order to avoid air defense systems stationed in Syria, including ones manned by Russian soldiers.

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There have been indications of growing Russian unease over Israel’s air campaign in Syria, which has been aimed at keeping Iranian forces and proxy groups from establishing a foothold in the country.

In July, a Russian military officer said his military had helped Syria intercept four Israeli missiles using the Buk 2ME air defense system.

以色列和美國敢於採取行動，真主黨稱伊朗油輪駛往黎巴嫩

恐怖組織負責人納斯魯拉沒有說明船舶將如何無視美國製裁運送貨物

通過AFP和TOI人員2021 年 8 月 19 日，下午 1:51

真主黨秘書長哈桑·納斯魯拉於 2020 年 9 月 29 日在官方政黨 al-Manar TV 上發表講話。（截圖：Al-Manar）

真主黨恐怖組織負責人哈桑·納斯魯拉週四表示，一艘油輪將“在幾小時內”從伊朗出發，無視美國的製裁，為黎巴嫩運送急需的燃料供應。

關於這批貨物如何到達指定目的地仍然存在許多問題，在嚴重的經濟危機中，嚴重且日益嚴重的燃料短缺迫使醫院、企業和政府辦公室關閉。

但此舉受到美國對伊朗石油工業製裁的禁止，可能會將黎巴嫩拖入德黑蘭和以色列之間的秘密海戰。納斯魯拉膽敢讓伊朗的敵人停止運送。

他在紀念什葉派穆斯林阿舒拉節的電視講話中說：“這艘船在接下來的幾個小時內航行，直到進入（地中海）水域，都將被視為黎巴嫩領土。”

“對於美國人和以色列人，我說：這是黎巴嫩的領土。”

他說，第一艘船將為“醫院、藥品和食品製造商以及麵包店和私人發電機”提供燃料。

他說，將有更多船隻跟進，以解決導致黎巴嫩陷入停頓的短缺問題。

伊朗和黎巴嫩政府均未證實恐怖組織的說法。

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納斯魯拉沒有具體說明這批貨物將在何處或如何到達黎巴嫩並被卸載。

黎巴嫩能源專家 Laury Haytayan 表示，這批貨物存在重大問題，包括交付金額、支付方、船隻停靠地點以及交易細節是否已向黎巴嫩政府披露。

海塔揚說：“這些油輪有可能前往敘利亞，並在那裡進行改進。”

“但這都是製裁所禁止的，沒那麼容易，而且由於真主黨在公開場合這樣做，黎巴嫩有很大的危險，我們有被制裁或被攻擊的危險。”

'危險的'

自今年 2 月以來，伊朗和以色列一直在進行“影子戰爭”，在這場戰爭中，與每個國家有聯繫的船隻在海灣附近海域遭到攻擊，顯然是針鋒相對。

2021 年 8 月 3 日，拖船停泊在阿拉伯聯合酋長國富賈伊拉港附近與以色列有聯繫的油輪 MT Mercer Street 旁邊。 (Karim Sahib/AFP)

最近，以色列指責伊朗在 7 月無人機襲擊了一艘與以色列有關聯的油輪，造成兩名船員死亡。

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今年 5 月，敘利亞指責以色列對向該國運送伊朗石油的油輪發動了一系列神秘襲擊。

真主黨被西方大部分地區指定為恐怖組織，是黎巴嫩的一支主要政治力量，也是該國 1975-1990 內戰結束後唯一保留其武器庫的組織。

真主黨現在擁有比黎巴嫩國家軍隊更強大的武器庫。

前總理薩阿德·哈里裡週四警告說，納斯魯拉的言論可能是“危險的”。

“伊朗船隻將給黎巴嫩人帶來額外的危險和製裁，”他在其辦公室發表的一份聲明中說。

黎巴嫩正在努力應對被世界銀行稱為自 19 世紀中葉以來地球上最糟糕的經濟危機之一。

破產的國家無法再負擔關鍵進口商品或補貼必需品，導致電力、汽油和藥品等嚴重短缺，有時甚至是致命的短缺。

國際捐助者已承諾提供數億美元的援助，但以建立一個能夠帶頭改革的內閣為條件。

但是，在前任領導人在 8 月貝魯特港口發生巨大爆炸後辭職一年後，黎巴嫩分歧嚴重的政治領導人一再未能就新政府達成一致。

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哈里裡週四指責伊朗阻止組建政府，納斯魯拉對此予以駁斥。

Daring Israel and US to act, Hezbollah says Iran fuel tanker to sail to Lebanon

Terror group’s chief Nasrallah doesn’t say how ship will deliver cargo in defiance of US sanctions

By AFP and TOI STAFF19 August 2021, 1:51 pm

Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah gives an address on official party al-Manar TV on September 29, 2020. (Screenshot: Al-Manar)

Hezbollah terror group chief Hassan Nasrallah said Thursday a tanker would set off from Iran “within hours” to bring desperately needed fuel supplies to Lebanon, in defiance of US sanctions.

Many questions remain about how the shipment would reach its stated destination, where acute and growing fuel shortages have forced hospitals, businesses and government offices shut amid a crippling economic crisis.

But the move, prohibited by US sanctions on Iran’s oil industry, could drag Lebanon into the covert naval war between Tehran and Israel. Nasrallah dared Iran’s foes to stop the shipment.

“The vessel, from the moment it sails in the coming hours until it enters (Mediterranean) waters, will be considered Lebanese territory,” he said during a televised speech to mark the Shiite Muslim commemoration of Ashura.

“To the Americans and Israelis, I say: it’s Lebanese territory.”

He said a first ship would bring fuel for “hospitals, manufacturers of medicine and food, as well as bakeries and private generators.”

He said more vessels would follow to address shortages that have ground Lebanon to a halt.

Neither the Iranian nor the Lebanese governments have confirmed the terror organization’s claim.

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Nasrallah did not specify where or how the shipment would reach Lebanon and be offloaded.

Lebanese energy expert Laury Haytayan said major questions hung over the shipment, including the amount to be delivered, who would pay, where the boat would dock and whether the details of the transaction had been disclosed to the Lebanese government.

“It is a possibility that these tankers will go to Syria and shipments will be refined there,” Haytayan said.

“But this is all prohibited by sanctions, it’s not that easy, and since Hezbollah is doing it in public, there is a lot of danger on Lebanon, we are in danger of being sanctioned, or being attacked.”

‘Dangerous’

Since February this year, Iran and Israel have been engaged in a “shadow war” in which vessels linked to each nation have come under attack in waters around the Gulf in apparent tit-for-tat exchanges.

Tug boats are moored next to Israeli-linked tanker MT Mercer Street, off the Fujayrah port in the United Arab Emirates, on August 3, 2021. (Karim Sahib/AFP)

Most recently Israel blamed Iran for a July drone attack on an Israeli-linked tanker that killed two crew members.

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In May, Syria accused Israel of a series of mysterious attacks on tankers delivering Iranian oil to the country.

Hezbollah, designated a terrorist group by much of the West, is a major political force in Lebanon and is the only group to have kept its arsenal of weapons following the end of the country’s 1975-1990 civil war.

Hezbollah now has a more powerful arsenal than the Lebanese national army.

Former prime minister Saad Hariri warned Thursday that Nasrallah’s remarks could be “dangerous.”

“Iranian vessels will carry additional dangers and sanctions for the Lebanese,” he said in a statement released by his office.

Lebanon is grappling with an economic crisis branded by the World Bank as one of the planet’s worse since the mid-19th century.

The bankrupt state can no longer afford key imports nor subsidize essential goods, leading to crippling and sometimes deadly shortages of electricity, petrol and medicines among other things.

International donors have pledged hundreds of millions of dollars in assistance but have conditioned it on the creation of a cabinet capable of spearheading reforms.

But Lebanon’s bitterly divided political leaders have repeatedly failed to agree on a new government a year after the previous one resigned in the wake of a monster blast in August at Beirut port.

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Hariri on Thursday accused Iran of blocking the formation of a government, something Nasrallah dismissed.

中央情報局局長告訴貝內特美國擔心中國在以色列的影響——報告

據報導，威廉伯恩斯是對耶路撒冷與北京的關係表示擔憂的最高級拜登政府官員

通過TOI人員2021 年 8 月 19 日，下午 6:23

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中央情報局局長威廉·伯恩斯（左）於 2021 年 8 月 11 日在耶路撒冷會見了總理納夫塔利·貝內特。 (Amos Ben-Gershon/GPO)

據報導，中央情報局局長威廉·伯恩斯上週在耶路撒冷與總理納夫塔利·貝內特會面時，提出了美國對中國增加對以色列的投資和參與的擔憂，尤其是在以色列的科技領域。

根據Axios週三的一份報告，伯恩斯是自美國總統喬拜登於 1 月上任以來發布此類警告的最高級美國官員，此前以色列與中國的關係成為特朗普政府期間與華盛頓發生摩擦的罕見來源。

報導稱，6月份接替長期總理本傑明內塔尼亞胡的貝內特回應說，以色列不僅理解美國的擔憂，而且也認同其中的一些擔憂。例如，他提到了最近有關兩年前中國對以色列科技公司進行廣泛網絡攻擊的新聞報導。

“最近幾個月，我們開始與拜登政府就中國問題進行對話。美國詢問了中國參與特拉維夫地鐵等具體項目，”一位以色列高級官員告訴該網站。

這位官員補充說：“我們告訴美國人，我們歡迎美國基礎設施公司在以色列開展大型項目，但他們還沒有申請投標。”

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該報告稱，預計未來幾個月將就以色列與中國的關係舉行進一步會談，該報告稱，國家安全委員會正在協調以色列在此事上的政策。

目前尚不清楚在貝內特下週預定的白宮訪問期間是否會提出這個問題。

2017 年 3 月 21 日，時任總理本雅明·內塔尼亞胡（左）在北京會見中國國家主席習近平。（新華社/Rao Ainmin/來自 JTA）

近年來，以色列一直夾在中美之間，因為這兩個競爭對手尋求施加全球影響力，而耶路撒冷則試圖與北京保持友好關係和貿易關係。

廣告

美國官員警告稱，中國對以色列科技公司的投資和參與以色列的基礎設施，尤其是一家中國公司在海法港口的工作。

中國還競標或參與了以色列的隧道建設、鐵路、海水淡化廠、農業項目和 5G 網絡基礎設施。

多年來，以色列一直致力於擴大與中國這個世界最大市場之一的貿易。

CIA chief told Bennett of US worries over Chinese influence in Israel — report

William Burns is reportedly the most senior Biden administration official to express concern about Jerusalem’s ties with Beijing

By TOI STAFF19 August 2021, 6:23 pm

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CIA chief William Burns, left, meets with Prime Minister Naftali Bennett in Jerusalem, August 11, 2021. (Amos Ben-Gershon/GPO)

CIA director Willian Burns reportedly raised US concerns over increasing Chinese investment and involvement in Israel — particularly its tech sector — during his meeting last week with Prime Minister Naftali Bennett in Jerusalem.

According to an Axios report Wednesday, Burns was the most senior American official to issue such a warning since US President Joe Biden took office in January, after Israel’s ties with China emerged as a rare source of friction with Washington during the Trump administration.

The report said Bennett, who replaced longtime premier Benjamin Netanyahu in June, responded that Israel not only understands the US concerns but shares some of them. As an example, he mentioned recent press reports about a wide-ranging Chinese cyberattack against Israeli tech companies two years ago.

“In recent months, we started a dialogue with the Biden administration on China. The US asked about specific projects like the Chinese involvement in the Tel Aviv metro,” a senior Israeli official told the website.

The official added: “We told the Americans we welcome US infrastructure companies to work on big projects in Israel, but they haven’t been applying for the tenders.”

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Further talks are expected to be held in the coming months on Israel’s ties with China, according to the report, which said the National Security Council was coordinating Israeli policy on the matter.

It was unclear if the issue would be raised during Bennett’s scheduled visit to the White House next week.

Then-Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (left) meets with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing, March 21, 2017. (Xinhua/Rao Ainmin/ via JTA)

Israel has been caught between China and the US in recent years, as the two rivals seek to wield global influence while Jerusalem tries to maintain friendly relations and trade ties with Beijing.

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US officials have warned against Chinese investments in Israeli tech firms and involvement in Israel’s infrastructure, especially a Chinese company’s work at Haifa’s port.

China has also bid for, or been involved with, Israeli tunnel construction, railways, desalination plants, agriculture projects and 5G network infrastructure.

Israel has been working for years to expand trade with China, one of the world’s largest markets.