International

The Biden administration froze about $9.5 billion of the Afghan government’s reserves in US banks on Sunday after the Taliban seized Kabul, according to US media reports. The undeclared action was first reported by The Washington Post on Tuesday. The Post reported that US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and personnel at the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control had decided to freeze the accounts. “Any central bank …

UNITED NATIONS: Pak­is­tan on Monday condemned India’s ‘obstructionist actions’ and ‘hatred’ for the country as New Delhi once again blocked its effort to participate in a UN Security Council (UNSC) debate on the Afghan situation. India, the council’s current president, however, allowed the ambassador of the Ashraf Ghani government to address the emergency session. Pakistan and Afghanistan had both submitted …

WASHINGTON: The Taliban will be denied access to any Afghan reserves held in US accounts, a US administration official said on Monday. As US forces were evacuating Afghanistan’s capital after the Taliban’s swift takeover, the official said: “Any Central Bank assets the Afghan government have in the United States will not be made available to the Taliban.” The central bank’s …

US President Joe Biden said on Monday he stood “squarely behind” his decision to withdraw US troops from Afghanistan despite searing images of chaos in Kabul that exposed the limits of US power and plunged him into the worst crisis of his presidency. Breaking his silence on the US pullout after scenes of bedlam dominated television news channels for days, …

MOSCOW: Russia’s emba­ssy in Kabul said on Monday that Afghan President Ash­raf Ghani had fled the country with four cars and a helicopter full of cash and had to leave some money behind as it would not all fit in, the RIA news agency reported. Ghani, whose current whereabouts are unknown, said he left Afghanistan on Sunday as the Taliban entered Kabul …

The US has reached out to Pakistan and half a dozen other countries it believes can influence the situation in Afghanistan, where the Taliban appear to be consolidating their hold after capturing Kabul. The foreign ministers of Pakistan, China, Russia, India and Turkey and the foreign secretary of Britain were among the top diplomats the US Secretary of State Antony Blinken …

Nobel Peace Prize winner Malala Yousafzai said she was deeply concerned about the situation in Afghanistan, particularly the safety of women and girls, and called on Monday for world leaders to take urgent action. Yousafzai said US President Joe Biden “has a lot to do” and must “take a bold step” to protect the Afghan people, adding she had been …

The Taliban declared an “amnesty” across Afghanistan and urged women to join its government on Tuesday, trying to calm nerves across the tense capital city of Kabul that only the day before saw chaos at its airport as people tried to flee the Taliban rule. The comments by Enamullah Samangani, a member of the Taliban’s cultural commission, represent the first comments on …

YOGYAKARTA: Indonesia’s most active volcano erupted on Monday with its biggest lava flow in months, sending a river of lava and searing gas clouds flowing 3.5 kilometres down its slopes on the densely populated island of Java. The rumbling sound could be heard several kilometres away as Mount Merapi erupted, sending hot ash 600 metres (nearly 2,000 feet) into the …

KABUL: Thousands of Afghans rushed onto the tarmac of Kabul’s international airport on Monday, some so desperate to escape the Taliban capture of their country that they held onto an American military jet as it took off and plunged to death in chaos that killed seven people. The crowds rushing to the airport came as the Taliban enforced their rule …