Journal of Haiti and the Americas
Analysis: the United States keeps a foothold in Afghanistan
Audio 7:30 p.m.
US soldiers in position at Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul.
(Illustrative photo).
August 18, 2021. AFP - ISAIAH CAMPBELL
By: Marion Cazanove
4 mins
Just a year ago, the Taliban marched on Kabul and regained power in Afghanistan.
Their very rapid arrival precipitated the departure of the American troops.
But it is clear that the United States remains very closely linked to Afghanistan.
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This Monday, August 15, the Taliban are chanting victorious songs in front of the former American embassy in Kabul.
They are delighted to have taken over the reins of power and to have precipitated the departure of American troops from Afghanistan a year earlier.
However, the Americans remain committed to the country, in the name of the fight against terrorism, respect for human rights and minorities, but also economic recovery.
Two weeks ago,
Al Qaeda leader Ayman Al-Zawahiri was killed in Kabul
by an American strike.
It would only be a one-off action and that does not mean that the strikes will resume in
Afghanistan
.
But the presence of the leader of the terrorist group undermines the already very bad relations between the Taliban and the Americans: "
I spoke to members of the American administration after Ayman Al-Zawahiri was found and killed in the middle of center of Kabul
,”
reports Gram Smith, consultant for the
International Crisis Group
think tank , interviewed by Justine Fontaine.
"
And some feel betrayed, personally.
But people who follow these topics closely have known for some time that the Taliban were trying to get the butter and the money from the butter
,” he continues.
Indeed, the
United States
considers that it has not respected
the Doha agreement of 2020
, signed under Donald Trump and which provides, in exchange for the withdrawal of American troops, the prohibition of access to Afghan territory to the jihadist groups.
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Afghanistan: the assets of the Central Bank still frozen, no relaxation with Washington
The American shadow also weighs on the finances of Afghanistan, since Washington froze the assets of the Afghan Central Bank.
More than 70 economists from around the world, including Nobel Prize winner Joseph Stiglitz, have called on President Joe Biden to release these funds to help Afghans who are 95% hungry.
Negotiations are underway, but "
they are moving very slowly
," says Gram Smith.
It is terrible, because the World Bank and others explain that it is not possible to solve the humanitarian crisis without solving the economic crisis first.
One of the ways to do this is to release the frozen assets of the Central Bank
”.
Less
than three months from the midterm elections in the United States
, the risk, for President Joe Biden, would be to appear as the one who makes concessions to the Taliban regime, by unfreezing his assets.
He should still postpone his decision.
Mexico: outbreak of violence linked to organized crime
At least 11 people, including a 4-year-old child, were killed in Ciudad Juarez, on the border with the United States, in a series of attacks that targeted businesses, reports
El Pais
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In the states of Jalisco and Guanajuaro, the press reports fires and roadblocks, organized by drug cartels.
In recent days, a wave of violence has descended on
Mexico
, prompting the authorities to react.
The army has been deployed in the affected towns.
Mexican President
Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador
himself spoke, pointing out that for the first time innocent civilians were targeted.
The Innucadie Festival in Canada, a bridge between Indigenous and Quebec cultures
After his visit to
Canada
a few weeks ago,
Pope Francis recognized a "
genocide
"
in the tragedy of residential schools for indigenous people.
Between the end of the 19th century and the 1990s, tens of thousands of indigenous children had been torn from their families, interned in these boarding schools, largely run by the Catholic Church, for the purpose of “
assimilation
”.
This historic episode is still very painful for First Nations communities.
For some time now, Canada has taken initiatives to promote reconciliation.
In Quebec, in Natashquan, a small village of Acadian descendants, 1,300 kilometers from Montreal, the Innucadie festival tries to bring together Aboriginal and Quebec cultures in one place, with stories, songs, to promote dialogue.
Report by
Pascale Guéricolas
.
And on the front page of the Journal de la 1ère
Recently announced by the Minister Delegate for Overseas Territories, the "
unique structure for the fight against Sargassum algae
" is now on track in
Martinique
.
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On the same subject
Afghanistan: a year after the fall of Kabul, the chaos of the American withdrawal has also left its mark in Washington
International press review
In the spotlight: the death in Afghanistan of the leader of al-Qaeda, Ayman al-Zawahiri
Canada: the pope recognizes a "genocide" in the tragedy of residential schools for natives