Afghanistan, landlocked
multiethnic country located in the heart of south-central Asia is strife-torn
for many decades. Lying along important trade routes connecting southern and
eastern Asia to Europe and the Middle East, Afghanistan has long been a prize
sought by empire builders, and for millennia great armies have attempted to
subdue it, leaving traces of their efforts in great monuments now fallen to
ruin. The land that is now Afghanistan
has a long history of domination by foreign conquerors and strife among
internally warring factions. At the gateway between Asia and Europe, this land
was conquered by Darius I of Babylonia circa 500 B.C., and Alexander the Great
of Macedonia in 329 B.C., among others. Mahmud of Ghazni, an 11th century
conqueror who created an empire from Iran to India, is considered the greatest
of Afghanistan’s conquerors. Genghis Khan took over the territory in the 13th
century, but it wasn’t until the 1700s that the area was united as a single
country. During the 19th century,
Britain, looking to protect its Indian empire from Russia, attempted to annex
Afghanistan, resulting in a series of British-Afghan Wars.
The drowning of at least
18 young Afghans allegedly forced at gunpoint into a river by Iranian border
guards has caused a diplomatic strain between Kabul and Tehran and
international calls for an investigation. In a different move, the official in charge of the Afghan government’s
response to covid-19 in a rural district near the city of Herat recently
received a dressing-down by phone. The caller berated him for the lack of masks
at a particular clinic. Local bureaucrats needed to get their act together
quickly, the caller instructed. The man delivering the rebuke was not some big
cheese from the ministry of health in Kabul, however, but a member of the
Taliban, the rebels who have been trying to overthrow the government since
2001, when they themselves were ousted from power by American-backed force.
Iran’s Chabahar port is
playing a key role in India’s efforts to provide humanitarian aid and medical
supplies to Afghanistan amid the Covid-19 crisis, people familiar with
developments said on Friday. India has made a commitment to supply 75,000
tonnes of wheat to Afghanistan, of which 5000 tonnes was shipped via Chabahar
last month, while another 10,000 tonnes was despatched to the Iranian port on
Thursday, the people said. “Chabahar port is very much in use and it is coming
in very handy when we are dealing with humanitarian assistance for
Afghanistan,” the person said, adding India is now looking at the possibility
of supplying more items needed by Afghanistan, such as tea and sugar, via the
Iranian port. The Iranian port, for whose development a tripartite agreement
has been signed by New Delhi, Kabul and Tehran, was granted a waiver from US
sanctions in view of its importance for Afghanistan.
India’s played
constructive role in Afghanistan and its support for efforts for peace,
reconciliation and development had figured in discussions in New Delhi on
Thursday between Zalmay Khalilzad, the US special envoy for Afghanistan, and
external affairs minister S Jaishankar and National Security Adviser Ajit
Doval. In a first, while mentioning India by name, Taliban has said that it
would like to have a positive relationship with the country and welcomed New
Delhi's cooperation in Afghanistan. Doha's Taliban political office spokesperson, is
quoted as saying "Based on our
national interest and mutual respect, we would like to have positive relations
with neighbouring countries including India and welcome their contribution and
cooperation in the reconstruction of future Afghanistan." The comments come
even as the US is keen that India speaks to the Taliban. US Special
Representative for Afghanistan, Zalmay Khalilzad, was in New Delhi last week,
the first such visit after the US Taliban deal on February 29 and had spoken
about this with India.
At the time of Covid-19
with no Cricket as also other sports not happening – Afghan cricket is
rocked. After admitting to the charges
of corruption issued against him by the Afghanistan Cricket Board, including
one that said he was trying to fix a match in the 2019-20 Bangladesh Premier
League, wicketkeeper-batsman Shafiqullah has been banned from all
cricket-related activities for six years. An ACB release on Sunday mentioned
that the charges against the 30-year-old also relate to his conduct during the
Afghanistan Premier League in 2018.
In total,
Shafiqullah had allegedly broken four articles of the ACB's anti-corruption
code: trying to fix the outcome of a domestic match, seeking or offering bribes
to fix the outcome of a domestic match, inducing a team-mate to fix a domestic
match, and failing to report a corrupt approach.
Shafiqullah was part of
the team that led Afghanistan to ODI status and a member of two World T20
campaigns. But he has not played an international game since September last
year. A wicketkeeper-batsman by trade, he represented his country in 24 ODIs
and 46 T20Is between 2009 and 2019. "This is a very serious offence where
a senior national player is involved in the corruption of a high-profile
domestic game in APL T20 2018," said the ACB's senior anti-corruption
manager.
With regards – S.
Sampathkumar
11.5.2020
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