The Netherlands: Dutch military pulled 2,500 people from Kabul including final evacuation flight Thursday

The Dutch military evacuated more than 2,500 people from Afghanistan in the past week, including more than 1,600 people with the Netherlands as their destination. The Cabinet reported this in a letter to Parliament about the evacuation mission which ended on Thursday with a final flight from Kabul to Islamabad in which remaining Dutch diplomats and soldiers were on board.

"It is terrible to have to leave Afghanistan after 20 years in this way," tweeted caretaker Foreign Minister Sigrid Kaag. "It is with a heavy heart that the embassy team and the military have left with the last Dutch flight."

Among the evacuees are Dutch nationals, interpreters and their families and people who have worked in the Dutch service in the past and may therefore be at risk now that the Taliban have seized power in the country. The government cannot yet state exact numbers per group.

Read more at: Dutch military pulled 2,500 people from Kabul including final evacuation flight Thursday | NL Times

The Netherlandsand Afghanistan Fiasco: Over 700 Dutch still stuck in Afghanistan

There are currently more than seven hundred people with a Dutch passport in Afghanistan. That is what Minister of Foreign Affairs Sigrid Kaag said on Friday before the Council of Ministers.

According to Kaag, this concerns "many people who appear to have gone on a family visit", despite the "clear travel advice" that applied to Afghanistan. "We have to get them back," said Kaag. This is still separate from Afghans who worked for the Netherlands and who the Netherlands is also trying to evacuate. They are at risk now that the Taliban is ruling the country.

Read more at: Over 700 Dutch still stuck in Afghanistan | NL Times

EU eyes talks with Taliban but no plans to recognize them - by Lorne Cook and Kirsten Grieshaber

The European Union has no immediate plans to recognize the Taliban after their sweeping victory in Afghanistan but will talk with the militants to ensure that European citizens and Afghans who have worked with the EU can leave safely, the bloc’s top diplomat said Tuesday.

peaking after leading emergency talks among the EU’s foreign ministers, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell also underlined the importance of opening talks with the Taliban to help prevent a new exodus of refugees as a humanitarian crisis unfolds in the conflict-ravaged country.

“We have to get in touch with the authorities in Kabul, whatever they are. The Taliban have won the war, so we will have to talk with them,” Borrell told reporters. “This dialogue will also have to focus on the means to prevent the return of foreign terrorists.”

“It’s not a matter of official recognition, it’s a matter of dealing with” the Taliban, Borrell said.

The EU has decided to suspend development assistance to the Afghan government now that the Taliban has seized power, but the 27-nation bloc is weighing whether to boost humanitarian aid.

Read more at: EU eyes talks with Taliban but no plans to recognize them | World | stltoday.com

Afghanistan: Germany and the Netherlands halt deportations to Afghanistan

Germany and the Netherlands have said they have stopped forced repatriations of Afghan migrants because of deteriorating security in Afghanistan, as the Taliban press on with their rapid advance in the country’s north.

“Due to current developments in the security situation, the interior minister has decided to suspend deportations to Afghanistan for the time being,” tweeted Germany’s interior ministry spokesperson, Steve Alter.

Separately in The Hague, the Dutch state secretary for justice and security, Ankie Broekers-Knol, announced a “moratorium on [deportation] decisions and departures”. The halt “will apply for six months and will apply to foreign nationals of Afghan nationality”, she wrote in a letter to the Dutch parliament.

Read more at Germany and the Netherlands halt deportations to Afghanistan | Afghanistan | The Guardian

Afghanistan: What now to avoid disaster? - by Mohammad Ismail

Lets face it: NATO (US and its Atlantic Alliance partners) have lost their 20 year war against the Taliban, just like the Russians did before them. Apart from the tragic loss of lives during this time span, of not only US soldiers, but also many from the NATO European partner Nations, this disastrous war also wasted billions of Euros and US dollars of taxpayers money. Hopefully this military catastrophe will not be shovelled under the mat, and result in thorough investigations by the political establishments of the US and all NATO country member nations. Indeed the Afghanistan NATO mission has turned into another NATO disaster.

Read more at: Afghanistan: What now to avoid disaster? - Atlantic Council

Global Happiness list: Netherlands one of the top 10 happiest countries globally in 2020 ranking 6th - Finland No 1 - US 18 th.- Turkey 79 th. - lowest: Afghanistan 110 th.

The World Happiness Report ranks 156 countries around the world according to how happy their citizens perceive themselves to be. 2020 marks the eighth edition of the report and has the theme “environments for happiness”. It examines data from 2017, 2018, and 2019 to put together a conclusive ranking.

The ranking is compiled using data from the Gallup World Poll, in which respondents are asked to evaluate the happiness of their own lives on a scale of one to 10. Using the survey results, the ranking also shows the estimated extent to which six different factors impact happiness:

Gross Domestic Product per capita, Life expectancy, Social support, Freedom, Corruption,

According to the 2020 report, the 10 happiest countries in the world are: 1) Finland 2) Denmark 3) Switzerland 4) Iceland 5) Norway 6) The Netherlands 7) Sweden 8) New Zealand 9) Austria 10 Luxembourg

Read more at: Almere Digest

Taliban-US Deal IS A Fake Deal: "So-Called ‪'Peace Deal' Is Anything But": Critics Warn US-Taliban Deal Exposes Fallacies of Endless War Paradigm

The agreement, warned Rep. Barbara Lee, "leaves thousands of troops in Afghanistan and lacks the critical investments in peacebuilding, human-centered development, or governance reform needed to rebuild Afghan society."

A Fake Deal ? USA-Taliban-Afghanistan

The Taliban have agreed to sever ties with al-Qaida and other international terror groups and sit down for peace talks with other Afghans, including a government they have always denounced as a US puppet. In return, Washington will start a phased withdrawal of troops.

Troop levels will be cut to 8,600 over the next 135 days and five bases will be closed. If both sides keep to their commitments, all U.S. military forces could leave Afghanistan by spring 2021, although Washington is thought to want to keep intelligence operatives on the ground fighting Isis and al-Qaida.

According to Lee, nobody should be fooled into thinking that this is a "peace" agreement.

"It leaves thousands of troops in Afghanistan and lacks the critical investments in peacebuilding, human-centered development, or governance reform needed to rebuild Afghan society," the Congresswoman said.

As peace advocates have been saying since even before the U.S. invasion took place in 2001, following the attacks of September 11, there was never a military solution to the situation in Afghanistan. That remains true today.

"Two decades of trying to bomb our way to peace have made clear: there is no U.S. military solution in Afghanistan," said Stephen Miles, executive director of Win Without War, in a statement.

While the reduction in U.S. military presence "is a welcome step," Stephens said, the agreement "utterly fails to confront the underlying logic of military occupation, lacks any strategy for long-term peace, and falls far short of accountability and justice. It is no 'peace deal.'"

Like Lee, Stephens said a deal that leaves nearly two-thirds of current U.S. forces in Afghanistan for 'counterterrorism' purposes—"bringing levels down to about where they were when Trump entered office"—cannot be considered a peace deal. While the drawdown can be considered a positive development, he said, the agreement "is far from an end to endless war—and further still from anything that would ensure stability, peace, and justice after decades of violence."

Read more at: "So-Called ‪'Peace Deal' Is Anything But": Critics Warn US-Taliban Deal Exposes Fallacies of Endless War Paradigm | Common Dreams News

Harvey and Irma remind us, all displaced persons around the globe share common problems and deserve common solutions - by R.M.

Irma : Floridians fleeing the State from natural disaster

As more than 5.4 million Floridians evacuate from the upcoming onslaught of Irma, while Texans are still recovering from the devastating damage caused by Hurricane Harvey, it might be a good moment to take a second, step out of our comfort zone, and realize the Floridians and Texans are not the only humans facing these problems around the world.

The only difference being that for one the calamity came as part of a natural disaster, from which they eventually can return home safely, and for the other, as a result of “man-made “ disasters, commonly known as wars and religious persecutions..

We as humans, morally,  can not show compassion for one human being and withhold it from the other. Certainly not for those displaced persons, who were forced to flee from their home countries against their will and become refugees in foreign lands, and considered second rate citizens there.

A "master race" does not exist. Humans are all equal in the eyes of our Creator. There is no difference if you are a man or a woman, black, white, brown, yellow, African, American, Arab, Asian , European, Eskimo, or Indian.

People fleeing from "man-made"disasters reaching EU coasts

People fleeing from their homes and cities, either for religious persecution, or because they have been bombed to oblivion by either their own governments or others, and who fled seeking safety and economic prosperity in countries other than their own, should not be barred by any country. At least not by those who proclaim they hold human rights and other values dear to their heart.

Bottom line: Yes, we need to help and pray for all the stricken people in Florida and Texas, but must also include in our prayers all those other displaced persons around the world.

Displaced persons from Myanmar,,Syria, Afghanistan,Sudan,  and many other “disaster” areas, to mention just a few, deserve the same helping hand and prayers we usually reserve for our own.

© This article can be copied,translated,distributed by request to:

freeplanet@prontonmail.com

 

EU-Digest

Afghanistan: Trump to expand US military intervention in Afghanistan - by Julian Borger

In a televised address to troops at Fort Myer in Virginia on Monday night, Trump outlined what he claimed was a new strategy for Afghanistan and south Asia. But he did not say how many more troops he would send, how long they would stay, or what their ultimate objective was.

Before standing for the presidency and privately since entering the Oval Office, Trump had argued for a military withdrawal, but in his speech he made a rare admission that he had changed his mind. He avoided saying directly that his about-turn would lead to more soldiers being sent to Afghanistan, but his speech made clear that would be the outcome.
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“The men and women who serve our nation in combat deserve a plan for victory,” Trump said. “They deserve the tools they need, and the trust they have earned, to fight and to win.”

In June the Trump White House gave the Pentagon authority to deploy another 4,000 more troops to bolster the 8,400 there already, but the defence secretary, James Mattis, delayed ordering the deployment until there was a clearer expression of the administration’s strategy.
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In his own statement issued after Trump’s speech Mattis said he had ordered US military chiefs to “make preparations to carry out the president’s strategy” and that he would be talking to Nato allies, “several of which have also committed to increasing their troop numbers”.

“Together, we will assist the Afghan security forces to destroy the terrorist hub,” Mattis said.

Note EU-Digest: There they go again, as if they have not learned that US military "interventions or expansions" for the sake of "democracy", as the US likes to call it, has not worked anywhere in the world, with very few exceptions. In Europe the ongoing military operations have only resulted in a massive refugee problem for the EU and Turkey. 

Unfortunately many of the EU member states still continue to support these totally destructive US military policies in the Middle East. As someone said recently: "The sentence "collateral damage" to cover-up millions of innocent civilians killed in US bombing raids was invented by the US military". 

Democracy never can come out of the barrel of a gun, it only comes by example and war is not one of those examples. 

Hopefully the EU will stop supporting these unwinnable wars.   

Read more: Trump to expand US military intervention in Afghanistan | US news | The Guardian

EU Refugee Crises: Why Are EU Politicians Never Mentioning US Is To Blame For EU Refugee Crises? - by A. Bacevich

The Middle East: From Bad To Worse

‘If you break it, you own it.” Colin Powell’s Pottery Barn Rule, warning George W. Bush of the consequences of invading Iraq, turned out to be dead wrong.

Make that half wrong. Bush broke it — “it” being a swath of the greater Middle East. But the U.S. adamantly refuses to accept anything like ownership of the consequences stemming from Bush’s recklessly misguided acts and you will never hear a European politician openly admit to it.

Not least among those consequences is the crisis that finds refugees fleeing Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan and other parts of the Islamic world in search of asylum in the West. The European nations most directly affected have greeted this wave with more hostility than hospitality — Germany, for a time, at least offering a notable exception.

For its part, the U.S. has responded with pronounced indifference. In a gesture of undisguised tokenism, the Obama administration has announced it will admit a grand total of 10,000 Syrians — one-eightieth the number that Germany has agreed to accept this year alone.

No doubt proximity plays a part in explaining the contrast between German and U.S. attitudes. Viewed from Wichita or Walla Walla, the plight of those who hand themselves over to human traffickers in hopes of crossing the Mediterranean plays out at a great distance.

Syria is what Neville Chamberlain would have described as a faraway country of which Americans know nothing (and care less). And Iraq and Afghanistan are faraway countries that most Americans have come to regret knowing.

Such attitudes may be understandable. They are also unconscionable.

To attribute the refugee crisis to any single cause would be misleading. A laundry list has contributed: historical and sectarian divisions within the region; the legacy of European colonialism; the absence of anything even approximating enlightened local leadership able to satisfy the aspirations of people tired of corruption, economic stagnation, and authoritarian rule; the appeal — inexplicable to Westerners — of violent Islamic radicalism. All play a role.

USA: The Creator Of The George Bush Refugee Crises 

Yet when it comes to why this fragile structure collapsed just now we can point to a single explanation — the cascading after-effects of a decision made by Bush during the spring of 2002 to embrace a doctrine of preventative war.

The previous autumn, U.S. forces toppled the government of Afghanistan, punishing the Taliban for giving sanctuary to those who plotted the 9/11 attacks. Bush effectively abandoned Afghanistan to its fate and set out to topple another regime, one that had no involvement whatsoever in 9/11.

For Bush, going after Saddam Hussein’s Iraq formed part of a larger strategy. He and his lieutenants fancied that destroying the old order in the greater Middle East would position the U.S. to create a more amenable new order. Back in 1991, after a previous Iraq encounter, Bush’s father had glimpsed a “new world order.” Now a decade later, the son set out to transform the father’s vision into reality.

The administration called this its Freedom Agenda, which would begin in Iraq but find further application throughout the greater Middle East. Coercion rather than persuasion held the key to its implementation, its plausibility resting on unstoppable military power. For Bush’s inner circle, including Dick Cheney, Condoleezza Rice, Donald Rumsfeld and Paul Wolfowitz (but not Powell), victory was foreordained.

They miscalculated. The unsettled (but largely ignored) condition of Afghanistan after the fall of the Taliban already hinted at the extent of that miscalculation. The chaos that descended upon Iraq as a direct result of the U.S. invasion affirmed it. The Freedom Agenda made it as far as Baghdad and there it died.

That Saddam was a brutal tyrant is a given. We need not mourn his departure. Yet while he ruled he at least kept a lid on things. Bush blew off that lid, naively expecting liberal democracy or at least deference to American authority to emerge. Instead, “liberating” Iraq produced conditions conducive to the violent radicalism today threatening to envelop the region.

The Islamic State offers but one manifestation of this phenomenon. Were it not for Bush’s invasion of Iraq, ISIL would not exist — that’s a fact. Responsibility for precipitating the rise of this vile movement rests squarely with Washington.

So rather than cluck over the reluctance of Greeks, Serbs, Hungarians and others to open their borders to those fleeing from the mess the U.S. played such a large part in creating, Americans would do better to engage in acts of contrition.

On the 10th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, former president Bush visited New Orleans, implicitly acknowledging that his administration’s response to that disaster just might have fallen a bit short. It was a handsome gesture. A similar gesture is in order toward the masses fleeing the region into Turkey and Europe.

It’s never too late to say to say you’re sorry. 

Note EU-Digest: as to our own "whimpy" EU politicians, who are supporting these totally failed US Middle East Policies, they ask no questions. 

They continue backing this madness with costly military assistance from the air and on the ground, financed by taxpayers money. 

Why are European Politicians not coming to their senses and develop their own independent foreign policies based on the real needs of the EU.

After all, as the saying goes, "charity begins at home" . 

Read more:  - by Andrew Bacevich The George W. Bush refugees – POLITICO