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Thursday, April 15, 2021

US to announce sanctions on Russia over ‘hacking, election meddling’

The United States will announce sanctions against Russia on Thursday in retaliation for alleged election interference and hacking, American media reported.

Tensions have escalated between the two countries in recent months over a raft of issues, most recently over Russia amassing troops on its border with Ukraine.

The sanctions will affect more than 30 Russian entities and will include expelling more than 10 Russians from the United States, including diplomats, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing sources.

The diplomats will be targeted as punishment over allegations, denied by Russia, that it offered to pay militants in Afghanistan to kill American military personnel, the newspaper said.

The executive order will also expand an existing ban on US banks trading in Russian government debt.

Washington is also set to formally accuse Russian intelligence of carrying out the SolarWinds hack that targeted more than 100 US companies and 18,000 government and private computer networks.

The president of Microsoft, one of the companies targeted, has said the sophistication and scale of the SolarWinds attack was on a level not previously seen.

Russia has denied carrying out the attack.

Together with Britain, Australia, Canada and the European Union, the United States will also sanction eight individuals and entities over the occupation of Crimea, the Journal reported.

The sanctions come at a difficult time for US-Russia relations.

US President Joe Biden and Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin held a phone call Tuesday in which they agreed to “continue dialogue”, after Biden last month described Putin as a “killer” who would “pay a price” for election meddling.

US intelligence has previously said Putin and other senior officials “were aware of and probably directed” Russia’s influence operation to sway the vote in the 2020 election in favor of Donald Trump.

More recently a Russian troop build-up on the border with Ukraine — where Kiev’s forces have been battling pro-Russian separatists since 2014 — has sparked widespread alarm and warnings from NATO.

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Religious party had 'dangerous intentions' for Pakistan: Sheikh Rasheed

Federal Interior Minister Sheikh Rasheed and Pir Noor ul Haq Qadri

Federal Interior Minister Sheikh Rasheed said Thursday that the designs of a religious party that recently held protests in various cities of Pakistan, were "dangerous".

"They were adamant on coming [to the Faizabad Interchange] for the fourth time," he said, referring to the religious party's supporters. "This is why we took decisions to prevent that."

The minister paid tribute to police officers and law enforcement personnel who got injured in the clashes.

"I will visit the homes of those who were martyred and will also visit those who were injured [in the clashes]," he said.

Rasheed said the violence was unfortunate as the government was willing to negotiate with protesters. He said the government had not backed away from its promise to present a resolution of the religious party's demands in Parliament.

"We got to know during the negotiations that they [religious party] were planning a march on April 20," he said, adding that the reaction from the party after the arrest of a leader could not be justified.

"The reaction was neither in harmony with what our religion says nor what our Constitution says," he said.

The minister said the cabinet has given its approval to ban the Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP), adding that a summary to move the Supreme Court for the party's dissolution will be sent tomorrow to the cabinet.

He said the government will not allow any relaxation to those who spread anarchy across Pakistan, adding that their agenda will not succeed.

"No one is being allowed to go, no relaxation will be provided to them," he said.

Shortly after Rasheed's press conference, a notification was issued by the Ministry of Interior declaring the TLP a proscribed organisation.

According to a notification: "The federal government has reasonable grounds to believe that Tehreek Labbaik Pakistan is engaged in terrorism, acted in a manner prejudicial to the peace and security of the country, involved in creating anarchy in the country by intimidating the public, caused grievous bodily harm, hurt and death to the personnel of Law Enforcement Agencies and innocent by-standers, attacked civilians and officials, created wide-scale hurdles, threatened, abused and promoted hatred, vandalised and ransacked public and government properties including vehicles and caused arson, blocked essential health supplies to hospitals, and has used, threatened, coerced, intimidated, and overawed the government [and] the public and created sense of fear and insecurity in the society and the public at large."

"Now, therefore, in exercise of the powers conferred by Section 11B(1) of the Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997, the Federal Government is pleased to list Tehreek Labbaik Pakistan in the First Schedule to the said Act as a proscribed organisation for the purposes of the said Act," the notification added.

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Foreign troops' withdrawal from Afghanistan must coincide with progress in peace process: Pakistan

Pakistan on Thursday said it is important the withdrawal of foreign troops from Afghanistan coincides with progress in the peace process after US President Joe Biden announced it’s "time to end" America’s longest war with the unconditional pulling out of troops.

The Foreign Office, in a statement, said Pakistan had been consistently supporting and facilitating the efforts for durable peace and stability in Afghanistan.

"We believe there is no military solution to the conflict in Afghanistan and a negotiated political solution through an Afghan-led and Afghan-owned process is important for lasting peace and stability in Afghanistan," it said.

Towards this end, the US-Taliban Agreement of 29 February 2020 in Doha laid the foundation for a comprehensive intra-Afghan peace agreement including a permanent ceasefire for bringing an end to violence in Afghanistan, said the statement.

The Foreign Office hoped the forthcoming meeting of Afghan leadership in Turkey would be an important opportunity for Afghans to make progress towards a negotiated political settlement.

"We support the principle of responsible troop withdrawal in coordination with Afghan stakeholders [...] and hope the US will continue to urge the Afghan leaders to seize this historic opportunity for achieving a political settlement in Afghanistan," it said.

It stressed that Pakistan had consistently reiterated peace and stability in Afghanistan were in its interest and reaffirmed its abiding commitment for a peaceful, stable, united, democratic, sovereign, and prosperous Afghanistan.

"A meaningful engagement of the international community for promoting reconstruction and economic development in post-conflict Afghanistan is important for ensuring sustainable peace and stability," the Foreign Office's statement read.

It said that Islamabad believes another key feature in the efforts for lasting peace and stability in Afghanistan should be a time-bound and well-resourced plan for the return of Afghan refugees to their homeland and their reintegration in Afghanistan.

"Pakistan will continue to work together with the international community in the efforts for lasting peace and stability in Afghanistan," the Foreign Office added.

A day earlier, in a nationally televised address, Biden had said the US would “hold the Taliban accountable” on promises to keep international extremists from setting up base in Afghanistan.

“We will ask other countries in the region to support Afghanistan, especially Pakistan, as well as Russia, China, India, and Turkey,” he added.

Dubbed the “forever war,” the US military onslaught in Afghanistan began in response to September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks against the United States.

Now, 20 years later — after almost 2,400 US military and tens of thousands of Afghan deaths — Biden named September 11 as the deadline by which the last US soldiers will have finally departed.

Biden said the US had “accomplished” its limited original mission of crushing the international militant groups behind the 9/11 attacks and that with every passing year the rationale for staying was “increasingly unclear”.

Biden insisted there would be no “hasty exit,” but he was adamant about his decision. “A horrific attack 20 years ago [...] cannot explain why we should remain there in 2021,” he said. “It's time to end the forever war.”

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