South East Asia

The U.S. State Department says it is offering a $5 million reward for information about an American woman kidnapped in Afghanistan in 2008

The U.S. State Department said Wednesday it was offering a $5 million reward for information about an American woman kidnapped in Afghanistan in 2008.

Cydney Mizell, a humanitarian aid worker and her driver, Mohammad Hadi, were kidnapped in southern Kandahar province, where Mizell was teaching English and embroidery at a local girl’s school.

The US Department of State’s Diplomatic Security Service, through its Rewards for Justice (RFJ) office, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation have offered a reward of up to $5 million for information concerning the kidnapping of Cydney Mizell, a humanitarian aid worker who went missing in Afghanistan in 2008.

This RFJ reward offer is for information leading to the location, recovery and return of Mizell.

“Instead of actively preventing the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, the United States is prepared to add fuel to the fire,” China’s diplomat Zhao warned.

China on Tuesday urged the United States to shoulder its due responsibility on the Palestine-Israel conflict and support the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) to play its due role in promoting the easing of the situation, rebuilding trust, and political settlement.

The world is wiser with the emergence of documentary evidence that China discussed weaponizing the SARS virus since 2015, together with studying the effects of a biological strike including on the health-hospital infrastructure of the target country and put in place the propaganda to absolve itself of any blame before bombing the world with the “Wuhan Virus” in 2019. The installation of Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus as the Director-General of World Health Organization in July 2017 was part of the plan which paid off – terming the “Wuhan Virus” as Covid-19.

The threat of violent extremists attacking the United States or allies from Afghanistan has been greatly reduced over the past 20 years, and any remaining threat emanating from the country can be addressed without a persistent U.S. military presence there, DOD officials told the House Armed Services Committee today.

President Joe Biden announced April 14 that all U.S. troops will be out of Afghanistan by September 11, 2021, the twentieth anniversary of the attack on the United States that the al-Qaida terror group planned and trained for from safe havens in Afghanistan. That attack killed 2,977 innocent people in New York, Virginia and Pennsylvania. More than 6,000 were injured.

Pakistan ruled out Tuesday the possibility of again providing its military bases to the United States for future counterterrorism operations in Afghanistan after U.S. troops leave the conflict-torn neighbor by September 11.

Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi made the remarks to reporters in Islamabad, explaining that his government has adopted a policy that allows it to become “only partners in peace” and not join any future U.S. war.

The retrograde from Afghanistan is going well, but U.S. officials are being careful as the effort is still in its early stages, Pentagon Press Secretary John F. Kirby said today.

U.S. Central Command officials estimate that they have completed between 6% and 12% of the retrograde process. Airlifters have flown out the equivalent of 104 C-17s worth of materials; U.S. personnel have turned over more than 1,800 pieces of equipment to the Defense Logistics Agency for destruction; and the U.S. has officially handed over one facility to the Afghan National Army.

European and Chinese leaders are urging swift ratification of the trade deal they agreed to in December, after tensions over accusations of human rights abuses in China delayed approval of the deal by European Union lawmakers.

The EU-China Comprehensive Agreement on Investment (CAI) took seven years of negotiations and was finally agreed to in principle December 30, 2020, following a virtual summit between EU and Chinese leaders. Europe said it was the most ambitious trade deal China had ever undertaken with a third party.