Foreign Digest: Russia and Afghanistan

Russia: A European Union report finds that Russia has used banned chemical weapons of mass destruction in Ukraine many times during its full-scale invasion since 2022 of the former Soviet Republic. The North Atlantic Treaty Organization has agreed to send more arms to Ukraine to defend against Russian aggression. A Russian hacker ring has been targeted by international law enforcement, including by the United States and several Western European States that are NATO and EU members. Meanwhile, the United Kingdom UK attributed to Russian military intelligence services other cyberattacks and acts of sabotage on it and fellow NATO members, the U.S, France and Estonia. NATO and the EU condemned the Russian attacks on allies of Ukraine. The EU vows a response, beyond their multiple rounds of sanctions. The former Soviet Republic of Azerbaijan is suing Russia for the downing of a civilian airliner in December and its failure to apologize or offer any compensation. The shootdown is in addition to Russia’s shootdown of the Malaysian civilian airliner in 2014 over Ukraine I posted an update about earlier this month. Afghanistan: The UN is requesting a pause on repatriations of asylum-seeking Afghan refugees to Afghanistan, especially those at risk of persecution, arbitrary detention and torture. The Trump Administration has ended legal protections for Afghan refugees, including those who worked with the U.S. and its coalition that overthrew the Taliban regime in 2022. The oppressive Islamists had harbored al-Qaeda, the Islamist terrorist organization responsible for the September 11, 2001 Terrorist Attacks on America that killed nearly 3,000 people, more than any other terrorist attack in world history. The Taliban returned to power in Afghanistan in 2021 after the U.S. and its coalition allies abandoned their Afghan Government allies who had taken power after the Taliban had been overthrown, but only Russia recognizes them diplomatically as the legitimate government of the Central Asian State, as I had posted earlier this month. The Taliban have been targeting Afghans who worked with the U.S. and its allies for persecution, including death. Trump’s betrayal of the Afghans, which has outraged American veterans of the War on Terrorism, undermines U.S. security.