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Canada News.Net
5 days ago
- Politics
- Canada News.Net
Tajikistan begins deporting Afghan refugees before deadline ends, over 150 sent back: Report
Dushanbe [Tajikistan], July 18 (ANI): The Tajikistan government has reportedly started forceful deportations of Afghan refugees ahead of the 15-day deadline set earlier this month, with more than 150 individuals rounded up from public areas and sent back to Afghanistan, Khaama Press reported on Thursday. Those deported include men, women, elderly people, and minors. In several cases, family members have been separated, children deported while parents remain behind, or spouses taken while the rest of the family is left in Tajikistan. According to Khaama Press, a majority of the deportees are legally recognised refugees registered with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and hold valid refugee cards. Many were also in the process of being resettled to Canada and had active asylum applications under review. The reason behind the sudden crackdown has not been officially explained by Tajik authorities. However, some analysts believe the move may be linked to recent geopolitical shifts, especially Russia's formal recognition of the Taliban regime in Afghanistan. Tajikistan, which has long hosted anti-Taliban voices and Afghan opposition leaders, might now be aligning with Moscow's position, the report said. Observers suggest that the presence of Afghan anti-Taliban groups within Tajikistan could be a reason the government is pushing them out. The move is being seen as a political realignment rather than a matter of domestic security. Most Afghan refugees in Tajikistan are settled in Wahdat, a district located approximately 20 km east of the capital, Dushanbe. Wahdat, formerly known as Kofarnihon, is densely populated and lacks proper infrastructure, making it challenging to support large displaced populations. The sudden nature of the deportations has left families in shock and fear. Activists and refugee support groups have raised alarm, describing the situation as 'chaotic and heartbreaking.' Several online petitions have now been launched, urging the Canadian government to fast-track the resettlement of vulnerable Afghan families whose cases are already in process, Khaama Press reported. Despite the involvement of the UN and other global humanitarian organisations in Tajikistan, their role has appeared limited. According to Khaama Press, the Tajik government has shown little interest in respecting international refugee agreements or responding to concerns raised by these groups. (ANI)
The Diplomat
7 days ago
- Politics
- The Diplomat
Tajikistan Orders Afghan Refugees Out en Masse
Tajikistan has reportedly intensified its campaign to detain and forcibly deport Afghan refugees, including many with valid residency permits. According to several sources, the Tajik government recently issued a 15-day ultimatum for Afghans to leave the country voluntarily, triggering widespread fear and uncertainty among the community. The ultimatum follows a series of sporadic but limited deportations of Afghan refugees from Tajikistan in recent years. Just in April of this year, Tajikistan deported around 50 Afghans who held refugee documents issued by the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). Most of the deportees worked as taxi drivers in Vahdat, a town 15 kilometers outside Dushanbe. The refugees were reportedly summoned to the local state security department, where their documents were confiscated before they were transported to the border in two vehicles. In the first week of June, the Ministry of Migration Affairs of the Taliban-led government in Afghanistan announced that 49 Afghans had been deported from Tajikistan for 'unknown reasons.' The migrants – 36 of whom held residence permits in Tajikistan, while 13 others had valid visas – were returned to Afghanistan via the Sherkhan border crossing in Kunduz province. Tajik authorities have not issued any statements regarding these recent cases. Previously, Afghan refugees were deported from Tajikistan for publicly justified, if dubious, reasons such as having an unkempt beard, wearing foreign-style clothing, consuming alcohol, engaging in political discussions on social media, or generally violating residency rules. The new wave of deportations is unexplained and appears to mainly target male Afghan refugees residing in Vahdat and Rudaki districts, both suburbs of the capital. The detentions are taking place at workplaces and in residential areas without prior warning or communication with the families of those detained, many of whom are sole providers for their households. Since the fall of the Soviet Union, Tajikistan has served as a refuge for citizens of neighboring Afghanistan fleeing the civil war in the 1990s, the U.S. invasion in the 2000s, and the return of the Taliban in 2021. The Tajik government, which has long used the fight against religious extremism in the region as a pretext for cracking down on domestic opposition, positioned itself as unabashedly anti-Taliban to bolster its own popularity and at first welcomed the waves of refugees in 2021. Current unofficial estimates place the number of Afghan refugees in the country between 10,000 and 13,000, a number difficult to verify. A significant portion of these Afghans are awaiting decisions on immigration cases, particularly resettlement opportunities through countries like Canada. However, Russia's recent recognition of the Taliban as the legitimate government of Afghanistan is forcing the Tajik government to tone down its anti-Taliban position and is giving Dushanbe a convenient excuse to deport thousands of refugees straining the country's already-thin social services. Forced deportations at this stage will derail the refugees' asylum applications to third countries and place them in immediate danger, as many are former civil servants or military personnel associated with the previous Afghan government. After the fall of the Afghan Republic in August 2021, many fled to neighboring countries such as Tajikistan to escape potential retribution from the Taliban. The crackdown in Tajikistan mirrors increasing pressures in Iran and Pakistan, where the vast majority of 6 million Afghan refugees reside. Both countries have ramped up deportations of Afghan refugees in recent months, expelling thousands each day through increasingly aggressive and punitive measures. In June alone, the two countries expelled at least 71,000 Afghan refugees. The UNHCR has called on the authorities of host countries to refrain from deporting Afghans back to Afghanistan, where their lives could be in danger, urging instead to consider resettlement to third countries or proper legal procedures. Numerous reports have documented incidents of violence, intimidation, and even extrajudicial killings of returnees in Taliban-controlled Afghanistan. In one such incident in June, the Taliban arrested about 20 young men in Panjshir Province for their alleged links to anti-Taliban armed groups after they were deported from Iran. With fewer and fewer countries offering relocation or asylum options, Afghan refugees in Central and South Asia are increasingly trapped in a desperate situation. Many are now compelled to choose between uncertain futures in host countries and the deadly risks of returning to Taliban-ruled Afghanistan.
The National
06-07-2025
- Politics
- The National
The shadowy figures behind US-Israeli aid operation
At their disposal was $3,000,000 in $100 bills, satellite communications equipment and the weapons required for their covert mission of linking up with anti-Taliban forces and laying the groundwork for the larger US invasion to come. It goes without saying that none of the initial seven-member team were exactly household names, even if their extensive time within what was then known as the CIA's 'Special Activities Division' (SAD) had forged them something of a formidable reputation. Among the team, its deputy leader was Philip Francis Reilly, who had been doing much the same 'special activities' in Central America back in the early 1980s to the early 1990s, when he helped train Nicaragua's right-wing insurgent Contra militias trying to topple the socialist Sandinista government. READ MORE: More than 20 people arrested at protest in support of Palestine Action It all seems like a long time ago, but Reilly has been a fixture in the US intelligence and covert community for quite a while now. Currently – albeit still unnoticed by many – his activities are still making headlines, for Reilly's present area of operations these days is in Gaza. There he runs the US private military contractor Safe Reach Solutions (SRS) which along with another private security contractor, UG Solutions, act as partners to the controversial US-Israeli organisation the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) that has sidelined the UN and other international organisations as the main supplier of aid in Gaza. Last week, GHF was hit by fresh controversy when one former security contractor who had worked for them told journalists that he witnessed colleagues opening fire several times on hungry Palestinian who posed no threat. While GHF has said the allegations are categorically false, the shadowy group from its very inception has been at the centre of heated debate as to precisely what role it performs in Gaza and at who's behest. So just what is known about GHF, those behind it and where its money comes from? The organisation was first established in February this year, shortly after Israel passed legislation seeking to bar the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), the single largest provider of humanitarian aid in occupied Palestine. Israel has long sought to neuter the work of UNWRA, who it claims was close to the Hamas authorities. The Israeli authorities say that Hamas made between $0.5bn and $1bn from stealing aid last year, though they have provided no backing for these figures. Other sources reckon Hamas's income was $1bn last year, mostly from foreign earnings. But by early March through to mid-May, Israel had blocked all aid from entering Gaza before announcing its solution – the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. Almost overnight, a 14-page leaked document circulated among aid groups and journalists setting out the concept and modus operandi of GHF. In short, this was to provide aid to Palestinians from a network of aid-distribution hubs secured by armed private contractors and ultimately, beyond their perimeter, by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). So far, Israel has established three such centres south of the Morag corridor, a security strip in southern Gaza, and a fourth near Gaza City, in the north. GHF was registered in America two weeks after Donald Trump took office, and its address is one of a company that incorporates firms. Delaware is a US state acknowledged to have a less-than-rigorous approach towards ensuring company transparency. Asked by one reporter who visited the company why an organisation would have its registered address there but not be based there, one employee is said to have replied: 'So they're not bothered.' As well as being registered in the US, the GHF is also listed as a nonprofit organisation in Switzerland. Since then, TRIAL International, a Swiss NGO, has filed a request for an investigation, asking authorities to investigate whether GHF adheres to international humanitarian law and Swiss law. Last week, Switzerland initiated proceedings to dissolve the Geneva branch of the GHF, citing legal shortcomings in its establishment. READ MORE: At least 42 Palestinians killed by Israel as doctors warn babies facing death 'The ESA may order the dissolution of the foundation if no creditors come forward within the legal 30-day period,' the Federal Supervisory Authority for Foundations (ESA) said in a creditors' notice published in the Swiss Official Gazette of Commerce last Wednesday. The ESA told reporters the GHF had not fulfilled certain legal requirements, including having the correct number of board members, a postal address or a Swiss bank account. For its part, the 'GHF confirmed to the ESA that it had never carried out activities in Switzerland ... and that it intends to dissolve the Geneva-registered (branch),' the ESA added in a statement. The absence of a funding paper trail along with the sometimes opaque backgrounds of some key players in setting up GHF are only a few of many concerns since it first appeared almost out of nowhere. As far as the structure of the GHF operation goes, its components are as follows. GHF acts as the overall umbrella organisation. After the early resignation of its original executive director, Jake Wood, in May – who said GHF would not be able to fulfil the principles of 'humanity, neutrality, impartiality, and independence' – he was replaced by former USAID official John Acree and former Trump adviser Johnnie Moore. The latter is an evangelical preacher and public relations professional with close ties to both the White House and Israel's prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Moore was instrumental in an evangelical Christian drive during Trump's first term in office to convince the president to recognise Jerusalem as the Israeli capital and move the US embassy there. Alongside GHF runs its private security partners, Safe Reach Solutions (SRS) and UG Solutions, headed by Reilly and the sole American director of SRS's Israeli branch and financial officer, Charles 'Chuck' J Africano. According to a report by the broadcaster FRANCE 24, Africano and Reilly have had past professional dealings, including around 2015 at another security firm Constellis – a successor to the controversial private military contractor Blackwater that gained notoriety for a civilian massacre in Iraq. The two also overlapped at the private security and surveillance firm Circinus, itself a subject of some past controversy related to dealings with foreign governments and its access to high-ranking US officials. Africano's connections with GHF were first highlighted by the online news portal Middle East Eye and independently confirmed from public records by FRANCE 24, says the broadcaster. In a recent report, it also cited Africano as a member of the 'private LinkedIn group of the Tampa-based special operations contractor Quiet Professionals', which it says was acquired last month by the private equity firm McNally Capital. Quiet Professionals is led by Andy Wilson, who on his company's own webpage is described as a 'valorous combat decorated retired Sergeant Major of the United States Army with 20 years of service … 14 of which were served in a Special Mission Unit'. Quiet Professionals chief business officer Leo Kryszewski, is also known to have spent four years with the CIA's Special Activities Division and the US Army's Office of Military Support, a clandestine intelligence unit often referred to within Joint Special Forces Command (JSOC) as Task Force Orange Helping draw up the blueprint for GHF, comprising of these main constituent players and parties, was one of the world's most prestigious consulting firms, the Boston Consulting Group (BCG), though the group has since distanced itself from GHF. But as a Financial Times (FT) investigation revealed a few days ago, before disavowing the project, 'BCG's role was more extensive than it has publicly described.' According to the FT investigation, BCG was originally engaged by Orbis, a Washington-area security contractor, that was preparing the study on behalf of the Tachlith Institute, an Israeli think tank. BCG was chosen as a consultant, according to people familiar with the early work, says the FT, 'because of its long-standing relationship with Philip Reilly, an ex-CIA operative who worked for Orbis'. Citing the same sources, the FT said BCG's involvement stretched 'over seven months covering more than $4m of contracted work and involving internal discussion at senior levels of the firm'. As part of the project, codenamed 'Aurora,' the BCG team is said to have also built a financial model for the post-war reconstruction of Gaza. This included cost estimates 'for relocating hundreds of thousands of Palestinians from the strip and the economic impact of such a mass displacement. One scenario estimated more than 500,000 Gazans would leave the enclave with 'relocation packages' worth $9000 per person, or around $5bn in total, the FT detailed. For its part, BCG told the FT senior figures were repeatedly 'misled on the scope of the work by the partners running the project.' Referring to the work on post-war Gaza, BCG said: 'The lead partner was categorically told no, and he violated this directive. We disavow this work.' Just precisely where much of the funding for GHF comes from remains as shrouded in secrecy as the background of some of the individuals involved. These past weeks, the US announced $30m for the GHF but it's thought to have received over $150m so far, much of which is believed to have gone on hiring mercenaries, some from American private-security firms. One job advertisement from UG Solutions said it was seeking 'Special Forces qualified personnel, SFOD-A/CAG, Green Berets, Army Rangers, PJs, Marine Reconnaissance (MARSOC), or other similar backgrounds'. Those 'skilled in unconventional warfare tactics' and selected 'must be ready to deploy within two weeks of May 20, 2025,' the advertisement confirmed. While questions remain as to where exactly all of GHF's funding comes from, last month, former Israeli defence minister and opposition MP Avigdor Lieberman, told Israeli newspaper Haaretz he was convinced that Israel's defence ministry and its intelligence arm Mossad were the main paymasters. READ MORE: Youth Demand activists stage Gaza protest at London Pride To date, GHF's performance in Gaza has been abysmal and mired in controversy. According to most global humanitarian organisations, its presence is only making an already dire situation in Gaza even worse. As a result, these past few days, more than 170 NGOs have called for immediate action to end the 'deadly' GHF aid scheme and revert back to United Nations-led aid co-ordination mechanisms. GHF's role has thrown into sharp focus the dangers of outsourcing core humanitarian functions to private actors and whether in fact it is legally or ethically defensible. What happens next with GHF involves two possible scenarios. The first is that its presence will be transitory, having failed to deliver on an aid mission that should be undertaken by the UN. The cost meantime in terms of Palestinian suffering and lives will only continue to rise. The second scenario is that GHF remains and becomes an instrument of power as part of a strategy that many believe is aimed at herding Palestinians into designated areas to enable a wider process of ethnic cleansing. Israel's far-right politicians including finance minister Bezalel Smotrich and minister of national security, Itamar Ben-Gvir, doubtless see the work of GHF as crucial in their messianic mission to create a 'greater Israel.' Israeli prime minister Benyamin Netanyahu, meanwhile, continues to speak of creating 'a sterile zone' for Palestinians. For decades now, the CIA's Special Activities Division – now renamed the Special Activities Center (SAC) – has performed countless covert roles, some helping to orchestrate regime change in many places. The Latin motto of SAC is Tertia Optio, which means 'Third Option'. In other words, covert action represents an additional option within the realm of national security when diplomacy and military action are not feasible. With diplomacy at an effective standstill over Gaza, the obvious danger is that other 'options' become, in the eyes of some, the real way 'forward'. While GHF's security partners Safe Reach Solutions (SRS) and UG Solutions are private companies, the fact that their chief officers and many within their ranks are past operatives of the CIA and its SAC leaves many uneasy. Just as the likes of Reilly and his CIA team all those years ago in Afghanistan were tasked with laying the groundwork for what was to come, could it be that now, through the use of private contractors, much the same is being done in Gaza today? The fact that figures like Reilly and others still have the ear or indeed direct links to senior US government and Israeli officials only adds to this growing disquiet over the actual motives behind GHF's shadowy role in Gaza.
The Herald Scotland
06-07-2025
- Politics
- The Herald Scotland
Who are the shadowy figures running US-Israeli aid operation in Gaza?
At their disposal was $3 million in $100 bills, satellite communications equipment, and the weapons required for their covert mission of linking up with anti-Taliban forces and laying the groundwork for the larger US invasion to come. It goes without saying that none of the initial seven-member team were exactly household names, even if their extensive time within what was then known as the CIA's 'Special Activities Division' (SAD) had forged them something of a formidable reputation. Among the team was its deputy leader Philip Francis Reilly, who had been doing much the same 'special activities' in Central America back in the early 1980s to the early 1990s where he helped train Nicaragua's right-wing insurgent Contra militias trying to topple the socialist Sandinista government. It all seems like a long time ago, but Reilly has been a fixture in the US intelligence and covert community for quite a while now. Currently – albeit unnoticed by many – his activities are still making headlines, for Reilly's present area of operations these days is in Gaza. There he runs the US private military contractor Safe Reach Solutions (SRS) which, along with another private security contractor, UG Solutions, act as partner to the controversial US-Israeli organisation the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) that has sidelined the UN and other international organisations as the main supplier of aid in Gaza. Last week, GHF was hit by fresh controversy when one former security contractor who had worked for them told journalists that he witnessed colleagues opening fire several times on hungry Palestinians who posed no threat. Members of a private US security company, contracted by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), a private US-backed aid group which the UN refuses to work with over neutrality concerns, direct displaced Palestinians as they gather to receive relief Heated debate WHILE GHF has said the allegations are categorically false, the shadowy group from its very inception has been at the centre of heated debate as to precisely what role it performs in Gaza and at who's behest. So just what is known about GHF, those behind it and where its money comes from? The organisation was first established in February this year, shortly after Israel passed legislation seeking to bar the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNWRA), the single largest provider of humanitarian aid in occupied Palestine. Israel has long sought to neuter the work of UNWRA which it claims was close to the Hamas authorities. The Israeli authorities say that Hamas made between $0.5bn and $1bn from stealing aid last year, though they have provided no backing for these figures. Other sources reckon Hamas's income was $1bn last year, mostly from foreign earnings. But by early March through to mid-May, Israel anyway had blocked all aid from entering Gaza before announcing its solution: the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. Almost overnight, a 14-page leaked document circulated among aid groups and journalists setting out the concept and modus operandi of GHF. In short, this was to provide aid to Palestinians from a network of aid distribution hubs secured by armed private contractors and ultimately, beyond their perimeter, by the Israel Defence Forces (IDF). So far, Israel has established three such centres south of the Morag corridor, a security strip in southern Gaza, and a fourth near Gaza City, in the north. GHF was registered in America two weeks after Donald Trump took office, and its address is one of a company that incorporates firms. Delaware is a US state acknowledged to have a less than rigorous approach towards ensuring company transparency. Asked by one reporter who visited the company why an organisation would have its registered address there but not be based there, one employee is said to have replied: 'So they're not bothered.' As well as being registered in the US, the GHF is also listed as a non-profit organisation in Switzerland. Since then, Trial International, a Swiss NGO, has filed a request for an investigation, asking authorities to investigate whether GHF adheres to international humanitarian law and Swiss law. READ MORE DAVID PRATT IN UKRAINE: Devastating snapshots of a brutal conflict with no end in sight DAVID PRATT IN UKRAINE: Inside the small village that stood fast against Russia's attempt to capture Kyiv David Pratt on The World: The signs that war in Europe can be avoided are anything but good David Pratt's Four Corners: Black Sea deal offers a grain of hope – but it won't end this brutal war Last week, Switzerland initiated proceedings to dissolve the Geneva branch of the GHF, citing legal shortcomings in its establishment. 'The ESA may order the dissolution of the foundation if no creditors come forward within the legal 30-day period,' the Federal Supervisory Authority for Foundations (ESA) said in a creditors notice published in the Swiss Official Gazette of Commerce last Wednesday. The ESA told reporters the GHF had not fulfilled certain legal requirements including having the correct number of board members, a postal address, or a Swiss bank account. For its part, the 'GHF confirmed to the ESA that it had never carried out activities in Switzerland... and that it intends to dissolve the Geneva-registered (branch),' the ESA added in a statement. Right-wing Knesset members Itamar Ben-Gvir (L) and Bezalel Smotrich, attend a special session at the Knesset Israel's parliament, to approve and swear in a new right-wing government, in Jerusalem 'Out of nowhere' THE absence of a funding paper trail along with the sometimes opaque backgrounds of some key players in setting up the GHF are only a few of many concerns since it first appeared almost out of nowhere. As far as the structure of the GHF operation goes, its components are as follows: GHF acts as the overall umbrella organisation. After the early resignation of its original executive director Jake Wood in May, who said the GHF would not be able to fulfil the principles of 'humanity, neutrality, impartiality, and independence', he was replaced by former USAID official John Acree and former Trump adviser Johnnie Moore. The latter is an evangelical preacher and public relations professional with close ties to both the White House and Israel's prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Moore was instrumental in an evangelical Christian drive during Trump's first term in office to convince the president to recognise Jerusalem as the Israeli capital and move the US embassy there. Alongside GHF run its private security partners Safe Reach Solutions and UG Solutions, headed by Reilly and the sole American director of SRS's Israeli branch and financial officer, Charles 'Chuck' J Africano. According to a report by the broadcaster France 24, Africano and Reilly have had past professional dealings, including around 2015 at another security firm Constellis – a successor to the controversial private military contractor Blackwater that gained notoriety for a civilian massacre in Iraq. The two also overlapped at the private security and surveillance firm Circinus, itself a subject of some past controversy related to dealings with foreign governments and its access to high-ranking US officials. Africano's connections with the GHF were first highlighted by the online news portal Middle East Eye and independently confirmed from public records by France 24, says the broadcaster. In a recent report, it also cited Africano as a member of the 'private LinkedIn group of the Tampa-based special operations contractor Quiet Professionals' which it says was acquired last month by the private equity firm McNally Capital. Quiet Professionals is led by Andy Wilson who, on his company's own webpage, is described as a 'valorous combat decorated retired Sergeant Major of the United States Army with 20 years of service… 14 of which were served in a Special Mission Unit'. Quiet Professionalss chief business officer Leo Kryszewski is also known to have spent four years with the CIA's Special Activities Division and the US Army's Office of Military Support, a clandestine intelligence unit often referred to within Joint Special Forces Command (JSOC) as Task Force Orange Helping draw up the blueprint for the GHF, comprising of these main constituent players and parties, was one of the world's most prestigious consulting firms – the Boston Consulting Group (BCG), though the group has since distanced itself from yjr GHF. But as a Financial Times (FT) investigation revealed a few days ago, before disavowing the project, 'BCG's role was more extensive than it has publicly described'. People carry boxes of relief supplies from the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) Israeli think tank ACCORDING to the FT investigation, BCG was originally engaged by Orbis, a Washington-area security contractor that was preparing the study on behalf of the Tachlith Institute, an Israeli think tank. BCG was chosen as a consultant, according to people familiar with the early work, says the FT, 'because of its longstanding relationship with Philip Reilly, an ex-CIA operative who worked for Orbis'. Citing the same sources, the FT said BCG's involvement stretched 'over seven months covering more than $4m of contracted work and involving internal discussion at senior levels of the firm'. As part of the project, codenamed 'Aurora', the BCG team is said to have also built a financial model for the post-war reconstruction of Gaza. This included cost estimates 'for relocating hundreds of thousands of Palestinians from the strip' and the economic impact of such a mass displacement. One scenario estimated more than 500,000 Gazans would leave the enclave with 'relocation packages' worth $9,000 per person, or around $5bn in total, the FT detailed. For its part, BCG told the FT senior figures were repeatedly 'misled on the scope of the work by the partners running the project'. Referring to the work on post-war Gaza, BCG said: 'The lead partner was categorically told no, and he violated this directive. We disavow this work.' Just precisely where much of the funding for the GHF comes from remains as shrouded in secrecy as the background of some of the individuals involved. These past weeks the US announced $30m for the GHF but it's thought to have received over $150m so far, much of which is believed to have has gone on hiring mercenaries, some from American private security firms. One job advertisement from UG Solutions said it was seeking 'Special Forces qualified personnel, SFOD-A/CAG, Green Berets, Army Rangers, PJs, Marine Reconnaissance (MARSOC), or other similar backgrounds'. Those 'skilled in unconventional warfare tactics' and selected ' must be ready to deploy within two weeks of May 20, 2025', the advertisement confirmed. While questions remain as to where exactly all of GHF's funding comes from, last month former Israeli defence minister and opposition MP, Avigdor Lieberman, told Israeli newspaper Haaretz he was convinced that Israel's defence ministry and its intelligence arm Mossad were the main paymasters. To date, the GHF's performance in Gaza has been abysmal and mired in controversy. According to most global humanitarian organisations, its presence is only making an already dire situation in Gaza even worse. As a result, these past few days, more than 170 NGOs have called for immediate action to end the 'deadly' GHF aid scheme and revert back to United Nations-led aid co-ordination mechanisms. GHF's role has thrown into sharp focus the dangers of outsourcing core humanitarian functions to private actors and whether, in fact, it is legally or ethically defensible. What happens next with the GHF involves two possible scenarios. The first is that its presence will be transitory, having failed to deliver on an aid mission that should be undertaken by the UN. The cost, meantime, in terms of Palestinian suffering and lives will only continue to rise. The second scenario is that the GHF remains and becomes an instrument of power as part of a strategy that many believe is aimed at herding Palestinians into designated areas to enable a wider process of ethnic cleansing. 'Greater Israel' ISRAEL'S far-right politicians including finance minister Bezalel Smotrich and minister of national security, Itamar Ben-Gvir, doubtless see the work of the GHF as crucial in their messianic mission to create a 'greater Israel'. Israeli prime minister Benyamin Netanyahu, meanwhile, continues to speak of creating 'a sterile zone' for Palestinians. For decades now the CIA's Special Activities Division – now renamed the Special Activities Center (SAC) – has performed countless covert roles, some helping to orchestrate regime change in many places. The Latin motto of SAC is Tertia Optio, which means 'Third Option'. In other words, covert action represents an additional option within the realm of national security when diplomacy and military action are not feasible. With diplomacy at an effective standstill over Gaza, the obvious danger is that other 'options' become in the eyes of some the real way 'forward'. While the GHF's security partners Safe Reach Solutions and UG Solutions are private companies, the fact that their chief officers and many within their ranks are past operatives of the CIA and its SAC leaves many uneasy. Just as the likes of Philip Reilly and his CIA team all those years ago in Afghanistan were tasked with laying the groundwork for what was to come, could it be that now, through the use of private contractors, much the same is being done in Gaza today? The fact that figures like Reilly and others still have the ear or indeed direct links to senior US government and Israeli officials only adds to this growing disquiet over the actual motives behind GHF's shadowy role in Gaza.
India Today
04-07-2025
- Politics
- India Today
Fact Check: Did an anti-Taliban group vow to seek revenge for the Pahalgam terrorist attack?
A video going viral on social media claims to show an anti-Taliban group called the Liberation Front of Afghanistan vowing to avenge India for the Pahalgam terror attack. The video shows four armed men in military gear and balaclavas delivering a statement, threatening vengeance against Pakistan-backed terror video begins with audio in a foreign language, followed by English. A portion of the English audio says: 'We are the Liberation Front of Afghanistan. And today, we speak not in whispers but in war cries. Pahalgam bleeds in our memory. We remember the laughter of children silenced by foreign hands. ISI's puppets dared to spill innocent blood. They lit a fire they cannot control. You ask why we now walk with a foreign intelligence agency. Because vengeance has no borders.'advertisement In the latter part of the video, the front members allegedly vowed to take revenge for the Pahalgam terror attack.A Facebook user shared this video with the caption: 'The Liberation Front of Afghanistan has officially warned: 'Pahalgam has not yet been avenged. We will not stop until every ISI-sponsored resistance fighter in Pakistan or elsewhere is hunted and eliminated.'' Its archive can be viewed news outlet NewsX also presented this video as recent Today Fact Check found that this video is old and edited. The original dates back to 2022, when an anti-Taliban military front issued a statement highlighting the wrongdoings of the Taliban regime. It has nothing to do with India, and predates the Pahalgam attack by PROBEA quick reverse search of the video's keyframes led us to multiple Persian-language social media posts from 2022. This version of the video did not have English audio or subtitles, unlike the viral Persian-language posts said, 'Another military front against the Taliban, named the 'Afghanistan Liberation Front', announced its existence. In a video recording, this front stated that the women of this land do not enjoy any Islamic or human rights. They speak of standing firm against the Taliban.'Many news outlets had reported on this video at the time as well. According to the Arabic outlet Al Ain News, the Taliban's actions, like arresting journalists and oppressing women, led to the formation of the Afghanistan Liberation Front. The report also stated this group had no connection to the National Resistance Front led by Ahmad generated English subtitles of the original Persian-language video using the translation bot Translate Mom on X. It can be seen below. According to these subtitles, the speech mentioned the Taliban and its atrocities. It did not refer to India at all. We shared the subtitles we generated with Mujahid Andarabi, the editor of Radio Afghanistan International. He confirmed that the translation was mostly also said that to his knowledge, neither the Afghanistan Liberation Front nor any other anti-Taliban group had recently issued any statement referring to the Pahalgam terror it's clear that an old video issued by an anti-Taliban front is being shared with fake English audio that links it to the Pahalgam terror attack.- Ends Want to send us something for verification? Please share it on our at 73 7000 7000 You can also send us an email at factcheck@
