Biden's low profile on Guantanamo rankles as prison turns 20

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Written by northsouth

Category: Americas

Published: 13 January 2022

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WASHINGTON - Advocates for closing the Guantanamo Bay detention center were optimistic when President Joe Biden took office. And they were relieved this summer after the U.S. released a prisoner for the first time in years. Many are now increasingly impatient.

In the months since that release, there have been few signs of progress in closing the notorious offshore prison on the U.S. base in Cuba. That has led to increased skepticism about Biden’s approach as the administration completes its first year and the detention center reaches a milestone Tuesday — the 20th anniversary of the first prisoners' arrival.

“President Biden has stated his intention to close Guantanamo as a matter of policy but has not taken substantial steps toward closure,” said Wells Dixon, an attorney with the New York-based Center for Constitutional Rights, which has long taken a leading role in challenging the indefinite confinement without charge at the base.

Without a more concerted effort, those who want the center to close fear a repeat of what happened under President Barack Obama Obama made closing Guantanamo a signature issue from his first days in office, but managed only to shrink it in the face of political opposition in Congress.

US announces $308 million in aid for Afghans as crisis grows

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Written by northsouth

Category: Americas

Published: 11 January 2022

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By AAMER MADHANI

WASHINGTON — The White House has announced $308 million in additional humanitarian assistance for Afghanistan, offering new aid to the country as it edges toward a humanitarian crisis since the Taliban takeover nearly five months ago.

White House spokesperson Emily Horne said in a statement Tuesday that the new aid from the U.S. Agency for International Development will flow through independent humanitarian organizations and will be used to provide shelter, health care, winterization assistance, emergency food aid, water, sanitation and hygiene services.

The country’s long-troubled economy has been in a tailspin since the Taliban takeover. Nearly 80% of Afghanistan’s previous government’s budget came from the international community. That money, now cut off, financed hospitals, schools, factories and government ministries.

Desperation for such basic necessities has been further exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic as well as health care shortages, drought and malnutrition.

The USAID called on the Taliban to allow “all aid workers, especially women ... to operate independently and securely” as humanitarian groups look to assist those suffering.

“The United States continues to urge the Taliban to allow unhindered humanitarian access, safe conditions for humanitarians, independent provision of assistance to all vulnerable people, and freedom of movement for aid workers of all genders,” the agency said in a statement.

The new aid brings U.S. humanitarian assistance for Afghanistan to more than $780 million since the chaotic ending of the 20-year-old war in August. The United Nations says 22% of Afghanistan’s 38 million people are living near famine and another 36% are facing acute food insecurity.

In addition, the White House pledged that it would send Afghanistan 1 million additional COVID-19 vaccine doses through COVAX, an initiative by the World Health Organization to improve access to vaccines. With the new influx of doses, the U.S. will have sent 4.3 million doses to Afghanistan, which has struggled to deal with the unrelenting pandemic.
International funding to Afghanistan was suspended and billions of dollars of the country’s assets abroad, mostly in the United States, were frozen after the Taliban took control of the country in mid-August.

The decision by the U.S. and the international community not to recognize the Taliban government, which governed with a strict interpretation of Islamic law when it was in control from 1996 to 2001, has created a quandary for Western powers about how to provide enough aid without giving the Taliban legitimacy or putting money directly into its hands.

The lack of funding has led to increased poverty, and aid groups have warned of a looming humanitarian catastrophe. State employees, from doctors to teachers and administrative civil servants, haven’t been paid in months. Banks, meanwhile, have restricted how much money account holders can withdraw.

The Taliban have called on the international community to release funds and help stave off a humanitarian disaster.

US uses undivided Morocco map including Western Sahara'

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Written by northsouth

Category: Americas

Published: 09 January 2022

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WASHINGTON - The US State Department has published an undivided map of Morocco, included the disputed territory Western Sahara, renewing once again its pro-Moroccan position regarding the conflict.

In December 2020, Morocco normalised ties with Israel in exchange for American recognition of Moroccan sovereignty over the former Spanish colony, signing up to the Abraham Accords, the last major decision under the Donald Trump administration.

The move angered the Polisario front, a movement seeking independence for the territory, and its oldest ally Algeria, which have been since lobbying to reverse the American decision.

Despite revising the last 90 days’ amendments in the Trump era, the Biden administration’s position regarding the disputed territory remained shrouded in ambiguity, as Moroccan state media were looking for the tiniest sign to interpret it as an affirmation.

The newly published world map visualises the US presence across the world, while painting Morocco and Western Sahara in green, removing the thin line border that represents the situation of the territory in UN approved maps.

However, President Joe Biden approved in December last year, the 2022 fiscal year clause, that included restrictions on aid and military funding to Morocco, and the freezing of financial budget allocated to build the US embassy in Dakhla, Western Sahara.

Morocco has already inaugurated more than 20 foreign embassies in the territory, but the much-desired American embassy would be the only first-world diplomatic move of its kind siding with the Kingdom in the dispute.

The ongoing 46-year-old conflict between Morocco and the Polisario Front over the disputed territory of Western Sahara has recently taken an ominous turn after decades of stalemate causing tensions along the border with Algeria and a diplomatic dispute with the latter.