International
US says nearly 500 Afghan citizens evacuated from Uzbekistan

AFP
The United States said Tuesday it had evacuated nearly 500 “military and civilian” Afghans from Uzbekistan, while the ex-Soviet country declared there were now no Afghan refugees on its territory.
The days leading up to the Taliban’s capture of Kabul caused scenes of chaos in Afghanistan’s Central Asian neighbours Uzbekistan and Tajikistan, as soldiers loyal to the crumbling government fled over state borders in military aircraft.
Uzbekistan had mostly withheld comment on the number and status of the refugees as it looked to cultivate ties with the Taliban next door.
But a US embassy spokesman told AFP Tuesday it had evacuated 494 “military and civilian” Afghans out of Uzbekistan’s southern Termez airport with the Uzbek government’s help.
“The evacuation was completed September 12-13,” the spokesman told AFP by telephone, making no comment on the final destination of the refugees.
Uzbek foreign ministry spokesman Yusup Kabulzhanov on Monday confirmed the evacuation in comments to the privately-owned Kun.uz outlet.
“All Afghan refugees have left the territory of Uzbekistan”, he said, without giving figures.
A staffer at Afghanistan’s embassy told AFP last month that up to 1,500 Afghans might have crossed into Uzbekistan illegally after the Taliban secured control of the northern stronghold Mazar-i-Sharif in mid-August and began beating a path towards Kabul.
In a rare statement on the refugees in August, Uzbekistan said it had returned 150 people to Afghanistan at their own request and following talks with the Taliban to guarantee their safety.
– Thousands of Afghans in Tajikistan: EU –
Tajikistan, which has eschewed official contacts with the Taliban, has been similarly secretive about the number of refugees it has taken in.
The European Union’s delegation in the country said on Tuesday that it was providing 160,000 Euros in humanitarian aid funding “to benefit up to 5,000 displaced Afghans” in two Tajik provinces bordering Afghanistan.
The EU statement cited the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) as saying that “up to 50,000 refugees could be registered in Tajikistan after the total withdrawal of American and NATO troops by the end of 2021”.
The statement comes after Interior Minister Ramazon Hamro Rahimzoda earlier this month criticised international donors for failing to help Tajikistan house refugees.
Afghanistan is set to dominate discussions at the summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation — a bloc that includes four ex-Soviet Central Asian countries, China, India, Pakistan and Russia — hosted by Tajikistan this week.
International
Trump urges Putin to reach peace deal

On Monday, U.S. President Donald Trump reiterated his desire for Russian President Vladimir Putin to “reach a deal” to end the war in Ukraine, while also reaffirming his willingness to impose sanctions on Russia.
“I want to see him reach an agreement to prevent Russian, Ukrainian, and other people from dying,” Trump stated during a press conference in the Oval Office at the White House.
“I think he will. I don’t want to have to impose secondary tariffs on Russian oil,” the Republican leader added, recalling that he had already taken similar measures against Venezuela by sanctioning buyers of the South American country’s crude oil.
Trump also reiterated his frustration over Ukraine’s resistance to an agreement that would allow the United States to exploit natural resources in the country—a condition he set in negotiations to end the war.
International
Deportation flight lands in Venezuela; government denies criminal gang links

A flight carrying 175 Venezuelan migrants deported from the United States arrived in Caracas on Sunday. This marks the third group to return since repatriation flights resumed a week ago, and among them is an alleged member of a criminal organization, according to Venezuelan authorities.
Unlike previous flights operated by the Venezuelan state airline Conviasa, this time, an aircraft from the U.S. airline Eastern landed at Maiquetía Airport, on the outskirts of Caracas, shortly after 2:00 p.m. with the deportees.
Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello, who welcomed the returnees at the airport, stated that the 175 repatriated individuals were coming back “after being subjected, like all Venezuelans, to persecution” and dismissed claims that they belonged to the criminal organization El Tren de Aragua.
However, Cabello confirmed that “for the first time in these flights we have been carrying out, someone of significance wanted by Venezuelan justice has arrived, and he is not from El Tren de Aragua.” Instead, he belongs to a gang operating in the state of Trujillo. The minister did not disclose the individual’s identity or provide details on where he would be taken.
International
Son of journalist José Rubén Zamora condemns father’s return to prison as “illegal”

The son of renowned journalist José Rubén Zamora Marroquín, José Carlos Zamora, has denounced as “illegal” the court order that sent his father back to a Guatemalan prison on March 3, after already spending 819 days behind barsover a highly irregular money laundering case.
“My father’s return to prison was based on an arbitrary and illegal ruling. It is also alarming that the judge who had granted him house arrest received threats,” José Carlos Zamora told EFE in an interview on Saturday.
The 67-year-old journalist was sent back to prison inside the Mariscal Zavala military barracks on March 3, when Judge Erick García upheld a Court of Appeals ruling that overturned the house arrest granted to him in October. Zamora had already spent 819 days in prison over an alleged money laundering case.
His son condemned the situation as “unacceptable”, stating that the judge handling the case “cannot do his job in accordance with the law due to threats against his life.”
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