In many ways, Kabul's airport is a good symbol of the uncertain position Afghanistan finds itself in one year after the West's disastrous military withdrawal following two decades in the country.
Kabul today is calmer compared to the utter despair of last year as the Taliban entered the presidential palace on August 15. The chaos at the airport was perhaps the most desperate footage ever to have emerged from Afghanistan. Young men clung to departing planes as they took off. Crowds were crushed at the perimeter as western troops frantically tried to hold it. Some parents were photographed trying to hand departing troops their young children so that they could be saved.
Among the most resounding images was of US Maj Gen Chris Donahue, commander of the 82nd Airborne Division, stepping aboard a C-17 transport plane as the last American soldier to leave the country. The grainy night-vision image could not be more different to the bombastic entrance the US and its allies made in 2001.
He had been deployed to Afghanistan four times throughout his career. For the 13 US service personnel that died in a terrorist attack during the evacuation 20 years later, it was a different story. Some of them had not been born when the war started.
Alongside their coalition partners, around 66,000 Afghan national and military police were killed during the conflict, as well as more than 47,000 civilians. Those who remain continue to suffer. Many Afghans who worked for the US and its allies during the war are trapped in the country and are being targeted by the Taliban. Poverty levels are up and basic services under strain. A grim humanitarian situation threatens even more.
A 20 minute drive from airport takes you to the Kabul neighbourhood of Sherpur, where, last week, the US killed international terrorist Ayman Al Zawahiri. He was the leader of Al Qaeda, the organisation that provoked the war on terror in the first place.
It is moments such as these, alongside a humanitarian crisis and the potential rise of other terrorist groups, that go to heart of the great uncertainty Afghanistan faces today. Its international relations remain obscure. It is attempting to get international recognition but it is uncertain as to when that will happen. And the humanitarian aid it desperately needs is largely on hold.
Anniversaries might feel like neat ways to parcel complicated stories, but, as the first one approaches for the country's new government, little in the country is neat. Indeed for Afghans themselves, viewing the situation in yearly chunks might seem insulting. For them, the situation has been deteriorating every day. The Taliban might be strategically ambiguous abroad, but they are very clear cut at home. They wasted no time in banning girls secondary education, for example.
However awful and inconsequential the anniversary might understandably feel for Afghans, people outside the country still have a duty to reflect. The West is now heavily involved in newer geopolitical crises, notably the Russian invasion of Ukraine. But newer realities must not distract the West from the situation in Afghanistan. Without firm focus, the progress Afghanistan saw in the past two decades will continue to unravel. The past years may not have been a safer period, but they were freer ones, particularly for women.
There are ways to deal with the situation. One is engaging with the Taliban. It is partly through discourse that the situation for ordinary Afghans can be improved. It requires focus, accountability and dialogue, which for years international conversations with the group have lacked. If the next anniversary is to be any better, that has to change.
Zayed Sustainability Prize
Funk Wav Bounces Vol.1
Calvin Harris
Columbia
Tips to stay safe during hot weather
- Stay hydrated: Drink plenty of fluids, especially water. Avoid alcohol and caffeine, which can increase dehydration.
- Seek cool environments: Use air conditioning, fans, or visit community spaces with climate control.
- Limit outdoor activities: Avoid strenuous activity during peak heat. If outside, seek shade and wear a wide-brimmed hat.
- Dress appropriately: Wear lightweight, loose and light-coloured clothing to facilitate heat loss.
- Check on vulnerable people: Regularly check in on elderly neighbours, young children and those with health conditions.
- Home adaptations: Use blinds or curtains to block sunlight, avoid using ovens or stoves, and ventilate living spaces during cooler hours.
- Recognise heat illness: Learn the signs of heat exhaustion and heat stroke (dizziness, confusion, rapid pulse, nausea), and seek medical attention if symptoms occur.
Key changes
Commission caps
For life insurance products with a savings component, Peter Hodgins of Clyde & Co said different caps apply to the saving and protection elements:
• For the saving component, a cap of 4.5 per cent of the annualised premium per year (which may not exceed 90 per cent of the annualised premium over the policy term).
• On the protection component, there is a cap of 10 per cent of the annualised premium per year (which may not exceed 160 per cent of the annualised premium over the policy term).
• Indemnity commission, the amount of commission that can be advanced to a product salesperson, can be 50 per cent of the annualised premium for the first year or 50 per cent of the total commissions on the policy calculated.
• The remaining commission after deduction of the indemnity commission is paid equally over the premium payment term.
• For pure protection products, which only offer a life insurance component, the maximum commission will be 10 per cent of the annualised premium multiplied by the length of the policy in years.
Disclosure
Customers must now be provided with a full illustration of the product they are buying to ensure they understand the potential returns on savings products as well as the effects of any charges. There is also a “free-look” period of 30 days, where insurers must provide a full refund if the buyer wishes to cancel the policy.
“The illustration should provide for at least two scenarios to illustrate the performance of the product,” said Mr Hodgins. “All illustrations are required to be signed by the customer.”
Another illustration must outline surrender charges to ensure they understand the costs of exiting a fixed-term product early.
Illustrations must also be kept updatedand insurers must provide information on the top five investment funds available annually, including at least five years' performance data.
“This may be segregated based on the risk appetite of the customer (in which case, the top five funds for each segment must be provided),” said Mr Hodgins.
Product providers must also disclose the ratio of protection benefit to savings benefits. If a protection benefit ratio is less than 10 per cent "the product must carry a warning stating that it has limited or no protection benefit" Mr Hodgins added.
Contracted list
Ashton Agar, Alex Carey, Pat Cummins, Aaron Finch, Peter Handscomb, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Usman Khawaja, Nathan Lyon, Glenn Maxwell, Shaun Marsh, Mitchell Marsh, Tim Paine, Matt Renshaw, Jhye Richardson, Kane Richardson, Billy Stanlake, Mitchell Starc, Marcus Stoinis, Andrew Tye.
How to help
Send “thenational” to the following numbers or call the hotline on: 0502955999
2289 – Dh10
2252 – Dh 50
6025 – Dh20
6027 – Dh 100
6026 – Dh 200
UPI facts
More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
More than 3.5 million Indians reside in UAE
Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems
Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions
'Midnights'
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Benefits of first-time home buyers' scheme
- Priority access to new homes from participating developers
- Discounts on sales price of off-plan units
- Flexible payment plans from developers
- Mortgages with better interest rates, faster approval times and reduced fees
- DLD registration fee can be paid through banks or credit cards at zero interest rates
Sole survivors
- Cecelia Crocker was on board Northwest Airlines Flight 255 in 1987 when it crashed in Detroit, killing 154 people, including her parents and brother. The plane had hit a light pole on take off
- George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
- Bahia Bakari, then 12, survived when a Yemenia Airways flight crashed near the Comoros in 2009, killing 152. She was found clinging to wreckage after floating in the ocean for 13 hours.
- Jim Polehinke was the co-pilot and sole survivor of a 2006 Comair flight that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49.
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