Weeks before Kabul fell, the head of Britain’s MI5 security service said that a crisis in Afghanistan could provide terrorists with inspiration and unguarded hinterlands from where they might plot against the UK.
Ken McCallum told an invited audience that MI5 had been advising ministers for months that a Nato withdrawal was likely to give the Taliban a role in Afghanistan’s future.
While the official line was the Taliban had no choice but to negotiate with the Nato-backed government, there was concern among the security services that any talks could become one-sided.
The head of the UK’s armed forces, Gen Sir Nick Carter, acknowledged in early August that it had “never been possible to defend all of Afghanistan”. Deaths among Afghan security forces had climbed as Nato support was cut.
But Gen Carter predicted that “the battle will take time and it will be an intense struggle”. He said the key was to hold cities and provincial capitals, especially Herat in the west and Kandahar in the south.
Six days later, both cities fell to the Taliban, who soon completed their rout of Afghan forces with the capture of Kabul on August 15.
The Taliban victory unleashed a wave of recriminations in British politics. Former soldiers rounded on Nato leaders during an impassioned debate in Parliament.
Land warfare analyst Ben Barry, a former British Army brigadier and senior fellow at the International Institute of Strategic Studies, told The National that an inquiry should follow into how the “bad guys won”.
“Was it a case of US, UK or Afghan intelligence that didn't pick up the Taliban preparations?” he said. “Or was there a degree of optimism based on senior military working with the Afghan forces that led them to take too charitable a view of their capability?”
But as questions mounted over intelligence failures, evacuations and the future of Nato, ministers quickly found themselves sidetracked.
Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab had, it turned out, been on a Greek holiday while Afghanistan fell and had asked a subordinate to call Kabul.
The call never happened – an omission which critics regarded as a chance missed to ensure the safety of people stranded in Afghanistan.
Mr Raab had not been lounging on the beach, he said – “the sea was actually closed” – but the government spent days fielding calls for his resignation.
If that were not enough of a circus, ministers soon had a flock of animals to contend with. A public feud with charity chief Pen Farthing was the latest twist.
Mr Farthing’s supporters flooded ministerial inboxes with calls for cats, dogs and charity staff to be airlifted out. Defence Secretary Ben Wallace drew their ire with his remark that he would prioritise “people over pets”.
The dispute went as far as Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who denied rumours that he had intervened at the urging of his wife Carrie, an animal rights campaigner.
Mr Farthing, a former Royal Marine, told ministers they had “picked on the wrong person”. The saga stretched into the airlift’s final hours.
Controversies over closed seas and the fate of rescue dogs aside, ministers were full of praise for the evacuation efforts that brought nearly 15,000 people home from Afghanistan.
The next stage of the crisis threatens different perils. Analysts said ministers will soon have another security challenge on their hands as they grapple with the possibility of a terrorist threat at home.
Officials hope to prevent Afghanistan becoming the haven for terrorism that it was when Al Qaeda used it as a base to plan the 9/11 attacks of 2001.
They hope to use frozen Afghan funds and the prospect of international engagement with the Taliban to influence the new regime in Kabul.
Mr McCallum believed “extremists of various sorts” would portray the situation as a “victory for extremist Islam”.
He said terrorists could seek to use areas of uncertain Taliban control in Afghanistan to set up training camps and plan attacks.
“You might imagine that if pockets of ungoverned space open up, some terrorist groups might seek, for example, to re-establish some training facilities there as we've seen in the past,” he said.
An attack directed from Afghanistan is “clearly a possibility to which we must be alert".
Sir John Jenkins, a former UK diplomat who led a government review into the Muslim Brotherhood, expressed concern that the fall of Kabul would renew Islamist movements' momentum.
“Islamists have this narrative of trial and success. It reinforces that narrative that Islamism is destined to triumph,” he told The National.
“It’s about the hearts and minds. We don’t take this seriously enough, I don’t think, and we don’t pay enough attention.”
Travel risk
MI5 has spent years monitoring people who have travelled to the Afghanistan and Pakistan region and returned with training on bombs and firearms.
One example was Rashid Rauf, a baker's son from Birmingham, England, who fled to Pakistan and became a prolific Al Qaeda fixer.
In 2018, North London gas fitter Khalid Ali was found guilty of planning a terrorist attack in the UK after carrying out reconnaissance on Downing Street and the Houses of Parliament.
His fingerprints were found on 42 locations on Taliban-made bomb components found in Kandahar in January and July 2012.
The new reality in Afghanistan raises the prospect that the likes of Rauf or Ali will decide to travel there. At least one person of concern was identified returning on a UK military flight during the airlift.
Officials who worked with Nato say it must improve its intelligence capabilities after the speed of the Taliban advance caught nearly everyone by surprise.
David Lowe, a senior fellow at Leeds Beckett University who researches terrorism and security, said Britain should seek to improve its intelligence sharing with allies and Afghan neighbours.
He said the experience of ISIS fighters travelling to Iraq and Syria through Turkey showed the importance of working with third countries such as Pakistan, which is regarded as a crucial player.
“Even though we will most probably have no travel to Afghanistan while the Taliban’s there, we’re going to see inventive ways,” said Dr Lowe, a former police officer.
“A lesson that we learnt with Syria and Iraq when they were attracting individuals to go over and fight – they used their own tradecraft to disguise why they were trying to get there.”
Hearts and minds
In addition to monitoring and intelligence work, security services face a challenge in countering propaganda from Islamists basking in reflected glory.
Sympathisers in Britain have praised the Taliban’s tone of magnanimity and described their victory as a defeat of colonialism and imperialism.
Mr Jenkins added that ministers should be more forthright in their defence of liberal democracy and the rule of secular law in the UK.
“This is something that governments have been very weak on for the last 30 years,” he said. “It may be that the Johnson administration has other things on its plate.”
The Islamist field is crowded. ISIS-K – the affiliate that carried out an attack at Kabul airport – is a threat in Afghanistan.
ISIS already has a grip on the more extreme elements in the country. It attacked a maternity hospital in a Shia-dominated area of Kabul last year, killing 24.
What we’ve got to get across is the enormity of the task now
Dr David Lowe
Taliban expert Antonio Giustozzi, of the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI), said ISIS-K quickly gained a reputation for an "uncompromising attitude". Al Qaeda also remains a threat.
It is unlikely that the Taliban is capable of controlling all its territory, or is structured enough to keep every local commander in line.
“Whether the Taliban would be so stupid as to allow Al Qaeda to carry out international attacks as they did in the early 1990s and early 2000s, I don’t know,” Mr Jenkins said.
“My guess is that Al Qaeda will try to keep a low profile for the moment.”
Distractions are left, right and centre, and not only of the farcical kind. Officials at the Joint Terrorism Analysis Centre face parallel threats from far-right extremists and from dissidents in Northern Ireland.
The continuous security threat recalls the adage that terrorists “only have to be lucky once”, Dr Lowe said.
“What we’ve got to get across is the enormity of the task now,” he said, as security services face the latest challenge. “They will have their hands full.”
The biog
Name: Dhabia Khalifa AlQubaisi
Age: 23
How she spends spare time: Playing with cats at the clinic and feeding them
Inspiration: My father. He’s a hard working man who has been through a lot to provide us with everything we need
Favourite book: Attitude, emotions and the psychology of cats by Dr Nicholes Dodman
Favourit film: 101 Dalmatians - it remind me of my childhood and began my love of dogs
Word of advice: By being patient, good things will come and by staying positive you’ll have the will to continue to love what you're doing
Mohammed bin Zayed Majlis
The%20specs
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UK-EU trade at a glance
EU fishing vessels guaranteed access to UK waters for 12 years
Co-operation on security initiatives and procurement of defence products
Youth experience scheme to work, study or volunteer in UK and EU countries
Smoother border management with use of e-gates
Cutting red tape on import and export of food
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%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EEquestrian%3C%2Fstrong%3E%3Cbr%3EAbdullah%20Humaid%20Al%20Muhairi%2C%20Abdullah%20Al%20Marri%2C%20Omar%20Al%20Marzooqi%2C%20Salem%20Al%20Suwaidi%2C%20and%20Ali%20Al%20Karbi%20(four%20to%20be%20selected).%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EJudo%3C%2Fstrong%3E%3Cbr%3EMen%3A%20Narmandakh%20Bayanmunkh%20(66kg)%2C%20Nugzari%20Tatalashvili%20(81kg)%2C%20Aram%20Grigorian%20(90kg)%2C%20Dzhafar%20Kostoev%20(100kg)%2C%20Magomedomar%20Magomedomarov%20(%2B100kg)%3B%20women's%20Khorloodoi%20Bishrelt%20(52kg).%3Cbr%3E%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ECycling%3C%2Fstrong%3E%3Cbr%3ESafia%20Al%20Sayegh%20(women's%20road%20race).%3Cbr%3E%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ESwimming%3C%2Fstrong%3E%3Cbr%3EMen%3A%20Yousef%20Rashid%20Al%20Matroushi%20(100m%20freestyle)%3B%20women%3A%20Maha%20Abdullah%20Al%20Shehi%20(200m%20freestyle).%3Cbr%3E%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EAthletics%3C%2Fstrong%3E%3Cbr%3EMaryam%20Mohammed%20Al%20Farsi%20(women's%20100%20metres).%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
The specs: 2019 Haval H6
Price, base: Dh69,900
Engine: 2.0-litre turbocharged four-cylinder
Transmission: Seven-speed automatic
Power: 197hp @ 5,500rpm
Torque: 315Nm @ 2,000rpm
Fuel economy, combined: 7.0L / 100km
THE BIO
Family: I have three siblings, one older brother (age 25) and two younger sisters, 20 and 13
Favourite book: Asking for my favourite book has to be one of the hardest questions. However a current favourite would be Sidewalk by Mitchell Duneier
Favourite place to travel to: Any walkable city. I also love nature and wildlife
What do you love eating or cooking: I’m constantly in the kitchen. Ever since I changed the way I eat I enjoy choosing and creating what goes into my body. However, nothing can top home cooked food from my parents.
Favorite place to go in the UAE: A quiet beach.
WHAT ARE NFTs?
Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) are tokens that represent ownership of unique items. They allow the tokenisation of things such as art, collectibles and even real estate.
An NFT can have only one official owner at one time. And since they're minted and secured on the Ethereum blockchain, no one can modify the record of ownership, not even copy-paste it into a new one.
This means NFTs are not interchangeable and cannot be exchanged with other items. In contrast, fungible items, such as fiat currencies, can be exchanged because their value defines them rather than their unique properties.
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The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
Expert input
If you had all the money in the world, what’s the one sneaker you would buy or create?
“There are a few shoes that have ‘grail’ status for me. But the one I have always wanted is the Nike x Patta x Parra Air Max 1 - Cherrywood. To get a pair in my size brand new is would cost me between Dh8,000 and Dh 10,000.” Jack Brett
“If I had all the money, I would approach Nike and ask them to do my own Air Force 1, that’s one of my dreams.” Yaseen Benchouche
“There’s nothing out there yet that I’d pay an insane amount for, but I’d love to create my own shoe with Tinker Hatfield and Jordan.” Joshua Cox
“I think I’d buy a defunct footwear brand; I’d like the challenge of reinterpreting a brand’s history and changing options.” Kris Balerite
“I’d stir up a creative collaboration with designers Martin Margiela of the mixed patchwork sneakers, and Yohji Yamamoto.” Hussain Moloobhoy
“If I had all the money in the world, I’d live somewhere where I’d never have to wear shoes again.” Raj Malhotra
T20 WORLD CUP QUALIFIER
Results
UAE beat Nigeria by five wickets
Hong Kong beat Canada by 32 runs
Friday fixtures
10am, Tolerance Oval, Abu Dhabi – Ireland v Jersey
7.30pm, Zayed Cricket Stadium, Abu Dhabi – Canada v Oman
A general guide to how active you are:
Less than 5,000 steps - sedentary
5,000 - 9,999 steps - lightly active
10,000 - 12,500 steps - active
12,500 - highly active
More from Neighbourhood Watch:
The specs: 2018 Renault Koleos
Price, base: From Dh77,900
Engine: 2.5L, in-line four-cylinder
Transmission: Continuously variable transmission
Power: 170hp @ 6,000rpm
Torque: 233Nm @ 4,000rpm
Fuel economy, combined: 8.3L / 100km
$1,000 award for 1,000 days on madrasa portal
Daily cash awards of $1,000 dollars will sweeten the Madrasa e-learning project by tempting more pupils to an education portal to deepen their understanding of math and sciences.
School children are required to watch an educational video each day and answer a question related to it. They then enter into a raffle draw for the $1,000 prize.
“We are targeting everyone who wants to learn. This will be $1,000 for 1,000 days so there will be a winner every day for 1,000 days,” said Sara Al Nuaimi, project manager of the Madrasa e-learning platform that was launched on Tuesday by the Vice President and Ruler of Dubai, to reach Arab pupils from kindergarten to grade 12 with educational videos.
“The objective of the Madrasa is to become the number one reference for all Arab students in the world. The 5,000 videos we have online is just the beginning, we have big ambitions. Today in the Arab world there are 50 million students. We want to reach everyone who is willing to learn.”
T20 WORLD CUP QUALIFIERS
Qualifier A, Muscat
(All matches to be streamed live on icc.tv)
Fixtures
Friday, February 18: 10am Oman v Nepal, Canada v Philippines; 2pm Ireland v UAE, Germany v Bahrain
Saturday, February 19: 10am Oman v Canada, Nepal v Philippines; 2pm UAE v Germany, Ireland v Bahrain
Monday, February 21: 10am Ireland v Germany, UAE v Bahrain; 2pm Nepal v Canada, Oman v Philippines
Tuesday, February 22: 2pm Semi-finals
Thursday, February 24: 2pm Final
UAE squad:Ahmed Raza(captain), Muhammad Waseem, Chirag Suri, Vriitya Aravind, Rohan Mustafa, Kashif Daud, Zahoor Khan, Alishan Sharafu, Raja Akifullah, Karthik Meiyappan, Junaid Siddique, Basil Hameed, Zafar Farid, Mohammed Boota, Mohammed Usman, Rahul Bhatia
ESSENTIALS
The flights
Emirates flies from Dubai to Phnom Penh via Yangon from Dh2,700 return including taxes. Cambodia Bayon Airlines and Cambodia Angkor Air offer return flights from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap from Dh250 return including taxes. The flight takes about 45 minutes.
The hotels
Rooms at the Raffles Le Royal in Phnom Penh cost from $225 (Dh826) per night including taxes. Rooms at the Grand Hotel d'Angkor cost from $261 (Dh960) per night including taxes.
The tours
A cyclo architecture tour of Phnom Penh costs from $20 (Dh75) per person for about three hours, with Khmer Architecture Tours. Tailor-made tours of all of Cambodia, or sites like Angkor alone, can be arranged by About Asia Travel. Emirates Holidays also offers packages.
heading
Iran has sent five planeloads of food to Qatar, which is suffering shortages amid a regional blockade.
A number of nations, including Iran's major rival Saudi Arabia, last week cut ties with Qatar, accusing it of funding terrorism, charges it denies.
The land border with Saudi Arabia, through which 40% of Qatar's food comes, has been closed.
Meanwhile, mediators Kuwait said that Qatar was ready to listen to the "qualms" of its neighbours.
AT%20A%20GLANCE
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