World

(NEW YORK) — Around 150 former Afghan Air Force pilots and personnel, who were trapped in Tajikistan for months after fleeing Afghanistan, have been airlifted by the United States out of the country to the United Arab Emirates.

The pilots had spent nearly three months in detention in Tajikistan after they used their military aircraft to fly to Afghanistan’s northern neighbor as the Taliban seized Kabul in August. But some of the pilots found themselves in a frightening limbo, detained in a hotel complex by Tajikistan’s authorities, where they said they spent weeks held largely incommunicado and unsure if they might be sent back to the Taliban.

The pilots who spoke with ABC News also said they were poorly fed and were often without electricity in detention. Among them was a female pilot nine months pregnant, they said.

The pilots were taken to the airport in Tajikistan’s capital Dushanbe by staff from the U.S. embassy last Tuesday and put on a charter flight to Dubai, according to the pilots and Department of Defense. There, the evacuees were placed in quarantine in a hotel and are now beginning the process of being assessed for resettlement to the U.S. Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said Tuesday that the pilots were evacuated as part of a group of approximately 191 Afghans.

The evacuation occurred as the U.S. continued to wrestle with the colossal task of resettling tens of thousands of Afghans who served the U.S. and Afghanistan’s toppled American-backed government and who are now at risk of mistreatment or execution by the Taliban.

“It’s just a huge relief,” said David Hicks, a former brigadier general and CEO of Sacred Promise, a nongovernmental organization run by current and ex-U.S. military officers that have been working on getting the pilots out. “The team is tremendously relieved and happy to have those individuals out and moving onto their next step to freedom.”

In August, as the Taliban closed in, around 400 pilots and personnel also used their aircraft to fly to Uzbekistan, where they too were detained. But the U.S. was able to negotiate their release in Uzbekistan more quickly, flying the group out in mid-September, officials said.

But negotiations to arrange the evacuation for those in Tajikistan took longer and the pilots said they had been unsure whether they might be sent back. The Taliban had called on the pilots to return and have promised a general amnesty for former Afghan military personnel. But few of the pilots said they did not trust the guarantees.

“It was a rough time over there,” said Ahadi Ab Wajid, a lieutenant who piloted A-29 light reconnaissance aircraft and was evacuated Tuesday.

Speaking by phone from Dubai, he said in Tajikistan, the pilots had lived in poorly heated accommodation and at times had to drink river water.

Ab Wajid said the pilots were still worried about their families, who many had left in Afghanistan.

“It’s hard for them, because they left the place we used to live in. Now they’re living somewhere else and nobody is there to support and help,” he said. “But still thanks God, thanks God that we are out of there,” he said, referring to Tajikistan.

The pilots in Dubai are now being processed to allow them to be resettled in the U.S.
Family of 5 in hiding from Taliban pleads for help getting out of Afghanistan

“All the guys are happy,” said Haseebullah Ibrahimkhail, a helicopter pilot also on Tuesday’s flight. “You can see it in their faces.”

Ibrahimkhail said he was missing his wife and two young daughters who are in Hungary now, having fled Afghanistan. He said he was also preoccupied with thinking about his comrades still in Afghanistan.

Thousands more former Afghan Air Force and other military personnel are still trapped in Afghanistan, with many still appealing for evacuation by the U.S., according to Hicks. Ibrahimkhail said his former comrades fear execution if found, and are barely venturing outside, meaning they are unable to work and are now struggling to feed their families.

The Taliban are reportedly searching for former military personnel and some pilots have told ABC their relatives had been questioned about their whereabouts.

Hick’s NGO, Sacred Promise, is lobbying the U.S. to prioritize the evacuation of the pilots still in Afghanistan, where he said the danger to them was growing.

“We get stories, pretty much daily, either of beatings or having to move,” said Hicks. “And frankly, it’s not going to go away anytime soon — this is going to continue either until we get them out or until the worst case happens.”

Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(LONDON) — Queen Elizabeth II canceled a planned public appearance Sunday after spraining her back.

In a statement, Buckingham Palace said the queen “has decided this morning with great regret that she will not be able to attend today’s Remembrance Sunday Service at the Cenotaph.”

It said she was “disappointed that she will miss the service.”

This is the first time the 95-year-old monarch has missed the Cenotaph because of ill health, ABC News royal contributor Victoria Murphy said. She has missed the event, which commemorates the contribution of British and Commonwealth military and civilian servicemen and women in the two World Wars for other reasons, in the past.

The queen’s son, Charles, the prince of Wales, attended the event in her place Sunday, and placed a wreath at the memorial on her behalf. Charles’ wife, Camilla, the duchess of Cornwall, and Prince William and Kate Middleton, the duke and duchess of Cambridge, also attended.

Others who attended included the earl and countess of Wessex, the princess royal and vice Admiral Sir Tim Laurence, the duke and duchess of Gloucester, the duke of Kent and Princess Alexandra.

Last month, the queen spent one night in the hospital for “preliminary investigations.” She was released on Oct. 21 and was back at her desk at Windsor Castle that afternoon, according to a palace spokesperson.

The queen had also been scheduled to attend an evening reception on Nov. 1 at the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference, or COP26, in Glasgow, but had been advised by doctors to rest. Murphy said the queen’s sprained back is unrelated to that advice.

Since doctors have advised Queen Elizabeth to rest, the royal household has scaled back her diary, keeping engagements light.

Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(GLASGOW, Scotland) — Leaders from nearly every country in the world have converged upon Glasgow, Scotland, for COP26, the United Nations Climate Change Conference that experts are touting as the most important environmental summit in history.

The conference, delayed by a year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, was designed as the check-in for the progress countries are making after entering the Paris Agreement, which aims to limit global warming to well below 2 degrees Celsius, a value that would be disastrous to exceed, according to climate scientists. More ambitious efforts aim to limit warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius.

Not one country is going into COP26 on track to meeting the goals of the Paris Agreement, according to experts. They will need to work together to find collective solutions that will drastically cut down on greenhouse gas emissions.

“We need to move from commitments into action,” Jim Harmon, chairman of the World Resources Institute, told ABC News. “The path to a better future is still possible, but time is running out.”

All eyes will be on the biggest emitters: China, the U.S. and India. While China is responsible for about 26% of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions, more than all other developed countries combined, the cumulative emissions from the U.S. over the past century are likely twice that of China’s, David Sandalow, a senior research scholar at Columbia University’s Center on Global Energy Policy, told ABC News.

Latest headlines:
-US, China announce joint statement addressing climate crisis
-America ‘ready to take on the challenge,’ Pelosi says
-Obama addresses COP26, endorses Biden’s ‘Build Back Better’ bill
-American agriculture is ready to tackle climate change, agriculture secretary says
-US needs to ‘get in the game’ on clean energy transitions, energy secretary say
-Biden, world leaders push to conserve global forests

Here’s how the conference is developing. All times Eastern.

Nov 13, 3:15 pm
COP26 adopts Glasgow Climate Pact

COP26 has officially adopted the Glasgow Climate Pact, a 10-page document that lays out the groundwork for how the world will attempt to prevent the worst impacts of climate change.

Nearly 200 countries agreed on the importance of addressing climate change but deep divisions still remained about the future of fossil fuels and rich countries’ reluctance to provide full-fledged financial support to countries more vulnerable to the impacts of climate change.

Representatives from several countries said the pact did not go far enough to address the climate crisis but they could not justify leaving Glasgow without any progress on the issue.

-ABC News’ Stephanie Ebbs

Nov 12, 5:10 pm
Final Glasgow deal yet to come as negotiations continue on last day

Despite being the last stipulated date for the COP26, country representatives continue to work on finalizing the draft of the Glasgow deal. The negotiations are expected to continue into the night.

Countries continue to dispute who bears the financial burden of climate action and the deadlines for carbon emissions reductions. Some disagreements also took place over the semantics of the draft as representatives argued over whether “requests” or “urges” was a better fit when talking about climate goals.

The final day also witnessed walkouts and protests from climate activists around the world who claimed their voices were not being heard.

Crowds outside chanted: “Fighting for justice, and for liberation.”

Nov 11, 4:33 pm
Developing, vulnerable countries point fingers at rich countries, COP26 draft letter

Developing countries, including top emitters China and India, are asking for changes to the COP26 draft letter focusing more on reparations from established countries.

On Wednesday, Diego Pacheco Balanza, the head of Bolivia’s delegation and spokesman for the Like-Minded Developing Countries group, along with 21 other countries released an opposition to the draft agreement.

They say it is unfair for rich countries who built their economies on fossil fuels to tell developing countries what to do without recognizing that historical responsibility.

“We will never achieve the targets they are putting forward for the entire world. So we need to fight — the developing world — against this carbon colonialism,” Balanza said at a press conference Friday.

The statement comes amid rising concerns from vulnerable countries in the Global South, which claim that COP26 isn’t focusing enough on their needs.

Uganda’s Vanessa Nakate emphasized that any additional global temperature warming could lead to more suffering in her country.

“A 2.4-degree [warmer] world is a death sentence for communities like mine; 1.2 degrees is already hell for us,” Nakate told reporters Wednesday night.

Similarly, Elizabeth Wathuti from Kenya spoke about climate-related starvation in her country, urging leaders to keep those affected by it at the front of their minds.

“The big question is, are the leaders here going to step up to do what must be done to save those lives and livelihoods that are at stake?” Wathuti asked. “I come from Kenya where over 2 million Kenyans are facing climate-related starvation and I need answers when I go back to my communities to my country. What are we going to tell these people whose lives and livelihoods are at stake when we go back?”

Nov 10, 3:29 pm
US, China announce joint statement addressing climate crisis

Top carbon emitters U.S. and China have committed to working together on reducing emissions and transitioning to renewable energy over the next decade, according to U.S. Special Envoy for Climate John Kerry.

Kerry said it’s important that the countries work together on climate issues.

“And as I’ve said many times, the United States and China have no shortage of differences. But on climate, cooperation is the only way to get things done,” he told reporters Wednesday.

ABC News’ Stephanie Ebbs

Nov 09, 1:39 pm
America ‘ready to take on the challenge,’ Pelosi says

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi focused on the domestic political success of the Build Back Better plan and its investment in climate change while speaking to reporters at COP26, continuing the message that America is back on the international climate stage.

“We come here equipped, ready to take on the challenge to meet the moment,” Pelosi said.

Pelosi said she still plans to pass the reconciliation bill the week of Nov. 15 and backed up remarks made by former President Barack Obama on Monday — that both he and President Biden could take more aggressive action on climate change if it wasn’t for near Republican control on Capitol Hill.

“Let me just say that when President Obama was president and we had majority in the first term … we did pass in the House a very strong climate bill,” she said.

“Sixty votes in the Senate is an obstacle that is very hard to overcome and is another subject for another day.”

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez also declared that “America is back” but was more critical, saying that leaders will need to “actually deliver.”

“We’re here to say that we’re not just back, we’re different … and we are more open, I think, to questioning prior assumptions about what is politically possible and that is what is exciting about this time,” she said.

ABC News’ Stephanie Ebbs

 

Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(GLASGOW, Scotland) — Leaders from nearly every country in the world have converged upon Glasgow, Scotland, for COP26, the United Nations Climate Change Conference that experts are touting as the most important environmental summit in history.

The conference, delayed by a year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, was designed as the check-in for the progress countries are making after entering the Paris Agreement, which aims to limit global warming to well below 2 degrees Celsius, a value that would be disastrous to exceed, according to climate scientists. More ambitious efforts aim to limit warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius.

Not one country is going into COP26 on track to meeting the goals of the Paris Agreement, according to experts. They will need to work together to find collective solutions that will drastically cut down on greenhouse gas emissions.

“We need to move from commitments into action,” Jim Harmon, chairman of the World Resources Institute, told ABC News. “The path to a better future is still possible, but time is running out.”

All eyes will be on the biggest emitters: China, the U.S. and India. While China is responsible for about 26% of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions, more than all other developed countries combined, the cumulative emissions from the U.S. over the past century are likely twice that of China’s, David Sandalow, a senior research scholar at Columbia University’s Center on Global Energy Policy, told ABC News.

Latest headlines:
-US, China announce joint statement addressing climate crisis
-America ‘ready to take on the challenge,’ Pelosi says
-Obama addresses COP26, endorses Biden’s ‘Build Back Better’ bill
-American agriculture is ready to tackle climate change, agriculture secretary says
-US needs to ‘get in the game’ on clean energy transitions, energy secretary say
-Biden, world leaders push to conserve global forests

Here’s how the conference is developing. All times Eastern.

Nov 12, 5:10 pm
Final Glasgow deal yet to come as negotiations continue on last day

Despite being the last stipulated date for the COP26, country representatives continue to work on finalizing the draft of the Glasgow deal. The negotiations are expected to continue into the night.

Countries continue to dispute who bears the financial burden of climate action and the deadlines for carbon emissions reductions. Some disagreements also took place over the semantics of the draft as representatives argued over whether “requests” or “urges” was a better fit when talking about climate goals.

The final day also witnessed walkouts and protests from climate activists around the world who claimed their voices were not being heard.

Crowds outside chanted: “Fighting for justice, and for liberation.”

Nov 11, 4:33 pm
Developing, vulnerable countries point fingers at rich countries, COP26 draft letter

Developing countries, including top emitters China and India, are asking for changes to the COP26 draft letter focusing more on reparations from established countries.

On Wednesday, Diego Pacheco Balanza, the head of Bolivia’s delegation and spokesman for the Like-Minded Developing Countries group, along with 21 other countries released an opposition to the draft agreement.

They say it is unfair for rich countries who built their economies on fossil fuels to tell developing countries what to do without recognizing that historical responsibility.

“We will never achieve the targets they are putting forward for the entire world. So we need to fight — the developing world — against this carbon colonialism,” Balanza said at a press conference Friday.

The statement comes amid rising concerns from vulnerable countries in the Global South, which claim that COP26 isn’t focusing enough on their needs.

Uganda’s Vanessa Nakate emphasized that any additional global temperature warming could lead to more suffering in her country.

“A 2.4-degree [warmer] world is a death sentence for communities like mine; 1.2 degrees is already hell for us,” Nakate told reporters Wednesday night.

Similarly, Elizabeth Wathuti from Kenya spoke about climate-related starvation in her country, urging leaders to keep those affected by it at the front of their minds.

“The big question is, are the leaders here going to step up to do what must be done to save those lives and livelihoods that are at stake?” Wathuti asked. “I come from Kenya where over 2 million Kenyans are facing climate-related starvation and I need answers when I go back to my communities to my country. What are we going to tell these people whose lives and livelihoods are at stake when we go back?”

Nov 10, 3:29 pm
US, China announce joint statement addressing climate crisis

Top carbon emitters U.S. and China have committed to working together on reducing emissions and transitioning to renewable energy over the next decade, according to U.S. Special Envoy for Climate John Kerry.

Kerry said it’s important that the countries work together on climate issues.

“And as I’ve said many times, the United States and China have no shortage of differences. But on climate, cooperation is the only way to get things done,” he told reporters Wednesday.

ABC News’ Stephanie Ebbs

Nov 09, 1:39 pm
America ‘ready to take on the challenge,’ Pelosi says

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi focused on the domestic political success of the Build Back Better plan and its investment in climate change while speaking to reporters at COP26, continuing the message that America is back on the international climate stage.

“We come here equipped, ready to take on the challenge to meet the moment,” Pelosi said.

Pelosi said she still plans to pass the reconciliation bill the week of Nov. 15 and backed up remarks made by former President Barack Obama on Monday — that both he and President Biden could take more aggressive action on climate change if it wasn’t for near Republican control on Capitol Hill.

“Let me just say that when President Obama was president and we had majority in the first term … we did pass in the House a very strong climate bill,” she said.

“Sixty votes in the Senate is an obstacle that is very hard to overcome and is another subject for another day.”

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez also declared that “America is back” but was more critical, saying that leaders will need to “actually deliver.”

“We’re here to say that we’re not just back, we’re different … and we are more open, I think, to questioning prior assumptions about what is politically possible and that is what is exciting about this time,” she said.

ABC News’ Stephanie Ebbs

 

Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(WASHINGTON) — As it again masses troops and equipment on the border with Ukraine, the Russian government is “looking for the opportunity to move further” into Ukrainian territory, the country’s foreign minister warned in an exclusive interview.

“We do not want to scare anyone, but we have to remain vigilant,” Foreign Affairs Minister Dmytro Kuleba told ABC News. “We are extremely worried, but listen — when you live next to Russia for seven years in an armed conflict, you kind of learn to be worried. You get used to it.”

Kuleba just wrapped up a high-profile visit to Washington, meeting Wednesday with President Joe Biden’s top foreign policy aides, Secretary of State Antony Blinken and National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan.

The visit was just the latest exchange between Biden’s administration and that of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, who was infamously urged by former President Donald Trump to announce an investigation into Biden and his son Hunter.

Kuleba noted the “turbulence” in U.S.-Ukrainian relations during the Trump years, but eagerly looked to turn the page — saying ties were “revived, restored, relaunched, whatever word we use.”

U.S. officials have tried to demonstrate that, too, expressing growing concern about Russia’s military movements in recent weeks. Blinken said the U.S. commitment to Ukraine remains “ironclad” and warned Moscow that “any escalatory or aggressive actions would be of great concern by the United States.”

As many as 100,000 Russian troops have been moved to its western border with Ukraine, Zelenskiy said Thursday. Satellite images published by the firm Maxar Technologies last week showed large ground forces deployed 140 miles from the border with heavy equipment, while the defense firm Janes said the buildup was largely covert, with elite ground units and often taking place at night, according to Bloomberg News.

Russian government officials denied the movements, then dismissed concerns about them and accused the U.S. and NATO of aggression.

Ukrainian officials have swung between raising alarm at Russia’s recent actions and downplaying them as a tactic by Russian leader Vladimir Putin meant to create hysteria.

“Russia’s psychological pressure has not worked on us for a long time. Your panic will definitely not help, but it can help the enemy. It can become part of the information war and bring no less harm to the country than the fighting,” Zelenskiy said Thursday.

Standing alongside Kuleba on Wednesday, Blinken said, “We don’t have clarity into Moscow’s intentions, but we do know its playbook,” recalling Putin’s 2014 invasion of Ukraine’s territory, Crimea, which it still occupies, and incursion into eastern Ukraine. That still-smoldering war between Russian-backed separatists and the Ukrainian government has claimed 14,000 lives and counting.

That playbook can be swiftly executed, Kuleba warned, because a similar military buildup in April ended with troops departing, but the infrastructure and equipment largely remaining in place.

“With this infrastructure in place along our border, it will not take Russia a lot of time to resort to an offensive action if it decides to do so, and our goal and our objective is to make everything, everything possible to prevent Russia from making that decision,” he told ABC News.

Part of that effort is boosting U.S. military assistance to Ukraine, which both Kuleba and Blinken called for after their meetings Wednesday. Blinken declined to offer specifics, but Kuleba called for greater intelligence sharing, air defense systems and more.

The Biden administration has been “very specific and very committed” in responding to Russian aggression, he told ABC News, taking a “proactive stance” and walking the walk.

“What is even more important from my conversations here in Washington, I see that the United States are ready not only to talk, but also to act, to act in order to deter Russia and to strengthen Ukraine’s capacity to defend itself,” he said. “This is even more important.”

Selling Ukrainian lethal weapons was at the heart of Trump’s first impeachment and the infamous call between him and Zelenskiy. As the newly elected Ukrainian leader asked Trump for more Javelin anti-tank missiles, Trump turned the conversation to ask for a “favor” and announce a probe of Biden, his son Hunter and Hunter’s time on the board of the Ukrainian state-owned energy company Burisma.

While there was no announcement about new weapons sales, Kuleba said he was “leaving Washington, D.C., in a good mood because this is exactly what we were working for.”

“The truth is, there has been some turbulence in our bilateral relations under the previous administration. There was some hesitations of how this relationship will proceed further in the early days of this administration. But I think that it will not be an exaggeration to say that the quality and the number of contacts between our presidents, between me and foreign secretary, and at all other levels of our teams has been unprecedented,” he told ABC News.

But that’s not to say there aren’t critical differences now, even on the potential threat from Russia. During their joint press conference Wednesday, Blinken refused to say Russia is using energy as a weapon, while Kuleba clearly said it already is, including by halting coal shipments to Ukraine and withholding greater natural gas imports through Ukraine to Europe amid an energy crisis across the continent.

“What is unfolding in Europe now is a very complicated game with many elements in it,” Kuleba said at the State Department, accusing Russia and its ally Belarus of pressuring Europe using energy, propaganda and disinformation, cyber attacks, military buildups, and the migration crisis between Belarus and its neighbors.

Biden has called for stabilizing U.S. relations with Russia, including by holding his summit with Putin in June — a meeting that could have a sequel soon. Kuleba said he understands the sentiment and sees no “risks” that U.S.-Russian dialogue would be “done at the expense of Ukraine,” but he warned that Putin only responds to strength.

“Our experience of recent seven years demonstrates that Moscow understands and respects the language of strength. You do not have to threaten them, you do not have to act, to use force against them, but they respect you if you are strong with them, if you are tough with them,” he said.

One issue, however, where critics say the U.S. is not standing strong is Nord Stream 2, the nearly completed natural gas pipeline connecting Russia and Germany and circumventing Ukraine, Poland and other U.S. partners. Biden waived congressionally-mandated sanctions on the German company constructing the pipeline and its CEO, saying he did not want to damage ties with a key ally. Instead, the U.S. and Germany issued a joint statement, committing to helping Ukraine diversify its energy resources and responding swiftly if Russia withholds gas to Ukraine.

But joined by Poland, Kyiv expressed anger and dismay at the non-binding agreement. Kuleba papered over that disagreement, saying what was most important is that they were talking — but urged action if needed.

“We have differences in seeing how the negative consequences of this project being implemented can be avoided or prevented,” Kuleba told ABC News. “We definitely want the United States to remain vigilant and ready, ready to take action if the current policy fails.”

Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(WASHINGTON) — The State Department has arranged a means out of Afghanistan for the last remaining U.S. citizens who are seeking help departing, a senior State Department official told ABC News.

It is an important milestone for the State Department, nearly three months after President Joe Biden ended the U.S. mission in Afghanistan and the unprecedented, chaotic evacuation operation.

But the situation on the ground has shifted rapidly and repeatedly, making this “milestone” a moving target.

Some Americans who requested assistance have not yet departed, and hundreds of others remain in the country who could change their minds and seek a way out, especially because many of those who are staying are doing so only because extended family members who are Afghans have not been able to get out.

“This mission will continue. These numbers are nothing more than a snapshot on any given day. It’s not that we’re closing up shop, but we are marking an important milestone,” the senior State Department official said.

In total, 385 U.S. citizens have departed Afghanistan with U.S. government help, per the State Department, but that number didn’t include a flight that departed Thursday for Doha, Qatar.

There will be more flights in the coming days, according to the senior official, with fewer than 80 U.S. citizens still in the country and seeking help.

The total number in the coming days could be about 450 U.S. citizens who departed with U.S. government help in total — roughly four times as many as Secretary of State Antony Blinken said remained in the immediate aftermath of Biden’s Aug. 31 withdrawal.

The agency has previously defended that difference by saying the situation on the ground was constantly shifting.

“The number fluctuates as people change their minds about leaving, or as some U.S. citizens choose to go back, as many have family members in Afghanistan they do not want to leave behind, and we’ve seen that — so the number is very fluid,” a State Department spokesperson told ABC News Tuesday.

Some lawmakers and advocacy groups have said the number is even higher, with Sen. Ben Sasse, R-Neb., saying last month the administration “has shamelessly and repeatedly lied about the number of Americans trapped behind Taliban lines.”

The senior State Department official dismissed some of that “bad-faith” criticism as “tinged with politics and partisanship” and repeated the administration’s commitment to giving all U.S. citizens who want out of Afghanistan a way out.

Many Americans who were left behind by the massive evacuation operation in August have also expressed anger and outrage about what they describe as abandonment.

“How can you leave a U.S. citizen with the background that I have, that can be hunted at any time? How can you leave them there?” said Prince Wafa, a 30-year-old naturalized U.S. citizen born in Afghanistan. After serving with U.S. forces for four years and securing a special immigrant visa, Wafa has been living in San Diego, but returned to Afghanistan this summer to help his wife get out.

While Wafa was unable to get a seat on an evacuation flight out before troops left, approximately 6,000 American citizens were evacuated, according to the State Department, out of nearly 124,000 people in total.

The administration still hopes to pick up the pace of flights out of Afghanistan in the coming weeks, especially with help from the Qatari government, which has been arranging chartered Qatari Airways flights. On Friday, Blinken will meet his counterpart, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, for a strategic dialogue where the issue will be among many discussed, the senior official said.

For months now, there have been negotiations among the Qatari and Turkish governments, the Taliban’s interim government and private firms about reopening Kabul’s international airport. But hope for a swift reopening seems to have faded, in particular because of damage to the airport during the August evacuations and concerns over airport security.

The senior official declined to say how close the parties may be beyond that they were “not there yet” and the agency was “still working closely with our partners” on that goal.

But so far, the Taliban itself has not been an issue, according to the senior official.

“The Taliban have been uneven in some areas, but when it comes to safe passage and allowing those who wish to leave the country to leave, I think they have by and large adhered to that commitment, and I think the milestone we achieved yesterday is a testament to that,” the senior State Department official said.

In a joint statement Thursday, delegations from the U.S., Russia, China and Pakistan said they “welcomed the Taliban’s continued commitment to allow for the safe passage of all who wish to travel to and from Afghanistan.” The diplomats met with senior Taliban leaders on the sidelines of their summit in Islamabad Thursday, according to their statement.

While hundreds of Americans and other foreigners have gotten out, there’s been intense criticism about the many Afghans left behind and still seeking departure, especially those who worked for the U.S. military or diplomatic missions and whose lives are now at risk.

“The U.S. military and diplomatic presence in Afghanistan may have ended in August, but the U.S. government’s obligation did not,” said Sunil Varghese, policy director of the International Refugee Assistance Project, or IRAP, on an advocacy call on Tuesday. “The Biden administration must provide immediate, realistic pathways to safety for these communities.”

The senior State Department official declined to say how many Afghan partners the administration has helped evacuate. But they said thanks to the work of nongovernmental partners like veterans groups, a couple thousand have been able to fly out on chartered flights, including some on those arranged by the Qatari government where the U.S. has facilitated seats.

“Even if we reach a point where every American who has raised his or her hand and is ready to leave has departed, our efforts to assist others, that will continue,” the senior official added.

Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(GLASGOW, Scotland) — Leaders from nearly every country in the world have converged upon Glasgow, Scotland, for COP26, the United Nations Climate Change Conference that experts are touting as the most important environmental summit in history.

The conference, delayed by a year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, was designed as the check-in for the progress countries are making after entering the Paris Agreement, which aims to limit global warming to well below 2 degrees Celsius, a value that would be disastrous to exceed, according to climate scientists. More ambitious efforts aim to limit warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius.

Not one country is going into COP26 on track to meeting the goals of the Paris Agreement, according to experts. They will need to work together to find collective solutions that will drastically cut down on greenhouse gas emissions.

“We need to move from commitments into action,” Jim Harmon, chairman of the World Resources Institute, told ABC News. “The path to a better future is still possible, but time is running out.”

All eyes will be on the biggest emitters: China, the U.S. and India. While China is responsible for about 26% of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions, more than all other developed countries combined, the cumulative emissions from the U.S. over the past century are likely twice that of China’s, David Sandalow, a senior research scholar at Columbia University’s Center on Global Energy Policy, told ABC News.

Latest headlines:
-US, China announce joint statement addressing climate crisis
-America ‘ready to take on the challenge,’ Pelosi says
-Obama addresses COP26, endorses Biden’s ‘Build Back Better’ bill
-American agriculture is ready to tackle climate change, agriculture secretary says
-US needs to ‘get in the game’ on clean energy transitions, energy secretary say
-New climate targets announced for sports worldwide
-Biden, world leaders push to conserve global forests
-‘It’ll take trillions,’ Jeff Bezos says of his $10 billion climate pledge
-Biden apologizes for Trump administration pulling out of the Paris Agreement

Here’s how the conference is developing. All times Eastern.

Nov 10, 3:29 pm
US, China announce joint statement addressing climate crisis

Top carbon emitters U.S. and China have committed to working together on reducing emissions and transitioning to renewable energy over the next decade, according to U.S. Special Envoy for Climate John Kerry.

Kerry said it’s important that the countries work together on climate issues.

“And as I’ve said many times, the United States and China have no shortage of differences. But on climate, cooperation is the only way to get things done,” he told reporters Wednesday.

ABC News’ Stephanie Ebbs

Nov 09, 1:39 pm
America ‘ready to take on the challenge,’ Pelosi says

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi focused on the domestic political success of the Build Back Better plan and its investment in climate change while speaking to reporters at COP26, continuing the message that America is back on the international climate stage.

“We come here equipped, ready to take on the challenge to meet the moment,” Pelosi said.

Pelosi said she still plans to pass the reconciliation bill the week of Nov. 15 and backed up remarks made by former President Barack Obama on Monday — that both he and President Biden could take more aggressive action on climate change if it wasn’t for near Republican control on Capitol Hill.

“Let me just say that when President Obama was president and we had majority in the first term … we did pass in the House a very strong climate bill,” she said.

“Sixty votes in the Senate is an obstacle that is very hard to overcome and is another subject for another day.”

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez also declared that “America is back” but was more critical, saying that leaders will need to “actually deliver.”

“We’re here to say that we’re not just back, we’re different … and we are more open, I think, to questioning prior assumptions about what is politically possible and that is what is exciting about this time,” she said.

ABC News’ Stephanie Ebbs

Nov 08, 5:23 pm
Obama addresses COP26, endorses Biden’s ‘Build Back Better’ bill

During his speech at Monday’s COP26 events, former President Barack Obama shined a spotlight on the upcoming midterm elections and called upon young Americans to consider climate when deciding how to vote.

“Saving the planet isn’t a partisan issue,” Obama said, frustrated over the divided government.

Obama endorsed President Joe Biden’s “Build Back Better” bill and drew a comparison to when “one of our two major parties” made climate change a partisan issue back during his tenure.

On climate change, Obama harkened back to the Paris Agreement, saying, “We have not done nearly enough to address the crisis.”

He called for countries to push for ambitious action and acknowledged that while older generations have failed the young, they “can’t afford hopelessness.”

Addressing the youth participating in protests outside COP26 in Glasgow, Scotland, the former president encouraged them to get more involved to deal with their anxiety over climate change.

“Protests are necessary to raise awareness. Hashtag campaigns can spread awareness,” Obama said. “But to build the broad-based coalitions necessary for bold action, we have to persuade people who either currently don’t agree with us or are indifferent to the issue.”

Nov 05, 1:23 pm
Greta Thunberg leads youth activist march

Swedish activist Greta Thunberg, 18, was among thousands of young people demonstrating outside of COP26.

Thunberg spoke at the Fridays for Future march, the group she founded in 2018, criticizing politicians and labeling the conference as a “failure.”

“It should be obvious that we cannot solve a crisis with the same methods that got us into it in the first place,” Thunberg said.

Many of the demonstrators who spoke to ABC News said they attended the rally to see Thunberg speak.

Some demonstrators said they did not trust their leaders to create real change but were encouraged to see how many other young people were fighting for climate action.

Ugandan activist Vanessa Nakate, 24, also spoke at the protest, where she said Africa was experiencing some of the harshest effects from climate change.

Nakate said she envisions a future when “the world is green again.”

ABC News’ Maggie Rulli

 

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(GLASGOW, Scotland) — Leaders from nearly every country in the world have converged upon Glasgow, Scotland, for COP26, the United Nations Climate Change Conference that experts are touting as the most important environmental summit in history.

The conference, delayed by a year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, was designed as the check-in for the progress countries are making after entering the Paris Agreement, which aims to limit global warming to well below 2 degrees Celsius, a value that would be disastrous to exceed, according to climate scientists. More ambitious efforts aim to limit warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius.

Not one country is going into COP26 on track to meeting the goals of the Paris Agreement, according to experts. They will need to work together to find collective solutions that will drastically cut down on greenhouse gas emissions.

“We need to move from commitments into action,” Jim Harmon, chairman of the World Resources Institute, told ABC News. “The path to a better future is still possible, but time is running out.”

All eyes will be on the biggest emitters: China, the U.S. and India. While China is responsible for about 26% of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions, more than all other developed countries combined, the cumulative emissions from the U.S. over the past century are likely twice that of China’s, David Sandalow, a senior research scholar at Columbia University’s Center on Global Energy Policy, told ABC News.

Latest Headlines:
-‘Already to take on the challenge,’ Pelosi says
-Obama addresses COP26, endorses Biden’s ‘Build Back Better’ bill
-American agriculture is ready to tackle climate change, agriculture secretary says
-End of coal in sight, UN says
-US needs to ‘get in the game’ on clean energy transitions, energy secretary say
-Dozens of countries promise to phase out coal
-New climate targets announced for sports worldwide
-‘America showed up,’ Biden says of time at summit
-Biden, world leaders push to conserve global forests
-‘It’ll take trillions,’ Jeff Bezos says of his $10 billion climate pledge
-US submits long-term strategy to UN
-Biden apologizes for Trump administration pulling out of the Paris Agreement

Here’s how the conference is developing. All times Eastern.

Nov 09, 1:39 pm
America ‘ready to take on the challenge,’ Pelosi says

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi focused on the domestic political success of the Build Back Better plan and its investment in climate change while speaking to reporters at COP26, continuing the message that America is back on the international climate stage.

“We come here equipped, ready to take on the challenge to meet the moment,” Pelosi said.

Pelosi said she still plans to pass the reconciliation bill the week of Nov. 15 and backed up remarks made by former President Barack Obama on Monday — that both he and President Biden could take more aggressive action on climate change if it wasn’t for near Republican control on Capitol Hill.

“Let me just say that when President Obama was president and we had majority in the first term … we did pass in the House a very strong climate bill,” she said.

“Sixty votes in the Senate is an obstacle that is very hard to overcome and is another subject for another day.”

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez also declared that “America is back” but was more critical, saying that leaders will need to “actually deliver.”

“We’re here to say that we’re not just back, we’re different … and we are more open, I think, to questioning prior assumptions about what is politically possible and that is what is exciting about this time,” she said.

ABC News’ Stephanie Ebbs

Nov 08, 5:23 pm
Obama addresses COP26, endorses Biden’s ‘Build Back Better’ bill

During his speech at Monday’s COP26 events, former President Barack Obama shined a spotlight on the upcoming midterm elections and called upon young Americans to consider climate when deciding how to vote.

“Saving the planet isn’t a partisan issue,” Obama said, frustrated over the divided government.

Obama endorsed President Joe Biden’s “Build Back Better” bill and drew a comparison to when “one of our two major parties” made climate change a partisan issue back during his tenure.

On climate change, Obama harkened back to the Paris Agreement, saying, “We have not done nearly enough to address the crisis.”

He called for countries to push for ambitious action and acknowledged that while older generations have failed the young, they “can’t afford hopelessness.”

Addressing the youth participating in protests outside COP26 in Glasgow, Scotland, the former president encouraged them to get more involved to deal with their anxiety over climate change.

“Protests are necessary to raise awareness. Hashtag campaigns can spread awareness,” Obama said. “But to build the broad-based coalitions necessary for bold action, we have to persuade people who either currently don’t agree with us or are indifferent to the issue.”

Nov 05, 1:23 pm
Greta Thunberg leads youth activist march

Swedish activist Greta Thunberg, 18, was among thousands of young people demonstrating outside of COP26.

Thunberg spoke at the Fridays for Future march, the group she founded in 2018, criticizing politicians and labeling the conference as a “failure.”

“It should be obvious that we cannot solve a crisis with the same methods that got us into it in the first place,” Thunberg said.

Many of the demonstrators who spoke to ABC News said they attended the rally to see Thunberg speak.

Some demonstrators said they did not trust their leaders to create real change but were encouraged to see how many other young people were fighting for climate action.

Ugandan activist Vanessa Nakate, 24, also spoke at the protest, where she said Africa was experiencing some of the harshest effects from climate change.

Nakate said she envisions a future when “the world is green again.”

ABC News’ Maggie Rulli

Nov 05, 11:00 am
Despite positive momentum, ‘job is not done,’ John Kerry says

The sense of urgency at COP26 is at an all-time high but it’s too soon to declare victory, the U.S. special presidential envoy for climate, John Kerry, said on Friday.

“Let me emphasize as strongly as I can: Job not done,” Kerry told reporters at a news conference. “Job not done the day this ends.”

The summit is “just the beginning” of a decade-long race to drastically cut emissions, Kerry said.

Countries cannot leave the conference and continue on as “business as usual,” he noted, adding, “I hope that will continue and translate into a goodwill that brings out a very strong decision at the end of next week.”

ABC News’ Stephanie Ebbs

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(NEW YORK) — Trevor Reed, the 30-year-old former Marine who has been detained on what his family says are trumped up charges in Russia for over two years, has gone on hunger strike, his family confirmed Monday.

It marks a dramatic escalation in Reed’s battle to secure his freedom, with his family expressing growing frustration with the Biden administration for not doing enough, they said.

“While we are immensely proud of our son’s strength of character, we are also extremely worried about his health,” his parents Joey and Paula and sister Taylor said in a statement Monday.

Reed’s Russian girlfriend told ABC News that he started his hunger strike last Thursday, Nov. 4. His family confirmed the news through his Russian attorney, saying in a statement Monday that he is protesting “his arbitrary detention and Russian authorities’ numerous and flagrant violations of his basic human rights and his rights under Russian law.”

Reed has been in solitary confinement for nearly three months now, and he has not been able to contact his family in nearly four months. The former Marine presidential guard has been in Russian custody since August 2019, sentenced to nine years last July for assaulting two police officers. The U.S. embassy in Moscow has called the trial absurd, as the two officers struggled to recall the alleged incident in court hearings and contradicted themselves repeatedly.

In a labor camp in the remote Mordovia region for months now, Reed has been confined to a small cell that doesn’t include a toilet, and items that U.S. Ambassador to Russia John Sullivan brought for him when he visited in September have not been given to him by prison guards, according to his family.

“Our concern is magnified by Russian authorities’ decision to hold Trevor incommunicado which makes it impossible for us or the Embassy to monitor his health,” they said.

After President Joe Biden met Russian leader Vladimir Putin in June, there was hope for and speculation about a prisoner swap, especially because Biden said he raised his case and that of Paul Whelan, another U.S. citizen detained by Russia.

But there was no deal reached in the weeks and months that followed, and a family representative told ABC News that they are not aware of any talks ongoing right now to free Reed.

In their statement, the Reed family urged the Biden administration to exchange one of the two Russians whose names have been floated publicly by Russian state media and senior Russian officials as a possible exchange. Viktor Bout, known as the “Merchant of Death” because of his notorious work as a prolific arms dealer, is serving a 25-year sentence in U.S. federal prison, while Konstantin Yaroshenko is serving a 20-year sentence for attempting to smuggle cocaine and other illicit drugs to the U.S. as a pilot.

While Reed’s family members note they have been “patient,” it’s clear they are getting increasingly frustrated and anguished. They said Monday they hope Biden and his national security adviser Jake Sullivan “will find the time to see us” when they next visit Washington and “find the political will to bring our son home.”

But while they said they “look forward to our son receiving” the administration’s attention for his hunger strike, the State Department was succinct on the subject. Spokesperson Ned Price said Monday that the agency is aware of reports of Reed’s hunger strike, but declined to comment further, citing privacy concerns.

Ambassador Sullivan last visited Reed in prison camp on Sept. 22 and will try to visit him again this month, Price added, as well as Whelan.

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(WARSAW, Poland) — An extraordinary standoff is taking place on the border between Poland and Belarus, after Belarusian authorities escorted hundreds of migrants up to it, in a dramatic escalation of what European countries have called a campaign by Belarus’ authoritarian leader, Alexander Lukashenko, to use migrants as “weapons.”

Videos published by Belarusian media and Poland’s defense ministry on Monday showed a long column of people, mostly from the Middle East, being marched by Belarusian guards in camouflage along a highway that leads up the Polish border region of Podlaskie.

The line, estimated to be made up of more than 1,000 people, was blocked by Polish border guards standing behind barbed wire fences. Videos posted later showed chaotic clashes, with some migrants trying to break down fences, while dozens of Polish police barred their path and Belarusian guards stood behind blocking their retreat. There were reports Polish border police used tear gas to push back the crowd, and in some videos, the sounds of gunshots could be heard.

As night fell, video from a helicopter released by Poland’s interior ministry showed dozens of tents set up near the border close to the village of Kuznica.

Poland’s government on Monday vowed not to let the migrants cross and accused Lukashenko of seeking a confrontation and calling it a “hybrid attack.”

“There are large groups of migrants in the area of ​​our border, which are fully controlled by the Belarusian security services and army,” Poland’s government said in a statement Monday. “By creating an artificial migration route and cynically exploiting migrants, Lukashenka is trying to destabilize Poland, Lithuania and Latvia, and to force the European Union to lift the sanctions imposed on the Minsk regime.”

The standoff escalates a crisis that has been worsening for months. Lukashenko is accused of luring in thousands of migrants since late spring and pushing them over the border into Poland and Lithuania as retaliation for the European Union’s support for Belarus’ pro-democracy movement that came close to toppling him with mass protests last year.

Poland and Lithuania have taken tough steps to block people from crossing, but Belarus refuses to allow them to return; the result has been that hundreds of people, including families with young children, have become trapped in the forests along the border, stranded without food or shelter for weeks. Temperatures are close to freezing and at least eight people have already died since September.

When ABC News reporters visited the border last month, they encountered three Yemeni asylum seekers who had been trapped in the forest for two weeks, pushed back and forth between Polish and Belarusian border guards.

One of the men, Rami Olaqi, told ABC News that Belarusian guards had robbed and beaten them before shoving them back toward Poland.

“They don’t care,” he said. “It will be better for them if we die, you know?”

It’s just a way “for the Belarusian state to intimidate Europe. And using the refugees as a bullet in their war,” Olaqi said.

Polish border guards have been pushing people back across the border, even when they have sought asylum, people who have tried to cross and local activists have said. Most experts consider such pushbacks illegal under international law.

Poland’s government spokesman. Piotr Muller. on Monday said Poland estimates there are around 3,000-4,000 migrants currently near the border, and that there are up to 10,000 in Belarus right now hoping to cross into Poland.

Lithuania’s Interior ministry on Monday said it had asked the government to consider declaring a state of emergency at the border in view of the situation with Poland.

The flows of migrants began when Belarus eased visa restrictions for dozens of countries, including many in the Middle East. Once in the country, migrants told ABC News Belarusian border guards often lead them to crossing points and cut holes in border fences to let them through.

Lukashenko himself in public speeches has repeatedly threatened to let more migrants through. Belarus’ authorities Monday accused Poland of being to blame for the crisis and claimed Belarus was prioritizing the migrants’ safety.

“The Belarusian side is taking the necessary measures to ensure the smooth functioning of the channels of international communication, as well as the safety of people moving along the highway,” Belarus’ State Border Committee wrote in a statement on its Facebook page.

There were calls on Monday for the European Union to respond. Ursula von der Leyen, head of the European Commission, on Monday said the European Union should approve further sanctions against Lukashenko’s government.

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) also issued a statement saying it is concerned by the escalation at the border and it “stands ready to further assist our allies and maintain safety and security in the region.”

“The Lukashenka regime’s use of migrants as a hybrid tactic is unacceptable,” the alliance of which Poland and Lithunia are members said.

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