神學士進喀布爾大觀園 驚訝 「2女生當街跟我說哈囉」

編譯柯立偉、周辰陽／綜合報導 2021-08-17 21:48

喀布爾已搖身一變成為大樓林立、車水馬龍的現代都市，讓許多首次進入喀布爾的年輕神學士士兵，面對燈紅酒綠的花花世界，看得目不暇給。（歐新社）

自從美軍於2001年發動阿富汗戰爭、掌控首都喀布爾(Kabul)以來，這個飽受神學士(Taliban，另譯塔利班)政權以嚴格伊斯蘭教法框限五年的城市，在美國等西方國家20年的現代化進程後，喀布爾已搖身一變成為大樓林立、車水馬龍的現代都市，讓許多第一次進入喀布爾的年輕神學士士兵，面對燈紅酒綠的花花世界，看得目不暇給。

「我喜歡喀布爾 讓我留下來」

來自偏遠山區的神學士士兵伊贊努(Ezanullah)表示，他剛進入喀布爾時，就被眼前的景象嚇到了，最讓他驚訝的，莫過於在路上遇到兩位女性對他說「哈囉」；他說：「那兩個女孩子說剛開始很怕我，覺得我很恐怖，但我告訴他們，他們就像我的妹妹一樣，只要把頭髮用希賈布(hijab)遮好，就會讓她們繼續工作、上學，並保證她們的安全。」

伊贊努指出，他很喜歡這座城市，想要求上級讓他留下來；他說：「我不想離開喀布爾。」

開心跳蹦床 興高采烈坐旋轉木馬

神學士15日順利進入喀布爾後，眾多恐慌的平民百姓湧往機場絕望地試圖逃離，但有記者拍到神學士的部分戰士似乎是響應領導人宣布的「戰爭結束了，像小朋友一樣地成群結隊跑到主題樂園大玩特玩。

根據路透記者在推特分享的主題樂園影像，一群神學士戰士抱著突擊步槍，獨自一人或兩人一組地開著碰碰車撞來撞去，另外一組神學士戰士則興高采烈地玩著旋轉木馬。

也有記者在推特上傳一組「恐怖分子」在蹦床開心地跳躍的影片，另批人則在總統府的健身房笑嘻嘻地擺弄各式器材，譏諷他們正試著要鍛鍊以「勝任統治」(Fit for governing)。

年輕神學士 街頭拿手機自拍

1996年神學士取得阿富汗政權後，堅拒現代化、西方化，電視、音樂等完全被禁止；此外，女性權利受到極為嚴重的限制，不能在沒有男性親屬的陪伴下出門，且出門時必須穿著連眼睛都遮住的罩袍；這樣的統治場景，對於35歲以上的阿富汗人而言記憶猶新，他們很難信任神學士的保證。

美聯社報導，神學士接管喀布爾已經兩天，平民生活也漸漸恢復正常，在路上甚至可以看到神學士年輕士兵拿著智慧型手機自拍；不論神學士是否真的改變，要贏回阿富汗人民的信任還需要一段很長的時間。

【阿富汗進行式】 #鄰國的善意

伊斯蘭原教旨主義武裝組織塔利班在 10 日內迅速重掌阿富汗政權。美軍與各國僑民撤離，網路上更瘋傳阿富汗人民在機場逃竄的影片，槍聲與倉皇的人影讓人看了怵目驚心。

面對這一波難民潮，塔利班完全掌握阿富汗的兩天後，烏干達宣布將答應美國請求，暫時收容 2,000 名阿富汗難民。從人道救援的角度來看，這一消息令人動容。

收容最多難民的國家，往往都會是鄰國。對華文世界的讀者而言或許較不熟悉，烏干達其實在近幾年一直是世界前五大難民收容國，據聯合國難民署的最新數據，烏干達目前共收容約 140 萬難民，只僅次於土耳其與哥倫比亞。

阿富汗：塔利班開槍打死數名抗議者

星期四，在阿富汗城市阿薩達巴德，塔利班武裝分子向揮舞國旗的人開槍，造成數人死亡，一天前，三人在類似的抗議活動中喪生。

通過路透

2021 年 8 月 19 日 12:54

上週末，阿富汗加茲尼市內的一名塔利班戰士。

（照片來源：路透社/STRINGER）

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一名目擊者說，星期四在阿富汗阿薩達巴德市，塔利班武裝分子向在獨立日集會上揮舞國旗的人開槍，造成數人死亡，一天前，三人在類似的抗議活動中喪生。

據媒體報導，在某些情況下，人們揮舞著阿富汗國旗的抗議活動是在拆除塔利班白色旗幟之後發生的，這是自塔利班週日在全國取得驚人進展並佔領首都喀布爾以來，民眾反對塔利班的第一個跡象。

目擊者穆罕默德薩利姆在東部城市庫納爾省首府庫納爾省說，目前尚不清楚阿薩達巴德的傷亡是由開火還是由其引發的踩踏造成的。

“數百人走上街頭，”薩利姆說。“起初我很害怕，不想去，但當我看到我的一個鄰居加入時，我拿出了家裡的旗幟。”

“有幾人在塔利班的踩踏和射擊中喪生和受傷。”

無法立即聯繫到塔利班發言人發表評論。

據媒體報導，東部城市賈拉拉巴德和帕克蒂亞省的一個地區也發生了抗議活動，但沒有發生嚴重暴力事件的報導。

8 月 19 日，阿富汗慶祝 1919 年脫離英國控製而獨立。

據目擊者和媒體報導，週三，塔利班武裝分子在賈拉拉巴德向揮舞著黑色、紅色和綠色國旗的抗議者開槍，造成三人死亡。

媒體週三在阿薩達巴德和另一個東部城市霍斯特報導了類似的場景，一些地方的抗議者拆除了塔利班的白色伊斯蘭旗幟。

呼籲結束機場人群

對抗議活動的鎮壓將引發人們對塔利班自 1996 至 2001 年嚴格限制婦女、公開處決和炸毀古代佛像以來改變的承諾的新懷疑。

他們現在表示，他們希望和平不會報復舊敵，並會在伊斯蘭法律框架內尊重婦女的權利。

自塔利班部隊週日進入以來，喀布爾總體上保持平靜，但機場一直處於混亂狀態，人們紛紛趕往國外。

一名北約和一名塔利班官員說，自那時以來，已有 12 人在機場內外喪生。塔利班官員說，死亡是由槍擊或踩踏造成的。

他敦促沒有合法旅行權利的人回家。“我們不想在機場傷害任何人，”這位拒絕透露姓名的塔利班官員說。

一位西方安全官員說，美國和其他西方大國繼續從首都機場撤離本國國民和一些阿富汗工作人員，自周日以來，已有約 8,000 人從該機場撤離。

根據前總統唐納德特朗普政府去年談判達成的一項協議，美國同意撤軍，以換取塔利班保證他們不會讓阿富汗被用來發動恐怖襲擊。

塔利班還同意在外國軍隊離開時不攻擊他們。

2021 年 8 月 17 日，在德國柏林舉行的反對支持塔利班的抗議活動中，一個人舉著阿富汗國旗（圖片來源：ANNEGRET HILSE / REUTERS）

喬拜登總統表示，美軍將繼續駐留，直到美國人的撤離完成，即使這意味著美國撤軍的最後期限將超過 8 月 31 日。

Afghanistan: Taliban shoots and kills several protesters

Several people were killed on Thursday in the Afghan city of Asadabad when Taliban fighters fired on people waving the national flag, a day after three people were killed in a similar protest.

By REUTERS

AUGUST 19, 2021 12:54

A TALIBAN fighter inside the city of Ghazni, Afghanistan, last weekend.

(photo credit: REUTERS/STRINGER)

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Several people were killed on Thursday in the Afghan city of Asadabad when Taliban fighters fired on people waving the national flag at an Independence Day rally, a witness said, a day after three people were killed in a similar protest.

The protests by people waving the Afghan flag, in some cases after tearing down white Taliban flags according to media, are the first signs of popular opposition to the Taliban since their stunning advance across the country and capture of the capital, Kabul, on Sunday.

It was unclear if the casualties in Asadabad resulted from the firing or from the stampede that it triggered, witness Mohammed Salim said from the eastern city, the capital of Kunar province.

"Hundreds of people came out on the streets," Salim said. "At first I was scared and didn't want to go but when I saw one of my neighbors joined in I took out the flag I have at home."

"Several people were killed and injured in the stampede and firing by the Taliban."

A Taliban spokesman was not immediately available for comment.

There were also protests but no reports of serious violence in the eastern city of Jalalabad and a district of Paktia province, media reported.

Afghanistan celebrates its 1919 independence from British control on August 19.

On Wednesday, Taliban fighters fired at protesters waving the black, red and green national flag in Jalalabad, killing three, witnesses and media reported.

Media reported similar scenes in Asadabad and another eastern city, Khost, on Wednesday with protesters in some places tearing down the white Islamic banner of the Taliban.

CALL FOR END TO AIRPORT CROWDS

The crackdown on protests will raise new doubts about Taliban assurances they have changed since their 1996-2001 rule when they severely restricted women, staged public executions and blew up ancient Buddhist statues.

They now say they want peace will not take revenge against old enemies and would respect the rights of women within the framework of Islamic law.

While Kabul has been generally calm since Taliban forces entered on Sunday, the airport has been in chaos as people rushed for a way out of the country.

Twelve people have been killed in and around the airport since then, a NATO and a Taliban official said. The deaths were caused either by gunshots or by stampedes, the Taliban official said.

He urged people who do not have the legal right to travel to go home. "We don't want to hurt anyone at the airport," said the Taliban official, who declined to be identified.

The United States and other Western powers pressed on with the evacuation of their nationals and some of their Afghan staff from the capital's airport, from where about 8,000 people have been flown out since Sunday, a Western security official said.

Under a pact negotiated last year by former President Donald Trump's administration, the United States agreed to withdraw its forces in exchange for a Taliban guarantee they would not let Afghanistan be used to launch terrorist attacks.

The Taliban also agreed not to attack foreign forces as they left.

A person holds an Afghanistan's flag during a protest against support for the Taliban, in Berlin, Germany, August 17, 2021 (credit: ANNEGRET HILSE / REUTERS)

President Joe Biden said U.S. forces would remain until the evacuation of Americans was finished, even if that meant staying past an August 31 U.S. deadline for withdrawal.

數千名外交官和平民從阿富汗撤離

此外，在塔利班奪取該國控制權後，英國每天設法從阿富汗撤走大約 1,000 人。

通過路透

2021 年 8 月 18 日 15:12

2021 年 8 月 14 日，塔利班部隊在阿富汗赫拉特的一條街道上巡邏

（照片來源：路透社/STRINGER）

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阿富汗首都的一位西方安全官員周三告訴路透社，到目前為止，已有超過 2,200 名外交官和其他平民通過軍事航班撤離喀布爾。

這位官員說，目前尚不清楚何時從喀布爾恢復民用航班。

國防部航班從阿富汗抵達英國皇家空軍 Brize Norton（圖片來源：REUTERS）

此外，內政部長普里蒂·帕特爾 (Priti Patel) 週三表示，在塔利班奪取該國控制權後，英國每天設法從阿富汗撤離約 1,000 人。

“到目前為止，我們每天約有 1,000 人離開，”她告訴 BBC 電視台。

“我們仍在招募英國國民……以及那些屬於我們當地就業計劃的阿富汗國民。”

一名外交部副部長周三表示，波蘭已從阿富汗撤離了約 50 人，這是在塔利班叛亂分子佔領首都後將外交官和其他平民撤離該國的國際努力的一部分。

波蘭週二表示，其疏散名單上約有 100 人。它承諾在其飛機上為其他試圖從喀布爾機場離開阿富汗的人提供位置，那裡的混亂場面給一些疏散工作造成了問題。

“大約有 50 人從阿富汗撤離，他們現在在波蘭駐烏茲別克斯坦領事館的照料下是安全的，”Marcin Przydacz 告訴記者。“一架民用飛機正在等著他們，很快就會將他們運送到波蘭。”

Przydacz 說，被疏散的人中包括一名波蘭公民，而其他人則是曾在波蘭軍事和外交使團工作過的人。

此外，法國外交部長讓-伊夫·勒德里昂 (Jean-Yves Le Drian) 週三表示，25 名法國國民和 184 名阿富汗人一夜之間從阿富汗撤離，並剛剛降落在阿布扎比。

匈牙利週三表示，它已組織從阿富汗撤離了 26 名作為承包商的匈牙利國民，他們將很快乘坐另一個國家組織的航班返回匈牙利。

此外，該國副外長萊文特·馬扎爾在新聞發布會上說，該國正在向阿富汗派遣自己的疏散任務，以幫助仍在喀布爾的其他匈牙利人。

週三抵達德國的其他阿富汗人描述了在他們被疏散到安全之前喀布爾機場的混亂和可怕的場景，並說他們擔心他們留下的親人的生命。

在從塔什幹起飛的航班上降落在法蘭克福後不久，男人、女人和兒童說，在該國以驚人的速度落入塔利班之手後，他們是被北約軍隊撤離的少數幸運兒。

“我們不得不強行通過，我的小兒子摔倒了，我們很害怕，但我們成功了，”一位女士用德語說。

Thousands of diplomats, civilians evacuated from Afghanistan

In addition, Britain has managed to remove around 1,000 people a day from Afghanistan after the Taliban seized control of the country.

By REUTERS

AUGUST 18, 2021 15:12

TALIBAN FORCES patrol a street in Herat, Afghanistan, August 14, 2021

(photo credit: REUTERS/STRINGER)

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Over 2,200 diplomats and other civilians have so far been evacuated on military flights out of Kabul, a Western security official in the Afghan capital told Reuters on Wednesday.

There was no clarity yet on when civilian flights will resume from Kabul, the official said.

Ministry of Defence Flight Arrives at RAF Brize Norton from Afghanistan (credit: REUTERS)

In addition, Britain has managed to remove around 1,000 people a day from Afghanistan after the Taliban seized control of the country, interior minister Priti Patel said on Wednesday.

"We have been getting out approximately 1,000 people, so far, a day," she told BBC TV.

"We're still bringing out British nationals… and those Afghan nationals who are part of our locally employed scheme."

Poland has evacuated around 50 people from Afghanistan, a deputy foreign minister said on Wednesday, part of an international effort to get diplomats and other civilians out of the country after Taliban insurgents seized the capital.

Poland said on Tuesday it had around 100 people on an evacuation list. It has pledged offer places on its planes to other people trying to leave Afghanistan from Kabul airport, where chaotic scenes have caused problems for some evacuation efforts.

"About 50 people were evacuated from Afghanistan, they are now safe in the care of the Polish consulate in Uzbekistan," Marcin Przydacz told reporters. "A civilian plane is waiting for them that will soon transport them to Poland."

Przydacz said that one Polish citizen was among those evacuated, while the others were people who had worked with the Polish military and diplomatic missions.

Also, 25 French nationals and 184 Afghans were evacuated from Afghanistan overnight and have just landed in Abu Dhabi, French Foreign Affairs Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said on Wednesday.

Hungary said on Wednesday it had organized the evacuation of a group of 26 Hungarian nationals working as contractors from Afghanistan, and they would return to Hungary shortly on a flight organized by another country.

In addition, the country is sending its own evacuation mission to Afghanistan to help other Hungarians still in Kabul, deputy foreign minister Levente Magyar told a news conference.

Other Afghans who arrived in Germany on Wednesday described chaotic and terrifying scenes at Kabul airport before they were evacuated to safety, and said they feared for the lives of loved ones they left behind.

Speaking shortly after landing in Frankfurt on a flight from Tashkent, men, women and children said they were part of a lucky few evacuated by NATO armies after the country fell to the Taliban with astonishing speed.

"We had to force our way through and my little son fell over, and we were scared, but we made it," said a woman, speaking in German.

塔利班不要留在“保密的陰影”中，會見前阿富汗總統。

塔利班指揮官兼哈卡尼網絡激進組織高級領導人阿納斯·哈卡尼會見阿富汗前總統哈米德·卡爾扎伊進行會談

通過路透

2021 年 8 月 18 日 12:17

昨天，塔利班戰士站在喀布爾內政部外。

（圖片來源：路透社）

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阿富汗塔利班的一名官員周三表示，阿富汗塔利班的領導人將向世界展示自己，這與過去 20 年不同，當時塔利班領導人基本上是秘密生活。

這位不願透露姓名的塔利班高級官員告訴路透社：“慢慢地，逐漸地，世界將看到我們所有的領導人，不會有任何保密的陰影。”

這位官員說，塔利班成員被命令不要慶祝他們最近橫掃該國，他們於週日抵達首都喀布爾，並補充說平民應該交出武器和彈藥。

2021 年 7 月 10 日，阿富汗赫拉特省郊區，前聖戰者組織手持武器支持阿富汗軍隊與塔利班作戰。（圖片來源：JALIL AHMAD/REUTERS）

一名塔利班官員表示，在塔利班努力建立政府之際，一名塔利班指揮官兼哈卡尼網絡激進組織高級領導人阿納斯·哈卡尼已會見阿富汗前總統哈米德·卡爾扎伊進行會談。

這位拒絕透露姓名的塔利班官員說，卡爾扎伊在會議上由舊政府的主要和平特使阿卜杜拉·阿卜杜拉陪同。他沒有提供更多細節。

哈卡尼網絡是塔利班的一個重要派系，他們於週日占領了首都喀布爾。該網絡以與巴基斯坦接壤的邊境為基地，近年來被指控在阿富汗發動了一些最致命的武裝襲擊。

Taliban to not stay in 'shadow of secrecy', meet with former Afghan pres.

Taliban commander and senior leader of the Haqqani Network militant group, Anas Haqqani, has met former Afghan President Hamid Karzai for talks

By REUTERS

AUGUST 18, 2021 12:17

TALIBAN FIGHTERS stand outside the Interior Ministry in Kabul yesterday.

(photo credit: REUTERS)

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The leaders of Afghanistan's Taliban will show themselves to the world, an official of the Islamist movement said on Wednesday, unlike during the past 20 years, when its leaders have lived largely in secret.

"Slowly, gradually, the world will see all our leaders, there will be no shadow of secrecy," the senior Taliban official, who declined to be identified, told Reuters.

The official said Taliban members had been ordered not to celebrate their recent sweep of the country, which brought them to the capital, Kabul, on Sunday, and added that civilians should hand over weapons and ammunition.

Former Mujahideen hold weapons to support Afghan forces in their fight against Taliban, on the outskirts of Herat province, Afghanistan July 10, 2021. (credit: JALIL AHMAD/REUTERS)

A Taliban commander and senior leader of the Haqqani Network militant group, Anas Haqqani, has met former Afghan President Hamid Karzai for talks, a Taliban official said amid efforts by the Taliban to set up a government.

Karzai was accompanied by the old government's main peace envoy, Abdullah Abdullah, in the meeting, said the Taliban official, who declined to be identified. He gave no more details.

The Haqqani Network is an important faction of the Taliban, who captured the capital, Kabul, on Sunday. The network, based on the border with Pakistan, was accused over recent years of some of the most deadly militant attacks in Afghanistan.

被塔利班推翻的阿富汗政府從未存在過——前士兵

前美國士兵討論了神話、糟糕的數據、晉升的願望、腐敗和浪費如何支撐阿富汗戰爭。

作者：SETH J. FRANZMAN

2021 年 8 月 19 日 19:38

2012 年，一名美國士兵在阿富汗南部坎大哈省的一次受控引爆中進行掩護。

（圖片來源：SHAMIL ZHUMATOV / REUTERS）

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“他們相信這是因為他們不得不這樣做；他們無法讓自己承認這可能不是真的，這只是一個騙局，”格雷厄姆普拉特納說，他曾在伊拉克和阿富汗擔任美國士兵，後來擔任安全承包商。“軍官沒有接受過承認我們可能做不到這一點的培訓。”

在接受《耶路撒冷郵報》採訪時，普拉特納揭示了支撐美國在阿富汗角色的腐敗、浪費和神話的嚴重程度令人深感不安，並解釋了為什麼該國在短短幾天內就落入了塔利班之手。

塔利班於 8 月 7 日占領了他們的第一個省會扎蘭吉，到 8 月 15 日，在總統阿什拉夫·加尼 (Ashraf Ghani) 逃離該國後，他們抵達了喀布爾。美軍於 7 月初離開巴格拉姆空軍基地，大約是在塔利班進攻勢頭強勁並席捲全國前一個月。

普拉特納於 2010 年滿懷希望來到阿富汗。他曾在伊拉克，最終將在美國步兵部隊服役八年。他是隨著美國軍隊的激增來到阿富汗，這本應該扭轉已經拖延了十年的戰爭。

“我的部隊於 2010 年 11 月部署，作為奧巴馬增兵行動的一部分，目的是將軍隊調往該國以正確的方式開展反叛亂，”他說。“我在離開之前就相信了。”

普拉特納在伊拉克看到了錯誤，並相信國際安全援助部隊指揮官大衛彼得雷烏斯將軍和他的前任斯坦利麥克里斯特爾將軍對阿富汗說的都是正確的。

麥克里斯特爾說：“我們現在在路上開車，就像我們是阿富汗人的一部分一樣，走得更多，從我們的卡車上下來，”普拉特納回憶道。“作為一名相信反叛亂可以奏效的步兵中士，我想這樣做，我很高興能在一支將認真對待我完全接受的這一戰略的軍隊中作戰。”

格雷厄姆·普拉特納 (Graham Platner) 與阿富汗國家警察的一名成員在一起。（信用：格雷厄姆普拉特納提供）

然後他看到了事情的真相。雖然將軍們說的是對的，美國下級軍官相信並試圖做到這一點，但“中間的每個人都不想做任何事情。” 他勾勒出一種模式，要求軍官通過與阿富汗人會面的任務數量和參與次數來量化他們的成功。由於軍官想要晉升，他們被激勵投入大量人員，但不一定在實地完成任何實際工作。

“你如何量化讓阿富汗人快樂？” 普拉納問道。“這是不可估量的，你需要衡量標準，比如殺死這麼多敵人，花這麼多錢，以及這麼多次戰鬥巡邏。你做了什麼並不重要。”

雖然美國軍隊試圖獲得關於正在發生的事情的良好“統計數據”以傳遞指揮鏈，但阿富汗軍隊和警察在很大程度上只是紙上談兵。在阿富汗東北部，普拉特納 (Platner) 是步槍班長，他大部分時間都與阿富汗國家警察一起生活，該警察本應執行準軍事行動。法國外籍軍團正在向他所在地區的阿富汗軍隊提供建議。他說這是在離喀布爾不遠的戈爾班德區。

雖然美國旅稍微走動了，但他在培訓阿富汗警察方面的作用讓他深入了解了當時阿富汗各地的失敗。

“我們假裝我們正在準備讓他們自己做這件事，”普拉納回憶道。“但由於他們完全無法自己完成，我們正在進行戰鬥巡邏，並拖著一些阿富汗警察假裝他們在執行任務。所以我們基本上是作為一家美國步槍公司運營的。”

這意味著美國認為它正在做的事情的“建議和協助”性質，或者美國在 2014 年後稍後在伊拉克採取的“通過、一起和通過”的方法，在很大程度上是一個神話，因為當地單位不會帶路。

普拉特納說，這是一種“錯覺”。“我們有兩個排口譯員。”

大多數阿富汗安全部隊來自烏茲別克人、塔吉克人和哈扎拉什葉派等少數民族社區，他們在部隊中佔有一席之地，這歸功於抵抗塔利班並在美國支持下上台的舊北方聯盟2001 年和 2002 年初。雖然有報導稱阿富汗軍隊應該是 45% 的普什圖人——阿富汗的大多數群體也是塔利班戰士的骨幹——但現實是他認為普什圖人從未超過百分之幾。

普拉特納說，在他所在的地區，美國連、班和旅指揮官對成功部署在簡歷中意味著什麼都有自己的看法，“所以他們可以說，他們監督了一個營，完成了這麼多次巡邏，花了這麼多錢。重建並對敵人這樣做。因此，我們正在做的是接受軍事結構的命令，該結構將作為反叛亂結構運作，與敵人交戰，並將阿富汗部分強加於其中。”

結果是，本應領導行動的當地阿富汗人對任何戰鬥任務都沒有胃口。

“他們不想做任何事情，除了偷人，”他說。

他與薪酬過低的警察打交道的經歷支持了這一嚴厲的聲明。

“在 2011 年夏天，正值戰鬥高峰期，我所建議的阿富汗警察每人有兩本雜誌，整個地區都有一枚 RPG 彈，一枚用於他們的 RPG 管，而且他們沒有汽油供他們使用。我們已經買了福特遊騎兵隊。”

這種慘淡的狀況因他們的薪水和現金被阿富汗高級指揮官偷走的基本物品而加劇。他還說，警方會將人們關進​​監獄，以從當地家庭那裡獲得贖金以籌集資金。

“他們這樣做是因為他們沒有得到報酬。”

普拉特納當時將這一過程描述為“阿富汗化”，這個詞借用並改編自美國在越南的經驗，當時美國試圖將部門移交給當地的越南 ARVN 部隊以準備離開。這個概念是讓“阿富汗人處於領先地位，讓他們擺脫美國後勤的束縛。” 這意味著美國步兵無法為他們的伙伴部隊提供彈藥或汽油。

“每個人都知道他們沒有汽油、彈藥或金錢的原因是因為他們的領導層在偷竊。所有的錢都來自國防部的金庫。喀布爾以外沒有稅收結構或民政當局。因此，所有的錢都被傾倒在頂層，然後像盜賊統治一樣從最高層抽走，什麼都沒有留下。”

他說，由於每個人都在賺錢，所以有一個誇大成本的動機：開發項目會選擇最昂貴的投標，這樣負責人就可以看起來他們花了更多的錢。從水井到道路再到學校，是否建造了任何東西都無關緊要。重要的是軍官或地區的負責人，比如所謂的 RC East（東部地區指揮部）可以說他們有成功的戰鬥指揮經驗。

“你怎麼證明你比其他人都好，讓上校或將軍升上指揮系統？” 普拉納修辭地問道。你花的錢比同齡人多。

“軍隊無法改變，”他說。“有趣的是，我們在做同樣的事情，但稱之為別的東西，比如 VSO [Village Stability Operations]。”

軍方已經陷入了企業中層管理人員的文化中，但卻沒有動力真正把事情做好。與在企業中不同的是，“資金不會關閉。如果他們弄錯了，美國軍方就不會倒閉。”

如果有人問地面上的士兵，他們會在十多年前預測今年的崩潰。與此同時，上級官員正在將“關鍵領導參與 [KLE]”的數量和其他成功指標製成表格。

“如果你和村里的人坐下來，他們說他們想要修一條路，說他們會告訴你塔利班什麼時候來，他們說他們愛美國，但你知道這是一場騙局，沒有人想說他們他們的工作失敗並且很糟糕，所以不要說謊，而是選擇一個模糊的指標，你可以從中得出結論。”

他說，問題在於政府從未存在過。雖然阿富汗的建築物標有“國防”或“稅務”部門，但實際上它是一個空殼。普拉特納說，美國監察長的報告揭示了這一點。

“沒有人想說什麼……每個人都是膽小鬼，從執行領導到膽怯停止的公司級別。上面的人都是膽小鬼。他們相信這是因為他們不得不這樣做，他們無法讓自己承認這可能不是真的。”

最後，他的診斷是，美國支持的阿富汗政府不能說“崩潰”了，因為它從來沒有存在過。

“阿富汗軍隊不是真的。阿富汗民政當局從來就不是真的。他們從不收稅。除了警察搶劫人外，沒有法庭。它從來都不存在……這只是一個由美國資金資助的大型就業計劃，當錢看起來要花光的那一刻，每個人都回家了。”

除了喀布爾、查里卡爾和其他一些地方，他描繪了一個阿富汗國家的圖景，它從未控製過幾條高速公路和城市。這就是為什麼一旦美國撤回資金，它就會如此迅速地分崩離析。

The Afghan gov't overthrown by Taliban never existed - ex-soldier

Former US soldier discusses how myths, bad data, desire for promotions, corruption and waste underpinned the Afghan war.

By SETH J. FRANTZMAN

AUGUST 19, 2021 19:38

A US SOLDIER takes cover during a controlled detonation in southern Afghanistan’s Kandahar Province in 2012.

(photo credit: SHAMIL ZHUMATOV / REUTERS)

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“They believed it because they had to; they couldn’t bring themselves to admit that this might not be real, it was just a sham,” said Graham Platner, who served in Iraq and then Afghanistan as a US soldier, and later as a security contractor. “Military officers are not trained to admit that maybe we can’t do this.”

In an interview with The Jerusalem Post, Platner reveals the deeply troubling levels of corruption, waste and myths that underpinned the US role in Afghanistan, and explains why the country fell to the Taliban in just a few days.

The Taliban captured their first provincial capital of Zaranj on August 7, and by August 15 they were in Kabul after President Ashraf Ghani had fled the country. US forces had left Bagram Air Base in early July, roughly a month before the Taliban offensive gained momentum and swept over the country.

Platner came to Afghanistan with high hopes in 2010. He’d been in Iraq, and would ultimately serve for eight years with the US Infantry. He came to Afghanistan with the surge of US troops that was supposed to turn around a war that had already dragged on for a decade.

“My unit was deployed in November 2010 as part of the Obama surge to move troops into the country to conduct counter-insurgency the right way,” he said. “I believed it before I left.”

Platner had seen mistakes in Iraq, and believed that Gen. David Petraeus, commander of the International Security Assistance Forces, and Gen. Stanley McChrystal, his predecessor, were saying the right things about Afghanistan.

McChrystal said “that we would now drive on the road like we are part of the Afghans, and walk more and get out of our trucks,” remembers Platner. “And as an infantry sergeant who believed counter-insurgency could work, I wanted to do this, and I was excited to go and fight in an army that was going to take seriously this strategy that I had fully bought into.”

Graham Platner is seen alongside a member of the Afghan National Police. (credit: Courtesy of Graham Platner)

Then he saw how things really were. While the generals said the right things and lower-level US officers believed it and tried to get it done, “everyone in between doesn’t want to do any of this.” He sketches a pattern of officers being asked to quantify their successes through the number of missions and number of engagements carried out meeting Afghans. As officers wanted promotions, they were incentivized to put in big numbers, but not necessarily accomplish anything real on the ground.

“How do you quantify making Afghans happy?” Platner asks. “It is immeasurable and you need metrics, like killing this many enemy, and spending this much money, and this many combat patrols. It doesn’t matter what you did.”

WHILE THE US Army sought to get good “stats” on what was happening to pass up the chain of command, the Afghan army and police were largely an army only on paper. In northeast Afghanistan, where Platner was a rifle squad leader, he spent most of his time living with Afghan National Police, who were supposed to be performing paramilitary operations as well. The Afghan army in his area was being advised by the French Foreign Legion. He says this was in the Ghorband District not far from Kabul.

While the US brigade moved around a bit, his role in training Afghan police provided an insight into the failures across Afghanistan at the time.

“We were pretending that we were preparing them to do this on their own,” recalls Platner. “But since they were utterly incapable of doing it on their own, we were going on combat patrols and dragging along some Afghan cops to pretend they were doing a mission. So we operated basically as a US rifle company.”

This meant that the “advise and assist” nature of what the US thought it was doing, or the “by, with and through” approach the US would take later in Iraq after 2014, was largely a myth because the local units wouldn’t lead the way.

It was a “delusion,” Platner says. “We had two platoon interpreters.”

Most of the Afghan security forces came from minority communities such as Uzbeks, Tajiks and Hazzara Shi’ites, and they owed their place in the units to the old Northern Alliance that had resisted the Taliban and which had swept to power with US support in late 2001 and early 2002. While reports say the Afghan army was supposed to be 45% Pashtun – the majority group in Afghanistan that has also made up the backbone of Taliban fighters – the reality was that he thinks it never exceeded a few percent Pashtun.

Platner says that in his district, the US company, squad and brigade commanders had their own notions of what a successful deployment meant in terms of their resume, “so they could say they oversaw a battalion that did this many patrols and spent this much on reconstruction and did this to the enemy. So what we were doing was taking orders from the military structure that was to operate as a counter-insurgency structure and engage the enemy and shoe-horn the Afghan component into it.”

The result was that the local Afghans who were supposed to be leading operations had no appetite for any combat missions.

“They didn’t want to do anything, except steal from people,” he says.

This harsh statement is backed up by his experience dealing with the underpaid police.

“In the summer of 2011 at the height of the fighting season, the Afghan police I was advising had two magazines per man, and the entire district had one RPG round, one round for their one RPG tube, and they had no gas for their Ford Rangers we had bought them.”

This dismal state of affairs was exacerbated by their paychecks and cash for basic things being stolen by higher-level Afghan commanders. He also says the police would put people in jail to get ransom from local families to raise money.

“They did that because they weren’t getting paid.”

PLATNER DESCRIBES the process at the time as “Afghanistanization,” a term borrowed and adapted from the US experience in Vietnam when the US tried to turn over sectors to the local Vietnamese ARVN forces in preparation for leaving. The concept was to put “Afghans in the lead and weaning them from the American logistic teat.” That meant the US infantry couldn’t give their partner forces ammunition or gas.

“Everyone knew the reason they didn’t have gas or ammo or money is because their leadership was stealing it. All the money came from Department of Defense coffers. There was no tax structure or civil authority outside of Kabul. So all the money was dumped in at the top and siphoned from the highest levels like a kleptocracy and there was nothing left.”

He says that there was an incentive to inflate costs because everyone was making money: development projects would choose the most expensive bid so that those in charge could make it seem they were spending more money. It didn’t matter if anything got built, from wells to roads to schools. What mattered was that officers or heads of areas like what was called RC East (Regional Command-East) could say they had a successful combatant command experience.

“How do you show you were better than everyone else and make colonel or general and move up the chain of command?” Platner asks rhetorically. You spend more money than your peers.

“The military was incapable of change,” he says. “Amusingly, we were doing the same thing but calling it something else, like VSO [Village Stability Operations].”

The military had become entangled in a culture of corporate middle management, but with no incentives to actually get things right. Unlike in a business, “the money is not going to shut off. The US military isn’t going to go out of business if they get it wrong.”

If anyone had asked the soldiers on the ground, they would have predicted the collapse this year more than a decade ago. Meanwhile, higher-up officers were tabulating the number of “key leader engagements [KLEs]” and other rubrics of success.

“If you sit down with dudes in a village and they say they want a road built and say they will tell you when the Taliban will come and they say they love America, but you know it’s a sham, and no one wants to say they failed and suck at their job, so instead of lying, you choose a metric that is kind of vague that you can reach conclusions from.”

The problem was the government never existed, he says. While Afghanistan had buildings labeled “defense” or “taxation” departments, in reality it was an empty shell. US Inspector General reports reveal this, Platner says.

“No one wanted to say anything…. Everyone was a coward, from executive leadership down to the company level where the cowardice stopped. Everyone above that was a coward. They believed it because they had to, they couldn’t bring themselves to admit that this might not be real.”

In the end, his diagnosis is that the Afghanistan government the US supported can’t be said to have “collapsed” because it never existed.

“The Afghan army wasn’t real. The Afghan Civil Authority was never real. They never collected taxes. There were no courts outside of police robbing people. None of it ever existed… it was just a big jobs program funded by American money, and the moment it looked like the money would go away, everyone went home.”

With the exception of Kabul, Charikar and a few other places, he paints a picture of an Afghan state that never controlled much beyond a few highways and cities. That’s why it fell apart so quickly once the US pulled funding.

阿拉伯媒體的聲音：哈尼耶、納斯魯拉和所謂的“民族”

每週精選來自世界各地阿拉伯媒體的意見和分析。

通過媒體行

2021 年 8 月 19 日 14:26

去年，在西頓附近，一名男子騎著摩托車經過黎巴嫩真主黨領袖賽義德·哈桑·納斯魯拉的照片。

（照片來源：ALI HASHISHO/REUTERS）

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伊斯梅爾·哈尼耶、哈桑·納斯魯拉和所謂的“國家”

在最近接受伊朗國家電視台採訪時，哈馬斯政治局局長伊斯梅爾哈尼耶透露了他最近與真主黨秘書長哈桑納斯魯拉會面的內容。哈尼耶清楚地描述了他與納斯魯拉的談話，稱“民族”越來越願意在巴勒斯坦解放計劃中從“支持”戰略向“積極夥伴”戰略過渡。

這實際上意味著這個“民族”——實際上只不過是與伊朗革命衛隊有關聯的幾個軍事陣線的聯盟——正在積極準備與以色列和美國進行公開和協調的戰爭。美利堅合眾國。這一宣布旨在激勵真主黨的支持者，讓他們對一個切實的目標抱有希望，他們可以圍繞這個目標定位。

然而可悲的是，哈尼耶在努力轉錄他的談話時，忘記告訴加沙、黎巴嫩、敘利亞、伊拉克、伊朗和也門（以及其他）人民納斯魯拉計劃如何帶領他們度過如此重大的戰爭。事實上，這個所謂“民族”的人民最關心的不是外敵，而是內敵：政治崩潰、飢餓和貧困。這些人餓死了，他們絕望地自殺了，他們死於藥物短缺，他們試圖乘坐臨時船隻逃離家園。

沒有人可以否認在伊朗伊斯蘭共和國的支持下由哈尼耶-納斯魯拉二人組創造的這一可怕現實。或許，這些悲劇，才是兩人所說的“準備”的源泉？也許哈尼耶和納斯魯拉明白這個國家的人民沒有什麼可失去的。失去尊嚴和生計，也許他們願意在一場毫無意義的戰爭中犧牲自己。他們不是死於飢餓，而是死於對抗。但事實是，阿拉伯世界的人民正在反抗哈馬斯、真主黨和伊朗。僅在黎巴嫩，在黎巴嫩公眾從真主黨的宏偉幻想中清醒過來之後，反對真主黨的圈子一直在增長。

國際社會也明確表示不會寬恕這種行為。在最近的一份聲明中，歐盟強調了“黎巴嫩承諾與所有地區衝突無關的政策”的重要性。願意將黎巴嫩從政治和經濟動盪中拯救出來的最後一個國際機構所採取的這一明確立場與哈尼耶宣布的議程完全背道而馳。

然而，哈馬斯和真主黨似乎並不了解這一新現實。這種錯覺有助於解釋最近從黎巴嫩領土向以色列領土發射的導彈齊射。哈馬斯和真主黨忘記的是現代戰爭的基本教訓：贏得戰爭的關鍵不僅在於擁有最強大的彈藥，還在於擁有最堅定的平民。雖然加沙、敘利亞、伊拉克、伊朗和也門是導彈多發的地方，但它們也是民用基礎設施——食品、藥品、氧氣、汽油、電力、水、金錢，尤其是希望——極其稀缺的地方。

這一悲慘的現實足以說明哪一方最終會佔上風。一方面，有以色列國。另一方面，有一群自稱是“民族”的民兵。–法里斯·卡尚

突尼斯 2021 和埃及 2013

自反對複興運動的廣泛民眾示威爆發以來，突尼斯發生的事態發展並不完全令人驚訝。

7 月 25 日，一大群突尼斯人以不同的方式慶祝共和國成立 64 週年：他們走上街頭和廣場，抗議一個失去合法性並保持對突尼斯控制權的運動，儘管只佔微弱多數在議會（217 名議員中的 52 名）。這場危機一天比一天嚴重。對局勢嚴重性及其潛在後果的警告也隨著時間的推移而增加。

但是，Ennahda 運動並沒有意識到他們國家不斷惡化的條件的後果，就像它沒有理解其後果一樣。它仍然固執己見，拒絕對威脅突尼斯國家機構完全癱瘓的危機採取任何行動。經濟和社會狀況的惡化、由於 COVID-19 導致的衛生系統削弱以及政治爭端威脅著突尼斯的內爆。

有趣的是，7 月 25 日之前的複興運動的立場與 2013 年 6 月 30 日前夕埃及穆斯林兄弟會的立場非常相似。突尼斯運動沒有吸取埃及革命的教訓，兄弟會的最終崩潰。當Ennahda意識到突尼斯街道正在動員起來反對它時，Ennahda突然後退了一步，不得不表現出一些靈活性。然而，它很快又回到了原來的位置，並與突尼斯的政治機構發生了直接衝突。

這不是兄弟會分支第一次未能吸取其姐妹組織的教訓。埃及的兄弟會就是這種情況，它無法吸取與政府的第一次沖突的教訓，導致其於 1948 年解散。 三年後，它重新獲得了合法地位，並一直保持這種地位，直到進入1954 年與政府發生了新的衝突。在許多人看來，兄弟會終於吸取了教訓——當已故總統安瓦爾·薩達特在特定條件下將其帶回政治舞台時——很明顯，兄弟會的心態對政治很不利。實現。2012年上台後，其領導層認為其接任總統足以實現其野心，因此與多個政黨發生衝突，

而今天，Ennahda 運動正在走同樣的道路，再現其在埃及的母團體的經驗，並證明它與其他所謂的政治伊斯蘭團體沒有什麼不同，與一些阿拉伯和外國學者和分析人士所認為的相反。最近幾年。– Waheed Abdul Majeed MAJ.-GEN博士

。2011 年，奧馬爾·蘇萊曼在電視上對埃及發表講話。（來源：埃及國家電視台，路透社）

少校 將軍。OMAR SULEIMAN：埃及模式和例子

我們的國家永遠不會忘記它的英雄和那些因其複興而值得讚揚的人。Abd Al-Fattah El-Sisi 總統決定以已故的奧馬爾·蘇萊曼少將的名字命名在開羅 Gamal Abdel Nasser 社區建造的新橋，這反映了這一承諾。這是當之無愧的榮譽。

奧馬爾·蘇萊曼少將是一位真正的埃及愛國者。他為埃及而生，為埃及而死，一生都在為他的國家服務。他領導的埃及情報局在保護我們的國家免受國內外敵人的侵害和維護我們的國家安全方面發揮了關鍵作用。情報總局的標誌由著名的荷魯斯之眼組成，象徵著對所有危險的監控。在它的正下方是一隻強大的鷹，它會撲向一條毒蛇，將它從地上搶走，這代表了情報局處理威脅我們國家的危險的嚴肅性和承諾。

奧馬爾·蘇萊曼少將代表了兩者。他勇敢地面對埃及的敵人，守護著埃及民族。在他的領導下，情報總局在防止國家陷入混亂方面發揮了重要作用。埃及情報學院培養了在我們國家歷史上發揮重要作用的偉大領袖。因此，重要的是要停下來記住那些為埃及家園獻出生命的男人和女人。塞西總統決定向偉大的領導人致敬，包括真正的英雄奧馬爾·蘇萊曼少將。—哈姆迪·里茲克

為氣候災難做準備

儘管科學界發出了氣候變化加速的警告，但迄今為止，世界上大多數國家都拒絕就此問題採取行動。唯一的例外是歐盟，它最近通過了一系列立法提案，闡述了它打算如何到 2050 年實現氣候中和。 隨後美國總統喬拜登宣布他計劃將美國的電動汽車數量增加一倍到 2030 年。

一些觀察家認為這些措施很嚴厲，因此遭到嚴重依賴煤炭的行業以及汽車和航空業的反對。然而，幾天前發布的聯合國政府間氣候變化專門委員會（IPCC）發布的報告證實了氣候變化的速度遠遠超過了之前的估計，這超出了我們最糟糕的噩夢。

儘管減緩氣候變化的步伐及其影響的嚴重程度仍有可能，但一些不利影響已經成為無法改變的現實。例如，雖然之前的報告表明到 2100 年海平面有可能上升 0.5 米，但當前的報告同時將這一數字提高到估計的 2 米。該報告還預測，如果不做任何改變，10 年內氣溫將上升 1.5 攝氏度。換句話說，我們習慣聽到的緩慢而反動的計劃是不夠的。

有趣的是，受自然災害直接影響的國家對應對氣候變化所需的嚴厲措施的接受程度最高。這包括像德國和比利時這樣的地方，它們經歷了致命的洪水，摧毀了整個村莊。在荷蘭，由於在低窪國家建造了強大的基礎設施來對抗不斷上升的水域，因此破壞並不那麼明顯。因此，該國目睹了對歐盟計劃的更多反對，該計劃被描述為對歐洲經濟“代價高昂”和“有害”。

但最大的反對，如果不是冷漠的話，可以在阿拉伯世界找到。儘管近年來面臨乾旱和大規模野火，但該地區人民拒絕認真對待氣候變化。甚至有一些政治官員傳播陰謀論，將氣候變化描述為騙局。阿拉伯世界必須追隨歐盟的腳步，制定應對氣候變化的應急計劃。該計劃不僅必須解決減少碳排放的需求，還必須關注遏制氣候變化的影響並製定應對這一新現實的戰略。–納吉布薩博

Voices from the Arab press: Haniyeh, Nasrallah and the so-called 'nation'

A weekly selection of opinions and analyses from the Arab media around the world.

By MEDIA LINE

AUGUST 19, 2021 14:26

A MAN RIDES a motorbike past a picture of Lebanon’s Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, near Sidon, last year.

(photo credit: ALI HASHISHO/REUTERS)

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ISMAIL HANIYEH, HASSAN NASRALLAH AND THE SO-CALLED ‘NATION’

In a recent interview with Iranian national TV, Hamas Political Bureau head Ismail Haniyeh revealed the content of a recent meeting he had with Hezbollah secretary-general Hassan Nasrallah. Describing his conversation with Nasrallah in a clear way, Haniyeh claimed that the “nation” has become more and more ready to transition from the strategy of “support” to the strategy of “active partnership” in the liberation project of Palestine.

What this means in reality is that the “nation” – which is, in fact, nothing more than an alliance of a few military fronts associated with the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps – is actively preparing for an open and coordinated war with Israel and the United States of America. This announcement is meant to galvanize Hezbollah supporters and give them hope of a tangible goal around which they can orient themselves.

Sadly however, Haniyeh, while diligently transcribing his conversation, forgot to tell the peoples of Gaza, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Iran and Yemen (among others) how Nasrallah plans on leading them through such a major war. In fact, what the people of this so-called “nation” are most concerned with isn’t an external enemy, but rather an internal one: political collapse, hunger and poverty. These people are dying of starvation, they commit suicide out of despair, they die due to shortages of medicine, and they try to flee their homelands on makeshift boats.

No one can deny this terrifying reality created by the Haniyeh-Nasrallah duo under the auspices of the Islamic Republic of Iran. Perhaps these tragedies are the source of “readiness” that the two men were talking about? Maybe Haniyeh and Nasrallah understand that the people of this nation have nothing to lose. With their dignity and livelihoods gone, perhaps they are willing to sacrifice themselves in a pointless war. Instead of dying of starvation, they can die in confrontation. But the truth is that the peoples of the Arab world are rebelling against Hamas, Hezbollah and Iran. In Lebanon alone, the circle of those who oppose Hezbollah is consistently growing, after the Lebanese public sobered up from Hezbollah’s grand illusions.

The international community has also made it clear that it will not condone this kind of behavior. In a recent statement, the European Union emphasized the importance of “Lebanon’s commitment to a policy of disassociation from all regional conflicts.” This unequivocal position, taken by the last remaining international body that is willing to salvage Lebanon from its political and economic turmoil, completely contradicts the agenda announced by Haniyeh.

Yet Hamas and Hezbollah don’t seem to understand this new reality. This delusion helps explain the recent missile salvos launched from Lebanese soil into Israeli territory. What Hamas and Hezbollah are forgetting is the basic lesson of modern warfare: that the key to winning a war rests not merely with having the strongest ammunition, but also with having the most steadfast civilians. And while Gaza, Syria, Iraq, Iran and Yemen are places where missiles abound, they are also places where the civilian infrastructure – food, medicine, oxygen, gasoline, electricity, water, money and above all, hope – are extremely scarce.

This tragic reality suffices to explain which side will ultimately prevail. On the one hand, there is the nation of Israel. On the other hand, there is a group of militias claiming to be a “nation.” – Faris Khashan

TUNISIA 2021 AND EGYPT 2013

The developments that have taken place in Tunisia since the outbreak of the widespread popular demonstrations against the Ennahda Movement aren’t entirely surprising.

On July 25, a large group of Tunisians celebrated the 64th anniversary of the republic in a different way: they took to the streets and squares and protested against a movement that has lost its legitimacy and maintained its control over Tunisia despite enjoying only a meager majority in parliament (52 of 217 members). This crisis was getting worse day by day. Warnings of the seriousness of the situation and its potential consequences also grew with time.

But the Ennahda Movement didn’t realize the outcome of their country’s deteriorating conditions, just as it didn’t understand its consequences. It remained entrenched in its positions and refused to do anything about the crisis that threatened Tunisia’s state institutions with complete paralysis. The deterioration of economic and social conditions, the weakening of the health system due to COVID-19, and political disputes threatened Tunisia with implosion.

Interestingly, the positions of the Ennahda Movement in the days prior to July 25 were very similar to those of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt on the eve of June 30, 2013. The Tunisian movement didn’t learn the lesson of the Egyptian revolution and the ultimate collapse of the Brotherhood. Ennahda suddenly took a step back and had to demonstrate some flexibility when it realized that the Tunisian street was mobilizing against it. However, it soon returned to its original positions and entered a direct clash with Tunisia’s political institutions.

This isn’t the first time that a Brotherhood offshoot has failed to learn the lessons of its sister organization. This was the case with the Brotherhood in Egypt, which was unable to absorb the lessons of its first clash with the government, which led to its dissolution in 1948. Three years later, it regained its legal status, which it maintained until it entered into a new clash with the government in 1954. After it seemed to many that the Brotherhood finally learned its lesson – when the late president Anwar Sadat brought it back into the political arena under specific conditions – it became clear that the Brotherhood mentality is hard on political realization. As soon as it came to power in 2012, its leadership thought that its takeover of the presidency was sufficient to achieve its ambitions, so it entered into a clash with several parties, and with the broader Egyptian public.

And, today, the Ennahda Movement is following the same path, reproducing the experience of its mother group in Egypt, and proving that it is no different from other so-called political Islam groups, contrary to what some Arab and foreign scholars and analysts believed in recent years. – Dr. Waheed Abdul Majeed

MAJ.-GEN. Omar Suleiman addresses Egypt on TV in 2011. (credit: Egyptian State TV via Reuters)

MAJ. GEN. OMAR SULEIMAN: AN EGYPTIAN MODEL AND AN EXAMPLE

Our nation never forgets its heroes and those who deserve credit for its revival. President Abd Al-Fattah El-Sisi’s decision to name the new bridge constructed at the Gamal Abdel Nasser neighborhood in Cairo after the late Maj. Gen. Omar Suleiman is a reflection of this commitment. It’s a well-deserved honor.

Maj. Gen. Omar Suleiman was a true Egyptian patriot to his core. He lived and died for Egypt, and spent his entire life serving his nation. He led the Egyptian Intelligence Service, which played a pivotal role in protecting our country from both internal and external enemies and preserving our national security. The emblem of the General Intelligence Directorate consists of the famous Eye of Horus, which symbolizes the monitoring of all dangers. Directly beneath it is a powerful hawk that pounces on a poisonous snake to snatch it from the ground, representing the seriousness and commitment with which the Intelligence Directorate tackles dangers threatening our country.

Maj. Gen. Omar Suleiman represented both. He bravely confronted Egypt’s enemies and stood guard over the Egyptian nation. Under his leadership, the General Intelligence Directorate played a great role in preventing the country from slipping into chaos. The Egyptian School for Intelligence gave rise to great leaders who played considerable roles in the history of our nation. It is therefore important to stop and remember the men and women who pledged their lives to the Egyptian homeland. President Sisi decided to honor great leaders, including a true hero, Maj. Gen. Omar Suleiman. – Hamdi Rizk

PREPARING FOR A CLIMATE DISASTER

Despite warnings coming from the scientific community about the acceleration of climate change, most countries around the world have refused to take action on the issue so far. The only exception is the European Union, which recently adopted a series of legislative proposals setting out how it intends to achieve climate neutrality by 2050. This was followed by US President Joe Biden’s announcement of his plan to double the number of electric vehicles in the US by 2030.

These measures were considered harsh by some observers, and were therefore met with opposition from industries relying heavily on coal, as well as from the automobile and airline industries. However, the report published by the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which was issued a few days ago, exceeded our worst nightmares by confirming that the pace of climate change far exceeds previous estimates.

Although it’s still possible to slow down the pace of climate change and the severity of its impact, some adverse effects have already become a reality that cannot be changed. For example, while previous reports indicated the possibility of sea levels rising by 0.5 meters by the year 2100, the current report raised this number to an estimated two meters by the same time. The report also forecasts a temperature increase of 1.5 degrees centigrade within 10 years if no change is made. In other words, the slow and reactionary plans we’re used to hearing of simply will not suffice.

It’s interesting to note that the highest level of acceptance of the harsh measures required to combat climate change were witnessed in countries that have been directly impacted by natural disasters. This includes places like Germany and Belgium, which experienced deadly floods that wiped out entire villages. In the Netherlands, the damage was far less noticeable thanks to a robust infrastructure built to combat rising waters in a low-lying country. Therefore, the country witnessed much more objection to the EU plan, which was described as “costly” and “harmful” to the European economy.

But the biggest opposition, if not apathy, can be found in the Arab world. Despite facing droughts and massive wildfires in recent years, the peoples of the region refuse to take climate change seriously. There are even some political officials who propagate conspiracy theories describing climate change as a hoax. The Arab world must follow in the footsteps of the European Union and enact an emergency plan to combat climate change. This plan must address not only the need to reduce carbon emissions, but also focus on curbing the impacts of climate change and devising strategies to deal with this new reality. – Najib Saab

在貝內特 - 拜登談判之前達成卡塔爾現金到加沙的交易

聯合國和卡塔爾簽署了一項協議，以恢復卡塔爾對加沙貧困家庭的現金支付。

作者：KHALED ABU TOAMEH , TOVAH LAZAROFF

2021 年 8 月 19 日 22:28

一名婦女展示了她在 9 月加沙城冠狀病毒爆發期間的封鎖期間從卡塔爾收到的作為援助的 100 美元鈔票。

（圖片來源：穆罕默德·塞勒姆/路透社）

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聯合國和卡塔爾簽署了一項協議，恢復卡塔爾向加沙貧困家庭支付現金，此舉降低了以色列和哈馬斯之間再次爆發全面戰爭的可能性。

國防部長本尼·甘茨說：“聯合國將把財政援助直接轉給數十萬加沙人的銀行賬戶，由以色列監督接收者。”

他在周四晚上宣布了 4,000 萬美元交易的細節，卡塔爾和聯合國也是如此。

這一消息是在總理納夫塔利·貝內特計劃飛往華盛頓與美國總統喬·拜登進行首次白宮訪問前一周宣布的。

貝內特還計劃在未來幾周訪問開羅，與埃及總統阿卜杜勒·法塔赫·塞西會面。這是以色列總理自2010年以來首次對開羅進行公開訪問。

埃及在使卡塔爾現金交易正式化方面發揮了重要作用。自 5 月為期 11 天的加沙戰爭結束以來，埃及一直致力於最終達成停火協議。為此，它促成了以色列和哈馬斯之間的間接會談。

恢復因戰爭而停止的卡塔爾對加沙的例行現金支付被認為是維持以色列和加沙之間平靜和保持停火選擇的重要基石。

以色列最初堅稱，除非哈馬斯釋放據信在 2014 年加沙戰爭期間喪生的兩名士兵的遺體，哈達爾·戈爾丁中尉和聖中士的遺體才能恢復支付。奧隆·紹爾。它還要求哈馬斯釋放分別於 2014 年和 2015 年進入加沙的兩名以色列公民 Avera Mengistu 和 Hasham al-Sayed。

儘管以色列人質不會獲釋，卡塔爾的現金交易仍在推進，其中 100,000 個有需要的家庭每個月將收到 100 美元的救濟金。

甘茨承諾不會放棄此事。他說：“我們還將繼續施壓，要求被哈馬斯扣為人質的以色列士兵和公民返回。”

哈馬斯要求恢復向哈馬斯員工支付卡塔爾現金的要求也不包含在交易中。迄今為止，尚未發現此類付款的機制。一種可能性是通過巴勒斯坦權力機構匯款，但巴勒斯坦銀行擔心違反反恐法。

甘茨提到了該機制，他說：“我們還在繼續與巴勒斯坦權力機構對話，以研究在他們的監督下建立替代資金轉移機制的可能性。”

卡塔爾特使 Mohammed Al-Emadi 擔任該縣加沙重建委員會主席，他說資金將通過聯合國及其世界糧食計劃署支付給受益人。

他補充說，資金將在 8 月底前轉移，分配將從 9 月開始。

每月 1,000 萬美元的分期付款保證到年底。卡塔爾將把資金送到紐約的聯合國。然後，這筆錢將被轉移到拉馬拉的巴勒斯坦銀行，然後再轉交給加沙的銀行。

世界糧食計劃署將為加沙家庭提供銀行卡以提取資金。以色列批准了家庭名單，以確保他們不參與恐怖主義。

在五月加沙戰爭之前，前總理本雅明內塔尼亞胡允許卡塔爾撥款 3000 萬美元在沒有監督的情況下進入加沙。它為貧困家庭、哈馬斯僱員和加沙發電廠的燃料買單。

戰爭結束後，只有燃料支付得到更新。貝內特不想讓無法追踪的現金進入加沙。

哈馬斯曾威脅說，如果不能達成此類協議，將重新發動暴力。本週早些時候，它向以色列發射了一枚火箭，並威脅要在本週六重啟邊境暴力。

保持加沙的平靜對於貝內特領導的政府的穩定以及遏制西岸和耶路撒冷的暴力都很重要。

以色列也一直承受著來自美國的壓力，要求其對加沙做出人道主義姿態，因此在貝內特-拜登會議之前採取這種措施非常重要。

面對加沙局勢的爆發，很難在以巴軌道上前進。

甘茨週四謹慎地強調，以色列不會容忍加沙的暴力事件，即使它沒有對最新一輪的火箭發射作出反應。然而，它對燃燒氣球的發射進行了報復性襲擊。

“在城牆守護者行動結束時，我宣布現狀將不復存在。我們不會容忍對我們主權的任何威脅——從最小的火氣球到在我們城市上空發射的火箭。我們過去曾作出回應，並將對未來的任何威脅作出有力回應。

“與此同時，我們正在促進對加沙的人道主義援助，”甘茨說。

鑑於卡塔爾和以色列沒有外交關係，這位國防部長表示，他已與多哈官員進行了交談，這是一個不同尋常的舉動。

“我一直在與卡塔爾官員接觸，以建立一種機制，確保資金到達需要的人手中，同時維持以色列的安全需求，”他說。

據 Walla News 週四報導，據報導，甘茨本週在第三國秘密會見了一名卡塔爾官員，以敲定付款細節。

他感謝卡塔爾、聯合國中東和平進程特別協調員托爾溫內斯蘭、美國國務卿安東尼布林肯、美國大使館以及“我們所有參與其中的伙伴”，尤其是埃及。

他說，埃及是“保持該地區安靜、穩定和安全的基石”。

巴勒斯坦人在加沙地帶南部的卡塔爾資助的建築項目“哈馬德城”內參加支持卡塔爾的集會。（來源：IBRAHEEM ABU MUSTAFA/REUTERS）

卡塔爾現金交易的宣布是在埃及情報局長阿巴斯卡邁勒訪問以色列和巴勒斯坦領土之後宣布的。

週三在拉馬拉，卡邁勒會見了巴勒斯坦權力機構主席馬哈茂德·阿巴斯和他的巴勒斯坦總統馬吉德·法拉傑。巴勒斯坦權力機構民政總署負責人侯賽因·謝赫和信息部長納比勒·阿布·魯代尼也出席了會議。

卡梅爾還在以色列會見了以色列總理納夫塔利·貝內特、國防部長本尼·甘茨和外交部長亞伊爾·拉皮德。

哈馬斯沒有立即對卡塔爾與聯合國的協議發表評論。

哈馬斯週四與其他巴勒斯坦派別一起呼籲巴勒斯坦人參加週六的集會，以紀念 1969 年 8 月 21 日阿克薩清真寺被燒毀的周年紀念日。

哈馬斯在周四晚間發表的一份聲明中說：“神聖的阿克薩清真寺是一條紅線，我們的人民不會讓火勢再次蔓延到它身上。” “清真寺將保持紅線，伸向它的手將被切斷。”

Deal reached for Qatari cash to Gaza ahead of Bennett-Biden parley

The United Nations and Qatar signed a deal for the resumption of Qatari cash payments to needy families in Gaza.

By KHALED ABU TOAMEH, TOVAH LAZAROFF

AUGUST 19, 2021 22:28

A WOMAN shows a $100 bill she received as aid from Qatar, during a lockdown amid the coronavirus outbreak in Gaza City in September.

(photo credit: MOHAMMED SALEM/ REUTERS)

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The United Nations and Qatar signed an agreement for the resumption of Qatari cash payments to needy families in Gaza in a move that reduces the possibilities of another all-out war between Israel and Hamas.

“Financial aid will be transferred to hundreds of thousands of Gazan people by the UN directly to their bank accounts, with Israel overseeing the recipients,” Defense Minister Benny Gantz said.

He announced details of the $40-million deal on Thursday evening, as did Qatar and the United Nations.

The announcement comes just one week before Prime Minister Naftali Bennett is scheduled to fly to Washington for his first White House visit with US President Joe Biden.

Bennett is also scheduled to visit Cairo to meet with Egyptian President Abdel Fatah el-Sisi in the coming weeks. It’s the first public visit by an Israeli prime minister to Cairo since 2010.

Egypt was instrumental in formalizing the Qatari cash deal. Since the end of the 11-day Gaza war in May, known as Operation Guardian of the Walls, Egypt has worked on finalizing a ceasefire. Toward that end, it has brokered indirect talks between Israel and Hamas.

The resumption of routine Qatari cash payments to Gaza that had been halted due to the war has been considered an important cornerstone both in maintaining calm between Israel and Gaza and in preserving the option of a ceasefire.

Israel had initially insisted that the payments could not be resumed unless Hamas released the remains of the bodies of two soldiers believed killed during the 2014 Gaza war, Lt. Hadar Goldin and St.-Sgt. Oron Shaul. It also demanded that Hamas free two Israeli citizens, Avera Mengistu and Hasham al-Sayed, who crossed into Gaza in 2014 and 2015, respectively.

The Qatari cash deal, in which 100,000 needy families will each receive a monthly handout of $100, is moving forward even though the Israeli hostages will not be released.

Gantz promised not to give up on the matter. “We will also continue our pressure campaign for the return of the Israeli soldiers and citizens that are being held hostage by Hamas,” he said.

Hamas’s demand for the resumption of Qatari cash payments to Hamas employees was also not included in the deal. To date, no mechanism has been found for such payments. One possibility has been to send the money through the Palestinian Authority, but Palestinian banks have feared running afoul of anti-terrorism laws.

Gantz alluded to that mechanism when he said, “We are also continuing our dialogue with the Palestinian Authority in order to examine the possibility of establishing an alternative mechanism for the transfer of funds under their supervision.”

Qatari envoy Mohammed Al-Emadi, who chairs his county’s Committee for the Reconstruction of Gaza, said money will be disbursed to the beneficiaries through the UN and its World Food Program.

He added that funds will be transferred before the end of August and that its distribution would start in September.

The monthly installments of $10 million are guaranteed until the end of the year. Qatar will send the funds to the UN in New York. The money will be then be transferred to Palestinian banks in Ramallah which will forward it to banks in Gaza.

The World Food Program will provide the Gaza families with bank cards to withdraw the money. The list of families is approved by Israel to ensure that they are not engaged in terrorism.

Prior to the May Gaza war, former prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu allowed Qatari allocations of $30 million to enter Gaza without oversight. It paid for the needy families, Hamas employees and for fuel for Gaza’s power plant.

After the war, only the fuel payments were renewed. Bennett did not want untraceable cash going into Gaza.

Hamas had threatened a renewal of violence should a deal of this sort not be reached. Earlier this week it fired a rocket at Israel and threatened to renew border violence this Saturday.

Maintaining calm in Gaza is important both to the stability of the Bennett-led government and to keeping a lid on violence in the West Bank and in Jerusalem.

Israel has also been under pressure from the US to make humanitarian gestures to Gaza, so a step of this kind was important prior to the Bennett-Biden meeting.

It would be hard to advance on the Israeli-Palestinian track in the face of Gaza flare-ups.

Gantz was careful to underscore on Thursday that Israel would not tolerate Gaza violence, even though it had not responded to the latest round of rocket fire. It has, however, executed retaliatory raids in response to the launch of incendiary balloons.

“At the end of operation Guardian of the Walls, I declared that the status quo will be no longer. We will not tolerate any threat to our sovereignty – from the smallest fire balloon to rockets fired over our cities. We have responded in the past and will respond to any future threat forcefully.

“At the same time we are facilitating humanitarian aid to Gaza,” Gantz said.

In an unusual move, given that Qatar and Israel lack diplomatic relations, the defense minister said he had spoken with officials from Doha.

“I have been in contact with Qatari officials to establish a mechanism that ensures the money reaches those in need, while maintaining Israel’s security needs,” he said.

Gantz reportedly secretly met with a Qatari official in a third country this week to iron out the details of the payments, Walla News reported Thursday.

He thanked Qatar, UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process Tor Wennesland, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, the US Embassy and “all our partners who are involved,” especially Egypt.

He said that Egypt was “a cornerstone for keeping the quiet, stability and security in the region.”

PALESTINIANS TAKE part in a rally in support of Qatar, inside Qatari-funded construction project ‘Hamad City,’ in the southern Gaza Strip. (credit: IBRAHEEM ABU MUSTAFA/REUTERS)

The announcement of the Qatari cash deal followed a visit by Egyptian intelligence chief Abbas Kamel to Israel and the Palestinian territories.

In Ramallah on Wednesday, Kamel met with PA President Mahmoud Abbas and his Palestinian counterpart, Majed Faraj. Hussein al-Sheikh, who heads the PA General Authority of Civil Affairs, and Minister of Information Nabil Abu Rudaineh also attended the meeting.

Kamel also met in Israel with Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, Defense Minister Benny Gantz and Foreign Minister Yair Lapid.

Hamas did not immediately comment on the Qatari-UN agreement.

Together with other Palestinian factions, Hamas on Thursday called on Palestinians to participate in rallies on Saturday marking the anniversary of the burning of al-Aqsa Mosque on August 21, 1969.

“The blessed al-Aqsa Mosque is a red line, and our people will not allow the fire to spread to it again,” Hamas said in a statement issued Thursday night. “The mosque will remain a red line, and the hand that extends to it will be cut off.”

#以色列衛生部命令學校允許在場所內接種疫苗

衛生部總幹事納赫曼·艾希(Nachman Ash) 指示校長，允許醫療隊在上課時間現場為父母同意的學生接種疫苗。

衛生部總幹事納赫曼·艾希(Nachman Ash)8/17(三)簽署了一項指令，命令全國各地的學校允許在上學期間在校內接種疫苗，這似乎結束了與教育部長就此事曠日持久的抗爭。

該指令指示機構負責人允許衛生部團隊在上課時間進入，並為願意接種疫苗的工作人員和 12 歲以上的學生接種疫苗，這些學生需持有獲得了父母的書面許可。

根據該指令，已經開始上課的哈雷迪猶太正統宗教學生將於本週四8/18開始接種疫苗。

截至8/16週一，已確診的 COVID-19 極端正統派兒童病例超過 1,600 例，自 8 月 3 日的感染數據以來，增加了 130%。

專家解釋，與其他以色列社區相比，極端正統派猶太人在前三波中受到病毒的影響更大，因為他們往往擁有更大的家庭，並且居住在更密集的社區。他們強調集體禱告和學習等團體活動，以及他們最初拒絕關閉猶太學校，同時也阻礙了執行應保持社交距離等措施。

冠狀病毒內閣小組預計將於週日8/22召開會議，就學年的開學日期做出決定。

8/17(二)，因COVID-19 病例持績上升，總理班內特(Naftali Bennett)拒絕承諾按計劃於 9 月 1 日在全國開學，

當被問及開學計劃時，班內特告訴 13 頻道新聞記者，我們將在下週根據大流行的情況再做出決定。

教育部長莎莎-比頓(Yifat Shasha-Biton)與其他政府官員就學校注射疫苗的管理發生衝突，#教育部長與衛生部長的抗衡 她堅持不要在上課時間進行接種新冠病毒疫苗，然而這一立場會阻礙教育系統中有效的疫苗接種計劃；以色列定期會在學校內開展其他疫苗活動。

這位部長此前曾將在學校為學生接種疫苗的想法稱為「犯罪」，從而引發了爭議。

8/17(二)，《國土報》報導稱，以色列總檢察長阿維謝·曼德布利特 (Avichai Mandelblit)正在準備一項合法立場，以支持衛生部長在此事上繞過教育部長的權利。

報告稱，司法部官員認為，如果學生的父母同意，教育部長莎莎-比頓(Shasha-Bitan)無權阻止學生在上課時間接受接種。

儘管在疫苗接種方面存在分歧，但衛生部長霍洛維茨(Nitzan Horowitz)和莎莎-比頓(Shasha-Biton)於8/16週一確實就一項計劃達成了一致，根據該計劃，在所謂由衛生部依顏色編碼範圍內病毒爆發最嚴重的「紅色警戒城市」上學的學生，如果班級中在接種了疫苗、從 COVID 中康復或通過了抗體血清檢測是陽性反應的學生低於70%，則此班將改由線上遠程學習；總檢察長曼德布利特(Mandelblit)也支持該計劃，該計劃適用於 8 年級及以上的學生。

然而，據《國土報》報導，司法部8/16周一告訴政府，因有另一個關鍵要素， 9 月 1 日無法重新開學。

大流行期間開辦學校的框架設想，只允許接種疫苗或康復的學生或病毒檢疫呈陰性的學生入學。 不過，司法部官員發現，僅僅因為孩子的父母拒絕讓他們接種疫苗或接受病毒檢疫而拒絕他們接受教育，其法律面有實際上的困難。

該報告指出，2019 年麻疹爆發期間，總檢察長曼德布利特(Mandelblit)曾批准了一些措施，包括拒絕未接種疫苗的學生進入學校，並向學校提供有關未接種疫苗的學生資料。報告稱，當時有數百名學生被拒之門外。

最新進展是有報導稱，內閣因教育部長莎莎-比頓(Shasha-Biton)拒絕允許在上課時間為高中生接種疫苗而鬧得沸沸揚揚。

據希伯來語媒體報導，在關於內閣視訊會議上，儘管大多數其他疫苗接種活動都是在上課時間藉由學校進行的，但班內特似乎對莎莎-比頓(Shasha-Biton)拒絕利用上課時間接種 COVID 疫苗感到沮喪。

視訊會議中，總理以希伯來語表示，你不是來自聯合國，意謂著人們不應該對正在討論的主題保持中立，據一些記錄，總裡當時說話時敲打著辦公桌；血清檢測很好，但它們並不能拯救我們，拯救我們的只是接種疫苗，我請求妳從擔架上下來「此意思在希伯來語是『為團隊做好妳自己的那一份工作』」。

據說班內特在視訊會議中指責莎莎-比頓和其他教育官員：你們真不明白這是你們的責任，就像衛生部的責任一樣，若校園爆發疫情這是無法想像的。

據報導，衛生部長霍洛維茨與班內特一起批評教育部長，霍洛維茨表示，創造性的解決方案一切都很好，但只有接種疫苗才能確保學年開學。

據報導，教育部長同意學校可以利用他們的資源鼓勵學生接種疫苗，但表示她擔心允許在上課時間接種疫苗，會使學校陷入她認為具有分裂性的決定之中

在給媒體的一份聲明中，班內特總理辦公室否認語氣是憤怒的，但沒有否認所報導辯論的實質內容；並非內閣討論中發生的每一次交流都是對抗，總理和教育部長正在合作，以安全地讓學校開學，同時保護以色列兒童的健康。

週三以色列單日確診約有 7,943名，當日19人死亡；目前有 961 名以色列人因新冠肺炎住院，578 人重症，104 人使用呼吸器。

根據衛生部的數據，目前12 至 15 歲已有27.9% 的兒童已完全接種疫苗，而在 16 至 19 歲的青少年中，以色列有68.6%的青少年已接種了兩劑疫苗。

8/22主日開始為40歲以上的民眾施打第三劑新冠疫苗。

新聞出處：TOI, Harretz

新聞日期：2021/8/18

Emil Salman

Amir Cohen/Reuters

Jack Guez/AFP

Tomer Appelbaum

美國將於 9 月開始進行 COVID-19 疫苗加強注射

從 9 月 20 日開始，將向美國人廣泛提供 COVID-19 疫苗加強注射，等待 FDA 的批准和 CDC 的建議。

通過路透

2021 年 8 月 19 日 12:44

一名衛生工作者正準備進行第三次 COVID-19 加強注射（示例）。

（圖片來源：MARC ISRAEL SELLEM/耶路撒冷郵報）

廣告

美國衛生官員周三表示，將從 9 月 20 日開始向美國人廣泛提供 COVID-19 疫苗加強注射，並引用數據顯示，隨著 Delta 變體感染的增加，最初接種疫苗的保護作用逐漸減弱。

美國衛生與公共服務部在一份聲明中說，美國官員將向至少八個月前首次接種由 Moderna Inc、輝瑞 Inc 和 BioNTech AG 生產的兩劑 COVID-19 疫苗的美國人提供第三針.

美國總統喬拜登在白宮對記者說：“這是保護自己免受可能出現的新變種的最佳方式。” “這會讓你更安全、更長久。這將有助於更快地結束這場大流行。”

拜登說，美國政府預計將在全國約 80,000 個地點免費提供 1 億次加強注射。

接種兩劑疫苗的美國人將接受初始加強劑量，但官員們表示，他們預計 2 月份在美國獲得授權的強生公司注射疫苗的人也將需要加強劑量。

喬·拜登總統的首席醫療顧問安東尼·福奇對記者說：“你想在病毒之前離開。” “如果你等待不好的事情發生後再做出反應，你會發現你遠遠落後於你真正的全面反應能力。”

官員們表示，加強注射最初將集中在醫護人員、療養院居民和老年人身上——他們是 2020 年底和 2021 年初首批接種疫苗的人群。

這一消息得到了美國眾議院議長南希佩洛西和參議院共和黨領袖米奇麥康奈爾的支持，麥康奈爾表示他“絕對”計劃獲得第三槍。

輝瑞股價在午盤交易中上漲約 1.65%。Moderna 股價下跌約 2.8%，強生股價下跌 0.5%。

越來越多的證據表明，六個月或更長時間後，對 COVID-19 疫苗的保護作用會減弱，尤其是在有潛在健康問題的老年人中。官員們在他們關於助推器的決定中引用了這一點，但強調美國授權的注射已被證明在降低嚴重疾病、住院和死亡風險方面“非常有效”。

根據聯邦數據，在宣布正式決定加強疫苗之前，超過一百萬美國人尋求額外的疫苗劑量。美國官員此前曾授權為免疫系統較弱的人接種第三劑輝瑞/BioNTech 和 Moderna 疫苗。

美國的聲明違背了世界衛生組織的指導，世界衛生組織的首席科學家表示，目前的數據並不表明需要加強注射。

最近幾週，其他幾個國家決定向老年人和免疫系統較弱的人提供加強注射，包括以色列、德國和法國。歐盟官員周三表示，他們認為還沒有必要向普通民眾提供加強注射。

美國衛生局局長 Vivek Murthy 說，美國官員預計，在接種疫苗後至少 8 個月內，接種疫苗的人的住院和死亡人數不會出現嚴重上升。

美國疾病控制與預防中心負責人羅謝爾·瓦倫斯基 (Rochelle Walensky) 在紐約進行的一項新研究發現，COVID-19 疫苗的有效性從 5 月份的 92% 左右下降到最近的 80% 左右。

Walensky 補充說，疫苗對目前在美國占主導地位的 Delta 變體的效果通常較差，他引用了一項對美國療養院的研究，該研究顯示疫苗對 Delta 的有效性為 53%。

Delta 變體問題

美國在報告的 COVID-19 病例和死亡人數方面領先世界，每天約有 500 名美國人死亡。隨著 Delta 變體的流行，美國的每日病例從 7 月初的不到 10,000 例飆升至 8 月的超過 150,000 例。

新病例包括接種疫苗的人，儘管與未接種疫苗的人相比，他們患嚴重疾病或死亡的可能性要小得多。

以色列醫療保健提供者的一項新研究發現，第三劑輝瑞 / BioNTech 注射劑對 60 歲以上的人有 86% 的有效性。 這是繼以色列的另一項研究表明接種後幾個月對 COVID-19 疫苗的免疫力減弱的證據之後。

世界衛生組織官員爭辯說，疫苗劑量應首先用於尚未接受初始接種的較貧窮國家的人。

“我們計劃向已經有救生衣的人分發額外的救生衣，而我們讓其他人在沒有一件救生衣的情況下淹死。這就是現實，”世衛組織首席應急專家邁克瑞安在新聞發布會上說，指的是助推器鏡頭。

拜登說，政府幾個月來一直在計劃加強疫苗，該建議不會減少其在國外的疫苗捐贈，未來幾個月將達到約 2 億支疫苗。

美國的加強計劃取決於食品和藥物管理局確定第三劑兩劑疫苗是安全有效的，以及 CDC 顧問的有利建議。

US to begin COVID-19 vaccine booster shots in September

COVID-19 vaccine booster shots will be made widely available to Americans starting on September 20, pending FDA approval and CDC recommendation.

By REUTERS

AUGUST 19, 2021 12:44

A health worker is seen preparing to administer the a third COVID-19 booster shot (illustrative).

(photo credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM/THE JERUSALEM POST)

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COVID-19 vaccine booster shots will be made widely available to Americans starting on Sept. 20, US health officials said on Wednesday, citing data showing diminishing protection from the initial vaccinations as infections rise from the Delta variant.

US officials will offer a third shot to Americans who received their initial inoculation of two-dose COVID-19 vaccines made by Moderna Inc and by Pfizer Inc and BioNTech AG at least eight months earlier, the Department of Health and Human Services said in a statement.

"It’s the best way to protect ourselves from new variants that may arise," US President Joe Biden told reporters at the White House. "It will make you safer and for longer. It will help end this pandemic faster."

The US government expects to give out 100 million booster shots for free at around 80,000 locations nationwide, Biden said.

Initial booster doses will be given to Americans who received two-dose vaccines, but officials said they anticipate that people given Johnson & Johnson's shot, authorized in the United States in February, will also need boosters.

"You want to get out ahead of the virus," Anthony Fauci, President Joe Biden's chief medical adviser, told reporters. "If you wait for something bad to happen before you respond to it, you find you're considerably behind your real full capability of being responsive."

The booster shots, officials said, initially will focus on healthcare workers, nursing home residents and older people - among the first groups to be vaccinated in late 2020 and early 2021.

The news drew support from both US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, who said he "absolutely" planned to get a third shot.

Shares of Pfizer rose around 1.65% in midday trading. Moderna shares dropped around 2.8% and J&J fell 0.5%.

There is mounting evidence that protection from COVID-19 vaccines wanes after six or more months, especially in older people with underlying health conditions. The officials cited this in their decision on boosters, but stressed that the US-authorized shots have proven "remarkably effective" in reducing the risk of severe disease, hospitalizations and deaths.

More than a million Americans sought an extra vaccine dose before the official decision on boosters was announced, according to federal data. US officials previously authorized a third dose of the Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna vaccines for people with weak immune systems.

The US announcement defies guidance from the World Health Organization, whose chief scientist said current data does not indicate the need for booster shots.

In recent weeks, several other countries have decided to offer booster shots to older adults and people with weak immune systems, including Israel, Germany and France. European Union officials said on Wednesday they do not yet see a need to give booster shots to the general population.

US officials do not expect a serious uptick in hospitalizations and deaths among vaccinated people until at least eight months after their initial inoculation, US Surgeon General Vivek Murthy said.

A new study conducted in New York and cited by US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention chief Rochelle Walensky found that COVID-19 vaccine effectiveness dropped from around 92% in May to around 80% more recently.

Vaccines are generally less effective against the Delta variant now dominant in the United States, Walensky added, citing a study of US nursing homes showing a 53% rate of vaccine effectiveness against Delta.

DELTA VARIANT CONCERNS

The United States leads the world in reported COVID-19 cases and deaths, with around 500 Americans dying daily. Daily US cases soared from fewer than 10,000 in early July to more than 150,000 in August as the Delta variant took hold.

The new cases include vaccinated people, though they are far less likely to experience severe disease or death than the unvaccinated.

A new study by an Israeli healthcare provider found a third dose of the Pfizer/BioNTech shot is 86% effective in people over age 60. It followed another Israeli study that showed evidence of waning immunity from COVID-19 vaccines in the months after inoculation.

World Health Organization officials contend that vaccine doses should first go to people in poorer countries who have yet to receive an initial inoculation.

"We are planning to hand out extra life jackets to people who already have life jackets, while we are leaving other people to drown without a single life jacket. That's the reality," Mike Ryan, WHO's chief emergency expert, told a news conference, referring to booster shots.

Biden said the administration has been planning for boosters for months and the recommendation will not diminish its vaccine donations abroad, amounting to about 200 million shots over the coming months.

The US booster plan is dependent on the Food and Drug Administration determining that a third dose of the two-dose vaccines is safe and effective, and a favorable recommendation from CDC advisers.

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