Greetings!
Ashraf Ghani, President of Afghanistan, and Abdullah Abdullah, his opponent in the recent election, who refused to accept the outcome, have agreed upon a "power sharing deal", whereby Ashraf Ghani remains as President and both will appoint an equal number of ministers. Dr. Abdullah will lead the peace talks with the Taliban should they get underway.
Last month the Taliban walked out of the peace talks saying "face to face negotiations with the Afghan government had proved fruitless". The talks reportedly "broke down over a prisoner swap agreed earlier between the US and Taliban". The United States had agreed with the Taliban, without the participation or agreement of the Afghan government, that the Afghan government would release 5,000 prisoners before the Taliban were obligated to engage in peace talks. Release 5,000 combatants before your enemy is obligated to talk! Who does that? The government did however begin evaluating who is imprisoned and announced Sunday that it would release up to 2,000.
Recently the Taliban attacked a maternity hospital killing mothers, newborns and nurses. Afghanistan's military had previously been ordered to take defensive action only. No more. Ashraf Ghani announced following the attack that the military would commence offensive action.
The good news is that as of May 26th there were 220 deaths from Coronaviras in the entire country, population 37 million. Contrast that with the United States, population 331 million (approximately 9 times that of Afghanistan) and 99,896 deaths. Nabi's theory is that living conditions are so difficult in the country that their immune systems are highly developed and capable of taking on the virus. Interesting theory. The easier living conditions are the more vulnerable to viruses we become.
Rumor has it that schools in Afghanistan will open soon and when they do we will open our 10 libraries. Masks will be worn and limits will be placed on how many children will be able to be in the libraries at one time. Before closing over 700 children were using the libraries every day, six days a week.
