Biden has no regrets over Afghan withdrawal as three more provinces fall to Taliban
US President Joe Biden has said he does not regret his decision to withdraw from Afghanistan, as officials say three more provincial capitals have fallen to the Taliban.
Nine out of the country’s 34 provinces are now in the insurgents’ hands as US troops continue their withdrawal.
The fall of the capitals of Badakhshan and Baghlan provinces to the northeast and Farah province to the west put increasing pressure on the country’s central government to stem the tide of the Taliban’s advance.
Thousands of people have fled the northern provinces
While Kabul itself has not been directly threatened in the advance, the offensive continues to stretch Afghan security forces now largely fighting against the insurgents on their own.
President Biden has ordered all US troops out of the country by the end of the month.
“Afghan leaders have to come together,” Mr Biden told reporters at the White House, saying the Afghan troops outnumber the Taliban and must want to fight.
“They’ve got to fight for themselves, fight for their nation.”
The US president said he does not regret his decision to withdraw, noting that Washington has spent more than $1trn over 20 years and lost thousands of troops.
He said the US continues to provide significant air support, food, equipment and salaries to Afghan forces.
In Kabul, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani said he was seeking help from regional militias he has squabbled with for years.
President Biden says Afghan leaders have to ‘come together’
He appealed to civilians to defend Afghanistan’s “democratic fabric”.
Tens of thousands of people have fled their homes in northern Afghanistan to escape battles that have overwhelmed their towns and villages.
Families have flowed into the capital, Kabul, living in parks and streets with little food or water.
At least 60,000 people, more than half of them children, have fled their homes in Kunduz alone since the weekend, Save the Children said
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Taliban takes control over much of Kunduz
On Tuesday, residents described bombardment, gunfire and airstrikes pounding their neighbourhoods in multiple parts of the north, with civilians caught in the crossfire.
Some said that as the Taliban captured towns, it hunted down and killed male relatives of members of the police forces and quickly started imposing new restrictions on women.
A scuba dive boat captain has been jailed for four years for criminal negligence over a fire that killed 34 people.
Captain Jerry Boylan was also sentenced to three years supervised release by a federal judge in Los Angeles, California.
The blaze on the vessel named Conception in September 2019 was the deadliest maritime disaster in recent American history.
Boylan was found guilty of one count of misconduct or neglect of ship officer last year.
Captain Jerry Boylan. Pic: AP
The charge is a pre-Civil War statute, known colloquially as seaman’s manslaughter, and was designed to hold steamboat captains and crew responsible for maritime disasters.
In a sentencing memo, lawyers for Boylan – who is appealing – wrote: “While the loss of life here is staggering, there can be no dispute that Mr Boylan did not intend for anyone to die.
“Indeed, Mr Boylan lives with significant grief, remorse, and trauma as a result of the deaths of his passengers and crew.”
The Conception was anchored off Santa Cruz Island, 25 miles south of Santa Barbara, when it caught fire before dawn on the final day of a three-day voyage, sinking less than 30 metres from the shore.
Thirty-three passengers and a crew member died, trapped below deck.
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The victims included an environmental scientist, a Singaporean data scientist and a family of three sisters, their father and his wife.
Boylan jumped overboard, and four crew members who followed suit also survived.
The burned hull of the dive boat. Pic: AP
Boylan initially faced 34 counts of seaman’s manslaughter, meaning he could have faced a total of 340 years behind bars.
His lawyers argued the deaths were the result of a single incident and not separate crimes, so prosecutors instead charged Boylan with only one count.
While the criminal case has concluded, there are several ongoing lawsuits.
US
US university protests: President Biden says ‘no right to cause chaos’ as he speaks out for first time over demonstrations
President Joe Biden has spoken out for the first time following violence and arrests during demonstrations at multiple US universities, saying: “There is a right to protest but not a right to cause chaos.”
Tensions at universities across America have been building for days as demonstrators have refused to remove encampments and administrators have called in law enforcement to break them up.
There have been clashes between pro-Palestinian activists and counter-protesters, as well as between demonstrators and police.
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Police attempt to disperse UCLA students
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Police make arrests at UCLA protest
Speaking at the White House on Thursday, Mr Biden said events at the universities “put to the test two fundamental American principles, the first is the right to free speech and for people to peacefully assemble, the second is the rule of law”.
“Both must be upheld”, the president continued. “We are not an authoritarian nation where we silence people and squash dissent. But neither are we a lawless country. We’re a civil society. And order must prevail.”
He added: “Dissent is essential to democracy but dissent must never lead to disorder or denying the rights of others so students can’t finish the semester and college education.”
Mr Biden has at times criticised Israel’s conduct in its war in Gaza, but the US has continued to supply it with weapons.
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‘I was caught between students and police at UCLA’
The president said the protests have not prompted him to rethink policies relating to the Middle East.
His remarks came after days of silence about the protests. During this time, Republicans have tried to use the scenes of unrest against the Democrats.
Mr Biden said he rejected efforts to use the situation to “score political points”. “This isn’t a moment for politics,” he said. “It’s a moment for clarity.”
Police clashed with pro-Palestinian demonstrators on the UCLA campus early on Thursday. Pic: AP
Demonstrators were detained on the UCLA campus. Pic: AP
Hundreds of protesters arrested
Overnight, police arrested pro-Palestinian protesters on multiple campuses, including at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), where officers in riot gear fired rubber bullets at demonstrators and tore down an encampment that had been in place for a week.
Between 200 and 300 people were arrested at UCLA on Wednesday night, two law enforcement sources told Sky’s US partner NBC News.
Specific information on those arrested – such as whether they were students, staff or not affiliated with the university – may not be known for days.
Police detained a protester at Columbia University. Pic: Reuters
The cost of the two-night operation to secure the campus and remove the encampment is in the multiple millions of dollars, they added.
Other arrests were made at the University of Texas, Yale, Dartmouth, and the New York State universities at Buffalo and Stony Brook.
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Tent encampments of protesters calling on universities to stop working with Israel, or companies they say support the war on Gaza, have spread across the US.
NYPD law enforcement officials shut down some of the city’s streets on Tuesday night. Pic: Reuters
Another prominent demonstration at Columbia University in New York was broken up by police on Tuesday night, with around 300 arrests being made.
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