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Pakistan’s national security adviser has suggested the West faces another 9/11 if it abandons Afghanistan for a second time.

Dr Moeed Yusuf issued the stark warning as the international coalition struggles to get its remaining troops out of the country, after an ignominious defeat to the Taliban.

Abandoning the country could also cause a mass wave of refugees, Dr Yusuf told Sky News.

Pakistan and Taliban flags are seen on their respective sides near Friendship gate at a border crossing point in Chaman, Pakistan, Friday, Aug. 27, 2021. Hundreds of Pakistanis and Afghans cross the border daily through Chaman to visit relatives, receive medical treatment and for business-related activities. Pakistani has not placed any curbs on their movement despite recent evacuations from Kabul. (AP Photo)
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Pakistan and Taliban flags are seen on their respective sides at a border crossing point in Chaman, Pakistan

When the Soviets withdrew in 1989 the West turned its back on the region, he said, and allowed it to become a safe haven for terrorists.

Pakistan has not yet recognised the Taliban but is urging the international community to “engage” to avoid a security vacuum.

Dr Yusuf said now is the time for the world to listen and come together to avoid the mistakes of the past.

“If there’s no money in Afghanistan, if there’s no governance, if ISIS-K and al Qaeda and others take root, what do you think will happen?

Taliban fighters patrol the streets of Kabul. Pic: AP
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Western leaders may have no option but to accept the Taliban as the new leaders of Afghanistan Pic: AP

“And by the way let me also tell you, this will not be constrained to the region. I read somewhere, I think one statement came out, that the migration problem should be limited to the region, it won’t.

“Migrants will flow, terrorism will flow and none of us want that so let’s not make that mistake again.

“The dangers of abandonment, which came about in the 1990s, there was a breakdown of law and order, there was a breakdown of security, there were international terrorists who took route, there was an economic crisis, there was a governance problem and at the end of the day there was 911.”

There hasn’t yet been a huge flood of refugees out of the country, but hundreds of thousands have been internally displaced and the dangers are already there for that humanitarian situation to worsen rapidly.

Afghan refugees arriving in Virginia, US after fleeing their homeland Pic: Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call via AP Images
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Afghan refugees arriving in Virginia, US after fleeing their homeland Pic: Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call via AP Images

Thursday’s horrific attack by ISIS Khorasan at the airport illustrates what is at stake.

Pakistan’s government claims by working with the Taliban rather than isolating them they can maintain security in the country and prevent Afghanistan from descending into civil war as it did in the past.

Islamabad is on the front foot of a PR blitz trying to make its case at a time when many western capitals see it as one of the reasons the nation building project failed over the last 20 years.

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Sky’s Adam Parsons reports from Ramstein Air Base in Germany, where thousands of Afghan refugees are waiting to be flown to the US to start new lives

The country stands accused of playing a “double game” – appearing as a staunch ally while at the same time sponsoring the militant group and providing sanctuary and support.

The reason for this duplicity, it’s claimed, is that Pakistan has an interest in seeing Islamist rulers – not a democratic government – in Kabul as a way of increasing strategic depth and influence in its perpetual fight against its powerful neighbour India to the east.

But the Pakistani government claims these accusations are “not based in reality” and it is being used as a “scapegoat” for the failures and miscalculations of others.

The argument it makes is that there was never a military solution to Afghanistan in the first place and such a victory was therefore illusory.

Taliban fighters stand guard at a checkpoint in the Wazir Akbar Khan neighborhood in the city of Kabul. Pic: AP
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Taliban fighters stand guard at a checkpoint in the Wazir Akbar Khan neighborhood in Kabul. Pic: AP

It also claims that after Afghanistan it is the biggest victim of the so called war on terror with as many as 80,000 dead and two million people internally displaced.

And the reality is that the West will most likely have to recognise the new bearded rulers in Kabul.

In microcosm we have already seen that play out with international forces humiliatingly having to coordinate with the group during the airlift.

And then there is the bigger question – engage with the Taliban, or not to stop groups like ISIS from becoming stronger in the region?

Both are extreme Sunni Islamist militants but there is great enmity between them.

Pakistan certainly believes that our enemy of 20 years may, in that fight, turn out to be our friend.

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Climate-vulnerable islands storm out of COP29 negotiation room in row over funding

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Climate-vulnerable islands storm out of COP29 negotiation room in row over funding

Representatives of dozens of climate vulnerable islands and African nations have stormed out of high-stakes negotiations over a climate funding goal.

Patience is wearing thin and negotiations have boiled over at the COP29 climate talks in Azerbaijan, which were due to finish yesterday but are now well into overtime.

After two weeks of talks, the more than 190 countries gathered in the capital Baku are still trying to agree a new financial settlement to channel money to poorer countries to both curb and adapt to climate change.

Talks have now run well into overtime at COP29, but a deal now feels much more precarious.

The least developed countries like Mozambique and low-lying island nations like Samoa say their calls for a portion of the fund to be allocated to them have been ignored.

Samoa’s minister of natural resources and environment Toeolesulusulu Cedric Schuster is one of the representatives who walked out.

“We are here to negotiate but we have walked out… at the moment we don’t feel we are being heard in there,” he said on behalf of more than 40 small island and developing states, whose shorelines are being lost to rising sea levels.

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Shortly after he made a veiled threat of leaving COP29 altogether, saying: “We want nothing more than to continue to engage, but the process must be INCLUSIVE.

“If this cannot be the case, it becomes very difficult for us to continue our involvement here at COP29.”

Evans Njewa, who chairs a group of more than 40 least developed countries, said the current deal is “unacceptable for us. We need to speak to other developing countries and decide what to do.”

The last official draft on Friday pledged $250bn a year annually by 2035.

This is more than double the previous goal of $100bn set 15 years ago, but nowhere near the annual $1.3trn that experts say is needed.

Sky News understands some developed countries like the UK were this morning willing to bump up the goal to $300bn.

Developing countries are angry not just about the finance negotiations, but also on how to make progress on a pledge from last year to “transition away from fossil fuels”.

A group of oil and producing countries, spearheaded by Saudi Arabia, have tried to dilute that language, while the UK and island state are among those that have fought to keep it in.

Mr Schuster said all things being negotiated contain a “deplorable lack of substance”.

He added: “We need to see progress and follow up on the transition away from fossil fuels that we agreed last year. We have been asked to forget all about that at this COP, as though we are not in a critical decade and as though the 1.5C limit is not in peril.”

“We need to be shown the regard which our dire circumstances necessitate.”

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At least 11 killed in Israeli strikes on central Beirut, Lebanese authorities say

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At least 11 killed in Israeli strikes on central Beirut, Lebanese authorities say

At least 11 people have been killed and 63 injured in an Israeli strike on central Beirut, Lebanese authorities have said.

Lebanon‘s health ministry said the death toll could rise as emergency workers dug through the rubble looking for survivors. DNA tests are being used to identify the victims, the ministry added.

State-run National News Agency (NNA) said the attack “completely destroyed” an eight-storey residential building in the Basta neighbourhood early on Saturday.

Footage broadcast by Lebanon’s Al Jadeed station also showed at least one destroyed building and several others badly damaged around it.

The central Basta neighbourhood in Beirut, where four people were killed in an Israeli airstrike
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The central Basta neighbourhood in Beirut, where four people were killed in an Israeli airstrike

Map of Lebanon and Israel

The Israeli military did not warn residents to evacuate before the attack – the fourth targeting the centre this week.

At least four bombs were dropped in the attack, security sources told Reuters news agency.

The blasts happened at about 4am (2am UK time).

A seperate drone strike in the southern port cuty of Tyre this morning killed one person and injured another, according to the NNA.

The blasts came after a day of bombardment of Beirut’s southern suburbs and Tyre. The Israeli military had issued evacuation notices prior to those strikes.

Pic: AP
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Pic: AP

Israel has killed several Hezbollah leaders in air strikes on the capital’s southern suburbs.

Heavy fighting between Israel and Hezbollah is ongoing in southern Lebanon, as Israeli forces push deeper into the country since launching a major offensive in September.

Read more:
No 10 indicates Netanyahu would be arrested
‘Dozens’ of Palestinians killed in Israeli airstrike

US envoy Amos Hochstein was in the region this week to try to end more than 13 months of fighting between Israel and Hezbollah, ignited last October by the war in Gaza.

Mr Hochstein indicated progress had been made after meetings in Beirut on Tuesday and Wednesday, before going to meet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and defence minister Israel Katz.

According to the Lebanese health ministry, Israel has killed more than 3,500 people in Lebanon and wounded more than 15,000.

It has displaced about 1.2 million people – a quarter of Lebanon’s population – while Israel says about 90 soldiers and nearly 50 civilians have been killed in northern Israel.

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Vladimir Putin vows to increase production of Russia’s ‘unstoppable’ missile – as NATO and Ukraine to hold talks

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Vladimir Putin vows to increase production of Russia's 'unstoppable' missile - as NATO and Ukraine to hold talks

President Vladimir Putin has said Russia will ramp up the production of a new, hypersonic ballistic missile.

In a nationally-televised speech, Mr Putin said the intermediate-range Oreshnik missile was used in an attack on Ukrainian city Dnipro in retaliation for Ukraine’s use of US and British missiles capable of striking deeper into Russian territory.

Referring to the Oreshnik, the Russian president said: “No one in the world has such weapons.

“Sooner or later other leading countries will also get them. We are aware that they are under development.”

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Putin’s warning to the West

Russia war latest: Long-awaited US air defences arrive in Ukraine

He added: “We have this system now. And this is important.”

Detailing the missile’s alleged capabilities, Mr Putin claimed it is so powerful that using several fitted with conventional warheads in one attack could be as devastating as a strike with nuclear weapons.

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General Sergei Karakayev, head of Russia’s strategic missile forces, said the Oreshnik could reach targets across Europe and be fitted with either nuclear or conventional warheads – while Mr Putin alleged Western air defence systems will not be able to stop the missiles.

Mr Putin said of the Oreshnik: “There is no countermeasure to such a missile, no means of intercepting it, in the world today. And I will emphasise once again that we will continue testing this newest system. It is necessary to establish serial production.”

Read more from Sky News:
What are storm shadow missiles?
How bionic limps are helping Ukrainian troops

Testing the Oreshnik will happen “in combat, depending on the situation and the character of security threats created for Russia“, the president added, stating there is “a stockpile of such systems ready for use”.

NATO and Ukraine are expected to hold emergency talks on Tuesday.

Meanwhile Ukraine’s parliament cancelled a session as security was tightened following the strike on Dnipro, a central city with a population of around one million. No fatalities were reported.

EU leaders condemn Russia’s ‘heinous attacks’

Numerous EU leaders have addressed Russia’s escalation of the conflict with Poland’s Prime Minister Donald Tusk saying the war is “entering a decisive phase [and] taking on very dramatic dimensions”.

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Russia’s new missile – what does it mean?

Speaking in Kyiv, Czech foreign minister Jan Lipavsky called Moscow’s strike an “escalatory step and an attempt of the Russian dictator to scare the population of Ukraine and to scare the population of Europe”.

At a news conference, Mr Lipavsky gave his full support for delivering the additional air defence systems needed to protect Ukrainian civilians from the “heinous attacks”.

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