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Taliban Says it Controls Most of Afghanistan, Reassures Russia

Members of Taliban political office Abdul Latif Mansoor (L), Shahabuddin Delawar (C) and Suhail Shaheen attend a news conference in Moscow, Russia July 9, 2021. (Reuters)
Members of Taliban political office Abdul Latif Mansoor (L), Shahabuddin Delawar (C) and Suhail Shaheen attend a news conference in Moscow, Russia July 9, 2021. (Reuters)
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Taliban Says it Controls Most of Afghanistan, Reassures Russia

Members of Taliban political office Abdul Latif Mansoor (L), Shahabuddin Delawar (C) and Suhail Shaheen attend a news conference in Moscow, Russia July 9, 2021. (Reuters)
Members of Taliban political office Abdul Latif Mansoor (L), Shahabuddin Delawar (C) and Suhail Shaheen attend a news conference in Moscow, Russia July 9, 2021. (Reuters)

A Taliban delegation in Moscow said on Friday that the group controlled over 85% of territory in Afghanistan and reassured Russia it would not allow the country to be used as a platform to attack others.

Foreign forces, including the United States, are withdrawing after almost 20 years of fighting, a move that has emboldened Taliban insurgents to try to gain fresh territory in Afghanistan.

That has prompted hundreds of Afghan security personnel and refugees to flee across the border into neighboring Tajikistan and raised fears in Moscow and other capitals that extremists could infiltrate Central Asia, a region Russia views as its backyard.

At a news conference in Moscow on Friday, three Taliban officials sought to signal that they did not pose a threat to the wider region however.

The officials said the Taliban would do all it could to prevent ISIS operating on Afghan territory and that it would also seek to wipe out drug production.

“We will take all measures so that Islamic State will not operate on Afghan territory... and our territory will never be used against our neighbors,” Taliban official Shahabuddin Delawar said through a translator.

The same delegation said a day earlier that the group would not attack the Tajik-Afghan border, the fate of which is in focus in Russia and Central Asia.

Moscow has noted a sharp increase in tensions on the same border, two thirds of which the Taliban currently controls, the Interfax news agency cited Russia’s foreign ministry as saying on Friday.

Russia’s foreign ministry called on all sides of the Afghanistan conflict to show restraint and said that Russia and the Moscow-led CSTO military bloc would act decisively to prevent aggression on the border if necessary, RIA reported.

The Taliban delegation told the same news conference that the group would respect the rights of ethnic minorities and all Afghan citizens should have the right to a decent education in the framework of religious law and Afghan traditions.

“We want all representatives of Afghan society ... to take part in creating an Afghan state,” said Delawar.

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World

NATO ‘Will Always Defend’ Türkiye, Says Rutte

A handout photo made available by the Turkish Defense Ministry Press Office shows Turkish Defense Minister Yasar Guler (R) and North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Secretary General Mark Rutte (L) shaking hands during a meeting in Ankara, Türkiye, 21 April 2026. (EPA/Turkish Defense Ministry/Handout)
A handout photo made available by the Turkish Defense Ministry Press Office shows Turkish Defense Minister Yasar Guler (R) and North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Secretary General Mark Rutte (L) shaking hands during a meeting in Ankara, Türkiye, 21 April 2026. (EPA/Turkish Defense Ministry/Handout)
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NATO ‘Will Always Defend’ Türkiye, Says Rutte

A handout photo made available by the Turkish Defense Ministry Press Office shows Turkish Defense Minister Yasar Guler (R) and North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Secretary General Mark Rutte (L) shaking hands during a meeting in Ankara, Türkiye, 21 April 2026. (EPA/Turkish Defense Ministry/Handout)
A handout photo made available by the Turkish Defense Ministry Press Office shows Turkish Defense Minister Yasar Guler (R) and North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Secretary General Mark Rutte (L) shaking hands during a meeting in Ankara, Türkiye, 21 April 2026. (EPA/Turkish Defense Ministry/Handout)

NATO chief Mark Rutte said on Wednesday the alliance would do "what's necessary to defend" its members including Türkiye after intercepting four missiles fired from Iran and head into Turkish air space over the past weeks.

A member of the US-led defense alliance, Türkiye, which borders Iran, has been largely spared the sort of retaliation from Tehran suffered by countries in the Middle East before the ceasefire.

NATO forces had shot down ballistic missiles fired from Iran for four times, prompting the alliance to deploy a new Patriot missile battery at Incirlik air base in southern Türkiye.

"Iran is spreading terror and chaos, and you feel this prominently here in Türkiye," Rutte told journalists on a visit to Türkiye’s largest defense electronics company Aselsan.

"In recent weeks, NATO has successfully intercepted ballistic missiles heading to Türkiye from Iran on four separate occasions," he said.

"NATO is prepared for such threats and will always do what is necessary to defend Türkiye and all others. And we cannot do it alone," he added.

Rutte's visit comes ahead of a July summit by NATO leaders to be held in Ankara.

Praising the progress made by Türkiye in the defense field, Rutte said: "We can learn a lot from what Türkiye is doing here".

"This is needed because we live in a more dangerous world... and that means we need strong defenses to protect our security".

Rutte said: "Türkiye has gone through a defense industrial revolution. I could really say it's a revolution in recent years."

The NATO chief is due to meet with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

World

China Warns Middle East at ‘Critical Juncture’ After Trump Extends Ceasefire

13 April 2026, China, Beijing: Guo Jiakun, spokesman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry, speaks to journalists. (dpa)
13 April 2026, China, Beijing: Guo Jiakun, spokesman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry, speaks to journalists. (dpa)
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China Warns Middle East at ‘Critical Juncture’ After Trump Extends Ceasefire

13 April 2026, China, Beijing: Guo Jiakun, spokesman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry, speaks to journalists. (dpa)
13 April 2026, China, Beijing: Guo Jiakun, spokesman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry, speaks to journalists. (dpa)

China warned on Wednesday that the situation in the Middle East was at a "critical juncture" after US President Donald Trump extended a ceasefire to allow Iran more time to negotiate.

Trump indefinitely pushed back the end of the two-week truce on Tuesday with Tehran yet to respond but he said a US blockade of Iran's ports would continue.

"The current regional situation stands at a critical juncture transitioning between war and peace; the paramount priority remains to make every effort to prevent a resumption of hostilities," Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun told a news briefing.

Guo did not comment directly on the ceasefire when asked about it, adding only that Beijing would continue to play a "constructive" role.

World

Extreme Heat Threatens Global Food Systems, UN Agencies Warn

Emmanuel, a worker at the Fasoranti farm, harvests cocoa pods in Akure, Ondo State, Nigeria, 20 April 2026. (EPA)
Emmanuel, a worker at the Fasoranti farm, harvests cocoa pods in Akure, Ondo State, Nigeria, 20 April 2026. (EPA)
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Extreme Heat Threatens Global Food Systems, UN Agencies Warn

Emmanuel, a worker at the Fasoranti farm, harvests cocoa pods in Akure, Ondo State, Nigeria, 20 April 2026. (EPA)
Emmanuel, a worker at the Fasoranti farm, harvests cocoa pods in Akure, Ondo State, Nigeria, 20 April 2026. (EPA)

Extreme heat is pushing global agrifood systems to the brink, threatening the livelihoods and health of more than a billion people, according to a new report by the UN's food and weather agencies.

The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said heatwaves are becoming more frequent, intense and prolonged, damaging crops, livestock, fisheries and forests.

"Extreme heat is rewriting the script on what farmers, fishers and foresters can grow and when they can grow. In some cases it is even dictating if they can still work," said Kaveh Zahedi, ‌head of ‌FAO's climate change office.

"At its core, this report ‌is ⁠telling us that ⁠we face a very uncertain future," he told Reuters.

Recent climate datasets show global warming is accelerating, with 2025 ranking among the three hottest years on record, triggering more frequent and severe weather extremes.

Acting as a risk multiplier, extreme heat intensifies droughts, wildfires and pest outbreaks and sharply cuts crop yields once critical temperature thresholds are breached.

RISKS ESCALATE RAPIDLY AS TEMPERATURES PUSH HIGHER

The report said higher temperatures ⁠are shrinking the safety margin that plants, animals and ‌humans rely on to function, with yields for ‌most major crops falling once temperatures exceed about 30 degrees Celsius (86 degrees Fahrenheit).

Zahedi cited ‌Morocco, where six years of drought were followed by record heatwaves. "This led ‌to a fall in cereal yields by over 40%. It decimated the olive and citrus harvest. Basically, those harvests failed," he said.

Marine heatwaves are also becoming more frequent, depleting oxygen levels in water and threatening fish stocks. In 2024, 91% of the world's ‌oceans experienced at least one marine heatwave, the report said.

Risks rise sharply as warming accelerates. The intensity of extreme ⁠heat events is ⁠expected to roughly double at 2 degrees Celsius of warming and quadruple at 3 degrees, compared with 1.5 degrees, the report said.

Zahedi said every one-degree rise in average global temperatures cuts yields of the world's four major crops - maize, rice, soya, and wheat - by about 6%.

The FAO and WMO said piecemeal responses were inadequate and called for better risk governance and early-warning weather systems to help farmers and fishers take preventive action.

"If you can get the data into the farmers' hands, they can adjust when they plant, they can adjust what they plant, they can adjust when they harvest," Zahedi said.

But the report said adaptation alone is not enough, arguing the only lasting solution to the growing threat of extreme heat is ambitious, coordinated action to curb climate change.