Iranian, Tajik Presidents Discuss Afghanistan

Iranian president Ebrahim Raisi (R) greets his Tajik counterpart Emomali Rahmon (L) during a welcome ceremony at the presidential palace in Tehran, Iran, 30 May 2022. (EPA)
Iranian president Ebrahim Raisi (R) greets his Tajik counterpart Emomali Rahmon (L) during a welcome ceremony at the presidential palace in Tehran, Iran, 30 May 2022. (EPA)
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Iranian, Tajik Presidents Discuss Afghanistan

Iranian president Ebrahim Raisi (R) greets his Tajik counterpart Emomali Rahmon (L) during a welcome ceremony at the presidential palace in Tehran, Iran, 30 May 2022. (EPA)
Iranian president Ebrahim Raisi (R) greets his Tajik counterpart Emomali Rahmon (L) during a welcome ceremony at the presidential palace in Tehran, Iran, 30 May 2022. (EPA)

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi held talks in Tehran on Monday with Tajik President Emomali Rahmon.

Discussions focused on the situation in neighboring Afghanistan.

Raisi said both countries want stability and security in Afghanistan and throughout the region and consider the presence of terrorists in this country very worrying.

The two parties signed cooperation agreements in various fields less than two weeks after the inauguration of an Iranian factory for military drones in Tajikistan.

Iran and Tajikistan agree on the issue of Afghanistan and that an inclusive government should be formed, said Raisi.

He stressed that Iran and Tajikistan "believe that the outsiders and the evil hands of arrogance that strengthen ISIS and terrorist groups in the region do not even think about the security of the people of Afghanistan and the region, and they are only pursuing their own political goals and interests."

"Evidence of this was the 20-year presence of NATO and the United States in Afghanistan, which resulted in nothing but war, bloodshed, and destruction for the country," he added.

Raisi had traveled to Dushanbe in September on his first foreign visit.

Raisi said his visit helped increase trade relations between the two countries fourfold.

During Rahmon's visit, senior Iranian and Tajik officials Iran signed 17 documents of cooperation in politics, economy, trade, transportation, investment, new technologies, environment, sports, energy, judiciary, education and research, and tourism in the presence of the two presidents.

Raisi said the agreements are a "turning point in strengthening and deepening relations between the two countries."

On May 17, Iran's Chief of Staff Mohammad Bagheri visited Dushanbe and inaugurated a drone factory, "Ababil 2," to produce UAVs capable of flying for about 90 minutes with a range of 150 km.

It was the first time Iran publicly announced the manufacture of weapons and drones outside its territory, which is seen as an attempt to establish a balance of power in the region, especially after the Taliban took control of Afghanistan.

In January, Pakistan's "The Frontier Post" revealed that the US is trying to persuade the governments of Tajikistan and Uzbekistan to set up military bases in their territories for possible special operations in Afghanistan, including drones and units to assess intelligence data.



Typhoon Gaemi Weakens to Tropical Storm as It Moves Inland Carrying Rain toward Central China

 In this photo released by the Taiwan Ministry of National Defense, Taiwanese soldiers clear debris in the aftermath of Typhoon Gaemi in Kaohsiung county in southwestern Taiwan, Friday, July 26, 2024. (Taiwan Ministry of National Defense via AP)
In this photo released by the Taiwan Ministry of National Defense, Taiwanese soldiers clear debris in the aftermath of Typhoon Gaemi in Kaohsiung county in southwestern Taiwan, Friday, July 26, 2024. (Taiwan Ministry of National Defense via AP)
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Typhoon Gaemi Weakens to Tropical Storm as It Moves Inland Carrying Rain toward Central China

 In this photo released by the Taiwan Ministry of National Defense, Taiwanese soldiers clear debris in the aftermath of Typhoon Gaemi in Kaohsiung county in southwestern Taiwan, Friday, July 26, 2024. (Taiwan Ministry of National Defense via AP)
In this photo released by the Taiwan Ministry of National Defense, Taiwanese soldiers clear debris in the aftermath of Typhoon Gaemi in Kaohsiung county in southwestern Taiwan, Friday, July 26, 2024. (Taiwan Ministry of National Defense via AP)

Tropical storm Gaemi brought rain to central China on Saturday as it moved inland after making landfall at typhoon strength on the country's east coast Thursday night.

The storm felled trees, flooded streets and damaged crops in China but there were no reports of casualties or major damage. Eight people died in Taiwan, which Gaemi crossed at typhoon strength before heading over open waters to China.

The worst loss of life, however, was in a country that Gaemi earlier passed by but didn't strike directly: the Philippines. A steadily climbing death toll has reached 34, authorities there said Friday. The typhoon exacerbated seasonal monsoon rains in the Southeast Asian country, causing landslides and severe flooding that stranded people on rooftops as waters rose around them.

China Gaemi weakened to a tropical storm since coming ashore Thursday evening in coastal Fujian province, but it is still expected to bring heavy rains in the coming days as it moves northwest to Jiangxi, Hubei and Henan provinces.

About 85 hectares (210 acres) of crops were damaged in Fujian province and economic losses were estimated at 11.5 million yuan ($1.6 million), according to Chinese media reports. More than 290,000 people were relocated because of the storm.

Elsewhere in China, several days of heavy rains this week in Gansu province left one dead and three missing in the country's northwest, the official Xinhua News Agency said.

Taiwan Residents and business owners swept out mud and mopped up water Friday after serious flooding that sent cars and scooters floating down streets in parts of southern and central Taiwan. Some towns remained inundated with waist-deep water.

Eight people died, several of them struck by falling trees and one by a landslide hitting their house. More than 850 people were injured and one person was missing, the emergency operations center said.

Visiting hard-hit Kaohsiung in the south Friday, President Lai Ching-te commended the city's efforts to improve flood control since a 2009 typhoon that brought a similar amount of rain and killed 681 people, Taiwan's Central News Agency reported.

Lai announced that cash payments of $20,000 New Taiwan Dollars ($610) would be given to households in severely flooded areas.

A cargo ship sank off the coast near Kaohsiung Harbor during the typhoon, and the captain's body was later pulled from the water, the Central News Agency said. A handful of other ships were beached by the storm.

Philippines At least 34 people died in the Philippines, mostly because of flooding and landslides triggered by days of monsoon rains that intensified when the typhoon — called Carina in the Philippines — passed by the archipelago’s east coast.

The victims included 11 people in the Manila metro area, where widespread flooding trapped people on the roofs and upper floors of their houses, police said. Some drowned or were electrocuted in their flooded communities.

Earlier in the week, Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. ordered authorities to speed up efforts in delivering food and other aid to isolated rural villages, saying people may not have eaten for days.

The bodies of a pregnant woman and three children were dug out Wednesday after a landslide buried a shanty in the rural mountainside town of Agoncillo in Batangas province.