Taliban refuses to hand back U.S. military hardware but says Afghanistan is "open" for business
In a wide-ranging interview with CBS News' Imtiaz Tyab, the spokesperson for Afghanistan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs Abdul Qahar Balkhi says U.S. military hardware left behind after the Biden administration's hasty withdrawal from America's longest war belongs to Afghanistan, rejecting President Donald Trump's offer to consider releasing frozen currency assets in exchange. But Balkhi says the country's "untapped" mineral wealth are open to U.S. businesses, just as the ruling Taliban are open to dialogue with the Trump administration, in the hope of normalising relations.
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Former Capitol attack prosecutor slams Trump pardons of January 6 defendants
A federal prosecutor who helped lead the US Department of Justice's investigation into the January 6 attack on Congress has resigned – and, in a new interview, he criticized Donald Trump's decision to pardon or commute the sentences of about 1,500 people charged in connection with the Capitol attack, saying that it 'sends a terrible message to the American people'. Longtime assistant US attorney Greg Rosen, the former chief of the justice department's Capitol siege section, sat down with CBS News after resigning over the weekend. In the interview, Rosen said that he was 'shocked, if not stunned' by the breadth of the pardons Trump issued to those involved in the 6 January 2021 attack just hours after his second presidential inauguration. Related: January 6 rioter who was pardoned by Trump arrested for burglary On 20 January, Trump granted 'full, complete and unconditional' pardons to those involved in the Capitol attack, including some convicted of violent acts. Trump also issued sentence-shortening commutations for more than a dozen cases while directing the justice department to dismiss all pending indictments against people related to the attack which unsuccessfully tried to keep him in office after he lost the 2020 election to Joe Biden. 'I think the message that they send is that political violence towards a political goal is acceptable in a modern democratic society,' Rosen said. 'That, from my perspective, is anathema to a constitutional republic.' Rosen said that the 'primary beneficiaries' of the pardons were individuals that 'judges across the spectrum, appointed by both political parties, had determined were a danger to society, individuals who were serving real serious jail time'. 'The concept that these defendants were railroaded or mistreated is belied by the actual facts,' Rosen said. 'The reality is every single case was treated with the utmost scrutiny, and every single case required the same level of due process, maximal due process afforded by the US constitution.' The pardons, Rosen said, 'sends a terrible message to the American people'. 'Individuals who were duly – and appropriately – convicted of federal crimes ranging in culpability are immediately let loose without any supervision, without any remorse, without any rehabilitation to civil society,' he added. 'The reason those juries convicted – and the reason those judges convicted – individuals was not because of some bug in the due process,' Rosen continued. 'It was because the evidence was overwhelming. It was the most videotaped crime in American history.' Rosen also criticized the Trump administration's decision to fire or sideline some of the prosecutors who handled the January 6 criminal cases and to disband the Capitol siege section. 'It's ridiculous,' Rosen said. 'To see those talented prosecutors be marginalized or removed from office is an affront to the independence of the department.' Rosen has joined Rogers Joseph O'Donnell, a private law firm in Washington DC. In a LinkedIn post on Monday, Rosen said he was 'beyond excited' for the 'new adventure'. Speaking to CBS, he added that it felt like 'time for a change – and a time to take what I've been doing and what I've learned over the course of 15 years in state and federal practice – and bring it to the private sector, where I can benefit clients who are being scrutinized by the government'. In a statement, the law firm said that Rosen would join its white-collar defense and government contract practice groups. It hailed Rosen for being 'entrusted with supervising more than 1,000 prosecutions connected with the January 6, 2021 breach and attack of the US Capitol, the largest federal prosecution in American history,' the release added. In a statement sent to the Guardian in response to Rosen's comments, a spokesperson for the Trump administration-led justice department said the president 'doesn't need lectures … about his use of pardons'. The spokesperson alluded, in part, to a pardon Biden gave his son, Hunter, who was convicted of federal gun and tax charges. And the spokesperson also said Trump was 'acting reasonably and responsibly within his constitutional authority'. In late May, one of the pardoned Capitol attackers was arrested on allegations of burglary and vandalism in Virginia in what was believed to be the first instance of new charges – since the president's clemency – for a person who took part in the uprising against Congress. The attack on the Capitol by Trump supporters was linked to nine deaths, including the suicides of police officers who were left traumatized after having defended the building.
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Trump Calls Anyone Who'll Listen to Prove He's Not Thinking About Elon
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Uzbekistan Builds Where the West Withdrew
Uzbekistan's interest in connectivity with Afghanistan is driven by economic opportunity, energy cooperation, security needs, and geopolitical strategy - factors that will help Uzbekistan access new markets and stabilize the region. Ambassador Javlon Vakhabov of the International Institute for Central Asia in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, calls it 'Stability Through Connectivity.' That is, Uzbekistan favors pragmatism over trying to isolate Afghanistan, and a policy that balances humanitarian support and regional security. The Central Asia republics (Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, the Kyrgyz Republic, and Turkmenistan) were on the border of the wars in Afghanistan, i.e., the Afghan civil war (1992-1996, 1996-2001) and the U.S.-led NATO occupation (2001 – 2021), which they consider 'lost decades' of economic growth and social development. The republics' leaders know they and Afghanistan are 'neighbors forever' and do not have the luxury of retreating to North America if things go wrong, so policy must acknowledge geography. Uzbekistan's engagement with the Taliban began long before NATO evacuated Afghanistan in August 2021. In 1997, then-Uzbek president Islam Karimov proposed the Six plus Two Group on Afghanistan,which grew from an understanding that dialogue and a political settlement, nor armed force, was the path to peace. The group was unable to persuade the warring sides – the Taliban and the United Front (formerly the Northern Alliance) – to pursue a March 2018, Uzbekistan hosted the Tashkent Conference that urged direct peace talks without preconditions between the Taliban and the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan. Unfortunately, the Taliban said it would only negotiate with the United States, the "foreign occupying force,' and demanded the departure of foreign troops before the start of negotiations. In July 2022, Tashkent hosted a conference on Afghanistan, attended by representatives of 30 countries. It was an opportunity for the international community to take the measure of Taliban officials and for the Taliban to encourage investment in Afghanistan and seek the release of Afghan assets seized by the West after the fall of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan. The tone of the event was forward-looking, but Uzbek president Shavkat Mirziyoyev, '…reiterated the international community's conditions for formal diplomatic recognition, namely 'forming a broad representation of all layers of the Afghan society in state governance, ensuring basic human rights and freedoms, especially of women and all ethnic and confessional groups.'' Tashkent has consistently called for engaging with Taliban-run Afghanistan, including unfreezing the $9 billion in state assets that were seized by American and European authorities after the ouster of the Kabul government in August 2021 Central Asia is a water-stressed region and Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan are in the 'severe water stress' category. The construction of the Qosh Tepa canal in Afghanistan threatened to increase tensions between the Taliban-led Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan and Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan by reducing the water flow of the Amu Darya River by 15-20% - a disaster for Central Asia agriculture. (In Uzbekistan, agriculture accounts for 25% of GDP and about 26% of the labor force.) In April 2025, Uzbekistan and Afghanistan agreed to cooperate in sharing the water resources in the Amu Darya River Basin. The republics are concerned as 'a significant reduction in the Amu Darya's flow could lead to ecosystem degradation, increased soil salinity, and deteriorating living conditions for populations downstream…[and] could hinder efforts to restore the Aral Sea and further exacerbate the region's environmental challenges.' Though Uzbekistan has not recognized the government of Taliban-run Afghanistan, the agreement on transboundary water resources demonstrates bilateral relations are becoming 'increasingly institutionalized.' Tashkent prioritizes its interests to address not just water resources but the threat of terrorist groups, 20 of which may be sheltering in Afghanistan. This effort will require serious diplomacy by all parties and is an opportunity for Uzbekistan (and the U.S.) to provide technical assistance to ensure the canal is built to minimize excessive water loss and soil salinization. Uzbekistan should take the opportunity to substitute crops less thirsty than cotton for the country's growing textile sector which plans to grow textile exports to $10 billion, and continue to import cotton from Turkey, China, and Bangladesh. (Uzbekistan also imports cotton from Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan but should take the opportunity to lead the region away from crops that deplete its water supply.) One step to peacefully resolve the water problem is to make Afghanistan a party to the 1992 Almaty Agreement which regulates water allocations based on the Soviet-era shares of water among the then-Soviet Central Asia republics. The agreement is implemented by the Interstate Commission for Water Coordination of Central Asia (ICWC) and making Afghanistan a member of the ICWC is a way to make it part of the solution and not the problem. It will teach the Taliban the 'rules of the road' in Central Asia and ensure the republics' officials have a clear understanding of Taliban personalities, motivations, and priorities. Other connectivity initiatives are: The Termez free economic zone which offers a 2-week visa for Afghan visitors and features a customs office, a hotel, storage facilities, and capacity to handle 100,000 trucks and 900,000 tons of goods a year. Trans-Afghan railway, a $7 billion, 765-kilometer link to Pakistan's ports that is expected to cut transport costs by 30–40%. And Uzbekistan may soon conduct preliminary studies on extending the railway from Hairatan to Herat, a jumping-off point for trade with Iran and Turkmenistan. Surkhan–Puli-Khumri Power Line, a 1,000 MW line to support electrification of Afghan transport, and that may potentially link to the CASA-1000 power project, a joint venture between Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Afghanistan, and Pakistan. (Uzbekistan is already the leading exporter of electricity to Afghanistan, supplying nearly 60% of Afghanistan's electricity imports.) Once operational, the line will increase Uzbekistan's electricity exports to Afghanistan by 70%, delivering up to 24 million kWh daily or 6 billion kWh annually. The project spans 245.6 kilometers, with 45 kilometers on Uzbek territory—already completed—and 200.6 kilometers in Afghanistan. The capacity of this line will not only enhance power availability but also facilitate the electrification of the Hairatan–Mazar-i-Sharif railroad, reducing transportation costs by replacing diesel-powered trains with cleaner electric locomotives. Uzbekistan sees many opportunities in Afghanistan and in 2024 trade climbed to $1.1 billion, most of that exports from Uzbekistan. There are commercial opportunities to be sure, but Tashkent does not want to contain Afghanistan, but to use it as a regional bridge, and not just for trade. There are concerns Afghanistan is a potential source of future transnational terrorism, though that may be stymied by intelligence sharing between the Taliban and the U.S., who share concerns about the Al-Qaeda (AQ) and the Islamic State – Khorasan Province (IS-K) presence in Afghanistan. More trade will not necessarily make Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State change their policies but more economic opportunity may make it harder for them to find recruits, and efforts like funding madrassas in Afghanistan may help detoxify the educational system. And the Taliban can build legitimacy if they are seen to be putting the peoples' welfare first by encouraging trade and business. That won't be favored by the U.S., but after two decades of mayhem in the Hindu Kush, much instigated by America, Washington should encourage action – by anyone - that allows Afghanistan to build infrastructure and make money by means other than poppy cultivation. Outside meddling in Afghanistan usually leads to tears, but if Tashkent can work with the moderate, outward-looking Taliban based in Kabul that want to improve the economy, it may subtly tip the balance against the hard-liners in Kandahar. (Yes, Siraj Haqqani and Mullah Omar are the 'moderates' but that is where we are right now.) Uzbekistan may have a role in the future exploitation of critical minerals in Central Asia and can help the U.S. build a secure critical mineral supply chain. According to Visual Capitalist, 'Out of the 50 minerals deemed critical by the U.S. government, the U.S. is 100% reliant on imports for 12 of them, and over 50% reliant for another 321 critical minerals.' Central Asia and Afghanistan are endowed with critical minerals but their isolated location presents a difficult transport problem. Also, mining and processing rare earths requires a lot of water which is in short supply in the region, though a new Chinese technology may triple production speed and reduce pollution, but will put China in a key position, something the U.S. will probably oppose. Andrew Korybko notes that partial completion of the Trans-Afghan railway may still benefit the republics if they can backhaul Afghanistan's minerals for processing in the republics or in Russia or China. The republics will need to secure investment for local, sustainable processing of the minerals (with off-take agreements), but Washington and Brussels must make serious offers to keep the stuff out of Russian and Chinese hands. (Exhortations by Washington to 'do the right thing' and not sell to China and Russia, backed by the hint of sanctions, are a tax on Central Asia and only diminish America's standing in the region.) Uzbekistan, a double-landlocked country, faces hurdles accessing global markets. Connectivity with Afghanistan offers a pathway to South Asia, particularly through Pakistan's seaports Karachi and Gwadar, though Uzbekistan is improving trade relations with Iran as its ports Bandar Abbas and Chabahar, and access to the North-South Transport Corridor, are 'Plan B' if the trans-Afghan route is untenable. Over the past decade, Tashkent has sought to make Central Asia a 'safe neighborhood,' and many of Uzbekistan's priorities, such as peacefully settling border disputes with the neighboring republics and encouraging a broad-based government in Kabul, are shared by Washington, but the Central Asia republics have a broader definition of the regional security, one that is grounded in diplomacy human development, and trade, and that includes trade and normal political relations with Russia, China, Iran, and Afghanistan. Central Asian is no longer a platform for the NATO campaign against the Taliban, but will it become a platform to engage the Taliban, who probably aren't going anywhere despite Washington's ongoing economic warfare. In April, Uzbek president Shavkat Mirziyoyev announced he is ready to work with the European Union (EU) and other international partners to support Afghanistan's development 'to overcome the current crises,' a policy that was welcomed by the Taliban. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and António Costa, President of the European Council, visited Uzbekistan in April with the intent, in von der Leyen's words, 'to take our partnership with Central Asia to the next level.' Aside from the standard fare of promoting European foreign direct investment to the region, securing access to critical minerals, and promoting educational exchanges, Central Asia's putative European partners should move smartly to work with the republics to ensure Afghanistan a productive member of the region and no longer a source of terrorism and narcotics. The failed NATO mission in Afghanistan, though it included European troops, is seen as an American loss, giving Europe more post-war maneuver room in Central Asia. And Europe will rely more than America on East-West trade from Asia via the Belt and Road and the Middle Corridor, so it may be the right partner right now for Central Asia. But the Central Asian republics aren't waiting for the EU and international partners to get to work. In May 2025, shortly after Mirziyoyev's announcement, Tashkent commissioned the Termez Dialogue on Connectivity Between Central and South Asia as a permanent platform for regional connectivity. Uzbekistan and Afghanistan both favor an 'economy first' policy with their neighbors, which the republics call "acceptance of reality" in the wake of the West's failed nation-building project in Afghanistan. The same week the republics' delegates convened in Termez, Uzbekistan to plan to boost Central and South Asian connectivity, Pakistan, China and Afghanistan agreed to expand the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) to Afghanistan. CPEC has fallen short of the partners' expectations, so it remains to be seen if including Afghanistan is a smart move or will just burn more of China's money. And on the heels of the Termez meeting, Iran and China launched a railway route from Xian in western China to the Aprin dry port near Iran's capital, Tehran. The route will reportedly cut travel time from 30 days via sea to 15 days and will avoid the Strait of Malacca and the Hormuz Strait, chokepoints the U.S. Navy hoped to exploit in future conflicts. The route will not pass through Afghanistan but is Beijing's vote of confidence in the region as a connectivity space. Uzbekistan and the other Central Asia republics helped NATO in Afghanistan but it was all for naught, so now it's time for get back to basics - economic and social development - via initiatives like the Uzbekistan 2030 Strategy, and promoting good governance and increasing civic engagement through initiatives like the Center for Progressive Reforms. Washington should focus on how it can assist these sorts of efforts by the republics and not be distracted and agitated by their commonsense wish to not isolate neighboring Afghanistan. By James Durso for More Top Reads From this article on
