US Warns Travelers of Chikungunya Outbreak in China
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The Hill
2 hours ago
- The Hill
CIA must pull its weight to free Mahmood Habibi in Afghanistan
For many people, August is a fun time to enjoy summer vacation. But for our family, each Aug. 10 reminds us that another year has passed and my brother, Mahmood Habibi, remains in Taliban custody. My brother is a U.S. citizen who obtained citizenship after working on civil aviation issues in support of the U.S. mission in Afghanistan. After the U.S. left Afghanistan, he returned to work as a contractor for Asia Consultancy Group, which manages the air traffic control system at Kabul's airport and the cell towers in downtown Kabul. Shortly after the July 2022 drone strike that killed al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri, my brother was arrested along with 30 other employees of his company. They were taken to the headquarters of the General Directorate of Intelligence, the Taliban's feared secret police, and interrogated about the company's involvement in the strike. It became apparent that the Taliban believed the CIA used cameras atop the company's cell towers to target its strike against Zawahiri. Indeed, the missile they used had to be guided to its target by sight, as it used blades rather than a warhead. Eventually, almost all the 31 people were let go, but not my brother — the only U.S. citizen they have. We have been fighting for three years now to get the Taliban to admit they are holding Mahmood so that he can be traded for. Other Americans — Ryan Corbett, George Glezmann, Faye Hall, and William McKenty — were arrested and released in that time, but the Taliban denies they ever had my brother. This denial comes in the face of overwhelming witness testimonies and technical evidence affirming that they arrested him. The Taliban even claimed that they never heard of him — that they looked in their jails and did not find him. As a result, they asserted that he must be dead. In contrast, people held with my brother by the secret police testified that they saw him. One person detained with my brother later reported: 'Even though we were kept in separate rooms next to each other, I could hear Mahmood's voice when he talked. At one point I personally saw Mahmood and one more [Asia Consultancy Group] employee in this … facility.' Congress has been supportive of our efforts. Parallel House and Senate resolutions are being submitted by Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.) and Sen. Corey Booker (D-N.J.). The State Department and FBI have been incredibly supportive of my family, and their efforts under the Trump administration are so much more effective than under the Biden Administration. Whereas the Biden Administration politely asked for the Taliban's help, the Trump administration is now demanding that they hand my brother over. My family feels like we finally have someone fighting for us. Both the FBI and State Department worked together with us to offer a $5 million reward for my brother under the Rewards for Justice program. The National Security Council has also been working to create the conditions to bring Mahmood home and we are grateful to the Trump Administration for their advocacy. Unfortunately, the CIA has not been doing all it can to bring my brother home. They are the outlier in the U.S. government. Should my brother die in Taliban custody, I will consider his blood to be on their hands. Aside from its apparent inaction now, the CIA's first sin was that it failed to warn ACG to direct my brother, who was in the United Arab Emirates at the time of the drone strike, not to go back to Kabul. If the agency's collaboration with the company got my brother arrested, they had a duty of care to tell the company to warn employees against returning so soon after the strike. The best evidence that my brother had nothing to do with it was the fact that he returned to Kabul so soon afterward. At a time when the U.S. has cut off most of our funding to Afghanistan, we believe the CIA is still providing Title 50 support to its General Directorate for Intelligence — the same entity that arrested my brother and now denies having ever heard of him. We believe that the CIA has not leveraged this counter-terrorism relationship to encourage them to free my brother. We believe the CIA is ignoring an American citizen it could help, and who is only in a horrible situation because of its failure to warn him, in favor of a desire to play whack-a-mole with the Taliban against ISIS fighters in Afghanistan. I'm saying 'we believe' this because the CIA has refused every request we have made for a meeting — through the State Department, through the National Security Council and directly — for the last three years. If the CIA wants to be left alone in its efforts to work with Afghan authorities, we have no objection. We are taxpayers and we hate terrorists too. But the only way either the Taliban or the CIA will get peace from us is if the CIA leverages its relationship to encourage the Taliban to let my brother go. In the meantime, we hope the House and Senate Intelligence committees will look into this issue for us.
Epoch Times
2 hours ago
- Epoch Times
Arrest of Chinese National Prompts Warning From Australian Foreign Minister on Foreign Interference
Australia's Foreign Minister Penny Wong said on Tuesday the country will not tolerate being 'harassed or surveilled,' after a Chinese national was arrested for foreign interference on Monday. The female suspect appeared in court for allegedly spying on a local Buddhist group on behalf of China's ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP), according to the Australian Federal Police (AFP) and Australian Security Intelligence Organisation.
Indianapolis Star
2 hours ago
- Indianapolis Star
Trump's immigration raids normalize cruelty toward fellow humans
Americans are still firmly behind President Donald Trump's immigration crackdown, but it appears that at least some of them are getting cold feet as his brutal tactics come into view. The spectacle of masked agents smashing car windows, detaining folks with no court hearings and deporting some of them to dangerous countries like El Salvador and South Sudan is starting to splinter public support. The reality is jarring, and for a growing number of Americans, it's becoming too much to stomach. I just wish more of them would see it now before more people get swept under Trump's indiscriminate campaign against migrants – legal or not. Let's start with the numbers. A recent Wall Street Journal poll found that 62% of voters still support deporting undocumented immigrants, and just over half approve of Trump's overall handling of immigration. But beneath that top-line support is mounting discomfort. Nearly 6 in 10 Americans opposed deporting people without court hearings or legal review. Independents, a key voting bloc, are especially critical. Most say the administration has gone too far, specifically when it comes to detaining and deporting individuals who've never had a chance to see a judge. The policy of offloading migrants to third-world countries – even countries that they are not from – should strike many more as not just impractical, but also fundamentally un-American. Hicks: Indiana shuns immigrants at its own peril This tells us something important and gives me a bit of hope. Americans want stronger border security, but enough of them aren't ready to abandon due process. They might have begun to reject the spectacle of lawlessness cloaked in the language of 'law and order.' Yet, cheers persist, which is why we must never stop speaking up. The slow public reaction and the applause for harsh enforcement reveal a darker side of the American psyche – a creeping comfort with dehumanization, a willingness to look away from suffering as long as it happens to 'others,' in this case, to migrants whom MAGA wants out of the United States at any cost. Nobody denies that the United States has the right and responsibility to protect its borders and deport those living here illegally. Trump didn't invent mass deportations. Every president before him has done it. Democrat Barack Obama, for instance, deported more than 3 million during his presidency. But Trump has done something different – he's normalized cruelty, weaponized it and stripped away even the pretense of procedural justice. Hicks: Immigration is the only hope for Indiana's dying small towns What's more disturbing is how far federal agents have gone under Trump's orders. Americans have watched as Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in full tactical gear raid workplaces, pull people from their cars and drag individuals off the streets. Even a sitting U.S. senator, Alex Padilla of California, was tackled to the ground on national television simply for demanding answers. Legal residents and even U.S. citizens are being swept up, too. Due process isn't just being denied – it's being erased. Arizona Democratic U.S. Reps. Greg Stanton and Yassamin Ansari are sounding the alarm about inhumane conditions in immigration detention centers. But even as elected officials, they've been barred from inspecting facilities like the Eloy Detention Center in Florence, Arizona, where horror stories are emerging. One of those cases involves a green cardholder who has lived in the U.S. for two decades and is now battling leukemia while detained, according to Ansari. Opinion: Trump's $600 'rebate checks' from tariffs are just voter bribes Ansari told reporters that the woman has lost 55 pounds, is in severe pain and is not receiving adequate – or any – pain medication. If they can do this to a legal resident with cancer, and keep members of Congress from even entering the facility, what can't they do? And where is the collective outrage? Why isn't the public speaking louder and showing more than slow discomfort in recent polling? Blame that in part on the fragmented media landscape. The country is not just divided politically, but it's divided informationally, too. Many Trump supporters tune in to outlets and influencers that amplify the administration's narrative – painting ICE raids as righteous missions to capture "the worst of the worst.' The reality on the ground tells a different story. When they see that reality, they begin to wonder. Like Trump supporter Joe Rogan, who is finally questioning Trump's immigration crackdown. Briggs: Remember Jim Banks' tariff cheerleading when the economy tanks "It's insane,' the podcaster recently said. "Not cartel members, not gang members, not drug dealers – just construction workers. ... Gardeners.' "Like, really?' Rogan asked. That shifting narrative in the MAGA media landscape – from a one-dimensional tale of criminals to the undeniable truth of working-class migrants being ripped from their families – just might be starting to enter the national consciousness. I bet if more Americans like Rogan pay attention and speak up about what's really happening under Trump, the cheers will stop.
