Seven people die in chaos near Kabul airport: UK

LONDON - Seven Afghan civilians have died in the chaos near Kabul airport, the British defense ministry said Sunday as thousands of people try to flee the country. 

"Our sincere thoughts are with the families of the seven Afghan civilians who have sadly died in crowds in Kabul," a ministry spokesman said.

The United States and its allies have been struggling to cope with the huge numbers of people trying to get on evacuation flights in the week since the Taliban retook power.

"Conditions on the ground remain extremely challenging but we are doing everything we can to manage the situation as safely and securely as possible," the spokesman said.

British Defense Secretary Ben Wallace told the UK newspaper Mail on Sunday that "no nation will be able to get everyone out" before the US deadline of August 31.

"Perhaps the Americans will be permitted to stay longer and they will have our complete support if they do," he said.

Agence France-Presse

Doctors prepare for first US penis transplant

WASHINGTON -- Johns Hopkins University doctors are preparing for what would be the first US penis transplant, a procedure that could potentially help hundreds of wounded veterans.

A Johns Hopkins spokeswoman confirmed a New York Times report that the first such operation was planned for a soldier who suffered genital injuries in a bomb blast in Afghanistan.

The 12-hour operation would involve the stitching together of nerves and blood vessels and could restore urinary function and over time, the ability to have sex.

Because the procedure would restore only the penis and not the testes, the patient would not be able to have biological children, according to the report.

According to the Times, more than 1,367 soldiers suffered injury to their genitals between 2001 and 2013 in Iraq or Afghanistan.

Although the procedure is not required to save a life, doctors and Pentagon officials told the newspaper they believe it is worthwhile to deal with the psychological trauma suffered by the soldiers.

The university has been authorized to perform 60 of the experimental surgeries, with organs coming from deceased males whose families have given permission.

Earlier this year, a South African man received the world's first successful penis transplant and reported later he was to become a father.

There was nothing preventing the South African patient from having children because his testicles, where sperm is produced, were not affected.

source: interaksyon.com

The ‘Afghan Bruce Lee’ dreaming of Hollywood

KABUL | Framed by the dramatic backdrop of Kabul’s ruined Darulaman palace, Abbas Alizada throws kung fu punches, kicks and spins, watched by an eager young crowd.

Dressed in a white vest, black trousers and light shoes despite the bitter Afghan winter, Alizada bears a striking resemblance to his idol — legendary martial arts movie star Bruce Lee.

Alizada twirls his nunchuks in front of the shell-blasted walls of the former royal palace, an evocative monument to the 35 years of war that have ravaged Afghanistan.

Then he leaves the enclosure, smiling, sunglasses on his nose, his fans can finally meet him, shake his hand — and take selfies with him.

He is a member of Afghanistan’s Hazara community, an ethnic group with distinctively Central Asian features that add to his resemblance to Hong Kong star Lee.

With more than 50,000 followers on Twitter and 40,000 likes on Facebook, Alizada has become quite a celebrity in Afghanistan, known locally as “Bruce Hazara”.

He has become a familiar face on local media and now he is dreaming of Hollywood stardom.

“When I was eight years old I saw the Bruce Lee movies, and I was hooked,” he told AFP in his brother’s office in Kabul, sitting round a traditional “sandali” stove for warmth.

“I said I will be the Bruce Lee of Afghanistan one day. I know I cannot be Bruce Lee, but I follow in his path,” he said.

LOCAL HERO

Alizada is the youngest of 10 children and his older brothers have followed his career closely. One of them, 25-year-old Ahmad Zia, works as his manager, coach and secretary.

“I’m very hopeful that my brother will become a member of Hollywood,” Zia said.

Alizada dreams of working with Hong Kong martial arts movie star Jackie Chan — who he respectfully refers to as “Mr Jackie”.

He also idolizes action stars such as “Mr Rambo” — Sylvester Stallone — Chuck Norris and Jean-Claude Van Damme.

But his biggest ambition is to complete “The Game of Death”, the film Lee left unfinished when he died in 1973.

“Bruce didn’t finish his last movie, he did half of the movie. My project is to complete this movie,” Alizada said.

Hollywood or no, Alizada is already the pride of the Kabul district where he lives.

“Abbas is a hero, he’s a superstar for us,” engineer Mohammad Ali Mokhtar, 25, said.

“Our country faces difficult problems, like drugs, security, and so on. We hope Abbas will raise the name of our country.”

Apart from the country’s reputation, Mokhtar also hopes Abbas can fly the flag for the Hazaras, a largely Shiite Muslim community that has suffered sectarian discrimination and violence in the past from Sunni hardliners.

“It’s important for us Hazaras especially, because we like to live in a peaceful environment,” he said.

Fellow fan Ramin, a politics student, said the first time he saw him on the TV, “I was shocked how much he looked like (Lee). I’m so pleased that we have such a character in Afghanistan.”

When he’s not training at Darulaman or in his martial arts club, Alizada looks after his father, who is paralyzed down his left side.

The old man encourages his youngest son and hopes he can become a Hollywood star.

source: interaksyon.com

9, including 7 kids, killed in attack on Indian consulate in Afghanistan

Suicide bombers targeted the Indian consulate in the eastern Afghan city of Jalalabad on Saturday, detonating an explosives-packed car and killing nine civilians, including seven children in a nearby mosque.

A spokesman for the Taliban militant group immediately denied responsibility for the blast that erupted outside the Indian mission and left the mosque, private houses, tailors and other shops in ruins.

"A car containing explosives hit a barrier near the consulate and detonated," Ahmadzia Abdulzai, spokesman for Nangarhar province, of which Jalalabad is the capital, told AFP. "There were three suicide bombers in the car."

Nangarhar police chief Sharif Amin confirmed that the consulate was the intended target of the attack, which created a large crater in the road as survivors wearing bloodstained clothing ran for cover.

"Among the civilians killed were seven children inside the mosque," Amin said.

The interior ministry condemned the bombing as "heinous" and said nine people had died in total, with 21 other civilians wounded.

Syed Akbaruddin, a spokesman for the Indian foreign ministry in New Delhi, said that no officials were injured in the attack -- the first major strike in Afghanistan during the holy month of Ramadan that started on July 10.

India, which has spent more than two billion dollars of aid in Afghanistan since the Taliban regime fell in 2001, has previously been targeted in the war-torn country.

In 2008, a car bomb at the Indian embassy in Kabul killed 60 people and the embassy was again hit by a suicide strike in 2009.

In 2010, two guesthouses in Kabul used by Indians were attacked.

India has been a key supporter of Kabul's post-Taliban government, and analysts have often pointed to the threat of a "proxy war" in Afghanistan between India and its archrival Pakistan.

India reacted to the consulate attack with thinly veiled criticism of neighboring Pakistan for failing to crack down on Pakistan-based militants and their safe havens.

"This attack has once again highlighted the main threat to Afghanistan's security and stability stems from terrorism and the terror machine that continues to operate from beyond its borders," the Delhi government said.

Pakistan, which is widely seen as covertly supporting the Taliban, denies supporting militants active in Afghanistan and points to its own bloody fight against Islamist extremists.

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told AFP that their fighters were not involved in Saturday's strike.

"We do not claim the responsibility for this attack," he said.

The hardline Taliban have led a 12-year insurgency against the Afghan government since being overthrown in a US-led invasion for harboring Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden in 2001.

But Afghanistan is beset by a myriad of armed groups ranging from Islamist rebels to criminal gangs and militias formed during the Soviet occupation in the 1980s and the 1992-1996 civil war.

The Haqqani network, a Pakistan-based group allied with the Taliban and closely associated with the Pakistani intelligence service, was blamed for earlier attacks on Indian targets in Afghanistan.

Jalalabad city is situated on the key route from the Pakistani border region -- where many militants are based -- to Kabul, and it has been the location of repeated assaults in recent years.

The International Committee of the Red Cross compound in the city was hit on May 29, with the Taliban rebels also denying any involvement.

One Afghan guard died in that attack, which triggered widespread outrage as the ICRC is one of the most respected aid groups in Afghanistan and has remained strictly neutral during the war.

In March, seven suicide bombers attacked a police base in Jalalabad, killing five officers.

The previous month, a bomber rammed an explosives-laden car into the gates of the National Directorate of Security spy agency and detonated bombs, killing two intelligence workers.

Nangarhar province has seen heavy fighting over recent days with more than 20 Afghan policemen and dozens of Taliban insurgents killed when hundreds of fighters ambushed a police and military convoy on Friday.

The US State Department said it was closing at least 22 US embassies or consulates on Sunday, a workday in many Islamic countries, due to security threats.

source: interaksyon.com