Islamabad, Jan 11: The Indian Foreign Secretary’s meeting with the Taliban-ruled Afghanistan’s acting Foreign Minister in Dubai earlier this week has been giving sleepless nights to Pakistan’s political and military leadership with several top analysts suggesting that Islamabad should urgently reassess its aggressive approach towards Kabul.

On Wednesday, Indian Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri met with the Acting Foreign Minister of Afghanistan, Amir Khan Muttaqi in Dubai where both discussed various issues pertaining to bilateral relations, as well as “regional developments”.

The meeting took place only two days after New Delhi had severely condemned the recent Pakistani airstrikes on Afghanistan that resulted in the death of 46 people, including several women and children.

Calls for a thorough review of Afghan strategy have grown in Pakistan after the Afghan side termed India as a “significant regional and economic partner”.

Sources told Media that closed-door meetings are being held in Islamabad as top officials delve deeper on the country’s future approach towards its much-volatile neighbour.

There’s plenty on their plate considering the worsening situation along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border and the growing mistrust between the two countries, coupled with Taliban leaders reaching out to other regional states for collaborations, especially India.

“For Pakistan, this should be a wake-up call. We should not forget that India was a major player in Afghanistan before the Taliban takeover. New Delhi had invested about $3 billion in Afghanistan for reconstruction projects and even the northern alliance members have good relations with New Delhi,” said Amir Rana, a strategic analyst.

“Even though the Indians are acting cautiously with the Taliban, things are actually moving forward. This is happening at a time when Pakistan is on the offensive against Afghanistan and our bilateral relations have nosedived tremendously,” he added.

Pakistan has called the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) a “red line” for the country and repeatedly urged the Taliban-led Afghan interim government to take decisive action against the group.

“Pakistan cannot afford a hostile neighbour to its West. One view is that instead of communicating with the people in Kabul, Islamabad can raise the TTP issue with the Taliban leadership in Kandahar as that’s where the real power originates from,” said Rana.

“A reference can be taken from a fatwa that the Taliban issued in 2023, stopping its cadres from waging a jihad inside Pakistan. The same can be used to convince the Taliban to move and relocate TTP and other anti-Pakistan groups away from its borders,” suggests the strategic expert.

It is also important to note that Pakistan’s current policy towards Afghanistan, focusing on fewer talks and a more aggressive approach, has certainly not yielded any positive result, so far.

In the past, Pakistan has had serious reservations against what it termed as India’s influence and presence inside Afghanistan. And the same concerns can quickly re-emerge if Islamabad continues with its current strategy.

“The doors of negotiations are not closed. Pakistan can work through regional states to put pressure on the Taliban to act swiftly on their counter terrorism measures. If relations between Afghanistan and Pakistan sour further, it would add to the already volatile security situation and give more maneuvering room to other countries,” said Rana.

New York, Jan 11: People who have limited access to air conditioning may be at higher risk of seeking emergency care for health problems following exposure to wildfire smoke, according to a new study led by Boston University School of Public Health (BUSPH) in the US, as Los Angeles County battles the most destructive wildfires in its history.

The study suggested that US policies should prioritise equity and education regarding the measures people can take to protect themselves from the harmful pollutants in wildfire smoke.

Posted online ahead of publication in the journal Environmental Research: Health, the study found that exposure to fine particle matter (PM2.5) from wildfire smoke in California is associated with higher rates of emergency department visits for all causes, non-accidental causes, and respiratory disease.

This risk varied by age and race, but was especially high for individuals who lived in areas with lower availability of air conditioning.

“Depending on the type of system and filter used, air conditioning may modify the impact of smoke exposure on human health,” said study lead and corresponding author Dr. Jennifer Stowell, research scientist in climate and health at BUSPH.

“California is, perhaps, the best example of this in the US, with bigger fires and longer fire seasons. An important next step will be to identify ways to better characterise access to air conditioning,” Stowell added.

The findings come at a critical time as firefighters in Southern California continue to battle multiple wildfires that have been blazing in and around Los Angeles County since Tuesday (January 7) — including the Palisades fire, which is likely the largest and most destructive wildfire in the county’s history.

Health experts are urging residents who are not under evacuation orders and can safely remain in their homes to turn on air conditioners and/or air purifiers if they have access to these devices.

Despite this guidance, very little research has examined how the health effects of wildfire smoke exposure may differ based on individuals’ access to air conditioning.

For the study, Dr Stowell and colleagues from BUSPH, Boston University College of Arts & Sciences (CAS), and the Health Effects Institute utilised a nationwide dataset of healthcare claims to assess more than 50,000 emergency department visits during the 2012-2019 California wildfire seasons, which occurred from May to November each year.

People living in areas with lower availability of air conditioning had a 22-per cent greater risk of visiting the emergency department for respiratory conditions associated with wildfire smoke exposure.

The study indicates a need for stronger policy measures that can reduce the health risks associated with wildfire smoke exposure.

Gaza, Jan 11: Israeli airstrikes claimed the lives of at least 22 Palestinians, including a journalist, as fuel shortages threaten to plunge Gaza into a communications blackout, officials warned.

The Civil Defence in Gaza reported eight fatalities and several injuries from an airstrike targeting a group of people and a house in the Shuja’iyya neighbourhood of Gaza City. Later, an airstrike on the Al-Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza killed seven people.

In southern Gaza’s Khan Younis, medical officials at Nasser Hospital said that four bodies were recovered after aerial and artillery attacks struck multiple locations in the city. In Al-Nuseirat, central Gaza, Al-Awda Hospital reported three deaths, including journalist Sa’ed Nabhan of Al-Ghad TV, and six injuries from artillery shelling and drone strikes.

With the death of Nabhan, the number of journalists killed since the conflict began on October 7, 2023, has risen to 203, according to the government media office in Gaza. Meanwhile, Gaza’s Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Abdul Razzaq Al-Natsha, warned that communication services, including internet and landlines, could be cut off by Friday night due to fuel shortages. The lack of fuel, exacerbated by Israel’s blockade of humanitarian supplies, threatens to disrupt emergency services and worsen the already dire humanitarian crisis, he said.

The ongoing conflict, now surpassing 460 days, began after a Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on October 7, 2023, which left over 1,200 Israelis dead and roughly 250 hostages taken. Israel’s large-scale military response in Gaza has caused over 46,000 Palestinian deaths, according to Gaza health authorities.

In another incident, Five people were killed and four others injured on Friday in an Israeli airstrike targeting Tayr Debba, a municipality in southern Lebanon’s Tyre district, the Lebanese Health Ministry reported.

According to the official National News Agency, an Israeli drone targeted a car in Tayr Debba, killing five and wounding four more, all of whom have been transferred to hospitals in Tyre.

Separately, the General Directorate of Civil Defence on Friday announced the recovery of five bodies it said were killed during recent Israeli strikes on the Lebanese town of Khiam, east of southern Lebanon.

Despite a ceasefire agreement with Lebanon, which took effect on November 27, 2024, Israel has conducted intermittent strikes in southern and eastern Lebanon, some of which have caused casualties.

Meanwhile, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said in a statement on Friday that Israeli aircraft struck a vehicle loaded with weapons belonging to Hezbollah in southern Lebanon.

The airstrike was launched after the IDF found several militants loading weapons onto the truck, according to the statement.

Earlier in the day, the IDF said in a separate statement that during searching operations in a southern Lebanese village, Israeli soldiers discovered a multi-barrel rocket launcher, hundreds of mortar shells, explosive devices, and RPG rifles inside a structure. It added that anti-tank fire positions and hidden weapons were also located nearby.

During another operation, Israeli troops found a weapons storage facility containing dozens of shoulder-launched missiles, explosive charges, and extensive military equipment, the IDF said, adding that all the weapons were either confiscated or dismantled.