Plan for expanded Muslim community triggers hope, fear in Texas

Threats to Muslims living in Texas are nothing new, but lately the vile phone calls to Imran Chaudhary have ramped up.The cause?Chaudhary’s early plans for construction of 1,000 new homes, a community center, school, hospital and — controversially — a mosque and Islamic private school to serve the growing Muslim community near East Plano, in a thinly populated corner of east Texas.One anonymous caller says, in an expletive filled message, “I suggest you get the fuck out of America while it’s still an option.” The conservative, white, and Christian authorities tied to President Donald Trump in this state aren’t exactly welcoming either, launching investigations into the project’s legality.Chaudhary says the pressure is misguided.”We’ve been trying to follow every single law that is out there, from the state perspective to the federal perspective,” he said.But just this week, Senator John Cornyn called for an investigation into the constitutionality of Chaudhary’s project, an offshoot of an existing site called the East Plano Islamic Center or “EPIC.”The center “could violate the constitutional rights of Jewish and Christian Texans,” he said.Texas governor and Trump ally Greg Abbott characterized the project as an attempt to install Islamic law. “To be clear, Sharia law is not allowed in Texas. Nor are Sharia cities. Nor are ‘no go zones’ which this project seems to imply,” he wrote on social media. Texas is one of more than a dozen states that have enacted “anti-Sharia law” bills, which anti-hate group Southern Poverty Law Center calls “one of the most successful far-right conspiracies to achieve mainstream viability.”The conspiracy theory holds that Islamic law, known as sharia, is encroaching on the American legal system, a claim the American Civil Liberties Union and other legal experts refute.Chaudhary denies that he envisions a Muslim-only town, saying that it’s “open to all, anybody can use our services, community center, our school.”As president of Community Capital Partners, which develops EPIC properties, Chaudhary told AFP, “We never even discussed sharia. From day one we’ve consulted with our attorneys what is the best way for us to do this project, to make sure that we follow all the state laws, we follow all the federal laws.”In a show of goodwill, Chaudhary invited the governor to a Texas-style barbeque over social media. Abbott didn’t respond.- Fear vs optimism -The EPIC Islamic community settled in Plano north of Dallas some 20 years ago, about 25 miles (40 kilometers) from the new community they want to build near Josephine.The Plano settlement of around 5,000 people now have their own mosque. Iman Yasir Qadhi leads prayers there.Born in Houston to a Pakistani family, Qadhi said Muslims like Texas because of the warm weather, low taxes and good food.”Organically, when the mosque was built, a lot of people began moving in here and we found that our space wasn’t sufficient for us,” he said. “Because of the influx of people we are looking to expand.”Only 313,000 Muslims reside in Texas, which has a population of more than 31 million, according to World Population Review.Prospective EPIC residents can reserve lots by putting down 20 percent, with single townhouse pads starting at $80,000 and 1-acre lots going for $250,000. Maps posted online indicate more than two dozen lots have already been sold.But at an April town hall meeting in Collin County, an overflow crowd showed up to speak out against EPIC’s project. And the developers’ lawyer Dan Cogdell said all the negative publicity will slow approvals down.”The lies and the misinformation that Abbott’s putting out is striking,” he said.Qadhi said he is worried about hate crimes. He said he himself has been accused of terrorism but “they are the ones terrorizing us.”Moitree Rahman, a 38-year-old mother of two from Bangladesh, says she remains optimistic and looks forward to the expanding EPIC community.”All the rhetoric that we are seeing and hearing, it’s not true,” she said. “That’s why we felt very confident in investing.”

Pakistan foreign minister due in Kabul as deportations rise

Pakistan’s foreign minister was due to visit Afghanistan on Saturday after his country expelled more than 85,000 Afghans, mostly children, in just over two weeks.Islamabad has launched a strict campaign to evict by the end of April more than 800,000 Afghans who have had their residence permits cancelled — including some who were born in Pakistan or lived there for decades.Convoys of Afghan families have been heading to border towns each day fearing the “humiliation” of raids, arrests or being separated from family members.Pakistan’s foreign office said its top diplomat Ishaq Dar will hold meetings with senior Afghan Taliban officials, including Prime Minister Hasan Akhund during a day-long visit.”There will not be any sort of leniency and extension in the deadline,” Pakistan’s deputy interior minister Tallal Chaudhry told a news conference on Friday.”When you arrive without any documents, it only deepens the uncertainty of whether you’re involved in narcotics trafficking, supporting terrorism, or committing other crimes,” he added.Chaudhry has previously accused Afghans of being “terrorists and criminals”, but analysts say it is a politically motivated strategy to put pressure on Afghanistan’s Taliban government over escalating security concerns.He said on Friday that nearly 85,000 Afghans have crossed into Afghanistan since the start of April, the majority of them undocumented.The United Nations’ refugee agency said on Friday more then half of them were children — entering a country where girls are banned from secondary school and university and women are barred from many sectors of work.- Second phase of deportations -The United Nations says nearly three million Afghans have taken shelter in Paksitan after fleeing successive conflicts.Pakistan was one of just three countries that recognised the Taliban’s first government in the 1990s and was accused of covertly supporting their insurgency against NATO forces.But their relationship has soured as attacks in Pakistan’s border regions have soared.Last year was the deadliest in Pakistan for a decade with Islamabad accusing Kabul of allowing militants to take refuge in Afghanistan, from where they plan attacks.The Taliban government denies the charge.In the first phase of deportations in 2023, hundreds of thousands of undocumented Afghans were forced across the border in the space of a few weeks. In the second phase announced in March, the Pakistan government cancelled the residence permits of more than 800,000 Afghans, warning those in Pakistan awaiting relocation to other countries to leave by the end of April.More than 1.3 million who hold Proof of Registration cards issued by the UN refugee agency have been told to leave Islamabad and the neighbouring city of Rawalpindi.

US senator says El Salvador staged ‘margarita’ photo op

A US senator described Friday how El Salvador staged a photo of him supposedly sipping margaritas with a wrongly deported constituent to cover up the man’s ordeal in a notorious prison.Chris Van Hollen denied that he drank cocktails with Kilmar Abrego Garcia while in El Salvador to meet the man, who was removed in what the White House has admitted was an “administrative error.”US President Donald Trump and Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele have refused to bring about the Maryland father’s release, despite a US federal judge’s order — backed by the Supreme Court — for his return.Van Hollen, a Democrat who represents Abrego Garcia’s home state, met the metal worker Thursday at the senator’s hotel in San Salvador.He told reporters on his return to Washington that Abrego Garcia had been moved to a better prison an hour’s drive away, but not before being scared for his safety in San Salvador’s CECOT, known for reports of rights abuses.Van Hollen said he realized he had been set up when Bukele posted photos on X of the meeting, alongside a caption stating that Abrego Garcia was “miraculously risen from the ‘death camps’ & ‘torture,’ now sipping margaritas with Sen. Van Hollen in the tropical paradise of El Salvador!”Later at the White House, Trump called Van Hollen a “fake” after he was asked about Bukele’s post.But the two-term senator said one of Bukele’s aides had planted cocktail glasses on the table to make it look like Abrego Garcia was being detained in the lap of luxury. “Nobody drank any margaritas or sugar water or whatever it is. But this is a lesson into the lengths that President Bukele will do to deceive people about what’s going on,” Van Hollen said.”And it also shows the lengths that the Trump administration and the president will go to, because when he was asked (by) a reporter about this, he just went along for the ride.”Van Hollen said Bukele’s officials had even pushed for the meeting to take place beside the hotel’s pool “to create this appearance that life was just lovely for Kilmar.”- ‘Total blackout’ -Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran migrant, entered the United States illegally in 2011 but was given an indefinite reprieve from deportation in 2019.He was among scores of deportees the Trump administration has paid Bukele’s administration several million dollars to keep in detention.Trump has not revealed the terms of the deal, including any arrangements for the detainees’ care, how the contract is being monitored for compliance or when the prisoners will be released.The US government says Abrego Garcia is a member of the notorious MS-13 Salvadoran gang, although the evidence it has produced has been dismissed as inadequate by a federal court.He denies gang membership and has never been charged with crimes in either country.Van Hollen shared details of his half-hour meeting with Abrego Garcia, saying the detainee told him he had been in a cell with around 25 others. “He said he was not afraid of the other prisoners in his immediate cell, but that he was traumatized by being at CECOT, and fearful of many of the prisoners in other cell blocks who called out to him and taunted him in various ways,” the senator told reporters.Van Hollen added that even under his better conditions, Abrego Garcia was still under a “total blackout,” with no access to news from the outside world and no contact with family.The senator said Abrego Garcia grew emotional as he spoke repeatedly about his five-year-old son, who has autism and was in the car when Kilmar was pulled over by US government agents in Maryland and handcuffed.”His conversation with me was the first communication he had with anybody outside a prison since he was abducted. He said he felt very sad about being in a prison because he had not committed any crimes,” the Democrat went on. “When I asked him what was the one thing he would ask for, in addition to his freedom, he said he wanted to talk to his wife, Jennifer.”

Les Etats-Unis annoncent réduire de moitié leurs effectifs militaires en Syrie

Les Etats-Unis ont annoncé vendredi réduire de moitié leur présence militaire en Syrie, estimant avoir lutté avec “succès” contre le groupe Etat islamique (EI), même si des groupes jihadistes demeurent actifs dans un pays encore fragile.Cette décision intervient près de trois mois après l’arrivée au pouvoir de Donald Trump, défavorable depuis longtemps à la présence américaine sur place et défenseur d’un retour à une politique isolationniste des Etats-Unis.Les Etats-Unis disposent d’une présence militaire en Syrie depuis des années, notamment dans le cadre de la coalition internationale contre l’EI.La présence américaine en Syrie va être ramenée “à moins d’un millier de soldats dans les mois prochains”, sur environ 2.000 actuellement, a déclaré Sean Parnell, le porte-parole du Pentagone, dans un communiqué.”Cette consolidation démontre les pas importants que nous avons faits pour dégrader l’attrait et les capacités opérationnelles du groupe Etat islamique, dans la région et dans le monde”, a-t-il dit, évoquant plus globalement “le succès des Etats-Unis contre l’EI”.- “Pas notre combat” -Donald Trump, arrivé au pouvoir à Washington le 20 janvier, est depuis longtemps sceptique sur la présence militaire en Syrie. Et la chute fin décembre de Bachar al-Assad, remplacé à la tête du pays par une coalition menée par des islamistes, n’a pas changé la donne.”La Syrie est un bordel, mais elle n’est pas notre amie, (…) ce n’est pas notre combat”, avait écrit Donald Trump en décembre lors de l’offensive qui avait mis fin à cinquante ans de règne sans partage par le clan Assad.La prise de contrôle de pans entiers de la Syrie et de l’Irak par l’EI à partir de 2014 a déclenché l’intervention d’une coalition internationale menée par les Etats-Unis visant surtout à soutenir, par les airs, les unités de l’armée irakienne et les Kurdes qui combattaient l’EI au sol.Mais Washington a alors aussi déployé des milliers de ses soldats pour soutenir ces troupes locales et mener ses propres opérations militaires.Après la victoire contre l’EI, déclarée en 2017 en Irak et 2019 en Syrie, une présence militaire américaine est restée sur place — surtout dans le nord-est du pays contrôlé par les forces kurdes — pour s’en prendre aux cellules restantes de groupes jihadistes.Fin décembre, l’administration de l’ancien président démocrate Joe Biden, alors au pouvoir, avait annoncé avoir augmenté les effectifs américains en Syrie sur les mois précédents, alors que Washington affirmait depuis des années compter 900 militaires sur place.L’armée américaine “va rester prête à mener des frappes contre ce qu’il reste de l’EI en Syrie”, a déclaré vendredi le porte-parole du Pentagone, qui dit maintenir “des capacités importantes dans la région”.Les Etats-Unis disposent d’environ 2.500 soldats en Irak, une présence appelée à diminuer.La sécurité en Syrie reste précaire depuis la chute de Bachar al-Assad, après près de 14 ans d’une guerre déclenchée par la répression violente de manifestations antigouvernementales en 2011.A la tête de forces de sécurité dominées par d’anciens rebelles islamistes, les autorités syriennes de transition ont la lourde tâche de maintenir la sécurité dans un pays multiethnique et multiconfessionnel où demeurent encore de nombreux groupes armés, parmi lesquels des jihadistes.

Les Etats-Unis annoncent réduire de moitié leurs effectifs militaires en Syrie

Les Etats-Unis ont annoncé vendredi réduire de moitié leur présence militaire en Syrie, estimant avoir lutté avec “succès” contre le groupe Etat islamique (EI), même si des groupes jihadistes demeurent actifs dans un pays encore fragile.Cette décision intervient près de trois mois après l’arrivée au pouvoir de Donald Trump, défavorable depuis longtemps à la présence américaine sur place et défenseur d’un retour à une politique isolationniste des Etats-Unis.Les Etats-Unis disposent d’une présence militaire en Syrie depuis des années, notamment dans le cadre de la coalition internationale contre l’EI.La présence américaine en Syrie va être ramenée “à moins d’un millier de soldats dans les mois prochains”, sur environ 2.000 actuellement, a déclaré Sean Parnell, le porte-parole du Pentagone, dans un communiqué.”Cette consolidation démontre les pas importants que nous avons faits pour dégrader l’attrait et les capacités opérationnelles du groupe Etat islamique, dans la région et dans le monde”, a-t-il dit, évoquant plus globalement “le succès des Etats-Unis contre l’EI”.- “Pas notre combat” -Donald Trump, arrivé au pouvoir à Washington le 20 janvier, est depuis longtemps sceptique sur la présence militaire en Syrie. Et la chute fin décembre de Bachar al-Assad, remplacé à la tête du pays par une coalition menée par des islamistes, n’a pas changé la donne.”La Syrie est un bordel, mais elle n’est pas notre amie, (…) ce n’est pas notre combat”, avait écrit Donald Trump en décembre lors de l’offensive qui avait mis fin à cinquante ans de règne sans partage par le clan Assad.La prise de contrôle de pans entiers de la Syrie et de l’Irak par l’EI à partir de 2014 a déclenché l’intervention d’une coalition internationale menée par les Etats-Unis visant surtout à soutenir, par les airs, les unités de l’armée irakienne et les Kurdes qui combattaient l’EI au sol.Mais Washington a alors aussi déployé des milliers de ses soldats pour soutenir ces troupes locales et mener ses propres opérations militaires.Après la victoire contre l’EI, déclarée en 2017 en Irak et 2019 en Syrie, une présence militaire américaine est restée sur place — surtout dans le nord-est du pays contrôlé par les forces kurdes — pour s’en prendre aux cellules restantes de groupes jihadistes.Fin décembre, l’administration de l’ancien président démocrate Joe Biden, alors au pouvoir, avait annoncé avoir augmenté les effectifs américains en Syrie sur les mois précédents, alors que Washington affirmait depuis des années compter 900 militaires sur place.L’armée américaine “va rester prête à mener des frappes contre ce qu’il reste de l’EI en Syrie”, a déclaré vendredi le porte-parole du Pentagone, qui dit maintenir “des capacités importantes dans la région”.Les Etats-Unis disposent d’environ 2.500 soldats en Irak, une présence appelée à diminuer.La sécurité en Syrie reste précaire depuis la chute de Bachar al-Assad, après près de 14 ans d’une guerre déclenchée par la répression violente de manifestations antigouvernementales en 2011.A la tête de forces de sécurité dominées par d’anciens rebelles islamistes, les autorités syriennes de transition ont la lourde tâche de maintenir la sécurité dans un pays multiethnique et multiconfessionnel où demeurent encore de nombreux groupes armés, parmi lesquels des jihadistes.

Ford ‘adjusts’ some exports to China due to tariffs

Citing the US-China trade conflict, Ford said Friday it has “adjusted” its exports to the country, where the US auto giant operates manufacturing jointly with local partners.”We have adjusted exports from the US to China in light of the current tariffs,” Ford told AFP without specifying the models affected.The US auto giant halted Michigan-made shipments of the F-150 Raptor, Mustang and Bronco sport utility vehicles, according to a Wall Street Journal report Friday. Also affected was the Lincoln Navigator, which is built in Kentucky, the newspaper said.Over the last decade, Ford has sold around 240,000 vehicles in China exported from the United States. But volumes fell sharply in 2024 to around 5,500.The move is the latest ripple effect from an escalating trade war between Beijing and Washington.Despite pulling back on many other tariffs, President Donald Trump has stuck firm to US duties on Chinese goods and raised them to 145 percent. In turn, China has increased tariffs on US exports, including cars, to 125 percent.Overall, Ford sold 442,000 vehicles — made in the United States and elsewhere — in China in 2024, comprising 1.6 percent of the market, according to the carmaker’s latest annual report.The US company operates a number of manufacturing joint ventures in China with Chinese companies, producing vehicles under both the Ford and Lincoln brands.Some of Ford’s production in China is exported to other markets. One of these vehicles, the Lincoln Nautilus, is now subject to hefty US tariffs, according to the Wall Street Journal.Ford’s Chinese ventures resulted in 2024 operating profits of around $900 million, Ford Vice Chairman John Lawler said this week at a financial conference.

Trump warns US could ditch Ukraine talks if no progress

US President Donald Trump warned Thursday that Washington would “take a pass” on talks to end the Ukraine war within days unless there is rapid progress from Moscow and Kyiv.His comments came just hours after US Secretary of State Marco Rubio set the clock ticking, saying in Paris that the United States could “move on” from its role brokering the negotiations.Trump has been pressing both sides for a truce, but has failed to extract any major concessions from the Kremlin despite an ice-breaking call with Russian President Vladimir Putin and repeated negotiations with Moscow.”If for some reason one of the two parties makes it very difficult, we’re just going to say: ‘You’re foolish. You’re fools. You’re horrible people’ — and we’re going to just take a pass,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. “But hopefully we won’t have to do that.”Republican Trump refused to cast blame on either Putin, who ordered the February 2022 full-scale invasion of pro-Western Ukraine, or Kyiv’s President Volodymyr Zelensky, insisting both sides had to make progress.But Trump warned that a decision on whether to abandon the talks could come “very shortly”. “No specific number of days, but quickly. We want to get it done,” he added.- ‘Move on’ -Moscow has kept up strikes on Ukraine, killing at least two people and wounding dozens more in attacks on the northeastern regions of Kharkiv and Sumy, Ukrainian officials said.One of the few commitments Trump had wrangled from Russia — a temporary moratorium on striking Ukrainian energy infrastructure — “expired” on Friday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in response to an AFP question.After meeting European officials in Paris to discuss a ceasefire, Rubio said Washington needed to figure out soon whether a ceasefire was “doable in the short term.””Because if it’s not, then I think we’re just going to move on,” he told reporters.But speaking on a trip to Italy, US Vice President JD Vance still insisted he was “optimistic” about ending the three-year war.Trump promised to end the war within 24 hours of taking office but has little to show for his efforts so far.He has embarked on a rapprochement quest with the Kremlin that has alarmed Kyiv and driven a wedge between the United States and its European allies.He and Vance also had a blazing Oval Office row in February with Zelensky, whom he still accuses of bearing responsibility for Moscow’s invasion.Trump insisted that he was not being “played” by Moscow, which is accused by Ukraine of dragging its feet.”My whole life has been one big negotiation and I know when people are playing us and I know when they’re not,” the billionaire property tycoon added.Asked if Putin was stretching out the process, Trump added: “I hope not. I’m going to let you know about that soon if he is… he’s got a big force out there.” – ‘Mockery’ -Zelensky meanwhile slammed the latest attacks on his country, which came just days before Easter.Kyiv earlier announced it had received the bodies of 909 soldiers from Russia.”This is how Russia started Good Friday — with ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, Shahed drones. A mockery of our people and cities,” Zelensky said on Telegram.Russia said it had hit “key drone production sites” and Ukrainian military airfields.Putin last month rejected a joint US-Ukrainian proposal for a full and unconditional pause in the conflict, while the Kremlin has made a truce in the Black Sea conditional on the West lifting certain sanctions.Trump has also repeatedly expressed anger and frustration at Zelensky in a marked break from his predecessor, Joe Biden.Ukraine is set to sign a deal next week in Washington that would give the United States sweeping access to its mineral resources.European powers have meanwhile been seeking a seat at the table in the negotiations, particularly as Trump’s administration insists the continent should share the burden for Ukraine’s security. France hosted meetings between US and European officials in Paris on Thursday, saying the talks had launched a “positive process.”The meetings included French President Emmanuel Macron, Rubio and US envoy Steve Witkoff.Many allies have however been alarmed by Witkoff — who recently met Putin in Russia — repeating Moscow’s talking points about the war.burs-dk/tgb/

US to withdraw some 1,000 troops from Syria

The United States will roughly halve the number of troops it has deployed in Syria to less than 1,000 in the coming months, the Pentagon said Friday.Washington has had troops in Syria for years as part of international efforts against the Islamic State (IS) group, which rose out of the chaos of the country’s civil war to seize swaths of territory there and in neighboring Iraq over a decade ago.The brutal jihadists have since suffered major defeats in both countries, but still remain a threat.”Today the secretary of defense directed the consolidation of US forces in Syria… to select locations,” Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said in a statement, without specifying the sites where this would take place.”This deliberate and conditions-based process will bring the US footprint in Syria down to less than 1,000 US forces in the coming months,” he said.”As this consolidation takes place…  US Central Command will remain poised to continue strikes against the remnants of (IS) in Syria,” Parnell added, referring to the military command responsible for the region.President Donald Trump has long been skeptical of Washington’s presence in Syria, ordering the withdrawal of troops during his first term but ultimately leaving American forces in the country.As Islamist-led rebels pressed forward with a lightning offensive last December that ultimately overthrew Syrian president Bashar al-Assad, Trump said Washington should “NOT GET INVOLVED!””Syria is a mess, but is not our friend, & THE UNITED STATES SHOULD HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH IT. THIS IS NOT OUR FIGHT,” Trump, then the president-elect, wrote on his Truth Social platform.- Years of war against IS -The 2014 onslaught by IS prompted a US-led air campaign in support of local ground forces — the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and  Iraqi government units.Washington also deployed thousands of American personnel to advise and assist local forces, with US troops in some cases directly fighting the jihadists.After years of bloody warfare, Iraq’s prime minister announced a final victory over IS in December 2017, while the SDF proclaimed the defeat of the group’s “caliphate” in March 2019 after seizing its final bastion in Syria.But the jihadists still have some fighters in the countryside of both countries, and US forces have long carried out periodic strikes and raids to help prevent the group’s resurgence.Washington stepped up military action against IS in Syria in the wake of Assad’s overthrow, though it has more recently shifted its focus to strikes targeting Yemen’s Huthi rebels, who have been attacking international shipping since late 2023.US forces in Iraq and Syria were repeatedly targeted by pro-Iran militants following the outbreak of the Gaza war in October 2023, but responded with heavy strikes on Tehran-linked targets, and the attacks largely subsided.Washington for years said it had some 900 military personnel in Syria as part of international efforts against IS, but the Pentagon announced in December 2024 that the number of US troops in the country had doubled to around 2,000 earlier in the year.While the United States is reducing its forces in Syria, Iraq has also sought an end to the US-led coalition’s presence there, where Washington has said it has some 2,500 troops.The United States and Iraq have announced that the coalition would end its decade-long military mission in federal Iraq by the end of 2025, and by September 2026 in the autonomous Kurdistan region.