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U.S. Troops Exit Afghanistan After 20-Year Military Presence

 Editors Comments:

Goodbye and Good Ridance:

A lot of idiots have been chastising president Biden recently for the way he handled the withdrawal from Afghanistan which he promised in his campaign. 

The bottom line is I've always felt that America was only there for one reason.

It started with an invasion that led to the United States and its allies toppling the Taliban-ruled Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan in order to deny al-Qaeda a safe base of operations in the country. Following the September 11 attacks in 2001, George W. Bush demanded that the Taliban, then-de facto ruling Afghanistan, hand over Osama Bin Laden.^[73] The Taliban's refusal to extradite him^[74] led to Operation Enduring Freedom;^[75] the Taliban and their Al-Qaeda allies were mostly defeated in the invasion phase by US-led forces, and the Northern Alliance which had been fighting the Taliban since 1996.

The Real Reason:

The real reason is that Arms dealers cannot make money unless there is a major war going on.

The president at the time Jimmy Carter who is lobbied heavily by arms dealers primarily from Southern America's United States where he lives needed a war to make more money.

For much the same reason that his father invaded Iraq and then left it years later in disarray with thousands of  American soldiers and millions of Iraq Civilians dead.

Thousands of young Americans loss their lives in Afghanistan and all of America paid a huge price in bad publicity and trillions of dollars to support a war they loss.

So goodbye and good riddance.

It was the right move by the Biden administration.

Maybe this will be a lesson for the future for America to stop focusing on selling arms and controlling incompetent countries and focusing on their own welfare which is in dire straits right now.

U.S. Troops Exit Afghanistan After 20-Year Military Presence

 
Politics  By Jennifer Epstein , Anthony Capaccio , and Nick Wadhams
 

August 31, 2021, 4:34 a.m. GMT+8 Updated on August 31, 2021, 7:45 a.m. GMT+8

America’s longest war ends with massive final-week evacuation 

WATCH: General Arnold Punaro, a retired two-star Marine Corps Major General, says the Taliban will bring the country back to the stone age.
 
The U.S. officially ended its military presence in Afghanistan on Tuesday with the final flight out of Kabul, concluding two decades of American involvement touched off by the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

“I’m here to announce the completion of our withdrawal from Afghanistan and the end of the military mission to evacuate American citizens, third-country nationals and vulnerable Afghans,” General Kenneth McKenzie, the head of U.S. Central Command, said Monday afternoon in the U.S. “The last manned aircraft is now clearing the airspace above Afghanistan.”

America’s longest war ended with a rushed withdrawal of more than 123,000 people since Aug. 14. That followed the Taliban advance to Kabul, and the killing of 13 U.S. service members in a suicide bombing outside the capital city’s airport last week.

U.S. soldiers board a U.S. Air Force aircraft in Kabul on Aug. 30.
Photographer: Aamir Qureshi/AFP/Getty Images

Those deaths followed the loss of about 2,400 Americans, even more employees of American contractors and tens of thousands of Afghans, as well as about $1 trillion in U.S. spending since the conflict began. The war has dragged on so long that a huge slice of Afghanistan’s population has lived their entire lives with their nation at war, while the U.S. troops who were killed last week were mostly infants when New York’s Twin Towers were brought down.


President Joe Biden, who set the Aug. 31 departure date, said in a statement Monday that “it was the unanimous recommendation of the Joint Chiefs and of all of our commanders on the ground to end our airlift mission as planned. Their view was that ending our military mission was the best way to protect the lives of our troops, and secure the prospects of civilian departures for those who want to leave Afghanistan in the weeks and months ahead.”

Biden, who said he will address the nation on the withdrawal on Tuesday afternoon Washington time, said the Taliban who now rule Afghanistan have “made commitments on safe passage and the world will hold them to their commitments.”

General McKenzie said some Americans -- numbering in the “low 100s” -- who wanted to leave were not able to get to the airport in time for the military to transport them. No U.S. citizens were evacuated on the last five flights. Leaving Americans behind is sure to prompt criticism of the Biden administration from lawmakers from both parties.

Taliban fighters stand guard along on a street in Kabul, on Aug. 29.
Photographer: Aamir Qureshi/AFP/Getty Images

In remarks later Monday, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the U.S. is moving its Afghanistan consular work to Doha, Qatar, which had been the site of talks with the Taliban over the last two years. He said U.S. humanitarian assistance to Afghans would continue but any engagement with the Taliban would be motivated solely by U.S. national interests.

“Every step we take will be based not on what the Taliban-led government says but what it does to live up to its commitments,” Blinken said. “The Taliban seeks international legitimacy and support. Our message is any legitimacy and any support will have to be earned.”

Blinken didn’t say how the U.S. and allies -- bolstered by a United Nations Security Council resolution approved Monday -- would exert pressure on the Taliban. But earlier in the day White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said “we have an enormous amount of leverage, including access to the global marketplace,” suggesting the use of existing and perhaps new economic sanctions against the Taliban if they don’t cooperate.
Islamic State

General McKenzie said an offshoot of Islamic State blamed for the airport bombing last week was working until the final hours of the U.S. presence to launch more attacks. But the top American general for the Middle East said a U.S. retaliatory strike on Sunday against the group, known as ISIS-K, disrupted their plans and will become the Taliban’s problem now.

“I believe the Taliban are going to have their hands full with ISIS-K,” McKenzie said.

Even as the pace of the evacuation and withdrawal picked up in recent weeks, a bipartisan chorus of U.S. lawmakers and allies urged Biden to put off his end-August deadline, saying more time was needed to get American citizens and Afghans who aided the U.S. effort out of the country.


Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said last week that Biden should “forget about Aug. 31” and send troops out beyond the Kabul airport’s perimeter to ensure more people are evacuated. Democratic Representative Elissa Slotkin of Michigan cited “strong bipartisan support” to extend the deadline.

As Taliban Return, a History of Afghan Women’s Rights: QuickTake

But Biden wouldn’t budge. His only concession after inheriting President Donald Trump’s 2020 peace deal with the Taliban was to delay the original troop withdrawal from May to August. The president, who opposed sending more forces to Afghanistan when he served as Barack Obama’s vice president, said he couldn’t justify more American deaths and the military force increase that would be needed to stay.

President Joe Biden speaks at the White House on Aug. 16.
Photographer: Samuel Corum/Bloomberg

America’s mission was complete after al-Qaeda was routed in the country and its leader, Osama bin Laden, killed in neighboring Pakistan a decade ago, he argued.


“I will not pass this responsibility on to a fifth president,” Biden said in an address to the nation Aug. 16. “I will not mislead the American people by claiming that just a little more time in Afghanistan will make all the difference.”

The departure of foreign forces leaves huge questions remaining for one of the world’s poorest and war-torn countries. The Taliban have entered talks with officials from previous governments as it seeks to consolidate its hold on power and broaden its base of public support. But the group’s access to about $9.5 billion in central bank assets remains frozen by the U.S., and the World Bank has suspended billions of dollars worth of projects in the nation.
‘Weapons Shifted’

“The weapons have shifted, if you will, from the military realm to the diplomatic realm,” McKenzie, the Centcom chief, told reporters.
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Perhaps to help win foreign support, the Taliban have vowed a more moderate approach to governing than when the group ruled in the late 1990s and was condemned by the international community for its treatment of women and other human rights violations. Yet the UN has already cited troubling human rights reports emerging from Afghanistan, and global food agencies have warned of the potential for widespread shortages of basic goods.

While the Taliban were quickly ousted from power in late 2001 after they refused to extradite bin Laden, they spent years rebuilding in remote parts of the country, despite a U.S. troop presence that reached 100,000 during the Obama administration.

The Taliban offensive gathered momentum after the Trump administration announced last year that it had reached a deal with the group to withdraw American forces by May this year. The agreement, made with little participation from the Afghan government, asked little of the Taliban militants other than demand they not attack American soldiers.

Biden, taking office in January, decided to stick with the broader deal, pushing back the deadline to September, at first, and then August. But the U.S. and its allies expected President Ashraf Ghani’s government to survive their departure, at least for months.

That assumption fell apart this month as Taliban forces swept across provincial capitals in weeks, arriving in Kabul as the Afghan defense forces the U.S. spent more than $80 billion training collapsed.

The U.S. launched a massive evacuation process in late July, beginning with the departures of applicants for Special Immigrant Visas, a program enacted in 2006 to protect and reward Afghans who aided U.S. forces.

Since the end of last month, the U.S. has relocated more than 123,000 people out of Afghanistan, the White House said Monday, including more than 6,000 Americans. Yet advocates say there are hundreds of thousands of Afghans who could be under threat from the Taliban after the U.S. leaves because of their roles in the military mission.

McKenzie said the U.S. had the ability to bring Americans out until about 12 hours before the final military planes departed.

“There’s a lot of heartbreak associated with this departure,” McKenzie said. “We did not get everyone out who we wanted to get out.”


The longer-term political damage to Biden from the killing of the 13 troops last week, on top of the U.S. failure to anticipate the rapid Taliban victory, remains to be seen. The president and his team had warned the public that terrorists would seek to capitalize on the U.S. departure, and the administration has counted on U.S. weariness with what has come to be known as a “forever war.”

But the deaths of so many troops with just days to go before the withdrawal will be tough for the administration to get past.

With American troops no longer in charge of Kabul’s airport, U.S. and European leaders are demanding that their citizens and Afghans at risk be allowed to leave the country freely, and Taliban leaders have said they will respect the freedom to travel.

But for now the militant group is back in charge. In a conclusion American leaders didn’t envision when special forces troops first arrived in the country in late 2001, Afghanistan will be under Taliban rule when the U.S. marks the 20th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks next month.
Editors Comments:

Before it's here, it's on the Bloomberg Terminal. LEARN MORE
UP NEXT
UN Votes to Demand Continued Safe Passage: Afghanistan Update

08-29-2021 - Matthews, LA - Hurricane Ida - Extreme Winds Shred Roofs

Strongest hurricane on in recorded history hits Southern Louisiana,

Sadly, a class four Hurricane has moved on shore with wind gusts up to 156 mph miles per hour (251 KPH).

The storm hit on the same day that Hurricane Katrina  hit 16 years ago to the day which caused over 1,800 deaths and $125 billion in damage in late August 2005, particularly in the city of New Orleans and the surrounding areas.

Hopefully a lot of lessons were learned from Kartina, and the levees will hold avoiding major damage and loss of life.

Watching the winds in this video reminds me vividly of my experience in a similar class four cyclone which unfortunately was in the middle of the straits between Australia and Indonesia on my motor sailing yacht in Dec 2002 .

I spent 42 hours at the wheel before we reached safety.

You never want to experience that force of nature in your life.

Weirdly while watching the video above and remembering the strength of those wind gusts I ma attracted back to experiencing the most exhilarating and dangerous day of my life.

In fact, at one point after about 30 hours strapped down to  the wheel and being exhausted beyond explanation  I yelled out to mother nature “is that all you got”.

Some 41.2 pct of Bali's COVID-19 patients treated at isolation centers

28th August 2021

Secretary of Bali COVID-19 Task Force Made Rentin. (ANTARA PHOTOS/Rhisma/my) Denpasar, Bali (ANTARA) -  

The Bali COVID-19 Task Force recorded that 3,292 people, or 41.2 percent of COVID-19 positive patients in the local area were being treated in centralized isolation areas spread across nine districts and cities.

"To date, the total number of active COVID-19 cases in Bali Province reaches 7,991," Secretary of the Bali COVID-19 Task Force Made Rentin noted in Denpasar on Friday.

Of the 7,991 people, some 2,262 individuals, or 28.30 percent, underwent treatment at a referral hospital; 3,292 individuals, or 41.2 percent, received treatment in centralized isolation; and 2,437 people, or 30.50 percent, underwent self-isolation.

Furthermore, Rentin noted that Bali currently had 372 centralized isolation places, with a capacity of up to 6,780 beds.

"So far, 3,292 beds are occupied, or 48.55 percent of the available capacity, while 3,488 beds, or 51.45 percent, remain (empty)," he informed.

As of Friday (Aug 27), Bali Province had recorded 588 additional cases, thereby bringing the count of confirmed COVID-19 cases to 105,377.

Some 685 COVID-19 patients had made a recovery, while 45 patients succumbed to COVID-19 in Bali Province.

A total of 94,020 individuals, or 89.22 percent, of COVID-19 patients had recovered. On the other hand, the death tally stood at 3,366, or 3.91 percent.

The death rate in Bali remains high, despite a decrease in the number of COVID-19 cases that averages below one thousand per day.

According to the Health Ministry’s data, this Friday, Bali stood third with most lives lost to COVID-19, after East Java Province with 161 deaths, and Central Java being the second-highest, with 47 people succumbing to the disease.

Ever since the pandemic hit last year, scores have fallen to the deadly virus. The central government has continued to impose several programs, such as community activities restriction and mass vaccinations, as well as offer social aid to those affected and infected by COVID-19 in order to lower the severe health and socio-economic impacts.

Unvaccinated patients make up majority of COVID deaths in Bali

 

Editor's Comments.

Every day I am amazed when I watch CNN Euronews and Al Jazeera news about people around the world who still think they don't need to be vaccinated.

In the last few weeks it has become fact that research indicates that most of the people who are coming down with COVID - 19 and especially dying from it in the United States are those who never were vaccinated.

Below is an article stating the same result in Bali that "majority of Covid -19 related deaths in Bali are unvaccinated." 

"majority of Covid -19 related deaths in Bali are unvaccinated."

Hell even former stupid, president Donald Trump stated publicly last week that everyone should be vaccinated.

I have a personal experience that I want to share with you about a good friend of mine who was vaccinated at the same time I did several months ago.

He went to an outer Island and came back feeling ill. 

The next day he was diagnosed with COVID - 19 about after being vaccinated with both jabs .

We were well aware and I have posted our Chinese  vaccines made available to us in Bali are not the best in the world. 

But we figured they're better than nothing.

 At the time I also made sure that all our 70+ staff and their families were vaccinated as well.

To my knowledge as of today not one single one of our staff or their immediate family have been infected with COVID - 19.

Also important to note that I was advised a few days ago that one of our my wife's family related through marriage who was adamant about not getting a vaccine shot came down with it and has now changed their tune as well.

After a few days my friend passed the disease on to his friend who was much younger. 

The friend had not been vaccinated because they did not qualify at that time.

Then they both endured two weeks of being infected by COVID - 19 and self quarantined in their home.

I was in contact with them daily to offer whatever help I could.

After a few days my friend who was vaccinated with me started to recover rapidly.

But his friend became more and more ill and finally had to have an IV drip to prevent weight loss and provide nutrients.

After approximately 10 days they both almost came back to normal.

The moral of this story is the friend who was substantially younger could have easily died from this because they were not vaccinated.

Vaccinations are relatively easy to obtain now in Bali and cost nothing.

We even had my wife and my two sons vaccinated recently ata military run vaccination site.

At the time that my friend and I had our vaccinations we are among the first foreigners in Bali to have them and there is still a lot of scepticism about the Chinese vaccine and about vaccines in general.

You might say that I became the guinea pig for our family. Happy to say that this guinea pig has survived the vaccine and not been infected. Which is why we felt comfortable having her two boys vaccinated as well.

So I don't understand why anybody in their right man mind would not want to be vaccinated.

Besides as I reported in an article earlier today Australia will start travelling again to the countries that have a high rate of vaccination.

 Bali right now from what I know has at least 50% perhaps closer to 70% of its population vaccinated.

The sooner we achieve 80% or 90% the faster business will return to Bali.

So those of you who are unvaccinated and complaining about no business and not being able to enjoy several things such as movies etc. stop complaining and go get vaccinated now.

Unvaccinated patients make up majority of COVID deaths in Bali

By Coconuts Bali Aug 26, 2021 | 12:34pm Bali time

 

Photo of a health worker in the process of administering a COVID-19 vaccine. Photo: Ministry of Health

Those who are unvaccinated make up the majority of COVID-19 deaths in Bali, the province’s Health Agency said, as efforts continue to curb coronavirus transmissions on the island.

In a statement, Health Agency Chief Ketut Suarjaya said that around 26 percent of COVID cases in Bali were caused by the Delta variant of the coronavirus, pointing out its faster spread compared to earlier variants.

Suarjaya also said that 90 percent of deaths related to the coronavirus in Bali consisted of patients who were not vaccinated. 

More than 1.6 million people are fully vaccinated on the island, out of its 4.32 million total population.

Officials say they are now focusing on centralized isolation centers for COVID-19 cases, while also speeding up the vaccination rate.

Deputy Governor Tjokorda Oka Artha Ardana Sukawati, or Cok Ace, said during a meeting yesterday that centralized isolation centers would be key to curb the spread of the coronavirus in Bali. 

This is because plenty of asymptomatic patients have been self-isolating, and are at risk of spreading the virus to their family members, given how most households in Bali comprise many family members. 

Subscribe to The Coconuts Podcast for top trending news and pop culture from Southeast Asia and Hong Kong every Friday!

Canada with one of the lowest populations in the world features 10% of the top 30 seeded players at next week's grand slam in New York City for the first time.

 10% Top 30 Seeds U.S.Open are Canadians.

An interesting footnote to next weeks Grand Slam tournament in New York for the U.S. Open is that for the first time ever three out of the first top 30 seeded players or roughly 10% are fellow Canadians.

 US OPEN 2021 SEEDS

1. Serbia Novak Djokovic

2. Russia Daniil Medvedev

3. Greece Stefanos Tsitsipas

4. Germany Alexander Zverev

5. Russia Andrey Rublev

6. Italy Matteo Berrettini

7. Canada Denis Shapovalov 

8. Norway Casper Ruud

9. Spain Pablo Carreño Busta

10. Poland Hubert Hurkacz

11. Argentina Diego Schwartzman

12. Canada Félix Auger-Aliassime 

13. Italy Jannik Sinner

14. Australia Alex de Minaur

15. Bulgaria Grigor Dimitrov

16. Chile Cristian Garin

17. France Gaël Monfils

18. Spain Roberto Bautista Agut

19. United States John Isner

20. Italy Lorenzo Sonego

21. Russia Aslan Karatsev

22. United States Reilly Opelka

23. France Ugo Humbert

24. United Kingdom Daniel Evans

25. Russia Karen Khachanov

26. United Kingdom Cameron Norrie

27. Belgium David Goffin

28. Italy Fabio Fognini

29. Spain Alejandro Davidovich Fokina

30. Canada Milos Raonic 

Considering that Canada's population only represents less than 1/2% of the world's population that is a significant statistic.

The fact that Canada, a country with such a low population in relation to other major countries in the world has 10% of the top-seeded players is a complement to all Canadians, the Canadian government and all those on the management and support teams of these Canadian players.

Let's not forget that Dennis Shapolova was the first Canadian to ever make it to the quarterfinals at the famed Wimbledon grand slam tournament this year. 

He and his good friend Félix Auger-Aliassime are young. 

Once they get control their emotions there is no question in my mind that one of them may  take a grand slam and be the first Canadian to ever do so.

Let's not forget last year that a young Canadian female tennis pLayer Bianca Andreescu beat Serena Williams to win the finals at the Toronto Tournament and also the New York women's Grand Slam singles title.

So Canadian women are also striving to reach and stay at the top.

Go Canada go

Australian Airlines Qantas will “resume flights to "parts of Asia by Christmas. Will Bali be included?

 

Editor's Comments:

 

Will Australians fly to Bali by December?

Below is the first positive news I've read about possible air flights to Australia since this pandemic started .

 They state Qantas will “resume flights to "parts of Asia by Christmas.

Australian Airlines Qantas will “resume flights to "parts of Asia by Christmas. Will Bali be included?

 

Editor's Comments:

 

Will Australians fly to Bali by December?

Below is the first positive news I've read about possible air flights to Australia since this pandemic started .

 They state Qantas will “resume flights to "parts of Asia by Christmas.

  Although Indonesia and it's province of Bali were not named specifically they do state that "The countries named are considered highly vaccinated, with at least 43% of the population fully inoculated."

 Hopefully Indonesia will be more than 43% inoculated by Christmas.

Bali Already over 50% Inoculated:

But even if Indonesia’s major cities are not included Bali has an International Airport. 

Bali has at least 50% and probably closer to 70% of its population vaccinated already.

It is reasonable to forecast that by December we should have 80% to 90% of Bali's population vaccinated.

So, Australia's favourite playground, Bali may be placed on the list of approved destinations for Qantas and other Australian Airlines by Christmas.

It’s a slimmer of good news. 

Of course, everything can change if new variants rear their ugly heads and cause everything to shut down again.

 On the bright side realize that Bali is far ahead of Australia as far as vaccinations.

According to the article below only " 25% of Australia's population has been fully vaccinated as of Aug. 24.”

So, in essence we have almost 200% more of our population on Bali vaccinated than Australia.

Thanks to the hard work of the federal government under Pres. Jokowi and the local government under Gov. Koster the Indonesian Military and Unselfish healthcare workers that put their lives at risk to ensure that Bali has achieved this milestone.

 Published Thu, Aug 26 20211:47 AM EDTUpdated Thu, Aug 26 20212:30 AM EDT

Saheli Roy Choudhury@sahelirc

Australian carrier Qantas expects international flights to the U.S., the U.K. and parts of Asia to resume by Christmas, CEO Alan Joyce said Thursday.
 

Since March last year, Australia closed its borders to most foreign visitors and banned residents from leaving unless they had valid reasons.

Joyce told CNBC that Qantas expects to lose 20 billion Australian dollars ($14.52 billion) in revenue by the end of this year due to the pandemic.
Qantas predicts revenue loss of AU$20 billion by year-end due to Covid: CEO


Australian carrier Qantas expects international flights to the U.S., the U.K. and parts of Asia to resume by Christmas, CEO Alan Joyce said Thursday.

Since March last year, Australia has closed its borders to most foreign visitors and banned residents from leaving unless they had valid reasons.

“We know there’s huge underlying demand. People don’t want another Christmas where they are isolated from their families, let alone internationally, but [also] in Australia,” Joyce said on CNBC’s “Squawk Box Asia.”

A spike in local Covid-19 cases in recent months forced Australian states and territories to step up restrictions, including limitations on interstate travel and stay-at-home notices in high-risk areas.

Joyce said Qantas is planning its operations on the assumption that Australia’s two most populous states — New South Wales and Victoria — will lift most of their border restrictions to the rest of the country by Dec. 1.

That would be followed by an assumption that international border restrictions will ease as more Australians get vaccinated. “And, that by Christmas, we will see markets like Singapore, the U.K., Japan and the U.S. ... open up as well,” he added.


Qantas has had no passenger fatalities since the dawn of the “jet era” in the 1950s.
Scott Barbour | Getty Images News | Getty Images


The countries named are considered highly vaccinated, with at least 43% of the population fully inoculated.

The state of New South Wales reported more than 1,000 local Covid-19 cases over a 24-hour period as of 8 p.m. local time Wednesday — it’s reportedly the highest number of daily cases reported in Australia since the pandemic began.
Vaccines are crucial


Australia’s vaccination rates are also climbing after a sluggish rollout at the start.

Information collated by online publication Our World In Data showed nearly 25% of the population has been fully vaccinated as of Aug. 24 — compared to just under 6% at the end of June. Australian government data showed that as of Wednesday, 32.3% of those over the age of 16 — or around 6.6 million people — were fully vaccinated.


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The Australian government wants to fully vaccinate between 70% and 80% of its population before easing international border restrictions. That means gradually allowing inward and outward international travel to and from so-called “safe” countries and reducing requirements for fully vaccinated visitors coming to Australia.

“The government has said they think that’s a sensible plan. They don’t have a crystal ball, but they think that’s what likely will occur,” Joyce said, adding that he expects Qantas to fire on all cylinders once borders are reopened.

Qantas expects international routes to countries with lower rates of vaccination — like Indonesia, South Africa or the Philippines — to commence in April next year at the earliest.
No further layoffs


Like most airlines and travel-related businesses around the world, Qantas took a hit as the coronavirus pandemic led to a near-total collapse in air travel demand.

As part of restructuring efforts last year, the carrier was forced to lay off nearly 10,000 people from a total workforce of around 32,000 workers before the pandemic, Joyce told CNBC.

We believe there’s no need for any more [layoffs] because the vaccine’s the light at the end of the tunnel.
Alan Joyce
chief executive officer, Qantas


“That was heartbreaking to see a lot of great people leaving, but necessary in order to restructure the business so it can recover from Covid,” he said.

“We believe there’s no need for any more because the vaccine’s the light at the end of the tunnel,” he added when asked if Qantas might lay off more people.

Still, more than 8,000 Qantas staff, mostly from the international business, have been stood down — that means while they remain employed, they are not getting paid until the operations resume.
Earnings

The carrier on Thursday reported earnings for the fiscal year that ended on June 30.
Statutory loss after tax came in at 1.73 billion Australian dollars ($1.25 billion), narrower than the loss of 1.96 billion Australian dollars reported in the previous year.

Group revenue was 5.93 billion Australian dollars, down 58% from the previous year.

Qantas shares rose 3.29% on Thursday on the back of the earnings report.

Joyce told CNBC that Qantas expects to lose 20 billion Australian dollars in revenue by the end of this year due to the pandemic.