Category: Afghanistan

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TALIB SUPPORT: Pak on Damage Control Mission At UN Forum

Led by Prime Minister Imran Khan, Pakistan may send a jumbo delegation of nearly 40 diplomats to counter the widely-held perception that it has positioned top guns in the Haqqani network at the core of the Taliban regime. ..reports Rahul Kumar

Slammed for its blatant interference in micro-managing a pro-Pakistan government in Afghanistan, Pakistan has begun a major to damage control exercise rescue its reputation. Islamabads riposte includes a major diplomatic offensive at the 76th session of the UN General Assembly (UNGA) to counter the widely-held perception that it has positioned top guns in the Haqqani network — known for engaging in international terrorism — at the core of the Taliban-led government in Afghanistan.

Led by Prime Minister Imran Khan, Pakistan may send a jumbo delegation of nearly 40 diplomats to New York.

The 76th session of the UNGA, which will commence on September 14, will see as many as 83 heads of state, according to Volkan Bozkir, the current President of the UNGA. The face-to-face meeting assumes importance this year as the previous session had to be converted into an online meeting due to the pandemic.

Highly placed sources say, the Pakistani delegation will be led by Khan with Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi and foreign secretary Sohail Mahmood accompanying him. The other diplomats will be from its UN missions as well as its foreign ministry.

Imran Khan is slated to address the UNGA on September 24.

Also, top of the agenda are bilateral meetings to be held between September 21-24. These include meetings with the UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres; the newly-elected president of the UN General Assembly Abdulla Shahid and Secretary General of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) Yousef Al-Othaimeen.

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Pakistan is believed to be fixing up bilateral meetings with the foreign ministers of global powers–USA, Russia and China as well as with important Islamic nations Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Qatar, besides other countries.

Sources say that Pakistan is reaching out for meetings with other nations like the UK, Maldives–which will take over the UNGA presidentship, Ireland which holds the presidentship of the Security Council for the current month and a number of European nations.

This year’s UNGA meeting has been carefully planned as an in-person meeting after fear last year due to the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Washington has requested the UN to keep the meeting low profile due to the threat from the Delta variant of the coronavirus. The UN mission has already sent a letter to the 192 member nations to address the meeting through video mode instead of sending their delegations which might lead to organising side events. However, despite US protestations and warnings, well over 80 heads of states are planning to address the UNGA.

Experts believe that besides discussions on the Afghan situation and matters over recognition to the Taliban government, there could be high-level events on climate change and energy, food security, vaccines and racism.

(The content is being carried under an arrangement with indianarrative.com)

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Taliban Return To Old Terror Tactics – Beheads Soldier

A video has emerged online showing Taliban fighters beheading an Afghan soldier before celebrating by chanting praise to their supreme leader…reports  Sanjeev Sharma

The Taliban beheaded an Afghan soldier, then chanted praise to their leader Hibatullah Akhundzada while holding the severed head of their victim by his hair in a video posted in a private Taliban chat room, Washington Examiner reported.

The 36-second video, which was obtained by the Washington Examiner, was posted a week ago. It’s unclear when it was made, but on August 17, Taliban leaders promised amnesty for government workers and protection for women.

In the video, six Taliban fighters surround the soldier, lying on his back in the desert with his head atop his chest. Five of the men are carrying rifles, and a sixth is holding two bloody knives in one hand. A seventh person is filming the event, the report said.

The soldier is wearing a dark green uniform of the type assigned to the national army by US forces.

The knife-wielding assailant, apparently the group’s leader, is seen raising his weapons in the air. In a translation from Pashto provided to the Washington Examiner by a USmilitary source, the men are heard chanting, “Mujaheddin!”

Then they shout: “God is great and long life to Ameer ul momeneen Mullah Haybat Uallah Akhunzada!”

Mujaheddin is an Arabic term for guerilla fighters, and Ameer ul momeneen is a phrase of endearment. Mullah Haybat Uallah Akhunzada is the supreme leader of the Taliban.

At the end of the video, the group leader shouts, “Shoot him! He has to look shot!” as the fighters line up to shoot, the report added.

“This is barbaric, and I will never trust the Taliban,” said Afghan security consultant Nasser Von Waziri, who worked with government agencies across the country while Americans were stationed there. “A terrorist is always a terrorist.”

Brig Gen Don Bolduc, who oversaw the police and army training as Special Ops commander, said he was saddened and sickened by the video, the report said.

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-Top News Afghanistan Qatar

Top Qataris Arrive in Kabul to Meet Akhund

PIc credits @MofaQatar_EN

Taliban acting Prime Minister Hassan Akhund thanked Qatar for its assistance to the people of Afghanistan…reports Asian Lite News

The newly appointed Taliban government’s acting Prime Minister Mullah Mohammad Hassan Akhund has met with visiting Qatari Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani.

During the meeting held at Afghanistan’s Presidential Palace on Sunday, the two sides discussed bilateral relations, humanitarian assistance, Afghanistan’s future economic development and the international engagement with the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, Xinhua news agency reported, citing the state-run Bakhtar news agency’s report.

According to the report, Hassan Akhund thanked Qatar for its assistance to the people of Afghanistan, stressing that the Qatari people had helped Afghans in embracing peace and stability and stood alongside Afghans during difficult situations.

PIc credits @MofaQatar_EN

The talks also touched upon the importance of international aid to Afghanistan.

The Qatari foreign minister hoped that Afghanistan and Qatar “would have good relations in the future,” the report said.

The visit came days after the Taliban announced a caretaker government in Afghanistan on September 7.

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‘The Punjabi Guest Played A key Role in Putting Haqqanis At Key Posts’

An audio file attributed to a senior Taliban official, in which he told other Taliban commanders that Pakistan had tarnished the group’s reputation internationally….reports Sanjeev Sharma

An audio file attributed to a Taliban official, said to be Mullah Fazel, the Taliban’s Deputy Defence Minister surfaced in which he says that the “Punjabi guest” (referring to Pakistani intelligence chief Gen Faiz Hameed) had created a major problem for the group and prevented the formation of an inclusive government.

The audio file also mentions an armed clash between General Faiz Hameed’s bodyguards and Taliban commanders at the Kabul presidential palace.

An audio file attributed to a senior Taliban official was released in which he criticized the presence of a Punjabi guest in the country and said that he did not allow the Taliban to form an inclusive government, Raha Press reported.

In the audio file, the Taliban official told other Taliban commanders that Pakistan had tarnished the group’s reputation internationally.

The differences between Pakistan and the Taliban are likely over how the cabinet was recently introduced by the Taliban.

Pakistan has reportedly nominated Haqqani and some members of the Quetta Taliban council to join the cabinet.

The Taliban had previously announced that they would form an inclusive government, but before the group announced its new government, Pakistani intelligence chief Gen Faiz Hameed arrived in Kabul and met with some senior Taliban officials.

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The Taliban announced its new interim government last Tuesday (September 7), which does not include any non-Taliban or female members on its cabinet; However, Mohammad Naeem, a Taliban spokesman, said the government was inclusive because it included representatives from different ethnic groups in Afghanistan.

Earlier reports suggested Faiz Hameed, the head of Pakista’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agency had rushed to Kabul before the government formation after a clash between Baradar and Haqqani-supported groups in which Baradar sustained injuries.

The Haqqani and many other Taliban factions simply do not accept Haibatullah Akhundzada as their leader, as per Michael Rubin in 1945 website.

Whereas the Taliban had said that they would unveil their new government on September 3, the day passed without any official word of the appointment of Akhundzada whom the group’s representatives earlier signaled would be the Islamic Emirate’s supreme leader based in Kandahar, Rubin said.

That delay also postponed Taliban co-founder Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar’s efforts to become political leader in Kabul. The delay may signal a much greater crisis within the Taliban, hence Hameed’s emergency trip, he said.

Some Afghan factions seek a more inclusive government and are not enthusiastic about efforts to fight the Panjshiris. The Taliban largely conquered Afghanistan on the back of political deals rather than military victories and are unenthusiastic about the losses they now sustain in ground fighting in the Valley and its approaches. It is Hameed and the factions to which he directly dictates that want to finish off Ahmad Massoud and Amrullah Saleh, the two main leaders of the resistance, he added.

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-Top News Afghanistan USA

US drone strike killed aid worker, 9 of his family members

The US military called it a “righteous strike” and officials have said that the drone attack in a dense area near Kabul airport was carried out after hours of surveillance on a white sedan…reports Asian Lite News

The US may have mistakenly targeted an aid worker rather than Islamic State fighters in a drone strike in Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan, which killed 10 people, The New York Times has reported using video analysis and interviews. According to the Pentagon, it foiled a new attack planned by the Islamic State through a Reaper drone strike on August 29 in the last known missile fired by the United States in its two-decade war in Afghanistan. The drone strike came the day before US troops ended their 20-year mission and following a deadly attack outside the Kabul airport, which killed 13 service members and at least 170 Afghans trying to escape the Taliban.

The US military called it a “righteous strike” and officials have said that the drone attack in a dense area near Kabul airport was carried out after hours of surveillance on a white sedan, which they thought was carrying explosives. However, the New York Times said its “investigation of video evidence, along with interviews with more than a dozen of the driver’s co-workers and family members in Kabul, raises doubts about the US version of events, including whether explosives were present in the vehicle, whether the driver had a connection to ISIS, and whether there was a second explosion after the missile struck the car.”

Ahmadi’s brother Romal told the Times that 10 members of their family, including seven children, were killed in the strike—Ahmadi and three of his children, Zamir, 20, Faisal, 16, and Farzad, 10; Ahmadi’s cousin Naser, 30; three of Romal’s children, Arwin, 7, Benyamin, 6, and Hayat, 2; and two 3-year-old girls, Malika and Somaya. However, the US said three people were killed in that drone strike on that day.

The New York Times said Ahmadi, 43, worked as an electrical engineer for California-based aid and lobbying group, Nutrition and Education International, since 2006. It reported the US military may have been seeing Ahmadi and a colleague loading canisters of water, which was in short supply after the collapse of the Western-backed government and picking up a laptop for his boss.

US officials say that a larger blast took place after the drone strike, showing that there were explosives in the vehicle. Times visual investigations team and a Times reporter examined the scene of the strike the morning after the drone strike and followed up with a second visit four days later. The report said they found no evidence of a second, more powerful explosion. “Experts who examined photos and videos pointed out that, although there was clear evidence of a missile strike and subsequent vehicle fire, there were no collapsed or blown-out walls, no destroyed vegetation, and only one dent in the entrance gate, indicating a single shock wave,” it said.

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Beijing, Islamabad Target Hostile Militant Groups in Afghanistan

While TTP and BLA are banned in Pakistan as terrorist outfits, ETIM is a threat to China….reports Sanjeev Sharma

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Pakistan and China have named Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) and Uighur militant outfit, ETIM among terrorist groups which should not be allowed to gain a foothold in Afghanistan.

This is part of a joint statement issued by six neighbouring countries of Afghanistan including Pakistan and China.

The TTP has carried out several attacks in Pakistan while BLA has recently claimed responsibility for suicide attacks in the Balochistan province.

At the initiative of the Government of Pakistan, the Foreign Ministers of Pakistan, China, Iran, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan held the Foreign Ministers’ Meeting on the Afghan issue among the neighbouring countries of Afghanistan via video link on September 8.

While TTP and BLA are banned in Pakistan as terrorist outfits, ETIM is a threat to China.

Al-Qaeda militant(WIKIPEDIA)

Apart from these militant outfits, Jondollah, which is a militant outfit carrying out threats in Iran has also been proscribed in the statement.

The other outfits mentioned are ISIS and Al Qaeda which are perceived as global threats.

“Reiterated that terrorist organizations, such as ISIS, Al-Qaeda, ETIM, TTP, BLA, Jondollah and others should not be allowed to maintain a foothold on Afghanistan’s territory”, the joint statement said.

China hopes the Afghan Taliban will fulfill its promises, break off from terrorist organizations, including the East Turkistan Islamic Movement (ETIM) and take effective actions to firmly crack down on it, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian said at a press conference on Friday in response to the Taliban spokesperson’s comments that ETIM has no place in Afghanistan in an exclusive interview with the Global Times.

“We have noticed the exclusive interview of the Global Times and the Afghan Taliban’s further commitment on topics of the ETIM,” Zhao said, noting that the ETIM has been listed by the UN Security Council as an international terrorist organization and poses direct threats to China’s national security and territorial integrity. It is one of the scourges that harm regional stability and a malignant tumor that is parasitic to Afghanistan.

Zhao said at the Friday conference that it is the Afghanistan and the international community’s shared responsibility to firmly oppose, curb, crack down and eradicate the ETIM. China reiterated its concerns to the Afghan Taliban, which it paid attention to and made promises related to it, Global Times reported.

Pakistan Interior Minister Sheikh Rasheed earlier said that Pakistan has taken the Afghan Taliban on board over the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) issue, hoping that Afghanistan’s soil will not be used against Pakistan, Geo News reported.

The interior minister was responding on Geo Pakistan to reports of the release of key TTP commanders from jails in Afghanistan, as the Taliban took over the country.

Maulana Faqir Mohammad, the former deputy chief of the TTP, was also released as the Taliban took hold of the capital on Sunday.

“The outlawed TTP and Daesh militants are present in the mountainous ranges of Nooristan and Nighar,” he said. “We have taken the Taliban on-board over the TTP issue and told them that Pakistan will not allow its soil to be used against Afghanistan and it hopes Afghanistan won’t allow its soil to be used against Pakistan.”

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Taliban execute Amrullah Saleh’s brother

Taliban has denied the news and has said that Azizi was killed during a conflict with them….reports Asian Lite News

Rohullah Azizi, brother of Afghanistan’s former Vice President Amrullah Saleh and one of the leaders of the resistance front in Panjshir, was killed by the Taliban in Karukh district of the province.

His relatives have confirmed the news and added that Azizi’s body was not given to them, Khaama News reported.

Taliban has denied the news and has said that Azizi was killed during a conflict with them.

This is the second family member of the resistance front’s leaders who lost their lives in Panjshir province.

Earlier, Commander Abdul Wodood, the nephew of slain guerrilla leader Ahmad Shah Massoud, was killed along with the spokesperson of the front Fahim Dashti.

Taliban has denied killing both and had added that they died in the intra-resistance front fight.

Panjshir province in the northeast of Kabul was the last holdout which was captured by the Taliban last week but fighting is still going on in some parts.

Officials in the resistance front claim to have taken some areas back from the Taliban but the latter has not commented on the issue yet.

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-Top News Afghanistan Asia News

Veiled Afghan Women Stage Pro-Taliban Rally in Kabul

The women were carrying with them Taliban flags while the speakers criticized the west for what they called, an illegal invasion of Afghanistan….reports Hamza Ameer

After the Taliban deployed security in Kabul opted to aerial gunfire, lashes and manhandling of female protesters, who were marching in an anti-Taliban rally in Kabul; veiled women have taken to the streets and staged a rally in support of the Taliban regime.

Around 300 women, wearing black veils marched on the streets of Kabul and later sat at the Kabul university lecture theatre, asserting their support to the Taliban leadership, especially on gender segregation.

The women were carrying with them Taliban flags while the speakers criticized the west for what they called, an illegal invasion of Afghanistan.

In comparison to a women-led anti-Taliban protest rally, where participants and even journalists were blocked, stopped and assaulted by the Taliban security personal; the Taliban heavily guarded this particular pro-Taliban rally.

Taliban spokesperson Zabiullah Mujahid, responding to a question about the anti-Taliban protest rally, said that there is no permission for any rally unless it is permitted by the Taliban regime.

This interpreted in one way means that anyone wanting to raise their voice against the Taliban, will not be allowed to voice their concern, while on the other hand, it means that a pro-Taliban event or rally, will be allowed by the Taliban regime, primarily because it would act at a counter-narrative to anti-Taliban sentiments, especially with reference to women’s rights in the country.

The speakers at the Shaheed Rabbani Education University, where the pro-Taliban women gathered, said they were against those women, who are protesting against the Taliban on the streets, insisting that those women are not representatives of women.

“Is it freedom to like the last government? No, it is not freedom. The last government was misusing women. They were recruiting women just by their beauty”, said one of the speakers at the gathering.

“Those not wearing the Hijab are harming all of us”, said Shabana Omari, a student of the university, who criticized women who are not wearing headscarves.

“We are supporting our government with all our strength”, said another speaker Somaiya.

Women’s rights in Afghanistan have become a global debate, especially after the Taliban announced their interim government with zero representation of women and later banned women from playing any sport, as it would reveal their faces and bodies.

The new Taliban government maintains that it would be providing all rights to the women, which are legitimate under the Islamic Shariah law, which includes Hijab or Burka as the dresscode.

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Hazaras Face Uncertain Future Under Taliban

The Hazara community had been a target for not only the Taliban, but also the Islamic State (IS) factions in the past…reports Hamza Ameer

On Friday, Hundreds of Hazaras worshippers gathered in mosques to offer Friday prayers on the outskirts of Kabul, a first after the Taliban took over the country.

The Hazara community, belonging to the Shiite sect, had previously been persecuted, executed and ethnically cleansed by the Taliban and Daesh militant groups for being Shia Muslim.

However, with the current and a little ‘moderate’ new Taliban government in place, they feel a little secure. But this feeling of security also comes with traumatic fears of the past, making them uncertain about their present and the future.

The Hazara community had been a target for not only the Taliban, but also the Islamic State (IS) factions in the past. And with the newly-formed interim government of the Taliban, the Hazaras fear of being shut out and cleansed again as the Taliban leadership comprises hardline militants, the old guards from Pushtun ethnicity.



“It is largely made of a single ethnicity. Pushtuns dominate the Taliban government. We do not see any participation of the Hazaras, which is a huge concern,” said Hassanzadah, a local from the Hazara community.

The Hazara community comprises the country’s Shia minority, while the Taliban leadership consists of hardline Sunni sect of Islam, who in the past were savage towards the Shiites during their last regime in the 1990s.

The Hazaras have not forgotten one of the country’s most violent attacks on their community, when rallies were bombed, hospitals were targeted and ambushed attacks on the community were carried out.

The most recent attack on the Hazara community was during June this year, when a Daesh-linked suicide bomber targeted a school and claimed the lives of hundreds.

Today, the Hazaras feel scared to see the Taliban-led security forces, who are now a normal sight on the streets of Afghanistan.

“There is no doubt that the people of Afghanistan want an inclusive government in which all ethnicities, followers of all faiths and different segments of society are represented,” said Abdul Qadir Alemi, the Imam (prayer leader) of a mosque.

Another major concern for the Hazara community is the exclusion from government offices as many of them have gone jobless since the Taliban takeover and have no hopes of inclusion in the current Taliban-led government.

“There are many people who used to work for the government. They have all become unemployed now. There is a lot of anxiety and worry. It’s not like the Taliban are killing us, but it is better to die than to live suffocated like this,” said Suleiman, a Shiite worshipper at the mosque.

Maintaining livelihoods has become another major challenge for the Shiite community under the Taliban rule. They say that while they have not yet seen anything bad being done to their community by the Taliban for the moment, soaring prices of basic food items, coupled with unemployment of many community members, are pushing them into starvation.

“We have not seen anything bad from the Taliban, but there is no work for the people. What are we supposed to do about our hunger,” asked Suleiman.

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Women worst sufferers in Afghanistan: Experts

Experts have highlighted that the women in Afghanistan are the ones who have to pay the highest price in the Afghanistan crisis…reports Asian Lite News

Amid mounting concerns over ongoing situaton in Afghanistan, a group of experts in Delhi urged Taliban to stop abuses against Afghan women.

A Delhi-based think-tank, Red Lantern Analytica, on friday held a discussion titiled “Role of International Media in Safeguarding Women’s rights under Taliban,” The Economic Times reported.

According to the The Economic Times reports, Nargis Nehan, Former Minister, Mines and petroleum, Afghanistan, Zarifa Ghafari, Afghanistan’s former Mayor and Human Rights Activist, Heather Barr, Associate Director, Women’s Rights Division and other eminent experts on human rights have attended the discussion.

As the current human rights situation in Afghanistan deteriorate to alarming levels, with women and children being the biggest sufferers, the think-tank said that despite the Taliban’s assurance that the new government would support human rights, including the rights of women, the truth remained far from such statements.

“There was a belief that the Afghans were disappointed with Ashraf Ghani’s government, they had supported the Taliban. But this was not the case. The support was acquainted with the fear of death. yet the fact that the former president would run away leaving his countrymen at the mercy of the Talibans was absolutely unpredictable”. The economic Times quoted Nargis Nehan as saying.

While discussing the topic, experts have highlighted that the women in Afghanistan have been part of reconstruction, not war. But women are the ones who have to pay the highest price in the process and the experts accused international media of spreading the Taliban propaganda by diluting the facts.

Meanwhile, a group of Afghan women staged a rally in Kabul demanding the inclusion of females in the country’s new government headed by the Taliban, according to a media report.

Friday’s rally came a day after a similar one was staged in Herat amid the Taliban trying to form a new government following their complete takeover of the country last month, said the TOLO News report.

The Taliban, who are yet to decide on female leadership roles, have already said that women can work in government institutions but not in higher-ranking positions.

During the rally in Kabul, the participants demanded the Taliban and the international community to preserve women’s achievements in Afghanistan in the last two decades and respect their political, social, and economic rights.

“No society will make progress without women’s active role. Therefore, women’s political participation in the future government and its cabinet should be considered,” TOLO News quoted civil society activist Tarannom Saeedi as saying.

Another activist, Razia said that “we want to work like men under the Islamic law”.

The participants urged women across the country to go back to work despite the Taliban coming back to power.

After the fall of Kabul on August 15, the Taliban turned away several female presenters working at RTA (the national radio and television facilitates in Afghanistan) and did not let them continue working at the station.

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid has also said that women can work under Islamic principles, without providing further details.

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