Category: Afghanistan

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No regret in pull out of Afghanistan, says Biden

Biden said the US was keeping the commitments it had made to Afghanistan, such as providing air support, paying military salaries and supplying Afghan forces with food and equipment, reports Asian Lite News

President Joe Biden has said he does not regret his decision to withdraw the American troops from Afghanistan, underlining that the Afghan troops must fight for themselves.

Biden has urged Afghanistan’s leaders to unite and “fight for their nation”.

Speaking to reporters at the White House on Tuesday, Biden said the US was keeping the commitments it had made to Afghanistan, such as providing close air support, paying military salaries and supplying Afghan forces with food and equipment.

“We spent over a trillion dollars over 20 years. We trained and equipped with modern equipment over 300,000 Afghan forces. And Afghan leaders have to come together. They’ve got to fight for themselves, fight for their nation,” Xinhua quoted Biden as saying.

The US will continue to provide Afghan forces with close air support, food, equipment, salaries and make sure the Afghan air force is operable, said Biden.

“But they’ve got to want to fight. They have outnumbered the Taliban. We are going to continue to keep our commitment,” he added, saying he does not regret his decision to withdraw US troops from the country.

Biden ordered the US military to end its mission in Afghanistan by the end of this month. The US Central Command said that over 95 per cent of the drawdown had been completed.

Last Monday, Afghan President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani said in his remarks to the parliament that Kabul had a six-month security plan to change the situation in the battleground. Meanwhile, he blamed the withdrawal of US troops for the worsening situation.

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The Taliban on Tuesday claimed that it had seized Farah city, capital of Afghanistan’s western Farah province, marking the seventh provincial capital to fall to the group in less than a week.

State Department spokesperson Ned Price said earlier in the day that the security situation in Afghanistan is of grave concern to the US.

The US carried out airstrikes against the Taliban in recent days as the insurgent group made rapid military advances across the country.

Violence has escalated across the country now that US-led forces have all but withdrawn following 20 years of military operations.

US soldiers prepare to depart from Kunduz, Afghanistan. (Photo Brian Harris_Planet Pix_ZUMA_dpa_IANS)

The Taliban have taken at least eight of the country’s 34 provincial capitals, and are threatening more.

The Washington Post cited unnamed officials as saying the capital Kabul could fall to the Taliban within 90 days., based on US military assessments, the BBC reported.

More than 1,000 civilians have been killed amid fierce fighting between the Taliban and government forces in the past month, according to the UN. Its children’s agency Unicef warned this week that atrocities being committed against children were growing “higher by the day”.

In their latest major advances, Taliban militants seized two more provincial capitals – Farah city and Pul-e-Khumri – on Tuesday.

Officials said the insurgents had raised their flag in the main square and on the governor’s office in Pul-e-Khumri, the capital of Baghlan province, which is located about 200 km from Kabul.

As the fighting rages, thousands of people have been fleeing their homes.

Other gains by the Taliban this week include the key northern city of Kunduz. It is considered a gateway to mineral-rich provinces and is in a strategically important location close to the border with Tajikistan, which is used for the smuggling of opium and heroin.

Heavy fighting is continuing in other parts of the country, and US and Afghan planes have been carrying out airstrikes.

“We saw bodies lying near the prison… there were dogs next to them,” said one woman who left Kunduz as the Taliban took control.

Residents still in the city said shops had begun to reopen as Taliban militants focused their attention on government forces who had retreated to the airport.

“People are opening their shops and businesses, but you can still see fear in their eyes,” one said.

The Taliban have rejected international calls for a ceasefire.

UK Chief of the Defence Staff Gen Sir Nick Carter told the BBC that if the state fractured, the “ideal conditions” could emerge for international terrorism and violent extremism.

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Irresponsible troop withdrawal will lead to unrest: Qureshi

Pakistan’s Foreign Minister also expressed concern over the rising cases of violence in Afghanistan during the withdrawal process…reports Asian lite News

Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said that the “irresponsible” withdrawal of the US and NATO forces from Afghanistan may give benefit to militants and lead to further unrest in the country.

Addressing a press conference here on Monday, Qureshi called for a responsible and orderly withdrawal of the troops without leaving a vacuum for the militant element to play havoc and create a chaotic situation for the region, reports Xinhua news agency.

He also expressed concern over the rising cases of violence in Afghanistan during the withdrawal process.

Qureshi noted that the Afghan peace process is at a critical stage, and there is a dire need to find a broad-based and inclusive settlement through an Afghan-led and Afghan-owned process.

Underlining the sacrifices made by his country due to unrest in Afghanistan, the Minister said that Pakistan has been a victim of the war in the neighbouring country.

US soldiers prepare to depart from Kunduz, Afghanistan. (Brian Harris Planet Pix ZUMA_dpa_IANS)

“The price that we have paid has to be understood. We have had close to 80,000 casualties, we have suffered huge economic losses. The world should not be oblivious to that.”

The Foreign Minister said that Pakistan had played its role in the Afghan peace and reconciliation process, and now, it was up to the Afghan leadership to move the intra-Afghan dialogue process further.

Talking about his country’s efforts for the Afghan peace process, Qureshi said that Pakistan “played an instrumental role in bringing the Taliban to the negotiating table in 2019. Pakistan facilitated the conclusion of the US-Taliban peace agreement in February 2020 in Doha”.

Stressing upon the international community to play its role to bring peace in Afghanistan, Qureshi said that the world should realise “peace and stability in Afghanistan is a shared responsibility and the international community cannot shy away from it and should play its role”.

He briefed the media that his country is making sure to check on people coming in and going out from Pakistan through the Afghan border, while it has completed 98 per cent of border fencing.

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183 killed in Afghanistan since July 9: UN body

The UN high commissioner also called upon all the countries to use their influence and leverage to put an end to the conflict…reports Asian Lite News

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet has informed that at least 180 million people have been killed while more than 1,180 have been wounded in four Afghan cities alone since July 9 as Taliban offensives have escalated.

The Afghan government forces and the Taliban must stop fighting “to prevent bloodshed.” If they fail to return to the negotiating table and reach an agreement, the situation for the Afghan people will become “even worse,” Sputnik reported citing Michelle Bachelet.

“We know that urban warfare results in scores of civilians being killed. We have seen it before, too many times. In Afghanistan, since 9 July in four cities alone – Lashkar Gah, Kandahar, Herat and Kunduz – at least 183 civilians have been killed and 1,181 injured, including children. These are just the civilian casualties we have managed to document, the real figures will be much higher,” Bachelet said in a statement.

The UN high commissioner also called upon all the countries to use their influence and leverage to put an end to the conflict, which has taken another turn as foreign troops began withdrawing from Afghanistan and the Taliban went on the offensive, Sputnik reported.

Afghanistan’s newly-appointed Ambassador to the United Nations (UN) Gholam Mohammad Ishaaqzai urged the United Nations to declare the Taliban a destructive group and to take urgent actions against it.

The government of Afghanistan also asked the international community to look at and pressure the main centres of the Taliban in Pakistan, Ishaaqzai said.

Meanwhile, the Taliban have captured Samangan province’s capital Aybak city as US troops continue their drawdown from Afghanistan.

The Taliban’s recent skirmish became aggressive soon after the US troops started leaving war-torn Afghanistan in large numbers under the new peace deal signed between Washington and the insurgent group in February last year.

As the Taliban intensified attacks, Afghanistan started urging global organisations and to address the deteriorating situation in the country.

Today, an airstrike by US B-52 bombers killed 11 Taliban terrorists in the war-torn country. (ANI)

ALSO READ: Warlord Rashid Dostum leaves for Mazar-e-Sharif

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Warlord Rashid Dostum leaves for Mazar-e-Sharif

Dostum has returned back to Afghanistan last Wednesday from Turkey after the Taliban offensive in the country intensified post the withdrawal of foreign forces….reports Asian Lite News

Marshal (Afghan National Army) Abdul Rashid Dostum on Tuesday left Kabul for Mazar-e-Sharif after the fall of the eighth province Baghlan to the Taliban.

Ehsan Nairo, Dostum’s spokesman, confirmed the news and said that the trip to Mazar-e-Sharif was coordinated with the help of Afghan President Ashraf Ghani.

“Marshal Dostum has left Kabul for Mazar-e-Sharif. Ehsan Nairo, Dostum’s spokesman, says the trip is taking place in coordination with President Ashraf Ghani,” Tolo News tweeted.

Dostum has returned back to Afghanistan last Wednesday from Turkey after the Taliban offensive in the country intensified post the withdrawal of foreign forces.

He has returned to Afghanistan as the Taliban inch closer to taking control of his longtime stronghold in the north and fight for control of a string of cities elsewhere.

The seizure of eight provincial capitals in five days has increased the dangers of Afghanistan once again falling into the hands of the Taliban.

In the last few days alone, the Taliban has captured six provincial capitals, mainly in the north of the country, including Kunduz, Taluqan city, Sheberghan, Zaranj, and Samangan province’s capital Aybak city. Two were captured today, Farah and Baghlan.

On Monday, fighting was continuing on the outskirts of Mazar-i-Sharif and inside the provincial capital of Baghlan, another important province to the southeast of Samangan.

The Afghan National Security and Defense Forces (ANDSF) on Tuesday pushed back the Taliban offensive on Mazar-e-Sharif city and regained control over Nahr-e-Shahi district, Tolo News reported.

The terrorist group has retreated from the Balkh province after facing strong resistance from the Afghan security forces, Balkh Governor Mohammad Farhad Azimi said.

“We managed to recapture this area while facing strong resistance and with the help of air support,” said Sultan Musavi, the police chief of Nahr-e-Shahi.

Dostum has overseen one of the largest militias in the north (Northern Alliance) along with Ahmad Shah Massoud who was considered as Sher-e-Panjshir, which garnered a fearsome reputation in its fight against the Taliban in the 1990s.

The country is witnessing a surge in violence as the Taliban has intensified its offensive against Afghan forces and civilians with the complete pullback of foreign forces just a few weeks away. (ANI)

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Taliban capture eighth provincial capital in Afghanistan

Farah Province sits on the main highway that runs to the western city of Herat, where Taliban fighters have also laid siege….reports Asian Lite News

The Taliban on Tuesday captured the eighth provincial capital in Afghanistan – the city of Pul-e-Khumri, the capital of Baghlan province, which is north of Kabul, overrunning eight provinces in five days.

Local officials said that the Taliban had flooded Farah in western Afghanistan and Pul-i-Khumri in the north, reported The New York Times.

Mohammad Kamin Baghlani, a pro-government militia commander in Baghlan, said that Pul-i-Khumri had fallen on Tuesday and that his forces had retreated to the south.

“All areas of the city fell,” he said. “We were under a lot of pressure, and we were not able to resist anymore.”

Gulbuddin, a police officer in Farah city who like many Afghans goes by one name, said that government officials had fled to an army headquarters several miles outside the city and that the main prison had been breached by Taliban fighters. The streets, he said, were full of freed inmates, reported The New York Times.

The Taliban had been encroaching for some time on Farah city, the capital of the province with the same name, as the western province has been a focal point for the group’s offensive operations in the country’s west for years.

Pul-i-Khumri is on the highway connecting the northern provinces to Kabul, meaning the terrorists need only to turn south and advance to begin putting even more pressure on the country’s capital.

Farah Province sits on the main highway that runs to the western city of Herat, where Taliban fighters have also laid siege. The province also shares a border with Iran; the main border crossing there was seized by the Taliban last month.

Taking Farah and other cities in the area would allow the group to funnel insurgent fighters toward Herat or elsewhere to reinforce other positions, while also limiting Afghan security forces’ ability to relocate to aircraft, which are in short supply because of a lack of maintenance resources and exhausted pilots, reported The New York Times.

The same can be said for Pul-i-Khumri. With the city under Taliban control, along with the key north-south highway that runs through it, the insurgents are dangerously close to completely isolating the north of the country.

Farah and Pul-i-Khumri’s likely fall comes as the Afghan security forces have been fending off attacks in other cities, including in the province of Herat, where fighting has been reported outside the capital, reported The New York Times.

The Taliban are entrenched in Kandahar and Lashkar Gah in the south and outside Faizabad, the capital of Badakhshan, the remote Northern Province that was once considered an anti-Taliban stronghold.

It cannot be understated what these losses will inevitably do to the already dwindling morale of the government security forces.

The seizure of now six provincial capitals in the northern provinces in five days has sent thousands of refugees south to seek refuge in Kabul, the country’s capital.

In the last few days alone, the Taliban has captured six provincial capitals, mainly in the north of the country, including Kunduz, Taluqan city, Sheberghan, Zaranj, and Samangan province’s capital Aybak city.

Afghanistan is witnessing a surge in violence as the Taliban has intensified its offensive against Afghan forces and civilians with the complete pullback of foreign forces just a few weeks away. (ANI)

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‘Taliban takeover will revive global jihadist outfits’

With the Taliban returning to Afghanistan, Al-Qaeda or a similar global jihadi movement would not be far behind.,” said Canadian think tank….reports Asian Lite News

If Taliban returns to power in Afghanistan, other terrorist organisations including Al-Qaeda will not be far behind to take on the mantle of the next global jihadist group or leader, said a Canada-based think tank.

In its report, International Forum For Right And Security (IFFRAS) said: “With the Taliban returning to Afghanistan, Al-Qaeda or a similar global jihadi movement would not be far behind. There may not be a Osama bin Laden or a Mullah Omar but there are countless others who are too eager to take on the mantle of the next global jihadist leader, most likely enjoying the patronage of Pakistan at present, waiting in the wings for the Taliban to come to power in Kabul.”

IFFRAS further noted that the international community must own the responsibility for letting the Taliban become a monster again.

“The US and other countries, engaged in keeping the Taliban at bay in Afghanistan, since October 2001, were warned by friendly countries of Pakistan’s deceit in keeping the flames of terror alive while pretending to help the international forces in stemming terrorism. It was a big deceit played by Pakistan and accepted into by the international community. It was the discovery and killing of Osama bin Laden inside a military garrison town in Pakistan that opened the eyes of the world to Pakistan’s treachery. Yet no attention was paid to Pakistan’s continuous support of the Taliban, transforming a militant force that had been razed to the ground, to rise again,” the think tank said.

IFFRAS also said that if the Taliban comes to power once again then the sacrifices of thousands of people and security personnel would have gone to waste.

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“It must not be allowed to happen, or the deaths of thousands of people and sacrifices of thousands of security personnel would have gone waste,” it said adding that the world will be back into the throes of a new global jihadi campaign, more brutal and devastating than the past.

The Pak-sponsored Taliban has always acted as the vanguard of global jihad. It was so before 2001 and it is so even today as it runs through Afghanistan, capturing cities, holding communities hostage to its diktat and undoing decades of nation-building from the ashes of a ravaging war, IFFRAS further said.

The recent intensification of a conflict with the Afghan Government, the Taliban continues to violate human rights unabatedly by killing civilians, destroying mosques and assaulting women.

After capturing new areas in Afghanistan, the Taliban has re-imposed repressive laws and retrograde policies on Afghan women that defined its 1996-2001 rule when they enforced their version of Islamic Sharia law.

Terrorists belonging to the Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) and Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) are active in Kunar and Nangarhar provinces in Eastern Afghanistan and Helmand and Kandahar provinces particularly in the southeast of the country, the IFFRAS had asserted earlier report. (ANI)

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Afghan rights situation dire as Taliban advance

Taliban continues to violate human rights unabatedly by killing civilians, destroying mosques and assaulting women by re-imposing its radical version of the Shariat in the war-torn country…reports Asian Lite News

The evolving human rights situation in Afghanistan is indeed in a dire situation as reports indicate that the Taliban has re-imposed its radical version of the Shariat in the war-torn country, a European-based think tank said.

With the recent intensification of a conflict with the Afghan government, the Taliban continues to violate human rights unabatedly by killing civilians, destroying mosques and assaulting women.

“Reports indicate that the Taliban has re-imposed its radical version of the Shariat in the areas that it has brought under its control, women’s rights in terms of schooling, dress, movement and jobs no longer exist, and mass murder of government officials and their family members, as well as of civilians, has become rampant,” said the European Foundation for South Asian Studies (EFSAS).

According to EFSAS, Human Rights Watch (HRW), in two recent publications, highlighted the atrocities that were being committed by the Taliban, heady from its victory over the US, which if anything was encouraging the terrorist outfit to adopt a more radical posture on the ground.

In its July 23 report titled ‘Afghanistan: Threats of Taliban Atrocities in Kandahar’, revealed that after taking control of districts in Kandahar province the Taliban had detained hundreds of residents whom they accused of association with the government.

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“Several of the detainees, including relatives of provincial government officials and members of the police and army, were killed in cold blood by Taliban squads,” said Human Rights Watch (HRW), reported EFSAS.

It added that in a follow-up report on August 3, HRW informed that it had “obtained a list of 44 men from Spin Boldak, Kandahar, whom the Taliban have allegedly killed since July 16. All had registered with the Taliban before being summarily executed. Waheedullah, a police commander from Spin Boldak, had obtained a ‘forgiveness’ letter from the Taliban, but Taliban fighters took him from his house and executed him on August 2”.

The Taliban is responsible for 2,978 civilian casualties (917 killed, and 2,061 injured) in the first six months of 2021. The war tactics by the Taliban include the use of IEDs, rocket fires, target killing, and ground battles

The Afghanistan Times reported on August 4 reported that the Taliban shot dead a young girl just because she was not wearing a veil. Husain Haqqani, a former Pakistani Ambassador to the US who is now the Director for South and Central Asia at the Hudson Institute believes that in areas where the Taliban has seized power, mainly in the country’s more religiously conservative countryside, its conduct “is exactly what it was before. They have not changed at all ideologically”.

The Afghan Interior Ministry informed that the Taliban have carried out terrorist attacks on 24 mosques since the beginning of the year. The ministry statement detailed that 30 religious scholars had been killed and 70 had been injured in these attacks. Further, mosques have also been significantly damaged in Taliban attacks.

Taliban continues to capture new areas and subsequently impose a regime that intends to take Afghanistan to old days under its rule, which means the non-existence of human values and even death punishment for petty crimes or violations of rules.

The Taliban attacked the Ahmad Shah Abdali Kandahar Airport and fired several rockets at parts of the airport on the morning of August 8. Flights were suspended following rocket attacks and later resumed late at night on the same day.

Toofan Omari, the head of Paktia Voice Radio and the ‘Prosecutor for Combating Internal and External Security Crimes at the Bagram Prison Justice Center’ was killed by the Taliban in the Dehsabz district of Kabul province, reported Khaama Press News Agency. (ANI)

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Afghan forces must fight for their nation: Biden

“We are going to continue to keep our commitment,” he added, saying he does not regret his decision to withdraw US troops from the country….reports Asian Lite News

 US President Joe Biden said on Tuesday that the Afghan troops must fight for themselves as multiple cities have fallen to the Taliban in the past few days.

“We spent over a trillion dollars over 20 years. We trained and equipped with modern equipment over 300,000 Afghan forces. And Afghan leaders have to come together,” Biden told reporters at the White House. “They’ve got to fight for themselves, fight for their nation.”

The US will continue to provide Afghan forces with close air support, food, equipment, salaries and make sure the Afghan air force is operable, said Biden. “But they’ve got to want to fight. They have outnumbered the Taliban,” the Xinhua news agency reported.

“We are going to continue to keep our commitment,” he added, saying he does not regret his decision to withdraw US troops from the country.

Biden ordered the US military to end its mission in Afghanistan by the end of this month. The US Central Command said that over 95 per cent of the drawdown had been completed.

Last Monday, Afghan President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani said in his remarks to the parliament that Kabul had a six-month security plan to change the situation in the battleground. Meanwhile, he blamed the withdrawal of US troops for the worsening situation.

The Taliban on Tuesday claimed that it had seized Farah city, capital of Afghanistan’s western Farah province, marking the seventh provincial capital to fall to the group in less than a week.

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State Department spokesperson Ned Price said earlier in the day that the security situation in Afghanistan is of grave concern to the US.

“What we are doing around the clock is seeking to find a way out of this,” he told reporters in a daily briefing, noting that US Special Representative for Afghanistan Reconciliation Zalmay Khalilzad is in Doha for meetings with representatives from regional countries to press for a reduction in the violence and a ceasefire.

The US carried out airstrikes against the Taliban in recent days as the insurgent group made rapid military advances across the country.

Pentagon Press Secretary John Kirby said on Monday that the US military will continue to use airstrikes to support Afghan forces “where and when feasible,” but he declined to speculate if such air support will continue beyond August 31.

He said the Afghan forces have the capability and advantages in combat with the Taliban, stressing the need for Kabul to exert both political and military leadership.

In recent weeks, many Afghan cities and about half of the country’s 34 provinces have seen heavy battles and street fighting between Afghan forces and Taliban militants.

Afghan Defence Ministry said in a statement on Tuesday that up to 47 militants have been confirmed dead as fighting planes struck Taliban fighters’ hideouts and positions in the southern Kandahar province.

More than 2,400 US troops have been killed in Afghanistan over the past two decades, with 20,000 wounded. Meanwhile, estimates show that over 66,000 Afghan troops have been killed, and over 2.7 million people have had to leave their homes.

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India Urges Its Nationals To Leave Afghanistan

US forces hand over key base in Afghanistan

Indian companies operating out of Afghanistan are strongly advised to withdraw their Indian employees out of project sites before air travel gets discontinued, reports Asian Lite Newsdesk

The Ministry of External Affairs has asked Indians in Afghanistan to return immediately before commercial flights get discontinued in the war-torn country.

In a security advisory, the MEA said that as violence in Afghanistan is getting escalated, commercial air services to many provinces are getting discontinued.

“All Indian nationals visiting, staying and working in Afghanistan are strongly advised to keep themselves updated on the availability of commercial flights from various parts of Afghanistan and make immediate travel arrangements to return to India before commercial flights are discontinued in their place of stay in Afghanistan,” the MEA said.

India’s External Affairs Minister Dr S. Jaishankar

Indian companies operating out of Afghanistan are strongly advised to withdraw their Indian employees out of project sites before air travel gets discontinued, the ministry said.

Employees of Afghan or foreign companies should also ask their employers to facilitate their travel back to India from the project sites, the MEA said.

Earlier on Tuesday, India said that it is evacuating its nationals from Afghanistan on a “special flight” from Mazar-i-Sharif — the country’s fourth largest city — as Taliban fighters launch another offensive.

“A special flight is leaving from Mazar-e-Sharif to New Delhi. Any Indian nationals in and around Mazar-e-Sharif are requested to leave for India in the special flight scheduled to depart late today evening,” the Indian consulate in Mazar-e-Sharif tweeted.

It asked Indian citizens who want to leave by the special flight to submit the details like their full name and passport number to the consulate immediately.

Around 1,500 Indians are currently staying in Afghanistan.

Last month, India had pulled out around 50 diplomats and security personnel from its consulate in Kandahar following intense clashes between Afghan forces and Taliban fighters around the city.

UN urged to declare Taliban a ‘destructive group’

Afghanistan’s newly-appointed Ambassador to the United Nations (UN) Gholam Mohammad Ishaaqzai urged the United Nations to declare the Taliban a destructive group and to take urgent actions against it.

The government of Afghanistan wants the international community to look at and pressure the main centres of the Taliban in Pakistan, Afghanistan Times reported citing Ishaaqzai.

He also said since the Taliban are not adhering to their commitments, it has thus become the responsibility of the world to take urgent actions against them,” the envoy added.

Afghanistan

He also urged Islamabad to stop supporting Taliban and join the world caravan in cooperating with the government of Afghanistan to reach sustainable peace.

This is not the first time when Afghan top officials have blamed Pakistan and its Army for providing a safe haven to the insurgent groups and their affiliates.

The Taliban with the help of the Pakistani Army has intensified attacks in the Nangarhar Province and captured some security check posts in border districts of Achin and Pacher wa Agam. Hesarak, Sherzad, Pacher wa Agam, Deh Bala (Hska Mina), Achin, and Surkhrod Districts have seen an increase in attacks by the insurgents.

According to reports, in the wake of rising casualties among Taliban cadres and its affiliates, including Al-Qaeda, a number of injured terrorists have been relocated to Quetta city for medical treatment. (IANS/ANI/Sputnik)

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Pakistan being made a scapegoat: Qureshi

Pakistani Foreign Minister also said that Islamabad has pleaded its case at the international forum. “We have been saying time and again that Pakistan has no ‘favourites’ in Afghanistan.”…reports Asian Lite News

Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi on Monday informed that Islamabad was being made a “scapegoat” for the mistakes of those in Afghanistan.

Addressing a press conference on Monday, Qureshi also said that Pakistan itself was a victim of the Afghan crises, “We have paid a huge price, we’re the victims, this has to be understood… we have 80,000 casualties and we suffered economic losses,” Qureshi said as reported by The Express Tribune.

However, according to Afghanistan top officials, Pakistan and its Army continue to provide a safe haven to the insurgent groups and their affiliates.

The Taliban with the help of the Pakistani Army has intensified attacks in the Nangarhar Province and captured some security check posts in border districts of Achin and Pacher wa Agam. Hesarak, Sherzad, Pacher wa Agam, Deh Bala (Hska Mina), Achin, and Surkhrod Districts have seen an increase in Taliban attacks.

According to reports, in the wake of rising casualties among Taliban cadres and its affiliates, including Al-Qaeda, a number of injured terrorists have been relocated to Quetta city for medical treatment.

Pakistani Foreign Minister also said that Islamabad has pleaded its case at the international forum. “We have been saying time and again that Pakistan has no ‘favourites’ in Afghanistan.”

Meanwhile, the Taliban have captured Samangan province’s capital Aybak city on Monday as US troops continue its drawdown from Afghanistan.

The Taliban’s recent skirmish became aggressive soon after the US troops started leaving war-torn Afghanistan in large numbers under the new peace deal signed between Washington and the insurgent group in February last year.

As the Taliban intensified attacks, Afghanistan started urging global organisations and to address the deteriorating situation in the country.

On Saturday evening, the US B-52 bombers targeted a Taliban gathering in Afghanistan’s Shebergan city. The terror group suffered heavy casualties during the US Air Forces strikes.

Diaspora demands sanctions against Pak

A protest was organised by the Afghan diaspora in Vienna, in front of the United Nations building on Monday.

The protest was led by Afghan cultural association (AKIS) founder Ghousuddin Mir. During the protest, the Afghan diaspora demanded UN to put sanctions on Pakistan for promoting proxy war in Afghanistan via financing the Taliban and killing innocent Afghans. Afghan diaspora also demanded the UN designate Pakistan as a terrorist state.

The protest was organised on Monday on a working day of Diplomats and officials in the United Nations to get maximum attention. It was attended by around 45 people carrying placards of “end proxy war on Afghanistan”, “Pakistan is the mother of terrorism”, “sanction Pakistan”, and “stop killing Afghans”.

This protest comes amid a surge in the Taliban offensive and reports of grave human rights violations and war crimes in the territory held by the terrorist group. While the peace talks are stuck in a stalemate, the Afghan government has repeatedly accused Pakistan of aiding the Taliban.

Ghousuddin Mir spoke about the current conditions in Afghanistan and blamed Pakistan for this situation.

He said Pakistan doesn’t care about Muslims especially those who are in Afghanistan and China. Mir also blamed Pakistan for the unrest and killing of innocent lives in Afghanistan. (ANI)

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