US President Joe Biden met his visiting Afghan counterpart Mohammad Ashraf Ghani and Chairman of the High Council for National Reconciliation Abdullah Abdullah at the White House, reports Asian Lite News
Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani on Friday (local time) said that he warned US President Joe Biden that Washington’s move of withdrawing troops will have consequences for both sides, though he did not ask Biden to delay the withdrawal.
— Dr. Abdullah Abdullah (@DrabdullahCE) June 25, 2021
“President Biden’s decision is a transformational decision that is going to have consequential results both for the people of Afghanistan and for the people of the United States in the region,” Ghani said during remarks in Washington, reported Sputnik.
Ghani further said that discussions with the US have been very productive and countries in the region should “bet” on the Afghan government to remain in power, not on other forces. He said that Biden has made clear that the United States will continue to provide security and humanitarian assistance to Afghanistan.
Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and chairman of Afghanistan’s High Council for National Reconciliation Abdullah Abdullah meet US President Joe Biden at the White House. (SOurce twitter@DrabdullahCE)
Furthermore, the Afghan President announced that Afghan security forces have taken back a number of districts that had fallen to the Taliban in southern and northern Afghanistan. Ghani called on the Taliban for a ceasefire and to return to the political process.
“The Afghan government needs to manage the consequences that will emerge after the US withdrawal and the Afghan people must rise to the challenge,” he said.
Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and chairman of Afghanistan’s High Council for National Reconciliation Abdullah Abdullah with US Secretary of Defence Lloyd Austin (Source twitter@DrabdullahCE)
Biden and Ghani met at the White House as US troops are leaving Afghanistan after over two decades of military operations there. The United States has already withdrawn more than half of its troops from Afghanistan and expects to largely complete by July, well ahead of the September 11 deadline, Sputnik reported.
The White House on Friday announced a series of measures to provide assistance to the South Asian country amid troop withdrawal, including donating three million doses of the Johnson and Johnson vaccine to the people of Afghanistan through the COVAX facility.
Additionally, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) is also supporting Afghan efforts to respond to the critical shortfalls in oxygen and medical ventilation support by providing emergency and structural assistance. (ANI)
White House says Biden’s first meeting as president with Ghani and Abdullah, will focus on ongoing commitment to the Afghan people, reports Asian Lite News
President Joe Biden meets Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and Abdullah Abdullah, on Friday to discuss Washington’s support for Afghanistan as the last US troops pack up after 20 years of war and government forces struggle to repel Taliban advances.
The Oval Office meeting may be as valuable to Ghani for its symbolism as for any new US help because it will be seen as affirming Biden’s support for the beleaguered Afghan leader as he confronts Taliban gains, bombings and assassinations, a surge in Covid-19 cases and political infighting in Kabul.
Biden’s embrace, however, comes only months after US officials were pressuring Ghani to step aside for a transitional government under a draft political accord that they floated in a failed gambit to break a stalemate in peace talks.
Biden’s first meeting as president with Ghani and Abdullah, chairman of the High Council for National Reconciliation, will focus on “our ongoing commitment to the Afghan people” and security forces, said White House deputy press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre.
Biden has asked Congress to approve $3.3 billion in security assistance for Afghanistan next year and is sending 3 million doses of vaccines there to help it battle Covid-19.
Biden will urge Ghani and Abdullah, foes in Afghanistan’s two last presidential elections, “to be a united front” and he will reaffirm US support for a negotiated peace deal, Jean-Pierre said.
Officials, however, have been clear that Biden will not halt the US pullout – likely to be completed by late July or early August – and he is unlikely to approve any US military support to Kabul to halt the Taliban’s advances beyond advice, intelligence, and aircraft maintenance.
Ghani and Abdullah spent Thursday discussing the situation in Afghanistan with lawmakers on Capitol Hill.
On Thursday, Intelligence has warned that Kabul, Afghanistan’s capital, could fall to the Taliban within six months of the departure of the last of the US and international troops. The warning came amid growing international concern about Taliban making gains since May 1, when the US and allied troops began leaving Afghanistan in accordance with a timeline announced by Biden for complete the withdrawal by September 11.
India, a key stakeholder in Afghanistan’s reconstruction, called for a UN-led ceasefire in the country during a UN Security Council debate on Monday, pointing to a sudden escalation in violence in the country since May 1.
The Wall Street Journal reported that US intelligence experts had earlier assessed that the government of President Ghani would survive for two years after the US withdrawal based roughly on the time it took for the fall of Saigon in Vietnam after US troop pull-out in 1975.
Intelligence and military analysts have since revised their assessment and now believe that Kabul could fall in six to 12 months after the departure of American troops, the WSJ reported, adding that officials in other western countries fear the capital could fall far sooner, possibly in three months.
US military has planned to wind up the withdrawal by as soon as July, going down from the 3,500 currently stationed there to zero, barring a small force to be left behind for the protection of American diplomatic missions and officials.
State Department spokesperson Ned Price also indicated that US financial assistance to Afghanistan could only continue if the country has a government that is recognised by all…reports Asian Lite News
Amid intelligence reports that the current government in Kabul could collapse within six months after the American withdrawal, the US on Tuesday cautioned the Taliban that the world will not accept a government imposed by force in Afghanistan.
At a news briefing in Washington, State Department spokesperson Ned Price also indicated that US financial assistance to Afghanistan could only continue if the country has a government that is recognised by all, reported Dawn.
“The world will not accept the imposition by force of a government in Afghanistan,” said Price while referring to media reports about Taliban victories against the Kabul government. “You’ve heard this from Special Representative for Afghanistan Reconciliation Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad; you’ve heard this from US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and from others.”
Earlier at the briefing, a journalist reminded Price that the terrorists have expanded their control over Afghanistan to more than 50 districts since President Joe Biden announced his plan to withdraw all US forces from Afghanistan by September 11, reported Dawn.
“Legitimacy and assistance for any Afghan government can only be possible if that government has respect for human rights if that government has credibility if that government has legitimacy, including in the eyes of its own people,” Price said.
According to the World Bank, Afghanistan’s structural trade deficit, equal to around 30 per cent of GDP, is financed almost entirely from grant inflows. Grants continue to finance around 75 per cent of public spending. Security expenditures too were high at around 28 per cent of GDP in 2019, reported Dawn.
The United States is the biggest aid donor, spending USD 35.5 billion last year, followed by Germany (USD 28.4 billion), Britain (USD 18.6 billion), Japan (USD 16.3 billion) and France (USD 14.1 billion).
Citing The Wall Street Journal, Dawn reported on Wednesday that the US intelligence community had informed the Biden administration that the government of Afghanistan “could collapse as soon as six months after the American military withdrawal” from the country.
“American intelligence agencies revised their previously more optimistic estimates as the Taliban swept through northern Afghanistan last week, seizing dozens of districts and surrounding major cities,” WSJ reported.
China wary of security vacuum
China is growing increasingly concerned over a security vacuum forming in Afghanistan as foreign forces withdraw from the war-torn country.
“China was a key beneficiary of the US force presence in Afghanistan, and that will soon become obvious. With the full withdrawal of US and NATO forces from Afghanistan, China will have to find a way to protect its own [counterterrorism] interests,” Nikkei Asia quoted Lisa Curtis, director of the Indo-Pacific security program at the Center for New American Security, a Washington-based think tank.
Last month, China blamed the United States’ “abrupt announcement of complete withdrawal of forces” for the succession of explosive attacks throughout Afghanistan, saying the step has worsened the security situation and has threatened peace and stability as well as people’s lives and safety in the war-torn country.
Analysts have said Beijing has more or less been ambivalent about Afghanistan, but the vacuum left by the US could require China to flex more diplomatic and interventionist muscle than it has typically displayed.
Amid the ongoing drawdown of US troops from Afghanistan, the country has seen a spike in the incidents of violence in recent weeks, leading to casualties of Afghan security forces and civilians.
Early this month, China, Afghanistan, and Pakistan met for their fourth official trilateral dialogue, pledging to strengthen economic, political, and security ties. The official statement following the meeting included a rejection of “double standards” in counterterrorism.
Taliban
According to Nikkei Asia, Beijing is wary of the Taliban’s potential to harbor anti-Chinese extremist groups. Though China is not entirely comfortable with the Taliban, the pragmatic option may be to work with the group in the hopes of securing agreements to not harbour such extremists.
Following 9/11 attacks, counterterrorism was one policy area in which the U.S. and China were consistently aligned.
The original designation by the US of the TIP — then known as the East Turkestan Islamic Movement — was seen as a conciliatory move to get the Chinese on board with its war on terror.
The true threat posed at the time by extremist Uyghur groups, however, was minimal, said Andrew Small, a senior fellow at the German Marshall Fund, a think tank in the US capital.
“It was still very small in scale, barely existed at all. Not a real terrorist threat, inflated on the Chinese side, kind of to make a political point,” he said. (ANI)
However, officials in other western countries fear the capital could fall far sooner, possibly in three months, reports Asian Lite News
Intelligence has warned that Kabul, Afghanistan’s capital, could fall to the Taliban within six months of the departure of the last of the US and international troops. The report comes ahead of a White House meeting on Friday between President Joe Biden and top Afghan leaders Ashraf Ghani and Abdullah Abdullah.
The warning came amid growing international concern about Taliban making gains since May 1, when the US and allied troops began leaving Afghanistan in accordance with a timeline announced by Biden for complete the withdrawal by September 11.
India, a key stakeholder in Afghanistan’s reconstruction, called for a UN-led ceasefire in the country during a UN Security Council debate on Monday, pointing to a sudden escalation in violence in the country since May 1.
The Wall Street Journal reported that US intelligence experts had earlier assessed that the government of President Ghani would survive for two years after the US withdrawal based roughly on the time it took for the fall of Saigon in Vietnam after US troop pull-out in 1975.
Taliban attack at the peak in Afghanistan
Intelligence and military analysts have since revised their assessment and now believe that Kabul could fall in six to 12 months after the departure of American troops, the WSJ reported, adding that officials in other western countries fear the capital could fall far sooner, possibly in three months.
US military has planned to wind up the withdrawal by as soon as July, going down from the 3,500 currently stationed there to zero, barring a small force to be left behind for the protection of American diplomatic missions and officials.
“I will say that while, in general, we are seeing elevated attacks on ANDSF (Afghan National Defence and Security Forces) and Afghan government versus a year ago, we have not seen an increase in attacks on our military presence since February 2020,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki said in response to a question about the rapid military gains made by the Taliban.
“We also assess that, had we not begun to draw down, violence would have increased against us as well after May 1, because that was what the Taliban were clearly conveying. So, the status quo, in our view, was not an option,” Psaki added.
American lawmakers, too, are worried by Taliban’s advances and sought assurances from defence secretary Lloyd Austin and chairman of the joint chiefs of staff Mark Milley at a Congressional hearing on Wednesday.
Miley said, “Yes, we’re concerned, we’re watching it, but there’s a 300,000 plus or minus military force” of the Afghan army and the police “and it is their job to defend their country”.
He said the Taliban group currently controls 81 district centres of Afghanistan, but not any of the provincial capitals yet.
Austin sought to address concerns expressed by lawmakers about US ability to prevent Afghanistan from sliding back under the control of terrorists after the withdrawal of troops, saying America has “very” effective over-the-horizon capability in keeping an eye on Afghanistan, currently from partner countries in the Gulf region and from platforms at sea.
“What we’d like to do going forward is shorten the legs that were required to utilise by getting an agreement with one of the neighbouring countries to base some of our ISR (Intelligence, Surveillance, Reconnaissance) in one of those countries,” said Austin.
Austin did not name these countries, but Pakistan appears to be a leading candidate, as has been clear from repeated public protestations from Prime Minister Imran Khan, who has said his country won’t agree to give the US bases on its soil.
Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and chairman of Afghanistan’s High Council for National Reconciliation Abdullah Abdullah are set to visit the Biden this week….reports Asian Lite News
As Pakistan is expected to be the main point of discussion during Afghan leaders’ visit at the White House this week, Pakistan has reached out to the Afghan government conveying it in clear terms that the upcoming visit must not be used to blame Islamabad, officials told The Express Tribune.
Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and chairman of Afghanistan’s High Council for National Reconciliation Abdullah Abdullah are set to visit the United States this week to meet US President Joe Biden.
Pakistan’s ambassador to Kabul met Afghan leaders from across party lines and Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi also interacted with Dr Abdullah as well as his Afghan counterpart Hanif Atmar at the sidelines of the recent Antalya Diplomacy Forum in Turkey.
Officials have said that Pakistan fears that ‘spoilers’ within the Afghan setup may use the upcoming visit of President Ghani and Dr Abdullah to blame Islamabad for the failure of peace talks in the conflict-torn country.
At the recent Afghan Track-11 dialogue, Qureshi stressed that Ghani might use the upcoming visit to the White House to blame Pakistan. “If the objective [President Ghani’s visit] is to start a new blame game and hold Pakistan responsible for all the ills, I think it will not help. It’s a shared responsibility and no one is going to buy this anymore. We will not take any responsibility. We have been accused enough,” he said.
On Sunday, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said: “President Biden looks forward to welcoming Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and Dr. Abdullah Abdullah, Chairman of the High Council for National Reconciliation, to the White House on June 25, 2021.”
The Taliban, meanwhile, reacted to the visit and termed it “useless”.
“They [Ghani and Abdullah] will talk with the US officials for preservation of their power and personal interest. It won’t benefit Afghanistan,” Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said.
Afghan National Security Adviser Hamdullah Mohib and vice president Amrullah Saleh in particular in recent weeks issued scathing statements against Pakistan, according to The Express Tribune.
Mohib accused Islamabad of enabling a violent ‘proxy war’ by the terror group in Afghanistan. Pakistan, furious over the Afghan NSA’s diatribe, has decided to sever all official links with him.
Islamabad has been accused of aiding the Taliban and using them as proxies for its own benefit.
As the Taliban resumes attacks on Afghan security forces and civilians, Pakistan recently extended support to the terrorist group, saying it would be an “exaggeration” to hold them responsible for violence in Afghanistan.
Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi defended the Taliban for increase in violence in Afghanistan and shifted the blame on Daesh, another word for ISIS (another word for Islamic State in Iraq and Syria).
Meanwhile, the Afghan diaspora in the Netherlands blamed Pakistan ‘Strategic Depth Policy’ for the unbearable suffering of Afghans along both sides of the Durand Line.
“The Pakistani military chiefs have officially admitted supporting groups such as Taliban. They call this interference strategic depth. This policy still continues and has been causing unbearable suffering among Afghans on both sides of the Durand line,” said the statement of the Afghan diaspora, reported Pajhwok Afghan News. (ANI)
Afghan soldiers take part in a training session at a military training center in Kandahar province
Taliban fighters have recently taken control of a number of districts in Balkh province and even reached the Mazar-e-Sharif entrance last week…reports Asian Lite News
Amid rising violence in Afghanistan, government officials have said that they would arm and train civilians who are willing to fight the Taliban.
Naqibullah Fayeq, the newly-appointed deputy interior minister, on Wednesday said that Kabul would support public mobilization against Taliban “in every province”, reported Afghanistan Times.
“Taliban will be suppressed. There is an extraordinary support from security officials to people,” he told army and police in Mazar-e-Sharif.
Fayeq assured that the government would provide weapons, foodstuff, vehicles and other equipment for those who want to defend their soil and homeland, not only in Balkh province, but in every other area. He also assured that Taliban could “never enter the cities”, promising that government forces would retake the districts which fell to the insurgents.
“Why should we believe that Taliban are powerful?” Fayeq said, adding that the militants’ recent war was more propaganda while they themselves do not trust they have taken many areas.
Taliban fighters have recently taken control of a number of districts in Balkh province and even reached the Mazar-e-Sharif entrance last week for a few hours before being driven away by security forces, reported Afghanistan Times.
Taliban
Fifty out of Afghanistan’s 370 districts have fallen to Taliban terrorists since May, informed the United Nations’ special envoy on Afghanistan Deborah Lyons on Tuesday, as the United States continues its military withdrawal from the country.
“The Taliban recent advances are even more significant and are as a result of an intensified military campaign; more than 50 of Afghanistan’s 370 districts have fallen since the beginning of May,” Lyons told the UN Security Council (UNSC), reported CNN.
This comes in the middle of a surge in violence as the Taliban has increased its activities since the start of the US-led forces pull out on May 1.
Taliban fighters had earlier taken control of several districts in Kunduz province and the important border crossing with Tajikistan, according to Rabani Rabani, a member of the Kunduz provincial council.
A local power company in Afghanistan also informed on Tuesday that violent clashes had damaged key electrical infrastructure, causing power outages in 11 provinces including Kabul.
In April, US President Joe Biden formally announced his decision to end America’s ‘forever war’, deeming the prolonged and intractable conflict in Afghanistan no longer in alignment with American priorities.
Biden said he would withdraw US troops from Afghanistan before September 11, the 20th anniversary of the terrorist attacks in the US.
Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and chairman of Afghanistan’s High Council for National Reconciliation Abdullah Abdullah are set to visit the United States soon to meet US President Joe Biden. (ANI)
Jaishankar during his address went for the jugular when he stressed that the supply chains of terrorism which end up in Afghanistan must be disrupted, for fostering “enduring” peace, reports Atul Aneja
External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar’s clarion call during his address to the UN Security Council on Tuesday marks a new pro-active phase in India’s global diplomacy on Afghanistan.
Jaishankar nailed the urgency for a holistic international approach to end conflict by focusing on the umbilical link between terrorism in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
In tune with Jaishankar’s call, National Security Adviser, Ajit Doval is heading for Dushanbe for a conference of region’s security chiefs, under the umbrella of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), where the turbulent situation in Afghanistan is bound to be discussed.
Jaishankar during his address went for the jugular when he stressed that the supply chains of terrorism which end up in Afghanistan must be disrupted, for fostering “enduring” peace. “For enduring peace in Afghanistan, terrorist safe havens and sanctuaries must be dismantled immediately and terrorist supply chains disrupted. There needs to be zero tolerance for terrorism in all its forms and manifestations including its cross-border one,” he said in a veiled reference to Pakistan.
EAM Jaishankar drove home his point of a composite approach to end terrorism when he hammered his call for “double peace,” both within and across the border. “A durable peace in Afghanistan requires a genuine double peace. That is, peace within Afghanistan and peace around Afghanistan. It requires harmonising the interests of all, both within and around that country,” he said.
By calling out for regional approach, Jaishankar was implicitly erasing Pakistan’s oft-quoted argument of dominating Afghanistan to acquire “strategic depth” against India. In India, there are deep and genuine concerns that Pakistan’s sway can once against turn Afghanistan into a ground zero from where global Jihad radiates across the glove, drawing Kashmir into the international terror orbit.
Unsurprisingly, Jaishankar spotlighted that, “It is equally important to ensure that the territory of Afghanistan is not used by terrorist groups to threaten or attack any other country. Those providing material and financial support to terrorist entities must be held accountable.”
India’s high decibel call for the world to act on the fundamentals and mechanics of terrorism threatening to re-permeate into Afghanistan is natural. India has invested over $3 billion since the Taliban’s exit in 2001, apart from substantially pitching in its political capital and soft-power reserves in a country, long known as a “graveyard of empires”.
Jaishankar pointed out that India remains committed to steadfastly supporting Afghanistan during its transition. Our development partnership, including more than 550 Community Development Projects covering all 34 provinces, is aimed at making Afghanistan a self-sustaining nation, he said.
Besides, India has recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Afghan government for building the Shatoot dam, which would provide safe drinking water to the residents of Kabul city, he observed.
The EAM asserted that landlocked Afghanistan must have access to high -seas-a reference to India’s participation with Afghanistan and Iran in the Chabahar port project. India has also built a strategic road linking Chabahar with Afghanistan’s road network.
But noting practical difficulties on the ground during transit, Jaishankar alerted the international community to work towards the removal of artificial transit barriers imposed on Afghanistan and ensure full transit rights guaranteed to Afghanistan under bilateral and multilateral transit agreements without any hindrance.
Jaishankar made two additional points. First, he called for an immediate ceasefire in Afghanistan.
Addressed the @UN Security Council on Afghanistan today. Condemned the violence and targeted attacks, calling for a comprehensive ceasefire and protection of civilians.
Negotiating parties must fully commit in good faith in reaching a political solution. pic.twitter.com/Z901QOgK6c
Referring to last week’s report of UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres on the Afghan situation, Jaishankar stressed that the intra-Afghan talks have yielded a reduction in violence. On the contrary, after May 1, there have been targeted attacks on religious and ethnic minorities, girl students, Afghan security forces, Ulemas, women occupying positions of responsibility, journalists, civil rights activists and youth.
“It is therefore crucial that the international community and, in particular, this Council presses for a permanent and comprehensive ceasefire to ensure immediate reduction in violence and protection of civilian lives,” he observed.
CNN is quoting UN special envoy on Afghanistan Deborah Lyons as saying on Tuesday, that as the United States continues its military withdrawal from the country for May 1, 50 out of Afghanistan’s 370 districts have fallen to Taliban terrorists.
“The Taliban recent advances are even more significant and are as a result of an intensified military campaign; more than 50 of Afghanistan’s 370 districts have fallen since the beginning of May,” Lyons told the UNSC.
Taliban
“Most districts that have been taken surround provincial capitals, suggesting that the Taliban are positioning themselves to try and take these capitals once foreign forces are fully withdrawn,” she added. Analysts say that instead of seeking a diplomatic solution, the Taliban appear to be pressing for a military solution, a throwback to the situation in 1996, when the Pak-backed group had overrun the country.
Second, Jaishankar pointed out that India fully supports the UN’s apex role in the conduct of international diplomacy to steer Afghanistan’s political transition.
“India welcomes any move towards a genuine political settlement and a comprehensive and permanent ceasefire in Afghanistan. We support a leading role for the United Nations, since that would help improve the odds for a lasting and durable outcome,” he said.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q-SNOSgRvu4
Jaishankar added that India has been supportive of all the efforts being made to accelerate the dialogue between the Afghan government and the Taliban, including the intra-Afghan negotiations.
The intra-Afghan outside the UN framework had kick-started after the US and the Taliban signed a landmark deal in Doha on February 29, 2020-a result of several rounds of negotiations. Before his UN address, Jaishankar had met US special representative on Afghanistan, Almay Khalilzad in Doha. The Qatari authorities have also confirmed that Indian delegates have met the Taliban in the group’s international office in Doha.
(This content is being carried under an arrangement with indianarrative.com)
The strike which occurred in Qushmal village of Firoz Nakhchir suburban district also destroyed a Taliban hideout…reports Asian Lite News
Fourteen Taliban terrorists were killed after the Afghan Air Force targeted a group’s hideout in the country’s northern province of Samangan on Monday night, the country’s Defense Ministry confirmed Tuesday.
The strike which occurred in Qushmal village of Firoz Nakhchir suburban district also destroyed a Taliban hideout, five rocket-propelled grenade launchers, two heavy guns, and seven assault rifles, the ministry said in a statement.
The latest offensive came as the Taliban have been continuing heavy fighting against the government security forces since the start of the US-led forces pullout from Afghanistan on May 1.
The Taliban has claimed to capture more than 40 suburban districts over the past month.
The group has yet to make comments.
Taliban
Citizens fight Taliban
Amid the unrelenting violence in Afghanistan, people in various provinces throughout the worn-torn country have taken up arms to fight the Taliban.
This comes in the middle of a surge in violence as the Taliban has increased its activities since the start of the US-led forces pull out on May 1.
TOLOnews reported that public uprising forces commanders in the provinces said they will stand beside the security forces to retake the lost districts. Meanwhile, some politicians said that it is necessary that people have taken up arms to defend the country under the current circumstances.
According to the Afghan news agency, the fall of several districts to the Taliban in the last two months has been unprecedented. The majority of the districts that have fallen to the Taliban have been in the north.
Last week, the Afghan government had appointed two new key security ministers due to growing insurgency and conflicts.
Taliban
Meanwhile, Pentagon Press Secretary John Kirby on Monday said that they are continually assessing the progress in the drawdown from Afghanistan and other operations in the country.
Kirby said that the military leaders in the Pentagon, at US Central Command and in Afghanistan, “are constantly looking at the pace we’re going at, and the capabilities we have, and the capabilities that we’re going to need throughout to complete the withdrawal.”
Kirby added said there are only two aspects of the Afghanistan retrograde that will not change: The first is the US military will withdraw all US forces from the country, and the second is the withdrawal will be finished by the September deadline set by President Joe Biden.
Other aspects of the Afghan situation are still being studied, Kirby added. (ANI/Xinhua)
This comes in the middle of a surge in violence as the Taliban has increased its activities since the start of the US-led forces pull out on May 1….reports Asian Lite News
Fifty out of Afghanistan’s 370 districts have fallen to Taliban terrorists since May, informed the United Nations’ special envoy on Afghanistan Deborah Lyons on Tuesday, as the United States continues its military withdrawal from the country.
“The Taliban recent advances are even more significant and are as a result of an intensified military campaign; more than 50 of Afghanistan’s 370 districts have fallen since the beginning of May,” Lyons told the UN Security Council (UNSC), reported CNN.
“Most districts that have been taken surround provincial capitals, suggesting that the Taliban are positioning themselves to try and take these capitals once foreign forces are fully withdrawn,” she added.
This comes in the middle of a surge in violence as the Taliban has increased its activities since the start of the US-led forces pull out on May 1.
Over the past 24 hours, Taliban fighters have taken control of several districts in Kunduz province and the important border crossing with Tajikistan, according to Rabani Rabani, a member of the Kunduz provincial council.
A local power company in Afghanistan also informed on Tuesday that violent clashes had damaged key electrical infrastructure, causing power outages in 11 provinces including Kabul.
CNN reported that over the weekend, the Taliban claimed it had overrun an Afghan Army base in Balkh governorate in the north of the country. A Taliban propaganda video shows the group of militants inside a military base confiscating military vehicles and weapons.
As the US and North Atlantic Treaty Organisation’s (NATO) foreign forces continue to scale down their presence in Afghanistan, the Taliban have been gaining ground in some parts of the country.
In April, US President Joe Biden formally announced his decision to end America’s ‘forever war’, deeming the prolonged and intractable conflict in Afghanistan no longer in alignment with American priorities.
Biden said he would withdraw US troops from Afghanistan before September 11, the 20th anniversary of the terrorist attacks in the US.
Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and chairman of Afghanistan’s High Council for National Reconciliation Abdullah Abdullah are set to visit the United States next week to meet President Joe Biden.
“President Biden looks forward to welcoming Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and Dr. Abdullah Abdullah, Chairman of the High Council for National Reconciliation, to the White House on June 25, 2021,” White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said in a statement on Sunday.
The visit by President Ghani and Dr Abdullah will highlight the enduring partnership between the United States and Afghanistan as the military drawdown continues, the statement added. (ANI)
National Directorate of Security (NDS) of Afghanistan has identified the Pakistani army officer as Azim Akhtar…reports Asian Lite News
The Afghan intelligence agency on Tuesday arrested a Pakistan army officer, who was sent to Paktia province in Afghanistan by Pakistan forces to fight alongside Taliban and conduct “destructive activities” in the country, local media reported citing an official.
The officer has been identified Azim Akhtar. According to Aswaka News, his father and uncle also served in Pakistan Army.
The Pakistani army officer was arrested by the National Directorate of Security (NDS) in Dand Patan district
Talking to reporters after his arrest, Akhtar admitted to fighting alongside the Taliban. This comes as Taliban terrorists have launched an offensive in Afghanistan as foreign forces are withdrawing.
He said he received a year and a half of military training.”I was sent to Kashmir to fight, then to Peshawar and from there to Parachinar, where I was sent to an army base where the Taliban were also involved,” he told reporters.
A few days later, Pakistani officials told him that there were other officers on the other side of the line who would fight alongside them and the Taliban.
The Pakistani army officer was arrested by the National Directorate of Security (NDS) in Dand Patan district(ANI)
Islamabad has been accused of aiding the Taliban and using them as proxies for its own benefit.
Kabul has long accused Pakistan of providing sanctuary to the Afghan Taliban.
The UN Analytical Support and Sanctions Monitoring Team to the 1988 Sanctions Committee, which oversees sanctions on the Taliban, in its 2019 report had acknowledged that nearly 5,000 terrorists belonging to Lashkar-e-Tayyiba, which is based in Pakistan, were active in Kunar and Nangarhar provinces of Afghanistan alone.
Last year in December, a former Pakistani senator said Pakistan is using Taliban as a “tool” for its dominance in Afghanistan under the pretext of strategic depth.
Afrasia Khattak had said: “They [Pakistan] want dominance in Afghanistan under the pretext of strategic depth and they have pursued this policy. They see the Taliban as a tool for themselves.” (ANI)
