Maggie Hassan
ANI: Taking to Twitter on Friday after meeting the Afghan leadership, Democrat senator Maggie Hassan said, “Pakistan continues to support and harbour the Taliban and, in doing so, continues to support and harbour al-Qaeda. And there is a real presence of ISIS-K in Afghanistan that poses a direct threat to our homeland, as well.” Click here to read more (external link).
Raz Mohammad Waziri
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
October 13, 2019
The Taliban has shot and killed a government official in the capital Kabul.
Raz Mohammad Waziri, the district governor of Jaghatu in Maidan Wardak Province, was killed in western Kabul on October 12, according to the provincial government in a statement.
Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid claimed responsibility for the attack.
The provincial government statement said Waziri was in Kabul for a workshop.
The statement said an investigation into the killing had been launched.
The Taliban also claimed responsibility for the killing of Adil Shah Adil, the provincial prosecutor in the northern province of Parwan.
Parwan police chief Mohfoz Walizada said Adil was shot and killed by unknown gunmen in Charakar, the provincial capital.
The Taliban frequently targets and attacks officials from the Western-backed government in Kabul, which the militants consider illegitimate.
Based on reporting by AP and 1TV
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
October 13, 2019
Afghanistan’s Defense Ministry says government forces have gained control of a district in the country’s north from the Taliban.
In a statement, the ministry said the Dash-e Archi district of Kunduz Province, along the border with Tajikistan, was retaken on October 12.
Afghan special forces units stormed the center of the district and “destroyed enemy strongholds” and “inflicted heavy casualties on the enemy,” the statement said.
The statement added that U.S troops supported Afghan forces.
Dasht-e Archi has been largely under the control of the Taliban since 2015.
The Taliban has maintained a strong presence in Kunduz, a strategically and economically important northern province.
The militants took control of the provincial capital, Kunduz, for two weeks in 2015.
The city, the country’s fifth largest, has come under attack several times since then.
The Defense Ministry said government forces had retaken 12 Taliban-controlled districts in the provinces of Ghazni, Badakhshan, Kunduz, Takhar, and Faryab in the past six months.
The Taliban contests or controls nearly half of the country.
Based on reporting by dpa and Tolo News
Ashraf Ghani
Tolo News: A spokesperson for the Stability and Partnership campaign, the team led by presidential candidate Abdullah Abdullah, on Saturday claimed that ‘circles within the Independent Election Commission are colluding with the State Building team (Ghani’s team) and are trying to organize a systematic fraud.’ Speaking in a press conference, Abdullah’s candidate for second VP, Assadulah Saadati, said that despite the team’s efforts to prevent fraud, the Election Commission’s work is ‘deteriorating.’ Click here to read more (external link).
Related
1TV: Around 60,000 people develop breast cancer each year in Afghanistan, a non-governmental organization said on Saturday citing a survey. Capital Kabul had most number of breast cancer patients, followed by Balkh, Panjshir and Kapisa provinces, said Javed Safi, head of ACF. Meanwhile, Afghanistan Medical Council said that breast cancer was deadliest disease for women after heart diseases. Click here to read more (external link).
Alice Wells
Ayaz Gul
VOA News
October 12, 2019
ISLAMABAD – The United States has hailed FIFA, soccer’s world governing body, for slapping a five-year ban on a former senior official of the Afghanistan Football Federation (AFF) for failing to act on sexual abuse allegations brought by the country’s female players.
“Survivors of sexual abuse deserve justice & we look to Afghan authorities to ensure accused officials are held accountable,” Alice Wells, acting U.S. assistant secretary for south and central Asia, tweeted Saturday.
FIFA announced a day earlier its ongoing investigation into complaints, lodged by several female Afghan football players, has found Sayed Aghazada, the former AFF general secretary, guilty of breaching the world body’s code of ethics.
The complainants accused the former AFF president, Keramuudin Karim, of “repeated” sexual abuse between 2013 and 2018 when Aghazada was the general secretary. The players went public with the allegations last year, prompting FIFA to investigate and ban Karim for life in June. It also imposed a $1 million penalty on the former AFF president.
FIFA said Friday that Aghazada was aware of the abuse and had the duty to report and prevent it. Consequently, he has been banned from all football-related activity at both national and international level for five years. A financial penalty of about $10,000 was also imposed on him.
Aghazada was also serving as a member of the FIFA standing committee and as Asian Football Confederation (AFC) executive committee.
Ariana: U.S. President Donald Trump stressed that it is time bring U.S. troops back home from Afghanistan. Speaking at his campaign rally in Minneapolis, Mr. Trump said, “We were supposed to be in Afghanistan for a short period of time. We’re now going to be there for close to 19 years. It’s time to bring them home.” However, experts and former U.S. military commanders believe that a withdrawal from Afghanistan should be under specific conditions. Click here to read more (external link).
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