Al Jazeera: Trump and Ghani hold talks in New York as report says US approach to Afghanistan lacked ‘whole of government approach’. Deficiencies in Afghanistan’s security forces, including the military and police, are getting renewed attention as the US administration considers sending more than 3,000 additional troops to the country. Click here to read more (external link).
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Shahid Khaqan Abbasi
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
September 22, 2017
Pakistan’s new prime minister, Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, in his first address before the UN General Assembly, rejected the new U.S. war strategy in neighboring Afghanistan while praising China’s growing economic role in the region.
An important component of the White House’s recently unveiled strategy to try to win the war against the Taliban in Afghanistan is a threat to withdraw aid and other support for Pakistan if Islamabad does not shut down what U.S. officials say are Afghan Taliban “safe havens” on its territory.
“Taliban ‘safe havens’ are located not in Pakistan, but in the large tracts of territory controlled by the Taliban in Afghanistan,” Abassi said on September 21, repeating Islamabad’s warning that Pakistani was “not prepared to be anyone’s scapegoat.”
Abassi said Islamabad was ready to work with Kabul to “end all cross-border attacks,” and it will continue pursuing its domestic war against terrorists, which he claimed had “cleared out tribal areas of almost all militant groups” at the cost of thousands of civilian and military lives.
“What Pakistan is not prepared to do is to fight the Afghan war on Pakistan’s soil. Nor can we endorse any failed strategy that will prolong and intensify the suffering of the people of Afghanistan and Pakistan,” he said.
“Apart from the people of Afghanistan, Pakistan and its people have suffered the most from four decades of foreign intervention and civil wars in Afghanistan,” he said. “These wars have blighted our country with the flow of extremists and terrorists, guns and drugs as well as an influx of millions of refugees.”
“Having suffered and sacrificed so much,” he said, “it is especially galling for Pakistan to be blamed for the military or political stalemate in Afghanistan.”
Abassi asserted that neither side of the Afghan conflict will be able to win the war through military might, making peace negotiations the only way to end the 16-year conflict.
“No one desires peace in Afghanistan more than Pakistan,” he said, noting that his country currently hosts over 3 million refugees from Afghanistan.
While criticizing White House policies in his speech without specifically naming the United States or U.S. President Donald Trump, Abassi spoke with warmth about China’s leader and Beijing’s growing role fostering economic growth in his country and the South Asian region.
“The vision of shared growth spelled out in Chinese President Xi Jinping’s Belt and Road initiative offers a solid path to prosperity and a model of South-South cooperation worthy of emulation,” he said.
“Pakistan’s economy has recorded a remarkable revival in the past four years. The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor will further contribute to our economic upsurge,” he said.
“This will expand exponentially as the Pakistan-China partnership extends beyond energy and transportation to many other sectors,” he said. “Pakistan’s integration into the Eurasian Belt and Road network will provide a firm foundation for Pakistan’s rapid economic development.”
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Tolo News: Afghanistan’s National Futsal Team beat Uzbekistan 4-2 in their third match in the fifth Asian Indoor Martial Arts Games in Ashgabat on Wednesday. Uzbekistan, a fierce opponent, had been listed as among the top two winners at last year’s games. Afghanistan will play the United Arab Emirates on Friday in the last of their group match. The Afghan squad has so far beaten China 6-1 and Maldives 6-1. Click here to read more (external link).
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Shahid Khaqan Abbasi
VOA News
September 21, 2017
ISLAMABAD — Pakistan has vowed to remain engaged with the United States in fighting regional terrorism and stabilizing Afghanistan, but said “any political or military” role for its archenemy India in the war-torn country will be unacceptable for Islamabad.
Pakistani Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi made the remarks late Wednesday during a public talk at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York.
While outlining his long-awaited “new strategy” for the Afghan war and South Asia last month, U.S. President Donald Trump advocated for a greater role for New Delhi in Afghanistan despite Islamabad’s long running objection.
“If they [India] want to do economic assistance, that’s their prerogative, but there’s no — we don’t accept or see any role politically or militarily for India in Afghanistan,” Abbasi asserted. “I think it will just complicate the situation and it will not resolve anything,” warned the Pakistani prime minister.
Islamabad alleges the Indian intelligence agency is partnering with Afghan security institutions to fund and plot terrorist attacks against Pakistan through fugitive anti-state militants.
Kabul and New Delhi deny the charges.
Abbasi-Pence meeting
Pakistani officials said Abbasi also raised his country’s objections over India’s proposed role in his talks with U.S. Vice President Mike Pence Tuesday on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly.
The meeting was the highest contact between Washington and Islamabad since Trump announced his “new strategy” in his August 21 speech. He accused Pakistan of harboring terrorists staging deadly attacks against American forces in Afghanistan despite receiving billions of U.S. dollars in financial assistance.
In a Twitter post after the meeting, Pence said he reiterated President Trump’s “belief” that “Pakistan has much to gain from partnering with our effort” in the region.”
While speaking at the Council, Prime Minister Abbasi repeated Pakistan’s resolve to promote a peaceful settlement to the Afghan conflict, saying Pakistani security forces have destroyed all sanctuaries on its soil that were allegedly being used to wage cross-border attacks.
“This perception that there are sanctuaries is absolutely not correct… We have destroyed the sanctuaries. And today the cross-border incursions, if they happen, are from Afghanistan into Pakistan to attack our forces,” Abbasi asserted.
Ghani calls for ‘comprehensive’ dialogue
Speaking separately at the Asia Society in New York hours earlier on Wednesday, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani suggested Pakistan was not doing enough to counter terrorism and prevent Taliban insurgents from using Pakistani sanctuaries to plot terrorism against his country.
Ghani reiterated his offer of a “comprehensive” dialogue to Pakistani leaders for resolving the differences and promoting peace. He praised President Trump’s policy for Islamabad to become a “responsible stakeholder” in the fight against terrorism.
The Afghan leader has been insisting on having a peace dialogue with Pakistan he believes will eventually end the Taliban insurgency in his country.
Pakistani leaders dismiss those assertions and maintain Kabul needs to initiate talks with insurgents under an “Afghan owned and Afghan-led” peace process and Islamabad will make all possible efforts to facilitate it.
Singling out Pakistan by Kabul and Washington for the Afghan crisis is an attempt, say officials in Islamabad, to divert attention from security and political “failures” in Afghanistan.
“It is a unique opportunity for the leadership of Pakistan to discuss with us the legacy of the past in a determination not to repeat the past but to overcome the past,” said the Afghan president.
“So, here is the opportunity. If Pakistan does not take this opportunity I think they will pay a hard price,” Ghani warned but did not elaborate.
US stance
President Trump also has warned that Washington will not remain silent if Islamabad does not move against the alleged terrorist sanctuaries.
Kabul says Islamabad supports the Islamist Taliban and its partner, the dreaded Haqqani network, in a bid to influence Afghan affairs to counter India’s growing role in the war-shattered country.
Afghan leaders, however, dismiss as unfounded Pakistani concerns about India’s growing ties with Afghanistan and maintain no one will be allowed to use their territory against any country.
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Ghani (left) and Trump (right)
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
September 20, 2017
Afghan President Ashraf Ghani has said he welcomes U.S. President Donald Trump’s renewed resolve to win the war against the Taliban and called his country “the front lines” in the global war against terrorism in a speech before the United Nations.
Speaking at the UN General Assembly on September 19, Ghani also appealed to neighboring Pakistan to engage in a “comprehensive state-to-state dialogue of peace, security, and regional cooperation leading to prosperity.”
“There are over 20 international terrorist groups with an imposed presence on Afghan soil. The future of Afghanistan matters because we are on the front lines of the global effort to eradicate the threat of terrorism,” he said.
“Though we may be on the front lines, the threat knows no boundaries. For terrorist groups who are harbored in the region, an attack in Kabul and an attack in Brussels, Paris, Barcelona, London, or anywhere else are equal victories,” he said.
“President Trump’s new strategy includes the disruption and denial of sanctuary to terrorists whose motives know no boundaries,” he said.
“We welcome this strategy, which has now set us on a pathway to certainty. The Afghan people have looked to the United States for this type of resolve for years,” Ghani said.
“The strategy consolidates all instruments of American power, conveying a message that the Taliban and their backers cannot win militarily. Only through political settlement can we achieve enduring peace,” he said.
Ghani called on the Taliban, Pakistan, and all other neighbors and parties to the conflict to join negotiations aimed at forging peace.
“The Afghan government has proven that we are committed to peace…as demonstrated by the peace agreement with Hezb-i Islami,” he said.
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Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
September 19, 2017
The Afghan Air Force (AAF) has received its first U.S.-made UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters as part of a planned replacement of its aging fleet of Russian-made helicopters.
“The first Afghan Air Force UH-60s arrived today at Kandahar Air Field” in southern Afghanistan, the NATO-led Resolute Support mission said in a statement posted on Facebook late on September 18.
“The AAF is transitioning from the Mi-17 to the UH-60 as part of recapitalization efforts to modernize the helicopter fleet,” it added.
Reports say the United States plans to supply as many as 159 refurbished Black Hawks to Afghanistan in the coming years to replace Afghanistan’s Soviet-era Mi-17s, whose age makes them increasingly difficult to maintain.
Bolstering the Afghan Air Force is a central part of President Ashraf Ghani’s four-year road map to improve the country’s security forces as the government is struggling to beat back insurgents in the wake of the exit of most NATO forces in 2014.
A U.S. report found earlier this year that the Taliban controls or contests control of about 40 percent of the country, and security forces are also fighting against militants affiliated with the extremist group Islamic State (IS).
More U.S. Troops On Way
Also on September 19, U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said most of the 3,000 additional troops the United States is deploying to Afghanistan are on their way.
Mattis told Pentagon reporters that he didn’t want to give precise numbers but said he was sending “over 3,000” troops to Afghanistan, where they will bolster the approximately 11,000 American forces already there.
“Most of them are on their way or under orders now, and I’d prefer not to give any more information that helps the enemy,” he added.
U.S. President Donald Trump last month announced a new Afghanistan strategy he said was aimed at defeating the Taliban after nearly 16 years of war.
Defense officials say the president’s new strategy for Afghanistan will try to repeat the success of U.S. efforts over the past two years to strengthen Iraqi security forces against the Islamic State group with better training, logistical support, and the battlefield backup of U.S. artillery, and air strikes on enemy positions.
The United States is also pressing for NATO partners to increase their own troop levels in Afghanistan.
With reporting by Reuters, AFP, dpa, and RFE/RL’s Radio Free Afghanistan
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James Mattis
VOA News / September 18, 2017
Defense Secretary Jim Mattis says the U.S. is sending another 3,000 troops to Afghanistan, an increase of over 25 percent in the number of American forces there.
Mattis told reporters Monday at the Pentagon that the boost in U.S. troop strength would be “over 3,000,” but he declined to name a specific number. “Frankly, I haven’t signed the last of the orders right now,” he said.
“Most of them are on their way or under orders now,” Mattis said, “and I’d prefer not to give any more information that helps the enemy.”
Top military brass at the Pentagon have been calling the current situation in Afghanistan a “stalemate,” and asking for more troops.
The new deployment will raise the number of U.S. forces in the South Asian country to over 14,000, as the 16th anniversary of war there approaches. American forces moved into Afghanistan to overthrow an administration led by the Taliban and members of the al-Qaida terror network in late 2001, following the attacks ordered by Osama bin Laden against New York and Washington on September 11 of that year.
The decision to send in more troops caps President Donald Trump’s change of heart on how to deal with the Afghanistan conflict, America’s longest war. Before his election last year, candidate Trump had routinely called for a full U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan.
In August, however, Trump said he was responding to military commanders’ requests for more troops, and establishing what he called a “conditions-based approach” to evaluating troop levels and military operations in Afghanistan.
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VOA News / September 18, 2017
Ayaz Gul
ISLAMABAD, PAKISTAN — Afghanistan’s branch of the Islamic State terrorist group has expanded its extremist activities to the country’s seven provinces, as opposed to only one province last year, a United Nations report revealed Monday.
While fighting over territorial control between Afghan forces and Taliban insurgents escalated in 2017, rise in attacks by Islamic State of Khorasan Province, or ISK-P fueled insecurity in the country, said a report by U.N. Office for the Humanitarian Affairs.
“Growing insecurity in Afghanistan is not only characterized by increased attacks on district centers, but also by a doubling of attacks attributable to … Islamic State of Khorasan to more than 230 in the first half of the year,” the agency noted.
It said until the first half of 2016, ISK was operating in the eastern Nagarhar provinces. U.S. and Afghan military officials, however, repeatedly have claimed that IS remains confined to few southern districts of Nangarhar and parts of the neighboring Kunar province.
They maintain that relentless counterterrorism ground and air operations have killed hundreds of fighters linked to the organization and reduced its territorial control in recent months.
OCHA also reported an escalation of fighting in Afghanistan that displaced more than 50,000 civilians in August, the largest monthly displacement in 2017.
The Taliban-led insurgents attacked or fought over control of at least eight district centers in seven Afghan provinces during the month, it said.
“The third week of August has been one of the most active in terms of armed clashes, according to security sources, and the whole month continued a trend of starkly intensified conflict across the country,” it added.
From January to end of July, anti-state armed groups had already attacked and taken control of more than a dozen district centers around Afghanistan, noted the U.N. humanitarian agency.
Afghan security forces have since retaken control of only two districts, Qala-e-Zal and Sangin in northern Kunduz and southern Helmand provinces respectively, often after heavy fighting that included the military deploying reinforcements and pounding enemy positions with airstrikes.
The intensification in Afghan fighting is evident from dropping of more 555 bombs by the U.S. military in August, the most in a single month. Most of them focused on Helmand and Nangarhar, a U.S. military spokesman told VOA last week.
The United Nations says Afghan civilian casualties have already spiked to record levels this year, calling on warring sides to ensure protection of civilians.
But hostilities are expected to escalate in the aftermath of President Donald Trump’s “new strategy” unveiled last month to break the stalemate with the Taliban in what has become the longest foreign military engagement in the U.S. history.
The strategy requires a modest increase in American troops and increased airpower for Afghan security forces struggling to halt Taliban battlefield advances.
“The recent decision by Donald Trump to surge additional troops to Afghanistan may also result in a more volatile landscape over the coming months,” cautioned OCHA.
The humanitarian agency said insecurity is likely to increase and further expand over the remainder of the year, adding no seasonal lull in fighting is anticipated as winter arrives later and is expected to be more mild.
The U.N. agency criticized Trump for not addressing the issue of civilian casualties caused by NATO airstrikes.
It noted the U.S. president “announced less political oversight over commanding airstrikes and increasing the leeway of military leaders, which increases the likelihood of airstrikes” on anti-government groups that affect civilians.
OCHA cited two airstrikes carried out by international forces on 28 and 30 August that, according to a U.N. probe, killed at least 28 civilians and injured 16, all women and children.
VOA News / September 18, 2017
Ayaz Gul
A suicide blast near one of Pakistan’s two main border crossings with Afghanistan has wounded at least 22 people, including several members of the security forces.
Monday evening’s attack prompted Pakistani authorities to swiftly suspended all traffic at the southwestern Chaman post.
Officials said personnel of the paramilitary Frontier Corps were heading to the border crossing when a suicide bomber ambushed their vehicle and blew himself up near a busy public spot.
Splinter group takes credit
A splinter Pakistani Taliban faction, Jamaatul Ahrar, quickly claimed responsibility for plotting the attack.
Pakistani authorities said body parts of a teenage boy have been retrieved from the site and investigators are trying to determine whether he was the bomber.
Islamabad alleges fugitives of the outlawed JuA extremist outfit use sanctuaries on Afghan soil to orchestrate terrorist attacks against Pakistan, accusing Kabul’s intelligence agency of supporting the activity.
Afghan officials deny the accusations.
Torkham crossing bombed last week
Last week, a bomb explosion at the busiest northwestern Torkham border crossing injured several Pakistani soldiers, prompting authorities to suspend all movement across the frontier for a couple of days.
Landlocked Afghanistan relies on the Chaman and Torkham crossings for transit and trade with Pakistan and other countries.
Military clashes between the two countries and militant attacks on Pakistani territory have led to repeated closures of the two crossings, inflicting heavy financial losses on trading activity, say Afghan traders.
Shahid Khaqan Abbasi
Tolo News: Pakistan’s new prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi has said the bombers behind a deadly truck bombing in the diplomatic zone of Kabul in May, which killed over 150 people, were likely to have come from Pakistan. In an interview with Financial Times, published Monday, Abbasi also admitted the limitations of its operations but said it was doing all it could to eliminate terror groups such as the Taliban and Haqqani Network. Click here to read more (external link).