2 US Service Members Killed in Afghanistan

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usa_flagBy Carla Babb
VOA News
August 21, 2019

Two U.S. service members were “killed in action” Wednesday in Afghanistan, the U.S. military said, as talks between the U.S. and the Taliban were set to resume in Qatar.

U.S. officials confirmed this was an active combat situation but would not say which enemy the U.S. troops were fighting. An official with the Resolute Support Mission in Afghanistan told VOA an investigation was continuing.

The identities of the two service members were not released, pending notification of their next of kin.

The Trump administration and the Taliban have been negotiating to find a way out of the United States’ longest war.

U.S. President Donald Trump shared details of the meetings with reporters on Sunday as he headed back to the White House from New Jersey, suggesting a U.S. troop drawdown plan was still in the works.

“We’re having very good discussions [with the Taliban]. We will see what happens. We’ve really got it down to probably 13,000 people [troops], and we’ll be bringing it down a little bit more and then we will decide whether or not we will be staying longer or not,” he said.

The U.S. plans to leave behind a “very significant intelligence” force, Trump stressed, for operations against the Islamic State group and al-Qaida, maintaining that Afghanistan remained “a breeding ground” for terrorists.

Ghani Inaugurates Darulaman Palace After Its Renovation

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Tolo News: President Ashraf Ghani at a ceremony on Wednesday evening inaugurated Darulaman Palace after its renovation which took almost four years. A big number of government officials, activists, politicians and members of the public attended the inauguration ceremony. The renovation of the palace began on May 2016 and was estimated $16.5 million funded by government’s budget. The palace was built in the early 1920s during King Amanullah’s reign. Click here to read more (external link).

Death Toll From Afghan Wedding Attack Rises To 80

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By RFE/RL’s Radio Free Afghanistan
August 21, 2019

The death toll from a suicide bomb attack on a wedding party in Kabul last week has risen to 80, two senior Afghan officials said on August 21.

The initial death toll after the August 17 explosion was 63, but some of the wounded had died in hospital, said Nasrat Rahimi, an Interior Ministry spokesman.

“Seventeen others have succumbed to their injuries in hospital and over 160 are still being treated either in hospitals or at home,” Rahimi said.

The Islamic State (IS) militant group claimed responsibility for the attack on a huge wedding reception at a hotel in western Kabul.

The attack was the 17th to take place in Kabul since the beginning of the year and the second deadliest one in August alone.

At least 193 people have died and nearly 900 others have been injured in the attacks.

The attack came with Washington and the Taliban reportedly nearing a deal to end the nearly 18-year war

With reporting by Reuters and dpa

Copyright (c) 2019. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave NW, Ste 400, Washington DC 20036.

Trump: Deal with Taliban on US Troop Withdrawal Might Not Be Acceptable

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Donald Trump

Donald Trump

By Steve Herman
VOA News
August 20, 2019

Nike Ching and Ayaz Gul contributed to this report.

WHITE HOUSE — “Good discussions” are under way about Afghanistan, including between the United States and the Taliban, President Donald Trump said Tuesday. But he cautioned a U.S. troop withdrawal agreement might not be realized.

“I don’t know whether or not the plan is going to be acceptable to me, and maybe it’s not going to be acceptable to them,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office alongside Romanian President Klaus Iohannis.

Trump made his remarks shortly after the State Department announced that its special envoy for Afghanistan, Zalmay Khalizad, is traveling to Doha on Tuesday to resume talks with the Taliban on a peace agreement aimed at ending the 18-year conflict in the country.

Khalizad will also travel to Kabul to “consult with the leadership of the Afghan government on the peace process and encourage full preparation for intra-Afghan negotiations,” according to the State Department.

“At a certain point, you have to say that’s long enough,” Trump said of the 18 years of American military involvement in Afghanistan following the al-Qaida terrorist attacks on the United States on Sept. 11, 2001.

Sticking points

The Taliban has been in talks with the U.S. on a timetable for the withdrawal of American and NATO forces from Afghanistan. Unless that happens, the insurgent group maintains it will not engage in much-sought intra-Afghan negotiations to discuss a permanent cease-fire and issues related to future political governance.

In exchange for a foreign troop withdrawal, the Taliban will be tasked with preventing transnational terrorists from using insurgent-controlled Afghan territory for international terrorism.

Taliban and U.S. negotiators in recent days have repeatedly asserted they are ready to sign a deal.

The two sides are said to be working out the details.

“The Taliban would like to stop fighting us,” said Trump on Tuesday. “They’ve lost a lot.”

The U.S. president said Moscow’s failure to win a war in the Asian country led to “the Soviet Union becoming Russia because of Afghanistan.”

U.S. monitoring

Asked by a reporter if the Taliban can be trusted, Trump replied, “Nobody can be trusted,” describing Afghanistan as “the Harvard University of terrorism.”

Trump said the United States will always have intelligence assets and personnel on the ground to prevent Afghanistan from returning to its pre-9/11 status when the country was run by the Taliban.

Trump again reasserted he could quickly vanquish terrorist elements in the country with a campaign of intensive but non-nuclear bombing. But “I’m not looking to kill 10 million Afghans,” he said.

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Abdullah questions Ghani on release of Ferozi

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Ghani (left) and Abdulllah (right) - File photo

Ghani (left) and Abdulllah (right) – File photo

1TV: Afghan Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah on Tuesday questioned President Ashraf Ghani over the release of Khalilullah Ferozi, a former bank manager convicted of multimillion-dollar fraud. Addressing his supporters at an election campaign gathering in Kabul, Abdullah criticized the release of Delawar Khan, a former Senate adviser who was arrested over links with militants. Abdullah suggested that such moves are part of election campaigning. Click here to read more (external link).

As Taliban Talk Peace, ISIS Is Ready to Play the Spoiler in Afghanistan

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isis_khorasan

The New York Times: Even as the United States and the Taliban seem close to a deal on an American troop withdrawal, the Islamic State in Afghanistan is making clear that it stands to inherit the role of violent spoiler if any peace agreement is reached. That message was punctuated on Saturday by a suicide bomber who killed 63 wedding celebrants in Kabul, mostly from the country’s Shiite minority, in an attack that the Islamic State attributed to one of its loyalists from Pakistan. Click here to read more (external link).

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Tourists rush to Afghanistan’s scenic national park

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Amin Alemi
Press TV, Bamyan
August 20, 2019

It seems to be like a dream to spend days in the nature for picnic in one of the world’s most dangerous countries, Afghanistan. But here in the central part of the country, people enjoy the beauties of one of the UNESCO world’s heritage sites in a peaceful atmosphere.

Here is Band-e-Amir . The first Afghan national park, located in central Bamiyan province of Afghanistan.

This amazing area is a complex of six natural lakes and thousands of people from across Afghanistan get to this area to enjoy their holidays, especially during summer season.

Options to enjoy in Band-e-Amir are numerous. Pedal boats inside the main lake known as Band-e-Haibat give you a better view of the area.

Some like this friendly group choose lake-sides to sit and cook. The view of the clear and cold water of Band-e- Amir tempts every tourist to swim.

Band-e Amir was recognized as Afghanistan’s first national park back in 2009. As official figures show, over 100,000 tourists have visited the site in the second week of August alone.