El Pais: With the return of the Taliban regime to power – following the chaotic American withdrawal in the summer of 2021 – many archaeologists fear a return to the days of the Taliban’s iconoclastic fury. The Taliban are also known to use the lucrative antiquities trade to finance their crimes. Click here to read
PTI: Ashraf Ghani, the former Afghanistan President who fled the country when the Taliban grabbed power in Kabul, was “a total fraud” solely focused on his own desire to stay in power and a big hurdle in any peace talks, former US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has said. Click here to read more (external
ANI: Former United States Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Tuesday released his memoir titled “Never Give an Inch, Fighting for the America I Love”. In his memoir, Pompeo said that Afghanistan’s former president, Ashraf Ghani, and Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah “led cartels that stole millions of dollars in aid money from the United States.”
Aamaj: Former vice president, Amrullah Saleh, reacting to remarks of former United States Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, stated that Ghani wanted “real peace”, but the US hidden decision delivered Afghanistan to Pakistan. Saleh calling Pompeo as “impostor” blamed the US for the fall of Afghanistan. Saleh claimed that the US was preparing for a
Tolo News: Former US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said that Mohammad Ashraf Ghani stole the election just more effective than his competitor at stealing votes. Pompeo added that Ghani was never asked to step down from power. “He would think that I did, but I didn’t. I was incredibly frustrated with president Ghani, it
Ariana: Anas Haqqani, a senior member of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) [Taliban], condemning UK Prince Harry’s statement on killing people during his mission in Afghanistan, said that those who were killed were not “chess pieces” but they were humans. In his memoir, Spare, the Duke of Sussex has said that he killed 25
The Telegraph (UK): Prince Harry has disclosed that he killed 25 people in his role as an Apache helicopter pilot during his second tour of duty in Afghanistan. In his autobiography, Spare, the Duke of Sussex says he flew on six missions that resulted in “the taking of human lives”, something of which he says
US News and World Report: Afghan women have seen their rights disappear since the Taliban regained control of their country in August 2021. In August 2021, after 20 years of war, the United States withdrew its troops from Afghanistan. Following America’s exit, the Taliban – a predominantly Pashtun, Islamic fundamentalist group – quickly regained power
Michael Hughes: General Mirza Aslam Beg as a chief instructor at the National Defense College during the early 1980s allegedly first articulated Pakistan’s version of the military doctrine known as “strategic depth,” which posits Islamabad’s hegemony in Afghanistan as critical in case of war with India. Many in Rawalpindi felt the Taliban seizing Kabul (again) was crucial
FT: Ghafari is scathing about the 20 years of US intervention. “It was not a ‘war on terror’. It was war to produce more terrorism,” she says. “They [US forces] destroyed entire villages. And if you asked, they would say, ‘There was one or two Taliban.’” In Afghanistan’s perennial woes she sees the traces of