Jeff Seldin VOA News June 14, 2023 WASHINGTON — There is mounting, controversial evidence that Afghanistan is rapidly turning into a cauldron for terrorist activity, with both al-Qaida and the Islamic State terror group’s Afghan affiliate growing substantially, in numbers and capabilities, without U.S. or Western forces on the ground. The dire assessment, shared in a
8am: In the past week, suicide attacks claimed the lives of two senior Taliban commanders in Badakhshan province, resulting in the death of 14 people and injuries to 43 others, primarily civilians. These attacks have drawn condemnation from the United States, Iran, and the United Nations, who denounced the deliberate targeting of civilians during a
Ayaz Gul VOA News June 8, 2023 ISLAMABAD — A bomb blast ripped through a mosque in Afghanistan’s northeastern Badakhshan province during a memorial ceremony Thursday for the Taliban provincial deputy governor who was assassinated in an Islamic State group attack this week. The explosion in the provincial capital of Faizabad killed at least 11 worshipers
8am: Over the past two years, suicide attacks have claimed the lives of several Taliban officials. In the most recent incident, a suicide attack targeted and killed the acting governor and deputy governor of the Taliban in Badakhshan province. Similarly, Daud Muzamil, the Taliban governor of Balkh province, was previously killed by an ISIS suicide
Ayaz Gul VOA News June 6, 2023 ISLAMABAD — Taliban authorities in Afghanistan said Tuesday that a car bomb blast had killed at least two people, including the deputy governor of the northeastern Badakhshan border province. A local official spokesman told VOA by phone that Molvi Nisar Ahmad Ahmadi was being driven to work in the
Asia Times: The Taliban’s ability to lead remains questionable and instability has provided Islamic State the opportunity for expansion – On top of attracting more members to ISIS’ ranks, the Taliban fear ISIS will erase what little legitimacy they have as a governing force by keeping Afghanistan unstable. The Taliban’s leadership remains plagued by division
8am: Gulbuddin Hekmatyar has discussed a number of topics in his recent remarks concerning hadith books and particularly Sahih Bukhari. He asserted that those who are currently killing people in Afghanistan are adherents of Imam Bukhari and “Ahl al-Hadith”, which refers to the followers of Salafism. It appears that Hekmatyar is attempting to censure the
Ayaz Gul VOA News May 6, 2023 ISLAMABAD, PAKISTAN — Pakistan on Saturday hosted top diplomats from neighboring China and Taliban-ruled Afghanistan for a trilateral dialogue that seeks to promote regional security, trade, transit, and counterterrorism collaboration. Taliban Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi, who faces United Nations travel restrictions, was granted a waiver to attend the
The Diplomat: The situation in Afghanistan is beginning to feel eerily similar to the pre-9/11 era, with the Taliban in control of the country and reunited with al-Qaida and the Haqqani Network. Within Afghanistan’s borders, a witch’s brew of terrorist and insurgent groups is metastasizing. The Taliban are actively fighting against Islamic State militants, but
Jeff Seldin VOA News April 25, 2023 WASHINGTON — The leader of the Islamic State terror group cell that carried out the August 2021 bombing that killed 13 U.S. troops and about 170 Afghan civilians is dead, slain during recent clashes with Afghanistan’s ruling Taliban. U.S. officials, who initially confirmed the death to VOA on the