Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty August 27, 2020 The U.S. State Department has offered up to $5 million in rewards for information that helps locate and free two Americans kidnapped in Afghanistan. Paul Overby, 77, disappeared in 2014 in Khost near the border with Pakistan while researching a book on the Afghan people and it appeared
Ariana: United States intelligence agencies found that Iran paid Taliban fighters bounties to kill American and coalition troops in Afghanistan, CNN reported Monday afternoon. According to CNN a Pentagon briefing document, reviewed by news organization, stated bounties were paid by a foreign government to Haqqani network, which is led by the second highest-ranking Taliban leader.
Ariana: Masoud Andarabi, the acting minister of interior, said Monday night that Shahab al-Muhajir, the newly appointed leader of Daesh in Afghanistan, was in fact a member of the Haqqani Network. Commenting on Twitter, Andarabi said: “Haqqani and the Taliban carry out their terrorism on a daily basis across Afg and when their terrorist activities
1TV: Sediq Patman, who was recently appointed by President Ashraf Ghani as the governor of Afghanistan’s eastern Khost province, has called Jalaluddin Haqqani, founder of the militant Haqqani network, as a great hero. Click here to read more (external link).
1TV: According to the report, al Qaeda leadership maintains close contact with the Haqqani Network. In February this year, al-Zawahiri met with Yahya Haqqani, the primary Haqqani Network contact with Al-Qaida since mid-2009, to discuss ongoing cooperation. Click here to read more (external link).
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty July 10, 2020 Top Pentagon officials have said that the United States will respond if the U.S. military is able to corroborate reports that Russia paid militants linked to the Taliban to kill U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan. General Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the information thus
Michael Hughes: Today’s headlines about the ongoing U.S. exit from Afghanistan eerily resemble those published more than 30 years ago vis-à-vis the Soviet withdrawal, especially with respect to the infighting among the anti-government elements who had the most to gain by the expulsion of a foreign invader. The Peshawar 7 mujahideen factions never really operated
Atlantic Council: The COVID-19 pandemic is transforming international relations not just by straining relations among powerful states, but also by disrupting violent nonstate actors. Perhaps no major militant outfit has felt the impact as much as the Taliban. The group’s leader, Hibatullah Akhundzada, is either seriously ill with the virus or possibly dead. Sirajuddin Haqqani,
The National Interest: First and foremost… Pakistan should no longer allow its soil to be used as a safe-haven for Taliban leaders. After the September 11, 2001, terror attacks, the late Mulla Omar, founder of the Taliban, lived in Quetta and headed the so-called Quetta Shura. The Peshawar Shura has long supported the Haqqani Network,
Michael Hughes: Pentagon officials have said the Taliban are not meeting key conditions of the withdrawal pact it signed with the United States nearly four months ago. Meanwhile, a recent UN report revealed that the insurgent movement is still in bed with al-Qaeda, violating – at least in spirit – one of the key promises