The American Conservative: To his credit, President Joe Biden decided to pull American troops out of Afghanistan by September. However, they aren’t out yet. And President Donald Trump’s struggle against his own staff and the military brass demonstrates the power of Washington, D.C.’s war lobby. If there is conflict anywhere in the world, the latter wants America in it. Click here to read more (external link).
Afghan Athletes Miss Tokyo Olympics Qualifying Matches
Tolo News: Afghanistan’s national taekwondo team missed the Asian qualifying matches for the Tokyo Olympics over positive tests of three members of the squad amidst their trip to Jordan this week. Their coach has also tested positive for COVID-19. Click here to read more (external link).
Afghanistan: 406 New Cases of COVID-19, 10 Deaths Reported
Tolo News: The Ministry of Public Health on Friday reported 406 new positive cases of COVID-19 out of 2,194 samples tested in the last 24 hours. The ministry reported that the cumulative total of known COVID-19 cases is 65,486, the total number of reported deaths is 2,792, and the total number of recoveries is 55,790. Click here to read more (external link).
Taliban Capture Eastern Afghan District
Ayaz Gul
VOA News
May 20, 2021
ISLAMABAD, PAKISTAN – Taliban insurgents have captured a district in eastern Afghanistan and negotiated a temporary truce with government forces in another, as U.S.-led foreign troops continue to withdraw from the country.
Separately, a roadside bomb blast early Thursday killed at least nine civilians, including women and children, in southern Helmand province.
Official sources and residents told VOA the Taliban entered the embattled Dawlat Shah district in Laghman province, after Afghan security forces retreated from their defense posts without offering any resistance.
The insurgents reportedly set a key government building and several surrounding security posts ablaze. The Afghan district had been under the Taliban siege for the last six months.
Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid claimed in a statement that it seized two tanks, a military vehicle, and “lots of weapons and ammunition” after Afghan police and soldiers “fled” the area.
The Afghan Defense Ministry said its forces had staged a “tactical retreat” but clashes were still raging in the area, inflicting “heavy casualties” on the insurgents.
Rare Truce
The fighting came a day after local elders in the adjacent Alishang district confirmed that Afghan forces and the Taliban had agreed to cease hostilities for a month to allow local farmers to harvest their wheat crops.
A copy of the truce, drafted by elders and shared via Taliban social media outlets, says it will also enable local students to take annual examinations. The ceasefire will last until June 21.
The rare truce followed several weeks of heavy fighting in Alishang, with the Taliban overrunning key Afghan forces’ outposts.
District residents have welcomed the rare ceasefire, though neither the Afghan government nor the insurgent group have confirmed the deal. The Taliban have also released an unspecified number of Afghan security personnel, said local elders.
Meanwhile, the Afghan Defense Ministry claimed Thursday national security forces had killed at least 178 Taliban fighters and wounded more than 100 others in operations underway across many provinces.
Both the Afghan adversaries often issue inflated casualty tolls for the opposing side, which are difficult to verify from independent sources.
‘Real Choice’ For Afghans
The fighting comes amid widespread concerns that Afghan forces will not be able to resist Taliban assaults for long once the United States and NATO forces completely pull out from Afghanistan by September 11.
The Afghan army and its air force have heavily relied on the U.S. for maintenance, training as well as for combat air support in battles against the Taliban.
Gen. Frank McKenzie, the commander of the U.S. Central Command said on Wednesday that he believes the Afghans have a “fighting chance” to be successful and defend themselves.
“It’s time for the Afghan military to stand up and show that they can fight alone,” McKenzie told reporters traveling with him to the Middle East. “I think it’s going to be a very taxing time for them. I think certainly there is a path for them to preserve what they have now. The risk is high. I don’t want to minimize that.”
However, U.S. special representative for Afghanistan reconciliation Zalmay Khalilzad dismissed those concerns in testimony before the House of Representatives Foreign Affairs committee in Washington.
“I personally believe that the statements that the [Afghan] forces will disintegrate and the Taliban will take over in short order are mistaken, Khalilzad said.
“The real choice that the Afghans will face is between a long war and a negotiated settlement and I hope the Taliban and the other Afghan leaders make the right choice,” stressed the U.S. envoy.
The last remaining approximately 2,500 American and roughly 7,000 NATO troops began withdrawing from Afghanistan May 1. The pullout has seen a sharp increase in Afghan fighting.
U.S. President Joe Biden announced the drawdown plan last month to wind down nearly 20 years of U.S. military engagement, describing it as America’s “forever war.”
More Security News
1TV Afghanistan Dari News – May 20, 2021
Cancer takes its toll on Afghans amid diagnostic, treatment challenges
Ariana: The Afghanistan Cancer Foundation (ACF) said on Thursday that 15,000 people in Afghanistan die of cancer in the country every year. The ACF said that a shortage of diagnostic centers, low capacity and food, drugs and insecurity all contribute to the increase in numbers. Click here to read more (external link).
COVID-19 Variant Circulating in All Afghan Provinces: MoPH
Tolo News: The Afghan Ministry of Public Health (MoPH) on Thursday said that a COVID-19 variant is now circulating in all provinces of the country, with 317 cases recorded in Afghanistan so far. According to the Ministry of Health, the COVID-19 variant was initially spotted in the country two months ago. Click here to read more (external link).
Related
U.S. Lawmakers Express Concerns Over Fate Of Afghan Allies With Taliban Return
Taliban negotiator Stankezai (left) and Zalmay Khalilzad (right)
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
May 19, 2021
U.S. lawmakers called for the thousands of allies in Afghanistan to be evacuated from the war-ravaged country before international troops pull out, fearing they could be “slaughtered by the Taliban.”
However, the top U.S. envoy to Afghanistan on May 18 played down the dangers to those who worked with the Americans and other coalition forces, saying there was no need to create “panic” over the planned withdrawal of international troops later this year as part of an agreement with the Taliban.
In April, U.S. President Joe Biden announced the withdrawal of remaining forces — about 2,500-3,500 U.S. troops and about 7,000 NATO troops — by September 11, 2021, after two decades of U.S. military presence in Afghanistan.
The Pentagon on May 18 said the withdrawal was about 13-20 percent complete and that five facilities had been handed over to the Afghan Defense Ministry, including the massive Kandahar Airfield in southern Afghanistan.
The pullout will be a major test for Afghan security forces, with U.S. generals and other officials expressing concerns that it could lead to the collapse of the Afghan government and a takeover by the Taliban.
Many of the estimated 18,000 Afghan interpreters, commandos, and others who worked with U.S. forces have applied for visas to emigrate to the United States — a process that lawmakers say could take more than two years to complete, possibly subjecting them to revenge attacks by the Taliban.
“It seems all but certain the Taliban will try to overrun the country and return it to a pre-9/11 state after we have withdrawn,” Representative Mike McCaul, the top Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, told a congressional hearing.
The vocal critic of the U.S. withdrawal added that the Taliban would likely deepen ties to terror groups such as Al-Qaeda.
McCaul displayed a message from a U.S. Special Forces soldier that relayed concerns over an Afghan colleague who feared the Taliban would kill him after the Western pullout.
“I’m concerned that his prediction — many predictions — will come through and these people will be slaughtered by the Taliban,” McCaul said.
McCaul urged that U.S. leaders consider keeping Afghan allies safe by airlifting those with pending visa applications to a nearby third country — perhaps Bahrain, Kuwait, or the United Arab Emirates — for processing.
“None of us want to see one of those individuals that worked with us have their head cut off on the Internet,” Republican Representative Brian Mast added.
Democrat Tom Malinowski also expressed fears over the fate of Afghan allies.
“We all hope for peace and we all wish the peacemakers success,” he said. “But our policy should be based on a realistic assessment of what might happen rather than magical thinking.”
Zalmay Khalilzad, the U.S. special envoy to Afghanistan, said the State Department would expedite visas, but he also cautioned against presuming “the inevitability of a worst-case outcome.”
“We don’t want to signal panic and the departure of all educated Afghans by worst-casing and undermining the morale of the Afghan security forces,” Khalilzad said.
“I personally believe that the statements that [Afghan] forces will disintegrate and the Talibs will take over in short order are mistaken,” he told lawmakers.
Khalilzad, who recently met with Taliban representatives in Qatar, said such fears are overblown, arguing that the group’s leadership has reason not to push for a military victory.
Instead, he argued, the Taliban would pursue a negotiated political settlement that could give the militant group international legitimacy and removal from certain American and United Nations sanctions.
“They say they seek normalcy in terms of relations — acceptability, removal from sanctions, not to remain a pariah,” Khalilzad said.
The Taliban seized power in Kabul in 1996. After the Taliban defied demands by President George W. Bush to hand over Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, U.S. forces in October 2001 invaded and drove out the extremist group.
Khalilzad led negotiations on the February 2020 power-sharing deal between the Kabul government and the Taliban.
With reporting by AFP and AP
Copyright (c) 2021. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave NW, Ste 400, Washington DC 20036
Related
1TV Afghanistan Dari News – May 19, 2021
MPs: ‘$8 Million Embezzled Daily’ at Customs
Tolo News: The Afghan acting minister of finance on Wednesday did not deny claims by lawmakers in Parliament who alleged that $8 million worth of revenue is being embezzled at customs on a daily basis, but he did say there are reports of corruption involving governors, police commanders, employees of the Ministry of Finance as well as ordinary citizens. Click here to read more (external link).