Bensouda
Ariana: The Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) Fatou Bensouda and her team met a high-level delegation from Afghanistan, including Foreign Minister Haneef Atmar, in a bid to achieve justice for the Afghan people by holding perpetrators of “atrocity crimes” accountable. Click here to read more (external link).
Tolo News: Kabul residents are accusing Da Afghanistan Breshna Sherkat (DABS) of discrimination and say the company is not distributing electricity fairly to its customers in the capital. Kabul residents said DABS is supplying electricity only to palace-dwellers, government officials, and powerful people, not for every home in the remote areas of the city, as witnessed for the last two days. Click here to read more (external link).
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
May 8, 2021
A blast near a school in the Afghan capital, Kabul, has killed at least 25 people and wounded more than 50 others, authorities said.
Interior Ministry spokesman Tariq Arian said that the blast occurred at 4.27 p.m. local time on May 8, outside Syed Al-Shahda school, in the Shi’ite-majority neighborhood of Dasht-e-Barchi, in west Kabul.
Most of the victims were young students, Arian said, adding that casualty figures were likely to rise. Some sources put the death toll at about 40.
A spokeswoman for the Education Ministry told Reuters that it is a joint high school for girls and boys, who study in three shifts, the second of which is for female students.
The wounded are mostly female students, she said.
Images shared on social media purportedly showed the aftermath of the explosion, with smoke rising above the neighborhood.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack. Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid denied the militant group’s involvement, and condemned the attack.
Shi’ite Muslim neighborhoods in Kabul have frequently been targeted by the Islamic State (IS) terrorist group.
A local IS affiliate was blamed for a vicious attack on a maternity hospital in the same area that killed pregnant women and newborn babies last year.
The European Union’s mission in Afghanistan condemned the latest attack as “a despicable act of terrorism.”
“Targeting primarily students in a girls’ school, makes this an attack on the future of Afghanistan,” it said on Twitter.
Based on reporting by Reuters, AP, AFP, dpa
Tolo News: The Ministry of Public Health Saturday reported 87 new positive cases of COVID-19 out of 908 samples tested in the last 24 hours. The ministry reported that the cumulative total of known COVID-19 cases is 61,842, the total number of reported deaths is 2,686, and the total number of recoveries is 54,040. Click here to read more (external link).
Ephedra sinica, known as Om, grows wild in Afghanistan. Afghan Ministry of the Interior
Business Insider: The US is leaving behind a flourishing, violent trade in heroin and crystal meth in Afghanistan. The Om weed, which contains the key ingredient for making meth, grows wild in the mountains. One in 10 Afghans are said to be involved in the drug trade, about as many as are said to be addicted. Afghanistan’s drug trade generates an estimated $35 million a month for the Taliban and drug gangs. Click here to read more (external link).
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
May 7, 2021
The Pentagon has deployed more heavy bombers and fighter jets to ensure the protection of the withdrawing U.S. and coalition troops from Afghanistan, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told reporters on May 6.
“Less than one week in, the drawdown is going according to plan,” Austin told reporters, adding that the international forces have sustained no direct attacks so far.
Pentagon Joint Chiefs Chairman Mark Milley said that to defend the departing troops, six B-52 long range bombers and 12 F-18 fighters have been ordered for contingency support.
Austin and Milley’s statements came as Taliban attacks on the government forces continued to escalate throughout Afghanistan amid the ongoing international pullout.
Milley said that while Taliban militants launch between 80 and 120 attacks every day against Afghan government targets, since the withdrawal began on May 1 “there have been no attacks against U.S. and coalition forces.”
President Joe Biden last month ordered the final withdrawal of 2,500 U.S. service members and 16,000 civilian contractors, almost two decades after the United States invaded Afghanistan to remove the Taliban from power and pursue Al-Qaeda following the September 11, 2001 attacks.
Biden set a deadline for the completion of the pullout on the anniversary of the attacks.
Although Washington will keep working closely with the Afghan security forces, the relationship will shift with the pullout, Austin and Milley told journalists.
Austin said America will continue to offer support through funding and military backing from U.S. bases and ships located hundreds of miles away — the so-called “over the horizon logistics.”
Milley said that despite concerns that the Taliban could topple the Kabul government following the international pullout, the collapse of the Afghan military should not be presumed.
“A lot of that is going to be dependent on the security conditions on the ground,” said Milley.
The Afghan Air Force depends heavily on foreign technicians who are included in the 16,000 contractors that are being pulled out.
“The intent is to keep the Afghan air force in the air, and to provide them with continued maintenance support,” Milley said.
On May 6 Taliban fighters captured Afghanistan’s second-biggest dam and two Afghan army bases.
Dahla Dam, also known as Arghandab Dam, is located in the Shah Wali Kot district of the southern province of Kandahar, some 40 kilometers north of the provincial capital, Kandahar City.
The dam, which provides irrigation to farmers via a network of canals as well as drinking water for Kandahar City, is now under Taliban control after months of fierce fighting in Kandahar, the militants’ former stronghold.
“We have seized the Dahla Dam in Arghandab,” Taliban spokesman Qari Yousuf Ahmadi told the media.
Haji Gulbuddin, governor of an adjacent district, confirmed the dam “is now in the control of the Taliban.”
Dahla Dam provides irrigation for about seven districts of Kandahar.
Local officials and the Taliban also said two government bases fell to the militants in the northern province of Baghlan.
The militants launched the attacks on the bases in the Baghlan-e-Markzai and Nahrin districts of the province late on May 5, the officials told TOLOnews.
The capture of the dam comes after heavy fighting erupted in the neighboring province of Helmand this week, prompting thousands of people to flee.
With reporting by AP, AFP, Reuters, dpa, and TOLOnews
Related
Tolo News: On Friday, the Ministry of Public Health reported 300 new positive cases of COVID-19 out of 2,300 samples tested in the last 24 hours. The ministry reported that the cumulative total of known COVID-19 cases is 61,755, the total number of reported deaths is 2,683, and the total number of recoveries is 54,019. Click here to read more (external link).
Radio Free Afghanistan
May 6, 2021
Taliban fighters have captured Afghanistan’s second-biggest dam and two Afghan Army bases, militants and officials said, as fighting escalates amid the ongoing pullout of U.S. and international forces from the war-wracked country.
Dahla Dam, also known as Arghandab Dam, is located in the Shah Wali Kot district of the southern province of Kandahar, some 40 kilometers north of the provincial capital, Kandahar City.
The dam, which provides irrigation to farmers via a network of canals as well as drinking water for Kandahar City, is now under Taliban control after months of fierce fighting in the militants’ former stronghold of Kandahar.
“We have seized the Dahla Dam in Arghandab,” Taliban spokesman Qari Yousuf Ahmadi told the media.
Haji Gulbuddin, governor of an adjacent district, confirmed the dam “is now in the control of the Taliban.”
“Our security forces … asked for reinforcements but they failed to get it,” he said.
The capture of the dam comes after heavy fighting erupted in the neighboring province of Helmand this week just days after the U.S. military formally began withdrawing its remaining troops from Afghanistan.
The militants last month blew up a bridge that connected the dam to adjacent districts.
Dahla Dam was built by American engineers almost 70 years ago to provide water for irrigating land in about seven districts of Kandahar.
In neighboring Helmand, thousands of people have fled their homes in the face of a large-scale Taliban offensive against the Afghan Army.
U.S. fighter jets have been providing air support for the Afghan forces despite the drawdown of foreign troops.
Although the United States did not meet a May 1 withdrawal deadline agreed in talks with the Taliban last year, it did begin to pull its forces on that date after President Joe Biden announced all troops will out by September 11.
The decision was criticized by some, who argue that the militants will try to sweep back into power.
Meanwhile, local officials and the Taliban said two government bases fell to the militants in the northern province of Baghlan.
The militants launched the attacks on the bases in the Baghlan-e-Markzai and Nahrin districts of the province late on May 5, the officials told TOLOnews.
“Four Taliban were killed, and six others were wounded,” unnamed Baghlan police officials said, adding that the government forces had been pushed back.
In a separate development, a former journalist was killed in Kandahar City on May 6, TOLOnews reported, quoting his relatives.
Nemat Rawan, a former TOLOnews journalist who had joined the media division of the Finance Ministry, was shot dead by two unidentified gunmen, his relatives confirmed.
Ghorzang Afridi, a security official at Kandahar police, confirmed the information.
“The attackers have also stolen his phone,” he said.
The number of targeted attacks against media workers has been on the rise in Afghanistan since the start of the year.
With reporting by AFP, AP, dpa, Reuters, and TOLOnews