Taliban Accused Of Killing Pregnant Female Police Officer

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Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
September 5, 2021

Taliban militants have been accused of killing a female police officer in the province of Ghor in central Afghanistan.

The woman was shot dead at the family home in front of relatives in Firozkoh, the capital of Ghor Province, her family told the BBC, saying that she was eight months pregnant.

Hassan Hakimi, a civil society activist from the province who resides abroad, told the German dpa news agency that the woman was killed in front of her husband and son.

“We were concerned about women who used to work for the police, at the safe house, and at the women’s affairs directorate,” Hakimi said, adding that “the Taliban has warned them many times.”

The Taliban denied any involvement in the killing.

Since taking back power after the fall of Kabul last month, Taliban leaders have said they would respect the rights of women within the framework of Islamic law.

But incidents of repression against women are being reported in the country.

During their 1996-2001 rule, also guided by Islamic Shari’a law, the Taliban stopped women from working. Girls were not allowed to go to school and women had to wear all-enveloping burqas to go out and then only when accompanied by a male relative.

Afghan women have held several protests for the past two days in Kabul and Herat, advocating for women’s rights and demanding equality, justice, and democracy.

On September 4, the Taliban forcibly broke up a demonstration by dozens of women in Kabul demanding equal rights.

Based on reporting by the BBC and dpa

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.

Top US general warns of civil war in Afghanistan amid clashes between Taliban and opposition

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Mark Milley

Press TV
September 5, 2021

A top US general has warned of a “civil war” in Afghanistan amid clashes between the Taliban and opposition forces in the Panjshir Valley north of Kabul.

The two groups battled on Saturday to control Panjshir which has been the only region to hold out against the Taliban following their takeover of Afghanistan.

The Taliban, which swept through the war-torn country ahead of the final withdrawal of US troops on August 31, could not control the valley when they ruled Afghanistan from 1996 to 2001.

Ahmad Masoud, the son of the late anti-Soviet Mujahideen commander Ahmad Shah Masoud, has established himself in Panjshir Valley, leading a several-thousand-strong force comprised of militias and remnants of the Afghan army and special forces units who are opposed to the Taliban.

Masoud has called for a negotiated settlement with the Taliban but has said his forces will resist if the narrow and mountainous valley is attacked.

Speaking to Fox News on Saturday, US Gen. Mark Milley, chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said, “My military estimate is, is that the conditions are likely to develop of a civil war. I don’t know if the Taliban is going to be able to consolidate power and establish governance.”

His remarks come as both sides claimed to have the upper hand in Panjshir but neither could produce conclusive evidence to prove it.

Nearly 600 Taliban fighters were killed in Panjshir, the resistance forces’ spokesperson Fahim Dashti tweeted, according to Sputnik News.

He also said the Taliban had problems with getting supplies from other Afghan provinces.

“About 600 Taliban terrorists have been liquidated in various districts of Panjshir since morning. More than 1,000 Taliban militants have been captured or surrendered themselves,” Dashti said.

Also, in a Facebook post, Massoud insisted Panjshir “continues to stand strongly.”

However, Emergency, an Italian medical aid organization, said Taliban forces had pushed further into the Panjshir Valley on Friday night, reaching the village of Anabah where the group has medical facilities.

“We have received a small number of wounded people at the Anabah Surgical Centre,” Emergency said in a statement, noting that many people fled in recent days.

Milley underscored the tenuous situation there, saying “I think there’s at least a very good probability of a broader civil war and that will then in turn lead to conditions that could, in fact, lead to a reconstitution of al-Qaeda or a growth of ISIS (Daesh) or other myriad of terrorist groups.”

The Taliban are poised to run Afghanistan again 20 years after they were removed from power by American invading forces.

The group took control of Afghanistan on August 15, forcing the US-allied Afghan president, Ashraf Ghani, to flee the country.

Taliban Claim Fresh Advances Against Afghan Opposition

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Ayaz Gul
VOA News
September 4, 2021

ISLAMABAD – The Taliban claimed Saturday that their forces had seized several districts in the northern Panjshir Valley, the last remaining province in Afghanistan holding out against the Islamist group.

Taliban officials said that overnight advances had brought several days of fighting to Anaba, an area close to the provincial capital, Bazarak.

Emergency, an Italy-based charity, confirmed the Taliban had reached Anaba. The nongovernmental organization, which runs a medical center in the area, said its facility had “received a small number of wounded people.”

The Taliban also released a video showing light mountain artillery guns and other weapons they said had been seized from the armed resistance.

The veracity of the footage could not be ascertained from independent sources.

Taliban officials blamed land mines placed on the road to Bazarak for their slow advances.

For its part, the opposition National Resistance Front (NRF) said Saturday that it had pushed back “enemy” attacks but acknowledged losing ground to the Taliban and said both sides had suffered casualties.

“Enemy was defeated in the Dalansang area,” tweeted Fahim Dashty, a spokesman for the NRF. “Experienced and new heroes of the resistance forces have been present on the frontline.”

The Panjshir Valley, home to the country’s Tajik ethnic minority and located north of the capital, Kabul, is surrounded by mountain peaks.

Afghanistan has 34 provinces and 33 of them were overrun by the Taliban last month in a stunningly swift military campaign that ended with their seizure of Kabul on August 15.

The fighting for the control of Panjshir broke out several days ago and since then both sides have been making inflated claims and counterclaims about their battlefield gains.

The anti-Taliban armed resistance comprises members of the U.S.-trained former Afghan security force and local tribal militias. It is being led by Ahmad Massoud. His father successfully defended Panjshir when the Taliban took control of most of Afghanistan from 1996 to 2001.

Massoud vowed in a Facebook post Saturday to resist and “stand strongly in the fight” against the Taliban.

The lack of control over all of Afghanistan has apparently discouraged the Taliban from announcing a new government.

On Saturday, small groups of female activists took to the streets in Kabul and in parts of western Afghanistan, demanding respect for their rights and representation in the new government.

Taliban fighters broke up a rally of about a dozen women in the capital to stop them from heading to the presidential palace.

Footage circulating on social media showed demonstrators confronted by armed Taliban fighters covering their mouths and coughing, with one woman saying the security guards had used tear gas to disperse the rally.

“They also hit women on the head with gun magazines, and the women became bloody,” said one of the demonstrators who identified herself as Soraya.

“Taliban blocking protest by beatings and tear gas: unfortunately this is pretty much on brand for a group that relies on brute force to suppress dissent,” tweeted Patria Gossman, associate Asia director for Human Rights Watch.

The Taliban imposed a brutal justice system and banned women from work and prevented older girls from receiving an education when the fundamentalist group had previously seized power in Afghanistan.

However, Taliban leaders have promised to install an inclusive government in Kabul that they say will allow women to work and receive education within the framework of Islamic law, or Shariah, but many Afghans doubt the reliability of their pledges.

“It will be an inclusive, strong central and sustainable system of government,” Bilal Karimi, a Taliban spokesman, told VOA on Friday.

The Taliban are under international scrutiny for delivery on pledges that their governance system will represent all Afghan ethnic groups and respect human rights, particularly those of women, unlike their previous exclusive hardline regime in Kabul.

Some information for this report came from Reuters.

Related

Fighting Continues Between Taliban and Resistance Forces

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Tolo News: Although no details have been released about the ongoing fighting between the Taliban and resistance forces in Panjshir since Friday night, Taliban officials said they have captured four districts in the province. Due to the cutoff telecom services in Panjshir, TOLOnews was unable to obtain comments from the Resistance Front about the fighting. Click here to read more (external link).

Relayed

Afghans fill stadium to watch cricket match

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Ariana: Thousands of cricket fans filled a stadium on Friday to watch the first cricket match be played in Kabul since the Taliban took control of the capital city on August 15. Click here to read more (external link).

Related

Taliban Militants Use Tear Gas, Fire Warning Shots As Women In Kabul Demand Equal Rights

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Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
September 4, 2021

Taliban militants used tear gas and fired warning gunshots into the air as dozens of women held a protest in central Kabul on September 4 to demand equal rights.

At least one woman suffered injuries in what was the second such demonstration in Kabul in as many days.

Video shared on social media showed a woman with blood trickling from a wound to her head.

Afghan women have held protests for the past two days in Taliban-controlled Kabul, advocating for women’s rights and demanding equality, justice, and democracy. A similar rally was held earlier this week in the western city of Herat.

On September 4, the activists staged a protest close to the Afghan presidential palace and held banners reading, “We are not women of the ’90s.”

Footage shared on social media showed over a dozen Afghan women being confronted by armed Taliban militants, triggering heated exchanges. Women could been seen coughing, indicating tear gas had been fired. Other women said they had been beaten.

The militant group claims that it will respect women’s rights according to their interpretation of Islamic teachings.

A senior Taliban leader, Sher Mohammad Abbass Stanekzai, told the BBC on August 31 that he did not think women would be appointed to senior posts in their government but said they would have a role.

The Taliban has said women will be able to continue their education and work outside the home, which was denied to them when the militants were last in power, but the Taliban has also vowed to impose Shari’a, or Islamic, law.

Meanwhile, a BBC correspondent reported coming across a beauty salon whose owner said he had been ordered to paint over the women’s faces displayed on its shop front.

With reporting by dpa

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

The Taliban raped and beat a gay man in Kabul after tricking him into a meeting with a promise of escape from Afghanistan, says report

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Taliban Militants in Kabul

Business Insider: The Taliban raped and beat a gay man after duping him into meeting them, a report from ITV says. The outlet said that Hanan, a pseudonym given to protect his identity, had been speaking to a man on social media who promised to help him find a safe way out of Afghanistan. Click here to read more (external link).

Fighting Continues Between Taliban, Resistance Forces

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Tolo News: Clashes between Taliban forces and the resistance front are ongoing with both sides claiming to have caused heavy casualties to the opposing side. The resistance front says the Taliban’s heavy attacks on Panjshir were pushed back and the Taliban forces suffered heavy casualties during the fighting. Click here to read more (external link).