Istanbul Peace Talks On Afghanistan Postponed To After Ramadan

·

Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
April 20, 2021

Turkey says an international peace conference on Afghanistan previously scheduled for later this week has been postponed until after the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

The Istanbul talks were postponed until Ramadan celebrations end in mid-May over issues regarding the preparations, Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu told HaberTurk television on April 20.

Reuters quoted three sources as saying that the gathering was postponed over nonparticipation by the Taliban.

Afghan officials and Taliban representatives have not commented on the matter.

U.S. State Department spokesman Ned Price did not confirm the postponement but said broader diplomatic efforts will continue.

“We’ve always been clear, Istanbul was not a replacement for Doha,” he said, referring to the venue for stalled peace negotiations between the Afghan government and the Taliban.

The Washington-backed conference, hosted by Turkey, Qatar, and the United Nations, was previously scheduled for April 24 to fast-track an agreement between the Taliban and Afghan government with the aim of ending decades of war in the country.

But U.S. President Joe Biden last week announced the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan by September 11, four months later than the May 1 deadline agreed by the previous U.S. administration with the Taliban.

In response, the militant group announced they would not attend the high-level peace conference in Turkey.

Taliban assaults on foreign troops in Afghanistan have largely ceased since a peace deal was signed in the Qatari capital, Doha, in February 2020 by the Taliban and the administration of former U.S. President Donald Trump.

But attacks have continued against Afghan security forces and government personnel.

Under the Doha accord, all foreign forces were to leave Afghanistan by May 1 in exchange for security guarantees from the militant group such as severing ties with Al-Qaeda and refusing to harbor any foreign terrorists.

The Taliban also pledged to negotiate a cease-fire and a power-sharing deal with Kabul.

With reporting by AFP and Reuters

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

General Stresses U.S. Ability To Respond To Afghan Threats, Even After Troop Withdrawal

·

 

McKenzie (file photo)

Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
April 20, 2021

A top U.S. general says he has “grave doubts” about the Taliban’s reliability as the United States prepares to remove its troops from Afghanistan, but he stressed that the American military would still be able to observe the militant group and verify its actions after American troops leave.

Marine General Frank McKenzie, head of U.S. Central Command, also said on April 20 that the Taliban will be held accountable after the planned departure of U.S. and NATO forces later this year.

“If they want any form of future international recognition for Afghanistan…they’re going to have to keep the agreements that they’ve made,” McKenzie told the House Armed Services Committee.

McKenzie’s comments come a week after President Joe Biden announced that all U.S. troops will be withdrawn from Afghanistan by September 11, ending America’s longest war.

The withdrawal plan, which breaks a May 1 deadline for the pullout laid out in a U.S.-Taliban deal reached in February 2020, has raised concerns that the country could erupt in a civil war that would give Al-Qaeda an opportunity to rebuild and plan new attacks on U.S. and other targets.

When Biden announced the troop withdrawal, he said the United States would reorganize counterterrorism capabilities and keep substantial assets in the region to respond to any threats emerging from Afghanistan.

McKenzie was asked about those plans by several members of the committee, who indicated their skepticism over the United States’ ability to maintain focus on any such threats.

The general admitted it would be difficult but not impossible for U.S. forces to find and destroy the threats.

“I don’t want to put on rose-colored glasses and say it’s going to be easy to do,” McKenzie said, adding that if the United States must go back into Afghanistan because of a threat, it would require significant intelligence support.

The general said he would provide the defense secretary a plan for counterterrorism forces outside of Afghanistan by the end of the month.

Asked whether there were any agreements with countries around Afghanistan — Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan — to base forces on their soil, conduct lethal strikes, or carry out surveillance, McKenzie said: “At this time, we have none of those agreements in place.”

But McKenzie insisted that the United States will retain the ability to define and detect threats in Afghanistan and take action against them if necessary.

He stressed that the United States is “going to go to zero in Afghanistan,” including all contractors, but said the military will still have a variety of means to “be able to see into Afghanistan.”

He told lawmakers who asked about possible attacks on U.S. troops during that withdrawal that the forces are prepared for such attacks should they occur.

“We will defend ourselves,” he said. “We are ready for whatever they choose to do.”

With reporting by Reuters 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

Taliban caused $1 billion damage to infrastructure in one year: Ghani

·

Ashraf Ghani

1TV: Taliban militants have caused $1 billion damage to infrastructure in Afghanistan in one year, President Ashraf Ghani said on Tuesday. Ghani mentioned recent destruction of two major bridges in Arghandab district of Kandahar province as an instance of Taliban damaging infrastructure. Click here to read (external link).

At Least 12 Dead After Taliban Attacks In Northern, Western Afghanistan

·

Radio Free Afghanistan
April 20, 2021

At least 12 members of the Afghan security forces were killed in overnight attacks, officials said on April 20.

In the northern province of Badakhshan, at least eight police officers were killed and two wounded after militants attacked a checkpoint in Zebak district, according to member of provincial government Zakir Arian.

A police official confirmed the attack and the fact that there were casualties, but gave no numbers.

Militants also suffered casualties in the attack, sources told Tolo News.

In the western province of Herat, officials said at least two members of the security forces were killed and 15 were wounded in a suicide car-bomb attack on a police headquarters in the Ghoryan district.

A dozen civilians, including children, were among the wounded, the provincial government said in a statement. Four residential houses were destroyed and many others were damaged partially, the statement said.

In Kabul, an army officer and his driver were shot dead by unidentified shooters, police said.

The Taliban claimed responsibility for the car bombing and the checkpoint attack. Government officials also blamed the militant group.

U.S. President Joe Biden last week announced the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan by September 11, four months later than the May 1 deadline agreed by the previous U.S. administration with the Taliban.

In response, the Taliban announced they will not attend a high-level peace conference in Turkey scheduled for April 24.

Pakistan, Qatar, and Turkey are all exerting pressure on the Taliban to attend, according to media reports.

On April 19, Pakistan urged the Taliban to remain engaged in the Afghan peace process.

“They make their own decisions but we will do whatever we can to convince them that it is in their national interest to remain engaged,” Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said of the Taliban in an interview with Reuters in Abu Dhabi.

Experts have voiced concern that a devastating civil war could break out unless the government and the Taliban reach a political agreement before the complete withdrawal of international forces.

With reporting by dpa, Reuters, and TOLO News

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

Afghanistan: 176 New COVID-19 Cases, 7 Deaths Reported

·

Tolo News: The Ministry of Public Health on Tuesday reported 176 new positive cases of COVID-19 out of 2,159 samples tested in the last 24 hours. The ministry reported that the cumulative total of known COVID-19 cases is 58,213, the total number of reported deaths is 2,557, and the total number of recoveries is 52,272. Click here to read more (external link).

Related

Civil War in ‘No One’s Interest’ in Afghanistan: Blinken

·

Blinken

Tolo News: The US Secretary of State Antony Blinken in an interview with ABC news said that the civil war in Afghanistan is in “no one’s interest.”  “Ultimately, it is in no one’s interest in Afghanistan, whether it’s the Taliban or anyone else and certainly not the people of Afghanistan, for the country to descend once again into civil war, into a long war,” Blinken said.  “If the Taliban is going to participate in some fashion in governance, if it wants to be internationally recognized, if it doesn’t want to be a pariah, it’s going to have to engage in a political process,” he said. Click here to read more (external link).

Related