Rumi
Ariana: Construction work to restore a teaching complex said to once be the home of 13th-century Sufi mystic and poet Rumi is due to commence this week in the northern Afghan city of Balkh, the country’s Ministry of Information and Culture has told The National. The government has long planned to rebuild the teaching complex that includes a mosque, a monastery, and a religious school, and is thought to be Rumi’s birthplace. Click here to read more (external link).
Ismail Khan
Tolo News: Mohammad Ismail Khan, a senior member of Jamiat-e-Islami party and a former mujahedeen leader, on Monday said the party congress that was held last week was “fake” and that the leaders of Jamiat who attended the event thought it was aimed at building a consensus among political parties around peace. The meeting was held by one faction of the Jamiat party, which is led by Ata Mohammad Noor. Khan said that regarding the recent rift between Salauddin Rabani and Ata Mohammad Noor, he supports neither of them and he warned against division within the party. Click here to read more (external link).
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Tolo News: The Ministry of Public Health on Monday reported 24 new positive cases of COVID-19 out of 1,006 samples tested in the last 24 hours. The ministry reported that the cumulative total of known COVID-19 cases is 56,177, the total number of reported deaths is 2,464, and the total number of recoveries is 49,743. Click here to read more (external link).
Tahir Khan
VOA News
March 21, 2021
ISLAMABAD – The Taliban claim they, not the U.S., originated the pending proposal for a three-month reduction in violence, or RIV, to “create a conducive atmosphere” for intra-Afghan peace negotiations, two Taliban officials told VOA Saturday.
“We have floated a plan under which all related sides will reduce violence. But this is not a cease-fire,” Taliban spokesman Mohammad Naeem said. He did not offer more details.
Another Taliban official said the proposal has been under discussion between the United States and the Taliban in Qatar for a while.
“Both sides even held further discussions during a recent meeting in Doha between the Taliban and the U.S. Special Representative for Afghanistan Reconciliation, Zalmay Khalilzad,” the Taliban official said on condition of anonymity.
Taliban officials, other than their official spokesmen, are not allowed to talk to media, so they only share information on condition of anonymity.
The idea first came to light earlier this month in a letter from U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken to Afghan President Ashraf Ghani. The letter was leaked to the media.
“We have prepared a revised proposal for a 90-day Reduction-in-Violence, which is intended to prevent a Spring Offensive by the Taliban and to coincide with our diplomatic efforts to support a political settlement between the parties,” Blinken said in the letter.
The Spring Offensive is when the Taliban renew their attacks after a lull during the harsh winters. In a conference on Afghanistan hosted by Russia in Moscow last week, the U.S., Russia, China, and Pakistan jointly called on the Taliban to forego the Spring Offensive this year.
Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid said Sunday they were considering the idea.
“There is still a month to go before the formal announcement of our Spring Offensive,” Mujahid said. “We are waiting to see the progress in the political process. But if negotiations [with Afghan government and others] do not progress, then we will decide in a month whether to launch the Offensive.”
Under pressure
The Taliban are under tremendous international pressure to reduce violence and declare a cease-fire. The U.S., NATO, and others have called the level of violence in Afghanistan unacceptably high.
However, the militant group has been hesitant to declare a cease-fire, claiming that the issue will be discussed during its negotiations with an Afghan government-sanctioned team, labeled the intra-Afghan negotiations.
A three-month RIV, if agreed to, would be a major confidence-building measure and the first in 20 years of war.
The Taliban previously declared a weeklong RIV before signing an agreement with the U.S. in Doha in February of last year, and a three-day ceasefire before that on the occasion of Muslim festival of Eid.
The Taliban official warned that the Taliban would have the right to react if the United States “violated” the Doha agreement and kept its troops in Afghanistan beyond the May 1 deadline set in the agreement.
“We have not killed a single American soldier since the Doha agreement was signed in the presence of representatives of many countries,” the official said. “If they violate the agreement, we will have the right to defend our people. Such a decision will also complicate the ongoing negotiations. The U.S. must keep in mind the sensitivity of the situation. The military option was used for 20 years and the U.S. must think before violating the agreement.”
US troops
Naeem also said all articles of the Doha agreement should be implemented, including the withdrawal of foreign troops, and the U.S. should leave Afghanistan in accordance with the agreement.
The Trump administration signed the deal, but President Joe Biden’s administration is reviewing it. Biden recently told U.S. broadcast network ABC it was “not a very solidly negotiated deal.”
However, Biden also supports the idea of bringing the troops home and has indicated that the U.S., even if it decides to stay beyond May 1, would not stay for too long.
The U.S. was forced to consider staying in Afghanistan beyond the negotiated deadline due to an increase in violence, lack of progress in peace negotiations between Taliban and Afghan government, and a wave of targeted assassinations of human rights activists, journalists, and government officials.
The Taliban and an Afghan government team started intra-Afghan negotiations in September but have not made much progress. The two sides have not agreed on an agenda for the negotiations.
The Taliban official claimed there had been “progress” in the Qatar negotiations that he said will resume within days as the delegates have returned from Moscow.
The official said the Taliban team in Moscow met the Afghan government team Friday and agreed to “accelerate” the talks in Qatar.
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Radio Free Afghanistan
March 21, 2021
U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin made an unannounced visit to Afghanistan on March 21 just weeks before Washington is due to withdraw the last of its troops under a deal struck with the Taliban last year.
President Joe Biden said last week in a television interview that it would be “tough” for Washington to meet a May 1 deadline to withdraw troops from Afghanistan, which was laid out in an agreement between former President Donald Trump’s administration and the Taliban on February 29 last year.
Biden said that, even if the deadline was extended, it wouldn’t be prolonged by a “lot longer.”
NBC News last week quoted two sources as saying that Biden was considering keeping U.S. troops in Afghanistan until November.
After talks with President Ashraf Ghani on March 21, Austin declined to comment on the deadline.
“That’s the domain of my boss,” he said.
“That’s the…decision that the President (Biden) will make at some point in time, in terms of how he wants to approach this going forward.”
The Taliban on March 19 warned of consequences if Washington doesn’t meet the deadline. Suhail Shaheen, a member of the Taliban negotiation team, told reporters that, if U.S. troops stay beyond May 1, “t will be a kind of violation of the agreement. That violation would not be from our side. . . Their violation will have a reaction.”
The Afghan government accuses the Taliban of doing too little to halt violence since intra-Afghan talks got going in September in Qatar.
An international conference on the way ahead in Afghanistan was held last week in Moscow with the participation of delegations from the United States, Russia, China, and Pakistan as well as representatives of the Afghan government and the Taliban.
In a joint statement issued by the U.S. State Department after the conclusion of the March 18 conference, the United States, Russia, China, and Pakistan called on Afghanistan’s warring sides to “engage immediately in discussions on fundamental issues to resolve the conflict.”
With reporting by AP, AFP, and TOLOnews
Alipoor (also known as Commander Shamsheer)
Tolo News: Who is Abdul Ghani Alipoor–also known as Commander Shamshir–and why has he established an illegal armed group in his province? Where did the rift between his militia and government forces begin? Alipoor is a commander in Behsud district of Maidan Wardak province, whose armed men–according to the Defense Ministry–shot down a government security forces helicopter around midnight on Thursday. Click here to read more (external link).
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A. Stanikzai
Ariana: Afghanistan’s cricket team skipper Asghar Afghan on Saturday beat MS Dhoni’s record to become the most successful T20I captain during the third T20I match against Zimbabwe in Abu Dhabi. Asghar overtook the former Indian captain with the most T20I wins as captain with his 42nd win. Click here to read more (external link).
Tolo News: The Ministry of Public Health on Sunday reported 50 new positive cases of COVID-19 out of 1,413 samples tested in the last 24 hours. The ministry reported that the cumulative total of known COVID-19 cases is 56,153, the total number of reported deaths is 2,464, and the total number of recoveries is 49,737. Click here to read more (external link).
Press TV: Nowruz is around once again, and we are only happy to see everyone happy around. We call upon Allah and his divine celestial realm, the angelic beings, the planetary guides and protectors, and the ascended ones to bless humankind and to be present here with us. We call upon the divine light of the Almighty Allah to shine in the places that need healing and to guide our way. Click here to read more (external link).
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