Ariana: Wahid Qatali, the governor of Herat, said on Monday that 70 trucks packed with commercial goods were looted during the devastating fire at Islam Qala land port over the weekend. According to the governor, Afghan commando forces found the empty vehicles in areas around the customs facility near the border crossing. Click here to read more (external link).
COVID-19 increased IS, al-Qaida threat in conflicts including Afghanistan: UN experts
ISIS trainees
1TV: The COVID-19 pandemic has increased the threat from the Islamic State and al-Qaida in conflict areas including Afghanistan, Syria and Iraq, UN experts said in a new report. The report to the UN Security Council said that the threat continued to rise in conflict zones in the last half of 2020 because “the pandemic inhibited forces of law and order more than terrorists” who were able to move and gather freely despite COVID-19 restrictions. Click here to read more (external link).
Hekmatyar warns of surrounding Afghan presidential palace
Hekmatyar (left) and Ghani (right)
1TV: Hizb-i-Islami leader Gulbduddin Hekmatyar on Sunday warned that his followers will surround the presidential palace and force end of existing rule if the government doesn’t implement their deal. Speaking in a ceremony to mark Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan, Hekmatyar said that thousands of Hizb-i-Islami prisoners are still in government prisons and its supporters have not been given jobs and shelters promised. Click here to read more (external link).
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Hekmatyar Blames Afghan Govt, US for Talks Stalemate
Gulbuddin Hekmatyar
Tolo News: Hizb-e-Islami leader Gulbuddin Hekmatyar at an event on Sunday blamed the Afghan government and the US for the deadlock in the Doha negotiations, saying that the United States has “failed” in its fight against the Taliban while calling the incumbent government “occupied.” Click here to read more (external link).
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Ghani: Soviet Lack of Plan, Not Pullout, Led to Civil War
Ashraf Ghani
Tolo News: President Ashraf Ghani on Sunday said that the withdrawal of Soviet troops from Afghanistan was not the cause of the civil war; instead, he said, there wasn’t a plan for the country in the Soviet exit plan. Afghan leaders, said Ghani, believe this lack of planning led the country into a civil war. Click here to read more (external link).
Tolo News in Dari – February 14, 2021
Herat Fire Costs ‘100s of Millions of Dollars’ to Investors
Tolo News: The massive fire at the border town of Islam Qala, 120 kilometers west of Herat city, has inflicted hundreds of millions of dollars in financial damage to investors who kept their goods parked at the area and distributed them to other parts of the country once they were cleared through customs. Click here to read more (external link).
22 New Cases of COVID-19 Reported in Afghanistan
Tolo News: The Ministry of Public Health on Sunday reported 22 new positive cases of COVID-19 out of 1,814 samples tested in the last 24 hours. The ministry says the cumulative total of known COVID-19 cases is 55,514, the total number of reported deaths is 2,427, and the total number of recoveries is 48,395. Click here to read more (external link).
The Killing Field
Al Jazeera: They are Australia’s elite special forces. For more than 10 years, they were on the front lines of the war in Afghanistan. But explosive revelations expose a series of killings by some of these highly trained soldiers. In this revealing programme, a special forces operative who was on these covert missions speaks out about what he saw. What he has to say will shock and appal. In an investigation that was months in the making, drawing upon sources in Australia and Afghanistan, 101 East exposes a culture of impunity and cover-up among members of Australia’s special forces.
Five Police Officers Killed, 12 Wounded In Afghanistan Attacks, Officials Say
By Radio Free Afghanistan
February 13, 2021
At least five policemen have been killed and 12 wounded in two attacks in Afghanistan, officials said on February 13.
A Taliban suicide attacker detonated a car bomb near a security checkpoint in Afghanistan’s southern Kandahar province on February 13, wounding 12 policemen, the Interior Ministry said.
Ministry spokesman Tariq Arian said the attacker was identified and targeted before he could reach the checkpoint located in Kandahar’s Arghandab district.
Five policemen were killed in a separate overnight attack in the Chapa Dara district of the eastern province of Kunar, provincial council member Mohammad Sapai said.
The attacks came amid a sharp increase in violence across Afghanistan despite the ongoing efforts for peace between the Western-backed government in Kabul and the Taliban.
Meanwhile, the Defense Ministry said that 30 Taliban militants were killed when a device exploded off during a bomb-making training session in Afghanistan’s northern Balkh Province — a report disputed by a Taliban spokesman.
According to the ministry, six of those killed in the explosion at a mosque in the Dawlat Abad district were foreign nationals.
Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid confirmed the explosion but said that it had occurred in an empty room and caused no casualties.
Car bombs and roadside bombs are the Taliban’s weapons of choice.
Separately, Afghan officials reported that a gas tanker exploded on February 13 at a customs post in Afghanistan on the Iranian border.
Officials were assessing the damage caused by the massive fire, but there were no immediate reports of casualties. The cause of the blast was not immediately known.
Iranian media quoted an Iranian customs spokesman in the northeastern province of Khorasan as saying the blast had occurred around noon at the Islam Qala border customs post in Afghanistan.
With reporting by dpa, AP, Reuters, AFP, and Tolonews.com