‘Known Knowns’: Rummy’s Follies in Afghanistan

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Rumsfeld (center) with current Defense Secretary Austin (left) and Zalmay Khalilzad (right)

Michael Hughes: On the very same day then-President George W. Bush delivered his “Mission-Accomplished-in-Iraq” speech, his Defense Secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, declared that major U.S. combat operations in Afghanistan had “clearly” moved into stabilization mode.

“The bulk of this country today is permissive, it’s secure,” Rumsfeld told reporters during a visit to Kabul on May 1, 2003.

The Taliban, as we all know, would resurge in less than two years. Today, almost two decades after the post-9/11 takedown, the insurgents are well-positioned to take over the country with the U.S. military nearly fully extracted, a defeated giant. Now, all major U.S. combat operations are over – but for much different reasons than Rumsfeld could fathom.

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Afghan civilians take up arms against Taliban as foreign troops depart

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The Guardian (UK): Haji Ghoulam Farouq Siawshani watched the Taliban rampage across northern Afghanistan this month, weighing up the threat from militants on his doorstep. Then, 10 days ago, the former oil trader turned militia commander issued a call to arms. “Where the Taliban go, they bring destruction, and they are one kilometre away from my village,” he told the Guardian. “We decided to respond.” Click here to read more (external link).

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Researchers uncover effort by Chinese-speaking hackers to target Afghan government

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The Hill: Chinese-speaking hackers recently targeted the top tiers of the Afghan government, along with the governments of other nearby nations, research published Thursday found. According to findings from cybersecurity group Check Point Research, a hacking group known as “IndigoZebra” is involved in an ongoing espionage effort against the Afghan government through the use of malicious phishing emails. Click here to read more (external link).

Imran Khan tells lawmakers Pakistan has no leverage over Taliban

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Imran Khan

Ariana: Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan said on Wednesday that Pakistan has no leverage over the Taliban group in Afghanistan. “Now that US is leaving they are asking Pakistan to bring the Taliban to the talks tables but we have no leverage over them (Taliban), except a few of their families live here; can we arrest their [Taliban] families and put them in jail?” Khan said. Click here to read more (external link).

Mortar Hits Residence of Atta Noor, Ex-Balkh Governor

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Atta Mohammad Noor

Tolo News: A mortar round landed inside the residence of Atta Mohammad Noor, the former governor of Balkh province this evening, wounding at least two people, said MP Sayed Zahir Masroor.  “The mortar landed while Noor was in a meeting with political leaders, provincial council members and security officials to review the security situation of the province,” he said. Click here to read more (external link).

Football: Afghans to Play Iran First in U-17 CAFA Championship

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Tolo News: Afghanistan’s U-17 national football team on Wednesday left Kabul for Dushanbe, Tajikistan for the Central Asian Football Association (CAFA) Championship, Afghanistan’s Football Federation (AFF) announced.  Afghans will face Iran in their first match of the competition on Friday.  The tournament started in Dushanbe on June 30 and will end on July 9. Click here to read more (external link).

COVID-19: 1,940 New Cases, 86 Deaths Reported in Afghanistan

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Tolo News: On Thursday, the Ministry of Public Health reported 1,940 new positive cases of COVID-19 out of 5,506 samples tested in the last 24 hours.  The number of total recorded cases is 122,156 and total deaths is 5,048, according to figures by the Public Health Ministry. Click here to read more (external link).

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US Vows to Speed Up Visa Processing for Afghans who Helped Americans

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Nike Ching
VOA News
July 1, 2021

WASHINGTON – The United States on Wednesday reaffirmed ongoing support to relocate tens of thousands of Afghans who helped American forces during the nearly two-decade war in Afghanistan.

“We’ve identified a group of SIV (Special Immigrant Visa) applicants who served as interpreters and translators, as well as other individuals who have assisted us and that are at risk. They and their families would have the options to be relocated outside of Afghanistan before we complete our military drawdown by September, in order to complete their Special Immigrant Visa processing,” State Department deputy spokesperson Jalina Porter told VOA during a Wednesday phone briefing.

The deputy spokesperson declined to elaborate which third country would provide temporary relocation for Afghan SIV applicants. “Due to security constraints, we will be limited in how much we can share in terms of numbers, locations and timing of these operations,” Porter said.

The Afghan Special Immigrant Visa (SIV) program was created by the U.S. Congress in 2009 to provide safety for Afghan interpreters, contractors, security personnel and others affiliated with U.S. troops and missions.

At the White House, spokesperson Jen Psaki told reporters Wednesday that the U.S. is “expediting that processing” and taking steps to evaluate options “for moving individuals to another location so that they could complete” the visa process.

There are approximately 18,000 Afghan SIV applicants waiting for approval to come to the U.S.

U.S. officials’ comments came after the U.S. House of Representatives passed a proposal Tuesday that would temporarily waive the requirement for SIV applicants to undergo a medical examination while in Afghanistan. They would be allowed to do so after entering U.S. soil.

The medical examination requirement has been cited as one of the reasons for serious delay in the visa process because there is currently only one facility in Kabul that conducts all immigrant visa examinations, forcing applicants to travel to Kabul in often dangerous circumstances.

The House legislation will now go to the Senate.

The SIV process involves more than a dozen steps and a role for the Departments of State and Homeland Security.

There are approximately 18,000 Afghan principal applicants at some stage of the SIV application process. As of May, approximately 50% of these applicants are at an initial stage of the process, pending applicant action, according to a State Department spokesperson.

In other words, approximately 9,000 of these applicants need to take action before the U.S. government can begin processing their case. Approximately 30% of applications are awaiting a decision at the Chief of Mission stage. The final 20% were approved by the Chief of Mission and are moving through the immigration process, either in the petition or visa processing stages.

Some critics said the SIV program has been “plagued by backlogs for more than a decade.”

The International Rescue Committee (IRC), an organization that has resettled more than 15,000 Afghan SIV recipients since the U.S. Congress established the program, said it would take an Afghan applicant two to three years or more to reach safety in the U.S.

IRC said in a statement that the U.S. government needs to develop an efficient adjudication process “that addresses the longstanding challenges in SIV processing that have resulted in years-long backlogs.”

In April, U.S. President Joe Biden ordered the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan by September 11, the 20th anniversary of the al-Qaida attacks on the U.S., despite the growing threat by Taliban rebels to seize power.

Since May, Taliban rebels have escalated attacks and seized dozens of districts in the Afghan countryside, sparking concerns the insurgents could gain control of Kabul as it did in 1996.

Khan: Pakistan Can Never Again Be US Partner in War

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Imran Khan

Ayaz Gul
VOA News
June 30, 2021

ISLAMABAD – Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan on Wednesday denounced as “idiocy” his country’s past policy of becoming a “front-line state” in the U.S.-led war against terrorism in Afghanistan, blaming the policy for the persistent security and economic challenges facing Islamabad.

“We can be, and will always remain, partners in peace with America. We can never be partners in conflict anymore,” Khan told Parliament in a statement.

Khan again ruled out the possibility of providing Pakistani bases to the U.S. military for counterterrorism strikes in Afghanistan following the planned withdrawal of U.S. troops from the neighboring country after nearly two decades.

The prime minister recounted that Pakistan’s decision to join the U.S. war triggered a militant backlash in his country in which 70,000 Pakistanis were killed in suicide bombings and other terror attacks, and losses of around $150 billion were inflicted on the fragile national economy.

Instead of appreciating the sacrifices, Khan lamented, Washington called Islamabad a “hypocrite” and questioned Pakistan’s integrity.

Pakistan’s historically roller-coaster relations with the U.S. have remained under scrutiny since U.S.-led foreign forces invaded Afghanistan almost 20 years ago.

The punitive military action ousted the Islamist Taliban from power in Kabul for harboring al-Qaida leaders, whom Washington says planned the September 11, 2001, terror attacks on U.S. cities that killed around 3,000 people.

Support for Taliban alleged

Washington has consistently complained that despite receiving billions of dollars in U.S. assistance to facilitate the military mission in Afghanistan, the Pakistani spy agency covertly supported and provided sanctuary to the Taliban.

The support is believed to have enabled the Taliban to organize a deadly insurgency against coalition forces in Afghanistan and regain control over swaths of Afghan territory, effectively stalemating the war. Pakistan consistently denied providing military or any other support for the Taliban.

U.S. drones also routinely struck suspected militant targets on the Pakistani side of the long, porous Afghan border, attacks that allegedly had the tacit approval of the then-government in Islamabad.

Washington has lately praised Pakistan for facilitating its peace talks with the Taliban. The dialogue culminated in the February 2020 landmark deal that paved the way for all U.S. and coalition troops to leave Afghanistan and close the longest war in American history.

The military drawdown formally began on May 1 and is expected to largely conclude in the coming weeks, well ahead of the September 11 deadline set by U.S. President Joe Biden.

In exchange, the Taliban halted attacks on international forces and began peace talks with representatives of the U.S.-backed Afghan government. But the negotiations, being hosted by Qatar, have since stalled, with Afghan adversaries blaming each other for the deadlock.

Speaking Wednesday, Khan criticized Biden’s unexpectedly fast-paced troop withdrawal and its request that Pakistan use its leverage to push the Taliban to the negotiating table to find a political settlement to the war.

The prime minister said Islamabad had been urging the Taliban to desist from a military takeover of Afghanistan and cautioning them that such a move would only prolong the civil war and cause more devastation.

Pressure on families?

Khan explained the only leverage his country could use with the Taliban is that their families reside in Pakistan.

“Should their families be arrested and imprisoned? What else [does the U.S.] expect … Pakistan to do?” he asked.

Khan also suggested Pakistan lost that leverage once the U.S. announced the date of its withdrawal from Afghanistan.

Analysts, and even members of the U.S. Congress, have also been critical of Biden’s troop-exit decision, saying it has emboldened the Taliban to intensify their battlefield attacks and bring more Afghan territory under their control within the past two months.

Pakistani Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid also told a local television network earlier this week that families of the Afghan Taliban live in the suburbs of Islamabad, the national capital. He added that “sometimes, dead bodies of the Taliban arrive in Pakistan, while wounded insurgents also are brought for treatment in local hospitals.”

CIA Director William J. Burns visited Islamabad unannounced in April to discuss possible cooperation with Pakistani counterparts on how to mitigate the terrorism threat from Afghanistan if the country plunges into another civil war after the U.S. troop withdrawal.

When asked last week by the U.S. news website Axios if Pakistan would provide military bases for Washington to conduct strikes inside Afghanistan, Khan said, “Absolutely not.”

There was no immediate U.S. response to Khan’s declaration.

Pakistani supply and communication lines have played a crucial role in sustaining and sending supplies to international forces in landlocked Afghanistan for the past two decades.

The two countries share a nearly 2,600-kilometer open border. Pakistani officials say a massive unilateral construction effort has largely fenced off the frontier in recent years, effectively deterring militant infiltration in either direction.