Tolo News: A two-day running competition in Kabul ended on Sunday that included eighty females aged 17-21 from Herat, Kandahar, Balkh, Daikundi, and Kabul provinces. The young women competed in several distance categories, ranging from 100 meters to 3 kilometers. Click here to read more (external link).
Other Afghan Sports News
Tolo News: The Ministry of Public Health on Monday reported 1,582 new positive cases of COVID-19 out of 4,671 samples tested in the last 24 hours. The ministry reported that the cumulative total of known COVID-19 cases is 82,326, the total number of reported deaths is 3,251, and the total number of recoveries is 58,998. Click here to read more (external link).
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Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi
Ariana: Mohib early last month accused Pakistan, particularly its military, of supporting the Taliban insurgency in Afghanistan and compared Pakistan to a “brothel”. “My blood has been boiling ever since you compared Pakistan to a brothel house. You should be ashamed of yourself and must reform your conduct,” Qureshi said of Mohib on Saturday. “Afghanistan’s national security advisor should review his statement [against Pakistan]; he is creating obstacles in the road towards peace,” Qureshi said. Click here to read more (external link).
NBC News: The Afghan security forces rely heavily on U.S.-funded contractors to repair and maintain their fleet of aircraft and armored vehicles, and a whole array of other equipment. But the roughly 18,000 contractors are due to depart within weeks, along with most of the U.S. military contingent, as part of Washington’s agreement with the Taliban to withdraw all “foreign” troops. Click here to read more (external link).
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
June 6, 2021
At least 11 civilians, including three children, have been killed in northwest Afghanistan when their vehicle was hit by a roadside bomb, officials said on June 6.
The incident happened at around 5.30 p.m. local time on June 5 in the Chalank village of Badghis Province, regional governor Hesamuddin Shams said. The passengers were on their way to the provincial capital, Qala-e-Naw, he said.
The minivan fell into a valley with the shock of the blast, Shams said, adding that rescuers were still searching for the bodies.
No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, but local officials accused the Taliban of planting the bomb to target security forces. There was no immediate response from the militant group.
Large swathes of the war-torn country are littered with land mines and roadside bombs. Many were planted by militants to target government military convoys, but they often kill civilians instead.
The United Nations has repeatedly called on both government forces and the Taliban to take more precautions to protect civilians.
The UN mission in Afghanistan says that 1,783 civilians had been killed or wounded in the country in the first three months of 2021. It marks an increase of 29 percent over the same period last year.
Based on reporting by AP, AFP, Reuters, tolonews.com
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
June 6, 2021
At least 14 members of the Afghan security forces have been killed and another 18 wounded in a Taliban attack in Qaisar district of the northern province of Faryab, local officials said on June 6.
The militants “have also taken 37 security force members as captive,” said Nader Saeedi, a member of the provincial council.
Some officials put the death toll at about 30, saying the district police commander was among those killed.
The militants attacked the Qaisar police headquarters overnight, detonating a car bomb at the gate of the building, several officials confirmed.
Saeedi told the Tolo news agency that more than 30 security force members were still “under siege by the Taliban.” “They will also be taken captive by the Taliban if reinforcements are not deployed in the area,” he warned.
Officials said the district was on the verge of collapse on June 6 as heavy clashes continued around the district center and the village of Kohi — the only areas still controlled by the government.
The clashes in Faryab come a day after the Taliban captured the Doab district in the eastern province of Nuristan, adding to the militant group’s recent military gains.
Provincial councilor Saidullah Nuristani said the Taliban had blocked all the supply routes to Doab, forcing the government forces to evacuate the district after being unable to receive any food supplies or ammunition from the central government for nearly a month.
On June 4, the Taliban captured two districts in the southern Zabul and Uruzgan provinces.
Fighting between government forces and militants continues across Afghanistan as the U.S. and NATO continue their final withdrawal of the remaining 2,500-3,500 American soldiers and 7,000 allied forces. The last of the troops are scheduled to be gone by September 11 at the latest.
Based on reporting by dpa and tolonews.com
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Tolo News: The Ministry of Public Health on Sunday reported 1,379 new positive cases of COVID-19 out of 4,544 samples tested in the last 24 hours. The ministry reported that the cumulative total of known COVID-19 cases is 80,615, the total number of reported deaths is 3,195, and the total number of recoveries is 58,622. Click here to read more (external link).
Radio Free Afghanistan
June 5, 2021
Taliban militants launched an attack against Afghan security forces in the northern province of Baghlan on June 5, killing at least eight people, according to a security official.
Two district police chiefs and six officers were killed in the attack on the Julga district, the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity said.
The attack, which began shortly after midnight continued until early on June 5 from different directions, the official said.
Gulbuddin, the police chief for the Julga district, and Lotful ul-Haq, the police chief for the Burka district of Baghlan who had come to the aid of his colleagues in Julga, were killed in the fighting.
The spiraling violence and stalled peace talks between the Taliban and the Western-backed government in Kabul have cast further uncertainty over the future of the country once U.S.-led international forces leave by September.
Security officials reported fighting between the government forces and the Taliban in at least 10 provinces in the last 24 hours.
On June 5, officials said that Taliban militants have captured another district in the eastern province of Nuristan, adding to recent military gains.
Provincial councilor Saidullah Nuristani told the German news agency dpa that government troops were forced to abandon the Doab district of the province after 20 days of resistance, after militants cut all their supply lines.
On June 4, Taliban militants captured two districts in two different provinces.
After a week of heavy fighting, the militants took control of Shenkai district in the southern Zabul Province, local officials said.
The Gizab district of the southern Uruzgan Province also came under Taliban control after heavy fighting, according to local officials.
There was also fighting reported in the southern province of Herat.
In the southern province of Helmand, an Afghan army air strike on June 4 on an abandoned army base captured by the Taliban killed multiple civilians, officials said.
In a report for the UN Security Council circulated on June 4, a group of UN experts said Taliban militants appear to be trying to strengthen their military position as leverage in the negotiations with the government in Kabul, with the “unprecedented violence” of 2020 carrying into 2021.
The 22-page report said the withdrawal of U.S. and NATO forces by September “will challenge Afghan forces by limiting aerial operations with fewer drones and radar and surveillance capabilities, less logistical support and artillery, as well as a disruption in training.”
It said that the Taliban are reported to be responsible for the great majority of targeted assassinations that have become a feature of the violence in Afghanistan.
These attacks “appear to be undertaken with the objective of weakening the capacity of the government and intimidating civil society,” it said.
With reporting by tolonews.com, dpa, AP, and AFP
Other Security News
Tolo News: An Afghan forces airstrike killed at least 12 members of the public uprising forces in a so-called “friendly fire” incident in the northeastern province of Badakhshan on Friday, sources from the province said Saturday. Click here to read more (external link).
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