1TV: Afghanistan on Thursday temporarily blocked popular online game Player Unknown’s Battlegrounds (PUBG) after receiving complaints that it had negative impact on people who play it. Afghanistan Telecom Regulatory Authority (ATRA) said that the decision to block the game was taken following complaints from several entities including the parliament. Click here to read more (external link).
Tolo News: The Ministry of Public Health on Thursday reported 232 new positive cases of COVID-19 out of 1,647 samples tested in the last 24 hours. The data by the ministry shows that the cumulative number of total cases is now 50,202, the number of total reported deaths is 2,032, and the total number of recoveries is 38,686. Click here to read more (external link).
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Taliban’s Baradar (left) and Qureshi (right). File photo.
By Radio Mashaal
December 16, 2020
Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said the continuation of the war in neighboring Afghanistan was not in the Taliban’s “interest anymore,” after holding talks with a Taliban delegation in Islamabad.
The Taliban delegation, led by the militant group’s top political leader, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, arrived in the Pakistani capital on December 16 for a three-day visit.
The visit comes amid growing calls for a reduction in violence in Afghanistan, where the Taliban has intensified attacks on the Afghan government despite entering peace talks aimed at ending the 19-year conflict.
The “Taliban are convinced that the continuation of war” in Afghanistan is “not in their interest anymore, not in the interest of Afghanistan,” Qureshi told reporters.
“That is why I clearly felt a tendency toward peace,” he said after talks with the Taliban delegation.
Qureshi said Pakistan calls for a reduction of violence in Afghanistan that leads to a permanent cease-fire.
He said peace talks between the Afghan government and the Taliban that started in the Gulf state of Qatar in September represent a “historic opportunity” that should not be “wasted.”
Pakistan, the Taliban’s main sponsor, has long been accused of sheltering and aiding the militants, a claim rejected by Islamabad.
Pakistan is credited with bringing the militant group to the negotiation table with the United States in 2018.
Those talks eventually led to the U.S.-Taliban deal that was signed in February, providing for the withdrawal of all foreign forces in exchange for the Taliban’s security guarantees and its commitment to peace talks with the Afghan government.
Despite the peace talks, violence in Afghanistan has continued unabated. There are regular clashes in various parts of the country and bomb and rocket attacks in the capital, Kabul.
With reporting by AFP, AP, and Reuters
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By Radio Free Afghanistan
December 16, 2020
Afghan officials say at least 13 police officers have been killed in an attack on a security checkpoint in the northern province of Baghlan.
Three more police officers were wounded in a separate attack on a checkpoint in the same province.
Both attacks occurred in areas of the provincial capital, Pul-e Khumri, on December 16.
No group claimed responsibility for the attacks, although local officials blamed the Taliban.
Since September, the Afghan government and Taliban militants have been holding peace talks in Qatar aimed at ending decades of war.
Despite the peace talks, violence in Afghanistan has continued unabated. There are regular clashes in various parts of the country and bomb and rocket attacks in the capital, Kabul.
At least five Afghan security personnel were killed in a Taliban attack on a checkpoint in the southern province of Uruzgan on December 16, said Ahmad Shah Sahil, spokesman for the provincial governor.
He added that at least 11 Taliban fighters were killed in the fighting.
The attacks came a day after a bomb blast and a shooting attack in Kabul killed at least three people, including Kabul’s deputy provincial governor, Mahbobullah Mohibi.
Humanitarian Crisis
The United Nations has warned that 5 million more Afghans will be in need of help next year due to the COVID-19 pandemic and an increase in conflicts.
The need is increasing and “funding is urgently needed,” Acting Assistant Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Ramesh Rajasingham told a news conference on December 15.
Rajasingham, who came back from a trip to Afghanistan, said the situation would be aggravated by the harsh winters Afghanistan usually experiences.
He added that the growing need for humanitarian assistance is the result of “the COVID-19 crisis, increased conflict, and displacements” of the population.
“We are going from a situation where we have (asked) for support to target around 11 million people in 2020 to what we estimate will be almost 16 million people next year,” Rajasingham said.
Afghan President Ashraf Ghani said on December 15 that he hoped peace negotiations between the government and the Taliban would be moved to Afghanistan from Qatar, adding that it is insulting for the Afghan people that the talks are currently being held in luxury hotels in the Gulf state’s capital, Doha.
The peace talks, which opened in September, follow a landmark U.S.-Taliban agreement reached in February in Qatar and will resume on January 5.
Under a U.S.-Taliban deal signed in Doha in February, all foreign forces are scheduled to leave Afghanistan by May 2021 in exchange for security guarantees from the militant group and a commitment to talk with the Afghan government in Kabul. NATO has roughly 11,000 troops in Afghanistan from several countries.
In November, the Trump administration announced that 2,000 American troops will exit Afghanistan by mid-January, leaving just 2,500 behind.
However, despite the peace talks, violence has continued unabated in the war-wracked country.
On December 15, a bomb blast and a shooting attack in Kabul killed at least three people, including Kabul’s deputy provincial governor, Mahbobullah Mohibi.
In October, the UN mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), said 2,117 civilians were killed and 3,822 wounded in the first nine months of this year.
With reporting by AFP, AP, and Reuters
Yama Siawash
Tolo News: The family of former TOLO news presenter Yama Siawash in a statement on Wednesday again warned they would lodge a complaint with the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague in the Netherlands and at the United Nations against the Afghan government and the Central Bank of Afghanistan, where Siawash was working when he and two others were killed by a blast on November 7. Click here to read more (external link).
Tolo News: The Ministry of Public Health on Wednesday reported 256 new positive cases of COVID-19 out of 2,405 samples tested in the last 24 hours. The data by the ministry shows that the cumulative number of total cases is now 49,970, the number of total reported deaths is 2,017, and the total number of recoveries is 38,648. Click here to read more (external link).
Other Health News
Ashraf Ghani
Tolo News: The Taliban has opposed President Ashraf Ghani’s call to hold the next round of the peace negotiations in Afghanistan, saying the request signals fear on the republic’s side. Click here to read more (external link).
By Ayesha Tanzeem
VOA News
December 15, 2020
ISLAMABAD – The deputy governor of Afghanistan’s capital Kabul was killed in a targeted attack Tuesday morning when someone stuck a magnetic mine, also called a sticky bomb, to his car.
Interior ministry spokesman Tariq Arian said the attack on Mahbubullah Muhibbi also killed his secretary and wounded two of his guards.
A second magnetic bomb attack Tuesday in Ghor province killed the deputy head of the provincial council, Abdur Rehman, and wounded another council member.
So far, no group has claimed responsibility for either attack.
Sticky bombs have become commonly used in target killings in Afghanistan. Last month, a journalist was targeted using the same method.
Meanwhile, police officials say one policeman was shot dead and two others wounded in the Bagrami district of Kabul province.
Violence has continued unabated in the country despite the start of peace negotiations between the Taliban and the government.
“Unfortunately another attack today, people are tired of terrorist attacks every day. Taliban has to agree on cease-fire to stop the killing and more bloodshed,” tweeted the state human rights minister, Sima Samar.
The two negotiating teams of Taliban and the Afghan government have taken a break from negotiations in Doha and are expected to return to talk on January 5. The teams have agreed on the principles and code of conduct of negotiations and are now in the process of hashing out an agenda for the talks.