Pentagon Sends Reinforcements For Afghan Pullout

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Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
May 7, 2021

The Pentagon has deployed more heavy bombers and fighter jets to ensure the protection of the withdrawing U.S. and coalition troops from Afghanistan, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told reporters on May 6.

“Less than one week in, the drawdown is going according to plan,” Austin told reporters, adding that the international forces have sustained no direct attacks so far.

Pentagon Joint Chiefs Chairman Mark Milley said that to defend the departing troops, six B-52 long range bombers and 12 F-18 fighters have been ordered for contingency support.

Austin and Milley’s statements came as Taliban attacks on the government forces continued to escalate throughout Afghanistan amid the ongoing international pullout.

Milley said that while Taliban militants launch between 80 and 120 attacks every day against Afghan government targets, since the withdrawal began on May 1 “there have been no attacks against U.S. and coalition forces.”

President Joe Biden last month ordered the final withdrawal of 2,500 U.S. service members and 16,000 civilian contractors, almost two decades after the United States invaded Afghanistan to remove the Taliban from power and pursue Al-Qaeda following the September 11, 2001 attacks.

Biden set a deadline for the completion of the pullout on the anniversary of the attacks.

Although Washington will keep working closely with the Afghan security forces, the relationship will shift with the pullout, Austin and Milley told journalists.

Austin said America will continue to offer support through funding and military backing from U.S. bases and ships located hundreds of miles away — the so-called “over the horizon logistics.”

Milley said that despite concerns that the Taliban could topple the Kabul government following the international pullout, the collapse of the Afghan military should not be presumed.

“A lot of that is going to be dependent on the security conditions on the ground,” said Milley.

The Afghan Air Force depends heavily on foreign technicians who are included in the 16,000 contractors that are being pulled out.

“The intent is to keep the Afghan air force in the air, and to provide them with continued maintenance support,” Milley said.

On May 6 Taliban fighters captured Afghanistan’s second-biggest dam and two Afghan army bases.

Dahla Dam, also known as Arghandab Dam, is located in the Shah Wali Kot district of the southern province of Kandahar, some 40 kilometers north of the provincial capital, Kandahar City.

The dam, which provides irrigation to farmers via a network of canals as well as drinking water for Kandahar City, is now under Taliban control after months of fierce fighting in Kandahar, the militants’ former stronghold.

“We have seized the Dahla Dam in Arghandab,” Taliban spokesman Qari Yousuf Ahmadi told the media.

Haji Gulbuddin, governor of an adjacent district, confirmed the dam “is now in the control of the Taliban.”

Dahla Dam provides irrigation for about seven districts of Kandahar.

Local officials and the Taliban also said two government bases fell to the militants in the northern province of Baghlan.

The militants launched the attacks on the bases in the Baghlan-e-Markzai and Nahrin districts of the province late on May 5, the officials told TOLOnews.

The capture of the dam comes after heavy fighting erupted in the neighboring province of Helmand this week, prompting thousands of people to flee.

With reporting by AP, AFP, Reuters, dpa, and TOLOnews

Copyright (c) 2021. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave NW, Ste 400, Washington DC 20036

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300 New Cases of COVID-19, 10 Deaths Reported in Afghanistan

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Tolo News: On Friday, the Ministry of Public Health reported 300 new positive cases of COVID-19 out of 2,300 samples tested in the last 24 hours. The ministry reported that the cumulative total of known COVID-19 cases is 61,755, the total number of reported deaths is 2,683, and the total number of recoveries is 54,019. Click here to read more (external link).

Taliban Captures Key Afghan Dam, Army Bases As Fighting Rages

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Radio Free Afghanistan
May 6, 2021

Taliban fighters have captured Afghanistan’s second-biggest dam and two Afghan Army bases, militants and officials said, as fighting escalates amid the ongoing pullout of U.S. and international forces from the war-wracked country.

Dahla Dam, also known as Arghandab Dam, is located in the Shah Wali Kot district of the southern province of Kandahar, some 40 kilometers north of the provincial capital, Kandahar City.

The dam, which provides irrigation to farmers via a network of canals as well as drinking water for Kandahar City, is now under Taliban control after months of fierce fighting in the militants’ former stronghold of Kandahar.

“We have seized the Dahla Dam in Arghandab,” Taliban spokesman Qari Yousuf Ahmadi told the media.

Haji Gulbuddin, governor of an adjacent district, confirmed the dam “is now in the control of the Taliban.”

“Our security forces … asked for reinforcements but they failed to get it,” he said.

The capture of the dam comes after heavy fighting erupted in the neighboring province of Helmand this week just days after the U.S. military formally began withdrawing its remaining troops from Afghanistan.

The militants last month blew up a bridge that connected the dam to adjacent districts.

Dahla Dam was built by American engineers almost 70 years ago to provide water for irrigating land in about seven districts of Kandahar.

In neighboring Helmand, thousands of people have fled their homes in the face of a large-scale Taliban offensive against the Afghan Army.

U.S. fighter jets have been providing air support for the Afghan forces despite the drawdown of foreign troops.

Although the United States did not meet a May 1 withdrawal deadline agreed in talks with the Taliban last year, it did begin to pull its forces on that date after President Joe Biden announced all troops will out by September 11.

The decision was criticized by some, who argue that the militants will try to sweep back into power.

Meanwhile, local officials and the Taliban said two government bases fell to the militants in the northern province of Baghlan.

The militants launched the attacks on the bases in the Baghlan-e-Markzai and Nahrin districts of the province late on May 5, the officials told TOLOnews.

“Four Taliban were killed, and six others were wounded,” unnamed Baghlan police officials said, adding that the government forces had been pushed back.

In a separate development, a former journalist was killed in Kandahar City on May 6, TOLOnews reported, quoting his relatives.

Nemat Rawan, a former TOLOnews journalist who had joined the media division of the Finance Ministry, was shot dead by two unidentified gunmen, his relatives confirmed.

Ghorzang Afridi, a security official at Kandahar police, confirmed the information.

“The attackers have also stolen his phone,” he said.

The number of targeted attacks against media workers has been on the rise in Afghanistan since the start of the year.

With reporting by AFP, AP, dpa, Reuters, and TOLOnews

Copyright (c) 2021. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave NW, Ste 400, Washington DC 20036

Threats to Afghan Media by Warring Sides Spark Outrage

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Ayaz Gul
VOA News
May 6, 2021

ISLAMABAD – Media advocates and international partners of Afghanistan have denounced the Taliban insurgency for threatening local journalists for allegedly not being impartial in their reporting of the country’s long war.

The warning coincided with allegations that the chief of the Afghan spy agency had also made a “constricting gesture” against the local media at a “confidential session” in Kabul with Afghan lawmakers.

On Thursday, unknown gunmen killed a former Afghan television anchor in southern Kandahar province. The slain man, identified as Naimat Rawan, was currently heading the media section at the Afghan Finance Ministry. No one took responsibility for the attack.

Rawan had only three weeks ago ended his contract with TOLO News channel, Afghanistan’s largest media network.

The renewed assault on Afghan media came as battlefield hostilities between government forces and the Taliban have spiked particularly since May 1, when the United States and NATO allies formally began pulling their troops out of Afghanistan after nearly 20 years.

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid in a statement released via Twitter on Wednesday warned Afghan reporters to stop reporting and broadcasting what he alleged was “one-sided news at the behest of Kabul administration” or “face the consequences.”

A media advocacy group, Afghan Journalists Safety Committee (AJSC), swiftly condemned the insurgent threat.

It reminded the Taliban that they “must be committed to protecting the fundamental rights of citizens, of which freedom of expression is one example” under a February 2020 peace-building deal the Taliban negotiated with the United States.

AJSC also expressed concerns over recent remarks by the head of the Afghan intelligence agency, the National Directorate of Security (NDS), in which he slammed parts of local media outlets for allegedly broadcasting Taliban propaganda.

A lawmaker who attended the meeting quoted NDS chief Ahmad Zia Seraj as urging the media to be responsible and warning of legal action against those carrying “terrorist propaganda.”

“The fact that both sides involved in the conflict accuse the media of violating the principle of impartiality also shows that the media is not affiliated with any party and media do not bolster interests of a particular party,” stressed the AJSC statement.

The U.S. and British diplomatic missions in Kabul in a joint statement reiterated their strong support for Afghanistan’s independent media.

“We condemn in the strongest possible terms the ongoing violence and threats against the media, and the Taliban’s attempts to silence journalists,” tweeted Ross Wilson, the acting American ambassador.

Afghanistan is considered one of the most dangerous countries in the world to be a journalist. Since 2006, as many as 76 journalists have been killed in Afghanistan, according to UNESCO.

Earlier this year, three female employees of a local broadcast agency in eastern Afghanistan were gunned down by Islamic State militants.

Afghan officials blame the Taliban for being behind most of the attacks on journalists in recent years. The insurgents reject the charges and accuse NDS operatives of carrying out assassinations of media workers as well as civil society activists as part of its campaign to malign the Taliban.

Critics have warned President Joe Biden’s decision to withdraw the remaining 2,500 U.S. troops from the country by September 11 would see more Afghan violence and bloodshed because it would encourage the Taliban to step up its military campaign to try to regain power.

Washington has recently increased diplomatic efforts to press the Taliban to reduce violence and negotiate a peace deal with the Afghan government. But the insurgents have halted the peace dialogue until all international forces leave Afghanistan.

The Taliban instead launched major battlefield attacks across the country in the last few days, overrunning district centers and government security outposts in several provinces.

The Taliban during Thursday’s fighting also seized control of the country’s second-biggest dam after months of fierce fighting in Kandahar. Afghan officials said the Dahla Dam provides drinking water for the region and irrigation to agricultural land via a network of canals.

Both Afghan adversaries have also claimed inflicting heavy casualties on the other, with civilians also getting caught in the crossfire while thousands of others are fleeing to safety.

HRW Warns Against Further ‘Life-Threatening’ Cuts In Afghan Health System

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Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
May 6, 2021

Human Rights Watch (HRW) has warned that falling international donor support to Afghanistan has reduced women’s access to essential health care, and that it expects further cuts in the coming months as foreign forces prepare to withdraw from the country.

In a report published on May 6, the New York-based human rights watchdog outlines the barriers Afghan females face in trying to obtain health care, as well as the health-care system’s deterioration due to falling support from international donors.

The drop in funding “has already had a harmful — and life-threatening — impact on the lives of many women and girls, as it affects access to and quality of health care,” it said.

“International donors are locked in a waiting game to see whether the withdrawal of foreign troops will result in the Taliban gaining greater control of the country,” Heather Barr, interim co-director of women’s rights at HRW, said in a statement.

“But this is no excuse for cutting funds for essential services that aid groups have managed to deliver in insecure and Taliban-controlled areas.”

Over the past two decades, the Afghan government has relied on international-donor funding for essential services.

But HRW said this support has been falling for years and “will likely continue to do so, perhaps precipitously” following President Joe Biden’s announcement in April that the United States will withdraw all of its forces from Afghanistan by September 11. NATO has said it will follow the same timetable.

In 2013, member countries of the OECD Development Assistance Committee contributed $141 million to health and population assistance in Afghanistan, HRW noted, adding that by 2019 the figure had dropped by more than one quarter to $105 million.

And with more than 75 percent of its budget coming from international donors, the Afghan government has little ability to move toward self-sufficiency in the short term.

For its 39-page report, titled “I Would Like Four Kids — If We Stay Alive”: Women’s Access to Health Care in Afghanistan, HRW said it had interviewed 56 people in Afghanistan in March and April, including 34 women and 18 other Afghans working in the health sector.

Among the barriers Afghans face in obtaining health care, it cited a lack of funds for hospitals, which meant that they are charging for supplies that previously were free, and the fact that many patients cannot afford transportation to a health facility that may be far away.

Afghan women and girls “struggle to get even the most basic information about health and family planning,” according to the report, while “there is an unmet need for modern forms of contraception, and prenatal and postnatal care is often unavailable.”

“Modern cancer and fertility treatment and mental health care are largely unavailable. Routine preventive care such as pap smears and mammograms are almost unheard of; and a large proportion of births are still unattended by a professional.”

In addition, women “face risky pregnancies because of lack of care” and undergo procedures that “could be done more safely with more modern techniques,” leading to “very high” maternal and infant mortality.

HRW urged donors to “prioritize meeting the urgent needs of Afghans, including those of women and girls for health care.”

And the United States and other countries with troops in Afghanistan should “not use political and security developments to justify disengaging when the need for international assistance is greater than ever,” it said.

Barr insisted that international funding for the health system “is a life-and-death issue — and whenever cuts are made women will die.”

Copyright (c) 2021. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave NW, Ste 400, Washington DC 20036

Afghanistan: 293 New Cases of COVID-19, 9 Deaths Reported

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Tolo News: On Thursday, the Ministry of Public Health reported 293 new positive cases of COVID-19 out of 2,185 samples tested in the last 24 hours. The ministry reported that the cumulative total of known COVID-19 cases is 61,455, the total number of reported deaths is 2,673, and the total number of recoveries is 53,961. Click here to read more (external link).

Other Health News

U.S. Intelligence Report Warns That Taliban Likely Would ‘Roll Back’ Afghan Women’s Rights

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Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
May 5, 2021

U.S. intelligence agencies warn in an unclassified report released on May 4 that gains in women’s rights in Afghanistan made in the last two decades will be at risk after U.S. troops withdraw.

“The Taliban remains broadly consistent in its restrictive approach to women’s rights and would roll back much of the past two decades of progress if the group regains national power,” said the report by the National Intelligence Council, the U.S. intelligence community’s top analytical body.

It is the latest warning of the consequences of the troop withdrawal now under way and expected to be complete by September under a new deadline set by U.S. President Joe Biden.

Biden last month announced his decision to withdraw the last 2,500 U.S. troops by September 11, the 20th anniversary of the terrorist attacks that prompted the U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan. NATO allies agreed that foreign troops under the alliance’s command will also withdraw, fueling fears of a civil war that could topple the government and return the Taliban to power.

General Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said on May 2 that there would possibly be “some really dramatic, bad possible outcomes” for Afghan forces after U.S. and NATO troops leave and they are left to counter the Taliban on their own. But he added: “We frankly don’t know yet.”

During the Taliban’s 1996-2001 rule, women were barred from education and largely confined to their homes. In public they were required to fully cover their bodies and faces and were barred from leaving home without a male relative. They could be stoned for committing “moral offenses.”

U.S. special envoy for Afghanistan Zalmay Khalilzad said on April 27 that hundreds of millions of dollars in U.S. aid to Afghanistan could be slashed if a Taliban-dominated government did not respect human rights, especially women’s rights.

Some U.S. senators have said they would oppose aid if the rights of Afghan women and girls are not protected after U.S. troops go home.

The Taliban last month issued a statement promising that women could “serve their society in the education, business, health, and social fields while maintaining correct Islamic hijab,” referring to the Arabic word for veil.

But the report released on May 4 underscores skepticism of those pledges.

It says the Taliban’s desires for foreign aid and legitimacy “might marginally moderate its conduct over time,” but “in the early days of reestablishing its Emirate, the Taliban probably would focus on extending control on its own terms.”

It also points out that the Taliban has seen “minimal leadership turnover, maintains inflexible negotiating positions, and enforces strict social constraints in areas that it already controls.”

Progress in women’s rights, including their roles in the legislature and as doctors and lawyers, “probably owes more to external pressure than domestic support, suggesting it would be at risk after coalition withdrawal,” the report says.

It adds that the prevalence of cell phones in the country could potentially increase the world’s awareness of “extreme Taliban behavior” and there could be heightened international attention on the Taliban’s activities in the aftermath of the war.

With reporting by Reuters and AP

Copyright (c) 2021. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave NW, Ste 400, Washington DC 20036

Baghlan’s Burka district falls to the Taliban

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Ariana: Local officials confirmed Wednesday that Burka district in Baghlan province has fallen to the Taliban. Officials said the district fell on Tuesday night. According to the sources the civilian and military leadership of the district retreated to neighbouring Nahrin district. Click here to read more (external link).

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Mujahideen Ready to Fight if Taliban Reject Peace: Massoud

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Massoud

Tolo News: Ahmad Massoud, the son of Afghanistan’s National Hero Ahmad Shah Massoud, on Wednesday said that the Afghan mujahideen are ready for a military confrontation with the Taliban if the group does not abide by its commitments to peace. Massoud’s warning follows media reports weeks ago that men are taking up arms in Takhar, Baghlan, Daikundi and Baghlan provinces. Click here to read more (external link).