America’s botched exit from Afghanistan

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The Hill: The Trump administration has fallen prey to the pitfalls of ending long wars. In the American experience, exit strategies begin as conditions-based plans but quickly become irresistible departure schedules. To hasten withdrawal from war-torn Afghanistan, the United States has signed an unenforceable agreement with the Taliban and left our Afghan allies holding the bag. As Washington insiders debate how to accelerate withdrawal, the Taliban has upped the ante on the battlefield and offered no concessions.  Click here to read more (external link).

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US Airstrike Kills 5 Taliban Fighters in Afghanistan

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Ayaz Gul
VOA News
October 26, 2020

ISLAMABAD – The United States said Monday it had conducted an airstrike in central Afghanistan, killing at least five Taliban insurgents.

A military spokesman explained in a tweet the overnight action in Nerkh district in Wardak province was taken to defend Afghan security forces in line with a February deal between the U.S. and the Taliban aimed at ending the nearly two decades of war.

“We reject the allegations of violating the agreement and of killing innocent Afghans,” said Col. Sonny Leggett. He was responding to allegations by the Taliban that a U.S. drone strike Sunday evening “in recurrent violation” of the agreement killed three children in Nerkh.

The Taliban alleged earlier this month that the U.S. military was committing violations of their February 29 pact by carrying out airstrikes in areas other than combat zones.

The U.S.-Taliban accord requires all American and NATO troops to leave Afghanistan by May 2021. In return, the insurgents have stopped attacks on foreign forces and pledged to fight terrorism as well as negotiate a permanent ceasefire with Afghan rivals.

The historic peace initiative opened first-ever direct peace talks between the Afghan government and the Taliban on September 12 in Qatar’s capital, Doha. But the intra-Afghan dialogue has not produced any significant breakthrough due to lingering disputes between the two negotiating teams over procedural matters.

While the peace talks in Doha face a stalemate, intensified battlefield hostilities have in recent weeks inflicted hundreds of casualties on combatants from both sides and on Afghan civilians.

On Saturday, an Islamic State suicide bomber killed at least 24 people, mostly young students, and injured nearly 60 others in an attack on an educational center in Kabul.

The violence prompted U.S. officials to again call on all Afghan parties to reduce violence in support of the political peace process.

On Monday, the United Nations reiterated its call for a “humanitarian cease-fire” in Afghanistan. The U.N. mission to the country said in a tweet that the cessation of hostilities will enable all parties to fight the common enemy of the coronavirus pandemic and prepare “critical” humanitarian assistance for all vulnerable Afghans before winter sets in.

Pakistan to cooperate with Afghanistan ‘regardless of who is in power’

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Imran Khan

Ariana: Addressing the opening ceremony of a two-day trade seminar between Afghanistan and Pakistan in Islamabad, Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan on Monday said his country would cooperate and strengthen ties with Kabul regardless of who takes office. Khan said it is “the Afghan people’s prerogative to elect officials and choose the government.” “So there is a fear in Pakistan that India will use Afghanistan to destabilize the country. But we have decided that we will back the wishes of the people of Afghanistan because the future of this region lies in the relationship and cooperation between Pakistan and Afghanistan.” Click here to read more (external link).

Afghanistan: 104 New Cases of COVID-19, 4 Deaths Reported

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Tolo News: The Ministry of Public Health on Monday reported 104 new positive cases of COVID-19 out of 431 samples tested in the last 24 hours. According to the Public Health Ministry’s data, the cumulative number of total cases is now 40,937, the number of total reported deaths is 1,518, and the total number of recoveries is 34,150.  Click here to read more (external link).

Atta Noor asks India to ‘engage with Taliban without giving them legitimacy’

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Atta Mohammad Noor

Ariana: As parties to the Afghan peace talks process in Doha stall over preliminary issues, Atta Mohammad Noor, CEO of Jamiat Party and former governor of Balkh province has called on New Delhi to help by playing a more proactive role in the dialogue and hold talks with the Taliban…if the talks fail, the insurgents will have an “upper hand” and this will give more leeway to Pakistan. Click here to read more (external link).

Interim Govt ‘Only Solution’: Hekmatyar

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Gulbuddin Hekmatyar

Tolo News: Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, leader of the Hizb-e-Islami party, at a press conference on Sunday said that “the Taliban has not accepted the current government and an interim government is the only solution.”  Hekmatyar, making comments about his recent trip to Pakistan, said that peace will come to Afghanistan and he will play his role in the peace process, adding that Pakistan has assured him that Islamabad will work “honestly” in the Afghan peace process. Click here to read more (external link).

Afghan Security Forces Kill Top Al-Qaeda Leader

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National Directorate of Security logo

By RFE/RL Gandhara
October 25, 2020

Afghan security forces have killed Abu Muhsin al-Masri, a senior Al-Qaeda leader who was also wanted by the United States.

Afghanistan’s National Directorate of Security said in a tweet on October 24 that Masri, believed to be the No. 2 figure in Al-Qaeda, was killed by special forces in central Ghazni Province.

It did not provide more details or say when he was killed.

Masri, an Egyptian national who also went by the name Husam Abd al-Ra’uf, was the top Al-Qaeda leader on the Indian subcontinent and led the group’s media operations.

He was on the FBI’s Most Wanted Terrorists list for providing support to a terrorist organization and conspiracy to kill U.S. citizens.

The Afghan raid happened last week in Kunsaf, a village in Ghazni Province’s Andar district, some 150 kilometers southwest of Kabul, AP reported, citing two unnamed government officials.

Amanullah Kamrani, the deputy head of Ghazni’s provincial council, told AP that Afghan special forces led by the intelligence agency raided Kunsaf, which he described as being under Taliban control. On the village’s outskirts, they stormed an isolated home and killed seven suspected militants in a firefight, including Masri, Kamrani said.

Neither Kamrani nor the intelligence agency offered details on how authorities identified Masri, nor how they came to suspect he was in the village.

Masri’s killing comes as the Taliban and Afghan government continue peace talks in Qatar aimed at ending nearly 19 years of war.

Masri’s killing was an indication of the relationship between the Taliban and Al-Qaeda, Afghanistan’s Interior Minister Masoud Andarabi claimed on October 25 without providing details.

“The killing of one of the key Al-Qaeda member, al-Masri by the National Directorate of Security demonstrates close ties of the Taliban with the terrorist groups that are operating against the Afghan government and its people,” he tweeted.

“They still keep close relations with the terrorist groups and they are lying to different sides.”

Despite the peace talks, the militants and Kabul engage in nearly daily combat.

The negotiations follow a deal between the United States and the Taliban signed in February, which envisages U.S. forces leaving Afghanistan and the Taliban committing to not allow Afghan soil to be used by terrorist groups to launch attacks abroad.

There remain questions about whether the Taliban can or will severe ties with Al-Qaeda.

Last month, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said less than 200 Al-Qaeda operatives remained in Afghanistan.

The United States invaded Afghanistan to topple the Taliban because they harbored Al-Qaeda militants responsible for the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States.

With reporting by AFP and Reuters

Copyright (c) 2020. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave NW, Ste 400, Washington DC 20036.

65 New Cases of COVID-19, 3 Deaths Reported in Afghanistan

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Tolo News: The Ministry of Public Health on Sunday reported 65 new positive cases of COVID-19 out of 444 samples tested in the last 24 hours. According to the Public Health Ministry, the cumulative total number of cases is now 40,833, the number of total reported deaths is 1,514, and the total number of recoveries is 34,129. Click here to read more (external link).

Islamic State-Claimed Bombing Hits Afghan Capital, Killing 18

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Ayaz Gul
VOA News
October 24, 2020

ISLAMABAD – Authorities in Afghanistan say a suicide bomber who blew himself up outside a private Kabul education facility has killed at least 18 people and more than 57 others.

Interior Ministry spokesman Tariq Arian said a man with explosives strapped to his body tried to storm the packed facility late Saturday but was intercepted by security guards and instead set off his explosives outside. Arian expected the casualty toll to increase.

Islamic State terror group said its local IS Khorasan Province (ISKP) branch plotted the attack.

ISKP has routinely carried out bombings at Shi’ite gatherings and places of worship in Kabul and elsewhere in Afghanistan.

The Taliban insurgent group denied its involvement in the violence.

Saturday’s attack came after a roadside bomb hit a minivan in the central-eastern Afghan province of Ghazni earlier in the day. The ensuing blast killed at least nine passengers and injured several others. Women were among the victims, a provincial government spokesman told VOA.

The uptick in Afghan violence comes as a month-long peace dialogue between the Kabul government and representatives of the Taliban in Qatar faces a stalemate over procedural matters.

The U.S.-brokered peace talks, which started on September 12, had raised hopes of a reduction in violence in Afghanistan. But hostilities have since intensified, inflicting dozens of casualties daily on combatants on the Afghan warring sides and civilians.

The Afghan Air Force earlier in the week carried out an anti-Taliban airstrike in northeastern Takhar province that struck a mosque school. The strike killed at least 12 children and injured 18 others.

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