Islamic State claims killing of Chinese national in Afghanistan

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Ayaz Gul
VOA News
January 23, 2025

ISLAMABAD — Taliban authorities in northeastern Afghanistan said Wednesday that a gun attack resulted in the death of a Chinese national, while his local interpreter escaped unharmed.

An Afghanistan-based Islamic State affiliate, IS-Khorasan, claimed responsibility for the deadly overnight shooting in Takhar province, which sits on the country’s border with Tajikistan. The terrorist outfit said on its Amaq media outlet that its “soldiers” used a machine gun to target the Chinese man.

Taliban officials said the slain foreigner was working for a mining company in the country.

Mohammad Akbar, the provincial police chief, said the Chinese citizen was being driven with his interpreter to the Dasht-e-Qala district late Tuesday when their vehicle was ambushed.

Akbar said that foreign travelers must notify local police before embarking on a road trip, but he said the deceased Chinese citizen failed to do so. The police officer added that an investigation into the attack was underway.

“I believe our embassy in Afghanistan will track the information over what’s happened and do its utmost to protect the lawful rights and interests of Chinese citizens and their safety,” said Mao Ning, a spokesperson for the Chinese Foreign Ministry, during a press conference in Beijing when asked about the shooting incident.

Tuesday’s fatal assault on a Chinese national in Afghanistan marked the first such incident since December 2022, when IS-Khorasan militants stormed a Kabul hotel popular with Chinese investors. That attack resulted in the deaths of three Afghans and injuries to 18 people, including five Chinese nationals.

The Taliban regained control of Afghanistan in August 2021, when the United States and its Western allies withdrew their troops from the country after a nearly two-decade-long presence.

While de facto Afghan rulers assert they have restored peace and order to the conflict-torn country since seizing power, IS-Khorasan has conducted repeated high-profile attacks targeting Taliban leaders, key religious figures and members of the Afghan minority Shiite community.

No country has officially recognized the fundamentalist Taliban as legitimate rulers in Kabul, mainly over their sweeping curbs on Afghan women’s rights and freedoms and other human rights concerns.

China was the first country to appoint an ambassador to Afghanistan and recognized a Taliban ambassador in Beijing since the group took control. It also has enhanced bilateral trade and investment ties with the de facto Kabul government to help stabilize the Afghan economy and deal with a dire humanitarian crisis.

Chinese investors have signed significant agreements with Kabul in the Afghan mining and oil sectors since the Taliban takeover.

Analysts suggest that China’s security concerns are motivating its growing diplomatic and economic engagement with the Taliban to prevent the country from descending into chaos again, which could lead to militants using Afghan territory as a base for launching terrorist attacks against Chinese interests.

Trump order suspending refugee resettlement affects US Afghan allies, says advocacy group

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Donald Trump

VOA News
January 22, 2025

Washington — President Trump’s executive order suspending the U.S. refugee program would affect the resettlement of thousands of Afghans who helped the U.S. during the war in Afghanistan, an advocacy group said.

AfghanEvac, a California-based coalition of organizations helping U.S. Afghan allies to resettle in the U.S., said Monday that the pause in all refugee resettlements would affect Afghan allies who are awaiting relocation to the U.S.

“Thousands of Afghan allies who have completed almost all required steps in the refugee process would be immediately impacted by a refugee resettlement pause, and thousands more who are currently undergoing processing would remain in limbo,” AfghanEvac said, in a statement on its X account.

President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Monday that called the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program detrimental to U.S. interests and suspending it beginning on January 27.

“This order suspends the USRAP until such time as the further entry into the United States of refugees aligned with the interest of the United States,” stated the executive order.

It called on the secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, in consultation with the secretary of state, to report to the president within 90 days if the program “would be in the interests of the United States.”

The order added that every 90 days, a report would be submitted to the president until he “determine[s] that resumption of the USRAP is in the interests of the United States.”

According to Shawn VanDiver, president of AghanEvac, more than 180,000 Afghans were relocated in the U.S. from August 2021, after the Taliban seized power in Afghanistan, to December 2024.

Thousands of Afghans are still waiting to be relocated to the United States.

AfghanEvac said that the order would not only have an impact on at-risk Afghans living in hiding but also on the family members of the active-duty U.S. troops.

Earlier, Reuters reported that the flights of 1,660 Afghans cleared by the U.S. government to resettle in the U.S. were canceled.

But the president of AfghanEvac, Shawn VanDiver, said in a post on X that no flights were canceled.

“To be clear: flights have not yet been canceled for anyone,” VanDiver said.

Omar Samad, a former Afghan diplomat living in the U.S., told VOA that the ban is part of a larger package and it will impact Afghans who are waiting to be relocated to the U.S.

“It is going to be reviewed by the U.S. agencies, and it is possible that they that the U.S. make an exception for Afghans,” Samad added.

VanDiver said that the coalition of organizations helping Afghans are working to “secure exemptions for Afghan allies.”

Other Afghan Refugee News

Citizens Of Tajikistan, Pakistan Perpetrators Of Most Attacks In Afghanistan, Says Taliban

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Amu: The Taliban’s Security and Clearance Commission on Wednesday, January 22, in its annual report, named the citizens of Tajikistan and Pakistan as the main perpetrators of attacks in Afghanistan. In the report, the Taliban claimed that the attacks were “mainly designed outside Afghanistan”. Click here to read more (external link).

Chinese citizen killed by unidentified gunman in Takhar, Afghanistan

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Khaama: Sources reported that unidentified gunmen killed a Chinese citizen on Tuesday evening, January 21, in Khwaja Bahauddin district of Takhar province, Afghanistan. The interpreter and driver accompanying the victim fled the scene and sought refuge at a Taliban checkpoint. Local Taliban officials confirmed the death of the Chinese citizen, identified as “Li,” according to the spokesperson for the Taliban police command in Takhar. Click here to read more (external link).

Trump halts US Refugee program for three months, impacting thousands of Afghans

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Donald Trump

Khaama: U.S. President Donald Trump has issued an executive order suspending the country’s refugee admission program for at least three months. The White House stated that resumption depends on aligning refugee admissions with U.S. interests. This decision is expected to impact thousands of Afghan migrants. According to the White House on Monday, January 20, the suspension is necessary to ensure that the program does not strain resources or compromise national security. Click here to read more (external link).

Related

Taliban free 2 Americans in prisoner swap with US

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Ayaz Gul
VOA News
January 21, 2025

Islamabad — Taliban authorities in Afghanistan announced Tuesday the release of two American nationals as part of a prisoner exchange for one of their members, who was held in the United States on narcotics-terrorism charges.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Kabul identified the freed Afghan as Khan Mohammad and described him as a “mujahid,” a term the Taliban use for their fighters.

The statement said that the man was arrested nearly two decades ago in the eastern Afghan province of Nangarhar and subsequently extradited to the U.S., where a federal court convicted him, resulting in his imprisonment for life in California.

The de facto Afghan government did not name the two freed American citizens or specify how many had been freed, but relatives and U.S. media reports identified them as Ryan Corbett, 42, and William Wallace McKenty, 69.

“Today, our hearts are filled with overwhelming gratitude and praise to God for sustaining Ryan’s life and bringing him back home after what has been the most challenging and uncertain 894 days of our lives,” his family stated Tuesday.

Limited public information is available about McKenty as his family reportedly requested U.S. authorities to maintain his anonymity.

The prisoner exchange was in the making for many months and reportedly occurred during Democratic President Joe Biden’s final hours in office before Republican President Donald Trump was inaugurated on Monday.

Corbett’s family statement praised both the Trump and Biden administrations for their efforts to facilitate the prisoner exchange.

The Taliban said Tuesday that Qatar played an “effective role” in facilitating their prisoner swap agreement with the United States.

U.S. officials and relatives have reported that two other American captives, George Glezmann, a former airline mechanic, and Mahmood Habibi, a naturalized American, remain in Taliban custody in Afghanistan.

Habibi and Glezmann were apprehended shortly after a U.S. drone strike in July 2022 killed fugitive al-Qaida leader Ayman al-Zawahri in his hideout in an affluent Afghan capital neighborhood.

Glezmann, 65, was lawfully visiting Kabul as a tourist when he was seized by the Taliban’s intelligence services without charge, his relatives said.

Habibi’s family says he was arrested by the Taliban, along with 30 other employees of the company he worked at, following the U.S. drone strike. While his co-workers were released, Habibi’s whereabouts remain unknown, and Taliban officials have refuted claims that he is in their custody.

“It was our hope that Ryan, George, and Mahmoud would be returned to their families together, and we cannot imagine the pain that our good fortune will bring them,” Corbett’s family stated Tuesday.

Habibi’s relatives welcomed the reunion of Corbett and McKenty with their families, confident the Trump administration will intensify efforts to secure his freedom from his “wrongful” detention.

“We have reason to be confident Mahmood is alive and in Taliban custody, despite their hollow denials of holding him,” his brother Ahmad Habibi stated,

Global Reach, a nonprofit working with the family of Mahmood Habibi since his arrest, shared the family statement with VOA via email.

“While we are happy for Ryan and William, we are disappointed that Mahmood was not included in the deal,” said the organization’s CEO Mickey Bergman.

Trump seeks return of US military equipment from Afghan Taliban

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Donald Trump

Ayaz Gul
VOA News
January 20, 2025

Ayaz Gul  — President-elect Donald Trump says that future financial assistance to Afghanistan will be contingent upon the return of U.S. military equipment by the Taliban leaders currently in power.

Trump’s remarks at a Sunday rally in Washington on the eve of his January 20 inauguration have heightened uncertainty regarding his administration’s stance on the crisis-hit South Asian nation.

“They [Biden administration] gave billions of billions of dollars to the Taliban. They gave our military equipment, a big chunk of it, to the enemy,” Trump said. He referred to the tumultuous and hasty withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan in August 2021, ordered by President Joe Biden.

“If we’re going to pay billions of dollars a year, tell them we’re not going to give them the money unless they give back our military equipment. … So, we will give them a couple of bucks; we want the military equipment back,” Trump stated without elaborating.

A report issued by the U.S. Department of Defense in 2022 revealed that approximately $7 billion worth of military equipment was left behind in Afghanistan following the completion of the military withdrawal. The equipment in question, which included aircraft, air-to-ground munitions, military vehicles, weapons, communications equipment, and other materials, was subsequently seized by the Taliban.

The de facto Afghan rulers have since repeatedly displayed the U.S. military gear in their so-called victory day celebrations over the past three years.

The foreign troop exit stemmed from the February 2020 Doha Agreement that the first Trump administration negotiated with the then-insurgent Taliban. Biden completed and defended the military withdrawal, saying the choice he had was either to follow through on that agreement or be prepared to go back to fighting the Taliban.

Following the withdrawal, the Biden administration largely isolated the Taliban and imposed new sanctions on the group. Washington, however, has continued to be the largest donor to Afghanistan, a country that the United Nations says is suffering through one of the severest humanitarian crises in the world. U.S. officials have also engaged in diplomatic efforts with the Taliban to negotiate the release of certain U.S. detainees and assisted in relocating Afghan allies who had helped American forces.

US gives cash for humanitarian aid

The billions of dollars that Trump repeatedly has referred to are likely the cash shipments being channeled through the U.N. and non-governmental organizations to support humanitarian programs in Afghanistan. Washington remains the primary donor and has spent approximately $3 billion in humanitarian aid since the U.S. withdrawal.

Thomas Ruttig from the independent Afghanistan Analysts Network warned of challenges for the Taliban under the Trump administration. He noted that some members of Congress and incoming administration officials took part in the 20-year U.S. mission in Afghanistan and have been highly critical of the Taliban.

Despite this, he stated that countering regional terrorism is a significant concern in Washington, and it could potentially encourage the Trump administration to seek cooperation with the Taliban to combat terrorist organizations, including the Afghanistan-based affiliate of the Islamic State terrorist organization known as IS-Khorasan.

Ruttig said that Tim Burchett, Republican vice chair of the U.S. Congress’s Foreign Affairs Committee, recently introduced a bill, the “No Tax Dollars for Terrorists Act,” to ensure that U.S. tax money does not end up in the hands of the Taliban.

The U.N. Assistance Mission in Afghanistan denies that cash shipments for humanitarian programs are financing the Taliban. The mission says the current setup – in which cash is physically brought to Afghanistan and placed in designated U.N. accounts in a private bank – is in place because of a ban on international banking transfers and ongoing liquidity issues.

“All these funds are then distributed directly to the United Nations entities, as well as to a small number of approved and vetted humanitarian partners in Afghanistan,” according to the mission.

Taliban leaders have rejected Trump’s assertions that their government received U.S. financial aid, stating that they do not expect or seek any assistance from Washington. “Instead, it (U.S.) has confiscated and frozen billions of dollars that rightfully belong to the people of Afghanistan,” said a Taliban statement in response to Trump’s remarks earlier this month.

Ruttig warns that punitive measures and sanctions to pressure the Taliban into submission might also provoke them to stop cooperation with international stakeholders.

“Today, the US-Taliban Doha Agreement is still considered valid and obliges the Taliban to restrict ISKP and other groups from using their shelter in Afghanistan to commit terrorist acts in the West. This could be jeopardized by new quasi-sanctions on them,” he said in written comments.

Taliban hopes for better relations

Masuda Sultan, an Afghan American advocate for women’s rights, is doubtful the new Trump administration will substantially change its stance on the Taliban. Instead, she expects the U.S. will cut aid contributions to U.N.-funded programs like the World Food Program that have supported the country’s most vulnerable.

At the same time, Taliban leaders appear publicly optimistic about a favorable shift in U.S. policy under the Trump presidency, attributing this to their Doha pact with his previous Trump administration. Kabul promptly welcomed Trump’s election victory just one day after he was declared the winner of the United States presidential vote.

The Taliban foreign ministry issued a formal statement expressing its hope that “the incoming U.S. administration will adopt a pragmatic approach to ensure tangible advancement in bilateral relations, allowing both nations to open a new chapter of relations grounded in mutual engagement.”

Earlier this month, Taliban Deputy Foreign Minister Sher Mohammad Abbas Stanikzai commended Trump as a “decisive” and “courageous” leader. Stanikzai suggested that Trump reconsider Biden’s policy and adopt a new approach.

“We want to build good relations with the international community and the Western countries,” Stanikzai said in televised remarks in local language. “An enemy doesn’t remain an enemy forever, and a friend doesn’t remain a friend forever either,” he added.