Afghan Cabinet Still Not Finalized
Ghani (left) and Abdulllah (right) – File photo
Tolo News: The Presidential Palace said Monday that Abdullah Abdullah, chairman of the High Council for Reconciliation, has yet to introduce his nominated ministers for the new cabinet. On the other hand, Fraidoon Khwazoon, spokesman for Abdullah Abdullah, said that they have sent their nominee list to the Presidential Palace. Citizens of the country consider persistent, unresolved differences between Ghani and Abdullah one of the main reasons for the delay in introducing the cabinet. Click here to read more (external link).
19 Killed in Mine Blasts as Hopes for Peace Gather Momentum in Afghan
Ayesha Tanzeem
VOA News
August 10, 2020
ISLAMABAD – Nineteen Afghan civilians were killed in multiple roadside mine blasts in Kabul and Kandahar Sunday.
Two of the blasts occurred in Arghistan district of Kandahar province in southern Afghanistan.
In the first incident, a Toyota pickup carrying civilians hit a roadside mine near Shana Nari village killing nine and wounding two more Sunday afternoon, according to a spokesman for Kandahar provincial police, Jamal Barakzai.
The second incident occurred near Tajaw village when a van hit a mine, killing eight Sunday night.
Meanwhile in Kabul, two civilians including a woman were killed while security personnel were trying to depose of a roadside landmine.
The civilian casualties happened on a day when Afghan President Ashraf Ghani announced he would release the remaining 400 Taliban prisoners—removing the last remaining hurdle to the start of direct negotiations with the militant group.
Reducing civilian casualties and working toward a ceasefire is expected to be the highest priority of the Afghan team—an amalgamation of government representatives, other political factions, and civil society activists—when it meets the Taliban in Doha in the coming days. The two sides are supposed to negotiate a political settlement that ends four decades of conflict in Afghanistan.
“In the next few days, we expect the completion of prisoner releases, then travel of the Islamic Republic team to Doha, and from there the immediate start of intra-Afghan negotiations,” Tweeted Zalmay Khalilzad, the United States Special Representative for Afghanistan Reconciliation, early Monday morning.
Khalilzad, who headed the U.S. negotiations with the Taliban, had been proposing to start the intra-Afghan negotiations urgently. However, parts of the U.S. deal with the Taliban—particularly the promise to release up to 5000 Taliban prisoners as a pre-requisite to start direct negotiations with the Afghan government—irked Ghani, who felt this took leverage away from him.
Ghani’s government had since been dragging its feet on the prisoner release issue, trying to link it to the announcement of a ceasefire by the Taliban. Not only was this demand repeatedly rejected by the group, according to the Ghani administration, it ratcheted up its attacks against the Afghan security forces.
In a video address to a regional conference last month, Ghani said Taliban had killed or wounded more than 10,000 members of Afghan security forces in the months since the U.S.-Taliban deal in February.
The mood of the general public in Afghanistan seemed to be overwhelmingly upbeat about the start of talks. Although, there was some criticism in social media posts, particularly from human rights and women’s rights groups, over releasing the 400 hardcore Taliban.
There was some concern that the team finalized to represent the Afghan government and other Afghan factions was not representative.
“The Kabul team is not qualified I feel. They are children of political big wigs. It seems like the same old sharing of the pie. Public opinion is not wholly reflected,” said Mushtaq Rahim, a Kabul based independent political analyst. He added however that at the time all everyone wanted was for intra-Afghan negotiations to start.
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1TV Afghanistan Dari News – August 9, 2020
Defense Chief Says U.S. Will Cut Troops In Afghanistan Below 5,000
Esper
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
August 9, 2020
U.S. Secretary of Defense Mark Esper says the United States is planning to cut back its troop levels in Afghanistan to “a number less than 5,000” by the end of November.
Esper made the remark in an interview with Fox News that was broadcast on August 8. His remarks add detail to troop reduction plans that U.S. President Donald Trump announced earlier in the week.
The United States currently has about 8,600 troops in Afghanistan. Trump said in an interview released on August 3 by Axios that the United States planned to lower that number to about 4,000.
Based on reporting by Reuters, Fox News, and Axios
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.
Stage Set for Afghan Peace Talks as Ghani Orders Release of 400 Taliban Prisoners
Ashraf Ghani
Ayaz Gul
VOA News
August 9, 2010
Afghanistan’s President Ashraf Ghani Sunday announced the release of a last batch of 400 Taliban prisoners, clearing the way for an early start to a U.S.-brokered peace dialogue with the Islamist insurgency.
Ghani’s decision came after a government-sponsored grand public assembly, known as a Loya Jirga, advised him to free the prisoners as part of the landmark deal between the Taliban and the United States aimed at ending two decades of deadly Afghan war.
The February 29 pact called for the release of 5,000 insurgent prisoners in exchange for 1,000 Afghan security personnel that the Taliban was holding captive.
The insurgents have already freed all the prisoners they were to release in a phased process. Ghani released all but 400 Taliban detainees and convened the three-day Loya Jirga Friday to seek its advice, saying he was legally not empowered to pardon the prisoners because they have been convicted of “serious crimes.”
At the end of their deliberations Sunday, the Afghan public assembly of more than 3,000 delegates urged Ghani to release the prisoners in a 25-point declaration.
“In order to remove an obstacle, allow the start of the peace process and an end of bloodshed, the Loya Jirga approves the release of 400 Taliban,” the declaration said.
The Afghan president later thanked the assembly, saying, “Today, I will sign the release order of these 400 prisoners.”
“[The] Taliban have promised that within three days of the release of these 400 prisoners they will begin direct negotiations with the government and agreeing on a permanent cease-fire will top the agenda of these negotiations,” Ghani had told the inaugural session of the Loya Jirga.
No official date has been announced but an opening round of the proposed intra-Afghan talks is expected to be held in Doha, the capital of the gulf state of Qatar, which hosted the signing of the February 29 U.S.-Taliban deal. Doha is where the insurgent group maintains its political office.
Taliban leaders have repeatedly stated in recent weeks that, if their prisoners are released, they would immediately open peace talks with other Afghan groups to negotiate a permanent ceasefire and a political settlement to the deadly conflict.
“The United States intends to hold the Taliban to these commitments,” U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in a statement he issued before the Afghan Loya Jirga meeting.
“We acknowledge that the release of these prisoners is unpopular. But this difficult action will lead to… reduction of violence and direct talks resulting in a peace agreement and an end to the war,” Pompeo said.
The U.S. has already begun a phased withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan under its part of the deal with the Taliban, bringing the U.S. military level to about 8,600 personnel from about 13,000 at the time of the signing of the agreement. The accord requires all American and coalition forces to exit the country by next July.
U.S. Defense Secretary Mark Esper told Fox News on Saturday American troops in Afghanistan will be reduced to “a number less than 5,000” by the end of November.
Earlier last week, President Donald Trump said in an interview with Axios that ahead of November U.S. elections, there would be “between 4,000 and 5,000” troops left in Afghanistan.
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Afghan MMA Fighter Haqparast Defeats American Rival
Haqparast
Tolo News: Afghan MMA fighter Nasrat Haqparast beat his American rival Alex Munoz in a UFC match in Las Vegas, winning all three rounds on every scorecard against his opponent. Haqparast won with a three-round unanimous decision over UFC debutant Alexander Munoz. Click here to read more (external link).
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1TV Afghanistan Dari News – August 8, 2020
Afghan Loya Jirga Meeting To Decide On Release Of Taliban Prisoners
Previously released prisoners
RFE/RL’s Radio Free Afghanistan
August 8, 2020
A traditional Afghan council is expected to back a proposal for the government to release a final group of 400 Taliban prisoners, a move that potentially paves the way for intra-Afghan peace talks.
Abdullah Abdullah, the head of the Loya Jirga gathering Afghan politicians and community leaders, said August 8 that all 50 committees of the assembly supported the release of the remaining 400 Taliban prisoners convicted of involvement in high-profile attacks in the country.
Afghan President Ashraf Ghani is expected to make a final decision on the Taliban prisoner release on August 9, when the council makes an official announcement on its third day of meeting.
The release of the prisoners is the last hurdle to opening peace talks between the internationally backed government in Kabul and the Taliban under a peace deal between the militants and the United States.
Abdullah, who is also head of the High Council for National Reconciliation, said that intra-Afghan peace talks can begin three days after a potential prisoner release.
The Loya Jirga committees also asked both sides of the conflict to observe an unconditional cease-fire ahead of intra-Afghan peace talks.
Kabul has released 4,600 Taliban inmates out of the 5,000 pledged in the landmark agreement signed in February by the United States and the Taliban, but authorities have balked at freeing the remaining prisoners demanded by the Taliban.
Ghani has said that he could not release the last batch of Taliban prisoners without the approval of the 3,200 delegates in the Loya Jirga, a traditional gathering of ethnic, religious, and political leaders who decide on matters of national importance.
A survey circulated at the Loya Jirga said the choice was between freeing the Taliban prisoners so that talks could begin, or refusing and the war would continue.
Among other things, the U.S.-Taliban deal calls on the Taliban to guarantee that Afghanistan will not be used as a staging ground for terrorist attacks on the United States or its allies.
Ahead of the Loya Jirga, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo urged attendees to take advantage of a “historic opportunity” to reach peace.
“We acknowledge that the release of these prisoners is unpopular,” Pompeo said in a statement on August 6. “But this difficult action will lead to an important result long sought by Afghans and Afghanistan’s friends: reduction of violence and direct talks resulting in a peace agreement and an end to the war.”
Afghan officials have described the remaining prisoners as dangerous. Of the 400 Taliban prisoners left, around 200 are accused by the Afghan government of masterminding attacks on embassies, public squares, and government offices, killing thousands of civilians in recent years.
The Taliban says it has freed all 1,000 government prisoners it had pledged in the agreement with the United States and insists on its demand for the release of the remaining 400 prisoners on its list.
The United States has reportedly proposed the Taliban prisoners be transferred from Afghan jails to a location where they would be under both Taliban and Afghan government surveillance.
Despite the U.S.-Taliban deal, the Taliban attacks since February have killed 3,560 Afghan security personnel, according to the government.
The UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) has documented more than 1,280 Afghan civilians deaths during the first half of 2020 — mainly as a result of fighting between Afghan government forces and Taliban militants.
With reporting by AP and dpa
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.
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- Reactions to Jirga: Decisions Should be Implemented
- Negotiators, Jirga Delegates Call for Flexibility on All Sides
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- Protesters at Jirga Claim Mistreatment
- 17 Loya Jirga delegates test positive for COVID-19
Coronavirus in Afghanistan: Do confirmed cases depict the real picture?
DW: According to a new study, some 10 million people in Afghanistan have contracted COVID-19. Official figures, however, are much lower. Experts say it is a result of administrative constraints and low testing. Government officials say the reason behind conducting the new survey was to prepare for a possible second coronavirus wave. With the help of the new data, authorities will be better equipped to deal with the situation, they say. Click here to read more (external link).