US and Taliban agree to ‘re-set’ amid spike in violence

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Khalilzad

Ariana: The United States and the Taliban have agreed to a “re-set” following a sharp rise in violence in the past week in Afghanistan – specifically in Helmand province.  In a series of tweets on Thursday night, US peace envoy Zalmay Khalilzad stated: “Following several meetings (Resolute Support Commander) General Miller and I had with the Taliban, we agreed to re-set actions by strictly adhering to implementation of all elements of the US-Taliban Agreement and all commitments made.” “This means reduced numbers of operations. At present too many Afghans are dying. With the re-set, we expect that number to drop significantly.” Click here to read more (external link).

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Fear Grows Over Afghan Civilians ‘Trapped’ In Helmand’s Capital

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RFE/RL’s Radio Free Afghanistan
October 15, 2020

LASHKAR GAH, Afghanistan — Concerns are rising for the fate of tens of thousands of civilians caught up in battles between the Afghan government forces and the Taliban in the southern province of Helmand.

More than 6,000 families have taken refuge in the provincial capital, Lashkar Gah, following several days of clashes, local officials told RFE/RL on October 15.

United Nations agencies say the heavy fighting, in which Afghan forces supported by U.S. air strikes are defending Lashkar Gah from a Taliban assault, has taken out electricity and telecommunication lines in the city, interrupted critical health services, and blocked all exit routes.

Amnesty International has called on both sides to give civilians “safe passage” in order to avoid “a humanitarian disaster.”

“The situation for civilians in Lashkar Gah is grave and could deteriorate rapidly in the coming days. Tens of thousands of people are trapped in the middle of a bloody battle that shows no sign of abating,” according to Omar Waraich, head of South Asia at the London-based human rights group.

The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) urged both sides to “take all feasible measures to protect civilians,” including “safe paths for those wishing to leave.”

On October 14, Doctors Without Borders (MSF) in Afghanistan reported that the main trauma hospital in Lashkar Gah “continues to be at capacity with treating injured.”

“The MSF-supported Boost Provincial Hospital is acting as an over-flow facility. Additional 20 patients admitted over 24 hrs. Total is now 40, including pregnant women and children,” the charity tweeted.

“Our patients have been injured by bomb blasts, shelling and gunshot wounds — and fractures from when they were fleeing,” according to MSF hospital coordinator Mariana Cortesi.

Two Afghan military helicopters collided in Helmand on October 14 while evacuating wounded soldiers, killing nine people on board, officials said.

According to the Defense Ministry the collision was due to “technical issues.”

The battle over Lashkar Gah is the first big Taliban offensive since peace talks between government representatives and Taliban negotiators began last month in the Qatari capital, Doha.

There has been no apparent progress in the negotiations, which are meant to end Afghanistan’s decades-long long war, following a deal signed by the United States and the Taliban in Doha in February.

UNAMA on October 15 reiterated “the urgency to halt violence and to focus on achieving a peaceful negotiated settlement” to the war in Afghanistan.
saying violence “only heaps further hardship and misery on ordinary Afghans and undermines efforts for progress and building bridges between parties at the historic Afghanistan peace talks” in Qatar.

According to the UN mission, at least 1,282 civilians were killed, and at least 2,176 others were wounded, in the first six months of the year.

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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APL Championship: Shaheen Asmayee vs. Simrogh Alborz

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Tolo News: Shaheen Asmayee will face Simrogh Alborz for the championship match of the Afghan Premier League on Friday.  The match will kick off at 5pm local time at Afghanistan’s Football Federation’s stadium in Kabul. Click here to read more (external link).

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Afghan Forces Suffer Fresh Casualties in Helicopter Collision, Battlefield Hostilities

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By Ayaz Gul
VOA News
October 14,2020

ISLAMABAD – Officials in Afghanistan said Wednesday two military helicopters collided and crashed in the embattled southern Helmand province, killing at least nine people aboard.

Separately, Taliban insurgents raided security outposts in other provinces and killed more than a dozen government forces.

Provincial authorities in Helmand said two Russian-made Mi-17 helicopters were evacuating wounded soldiers when both went down in Nawa district Tuesday night. The district center was said to be under a Taliban attack at the time.

The Afghan Defense Ministry confirmed the crash and blamed it on “technical issues” while the aircraft were taking off.

The midair collision came amid several days of intense battles between Afghan security forces and Taliban insurgents near the provincial capital, Lashkargah, and surrounding districts.

The United Nations said the fighting, which began Sunday, had uprooted thousands of civilians and interrupted critical health services in parts of Helmand, where most of the districts are controlled or contested by the Taliban.

“Local authorities report that some 35,000 people [around 5,000 households] have been displaced into Lashkargah city. Health facilities also report hundreds of casualties,” according to the latest U.N. assessment of the humanitarian situation. Electricity and telecommunication lines have been disrupted in some affected areas, it added.

The Taliban has made territorial advances in the province since launching Sunday’s large scale offensives and cut off highway access to Lashkargah city.

The insurgent group claimed its fighters had taken control of areas it had previously held. Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told VOA Wednesday its fighters were consolidating their positions in Helmand but no “major offensive is currently underway” there.

The Taliban attack prompted the United States military to carry out airstrikes in support of Afghan forces in Helmand.

On Monday, U.S. commander of international forces in Afghanistan General. Scott Miller defended the military action, saying the insurgent offensive was “not consistent with the U.S.-Taliban agreement and undermines ongoing Afghan peace talks.”

U.S. acting ambassador to Afghanistan Ross Wilson urged the Taliban on Tuesday to stop its offensive in Helmand and reduce violence around the country.

“It should stop so that all parties can move toward a lasting and much-needed peace for all Afghans,” Wilson wrote on his Twitter account.

The Taliban has lately increased battlefield attacks even as its leaders hold peace talks with representatives of the Afghan government in Doha, Qatar.

The intra-Afghan dialogue stemmed from the February 29 pact the U.S. signed with the insurgents in its bid to promote a political settlement to the 19-year-old Afghan war.

The deal called for the withdrawal of all American and NATO forces from Afghanistan by May 2021.

In return, the insurgent group has pledged to prevent Afghan soil from becoming a hub of international terror groups in the future and reach a permanent cease-fire political deal with rival Afghan parties through the talks under way in the Qatari capital.

The intra-Afghan dialogue began September 12 but no significant breakthrough has been achieved so far.

Mujahid, while speaking to VOA, again ruled out a Taliban cease-fire, reiterating the issue is being debated in the intra-Afghan talks ongoing in Doha.

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Afghanistan: 66 New Cases of COVID-19 Reported

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Tolo News: The Ministry of Public Health on Wednesday reported 66 new positive cases of COVID-19 out of 318 samples tested in the last 24 hours.  The cumulative number of total cases is now 39,994, the number of total reported deaths is 1,481, and the total number of recoveries is 33,354.  Click here to read more (external link).

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The Struggle To Preserve Afghanistan’s Jewish Heritage

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Yu Aw, the largest synagogue in Herat and the only synagogue to undergo proper preservation of its original characteristics, has been declared a historic site.

Shapoor Saber
Nilly Kohzad

Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
October 13, 2020

HERAT, — Afghanistan’s western province of Herat was once home to a thriving Jewish community that has now all but vanished from the region. Its monuments and properties have either fallen into disrepair or disappeared completely, and murky rules of tenure and stewardship of historical sites have left officials and residents arguing over their fate.

In the 18th and 19th centuries, Jews escaping religious persecution in Central Asia and Iran fled to Afghanistan, the only Muslim country where they could freely practice their faith. Mostly comprising middle-class traders and artisans, they lived in harmony with their Muslim neighbors for centuries.

But over the course of the 20th century, they left the country. Compelled by the search for a better life, many of Afghanistan’s Jews started moving to Israel and the United States in the 1940s after initially immigrating to British India.

“Muslim-Jewish relations were mostly tolerant and peaceful,” says Sara Aharon, a Jewish author whose father was born in Afghanistan. “There were 5,000 to 6,000 Jews in 20th-century Afghanistan, so there was no reason to feel threatened by the Jewish community.”

Most of the Jewish community had emigrated by the early 1980s before the outbreak of Afghanistan’s civil war. As the Jewish population continued to decline in Herat over the next few decades, their houses, synagogues, and other monuments were abandoned.

Several synagogues, a cemetery, and a bathhouse remain, according to Herat’s cultural officials. But existing regulations make it difficult to determine who owns or is responsible for the properties.

One Herat resident claims he is the owner of the public bathhouse. He says he had the 250-year-old property partially demolished.

Zalmai Safa, Herat’s director of historical monuments, says the man is the legal owner but was not given permission to tear down the site. “He wanted to acquire and reconstruct the bathhouse,” he told Radio Free Afghanistan. “But due to its antiquity, construction method, and significance to Herat’s Jewish history, we did not permit its demolition.”

Disputed Land, Neglected Property

The revolutions, large-scale displacement, and horrific violence of the past half-century have left a legacy of conflicts at all levels across Afghanistan. Disputes over land and property ownership are the most common kind of conflict between individuals and communities. The fact that Herat’s Jewish community left decades ago has encouraged some to take over the dilapidated communal properties.

Safa says these properties are relics of the Jewish community and have immense value for Afghans wishing to remember their legacy. His hope is for Afghans to preserve the remaining monuments so that they will exist for future generations as a testament to religious tolerance.

“These monuments are important because of their historic heritage. They showcase the tolerance our society had for the adherents of various faiths,” he noted. “It is our duty to preserve them for future generations just as our ancestors preserved them for us.”

Herat officials say that before they fled the country Jews transferred the ownership of synagogues, cemeteries, and other properties to the Afghan government. Others sold them outright.

Herat resident Younis, who like many Afghans goes by one name only, fondly remembers living next door to a Jewish family in the 1970s. He says in those days religious differences were never a topic of discussion.

“There were probably 70 to 80 Jewish families in the area we were living in. We had a good relationship with them,” he said. “We went to their shops, and they came to our homes. But then the revolution came, and everyone fled; they all moved to Israel,” he said of the last few families.

Gul Ahmad, another Herat resident, says Jewish history is a staple of Afghan history. “On one side lived the Jews; on the other side was us,” he said. “Both sides tolerated and respected each other. Our faith was never contentious between us, so it was not discussed,” he said.

Following Their Ancestors’ Footsteps

Today, Jews travel to Herat’s old city to see where their ancestors lived for generations and what they left behind.

“Jewish families send their children to come back and visit these sites, to meet us and revisit their roots,” Ahmad said.

But many are afraid that the monuments are deteriorating due to neglect and without the proper care will erase the memory of a once-vibrant community.

The synagogues of Yu Aw, Mulla Ashur, Shamail, Golkia, and Georgia, the bathhouse, cemetery, and many mud dwellings are all hanging by a thread. In the old city, three out of the five remaining synagogues have undergone some sort of preservation. Yu Aw, the largest synagogue in Herat and the only synagogue to undergo proper preservation of its original characteristics, has been declared a historic site. Shamail was turned into a school after repairs.

The Mulla Ashur synagogue has remained in shambles without any repairs in sight because of the government’s lack of a restoration budget. And Golkia, a former place of worship for the Jewish community, has been turned into a mosque, though its architecture remains the same.

Some of the graves in the Jewish cemetery have been restored with financial assistance from the Jewish diaspora.

Like most Afghans and especially ethnic minorities in the country, Herat’s Jews were multilingual, speaking their own tongue along with the local language. They could read Hebrew and speak their version of Judeo-Persian, a dialect of the lingua franca of Afghanistan.

Homayoun Ahmadi, a cultural expert in Herat, stresses the need to rebuild and restore the remnants of the Jewish community in order to better attract foreign tourists.

“The existence of synagogues in Herat represents a degree of religious tolerance in Afghanistan,” he said. “It showcases that the Jews in Herat lived in harmony during many different periods in Afghanistan.”

Nilly Kohzad wrote this story based on reporting by Shapoor Saber.

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.

Thousands Of Families Flee Fighting In Southern Afghan Province

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RFE/RL’s Radio Free Afghanistan
October 13, 2020

LASHKAR GAH, Afghanistan — An Afghan official says thousands of families have been forced to flee fighting in the southern province of Helmand, an area that has become a battleground between Taliban militants and government forces.

Mohammad Ramin, head of the province’s refugee office, told RFE/RL on October 13 that most of the more than 5,000 families that left were relocated to the provincial capital, Lashkar Gah.

“It’s serious. So far, only the women’s department has given us a market [to shelter those displaced] and the residents have started providing them with food aid, but no other institution has worked to deliver the aid so far,” he said, adding that the number of families was growing.

Allaudin is among those who took refuge in Lashkar Gah, where he said the situation “is getting worse every hour.”

“Fear is rampant in the city. The surrounding areas are in the hands of the Taliban. They are coming closer,” he told RFE/RL.

Gulbadin said he moved to the city the night before.

“We spent the whole night in the truck. There is no food and clean water,” he said.

Government forces have been resisting militant attacks on the outskirts of the city over the past days.

“The Afghan forces retreated from some areas to avoid casualties to the security forces and civilians,” dpa quoted a local official as saying. “Now, the operation is ongoing to retake those places.”

Local officials said Afghan special forces with air support launched an operation in the area overnight and that at least 23 Taliban fighters were killed, according to Tolo News.

The fighting comes as Afghan government representatives and Taliban negotiators hold peace talks in Qatar.

The negotiations are meant to end Afghanistan’s decades-long long war, following a deal signed by the United States and the Taliban in the Qatari capital in February.

On October 12, the U.S. military in Afghanistan said it had carried out air strikes in support of Afghan security forces under attack in Helmand Province over the previous two days.

“The Taliban need to immediately stop their offensive actions in Helmand Province and reduce their violence around the country,” a spokesman tweeted, quoting General Scott Miller, the commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan.

“It is not consistent with the U.S.-Taliban agreement and undermines the ongoing Afghan Peace Talks.”

Under the February deal, foreign forces are to leave Afghanistan by May in exchange for counterterrorism guarantees from the Taliban.

On October 12, Doctors Without Borders (MSF) in Afghanistan reported that Lashkar Gah’s “Trauma Hospital was overwhelmed and MSF teams in nearby Boost Provincial Hospital are supporting the over-flow of patients.”

Twenty people injured in the fighting had been admitted to the Boost Provincial Hospital, the charity said.

With reporting by dpa and Tolo News

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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