Eshchi’s Son Opposes Marshal Rank for Dostum in Proposed Plan

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Abdul Rashid Dostum

Tolo News: In a letter to Abdullah Abdullah, Baktash Eshchi, the son of Ahmad Eshchi, the former Jawzjan governor and ex-member of the National Islamic Movement of Afghanistan, has urged Abdullah not to recommend marshal rank for General Abdul Rashid Dostum in the proposed plan intended to end the political impasse.

This comes amid reports that Afghanistan’s former first vice president and leader of the National Islamic Movement of Afghanistan, General Abdul Rashid Dostum, would be awarded the rank of marshal as part of a proposed political agreement between President Ashraf Ghani and his political rival Abdullah Abdullah.

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Congressmen Raise Questions About Taliban’s Commitment To February Agreement

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Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
May 9, 2020

The top members of the U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee say an increase in violence in Afghanistan has raised questions about the Taliban’s commitment to an agreement it signed with the United States in February.

Representatives Eliot Engel (Democrat-New York), chairman of the committee, and Michael McCaul (Republican-Texas) say the “dramatic increase” in violence in Afghanistan is an “unacceptable violation” of the U.S.-Taliban peace agreement signed February 29.

“The Taliban’s continued attacks on Afghan forces make us question whether the Taliban will uphold its commitments, jeopardize progress towards peace, and prevent negotiations from moving forward,” Engel and McCaul said in a joint statement on May 8.

The violence has coincided with the rapid spread of the coronavirus, and Engel and McCaul said that it has prevented Afghans from focusing on the health crisis.

Engel and McCaul called on all parties to stop attacks immediately, agree to a cease-fire, and support the road to peace.

Their comments follow U.S. Defense Secretary Mark Esper’s statement on May 5 that the Taliban was not living up to its commitments, adding that he also believed the Afghan government was not living up to its commitment.

The Afghan government was not part of the February agreement between the United States and the Taliban, but the deal called for Kabul to release 5,000 Taliban fighters as a confidence-building measure ahead of intra-Afghan talks.

The deal paves the way for the withdrawal of all international troops from Afghanistan within 14 months. In addition to an exchange of prisoners, it is intended to lead to peace talks between the Afghan government and the Taliban aimed at ending the 18-year conflict.

But attacks by Taliban militants have increased since the deal was signed.

The latest attack by Taliban militants killed a provincial police chief and two others in a roadside bomb attack in Khost Province in Afghanistan’s southeast, officials said on May 8.

Khost police chief Sayed Ahmad Babazai was leading an operation against the militants in the province when he was hit by the bomb on May 7, Interior Ministry spokesman Tariq Arian said.

Babazai’s secretary and one of his bodyguards were also killed, local officials confirmed. Another policeman was severely wounded in the incident.

The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack.

It comes as the U.S. peace envoy for Afghanistan Zalmay Khalilzad said on May 7 that he had talked to Taliban leaders in Qatar about a reduction in violence and a range of other issues related to the February agreement.

With reporting by dpa 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.

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Afghan Protesters Killed in Clashes With Police

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Ayaz Gul
VOA News
May 9, 2020

ISLAMABAD – Officials in central Afghanistan said Saturday clashes between aid-seeking protesters and police have killed at least four civilians, including a journalist, and injured 14 others.

The violence came as a coronavirus-related shutdown and partial border closures with neighboring countries have disrupted food deliveries into landlocked Afghanistan. The restrictions increased prices in a country where officials estimate more than 50% of the population lives below the poverty line.

Saturday’s clashes erupted after dozens of people gathered outside the governor’s office in impoverished Ghor province to protest what they said was a lack of official assistance for their poverty-stricken families.

Provincial Governor Nasar Khazi told VOA some of the protesters were carrying arms and tried to attack and set fire to his office before police opened fire to disperse the crowd. He said ensuing clashes also injured four Afghan security personnel.

Demonstrators said a local radio journalist was also among the dead.

The Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC) denounced as worrying” reports of police firing at protesters. “Completely unacceptable. The AIHRC team in Ghor are looking into details,” tweeted Shaharzad Akbar, the watchdog’s chairperson.

The Afghan public health ministry has confirmed coronavirus infections surpassed 4,000, including 106 deaths, as of Saturday.

The Afghan government launched an emergency relief program this month to distribute bread to hundreds of thousands of families across Afghanistan to mitigate the economic impact of counter-pandemic restrictions.

The spike in essential food prices is taking place during the ongoing Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, posing additional trouble for many Afghans.

The pandemic has hit the country as an almost 19-year-old war between Afghan security forces, backed by a U.S.-led foreign coalition, and Taliban insurgents has intensified in recent weeks.

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Ghani Tasks 10-Member Team to Probe Drowning of Afghan Migrants

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Ashraf Ghani

Tolo News: Afghanistan’s President Ashraf Ghani has tasked a 10-member team to probe reports of the drowning of dozens of Afghan migrants by Iranian border security forces earlier this week. Mohammad Hamid Tahmasbi will lead the probe team, said Sediq Sediqqi, a spokesman to Afghan president Ashraf Ghani. Click here to read more (external link).

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3,776 Confirmed COVID-19 Cases in Afghanistan

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Tolo News: The Ministry of Public Health on Friday reported 215 new positive cases of COVID-19 in Afghanistan, amid fears that lockdown rules are not being obeyed in Kabul and other major Afghan cities. The total known cases of COVID-19 in Afghanistan is now 3,776, with 109 deaths and 472 recoveries. Click here to read more (external link).

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Taliban Says It is Unaware of Missing US Contractor

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Ayaz Gul
VOA News
May 8, 2020

ISLAMABAD – The Taliban said Friday it has conveyed to the United States the insurgent group is not holding an American hostage missing in Afghanistan.

U.S. envoy for Afghan peace and reconciliation, Zalmay Khalilzad, has confirmed he called for the release of Mark Frerichs, a Navy veteran-turned contractor, in his meeting Wednesday with Qatar-based Taliban leaders.

Meanwhile, Afghan officials said an insurgent-planted roadside bomb explosion in eastern Khost province killed the provincial police chief and his three security guards. The Taliban claimed responsibility for plotting the deadly attack.

U.S. officials and family members say Frerichs was abducted in late January. No group in Afghanistan has since claimed responsibility in a country ravaged and mired by years of violence.

“Yes, Dr. Khalilzad asked for his release and he has made similar requests in our previous meetings with him,” Taliban spokesman Suhail Shaheen told VOA Friday.

“But from our side, it has again been conveyed to him that Mark Frerichs is not with us, nor did we capture him,” said the insurgent official from the group’s political office in the Qatari capital of Doha.

U.S. officials reportedly have blamed the dreaded Haqqani network, a militant group aligned with the Taliban. But Khalilzad’s statement is the first time the Trump administration has publicly spoken about the kidnapping of Frerichs.

Shaheen insisted that had the Taliban kidnapped the American man, it would have “explicitly told him [Khalilzad] that, yes, he is with us in the same manner in which way we earlier had Americans with us, and we had released videos and shared their information with media. But this is not the case now.”

Khalilzad tweeted Thursday that he had a “lengthy” overnight meeting with Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, the Taliban political deputy chief and head of its Doha office.

“We sought progress on a range of topics: a reduction in violence, humanitarian cease-fire … to allow for better cooperation on managing the COVID-19 pandemic in Afghanistan, acceleration of prisoner releases by both sides, actions necessary to secure the freedom of U.S. citizen Mark Frerichs, regional & international support for the peace process, and movement to intra-Afghan negotiations,” Khalilzad wrote.

After visiting India, and his scheduled meetings Friday in Pakistan, Khalilzad said he will go back to Qatar to meet again with Taliban leaders.

The Afghan-born American diplomat negotiated and signed a landmark agreement with the Taliban in February. During those marathon talks between the two adversaries, Khalilzad had managed to secure the release of two Western hostages, U.S. Kevin King and Australian Timothy Weeks, in a prisoner swap with the Taliban last November.

The February 29 U.S.-Taliban agreement is aimed at ending the nearly 19-year-old Afghan war, America’s longest. The pact requires U.S. and coalition troops to exit Afghanistan by July 2021 in return for Taliban counterterrorism assurances and engagement in talks with other Afghan groups to end decades of hostilities in the country.

Progress toward next crucial steps outlined in the deal, however, has been extremely slow.

The Afghan government, which was not part of the deal, has to release up to 5,000 Taliban prisoners in exchange for 1,000 government personnel being held by the insurgent group before negotiations could open between Afghan parties to the war.

Kabul so far has freed 933 detainees and the insurgents have released 155 prisoners. The Taliban is linking its participation in intra-Afghan talks to the release of all insurgent inmates.

Washington has been pressing both sides to accelerate the prisoner swap and open intra-Afghan talks that originally were scheduled to begin March 10.

The Taliban, meanwhile, also has stepped up battlefield attacks in recent days, ignoring domestic and international calls for a temporary cease-fire in the wake of coronavirus outbreak in Afghanistan. The Afghan government cites the rise in violence for its reluctance to free Taliban prisoners.

The U.S. embassy in Kabul condemned Thursday’s bombing that killed Khost police chief, Sayed Ahmad Babazai, and his colleagues. Provincial officials told VOA the slain police officer was traveling to an area where Afghan forces were under attack from Taliban insurgents when his vehicle struck a landmine.

But the insurgents insist a permanent cease-fire will be on the agenda when intra-Afghan talks begin to discuss a future power sharing arrangement in post-war Afghanistan.

Taliban Militants Kill Afghan Regional Police Chief In Latest Attack

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Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
May 8, 2020

Taliban militants have killed a provincial police chief and two others in a roadside bomb attack in Khost Province in Afghanistan’s southeast, officials said on May 8.

Khost police chief Sayed Ahmad Babazai was leading an operation against the militants in the western part of the province when he was hit by the bomb late on May 7, Interior Ministry spokesman Tariq Arian said.

Babazai’s secretary and one of his bodyguards were also killed in the explosion, local officials confirmed. Another policeman was severely wounded in the incident.

The Taliban militant group claimed responsibility for the attack.

It comes as the U.S. peace envoy for Afghanistan, Zalmay Khalilzad, said on May 7 that he had talked to Taliban leaders in Qatar about a “reduction in violence” and a range of other issues related to the U.S.-Taliban peace agreement signed in February.

The deal paves the way for the withdrawal of all international troops from Afghanistan within 14 months. In addition to an exchange of prisoners, it is intended to lead to peace talks between the Afghan government and the Taliban.

According to the quarterly report of the U.S. Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction, the Taliban has not launched any attacks on international troops since the agreement, but have increased attacks on Afghan government forces.

Based on reporting by dpa 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.

Horrific Murder Of Teenage Girl Again Puts Spotlight On Afghanistan’s ‘Honor’ Killings

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By Nemat Ahmadi and Frud Bezhan
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
May 7, 2020

BADAKHSHAN, Afghanistan — Afghan girls and women who have relationships with men outside marriage are often the target of brutal punishments — including public floggings, prison, and even death.

One teenage girl who is believed to have broken that social norm paid the ultimate price this week when her brother killed her after she ran away from home with her boyfriend.

The shocking incident was just the latest case in Afghanistan of so-called “honor” killings: the murder of women for allegedly dishonoring the family, such as eloping with men or committing adultery.

‘Stabbed To Death’

Police said Nazela, an 18-year-old woman, was strangled with electric wire and then stabbed to death in the Baharak district of the northeastern province of Badakhshan on May 1.

Noor Agha Naderi, the district governor of Baharak, told RFE/RL that the victim had rejected a marriage proposal to another man that had been arranged by her family.

Naderi said she ran away from home and took refuge at the district police headquarters with her boyfriend. But just two days later, her brother picked her up from the station and assured police that nothing would happen to her.

Within an hour, she was dead.

“Unfortunately, when she arrived home, her brother stabbed her to death,” said Naderi. “The brother fled to a Taliban-controlled area.”

Authorities believe the victim’s brother escaped to Jurm district, which is controlled by the Islamic militant group, making it difficult for law enforcement to apprehend him.

The Taliban controls and contests parts of Badakhshan, a remote, mountainous province bordering Tajikistan, China, and Pakistan.

Naderi said the police officials who released the victim, knowing that she was in danger, have been suspended and are under investigation.

Arefa Nawid, the head of the provincial office of Afghanistan’s Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC), blamed police for mishandling the case.

She said police should not have released the woman and instead should have transferred her to a women’s shelter.

“This happened because of [the police],” Nawid told RFE/RL.

The victim’s boyfriend has been placed under police protection.

‘Moral’ Crimes

So-called “moral offenses,” including adultery or even running away from home, are not considered crimes under the Afghan Criminal Code. But hundreds of women and girls have nevertheless been imprisoned after being convicted of “immorality” by courts dominated by religious conservatives.

In some rural areas, where Taliban militants exert considerable influence, residents often view government bodies as corrupt or unreliable and turn to Taliban courts to settle disputes.

The Taliban courts employ strict interpretations of Shari’a law, which prescribes death, or in other cases public flogging, for men or women found guilty of having a physical relationship outside marriage.

The woman’s own family is often behind the punishments, in some cases shunning the woman or handing her over to authorities for prosecution. In the worst cases, the woman’s own relatives can carry out the killings.

Spate Of Killings

Nazela’s story is all too common in Afghanistan, where violence against women is widespread.

Despite women making significant inroads since the end of Taliban rule in 2001, domestic abuse remains routine and forced or arranged marriages are the norm.

In recent years, there has been a spate of chilling public punishments of Afghan women accused of moral crimes.

In 2019, the AIHRC recorded nearly 4,700 cases of violence against women in Afghanistan, an 8 percent increase compared to the previous year.

The AIHRC recorded the murders of 238 Afghan women in 2019, with 96 labeled as honor killings. This was a slight decrease compared to 2018. Often the murders are not reported and perpetrators go unpunished.

In May 2019, female journalist Mena Mangal was killed in the capital, Kabul, just days after getting a divorce from her abusive husband.

In 2017, an 18-year-old woman in the eastern province of Nuristan who had been forced by her family to marry a man against her wishes ran away with her boyfriend.

An armed mob stormed a police station where the couple had sought refuge and killed them.

In October 2015, 19-year-old Rokhsana was stoned to death by Taliban militants in the central province of Ghor after being accused of having premarital sex.

In November 2015, a 26-year-old Afghan woman died of her injuries after being publicly lashed, also in Ghor. She had been accused of running away from home.

And in August 2016, also in Ghor Province, a young man and woman found guilty of having sex outside marriage were publicly lashed.

Adultery has also resulted in several cases of women being stoned to death in areas controlled by the Taliban in recent years.

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.