Ariana: The spokesman for the Ministry of Public Health said that 66 new cases had been registered in the past 24 hours, including 52 in Kabul, five in Laghman, four in Nangarhar and one in Paktia. On the other hand, Arg says that President Ashraf and the first lady, Rula Ghani, have tested negative for the Coronavirus. Click here to read more (external link).
Related
Tolo News: Local officials in the northern province of Badakhshan on Tuesday said that Daesh and affiliate groups are moving to establish a stronger military presence in the province so they can continue the war against the Afghan security forces. According to the local officials, there are around 400 fighters linked with various ‘terrorist groups’ such as Daesh, the Tajikistan-based Ansarullah militant group, the East Turkestan Islamic Movement, the Harkat-i-Islami Uzbekistan and the Uighur jihadists, and these fighters are operating in various parts of the province, but especially in the Khastak valley of Juram district. Badakhshan province has borders with China, Pakistan and Tajikistan. But Khastak valley of Juram, which is adjacent to Pakistan, is an important point from a military perspective. Click here to read more (external link).
Other Security News
Tolo News: Reporters Without Borders (RSF) dropped Afghanistan from 121st to 122nd place in its newly-released 2020 Press Freedom Index, calling Afghanistan Pakistan, Philippines and Bangladesh the “world’s deadliest countries for journalists and bloggers.” According to the report, no journalist was killed in the country so far this year, but for Afghanistan’s journalists, 2018 was the deadliest year since the fall of the Taliban regime in 2001. Click here to read more (external link).
1TV: Uzbekistan has warned that it could cut electricity supplies to Afghanistan due to delay in payment, Afghanistan’s national power company said. Afghanistan is highly dependent on imports to meet its electricity needs. 77 percent of electricity in Afghanistan is imported from Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan and Iran. Click here to read more (external link).
Tolo News: 30 new positive coronavirus cases have been reported in the past 24 hours, bringing the total cases to 1,026, said Wahidullah Mayar, a spokesman for the Health Ministry. The 30 new positive coronavirus cases have been reported in Kabul (15), Herat (6), Laghman (4), Kunar (4) and Nangarhar (1) in the past 24 hours, Mayar said at a press conference. Click here to read more (external link).
Related
Ayesha Tanzeem
VOA News
April 20, 2020
ISLAMABAD – As many as 26 members of Afghan local forces or pro-government militias were killed over the past two days in northern Afghanistan in fighting with the Taliban, according to the Ministry of Defense and local officials.
On Sunday night, Taliban fighters attacked local Afghan forces in Khwaja Ghar district in Takhar province. Mohammad Jawad Hijri, a spokesman for Takhar’s governor, told VOA fighting continued for hours and the attack was only repulsed after reinforcements arrived.
A Defense Ministry statement said 17 of those killed belonged to the Afghan local army, which is different from the regular national army in Afghanistan. Officially called the Afghan National Army Territorial Force, the local force under the leadership of the army was created in 2018 to allow locals to guard their own territories.
“[T]hey work extremely well, producing determined fighters with local knowledge who protect the civilians in their areas and often stand their ground more than regular troops because they have nowhere else to retreat to,” wrote Kate Clark, the co-director of Afghanistan Analysts Network in a dispatch about the local force.
Meanwhile, provincial officials in Balkh confirmed a separate Taliban attack Saturday in the Shulgra district that killed nine men and wounded seven others. All of them belonged to local militias known as anti-Taliban uprising forces.
The Taliban have not yet commented on these incidents, but the insurgent group has come under heavy criticism for continuing attacks that often kill innocent civilians.
For a week in February, leading up to the Taliban’s signing a historic deal with the United States to end the war in Afghanistan, all sides agreed to reduction in violence. Security incidents around the country dropped to a trickle. The Afghan government and its allies were hoping the reduction in violence would continue but the level of Taliban attacks increased soon after the week was over.
Findings by Afghanistan’s local Tolonews channel showed the Taliban have carried out more than 2,000 attacks on Afghan security forces since the signing of the deal on February 29.
A countrywide cease-fire was supposed to be one of the top items on the agenda of talks between the Taliban and other Afghan factions. Those talks have been postponed due to a delay in the release of as many as 5,000 Taliban prisoners by the Afghan government.
However, in the past two weeks, the Afghan government has released around 361 prisoners in batches, and the Taliban has released around 60 security forces personnel held by them, raising hopes that the two sides may be inching closer to the start of talks.
Tolo News: The Taliban has shared a list of 50 attacks conducted by the US and Afghan forces following the US-Taliban peace deal in late February, accusing the US of violating terms of the deal and thus adding another layer of complication to the already hindered peace process. Click here to read more (external link).
Ariana: The positive cases of Coronavirus have jumped to 996 in Afghanistan, the Public Health Ministry confirms. Addressing a conference in Kabul, Public Health Minister Ferozuddin Feroz said that the cases have been registered in the following order: Kabul 31, Balkh 16, Kunar 6, Herat 4, Baghlan 3, Faryab 1, Laghman 1 and Jowzjan 1 in the past 24 hours. Click here to read more (external link).
Related