US Admits Taliban Offensive Is Whittling IS’s Grip on Afghanistan

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By Jeff Seldin
VOA News
March 20, 2020

Almost a week since the Afghan Taliban trumpeted the defeat of the Islamic State in Afghanistan’s Kunar province, U.S. officials remain wary, though they concede the terror group’s grip on territory in rural areas appears to be slipping.

The latest assessment is consistent with U.S. appraisals of previous claims by both Taliban and Afghan government officials, which they say, while based in fact, have at times overstated gains against one of the Islamic State’s most resilient and dangerous affiliates.

“The Taliban’s campaign against ISIS-Khorasan in Kunar province is consistent with Taliban public statements to rout the group from Afghanistan,” a U.S. counterterrorism official told VOA, using an acronym for the terror group.

“ISIS-Khorasan has continued to face pressure from the Taliban in Kunar province this year,” the official said, cautioning, “Recent attacks in Kabul claimed by ISIS-Khorasan indicate the group is still active and capable of conducting attacks in urban centers.”

Taliban officials first started sharing word of the Islamic State’s defeat in Kunar on March 14, saying it was the result of a 14-day operation that took advantage of better weather across the mountainous, northeastern Afghan province.

“The entire province of Kunar was cleared of Daesh criminals and the people were rescued through this victory,” the Taliban said in a statement, using the Arabic acronym for the terror group.

The statement also claimed 114 IS-Khorasan members surrendered to Taliban forces, while more than 100 others fled.

But U.S. officials have pushed back against the idea that the Taliban alone were responsible for the recent gains.

“Several dozen ISIS-Khorasan fighters have also surrendered to Afghan forces over the past few weeks,” the counterterrorism official said, noting ongoing operations by both the Afghan government and the U.S.-led coalition.

Top U.S. military officials also argue the Taliban’s efforts against IS-Khorasan, also known as IS-K or ISIS-K, have benefited from “very limited” U.S. support.

“We suspended actively pursuing Taliban units engaged with ISIS-K,” a military official said on the condition of anonymity, pointing to fighting late last year in Nangarhar province.

“We also conducted some strikes on known ISIS-K locations,” the official said. “However, those strikes were not coordinated with the Taliban.”

‘A bloody mess’

But top U.S. officials admit that Taliban efforts against IS-Khorasan have proven effective.

“We’ve watched the Taliban compress and crush ISIS’s presence on the ground in southern Nangarhar province,” U.S. Central Command’s General Kenneth McKenzie told lawmakers earlier this month.

“That’s some of the worst terrain in the world,” he said. “It was a bloody mess, but they did it.”

Yet questions persist about just how debilitating defeats in Nangarhar province and elsewhere have been for IS-Khorasan.

Recent U.S. estimates on the number of IS-Khorasan fighters have varied between 1,000 and as many as 5,000. Just last month, U.S. Forces-Afghanistan said it was possible IS-Khorasan had “lost up to half its force” because of pressure from coalition, Afghan and Taliban operations.

Still, U.S. military official caution they have “low confidence” in the lower estimates. They note that IS-Khorasan has been repeatedly pushed to the brink, losing key leaders while seeing its numbers whittled to the low hundreds, only to bounce back.

“Losing territory does not equate to the end of ISIS and its affiliates,” a Defense Department inspector general’s report concluded last month. “Even when ISIS-K was based in Nangarhar, it had established cells in other parts of the country and demonstrated the ability to spread and recruit.”

Looking ahead

Some analysts also caution that the leaders of IS-Khorasan, like their counterparts in Iraq and Syria, may be less focused on holding territory, instead looking to lay the groundwork for a larger resurgence after U.S. forces leave Afghanistan.

U.S. intelligence indicates that despite having lost territory in Nangarhar and Kunar provinces, IS-Khorasan still has strongholds in Herat province and parts of Kabul, while maintaining smaller cells in Helmand, Kapisa and Baghlan provinces.

There are also indications that IS-Khorasan is focusing on more global ambitions.

“Of all of the branches and networks of ISIS, ISIS-K is certainly one of those of most concern,” Russell Travers, former acting director of the U.S. National Counterterrorism Center,  told lawmakers last November.

“They have attempted, certainly, to inspire attacks outside of Afghanistan,” he said, adding “they certainly have got the desire” to carry out the attacks themselves.

Nawroz Celebration in Balkh Canceled over Coronavirus

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Tolo News:  The Nawroz festival, which is held every year in the city of Mazar-e-Sharif on the solar new year and usually draws thousands of people, was canceled this year over the coronavirus outbreak in the country. A customary ceremony was held at the mosque, but the event took place on Thursday night and was not open to the public or journalists, in order to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, said Atiqullah Ansari, the director at the Blue Mosque. Click here to read more (external link).

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At Least 24 Afghan Security Forces Killed In Insider Attack

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Assadullah Khalid

Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
March 20, 2020

At least 24 Afghan security forces were killed early on March 20 in an insider attack on their base in southern Zabul Province, officials say.

Several “infiltrators” opened fire on their comrades as they slept, Zabul Governor Rahmatullah Yarmal said, in one of the deadliest attacks since the United States signed an agreement with the Taliban last month.

The raid targeted a joint police and army facility near the provincial capital, Qalat, long considered a Taliban stronghold.

“In the attack, 14 Afghan Army forces and 10 policemen were killed,” Zabul provincial council chief Ata Jan Haq Bayan said.

Four other Afghan security forces were missing, Bayan added.

“The attackers had connections with the Taliban insurgents,” he said.

The attackers fled the scene in two military Humvee vehicles, along with a pickup truck, weapons, and ammunition.

The Taliban did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The incident comes a day after Afghan Defense Minister Asadullah Khalid said the Taliban should commit to a truce as a means of helping both sides battle the spread of the coronavirus, which he called a “plague” on the war-ravaged country.

Khalid also said in a televised statement on March 19 that government forces were remaining in an “active defense” posture as a recently agreed U.S.-Taliban peace deal remains under pressure amid disagreements over prisoner releases and other issues.

“Our proposal is that to prevent this plague, a cease-fire should come, so that we would be able to prevent it and treat people in every corner of the country,” Khalid said.

Afghan health authorities have confirmed 22 cases of the coronavirus and no deaths, but only a few hundred people have been tested in the country of 35 million people. Neighboring Iran has reported more than 18,000 cases and 1,284 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University research.

Khalid’s remarks come a day after the United States said the government of Afghanistan and the Taliban should begin prisoner releases “as soon as possible,” adding that the global coronavirus pandemic was adding to the urgency.

U.S. special envoy Zalmay Khalilzad wrote in a Twitter thread on March 18 that the “coronavirus makes prisoner releases urgent; time is of the essence.”

Khalilzad on February 29 signed a deal with Taliban negotiators aimed at ending the nearly 19-year Afghan war.

The accord called for the release by the Afghan government of up to 5,000 Taliban prisoners as well as the freeing of 1,000 Afghan government captives ahead of intra-Afghan talks.

The Taliban, which so far has refused to meet directly with the Afghan government, said it was committed to the deal but would not start negotiations with Kabul until its fighters were freed.

The Western-backed government in Kabul was not a party to the deal and initially resisted freeing any prisoners. President Ashraf Ghani then agreed to free 1,500 prisoners last week and the rest after peace talks were finalized and Taliban violence had ceased.

But the peace process was again thrown into crisis on March 15 when Kabul said the release of the first Taliban prisoners had been delayed.

Jawed Faisal, a spokesman for the Afghan National Security Adviser’s office, said the government needed more time to review the list of the prisoners.

With reporting by AFP 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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Afghan COVID-19 Survivor: ‘Strong Morale’ is Key

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Wahid Ahmad

Tolo News: Wahid Ahmad, a resident of the western province of Herat, recovered from a COVID-19 infection and said that having “strong morale,” along with following medical advice, is the best way to fight the illness. He was the first reported case of COVID-19 infection in Afghanistan. Wahid Ahmad recovered completely from the epidemic after a month of hospitalization in Herat province. Click here to read more (external link).

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Parallel governments will be harmful to Afghan people, warns US diplomat

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Alice Wells

1TV: Parallel Afghan governments are not the answer, and will be harmful to the Afghan people, a top US diplomat said on Thursday. Alice Wells, the US Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia, said on Twitter that Afghan leaders must prioritize and protect unity of the nation. “The impasse over governance must end,” Wells said. Click here to read more (external link).

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US Presses for Afghan Prisoner Swap Amid Coronavirus Fears

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Zalmay Khalilzad

Ayaz Gul
VOA News
March 19, 2020

ISLAMABAD – The United States is calling on warring sides in Afghanistan to start a prisoner swap without further delay, citing urgency in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.

U.S. reconciliation envoy Zalmay Khalilzad in a series of tweets Wednesday appeared frustrated at the delay in the next steps outlined in Washington’s peace-building agreement with the Taliban insurgency.

“No prisoners have been released to date despite the commitment to do so expressed by both sides,” said Khalilzad, who negotiated and signed the Feb. 29 U.S.-Taliban pact in Qatar.

“The time has come to move forward on prisoner releases,” he stressed.

The accord required Afghan President Ashraf Ghani to free 5,000 Taliban prisoners in exchange for 1,000 detainees, mostly government security forces, in insurgent custody. The swap had to take place by March 10, when Afghan parties to the war were scheduled to open direct peace talks.

The delay is largely blamed on the Afghan government that was not part of the U.S.-Taliban negotiations and the eventual agreement.

Conditional prisoner swap 

Last week, Ghani allowed for a conditional release of 1,500 prisoners, saying the remaining inmates would be freed in batches, subject to a reduction in Taliban violence and opening of the peace talks. He also sought assurances the released men would not return to the battlefield.

But the Taliban rejected the plan as a violation of its agreement with Washington, saying all the insurgent detainees were to be released at once, unconditionally, before the start of intra-Afghan negotiations.

The differences prompted Kabul to halt the release process altogether while sticking to its stance.

A spokesman for the Afghan national security adviser, however, has rejected Khalilzad’s call for the prisoner swap, saying there is no change in Kabul’s stance.

“The Taliban will have to stop killing Afghans and provide guarantees that those getting released shall not be returning to war. Time for them to end violence and commit to a dignified peace,” said spokesman Javid Faisal in a video message.

Khalilzad said the U.S. was obligated to its commitments under the pact to help both sides in reaching an understanding to move the Afghan peace process forward.

“The Taliban commit that released prisoners will abide by the commitments made in the peace agreement and not return to the battlefield. A violation will undermine the peace process,” the U.S. envoy noted.

Washington last week began a “conditions-based” drawdown of U.S. forces from the country under the agreement to bring the troop level to 8,600 from the roughly 13,000 stationed in Afghanistan.

The Trump administration has agreed to withdraw all American and allied forces within 14 months. In return, the Islamist Taliban has pledged not to harbor on Afghan soil terrorist groups that seek to target the U.S.

Wednesday’s statement by Khalilzad came as war-ravaged Afghanistan has confirmed around two dozen coronavirus cases in the country, blaming them on returnees from neighboring Iran, where the virus has killed hundreds and infected thousands.

“Coronavirus makes prisoner releases urgent; time is of the essence,” Khalilzad stressed in his tweets. He went on to note that the pandemic and the resulting travel restrictions likely would require “virtual engagement for now” between rival Afghan parties to work together “to begin prisoner releases as soon as possible.”

Meanwhile, the U.S. military Wednesday dismissed reports that the coronavirus has disrupted the troop drawdown process.

“Protecting the force is our top priority,” tweeted Col. Sonny Leggett, who speaks for the mission in Afghanistan.

“We continue to execute the ordered drawdown to 8600,” he wrote.

‘Decree of Allah’ 

Afghan officials and politicians fear the number of coronavirus infections could be much higher, citing extremely limited testing and capacity issues facing the deteriorated national public health care system thanks to years of conflict.

On Monday, 38 patients fled a hospital in western Herat province with the help of relatives. Afghan health officials said one of them had tested positive for the coronavirus.

The radical Taliban in a statement issued Wednesday said Afghans to must consider COVID-19 as a “decree of Allah (God).” It said the disease has been sent by Allah “because of the disobedience and sins of mankind or other reasons.”

The insurgent group advocated a religious approach to dealing with the coronavirus and offered a safe passage to international relief organizations in Taliban-controlled areas to send medical aid, equipment and medicine.

The Taliban controls or contests nearly half of Afghan territory.

“The safety guidelines issued by health organizations, doctors and other health experts must be observed and all safety precautions followed to the best of one’s abilities,” the Taliban statement said. It also warned Afghan businessmen to refrain from “unlawful profit, price hikes and hoarding.”

Political crisis  

But prisoner release is not the only issue holding up the Afghan peace process, critics say.

A lingering dispute over Afghanistan’s contentious Sept. 28 presidential election has crippled the governance in Kabul.

The election commission late last month declared incumbent Ghani the winner, but his rival Abdullah Abdullah rejected the outcome as fraudulent, and both held competing presidential inaugurations last week

The political rivalry has blocked efforts to put together a united Afghan team of negotiators to engage in talks with the Taliban. Khalilzad urged Ghani and Abdullah to end the impasse, warning the political crisis is undermining security in Afghanistan.

“It is time for Afghans to compromise and put their differences aside to resolve the political crisis resulting from elections and dual inaugurations,” the U.S. envoy said in subsequent tweets.

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Beaten And Burned Alive: Five Years Ago, The Killing That Shook Afghanistan

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Farkhunda

Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
March 19, 2020

By Freshta Jalalzai

Five years ago — on March 19, 2015 — a 27-year-old Afghan woman was beaten and burned alive in the very heart of Kabul by a mob of angry men.

Hundreds of people watched the killing of Farkhunda Malikzada, a student of the Koran and Islamic Shari’a law, while others participated in the rampage.

The mob’s outrage had been ignited by a false rumor that Farkhunda had blasphemed the Prophet Muhammad.

In fact, she had argued with a 60-year-old peddler about his practice of selling charms to women outside of an Islamic shrine in Kabul.

In the course of the argument, she was wrongly accused of blasphemy. The crowd on the street attacked her when they overheard the false accusation.

What does that event say about the challenges women in Afghanistan are faced with and the future of their fight for basic human rights?

Farkhunda’s violent death sent shock waves throughout a nation that had never seen such brutality against a woman outside of a holy shrine.

Some men grabbed Farkhunda by the hair, while others kicked her and hit her in the face. Then they dragged her to the banks of the Kabul River and set her on fire.

The Kabul River basin was dry from a long drought. For years, nearby shopkeepers and residents had used it like a garbage dump. Her body burned in the pile of waste.

“It was nearly evening. The news came on television. I swear my body was numb for a while,” said Nadia Khan, an attorney who was working in Kabul for the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) at the time.

“It was more shocking because ordinary men [attacked] her and then burned her alive,” Khan said, describing the violence as “maximum brutality.”

“I got goosebumps whenever a man would pass by me on the street, in the office, and even at home,” Khan said. “I did not like to look at my husband.”

Khan immigrated to the United States shortly after Farkhunda’s death and is currently an Uber driver.

‘Ordinary People’

Speaking to RFE/RL’s Radio Free Afghanistan by phone from her home in California, Khan said she is haunted by images of the killing that circulated on social media.

The mob did not carry guns.

“They seemed to be ordinary people like a shopkeeper, a taxi driver, a student,” Khan said.

That suggests that almost any Afghan man could have been among the killers, she said.

“She was my age,” Khan told RFE/RL. “I cannot imagine what she went through as men were lynching her and torched her almost lifeless body.”

Khan concludes that hatred and outrage shown by Farkhunda’s killers revealed festering problems in the hearts and minds of a society where women continue a daily struggle for their rights.

She said the killers exposed an extreme misogynist mindset that is deeply rooted in Afghan society — a culture that, for centuries, has held that men are superior to women.

“It is a thick layer of disrespect, distrust, and superiority that boils down to hatred towards women and will probably take several decades to clear,” Khan said.

Meanwhile, Heather Barr the acting co-director of the women’s rights division at Human Rights Watch, hints at another revelation: despite two decades in the fight for democracy, the Afghan government has done little to protect women.

She said “enemies to women’s rights hold power in Afghanistan,” and that governments have done “little to prioritize their rights.”

But she said it is also true that women’s lives, in general, have dramatically improved since the fall of the Taliban regime in late 2001.

Millions of Afghan girls are now allowed to go schools when before they were completely barred from doing so. The Taliban’s prohibition against woman working or attending universities also has been lifted and thousands now work in a range of jobs and study to become professionals.

Roya Rahmani became Afghanistan’s first woman ambassador to the United States in December 2018, a post she still holds.

Afghanistan has been represented by a female diplomat at the United Nations, Suraya Dalila, since November 2015.

And since the collapse of the Taliban regime, woman also have served Afghan ambassadors to the European Union, Germany, and in Nordic countries.

But in a troubled society that has suffered decades of war, where can the fight for women’s rights go?

Barr said the killing of Farkhunda is a reminder of the bleak situation for women’s rights in Afghanistan.

“She remains a devastating symbol of how dangerous life still is for women in Afghanistan,” Barr wrote in a March 5 report.

Barr also thinks a possible future peace deal between the Afghan government and the Taliban could be another setback unless women are allowed to be equal partners in the process.

“One of the most urgent steps the government should take right now is to make women full participants [in the intra-Afghan talks] — meaning 50 percent of the participants — in the delegation that will be negotiating with the Taliban over the country’s future,” Barr wrote.