Documentary On ‘Brave’ Afghan Girls Skateboarding Wins Oscar

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Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
February 10, 2020

A film about girls skateboarding in conservative Afghanistan has won an Oscar for best documentary short at the Academy Awards.

Learning to Skateboard in a Warzone (If You’re a Girl) shows international charity Skateistan’s work in teaching young girls in Kabul how to skate on ramps and quarter pipes in Kabul amid militant attacks.

In her speech in Los Angeles on February 9, U.S. documentary filmmaker Carol Dysinger hailed the “brave girls” of Afghanistan, where few women are encouraged to participate in sport.

The teachers at Skateistan “teach girls courage to raise [their] hand, to say: ‘I am here, I have something to say, and I’m going to take that ramp — don’t try to stop me’,” Dysinger said.

Skateistan’s executive director Oliver Percovich told the AFP news agency that the “the story of a group of girls who are defying expectations” had gotten the recognition it deserved.

“We see so many negative stories about Afghanistan and this is a story of real hope which can help to challenge perceptions,” Percovich said.

Skateistan says it “empowers children through skateboarding and education” in Afghanistan, Cambodia, and South Africa.

The group runs programs in the Afghan capital and the northern city of Mazar-e Sharif.

Based on reporting by AFP

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.

Farah Officials Claim Civilians Were Killed in Airstrike

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Tolo News: The provincial governor and a Farah MP both claim that an airstrike killed five civilians who were businessmen traveling on Saturday from Farah city to Abu Nasar Farahi Port when their vehicle was targeted. “The governor is in charge here … the governor must answer about who killed them,” said Abdul Ghafar Arman, an MP for Farah. The Ministry of Defense has not commented on the allegations. Foreign forces, contacted on Sunday night, have also not commented yet. Farah’s governor Massoud Bakhtor said that the incident will be investigated. Click here to read more (external link).

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Afghan government is corrupt: US presidential candidate Warren

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Warren

1TV: Afghan government is a corrupt government, US Democratic presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren said on Friday. “What has all these years of war brought us? Right now, the Afghan Government controls less than 60% of the land. People don’t have faith in it. It’s a corrupt government. The opium trade is higher than ever,” Senator Warren said speaking at a presidential debate. She suggested Afghanistan crisis cannot be solved militarily and US troops should be withdrawn. Click here to read more (external link).

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Two U.S. Soldiers Killed In Suspected Afghan Insider Attack

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Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
February 9, 2020

KABUL — Two U.S. soldiers have been killed and six wounded in a firefight in Afghanistan’s eastern Nangarhar Province, with the U.S. military saying initial reports indicate an attack was carried out by a man in an Afghan National Army (ANA) uniform.

Colonel Sonny Leggett, a spokesman for U.S. forces in Afghanistan, said in a statement early on February 9 that the incident occurred after a combined U.S.-Afghan force was returning from a “key-leader engagement” in which U.S. forces meet with important individuals of selected areas.

“Current reports indicate an individual in an Afghan uniform opened fire on the combined U.S. and Afghan force with a machine gun,” Leggett said.

“We are still collecting information, and the cause or motive behind the attack is unknown at this time,” he added.

Shah Mahmood Miakhel, the governor of Nangarhar Province, earlier told RFE/RL that at least three Afghan soldiers were injured in the attack that he also said appears to have been carried out by an assailant in an ANA uniform.

He added that the man had been killed and that his motive for the attack was not known.

Nangarhar Provincial Council member Ajmal Omer also told AP that the gunman was killed, adding that the incident took place in Nangarhar Province’s Sherzad District.

The New York Times on February 8 quoted an unnamed U.S. military official saying there were at least six American casualties and confirmed that there were fatalities without saying how many.

Assaults by rogue Afghan soldiers — so-called “green-on-blue” attacks — became a regular occurrence in the conflict, although they have become less frequent in recent years.

“We are not ruling any possibility out, but we are not calling it an insider attack, Taliban attack, or ‘green-on-blue’ at this stage,” an Afghan defense official told Reuters.

Sohrab Qaderi, a provincial council member in Nangarhar, said it was possible a “tactical mistake” occurred between Afghan and foreign forces.

U.S. spokesman Leggett said in a statement earlier that both Afghan and U.S. personnel were “engaged by direct firing.”

The Taliban and an Islamic State (IS) affiliate both operate in eastern Nangarhar Province. Taliban sources could not immediately be reached for comment.

Some 14,000 U.S. troops are stationed in Afghanistan as part of the U.S.-led NATO mission to train, assist, and advise Afghan forces and to carry out counterterrorism missions.

Washington has conducted talks with the Taliban in Qatar in an effort to find an end to Afghanistan’s 18-year war, but a deal has not yet been reached.

With reporting by AP, Reuters, and The New York Times

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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Son Of Afghan Ex-Vice President Killed In Shoot-Out At Family Compound

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Baqer Mohaqiq

By RFE/RL’s Radio Free Afghanistan
February 9, 2020

Police in the Afghan capital say a son of Mohammad Mohaqeq, the ethnic Hazara leader and second deputy to Afghanistan’s chief executive, has died after a gunfight broke out at the family home in Kabul on February 9.

Mohaqeq is a former anti-Taliban mujahedin commander, a lawmaker in the Afghan parliament, and a key official under Afghan unity government Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah.

“Unfortunately, a clash broke out between Mohammad Mohaqeq’s sons at their house,” Kabul police chief Sayed Mohammad Roshandil told RFE/RL’s Radio Free Afghanistan. “His son Hussain fired on his little brother, Baqir Mohaqeq, killing Baqir and [contributing to violence in which] eight other members of the family — including Hussain Mohaqeq — were injured.”

The other eight people were reportedly being treated at a local hospital.

Police have launched an investigation, the official said.

Mohaqeq ran unsuccessfully for president in 2004 and once served on the Afghan peace council tasked with reconciliation efforts.

After a fallout with the government in Kabul over perceived leniency toward Taliban insurgents, Mohaqeq joined the ticket of Abdullah Abdullah in a fiercely disputed presidential election in 2014 that ushered in a power-sharing deal between Abdullah and the current president, Ashraf Ghani.

That U.S.-brokered agreement installed Abdullah as chief executive in what has been a strained five-year coexistence between Ghani and Abdullah under a “unity government.”

Mohaqeq has served as Abdullah’s deputy chief executive throughout the deal’s existence.

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.

Opium production in Afghanistan increased in 2019: US

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1TV: In a statement on results of its annual estimate of Afghanistan opium, the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy said output of opium made from poppy seeds in Afghanistan stood at around 6,700 metric tons last year. That was compared with 5,500 metric tons in 2018. Click here to read more (external link).

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US, Afghan forces come under direct fire in eastern Afghanistan: Report

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Press TV
February 8, 2020

American and Afghan forces partaking in a reported joint operation are said to have come under “direct attack” in Afghanistan’s flashpoint eastern province of Nangarhar.

The attack took place in the province’s Shirzad district military headquarters on Saturday, AFP reported. The agency, citing local media, described the incident as an “insider attack.”

“A combined US and Afghan force conducting an operation in Nangarhar Province was engaged by direct fire on Feb. 8,” said Colonel Sonny Leggett, a spokesman for US forces in Afghanistan. “We are assessing the situation and will provide further updates as they become available,” he added.

There have been no reports of casualties yet, but an Afghan official said, “Several helicopters landed in and departed from the HQ compound taking out casualties.”

No group or individual has yet claimed responsibility for the reported attack.

The province has been playing host to activity by the Daesh Takfiri terrorist group over the past several years.

The group emerged in Iraq and Syria in 2014, but was defeated by the countries and their allies around three years later.

It began showing up in Afghanistan towards the end of its maximal presence in those countries, and has been trying to expand its turf in the Central Asian country since the 2017 defeat.

Over the past years, various reports and regional officials have warned about underway attempts by the US to relocate Daesh’s defeated elements to Afghanistan.

Washington and scores of its allies launched an operation in Iraq and Syria after the group started its campaign of bloodshed and destruction there under the pretext of uprooting it. The US-led coalition has sustained a presence in the countries despite the end of Daesh’s reign of terror.

Afghan Suicide Attack Kills At Least 6 Police Officers in Helmand Province

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Mohammad Habibzada
VOA News
February 8, 2020

A suicide bomber detonated his explosive-laden car Saturday night in front of a police center in southern Afghanistan, killing at least six police officers.

The attacker used a military Humvee vehicle and the blast rocked the Gereshk district of the restive Helmand province, Afghan officials there told VOA. “

The suicide attacker target was Gereshk’s main bazaar. The attacker wanted to cause a bloody incident, but blew up his explosives right after being identified by police,” Ismael Khpalwak, the Gereshk district police chief, told VOA.     “

Six of our police officers were killed and a bridge was partially damaged,” he said.

No group has claimed responsibility for the attack but Taliban insurgents are active in the province and have taken responsibility for such attacks in the past.