Afghanistan announce squad for T20 series against Ireland
1TV: Afghanistan Cricket Board has announced a 15-member squad for a three-match T20 series scheduled to be played in India in March. Asghar Afghan will lead the side in the series. Rashid Khan, Mohammad Nabi and Mujeebur Rahman are also included in the squad. The matches will be held on 6th, 8th and 10th of March in Greater Noida Sports Complex Ground in India. Click here to read more (external link).
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Worry-Free Warlord: Fugitive Afghan Militia Leader Is Hiding — In Plain Sight
Qaisari
Frud Bezhan
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
February 6, 2020
Considering he is a fugitive Afghan warlord, Nizamuddin Qaisari has done little to conceal himself.
The militia commander fled arrest in December following deadly clashes between his fighters and government forces in the northern city of Mazar-e Sharif.
Since that December 16 incident, which killed eight of his men and led to the arrests of dozens, Qaisari has been an outlaw. He is accused of extortion, murder, and torture.
Yet photos on social media show the ethnic Uzbek strongman in public, attending sports events and posing for pictures with locals and his loyal militia members in northern Afghanistan.
Qaisari’s case has highlighted the struggle of the weak central government in Kabul — which exerts little power outside the capital — to rein in powerful and politically connected warlords who often act with impunity.
Warlords and their militias have been tolerated by Kabul for years — even sometimes funded by the U.S. military — as a stopgap measure for providing local protection while Kabul focuses its security resources on fighting the Taliban elsewhere.
But many militias have been accused by locals of human rights abuses, and President Ashraf Ghani has attempted — though often meekly — to crack down on unruly commanders.
Posing With Admirers
In his first public appearance since he fled arrest, Qaisari was photographed attending a game of buzkashi, an ancient sport that is a brutal version of equestrian polo played with the carcass of a dead goat instead of a ball.
Afghan journalist Mukhtar Wafayee tweeted several photos from that big gathering, saying they were taken in the city of Sheberghan, the provincial capital of Jawzjan Province, on January 31.
Other photos from the same event show Qaisari sitting in a large chair, surrounded by locals as people take pictures. In one photo, an Afghan Army soldier poses with the warlord.
Mysterious Release
Qaisari is an ally of fellow ethnic Uzbek warlord and Afghan Vice President Abdul Rashid Dostum, who fled to Turkey in 2017 after he was accused of involvement in the rape and torture of a political rival.
Dostum, who is accused of rights abuses that stem decades back, has denied the charges.
Dostum returned to Kabul in 2018, spending most of his time in his stronghold of Jawzjan Province. The Kabul government has been unable or unwilling to arrest him and put him on trial.
Authorities arrested Qaisari in July 2018, sparking violent protests in the city of Maimana, the provincial capital of Faryab Province, where he was a district police chief.
Protesters marched in the streets, setting fire to vehicles and parts of the governor’s compound.
Qaisari resisted attempts to arrest him and clashes erupted between his militiamen and government forces. At least four of Qaisari’s men were killed. He was eventually detained and transported to Kabul, where Ghani hailed his arrest as a major victory in the fight against militias.
But months later, Qaisari was mysteriously freed and was seen conducting interviews and staging rallies in northern Afghanistan. The government failed to explain his release. It is believed Qaisari was released as a result of an intelligence failure or as part of a preelection political maneuver.
In December, Afghan special forces surrounded Qaisari’s residence in Mazar-e Sharif, where he resided with around 150 of his fighters. Qaisari again resisted arrest, sparking an hours-long battle in the heart of the country’s fourth-largest city. Qaisari managed to slip to safety.
‘Commander Sword’
The case of Qaisari and other abusive militia commanders has exposed the ethnic fault lines in the country.
Ghani is a Pashtun, the largest community in Afghanistan, and is viewed with suspicion by many within the country’s ethnic Tajik, Uzbek, and Hazara groups.
In November 2018, authorities released on bail a militia leader accused of human rights abuses following days of violent demonstrations because of his detention.
Abdul Ghani Alipur, the leader of a private militia in central Afghanistan, was arrested in Kabul weeks after an earlier attempt to arrest him in the central province of Ghor ended in a shoot-out in which at least 12 people were killed.
The release of Alipur, a member of the country’s mainly Shi’ite Hazara minority, came after two days of violent demonstrations in which hundreds of Hazara protesters clashed with police in Kabul.
Alipur, known as Commander Sword, has said he was simply protecting Hazara from the Taliban, a group that is made up mainly of Pashtuns.
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.
Village Of Widows: The Afghan Drug Trade’s Lethal Legacy
By RFE/RL’s Radio Free Afghanistan: A settlement in western Afghanistan has become known as the “village of widows.” Some 50 women in the village of Mir Ali in Herat Province’s Adraskan district have lost their husbands, with many killed or executed after smuggling drugs across the Iranian border. Click here for more (external link).
Looted ancient temple sculpture—seized by UK police—will go home to Afghanistan
The sculpture, which shows two humped bulls, comes from the Surkh Kotal site in northern Afghanistan – Courtesy of the British Museum
The Art Newspaper: The recovery of an ancient limestone temple sculpture stolen from the National Museum of Afghanistan almost 30 years ago sends out a “powerful message” that related pieces looted at the same time can now be tracked down, says St John Simpson, assistant keeper of the Middle East department at the British Museum. The second-century work, which adorned a temple sanctuary, was part of a composite frieze; the other looted limestone blocks are still missing. Click here to read more (external link).
Taliban Says Closing Afghan War Needs ‘Actions Not Words’ From Trump
Donald Trump
Ayaz Gul
VOA News
February 5, 2020
ISLAMABAD – U.S. President Donald Trump in the State of the Union address has endorsed peace talks with the Taliban in Afghanistan, saying his administration is working to end America’s longest war to bring troops back home from that country.
The Afghan insurgent group swiftly responded to Tuesday night’s remarks by Trump, saying “practical steps and not words” from the American leader would help end the 18-year-old conflict.
In his speech to U.S. lawmakers, Trump praised his troops deployed to Afghanistan for making “tremendous progress” and said “peace talks are underway” in a reference to months of U.S.-Taliban negotiations being hosted by Qatar.“
We are working to finally end America’s longest war and bring our troops back home!,” Trump said. “I am not looking to kill hundreds of thousands of people in Afghanistan, many of them innocent. It is also not our function to serve other nations as a law enforcement agency,” the president reiterated.
Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told VOA when asked for his group’s reaction to Trump’s statement that the Afghan war is not in anyone’s interest.“
We also want that America closes this war to bring its occupation (of Afghanistan) to an end and let Afghans freely decide their future,” Mujahid said. “But it is important that actions must speak louder than rhetoric and promises,” the spokesman insisted.
U.S. and Taliban representatives have been holding meetings for more than a year, trying to negotiate a peace deal that would set the stage for a gradual withdrawal of roughly 13,000 American troops from the country.
If signed, the proposed U.S.-Taliban agreement would also seek an immediate resumption of Taliban-Afghan negotiations on a permanent nationwide cease-fire and future power-sharing in post-war Afghanistan.
But the dialogue has suffered repeated setbacks in recent months, with both sides accusing the other of stalling the process.
The Trump administration is demanding a “significant and lasting” reduction in insurgent violence before concluding the deal, while the Taliban has refused to go beyond its proposed week-long scaling back of operations until the two adversaries in the deadly conflict sign the truce.
The United Nations says the war in Afghanistan has killed or injured more than 100,000 civilians, a majority of them women and children, since 2009 alone, and non-combatants continue to suffer record levels of casualties.
The U.S. military has lost about 2,400 personnel since the war started in 2001 and has cost Washington around a trillion dollars.
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1TV Afghanistan Dari News – February 5, 2020
Kabul Hospital Prepares to Receive Afghan Students From Virus-hit China
Wuhan, China, home to the quickly spreading coronavirus is also a major university town that hosts thousands of foreign students including many Afghan students. Getting them home is tricky but Afghanistan’s health minister says, an isolated 100-bed hospital has been setup for returning students. VOA’s Haseeb Mawdoodi and Rahim Gul Sarwan have more in this report narrated by Bezhan Hamdard.
Afghan Media Watchdog Demands More Access To Information
RFE/RL’s Radio Free Afghanistan
February 5, 2020
An Afghan media watchdog has urged the government to take note of a demand for more media freedoms after numerous local media outlets issued a joint statement denouncing the “deterioration” of access to government-related information in the country.
Sayed Ikram Afzali, the head of Integrity Watch Afghanistan, said on February 5 that adequate legislation guaranteeing the media’s ability to work and access information exists, but that the government has refused to provide enough funding and support to implement the law.
In a joint statement unveiled at a protest rally in Kabul on February 4, 30 media outlets including privately owned national TV channels, local broadcasters, and newspapers blamed the “carelessness” of the government for endangering media freedom in recent years.
The protest was supported by media-freedom and human rights watchdogs, the UN mission in Afghanistan, and Western embassies in Kabul, which said access to information for citizens will make Afghan democracy stronger.
Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah has responded by calling on “all the government organizations to cooperate and share information with the citizens.”
Abdullah said that “freedom of speech and freedom of media is one of the most important national achievements of the people of Afghanistan,” adding that “honoring and respecting this achievement is the responsibility of government officials.”
In their statement, the media outlets said that all government institutions had “shortcomings” when it comes to providing access to information, but cited the Supreme Court, the Attorney General’s Office, the National Directorate of Security, the president’s office, the Finance Ministry, the central bank, and the Defense Ministry as being “the worst ones.”
The statement comes against the backdrop of relentless violence across the country. Afghan forces, backed by U.S. allies, continue to battle Taliban militants who currently control or hold sway over nearly half of Afghanistan.
The Taliban launches frequent attacks targeting government forces and officials, as well as those seen loyal to the government.
The United States is engaged in on-again-off-again talks with the Taliban, led by U.S. envoy Zalmay Khalilzad, to find a negotiated end to Afghanistan’s 18-year war that would allow the U.S. to bring home about 13,000 American soldiers.
“Throughout my tenure as the chief information commissioner, I have witnessed the media’s access to information being restricted by key government institutions,” said Afzali. “Unfortunately, the trend continues.”
Abdul Mujeeb Khalvatgar, head of the Nai Supporting Open Media group, said the situation is critical. “If there is no access to information, then the nature of the media as a tool of freedom of expression will vanish,” Khalvatgar said.
Afghanistan ranks among the most dangerous countries in the world for journalists. In January, the Afghan Journalists Safety Committee reported that five journalists were killed in 2019 in the country.
In a statement, Amnesty International asid the Afghan government “has a responsibility to not just protect journalists but provide access to information in line with Afghan laws and the country’s international obligations on the right to freedom of expression.”
Paris-based Reporters Without Borders criticized the Afghan authorities’ “failure” to fully implement the law on access to state-held information.
The European Union office in Afghanistan also called for the law to be “implemented in full,” saying the “free flow of information is crucial for any democracy &progressive society.”
The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan said that “open and healthy societies promote access to information for citizens,” which it said was “vital” for accountability and fighting corruption, improving government performance and efficiency, encouraging investment, and empowering citizens in public life.
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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1TV Afghanistan Dari News – February 4, 2020