Kabul Blast Kills Two
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
January 31, 2020
Two militants pushing a handcart were killed January 31 in western Kabul when explosives in the cart detonated accidentally, Afghan officials say.
One bystander was wounded.
Interior Ministry spokesman Nasrat Rahimi said investigators have not been able to link the two to any militant group.
Kabul police spokesman Ferdaws Faramarz confirmed that the explosives were hidden in a handcart, which occurred in early afternoon in a busy area of Kabul’s Fazl Bek area.
Police had no additional details.
Based on reporting by AP and tolonews.com
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.
‘Doubtful’ US-Taliban Talks Will End Afghan War, Says Iran Official
Ayaz Gul
VOA News
January 30, 2020
ISLAMABAD – A senior Iranian diplomat has cast aspersions on U.S.-led efforts aimed at finding a negotiated settlement to the war in Afghanistan, and refuted allegations Tehran gives military aid to Taliban insurgents to hurt the peace process.
Iran’s ambassador to Pakistan, Seyyed Mohammad Ali Hosseini, insisted while delivering a public talk Thursday that his country is not averse to Afghan peace efforts. But Tehran is “doubtful” about Washington’s intentions and role in the ongoing U.S.-Taliban talks, he said.
“Where there is a role of Satan or America, we cannot expect anything good from that,” said Hosseini when asked whether Iran believed the U.S.-initiated peace process would help end the 18-year-old war in the neighboring country.
Speaking at the non-governmental Islamabad Policy Institute, the Iranian diplomat stressed the need for placing the Afghan government at the center of any peace dialogue.
American and Taliban representatives have been engaged in closed-door meetings in Qatar, trying to agree on a “significant and lasting” reduction in insurgent violence before signing a peace deal the two sides have negotiated over the past year.
Kabul has been kept out of the process from the outset due to opposition from the Taliban, which dismisses the Afghan government as an American puppet.
The troubled dialogue in Qatar, however, seems to have again slowed down, if not deadlocked as both sides are sticking to their guns.
Insurgent sources say the Taliban has proposed scaling back battlefield attacks for one week to conclude the deal, but the U.S. side wants the reduction in violence to continue until intra-Afghan negotiations begin.
If signed, the U.S.-Taliban agreement would set the stage for a gradual American troop withdrawal from Afghanistan and open the way for Taliban-Afghan negotiations on a nationwide cease-fire and power sharing.
Taliban ties
Iran maintains close contact with the Taliban. U.S. officials and even authorities in Afghan provinces adjacent to the Iranian border have accused Tehran of covertly providing military assistance to the insurgent group.
Hosseini rejected the allegations as baseless, saying Iran seeks peace and stability in Afghanistan.
“And this cannot happen through militarization (of the conflict) but through an inclusive reconciliation process involving all (Afghan) groups in that country,” he asserted.
Taliban representatives have repeatedly visited Tehran in recent months to brief Iranian officials on their peace talks with the United States. The insurgent group also denies it receives military help from Iran.
1TV Afghanistan Dari News – January 30, 2020
Iran-trained militias could become threat to Afghanistan: Saikal
1TV: Iran-trained militias could become a threat to Afghanistan, Mahmoud Saikal, Afghanistan’s former ambassador to the United Nations, said on Thursday. He said that US-Iran tensions could delay the Afghan peace process. According to Saikal, it was Taliban violence that dragged US to Afghanistan. “Therefore, it is important that instead of using Taliban as a tool, there should be an agreement among the three countries on ending Taliban violence in Afghanistan.” Click here to read more (external link).
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IECC Has Not Finalized Decision on 300,000 Disputed Votes
Tolo News: Mohammad Qasim Elyasi, the spokesman of the Independent Electoral Complainants Commission (IECC), said they will make a decision about the 300,000 disputed votes soon. Some election campaign team consider the 300,000 votes “fraudulent,” and urged the IECC not to count them. President Ghani achieved 923,868 votes in the first round of the election that was held on September 28, 2019, and if more than 12,000 votes for Ghani are determined to be fraudulent then the election will go to a second round. Click here to read more (external link).
Afghan Civilians Pay Price of Conflict: Amnesty International
Tolo News: Amnesty International’s annual human rights review released on Thursday said that the Afghan civilians continued to pay the price of the ongoing conflict as “justice proved elusive for the victims.” Citing UN reports, the review stated that civilian casualties remained high throughout 2019, with “July being the deadliest month on record and Afghanistan remaining the deadliest conflict in the world for children.” Click here to read more (external link).
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1TV Afghanistan Dari News – January 29, 2020
Afghan Govt ‘Nowhere Near’ Able to Self-Fund: Sopko
John Sopko
Tolo News: John Sopko, Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR), told US Congress on Tuesday that corruption remains the top “strategic threat” to the legitimacy and success of the Afghan government, and that Afghanistan is “nowhere near” able to fund its own government–“in particular, its military and police”—with its own resources. Click here to read more (external link).
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Pakistan Temporarily Closes Afghan Border Crossing After Mortar Attack
RFE/RL’s Radio Mashaal
January 29, 2020
ISLAMABAD — Pakistan closed a key border crossing with Afghanistan for about 10 hours after mortar shells landed on Pakistani territory from across the border.
Vehicles lined up on both sides of the border began moving across the Torkham crossing on the afternoon of January 29 after the gates were reopened, Pakistani and Afghan officials say.
Earlier in the day, Pakistani Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Aisha Farooqui said the border gates had been closed for security reasons after two mortar shells fell near the crossing overnight.
Officials say no casualties were reported but that a number of vehicles were damaged.
Torkham is one of the major border crossings between Pakistan and Afghanistan. Every day, thousands of people and scores of vehicles carrying goods use the gateway connecting Pakistan’s Khyber tribal district with Afghanistan’s Nangarhar Province.
Prime Minister Imran Khan had last year decided to keep the border crossing open for 24 hours a day to boost trade.
The two neighbors have had uneasy relations, with Kabul accusing Islamabad of supporting Taliban militants. Pakistan denies that.
Exchanges of fire across the border are common.
The border closure comes in the wake of protests in both countries sparked by the detention of the leader of an ethnic Pashtun rights activist in Pakistan.
This week’s detention of Manzoor Pashteen, the leader of a civil rights group that has criticized the Pakistani military’s operations in the northwestern tribal regions, also led to a diplomatic spat between Islamabad and Kabul.
Afghan President Ashraf Ghani expressed concerns over Pashteen’s detention and said governments in the region “must support and encourage peaceful civilian movements for justice.”
The Pakistani Foreign Ministry denounced Ghani’s “clear interference” in Pakistan’s internal affairs.
Pashtuns live on both sides of the border.