Papers Reveal Controversial Appointment at Afghan Embassy in US

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Roya Rahmani

Roya Rahmani

Tolo News: The Afghan Ambassador to the United States Roya Rahmani has appointed Mir Haris Ansari, the son-in-law of Shad Mohammad Sargand, as a senior adviser to President Ashraf Ghani on infrastructure as an embassy employee, according to documents seen by TOLOnews. Documents seen by TOLOnews reveal that Ansari was sent to the embassy under the pretext of assessing the crack in the wall of the Afghan embassy in Washington DC, which is estimated to cost nearly $2 million. But how is Ansari, who is a diplomat, able to fix a technical issue such as a crack in the wall? Click here to read more (external link).

Taliban Capture 27 Peace Marchers

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Herat-Farah-Afghanistan

Ayesha Tanzeem
VOA News
December 25, 2019

ISLAMABAD – An activist group in Afghanistan says Taliban insurgents have captured a convoy of 27 peace marchers in western Afghanistan and taken them to an undisclosed location.

Bismillah Watandost, a spokesman for the People Peace Movement (PPM), said his organization lost contact with their 27 colleagues late evening Tuesday as they were traveling from Herat to Farah province in six cars.

He further said they were taken by Taliban and that leaders of the PPM were in touch with senior Taliban leaders to ensure their safe return.

Mohibullah Mohib, a spokesman for the Farah police, told VOA the marchers were last spotted around 3:30 PM Tuesday on Herat – Farah highway.

Taliban have not claimed responsibility or publicly acknowledged abducting the marchers.

The marchers were scheduled to travel to the western provinces of Ghor and Badghis, but changed plans due to snow fall and cold weather. They wanted to hold gatherings in favor of peace in Farah province.

The Taliban have captured peace activists from various parts of Afghanistan several times in the past. They were released after being held for a few days.

The marchers’ movement started two years ago spontaneously when activists gathered in Lashkargah city of Helmand province to protest an attack that killed more than 15 people and later started marching on foot towards capital Kabul.

For weeks, they walked across the country, through both government and Taliban controlled areas. Along the way, others, tired of incessant violence, joined them.

The diverse group, including children as young as 10 years old, and most of them victims of the ongoing war in the country, gained traction among the national and international media, receiving widespread coverage.

U.S. Unfreezes Pakistani Military’s Participation In Training Program

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Pak-afg-usa

Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
December 24, 2019

The United States is allowing Pakistan to rejoin a military training program following a two-year suspension — representing one element of U.S. military assistance frozen by President Donald Trump after accusing Islamabad of not doing enough to stop terrorism.

The decision announced on December 23 reflects an easing of previously tense relations between the two countries following Imran Khan’s rise to the premiership of the nuclear-armed Southeast Asian nation.

Trump hosted the Pakistani prime minister at the White House in July, and Washington has several times welcomed Islamabad’s help in peace talks with the Afghan Taliban.

The military assistance was frozen before Khan’s election in August 2018.

The United States in September 2017 announced that it planned to suspend military assistance to Pakistan until it took stronger steps to crack down on what Trump called “safe havens” for anti-Afghanistan militant groups.

Overall, some $2 billion in U.S. military aid to Pakistan remains suspended.

Pakistan denied it harbored terrorists and has said the United States was using Islamabad as a “scapegoat” for its own failure to win the nearly 18-year war in Afghanistan.

A State Department spokeswoman on December 23 said the freeze “authorized narrow exceptions for programs that support vital U.S. national security interests.”

She added that Washington “has approved the resumption of the International Military Education and Training (IMET) program for Pakistan as one such exception, subject to congressional approval.”

Congressional committees with jurisdiction over the process did not immediately comment on the administration’s decision.

Suspension of Pakistan’s participation in IMET led to the loss of 66 slots generally allocated to the Pakistani military in the educational program, according to Reuters.

“IMET provides an opportunity to increase bilateral cooperation between our countries on shared priorities. We want to continue to build on this foundation through concrete actions that advance regional security and stability,” the U.S. spokewoman said.

The U.S. and Pakistani militaries have long had close ties, with Washington seeing Islamabad as a counter to China’s power in the region.

With reporting by AFP, Reuters, and defence.pk

Copyright (c) 2019. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave NW, Ste 400, Washington DC 20036.

India, Iran agree to accelerate Chabahar port project

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A ship at Chabahar Port (file photo, Press TV)

A ship at Chabahar Port (file photo, Press TV)

1TV: India and Iran have agreed to accelerate Chabahar port project, Indian foreign minister has said. Subrahmanyam Jaishankar said that the agreement was reached during a meeting with his Iranian counterpart Javad Zarif who was visiting India. The Indian-backed Chabahar port complex on Iran’s coast along the Gulf of Oman is being developed as a transportation corridor for land-locked Afghanistan. Click here to read more (external link).

Taliban Assault on Army Base Kills 7 Afghan Soldiers

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balkhAyaz Gul
VOA News
December 24, 2019

ISLAMABAD, PAKISTAN – Officials in Afghanistan say Taliban insurgents have attacked an army base in the northern Balkh province, killing at least seven Afghan soldiers and wounding six others.

The Ministry of Defense in Kabul said Tuesday the overnight “enemy” assault targeted a base in the Dawlat Abad district that was being jointly manned by the Afghan army and personnel of the national intelligence agency.

The district chief, Mohammad Yousaf, is reported to confirm, however, the Taliban attack killed at least 15 Afghan forces.

In a written statement, Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid claimed its fighters killed 20 Afghan security forces and captured three others before overrunning the base and seizing military equipment there. Such insurgent claims are often inflated.

Separately, Taliban insurgents ambushed a policy convoy early Tuesday in the northeastern Kapisa province, killing a district police commander and his security guard, local officials said.

On Monday, the Taliban detonated a roadside bomb near a joint U.S. and Afghan military convoy in the volatile northern Kunduz province. The blast killed an American soldier and his Afghan partner. The latest U.S fatality brought the number of American service members killed in Afghanistan this year to at least 19.

The Taliban controls or contests about half of Afghanistan and continues to plot attacks on local and U.S.-led foreign troops in the country. Insurgent attacks have killed some 50,000 Afghan security forces since late 2014, according to Afghan officials.

The United States has engaged the Taliban in peace talks and has pressed the insurgents to reduce violence to find a negotiated settlement to the 18-year-old Afghan war, the longest conflict involving the United States.

But the insurgents want the U.S. to sign an agreement on the withdrawal of all foreign troops from Afghanistan before they commit themselves to a nationwide cease-fire and participate in intra-Afghan peace negotiations to help end decades of hostilities in the country.

The yearlong U.S.-Taliban dialogue, however, has suffered repeated setbacks in recent weeks due to the Taliban’s refusal to cease attacks.

The negotiation process had resumed earlier this month after a suspension of three months before Washington paused it again citing a major Taliban attack on the largest U.S. military base in Afghanistan.

The suicide car bomb-and-gun raid on the Bagram airfield, north of the Afghan capital, did not harm American service members but killed two Afghan civilians and injured scores of others in nearby civilian population.

The Afghan war has killed more than 150,000 people, including local security forces, civilians, insurgents and foreign troops. Some 2,300 U.S. soldiers also among those killed.

Other Security News

Preliminary Election Results Are ‘False’: Hekmatyar

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Gulbuddin Hekmatyar

Gulbuddin Hekmatyar

Tolo News: Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, presidential election candidate and head of Hizb-e-Islami, at a press conference on Monday called the preliminary election results “false.” “We did not expect that the Independent Election Commission would announce such a false result,” said Hekmatyar, adding:  “We have asked the independent Election Commission (IEC) to re-hold the election in those areas where the biometric devices were stolen, and we ask that the people responsible be punished.” Hekmatyar accused the IEC of “stealing” his votes and claimed that “the devices of 2,400 polling centers were stolen and they sent the ballot boxes back empty.” Click here to read more (external link).

Related

Service Member Killed in Afghanistan, US Military Says

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kunduzAyaz Gul
VOA News
December 23, 2019

ISLAMABAD – The U.S. military has announced that a U.S. service member was killed in action Monday in Afghanistan.

In making the announcement, the U.S. Forces-Afghanistan did not provide further details on where and how the casualty occurred.

The Taliban, in a statement sent to journalists, claimed the U.S. casualty occurred in the volatile northern Kunduz province.

The insurgent group said it targeted Afghan and American soldiers with a roadside bomb as they tried to conduct a joint raid against Taliban positions in the Char Dara district.

The Taliban controls most of Char Dara while the Afghan government controls the district headquarters.  The insurgents hotly contest many districts in Kunduz, which has twice briefly fallen to the Taliban in recent years.

The Taliban claimed another U.S. soldier along with an Afghan commando were seriously wounded in the blast. It also shared photos of what they claimed were the identity badge of the slain U.S. soldier and his bloody uniform. Taliban claims are difficult to verify from independent sources and are often exaggerated.

Monday’s fatality brings the number of American soldiers killed this year in Afghanistan to at least 19.

The 18-year-old Afghan war, America’s longest, is said to have cost Washington nearly $1 trillion and the lives of around 2,300 U.S. service members.

There are currently more than 12,000 U.S. troops deployed to Afghanistan. A portion of the force is conducting counterterrorism operations while the rest are part of a NATO-led alliance tasked to train and advise Afghan security forces battling the Taliban.

Peace Talks

The U.S. has been trying to negotiate a deal with the Taliban to end the war but continued insurgent attacks have forced Washington to halt the process twice in recent days.

The latest disruption in the dialogue process came about two weeks ago when the Taliban launched a major suicide car bomb-and-gun assault on Bagram, the largest U.S. military base in Afghanistan. The attack did not harm any American soldiers but it killed two Afghan civilians and wounded scores of others.

Under the proposed deal, the United States seeks a Taliban cease-fire and the insurgent group’s participation in intra-Afghan negotiations to permanently end decades of hostilities in the country. In return, U.S. and NATO force would commit a “conditions-based” withdrawal of their troops from Afghanistan.

The Taliban, however, wants the U.S. to agree to a complete withdrawal of all foreign troops before the insurgent group ceases hostilities and finds a political settlement through Afghan-to-Afghan negotiations.

However, U.S. Defense Secretary Mark Esper while speaking to reporters on Friday gave no indication a comprehensive troop withdrawal was under consideration.

“We have a mission in Afghanistan, that is to ensure that it never again becomes a safe haven for terrorists,” Esper told a Pentagon news conference. “Until we are confident that that mission is complete, we will maintain a presence to do that,” he added.