Car Bomb Kills 12 in Afghan Capital, Kabul

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fireAyaz Gul
VOA News
November 13, 2019

ISLAMABAD – A car bomb explosion in the Afghan capital of Kabul Wednesday killed at least 12 people and wounded about 20 others, including children.

Interior Ministry spokesman Nasrat Rahimi tweeted the early morning blast targeted a foreign private security company vehicle. He said four foreign employees of the company were among those injured but gave no further details.

There were no immediate claims of responsibility for the bombing, which came after days of a lull in violence in Kabul.

Taliban insurgents and militants linked to the Afghan branch of Islamic State often claim credit for plotting such attacks.

Wednesday’s violence comes a day after Afghan President Ashraf Ghani freed three high-profile Taliban prisoners in exchange for two Western hostages, an American and an Australian.

The two foreigners were teaching at Kabul’s American University of Afghanistan before they were kidnapped at gunpoint near the campus in August 2016.

Meanwhile, the country’s Independent Election Commission (IEC) Wednesday postponed for a second time the announcement of preliminary results from the Afghan presidential polls.

The commission was due to release first results on November 14 after failing to meet the original deadline of October 19. But the IEC spokesman Abdul Aziz Ibrahimi said the results would not be announced on Thursday “until the technical issues are addressed.”

Incumbent President Ghani’s main challenger Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah earlier this week withdrew his team of observers from the vote recounting process, demanding IEC declare as invalid around 300,000 “fraud-marked” votes if he were to accept the results.

Afghanistan paedophile ring may be responsible for abuse of over 500 boys

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logarThe Guardian (UK): A paedophile ring involved in the abuse of at least 546 boys from six schools has been discovered in Afghanistan’s Logar province. Some of the victims of the abuse have since been murdered according to the campaigners who first discovered videos of abuse posted to a Facebook page. “Impunity, toxic gender norms and poverty of victims play a big role in the silencing of these crimes. These boys come from the most marginalised sections of society, they don’t have a voice and very few speak up on their behalf,” said Charu Hogg, executive director of the All Survivors Project, an organisation working with male victims of sexual violence in Afghanistan where, she said, sexual abuse was massively underreported. Click here to read more (external link).

Artifacts Returned to Afghanistan From Britain

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artifacts_buddhas

Tolo News: Sculptures of nine buddha heads, and a torso, are being returned to Afghanistan from Britain.  Experts believe that nine clay heads and a torso carved from schist shipped to London in 2002 were made in Buddhist monasteries in Afghanistan between 4 and 6 AD. The heads may have been broken off from torsos during the Taliban regime.  They turned up in Britain in September 2002 at Heathrow Airport in two wooden crates sent from Peshawar in Pakistan. Customs officers suspected that the ceramic artifacts might contain drugs. No drugs were found, but the items were treated as stolen artifacts by the Met’s Art and Antiques Unit. Click here to read more (external link).

Officials: US Airstrike Mistakenly Kills 4 Afghan Soldiers

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logarAyaz Gul
VOA News
November 12, 2019

ISLAMABAD – An airstrike carried out by American forces in eastern Afghanistan has mistakenly killed at least four Afghan soldiers and injured six others.

A provincial police spokesman said the overnight incident occurred in the troubled Logar province during clashes between Afghan security forces and Taliban insurgents.

Shahpoor Ahamadzai told VOA the fighting erupted Monday night after insurgents assaulted a security outpost near the provincial capital of Pul-e-Alam.

The Taliban attack prompted the Afghan National Army (ANA) to call in U.S. air support, which resulted in the “friendly fire” incident, Ahmadzai explained.

A U.S. military spokesman told VOA it was aware of reports an American airstrike conducted in support of Afghan forces may have resulted in ANA casualties.

“U.S. and Afghan forces are working closely together to develop a shared understanding of this event. A joint investigation is ongoing,” the spokesman said.

Separately, the provincial police confirmed a U.S. convoy was struck by a suicide car bomber near a foreign military base just outside Pul-e-Alam.

A U.S. military spokesman confirmed the attack, saying it only killed the assailant driving the vehicle.

“No U.S. or Coalition service members were wounded or killed in the attack. We are investigating the incident,” the spokesman added.

There were no claims of responsible from the Taliban, which often claims attacks against U.S. and NATO forces stationed in Afghanistan.

Afghan Government Releases Militants In Apparent Exchange For American, Australian Captives

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Anas Haqqani

Anas Haqqani

By RFE/RL’s Radio Free Afghanistan
November 12, 2019

KABUL — The Afghan government has released three key Taliban prisoners, including Anas Haqqani, the younger brother of Sirajjuddin Haqqani, the leader of the Haqqani network, in exchange for two professors of the American University of Afgahnistan in Kabul, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani has announced.

The prisoners were released on November 12 from Bagram prison, Ghani said in a live press conference the same day.

Besides Haqqani, Afghan officials have said two other prominent Taliban militants — Hafiz Rashid Omari and Haji Milli Khan — were released.

Ahead of the release, Ghani said the prisoners would only be freed if the Taliban in turn released American Kevin King and Australian Timothy Weeks, who were abducted three years ago.

“Our joint effort in tracing the two professors gave no result, and information suggests that their health and safety while being held by the kidnapping terrorists have deteriorated,” he said.

King, 60, and Weeks, 48, were kidnapped by the Taliban in August 2016.

They “will be sent to Qatar under U.S. supervision,” one unnamed Afghan official told RFE/RL.

Neither the Taliban or the Haqqani network, which is part of the militant group, have commented so far.

The U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan, John Bass, told RFE/RL that the United States “strongly” supports Ghani’s “courageous” decision to release the three prisoners and called on the militants to release “Afghan security force prisoners and Western hostages” in return.

“We hope that it produces a gesture on the part of the Talibs which indicates that they are interested in moving past the current language of violence and again exploring ways to reduce the violence, to begin talking, and to find a political settlement that ends this war that has gone for far too many years,” Bass said.

The American University of Afghanistan said it was “encouraged to hear reports of the possible release of our two colleagues, Kevin King and Timothy Weeks.”

“We continue to urge the immediate and safe return of our faculty members who have been held in captivity, away from their friends and families, for more than three years,” a statement said.

The deal could pave the way for peace talks between the Taliban and the Afghan government. The militant group has so far refused to talk to the Afghan government, which it says is a U.S. puppet.

The Haqqani network was founded by the late Jalaluddin Haqqani, the father of Sirajjuddin and Anas Haqqani who died in September 2018.

The United States, after allying with Jalaluddin Haqqani to fight the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in the 1980s, by 2012 had designated his organization a terrorist group. It has been fighting against NATO and Afghan government forces since 2001.

The Haqqani network, known for carrying out brutal attacks in Afghanistan, is believed to be based in Pakistan.

According to Afghan officials, Anas Haqqani is an information-technology expert who played a key role in the network’s “strategic decision-making” and fundraising.

Hafiz Abdul Rashid Omari is the brother of Muhammad Nabi Omari, the former Guantanamo inmate who is currently a key member of the Taliban political office in Qatar.

Operatives of the Afghan intelligence agency, the National Directorate of Security (NDS), arrested Anas Haqqani and Omari in the eastern Khost Province in 2014. Haji Milli Khan is the uncle of Anas Haqqani and was reportedly arrested by U.S. forces in eastern Paktika Province in 2011.

The development stems from marathon negotiations between U.S. special envoy to Afghanistan Zalmay Khalilzad and the Taliban.

Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan had said during a three-day visit to Washington in July that he would do his best to help release the American University teachers.

He told U.S. President Donald Trump on July 23 that Islamabad would have “good news” soon about the two captive teachers.

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.

Related

Acting Foreign Minister Accused of Ethnic Cleansing

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Idrees Zaman

Idrees Zaman

Ariana:  Afghanistan’s Acting Minister of Foreign Affairs Idrees Zaman [is] accused of ethnic cleansing in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs after he dismissed several directors from their positions in a short period of time. A number of lawmakers on Monday called on the Afghan parliament to prevent “such illegal dismissals”. Click here to read more (external link).

UN Formally Complains over IEC Commissioner Threatening Behavior

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Maulana Abdullah

Maulana Abdullah

Ariana: The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) has formally complained to the leadership of Afghanistan’s Independent Election Commission (IEC) over Commissioner Maulana Abdullah’s threatening behavior towards the Data Manager of the IEC National Tally Center.  “During the meeting, UNESP technical advisers and the International Commissioners witnessed direct life-threatening statements being made against Mr. Bashir Ali, Database Manager for the National Tally Center, by Commissioner Maulana Abdullah. Commissioner Abdullah also made derogatory slurs about Mr. Ali’s religion and ethnicity,” the letter reads. Click here to read more (external link).

More Election Related News

U.S. Troops To Stay In Afghanistan Several More Years, Top General Says

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Mark Milley

Mark Milley

Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
November 10, 2019

U.S. Army General Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, has predicted that American troops, already in Afghanistan for 18 years, would remain in the country “for several more years.”

In an ABC interview broadcast on November 10, Milley noted that, after the September 11 attacks in 2001, the original reason U.S. forces went into Afghanistan was to make sure that the country never again would be a haven for extremists who would attack the United States.

“That mission is not yet complete,” the general said. “In order for that mission to be successful the government of Afghanistan, the Afghan security forces, are going to have to be able to sustain their own internal security to prevent terrorists using their territory to attack other countries, especially the United States.”

There are some 14,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan, as well as thousands of European forces participating in the NATO-led Resolute Support mission.

President Donald Trump has repeatedly said it is time for the United States to pull back from its role in various conflicts around the globe, including in Syria.

Milley said U.S. troops will remain in the Middle Eastern country “for a significant amount of time because it’s in our national interest to be there to help out.”

The general said he expected American troop levels in Syria to stabilize at around 500, insisting that pressure must be maintained on fighters of the Islamic State (IS) extremist group.

“There will be less than 1,000 [U.S. troops], for sure,” Milley told ABC. “Probably in the 500ish frame, maybe six.”

There are currently several hundred U.S. troops in Syria.

Trump has recently approved an expanded military mission to secure oil fields in Syria’s east, after announcing a complete withdrawal from the country.

With reporting by AP, dpa, and AFP

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.