Well-Known Cleric Sheikh Asif Mohseni Passes Away

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Mohseni

Mohseni

Tolo News: Afghanistan’s top cleric Ayatollah Sheikh Mohammad Asif Mohseni passed away due to an illness in Kabul, his family confirmed on Monday. Mohseni was born in 1935 in the southern province of Kandahar and was widely considered to be the most powerful cleric among the Shias in Afghanistan. Mohseni who was the founder of the Islamic Movement of Afghanistan was one of the prominent figures in the Afghan resistance against the Soviet occupation.  Click here to read more (external link).

Afghan Opens Fire On Fellow Police, Kills Seven

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kandahar_aq

By RFE/RL’s Radio Free Afghanistan
August 5, 2019

At least seven police were killed when one of their colleagues opened fire on them in the southern Kandahar Province on August 4, officials say.

The Taliban has claimed the attack.

The attack, which occurred in the Tor Kotal area in the Shah Wali Kot district, was the latest of so-called “insider attacks,” when an Afghan police officer or soldier turns his weapon on Afghan forces or international troops.

Jamal Naser Barekzai, a provincial spokesman, said the attacker fled the scene of the shooting. Barekzai said an investigation was under way.

Taliban spokesman Qari Yusouf Ahmadi said the attacker, who was their “infiltrator,” joined the Taliban.

The Taliban now effectively controls about half the country and carries out near-daily attacks.

Last week, two U.S. soldiers were shot and killed by an Afghan soldier in the same district. The insurgents dubbed the attacker, who is in custody, a “hero.”

With reporting by AP and Tolo News

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.

Other Security News

Abdullah Calls On Afghan Forces To Remain Impartial In Election

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A. Abdullah

A. Abdullah

Tolo News: Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah at a ceremony in Kabul on Sunday called on members of Afghan National Defense and Security Forces (ANDSF) to remain impartial in the election, stating that any attempt by these forces to influence the process could have serious repercussions on the credibility and fame of the Afghan security institutions in the public mindset. Click here to read more (external link).

Other Election News

Explosion Targets Media Workers In Kabul, Kills Two

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fireTolo News: A magnetic IED blast targeted a bus carrying the employees of Khurshid TV, a private media outlet, in the fifth street of Taimani in Kabul’s police district 4 (PD4) at around 5:30 pm on Sunday evening.  Two people, including a passerby and driver of the bus, were killed and four others, including three employees of a Khurshid TV network, were wounded in the explosion, the Interior Ministry’s spokesman Nusrat Rahimi said. No group has claimed responsibility for the attack. Click here to read more (external link).

Trump trying to placate Pompeo, Bolton by warning to kill millions of Afghans: Analyst

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Bolton (left), Pompeo (middle), and Trump (right)

Bolton (left), Pompeo (middle), and Trump (right)

Press TV
August 4, 2019

US President Donald Trump is trying to ‘placate’ hawkish people in his administration like Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and national security adviser John Bolton by warning that American troops could win the Afghan war within days, says a political analyst.

Rodney Martin made remarks in an interview with Press TV on Saturday when asked about Trump who threatened a day earlier to kill millions of Afghans across the conflict-ridden country as he hailed the “progress” made in peace talks between his administration and the Taliban militant group.

Trump said Friday that US forces there “could win Afghanistan in two days or three days or four days, but I’m not looking to kill 10 million people.”

Trump’s statement is “very reminiscence of the attitude of the United States when it was bogged down in a quagmire in Vietnam,” Martin said.

“I also believe President Trump is trying to placate his neocon Zionists base specifically the likes of Mike Pompeo, John Bolton,” he added.

“Donald Trump has put himself in a very precarious situation with his demagogic statement, demagogic attitude with foreign policy where he ran and captured the base of the Republican Party by saying he would no longer engage in adventurist neocon globalist foreign wars, while at the same time attempting to reach out to those very neocons and zionists and evangelicals to do the bidding of Israel in the Middle East.”

In a similar comment in July, Trump spoke about 10 million casualties but this time he specified that no nuclear weapons would be involved, saying, “I’m talking conventional.”

The United States and its allies invaded Afghanistan in October 2001, shortly after the September 11 attacks on New York and Washington.  While the invasion ended the Taliban’s rule in the country, it has failed to eliminate the militant group. The Daesh terrorist group has also emerged in the Asian country more recently.

The US has been attempting to negotiate an alleged peace deal with the Taliban militant group, which now controls or influences about half of Afghanistan’s territory.

The Afghan government is left out of the talks between the Taliban and the US. The Taliban say they don’t recognize the Kabul government and that they will not hold talks with it unless all foreign forces exit the country.

About 20,000 foreign troops, mostly Americans, are based in Afghanistan.

Afghan MMA Fighter Nasrat Haqparast floors Joaquim Silva for second-round TKO victory

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Haqparast

Haqparast

CBS Sports: Nasrat Haqparast, with the legendary Georges St-Pierre in his corner, made an emphatic statement when he finished off opponent Joaquim Silva for the TKO victory. The 23-year-old Haqparast (11-2) connected with the vicious left hook early in the second round, and a few follow-up strikes on the ground from there were all that was needed to bring this one to a halt. Click here to read more (external link).

UN: July Deadliest Month In Afghanistan In More Than Two Years

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unamaRadio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
August 3, 2019

The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) says more than 1,500 civilians were killed or wounded in July.

According to a report issued by UNAMA on August 3, the number of documented civilian casualties is the highest of any month since May 2017.

UNAMA said the main driver was a sharp increase in civilian casualties caused by militant attacks.

It said the use of improvised explosive devices (IEDs) accounted for more than 50 percent of the casualties.

UNAMA said it remained “gravely concerned by the harm done to civilians.”

“I call on all parties not to ramp up military operations thinking that doing so will give them a stronger position in talks about peace,” UNAMA head Tadamichi Yamamoto said.

Violence in Afghanistan has spiked in recent weeks as both Afghan forces and Taliban militants attempt to increase their leverage in ongoing peace talks.

The United States and the Taliban began an eighth round of peace talks on August 3.

The UN said in a report released on July 30 that 1,366 civilians were killed between January 1 and June 30, a 21-percent decrease on the same period last year.

Air strikes and ground operations by Afghan forces killed more civilians than militant groups during that period, the report said.

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.

U.S. Envoy Ready To Sign ‘Good Agreement’ With Taliban As Qatar Talks Resume

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Khalilzad

Khalilzad

Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
August 3, 2019

The U.S. peace envoy seeking to negotiate an end to the nearly 18-year war in Afghanistan said Washington was ready to sign a “good agreement” with the Taliban.

Zalmay Khalilzad’s remarks came as U.S. and Taliban negotiators met on August 3 in the Qatari capital Doha for an eighth round of peace talks.

A bilateral U.S.-Taliban agreement will cover the withdrawal of foreign forces in exchange for guarantees by the Taliban not to harbor terrorist groups.

That deal will be a prelude to intra-Afghan peace negotiations on a political settlement and a permanent cease-fire.

“The Taliban are signaling they would like to conclude an agreement,” Khalilzad wrote on Twitter late August 2. “We are ready for a good agreement.”

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said there was “hope that a solution may get finalized in this round,” adding that some outstanding details remain.

Many Afghans fear a deal on a foreign troop withdrawal will weaken their bargaining power with the militant group, which aims to reestablish an Islamic emirate to replace an elected government it dismisses as puppets of the West.

Khalilzad said the United States was pursuing “a peace agreement not a withdrawal agreement; a peace agreement that enables withdrawal.”

The Taliban has said it will only negotiate with the Western-backed Kabul government when Washington commits to withdrawing its troops.

U.S. President Donald Trump said on August 3 that there has been “a lot of progress” in peace talks with the Taliban, but again warned that the United States “could win Afghanistan in two days or three days or four days, but I’m not looking to kill 10 million people.”

He made a similar comment in July, which angered the Afghan government.

Trump was vague in answering a question about reports in the U.S. media on a deal being brokered in which the United States would cut troop levels in Afghanistan to as low as 8,000 from the current 14,000.

Trump did not cite a specific number but told reporters that “we’re reducing it.”

Trump has told aides that he wants to pull all U.S. troops out of Afghanistan before the presidential election in November 2020, U.S. news agencies reported on August 2, citing unnamed current and former administration officials.

Washington has said it wants a peace deal finalized with the Taliban by September 1.

Later on August 2, NBC News reported that presidential advisers are scrambling to meet Trump’s election-year deadline to withdraw all troops.

A Pentagon spokesman declined to comment on military planning but said U.S. troop levels in Afghanistan are based on conditions on the ground.

With reporting by AFP, Reuters, and dpa

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.

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