Taliban vow not to allow future Afghanistan to become terrorists’ hotbed: US envoy

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Taliban (file photo)

Taliban (file photo)

Press TV
July 27, 2019

US special envoy to “peace talks” with Afghan Taliban militants says they have vowed not to let future Afghanistan be turned into terrorists’ hotbed, an ostensibly awkward pledge from a group whose terror attacks ceaselessly kill both civilians and government troops across the militant-infested country.

“The world needs to be sure that Afghanistan will not be a threat to the international community,” Zalmay Khalilzad, an afghan-born former US ambassador to the country, said on Saturday.

“We are satisfied with the commitment that we have received (from the Taliban) on counterterrorism,” he added.

His comments came just two days after a number of Taliban-claimed bomb attacks killed more than 50 people in the capital Kabul, the eastern province of Nangarhar and the northern province of Takhar. Dozens of others also sustained wounds in the terror attacks.

The militants and the US officials are trying to strike a deal on a Taliban demand for the withdrawal of US and other foreign forces, and a US demand that the Taliban not let Afghanistan be used as a base for terrorism.

Several rounds of talks held in the Qatari capital of Doha have so far failed to produce significant results in restoring peace in the war-torn country.

Kabul, however, is suspicious about Taliban’s sincerity in their pledge in halting terror acts across the country. Back in March and early in the US-Taliban talks, Hamdullah Mohib, the national security adviser to the Afghan president, said counting on the Taliban to control other militants could be like “having cats guard the milk.”

The US and its allies invaded Afghanistan under the guise of the war on terror. The military invasion ousted Taliban from power but some 18 years on, Washington is seeking truce with the militants as the Taliban has only boosted its campaign of violence across the country.

Separately on Saturday, President Ghani in a decree dissolved the secretariat of the High Peace Council, an organization founded by former president Hamid Karzai some nine years ago to negotiate with the Taliban.

Elaborating on the issue, presidential spokesman Sediq Sediqqi said the authorities of the secretariat were handed over to the newly-established State Ministry of Peace Affairs.

The Taliban have refused to negotiate with the US-backed Afghan government, led by President Ashraf Ghani, denouncing it as a US puppet.

UN concerns about rising civilian deaths

On Friday, Amina Mohammed, the deputy secretary general of the United Nations, expressed the world body’s concerns regarding the rising rate of civilian deaths in terror attacks in Afghanistan.

She made the remarks upon her return from an official visit to Afghanistan and following a bomb attack in Kabul that left 11 civilians dead.

“As we witnessed again yesterday, conflict continues in Afghanistan,” she said, noting that “in 2018, the country suffered the highest number of civilian casualties since UNAMA [the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan] began recording figures in 2009.”

“In the first five months of this year, more than 100,000 people were displaced by conflict, and we know displacement increases the risk of gender-based violence in all areas,” Mohammed further said, addressing a Security Council meeting on Afghanistan.

She added that a political solution to the conflict in the Asian country remained more relevant than ever “as civilians continue to bear the brunt of the conflict.”

Police personnel killed in Taliban attack

Additionally on Saturday, at least three police officers lost their lives after a Taliban militant drove an explosive-ridden US-made armored vehicle into the police headquarters compound and blew it up in Ab Band district of the eastern province of Ghazni.

According to Aref Noori, the provincial spokesman, at least 12 others wounded in the explosion.

Late on Friday, another Taliban-claimed bomb attack killed at least three security forces in the Khogyani district of the province.

Noori added that the district police chief was also among the dead.

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Afghan Women Must Have A Role In Future Talks, Activist Tells UN

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womanRadio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
July 27, 2019

Jamila Afghani, an Afghan women’s rights activist, says women in her country should have a voice in decisions that affect them and that their concerns must be addressed in any peace deal with the Taliban.

“Afghan women must be able to meaningfully participate in decisions that affect them,” she told a meeting of the UN Security Council on July 26, speaking from Kabul through a video link.

Afghani urged the council to ensure that there are clear rules for engaging Afghan women from diverse backgrounds in peace negotiations, including allowing them roles as negotiators and religious leaders in any talks.

The United States is leading efforts to bring the Taliban militant group into talks with the Afghan government in Kabul. Zalmay Khalilzad, the U.S. special envoy to Afghanistan, has held a series of negotiations with the Taliban in Qatar, but the extremist group has so far refused to meet directly with leaders in Kabul, calling them puppets of the West.

Before the Taliban militants were driven from power in a U.S.-led invasion in 2001, the group severely restricted women’s rights and banned the education of girls in the country.

‘Significant Progress’

U.S. Deputy Ambassador Cherith Norman Chalet, speaking at the conference at the UN, told the council that Washington wants all Afghans, including women, to participate in negotiations to determine the war-ravaged country’s future.

Amina Mohammed, a UN deputy secretary-general, told the Security Council session that, under the Taliban, “women and girls were denied access to education, health services, and protection from extreme violence, and could not participate in political or public life.”

Mohammed recently traveled to Afghanistan to meet with President Ashraf Ghani and other senior leaders and religious scholars. She also met with women’s rights leaders, decision-makers, and health-care workers.

“In the past 18 years, there has been significant progress,” said Mohammed, who pointed out that women now hold senior roles in the defense, foreign affairs, and interior ministries and make up some 27 percent of the country’s civil service.

Afghanistan has “done more to invest in women’s leadership” than many countries with greater means and women are “rising to reclaim their rightful place in all areas of society,” she said.

With reporting by AFP and the United Nations

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.

Three Police Killed In Taliban Suicide Attack In Southeast Afghanistan

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ghazniRadio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
July 27, 2019

At least three police officers have been killed and 12 wounded in a Taliban suicide bombing in Afghanistan.

A police spokesman said the July 27 explosion targeted a district police headquarters in southeastern Ghazni Province.

He said the Taliban, who control much of the province, used a stolen military Humvee in the attack in the Ab Band district.

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid claimed responsibility for the bombing.

The latest violence in Afghanistan comes days after more than 50 people were killed on July 25 in a string of attacks — claimed both by the Taliban and the Islamic State extremist group (IS) — in three provinces, including the capital, Kabul.

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

U.S. and Taliban representatives have held several rounds of peace talks since last year and Zalmay Khalilzad, the U.S. special envoy to Afghanistan, is currently in Kabul to consult on the next steps in the process ahead of a new round of talks in Qatar next week.

While no agreement has been reached, both sides have reported progress in the talks. The Taliban, however, has refused to meet with Kabul government officials whom they regard as U.S. puppets.

The Taliban control or contest around half of the country, controlling more territory than at any time since the U.S.-led invasion in 2001 ousted the group from power.

A U.S. intelligence official based in Kabul told the AP news agency that IS was an even bigger threat.

The official, who discussed terrorist threats only on condition of anonymity, said recent IS attacks in Kabul are “practice runs” for more substantial ones in the future.

With reporting by AP 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.

Kabul Rally Chants ‘Death to Trump’ for His Anti-Afghan Remarks

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Gulbuddin Hekmatyar

Gulbuddin Hekmatyar

Ayaz Gul
VOA News
July 26, 2019

ISLAMABAD — A key presidential candidate in Afghanistan urged President Donald Trump on Friday to test the U.S. military power against Russia instead of threatening the “oppressed” Afghans.

Politicians and the public in the war-ravaged country continue to express their anger at Trump for claiming his military plan, if executed, could win the Afghan war within 10 days, killing 10 million people and wiping Afghanistan “off the face of the Earth.”

Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, a presidential hopeful and former anti-American warlord, denounced Trump’s assertions while addressing thousands of his supporters in Kabul. The crowd of fewer than 10,000 chanted “Death to America, Death to Trump” during the speech.

“We ask Mr. Trump that if you have the courage and strength, and you believe in your military power, then test it against [Russian President Vladimir] Putin, and not the oppressed Afghans,” Hekmatyar said.

“The same Putin who is said to have meddled in America’s election, enabling you [Trump] to reach the White House to become the president,” Hekmatyar went on to mock Trump.

Ghani government criticized

He also criticized President Ashraf Ghani’s coalition government for seeking “clarification” from Washington rather than denouncing Trump’s remarks. Hekmatyar and his fighters fought alongside the Taliban against U.S. and NATO forces until two years ago, when he entered into a peace-and-reconciliation deal with the U.S.-backed government in Kabul.

Trump, while speaking Monday to reporters at the White House together with Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan, explained why he needed Islamabad’s help “to extricate ourselves” from Afghanistan.

“I have plans on Afghanistan that, if I wanted to win that war, Afghanistan would be wiped off the face of the Earth. It would be gone. It would be over in, literally, in 10 days. And I don’t want to do — I don’t want to go that route,” Trump remarked.

Most Afghan presidential candidates and former President Hamid Karzai also have slammed Trump for his controversial statement. Karzai told VOA the American president’s statement came from a “criminal mindset” and showed “contempt” toward Afghanistan and the Afghan people.

Hekmatyar, who heads his Hezb-e Islami political group, called for all Afghan stakeholders to accept “all reasonable” demands by the Taliban for ending the war.

“Foreigners and the government they have installed [in Afghanistan] must both accept their [Taliban’s] demands. … Hezb-e-Islami is determined not to compromise on peace, and if we are forced, we will alone find a settlement with the Taliban,” Hekmatyar cautioned.

The United States is engaged in direct talks with the Taliban, and they are said to have come close to signing a peace deal.

The insurgents say they are seeking a troop withdrawal timetable from Washington in exchange for assurances that Taliban-controlled areas will not become a sanctuary for international terrorist groups. U.S. officials, however, say a final agreement also would require the Taliban to engage in intra-Afghan peace negotiations, including representatives of the Kabul government.

The insurgent group remains strongly opposed to any talks with the Ghani government, dismissing it as illegitimate and a U.S. puppet.

Defense of U.S. efforts

When asked for her comments about Afghan outrage over Trump’s remarks, State Department spokeswoman Morgan Ortagus said Thursday that she would remind Afghans about the large number of troops from the U.S. and NATO allies who have been killed in Afghanistan.

“Not just the number of lives lost but the billions of dollars that have spent there. … So I think that the people of Afghanistan should know that for almost 20 years, Americans have lost their lives and have spent their hard-earned taxpayer money to see the people of Afghanistan have a choice for their own future,” Morgan told reporters.

“And that commitment has not been a small commitment. That has been a vast and sweeping commitment by the American people,” she emphasized.

The conflict aimed at stabilizing Afghanistan — the United States’ longest foreign military intervention — has cost Washington an estimated $1 trillion and more than 2,400 lives.

The U.S. is still paying about $4 billion annually to Kabul, mostly for salaries and training of Afghan security forces battling the Taliban.

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Don’t Trust the Taliban With Afghanistan’s Cultural Preservation

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jam_minaretDefense One:  The group continues to attack sites and antiquities. In May, Taliban fighters in northwest Afghanistan attackedsecurity posts that were providing protection for the ancient Minaret of Jam. The 12th-century minaret, known for its intricate brick construction and ancient Arabic calligraphy, is one of only two sites in Afghanistan that hold UNESCO World Heritage status. The attackers killed 18 members of the government security forces and cut off access to the minaret, the status of which is unknown. So it is alarming that cultural heritage does not seem to be on the agenda for the peace talks with the Taliban. Click here to read more (external link).

Official Accused Of Corruption Appointed To Key Post In Govt

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corruptTolo News: President Ashraf Ghani has appointed Walid Tamim, former head of Afghanistan Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority, to two key posts in government despite the Attorney General’s Office says Tamim has three corruption cases under investigation at the judicial organization.  Legal experts said such appointments are contradicting rules and regulations in the government.  Tamim was a close aide to Ghani in the 2014 presidential elections. Click here to read more (external link).

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US Pushes Toward “Face-Saving Way Out”: Ex-CIA Official

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Taliban militants (file photo)

Taliban militants (file photo)

Tolo News: The ongoing negotiations between the US and the Taliban are a “charade” designed simply to provide the US a “face-saving way out of Afghanistan,” former CIA deputy director Michael Morell said as quoted by Axios. The president [Donald Trump] has said the Taliban is tired. That’s not true. The Taliban controls more territory than at any time since the 9/11 attacks and it seeks what it has always sought: to fully control Afghanistan as a one-party state,” Morell said as quoted by Axios. Click here to read more (external link).