Tolo News: Sahraa Karimi, filmmaker, and director, who was last month appointed as the first female General Director of Afghan Film, the country’s state-run film production company, through a merit-based process conducted at the Independent Administrative Reform and Civil Service Commission says that she is committed to giving a new life to the production company. Click here to read more (external link).
Fact-checking Trump’s false claims about Afghanistan on Fox
Donald Trump
CNN: President Donald Trump made a number of claims about the war in Afghanistan in a Fox News interview with Tucker Carlson that aired on Monday night. Four of them were at least partly inaccurate. Let’s go through them one by one. Mineral extraction – Hotel – Natural gas station – Removing troops. Click here to read more (external link).
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Dejected Afghanistan aim to break their duck
ICC: Afghanistan, who have been win-less at the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2019 so far, despite displaying flashes of brilliance, will look to end their campaign on a high as they face West Indies in their last match on Thursday. West Indies, much like Afghanistan have failed to produce an all-round performance, barring their opening match victory against Pakistan – their only success in this World Cup so far. Click here to read more (external link).
Other Sports News
1TV Afghanistan Dari News – July 3, 2019
Kandahar airport named after Ahmad Shah Abdali
1TV: Kandahar airport has been named after Ahmad Shah Durrani [Abdali], the first emperor of the Durrani Empire who reigned 25 years. The airport was named by President Ashraf Ghani soon after he arrived in the southern province on Wednesday. Click here to read more (external link).
US Army officer convicted of murder in Afghanistan to get another look by civilian court
Lorance
Army Times: The civilian review comes after former 1st Lt. Clint Lorance, 34, had an appeal rejected by military judges two years ago. On July 2, 2012, Lorance gave orders to his soldiers to fire on three unarmed Afghan men on a motorcycle near their patrol. One soldier initially fired two shots, missed and watched as the Afghan men came to a stop, dismounted their bike and walked towards the Afghan National Army soldiers who were at the front of the U.S.-Afghan patrol, according to court records. The Afghan soldiers gestured for the motorcyclists to leave. At that point, Lorance ordered over the radio for the platoon’s gun truck to engage the Afghan motorcyclists using an M240B machine gun, killing two of the riders and wounding the third, who then managed to flee. Click here to read more (external link).
A growing mental health crisis in Afghanistan
The National (UAE): According to the International Psychological Organisation, 70 per cent of the country’s 37 million population is in need of mental health support… of the estimated 3,000 Afghan suicides every year, 80 per cent are women. Many Afghan girls are forced to marry young. From childhood, far too many face violence – or the threat of it – both in the home and on the streets. Often forced to move frequently, to escape disorder and brutality, the vast majority are afraid to speak up or run away, fearing the shame that will be brought upon their families. Click here to read more (external link).
1TV Afghanistan Dari News – July 2, 2019
All-Afghan Peace Summit Announced Following Deadly Kabul Attack
By RFE/RL’s Radio Free Afghanistan
July 2, 2019
KABUL — An all-Afghan peace summit has been set for July 7-8, although the talks in Qatar will apparently be held without the official participation of the Afghan government.
The summit was announced on July 1 as negotiators from the United States and the Taliban were trying to hammer out terms for a peace agreement in the Qatari capital, Doha, and after the militant group claimed responsibility for a deadly bombing and gun attack in Kabul.
The July 1 assault on a government building killed at least six people and wounded 105. Five militants were also killed in an hours-long gunbattle with Afghan security forces.
The assault was condemned as “barbarous” by U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who called on the Taliban to stop attacking civilians but also said that Washington remained committed to the peace process.
Germany will co-sponsor the peace summit along with Qatar, according to Marcus Potzel, Germany’s special representative for Pakistan and Afghanistan.
But Potzel noted in a statement issued by the United States that the potential Afghan participants had been invited and “will participate only in their personal capacity and on an equal footing.”
An earlier attempt at intra-Afghan dialogue in Qatar failed in April due to disagreements over who would participate.
The Taliban, which is demanding that foreign forces leave Afghanistan while the United States is seeking guarantees that the country will not be used as a staging ground for attacks elsewhere, has said it will not negotiate with the Afghan government until foreign forces have been withdrawn.
Afghan presidential spokesman Siddiq Siddiqi said that the Kabul attack showed that the Taliban militants “don’t care about peace in Afghanistan. But for the people and the government of Afghanistan peace is the priority.”
U.S. peace envoy Zalmay Khalilzad, who is currently in Doha attending a seventh round of direct talks with the Taliban, thanked Qatar and Germany for agreeing to host the summit.
“This dialogue is an essential element of the four-part peace framework & an important step in advancing the #AfghanPeaceProcess,” he tweeted.
In a televised interview broadcast on July 1, U.S. President Donald Trump described Afghanistan as a “lab for terrorists,” saying that if the United States withdrew its military forces from the country, he would still leave a “very strong intelligence” presence behind.
“I call it the Harvard of terrorists,” Trump said about Afghanistan, referring to the prestigious U.S. university.
The interview with Fox News was recorded before the Taliban attack in Kabul.
With reporting by dpa and AP
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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Trump Describes Afghanistan As ‘Lab For Terrorists’
Donald Trump
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
July 2, 2019
U.S. President Donald Trump has described Afghanistan as a “lab for terrorists,” saying in a television interview that if the United States withdrew its military forces from the country, he would still leave a “very strong intelligence” presence behind.
“I call it the Harvard of terrorists,” Trump said about Afghanistan and referring to the prestigious private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Trump made the remarks in an interview conducted during the weekend with Fox News that was broadcast on July 1.
The interview was recorded before a truck-bomb attack by Taliban fighters in Kabul on July 1 that killed at least six people and wounded 105.
It was broadcast after U.S. special peace envoy Zalmay Khalilzad met on July 1 for a seventh round of peace talks with Taliban representatives in Qatar.
The focus of the talks has been a Taliban demand that foreign forces leave Afghanistan and a U.S. demand for a guarantee that Afghanistan will not be used as a base for attacks elsewhere.
Trump told Fox News he wanted to pull U.S. troops out of Afghanistan.
But he said he was concerned that without a U.S. military presence there, Afghanistan could be used as a base for terrorist attacks on the United States.
He described conversations he had with U.S. military officials who warned him it would be better to fight terrorists in Afghanistan than at home.
“‘Sir, I’d rather attack them over there, than attack them in our land,'” Trump said one general had told him.
“It’s something you always have to think about,” Trump said about the general’s remarks.
Based on reporting by Reuters, Fox News, and AP
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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