BBC: Pakistan survived a scare to beat Afghanistan by three wickets with two balls remaining in a thriller at Headingley that moves Sarfaraz Ahmed’s side above England in the race for a World Cup semi-final spot. Afghanistan were competitive against Pakistan, which has not always been the case during this World Cup. They have not had a settled side, have rarely performed with the bat, and their fielding has been poor. Click here to read more (external link).
1TV Afghanistan Dari News – June 29, 2019
Latest Taliban Attacks Kill At Least 42 Afghan Forces
Taliban militants (file photo)
Ayaz Gul
VOA News
June 29, 2019
ISLAMABAD – The Taliban has killed dozens of government forces in its latest battlefield attacks in Afghanistan as the insurgent group opens a new round of peace negotiations with the United States in Qatar to discuss a political settlement to the deadly Afghan war.
Officials in northern Baghlan province said Saturday a large group of insurgents assaulted several security outposts in Nahreen district, triggering hours-long fierce clashes.
The district chief, Fazluddin Mardi, told VOA the attack killed 26 in the pro-government anti-Taliban forces and wounded eight others. He asserted that insurgents also suffered heavy casualties but gave no further details.
Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid gave a much higher casualty toll for Afghan forces, saying several senior commanders were also among those killed.
Attack in Kandahar province
The Taliban also carried out an early morning attack against police posts in southern Kandahar province. A security official told VOA the insurgent raid in the Takhta Pol district near the airport of the provincial capital, also named Kandahar, killed 16 policemen and wounded four others.
The insurgent group in a statement claimed it killed 20 Afghan police personnel, though Taliban spokesman people often issue inflated claims for such attacks.
Taliban captured
Separately, provincial governor Hayatullah Hayat told a news conference Afghan forces have captured 40 Taliban members during recent raids in the Kandahar city. He claimed a large number of the detainees are specially trained insurgents tasked to carry out guerrilla attacks in urban centers.
The deadly violence came ahead of Saturday’s seventh round of peace negotiations between the Taliban and U.S. negotiators led by Afghan-born American diplomat, Zalmay Khalilzad.
The two sides are expected to finalize a draft text outlining insurgent commitments that Taliban-controlled areas will not be allowed to become a hub of international terrorism. In return, the Taliban says, Washington has promised to announce a troop withdrawal timeline.
Khalilzad, however, has emphasized the final agreement must include a Taliban cease-fire and its engagement in intra-Afghan peace dialogue. The insurgent group, for its part, has publicly rejected those assertions, saying it would discuss a cease-fire and participation in Afghan-to-Afghan talks only after the U.S. side agrees to and announces a troop withdrawal timetable.
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Mir Rahman Rahmani elected as Afghanistan parliament speaker
Mir Rahman Rahmani
1TV: Mir Rahman Rahmani was elected as speaker of Afghanistan’s lower house Wolesi Jirga on Saturday. 123 votes were needed for a candidate to win. Rahmani received 136 votes while his rival Khan Mohammad Wardak secured 96. Click here to read more (external link).
U.S. Envoy, Taliban Begin New Round Of Afghan Peace Talks In Qatar
Zalmay Khalilzad
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
June 29, 2019
Zalmay Khalilzad, the U.S. peace envoy for Afghanistan, is opening a new round of talks with the Taliban in Doha as Washington bids to speed up the process to end the 18-year conflict in the war-torn country.
Suhail Shaheen, a spokesman for the Taliban’s political office in Doha, told the Associated Press that the talks were set to begin on June 29.
The same day, Taliban militants killed at least 26 pro-government militiamen in fighting in northern Afghanistan.
Insurgents attacked security posts in the Nahrin District of Baghlan Province.
A Taliban spokesman said 28 militiamen were killed and 12 injured, while a provincial police spokesman said 26 militiamen died.
A Defense Ministry official in Kabul said the attack indicated that the Taliban wanted to negotiate from a position of strength.
The Doha talks are expected to focus on working out a timeline for the withdrawal of foreign troops from Afghanistan and on a Taliban guarantee that militants will not plot attacks from Afghan soil.
Khalilzad has held six rounds of talks with the Taliban in the Qatari capital.
The Doha meeting comes two days after Afghan President Ashraf Ghani arrived in Pakistan for talks aimed at drawing Islamabad’s help in getting the Taliban to talk peace with Kabul.
Pakistan has facilitated ongoing peace talks between Washington and the Taliban, but the militant group has so far refused to talk directly with Kabul government representatives, calling them U.S. puppets.
The New York Times cited Afghan and Western officials as saying that, if the Taliban were willing to meet directly with the Afghan government, U.S. negotiators might be willing to play their main negotiating card — offering a provisional schedule for the withdrawal of U.S. troops.
Ghani arrived in Islamabad a day after U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo visited Kabul, where he said Washington was hopeful of reaching a peace agreement before September 1.
The Taliban, driven from power by the U.S.-led invasion in 2001, now controls large swaths of Afghanistan’s territory.
The New York Times said it had obtained a rare copy of a draft Taliban constitution for the group’s intentions should it rejoin the political process within the Afghan government.
The 14-page document — which the Times said was confirmed by people close to the Taliban — “shows flashes of sophistication” but also “deep contradictions” within the movement over such issues of women’s education, justice, and tolerance of minorities.
With reporting by RFE/RL’s Afghan Service, AP, Reuters, and The New York Times
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.
1TV Afghanistan Dari News – June 28, 2019
What Do the Taliban Want in Afghanistan? A Lost Constitution Offers Clues.
Taliban militants (file photo)
The New York Times: The New York Times obtained a rare copy of that draft constitution — a 14-page document that was confirmed by people close to the Taliban, including some former officials who worked on the draft. It remains the only known official codification of the movement’s political vision. The draft shows flashes of sophistication, but also provides a snapshot of a movement that had deep contradictions within itself about issues like women’s education, justice and tolerance of minorities. Click here to read more (external link).
Ghani in Pakistan: ‘Afghanistan would never be a colony’
Ghani
1TV: Speaking at the Institute of Strategic Studies Islamabad, Ghani highlighted “strong interdependencies” between the Taliban and Pakistan and called for “programmatic approaches” to move from conflict to cooperation. “We have a proverb it says you cannot take an Afghan to heaven by coercion, but you can take him to hell by persuasion,” Ghani said. Click here to read more (external link).
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1TV Afghanistan Dari News – June 27, 2019
Pakistan, Afghanistan Vow to Improve Strained Ties
Ashraf Ghani (left) and Imran Khan (right)
Ayaz Gul
VOA News
June 27, 2019
ISLAMABAD – Afghan President Ashraf Ghani has begun a two-day official visit to Pakistan to pursue what aides say would be the normalization of the relationship between the two uneasy neighboring countries.
The Afghan leader held delegation-level talks with Prime Minister Imran Khan shortly after arriving in Islamabad as the head of a large delegation comprising cabinet ministers, advisors and Afghan business community leaders.
Khan’s office said in a post-meeting statement the two leaders “agreed to open a new chapter of friendship and cooperation …based on mutual trust and harmony for the benefit of the two peoples and countries and for advancing the cause of peace, stability and prosperity in the region.”
The discussions between the two delegations focused on strengthening mutual cooperation in a number of areas, including political, trade, economy, security, as well as peace and reconciliation efforts in Afghanistan, the statement noted.
Ghani, who is undertaking his third visit to Islamabad after taking office in 2014, is also scheduled to address a conference of Pakistani and Afghan businessmen.
Allegations that the Pakistani military supports and shelters Taliban leaders are at the center of long-running bilateral tensions and mistrust. Pakistan rejects the charges and in turn accuses the Afghan spy agency of providing refuge to militants waging terrorist attacks against the Pakistani state.
The two countries share a nearly 2,600 kilometer, largely porous border, which critics say encourages illegal movement in both directions. Pakistan is unilaterally installing a robust fence along most of the frontier and believes it would address mutual security concerns.
Officials in Islamabad see Ghani’s latest visit as an indication his government “now realizes and accepts the centrality of Pakistan” to resolve bilateral issues and promote the Afghan peace process.
A senior foreign ministry official underscored the need for regular, direct and uninterrupted institutional-level engagement between the two countries. The official spoke to VOA on condition of anonymity.
“While Afghanistan realizes the importance of Pakistan in medium to long term, Pakistan also feels that it is important to remain engaged with the government of Afghanistan regardless of who heads it,” stressed the Pakistani official.
Last week, Pakistan hosted a “peace conference” of around 60 top Afghan political personalities, mostly opposition leaders, to try to underscore its neutrality in the conflict-torn Afghanistan.
U.S.-Taliban peace talks
Ghani’s visit comes at a time of intensified diplomatic efforts the United States is making to find a political settlement with the Taliban insurgency to end the nearly 18-year-old war in Afghanistan.
It also comes ahead of the next round of peace negotiations between U.S. and insurgent delegations to be hosted by Qatar on Saturday.
The Afghan government has been excluded from the dialogue process because of the Taliban’s refusal to deal with what the insurgents dismiss as an illegitimate “puppet” regime in Kabul.
Islamabad takes credit for arranging the U.S.-Taliban peace dialogue, insisting peace in Afghanistan is key to Pakistan’s own long-term security.
U.S. officials acknowledge Pakistani efforts in promoting the Afghan peace but they are seeking more help from Islamabad in terms of persuading the Taliban to show flexibility in the talks.
“Pakistan has a particularly important role to play in this process…Progress has been made. We will continue to look to Pakistan for practical measures, cooperation on peace talks and the implementation of any agreement,” U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said during a visit to Kabul.
Taliban and U.S. officials have held six rounds of talks in the nearly year-long process. The two sides say they have drafted a primary agreement that would bind the Taliban to stop terrorists from using insurgent-control areas for international terrorism. In turn, Washington would announce a troop withdrawal timetable.
But the Taliban rejects calls for a permanent cease-fire and the start of a formal intra-Afghan peace dialogue until it secures a U.S. troop withdrawal deal.
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