Emran Feroz via TRTWorld: Foreign invaders and elite urban Afghans have long underestimated or ignored rural Afghanistan, and they have all paid the price of doing so. A few days ago, massive protests took place in the province of Helmand, southern Afghanistan. The night before, Afghan and American forces raided another home in the region. According to locals, they killed several civilians, but this was not the end of the ordeal. The soldiers also abducted two women, and for most of the villagers, this was one step too far. Click here to read more (external link).
‘Dirt and filth’: Russia attacks film about Red Army in Afghanistan
Soviet Troops (file photo)
The Guardian (UK): A row has broken out in Russia over a film about the Soviet Union’s withdrawal from Afghanistan, after politicians and former servicemen criticised its unflattering depiction of Red Army soldiers as unpatriotic. Leaving Afghanistan, directed by Pavel Lungin, is based on the experiences of Nikolay Kovalyov, a veteran of the Afghan war who went on to lead Russia’s FSB spy agency. It tells the story of a group of Red Army soldiers whose departure from Afghanistan is delayed after they are ordered to free a Soviet general’s son taken captive by mujahideen fighters. Lungin told Variety magazine last year that the film depicts the “senselessness and cruelty of war”. Click here to read more (external link).
Afghanistan opens $1t mineral sector
Nehan
Khaleej Times: Afghanistan launched on Monday 43 tenders for natural resource projects as part of a global initiative to attract investment into its mineral sector that has assets estimated to be worth $1 trillion. Afghan Minister of Mines and Petroleum Nargis Nehan said 14 tenders would be opened for large-scale projects to international companies through a competitive bidding process and the remaining small-scale projects would be awarded to local companies. Declaring that her country’s mining sector is ‘open for business,’ Nehan said at the Afghanistan Mining Investment Forum in Dubai that the projects have generated interest from the US, European, and Gulf companies. Click here to read more (external link).
1TV Afghanistan Dari News – April 16, 2019
List Of Qatar Delegation ‘Not All-Inclusive’: Say Critics
Tolo News: Hours after the Afghan government announced a “finalized” list of Qatar delegation, some critics said the 250-member list requires to be inclusive and that it should represent people from all over the country. The list shows that 90 delegates have introduced by political parties and movements and 150 others have been introduced by government. It includes 52 women. The list also includes the names of former Jihadi leaders and former senior officials of government including Ismail Khan, Atta Mohammad Noor, and Mohammad Yunus Qanooni. The names of close aides of former President Hamid Karzai and Hizb-e-Islami leader Gulbuddin Hekmatyar are on the list, but the names of Karzai and Hekmatyar are not seen in the list. Click here to read more (external link).
IEC Expedites Efforts For Presidential Elections
Tolo News: Officials from the Independent Election Commission (IEC) on Saturday said they have made some developments in the preparations for the upcoming presidential elections as they have accelerated their efforts for the polls as well as for the provincial councils elections and Ghazni parliamentary elections – all scheduled for September 28. An IEC official said many vacant posts, including 10 provincial chiefs and technical positions, have been announced and that they will appoint the required personnel in the near future. Click here to read more (external link).
Related
At least Five People Killed, Hundreds Of Homes Washed Away In Afghanistan Floods
By RFE/RL’s Radio Free Afghanistan
April 16, 2019
KABUL — Torrential rains and flooding have swept across much of Afghanistan, killing at least five people, destroying and damaging hundreds of houses, and sweeping away livestock, officials say.
Hashmat Bahaduri, a spokesman for Afghanistan’s National Disaster Management Authority (ANDMA), said that heavy rains and flooding have hit 16 of Afghanistan’s 34 provinces in the past 24 hours.
In the western province of Herat, five people were killed when their houses collapsed, according to Jilani Farhad, a spokesman for the provincial governor.
Hamid Mubarez, the disaster and humanitarian affairs director in Herat, said that 17 other people are missing.
They were last heard from while traveling in a van in the Obey district on April 15, Mubarez said.
The floods affected other areas in the province, including the districts of Kohsan, Karrokh, Shindand, and Guzara.
In the capital, the Kabul River burst its banks in places and swamped surrounding neighborhoods.
Bahaduri said that more than 110 houses have already been partially or completely destroyed in the city.
Authorities have warned residents living along the river to be prepared to evacuate their homes as water levels surged.
The highway between the cities of Herat and Kandahar has been closed to traffic due to damage caused by flash floods.
More than 110 people have been killed due to flooding in Afghanistan so far this year, according to the ANDMA.
This winter saw heavy snowfall across parts of Afghanistan, cutting off many areas and leading to flash floods in the spring melt.
With reporting by AP, AFP, and TOLOnews
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.
Might Makes Right: US Strong-Arms ICC Into Dropping Afghan War Crimes Probe
Bolton (left), Pompeo (middle), and Trump (right)
Michael Hughes: The International Criminal Court (ICC) denied a request to probe more than 1 million war crimes reportedly committed by parties to the conflict in Afghanistan because the court’s judges feared the long arm of the United States. After the decision was rendered the White House, adding insult to injury, gloated over its ability to force the ICC into abandoning justice and reminded the world that the United States is above the law. Click here to read more.
‘A hunter’s hope’: Snaring birds in warring Afghanistan
Reuters: Bird hunting is an ancient sport in Afghanistan, where local and migrating species have flocked for thousands of years and where even amid the chaos of the past 40 years of conflict, the tradition persists. Click here to read more (external link).
In Kabul, Moscow has a new cultural center on the ashes of its Soviet predecessor
The Washington Post: At any one time, 6,500 Afghans are studying Russian across Afghanistan, and the center helps manage their hopes for a free-ride scholarship to a Russian university. Veterans from Moscow’s decade-long war in Afghanistan are also frequent guests, occasionally facing their erstwhile opponents on the soccer pitch. Click here to read more (external link).