Pakistan punishes Kabul with Sirajuddin Haqqani ‘Disclosure’

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Sirajuddin Haqqani

Khaama: Pakistan has let out its worst-kept secret that the top mujahideen personnel of its anti-Russian and, later, anti-US campaigns in Afghanistan, some of whom are Taliban now in power, carried the privileged ‘green’ Pakistani passports. As for Haqqani, records say that the Haqqani clan, headed by Jalaluddin, a warlord hailing from Afghanistan’s Nangarhar province, was a long-time favourite of Pakistan’s ISI. The Haqqani network was used against any quarters that the ISI wanted to keep out of Afghanistan.  Today, Jalaluddin’s sons are key ministers in the Taliban-run administration. Sirajudin, the Interior Minister, is also the deputy chief of the Taliban movement.  Click here to read more (external link).

Pakistan Presses Afghan Taliban To Extradite Terror Attack Planners

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Ayaz Gul
VOA News
December 14, 2023

ISLAMABAD — Pakistan urged Afghanistan’s Taliban government Thursday to take decisive action against “terrorist entities” on its soil and extradite fugitive militant leaders allegedly responsible for plotting this week’s deadly assault on a Pakistani military base.

“We have noted the statement by the Afghan interim government that it will investigate the terrorist attack of December 12,” Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mumtaz Baloch told a weekly news conference in Islamabad.

Tuesday’s gun-and-suicide bomb attack, one of the deadliest in Pakistan’s recent history, occurred in the militancy-hit northwestern district of Dera Ismail Khan, killing 23 soldiers and wounding many more.

Multiple security sources reported an Afghan suicide bomber was among a group of six assailants who raided the military base camp and were killed in the ensuing clashes with Pakistani security forces.

A recently emerged militant outfit, the Tehreek-e-Jihad Pakistan, or TJP, claimed the attack. Baloch said TJP was “affiliated” with the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan, or TTP, which is a globally designated terrorist group and is waging war against the Pakistani state out of sanctuaries on Afghan soil.

“Afghanistan must take strong action against perpetrators of this heinous attack and hand them over to Pakistan along with the TTP leadership in Afghanistan,” she said. “We also expect Afghanistan to take concrete and verifiable steps to prevent the use of Afghan soil by terrorist entities against Pakistan.”

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told Afghan state television on Wednesday that “if they [Pakistan] ask for an investigation and share details with us, we will surely investigate it.” He, however, rejected as groundless Islamabad’s allegations that the assault was connected to Afghanistan.

Pakistan remains skeptical about the Taliban’s claims of not allowing terrorist groups to threaten neighboring countries from Afghan soil. Mujahid did not condemn the attack nor have the Taliban done so previously, prompting Islamabad to demand they publicly denounce such acts of terrorism.

Officials in Islamabad maintain several thousand TTP leaders and fighters have enjoyed “greater operational freedom” in Afghanistan since the Taliban returned to power two years ago, leading to a 65% surge in terrorist attacks in Pakistan and killing nearly 2,500 people, including security forces.

Authorities say fighters and suicide bombers linked to the ruling Taliban in Afghanistan have also participated in some of the high-profile attacks this year, leading to a 500% rise in suicide bombings in Pakistan since early 2023.

Pakistan’s army chief, General Asim Munir, is in the United States discussing with U.S. counterparts, among other issues, the growing threat of terrorism facing his country from militant sanctuaries in Afghanistan.

Without going into specifics of the talks, U.S. State Department spokesman Mathew Miller told reporters on Wednesday that Washington looks forward to cooperating with Islamabad on regional security and defense.

“We have taken a number of steps to partner with them this year on antiterrorism activities. In March, the United States and Pakistan held a high-level counterterrorism dialogue to discuss the shared terrorist threats facing our two countries and to develop strategies to cooperate in critical areas, such as border security and countering the financing of terrorism,” Miller said without elaborating.

He added that the U.S. is funding several counterterrorism capacity-building programs in Pakistan focused on law enforcement and justice.

Pakistan was among only three countries that formally recognized the previous Taliban government in Kabul from 1996 to 2001 before they were ousted by a U.S.-led international military intervention for sheltering the al-Qaida terrorist network. The others were Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

The Pakistani military stood accused of providing shelter and covert support to the Taliban insurgency for two decades followed their defeat by foreign-backed forces in 2001.

But Islamabad’s relations with the Taliban have worsened since they retook control of Afghanistan in August 2021, when all U.S. and NATO troops withdrew from Afghanistan — mainly over growing terrorism in Pakistan.

TTP is also known as an offshoot and close ally of the Afghan Taliban. It provided recruits and shelter on Pakistani soil to Taliban leaders as they directed insurgent attacks against international forces on the Afghan side of the border.

An article published recently in the mainstream Afghan TOLO media outlet quoted Taliban officials as acknowledging that TTP is a close ally of de facto Kabul rulers. It went on to claim that in recent talks between Kabul and Islamabad, the Pakistani side demanded action against TTP militants, but the Taliban refused.

“The Pakistani authorities wanted the Afghan government to take action against the TTP, stop them from operating, arrest them, imprison them, and hand them over to Pakistan,” the author quoted an unnamed Taliban official who attended the meeting.

“These requests were not accepted by the Afghan side because, on the one hand, TTP has helped them against NATO and the United States of America in the past years, and on the other hand, these actions are against their [Taliban] values.”

Pakistan Seeks US Help Against Pakistani Taliban in Afghanistan

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Munir

VOA News
Akmal Dawi
December 13, 2023

Pakistan’s army chief is in Washington this week seeking U.S. assistance against what Islamabad alleges are terrorist havens in neighboring Afghanistan.

General Asim Munir is trying to convince U.S. security and defense officials that militant groups such as Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and Islamic State’s Khorasan offshoot (IS-K) pose a threat not only to Pakistan but also to U.S. and global security, experts say.

“In seeking U.S. sympathy and support for Pakistan’s counterterrorism concerns, he may note the many years of U.S.-Pakistan military cooperation that includes some counterterrorism collaborations, as well as many years of military education and training exchanges,” said Michael Kugelman, director of the South Asia Institute at the Wilson Center.

“He will likely also note that both countries face threats emanating from Afghanistan, whether IS-K or TTP,” Kugelman added.

On Wednesday, Munir met with Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and discussed “recent regional security developments and potential areas for bilateral defense cooperation,” according to a brief statement from the Pentagon.

Despite the withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan over two years ago, the United States has retained what U.S. officials term over-the-horizon capabilities in the region: the ability to strike targets in response to security threats. In July 2022, a U.S. drone strike killed Ayman al-Zawahiri the former al-Qaida chief in Kabul.

On Wednesday, Jan Achakzai, Pakistan’s acting information minister, posted on X and subsequently deleted a series of proposed actions in response to a deadly attack on a military camp in northwest Pakistan on Tuesday. The attack, involving a vehicle-borne blast and shooting, resulted in at least 23 deaths and over 40 injuries, according to Pakistani authorities.

Achakzai suggested, among other measures, that Pakistan should propose offering U.S. drone bases to target terrorist sanctuaries in Afghanistan.

The de facto Taliban authorities in Afghanistan have consistently rejected Pakistan’s allegations, saying they do not permit groups and individuals to pose threats to any country from Afghan soil.

Pakistan has grappled with the TTP insurgency for nearly two decades, but Pakistani officials claim that the group has escalated its terrorist activities since the Afghan Taliban regained power in Afghanistan in 2021.

US response

Before coming to Washington, Munir met Thomas West, the U.S. special representative for Afghanistan, in Islamabad.

“The United States stands with Pakistan against terrorism in the region,” West wrote on X, adding that the TTP poses “grave security challenges.”

While expressing sympathy and understanding, the U.S. — at least for now — does not seem to be considering military action specifically against TTP hideouts in Afghanistan.

“With respect to relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan, obviously we support diplomatic resolution to all of the various issues between those two countries,” State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller told reporters on Monday.

The United States has funded several counterterrorism capacity-building programs in Pakistan focused on law enforcement and justice, Miller said Wednesday when asked what kind of support the U.S. would offer Pakistan.

Washington’s position appears grounded in its own risk assessment.

A recent U.S. intelligence assessment indicated that “al-Qaida has reached its historical nadir in Afghanistan and Pakistan” is unlikely to revive itself.

The other terrorist group of particular U.S. concern, IS-K, has reportedly been weakened by Taliban counterterrorism operations, according to the assessment.

Senior U.S. officials have said they will hold the Afghan Taliban accountable for their counterterrorism commitments made under the U.S.-Taliban Doha agreement.

“The U.S., and particularly the current administration, is fed up with military involvement in South-Central Asia,” Robert Grenier, the former head of counterterrorism at the Central Intelligence Agency, told VOA in written comments.

“Absent attacks on U.S. interests clearly emanating from Afghanistan, the U.S. will remain neutral,” he said.

Proxy turned enemy?

Since their emergence as an extremist Islamist movement in Afghanistan in 1990s, the Taliban have often been labeled a proxy group for the Pakistani military and intelligence.

During the U.S.’s two decades of war in Afghanistan, former Afghan and U.S. officials consistently accused Pakistan of providing shelter and support to Taliban insurgents.

Many Pakistanis celebrated the Taliban’s return to power in Afghanistan in 2021, including former Prime Minister Imran Khan, who declared that Afghans had broken the “shackles of slavery.”

“The [Afghan] Taliban want to assert their independence from their former patron, and that is being expressed through defiance and an unwillingness to help Islamabad if it doesn’t serve the Taliban’s interests,” said Kugelman of the Wilson Center.

Pakistan has recently started deporting tens of thousands of Afghan refugees and undocumented migrants, a move independent observers believe is intended to exert pressure on the Taliban to adhere to Islamabad’s security demands.

About 3 million Afghan nationals live in Pakistan, and Pakistani officials say some of them are involved in terrorist and criminal activities.

Some Pakistani officials have called on the country’s powerful army to take unilateral action against purported TTP havens inside Afghanistan.

For years, the Pakistani military executed large-scale operations against TTP in the country’s northwestern regions bordering Afghanistan, but the group, which fights for a Shariah-based regime in Pakistan, has managed to survive.

Until the Taliban seized power, Pakistani officials advised the former Afghan government to negotiate a political settlement to end the Taliban insurgency in Afghanistan.

Now, the Afghan Taliban say TTP is an internal issue for Pakistan to handle.

VOA senior diplomatic correspondent Cindy Saine contributed to this story.

Media Watchdogs Criticize Taliban Over Arrests Of Afghan Journalists

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Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
December 13, 2023

Afghan and international media watchdogs have condemned Afghanistan’s hard-line Islamist Taliban rulers for handing down a one-year sentence to journalist Sultan Ali Jawadi on unspecified charges and called for his immediate release, along with the freeing of another recently detained media member.

In a December 12 statement, the Afghanistan Journalists Center (AFJC) expressed “deep concern” over the sentencing of Jawadi, the manager of local broadcaster Nasim Radio, saying that while Taliban officials had refrained from commenting on the sentence, reliable sources said Jawadi was found guilty of “propaganda against the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan” and “espionage for foreign countries.”

The AFJC denounced the sentence as “unfair and unacceptable due to the absence of a defense lawyer during the trial” and called for a “thorough review of the case, immediate and unconditional release of the journalist,” and reopening of Nasim Radio.

Meanwhile, the international Committee to Protect Journalists also called on the Taliban, which seized power in the country in August 2021 as international troops withdrew, to release journalist Abdul Rahim Mohammadi.

Mohammadi, who works for independent Afghan broadcaster Tamadon TV, was detained by the Taliban in the southern city of Kandahar on unknown charges on December 4.

“The Taliban must immediately release Afghan journalist Abdul Rahim Mohammadi and end the intimidation and detention of journalists in Afghanistan,” said Beh Lih Yi, CPJ’s Asia program coordinator.

“After more than two years in power, the Taliban and its intelligence agency continue to crack down on Afghan journalists on a daily basis, hampering reporting and the free flow of information,” she added.

On the second anniversary of the Taliban’s return to power, the New York-based CPJ in August called on the Taliban to end its relentless campaign of intimidation against Afghan journalists and protect them.

Immediately after returning to power, the Taliban promised to allow freedom of the press.

However, its government has shut down independent radio stations, television studios, and newspapers. Hundreds of media outlets have also closed after losing funding.

The Taliban’s hard-line government has banned some international broadcasters while some foreign correspondents were denied visas.

The ultraconservative Islamist group has also driven hundreds of Afghan journalists into exile.

Copyright (c) 2023. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave NW, Ste 400, Washington DC 20036.

Taliban Governance in Samangan Province: Employees Hired Through Bribery Practices

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8am: Some residents of Samangan province claim that the local Taliban are engaging in corrupt practices by accepting bribes in exchange for employment in specialized institutions. Sources indicate that the Taliban, who control the Directorate of Public Health in Samangan province, have targeted 315 positions in various medical and service sectors, with local officials of the group allegedly facilitating the recruitment of employees through bribery. According to their allegations, even underage individuals affiliated with the Taliban have been appointed to administrative and professional positions. It is further claimed that certain leadership positions within the Directorate of Public Health in Samangan province have been sold for a bribe. Click here to read more (external link).

Ashraf Ghani: Politician or Teacher?

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Ashraf Ghani

8am: Ashraf Ghani destroyed the institutions, which ultimately at the end of his rule, most of the ministries and directorates had been stripped of their authority, with the competing parallel departments neutralizing each other’s influence. During Ashraf Ghani’s era, the army experienced extreme management instability and most generals and military officials did not feel job security. Ashraf Ghani’s relationship with external sources of power, such as neighbors and Westerners was turbulent and unstable. He failed to understand the significance of American cooperation for the survival of his power.

Ashraf Ghani had tried to introduce himself as a nationalist who wanted progress and was inclined to stabilize the rule of Pashtun elites. There was no stability in this work either. His stance towards former Afghan Kings Ahmad Shah Abdali and Amanullah Khan during his rule had offended a group of Pashtun nationalists. He once stated that since the era of Ahmad Shah Abdali, the rulers of Afghanistan have been engaged in fratricide and civil war. Once again, in the last days of his rule, he had called Amanullah Khan a deserter, asserting that he would not repeat his mistake.

Click here to read more (external link).

UNAMA survey reveals only 4% of women support recognition of Taliban Govt in Afghanistan

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Khaama: The report indicates that 45% of women have requested increased international aid to improve their situation. Another 39% of women have stated that direct dialogue opportunities with the Taliban are necessary to improve their human condition. Meanwhile, 4% of women have emphasized the recognition of the Taliban. A Gallup survey in 2023 shows that only 11% of women in Afghanistan are satisfied with their life situation. Click here to read more (external link).

Rahmani Denies US Treasury Accusations of Corruption

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Mir Rahman Rahmani

Tolo News: The press release of Rahmani said: “On 12/12/2023, the Treasury Department of the United States of America published a report containing false information regarding U.S. contracts in Afghanistan and accusations of our administrative corruption. We categorically deny these corruption allegations. However, out of respect for our people, it is necessary to inform the people of Afghanistan and the world that such baseless accusations are contrary to international standards and United Nations conventions.” Click here to read more (external link).

Related

Donors Pay Afghan Health Workers While Number of Female Doctors Shrinks

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Akmal Dawi
VOA News
December 12, 2023

Since the Taliban’s seizure of power in Afghanistan in 2021, the nation’s public health sector has been on life support, with foreign aid agencies stepping in to pay health workers and sustain hospitals and local health centers.

The country’s donor-dependent economy has teetered on the brink of collapse as foreign donors cut off development assistance and imposed sanctions on governing Taliban entities.

The International Committee of the Red Cross, or ICRC, paid supplemental salaries for more than 10,000 doctors, nurses and staff at 33 hospitals serving 26 million people across Afghanistan.

It also “paid for drugs and other medical supplies, as well as running costs of the hospitals, like electricity, ambulance services, lab tests and food for patients,” Diogo Alcantara, an ICRC spokesperson, told VOA.

The ICRC program ended in August, but the donor-funded payments have continued.

Now, the United Nations children’s agency, UNICEF, has picked up the tab, paying the salaries of more than 27,000 Afghan health workers, including 10,000 women.

The salary payment program serves as a “lifeline in retaining the health workforce and preventing further brain drain” in Afghanistan, according to Kate Pond, a UNICEF spokesperson.

“Lack of access to health care services is of great concern to UNICEF, which is why we have taken concrete steps to keep the health system afloat, ensuring primary and secondary health services are available for women, children and families across Afghanistan,” Pond told VOA in written comments.

Taliban health ministry officials refused to comment to VOA regarding the allocation of limited domestic resources for the health sector. The Islamist regime does not publicly disclose its budget and national spending.

Despite funding from UNICEF, a pressing need for immediate donor assistance has been reported for at least 36 hospitals previously financed by the ICRC to sustain critical services.

While donors have responded to the U.N.’s calls for humanitarian assistance for Afghanistan, only 40% of the required $412 million for critical health services in 2023 has been committed.

Dwindling number of female health workers

For decades, Afghanistan has grappled with a significant shortage of female health professionals, resulting in some of the worst women’s health indicators in the world.

The nation’s maternal mortality rate stood at more than 1,600 per 100,000 live births until 2002 but decreased to 620 in 2020, largely due to sustained international technical and financial assistance.

Aid workers say the Taliban’s restrictions on women’s education and work are reversing the progress achieved in Afghanistan’s health sector, especially for women.

“Afghanistan has not produced a single female doctor for more than a year, and this is the worst thing that could happen to our health sector,” said a Kabul Medical University lecturer who did not want to be named in this article.

The Taliban have prohibited secondary and higher education, including medical studies, for girls, giving no indication as to when the gender-based restrictions might be lifted.

“There is a shortage of qualified health workers in Afghanistan in general, and women especially,” said UNICEF’s Pond, adding that some Afghans travel long distances for health care services.

“As a result, more than one-third of the population lack access to health facilities,” she said.

Even before the Taliban’s return to power in 2021, there was no female doctor in some rural districts of Afghanistan.

“If the ban on women’s education and work is not lifted, there will be no female doctor left in Afghanistan in the near future,” said the lecturer.

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