Ariana: As many as 50 people died and 10 others went missing following floods in Afghanistan’s western Ghor province on Friday, local officials said. A total of 2,000 houses were destroyed and 4,000 homes were partially damaged in the floods, the provincial police said in a statement. 2,500 shops have been completely destroyed. Click here to read more (external link).
Related
Ayaz Gul
VOA News
May 18, 2024
ISLAMABAD — The Taliban government said Saturday that the death toll from an overnight gun attack on Western tourists in central Afghanistan had risen to at least six, including three Spaniards.
Interior Ministry spokesperson Abdul Mateen Qani said in a video statement that the Friday evening shooting in Bamiyan city by unknown assailants left three Afghans dead.
He said that four foreigners and three Afghans were among those wounded. Qani said that Taliban security forces had apprehended seven suspects in connection with the attack, reiterating his government’s resolve to bring the perpetrators to justice.
Spain’s government confirmed the fatalities of its three nationals, saying another was among the injured tourists.
The Spanish foreign ministry said Saturday a group of its diplomats was traveling to the Afghan capital, Kabul, to assist Spaniards affected by the attack.
On Friday, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez posted on X that he was “shocked by the news of the murder of Spanish tourists in Afghanistan.”
Nationals from Norway, Australia and Lithuania were also among the group of foreigners that were targeted by gunmen.
EMERGENCY, an international humanitarian organization, said in a statement Sunday that five wounded people were being treated in its Kabul surgical hospital and that “all patients are now stable.”
It stated that the “group consists of nationals from Spain, Lithuania, Norway, Australia and Afghanistan.”
No group immediately claimed responsibility for the deadly shooting.
A spokesperson for foreign affairs and security policy at the European Union condemned the armed attack against the tourists visiting Bamiyan.
“Our thoughts are with the families and loved ones of the victims who lost their lives and those injured in the attack,” Nabila Massrali said in a statement Friday.
The United States said it was “deeply saddened to hear about the shooting attack” in Bamiyan. “Our thoughts are with those who lost their loved ones. Violence is not the answer,” Thomas West, the U.S. special envoy for Afghanistan, said on X.
Friday’s attack on foreign tourists was the first of its kind since the Taliban returned to power in Afghanistan in August 2021.
According to the U.N. Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, Bamiyan, one of the poorest regions in impoverished Afghanistan, is a popular destination for foreign tourists because it contains Buddhist monastic ensembles and sanctuaries.
The scenic city was also the spot where the Taliban destroyed two large Buddha statues in March 2001 during their previous rule in Afghanistan. The group said the statues were blasphemous under Islam.
Michael Hughes: A U.S. congressionally-funded think tank, insidiously named the U.S. Institute of Peace (USIP), has called on Washington to boost counterterrorism operations, enhance ties with Pakistan, and conduct more lethal strikes inside Afghan territory. Although more likely to come from a national security research outfit, the USIP recommendations are not so unreasonable. But it is easy to envision slipping into a full blow counterterrorism war against the Taliban and its minions.
USIP expert Asfandyar Mir told The Washington Times this week that the institute recommends providing CENTCOM with more spy drones to improve visibility to better conduct over-the-horizon anti-terror operations. Mir, one of the main authors of a new report by the Senior Study Group on Counterterrorism in Afghanistan and Pakistan, warned that terror groups like IS-K on the ground are preparing to target U.S. interests, based on the latest “chatter” and the group’s online recruiting efforts.
By RFE/RL’s Radio Mashaal
RFE/RL’s Radio Azadi and
Abubakar Siddique
May 17, 2024
At least one Taliban border guard and one Pakistani soldier have been killed and several more injured in the latest border clashes between them.
The clashes continued into the early hours of May 17 after they first erupted five days ago. Pakistani and Taliban forces targeted each other in several places along the eastern Afghan provinces of Paktia and Khost, which borders Pakistan’s western Kurram district.
Most of the casualties occurred on May 15 when one Pakistani soldier was killed and six more injured after a Taliban rocket hit their post, according to official sources in the country. The Taliban also acknowledged the death of one of its fighters.
“Intense shooting is spreading a wave of fear among locals,” Imran Ali, a Pashtun tribal leader in Kurram, told RFE/RL’s Radio Mashaal on May 17.
Sameer Khan, a resident of the Teri Mangal area straddling the border, said that locals are moving to safer regions after mortar shells landed in civilian homes.
Shabbir Ahmad Usmani, a Taliban official in eastern Afghanistan, said they are collecting information on the human and material losses in the fighting.
The clashes erupted on May 13 after Pakistani forces began repairing the barbed-wire fence it first erected in 2017 to demarcate the Durand Line border, which no government in Afghanistan has formally recognized after it was first drawn by the British Empire in India in 1893.
Relations between Afghanistan’s Islamist rulers and Pakistan have been tense since the Taliban returned to power in 2021. Islamabad blames the Taliban for sheltering the Tehrik-e Taliban Pakistan (TPP), a longtime ideological and organizational ally of the Taliban.
The recent tensions were partly flamed by an alleged Pakistani air strike in the southeastern Paktika Province, reportedly targeted by the Pakistani Taliban.
On May 12, at least seven Pakistani soldiers were killed and two more injured in two separate militant attacks in Pakistan’s North Waziristan district, which borders Paktika.
Ihsanullah Tipu Mehsud, director of news at the Khorasan Diary, a website tracking militant groups in Afghanistan and Pakistan, says the Taliban blames Islamabad’s border fence for the tensions. At the same time, Pakistani authorities allege that the TTP is exploiting the border to infiltrate Pakistan with the help of the Taliban.
“Unlike previous Afghan regimes led by Karzai and Ghani, which largely relied on verbal criticisms over border issues, the Taliban has resorted to force,” he said, referring to former Afghan presidents Hamid Karzai and Ashraf Ghani.
He said that the clashes have severely disrupted trade between the two countries, wreaking havoc among the Pashtun border communities in the two countries.
“Border tensions not only disrupt trade but also undermine trust,” he said. “This underscores the pressing need for a peaceful resolution to this long-standing dispute.”
But both the Taliban and Islamabad have been silent over the clashes, which experts say might indicate a complete breakdown in their relations.
Ayaz Gul
VOA News
May 17, 2024
ISLAMABAD — Taliban authorities in Afghanistan said Friday that unknown assailants fatally shot three Western tourists and their local translator in the central city of Bamiyan.
The late-afternoon shooting in a busy central market also injured four people, including a foreigner, a spokesman for the Taliban-led Afghan Interior Ministry said.
Abdul Mateen Qani shared the details on his official account on the social media platform X, but he did not disclose the foreigners’ nationalities.
He said Taliban security forces’ efforts to apprehend the attackers led to the arrests of four suspects linked to the assault.
No group immediately claimed responsibility for the deadly shooting.
“The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan strongly condemns this incident, expresses its sympathy to the families of the victims, and assures them that all the criminals involved will be found and brought to justice,” Qani said, using the official title of the Taliban government.
Area officials and residents were reported as saying that the foreign tourists came from Spain, Norway and Turkey, among other countries. However, the reports could not be verified from independent sources.
A spokesperson for foreign affairs and security policy of the European Union condemned the armed attack against the tourists visiting Bamiyan.
“Our thoughts are with the families and loved ones of the victims who lost their lives and those injured in the attack,” Nabila Massrali said in a statement.
“The United States is deeply saddened to hear about the shooting attack in Bamiyan, which killed and wounded Afghan civilians and foreign nationals,” Thomas West, the U.S. special envoy for Afghanistan, said on X. “Our thoughts are with those who lost their loved ones. Violence is not the answer.”
Friday’s attack on foreign tourists was the first since the Taliban stormed back to power in Afghanistan in August 2021.
Bamiyan, one of the poorest regions in impoverished Afghanistan, is a popular destination for foreign tourists because it contains Buddhist monastic ensembles and sanctuaries, according to the U.N. Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization.
The scenic city was also the spot where the Taliban destroyed two large Buddha statues in March 2001 during their previous rule in Afghanistan. The group said the statues were blasphemous under Islam.
Khaama: Officials from the Mental Health Department of the Herat Regional Hospital have reported a concerning increase in the number of women suffering from mental illnesses. According to the report, at least eighty per cent of those seeking help at the Herat Psychotherapy Hospital are women and girls. According to a United Nations report, since the Taliban’s return to power in August 2021, women in Afghanistan have been grappling with deep and increasing psychological issues. With the Taliban’s return to power, women face widespread restrictions. Girls are prevented from attending schools and universities, and women are barred from working. Since the Taliban’s takeover in Afghanistan, they have prohibited girls from attending school beyond the sixth grade. This restriction has contributed to mental health issues among young girls, leaving them with a bleak future. Click here to read more (external link).
Tehran Times: The deputy governor of the Central Bank of Iran (CBI) said that talks are ongoing between the two countries for the implementation of “offshore rial’ in Afghanistan. Mohsen Karimi pointed out that ‘offshore rial’ is used with the aim of supporting the economic activists and exporters of the private sector of the country. The project of ditching the US dollar and using rial in foreign trade exchanges has always been followed up by the government of the Islamic Republic of Iran to neutralize sanctions, he underlined. Click here to read more (external link).
AFP: For Afghans living under Taliban rule, a Saturday market is a rare chance to cross the border into neighbouring Tajikistan and pick up food and household goods. The popular bazaar in the small town of Kalai-Khumb — about six hours’ drive east from the Tajik capital Dushanbe — has reopened after being shut down after the Taliban retook control of Afghanistan in 2021. Tajikistan, which shares a winding 1,350-kilometre (840 mile) border with Afghanistan, designates the Taliban a terrorist organisation. Click here to read more (external link).
Afghanistan International: Sources informed Afghanistan International that on Wednesday, the Taliban and Pakistani border forces clashed in the Dand Wa Patan district of Paktia province. According to the sources, the reason for the conflict was the construction of an outpost by Pakistani forces at the zero point between the two countries. Audio recordings obtained by Afghanistan International reveal relatively intense gunfire between the Taliban and Pakistani border forces. Click here to read more (external link).