Pakistan PM says Suicide bombers helped by ‘Afghan citizens’

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Shahbaz Sharif

Khaama: Militants behind a recent wave of suicide bombings in Pakistan were being helped by “Afghan citizens” across the border, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has said, days after a deadly blast at a political rally near the countries’ shared border. Sharif’s remarks came after a security briefing and a visit to victims of Sunday’s blast, which killed 63 people and injured more than 123 others. Meanwhile, the attack was claimed by the Pakistan chapter of the Islamic State group, who have a bloody rivalry with the Taliban-ruled Afghanistan. Click here to read more (external link).

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Kazakhstan-Afghanistan Business Forum Opens In Astana

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Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
August 3, 2023

Kazakh Trade and Integration Minister Serik Zhumangharin opened the Kazakh-Afghan Business Forum on August 3, stressing what he called the “importance” of economic ties between the two countries even though Astana considers the Taliban militants running Kabul to be “terrorists.”

“I would like to reiterate again that Kazakhstan wants Afghanistan to develop further as an independent, neutral, integral, peaceful, democratic, and flourishing nation. We are interested in preservation of the trade, economic, transportation, logistic, as well as energy cooperation established with Afghanistan,” Zhumangharin said.

In all, more than 200 representatives from Afghanistan have arrived in the Kazakh capital for the three-day forum. Kazakh authorities said the majority of those in attendance are businesspeople.

Earlier this week, Deputy Foreign Minister Qanat Tumysh said the forum will not affect Kazakhstan’s official stance on the Taliban.

The Taliban is officially considered in Kazakhstan a terrorist organization, though Astana maintains official contact with Afghanistan’s Taliban-imposed government.

Tumysh emphasized at the time that none of the 150 Afghan officials and businesspeople expected at the forum were under international sanctions.

On the eve of the forum, Zhumangharin held talks with Taliban Industry and Trade Minister Nuriddin Azizi, who arrived to Astana the same day.

Zhumangharin noted at the talks that during the visit of a Kazakh government delegation to Kabul in April, the sides agreed to raise the bilateral trade volume from $1 billion to $3 billion.

He added that Kazakhstan’s imports to Afghanistan were rapidly diversifying, stressing that Astana plans to deliver to Afghanistan goods, oil, chemical substances, metals, and machine-building items worth $500,000 in the near future.

The forum runs until August 5.

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.

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Taliban Detain and Torture Several, Including Women and Children, in Nawur, Ghazni Province

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8am: Local sources in Ghazni province report that the Taliban have engaged in a week-long spree of detentions, harassment, and torture of residents in the Nawur district of the province. According to credible sources from the province on Wednesday, August 2, the Taliban have indiscriminately beaten and abused several individuals, including women and children, in various areas of the Nawur district. These sources state that Taliban fighters launched an unexpected attack on the village of Naw Qala-e Yakhshi in the Khwat area of Nawur district, where they beat several locals and took a man and two children, aged 11 and 13, with them. It should be noted that prior to this, the Taliban had detained 17 residents of the Nawur district based on the orders of a nomadic (Kuchi) individual. Click here to read more (external link).

US Calls on Afghan Groups to Refrain From Violence, Engage in Talks

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Akmal Dawi
VOA News
August 2, 2023

WASHINGTON — Refusing to recognize the Taliban as legitimate rulers of Afghanistan and maintaining sanctions on the group’s leaders, the United States continues to reject calls by some former Afghan allies to help topple the extremist regime.

Last week, Abdul Rashid Dostum, the former vice president of Afghanistan who backed U.S. Special Forces in ousting the Taliban in 2001, claimed he would be able to amass enough forces to overthrow the Taliban again, if only the United States supported him.

At least two other former Afghan generals — Sami Sadat and Khoshal Sadat — have spent several months in the U.S. seeking support from veterans, lawmakers and other groups for a potential war against the Taliban.

But the U.S. government response has been unequivocal.

“The United States does not want to see a return to violence in Afghanistan, and we do not support armed opposition to the Taliban,” said a spokesperson for the U.S. Department of State, who spoke on background.

The denial of support comes with a piece of advice to Afghan groups that want to defeat the Taliban militarily.

“We call on all sides to exercise restraint and to engage. This is the only way that Afghanistan can confront its many challenges,” the spokesperson told VOA.

U.S. officials say they are aware of former Afghan officials visiting the United States and advocating for armed resistance to the Taliban, but they cannot stop them because the U.S. Constitution guarantees freedom of expression for everyone inside the country.

The U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan in August 2021 left no military support for former allies in the country and disappointed those that oppose the Taliban.

“We feel betrayed. We feel left alone. … We are empty-handed,” Ahmad Massoud, leader of an anti-Taliban group, told an Aspen Security Forum last week from an undisclosed location via a video call.

Since seizing power two years ago, the Taliban have controlled all of Afghanistan’s 34 provinces largely uncontested, except for periodic attacks by Islamic State-Khorasan Province.

The Taliban and IS Khorasan each have declared religious war against each other.

The U.S. government has designated leaders of the Taliban and IS-Khorasan as terrorists. However, the Taliban have made counterterrorism commitments to the U.S. under the 2020 Doha Agreement.

“The Taliban have shown themselves to be an active, and at times, effective actor against the Islamic State,” said Jonathan Schroden, director of the Countering Threats and Challenges Program at the Center for Naval Analyses, a nonprofit military research group.

However, the Taliban have taken no serious actions against other groups such as al-Qaida and Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, which “is troubling to the U.S. and its Western allies, as well as to China, Russia and other regional countries,” Schroden said.

Last week, an IS-Khorasan propaganda wing reportedly issued pamphlets calling on anti-Taliban groups to join arms in their war against the Taliban.

Nearly all Afghan anti-Taliban leaders reside outside of Afghanistan, making it practically impossible for them to openly align with IS-Khorasan, a globally condemned terrorist group.

The U.S. policy of not supporting anti-Taliban factions is premised on the notion that giving such aid would escalate the conflict and allow for the expansion of terrorist actors, Schroden said.

Taliban engagement

After suspending direct engagement with the Taliban for months, U.S. diplomats resumed face-to-face talks with Taliban officials in Doha, Qatar, this week. The talks revolved around some of the most contentious issues, including the Taliban’s ban on women’s work and education, which has drawn universal condemnation.

Both sides have reported progress and a desire to continue the engagement policy.

“The Taliban will not go away by ignoring them,” said Obaidullah Baheer, an Afghan analyst and adjunct lecturer at The New School in New York.

Baheer said U.S. engagement with the Taliban should not solely depend on contentious human rights conditions but include expectations for the establishment of a new constitutional order in Afghanistan and curbing the god-like powers of the Taliban’s unseen supreme leader, Hibatullah Akhundzada.

For the U.S., a primary objective in engaging the Taliban has been counterterrorism.

During the two-day meetings in Doha, “U.S. officials took note of the Taliban’s continuing commitment to not allow the territory of Afghanistan to be used by anyone to threaten the United States and its allies, and the two sides discussed Taliban efforts to fulfill security commitments,” according to a statement from the U.S. State Department.

Speaking at an online forum on Tuesday, Mohammad Mohaqiq, an ethnic Hazara warlord and a former Afghan minister, said the many anti-Taliban factions also lack support from Afghanistan’s neighboring countries for a number of reasons, including fears of an expanded armed conflict in the region.

“We must wait,” Mohaqiq said.

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Health ministry reports 6,000 cases of hepatitis across Afghanistan

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Ariana: The Ministry of Public Health said Wednesday that since the beginning of this year, nearly 6,000 people across the country have been treated for hepatitis. The ministry officials presented the statistics during a meeting on the occasion of World Hepatitis Day. Habibullah Akhundzadah, deputy minister of public health services, said migrations, natural disasters, a weak economy and transfusion of infected blood was the reason for the spread of the disease. Click here to read more (external link).

Taliban’s Media Crackdown Continues: Local Outlet “Hamesha Bahar” Forced to Shut Down in Nangarhar

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8am: According to anonymous local sources, who spoke to Hasht-e Subh, the incident occurred on Tuesday, August 1st, when Taliban members attacked the media outlet and expelled its staff before shutting down the office. Meanwhile, Atal Khan Stanikzai, the director of the media outlet, stated that the Taliban attacked the office without any prior coordination. They first closed down the journalism department and then proceeded to shut down the entire office. Click here to read more (external link).

Pakistan’s vindictiveness pushes Afghan border areas into security turmoil

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Durand Line

Khaama: Years of Pakistan’s hostility towards its border areas with Afghanistan has resulted into a security quagmire for both the countries… While portraying itself as a victim of terrorism in front of global eyes, Pakistan attempted to establish tactical control over Kabul through the Durand issue. This pursuit of strategic dominance has however led it to a quandary of violence which is rapidly expanding its reach. Click here to read more (external link).

Inclusive government in Afghanistan a top priority in upcoming Moscow talks: Russia

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Kabulov

Khaama: The Russian President’s special envoy for Afghanistan, Zamir Kabulov, said on Monday that Russia perceives no progress regarding the inclusivity of the Taliban’s interim government in Afghanistan. The inclusion of the Taliban interim government will be the main topic of discussion at the forthcoming Moscow-format summit on Afghanistan, which will take place in Kazan on September 29, Kabulov said, as cited by Tass. “So far, we see no progress” in terms of the inclusive government in the country, “that is why we are going to meet and continue our work,” he added. Click here to read more (external link).

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