TTP chief Noor Wali Mehsud
WP: … the victory of the Taliban in Afghanistan two years ago has energized the Pakistani militant group. And while the Afghan government denies allegations that it is providing havens to that group, security analysts said the success of the Afghan Taliban has at a minimum emboldened its Pakistani counterparts and encouraged them to fully embrace the same playbook. Click here to read more (external link).
8am: In a recorded statement by the former Taliban official, provided to Hasht-e Subh, he remarked, “In 14 years of the republic, we did not witness 14 mysterious murders in Bamiyan. But now, in two years of the Taliban’s emirate, we have seen more than 14 mysterious murders, and the culprits in none of these cases are known. Whether the governor locates the killers on the ground or from the sky, they must be brought to justice.” He continued his strong criticism, urging the Taliban governor to identify the individuals responsible for the 24 murders in Bamiyan. Click here to read more (external link).
Tolo News: A former US diplomat and current professor at the City University of New York, Annie Pforzheimer, in a piece for World Politics Review wrote that the “administration of US President Joe Biden has quietly begun to soften Washington’s stance on the Taliban as a sponsor of terrorism, despite an authoritative report by United Nations experts in June 2023 noting the strong and symbiotic links between the Taliban, the Haqqani network, al-Qaida and other terror groups.” Ahmad Khan Andar, political analyst, said that the US had provided mass aid to Afghanistan during the past two-years. Click here to read more (external link).
Ariana: Naqibullah Dehqanzada, acting head of the Afghan consulate in Khorog of Tajikistan, stated that the consulate operates under the direct support and supervision of the Islamic Emirate’s [Taliban] foreign ministry. Dehqanzada issued a statement to confirm the Afghan consulate’s connection with the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) after the ambassador of the previous government to Tajikistan tore up the appointment of a letter of an IEA’s diplomat in the embassy. Click here to read more (external link).
The Art Newspaper: The Zinda Jan and Injil districts sustained the worst of the damage. Arash Boostani, a project manager for the Aga Khan Trust for Culture (AKTC) in Afghanistan, who had visited some of the villages in those districts over the years, says many of them contained ancient vernacular architecture structures that dated back to the Safavid dynasty (16th to 18th century), with even a few surviving elements from the Ilkhanate dynasty (13th and 14th century). The populations had unique traditions of silk harvesting and building methods that had been passed from generation to generation. “There were windmills in this area that were around 600 years old … they are vertical windmills, which are truly one of a kind,” Boostani says. Meanwhile, Masjid-i Jami, a 13th-century Ghurid mosque, which was extended over the centuries under different rulers, now has numerous cracks and parts of its blue-tiled minarets have collapsed. Click here to read more (external link).
Gulbadin Naib
Khaama: Afghanistan’s World Cup campaign has been greatly bolstered by the presence of former Indian all-rounder Ajay Jadeja. Despite a recent loss to Australia, the team seems poised for a promising run in this World Cup. Gulbadin Naib, who captained Afghanistan to a silver medal in the Asian Games, praised Jadeja’s invaluable contributions to the team’s performance. He highlighted Jadeja’s ability to provide guidance and share his vast cricketing experience with the Afghan players, Times of India reported. Click here to read more (external link).
More Afghan Cricket News
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
November 9, 2023
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) has said that tens of thousands of Afghans, most of them children, who were forced to leave Pakistan since the start of the month are in a dire humanitarian situation and called for immediate action to alleviate their plight.
The OCHA’s acting Humanitarian Coordinator Daniel Endres said that some 60 percent of a “staggering” 20,000-21,000 people who crossed into Afghanistan at Torkham and Spin Boldak border crossings between November 1-4 are children.
“Their condition is desperate, with many having travelled for days, unclear of where to return to and stranded at the border,” Endres was quoted as saying by the OCHA on X, formerly known as Twitter.
More than 300,000 Afghans have returned to Afghanistan from Pakistan since Islamabad announced the repatriation of undocumented Afghan migrants on October 3. Since the deadline for voluntary returns expired on November 1, Islamabad has begun forcefully deporting Afghans.
Relations between Islamabad and the Taliban in Afghanistan have become more strained due to the forced expulsion of Afghan refugees from Pakistan.
“Funding is urgently required to provide immediate post-arrival assistance” for those stuck at the border, Endres was quoted as saying.
Islamabad’s move has stirred criticism, prompting a U.S. government watchdog to express concern this week over the forced expulsions.
The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) said it was troubled by reports of increased detentions, violence, and intimidation against Afghan refugee communities in Pakistan.
In a move to deflect the criticism, Pakistan’s acting Prime Minister Anwar ul-Haq Kakar linked the government’s decision to expel the Afghan refugees and asylum seekers to Afghanistan’s Taliban-led government’s inability to stop extremists.
Kakar told a news conference on November 8 that in the more than two years since the Taliban regained power in Afghanistan, the number of attacks by Tehrik-e Taliban Pakistan, also known as the Pakistani Taliban or (TTP), has increased.
The Taliban has rejected Pakistan’s accusations, with spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid warning Pakistan not blame the extremist movement for its inability to ensure its security.
Pakistan should solve its domestic issues on its own and not blame Afghanistan for its failures, Mujahid said in response to Kakar’s accusations.
With reporting by RFE/RL’s Radio Mashaal
Khaama: Abdul Haq Hamad, the former head of media publications supervision, stated in a television debate that Pakistani authorities had explicitly conveyed during an official meeting with Taliban administration leaders that they should “halt operations on the Qush Tepa canal.” According to him, Pakistani authorities are not satisfied with the operation of the Qush Tepa Canal because Afghanistan gains autonomy through this canal by managing its waters. So far, Pakistani authorities have not commented on the claims made by Taliban officials regarding their efforts to stop the Qush Tepa Canal’s operations, and the Taliban has also not provided any details on this matter. Click here to read more (external link).