Thousands Stranded Along Closed Border Crossing Between Afghanistan And Pakistan

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RFE/RL’s Radio Azadi
RFE/RL’s Radio Mashaal
September 8, 2023

Pakistan’s main border crossing with Afghanistan remained shut on September 8, stranding thousands of civilians and halting hundreds of vehicles carrying goods between the two countries.

Islamabad closed the Torkham border crossing following a clash with Taliban forces three days earlier.

The move has left thousands of civilians, mostly Afghans, waiting to cross and largely stalled trade between the countries as hundreds of trucks, some carrying perishable goods such as fruits and vegetables, wait on both sides of the Torkham crossing.

“We are trapped here,” said Nabiullah, an Afghan man returning to his country after receiving medical treatment in the northwestern Pakistani city of Peshawar.

“We are in trouble and waiting for the border crossing to reopen,” he told RFE/RL’s Radio Mashaal.

Radio Azadi has learned that a Taliban border guard and a civilian were killed in the shooting.

Taliban officials in the eastern Afghan province of Nangarhar, where Torkham is located, say high-level talks continue with Pakistan to reopen the crossing. Pakistani officials have not commented on the issue.

In Landi Kotal, a Pakistani town near Torkham, stranded Afghans said the closure is preventing the repatriation of two dead bodies to Afghanistan for burial.

“People here are facing great difficulties,” Imran, one of the stranded Afghans, told Radio Azadi.

“There are many Afghan patients, women and children here.”

The September 6 clash followed a large incursion of Tehrik-e Taliban Pakistan (TTP) militants into the remote northwestern Pakistani district of Chitral, which borders eastern Afghanistan some 400 kilometers north of Torkham.

Relations between erstwhile allies Pakistan and Afghanistan’s Islamist Taliban rulers have rapidly deteriorated after the TTP ended a cease-fire with Islamabad last November. The TTP, an ideological and organizational ally of the Taliban, has been bolstered by the return of the militants to power in Afghanistan two years ago.

“Deteriorating political relations between Afghanistan and Pakistan are also resulting in declining trade and economic ties between them,” Abdul Naseer Rashtia, the head of an Afghan trading association, told Radio Azadi.

“This causes Afghan investors to suffer greatly and badly affects their trade and transit,” he added.

Torkham and other border crossings between the two neighbors have been frequently closed because of clashes or political disagreements over the past two decades.

Islamabad has fenced most of its more than 2,500-kilometer border with Afghanistan. Closing the border with its landlocked neighbor remains a significant lever to pressure Kabul during crises.

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.

Gen. McKenzie calls delayed Afghanistan exit as ‘American Arrogance’

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McKenzie (file photo)

Khaama: During an interview with Fox News, General Frank McKenzie, the head of United States Central Command during the withdrawal from Afghanistan, expressed regret over the U.S. decision to remain in Afghanistan until the very end. He highlighted that this choice had sometimes led and did lead the country into an “extremist situation.” “I think it is a case of American exceptionalism or American arrogance, depending on your perspective, to believe that you can actually withdraw, beaten from the field of battle, and still maintain a large political platform in the country you are retreating from,” McKenzie said. Click here to read more (external link).

Haqqani Asks Mohaqiq, Khalili to Return to Afghanistan

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Sirajuddin Haqqani

Tolo News: “Those influential leaders who are living abroad, such as Instructor (Mohammad Mohaqiq) and Mr. Karim Khalili — I would say that it is bad. They have their tribes and nations and should come back and live as leaders in their own country. Through your address (for your sake), I call on them, that if they consider their tribe and people, as the elders who are sitting here consider them as their own people, and they have respect and honor here– they will give a peaceful message to the people and strengthen the unity of Afghanistan (by returning),” Haqqani said. Click here to read more (external link).

Taliban Sell Afghanistan’s Mines Despite Sanctions

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Akmal Dawi
VOA News
September 7, 2023

WASHINGTON — The Taliban, facing international sanctions and a dire economic outlook at home, have intensified efforts to leverage Afghanistan’s vast natural resources.

From oil to copper, gold and lithium, the Islamist leadership, unrecognized by any nation as Afghanistan’s legitimate government, has inked multibillion-dollar mining deals with Chinese and other foreign companies.

The landlocked country has plunged deep into economic trouble since Western donors cut off all development assistance, amounting to several billion dollars annually, after the Taliban seized power in August 2021.

Donors have also slashed humanitarian funding for Afghanistan, prompting aid agencies to suspend critical funding for about 10 million Afghans facing acute food insecurity.

Taliban officials contend they are using domestic sources to try to bridge the chasm left by the withdrawal of foreign aid. Critics, however, contend that the Taliban have other intentions.

“What the Taliban see in these contracts is both cash and a diplomatic link to the Chinese government,” said Arian Sharifi, a lecturer at Princeton University’s School of Public and International Affairs.

Afghanistan’s untapped mineral wealth, estimated to be worth trillions of dollars, has historically struggled to attract foreign investment because of security concerns and a lack of infrastructure.

Work under a $3 billion contract signed in 2007 between China Metallurgical Group Corp. and the Afghan government for copper mining has yet to commence, despite a 25-year time frame.

This past January, another Chinese company, Xinjiang Central Asia Petroleum and Gas Company, pledged a $540 million investment until 2026 for oil extraction in northern Afghanistan.

Evading sanctions?

For over three decades, numerous Taliban leaders have remained on the United Nations’ terrorism sanctions list, barring them from foreign business and travel.

Several Western countries, including the United States, Canada and various European nations, have also imposed economic, banking and political sanctions on Taliban individuals and entities.

Spokespersons at the U.S. State and Treasury departments did not answer questions on whether the Taliban’s mining contracts with Chinese companies violated the existing sanctions regime.

“U.S. sanctions generally require U.S. persons and some foreign persons to comply,” said Alex Zerden, a fellow at the Center for a New American Security.

“A foreign company could be violating U.S. sanctions if the company engages in a transaction or dealing with a designated person and the transaction or dealing has a nexus to the United States,” Zerden told VOA.

U.S. sanctions do not necessarily apply to Chinese companies doing business with the Taliban as long as they avoid going through U.S. financial systems, experts say.

“When it comes to bilateral sanctions from the U.S. side, it’s basically that no U.S. entity, be it a company or an individual, is able to do anything with the Taliban. And that has nothing to do with other countries, because other countries don’t abide by bilateral sanctions,” said Princeton’s Sharifi.

China, however, has supported U.N. Security Council Resolution 1988 (2011), which calls on all member states to freeze Taliban assets and economic resources, deny their entry and transit, and prevent the sale, supply and transit of weapons to them.

The U.N. resolution, experts say, needs urgent revisions to respond to the realities in Afghanistan, where the Taliban function as the only governing body.

Like other regimes facing sanctions, the Taliban claim U.N. and U.S. sanctions primarily hurt ordinary people by limiting and weakening the national economy.

Stability

Last year, the U.S. government issued exemptions allowing certain commercial transactions with Afghanistan’s governing institutions, except those directly benefiting sanctioned Taliban individuals.

Graeme Smith, a senior analyst with the International Crisis Group, said as long as revenue from a business or contract does not go directly into the pockets of sanctioned Taliban officials, fees, taxes or royalties can be paid to the de facto Afghan government.

“In early 2022, the U.S. government specifically clarified that such agreements are permitted under American law,” Smith said, adding that Washington and its allies have strategic interests in the stability of the region, including in the economic revival.

Smith said the lingering effects of sanctions and other economic pressures have hobbled the Afghan banking system, complicating large-scale investments in mining and other sectors.

“Mining requires heavy investment up front, with years of work before profits flow. So, the investors are taking a risk, and making the assumption that the Taliban will guarantee stability and keep their side of the bargain,” he told VOA.

The Chinese Embassy in Washington and the foreign ministry in Beijing did not respond to requests for comment.

While pressing the Taliban on women’s rights and other governance issues — in addition to terrorism-related sanctions — the U.S. government has refrained from supporting anti-Taliban groups that seek to topple the Taliban.

Weakening the Taliban could risk internal war in Afghanistan, thereby giving terrorist groups opportunities to flourish and target other countries, experts say.

“America and its allies have strategic interests in the stability of the region, and that requires economic revival,” said Smith.

Other Economic News

ICC World Cup 2023 trophy reaches in Kabul

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Khaama: The ICC Men’s ODI World Cup 2023 trophy has reached Kabul as part of its global tour ahead of the tournament in October. In Kabul, the trophy will visit various venues, allowing cricket enthusiasts to see it up close. This is the second time the Cricket World Cup trophy has been brought to Afghanistan for display. The trophy was brought to Afghanistan for the first time in 2015 and was displayed at various locations. Click here to read more (external link).

US denies leaving military equipment behind in Afghanistan

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Kirby

Ariana: A top US official said on Wednesday no military equipment had been left behind by American forces in Afghanistan, in response to a question about reports that $7 billion worth of weapons reportedly were abandoned in the war-torn country when US forces withdrew in August 2011. The comments by John Kirby, US National Security Council Coordinator for Strategic Communication, came days after Pakistan’s caretaker Prime Minister Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar said US military equipment left behind during the American withdrawal from Afghanistan was now “emerging as a new challenge” for Islamabad as it had enhanced the fighting capabilities of the Pakistani Taliban, or Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), Arab News reported. Kirby said the former Afghan National Security Forces, and not the US, abandoned that equipment. Click here to read more (external link).

Pakistan-Afghanistan Border Shutdown Stalls Trade Convoys

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Ayaz Gul
VOA News
September 7, 2023

ISLAMABAD — Pakistan’s main border crossing with landlocked Afghanistan was closed for a second day Thursday after deadly clashes between security forces from the two countries.

Residents and transporters said the abrupt closure had stranded hundreds of truck convoys on both sides carrying commercial goods through the busy Torkham border point of transit for trade and travelers.

Pakistani and Taliban authorities in Afghanistan confirmed that both sides had held talks to try to defuse the tensions and “prevent the recurrence of such incidents in the future,” but the border crossing remained closed Thursday, suggesting the dialogue failed to make headway.

The armed clashes erupted on Wednesday when Taliban guards began building a new border outpost near Torkham in violation of mutual agreements and ignoring repeated warnings to stop the work, said Pakistani officials.

Residents in Afghanistan’s eastern Nangarhar province, where Torkham lies, told VOA the clashes killed two Taliban guards and wounded about a dozen Afghan civilians.

Officials in both countries have declined to discuss any details about casualties, if any.

A provincial government spokesman in Jalalabad, Nangarhar’s capital, acknowledged in a statement that Taliban forces were digging a security trench when they came under attack from the Pakistani side.

Business leaders in both countries urged Pakistan and Afghanistan to urgently reopen the border crossing, saying many trucks are loaded with perishable goods, including fresh fruit and vegetables.

“The traders are suffering heavy losses after the border in Torkham was closed on Wednesday following a firing incident there,” Ziaul Haq Sarhadi, director of the Pakistan-Afghanistan Joint Chamber of Commerce and Industry, told Reuters.

The closure of the border crossing has also impacted the handling of commercial goods at the southern Pakistani port of Karachi, which provides Afghanistan access to international markets.

The Torkham border crossing has increasingly become a vital transit route for Pakistan to export and import commercial goods from landlocked Central Asian countries through Afghanistan.

However, allegations that the Taliban are not doing enough to prevent anti-Pakistan insurgents from using Afghan soil for cross-border terrorist attacks have strained bilateral relations in recent months.

Pakistani officials said the latest such attack occurred on Wednesday when a large group of heavily armed militants stormed two security outposts in the northern Kalash valley near the Afghan border.

The military said that the ensuing fierce clashes had killed four soldiers and 12 “terrorists,” suggesting the assailants had come across the border from Afghanistan.

“Thanks to our alert forces, the terrorist attack on military posts near the Pak-Afghan border in Chitral was repelled with heavy casualties on the terrorist side,” Pakistani caretaker Prime Minister Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar said Thursday on X, formerly Twitter. He named the district where Kalash lies.

“Sadly, 4 brave soldiers embraced Shahadat (martyrdom). Our resolve to eradicate terrorism remains unshaken, and all our citizens stand firm with us,” Kakar said.

The outlawed Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan, or TTP, claimed responsibility for launching the deadly raid. The group is a known offshoot and has pledged allegiance to the leader of the Afghan Taliban, Hibatullah Akhundzada.

Pakistani authorities say the TTP has intensified cross-border terrorism from sanctuaries in Afghanistan with “greater freedom” since the Taliban takeover of the neighboring, war-torn country two years ago.

The Afghan Taliban have repeatedly denied that the TTP or other militant groups are using their territory.

Related

Pakistan: Clashes Near Afghan Border Kill 4 Soldiers, 12 ‘Terrorists’

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Ayaz Gul
VOA News
September 6, 2023

ISLAMABAD — Pakistan said Wednesday that a “large group of terrorists” had stormed its security outposts close to the border with Afghanistan, prompting fierce clashes that killed four soldiers and 12 assailants.

The early morning militant raid targeted two Pakistani posts in the northern mountainous Kalash border valley at an elevation of 1,670 meters (5,480 feet).

A Pakistani military statement said its soldiers had repulsed the attack, noting the assailants were “equipped with [the] latest weapons.” It suggested that the militants had come across the border from Afghanistan.

The banned Tehrik-Taliban Pakistan, or TTP, claimed responsibility for the raid earlier. The group said its fighters had inflicted heavy casualties on Pakistani soldiers and seized their weapons while overrunning the posts.

TTP often issues inflated claims about its extremist activities.

The Pakistani military said its forces had previously detected “terrorists’ movement and concentration” in several Afghan border areas opposite the Kalash region and “timely shared” it with Afghanistan’s Taliban authorities.

The statement said the Taliban government “is expected to fulfill its obligations and deny the use of Afghan soil by terrorists for perpetuating acts of terrorism against Pakistan.”

Taliban authorities in Afghanistan did not immediately comment on Pakistani assertions.

TTP, listed as a global terrorist outfit by the United States and the United Nations, is a known offshoot and close ally of the Afghan Taliban, who returned to power in Kabul two years ago.

Pakistani officials say TTP and other insurgent groups have fled and taken shelter in Afghanistan since the U.S.-led NATO troop withdrawal in August 2021. They say the insurgents enjoy greater freedom of movement to plot cross-border terrorism after the Taliban takeover of the war-shattered country.

Over the past two years, the increased TTP-led insurgent violence has killed more than 1,500 people in Pakistan. This year alone, more than 500 Pakistanis, mostly security forces, have died in militant attacks. They included at least 220 soldiers and officers, according to official data.

The Taliban deny the charges, saying no one can use Afghan soil to threaten other countries, including Pakistan.

Pakistani caretaker Prime Minister Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar repeatedly claimed this week that some of the equipment left behind by the U.S. military in Afghanistan has ended up with groups such as TTP.

“This surge in terrorism is happening because the fighting capacity of these outfits has been enhanced,” Kakar told Islamabad-based international journalists on Monday.

The prime minister said that Islamabad was in close contact with Kabul to enhance bilateral security cooperation to combat the threat of cross-border terrorism.

The Taliban “are in a phase of transformation. I feel that room and space should be given to them,” Kakar said when asked whether the de facto Afghan authorities are helping his country to counter the TTP-led threat of terrorism.

The Taliban’s Hajj Selection Process: Exposing Widespread Corruption

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8am: In the 2023 pilgrimage season, social media featured numerous images of Taliban leaders, suggesting that thousands of their members had simultaneously journeyed to Mecca. Recent discoveries from the western part of the country, as reported by Hasht-e Subh Daily, indicate that hundreds of Taliban members performed the pilgrimage without following the usual selection process and lottery. This group includes provincial governors, district chiefs, commanders, militants, and heirs of Taliban fighters killed in wars. Notably, the Taliban handpicked all the teachers exclusively from their ranks to participate in this pilgrimage process. Despite some technical questions, participants emphasize that the Taliban prioritize two criteria: “war experience” and “proficiency in Pashto language.” Sources reveal that beyond facilitating their journey for Hajj, the primary motivation for this action is to amass significant financial gains. Allegedly, these individuals not only received their regular salaries but also obtained $1,000 upon their return and continued to receive 1,800 Saudi Riyals during their stay in Saudi Arabia. All of this unfolded while tens of thousands of people, particularly elderly individuals nationwide, eagerly awaited their opportunity or even a lottery chance to embark on the pilgrimage. Click here to read more (external link).