Khaama: A reliable security source in Southern Helmand confirmed that at least ten Taliban members have died due to serious food poisoning in the Nawa district of the province. The source added that food poisoning was intentional and preplanned as a result of which ten members of the Islamic Emirate suffered serious health issues on Friday before they died. Click here to read more (external link).
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Reuters: Isolation can become a death sentence in any difficult birth, doctors and aid workers say, contributing to Afghanistan’s extremely high maternal and infant mortality rates, among the worst in the world. Click here to read more (external link).
8am: The Taliban have recently started collecting data on people living in major cities in Afghanistan. Their local staff have been distributing forms to gather information about local citizens, which they have referred to as “local passports”. One of the questions on the forms asks about the number of widows and young girls in each home, which has caused alarm among the residents of Balkh province and led to questions about whether the information about female residents would help the Taliban’s security efforts. However, the Taliban have stated that their collection of information is solely for security purposes and not for any other reason. Click here to read more (external link).
Tolo News: “The Central Bank of Afghanistan has successfully utilized monetary policy tools to maintain price stability and reduce volatility in the exchange rate. Compared to other currencies, the Afghani has remained relatively stable.” One dollar was exchanged for around 89 afghani on Sunday in Kabul markets. “One of the main reasons that we witness the packages of $30 and $40 millions is that the Western countries want to maintain the shortage of the dollar and this issue caused the dollar to be stable,” said Seyar Qureshi, an economist. Click here to read more (external link).
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Khaama: An earthquake of magnitude 4.5 hit Afghanistan on Sunday, according to the German Research Centre for Geosciences (GFZ). “Earthquake of Magnitude: 4.5, Occurred on 12-03-2023, 04:03 PM (GMT +4:30) Kabul Time, Lat: 36.53 & Long: 71, Depth: 151.0 km, GFZ reported on Sunday. The quake struck at a depth of 71 kilometres, at a latitude of 36.53 and a longitude of 71. The earthquake struck the Yamgan district of Badakhshan, Afghanistan. Click here to read more (external link).
Ayaz Gul
VOA News
March 11, 2023
ISLAMABAD — A bomb blast tore through a Shiite cultural center in Afghanistan’s northern Balkh province Saturday, killing a security guard and wounding at least eight people.
A local police spokesman, Mohammad Asif Waziri, told VOA the blast had targeted a ceremony honoring the Afghan media in the provincial capital, Mazar-i-Sharif. He said that five journalists and three children were among those injured.
Provincial officials and religious clerics were also among the guests at the event.
Abdul Nafi Takor, the Taliban-led Interior Affairs Ministry spokesman in the Afghan capital, Kabul, said a planted explosive device caused the blast.
“I heard a big bang … then there was chaos as everyone was trying to find a way to escape,” Afghan journalist Atif Arian, wounded in the blast, told Agence France-Presse.
“Some journalists are seriously wounded,” Arian added.
A mainstream Afghan TV channel, TOLOnews, reported one of its journalists was among the victims.
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) demanded the Taliban quickly investigate the attack and bring the perpetrators to justice.
“Targeting journalists during an event to honor reporters is a despicable and cowardly act. Brave Afghan journalists are already reporting in extremely challenging circumstances.,” said Beh Lih Yi, CPJ’s Asia program coordinator.
The CPJ lists Afghanistan among the countries with the worst records of prosecuting murderers of journalists.
No one immediately claimed responsibility for Saturday’s attack. It comes two days after a suicide bomber killed the Balkh governor, Mohammad Dawood Muzammil, at his office in Mazar-i-Sharif, along with two other people.
The Islamic State terror group’s Afghan branch, known as Islamic State-Khorasan, or IS-K, took responsibility for Thursday’s bombing and vowed to carry out more attacks against Taliban officials.
Muzammil is the second-most senior official killed since the Taliban regained control of Afghanistan in 2021 as the United States and NATO troops departed the country after two decades of war.
A car bombing in December killed the Taliban police chief of northeastern Badakhshan province in an attack claimed by IS-K.
The Balkh governor’s assassination came a week after the Taliban announced the death of the IS-K intelligence and military chief in a counterterrorism raid in Kabul.
The Taliban takeover has almost ended years of war-related casualties in Afghanistan, but IS-K has stepped up its attacks in the country, posing the de facto authorities’ most significant security challenge.
Muzammil had served as the governor of the eastern Nangarhar province and supervised operations against IS-K operatives there before moving to Balkh last year. IS-K launched its operations in Afghanistan in 2015 from bases in Nangarhar and has since expanded the violence to other provinces.
Khaama: Afghan Freedom Front claimed responsibility for an attack on Friday late evening in Kabul that killed three and wounded four members of the Taliban, the group stated. The Freedom Front, which is said to be made up of members of the security forces of the previous government of Afghanistan, on Friday claimed in a statement the responsibility of the attack in the “Spin Kelly” intersection in the fifth district of Kabul city. Click here to read more (external link).
Mullah Hibatullah Akhundzada
8am: This article seeks to explain the war between Khans and Mullahs for control of the Pashtun tribes’ leadership, as well as the internal and external factors that contributed to the Mullahs’ success. It is suggested that the Mullahs, who now occupy the positions of the Khans, are performing those roles with soldiers, living off the people, and lending the Shah, who is currently veiled as “Amir al-Momineen,” political legitimacy. Click here to read more (external link).
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