8am: It has been reported that following the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan, incidents of domestic violence and forced marriages have seen a surge. This has resulted in the loss of many young lives, especially of women and girls, and raised concerns about their safety and protection in the country. Click here to read more (external link).
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Ayaz Gul
VOA News
February 27, 2023
ISLAMABAD — Afghanistan’s Taliban said Monday their security forces killed two key Islamic State commanders in an overnight counterterrorism raid against their hideout in the capital, Kabul.
The announcement came hours before the United States said in a new report that up to 3,000 IS fighters were operating in the South Asian nation and conducting terrorist activities.
Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said in a late-night statement that “the intelligence and operations chief of Daesh” in Afghanistan was also among those killed in the operation late Sunday. He identified the slain terror leader as Qari Fateh.
Daesh, or Islamic State-Khorasan (IS-K), is an Afghan affiliate of Islamic State and a key Taliban adversary.
Mujahid said Fateh had masterminded recent attacks against diplomatic missions, mosques and other targets in Kabul.
“The criminal was served justice last night for his brutal actions at the hands of IEA [Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan] special forces during a complex operation in the Kher Khana residential area [in Kabul],” he noted, using the official title for the Taliban government.
IS-K did not immediately comment on the Taliban’s claims of killing its top leader.
Mujahid also confirmed in his statement Monday that a Taliban counterterrorism operation earlier this month had killed the IS-K chief for the Indian subcontinent, Ijaz Amin Ahangar, along with his two commanders. He added, without elaborating, that “a number of Daesh members, including foreigners” were also detained in recent days.
IS-K last week confirmed the death of Ahangar, also known as Abu Usman Al-Kashmiri, saying in a statement he was killed in a clash with the Taliban on February 14 but did not mention the exact location.
The Taliban have periodically carried out operations against IS-K since returning to power in Kabul in August 2021 as U.S.-led foreign troops withdrew from the country.
For its part, the terrorist group has routinely launched high-profile attacks targeting civilians, Taliban members and foreign diplomatic missions in the country.
The United States describes IS-K as a “dangerous” affiliate of Islamic State and remains skeptical about the effectiveness of Taliban counterterrorism efforts.
The U.S. State Department issued the 2021 country reports on terrorism on Monday, noting that IS and other regionally focused terror groups maintained “an active presence” and conducted terrorist activities in Afghanistan.
“ISIS-K remained a resilient enemy with roughly 2,000 to 3,000 fighters in the country, although precise estimates are hard to determine,” the report said. “Although the Taliban committed to preventing terrorist groups from using Afghanistan to stage attacks against the United States or others, the extent of its ability and willingness to prevent AQ [al-Qaida] and ISIS-K from mounting external operations remained unclear,” it added.
The international community has not yet recognized the Taliban as the legitimate rulers of Afghanistan, urging them to respect human rights, lift education and work bans on women, cut ties with terrorist groups, and govern the country through a politically inclusive government.
The Taliban defend their governance, saying it is in line with local culture and Islamic law. They have also dismissed the reported presence of thousands of IS-K fighters in Afghanistan as baseless.
Samira Mohammadi’s restaurant in the Afghan capital, Kabul, is run exclusively by and for women. It serves as a rare safe space in a society where the Taliban has been restricting basic freedoms for women since coming to power in 2021.
Firstpost: “Our delegation delivered a very loud and clear message to Afghan Taliban leadership to stop Afghanistan-based militants of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) from launching any spring offensive inside Pakistan and eliminate them from Afghan soil,” a Pakistani official was quoted as saying by Turkey’s Anadolu news agency. “In case of failure to stop the TTP from cross-border attacks and does not take any action to eliminate them or expel them from their hideouts, then Pakistan has no other choice except to target their hideouts in border areas inside Afghanistan,” he added. “We showed them proof of how TTP planned and carried out recent attacks in Bannu and Peshawar from Afghanistan and warned them that any further attack would result in a tough response from Pakistan. We have no other option but to target militants’ hideouts in border areas inside Afghanistan. We have delivered this message to them.” Click here to read more (external link).
Khaama: Dozens of Afghan migrants in Islamabad on Monday said they have protested for more than three weeks in front of the Society for Human Rights and Prisoners’ Aid (SHARP) Office, however, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has not paid attention to the living conditions of migrants in this country so far. The protestors claim that UNHCR Pakistan has failed to review their immigration cases, as they have not heard back from the UN refugee agency since they sought asylum. Click here to read more (external link).
AP: Taliban security forces killed two militants from the Islamic State extremist group and detained a third in an overnight raid in the Afghan capital, Kabul, a spokesman for the Taliban administration said on February 27. The regional affiliate of the Islamic State group — known as the Islamic State-Khorasan — is a key rival of the Taliban. The militant group has increased its attacks in Afghanistan since the Taliban takeover of the country in August 2021. Targets have included Taliban patrols and members of Afghanistan’s Shi’ite minority. Click here to read more (external link).
Ayaz Gul
VOA News
February 27, 2023
ISLAMABAD — Iran has handed the Afghan embassy in Tehran over to the Taliban, becoming the latest country to accept Taliban-appointed diplomats without recognizing their 18-month-old government in Kabul.
The Taliban foreign ministry said Monday that it had dispatched a seven-member team of “experienced diplomats, led by a newly appointed chargé d’affaires” to the Iranian capital to formally assume the charge of Afghanistan’s diplomatic mission there.
The statement described the development as an “important and cooperative step” in bilateral relations between Afghanistan and Iran.
“We believe that with the new appointments, we would witness transparency in the affairs of the embassy as well as expanded relations in various fields between the two Muslim and brotherly countries,” Ministry spokesman Abdul Qahar Balkhi said.
Iran joins several neighboring and regional countries to have allowed the Taliban to appoint staff to and manage Afghan diplomatic missions in their respective territories. They include Pakistan, China, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Russia, Turkey, Qatar, Malaysia, Kyrgyzstan, and Kazakhstan, Balkhi claimed in written comments to VOA.
He said his ministry had already introduced new diplomats to missions in these countries. Balkhi, identified Tajikistan as the only neighbor of Afghanistan where they have not appointed new diplomats, saying the head of the embassy there “is not cooperative.”
Analysts said the growing threat of terrorism posed by Islamic State’s Afghan affiliate, known as Islamic State Khorasan Province, had apparently prompted Tehran to work closely with the Taliban to keep the terrorist group from the Iranian border.
Torek Farhadi, a former Afghan official, and political commentator noted that millions of Afghans had taken refuge in Iran after fleeing the Soviet occupation of their country in the 1980s and subsequent conflicts that engulfed Afghanistan.
“Currently thousands of Afghans cross the border daily to Iran from Afghanistan to migrate to Turkey and Europe, human trafficking is rife,” Farhadi said. “Iran needs good relations with the Taliban… and has turned over the embassy to Taliban representatives as a practical matter to handle day-to-day affairs, without recognizing the [Kabul] regime,” he added.
An Afghan opposition armed group, operating out of Tajikistan, slammed the Iranian government for allowing the Taliban to run the embassy in Tehran.
“The National Resistance Front (NRF) expresses its regret over the taking over of Afghanistan’s prestigious diplomatic mission by a criminal group,” said the group in a statement.
Iran also maintains good ties with the NRF leadership and other prominent Afghans who have taken refuge in the country and elsewhere after fleeing the Taliban takeover.
“The political presence of the Taliban in Iran… is perilous, especially for the millions of refugees who have sought protection in Iran from the fear, threats, and pressure,” the NRF asserted.
Dozens of Afghanistan’s diplomatic missions around the world are open for business but in most cases, the host nations have either refused to hand them over to the Taliban, or Afghan diplomats working there are reportedly unwilling to work with the new Kabul administration.
The international community has not recognized the Taliban since they stormed back to power in August 2021 as the U.S.-led Western troops exited the country after almost 20 years of war.
Foreign governments demand the Taliban keep their promises to respect human rights, give women access to education and work, cut ties with terrorist groups, and form an inclusive government representing all groups in Afghanistan.
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Gailani
8am: …[Sayed Ishaq] Gailani revealed that he had sponsored many Taliban prisoners during the republic and released them without even knowing them. He expressed his opposition to the US presence in Afghanistan and to Ashraf Ghani‘s method of governing. He had hoped that the situation would improve upon his departure from Afghanistan, but after 17 months of Taliban rule, he is disappointed with the current state of affairs. He was adamant that the Taliban has not yet done anything meaningful or practical to promote the progress and development of Afghanistan. Click here to read more (external link).
Michael Hughes: Even if the UN successfully intervenes to persuade the Taliban to release a Franco-Afghan reporter held captive in Afghanistan for nearly fifty days, it will not change Kabul’s crackdown because the radical movement understands the power of media.
Reporters Without Borders (RSF) called upon the UN to take all measures possible to get the Taliban to release Mortaza Behboudi, an Afghan native of the Hazara ethnic minority, a group long-persecuted by the Pashtun-dominated Taliban. Behboudi was seized within 48 hours upon arrival in Afghanistan while seeking press credentials.