Malnutrition cases among Afghan children have almost doubled under Taliban rule

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Jurist: The Taliban don’t care about how the people suffer. Since they retook control of Afghanistan, people have only experienced constraints in their everyday life. The international community’s financial support seems to be not enough as there are a lot of complaints that the Taliban use them for themselves instead of giving them to needy families in the country. It also seems that international community’s efforts to remove restrictions and or at least make the Taliban rethink their decisions have failed so far. Click here to read more (external link).

Iran envoy lambasts US destructive role in Afghanistan

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Mehr News Agency
December 5, 2022

Special envoy of the Iranian President for Afghanistan slammed the US’ destructive role in creating instability in Afghanistan, calling for the formation of a government with the participation of all Afghan ethnicities.

Saying that the CIA is still active in Afghanistan, Hassan Kazemi Qomi told in a TV program that the United States still has control over Afghanistan’s airspace.

Stressing that during the past year, the US tried hard to flame ethnic and religious wars in Afghanistan, the Iranian envoy added that the US and its allies such as the UK and some Arab countries are trying to create an atmosphere of distrust between the Taliban and the Islamic Republic of Iran.

“The US does not seek the interests of nations. This country does not allow a strong government to form in countries like Afghanistan,” Kazemi Qomi continued.

He added that the US wanted to prove that instability and chaos would be created in Afghanistan in case of their absence in the country.

Kazemi Qomi went on to say that Iran’s policy toward Afghanistan is supporting the people of this country.

What Iran did during this period was to help restrain terrorism, reduce immigration and create regional convergence in the field of fighting terrorism in Afghanistan, according to the Iranian envoy.

He added that the Islamic Republic of Iran raised the issue of Afghan-Afghan dialogue because it believes that the only way to eliminate terrorism and achieve stability is through the formation of a government with the participation of all afghan ethnicities.

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Unknown Gunmen Kill Muezzin (Qari Sayed Abdul Hadi) in Northern Afghanistan

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Khaama: The incident took place on Saturday, December 3, in Kunduz city’s 7th police district, the spokesperson for the Kunduz chief of police, Obaidullah Abedi stated. The security officials in Kunduz province stated that the security forces have arrested a person in connection with the murder case of the muezzin, while sources attributed the incident to personal animosity. Click here to read more (external link).

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Taliban’s Former Public Health Chief in Ghazni Steals 1 Million AFG

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8am: A reliable source in the Department of Public Health in Ghazni confirmed on Monday (December 5th) that an estimated amount of 1,200,000 AFG was provided by donors to purchase medical supplies for health centers in Nawur and Malistan districts which has been stolen by the Taliban’s former chief of public health. Taliban’s former chief for public health in Ghazni province, Mawlawi Mohammad Hanif Misbah, has taken the money with him after his removal from the directorate, according to sources. Click here to read more (external link).

Taliban Claim Arrest of IS Gunman in Attack on Pakistan Envoy

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Ayaz Gul
VOA News
December 5, 2022

ISLAMABAD — Afghanistan’s Taliban authorities said Monday they had arrested a foreign operative of the Islamic State militant group for allegedly carrying out last week’s failed assassination attempt on Pakistan’s chief diplomat in the country.

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid claimed in a statement, citing initial investigations, that Friday’s gun assault on Pakistani Chargé d’affaires Ubaid-ur-Rehman Nizamani in Kabul was plotted with the aim of sowing distrust with Islamabad.

Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attack, saying in a statement that two gunmen from its regional affiliate, Islamic State Khorasan Province or ISIS-K, had carried it out.

Mujahid wrote on Twitter the detainee “is a foreign country national and a member of Daesh.” He used a local name for ISIS-K but did not say what country the suspect was from. The spokesman asserted that the assault was jointly planned by ISIS-K and anti-Taliban forces.

Pakistani officials said Nizamani was on a routine afternoon walk inside the embassy compound when gunmen opened fire on him from a nearby building. He escaped unhurt, but his Pakistani security guard was hit in the chest and both legs by bullets.

“Some foreign groups are behind the attack and the intention was to create distrust between the two brotherly countries,” Mujahid said. He added the investigation into the shooting incident was continuing and promised to share future details later.

ISIS-K has stepped up high-profile bombings and other terrorist attacks in Afghanistan since the Taliban seized power last year. The violence has killed top Taliban clerics and hundreds of members of the minority Shiite community. The terrorist group also claimed responsibility for a September suicide bombing near the Russian embassy in Kabul that killed two Russian staff and four Afghan visitors.

Pakistan, which shares a nearly 2,600-kilometer border with Afghanistan, has long maintained close ties with the Islamist Taliban. It was one of the three countries, including Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, that had formally recognized the previous Taliban government in Kabul from 1996 to 2001.

Over the past 20 years, the Pakistani military was routinely accused of sheltering and covertly supporting Taliban fighters as they waged an insurgency against U.S.-led NATO troops providing security to the internationally backed former Afghan government.

The Islamist insurgents regained control of Afghanistan in August 2021 when all foreign troops withdrew from the country and the U.S.-trained Afghan security forces collapsed.

No country has yet recognized the Taliban’s rule, but Islamabad has boosted its economic and trade partnership with Kabul to help it deal with the dire humanitarian and financial challenges facing Afghanistan.

Bilateral relations in recent months, however, have become strained over concerns fugitive militants linked to the Pakistani offshoot of the Afghan Taliban have stepped up attacks in Pakistan from Afghan bases since the Taliban takeover.

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Other Pakistan Related News

Herat Women’s Prison Head Is Reported to Be Alive and in Taliban Custody

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8am: In the statement published today (Sunday, December 4th) by female protesters, it is stated that Alia Azizi is alive and in Taliban custody. Earlier, an independent source had confirmed to Hasht-e Subh that Alia Azizi had contacted her family, saying that she was alive and had been severely tortured in one of the Taliban prisons. Click here to read more (external link).

Islamic State Group Claims Attack on Pakistan’s Top Diplomat in Afghanistan

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Ayaz Gul
VOA News
December 4, 2022

ISLAMABAD — The Islamic State group said Saturday it was responsible for a Friday assassination attempt on Pakistan’s chief diplomat in Afghanistan amid renewed U.S. concerns the country’s Taliban rulers are not able to tackle the terrorist threat.

Officials said Pakistani Chargé d’affaires Ubaid-ur-Rehman Nizamani was on a routine afternoon walk inside the sprawling embassy compound in Kabul when unknown gunmen opened fire on him from a nearby building. He escaped unhurt, but his Pakistani security guard was hit in the chest and both legs by bullets.

The Islamic State group’s Saturday statement claimed that two members of its regional affiliate, known as Islamic State Khorasan Province, or ISIS-K, armed with “medium weapons and snippers” had assaulted “the apostate Pakistani ambassador and his guards.”

Pakistan has condemned the attack, demanding the Taliban bring the perpetrators to justice and boost security of its missions in Afghanistan.

Pakistan’s Foreign Affairs Ministry said Sunday it was “independently and in consultation” with Taliban authorities verifying reports that ISIS-K had carried out the failed assassination attempt.

ISIS-K worries US

The militant claim came on the same day U.S. National Intelligence Director Avril Haines warned that ISIS-K is listed among top several terrorist groups that could pose a threat to the United States.

“ISIS-K is a concern and that is one that we are working to ensure that it does not become more of a concern,” Haines told the 2022 Reagan National Defense Forum in Simi Valley, California, Saturday.

“It’s largely focused on the Taliban right now and we are seeing the Taliban attempt (to combat ISIS-K). But frankly they really don’t have the capability to go after it the way obviously we do. That’s something we will continue to try to manage,” she said.

The Taliban have killed and captured dozens of ISIS-K members in Kabul and elsewhere in Afghanistan since returning to power, claiming they have significantly diminished the terror threat.

But ISIS-K has carried out bombings in the capital in recent months, killing hundreds of people, including top Taliban clerics and members of the Afghan minority Shiite community.

A police spokesman in Kabul said one suspect had been arrested and two weapons seized shortly after the shooting on the Pakistani embassy.

“This notwithstanding, the terrorist attack is yet another reminder of the threat that terrorism poses to peace and stability in Afghanistan and the region,” the Pakistani foreign ministry said Sunday. “We must act resolutely with all our collective might to defeat this menace,” added the ministry in its statement.

U.S. Chargé d’affaires Karen Decker of the U.S. mission to Afghanistan said on Twitter she was outraged at the attack on her Pakistani counterpart.

“I am grateful he is safe & wish a quick recovery to the brave security guard who was injured. I join the call for a swift, thorough and transparent investigation,” Decker wrote.

Taliban Foreign Affairs Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi condemned the attack in a telephone conversation with his Pakistani counterpart, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, late Friday.

“FM Muttaqi assured him that special attention will be paid to the security of the embassy and full efforts will be made to identify and prosecute the perpetrators of the terrorist attack,” said an Afghan foreign ministry statement.

Pakistan and the world at large do not formally recognize the Taliban government.

Several countries, including Pakistan China, Russia, Turkey, Iran, India have kept their embassies in Kabul open after the Islamist Taliban seized power last year. But the United States and other Western nations immediately moved their diplomatic missions out of Afghanistan and currently operate from Qatar.

In September, an ISIS-K suicide bomber blew himself up at the entrance to the Russian embassy in Kabul, killing six people, including two Russian staff.

The latest attack targeting a foreign mission in the city has raised questions about the Taliban government’s ability ensure the security of foreign diplomatic missions in Afghanistan.