The Washington Times: Police have identified the man arrested in two of a string of killings of Muslim men in the past year — another Muslim. Muhammad Syed [an Afghan], 51, has reportedly been charged with murder in the deaths of two Muslim men in Albuquerque, New Mexico. According to local Muslim leaders cited in multiple news outlets, the killings are believed to be motivated by inter-Islam sectarian conflict. Click here to read more (external link).
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8am: In two separate attacks by National Resistance Front (NRF) forces in Takhar Province, 4 Taliban members have been killed and 7 others were wounded. These attacks were carried out on Monday night (August 8th) in the Farkhar district of Takhar province. In the first wave of attacks on Taliban outposts in Chaman Khusda of Farkhar district, 3 Taliban were killed and 4 others were wounded. The second phase of the attack, which was carried out on the Taliban command center in Marmaz of this district, left 1 dead and 3 wounded. Click here to read more (external link).
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AFP: Since their takeover a year ago, the Taliban have squeezed Afghan women out of public life, imposing suffocating restrictions on where they can work, how they can travel, and what they can wear. There is hardly a woman in the country who has not lost a male relative in successive wars, while many of their husbands, fathers, sons and brothers have also lost their jobs or seen their income shattered as a result of a deepening economic crisis. Click here to read more (external link).
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Tolo News: The US Department of Defense said that it can still “reach out and touch” any “terrorist” groups without having an actual troop presence in Afghanistan. “I think in the last ten days, in the strike that was carried out on Ayman al- Zawahiri, the leader of al-Qaeda and the most wanted terrorist on planet earth and one of the two co-planners for the 9/11 attacks, what we have demonstrated to al-Qaeda but also to other organizations is that we can still reach out and touch them and protect our vital national interests even though we no longer have thousands of troops in Afghanistan,” Colin H. Kahl, undersecretary of defense for policy, said at a press conference at the Pentagon. Click here to read more (external link).
Amnesty International: Responding to the series of attacks leading to about 120 deaths and injuries in areas dominated by Hazara Shiite communities in west Kabul over the last few days, Zaman Sultani, Amnesty International’s South Asia regional researcher, said: “The systematic attacks on the minority Hazara Shiite community in Afghanistan may amount to crimes against humanity and should be unequivocally condemned.” Click here to read more (external link).
Ariana: A seminar was held in Kabul on Tuesday to discuss the ongoing spread of lumpy skin disease (LSD) in livestock in Afghanistan. According to health officials, this virus is transmitted by some species of mosquitoes, ticks and other blood-feeding insects but is not transmitted to humans. “This virus has spread from eastern and southeastern provinces such as Laghman, Nangarhar and Kunar, but currently, this virus does not have a vaccine, and fortunately, this disease does not transmit to humans,” said Shirshah Sadat, dean of Kabul University’s Faculty of Veterinary Sciences. Nasir Ahmad, the representative of the Ministry of Public Health also said: “This virus is problematic for food health, especially for people suffering from malnutrition.” Click here to read more (external link).
8am: Local sources in Badakhshan Province told Hasht-e Subh that after several rockets were fired at a Taliban outpost in the city of Faizabad, the capital city of Badakhshan Province, three Taliban members were killed and two others were wounded. No group has yet claimed responsibility for this attack. Click here to read more (external link).
Karzai
NPR:… Karzai can’t go out into the international community, even if he wanted to. He said he had asked the Taliban for permission to travel abroad for several functions and events, but had always been denied. As they explained it to Karzai the first time, they are honored that he is in Afghanistan and fear that things will fall apart if he doesn’t come back. He said they all knew that he would come back. So does he count as a free man? “Within Kabul I’m a free man,” Karzai said. Click here to red more (external link).
Tehran Times: “Through continuous diplomatic interaction and organizational cooperation, the water released from Afghanistan entered Sistan today,” IRIB quoted Kazemi Qomi as saying on Saturday. Negotiations will go on for securing a stable flow of water from the Helmand River to Sistan-Baluchestan province, he added. Afghanistan and Iran have been involved in a prolonged dispute for many years over water sharing. In a 1973 agreement on water sharing, the two parties agreed that Afghanistan would provide Iran with an average of 820 million cubic meters of water annually. The Islamic Republic has chastised Afghanistan for breaking the deal on several occasions. Click here to read more (external link).