Health officials and experts meet in Kabul over spread of lumpy skin disease

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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).

Rocket Attack on an Outpost Kills Three Taliban Members in Badakhshan

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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).

Hamid Karzai stays on in Afghanistan — hoping for the best, but unable to leave

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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).

Helmand water flows from Afghanistan into Iran

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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).

Hekmatyar rejects claims that al-Qaeda leader was killed in Kabul drone strike

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Gulbuddin Hekmatyar

Ariana: Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, the leader of Hizb-e-Islami, on Monday blasted the United States for violating Afghanistan’s national sovereignty and territory by conducting a drone strike in Kabul and said Washington’s claims of having killed al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri were false. Radio Azadi meanwhile quoted the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan’s (IEA) spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid as having said no body was found at the scene of the strike.  He said an investigation was launched into the strike and that “everything was destroyed, but we did not find a body there.” he said. Click here to read more (externa link).

Major Airlines Still Not Making Flights to Kabul

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Tolo News: Two months have passed since the ground services contract of the country’s airfields with the United Arab Emirates GAAC company was signed, but so far no major airline company has resumed its flights to Afghanistan. According to the Ministry of Transport and Civil Aviation, talks are ongoing to transfer the country’s airspace contract to foreign companies. Once this contract is signed, major airlines will resume their flights to Kabul. Currently, PIA of Pakistan, Mahan and Taban companies of Iran, and a Qatari company operate at Kabul airport and transfer passengers, along with domestic airlines. Click here to read more (external link).

Bomb Kills Extremist Pakistani Taliban Leader in Afghanistan

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TTP Flag

Ayaz Gul
VOA News
August 8, 2022

A fugitive central commander of an outlawed extremist organization plotting terrorist attacks in Pakistan has been killed in a roadside bomb blast in neighboring Afghanistan.

Abdul Wali, known as Omar Khalid Khorasani, was travelling in southeastern Afghan border province, Paktika, late Sunday when an improvised explosive device hit his vehicle, multiple militant and Pakistani security sources said Monday.

Khorasani’s group, the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), known as the Pakistani Taliban, also confirmed his death saying a “detailed statement will soon be issued regarding the martyrdom” of their leader.

Sunday’s bombing occurred in Barmal, a remote Afghan district adjacent to the Pakistani border, and it also killed at least three associates of Khorasani who were in the vehicle.

No group has immediately taken responsibly for the deadly attack nor did Afghanistan’s Taliban government comment on it.

The slain extremist commander was a founding member of the TTP, which the United States and the United Nations have designated as a global terrorist organization.

TTP militants have been waging deadly attacks against Pakistani forces. The violence has intensified since the return of the Afghan Taliban to power in Kabul, killing hundreds of security personnel in Pakistan in recent months.

The TTP leadership took refuge in war-hit Afghanistan in 2015 after fleeing military operations in Pakistan and they have since been directing cross border attacks, mostly targeting armed forces.

The militant group is known for providing recruits and shelter to leaders of the Afghan Taliban while they were directing cross-border insurgent attacks against local and United States-led foreign forces protecting internationally recognized rulers in Kabul for almost two decades.

The Taliban seized power in Afghanistan nearly a year ago on August 15, when the then-Afghan government and its security forces collapsed in the face of stunning battlefield insurgent assaults as foreign troops withdrew from the country.

Taliban rulers have since brokered peace talks between Pakistan and the TTP to help them negotiate a peaceful end to the violence. Taliban officials say they are facilitating the peace process in line with their pledges to not allow any group to use Afghan soil for attacks against any country.

The TTP in early June announced an indefinite ceasefire with the Pakistani government, citing “substantial” progress in the talks. Khorasani was also part of the group’s negotiating team.

The extremist group demands Pakistan restore a traditional semi-autonomous status of several border districts, withdraw its troops and allow imposition of TTP-interpreted hardline Islamic system there.

The Pakistani districts in question were collectively known as the Federally Administered Tribal Areas or FATA, where local and foreign militants had their strongholds for decades.

The government had almost no control over the border area until the military launched counterterrorism operations there and dismantled what it called was the terrorist infrastructure. Pakistan later merged FATA into the national mainstream through unanimously approved constitutional amendments in the parliament.

Islamabad rejects all TTP’s demands regarding erstwhile FATA. Instead, Pakistani officials say they are asking for the dissolution of the militant group so its members, who are not wanted for serious crimes, can surrender weapons and return to live peacefully in Pakistan.

Analysts say Khorasani’s assassination as a major blow to the TTP, noting it has the potential to derail the dialogue process and could lead to intensified militant violence in Pakistan.

Related

Officials: Girls’ Schools Closed Due to ‘Cultural Constraints’

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Tolo News: During his visit to the province of Khost, Noorullah Munir, the acting minister of education, stated that girls’ schools had been shut down due to cultural constraints. He expressed his hope that the Islamic Emirate’s leaders and the elders would agree to reopen girls’ schools. Click here to read more (external link).

Taliban Beat Up a Woman for Rejecting Their Fighter’s Marriage Proposal in Panjshir

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8am: This incident took place on Monday (August 8th) in the Dara-e Abdullahkhel neighborhood, Dara district of Panjshir province. The 37-year-old woman has severely been beaten up and her arm was broken by Taliban forces for rejecting a Taliban fighter’s marriage proposal. There have previously been reports indicating that Taliban affiliates forcibly marry women in remote villages and districts of Afghanistan. Click here to read more (external link).