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.

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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).

‘They beat girls just for smiling’: life in Afghanistan one year after the Taliban’s return

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Taliban militant (file photo)

The Guardian (UK): Despite their promises of peace and stability, the country is on its knees, and its people are desperate  “The Taliban are representing the Taliban, not Afghanistan. Half of the population has not been represented in government at all in the past nine months,” said the Afghan analyst. As in 2001, whole ethnic, religious and cultural communities have been excluded from a government dominated almost entirely by Pashtun Taliban extremists. Click here to read more (external link).

Explosion Hits Kabul City

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8am: According to the initial report, the blast took place at around 6:00pm this Sunday evening in the Pul-e-Asmayi area of Kabul. It is said that a vehicle carrying passengers to the west of Kabul was targeted by the explosion. According to eyewitnesses, some of the victims of the incident have been taken to hospitals near the targeted area. During the past three days, Kabul has witnessed explosive incidents. Click here to read more (external link).

Iran’s Special Envoy Says Helmand Water Flowing into Iran

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Tolo News: Iran’s special envoy for Afghanistan, Hassan Kazimi Qomi, posted a video on Twitter and said that water has flowed from Afghanistan into Sistan, Iran. Meanwhile, the residents of Nimroz said that the recent droughts have severely affected their crops and they should be provided with irrigation water from Kamal Khan dam. “Unfortunately, our farmers don’t have access to enough water and they have suffered due to lack of water,” said Riza Sharifi, a resident of Nimroz. Click here to read more (external link).

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