Who Is Slaughtering the Hazaras of Afghanistan?

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Asharq Al-Awsat: Eight months since it came to power, this hated government has not gained recognition by international community. The only weapon it has is to vicitimize itself, exaggerate the presence of terrorist groups in Afghanistan and use the name of ISIS to create terror amongst the Westerners.

Taliban has now created an imaginary group (which, in reality, consists of suicide bombers trained by themselves) which it introduces as ISIS so as to not take responsibility for murdering of innocent people.

Meanwhile, during a trip to Turkey, Taliban’s foreign minister claimed that ISIS’s reach was exaggerated and the terrorist group had no base in Afghanistan.

Click here to read more (external link).

Bombing At Mosque, Religious School In Northern Afghanistan Kills 33, Taliban Says

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By RFE/RL’s Radio Azadi
April 22, 2022

An explosion at a mosque and religious school in northern Afghanistan’s Kunduz region during Friday Prayers has killed at least 33 people, a Taliban official said on April 22.

Students of the school are among the dead, said Zabihullah Mujahid on Twitter.

“We condemn this crime…and express our deepest sympathies to the bereaved,” he said.

The blast, which also wounded another 43 people, many of them students, occurred in the town of Imam Saheb in Kunduz Province, he said.

No one immediately claimed responsibility for the bombing, but Afghanistan’s Islamic State affiliate claimed responsibility for a series of bombings on April 21, the worst of which was an attack on a Shi’ite mosque in northern Mazar-e-Sharif that killed at least 12 worshippers and left 58 people injured.

The blast occurred as people gathered to worship in the mosque, according to eyewitnesses. Shortly after the blast at the mosque there was a large explosion on a road in Kabul. No details were available about the latter explosion.

Recent bombings in Kabul and other Afghan cities have killed dozens of people. Islamic State-Khorasan (IS-K), which claimed responsibility for the attack at a Shi’ite mosque in Mazar-e-Sharif, also claimed a separate attack on April 21 in Kunduz city that killed four people and wounded 18.

Taliban authorities said earlier on April 22 that they had arrested the “mastermind” of the bombing at the mosque in Mazar-e-Sharif.

With reporting by Reuters and AFP

Copyright (c) 2022. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave NW, Ste 400, Washington DC 20036.

NRF Forces Claim to Have Killed 8 Taliban Rebels in Faryab

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NRF Fighters (file photo)

8am: Simultaneously, the Liberation Front and the Freedom Front Forces also reported targeted attacks on Taliban members in Kapisa and Kandahar provinces. Shamsullah Mohammadi, Acting Head of the Taliban Information and Culture in Faryab province, has confirmed the clashes but has denied any casualties of the Taliban members. Click here to read more (external link).

Related

Kabul Pledges Commitment to Water Treaty with Iran

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Tolo News: The Islamic Emirate said it is ready to discuss the issues related to the Helmand river treaty between Kabul and Teheran and that it remains committed to the treaty. However, analysts believe that Iran is overstepping its claims with the water treaty.  “There is a need for a water (measuring) instrument to be installed to measure the amount of water so these claims would be prevented,” said Najib Aqa Fahim, an international relations analyst.  Click here to read more (external link).

Reparations in reverse: Afghanistan pays, Vatican prays, US preys

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Al Jazeera: The doctrine of ‘sovereign immunity’ is being used to insulate state violence from legal liability. What better illustration of the perversities of “justice” under colonial modernity, than the grotesquely disparate treatment of Afghanistan versus the Vatican when it comes to exacting recompense for international crimes. Click here to read more (external link).

Suicide Attack on a Mosque in Kunduz Leaves 40 Casualties and 50 Others Injured

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8am: Local sources in Kunduz province have confirmed that a suicide bomber blew up himself inside a mosque in the Imam Sahib district of Kunduz province. According to sources, at least 40 prayers have been killed and more than 50 others injured. Click here to read more (external link).

Related

‘Life destroyed’: Afghan civilians describe alleged border raids

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Al Jazeera: “It is not surprising that the Taliban cannot secure Afghanistan’s borders,” Ibrahimi said, pointing out that while cross-border attacks from Pakistan are not new, the Taliban lack the political and military will to hold Pakistan responsible. Click here to read more (external link).

Taliban Bans TikTok, Popular Video Game In Afghanistan

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By RFE/RL’s Radio Azadi
April 21, 2022

Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers have banned the social media application TikTok and popular online game PUBG, saying the move is aimed to protect younger generations from a bad influence.

Spokesman Inamullah Samangani tweeted that the Taliban government on April 21 instructed the Communications and Information Technology Ministry to restrict access to the two digital platforms, as well as instructing it to close all channels that broadcast what he called immoral programs.

“The Ministry of Communications and Information Technology is required to block PUBG games and an application called TikTok, which misleads the younger generation,” Samangani tweeted.

“Likewise, it must prevent as much as possible the publication of any channel that publishes immoral material and programs.”

Chinese-owned TikTok, a global short-video platform popular with younger audiences, has been criticized for what some experts said was a negative impact on children and young adults’ mental health due to the risk of addiction and its potential for bullying and enabling sexual predators.

PUBG: Battlegrounds, or PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds, is a player-versus-player online shooter game developed by South Korean gaming company Krafton. PUBG allows up to 100 players to engage in what is known as a battle royale — a type of large-scale last-man-standing video deathmatch.

Experts say it would be difficult to completely bar the applications in Afghanistan because they can still be accessed via proxy applications and virtual private networks.

The Taliban returned to power in August following a blitz offensive across Afghanistan amid the hasty withdrawal of U.S.-led forces from the war-wracked country.

The militant group promised a softer version of the harsh Islamist rule that characterized its first stint in power from 1996 to 2001, when any form of entertainment was banned and punished severely.

But many restrictions, especially on women’s rights to education, have still been imposed by the Taliban rulers since they seized control of the country last year.

Copyright (c) 2022. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave NW, Ste 400, Washington DC 20036.