Pentagon Official Raises Doubts About Taliban’s Ability To Fight Islamic State In Afghanistan

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Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.
October 27. 2021

A senior Pentagon official said it is unclear whether the Taliban has the capability to fight the Islamic State extremist group effectively, even if it is clear that the two groups are “mortal enemies.”

Colin Kahl, undersecretary of defense for policy, told a congressional committee on October 26 that the U.S. intelligence community has assessed that the Taliban is “highly motivated” to go after Islamic State-Khorasan Province (IS-K). But he added: “Their ability to do so, I think, is to be determined.”

IS-K has claimed responsibility for some of the worst attacks in Afghanistan since the Taliban seized power in August. This includes suicide bombings in mosques in Kunduz and Kandahar provinces that killed almost 150 people earlier this month.

Before the U.S. military completed its withdrawal at the end of August, the group claimed responsibility for a suicide bombing at Kabul airport that killed 13 U.S. soldiers and 170 Afghans, mostly civilians.

In his comments to the Senate Armed Services Committee, Kahl estimated that IS-K currently has a “few thousand” fighters in Afghanistan and said the group could have the capability to attack the United States in as little as six months.

Amir Khan Muttaqi, the acting foreign minister of the Taliban-led government, has said the threat from Islamic State militants will be addressed. He also said Afghanistan would not become a base for attacks on other countries.

U.S. officials and senior Taliban representatives discussed topics such as reining in extremist groups during meetings earlier this month in Doha, Qatar.

Taliban political spokesman Suhail Shaheen told the AP after those meetings that the Taliban will not cooperate with the United States to rein in Islamic State affiliates and other extremist groups, saying it could tackle IS-K “independently.”

Speaking to the committee, Kahl also commented on Al-Qaeda in Afghanistan, saying the militant group that the Taliban harbored prior to the 9/11 terrorist attacks poses a more complex problem, given its ties to the Taliban.

Kahl said it could take Al-Qaeda “a year or two” to regenerate the capability to carry out attacks outside of Afghanistan against the United States, according to the U.S. intelligence community assessment.

The Pentagon has said the United States will continue to be vigilant against threats emanating from Afghanistan by carrying out intelligence-gathering operations in the country that would identify threats from groups like Al-Qaeda and IS-K so they do not become capable of striking the United States.

Kahl also said the United States did not yet have any agreements with countries neighboring Afghanistan to host troops for counterterrorism efforts.

With reporting by Reuters

Copyright (c) 2021. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave NW, Ste 400, Washington DC 20036.

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Tajikistan Approves New Chinese Base As Beijing’s Military Presence In Central Asia Grows

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By RFE/RL’s Tajik Service
October 27, 2021

DUSHANBE — Tajikistan has approved the construction of a Chinese military base near the Tajik-Afghan border, in the latest sign of Beijing’s expanding security footprint in the region.

Tajikistan’s lower house of parliament on October 27 approved construction of the facility as part of an agreement between Tajikistan’s Interior Ministry and China’s Ministry of Public Security.

Tajik First Deputy Interior Minister Abdurahmon Alamshozoda said the facility would be located in the village of Vakhon in the remote Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Province and that the base would be owned by the country’s Rapid Reaction Group — special forces that operate under the purview of the Interior Ministry. Lawmakers said regular Tajik troops would also be at the outpost.

The Tajik government has also offered to transfer full control of a preexisting Chinese military base in the country to Beijing and to waive any future rent in exchange for military aid from China, according to a communique sent from the Chinese Embassy in Dushanbe to Tajikistan’s Foreign Ministry that was seen by RFE/RL’s Tajik Service.

China already operates a military base in Tajikistan near the Afghan border in the country’s Murghab region, a remote area close to the Wakhan Corridor. The collection of facilities and outposts is believed to have been in operation for at least five years.

Both the Chinese and Tajik governments have officially denied the base’s existence and few details about its ownership and operation are known. The documents seen by RFE/RL acknowledge that Chinese personnel are operating at the base, but that it is currently owned by Tajikistan.

According to the documents, the proposal to transfer ownership of the base to China was presented by Tajik President Emomali Rahmon to Chinese Defense Minister Wei Fenghe when he was on a trip to the Tajik capital, Dushanbe, in July.

The documents do not state if Beijing has agreed to the Tajik proposal, but they summarize an offer put forward by Rahmon where China would provide increased funding to build up Tajik military points along the border with Afghanistan in exchange for Dushanbe transferring full control of the existing facilities to China and not charging any basing fees.

The developments show a growing Chinese military presence in the Central Asian country as Beijing and other regional countries turn their attention towards an unstable security situation in Afghanistan.

Copyright (c) 2021. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave NW, Ste 400, Washington DC 20036.

Blurred Photos Of Interior Minister Haqqani Raise Questions About What The Taliban Has To Hide

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Sirajuddin Haqqani

Michael Scollon
Mustafa Sarwar
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
October 26, 2021

The Taliban has been criticized for including some notoriously shady characters in Afghanistan’s acting government, perhaps none more than Sirajuddin Haqqani, a designated terrorist last photographed hiding behind a plant.

In his first public appearance since he was named the Taliban’s interior minister in early September, Haqqani on October 19 praised suicide bombers and promised money and land to a packed house of their surviving family members.

In an official photo of the event at Kabul’s Intercontinental Hotel, the target of deadly Taliban attacks in 2011 and 2018, Haqqani can barely be seen sitting behind a strategically placed floral arrangement onstage.

Despite the obvious effort to shroud Haqqani’s appearance, closer inspection reveals the most distinct image of Haqqani’s face seen in recent years.

Another camera angle shows the events’ decorations, VIPs, and Taliban special-forces troops brandishing recently pilfered U.S. military gear much more clearly. That is, except for Haqqani, whose body is shown but whose face has been completely photoshopped out of the scene.

Other photos show every wrinkle and fold on Haqqani’s beige shirt, brown vest, and black turban. But aside from his hands, a glimpse of an ear, and traces of his trademark dark beard, Haqqani’s face is again either blurred or artfully hidden behind warm embraces with attendees of the event.

The photos mark the second attempt by the Taliban to keep Haqqani’s face out of the camera’s view since the extremist group seized power on August 15.

During an introductory meeting of the Interior Ministry on September 10, only the back of Haqqani’s head can be seen as he addressed his new staff wearing a similar outfit.

The obscured images have blurred the Taliban’s attempts to cast itself as a more moderate and transparent version than when it was last in power from 1996 until the U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan in 2001.

Since regaining power amid the withdrawal of U.S.-led forces, the Taliban has waged a public-relations offensive to convince the international community to recognize the group as the legitimate ruler of Afghanistan.

But the involvement of Haqqani — who heads the Haqqani network — has raised serious questions as to the Taliban’s commitment to its claims of reform.

The acting interior minister, who is the son of the deceased Haqqani network founder Jalaluddin Haqqani — is among the FBI’s most-wanted fugitives.

The Haqqani network was designated a terrorist organization by the U.S. State Department in 2012. The network, the most powerful faction of the Taliban, was blamed for some of the deadliest attacks on foreign troops and Afghan civilians.

Haqqani is sought for questioning in connection with a suicide attack on Kabul’s Serena Hotel — frequented by foreign diplomats, politicians, and journalists in the past — that killed six people and injured six others in January 2008.

He is also wanted for his alleged involvement in a failed assassination attempt in April 2008 on then Afghan President Hamid Karzai. Three people — including a tribal chief, an Afghan lawmaker, and a 10-year-old girl — were killed in the well-coordinated attack on a national-day military parade attended by foreign diplomats.

The attack on the event, held to commemorate the victory of the mujahedin over the Soviet occupation in the 1980s — was seen as a national embarrassment at a time when the Afghan government was pushing to take responsibility for Kabul’s security from foreign troops.

As a result of Haqqani’s involvement in those attacks, as well as cross-border attacks emanating from Pakistan on U.S. and coalition forces in Afghanistan, the United States placed a $10 million bounty on Haqqani’s head that remains in effect.

The FBI continues to distribute an old, grainy image of Haqqani, whose age is unknown.

Some on Twitter have speculated that Haqqani’s current appearance is being obscured to protect him from those who might want to cash in on the reward money.

Multiple sources in Kabul have told RFE/RL that Haqqani frequently changes location and keeps his movements secret out of fear that Washington will target him using remotely piloted drones.

Others on Twitter have suggested that the Taliban is attempting to portray Haqqani as a divine leader or that the images are being blurred in keeping with the group’s previous stance that photography was forbidden under its strict interpretation of Islamic law.

Torek Farhadi, a former Afghan government consultant and prominent analyst on the situation in Afghanistan, listed several reasons in comments to RFE/RL.

“The religious reason is that in their previous regime they were opposed to photography,” he said, noting that the decision was inspired by Taliban founder Mullah Mohammad Omar. “Another issue is that some of them do not want to be targeted, given the increased threats by Islamic State affiliates in Afghanistan at the moment.”

Finally, Farhadi said, “Haqqani’s problem with the United States has not been resolved and he still has a bounty of several million dollars on his head.”

Asra Nomani, cofounder of the Pearl Project that investigated the beheading of U.S. journalist Daniel Pearl in Pakistan in 2002, was blunt as to why Haqqani’s image is being blurred.

“Sirajuddin Haqqani is a coward,” she said in written comments to RFE/RL.

Haqqani is not the only Taliban official working in the shadows. The militant group’s newly named supreme leader, Mullah Haibatullah Akhundzada, has only been seen on posters even as government appointments are attributed to him amid reports that he died a year ago.

And the whereabouts of Mullah Yaqoob Omar, the 30-something son of Mullah Omar who has been named the militant group’s caretaker defense minister, is essentially a mystery.

Haqqani’s purported appearance in Taliban-issued photographs during a public event honoring “martyrs” makes him appear approachable by comparison.

But his depiction of suicide bombers as “heroes of Islam and the country” during the October 19 event at the Intercontinental Hotel — where 42 people were killed by Taliban gunmen in 2018 — fell on deaf ears to those outside the venue.

Reactions to Haqqani’s appearance — however blurred — were harsh among Afghans who have been victimized by suicide attacks.

“Thousands of young people and families were killed,” Ibrahim, whose brother Khajeh Isa was killed in a suicide attack in the northwestern Herat Province in 2009, told RFE/RL. “Children, the young, and the old were martyred.”

“We see that today those who committed suicide [bombings] are being honored in the name of martyrdom,” said Ibrahim, whose full name has been withheld out of concerns of possible retribution against him. “Unfortunately, this is far from humanity and religion… No conscience accepts that suicide is a part of Islamic law.”

Written by Michael Scollon with additional reporting by Mustafa Sarwar of RFE/RL’s Radio Azadi. The names of contributing Radio Azadi correspondents in Afghanistan are being withheld for their safety.

Copyright (c) 2021. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave NW, Ste 400, Washington DC 20036.

Pakistan Prime Minister Appoints New Spymaster

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Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
October 26, 2021

Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan has appointed a new head of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) spy agency after weeks of speculation about a rift between civil and military leadership on the issue.

Lieutenant General Nadeem Anjum was approved as spymaster after a final consultation between army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa and Khan, the prime minister’s office said on October 26.

The head of the ISI is one of the most powerful positions in Pakistan, having a role in domestic politics, the fight against militant groups, and foreign policy.

Pakistan, including the ISI, has long been accused of having links with the Taliban in Afghanistan and other militant groups in the region, a charge denied by Islamabad.

Since the Taliban took power of Afghanistan in August, outgoing ISI chief Faiz Hameed has made two known trips to Kabul to meet with representatives of the hard-line Islamist group, including one last week with Pakistan’s foreign minister.

Anjum’s appointment follows weeks of speculation about differences between civil and military powers over the post, speculation that officials have denied.

The new spy chief will take up the post on November 20, the prime minister’s office said.

Based on reporting by Reuters, Geo TV, and Dawn

Copyright (c) 2021. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave NW, Ste 400, Washington DC 20036.

Officials warn of possible 4th wave of COVID-19 in Afghanistan

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Ariana: Afghanistan’s health officials on Tuesday warned of a possible 4th wave of COVID-19 in the county, adding that treatment possibilities have been minimized recently. The Afghan-Japan hospital in Afghanistan, which was allocated for Coronavirus patients, has received 35 patients from Ghazni and Daikundi provinces recently, said officials. Click here to read more (external link).

Climate now a worse crisis than war for Afghanistan’s farmers

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Al Jazeera: As the world watched the Taliban wage a stunning offensive that ended in the rapid collapse of the country’s western-backed government, a longer-term crisis was building. In desperate attempts to feed their families, herders have been forced to sell their livestock, farmers to flee their villages, and parents marrying their daughters at ever younger ages. Click here to read more (external link).

US has a new proxy in Afghanistan: Daesh

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ISIS trainees

Press TV
October 26, 2021

By Syed Zafar Mehdi

With the last US troops beating a hasty and humiliating retreat from Afghanistan, the war has entered a new phase, where Americans and Daesh terrorists find themselves on the same side.

The resurgence of Daesh terrorist group, on the back of the US exit, has created fresh security challenges for the Taliban-ruled country, in a way that works perfectly to the advantage of Americans.

The country, lying at the crossroads of South and Central Asia, has been rocked by a series of terrorist attacks in recent weeks, from Nangarhar in the east to Kunduz in the north, Kandahar in the south and the capital Kabul. The ghastly bombings were claimed by Daesh, in its new, more dangerous incarnation.

The aim, it can be argued, is to undermine the newly-established rule of its arch-enemy Taliban and to stir sectarian tensions and civil war in a country with deep ethnic and religious fault lines.

That’s precisely what the Western powers, who spent years in the futile militarily adventure in Afghanistan, have been looking for. The move to freeze $10 billion of Afghan assets has to be seen in the same context, which is primarily designed to bring poor and war-weary Afghans to their knees.

The disastrous end of the US military occupation of Afghanistan two months ago also saw the resurgence of a terrorist group that has long shared love-hate relationship with the West.

Amidst the chaotic withdrawal of US-led allied forces, Daesh suicide bombers detonated their explosives outside Kabul’s Hamid Karzai International Airport on August 26, killing over 170 Afghans, many of them making desperate attempts to flee the unfolding chaos.

Thirteen American troops were killed as well, which prompted the US to launch a drone strike on August 29. The strike, ostensibly aimed at a Daesh hideout, mowed down 10 more poor Afghan civilians. It was a parting gift of Americans to the people they held hostage for 20 years.

In the weeks after the final withdrawal, Daesh terrorists carried out several low-intensity attacks in their stronghold of Nangarhar in eastern Afghanistan, mainly targeting over-ground Taliban fighters. It was the continuation of a long-running turf war between the two groups with competing interests.

In early October, the group went back to its favored mode of urban warfare; suicide bombings. The sprawling Eidgah Mosque in Kabul was targeted on October 3, killing seven civilians. The attack took place during the funeral ceremony of Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid’s mother.

The worst was yet to come. While targeting Taliban convoys and funerals serves the purpose of undermining the newly-established “interim government,” the other and more important purpose is served by attacks on minority groups. In both cases, Daesh has made common cause with Americans.

On October 8, a deadly bombing ripped through a mosque in northern Kunduz province during Friday prayers, leaving over 150 dead, all members of ethnic Hazara Shia community. A week later, another mosque was bombed in southern Kandahar province, which claimed over 60 lives.

Both attacks, with same set of victims and perpetrators, bore striking resemblances. The modus operandi was the same and the objective was the same. Victims in both incidents were buried in mass graves, and like always reduced to cold statistics in the Western media.

Daesh, which first made inroads into the Hindu Kush country in late 2014, has fought pitched battles with the Taliban in eastern Afghanistan all these years. At the same time, it has played the sectarian card by targeting the Hazara Shia community, as was clearly evident in recent weeks.

Ironically, what Daesh is doing is no different from what the successive US-backed regimes in Kabul have done for long. Except that the latter didn’t claim responsibility for any act of terror. They paved the way for it and refused to take any measures to put a stop to it. That, I suppose, is more reprehensible.

The narrative that the US military-industrial complex has contributed to the growth of terrorism perpetuated by Daesh in Afghanistan has been gaining ground for quite some time now.

The US-led coalition, despite the staggering $2-trillion investment and the most advanced weaponry and intelligence, failed to eliminate terrorist groups like Daesh in Afghanistan, which lends credence to the theory that the group essentially serves America’s objectives in the volatile region.

Taliban officials have unequivocally blamed the US for Daesh terrorist group’s resurgence. Ahmad Yasir, an official at Taliban’s political bureau in Doha, was recently quoted as saying that there is evidence to suggest that recent attacks on Shia mosques in Afghanistan had “malicious foreign hand” behind them.

Qari Sayeed Khosti, who handles social media for Taliban, also held Americans responsible for recent Daesh bombings. He refused group’s cooperation with the US in fighting Daesh, saying the group had made comeback with the help of the US and the former Afghan government.

Hezbollah resistance movement leader, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, in a speech last week also stressed that the US must take responsibility for Daesh presence in Afghanistan, accusing Americans of shipping Daesh terrorists from Syria and Iraq to Afghanistan.

This claim, dismissed as a conspiracy theory by Western pundits, has been often repeated by credible military sources. There are also reports that the Taliban’s interim government has been unable to locate the previous government’s security files, which include critical information on Daesh. The files allegedly were discarded by the US forces being fleeing the country in utter haste.

Interestingly, in the months before the US-led coalition forces left the country, some 8,000 to 10,000 terrorists made their way to Afghanistan from Central Asia, North Caucasus, Pakistan and China’s Xinjiang region, according to a United Nations report released in June.

Most of them were recruited by Daesh, which was evident from the Kunduz mosque bombing that was allegedly carried out by an ethnic Uyghur.

What is remarkable is that these foreign terrorists slipped into the country under the nose of US and NATO forces.

Americans had the intelligence, but the political will was missing. Top US military commander Mark Milley went on record recently saying there is possibility of a broader civil war, reconstitution of Al-Qaeda and growth of Daesh.

But no action has been taken, because Americans now see Daesh as a potential proxy to continue their botched mission in the war-ravaged country.

Syed Zafar Mehdi is a Tehran-based journalist, editor and blogger. He has reported extensively from Afghanistan, India, Pakistan, Kashmir and Iran for leading publications worldwide.

(The views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of Press TV.)

Iran expresses hope for inclusive Afghan govt. ahead of Tehran meeting

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Press TV
October 26, 2021

Iran has expressed hope for the formation of an inclusive government in Afghanistan that represents all ethnic groups and reflects their will, as it prepares to host a meeting with a unified message of support for the Afghan people.

Speaking at a media briefing on Tuesday, Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh announced that the meeting of foreign ministers of Afghanistan’s six neighboring states plus Russia will be held in Tehran on Wednesday.

The top diplomats of Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Pakistan will attend the gathering in person, while the Chinese and Russian foreign ministers will be present online, he added.

Khatibzadeh also said that the event will open with a speech delivered by Iranian President Ebrahim Raeisi and that the UN chief will send a message to the summit.

“The message from the UN secretary general to the Tehran meeting means that the Islamic Republic will be the center of active diplomacy in the region, taking steps to contribute to regional peace and stability,” he said, highlighting Iran’s support for the people of Afghanistan over the past four decades and its hosting of nearly four million Afghan nationals.
The spokesman further stressed that the Tehran meeting is aimed at stepping up collaborations between Afghanistan’s neighboring countries and creating lasting peace there, saying it is a continuation of the September virtual meeting of the foreign ministers of Afghanistan’s neighbors.

“The participants in that meeting agreed on basic principles, including that the future of Afghanistan should be formed according to the will of the country’s people. The first meeting also agreed to establish an inclusive government, under which a stable Afghanistan could be considered as part of the arrangements for inclusive regional cooperation. Additionally, this government should reflect the demographic and ethnic composition of Afghanistan,” he explained.

Khatibzadeh announced Iran’s hosting of the conference on Afghanistan in a press conference last week, during which he said Iran is in contact with all parties in Kabul and is “closely monitoring” the developments in the eastern neighbor.

He urged the international community to respond seriously to the escalation of violence in Afghanistan, saying Iran is committed to preventing the country from “entering the cycle of violence and terror” again.

The Wednesday conference will also take place a week after the third meeting of the Moscow Format Consultations on Afghanistan was held in the Russian capital, where the participants urged the invaders to take responsibility for the current crisis in Afghanistan, which has brought, according to the UN World Food Program (WFP), 3.2 million children under five close to acute malnutrition.

In his Tuesday remarks, Khatibzadeh also noted that the current situation in Afghanistan is accompanied by concerns, considerations, and at the same time hopes.

“I hope that we will see a comprehensive mechanism inside Afghanistan based on the will of its people and without foreign interference. For us, the people of Afghanistan, as well as protecting them and their rights, are the first priority.”

Khatibzadeh further noted that the Islamic Republic has always strongly advised against the interference of foreigners in Afghanistan’s affairs and respected the country’s independence and territorial integrity.

“Tomorrow, the foreign ministers will present the official views of their respective governments,” he said.

However, the spokesman went on, what “we have seen in the scandalous US escape from Afghanistan after two decades of occupation and violence is nothing other than the destruction of the country’s social, political, and security foundations.”

“Many countries believe that the United States is a major factor in the current situation in Afghanistan. Of course, pathology and finding the roots of the situation in Afghanistan will be part of tomorrow’s meeting, but the principle is the future of Afghanistan and the formation of a government based on the will of the country’s people.”

The US military led the invasion of Afghanistan in 2001 in what it proclaimed was a war on terror meant to eradicate the Taliban.

Twenty years on, in mid-August this year, the Afghan government and military collapsed in the face of the Taliban’s swift advances on the ground, which many attribute to a hasty withdrawal of US-led occupation forces from the country.

Taliban welcomes Ayatollah Khamenei’s call for unity

In the meantime, the Taliban’s foreign ministry spokesman has welcomed the latest remarks by Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei on the necessity of unity among Shia and Sunni Muslims in Afghanistan.

“The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan welcomes remarks by Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran urging further unity between Ahl Sunnah (Sunnis) & Ahl Tashayyu (Shias) in Afghanistan,” Abdul Qahar Balkhi said via Twitter on Monday.

“Afghans have gained independence with unity & will also neuter plots of discord with unity, inshaAllah (God willing),” he added.

Ayatollah Khamenei had underscored that it is not possible to achieve the important goal of creating a new Islamic civilization without the unity of Shias and Sunnis.

Addressing the 35th International Islamic Unity Conference in Tehran on Sunday, the Leader also pointed to the recent terrorist attacks targeting Shia Muslims in two separate mosques across Afghanistan, saying one of the ways to prevent such incidents is for the current Afghan officials to attend Shia centers and mosques and encourage Sunni Muslims to participate in inter-religious congregations.

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