CBS News: Some Taliban foot soldiers are believed to have abandoned the group to join ISIS-K or al Qaeda, preferring an even more extreme — and brutal — interpretation of Islam, but these sources say the ISIS faction is working deliberately to undermine the Taliban’s authority from both inside and outside the group. Click here to read more (external link).
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VOA News
October 8, 2021
U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman met Friday with leaders in Pakistan to discuss developments in Taliban-ruled Afghanistan and ways to advance cooperation across the bilateral relationship.
Sherman, who arrived in the country late Thursday from neighboring India, is the most senior U.S. diplomat to visit Islamabad since President Joe Biden’s administration took office.
She opened her visit with a meeting with the Pakistani national security adviser, Moeed Yusuf, before holding delegation-level talks with Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi.
Qureshi’s office quoted him as sharing Pakistan’s optimism with the U.S. delegation that the Taliban-led government in Afghanistan “will work for peace and stability, as well as for the betterment of all Afghans.”
He emphasized the need for “positive participation” of the international community in Afghanistan to enable the flow of humanitarian and financial resources to help “build a sustainable economy to alleviate the suffering of the Afghan people.”
Qureshi emphasized the importance of “close and regular engagement” between Pakistan and the United States to promote “mutual interests and common regional goals,” the statement said.
Pakistan’s traditionally tumultuous relationship with the United States, however, is under renewed pressure in the aftermath of the dramatic Taliban takeover of Afghanistan in August.
The tensions are rooted in long-running allegations that Pakistan has had deep ties with, and covertly supported, the Taliban, as the Islamist insurgents battled the U.S.-backed Afghan government for almost 20 years — charges denied by Islamabad.
Late last month, a group of 22 Republican senators introduced legislation to impose sanctions on the Taliban and on all foreign governments that support the hardline Islamic group.
The bill also seeks official input from U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken about his assessment of the role Pakistan played in supporting the Taliban’s return to power in Kabul.
“It is an attempt to pass the buck,” Qureshi told a recent news conference, responding to the proposed legislation.
“Scapegoating Pakistan would be overlooking ground realities. And they have to understand that a partnership with Pakistan is required in the future, as well, to achieve stability in Afghanistan and the region,” Qureshi said.
Islamabad insists it is being blamed for America’s failures in Afghanistan, even though it facilitated peace talks between the United States and the Taliban that culminated in the February 2020 agreement between the two adversaries. That paved the way for Washington to withdrawal all its troops from Afghanistan in late August.
Washington says it is closely monitoring whether the Taliban will uphold their promises of tolerance and govern Afghanistan through an inclusive political system where all ethnicities are represented while also ensuring protection of women’s rights.
Islamabad has maintained it is not in a rush to recognize the new Taliban government, but it has been urging the U.S. and other countries to engage with the new rulers in Kabul rather than abandoning the turmoil-hit country.
Russia, China and Iran also have moved to directly engage with the Taliban and have called for the removal of sanctions, including the unfreezing of Afghan financial assets mostly deposited in the U.S. federal reserves. All of these countries, however, also have stopped short of granting diplomatic recognition to the Taliban unless they deliver on their commitments.
“The crisis in Afghanistan has had a damning effect on U.S.-Pakistan relations,” Raoof Hasan, special assistant to Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan, wrote in a recent article.
“An investment of over 70 years in building a relationship has ended up at the beginning again. I believe that the two countries need to engage in a multifaceted dialogue to reorient, even reinvent, this relationship,” Hasan said in the Lahore-based Pakistan Politico magazine.
The bilateral tensions come as Islamabad campaigns for resetting its relationship with Washington and others on what Islamabad calls “geo-economics,” or development and trade, to move away from the traditional security-based partnership.
Adam Weinstein, a research fellow at the Washington-based Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, said expectations are low for a significant outcome of Sherman’s visit to Pakistan.
“Pakistan wants the United States to formally recognize the Taliban and accept a geo-economic reset that broadens U.S.-Pakistan relations to issues beyond security. Neither is going to happen anytime soon,” Weinstein said.
Counterterrorism remains a key area, however, where the U.S. will need Pakistan’s cooperation to counter any future terror threat now that American troops are out of Afghanistan.
“If Washington’s diplomatic outreach to Pakistan revolves around counterterrorism to the exclusion of all other issues, then that’s not diplomacy but rather militarized diplomacy,” Weinstein said.
“Washington has grown accustomed to the political expediency of managing U.S.-Pakistan relations through the generals and intelligence agencies. This habit is likely to continue, but Sherman’s visit is still welcome outreach from a civilian diplomat,” he said.
During her visit to India, Sherman made it clear her trip to Pakistan was for a “particular set of reasons” in the context of Afghanistan.
“We don’t see ourselves building a broad relationship with Pakistan,” Indian media quoted the U.S. diplomat as telling an event in the Indian city of Mumbai on Thursday.
“But we all need to know what’s going on in Afghanistan. We all need to be of one mind in the approach to the Taliban. We all need to make sure that we have the capabilities that we need to ensure everybody’s security, including India’s and the U.S. of course. And so, I’m going to have some very specific conversations,” Sherman said.
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
October 8, 2021
A suicide blast inside a Shi’ite mosque in the northern Afghan province of Kunduz has reportedly killed and wounded at least 100 people in the bloodiest attack since the Taliban took control of most of the country in August.
In a tweet, the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) expressed deep concern about the October 8 attack in Khanabad district, citing initial information indicating that “more than 100 people were killed and injured.”
Dost Mohammad Obaida, the provincial deputy police chief, said the majority of the victims had been killed, while Matiullah Rohani, a member of the Taliban-led administration in Kunduz Province, confirmed that the explosion was a suicide attack.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the blast, which witnesses said hit the Gozar-e Sayed Abad Mosque during the weekly Friday Prayers service while video footage showed bodies surrounded by debris inside the building.
An unidentified medical source at the Kunduz Provincial Hospital said the facility had received the bodies of 35 people killed in the blast, as well as more than 50 wounded patients, while a worker at a Doctors Without Borders (MSF) hospital reported 15 dead according to AFP.
MSF reported that at least 20 people were killed and 90 others injured at the Shi’ite mosque in the city of Kunduz.
The bombing follows several attacks in recent weeks, some of which have been claimed by the local affiliate of the Islamic State extremist group — the Islamic State-Khorasan Province (IS-K).
The attacks have underscored security challenges for the Taliban, which took control of most of the war-torn country in August and has since carried out operations against the IS-K.
In a separate tweet, UNAMA said the October 8 suicide attack was part of a “disturbing pattern of violence” and noted that it was the third attack apparently targeting religious institutions over the past week.
It cited a deadly blast claimed by the IS-K that struck near the entrance of a Kabul mosque on October 3 as mourners left a prayer ceremony dedicated to the dead mother of the Taliban’s top spokesman.
Another attack on October 6 that targeted a madrasah in Khost remains unclaimed, the UN mission said.
With reporting by AFP, AP, and Reuters
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Islamic State group claims deadly mosque suicide bombing in #Kunduz province of Afg, saying "Mohammed al-Uyghuri" had carried out the attack. It alleges the attack was a revenge for the planned deportation of Uyghurs to #China.
— Majid Nusrat (@majnust) October 8, 2021
Tolo News: At least four people have died of dengue fever amidst the outbreak of the viral disease in the province where officials said 26 people have been infected with the virus in the last two weeks. Officials said that the cases have been reported in remote districts of the province that share a border with Pakistan. Click here to read more (external link).
Bush
Michael Hughes
AOPNEWS
October 7, 2021
On Sunday, October 7, 2001, at 1:00 p.m. Eastern Time, George W. Bush in a nationally televised address told the American people the U.S. military had begun conducting airstrikes in Afghanistan in response to the 9/11 attacks.
The moment marked the beginning of “Operation Enduring Freedom,” as well as the “Global War on Terrorism (GWOT).”
“I gave Taliban leaders a series of clear and specific demands: Close terrorist training camps; hand over leaders of the al Qaeda network; and return all foreign nationals, including American citizens, unjustly detained in your country,” Bush said from behind a desk in the treaty room. “None of these demands were met. And now the Taliban will pay a price.”
The military action, the president continued, represented “another front,” in the war against terrorism.
Bush said allies such as the UK, Canada, Australia, Germany and France had pledged forces as the military operation unfolded, while more than 40 countries in the region granted the coalition air transit or landing rights.
The day after the bombing The New York Post ran a classic headline with the words “TALI-BAM” and “America Strikes Back.”
The first operation got underway at around 12:15 p.m. EST / 8:45 p.m. local time on October 7.
The U.S. bombed the Kabul airport, the Taliban defense and interior ministries, and cut off the electricity supply. The coalition also struck Mazar-i-Sharif and Konduz in the north and Herat in the West.
Mullah Omar’s compound in the southern province of Kandahar was bombed along with terrorist training camps in Jalalabad in the east, among other Taliban and al-Qaeda targets.
The first wave of intense bombing was conducted primarily by U.S. and British forces using 15 bombers, 20 strike aircraft, 50 tomahawk missiles – with a second wave hitting Taliban surface-to-air missile sites.
Pentagon chief Don Rumsfeld told reporters in the afternoon that the “war against terrorism,” will use every element of American influence and power.
“The aim is to create conditions for sustained anti-terrorist and humanitarian relief efforts in Afghanistan,” Rumsfeld added.
Meanwhile, the very same day, al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden – from an undisclosed mountainous locale – would release a video clip of his message.
“What America is tasting now is only a copy of what we have tasted… I swear to God that America will not live in peace before peace reigns in Palestine, and before all the army of infidels depart the land of Muhammad, peace be upon him,” Bin Laden said.
This sentiment, of course, contrasted sharply with America’s stated motives.
“The name of today’s military operation is Enduring Freedom,” Bush said during his October 7 address. “We defend not only our precious freedoms, but also the freedom of people everywhere to live and raise their children free from fear.”
The coalition would go on to topple the Taliban by mid-November, although the movement would re-emerge a few years later in the form of an insurgency that eventually defeated Western and Afghan forces, forcing a retreat of American troops, the final boot leaving the country last month.
According to the Brown University Costs of War project, over the past two decades the $2.4 trillion war killed at least 120,000 Afghans – including 46,000 civilians, 70,000 Afghan troops, and 53,000 opposition fighters. The conflict took the lives of over 6,000 American troops (regular and contractors combined) in addition to another 1,200 or so allied forces.
Today, exactly 20 years after the first bomb was dropped in the Afghan war, Bush’s threat to punish the Taliban rings like a hallow – albeit largely forgotten – echo through the corridors of history, in yet another example of the blinding power of American hubris.
Hasmat Ghani
ABP: ABP News has a special conversation with Hasmat Ghani, the brother and politician of former President Ashraf Ghani, who was present in Afghanistan after the occupation of Taliban. Hashmat Ghani has said that now we have no other option but to accept the Talibani rule. He said that if Ashraf Ghani had not left the country, he would have been killed. Click here to read more (external link).
Abdul Rahim Wardak
Yahoo: He already owns a $5.2 million Miami Beach condo at the prestigious St. Regis Bal Harbour resort, but Daoud Wardak apparently also wants a West Coast outpost. To that end, he’s heading for Beverly Hills — records reveal the semi-mysterious businessman, who is a son of former Afghan Minister of Defense Abdul Rahim Wardak, has bought a $20.9 million mansion on a prime Trousdale Estates street. Click here to read more (external link).
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
October 7, 2021
DUSHANBE — On the banks of a mountain river outside Tajikistan’s capital, in a resort area teeming with hotels and dachas, stands a modern, two-story building flanked by towering trees and lattice fence panels.
The state-owned sanatorium near Dushanbe is usually reserved for high-ranking Tajik officials who flock there on weekends or for short vacations.
But since September 1 the sanatorium has housed scores of Afghan military personnel and their families who fled Afghanistan after the Taliban seized power in August. The group includes U.S.-trained pilots, air-traffic controllers, and engineers.
The 143 Afghans landed at Bokhtar Airport in southern Tajikistan late on August 15, just hours after the collapse of the Western-backed Afghan government and the Taliban’s capture of the Afghan capital, Kabul.
But two months after they escaped the Taliban takeover, the pilots are in limbo. They hoped the United States would fly them out of Tajikistan. But that has been repeatedly delayed, with Tajik authorities declining to offer any reasons.
The pilots, who spoke to RFE/RL on condition of anonymity, said they flew across Afghanistan’s northern border to Tajikistan aboard 17 military aircraft, including 11 Cessna 208 Caravans, three AC-208 Combat Caravans, and three Pilatus PC-12s that belonged to the Afghan Air Force.
Several of the Afghan personnel told RFE/RL that they had virtually no contact with the outside world since they arrived in Tajikistan, including with their family members in Afghanistan. Tajik authorities have confiscated their Afghan identification documents, mobile phones, and “private weapons,” they said.
The group spent two weeks at a student dormitory in the southern city of Bokhtar, near the border with Afghanistan, before they were transferred to the sanatorium near Dushanbe.
The group, which includes two female military pilots, said they do not want to remain in Tajikistan and hope to resettle in the United States.
The Afghans said “no Americans” have visited or contacted them since they arrived in Tajikistan.
But a State Department spokesperson told RFE/RL on October 7 that U.S. Embassy staff in Dushanbe have visited the sanatorium where the Afghans reside.
Asked if U.S. officials have discussed the situation of the Afghans with Tajik authorities, the spokesperson said they were “in regular communication” with the Tajik government and that “part of those communications includes coordination in response to Afghan Air Force pilots in Tajikistan.”
Crowded Rooms, Bad Food
The group of Afghans complained about living in uncertainty and despair. They said they wanted “the whole world to hear” of their plight.
The men spoke about what they described as crowded rooms, shortages of shower and washing facilities, and limited access to proper medical care. The food, they said, was mainly limited to “squash and cabbage.”
“The place we are living is not suitable for us,” said one of the pilots. “The food is bad. Nobody eats it. We make our owns salads instead.”
Another pilot said that up to seven people were living in each room at the sanatorium.
“The rooms are cold,” said the pilot, saying many of them did not have warm clothes.
“We had to leave Kabul abruptly,” he said, adding that many of them left with only the clothes on their backs.
Tajik authorities have deployed medical personnel to the sanatorium.
But one of the two female pilots — a 27-year-old who is nine months pregnant — said there are no female doctors at the sanatorium and the nearest hospital is an hour away.
The woman was taken to a maternity hospital late on October 6. Hospital officials told RFE/RL on October 7 that she “has underwent all the necessary medical examinations” and “is in good condition.”
The mother-to-be was expected to stay at the hospital until she gives birth in November, said a high-ranking hospital official who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.
Tajik officials have defended the conditions at the sanatorium.
“We have made available adequate and proper conditions for the pilots in the best place [we have] and we provide them with everything from food to medicines,” Nusratullo Mahmudzoda, a spokesman for the Interior Ministry, told RFE/RL on October 7.
‘Amnesty For All’
During the Taliban’s takeover of Kabul, a separate group of Afghan pilots escaped to Uzbekistan aboard dozens of government military planes. They have since moved to the United Arab Emirates.
The new Taliban-led government has demanded that Tajikistan and Uzbekistan return the pilots and the military aircraft to Afghanistan. It has urged the pilots to return to Afghanistan and serve their homeland.
Zabihullah Mujahid, a Taliban spokesman, said the Afghan pilots in Tajikistan would not face any reprisals if they returned home.
“We have given an amnesty for all of those who were against us. Nobody is under any threat [from the Taliban],” Mujahid told RFE/RL. “I give full reassurance to [the pilots] that we have no problem with them.”
But many of the pilots fear they could be killed if they returned to their homeland.
Before it retook power, the Taliban targeted and killed off-duty Afghan pilots, to blunt the Afghan Air Force.
Since regaining power, human rights groups have accused the Taliban of summarily executing, torturing, and imprisoning former members of Afghanistan’s security forces.
Written and reported by RFE/RL correspondents in Tajikistan.
Zabihullah Mujahid
Tolo News: The deputy minister of information and culture, Zabiullah Mujahid, downplayed the threat of Daesh, saying that the group would soon be suppressed. “We don’t call Daesh a threat, but we call it a headache,” Mujahid said. “It creates headaches in some places but is immediately taken out in every incident; (they) have been chased out and their sanctuaries found.” Click here to read more (external link).
Taliban leader Mullah Baradar with Pakistan’s ISI Chief Faiz Hameed
1945: The Taliban have long demanded that foreign forces leave Afghanistan. How hypocritical it is that they themselves depended upon foreigners to stage their fight. Click here to read more (external link).