UN’s Guterres Says Intra-Taliban ‘Fight For Power’ Hindering International Efforts On Afghanistan

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UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres

Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
September 20, 2021

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres says an ongoing “fight for power” among rival Taliban groups has complicated the situation in Afghanistan since the departure of U.S.-led international forces late last month and publicly pressed the hard-line militants now ruling the country to respect rights and avoid the country becoming a “safe haven” for terrorists.

Guterres also warned that it is “a fantasy” to think UN involvement in Afghanistan under Taliban rule can suddenly bring about an inclusive government, respect for rights, or exclude the presence there of terrorists.

The United Nations has “limited capacity and limited leverage,” he said, but it is playing a key role in attempts to provide humanitarian assistance to the war-torn country.

“There is clearly a fight for power within different groups in the Taliban leadership. The situation is not yet clarified,” Guterres said in an interview with Associated Press ahead of the UN General Assembly high-level debate that begins on September 21.

The Taliban announced an “acting” government on September 7 whose composition included veteran Taliban figures on UN and U.S. blacklists and drew almost exclusively from hardest line of the ultraconservative Islamist group.

Guterres noted the trillions of dollars and hundreds of thousands of troops the United States and other countries devoted for decades to trying to address Afghan problems until their recent withdrawal as Taliban forces captured most of the country.

He told AP it was unrealistic to think the United Nations “will be able all of a sudden to produce an inclusive government, to guarantee that all human rights are respected, to guarantee that no terrorists will ever exist in Afghanistan, that drug trafficking will stop.”

But Guterres also told CNN that UN officials were engaging with the Taliban on humanitarian efforts.

He also said the United Nations was trying “to make them understand that to have solidarity from the international community and to be able one day to have recognition from the international community, they need to deliver on the aspects that are very important for us — the human rights for girls and for women, for women the right to work, for girls the right to be at school at all levels, that it would be very important for them to cooperate with the international community to avoid Afghanistan to be a safe haven for terrorists.”

No foreign government has recognized the Taliban-led government, which declared its intention to rule by its strict interpretation of Shari’a law, and reports of revenge attacks and other abuses have continued to proliferate.

U.S. officials have already warned of the reemergence in Afghanistan of international terrorist threats like the group Islamic State (IS) or its local affiliate, Islamic State-Khorasan (IS-K), which claimed responsibility for a deadly attack with crowds massed outside Kabul airport on August 26.

The IS’s media arm on September 19 posted a claim of responsibility for multiple bombings over the weekend that targeted Taliban vehicles in eastern Afghanistan, a longtime Taliban stronghold.

The claim could not immediately be corroborated, but at least eight people, including Taliban fighters, were said to have been killed in attacks in Jalalabad on September 18 and 19.

Based on reporting by AP and CNN

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.

Pakistani Police Open Case Against Cleric For Hoisting Taliban Flag Above Seminary

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Cleric Maulana Abdul Aziz

By Radio Mashaal
September 19, 2021

Police in Pakistan have opened a case against an influential cleric after he hoisted the Taliban flag over the building of an important religious seminary in the nation’s capital of Islamabad.

Maulana Abdul Aziz, a Taliban supporter who wants Pakistan to enforce Islamic Shari’a law in the country, raised the white-and-black flag of the militant group over the Jamia Hafsa religious seminary for female students last month after the Taliban took control of neighboring Afghanistan.

Aziz’s action underscores the strong support for the militant group within Pakistan, where media, religious parties, and even some government officials openly celebrated the Taliban takeover of Kabul in August.

The 58-year-old Aziz, who reportedly had links with the terrorist organization Al-Qaeda, served a two-year prison term after leading a rebellion at the Jamia Hafsa and Red Mosque in 2007 in which dozens of people, including his younger brother, were killed.

A police official at Abpara Police Station told Radio Mashaal on September 19 that they opened a case against Aziz a day earlier on charges of sedition and terrorism after he refused to remove the flags from atop Jamia Hafsa.

Aziz and his supporters blocked the police from entering the building to remove the flags, said the officer, who requested anonymity due to the sensitivity of the case.

The Office of the Deputy Commissioner Islamabad tweeted on September 18 that the flags had been removed from the building, that the area had been “cleared,” and the “case” had been “registered” against the cleric.

Dozens of police officers were deployed near the Red Mosque and Jamia Hafsa on September 19 to maintain peace in the area. None of Aziz’s followers have been detained, the official added.

Aziz sent an audio statement to media on September 18 saying that he removed the flags after authorities promised to reopen another mosque linked to the Jamia Hafsa and appoint a prayer leader and cleric.

That mosque has remained closed since the government’s 2007 offensive against the militants led by Aziz.

Authorities in Islamabad have “sealed” the case against Aziz for the time being, meaning that they will not take any legal action against him, a top administrative official told Radio Mashaal on September 19. The official did not give a reason for the decision to seal the case.

The influential cleric still has a very big following and, despite his attempted rebellion, the government did not remove him as head of Jamia Hafsa and the Red Mosque. However, the authorities did ban him from delivering sermons or from running the seminaries.

Aziz and his followers first hoisted the Afghan Taliban flag on the building of the seminary after the militant group took control of the country in mid-August but then removed it due to government pressure.

He hoisted the flag on September 17 again, prompting the police action a day later.

“We have worked for the establishment of an Islamic system” of governance in Pakistan before and “we will continue our efforts,” Aziz said in the statement.

Aziz was arrested in 2007 as he attempted to flee following his failed rebellion and later jailed. When he was released by the Supreme Court of Pakistan two years later, he was greeted by tens of thousands of his supporters.

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.

Afghan Women Stage Protest In Kabul To Demand Right To Work, Study

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Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
September 19, 2021

A group of Afghan women staged a protest in the capital, Kabul, on September 19, to demand the right to work and study.

Videos shared by local media show a group of nearly two dozen women gathering in front of what was until recently the Women’s Affairs Ministry, chanting “women’s rights and human rights.”

Some were holding up signs calling for the participation of women in public life. “A society in which women are not active is [a] dead society,” one sign read.

The protest lasted for about 10 minutes. The women left after a verbal confrontation with an unidentified man.

In recent days, the new Taliban-led government issued several decrees rolling back the rights of girls and women.

Afghan girls were excluded from returning to secondary school on September 18, after the Taliban-led government ordered only boys and male teachers to return to the classroom.

Primary schools had already reopened, with boys and girls attending separate classes and some female teachers returning to work.

On September 19, the interim mayor of Kabul told female employees in the city government to stay home, with work only allowed for those who cannot be replaced by men.

Last week, the Taliban shut down the Women’s Affairs Ministry, replacing it with a ministry for the “propagation of virtue and the prevention of vice” and tasked with enforcing Islamic law.

Since the Taliban took power in Kabul, Afghan women held several days of protests across the capital and other cities in which they demanded the hard-line Islamists respect their human rights. The protests were violently broken up by Taliban fighters.

Based on reporting by AP and dpa

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.

Related

Armed Taliban fighters seen riding pedal boats on lake in Afghanistan

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New York Post: They’re taking their favorite weapons out on the water. More than two dozen Taliban fighters, armed with rocket launchers and assault rifles, were seen riding in colorful, swan-themed pedal boats at Band-e Amir National Park in the eastern Bamiyan province of Afghanistan Saturday. Click here to read more (external link).

3 national snooker team players off to good start in world champs

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Ariana: Afghanistan’s National Snooker Team has gotten off to a good start in this year’s Six-Red World Championships in Doha, Qatar. National team member Raees Khan Sindzai won his first match against his opponent from Ukraine ending with a score of 5-4. Click here to read more (external link).

Other Sports News

Blast Hits Taliban Vehicle In Eastern Afghanistan

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Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
September 19, 2021

A blast targeted a Taliban vehicle in the eastern Afghan city of Jalalabad on September 19, local media reported, a day after at least three people were killed in a series of explosions in the area.

Initial reports says at least five people, including a child, were killed in the latest attack. Witnesses said that unspecified number of wounded Taliban fighters were taken to hospital after the explosion.

An overhead powerline was also damaged by the blast, causing an electricity outage in the area, local news websites said.

According to the eyewitnesses, the blast targeted a vehicle of the border police, which is now run by the Taliban.

No further details were immediately available and there was no immediate comment from the Taliban.

On September 18, three explosions killed at least three people and wounded 19 others in Jalalabad, the provincial capital of Nangarhar, in what was described as the first deadly attack in Afghansitan since the Taliban gained control of the country more than a month ago.

Witnesses and a member of the Taliban-led government were quoted as saying that at least one of the blasts hit a pickup truck carrying Taliban fighters.

No one claimed responsibility for the blasts.

Nangarhar is the heartland of the Islamic State extremist group’s local branch, Islamic State-Khorasan (IS-K), which is an enemy of Afghanistan’s new rulers.

The Taliban and IS-K extremists fought each other even before the Taliban seized control of Afghanistan last month.

Based on reporting by AP and AFP

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.

‘Mistakes, collateral damage’ cannot acquit US of atrocities in Afghanistan: Iran Foreign Ministry

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Press TV
September 18, 2021

Iran’s Foreign Ministry has criticized the US military’s killing of 10 more civilians, including children, in Afghanistan in a drone strike last month, saying Washington cannot exonerate itself by describing such frequent atrocities as “mistakes” and the victims as “collateral damage.”

“On the way out, US military kills 10 more Afghan civilians, incl. 7 kids. By describing such frequent atrocities as “mistakes” & the victims as “collateral damage”, the US can’t acquit itself,” the ministry said in a tweet on Saturday.

The ministry urged the international community to hold the United States “accountable for years of occupation and violence” in the war-ravaged Afghanistan.

The tweet came a day after US military admitted killing 10 Afghan civilians, including seven children, in a drone strike on August 29. Washington previously claimed those who were killed were terrorists.

The Pentagon had maintained that the strike targeted a Daesh-K terrorist who posed an imminent threat to American troops at the Kabul airport, with Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs Gen. Mark Milley calling it a “righteous strike.”

But on Friday, General Frank McKenzie, the top general of US Central Command, announced at the Pentagon that the military investigation has found it killed 10 civilians and the driver and that the vehicle targeted was not a threat associated with Daesh-K, a shadowy terrorist group that emerged following the last month bomb blast at the Kabul airport. The attack killed scores of Afghans and over a dozen Americans.

McKenzie told reporters that the US military drone strike was a “mistake” and offered an apology.

The US invaded Afghanistan in October 2001 following the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States, despite the fact that no Afghan was involved in the attacks. Hundreds of thousands of Afghans died in the US war of aggression on the country.

American forces occupied the country for about two decades on the pretext of fighting against the Taliban. But as the US forces left Afghanistan, the Taliban stormed into capital Kabul, weakened by continued foreign occupation.

US officials assert that the 9/11 attacks were carried out by 19 al-Qaeda terrorists, but many experts and independent researchers have raised questions about the official account.

They believe that rogue elements within the US government, such as former Vice President Dick Cheney, orchestrated or at least encouraged the 9/11 attacks in order to accelerate the US war machine and advance the Zionist agenda.

Related

Pakistan PM Stresses Inclusivity in Government in Talks With Taliban

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Imran Khan

Ayaz Gul
VOA News
September 18, 2021

ISLAMABAD — Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan says he has opened a dialogue with Afghanistan’s Taliban to try to persuade them to form an “inclusive” government in Kabul to ensure peace and stability in the war-torn country.

Khan disclosed the initiative Saturday via Twitter, saying it stemmed from his meetings this week in Dushanbe, the capital of Tajikistan, with leaders of countries bordering Afghanistan.

The Pakistani leader concluded a two-day visit to Dushanbe on Friday, where he held bilateral talks on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit, an annual meeting of the China- and Russia-led regional security bloc.

“After meetings in Dushanbe with leaders of Afghanistan’s neighbors & especially a lengthy discussion with Tajikistan’s President Emomali Rahmon, I have initiated a dialogue with the Taliban for an inclusive Afghan govt to include Tajiks, Hazaras & Uzbeks,” Khan tweeted.

Without elaborating, he emphasized “inclusivity” as key to ensuring Afghan peace and stability after four decades of conflict, adding that it would serve the interest of not only the war-ravaged South Asian nation but also the entire region.

Pakistan shares a nearly 2,600-kilometer border with Afghanistan, where the Taliban swept back to power last month as all U.S.-led troops withdrew, ending nearly two decades of war.

The insurgent group last week named an all-male 33-member caretaker government, comprising mostly senior leaders of the Taliban, who are predominantly ethnic Pashtun.

The move drew strong criticism at home and internationally for excluding women and not giving proper representation to Afghan ethnic minorities such as Tajiks, Hazara and Uzbeks, contrary to the Taliban’s pledges on inclusivity.

At Friday’s summit, leaders of SCO member states — China, India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan — vowed to work with the Taliban and urged the global community to engage with Kabul rather than abandoning it to help prevent a looming humanitarian crisis and an economic collapse in the war-torn country.

“Abandoning Afghanistan could take us back to an unstable situation resulting in civil strife, negative spillover effect on neighboring countries, outflow of refugees, rise in terrorist incidents, drug trafficking and transnational organized crime,” Khan told a meeting of the Moscow-led Collective Security Treaty Organization, a Eurasian intergovernmental military alliance comprising several post-Soviet states, also hosted by Dushanbe.

Afghanistan is an observer state, but it was not invited to the SCO huddle because member nations have not yet recognized the Taliban government, nor has the international community at large.

Pakistan has had close ties with the Taliban and has been accused of sheltering its supporters as they directed a deadly insurgency against the U.S.-backed government in Kabul for 20 years, charges Islamabad denies.

Washington has acknowledged Islamabad’s role in arranging negotiations that culminated in the February 2020 deal, paving the way for the U.S. military withdrawal from Afghanistan.

Some conflict of interests

However, Secretary of State Antony Blinken this week told a congressional hearing in Washington that Pakistan has a “multiplicity of interests, some that are in conflict with ours.”

“It is one that is involved hedging its bets constantly about the future of Afghanistan, it’s one that’s involved harboring members of the Taliban. … It is one that’s also involved in different points cooperation with us on counterterrorism,” Blinken said.

He noted that the administration of U.S. President Joe Biden would soon be reassessing its relationship with Pakistan.

“This is one of the things we’re going to be looking at in the days and weeks ahead — the role that Pakistan has played over the last 20 years but also the role we would want to see it play in the coming years and what it will take for it to do that,” Blinken said.

Pakistan responded by expressing “surprise” over Blinken’s remarks, saying they were “not in line with the close cooperation” between the two countries.

A foreign ministry statement noted that Islamabad’s “positive” role in the Afghan peace process, facilitation of the multinational evacuation effort from Kabul before and after the U.S. withdrawal from the country, and continued support for an inclusive political settlement in Afghanistan had been “duly acknowledged” by the international community.