Tolo News: The Afghanistan Ministry of Public Health (MoPH) on Wednesday said that the total number of black fungus cases in the country is now up to 10. The health ministry said that the new cases of black fungus were reported from at least 5 provinces and all involved patients with COVID-19. Click here to read more (external link).
Afghanistan Vows to Overcome Taliban Advances Amid US Withdrawal
Hamdullah Mohib
Ayaz Gul
VOA News
July 6, 2021
ISLAMABAD – Afghanistan’s national security chief said Tuesday that “teething problems” stemming from the withdrawal of U.S.-led foreign troops were behind recent rapid Taliban territorial gains and his government was working to overcome them.
U.S. President Joe Biden has ordered all American soldiers to leave the war-torn South Asian nation by September 11 to end nearly 20 years of unprecedented U.S. military engagement there. NATO partners have followed suit.
The military drawdown, largely complete and expected to be finished by late August, began on May 1. Since then, nearly a third of Afghanistan’s more than 400 districts have fallen to Taliban insurgents as pro-government forces, deprived of crucial U.S. air support, either retreated or surrendered altogether.
“We had some glitches as a result of the retrograde and the additional pressure on the Afghan air force. … These were some kind of teeth(ing) problems that we are overcoming,” Hamdullah Mohib, the Afghan national security advisor, told reporters in Kabul.
The advisor explained a lack of resources, particularly those related to the Afghan air force, made it hard for authorities to sustain much-needed supplies to remote security bases after foreign troops began pulling out of the country.
“Those areas came under pressure and the way it [the drawdown] happened, the succession and the timing of it made people worried,” Mohib insisted.
Bagram Airfield
On Friday, the United States announced, to the surprise of many, that it had overnight vacated its largest military base in Afghanistan, fueling uncertainty and chaos among war-weary Afghans.
The sprawling Bagram Airfield, located about 60 kilometers north of Kabul, served as the epicenter of the U.S. war on terrorism in the country and played a crucial role in direct operations against the Taliban.
U.S. troops allegedly left Bagram by cutting off the electricity and slipping away in the night without notifying the base’s new Afghan commander, who discovered the American military’s departure more than two hours after they left.
The U.S. military, however, insisted the transfer of the base along with other such facilities in the country had been carried out in close coordination with the Afghans.
Speaking to reporters on Tuesday, Mohib rejected reports that pro-government forces were defecting to the insurgents. “They may have abandoned their posts because they ran out of ammunition, they ran out of supplies. But by no means has anyone defected to the Taliban.”
Despite widespread insurgent territorial advances, the Afghan advisor appeared confident his government still enjoyed the public’s support, suggesting the battlefield setbacks were temporary.
“It’s a war and there is pressure. Sometimes things work in our way and sometimes they don’t.”
Fleeing to Tajikistan
Mohib said Afghan soldiers who crossed into Tajikistan in recent days after coming under insurgent attacks “are being brought back” and they would be rejoining the national security forces.
Authorities in the neighboring Central Asian state have confirmed that in the last two weeks around 1,600 soldiers from Afghanistan’s embattled Badakhshan province have taken refuge in Tajikistan to escape Taliban advances.
The development prompted Tajik President Emomali Rakhmon on Monday to order the mobilization of 20,000 military reservists to bolster the border with Afghanistan.
Mountainous Badakhshan also borders China and Pakistan. The Taliban claimed Tuesday its fighters took control of Wakhan district next to the Chinese border, reportedly bringing almost all of the province’s 28 districts under insurgent control.
In February 2020, the United States, under then-President Donald Trump, signed a peace deal with the Taliban that set the stage for the foreign troop withdrawal from Afghanistan. But the U.S.-brokered peace talks between the insurgent group and the Afghan government, which started last September, have since stalled.
Mohib insisted Tuesday that Kabul was ready to find a negotiated settlement to the conflict with the Taliban in line with the wishes of Afghans and the international community, but the insurgents were refusing to do.
Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told VOA when asked for his reaction as to who is responsible for stalling the talks said that his group “is ready and determined to move the peace process froward but the other side is not willing to do so.”
Washington says it will continue to provide economic and financial assistance for Afghan security forces. The Biden administration said Sunday that its embassy in Kabul will remain open. Officials say a contingent of U.S. troops will be left behind to protect the diplomatic mission.
Fears of refugee crisis
The worsening security situation in the wake of rapid Taliban advances has worried Afghanistan’s neighbors about a fresh wave of refugees coming their way from the turmoil.
Officials in Pakistan, which still hosts nearly 3 million Afghan refugees fleeing four decades of hostilities in their country, said they have tightened border security and might not open it to new refugees.
“But, if the situation deteriorates, we will establish settlements along the border with strict control and monitoring, prohibiting the entry of refugees into the mainland,” local media Tuesday quoted Pakistani Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid as saying.
Related
1TV Afghanistan Dari News – July 6, 2021
Ghani slams Taliban and Pakistan for ongoing ‘bloodshed’
Ashraf Ghani
Ariana: President Ashraf Ghani has accused the Taliban and Pakistan of perpetuating the “bloodshed and destruction” in Afghanistan. Addressing a cabinet meeting on Tuesday, Ghani stated that the Taliban have chosen to fight instead of making peace and that “we will stand up against them.” Click here to read more (external link).
Pakistani PM: India to be biggest loser in Afghanistan
Imran Khan
1TV: Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan on Monday said that once the United States withdraws its troops from Afghanistan, the situation in the region will take a serious turn and India is going to be the “biggest loser.” Khan told reporters that India’s investment in Afghanistan is at stake as security situation deteriorates in the country. Click here to read more (external link).
Germany Grants 2,400 Visas To Afghan Employees And Their Families
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
July 6, 2021
Germany has granted 2,400 visas so far to Afghan employees who assisted German forces in Afghanistan and are now seeking protection as the Taliban takes control of much of the country, a Foreign Ministry spokesman said in Berlin.
The last contingent of German soldiers left Afghanistan on June 29, as international forces withdraw from the country after a deployment that lasted nearly 20 years. Germany had the second-largest foreign contingent in Afghanistan after the United States.
Defense Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer said in April that Germany had a “deep obligation” not to leave behind unprotected locals who helped German forces at risk to themselves.
Before the troops’ withdrawal, 446 local employees and their relatives — a total of 2,250 people — were given travel documents, Defense Ministry spokesman David Helmbold said on July 5. At that point, “a relatively small number” of applications remained open, he added.
Helmbold said that not all of those who received the travel documents wanted to leave Afghanistan immediately.
“There were many local assistants who said they wished to stay in Afghanistan for as long as possible, but would like to have the option to leave if the security situation deteriorates,” he told reporters.
The U.S. military last week vacated its biggest airfield in Afghanistan, advancing a final withdrawal that Washington said will be completed by the end of August.
U.S. media reported that Washington is asking Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan to temporarily house some 9,000 Afghans who worked with the U.S.-led international forces in Afghanistan, pending approval of their permanent residency visas to be relocated to the United States or European allies for their safety.
Based on reporting by dpa and AP
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.
Afghanistan Reports 55 COVID-19 Deaths in Last 24 Hours
Tolo News: The Ministry of Public Health on Tuesday reported 1,556 new positive cases of COVID-19 out of 4,245 samples tested in the last 24 hours, a slight decrease in daily reported cases. The ministry also reported 55 deaths and 932 recoveries from COVID-19 in the same period. The figures show that the deaths were nearly 40% less than daily reports in the last two weeks. Click here to read more (external link).
Related
Rashid Khan selected national T20I captain
Rashid Khan
Ariana: All-rounder Rashid Khan has been appointed the T20I Team Captain for Afghanistan. Meanwhile Najibullah Zadran has been appointed the National Team’s vice-captain for the format. Click here to read more (external link).
Tajikistan Reinforces Border As Afghan Forces Collapse Under Taliban Offensive
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
July 5, 2021
Tajikistan will reinforce its border with an additional 20,000 troops in response to a Taliban offensive capturing large swaths of territory in northern Afghanistan as U.S. troops exit the country.
Underscoring the rapid collapse of Afghan security forces, more than 1,000 Afghan troops fled into Tajikistan overnight, Tajik border guards said on July 5.
Hundreds of Afghan security force members have fled swift Taliban advances in the north, but the latest retreats were the largest yet confirmed.
Tajik authorities say that two-thirds of the 1,357-kilometer-long border with Afghanistan is under Taliban control and they are preparing for an influx of refugees to enter the country. They are already providing the Afghan soldiers with food and shelter.
Following a top security meeting on July 5, Tajik President Emomali Rahmon ordered 20,000 reserve officers to the Afghan border.
He also spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin and his counterparts from fellow Central Asian states Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan about the situation in Afghanistan.
On July 4, Rahmon spoke with his Afghan counterpart, Ashraf Ghani, about the “alarming” situation along the border, according to Tajik state media.
According to a Kremlin statement, Putin confirmed that Moscow was ready to “provide Tajikistan with the necessary support,” both on a bilateral basis and through the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), a Russian-led military alliance that includes Tajikistan. Russia has a military base in Tajikistan, a former Soviet republic.
Much of the recently captured territory by the Taliban is in Badakhshan, where only two of 28 districts in the northeastern province remain under government control, local sources told RFE/RL’s Radio Free Afghanistan.
Taliban fighters are now at the gates of Badakhshan’s capital, Faizabad, having surrounded the city and put the airport under threat.
An adviser to Afghan President Ashraf Ghani said on July 5 that government forces were planning a counteroffensive in the north to retake ground from the militants.
National-security adviser Hamdullah Mohib, who was in Moscow for talks with Russian officials, said government forces had not expected the Taliban offensive but would “absolutely, definitely” counterattack.
Most of the districts appear to have been abandoned by security forces without resistance, as troops suffer from low morale and are often outnumbered and without supplies.
“Unfortunately, the majority of the districts were left to the Taliban without any fight,” said Mohib-ul Rahman, a provincial council member.
The head of the Afghan Border Troops’ communications unit in Khokhan, Mohammad Zahir Safarali, who fled Afghanistan for Tajikistan on July 5, told RFE/RL’s Tajik Service how the Taliban took control.
“Local militias and villagers armed by the Afghan government joined the Taliban when they arrived, and we had no other choice but to flee,” he said.
“Remaining there would be suicide for us,” said another Afghan soldier, Mohammad Vali, who accompanied 134 Afghan troops into Tajikistan.
Since U.S. President Joe Biden in April announced U.S. troop would withdraw, the Taliban has unleashed a quick offensive and now controls about one-third of the country’s 421 districts and district centers.
With Washington aiming to exit the country in the coming weeks, there are increasing concerns that the Western-backed government in Kabul may collapse.
On July 2, all international troops left Bagram Airfield, the largest U.S. military base in Afghanistan.
Some of the most significant Taliban gains have been in the militants’ sweep across northern Afghanistan, which borders Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan.
The Taliban’s inroads in the north are significant because it’s a gateway to Central Asia and the group failed to take control of the area during their 1990s rule, when it was a stronghold of the U.S.-backed Northern Alliance that helped topple the Islamist group in 2001.
According to a recent analysis by the Afghanistan Analysts Network, a Kabul think tank, the Taliban strategy in the north “looks like a preemptive strike to prevent a northern opposition from organizing.”
With reporting by RFE/RL’s Radio Free Afghanistan, RFE/RL’s Tajik Service, AP, dpa, and 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.
Related