5 Afghan Athletes to Represent Afghanistan in Tokyo Olympics

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Tolo News: The Afghan Olympic Committee on Tuesday announced that five athletes will represent Afghanistan in the Tokyo Olympics.  Fahim Anwari in swimming, Mahdi Yovari in shooting, Kmimia Yosefi in athletics, Farzad Mansouri in taekwondo and Shah Mahmood Noorzahi in athletics are the Afghan athletes who will represent the country in the Olympics.  The Olympics are scheduled to start on July 23. Click here to read more (external link).

‘Not Good’: U.S. General Warns Taliban Over Offensive Operations In Afghanistan

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Miller

By Radio Free Afghanistan
June 29, 2021

The top U.S. and NATO commander in Afghanistan has not ruled out conducting air strikes against the Taliban if the insurgents press on with their campaign to seize territory across the war-torn country.

The Taliban has taken control of dozens of districts from government forces in recent weeks, raising concerns that the Western-backed government in Kabul and the Afghan security forces may collapse after U.S.-led international forces complete their withdrawals by September 11.

U.S. General Austin Miller said at a news conference in Kabul on June 29 that he has informed the Taliban that air strikes are linked to the militant group’s actions.

“The best way to stop [U.S. air strikes] — and I’ve actually told the Taliban — is to stop the offensive operations and air strikes go zero as we go forward. I still have the authority to support and defend the Afghan security forces and certainly defend ourselves as well,” Miller said.

Miller’s comments drew a warning from the Taliban, with spokesperson Zabiullah Mujahid telling RFE/RL that U.S. forces “have no right to bomb Afghanistan after May.”

He was referring to a May 1 deadline the previous U.S. administration had agreed with the Taliban to withdraw American forces from Afghanistan.

“If they bomb, they will face dangerous consequences. Then they will be responsible for starting the war,” Mujahid said.

Fighting has surged across Afghanistan since early May when the U.S. military began its final withdrawal of troops, with the Pentagon estimating the Taliban now controls 81 of the country’s 419 district centers.

Afghan security forces have launched offensives to regain ground lost to the Taliban, with the Defense Ministry saying on June 29 that three districts in the northern provinces of Faryab and Balkh provinces were retaken by government forces following days of heavy fighting with insurgents.

According to the statement, the army was also making progress in retaking two other districts in the central province of Ghazni and in Parwan Province, north of Kabul, while operations against militants continued in Balkh.

Officials and other sources said that Afghan forces also made advances in Kunduz and Takhar provinces, in the north.

Last week, the Taliban seized Afghanistan’s main border crossing with Tajikistan and pressed an offensive on the northern cities of Kunduz and Mazar-e Sharif.

On June 28, four districts in the Ghazni and Paktika provinces fell under Taliban control.

“From 18 districts in Ghazni, I think seven districts in total have fallen to the Taliban,” Khoddad Irfani, a local lawmaker, told TOLOnews.

Officials were also quoted as saying that Taliban fighters launched an overnight attack on the provincial capital, also called Ghazni.

“The situation in Ghazni is changing. Most of the lost areas in the outskirts are being taken back by the Afghan forces,” said Abdul Jami, a provincial council member in Ghazni.

The city lies on a highway linking Kabul with the southern province of Kandahar.

At his press conference, Miller described the overall security situation in Afghanistan as “not good.”

“That’s something that’s recognized by the Afghan security forces and they are making appropriate adjustments as we move forward.”

With reporting by TOLOnews, AP, AFP, 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.

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Afghan Army Retakes Three Districts In Northern Faryab Province

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Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
June 29, 2021

Afghan security forces have retaken control of three districts in the north of the country after days of heavy fighting with Taliban militants.

The Taliban has taken control of dozens of districts from government forces in recent weeks, raising concerns that the Western-backed government in Kabul and the Afghan security forces may collapse after U.S.-led international forces complete their withdrawal by September 11, the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

The Pashtun Kot and Khan Chaharbagh districts in Faryab Province were retaken by the Afghan government forces on June 28, the Defense Ministry said in a statement, adding that the army was also making progress in their efforts to retake two other districts in Ghazni and Parwan provinces.

In a separate announcement on Twitter, the ministry said it had retaken the Kaldara district in Balkh Province while causing heavy losses to the Taliban.

Analysts say both sides often exaggerate losses inflicted on the other party.

The message said operations against militants continued in other districts of Balkh.

Officials and other sources said that Afghan forces also made advances in Kunduz and Takhar provinces.

Heavy fighting has been under way in Baghlan, Kunduz, Balkh, Takhar, and Faryab, as well as in Paktia and Zabul in the southeast as security forces launched offensives against the Taliban, local sources have told RFE/RL.

Last week the Taliban seized Afghanistan’s main border crossing with Tajikistan, and pressed an offensive on the northern cities of Kunduz and Mazar-e Sharif.

On June 28, four districts in the Ghazni and Paktika provinces fell under Taliban control.

“From 18 districts in Ghazni, I think seven districts in total have fallen to the Taliban,” Khoddad Irfani, a lawmaker from Ghazni, told Tolo News.

The Pentagon estimates the Taliban now controls 81 of Afghanistan’s 419 district centers as talks on a political settlement between Afghan government officials and the Taliban have stalled.

Last week, U.S. President Joe Biden told Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and Abdullah Abdullah, the head of the Afghan High Council for National Reconciliation, at the White House that “we’re going to stick with you and we’re going to do our best to see to it you have the tools you need.”

But “Afghans are going to have to decide their future,” Biden said.

With reporting by Tolo News, 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.

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Well-organized intelligence agency leads Taliban on battlefields: Omer

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Omer

Ariana: The Afghan government has accused the Taliban of being a proxy force for an intelligence agency which “provides the group with equipment and facilities.” His remarks come a day after Pakistan’s Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed admitted that the families of Taliban live in his country, including in areas around the capital, Islamabad, and that members of the insurgent group receive medical treatment in local hospitals. Click here to read more (external link).

Taliban Forces More Afghan Soldiers To Flee Into Tajikistan

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Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
June 28, 2021

Another group of Afghan government soldiers has fled across the border into Tajikistan as Taliban militants press an offensive across swaths of northern Afghanistan.

Tajikistan’s border service said that 17 Afghan soldiers fled into the country on June 27 after Taliban militants attacked a border checkpoint located in the town of Chukchuk, in the Kaldor district in Balkh Province, Tajikistan’s state media reported.

“The Tajik border guards, guided by the principles of humanism and good neighborliness, allowed the Afghan military who broke through the state border to freely enter their territory,” Khovar state media said.

The Taliban have taken control of dozens of districts from government forces in recent weeks as U.S.-led international forces withdraw from Afghanistan ahead of a self-imposed September 11 deadline.

On June 27, Taliban militants captured more than 50 members of the country’s security force in the central province of Maidan Wardak, a senior police commander told RFE/RL’s Radio Free Afghanistan.

In the past week, the Taliban have seized Afghanistan’s main border crossing with Tajikistan, and pressed an offensive on the northern cities of Kunduz and Mazar-e Sharif.

The capture of the border crossing sent 134 Afghan soldiers fleeing into Tajikistan.

Separately, Uzbekistan said 53 Afghan troops and allied militia fighters also fled into Uzbekistan on June 23.

The developments in northern Afghanistan have caused alarm across bordering states Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and Turkmenistan.

Tajik authorities say that they are preparing for a possible influx of refugees, while Uzbekistan last week announced military drills along the border.

The UN special envoy on Afghanistan, Deborah Lyons, said last week that the Taliban have overrun more than 50 of the country’s 370 districts since May, warning that increased conflict “means increased insecurity for many other countries, near and far.”

However, the Afghan government called the fall of the districts a tactical retreat and said that it had recaptured more than 10 districts from the insurgents in recent days.

U.S. President Joe Biden told Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and Abdullah Abdullah, the head of the Afghan High Council for National Reconciliation, at the White House on June 25 that “we’re going to stick with you and we’re going to do our best to see to it you have the tools you need.”

But “Afghans are going to have to decide their future,” he added.

With reporting by RFE/RL’s Tajik Service and RFE/RL’s Radio Free 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.

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