Afghan Police Say Taliban Killed Young Woman For Wearing Tight Clothing

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RFE/RL’s Radio Azadi
August 4, 2021

Police in Afghanistan’s northern province of Balkh say the Taliban killed a young woman for wearing tight clothing and not being accompanied by a male relative.

Balkh police chief Zialuhaq Toofan told RFE/RL’s Radio Azadi on August 3 that the young woman was shot dead by Taliban extremists in the village of Samar Qandian, which is controlled by the militant group.

Adil Shah Adil, a police spokesman in Balkh, told Radio Azadi on August 4 that the victim was named Nazanin and that she was 21-years-old.

Adil said the woman was attacked after she left her house and was about to board a vehicle to travel to Balkh’s capital Mazar-e Sharif.

The woman was wearing a burqa, a veil that covers the face and body, at the time of the attack, the police said.

Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid denied the accusations and said that the group is investigating the attack.

During its 1996-2001 rule, the Taliban denied girls the right to go to school, and women were not allowed to work outside the home. Women had to wear a burqa and be escorted by a male relative when going outside.

Afghans living under Taliban control have told Radio Azadi that the extremist group imposes some of its repressive laws, including banning women from working outside the home.

This story is based on reporting by RFE/RL’s Radio Azadi correspondents on the ground in Afghanistan. Their names are being withheld for their protection.

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.

Taliban Slam US Relocation Program for Afghans, Take Credit for Kabul Bombing

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Ayaz Gul
VOA News
August 4, 2021

ISLAMABAD, PAKISTAN – The Taliban condemned the United States on Wednesday for what they described as “plain interference” in Afghanistan by offering to resettle Afghan civilians with affiliations to international forces who could be targeted by the insurgent group.

Washington on Monday announced the program that offers thousands of Afghan interpreters and translators, along with their families, a chance to relocate as refugees in America.

U.S. and NATO allies are just weeks away from winding down their military missions in the war-torn South Asian nation after 20 years. The troop withdrawal, however, has led to a record escalation in insurgent violence as the Taliban have overrun dozens of government-held districts.

“The offer of visas and encouragement to leave their home country by the U.S. government to Afghans who worked with the American occupation as interpreters and in other sectors is plain interference in our country which the Islamic Emirate [Taliban] condemns,” said a statement Wednesday.

The insurgent group renewed its pledge not to harm the Afghans in question following the end of “the American occupation” of the country.

“They may live comfortably in their homeland without any fear of threats. We urge the United States along with other countries to desist from such interventionist policies,” said the insurgent statement.

Washington, however, is not convinced and has increasingly denounced reports the Taliban are allegedly committing war crimes in their recent territorial advances.

“If the Taliban want their promises of safety to be taken seriously, then they cannot allow those they claim to protect to come to harm in this way,” the U.S. Embassy in Kabul tweeted Wednesday.

The statement came in response to reports that the insurgents entice Afghan security forces to surrender with assurances for their safety, and that those soldiers then disappear and their widows are forced to marry Taliban fighters.

“If true, these could constitute war crimes,” the embassy said.

The Taliban have already dismissed the allegations as baseless and part of the Afghan intelligence agency’s propaganda against the Islamist group.

Meanwhile, the Taliban claimed responsibility for a suicide car bomb-and-gun raid late Tuesday on a guesthouse housing the acting Afghan defense minister.

Afghan officials said the militant raid in Kabul killed at least eight people, mostly civilians, and wounded 20 others, but noted that Defense Minister Bismillah Khan Mohammadi was not at the guesthouse at the time.

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said in a statement Wednesday that a group of insurgent suicide bombers targeted a meeting of senior defense ministry officials for ordering government airstrikes against civilians in insurgent-held areas.

Fighting has intensified across Afghanistan in recent days as government forces attempt to contain insurgent advances and keep them from major cities.

Embattled Lashkar Gah, the capital of southern Helmand province, has been the scene of deadly clashes between the warring Afghans.

Recent clashes have enabled the insurgents to capture most of the city, except government administrative buildings and the airport.

The Taliban assaulted the provincial police headquarters in Lashkar Gah on Wednesday and clashes were ongoing throughout the day.

Provincial health officials and charities running private clinics urged residents of the city to stay inside their homes to avoid being caught in the crossfire. They also reported receiving scores of casualties, including some in critical condition, but would not say whether they were combatants or Afghan civilians.

The Taliban have extended control to roughly half of Afghanistan’s districts since the U.S.-led foreign troops officially began withdrawing from the country in early May.

The violence is expected to increase in coming days. Afghan President Ashraf Ghani announced on Tuesday that his government had started implementing a new plan to improve the security situation over the next six months.

US envoy denounces violence

Both sides have ignored domestic and international calls to resume U.S.-brokered peace negotiations toward a deal that would end the country’s long conflict.

“It’s heartbreaking given the level of violence and the suffering, the pictures one sees coming out of places like Lashkar Gah,” Zalmay Khalilzad, the U.S. special peace envoy for the country, told VOA on Monday.

“There has got to be a political formula. The [Afghan] government cannot get rid of the Taliban, it’s our assessment, and the Taliban cannot conquer Afghanistan,” Khalilzad said.

“And the wise thing is for both sides to engage seriously and quickly, urgently, to respond to the wishes of the people of Afghanistan for a political agreement,” he added.

The U.S. envoy negotiated and signed a landmark deal with the Taliban that paved the way for the American military withdrawal and opened peace talks between the Afghan parties to the conflict. The dialogue has failed to produce any significant outcome or reduce the Afghan violence.

The United Nations says Afghan civilian deaths and injuries went up by 47 percent in the first six months of 2021 compared with the same period last year.

Most casualties have occurred since early May. The global body warned last week that Afghanistan was on course to witness its highest-ever number of civilian casualties in a single year.

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Turkey detains 300 migrants near Iranian border

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Ariana: Turkish security forces have detained around 300 migrants, mostly Afghans, on Tuesday who were trying to cross into Turkey from the Iranian border, authorities said on Wednesday. The group were found inside a large truck, including women and young children. Click here to read more (external link).

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Afghan Civilians Urged To Flee Besieged Southern City As Kabul Attacks Target Power Centers

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Taliban (file photo)

Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
August 4, 2021

Civilians fled their homes in southern Afghanistan on August 4 as government troops prepared a counterattack to retake swaths of the city of Lashkar Gah from the Taliban, as international concerns intensify over civilian casualties in several major urban centers.

With intense battles under way in the west and south, Kabul was struck by multiple attacks on defense and security power centers that killed at least eight people.

Major areas of Lashkar Gah, the capital of Helmand Province, are said to be under the control of the Taliban, which has reportedly besieged local government facilities and shut down government-friendly broadcasts.

The military has urged Afghans to evacuate the city, but it is unclear whether civilians can safely access routes leading out of Lashkar Gah.

In Kabul, an explosion near Afghanistan’s National Directorate of Security (NDS) building early on August 4 wounded three civilians and a security official, police said.

The blast came hours after a car-bomb explosion near Kabul’s diplomatic district on August 3 killed several people, including attackers.

Another blast and gun attack that apparently targeted Afghanistan’s acting defense minister killed eight people, including a woman, and wounded 20 others.

An Interior Ministry spokesman said gunmen entered Minister Bismillah Khan Mohammadi’s compound after the blast but that all four attackers were killed after five hours of fighting.

The Taliban has claimed responsibility for the attack, which is in a fortified part of the city that also houses other government officials.

Mohammadi on August 4 confirmed he was not in the guesthouse and his family had been safely evacuated.

Taliban fighters have captured dozens of rural districts in recent weeks in a sweeping offensive that is now focused on control over Laskar Gah and two other large cities — Herat in the west and Kandahar in the south.

The dire situation for the civilian population caught in the cross fire was highlighted by the United Nations, which on August 3 reported that at least 40 civilians had been killed in Lashkar Gah in the previous 24 hours.

The UN Security Council’s 15 members later expressed “deep concern” at the violence and condemned deliberate attacks on civilians “in the strongest terms.”

They also warned against a return to Taliban rule in Afghanistan.

In a statement, the council urged the Afghan government and the Taliban “to engage meaningfully in an inclusive, Afghan-led and Afghan-owned peace process in order to make urgent progress toward a political settlement and a cease-fire.”

Lashkar Gah, a city of 200,000 people, would be the Taliban’s biggest urban conquest since they launched a nationwide offensive in May amid an accelerated withdrawal of U.S.-led international forces.

For the Afghan government, the loss of the city would be a huge strategic and psychological blow.

The dire situation of civilians caught in the cross fire was also compounded by reports of atrocities committed by the advancing Taliban against the civilian population as well as prisoners in several provinces.

Human Rights Watch (HRW) said on August 3 that Taliban forces “have summarily executed detained soldiers, police, and civilians with alleged ties to the Afghan government” in Ghazni, Kandahar, and other Afghan provinces.

“Summarily executing anyone in custody, whether a civilian or combatant, is a serious violation of the Geneva Conventions and a war crime,” said Patricia Gossman, associate HRW Asia Director.

“Taliban commanders with oversight over such atrocities are also responsible for war crimes.”

U.S.-led international combat troops are on an accelerated timeline to complete their withdrawal by the end of this month despite a stalemate in intra-Afghan peace talks and the Taliban’s gains since May 1.

With reporting by Reuters, AFP, AP, and tolonews.com

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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In Afghanistan, An Old Chant Gets New Life As Anti-Taliban Protest

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Thousands of Afghans have gathered in the streets and on rooftops in major cities for several nights to chant Allahu Akbar, or “God is the greatest.” The demonstrations are a spontaneous show of support for the nation’s security forces and an expression of defiance toward the Taliban as the extremists launch assaults across the country. The cry of Allahu Akbar is often heard from Islamist militants during an attack, but many Afghans want to reclaim the phrase in support of peace.

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Car Bomb Targets Afghan Defense Minister’s House in Kabul

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Bismillah Mohammadi

Ayesha Tanzeem
VOA News
August 3, 2021

ISLAMABAD – A powerful explosion rocked the heart of the Afghan capital late Tuesday, followed by gunfire inside Kabul’s heavily fortified green zone.

“7:54 PM Kabul That was a loud bang in Kabul. Shook my home. Explosion followed by gunfire,” Kabul-based journalist Bilal Sarwary tweeted.

“Yes, same here. Felt like an earthquake,” journalist Magda Gad responded on Twitter.

Several sources confirmed to VOA that a suicide bomb attack was carried out on the house of Afghanistan’s Defense Minister Gen. Bismillah Khan Mohammadi. The minister was not at home and his family was evacuated to safety.

Soon after the attack, the general reassured the public through his Twitter account.

“Do not worry. Everything is fine,” he said.

Local media reported that it was a complex attack involving a vehicle-born improvised explosive device followed by gunmen who tried to enter the house of the defense minister.

Mirwais Stanikzai, a spokesman for the Afghan Interior Ministry, told journalists that the attack happened in an area called Sherpour, near the upscale neighborhood of Wazir Akbar Khan. No casualties have been reported.

Several other government officials and members of parliament live in the area.

Eyewitnesses said the sound of the explosion could be heard kilometers away. Several local residents posted pictures on social media showing gray smoke rising into the sky.

The area was quickly surrounded by security forces.

The attack did not deter Kabul residents from coming out and shouting, “Allah o Akbar,” a pre-scheduled activity in solidarity with fellow Afghans in Herat city who shouted these words after they warded off a Taliban attack.

Several Afghan cities, including Herat, were besieged over the weekend. Lashkar Gah, the capital of Helmand province, continues to see heavy fighting between government forces and the Taliban.

Blinken, Ghani, Confirm US Commitment to Afghanistan in Call

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Blinken

VOA News
August 3, 2021

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken underscored the American commitment to Afghanistan Tuesday during a call with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani.

According to State Department spokesman Ned Price, they discussed the need to “accelerate peace negotiations” and achieve an “inclusive” political settlement that allows the Afghan people to have a say in choosing their leaders and prevents Afghan soil from being used to threaten the United States and its allies and partners.

Both leaders condemned recent Taliban attacks that have seen the group make strategic gains, including capturing nine of 10 districts in Helmand province.

On Tuesday Afghan forces, backed by the U.S., launched airstrikes on the Taliban to stave off the capture of the city Lashkar Gah. Should the city fall, it would be the first provincial capital to be taken over by the Taliban in years.

In recent weeks, the Taliban have also captured key border crossings with Iran, Pakistan and Tajikistan.  The provincial capitals of Kandahar and Herat provinces are also reportedly under siege.

U.S. and NATO forces have completed more than 95% of their troop withdrawals, with 100% expected to be reached by Aug. 31.

The U.S. Special Representative for Afghanistan reconciliation, Zalmay Khalilzad, told a security forum that neither side to the conflict can win militarily.

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UN Issues Plea As Civilian Deaths Mount In Afghan Battle For Big Cities

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Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
August 3, 2021

The United Nations has warned of a “catastrophic” impact and urged Afghanistan’s warring sides to better protect civilians caught up in the intensifying conflict, the focus of which has shifted in recent weeks from mostly rural areas to major battles for control of three large cities.

The plea follows increasingly dire accusations of abuses against noncombatants by Taliban militants in eastern Afghanistan and fresh condemnation of an attack last week against a UN compound in the western city of Herat.

Much of the worst fighting in populated areas has taken place as the Taliban continues offensives targeting the cities of Herat, Lashkar Gah, and Kandahar.

Thousands of Afghans have been displaced as families flee in fear for their lives, caught up in the cross fire of a two-decade war.

The UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) on August 3 expressed “deepening concern” and said at least 40 civilians had been killed in the past 24 hours in violence in Lashkar Gah, capital of the southern Helmand Province.

“UN urges immediate end to fighting in urban areas,” it added.

It blamed a Taliban “ground assault & Afghan Army attempts to repel” the militants.

Hours earlier, UNAMA said, “Civilians are bearing the brunt as fighting enters Afghanistan’s cities.”

Officials said gunmen had seized local radio and television stations in Lashkar Gah, leaving a single, pro-Taliban channel actively broadcasting there.

The United States and United Kingdom on August 2 suggested the Taliban may have committed “war crimes” and accused that group of “massacring” civilians when it captured the southern border town of Spin Boldak, in Kandahar Province, in July.

U.S.-led international combat troops are on an accelerated timeline to complete their withdrawal by the end of this month despite a stalemate in intra-Afghan peace talks and the Taliban’s capture of dozens of districts since May 1.

The U.S. special envoy for Afghanistan, Zalmay Khalilzad, told Radio Azadi in an exclusive interview that all parties to the fighting should prioritize national interests and return to peace talks to avoid plunging the country more deeply into war.

“The peace talks that began after the [so-called Qatar agreement in February 2020] have not progressed much and the two sides are focusing more on a military solution,” Khalilzad said. “It’s time for the leaders to take the talks more seriously instead of thinking they can resolve the issue through war…and to prioritize more quickly reaching an agreement.”

In the western city of Herat, a hospital source was quoted as saying it had received 24 dead and nearly 200 wounded in the past six days.

The United States and EU states on August 3 condemned what it called a “deplorable attack on the United Nations Compound in Herat that resulted in a tragic death as well as the subsequent violent incidents involving the UN compound on [July 31].”

It blamed Taliban militants and said the violence contravened peace talks in Doha, where Afghan government and Taliban representatives have been stalemated for months.

“The Taliban must stop denying their involvement in human rights violations and follow the rule of law to investigate and prosecute those responsible in their ranks,” the EU/U.S. statement said.

A source in Kandahar’s health department said 28 deaths and nearly 200 people injured by the fighting had been registered in the past 10 days.

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani blamed the current situation on what he said was an “abrupt” U.S. decision to withdraw its forces, a move that followed a pledge in a U.S.-Taliban agreement last year.

But Ghani said his government had a plan to bring conditions under control within six months and that the United States supported the scheme.

An Afghan former translator for the U.S. military was reportedly assassinated in front of his home in the eastern city of Jalalabad on August 2, another apparent revenge killing against those who assisted the U.S.-led presence in Afghanistan.

The United States on August 2 announced an expansion of its ability to evacuate and resettle at-risk Afghans in the final weeks before the completion of its withdrawal.

Based on reporting by dpa, AFP, and Radio Azadi

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.