Frud Bezhan Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty August 13, 2021 The Taliban’s capture of two crucial cities in Afghanistan — Kandahar and Herat — marks a major turning point in the 20-year war between the internationally backed Afghan government and the Taliban insurgency, observers say. Kandahar, the nation’s second-largest city, is the economic hub of southern
Ariana: Taliban insurgents have seized most of Herat, Afghanistan‘s third-largest city, and also captured Ismail Khan, the veteran local commander leading militia resistance there, local officials said on Friday. The fall of Herat, the latest in a series of major provincial cities to be taken by the Taliban in the past few days, has dealt
Jamie Dettmer VOA News August 9, 2021 The beleaguered Afghan government is having to turn to veteran warlords to try to fend off the Taliban as international forces withdraw from the country. The warlords return to playing a major military role is a key part of President Ashraf Ghani’s national mobilization plan to halt the
RFE/RL’s Radio Azadi July 31, 2021 HERAT, Afghanistan — Afghan security forces and Taliban militants clashed again on the outskirts of the western Afghan city of Herat on July 31 — a day after the militant group attempted to storm into the city. A Taliban spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahid, told RFE/RL’s Radio Azadi on July 31
Tolo News: People’s Resistance Front’ forces led by Mohammad Ismail Khan, an ex-Jihadi leader, have been deployed alongside security forces in some parts of Herat city to prevent the Taliban from entering the city. Armed with light and heavy weapons, the forces warn the Taliban that they will be killed if they get closer to
Tolo News: Mohammad Ismail Khan, a former mujahideen leader and a senior member of Jamiat-e-Islami party, has mobilized hundreds of his loyalists in Herat province in the west of Afghanistan to fight the Taliban as the group continues to capture large swaths of territories across the country. Click here to read more (external link).
Frud Bezhan Mustafa Sarwar Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty April 22, 2021 Afghanistan’s powerful former warlords are remobilizing their old militias in anticipation of what many expect to be a bloody new chapter in a decades-old conflict. Armed groups loyal to regional and local strongmen have rearmed and reappeared in the country’s northern, western, and central
Tolo News: Mohammad Ismail Khan, a senior member of Jamiat-e-Islami party and a former mujahedeen leader, on Monday said the party congress that was held last week was “fake” and that the leaders of Jamiat who attended the event thought it was aimed at building a consensus among political parties around peace. The meeting was
Tolo News: Some Afghan politicians have expressed different views about a draft outline of a future government, which they claim to have seen recently. Mohammad Ismail Khan, former mujahideen leader and former minister of energy and water, said the draft includes only the views of the United States and the Taliban; therefore, it is not
Tolo News: The High Council for National Reconciliation on Thursday said there is progress in the peace negotiations in Doha, but a recent decision made by the negotiating teams has not been approved by the two sides’ leaders—the Afghan government and the Taliban leadership. “(The negotiating teams’) real intentions are not for a political solution