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Afghanistan

Qatar Talks Enter 12th Day; ‘Extensive’ Discussions Continue

2019-03-09

[ToloNews] The fifth round of peace talks between the US negotiators and the Taliban ...Arabic for students... members entered twelfth day on Friday with Taliban saying in a statement that "extensive" talks are ongoing about the withdrawal of foreign forces from Afghanistan. The statement says that the Afghanistan issue has two dimensions, internal and external and that the talks are ongoing on the external dimension. The talks are mostly focusing on troop withdrawal as well as counter-terrorism efforts, the statement said. The statement added that so far the internal dimension of the war has not been discussed with the US negotiators. THE FOUR ‘KEY ISSUES’ OF QATAR TALKS On March 6, an official of the US Department of State said the ongoing talks in Qatar are focusing on four key issues and that both sides are trying to reach a final agreement. The four key issues are post-peace deal counterterrorism efforts, intra-Afghans talks, US forces withdrawal and ceasefire, said Robert Palladino, a spokesperson for the US Department of State. The US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has said that he might visit Qatar to give a helping hand in the Afghan peace talks. "I am hoping he (Khalilzad) makes enough progress and I can travel there in a couple of weeks and help move it along a little bit myself," Pompeo said. Sources say that the US and NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A cautionary tale of cost-benefit analysis.... forces commander in Afghanistan Gen. Scott Miller who was in Qatar has left Doha. According to the sources, recently, Mullah Abdul Manan Omari, brother of Mullah Mohammad Omar, the founder of Taliban has joined Qatar talks.

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Afghanistan

Taliban announces new delegation of peace negotiators for the talks with the United States

2019-02-13

Discussions about the shape and size of the negotiating table and the number of dishes to be served at breakfast, lunch, dinner, elevenses, tea, and the evening snack will commense in due course. [KhaamaPress] The Talibs group has announced a delegation of peace negotiators comprising of 14 Taliban ...mindless ferocity in a turban... representatives for peace talks with the United States. Taliban in a statement said Tuesday that the new delegation has been formed by deputy political chief of Taliban Mullah Baradar Aakhund and on instructions of Taliban leader Mullah Hebatullah Akhundzada. The statement further added that the delegation is led by Sher Mohammad Abbas Stanikzai ...Sher Mohammad Abbas Stanikzai, Head of the Taliban political office in Doha. He was a member of Rassoul Sayyaf's group in the war against the Soviets.... while Mawlavi Zia Ur Rehman Madani, Mawlavi Abdul Salam Hanafi, Sheikh Shahabuddin Delawar, Mullah Abdul Latif Mansoor, Mullah Abdul Manan Omari, Mawlavi Amir Khan Mutaqi, Mullah Mohammad Fazil Masloom, Mullah Khairullah Khairkhwa, Mawlavi Mati Ul Haq, Mullah Mohammad Anas Haqqani, Mullah Noorullah Noori, Mawlavi Mohammad Nabi Omari, and Mulalh Abdul Haq Wasiq are the members of the delegation. In reaction to the inclusion of the name of Annas Haqqani as the member of the delegation, the Afghan Intelligence said no decision has been taken so far regarding the release of Annas Haqqani. Teh statement further added that Anas Haqqani is still serving in the jail and the government is obliged to take decisions in the light of the enforced laws of the country regarding those who have committed crimes against the Afghan people.

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Afghanistan

Taliban leader and Mullah Manan’s close relative killed in Helmand airstrike

2019-02-03

[KhaamaPress] The local officials in southern Helmand ...an Afghan province populated mostly by Pashtuns, adjacent to Injun country in Pak Balochistan... province are saying that a coalition Arclight airstrike has left at least five Talibs dead, including a local leader of the group Mullah Sher Agha. The provincial government media office in a statement said the coalition forces carried out an airstrike against the compound of the Talibs in Sangin district at around 11pm local time on Friday. The statement further added that the airstrike left five Death Eaters including a local leader of the group identiied as Mullah Sher Agha. Mullah Sher Agha was one of the close relatives of Mullah Abdul Manan Niazi who was killed in a similar airstrike in Nawzad district nearly two months ago. The anti-government armed Death Eater groups including Taliban ...the Pashtun equivalent of men... have not commented regarding the airstrike so far. Helmand is among the volatile provinces in South of Afghanistan where Talibs are active in some of its districts and often attempt to carry out attacks against the government and security institutions.

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Afghanistan

Taliban’s shadow governor for Ghor has reportedly been killed

2018-12-05

[KhaamaPress] The shadow governor of Taliban ...Arabic for students... for Ghor province has reportedly been killed in a U.S. dronezap in southern Helmand ...an Afghan province populated mostly by Pashtuns, adjacent to Injun country in Pak Balochistan... province of Afghanistan. "'e's but a smudge now" The Afghan Military sources have confirmed that the group’s shadow governor for Ghor Abdul Qayoum alias Rouhani was killed in a coalition Arclight airstrike in Helmand province on Monday. The sources further added that Qayoum was travelling in Bahramcha area of Helmand with his five comrades and were attempting to cross into Pakistain when they came under airstrike. According to the army sources, Qayoum and his comrades were all killed in the airstrike. The anti-government armed bad boy groups including Talibs have not commented regarding the killing of group’s shadow governor so far. This comes as Taliban’s shadow governor for Helmand Mullah Abdul Manan was killed in a similar airstrike few days earlier.

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Afghanistan

Stanikzai met Mullah Omar’s brother as secret Afghan talks revive in Qatar

2016-10-19

[Khaama (Afghanistan)] The Afghan Intelligence, National Directorate of Security ...the Afghan national intel agency... (NDS) Chief, Masoom Stanikzai has met with the brother of Mullah Mohammad amid reports secret peace talks have revived in Qatar ...an emirate on the east coast of the Arabian Peninsula. It sits on some really productive gas and oil deposits, which produces the highest per capita income in the world. They piss it all away on religion, financing the Moslem Brotherhood and several al-Qaeda affiliates... According to the sources in Taliban group, quoted in a report by The Guardian, among those present at the meetings held in September and October was Mullah Abdul Manan Akhund, brother of Mullah Omar ... a minor Pashtun commander in the war against the Soviets who made good as leader of the Taliban. As ruler of Afghanistan, he took the title Leader of the Faithful. The imposition of Pashtunkhwa on the nation institutionalized ignorance and brutality in a country already notable for its own fair share of ignorance and brutality... , the former Taliban chief who led the movement from its earliest days until his death in 2013. The sources further added that the Afghan officials and the Taliban group representatives have met for at least two times since the efforts stalled in the format of the Quadrilateral Coordination Group (QCG) earlier this year. Mullah Omar’s son, Mohammad Yaqoob, is expected to soon join the Doha group, a Taliban source told The Guardian, in a move that would further bolster the authority of the office. No Pak official took part in either the October or September meetings, according to a member of the Taliban’s leadership council, the Quetta Shura ...Mullah Omar's command center, located in Quetta, that the Pak govt hasn't been able to find since its establishment in November, 2001. Honest... .

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Afghanistan

Breakaway Taliban faction ‘expresses support for talks with Afghan govt’

2016-05-31

[DAWN] A breakaway Taliban faction is willing to hold peace talks with the Afghan government but will demand the imposition of Islamic law and the departure of all foreign forces from Afghanistan, a big shot of the group said on Sunday. Mullah Abdul Manan Niazi told a group of around 200 followers in eastern Afghanistan that his faction had no faith in the government but was willing to negotiate without pre-conditions. Niazi is deputy to Mullah Mohammad Rasool, who split from the Taliban last summer after Mullah Akhtar Mansour was chosen to succeed the group’s late founder, Mullah Mohammad Omar. Mansour was killed earlier this month in a US drone strike in Pakistain and was replaced days later by a little-known conservative holy man, Mullah Haibatullah Akhundzada ...Deputy to Taliban supremo Mullah Akhtar Mansour... The main Taliban faction has expressed similar demands, but says it will only enter peace talks after they have been met. The US and NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A cautionary tale of cost-benefit analysis.... officially ended their combat mission more than a year ago, but thousands of foreign soldiers remain in the country, mainly carrying out training, support and counter-terrorism operations. Mansour had refused to participate in a grinding of the peace processor initiated by Afghanistan's Caped President Ashraf Ghani ...former chancellor of Kabul University, now president of Afghanistan. Before returning to Afghanistan in 2002 he was a scholar of political science and anthropology. He worked at the World Bank working on international development assistance. As Finance Minister of Afghanistan between July 2002 and December 2004, he led Afghanistan's attempted economic recovery until the Karzais stole all the money. .. The main Taliban faction’s front man, Zabihullah Mujahid, has branded Rasool’s faction "a government army in the shape of the Taliban". Speaking on Sunday, he claimed that Rasool was supported by Kabul ...the capital of Afghanistan. Home to continuous fighting from 1992 to 1996 between the forces of would-be strongman and Pak ISI/Jamaat-e-Islami sock puppet Gulbuddin Hekmayar and the Northern Alliance, a period which won Hek the title Most Evil Man in the World and didn't do much for the reputations of the Northern Alliance guys either.... and Washington. "For us he is nothing more than a local policeman or a puppet of Afghan intelligence," he said. Rasool’s followers met in the mountainous Shindand district, near the border with Iran. Snipers on hilltops surveyed dirt roads leading to the area, which serves as the main base for the mobile fighters. The encampment where the meeting was held is only accessible by cycle of violence or horse. The turbaned followers of Rasool appeared to be armed with new weapons, including automatic rifles and grenade launchers. The Taliban have continued to launch major attacks on government forces despite the internal conflict, and the war has shown no sign of abating over the past year. The Taliban attacked checkpoints in the southern Helmand ...an Afghan province populated mostly by Pashtuns, adjacent to Injun country in Pak Balochistan... province late on Saturday, killing four coppers, according to the provincial governor’s front man, Omar Zawaq. Among those killed was local police commander Safar Mohammad, who in recent years had successfully kept highways in the area open to traffic. Zawaq said another nine coppers and one soldier were maimed in the attack.

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Afghanistan

Taliban chief secures grip on power

2016-04-11

By subduing dissidents and eliminating rivals, Taleban leader Mullah Akhtar Mansour is rapidly consolidating his authority over the fractious Afghan insurgent movement as it prepares for "decisive" battles in its upcoming spring offensive. Mansour was declared Taleban leader last summer after the announcement of long-term chief Mullah Omar's death, but many top commanders refused to pledge their loyalty alleging that he rigged the hastily organised selection process. Despite the infighting, the group saw a new resurgence under the firebrand supremo last year with striking military victories. Analysts predict that this year's offensive, expected to start this month, will be on a bigger scale. "Let's prepare for decisive strikes against the enemy purely for the sake of Allah with strong determination and high spirits," Mansour told his followers in a recent message posted on the Taleban website. Ahead of the offensive, Mansour has been rooting out the last vestiges of opposition to his leadership, buying the support of rebellious commanders, quashing renegade groups and luring dissidents with leadership positions, militant sources say. The Taleban recently announced that two of the most influential dissenters - Mullah Abdul Manan, a brother of Mullah Omar and the deceased leader's son, Mullah Mohammed Yaqoub - will be given posts in Quetta Shura, the Taleban's leadership council. Last week another vocal critic, Mullah Qayum Zakir, pledged his loyalty to Mansour. It is not clear if they changed their mind willingly or came under duress from the Pakistani military establishment, which is said to have close ties with Mansour. Mullah Dadullah, a prominent dissident commander, was killed last year in a gunfight with Mansour loyalists. And Mullah Rassoul, who formed a Taleban breakaway faction, has reportedly been detained by the Pakistani military. "It's quite clear that Mullah Mansour is putting his power consolidation strategy into overdrive," Michael Kugelman, an Afghanistan expert at the Washington-based think tank the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, said. "Mansour understands that the time is ripe to do all he can to eliminate what is arguably the Taleban's greatest weakness - its internal power struggles." New Taleban military gains in recent months have helped cement Mansour's authority by burnishing his credentials as a commander. His resurgent group has opened new battlefronts across Afghanistan with local forces struggling to beat back the expanding insurgency. They briefly captured the strategic northern city of Kunduz in September in their most spectacular victory in 14 years and southern opium-rich Helmand province is almost entirely under insurgent control. "Mansour is preparing for a major military push, more spectacular victories against the government this year," Mullah Qasem, a retired Taleban commander in Helmand, said. A senior Quetta Shura source said that Mansour is mobilising fighters for major offensives in up to six provinces. More at the link

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Afghanistan

Mullah Omar’s son appointed Taliban’s military commission chief for 15 provinces

2016-04-05

[Khaama (Afghanistan)] The Taliban group has appointed Mullah Mohammad Yaqoob as the group’s military commission chief for 15 provinces of the country. Mullah Yaqoob is the son of the Taliban group founder and former supreme leader Mullah Mohammad Omar whose death was confirmed last year. Taliban said Mullah Yaqoob was appointed for the post during an extraordinary meeting organized by the Taliban leadership on Monday. A statement by the group said Mullah Omar’s brother Mullah Abdul Manan Omari has been appointed as Taliban’s chief for religious affairs and invitation as well as the Taliban leadership’s member. No further details were given regarding the exact location where the extraordinary meeting was organized as the Taliban’s main council is based in Quetta city of Pakistan. The latest appointments come amid growing tensions among the Taliban leadership following the confirmation of Mullah Omar’s death last year. Meanwhile, earlier reports suggested of intense tensions among the Taliban group leader Mullah Akhtar Mansoor and Mullah Omar’s son and brother over the appointment of Taliban supreme leader successor. According to the reports, Mullah Yaqoob and Mullah Manan Omari were forced to accept Mullah Mansoor as the new supreme leader of the Taliban group despite Taliban said the two relatives of the late founder of the group pledged allegiance to Mullah Mansoor.

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India-Pakistan

Breakaway Taliban group denies its leader detained in Pakistan

2016-03-23

[CHANNELNEWSASIA] The leader of a breakaway faction of the Taliban is leading his fighters in Afghanistan, his deputy said on Tuesday, contradicting three senior members of the Islamist group and denying a newspaper report that he were tossed into the calaboose. Three senior Taliban told Rooters that Mullah Mohammad Rasoul ...Leader of a rival faction of the Afghan Taliban. He's probably not long for this world..... , who leads a faction that has rejected the authority of the Islamist movement's leader, Mullah Mohammad Mansour, were tossed into the calaboose two weeks ago in Balochistan ...the Pak province bordering Kandahar and Uruzgun provinces in Afghanistan and Sistan Baluchistan in Iran. Its native Baloch propulation is being displaced by Pashtuns and Punjabis and they aren't happy about it... province on the border between Pakistain and Afghanistan. Pakistain's Express Tribune newspaper said that Rasoul was being held by Pak authorities. Quoting two unnamed Taliban leaders, the newspaper said Rasoul was held in Pakistain after fleeing Afghanistan following heavy fighting in recent months with forces of Evil loyal to Mansour. Rasoul's deputy, Mullah Abdul Manan Niazi, dismissed the report as "propaganda of our enemies" and two Pak security officials also denied the report. "Mullah Rasoul is in Afghanistan and leading his fighters," Niazi said. But he added that his group's survival did not depend on one leader. "Our resistance will not stop with the arrest or killing of Mullah Rasoul or any other leader," Niazi said. The mixed reports add a further twist to the opaque nature of the leadership of the Taliban, who control or threaten more Afghan territory than at any time since their hard-line government was toppled in 2001.

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Afghanistan

Tajik, Uzbek, Turkmen inducted into Taliban Leadership Council

2016-01-08

Leadership council of Taliban, which is also known as Quetta Shura, was reportedly comprised of Pashtoons only but the group has now included members of Tajik, Uzbek and Turkmen tribes into it. According to Pakistan’s The Express Tribune news agency, a news source of Taliban, the new leader of Taliban Mullah Akhtar Mohammad Mansour has almost completed re-organisation of the Taliban movement after the death of Mullah Mohammad Omar and at least three non-Pashtoons have been inducted into the leadership council to quash the impression that the Taliban only represent ethnic Pashtoons. The report which is published today states that Maulvi Abdul Rehman, an ethnic Uzbek, and Sheikh Sharif, an ethnic Tajik, have been inducted into the council. A Turkmen has also been given a berth in the new council, it adds. It cites unnamed Taliban as saying that this is the first time non-Pahstoon have been given a place in the council. The report further states that Mullah Omar’s son Mullah Yaqoob is also inducted into the new leadership council and Mullah Omar’s brother, Mullah Abdul Manan into the political commission. The two had previously opposed Mullah Akhtar but later pledged allegiance to him. The media outlet citing a top Taliban official as saying that two members of the leadership council ‘Quetta Shura’ have been expelled from the council for refusing to accept Mullah Akhtar Mohammad Mansour as their leader. It states that Mullah Abdul Razzaq and Mullah Hasan Rehmani who were also involved in peace talks are no more members of Taliban leadership council. They were among the Taliban leaders who had arrived in Islamabad for a second round of talks with Afghan government officials in July which was, however, cancelled over Mullah Omar’s death, the report states.

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Afghanistan

Differences Within Taliban Likely To Impact Their Political Future: Analysts

2015-12-20

[Tolo News] A strategic split among Taliban leaders following the announcement of the death of their reclusive leader Mullah Omar ... a minor Pashtun commander in the war against the Soviets who made good as leader of the Taliban. As ruler of Afghanistan, he took the title Leader of the Faithful. The imposition of Pashtunkhwa on the nation institutionalized ignorance and brutality in a country already notable for its own fair share of ignorance and brutality... has been confirmed by sources close to the group. Mullar Omar's mysterious death was followed by a major backlash within the group after Mullah Akhtar Mansour, once a close aide to Mullar Omar, was appointed as his successor. Sources close to the Taliban and analysts believe that the division within the group will likely impact its funding and the Taliban's economic and military reputation as well as their future political contributions in Afghanistan's political sphere. As fresh moves for the resumption of stalled peace talks between Taliban and the Afghan government gathers momentum, it is not yet clear which of the factions will sit at the peace talks tables. "Foreign circles support these factions and maintain ties with Taliban. Also there are certain countries that pursue their own objectives by supporting a particular faction of Taliban to ensure their interests," head of Helmand ...an Afghan province populated mostly by Pashtuns, adjacent to Injun country in Pak Balochistan... peace committee Fazel Bari Fayaz said. However, some people cause happiness wherever they go; others whenever they go... neither Mullah Akhtar Mansour's faction nor rival Mullah Mohammad Rassoul Noorzai's have close relations with Taliban's political office in Qatar ...an emirate on the east coast of the Arabian Peninsula. It sits on some really productive gas and oil deposits, which produces the highest per capita income in the world. They piss it all away on religion, financing the Moslem Brotherhood and several al-Qaeda affiliates... , an issue that makes it difficult to predict the Taliban's political future in Afghanistan's politics, security sources speaking on condition of anonymity ... for fear of being murdered... have said. "There are benevolent elements among Taliban who mostly support Mullah Akhtar Mansour. There is the possibility that Mansour's loyalists convinced a third faction who doesn't pursue a military confrontation with Mullah Mansour to seek allegiance with Mansour," ex-Taliban regime's minster of mines Hassan Haqyar said. "Initially, Mullah Omar's son and his brother disagreed with Mansour as successor. But the same benevolent elements who have sympathy with the Taliban came forward and conducted mediation and pushed Mullah Omar's son Mullah Yaqoub and his brother to obey Mansour," he added. This comes a few weeks after a top Taliban capo and front man to Mullah Mansour's rival faction, Mullah Abdul Manan Niazi accused Mullah Mansour of having plotted the murder of Mullah Omar. He claimed that Mullah Mansour was killed by Mullah Mansour before the inauguration of the Taliban's political office in Qatar and Mullah Mansour kept his death a secret. As gaps between Taliban factions expand, some Afghan political analysts have called on government to take steps and reestablish contact with the group in the name of peace. "If the government comes up with an initiative and reestablishes contact with the Taliban Mullah Akhtar Mansour will soon join the reconciliation and negotiation process with the government," political analyst Jawed Kohistan ...a backwoods district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa distinguished by being even more rustic than is the norm among the local Pashtuns.... i said. "The second group apparently will continue the war and the third group which has more strength and are loyal to Mullah Omar have major support among the people in western and southern regions and are willing to talk independently without Pakistain," he said. Analysts believe that the split among the Taliban has pushed the group to a critical stage, compelling the group leaders to take decisions in the past few weeks to ensure their political participation by defeating their rival factions.

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Afghanistan

Taliban Splinter Group Ready For Peace Talks

2015-11-09

[Tolo News] An Afghan Taliban splinter group, which refuses Mullah Akhtar Mohammad Mansoor as successor of late Mullah Omar ... a minor Pashtun commander in the war against the Soviets who made good as leader of the Taliban. As ruler of Afghanistan, he took the title Leader of the Faithful. The imposition of Pashtunkhwa on the nation institutionalized ignorance and brutality in a country already notable for its own fair share of ignorance and brutality... , says they are ready to talk peace with the Afghan government. The dissident group's deputy chief Mullah Abdul Manan told BBC on Saturday that if the foreign forces completely desert Afghanistan, the group will be ready to talk peace with the Afghan government. The group, which recently elected Mullah Mohammad Rassoul as their new leader in the western Ghor province, says they have no problem with the Afghan government. Mansoor -- who some Taliban's Quetta Council members claimed was appointed by Pakistain's ISI -- was elected as the new leader in August after the group confirmed that Mullah Omar had died two years ago. However many commanders within the movement accused Mansoor of hiding the news since April 2013 -- causing a deep division in the insurgency. However Mullah Manan claimed that Mullah Mansoor besides killing the group's supreme leader has also imprisoned and tortured several other high-ranking members of the movement. He accused Mansoor of hijacking the so-called Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan. In addition, Manan criticized the movement's political office in Qatar ...an emirate on the east coast of the Arabian Peninsula. It sits on some really productive gas and oil deposits, which produces the highest per capita income in the world. They piss it all away on religion, financing the Moslem Brotherhood and several al-Qaeda affiliates... , which he said, have had several secret deals with America. However this is believed to be the first public and official division of the group. The dissident's new leader Mullah Rasool served under Taliban rule as governor for Nimroz and Farah provinces before the regime was ousted in 2001. Mullah Rasool has appointed four commanders of the group as his deputies. Abdul Manan Niazi, Mansoor Dadullah and Shir Mohammad Akhundzada appointed as deputies on military affairs and Mullah Baz Mohammad Haris for political affairs.

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