Afghanistan |
Resurgent al-Qaida training camps latest black eye from Biden Afghanistan withdrawal |
2024-02-25 |
[JustTheNews] UN report claims al-Qaida now has eight training camps in Taliban-controlled country. Two reports released just days apart are providing stark new evidence of the lasting consequences of President Joe Biden’s bungled withdrawal from Afghanistan and his administration’s dealings with the Taliban ever since. The United Nations Analytical Support and Sanctions Monitoring Team reported late last month that the terrorist group al-Qaida, though weakened from its heyday in the early 2000s, has reconstituted as many as eight training camps and five religious training schools known as madrassas on Afghan soil under the Taliban’s rule while also increasing its propaganda operations and recruitment. “The relationship between the Taliban and Al-Qaida remains close, and the latter maintains a holding pattern in Afghanistan under Taliban patronage,” the report stated bluntly. “Regional States assess that the presence of Al-Qaida senior figures in the country has not changed and that the group continues to pose a threat in the region, and potentially beyond.” You can read the full report here. While the UN report blamed the Taliban for its hosting of al-Qaida, the Biden administration continued to send massive humanitarian dollars to the Afghan regime, in many cases through the UN and global charities, according to a separate report from an American watchdog. John Sopko, the U.S. Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction, reported a few days after the UN report was issued that the United States accounted for all but $300 million of the $2.9 billion in humanitarian aid sent to the Taliban since the withdrawal of American troops in August 2021. Most of it, he noted, came in cash. “The U.S. is the largest international donor, having provided about $2.6 billion in funding for the UN, other PIOs, and NGOs operating in Afghanistan since August 2021,” the report noted. “More than $1.7 billion of that funding came from State and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) to support humanitarian activities.” You can read Sopko's report here. Experts said the flow of cash to help the Taliban while it allows al-Qaida to flourish sends a dangerous message to bad actors, and much of it is routed through the very UN that issued the report. “America is the biggest funder of this thing. So the United States taxpayer is disproportionately on the hook paying for these activities,” former Deputy National Security Adviser Victoria Coates said recently. And coupled with the billions in high-tech weaponry Biden left behind in Afghanistan, the dynamic is creating heartburn in Congress. “This administration has a history of giving money to terrorist organizations, abandoning $80 billion worth of military equipment in Afghanistan so the Taliban can run around with our M4s and our Blackhawks, and all of our equipment. They have an American last agenda,” Rep. Greg Steube, R-Fla., told the Just the News, No Noise television show last week. The Taliban, of course, claims it does not harbor al-Qaida and that the UN report was “propaganda.” "There is no one related to al Qaeda in Afghanistan, nor does the Islamic Emirate allow anyone to use the territory of Afghanistan against others," the Taliban said in a statement. But U.S. officials told Just the News they have significant intelligence of al-Qaida’s presence and reconstitution inside Afghanistan since the Taliban overthrew the democratically elected government as U.S. troops were withdrawing in 2021. They noted that when U.S. drones killed al-Qaida leader Ayman al-Zawahiri in 2022, he was living inside a Taliban Cabinet member’s guest house in Kabul’s diplomatic district. U.S. officials added they are concerned by al-Qaida’s resilience, especially since American intelligence efforts have less visibility inside Afghanistan since the bungled withdrawal. The UN report, culled from intelligence from its various member nations, said that while al-Qaida does not have the capability to command and conduct long-range terror attacks like 9/11 right now, it is clearly showing signs of expansion and regional reach after years of diminishment from the Bush to the Trump years. “Al-Qaida was reported to have established up to eight new training camps in Afghanistan, including four in Ghazni, Laghman, Parwan and Uruzgan Provinces, with a new base to stockpile weaponry in the Panjshir Valley,” the report said. “Some camps might be temporary. “Five Al-Qaida madrasas operate in Laghman, Kunar, Nangarhar, Nuristan and Parwan Provinces,” it added. “The group maintains safe houses to facilitate the movement between Afghanistan and the Islamic Republic of Iran in the Provinces of Herat, Farah and Helmand, with additional safe house locations in Kabul.” Equally troubling, the Islamic State terrorist group is also showing resiliency in several regions of the world, particularly Afghanistan, the UN warned. “Member States assessed that, despite the recent loss of territory, casualties, and high attrition among senior and mid-tier leadership figures, ISIL-K continued to pose a major threat in Afghanistan and the region,” it noted. Related: Ghazni: 2024-02-22 Taliban execute two murderers by machine-gunning them through the spine in front of thousands of spectators at football stadium Ghazni: 2023-10-04 Taliban Close Gates of Two Private Schools in Ghazni Due to ‘Shaved Beards of Educators’ Ghazni: 2023-10-03 Daily Evacuation Brief October 2 - 3, 2023 Related: Laghman: 2024-02-22 Taliban execute two murderers by machine-gunning them through the spine in front of thousands of spectators at football stadium Laghman: 2024-01-09 Reports of Poppy Cultivation in Badakhshan Concerning: Fitrat Laghman: 2023-11-28 Daily Evacuation Brief November 27, 2023 Related: Parwan: 2024-01-09 Taliban detains group of women at Khair Khana, Kabul Parwan: 2023-11-28 Daily Evacuation Brief November 27, 2023 Parwan: 2023-11-28 At least 10 Taliban members killed in attacks, Front Freedom claims Related: Uruzgan: 2023-09-30 Sirajuddin Haqqani in Panjshir Stresses Trust-Building Uruzgan: 2023-09-28 Taliban’s Disruption of Aid Programs Push Hazaras To the Brink Uruzgan: 2023-09-25 The National Resistance Council for the Salvation of Afghanistan: The Taliban have killed 17 Hazaras in Uruzgan Province in the Last Two Years Related: Panjshir Valley: 2023-01-16 Afghanistan: The Taliban's punishment of women is an act of desperation Panjshir Valley: 2022-11-07 Taliban reveal burial place of founder Mullah Omar, nine years after death Panjshir Valley: 2022-09-15 Taliban are “looking into” a video circulating on social media that appears to show its fighters executing captured members of an Afghan insurgent group Related: Kunar: 2024-01-04 Ex-MNA Mohsin Dawar survives gun attack in North Waziristan Kunar: 2023-10-06 Daily Evacuation Brief October 6, 2023 Kunar: 2023-09-29 Daily Evacuation Brief September 29, 2023 Related: Nangarhar: 2023-09-24 Daily Evacuation Brief September 24, 2023 Nangarhar: 2023-09-20 Over 100 Afghan Security Outposts Built Along Durand Line Nangarhar: 2023-09-17 On eve of 9/11 Anniversary, U.S. officials continue to downplay Al Qaeda’s presence in Afghanistan Related: Nuristan: 2023-10-05 Daily Evacuation Brief October 5, 2023 Nuristan: 2023-09-24 Daily Evacuation Brief September 24, 2023 Nuristan: 2023-09-20 Over 100 Afghan Security Outposts Built Along Durand Line Related: Herat: 2024-01-22 PTI-backed NA candidate among 10 injured in Karachi 'attack' Herat: 2024-01-09 Afghanistan Exports Nearly $2 Billion Last Year: MOCI Herat: 2023-12-15 The West is furious: China renamed Tibet |
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Afghanistan |
Taliban graduates over 150 from ‘Jihadist School’ in Panjshir for first time |
2024-01-09 |
[KhaamaPress] Taliban ...Arabic for students... officials claim that "for the first time," 152 religious scholars and Hafiz have graduated from a jihadist school in Panjshir. The spokesperson for the Ministry of Mines and Petroleum of the Taliban, in a veiled reference posted on the social media platform, mentioned that Panjshir was the same province where the group’s opponents were once active. Panjshir was the last province to fall to the Taliban in 2021. It is known as a traditional stronghold of armed forces opposing the Taliban. The National Resistance® Front of Afghanistan, which declared its presence in Panjshir in August 2021 after the escape of former 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... , has continued its guerilla attacks against the Taliban in various Afghan provinces. However, today is that tomorrow you were thinking about yesterday... a recent report on the group’s military activities in the past six months indicates a decrease in their operations in Panjshir. After gaining full control of Afghanistan in 2021, the Taliban has embarked on establishing religious schools and mosques across the country. Last year in April, the Taliban announced the establishment of a "Jihadist School" in the Anaba district of Panjshir. At that time, the group stated its intention to enrol a thousand "religious students" in this school. Related: Panjshir: 2023-11-28 Daily Evacuation Brief November 27, 2023 Panjshir: 2023-11-28 At least 10 Taliban members killed in attacks, Front Freedom claims Panjshir: 2023-09-30 Sirajuddin Haqqani in Panjshir Stresses Trust-Building |
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India-Pakistan |
Pakistan to 'ascertain facts' on Afghan minister using its passport |
2023-12-08 |
[GEO.TV] Pakistain said Thursday it will first ascertain facts before issuing a comment on a report that claims that Afghanistan’s acting Interior Minister Sirajuddin Haqqani ...son of Pashtun warlord Jalaluddin Haqqani, still titular head of the Haqqani Network.... possessed a Pak passport until recently. In her weekly press briefing, Foreign Office (FO) spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch said: "I have seen the report on the use of a Pak passport by the Afghan minister. The matter will be answered after [ascertaining] the facts." A report published in The News today revealed that Haqqani was issued a Pak passport for five years which he used to travel abroad, particularly to 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. Home of nutbag holy manYusuf al-Qaradawi... for negotiations with the United States for the signing of the Doha Agreement that resulted in the latter's exit from Afghanistan. The publication, via the interior ministry officials, learnt that these passports were issued from different cities of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, 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... , and Sindh. Meanwhile, ...back at the Hubba Hubba Club, Big Shirley was still trying to snatch Nunzio bald-headed. She was already halfway there... two passport officials involved in issuing Haqqani's passport have been arrested, one of whom had retired from service by the time the action was initiated against him. The issue around the minister using the Pak passport comes at a time when Pakistain continues to repatriate illegal foreigners, most of whom are undocumented Afghan Baloch also briefed the presser about brass hats from the United States visiting Pakistain this week. "The focus of these visits is not only Afghanistan. These visits are related to the multifaceted aspects of Pakistain-US relations," she said, adding that Pakistain has decided to talk to America. |
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Afghanistan |
Sirajuddin Haqqani in Panjshir Stresses Trust-Building |
2023-09-30 |
Trust? An interesting concept, under the circumstances. [ToloNews] The acting Interior Minister, Sirajuddin Haqqani...son of Pashtun warlord Jalaluddin Haqqani, still titular head of the Haqqani Network.... , called for trust-building between the people and the interim government. Playing Good Talib/Bad Talib. His visit to Panjshir was the first since the Islamic Emirate came to power.Then he did a "Trust Fall" and nobody caught him. So he had everyone in the room executed "Such meetings will be normal among us so I will feel he is my brother. Then the challenges and problems which exist among us, will solve themselves," he said. Haqqani in a visit to Panjshir told the gathering that the doors for the leader of Panjshir are opened based on a "guarantee by the people of Panjshir." Haqqani said that the people of Panjshir should not consider themselves strangers and that they will be provided with all Sharia rights. "You have remained very loyal to your leaders. For your people's sake (people of Panjshir) and because of your people's guarantee, all doors have been opened for them (out-of-country leaders of Panjshir)," he said. Some of the participants talked about the negative impacts of the 20-year presence of western countries in Afghanistan. "We have sustained severe damages from our politicians who made us victims. They have ignited fighting among us," said Qiamuddin Hanif, head of the Ulema council for Panjshir. "In more than 20 years, malicious propagandashas been injected into the minds of people by the enemies of the Islamic government," said Rohullah Rohani, a religious holy man. Related: Sirajuddin Haqqani: 2023-08-20 IEA has more than 400,000 security forces: deputy PM Sirajuddin Haqqani: 2023-08-10 Taliban rejects Pakistan’s accusations, says 18 Pakistani fighters killed last year Sirajuddin Haqqani: 2023-08-05 Germany arrests Syrian man accused over 2013 Tadamon massacre Related: Panjshir: 2023-09-25 The National Resistance Council for the Salvation of Afghanistan: The Taliban have killed 17 Hazaras in Uruzgan Province in the Last Two Years Panjshir: 2023-09-16 'They Deserve Some Peace': U.S. Envoy Rejects Support For Anti-Taliban Factions In Afghanistan Panjshir: 2023-09-16 Taliban Detain Four Former Government Soldiers in Parwan |
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Afghanistan |
IEA has more than 400,000 security forces: deputy PM |
2023-08-20 |
[ArianaNews] Abdulsalam Hanafi, the administrative deputy prime minister of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, on Saturday, claimed that the IEA has more than 400,000 security force members between the ministries of defense and interior and the intelligence agency. Golly. Hanafi revealed this during a ceremony to celebrate the 104th anniversary of Afghanistan’s independence from Britannia.He emphasized that the Islamic Emirate wants healthy relations with all the countries of the region, but does not allow interference in Afghanistan’s internal affairs. "We do not want to interfere in the internal affairs of any country. Of course, respect and relationships come from both sides. If someone intervenes, then we consider it our right to reciprocate," Hanafi said. Meanwhile, ...back at the shootout, Butch shot Black Bart's gun out of his hand...... the Acting Minister of National Defense Mohammad Yaqoob Mujahid said the Islamic Emirate will not allow Afghanistan to suffer war and insecurity again. He expressed hope that peace and stability and the ruling system in the country will last. Deputy PM for Political Affairs Abdul Kabir reiterated that the world has no choice but to interact with the Islamic Emirate. "The politics of the world is moving in a positive direction. The world is now trying to extend the hand of interaction towards the Islamic Emirate because the world understands that there is no other solution without interacting with the Islamic Emirate. The security of the world and the region depends on the security of Afghanistan. If the world wants Afghanistan to be safe and not get harmed by Afghanistan, the Islamic Emirate has done it and can do it," Kabir said. In the meantime, the Acting Minister of Interior Affairs Sirajuddin Haqqani ...son of Pashtun warlord Jalaluddin Haqqani, still titular head of the Haqqani Network.... said that the Islamic Emirate has adhered to the commitments it made in Doha, but the world is creating problems for Afghans with various excuses. "The world should no longer abuse and coerce the Afghans, but opt for healthy interaction," he said. The Acting Minister of Foreign Affairs also criticized the British post-colonial government and said that the one who made sacrifices in order to gain freedom did not gain power. He said that Afghanistan was headed towards faithlessness, and although it was apparently free, it was still intellectually under the influence of outsiders. |
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Afghanistan |
Taliban rejects Pakistan’s accusations, says 18 Pakistani fighters killed last year |
2023-08-10 |
[AMUtv] In response to Islamabad’s allegations, the Taliban ...Arabic for students... has taken an unprecedented step, acknowledging the deaths of 18 Pak fighters linked to ISIS and the apprehension of numerous other Pak fighters in Afghanistan over the past year. Zabihullah Mujahid, the Taliban’s spokesperson, released a statement on Tuesday, confirming that these Pak Addressing Pakistain’s accusations of planning attacks within its borders from Afghanistan, Mujahid emphasized that Islamabad should take responsibility for its own security lapses, stressing that the Taliban is not accountable for preventing or managing assaults within Pakistain. Pakistain’s army chief, for the second time in a month, stated on Monday that some Afghanistan citizens are involved in activities detrimental to Pakistain’s security. In response to these assertions, Pakistain’s Minister of Human Rights commented that a misunderstanding exists between the two nations on this issue. Riaz Hussain Pirzada, Pakistain’s Minister of Human Rights, stated: "Their (Taliban’s) defense minister has said that they won’t allow anyone to do something against Pakistain and it’s not jihad. So, I don’t think Afghanistan is that disloyal to Pakistain. I don’t accept that." Simultaneously, Pakistain’s Express Tribune newspaper reported that Islamabad is attempting to secure a decree from Mullah Hibatullah Akhundzada, the Taliban’s leader, denouncing the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistain’s (TTP) activities as un-Islamic. Although the decree has purportedly been issued, it has yet to be made public. Barna Salehi, an expert in international relations, cautioned: "If the Taliban and Pakistain do not address this issue promptly, the escalating tensions between the two factions could lead to a dire confrontation, proving detrimental to the Taliban’s interests." In response to Pakistain’s accusations, Mullah Yaqoob Mujahid, the Taliban’s acting defense minister, recently advised Taliban fighters that traveling to foreign countries to engage in conflict does not qualify as jihad but is rather warfare. He acknowledged that some within the Taliban still uphold a solitary focus on fighting. The Taliban’s acting interior minister, Sirajuddin Haqqani ...son of Pashtun warlord Jalaluddin Haqqani, still titular head of the Haqqani Network.... , emphasized the need for restraint within the Taliban’s conduct and stressed that the present moment is not conducive to warfare. |
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Europe | |
Germany arrests Syrian man accused over 2013 Tadamon massacre | |
2023-08-05 | |
German authorities arrested on Thursday a Syrian man in charge of Tadamon massacre in Damascus, Syria’s capital, in 2013. The man, called Ahmad H, is accused of crimes against humanity and war crimes including torture and enslavement, German prosecutors said in a statement on Thursday. Ahmad was leading a pro-government militia in Tadamon, when the massacre took place in 2013 that resulted in the killing of about 40 people. The massacre was filmed by its perpetrators and revealed by The Guardian last year. In April 2022, The Guardian published a report that showed members of the Syrian Military Intelligence Branch 227 were shown firing at blindfolded, unarmed civilians in Tadamon, a residential neighborhood in the Syrian capital of Damascus. The video showed 41 people being murdered by an intelligence officer called Amjad Yusef. In March, the US Department of State issued a decision in which it barred Yusef from entering US territory. The decision barred Yusef, his wife, and close family members from entering US territory. "Yusef’s war crimes serves as a sobering reminder for why countries should not normalize relations with the Assad regime absent enduring progress towards a political resolution," said Antony Blinken, US Secretary of State, in an accompanying statement. The suspect, Ahmad H, is the first person to be detained in connection with crimes in Tadamon, The Guardian reported. "He was a local leader of the Shabiha, a pro-regime paramilitary group tasked with suppressing political opponents. The group is accused of regularly detaining civilians at checkpoints in Tadamon, whom they tortured, extorted or forced into labour, prosecutors said." According to the British newspaper, 27 extremely graphic videos of Shabiha and Syrian soldiers carrying out massacres and disposing of dozens bodies in the neighbourhood were leaked from a Syrian government laptop to two academics based in Europa ...the land mass occupying the space between the English Channel and the Urals, also known as Moslem Lebensraum... in 2019. The academics are Prof. Ugur Üngör, from the University of Amsterdam’s Institute of Holocaust and Genocide Studies, and the researcher Annsar Shahoud identified many of the perpetrators in the videos, including Amjad Yusef. Ahmad H, understood by The Guardian to be an associate of Yusuf, is accused of "personally participating in the abuse of civilians in various occasions", the prosecutors said. With the outbreak of the Syrian conflict in 2011, hundreds of thousands of Syrians fled their country to Germany. Among the refugees, there were several pro-government officers and leaders. Last year, Germany sentenced Anwar Raslan, ex-colonel of the Syrian Intelligence, to life in prison for crimes against humanity for his part in murdering 58 detainees, raping others, and torturing about 4,000 prisoners. Also, Alaa Mousa, a doctor who worked at a military intelligence prison in the Syrian city of Homs from April 2011 until late 2012, was accused of torturing and killing inmates at a government-run prison and two military hospitals, German prosecutors said last year. He is accused of killing one person and 18 counts of torture, as well as causing serious physical and psychological harm to others. The doctor has been in pretrial detention in Germany since his arrest in June 2020.
The suspect, identified only as Ahmad H., was arrested in Bremen on Wednesday, prosecutors said a day later. Prosecutors said the suspect was the leader of a militia loyal to Syrian leader Bashir al-Assad in the Damascus suburb of Tadamon from 2012 to 2015. They said the militia ran checkpoints where "people were arrested arbitrarily so that they or their family members could be extorted for money, committed to forced labor or tortured." In one incident, the suspect is alleged to have hit an arrested man in the face and ordered fellow militia members to "brutally torment" him for hours with plastic pipes. In another incident, the suspect and other militia members allegedly beat and kicked a civilian at a checkpoint, slamming the civilian's head into the pavement and then tying him up before he was taken away by the militia. Prosecutors also pointed to two alleged incidents where the suspect is said to have arrested a group of 25-30 people and forced them to spend a day carrying sandbags to a nearby front line, where they worked under fire without food or water and were beaten. The militia also worked with a military intelligence wing that executed at least 47 people in the area, prosecutors said. On Thursday, a judge remanded the suspect in jug pending a possible indictment. Although the alleged crimes against humanity were committed in Syria and no German citizens were involved, Germany's principle of "universal jurisdiction" means prosecutors can still pursue cases of serious crimes committed abroad, no matter who perpetrated them or who the victims were. In 2022, this led to the first conviction of a senior Syrian official for crimes against humanity. Related: Ahmad H: 2023-05-08 Iraq sentences killer of security expert Husham al-Hashimi to death, next step is appeals court Ahmad H: 2023-04-20 Israel targets government forces in Syria's Quneitra Ahmad H: 2023-02-10 Hazaras are Expected to Support Taliban Security Forces: Sirajuddin Haqqani | |
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Afghanistan |
Internal Strife between Haqqani, Kandhari Groups, Sirajuddin’s ‘Ambitions’ Threaten Taliban |
2023-07-08 |
[News18] An internal power struggle between the powerful Haqqani group and the ruling Kandhari groups threatens to tear the Taliban apart, challenging their reign in Afghanistan One can only hope. An internal strife has emerged within the Taliban as the Haqqani and Kandhari factions are at odds with each other over the direction of the regime and Afghanistan. The internal power struggle has led to concerns that the instability in Afghanistan could deepen further.The Haqqani faction led by Sirajuddin Haqqani ...son of Pashtun warlord Jalaluddin Haqqani, still titular head of the Haqqani Network.... |
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Afghanistan | |
Damning New Report on Afghanistan Withdrawal Rips Biden Admin; Biden Claims 'I Was Right' | |
2023-07-01 | |
[RedState] There’s a new report out Friday from the State Department’s after-action review of the horrible withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021. The report excoriates the way the withdrawal was handled, noting that the Biden team did not sufficiently plan or prepare for “worst case scenarios.” Incredibly, it said it was “unclear” who was in charge at the State Department. They also made the bad mistake of giving up the Bagram airfield to the Afghans, which would have been much easier to defend to get people out, so they were forced to use the Hamid Karzai Airport. When the evacuation did occur, “senior administration officials had not made clear decisions” on which Afghan citizens would qualify for evacuation from the country and where they would be taken. That meant they ended up taking people who weren’t necessarily allies who helped us during the war, and leaving our allies — and hundreds of Americans — behind, while not being straight about the number who were left. Naturally, because the report was bad, it was dropped on a Friday right before a holiday weekend—so that they can try to avoid more press on the issue. Only about half of it was released, with the other part staying classified. While it called out the administration, it was careful not to blame any particular individual despite Sec. of State Antony Blinken being in charge of that leader-challenged State Department. After the report was released, National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby tried to defend the administration with the same poor response that they’ve used for two years: that the “decision to end the war was the right one.” No one was talking about the decision to end the war, but about the horrible way in which Joe Biden and his officials tried to carry it out. Joe Biden’s response was even worse than Kirby’s. Washington Bureau Chief for GloboNews, Raquel Krähenbühl asked Biden about the damning report: “Do you admit failure in Afghanistan? There was a report…saying there was failure, mistakes. Do you admit there was mistakes during the withdrawal and before?” His response was one for the books — even with all the evidence, even with how much he failed, and the release of the new report, he’s still trying to insist he was right in how he did things and refusing all criticism. The level of arrogance was astonishing.
The U.N. noted the U.S. military has assessed that Jawad was the former head of the “Kabul Network” — described as “a mixture of al-Qaeda and Taliban that directed suicide assaults against the United States and other coalition targets.” The report said there are 30 to 60 “core members” of al Qaeda in Afghanistan, with 400 “al-Qaeda fighters” there, but with family and supporters that reaches about 2,000 people. There are also training camps and safe houses for al-Qaeda in the country, including a camp specifically to train suicide bombers. | |
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Afghanistan |
Man Shot by Taliban for Daring to Speak Out: Criticism Comes at a Deadly Price |
2023-06-26 |
[8am] In a shocking incident, a man in Samangan province was shot by a local Taliban ...the Pashtun equivalent of men... commander for criticizing the group’s performance. Local sources confirm that a resident of Roy-e Duab district, following his attempt to lodge a complaint regarding harassment and intimidation by local Taliban commanders to the group’s Interior Minister, was apprehended and subsequently shot on the orders of Qari Muawiya on Tuesday, June 13. The victim, identified as a farmer, had no prior military background, as stated by the sources. So far, the Taliban have not commented on the matter. It is worth mentioning that last week, Sirajuddin Haqqani ...son of Pashtun warlord Jalaluddin Haqqani, still titular head of the Haqqani Network.... , the Minister of Interior Affairs for the Taliban, visited several provinces during his trip to the northern region of the country. This is not the first instance of non-combatants being targeted by the Taliban in Samangan due to criticism of the group’s actions. Previously, Abdullah, a resident of Dar-e-Suf Payin district in this province, was shot after filing a complaint against the mistreatment of individuals by a local Taliban commander in the district. The Taliban have previously warned that no one has the right to criticize the group’s operations. |
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Afghanistan |
Daily Evacuation Brief June 21-25, 2023 |
2023-06-25 |
Daily Evacuation Brief | June 25, 2023 [AfghanDigest] LAST 24 HOURS
Daily Evacuation Brief | June 24, 2023 [AfghanDigest] LAST 24 HOURS
Daily Evacuation Brief | June 23, 2023 [AfghanDigest] LAST 24 HOURS
Helmand: A video has been shared by an ALM [Afghan Liberation Movement] Twitter channel that purports to show Taliban security forces firing on several youth who were protesting in an undisclosed town, The video shows several young men who had been shot being evacuated to an hospital. Several hundred protestors are shown in the footage. It is not clear how many may have been killed or wounded in the incident. NEXT 24 HOURS KABUL SEARCHES TO CONTINUE – As the ongoing search operations have yet to yield a result we expect the operations to continue. Based on the information received from several sources who witnessed the searches, the effort appears to be focused on recovering something (a phone, computer, hard drive, etc). In a few cases, the families were moved out of the home while the search took place and very few questions were asked of the occupants. While not definitive, it seems to suggest that the Taliban are attempting to find an item. Particular attention was paid to electronics and some of the searchers threatened residents with violence for not providing passwords to devices. Daily Evacuation Brief | June 22, 2023 [AfghanDigest] LAST 24 HOURS
Samangan: Reports confirm that 2 Taliban were killed in an operation by the UFA in the Darah Sof Payan district of the province. Information about the nature of the operation was not provided. NEXT 24 HOURS SEARCHES MAY CONTINUE IN KABUL – Based on past experience, it is likely the recent searches conducted in Police District 9 could expand to other neighborhoods in Kabul. As of publication, there has been no word if the Taliban found what they were looking for. At-risk Afghans may experience searches of their homes over the next few days. Daily Evacuation Brief | June 21, 2023 [AfghanDigest] LAST 24 HOURS
Kabul: Unconfirmed reports of gunfire were reported in Police District 2 yesterday. The incident took olace near an unidentified Police building. Local sources say the incident was brief and over quickly. NEXT 24 HOURS No Threats Reported |
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