[AnNahar] Calm prevailed across much of Afghanistan on Saturday as a ceasefire between the Taliban ...Arabic for students... and government forces appeared to be holding on its second day, boosting hopes that the two foes could soon begin peace talks.
There were no reports of major festivities since Friday, and Afghans took advantage of it to continue celebrating the Eid al-Adha ...a major Moslem holiday, marked by animal sacrifice and ritual rioting... festival.
The three-day truce is slated for the duration of the Moslem festival and is only the third official pause in the nearly 19 years of war that has ravaged Afghanistan.
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... and the Taliban have both signaled that peace talks could begin straight after Eid, and there are widespread calls to extend the ceasefire.
"I think we are closer to peace talks more than any other time," said Kabul resident Ahmad Rashed as he visited an animal market in the capital.
"The sooner they start, more lives could be saved."
Moslems across the world buy sheep or cows to slaughter in an annual ritual during the Eid al-Adha festival.
"There have been no reports of any terrorist attacks in the past two days since the ceasefire began," Attaullah Khogyani, front man to the governor of the eastern province of Nangarhar The unfortunate Afghan province located adjacent to Mohmand, Kurram, and Khyber Agencies. The capital is Jalalabad. The province was the fief of Younus Khalis after the Soviets departed and one of his sons is the current provincial Taliban commander. Nangarhar is Haqqani country.. told AFP.
Nangarhar has seen regular festivities between government forces and the Taliban, and also attacks claimed by the krazed killerIslamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that they were al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're really very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear western pols talk they're not really Moslems.... group.
In the southern province of Kandahar, where the Taliban control swathes of rural terrains, there were no reports of fighting.
"There are no enemy movements or attacks by the Taliban," said Baheer Ahmad, front man to Kandahar governor.
#1
They've got a sign. "2 days without a reportable incindent."
If they make it to seven they'll pass out cookies.
Posted by: ed in texas ||
08/02/2020 9:11 Comments ||
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#2
It’s only a three day truce, and only with those of the Taliban involved in the peace talks. That’s why, according to Tolo News, the Taliban denied they’re the ones currently attacking Jalalabad prison in Nangarhar province.
[ToloNews] The Afghan Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) said that Afghanistan has raised the recent clash between the Afghan cops and the Pak military forces at Chaman crossing with Pakistain’s embassy in Kabul and the Pak ministry of foreign affairs.
Meanwhile, ...back at the Council of Boskone, Helmuth ordered the entire 614th quadrant searched. The Green Lensman must be found!... Pakistain’s Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Wormtongue Qureshi ...a Pak political shape-changer. He is undistinguished except for his habit of periodically needing to have his lips reattached... has also urged the need for a diplomatic solution to the tensions that emerged in the wake of recent festivities in Spin Boldak district.
"What happened in Chaman yesterday should not have happened, we have taken this up with Afghanistan, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has taken it up, I have asked my ambassador to take it up there, I am grateful to Mr. Hanif Atmar who took notice of it, I hope that we will be able to resolve this issue in a good manner," said Qureshi.
The Spin Boldak clash left at least 15 Afghan civilians dead and 80 more maimed.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
08/02/2020 00:00 ||
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[Stars&Stripes] The Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that they were al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're really very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear western pols talk they're not really Moslems.... affiliate in Afghanistan has suffered heavy losses in the past year but could spoil the country’s grinding of the peace processor by attacking cities and recruiting Taliban ...Arabic for students... splinter groups angered by the negotiations.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: trailing wife ||
08/02/2020 00:00 ||
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[APA.AZ] Azerbaijani-Ottoman Turkish Live Fire Joint Large-Scale Tactical and Flight-Tactical Exercises are being held in Nakhchivan, Ministry of Defence told APA.
According to the exercise scenario, the units of the Combined Arms Army, the forces structure of the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic and the Armed Forces of the Ottoman Turkish Republic have been brought into the state of full combat readiness and, on alert, were withdrawn to the exercise areas.
Continuous control of troops is practically carried out by means of control systems from command posts. Formations and military units operate in accordance with combat readiness plans.
During the exercises, which involve combat aircraft, military transport, and attack helicopters, training flights are conducted with elements of aerobatic manoeuvring.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/02/2020 00:00 ||
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[POWERLINEBLOG] Darren Wilson is the former Ferguson, Missouri police officer who shot and killed Michael Brown, who assaulted him. The shooting was a wholly justified act of self defense. Yet, it triggered the Black Lives Matter movement. It’s fitting that a phony justice movement originated with a phony claim of police misconduct. Wilson has been cleared of any criminal conduct by a grand jury and by the Obama-Holder Justice Department. But the left never gives up. Thus, as Bill Otis notes, yet another prosecutor, Wesley Bell
...one of the stable of Fair and Just Prosecution prosecutors whose campaign was funded by multi-billionaire Facebook co-founder Dustin Moskovitz in order to drive local governance to the far left, a parallel effort to that of multi-billionaire George Soros...
elected in 2018, reopened the investigation of Wilson.
Bell, who is African-American, gained office by attacking Robert McCulloch, the incumbent prosecutor. McCulloch led the grand jury proceeding that resulted in no indictment of Wilson. Yet, Bell reached the same conclusion as McCulloch: Darren Wilson is not guilty of any crime that could be proven to a jury under the same standards applied to everyone else.
It’s absurd that Wilson’s conduct was scrutinized in three separate proceedings, including one that wrapped up six years after the fact. That’s not the same standard applied to everyone else. It’s the standard applied to people the BLM mob wants to crucify.
Yet, it’s gratifying that even a prosecutor elected due to blow back against a predecessor who cleared Wilson was able to conclude that there is no basis for a prosecution. There can be no clearer demonstration that the BLM movement was founded on a lie about what happened in Ferguson.
Bell now must face the ire of the fanatics who helped elect him. The New York Times
...which still proudly displays Walter Duranty's Pulitzer prize... reports that as he left the lectern after announcing his decision, an activist berated him, saying Bell now would be voted out of office. "We got Bob McCulloch out only to replace him with the Black Bob McCulloch," this genius declared.
In addition, 30 or so demonstrators converged on the Ferguson Market and Liquor, where Brown, the "gentle giant," shoved a store clerk prior to his fatal interaction with Wilson. They called for a boycott of the store and, as would-be customers approached, told them the store was closed.
That’s the mob’s response to the refusal of multiple prosecutors to bring unwarranted charges against Darren Wilson: No injustice, no peace.
[APA.AZ] The president of The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire... on Saturday said the reopening of the Hagia Sophia as a mosque made the Moslem festival of Eid al-Adha ...a major Moslem holiday, marked by animal sacrifice and ritual rioting... even more joyous, APA reports citing Anadolu Agency.
"The reopening of the Hagia Sophia grand Mosque -- an 86-year wound in the heart of our nation -- has added to the joy of our Eid," His Enormity, Sultan Recep Tayyip Erdogan the First ...Turkey's version of Mohammed Morsi but they voted him back in so they deserve him. It's a sin, a shame, and a felony to insult the president of Turkey. In Anatolia did Recep Bey a stately Presidential Palace decree, that has 1100 rooms. That's 968 more than in the White House, 400 more than in Versailles, and 325 more than Buckingham Palace, so you know who's really more important... said, greeting local officials of his ruling Justice and Development (AK) Party for the holiday via video-link.
Erdogan said he sought to hold an upcoming party congress as a "new resurrection, a new rising milestone."
The next AK Party congress is expected to be held towards the end of 2020 while observing health and safety measures against the novel coronavirus (aka COVID19 or Chinese Plague) ...the twenty first century equivalent of bubonic plague, only instead of killing off a third of the population of Europe it kills 3.4 percent of those who notice they have it. It seems to be fond of the elderly, especially Iranian politicians and holy men... Erdogan said those who "see themselves above the nation" could not be a member of the AK Party.
"We'll increase our friends, we'll reduce our enemies," he said. "The reason for the existence of the AK Party, the reason why we take on these duties and the reason for people's hope in us are the same."
On July 24, Friday's prayers in the Hagia Sophia Grand Mosque marked the first acts of worship there in 86 years.
The Hagia Sophia served as a church for 916 years until the conquest of Istanbul, and a mosque from 1453 to 1934 -- nearly 500 years -- and most recently as a museum for 86 years.
In 1985, Hagia Sophia was added to the UNESCO World Heritage List.
Besides being a mosque, the Hagia Sophia is also among Turkey's top tourism destinations and will remain open for domestic and foreign visitors.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/02/2020 00:00 ||
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#1
Eid al-Adha was last week Thursday eve to Fri eve
Erdogan just thought of this yesterday apparently
Posted by: lord garth ||
08/02/2020 8:51 Comments ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
...Arabic for 
...a Pak political shape-changer. He is undistinguished except for his habit of periodically needing to have his lips reattached...
...Turkey's version of Mohammed Morsi but they voted him back in so they deserve him. It's a sin, a shame, and a felony to insult the president of Turkey. In Anatolia did Recep Bey a stately Presidential Palace decree, that has 1100 rooms. That's 968 more than in the White House, 400 more than in Versailles, and 325 more than Buckingham Palace, so you know who's really more important...
