Recent Appearances...

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Recent Appearances...

Afghanistan

Former Military Officer Detained by Islamic Emirate: Family

2021-12-22

[ToloNews] A senior military official of the former government was detained by the Islamic Emirate, his family claimed on Tuesday.

Adam Khan Matin served as a deputy commander of the 2017 Pamir Corps in northern Kunduz province under the previous government. According to his relatives, the Islamic Emirate forces broke into Matin’s home on Friday in PD 12 of Kabul.

According to Matin’s relatives, he was taken to an unknown location.

"They came here and said, 'we have information that you have vehicles and weapons with you.' After they received the (weapons and vehicle), they gave us a letter. They came again and took us to the police district and said that the letter was not stamped" said Omid Matin, the son of the former military officer.

The family expressed frustration over the arrest of Matin and said that it was not in line with the general amnesty announced by the Islamic Emirate.

"Since they announced the general amnesty they should not detain people and they should let the people live a calm life," said Ziba, Matin’s wife.

"It is in against the pledge of general amnesty. Why do they arrest people without any reason?" asked Ghulam Dastagir, a relative of Matin.

The Islamic Emirate said that an investigation is underway.

"Whoever violates the general amnesty, they will be found and punished," said Aqel Ozam.

Matin’s arrest comes amid other allegations that the Islamic Emirate is detaining former military officials.

In late November, HRW in a report said "more than 100 Afghan former security members" in the four provinces of Kandahar, Helmand
...an Afghan province populated mostly by Pashtuns, adjacent to Injun country in Pak Balochistan...
, Ghazni and Kunduz were "killed or disappeared" in less than three months since the collapse of the former government.

"The Taliban
Taliban

...mindless ferocity in a turban...
leadership’s promised amnesty has not stopped local commanders from summarily executing or disappearing former Afghan security force members," said Patricia Gossman, associate Asia director of the Human Rights Watch. "The burden is on the Taliban to prevent further killings, hold those responsible to account, and compensate the victims’ families."

Link

Afghanistan

Kabul City Quiet, Residents Apprehensive First Day Under Taliban

2021-08-17

[ToloNews] The city of Kabul noticeably changed during its first day under the rule of the Taliban
Taliban

...Arabic for students...
The majority of shops, businesses, government institutions and offices were closed.

Traffic was sparse, but some residents traveled in private cars.

The public presence of women was noticeably reduced, with no large gatherings of women in the city, which would have been common on other days.

Speaking to TOLOnews, a number of residents said that the government institutions must reopen as soon as possible so that the people can carry on with their affairs.

Some Afghans expressed concern over the presence of illegal gangs in the city. Some residents pledged to avoid leaving their homes.

Deh Afghanan is the main area in the city of Kabul and is usually very crowded, but on Monday it was quiet.

"There are serious concerns there, the situation is very different, lets see what happens next," said Ghulam Dastagir, a resident in Kabul.

However,
today is that tomorrow you were thinking about yesterday...
the Taliban front man said that the situation in Kabul will return to normal soon.

"The government institutions should reopen as soon as possible, people need services," said a resident in Kabul Ehsanul Haq.

"Today four thieves under the name of Taliban stole the city," said a resident named Tawab.

"One case of flour was sold for around 1700 Afs, but now it is sold for 2100 Afs," said Kabul resident Aminullah.

The Taliban brought down Afghanistan’s largest flag from Wazir Akbar Khan hill in Kabul.

Khaama Press adds:

After the collapse of Afghanistan to the Taliban
Taliban

...mindless ferocity in a turban...
, people in Kabul got up on the morning of August 16th with literally no Afghan government personnel in the capital.

The Afghan capital is occupied with the members of the Afghanistan Islamic Emirate and the residents of Kabul are barely seen on the streets.

The Taliban are manning security of government facilities and are busy evacuating the facilities that are still manned by Afghan government forces.

Schools and universities are off and most of the street shops are also closed.

Thousands of men, women, and children have gathered in front of Hamid Maybe I'll join the Taliban Karzai
...Former president of Aghanistan, part of the problem not part of the solution...
International airport so that they get a chance to fly out of Afghanistan. Meanwhile,
...back at the palazzo, Count Guido had been cornered by the banditti...
thousands of others are still inside the airport awaiting any chance to get on a plane and leave the country but the administration of the airport announced that no plane is flying out of Kabul thus, the people are requested not to storm the airport and leave its vicinity.

The Taliban, driving Rangers, Humvees, cycle of violences, and their personnel vehicles, are apparently patrolling the Kabul and are guiding the traffic on some squares.

Thousands of youths are out of their homes just to see how the Taliban members look and are busy taking photos with them.

The Presidential Palace is submitted by the former deputy security in charge of the palace to Zakir Qayum.

Zakir Qayum is a member of the AIE’s military mission and is said to be in charge of protecting the Presidential Palace until the power is transferred.

Link

Afghanistan

Herat traffic police chief killed in gunmen ambush

2017-08-15

[Khaama (Afghanistan)] The police chief of the western Herat
...a venerable old Persian-speaking city in western Afghanistan, populated mostly by Tadjiks, which is why it's not as blood-soaked as areas controlled by Pashtuns...
traffic department was killed in an ambush of the unknown gunnies in the outskirts of the historic provincial capital late on Sunday.

According to the local security officials, the provincial traffic police General Ghulam Dastagir was rubbed out by unknown gunnies riding cycle of violence.

A front man for the Herat police department Abdul Ahad Walizada confirmed the incident and said one of the bodyguards of Gen. Dastagir also lost his life in the attack.

Walizada further added that Gen. Dastagir’s vehicle was ambushed around five kilometers in the east of Herat city.

He said the gunnies have managed to flee the area and an investigation is underway along with a search operation to apprehend the perpetrators.

Link

Afghanistan

Attacks plan foiled in Kabul city, NDS arrest 3 suspects deployed by Taliban

2017-08-14

[Khaama (Afghanistan)] The Afghan cops have foiled a series of attacks planned by the Taliban
...the Pashtun equivalent of men...
Lions of Islam in Kabul city, arresting a group of at least three Lions of Islam in connection to the attacks plot.

The Afghan Intelligence, National Directorate of Security
...the Afghan national intel agency...
(NDS), said the suspects were tossed in the clink
Drop the heater, Studs, or you're hist'try!
shortly after they were deployed by the group to Kabul city in a bid to carry out the attacks.

NDS further added that the detained ~~bandidos~~ Lions of Islam have been identified as Wahidyar son of Kheshtyar, Humayoun son of Motabar Shah, Qudratullah son of Ghulam Dastagir.

According to the National Directorate of Security, the ~~bandidos~~ Lions of Islam were during the special operations conducted by the intelligence operatives and shortly after they were deployed to the city for the attacks.

NDS also shared a video of the detained ~~bandidos~~ Lions of Islam where they confess that they were planning to carry out attacks in the city.

Link

Arabia

Kuwait halts visa for five Muslim-majority countries, including Pakistan

2017-02-04

[Iraq Sun] Close on the heels of Trump's controversial travel order, Kuwait has suspended the issuance of visitor, trade and tourism visas for nationals of five countries.

The Kuwait government informed those who want to migrate from Syria, Iraq, Pakistain, Afghanistan and Iran at present not to apply for visas.

Prior to Trump's executive order imposing a temporary ban on immigration from seven Moslem-majority countries - Iraq, Syria, Iran, Sudan, Libya, Somalia and Yemen
...an area of the Arabian Peninsula sometimes mistaken for a country. It is populated by more antagonistic tribes and factions than you can keep track of. Except for a tiny handfull of Jews everthing there is very Islamic...
- Kuwait was the only country to ban the entry of Syrian nationals.

Kuwait first ordered "a blanket ban" on new visas for Syrians in 2011, but those Syrians who were already in the country were allowed to stay.

According to local media reports, the restrictions were in place due to the "instability" in the five countries.

Kuwait will allegedly lift the travel embargo once "the security situation improves."

Pakistain, has, however, rejected reports on a ban for its citizens who wish to travel to the Gulf country.

According to Pakistain-based Geo News, the country's ambassador to Kuwait Ghulam Dastagir news on social media about the ban was "baseless" and similar rumours were spread in 2011 as well.

Earlier, there were indications that Pakistain may be included in Trump's list of Moslem nations from where immigration to the U.S. has been banned by 90 days.

Link

India-Pakistan

Three ‘IS members’ held with explosives

2016-07-14

[DAWN] Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) of police claimed on Tuesday to have locked away
Drop the gat, Rocky, or you're a dead 'un!
three members of the Death Eater Islamic State
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're 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 the pols talk they're not really Moslems....
group and recovered explosives.

A CTD front man claimed that they received information about the presence of three suspected faceless myrmidons who were planning to attack government installations in Lahore.

He said a CTD team was constituted to conduct a raid at a house near Bund Road to arrest the suspects.

He said the team arrested three suspected faceless myrmidons who were identified as Muhammad Idress, Ghulam Dastagir and Tahir Yousaf.

The front man said the team also recovered a heavy quantity of kaboom from their possession along with accessories primacord, electric circuits and detonators.

Link

India-Pakistan

Two allegedly held by intelligence agencies produced before SC

2013-05-04

[Pak Daily Times] Two tossed in the calaboose
Don't shoot, coppers! I'm comin' out!
persons allegedly picked up by the intelligence agencies from Butkhela, Malakand, in 2009 and 2010 were produced before the Supreme Court for the first time on Friday after their arrest.

A three-judge Supreme Court bench headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry had ordered the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa
... formerly NWFP, still Terrorism Central...
government to produce the two accused before it on May 2. Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Chief Secretary Ghulam Dastagir, Home Secretary Azam Khan and Additional Advocate General (AAG) Naveed Akhtar appeared before the apex court that had taken up the petition moved by right activists Asma Jehangir.

One of the detainees, Muhammad Ibrahim, was locked away
Keep yer hands where we can see 'em, if yez please!
on n September 11, 2010, from Butkhela, whereas the other, Hidayat Shah, was arrested on December 23, 2009. Both were later sent to the internment centres set up under the Action in Aid of Civil Power Regulations (AACPR) 2011 promulgated by President Asif Ali Ten Percent Zardari
... husband of the late Benazir Bhutto, who has been singularly lacking in curiosity about who done her in ...
in exercise of his powers under Article 247 of the constitution.

These internment centres set up under AACPR near Pak-Afghan border in the

Orakzai Agency
... crawling with holy men, home to Darra Adam Khel, the world's largest illegal arms bazaar. 14 distinct tribes of beturbanned primitives inhabit Orakzai agency's 1500 or so square kilometers...
allow the civil government to confine persons accused of terrorism. Asma described the AACPR law as worse than the Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act introduced by India in 1985. According to the prosecution both the accused are residents of Butkhela -- an area that is situated in the jurisdiction of the PATA (Provincially Administered Tribal Areas). According to a statement submitted by the home secretary, the internment authorities had recommended the trial of both accused under terrorism charges after weapons were recovered from their possession, but they were later sent to the internment centres.

The apex court, however, expressed its surprise over why the accused were not sent to the courts to face trials and noted that all during the detention, the family members of these accused were not allowed to meet them. However,
today is that tomorrow you were thinking about yesterday...
the home secretary assured the apex court during the proceedings that the family members of the accused would be allowed to meet them. The court directed the AAG to regulate the meetings between the accused and the family members and submit a report to the registrar of the Supreme Court for perusal by judges in chambers.

Link

India-Pakistan

KP upset over polio cases among vaccinated children

2012-09-18

[Dawn]

The Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa
... formerly NWFP, still Terrorism Central...
government has shown concern over detection of polio
...Poliomyelitis is a disease caused by infection with the poliovirus. Between 1840 and the 1950s, polio was a worldwide epidemic. Since the development of polio vaccines the disease has been largely wiped out in the civilized world. However, since the vaccine is known to make Moslem pee-pees shrink and renders females sterile, bookish, and unsubmissive it is not widely used by the turban and automatic weapons set...
among the vaccinated children in the areas where vaccination coverage was more than the national target of 95 per cent.

Officials said that government sought help of World Health Organisation (WHO) in strengthening post-campaign monitoring to ensure that all the children received oral polio vaccine.

The concerns were shown by Chief Minister Ameer Haider Khan Hoti and Chief Secretary Ghulam Dastagir Akhtar during a meeting with a delegation, led by adviser to WHO director general Hussein A. Gezairy on Sunday.

The meeting decided to run 10 two-week campaigns in all districts for five consecutive months to stem the tide of virus circulation, officials said.

Dr Imtiaz Ali Shah, focal person (technical) for Chief Minister's Secretariat, told Dawn that government was extremely upset by the presence of polio virus among the children above five years.

"The WHO says that the virus emerges at the last stages of the polio eradication campaigns. For example, India had recorded polio virus in 90 per cent people above 60 months one year before it was declared polio-free," he said.

Link

India-Pakistan

Fata admin asked to curb abductions

2012-01-07

[Dawn] Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa
... formerly NWFP, still Terrorism Central...
Governor Barrister Masood Kausar has directed political agents of all tribal agencies to effectively control kidnapping incidents to improve investment environment in Federally Administered Tribal Areas.

"This must be given serious consideration so that people feel some kind of improvement," he said during a high level meeting, according to an official handout issued here on Thursday.

Chairing the 12th Political Agents Conference at the Governor`s House on Thursday, Mr Kausar reviewed the law and order situation, anti-polio
...Poliomyelitis is a disease caused by infection with the poliovirus. Between 1840 and the 1950s, polio was a worldwide epidemic. Since the development of polio vaccines the disease has been largely wiped out in the civilized world. However, since the vaccine is known to make Moslem pee-pees shrink and renders females sterile, bookish, and unsubmissive it is not widely used by the turban and automatic weapons set...
campaign in Fata, implementation on Fata legal reforms and the causes of unscheduled prolonged power loadshedding in the tribal areas.

Political agents presented reports about law and order situation in their respective agencies and briefed the governor about the steps taken to overcome the problem.

The governor said that as security environment in Fata was improving, the political administration should focus on the development of their respective areas.

The improvement of investment climate in Fata, he added, should also be attached top priority and potential investors should be provided facilities to encourage them to start businesses in Fata.

"The political administration should move forward, taking the tribal communities along," Mr Kausar said. He appreciated the support extended by local communities against militancy and urged the political administration to further strengthen their liaison with the rustics.

He directed the political agent of Khyber Agency

to effectively address the grievances and complaints of Bara rustics. The process of return of internally displaced persons to their homes should be accelerated and facilitated, the governor said.

Issuing directives to the political agents to ensure speedy implementation of Fata reforms, he asked them to coordinate their efforts and perform their duties proactively to ensure further improvement in the tribal areas. He said that strengthening of peace and execution of development projects should be the two major priorities in all the seven tribal agencies.

The governor said that promotion of sports and cultural activities should also be focused in an effort to involve tribal youth in healthy and positive activities.

Reviewing the situation in the wake of prolonged power outages in Fata, he said that rustics must be given relief. He directed the authorities concerned to work out a mechanism to overcome the technical problems adding to rustics`s electricity related issues.

He said that Tribal Electric Supply Company and political administration should coordinate their efforts. The communities, he added, should also realise their responsibilities in improving the electricity distribution system in Fata.

The Fata additional chief secretary presented an overview about the implementation of the previous conference`s decisions.

Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Chief Secretary Ghulam Dastagir Akhtar, Fata Additional Chief Secretary Fazal Karim Khattak, officials of Fata Secretariat, commissioners of Kohat, Malkand and D.I. Khan, all the political agents, Fata director education and director health and Tesco chief executive attended the conference.

Link

Afghanistan

Militants attack Afghan police convoy, killing five

2010-05-30

[Dawn] Militants ambushed an Afghan police convoy with a roadside bomb and gunfire in eastern Afghanistan, killing five officers before fleeing Nato aerial bombardment, an official said Saturday.
Two militants were killed and up to six wounded in the battle Friday in Paktia province, said Ghulam Dastagir, the deputy provincial police chief.

He said the convoy was headed toward the Dandi Pathan district when one vehicle was hit by a roadside bomb blast, killing five officers and wounding the district police chief. Militants opened fire after the blast, triggering a gunbattle that lasted several hours before Nato aircraft were called in.

Farther north, officials in Nuristan province were still trying to confirm reports that a senior Pakistani Taliban leader was killed in several days of fighting between security forces and militants who have been trying to seize control of the Barg-e-Matal district on the Pakistan border.

Villagers who took part in the fighting said they had killed Taliban commander Maulana Fazlullah, who spearheaded the takeover of Pakistan's Swat Valley three years ago, gaining prominence as the ''Radio Mullah'' for his vehemently anti-Western sermons on local radio. The former mountain resort area fell under Taliban control until Pakistani forces drove them out last year.

Pakistani Taliban leaders say Fazlullah was in Nuristan but they believe he is still alive.

Meanwhile, Nato announced Friday that Afghan and international troops acting on intelligence information found and destroyed two bomb-making and weapons storage facilities this week in Kandahar province, and battled with militants who tried to defend them.

A cache found at one facility, in the Panjwai district, included high explosives, mortar rounds, roadside bombs, rocket-propelled grenades and automatic rifles, a Nato statement said. At the other, mines, roadside bombs and a stockpile of materials and equipment for making more were found. The exact location was not disclosed.

On Friday, the top US commander in Afghanistan, Gen. Stanley McChrystal, and other dignitaries officially launched the construction of a rail link between northern Afghanistan and neighboring Uzbekistan. The 50-mile line from the Afghan city of Mazar-e-Sharif to Termez in Uzbekistan would eventually carry millions of tons of goods between the two countries, officials said.

Transport routes from Central Asia are among key supply lines for trade in Afghanistan -- and for US military operations. Taliban militants have sought to disrupt and control transport routes all over the country.

Link

Afghanistan

Little resistance on day 2 of US-Afghan offensive

2009-12-06

[Asharq al-Aswat] U.S. Marines and Afghan troops have killed at least seven Taliban fighters during the first U.S.-led offensive since President Barack Obama announced a new American war plan this week, Afghan officials said Saturday. American and Afghan troops have met little resistance since Operation Cobra's Anger was launched Friday to disrupt Taliban supply and communications lines in the strategic Now Zad Valley of Helmand province in southern Afghanistan, Marine officials said.

About 1,000 Marines and 150 Afghan troops are taking part in the offensive, including hundreds of Marines dropped behind Taliban lines by helicopters and MV-22 Osprey aircraft.

Isn't "behind Taliban lines" somewhere in the vicinity of Islamabad? The CIA must be miffed at having to share their area of operations.

Nah, it could be Quetta or even Karachi ...

A second, larger Marine force pushed northward from the Marines' main base.

"We're not taking for granted the low level of contact," Marine spokesman Maj. William Pelletier said Saturday. "Just because it's quiet now doesn't mean it will be in 24 hours. Part of the operation is to have a disruptive effect on the Taliban resupply activities. The Marines and Afghan forces are continuing the clearing operation, continuing to move through the valley."

No coalition casualties have been reported. Daood Ahmadi, spokesman for the governor of Helmand province, said 11 Taliban fighters have been killed and five captured. The Afghan Defense Ministry said seven militants were killed and two captured.

Gen. David Petraeus, the top U.S. general in charge of both the Afghanistan and Iraq wars, told The Associated Press on Friday that the offensive was part of preparations for the arrival of 30,000 new U.S. reinforcements. Petraeus said the military has been working for months to extend what he called "the envelope of security" around key towns in Helmand and Kandahar provinces.

Now Zad was one of the largest towns in Helmand until fighting drove away the 30,000 inhabitants. Now the area is a major supply and transportation hub for Taliban forces that use the valley to move drugs, weapons and fighters south toward major populations and to provinces in western Afghanistan.

Back in August, U.S. forces launched "Operation Eastern Resolve II" in the Now Zad Valley to help provide security for the Afghan presidential elections and disrupt enemy activity in the area. Pelletier said the latest offensive was launched before the reinforcements arrive because it was the best time to limit the militants' freedom of movement in the area.

"We have sufficient forces to clear this area, especially when you consider that our number of Afghan partners has almost quadrupled since July," Pelletier said. "So we felt this was a mission we could do without additional troops and without stretching our forces too thin." The Afghan government has approved a new seventh corps of the Afghan National Army, Corps 215 Maiwand, to be based in the Helmand capital of Lashkar Gah where the first fresh U.S. troops are expected to arrive. British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has said the Afghans have vowed to deploy 5,000 members of the new Afghan army corps to Helmand, to be partnered by British troops next year. Elsewhere, three Taliban militants were killed Friday during a gunbattle with Afghan National Police at a checkpoint in Nimroz province, provincial Gov. Ghulam Dastagir Azad said Saturday. Five other militants and five policemen were wounded in the clash in the Khash Rod district. The battle started after the Taliban fighters attacked the checkpoint with mortars and machine guns, he said.

NATO reported that a joint Afghan-international security force detained a handful of militants Saturday in Logar province, including an individual linked to senior leadership in the province who allegedly was helping militants move and train in the area.

The joint security force targeted a compound near the village of Sejawand in the Baraki Barak district of Logar in eastern Afghanistan and recovered AK-47 rifles, pistols, fragmentation grenades and chest racks fully loaded with AK-47 magazines, NATO said.

Link

Afghanistan

Suicide bomber targets Spin Boldak bus station

2009-06-06

A SUICIDE bomb rocked an Afghan town bordering Pakistan, killing four people, as insurgency-linked unrest claimed the lives of another 13, including a foreign soldier.

The suicide blast, detonated by a man on a bomb-filled motorbike, tore through a busy bus station in the southern town of Spin Boldak, police said.

"Including the suspect, five were killed and eight were wounded," said the Kandahar province border police chief, Jawad Ahmad.

However, the interior ministry said three people - a man, a woman and a child - were killed in the suicide attack, without explaining the discrepancy.

Eleven were wounded, including five children, the ministry said, adding that the device had exploded before the bomber reached his target.

There was no claim of responsibility for the attack but militants allied to the extremist Taliban militia, which has carried out scores of suicide attacks, are active in southern Afghanistan and across the border in Pakistan.

Meanwhile, a soldier in a NATO-led force operating against Taliban insurgents was killed in a "hostile incident", the International Security Assistance Force said in a statement that gave no further details.

It did not give the nationality of the dead soldier or details of the incident. Most of the troops in the south are Americans, British or Canadians.

Elsewhere, Taliban militants ambushed a private security company in the southwestern province of Nimroz, killing three armed guards and wounding one, provincial governor Ghulam Dastagir Azad said.

"The Afghan army and US-led coalition forces went to the area for their support and killed three Taliban and wounded five," he said.

There has been a spate of deadly insurgent attacks recently on convoys that ferry goods across the country, including to bases of the nearly 70,000 foreign troops deployed to help the Afghan Government.

Afghan and US-led coalition forces killed two "opposition commanders" in the southern province of Kandahar on Friday, the interior ministry said in a statement that did not give details of the men.
Another four militants were killed in incidents in Farah province in the south and Paktika in the east, officials said.

Attacks and battles have surged in recent weeks as troops try to clamp down on insurgents ahead of August 20 elections and after the extremists vowed to step up their campaign.

There are fears the violence will disrupt the elections, an important test for international efforts to bring democracy to Afghanistan.

The Taliban were in government for five years until 2001, when they were toppled in a US-led invasion weeks after the September 11 attacks on the United States, blamed on the al-Qaeda network, which had bases in Afghanistan.

Link

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