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Afghanistan
Reconstruction of Kabul-Jalalabad Highway Completed: MoPW
2023-01-21
[ToloNews] The reconstruction of parts of Kabul-Jalalabad Highway that were damaged by floods in recent years has been completed, the Ministry of Public Work said on Friday.

According to the MoPW, the project cost 25 million Afs and was completed in over one and a half years.
It’ll be interesting to see how long until they have to redo the work.
"The road was reconstructed with good quality. It starts from the Butkhak Roundabout (in Kabul) and ends at Hisark district of Jalalabad. The highway was damaged by the recent floods," said Abdul Wali Mohammad, head of the transport department of the MoPW.

"At least 350 to 400 people have worked in this project, also 20 to 30 cars have conducted daily activities," said Miro Gul, head of the contractor company.

The MoPW called on the residents of the country to pay serious attention in maintenance of the street.

"I want to tell the people that this highway is a national asset and its maintenance is not only the responsibility of the governmentt but it is also the responsibilit of the people and also the drivers who should avoid from overloading their trucks," said Sadiqullah Rahimi, head of the department of construction of the MoPW.
"We will establish armed checkpoints to extract boodle estimate weight limit violations"
This comes as many residents of the southern provinces have expressed concerns over severe conditions of the streets and said that it was one of the reasons for traffic accidents.

"The highway to Kandahar be also damaged, especially the areas of Durani and Qalat and that is why traffic accidents happen," said Karimullah, a driver.

The Kabul-Jalalabad Highway connects Kabul with the eastern provinces and is considered as one of the main highways in the country.
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Afghanistan
Nearly 190,000 Afghans Deported by Iran in Last 6 Months: Officials
2022-11-15
[ToloNews] Officials in the western province of Nimroz said that nearly 190,000 Afghan refugees have been deported from Iran
...The nation is noted for spontaneously taking over other countries' embassies, maintaining whorehouses run by clergymen, involvement in international drug trafficking, and financing sock puppet militias to extend the regime's influence...
within the past six months.

The officials added that they have provided assistance to at least 68,000 refugees that have returned from Iran.

"Over the past six months, more than 68,258 refugees who were deported via Nimroz port were provided with aid," said Sadiqullah Nasrat, head of provincial department of Refugees and Repatriation.

The refugees who were deported by Iran expressed frustration over challenges they have faced there.

"I hope our country is developed and job opportunities are created for youth. I have witnessed a lot of problems in Iran," said Abdul Ghafor, a deportee.

"I have not seen any happy days. I was always after work and the I was kicked out," said Khudad, a deportee.

The analysts believe that if the job opportunities are created in the country, the people will not turn to illegal immigration.

"The government should provide job opportunities for these youth so they will not be forced to leave the country," said Fahim Faramarz, an economist.

This comes as hundreds of Afghans are fleeing Afghanistan on a daily basis due to rising poverty in the country.
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Afghanistan
Interior Ministry Cracks Down on Human Trafficking to Iran
2022-05-20
[ToloNews] The Ministry of Interior has ordered all paths be blocked that are used for human trafficking to Iran.

Many young people said they are struggling with severe economic conditions, and this crackdown will only cause more problems.

Mohammad Nabi, a resident of Kapisa, and his family came to Nimruz province and are living in a small hotel.

"We were unable to purchase passports and visas. Now when we arrived in Nimroz, the Islamic Emirate closed the borders. Where can I go with these children I have with me?" he said.

Many young people arrived in Nimroz province seeking to cross the border to Iran. They called on the Islamic Emirate to provide job opportunities in the country.

"There is no opportunity for work. Everyone is forced to leave the country to find food," said Hashmatullah, a resident of Kapisa.

"I am not happy about leaving the country but I am obliged to," said Faqir Ahmad, a resident of Kapisa.

The department of Refugees and Repatriation of Nimruz said that the Ministry of Interior ordered all border forces to prevent human trafficking in a bid to stop the illegal migration of citizens to the neighboring countries.

"Afghanistan is going toward development, and the Afghans must try to spend their energy on the development of their own country," said Sadiqullah Nasrat, head of the department.
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India-Pakistan
Prime suspect in Asma Rani murder case arrested by Interpol in Sharjah
2018-03-09
[DAWN] The prime suspect in Asma Rani murder case, a third-year medical student who was rubbed out in Kohat in January, has been tossed in the calaboose
Youse'll never take me alive coppers!... [BANG!]... Ow!... I quit!
 by Interpol in Sharjah, United Arab Emirates (UAE), DawnNewsTV reported on Thursday.

Inspector General Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa police Salahuddin Mehsud confirmed the development, however, he said it will take some time to extradite the suspect to Pakistain.

Mujahidullah Afridi had, along with his brother Sadiqullah, allegedly shot up Asma as she had turned down his marriage proposal. The prime suspect reportedly fled to Soddy Arabia
...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in the Soddy national face...
 from Benazir Bhutto
... 11th Prime Minister of Pakistain in two non-consecutive terms from 1988 until 1990 and 1993 until 1996. She was the daughter of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, founder of the Pakistain People's Party, who was murdered at the instigation of General Ayub Khan. She was murdered in her turn by person or persons unknown while campaigning in late 2007. Suspects include, to note just a few, Baitullah Mehsud, General Pervez Musharraf, the ISI, al-Qaeda in Pakistain, and her husband, Asif Ali Zardari, who shows remarkably little curiosity about who done her in...
 Airport Islamabad on an Umrah visa right after the murder.

KP police had approached the Federal Investigation Agency for the issuance of red warrants against the accused, after which Interpol had placed Afridi on the list of wanted persons.

The victim had received three bullets and was rushed to a nearby hospital in Kohat, where she had identified Mujahid as the assailant before succumbing to her injuries.

The victim's family had informed the police that the suspect is the relative of a local leader of a political party.

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India-Pakistan
Two pistols used in Asma murder: report
2018-02-16
[DAWN] The forensic report of two pistols allegedly used in the murder of medical student Asma Rani has matched with the postmortem report and the empties, according to sources.

They said that one pistol was recovered from accused Sadiqullah and the other from the house of alleged controller Shahzeb.

The medical student had received three bullets which matched with shells, official sources said. Earlier, it was being assumed that she was shot at and killed with one pistol. They said that the two pistols belonged to the accused Sadiqullah and Mujahidullah.

They said that the first pistol was recovered from Sadiqullah and another from the house of Shahzeb, which belonged to Mujahidullah who had left it with him before leaving for Soddy Arabia
...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in the Soddy national face...
. They said that in the dying statement Asma had little time therefore she could only name Mujahidullah. However,
a lie repeated often enough remains a lie...
 both the accused had been nominated in the FIR by Asma’s brother Irfan who was an eyewitness in the case, said the sources.

They added that both the accused had been nominated under sections 302/34. The section 34 pertains to common intention of two or more people, they said.

The sources said that in normal cases first the blue warrants were issued by Interpol for the arrest of any person, but on the request of the interior ministry and keeping in view sensitivity of the case red warrants had been issued. They said that the accused, Mujahidullah, could not hide for long in Saudi Arabia, as he could be easily identified being alien after expiry of his visa.

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India-Pakistan
Bilawal accuses PTI of giving patronage to terrorists, killers
2018-01-31
[GEO.TV] Pakistain People’s Party Chairman Bilawal Bhutto alleged on Tuesday that Pakistain Tehrik-e-Insaf
...a political party in Pakistan. PTI was founded by former Pakistani cricket captain and philanthropist Imran Khan. The party's slogan is Justice, Humanity and Self Esteem, each of which is open to widely divergent interpretations....
 is giving patronage to bully boyz and killers.

The PPP chairman claimed that the PTI-led Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa government has been backing the killer of Asma, who has fled to Soddy Arabia
...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in the Soddy national face...
 with the party's help.

He said that the KP government’s lenient behaviour towards those involved in serious crimes should be condemned.

Bilawal said that the PTI’s local leader who incited people to kill Mashal Khan has been roaming free as well.

Asma Rani, a third-year medical student was killed in her hometown of Kohat after she refused a marriage proposal. The victim’s family claims she was rubbed out by the prime suspect Mujahid Afridi.

Today, Chief Justice of Pakistain Justice Mian Saqib Nisar took suo motu
...a legal term, from the Latin. Roughly translated it means I saw what you did, you bastard...
 notice of the murder of the medical student in Kohat.

The chief justice has summoned a report from the Inspector General Police KP Salahuddin Mehsud within 24 hours.

On January 27, Mujahid, who the victim's family claims is the nephew of PTI district president Aftab Alam, along with his brother, Sadiqullah Afridi, was waiting outside Asma’s residence.

The suspect shot her thrice after she stepped out of a rickshaw with her sister-in-law. Asma succumbed to her wounds a day later.

Mashal Khan, a student of journalism at Abdul Wali Khan University Mardan, was lynched by an angry mob on April 13 which had accused him of blasphemy. Arif, a tehsil councillor in Mardan and a general secretary of the Insaf Student Federation, the student wing of the PTI, was allegedly among those who incited the mob.

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Afghanistan
Afghanistan frees Taliban fighters with 'blood on their hands'
2014-01-28
Bring our boys home now and let Karzai have a Najibullah moment. It's the only way these jokers are ever going to learn...
A Taliban fighter identified only as Sadiqullah was freed despite his capture last May in Helmand with IED-making equipment, including several hundred feet of wire, alligator clips, electrical parts for triggers, and yellow jugs typically used as homemade explosives.

"The [Afghan Review Board] is releasing back to society dangerous insurgents who have Afghan blood on their hands."
Afghani officials freed 37 insurgents and Taliban fighters with "blood on their hands" in what the Pentagon called a "major step backward" for the rule of law in the war torn nation. The hardened fighters were among 88 prisoners who were being held by the U.S. and being transferred to the emerging Afghan criminal justice system. U.S. authorities said many had directly participated in attacks that wounded or killed scores of U.S. military personnel and Afghan citizens, yet were freed by the Afghan Review Board.

"The ARB is releasing back to society dangerous insurgents who have Afghan blood on their hands," the United States Forces-Afghanistan said in a statement. "This extra-judicial release of detainees is a major step backward in further developing the rule of law in Afghanistan."

Many of those freed were Taliban fighters who were connected by forensic evidence to specific IED attacks. Several were captured in possession of bomb materials and some even admitted taking part in attacks on coalition forces. At least two had been captured, freed and recaptured.

"These guys have all been caught, clearly engaged in activities designed to kill people," said retired U.S. Army Lt. Col Tony Shaffer, a senior fellow at the Washington-based Center for Advanced Defense Studies. "There is zero justification for releasing them."

Among the detainees freed over U.S. objections were:
  • Haji Abdullah, described as a "high-level foreign fighter facilitator" who helped mount the Aug. 16, 2012 attack that brought down a U.S. helicopter.Abdullah escorted Pakistani and Arab suicide bombers into the area to facilitate their attacks, and directed a cell of 10 fighters which carried out attacks ordered by the Taliban and Al Qaeda.

  • Mohammad Khan, a Taliban commander who coordinated suicide bomber missions, one of which killed a U.S. soldier and wounded four more.

  • Habibulla Abdul Hady, a Taliban fighter linked to multiple IED attacks in Kandahar.

  • Nek Mohammad, a bomb expert who transferred money to Al Qaeda before he was captured last May in possession of bomb making materials.

  • Akthar Mohammad, a suspected Taliban commander who planned and conducted numerous attacks on U.S. and Afghan forces.

  • "Khalil," a Haqqani network operative and suspected member of a Taliban cell captured last July in Kandahar. In addition to testing positive for trace amounts of explosives, he failed a polygraph test that asked if he had been involved in attacks on coalition forces.

  • Nurullah, a suspected Taliban commander who carried out bomb and rocket attacks against coalition forces that killed at least one U.S. service member and injured four more.
Shaffer said the freed fighters will almost certainly return to the battlefield, continuing to undermine the emerging civilian government.

"We have sacrificed 12 years of blood and treasure to help secure a stable future for the Afghan people," Shaffer said. "By doing this, they are not only undermining the security investment of NATO and the Afghani forces, they are increasing the likelihood that these guys will come back and attack their governance when we leave."

He speculated that the decision had likely come down from President Hamid Karzai, who has increasingly tried to show his independence from the coalition.

"He's trying to play both sides against the middle," Shaffer said. "He's trying to look like he's not close to us. It will blow up in his face."
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India-Pakistan
Tribal jirga backs vaccination ban
2012-07-20
[Dawn] A grand jirga of tribal elders, tasked by the government to persuade bully boy groups to allow 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...
 vaccination, informed the administration on Wednesday that the ban on immunisation in Wazoo would continue till drone attacks were stopped.

A source privy to the meeting told Dawn that in plain words the pro-government jirga had endorsed the ban imposed by a Taliban group on polio campaign in North Waziristan.

The jirga of tribal elders, Learned Elders of Islam and political authorities, held at the Governor's Circuit House here, discussed ways of resuming polio vaccination in North Waziristan. It was attended by about 300 tribal elders and prominent Learned Elders of Islam from across the tribal agency. Prominent among them were Maulvi Salim Gul, Malak Shah Jehan, Malak Nasrullah Khan, Malak Qadar Khan, Malak Mamoor Khan and Malak Amanullah.

Political Agent Siraj Ahmed Khan briefed the jirga on the importance of the campaign. Agency Surgeon Dr Muhammad Sadiq, Assistant Political Agent Shah Tasleem Khan and the local tehsildar were present on the occasion.

Leaders of the jirga told the government functionaries that the ban imposed by the Hafiz Gul Bahadur group would continue till the stoppage of drone strikes because innocent people, including children and women, were being killed in such attacks.

However,
women are made to be loved, not understood...
 the jirga stressed the need for continuing dialogue and decided that effort would continue to be made to sort out the issue amicably.

Representing the jirga, Malak Qadir Khan said it was ready to talk to the banned Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistain's group if a 'peace committee' set an appointment with the bully boys' leader.

The five-member peace committee was given a mandate by the government as well as tribal elders to mediate with the Taliban and persuade them to lift the ban. The committee includes Khan Faraz, Malak Rais Khan, Malak Haji Sarfaraz and Mufti Sadiqullah.
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Afghanistan
Taliban leader surrenders
2008-07-22
THE Taliban has been dealt a crippling blow after their leader in Helmand province surrendered – fearing the SBS were about to kill him next.

Mullah Abdul Rahim handed himself in to Pakistani police over the border from Afghanistan late on Saturday evening, The Sun has exclusively learned.

One of Top Five most wanted Taliban bosses, Rahim gave himself up after two of his senior henchmen were killed within two weeks by the elite Navy special forces unit. Rahim answered directly to one-eyed Taliban boss Mullah Omar.

He was taken into custody in the Pakistani city of Quetta, where senior Taliban leadership are in hiding, intelligence sources revealed. British commanders last night dubbed Rahim’s surrender as a massive breakthrough that would plunge militant force in Helmand into disarray.

British forces spokesman in Helmand Lt Col Robin Matthews said: “The Taliban’s senior leadership structure has suffered a shattering blow. They remain a dangerous enemy but they increasingly lack strategic direction and their proposition to the Afghan people is proving ultimately negative and self-defeating."

Helmand governor Gulab Mangal last night appealed to all remaining Taliban fighters in the province to lay down their arms. He said: “This is a great message for Helmand province. I advise all those Taliban who are engaging with terrorist actions that the fighting has no benefit. So this is the time to join with the Islamic Republic and choose a good, right and honourable way”.

As The Sun also revealed, Rahim’s deputy for northern Helmand Mullah Bishmullah was shot dead by SBS commandos on July 13. And expert bomb-maker Mullah Sadiqullah was assassinated by a Hellfire missile fired into his 4x4 by an Apache gunship helicopter on June 26.

A few hours after Rahim surrendered, British forces claimed their third senior scalp in Helmand. In the early hours of Sunday morning, the Taliban commander for the northern Musa Qalah area, Mullah Sheikh, was killed in a Hellfire missile strike fired from an unmanned Reaper drone flown by the RAF. Sheikh was attacked and killed by three henchmen as they walked in fields 15km north of Musa Qalah.

In February last year, Mullah Rahim boasted that the insurgency had 10,000 fighters ready to launch a fierce offensive in the spring "as the weather becomes warm and leaves turn green."

It was thought he had been killed in an air strike last July in northern Helmand, but he narrowly escaped.
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Afghanistan
British say troops kill Taliban big turbans
2008-07-18
In Helmand province in southern Afghanistan, the British Defense Ministry said, British troops killed a senior Taliban leader. Mullah Bismullah Akhund was killed Saturday in the Now Zad district of Helmand, long a Taliban bastion.

The Defense Ministry, in a statement Wednesday, called Bismullah "a senior key facilitator and logistician responsible for the northern Helmand region." The ministry says his death will disrupt the Taliban's leadership structure and hamper the group's ability to conduct attacks. "He is believed to have commanded numerous fighters and was identified by Task Force Helmand as a key player in the insurgency, and criminality, before the strike," according to the International Security Assistance Force.

British troops, who are part of the assistance force, announced the killing Thursday. Saturday's operation occurred 15 days after British troops killed another senior Taliban militant, Sadiqullah, in an Apache missile strike. "Bismullah was closely associated with local Taliban leader Mullah Rahim, whose brother was also killed during this operation," the International Security Assistance Force said.

The Defense Ministry said that "combined with the elimination of Sadiqullah, this is the most significant blow struck against the Taliban logistics and facilitation chain in northern Helmand this year."

The U.S.-led coalition said it also is investigating an airstrike in western Afghanistan's Farah province. Launched after a coalition convoy was attacked Tuesday, it struck a house and killed eight.
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Afghanistan
Taliban chief who killed Cpl Sarah is taken out by laser-guided missiles
2008-06-29
The fanatical Taliban mastermind behind recent attacks in which six British soldiers died in Afghanistan has been killed in a missile attack by an Army Apache helicopter. In what military chiefs described as a 'deliberate and surgical strike', the 35-year-old rebel leader - known as Sadiqullah>Sadiqullah - died alongside nine fellow Taliban fighters after the Apache fired two laser-guided Hellfire missiles at their red pick-up truck and destroyed it.
Helizap!
The rebel leader had been tracked down after weeks of secret intelligence work. His death would have been instantaneous, as the warheads of the 5ft-long missiles, which travel at 950mph, are loaded with high-explosives designed to destroy even the heaviest tank armour.
The Hellfire was designed during the Cold War to stop Soviet armor. A typical Talibugger Toyota is seriously outmatched.
You mean he didn't suffer? Oh well ...
The British military spokesman in Afghanistan, Lt Col Robin Matthews, said last night: 'This was a deliberate and surgical strike against a man who facilitated a number of fatal attacks on British, Nato and Afghan forces and civilians. It was conducted with meticulous precision and strikes a blow at the heart of the Taliban's leadership in southern Afghanistan.'

The secret operation was carried out on Thursday by two Army Air Corps pilots who were ordered to fly to a dusty road ten miles northwest of the town of Kajaki, where intelligence reports had confirmed that Sadiqullah was a passenger in the pick-up truck. It is believed that his whereabouts were leaked to British forces - quite possibly by Afghans who want the violence destroying their country to end.
A big thank you to Mahmoud the Weasel is in order ...
The attack came after an intense summer campaign mounted by Sadiqullah and his Taliban fighters against British, American and Nato forces. Victims of his roadside bombs included intelligence officer Corporal Sarah Bryant, 26, the first British woman soldier to be killed in Afghanistan. She died alongside three SAS reservists. Two Paratroopers also died in Taliban ambushes last week.

Sadiqullah was one of a number of key Taliban militia known as 'Sarbaz' - people who care nothing for their own lives.
What a coincidence, we also care nothing for their lives, except to end them as quickly as possible.
Hundreds, possibly thousands, of young men have been recruited by the Taliban to join their guerilla war against the Coalition-backed government of Mohammed Karzai.
Sheep to the slaughter. When are Muslims going to notice that none of these heroes ever come back?
Sadiqullah is said to have put his life on hold - even though he was engaged - in order to fight what he saw as the western invaders. He was interviewed in 2003 and said: 'My parents insisted that I wait a while and get married, but I told them that my first and last commitment is jihad and I don't want to make any other commitments at this stage.'
Last commitment indeed. There is a nifty graphic at the link, showing in layman's terms how the fairly standard heli-zap was carried out. I think it errs in showing the battered but relatively whole carcasses of the Talibunnies beside the truck.
And now he has his 72 goats for eternity ...

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India-Pakistan
Missile attack is a warning from CIA
2006-01-16
KHAR, Bajaur Agency: The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) of the United States may not have achieved its prime target, the No 2 Al Qaeda leader Egyptian, Dr Ayman al-Zawahri, but the January 13 air attack on Damadola village in Bajaur Agency has certainly left a deep psychological impact on the tribesmen. The tribesmen believe that the attack was a warning not to host ‘foreign guests’ in the future. “We spent the next day and night in fear and when we heard planes we run out of our homes to avoid a second tragedy,” 35-year-old Sadiqullah Khan, whose house was destroyed in the attack, told Daily Times.

A security official in Khar, the regional headquarters of Bajaur Agency that overlooks the Afghan province of Kunar, a hotbed of anti-US militants, said it seemed unlikely that the target was achieved. “The CIA has sent a clear message to all tribesmen along the Pak-Afghan border that they are aware of all activities and can launch strikes as precise as the Friday attack,” he told Daily Times on condition of anonymity. Sources said that the US had intelligence sources in almost every tribal region.

The January 13 attack was based on ‘intelligence’ received from ground agents - both Afghans and Pakistanis. However, the information seemed sketchy according to intelligence experts. “I think the the information about the alleged presence of the high value target was poor. He (the agent) was not sure in which house the Al Qaeda leader was present,” the security official said. Pakistani counter-intelligence was looking for ‘US agents’ in the area and tribal sources said that expulsion of Afghan refugees from tribal areas along the Afghan border was part of the ‘look-out’ for US-paid agents.

Damadola is regarded a stronghold of outlawed Tehrik Nifaz-e-Shariah Muhammadi (TNSM) that mobilised thousands of volunteers to fight with the Taliban against the Washington-backed Northern Alliance in Afghanistan after the 9/11 attacks in the US. Fahim Wazir, Bajaur Agency chief administrator, does not believe the banned TNSM has widespread support in the area. However TNSM leader Maulana Faqir Muhammad hails from the same village and local tribal leaders do not agree with Wazir’s views.
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