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Afghanistan

No hope Pakistan will help with peace talks ‘They lied to us’: Hanif Atmar

2016-09-06

[Khaama (Afghanistan)] The National Security Adviser of Afghanistan Mohammad Hanif Atmar has said there is no hope Pakistain will help Afghanistan with the peace talks with the Taliban group. During an interview with Gandhara/RFERL, Atmar said "We have received messages from Pakistain as we have diplomatic relations. Our president has told them we have no hope that they will help us with peace talks.؛ Atmar further added "He told Pakistain that they promised they would go against those who do not want peace talks, but Pakistain did not do this. They lied to us." Questioning Pakistain’s honesty in fight against terrorism, Atmar said "Islamabad said the Taliban leader was not in Pakistain, but then we saw Mullah Mansur had a Pak ID card when he was killed while traveling inside Pakistain.؛ "We asked them very clearly: "Why are you lying? This [grinding of the peace processor] would not be in your favor. Terrorism will backfire against you, and it already has." My hope is that Pakistain thinks logically and pays attention to this issue," Atmar added. The Afghan government was expecting to participate in direct peace talks with the Taliban group soon after the Quadrilateral Coordination Group comprising of Afghanistan, Pakistain, United States and China started work. Several rounds of QCG talks were held and the participating members had agreed to take actions against the groups pursuing violence but the Taliban group rejected the calls by the QCG and Afghan government to participate in direct talks. The group announced its spring offensive in mid-April and staged numerous deadly attacks with the support of the Haqqani terrorist network based in Pakistain, forcing the Afghan government to withdraw from the talks and opt strict military actions against the group. The Afghan officials have long been criticizing Pakistain for allowing the Taliban group and Haqqani terrorist network leaderships to use its soil for planning and coordinating attacks in Afghanistan. However, it was a brave man who first ate an oyster... Pakistain has opposed to opt a military option to resolve the issue despite admitting that the leaders of the Taliban group are based in the country and Islamabad could use certain leverages to force the group to participate in peace talks, including the pressure the country could build on the group on certain facilities it uses such as health facilities.

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India-Pakistan

CEO Abdullah confirms Mullah Mansoor killed in drone strike in Quetta

2016-05-22

[Khaama (Afghanistan)] The Chief Executive Officer Abdullah Abdullah ... the former foreign minister of the Northern Alliance government, advisor to Masood, and candidate for president against Karzai. Dr. Abdullah was born in Kabul and is half Tadjik and half Pashtun... has confirmed the supreme leader of the Taliban group Mullah Akhtar Mansoor was killed in a drone strike in Quetta, the placid provincial capital of Balochistan ...the Pak province bordering Kandahar and Uruzgun provinces in Afghanistan and Sistan Baluchistan in Iran. Its native Baloch propulation is being displaced by Pashtuns and Punjabis and they aren't happy about it... province of Pakistain. CEO Abdullah confirmed the death of Mullah Mansoor in an online statement, saying "Taliban leader Akhtar Mansoor was killed in a drone strike in Quetta, Pakistain at 4:30 pm yesterday." Abdulllah further added that Mansoor’s car was attacked in Dahl Bandin area of Quetta. The confirmation by CEO Abdullah followed shortly after the Afghan Intelligence, National Directorate of Security ...the Afghan national intel agency... (NDS), confirmed the Taliban supreme leader Mullah Akhtar Mansoor was killed in an Arclight airstrike in Pakistain. The US Department of Defense first confirmed on Saturday that the Taliban supreme leader was targeted in a drone strike. "Today, the Department of Defense conducted an Arclight airstrike that targeted Taliban leader Mullah Mansur in a remote area of the Afghanistan-Pakistain border region," a statement by Department of Defense said. The Afghan government also confirmed that the vehicle of Mullah Mansoor was targeted in an Arclight airstrike in the southwest of the town of Ahmad Wal. However, man does not live by words alone, despite the fact that sometimes he has to eat them... the Afghan government said an investigation is underway to confirm that death of Mansoor which would be announced as soon as they receive final information confirming his death.

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Afghanistan

Taliban Chief Mullah Mansoor had Pakistani passport?

2016-05-22

[Khaama (Afghanistan)] The social media have been rife with a viral report suggesting that the successor of Mullah Mohammad had a Pak passport. A photograph which purportedly shows a photograph of Mullah Akhtar Mansoor printed in the main page of a Pak passport has gone viral on social media following reports of his death in a drone strike. Mullah Mansoor’s death has been confirmed by the Afghan security institutions including the Afghan Intelligence Agency, National Directorate of Security ...the Afghan national intel agency... (NDS). The Chief Executive Officer Abdullah Abdullah ... the former foreign minister of the Northern Alliance government, advisor to Masood, and candidate for president against Karzai. Dr. Abdullah was born in Kabul and is half Tadjik and half Pashtun... also confirmed the supreme leader of the Taliban group Mullah Akhtar Mansoor was killed in a drone strike in Quetta, the lovely provincial capital of Balochistan ...the Pak province bordering Kandahar and Uruzgun provinces in Afghanistan and Sistan Baluchistan in Iran. Its native Baloch propulation is being displaced by Pashtuns and Punjabis and they aren't happy about it... province of Pakistain. The US Department of Defense first confirmed on Saturday that the Taliban supreme leader was targeted in a drone strike. "Today, the Department of Defense conducted an Arclight airstrike that targeted Taliban leader Mullah Mansur in a remote area of the Afghanistan-Pakistain border region," a statement by Department of Defense said. The Afghan government also confirmed that the vehicle of Mullah Mansoor was targeted in an Arclight airstrike in the southwest of the town of Ahmad Wal. However, a good lie finds more believers than a bad truth... the Afghan government said an investigation is underway to confirm that death of Mansoor which would be announced as soon as they receive final information confirming his death.

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Afghanistan

Mysterious arrest of Taliban supreme leader’s arch rival in Pakistan

2016-03-23

[Khaama (Afghanistan)] A top dissident Taliban leader and arch rival to Taliban supreme leader has been enjugged You have the right to remain silent... in Pakistain, days after he favored talks with the Afghan government, provided that Mullah Akhtar is not available in the talks. According to the local media reports, the top Taliban leader, Mullah Rasool was arrested shortly after entering Pakistain following fierce infighting earlier this month that left almost 200 Taliban bully boyz dead. Mullah Rasool appeared to have a moderate thinking towards the reconciliation process but was strongly opposing with Mullah Mansoor’s appointment as Taliban supreme leader and his participation in peace talks under Mansoor’s leadership. In an interview around a week ago, Mullah Rasool called the efforts to revive talks between Afghan government and Taliban group ‘Pak dictated’. "Earlier we were thinking that the Afghan Government wanted peace talks with all Taliban, but when we saw that it is interested only in making peace with Mullah Mansur because of the dictates of the Pak Government, we decided we cannot start peace talks with the Afghan Government," Rasool told the UK-based Royal United Services Institute (RUSI). Insisting on exclusion of Mansoor from reconciliation process, Rasool said he considers Mansoor’s claim to leadership spurious. Rasool had also favored the inclusion of neighboring Iran in the Afghan reconciliation process, saying the quadrilateral approach (involving US, Chinese, Pak and Afghan diplomats working together to re-launch negotiations with the Taliban) does not sufficiently represent the variety of regional interests.

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Afghanistan

Mullah Rasool says will not participate in peace talks led by Mullah Akhtar Mansoor

2016-03-18

[Khaama (Afghanistan)] The dissident Taliban leader Mullah Rasool has said he will not participate in peace talks with the government which is led by the Taliban supreme leader Mullah Akhtar Mansoor. In an interview with the UK-based Royal United Services Institute (RUSI), Mullah Rasool has said he is not opposed to reconciliation in principle, insisting that he opposes with Mansoor’s hegemony over the process as far as the Taliban are concerned. "Earlier we were thinking that the Afghan Government wanted peace talks with all Taliban, but when we saw that it is interested only in making peace with Mullah Mansur because of the dictates of the Pak Government, we decided we cannot start peace talks with the Afghan Government," Rasool added. Rasool further added that he will not sit in the same reconciliation meetings with Mansoor, whose claim to leadership he considers spurious, nor will he start a separate reconciliation track. He said he will negotiate only when Mansoor abandons plans for reconciliation or is excluded from them. Meanwhile, ...back at the Council of Boskone, Helmuth ordered the space pirate fleet to attack Zemblonia... Rasool favoured the inclusion of neighboring Iran in the Afghan reconciliation process, saying the quadrilateral approach (involving US, Chinese, Pak and Afghan diplomats working together to re-launch negotiations with the Taliban) does not sufficiently represent the variety of regional interests. He said excluding Iran, in particular, will in his view result in the failure of reconciliation efforts. The remarks by Mullah Rasool comes as the Afghan government was expecting to start face to face talks with the Taliban group at the first week of this month following the conclusion of the Quadrilateral Coordination Group (QCG) meeting last month where calls were made for direct talks. However, it's easy to be generous with someone else's money... the Taliban group rejected to participate in the talks and once again reiterated the group’s preconditions for the revival of grinding of the peace processor.

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Afghanistan

Rival Taliban factions fail to agree on next leader

2015-09-20

[RFE/RL] A Taliban faction in Afghanistan says the Islamist movement may split into two groups because they cannot agree on who should be leader following the death of Mullah Omar. The dispute emerged after Afghan intelligence revealed in August that Mullah Omar had been dead for more than two years, an announcement later confirmed by the Taliban. A hastily called meeting chose Omar's deputy, Mullah Mansur, to take charge. But a number of influential commanders were angered that Mansur had concealed Omar's death. Mullah Abdul Manan Niazi, a spokesman for the anti-Mansur faction, said on September 19 that talks between Mansur and the dissatisfied commanders had failed. They'd got on fine without a leader for two full years, after all. Under the circumstances, what need is there for a non-imaginary Number One? Some analysts think the split could derail fledgling peace talks between the Taliban and Afghanistan's government, potentially giving Daesh an opportunity to expand its influence in the region.

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Afghanistan

Afghanistan:After Mullah Omar

2015-08-07

[NATION.PK] For two years Taliban kept his demise secret from the eyes of their own people as well as the international spies swarming Afghanistan, and have elected Mullah Akhtar Mansur, as his successor, later to be ratified by the Milli Shoora, which could not meet due to fear of an aerial attack. It was the peace process launched by Pakistan which compelled the Taliban to make Mullah Omar’s’ death public, because, his conditions for peace were violated. Mullah Omar’s unflinching demands are: “You are defeated, exit now and let Afghans form an Islamic Government according to their traditions.” Mullah Mansur’s decision was thus challenged by the die-hard Taliban, forcing him to announce: “The peace talks cannot be held unless Mullah Omar’s demands were met. War against foreign occupation, therefore, will continue unabated.” The emerging situation thus leaves many questions to be answered. Taliban would take time to convene the Milli Shoora under the existing threat of the aerial attacks, which means that talks would be put-off for an indefinite period. War will continue, unabated by the Taliban, who control almost seventy percent of Afghan territory and have established a new support base in the eight provinces in the north, which were earlier areas of influence of Northern Alliance, where the Movement for Independence of Uzbekistan (MIU) has joined hands with them, threatening the security of Central Asian States and North-West China. The issue of succession is no problem for Mullah Mansur because he took-over as earlier-on designated by the Milli Shoora’s ‘Order of Succession.’ Similarly Mullah Mansur now has designated two of his deputies, namely Sirajuddin Haqqani and Mullah Haibatullah, endorsed by Jalaluddin Haqqani, the most powerful Taliban leader. The opposition to Mansur is mainly against his decision to engage in peace talks. The matter of succession is being raised as a conspiracy.

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Afghanistan

Bodies of two kidnapped Shia Afghans recovered

2015-04-07

[Iran Press TV] Afghan authorities have recovered in the southern province of Zabul the bodies of two Shia Moslems, whom suspected Talibs had kidnapped along with more than two dozen others in late February. Provincial council chief, Ata Mohammad Haqbin, said the corpses were found in Kakar (also known as Khak-e Afghan) district of the province, located over 400 kilometers (250 miles) south of the capital, Kabul, on Monday. Haqbin added that one of the victims had been murdered by his captors, while the other one was an old man who had apparently died of fatigue. On February 23, masked gunnies kidnapped 31 Shia Moslems from the Hazara ethnic community as they were traveling aboard two buses on the road between Kabul and the western city of 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... Mohammad Mohaqiq, who is a deputy to Afghanistan's Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah ... the former foreign minister of the Northern Alliance government, advisor to Masood, and candidate for president against Karzai. Dr. Abdullah was born in Kabul and is half Tadjik and half Pashtun... , said on Saturday that Mullah Abdullah Kaka and his deputy, Mullah Mansur Dadullah, two former Taliban leaders who have declared allegiance to the ISIL Takfiri ...an adherent of takfir wal hijra, an offshoot of Salafism that regards everybody who doesn't agree with them as apostates who must be killed... terrorists, were behind the abductions.

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Afghanistan

Mohaqiq Confirms Daesh Abducted 31 Passengers

2015-04-06

[Tolo News] For the first time a senior Afghan government official has confirmed that the 31 passengers kidnapped in Zabul recently were taken by Daesh hard boy group. The second deputy chief executive Mohammad Mohaqiq told News Agency that Dare Not be Named (AP) on Saturday that two former Taliban leaders, Mullah Abdullah Kaka and his deputy Mullah Mansur Dadullah, who switched allegiance to Daesh, were behind the abduction of 31 passengers belonging to Hazara ethnic minority group. The passengers, who had been travelling on Kabul-Kandahar highway in southern Zabul province, were kidnapped by unknown armed masked men on February 24. After the incident, eyewitnesses and drivers told TOLOnews that the passengers were driven away to Khak Afghan district of Zabul. Despite operations by the security forces in Khak Afghan district, which left more than 50 holy warriors dead, the whereabouts of the abductees is still unknown. "Daesh wants to create a problem here, but the people of Afghanistan are careful about it and they will not allow this to happen, that foreigners come here to create fratricides and crises," Mohaqiq said. Earlier, in an exclusive interview with TOLOnews, Mohaqiq said that the abductees were alive and had been split up into groups of three or four and were being held in different mountainous areas. He admitted that efforts by the government for their release had not been successful. However, a good lie finds more believers than a bad truth... speaking to AP, he vowed that the government will do everything possible to secure their release, "from negotiations to fighting". But the families of those kidnapped are emotional and have little hope. They accuse the government of not doing enough to release their loved ones. "These days our only hope is their release, we only hope that they will come back one day, but right now our only hope is towards God," Ismail Kayhan, son of an kidnapped man told AP. The families of a number of kidnapped men on Sunday rallied at the residence of the first Vice President Abdul Rashid Dostum ...ethnic Uzbek warlord who distinguished himself fighting the Soviets and the Taliban. The story that he had a bad guy run over with a tank is an exaggeration. It was an armored personnel carrier... , asking him to help secure the release of their loved ones.

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Afghanistan

4 Taliban Leaders Killed in Laghman, Herat Airstrikes

2012-10-06

The leader of a Taliban group in eastern Laghman province was killed by an Arclight airstrike in a joint Afghan and Isaf military operation in the Alisheng district on Wednesday, Isaf said. The leader, Rohullah Kahoon, is believed to be responsible for multiple attacks against Afghan and coalition forces using improvised bombs (IED), rocket-propelled grenades and indirect fire munitions, such as rockets and mortars, Isaf said. According to Isaf's Wednesday operations update, the security forces identified Rohullah Kahoon and a group of armed Islamic fascisti before killing him and three of the Islamic fascisti via an Arclight airstrike. Isaf also confirmed that at least two Arclight airstrikes have killed three Taliban capos in 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... province's Shindand district. An Arclight airstrike on Sept. 28 last week killed Mullah Sultan, a top Taliban leader and member of the Taliban Quetta Shura of Bala Baluk district, and Mullah Akhtar Mohammad. Sultan was reported to have directed attacks against security forces and kidnapped Afghan civilians among other criminal activities such as sending Islamic fascisti into villages in Farah to intimidate the local population into not supporting the Afghanistan government, Isaf said. Mohammad was reportedly involved in helping jacket wallahs and attacking Afghan and coalition troops in the area. He is also said to have intimidated the local population to disrupt local elections. The third leader to be killed in Shindand was second-in-charge Mullah Mansur via an Arclight airstrike Sunday, Isaf said in Tuesday's operational update. Mansur is said by Isaf to have commanded an IED cell and coordinated ambush attacks on Afghan National Security Forces in the province, in addition to moving IEDs and narcotics and recruiting young men for the insurgency.

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India-Pakistan

Pak Taliban demand swap of top war prisoners

2010-04-20

[Al Arabiya Latest] Taliban have demanded the release of two top Afghan Taliban commanders in exchange of the release of two former agents of top Pakistani spy agency Inter Services Intelligence and two journalists, who went missing a fortnight ago in a restive tribal. Unknown militants sent emails to officials containing videos of retired Colonel Ameer Sultan, alias Colonel Imam, and retired Squadron Leader Khalid Khwaja, who along with two journalists were reported missing in Miramshah area of South Waziristan region. The military men reportedly provided assistance to those journalists in making a documentary film, but later reports suggested they were directed by former top military and current ISI officials to visit the area for contacting Taliban leadership. The Taliban threatened in their email to kill Imam and Khawaja if Islamabad did not release two top Afghan Taliban leaders, Mullah Abdul Kabir and Mullah Mansur Dadullah Akhund, believed to have been in government's custody. Kabir led the Peshawar Regional Military Council, one of the Afghan Taliban's top four regional commands. Akhund, also known as Mullah Bakht Mohammad, served as Taliban's former shadow governor of eastern Afghan province of Nangarhar, and later as governor of Nangarhar during the Taliban's regime. He replaced his brother Mullah Dadullah Akhund as the top commander in southern Afghanistan during the summer of 2007. His status has been in doubt, but he was last reported to have been arrested by Pakistani security forces in January 2008. The video clips released by Taliban, and aired by a private TV channel, showed the two former spy operatives saying that they visited tribal areas upon orders by former Army Chief Gen. Aslam Baig and former DG ISI, Lt.Gen. Hamid Gul for contacting top Pakistani Taliban leadership including the new chief Waliur Rehman Mehsud. Khawaja was also quoted as saying he had directives from a serving ISI official, Col. Sajjad to visit the area. The identity of journalists were not released, however, one of them was stated to be a British national of Pakistani descent. The email message said Taliban would make further demands later.

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Afghanistan

Brits bag Taliban Aviation Turban-in-Charge

2009-06-02

KABUL -- British forces killed an alleged Taliban leader in southern Afghanistan, U.K. and Afghan officials said Tuesday, in what they claimed was a major victory against the insurgency there. Mullah Mansur was killed Monday in a strike by helicopters in Helmand province, the British defense ministry said. Helmand government spokesman Daoud Ahmadi said Mansur was the aviation minister in the Taliban regime that was ousted by the U.S.-led invasion in 2001. British military spokesman Lt. Col Nick Richardson said Mansur was "one of the most dangerous men in Helmand." "The attacks he helped plan and execute have probably killed or wounded hundreds of people, and most of them have been either Afghan civilians or police," he said, adding his death was a "serious blow" to the insurgency.

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