Posts published in “Day: June 21, 2016”

DOHA, Qatar—The knock at the door of the five-star hotel room here startled the three well-known Taliban officials arrayed around a comfortable table with a senior official from a Nobel Prize-winning peace group last month. “Don’t worry,” one participant joked. “It’s not the C.I.A.” It was tea and coffee. The next day, U.S. military drones crossed into Pakistani territory and fired missiles into a vehicle carrying Taliban leader Mullah Akhtar Mansour, killing him and a…

Pakistan was still a part of India when the Durand Line was drawn in 1893, and it was the subject of controversy then and it remains so today. Both Pakistan and Afghanistan may want for differing or contiguous reasons to see the line redrawn to reflect modern realities, but the reality that is inescapable is that it is an officially-recognised international border, and the likelihood of that changing in the foreseeable future is remote to…

There is an urgent need to settle the Torkham border dispute. Afghan concerns, despite Kabul’s rhetoric, no doubt have their roots in the long argument over the Durand Line; a reality they have not accepted to this day. But just after the QCG breakdown, and Ghani’s recent chest thumping against Pakistan at the joint session of parliament in Kabul, this border dispute has come at a very bad time for Afghanistan. And that they have…

Officials of the Helmand provincial council and a senator in the Meshrano Jirga (Upper House of Parliament) said Sunday that the fighting in Helmand has temporarily decreased because Taliban fighters are too busy producing and smuggling drugs in the province. The officials said it was now the time for stepped-up action by security forces against the Taliban. They complained that security forces were not being pro-active and were only taking action when attacked by the…

A senior Taliban leader was found wounded in a police vehicle as he was being shifted to Kabul apparently for treatment purposes. The Taliban leader identified as Qari Zahir was the spy chief of the Taliban group and was found from the police vehicle in a check post in Khenjan district of Baghlan. A security official speaking on the condition of anonymity said Qari Zahir was arrested by the operatives of the Afghan intelligence, National…

A senior Taliban leader was killed in an ambush of the Afghan National Defense and Security Forces (ANDSF) in western Herat province of Afghanistan. Local officials in Herat province said Mawlavi Alam was the group’s military commission chief for Badghis province and was killed as he was travelling to Herat province. Provincial governor’s spokesman for Herat Jilani Farhad said Mawlavi Alam was ambushed by the Afghan forces in Keshk-e-Rabat district. He said Mawlavi Alam was…

Taliban uses civilians as human shields in Marjah district in Helmand as they hide inside residents’ houses during clash with Afghan security forces in the province, said security officials on Sunday. The officials said the insurgents place roadside mines in the area to prevent security forces from advancing in Marjah. “We have started house-to-house searches to eliminate or to arrest those Taliban fighters that hide inside civilians’ houses. We are trying to prevent civilian casualties…

At least 23 Daesh insurgents were killed in foreign troops’ drone strikes in eastern Nangarhar province on Saturday night, 201 Selab Military Corps said in a statement. The drone strikes were carried out in Dara-e-Mohmand, Mazdaki and Abdulkhail villages in Achin district, the statement said. The statement added that a number weapons related to the militants were also destroyed in the air raids. According to the statement, no casualty was incurred to civilians in the…

At least 13 people were killed and 23 others wounded in a suicide attack in Kabul early on Monday morning, officials said. The explosion took place at about 5am local time in Pul-e-Charkhil area in Kabul after a suicide bomber detonated his explosives near a bus related to an international organization, a police official told TOLOnews. According to the official, most of victims in the attack were Nepalese and Philippines nationals. The official did not…

KABUL – The Wolesi Jirga or lower house of parliament is all set to endorse or reject President Ashraf Ghani’s picks to head the Ministry of Defence and the National Directorate of Security (NDS) on Monday (Today), a lawmaker said on Sunday. Earlier, the defence minister-designate and the spymaster nominee were introduced to the Wolesi Jirga for a vote of confidence. Second Vice-President Sarwar Danish had introduced Lt. Gen. Abdullah Khan Habibi as defence minister-designate…