Afghanistan - News & Discussions

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[Modern Patriot]

Taliban reacts at Kabul bombing
The Taliban militants group in Afghanistan reacted at the deadly bombing in capital Kabul that left at least 80 dead, claiming that the fighters of the group have no role in today’s devastating attack.

Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid in a statement said the group has no role in the attack and the Taliban fighters were also not involved in it as they are not allowed to carry out attacks in areas where there are no targets.

Mujahid also added that the group strongly condemns today’s attack in the city.

 

[Bahamut]

Taliban reacts at Kabul bombing
The Taliban militants group in Afghanistan reacted at the deadly bombing in capital Kabul that left at least 80 dead, claiming that the fighters of the group have no role in today’s devastating attack.

Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid in a statement said the group has no role in the attack and the Taliban fighters were also not involved in it as they are not allowed to carry out attacks in areas where there are no targets.

Mujahid also added that the group strongly condemns today’s attack in the city.

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[ezsasa]

Taliban reacts at Kabul bombing
The Taliban militants group in Afghanistan reacted at the deadly bombing in capital Kabul that left at least 80 dead, claiming that the fighters of the group have no role in today’s devastating attack.

Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid in a statement said the group has no role in the attack and the Taliban fighters were also not involved in it as they are not allowed to carry out attacks in areas where there are no targets.

Mujahid also added that the group strongly condemns today’s attack in the city.

This must be "ISIS" response to MOAB.

Afghan Taliban might be many things, but they don't lie.

 

[Bahamut]

This must be "ISIS" response to MOAB.

Afghan Taliban might be many things, but they don't lie.

It makes sense to target US embassy but the blast happen close to German and Iranian embassy , there must be another reason

 

[ezsasa]

It makes sense to target US embassy but the blast happen close to German and Iranian embassy , there must be another reason

Maybe German and Iranian embassy are at the edge of green zone.

 

[Akshay_Fenix]

Modi goes to germany and the next day german embassy gets blown up... Any connections?

Bomb exploded at the gates of german embassy.

 

[Innocent]

India planning to send 15,000 troops to Afghanistan
(Can Someone Verify??)

http://pakobserver.net/india-planning-send-15000-troops-afghanistan/



Special Correspondent

Washington

Diplomatic reports reaching here say that the Indian National Security Advisor Ajit Doval is planning to rush to Afghanistan in an attempt to cash on the latest wave of terrorist attacks and make an official offer of sending Indian troops to defend Afghan Government leaders.
A reliable report also claimed that Mr. Ajit Doval had recently met with Afghan National Security Advisor Hanif Atmar in Russia a few days earlier and had asked Afghan government to deliver an official invitation to the Indian Government to dispatch Indian troops.
Reports reaching here from Kabul say that Afghanistan’s pro-Indian lobby had been trying to exploit the blast for its own gains and objectives and has increased anti-Pakistan propaganda despite the fact that Pakistanis had also become victims of Kabul blast.
Afghan Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid has strongly denied any involvement in the attack and said that Taliban leadership had issued instructions against targeting any civilian or civilian facilities. Afghan Talibans says it could be a conspiracy to pave the way for more foreign troops in Afghanistan.
Despite strong condemnation from Pakistan the pro-India Afghan leaders and lobbies including former Afghan intelligence chief Saleh Amrullah have started a campaign against Pakistan. On May 28, 2017, just two day before the Wednesday Kabul attack the Afghan Pajhwok news agency had reported that India could send its troops to Afghanistan under “UN mission”. The Pajhwok dispatch from Washington which was published in the Outlook Afghanistan had quoted a “prominent Indian defense expert” told a Washington audience on May 18, 2017 that “New Delhi could perhaps be persuaded to send up to a division of Indian troops – around 15,000 — to Afghanistan under a United Nations Peacekeeping mission.”
“If invited, if there is a UN peacekeeping force … it is my considered view that perhaps India could be persuaded to send up to a division, provided the logistics are in place, provided Pakistan’s so-called sensibilities can be put in place,” Brig® Gurmeet Kanwal, from the Institute for Defense Studies and Analysis was quoted as telling audience in a close-door round table at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars.
Gurmeet Kanwal, who is known for his close links with Indian military establishment visited Washington DC and tried to convince President Donald Trump Administration to allocate India an official role in Afghanistan.

 

[Neexis]

Afghanistan has a very well trained and well equipped special forces. I request the senior members to kindly open a thread on them, and share pics and info. Thanks in advance.

 

[Modern Patriot]

The air corridor between Afghanistan and India was formally inaugurated by President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani today as cargo worth $5 million is expected to arrive in New Delhi today.

The second flight as part of the air corridor is expected to leave Afghanistan in a week time and will carry cargo worth $2 million from the southern Kandahar province of Afghanistan.

Speaking during the inauguration of the air corridor, President Ghani thanked the Indian Prime Minister for the support of the Indian government for turning the plan into the reality.

He said Kabul and New Delhi will turn the barriers into opportunities as he emphasized that the government of national unity’s aim is to turn the country into a state that exports commodities to outside the country.

President Ghani further added that the peace and stability would be difficult and impossible to achieve in the absence of economic stability in the country which can only be achieved with the increase in exports.

The Embassy of India in Kabul says the first flight will carry cargo load of around 62 tons and the second flight will leave Kandahar for New Delhi in the near future.

The first flight of the air corridor will be received by the external minister of India in New Delhi.

 

[ezsasa]

The air corridor between Afghanistan and India was formally inaugurated by President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani today as cargo worth $5 million is expected to arrive in New Delhi today.

The second flight as part of the air corridor is expected to leave Afghanistan in a week time and will carry cargo worth $2 million from the southern Kandahar province of Afghanistan.

Speaking during the inauguration of the air corridor, President Ghani thanked the Indian Prime Minister for the support of the Indian government for turning the plan into the reality.

He said Kabul and New Delhi will turn the barriers into opportunities as he emphasized that the government of national unity’s aim is to turn the country into a state that exports commodities to outside the country.

President Ghani further added that the peace and stability would be difficult and impossible to achieve in the absence of economic stability in the country which can only be achieved with the increase in exports.

The Embassy of India in Kabul says the first flight will carry cargo load of around 62 tons and the second flight will leave Kandahar for New Delhi in the near future.

The first flight of the air corridor will be received by the external minister of India in New Delhi.

The flight,which carried 60 tonnes of cargo (mainly ‘hing’) from Afghanistan, was flagged off in Kabul by President Ashraf Ghani

 

[Neo]

The flight,which carried 60 tonnes of cargo (mainly ‘hing’) from Afghanistan, was flagged off in Kabul by President Ashraf Ghani

Is India going to use the corridor to fly freight into Afghanistan as well? What route do they fly?

 

[ezsasa]

Is India going to use the corridor to fly freight into Afghanistan as well? What route do they fly?

Looks like it's only one way for now, Afghanistan to India.

I am assuming Flight path would be over Pakistan, same as civilian flights. Otherwise cost would increase.

Edit:
Surprise should be the speed at which this thing got set. It was discussed for the first time in Sep 2016, first flight in 9 months. This must be some sort of record for Indian bureaucracy.

 

[Neo]

Looks like it's only one way for now, Afghanistan to India.

I am assuming Flight path would be over Pakistan, same as civilian flights. Otherwise cost would increase.

Edit:
Surprise should be the speed at which this thing got set. It was discussed for the first time in Sep 2016, first flight in 9 months. This must be some sort of record for Indian bureaucracy.

Land route is open already for Afghanistan for exports only. What benefit is this costly air corridor going to bring?

 

[ezsasa]

Land route is open already for Afghanistan for exports only. What benefit is this costly air corridor going to bring?

not too may details available regarding freight cost, as of now.
have to wait till next parliament session, assuming somebody will ask the same question there..

My guess would be that some sort of subsidy is being partially paid either from american or indian aid funds, for the freight costs.

 

[Neo]

not too may details available regarding freight cost, as of now.
have to wait till next parliament session, assuming somebody will ask the same question there..

My guess would be that some sort of subsidy is being partially paid either from american or indian aid funds, for the freight costs.

Flying empty planes back is a costly endeavor and usually only politically motivated. There's toll/transit fee on land routes and ATC charges on air corridors, either way Kabul has to pay, be it with Indian or American money. The only advantage I see in this is the vulnerability of loads of perishables that get stranded whenever we close border. These things could be flown out of the country on schedule.

 

[SanjeevM]

Can't we have an air corridor via Iran(ignore Pakistan), so that we can have import as well as export to Afghanistan.

 

[Neo]

Can't we have an air corridor via Iran(ignore Pakistan), so that we can have import as well as export to Afghanistan.

It's already there via Dubai. Cargo services exist with Kabul, Kandahar and Mazar-i-Sharif.

 

[hit&run]

The flight,which carried 60 tonnes of cargo (mainly ‘hing’) from Afghanistan, was flagged off in Kabul by President Ashraf Ghani

Good Move. This was long due. Target is to increase trade via this rout up to 10 billion in 10 years.

 

[ProudIndian36]

Afghan Government Quietly Aids Breakaway Taliban Faction

Hi all! I am a new member, but couldn't properly introduce myself in the new members forum yet. I'm a 30 year old accounting professional of Indian origin living in US. I been lurking in this forum for sometime. I read the P****** forum, feel sick and then come here to relieve the pain.



I found this interesting news from Afghanistan I thought to share. It seems the Afghan government is doing something to outsmart the taliban.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/19/world/asia/afghanistan-taliban-faction-renouncers.html

https://www.wsj.com/articles/in-afghanistan-a-secret-plan-pays-off-the-taliban-146396454



KANDAHAR, Afghanistan — It was a particularly bitter fight in the heavily contested district of Gereshk in Helmand Province. The adversaries deployed suicide attackers, roadside explosives and a magnetic bomb stuck to the undercarriage of a commander’s car, amid pitched firefights that went on for several days last week.

When it was over, at least 21 people were dead on both sides — and all were members of the Taliban.

As a result, Gereshk remained one of the few places in the province still mostly under the Afghan government’s control, thanks to a breakaway Taliban faction that has become a de facto ally of the government.

Infighting among the Taliban is nothing new. But Afghan officials have now chosen sides, with a policy that amounts to “If you can’t beat them, at least help their enemies do so.”

In recent months, the government has quietly provided the breakaway faction — popularly known as the Renouncers — with weapons, safe passage and intelligence support in their fight against the mainstream Taliban. The result has been a series of successes in areas where the government has otherwise suffered repeated defeats, particularly in Helmand, a southern province where the mainstream Taliban still control 90 percent of the territory.

The Renouncers are followers of Mullah Mohammad Rasoul, who split with the main Taliban group after revelations in 2015 that the former Taliban leader, Mullah Muhammad Omar, had long been dead. Mullah Rasoul and his followers were angered that Mullah Omar’s replacement, Mullah Akhtar Muhammad Mansour, had kept the death a secret.

After Mullah Mansour was killed in an American airstrike last year, his successor, Mawlawi Haibatullah Akhundzada, antagonized the Rasoul faction even more, especially by choosing a hard-line member of the Taliban’s Haqqani wing, Sirajuddin Haqqani, as deputy leader in charge of military operations.

While they have been most active in Helmand Province, other Renouncer factions have engaged in bitter fights with the mainstream Taliban in Shindand District of Herat Province, in the northwest, and in the western provinces of Farah and Ghor.

The fighting last week began when the mainstream Taliban attacked a Renouncer base in Gereshk, one of the few areas outside Helmand’s provincial capital, Lashkar Gah, that are not under Taliban control. The base, near an Afghan Army base, was struck by a pickup truck loaded with explosives and driven by a suicide bomber, killing 11 of their fighters, according to Hamidullah Afghan, a local police official. He said the authorities helped evacuate those Renouncers who were wounded to a hospital in Lashkar Gah.

In retaliation, the Renouncers began their own suicide attack against the Taliban at a bazaar in the district, according to Abdul Salam Afghan, a spokesman for the Helmand police. In all, 11 of the Renouncers and 10 of the mainstream Taliban were killed in the fighting, which was still flaring this week in the area of the bazaar, in Seminar Dasht village.

Qari Yousuf Ahmadi, the spokesman for the mainstream Taliban in southern Afghanistan, said the group they had attacked in Gereshk was a unit trained and equipped by the National Directorate of Security, the Afghan intelligence agency. He said it had no affiliation with the Taliban.

Mullah Abdul Manan Niazi, the spokesman for the Renouncer faction, denied that the group was government-supported, saying that it was a popular movement spurred by resentment toward the mainstream Taliban.

“The reason they targeted us with a car bomber is the Taliban are afraid of us, because we are enhancing our influence in Helmand and the people realize now the Taliban are getting financial support from Iran and Russia,” Mullah Niazi said. “They have lost touch with the grass roots.”

He said the group had also fought against the Taliban in Ghor and Farah provinces. “We have told the residents not to allow Taliban to stay in their villages, and if anyone is found giving shelter to the Taliban, their homes will be burned to ashes,” Mullah Niazi said.

Government officials in Helmand publicly deny any support for the Renouncer faction. But several police officials there confirmed that the government had helped transfer wounded Renouncers to the hospital after the fighting last week. And a border police official, who spoke only on the condition of anonymity, said that among the units guarding the entrances to Lashkar Gah is a Renouncer unit trained and equipped by the National Directorate of Security.

The intelligence agency pays the fighters salaries equivalent to $150 to $300 a month, and supplies them with food, weapons and vehicles, the official said.

The mainstream Taliban are worried that the Renouncers, who dress and look like other Taliban, have been infiltrating their ranks. In May, they claimed to have arrested 90 such infiltrators in Helmand, who they said were involved in assassination plots against the mainstream group.

Further complicating the picture in Helmand are groups known as the Sangorians, after a popular television drama that depicts a hero wandering the mountains and fighting evildoers, disguised in local garb. These groups, according to local officials, are recruited and trained by the intelligence agency, but dress as Taliban and infiltrate into Taliban-controlled areas to fight behind their lines.

Far to the north in Herat Province, the Taliban has made its most serious inroads in Shindand District. There the Taliban shadow governor, Mullah Samad, brought in reinforcements from other provinces to fight against Nangyal, the local leader of the breakaway faction. (Like many Afghans, Nangyal uses only one name).

Nangyal was defeated and surrendered to the government, which then helped him reorganize his forces as a Renouncer group aligned to Mullah Rasoul, and return to the fight against the mainstream Taliban, according to Abdul Hameed Noor, a former governor of Shindand.

“Rasoul’s group are supported by the government forces, they operate very freely in government controlled areas,” said Haji Ajab Gul, another former governor of the district. “They can come to the main town of Shindand and target people they dislike.”

Last month, the Afghan Army detected a buildup of mainstream Taliban forces planning an attack on followers of Mullah Rasoul in another part of Herat Province, and government forces thwarted the assault with a pre-emptive strike, according to Lal Muhammad Omarzay, the governor of Adraskan District, where the clash took place.

“We do not have any direct contacts with Mullah Rasoul’s group, but we do not fight them either,” Mr. Omarzay said. “They do not face us, and we do not face them either.”

In several parts of the country, the Taliban also have to contend against the Islamic State in Khorasan, followers of the extremists in Iraq and Syria. The group, also known as ISIS or ISIL, is particularly strong in parts of eastern Nangarhar Province, but it also has had a presence in Ghor, Farah and other areas. Most of those elements began as Taliban factions that turned against the mainstream group.

Last week, the Islamic State scored a symbolic victory against the Taliban by taking control of the Tora Bora cave and tunnel complex, once used by Osama bin Laden as a hide-out. The Afghan military said on Sunday that it was in the process of ousting the militants from the area.