Taliban insurgency in Afghanistan

Wow, those are low number of enemy combatants killed in air strikes. The title sure says more than reality.

miketheterrible wrote:Wow, those are low number of enemy combatants killed in air strikes. The title sure says more than reality.

Indeed, I would wonder if Russia would have to intervene in Afghanistan. They would make quick work out of the taliban.

However, I don't know that what does it take too long for ISAF and ANA* (it has around 120,000 - 180,000 soldiers IIRC) to wipe them out.

*ANA = Afghan National Army

Another day another bomb in Kabul. This was today, 5 Danes wounded.


https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DKe3dVnWsAE_VXs.jpg

The death toll from an hours-long Taliban assault on a hotel now stands at 22, including a number of foreigners

At least 22 people are now known to have died when Taliban militants slaughtered guests at a luxury Kabul hotel, Afghan officials said Monday, as fears grew that the attackers may have had inside help.  

Authorities warned they were still investigating how militants breached security, which was taken over by a private company three weeks ago, at the landmark Intercontinental Hotel late Saturday.  

Guests cowered behind pillars and in rooms as gunmen sprayed bullets and set fire to parts of the six-storey building. Some people climbed over balconies, using bedsheets in a desperate attempt to escape.  

The attack ended after more than 12 hours Sunday with all six militants killed by Afghan forces, aided by Norwegian troops.  

Afghan health ministry spokesman Waheed Majroh said 22 bodies had now been taken to Kabul hospitals.  

"Some of the bodies (are) burned badly and need DNA tests to be identified," he said.  

Six Ukrainians were among those killed in the assault, the country's foreign ministry has confirmed.

Kabul hotel attack toll at least 22: officials

Interesting article on the moves the US is making in Afghanistan. its own plus ISIS

Tehran has begun highlighting in loud decibel its hitherto-low key voice of disquiet that the United States is transferring the Islamic State* fighters from Syria and Iraq, where they have been defeated, to Afghanistan.

On January 30, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei said: "The US goal of transferring the ISIL terrorists to Afghanistan is aimed at creating the justification for its continued deployment in the region and for buttressing the security of the Zionist regime." Indeed, any statement at the level of the Supreme Leader invariably draws attention as signaling an authoritative policy directive based on careful decision taken in the light of relevant intelligence inputs.

https://www.strategic-culture.org/news/2018/02/06/us-isis-nexus-afghanistan-becomes-hot-topic.html

MOSCOW, June 9. /TASS/. The radical Taliban movement (outlawed in Russia) announced on Saturday a three-day ceasefire with Afghanistan’s authorities due to the celebrations of Muslim holiday Eid al-Fitr, the Pajhwok Afghan News reported.

More:
http://tass.com/world/1008858

Taliban controls more than half of Afghanistan’s territory - Russian diplomat

Russia to invite Taliban representatives to Moscow format meeting on Afghanistan, Zamir Kabulov added

MOSCOW, July 16. /TASS/. Taliban (a radical movement outlawed in Russia) is present in most of Afghanistan’s provinces and controls more than a half of its territory, Russian president’s special envou on Afghanistan and director of the Russian foreign ministry’s second Asia department, Zamir Kabulov, said in an interview with the Kommersant daily on Sunday.

"Taliban is very integrated into Afghanistan’s military and political life. It controls more than a half of the country’s territory by now," he said.

According to the Russian diplomat, Taliban is present in most of the country’s provinces and is a key force even where an official administration is present. "As a matter of fact, they establish parallel power bodies, including a court system Afghan people have more confidence in than in the official one," he noted.

"So, in this sense, they are very integrated into Afghanistan’s state life," he added.

Militants from the terrorist group Islamic State are present in nine out of Afghanistan’s 34 provinces, he added.

"So far, luckily, they are present only in nine Afghan provinces. But what we are worried about most of all that these are northern Afghan provinces bordering Central Asia," he said. "It is a serious threat for us. So, we cannot play down the Islamic State threat."

"History, including Afghan history, teaches us that problems must be resolved before they grow into a serious threat," the diplomat noted.

Kabulov also said that Russia will invite representatives of the Taliban radical movement (outlawed in Russia) to a Moscow-format meeting on Afghanistan to be held before the end of this summer.

"In order to facilitate the process of launching negotiations we, already last year, we initiated dialogue of the so-called Moscow format. By the end of this summer, we will organize another meeting in this format, but it needs thorough preparations to yield, if not a breakthrough, but a visible result. We want it to be the beginning of real progress, which is possible only when Taliban begins to speak with the Afghan government or with a more or less broad spectrum of the Afghan establishment," he said.

According to Kabulov, the problem is that Taliban considers Afghanistan’s current government "as a puppet one installed by the Americans, and, hence, illegitimate." "They don’t’ want to hold talks with it but want to negotiate separately with the Americans," he noted.

He stressed that the key goal of the Moscow format is to help launch dialogue between the Afghan government and Taliban. "If we don’t invite Taliban, there will be no dialogue," the Russian diplomat said. "That is why we hope Taliban will come to the meeting."

The Moscow format involves representatives from Afghanistan, India, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, China, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. The previous round of consultations was held in April 2017.


More:
http://tass.com/politics/1013287

Afghanistan unlikely to revise security agreement with US, says Russian diplomat

More:
http://tass.com/world/1026213

Moscow baffled at US accusations of hindering Afghan settlement

On November 9 Moscow hosted a conference on Afghanistan that involved delegates from Kabul and Taliban and that was attended by an observer from the United States

MOSCOW, November 13. /TASS/. Russia is baffled at the United States’ attempts to accuse it of hindering dialogue between the Afghan authorities and the radical Taliban movement (outlawed in Russia), especially on the background of the recent consultations in Moscow that involved both parties, the Russian foreign ministry said on Tuesday.

"We took notice of the statement US Under Secretary of State David Hale made at a conference organized by the Washington Institute for Near East Policy on November 8, where he said in particular that Russia is allegedly hindering peace talks with the Taliban movement," the ministry said. "Such statement cannot but be baffling on the background of Russia’s persistent efforts in cooperation with the regional partners to facilitate the launch of the process of intra-Afghan reconciliation."

The ministry recalled that on November 9 Moscow hosted a conference on Afghanistan that involved delegates from Kabul and Taliban and that was attended by an observer from the United States. "According to the participants, the conference was a major step on a path of establishing direct peace dialogue between Kabul and the Taliban movement," the ministry stressed.

"We consider Hale’s pronouncements as a clumsy attempt to shift responsibility for the United States’ own failure in Afghanistan and the lack of progress in Washington’s efforts to find a solution to the Afghan problem on Russia," the ministry stressed.

On November 9, Moscow hosted the second meeting of the Moscow-format conference on Afghanistan. It was attended by senior diplomats, special envoys and observers from Russia, Afghanistan, India, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, China, Pakistan, the United States, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan. A delegation from Taliban’s political office in Doha took part in the conference, for the first time.

After the conference, director of the Russian foreign ministry’s second Asia department, Zamir Kabulov, said that the Taliban said it would be ready for talks with the Afghan government only after a schedule for the withdrawal of foreign troops is agreed with the United States.


More:
http://tass.com/politics/1030725

US close to Taliban agreement on withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan

As reported on January 28, 2019 by RIA Novosti news agency, Special Representative of the US Secretary of State for Afghan Reconciliation Zalmai Khalilzad confirmed that the United States and the radical Taliban movement agreed on the basic framework of the agreement, which could lead to the complete withdrawal of American troops in exchange for a ceasefire and the Taliban talks with the government of Afghanistan. This writes the American newspaper "New York Times".

https://bmpd.livejournal.com/3511081.html

Guess no one has seen this:



https://colonelcassad.livejournal.com/4814773.html

Taliban Captures District in Northwestern Afghanistan – Reports

MOSCOW (Sputnik) – The Taliban* militants captured late on 29 March the Arghanj Khwa district of the Badakhshan province in northwestern Afghanistan, the Ariana News broadcaster reported citing an official.

At least 14 Afghan servicemen and militiamen were killed, and over 10 others were injured in the clashes with Taliban, provincial council member Jawid Majidi said as quoted by the Ariana News broadcaster.

Taliban also seized a number of weapons and equipment after the retreat of the Afghan forces.

The report comes after some 10 Afghan security force servicemen were reportedly killed and up to 13 others were wounded in Taliban attacks in the country's southern Helmand province.

Meanwhile, negotiations between US and Taliban officials that took place in late February in Doha have reportedly resulted in the agreement to prepare a framework that requires the United States to withdraw troops in exchange for counterterrorism pledges from the movement representatives.

Fierce clashes between the Afghan government forces and Taliban insurgents are not uncommon in the country, which has been torn by conflicts since the late 1970s, including with the involvement of foreign forces.

https://sputniknews.com/asia/201903301073685296-afghanistan-taliban-clashes/

Taliban claims responsibility for Kabul attack — media

At least thirty-four people died and sixty-eight were injured in the blast

TASS, July 1. The radical Afghan Taliban movement has claimed responsibility for the Monday’s terror attack in Kabul, TOLOnews TV channel reports.

The explosion hit the diplomatic quarter in Kabul. Moreover, one of the Afghan Ministry of Defense buildings is located near the place where the blast went off. At least thirty-four people died and sixty-eight were injured in the blast, Xinhua News Agency reported. The injured were transferred to hospitals.

The explosion site is cordoned off by law enforcement officers. According to the Afghan TOLOnews TV channel, two militants, who were involved in the terror attack, took cover in an adjacent building. They are now engaged in gunfire with security service agents.

https://tass.com/world/1066470

Last man out of the Kabul US embassy practice perhaps? Keep the motor running.

Keep those rotors turning! Late October being just before the US election.


Carla Babb
@CarlaBabbVOA
· 5h
#BREAKING @CENTCOM commander tells @VOANews @nytimes & @DefenseOne that US is reducing troop presence in Afghanistan from 8,600 to 4,500 "by late October"

Biden & CIA Death Squads, by Finian Cunningham

CIA-backed death squads are running amok in Afghanistan, murdering civilians and terrorizing the population. When Joe Biden becomes president in three weeks, he should prioritize ending this “Murder Inc.”

A newly published investigative report has uncovered a systematic assassination program conducted by the CIA in several provinces across Afghanistan.

In just one six-month period during 2019, it was found that over 50 civilians, including women and children, were murdered in 10 separate massacres studied, according to author Andrew Quilty. That was merely a sample of killings in one province, Wardak.

The death squad, known as “Unit 01”, comprises locally recruited Afghans but they are trained, equipped and directed by American operatives.

There is no doubt that the clandestine CIA operation would have top-level clearance from the White House. It is carried out under so-called “Title 50” military code which shields the operatives from prosecution of war crimes. Only the president can sign off on that level of clearance.

Joe Biden, the incoming Democrat president-elect, has complained that the incumbent Trump administration has denied him access to classified national security briefings. Well, Biden will soon get full access after his inauguration on January 20. In that case, the new president will inevitably be apprised of the Afghan “counter-terror operations” and its death squads. He faces a choice on whether to terminate the program.

The evidence for the CIA murder operations is overwhelming. Afghan community leaders and security officials testified that “Unit 01” and its counterparts in other provinces are run by shadowy American officers who accompany the death squads during their raids on villages and farms.

Dozens of Afghan residents and survivors of the attacks also describe US-led operations.

Furthermore, the death squads are supported with US Chinook transport helicopters, fighter planes, gunships and drones.

The official American position is that its military forces are tasked with defeating the Taliban militants who oppose the US-backed regime in Kabul. But the killings carried out by the CIA-led squads target civilians in what appears to be a bludgeoning policy of terrorism and intimidation. In most of the atrocities investigated there were no links between the victims and the Taliban.

Under Donald Trump and then head of the CIA, Mike Pompeo, who later became Secretary of State, the US military operations in Afghanistan underwent a shift in late 2017. There was more emphasis on clandestine operations and a loosening of rules of engagement.

During Trump’s term in office, there has been a huge surge in civilian deaths in Afghanistan, partly from increased airstrikes, but also from the CIA death squads running amok. At the same time, however, Trump has crowed about withdrawing conventional troops from Afghanistan under a supposed peace deal with the Taliban. This has allowed the Republican president to claim that he is delivering on election promises to wind down overseas wars like Afghanistan – which at two decades’ duration is the longest foreign war ever waged by the United States.

What Joe Biden does about this remains to be seen, but the signals are not good. For a start, almost every American president has signed off on CIA murder programs, from Guatemala and Iran in the 1950s, to Cuba and Vietnam in the 1960s, to El Salvador and Nicaragua in the 1970s and 80s, and many, many more besides. It’s a routine part of the dirty business of being an American president.

That’s why it is so contemptible and absurd for Biden and others to have lambasted Trump over unsubstantiated US media reports of Russia allegedly running bounty-hunter schemes in Afghanistan to kill American troops. There was never any evidence for such a fable, which even the Pentagon was obliged to dismiss as unfounded. And as usual, the media furore evaporated as quickly as it erupted, belying its credibility.

Meanwhile, it emerges that under Trump’s watch the Americans have been carrying out systematic assassinations of Afghan civilians with CIA death squads. Where are Biden’s condemnations?

Biden is associated with urging former President Barack Obama to take a more aggressive military line in Afghanistan when he was vice president (2008-2016). Biden favoured “kick-the-door-down” night raids by special forces. It is therefore very unlikely that he will repudiate the Murder Inc which Trump has unleashed in Afghanistan.

What Biden brings to the new White House regime is an extra layer of moral corruption and hypocrisy under the guise of being a “liberal Democrat”.

https://sputniknews.com/columnists/202012301081612473-biden--cia-death-squads/

No end in sight:

IMO the US will keep SOFs & their support there to keep Pakistan & PRC from filling the vacuum if they leave, & to use Afghanistan as a base against Iran & Russia in C. Asian Stans.

Afghan army lost its last outpost in the north of the country
Yesterday, 20: 12
75

The other day between the Taliban and the garrison of the Balamurghab base in northern Afghanistan in the Badghis province, there were fierce battles, during which the positions of the regular troops were constantly fired upon from mortars. During the shelling at the base, large-scale fires began, which made it impossible for its defenders to stay there, so they had to urgently evacuate.

Thus, the Afghan army lost its last outpost in the north of the country. Balamurghab itself was captured by the Taliban (the Taliban is a terrorist group banned in the Russian Federation) almost two years ago, and the military base was actually under siege all this time. The seizure of the city by Islamists and constant hostilities have led this settlement into complete decline. Now Balamurghab is almost depopulated.

Fighting for the Afghan military base coincided with the anniversary of the signing of an agreement in Doha between the Taliban and the United States, which discussed the withdrawal of the US military by May 1 in exchange for a political settlement between rival groups in Afghanistan. Apparently, the parties to the conflict are not yet ready for a peaceful dialogue.

The Taliban Islamist movement began among the Afghan Pashtuns in 1994. It seized power in the country and held it from 1996 to 2001.

https://en.topwar.ru/180457-afganskaja-armija-utratila-poslednij-forpost-na-severe-strany.html