Afghanistan News & Discussion - April 2016

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NRao
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Re: Afghanistan News & Discussion - April 2016

Post by NRao »

Taliban prisoner swap begins as part of Afghan peace talks
Afghan President Ashraf Ghani has approved the release of 1,500 Taliban prisoners as part of efforts to secure a peace deal with the insurgent group.

The presidential decree requires all prisoners to give "a written guarantee to not return to the battlefield".

In exchange, the Taliban has agreed to hand over 1,000 government troops.
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Re: Afghanistan News & Discussion - April 2016

Post by nithish »

Taliban Kill 24 Afghan Troops, With Inside Help
A Taliban ambush that appears to have had inside help killed up to 24 Afghan security forces in southern Afghanistan early Friday, officials said.

It was the latest Taliban assault on government forces since the militant group signed a peace agreement with the United States on Feb. 29. The Taliban have so far ceased attacks against American and coalition troops, but they have continued to target Afghan government forces.

A group of Taliban fighters attacked a joint police and army outpost around 3 a.m. Friday on the main highway to Kabul in Zabul Province, parts of which are under the militants’ control. Rahmatullah Yarmal, the governor of Zabul Province, said the attackers were aided by at least five police officers who then escaped with the Taliban fighters.

“The outpost was attacked, and it completely collapsed in just one hour,” Mr. Kareem said. “There was no one left alive.”

Direct negotiations between the Afghan government and the Taliban were supposed to begin March 10, with the ultimate goal a postwar government that would include the militants. The agreement envisioned a “confidence-building measure”: the release by March 10 of 5,000 Taliban prisoners and 1,000 security forces held by the militants.

But Mr. Ghani, whose government was excluded from the U.S.-Taliban negotiations, has said he would not release the prisoners without concessions from the Taliban, who have refused.

The dispute has stalled the peace process and left the government unable to set up its negotiating team.

“We thought the Taliban would be flexible after announcing a reduction in violence, but they are becoming more aggressive against the security forces,” said Mr. Kareem, the tribal elder.
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Re: Afghanistan News & Discussion - April 2016

Post by Guddu »

Karan Thapar is being an a$$ in the interview..Sood was better, but not forceful.
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Re: Afghanistan News & Discussion - April 2016

Post by Mukesh.Kumar »

X-Posting from Strategy dhaga
Mukesh.Kumar wrote:To those challenging CAA, this is why CAA is there:
Gurdwara attacked in Afghanistan. Source: BBC
Afghan security forces are battling militants who stormed a busy temple belonging to the Sikh religious minority in central Kabul.

At least one person died and a number were wounded after suicide bombers and gunmen attacked the temple in the Shorbazar area at 07:45 (03:15 GMT).
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Re: Afghanistan News & Discussion - April 2016

Post by g.sarkar »

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/03/ ... 05522.html
Kabul Sikh temple siege: Dozens killed in attack claimed by ISIL
The deadly siege of Sikh religious complex ends after the attackers were killed, gov't says.
Afghan forces have killed gunmen who attacked a Sikh religious complex in the capital Kabul, ending the hours-long siege that has killed 25 people, the Ministry of Interior has said.
The deadly attack was claimed by the ISIL (ISIS) armed group. Earlier, the Taliban armed group denied it was behind the siege that left at least eight others wounded.
Interior Ministry spokesman Tariq Arian said in a message to journalists the operation by the security forces to defeat the attackers was over and all of them had been killed. Security forces cordoned off the area, located in old Kabul, after gunmen stormed the complex, the government said.
Narindra Singh Khalsa, a parliamentarian from the minority Sikh community, told AP news agency he had been near the Gurdwara - the Sikh place of worship - when the attack happened and ran to the site. Those killed included a child whose body was brought to a Kabul hospital, emergency services and the hospital said.
.....
Gautam
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Re: Afghanistan News & Discussion - April 2016

Post by Varoon Shekhar »

Gurudwara attacker was from Kerala. Let's see if other channels also report this.

https://www.indiatoday.in/india/story/k ... 2020-03-27
Gerard
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Re: Afghanistan News & Discussion - April 2016

Post by Gerard »

View: Afghanistan’s Kashmir fallout
By Lt. General (Retd) Syed Ata Hasnain
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Re: Afghanistan News & Discussion - April 2016

Post by Gerard »

Pak-backed terror module in Afghanistan that targeted India busted, 37 arrested
Afghanistan vice president Amrullah Saleh cheered the Afghan intelligence agency for the breakthrough.“I am sure he is already singing & will sing more to the dismay of his patrons in & out. A treasure of intelligence. Make him talk,” tweeted Saleh,
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Re: Afghanistan News & Discussion - April 2016

Post by tandav »

Gerard wrote:Pak-backed terror module in Afghanistan that targeted India busted, 37 arrested
Afghanistan vice president Amrullah Saleh cheered the Afghan intelligence agency for the breakthrough.“I am sure he is already singing & will sing more to the dismay of his patrons in & out. A treasure of intelligence. Make him talk,” tweeted Saleh,
Is deporting them to India to stand trial for their crimes against India possible?
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Re: Afghanistan News & Discussion - April 2016

Post by SSridhar »

Why India is distancing itself from Iran - Sanjay Kapoor, Business Line
Long before Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei and Foreign Minister Javad Zarif criticised India for the “massacres of Muslims” during the Delhi riots, an act that attracted sharp rebuke from India’s foreign ministry, there were plenty of signs that the two countries had begun to move away from each other in different directions that were prompted by their respective foreign and domestic policy compulsions and now the coronavirus pandemic.

This drift manifested itself in the speedy manner that New Delhi announced the banning of flights from Iran after incidents of coronavirus were reported in the US-sanction racked country. Later, it had to back-pedal a bit and allow Iran’s Mahan Air to fly to Delhi to pick the stranded countrymen and drop the Indians back home. Iranians were taken aback by the alacrity with which connection with them was severed at a time when they were reeling under a catastrophic pandemic that is destroying their economy and lives.

Many senior officials of the government have died compelling Iranian President Rouhani to demand the removal of US sanctions and immediate help to tide over this crisis. Iran has also sought assistance from India to fight the virus — as it is being denied the basic instruments to fight this virus due to the sanctions. India has not offered any aid.

Iran’s troubles and its changing world view, where it wants to create a more aggressive Islamic counterpoint against Saudi Arabia controlled Organisation of Islamic Countries (OIC), is impacting the balance of power in the region. It’s ambitions, though, have been hurt by the raging pandemic, which has already seen 2,600 deaths and thousands infected. Iranians have demanded from the US lifting of sanctions and has also sought India to use its considerable influence on Washington to help them. Tehran’s long grouse against Delhi, as articulated by Foreign Minister Javad Zarif, is that it just does not stand up to the US.

All these reasons and more are raising severe doubts about even the recent Indian foreign policy investments in Iran including on the Chabahar port. The big question is: Will India’s attempts to have an enduring land route to Afghanistan and Central Asia, by sidestepping Pakistan, through Chabahar survive the vicissitudes of recent times? In the past few months though, the Commerce Ministry has eased rules to speed up the project, but it continues at its own pace.

The Chabahar port

India’s existential anxieties about its creative foreign policy to side step Pakistan and rebuild ties with Iran through investing in Chabahar port have deepened ever since US signed an agreement with Islamic Republic of Afghanistan — as Taliban is called. The agreement will allow Washington to withdraw its troops that have been locked in a war for 19 years. Agreement with Taliban does not factor Indian interests and the shifting ground realities. It has been crafted by a desperate US to get out of Afghanistan before the US elections so that President Donald Trump could safely say that he fulfilled most of the electoral promises.

India has justifiable fears that the Taliban — a proxy of Pakistan — would not respect Indian interests or investments. After the agreement in Doha was signed, Taliban is expanding rapidly. Like it happened in the past, city after city may start falling. They may also unleash violence against Indian interests — the recent massacre of 25 Afghan Sikhs in a gurdwara is a case in point.

Taliban’s rise also could see the stifling of Chabahar port’s growth and the transit route to Afghanistan’s route 606 or Zaranj-Delaram road (built by India), which allows India’s ingress to garland highway and connects further to Central Asia. This could fit well with Pakistan’s plans that has been lobbying hard to prevent Chabahar from acquiring any commercial or strategic meaning.

There is a belief that the agreement with Taliban may not have taken place so soon if Iran’s Quds Force chief, Qassem Suleimani, had not been assassinated at the turn to the new year.

Islamabad has been resentful of General Suleimani and his visible proximity to India
, which saw his frequent criticism of Pakistan’s use of terror as state policy. “We are telling that country (Pakistani) not to allow their borders to become a source of insecurity for the neighbouring countries; anyone who has made this plot for Pakistan is seeking to disintegrate that country,” Suleimani told an Iranian news agency. There was expectedly, great joy in Pakistani military establishment when Suleimani was killed.

A month after his death at Baghdad airport, Iran’s Ambassador to Islamabad, Syyed Muhammad Husseini, revived an old proposal to build an association of five nations to resolve problems of this region. Termed as the “ golden ring”, the proposed alliance, besides Iran also included Pakistan, Turkey, Russia and China.

Is there any meaning to this proposal and its implications on the region — including Afganistan — if so then how is it linked to General Suleimani assassination?


Undoing diplomatic initiatives

Husseini’s detailed remarks made at an Islamabad think-tank did not go unnoticed as it was seen to undo much of the diplomatic investment that Iran has made with India that included giving management control of Chabahar. Iranian Ambassador Husseini suggested linking Chabahar with China funded Pakistani port of Gwadar and jointly exploring the region. Without saying that in so many words, it was possible to sense a strategic abandonment of the Chabahar-centred trilateral initiative between Iran, India and Afghanistan. China’s promise of investment of $250 billion in Iran’s crumbling infrastructure was hastening this decision. “Construction of railway track on Pakistani territory to China, linking the two ports will lead towards economic development in this region,” said Husseini.

Such a formulation would be music to the ears of Saudi Arabia and Pakistani military establishment that has been upset with Iran’s decision to give management control of Chabahar port to India — a policy aggressively supported by the slain Quds force chief. Chabahar for Saudi Arabia meant an opportunity for Iran to spread its influence in South and Central Asia. Saudi scholars have felt that it would be in their national interest if Chabahar trilateral agreement was scuppered. Saudi diplomats have wondered why India was allowing its “imagined interests” to determine its diplomatic and strategic locus towards Iran and Central Asia. In their view, its real interests reside with the Gulf region, which provides employment to Indians and also oil to India.

Suleimani had also played a significant role in preventing the enlargement of Islamic State of Khurasan (ISK) in Afghanistan. He was seen as a thorn on the side of Saudi Arabia, the US and Pakistan and routinely obstructed plans they had for Afghanistan and the region. He helped certain Talibani groups that were preponderantly Shia, to fight the Islamic State and provided them the leverage in their negotiations with the US mediator for a just settlement. It was from this standpoint that he was an asset for India by helping in looking after its interests in Afghanistan and also in providing critical intelligence on the violent Wahabbi networks operating in Kashmir.

Once the haze of coronavirus lifts and the death toll of this pandemic, which has killed thousands in Iran and in the neighbouring areas, gets known, the direction of the region’s foreign policy will become apparent. China that has had an early start in rebuilding itself after the coronavirus pandemic may well have a big say in it.

The writer is the Editor of Hardnews Magazine
SSridhar
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Re: Afghanistan News & Discussion - April 2016

Post by SSridhar »

Aslam Farooqui is the new Ajmal Kasab, but very high. Of course, Pakistan is worried. But, this time, they didn't say he was not a Pakistani because the guy is in top echelons of ISI and jihadism.
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Re: Afghanistan News & Discussion - April 2016

Post by Tuan »

My latest piece for The Geopolitics on US-Taliban peace talks:
https://thegeopolitics.com/timely-and-i ... eace-deal/
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Re: Afghanistan News & Discussion - April 2016

Post by SRajesh »

^^^
'The Japanese Samurai dictum reminds us that “to kill an enemy, shoot his horse first.” In this spirit, we must first eliminate the support bases of all the terrorist organizations to obliterate them. This can only be done through a fusion of soft diplomacy and hard military might. As Roosevelt put it: “speak softly and carry a big stick.”'
For this to happen : is the world ready to break up the mother-ship: Pakistan first!! :roll:
Vivek K
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Re: Afghanistan News & Discussion - April 2016

Post by Vivek K »

Rsatchi wrote:^^^
'The Japanese Samurai dictum reminds us that “to kill an enemy, shoot his horse first.” In this spirit, we must first eliminate the support bases of all the terrorist organizations to obliterate them. This can only be done through a fusion of soft diplomacy and hard military might. As Roosevelt put it: “speak softly and carry a big stick.”'
For this to happen : is the world ready to break up the mother-ship: Pakistan first!! :roll:
Should India wait for the world to come to that decision? What price will be enough before India can think in its interest?
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Re: Afghanistan News & Discussion - April 2016

Post by ArjunPandit »

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-52631071
There is a bottom that one doesnt sink to...killing maternity wards..what is that these guys are stooping to...i think it is a part of all round strategy...
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Re: Afghanistan News & Discussion - April 2016

Post by chetak »

the cunning contours of the taliban - paki - us requirements are becoming clearer by the day and all of them are keen that India should be the only loser but still provide unquestioned and unconditional "aid" to the new rogue taliban paki dispensation waiting to grab power in afghanistan.

India had no part to play in any of the negotiations and yet here we are, being dragged right into the middle of this ticking time bomb of a fiasco by all three looking to paint us the main villain.

Zalmay Khalilzad remains ever the untrustworthy snake oil salesman, loyal only to himself and his best interests and an undeclared ally of the taliban whose interests he is hell bent on protecting and in these tribal circles, such "loyalty" traditionally has very tangible payoffs.

all three are past masters and very accomplished in the art of the taqiya and in most cases, it is India that has been the victim of their black arts


Taliban accuses India of playing 'negative' role by supporting Kabul govt



Indrani Bagchi
May 17, 2020,


NEW DELHI: The Taliban has lashed out at India, accusing it of playing a “negative” role by supporting the government in Kabul.

In an interview to Azm, a news website, Sher Mohammad Abbas Stanekzai, deputy head of the Taliban's political office in Qatar and head of the negotiating team with the US, was quoted as saying that “if the Indian government wants to take positive steps in the Afghan peace process and in rebuilding a new Afghanistan, we are counting on it, but according to him, India has been inside Afghanistan for the last 40 years. It played a negative role and maintained economic, military and political ties with a "corrupt" group instead of the nation.”

Sources here said the recent urgent Khalilzad mission to New Delhi was not so much about asking India to talk to the Taliban, as to get New Delhi to persuade the Kabul government to release the Taliban prisoners. The Ghani government is believed to be dragging its feet, presumably, as sources say, because they don’t believe the Taliban is actually interested in an intra-Afghan dialogue.

In a recent interview to the Daily Times of Pakistan, Stanekzai asserted, “Intra-Afghan cannot start unless 5000 of our prisoners are released and there would be no ceasefire and reduction in violence unless intra-Afghan dialogue starts. The US and the Kabul administration are responsible for this situation.”

In a recent press conference, Zalmay Khalilzad underscored the importance of the release of prisoners, which appears to be becoming a deal-breaker. “We have pushed to get both sides, the Afghan Government and the Taliban, to release prisoners. Already some 1,011 prisoners have been released by the government, Talib prisoners, and 253 Afghan Government prisoners have been released by the Taliban."

India’s point to the Khalilzad delegation was that India could help only if India was in the room on Afghanistan’s future. The US, according to India, has been playing the Pakistani game by keeping India out of recent consultations on Afghanistan’s future. That, according to Indians involved in Afghanistan has been the US game for years now. India has resisted US pressure before, and they say, unlikely to give up its gains in Afghanistan at this point, when the game is still open.

On talking to the Taliban, the Indian government remains cautious. Sources here say there are unofficial contacts with Taliban, but there appears to be no concerted view among the Taliban themselves about engaging with India. There are differences within the Taliban regarding India — therefore India is not going to rush in to start talking to the Taliban.

India is one of the most visible supporters of the Kabul government, both during Karzai’s time and now with Ghani. This has given India a good deal of leverage particularly when India has been kept out of regional formulations on Afghanistan’s future. To the clamour asking India to talk to the Taliban, Indian policy makers believe they have a stronger position being Afghanistan’s development partner, rather than making nice with a terror group like the Taliban, which continues to take orders from Pakistan.

The government in Kabul is convinced they would not survive if the Taliban were to take a piece of the power structure. In recent days, the Ghani government has been targeting both Taliban and ISKP positions. Taliban too have stepped up violence and refuse to consider a ceasefire before talks with the Afghan government, so as to maintain a position of strength.

In addition, the divisions between Ghani and Abdullah Abdullah have added to the inaction, say sources.

Stanekzai’s core complaint is directed against the US, which, he said had been unable to get the Kabul government to release the 5000 Taliban prisoners that had been promised as part of the peace deal with Zalmay Khalilzad. That was one of the big deliverables for the Taliban in the US peace deal. The Taliban prisoners were supposed to have been released by March 10, according to Stanekzai.

The US has gone out of its way to pin the responsibility of recent terror attacks on the ISKP, not the Taliban. Khalilzad said, “We believe that ISIS and the Taliban are mortal enemies, and in the war against ISIS, Taliban have played an important role. Of course, the government has as well, and we have played a vital role in that fight. And that fight is not finished, and we believe that our assessment currently is that the attacks that took place against the hospital and the attack in Nangarhar on a funeral procession was the work of ISIS...”
Indian officials remain sceptical — recent attacks on Indian interests, like the gurdwara in Kabul, showed that the planning of the attacks, execution and claiming responsibility were being done by the LET, Haqqanis and the ISKP respectively. This makes it difficult for India to believe the US when it says that Taliban and ISKP were “mortal” enemies.
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Re: Afghanistan News & Discussion - April 2016

Post by SRajesh »

Per BBC news:: 400 Tali-Bunnnies to be released after the all Afghan Loya Jirga!!!
The reconquest will start and the Napaks will get their strategic depth back
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Re: Afghanistan News & Discussion - April 2016

Post by krishna_krishna »

Talibunnis conquest starts with current withdrawal of US troops that are numbered around 10K there will be now less than 4500 left :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vEWUS3NrKYs

If you google you will find convoys passing through porkistan. This needs to be watched, only option for India is to get POK no other options about it.
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Re: Afghanistan News & Discussion - April 2016

Post by Dilbu »

Suicide bombing at Kabul education centre kills 24, students among the victims
KABUL:A suicide bombing at an education centre in Afghanistan’s capital Kabul killed at least 24 people and wounded dozens more on Saturday, officials said.

A Ministry of Interior spokesperson, Tariq Arian, cited security guards as identifying a bomber who detonated explosives in the street outside the Kawsar-e Danish educational centre.
Islamic State claimed responsibility for the bombing, the group said in a statement on Telegram, without providing evidence.

A Taliban spokesperson on Twitter denied responsibility for the attack, which comes at a sensitive time as teams representing the insurgents and the government meet in Qatar to seek a peace deal.
The attack took place in an area of west Kabul that is home to many from the country’s Shia community, a religious minority in Afghanistan targeted by groups such as Islamic State in the past.
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Re: Afghanistan News & Discussion - April 2016

Post by krishna_krishna »

Excellent analysis on current situation in Afghanistan by Shree Amarullah Saleh, amazing insights summarizing :

1) Afghanistan has been under curse of its own geographical location
2) This location attracts superpowers and rogue groups alike like magnet
3) It seeks marketing its location for connectivity to Central Asia, I believe this is where porkies see a competition to its ambition
4) It will go through the situation without US support, the current army is voluntary (not conscript), also they are not going to beg us to stay here if they go away they will loose more if they go without restoring proper order.
5) Current leftover 4500 troops that are supposed to be wrapped up by May 2021 will not diminish the will of the people to go towards a progressive society
6) Talibunnies are nothing but gun wielding crooks, if you take away their guns they don't have anything else to offer
7) They are increasing attacks to get better bargain in the peace talks

Amazing lines" My life is a gift of my country to me without which I would have been one of the unknown 7 Billions humans on this planet"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UwHvzNzMaFg


================================================================

Here is my analysis :

What current Afghanistan government wants :

1) They want to have status quo to continue and start putting up institutions to becomes stronger with the day, in essence buy more time
2) They see value in geographical location, and they tend to use it as a leverage
3) Get agreement on equal footing rather than conceding something to them


What Pakistan wants :

1) They want this peace agreement to be executed quickly as possible without being able to loose the position of their advantage (As time goes by their leverage become thinner and thinner).
2) They want US to force (new Biden administration) to force Afghanistan to use the aid as way to force them to swallow the forced upon agreement with tali bunnies.
3) Once the nato forces are out have bunnies back in power

What India wants :

1) They want nato presence be prolonged
2) Somehow use leverage or relations with pentagon to have surge in troops or have some structure where bunnies are out of power at the same time, PS VP Biden will be more amenable to pentagon advise than president trump who set aside the advise from them to not to reduce the troops.
3) Although new administration seeks honorable exit, there is a scope where it can be prolonged and delayed
4) Have A land route to Afghanistan via Pok
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Re: Afghanistan News & Discussion - April 2016

Post by krishna_krishna »

President trump signs executive order to reduce the current US troops from 4500 today to 2500 by jan 15, 2021. This will have big impact in both Iraq and Afghanistan. I believe this is in India's favor , this will force India to do what it was supposed to do long time back :

https://www.cnn.com/2020/11/16/politics ... index.html

Surrender in Afghanistan is complete
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Re: Afghanistan News & Discussion - April 2016

Post by Cyrano »

Elite Australian troops unlawfully killed 39 Afghan civilians amid a culture of 'blood lust,' report alleges


Canberra, Australia (CNN)Australian elite forces allegedly killed 39 Afghans civilians and prisoners unlawfully in an environment where "blood lust" and "competition killings" were reportedly a norm, according to a long-awaited official report.

Speaking Thursday, chief of the Australian Defense Force Gen. Angus Campbell said there had been a "warrior culture" among some members of Australia's special forces serving in Afghanistan.
One alleged incident, the details of which have been redacted to protect the identities of those involved, is referred to in the document as "possibly the most disgraceful episode in Australia's military history."
The Australian Defense Force's (ADF) four-year inquiry into alleged war crimes in Afghanistan alleges that some patrol commanders, who were treated as "demigods," required junior soldiers to shoot prisoners to achieve their first kill, in a process known as "blooding." The report presents what it says is "credible information" that weapons or handheld radios were then sometimes allegedly placed by a body to make it seem like the person had been killed in action.
None of the 39 alleged unlawful killings happened in the heat of battle, according to the report, and the Afghans who died were non-combatants or no longer combatants.
Campbell "sincerely and unreservedly" apologized to the people of Afghanistan for the conduct alleged in the report. "It would have devastated the lives of Afghan families and communities, causing immeasurable pain and suffering," he said.


The ADF is recommending that Australia's Federal Police (AFP) investigate 19 individuals from the Australian Special Forces over 36 alleged war crimes, including murder and cruel treatment of non-combatants in Afghanistan between 2009 and 2013.
Campbell said he had accepted all of the inquiry's 143 recommendations.
A detail of the flag of Australia on an Australian Army soldier on May 09, 2019 in Seymour, Australia.
A detail of the flag of Australia on an Australian Army soldier on May 09, 2019 in Seymour, Australia.
Some accused still in military
In March 2016, an inquiry was set up by the Australian Defense Force, under the leadership of Maj. Gen. Paul Brereton, to investigate allegations that Australian special forces had "breached the law of armed conflict in Afghanistan between 2005 and 2016."
Australia's role in the war in Afghanistan was split into two phases -- Operation Slipper from 2001 until 2014, after which the Afghan security forces took over the majority of the fighting, and then the ongoing Operation Highroad, which began in 2015.
More than 26,000 Australian soldiers served in Afghanistan during Operation Slipper, 41 of whom died while fighting there. There are still about 80 personnel from the Australian Defense Forces in Afghanistan, according to the Department of Defense website, mostly involved in support and training.
Campbell said that some of the soldiers who had been accused of war crimes in the report were still serving in Australia's military.
"I have directed the Chief of Army to on a case-by-case basis review the circumstance and nature of that service, and he will be doing that immediately," Campbell said.
Hours before the bombshell report was released, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison reached out to Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani over the alleged misconduct of Australian troops in Afghanistan, according to a statement released by the Afghan government.
"(Morrison) assured the President of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan of the investigations and to ensuring justice," the statement said. Australian Foreign Minister Marise Payne also sent a letter extending her apologies, the Afghanistan government said.
Nishank Motwani, deputy director of the Afghanistan Research and Evaluation Unit in Kabul, said the inquiry's report was likely to leave Afghans feeling "a sense of despair, vindication and anger that foreign forces can so easily get away with cold-blooded murder."
"The report will allow the Taliban to blame foreign forces for the suffering of Afghan civilians even though Taliban fighters are responsible for the deaths of over 100,000 civilians in the past decade," he said, adding that any remaining Australian personnel in Afghanistan may be under threat of retaliation.
The sort of brutality alleged in the report is damaging to coalition efforts, said William Maley, professor of diplomacy at Australian National University.
"If you're to achieve a strategic outcome which will preserve your objectives you do it by showing you're better than the other side. If you get down to their level, you've really lost it," Maley said.
War crimes in Afghanistan
Troops from the United States and United Kingdom, two of Australia's coalition partners in Afghanistan, have also faced allegations of committing unlawful killings.
According to US military prosecutors, a group of US Army soldiers killed Afghan civilians for sport beginning in January 2010.
The case drew international outrage when Der Spiegel, a German news magazine, published photos that showed two of the soldiers posing over dead bodies of Afghans. In November 2011, the mastermind of what was called a "kill team," Staff Sgt. Calvin R. Gibbs, was sentenced to life in military prison with eligibility for parole in 10 years.
A military court-martial found Gibbs guilty of murdering three Afghan civilians, illegally cutting off pieces of their corpses to keep as "souvenirs" and planting weapons to make the men appear as if they were Taliban fighters killed in legitimate firefights.
Five soldiers were convicted for various roles in the conspiracy. Six other soldiers, including one who posed for photos with a dead Afghan, accepted plea deals, the military has said.
Last year, US President Donald Trump pardoned two US Army soldiers who had served in Afghanistan. One of those had been found guilty in 2013 of second-degree murder for ordering his men to fire on three unarmed men on a motorcycle in Afghanistan. He was serving a 19-year prison sentence when Trump pardoned him. The other had been charged with the murder of a detained Afghan man in 2010, but was pardoned before trial.
Meanwhile, a UK inquiry into alleged unlawful killings by British troops in Afghanistan, Operation Northmoor, was shut down in 2017 without any charges being brought.
In a separate case, one British Royal Marine, was convicted in a court martial of murder for shooting an unarmed Taliban prisoner in 2011 and sentenced to life in prison.
His conviction was reduced to manslaughter on appeal and in 2017 he was released from prison after serving three years.
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Re: Afghanistan News & Discussion - April 2016

Post by sanjaykumar »

This is surprising?
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Re: Afghanistan News & Discussion - April 2016

Post by tandav »

What prevents China from doing to Afghanistan what they have done to Pakistan (Aksai Chin takeover), Nepal, and India (Ladakh/COK)... China has probably annexed quite a lot of Afghan territory in the last 20-30 years. I am willing to bet the Wakhan corridor is essentially under Chinese control.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/as ... story.html
Cyrano
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Re: Afghanistan News & Discussion - April 2016

Post by Cyrano »

sanjaykumar wrote:This is surprising?
Sorry I didn't get this comment. Care to explain?
Haresh
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Re: Afghanistan News & Discussion - April 2016

Post by Haresh »

In all honestly, the only way to de islamise these countries is tokill the male population, move new males in.
The women will be grateful and civilisation can start again.
I think the Chinese will do it.
Last edited by ramana on 21 Nov 2020 10:55, edited 1 time in total.
Reason: Struck off offending rhetoric Ramana
sanjaykumar
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Re: Afghanistan News & Discussion - April 2016

Post by sanjaykumar »

This was in the works. It is a healthy but foreseen development.

Islamists do not have a monopoly on jihad or the concept of kufar.

Australians have an intimate relationship with othering, with treating non cult members with murderous contempt. The degradation of the aborigines is testament enough. There is every justification for calling some of that society bestial. But the systematic physical liquidation and cultural genocide visited upon them by an emotionally and possibly genetically damaged reject of England explains much.

I am sorry if these remarks are too frank. However, Australians were known to regard the afghans as savages and niggers. Dehumanisation is most excellently described in the Quran. That particular exalted deity cannot get enough of threatening and abusing the kufar. Australians may perhaps recognize the sentiment.
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Re: Afghanistan News & Discussion - April 2016

Post by Cain Marko »

krishna_krishna wrote:What India wants :

1) They want nato presence be prolonged
2) Somehow use leverage or relations with pentagon to have surge in troops or have some structure where bunnies are out of power at the same time, PS VP Biden will be more amenable to pentagon advise than president trump who set aside the advise from them to not to reduce the troops.
3) Although new administration seeks honorable exit, there is a scope where it can be prolonged and delayed
4) Have A land route to Afghanistan via Pok
Points 2 and 3 are very possible esp. if India sweetens the pot by buying weapons and supporting Quad type alliances.
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Re: Afghanistan News & Discussion - April 2016

Post by Cyrano »

wig
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Re: Afghanistan News & Discussion - April 2016

Post by wig »

https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-ne ... IYMrK.html

Apologise, Afghanistan tells China after busting its espionage cell in Kabul
Afghanistan’s National Directorate of Security has detained 10 Chinese citizens accused of operating a terror cell in Kabul

extracted
The 10 Chinese citizens, detained recently in this connection by Afghanistan’s National Directorate of Security (NDS) on charges of espionage and running a terror cell, are believed to be linked to China’s spy agency, Ministry of State Security. The crackdown by the NDS started on 10 December.

This is the first time in years that Chinese nationals have been caught spying in Afghanistan where the country was looking at rapidly expanding its influence even as the US withdraws its troops. At least two of the 10 Chinese nationals were in contact with the Haqqani Network, the terrorist group that doubles as the sword arm of the Taliban, a senior diplomat in Kabul said.


President Ashraf Ghani has been briefed about the detentions and has authorised First Vice President Amrullah Saleh, a former chief of the Afghan intelligence agency, to oversee the investigation and engage the Chinese in view of the sensitivities involved, the people cited in the first instance added.

Amrullah Saleh has held a meeting with the Chinese envoy to Kabul, Wang Yu to brief him about the detention. Saleh is learnt to have indicated that the Afghan government could consider a pardon for the Chinese spies if Beijing submits a formal apology that admits to the violation of international norms and a betrayal of Kabul’s trust.

Otherwise, Amrullah Saleh is believed to have told the Chinese ambassador, the Afghan government would go ahead with criminal proceedings. One of those detained, Li Yangyang, according to a counter-terror official in Kabul, has been operating for the Chinese Intelligence since July-August . He was arrested by the Afghan NDS on 10 December from his house in western Kabul neighbourhood of Kart-e-Char.


The NDS team seized arms, ammunition and Ketamine powder, a recreational drug , from his residence when the first round of raids were carried out on 10 December. NDS officials who have questioned Li have reported that he had been gathering information about al Qaeda, Taliban and Uyghurs in Kunar and Badakhshan provinces, according to this counter-terror official. A Chinese woman was the second person to be arrested. Sha Hung, who runs a restaurant in Kabul’s Shirpur was also arrested the same day.

“From her place, NDS recovered explosive material and other incriminating items,” the counter-terror official said.
sanjaykumar
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Re: Afghanistan News & Discussion - April 2016

Post by sanjaykumar »

That must hit a raw nerve.
Tuan
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Re: Afghanistan News & Discussion - April 2016

Post by Tuan »

wig wrote:https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-ne ... IYMrK.html

Apologise, Afghanistan tells China after busting its espionage cell in Kabul
Afghanistan’s National Directorate of Security has detained 10 Chinese citizens accused of operating a terror cell in Kabul

extracted
The 10 Chinese citizens, detained recently in this connection by Afghanistan’s National Directorate of Security (NDS) on charges of espionage and running a terror cell, are believed to be linked to China’s spy agency, Ministry of State Security. The crackdown by the NDS started on 10 December.

This is the first time in years that Chinese nationals have been caught spying in Afghanistan where the country was looking at rapidly expanding its influence even as the US withdraws its troops. At least two of the 10 Chinese nationals were in contact with the Haqqani Network, the terrorist group that doubles as the sword arm of the Taliban, a senior diplomat in Kabul said.


President Ashraf Ghani has been briefed about the detentions and has authorised First Vice President Amrullah Saleh, a former chief of the Afghan intelligence agency, to oversee the investigation and engage the Chinese in view of the sensitivities involved, the people cited in the first instance added.

Amrullah Saleh has held a meeting with the Chinese envoy to Kabul, Wang Yu to brief him about the detention. Saleh is learnt to have indicated that the Afghan government could consider a pardon for the Chinese spies if Beijing submits a formal apology that admits to the violation of international norms and a betrayal of Kabul’s trust.

Otherwise, Amrullah Saleh is believed to have told the Chinese ambassador, the Afghan government would go ahead with criminal proceedings. One of those detained, Li Yangyang, according to a counter-terror official in Kabul, has been operating for the Chinese Intelligence since July-August . He was arrested by the Afghan NDS on 10 December from his house in western Kabul neighbourhood of Kart-e-Char.


The NDS team seized arms, ammunition and Ketamine powder, a recreational drug , from his residence when the first round of raids were carried out on 10 December. NDS officials who have questioned Li have reported that he had been gathering information about al Qaeda, Taliban and Uyghurs in Kunar and Badakhshan provinces, according to this counter-terror official. A Chinese woman was the second person to be arrested. Sha Hung, who runs a restaurant in Kabul’s Shirpur was also arrested the same day.

“From her place, NDS recovered explosive material and other incriminating items,” the counter-terror official said.

I am not surprised by this report, but it is worth repeating. This is not the first instance and certainly not the last one, where the Chinese regime has involved in devious debt diplomacy and in plain sight but "covert intelligence operations" to advance its foreign policy agenda. Chinese "Black Ops" have been exposed not only in Afghanistan and Sri Lanka in recent years, but also such countries as Myanmar, Cambodia and Bangladesh in the past have accused PRC of espionage and running terror cells, which are believed to be linked to China’s spy agency, Ministry of State Security. It is worth noting that there are many other Chinese proxies in the region including Iran and Pakistan are also aiding the Chinese secret services

Here is the article about Chinese secret service's "Black Ops" in Sri Lanka: https://projectofive.ca/2020/05/25/spec ... operation/
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Re: Afghanistan News & Discussion - April 2016

Post by g.sarkar »

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/02/worl ... lings.html
Targeted Killings Are Terrorizing Afghans. And No One Is Claiming Them.
Most officials believe the Taliban are behind the attacks on civil leaders, but others fear that factions are using chaos as a cover to settle scores, in an echo of Afghanistan’s past civil war.
By Fahim Abed and Thomas Gibbons-Neff, Jan. 2, 2021

KABUL, Afghanistan — A military prosecutor who thought upholding the law was the highest honor, a doctor who inspired her family to study medicine, a journalist who wanted to hold those in power to account and a human-rights activist who sought to combat poverty in her home province: all murdered within weeks by unknown attackers as winter settled over Afghanistan.
Their deaths offer a glimpse into the targeted killings of community leaders and off-duty security forces that have wracked Afghanistan for months — the frequent echo of explosions and gunshots serving as reminders for those in cities and towns across the country and especially in Kabul, the capital, that a generation of Afghans is being methodically cut down.
The Afghan Interior Ministry would not provide the exact number of assassinations recorded in Afghanistan last year, but The New York Times has documented the deaths of at least 136 civilians and 168 security force members in such killings, worse than nearly any other year of the war.
The attacks — directed at civil servants, members of the media, human rights workers and former and current security force members — represent a shift from targeted assaults on high-profile officials by the Taliban and other groups operating in the country toward civil society’s rank-and-file and security forces who are at home with their families, with responsibility for the deaths often unclaimed.
The killings are a worrying sign of how much remains unsettled as the United States military prepares to withdraw from Afghanistan after nearly two decades of fighting, and have added to fears that more violence and chaos will follow.
The timing makes most officials believe that the Taliban are using the assassinations as a complement to their coordinated assaults on security posts and government-controlled territory to strike fear and increase the government’s desperation at the negotiating table.
But some officials believe that at least some of the killings have a different source: political factions outside the Taliban that are beginning to use chaos as a cover as the country starts breaking down under pressure, settling scores in a troubling pattern reminiscent of Afghanistan’s disastrous civil war a generation ago.
This new chapter of intimidation and violence first opened following the Feb. 29 peace agreement between the Taliban and the United States, and it continued through the negotiations between Afghan and Taliban representatives in Qatar that paused last month. The next phase of discussions, set to reconvene on Tuesday, will focus on solidifying the agenda for the negotiations with the ultimate goal of creating a political road map for a future government.
The purpose of these current killings appears to be to terrorize Afghan society into submitting to whatever terms emerge from the talks, whether that is a peace agreement or civil war.
In the first half of the year, the targeted killings were mostly limited to religious scholars and civilians in outlying districts and provinces, according to The Times’s data. The pattern of bloodshed next emerged in cities, leaving a trail of slain judges, prosecutors, civil society activists and journalists.
.....
Gautam
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Re: Afghanistan News & Discussion - April 2016

Post by g.sarkar »

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/2/8 ... from-india
Afghanistan gets first COVID-19 vaccine shipment from India
Doses will initially be administered to the country’s health workers and elderly citizens with a history of chronic ailments.
8 Feb 2021

Afghanistan has received 500,000 doses of AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine from India, the first vaccines it has received to date.
The country is still waiting for emergency approval from the World Health Organization (WHO) before it can use the vaccine, according to Afghanistan’s Acting Minister of Health Wahid Majrooh who spoke to reporters at Kabul airport as he received the consignment on Sunday.
.....
Gautam
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Re: Afghanistan News & Discussion - April 2016

Post by wig »

https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/ne ... 228970.cms
The geopolitics of Durand Line and the question of Pakistan-Occupied-Pashtunistan

the article brings various historical aspects at one place
There is a need to relook at the legal status of the Durand line carved out in 1893 which is artificially dividing the Pashtun dominated regions of Afghanistan and Pakistan . It may be noted that peace and stability in Afghanistan to a great extent depend upon checkmating the growth and proliferation of radical and terrorist forces which are operating with impunity because of the covert and overt support being provided by Pakistan to these terror groups operating around Durand line.
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Re: Afghanistan News & Discussion - April 2016

Post by chanakyaa »

Afg mining stories have appeared and widely shared in the past. Nothing new here. Picture is worth thousand words, and 1min video may be worth more than 1 million words according some research.

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