Islamic State violence dents Taliban claims of safer Afghanistan
Ezzatullah's killing, in the eastern province of Nangarhar, was one of a steady stream of assassinations and bombings that have undermined Taliban claims that they have brought greater security to Afghanistan after 40 years of war.
A ground assault by the Taliban killed the Islamic State militant who spearheaded the August 2021 suicide bombing at the Kabul airport that left 13 U.S. troops and about 170 Afghans dead during the chaotic U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, U.S. officials said Tuesday.
ISLAMABAD: Afghanistan’s Taliban said their security forces killed two key Islamic State commanders in an overnight counterterrorism raid against their hideout in the capital, Kabul. The announcement came hours before the United States said in a new report that up to 3,000 IS fighters were operating in the South Asian nation and conducting terrorist activities. […]
UNITED NATIONS: The United Nations warned Tuesday that de facto Taliban authorities are failing in their claims of security and good governance in Afghanistan as terrorist groups like Islamic State are increasingly conducting attacks across the country. “Some of the Taliban’s claimed and acknowledged achievements are eroding,” Potzel Markus, deputy head of the U.N. Assistance […]
AUG 18: Another 33 people were injured, Kabul police spokesman Khalid Zadran said.
Wednesday's blast occurred during evening prayers. The mosque's imam is reported to be among the dead.
It is unclear who was behind the attack, a week after a Islamic State (IS) militants killed a pro-Taliban cleric in a suicide bomb blast, also in Kabul.
Security forces have now sealed off the blast scene in Kabul.
Witnesses described hearing a powerful explosion which shattered windows in nearby buildings.
"I saw that so many people were killed, even people were thrown out of the windows of the mosque," one eyewitness told Reuters news agency.
Stefano Sozza, the head of the medical charity Emergency, which runs the city's main hospital, told the BBC his group had already treated 35 people, including children.
"Our doctors... operated [on] the patients in need of surgical assistance all night long. The injuries were mainly related to the blast so there were shells inside the bodies and burning injuries all over the bodies of the victims".
He said he believed the blast was inside the mosque. "There was probably someone entering during the prayer time, so it was crowded at that moment and then [the attacker] activated this body burning improvised explosive device.
"So that all the persons that were close to the attacker were basically dead and the ones all around received several injuries," Mr Sozza added.
IS focus seems to be widening
The mosque was crowded, the bomb powerful, and another cleric seems to have been in the sights of Islamic State, the group which has emerged as the Taliban's most potent enemy.
In the past month, three prominent religious leaders were targeted in Kabul and there were assassinations in other cities.
Last week it was Sheikh Rahimullah Haqqani, known to be close to the Taliban. This time it's Amir Muhammad Kabuli, said to be an adherent of the more moderate Sufi faith.
Video posted on social media showed a scene of carnage.
One religious student who was just outside the mosque told the BBC he saw the bodies of the dead and injured sprawled inside, including children attending evening prayers.
IS's signature has been its devastating attacks on the minority Shia Hazara community. But their focus now seems to be widening just as the Taliban celebrate their one year in power - a takeover which ended one chapter of a long bloody war but only ushered in yet another.
These Islamist groups have long been split along ideological and religious lines, deepened by intense personal and political rivalries. The Taliban don't share IS's adherence to an austere Salafist creed, its global jihadi ambitions and the most savage of tactics; IS reviles the Taliban for its diplomatic engagement in recent years with the US and other western powers.
KABUL, Sept. 8 : The Taliban announced on Tuesday an interim government drawn exclusively from their own loyalist ranks, with established hardliners in all key posts and no women -- despite previous promises to form an inclusive administration for all Afghans.
But as the Taliban transition from militant force to governing power, they face a growing number of protests against their rule, with two people attending a demonstration shot dead in the western city of Herat.
The government announcement was the latest step in the Taliban's bid to cement their total control over Afghanistan, following a stunning military victory that saw them oust the US-backed government on August 15, days ahead of the chaotic pullout of American troops.
The Taliban, notorious for their brutal and oppressive rule from 1996 to 2001, had promised a more inclusive government this time.
However, all the top positions were handed to key leaders from the movement and the Haqqani network -- the most violent faction of the Taliban known for devastating attacks.
- 'Same as old Taliban' -
Mullah Mohammad Hassan Akhund -- a senior minister during the Taliban's reign in the 1990s -- was appointed interim prime minister, the group's chief spokesman said at a press conference in Kabul.
Mullah Yaqoob, the son of the Taliban founder and late supreme leader Mullah Omar, was named defence minister, while the position of interior minister was given to Sirajuddin Haqqani, the leader of the feared Haqqani network.
Co-founder Abdul Ghani Baradar, who oversaw the signing of the US withdrawal agreement in 2020, was appointed deputy prime minister.
None of the government appointees were women. "We will try to take people from other parts of the country," spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said, adding that it was an interim government.
Hibatullah Akhundzada, the secretive supreme leader of the Taliban, released a statement saying that the new government would "work hard towards upholding Islamic rules and sharia law".
The Taliban had made repeated pledges in recent days to rule with greater moderation than they had in their last stint in power.
However, analysts said the new lineup indicated little had in fact changed. "The new Taliban, same as the old Taliban," tweeted Bill Roggio, managing editor of the US-based Long War Journal.
"It's not at all inclusive, and that's no surprise whatsoever," said Michael Kugelman, a South Asia expert at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars.
In a further sign that the movement had little intention of carrying out any meaningful reform, Zabihullah also announced the reinstatement of the Taliban's feared Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice.
The ministry had, under the Taliban's former rule, been responsible for arresting and punishing people for failing to implement the movement's restrictive interpretation of sharia law.
- 'Actions, not words' -
Even as the Taliban consolidate power, they face the monumental task of ruling Afghanistan, which is wracked with economic woes and security challenges -- including from the Islamic State group's local chapter.
A growing number of protests have emerged across the country over the past week, with many Afghans fearful of a repeat of the Taliban's previous reign. Hundreds gathered at several rallies in Kabul on Tuesday, where Taliban guards fired shots to disperse the crowds.
In Herat, hundreds marched, unfurling banners and waving the Afghan flag -- a black, red and green vertical tricolour with the national emblem overlaid in white -- with some chanting "freedom".
Later, two bodies were brought to the city's central hospital from the site of the protest, a doctor in Herat told AFP on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals.
"They all have bullet wounds," he said. Demonstrations have also been held in smaller cities in recent days, where women have demanded to be part of a new government.
The Taliban spokesman on Tuesday warned the public against taking to the streets, adding that journalists should not cover any demonstrations.
The group -- which executed people in stadiums and chopped the hands of thieves in the 1990s -- has said it would not stand for any resistance against its rule. Washington, which has said it is in "no rush" to recognise the new government, expressed concern Tuesday about its members but said it would judge it by its actions.
"We note the announced list of names consists exclusively of individuals who are members of the Taliban or their close associates and no women. We also are concerned by the affiliations and track records of some of the individuals," a State Department spokesperson said.
"We understand that the Taliban has presented this as a caretaker cabinet. However, we will judge the Taliban by its actions, not words."
KABUL, August 31 : The Taliban joyously fired guns into the air and offered words of reconciliation on Tuesday, as they celebrated defeating the United States and returning to power after two decades of war that devastated Afghanistan.
The last of 6,000 US troops who oversaw a desperate evacuation effort flew out of Kabul airport on Monday night, ending the war that has diminished the United States' status as a superpower.
Taliban fighters quickly swept into the airport and fired weapons into the sky in jubilation, an astonishing return after US forces invaded in 2001 and toppled the hardline Islamists for supporting Al-Qaeda.
"Congratulations to Afghanistan... this victory belongs to us all," Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told reporters hours later from the runway of the airport. Mujahid said the Taliban's victory was a "lesson for other invaders".
However the Taliban have repeatedly promised a more tolerant and open brand of rule compared with their first stint in power, and Mujahid continued that theme.
"We want to have good relations with the US and the world. We welcome good diplomatic relations with them all," he said.
Many Afghans are terrified of a repeat of the Taliban's initial rule from 1996-2001, which was infamous for their treatment of girls and women, as well as a brutal justice system.
- Terror threat -
The withdrawal came just before the end of an August 31 deadline set by President Joe Biden to call time on America's longest war -- one that ultimately claimed the lives of more than 2,400 US service members.
The early finish followed a threat from the regional offshoot of the Islamic State group, rivals of the Taliban, which was seeking to attack the US forces at the airport.
Thirteen US troops were among more than 100 people killed when an IS suicide bomber late last week attacked the perimeter of the airport, where desperate Afghans had massed in the hope of getting on board an evacuation flight.
More than 123,000 people were evacuated from Kabul aboard the US-led airlift operation, which began just after the Taliban swept into the capital on August 14.
Biden said he would address the nation on Tuesday in Washington, as his critics continued to savage him for his handling of the withdrawal.
"We can't fight endless wars, but the scope & consequence of Biden's failure here is staggering," Republican Senator Rick Scott said.
"President Biden has brought great shame on the American people," added congressman Richard Hudson.
Biden's top diplomat, Secretary of State Antony Blinken, was able to offer little more than stern words for the Taliban.
"Any legitimacy and any support will have to be earned," Blinken said, as he announced the United States had suspended its diplomatic presence in Kabul and shifted its operations to Qatar.
- Airport uncertainty -
All eyes will now turn to how the Taliban handles its first few days with sole authority over the country, with a sharp focus on whether it will allow other foreigners and Afghans to leave the country.
Blinken said a small number of US citizens remained in the country -- "under 200" but likely closer to just 100 -- and wanted to leave.
Many thousands of other Afghans who had worked with the US-backed government and fear retribution also want to get out.
Western allies have voiced heartbreak in recent days that not all Afghans who wanted to flee could get on the evacuation flights.
The UN Security Council adopted a resolution Monday, requiring the Taliban to honour a commitment to let people freely leave Afghanistan in the days ahead, and to grant access to the UN and other aid agencies.
But they did not agree to call for the creation of a "safe zone" in Kabul, as envisaged by French President Emmanuel Macron.
Talks are ongoing as to who will now run Kabul airport. The Taliban have asked Turkey to handle logistics while they maintain control of security, but President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has not yet accepted that offer. It was not immediately clear which airlines would agree to fly in and out of Kabul.
- Civilian deaths -
The regional Islamic State-Khorasan (IS-K) group had posed the biggest threat to the withdrawal after it carried out the devastating suicide bombing outside the airport last week.
On Monday, they also claimed to have fired six rockets at the airport. A Taliban official said the attack was intercepted by the airport's missile defence systems.
And in an echo of the tragedies of civilian deaths that plagued the war and cost the United States local support, a US air strike in Kabul targeting a purported IS car bomb on the weekend appeared to have killed children.
The United States said Sunday it had carried out a drone strike against a vehicle threatening the Kabul airport.
Members of one family told AFP they believed a fatal error had been made, and that 10 civilians were killed.
"My brother and his four children were killed. I lost my small daughter... nephews and nieces," Aimal Ahmadi told AFP.
CANBERRA: US President Joe Biden has said that it is in the Taliban interest to keep Islamic State Khorasan out of Afghanistan. However, the connection
KABUL, Aug. 30: Five rockets were fired early Monday at Kabul airport in the Afghan capital, where the evacuation of U.S.-led troops is underway, witnesses said.
"The rockets attached to a sedan were fired towards the airport form Khair Khana Minia locality. It looked to me that the U.S. missile system intercepted the rockets," witness Sayyad Mohammad told Xinhua.
There is no report of casualties yet, and the Taliban has not confirmed the incident so far.
On Sunday, at least six civilians and a suspected militant of ISIS-K, a local affiliate of the Islamic State group in Afghanistan, were killed in a U.S. drone attack in a neighborhood west of the airport. No group has claimed responsibility for the incident.
Evacuation flights continued as the U.S. troops were at the final stage of their withdrawal from Afghanistan. The pull-out is expected to be completed on Tuesday.
U.S. unmanned planes have been flying over Kabul since Sunday.
AFGHANISTAN, April 23: Taliban attacks in western Afghanistan killed 14 soldiers and policemen on Monday as Kabul residents prepared to bury their loved ones slain in a horrific bombing by the Islamic State group that targeted a voter registration center the day before, killing 57.
