At least 27 people are reported to have been killed in the twin bombings. The second suicide bomber targeted emergency personnel as they rendered aid to the victims of the first blast.
Taken on its own, the Ministry of Interior’s data on the number of districts ruled by the Taliban indicates that the security situation has worsened since the last time the government such disclosed information. The Long War Journal estimates that 39 districts are under Taliban control.
Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, the leader of a Hezb-i-Islami faction, has toyed with the Afghan government in the past and withdrew from peace talks under similar circumstances.
Last weekend, the Afghan Ministry of the Interior claimed that Mullah Mohammad Qasim and an undisclosed number of fighters were killed in an airstrike in the Aab Band district. A Taliban spokesman said Qasim is alive and well.
“History shows that such befallings have never weakened this Movement, but more often than not, has only strengthened their resolve,” the Taliban said in the wake of the US drone strike that killed its previous emir. The West has “failed to understand the psychology of the Taliban” and its desire for martyrdom.
The discussions reportedly centered around the Taliban’s commitment to preventing the Islamic State from expanding, “especially in Afghanistan’s northeastern border and the Afghanistan-Tajikistan border.” The Taliban and Iran have colluded since the US invasion of Afghanistan in 2001.
The Taliban controls one of Uruzgan’s five districts, and contests the other four. The shadow governor for Uruzgan said in April his forces would emphasize complete control of the province.
After Usman Ghazi, the last emir of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, joined the Islamic State’s Khorasan province, the group split in two and a core cadre remained loyal to the Taliban and al Qaeda.
The Turkistan Islamic Party released an audio message from its leader, Abdul Haq, on May 30. The message is the latest indication that Abdul Haq survived a US drone strike in 2010. The man identified as Haq blasts the Islamic State’s so-called caliphate and the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU), which swore allegiance to Abu Bakr al Baghdadi in 2015. Haq claims the IMU has “disappeared” since.
The US government continues to underestimate al Qaeda’s strength in Afghanistan and Pakistan. State’s insistence that al Qaeda has been “severely degraded in the region” is at odds with recent evidence from Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Multiple reports say Taliban leader Mullah Mansour was killed earlier this month after he returned to Pakistani soil from Iran. While some have praised Iran for supposedly seeking stability inside Afghanistan, the Iranians have supported the Taliban’s insurgency since late 2001.
Zabihullah Mujahid said that an audiotape attributed to Mullah Haibatullah in which he supposedly rejected peace talks was not authentic or official Taliban propaganda.
Jamaat ul Dawa al Quran, which operates in Pakistan and Afghanistan, “has long-standing ties” with al Qaeda and Lashkar-e-Taiba, according to the State Department. The Tariq Gidar Group, which is “linked” to the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan, has been behind some of the deadliest attacks inside Pakistan.
“With regret the Muslim world has lost a great mentor,” Jamaat-ul-Ahrar spokesman Ihsannullah Ihsan said, referring to Mansour. He urged “the Mujahideen and all Muslims” not to grieve too long, and to “focus on fighting” their enemies.
Mullah Haibatullah Akhundzada, the group’s top judicial officer, is the Taliban’s new emir. Siraj Haqqani, the Taliban’s military commander, remains one of the Taliban’s top two deputies. Mullah Mohammad Yaqoub, Mullah Omar’s eldest son, has been elevated to serve as a deputy to Haibatullah.
Baluchistan province has long been a major hub for the Afghan Taliban, replete with training camps, madrassa, mosques, and command and control centers. If the US does decide to step up attacks against the Taliban in Baluchistan, there is no shortage of targets.
“How could you fire something out of the sky and blow something up and kill people and not know what country it’s in? ,” a reporter responded incredulously to a State Department spokesman’s claim that the government didn’t know whether the US killed Taliban emir Mullah Mansour in Afghanistan or Pakistan.
Pakistan has officially protested some US drone strikes in the past, typically when a so-called “good Taliban” leader is targeted. However Pakistan has occasional protested strikes that have targeted al Qaeda and the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan.
The White House confirmed the death of Taliban emir Mullah Mansour today, two days after the group’s top leader was targeted in an unmanned airstrike in Baluchistan province.
The National Directorate of Security claimed that Taliban Mullah Mansour died in yesterday’s airstrike but the US has yet to confirm his death.
Mullah Mansour was targeted in an airstrike in Baluchistan province. If Mansour is confirmed killed, one of his likely successors is Sirajuddin Haqqani, the leader of the Haqqani Network who is closely tied to al Qaeda.
Afghan forces have been stretched thin attempting to fight the Taliban on multiple fronts. Forces are often shifted from one theater to another to take back ground from the Taliban, but once the military pulls back, the areas fall back under Taliban control.
The US military said it carried out a “counterterror mission” to rescue Ali Haider Gilani. Afghan officials said that al Qaeda was holding him hostage. Al Qaeda operated a training camp in Paktika as recently as the summer of 2015. Paktika is also a stronghold for the al Qaeda-allied Haqqani Network.
The Afghan Taliban said it would give “top priority” to government agencies involved in the execution of jihadist prisoners and claimed it has “thousands of fully armed martyrdom seekers” at its disposal who are “awaiting to take revenge.”
The attack, where Afghan forces turn on NATO personnel, is the first of its kind recorded in Afghanistan in more than a year.
The Ministry of Interior claimed it killed Haji Lala, the shadow governor of Kandahar and his deputy Ahmad Shah. The Taliban said its shadow governor and deputy for Kandahar are alive, and those identified by the MoI do not serve as the leaders of the province.
The unusual public call for information from USFOR-A follows the deadly suicide assault on a security installation in Kabul that took place on April 19.
The Taliban targeted a unit that is responsible for providing security for Afghan officials in a coordinated suicide assault in the Afghan capital. NATO’s commander claimed the Taliban won’t face security forces on the battlefield, ignoring the fact that the Taliban is openly engaging Afghan forces on multiple fronts.
The Taliban planted an IED on the landing pad at a remote military base in Kunar. The Afghan government had previously claimed the helicopter was damaged in an “emergency landing,” but the Taliban recorded the attack on video.
Since 2010, the US military and intelligence services have maintained that al Qaeda had a minimal presence of 50 to 100 operatives in Afghanistan. Now a senior general in Afghanistan admits the estimate needs to be revised. The Long War Journal has warned from the beginning that the conventional estimate was wrong.