Taliban claim to not ‘use our soil to harm others’ is patently false
The Taliban’s actions do not match its words, as it continues to shelter, support, and encourage al Qaeda.
Tag Archives: Afghanistan
State Department lists Islamic State’s ‘Khorasan Province’ as Foreign Terrorist Organization
The US has treated the Islamic State Khorasan Province as a terrorist organization long before officially listing it. Four senior Khorasan Province leaders have been killed in US airstrikes over the past year.
US charges American citizen with conspiring to kill soldiers in Afghanistan
Muhanad Mahmoud Al Farekh, a member of al Qaeda’s paramilitary force in Afghanistan and Pakistan, was involved in a double suicide attack in Khost, Afghanistan in 2009.
Ghana falsely claims 2 former Guantanamo detainees were ‘cleared of any involvement’ in terrorism
Ghana’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs & Regional Integration said in a statement that it has accepted two Guantanamo detainees who “have been cleared of any involvement in terrorist activities, and are being released.” But that is not true. Neither one of the detainees was “cleared” by President Obama’s Guantanamo Review Task Force. One of the two was previously deemed a “high risk” by Joint Task Force – Guantanamo.
US soldier killed while fighting the Taliban in Helmand
The reintroduction of US and British forces in Helmand has not prevented the districts of Nowzad, Musa Qala, and Sangin from falling to the Taliban.
Afghan forces raid Taliban ‘jail’ in Helmand
While the operations against the Taliban prisons in Nahr-i-Sarraj and Now Zad highlight potential capabilities of Afghanistan’s Special Security Forces, they also emphasize the worsening security situation in Helmand province.
‘Voice of the Caliphate’ radio broadcasts anti-Taliban propaganda in Afghanistan
The Islamic State’s so-called Khorasan “province” has set up a radio station to broadcast propaganda in Afghanistan. Officials have tried to jam its signal, but the station is also disseminating its content online via multiple platforms.
Taliban kills 6 coalition troops in suicide attack at Bagram
“Six Resolute Support service members died as a result of a vehicle-borne improvised explosive device attack in Bagram, Afghanistan,” the international coalition confirmed. Bagram is a high priority target for the Taliban.
Taliban controls or contests nearly all of southern Afghan province
Sangin district is the latest to fall under the Taliban’s control. The Taliban now controls five of Helmand’s 13 districts, and contests another seven.
Taliban lose control of district in southern Afghanistan, gain another in northeast
Afghan security forces claimed it ejected the Taliban from the Khanashin district center in southern Helmand province, while the Taliban claimed it seized control of Marawara in Kunar.
Pentagon report on Afghanistan excludes al Qaeda’s pledge to the Taliban
The failure to mention al Qaeda’s renewed oath to the Taliban in the military’s latest report on Afghanistan is no accidental omission.
US continues to push for negotiations with Taliban despite direct ties to al Qaeda
The Pentagon’s latest report on Afghanistan pushes for reconciliation with the Taliban, but makes no mention of Mullah Mansour accepting an oath of allegiance from al Qaeda’s Ayman al Zawahiri.
US military insists al Qaeda is “concentrated” in Afghan east and northeast
The US military continues to claim that al Qaeda is “primarily concentrated in the east and northeast” of Afghanistan, despite a major operation two months ago that targeted the jihadist group at two established training facilities in Kandahar province in the southeast.
US military fails to ‘decimate’ Islamic State leadership despite thousands of airstrikes
A US military spokesman touted the strikes that killed the three Islamic State leaders as “an example of how we’re able to decimate networks.”
Taliban overruns district in southern Afghanistan
Khanashin district in Helmand province was a Taliban haven long before the district center fell earlier today. The Taliban now controls 37 districts in Afghanistan and contests another 39.
Taliban suicide squad kills dozens in assault on Kandahar airport
A Taliban suicide assault team killed more than 30 people in an attack on Kandahar International Airport in southern Afghanistan that lasted for more than a day before Afghan forces backed by the US military could regain control.
Rival Taliban factions clash in western Afghanistan
Fighters loyal to Mullah Mansour battled followers from Mullah Rasul’s splinter Taliban faction in Shindand in Herat province. Shindand is a stronghold of Rasul.
Taliban emir denies reports of his death
In a new audio message, Taliban emir Mullah Akhtar Muhammad Mansour denies that he was killed in a shootout in Pakistan. Afghan officials and other sources recently said that the Taliban leader was slain by a rival commander. But Mansour dismisses these reports as mere “propaganda.”
Fate of Taliban’s new leader uncertain after conflicting reports of a shootout in Pakistan
The Taliban released two statements denying that Mullah Akhtar Muhammad Mansour was injured or killed in a firefight. But the Taliban also hid Mullah Omar’s death, so its denial cannot be accepted at face value.
Taliban claims hundreds of military personnel, government officials defect in Nuristan
The Taliban claimed that 338 security personnel and government officials defected to the jihadist group in the district of Waygal, which is in the embattled northeastern province of Nuristan.
Taliban denies children serve ‘in jihadi ranks’
The Taliban issued a statement denying that it uses children in its paramilitary and suicide operations. The denial is contradicted by the group’s own propaganda, including a recent video that showed a young boy standing next to a commander as he addressed his suicide attack unit. The boy was dressed in military fatigues and armed with an assault rifle.
Taliban suicide assault squad pledges allegiance to emir Mullah Mansour
The Muaskar ul Fida is likely loyal to the Haqqani Network, an al Qaeda-linked Taliban group that is backed by Pakistan’s military and intelligence establishment.
The Taliban approves of Paris suicide assault
While western officials still seek to negotiate with the Afghan Taliban, the group continues to support attacks in Western countries. The Taliban said France’s “colonial policy” justified the murders in Paris.
Islamic State highlights ‘Sheikh Jalaluddin training camp’ in Afghanistan
The “Sheikh Jalaluddin training camp” is named after the Khorasan Province’s former mufti, or senior religious and legal scholar, who was killed by the US in an airstrike in Nangarhar in October. The Islamic State has advertised three training facilities in Afghanistan in the past two months.
Dozens of Afghan troops surrender to Taliban in Helmand
Sixty-five Afghan soldiers and several of their officers laid down their weapons and surrendered to the Taliban in the embattled district of Sangin in the southern province of Helmand.
Deputy emir of ‘moderate’ Taliban faction oversaw ‘massacre of thousands of Shiites’
Mullah Abdul Manan Niazi, the deputy leader of the so-called “High Council of Afghanistan Islamic Emirate,” was accused by Human Rights Watch of inciting and supporting the murder of thousands of Afghans, mostly from the minority Shiite Hazara sect, after the Taliban seized Mazar-i-Sharif in August 1998. He also sheltered Khairullah Said Wali Khairkhwa, one of five dangerous al Qaeda-linked Taliban leaders who were exchanged for US soldier Bowe Bergdahl.
Rival Taliban factions clash in southeastern Afghanistan
At least 80 fighters from both sides are reported to have been killed during clashes between fighters loyal to Mullah Akhtar Mohammad Mansour and those from Mullah Mohammad Rasul’s dissident Taliban faction in Zabul province.
Al Qaeda confirms death of ‘Khorasan’ military emir
“People such as these you do not hear a sound from them, they work in silence and leave in silence,” a prominent jihadist said of Sufyan al Maghribi, al Qaeda’s former military emir for Afghanistan and Pakistan. Maghribi was also a frequent contributor to Vanguards of Khorasan, al Qaeda’s magazine, under the nom de guerre Abu Isam al Andalusi.
Al Qaeda commander reported killed in northeastern Afghanistan
The US is thought to have killed Bilal al Tayibin, an Arab al Qaeda “key leader,” in an airstrike on the evening of Oct. 29 in Darin in Kunar’s Ghaziabad district. Two of Tayibin’s Afghan bodyguards are also said to have been killed in the attack.
Al Qaeda’s Kandahar training camp ‘probably the largest’ in Afghan War
In an interview with the Washington Post, General John Campbell described an al Qaeda camp in southern Afghanistan as “probably the largest training camp-type facility that we have seen in 14 years of war.” The camp is one of two raided by joint US-Afghan forces in Kandahar earlier this month.