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Four Haqqani Commanders Killed in East Afghanistan
U.S. air strikes in Afghanistan have killed four commanders of the Haqqani network, a militant group affiliated with the Taliban, as government forces try to retake a district captured by insurgents last week, Afghan officials said on Tuesday.
Naqeeb Ahmad Atal, a spokesman for the governor of Paktia province in eastern Afghanistan, said 120 militants were also killed in the strikes in Jani Khil, a strategically located district at a crossroads on a major route into Pakistan.
But Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid denied the report as “baseless”, saying the air strikes had killed only eight people. He said 48 members of the security forces had been killed in fighting in the district.
Insurgents overran the center of Jani Khil late on Friday, a significant success after they had stepped up attacks across Afghanistan in recent weeks.
Afghan army spokesman Fazlkhuda Ibrahimkhil said U.S. drones carried out Monday’s air strikes, hitting fighters gathered in the town.
Colonel Michael Lawhorn, director of public affairs for Afghanistan’s NATO-led mission, confirmed that U.S. forces had carried out attacks in support of Afghan forces on Monday. He declined to provide details while the fighting was going on.
“I can confirm that U.S. forces conducted four air strikes,” he said in an emailed statement.
Another Afghan official said several military vehicles captured by the insurgents were also destroyed.
One senior Afghan security official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media, said about 1,200 fighters, most from the Haqqani network, were involved in last week’s attack on Jani Khil.
The involvement of Haqqani fighters, whose traditional stronghold has been in eastern Afghanistan, underscores the group’s important role in Taliban military operations following the death of Taliban leader Mullah Akhtar Mansour in a U.S. air strike in May.
Unlike Mansour, new Taliban leader Mullah Haibatullah Akhundzada, a religious scholar, is not believed to have much command experience.
His appointment has led many analysts to suggest a growing role for deputy leader Sirajuddin Haqqani, commander of the network named after his father, a veteran Islamist who battled Soviet forces during the 1980s and later sided with the Taliban.
The Haqqani network has been known for kidnappings and high-profile attacks in cities but is rarely known to take part in big attacks on Afghan government positions.
One of the commanders killed in the air strike had been district chief in Jani Khil for the Taliban. Another came from the Waziristan region on the Pakistani side of the border and was suspected of involvement in the killing of 42 construction workers in Jani Khil four years ago, Atal said.
After a lull following Mansour’s killing, there has been heavy fighting in the southern province of Helmand as well as in the area around Kunduz, the northern city that briefly fell to the Taliban last year.
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Iranian official: Only vulnerable points of Afghanistan’s border will be walled and fenced
An Iranian security official has said that the entire border of Iran with Afghanistan will not be fenced, rather barriers will be created only at vulnerable points.
Iranian army has announced that the plan to create barriers at the border with a four-meter concrete wall, barbed wire and fence will be implemented within three years.
“In some northwestern and eastern borders, there are threats from the other side of the borders that we are countering,” said Qassem Rezaei, Iran’s deputy police commander.
He added that drug trafficking, human trafficking, and even terrorist infiltration may take place through these borders.
Meanwhile, the Minister of Interior of Iran Ahmad Vahidi has announced that over 1.3 million illegal foreign nationals have returned to their country in the past year.
He added that illegal citizens should leave Iran as they are not allowed to stay.
Deputy Prime Minister for Administrative Affairs Abdul Salam Hanafi on Sunday met with WHO Regional Director for the Eastern Mediterranean, Hanan Balkhy, and called for the organization’s cooperation including in the establishment of clinics in remote areas and training of specialists.
According to a statement released by his office, Hanafi pointed out that since the Islamic Emirate in Afghanistan regained power, there has been progress in various fields, including the fight against drug production and trafficking, the roundup and treatment of drug addicts, the eradication of corruption and nationwide security.
He asked the WHO to hand over Afghanistan’s seat to the representative of the Islamic Emirate and restore Afghanistan’s membership in meetings of the executive board and leadership meetings of the Mediterranean region.
Hanafi also called for the cooperation of international organizations in providing alternative livelihoods for poppy farmers and in providing assistance to flood victims.
While stressing that the eradication of polio is one of the priorities of the Islamic Emirate, Hanafi asked the WHO to activate polio diagnosis laboratories and supply vaccines, establish a cancer treatment center, prevent malnutrition among children and provide safe drinking water.
According to the statement, WHO official Balkhy said in the meeting that the health issue is non-political and one of the priorities of the organization.
She pointed to the achievements of the Islamic Emirate in various fields and expressed hope that better conditions will be provided for Afghans in the health and education sector.
Balkhy explained that WHO, together with other international organizations and the European Union, has a three-year project that includes the establishment of health centers in different provinces of Afghanistan.
She also expressed her appreciation for the efforts of the Islamic Emirate in the fight against polio and added that she will discuss the issue of providing alternative livelihoods for Afghan farmers with the WHO and other relevant organizations.
The 15th summit of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in Gambia on Sunday called on the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) to respect Afghan girls and women’s right to education and work.
In a declaration, OIC described the right to education and work as the fundamental rights of Afghan girls and women, and called for more communication with the IEA authorities on these issues.
Additionally, the participants emphasized the need for more efforts to address the challenges related to ethnic groups, drugs, terrorism, and social issues to ensure inclusive governance and sustainable peace and stability in Afghanistan.
“We also emphasize the need to make more efforts to address the challenges associated with ethnic groups, terrorism, drugs and social aspects for inclusive governance to achieve sustainable stability,” the declaration said.
Delegations from the 57 OIC member states attended the conference, organized by the Organization of Islamic Cooperation under the theme “Enhancing unity and solidarity through dialogue for sustainable development.”.
The summit was also attended by an IEA delegation.
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