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Living with so much violence is no way to live: Khalilzad
US Special Representative for National Reconciliation Zalmay Khalilzad has condemned the recent assassinations of public figures, and said such levels of violence “breed a climate of fear” and could drive more people away from their homeland.
Khalilzad’s statement came just hours after the latest in a string of targeted attacks, which claimed the life of Freshta Kohistani, a women’s rights activist, who was gunned down in Kapisa province on Thursday evening.
In a series of tweets overnight Friday, Khalilzad also reacted to the killing of Yousef Rasheed, the CEO for Afghanistan Free and Fair Election Foundation (FEFA).
Rasheed was killed in a targeted shooting outside his house in Kabul on Wednesday morning. The FEFA CEO and his driver both died in a hail of bullets.
Khalilzad said: “Yousef Rasheed’s assassination is reprehensible. We condemn it. We also condemn the recent murder of several doctors working in Puli Charkhi and women’s rights activist Freshta Kohistani.”
He said the perpetrators of these attacks “must be held accountable.”
“Yousef was a patriot. He dedicated himself to making his country a better place. He advocated peace and progress. He was sensitive to grievances of all sides,” Khalilzad stated.
“People like Yousef and Freshta are essential for any society. They are its conscience and keep its heart beating. They should not be fearful, intimidated, or worse, killed,” he stated.
“Living with so much violence is no way to live. It breeds a climate of fear. Fear will drive more Afghans to leave their homeland. Who will then be left to advocate for rights and freedoms?
“This is not the way a society will thrive and prosper.
“These targeted killings and assassinations must stop. They threaten the peace process. The Afghan people demand peace.
5/5 These targeted killings and assassinations must stop. They threaten the peace process. The Afghan people demand peace. A ceasefire and political settlement remain urgent. I urge the negotiating parties to redouble their efforts. We stand ready to help.
— U.S. Special Representative Zalmay Khalilzad (@US4AfghanPeace) December 24, 2020
“A ceasefire and political settlement remain urgent. I urge the negotiating parties to redouble their efforts. We stand ready to help,” Khalilzad said.
Psychological war game
On Thursday, Second Vice President Sarwar Danesh said Afghanistan’s enemy was playing a “psychological war game” by trying to create fear, panic, despair and division as it stepped up high-profile targeted assassinations around the country.
Referring to recent assassinations and attempted assassinations, Danesh said under the current circumstances “we need to tighten our ranks in every way and not give in to the enemy’s psychological warfare.”
Danish said the aim of recent attacks was to destabilize the entire system, the values of the past 20 years, to create fear, panic, despair, division, distance between government and the people, to gain points at the negotiating table or to stop the peace process.
A marked increase in violence has wracked the country since the start of the peace talks process in Doha in September but in recent weeks targeted killings have also been on the rise.
On Wednesday, Rasheed and his driver Sami were killed in Kabul by unknown gunmen, a day after five doctors were also killed in the city in a targeted IED explosion.
On Monday night, Rahmatullah Nikzad, a freelance reporter and head of a media safety union was gunned down in Ghazni while he was reportedly on his way to mosque.
Nikzad with the fifth journalist killed in the past two months.
Since November 7, former TOLOnews presenter Yama Siawash; Radio Azadi reporter Elyas Daee; Enekaas TV presenter in Nangarhar Malala Maiwand; and Ariana News presenter Fardin Amini were all killed in separate incidents.
Other targeted attacks over the past few months have also included government figures, including the failed attempt on the life of the First Vice President on September 9.
Amrullah Saleh survived the targeted IED explosion against his convoy of armored vehicles but 10 civilians in the immediate area were killed.
Sixty-one members of the U.S. Congress have urged the Trump administration to reverse its decision to halt immigration processing for Afghan nationals, warning that the move unfairly targets Afghan nationals following a deadly shooting involving two National Guard members.
In a letter addressed to Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, the lawmakers said the incident should not be used to vilify Afghans who are legally seeking entry into the United States. They stressed that Afghan applicants undergo extensive vetting involving multiple U.S. security agencies.
The letter criticized the suspension of Special Immigrant Visa processing, the termination of Temporary Protected Status for Afghanistan, and broader travel and asylum restrictions, warning that such policies endanger Afghan allies who supported U.S. forces during the war.
“Exploiting this tragedy to sow division and inflame fear will not make America safer. Abandoning those who made the courageous choice to stand beside us signals to those we may need as allies in the future that we cannot be trusted to honor our commitments. That is a mistake we cannot afford,” the group said.
The U.S. admitted nearly 200,000 Afghan nationals in the wake of the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan.
Thousands of Afghans who worked with the U.S. military and their families still wait at military bases and refugee camps around the world for a small number of SIVs.
An earthquake of magnitude 5.3 struck Afghanistan on Friday, the United States Geological Survey (USGS) said.
The quake occurred at 10:09 local time at a depth of 35 km, USGS said.
Its epicentre was 25 kilometres from Nahrin district of Baghlan province in north Afghanistan.
Chairman of U.S. House intelligence committee, Rick Crawford, has criticized the Biden administration’s handling of Afghan admissions to the United States following the 2021 withdrawal from Afghanistan.
In a statement, Crawford said that alongside large numbers of migrants entering through the U.S. southern border, approximately 190,000 Afghan nationals were granted entry under Operation Allies Welcome after the U.S. military withdrawal. He claimed that many of those admitted lacked proper documentation and, in some cases, were allowed into the country without comprehensive biometric data being collected.
Crawford said that the United States had a duty to protect Afghans who worked alongside U.S. forces and institutions during the two-decade conflict. However, he argued that the rapid and poorly coordinated nature of the withdrawal created conditions that overwhelmed existing screening and vetting systems.
“The rushed and poorly planned withdrawal created a perfect storm,” Crawford said, asserting that it compromised the government’s ability to fully assess who was being admitted into the country.
He said that there 18,000 known or suspected terrorists in the U.S.
“Today, I look forward to getting a better understanding of the domestic counterterrorism picture, and hearing how the interagency is working to find, monitor, prosecute, and deport known or suspected terrorists that never should have entered our country to begin with,” he said.
The Biden administration has previously defended Operation Allies Welcome, stating that multiple layers of security screening were conducted in coordination with U.S. intelligence, defense, and homeland security agencies. Nonetheless, the evacuation and resettlement of Afghan nationals remains a contentious political issue, particularly amid broader debates over immigration and border security.
U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration recently ordered its diplomats worldwide to stop processing visas for Afghan nationals, effectively suspending the special immigration program for Afghans who helped the United States during its 20-year-long occupation of their home country.
The decision came after a former member of one of Afghanistan’s CIA-backed units was accused of shooting two U.S. National Guard soldiers in Washington, D.C.
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