A Taliban spokesman confirmed Thursday that Taliban thugs murdered comedian Nazar Mohammad in southern Afghanistan shortly after a video went viral that showed Mohammad being abducted and beaten.
Afghanistan
Mapping the advance of the Taliban in Afghanistan
The resurgent Taliban have taken more territory in Afghanistan in the last two months than at any time since they were ousted from power in 2001.
Over the last 20 years, the control map of Afghanistan has been an ever-changing canvas. Here, we look at the fluctuating picture of who controls which areas.
It appears the Taliban have been emboldened in recent weeks by the withdrawal of US troops – retaking many districts from government forces.
Afghanistan imposes near-nationwide curfew to curb sweeping Taliban offensive
Afghan authorities on Saturday imposed a night-time curfew across 31 of the country’s 34 provinces to curb surging violence unleashed by a sweeping Taliban offensive in recent months, the interior ministry said.
The widespread Taliban offensive has seen the insurgents capture key border crossings, dozens of districts and encircle several provincial capitals since early May.
“To curb violence and limit the Taliban movements a night curfew has been imposed in 31 provinces across the country,” except in Kabul, Panjshir and Nangarhar, the interior ministry said in a statement.
With the withdrawal of American-led foreign forces all but complete, the resurgent Taliban now controls about half of Afghanistan’s roughly 400 districts.
After a brief lull in violence during this week’s Muslim holidays of Eid al-Adha, fighting continued again with the authorities claiming to have killed more than 260 Taliban fighters in the past 24 hours across several provinces.
Both the authorities and the Taliban exaggerate their claims, which cannot be independently verified.
Islam plus a Tribal culture equals brutal chaos.
Canada to resettle Afghans who worked with military, embassy
OTTAWA — The federal government says it will fast-track the resettlement of Afghans who previously worked with the Canadian military and embassy and are now at risk from the Taliban.
The move follows weeks of pressure from Canadian veterans and others worried that Afghans who supported Canada are in danger as the Taliban makes rapid gains across the country.
Hmmm … ‘Saving Afghan Interpreters’ is a Scam That Would Bring 100,000 Afghans to U.S.
Getting the United States out of Afghanistan is relatively easy compared to getting Afghanistan out of America. The latest stage of the withdrawal is accompanied by frantic calls to “save Afghan interpreters” coming from the same media that also wants us out of Afghanistan.
But what’s the use of leaving Afghanistan if we’re going to bring it with us to America?
The “interpreter” scam is one of the longest running immigration hoaxes on record.
Will Afghanistan fall to the Taliban?
You would hope that the Afghan public is strenuously opposed to a return to an intolerant caliphate
Alast-ditch effort to broker peace in Afghanistan will be made in the Qatari capital of Doha this weekend. A senior Afghan government delegation which includes Abdullah Abdullah, chair of the country’s High Council for National Reconciliation, and former national president Hamid Karzai will engage in talks with the Taliban. Afghanistan’s unending 42-year civil war has intensified with the imminent departure of western armed forces led by the United States.
Afghan Withdrawal Opens the Way for China
The indecent haste with which the Biden administration has undertaken its military withdrawal from Afghanistan not only raises the prospect of handing control of the country over to the hardline Islamist Taliban movement. It also presents China with a golden opportunity to extend its influence over this strategically important Central Asian country.
China, which shares a tiny 47-mile-long border with Afghanistan, has long coveted developing closer ties with Kabul, not least because of the large, untapped reserves of mineral wealth that Afghanistan possesses.
Afghanistan: Taliban flag raised above border crossing with Pakistan
The Taliban are reported to have raised their flag above a key border post between Afghanistan and Pakistan, and claim it is now under their control.
Videos being shared on social media show the white flag fluttering above the Spin Boldak crossing near Kandahar.
Afghan officials have denied the post has fallen, although pictures on social media show the militants chatting to Pakistani border guards.
The BBC has been told the Taliban took the border crossing with no resistance.
Beijing and the Taliban Are Friends, Brags Global Times Editor
As the United States withdraws its remaining troops from Afghanistan, the Chinese communist regime is starting to make moves to expand its influence in the war-torn country.
On July 6, U.S. Central Command announced that the U.S. troop withdrawal from Afghanistan was more than 90 percent complete. The Taliban then began to attack and capture territory. At the same time, the Taliban said publicly that it sees China “as a friend” for the reconstruction of Afghanistan.
Taliban fighters scream ‘Allahu Akbar’ as they execute 22 Afghan commandos … and … Canada to continue wasting money on Afghanistan after U.S. troop withdrawal
Taliban fighters scream ‘Allahu Akbar’ as they execute 22 Afghan commandos
Video has emerged that purports to show the moment 22 Afghan commandos were massacred by the Taliban moments after they surrendered.
The footage appears to have been taken in Dawlat Abad, in northern Faryab province, on June 16 following a major battle between the Taliban and Afghan forces.
The government had sent an elite team of US-trained commandos – including the son of a retired general – into the town to recapture it, but they quickly became surrounded with air support and reinforcements failing to materialise.
Canada to continue wasting money on Afghanistan after U.S. troop withdrawal
Ottawa will continue sending humanitarian and development assistance to Afghanistan after the United States completes its troop withdrawal from the country next month, International Development Minister Karina Gould says.
U.S. President Joe Biden said last week the U.S. military operation in Afghanistan will end Aug. 31, nearly 20 years after the United States and its allies took down the Taliban government in Kabul.
Afghan women’s worst fears realised as Taliban returns
Insurgents make full covering mandatory and ban movement without guardians, say residents of recently captured areas
As the Taliban and government battle for control of Afghanistan, residents of areas seized recently by the insurgents are already experiencing life under the repressive regime toppled two decades ago.
Emboldened by the withdrawal of US and Nato troops, the Taliban launched major offensives into new territory in northern and western provinces. Afghan forces have kept control of provincial capitals, but the insurgents have made gains in surrounding districts.
The Soviet specter haunting Afghanistan
When the war ended in 1988, it was not because the Soviets had been beaten on the battlefield but because they had been exhausted
As US and British forces pull out of Afghanistan, further victims of the ‘grave of empires’, Russia is experiencing a mix of satisfaction, exasperation and trepidation.
It has its own bitter memories of the country, after all. In 1979, as a friendly regime was falling back in the face of a mounting Islamic fundamentalist insurgency, Soviet forces rolled into Afghanistan. The idea was that by installing a new leader and mounting a brief show of force, the rebels would be intimidated back into line. Six months, the old men in the Kremlin told themselves, that is all it would take.
Gay men will be crushed to death by pushing a wall onto them Taliban judge reveals … In other words a return to Islamic “Normalcy”
A Taliban judge has given a terrifying glimpse into life under the Islamist group and the fate that awaits Afghanis if the country falls back under their control.
Gul Rahim, 38, spoke matter-of-factly about cutting hands and legs off thieves, issuing permits for women to leave their homes and toppling walls on gay men as a form of execution in his Taliban-controlled district in central Afghanistan.
He added that his aim is to introduce the Sharia law punishments across the whole of the country if the Taliban can re-take control once America departs, saying: ‘That was our goal and always will be.’
Taliban on the Way to Kabul? Not so Fast….
September 11, 2021: All US and allied troops have left Afghanistan and Taliban gunmen are already at the ports of Kabul; one more push and they will be back where they were in 2001 just before America and Afghan allied forces sent them running like rats jumping out of a sinking ship. Once again darkness falls on Afghanistan.
Or does it? Not so fast.
Wishful thinking?
Afghan pilots assassinated by Taliban as U.S. withdraws
KABUL, July 9, (Reuters) – Afghan Air Force Major Dastagir Zamaray had grown so fearful of Taliban assassinations of off-duty forces in Kabul that he decided to sell his home to move to a safer pocket of Afghanistan’s sprawling capital.
Instead of being greeted by a prospective buyer at his realtor’s office earlier this year, the 41-year-old pilot was confronted by a gunman who walked inside and, without a word, fatally shot the real estate agent in the mouth.
Zamaray reached for his sidearm but the gunman shot him in the head. The father of seven collapsed dead on his 14-year-old son, who had tagged along. The boy was spared, but barely speaks anymore, his family says.
Taliban capture key Afghanistan-Iran border crossing
More – The Taliban have captured a major border crossing between Afghanistan and Iran, according to Afghan officials.
Video footage appeared to show Taliban forces taking down the Afghan flag from the roof of the border customs office.
The Islam Qala crossing is one of the biggest trade gateways into Iran, generating an estimated $20m (£14m) monthly revenue for the government.
The Taliban are rapidly retaking land across Afghanistan as the US-led mission removes the last of its troops.
Armed Afghan women take to streets in show of defiance against Taliban
Women have taken up guns in northern and central Afghanistan, marching in the streets in their hundreds and sharing pictures of themselves with assault rifles on social media, in a show of defiance as the Taliban make sweeping gains nationwide.
One of the biggest demonstrations was in central Ghor province, where hundreds of women turned out at the weekend, waving guns and chanting anti-Taliban slogans.
They are not likely to head to the frontlines in large numbers any time soon, because of both social conservatism and lack of experience. But the public demonstrations, at a time of urgent threat from the militants, are a reminder of how frightened many women are about what Taliban rule could mean for them and their families.