Translate

Sunday, July 26

May have happened at the sub-tactical level UPDATED 6:45 AM EDT

UPDATE to July 25 RFE/RL report below re attack on security outposts

Voice of America July 26 - 5:34 AM 
Taliban Seizes Key Afghan Military Base
by Ayaz Gul
ISLAMABAD— Authorities in northeastern Afghanistan confirmed Sunday the Taliban has captured a key military base in overnight clashes after more than 100 Afghan security forces surrendered to the insurgents.

Fighting in the Tirgaran area of Badakhshan province erupted Friday night when scores of rebels staged coordinated attacks on several security outposts, the provincial police chief told reporters.

He said border police force personnel at the base surrendered to the Taliban because they were besieged and did not get reinforcement from the government.
[...]

I'll be featuring the entire report in the next post. 

*****
July 23 Tolo News (Afghanistan): Obama announces Aghanistan's war brought to a responsible end.


[...]
“Deputy Foreign Minister Hekmat Khalil Karzai summoned the ambassador of Islamic Republic of Pakistan to Kabul, Sayed Ibrar Hussain, and expressed the protest and concern of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan in relation to the mortar and artillery shelling of Pakistani military forces over the Afghan territory along Durand Line,” the statement read.

Hussain promised to convey the concerns of the Afghan government to the relevant authorities in Pakistan.

Senior Afghan officials say Pakistani forces shelled several villages across the eastern provinces of Nangarhar and Kunar over on Tuesday and Wednesday. Sources say up to three civilians, including a woman, were killed and two others injured in the cross-border attacks.

Karzai also noted that the attacks were fueling anti-Pakistan sentiments across Afghanistan.

[...]
Reacting to the allegations, an unnamed Pakistani military source denied that any major incident of cross-border shelling had happened over the past few days.

Pakistani military officials insist that Pakistani forces usually fire at militants who try to cross the porous border between the two countries.

“It may have happened at the sub-tactical level,” Pakistan's English-language newspaper, Dawn, quoted the source as saying.

[...]
July 25 KHAAMA PRESS [Afghanistan] Two rockets land in Kabul airport, no casualties reportedNDS and Security Forces foil mass bombing attacks in Kabul

July 25 RFE/RL Taliban Fighters Attack Security Outposts In Northern Afghanistan
A government official in Afghanistan’s northeastern province of Badakhshan has said that a group of about 100 Taliban fighters attacked several security outposts in the mountainous region in the past two days. 

The province’s deputy governor, Gul Mohammad Bedar, said the attack started on June 23 in the Wardoj district and that two members of the Afghan security forces were killed.

Bedar said at least 21 militants, most of them foreigners, were killed and 13 were wounded. He also said Qari Zabihullah, the commander of Taliban fighters in the area, was arrested.

The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack, saying militants seized one security outpost and killed several police officers.

During the past year, mountainous paths from Pakistan into Badakhshan have become conduits into northern Afghanistan for Pakistani Taliban fighters and Center Asian militants who have sworn allegiance to the Islamic State and have been fleeing a Pakistani military offensive in their former safe havens in Pakistan’s tribal regions.

[END REPORT]
Let me see if I understand this correctly. They're fleeing the Pakistani military so they can fight Afghanistan's security forces  Check. And these aren't Taliban; no no they're Islamic State fighters. 
Prognosis:  Pakistan's government says it has only limited influence with the Taliban and of course no influence with Islamic State.  So look for fewer and fewer 'Taliban' fighting in Afghanistan and more and more 'Islamic State' fighters. 
********

No comments: