War News

AP: Russian peace talks raise specter of shifting influence

ISLAMABAD (AP) — Vladimir Putin’s Russia appears to have emerged as a player in Afghanistan after 17 years of Western involvement that has left the country no closer to peace than before.

To some, Russia’s offer to host talks next month might contain at least the seeds of a positive pivot if the Taliban are coaxed to the table at a time when they have been more aggressive on the battlefield than in recent years, causing much mayhem in Kabul and other cities.

But the move may be stuck before it even begins. The Afghan government has said it will not attend, unable to agree on a coherent strategy because of divisions within the government that many see as a function of personal and ethnic rivalries, and calling for the Taliban to first agree to direct talks with Kabul. The insurgents have consistently refused, instead demanding direct talks with the United States.

The U.S., for its part, seems displeased by the maneuver, even though Washington has been trying to find a reasonable exit strategy for years in vain.

On the ground in Afghanistan, the situation has given rise to boundless cynicism about the various players and almost no hope for a quick improvement in the violent, corruption-plagued nature of daily life.

Analysts say the wrangling over a meeting to talk peace offers a window into the enormity of the task of actually reaching a peace pact in a region of competing influences. Pakistan, Iran, Russia and China have a growing influence even as the United States spends billions of dollars covering much of the $6.5 billion spent annually to support the Afghan National Security Forces who are struggling to contain an energized Taliban.

Specialists who have tracked Afghanistan’s four decades of war say navigating the road to peace in this poor nation of 32 million people is like walking through a minefield.

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NYT: Taliban Launch Attacks on Approaches to Afghan City of Ghazni

GHAZNI, Afghanistan — Clashes have broken out between Taliban militants and government forces in Afghanistan forcing some civilians to flee from their homes near the city of Ghazni, which the insurgents stormed this month, officials said on Friday.

The Taliban raided three villages on the outskirts of Ghazni late on Thursday, destroying some newly built checkpoints and cutting off power to some parts of the city.

Provincial police chief Farid Mashal said government forces counter-attacked to block the insurgents from approaching the city.

“We were swift to push the Taliban out of the villages, but many civilians fled to neighboring villages fearing the fighters could kill them,” said Mashal. He said there were no reports of casualties.

More than 1,000 Taliban fighters assaulted the city, 150 km (95 miles) southwest of Kabul, on the main road to southern Afghanistan, this month killing at least 150 soldiers and 95 civilians.

Militants roamed the city for four days, destroying communications towers and cutting power and water supplies before government forces regained control with the help of U.S. air strikes.

The government and international aid agencies have been struggling to restore services in the city over recent days.

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REU: Suicide bomber kills three near election office in Afghanistan’s east, official says

KABUL (Reuters) – A suicide attacker killed at least three people on Saturday by detonating explosives near the office of Afghanistan’s election commission in the eastern city of Jalalabad, where dozens of protesters had gathered, an official said.

The protesters had gathered in support of a parliamentary candidate who electoral officials had disqualified over his suspected links with illegal armed groups.

Eight people were also wounded. No group has claimed responsibility for the attack.

Attaullah Khogyani, a spokesman for the provincial governor, said the explosion happened when supporters of the disqualified candidate were trying to shut down the election commission office.

“We had requested the protesters to stop their demonstrations because they could be targeted by militants but they rejected our security message,” he said.

A suicide bomber blew himself up outside an Afghan election office in the capital, Kabul, earlier this month when protesters gathered to challenge the commission’s decision to disqualify 35 candidates from contesting upcoming parliamentary polls.

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NYT: Survivors of Last Major Islamic State Battle in Iraq Beg for Food

MOSUL, Iraq — On a scorching August afternoon, an angry crowd besieged a mini-truck loaded with meat of two slaughtered cows amidst the ruins of what was the last Islamic State (IS) bastion in Mosul.

In a desperate scramble, they grabbed beef from a man standing in the open back of the truck and, after it pulled away, some stayed on to descend on the next one to arrive.

Part of an annual ritual of Eid al-Adha celebrations, the deliveries did little to satisfy people living in the rubble of Mosul’s Old City more than a year after IS was ousted in a final battle reduced many inhabitants to homeless beggars.

“There are many residents who need aid in getting food and rebuilding their houses,” 24-year-old Ali Sharif said on Thursday after taking a plastic bag with meat from one of the cars. “Everyone here was affected by war.”…………..Mosul municipal officials and Western donors are concerned that the slowness of reconstruction might rekindle Sunni-Shi’ite sectarian grievances that Islamic State exploited.

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GUARD: At least 26 children and four women killed in airstrikes in Yemen