Taliban - The Purbottar

23 Aug

1 Afghan guard killed, 3 injured in new ‘gunfight’ at Kabul Airport

editor0 CommentsInternationalAfghanistan, Taliban

A firefight broke out between unidentified gunmen, Western security forces and Afghan guards at the North Gate of Kabul airport on Monday, Germany’s armed forces said, as thousands of Afghans and foreigners thronged the airport, seeking to flee Taliban rule. One Afghan guard was killed and three others were injured in the battle, which also involved US and German forces, the German military said on Twitter, without specifying whether the dead Afghan was one of the Taliban fighters deployed to guard the airport. The airport has been a scene of chaos since the Taliban seized the Afghan capital on Aug.…

20 Aug

Taliban ‘intensifying’ search for Afghans who helped US: UN document

editor0 CommentsInternationalAfghanistan, Taliban

The Taliban are going house-to-house searching for opponents and their families, according to an intelligence document for the UN that deepened fears Friday Afghanistan's new rulers were reneging on pledges of tolerance.After routing government forces and taking over Kabul on Sunday to end two decades of war, the hardline Islamist movement's leaders have repeatedly vowed a complete amnesty as part of a well-crafted PR blitz. Women have also been assured their rights will be respected, and that the Taliban will be "positively different" from their brutal 1996-2001 rule. But with thousands of people still trying to flee the capital aboard…

19 Aug

Taliban open fire, beat up women, kids outside Kabul airport

editor0 CommentsNorth EastTaliban

Taliban promised safe passage to the Kabul airport for people trying to flee the country, there have been incidents of violence at the checkpoints on airport roads. Photographs of women and children being beaten and whipped by the Taliban fighters have surfaced showing the brutal face of the insurgents. Reports of civilians - women and children - being beaten, houses being ransacked have been pouring in since August 15 - the day the Taliban seized control of capital Kabul. According to reports, the US troops who have taken over the control of the Hamid Karzai International airport in Kabul on…

17 Aug

Russia says Afghan president fled with cars and helicopter full of cash – RIA

editor0 CommentsInternationalAfghanistan, Russia, Taliban

Russia's embassy in Kabul said on Monday that Afghan President Ashraf Ghani had fled the country with four cars and a helicopter full of cash and had to leave some money behind as it would not all fit in, the RIA news agency reported. Ghani, whose current whereabouts are unknown, said he left Afghanistan on Sunday as the Taliban entered Kabul virtually unopposed. He said he wanted to avoid bloodshed. Russia has said it will retain a diplomatic presence in Kabul and hopes to develop ties with the Taliban even as it says it is no rush to recognise them…

16 Aug

‘Game over’: Westerners rush to leave Kabul, rescue Afghans

editor0 CommentsworldAfghans, Kabul, Taliban

As Kabul fell to Taliban throes, thousands of foreigners and Afghans rummaged ways to flee to safety while US military helicopters whisked American diplomats to Kabul’s airport. Sporadic gunfire at Kabul international airport fanned fear of Taliban rule leading to a fracas during evacuation. The US took control of the air traffic to safeguard a massive air-lift. NATO allies had pulled out their troops ahead of Biden administration’s intended 31 August withdrawal. Some complained the U.S. was failing to move fast enough to bring to safety Afghans at risk of reprisal from the Taliban for past work with the Americans…

16 Aug

Taliban declare `war is over` as Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, top diplomats flee Kabul

editor0 CommentsInternationalAfghanistan, Taliban

The Taliban swept into Afghanistan’s capital Sunday after the government collapsed and the embattled president joined an exodus of his fellow citizens and foreigners, signaling the end of a costly two-decade U.S. campaign to remake the country. Heavily armed Taliban fighters fanned out across the capital, and several entered Kabul’s abandoned presidential palace. Suhail Shaheen, a Taliban spokesman and negotiator, told The Associated Press that the militants would hold talks in the coming days aimed at forming an “open, inclusive Islamic government.” Earlier, a Taliban official said the group would announce from the palace the restoration of the Islamic Emirate…

13 Aug

Taliban Forcing Afghan Women To Marry Terrorists: Report

editor0 CommentsInternationalAfghanistan, Taliban

As the Taliban is gaining ground in Afghanistan by capturing many key cities in the country, the terror group is now forcing women to get married to its terrorists, a media report said on Thursday.Afghans are also witnessing the execution of captured soldiers and unprovoked attacks on civilians by the Taliban in its recent captured areas. Afghans pouring into Kabul and those still in Taliban-held areas say they have witnessed unprovoked attacks on civilians and executions of captured soldiers. In addition, they say, Taliban have demanded that communities turn over unmarried women to become "wives" for their terrorists-a form of…

08 Aug

Taliban capture northern Afghan city of Kunduz

editor0 CommentsBreaking News, InternationalTaliban

Afghan forces and the Taliban were fighting fiercely Sunday in the centre of Kunduz.The Taliban said Sunday they had captured the key Afghan city of Kunduz, a claim confirmed by an AFP correspondent in the vicinity, as fierce fighting raged in the centre of a second northern capital, Shar-e-pul. officials and residents confirmed, that the insurgents did capture two other provincial capitals in the last 48 hours.The Taliban have taken two provincial capitals since Friday, but Kunduz would be the most significant to fall since the insurgents launched an offensive in May as foreign forces began the final stages of…

07 Aug

Taliban captures Afghan provincial capital Zaranj

editor0 CommentsInternationalAfghanistan, Taliban

The Taliban has captured an Afghan provincial capital after pleas for reinforcements by local security forces went unheard, in a major blow to the western-backed government. Zaranj, in the south-western province of Nimroz, fell after just three hours of fighting becoming the first provincial capital to be taken by the insurgents who have intensified their nationwide offensive as foreign forces withdraw from Afghanistan after 20 years of war. Late on Friday, heavily armed Taliban fighters driving captured Humvees were patrolling the streets of Nimroz, one of the country’s main financial hubs, where Taliban commanders declared an overnight curfew. “Nowhere in…

06 Aug

Taliban kills Afghan government’s top media officer

editor0 CommentsBreaking News, InternationalTaliban

The Taliban claimed responsibility for killing Dawa Khan Menapal, head of the Government Media and Information Centre (GMIC). The assassination was the latest in a series conducted by the hardline Islamist group to weaken Ghani's democratically elected, western backed regime. U.S. diplomat in Afghanistan condemned Taliban fighters killing the Afghanistan government's top media and information officer in the capital Kabul.They condemned the act as an affront to human rights and free speech. Menapal had also served as a spokesperson in Afghan President Ashraf Ghani's outreach team.